Elderly Pets

Fic: Elderly Pets

Author: josie_h

Pairing: Spike/Xander

Rating: Mature Audiences (M/M sexual content! And themes)

***Warnings: D/s, Major character death, slavery***

It’s an AU!..... The Premise: A hundred and fifty years after the final battle with the Senior Partners… Demons rule the world. The luckier humans are pets…. Most are bred for food. Spike survived, and in the early days found Xander at an auction, purchased him and did what Spike does best…. Made the most of it.

Author’s Note: Don’t own the characters etc and bow down to their original creators Joss, et al., plus all the wonderful online writers who continue to give them life.

Part 7

Spike decided that he must have dozed off for a few minutes and his vampire senses told him that dawn was approaching…. He was waiting for the boys…. He desperately wanted the children around him right now… but…. desperately didn’t… He was still contemplating greeting the morning with his darling in his arms…. But they had agreed, and he had promised Xander…. He had given his word…. Given it years ago, and every day since, in word and deed. He would do his best for the children…. But it would be so much harder without Xan…. It was already *so* hard…..

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The decision to establish the Aurelian stud was not an easy one, but in the end, the course of action that seemed most sensible. They both knew Xander would die eventually. Xander did not want Spike to be alone.

Xander had never considered being turned and was never asked to by Spike since the ensouling of demons had been outlawed after one or two resistance actions while he was still in servitude as ‘Nanny’ in the earliest years of demon rule. Whole communities of suspected magic users had been killed, and all known records and crucial ingredients for the ensoulment spells had been destroyed. The African Demon Trials had suffered a similar fate, something that many felt was harsh as the frequency of ensoulments by that method was a grand total of one in all their recorded history. Yet it went ahead, deemed an unfortunate necessity.

Spike shared his greatest fear with his lover almost as soon as they were together… that a demon Xander might turn on him as his own ‘turned’ mother had. At the time he had been soulless yet his newly turned mother had rejected him. Now it would be worse, since it would be an ensouled vampire with an unsouled demon fledgling. It would be even more than likely that Xander’s Sire/Childe feelings would be over ridden and someone would end up dusted. Spike wouldn’t survive that, and Xander wouldn’t ‘be there’. Without possible ensoulment, Spike had agreed with his Pet wholeheartedly and they resolved to simply have as many years together as they could possibly manage. But longevity through regular exchange of blood at least gave the pair….. more time.

Xander loved children and had always wanted his own. And Spike’s greatest desire had always been to have ‘family’ around him to love, cherish and protect. The Victorian William had enjoyed the thought that he might one day be patriarch to a large brood, and the demon in William the Bloody had always desired the opportunity to extend ‘his own’, and the power a large household would bring foregoing it as he continued to care for the insane Drusilla. But he still he’d yearned, and he knew Xander could… but they both resisted, the world for humans was too harsh to consider it, but circumstances finally led them to share the joy of a family…. A very *big* family

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Daniel and John slipped into the Master’s bedroom in the early dawn, flanked by their handlers who seemed almost as upset as the boys. The men were free of all traditional fetters, chains or adornments in a simple, but no less profound, sign of the entire household’s respect for their Master, and for their dearly departed father.

They both dropped to their knees beside the bed and folded into a full ‘down’ positions, their matching sets of tears flowing silently onto the carpet. Seeing the still body of their father and Master’s extreme distress left them bereft and uncertain of how they should act in such circumstances. Sometimes their training of old was a blessing.

Spike registered the men entering the room…. Xander’s beautiful boys…. Their boys…..

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Close to fifty years after the demons taking control, the human population had been at a precariously low level. Maintaining breeding numbers required for food stock had proved so difficult in some areas, like Europe, that the balance in those regions had swung to breeding almost exclusively for domestic slaves and pets. It wasn’t a welcome trend for some in the demon community, but was strictly enforced after the shift of power in the International Federation, the flow-on effect of tight regulations on breeding and deliberate trading restrictions. Ever tightening laws regarding public slave behavior, and fashion trends did the rest.

