Author:
gertinatorPairing: Xander/Spike
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: My kinkometer is broken due to the massive amounts of Spander out there written by people whose knobs go to eleven, but I'd hazard this rates somewhere in the low to mid range. *shrugs* h/c, a wee bit o' bondageness and of course, slash
Notes: Thanks to the lovely writer formerly known as synful_trixx for giving much support and canon tips. I haven't watched any Angel (*gags at thought of Angel*) but I meant this to be post NFA and more or less true to canon, though I had everything pretty much stick to the status quo. If you think I'm really off on something important, please let me know. This is my first fic in this fandom and I am a little nervous about writing true to canon with such a large 'verse. I'm just not obsessive enough for the buffyverse. *winks*
Summary: As usual, the new demon in town wants to make Xander his love muffin, and Spike must intervene.That, but you know, in a dark and angsty way.
(Part 1)
They didn't get far into the sewers. Xander was in no condition to travel. Every step jarred his shoulders, his tightly bound arms aching with the unfamiliar position, and no matter how Spike shifted him, he could not find ease. The cock ring chaffed awkwardly and Xander's mewls and whimpers had Spike on edge, his own dick as hard as steel. Spike had no idea where any of the doors they passed led and wasn't willing to find out. Xander was not up for exploring, and Spike wasn't going to risk coming face to face with daylight.
The little maintenance room was an answer to a dream, door ajar and with a dim kind of safety lighting so Xander wouldn't freak out in the dark. Spike sighed out unneeded breath in relief. He had to get as far from Xander and his temptingly pulsing blood and artificially enhanced hormones as possible if he was going to relax at all.
"Here we are, pet. Got about eight more hours to sundown. We'll rest a little, then continue our walk back." Spike nestled Xander into his coat, trying to help him find a comfortable position on the floor. "'m just going ta check out the hallways." And maybe take a little wank.
"Don't leave me, Spike. Please?" Xander turned a pleading eye on Spike. "I practically have 'free snack' written on my forehead."
"Right then, pet." Damn, but it was true, and Spike wasn't about to endager Xander now, just so he could get himself off. If he could overcome his demon, he could manage a persistent hard-on. Spike brushed Xander's hair from his face. "Get some rest, 'm gonna sit over here and try to plan."
Spike sat on the far side of the room and tried to think distracting thoughts so he wouldn't smell all the yummy smells wafting off the human. It wasn't working particularly well. At least the stench in the sewer had mediated the effect a little, but now he was faced with full on olfactory lust in an enclosed space. Xander always smelled good, though Spike was loathe to admit it and certainly would never tell the whelp himself, but the lust radiating off him now was nigh unbearable.
Spike banged his head back against the brick. He had been in several dimensions that closely resembled the human idea of hell, but they all seemed like vacations in Hawaii compared to this. Yeah, sure, he didn't need to breath, so he should have been able to avoid sniffing, right? But Harris's pheromones seemed to be burrowing in through his skin. He moaned softly and hoped the boy couldn't hear.
Xander rustled under Spike's coat. If his brain had been functioning, he might have marveled that the Big Bad had given the prized trench up so easily, but he was so distracted by all the unwelcome and disturbing sensations in his body that he couldn't focus on anything else. He wanted to come, damn it. He was more excited than he had ever been, but also achy and afraid, dizzy and confused. He wasn't sure how much more of this his body could take and there was no end in sight.
He tried not to disturb Spike, who seemed exhausted and spent after fighting the slaver and his minions. That had been pretty fucking amazing, now that Xander thought about it. Spike had swept through the room like a hurricane, destroying everyone and everything in his path. He should change his name to Taz... though Xander no longer thought he was any kind of devil. Xander had always admired Spike's skill and speed, but tonight had been particularly spectacular. The soul clearly did not slow him down.
Xander wished he could slow himself down, his heartbeat, his hormones. Damn, he just wanted some release and sleep, instead of this over aroused, hypersensitive restless agitation. But most of all, oh god, he wanted to come.
Xander tried counting sheep, counting goats, counting one legged nuns. But it was hard to sleep with a hard-on the size Texas. He tried thinking of all his past tricks, even Giles in a bathrobe, to get rid of an erection. It only seemed to get worse, and that was giving him the wiggins. Giles in a bathrobe should have killed all interest immediately.
