The Witch, the Warrior, & the Vampire
 Parts 7-8


Written by: Brandi
 Author's Website





Summary: A prophecy, an upcoming gigantic battle, mayhem, and lots of vampire lore. Contains het and m/m, f/f slash. Contains cast of both BtVS,AtS, and oc. Main pairings: S/B, X/A, W/T
Disclaimer: The show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all of it's characters belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, & Fox Prod.
Feedback: http://www.livejournal.com/users/brandil




Chapter 7: Mobilization


As the sun began its gentle ascent, lightening the sky from midnight night blue to cerulean, streaked with rose and orange, Anya started to come to. She sat up slowly, clutching the back of her head, confused as to where she was. She looked down at her hand and saw the simple golden band nestled against her engagement ring and she remembered.

She had married her one true love yesterday, and last night he was ripped from her side. Fury, wrath, and rage propelled her to her feet and the phone, making her forget the dull throbbing ache of her head. First she rang Buffy’s house one, two, three, four, five rings, the answering machine. “Hey, this is Anya wake up,” she shouted into the phone, hoping someone would hear her message if not now, soon, “they got Xander last night, meeting at the Magic Box NOW.”

Next she dialed the very familiar numbers for Giles. One, two, three, four rings when a very sleepy voice answered her, “Yes?”

“Giles, it’s Anya, Xander was taken last night, and we’ve got to get him back, NOW!” The rage in her voice brought Giles fully alert.

“Slow down Anya,” he tried to soothe her over the phone, “start from the beginning.”

“We were drinking champagne on the balcony, and about to consummate our marriage, and next thing I know it’s sunrise, I’m still on the balcony and Xander is GONE!” All her anger, wrath, and fury were quickly turning into hysteria as she started hyperventilating Giles tried to get some more information from her, “Anya, have you looked for him everywhere, and have you called the others?”

“Yes...he’s GONE... left Buffy message...Morgaine knew... must get her and Spike,” she managed to choke out between jagged breaths.

“Stay there Anya, I’ll get Morgaine and the others, stay calm, put your head between your knees and try to take slow deep breaths, we’ll be there soon, just t-try to remain calm.” Giles started making a mental list of things he needed to do.

Still hyperventilating Anya managed to stutter out, “T-t-thank you,” before she dropped the phone and put her head between her knees to try to get her breathing under control.

Giles leapt out of bed and called Buffy immediately. The phone rang and rang before he heard Willow’s voice still heavy with sleep, “ ‘Lo?”

“Willow? It’s Giles. Something terrible has happened.” Giles wedged the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he struggled into his slacks.

“Oh my god what?” Wide awake now; after years of phone calls jarring her from her pleasant dreams, she was in full Scooby mode as she jumped out of bed and started getting dressed.

“It appears Xander was taken last night; we need everyone at the apartment now, she specifically requested Spike, I want someone over there as soon as possible, Anya’s hysterical, and I have to go get Morgaine, see you soon.” Giles hung up abruptly, grabbing his glasses off the nightstand and heading out the door.

Instinctively Willow didn’t ask any questions, once everyone was assembled it would be time for questions, right now they needed to mobilize. She ran straight to Buffy’s room; the Slayer was sitting up in bed, replacing her phone back on the hook. It looked like she heard the whole conversation. Willow then ran to Tara’s room. She opened the door without knocking and took a moment to watch her lover sleep. She then murmured a quick prayer to the goddess in gratitude that Tara was safe. A look of softness stole over the witch’s face. ‘She’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever known...’ She sat down beside Tara and softly stroked her hair. “Honey, honey you need to wake up now.”

Slowly Tara opened her sleepy eyes and smiled up at Willow, “Good morning.” She stretched lazily.

With those two words Willow’s entire posture and expression hardened, “No, it’s not baby, something got Xander last night, and we’ve got to go to Anya’s now.” Tara shot out of bed at the redhead’s words; only Willow’s quick grab saved her from tumbling to the floor when her feet became entangled in the sheets.

Suddenly Dawn streaked down the hall fully dressed, yelling back at Buffy, “I’ll get Spike up,” only to crash into him at the bottom of the stairs, fully dressed head to toe in black, duster on, stakes in hand.

“No need for that Nibblet, heard you ladies all the way downstairs,” he chanced a look outside the sun was up now, “we don’t have a lot of time. Hurry.”

