Fic by Author  Era  Pairing  Rating  Title

Title: Three's Company, Four is Just Tiring
Author: Katriena Knights
Rating: NC-17
Summary: This is a debt only Angel can repay. Mmm Angel.
A/N: The first sentence is for Moonbeam--told you I was gonna do it.  
The rest is for Diane, who said, "Write a really smutty Furies fic and name one of them after me." So I did.

Angel was naked. Naked and strapped to a rather complex metal rack in the middle of a garishly decorated bedroom. He'd had six orgasms in the last three hours, and was beginning to wonder if a vampire could dust from sheer sexual exhaustion. Although, on the other hand, he wasn't entirely sure he cared.

A pair of hands slid down his back, slipping easily over a sheen of sweat.

"You are/in need/ of rest."

The three Sisters' voices sounded around him, an odd kind of Sensurround.

"I'm good," he managed, as one of the hands moved to cup his ass. He opened his eyes slowly. Artemis and Ariadne stood in front of him. That put Diana, the blonde one, behind him. Her hand slid forward, over his flanks.

"No./You must/rest now." The slim fingers tangled in the hair low on his belly. Something tingled, twitched a little, but he was nearly numb by now.

"Gonna untie me?" he managed.

"Yes./It is time/to release/your bonds."

He looked at Ariadne. He liked her, her delicate, Oriental features, the dark fall of her hair. She smiled at him. Behind him, Diana's hands slid back up his body, heading for the silk ropes around his wrists.

"Are we finished, then?" he asked, as his right hand fell free.

"For now." Artemis lifted his hand and laid it against the swell of her breast. "But there is more/in store for you/dear Angel."

Three Hours Earlier

Carefully avoiding Cordelia's gaze, Angel shrugged into his coat. He checked his pocket, found his car keys there, and headed for the door.

"Where are you going, Angel?"

Once, just once, why couldn't Cordelia mind her own business?

"Out," Angel said.

"Out where?"

"Outside."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Wes is going to want to know where you are."

Oh, how Angel missed the days when he'd been in charge. But it was his own fault he wasn't anymore, so he had to deal with it. "I have some business to take care of."

"Something Wesley knows about?"

"Sort of...an outstanding bill."

"Did you write a check? Because if you wrote a check, you know you have to be sure it gets into the ledger."

"I didn't write a check."

"Then what kind of--" She stopped, and her eyes went wide, and suddenly she looked uncomfortable. "You're going to see the Furies, aren't you?"

He didn't answer. She gave a small shudder. "Eww.  Just go. I don't want to talk about it, or think about it, or even acknowledge that we had this conversation."

"They saved our lives. I knew what they would want when I made the request."

"So you're going to, what, have sex with all three of them?  Are they not aware of your whole curse situation? Because I'm thinking sex with three women would pretty much be on the perfect happiness meter for any hot-blooded American male."

"Well, I'm cold-blooded, and I'm Irish, so I guess I'm safe. Besides, it's not really sex so much as a kind of mystical energy transfer."

"Oh. Really?"

"Yeah. Sort of a special vampire energy drain. It recharges their batteries."

He waited for Cordelia's reaction. She seemed a little less appalled. "Oh. Well, that's not so bad."

Angel headed for the door. "It's really not what you think."

He made it to the door this time, before she could ask any more questions. Thank God, he thought, that he'd made a clean escape. He didn't think he could manage another lie.

Because, with the Furies, it was totally sex.

#

Diana's hands moved up his other arm, releasing the cords binding his other wrist. He rotated his shoulder--the muscle had cramped.

Other hands moved over his body, loosening the rest of the soft cords binding him to the rack. Magic touched him, lifted him a little, as the Sisters eased him toward the bed.

"You will/rest now/dear Angel./Awaken strong/and ready for us/again."

The bed was soft, so unbelievably soft, and he let himself sink into the quilts and pillows.

"Rest now." Ariadne, her voice a soft flutter against his ear.

He closed his eyes. He wasn't that tired, not really, but the bed was so soft, and everything went suddenly dark and so, so warm...

