Road to Recovery 6
Rubbing at her temple with one hand, Joyce took another sip of her extra strong coffee. She knew why she had a headache. She was busy keeping her eye on Buffy, making sure that her Headstrong daughter didn´t attempt to stake the bleached blond vampire. Joyce was eyeing off Buffy who was watching Spike who had Xander permanently attached to him via the brunettes hand clinging to the back of the vampire´s shirt. Spike was watching Angel who was staring at the two males, Angel being eyed off himself by his partner Wesley who was being elbowed by Cordelia who was holding hands with Doyle. Riley was attempting to hold hands with a fidgety Slayer who was arguing with Willow who was being placated by a barely smiling Tara. Both Gunn and Anya were surveying the scene while trying to soothe two whiney children. Christopher was hanging onto Cordelia´s hand, looking at everybody in the room.
The only one not taking any notice of the pointed looks, stares, heated arguing and whispers was Graham. He was too busy picking and eating at the large spread of finger food Anya and Joyce had produced for the little gathering. This was sooo not of the good thought Joyce, mentally slapping at herself for sounding like a spoilt teenager. She had no idea of what to do. The funeral had been fine. Short and quite sweet really. Buffy had known exactly what type of service her mentor had wanted. Unbeknown to Joyce, they had actually discussed the possibility of Giles dying before Buffy on a few occasions. Both Buffy and Giles had ended up telling each other just what type of funeral they had wanted. Buffy wanted to be cremated and spread over a rose bush while the Watcher had wanted a traditional burial with a simple headstone. A few lovely songs from Simon and Garfunkle as well as a humorous version of ´Stairway to heaven´ by Rolf Harris. Tears had flowed openly in the private room. Joyce was sure that she had seen Angel wipe at his eyes.
Buffy had arranged for the funeral to be the last on the list at the largest funeral directors in Sunnydale. Willy who owned the demon bar had showed up as well as a few occult suppliers, Anya making them leave the wake only ten minutes ago. As they had left, Spike had entered the room and that was when the trouble had begun. Xander had taken one look towards the door and had practically run to the vampire and had clutched at the black shirt covering the usual black t–shirt. The youth was yet to let go, following the vampire around the room before they had settled for standing in a corner, only to be subjected to stares. Since then the rooms temperature had dropped. Nudged out of her thoughts by Graham, she was startled to hear what the taller man told her.
"So, let me get this right. Buffy is trying to get Willow to agree to her staking Spike but Tara is telling her girlfriend no while Riley is sitting on the sidelines. Damned if he agrees and damned if he doesn´t. Angel is convinced that even though the therapist has okayed Spike taking care of Xander, his Childe is using this as an attempt to get down Xander´s pants while Angel´s boyfriend is ready to leap in front of a vampire who suddenly decides he hasn´t had his ration of guilt for the day. Wesley is trying to ignore Cordelia´s bitching about his boyfriends´ brooding while her fiancé is staying silent because he knows his life just wouldn´t be worth living if he opened his mouth. Anya is pissed that no–one else but me has been eating the food she has obviously put so much time into while her husband is just wishing their kids would put a sock in it for once and Christopher is plain confused"
"What about Xander and Spike?"
"Oh, them? Well, Xander is clinging to his support person like his therapist probably doesn´t want him to because he is terrified that he will be kidnapped again while Spike is aware of what is going on but is getting frustrated keeping his mouth shut because if he opens it, he will more than likely get himself staked and Xander gets more traumatised than everyone has thought possible"
"Well. You have everything down pat don´t you?"
"Nah, just overhead everyone´s arguments while at the food table, guessed the rest. Lets face it, that really isn´t too hard to do either"
Shaking her head, she made the ex–soldier grimace at the thought of two more days of this type of behaviour. The will was being read the next day which meant they would all probably stay again tomorrow night, leaving the next morning/night. The L.A. team, original Scooby Gang, Riley and Anya had been told to attend the reading. A shout from Buffy saw Willow stalk over to Xander and the vampire, standing next to them with arms crossed, glaring at the petite blonde as if just daring her to try and stake Spike. A few more quite words with her daughter´s boyfriend´s best friend and Joyce went to placate her daughter.
