"O heat dry up my brains! Tears seven times salt
Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye!
By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight
Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May!"

--from Hamlet, Act IV, sc. V

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"Oh, Angel...the stars are so pretty tonight! See how they dance for me? They spin me in circles and make me dizzy."

She was babbling again. He loved it when she babbled... What a creature he had made out of the innocent girl she had once been. She had been such a horrid little thing back then, but Angelus knew potential when he saw it. She'd gotten into his mind-it might be said she got into his heart...except he didn't have one. That girl had driven him crazy. Naturally he did the same to her.

"They're speaking to me...they always speak. They like to tell me things."

He sneered. "What do they tell you? Anything interesting?"

Angel caught her slender waist in his arms and held her still as she giggled. "The Slayer is coming to get us, but we won't stand for that. Will we, lover?"

He pulled her close with his muscled arms and spread his covetous hands roughly around her hips and slowly...ever so slowly pulled on the thin fabric of her skirt until it was above her thighs. She was naked underneath because he liked it that way. It made it easier when he wanted a quick drink.

His fingers dipped into her icy folds and he grinned with satisfaction as she arched against him.

Instantly he wrenched free, and let her skirt fall back into place. "I'm going to drive you insane...all over again." he mocked her with a singsong voice. Her hands grabbed at his, trying to redirect his attention to where she needed it most...

He grew angry with her forwardness and backhanded her into the dirt. "I'm not in the mood; got it?"

His anger didn't register in her mind. "You hit me." she stated matter-of-factly.

"You deserve it after all the trouble you've given me." he told her, contemplating a kick to her ribs. She ignored him. What a pain; she always had been. So fucking crazy and absolutely useless as a vampire. And making her that way had been even more difficult!

"Angel, I'm so wet..." she began to fumble with her skirts, but couldn't remember exactly the actions she should perform. She knew just a moment ago.

Her sire flared down at her. "Stupid bitch. I told you I wasn't in the mood! That means you're not in the mood either. Got it?" He kicked her when she didn't react. With a sadistic curiosity it suddenly occurred to him that he had never learned how much abuse her frail body could take. He picked up a rock and threw it at her, laughing at the welt it made in her exposed leg.

All of the sudden she began to shake... "Oh, Angel, the stars are talking to me again." she cried as if she had never been hit at all. She clutched his legs, letting the prophetic spasms invade her mind. "The Slayer is coming. She's here to destroy you...and take me away!"

He cursed the girl kneeling at his feet...he bought himself more trouble than it was worth by turning her. He knocked her to the ground and she stopped jerking. Her brow tightened as if perplexed by a sudden idea. "Angel?"

"_What?_" he glowered.

"Is she really the Slayer?"

He grabbed a lock of golden hair and wrenched her to her feet. "Course not. You're the Slayer, Buff...and there can only be one."