Meet The Master

by
Michele

Part Two

"You don't think Giles seemed a little suspicious when I said you and I would take patrol tonight?"

"Of course he was suspicious. But if it got him out of doing it, he was willing to let it go. He knows there hasn't been much trouble lately." Spike held up his hand and cocked his head. "There's something just over there behind the crypt."

"Vampire?" Xander swung his pack off his shoulder and shoved his hand inside.

"Yeah, I think so. Just stay here and let me handle this, okay?"

"Why should…"

"Xander! I said I'd help you patrol since I might find something to kill, but I draw the line at killing my own kind for fun."

Xander watched Spike stalk away and disappear behind the crypt. He pulled out a stake and shifted from foot to foot in indecision. Just because they didn't stake Spike didn't mean that the rest of the vamps weren't supposed to be dust. Long minutes passed with Xander no closer to taking any action one way or the other. Soon, the sound of fighting helped clarify things for him.

Rounding the corner, Xander was just in time to see Spike rip the head off the vamp and watch it turn to dust. "I thought you weren’t going to…"

"Yeah, well, he pissed me off. We got another problem, too."

"What, more vamps?"

Spike nodded his head and dug through his pocket for a smoke. "Not only more vamps, another Master. I don't mean like bat face, one like me. Okay, not really like me, there's no one else like me…"

"Will you get past the Spike self-admiration society speech and tell me what the problem is?"

After he lit his cigarette and took a long drag, mostly just to annoy Xander, Spike finally explained. "Seems that while Slutty was doing the horizontal mambo with soldier boy almost non-stop these last few weeks, a new Master has moved himself and his minions into town. He's kept real quiet-like till now since he somehow knew that Slutty left last night and would be out of town all week. And no, it wasn't me that told him."

"Do you know this Master guy?"

"Nope, never heard of him. Must be pretty young."

"I guess we better get back to Giles' and call Buffy. She can be here by morning."

"By then it'll all be over and Buffy will have a dead Watcher and a firmly entrenched vampire army to fight. This guy is serious and has a schedule. He's planning on turning as many people as he can, starting with anyone who could be of help to the Slayer and moving on through the police, army and any other authority figure he can find."

Xander swore once and then sat down hard. "I.. we.. Buffy.. Fuck."

"My sentiments exactly. I don't know how I missed it. He must have really obedient minions because I haven't caught a whiff of even one until tonight. And that is not good." Spike squatted down in front of Xander and finished his cigarette. Once he tossed it away, he sighed, stood, and held out his hand to the boy. "Well, come on. We have things to do."

"You're.. you're going to help?"

"No damn uppity vamp is going to try to take over my town and get away with it."

"Your town? Since when?" Xander put his hand in Spike's and let the vampire pull him to his feet.  

"Since I said so. Now, are you with me or not?"

"Yeah, I'm with you. I don't know what the hell I can do against a Master vamp and his army of evil un-dead, but yeah."

Spike started walking towards the docks where the now dusted vamp had said the Master had set up shop. "Well, I figure the only way to really stop this is to kill Master whats-his-fang and the only way to do that is to get close to him pretty damn quick. Since we don't have time for me to work my way up the ranks or even to challenge him outright…."

Xander's eyes got really wide and he stopped walking. "No. Absolutely not. No way, not in a million years. I. Will. Not. Be. Bait. Been there, done that, not fun."

"You have a better idea? He would never expect a vampire's human pet to have a stake up his sleeve. I can't get that close to him, but you can."

"No."

"You'll be the big hero."

"No."

"So you want fang-face to take over Sunnydale, kill you and everyone you know and then kill Buffy when she comes back?"

"Well, no… but there has to be some other way… Human pet?"

"I'll explain it some other time but I know you know what I'm talking about. We do sort of have a time limit here, Xander, so if you don't know any other way…."

"Why is it always me? That's what I want to know." Xander sighed in defeat and continued walking towards his doom. "Willow is never bait. Giles is never bait. It's always Xander."

"It's because you're just so moist and delicious." Spike threw Xander's own words back at him and gave him a little shove from behind to keep him from dragging his feet too much.

They reached the dock area and Spike pulled Xander around the corner of one of the warehouses and out of sight of their eventual goal. "Okay, here's how it goes. If you're my pet, you have to listen to me and do every single thing I tell you without hesitation or explanation. Do you understand? If you screw up even once, we're both goners."

