AUTHOR: snipsnap

TITLE: A night of hunting.

SUMMERY: Spike needs kittens to pay off Shark headed demon's(remember Tabula Rosa)debt.Want to know how Spike ropes in Xander for a night of kitten -napping?

FEEDBACK: I crave it. Send it to tina_1502@yahoo.com

"Fancy seeing you here, Harris"

Xander jumped up at the voice. Spike smirked at him as he straddled the chair facing him. He was in his characteristic black and black and appeared quite relaxed. Though the same could not be said of the other. Xander appeared anything but.

"What brings you here, Spike?"

The vampire ran a hand through his streaked hair ruffling it from its slicked back style.

"Had a spot of business." He muttered.

Xander speculated idly what the business could be. So long as it had nothing to do with Buffy, Xander was content.

"Never thought I would see the day or rather night when I would find you in a Xuxu bar. Why are you here anyway?"

Spike interrupted the brunette's musings.

Xander looked around nervously as he smoothed his collar. The clientele of the bar was not particularly reassuring. Near him sat a multicolored hairy demon with antlers nursing a murky colored drink. Xander shuffled nervously as the demon started growling softly.

"Relax, she is harmless."

Xander took one more peek at his hairy neighbor as he asked distractedly.

"How do you know it is a 'she'?"

Spike shook his head exasperatedly as he answered "Because only female Clautreze demons have antlers. Haven't you learned anything at all after hanging with the Watcher all this time? Which brings us back to my question. What the hell are you doing here?"

Xander cleared his throat and mumbled.

"Can't here you. Speak up, Harris." Spike cupped his hand to his ear.

All around them music thundered in ear splitting levels.

Xander sighed exasperatedly and swore under his breath. He suspected that the blond vampire was baiting him. But he needed him to get out of the place. He had seen some of the 'patrons' eyeing him with the sort of look you reserve for a delicious chocolate ice-cream. He did not want to be anyone's dessert. Not tonight. Not ever. So he bit back his retort and started explaining.

"I had this meeting and after the meeting the guys suggested a drink. After coming here they seemed to sort of vaporize and here I am". Xander finished his sorry tale with a sigh and took another swig at his drink.

"What the hell is this anyway?" Xander frowned at the murky contents in his glass.

"Trust me Harris. You wouldn't want to know."

Spike smiled as he watched the other drain the glass. The whelp looked pathetic. William the Bloody was not a believer in Fate or Karma or whatever in spite of hanging around Drusilla for around a century. But he had to admit that Fate had dealt him a pretty hand this time. It only remained up to him to make use of it. He leaned forward and tapped Harris on his palm and smiled in a friendly manner.

"You might want to come with me. This place isn't good for you."

For once Xander did not argue with the blond vampire. He followed Spike back to the narrow alley where Spike had parked his car. In no time at all they were on their way to Sunnydale.

                                           ******************

"So Harris, heard you got promoted. Congrats."

"Thanks."

Xander reflected that for a sociopath evil vampire Spike was certainly in a talkative mood tonight. Infact ever since Willow did that forgetting spell Spike did seem nicer. Perhaps one of the side effects of the spell.

"They must really think high of you to send you to the negotiation table." Interrupted the vampire of his reflections.

Xander permitted himself to preen a little and debated whether to reveal the true state of affairs. He decided to go for the truth.

"Actually I am standing in for my boss. He couldn't make…"

Xander slapped himself on the head as it hit him.

"My God! That rotten bastard set me up. He knew it all along. He must be thinking that I am demon snack by now."

Spike happily watched Xander mutilating himself the rest of the way back and was hard pressed to smother his glee. He pulled over near Xander's apartment and watched him get out.

"Uhh…Thanks for the ride, Spike."

He knew how the brunette hated to be beholden to him and watched him choke over his gratitude. Spike craned outside and smiled.

"Anytime Harris, anytime. By the way, Anyanka was asking around for you."

With that parting note and his characteristic smirk Spike sped away leaving a very scared looking Xander on his doorstep.

*What do you think? Should I carry on?*