Rewards, Chapter 2

“Are you expecting visitors?” she asked, trying to sound as casual as possible in case he really had set it up. Anya was still a little confused about the proper reactions to certain situations, so she was going to play this one carefully.

Xander rolled over, twisting the blankets around his legs and blinked sleepily at Anya. He smiled softly. “Hey. Mornin’.”

That was something she knew how to react to, and Anya grinned as she leaned her head forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. “So?”

Ten minutes later, after a quick tooth brushing and the both of them getting dressed, Xander stopped in his tracks and stared in utter shock at the sight that greeted him in his new living room. Anya stood next to him, watching his face carefully for his reaction, filing it away for future reference. If she ever woke up to naked girls bound in the living room, she’d know what the proper reaction was, although whether or not she would go with that reaction was still to be decided. Anya often dismissed normal human reactions, because they were very silly a lot of the time.

It was the first words either of them had spoken since exiting the bedroom, and it created a flurry of movement in the two bound girls. The dark haired one yelled something incoherent, and the blonde let out a high pitch whine.

“Ahh-Urr?” she whimpered through the gag in her mouth. Anya found herself mirroring Xander’s reaction. Suddenly that voice sounded familiar. Anya’s mouth opened slowly, and she looked to Xander, who seemed pale as a vampire.

“Ahh-Urr!” the blonde seemed to groan and whimper at the same time. Her whole body shivered. The dark haired one started mumbling louder, her arms working underneath the table in an attempt to get free, but it was a futile effort.

“I-I-I…” Xander tried to say, his pale face quickly flushing into a deep red. “W-w-what is…?”

Anya pouted slightly. “Oh. I thought you might have been expressing your desire to add more variety to our relationship.”

“That’s going to be hard. There aren’t any clasps or locks on their cuffs.”

Anya gestured to the two squirming girls. “See? They’re all just one-piece things. Seems like magic to me.”

“Did you see their collars?” Anya asked, although she was sure the answer was no. Xander seemed unable to look at the girls.

“Buffy’s already going to murder me the very instant she can move,” Xander said in a low hiss. “There’ll be no more looking.”

Anya rolled her eyes. “Why not? You look at naked girls all the time. You have magazines full of them.”

“Then she’ll understand you looking. How else will we solve this mystery?”

Xander whimpered. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut, and turned around slowly. The two bound girls seemed to have stopped moving, and each was breathing quickly.

“I won’t look more than I have to,” he said in an unnecessarily loud voice. Then he unclenched his eyes and blinked at the strange sight. Biting his lip, he stepped closer to them, and frowned as he read the collars. He almost reached a hand out to touch Buffy’s, but thought better of it. He stood up straighter, and glanced at the other girl.

Xander’s brow furrowed as he thought on it, and the dark-haired girl seemed to freeze, obviously feeling their attention focused on her. Her breath came in quick pants, causing her well-developed breasts to raise and fall in straining rhythm.

“Tattoos?” Xander circled carefully around her, and paled again. “Oh this just gets better and better.”

“The psycho?” Anya gasped. Xander shot her an angry look and put his finger to his lips before drawing it across his throat.

“Because,” he sighed. “Never mind. Just… Oh man.” He put his face in his hands and sighed again. “Look, uh, Buffy and, um, Faith, I think. We’re uh, going to try and get you guys out of this.”

“We should try to get their gags off first,” Anya suggested. “Then they can tell us what they know.”

“Uh, yeah. Good idea. Look, hon, can you get a sheet or something from the bedroom so we can cover them up?”

Anya rolled her eyes. “I’m not messing up my clean sheets just because of your puritan insecurity.”

“Ahn,” he said warningly. “We can discuss our views on the human body later, okay? It’s not for me, it’s for them.”

She scowled slightly, but a few moments later returned with a simple white sheet. Xander took one end and she took the other, and they flung it over the two girls.

“Buff, I realize, uh, this isn’t the kind of position you, uh, want, uh…ever to be seen in, but this is way beyond me.”

Buffy whimpered wordlessly, a kind of pleading sound that Xander assumed meant she wanted to keep as many people as she could out of this.

