Oncoming Train

Perched on the headstone of one Edna B. Stockin, Xander idly drummed his feet as he watched his lover light his sixth cigarette for the night. He checked his watch to be sure, but Spike was ahead of schedule on his nicotine intake, a sure sign of something being wrong in Spikeville. They were taking a break while Buffybot dealt with the last of fledglings they’d found, but Spike’s furious pacing was starting to give him a headache. For some inexplicable reason, he reminded Xander of Wiley E. Coyote, and the teenager angrily shook his head to dispel the image of his lover with a bushy tail. He wasn’t dating Oz after all.

That thought sent him off on a different tangent, one possibly more bizarre than the last, as he fantasized himself between the sheets with Dogboy. What would he do with the tail? Was it very bendy? Would he have to fight to be top and would they always have to do it doggy style? Inquiring minds and all that, and he snorted a laugh as he pictured getting slapped in the face with Oz’s tail as they both howled completion.

Spike glanced over at the odd noise, scarred eyebrow hiking questioningly. “Just imagining how sex with Oz would work,” Xander chuckled, holding out a beckoning hand the vampire immediately latched onto.

Tossing the last of his cigarette, Spike maneuvered himself between jean clad legs. “That’d be a ride, wouldn’t it? But what would ya do with the tail?”

Long fingers carded his hair as Xander wrapped his arms around the slender waist and buried his nose into the tee-shirt covered stomach. He could feel his baby’s purr and he remembered two of the many things he loved about his Spikey: die-hard cuddler and just as kinky. “Yeah, and do you think you’d have to muzzle him?”

“Wouldn’t let him go down on me, that’s for sure.” Spike quipped, eliciting a shudder from his boyfriend.

“Ouch.” His hands drifted south. “Ouch!” Knocked backwards by vampiric strength, Xander hit the manicured ground hard, breath whooshing out of him. “What the ‘ell?” he wheezed, surprised at the sudden violence that’d left him ass on the grass and legs in the air. His baby tended to have a little more finesse than that.

Then he heard a sharp grunt of pain and tilted his feet on the headstone to see Spike fighting off three butt ugly demons. Hulking, leather wearing butt ugly demons. Cursing, Xander tried to right himself, scrambling for his breath and a weapon, unaware of the fourth demon that slipped past the vampire and honed in on the easier looking prey.

Knife in hand, the teenager leapt to his feet, only to be brought up short by the demon towering over him. “Whoa, Nelly!” he blurted, stumbling back as the thing snarled, baring several rows of shiny teeth. A demon with good hygiene. What were the chances he was going to be gruesomely dismembered by a demon who regularly visited his dentist? Instant mental picture of his dentist from kindergarten, Dr. Workowski, scraping away on Ugly’s molars, pulling out a bit of bone and commenting, “Seems you had a bit of Xander back there, young man. Now what did I tell you about flossing?” Note to self: life sucked and he really needed to learn that whole focusing thing.

The demon stretched to its full height, an impressive eight feet, then teetered forward. Confused, Xander scrambled out of the way as the creature thudded to the ground, a heavy reverberating groan and a wet, schlicking noise accompanying the fall. Over the demon body, Riley gave Xander a small smile, saddened eyes warming briefly. He tossed the brunette a long handled ax before he leapt the tombstone to engage another demon, long sword flecking the ground with green blood as it swung.

More demons were appearing, over a dozen, forcing Xander to abandon the moment needed to re-capture his bearings. Gripping the ax in one hand, dagger in the other, he ran to back-up his lover, spotting Angel as the older vampire stalked between the headstones. He looked to be headed in Riley’s direction, a matching sword in hand. A dusty Buffybot was grimly engaging the new threat, leaving himself as the only Scooby not with the program. Stupid thought and he shook it off as he came up behind a demon, thrusting the dagger into where a kidney should be. Riley lesson number 5: mental state was everything. If he thought himself useless, he acted it. The thing howled in pain and wrenched free, spinning to face its attacker. Using its own momentum against it, Xander sliced its throat and moved to the next kill.

Training with Spike and Riley certainly had improved his fighting skills. With no Slayer around as an excuse to cower, he’d had to learn to fight for himself. His two blondes were ruthless, experienced dirty fighters, whose various styles actually meshed rather well when it came to instructing the Scooby Gang. It sometimes pissed him off, all those years watching Buffy’s back and Giles had never bothered to teach them how to really fight beyond the fumbling basics of staking vampires.