Consequently, most demons in the middle and upper classes tried to have one or two human pets. Though exotic looking humans like those from Africa or India had been a ‘thing’ for a while, in most realms there was considered to be an ‘inconsistency’ in the product with frequent scandals regarding ‘true bloodlines’, and lack of ‘guaranteed of satisfaction’ from even the best in those regions, finally shutting the trade down to a trickle. Most demons simply put up with the varied quality as supply tightened. But when the rich and powerful wanted a status symbol, it was always a prize personal pet from the specialized studs in southern Europe.

Xander had just turned seventy. They both knew that for Spike to be influential in the politics of the day, and make any difference to human rights or slavery laws, he had to move in the right circles, and these days that meant being either breeder or trader, most particularly in the prize pet arena.

To ‘fit the mold’, Spike (and his ‘silent partner’) had resolved to purchase an enormous, rambling estate just outside Nice in France. He grumped and grumbled for months as he (or in truth Xander) supervised its gutting and renovation. In the end, every possible luxury was provided for when any children might arrive. Externally, the building was little changed (though that of course that only lasted fifteen years, after which a new wing became necessary), but the facilities provided for the future inhabitants included double and single adult accommodation with every suite boasting its own marble lined bathroom and elegant traditional balcony. There were fifty four bedrooms in total. In the East Wing, the ground floor housed a nursery, infirmary, and enormous play area; while the west, ‘tutor rooms’, kitchens and a dining hall, and of course the exercise facilities (including gym and heated pool) awaited the new residents.

The grounds were magnificent, sweeping hills and huge established trees, some formal gardens to the side surrounding an enormous ornate waterfall, a long sweeping gravel driveway lined by poplar trees. To Spike’s delight there was a hedge maze and Spike insisted that they also build a ‘secret’ garden right beside the nursery, just for the children (eventually boasting a few ‘free range’ bunnies bouncing around the walled space). The household market garden was a little further from the house and boasted fruit trees and all manner of herbs and vegetables. Xander discovered that Spike had always adored berry fruits, and never ceased to tease the vampire of his obsession with red things as he returned with rosy, stained lips after summertime midnight wanderings that were allegedly to “just check things are OK”.

They kept a few of their own sheep (largely for the children’s amusement, though Spike enjoyed very fresh Cheviot blood on occasion) and eventually also had chickens and ducks for the fresh eggs and the delight gained by their youngest children when given the task of ‘collecting them’.

The central section of the Chateau housed Xander and Spike’s quarters on the second floor while downstairs was for formal entertaining and only used when ‘guest’s were present, or for very private family ‘happy to you’(s). The, at that time, three year old (‘I’m-the-eldest-by-two-days’) daughter, had inadvertently renamed all consequent birthdays and celebrations for the family, as she ushered her father and Master in for *her* particular party that year.

The ‘theatre’ had been built by annexing a third of the original cellar, and furnished with the latest speakers, enormous screen and massive comfortable chairs and modular lounges (the latter much appreciated in ‘adult only viewings’) It was definitely the Master’s favourite room and was always kept up to date with the latest technology.

For all Spike’s complaints about the French culture and nancy boy French demons (complete with as occasional heart felt quoted insults that Xander was certain came from an ancient human television series called ‘Black Adder’, as he referred to the French generically as ‘Weeds and whoopsies and Big girls blouses” ) Xander knew better his Master loved the place. And spoke the native human language perfectly.

Chateau Aurelius was established just in time for the children to populate it. Xander had been close to seventy one years old the year his children were borne.

On the day of delivery of the children he had the pleasure at taking the impressed owner and five mothers with handlers in tow, around the home where their children would be grow up, was only tempered by Spike and Xander wishing that the mothers could come too. But despite Spike’s influence it could not be done, the owner simply would not part with his breeding stock.

