Blood Ties

Blood Ties ~ Caged

Spike watched as Xander paced. Ten feet to the left, turn around, ten feet to the right. Start over. He was sitting against the back wall, as far away from the door to their cell as he could get. In the first days, when they were trying to keep their spirits up, Xander had called it a Star Trek door. It had an energy force field with a power level that neither human nor vampire could withstand.

Days and nights had lost their meaning. It was always the same in their cage: white. It could have been two weeks since they were captured or six. Spike understood all the different ways to control people, break their will, and this was one of them. The white noise that on odd occasions would blast at full volume was another.

At least they were getting fed regular like, and real food for the both of them too. Unlike his last stay, not only was the blood not drugged, but it was clean human blood. They were feeding Xander well too, forcing him at gunpoint one time to make sure he ate and took the pills they provided.

It was obvious they were being used in some sort of experiment. What, Spike hadn’t figured out just yet. The first few days they’d taken Spike and Xander out separately for hours. They’d get back to their cage and compared notes. Both had hair, skin, and blood samples taken, and Xander had been given a complete physical against his will. When he tried to object to the soldier’s plan he was subdued, with fists at first, but then they started with drugs designed to make the human sleep.

What seemed like weeks later and this was still the part that Xander hated the most; he never knew what they did to him when he was out. Once he hadn’t been quite as unconscious as they thought, and he fuzzily watched as he was injected with two or three different things, twice in the arm. Once, with a huge needle, in his abdomen, where the scar was.

He was irritable, frustrated at being caged. The hyena in him wanting to escape, to tear into the humans that hurt him and his mate. Whatever that shit was it made Xander feel as if his skin was going to peel itself off. Made it all seem worse somehow.

“Xander-Luv, sit down.” Spike reached up and grabbed him, tugging him into his lover’s lap. If the Initiative didn’t know they were lovers when they were caught they knew by the first week.

Xander curled gratefully into his lover’s embrace. This way Spike would comfort him and they could talk somewhat freely in low whispers.

“Think they’re looking for us Spike?”

“Don’t know Luv, never thought I’d say it but I hope the Slayer looks for us. Can’t count on it though, it’s been too long really. We’ll find a way out soon.”

“I hurt Spike, I’m sorry to sound whiney but I’m sore and I’m tired of sleeping on the floor. I want our own bed in our own house. I want a hot bath with you behind me, and I want pizza. I just want to go home.”

Xander was dangerously close to tears, which didn’t surprised Spike. Through it all he’d been brave, but now thaty wey were tired he was at his wit’s end. He hated that he was so weak. That was how he felt, weak. Spike just pulled him closer and he went, burrowing into his lover’s cool arms for reassurance.

***

Another week went by, at least Spike thought it was a week, and for once they’d been left alone. No one had come in to poke and prod at them. They’d been left to their own devices.

Which was yet another form of torture. Spike and Xander had taken to redecorating their house they had bought in their heads. The others didn’t know it, but instead of staying in the basement, Spike had bought his Consort a small house. As a Master Vampire he had the money, he just didn’t show it, and Xander loved learning how to fix it up to suit themselves.

They were talking about doing a mosaic around the fireplace when they were disturbed again. Four soldiers came in to cover Spike while two others came to take Xander away yet again.

After a week of being together Xander was terrified of being taken from Spike, he could smell it, the fear-laden scent filling the small room. Spike roared, trying to keep these gits away from his mate.

Xander watched as the chip fired, causing Spike to go down. One of the four keeping Spike covered kicked him in the ribs. They had something like cattle prods, and another used it on the vampire, laughing as the body convulsed beneath him. They all seemed to think this was sport.

Xander saw red, literally. He broke free of the two soldiers that held him, breaking one’s arm in the process. Spike was already struggling to get up, and Xander grabbed the guy with that had kicked him and threw him at the three others, mowing them down like pins in an alley. They hadn’t expected him to be able to fight.

One of the guys sent to grab him was slowly edging his way forward, acting as if Xander was an animal, and right now he was, the hyena in him wanting to protect pack, protect his mate. All of the frustration and fear and anger over the past weeks adding to the adrenalin, making him stronger.

The soldier suddenly made a grab for him, trying to knock him out and Xander moved, right arm lashing out, catching his attacker in the windpipe. Even over the groans of the others trying to untangle themselves he heard the crack of bone breaking, heard the man struggle for breath for a moment and then that breath was gone. He had killed a person.


Instead of regret he couldn’t help but feel a thrill. He’d killed one of the ones that had hurt him, hurt Spike. Spike had seen what happened, finally able to shake off the effects of the electricity from both the chip and the tazer. He tried to keep the vampire behind him, where he could protect him, but Spike was trying to do the same to him.

It would be funny if there weren’t more guards coming in the cage, armed and ready to subdue them.

“What the hell is going on in here?” A white coat, one of the scientists.

“Sir, we tried to separate Subject 17 from Hostile 17 and they attacked. We are trying to…”

“I can see what you ham fisted men are doing! They are jeopardizing the experiment! If you must use force use a tranquilizer gun, not a tazer! If something happens I’ll make sure Professor Walsh knows whose fault it was and it certainly won’t be mine!”

Spike and Xander were both in the far corner during this tirade, trying to cover their backs. There were too many for Xander to break through without Spike’s help and the damn chip made it impossible. When they first got together, he’d made it known to Spike that while he could understand hunting bad guys, there would be no way he could stay with Spike if he was munching on the innocent.

Right now though, he longed for William the Bloody. These humans were by no means innocent and he’d love to see them deal with a pissed off Master Vampire.

