lit_gal | Broken Revenge 15

Thank god for winter break. It gives me time to be decadant and write lots of fic. So, before I go out Christmas shopping (No, I'm not done yet), here's the next bit on Broken Revenge.

Broken Revenge
Rated: ADULT - Slavefic, bondage, submission, yadda, yadda, yadda
Previous parts using tags
Previous parts using memories

"Up and at 'em, boy," a cheerful voice called.

Xander stretched and pulled his knees up in front of him as the handler hit the chain-link fence with a heavy fist, making the entire length of it rattle. When the handler opened the gate to his small cell, Xander expected the food to be left on the floor and his muzzle to be loosened. He'd come to expect a routine in the last couple of days. That routine was about all that was holding him together now as he sat in the cold cell holding a single blanket around his frame as he sat on a blue mat that might have once been part of some high school gym equipment. It smelled like it.

That first day he had expected Spike to come flowing through the door at any moment, cursing and threatening with every breath. Xander had fantasies about following Spike back to the room only to smack his worthless master upside the back of his head for scaring twenty years of life out of him. But despite the fact that these demons clearly knew he belonged to Spike, Spike hadn't come yet. They even complained about Spike not coming yet, making it clear that they considered having to take care of stray humans an annoyance.

Two other humans had ended up in a small room behind the council chambers, but they had been collected as soon as their master had sobered up enough to claim them. Only Xander remained. Locked in a chain-link cage, he sat in the dark fighting his nightmares and feeling cold terror sink into his bones, and no one was there to hold him or brush his hair out of his sweating face when he awoke screaming.

Xander found himself wildly veering between utter terror that Spike was dead and an equally strong fear that Spike had found something more interesting than him. In some of his nightmares, Dru showed up during that game that he had won, and Spike walked away following his Dark Princess. Xander hated that nightmare the most -- the feeling of the warm Plexiglas shaking as he pounded on it begging and screaming for his Master to come back for him. But Spike hadn't even turned as he walked away, disappearing into the crowd as Xander heard Drusilla's insane laughter.

When he was awake Xander knew that Spike wouldn't do that. When he was awake, his greatest fear was that Spike had abandoned him in a far more permanent way… a dusty type way. And he didn't feel guilty about that at all. Nope. Just because his stupid daydreaming about his stupid high school geekiness got Spike… okay, he wasn't even going to finish that thought because that thought was going to lead to guilt, and he didn't feel that… much. Only enough to make him want to rip his own guts out, that's all.

Either way, whether Spike was dead or alive, whether Spike had abandoned him or been torn from him, it didn't matter. He was alone. He couldn't help remembering how he had felt when Leshar had first taken him. He'd been so sure that Buffy would find him. He'd been so confident that they would never give up; they would never leave him to the demons. But they had never come for him. When the cages were quiet and Xander was alone in the dark he found himself crying tears of loss and fear and even rage. Rage that she hadn't loved him enough to look for him. Rage that Spike might never find him because Spike's ability to form a plan, which had never been high in Xander's book, had fallen to all time lows here.

And now Xander sat and watched as the lumbering demon came near him, waiting for food to be left in the muzzle to be loosened. But instead, the demon locked a leash to the front of Xander's collar and gave a sharp pull that forced Xander to his feet.

"Time for you to earn your keep," the demon announced as he started out of the room of cages. Xander closed his eyes and focused on breathing steadily as the meaning of those words sunk into him. He just had to accept it. He wasn't strong enough to fight all of them. He knew he just had to accept it. But God--accepting was so hard now. Xander fought his body, forcing it to follow behind the demon who held his leash as they walked through the council chambers into a post set in the ground.

The demon locked the free end of the leash onto the end of the post, and Xander sank to his knees on a small square of padding next to it. His eyes burned, and he struggled to not cry as the demon walked away. And really, how pathetic was he that he would rather have his demon keeper next to him?

Xander waited in a Down kneel with his hand resting on his thighs as he tried to figure out how he was supposed to earn his keep chained to a post. Oh, there were lots of things he could do chained to a post, but most of them involved things that Leshar had taught him to do, and he hadn't thought these demons were into the cross species kink. Xander was so distracted he didn't even hear anyone come up behind him. He didn't know anyone was behind him at all until he felt a sharp tap on his butt.