It was a soft stuttering voice that had them all quiet and looking in the one direction. Standing on a chair, a handful of Spikes shirt bunched into his white knuckled hand, he stared straight ahead.
"I..I.I teased G–man a.a.about his g.guitar p.playing, I.I remember s.s.s.springing h.him singing in a.a.a cafe when t.that party g.got pos.s.ssessed b.by the l.lust poltergeist"
A pause and Xander was prompted to continue by seeing everyone smile at him. His free hand rubbed through his hair while he gathered a breathe for the next words.
"H.he was o.o.one of my b.best friends. H.he saved m.m.my life"
Helped down off the chair by Spike, Xander hoped he wouldn´t be sick. He felt like he was going to vomit up his breakfast. Xander knew that everybody had been staring at both him and the vampire. The brunette hadn´t been able to stop himself from going straight to Spike, it just felt better and safer when he was close to the blond. It had been Willow reminding him of Giles´ first appearance at Sunnydale High that had prompted his little speech. The older librarian had been horrified when he had been sprung by his three younger friends in the cafe so long ago, it had taken weeks for Xander to stop making references to the embarrassing episode.
"You should have seen his face when he finally figured out that Tara was my girlfriend. I don´t think I had ever seen Giles so flustered and embarrassed. He made all these little ´Ahh´ noises and of course the polished glasses ritual went on for day´s afterwards"
Leaning against Spike´s cool body, Xander lifted his hand to touch at the redhead standing on the chair he had so recently vacated. He gently grasped at the smaller hand, giving the openly crying girl a little smile. The brunette allowed the witch to tighten her grasp almost painfully around his hand. Although Spike could feel the youths trembling, he was surprised at how much courage it had taken Xander to get up in front of everybody. The boy had made a huge step forward just over night and the vampire had to admit that he was proud to share in it. He was a little embarrassed about being clutched at, but he wasn´t going to try and shake off the whelp at such an emotionally charged gathering. The vampire was just going to have to stop the over needy grabbing in another situation if and when it arose again.
With a snort, he watched as the whelps´ smile got bigger when Willow confessed to having had a crush on the older human for some years before she had met her first boyfriend. A round of snickers went around the room at Cordelia´s loud statement of "Well, who didn´t!” prompting a few odd looks her way. The next one to get up was Anya, telling the room that she had never worked for such a kind boss as Giles. A few more laughs went around at Gunn´s comment that his wife didn´t work, she dictated to everyone. Husband silenced with a glare, she went on to say that she was glad that all her attempts to get her powers back had failed. If she had been successful, she would never had gotten the chance to find out what a good friend the storeowner had turned out to be.
The reminiscing went on into the early hours of the following morning. Some were sad, a few stories had been almost too painful to hear but most were full of humour. Laughter had rung out in the shop, only a few times had various people lapsed into a crying fit. Xander had still clung to the vampire all through the night. Buffy had eventually come over to tell her story, bursting into tears when the brunette had grasped at her hand while she stood on the chair. Once again Spike had been truly shocked at how far the boy had progressed. After a nudge from the youth, he had reluctantly gotten up on the chair himself after Buffy, telling the room the same thing he had told Xander when asked what he had thought of the Watcher. A few gasps had gone around the room at his first words, only to have a Slayer give him a watery smile at his confession that he had ultimately respected the older human.
For once he played with tact, leaving out the insults to Buffy and only calling the deceased man the pretty tame Crusty. The last person to speak had been Joyce, horrified when her daughter had interrupted the clean version of the bewitched candy incident to tell the real story, including the boffing on the police car. The room had erupted into laughter at the older humans spluttering and vows of revenge.
Various yawns echoed around the shop, Buffy and Graham handing their bundles of sleeping girl back to their parents. Joyce waved her car keys in front of Spike and Xander, telling them that she would drive them back to the house in a few minutes. Angel and Wesley made their good byes first, Spike just knew that he would be getting a talking to about the clutching from Xander in the next day or so. With a snort, he decided that he really didn´t give a toss what his Sire thought. Cordelia and Doyle were searching the shop for Christopher, the boy having wandered off behind a bookshelf halfway into Riley´s story about Giles organisation of Gunn´s bucks party. A question of if the vampire would be sleeping on the floor again prompted the blond to think back to that morning.
