Truth Denied

Ben sat on a stool and held his head in one hand, the elbow on the table. Spike glared at the bartender, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling his face closer. “Do you know who I am then mate?”



The bartender tittered, obviously not afraid. “Yeah, you’re the headliner, the stripper, Rod or something.” The rest of the demons in the bar laughed agreeably with him, none of them even threatened by Spike.



Spike slammed the bartender’s face into the bar so hard he broke his nose and it gushed blood. Spike flared his nostrils and smiled, “Name’s Spike mate…” He watched pain swim to confusion to dawning terror, the rest of the bar shut the hell up at that. A few scattered demons even made a run for the door.



The bartender whimpered and swallowed the blood trickling down his throat. “Spike, buddy, I didn’t know you were in town! Could have let a fellow know! Here, let me get you some O negative, on the house,” he moved to get away, but Spike grabbed him again.



“Think I’m stupid enough to get my blood at a bar where anyone can spike it? What the bloody hell is your name? And if you lie to me, I’ll fucking end you,” he snarled, playing up his vampire used-to-be role. He hoped against all hope that he wouldn’t have to live up to it , because he couldn’t even vamp out, never mind bite anyone, or have demon strength in a fight.



“B-Billy!” The bartender said and he tried to smile, mopping up a river of blood with bar napkins. “My cousin ran the bar in Sunnydale, but don’t worry Spike, I’m better than he was, know which demons I’m better off helping! And you’re one of them. Anything you and your friend need, I’m here for you. I got a shipment of Negstern maggots! Fresh out of the Accradyan abyss! For you two, the first dozen are free.” He sounded desperate to get on their good side, and those maggots were not cheap to come by; Spike eyed him.



Spike fixed Billy’s collar, making the bartender jump uncomfortably and swallow repeatedly. Spike smiled widely and patted his shoulder. “Now Billy, thing is, we’ve been remiss. Seems there’s a demon who’s been very loyal to our establishment, but their name has been removed from our ledgers. We wanted to thank them for their patronage. So, you being all knowing in the demon community, you wouldn’t happen to know who they are or where they’re at, … would you?” His gaze turned steely, and he locked it against Billy’s panicked eyes.



“Th-they don’t like their na-name known; they like going ‘bout invisible like and all,” he stammered, looking from side to side.



“Know they do, that’s the point, innit? Need their name Billy…,” Spike pulled Billy closer, feeling foolish. He couldn’t believe this used to actually work in getting information out of people!



Billy however grabbed a wooden cross from behind the bar and pressed it against Spike’s cheek, cackling in glee… then he frowned when Spike didn’t flinch, or hiss, or growl, or pull away… he didn’t burn or sizzle or anything, but smiled an even toothier smile. Billy dropped the cross, and Spike backhanded him across the bar. He jumped onto the counter and down behind it, picking up Billy again by the shirt, tsking him.



“Should know better than that Billy m’boy, think I would have survived the hell Wolfram and Hart had sent after us if I couldn’t stand up to a piddly little thing like a cross?” He backhanded Billy again and pushed him hard against the half full bottles behind the bar. Ben looked about to voice protest, but a look from Spike shushed him right up, making him eye the pair behind the bar with wary interest; he didn’t know what Spike was talking about, but it was interesting.



Billy laughed falsely, and tried to calm down. “Spike, Spike, Spike, look, didn’t mean nothin’ by that cross, just, those demons, they don’t like people on their turf or talking about them or knowing anything about them, they’re private, that’s all.” He swallowed thickly and whined out, “look Spike, if I tell you anything, they’ll make me look like they do, and you know what they look like, really look like, right?”



Spike smirked. “Don’t tell me and I’ll make you wish that was all I did to you… ever wonder how I got my name?” He delicately stroked Billy’s throat with a single slim finger, looking down at the pulse point, absentmindedly licking his lips.



Billy almost shrieked in fear, but he reigned it in at the last possible second. “I can draw you a map!” He said, almost as if he’d been struck by brilliance. “Won’t say anything about them, they won’t get mad, but you’ll have found their lair and as priests of their favorite temple they shouldn’t mind that!” He laughed nervously, tittering almost, looking between Spike’s icy blue stare and Ben’s dull green one.



