The Birthday Present

Hi Kblood - thanks for reviewing. I think that it puts people off because you can't reply. Appreciate you taking the time :) Will Lindsey's growing feelings cause problems for Spike...?


The plot is mine - the rest is not!


Chapter Six


Spike dreamed of being free. He dreamed of the thrill of the hunt, of selecting the walking happy meal that he intended to drain that night. Sometimes, literally running them down like the predator he was; their screams making his mouth water. Sometimes, chatting up a bird in a bar, having a drink and a dance before going back to the unsuspecting soul’s apartment and having some fun before his dinner. He dreamed of the places that he’d travelled; Europe, North Africa and the Far East, before coming to America to find the Slayer that became his second to kill. It was hunting for his third potential Slayer victim that had taken him to Sunnydale and into the hands of The Initiative, Inc.


Spike’s good memories lasted only seconds after he awoke and opened his eyes. Two things brought his world crashing down again. The first being the brief jolt of pain as he tried to move. The second was of his body going in to stand-by. The sleeping draught had worn off and the reaction to un-commanded movement was the chip firing and being frozen in stand-by.


Oh, Christ.


He was lying, fully clothed on the bed next to the still sleeping body of his owner. Spike was pleased to discover that the unbearable pain, that he had suffered from after trying to bite Lindsay, had gone.


Not dust then.


He cursed his dreams for giving him the illusion that the existence he endured wasn’t true. He closed his eyes again and waited for his owner to wake up. He worried about what was in store for him. Would the boy punish him further for his action? Spike dimly remembered Lindsay trying to soothe him, but he couldn’t be sure that it was real.


When Lindsay woke up, he knew immediately that Spike was in stand-by mode. He stretched and yawned before reaching out and activating Spike with the controller. Spike opened his eyes and found that he was staring into Lindsay’s. He blinked a couple of times as he waited for further orders.


“Morning, Spike. Sit up, please.”


Spike reckoned that the ‘please’ tagged on to the command meant that his owner wasn’t pissed off with him. He hurried to do as he was told as quickly as possible. There was nothing like having your brain fried to make you eager not to have it done again any time soon. Lindsay got out of bed and put the gag into Spike’s mouth. His fingers trembled a little as he inserted it, and Spike knew that he’d badly frightened the boy with his antics.


Lindsay pulled the straps on the gag tight behind Spike’s head and hesitated for a moment before doing his now usual pre-breakfast activity. Spike tried to do as good a job as he could, wanting to make it up to him. Lindsay came to a shuddering climax, roughly pulling Spike’s head in to him, his seed slipping down the vampire’s throat.


He left Spike’s gag in until he returned from having a shower. Lindsay watched the vampire carefully as he took it out.


“I know that you can understand me, whether you can respond or not,” he stated. “I can’t pretend that you didn’t scare the crap out of me last night.”


Spike looked at him as apologetically as his non-moving facial expression would allow.


“I…I…love you.” There, he’d said it. Lindsay stared at Spike intently.


“Oh, shite. Is this a good thing?” Spike wasn’t sure that it was.


“The manual says that an owner shouldn’t trust his vampire to do certain…er…sensitive acts unless backed up with the drugs. So I don’t think that I can kiss you until I feed you that stuff, okay?”


Not real worried about you kissing me at all, mate.


But as Spike thought it he felt a pang. The boy showing that he cared had been soothing to him, in a world where Spike had never thought he’d experience any real kindness again. He’d yearned to be loved; in all of his existence, he’d thrown his heart and soul, figuratively speaking - since he didn’t have one – into his relationships. But he’d never seen love aimed at him like he saw written on the boy’s face in front of him. Why hadn’t Drusilla ever looked at him like that? Was she still alive? Still free? Was she back with bleeding Angel?


Lindsay leaned down and tenderly kissed Spike’s cheek. “I’ve got to go. I’m going to shut you down today. It might help you to recover from the pain yesterday.” He pushed the shut-down button and Spike quickly folded himself in to position. Lindsay rested a hand on the vampire’s head for a moment before sighing and heading to college.