"Um… every single thing? What will 'every single thing' be? Nothing gross, right?"

"I won't know until we get in there. If you can't be sure that you can do it, we might as well not even try. So, can you do it?"

Xander swallowed once and then nodded his head. "Yeah, I think I can do it."

Spike shook his head and sighed. "No, Xander. Not 'think' you can do it. It's either yes or no."

"I.. I.. Well, what if he wants me to do something… you know…"

"There won't be time for much of anything, he does have a town to take over in a few hours. As a matter of fact, it would be a good thing if he did wanted to play tonsil hockey or somthin'. No way to get closer to a bloke than… what?" Xander was shaking his head vehemently.

"I can't kiss a...a... guy! And a vampire… Well, that's just… okay, it's just not…"

Spike waived away his objections. "It'll be just like kissing Anya, only a bit colder. What do you have in that pack you lug around with you all the time?"

"Usual stuff." He shoved the pack at Spike and started pacing. "I can handle taking your orders since I know you want rid of this guy. I can handle being all whipped puppy seeming, I can even handle walking into a room full of vamps who would like to suck me dry. But I can't…"

Before he could finish the sentence, Spike shoved him against the wall with a growl of annoyance. "This is the one and only time I'm doing this, so pay attention."

"Pay att..."

Spike's head descended and he pressed his lips to Xander's, gently at first and then with more intensity. Finally, he probed at the tightly pursed lips with his tongue, seeking entry. But the boy stayed stubbornly tense and closed. "Open for me, Xander," he whispered.

Still Xander refused to participate. He wasn't struggling to get away- always a good sign-but he wasn't doing anything to show he liked it either. Time to call out the big guns.

Spike slid his hands slowly down Xander's sides, carefully avoiding the still tender claw marks and around to his buttocks. Taking a firm handful on each side, the vampire pulled the mortal into him, hard. Groin to groin, thigh to thigh, Spike rotated his hips from side to side. A gasp from Xander and Spike was in.

Hot, wet, slightly sweet, and definite signs of interest below the belt. Those were the only sensations Spike was able to register before he felt something sharp pressed up against his chest. He yanked his head back and looked down. Somehow, Xander had managed to wedge a stake between them and press it directly above his heart, all without him noticing.

"Uh... yeah. Like that." Spike carefully released his hold on Xander's ass and stepped back. Kid was a fast learner. "Over your little 'no kissing of male vamps' thing, are you?"

"That was nothing like kissing Anya, not even close." Xander took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay, I can do this. I'm still not liking the plan all that much, but I can do it."

Spike mentally shook off the urge to taunt Xander about his less than repulsed reaction to kissing a vampire. There would be time for that later… if they made it through the next few hours. Back to business. "Glad to hear it. Get two stakes and put them up your sleeves but leave all the other stuff here. No crosses, no holy water, no extra stakes. They'll probably search me and not you but they'll definitely know if you've got a cross or holy water on you."

"You can feel the stuff I have in my pack? It… bothers you?"

"Xander, we can play twenty questions later if you want, right now, just do what I say and shut up. As of right now, you are my human pet. You do everything I say without question, got it?"

Xander glared at Spike for a long seconds and then nodded his head, dropping his eyes. "Yes, I understand."

"Then do it!"

Without another word, Xander picked up the pack from where Spike had dropped it and fished out another stake. While he was at it, he removed the pencil size stake from his sock and the necklace with a tiny gold cross from his front pocket, placing them in the pack. Pack zippered and placed against the wall with the hope of later retrieval, he shoved the stakes up the sleeves of his shirt and wiggled his arms to make sure they wouldn't just clatter out unexpectedly. "Okay, good to go."

Spike nodded once and turned towards the corner of the warehouse.

"Eyes down, don't talk unless asked a direct question, don't touch me unless I touch you first, stay behind me unless I place you somewhere else... um…" Spike tried to think of any other last minute instructions as they weaved their way around the shipping containers. "Oh, and try not to act too surprised by anything I do or say."

"Yeah, I think I get it, Spike."

Spike stopped abruptly and gripped Xander's arm just hard enough to get his full attention. The brunette took a step back from what he saw. Gone was the sarcastic, 'devil may care' attitude Xander was familiar with. This Spike was serious, angry, intense- maybe a little worried- but definitely scary. Even scarier than when he'd been trying kill them all, making cheesy jokes the whole time. Xander thought if this version of Spike had been the one they'd known and hated, there would have been no way they would have taken him in after the chip.

