The Offering 3
Spike woke just as the sun was going down. Dru, still weak, was swaying in front of her dolls, talking to them in a hushed voice. "...pretty puppy. Shhh, mustn´t tell anyone, yet. It´s a secret..."
"Dru, luv, what are you going on about now?" he asked as he rolled over in the large bed he´d inherited when he killed the Annoying One.
She whirled around with a smile, her dress twirling about her legs. "Spike!" she cried. "You´re awake." She glided over to the bed and crawled onto it, laying on her back beside him, staring up at the ceiling. "The stars have told me a secret," she whispered conspiratorially.
"They have?" he asked indulgently.
"Oh, yes," she said with a smile. "It´s a lovely secret."
"About a puppy?" Spike asked, remembering what he´d heard Dru say after he´d awakened.
"A pretty puppy," Dru giggled. "With brown hair, and beautiful brown eyes."
Spike frowned. "Don´t you mean brown *fur*?" he asked.
Dru tilted her head consideringly, then smiled. "No," she said. She clambered to her knees. "Can we go hunting tonight?" she begged.
"You´re still weak," Spike said, running his hand down her arm.
"I feel much better after the spell," she said. "I need to get out of here." She waved her arms, indicating the factory. "Can we go see Daddy?" she asked plaintively, in a sudden change of subject that Spike was all too used to.
"Daddy´s not here, exactly, Dru," Spike said soothingly.
"But I can feel him," she insisted.
"Remember the soul?" Spike asked softly.
"Nasty soul," Dru hissed. A tear ran down her cheek. "Took Daddy away from us. Can we kill it?" she asked hopefully.
"I don´t believe so, luv," Spike said sadly.
"Can we kill something else, then?" she asked. "I´m in the mood for...a pretty blonde." She smiled at Spike. "And then we can dance under the stars." She closed her eyes, tipped her head back, held her arms out to her sides, and swayed to music only she could hear.
Spike got up and dressed, then took Dru´s hand and led her out of the bedroom they shared. In the main room, Dalton was sitting at the large table, several books opened in front of him. Spike stopped beside him. "Any luck?" he asked, as he did every night.
"No, Master," Dalton replied, sliding his glasses back up his nose anxiously.
Spike slammed his fist angrily on the table, and then gritted his teeth to keep from taking his frustration out on the other vampire. It wasn´t Dalton´s fault that none of the books he´d managed to appropriate had contained the information they needed to heal Dru. Other than the spell he´d found, which would only give her a temporary respite, there had been no clues as to how they could harness the power of the Hellmouth to cure her ailment.
"Don´t worry, Spike," Drusilla cooed. She ran her hands over his back and leaned in to rub her face against his. "Everything is going to be perfect. The stars don´t lie."
"No, luv," Spike said, straightening and gently taking Dru into his arms. "I don´t s´pose they do." He silently wished he had as much faith in Dru´s stars as she did. "C´mon, now," he said as he slid his hand down her arm to her fragile–feeling wrist. "Let´s go find you a nice blonde to eat, eh, luv?"
"Oh, goodie!" Dru exclaimed happily, clapping her hands together like a child.
Xander was in Hell. He had to be, he thought, as he looked around them at the otherwise empty corridor in which they stood. After he told Willow about his second confrontation with Spike, the redhead had comforted him, and then insisted that they tell Buffy. Xander had balked. He didn´t want anyone else to know the extent of his reaction to the blond. Willow had assured him that he didn´t have to tell Buffy anything other than that Spike had bitten him again, but that they would need her help to protect him from the vampire.
After stomping her foot and angrily telling Xander that he could not just give up, Willow had finally worn him down and gotten his agreement. Instead of going to her house, Willow thought it would be easier to have Buffy come to them, so called her and invited her over. Buffy arrived much sooner than Xander would have liked, and he had to tell his story again. He ended it with his plea that she not invite him into her house again until this thing with Spike was over.
Buffy just stared at him for a long minute. "We have to tell Giles," she finally said.
