Dark Soul

Buffy rushed Xander quickly and knocked him off balance by slamming her right fist into his left cheek. He stumbled back and she took the opportunity to kick his legs out from under him.

Xander hissed in pain and stood just in time to grab the slayers wrist before her fist came in contact with his face again.

She tried to free her hand but was unable. Clasping the stake tightly in her other hand she aimed it directly at the vampires heart and lunged foward. But the stake was grabbed inches from the vampires chest and he threw her up against the wall – pinning her with the full weight of his body.

With the slayer immobile Xander took in her scent. He had always heard slayer blood made vampires powerful, and he decided that he should find out if that was true. He smiled and leaned in to bite her, only to be caught off guard when she slammed her head against his.

Buffy continued to slam her forehead into the vampires, trying to weaken his hold on her. But he didn't budge, he stood still and took the blows.

Scarlet red blood covered Xander's eyes and he could barely make out the slayers figure as her head slammed into his continuously . With a roar he flung them both to the floor where they struggled against each other and tried to fight for the top position. They rolled until the slayer had gained the upper hand and laid above him, straddling his waist.

"Time to end this," she said coldly and raised the stake in her hand high above his chest.

Xander's eyes widened. He wasn't going to let this bitch, this slayer, kill him. Not when there was so much on the line. With all the strength he had left in him he managed to buck his hips up and bounce her a few inches off of him. It gave him enough room to punch her directly in the chest, knocking her a few feet through the threshold of her room.

He got up and charged the doorway. Only he forgot that he didn't have an invite. He pounded and thrashed the barrier once again, trying to get in.

Buffy shook her head and stood, ready to step back out into hallway and finish her fight. But her attention was averted by the vampire on the bed, who was thrashing and screaming. She turned around and heard him chant the name 'Xander'. Then it clicked, and she turned her attention back to the crazy vampire at her door, at least the place where her door used to be.

"Wait! You're Xander?" she asked. But the vampire wasn't in the mood for listening. He stood there snarling at her, rage consuming his entire being.

Her features softened and she sighed, "You can come in."

With the barrier down Xander rushed inside and tackled the slayer to the ground. They rolled on the floor until she was above him again, straddling his waist, pounding her fists furiously into his ribcage.

He couldn't fight back, so he took the abuse.

It was over. He lost. All he could do was concentrate on the pain.

Moments later the slayer stopped punching into him and stared into his yellow eyes. "You going to behave now," she asked.

It took a moment for him to register that she had stopped pounding him into the ground.

He stared at her, surprised by her actions. She wasn't going to kill him? What the hell was going on? When he took a few moments to think over the last few minutes he realized that she had invited him in, she wasn't hostile at all. Well, except for when he had tackled her to the ground. But she had called him by his name.

"Well?" she quirked an eyebrow. He stared at her dumbfounded. She became irritated and slapped him across the face. But the vampire still did not speak.

"Hello!"

Xander continued to stare at her in wonder. A slayer, the slayer, wasn't going to kill him. A vampire. She won and she wasn't going to jab a stake through his heart. It didn't add up.

Again, she slapped him across the face. He looked at her questioningly and realized she wanted a reaction. He simply nodded his head, he didn't trust himself to speak.

She stood and offered her hand to him. He hesistated, not sure he could trust her. But if she hadn't killed him yet, chances were she wasn't going to kill him now. He took the offered hand and stood. His yellow eyes met hers and a cold chill went down his spine.

She had the coldest stare he'd ever seen, but for some reason she was holding back. He didn't know exactly why, but he could tell she was trying to keep her emotions under control. The added clenching and unclenching of her fists was also another obvious sign.

"Xander! Xander!" Puppy screamed from the bed.

Coming out of his shock, Xander looked past the slayer and stared at Puppy. The vampire must had been calling to him during the whole fight. His anger returned and he glared at the slayer. He growled in anger before he punched her across the face and rushed to Puppy's side.

"I guess I'll let that slide." Buffy rubbed her hand over her aching cheek as she turned and stared in curiosity at the two vampires on her bed.

Xander was hunched over Puppy's body , rubbing his right hand over the elder vampires face. He needed reassurance that this was real. That Puppy was in front of him, that Puppy was there.

Tears fell freely from Puppy's face and he calmed his body. He stared at the younger vampire and sighed."You came."

Xander cupped Puppy's cheek and wiped away the vampires tears with his thumb. "Of course. I'll always come for you, no matter what," he said softly.