00000000000


They settled in to a routine over the next two weeks. To Spike’s relief but not surprise, after Lindsay’s declaration of love, he wasn’t punished for biting. Some things changed a little. Like, how each night Lindsay would order him to hold him and cuddle him as he slept, but he now had to wear a leather muzzle for the duration. It kept his mouth closed and covered. It was fairly soft, so Spike didn’t mind too much. It was put on when the, now nightly dose, of the love inspiring drug was given. Together, whilst Spike was firmly under its influence, they made love as lovers should; each giving the other pleasure.


In Spike’s case, all that he wanted was to be fucked by Lindsay in any position that he could bend in to. Lindsay occasionally sucked his little vampire’s cock; something that always made Spike feel like he’d burst with the love that he felt for Lindsay. Of course, once the drug wore off, Spike simply felt violated. He felt some affection for his owner, as he was certainly the kindest human that he’d encountered since being caught and put in the programme, but to have the boy’s cock, not to mention the various, but always bleeding enormous toys rammed in to his arse was just too much. He began to wish that he could just go insane – be blank – stop being aware. By using only the love inducing potion, Lindsay was, unwittingly, making life a little harder for Spike, because it did nothing to suppress the vampire’s memories once it had worn off. In fact, as Spike came down from his drug induced high, and he was fully and often painfully aware of what had occurred then all he wanted to do was die.

00000000000


One evening when Lindsay got home, he was in a very good mood; excited even. He carefully showered his vampire and dressed him in his black clothes that he’d freshly laundered the day before.


“You’ve got to look good tonight,” he babbled as he was seeing to Spike’s hair. He liked it best in soft curls and so he carefully tousled it as he blew it dry.


Why? Got a hot date have you, pet? Spike blinked a couple of times. Shite, did I just say pet? Maybe his owner was getting under his skin a little after all? No!


“My best friend is coming over. We’re going to have a few beers, watch a game on TV, and then I can show you off.”


Spike trembled a little for the first time since the day that he’d tried to bite.


God, is he gonna share me with his mate? Please, no.


“You’ll like him. He’s a great guy,” said Lindsay just before making sure that Spike looked comfortable and putting him on stand-by, as he heard the door-bell ring. “That’ll be him. See you later.”


Take your time. No rush. Spike closed his eyes and tried to made the images in his mind, of what might be in store for him, disappear.


000000000


Lindsay let his friend in, giving him a hug as he took the beers from him and put them in the refrigerator.


“Man, it’s good to see you. I missed you on my birthday,” said Lindsay as they walked in to the den.

“But you got what you wanted didn’t you?” His friend grinned at him. “I saw the order details on the computer when I got back. I’m glad that he got you Spike. He was leaning towards a stocky freckle-faced red head imaginatively called Rusty, but I knew that Spike would be just your type.”


“Shit, you told my dad what ‘type’ I’d like?” said Lindsay, eyes wide.


“Yeah, tell me you’re not glad that I did?” He laughed again and opened a beer. “So tell all! Taught it any new tricks yet?”


Lindsay glared at his friend. “Him, Warren. Call him Spike or him, not freaking it.”


Warren Mears was the same age as Lindsay but had been plucked out of high school to work on The Initiative, Inc.’s vampire programme. He’d been spotted after he’d made a robot girlfriend in his dad’s garage.


Warren held his hands up. “Sorry, Linds, it’s just habit. It’s against company policy to refer to them as anything other than it. But, trust me, I’ve seen him in action – I know Spike’s male.” Warren saw the scowl on his friend’s face deepen and he quickly added, “So was I right? Is he your type?”

Lindsay smiled. “Yeah, Warren; he’s my type all right.” He glanced at his watch. “Do you want to see him now? The game’s not due to start for a half hour.”


“Sure.” Warren was, in fact, curious to see one of the remote controlled vampires that he helped programme the software for, in a home environment.


The pair went upstairs to where Lindsay had left Spike. He pushed the button to bring the vampire out of stand-by.


“Spike, look at us,” said Lindsay.


Warren watched, fascinated, as Spike turned his head to face them. He had to admit that the vamp looked good in the clothes that Lindsay had dressed him in. The last time that he’d really worked on Spike, was to make sure that the scars on his back from when he was initially being broken in, didn’t show through the silicon coating. He’d help to match it to the vampire’s milky white skin tone.