"No!" Xander cried.
"Why not?" Buffy asked. "He´s my Watcher, Xander. He knows things. He can help us."
"I don´t want him to feel guilty," Xander said. "And you know he will," he added before Buffy could respond. "He´s already working on this...Spike–thing, he doesn´t need to hear that he failed to keep Spike away from me like he promised. And it might even keep him from being able to concentrate," he finished his babble, hoping it didn´t sound like he was spewing nonsense.
"Fine," Buffy huffed after a lengthy moment´s thought. "But we do need to tell Angel," she insisted.
Xander was filled with rage. "No," he ground out between clenched teeth.
"Xander..."
"No!" he repeated. "This is all his fault in the first place. He offered Spike my neck!" he yelled, his voice rising.
"Yes, he did a very stupid thing," Buffy agreed, "but we need his help to fix it. He´s a vampire, so he´ll know what Spike is thinking, feeling..."
Xander´s eyes widened and he blanched, but it went unnoticed by Buffy. He glanced fearfully at Willow who was staring at him with eyes just as wide.
"...what he´s playing at, what his plan for you is."
Xander knew exactly what the vampire´s original plan had been, because Spike had confessed it to him–tear out his throat and leave his body for Buffy and Angel to find. But that plan had changed once Spike had tasted his blood, and though he didn´t know how long the blond would be interested in keeping him alive, he had no intention of ever letting Angel find out that there was a sexual element to his encounters with the other vampire.
So, now he stood in the hallway outside Angel´s apartment with Buffy and Willow, waiting for the vampire to wake up and answer his door. He knew it would be nearly impossible to keep any secrets from Angel, since the vampire had a nose like a hawk...or something like that. He´d be able to smell Xander´s fear, and would probably know that there was something Xander wasn´t telling him.
The door finally opened, and a drowsy Angel greeted them. "Buffy!" he said. "Is something wr–" He broke off and stared long and hard at Xander. "Spike," he spat.
Xander blushed and looked away from the dark vampire as tears of humiliation and self–loathing filled his eyes.
"Can we come in?" Buffy asked while Willow put her arm around Xander´s back and whispered soothing words of comfort to him.
"Of course," Angel said, stepping back to allow them to enter. "Please, come in."
After everyone was seated, Angel turned to Xander and asked, "What happened?"
Xander told his story a third time, again leaving out any mention of his sexual response to Spike. He concluded his recitation with the avowal that Giles would never know. When he was finished, Angel stared at him appraisingly.
"I can understand why you don´t want Giles to know," he finally spoke, "but if we´re not able to stop Spike quickly, we aren´t going to be able to keep his...fascination with you from him, because we won´t be able to explain why we´re guarding your house, for example, waiting for Spike to show up."
"G–guarding my house?" Xander asked.
"I´m sure you´ve already thought about what needs to be done," Angel said, looking at each of them in turn, "though you may not have put it into words. We need to step up our search for Spike, and protect you, Xander. Once we find where he´s staying and take him and his minions out, you´ll be safe, but until then, someone will need to watch over you."
"We could do sleep overs!" Willow suggested.
"That would get back to Giles, and he´d wonder why," Xander replied dully.
"Then we´ll come up with a reason," Buffy said. "We don´t even have to lie, just tell him that you´re frightened because of Spike´s demented attentions. Either way, consider yourself connected at the hip to one or both of us until Spike is out of the picture!"
"And just a couple weeks ago I´d have been salivating at the offer," Xander said, trying to inject some of his goofy humor into the situation.
"No salivating," Buffy admonished lightly. "You´ll ruin my new suede jacket."
"There is just...one problem," Angel spoke up.
"What´s that?" Buffy asked, and the three of them looked at him.
"The bite," he said.
The other three now turned to look at Xander.
"Turtlenecks," Buffy proposed.
"I thought about that, but Xander doesn´t normally wear turtlenecks," Willow said. "And the other bite was already healed. Giles might be suspicious if he sees Xander wearing turtlenecks again."
