Broken Revenge

-

"Vampire," Leshar said in a voice that made his distaste clear.

"Not interested in anythin' you have to say," Spike snarled as he started walking, and Xander rose to follow. However, Spike stopped almost immediately. Xander's hip chains bobbed awkwardly as he came to a halt and slid back down to his knees. From there he could see Leshar's legs right in front of Spike's legs, and Xander took deep breaths as he reminded himself that in a fair fight Spike would rip all of Leshar's skin off his body before letting him die.

The problem was the feeling of others watching. The sounds of construction petered off, and Xander could just imagine the demons gathering around them. Xander had more experience with demons than most people, and he didn't see demons being big with the fair fighting thing.

"Your beast attacked me, stabbed me. Since he is still an animal and not a half-breed like you, that demands punishment," Leshar insisted, and Xander had to struggle not to tremble at the word punishment: he just wasn't sure whether he was feeling terror or fury. "An animal cannot be allowed to get away with that behavior," Leshar announced loud enough for the gathering crowd to hear.

Xander listened as the normal background sounds faded as the demons around them quieted. Oh yeah, this was bad.

"My pet isn't any of your business," Spike stepped forward a half step, and Xander just kept still since Spike would need room to move if a fight broke out. Without his Solluna knives, he knew he wouldn't be much help in the middle of it. He had a brief image of himself trying to fight and keep his hips chains flowing at the same time, and really… this might be a sign he was approaching quietly hysterical.

"Misbehaving animals are the business of everyone at the show. Surely you know the rules." Leshar backed off a step, and Xander could see his former trainer's shoes move across his line of sight.

"You soddin' little wanker. You're about to--" Spike's words were cut off by a strangely whining voice yelling something in a language Xander didn't recognize.

"Not goin' to be talked to like that," Spike snapped back. Xander watched Leshar's legs retreat several steps more. The large tentacled thing that edged into Xander's vision made Xander want to back off himself, but he held position. He wasn't going to get out of this himself, so he had to trust Spike to fix this one. Xander tried really hard not to remember how all of Spike's pre-chip plans had worked out. Hell, most of Spike's post-chip plans had sucked monkey balls too.

The voice whined about something else, and this time Leshar answered.

"Yes, I do. That animal is violent and has attacked a handler." Xander focused on the line of the tiles in front of him as he realized that he was the topic of conversation.

"He's my property, and you can just get your hairy arse out of my business," Spike growled after another briefly whined inquiry.

"How dare y--" Leshar legs stepped forward fast enough that Xander was happy to be behind Spike, but the legs suddenly stopped a couple of feet away from Spike who had dropped back into a fighting stance with one foot braced behind the other.

"Enough!" The whiny voice shrieked in a tone that made Xander think of fingernails down a chalkboard. The world's biggest nails and the world's biggest chalkboard. Amplified. By about a hundred. He couldn't control the flinch at that tone of voice, and then he froze as he checked his form and pulled his back straight again.

"Charges have been made, leash the animal," the voice demanded in a tone that was only bone-gratingly annoying. Xander watched as Spike's back leg twitched nervously, but he wasn't surprised when Spike dropped the fighting stance and started digging in one of his duster pockets. They were surrounded by demons, and Spike might be a little manic but he wasn't stupid. Not even he would try to fight all these demons.

Soon Spike's hand appeared with a leash in hand, and Xander remained motionless as Spike attached the leash to the same link as his front decoration.

"I'm not havin' my pet punished for stabbin' you, that's for sure," Spike snarled, and Xander flinched mentally even if he didn't show it as he rose smoothly to his feet with the leash swaying between them as he trailed after his master. He was quickly revising his opinion on his Master's non-stupidness. Okay, maybe he wasn't stupid-type stupid, but he was big on the not keeping his mouth shut type stupid. Xander knew full well that the other demons would demand punishment for the stabbing no matter what Spike said.

Xander concentrated on swinging his hips in perfect time with the dangling hip chains. The motion made his ankle strap ring merrily, and Xander tried focusing on that rather than the whipping he was going to get. If he was lucky it would be a whipping. Xander tried to not think about the other options. Funny though, the more he tried to not think of other options, the more all those options kept crowding into his mind.