"So you say, but you were walking right next to me and talking back. This isn't a game, boy, and one mistake means death to us both. And if you get us killed before we can kill this guy, everyone you know will be a vampire or dead by tomorrow night."

Xander swallowed hard and tried to fight off the rising panic. I can't do this. It's too important. I'll mess up somehow. I'm not brave, I'm not Buffy, I can't do it, I can't…

"Yes, you can." Spike could almost see the insecurities flitting through Xander's mind and they just didn't have time for it. "You've done much more dangerous things and lived. You can do this, I know you can."

"But…"

"No buts. Eyes down, stay behind me and no talking. Let's go." Spike continued on his way, smiling slightly when he heard Xander fall into step behind him.

After rounding two more stacks of shipping containers, they met the first guard.

It turned out to be a fairly simple thing to see the big boss alone. He had good security but an appalling amount of trust and, apparently, no real survival instinct. A little name-dropping, some posturing, and a dash of menace and Spike and his human pet were in the office set high above the warehouse floor with Ambrose Peede, Master Vampire and Angelus wanna-be. Spike had never understood the point of ending the world or even taking over the Hellmouth, even if he could. Way too much responsibility and not any time for fun if you had to hold a place like this once you had it and ending the world was kinda, well, the end. Of everything.

All the tension that had built since learning of the plot to take over Sunnydale leaked out of Spike as he faced the so-called Master. The man would be pathetic if it wasn't for the fact that he'd accomplished something that even the most experienced vampire had trouble with: inspiring complete obedience in his minions. It was only that quality that had let this Southern-fried nitwit get as far as he had.

"I apologize fer not checkin' with you first. I didn't realize you were already workin' an angle." Ambrose's eyes flicked over the human standing across the room near the door before returning to the other vampire. "Now, I'm not sayin' yer wrong or nothin', but I know the Slayer got on that bus. You sayin' she came back?"

Spike sighed dramatically and motioned Xander over, hoping the mortal had been able to hear the conversation enough to follow it. "Pet, did the Slayer go visit her da?"

"Not really." Xander waited until Spike nodded and then continued. "She does that sometimes when she knows something is up but doesn't know what. She'll make a big production of leaving and then sneak back into town to see who takes the bait."

Spike smiled at Xander, who knew the boy was such a brilliant bloody liar? "I fell for it once, meself." He pulled the mortal closer, wrapping his arm around his waist and letting his hand rest low on his pet's hip. "No shame in falling for it. Unpredictable chit, can say that for her. That's why I decided to go this other route." He nodded at his pet and shifted his hand downward, palming Xander's ass, squeezing slightly, and was pleased to note that Xander didn't flinch.

Ambrose got up and began pacing, throwing the occasional appraising look at Spike's Human Pet, formerly one of the Slayer's minions. He had to admit, it was a good move, especially if the Slayer didn't yet realize that her friend was givin' it up to the enemy. Of course, Spike had a reputation for being a lying, two-faced backstabber, literally and figuratively. On the other hand, he had survived this town and the Slayer for much longer than anyone before him so maybe there was some method to his madness. After two more turns across the room and back, he flopped down on the edge of the desk. He'd just have to let it play out a little longer and see what happened. "Fuckin' shit. I had this all planned out and now it's goin' to shit."

"It tends to happen around here. Why do you think Angelus finally blew town?"

"I heard the Slayer put the big hurt on him, that's why he up and disappeared. You tellin' me my information is all wrong?" Ambrose's eyes narrowed with the first hint of suspicion. "Matter of fact, I ain't heard nothin' of Angelus since… Well, since I heard tell he got his hands on Acathla."

Spike shrugged carelessly and continued to fondle Xander's ass. "She stopped him from ending the world – obviously- but he decided there was more profit in working another town, left this one to me."

"Another town?"

"L.A. Not a bad place if you don't mind a little competition in the business of evil from the humans." Spike didn't even feel a twinge of guilt about setting Angel up for a little visit from Ambrose if they failed to dust him. "So, enough chit-chat, yeah? You pulling your people or not?"

Ambrose pushed himself further up onto the desk, arms gripping the edge, forehead wrinkled in thought, his legs dangling over the edge, kicking the desk with a repetitive 'thump thump thump' that, along with his slight frame, sandy blond hair and round, smooth face made him look more like the 20-something human he must have been once instead of the century-old vampire that he claimed to be. Spike figured him more for 50 than 100 since vamps were notorious for lying about their age and origins to suit the situation.

