Hard Times for Spike and Xan chapter 12

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

“Thanks for this, Spike. So what are you going to get?"

They were sitting in a booth at the restaurant and looking through the menus. 

Under the table Xander was playing footsies with the vampire, while above the table he was holding one of his hands. Surprisingly he managed not to laugh that the Big Bad was playing footsies. He began to rub his thumb over the cool palm of the hand in his.

Spike grinned at Xander over the menu, his foot trailing up Xander's leg and on his thigh, thankfully he actually wore sneakers, not the boots, which would kind of not feel good on Xander's thigh. 

"I think I might get lasagna, what about you pet?" He tilted his head as he set down the menu, and gently squeezed his lover's hand.

"Umm I think I'll get that too." 'Now that I can’t think with your foot being where it is.' He could feel his face redden at the realization that they were in public and Spike's foot, being where it was, was a not-in-public thing. When he had told the vampire to 'not behave' it was in the moment. Stupid him, he didn’t think Spike would really do anything. 

'Why and I freaking out. This isn’t even that big a deal.'

The waitress came and took their orders then left again. 

He brought Spike's hands up to his lips and lightly kissed it. "Love you."

Granted, Spike was pale, but obviously not pale enough to cover when he blushed, and he looked down and gave a smile. There was a scoff beside them and Spike looked up to see Riley and Buffy sitting at a table beside them. 

"Oi! What the hell are you doing here, Finn, I didn't know they gave you enough money to come to this type of restaurant," he snarled, then refused to look at them anymore and looked into Xander's eyes, trying to show him he was going to be fine, just had to ignore the couple by them.

Xander closed his eyes to hide the yellow and tried to stop himself from vamping out. He gritted his teeth and tried to stop the growl. But none of them worked. He stood up from the table and stared into the eyes of Riley Finn. 
"I suggest you run. Run far." he bit out.


Riley, shocked that Xander was not only a vampire, but a powerful one, got up and ran. 

"Xander...?" asked a small voice.

He turned to find Buffy looking at him with tears down her face.

"I told you to get him out of this state! What was he doing here!?"

Buffy stared at Xander in shock, "Are... are you a vampire now?" she whimpered. She looked to when Riley left and then back at Xander, "We... didn't think you were serious?!" Buffy gasped as she stood up against Xander and grabbed him roughly, pulling him outside. 
"Did Spike change you?!" She growled angrily as she looked at Spike through the window. "Xan, I thought you were better than that." She shook her head sadly. "I think Giles should know about this." 


Spike walked out and pushed Buffy away, "Rupert does know! Xander got stabbed and he was dying. I poured my blood on the wound and... we didn't realize that he was gonna change also. He is only half a vampire though. He can still go in the sun if he pleases." 

He vamped out and growled at Buffy, his hand reaching back and holding onto Xander's. "So you don't need to go bother Giles right now. He needs a little time to himself."

Xander smiled and leaned down to kiss Spikes neck. Still with his lips to his neck, he looked down the street where he could see Riley running. "Want me to go after him?"

Buffy didn’t seem to hear the question directed at Spike because she continued on. "Stabbed? Xander was stabbed?! Where?! When?! By who!? Giles knows and didn’t tell me!?"


Xander sighed, not wanting to do this... well, ever.

Spike looked down, hearing Xander's sigh, and taking it as he did something wrong. "Sorry... It's not my place to tell." He turned around and looked at Xander sadly, "Sorry," he whispered. 

He looked to where Riley was running, then let out a deep breath, "No... he will get what he deserves eventually." 

Buffy rolled her eyes, "Xander... tell me! I deserve to know!" 

Xander cupped Spikes face with one of his hands and looked down into sad eyes. He dropped his game face and tried to think of why Spike would look so upset. "Why are you sorry? You didn’t do anything."


Realizing Buffy was still there he turned his attention to her, "We'll talk about it later. Now you go in there and pay for our dinner that you ruined."

Xander grabbed Spike's hand and lead him away from the restaurant and into the park nearby. He spotted a bench and led them towards it. He pushed Spike down so he was sitting and kneeled in front of him. 

"You okay, Baby? I'm sorry. I told Buffy to make him fucking leave. I shouldn’t have trusted her to listen."

Spike looked at Xander confused, "I know... I just heard you sigh... and that's why I thought you were mad at me..." He let out a light sigh and looked into Xander's eyes. "It's all my fault that your friendship between Slutty and you is strained. If I never would have told you what Riley did, almost none of this would have ever happened." He stopped, then looked down, "God... it's all my fault... everything." He looked up at Xander with wide scared eyes, "Shit! Everything that has been happening to us, was because of when I told you about the initiative." He covered his mouth in shock.

'Well I guess if you want to get technical…' Xander didn’t know what to say to that. In a way it was true, but in other ways it wasn’t. 

He took the hand not covering Spike's mouth into both of his, just playing with it and rubbing it. 'Fuck, I have to say something!... but I cant... fuck...'

Spike closed his eyes, 'Maybe I should stop ruining his life...'


'But you guys love each other too much, and you are mated!’ William injected.

'Yeah... and I am making his life horrible...'

"Exactly Xan... You even know it is true. I'm sorry," he sighed, standing up and moving his hand from Xander's. "You go home... and... I might see you there. It depends if I realize we should be together and I ruin your life more, or I come to my senses and get out of your hair." He stood proud and tall, but inside William was crying, having a feeling he would never see Alexander again, and the same with Spike never seeing Xander again. 