Spike had told Xander why he had woken up in a bed he hadn´t gone to sleep in. He had had to. The brunette had woken up, taken one look around the strange room and had almost had a heart attack. The vampire was sure that if the human had been twenty years older, he would be residing in a morgue by now. He hadn´t realised that he couldn´t be seen from the double bed when lying on the floor. The blond had just assumed the youth would take a look around, see Spike on the mattress on the floor and be ok with everything. Once calmed down, the brunette had been fine with it. So fine in fact, the vampire had had to duck an unwanted kissing attempt from the boy.
Xander was disappointed when Spike shook his head. It would make things so much harder. He had hoped that with them both being away from the Hyperion, the vampire would lower his resolve to keep Xander away just a little. Angel and Doyle didn´t want him either, that didn´t really bother him as much as Spikes constant rejection did. It wasn´t right. The vampire was only taking the time to look out for Xander because Spike was attracted to him, which confused the boy each time he was pushed away. Spike may be being paid but Xander knew the real reason.
Turning to say goodbye to Cordelia and Doyle as they came back into the main shop, he felt his knees go weak as Cordelia shrieked that she couldn´t find Christopher.
Gently running a finger down the soft cheeks, the digit ending up between warm lips, Angel bent his head down to suck at Wesley´s adams apple. The humans pulse rate soared as he tugged on the cuffs holding his wrists close to the solid bedhead.
"Jesus Angel! Please?"
"Please what?"
With a gasp, the lean man arced up into the hard twist of his erect nipple, bottom lip caught between his lips as the waves of pain rolled through his body. A small slap across the face made the male moan with sheer pleasure.
"Please what?"
The strong white fingers clenched around the smaller man´s jaw in a grip that was firm but carefully applied as to not leave bruises. There never was bruising that showed, just applied pressure in certain points most times. Wesley wanted bruises tonight, a souviner from Sunnydale.
"Please *Master*, fuck me hard"
"Silly little bitch, you aren´t in the position to make demands"
Fingers stroking the throbbing vien in his lovers neck, Angel felt himself get harder as Wesley moaned out the magic word. Master, it was a word that worked a treat each time. The word was power in itself. Who would have guessed that the shy ex–librarian would be such a slut in the bedroom, certainly not Angel. The vampire had been shocked when Wes had cum without being touched sexually the very instant Angel had gripped both wrists in a hard grasp one night. Two long legs had clenched themselves around his waist only seconds after Wes had cum, coarse swearing and taunts filling the quietness of Angels bedroom. From that night on, they had both dived into consensual bondage with a passion.
Wesley had been ecstatic when Angel had accepted his preference for being submissive. He had honestly thought that the vampire would be too guilt filled to partcipate in the bedroom games, no matter how consensual it might be. Angel, however, had leaped into the role playing with as much gusto as the formerly virginial ex–watcher had.
"Master, I want a bruise, please?"
"Ahhh, my darling little whore, you ask for such lovely deeds"
A harder twist to the right nipple and Wesley panted in pain/pleasure, begging his Master not to stop until he was in tears. Leaving the just reddening flesh for a moment, the larger male reached down beside the bed, grappling with the two tubes lying on the floor. Finally, Angel held up the items, prompting Wes to choose one.
"Left or right Whore?"
"Oh Master, left please?"
With a smile, the tube held in the left hand was tossed to the floor. Squirming as much as he could with Angel straddling his hips, Wes was sure he was about to cum from sheer anticipation of what was about to happen. Slowly the brunette vampire pulled a latex glove from the box residing on the bedside table, making sure to snap the glove a few times as he pulled it on, encouraging the lovely squirming going on underneath him. Once done, he waved the tube of cream underneath his lovers nose, delighting in the muttered curses emerging from the usually timid man.
"Ready slut?"
"Yes Master. Oh god yes please!"
Slowly unscrewing the cap, Angel squeezed a small amount onto his gloved fingers, being careful not to get any of the cream onto his unprotected skin. Wes bucked his hips up as hard as he could in an attempt to get Angel to hurry. He wanted the cream right away and not a second later.