Even though Xander was well on his way to a full out panic attack, he lowered himself gracefully when Spike stopped again. Spike took a step back, and Xander would have adjusted himself; however, Spike's hand found his hair and long fingers held him in place with a simple caress.

"The full council is not here, so this will be an informal meeting. However, we need to decide if the animal is to be allowed at this show."

Xander's breathed a little easier. It sounded like the worst they would do is send him home. At least that thought was a comfort until Xander realized what that meant. No him, no finding the girl; no finding the girl, no finding his child. Suddenly Xander would rather endure a dozen whippings. Earlier he had worried about facing the girl, and now terror ran though him at the thought of not having the chance to face her. Spike's hand pulled him into a lean, and Xander took deep breaths as he tried to control his rising tide of fear and guilt and pain.

Xander didn't realize that he had missed another chunk of time until Spike tugged a lock of hair.

"Master?" he asked, his voice carrying that shaky edge-of-crying tone that he had hated as a child. It had had always made his father look at him with his bewildered sort of disgust like he was shocked that a child of *his* could be so babyish as to cry. And really… he wasn't fond of it now either.

"They asked you a question, pet," Spike said, and Xander trembled a bit as he realized he was screwing it all up. He couldn't get his brain to even engage enough to remember the question much less answer it.

"I..." he paused as he voice shook uncertainly. "I didn't hear, Master. I'm sorry," Xander whispered since he couldn't control his voice when he spoke louder. At one point he had thought having his voice squeak at unexpected times as it changed was embarrassing, but this trembling that made his throat tighten and strangled his syllables... this was even more embarrassing. At least he wasn't trying to babble and cry at the same time, Xander consoled himself.

"Inattentive," Leshar snapped harshly, and Xander didn't quite control his flinch. Spike's hand just started a soothing pattern of circles.

"Pet, are you being inattentive?"

"Yes, Master," Xander admitted, hating that all these demons were seeing his failure.

"Why?" Spike asked softly, and Xander really wished Spike would just wait on the public humiliation until they were alone. Not that it would be public then. But he really preferred private humiliation to public humiliation.

"Master, I don't want you... I'm making you look bad," Xander finished after a false start. "I'm sorry, Master." Xander's body trembled despite his best effort to keep form, but it was so hard to keep the body in form when he was leaning into that strong leg and feeling those slender fingers in his hair.

"S'all right, pet. The council here just asked why you stabbed him."

"You ordered me to, Master," Xander immediately answered.

"I demand that the vampire AND the slave be removed from the show at once. His willingness to..."

"Stop!" the fingernails down the chalkboard voice demanded in a high-pitched scream.

"What do you mean by ordering your slave to attack?" the voice challenged Spike, and Xander felt a tightening in his stomach that threatened to force his breakfast out.

"Oi, I... Pet, when did I tell you to stab Leshar?"

"When you gave me the knives," Xander said, and the hand in his hair had stopped petting and now held several curls firmly. Xander tried to focus on that day even while Spike communicated anger in the tightness of this grip and the small movements of Spike's leg and in the clipped words. "Master, you told me to stab anyone who tried to take me away again," Xander finished.

"You never… Leshar," Spike growled, his voice low and feral, and Xander could practically feel the shift as Spike's anger moved to the trainer. "Xander, tell me what happened." Xander thought back on that day with the smoke and the panic and Willow's blood on his hands.

"I was trying to get back to you. I knew you had gone farther in, and I was hiding and running. Leshar stopped me, grabbed me. He tried to pull me toward the exit, and I got scared," Xander also remembered getting angry, but he'd learned to not say some things. He was telling the truth about being scared though so none of the demons who could sense a human's lies would find anything in his reactions.

"I was trying to get the animal out of the fire," Leshar interrupted, and Xander didn't argue. He fell silent and waited for another question.

"I remember the vampire giving that order," a familiar voice rumbled, and Xander had the impression of something large moving behind him although he didn't turn to check. "It was right after the vampire killed Lirowaus for poaching."

"It's not poaching to take an animal away from a vampire," an unfamiliar voice called from the crowd.

