Angel watched as his childe fidgeted in his sleep. Spike could never sleep calmly and could never lie fully straight in a regular bed. For now he was curled up at the bottom of Angel's king-sized bed, covered by nothing more than a thin sheet as he decided the room was burning last night.
The older vampire hadn't even questioned it. He didn't anymore. It was just a lot easier not to. Spike was able to look after himself mostly. Well… at least when it came to keeping his temperature constant. Mainly because it was just room temperature. But if he thought it was hot then it was easier to just let him cope the way he wanted. Otherwise there would have just been tears.
Getting out of bed quietly, so not to disturb the still slumbering blond, he moved into the kitchen to make them both some food. Hopefully Spike would be a little more co-operative today and just drink his blood from the mug. After last week's fiasco, he felt Spike was due for a quiet day.
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"Giles I am telling you, this guy was really weird. He seemed to be in his own little world. You know…talking to unseen voices and rocking back and forth." The slayer had her feet resting on the edge of her chair as she curled up in the seat. The meeting with the two men a while ago had unnerved her slightly and she wasn't looking foreword to the patrol later on tonight, in case she met them again.
The Brit sighed and pushed his glasses further up his nose. His slayer was truly unprofessional, clearly not interested in her duties and it worried him that she was more interested in two men than the fate of the world. "Yes Buffy...I understand your concern, but let us set our minds to more pressing matters. Not something that happened three weeks ago. Such as the death of your teacher maybe?"
"Yeah Buff. I'm sure if these guys come back to bite us in the ass, literally or metaphorically, Giles wont mind us pointing fingers and saying 'I told you so'." Xander smiled and flicked his black hair from his eyes. Being the joker he was, he hadn't quite caught on to the severity of the situation and was just trying to make everyone relax slightly.
Giles merely rolled his eyes. "Yes Xander. I'm sure you'll have time for that, that is of course if whatever's killed Dr. Gregory doesn't come back and kill you first."
From in front of the laptop, Willow gave her best friend a small smile of encouragement to try and boost his spirits. "It probably wont happen Xander. We don't know why it killed him, so there's no connection so you're probably safe. Giles is just being Mr. Grumpypants." She smiled and laughed to herself before receiving a glare and quieting down to research.
"Giles…I really have a feeling these guys are a major source of wiggins. If we don't track them and research them now it could get seriously out of hands." She jumped off of her chair and went to stand in front of her watcher, who walked away and went to retrieve a book he needed. These children were nothing but trouble when they wanted to be.
"Out. Go on. All of you out." Giles waved his arm in the vague direction of the door whilst flicking through a book on flesh eating parasite demons, in case the murderer was held within. "I can't be doing with you three waffling on in my ear as we try to find out what has done this. Now go and… and party down at your club or what have you." Turning his back to the children, Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose where his glasses were pinching and tried to think of a case like this before.
Buffy, Xander and Willow all slipped out silently in case they were forced to research more and face the watcher's wrath.
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Angel was getting worried about his childe. Throughout the whole day Spike had been silent. He hadn't argued once and had eaten his blood quickly and quietly straight from the mug. Usually Spike would have a wonderful time annoying his sire and making as much noise as possible.
"Spike? Do you want some weetabix?" he asked and watched as his boy merely shook his head. No sound. Spike had never refused weetabix before. Something was seriously wrong. "Are you sure? I can mix it up with your blood if you like. Make it all crunchy and mushy." Another shake of the head.
Something was defiantly wrong. Spike wasn't even fidgeting. No constant tap of his fingers on the side. Usually he founds the sounds to be annoying, but the absence of them was beginning to make the place seem dead.
"Do you feel sick William? Do you have a headache or a stomach ache?" the brunette went over and leant in front of his childe who was sitting under the table. "I can make it better…do you want some sire blood?" another decline.
"Spike? Please tell sire what's wrong. Daddy's getting worried baby…"The blond shook his head and hid his face behind his hands as if playing hide and go seek. Spike seemed to have the same views as a child. If he couldn't see you, then you couldn't see him. At least that's what Spike found comforting.
"William!" That made him look up. "Tell me what's going on!" he grabbed the younger vampire's shoulders and shook him roughly. The younger of the two whimpered and tried to steady himself by holding onto Angel's own shoulders, but to no avail.
After a few more minutes of shaking and yelling at the distraught vampire, Angel finally gave up and pushed him backwards so the blond was sprawled across the floor. Spike looked up slowly, in fear of being punished again for his silence. "I'm going out to get more blood. Don't you dare move from that spot."