#

The Furies lived in a reasonably good neighborhood, though one Angel knew was heavily populated by supernatural types. Probably the best place for them--he could hardly imagine the three Sisters going to the grocery store, for instance. Here they'd be much less conspicuous.

He rang the doorbell and they let him in, all three of them, hovering a little above the floor and looking at him with surprise mixed with appreciative lust.

"You have come/to pay the/debt you owe./We thought perhaps/you would not."

"I'm a man of my word. You know that."

"You are a man/of honor./A champion/of the Powers./ We sensed this/when first we met."

Artemis drifted up behind him, taking hold of his leather coat and sliding it off him. He watched her until she deposited the coat safely on the coat rack by the door, then turned back to the other two.

"That's interesting, because the first time you met me, I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing with my extremely useless unlife."

"We have eyes/into the future./We saw you then/as you are now."

They had formed a loose circle around him. Whatever power they used to levitate started to pull on him. His heels rose from the floor. It was a discomfiting sensation, and he swung his arms instinctively. The Sisters laughed.

"Do not try/to resist./It will only/make things/more difficult."

"It's just a little weird."

They lifted him a little higher, which, strangely, made it feel more natural. With one in front--the blonde one, Diana--and two behind, they escorted him into the bedroom.

"So...we're getting right to it?"

The Sisters laughed, the sound passing from voice to voice in the same way all their speech did. They stopped next to the bed, and his heels once again touched the floor.

The bedroom was huge, decorated in fuchsia and pink. The bed itself was large enough to comfortably hold all three Sisters. Images rose into Angel's head--good, old-fashioned, lusty male fantasies of what might go on among three women sharing the same bed. Except in this case he was fairly certain they were true.

Ariadne slid around in front of him and sat on the bed, her hands reaching up, deft fingers undoing his shirt buttons.

"The rack again?" Angel asked, nodding toward the metal contraption next to the bed.

"Always the rack./You know this./You understand why."

He nodded. He'd suspected as much. He'd been in this position before, more or less, and had been fucked within an inch of his life. Right now, as Ariadne pushed his unbuttoned shirt off his shoulders, he wasn't sure whether the tremor in his gut was anticipation or dread.

Her hands were warm, though, as she slid them flat down his chest. Her fingers went to his nipples, teasing. Hands reached around from behind him to undo his belt, and a hot, delicate tongue traced the letter A below his right shoulder blade. Human instincts kicked in, and Angel took a long, shuddering breath.

"You are/ready for us/dear Angel." The same hands that had undone his belt unfastened his pants, then slid inside them, slipping down the cotton covering his growing erection. "Or perhaps/not quite ready."

He closed his eyes as the delicate little hand toyed and squeezed. "Getting there."

Ariadne moved backward on the bed, sliding toward the pillows. Behind Angel, the other two sisters pushed him forward.

"Take pleasure of/Ariadne first./She is/The youngest of us."

How young? he wondered. These were ancient creatures, he had no doubt, in spite of their apparent youth. Diane and Artemis came forward, standing one on either side of him, and pushed at the waist of his pants until they fell down to his ankles. Then Artemis knelt to untie his shoes. He stepped out of them, compliant. There was no sense fighting them. He knew how this would go. For a while, they would let him think he was in charge. Then they would take over, and the real ride would begin.

Ariadne held her arms out to him. He lowered himself to the bed and crawled toward her. She drew him in and kissed him, small hands clutching his shoulders. Her mouth was soft and wet and tasted like peaches.

He kissed her deep, tasting her. He was safe here, he knew. Safe, at least, from the curse. He wasn't sure why, but he knew he'd walked this road once before without bringing forth Angelus. Maybe it was because they'd come so close to killing him.

The bed shifted and small, warm hands moved over his back as he leaned into Ariadne. One hand slipped between his thighs, cupped his scrotum, and he moaned into Ariadne's mouth. The room swam with the smell of female arousal. He was dizzy with it.