The noise was really starting to get to Spike and even Xander had begun shifting in discomfort, though whether that was from having to listen to the thumps or whether it was from dealing with Spike's increasingly bold exploration of the human's anatomy, Spike wasn't sure. But finally, Ambrose nodded to himself and slid off the desk.

"No, I'm not. I've planned this out too well to let it just slide on your say so." He held up his hands in a placating gesture. "You and your pet are welcome to join us though. When it's all over, I'll make sure you get the recognition that is due you at bein' the nominal Master of Sunnydale. But…" He held up a finger and vamped out. "…you'll have to fight me to take over my crew and my town in truth."

Spike felt Xander stiffen next to him and something nudged the small of his back. He subtly pushed the boy slightly behind him, using the distraction of movement to cover the fact that Xander was pressing a stake into his other hand. When he felt Xander let go of the wood and step back, Spike managed to nod agreeably and offer his right hand to the other vampire. "Seems fair."

Ambrose stepped forward and took the proffered hand before remembering just who he was dealing with. He didn't even have a chance to finish saying 'Fuck' before he felt the stake sink into his chest and then he knew no more.

Xander sagged in relief as the last of Mr. Ambrose Peede, ex-vampire, drifted silently to the floor. "Holy shit!"

"Couldn't agree more."

"Did you see that? Of course you did. I thought for sure that he was on to us." Xander leaned back against the wall and slid down until he was an untidy puddle on the floor. "I nearly shit my pants when he vamped out! Oh god, oh god, oh g…"

"Give it rest, eh pet? You did good, kept your cool." The vampire joined Xander on the floor and pulled his cigarettes out of his pocket, lighting up. "If I hadn't been standin' right next to you, I never would have twigged that you were scared."  

Unaccustomed to such obvious praise, Xander didn't know quite what to say and settled for a simple, "Thanks". He took a few deep breaths and studied his hands, watching until they stopped shaking. "So we can get out of here now? It's over?"

Spike shook his head and ground out his cigarette. "Got rid of the ring-master but we still have to deal with the clowns." He flicked his head in the direction of the door and the minions that waited below. "Now that the hick is gone, they probably won't be much of a problem. Unless…"

"Unless?" When the vampire didn't answer right away, Xander punched him in the arm. "Spike! Unless?"

"Ow." Spike rubbed his arm, surprised at the strength behind the punch. "Unless dickweed set up a chain of command. Then we're fucked."

Xander groaned and thumped his head back against the wall. "Why do you say things like that?"

"It's true, innit?"

"That's beside the point. When you say 'fucked' what, exactly, does that mean?"

"Means you won't have to have another hissy fit about sexual preference confusion because you'll be stone cold dead and I'll be getting a tour of Sunnydale via the wind. That's what 'fucked' means."

"It wasn't a hissy fit and I'm not confused." Xander reached over, snatched the pack of cigarettes off Spike's thigh and shook one out. "Got a light?"

"You don't smoke." The vampire plucked the cancer stick out of the boy's hand and replaced it in the pack. "Don't be getting all doomsday on me now, Xander, things aren't that bad."

Xander gaped at the vampire. "You just said we were dead! That's not bad?"

"Don’t be such a drama queen! We don't have enough info about the jokers downstairs to justify committing hara-kiri just yet." He placed his hand on the back of Xander's neck and shook the mortal a few times. "Calm down and let me think, okay?"

Xander pushed his neck further into the cool palm and did as he was told, mind desperately scrabbling for a way to just get the hell out of there. When Spike began to lightly massage his neck, he sighed, mind quieting, and closed his eyes. As he finally began to relax a little, his mind turned to finding a more reasonable solution to the problem of how to neutralize all the hungry vamps downstairs without actually getting himself killed in the process. Unfortunately, he was drawing a blank. They really should have thought of this before they walked into the warehouse. Or at least Spike should have.

"Ya know, I'm really grateful that I didn't end up having to get molested by a stranger in order to kill that vamp but how come you didn't mention the minions when you were convincing me to be bait?"

Spike removed his hand from Xander's neck like he'd been burned. He hadn't realized he was still touching the other man. Later, if they made it out of this place intact, he'd have to have a long talk with himself about the inadvisability of becoming too casually comfortable with this human. "You're a smart guy Xander, you figure it out."

