The Cost of Butterfly Kisses
Feb. 8th, 2009 05:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lit_galI wanted to do some shorts before jumping back into another epic, so I went back and looked at some old requests. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
50ftqueenie made a request that really tickled my muse. So, rather than spoil you by telling you what she requested, I just present her story...
The Cost of Butterfly Kisses
Spike/Xander (pre-slash)
Warnings: A bit of blackmail and manipulation
Rating: Teen
Episode Spoilers: Once More with Feeling
Summary: Xander's been a bad boy, and Spike is about to figure out how to make the most of it.
"Right then, you get all your singing out, then?" Spike asked. He lit a cigarette and looked around the Magic Box. Slayer wasn't around. It was just the sad little puppy-boy behind the counter.
"What do you want, Spike?" Xander demanded, bristling with anger. Well, if Spike had to wait around for the slayer, he might as well entertain himself. If he was being honest with himself, he wanted to make a little trouble. If it weren't for the chip, he'd likely go out and gut some bloke and do something creative with the intestines. Days like this made him miss Drusilla.
"Just thought I'd check in and see if ya were stupid enough to summon any more demons lately," Spike commented as he leaned against the counter. Xander flinched back from the question, but then, he should. It was bloody stupid. Harris had been around long enough to keep his mitts off magical amulets, and making a wish was even more idiotic than usual.
Surprisingly, Xander didn't blow. "Go away, Spike," he said, his voice quiet, even if it was trembling with emotion. Now this was interesting. People sometimes got that same controlled tone when they were trying to hide their fear. Usually Spike saw it right before he started torturing them. That same tone, half bravado, half terror, inspired Angelus to some of his finest work.
Spike cocked his head and considered Xander. If the git was showing a soft underbelly, far be it from Spike to not take advantage of the chance to spread a little misery. Of course, Spike normally preferred to do his torturing with railroad spikes, but the chip had taught him to be flexible. Besides, if he killed one of the slayer's friends, he definitely wasn't getting shagged again. Spike took a deep drag on his cigarette and remembered the slayer's hands over his body. She was a soddin' demon in bed. The memory made him smile, but the thought of the emptiness in her eyes when she'd walked out of his crypt without even saying a word chilled him. Oh well, it wasn't like Spike hadn't dealt with difficult lovers before.
Spike took another drag on his cigarette and considered puppy-boy. American boys were so predictable. He could torture the boy a whole lot before Xander's manly pride let him go running to the slayer for protection, and it was better than just standing around doin' nothing. He waited until Xander started unloading little knicknacks and what-nots from a box.
"Did ya see that one bloke explode? Bloody waste of good blood, that was, but it was a soddin' beautiful death, especially since he was an innocent and all. I figure since I can't kill, I'll stick around and watch you do something stupid enough to get some other git killed."
Xander's fingers closed around a small pouch of something so hard that the thing burst and little green leaves tumbled to the floor. "Have I shown you the new stakes that came in?" Xander asked, his body stiff with contained fury.
Spike sniffed. Stupid git wouldn't be able to get a stake in him before he could get out the door, anyway. "More interested in any demonic amulets you might want to make a wish on." Spike dropped his cigarette to the floor and crushed it with his boot, ignoring Xander's frown. "So, thought Rupert and your squeeze were running this place. Did everyone else have somewhere important to go? Leave you behind?"
Xander started putting the little pouches under the counter again. A phone vibrated, and Spike frowned. The children didn't have cell phones, even if it was bloody stupid of them. At first, Xander ignored it and just kept putting things away. Spike leaned on the counter and raised an eyebrow.
"You plannin' on answering that?"
"No," Xander said, his lips thin with anger. Oh yeah, puppy hiding something. "A customer left it here," he snapped when Spike kept on looking at him. Trying to explain himself, that was a sure sign of guilt.
"Probably the customer callin' then, innit?" Spike pointed out. "They want to know who has their phone shoved in a pocket. Spike watched as Xander turned a darker color.
"Are you going to go away?" Xander asked.
