Embraced 2
It was just after ten when Xander decided to call it a night. He had been with Anya and they had spent the evening rowing loudly and angrily. Things were not rosy in the garden of Xander and now emotionally exhausted, all the dark haired boy wanted to do was seek solace in his own bed and hope to dream of the blonde vampire who was driving him mad with need.
Since his last encounter with Spike, Xander´s confusion and frustration had progressed from bad to worse. Worse being that now, contrary to the past few weeks of frenzied coupling , he found himself unable to make love to Anya at all. Not only unable, but unwilling.
Suffice to say, this turn of events had not gone unnoticed by Anya. She was angry, hurt and bewildered by his reticence and suspected that maybe Xander had a new lover in his sights. Of course she was right. However, Anya thought it was another woman... Xander shuddered to think how she would react on learning the truth. *Ex*–demon or no, Anya had a hell of a temper and a wicked right hook.
The dark haired boy plodded towards home, his mind in a flurry of ´if only´s, what if´s´ and numerous pleas to all the gods that Spike might return his affections. Xander found the last *extremely* unlikely. He had, however, received a shred of hope in the form of, strangely enough, one of the Watcher´s aged and yellowed books.
The previous afternoon had been spent in Giles´ home, helping with some research for a paper the Watcher was writing in the hope of impressing the Watcher´s Council. Efforts were being made to aid the return of Giles to the Council; the paper to be a reminder of his superb literary and investigative skills. And so Xander had found himself poring through old manuscripts and books on Vampyre Lore. The boy was surprised to find that it made pretty interesting reading. Noted between the musty pages were facts on the various vampire clans and observations on the culture and hierarchy of the vampire as a whole.
Xander was amazed to read of just how close the bond between Sire and childe could be. It seemed normal for the Sire to bed his childe, even if they were the same sex, and he concluded from his readings that vampire society hadn´t the same hang–ups and taboos about same sex couples as humans did. He stopped reading when he suddenly had a clear and graphic image of Spike in the throes of passion, his slim body straddled by the larger form of his dark haired Sire Angel, replete with game face and chewing on the blonde´s neck. Xander had shuddered and set the book aside.
Nearly home now and Xander suddenly became aware of strange noises coming from an alley up ahead. The boy could hear snarls and a muffled voice calling out – sounded like someone was in trouble. He stopped, his body rigid with tension, and fear carving it´s familiar yellow streak down his back. Reaching into his pocket he stroked the familiar smooth lines of his favourite stake. It was called ´Spike´... although no one else but Xander was privy to *that* fact.
The stake had been given to him by Angel on Graduation Day just before the Scoobys had faced Mayor Wilkins; it was made of oak and had been carried by the vampire ever since he had started his collaboration with the Slayer – it was a kind of ´going away´ present. It´s age and regularity of usage had made the wood pale and smooth, and it reminded Xander in a strange sort of way, of Spike´s pale, marble like skin, and how he thought it would feel beneath his fingers. He had, however, chosen the name ´Spike´ specifically because the stake was sharp and also because it was a cruel, barbaric instrument... that was exactly how Xander had seen the blonde vampire at that time – now it reminded the boy of Spike´s more appealable qualities.
Xander suddenly found himself in the dark entrance to the alley, brave feet had overruled a quivering heart and guided him automatically to that spot. He supposed that after all these years of fighting and helping with the slaying it had finally become instinct to seek out the evil and remove it.... didn´t make him any less terrified.
Frenzied snarls and growls and the sounds of a conflict in progress drifted towards his keen ears. Moving slowly and as softly as he could, Xander began to shuffle further into the alley. Cold beads of sweat tickled their way along his spine raising goosebumps on the way, and he nervously gripped ´Spike´ and flicked a stray lock of black hair from his damp face with his free hand.
Closer now, painfully slowly, the dark haired boy crept up the alley. Up ahead in the darkness he could vaguely make out five shapes struggling in the darkness; four of the shapes appeared to be attacking a fifth but not making a very good job of it. Faceless bodies struggled in the fray, the thud of fists on flesh, the rumpus of bodies hitting stray trashcans and bouncing off walls echoing up and down the dark, narrow arena, and the air thick with growls and snarls and yelps of pain.
