Stricken

Part Seven

Muscles tightening and bunching at the soft click of the lock, Xander waited only until Angel lifted it before throwing his body against the bars. The big man stumbled back, hand still on the lock, and the wolf sprung again, this time slamming the cage door open and knocking the vampire back against the wall.

The whirling chaotic buzz in his mind pushed back every thought, any thought, that wasn’t the need to get out, be out, out of the cage, from behind the bars. Out into the night, to the myriad of scents and tastes, the feel of the cold, biting wind through his fur, sending the sharp tang of coming winter through his nose.

Still, niggling at him from deep in the overpowering urge to get away, was the strange and confounding desire to be near the vampire, the large, hulking demon-human that seemed to somehow have a presence in his mind.

Bursting past the fallen being, he bolted towards the steps, distantly remembering that there was only one way out of the big underground room they were in and it involved going up those stairs. He had gone up two steps, nails clacking on the wood and startling him for a moment, before he heard the annoyed growl coming from back near that prison he couldn’t remember how he had gotten into. It pulled at him, drawing him back even though ever fiber of his being wanted up those steps, out the closed door, though he wasn’t quite sure how to get through it.

If climbing up the few steps he'd managed had been difficult, it was nothing compared to trying to back down them blindly, muscles tensing and trying to move forward but his mind shoving him backwards.

Stumbling clumsily, his innate grace lost in the fight of flee and be free or obey the silent order he could hear in that ongoing low growl coming from the one he remembered fighting and losing to earlier, he made his way off the stairs and back onto the soft carpet. Shaky legs content to be back on solid, flat ground, he tucked his tail low and edged his way over to the corner of the room, a low whine, barely audible, coming from his throat.

Confusion and frustration ate at him, twisting the whine into a sharp snarl as he ducked his muzzle lower towards the ground, flaring eyes flickering around the room, trying not to light on the man causing the annoying clash in his brain. Wasn’t sure why he felt compelled, didn’t want to be there, so close to the bars that had held him.

So close to the stronger, quicker being that could overpower him and force him down, make him submit.

His muscles quivered and tightened as the vampire knelt down near where he was crouching, hackles rising and the stiff hairs along his back standing sharply. Snapping his teeth as he made a quick, aborted lunge, he was disconcerted when the vampire did nothing more than softly talk to him. The sounds the man made weren’t familiar, though his throat recalled that he could make similar ones, when he wasn’t in the form he was in, but somehow they called to him, soothed him, made his snarl slip back into a soft whine.

As the man’s.. Angel’s, he remembered with a quick blink, big hand slowly approached, he startled and ducked away, but the vampire was persistent, following his downward movement and softly stroking down his neck. The gentle but firm strokes combined with the familiar safe smell of the man eased him, the quivering slowing and the chaos in his mind clearing until he could understand the words being spoken to him again, as he had earlier.

“-it. Yeah, that’s it, good.. uh.. boy. Good Xander. You know me, remember? Not gonna hurt you, unless you go attacking me again, but hey, that’s only fair, right?”

The closeness of the vampire, Angel, he reminded himself again, calmed him enough to where, when the flood of information and flickers of his past drenched his mind, he didn’t try to force it out like he had earlier but let it in, absorbed it. He knew he was Xander, that wasn’t something he ever forgot, but now he remembered being Xander, human and walking on his hind legs, talking, laughing, crying.

Growing up.

Still, it was detached, though, like watching the box with the fast moving pictures he remembered staring at for hours on end, vaguely, there but not important, not vital. It helped to understand what Angel was talking about when the vampire told him to stay put, he was going to find him something to eat, but it didn’t change the fact that what he really wanted was to chase something down for dinner, crunch it warm and breathing between his teeth and shake the life out of it.

Pacing, loping through the room and sniffing disinterestedly, he whined low and gave a high pitched yelp when he saw Angel open the door at the top of the stairs, a sliver of light framing him before he went through and closed it back with a firm thud. He didn’t want to be down there, at all, but he definitely didn’t want to be down there alone.

Growling in annoyance, he stalked in restless circles around the room, pacing alongside the small couch and huffing out a tense breath, his attention focused upstairs as his ears twitched, listening to the sounds Angel was making. A new sharp scent caught his attention after a moment, though, and he tilted his head.

It was a vaguely food smell but long dead. Still.. edging his way closer to the couch, he curled his lip back and breathed in again, the taste smell memory of seeing the man with this over and over playing behind his eyes.

Mischief danced briefly in his bright eyes as he caught it between his teeth.

***

“Xander! What the hell are you doing? No, drop it, bad! Bad dog! Wolf.. boy.. Oh hell, whatever, Bad!” Angel yelped, dropping the plate of raw steak onto the carpet, internally wincing at the thought of Cordelia harping over the stains it would leave.

Good mood vanished, he growled and reached forward, grabbing a handful of his leather jacket, expensive leather jacket, and yanking. The tug of war that resulted did little to improve his mood, the innocence that had been so taunting and clear in those big eyes at his first exclamation quickly evolving into the playful payback that had been hiding there as Xander growled back and hung on, clenching his jaws and digging his sharp teeth even harder into the black leather.

Muscles bunched and flexed under the sleek, thick black coat of the wolf as it dug all four feet into the carpet, shaking its head violently to try and dislodge his grip. Remembering what his father used to do with their old hunting dogs back when he was human, Angel rapped the knuckles of his free hand smartly across Xander’s muzzle. The wolf yelped and let go, resulting in a resounding crash as Angel stumbled backwards, colliding into the already broke down coffee table and falling onto his ass on the floor.

If it hadn’t been impossible, he would have sworn Xander was laughing at him, the wolf sitting back on its haunches and tilting its head, yellow-green eyes blinking lazily as it panted, tongue lolling slightly in the closest parody of a grin an animal other than a human could make.

As the wolf got bored with him and wandered over to the warmed meat slowly turning the carpet pink, curling its lip at the heady scent of blood, Angel cringed and slowly glanced down at the leather clutched tightly to his chest.

“Goddamn it. You are so going to pay for this, you mangy fleabag,” he muttered, scowling at the unremorseful lupine who was tearing into the meal he had so thoughtfully provided. “Ungrateful little..”

His growled out tirade stalled into mumbles when Xander left his half eaten steak to pad over, eyes blinking up at him as it butted into his raised knee with a warm, wet nose.

A warm, wet, blood and meat covered nose on his new slacks. Which made it all the more odd to him that the only thought in his mind at the moment was an ‘awww’.