"Wasn't plannin' on it. Not like I have anywhere to go, is it?" Spike asked, giving Xander a sweet smile that he knew would drive the boy crazy. Sure enough, Xander clenched his jaw tight. "Besides, if I want to keep the Bit safe, I need to keep an eye on you, maybe hire a babysitter. After all, you nearly got her taken for Sweet's new queen, didn't ya?"
That took the color right out of Xander's face. Spike didn't normally see a person turn pale that fast unless they had a vampire attached to their neck and sucking the blood out.
Spike pressed his advantage. "He would have raped her, spread her wide and raped her until she was screaming. Demons aren't generally all that careful with human bodies either," Spike stopped, so disturbed by the image that he could feel his own demon roar in anger. Xander had just about sent Dawn to a horrible death because he'd made a fucking wish. Stalking around the counter, he closed in on Xander. Xander was busy ignoring him, and that made Spike even more angry. "He would have broken her ribs with every thrust, broken her legs as he spread them. You soddin' piece of shite, don't you have anythin' to say about that?" Spike stopped right behind Xander.
Boy was silent now, motionless with his hands braced on the counter. "Go away, Fangless," he said quietly. The phone in his pocket started vibrating again. Spike reached out and grabbed Xander and shoved him face down on the counter hard enough to make the chip spark but not hard enough to set it off.
Xander exploded into motion, bucking and flailing, kicking his legs back in an attempt to take Spike down. Without the chip, Spike could have ended the fight in one second. A quick snap of his neck, and the boy'd be quiet. With the chip, and with his own desire to avoid brassing off the slayer, Spike had to work a little harder, grabbing Xander's wrists and pinning them behind his back, leaning his body in to trap Xander, kicking Xander's legs apart and then standing between them. Eventually vampire strength and a century of bar fighting won out and Spike lay on Xander's trapped and panting body.
"Get off," Xander gasped. Spike pushed down a little harder. If the boy had to fight to catch his breath, he couldn't say anything stupid. Reaching into Xander's jeans, he pulled out the small gray phone. The tiny green screen said "Harris" in small, black block letters.
"Seems like this is yours, mate," Spike pointed out. Xander squirmed, but he'd lost the fight and he knew it. Spike waited out his struggles and soon enough, Xander quieted back down.
Only then did Spike consider what he was doing. Slayer was going to be right pissed at him if she found him manhandling one of her crew, and pissing her off after he finally got a good shagging from her just didn't seem smart. On the other hand, Harris was hiding something, and a man with secrets would do a lot to keep 'em. So, until Spike figured out whatever secret Harris was keeping, he just had to make sure that he kept control of the situation.
Spike put the phone on the counter and grabbed Xander's wrists in one hand and his neck with the other. "Ya just about got Dawn killed. If I had my way, Sweet woulda taken you, would have broken your body and used you until you begged for mercy you never got. You're a bloody liability, wishing on a demonic trinket like that. You and Red, pulling a demonic power into the world with Buffy. The lot of you are dumb as soddin' rocks. Spike could feel Xander react to the words and shrink in on himself.
"We saved Buffy," he said softly, but he didn't sound as sure of it as he had before.
"You pulled her out of heaven. You ever try ta figure out where she was first, or did you just go charging in there like a pillock and do what you wanted? You didn't save her, you were so bloody terrified of having to live your own fucking lives that you pulled her back into the muck with you, you selfish bastards." Xander was holding his breath, and Spike suspected that he was trying not to cry. Git.
The phone vibrated against the counter, the glass amplifying the sound, and Xander gasped, his body going stiff. "Be a good boy," Spike warned before he let go of Xander's neck to grab the phone. He wasn't surprised when Xander made a last, desperate attempt to get free, kicking with all his might. Spike kicked Xander's leg, and when the human's knee hit the counter, he rode through the pain his own chip caused him. It wasn't bloody fair. He was actually trying to not hurt the moron.
Ignoring the pain, Spike thumbed the cell phone on and braced it between his ear and shoulder so that he could grab Xander's neck again. "Yeah?" Spike said.
"Um... Xander?" a woman's voice asked.
"He's right here, but he can't talk right now. Can I help ya, luv? Spike's the name." Spike turned on the charm. Xander made a strangled, panicked noise, and Spike tightened his hold on Xander's neck enough that the chip was tingling in warning.
