Trickster's Treat

*

Angelus still had his hands up in some human gesture of surrender, but among vampires there was only one way to surrender, and putting up one’s hands certainly did not qualify.

“You will not use such a disrespectful tone when speaking to my companion and my chosen childe,” Xander said as he eased forward. Like a foolish youth, Angelus’ eyes went to the table, and at the word childe, he growled menacingly. Xander refrained from laughing at such pointless bravado.

“Oi, that’s bloody right, watch your tone, Peaches,” Spike added from his side of the room, and Angelus now turned to look more closely at Spike. His glance froze at the rope securing Spike’s legs to the table, and that was the moment Xander needed. He lunged forward expecting to close his hand around Angelus’ throat just as he had with his Spike, but Angelus was more prepared than Xander counted on. Angelus gracefully sidestepped the attack and spun to launch one of his own. A younger vampire would have gone sailing by, stumbling past and presenting his vulnerable back, but Xander was not a young vampire. He pulled back and braced into the blow so that when Angelus’ bulk hit him he literally tossed the larger vampire to the side.

Xander smiled wickedly at the sound of Angelus falling on one of the many platforms with a nasty crack. Before Angelus could scramble back to his feet, Xander threw a vicious kick, catching the fallen vampire on the side of the head. Angelus went sprawling onto his back with his head making a sickening thump against the cold concrete floor as the body went limp. Xander went for the kill, leaping onto Angelus, but realized one second too late that his prey had once again deceived him.

Moving with the savage grace of a predator, Angel twisted out of the way and neatly aimed his stake for Xander’s heart, but Xander brought his arm down in a sweeping arc and deflected the blow. Of course, he still found himself retreating with a stake in his stomach as Angelus regained his feet, but better than a stake in the heart, Xander mused as he pulled out the offending wood. Ignoring the wound which was already healing, Xander twirled the stake in his fingers as he laughed confidently.

“You seem to have lost your veapon,” he pointed out, but Angelus simply circled with a low growl in his throat. Xander watched the larger vampire warily circle, shifting enough to keep his newly acquired stake poised for the kill. This one had patience and skill, but Xander was growing tired of the game. The fighting and the smell of blood had fired his lust. He needed to go back to his pet. He risked a glance that way, and his young hellcat had managed to stand, his legs spread and tied to the table legs and his arms chained behind his back. Xander found himself both amused by and proud of the expression of concern on his pet’s face. Didn’t his pet trust him to take care of one abomination of a vampire?

Xander may have stolen a look at his beautiful hellion, but he had not taken his attention from the predator stalking him. Angelus obviously had missed that memo because the large vampire rushed him. Xander refrained from going for the heart. Xander danced back as Angelus hissed a Gaelic curse, but the more he fought this powerful creature whose moves included the control of a far older vampire, the more Xander suspected that killing such a beauty before enjoying him would be… unforgivable. Instead he feinted to the side and sunk the stake deep into Angelus’ thigh, pulling it out in a flash as he leapt back across the room.

“That is the vay one fights with a stake. One must never actually let go of the veapon,” Xander informed the snarling Angelus who now leaned heavily against an unstable wooden chair that creaked so that Xander could hear it from 12 feet away. Thigh wounds hurt; this Xander knew from experience. However, Angelus only snarled once before shaking his head and returning to human features.

“Xander, this isn’t you,” Angelus held up a hand, palm first, and Xander fell back in confusion. One minute he was battling a demon worthy of fighting, the next he faced a human who seemed to have lost all survival instincts and common sense. No wonder his little hellcat had so much trouble trusting himself or his new Master.

“But these are my hands, my arm, my legs. I fail to see what is not mine,” Xander commented sarcastically as he held his arms wide as though to display how each part of him was Xander. Angelus ignored the bait.

“You’re not a vampire, Xander. This is a spell, and Giles is going to fix it.”

“I am not the one who seems confused about who he is. About vhat he is,” Xander pointed out as the now human-faced Angelus walked towards him with that palm up gesture that no vampire would ever use.

“If the slayer’s dead little minion sent ya to protect the boy, it’s obvious ya aren’t needed, Peaches,” Spike snapped, and Xander realized that his pet was trying to draw Angelus’ attention, a dangerous move considering his helplessness in chains.

“She’s not dead,” Angelus snapped back.

Spike snorted. “She’s a soddin’ ghost, means she’s dead.”

“Hush, childe,” Xander chided softly. Angelus turned his attention back to Xander, which Xander considered good since his young one could not defend himself.

“Xander, think about it, until tonight you were human,” Angelus argued. At that, Xander truly laughed, and Angelus’ expression grew angry and pinched as he stood with one outstretched hand, and angled his body slightly. Still prepared for a fight, Xander realized.