Watching as his sire went through the door and into the cold night air, Spike shook his head before freezing and blanking out the rest of the world. If nothing else was there, he had no cause to move. If he didn't move, daddy wouldn't be mad. If daddy wasn't mad, he might not ever do that again.
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"Willow, I don't know what you're problem is. I'll call you back after I get home from Miss French's. I'm helping her out with this model. Yes I told you. Oh… well I'm telling you now. Look I'll be an hour… two hours at the most." Xander rolled his eyes as he grabbed his shoes and pulled on a jacket. "All right, I'll talk to you soon. Love you, bye."
He grinned and called out to his parents that he'd be home later before slamming the door on his way out. As if they'd truly notice he was gone. By the time he got home, his mum would have thrown at least three plates at his dad and his father would be passed out on the floor somewhere in a puddle of his own vomit.
God, life was good for Xander Harris.
But everything was beginning to turn around. He was on his way to his seriously hot new cover teacher's house. With her in it. Soon he'd be there as well. Just her and him. Together. Alone. He grinned to himself and tried not to be so nervous about it.
She was a teacher. It wasn't as if she would laugh at him or anything. She was there to teach. God he was in need of teaching. Being in the Scooby gang made him even more nerd and geek material than before. There was little to no chance of him ever getting a girlfriend and now it seemed the world was setting things straight.
Somehow his feet had carried him to the correct address and he found himself faced with the door. Oh god. "To knock…or not to knock…that is the question…" he mumbled to himself and raised a fist. Holding it about and inch away from the surface of the wood, he paused and thought about what he was going to do.
He gulped as the thoughts ran through his head. This wasn't some stupid thing he could pull away from. It was either yes or no. If he chose yes, he would be the man. The guys to bone the cover teacher. That was a respected title in any high school.
If he didn't, he'd be even more of a loser. There's no doubt he'd be rejected even more and forced to hang out with the geeks at the chess club. Even Buffy and Willow wouldn't want him. That's how bad it could get. So technically, this was for the good of everyone. He couldn't leave Buffy and Willow and doing this was the only way for that fate not to become reality.
He knocked.
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"Slayer!" Buffy spun around, ready to take on whatever it was that had called out to her. It seemed to be a demon war cry almost. Although, she was surprised that the call wasn't so threatening and a lot less growly than usual. Glancing through the darkness of the cemetery and seeing the equally confused faces of Giles and Willow, she looked for the source of the voice.
"Yeah…that would be me…" She held her stake a little higher and stood purposefully in front of Willow and Giles. "I'm the slayer…tiny little easily attackable girl here to kill you…want to come out and prove me wrong?"
Giles nodded behind her at her attempts to lure out the attacker. At least she had picked up one tip. If in doubt, wait it out. Let your opponent make the first move, then you can wait for them to make a mistake. Willow nudged Buffy's arm with her elbow as she saw a shadow approach them from their right.
The shadow shook their head and seemed to be unfazed by the stake the slayer was wielding. "I'm not here to fight you…" the voice was male and deep. Buffy tensed and didn't let up her fighting stance.
"Heard that line before, excuse me for not believing a could be monster." She smirked and flicked her hair back from her eyes. Willow was armed with a cross in her hand and she held it out in front of them all, causing the slowly approaching stranger to back off a step or two.
"Okay." The man held up his hands in submission and stepped to his side into a patch of moonlight. "Keep yourself armed, but I'm really not here to fight."
"Then what are you here for? Big, strong, muscly and well built men don't walk around in the dark creeping up on girls for fun." Willow paused and thought about it. "Well…actually I guess they do…if they're that kind of guy…but they're gross and…and… you don't really look that bad for a guy. No! I didn't mean it like that…"
Giles cut off Willow's babbling easily. "What do you want then?"
"I need your help."
"It's him!" Buffy cried out and took a step forward with her stake. "Giles, this is one of the guys I was telling you about. In the alley." Giles nodded and took a bottle of holy water out from his inner pocket.
"Listen, we don't have time for this. Something has happened. Spike…the guy I was with before, he's not at home. He wouldn't even think of moving unless I told him to. Someone's taken him. I need your help in case I can't handle it." The voice was calm but spoken with a sense of urgency. "Please."
"How can we trust you? We don't even know who the hell you are." Buffy pointed out. She didn't have time for some guys problem. She had to save the world from evil monsters. Not find some guys friend. Even if it was maybe a monster who took him.
