The Offering 10
As Xander gradually returned to consciousness, the drone of soft, indistinct murmurs echoed in his ears, and slowly resolved into Willow and Giles´ voices. His head ached, but he held back his groan, not wanting them to know he was awake yet, though not completely certain why that was. Xander slitted his eyes and surveyed what he could see of his surroundings. He was lying on the hard floor inside the weapons cage. His head pounded when he tried to remember why he would be there, and then everything came rushing back to him. Spike, everyone finding out about the biting, and...oh, God, Buffy! She was going to stake Spike!
It became paramount that he find out where Buffy and Angel were. Tilting his head a little, he saw that no one occupied the lower level of the library with him. That meant Willow and Giles were either in the office, or up in the stacks–probably in the office. There was no sign of Buffy or Angel, and if Angel was here, he´d already know Xander was awake. That meant they´d already left to go after Spike. He had to get out of here and warn Spike! He only hoped it wasn´t too late.
Xander climbed slowly and silently to his knees, his body still not wanting to obey his commands, and pulled on the door. It wouldn´t budge. They´d locked him in! His heart rate accelerated and he became frantic. He hoisted himself to his feet and shook the door hard in an attempt to force it open, but all that did was draw Willow and Giles´ attention, and they came running out of the office.
"Xander, stop that this instant, before you hurt yourself," Giles commanded.
"Let me out of here," Xander growled, shaking the door once more.
"I can´t do that," Giles replied sadly, but firmly.
"Will..."
Willow turned her face away from him, but her eyes darted back. "It´s for your own good, Xander," she whispered.
"They´re going to kill him!" he yelled. "How can that be for my own good? I need him! I need him! You can´t let them kill him! God damn it! Let me out of here!"
"I am sorry that you´re hurting right now, Xander. I promise you it will fade with time," Giles spoke reassuringly.
"No," he whimpered. "Please, please don´t let them..."
Willow´s face crumpled. Giles noticed and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Maybe you should go home," he suggested. "I know this isn´t easy for you."
Easy for her? Xander thought wildly. What about him? He was the one stuck in a cage while they went off to stake his lover! Besides, Willow couldn´t leave, she was obviously the weak link here. Xander stuck his hand through the cage, imploring Willow with his eyes. She looked like she would relent, but then her shoulders straightened as she stiffened her resolve.
Crap! Xander thought, and then inspiration struck. He gasped in pain, and doubled over. "Oh, God," he whimpered. "My stomach." He fell to the floor and rolled himself into a ball, rocking and moaning.
"Oh, Giles," Willow said, full of compassion. "Do you think he´s already started going through withdrawal?" she asked worriedly.
"I suppose it is possible," Giles replied dubiously, "though highly unlikely if he was just bitten this afternoon. It could be psychological..."
"Can we at least give him some aspirin for the pain, or something?" she asked.
"Yes, I guess we could," Giles said. "I´ll go get it. Don´t go near the cage," he warned, and then turned to leave.
Interfering old busy body! Xander raged. Okay, so that didn´t get him out. What else? Come on, think! Rolling away from Willow, Xander stuck his finger down his throat and gagged, but refused to stop until he had thrown up.
"Oh, God, Giles, he´s throwing up!" Willow cried. "He´s really sick. We have to help him!"
And just as he´d hoped, Willow´s compassionate side took over, and she moved to the cage and unlocked the door. Xander jumped to his feet and pulled the door open, causing Willow to lose her balance. He dragged her into the cage.
"Sorry, Will," he said, "but I have to save Spike. I love you." He quickly locked her in the cage and raced out of the library, wiping his hand and mouth off on the cleaning rag he´d grabbed off the floor of the weapon´s cage, and then dropping it as he ran. Behind him he could hear Willow yelling for Giles.
Xander briefly hesitated when he reached the sidewalk. How was he going to get to the mansion? It would take him twenty minutes to cycle out, but Spike might not have twenty minutes. He didn´t know how long he´d been out, and how much of a head start Buffy and Angel had on him. What was he going to do?
He noticed a car idling at the curb, probably a parent there to pick their child up from practice. The fog of uncertainly lifted, and Xander´s purpose became clear. He needed to get to Spike, no matter what. He strode over to the car, pulling his ripped shirt closed, and knocked on the window. The man inside the car lowered the window a couple inches.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Are you Bob´s dad?" Xander asked, his voice dripping with concern and the need for haste. "Someone saw me leaving and told me to find Bob´s dad, he´s been hurt, or something."
"You mean Billy?" the father asked worriedly.
Xander hid his surprise. "Uh, yeah! That was it, Billy..."