Ariadne drew back from him, pressing her breasts into his chest. The layer of soft silk between them was too much. He grabbed her neckline, tore it away, and buried his face against her, rooted after her breasts like a hungry child. His mouth latched to a nipple, his hands plunged under the hem of her skirt, clasped her buttocks, pulled her against him. His cock pressed into her heat.

The other two Sisters lay against him, one on either side, and the voices moved around him. "Her pleasure/is our pleasure./Take her soon/dear Angel./She is ready./We all are ready."

He ached just to shove into her, to feel the deep heat of her body, but he knew that would be going too fast. He had to play their game. He wasn't entirely sure what would happen if he made a misstep, but he didn't want to find out.

So, slowly, he turned around, lowering himself to the bed on his back, while he maneuvered Ariadne over him. She cried out as he pressed his mouth up into her, the sound echoing in the voices of the other two Sisters.

He worked his tongue against her, orchestrating the trio of rising moans. He sucked and pulled, thrust his tongue hard inside her, replaced it with two fingers, thrusting deep, working her. The moaning rose, then a third of it was muffled as a mouth closed on his cock. The third Sister's hands moved over his body, fingers trailing up his stomach to his chest, then teeth scraped his nipple.

He stiffened, heat pouring through him. Suddenly it was hard to concentrate, but he had to finish this, had to work Ariadne to completion. All three of them, by extension.

Trying to ignore the deep, pulling sensation in his groin, the movement of the mouth on his cock, he worked his fingers in deep, thrusting, pressing, at the same time licking in long, firm strokes, then shorter ones, sucking the nub of her clit, until suddenly she clenched on him and howled.

The howl came out in a three-note chord and echoed through the bedroom. Ariadne's body clenched and pulsed on his fingers. The mouth that had been working his cock slid free, leaving the voice free to fill out the chord. But he wasn't neglected for long; he couldn't see what was going on with Ariadne still balanced over his face, but weight shifted on the bed and suddenly there was heat, wet, sliding, as one of the other Sisters straddled him and brought him in deep.

He moaned into Ariadne and heard her laughter, echoed by the other two Sisters. He followed the voices--Artemis was the one straddling him now. Of course. Diana, as the eldest, would be last.

And this was where it got tricky. There were rules here, and if he broke them, the consequences would be dire. He didn't think they would kill him--not on purpose, anyway--but because of their connections, the rhythms and the bonds they shared, things had to be done a certain way. Nothing personal. Just the rules.

And the first rule, the one for this part of the game, was that Angel couldn't come until all three Sisters had been brought to climax. And the shared orgasms didn't count. They had to go one at a time.

Trouble was, it had been so long since he'd been inside a hot, living, breathing woman, that he wasn't sure he could hold back. And Artemis' body clenched him, still pulsing in the aftershocks of Ariadne's orgasm. Heat spun through his pelvis, liquid, insistent.

He closed his eyes and conjugated Irish verbs.

Artemis moved on him, tilting and rotating her hips, bringing him in deep. Ariadne moved, curling up on the bed next to him and kissing him, licking her own flavors off his lips, his tongue. And Diana--God, Diana was licking the soles of his feet, which felt incredibly good.

He was so close. Far too close.

An bhfuil me, an bhfuil tu, an bhfuil se, an bhfuil si, an bhfuil sibh, an bhfuil said...

He curled his hand low on his belly, his fingers crooked so Artemis touched him on each downward thrust. She wouldn't hold still long enough for him to put any concentrated effort into it, but it seemed to be a welcome addition, as she threw her head back and let out a gasping breath the first time she pumped down onto his hand.

He could feel her tension growing; unfortunately, his was burgeoning, as well. It was going to be incredibly difficult for him to stave off his own climax when she--

She keened and threw her head back, pressing herself down hard onto him, drawing him in as deep as he could go. The hot, pulsing sheath of her body brought him high, too high, and he had to fight hard to keep himself from going over the edge.