"My name's Angel. You can carry weapons and I'll go first, just please help me find him."
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Spike whimpered and pulled his knees to his chest, hugging them to him. He'd promised not to move. He hadn't. He'd been so good and so still. Not even blinked, his eyes hurt so much but he still hadn't done it. Daddy had told him to stay there, and he did. He had. The small space on the carpet before the front door. He'd been so still. Not breathed. Been good.
So he couldn't move when it came to get him. He was paralysed with fear anyway, but if he hadn't promised, he could have probably ran or cried out. But he didn't. He was so good.
It had clicked and hissed and sniffed and laughed before grabbing him and dragging his frozen body back. He had to move then, wriggling and writhing and crying to try and get free. He wasn't proud but just wanted to go home. Wanted to curl up where he'd been left and wait for daddy to get home.
But it just kept on dragging and dragging him away. Further and further from home. The thing kept on clicking and looking at him with glittering eyes. He hiccuped as he thought back to when he was thrown on the floor as they got here. His head was still hurting and he could feel the trail of blood leaking from the split in his head. He didn't like his hair being red.
Xander slowly started to come around. "What the...?" He groaned as he remembered what Miss French had done to him. That evil bitch. Checking himself okay, he was happy to find that nothing felt broken and he barely even had a headache. He spotted a small man and crawled up to the bars of the next cage. "Hey, you all right?"
Spike looked up as he heard movement from the other person present. The boy was looking at him. His brown hair was flopping in front of his eyes, making Spike want to bat it away and twist it round his fingers. It looked so soft. Like a kitten's fur. He so desperately wanted a kitten of his own.
He soon realised the boy was asking him a question. He cocked his head to the side in silent question and waited for the boy to repeat himself. "Are you all right? Are you okay?" Silently Spike shook his head and whimpered whilst pointing to his head. The trail of blood was steadily getting thicker and he didn't know how to fix it, daddy always did it for him.
"Jees you're bleeding…" Xander looked around himself for something to help. There was only straw and a bucket in his cage. Ew… Okay, think Harris. What do you do if someone's bleeding from the head? Keep them calm. Okay. "Don't worry all right? We're gonna get out of here and let the doctor have a look at that when we do."
Spike hiccuped and wiped at his eyes as the pain began to get too much for him. He didn't want to be here. "I want my daddy…" he whimpered and began to curl up in misery. His head was throbbing and the blood was dribbling down his neck onto his nice clean tee.
"Erm…okay buddy…" Okay, freaky… a guy who looks a little older than me wants his daddy? Maybe he's just delusional? Either way the guy looked like he was in distress, and Xander knew that was never good if you were injured. "Just hold tight a second…"
Spike watched in fascination as the boy began to batter at the bars between their cages. He hiccuped again and felt his tears mix with the blood on his cheek. This boy wasn't so bad. He didn't seem mean or scary at all. With a shudder, two of the bars came down and the boy was able to crawl through into Spike's cage. "Hey there. I'm Xander, what's you're name? Can you remember?"
Luckily he could remember his first aid training. He tore a strip of cloth from the bottom of his shirt and folded it into a patch. He slowly moved forward, only to find the other guy was shuffling away.
"Hey, it's all right. I'm not going to hurt you dude." Xander held out a hand slowly. "I'm just going to mop up this blood okay? Spike whimpered again, hiding his face in his knees, shaking madly. "Hey, it's okay. What's the matter?" Spike gave a shaky mewl and pointed out of their cage to the thing before them.
"Holy Shit!" Xander jumped back alarmed. Spike gave a small sound that sounded like an agreement. The giant…whatever it was, seemed to be ignoring them for the time being. It was crouching over something in the corner. Xander had a feeling he didn't want to know what it was.
"Want my daddy to come and find me. The strong girl will help him but he wavers and falls to the jail. I can't see the stars… they're screaming for me but I can't see them…" Spike began to wail and curl up tighter, pulling at his hair and causing more trauma to his head.
"Hey…shh…calm down all right?" Xander grabbed the other man by his shoulders and soon found himself being clung onto by the blond. "Look… we have to be quiet all right? Can you do that buddy?" Christ this guy really was out of it. Talking about the stars? That was some serious head injury. "Can I fix up your head now?"
Slowly the vampire nodded and began fidgeting with his sleeve as Xander held his chin with one hand and began dabbing up the blood with his makeshift cloth in the other. He whimpered every so often as Xander hit a sore bit of flesh and was comforted by the boy's hushes and soothing tone. "You're going to be fine. I just need to fix this with something…here, hold this on your head like this…that's right." Xander made sure the blond was holding the patch correctly before tearing off another strip of his shirt. Wrapping it over the patch the blond was holding, he tightened it up with a knot and made sure it was securing his make do bandage in place.