Spike recalled that first day and the look on Xander’s face as he held one of the minute daughters, only one week old. The wonder in his face as a tiny hand wrapped around his Pet’s thumb was simply marvelous. This was followed by years of shared delight as they watched the children learn to walk, talk and thrive…. They were Spike’s children just as much as Xander’s.

In the initiating of Xander’s ‘line’ and the establishment of the ‘stud’, Xander and Spike had made many errors, but two were always regretted. The first had occurred at the very beginning. They had resolved to keep all Xander’s children, the number of thirteen had been the reported successful impregnations of the five women chosen, but it seemed that his seed was potent and they did not ensure all remaining sperm was destroyed after the initial 'round'. It was consequently used to sire a further seventy four children after the initial batch. Spike litigated against the breeder but it was of little use. They kept note of as many as they could, and over the ensuing years Spike had spent a fortune tracking down the ‘others’. Sadly many had been dead long before he was able to make contact. Seven still remained unaccounted for, but the lucky ‘found few’ Spike ensured were moved to known ‘liberal’ households. It was simply impossible by that stage (nearly twenty years after the fact) to negotiate and bring them all home.

But conditions for humans the world over had continued to deteriorate.

Xander’s thirteen children were cherished and spoilt, though still technically human pets. They were educated in the classics by demon tutors and trained in social etiquette according to the law. Sadly as the children approached puberty, both Spike and Xander realized that having their lovely brood was all well and good, but if Spike were ever to have an influence in demon politics or keep Xander and their children safe, then a full breeding program in some form or other was needed. The debate had raged between them for nearly ten years as the children approached an age where procreation was ‘expected’. As usual Xander was perhaps the more pragmatic of the pair.

A well bred personal pet was highly valued, and inevitably lived a rather spoiled and privileged life, albeit still in servitude. Spike initially refused, but Xander reasoned that their options were becoming more limited as the living restrictions for humans became harsher by the day. The need to temper some trends before the most extreme practices became international law, was critical with some experts even predicting the extinction of humans if nothing changed. That ‘tempering’ meant influential liberal thinkers like Spike needed to have the power to act.

Spike was now the oldest Master Vampire in Europe and last remaining of the original Aurelian line, but he had to involve himself in the International forums and at top levels. That meant being voted in as he had no ‘clan’ left and given that those demons owning and breeding prize pets were by far the most powerful individuals in the demon world and had a vested interest in the continued survival of humans, they were the ones to do it. For that Spike needed to be one of them. Both Xander and Spike reluctantly came to the same conclusion and the Master Vampire had eventually agreed for the sake of his Pet, his children and the ‘greater good’.

After that they contemplated numerous options… even the possibility of purchasing other progeny of the mothers who produced the original thirteen. But it was Xander who suggested their eventual solution after listening to endless meetings between Spike and breeder friends, the possibility of their own grandchildren. Spike and he both agreed, it could be contemplated only if and when the girls were happy to be mothers, and the boys fathers. Where possible permanent partners would be found and all their progeny would grow up on the estate and be educated before ‘moving on’. Xander’s offspring would only ever be ‘sold’ as prize pets to known liberal households that met Spike’s (and Xander’s) approval. They knew the children would inherit some of Xander’s longevity, and therefore long term considerations were critical. Any witches would be gifted with Master’s blood should it be judged necessary to strengthen their powers, they receive magical training and remain on the property until the treatment of wiccan sisters in the outside world improved.


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Both men reached out without lifting their heads and rested large warm hands on Spike’s pale cool form attempting to convey their distress, support, and loyalty as they witnessed and shared his grief in the one simple move. Spike sat up, releasing his grasp of Xander’s body for the first time since they arrived and dismissed the handlers with a wordless gesture. The boys were still kneeling as was custom but Spike closed his fingers around the one each of the boys’ hands and pulled them to his own unbreathing chest and forced them to rise.
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