Before he finished his sentence, Buffy, Willow, and Tara came bounding down the stairs, all were dressed in the first articles of clothing they found, as evidenced by Dawn’s “Hanson” t-shirt and the tag sticking out of the top of Buffy’s sweatpants.

“Time to go now,” Willow commanded, throwing Spike his sun-blanket as she led the way to the car.

Giles had walked up to the front door when Morgaine stepped out. She was clutching what looked like an old doctor’s bag in her hands; “No time to ask me any questions Rupert. We’ve got to go now.” No other words were spoken on the short drive to Anya and Xander’s home.

Willow was the first one through the door. She quickly glanced around the apartment, praying that it was all a joke. At the sight of Anya, head between her legs sobbing, she knew with certain finality it wasn’t. Tara and Dawn quickly rushed to Anya’s side patting her on the back, making soothing murmurs. Buffy and Spike searched the apartment for clues. Willow went to the kitchen and made coffee and a pot of tea. By unspoken agreement they waited on Giles before questioning Anya. For 15 long minutes the only sounds to be heard were the coffee dripping, the teakettle shrieking, and Tara muttering a calming incantation over Anya.

Anya had finally regained her breath when Giles and Morgaine came through the door. Giles rushed to Anya’s side. “I know this is difficult Anya, but you need to tell us exactly what happened.”

“We were on the balcony drinking champagne. We talked for a few minutes, and had started kissing. Next thing I know the sun’s rising and Xander was gone.” Tara’s spell must have worked because Anya was calm and beginning to sound a little stoned.

Buffy rushed out on the balcony searching for clues. Finding only a few drops of blood and a discarded metal baseball bat.

“OK, someone hit them in the head with this.” She held the bat in front of her, showing it to the group.

“Is this it? Is this what you saw?” Anya asked Morgaine, words slurring together.

“Yes child it is.” Morgaine gently stroked Anya’s long blonde hair.

Giles was flabbergasted. Morgaine and Anya had known something was going to happen to Xander but neither had said a word to him, or anyone else it appeared.

“You mean you knew something terrible was going to happen to Xander, and you let it?” Dawn screamed at Morgaine, full of righteous indignation. Without thinking she launched herself at Morgaine, only to be caught in a blur of black.

“Nibblet, sometimes things can’t be prevented, you just have to let them happen. S’called fate. We couldn’t interfere, but we can get him back.” Spike held Dawn as tight as he could without hurting her. “Witch told me this was going to happen and that it was necessary if we were going to win this war we’ve got to fight. Right now, we need to be calm and find Xander.”

“Was everyone aware of this but me?” Giles demanded looking back and forth between his sometimes-lover, his business partner, and the vampire he had come to trust, albeit reluctantly.

“Rupert, we’re the only ones who knew. I felt I had to prepare Anya. It wouldn’t have been fair for her not to have known.” Morgaine tilted her head towards Spike but never broke eye contact with Giles. “It’s not only Xander’s destiny that is being fulfilled, it is Spike’s as well. But before destiny can be fulfilled, we have much to do. First we must locate Xander; we’ll need to do a locator spell, and then we must ensoul him.”

“En-Ensoul?” Tara timidly questioned.

“They’ve turned him,” Buffy whispered as she sank down, shocked, into the nearest chair.

“NO!” All eyes turned to Willow. Her eyes were darkening and her fury came out in her voice, overshadowing new sobbing from Anya. “No. We will not ensoul Xander. If he’s been turned we’re going to stake him! He hates vampires more than anything and I WILL NOT allow you to force him live for-for eternity as what he despises most.”

“Why?” Everyone heard the small whisper and turned to Buffy. “Why, why did this happen, if it was destiny, tell me, ‘cause I’m with Willow on this. Xander would beg me to stake him, he can’t live like that. It’ll destroy him.” She buried her face in her hands.

“Yes, Morgaine, why don’t you, in your infinite wisdom and all-seeing scrying bowl, tell us why.” Ripper glared across the room at Morgaine, challenge in his eyes. “I’m with the girls on this, for Xander; we must end his misery.”

Eyes never wavering from Ripper, Morgaine answered, “The only way to win the war is if all of you work together. The Powers knew Xander would never trust and accept Spike. They allowed him to be captured and turned.”

“She’s right,” the now-calm voice of Dawn was heard. “Xander would have never trusted Spike, and we all would have died. If he’s a vampire, he’ll have to trust Spike; there won’t be anyone else who can help him.” Spike loosened his grip on Dawn, but the teenager did not step away from him; somehow the vampire’s presence always seemed to calm Dawn in a way she didn’t understand.