A slap echoed through the room, Angel hitting hard enough with his ungloved hand to cause discomfort but not enough to produce a lasting mark. The red handprint would be gone in an hour. If Wes pleaded some more, he might just slap him a few more times.
"Thank you Master!"
"I think I´m too soft on you"
Eyes rolled in delight at just what that statement promised, Wes started to pant as the cream was applied to his left nipple. Only a few seconds later, the Sunnydale Motel room was playing host to whimpers of pain intermingled with curses and a human begging for the pain not to stop.
"Good Bitch?"
"Mmmm. Ooohh, ahhhh. Yes Master"
Angel watched as the normally light beige nipple burned into a bright red shade, the heat from the abused flesh radiating through the latex glove on the hand hovering only centimetres above. The older male had no idea where Wesley had gotten the craving for pain but Angel was sure as hell happy about it. He was glad that Wes had chosen the Deep Heat tube and not the pain reliving cream tonight. They both needed something fairly quick to take their mind off the generally upsetting day. Neither of them were really in the mood to take it slowly tonight. If Wes had chosen the numbing cream, they would both be waiting for the cream to take effect on the ex–watchers firm buttocks before Angel belted Wesleys arse into a shade of red that only fire engines were allowed to display. Both men waiting for the cream to slowly allow the pain to begin as it wore off. The only advantage of that was that Wesley was forced to remain standing for almost the whole following day, Angel taking a quiet delight in his handiwork while watching the younger human walk carefully around the office.
Whenever they decided to take it slowly, Angel made sure that he pinched and slapped at Wesleys sore buttocks as much as possible the next day, getting hard with each moan and almost hidden sob of pain that Wes managed to choke out.
"Ready for a sore arse Whore?"
"Hssss, y..yes Maaaster?"
The vampire stared down at the vision of painful beauty below him. It was obvious that Wesley was having difficulty talking as the heat in his sensitive nipple threatened to blister the skin. Licking at the beginning tears in his lovers eyes, Angel carefully peeled off the latex glove, throwing it onto the floor. Large hand wrapped around his drooling cock, he pumped his hand a few times as he ground himself down onto the other mans rock hard penis. Delighting in the moans of pain intermingled with pleasure, Angel slid off his lover´s abdomen, only just avoiding a foot in the face as Wesley threw his legs open in readiness for the vampire.
"Wider, open them wider, you Slut!"
"Sorry Master"
"You will be if you´re not careful"
SLAP.....SLAP
The cracks of flesh on flesh echoed around the rented room as did Wesley´s cry of delight/pain as Angel slapped hard at each pale inner thigh. Placing himself inbetween, cock still being slowly pumped with his left hand. Once in a steady kneeling position, Angel shrieked in sudden fright as his cell phone rang on the bedside table.
"Jesus..Fuck!!"
"No, no. Don´t answer it, just fuck me till I cry"
"Shut up Wesley...Oh, god! It´s Cordelia"
Phone snatched from the table by an angry vampire, Wesley struggled with the cuffs around his wrists. He usually came from only a few minutes of feeling the metal tight around his wrists, the more he pulled and tugged at them, the more erotic it became. Something that Angel really appreciated watching at times. Wes was pissed off that his one time object of affection was harassing her boss at such an inconvenient time. Taking no notice of the conversation between Angel and Cordelia, he could feel himself just about ready to come when he was startled by Angel roaring down the phone at the agencys secretary, something that had never happened before.
"WHAT? What do you mean you can´t find Christopher?"
Standing in the middle of the room, cock still grasped in his free hand, Angel felt small chills creep up his spine. Christopher would never just go missing, the boy was clingy with both Cordelia and Doyle. If they were out, then he clung to Wesley and Xander, both vampires coming in at last place. Spike being the last choice out of them all.
"Cordelia, please. I´m sorry for yelling, just calm down, ok? Now tell me where you have looked"
A glance at Wesley still handcuffed to the bed and then down at his shrivelling cock grasped in his left hand, he mouthed apologies at his disgruntled lover. He could feel the large vein in his forehead start to throb. God, why now of all times? Angel prayed that Cordelia had a huge baby when she finally fell pregnant, just a little karma for disturbing her employer at a critical moment. Maybe twins the size of a double decker bus each? Grinning slightly as he listened to the former cheerleader reel off each place they had looked, his smile quickly disappeared as it was revealed that there was no place left to look.