Instantly he flowed up into formal position: his hands behind his back, his knees spread, his back straight, and his butt up off his heels. A firm touch ran down his back into the inside of his left thigh, curling around his thigh so that Xander could now see the end of a tail wrapped around his leg. And really... when tails and started looking familiar he had to wonder if he'd been spending too much time with demons. Xander peeked out of the corner of his eye and saw the big football looking dude properly kneeling nearby. Oh yeah, this was bad. If Spike were within 5 miles, Calsha would never have the nerve to do this.

A hand rested on his shoulder and then trailed down to a nipple before Calsha knelt next to him.

"Where's your Master, little one?" Calsha whispered in his ear. Xander couldn't answer with the muzzle on, so he limited himself to a rather unpleasant glare.

"You are a treat," she said as she ruffled his hair, and Xander nearly broke position to push her away as anger rose like a wave. "I can't seem to find him right now, but I will do my best to purchase you in the auction. I have rather limited resources, but I expect Spike or his sire would reimburse me and reward me rather handsomely."

Xander heard Calsha's words through a sort of haze. Auction. And oh yeah, the Harris luck has struck again. Xander fought against an urge to shake in fear and an equal urge to punch Calsha right in her smiling mouth. Great. She thought buying him was helping. He would prefer the kind of help that came with explosions and magical search parties and someone finding his master, and oh god please don't let finding him mean finding the dust that used to be him.

"Be good," Calsha offered with a final stroke down his cheek, and Xander didn't miss how her slave shifted uncomfortably at the touch. Then Calsha left, her slave following without a leash, while Xander was left chained to the post.

Then Xander got it. Earning his keep. He was out here on display for the auction later. Xander looked up at the demons around him despite the fact that it was against every rule Leshar had ever taught him. And why was he not surprised to find Leshar right in front of him, smiling with an expression Xander had learned to dread.

Xander lost control then, shaking as he realized what was about to happen to him. Suddenly Xander couldn't get enough air. He felt his nose flare out as he struggled to gasp, but he just couldn't breathe. Forgetting form, he reached out for the post, pushing himself to his feet with one hand while he pulled at the muzzle with the other. He could see the demons around him turning to stare as he stumbled backwards to the end of the leash.

"You'll fucking use your mouth as I order you to or you'll find yourself without one," Leshar had sworn at him that day, the caged humans around him watching silently. Xander remembered his skin burning from the lash marks as two of Leshar's demons had held him down so Leshar could force the muzzle over his face. Xander had sworn back, yelling about the slayer, but a sharp burst of agony across the bottom of his foot made him gasp, and then his mouth was full, not of the demon cock Leshar had been trying to get him to service, but of something colder, something rancid. Xander started dry heaving, but it had been so long since he had eaten that nothing came up as a plastic piece fit over his mouth and kept him from spitting out the rotten bit in his mouth.

"So think on that," Leshar has hissed as he pulled on Xander's leash. With his hands bound behind his back, Xander fell awkwardly forward onto his knees. The leash kept pulling and Xander put out his foot to stand only to collapse back to the floor as his foot blossomed in pain. Xander hadn't remembered much more after that except the taste in his mouth and the constant pain... the pain as the collar bit into his neck. The pain of the muzzle strapped on too tightly. The pain of the whip marks decorating his back. He'd prayed for a death that never came. He still prayed as the darkness descended.

"Just a bit of hyperventilation," a high pitched voice said, and Xander struggled back to awareness as he felt a warm hand running up and down his leg. "Heart rate is elevated. This will calm him down though." Xander felt a pinprick of something at his thigh, and then the world started graying around the edges, and why they had woken him only to put him back under? Didn't really make sense to him.

"He unhealthy?" A lower voice asked, and Xander just hoped that the doctor said yes. If the doctor said yes, it would be over quickly. And hey, the doctor was not into hurting humans, so might even be over without any more pain. Xander's brain turned on itself at the very thought. Part of him wanted to hold on for long as it took for Spike to find him. Another part of him viciously attacked that kind of hope as foolish. After all, he'd waited for Buffy and it hadn't mattered. If they sold him, if he disappeared into the slavers' world again, he wasn't strong enough to hold out.