"Didn't think that far ahead, right?" Xander shook his head in disgust and stood. "You're really going to have to work on your impulsive nature, Spike. Especially since it's liable to end up getting me killed right along with you." He began to wander the office, no longer able to sit still, soothing cool hand on his neck or not. "There has to be some way to get rid of a lot of them all at the same time", he mused aloud. "I'd say a bomb or something but we don't have a bomb. Rocket launcher is out, so is a fire truck full of holy water."

"If we had some petrol we could go with the Giles method of vamp lair destruction," Spike added to the list of mass destruction. He shrugged and joined Xander in his pacing. "The only thing I'm coming up with here is for us to go down and bluff."

"Bluff?" Xander threw up his hands, clearly becoming agitated again. "We don't hold any cards to bluff with! We've got a dusty Master and about twenty minions waiting for him to come downstairs so they can go take over Sunnydale. Don't you think they're going to catch on pretty quick when we come down and their boss doesn't?"

"Of course they'll notice!" Now Spike was getting agitated, more in response to Xander than any real fear, but he had to admit that he hadn't really thought this one through too well. "If you have a better suggestion, I'd love to hear it. Now settle down before they come up here to find out what all the yellin' is about."

As if conjured by Spike's words, there was a knock on the door. "Master, you okay in there?"

Both human and vampire froze, staring at the door in terror.

"Master?" There was another knock and the minion jiggled the door handle. "Everyone's ready and waiting for your word to go."

"Do something!" Xander hissed.

Spike grabbed Xander and began pulling his shirt out of his jeans.

"What are you doing!" Xander slapped at the vampire's hands without much success. "Stop it!"

"Strip and lay down on the couch. I have an idea." Spike stopped trying to disrobe Xander and swiftly shucked off his duster and t-shirt, unbuttoned the top three buttons of his jeans and pushed them down so they rode low on his hips. "Come on, hurry up!"

"We're about to die and you want to get naked? Are you insane?" Since the answer to that question was obvious and with no better idea, Xander did as he was told and was quickly down to his boxers.

The minion began to pound harder on the office door and Xander could hear the lock beginning to snap under the pressure. Then he was being shoved back onto the couch, landing with an 'umph', and swiftly covered by a vampire with octopus hands and a very limber tongue. By the time his brain kicked back into gear enough to think about protesting, Spike was already pulling away slightly to look up at the minion who'd finally gained entry to the office.

"What the bloody fuck do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?"

The growl in Spike's voice gave Xander an all-over body shiver and he had to swallow a few times before he could make himself crane his neck back so he could see the minion standing at the end couch above his head.

"I… uh… I apologize for interrupting you." The minion looked around the room. "I thought my Master was in here."

Spike dropped his head back down and licked a path up Xander's neck to his ear. Only then did he answer the minion. "He left a bit ago to check something out. Said he'd be back in time for the festivities. Now. Get. Out."

"Yes. Sorry. No one will disturb you further. Sorry." The minion backed out of the room and shut the door firmly behind him.

Spike sank down onto his human pillow with a sigh of relief. "Well, that answers a coupla questions."

"Wh…What?" Xander was sure his heart wasn't going to be able to take many more of these kinds of shocks. In addition to having to defeat a clan of vampires on the verge of taking over his hometown there was the added stimulus of never knowing when Spike was going to attack, pet, or fondle him next. Granted, Spike's attacks were much more pleasurable than he'd like to admit to himself, but still, shouldn't these kind of discoveries about yourself and your evil vampire sorta-friend be made in a much safer place? "What questions?"

"They know who I am and are well trained enough to respect their elders." Spike snorted lightly against Xander's neck. "We're just lucky that none of them have been in town long enough to hear how far the mighty have fallen."

Other than flicking at a lock of Xander's hair occasionally, Spike didn't seem to be making any effort to move and it never crossed Xander's mind to encourage him to do so. It was weird feeling a body on top of him that mirrored his own is several ways. Not a bad weird, really, just… different. His mind wandered off and began cataloging the differences between them, not yet ready to acknowledge the similarities; like the twin columns of hard flesh pressed together between them, separated by denim and cotton, that seemed to be throbbing in time to Xander's heartbeat. He'd just gotten to comparing muscle definition based on what he could feel under his hands as they traveled the expanse of the vampire's back when Spike shifted slightly and huffed in annoyance.