Hands shaking, palms sweating, and swallowing nervously, Xander crept up beside the table, trying not to stare at the two incredible bodies on lewd display before him. He cursed his traitorous penis, which had put up a valiant effort to remain flacid as long as possible. Now though, it was quickly becoming painfully hard. He was glad to kneel down in front of the table, because it served to hide his growing erection.

Xander’s nervousness ebbed slightly as he examined the bonds. Every strap was one continuous piece of material. There were no locks, no clasps, no buckles and no knots. It was as if their bonds had just materialized with Buffy and Faith in place.

He peered first at Faith’s neck, which seemed long and elegant beneath the thick collar she wore. The same was true of Buffy’s. Xander shook his head silently in disbelief. The two of them had to be in pretty bad pain, as their positions couldn’t possibly be comfortable. Not only were their heads forced to turn to their sides, locked in a forced kiss from the mouth-filling gag they shared, but their legs were spread and bent back over their heads. It looked very uncomfortable.

It also looked far too exciting, but Xander refused to let himself dwell on that.

Property of Alexander Harris. That’s what the collars said, in thick embossed lettering circling around their necks. What kind of joke was that? What could that possibly mean? Xander sighed, and glanced back at Anya.

She nodded seriously. “Oh yeah. I mean, look at them, they’re both clearly aroused. That doesn’t happen with vengeance.”

Xander felt heat rise into his cheeks at Anya’s observation. True, he’d noticed the signs of arousal on the girls when his eyes would inadvertently flick to the forbidden zone, but to have someone voice it seemed wrong, somehow.

Mere inches from Xander, Buffy whined softly, and shuddered. Xander didn’t want to think what that could mean. He swallowed again.

“Um, I think, I think that I can get the blindfolds off,” Xander said, trying to sound calm as possible. “They’re not latched on anywhere.”

Faith seemed to have ceased any attempts to make any kind of sound since they’d recognized her. She did nothing but breathe in what might have been frightened pants. Buffy, meanwhile, whimpered something in high-pitched tones, which Xander took as an affirmative.

“Okay, uh, I’ll just…” He reached forward, carefully, avoiding their smooth legs, slick with sweat and glistening in the morning light. He had to duck underneath the triangle formed of their bound legs, and was deathly afraid of what might happen if he touched that perfect bare skin.

Heart pounding in his chest, Xander gingerly grabbed the edge of Buffy’s blindfold between thumb and forefinger, careful not to touch her at all, if he could help it. He slowly pulled it off her face.

Buffy blinked rapidly, her eyes adjusting to the light, and for an instant, Xander’s eyes locked with hers. Buffy’s blue-green eyes stared into his, wide with a plethora of emotions he couldn’t begin to decipher. Of course, the fear and humiliation was easy to spot.

It was hard for her to look at him, her head turned as it was, locked against Faith’s. The whites of her eyes seemed so prominent when she looked at him, making her seem more frightened than she probably was. Her eyes slowly did their best to take in her surroundings, and she groaned when she looked up, seeing her legs spread wide, pulled back over her head, exposing her to Xander and Anya. She squeezed her eyes shut and shuddered again.

Xander licked his lips unconsciously, and reached forward again. Buffy’s eyes locked on his hand as it moved forward, trembling softly. He took hold of Faith’s blindfold, and slid it away, drawing her hair out behind it as he did so. She was as silent as ever, and her dark eyes stared unwaveringly at him. Xander stared back, unsure what to do or say. Faith was unreadable, and he had no idea what was going through her head.

Buffy whined, Faith remained silent. The two girls’ eyes turned on each other, and Slayer stared at Slayer. Their heads were locked together in an upside-down kiss, so it was hard for each to get a good look at the other’s eyes. A moment later both flicked their gazes to the other’s body, before looking back to each other.

“Now what?” Anya asked, kneeling down beside Xander, leaning against him. Oddly enough, her presence served to calm him. Anya didn’t get flustered from sexual weirdness, and he took strength from her lack of panic.

Faith stared at them, with Buffy unable to get a good look, as her head was facing in the opposite direction. Dark eyes seemed to question them silently, demanding answers.

“I don’t guess, uh, that you guys know what happened, do you?” Xander asked. Faith just stared at him silently, but Buffy began to whimper and whine some kind of reply. Xander frowned and leaned over the two of them to get a better look at Buffy’s eyes. They stared up at him meaningfully, and she mumbled into the gag. “You do?”