"Oh god," Xander whimpered. He was starting to sweat from the pain and hyper-stimulation, a cold clammy slick that only made him more uncomfortable and agitated. The leather of the trench brushed his swollen cock and his eye nearly rolled back in his head. He couldn't keep quiet any longer.
"You gotta help me, Spike. Humans aren't meant to be in gear like this for more than an hour, and by my count, it's been something like four hours. By the time we get to a witch, she's gonna be reattaching Little Xander instead of removing this god damn cock ring." Xander tried to keep his voice steady, but he was close to tears.
Spike raised an eyebrow at Xander. He wasn't about to ask how the boy - no, man, Xander was a full grown man now, though he still seemed such a boy at times, and Spike had to constantly remind himself - knew that. The man clearly had acquired a little experience since he had been the boy Spike knew. "And what do you think I can do about it, lad? You want me to wank you? 's not gonna work as long as the ring's there." If I don't get a wank, neither do you, he though pettily.
Xander tipped his head back and closed his eye in frustration. "I don't know, it just hurts! It hurts and still feels sort of good in a sick way and good lord am I horny, I don't think I've ever been this horny, this is like the king and the castle and the whole Kingdom of Horniness but I'm afraid that this is making for long term damage and that is of the bad." His voice cracked on the last few words. He took a deep breath then suggested tentatively. "You're permanently below room temperature, and I'm burning up here, maybe..."
"You want me to touch your cock, Harris?" asked Spike, shocked. "Have you gone buggers?" It wasn't that Spike had never thought of it. In fact, he had been doing nothing but think of it since killing the slaver. He hadn't been able to resist that one tiny touch earlier. The demon, and maybe all the rest of Spike, too, was panting for another try.
It wasn't as if Spike hadn't checked out Harris's, er, assets before. The boy had some strange quality that made him as tasty to demons as Twinkies were to him, and it had been amusing to come up with fantasies while tied to the comfy chair or out on patrol. No, it was more that Spike was shocked to have Harris actually suggest it. A shudder of desire went through him and he wanted his hands on Harris' cock more than anything.
"Just be a vamp ice pack for me, see if you can reduce the swelling?" Xander choked out, a hot blush rising over his face. He would surely laugh about this later, in oh, say, a hundred years or so. Except that he'd be dead then, and it would be only Spike left to do the laughing. And Spike probably wouldn't wait that long.
Spike wasn't sure if it was the demon or the soul that made him give in, and decided it was best not to contemplate. He had never been good at resisting temptation when he wanted to do something. And oh, how he wanted to touch that hot throbbing skin. With his tongue. But only if Xander asked nicely.
Spike slid his hand into the coat, finding Xander's cock by the waves of heat radiating off of it. He tried to be gentle, but Xander still flinched in pain and shock as Spike's fingers skimmed the fevered flesh.
"Too...too sensitive..." Xander gasped out, tears leaking from his eye. "Oh, God. what am I going to do? I can't stay like this all day!" He rested his head on Spike's shoulder in an intimate gesture that startled the vampire, tears soaking through Spike's t-shirt as he tried to get control of himself.
Spike patted his back comfortingly, and Xander nuzzled into him, wet cheek touching his exposed collarbone. Spike pulled back as if burned and scooted away. Xander's words had suggested pain, but his body was saying something entirely different. Submission. Sex. The room was flooded with so many intoxicating sex smells that Spike had to wrestle his demon for control. Sex and fear and pain and SEX. The demon's favorite mix, and it was trying hard to convince the soul that it had to help Xander... by any means necessary. Spike was getting dizzy with the conflict and with his own need.
After several minutes of silence filled only by Xander's gasping pain/pleasure, Xander tried again in a soft and broken voice. "We can't get it off, and I can't come 'til it's off... but it works by constricting blood flow and there are other ways to reduce the pressure of all that blood, right?"
Spike stared at Xander, aghast. He couldn't possibly be suggesting...? It was an even more outrageous idea than the last. This was a surreal and tempting dream, to be sure. Spike wasn't sure if he wanted to wake up or not. He couldn't manage a reply.
"Spike?" Xander's voice was ragged and raw. "Please? I get that guys aren't your thing, they aren't my thing either... but I have to do something. This hurts like hell and it's making me crazy and I'll probably never have children, not that I ever wanted to have children, but I at least wanted the option of practicing making them and now I'm pretty sure the necessary equipment is getting ready to fall off..." he turned his one eye on Spike, tear filled and beseeching. "Spike? Please. I need you to do this for me, for whatever friendship we have. Just drain some of the blood off, knock me back down to size..."