He stepped back as the man hurriedly turned the car off and pushed the door open. As he proceeded to rush past him, Xander grabbed the keys out of the distraught father´s hand and gave him a shove, then climbed into the car and locked the doors. He struggled to stick the key into the ignition with shaking hand, and only then remembered that he didn´t know how to drive. Oh, well, he shrugged, trying to ignore the man pounding on the window, he´d seen other people drive, that would have to be enough.
Xander started the car, shifted into ´drive´, and then stepped on the gas, peeling away from the curb in a cloud of smoke and the smell of burning rubber. By the time he got to the mansion, missing the turn to the driveway and having to get out and hoof it back rather than attempting reverse, Xander had run three stop signs, barely missing a pedestrian at one of them, and possibly given himself whiplash jerking to a stop at the other two due to on–coming traffic.
Once the car had lurched to a stop, Xander jumped out without bothering to put it into ´park´, and as he ran up the driveway, the car slowly began to roll down the road. Xander didn´t pay it any mind, all his attention focused on the mansion and the sounds of combat he could hear clearly from the road. His heart jumped into his throat, but instead of becoming more clumsy, he put on a burst of speed and raced towards the mansion.
The front door was open and, as he got closer, Xander could see the fighting taking place inside. Racing up the porch and through the doorway, Xander found himself in the thick of the battle. Adrenaline was rushing through his body, and he roughly pushed one vamp aside as he urgently scoured the room for Spike. Angel was fighting a group of four vamps, Drusilla stood halfway up the stairs, swaying to some music only she could hear, and–Xander´s breath caught–Buffy was fighting Spike!
Xander sped through the chaos, intent on keeping Buffy from staking Spike, or Spike from killing Buffy. Before he could reach them, Buffy gained a slight advantage, and her stake arm moved in for the fatal blow.
"No! Buf–fy!" Xander screamed, trying to make himself heard over the raging battle.
Buffy´s stab went wide, striking Spike´s shoulder instead of his heart, and she glanced over at Xander in annoyance. "What are you doing here, Xander?" she yelled as she pulled the stake out and prepared once more to drive it home.
Spike took advantage of her momentary distraction and shoved her away from him. Xander rushed up to Spike, unaware that Angel had fought free of the vamps he was battling and saw Spike toss Buffy aside. Just before he reached Spike, Angel threw the stake he was holding towards the blond vampire. Xander reached Spike and pulled the vampire to him just moments before the stake arrived.
"Spike...!" he cried, happy to have gotten to the blond before he was dust, but the cry was cut off by a gasp of pain as the stake embedded itself in his back. "Ow," he said, his eyes glazing over in pain and confusion.
"Pup, what in Hell are you doing here?" Spike asked, his arms going around Xander, his hand finding the stake in his back.
"N–needed to w–warn you," Xander said. "Th–they know..." His legs gave out, and only Spike´s arms kept him upright.
Spike looked over Xander´s shoulder at the continued fighting. Suddenly it didn´t matter. Nothing mattered except the boy in his arms.
"Knock it the Hell off!" he yelled. "Everyone get out!" He turned his attention back to Xander. "Xan, don´t you bloody die on me, pup..."
"Sorry, Spike," Xander said, his fingers scrabbling for purchase in the vampire´s duster even as his eyelids fell shut.
"Oh, God, Xander," Buffy said, horrified. "What... How..."
"I saw Spike going for you," Angel explained. "I never saw Xander..."
"He needs a hospital," Spike said. No one moved. "He´s not dead, yet!" he yelled. "Get him to a bloody hospital!" He lifted Xander and held him out to Buffy.
"I´ll carry him," Angel said, taking Xander into his arms and speeding towards the front door.
Buffy turned to follow him, then looked back at Spike. "This isn´t over," she threatened, and then ran out after Angel and Xander. Outside he heard the additional voices of the redhead and the Slayer´s Watcher raised in concern when they saw Xander´s injured body, and then everything was silent.
It better not be, Spike thought as he dropped to his knees and stared at the blood on his hands. It bloody well better not be over. It wasn´t supposed to happen like this. The boy was his, was going to be his forever after he claimed him, and now he was hurt, badly. He shouldn´t have played his stupid game, making Xander come to him and beg. He should have taken the boy. Taken him and claimed him, and then gotten the Hell out of Sunnydale.
"Spike?" Dru softly called his name.
"Dru?" He reached for her.
Drusilla knelt beside him and pulled him into her arms, rocking and crooning, "It´ll be all right, my Spike. It´ll be all right."
Spike was concealed in the shadows outside the hospital when Angel and the rest of Xander´s friends left. He watched as the humans climbed into the Watcher´s car and drove away, and then waited for Angel to find him. It didn´t take long.
"What are you doing here?" the dark vampire asked.
"How is he?" Spike asked, ignoring Angel´s question.