Silence filled the room but no one disagreed with Dawn. They knew she was right. It was the only way, if they were going to stop the apocalypse. Buffy fiddled with the bloody baseball bat, clearly feeling the need to do something but not yet sure what.

“What do we need to do?” Tara spoke up.

“We’ll do a locator spell to find him. Buffy and Spike will then go retrieve him, while we ensoul him. This must be done immediately. If he wakes and feeds...” she shook her head to clear away the vision of the alternate outcome of the situation. “Buffy it’s important you listen to me in this. Your job is to get Xander back here. You can NOT interfere with what Spike has to do; your interference would be disastrous.” Morgaine spoke simply, keeping an eye on the Slayer who did not seem willing to accept her statements.

“What exactly does he have to do?” Buffy questioned Morgaine, rebellion in her posture, voice, and eyes.

“He must challenge and defeat Xander’s sire. If he succeeds, he will then transfer the sire-childe bond to himself. If he doesn’t, Angelus may have to come back to Sunnydale after all.” Morgaine met the blond slayer’s glare without flinching. Spike had to give her credit for that; the look Buffy was currently sporting had sent demons twice the size of the priestess scurrying for cover.

“Why can’t I challenge him?” Buffy demanded.

“Because you aren’t a vampire,” Giles sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Spike, I assume you know what to do.” He waited for the blonde’s affirmation, which came in the form of a tense nod. “Good, let’s get this over with.”

Ignoring Giles; Morgaine turned to Spike, “How much time do we have before he rises?”

“Depends, on a lot of things; whether he was made a childe or minion, the strength of his sire, which you can bet will be strong since he’s the Master’s Right Hand.” Spike’s head was spinning and he desperately wanted a cigarette.

“Assume the worst case, childe, powerful sire, blah, blah, blah.” Buffy’s eyes bore into Spike’s as she spoke. He could see her fear, smell it. Once it would have made him feel powerful, now it made him sick.

“Sundown. He’ll rise at earliest by sundown. That gives us plenty of time, so long as we can find him. The Master, he’s calling vampires to him, even with his soul intact, if we don’t get to him first, Harris won’t be able to resist the call.”

“Tell me exactly, how are you able to resist the call?” Suspicion shone from Giles’ eye and Spike caught a glimpse of Ripper.

“Strength of mind, strength of will, and something the Master can never give me: Buffy and Dawn.” He shrugged nonchalantly, hoping no one would realize the depths of his struggles. If Dawn hadn’t screamed out the other night, he would have gone then. The pull was scaring him, but he didn’t want anyone to know.

“Do we have a map of Sunnydale here?” Morgaine asked, in control of the situation again. Although it was just past dawn, the seconds were ticking away. It was time to get started.

Not speaking, Anya stood and left the room. She returned a few moments later with a map of all the Sunnydale sewers, engineering tunnels, and the Initiative caves Riley had described to Xander long, long ago. She put the map down on the table and sat down again.

“Remarkable,” Giles exclaimed, “wherever did you get this?”

“Xander’s been working on it for years. He was going to hang it up in the Magic Box when he was done, to help us plan strategies.” The word “before…” hung in the air, unsaid but weighing heavily on everyone’s mind.

“Excellent.” Tracing a finger over the Hellmouth Morgaine was baffled at the miles and miles of tunnel and caves underneath Sunnydale. “Why hasn’t the city crumbled into the ground? There’s no reason for it to be standing with all the emptiness below it.”

“Welcome to the Hellmouth,” Buffy, Willow, and Giles spoke in unison.

***

In the tunnels, Maverick had just finished with the vampiress who lay trembling beneath him. She had been his fourth of the night. When the vampiresses had realized he’d been successful in his mission from the Master, they had thrown themselves at him. Each was hoping to be chosen as it would increase their status amongst this new, powerful and large clan. He’d chosen the four most attractive and skilled to celebrate his victory. Strangely, it made his mouth taste like ashes. The one he’d wanted to come to him hadn’t.

He quickly got dressed in jeans, white t-shirt, brown leather bomber jacket, and went to watch over his childe. He couldn’t believe she hadn’t come to him. Trinity was the definition of the perfect vampiress. Waist-length black hair, smooth complexion milky not pallid, slanted emerald eyes, legs that went on forever, and a predilection for torture and murder unsurpassed by any vampire or vampiress he’d ever known.