He was suggesting it. The demon was shouting with joy, the soul was filled with compassion and a little fear and Spike himself was confused and aroused and almost overcome with desire. The whelp had hit on his achilles heel, his weakest spot... his desperate need to be needed. It was enough to tip his conscience into silence and give the desire full rein.
"You sure... you sure you want me to?" Spike asked, trying to sound cool and disinterested. "The blood would help me, I'm a little weak. And the soul will keep me from taking too much." He didn't really need any more blood, but he wanted. Oh, how he wanted. He paused, all pretense gone as he asked honestly, "But Harris... Harris, are you sure you won't hate us both for this later?"
"Oh, god Spike." Xander rolled his eye at the cliche. "I promise not to hate you in the morning. Trust me, I've had much more embarrassing demon sex encounters." He added ruefully, "I never thought I'd regret being able to keep it up, but all I want right now is some blessed flaccidness. Anything you can do in that regard would be much appreciated."
Spike held Xander's gaze for several minutes, then seemed convinced. He took a deep, unneeded breath and pulled his trench off Xander, balling it up into a kind of pillow to cushion Xander's arms as he rolled him onto his back and spread his legs. Xander whimpered, though whether it was in pain or anticipation of release was hard to tell. His eye was squeezed tightly shut and he had a strange grimace on his face. He was trembling slightly, vibrating like a penny on the railroad track waiting for the train to come.
"I won't hurt you, pet," reassured Spike, voice low and throaty. "I may be out of practice, but I'm a bloody master, I know how to do it right." He stroked cool hands up Xander's burning thighs and leaned in, trying to determine the best position.
Xander seemed to calm at his touch and for some reason that hiked up Spike's arousal. No doubt about it, he wanted Xander. Spike's own cock was flush with borrowed blood and would only get harder with the addition from the boy. Best not to share that little detail, though.
Spike refrained from changing to game face, though it took effort. Xander's eye was closed so it might have been a pointless sacrifice, but Harris was having a difficult enough time, he didn't need to look down and see a monster hanging off his cock.
Spike nicked a vein just south of the constricting leather band. It wasn't a full bite, just a tiny drizzle of blood. Easy to control. Just easing the pressure in that glorious, throbbing purple organ. Spike worked the small wound with his tongue, astounded at the fantastic taste of the former Scoobie's blood. After the tainted blood earlier, and the years of animal blood, Spike was euphoric from the taste of the whelp. He felt his heart shudder into a beat, and wasn't that odd? Damn lot of blood all at once, that must be what caused it.
There was a definite reason the boy was a demon magnet. His blood was like ambrosia, the nectar of the gods, and it was clear that the little bit Spike was going to be allowed would only leave him desperate for more. Cat nip for demons.
Spike was so caught in his own pleasure as he suckled the wound that he missed out on Xander's babbling. It was just as well.
"Never expected to get sucked by a vampire... oh god... well, I mean, drained maybe, but never like this...never thought it would feel... so fucking good... oh Spike...so fucking good... I wish I could come... I wish I could make you feel this good too..." Xander was panting and moaning, writhing as if he were getting a full on blow job instead of just having his blood sucked.
"Oh god oh god oh god," screamed Xander, arching his back and tensing all of his muscles. That got Spike's attention and he closed the wound with a small flick of his tongue as he held the spasming human tightly and protectively.
"You alright, pet?" asked Spike, worried. "I didn't take too much, did I?" Truly, he had gotten carried away and taken more than he intended. The damn whelp was right, he was a nummy treat.
"Oh, god Spike." Xander panted a moment later, hardly able to get the words out. "It felt like I came... but I didn't... I just sort of exploded a little in my head." Xander tried to get his brain to function, swimming through the flashing lights behind his eyes, and then gave up in exhaustion and frustration. "I exploded but it's not over. It made it a little better in some ways, seems to have lessened the pressure...but it's also worse. It's like I itch inside, I need... It makes me want..." he stopped, embarrassed. His face flushed a dark red.
"What, Harris? In for a penny, in for a pound. What else do you want from me?" Spike rolled his eyes and tried to seem nonchalant. If he could get the boy to sleep a little, he could go off and wank and they'd both be the better for it.
"Are you...are you hard?" Xander whispered. He was already past death by embarrassment, there was no point in restraint now.