"Suppose we should get up and get on with it." He pushed himself up and looked down into confused brown eyes. "The minions? Saving the world or something? Any of this ringing a bell?"

Xander blinked, brain belatedly catching up with the situation and he felt the blush that must have started at his toes and worked its way up his entire body. "Uh… heh… yeah. Um… so, could you get off? Up? Of me! Get up off of me!" He was sure that Spike would be using this against him for a very, very long time.

Spike once again resisted the urge to tease Xander about these less than obvious slips in his heterosexuality and simply rolled off the human and stood up. He reached down to pick up his t-shirt without bothering to hide the fact that he'd have been perfectly happy to continue Xander's detour into the unknown if it hadn't been for the present circumstances.

Xander wasn't as confident. He rolled off the couch and gathered up his clothes with his back to Spike, dressing as swiftly as humanly possible. The normal urge to babble when nervous deserted him and he shoved his shoes onto his feet with an unneeded violence. When there was nothing left to tuck, tie, or buckle he took a deep breath and turned around. "So what story are you going to feed them?"

Spike smiled with a confidence he didn't really feel and slapped Xander on the back. "You know me, Xan, I'll just play it by ear."

"I was a afraid you were going to say that." Xander shook his head once again, this time in defeat. "Fine, but just so you know, if you get me killed I will find a way to haunt you."

"I won't let you get killed, okay? So stop saying that." He took Xander firmly by the shoulders and stared until the human finally met his eyes. "I mean it, you're not going to die tonight. You've done really well so far and I have no reason to believe you'll do anything less the rest of the night."

Xander could see the belief shining out of the vampire's eyes. Enough so that he started to believe it too. "Yeah, okay, not going to die tonight. You either, right?"

"Nope, not me either." Spike grinned, wanting to break the tension. "We both have to make it if only so we can rub Buffy's face in it."

Xander grinned back and shook his head. "Oh no, not me. You want to do it, go ahead, I'll stitch you up once she's done with you." Maybe this could end well, after all.

It seemed, to Xander at least, that several hours had passed since the Master had gone bye-bye but in reality, it had only been about one hour. A very long and very tense hour, but only an hour. He lifted his head from Spike's thigh and checked his watch again. An hour and fifteen minutes down and forty-five minutes to go.

Spike must have felt his impatience because he dropped his hand away from his newspaper and stroked Xander's hair. It was meant to be comforting gesture and he decided to interpret it that way, as well as all the other little touches that had transpired since they'd come downstairs, instead of the humiliating way he would have seen them only a day ago.

When they'd first come down, Spike told the 'he went to check something out' story to the entire group. Xander had been tensed, all ready to run, but the vamps just stood there holding various sharp and pointy things for the raid and nodded their collective heads.

It was just as Spike had predicted; with the Master out of sight, they saw Spike as the next senior vamp because that's the way he acted and simply waited for his instructions. Then he'd said they'd wait two hours and, if Ambrose didn't return in that time, they could only assume the worst and delay the raid until they found out what happened. The vamps all calmly set their weapons down and began talking amongst themselves as if it were a cocktail party instead of a raiding party.

So, a huge relief, right? Yeah, except that meant Spike had committed them to staying for two more hours!

Spike had studied the others for a few minutes and then pulled a chair to the center of the cleared area of the floor and sat down. Almost immediately a tall brunette woman had brought Spike a newspaper and asked if he wanted anything to drink.

Xander had held his breath at that, hoping she didn't mean what he thought she meant, but Spike shook his head and asked for a glass of water for his pet. He then motioned Xander over from where he stood frozen five feet away and motioned for him to sit on the floor next to the chair. The floor was a little hard but if he shifted just right, better than standing for two hours.

The vampire chick brought him his water and he'd sipped at it carefully and waited. Soon, the murmur of voices, the quiet rustling of Spike's newspaper and the reduction of adrenalin in his system began to make him sleepy. Almost before he finished thinking 'sleepy', Spike placed his hand on the back of Xander's neck and pulled his head to lay against the vampire's thigh, bending down to whisper in his ear, "Rest but don't sleep. I'll keep watch."

It seemed that small reminder of the situation was all he'd needed because he received another shot of adrenalin to his system that made doing anything more than pretending to rest impossible.

So, now he continued playing the good little human pet by laying his head back down on Spike's thigh with a seemingly languorous sigh.

"Won't be much longer now, pet."

