Devil You Know

Part 6: No More Drama

Library 7:00 p.m.

Spike stopped in his tracks and watched everyone stare at him and Jera as if they were from outer space. *Good the constable has prepped the room for the next stage in their little drama.* Because that is what this was all about. Spike had figured that if Xander had an example of what a guide could do for him, that it might light a fire under his wonderfully shaped arse into seeking out his own. *The sooner the better.* It was getting harder and harder to be around the whelp without fucking him senseless. *Pun intended.* Spike laughed at himself for being every kind of a bloody fool and stepped back a step. Putting on his best startled look upon his face, Spike rounded on Jim and began part two of their dance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh God!" Jera called out from behind him, looking at Jim. Spike knew she was turning pale with practiced ease and backing up, pulling him with her. "Run, William. RUN!"

"No." Spike whispered. "He won't touch us. Will you Sentinel." It was a statement not a question Spike issued.

"To be honest I haven't made up my mind yet." Jim replied stonily.

"Fair enough." Spike nodded.

Spike could feel Xander's eyes boring into him but he ignored it opting instead to play his role through. "Your here for Xander aren't you." again it was a statement not a question.

At Jim's nod, Spike continued. "Then it looks as if we're not needed here pet." he shot over his shoulder to his friend.

"I never thought you ever were, Spike." Buffy quipped up. "You think you can just -"

"SHUT UP, BUFFY." Xander yelled, startling everyone.

"Xander?" Blair called.

"WHAT?" Xander snapped at the guide. He knew it was the wrong thing to do the second he saw Jim tense up and glare at him.

Spike smelled arousal and some fear on the boy and knew he was in desperate need of privacy. Why Spike didn't know. He was sure that if he didn't get his Xanpet out of here that Jim would break Xander's nibble me please neck as if it were a twig, for yelling at his guide.

"Perhaps it would be a good time to patrol, don't you think Slayer?" Jera's smooth southern accent hinted.

"She is right. Your burnin' moonlight Slayer. Vamps to kill and all that. We'll be leavin' this bobble with the watcher and be on our jolly effin' way." The back of Spike's neck was being all prickly and itchy. Someone was here and he felt Jera stiffen beside him.

"He's here." she whispered unnecessarily in his ear.

Spike's nod was slight so that only Jera sensed it. He realized from the narrowing of Xander's eyes that he had heard as well. *Damn. Now what?* Spike thought. Him and Jera had to leave and he knew that Xander wasn't about to let them leave now. Jim however seemed to be on the same page. *Smug bastard. * he thought fondly.

"How long have you had that?" Jim nodded to the amulet in Spike's hand.

"Doesn't matter. Here Watcher, take it so we can go." Spike tossed the amulet to Giles and turned to leave.

Jim grabbed hold of his arm and growled. "This isn't over. I'll be seeing you again."

"Count on it, Sentinel." Spike growled back with his game face on.
Jim let go quickly as if he'd been scalded. The message however, was delivered. Jim truly wanted an answer about the amulet. Spike would tell him but out of hearing range of the others.

~~~~~~~~~

Xander felt pretty silly for tailing Spike and his friend but he needed to talk to Spike alone. He was sure if he had just a few moments with the blond that he would realize that he was just projecting his dream and hopes onto Spike. Then he could just clear his mind and find his real guide.

*But what if you get him alone and your instincts turn out to be right?* A stubborn little voice inside his head argued. * What if you find out without a doubt that he is your real guide? How are you going to deny it then? Hmm?*

"Just shut up. I'll figure it out later." he muttered to himself.
Feeling like every kind of fool but unable to stop himself, Xander tracked Spike. Honing in on his faint heart beat and locking on his scent, the young sentinel followed his prey.

~~~~~~~~~~

"We're being followed, pet." Spike murmured to Jera.

"I know, sugar. Your young pup and our cyber friend." Jera whispered out of the side of her mouth. "Should we split up or bring them together?"

"To soon to bring them together. You take the ol' bag o' bones to your place and I'll take care of Xanpet." the vampire answered.