“I think that means yes,” Xander said, he scowled, and examined the gag that kept the two Slayer’s mouths so close together. If Buffy knew what was going on, they needed to get that gag off so she could tell them. “Don’t freak out. I’m going to just check out this strap, okay?”

Buffy’s eyes stared at him purposefully, and she bobbed her head as best she could.

Gritting his teeth and bolstering his resolve, Xander once again reached out with trembling hands. He held his breath, and slid his finger beneath the tight leather strap.

The very instant his fingers touched Buffy’s flesh, two things happened. The first was a bright flash of light and an explosion of sound as something appeared in the air above him. The second was that Buffy’s entire body seemed to stiffen, and she groaned awkwardly into the gag as her eyes rolled up into her head. A few moments later she relaxed, breathing heavily and staring distantly with a heavy-lidded gaze.

Xander, meanwhile, had stumbled back away from the two girls, and wasn’t sure what to stare at: his beautiful best friend who was currently bound, naked, and apparently experiencing at least a little pleasure, or the piece of paper that floated lazily to the floor.

“What is it?” Anya asked, staring at the paper, which lay unmoving on the carpet beside the table. Xander stared at it, and could make out his own name written in large calligraphy. He picked it up, and his eyes went wide. “What?” Anya pressed. “What’s it say?”

Xander didn’t answer her as his eyes quickly read the paper, flipped it over, frowned, and read it again. Anya crawled up beside him, the both of them kneeling near the table as Xander read. When he seemed to be reading it for the third time, Anya sighed in frustration and yanked the paper out of his hands. It read:

Congratulations:

Alexander Lavelle Harris. As a devoted champion for Good, you have been rewarded. As your deeds have included saving the life of the most successful Slayer in the last several millennia, it seems only fitting that she be part of your reward.

Unfortunately, the Slayer’s record is not quite as clean as your own, and as such, your reward has had to be altered significantly. Remain calm, her reward won’t affect your own, and her own reward will still be substantial.

However, what was to be your initial reward, the mutual realization of love and affection between you and the Slayer, has instead been altered, both by the Omnipotent Order of Punishment and Rewards, as well as The Hellmouth. For this reason, we are unable to provide exact details of the rewards given to you, at least in regards to the Slayer.

The following can be accurately documented: the Slayer is now yours to command, in mind and body. Her pleasure is your pleasure, and it is the belief of this office that this will eventually see the same outcome as originally intended. The Slayer, except when it would interfere in her deeds or her welfare, is yours.

Worry not, as careful testing was enacted before the implementation of this reward, and the Slayer gave the necessary correct answers in order to complete this reward. We do everything by the book here.

As such, the Slayer is at your command, sexually or otherwise, intended for your enjoyment and pleasure, and thus her enjoyment and pleasure. To this end, many of her desires, from the simplest to the dark and complex, were enhanced. The full details of these enhancements, of course, are sketchy, as any reward involving the Slayer personally has been altered somewhat by circumstances. Nonetheless, you should feel confident that her pleasure will be great, and her desires are well suited to the roles you now find yourselves in.

The Slayer notwithstanding, your reward consists of enhancements to your sexual nature. Diseases of the flesh no longer affect you or your partners, and procreation is an optional result of any coupling, requiring the express desire of both you and the recipient of your seed. Further aspects of your reward include a preternatural proclivity towards good luck, success, and safety. It is the hope of Side of Good that these traits will enable you to continue your battle against Evil alongside the Slayer. It is also hoped that you might help to cleanse the darker marks on the Slayer’s record.

The Side of Good greatly appreciates all you have done for the cause, and hopes you enjoy your rewards, and that you continue to be as productive a soldier in the fight against the Side of Evil. We apologize for being unable to properly document the full details of your reward, vis a vis the Slayer.

Finally, as a word of caution: The Omnipotent Order of Punishment and Rewards has altered this reward in conjunction with the shadowy deeds done by the Slayer. As such, were you to in any way reject the finalized reward, The Hellmouth would thus be given greater influence over altering the reward further. Therefore it is highly suggested that you enjoy your reward as much and as often as possible. The Side of Good is not responsible for any damages, deaths, tortures, or hideous mutations that may occur upon rejection of your reward.