It was rumored she had once been a bride of Dracula, but Maverick doubted it. It was also rumored she’d been turned by the Master’s favorite childe, Darla. That Maverick could believe. She was over 300 years old, and could kill him in an instant and he knew it. He knew she hadn’t come to him because she meant to challenge him for his position at the Master’s side.

If the Master hadn’t been so old-fashioned and naturally distrusting of females, she would have been proclaimed his right hand. Fortunately for him, she hadn’t arrived in Sunnydale until after the Master had raised him to the status of Right Hand. They’d encountered each other a few times before. He’d seen her as the Master of a neighboring town, an equal. Now he saw her as his potential mate, one who could give as good as she could take. There was nothing he wanted more.

He turned the corner to where he had stashed Xander and was immediately surrounded by his minions. A soft growl later, and they stood down, recognizing him. The last thing he wanted to do was sit beside a corpse until it rose, but the Master had commanded him and so he sat. His mind drifted away again to Trinity. Oh the torture they could inflict upon each other and the world.

***

“Spike, do you need anything before we begin?” Morgaine calmly asked.

“Gonna need to feed, more than I usually eat, preferably human too. After I defeat his sire, I’ll have to drain Xander again, and then...” he didn’t finish his sentence, he knew everyone was beyond uncomfortable with the situation, but their anguish had grown at those words. He didn’t want to make it worse than it already was. For anyone.

“I’ll get you some blood, from Willie’s. I’ve got to go change clothes anyway, something a little more stealthy I think. Anyway I’m useless at magick.” Buffy was out the door and gone before anyone could bat an eye. Spike desperately wanted to go with her. He knew she was having a hard time with him being the savior in this situation. Hell, he was having a hard time as it was, and he’d been somewhat prepared. He was lost in his own thoughts and oblivious to the spell the others began.

“This map is the perfect magickal aide in finding him. It was created by him and is therefore filled with his essence.” Morgaine knew the others understood that but said it for Dawn’s benefit. The map was placed on the coffee table, and a small pile of coffee grounds lay in a pile in the middle. “Dawn, I need you to light the incense and the sage, you’ll need to walk in a circle counter-clockwise behind us with the sage until the spell is finished. The rest of you, sit in a circle around the table, knees touching, holding hands.” When everyone was arranged appropriately, Morgaine squeezed herself in between Tara and Willow. Taking their hands she closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing.

The spell was a simple one really, but they needed to pinpoint his exact locale, not just a general location. Anya began the spell. Her voice was strong, the slurring gone. “Aphrodite, I beseech thee, in the name of love reveal that which was taken from me.” One by one the others added their voice to the chant. After the third time the smoke from the sage turned orange. After the fourth time, the coffee grinds began to move, changing color as they shifted across the map to a deep red. When the movement stopped, a flash of white filled the room and everyone could see Xander’s dead body lying in a cave surrounded by seven vampires, obviously there to guard against interference from the Slayer. The demon had yet to rise, they had proof.

One by one, the magick users came out of their collective trance. Morgaine was the first, followed quickly by Tara. They spoke to each other quietly confirming what they had seen. Spike was standing over the coffee table, trying to relate the tunnels to the surface of Sunnydale.

Buffy came back then. She was dressed in black cotton cargo pants, a long sleeved black shirt, and her steel toed combat boots, courtesy of the Initiative. “Did you find him?” She asked as she threw Spike four bags of blood. It looked like she’d nicked them from the blood bank at the hospital. All of them were O neg, his favorite. He happily sucked the first one down before he got to the kitchen to heat up the second.

“We did, there’s seven vampires guarding him,” Dawn proudly stated. She’d helped! She had finally helped her friends that had risked so much for her time and time again. She promised herself she’d learn to be the best witch she could. It was cool!

“We found him, and the red glowing coffee shows exactly where he is. What we don’t know unfortunately is where that is in regards to the tunnel entrances we’re accustomed to.”

“Oh! I forgot the most important part of the map.” Anya exclaimed as she jumped up and left the room. Seconds later she returned with a see through overlay. She matched the top sheet to the bottom where both said this end up.

Everyone studied it in silence. Finally Buffy spoke up. “It’s under the gym at the old high school.” She looked up at Spike, “Ready?”