"I'll just bet you will." chuckling at the cold stare she received from her friend she continued. "Meet me at the Durby's at the same time as the night before. We have answers that someone wishes to have." At Spike's nod, Jera veered left as he turned right. Both took off at a dead run to lead their followers into their tender traps.

~~~~~~~~~

Keeping up with Spike was getting harder and harder. If he hadn't been using his senses to track the other man he might not have been able to keep up with him thus far. Hell, he was lucky he was able to track him this long without his senses going off the charts.

Xander paused to orient himself and locate his prey's exact position. Spike was very close but hiding. Turning his head this way then that, the sentinel realized he was in the alleyway just behind Jera's Coffee and Book shop.

"Fancy a cup of coffee or are you going to hang out here in the alley all bleedin night?" Spike asked from behind the sentinel. Lighting up one of his cigarettes as he waited for the stunned man to recover. Surprised, Xander's senses went into overdrive as they snapped out of focus. The sensation was so overwhelming that Xander stumbled backwards as if he'd taken a physical blow to the head and stomach at the same time. Tripping, Xander fell against some garbage cans and dumped them over on himself as he hit the ground. Senses reeling , his head spinning , Xander cried out. A hand touched his neck and the storm assaulting his nerve endings slowed.

"You okay, Xanpet?" Spike was asking.

Shivering and looking as if he were going to throw up, Xander moaned, "Smell. Oh god it smells bad. Burns. Gotta get it off."

Snubbing out his cigarette, Spike lifted the sentinel off the ground, figuring Xander was in no condition to perform the function of walking just yet. Carrying the younger man into Jera's shop through the back door, Spike tried not to enjoy holding the mortal too much. The awful smell of garbage helped but not much. Even covered in foul goo and smelling of week old food, Xander's scent called to the vampire. It stirred a memory from the past, one from his time as a human. It was dangerous and dark, this memory and Spike shoved it violently to the back of his mind.

Walking up the set of stairs to his right, Spike headed for his apartment on the third floor. Jera had forced him to take the place upon discovering he was changing for the second time in his immortal life. He knew she was as worried as he was at this change and she wanted to be by his side should he need her. It was her undying love for him as a brother figure that had kept Spike from losing all his humanity all those years ago and things hadn't changed in over one hundred years, at least not for them.
It was truly a pity that she couldn't find another immortal to love. Loving a human was asking for heart break. Once they died they took a part of you that you could never get back. After a while there would be nothing left of you but an empty hole with nothing to fill it and a heart too weary and worn to risk having it broken even one more time.

Even as he knew this to be so, Spike still understood why Jera had chosen to love the mortal lovers that she had in the past. He put Xander down on the toilet and turned toward the bath to get it started. He thought *Even a brief love is better than spending forever alone.* Turning back to Xander as the water splashed merrily in the tub, Spike began to strip the sentinel. Everywhere Xander's cloths and the garbage had made contact with the sentinel's skin Spike found welts and burns that looked ready to bleed. Xander, poor little nummy treat he was, had slipped into a zone out while being carried. Spike smoothed back the brunette's hair away from his face and removed the bits of food that clung there.

Smiling fondly at him, Spike fell in love with Xander all over again. Sighing and not knowing what else to do, Spike took the now naked man into his arms once more and lifted him off the toilet and into the warm clear water. Shutting off the water, the vampire walked to the pantry and extracted a washcloth and a bar of scented soap and shampoo. Spike smiled at the cocoanut aroma that wafted from the cleansing bar. It would do.

Kneeling down by the tub, Spike began talking to Xander softly as he the other man's hair. Hair lathered up to his satisfaction, Spike eased Xander back carefully into the water and rinsed his hair. Taking a plastic cup that was on the tubs edge the immortal filled it with water from the tap. Lifting Xander up slightly, Spike used it to rinse out the rest of the shampoo. It was then that the sentinel came out of his daze. Spike was so intent on what he was doing that he never noticed.

"I've been looking for answers ever since I discovered my change. At first I thought it might have been from some curse. Sort of like that one that ponce of a grand sire Peaches has with that bloody soul."

Spike was telling him. "Then I realized it had nothing to do with magic, well not that kind at least. Jera says its a magic of the old ones. Says it's from a period in existence when time wasn't time yet. I think she's nutters." Spike laughed softly.

Xander said nothing as Spike lifted him into a upright sitting position. He just watched and listened as the vampire bathed him and spoke of forgotten lands and even less remembered secrets that those lands once held. For the first time he heard what Spike was really saying and he was amazed that the bad boy he was use to was still there, but under it was the mind of a scholar. It wasn't just the fact that Spike had lived for over 100 years. It definitely wasn't that he was just smart or had a good memory. No, the man who spoke was one who's passion is and was knowledge. He spoke of things that Xander knew the blond hadn't talked about or even thought about in a long time. Even as he learned more about history from Spike in these moments than he ever had in his classes in school, his body was responding to the other man in a different way.

His manhood was hard and growing harder with every touch, with every caress Spike made with the wash cloth. Xander longed for it to be the other man's bare hand on him or better yet his entire body bare and blanketed over him.

"With all the other effin things going on Jera just decides it would be a great old time if she called on this guy who has been around for five thousand years. I mean don't get me wrong luv. I don't mind ask'in for help, but did she have to call that crazy git, Methos? How is he going to help me, I ask you?" Spike wound down his speech in a huff.

"Are you done?" Xander asked.

Startled, Spike dropped the soap bar in his hands and stared in shock.

"I'll take that as a yes." And with that Xander's mouth crashed into Spike's, kissing the stunned vampire and surprising him even more.