It started from there. Small things, word of mouth. She had an exclusive clientele, actually. All young ,rich and almost wholly female. She did everything from bodyguard duty to a pack of young foreign debutantes eager to check out the club scene to beating up errant lovers. For the work that involved beating up she wore a mask, just a piece of black silk tied over the nose and mouth,. Couldn't have her parole officer hearing about her new job. Thank God for Slayer healing. Couldn't walk in with a black eye either.

She was learning to control herself now, with the fighting. Learning to control the rage and the need to rally hurt someone. Which was why she picked and chose her 'assignments'. Never any demon-stuff. Not things which needed killing. She wasn't quite there yet.

So she did stuff like what she was doing now; spying on somebody's two-timing man at a really cool club. More yuppie than she liked, but the place was happening , she had to give them that. And it was nice being someplace where people weren't shooting up or throwing up in corners. Here they popped pills and snorted coke discreetly in the toilets.

She used the last of the film in the mini-camera recording this guy licking the tonsils of an overtanned Swedish blond. His filthy-rich girlfriend was so going to love the blown-up evidence.

"Hi." The tall man at the bar smiled down at her, showing white teeth and dimples. "Can I buy you a drink?" He was clean-cut, handsome, with a head of thick honey hair.

Faith shied away instantly, tucking the camera into her waistband. No thanks, Im hitting the floor.

He rose. Im game; friends tell me Im not a bad dancer but Im always looking for a more honest opinion. He winked at her. Charming.

No! It came out more forcefully than she had intended, rising from somewhere in her like a sea of panic as she stumbled backwards. Im justnot ready, OK? Just not ready. Turning, she forced her way into the thick of the crowd, leaving the confused guy behind. She just couldnt not anymore. No men. It all felt wrong, felt dirty

If you had my love and I gave you all my trust would you comfort me, tell me, baby?

But it didnt mean she couldnt dance. The job was done, whatever she spent was being paid for by the client, and she just couldnt face an empty apartment tonight. Not till she was too tired to do anything but crawl into bed anyway.

And if somehow you knew that your love would b untrue would you lie to me?

She closed her eyes and let her tense body relax muscle by muscle as the beat seeped into her brain. Slowly, her snugly leather-covered hips began to sway to the music and she let her head tilt back so her hair fell down to her waist, running her hands gently up her black satin top. Dancing people brushed against her, a womans long hair fell over her own naked shoulder. Impersonal, reassuring touch.

Faith began to dance, losing herself in it. Her movements were sinuously sensuous, slick and perfectly fitted to the music as if it was part of her. She tossed her head, hair tumbling down her back and shoulders, eyes heavy-lidded as her hands stroked up her thighs and torso provocatively. Men stopped to look and the dancers around her watched with the goodwill shared by everyone infected with the fever of the dance floor. She danced the way she did everything else, desperately and holding nothing back.

She was magnificent, and the sight of her hit him like a fist between the eyes. It wasn't just the shock, it was the memories that came back. He was appalled by how clear they were and how he felt as he watched her move, sleek as a seal and as otherworldly as some dark creature risen from the sea.

He meant to pull her out of the crush, talk to her somewhere, but just as he reached he she opened her eyes and looked up at him. They stared at each other for a long moment.

Tell me who can I trust, if I can't trust in you. And I refuse to let you play me for a fool

Her hips began to move again in that riveting, fiercely sexual rhythm. This time she raised her arms and shook out her hair like a dark cloud around her so her scent reached him, pervasive and hot.

"Angel." To see her mouth it, that mouth which he had kissed before and which had haunted him in the secret, humiliatingly personal dreams he had sometimes.

She pressed her pelvis to him and her hands gripped his shoulders.

"Faith, we."

A finger across his lips silenced him. Then it made him gasp as it slid along the crease of his mouth and her nail flicked intentionally against a blunt tooth.