"Ok, ok. Cordelia, please just take a breath and calm down. You´re starting to babble like Willow. Yes. No really, you are! Wes and I will be there soon ok?"
With a sigh, Angel disconnected from the distressed girl. Unlocking Wesley from the handcuffs, quickly filling in the former watcher about the situation as they both got dressed.
"Everybody is still at the Magic Box, apparantly Christopher wandered off during Riley´s little speech about Gunn´s bucks party"
"I know that, didn´t he go to sleep behind a book shelf?"
"Well, thats what everybody thought but they have looked all through the shop. Every cupboard and behind everything, even checked out the surrounding streets but he isn´t there"
"What? Are you sure, I mean Cordel...aahhh, ooohhh!"
"Wes? Bit much?"
Eyes half closed as his abused nipple sent waves of pain through his chest, Wesley shook his head at his lovers question, just enjoying the friction of a coarse cotton singlet on his overheated flesh. Snapping his eyes open, he licked his lips, waggling his eyebrows at the older vampire.
"Mmmmm. No, not enough actually"
"Oh, really? Well, we´ll just have to fix that won´t we?"
"Promises, promises"
"Jesus Wes, one day I´m stick a finger full of Deep Heat right up you, just to see your reaction"
Slightly horrified from the wave of arousal flooding off the still dressing male, Angel snapped open his cell phone as it rang again.
"Yes Cordelia, what now? Oh shit! Are you sure?"
"No..no. hold on, just stay there and I´ll call from the shop. Don´t worry, we *will* be there soon"
Curious as to what could make the vampire look paler than he already was, Wesley enquired to what Cordelia had wanted this time.
"Wes, I think were in trouble. Actually Xander is really"
"Angel, whats wrong?"
"Cordelia just got a phone call from Robin´s sister to say that her brother is missing again. Apparantly Todd´s mother thought that Todd was visiting Robin for dinner when he didn´t come home. She called Robins house to get Todd sent home before it got too dark. *She* was told that Robin had just been discovered missing only a few minutes before hand and that Taylor, Robin´s sister was just about to call Todd´s place to see if Robin had gone over for a visit. It doesn´t make sense because Robin is still house bound with the agoraphobia"
"What the hell is going on. Christ Angel, If they are all gone then its really only Xander and Jason that are left"
Both men pushed and shoved their way through the Motel door at the same time, a little embarassed at being caught during such an arousing playtime. Car thrown into drive without waiting for it to warm up for once, the classic car thundered down the road towards the Magic Box and Sunnydales main shopping strip.
Raiding the coffee tin for what must have been the hundreth time that early morning, Joyce could hear Angel snarling down the phone at some unfortunate person. Who it was, she didn´t know and nothing would have made her change places with them. Coffee hurridly spooned into a few cracked mugs, she couldn´t remember who had sugar and who didn´t. Caution thrown to the wind, she gave all five mugs a heaped teaspoon each.
"Damn! No sodding milk left"
"Careful Mom, you sound like Spike"
With a gasp, the older woman turned to face her puffy eyed daughter. A sad smile on her face, she opened her arms wide and gathered Buffy into a motherly embrace. One designed to soothe whatever fears her child might be having. It was a fairly useless gesture but they both basked in the meagre comfort it offered.
"Who´s Angel snapping at?"
"Kate, the detective in L.A. You know, the blonde one who raided Eternal just after we got everybody out"
A few pats on her petite daughters back and Joyce handed a steaming mug of black coffee to the tired girl. Her daughter may be the Boogey Monster for all demons but she was still a young woman who was going through a tough emotional time, one that wasn´t looking any better by the minute.
Sipping at the sweet liquid, Buffy wondered if it was too dangerous to venture back out for some milk. Both women jumped at the sound of breaking glass only to give a few tense giggles at Wesley´s loud apology.
"Mmmm, only Wes. Wondered when Mr Accident Prone would make an appearance?"