"I don't know..." Spike could hear the high-pitched coughing of a child in the background. The tyke wasn't sounding healthy at all.
"Is something wrong with the little one, Missus?" Spike asked. He could feel Xander go stiff under his hands. Oh yeah, the boy had a secret here alright, and Spike was about to figure out what it was.
There was silence on the other end of the phone, and then the coughing child started coughing so hard that it ended in the sound of vomiting. "Missus, sounds like your little one needs to go to hospital," Spike offered.
"Bonnie has been coughing like this for two days now, but Curbat doesn't know what's wrong with her." For a second, Spike was too shocked to even react. Curbat. Curbat was the local witchdoctor who tended most of the demonic community, at least those who bothered with medical treatment. Plenty of demons just killed the sick and wounded. But the cough Spike could hear over the phone sure wasn't demonic in nature.
"How much human blood does Bonnie have?" Spike asked carefully, well aware that lots of demons would kill him for even asking that about their spawn. The woman on the other end didn't answer right away, but Spike could hear a hand patting against flesh, so he figured she was patting the little one on the back.
"Um," she finally answered, "I'm half human. How much is Xander?" Spike looked down at the puppy boy. Xander's eyes were closed, and Spike could tell from the body language that Xander had surrendered. Spike had imagined many things, but this wasn't even on the list of possibilities. Slowly, Spike let go of Xander's wrists and backed away.
"I figure Xander's the real deal, a hundred percent human, which makes the little one more human than not, mum," Spike offered. "From the sounds, she has a good case of whooping cough. It'll take a human doctor with human medicines ta fix that."
"Oh." The woman sounded worried. "I hate to bother Xander, especially after all that mess with the amulet, but could he..."
"We'll be right over, mum. You just get the little one ready, and we'll get her to the doctor," Spike promised her.
"Spike, thank you. I know this is awkward, but I really appreciate your help. I'll tell Bonnie that her daddy's coming."
"Sure enough, mum, Bonnie's daddy will be there in no time," Spike offered. Taking the phone away from his ear, he hit the disconnect button.
"So, you spend much time diddling demons, do you?" Spike asked. Dropping the cell phone into a pocket, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. This was soddin' unbelievable. Then again, Anya was always complaining that Xander was bad with money, that he never could account for his whole paycheck. If the man was paying for a tyke on the side, it would explain a lot. It would also explain Sweet.
"Can I have my phone back?" Xander asked, his voice tight. He was still laying on the counter exactly where Spike had put him, a situation which made Spike's demon preen. Boy might be a moron, but he bloody well knew how to surrender.
"You got a car?" Spike asked. Xander pushed himself up from the counter and looked at Spike, fear and confusion and outright panic in his eyes. Oh yeah, that was a look Spike was right fond of.
"No."
Spike nodded. "Then we're takin' mine. Your girl needs a doctor, Harris, so shift your arse."
Xander didn't move. He stared at Spike with that same look of panic.
"It was your little one who made the wish for Sweet, wasn't it?" Spike blew a cloud of smoke out into the air.
Xander nodded.
"And you would've gone with Sweet before you told him about your girl, right?"
Xander nodded again, this time more slowly, more suspiciously.
Spike took a deep drag on his cigarette. "I have needs. I figure you have a good job, a nice flat, cable. So, we're going to go help your little girl, and then you're going to do everything you can to help me, got it?" Spike leaned against a shelf and watched Xander swallow nervously. It was a big opening bid for Spike to make, but he figured Xander would counter with a straight-up offer for money or blood. Spike just needed to wait out the silence and see what counter-offer Xander came up with.
"Anya will never..."
"Dump her," Spike suggested without mercy. It wasn't like those two were going to make it anyway.
Xander swallowed more, his eyes darting to the door, and Spike wondered if he was thinking of running for it or just worried about his girl. Finally Xander nodded. "Okay."
Spike raised an eyebrow.
Xander stood up straighter. "But only if Bonnie's okay. We have to leave now."
Spike dropped his cigarette and crushed it. The lack of negotiation was a surprise, but Spike had never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Right then, let's go get this little one of yours. Is she going to pass for human, or are we going to have to snatch a doctor and have him treat her privately?"