The room filled with the sounds of release, the three Sisters sharing Artemis' orgasm, and Angel grabbed Ariadne's head, pressing her into him, devouring her mouth with his. She clutched at his shoulders, and he narrowed his attention to that, to the press of her fingers into his skin, ignoring the heat flooding his groin. He couldn't let go, not yet, not now--

The rhythmic contractions of her release eased, softened, and the worst danger passed. He let himself be aware of her again, felt her soft aftershocks, then she slid off him and he moaned into Ariadne's mouth at the slick, sweet sensation.

Two down, one to go. Those were the rules, he knew, and now Artemis moved to the side, giving Diana access to his body. She licked his feet, one at a time, heel to big toe, then lifted herself to the bed and crawled over him.

The diaphanous material of her dress left little to the imagination, and he let himself look, then touch, as the lush swell of her breasts came within his reach. He cupped and hefted them, smoothed the silky fabric over her silky skin. She straddled his stomach and leaned over him, kissed him, his shoulders, his throat, up to his face, finally latching to his mouth, sucking his tongue. He shaped his hands to her body, feeling its full curves, cupping her hips. Her legs were spread across his abdomen, and he rocked her a little, spreading her wet heat over his skin.

Following his lead, she ground into him, rotating, spread open against his belly. Her soft keening built in an echo from the other two Sisters, moving around the room. Ariadne plucked at his nipples. Artemis had situated herself between his legs and was stroking his thighs, combing her fingers through the hair on his groin, fondling his genitals.

He looked straight up into Diana's eyes, held his focus there. His fingers dug into her buttocks as he moved her against him, then he let go, to heft her breasts, slide his hands down her stomach. Then he eased his fingers under and inside her.

She continued to move, working up and down on his hand. He looked her right in the eyes, holding her gaze, which had begun to grow hazy with lust. Her eyes widened a little when he curled his fingers inside her, pressing hard so that her body's movement dragged the tips of his fingers over exactly the right spot. She ground into him, again and again, and he could feel her clenching on him, tighter and tighter...

She stiffened and bent her head back, and as soon as he felt her begin to shatter into orgasm, he grabbed her, dragged her down to the bed and rolled onto her. She was still quaking as he drove hard into her, burying himself to the hilt. All three of them cried out in ecstatic release, Diana arching hard under him. He grasped her wrists, pinning them above her head, and pounded her.

He'd expected to be gone in about three strokes, but somehow he kept going, deeper, harder, while she clasped her legs around his hips and pressed her breasts into his body. And suddenly she came again, shivery, and with the ululation of triple voices echoing in the room.

And, finally, he broke. He'd held it back so long he was afraid it might not happen, but finally his body gave in, and he came harder than he'd ever come before, the pulsing, concentric, wringing sensation almost painful. He had lost control of his body, and sounds were coming out of him without his consciously forming them. Animal, demon sounds. His face shifted and he had to push himself back from Diana to keep from burying his teeth in her throat.

She only smiled up into his face, her thighs clenched against his hips. He closed his eyes and let the last, suffocating wave of orgasm take him. His whole body spasmed, and he was helpless to it, until it finally worked its way through him, and he was wrung and empty.

He forced the demon back, and as his face changed, Diana drew him down to her, cradling him against her. He nestled his face against her throat as she stroked his hair.

"You have done/well, dear Angel/as we knew you would."

"Yeah," he managed weakly. But he knew what was next. He wasn't entirely sure he was up to it, but he also knew he had little choice. With the Furies, he couldn't just roll over and say, "I'm done now." There were rules. Those rules would work to his advantage for a while, if the whole process didn't kill him.

And it was entirely possible it could. When he had first met the Furies, in Montana in the thirties, they'd told him they'd tried many times to fulfill themselves with human men. Over half the men had ended up dead. Half those who'd survived had been rendered impotent.

"But a vampire," they'd said. "A vampire/might possess the stamina/we require."

And apparently he had, because here he was, almost seventy years later, being put through the wringer again...

Ten Years Later

Wesley put his pen down and stared at Angel. "You're kidding. You must be."

"No, I'm not."

"Do you have any idea what the mystical processes involved were? Why so many men died?"