Faith's nails dug into his shoulders as she felt his hands slide over her hips to cup her bottom. His hands, his hands, cold against her flesh as they moved up her bare back, catching at the black velvet straps that criss-crossed it. Desire crashed through her as she felt his hardness against her belly and she felt the warmth flow into the juncture of her thighs. It was him, the Devil himself, guilt-riddled vampire whom she couldn't hang her pain on, whose hands touched her like no one before. Who could make love to her but couldn't love her.

Anger made her hit him. She pounded on his chest hard enough to hurt and tried to knee him in the groin, but he blocked and caught her in his arms so she could hardly breathe. To the other dancers it only looked as if they were getting down and dirty.

You said that we, could possibly, spend Eternity

"Fuck you, Angel!" she spat at him. "I hate you, you hear me? I hate you!"

That's what you told me, that's what you said

"I know, Faith." He held her as she struggled, trying to calm her and himself down. Three years. Had it been three years? She looked almost wild, furious enough to hurt him. And beautiful. So very beautiful.

If you really want me baby

With one movement he bent and picked her up. As he'd expected, the surprise made her stop struggling and grab at him instead in reflex to keep from falling, and he strode out of the crowd carrying her to the sound of whistles and cat-calls.

"Put me down, you bastard!" Her voice rang out in the alley outside. "Put me fucking down!"

He dropped her on her ass. Literally. "Fine."

"Two hundred and fifty and you really know how to treat a girl. No wonder B left you," she spat out before realising too late what it was she was saying.

A muscle twitched in his jaw. "You're out early, Faith. I thought the sentence was ridiculously short, but this is early."

"Surprised? I'm on parole for being a good little girl." She climbed to her feet and shoved him in the chest. "What are you doing here ? Shouldn't you be home brooding on how life is?"

He caught her wrist, blocking her swing easily as he pushed her back against the wall, pinning her with his big body. "Working on a case, and I'm sorry to see you're back to your old ways again. They let you out too early, Faith. The world doesn't want you yet."

Her face whitened visibly and he cursed himself inwardly for going too far. Guilt, anger and discomfort made him push further. "What are you doing here, Faith? Kill someone? Maybe break a few tables and the bar? Bring about the end of the world?"

Her eyes could have lighted a fire. "No, as I recall, that's your game, ANGEL. The one that had B send you to Hell and that drove her to fuck Riley instead of you, remember?"

He shook her before slamming her back up against the wall. There was a clatter as the mini-camera fell to the ground. Angel took one look and recognised it instantly. He'd used them before himself.

She laughed bitterly at the look on his face. "Yes, I'm in the game, Angel. You rubbed off on me more than you thought, but it was a pretty close rub, wasn't it, hero?"

"Bitch."

"Asshole."

Their mouths met so eagerly that teeth clicked, but both ignore the pain as the hunger rose after being suppressed for three long years. He parted her legs with his knee and pulled her hands above her head, trapping her wrists in one hand as he ran the other up her body, making her whimper into his mouth. Her legs came together, thighs squeezing his with need as she rubbed herself on the hard length of his leg, wanting him so much she ached with it. He was her poison; with any other man now it felt dirty, tarnished. Only with him there was this fire, this flame that had gone out for three cold years.

Angel tore his mouth from hers only long enough to gasp, Room.

Somehow he managed to drive them both back to her apartment and somehow she managed to direct him there with only two wrong turnings.

Come in, she mumbled, arms locked around his neck as she nipped at his earlobe.

His hands shook a he fumbled with the keys. The doors not open yet.

Who gives a fuck? Then the door WAS open and she pulled him through.

With a muffled oath Angel kicked the door shut behind him and caught her face in his hands to kiss her long and hard till she was breathless. Her fingers tugged at his shirt and he impatiently popped three buttons and pulled it over his head before pulling her to him, needing her warmth and her heat and the smell of her.

Driving him mad.