"They'd given him passage into the auctions. The West Coasters sold a breeder to a vampire, so they can't then steal him back. Are we primitive beasts to steal from each other and show our weakness... our inability to earn for ourselves that which we covet?" Xander thought the feminine voice was familiar, and Xander suspected it was the blue demon, Calsha. "If Lirowaus wanted the animal, he should have bought him or challenged the vampire."

"Maybe we should challenge the vampire now," another voice called, and Xander focused on breathing as an angry mutter traveled through the crowd. Part of Xander wanted to have his knives in his hands so he could fight back, but another part was glad to be unarmed and leashed. If he wasn't, he knew he'd be doing something stupid right now. Monumentally stupid. Droopy Harris stupid.

"Oi, I'll take on any challenge," Spike shouted to the crowd, and Xander waited on the edge of panic to hear the response to that.

"I'll take you up on that, vampire." Xander nearly lost his balance as Spike spun around. "And when I'm done, you won't have to worry about someone taking your slave because you'll be a pile of dust that gets swept away into the trash." Xander focuses his eyes on the intersection of four tiles and his heart pounded nearly out of his chest.

"You're goin' ta be the one dyin', mate," Spike snarled, and Xander tried really hard to hang on as reality began to slip away from him in wisps of terror and panic.

That whine was back again, and Xander was really starting to resent the lack of English... he had enough trouble keeping track of what was going on without people talking in language he didn't know.

"He can just bloody wait here," Spike insisted angrily.

Whatever the other demon said, it didn't please Spike who offered only a growl at return.

"I'll take him," the feminine voice from the crowd offered, and now Xander saw the blue skinned demon who owned the huge slave. She stepped forward into the side of his vision, her slave missing from her side as she held out her hand. Spike stood motionless for a long moment, and Xander took furtive glances to the sides where demons watched with expressions that ranged from bloodthirsty to bored.

"Fine, but you keep him where I can see him," Spike finally handed over the end of the leash. Xander decided that he had already screwed up enough for one day, and so he shifted to kneel at Calsha's feet without complaint. Oh, he felt like complaining. He felt like complaining a lot. But instead of saying the many, many bad words that were currently crossing his mind, he slipped into a formal position kneel at Calsha's side.

"Pet, look at me," Spike said, and Xander looked up into the yellow eyes of his Master. "You watch me."

Since Spike had ordered him to watch, Xander kept his eyes focused on his Master as Spike strode across a large room to where some chairs stood against the wall. He shrugged out of his duster, catching it as it fell and tossing it onto one of the chairs before he turned around again.

Spike was still in game face, his ridges making shadows and his yellow eyes scanning the crowd. Calsha started walking toward another wall, and Xander stood and followed using his best form. When she stopped, he flowed to the floor, his hands tucked in behind his back and his head high so that he could watch his Master. Spike looked over at him and gave a crooked smile that Xander associated with sex and violence and mayhem. And when had mayhem gotten sexy? From the sudden painful tightness of his cock in the pouch, mayhem was very, very sexy.

A screeching noise came from the right, and Xander turned to look at the demon who had the world's most annoying voice. It could give Cordelia lessons on screeching. The thing looked vaguely like a flattened octopus with tentacles making up the lower half of its body. The fact that it had a sort of miniature humanish head stuck on the top just made it all the more disturbing.

"Just make sure the vampire follows the rules," another demon demanded in reply. Xander looked over, finally able to see the demon that would be fighting Spike. Calsha had skin that was a light shade of blue the Xander had to admit didn't look bad on a woman. The demon who wanted to fight Spike, however, had grayish-blue skin that made it look dead with huge mottled freckles-pimples things that varied from dark purple to sort of a greenish blue. It wasn't pretty. Then again, its mother probably loved it. The demon turned around and Xander got a good look up the widened, upturned nostrils, the sharp teeth, and the tight little horns held close to its head. Okay, even if he had given birth to the thing, Xander still wouldn't love anything that looked like that. Just ew.

"Only one rule here, Mate. Don't die. And I bloody well expect to follow that rule." Spike bounced on the balls of his feet as he paced a six foot section of the room. The blue demon snarled his frustration, and Xander returned his gaze to Spike.