“Buffy, you must remember, it is your job to get Xander out and bring him back here. The Master and every vampire in Sunnydale are down there. Do NOT let your calling interfere with your job. I believe his sire was the one in the leather jacket. If you must, you can stake the others, but listen to Spike, he’ll know instinctively which one the sire is. You can NOT stake the sire; it’ll destroy the transformation.” Giles hugged her tightly to him. “I know that goes against everything I’ve ever taught you, but the rules are rapidly changing and it is imperative you follow Spike’s lead this time. Do you understand?”

Grateful to be in Giles’ supportive arms, Buffy quickly nodded her head. It was going to be hard, but she could do it.

Anya ignored the others and was standing with Spike, one hand gripped tightly on his arm. “Is there anything I can do to make this easier for him?”

Very softly and gently Spike returned her grip with a caress of his own, unconsciously trying to soothe her fears. “Yes, we’ll need blood and plenty of it. Human. From the hospital. Not anyone we know. Fledglings need to feed and feed often, helps control the demon.”

An unfamiliar scent was wafting from Anya to Spike. “Bloody hell, you did it didn’t you?” He whispered, leaned in towards her and took a deep breath inhaling her aroma and noting the changes in it. Mutely Anya nodded at him. “Demon again eh? You know what’s involved with the bonding, don’t you kitten?” Anya remained silent and nodded again. “There’s ways around the sex, love, best way I know of is for you to be there with me. I’ll transfer the bond and let you have the fun part.”

Shakily Anya laughed, but her grip on Spike’s arm tightened. “How soon before I can bind him to me?”

“You know about that too, eh? Give it a few days, kitten. He might not be able to kill you from feeding on you ‘cause you’re a demon again, but he won’t have the control to keep from draining you too much. It can still hurt you.” Spike deliberately kept his voice low; it was too intensely personal a conversation to be having in a room full of people.

Anya nodded at Spike again and quietly leaned into him and wrapped her arms around him. “Promise me you’ll bring him back.”

“I promise kitten, you’ll have your man, and I’ll have a childe.” He shook his head at the wonder of it all and returned her embrace. They were both oblivious to everyone else in the room.

Uncomfortable with Spike and Anya looking so intimate, Buffy loudly cleared her throat. “Ready, Spike?”

He nodded, kissed Anya on the top of her head. Out the door they went to find Xander and bring him back.

“Let’s curse him and get it over with. They’ll need all the help they can get.” Giles said and wordlessly the witches began setting up for the spell.






Chapter 8: Recovery




Spike was lying down in the backseat of the Jeep covered in his sun-blanket during the drive to the school. He’d tried to make small talk with Buffy but she’d ignored him. He could feel the anger, confusion, and despair she was projecting and it hurt him. He felt the car stop, and Buffy put the Jeep in park. Sitting up, Spike noticed they were parked right beside a covered entrance to the burned burned-down high school.

Buffy got out of the car and walked to the door. One good kick later it was ripped off its hinges. Spike quickly got out of the Jeep and followed her into the safety of the building. Not speaking they left two blankets by the door for their escape. Spike followed Buffy to the gymnasium and down into the locker room. In the shower she pulled aside a grate that covered a tunnel. According to Xander’s map it would lead directly to him.

“We should be able to follow this and go straight to him. Giles said there were seven vampires guarding him.” Buffy took a deep breath and started down the tunnel.

Spike stopped her with a restraining hand on her shoulder. “Slayer, we’ve got an advantage here. Traditional vampires sleep this time of day. If we can sneak up on them, we can stake all but the leader, and while I challenge him, you can carry Xander back up here.” He looked at her carefully, now beginning to see the nervousness shining through her determination.

“Wh-what happens if you lose this challenge?” Buffy bit her lip, almost certain she didn’t want to hear the answer to her question.

“Well luv, I’ll die.” A steely look of resolve crept across Buffy’s face. She squared her shoulders and her eyes took on a distant far away look. Watching her go into battle mode was always a revelation. Without any warning every emotion Buffy had been projecting was efficiently cut off. Her breathing became quieter, her heartbeat slowed down. He watched as she drew the mask of the Slayer over her entire being. Without any warning she jumped into the tunnel. Spike followed quickly behind.

The tunnel was lit every 50 feet or so with a single torch. One hundred feet and one right turn later they were standing in front of eight bodies. Seven of them were inhabited by demons, and one was the corpse of one of Buffy’s best friends. She withdrew her stake from the waistband of her pants. She looked to Spike, silently questioning which one was Xander’s sire. He pointed to the vampire in the brown bomber jacket. Immediately she staked the vampire closest to her. Within seconds only Xander and his sire remained. Buffy picked him up and carried him fireman’s style out of the tunnel.