"She'll pass," Xander said shortly. The lack of a name or insult surprised Spike, but the way the boy had capitulated without even negotiating made his demon howl with pleasure. Yeah, the slayer might treat him like shite, but having a human stink of terror and creep around, trembling with fear, made him feel like a real vampire again. When Xander walked out from behind the counter, Spike dropped a hand on the boy's shoulder and smiled as Xander jumped in surprise but didn't react.
"So, what type of demon is the mum?" Spike asked. He had to push Xander to get him moving, but that felt good, too. For the first time in a long time, he was in control. Xander obeyed his push silently.
"Half kwaini," Xander said before he reached up and flipped the sign on the door over to 'closed.'
Spike nodded. They were a harmless enough race, stronger than the average human but not quite as strong as vampires. And they were ugly buggers with deep-set eyes and heavy eye ridges that made them look like a sad dog, but then the mother was only half, so who knows how many demonic traits she had. "How old's Bonnie?" Spike asked.
Xander stopped with the door open. Spike could almost feel his need to argue, but if he did, Spike would be taking this straight to the slayer, and he had to know that. Buffy had a very narrow world-view when it came to demons, even the fairly harmless type like kwaini. Of course, if there was a kwaini clan around, they weren't all that harmless. They'd fight as fiercely as any parents to protect the family.
"When I was fifteen, I was infected with the spirit of a hyena," Xander said quietly. "I got K'wana pregnant then. Spike, just don't pull Bonnie and K'wana into the middle of this, Buffy isn't...." He stopped.
Spike knew exactly what he was thinking. Buffy wasn't at her most reasonable right now.
"You be a good little boy, and we'll take care of your family," Spike promised. He gave Xander a push, and Xander headed out into the night, locking the door behind them. "Right then, got the DeSoto over by Rest Hills, we'd better hurry up and get your little girl to the hospital, pet," Spike suggested. Xander hurried in the direction Spike indicated, and Spike let his senses stretch as he strode behind Xander, feeling very much like a demon for the first time in a very long time. Oh yeah, sex with the slayer allowed him to pretend to be a demon again, but manipulating and feeding off human fear made him a real one.
50ftqueenie made a request that really tickled my muse. So, rather than spoil you by telling you what she requested, I just present her story...The Cost of Butterfly Kisses
Spike/Xander (pre-slash)
Warnings: A bit of blackmail and manipulation
Rating: Teen
Episode Spoilers: Once More with Feeling
Summary: Xander's been a bad boy, and Spike is about to figure out how to make the most of it.
"Right then, you get all your singing out, then?" Spike asked. He lit a cigarette and looked around the Magic Box. Slayer wasn't around. It was just the sad little puppy-boy behind the counter.
"What do you want, Spike?" Xander demanded, bristling with anger. Well, if Spike had to wait around for the slayer, he might as well entertain himself. If he was being honest with himself, he wanted to make a little trouble. If it weren't for the chip, he'd likely go out and gut some bloke and do something creative with the intestines. Days like this made him miss Drusilla.
"Just thought I'd check in and see if ya were stupid enough to summon any more demons lately," Spike commented as he leaned against the counter. Xander flinched back from the question, but then, he should. It was bloody stupid. Harris had been around long enough to keep his mitts off magical amulets, and making a wish was even more idiotic than usual.
Surprisingly, Xander didn't blow. "Go away, Spike," he said, his voice quiet, even if it was trembling with emotion. Now this was interesting. People sometimes got that same controlled tone when they were trying to hide their fear. Usually Spike saw it right before he started torturing them. That same tone, half bravado, half terror, inspired Angelus to some of his finest work.
Spike cocked his head and considered Xander. If the git was showing a soft underbelly, far be it from Spike to not take advantage of the chance to spread a little misery. Of course, Spike normally preferred to do his torturing with railroad spikes, but the chip had taught him to be flexible. Besides, if he killed one of the slayer's friends, he definitely wasn't getting shagged again. Spike took a deep drag on his cigarette and remembered the slayer's hands over his body. She was a soddin' demon in bed. The memory made him smile, but the thought of the emptiness in her eyes when she'd walked out of his crypt without even saying a word chilled him. Oh well, it wasn't like Spike hadn't dealt with difficult lovers before.