Spike inhaled sharply and began to tremble when he saw Warren. He cast his eyes at Lindsay. The boy was going to have him staked after all. Suddenly, wanting to be dust didn’t seem to be such an appealing proposition. The thing is, all he really wanted was to be free.


“Christ, he recognises me,” said Warren. “Even after all this time. Wow.”


“Do you know why they tremble? He should have stopped doing it by now.”


Warren glanced at his friend. “It’s the only response that we’ve never been able to block. He’s probably afraid of me.”


“Afraid? Why?”


Warren guided his friend to sit on the bed, not failing to notice how Lindsay laid his hand on Spike’s knee and began to gently stroke it up and down. Warren sat opposite him on the chair to Lindsay’s computer desk.


“Um…how much do you actually know about vampires? And I don’t mean what you’ve read in the manual.”


“I don’t know, really,” said Lindsay, not wanting to show how ignorant of it all he was.


“Okay, short version. The Initiative catches vampires and then puts them through the programme before selling them as remote controlled toys.”


Spike pricked up his ears. He wondered what his sensitive owner would make of this.


“Catches?” said Lindsay weakly.


I was right; the daft git thinks we’re captive bred.


“Yes. Squads go out then bring them in. It can take as long as three years before they’re ready for sale or as little as six months, but they usually end up the most basic model.”


“S…so, Spike?”


“He was there for over three years; adapted beautifully in the end though. Took losing his voice harder than most; mind you, he did talk a lot.”


Lindsay’s hand stilled on Spike’s leg. “They can talk?” he whispered.


Warren nodded.


Christ, you are bleeding thick? ‘Course I could bleeding talk. Could do a lot of sodding things that I can’t now.

“But…how? Why? Er…” Lindsay was lost for words.


Warren shifted uncomfortably in his seat, not sure that he’d like his answer. He glanced at Spike before he spoke; the vampire was staring at him intensely.


“Um…well it helps to break them in. In conjunction with being made deaf, the fact that they can no longer speak or write, when we’ve seen to the hands, seems to make them accept the programming better.”


“And…and you do this?”


“Well, no. Not the voice thing…well, not just me…I mean…hell. Lindsay, I programme the chips in his head. I don’t put them there.” Warren leant back in his seat, feeling uncomfortable at being stared at by both his best friend and the vampire.


“But, don’t you think that it’s a bit cruel?”


A bit cruel? Spike would have vamped up if he could and taken the pain. What had been done to him was way, way beyond cruel.


“Lindsay,” said Warren patiently. “If they weren’t being used for this, they’d be exterminated instead of being caught. It’s better than death isn’t it?”


“Yeah,” replied Lindsay slowly.


Until Warren had walked in, Spike would have contradicted him, but now he thought that life, even this one, was better than death. Only just.


“Don’t forget that they’re killers if left loose. We can’t have them running free,” said Warren.


“I know…it’s just…oh, I don’t know.” Lindsay ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He glanced at Spike before looking back at Warren. “I just wish that he was human I suppose. I’d like to see him smile.”


Warren stared at his friend. “God, you’ve fallen for him haven’t you? Holy cow! You’re in love with your freaking vampire!”


Lindsay buried his head in his hands. “Freak being the operative word. I know it’s stupid, but I can’t help it. Something happened to show me how dumb it is but though I’ve tried, I just can’t get him out of my mind.”


Lindsay went on to tell Warren about what happened when he had Spike show his vampiric features.


“I just want him to behave –”

“Castration,” interrupted Warren. “Works every time!”


“What?”


What?


Warren reached over and pushed the shut down button on Spike’s controller. With the word ‘castration’ still ringing in his ears Spike dropped off the bed and in to position, the usual stab of pain hitting just before everything went black.


“Hey! What did you do that for? And castration? No fucking way.” Lindsay grabbed the control off him and was going to re-activate Spike, he hated seeing Spike all huddled up like that, but Warren stopped him.


“Leave him in shut down for now Lindsay. I’m sorry, I was only joking about the castration. God, if you could see your face! Mind you, it does work well if all else fails during training.” Warren grinned at his friend’s horrified expression.


Lindsay thumped Warren on his arm. “You asshole.”


“Least I’m not the asshole in love with his fucking toy!”