They toppled down onto the narrow bed, both able to see well enough in the dark as hands stroked and clutched and hot, fevered skin melded to cold. Careful to keep most of his weight off her, Angel slipped one hand between their bodies, touching the wet core of her heat and loving it when she arched her back and moaned, head tossing on the pillow. Gently he felt her slick folds, the slippery velvet feel of her making him ache till it was almost pain. His hand trembling with need, he eased one finger into her passage.

With a snarl of want, the demon rippled over his face and the effort it took to force the shift back to his human features nearly made him lose control. Knowing he couldnt wait much longer, he unzipped his leather pants and yanked them down just far enough, hating that it was so rushed, so crude, but wanting her so badly. Faith, I cant slow down.

Her muscles clamped down on his finger and when she spoke it was almost a sob. Just say my name. Just let me hear you say my name.

Hearing her say that nearly made him lose it, but with a groan he caught her mouth with his, tongue sliding past her lips as he thrust forward hard into her and buried himself in her living flesh. She jerked up against him and they gasped explosively into each other at the sensation. Growling, Angel shifted, making her cry out incoherently.

Faith, the demon purred in her ear as he circled his hips against hers, stimulating her further and making her squeeze her eyes shut and dig her nails into his back. Faith, it was a sigh as he set a driving rhythm, pushing her over the edge.

She cried out again as she came with his voice saying her name in her ear like a mantra; making one simple word hungry and sexual and full of heat with the mere inflection of his tone. Angel gritted his teeth has her muscles fluttered and clamped down on him. Two jagged, forceful movements brought him to the peak and he flung his head back as his body went rigid.

Falling slowly back down into her body from wherever it was she had been flying, Faith felt his muscles ripple under her fingers as his back arched and he spurted his cold seed into her.

A wave of panic crashed through her, washing away the euphoria, and with one convulsive lunge she shoved him off her hard. Maybe too hard, because he fell out of the narrow bed with a crash and she sat bolt upright. Shit! We forgot!

Trying to pick up his thoughts along with his body, Angel managed to raise himself up on his elbows, totally disorientated. Is this normally what you do to men after theyve given you what you wanted?

Faith looked at him wildly, his disgruntled tone not even registering in her brain. We didnt use a condom and my periods are due next week which means.... Then her words trailed off as she belatedly realised the obvious.

If she had hit him across the face with a wet towel Angel could not have been more stunned. He had always thought of Faith as being sexually....experienced, and she had never struck him as one who bothered about the little details. Yet here she was clutching the sheet over her breasts, freaking out because they hadnt used a condom? He watched her face colour as she realised he didnt need to use one of those things, and felt a sudden urge to hug her and laugh.

Hug her? Where had that thought come from when he wasnt even sure what it was that he had just begun? At the moment he didnt want to think about it because looking at her with her hair tumbled around her face, her lips bruised from kissing and the whole of her enveloped in the afterglow of Loves rites, he felt himself twitching to life again. He wanted to tell her that he had never known she was funny. He wanted to tell her that she was pretty, and that sitting up in the bed in the dark room she looked young, fragile and tender in a way she never had before.

Of course he couldnt tell her all those things so instead he climbed back on the cheap, ridiculously small bed and pulled down the sheet her fingers had been clutching so hard.

He didnt say a word as he kissed her goodbye, shrugging into his coat. Neither did she, watching him go out and hearing the front door shut with a click.

She didnt tell him how after the second time when he had taken it slow and driven her wild with his lips and tongue she had lain awake in the bed beside him, listening to his unnecessary breathing as he napped for an hour or so. She didnt tell him how she had risen on one elbow to look at the lines of his big body and watch the movement of his shoulder blades with his breath. How her hand had gone into the crack between mattress and bed to pull out a dagger that gleamed in the light from the window. How the dagger had risen as if of its own will only to stop when she had seen the tattoo on his back she had never noticed before. Large and writhing over his right shoulder blade, it was a beautifully executed phoenix rising from the flames with the letter A under it. The phoenix, symbol of rebirth. Of new beginnings.

The knife had gone back under the mattress.

Some things are better left unsaid.