Enjoy your reward, and we hope that you and the Slayer’s success is bolstered by what will surely be an exciting and satisfying situation for you both.

—Gimmel, duly appointed arbiter of punishments and rewards, Side of Good.

“Gimmel,” Anya breathed, eyes wide. She stared down at the paper in apparent disbelief. She looked up to Xander. “Gimmel!”

“You don’t understand, Xander. Gimmel did this! Wow.” Anya looked at him strangely, as if seeing him for the first time. “You got a reward.”

Xander met her gaze. “You know about this? Do you know how to get them free?”

Anya shrugged and glanced at the paper again. “I know about rewards. I mean, every vengeance demon does. Rewards don’t work like vengeance does. Gimmel, I mean, he was a myth. A legend! He does all the reward work for the side of good, and he’s real picky about who gets stuff.” She continued to watch Xander with awe in her eyes. “Xander, you got a Gimmel reward. That’s like the mystical version of the Medal of Honor!”

“Yeah, I’m so thrilled,” Xander groaned again. “So you don’t know how to get them free?”

Her eyes darted back and forth as she scanned the parchment. “I think you’re supposed to have sex with them.”

“What!” Xander exclaimed in a harsh whisper. He snatched the paper from Anya’s hands and got to his feet, moving as far away from the bound Slayers as he could. Faith remained as still as she was able, although she looked a little paler than usual. Buffy’s body flushed deep red, and she squeezed her eyes tightly closed. “Where does it say that? It doesn’t say that!”

“Well it’s obvious,” Anya said, rising to her feet. “‘At your command sexually or otherwise?’” she quoted. “The whole thing seems based around sex. Kind of like vengeance, really. You wouldn’t believe how many of my wishes were some kind of sexual curse. This one time, I made it so this guy would ejaculate acid whene—”

“Fine,” she pouted. “I’m just saying, sex is important for vengeance, so it’s probably important for rewards too. I mean, look at them!” she gestured casually to the coffee table. “They’re so obviously there to be sexed up.”

“We have to!” Xander nearly shrieked, his voice raising several octaves in near panic. “This is magic, and I don’t know how to undo evil bondage magic.”

“It’s not evil,” Anya assured him. “See? Side of Good.” She pointed to the parchment.

“It does if it’s Gimmel. You can’t fake that seal, Xander. Gimmel’s too powerful for that, and he’d get real angry if someone tried to impersonate him.” Anya turned back to the girls. “It doesn’t seem that bad to me.”

“Just trust me on this one,” Xander sighed. “Okay? We have to find a way to get them out.”

Anya looked thoughtful for a moment, and then gave him a serious look. “Fine, but I get to be involved.”

Xander’s mind raced as he tried to figure out what Anya was talking about. “What?”

“If you’re having sex with them, I get to too. We’re a couple, so your reward is my reward.”

“Whoa, first of all, I’m not having sex with them. And second of all, you’re a girl!”

Xander rubbed his face in exasperation and looked at her desperately. “Please don’t involve Willow in this too.” He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. “I just meant, you’re not, you know. A lesbian.”

“The magazine at the supermarket said that eighty-three percent of all human females have bisexual tendencies,” Anya said matter-of-factly. “I’ve never done anything with a girl, so how do I know I’m not one of those eighty-three percent? This is the perfect opportunity to experiment.”

“Anya,” Xander said in a serious voice. “I’m not… I can’t… It wouldn’t be right.”

“Of course it is. It’s a reward from the Side of Good. You don’t get much righter.”

“It’s just not going to happen,” Xander promised, shaking his head. “I’m going to call Giles, he’ll fix this, and then we’ll be lucky if all we have to do is go into denial for the rest of our lives.”

Anya frowned, and walked up to Xander, plucking the paper from his grasp. She scanned through it quickly, and pointed towards the bottom. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Xander stepped into the kitchen to pick up the phone. “There’s no way we’re doing that.”

“Xander, did you even read this?” Anya waved the paper in the air. “If you reject the reward, they could die!”

The speaker on the phone emitted its low tone for a few moments before asking him to hang up and try again. Xander ignored it, staring at Anya.