Spike didn't answer for the longest time. What the hell was he supposed to say to that? He had fresh blood in his system, fresh human blood spiked with a heady mix of adrenaline and hormones to match the bloody thick fog of pheromones in the air. Blood that tasted like sodding 200 year old bloody vintage wine. A vamp would have to be a whole hell of lot closer to dead to resist. As in, dust.
"'m not..." Spike faltered. For some damn reason, he couldn't lie to the human. "Can't help it," he admitted. "You smell bloody good. And taste even better."
Xander's hoarse breathing was the only sound in the room. Finally he got the nerve. "I want you to fuck me."
"You - " Spike stared, disbelieving. He couldn't even finish the sentence. The demon was ready to pounce, but the man inside the vampire was trying to keep his head clear as he sank further into the quicksand of the situation.
He ached to be inside the boy, and maybe it wasn't just the demon. But he also felt tight in his chest at the thought, some buried bit of conscience or common sense trilling at him like a fire alarm that THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN.
He stood up and began pacing frantically. The demon was all for it, but the soul knew Xander too well and there were some lines that shouldn't be crossed. Xander would regret it later and Spike would lose one of the only friends he had. And that was how far he had come from the old days, that he was worried about losing Xander Harris as a friend by taking him the way he asked. The way the demon was begging him to. The way, he admitted, he had always wanted to.
The part of Spike that had sought the soul in the first place was pleased at the layers of human emotion that were coming back, the morality and care, but the rest of him struggled with the conflict. He wasn't used to having to reason and plan, he had always preferred to act on instinct. Instinct told him he and Xander would both feel better after a nice hard fuck.
"This could be the spell, Xander," sighed Spike. "Fact, 'm sure it's the spell, and when yer free, yer goin' ta want ta stake me fer lettin' it happen." Spike unconsciously dropped deeper into his fake accent. He had to distance himself from his own need, his own emotions. He had to play the Big Bad. Spike stopped and stared at the wall, thinking maybe a staking wouldn't be so wrong at this point. Life would be much easier if he hadn't bloody well come back from the dead. Again.
"Spike..." Xander sighed, too. "I know the spell's working on my body, and maybe my brain as well, but look at this from my point of view. This isn't Sunnydale in the old days. Willow's not waiting back at the magic shop with Giles and the gang, ready to research this and get me free. And can I just say, there is a small part of me that thanks the gods they won't be a witness to this because, oh, the humiliation. I seem to be refining the scenarios each time, to be closer and closer to a perfect hell."
He paused a moment. "Angel's on the outs with the Council. Deadboy doesn't have the same kind of resources, and dear God I don't want him to see me like this either. Way worse than Algebra in my underwear." Spike quirked up an eyebrow, but Xander was not going to follow the tangent of his reoccurring Naked Math nightmares.
Xander sighed again, realizing mortification seemed to be his lot in life. "I'm not stupid, Spike. This isn't just bondage gear, it's bonding gear, and tall, dark and ugly was looking to make me his boy toy before you came along and killed him. And I really appreciate that, by the way, the killing of him before..." Xander stopped, took a breath and continued. Spike hadn't turned around, but Xander could tell he was listening.
"The spell was cast by a demon. Maybe your demon will break it. God knows I seem to be hungering for a little demon lovin'. And I get that there could be side effects, but I'd much rather try to break a claim spell when I'm able to use my arms and wear pants." Xander smiled wearily. "All the times I worried about you turning me, never thought you'd turn me gay. But here I am begging you to have your way with me."
Spike turned at that, giving Xander an intense look that made him falter. "I was joking, Spike," he apologized. "I do that in times of stress. God, I can't believe I can even get full sentences out. Do you know how much pain I'm in? I can't feel my fingers, my arms are just burning muscles. The pins and needles are never gonna stop and my... oh, god, I don't even want to think about my manly bits. I just want this to end." He squeezed his eye shut tightly, wishing he would open it again to find this had only been a bad nightmare. No such luck, though. He paused and looked Spike full in the eye, trying to convey the depth of his pain and need. "I trust you, Spike. Please."
Something flickered across Spike's face - compassion, memory, and Xander realized with a chill that between Angelus and Drusilla, Spike had probably more than experienced this kind of torture. And since there was no risk of permanent damage to a vamp, it could have gone for much, much longer. Xander quickly shut that away in the box marked Deep Wiggins.
"Have you ever...?" Spike asked, quickly moving to Xander's side in a flash of vampire grace. The whelp trusted him. He didn't want to hurt him.