Angel smirked. "Wes, if you had nine or twelve orgasms in a matter of a few hours, you'd probably be dead, too."

"Nine or twelve?"

"They come in threes." He grinned. "Pun entirely intended."

Wes rolled his eyes. "Well, I'll need a bit more than that if there's any hope of getting this article published."

"Well, then they--" The front door of the house opened, and Angel broke off. "Let's go to the study," he said. "Buffy hates this story."

#

Diana cradled him for a time, letting him lie there on her, while the other two Sisters caressed him. Their fingers slid over his body, easing tired muscles, replenishing him in a way he didn't really understand. Diana's embrace was warm, her body soft under him, and she didn't seem to mind his weight on her. He lay still, lost in the slow rhythm of her breathing, feeling the gentle slide of hands over his back, listening to her heartbeat.

Finally, Diana pushed gently at him, eased him off her and onto his back.

"Two more/for you./Then we go on."

Angel closed his eyes. Diana drifted away from him as Artemis and Ariadne moved in, settling on either side of him on the bed. Ariadne bent over him and took him into her mouth.

He was flaccid, tired, but the touch of her hot mouth revived him. He let his hips twitch, pulsing a little into her mouth. She hummed, the sound vibrating against the head of his cock. He made a choking sound; he was too tired to moan properly. The energy was coming back, though, flowing into him as hands caressed his body.

Ariadne's mouth was impossibly deep, magically so, he was certain. She took him in to the root, pulling, sucking at him. She worked him until he was solid and thick again, and he was certain not all the heat flowing into his pelvis was natural arousal. There was magic here, filling him through Ariadne. He was helpless to it. Fire rose hard inside him, so fast, and he clutched at the bed, Artemis suddenly bending over him, licking his mouth, kissing him hard and deep while Ariadne's mouth worked him and her hand cupped his scrotum, lifted it, pressed his testicles against his body. Her hot hand made him flinch, then shift, trying to push into her palm.

He was thrusting hard now, hums of pleasure rising all around him, his cock slamming into Ariadne's mouth, which had become deep and hot and open, accepting him, and suddenly she moved her hand down from his balls and slid a wet finger inside him, and pushed up, hard, and he exploded, clenching the sheets, shoving his head back into the bed and moaning, the sound wrenched out of him as he came, emptying in a blaze of white-hot ecstasy into Ariadne's suddenly laughing mouth.

It hung there for a long moment, surrounding him in a bubble of absolute stillness, then finally letting him back down. Hands slid over him, easing him. Lips--he wasn't sure whose--brushed his shins, his thighs.

One more, he thought. One more, and they're going to want it right away. He didn't know if he could summon the energy for another round. But he had to. No choice. Those were the rules. One more, and then he would get a chance to refuel.

It had to be Artemis, of course. She was still next to him on the bed; he rolled toward her, embraced her, kissed her face and throat.

"How do you want it?" he asked her.

"It is good," she said, and the other Sisters picked up the usual chorus, "when you are/inside us."

He had no problem with that. He maneuvered Artemis under him, she writhed against him not in protest but in lusty arousal, rubbing her body on him like a cat. Her skin was hot, velvety. He grabbed her by the waist, holding her still to suckle her breasts, but she kept moving. He laughed against her nipple. It was like trying to ride an untamed horse.

He had some experience in that area, though. Pulling hard on her breast with his mouth, he smoothed his hands down her sides, quieting her. She arched under him, but moved more slowly.

Hands clasped his buttocks, a body settling between his legs. Diana, he thought, though he wasn't positive. The hands slid up his back and her breasts pushed against him.

"Do not wait/too long/dear Angel."

Ariadne's legs opened under him and he pushed against her wet heat. But he wasn't ready. Damn dick, anyhow. When you didn't want it hard, it was always standing the hell up, and when you needed it hard, it was floppy and useless. Of course, he'd given it a pretty good workout already, so he couldn't blame it particularly.

Diana's teeth closed on the back of his neck, hard. He jumped, startled.