“Okay, okay. Point taken.” Lindsay groaned again. “What I was going to say was behave more like a…a…”


“Boyfriend?” supplied Warren helpfully.


“Yeah. I hate it when that drug wears off and he gets put in to stand-by. And since the thing with the blood, I’m afraid to just order him to kiss me in case he tried to bite me again.”


Warren leaned forwards and stared at Lindsay. “I could help you with that.”


Lindsay’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”


Warren grinned, a huge shit-eating grin. “How about I take him in and do some upgrades?”


“He’s got all the extras that he could come with.”


“I’m talking about things that The Initiative, Inc. doesn't offer to do.”


“Keep talking,” said Lindsay, resting a hand on Spike’s inert back.


“What if I made it so that the drug was in his system all the time? I’d have to stop him being able to vamp up as a precaution though.”


“I don’t care; he’s too damn ugly with the yellow eyes and the bumpy nose.”


Warren’s mind was racing. “I could put in a little safe guard to make sure that he can’t bite too. Maybe even get him talking…though I’m not sure that it’s possible…but I could give it a go?”


“What about smiling? Could you make it so that he can show expressions on his face?”


Warren nodded. “That’s an easy fix. The rest – not so much.”


“What will you have to do to him?” asked Lindsay curiously. Could Warren really do it? Could he make Spike like a real boy?


“Um...well, I’d have to re-site the feeding tube. The way the techs insert it deliberately messes with the vocal chords. The talking is also blocked by the chip so I’d have to re-programme that. It’s never been done as far as I know, so no promises okay?”


“Why do they make it that they can’t smile?”


Warren looked at his friend in astonishment. Was he really so innocent? Or just plain dumb?


“Most remote controlled vamps don’t have an awful lot to smile about, Linds.”


“Oh.” Lindsay’s face paled. “So should I not do it? I couldn’t take it if I couldn’t make him smile.”


“He’ll be stoned on the love juice; old Sparky will smile at you all the goddamn time.”


Lindsay sobered a little. It was all still going to be an illusion. The drugs would make Spike think that he loved him. Did he want that? Lindsay grinned. Who was he kidding – of course he wanted that. His little vampire all soft and compliant all the time; just living to please him.


“How long will you need him for?” he asked.


“A week, maybe nine days or so,” replied Warren, delighted that Lindsay was going to let him try out his experiments on Spike.


“That long?”


“Yeah, but when you get him back, you’ll be able to take him out and he’ll just act like a boyfriend.” Warren had achieved that with the robot, so he was sure that he could achieve most of it with Spike.

“So, when can you take him?” asked Lindsay. “I’d like it done before my folks get back if possible?”


“I can take him home with me tonight and into the labs with me tomorrow.”


“Will they allow you to work on him? You said that the stuff you’re going to do isn’t approved by them.”


“Don’t worry, Linds. No one goes into my lab or looks at what I do unless I give permission. One of the best deals I made with them when I started work there.” Warren grinned. “They were so desperate to get me to work for them that they pretty well agreed to anything that I wanted, and that includes any research that I want to do.”


“Modesty, it’s always been your worse fault,” joked Lindsay. “So, what did they have you doing that made you miss my birthday?”


“I had to go over to LA to the labs there, and work on a vampire that they wanted to coat prior to putting in the catalogue. He had a large tattoo on his shoulder, and they’re not allowed to be marked in any way. Man, he was a big one. Made me laugh because they told me his name was Angel. Seemed such a girly name for a big butch looking vamp. Did some of my best work on him. You’d never tell he’d had one from looking at him now. It’s brilliant stuff that coating.”

“Wow,” said Lindsay, suitably impressed. “Shit, we’re going to miss the game.” He ran his hand over Spike’s hair and then left with Warren to go to the den.


Warren helped Lindsay crate up Spike for transport. He’d insisted on just pushing Spike in to the crate and carrying him downstairs, rather than re-activating him. Not wanting to see Lindsay deal with the hard on that the vamp got after shut down. Between them they managed to carry him downstairs and out to the car.


Lindsay waved to Warren as he pulled out of his driveway, the crate in the back of the old beat up station-wagon that Warren drove, despite having more than enough to get a brand new model. Lindsay was worried for his little vampire. Had he done the right thing?