Spike waited a long and painful ten minutes for Buffy to get to safety with Xander before he lit a cigarette. The vampire before him still didn’t stir. He decided to enjoy his smoke instead of using it for dramatic effect. When he had smoked it down to the filter he dropped it onto the forehead of the vampire, and ground it out with his heel. Immediately he the darker vampire woke and sprung to his feet ready to fight.

“Spike, the Slayer’s lapdog. Come to retrieve her little friend?” Maverick smirked condescendingly at Spike.

“Actually, I came to claim your childe as my own. What kind of vampire are you anyway? Your minions are dust and your childe kidnapped. If I were the Master I’d find myself a new Right Hand.” Maverick looked around, for the first time noticing the absence of the other demons and, most importantly, his newest childe.

“You’ll not take my childe.” Maverick’s true face emerged and a deep growl rumbled from his chest.

“Little late for that now innit?” Laughter shone from golden eyes as Spike growled and received the challenge. “What’s your name, in case my childe asks who turned him?”

“My name is Maverick, and you won’t get out of here. There’s over 200 vampires down here along with the Master. I think a long, unlife is in store for you, as the Master has enough minions to torture you round the clock 24/7/365 for eternity.” Maverick leapt at Spike with his last words.

Spike bent down, using his shoulder and the vampire’s own momentum to throw him into the wall. Staring down at his opponent disdain in his eyes, Spike started to laugh. “Ah I get it now, Maverick, bomber jacket, rather longish crew cut. You watch too many bloody eighties movies. What ya’ doin’, trying to be Tom Cruise?” The blonde vampire was able to hum a few bars of “Danger Zone” before Maverick charged at him again.

This time Maverick effectively shoulder shoulder-blocked Spike and smashed him into a wall. With a head butt Spike had advantage again. Fists flying, the two vampires tore into each other. Fists and fangs. Maverick knew he was outclassed. He was landing only one punch to Spike’s six, and he’d yet to effectively land a kick. He took a deep breath to roar for help when suddenly he was confused. Spike wasn’t in front of him anymore, and there was a pain in his neck. He managed to gasp out “what?” before Spike slammed the stake into his back, and dusted him.

He drew his hand across his mouth to wipe the fallen vampire’s blood from his mouth. Kicking at the ashes on the ground, he muttered, “He’s mine now.” Quietly he made his way back to where he and Buffy had entered the school. She was sitting, crying soundlessly beside Xander’s body, holding his cold hand tightly in hers. Spike took one of the blankets and covered Xander with it from head to toe. Bending he picked him up one arm under his legs, the other under his back. Buffy draped the second blanket over Spike and they headed back to the Jeep for the short drive to Xander and Anya’s apartment. Spike sat in the back with Xander in his arms. Suddenly the body seized up, and one of its legs kicked the window out of the passenger side door.

“What was that, is he waking up?” Buffy tried to see what was going on in their rearview mirror, almost driving off the road. “Shit!”

“Check the time, we’ll have to ask, but I think he just got his soul back.” Buffy’s eyes flew to the clock on the dashboard. 10:30.

Twenty-five minutes later they opened the door to the apartment. Anya quickly invited them in. Spike carried Xander to the bedroom and gently laid him on the bed.

“He started jerking around at 10:30, but he didn’t wake up.” Spike tried to arrange Xander as comfortably as possible, and Anya crawled up on the bed to be near her husband.

“Excellent.” Morgaine said as she studied the body. “We finished the spell just about then. Now we know it worked.”

Willow was sitting beside Xander holding his hand. Anya placed his head in her lap and stroked his hair. Everyone else was standing around the bed, staring, not knowing what to do next. Finally Dawn broke the silence and looked at Spike. “What do we do now?”

“Now you all leave. Except for Anya. And I don’t mean the bedroom; I mean leave. There’s some stuff I’ve got to do, then there’s a bunch of waiting, and then there’s more stuff when he wakes up. It’ll go better for him if none of you all are here.” Spike was deliberately vague in his explanations; there were some aspects of a new childe rising that he knew the group was not ready to deal with yet.

“Why?” Willow quietly asked. She was completely resigned to what had befallen Xander after a long conversation with Morgaine, but she wasn’t ready to leave. She and everyone else wanted to be there when he woke up. To show they still loved him.

