Well, another part down, this one thanks to my brother, who caught me playing Neopets and threatened to make the sad puppy face unless I kept writing. Still AU, and for some reason, I'm throwing in an original character. Thanks, again for the reviews. They make me smile a lot.
As soon as the door was closed, Dracula was across the room and directly in the face of his son.
"Well, well, Alexander. I must say, I am impressed with company you are keeping." Vlad purred and stared darkly. Xander fought to keep from flinching.
Dracula took a step back and smiled brightly, "Now, how about a drink?" he asked and pulled out a couple of blood bags. He ignored Xander's groan of irritation and poured a couple of glasses. "Come on now, you haven't fed in a very long time, clearly. You're almost as weak and pathetic as a human."
"That was the idea," Xander bit out. He stood well away from his father and the temptation he held in his hand.
"You know you won't survive much longer like this. You're body was made to drink." Vlad said, and approached his son.
Xander backed away, "And by much longer, you mean just a paltry human life span. Maybe that's all I want."
In barely a blink of the eye, Dracula had Xander by the throat and pinned against the wall. Xander gasped and struggled in the unyielding grip.
"I mean, you won't survive a paltry goldfish's lifespan. You're slow and you're weak. And you're getting weaker every day. Unless you feed, you will be easy pickings for the lowliest of creatures here. Right now, you're nothing more than prey." Dracula spoke softly, practically whispering. He dropped his son on the floor.
Xander fell limply and coughed. Vivid bruises were forming around his throat.
Dracula crouched on the floor in front of him. "Oh, Alexander." he tsked, "Two years ago you could have broken out of my grip. You know it breaks my heart to see you like this." He got up and paced back and forth in the living room.
"I'm thinking that you can't be trusted on your own anymore. If you're not going to take proper care of yourself, then clearly you'll need a caretaker."
"Who, you?" Xander scoffed, "You can't even be bothered for child support."
"Cute." Dracula said. "Jessica knew that if you ever were in need of anything, all she had to do was ask. Instead she decided to depend on that lout of a husband." He paused and looked thoughtful, "I suppose I could leave you in the tender care of your stepmothers."
Xander didn't even try to suppress a shudder. "I hope you're joking. Those bimbos can't even take care of themselves."
"Yes, well, I'm just thinking out loud, here. If you have any requests, feel free to interject."
Xander rolled his eyes, "Um, well, here's an idea. How about, no one?"
The request earned a distracted pat on the head. "Perhaps I could leave you with Templeton."
"Um," Xander said, "Templeton's cool and all, but Thane threatened to eat my face the next time he saw me, and seeing as how he's attached to Templeton, I don't think that arrangement would work out so well."
"Hmm. You'd definitely behave in their care," Vlad replied, and quirked an eyebrow, "But it would be a matter of time before you annoyed Thane." He sat down on the couch. It was a well-practiced talent that made him appear as regal as if he was on a throne even when perched on something with a visible Lazy Boy tag.
He signaled for Xander to join him. Xander paused, before relenting and sitting on the far side of the couch.
"Come here, Alexander." Vlad ordered. His tone was compelling and Xander's eyes went blank as he scooted down to sit beside his father.
Somehow, Vlad had two glasses of blood in his hands and he handed one to Xander. He drank his own and watched his son very carefully. In an almost zombie like trance, Xander brought the glass to his lips, and the blood had just touched his lips when the spark reappeared in his eyes.
"You bastard," Xander snarled, "I am not your buttmonkey!"
Vlad sighed.
"At least you haven't entirely lost your spirit." he said, and rose from the couch. He set down the empty glass and inclined his head slightly at his son. "I will give some thought to your new caretaker, and we shall have another chat before I must leave. Until then, I have some catching up to do, and you should consider whether your constant disobedience and self-denial would help you in the end. You are damned as sure as my blood runs through your veins. Whether you decide to live your life as a predator or as prey makes no difference."
With that, Vlad swept out of the apartment, leaving Xander standing alone and sickened. As always, his father knew exactly what to say to tear him apart inside. Why the man never followed through, Xander would never know. He swallowed and reflexively started to drink from the glass still clenched in his hand. He caught himself and grimaced.
Blood and glass impacted against the wall and joined the remains of the previous glass on the floor as Xander slumped down to his knees and concentrated on the very involved task of remaining breathing.
Willy's was usually fairly quiet on Saturday nights. Since most of the humans like to stay out late, it's prime hunting time, so not too many demons cared to waste their time in the bar. Spike sat in a booth and watched a couple of brownies attempt to shoot pool. Considering they were two feet tall and played while standing on the pool table made for fairly interesting viewing, though Spike was having trouble focusing on anything in particular at that moment.
The visit with Buffy had been more enlightening than he really cared for. Everything had seemed fairly normal when he first arrived, and of course by normal, it was in its usual state of chaos and confusion.
As usual, the door was unlocked. Spike shook his head and locked the door behind him. Just because vampires needed an invitation, didn't mean there wasn't plenty of other unfriendly critters just waiting to get a crack at the Slayer.
Everyone was gathered in the living room. Buffy, Dawn, and Willow sat on the couch talking to some young man he hadn't seen before, while Giles and Anya argued over a book across the room.
"Buffy," Spike called.
Buffy's head whipped around. She almost smiled, but her expression quickly turned sober. "Spike." she said and let that just hang in the air for a moment. Then she noticed that everyone was staring at her staring at Spike, so she subtly shook herself.
"Dracula's back." Spike stated and mentally kicked himself. It seemed like every day he ended up just a bit more like that brooding poof of a sire.
"We know." Willow said. She gestured to the young man sitting beside her who promptly blushed and looked down at his feet. "Eric told us," she continued, "He's been tracking him for a few years now."
Eric stood and fidgeted nervously, "Um, hello. I'm Eric Spencer." He extended his hand that Spike just stared at. Eric was a painfully awkward young Brit. The kind of young man that people tended to erroneously believe Giles was at one time. In him, Spike saw a lot of himself at that age.
"Erm, right," Eric said, "You're a vampire hunter, as well?"
"Oh yeah," Spike answered and fought back a smirk, "That's what I am. And what exactly might you be?"
The young man grinned sheepishly, "Well on the average day I'm an accountant, but for the purpose of my current errand I fear that I'm a fellow vampire hunter."
"In that case, fear sounds like a good idea." Spike said.
The smile slipped a little off of Eric's face. "Yes...yes, I suppose that's right." He then did a fair approximation of what he had heard the scoobies refer to as a resolve face, "but I want to get married and I won't let my fiance have to face my family's legacy."
"Mr. Spencer is the last of the Van Helsing line." Giles interjected.
Eric's complexion somehow got even more crimson. "My mother finally passed on last year. Dracula put her into a coma that lasted four years. My father..." Eric tried to collect himself, "My father was torn apart and left all around the house in gift boxes, just for daring to marry a Van Helsing. I won't let Angela face that danger. Either he dies or I do."
The kid had a spine, at least. Of course, Dracula would only be too glad to rip it out.
"Well, looks like we have a new hunt in the works. I was getting bored." Spike said, throwing as much false bravado into it as he could muster.
The group quickly fell back into the research party, with the new guy pointing out the various places that Dracula liked to hide. Oddly enough, none of them came close to Xander's place. Surely if the young man had been watching Dracula for the past few years, then he had to have noticed visits to his only son. Spike planned to get Eric alone and question him. It took a while, but eventually he managed to end in a corner far enough away from the rest of the gang to converse freely.
He was about to speak, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to face a very serious looking Buffy.
"Spike," she said, "We need to talk."