“I haven’t been human since my sire turned me, to gain revenge against my father for siding with King István,” said Xander loftily. “ *That* was a number of years ago since, as I recall, they were arguing over the new laws that condemned the pagans who worshipped the vampyra as gods.” That got a shocked look. Xander took a risk and turned his back to Angelus as though the vampire meant nothing. Mid turn, he suddenly spun around and attacked, grabbing that foolishly outstretched arm and pulling so that Angelus stumbled forward. Xander neatly slipped the stake between two ribs, puncturing a lung and then retreating as Angelus hissed and slid back into game face.

Normally Xander would consider such a young master below him, but Angelus with his sudden shifts from deadly, confident predator to tentative peacemaker made him difficult to judge, and therefore difficult to defeat. Of course, Xander had no doubt that he would win, but he did start to consider which prize he wanted to claim, so he merely waited for Angelus’ next move, circling.

Angelus fought his way up to one knee, one hand pressed against the fresh wound in his side. His injured leg was clearly slowing him down… at least, so it appeared, but Xander wasn’t going to be tricked into attacking too soon. Not again. Instead he made his next circle wider. He had earlier abandoned a long chain and a whip when he had chosen to take his pet over his knee. Now he returned to that table. Never taking his eyes from his opponent, Xander draped the chain over his shoulder as he took the whip, letting the long tail drag in the dust on the ground. He smiled at the thought of what his Nusa would have done to him for abusing a good whip by dragging it on the concrete.

“Xander, we just need to wait for a while until Giles can undo the spell,” Angelus said reasonably. “This isn’t you.”

Xander looked down at him, raising his chin proudly. “I am Xander sired by Nusa the Strigoi, killer of knights. I have tasted the blood of five slayers and killed the royal dragon of the Shu-hi. My sire ruled her own Hellmouth, and now I claim this Hellmouth as my own, just as I claim Spike of the line Aurelius, childe of Drusilla as my own.” Xander spoke the words slowly, carefully so that Angelus would know who was about to force him to submit. On the last word, he struck out with the whip, aiming for the back of Angelus’ neck.

When Angelus grabbed the whip and tried to pull it from his hand, the trap closed. The chain which he had so carelessly draped over shoulder swung around and hit Angelus on the side of his neck hard enough to knock him off his feet with a grunt of surprise, and this time Xander struck.

He grabbed the arm from Angelus’ uninjured side and looped a length of chain around it even as Angelus struggled to pull himself free. Xander slipped a lock through the links and snapped it shut while keeping hold of the chain’s trailing end. He reached down to grab for Angelus’ other hand, but the vampire again showed control beyond his years. Instead of panicking, Angelus threw himself backwards to land on that dilapidated chair, breaking it and providing himself with a new set of weapons: sharp, jagged, wooden weapons.
Xander wasn’t going to lose his advantage by getting in a fight in such close quarters. The oldest and wisest could sometimes get caught by a lucky strike with a stake, and Xander was too old and too wise to ignore that danger. However, Xander did not release the chain either. Angelus would be his. He darted back and used it as a leash, pulling the vampire off balance with unpredictable jerks that made Angelus move exactly where Xander dragged him. Angelus didn’t go easily; he snarled and counterattacked, swinging his makeshift stake dangerously close. One last quick dart backwards, and Xander stood below a draped chain. He reached up, lock in hand, and clicked the wrist leash to chain dangling conveniently from a beam overhead, the padlock closing with a snick just in time for him to jump backwards and out of reach.

“Bloody hell,” Spike softly cursed, and Xander didn’t answer his pet. Now was the time for another type of fight all together.

Xander stepped back to consider his captive in the dim light of the warehouse. Angelus’ hand gripped his stake, his knuckles turning white. Xander wished for a moment that he had a way to winch up the chain, to watch Angelus pulled to his toes and struggling to keep his balance. Xander lightly palmed his erection through his pants as he considered the pleasure of watching such a sight, but it was not to be this night.

Instead, Angelus had enough chain to stand with his hands at his waist as he kept his defensive stance. He would be better off submitting, begging to be taken into the court of his elders, but Xander looked at those furious eyes that followed him and smelled the anger. No, this was not one who would submit, and if he did play at submission in order to save his neck, he would not submit for long. This was a toy to play with and discard. Here was a body that would move as gracefully under him as it had in their fight, and Xander knew exactly how to make that happen whether or not Angelus volunteered.

Xander walked over to the shelf and bent down to retrieve the dusty crossbow he had seen earlier. Weapon in hand, he walked back to the table where his pet stood. He ran a hand across Spike’s back before he stooped to pick up the fallen cloak without saying a word. Talking was for those who needed to cover their fear or their incompetence: Xander had no such need.