“When he wakes he’ll be confused. His senses will be overwhelming to him. The sounds of your heartbeats will draw him. He’ll want to feed. I don’t know how long it’ll take for his soul to take over, but when I first woke, it was about half a day before I gained any control at all.” Spike was not-so-subtly trying to motion them out the door, not sure how long he had before Xander started to fully wake.

“But we gave him his soul back. It worked; you saw it,” Dawn interrupted.

“It’ll still take a while for ‘Xander’ to wake up ‘bit. Demon has total control for the first few hours. I doubt Xander would want any of you to see that.” Spike explained patiently, appealing to what he knew about the boy, and what the others knew about how he was going to handle the new situation; after all, vampires were probably the least favorite thing of his existence, second only to Harris family gatherings.

Everyone appeared to be crushed. Giles especially had wanted to stay for the entire process. No one had ever studied the first few hours of vampiric life, and academically he was intrigued, to say the least. On a personal level, he wanted to show Xander his support. “Well, is there anything we can do?”

“Blood, lots of it, bags and bags. All human.”

Giles nodded, “All right everyone, I believe Spike is correct and its best if we leave him and Anya to what they have to do.”

“I’ll be back with the blood, before sunset.” Buffy said, then she hugged Spike to her tightly before shooing the others out of the apartment.

When they heard the door shut Anya turned to Spike, “Now what?”

“Now you get to leave for a few minutes while I do what I need to.” Spike turned away to give Anya a moment’s privacy with her fallen husband.

Anya leaned down and kissed Xander on the lips. Slowly she slid away from him, and placed a pillow under his head, to replace her lap. “Come get me when you’re done, and we’ll wait together.” She left the room and softly closed the bedroom door behind her.

Spike turned and studied Xander. He’d yet to take on the translucent sheen of vampires. “I hope that bollicksing up as a sire doesn’t run in the blood line. I’ll do my best by you. But if you fuck with me, as your sire, I have full rights and privileges for torturing you, you bloody whelp.” Not wanting to act anymore like a poofter than he already was, Spike unceremoniously grabbed the body and pulled it into sitting position. With one arm wrapped around it, he used his other hand to turn the head from side to side. He immediately saw the bite marks on the left side of Xander’s neck. Spike vamped out and plunged his fangs on top the existing marks, obliterating them.

He sucked hard, relishing the taste of what was to become his flesh and blood. The taste of the blood was not demonic. Xander would truly be his. Maverick’s demon hadn’t started the transformation; some inner hope in Spike grew with that knowledge. When the blood stopped flowing easily, he withdrew his fangs and rasped his tongue over the wound, in a definite pattern. He traced a circle to represent the sun, three dots to represent stars. Order of Aurelius. He sank his fangs into Xander again, drew two more swallows of blood, and licking the wound, he traced a line down the center of the sun. Childe of. He bit Xander for the third time, sinking his fangs into him as far as they would go, and tugged backwards on them, stretching the holes. Spike. “Mine,” he whispered.

Quickly he slashed his wrist with own fangs and held it to Xander’s mouth lips. He dribbled the blood into his mouth. “Drink,” Spike growled. Xander drank. And drank. And drank. Spike patiently let him drink until his body couldn’t withstand anymore. His head was spinning and he didn’t have the strength to stand up. “Kitten,” he croaked out, “bring me some blood, will yah?”

Anya had been waiting outside the door with the blood. When she entered the bedroom, she found Spike passed out on top of Xander. She put the bag of blood on the nightstand and lay down beside them. She played with Xander’s hair and snuggled into him. Not long after, she was asleep too.

Later that afternoon Buffy returned to the apartment with a cooler full of blood. She didn’t know what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t what she found. “Anya, Spike?” she called out as she put the cooler in the kitchen. Receiving no answer, she headed into the bedroom. She drew up short at the sight in front of her. Spike was wrapped around one side of Xander, Anya the other. If they hadn’t have all had their clothes on, it would’ve looked the three of them had engaged in a ménage a trois.

Worriedly, she began to wonder if that wouldn’t be what happened when Xander rose.

“Hello, cutie.” Buffy had been so deep in thought that she hadn’t seen Spike’s blue eyes flutter open, as if he seemingly sensed her presence even in his sleep.

“I brought a cooler full of blood. It’s in the kitchen.” Buffy didn’t quite now how to ask questions about what had transpired, or even what questions to ask.

