Feedback: Yes please but be very gentle. First fanfic and first slash.
Archive: If you want, but please let me know
Pairing: S/X
Rating: PG - NC 17 (maybe, I've never rated anything before)
Disclaimer: Most characters misrepresented in this tale belong to Joss Whedon,
Mutant Enemy and Neil Gaiman. I'm only taking them out to play, changing their
clothes and then putting them back. There may be some original characters floating
about. They are mine but usually don't admit to it.
Spoilers: Up to Buffy Season 6 sorta but definitely AU
Summary: Spike and Xander get to take a trip and go a bit further than intended.
Crossover eventually with Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.
'' '' '' '' '' '' '' ''
Back in the room, Xander threw himself backwards on the bed, forearm over
his eyes. "Would Buffy have turned us or made us Renfields if Drac had
succeeded?"
"After she'd dusted the arrogant prick? Yeah, I reckon." Spike moved
to sit
on the edge of the bed. "You guys tied her to life, reckon that which makes
a Slayer a Slayer would have wanted you lot, too, even after Buffy was gone
and the demon was in 'er place." He reached out a hand and gently squeezed
Xander's knee. "Dunno nuthin' about this bint. Never heard of 'er, but
she
must have been a strong Slayer in life to be this old now." His hand
started a gentle stroking up and down Xander's thigh. "Seems
she's balanced out conflict between the Slayer and the demon. Not that
she's sane by any means, but she seems saner than any turned Slayer I ever
heard of. Wouldn't be holdin' a Free Zone if she was a complete loony."
Spike used his other hand to pull Xander's arm away from his eyes, staring
down into the worried brown depths. "Don't borrow trouble. It didn't happen
then, doubt it ever will. Buffy's too strong. She's been tempted and
overcame it." It was probably too soon to offer a make-it-all-better-shag
but maybe a kiss wasn't entirely out of line. He bent his head down and
caught Xander's lips with his own. He intended to make the touching brief
and comforting but Xander's mouth opened beneath his and Spike deepened
the kiss, cool lips lost in the blood-heat of the mouth beneath him.
Somebody moaned, hell, two somebodies moaned as tongues tasted and traced
the curves of each other.
Panting, Xander pulled away slightly and Spike lightly growled his
displeasure into the curve of Xander's neck.
"Gotta breathe, Spike." Xander drew in a lungful of air. "It's
a quirk I
have. Ohhhhh." He gasped out his hard-won air as Spike gently nibbled
behind his ear and began to trace kisses along his jaw back to his mouth.
"Got your wind back, pet?" Spike waited for Xander's nod and then
dove back
for another kiss.
Xanders fingers tangled themselves into the gel-stiff hair, forcing a
firmer pressure. Ohh, this was much better than he had imagined.
"Umm." Xander followed Spike's head as he raised it, bestowing light
kisses
on the tempting curve before dropping his head back to the bed. The fingers
locked in the blond hair loosened, stroking across shoulders before
ghosting down Spike's back and around to rest against his chest.
"Well, pet." Spike's blue eyes were passion-rimmed with gold. "Want
to go
on? Make use of this lovely big bed?" He wasn't expecting a positive
response, his boy could be pretty determined once he set his mind but,
hell, a vampire could always hope.
Xander considered. His reasons for taking it slow were still valid but
right now, with Spike above him, gold-blue eyes fixed on his mouth, it was
hard and he was tempted to just go with the sensations the vampire created
in him. "Book," he offered uncertainly, then his voice strengthened.
"We
have to get the book for Giles and besides, I never put out before the
first date, especially if it's a potentially ewww date." He fluttered his
eyes girlishly at Spike and smiled.
The vampire rolled his eyes. "Dating now, are we?" His voice dropped
to a
seductive purr. "Vampire ways are so very much faster." I have got
to find
out what you've been reading, pet, he thought, enjoying the dilation of
Xander's eyes at the mention of vampire ways. He stroked his hands down
Xander's body, bringing them to rest on Xander's hips. He slipped his hands
under his boy's hips and faster than Xander could react, raised him and set
him on his feet, circling his arms around his boy's waist, buried his face
in his neck, smelling himself on Xander, realising that he liked that very
much.
