“When are we going to mess with her head, already?” Faith complained as she and Xander entered their lair just a few minutes before sunrise. “Killing those Scooby Gang losers is fun, but she’s expecting that from us by now.”

Xander just smiled calmly, stripping his clothes off and settling down into their bed, gesturing for her to join him. Faith quickly shucked her leather shirt and pants and climbed in with him, swinging one leg over his waist and straddling him. She tried to roll forward, but Xander stilled her movements by placing his hands on her hips and holding her in place.

“It’s almost time,” he said softly. “We’ve gone through nearly everyone. Willow’s gone, and Oz and Cordelia and Giles. Now her mother. Tomorrow night we stake Angel right in front of her, and make our offer. She’ll refuse. We’ll come back to her the next night, and the night after, taunting her, breaking down her defenses, getting into her head. One night she’ll be so defeated she’ll say yes. We’ll drain her. And we’ll have the victory we’ve desired for so long.” Xander reached up and kissed Faith hard, removing his hands from her waist and letting her do what she wanted.

Faith rocked her hips forward, bringing Xander to life, figuratively speaking. She leaned down to nuzzle his neck, her now-icy tongue meeting his cool skin. “I can taste the victory,” she sighed happily. “I can just sense how it’s going to feel when we bring her close, so close, to the edge, to the fulfillment of promise, only to turn her away. And then to watch her eyes as she suffers through her death…” Faith giggled as she reached between them to position Xander just right.

Xander moved with Faith, their conversation halting until they had satisfied themselves. Then Xander rolled over and sat up. “I wonder,” he began musingly. Faith looked at him curiously. “I wonder if it would be so bad to actually turn Buffy.”

Faith’s eyebrows rose. “You actually want to turn her?” she said in disbelief. “I thought the whole point was to watch her suffer.”

“But think about the power we’ll have, if the three of us work together,” Xander pointed out. “I’ll have two Slayers as Children. We’ll be the most powerful family in the vampire world.”

Faith stared at him in speculation. “I suppose that isn’t a bad idea,” she said slowly, and Xander smiled. He hadn’t lost his hold over Faith when he turned her, after all. “Just as long as I’m your favorite Childe,” she added with a coy grin.

Xander laughed and pulled her to him, kissing her hard. “How could I ever have a Childe I liked better than you? You’ll always be my favorite.”

Faith smiled in satisfaction as she rolled over, snuggling into the pillow. Xander scooted down next to her, pressing his chest to her back and throwing one arm around her waist, holding her to him. “Tomorrow night, we start to change the world.”

The second time around, Buffy was much easier to track. She had become careless, lacking a desire to kill vampires. She killed when she encountered, but she didn’t seek them out. She was just waiting for Faith and Xander to come to her instead. She knew what they were doing and she welcomed it.

Buffy knew she should be angry, should be determined to kill them for all that they had done to her, but in her heart, she relished the idea of giving up all emotions, all the pain associated with the loss of the people she loved.

She knew she should be angry, but she wasn’t.

She just wanted them to kill her, to turn her, to get it over with. She welcomed her death, their victory, with open arms.

Buffy paused slightly when she heard them. She hadn’t tried to evade capture or detection, and she knew that in itself should raise their suspicions. She looked up when she saw the two dark figures emerge from the foliage. “Faith, Xander,” she said coolly. She raised her eyes to Xander’s dark ones. “Come to kill me already? I would have thought you two would string this game of yours on for much longer.”

“We’re not going to kill you, B,” Faith said with a smirk. She circled Buffy one way while Xander circled the other. Buffy held her ground, glaring at both of them, not backing down.

“We’re going to make you an offer you can’t refuse,” Xander continued with a chuckle. His eyes flicked to Buffy’s right, and she instinctively looked. Her eyes widened when she saw Angel running towards her.

“We kind of told Angel we were going to kill you, so it looks like your honey is gonna pull the macho bit and try and save the day,” Faith surmised, her brick-red lips curving into a smile.

Xander gauged Angel’s movements and smiled in satisfaction as he whipped out a stake at the last second, watching Angel stake himself while trying to tackle Xander. The horror and pain in Buffy’s eyes nearly became a living entity as she saw Angel disintegrate in front of her, reaching out to her helplessly, pleadingly, before he exploded into dust.

“We thought we’d kill your lover in front of you and then ask you to become a vampire,” Xander added carelessly.

Buffy sank to her knees on the ground in front of him, picking up a handful of ashes and letting them trail through her fingers. “I guess the unlife really didn’t do anything for your tactlessness,” she hissed through her tears.

Xander shrugged. “Never needed tact. I just take what I want. Someone opposes me, their blood flows like a river. Hell, it does anyway. Although sometimes I spare those who please me.”

“You sure didn’t spare Faith,” Buffy spat out hatefully.