Spike spied the blood on the nightstand and quickly drank it down. “Good, bring it in here. I’m going to fill the tub with hot water.”

“Why?” Buffy asked, confused.

“Need it to be as close to body temperature as possible.” Spike waited for Buffy to return with the cooler, and then helped her bring it into the bathroom.

“Did everything…” Buffy trailed off as she watched Spike run water into the tub, testing it by holding his wrist under the stream.

“Everything went fine, Slayer.” He seemed to have found the satisfactory temperature and plugged the tub, letting it fill up.

“Uh, how, how long?” Buffy desperately wished Spike would look at her; she couldn’t gauge his emotions when his eyes were trained on the tub.

“Don’t know. Could be sundown, could be sundown tomorrow, and could be sundown day after that. If it hasn’t happened by then…it didn’t work.” His voice got noticeably softer with his last words. Didn’t want to think what would happen then. Couldn’t.

“Oh.” There was a long silence before Buffy spoke again. “Are you two gonna wait it out?”

“Yeah, we’ll give you guys a call when he’s Xander again.” Spike shut the tub off and began tossing the bagged blood packets into it, still not looking at Buffy.

“What happens next?” There was a world more of questions encompassed in that single one that Buffy didn’t even begin to know how to ask.

“Depends on a lot of things. Why?” He stopped in his task and turned questioning azure eyes on her, trying to suss out what she was fishing for. The slayer didn’t like to admit it, but often he could read her better than she knew, and he could tell when she was dancing around something.

“Uh, I’m um, uh, just wanted to know what, uh, else you need to do.” Now it was Buffy who wouldn’t meet Spike’s eyes.

“Like I said, depends on a lot of things. Why don’t you go look it up? It may make you all feel better about not being here, or it may make you want to stake us both. Either way, you’ll know at least some of what’s going on.” If Buffy wasn’t going to ask what she wanted, then Spike was going to let it lie.

“Why’s Anya here?” Buffy blurted out, blushing at how bitchy the words sounded out loud.

“ ‘Cause she’s ‘is wife. Why wouldn’t she be here?” Spike cocked his head as he stared at her, genuinely puzzled.

“Can’t he um, hurt her if he uh, feeds from her and you don’t stop him?” Again with the skirting the issue.

“Not really, she’s demon again.” Buffy started to chew on her thumbnail nervously, a trait he had never seen her exhibit before.

“Oh, I guess, she uh, already knows what to expect huh? Being a demon and knowing so much about demons and uh, vampires and stuff already.”

“Yeah, she does. What’s this all about Slayer?” She was sending out signals he’d never felt from her before and was genuinely confused.

“You uh, aren’t uh, er, and her uh, ummm, ah, gonna?” Buffy couldn’t bring herself to say it. Didn’t even want to think about it actually, much less want to figure out why the idea of Spike and Anya bothered her so terribly much.

“Slayer! Are you jealous? Think I’m gonna shag the demon girl?” Jealousy! That’s what it was, the Slayer was jealous? Now this was gonna give him something to think about until Xander rose.

“Well, I know enough to know that what comes next is a lot of blood and sex, and why, is she here?” Buffy demanded and pointed to Anya, stamping her foot.

He had to bite back a smile at her petulant pout. “ ‘Cause I figure when Xander’s back in his body and the demon doesn’t have complete control, he’ll be happy to know he shagged his wife, and not me.”

“You told me the demon doesn’t care about that.” Buffy’s voice was starting to sound suspiciously wavery, as if she thought Spike was choosing Anya over her.

Spike sighed and reached out for a strand of Buffy’s hair to play with. “Demon doesn’t care. But I’m pretty sure when Xander gets back in control again, he will. I don’t want him to hate me Buffy. If I treat him the way 99.99% of fledglings are treated, I guarantee you he’ll kill himself. It can take weeks or months, for a fledging to retain a significant part of his human personality. Since his soul has been magickly reinforced, I suspect his human personality will emerge much sooner. This is going to be hard enough on him as it is. I’m not going to force sexual relations on him, the way they always are.”

“So, Anya’s going to take care of all the sex parts?” She met his eyes again, something (hope?) gleaming from her hazel ones.

“It’s the way we’ve got it planned.” Buffy quickly hugged him, silently thanking him for understanding, before she left the apartment. She added another silent thank you for Spike’s consideration of Xander. She headed to the Magick Box where everyone was waiting for news, determined to research vampire traditions. She figured Willow was working on it at that very second.

 


CONTINUED...


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