Spike took another drag on his cigarette and considered puppy-boy. American boys were so predictable. He could torture the boy a whole lot before Xander's manly pride let him go running to the slayer for protection, and it was better than just standing around doin' nothing. He waited until Xander started unloading little knicknacks and what-nots from a box.
"Did ya see that one bloke explode? Bloody waste of good blood, that was, but it was a soddin' beautiful death, especially since he was an innocent and all. I figure since I can't kill, I'll stick around and watch you do something stupid enough to get some other git killed."
Xander's fingers closed around a small pouch of something so hard that the thing burst and little green leaves tumbled to the floor. "Have I shown you the new stakes that came in?" Xander asked, his body stiff with contained fury.
Spike sniffed. Stupid git wouldn't be able to get a stake in him before he could get out the door, anyway. "More interested in any demonic amulets you might want to make a wish on." Spike dropped his cigarette to the floor and crushed it with his boot, ignoring Xander's frown. "So, thought Rupert and your squeeze were running this place. Did everyone else have somewhere important to go? Leave you behind?"
Xander started putting the little pouches under the counter again. A phone vibrated, and Spike frowned. The children didn't have cell phones, even if it was bloody stupid of them. At first, Xander ignored it and just kept putting things away. Spike leaned on the counter and raised an eyebrow.
"You plannin' on answering that?"
"No," Xander said, his lips thin with anger. Oh yeah, puppy hiding something. "A customer left it here," he snapped when Spike kept on looking at him. Trying to explain himself, that was a sure sign of guilt.
"Probably the customer callin' then, innit?" Spike pointed out. "They want to know who has their phone shoved in a pocket. Spike watched as Xander turned a darker color.
"Are you going to go away?" Xander asked.
"Wasn't plannin' on it. Not like I have anywhere to go, is it?" Spike asked, giving Xander a sweet smile that he knew would drive the boy crazy. Sure enough, Xander clenched his jaw tight. "Besides, if I want to keep the Bit safe, I need to keep an eye on you, maybe hire a babysitter. After all, you nearly got her taken for Sweet's new queen, didn't ya?"
That took the color right out of Xander's face. Spike didn't normally see a person turn pale that fast unless they had a vampire attached to their neck and sucking the blood out.
Spike pressed his advantage. "He would have raped her, spread her wide and raped her until she was screaming. Demons aren't generally all that careful with human bodies either," Spike stopped, so disturbed by the image that he could feel his own demon roar in anger. Xander had just about sent Dawn to a horrible death because he'd made a fucking wish. Stalking around the counter, he closed in on Xander. Xander was busy ignoring him, and that made Spike even more angry. "He would have broken her ribs with every thrust, broken her legs as he spread them. You soddin' piece of shite, don't you have anythin' to say about that?" Spike stopped right behind Xander.
Boy was silent now, motionless with his hands braced on the counter. "Go away, Fangless," he said quietly. The phone in his pocket started vibrating again. Spike reached out and grabbed Xander and shoved him face down on the counter hard enough to make the chip spark but not hard enough to set it off.
Xander exploded into motion, bucking and flailing, kicking his legs back in an attempt to take Spike down. Without the chip, Spike could have ended the fight in one second. A quick snap of his neck, and the boy'd be quiet. With the chip, and with his own desire to avoid brassing off the slayer, Spike had to work a little harder, grabbing Xander's wrists and pinning them behind his back, leaning his body in to trap Xander, kicking Xander's legs apart and then standing between them. Eventually vampire strength and a century of bar fighting won out and Spike lay on Xander's trapped and panting body.
"Get off," Xander gasped. Spike pushed down a little harder. If the boy had to fight to catch his breath, he couldn't say anything stupid. Reaching into Xander's jeans, he pulled out the small gray phone. The tiny green screen said "Harris" in small, black block letters.
"Seems like this is yours, mate," Spike pointed out. Xander squirmed, but he'd lost the fight and he knew it. Spike waited out his struggles and soon enough, Xander quieted back down.