Xander twitched at the feel of Spike's lips against his ear. After a long moment, in which Xander could swear Spike was smelling him, the vampire straightened back up in his chair and went back to reading the same page of newspaper that he'd been on for the last thirty minutes. Either Spike was a very slow reader or…

Shifting his head a little, Xander looked up at Spike's face from beneath his lowered lashes. The vampire was scowling and his jaw was clenched so tight that Xander was surprised he didn't hear teeth pop. He jerked up from Spike's thigh and remembered just in time to pretend to stretch while looking around the room.

Everything was the same as it had been for the past hour. The vamps chatting, mingling and, a few, playing cards. So what was causing that look on Spike's face if it wasn't trouble heading their way?

"Pet? You okay?"

The genuine concern in Spike's voice only served to make Xander more confused. "Yeah, fine. You?"

"Bored." He shrugged his shoulders and folded up the paper he wasn't really reading. "What's say we get the hell out of here?"

Xander nodded enthusiastically, all thoughts of what was bothering Spike swept away. "Still got about twenty minutes to go though."

"Hey! Hey, uh… " Spike snapped his fingers and waived over the vamp that had 'interrupted' them upstairs. While he waited for the vampire to trot across the room, he rolled up the newspaper and began tapping his thigh with it. That seemed to encourage the other vampire to hurry a little faster.

"What can I do for you Master?"

"We're tired of waiting." Spike addressed the rest of his words to the entire group since he now had their attention. "Hold off on the raid until I come tomorrow night. By then I'll know the situation with your Master and the Slayer." He vamped out and growled once, low in his chest. "No one leaves this building until I say so. Understood?"

Xander carefully pushed himself to his feet and looked at the vamps warily as they drifted closer. There were a few who didn't seem to like the way Spike was taking charge so completely but most seemed content to follow his orders.

"What's your name, boy?" Spike demanded of the vamp closest to him.

"Slater, sir."

"Okay Slater, here's the deal. Anybody leaves the building before I arrive tomorrow; you're goin' to tell me. If you don't and I find out, well, you'll be begging me to stake you by the time I'm done with you. Same goes for anybody that does leave. You understand me?"

Xander thought Spike was enjoying this just a little too much but it seemed to be working. The few vamps that had made disagreeable noises about not being allowed to go out quieted right down.

"Yes, sir, I understand, sir. No one will leave before you tell us it's okay. Our Master never had a reason to be disappointed in us and we won't give him a reason to start now." Slater was almost groveling.

It was almost funny although Xander realized that Slater and the others wouldn't think so. Especially if they found out how they were being fooled.

"Good." Spike morphed back into his human face and motioned for Xander to join him. "I don't know what time I'll be getting back here tomorrow, so just wait."

The group nodded their collective heads, spookily synchronized, and Spike led Xander to the door with a hand at the back of the human's neck.

They got about ten feet away from the door and Xander would have relaxed and started babbling, but Spike tightened his grip warningly and they continued their journey in silence until they had cleared the shipping containers and turned the corner to where Xander had left his pack.

"I can't believe we got away! You really did it!"

Spike smirked and nodded his head in acknowledgement of the compliment. "Told ya."

"I haven't been that scared for that long in… well, maybe ever."

"Yeah, you did good though." Spike dug out a cigarette and lit up.

A thought suddenly occurred to Xander. "You aren't really going back there tomorrow and order them to carry out the raid, only for you this time. Right?"

Spike kept his face impassive and continued to smoke.

"Spike? You know you can't, don't you?"

When Spike remained silent and unreadable, Xander once again began to panic. He'd seen what Spike could do, how he could be, when he was around his own kind, and he knew that it really wouldn't be that difficult to just walk in and take over the pack of vampires they'd just left behind.

"Look, I know we haven't been as… accepting as we could have been and we… um… okay, we were actually kind of mean to you for a while there. But, Spike, we're going to be serious about the staking stuff if you go through with this and I thought we were friends now and…"

Spike threw down his cigarette and pulled Xander to him all in one move. He covered the mortals mouth with his hand and shook his head. "Was just messin' with you, ya wanker, so stop babbling and save your breath for explaining all this to Rupert, eh?"

"wwhmmheh"

Spike removed his hand and Xander tried again. "What are you talking about?"

"Still got to kill those mean, evil vamps, don't we?"

"Yeah?"

