Quantum Xander II: In Wake of the Curse

Part 12

Xander closed the door behind him and took a good look at the vampire in front of him. Spike was rigid; jaw clenched and muscles coiled in readiness for a fight. He wondered what had upset him so much, and then he realized that he was probably jealous about him hugging Buffy. He shook his head sadly. If those two would just open their eyes and see what was right in front of them… well he would be a little hurt by it but it would be okay.

“Spike, we need to talk to you.”

Xander tried to keep the nervousness out of his voice when he spoke.

“There was this vamp that Buffy was fighting last night…”

“He said you sired him.”

Xander rolled his eyes at Buffy in exasperation.

“Way to soften the blow there, Buff.”

“We don’t have time for soft, Xan. If he’s siring vamps, I need to know.”

Spike looked at her with curiosity.

“Siring? Er, you do realize I have a chip in my bleedin’ skull, don’t you?”

Spike turned and walked a few steps before turning back and addressing her again.

“And besides that, even if I didn’t, I have a soul now. Or did you forget that? ’Cause I sure as hell haven’t. Why would I want to make more vampires? This town is already chock full of ’em. If I had any use for minions, I could just round a few up and beat them into subservience. Your informant was barmy.”

Buffy looked like she wanted to believe him; Xander did too. But there had been no real reason for Holden to lie to her. Other than the fact that he was an evil vampire now. But he didn’t even know that she knew Spike, so she had to assume he was telling the truth. Which meant that Spike was either a very good actor - which she doubted - or he wasn’t aware of doing it.

“Have you been dreaming about killing?”

Spike raised en eyebrow at her sardonically.

“Well, duh. As you lot would say. I have nightmares, yeah. Reliving past sins and that rot, all part of the soul-having experience, innit?”

“No…”

Buffy shook her head.

“…not reliving past kills, but new ones, current ones.”

Xander watched with rising dread as Spike’s brow wrinkled with tension. His shoulders slumped in defeat and he walked away from them. He stepped onto the balcony and lit a cigarette. Buffy and Xander stepped outside with him and waited for him to talk. After a few drags, Spike looked up and locked eyes with Xander.

“I’ve been blacking out. Losing track of time every now and again. I went out the other night, was talking to this bird at The Bronze, cute little blonde thing. I walked her home, think I did anyway - don’t really remember much. I woke up here though, in my bed. I think… I think I dreamed about a house. A basement. There were… Oh God. Oh Xander, tell me I didn’t!”

Xander stepped toward Spike and laid his hand gently on the man’s shoulder. He gave it a reassuring squeeze and Spike lowered his eyes in defeat.

“What is it, Spike? What do you remember?”

“I killed her, turned her. My God, how could I forget something like that? How could I do something like that?”

Buffy felt like a voyeur. She was witnessing an obviously private moment as Xander wrapped his arms around Spike and tried to comfort him. She wondered if there was more between them then simple friendship. She had never seen Spike so open with anyone - not even her, though she supposed she hadn’t exactly given him a reason to be.

“It’ll be okay, Spike. We’ll figure this out. I promise. Do you remember where this house is?”

“Yeah. We gotta go, Xan. They’ll be rising soon.”

“They? There’s more than one?”

“Yes, I don’t know how I could have… the chip, my soul. Xander, how’d this happen?”

Buffy cleared her throat and when the two men remembered she was there they broke apart and turned toward her. Spike couldn’t bring himself to meet her eyes; he was ashamed by his behavior. How could she ever love him when he was still just an animal? Even with a soul and a chip he was killing.

“We can figure the how of it later; right now we need to clean up the mess.”

The three armed themselves with stakes and Buffy and Xander followed Spike as he led them to the house and down into the basement. Things were okay at first; as the vampires rose, Buffy began to slay. It was fine until all of a sudden Spike snarled and flew into a rage at Xander.

For one brief minute, Xander thought he was going to die. Spike had him in his grip, his head tilted to the side and his teeth on his throat. Then he just… stopped. He snarled and held Xander in a bruising grip but he didn’t bite. Xander was glad he had told Spike about his mate, about the claim. It meant he no longer needed to use the masking spell. Right about now he had no doubt that it had just saved his life.

Buffy was surrounded by vampires. They were strong; being sired by a master gave them an edge over the average fledgling she was used to facing. She saw Spike attack Xander but was helpless to prevent it. She continued to fight her attackers and hoped that Xander could hold Spike off until she could get to him.

Xander felt Spike stiffen as he began snuffling into his exposed neck. He gently petted the back of the vampire’s head as his cold tongue snaked out and laved over the tiny claim scar.

“Spike. Spike, it’s me, Xander. You don’t want to hurt me, remember?”

The vampire trembled and loosened his tight grip. Xander relaxed a bit and put his arms around Spike. He felt the vampire sag into his embrace as he continued to lick the mark. Xander had to fight with himself very hard not to allow this to arouse him. He saw that Buffy had dusted the last vampire and was watching them curiously.

“Xander?”

“Yeah, Spike. It’s me.”

Spike jumped back, a look of horror on his face.

“I almost killed you!”

“But you didn’t.”

“Only ’cause I sensed my claim. His claim.”

Spike scrambled away from Xander and sank to his knees. Buffy stepped toward Xander but then stopped and went to Spike instead. She crouched down in front of him, and when he looked up at her she gasped at the tears that were running freely down his face.

“Make it quick, eh, love? No pain?”

“What are you talking about?”

“He said you’d do it; have to now - I’m a killer, aren’t I?”

Buffy looked back at Xander in confusion and then turned to Spike again.

“Who, Spike? Who said I’d do it?”

“Me. He was here; he said I failed, that you’d kill me now. He was talking… singing. There was a song.”

“What song? Spike, what are you talking about?”

Buffy touched his shoulder and he wrenched away from her. He turned and looked at the far corner, at something the others couldn’t see.

“Make it stop! I did what you wanted; make it stop! I don’t want this, don’t want to remember. Make me forget.”

Spike hung his head and cried in shame and defeat. Buffy looked at Xander, determination clearly visible on her face.

“There’s something here. Something is playing with us, all of us.”

“What is it, Buffy? And why is it doing this to Spike?”

“I don’t know, Xander, but we have to help him.”

Spike turned his tear-streaked face to look at the two of them.

“Will you? Will you help me?”

Buffy stepped closer to him and reached out her hand. Spike grasped it and she helped him to his feet.

“I will. We both will.”

She looked at Xander who nodded his assent. The three of them turned to leave when Xander noticed a hand sticking up from the dirt floor of the basement.

“Uh, Buff?”

He pointed out the struggling vamp who couldn’t seem to dig its way out of the shallow grave. Buffy walked over, pulled the elderly-lady vampire from the dirt and shrugged her shoulders.

“Sorry ma’am, it’s my job.”

Then she staked her and walked back to Xander who had wrapped an around Spike and was leading him up the stairs.