Xander froze when Puppy closed his eyes and leaned into his caress. It wasn't that Puppy leaned into his hand that surprised him. It was that Puppy was purring. Purring was the one sign that a vampire was happy, at peace. His presence has caused peace in Puppy. His lips curved into a triumphant smile and he felt that if he died at that very second, he would die happy.

"Well this is touching and everything... But now that we have all said are hellos, I want some answers."

Xander turned his head and growled at the slayer. He just wanted to be left alone with Puppy, and she had to go and ruin his moment.

She stood with her arms crossed over chest and waited for Xander to speak. "Well?... Kinda waiting," she said impatiently.

The sight of her, her arrogance, rubbed Xander in all the wrong ways. She was cocky. But he guessed she could afford to be. At least now, after she had just beaten him.

He shifted back into human guise and glared at her. "Before I answer any of your fucking questions, I want my own answered," he snarled, voice raising with each word spoken.

"Hey! Language. God," she rolled her eyes, " you vampires lack class. How would your mother feel if she heard you talk like that?"

"Don't suppose she'd hear anything lying six feet in the ground."

Her face scrunched in absolute disgust -- he smiled. So the slayer had her soft spots. Nice to see she wasn't made completely of stone.

She uncrossed her arms and buried her face in her hands. "I thought you had a soul," she groaned into her palms.

Xander's jaw dropped and he stared at her with wide eyes. "What?... How do you?... How do you know I have a soul?"

She took her hands away from her face and stared at him as if he were stupid.

"Angel told me you had one."

Xander groaned in frustration. There were so many things that needed to be asked. So many things that needed to be answered. But all he felt was frustration.

"Who the hell is Angel?"

She looked at him dumbfounded for a long moment. Her eyes widened, lips curved into a smile, and she laughed. "Oh my god!" she chuckled.

Xander stared at her, completely lost, he didn't know what was going on. Apparently she thought the look on his face was hilarious as she continued to laugh.

"You gotta be kidding me. You can't be... You can't be Xander. You don't even know his name... Are you sure he's this Xander Angel?"

Her gaze shifted away from Xander and he realized that she wasn't talking to him. She was talking to Puppy.

"Angel?..." she asked. But Puppy didn't respond, the vampire was too busy purring softly against Xander's hand.

"Angel," she raised her voice. But the vampire refused to respond.

Xander's gaze shifted between her and Puppy, and he decided that he was sick of her presence. She needed to leave. He just wanted to be alone with Puppy, it had been so long, and he looked forward to finally relaxing.

"Angel," she said sternly.

"Why do you keep calling him that?" Xander growled. "And why is he in these chains? If you're so damn... I don't know... What the hell is wrong with you anyway?"

"What's wrong with me? Hello... I'm not the vampire with a soul," she scoffed."And FYI, he asked me to put him in those. So you can just take your accusations and shove them..."

"Stop!" he growled. This conversation was going nowhere and he really didn't care why Puppy was in the chains, just that he got out of them.

His voice evened out and he spoke calmly." Can you please... " He sighed and used his free hand to rattle the chains around Puppy's waist. He didn't like seeing Puppy in chains -- it hurt. It reminded him of everything he promised to keep the vampire away from, and seeing him in chains only served as proof that he had failed. Failed his Puppy. "Just, give me the keys so I can get him out of these things. Then... just go."

Buffy's eyes shifted between the two. Not really sure she could break them up she sighed. "Fine!" she huffed and went to her closet and grabbed a small key for the shackles and chains.

When she finished staring holes through Xander she grabbed his free hand and placed the key in his grasp.

"Here!"

Xander was just about to thank her when she grabbed his shoulder and squeezed hard.

"I'm warning you... Try anything and you meet the business end of Mr. Pointy. Got it?"

He understood the threat and nodded. If this had been any other situation he would snapped at her, told her off. But he slumped his shoulders in defeat. He didn't feel like fighting anymore, there was no point. Besides, he had what he wanted.

"OK," she smiled at him. "Want some blood? I have some downstairs. I can go warm some up for you and Angel."

He quirked a questioning brow. "You... You the slayer... Have blood?"

She removed her hand from his shoulder and folded both arms behind her head. "Yeah I do. A little weird right?" She flashed another smile and walked toward the doorway.

"I don't want to scare you... but... I don't slay all the vampires. Some I capture. And you'd be surprised how willing they are to talk when offered blood. Especially if they haven't had a drop in weeks... Oh yeah, and have had several limbs hacked off."