Faith’s breath exhaled rhythmically against Buffy. The quickness of her breathing provided the only outward clue that Faith was upset. Or perhaps, Buffy thought, it was her sister Slayer’s lack of movement that indicated how perturbed she truly was. Before Xander and Anya had woken up, Faith and Buffy had both been struggling every few minutes to get free, to get more comfortable, or to just gain a little relief for their stretched muscles. Now, however, Faith remained stock still, moving only when Buffy’s own wriggling forced her to match the movement.

Buffy struggled not to whimper again, afraid that Anya might point out that her sounds weren’t exactly of the “I-hate-this” variety. Buffy was, despite everything, deeply aroused.

That in itself frightened her, because she knew why she was aroused. Gimmel, who Anya apparently knew as some legendary reward demon-guy, had done something to her. Done something to her so that she would be better prepared to be Xander’s.

His property? The thought sent a delicious thrill through her body. Again, her mind and body reacted strangely, a result of the things Gimmel had aroused within her.

No, don’t use that word. Not aroused. Brought about. The things he’d brought about in her. Suppressed desires forced to the surface.

But were they her desires originally, or Faith’s? It was bad enough she was having her own dark and secretive inner kinks expanded within her, but to have Faith’s as well was just so in line with her life. It was bad enough she was being given to her best friend and trussed up like some piece of art on display. It was bad enough that her inner desires were being blown out of proportion. It was bad enough that her body burned with arousal while she should have been completely mortified.

To have Faith’s desires on top of that was just overkill, and unfair overkill at that.

This was, Buffy realized, all Faith’s fault. Faith was the one who’d killed innocent people. Faith was the one with the dark record, and apparently nobody had ever told this Gimmel guy that there were two Slayers these days. It should be Faith who was stuck with her pussy wide open, body burning with unnatural desire and half-wishing Xander would give in and fuck her, not Buffy.

Except, Buffy realized, if Faith hadn’t tainted this whole reward thing, then Gimmel would have done something else to her. For her. He’d said as much, and Buffy had had enough time to reflect over every single word Gimmel had said to her in her bedroom.

If not for the dark spots on her record, Gimmel wouldn’t have done all of this. He would have, as he put it, allowed her to be aware of her love for Xander.

That, more than anything, burned inside of her. The feeling was intense and frightening, an idea she could not really allow herself to look at. Yet what else was there, bound as she was, while Xander and Anya tried to figure out what to do next?

Gimmel was just a stupid demon or something, that had to be it. After all, he’d really screwed up with not knowing there were two Slayers, so he was probably wrong about her feelings for Xander.

But he’d asked her, hadn’t he? Asked her who she trusted more than anyone outside of her own family. Was her answer really true? Was Xander the one she trusted more than anyone else?

Judging by his fervent refusal to take advantage of her in this situation, she suspected she did.

As the thought skipped through her mind, Buffy couldn’t stifle the moan that came with a flush of arousal. Arousal from the thought of Xander, of trusting Xander. Trusting him with everything; every part of her from mind, to body, to…to soul. It was a heady feeling, and one that made her almost laugh into the gag that filled her mouth.

Her emotions were like a kaleidoscope, constantly changing in multi-faceted reflections of one another. She was frightened, excited, aroused, humiliated, and oddly peaceful. Part of her new position felt nice. The thought that Xander was in control of her fate, instead of frightening her, made her oddly happy. Xander only ever wanted the best for her. There was no one she could think of in her life that seemed to care about her quite as much as Xander did, and he did it quietly, without praise or rewa—

She shivered with the pleasure of that thought, and cursed Gimmel inwardly. Her own reactions were obviously part of what he’d done to her. Again she wondered what were her feelings enhanced by Gimmel, what were those implanted on his own, and what were Faith’s feelings.

Some she was pretty sure were her own. The arousal she felt at being on display, at being watched, that was hers. For years she’d held a closely guarded masturbatory fantasy of sex in public, of what that exposure would feel like. Never in her life had she even thought to experiment with that desire, but she’d fantasized about it in more than a few showers.

Did Faith feel that way now too? Was Faith dripping wet from the thought of being exposed and nude, open for anyone who wanted to look at her? Did she wonder why she felt that way? After all, Gimmel had done what he’d done to “The Slayer” and it seemed clear that meant both Faith and Buffy.