He sat on the table and reached out for the back of Spike’s neck, pulling his pet back down into his lap as he once again draped the cloak over that bound and naked body. He would not expose his pet to Angelus’ gaze, even if his pet had exposed himself by allowing the cloak to drop. The silence fell heavy, and Xander understood the mute war between himself and Angelus. Angelus was trapped, unable to hide from the crossbow. Xander calmly waited to hear Angelus’ plea so that he could begin to understand how to put pressure on his new prey. Oh, Angelus would never replace his Spike, but he could be entertaining for a night or two before Xander tied him to a tree and left him for the sun.

Xander put the crossbow on the table next to his leg and softly stroked Spike’s cheek. His hellcat’s body was tense and rigid, his head still angled up and staring at Angelus. Xander put gentle pressure on Spike’s head, and Spike slowly lowered his head to Xander’s lap. Xander didn’t miss the low guttural snarl from Angelus, and that was one weakness with which to amuse himself. Xander pulled the cloak down some so that Spike’s ass was covered but Angelus could watch Xander caress his pet’s back and shoulders. Oh yes, that was a weakness. Angelus pulled at the chain as though he could rip it from the ceiling.

“Xander, you’re going to hate yourself when the spell ends and you wake up,” Angelus snapped.

“No, Angelus, I will not,” Xander replied calmly, and there was another weakness exposed. Angelus assumed that anyone who so cherished Spike would be sorry later. Clearly the Aurelius master either blamed Spike for some great transgression, or perhaps blamed himself in some way. The second fit better with what he knew of Angelus’ curse. Besides, while Xander could imagine Spike harassing and annoying his elders to distraction, he could not imagine such a pet inspiring such hatred. He simply continued stroking the lovely back and watching Angelus’ increasingly desperate struggles.

“I go by Angel. You know that, Xander.” Xander didn’t even bother answering that one. The entire Aurelius line was obviously infected by insanity, not that he cared in the case of his pet. Right now, though, he had a cock hard with lust and two powerful young vampires with whom to play. Spike either feared Angelus or feared disappointing Angelus. For his part, Angelus hated that someone else touched the fierce little hellcat, and yet had never managed to hold the younger vampire’s loyalty. How to make use of such information?

Xander picked up the crossbow and aimed it at Angel while still stroking Spike’s side. Yes, pointing the weapon one handed was rather arrogant and a tad flashy, but Xander had always been famous for being both. Sometimes it really was all about style.

“Toss the stake away, Angel,” Xander put a mocking emphasis on the name. Angel stared at him, silent and immobile for several minutes. Xander returned the stare, coldly willing to turn the pretty toy to dust, but certainly hoping he didn’t have to before enjoying full use of it. Finally, Angel tossed the piece of wood far out of reach. Xander visually checked for any other possible weapon, but the overhead chain was far enough from any table or platform or chair. Xander slid out from under Spike’s head and knelt down to untie the ropes.

“‘Bout time, losin’ circulation here,” Spike complained mildly. Xander reached out and pulled the cloak off before using the chain that bound Spike’s wrists to help him stand. Spike’s cock bobbed comically despite his earlier release, and Xander could imagine the pleasure one would feel at seeing two masters fight over oneself. With a new game in mind, Xander guided Spike over towards Angel, keeping him just out of reach before stopping him.

“Spread your legs,” Xander ordered, and Spike obeyed after a quick glance at Angel. Both vampires needed this lesson. Xander moved up behind Spike, pressing his clothed body against Spike’s back, and Spike’s trapped hands moved for his belt. Clever fingers worked into the waistband of his pants, and Xander allowed his pet this subtle disobedience even as he reached around and ran a hand over his beauty’s side and stomach.

“To whom do you belong?” Xander asked loud enough for Angel to hear. Again, the momentary flash of something… fear perhaps or perhaps just a reluctance to allow his former master to see him obedient to another. Of course, Spike’s position was already quite clear as he stood with his legs spread and his erect cock displayed, leaning back into Xander’s embrace and allowing his new master to support much of his weight.

“I belong to Xander sired by Nusa the Strigoi, killer of knights,” Spike answered. He began quietly, hesitating over the word “belong”, but by the end, Spike’s voice was not only strong but also defiant. Yes, let the young one defy his old master as he demonstrated loyalty to his new one. Xander rewarded his pet by running his fingernails across Spike’s stomach just hard enough to leave subtle trails of red on pale skin that made his pet shiver happily.

“Who do you serve?”