He nodded at his handy work and sat back to check it over. "There. It's not the greatest bandage in the world, but it'll do until we can get you to a hospital." The blond just blinked at him quietly and looked away when it seemed Xander wasn't going to. The brunette frowned as the other man began chewing on his shirtsleeve quietly. "So…you don't talk much do you?"
Another quiet look before turning away. Xander sighed and looked at the tattered state of his tee shirt. "Can you at least tell me your name? I don't want to have to call you buddy all the time." There was a moment's silence as the blonde held his sleeve between his teeth, not moving, just holding. "Guess not then…" Xander looked over to where the demon was molesting the…whatever's.
"William."
"What?" The word was so quiet that he'd imagined it. "William? Is that your name?" The blond nodded soberly, looking upset about the fact. "Okay William, we're going to get out of here. We just have to be calm and think of a way to escape…"
They both jumped as someone, or something smashed through the small basement window. The giant insect swivelled its head round to gaze at the intruder before letting out a high pitched squeal of some sort. More figures followed through the now broken hatch and gathered to surround the demon.
"Or we could just wait for people to come and rescue us…" Xander added and jumped back from the bars of the cage when the bug tried to grab her captives. Spike started at it quietly and backed into Xander, huddling close and whispering to himself as he attempted to hide in the boy's shirt.
Taken aback by the stranger's actions, Xander was only able to sit back and flinch as the demon was taken care of. He could hear Giles shouting out advice as Buffy gave a quirky comment before kicking its demon ass. Willow had found the keys to their cage and was fumbling with them, trying to help them escape.
A loud gargling sound echoed around the basement as the giant insect burst. Willow managed to get the door open and was surprised when Xander didn't immediately scramble out. "Xander are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"No…" the brunette admitted. "But I have a…friend on my lap and refusing to move…" Xander shifted the lighter man's weight slightly and tried to get him to look at me. "He's pretty badly injured…got a gash to his head and doesn't really make much sense…"
"Give him here."
"Who the…"
"Daddy!" Spike's head immediately shot up and he frantically began looking for his sire. Scrabbling about and catching Xander in a sensitive area whilst escaping the cage were only minor details as he was pulled into two strong arms. "I was good, I was. I stayed still even when she hurted me and the stars told me to move but I didn't want to because daddy said no so I didn't and then…then…"
"Hush Will…" Angel cradled his boy's head close and nuzzled at the makeshift bandages. They smelled of the boy in the cage. He'd helped him. Even when he had no idea what the outcome would be. "You're safe with sire now my boy." He turned to the others he had entered with. "He's injured. I'm taking him home slayer. Thank you for your help. Anytime you need me, I will be happy to help." Handing over a piece of paper containing his address and number to the watcher, Angel scooped his childe into his arms and left. Leaving the others to handle themselves.
"So let me get this straight… A giant bug took me because I'm still a virgin? She wanted me to fertilise her eggs before biting off my head. And she probably wanted to do the same to William as well…"
"Well he didn't really look like a virgin…" Willow explained and pulled a thoughtful face.
"You're telling me I look like a virgin?"
"No! I mean…no! Is it really a bad thing?" The red head asked and looked up at her best friend. She really had no knowledge of men.
"For a guy yes!"
"Well I didn't mean to…"
"So who was the other guy then?" Xander rolled his eyes and tried not to get into a fight. He really needed to focus on getting through school. Meanwhile he'd find that special girl. He hoped.
"Calls himself Angel. Thinks he can help us fight the monsters. He was the one that led us to you."
"But how did he know where I was?"
Buffy shrugged and carried on her story. "I have no idea. I'm just glad he did. Otherwise we might not have been in time." She hugged Xander's arm comfortingly and Willow did the same on the other side. The brunette smiled and held his girls close.
"So this virginity thing…"
"Ew! Xander!" The girls grabbed their bags and ran off to their next class with Xander running behind, trying to catch up whilst asking what was wrong.
And I'm back online! I'm so sorry I haven't been updating, but I've kind of had no net for 2 months and also exams. But I have finished my GCSEs and now have over eight weeks of doing nothing. So I can guarantee I will be updating soon enough. Please review and I apologise for not updating before, but I really couldn't.
Luv Higgy xxx.
