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Chapter 29
“Where’s Dad?” Xander asked, cautiously peeking
into the kitchen.
“He left already, hon. Eggs?” His mother was standing at the stove, of all things. She was dressed in a long pink dressing gown and white fluffy slippers that looked a shade too big. Her hair was flat on one side and when she turned to face Xander with a smile, he could still see the remains of yesterday’s make-up. Xander couldn’t ever remember his mother making eggs before and, if he was honest, that was probably a good thing. “Rain check? I don’t think my stomach would thank me.” Jessica’s smile faltered. “I mean, I’m not feeling too good,” Xander quickly added, and his mother’s gentle smile returned and was then replaced with an expression of concern. The truth was, food was the last thing Xander wanted. “Not that bug again,” she said when she’d quickly padded across the kitchen, the backs of her slippers flip-flap-flopping as she went. She pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. “You are a little warm. Do you want to stay home today?” Regretfully, Xander shook his head and sat down at the table. “No, I’ll be fine.” Jessica looked mildly surprised. It was obviously another first in the Harris household. She returned to her place at the stove, turning off the heat and abandoning the eggs. She reached for the bread bin and took out two slices. “Toast? You must eat something, sweetheart. I can’t send you to school on an empty stomach.” Xander swallowed down the temptation to point out that he’d been sent to school on an empty stomach more times than he could remember. He nodded instead and let his mother fuss over him while he ate as much as he could to please her. He listened to her retelling of her visit to the supermarket the day before, let her rearrange his hair, which was continuing to do stranger things by the day anyway, and allowed her to helpfully move his skateboard three times to allow for optimum skateboard retrieval when it was time to leave. He felt numb when he finally left the house and his feeling of detachment continued on his journey to school. He wondered if this was how a person felt if they’d murdered someone or done something else equally bad. A voice at the back of his head tried to tell him he hadn’t done anything wrong, but the voice at the front of his head was louder and more insistent. He’d gone about everything all wrong. One thing had led to another and the next thing he was dating the undead and putting a killer before his best friend. But he didn’t love her. He couldn’t. But did he love Spike? After such a short time? And he wasn’t even going think about his dad. No, no, no. Those thoughts would only lead to a black, empty feeling of desperation and a need to pack bags and make a run for the next state over. The day went from bad to worse. Willow wasn’t talking to him at all and the tension between them was enough for Buffy and Giles to take visible steps back from them both. Xander actually felt relieved when Cordelia crawled to them for help with her invisible stalker. Never before had Xander held obliviousness in such high order. The invisible girl turned out to be Marcie Ross. Both he and Willow had taken four classes each with her, but as much as he searched his memory archives he could not place her. He felt very sorry her. Until the bitch locked him, Willow and Giles in the basement and turned on the gas. But the real shocker was Angel showing up just in time to rescue them. “What was that all about?” Xander asked Angel once his head had cleared and he’d given Giles and Willow the slip. “What’s the Codex?” “Prophesies,” Angel replied, his eyes focusing straight ahead and his long strides never faltering. “Oh good. No chance of you being vague, then.” Angel stopped and faced him, a look of very slight confusion on his face like he was missing some sort of point. “Why did you come all the way here, during the day, to give Giles a book?” Angel stared at him and for a moment Xander was seriously thinking the wind had changed and Angel had gotten himself stuck. “You should talk to Spike.” And that was what Xander was waiting for. He released a long breath and jogged to catch Angel up. Boy, when he finally decided to move Angel was no tortoise. “He’s back?” “He’s back,” Angel confirmed. He opened to door to the boiler room and went inside, Xander still hot on his heels. “Is he at the mansion?” Xander could have sworn Angel made some sort of frustrated noise, but something scuttled in a far corner at the same time so he wasn’t sure. “Unfortunately.” “Where did you go? For the book? For Giles? He doesn’t know about Spike, right? Tell me he doesn’t know.” “He doesn’t know.” They stopped at a heavy metal door. Angel turned the handle and with a lot of effort the door scraped and screeched open. “Is this a sewer access?” Xander asked. “Wow, that’s dangerous. Can we say vampire feast? Hey, does this lead to the Master?” Angel didn’t answer him and when he went to go inside, Xander stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “What’s going on?” Angel wouldn’t look at him. “We just got back. Leave it until nightfall then come to the mansion. I’ll make sure Spike explains everything.” “Everything? Okay.” Xander should have felt pleased, but instead his earlier feeling of numbness was replaced with cold dread. He let go of Angel’s shoulder and watched him shut the door behind him. “Okay,” he said to no one in particular. ** When Xander arrived at the mansion, the main room was lit with candles. The fire was happily dancing and flickering, and lounging in front of it, reading a ratty, old looking novel, was a shirtless Spike. “Hi.” Spike looked up and Xander waved, feeling stupidly shy. A slow grin spread over Spike’s face and he abandoned the book to greet Xander with a deep, lazy kiss. “Hello, pet,” he whispered. “Miss me?” “Uh-huh. And I’m taking by the hands in interesting places that you missed me, too.” Spike squeezed Xander’s buttocks through his pants and nuzzled his neck. “Oh, yeah. Thought about you every night.” He squeezed again, pulling Xander against him, purring and rubbing his own hardness against Xander’s. Xander cupped his face and kissed him, his hands trailing over Spike’s chest. “So did I,” he said. He felt one of Spike’s hands sneak under his sweater and trail up his back. “How about we take this upstairs, yeah? Don’t want Angel getting an eyeful.” Xander thought about saying no for all of three point six seconds. He was pissed, hurt, frustrated, but he’d missed Spike so much and all he really wanted right at this moment was to be held, to be kissed and to feel like he was doing something right. When they reached Spike’s bedroom, Spike shut the door firmly behind him and quickly reached for Xander, pulling off his sweater and t-shirt. He ducked his head and sucked one nipple into his mouth, his fingers scrabbling at Xander’s pants. Xander helped him, breathing fast now and feeling like the only thing that mattered in the world was getting Spike’s hand on his cock as quickly as possible. Spike’s lips returned to his mouth and the kiss he delivered was fast and almost too rough. But Xander encouraged him, one hand scrunching tightly in Spike’s hair and the other one helping Spike to ease his pants down. Spike tumbled them both onto the bed and the next few moments were a tornado of desperate hands, shed clothes and whispered pleas. It was only when they were both naked that Xander finally got the contact he needed: a cool hand wrapped around his cock, squeezing and pulling him, pushing him close to the edge and then letting go. Xander opened his eyes and looked up at Spike towering above him, straddling him with a look that was menacing and slightly evil. He should have been scared, any sensible person would have been, but he wasn’t. He felt excitement running through his veins, a kind of thrill that he was at the mercy of such a deadly and beautiful creature. He gasped when Spike seized his wrists and pulled them above his head. He was shaking with anticipation and he was pretty sure he was begging, although he couldn’t hear his words over the banging of his own heartbeat. Spike shifted over him, moving to settle between Xander’s legs and pushing his knees apart with a harsh nudge to each one. The pressure around his wrists increased to the point of pain, but just as Xander was about to protest, Spike lowered himself, trapping their cocks together. “Oh, god.” He opened his legs wider and lifted them to wrap around Spike’s waist, thrusting quickly against him. “Spike, please…” Spike squirmed on top of him, seemingly like he was going to lose it for second. Then he paused, grinned down, and set up a hard, steady rhythm of pushing, his hips moving more easily now that their pre-come had spread between them. “Missed you, Xan,” he managed. “Dreamed about this every night. Nearly came back. Wanted you so much.” He released Xander’s wrists and as soon as Xander’s hands touched his shoulders Spike kissed him, fast and hard, groaning under his breath as his thrusts increased in speed and Xander started to buck beneath him, fighting his orgasm. “Spike! Yes, please, yes, oh god, oh god!” He couldn’t hold it back. His body wouldn’t allow it. Every part of him wanted it now. He needed to let it go. “That’s it, baby, come on. Come for me, Xan. Oh, fuck, yeah.” Xander felt Spike grip him tightly, holding on and pushing frantically against him. Then they both stiffened and he tilted Spike’s face back towards him and kissed him and as they both came, Spike kissing him back eagerly. When Spike pulled back he was panting in full game face, his fangs showing, and wearing a hungry expression. His eyes left Xander’s and trailed down his neck. Xander hesitated and then, in a move that he would probably smack himself for later, bared his throat. Spike dove forward immediately, his teeth sinking into Xander’s flesh and sucking. Xander cried out and shuddered beneath Spike’s body. Every nerve ending was tingling to the point of pain, but it felt so good, like the ultimate connection, and in