Chapter Sixteen – Family Meeting

Spike rolled out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom, yawning widely as he stepped up to the toilet and aimed his hard cock at the bowl. He stood there, still half asleep, waiting for his bladder to realize what was going on, then startled when Buffy laughed from the doorway. "What are you doing?"

He glanced over his shoulder at her then looked down at himself and shook his head as he laughed, "Wasn't fully awake, pet. Runnin' on autopilot, I guess." He turned from the toilet and went into the closet to get a pair of sweats. "Forget I'm even a vampire sometimes."

Buffy sat down on the bed as he stepped into the sweats. "Well, you haven't been one very long. Where are you going?"

"Gonna go check on Andy. He didn't look at all well when I was down there last night."

"I have to get ready for a client or I'd go with you. Let me know how he is, okay?"

"I will." He walked over to the bed and bent down to kiss her hard. "Love you, kitten."

She smiled up at him. "Love you, too."

He met Amanda coming up the stairs when he was halfway down. "Morning, Amanda. How was your curious bloke?"

"Curious?"

"The one I brought up to you. Asked me a load of questions on the way up."

"Oh. Wes. Yeah, he was fine." She laughed. "He asked me how you knew I was in the shower if you're Buffy's boyfriend."

"What did you tell him?"

She shrugged. "The truth. That I'd just fucked you and you made me come four times and you still had me all over you when you brought him up to my room."

Spike blinked. "And how'd he take that?"

Amanda smirked. "He loved it. He's got this kink where he wants me to compare him to my other clients, saying how much bigger they are, better looking, better in bed, things like that, but he's never actually seen them, so I don't think the comparisons hit too hard because he thinks I'm probably lying or making it up. He's seen you and he saw the bulge in your jeans. He came when I told him you weren't even hard."

Spike blinked again. "Oh. Um. Thanks, I guess?"

Amanda smiled. "I'll probably use you for the comparisons from now on. He tipped me almost double what he usually does. Maybe for his next appointment, you can be in my room when he shows up, and when he opens the door, you can be buttoning your jeans or something. Knowing I haven't even washed you off me will send him into the stratosphere."

"When's his next appointment?"

"Same time next week."

Spike smiled. "It's a date, pet." He nodded toward the kitchen. "Gotta go check on Andy. See how he's feeling."

"I was just in the kitchen. He's still in bed and he's in a lot of pain. I'm going to get Willow to cast a charm on him. I think he might have rebroken his arm when he hit it on the doorjamb."

"Should we cart him to the doc?"

"I called the one we use. He'll be here in an hour."

Spike nodded and started walking down the stairs again then stopped and turned. "Oh, I've got the dosh Wes gave me up in my room. Want me to fetch it?"

"No, give it to Willow. Fees go to the house and we keep our tips, except during an event. All event money goes to the house."

"Okay. See you later."

Spike walked into the kitchen and heard a low soothing female voice coming from Andy's quarters. He walked up to the open door and peeked in. Fred was sitting on the bed next to Andrew, sponging his face and neck with a cold compress. She looked over her shoulder and said, "Hi, Spike."

"How is he?"

"He's got a temperature, so his body is fighting something off, and I think his arm was re-broken."

"That's what Amanda said, but he's got some sort of infection, too?"

"He might. We'll find out for sure when the doctor gets here."

"He didn't have a fever when I was down here last night, or at least I don't think he did. He didn't feel any warmer than he usually does."

"He might have been bitten by something that he's allergic to, or he caught some sort of bug that had an easier time infecting him because his body is already working to repair his arm, so he's weaker than he usually would be."

"I bit him last night. Did I make him sick?"

"No. We can't catch, carry, or transmit disease."

"Should I make him something to eat?"

"You can. Something bland and easy to digest. Chicken soup would be good if we have some. The broth will help keep him hydrated, too."

"Okay, I'll go see what we've got, and if we don't have any, I'll use his mobile to get some delivered. Can he have Gatorade? We've got a potful of that in the training room."

"Yes, he can."

