Chapter 3

When Spike awoke, he stretched languidly, allowing himself a moment of relaxation against the luxurious silk sheets. Before he could fully enjoy it, however, his senses alerted him to another presence in the room and came fully awake, turning to growl threateningly at the intruder who'd interrupted his private moment. Xander cringed back into the corner at the sound of his sire's growl.

He'd woken an hour ago, and had dressed and crept out of his room cautiously, still not sure where Spike had brought them. He'd heard voices downstairs, and his senses had picked up the heartbeats that had told him that a fresh meal was waiting. Before he could decide if he was hungry enough to risk it, his senses had told him Spike was sleeping in the room next to his. As he passed the door, he made a quick decision to wait inside for Spike to wake up. Spike could tell him who was safe to eat.

When he noticed it was just Xander in his room, Spike let his human visage return, as the growl died in his throat. "Sorry. You startled me."

At Spike's apology, Xander stepped cautiously out of the shadows. "I woke up hungry, but wasn't sure what was safe to eat. Thought I'd wait."

The boy seemed almost shy. Spike wondered what was going on in his head.

"That was a smart choice."

Xander nearly beamed at the praise.

That was interesting. It was almost like a kid who'd made his parent proud. Spike sat upright in bed, staring at the boy. Not almost. That's exactly what it was like. And considering Xander's upbringing, Spike wasn't even surprised. No wonder the boy had been so obedient this past week. He was looking for Spike's approval. Probably. Spike hadn't been able to figure out all that was Xander even when he'd been alive, and no matter how similar he was to his human self, he was a different person now. Still, it was a theory worth investigating.

"Well, then…let me get dressed and we'll go find some breakfast," Spike said as he stepped unashamedly out of bed.

Unlike when he'd been human, Xander didn't even flinch at Spike's nudity.

"Lots of breakfast?"

Spike laughed as he stepped into his dark jeans and pulled his black shirt over his head. "Yes. Lots of breakfast."

It hadn't been so long since he'd been turned that he didn't remember how hungry he'd been as a fledgling vampire. He'd been able to drain two or three people before he was full, and he'd still been hungry all the time for the first few months. That was going to be tricky with Xander, since Angel wasn't likely to approve of them killing people in his town. For now, though, Spike figured they could steal some blood out of Angel's fridge. It should hold the boy over long enough to get the initial shock of introducing him to the humans out of the way. Then, they could hunt and find a fight so Spike could keep teaching Xander how to use his vampire abilities, even if they had to leave town for a while.

On the way out the door, he grabbed his trademark duster, Xander following quietly in his wake.

Downstairs, Spike passed by the shocked faces of Cordelia and Wesley, as well as the confused faces of people he'd heard Angel call Fred and Gunn, in favor of finding Angel's stash of blood. The boy followed him quietly, but Spike noticed that he kept his eyes busy roving the hotel, while he turned his head slightly to discreetly sniff the humans. He let a smirk creep onto his face when he noticed that the humans were too stunned to notice Xander's scrutiny.

"What's going on?"

Spike ignored Cordelia in favor of pouring some blood bags from Angel's fridge into mugs and heating them in the microwave.

"Haven't told them yet, Peaches? Figured you'd want to get this detail out in the open as quick as possible."

"It hasn't been a good time, Spike!"

Spike smirked, leaning nonchalantly against the counter. Xander took a spot next to him, jumping up to sit on the counter before going deathly still, only allowing his eyes to track the movements of the others in the room.

"That's creepy," Gunn said, catching on quickly that Xander was a vampire.

Xander allowed his eyes to focus on Gunn, offering a half grin before slowly running his tongue over his lips.

"All right. That's it."

Wesley caught Gunn's arm before he could even lift the stake as Spike turned his attention to the beeping microwave, deliberately turning his back to the humans.

"Stop it, whelp."

Xander immediately stilled again, turning his head to his sire, moving only to take the mug of blood he was offered. He grimaced slightly at the taste of the reheated pig's blood, but drank deeply.

Wesley cleared his throat as he released Gunn's arm. "So, how long has Xander been a…um…vampire?"

"A little over a week," Spike replied, taking a more modest drink of his blood.