that moment Xander wished Spike’s cock had been buried inside him, too. “I love you,” he almost sobbed. Spike released his throat and looked down at him. Xander felt the loss immediately, but that was okay, because Spike was looking at him like no one else had ever looked at him before, like he really loved him, too. ** They’d crawled under the covers together and rested, arms around each other and legs tangled, kissing lazily and occasionally grinning stupidly at each other, but now Xander’s sex-addled brain was starting to come down and think about things other than Spike’s sexy chest and his clever fingers that felt just as good carding through his hair as sliding up and down his cock. “Where did you go?” he asked, and the hand in his hair paused. “To get a couple of books.” “Books,” Xander repeated. “And that took two weeks? The local library does a search and retrieve service for a fee, you know?” “Special books,” Spike added. “Right. Are you gonna go cryptic on me? Because if that’s the case, maybe I should just go talk to Angel.” “While you’re naked? I bet he’d love that. Been a while for him, I’d reckon.” Xander hit him. “Are you trying to give me nightmares?” He shuddered. Spike cuddled him closer and nuzzled affectionately. His fingers began to trail down his back and his hand slid over his – “Stop that right now, Avoidance Guy.” “You don’t like my hands on you?” Spike whispered in his ear, sending a chill running down Xander’s spine. “Uh, hands…good. Very good.” Spike hand smoothed over Xander’s hip. “Yep, very good. Very, very good.” Xander closed his eyes and felt himself begin to harden as Spike – “No, no, stop. I’m a crazy man, but please stop and tell what’s going on.” Spike sighed and pulled his hand back. “Right,” he said, sitting up and fluffing the pillow behind him. “I’m gonna need to light up for this.” Xander watched him reach for the nightstand. He closed his eyes and rolled onto his back. “I’m not going to like this, am I?” “Nope.” When he smelled the smoke, Xander opened his eyes and sat up. “Okay, hit me with it.” “I’m gonna kill the Master.” Xander’s eyes widened at that, but he kept silent. “I went down to his lair to check it out and we got talking.” “You and the Master?” Xander asked “I bet that was fun.” Spike coughed and looked away. “Anyway, he started banging on about some bloody prophecy where he kills the Slayer, and –” “What?! He’s gonna kill Buffy?!” Spike nodded. “That’s what he said. Prophecies have a habit of coming true, pet. Thought I’d better check it out.” Xander’s brain was in a mess. This was one problem too many and he felt an imminent meltdown looming just around the next corner. But before he could think anything thing else, he was being held. “Hey, luv, don’t. Old Spike’ll sort it out, just watch.” “But-but why?” He was shaking and, damn, it was embarrassing, but he couldn’t seem to stop. Spike held him tighter and it felt so good. “Why do you care?” There was silence before Spike answered, like he was considering how best to put whatever it was he was going to say. “Several reasons. You, for one. Don’t want you to lose your mate. And then there’s Angel; have you got any idea how bloody difficult that sod’ll be to live with if his bird dies? And then of course there are the selfish reasons.” “Like?” Xander asked, sinking further into Spike’s embrace, closing his eyes as those clever fingers traced his arm. “Like knowing your enemy and where she hails from. Another Slayer might pop up anywhere. And there’s something else. My plan is to bump him off before he gets a chance to off your friend, but if the prophecy is true –” “Then how can he still be around to kill Buffy if you’ve killed him. Meaning…you fail?” Spike shrugged, probably aiming for casual but failing miserably. Xander held on tightly, returning the comforting embrace as much as he could. “So these books,” he said, swallowing hard. “What are they gonna do?” “Angel reckons they’ll be able to plot out what happens a bit more. You know, give us the details. He’s given the Pergamum Codex to Giles. He’s shut himself away with the other one.” “That wouldn’t be the Tiberius Manifesto, would it?” “Look at you, Clever Clogs,” Spike said. “That’s exactly what it is. How’d you know that, pet?” “I’m just smarter than your average bear,” Xander said, starting to grin. “So this is a good thing, yes? We’ve got the heads up. We can study the texts and find a way around it, a loophole or something. There’s always a get-out clause of some kind. Come on.” He climbed out of bed and pulled Spike with him. “We need to find out when this is supposed to happen and work our way around it.” He’d had an appalling couple of days, but Xander wasn’t one to stay down when he was kicked. The way he saw it, they had the advantage. They had the Tiberius Manifesto and the Pergamum Codex, the most salient books on Slayer prophecy. Plus, both Giles and Spike, and possibly Angel, were way smarter than the Master. They would find a way. TBC…
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Suki Blue Fiction