Maybe the Watcher had held some hope of preserving their innocence. A foolish idea for anyone living on the Hellmouth, let alone the Slayer’s friends. If they had, however, somehow miraculously retained any shreds of blessed ignorance, Spike and Riley had quickly seen an end to it. Even Dawn was learning.

Spike’s eyes cut to the side, acknowledging him. The vampire was in gameface, his usual playful grin absent, a sure sign he wasn’t enjoying himself. Unheard of, since the petite blond loved any excuse to inflict pain and mayhem. Xander promised to get his baby into a corner later and have the truth out of him.

The demons were a dark blue in color, covered in a thick matted fur but for twin bone ridges that ran the length on their skulls. Xander catalogued every feature he could see, trying to figure out exactly what had attacked them. Years of reading Giles’ texts came to the fore as he considered and dismissed species, ducking and slashing, his mind only partially engaged with the battle around him.

They were holding their own when a demon got a lucky swipe past Buffybot’s defense, ripping through her shirt, silicone skin, and to the circuitry beneath. Sparks sprayed the air and the demons surrounding her fell back, frightened and confused. Across the cemetery, fighting slowed to a stop as the demons all turned to stare at the Slayer android. Next to him, Spike cursed loudly, and Xander clapped a hand over his mouth, dragging him closer to Buffybot.

Looking down at her chest, Buffybot frowned and exclaimed, “Gosh darn it! Look at what you did! Now I have to go back to Willow for repairs.”

“Mmmghff!”

Xander felt like smacking his head into the nearest tree. //Thank you, God, ‘cause ya know, I needed another thing to go wrong. My life just wasn’t deep enough into the shitter.// Spike was trying to bite his hand and none of the demons were moving, like they had some kind of hive mentality, and the light went off in Xander’s head. //Of course, Frenkhin demons. They’re drones. They kidnap anything breathing to feed their queen. Most of them are mindless, led by soldier drones. Wow, osmosis really does work.//

Not sure how the whole drone thing worked, he buried his ax into the chest of the nearest Frenkhin. The demon fell without protest and the teenager grinned. Spike was wiggling fiercely against him, eyes glued on the demon he’d just killed, so he let him go after a quick kiss. “Bloomin’ ‘ell, what’s wrong with ‘em?” the vampire breathed against his mouth.

“They’re Frenkhin drones. Don’t think about it, just kill as many as you can.” Another press of lips and he passed over his dagger before moving to the next spellbound demon. Buffybot was definitely in need of repair, walking repeatedly into a headstone, but Xander ignored her for the moment, eyes searching for the other two men. Back to back, Riley and Angel were tensely watching the demons about them, obviously unnerved. Catching the ex-Marine’s eye, Xander demonstrated their unique advantage on another Frenkhin. Riley’s eyes went wide and he turned to whisper in Angel’s ear. The vampire shrugged and ran his sword through a handy immobilized demon.

Within feet of Buffybot, Xander saw one of the demon’s turn to look at him. Oh shit. Suddenly the spell broke as a nasal female voice echoed out of the demon. “Destroy the construct! Bring sustenance!” Movement exploded all around him, and the teenager found himself surrounded, Spike no longer in sight. He held them off with the ax, but he was on open ground with no one at his back. Did they need their food alive?

A demon to his left fell and Angel was there, Spike behind him. Less than a dozen left and that number quickly fell. The Frenkhin were not very skilled, relying on their numbers to subdue their prey. They fought till the last one fell, and somehow Xander found the whole thing kinda sad and pathetic. At least vampires could run.

Fight over, Xander dropped to the grass, breathing hard and everything aching. Spike followed him down, but Angel was searching and Xander realized for who. “Where’s Riley?” he gasped, struggling back to his feet. Fuck, how could he have lost sight of Riley?

“Here.” And the blond appeared from behind a mausoleum, dragging Buffybot behind him. “She was wandering off. I think she really fried something this time.” The android’s eyes were static and Xander plopped back down with a sigh. “At least we killed everyone who saw.”

Angel’s sword thudded into the turf near Xander’s feet. Shaking his head, he watched the vampire grab Riley and roughly check him for injuries. Ah, young love. “Not everyone. Frenkhin are controlled by a queen. She saw. The gig may very well be up.”

“Bound to happen eventually,” Spike muttered, hunching over a fresh cigarette. Successful, he took a steadying drag, then glanced up at his sire. “How’d you two know to be here anyhow? The May Queen have a pain flash?”

“No,” Angel growled, “Riley did.”

And Xander had nothing to say to that.
***
TBC.