"Now," the other two voices said in unison, and he felt Diana's teeth break his skin. "Now."

He bent back into Diana's body, into the hard clench of her teeth on his neck. He could feel blood running down his shoulder, could smell it.

That did it. The pain, the smell of his own blood, the knowledge that he could quite likely die here if he didn't summon a workable erection now. Too much pressure, certainly, but finally his body rose to the occasion.

Artemis was still wiggling too much, though. Hefting Diana's weight on his back, he lifted himself away from Artemis and flipped her over. She tilted her hips back toward him and he grabbed her, shoved into her from behind, then let his weight bear her back down to the bed.

She was hot and slick and deep, and pushed back up against him as he thrust into her. Diana eased away, now that he was performing properly. Ariadne's smaller hand slid between his thighs, cradling his tightening scrotum as he pounded into her prone sister.

"Now," rose the voices in a full, round chord, but he wasn't ready, wasn't there... "Now!" and finally the fist clenched in his groin, then opened, and he gritted out a deep moan as he spilled himself into Artemis' accepting body.

His head spun as the orgasm wrenched through him, his vision black and red, his body taut, pushed to the edge of endurance. He rode the wave down, looked down at Artemis' shoulders beneath him, the curve of her slim neck. Diana's hand touched his shoulder.

"Now?" he said.

"Now," they answered in unison, and he bent his head to Artemis' throat and bit deep.

#

Wes stared at him over his notebook, pen poised. He hadn't written anything for the last five minutes.

"They let you feed?"

"Yep."

"And you did?"

"Yep."

"You know he makes half this shit up." Angel turned to see Buffy standing in the door to the study.

"I do not," he protested.

Buffy rolled her eyes and headed back toward the kitchen. "Dinner in twenty minutes."

Wes waited until he knew she was out of earshot, then said, "But you didn't feed on human blood during that time period."

"Well, that's the catch. They're not human."

#

All three Sisters stiffened as Angel's teeth went deep into Artemis' neck. He was still inside her; he pressed in deep, one last time, her blood flooding his mouth. He gulped it greedily, feeling the energy from it revitalizing him. It tasted strange, almost bitter. Not human, but even human blood wouldn't have burned through him like this.

Artemis climaxed again under him, a deep, shuddering breath coming out of her, echoed by the others. Angel drank at her throat until the last spasm passed through her, then forced his teeth free.

Artemis stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Take us," said Diana, then Ariadne, "Take us/all of us."

He licked the wound on Artemis' neck. Diana still lay on him; he shifted, rolling off Artemis and onto his back. Diana moved with him and he kept rolling until she was under him again. She wrapped her legs around his waist and tilted her head to one side. Angel bit, and fed.

Her blood was thicker, the flavor stronger. Not demon, not human--he had no idea what these women were, but he knew what his place was here, knew what was expected of him.

He pressed his hand between her legs, slid his fingers inside her to feel her come, then again forced himself to stop drinking.

Ariadne was there before he could even reach for her, offering him her throat. He hauled her up by her shoulders, set her against the headboard. In front of her, on his knees, he took her, drinking ravenously. She clutched at his upper arms, keening with pain and arousal, until she stiffened against him and the three-part chord of shared orgasm again filled the room.

He pulled away from her, bent his head back, forced his face to return to human. Ariadne moved away from him, one hand pressed against the wound on her neck. Diana moved to him and gently wiped his mouth, then kissed him.

"Now the rack," she said, and all three of them laughed in anticipation.

1937--the first encounter

"The rack?" This sounded a little less like good sex and a little more like some kind of whacky bondage fun. He didn't know these creatures well enough to trust them with something like that. But apparently he had no choice.

They picked him up, the three of them maneuvering him with some kind of magic through the air until his back was against the metal rack he'd seen next to the bed when they'd brought him in here.

He swallowed. This was making him nervous. He'd been under the impression, going in, that they didn't want to kill him. But that didn't necessarily preclude torture.