"Bye, pet." He reached up and caressed his lover's cheek fondly, leaning up and kissing his lips softly before running into the night.

'What…?' Xander’s brain finally caught up with what was going on and he turned around, searching frantically for Spike. 'He's gone...?' He growled and vamped out at the thought of his mate and Sire leaving him. Closing his eyes he tilted his head up to the sky and let all his senses look for the vampire. 

'Xan, let him have time to think,' Xander knew it was bad when Alex finally managed to get himself to leave his 'room'.

'No. I'll find him. Get me Princess.'

'What?! Xan, No! You can’t control her!'

Xander shut Alex back into his 'room' and went to the locked one. He had to make her understand before he let Princess out. 'Listen to me. We're going to work together you understand? We need to find our mate.'


'Find mate. Yes. Together. Yes.' was Princess' answer. 

Once she was released he felt a surge of power run through his body.

His nails grew slightly into sharp claws, his eyes began to glow a swirl of yellow and green, his fangs grew even more, and his ears even pointed at the tips a bit. 

He let out a howl after picking up on Spike's scent of misery and took off into the night.

Spike could hear Xander's howl, but he refused to turn back. He wanted Xander to have a good life, not a life with a tainted, chipped vampire. He kept running, and when he got hit in the back of the head with a bat, he fell forward and hit his head on the trunk of a tree. 

Riley sneered as he had Graham help him pick up Spike and put him in the car and drove off. "Finally, Hostile 17 will be put to where he belongs." He laughed. Graham pretended to laugh as he looked out the window, knowing this was a bad idea. 

When Spike woke up he looked around and saw he was in a cell in the initiative, and he let out a cry of distress, "Nooo!! Please! Let me out!" He screamed as he ran up to the Plexiglas and electric fencing, and he flew back a few feet. He couldn't find the energy to get up. "Xan..." He whimpered, bloody tears rolling down his cheeks and onto the floor.

When Xander arrived at the spot where Spike's scent mingled with that of one Riley Finn, he freaked.

He let out another howl, calling all canines to his aid and took off in the direction the scent of burnt tires went.

Along the way coyotes and dogs of all breeds joined him and he felt bad that they were willing to help but might not make it out alive.

He stopped when he arrived in front of the fraternity house at the college. 'Should have figured that out.'


He turned to the dogs, "Go find a way in to a place that’s going to smell similar to a vets; clean but dirty at the same time." They took off in different directions, listening to their leader.

Xander continued to glare at the building in front of him until he heard barking. He took of in that direction to find a dog standing on what looked like a sewer grate. 

"Good boy." he patted the dog’s head to let him know he did well. 

The dogs all rushed to him and he helped them down into the tunnel, after he let out a whistle.

'On my way, Baby. Hang on.'

Spike could barely move when a bunch of the men came in with tasers. Most of them though just used their fists and feet. When they were done, four of them lifted Spike up and carried him to one of the small rooms, with a table and a bunch of surgery items. "Now Hostile 17. We are gonna show you who you belong to now." He was put on the table, his clothes torn off, but when he struggled, it got a punch to the face and held down by his throat. The men around him laughed as he pulled out their cocks, getting ready for a fun ride. 


"No... Not again." Spike cried.

"Look at this little pussy." One of them spit on Spike as he got in between his legs, and shoved in. Spike's cry of pain made all of them laugh.

At the end of the tunnel was a door that was stupidly unlocked. After making sure there was no one on the other side, he addressed his troop.

"Where looking for my mate. He'll smell like me, don’t hurt him, just find me. If you're found... go for the kill. These guys wont mess around."


Once inside, they split in to groups. He had 3 dogs and 4 coyotes with him and when they were spotted, all of them jumped into action. 

The dogs’ instincts took over so that they natural worked as a pack. They easily took out the 2 men that had found them.

Xander bent and grabbed one of their guns before continuing down the hall. 

Him and the dogs stopped at the same time. They smelt Spike. "Move it!" he yelled and took off in the direction of the smell. 

What he found through a window made him fall to his knees and throw up.

Spike sobbed as he was thrust into by the third guy, which was currently Riley, "Bloody fuck!" he screamed, "Get off!" He couldn't move anymore, he gave up. He felt like Xander hated him, and was probably at his house, watching TV and drinking beer. He let out another cry of distress, and anguish, "Xannnn!"

Xander got up at the sound of his name being cried out with such pain and anguish. He ripped the door off its hinges and threw it into the room, knocking out two of the men. The smile on his face as he looked at the men in the room would have made even Angelus piss his pants and run. 

"Tear them apart," given the order, the dogs pounced and did just that.


Xander walk through the carnage up to Riley, who had pushed himself into a corner. 


With one hand, Xander gripped his throat and held him off the ground. With the other, he ripped Riley’s shirt off, then grabbed a piece of flesh on his chest and tore off. 

The screams Riley and the other men in the room were admitting were making him smile even more.

He inspected the piece of flesh in his hand, as if expecting to find something. "You know, its weird. You seem human. But we both know better than that don’t we? You're a monster Riley Finn. Not a demon, a monster."

Spike turned to his side and threw up, the shock of everything coming to him. He looked around dazedly, and when his eyes landed on Xander, they went wide with shock and he almost thought this was an illusion.

His head rested against his shoulder as he listened to all the crunching bones, and the screams, and lastly the smells. He closed his eyes and let a sad smile grace his features before he passed out.

TBC…

READ & REVIEW!!!