There wasn't any chicken soup in the cupboards. There wasn't soup of any kind that Spike could locate. No big surprise there, since the food in the basement was on a diet of meat, potatoes, and vegetables. They had loads of eggs, bacon, ham, cheese, bread, a couple dozen pounds of potatoes, a freezer full of frozen vegetables, and a whole cow's worth of ground beef along with the boxed mixes you could put it in to make a meal. There was also a bunch of microwaveable junk food like pizza, cheese sticks, mac and cheese, spaghetti rings, and fries, not to mention a cupboard full of pudding cups.

Spike went into Andy's room and looked around for his phone, locating it on the table in front of the sofa. He opened it and went to Instacart then put a dozen cans of soup in the cart. "What else should I get him besides soup?"

"You could get some bananas and applesauce and some orange juice. Do we have any tea?"

"We have orange juice, but we don't have tea. I'll get some."

Fred looked over her shoulder with a smirk. "Aren't you English? And we don't have tea?"

Spike chuckled. "Thought about asking for some but didn't get the impression that pets had much of a choice in their diet, so I ate what was provided, and now I can't eat human food."

"Who told you that?"

Spike looked up at her. "Uh… nobody told me, I just assumed. I've never seen any of you consume anything, except when Buffy and Faith have coffee, but it's more blood than coffee… well… more sugar and blood than coffee, in Buffy's case."

"You can eat or drink whatever you want. I have bags and bags of snacks up in my room and I love cheesecake and tacos."

Xander stepped into the room and stumbled to a stop. "Miss Fred? What's going on? What's wrong with Andy?"

"He's sick and we think he rebroke his arm. The doctor is on the way."

Spike held up the phone. "And I'm ordering him food for sick humans."

Xander crawled up the bed and laid down next to Andrew, being careful not to bump his arm. "Oh man, if I'd known he was sick I'd have slept down here instead of with Miss Anya. He just said his arm hurt when she came to get me, but he'd still go help Miss Amanda."

Spike had loaded up the cart with all the stuff Fred had suggested and he was in the process of finalizing the order when he said absently, "I did that. He was in a lot of pain when I was down here, so I gave him a Perc then sucked him off so he'd sleep."

Fred turned and gave Spike an appraising look that he completely missed, then turned back to Andrew. "The sleep was good for him, Spike, so you helped him… and apparently Amanda. I didn't know that was you making her scream like that."

Spike's hand drifted up to grip the back of his neck. "Well, yeah… Um. I'm gonna go get the Gatorade."

When Spike had left, Fred mumbled under her breath, "Looks like it's open season on Spike and I so want to get him to make me scream like that."

XXXX

Buffy saw her client out then went into the kitchen. The quarters door was open and she could hear faint voices. She walked into the room and smiled at Spike. He was leaned against the wall with a sleeping Andrew cradled against his chest. Xander was sitting cross-legged on the bed next to him. "How is he?"

Spike lifted a hand and felt Andrew's forehead. "Doesn't feel as warm. The doc gave him some antibiotics and reset his arm then Willow cast charms and knocked him out."

"Why does he need antibiotics?"

"The doc thinks it has something to do with that barmy vampire's claws in his arm. Said they likely introduced bacteria that's infected him. Willow healed the gouges, but essentially sealed the bacteria inside him, so it attacked the break. That's why he was able to rebreak it just by bumping his arm on a doorframe."

"Why is he sleeping leaned against you like that?"

"He started having trouble breathing because of the knockout charm and the doc said he'd need to sleep sitting up until it wore off."

Xander looked over at her. "We tried propping him up on pillows, but he kept falling over, so we're taking turns."

"Okay. Has the food been fed?"

Xander nodded. "Yeah. Miss Vi and Miss Fred took care of that and said they'd handle it until Andrew was better so I can stay in here to take care of him."

Spike said, "You're supposed to be sleeping now so you can spell me in a few hours."

"I know, I know, Dead Boy." Xander scooted down the bed and curled up next to Spike's leg. "Just don't have the TV too loud or I won't be able to sleep."

"Should've grabbed my book 'fore I came down here."