Buffy groaned again at the mental image of her and Faith’s legs spread wide with an entire crowd of people leering at them. She imagined herself out in the crowd, staring at Faith’s wet pussy, and for an instant, wanted to taste it more than anything in the world.

That, she hoped, had not come from her own desires. Gimmel had mentioned something about experimenting with lesbianism. Just the kind of thing that probably went on in a women’s prison. So Buffy took a small amount of comfort in the knowledge that her aching desire to be touched by Anya when she felt Xander’s girlfriend coming close to them was from Faith, not herself.

Buffy squeezed her eyes closed as tightly as she could, and tried to keep her thoughts from dwelling on all the things that turned her on. Thanks to Gimmel, there was very little that didn’t make her flush with desire. A brief fantasy of Xander simply pounding into Buffy with no regard for her at all caused her to whimper again, and buck her hips slightly. This had the affect of tugging on Faith’s legs, and the two girls wriggled for a moment before finding their equilibrium again.

So many depraved thoughts now ran through Buffy’s mind. She recalled the different traits Gimmel had said he was enhancing, the desires she would have, and wished he’d told her all of them instead of just a few. It was clear that there were things he hadn’t mentioned, but the ones he had frightened her as much as they aroused her.

Was she destined for those things? Would Xander, as her owner in this crazy situation, someday spank her as she’d been given the deep desire for? Would his strong, caring hand smack powerfully against her round ass, causing her to cry out with lust and love, and beg him to forgive her for whatever transgression she’d caused? Afterwards, when she’d learned her lesson, would he stroke her and caress her, and tell her how well she’d taken it?

Another shiver of pleasure shot through her, and Buffy found herself almost in awe of the barrage of feelings and desires within her. They felt good, exciting, and yes, peaceful. But shouldn’t she also be panicking, like she was pretty sure Faith was doing? Shouldn’t Buffy be breathing quickly, unable to handle this situation?

Then she recalled yet another thing Gimmel had said. Xander would control her in body, and in mind.

Had it been since then that she felt so much calmer about everything? It seemed likely, because even the thought of Xander having that kind of control over her didn’t send her into a blind panic. Instead, she contemplated the thought as if an outsider.

Trust. That’s why Gimmel had asked her about trust. Not because Xander would be able to have sex with her. Logically, it seemed like he was intended to have sex with her, so Gimmel didn’t want to know if she trusted Xander because he was afraid Xander would take advantage of her body when she was bound.

No. He’d asked because he wanted to be sure Buffy wasn’t afraid Xander would take advantage of the power Gimmel was giving him over Buffy. The power to control her mind.

Buffy shuddered again at what that might mean, her inner muscles contracting as she tried to gain some relief for her aching desire. Xander really did own her. He could do whatever he liked to her.

She trusted Xander. This much, she was sure of. Trusted him even before Gimmel started tinkering with her desires. But had she trusted him enough for this? Had she trusted anyone enough for this?

Maybe she did. Maybe she had to, otherwise Gimmel never could have put her in this position. Didn’t he say something about needing her answer? That made it sound like if she’d said someone else’s name, this wouldn’t have happened.

That made her feel better, even excited. If this was, somewhere, deep down inside, something she might have trusted Xander with, then maybe she could just let go, and enjoy it. Enjoy the incredible feelings going through her, because she didn’t really have any choice. Xander held all the choice. He held all the power.

The boy who’d returned her life to her now held it in his hands. Buffy knew, because of that trust she held for him, that he would never harm her.

What was her, what was Faith, and what was Gimmel didn’t really matter. She was suddenly glad Xander had inadvertently told her not to panic. It let her examine her situation, and come to grips with the inevitable reality of it. The fact was, that for whatever reason, she was excited and aroused beyond anything she’d ever felt. Supposedly, Gimmel was a force for good. Supposedly, she could, maybe did love Xander. She definitely trusted him.

Wherever her new feelings came from, they were part of her now, and she was already wondering if she wanted them gone. The possibilities seemed so fulfilling, so rewarding. What if she just gave herself to this, instead of fighting it, and enjoyed the incredible yearning she felt inside at the thought of giving herself to Xander, to his control?