All the while he was thinking this, Spike was using his speed to block the darts from hitting the both. Finally one got through and Xander could feel his brain getting fuzzy. The soldiers moved in, letting the shock of the chip deal with Spike as they picked him up and carried him away.

Spike didn’t stop fighting though, not even the shocks from the chip were stopping him. The last thing Xander before unconsciousness claimed him was Spike slamming into the force shield that one of the guards and turned on suddenly. The current from the chip and now this literally making the vampire smoke as he slumped to the floor.

***

Spike slowly came to his senses. First hearing kicked in, then scent. If he didn’t hurt some much he’d laugh, he smelled like burnt tires. The rest of his senses came back in a rush, and then the pain really got serious. They hadn’t brought Xander back yet, so he just lay where he was, not moving.

Something had happened with that last shock, something had snapped and crackled in his head, something to do with the bloody chip. The only thing he could think of was the damned thing had taken too many hits, the energy from the shield being the straw that broke the camel’s back.

If only there was a reliable way to test it. All he could do was think of what he was going to do when he got his fangs on the gits that had done this to them. He wasn’t stupid; he knew the Slayer’s boy toy had pointed the way. Riley didn’t know about their relationship, but he did know pretty much the areas they patrolled.

If the fucking chip didn’t work he was going to make the bastard pay in blood. He would break every single bone in Iowa’s body, making sure to grind his fingers into dust. That was just the beginning, oh yes he had lots of plans. For the Scoobies too, not too bad for them, boy still liked them after all, but they ignored Xander. Of course it suited him just fine but there were times he could feel his Consort’s hurt.

That night right after they had gotten back into town and Buffy had shown up Xander had all but panicked. His claim mark was there for all to see and there was no masking spell to hide it from the Slayer. But she had never noticed, too busy with the “Woe is me, everyone hates me, nobody loves me, gonna go eat worms” bit, as Xander called it.

Yet his boy followed where the Slayer led once again, helping her against a nest on the school campus. Course once they were all gone Spike had gone in and looked for useful bits in the piles of crap the female vam had had collected, no sense letting it go to waste.

He was drawn from his memories as he heard footsteps approaching. They were bringing Xander back. He played possum, trying to see if he could learn anything. One of the few things he remembered about the earlier fight was a doctor admitting Xander was being used as a guinea pig.

A guarme ime in first and dragged what he thought was a unconscious Spike to the back of the cage, then they dropped Xander next to him. Inside he was grinning a wolf’s grin. Even though they thought him to still be knocked out they never turned their backs on him.

Outside of their cage one of the two lab technicians was speaking to the guards.

“The implantation was successful, despite you and your friends endangering the fetus. We’re going to have to move him to a more secure location for long term study. When we do we’ll kill the hostile, until then do not go in there unnecessarily, just deliver the food and blood.”

“Sir, the Subject is emotionally connected to the Hostile, that was what triggered the earlier incident, one of the men threatening the Hostile. It might be better to move them together and keep him till after the first trimester at least. After all it is the ‘father’ of the fetus, we do not yet know if the fetus will need blood from him or not.” This came from the other white coat.

What the fuck? Part of Spike’s brain was analyzing the situation, hearing the plans to move Xander and possibly kill him, the rest of his brain was swirling around the words fetus and first trimester.

These bloody bastards were playing god, some sort of fucked up Frankenstein sort of thing. Until now he’d attributed Xander’s irritability and emotions to being trapped, but with the clues he had now, it made sense. The emotions, the small change in Xander’s scent, the scar where they opened him up, even the shots and the implant in his arm.

Hormones and vitamins, all designed for one thing, so that a male could carry a child.

Bloody fucking hell.

***

Two days later and Spike hadn’t told Xander what he knew, what had happened. He still wasn’t sure if he even believed it, it was the stuff that bad comedy movies were made of. Part of him hated that Xander had been violated, and it was a violation. Yet another part, the possessive part couldn’t help but think “My Mate! My Child!”

Xander did know about the chip, they had, in secret, tested it, Spike’s fangs sliding into his mate for the first time in months it seemed like. Sure they had been able to do this at the point of orgasm, but this was different, this was Vampire and Consort.

So when the guards came to take one or the both of them away they acted as if they were asleep. They were awakened and manhandled out of the cage that had been their home for weeks, or was it months? Playing up the groggy feelings to lure their prey into a false sense of safety. They had both been wary of drugged food, choosing instead to be hungry till they couldn’t last any longer.

Spike could tell it was night outside, another plus for them. They were led to an underground garage, pushed towards a truck with the engine running.

Bloody fools were idiots, it was a boon to the gene pool he was going to kill them, might make the human race smarter. Just as they got near the truck Spike straightened, turned and grabbed both of the gits holding him. Xander broke free as well, holding one of the soldiers in a chokehold. Spike grabbed the first soldier and drank him down, savoring the first taste of hot human blood he had in months.

He didn’t dally though; other guards were coming. Throwing the soldiers away from him, he pulled yet another one out of the truck, enjoying the sound of his head hitting the concrete floor with a hollow thunk.

Xander got in the passenger side and Spike drove off, not bothering to swerved when a man jumped in front, trying to stop them. From one of the guards Xander had grabbed a couple of guns and he was doing his best to aim and fire, inexperience and the rocking of the truck throwing off his aim.

Finally Spike crashed through a gate where the road let upwards. They ended up in an old barn about ten miles out of Sunnydale, soldiers pouring out of the secret base like ants when you stir up the nest.

It didn’t matter though, they were out and they weren’t going back.