“I serve you; I obey you.” No hesitation at all that time. Xander reached around to caress the head of Spike’s cock, making the younger vampire moan and thrust while Angel snarled and pulled at the chain again.

“What is your line?”

“Turned by Drusilla granddaughter of Darla, favored childe of the Master of the Aurelius line; sired by Xander childe of Nusa the Strigoi, daughter of Dracula, Master of the Dracul line.” Xander sneered at Angel who had nearly dislocated his arm at that declaration. Angel thrashed and pulled at the chain so that the links rattled loudly and dust from the beam overhead drifted down. His pet would always have the blood of the Aurelius, but he would accept Xander as sire and teacher. The demon within this soul-maddened vampire would have to learn to live with that loss.
“Spike, don’t ye play this game, boy.” Xander felt Spike’s back go stiff at the threat even though he continued to move into Xander’s hand as though the words meant nothing to him. Oh, so the Master of the Aurelius line cared. Xander would have wept at the sheer pathos of the situation: a sire who wished to sire, and a childe who wished to be a childe and neither willing to turn to each other. He would have wept, except for the fact that he couldn’t care less about the tiresome insanities of the Aurelius line. Angel’s incompetence meant that Spike was now and would always be his.

“If you truly have a soul, if you relinquish all claims to your vampire heritage, why do you care who Spike claims as sire?” Xander asked with feigned surprise. “You have given up on being a vampire, yes?” Angel’s only answer was a growl, but Xander didn’t expect an answer. He could smell the animal blood infecting Angel… blood that proved just how far Angel would go to deny his nature. However, he could also smell Angel’s steadily growing lust which proved no vampire could deny his true nature forever. Of course right now he could also smell Spike’s nearing orgasm.

He pulled his hand back, and Spike nearly lost his balance trying to continue thrusting with his legs still spread and his arms chained behind him. Xander quickly wrapped an arm around Spike’s waist and pulled the smaller vampire back against him even as Angel went into game face. Xander then learned the depths of his hellcat’s sadism as Spike tilted his head to the side in clear submission, leaning his head back so that the front of his neck curved out. It was a gesture no vampire would make lightly, and Angel yanked the chain so hard that Xander could smell the blood from where he had stripped skin from his wrists. Even the smell of fresh vampire blood couldn’t mask the lust that bloomed in Angel’s scent when Spike submitted. If his pretty hellion wanted to help torture Angel, he could arrange that too.

“Go to the table,” Xander ordered as he returned to the shelves. He retrieved the equipment he needed and turned around to find Spike bent over the side of the table so that Angel had a perfect view of his ass. Not surprisingly, Angel couldn’t take his eyes from it. Xander chuckled softly at the childish antics. He walked to his pet and slapped him hard on his already-welted ass.

“Oi, watch the goods,” Spike complained loudly. Give the boy an audience, and that attitude really became quite entertaining, Xander realized. Xander didn’t respond as he unlocked first the chain around Spike’s waist and then the loops around each wrist. Spike pulled his wrists around to the front where he rubbed them, and Xander gestured at the table.

“Face up,” he said with the ropes from the shelf in hand. Spike gave him a dirty leer complete with a cocked eyebrow.

“Got a bit of a kink there, do ya?” Spike asked.

“I’m a vampire, little one. Ve all have kinks.” Xander replied as he tried to stifle the urge to laugh. Really the boy needed to learn to obey faster, but Xander couldn’t get upset when the delays were so amusing. Xander gave Spike a swift swat on the leg, and Spike hopped up so his butt was on the table before he swung his legs to the side and lay down.

Xander gave Angel an appraising look before walking to the end of the table and positioning Spike: legs wide open, butt about a third of the way down the table, arms stretched over his head. Xander spared a single lingering touch down the side of Spike’s rigid and tight cock which twitched with need. Xander then quickly secured each of Spike’s limbs to a table leg using rope so that his pet would hold position. Spike pulled slightly against each of the restraints before relaxing.

Xander walked to the far side of the table so that he could stroke his pet’s vulnerable and helpless body as he watched Angel who still fought the chain. At least he fought the chain between bouts of standing perfectly still staring at Spike’s bound and aroused body.

Xander watched, fascinated as the cycle continued. Angel would stare for several seconds, the musk of vampire lust heavy from him, and then he would jerk his eyes away as though burned and stare somewhere else. Xander could imagine the pain his young one had suffered through such apparent rejection. To have a sire not want one, not desire one, not throw one down on the floor and use one… such cruelty. And while cruelty to a human or one’s enemies was to be admired, Xander did not understand how Angel could be cruel to one who had called him sire. The Aurelius line truly was flawed beyond saving. “So, do you vant to hear the game?” he asked with a slow, sinful smile.