Was she always this... arrogant? He could feel her smile as she walked out of the room. From the tone in her voice he could also tell she got some kind of pleasure from torturing vampires. It was identical to the one Willow used when she talked about Puppy. The thought sent a shiver down his spine.

The Master had told him about slayers, and from what he heard slayers were the 'kill now ask questions later' type. So why was she torturing vampires? He was glad that him and Puppy were still alive, but his logic told him that they both should be dead. It was her job to kill them, but here they were. Being offered blood no less.

With Buffy gone Xander made quick work of the chains and threw them across the room. He hated chains.

The second the chains came off Puppy threw his arms around Xander's waist and buried his head in the younger vampires chest. Xander sighed and relaxed as Puppy squeezed him tightly. They laid on their sides, it was a bit uncomfortable, but he didn't mind.

He wanted to talk to Puppy, there were just so many things which needed to be said, needed to be shown. But he couldn't bring himself to disturb the elder vampire.

Puppy stiffened against Xander and sniffed up and down the vampires chest. It was Puppy's way of testing him, Puppy's way of making sure that he was real. He had to hold back a moan when Puppy buried his head in the hollow of his shoulder and licked his skin – tasting the blood from the fight.

Xander felt himself become erect when Puppy purred loudly, vibrating against his body. Soon Puppy went limp and relaxed against him.

Xander wrapped his hands around the elder vampire and gently kissed the top of the his head. He ignored his erection and willed it away, they both needed the silence.

They stayed wrapped around each other for a few minutes before Puppy rolled them so that he was on top of Xander.

"You're not going to take me back are you?" Puppy mumbled into younger vampires chest.

Xander shook his head.

It was just... nice, to be laying here with Puppy, and he had wanted to lose himself in the older vampire and forget everything for a while. But it was time for them to talk. They had only been together a day when Puppy left him. And he would be damned if he let Puppy out of his sight again without telling him how he felt. Which wasn't going to be easy.

'You lied'... ' You're a liar'...

"Puppy..." Xander closed his eyes and concentrated. This was going to be difficult. All he could think about was Puppy telling him about how he had lied, and he couldn't help but think maybe he had. He lied about being able to protect him. He lied when he said he'd keep all the evil's of the world from Puppy. He was a liar.

"Puppy... I'm sorry... I'm sorry for what I did, for not protecting you. I'm sorry for... I'm just sorry. I'd never take you back to that place. I'd rather die than let anyone hurt you. You just don't know how hard it's been without you. But I'm not lying about taking you back. I'd never do it."

Puppy purred softly against his chest. "Thank you," he whispered.

"Puppy," Xander asked. "Puppy can you look at me?" The older vampire ignored his request and squeezed him tightly. If he had been human he was sure Puppy would have snapped him in half. It was like he was trying to mold them into a single being.

Frustrating was the only word he could come up with for the situation.

Puppy made him feel things that he was sure wasn't natural. He was a vampire. A vampire with a soul, but still, he was a vampire. He wasn't suppose to have feelings for anyone, or anything. There was only suppose to be Willow, his love forever. But Puppy... Puppy... He didn't know.

"Fine, you don't have to look at me," he sighed. "But... What happened to you? Why did you run away?"

That one question had plagued his mind for the past two weeks. Why would Puppy leave him? He played it over and over in his head, but it hurt more every time recalled that night. Maybe it was his punishment for what he had done as a vampire, at least a small part of it. If Puppy was never able to completely trust him, if he couldn't have the vampire, he didn't know what he'd do.

"I don't want to go back," Puppy mumbled into his chest. "She told me... She told me that you'd pick her over me. That you'd take me back. I don't want to go back, and... and... Just, please don't take me back. Stay here."

Xander felt Puppy shiver in his arms. In response he held the elder vampire tighter. It was the only thing he could think of, the only comfort he could give.

"Puppy... You said... You said that it was my childe. Did you mean... Willow?" Puppy continued to shiver, and soon began to spasm, his body trembling. Xander felt his heart clench, and he felt terrible for having said what he did. Puppy wasn't ready to even hear that name. There was just no way he was going to be able to get him to recall any memories involving his Willow.

That tore his insides apart. He was... protective of Puppy. He wanted the vampire. But he could never bring himself to be angry with his own childe. With his Willow. Maybe that was the point. If it came down to it, and he had to choose between Puppy or Willow, he just might choose her.