"Buffy! Thats not very nice, not matter how true it is"
Another few giggles from them both and they each gathered two mugs in their hands, Buffy´s empty mug left in the sink. A sheepish Wesley held the curtain aside for them as they passed through the doorway from the little kitchenette just behind the large counter and into the main shop. Joyce handed her mugs to Doyle and Cordelia before sitting herself down next to Anya. The ex–demon was impatiently waiting for her husband to confirm that their girls were asleep after being placed in their cribs in the little play area Anya had convinced Giles to set up once she had learned she was pregnant. Buffy walked the length of the shop, stopping just infront of a yawning pair of witches, handing one of her mugs to Tara. A smile at them both and she asked how Xander was doing.
"H..he. Well, Spike w.won´t let anyone close to h.him so it´s a bit hard to tell really"
"Mmm. Spike has been total ´grrr´ face since that call from Robin´s sister"
Head shaken at just why the other boy´s were missing, Buffy sighed. She had just only walked back inside from another round of scouring the nearby streets for Christopher, leaving Riley and Graham to sit with Spike and Xander in her exercise room that was located at the back of the shop. Willow and Tara had placed themselves on either side of the doorway, informing everybody that they were ready to blast anything and anyone that tried to get past them. To hear that the younger vampire was still in game face was not a good thing. It meant that Spike had kept his ridges for more than four hours now and according to Angel, it was something that was painful to do for such a length of time without the tempter of blood or sex anywhere around. She had hoped that the vampire would have calmed down some while she had been looking for the small boy.
Walking past the two women, door pushed open, the blonde entered the brightly lit room. A glance at her boyfriend and his best friend standing at the back of the room, her attention was focused almost immediately on Xander and Spike. They were seated in the middle of the windowless room on a few of her exercise mats. The vampire was growling, face turned in her direction. His gaze was compeltey upon the slumbering brunette on the mat beside him. Xander´s hand was still clenched tightly around the bleached blond´s black shirt.
Buffy stepped slowly towards the two males, careful not to make any sudden movements that would increase the volume of the growling. She knew that it wasn´t specifically directed at her though it was still upsetting to hear. Angel had told her quite quickly once he had arrived at the shop as to why Spike had gone mental when Cordelia had informed everybody to the nature of the phonecall she had recieved. Everyone had been curious as to who was calling at almost 1.30 in the morning. As soon as the ex–cheerleader had told Spike, the vampire had dragged the brunette boy into the training room, snapping and snarling at anyone who had approached them.
Buffy had been in the process of trying to get Spike to release his hold on the crying boy until Angel had arrived and yelled at her to leave them alone. The older vampire had quickly taken control of the situation. A firm order for both the former soldiers to stay close to the distressed males, Angel had left them trying to at least get in the room without Spike dragging Xander from corner to corner as soon as it looked like anyone was getting too close. Buffy had in turn yelled at Angel for interfering until she had started to listen to her former lovers quietly spoken words. She had been horrified to learn the true nature of Spike´s turning. With a promise not to tell anyone of what she had learned, she had thought back to all the times she had seen Spike with Drusilla.
She had honestly thought that the two demons were deeply entwined with one of the most twisted display´s of love she had ever seen. The Slayer had felt a pang of pity for Spike at learning of the Twilight Instructions. According to Angel, the blond vampire had no idea of what had occured while he had been in his Twilight slumber and that he would never know of it. Spike was to be left thinking that he had been deep in love with Drusilla all the time they had been together. It was these instructions that were prompting the display of protectiveness towards Xander and for once, Buffy was thankful that the vampire was with her friend. From what Angel had indicated, Spike would stop at nothing to keep Xander safe once his full protectivness had been aroused. If the vampire had to chance getting dusted in the process, then Angel said that it wouldn´t even be a concern for the blond.
"Spike?"
"Grrrr, snort. Grrrrr"
"Spike, it´s Buffy. I have a coffee for you. I´m going to place it on the floor just here ok?"