Only then did Spike consider what he was doing. Slayer was going to be right pissed at him if she found him manhandling one of her crew, and pissing her off after he finally got a good shagging from her just didn't seem smart. On the other hand, Harris was hiding something, and a man with secrets would do a lot to keep 'em. So, until Spike figured out whatever secret Harris was keeping, he just had to make sure that he kept control of the situation.
Spike put the phone on the counter and grabbed Xander's wrists in one hand and his neck with the other. "Ya just about got Dawn killed. If I had my way, Sweet woulda taken you, would have broken your body and used you until you begged for mercy you never got. You're a bloody liability, wishing on a demonic trinket like that. You and Red, pulling a demonic power into the world with Buffy. The lot of you are dumb as soddin' rocks. Spike could feel Xander react to the words and shrink in on himself.
"We saved Buffy," he said softly, but he didn't sound as sure of it as he had before.
"You pulled her out of heaven. You ever try ta figure out where she was first, or did you just go charging in there like a pillock and do what you wanted? You didn't save her, you were so bloody terrified of having to live your own fucking lives that you pulled her back into the muck with you, you selfish bastards." Xander was holding his breath, and Spike suspected that he was trying not to cry. Git.
The phone vibrated against the counter, the glass amplifying the sound, and Xander gasped, his body going stiff. "Be a good boy," Spike warned before he let go of Xander's neck to grab the phone. He wasn't surprised when Xander made a last, desperate attempt to get free, kicking with all his might. Spike kicked Xander's leg, and when the human's knee hit the counter, he rode through the pain his own chip caused him. It wasn't bloody fair. He was actually trying to not hurt the moron.
Ignoring the pain, Spike thumbed the cell phone on and braced it between his ear and shoulder so that he could grab Xander's neck again. "Yeah?" Spike said.
"Um... Xander?" a woman's voice asked.
"He's right here, but he can't talk right now. Can I help ya, luv? Spike's the name." Spike turned on the charm. Xander made a strangled, panicked noise, and Spike tightened his hold on Xander's neck enough that the chip was tingling in warning.
"I don't know..." Spike could hear the high-pitched coughing of a child in the background. The tyke wasn't sounding healthy at all.
"Is something wrong with the little one, Missus?" Spike asked. He could feel Xander go stiff under his hands. Oh yeah, the boy had a secret here alright, and Spike was about to figure out what it was.
There was silence on the other end of the phone, and then the coughing child started coughing so hard that it ended in the sound of vomiting. "Missus, sounds like your little one needs to go to hospital," Spike offered.
"Bonnie has been coughing like this for two days now, but Curbat doesn't know what's wrong with her." For a second, Spike was too shocked to even react. Curbat. Curbat was the local witchdoctor who tended most of the demonic community, at least those who bothered with medical treatment. Plenty of demons just killed the sick and wounded. But the cough Spike could hear over the phone sure wasn't demonic in nature.
"How much human blood does Bonnie have?" Spike asked carefully, well aware that lots of demons would kill him for even asking that about their spawn. The woman on the other end didn't answer right away, but Spike could hear a hand patting against flesh, so he figured she was patting the little one on the back.
"Um," she finally answered, "I'm half human. How much is Xander?" Spike looked down at the puppy boy. Xander's eyes were closed, and Spike could tell from the body language that Xander had surrendered. Spike had imagined many things, but this wasn't even on the list of possibilities. Slowly, Spike let go of Xander's wrists and backed away.
"I figure Xander's the real deal, a hundred percent human, which makes the little one more human than not, mum," Spike offered. "From the sounds, she has a good case of whooping cough. It'll take a human doctor with human medicines ta fix that."
"Oh." The woman sounded worried. "I hate to bother Xander, especially after all that mess with the amulet, but could he..."
"We'll be right over, mum. You just get the little one ready, and we'll get her to the doctor," Spike promised her.
"Spike, thank you. I know this is awkward, but I really appreciate your help. I'll tell Bonnie that her daddy's coming."
"Sure enough, mum, Bonnie's daddy will be there in no time," Spike offered. Taking the phone away from his ear, he hit the disconnect button.
"So, you spend much time diddling demons, do you?" Spike asked. Dropping the cell phone into a pocket, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. This was soddin' unbelievable. Then again, Anya was always complaining that Xander was bad with money, that he never could account for his whole paycheck. If the man was paying for a tyke on the side, it would explain a lot. It would also explain Sweet.