He didn't want that. Didn't think he could stand it. Not because he was afraid of the pain, but because he was afraid he would like it. And that would mean--what? That in almost forty years he'd learned nothing about what it was to be--whatever the hell he was? He didn't need to learn that. He knew it already.

Their strange, non-human blood pooled hot in his stomach, sending warmth through his dead veins. It was the strangest thing he'd ever tasted. He'd been afraid to drink at first, afraid it might kill him.

But they were tying him up now, with soft silken cords, his wrists above his head, legs spread-eagled. He should have hung heavily from the bonds, but something held him up. Magic, he was certain.

"There is no/reason to/fear us, dear/lovely Angel./So far you have/trusted us./Trust us again./We have no wish/for you to die."

He let his head fall back against the rack. "Don't hurt me." He hadn't meant to say it, but it came out, anyway.

They hovered around him, their eyes keen. "You fear the pleasure/you might find/in torture./You fear/the return/of what you were."

They spoke gently, and he had the feeling they actually understood, sympathized.

"Yes," he said. The demon had been close enough when he had fed--close enough to frighten him. If pain brought it out of him--

The lattice of the rack had gone warm against his naked skin. The Sisters began to hum and the warmth grew. It was energy more than heat, he realized, and it eased into him through his skin, revitalizing him the same way the blood had.

No, not quite the same way. The heat, the energy, was awakening something inside him, a taut, intense arousal more powerful than anything he'd ever felt before. He arched back against the rack, feeling the power burn through him, the taut coiling of need in his pelvis.

This was going to kill him. It would be like sunlight, heat pounding through him, turning him to ash. No wonder the human men they'd tried this with had died. He had already been pushed to the edge of his endurance, and now they wanted more...

They touched him, hands sliding over his body. The energy changed direction, still moving through him but passing into them. His body was acting as a catalyst of some sort, converting the energy from the rack into something they could use. But there was so much of it...

Diana pressed into him, cupped his genitals, her fingers drawing the energy through him. He lurched, gasping, and came into her hands, dry because he had nothing left to ejaculate, but the orgasm ripped through him anyway, power pouring out of him into Diana's cupped palms.

"I can't--" he managed, his body bucking.

"You can," said Diana, then Artemis, "You can./Blessed be you,/you can."

The warmth flooded through him again, filled him up. Diana's hands slipped away, to be replaced by Ariadne's.

"Only when you are/empty can you/spill the power."

He understood then, understood why they had drained him so thoroughly before this final phase. The power from the rack had taken him over, and he was helpless in its grasp. It spilled out of him into Ariadne's hands, then Artemis took her turn.

"The end is near./Almost finished./You will be well."

He hoped they were right, because, as Artemis took him to the third climax, his vision went black and red and his head swam, and for a long, pulsing moment he was certain he would never come back from it, but he did, and they caressed him, kissed his face, and gently eased him down from the warm, pulsing metal of the rack.

2001

He woke in warmth. The blankets were soft against his skin and he felt heavy, enervated. The three sisters all lay in the bed with him. Artemis and Ariadne were curled up like kittens together next to him, Ariadne's back pressed against his side. Diana lay on his other side, one arm draped over his chest. As he turned his head to look at her, she opened her eyes.

"Hungry?" she asked. It was odd, hearing her speak only the single word, with no echo, but the others were asleep.

He nodded, and she lifted herself up onto his chest, offering him her throat. The mark from only a few hours ago was gone already. He could hear the soft sound of her heartbeat, of her blood flowing, and he swallowed, automatically fighting the urge.

"No," she said. "Drink."

He slid his fingers into her hair, gentle, caressing, kissed her throat until she hummed and the other two sisters stirred against him, responding to Diana's arousal. Then he let the demon loose, and bit.

So good, the blood, pouring hot down his throat. He would have this today, and then it would be back to pig's blood. It was all right, though. He could handle it. This blood didn't trigger the cravings, for some reason. Because it wasn't human, no doubt. But it was so good. Sweet, thick, hot, and it flowed through him like hot light. He let his hand slide down her body, fondled her bare breast. Her skin was warm and soft, her nipple hard against the center of his palm.