"Grrrrr, snarl. Riiigggght"
A small smile on her face as the vampire stopped snarling for just a moment in an effort to answer her, the Slayer asked if there was anything else that Spike wanted. At the shaken head, she backed slowly out of the room while asking if Riley and Graham needed anything. Riley hefted his large axe into his other hand, shaking his numb fingers as he asked for a coffee when a mug became available. A glance at Graham and he upped it to two coffees. The tall ex–soldier had no idea of why the vampire was growling at everyone but if it helped keep the sleeping man safe, then he wasn´t going to argue. Graham been on his way home when Christopher had gone missing, Riley phoning him to come back and help look when it was discovered that the shop was clean.
Sighing at the sight on the floor, Graham Miller allowed a tiny smile to crack through his normally serious face as Spike tried to continue growling while drinking the coffee. The result was splattered coffee over both himself and Xander. The brunette male had only just fallen into a deep sleep after crying from the moment Christopher had gone missing. Graham had felt his heart twist at the thought of anyone causing more trouble for the already lifelong scarred men, it just wasn´t right. He wasn´t really their friend but he hated that they were once again probably on their way to becoming victims of something nasty again. It had taken almost an hour for Spike to stop crushing Xander into a corner, the vampire pushing back against the boy in full gameface whenever Riley or himself attempted to enter the room. But, bit by bit, the blond had responded to his Sires soothing words to let the men inside the room and close to them.
Graham had watched as Spike had placed the boy on the piled up exercise mats and stroked the boy´s hair until Xander had cried himself to sleep. It was something that was going to spook him for life. He had never witnessed Spike´s tenderness with the infamous Drusilla, only heard stories about how devoted Spike had been to her, something that he had often laughed at. After seeing how the demon treated the distressed boy, he wondered if the stories had truly captured the nature of the blond correctly.
Buffy went back past Willow and Tara who were discussing various spells, the blond enthusiastically telling her lover about one that caused the body to melt from the feet upwards while keeping the head alive until everything below the neck was gone. Grimacing at the thoughts running through her head, the Slayer walked past Angel who had just successfully crushed his cell phone into a small lump of plastic.
"I can´t believe you just did that! Angel, that´s the third one in two months. We should bloody well start buying shares in the company"
Still upset at being disturbed while ´playing´ and Christopher´s disappearance, Wesley admonished the vampire for being so careless with the agency´s property, quickly closing his mouth at the black look shot towards him by his lover.
"That was Kate. A man was killed last night and they needed dental records to identify him, unfortunately one of the listed dental clinic´s had been the victim of an arson attack two weeks ago that left no records intact"
"Yes, so what does that have to do with the price of fish?"
"Kate called the owner of the clinic in an attempt to see if the records had been stored in another place. Guess who´s missing?"
Wesley was puzzled, what the hell did this have to do with what was happening in Sunnydale. With a bad feeling settling in his stomach, he gestured for his employer to continue telling the gathered group about the detectives phonecall.
"Guy Andrews. The man who did the identification on Randall Hargraves. All records *had* been burnt with the office and when Kate went into the evidence room to follow a hunch, guess who´s dental records are missing from the evidence room?"
A collective gasp went around the room at the shocking news. Everyone had been relieved when Randall had been found dead but angry at the same time for the man escaping justice and for recieving a quick death. When the five men had been told that their captor had been killed, all apart from Christopher had taken a few days to fully accept it.
"Kate seems to think that it isn´t really Randall in the ground and that it is some other poor prick whose teeth had been doctored to look like Randall´s, either that or Guy Andrews faked the identification"
"You mean that bastard might still be alive out there somewhere?"
"Looks that way Cordy, I truly thought the nightmare was over for Xander and the others"
Silence descended on the shop as everyone took in just what it meant for the five men. Angel looked around at the gathered people, knowing that they would be looking to him for descions now that the undisputed leader Giles was gone. Never in the whole time he had known the older watcher did he wish for the other mans guidence.
"I think we should place the tracker on Xander. The sooner, the better. We still have no idea of how they are getting the boys but I think magic had something to do with it"
Agreeing with Angel, Buffy left to send both Riley and Graham to their house to get the neccessary supplies. Wesley walked with her to inform the witches of the update and to get their ideas on what type of spells would be handy for the situation. With Giles being gone, if they had to work any magic, the other mans skill would be sorely missed and Wes prayed that it wouldn´t be a problem when it came to the crunch.