As soon as he looked at his master, Spike looked back and winked.

"No helping the combatants, no calling a truce, winner takes the prize," freaky octopus dude declared. Xander didn't have to ask what the prize was.

"Enough bloody talking. Let's get on with this then." Everyone else seemed to agree with that because the center of the room was suddenly empty of all demons. Calsha even had to snarl at a gray skinned demon who tried standing in front of her as an audience formed in a squished-circle shape.

Spike started circling immediately, and Xander recognized the strategy. Spike's movements were slow and deliberate, intended to convince his enemy to ignore Spike's greatest advantage: his speed. The other guy kept pace with Spike, shifting from one large clawed foot to another as he prepared for an attack.

Spike's first attack was slow; he moved in and took a short jab before retreating. Xander struggled not to smile as he watched Spike toying with the demon. He had seen Spike use that same clumsy feign on any number of vampires, and they always fell for it. And then, once they saw Spike as slow and unimportant, then he would move in. Obviously this demon wasn't smarter than the average fledge.

The demon struck when Spike tried to make another circle around it, a huge law slashing through the air. Spike threw himself backwards his hands flying wide of his body so that he resembled a bird flying in reverse. And then Spike landed as gracefully as if he were a bird. Crouching slightly, he tilted his head as he looked at his opponent.

Xander expected the taunts to start now. Now that Spike knew how fast his enemy was and knew which hand his enemy used to attack, now Spike could have some fun. But the look of intense concentration didn't change on Spike's face. Spike snarled with yellowed eyes and lunged forward. When the demon brought his hands up to protect his face, Spike dropped into a crouch and swept the demon's legs with a solid kick.

The demon roared, and a number of monsters in the audience made answering noises: hisses and snarls and slurping sounds of disgust. Spike danced back again. The demon had half rolled to its side in an attempt to get back up when Spike landed a kick in its face.

The demon reached out and grabbed Spike by one leg, and Xander flinched as his Master went flying through the air. The demon tossed Spike like a rag doll into the wall where he slid down to the ground behind the line of watching demons. Oh yeah, that hurt. But when Spike pushed his way through the crowd, Xander couldn't see the pain in his expression. All Xander saw was the cold determination and even colder fury on Spike's face.

Spike launched himself at his opponent, his fist flying toward that wide nose. The demon brought his own hands up to defend his face, but at the last minute, Spike dodged to the left and slammed a foot into the side of the demon's leg. Stupid demon to fall for that twice, Xander decided. The thing had pretty well asked to get killed.

The audience grew still, and Xander had to remind himself to stay in form. The demon reached up, clawing at Spike, but his Master simply backed off leaving the demon on the floor. It supported its weight on its one good knee and one hand as he continued to follow Spike's circling movements with its eyes. Its second leg stuck awkwardly out to the side.

Spike dashed in and backhanded the demon across the face sending him collapsing onto his elbow before Spike retreated. Xander was shocked when the audience of demons cheered Spike's move. Spike's smirk grew wider as he began to torment the demon with a series of crippling hits. With every strike the audience grew more appreciative, clicking and howling and growling demands for blood. Xander knee-walked forward with Calsha who stepped forward as she cheered Spike to even greater violence. Xander watched in horror as the demon was reduced to raw flesh and seeping blood and bones that bent at impossible angles.

But despite his disgust, Xander kept his eyes on his Master as he'd been ordered. Spike brought his boot down one last time on the demon's head, and Xander could practically feel the moment when the monster died. Spike, bloodstained and gleeful, danced around the body once or twice to the sound of cheering demons before he turned towards Xander and Calsha. His eyebrows were lowered in his tongue pushing out on his lower lip and Xander knew that look. Despite the gore and his own disgust, he still couldn't resist that look.

"Come on, pet, got business in our room," Spike said as he retrieved his duster. Xander immediately stood and started toward his master, but when the leash tightened he stopped for a moment and looked back a Calsha. With a tilt of her head she dropped the lead so that the metal links fell against his chest and legs. Xander ducked his head submissively before returning to his Master's side.