Buffy wasn’t sure she could ever do that, even if she made the rational decision to try. Doubts danced around her head, whispering worries that never quite blossomed into full panic. If Xander hadn’t given her the unknowing order, would she ever even entertain such thoughts?

She pushed the worries aside, pushed the future out of her mind. All she could do was deal with the now; deal with her reality. That much she’d learned after so many years as a Slayer. Worrying about what might come, what might be, it wasn’t something she could indulge.

Maybe this would change her life. Maybe for the better, maybe for the worse. Maybe it wouldn’t change her much at all. Maybe they would find some way out of this, and it would be just an embarassing morning that they’d never talk about again.

She wouldn’t dwell on possibilities. She would focus on what was. Fluttering her eyes open, Buffy concentrated on the voices of Anya and Xander.

They’d been talking in low voices for several minutes, with Buffy only barely paying attention. Anya believed that to free them, Xander would have to have sex with Buffy and Faith. Apparently they were reading something about the situation, and it said that if Xander rejected this, the Hellmouth might make things even worse.

Buffy swallowed around the gag, unable to pretend it didn’t feel like a hard penis in her mouth. She just barely stifled a groan.

“Why not?” Anya wondered. “You’re erect, I can tell by the way you’re hunching over.”

“It’s…wrong,” came Xander’s whisper. Buffy closed her eyes sadly. Yes, she trusted Xander. Part of her felt pity for him that he was in this situation. This was obviously stressing him out.

Of course, it wasn’t doing wonders for her mental health either, but Buffy was trying to remain objective. She desperately didn’t want Xander to have to bring Giles or Willow into this too. It was bad enough that Anya was there.

Strangely, she realized that if it was just Xander, she might not be anywhere near as confused as she was. Again, she suspected that was a feeling Gimmel had planted within her. The idea of it excited her a little, and Buffy began to become aware that there was a definite pattern in her feelings. Xander was looking more and more like a powerful, trustworthy, controlling figure. The desire to make him happy seeped within her, filling her with a kind of strange contentment.

It was an artificial feeling born of a feeling she’d had for years. It was, she realized, a nice feeling. She wondered if she might not have agreed to this situation, if it were presented to her in the proper way. If she was allowed to experience how good it might feel.

It was insidious, but also wonderful, and Buffy couldn’t decide if she should be fighting these feelings or embracing them. Was she being brainwashed? Did she care if she was? If, as Gimmel had said, she actually loved Xander, then were all the feelings within her simply extensions of that?

Confusion, arousal, and confusion over arousal seemed to be battling it out for supremacy within her, all with the referee of Xander’s order. Don’t freak out. It kept her calm, kept her from…

From what? She couldn’t do anything. She was helpless, and that fact seemed so powerfully arousing. Xander could touch her. He could look at her.

He must want to. Buffy knew that. Xander had always been attracted to her, and even if they were just friends, she knew he’d appreciate her body. Was he looking now? Part of her wished she could turn to face him, but her head was forced in the opposite direction.

Had he looked when the blindfold was on? Buffy had thought she sensed the presence of someone moving around her and Faith earlier. It was part of the reason she could feel the moist wetness coating her nether regions. The idea that Xander and Anya were watching her added to the tumult of lust, whether natural or artificial, that already ran through her.

“Xander, it can’t be wrong if it’s Gimmel. You don’t understand him. He’s done more to promote happiness and peace in the world than almost any being I can think of!”

“And he doesn’t care whose toes he steps on along the way, huh?” Xander said, anger filling his voice. Buffy felt tears come to her eyes at the intensity of his rage on her behalf.

“No way,” Anya replied. “He never does anything if it’s going to hurt even one person. He only does good.”

“They seem to like it,” Anya said, a shrug evident in her voice. “Look at Buffy’s crotch. It’s very wet, and that suggests she’s aroused.”

Buffy moaned into the gag, and felt her pussy quiver. Her face burned. Why did Anya have to point it out?

“Why don’t you ask if they like it?” Anya suggested. “Maybe they even agreed to it beforehand.”

Buffy squeezed her eyes shut, and was sure it was only Xander’s order that kept her from panicking. If he asked her, what would she do?