Xander coughed. "Anya played a few games... a... vibrator... but I've never... not with an actual guy..." The gods really hate me, Xander thought. And are determined to turn me off sex forever by making me explain sexual experimentation with my dead ex to Spike, the guy who screwed her after we broke up.
Except oddly, he was incredible turned on. The smell of Spike next to him was making the last of his blood rush down to Ground Zero for the party. The Big Bang. And he'd deal with the wiggins of that later. The Deep Wiggins Box was going to need a forklift to dump it when he was done here.
"'s gonna hurt a bit then, pet." Spike helped Xander roll and get up on his knees with Spike's duster spread as a blanket to kneel on. "Don't have any slick on me."
"One more pain isn't going to break me," Xander assured him. Xander twisted his head to catch Spike's eye. "Thank you, Spike," he said sincerely. "I hope you won't hate me in the morning."
Spike's eyes held heat and compassion and a strange tenderness that Xander didn't want to think too much about, but that made him feel funny and tight in his chest. Spike held Xander's gaze then opened a vein in his own wrist, let the blood flow into his hand. Ahh, he'd brought lube after all.
Xander was sure he should be thoroughly squicked at the thought of Spike's blood as lubrication (and would that even work? was he doing it because of some magical healing properties? or because of some weird vamp kink? Xander really didn't want to know), not to mention the rest of the proceedings, but he was just getting more excited. He had clearly spent too many years on the hellmouth if the hot coppery scent of vamp blood made his stomach flip flop and his brain blank out in a way previously only achieved by Playboy bunnies during quality time with the Sock Puppet of Love.
The first cool touch of vampire fingers was like a breeze across Xander's feverish skin. He moaned and pressed back, determined not to think or analyze or regret. The lust he had been holding in check roared to life and he bucked and panted, begging Spike to touch him, to enter him.
Spike closed his eyes for just a second, feeling a stab of pain of his own in the vicinity of his unbeating heart, something from the soul that he didn't understand, then he pressed himself into Xander's burning flesh.
"Oh, God, Harris," moaned Spike. Xander pressed back with an answering keen, impaling himself completely. It felt amazing, like a puzzle locking together. Completion.
The heat of humans was always a turn on, but Xander was blazing hot, primed and left wanting by the spell. A spark ran down Spike's spine and he couldn't keep the demon in check. It roared out in its native tongue, howled, "Mine!" And took control. Spike pounded into Xander mindlessly to the beat of mine, mine, mine. Xander answered with mewls and whimpers of pain and pleasure that seemed to drive the beast in Spike crazy.
Spike came with a loud inhuman cry, and the demon retreated, satiated, game face and fangs fading to leave Spike the souled amazingly still hard and embedded to the hilt in a sobbing human.
"You okay, pet?" Spike asked tenderly, stroking down Xander's shoulders and across his back. He had lost his head to the demon, and he hoped the boy hadn't suffered too much for it. Spike listened closer and realized the sobs were not of the negative variety, but rather inarticulate sounds of pleasure and relief. Spike continued his explorations, hands crawling across the expanse of naked flesh.
The human had taut muscles standing out against sun-kissed skin, strained awkwardly but beautifully due to the bindings. Spike ran a finger cross the leather and watched the runes flicker from blue to white. "Mine," he whispered, and was not surprised to see the links between the eyelets give under his finger tip.
The boy had been right. A feeling of contentment swept over him, and fear. They had just released the mojo, but Spike was sure they had completed it rather than negated it. This was a beginning, not an ending. Harris had promised no regrets, so Spike squelched down the complaints coming from his soul. Maybe he had wanted to claim the boy, but it had still been done under protest.
"Touch me... please..." Xander begged, and Spike complied, soothing Xander's aching muscles with his hands as he completely removed the constricting device, flexing Xander's arms forward so Spike could rest skin to skin against Xander's back. He held that position for a moment, just enjoying the touch. It had been years since Spike had held another like this, and never with such tenderness.
Spike grazed hands down Xander's trembling arms, feeling the ripples and twitches as the boy's body adjusted to the new freedom. Xander sighed in relief and rubbed and arched like a purring cat.
Spike touched Xander's neck in a ghost of a kiss and then reached cool fingers around to stroke down Xander's chest to the leather straps binding his balls.
"'s gonna hurt at first, just relax into it," Spike advised, timing a few slow thrusts to distract Xander from the release and consequent rushing of blood and fresh pain in his cock as he flicked open the buckle.