Angel sighed. Odd, Spike thought, since he didn´t breathe. "He´s alive."
"But?"
"His chances aren´t good. He lost a lot of blood, and the stake...the stake punctured a lung and severed blood vessels close to the heart...I didn´t catch much of the lingo..."
"What are his chances?" Spike asked.
Angel hesitated.
"What are his chances, Angelus?" he repeated.
"Thirty percent," Angel replied.
Spike´s stomach heaved, his chest constricted. "You´ve seen people die," he said. "Hell, you´ve killed them. Will he make it through the night?"
Angel didn´t answer right away, but Spike didn´t rush him this time.
"No," he finally said.
Spike pressed his lips together and glanced away to hide his reaction from Angelus. He didn´t want that wanker seeing his pain.
"Get out of town, Spike. Take Dru and leave. Tonight. If you stay, Buffy won´t rest until you´re dust," Angel warned.
Spike pursed his lips, and then nodded. He turned and walked away, heading towards the mansion. When he was out of sight of Angelus, and out of sensing range, he slipped into the park where he had hidden his car. He waited for a couple minutes to make sure that Angelus had left, and then drove out of the park and down the road, parking on the street in front of the hospital.
Spike entered the hospital with a purposeful stride and followed the signs to the ICU, where he presumed a dying Xander was being held. He silently slipped into the critical care area and read the names on the wall. When he was confronted with a nurse who had just stepped out of one of the rooms, he quickly covered her mouth and pushed her back inside. He didn´t have time to drain her, so he snapped her neck and dropped her body to the floor on the other side of the occupied bed, careful to make no sound.
When he found Xander, he was shocked by the boy´s appearance–pale and fragile. He entered the room on silent feet, with the stealth and grace of a panther. The machines beeping around Xander were too loud to his sensitive ears, and the boy´s heartbeat much too sluggish. He leaned over the bed and looked at Xander´s wan face as he reached for the brunette´s cool and clammy hand.
Xander´s eyelids fluttered, and then slowly drifted open. The corners of his lips turned up in a parody of his usual goofy grin. "Spi–," he said.
"Shh, don´t talk, pup," Spike said, placing his finger gently against dry lips.
Xander, as usual, didn´t listen to him. "Sor–," he began.
Spike silenced him again. "Not your fault, pup," he said.
"Buf–follo–," he said, continuing to try and speak despite Spike´s admonition not to.
Spike couldn´t take it any longer. He kissed Xander to shut him up, and because he was already missing the taste of him.
"Love you," he whispered against paper–thin lips.
He watched them twitch. "Know–," Xander said. He tried to lift his hand to Spike´s face. Spike saw him struggling and took the hand, pressing Xander´s palm against his cheek. "Leave–," he said.
Spike swallowed hard. "You want me to leave, pup?" he asked.
Xander rolled his head in a negative gesture. "No–" he said. "Me–" He struggled to speak. "Don–wan–die–here," he finally got out.
"You–you´re not gonna die, pup," Spike lied.
Xander´s expression softened. "U–used–lie–be–better," he said, his eyes searching Spike´s face.
"You wanna leave this place?" Spike asked, his decision made.
Xander nodded hopefully. Spike placed Xander´s hand on the bed, and walked over to the window. With a few well–placed punches, he knocked it out of the frame to land softly on the grass below. He returned to Xander´s side, pulled the monitoring pads off his chest and the I.V. out of his arm, then wrapped the blankets around him and picked him up. He moved back to the window with his too–light burden, and looked down at Xander´s face.
"Wanna fly?" he asked with a grin.
Xander nodded and attempted to grin in return.
Spike tightened his hold on the boy, jumped up onto the window sill, and then leaped out. He landed lightly on his feet and carried the boy around the hospital to his car. Spike drove to the mansion to pack up his meager belongings and tell Dru they were all leaving. He carried Xander to the bedroom they had used, wanting to turn him before they left, and to do it in a spot that was familiar to them both.
Xander looked around the room and smiled. "Die...here," he said.
"Yeah, pup," Spike said, laying down beside him. "Love you," he said, kissing Xander one last time, and then morphing. Xander shivered, and offered acceptance in his facial expression in lieu of difficult words.
Spike tilted Xander´s head and lowered his face to the boy´s neck. He licked the old bite marks, marks that hadn´t been revisited since Xander started coming to him at the mansion, and then sank his fangs into them and sucked. Xander´s blood filled his mouth, and the normally sweet ambrosia tasted bitter.
Spike drank until Xander´s heartbeat was nearly silent, then slit his wrist and offered it to Xander. The boy looked at him as if he hadn´t expected this, as if he thought Spike was merely easing his way to death´s door.
"Need you, pup," Spike said, and Xander began to drink.