Neither man mentioned that the demons had just killed a high priest, or that they’d killed what they would consider an acolyte of the temple and would likely very much want to stay hidden. Spike just smiled and reached over to the pad by the cash register, he peeled off the top sheet, which was covered in the ink of various other dealings, took the second sheet and pen and slapped them down on the bar. “Map, legible, now. And if we get lost, you better pray your insurance covers other worldly happenings,” Spike threatened, even as Billy bent over and started to draw and label a map.



Spike leaned back and looked over the bar, watching the other patrons. Only two were paying obvious attention to what was going on, a fresh from the grave vampire and a humanoid chameleon, who flickered from the disgusting yellowing stain of the wall back to it’s more natural green as it looked away. It really was like being back at Willy’s and if this schlub was really Willy’s cousin, this really wasn’t a bad contact to have.



He looked down at the map, Billy was even drawing trees and the golden arches of a McDonalds that would be a landmark for a turn. On the bottom he’d written directions. “Now, I-I-I don’t know anything about getting in,” he stammered. “Could be a simple lock, could be unlocked, could just knock, dunno, but this is their pad.”



Spike looked down at the paper and smirked, “and you didn’t happen to forget any significant defenses these demons might have, have you? Any abilities that they might throw at us?” He smiled a toothy smile.



“Oh Spike! Spike, you know me, I was just a-a-about to tell you about it! I was-wasn’t about to send you in blind! They’re a race who can do glamours without a sweat, make anything or anyone look like anything they want. So yeah, could be a pit of snakes in their driveway, but you’d never see it.” Billy looked sick to his stomach.



Spike held Billy by the back of the neck . “And you’re going to tell us just what we need to see past their glamours, aren’t you Billy? Because you like breathing, you like seeing the sun rise every day, don’t you Billy?” He smiled and stroked Billy’s throat.



“Yeah, yeah yeah! Of course Spike,” he nodded jerkily, goosebumps blossoming along his neck and arms as every instinct in his body screamed at him to fightfightfight! *But his mind was telling him what a foolish foolish thing that was to even attempt. “There are special glasses you can get, you need lenses made from amber, the older the better.”



“Now where the bloody hell am I supposed to get that?” Spike asked in a low voice, pinching him behind his neck on one side, making the other side arch.



Billy gasped and whimpered, trembling, “M-magic shop on second! C-c-called Bells, Books and Candles.” He giggled, full of panic. “Tell ‘em old Billy sent ya, you’ll get taken care of.”



Spike took the map, and stroked Billy’s hair gently, it smelled strongly of sweat and felt damp from all his anxiety. “Now Billy, are you going to go and tell them you talked to us?”



“Tell them? Look Spike, they ain’t exactly known for being chummy. I go tell them, first thing they do is torture me to make sure I’m telling the truth, then kill me, then come out and try and kill you.” He made a nervous, and loud, chuckle, “You notice I said try? Because nothing’s going to kill you Spike, nuh-uh, you’re untouchable, everyone knows that.”



Spike pressed in close to Billy, and pretended to breathe in his scent. “Know the brunet I dance with? Yeah? He’s mine, these idiots took him away, now I’m going to get him back. Anyone, anywhere ever does that again, what happens to them will seem like a pipe dream. Spread it around, no one hurts those who belong to Priape, ever. Our house protects our own, always, got it?” Billy nodded quickly. “Repeat it now.”



“Priape’s off limits to anyone meaning to harm anyone, you’re all protected, I’ll spread it around, and your dance partner is your consort. Don’t worry Spike word spreads fast from here, we’re a hub, we really are, what starts here as word of mouth spreads across our little corner of the demon world real fast.”



Billy started nattering, and would have kept going if Spike hadn’t given him a curt “Good.” Not sure if the whole consort thing would go over well with Xander, but it would protect him at least… even if they never actually were consort and Lord. Spike blinked images of Xander crawling to him, crawling to his bed, kneeling before him, kissing his feet, nude, suckling his manhood to erection, begging for it harder, deeper and crying out his name out of his mind and walked out from behind the bar.



Ben got up and walked out with Spike, into the night, looking for a magic store.