Buffy turned for the door. "I'll go get it." She hurried upstairs and snagged the book Spike was reading off the night table then grabbed the next one in the series, too. He read fast. Xander was already asleep when she got back to the quarters and she set the books on the bed next to Spike then carefully crawled up on it close enough to get a kiss without jostling Andrew. "I love you, Spike."

He smiled up at her. "Love you, too, kitten. I'll be up in a few hours."

"You hungry?"

He shrugged. "A little, but I'll be fine. I'll go down and have a snack when Xan wakes up."

She held out her arm. "Take some."

Spike smirked. "Not really the time to be needin' a shag, pet, for either of us, and Andy would be uncomfortable with my cock pressed into his back. I'll be fine."

Buffy smiled and leaned down for another kiss. "Okay. I'll see you in a few hours." She stood up next to the bed. "We're having a family meeting when everyone wakes up."

Spike chuckled, "Gonna be like the last one?"

Buffy smirked. "Probably not. We've got too much to discuss. A lot has happened since the last one and we need to plan your and Anya's welcome ceremony."

Spike quirked an eyebrow. "There's a ceremony? What's that involve?"

"You'll find out at the meeting. Read your book. I'm going to go shower."

XXXX

Spike walked into the parlor and over to the sofa then sat down and pulled Buffy into his lap, wrapping his arms around her. She laid her head on his shoulder and asked, "How's he doing?"

"Still sleeping, but he's not having trouble breathing anymore, so I think the charm wore off and he's just sleeping normally now. I didn't wake Xan because he's only been asleep for a couple of hours. I'll go check on them when we're done here."

Faith walked into the parlor and looked around. "Okay, looks like we're all here." She sat down on a sofa and looked at Buffy. "What are we discussing first?"

"Willow, could you do a quick recap of the last event?"

Willow nodded and pulled out her laptop. "I'm not going to break it down, but we pulled in almost three times what we did for the previous event. I think we should stick with the two-night events, not that we have much choice at this point. Almost all the client slots are already filled for the next event. If we run out of slots, we may need to add another night, if everyone can do three in a row." She looked up from her laptop. "Can everyone?" There was a round of assenting murmurs and Willow asked, "Are we adding Spike to the line-up?"

Everyone looked at Spike and he swallowed hard. "For an event?"

Buffy said, "He doesn't want to fuck guys, but…" She looked at him. "Would you want to try a few female clients before the event? See if it's something you want to do?"

He shrugged. "I suppose I could. When is the next event?"

Willow answered, "In two months. We try to have them about two months apart, but with all the shit, we had to push it back."

Fred spoke up. "If you don't want to dive into clients right away, you could practice on us, although with the way Amanda was screaming, it doesn't seem like you need the practice."

If Spike could still blush, his face would be as red as a tomato. He cleared his throat. "Uh… thank you, pet, and I guess I can try a few clients. How do we get the word out that I'm on the docket?"

Amanda said, "I'll get a few pics of you and put you on the website. What kind of packages do you want to offer?"

Spike stammered, "I've not even seen the website. What are the packages?"

"By the hour, whole night, multiples, forced, toys, that kind of thing."

"Oh, um… the first three would be fine to start with, I guess. Haven't had much experience with toys, so I don't really feel comfortable offering that as a package, and what is forced?"

"They resist and you have to hold them down or tie them up and force them. Rape fantasy."

Spike grimaced. "Not sure I want to do that."

"You don't have to," Buffy said, "Set his rates on the higher end. I want to weed out the bargain basement shoppers."

"How does this work, exactly? Do they expect conversation or a meal or do I just strip them and start shagging? What do you ladies do when your clients show up?"

Amy answered, "It depends on the client. You'll know what they're looking for based on the options they choose. Some want to be seduced, some want to be buried inside you before you even get the door closed. And if you get a walk-in… doesn't happen often, but it could… just ask them."

Vi laughed, "I wouldn't worry too much about conversation. They're probably not going to pay what you're going to be charging just to talk to you."

Anya agreed, "They'll pay whatever you ask once they've experienced that tongue, but yeah, they're not going to care if you can even speak."