Turning Xander in his arms, Spike pushed him gently in the direction of his
daypack and stepped over to the wing-back chair to retrieve his battered
duster from where he had flung it. "C'mon, then whelp. Sooner we're gone,
sooner we have the date, then the sooner we see about you puttin' out a
little." He grinned at Xander's blush and followed his pet to the door.
Xander couldn't bring himself to look at Servant behind her counter as they
left the boarding house and stepped out into the evening crowds.
Xander bounced beside Spike as they walked to their station, the vampire's
aura of barely contained, cheerful violence cutting them an easy path
through the streets. "This is so great, so old," he said stopping
and
pointing to a building dark with age, "then suddenly, whammo, newness,"
and
he grinned at himself in a plate glass window.
"Yeah, its a funny town."
"Ha ha or peculiar?"
"Peculiar, mostly. It's a convergence point for a lotta Ley lines an'
it's
got a lot of old power sites too, some new built on the old. There's
Dimensional doors and portals, too. Pro'bly why Giles didn't want both the
witchkittens here on their own, till they get a bit more control. It's a
temptation, this city, for those that work the mojo, with all that power
lyin' around waitin' to be tapped."
Xander frowned. "Like a Hellmouth?"
"Yes an' no. Stuff just as bad, an' some good stuff too. Dependin' on
how
you define good. C'mon."
Spike resumed his stride along the street Xander falling in step next to
him. The boy was obviously enjoying himself, taking in the sights and
sounds of the city. Spike admired his boy's ability to take pleasure and
humour from the moment he was in.
A large group of goths walked down the street towards them. Spike
determinedly strode through the middle of the group, forcing them to
scatter. "Wannabe's," he mumbled to himself with a smirk. A tallish
girl
stood for an instant in front of him before moving gracefully to the side.
Spike turned and watched her as she walked down the street.
Xander's eyes followed her also, not liking the fact that Spike was paying
attention to another. My vampire, grr. He sent dark, evil, Xander-thoughts
in her direction. What do you know, possessessivness is a communicable
condition, he thought with an internal grin. The group reformed and walked
past the plate glass window and Xander saw that the tall girl lacked a
reflection. "Don't the others notice?"
"Nah, just like being Hellmouth blind, London is. Where's this station
supposed to be?"
"Over there." Xander grabbed Spike's arm and hauled him across the
road.
Once in the tunnel Xander stoped in front of the Underground map. "Look
at
these names," he said. "They're so English. It's great. Chalk Farm.
How do
you farm chalk? Shepards Bush, Convent Garden, Blackfriars and Swiss
Cottage. Is there really a swiss cottage at Swiss Cottage? Cause I'm
thinking brown-eyed cows, cuckoo clocks and mmm, chocolate."
"No, no and you've 'ad enough this evening. No circus at Piccadilly, either."
Xander gave Spike a hard look. "I know that." He whopped Spike lightly
on
the arm. "We need to get off at Chancery Lane." They proceeded down
the
tunnel, bought tickets and caught the train just before it left. A very
crowded train, with standing room only and not much of that..
Spike didn't like being crowded by humans and being this close to so many
in a confined place was distracting. He wasn't some untutored fledge who'd
vamp out in the company of so much prey but he was .uncomfortable. To
distract himself he pressed close to Xander's back, inhaling the musky
scent mixed with his own.
Well, that was effective, Spike thought as his blood-hunger was replaced by
an altogether different need. Not that some biting and blood didn't play a
part in his after-I-get-the-damn-chip-out plans for Xander. He rumbled
contentedly in his chest and snaked an iron-hard arm around Xander's waist,
pulling him back against his chest. The motion of the train set up a nice
rocking rhythm of his groin against Xander's ass. Lovely. He could feel
human eyes on him, disapproving of such blatancy but he was William the
Bloody. He didn't give a shit.
Xander leaned his head back against Spikes shoulder and whispered in his
ear. "What are you doing?" Not that he minded, really, the motion
of the
train was moving Spike in interesting ways against him and he liked that.
He'd also been well and truly inoculated against the embarrassment factor
after Anya, so the sharp looks didn't sting him much either.