"Oh, my goddddd," Xander moaned, and began panting, sobbing, gasping. "Finally, oh fuck, finally. Thank you, Spike. Thank you. Thankyouthankyouthankyou. Oh God, Spike." Spike cupped Xander's irritated and abused balls in his hands, letting one finger gently caress Xander's straining cock. It was all Xander needed and he came violently, propelling a stream of sperm across the room. The clenching of his muscles sent Spike over for the second time, and the vampire held tight to the human as they shuddered through their climaxes together.
"Oh, Lordy lordy. I think that was the silver lining and I spewed it all over this room," choked Xander. "I have never had an orgasm like that before in my life. I'm pretty sure I saw god. Gods. All of them. Every god, from every dimension, including you, Spike. You are God. And as soon as I can move any part of my body, I will worship at your feet." He panted for a minute more, and didn't protest when Spike slowly pulled out and turned him on his back. His body was completely limp, relaxed, content.
Spike was grinning at the Xander babble. Xander's eye was closed or he might have been disturbed to see how earnestly Spike licked Xander's spunk from his finger tips. At least he knew the whelp hadn't suffered any personality change, Spike thought. Still runs on like leaky faucet. He didn't say a word, just let Xander continue thinking out loud.
"I still seem to be myself, so the binding spell must not have worked. Otherwise, I'd be all servanty, right? And I don't feel servanty at all. Grateful yes, and in awe, but not like I want to polish your shoes or wash your dishes." Xander paused. "Hope I didn't stain your coat," he added sheepishly, suddenly embarrassed. He was clutching the trench like a security blanket and wasn't willing to let it go, even at the thought he might be leaving unpleasant splotches of bodily fluid on Spike's prized possession.
"No worries pet. I'll send you the dry cleaning bill." Spike knelt between Xander's legs and lapped softly at the angry red flesh where the confining straps had irritated the skin.
"Spike?" Xander asked, eye still closed, enjoying the cool soothing flicks. "I'm pretty sure I've shot out my brains and intestines and there won't be any more good times coming soon."
"Still hurts, yeah?" Spike nodded when Xander agreed. "Healing agent in vamp saliva," Spike explained carelessly. "Thought a little lick would help out for when we have to finish the walk home." There was a touch of bullshit in that explanation, but he wasn't about to admit how comforting it was to him to lick Xander clean. Spike fought down the desire to purr.
"Oh. Mmmmm," Xander agreed, already half asleep. "Good thinking, Spike. That feels nice," he trailed off, not even realizing he had raised a hand to tease through stiff blonde locks. "Gonna sleep now," he added, stating the obvious, adding a few cooing happy noises as his consciousness faded.
"We'll get a little sleep and be on our way," agreed Spike. He continued to bath the leather burned skin with gentle laps of his tongue, then cleaned the whole area, occasionally bestowing tiny kisses. The whelp was asleep and would never know and it made Spike feel good. Unreasonably good, but he wasn't one to get all poncy and natter on about his feelings at a time like this.
Xander's abused and finally flaccid organ valiantly tried to stand at attention and Spike chuckled affectionately. "You deserve a rest, too," he whispered, then scolded himself for being so foolishly sentimental. He had just been providing a necessary service for Harris, that's all. No use making small talk with his cock.
But that didn't stop Spike from wrapping the human in his coat and pulling him in tight to his chest before settling in to sleep.
******
Spike woke with a start as some inner alarm clock told him it was dusk out in the world. He noticed the warm bundle in his arms, and smiled a little to see how Xander had wrapped his body around the vampire. The whelp was still asleep, so Spike indulged himself by nuzzling into him a little and breathing in the nummyness. That was when he noticed it.
Xander smelled different. And not like the Naad. The familiar Xander smell was there, a musky sort of earth smell with just a hint of demon cat nip saying "I'm a tasty treat," but his smell was interwoven with a sharp coppery scent that Spike recognized as his own. Not the smell of old sex that would normally overlay a lover, but more a combining of scents, almost...braided together. There was a hint of the house of Aurelius, of Darla, Angel, Dru... Spike's eyes opened in shock. Xander smelled like a childe. Spike's childe.
Spike reached out a hand to Xander's bare chest, reassured by the warmth and steady heartbeat. Xander let out a little sigh and murmur of approval and cuddled into Spike. Spike pulled his hand away and tried to ignore the shiver of foreboding that was tingling down his spine. He'd buggered things up before, but even he couldn't turn a living human into his childe.
