29/46
AUTHOR: BmblBee
RATING: Adult entertainment due to m/m sexual activity
and language.
PARING: S/X
DISCLAIMER: This story is fiction. Conceived in the warped
hive of the BmblBee. She owns none of the
characters or products named and makes no money
from their use.
WARNINGS: Character death. Boys playing with boys.
Vampire/ human contact.
SUMMARY: Xander Harris is dead. Drained by a vampire in
the Longview Cemetery. When his body is discovered
his friends realize that no one has seen or heard from him
in the last five days. Willow comes up with a spell to send
someone back in time to find out how he ended up there
and possibly save his life. Spike is reluctantly recruited.
Banner by BmblBee
10:00 pm Thursday evening.
Xander Harris has 24 hours to live
Spike laid awake in the small bed next to the man he had committed
himself to. Lying on his side with his head propped up on his hand,
Spike stared down at the sleeping human.
He still couldn't believe it. He had claimed Xander Harris.
He had never claimed a human being in all the time he had
been a vampire. Never wanted to.
They were just too much trouble. Had to be walked and fed.
Had to be clothed and talked too. From what he had heard
from other demons, they could be a right pain till you got them
broken in and taught them the basic tricks and rules.
The Witch and the Slayer would no doubt have his arse if they
knew. It certainly wasn't what they had sent him back here to do.
It did answer the one big question that had bugged Spike from
the beginning. The puzzle of why the bite marks on Xander's
throat tasted of Spike's personal DNA.
That was the shocker that had made him agree to this stupid
plan. He was thoroughly intrigued to find out under what fucking
circumstances he would have taken a chomp out of the infamous
donut boy.
It didn't explain what had killed him though, only that Spike had
bitten him less than 24 hours before his death.
When he had agreed to do this, it was with a multitude of very selfish
reasons. First to answer the puzzling question and hopefully impress
her royal slayerness. After that came the bright idea of making some
serious money off the venture.
Knowing the future was a powerful weapon with unlimited possibilities.
Then, somewhere along the way he had gotten to know the boy.
His boy. His Xander.
Spike ran the back of his fingertips over Xander's cheek and smiled
when he snuffled in his sleep, wrinkling his nose like a rabbit.
The boy was knackered. The bonding had sapped both their energy,
snapping between them in a burst of electricity that drained them
and left them exhausted.
Xander had felt it first. The quiet, low key feel of knowing. The connection
that sputtered and erratically crackled between them. Spike had explained
to him that the bond was still new and weak. Over time, and the sharing
of more blood and sex, it would grow stronger. They would sense
each other through their emotions and physical presence.
It was information that thrilled Xander and greatly depressed Spike.
Before long, Xander could hardly keep his eyes open. He wanted to
ask more. He wanted to talk. He wanted Spike to fuck him again.
Ultimately, all he could do was doze off and fall into a deep sleep.
Spike on the other hand, couldn't have slept if he tried. His brain was
spinning, trying to form a hundred different rational thoughts, all of which
boiled down to the basic 'what the fuck?' that seemed to sum it up perfectly.
Why had he done that? Why had he claimed a boy that had only hours
to live?
Spike tried to tell himself that it was his good deed for the century.
Give Xander Harris one last hurrah. The happy send off. The floral
horseshoe that read 'Bon Voyage' across the bright red ribbon.
But it wasn't true.
Spike was, even now, a self centered bastard. He wanted as much as he
could get. When Xander was gone, Spike wanted to keep a piece of this
perfect happiness with him forever, no matter how painful that was.
He wanted to remember how funny his boy was, how handsome, how
loving and devoted to one worthless vampire.
Spike closed his eyes as a single tear slid down his cheek. Buffy had
been right. Spike had no right to live when the Xander was the one to die.
He knew when he bonded with the boy that his death would leave an
emptiness inside him that would never heal. A sore that would
not scab over, but that's exactly what Spike wanted.
A permanent reminder of what could have been.