Faith crouched down behind Buffy, resting her arms on Buffy’s shoulders and tilting her head so that Buffy could see her from the side. “Y’see, B, I *wanted* to become Xander’s Childe,” she said nonchalantly. “I *wanted* to be with him forever. He actually denied me for a whole year before I managed to convince him that he needed to turn me.” She stood up and walked over to Xander, pressing her hips to his and snaking her arms around his neck, staring into his eyes.

“And then we decided we wanted you,” Xander continued, letting his hands cup Faith’s ass. He licked Faith’s cheek and then turned her in his arms so that they were both facing Buffy. “We want you to become the third member in our soon-to-be powerful family.”

“And what makes you think I’ll choose to be with you?” Buffy snapped, knowing that she already had, but wanting the pretense of a fight.

Faith shrugged. “You have nothing else left,” she responded. She pulled away from Xander and the two resumed their previous pacing, one going one way around her and the other going the opposite way.

“We killed Willow, Oz, Cordelia, Giles, and your mother, and we staked Angel,” Xander ticked off, circling her from the left.

Buffy’s head swiveled to the right as Faith picked up where Xander had left off. “You’re all alone. You have no family, no friends, no hope. No love, or passion, or anything except burning hatred, which we can use.”

“We chose you, Buffy,” Xander purred, coming up to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. “I want you to be my Childe.”

Buffy closed her eyes and tilted her neck, showing her submission. Xander shared a look of shock with Faith.

“You’re giving in?” he asked in disbelief.

Buffy opened her eyes and stared into Xander’s. “You and Faith are right. I don’t have anything left for me here. I don’t want to live my life in pain and misery about the people I couldn’t save. I don’t want to care. I want to hate. I want to be your Childe.”

Xander exchanged another surprised look with Faith, but didn’t waste time. He plunged his fangs into Buffy’s neck, sucking from her greedily. Buffy whimpered under the onslaught of pain, her knees buckling as Xander continued to pull the lifeblood from her body.

Buffy finally cried out when she couldn’t take it anymore. Xander pulled away from her and bit his tongue, then bent his head to kiss her hungrily, forcing his tongue and his blood into her mouth. She swallowed the blood after Xander stopped kissing her, and she collapsed into his arms.

Xander picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, turning to Faith and offering his arm. "Well, milady, shall we return to the lair and wait for my newest Childe to awaken?” he asked chivalrously.

Faith took his arm with a predatory smile. “We shall,” she agreed silkily.

Buffy awoke to the sounds of passionate moaning, and she looked over to see Xander and Faith having animalistic sex in the bed beside her. She was surprised at how erotic she found the view.

Standing up, she felt an intense hunger and she growled. She looked around and spotted a tasty meal, a blonde guy in army fatigues. She sauntered over to him, kneeling on the ground beside him.

“What’s your name?” she asked softly. The blonde looked up at her angrily.

“The name’s Agent Finn, and you and your friends had better release me,” he commanded. “Otherwise you’ll be dead faster than you can blink those hideous yellow eyes.”

Buffy smirked. “I so don’t think so.” She bent her head and took Agent Finn’s jugular in her mouth, chuckling against his skin as he protested, cried out in pain, and finally gurgled his last breath. She drew the last of his blood from his veins just as Xander and Faith found the ultimate satisfaction they were reaching for.

Buffy walked back over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, not in the least surprised when Faith moved away from Xander, drew Buffy near, and kissed her.

“Enjoy your meal, Sis?” she asked when she pulled back.

Buffy smiled. “Thoroughly.” She looked to Xander, who was watching his two Children with pride and desire.

“My family is complete,” Xander declared. He bent his head, capturing Buffy’s mouth in a brutal kiss that she eagerly returned, while feeling Faith’s arms go around them both, stroking their backs. He broke the kiss abruptly and wrapped one arm around Buffy’s shoulders, the other around Faith’s. “We will be feared more than any other vampire family has ever been feared before, for I have two Slayers as my Children. No one will dare cross us.”

Faith smiled in satisfaction. Xander turned to Buffy. “Faith is truly a child of the dark,” he said. “Her soul was black even before she was turned.” Buffy nodded. “Now she’s a real Childe, a Childe of the Night. As you will be,” he claimed.

Faith stood up, holding her hands out to Buffy and Xander. “Let’s quit wasting time talking. I want to hear their screams.”

Buffy and Xander stood next to her. Xander led the three of them out of his lair, their lair, and into the night.

“Angelus, Spike, watch out. Once we get through with humanity, no one will ever remember your names,” Faith said confidently.

“From now on, Xander, Faith, and Buffy will be the names to fear,” Buffy chimed in.

Xander smiled at his Children. He’d done well. His new family would be the most powerful force in the vampire world. He could taste the terror he knew they would bring, the hell on earth they would create.

He really should remember to thank Dru for turning him.