"Not at all. He's in an exceptionally good health. However, you and I both know that some of the slime from the West Coast has sleazed its way into here. If one of those west coasters threatened him..." the doctor didn't finish her whispered words, but she continued her caressing of Xander's leg. Between the drugs in the gentle touch, Xander found himself sinking into a half sleep where he heard things only at a distance. Man, he had no idea what they had given him, but to hell with selling slaves... they could make a fortune selling this stuff on the street.

"It's hardly fair to blame an animal for his owner's sins."

"Since when do you expect those assholes to be fair? I suspect this was a plain old panic attack, and I can hardly blame the poor thing considering he was owned by a master who considered him a food source. I can't believe they sold such a sweet-tempered boy to a vampire."

"He was charged with fighting."

"I saw the fight. He tried to get away, and he stopped the minute the trainers came in the ring. Most males aren't able to stop once they start swinging. Besides, everyone knows how the vampire ordered him to fight. It wasn't even put on his breeding record."

"True."

"Hopefully he'll get a better owner this time," the high-pitched voice said as a warm hand reached up and pushed the hair from his eyes. Xander blinked as he lay on the ground and tried to focus.

"I think you gave him too much," the second demon offered, and now Xander could see a humanish looking bald guy with long straight horns coming from his head. He blinked again and tried to figure out why the horns kept turning color. Then again, the whole world seemed to be turning a few colors.

"Maybe," the woman admitted, and now Xander turned to see a bluish woman with a wide nose and crinkly forehead, and blue really was the in color for demons, only the guy demon with the horns wasn't blue, he was more human colored. Xander opened his mouth to point that out, but his mouth didn't actually open. He blinked rapidly as he tried to figure that one out.

"Probably," the woman amended herself, and then she reached down and removed the muzzle.

"Pretty blue demon lady," Xander giggled. The demon looked down at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Definitely," she amended herself again, and Xander tried to roll over onto his stomach. Unfortunately his arms didn't seem to work right.

"Not rolling right. Rollin', rollin', rollin', keep them somethin' rollin' along," Xander half whispered and half sang as he struggled to get up.

"Up you go," a deep voice offered and then Xander found himself sitting with his back to the post as strong hands lifted him. The woman was back, her hands holding either side of his face.

"Hey, my arms are gone. That never happened before," Xander pointed out, and he knew he should be upset about that, but he really couldn't be because he was upset about something else, only he couldn't figure out what the something else was.

"What's his name?" the blue lady asked the other demon.

"Don't call me Droopy 'cause that's who I used to be, but everyone called me Xander back then even though I was Droopy 'cause I'm Xander now and not then… except Cordelia. She called me a Zeppo," Xander said indignantly.

"I'm sure that was very unkind of her," the lady offered as she bent in close to Xander's face while still holding it still with her hands.

"Did you know my arms were gone? I should go look for them," Xander pointed out as he went to lean forward, but the lady demon held him in place.

"Xander, your arms are behind you." The woman looked over at the other demon. "Let's get the restraints off. I think it's safe to say he's not reacting violently."

"Violence. Spike likes violence," Xander muttered as the other demon knelt down next to him and reached behind him. "Hey! He found my arms." Xander said happily as he pulled his arms in front of him and looked at them.

"Spike? Was he here? Did Spike say something that upset you?" the woman asked.

"I should hit Spike. I should hit him really, really hard. I bet I could get Angel to hit him for me because Angel hits a lot harder than I do."

"I'm sure you hit just fine, Xander. Why should you hit Spike?"

"He went and died on me and he promised he wouldn't. He promised I was safe, and now he's gone and he'd be here if he wasn't dust because he doesn't break his promises," Xander felt tears roll down his cheeks as he suddenly remembered what he was supposed to be upset about. He reached out and wrapped his arms around the demon's waist as he lay in her lap and cried.

"Well he's certainly not a fighter," a voice above him commented wryly.

"If I didn't travel so much…" the high-pitched voice of the woman said, and Xander felt strong hands rub his back. "Well, we obviously need to put him somewhere quiet until this wears off.