Xander, moving ever closer now through the rancid, stale vacuum in the alley, could see that there were suddenly only four shapes – that was a pretty good indicator that the assailants were vampire; no other demon that he knew of simply disappeared when fatally wounded... was handy though, no bodies to dispose of afterwards.
The boy hesitated... at least four... no, now three possible vampires... he wasn´t sure if he should try to help alone, the odds were not good for him. It was then that Xander heard a voice that froze him to the spot.
"C´mon you wankers, is that the best you´ve got?" Thud of hard fist on flesh "I´m gonna rip off yer heads and piss down yer necks!"
It was Spike.
Xander gasped and for a second the blonde vampire´s head snapped in his direction, game face on and golden eyes glowing. One of the assailants took that opportunity to wack Spike on the head with a trashcan lid, knocking the blonde of his feet and onto the ground in a crumpled heap. Laughing harshly the vampire began to kick Spike where he lay on the ground, his grunts and snarls of effort drifting towards Xander on the charged air.
The dark haired boy grimaced, his heart pounding with fear for the blonde vampire who was being mercilessly beaten to death before his eyes. Then, even more horrifying for Xander, the other vamp now turned his attention to the source of Spike´s distraction. The vamps yellow eyes glowed balefully and he moved cautiously towards the frightened boy. An evil chuckle seemed to tickle Xander´s ears.
"Mmmm... what have we got here then... Have you come to play too little boy?" The vamp rasped, closer now; it could smell the fear coming from Xander in waves.
"You... you stay away from me you... undead fiend!" Xander gulped "I´ve got a stake and I´m not afraid to use it!"
Glancing quickly over the vamps shoulder, Xander saw to his relief that Spike had, somehow, gotten to his feet and was now making short work of the other vampire... would he do it in time to help Xander...*would* he help Xander?
The terrified boy gripped the stake tightly and decided to go for it... if he let the vamp get any closer he would have no chance of staking him... best to try and rush him; he didn´t figure the vamp would credit him with the balls to take him on.
He was right.
Yelling at the top of his voice, Xander rushed the approaching vampire, his arms stretched out in front of him hoping to either knock him down, or get lucky and stake him. As it happened, he got a bit of both.
Spike picked himself up off the ground, furious. Laying into the vampire who had been kicking the shit out of him, the blonde vampire´s mind was quickly reviewing the situation. He had been sauntering up the alley on the way to his crypt, blood bags for his tea in a white plastic bag, when he was set upon by the vampires. Spike hadn´t been surprised. For one, every demon in town counted him as fair game now and for two, the vamps were so incompetent that he could smell and hear them long before they attacked.
The ensuing fight was proving quite fun; the hapless minions no match for the experienced master vampire. Who the bloody hell did they think they were dealing with? Old Spike might be chipped and unable to harm humans but when it came to demons, it was business as usual. Things were going fine, he was getting a happy and then all of a sudden the whelp shows up! That little distraction was enough to give the opposing vampire the upper hand... a temporary arrangement of course. He had delivered a pretty good kicking to the blonde vampire, but it would take a hell of a lot more than that to put William the Bloody down and, more importantly, keep him down. The unlucky vampire had only succeeded in making Spike angry.
With a vicious twist, Spike snapped the vamps neck like a dry twig. Ooohhhh that felt good... there was something about snapping necks that Spike loved, whether it was that little cracking sound, the feel of the vertebrae as they surrendered or the sheer poetry of the act, he never could tell – but he loved it all the same. Dusting himself off, the blonde vampire turned his attention to the boy.
Xander was praying. He wasn´t altogether sure *who* he was praying to, but he sure as hell hoped they were listening.
The boy´s attack was not unsuccessful – he managed to stake the vampire but just not in the stipulated heart zone. His attack had taken the vamp by surprise; the momentum of the boy charging forward coupled with the outstretched arms had knocked the vamp of it´s feet. Somewhere between the boy and the vampire hitting the ground, the stake had indeed struck home. However, it was with unbelieving eyes that Xander saw his favourite stake protruding from the vampire´s groin.