"Wake up, mate. Dark out and time for us to get a move on." Spike gently shook Xander awake.
"Hmmm." Xander stretched and sat up, not noticing how Spike was studying him. He bounced to his feet.
"Wow. I feel good. Really good. Good like 'it's hard to believe I had the crap beat out of me by a demon who then used a nasty spell to try to make me his sex toy' good." Xander glanced at Spike and a rosy flush covered his face. No point in mentioning the demon he did cozy up to. Xander rubbed his face, then stopped at the patch. "My eye - "
Spike stared at him, startled. Even making Xander a vamp wouldn't have brought his eye back. It wasn't possible. Xander pulled off his patch, and even though he knew it was impossible, Spike was disappointed to to see there was still an empty hole where the matching puppy dog brown orb had once lived. Xander touched the socket hesitantly.
"It doesn't hurt anymore," he said with a sense of wonder. "I didn't even realize how much of an ache was there until now, now that it's gone." He bounced again. "God, I feel fantastic. Full of energy."
"Well," Spike said, wanting to get going before Xander noticed anything else odd. "Always knew I was devilishly handsome and quite a good lay, must be the soul that added magic healing powers."
"Yeah, right," said Xander, bumping Spike's shoulder playfully. "We'll set up a shrine at W & H and you can bless the supplicants all day."
"Damn right they'd be blessed," muttered Spike. "Might just do that. In the meantime, we'd best get back to let our fearless leader know there was a Naad slaver in town. He can bring the troops down here and check for other slave pens while we recuperate."
"We could check things out a little, Spike. I'm feeling fine." Xander was bouncing on the balls of his feet like a small child who needed to pee, twisting and kicking in fake kung fu moves. "In fact, I can't remember the last time I felt so good. No wonder the Buffster was hot after your bod. You really rejuvenate a man! Come on, let's go slave hunting."
Spike gave him a Look, something along the lines of You're Crazy But That's No Surprise. "You wanna run around starkers looking for penned up humans that maybe be demon touched? After the night we've had?" Spike felt another little shiver of fear run up his spine. Only a stupid fledge would be looking for action after what they'd already been through. Harris was already distracted from thoughts of the hunt, though.
"My god, I'm hungry," said Xander, an agitated little jump in his step. "I guess that comes from being a demon chew toy. I could eat an elephant souffle with the rest of the zoo on the side for garnish."
"We'll get you home and dressed and order delivery. What're you hungry for? Besides zoo animals?" Spike tried to sound casual, but he was feeling just a little alarmed. Xander wasn't exactly acting... human. At least not the same kind of weary adult human he had been the day before. The cautious, mature man had completely disappeared. This Xander was more of a mix of over eager puppy and ADD five year old. Throw in a demon face and a little violence and that would describe your average fledge. Even though that. Wasn't. Possible.
"Hmm," Xander said thoughtfully, dancing a little jig around Spike. "Hmmm. Pete's Burgers, in Cleveland. A little rare, with drippy melted cheese. Pete pays for all your burgers if you eat more than the record - last I saw it was 38. I always wanted to try it, bet I could do it right now. I could so eat 40 burgers. Oh man. And a side of cheesy fries. Maybe two. And an icy root beer, IBC Dark. The dry, rooty kind."
Spike assessed the man. He was talking about human food at least, and the whelp had always had an appetite and a gift for exaggeration. Spike sniffed delicately. He still smelled the childe mix from Xander, but he didn't sense a demon. The whelp seemed to still have his personality and soul intact. Spike breathed a sigh of relief. Xander glanced at him, amused.
"I love how you sigh, even though you don't breath." The look in his eyes was just a shade too adoring, and though it made Spike feel warm all over, he knew there was definitely something fishy about that claiming spell.
"Emotional state. Still have 'em, even though I'm dead. Don't think we can get you Pete's today, luv, but Bernie's delivers and he has the best chili fries in three states." And then I'll call Red, he thought. And talk to Angel. He squashed down the protest from the demon, who thought things were just perfect the way they were. Especially when Xander unconsciously grasped his hand and started to pull him to the door. And that reminded Spike of something else.
"Human feet and sewers, luv." Spike lifted Xander in his arms and tried not to be too obvious about enjoying the sensation. Wouldn't be so bad if the claim spell took a while to break. The boy smelled lovely.