He drank until she came, then she touched his face, pushing him gently back. He let her go and she kissed his ridged forehead. Behind him, Ariadne and Artemis had both sat up and were waiting their turn. Ariadne moved in toward him and he embraced her, holding her close. Fearlessly, she kissed him, opening his mouth with hers, maneuvering her tongue past his fangs.

He reveled in the moist heat of her mouth for a moment, until she drew back and tilted her head, lifting herself on him.

"Feed," she whispered, the word echoed by the others.

He drank her, fondled her, and she cupped her hands between his thighs, her fingers warm and clever, coaxing his arousal. It was slow and languid, not the way it had been before. There was nothing at stake now. The important part was over. This was just for him.

Well, perhaps not just for him. He smiled as he drank, feeling her body tauten, then convulse in release. When she signaled him, he let her go, licked the wound on her neck, then accepted Artemis into his embrace. She bent to suckle his cock for a time before giving him leave to feed. But even his own arousal now was quieter, less urgent.

She offered him her throat, but he laid a hand on her thigh in silent question. She smiled a little and nodded. He traced his lips over the soft skin inside her thigh, found the vein high in the crease of her groin, and bit there. With a soft, echoed moan, she arched under him and he slid his fingers inside her as he drank. It didn't take her long to climax, and he reluctantly let her go.

But Diana was there, waiting, and took him into her arms as he let the demon fade back.

"You have done/well, dear Angel/so very well./We are strong again/and well./One more for you/my love/and then you/may go home/with all our gratitude."

He smiled as Diana kissed him. Of course it would be her, and he didn't mind because he liked her, and not just because she was blonde. She had a strength to her, born of her years--how many, he wondered again, but doubted he would ever know. He had known the first time he'd seen the Sisters that she was the leader, the oldest, the most powerful. To finish with her was not only logical, but an honor, and he would treat it as such.

He let her take the lead, but she rolled him on top of her, taking his weight, opening herself to him. In spite of her invitation, he held back, kissing her, letting his hands learn her body. She was full-bodied, full-breasted, soft, hot, beautiful.

Finally all three of them said together, "Please," and he sank into her.

No hurry this time, no urgency, so he went slowly, feeling every inch of her depth as he slid in, back out, and she writhed under him, breasts pressing against his chest. She was hot and tight, silken, and he took his time, feeling her, licking the already healing wound on her throat. Her body followed his easy, languid rhythm, and when he finally came it was slow and sweet, sliding through his body like water. It was bittersweet, though, knowing that, after this, they would send him home.

They bathed him first, in a big tub that smelled of lavender, six hands scrubbing him clean. Then they dried and dressed him, back in the clothes he'd worn here. They each kissed him one last time, then Diana settled his leather coat over his shoulders.

"We hope to/see you again/very soon./Seventy years/was too long/ to wait."

He smiled. "I'll see what I can do."

He drove home in the dark, the top down, letting the cool night air whisper over his skin. It felt good. He felt good. Almost dangerously good, but he put that thought aside. The release--all of them--had been purely physical, and the Sisters had been using him.

But these days, he'd pretty much take whatever he could get. Pathetic, yet true.

He pulled up in front of the hotel and got out of the car. His knees went wobbly for a moment and he grabbed the car door to steady himself. He was, he realized, exhausted.

He dragged himself up the steps, into the hotel. It actually took an effort to push the door open.

To his surprise, Cordelia sat on the round couch, a stake in her hand. She glared at him balefully.

"Are you evil?" she demanded.

He rolled his eyes. "No, I'm not evil. I'm just...really tired. I'm going to bed. Wake me up in a week." He stumbled on his way to the stairs, and for a moment considered using the elevator. But it was notoriously unreliable, and he didn't want to get stuck between floors.

Though it might be a good place to sleep without being disturbed...

One step at a time, he made his way up the stairs. As he opened the door to his room, he heard Cordelia, downstairs, mutter acidly, "Mystical energy transfer, my ass."

He smiled, staggered across the room, and fell face-first onto the bed.

END.