"Can I have my phone back?" Xander asked, his voice tight. He was still laying on the counter exactly where Spike had put him, a situation which made Spike's demon preen. Boy might be a moron, but he bloody well knew how to surrender.
"You got a car?" Spike asked. Xander pushed himself up from the counter and looked at Spike, fear and confusion and outright panic in his eyes. Oh yeah, that was a look Spike was right fond of.
"No."
Spike nodded. "Then we're takin' mine. Your girl needs a doctor, Harris, so shift your arse."
Xander didn't move. He stared at Spike with that same look of panic.
"It was your little one who made the wish for Sweet, wasn't it?" Spike blew a cloud of smoke out into the air.
Xander nodded.
"And you would've gone with Sweet before you told him about your girl, right?"
Xander nodded again, this time more slowly, more suspiciously.
Spike took a deep drag on his cigarette. "I have needs. I figure you have a good job, a nice flat, cable. So, we're going to go help your little girl, and then you're going to do everything you can to help me, got it?" Spike leaned against a shelf and watched Xander swallow nervously. It was a big opening bid for Spike to make, but he figured Xander would counter with a straight-up offer for money or blood. Spike just needed to wait out the silence and see what counter-offer Xander came up with.
"Anya will never..."
"Dump her," Spike suggested without mercy. It wasn't like those two were going to make it anyway.
Xander swallowed more, his eyes darting to the door, and Spike wondered if he was thinking of running for it or just worried about his girl. Finally Xander nodded. "Okay."
Spike raised an eyebrow.
Xander stood up straighter. "But only if Bonnie's okay. We have to leave now."
Spike dropped his cigarette and crushed it. The lack of negotiation was a surprise, but Spike had never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Right then, let's go get this little one of yours. Is she going to pass for human, or are we going to have to snatch a doctor and have him treat her privately?"
"She'll pass," Xander said shortly. The lack of a name or insult surprised Spike, but the way the boy had capitulated without even negotiating made his demon howl with pleasure. Yeah, the slayer might treat him like shite, but having a human stink of terror and creep around, trembling with fear, made him feel like a real vampire again. When Xander walked out from behind the counter, Spike dropped a hand on the boy's shoulder and smiled as Xander jumped in surprise but didn't react.
"So, what type of demon is the mum?" Spike asked. He had to push Xander to get him moving, but that felt good, too. For the first time in a long time, he was in control. Xander obeyed his push silently.
"Half kwaini," Xander said before he reached up and flipped the sign on the door over to 'closed.'
Spike nodded. They were a harmless enough race, stronger than the average human but not quite as strong as vampires. And they were ugly buggers with deep-set eyes and heavy eye ridges that made them look like a sad dog, but then the mother was only half, so who knows how many demonic traits she had. "How old's Bonnie?" Spike asked.
Xander stopped with the door open. Spike could almost feel his need to argue, but if he did, Spike would be taking this straight to the slayer, and he had to know that. Buffy had a very narrow world-view when it came to demons, even the fairly harmless type like kwaini. Of course, if there was a kwaini clan around, they weren't all that harmless. They'd fight as fiercely as any parents to protect the family.
"When I was fifteen, I was infected with the spirit of a hyena," Xander said quietly. "I got K'wana pregnant then. Spike, just don't pull Bonnie and K'wana into the middle of this, Buffy isn't...." He stopped.
Spike knew exactly what he was thinking. Buffy wasn't at her most reasonable right now.
"You be a good little boy, and we'll take care of your family," Spike promised. He gave Xander a push, and Xander headed out into the night, locking the door behind them. "Right then, got the DeSoto over by Rest Hills, we'd better hurry up and get your little girl to the hospital, pet," Spike suggested. Xander hurried in the direction Spike indicated, and Spike let his senses stretch as he strode behind Xander, feeling very much like a demon for the first time in a very long time. Oh yeah, sex with the slayer allowed him to pretend to be a demon again, but manipulating and feeding off human fear made him a real one.
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Date: 2009-02-09 03:27 am (UTC)