But did he really feel that way? Was it just the soul that made him think twice? There shouldn't be a reason for him to want Puppy so much. At least not to the point were he'd hesitate to choose between the elder vampire and his Willow. Willow whom he loved more than anything on this Earth. It did, however, and ripped his insides to shreds.

Puppy continued to spasm and Xander clung tightly to the vampire. Things were so messed up, and he knew it would take a while, if ever, for it be right again. But now they had time. Maybe now he could let this grow, become more natural. Then maybe he'd finally be able to say he would choose Puppy over Willow. That he would be devoted to Puppy -- mind, heart, and soul.

"It's OK. I'm here," he whispered.

Eventually Puppy calmed down and relaxed in his embrace. Xander closed his eyes and buried his face in Puppy's thick brown hair – scenting the vampire. God, what Puppy did to him.

"Puppy, how did you know I'd come? Well, did you know I'd come?" Xander whispered into the elder vampires hair.

"Yes, I felt it." Puppy shut his eyes and relaxed against the younger vampires chest. He reached around and grabbed Xander's hand. He guided the hand towards his heart and intwined his fingers with the younger vampire. "I felt you in here."

"You could feel me?"

"Yes. That's how I knew you hadn't lied to me. I could feel you searching for me... And it hurt, you couldn't find me and it hurt inside... I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Puppy repeated as tears began to fill his eyes again. "I didn't mean to... Didn't mean to run... I was scared... I didn't want to go back. I just wanted the pain to stop."

Xander unwrapped his arms from the older vampire and grabbed hold of Puppy's face – forcing Puppy to stare him in the eyes. "And what about the slayer? Do you feel safe with her?"

Puppy tried not to look him in the eyes but Xander held firm. He needed know if the slayer was a threat. If she was keeping Puppy – both of them -- here as some kind of sick game. He remembered her conversation on the phone, remembered her cocky attitude and her pleasure filled tone when she talked about torturing vampires. If they weren't safe then they had to leave. He wouldn't let anything happen to Puppy. Not again.

"Tell me. * Please *. Do you feel safe with her?"

"I-I-I don't know. She's nice I guess. But I don't know."

"What don't you know? Just tell me."

"I don't know what safe is."

Xander stared at Puppy in shock. His arms dropped to his sides and Puppy's head fell unto his chest again. Xander couldn't move. He just stared off into space. This was too much for him.

"Please. I'm sorry... I didn't mean to make you angry." Puppy grabbed Xander's arms and tried to wrap them around his body. "I'm sorry. Please. I'm sorry. The slayer, she won't do anything. She won't. Please. I'm sorry."

"Did she hurt you?" Xander whispered.

Puppy continued to try and wrap Xander's arms around him. But the younger vampires arms kept falling to his side, but he kept trying.

"They all hurt me. That's all they ever do. But you said... You promised... You won't hurt me." Puppy stopped trying to get Xander to hold him and purred into the younger vampires chest, trying his best to put Xander at ease.

"That's not what I asked." Xander looked down and stared at Puppy, who continued purring against his chest. "Did she hurt you," he said sternly.

"When... When she knew what I was... She... Hit me... But she stopped, she stopped and she didn't hurt me anymore."

Xander growled and flipped Puppy over – pinning the elder vampire beneath him. "Is that were these bruises came from? Did she hurt you?" he snarled.

Puppy wrapped his arms and legs around Xander, trying to hold him close. "No. Those are from somewhere else. Those aren't from her."

Xander felt anger building up inside him again. So much had happened in these last two weeks that he had no control over. Not only had the slayer hurt his Puppy, but someone, or something else had too.

"Puppy look at me," he commanded. Puppy stared passed him and at the ceiling above their heads. Xander could feel Puppy trying to draw him in closer, but he didn't budge. He remained partially elevated above the vampire, staring at him.

"Look at me!" When the elder vampire complied and stared into his eyes he sighed. "The slayer, Buffy, she called you something. A name. What was it?"

Puppy shook his head. "No. It's nothing. You don't have to call me that if you don't want to. It's not important. I can still be your Puppy."

Xander's lips curved into a sad smile as he leaned down and kissed Puppy gently on the lips. "It is important... It's important to me. Now what was it?"

Puppy held him tightly and shut his eyes. "It was my name before I was Puppy. But you don't have to... It's just a name."

Xander wrapped his arms around Puppy and laid his head in the crook of the elder vampires shoulder, breathing him in. "Just tell me. I'll call you anything you want. What's your real name?"

"Angel."

TBC