High pitched squeals of pain and fury emitted from the agony stretched mouth of the vampire, and pulling the stake free and throwing it to one side, it scrambled to it´s knees and swiped wildly at the boy with razor sharp fingernails. The nails tore a bloody swath across Xander´s chest ripping through his t–shirt with all the ease of a hot knife through butter.
A flash of red–hot pain bathed Xander´s upper body and he could feel the hot blood creating a small stream that led from his chest to his navel. Scrambling backwards on his haunches Xander tried to put a little distance between himself and the approaching ugly death.
The wounded vampire watched him warily and slowly dragged itself from it´s knees with one hand cupping it´s speared groin to stand over the trembling human. It´s fangs were bared and a long, sticky string of saliva hung tremulously from it´s bottom lip. It glared hatefully at Xander and then it´s lips spread in an evil smirk.
"I´m gonna castrate you boy... I´m gonna bite of your dick with my teeth and then sit back and watch you bleed to death, you little pissant!" The growling vampire moved closer still.
"I wouldn´t do that if I were you..." a sibilant voice hissed behind the enraged vamp.
Xander whimpered in relief as Spike grabbed his assailant and shook him like a rat. The exhausted boy slumped on his knees as the vampires struggled for the advantage. The wounded vampire lashed out and caught Spike a glancing blow high up on his cheek; the blood flow was instant and heavy and the blonde flinched, relinquishing his hold. Taking what was surely his last chance, the vampire turned and fled down the alleyway, leaving the blonde vampire and the boy alone and injured but alive... well, as alive as a boy and a vampire could be.
Spike raced to the boy´s side and cradling him gently, ran his hands over the trembling body searching for injuries. Except for the nasty slash on his chest, Xander appeared to be unhurt. The blonde vampire inwardly sighed, and hoisted the boy to his feet. Holding him at arm´s length he studied the frightened brown eyes. What the bloody hell was it about this whelp? He stirred something inside Spike, but just what that something was, the vampire wasn´t sure. What he *was* sure of however, was that he was pretty bloody angry with him.
"Just what the *fuck* did you think you were doing Xander, eh?" Spike paced away from the boy and hunted on the ground for his discarded blood bags. "What, you´re mental... is that it? Christ boy, you could have gotten yourself killed."
"Oh... well thank you *very* much Mr Oh–thanks–Xander, you–saved–my–worthless–hide!" the boy retorted.
Spike´s eyebrows rose in surprise – spunky little bastard! Nearly got hisself killed and now he had the brass cojones to shout back at *him*. Retrieving his lost bag from the ground, Spike spun round to face a furious Xander. Hang about... saved his worthless...?
"What? *You*... saved *me*? Now just a goddamned minute... Who was it wondering around like a complete arse and nearly getting me dusted into the process? Eh? Fuck me Xan, I could have *sworn* it was you! Oh... maybe not... maybe you have an even *stupider* twin knocking around the place somewhere. Tell ya what... let´s look about... see if we can´t find ´im, eh?" Spike ranted.
Xander´s eyes opened in surprise and his heart did a funky little beat. ´Xan´, Spike had called him ´Xan´. That was like, I dunno... a pet name. Not as formal as Xander, yet not as insulting as Droopy Boy. Despite himself, Xander smiled.
Spike frowned. What the bloody hell was wrong with the boy, standing there smiling like a loon. He tutted in agitation and moved forward to face Xander.
"Look Spike... I was only trying to help. I thought those guys were hurting you..." Xander said gently.
"Hurting me? Huh, yeah... in their dreams!" The blonde vampire swept past Xander angrily "Well Batman, the next time you feel like *helping* someone, save it for the damsel´s in distress or lost puppies or some such, you hear me? I don´t need your soddin´ help, get it?"
Spike glared at the boy on the way past. He nearly missed the flash of pain and hurt that swept over those brown eyes. Nearly – not quite. He strode on angrily for a moment and then stopped. Bloody hell... that boy was gonna be the death of him... in a manner of speaking. The vampire shifted from foot to foot, unsure of what to do. Should he leave the boy and head to the crypt? No. What then, go back and get him... and then what?
With a snarl, Spike headed back towards the alley where he had left Xander standing, all puppy–dog hurt eyes and dejected. Desperately thinking of what he would say, the vampire was disappointed to find that the whelp was gone.