Spike considered. He wasn't cuddling because he was a Master Vampire and
Master Vampires don't cuddle. "I'm supportin' you against the motion of
the
train."
"Ahh, cuddling." He felt Spike chuckle into his neck which sent all
kinds
of shivers down his spine.
The shop was set in a quiet back street. Its windows were dusty and through
them Spike and Xander could see shelves full of books and clutter. An
old-fashioned wooden sign hung over the door. It read Lomax's Books, with a
bright-scaled long tongued creature intertwined with the letters. The
green-painted door way was scratched all around with strange symbols and
signs. Spike nodded when he saw them. "Got good protection, this place,"
he
told Xander approvingly
Xander looked around for a security camera.
Spike watched him for a moment. "Not human security, whelp, supernatural
protection. Each one o' those signs is the mark of a Master Vampire or
Demon who considers this place under their protection. Even that reclusive
bastard Wolfgang is on there." He pointed to small angular shape in the
right hand corner. "That's the Watcher's Council sigil. Reckon I'm gonna
hate this guy. Absolute neutrality breeds smugness." He stepped up the
worn
grey-stone step and reached over to open the door and discovered that it
was already partially open..
"Better come in th' rest o' the way but keep your 'ands where I can see
'em," said a soft female voice from inside the shop. The voice was pitched
low, but loud enough to be heard. Spike and Xander looked at each other.
Scents from the shop wafted over Spike. Two non-humans, fear, anger and
blood. Oh, and a cat.
Spike swore softly as he made sure Xander was behind him, protected by his
body, then he opened the door and stepped inside. At the bottom of a
wrought-iron circular staircase sat a young female demon. With spiky red
and green hair, torn jeans and a long-sleeved shirt she was human enough to
look at, except for her eyes, large, violet and slit like a cat's. She
faced the door with a crossbow held expertly at the ready. Spike growled,
allowing his game face to come to the fore. The bolt was a demon hunter's
dream. Obviously designed to stop a variety of demons, it was made of
rowan inset with hawthorn and silver. Silver-tipped too, with a variety of
religious symbols decorating its side. It would have been enough to
give most supernatural nasties a pause. It certainly had vampire-stopping
power.
Xander paled and before Spike realised what he was doing he had slipped in
front of the vampire. "Hey," he said holding up his hands. "Caution
is real
good in these troubled times but this makes for a little bit of concern on
the customer relations side of things. We are customers. Expected customers
even. I think. I hope." He put on his goofiest, most harmless smile whilst
trying to stay in front of the game-faced vampire that wanted to stand in
front of him. "We're here to pick up a parcel for Mr Rupert Giles."
He
studied the demon girl's face. Nope, no recognition in the violet eyes. No
shooting yet of growling vampire or harmless human, either, so they were
ahead of the game so far.
An old voice from a room behind the girl called, "Easy, Katie. Who are they?"
Xander answered, "Xander Harris and Spike. Mr Rupert Giles was supposed
to
let you know we were coming."
"Gran'pa! One o' them's a vamp. Not a local, either."
"Yes, yes. Mr Giles said his representatives would be unusual. Bloody
unique for a Watcher, I'd say. Thought he was joking when he said he was
sending a young man and a vampire. A vampire who would be William the
Bloody. Had your Sire in here once." The voice moved out from the room.
It
belonged to an extremely tall and extraordinarily thin elderly man. No, not
a man, Xander realised, looking closer. His eyes were purple and slit like
the girl's. He was also holding an icepack to a sizeable lump on his head.
"Looking for copies of Bunnicula she was, her and some doll. Miss Jane
or
Elspeth or something. For a tea party, apparently."
He moved further into room and sank onto the chair behind a battered desk
piled with books. Xander half turned from facing the girl to look at the
older demon. Spike kept all his attention firmly on the girl and her
crossbow and slipped deliberately in front of Xander again.
"Most nerve-wracking customer I've had for a while." The demon continued.
"Not sure if she understood what the sigils meant or if, from moment to
moment, she even cared. I'm Lomax, by the way. Katie, put it down. I'm
fairly sure these are the gentlemen Mr Giles sent and if not, well, you can
kill them later." Katie pouted and lowered the weapon.
Behind Xander Spike relaxed a little. The little female demon's aim had been very firm.