Rolling over, he looked at the time on the bedside clock and sighed.
It was almost time. Even now he could feel the beginnings of the
stirring inside him that would, very soon, turn into the gut inverting
pull that would snatch him back.
It was so frustrating. By the time he arrived back in the watchers
cellar, till he broke the last orb would be only minutes, yet here,
in this reality, it would be 4 hours. He would be cheated out of
1/6th of their time left.
Fucking universe just couldn't give him a fucking break.
The strength of the pull grew and Spike quickly slipped out
of bed. He knew Xander would not wake as he evaporated,
but he couldn't risk it. He tugged on the sleep pants Xander
kept at the bottom of the bed just in the nick of time.
Xander turned over and moaned quietly. He had been comfortable
and comforted, lying in his small bed, curled around his cool vampire,
but now felt cold. He itched, his limbs ached as though the bones
were being pulled out through his skin.
His discomfort quickly reached the point of waking him up and
he knew immediately that he was alone. His partner, his
bonded was gone.
"Spike? Spike, you out there?"
Xander threw back the covers and slid his feet down on to the cold
wood floor. He felt around the bottom of the bed in the darkened room
for his sleep pants, but his fingers came up empty.
Padding bare footed in to the bathroom, Xander poked his head in.
No vampire. He shrugged. He really didn't expect to find him there.
Deadly, blood sucking creatures of the night rarely needed a midnight
wizz.
Smiling sleepily he took the last few steps that put him in the living room/
kitchen. They were dark and very, very empty. Xander stood, naked,
in the center of the cramped, depressing space and turned full circle,
hoping to see something that would tell him why after the best sex and
most earth shattering emotional experience a human ever experienced,
he was alone.
His chest began to feel tight and his breath came in quick gaspy spurts.
Before a full on panic attack could grip him in a choke hold, Xander
held up both index fingers and tried to think.
"O.k. Stop it Xander. Stop getting all in a tither. You know Spike,
he probably went out for a pack of cigarettes, or beer, or maybe
needed to bite some helpless librarian walking her poodle in the park.
That's cool I can live with that. Especially if he didn't hurt the poodle."
Then with a renewed grin on his face, Xander decided he had other
tools at his disposal. He had the bond. The connection. He knew
Spike had said it was still weak and new, but Xander knew better.
He knew he could find Spike through the bond.
It wasn't that he wanted to be clingy, or go hunt him down like a
possessive fish wife, Xander shook his head, that wasn't it at all. He
just needed to know where he was.
Maybe he could tell what he was doing.
He paused for a moment. What if his wonderful vampire was sucking
someone, and what if it wasn't their blood?
Xander began pacing the length of the room.
"No. No he wouldn't do that. No now. Not after we just made
promises, well, actually I made promises, but he accepted them.
He accepted me."
Xander hustled quickly over to the ugly plaid couch and sat down.
He flinched. He usually avoided sitting his naked flesh next to the
suspicious stains on the upholstery, but this was an emergency.
He left the lights off in the apartment to cut down on the distractions.
He closed his eyes and he took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly.
He blocked out everything but a mental picture of his vampire.
His master. Xander smiled broadly when he realized the best
description was, his beloved.
He concentrated on the feeling he had when the bond first locked
into place. The hum of the tracking device that connected
the two beings. It was like a piece of kite string stretched tight
between two tin cans. Primitive, primordial, powerful.
Xander held perfectly still, but heard nothing.
He tried again. Another deep breath and he shook out his hands.
He hung his head and went deep inside his mind and found.....
nothing.
The spot where Spike should have been was empty. A black hole,
a bottomless pit. A silence.
Jumping to his feet, his brain scrambled to find a logical reason.
Had Spike broken the bond?
Was he somehow blocking it out?
Was he hurt?
Was he............?
Xander threw his head back and split the night with a scream that
set dogs to howling and small children scurrying to their parent's beds.
"SPIIIIIIIIIKE!!!!!!"