"I do wonder what this will do to his value, having half the auction see him like this," the man commented.

"Well if someone wants an aggressive stallion, they won't be buying this one," she answered. Xander felt hands pull him up, and he wiped at his eyes as he stood cautiously. When he didn't feel any pain, he pulled up his left foot and examined the bottom of it.

"It's not cut," he announced proudly as he held it up for the woman to see. Unfortunately he unbalanced himself and nearly fell on someone behind him. Actually, he did fall on someone behind him, but the someone was a huge, wide, grey demon with beady eyes and huge hands that reached out to hold him up.

"Steady, boy," a deep and familiar voice said softly.

"Come on, Xander," the blue lady called as she pulled at the leash, and Xander pushed himself away from the large blobby demon as he followed unsteadily. Can't let the leash get tight, he told himself as he focused on the swaying chain connecting him to the lady. "Let's get you to your cage so you can sleep this off some."

"Can't you give him something?" the horned guy asked as he followed.

"Yeah, but then he'll be confused and hyper. That won't help sales. I had no idea that he would react so strongly to the drug. Most of the animals here have been exposed to it dozens of times, but I guess not this one."

"Just say no," Xander managed as he half-followed the conversation.

"Well let's hope he's sober by the auction."

"If not, he's still a sweet little stallion, even drugged up to his gills."

"No gills… didn't stay in the steam room long enough," Xander protested as hands helped him through a gate.

"That's fine. No gills for you," the lady demon promised, and Xander stood in the middle of the cage swaying as he heard the gate close behind him. He waited for something… for someone, but he couldn't figure out who. But someone was missing. Xander turned around and put his hand out to the latch as he tried to pull it up. Xander frowned when it didn't move.

"Xander, where are you going?" the high voice asked, and Xander looked up into the brown eyes of a blue skinned lady.

"Gotta find Spike. He gets lost." Xander blinked as he tried to figure out why the gate wouldn't open.

"Xander, Spike isn't here. He says you should lie down."

"Spike said that?" Xander asked as he tried to focus on the unmoving latch.

"Yes. Spike said to lie down."

"Oh." Xander stopped pulling at the latch as he slowly sank down to the mat. He reached behind him and grabbed his blanket. "If Spike says," he muttered as he closed his eyes.

"Such a sweet stallion," the lady said as she walked away from the already sleeping slave.

Xander was fighting a horrible headache when the handler who first took him out of his cage appeared. His memories might be a little fuzzy, but no amount of repression and drugs could erase the knowledge that he was going to be sold again. Xander had explored every inch of his cage, trying to find some way out, but in the end, he had to admit that he was screwed. In fact, if Leshar bought him, he was screwed in more ways than one.

Since he really didn't have any other options, he knelt as the demon came in and locked a leash onto his collar. Xander squeezed his eyes shut at someone else's leash going on Spike's collar.

A pull at his collar got him up on his feet and he followed, intentionally pushing every thought he had underneath a layer of training. He just had to focus on this walk and keeping his back straight and not swinging his arms and really swinging his hips. He focused on making his pace perfect as he followed the demon across the competition floor to the far side where rings had been torn down to make an open space. He concentrated on keeping his head bowed and breathing slowly so his throbbing head didn't pop open and he might have spared time for a prayer or two that Spike would come riding in on a white horse… or a black horse… or no horse at all worked for him as long as Spike did the saving part.

The demon leading him stopped, but a hand on his arm kept him on his feet as the demon moved another human to make room for Xander. The crowd sounded fairly large, but he didn't dare look up as his leash was locked to a wait pole. Instead he sank to his knees and remained in the formal Position kneel despite the fact that his kneecaps weren't used to it, and it made them ache. Yeah, somehow he thought aching kneecaps might be the least of his problems if his Master didn't show up.

The slave in front of him went for $4,000 and Xander focused on the memory of Spike's hands brushing over his body, of Spike's body pinning him to the damp ground after a fight with some local fledges. He refused to believe Spike would never do that again, so he just needed to focus on that and not the hands now unclipping his leash and leading him into the ring.