“Fine.” Buffy heard footsteps, and suddenly felt Anya’s presence close to her. She looked up out of the corner of her eye, and saw Anya peering down at her from beneath the tent of her and Faith’s legs. She smiled cordially at Buffy.

“Buffy, um, one blink for yes, two blinks for no. Are you enjoying yourself?”

If she said yes, who knew where that would lead? If she said no, Xander would never come close. Never touch her. Never look at her.

“She said yes.” Anya looked to Faith. “What about you, are you enjoying yourself?”

“She closed her eyes,” Anya said, a frown on her face. “What’s that mean?”

Buffy’s stomach clenched as Xander loomed into her vision. He was there. Watching her, looking at her curiously. And he knew she liked it, because she told Anya she was enjoying herself. Her breathing quickened, but it was due to the flush of pleasure coursing through her, and not her own panic.

“Buffy?” Xander asked, and Buffy felt her eyes lock on his. He stared down at her with a look of concern. “Be honest, okay? If you don’t like this, blink once.”

Faced with another unknowing command from Xander, she was forced to now be honest to him, and more importantly, herself. She blinked twice. She was enjoying herself, even if that might have been because he told her not to freak out, or the powerful new desires she had.

“Did you- did you agree to this beforehand?” Xander asked. “Um, one for yes, two for no.”

Swallowing around her gag, Buffy thought for a moment. She hadn’t agreed, but she had said Xander was the one she would trust with power over her. That was sort of an agreement. Almost a subconscious one. No wasn’t really true, but neither was yes. She blinked three times, unsure of what else to do.

“Not yes or no?” Xander tried. Buffy blinked once, slowly so as to be sure they saw it. Xander frowned. “Does that mean you agreed to something, but, not this, exactly?”

Xander frowned. “Why would y-” he shook his head. “No, okay. Um, what about Faith? Do you know if she agreed?”

Two blinks. She whimpered again, unable to hold it back. Anya and Xander were both looking at her now. Xander had far less worry in his eyes. He knew she was enjoying this. What was he thinking about her, just then? She had to struggle to keep her eyes on him, wanting instead to let them slide closed and fantasize about him looking at her exposed body, her rock hard nipples, her glistening pussy, her stretched legs. She shivered pleasurably.

Anya’s eyes left hers and looked to Xander. “So Buffy likes it, at least. So she can be the guinea pig.”

Xander stared down at Buffy for a moment before he seemed to catch himself, and looked up at Anya. “What?”

“For sex,” Anya clarified. “You have sex with her, and we find out if that frees her. And if not, it’s okay, because she likes it.” Anya looked down again. “Right?”

She had to be honest, and that thrilled her just a little. Never before had Buffy felt such a poignant vulnerability. It was as if her responsibility was slipping away. She couldn’t be expected to fight something like this, because the very nature of it meant that she didn’t want to fight it. That she couldn’t want to fight it.

Since she had to be honest, she had to admit that she didn’t want to fight it, regardless of where that thought came from. This was like some dark and sticky fantasy; only she was actually living it. All she could do was ride it out, and see where it took her.

Buffy was amazed at how incredible it could feel, that thrill of knowing she was not in control of herself, of her feelings. That she could go wildly out of control, and that only Xander - Xander! - could impose a limit on her. It was almost freeing, which was the oddest kind of feeling to have when she was bound, gagged, and unable to move.

He was staring down at her, soft brown eyes glistening with concern. Xander was her limit, now. His word was her truth. If it was anyone else, it would have frightened her to no end. As it was, it still sent shocks of worry through her, but they were dulled whenever she began to panic. It let her think about it without being overwhelmed.

Xander, her most trusted friend, someone whose love was the kind of truth she just took for granted. Now he was the most influential person she knew. Her owner.

Her body burned, and Buffy realized she had not yet blinked. She and Xander stared into each other’s eyes, and Buffy whimpered again. She wanted him to touch her. She wanted to give herself away, to be free of responsibility, worry, and fear. The way her mind and body reacted to all of this was too overwhelming, and she couldn’t bear the thought of it ending without getting to taste the fantasy.

Chapter 1	Contents	Chapter 3
M. McGregor's Chapter 2, on Live Journal

Rewards, by M. McGregor

Chapter 2