"What happened?" Fred glanced between the two vampires, still not sure who exactly they were, but she was smart enough to figure out that Spike was the Spike that Wesley and Cordelia sometimes talked about, and that he, at least, was connected to both Angel and the Slayer.

Wesley cast his eye over Cordelia who had yet to move, still in shock. He gently took her arm, leading her to a chair near where Angel stood, perching lightly on the arm when she was seated, before turning to face the recently arrived vampires.

"H-how long are you going to stay?" Cordelia frowned as her voice shook, but bravely made eye contact with Spike as he prepared another round of blood for Xander, this time showing him how long to heat it.

Spike considered taunting them, but decided against it. He was still chipped, and they were outnumbered if anything went wrong. He knew Xander had the strength to take on all of the humans, but he didn't yet have the skills. He still wasn't sure which side Angel would choose if it came down to it. He glanced briefly at the older vampire. Family no longer meant the same thing to him.

"I'd planned on us staying for a bit. Figured you lot could handle seein' Xander like this better than Willow." He handed Xander another mug of blood.

Cordelia sucked in a sharp breath, but kept her gaze on Spike.

"Well, it's not like it's the first time." Though she spoke quietly, vampire hearing easily picked up her words.

"What do you mean?" Angel turned his head to face her.

"Nothing." She turned her face away.

"It clearly wasn't 'nothing,' luv."

"Drop it, Spike."

"No." Spike would not be ignored. "Did you see this in a vision, and you did nothin' about it? What? Out of spite?"

"What?" Cordelia was horrified. "No! Of course not. I would never…" She sighed. "I made a wish once that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. Back when I was a student. But without Buffy, the Master took over, and…in the alternate reality created by my wish, Xander and Willow were both vampires." Her hand went to her neck. "They…almost killed me."

"Wait a second, luv. Why's the Slayer in Sunnydale now if your wish got rid of her?"

"I…I think we won. We beat the Master, so everything went back to normal. Or something."

"You don't sound too sure."

"I'm not. I…I couldn't remember any of this until I started having visions. Then, I wasn't sure what I was seeing. It was just little pieces, but it never felt like a vision," she assured him. "If it had ever felt or looked like a vision, I would have told someone. And then, when I saw myself from high school, I figured out that I must have had something, or been influenced by something that could grant wishes. But in the reality I was living in when I started having the…flashbacks, Xander and Willow were human and Buffy was in Sunnydale. I actually called to check." She flushed, then settled back into the chair.

Everyone took a moment to process this.

"Well then," Spike took another drink from his mug. Before he could speak, the phone rang. "That'll be Giles. Come on, then, whelp. We're going hunting." He placed their mugs in the sink.

Xander jumped from the counter with grace, grinning widely.

"Spike." Angel's voice was filled with warning.

"Don't worry so much. We'll go find a criminal or something. Probably beat up a few things that go bump in the night. He needs to learn," Spike challenged, wondering how far Angel would let him go with this.

Angel sighed as he heard Cordelia answer the phone, glad she wasn't in there to hear this, before glancing at Fred and Gunn. He knew they wouldn't understand. Wesley wouldn't like it, but he might understand.

"Take him out of town, then. Teach him there if he has to learn anywhere," Fred protested.

"Or, you could just show him the best places to buy animal blood. Or, better idea, just stake him. We don't need more vampires around here." Gunn was gearing up for a fight, but held himself still, waiting for Angel to tell Spike where to go.

Angel and Spike shared a look. In that moment, their whole history flashed between them, decades of loyalty and family, a shared past that no one else could understand, except Xander, if he lived long enough to experience it. It was then that Angel knew Spike would kill anyone who hurt his childe, for the sake of those moments that could only occur between a sire and childe, those moments no one else could understand. And Spike saw that this time, Angel would put himself on the line for the sake of what was left of his family.

"Just…" Angel glanced at Wesley, who nodded. They both knew it wouldn't be good for them to go too far when Xander was still learning.

"Angel, it's Giles!" Cordelia's voice broke the moment.

"Make sure it's a criminal. Try to find a rapist or something," Angel threw over his shoulder as he went to pick up the phone, ignoring Spike's laugh and Wesley's attempts to reason with Gunn as he shouted about how he hadn't signed up for this.