"So, you're going to need a little help carrying the gasoline or explosives or driving the fire truck filled with holy water when you come back here tomorrow, during daylight hours, and save Sunnydale."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Spike smiled slightly, not his usual smirk, a real smile, and leaned forward slowly. He touched his lips tentatively to Xander's, letting them linger only for a moment before pulling back. "I'm going to miss my delicious and obedient pet… " He sighed and stepped back, releasing Xander, then slapped him on the back in the classic 'guy' way. "… but I think I like plain ol' Xander much better."

"Why did you sto…" Xander blinked few times and then put more space between himself and the vampire, gathering the wits that had scattered as soon as Spike had leaned toward him. He picked up his pack and slung it over his shoulder. Finally, he thought he had enough of himself back to face Spike again. "Yeah, me too. Like plain ol' me better, I mean. All that being quiet and still really sucked. I'd never make it as a real Human Pet."

Xander turned and started back toward town and so missed the slightly disappointed look on Spike's face before the indifferent mask was back in place and the vampire fell into step beside him. "Hmmm… probably not. I mean what with all that attention and touching and rubbing and petting you were getting, not to mention the other benefits we didn't quite get to, I can see how you'd get tired of it pretty fast."

Xander didn't really know what to say to that so he just quickened his step and tried not to hear the slight bitterness in the vampire's tone. The feeling, however brief, of being cared for, taught and protected instead of being the one doing the care taking, had been a nice one. As for the rest… well, he could honestly say that the idea of having sex with Spike was not as objectionable as it would have been even yesterday but that was all he was willing to admit to himself.

Not that the concept hadn't run through his mind several times after the back licking episode but that was as far as he'd gotten; acknowledging that although they were both male, it was possible for them to have sex. Maybe a little bit of new self-awareness had crept in along with that concept but Xander had firmly pushed any additional thoughts on the matter far, far away. Nothing was ever going to happen between them so why bother thinking about it?

In Spike he'd found someone to be a guy with, someone who understood his references and his jokes even if Xander didn't always understand Spike's. Granted, they didn't always get along, but that was okay because that's just the way guys were. Yeah. Guys who were friends. So, Xander hadn't even been sure he wanted anything to happen that would mess all that up.

But it had. Sort of. In a non-home run kind of way. And it had been… different and interesting and… well, something he'd like to explore a little more. Maybe. See if it was the person or the situation that made Xander so completely lose himself every time there had been a touch or caress or kiss or… Nope, not thinking about the rest. So, what next? Ask him on a date? Buy him flowers and a pack of cigarettes? Or should he just go the Anya route and point out that they could possibly have many orgasms together if they found that their parts interlocked satisfactorily?

"Oh, Christ! Anya!"

"Eh?" Spike was pulled from his own introspection and glanced around for the source of Xander's outburst. "Where?"

"No, she's not here. I just…uh… kind of remembered that I have a girlfriend."

Spike looked at the other man like he'd lost some of his marbles on the walk home. "Yeah, I know you have a girlfriend, Xander. What of it?"

"Errr… Just that we'll have to edit some things out of this week's episode of 'Spike and Xander versus Idiot Jed and His Minions' if either of us wants to live through the telling of it."

"I see your point."

Xander nodded, glad they were in agreement, and continued to make his way toward home.

"That the only reason for the editing?" Spike watched for a reaction to his none-too-subtle probe.

"Yes."

"Not because you're ashamed or something?"

"Look, can we wait until we're inside to discuss this?"

Spike positioned himself in front of Xander and stopped. "No, we can't."

Xander sighed and ran a hand through his hair in agitation. "This is becoming more and more like a movie of the week with every passing second. No, I'm not ashamed and I'm not confused and I do have a girlfriend and cheating on her would be wrong, end of discussion. Now, can we get inside?"

"You weren't cheating, you were acting."

"I'm sure Anya would see it that way, too. Not. Now move it or lose it." Xander bumped by the vampire and turned the corner onto his street. At least Spike hadn't seemed to catch the slip in tense on the 'would be wrong' part of his speech. Xander really didn't think of what happened in the warehouse as cheating either, but anything that happened from now on would be.

Only a few more blocks and he could finally rest a little before he had to start thinking again. After sunrise was soon enough to get Giles out of bed and gather what they'd need to make sure all of the Master's minions were taken out. And maybe, if he was really lucky, Spike would see him safely inside and leave so they wouldn't end up falling in bed together as soon as the couch was pulled out.