Chronos' Puppet

++++Present Day++++


It happened so fast that Spike didn't realise that Xander had disappeared until the iris of
the portal had closed. His blood sang from combat, but crecendoed into a roar at the
loss. Without a pause in step he launched a right hook straight towards the masked
jawline. Triumph at a sure hit turned into near comical surprise as the stranger effectively
dodged the fist, turned, and delivered a counter blow to Spike's midsection with an
uppercut. The blonde dropped to his knees, gasping as though his undead lungs needed
the air.

This was it. Spike had finally met his match, and now he was going to die....again. Oddly,
his thoughts shifted to the whelp that had vanished minutes before. The boy was a
nuisance, a tick to be crushed at the first opportunity available but whatever evil force that
made the vampire rise each night whispered against doing so. Not even something so
simple as walking away from a fight and letting the bumbling Scooby to handle it alone.
And then there was the unnerving aspect of familiarity when Xander was allowed to relax
and not be the comic relief...

A pair of knees dropped to the ground in front of Spike, followed by the wrapping that
bound the fighter's head. The sudden shock of seeing the face behind the cloth caused the
vampire to lose his gameface.

"....Xander?"

"I haven't been called that name in over one hundred and twenty years, Will. But you're
close...try again."

"James." The brown haired vampire hadn't expected the venom with his name, or the lunge that
accompanied it. "You Bastard! You left me to die out there!" He was certain that Spike
wasn't going to go down until he was dust, or by other drastic means. The Vampire
flipped them over so that Spike was pinned beneath him, effectively trapped. Xander
always had the upperhand when it came to body weight alone, and now added to vampiric
strength it was an easy win.

"Will..." An answering buck from below nearly threw him off but he remained
unmoveable.

"You couldn't have your way with me, and you tossed me out like trash. Knocked me
out, bound me and left me for the rats to find."

"Will..."

"You didn't count on Dru finding me, did ya? Well, ol' Spikey's here now instead of that
ponce he used to be, and this time I'm the one that will be leaving you to die." Spike was
frothing, eyes blazing amber fire as he struggled under Xander's weight. Meanwhile, the
other vampire was getting a little tired of the self-pity spewing from the lips below him,
and effectively ended it by smashing his head into Spike's. "There. That should shut you
up for a moment." Xander sat up, relieved that the tirade had ceased as Spike wove in
and out of consciousness for the moment. "Spike...William...look at me."

The head below turned and blinked up at Xander, and the part of himself he had thought
long dead marvelled at the wreath the stars made about the dark hair. The former poet
almost laughed at the absurdity of it; his mind called for vengeance as his demon
acquiesced in something akin to submission to this asshole, and all the while 'William'
was coming up with sonnets. He saw the vampire above him speak but the words didn't
register completely...something about a loss of time...

Then there was pain. Fangs pierced his neck so quickly Spike never had the chance to
react to it. The angry flare from the bite quickly morphed into pleasure as the canines
eased their burrowing and a tongue began to lap eagerly at the spilling blood. The demon
howled it's joy, but Spike didn't catch on until he found the neck willingly offered to him
as Xander sprawled on top of him, telling him to drink. At the first drops of blood on his
tongue he could have gasped from the taste of it. He found his wrists have been released
and he clung desperately as he fed while a large hand held the back of his head, pressing
him securely to the gash he had created as he drank. When the wound closed and drew
away Spike moaned at the loss, tongue darting out to catch the last traces of blood on his
lips. He ceased moving, unaware that his hips had been driving upwards to meet the man
pressed against him, but the hardness that pushed against his own banished any denial of
it. Not that it mattered. He had never felt completion such as this, not even in the
embrace of his Dark Princess who had found him in the alley over a century ago. He felt
as though after all those years he had finally come home.

The purring above him increased, relaxing Spike as he nuzzled the hand that stroked his
cheek.

"Sire."

Xander was pleased with the outcome. He hadn't been completely sure that Drucilla had
usurped the initial claim he had on William as his Sire, but this was indeed proof that she
had not completely eradicated him from his childe's blood. The blonde beneath him
seemed almost in a trance-like state, the demon inside completely calm in the presence of
his maker, and Xander wanted nothing more then to stay there in the cemetery, unwilling
to break the moment. However, the Slayer would be close by if she thought her friends
were taking too long and Xander still had unfinished business with the other vampire.
"Will, I need to go. We can't have the Slayer finding me." He sat up, pulling Spike into a
seated position. Xander's fingers lingered momentarily on the other's arm as he tried to
meet his eyes. "I'm going to give you a choice to either come with me or stay behind. I'll
explain everything back at my safehouse, but if you decide to stay here you will never see
me again. I've risked so much to find you, waited so long..." he shook his head clear of
the overwhelming fatigue that had suddenly lashed his mind, threatening to break his
resolve to not just take him and be done with it.

"You may use different words, but you still babble like the Whelp I know." The haze had
cleared from his mind as he listened to Xander's voice, allowing him to pick the outcome
even before the other had finished speaking. "Look, if you really are the boy, and this
isn't some sort of Hellmouth fabrication to fuck me over, then you already know I wanna
get the hell out of this place." Spike stood, shaking the grass and dirt from his duster
before fishing for a cigarette in his pockets. "I've 'ad your blood...I would know if you
were trying something."

"Yeah...I don't doubt that." Xander grabbed the face bindings from the ground and tucked
them into his belt. Again, the same odd chanting breathed from his lips to call the portal
to open. Spike noticed the subtle change in hue and stepped back behind Xander as it fed
from his sire's body. "Ah, Xan? You sure you know what you're doing here, mate?"
Xander gave him a look, his eyebrow cocked as if to say 'you're joking, right?'

"Don't worry, Will. This gate will send us to a different place, not a different time." At
the increasingly unnerved expression on his childe's face, Xander offered his hand. "You
still coming?"

"What the Hell. Beats having to explain to Buffy why you're a time travelling vamp."
Taking Xander's hand, and ignoring the flare of anticipation in his gut (Christ, I'm not a
bloody schoolgirl!) he stepped through the 'gate' with his sire, Xander's laughter echoing
briefly among the stones before it faded with the wind.