"So you're bedding a halfy, eh?"

Xander glared at Spike and growled, "That's none of your damn business. Now shut up."

"We can't have a bloody chat while we wait?" asked the blond as he lit a cigarette and leaned back into the low wall they hid behind. "There's still an hour left till they show."

The vampire snarled then spat, "Why are you interested in my life? Particularly my love life?"

Spike shrugged in response.

"Just making small talk."

"About me?"

"Just curious as to what sort of woman made you decide to bed her. As I recall, you and Faith were always making eyes at each other."

Crimson flared across Xander's eyes and he spat, "Faith was mortal, Spike, and I made myself a promise not to turn anyone I love because I didn't want to see them suffer the same as me. Reski is not."

"Not entirely," pointed out the other vampire.

"I am well aware of that. Now…shh."

"Eh?"

"Shut up," snapped Xander as he reached out to snuff the cigarette. Spike grumbled then flicked it away before he turned to peer over the wall alongside the other man.

As they watched, a truck pulled up and four men in military uniforms carrying assault rifles climbed out, weapons at the ready the instant their feet touch the ground. From the passenger seat in the cab came a man in a doctor's coat and he moved to the back of the truck as the driver – another military man – moved to open it. The doctor reached within and hefted a rattling crate into his arms, nodding tensely at the driver before he cast a fearful gaze around them.

"You're sure we're safe?"

"We are perfectly safe, Doctor," replied the driver. "That thing shouldn't have any idea about these last samples."

"Its best that we keep it that way, Major."

Xander shifted slightly, drawing himself up into a ready crouch, his eyes flooding already with crimson and his fangs out. Spike readied himself beside him and asked softly, "Kill them all?"

"Leave the doctor for questioning," came the growled response. The blonde glanced towards his companion then quickly looked away as he saw his eyes burn crimson, flooded with the insanity of his own inner demon. "They wear the same uniform. Kill them. They don't deserve life."

Spike nodded slowly, sparing a quick glance towards the other vampire again. And he had thought his treatment at the hands of the military years ago was harsh…what he had gone through was nothing to what they had done to the forever young man beside him.

Xander twitched then his form blurred and was gone, Spike launching himself up from behind the wall and forward a moment later. He lunged at the nearest man, ripping the gun from his hands with little effort, and driving straight on for a killing blow at the throat as his demonic face showed through. As he turned and ripped the gun from another's hands, the other vampire blurred out of nowhere in midair. He hit the now unarmed soldier with both feet and rode him down, landing with a heavy crunch on his chest with all his weight. The ribs caved in, sending a cloud of blood into the air around the vampires, spattering them both with a fine mist.

Spike staggered back at the savageness of that attack, something more than he'd ever seen even when traveling with Angelus years before, and caught sight of the driver drawing a heavy gun that would even make them pause from under his coat. He called out a strangled cry of warning but it wasn't necessary. Xander leapt off the soldier's crushed chest, snarling before he blurred in mid-air and vanished to reappear moments later in front of the driver. His hand closed over the gun and he smiled ferally as he jerked it as well as the hand holding it sharply to the side.

The blond's throat convulsed as that movement half ripped the driver's arm from his body and he was torn between going after the blood and making a damn good attempt at throwing up. He held himself back as Xander left the man to bleed and jerked the fallen doctor to his feet, the man still holding frantically to the rattling crate.

"Drop it," snarled the vampire. The doctor shook his head, clutching at the crate as he gabbled, "No, no, I can't! We need these to – to…"

"To make an army of vampires?" spat Xander, lifting the man up by the collar of his coat. He then roared, "I WON'T ALLOW IT! Now drop the damn crate!"

"NO!"

Snarling, the vampire shoved the doctor against the truck with one hand and swatted the crate aside. It shattered as it hit the ground, vials of blood making tiny 'tink' noises as they broke against the concrete. The doctor moaned at the loss then swallowed hard as he saw the one man on the ground with his chest caved in and the driver slowly gasping out his last breaths as his blood drained away. He looked fearfully into Xander's insane crimson gaze and breathed, "You're going to kill me."

It wasn't a question and Spike started to take a step forward, saying, "This isn't the way to do this…"

"Yes, it is," growled Xander back. "I leave one alive, Spike, just one, and they might try this bullshit again. Sixty years I spent in that hell they threw me into – I won't let that happen to me again."

"Killing him won't bring those years back."

"When did you become the fucking voice of reason?"

Spike moved closer, so he was standing right next to the doctor on the other side and stared at the other vampire. The crimson gaze shifted towards him and he softly said, "When a very good man stopped being the voice of reason."

Xander stared at him then looked hard at the doctor. "I leave him," he hissed, fear underlying his voice, "and they might come after me again. I – I can't take that, Spike. I can't."

"I know." Spike reached out to grasp his shoulder, slowly shaking his head in a silent 'no' and wondering just when he'd gone soft. Oh, yes, it was when he fell in love with her… And when had the whelp started to call him by his name? "But killing them isn't going to lessen that happening."

Xander stared at him, muscles in his jaw clenching as he twisted between killing the doctor and not. The small part of him that still lingered from before – the good part – said that Spike was right. From its personal corner, the Rogue screamed for blood, its raw voice sounding as though right in his ear. And all of the rest of him that had gone mad then struggled back to sanity was torn between the two.

But, he asked himself, which path is that of the man…and which is the monster?

What would Willow think of him now?

Dawn? Giles?

Faith, his Faith, what would she think of him?

After a long moment he dropped the doctor unceremoniously to the ground and stepped back as the man scrambled away after getting his bearings. He shoved the Rogue's presence away and stared hard at Spike, who was frowning now.

"What?"

"Just wondering what they were doing exactly," replied the other vampire. "There must be some reason why they were transporting this."

Xander frowned then bounded over to the doctor, bowling the man over as he tried to rise, and pressed him to the ground with one foot. The man screamed then stilled with a hard jab of the heel and babbled, "Don't kill me, please don't kill me. I'll tell you anything – anything!"

"Tell me where you were taking my blood," snarled Xander. "What plot do you people still have?!"

"We…we had a backup plan in case you escaped."

"The blood?"

"A-a…an army! M-made from humans and demons, intended to b-be brought back b-by your bl-blood!"

"An army," growled Xander. "An army formed in the same make as ADAM and his get! HOW DARE YOU?!"

The doctor wailed in terror and Spike dared injury to himself as he darted forward, shoving Xander off of him before he could break his knee. Sniffling in fear, the man shuffled backwards then managed to get on his feet and start running. Xander tensed to go after him but actually did stop when the other vampire rested a hand against his chest.

"Spike," he rumbled darkly.

"Let him go," intoned Spike. "The blood's worthless to them now. They have nothing left, which makes whatever bodies they've got bloody useless."

Xander's eyes narrowed and he growled, "Nothing left but me."

"You think me, Bob, and that girl of yours are going to let those lunatics take you again? Really? After all the trouble it took to bloody get you the last time."

The younger vampire relaxed with a laugh at that, some of the crimson fading from his eyes, then asked, "Even you?"

Spike smiled at that, saying, "Yeah, even me, whelp. After all, what would those girls of your say if I left you to rot?"

"They'd kick your ass."

"Come back from the dead to do it, they would."

Xander sighed then shook his head, the last of the red fading from his eyes as he laughed again. Looking at the mess around them, he scuffed his boots against the pavement, then said, "Let's get out of here. I was supposed to take Reski out tonight for dinner."

"So you are bedding the halfy!"

"Spike?"

"Yeah, whelp?"

"Shut up."