"What else can we do?" Buffy asked. "Keep him out of school for a couple days? Or just away from the library?"
"I, um, have a suggestion," Angel said, and the heads swivelled back in his direction. "I could help with the bite–help it heal, I mean," he offered.
"Great!" Buffy said. "Uh, how?"
"I´d need to, well, lick it," Angel finally got out, obviously embarrassed.
Three jaws dropped open. "L–lick it?" Xander stammered.
"Yeah, it´s...vampire saliva... You probably don´t need to know the specifics, but there are...well, healing properties," Angel stammered.
Xander´s mind was racing, but he couldn´t pin down a single thought. He couldn´t let Angel lick the bite. First of all, the thought of Angel licking him was just...euww! Secondly, just touching the bite made him hard, he hated to think what the rasp of the dark vampire´s tongue would do.
"No, I...I don´t think...," he began.
Buffy´s face crinkled up. "Okay, well, that´s kind of...weird," she said. "But I don´t see any other options. The bite isn´t going to heal by Monday, we´ve already determined that you can´t wear turtlenecks until it heals, and if you stop coming around suddenly, Giles might get suspicious."
Xander dragged his eyes from Buffy´s face to Angel´s, and the vampire´s expression suddenly changed.
"Maybe it would be better if we..." He pointed towards the bedroom. "Privacy might make it easier," he said.
Without looking at the two girls, Xander stood and walked to the bedroom, his shoulders slumped in defeat. Tears of mortification and frustration filled his eyes. He stepped into the dark room and stopped just inside the door. He heard the low tones of Angel´s voice, and then the vampire was right behind him, closing the door to ensure their privacy.
Angel took Xander´s arm and led him to the bed. Xander didn´t bother to resist. Didn´t know if he could. He fell to the bed, his legs weak and shaking. Angel knelt in front of him.
"Is there something else you want to tell me, Xander?" he asked softly, gently, and Xander was suddenly filled with such conflicting emotions. Hatred, because it seemed he had always hated Angel, and plus, this whole situation was his fault, and relief, because he needed desperately to unburden himself. Telling Willow had only lifted a small portion of his disgust and self–hatred.
Xander closed his eyes so he didn´t have to look into Angel´s. "He made me come," he whispered hoarsely.
"Xander," Angel said. "Look at me."
Xander opened his eyes.
"That´s only natural..."
"No!" Xander hissed. "It´s...perverted. Vile. Disgusting..."
"Stop it," Angel spoke firmly without raising his voice, only continuing when Xander looked at him in surprise. "I meant that his drinking from you caused you to...become aroused. That you had an orgasm was a natural reaction to having been bitten. It´s no reflection on you as an individual, Xander. You´re still a good person," Angel assured him.
Xander let the tears fall, and buried his face in his hands. Angel awkwardly patted his shaking shoulders until he quieted. "Sorry," he said, his voice cracking.
"Nothing to be sorry for," Angel replied. "I know this has been difficult, and I know you blame me, but I will do anything I can to keep Spike away from you," he promised. "Now," he said, "I know you´re not looking forward to this, so why don´t we get it over with?"
Xander blushed. "It´s very sensitive," he said, his voice squeaking.
"Ahh," Angel replied. "Well, I´ll try not to...I´ll be quick," Angel said.
"Okay," Xander agreed.
Angel sat on the bed beside Xander, and Xander tilted his head. Angel placed his hand on Xander´s shoulder and leaned close to him, then licked over the fresh bite. Xander gritted his teeth to keep from moaning aloud as Angel´s tongue bathed his neck, letting out a sigh of relief when he finally lifted his head.
"Th–thanks," he said, not looking at the dark vampire.
"You´re welcome," Angel said, and slowly stood.
"One more thing," Xander said. Angel inclined his head to show that he was listening. "If Spike turns me..." Xander looked directly into Angel´s eyes. "You be the one to stake me so Buffy doesn´t have to, okay?"
Angel just stared at him, and then said, "Okay."