"And this is our prize of the auction. A very nice little stallion, a prize winner who managed to defeat Lyew's mare, Dusty, in the ballcourt. A clean breeding record and a clean bill of health from the doctor make this one a real prize." Xander kept his eyes down because really it made it easier to pretend to be in that other auction, the one where he had given up all hope only to have Spike save him.

A sharp tap at his butt, and Xander dropped into a Position kneel. "Not a bit of rebellion here, folks. He's a free range human, but we have a medical review promising that he has had no cosmetic repairs at all. You can bet on getting some very nice coloring out of his pups." Xander bit his tongue at the announcer calling him a stallion and his children pups because hey, mixed metaphor much?

A touch on his head put him into a Down kneel with his butt resting on his heels, and Xander nearly sighed in relief at the chance to get off his kneecaps. "Now since he's being sold to pay his Master's unpaid fines and boarding fees, I can't take less than a thousand, but I don't think that's going to be a problem, is it?" the announcer asked with a laugh. The audience made a variety of noises, some of which seemed to slice right through Xander's drug-induced headache.

"$3,000," a female voice called out, and Xander recognized Calsha. Okay, he could handle Calsha. Her own slave didn't seem to suffer too much. Of course, her own slave just might break Xander's neck what with the whole lusting after the mistress thing he had going.

"3,200," an unfamiliar voice called out.

"$3,500," called another.

"$3,700," yelled a voice that Xander knew entirely too well. That was a voice that had once commanded his every move and inspired every nightmare. Please, please, please just let Harris bad luck skip him just this once. The universe owed him after the whole preying mantis teacher and mummified life eating Halloween date. Hell, the universe really owed him after already spending six months in Leshar's stable.

"$4,000," Calsha quickly countered.

"$5,000," another voice called out.

"$5,500," Calsha yelled.

"$6,000," another demon yelled, but a deeper voice yelled "$7,000" at the same time.

"Let's keep the bids in order, please. I have $7,000 from Dareh, is there a bit for eight?"

"Eight!" Leshar's voice ripped through Xander's defenses until he could feel a thousand memories pushing in at him… things he didn't want to remember… things that made his rage rise up until he trembled with a need to smash the demon's face. But then the auctioneer's hand fell on his shoulder, and Xander reminded himself that demons could smell so many human emotions. Without any effort at all, he flipped that fury over into fear as he considered what Leshar would do to him now. He'd stabbed his former owner, and everyone seemed to know that Spike and Angel had driven the West Coast slavers out of business. He had no doubt Leshar would take that out on his hide.

"Nine," a low voice countered.

"Ten thousand!" Calsha called out.

"Eleven," Leshar yelled back without waiting for the auctioneer. Xander heard a soft "damn" from Calsha's direction and then he didn't hear anything. He trembled as he realized the bidding was beyond her. She wasn't going to buy him and then deliver him to the nearest Aurelius vamp for a quick rescue.

"We have $11,000 from Leshar. Any new offers?"

"$11,500."

"$12,000," Leshar snapped back immediately.

"12,500."

"13,000"

"13,500," the unfamiliar bidder countered. There was a silence after that, and Xander waited for his fate to be sealed. His heart might be healthy and all, but he was fairly sure he was going to have a heart attack.

"$13,500 to Dareh, any more offers?"

"$14,000," Leshar yelled.

"$14,500." A silence fell on the crowd as that deep voice called out his offer. The auctioneer waited.

"We have $14,500 at Dareh. Any more offers? Last warning…" The auctioneer waited, and Xander forgot to breathe as he waited to hear just how much Leshar hated him. With each bid, Xander could hear the fury and frustration, and Xander just knew that if Leshar got him, he was going to pay for every cent in missing skin. However, Leshar didn't call out another offer.

"Dareh's bid wins," the auctioneer called out, and the crowd's silence was broken. Xander had the impression of something heavy moving, and he looked up to see the wide grey demon with beady eyes who he had earlier landed on. Xander ducked his head submissively as he realized just how many rules he had gotten used to breaking. Time to undo the undoing of the rules, he told himself as he held position while Dareh paid for him.

"Come on, boy," the deep voice ordered as Dareh took the leash. Xander rose and followed his new master out of the room. He just couldn't help taking one last look at the crowd as he searched for a bleached blond head.