Spike nodded. "Okay, and you feed on your clients as well? Will the birds want me to do that?"

Fred nodded. "Yeah, most of them will or they wouldn't be paying to fuck a vampire. They'll let you know if they're just after vanilla sex. If you want, we can do a role play. I'll pretend to be a client and you can get an idea of what's going to happen and what they'll expect." She looked around the room and asked, "Anybody else want to role play with Spike?" She received forceful nods from every woman present, including Buffy.

Amanda said, "Okay, I'll set up a mock client schedule and if everything goes well and you're comfortable, I'll put you live on the site."

Buffy said, "Okay, next thing. Anya and Spike haven't been hunting yet, and they need to do that before their welcome ceremony. Who wants to go with us on a hunt tonight?"

Faith raised her hand, along with Vi and Fred. Willow said, "I have a client."

Amy said, "Me, too."

Amanda said, "So do I, and then I'll be working on the website."

Buffy nodded. "Okay, the six of us will head out as soon as it's dark. We don't need any more food, so I was thinking maybe we could hunt for a new thrall or two to help the boys out."

Anya asked, "We don't hunt just to feed on someone?"

"Not usually. That's why we keep food in the basement and why we only select food that's not going to be reported missing. If we just went out and started draining the populace, it would draw the kind of attention we don't want. The people we hunt just disappear; their drained corpses don't turn up to be investigated by the cops."

Faith said, "The hunt's handled. When are we doing the ceremony?"

"It'll have to wait for at least a month. Amanda will have to block out a night for all of us to be without clients."

Amanda said, "I'll do that when I'm working on the site."

"What does this ceremony entail, pet?"

Buffy smirked at him. "Blood and sex. You know, vampire stuff."

Faith said, "We should probably ward the house since we'll all be busy for several hours."

Anya asked, "Busy doing what?"

Buffy said, "We all have to drink from you two and you have to drink from each of us…"

Faith laughed, "And with all the biting we usually end up fucking for hours afterward."

Fred said, "Before we break for the hunt… What do we think about maybe turning the third-floor boys? Travis has taken to being a vampire like a duck to water. He even looks forward to Jim's appointments now. And with Andrew down and Xan taking care of him, it would also take some of the pressure off our thralls trying to keep them fed and checking them for injuries and cleaning them up after a client. We also wouldn't have to rest them as long between clients."

Buffy asked, "How would our food stocks hold up to five more mouths to feed?"

Vi said, "We might need to add one or two more. I don't know that the third-floor boys would be feeding on their clients like we do, so they'd need to use the basement food more."

Amy said, "We could also let them feed on us. They wouldn't need as much, and since we're all well fed from our clients, we could get by with the food we have. I don't even remember the last time I went to the basement to eat."

Anya said, "I've been letting Travis feed from me. I don't think he's been downstairs more than a handful of times."

Buffy nodded. "Okay. We have five boys that need to be turned. Who hasn't learned how to make a vampire yet?" Fred, Willow, Amanda, and Anya all raised their hands. "That's four." She looked at Spike. "Do you want to learn?"

Spike frowned slightly, "Um… I've only been a vampire for what, a week? Isn't there some sort of probation period I need to get through before I can… not procreate, but… I forget I'm even a vampire half the bloody time, so how am I supposed to make another one?"

Buffy laughed quietly. "I'll take the last one and you can watch so you'll know how it's done."

Spike nodded, "Okay, but what if they don't want to be turned?"

Buffy blinked and Faith barked a laugh and said, "We weren't planning on asking their opinion, just like we don't ask the food theirs. We're vampires. Want, take, have. We want minions, we take their lives, we have minions. Simple as that."

"So what's the difference between turning and siring?"

Buffy answered, "Turning is what you do to make a minion. They get just enough of our blood to turn them into a vampire, but not enough to make them family."

"So what happens if we keep feeding them our blood like Amy said? Is there a time frame for giving blood or a threshold you need to reach?" Spike reached up and rubbed at his forehead. "Is there a book or something I can read that explains all this?"

Willow laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I have a few. Come see me when you've got time and I'll let you read them."