Learning Curve
Rated ADULT
Sexual Content

Jim/Blair, Xander/Spike
Chapters 21-25

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Chapter 21

"Anything yet?" Spike asked without slowing down at all. Xander panted as he half ran behind Spike. The only way he was even keeping up was that Spike was dragging him along for the ride.

"Yeah, a charliehorse in my leg. Can we maybe slow down before I fall on my face? Falling bad. Letting the human breathe good."

"Oi. Just want out of here." It wasn't an apology, but the fact that Spike slowed down suggested that he really was sorry.

"Yep, I get that, but I assume you want me still on the side of the breathing. Giles would be cranky if I showed up not breathing," Xander said as he took a deep breath and tried to catch up with his body's need for oxygen. The climb up the mountain at breakneck speed had left him a little winded and a lot exhausted.

"If you weren't breathin', I wouldn't let the wanker anywhere near you," Spike pointed out, and it took Xander a second to process that. It might have been the lack of oxygen to the brain.

"Okay, that falls somewhere between being sweet and incredibly disturbing. What has you all twitchy?"

"Not twitchy," Spike complained in his best put-upon voice.

"Says the twitchy one."

"Bloody hell. You've been hanging out with Blair too much. You're getting as mouthy as him." Spike's complaints did nothing to hide the fact that he had definitely not answered the question.

"Yeah, well, I'm right. So start with the 'splainy because I'm getting more creeped out here, which seems wrong because we left those weird threads behind, so I was hoping to reduce the overall level of creepiness," Xander argued. Spike was always honest, sometimes even when he shouldn't be because honesty can be rude, so the whole hiding things was setting off the creep-meter big time.

"Yeah, that's not all we left behind."

"Okay, see, things like that just make me jumpier."

"Every bloody bird in the trees, every squirrel, every soddin' bug is gone." Spike said the words quietly, but his hand tightened on Xander's arm.

"Okay, I'm really hoping that's your very disturbing sense of humor showing up, like the way you laughed at Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Seriously hoping," Xander hoped, but at this point he wasn't really expecting.

"I'm not bloody joking," Spike snapped. Xander followed in silence for a moment, considering the dark shadows around him and trying to imagine that all the life, all the bugs and birds and bats were just gone. His imagination wasn't that good.

"Any bodies?" he asked hopefully, not really sure if he wanted to find out they were walking by piles of animal corpses or if he wanted to hear that more bodies had just vanished… or been eaten. Eating was becoming more of a possibility, but if something ate that much, shouldn't it poop? Maybe they were about to find a mountain of demon poop. Xander could imagine Buffy's response to that possibility.

"No. Not bodies, just every livin' thing gone."

"Why did you have to tell me that?"

"Because you bloody asked," Spike snapped. "Now can we go back? I'm soddin' well ready to get off this mountain."

Xander stopped, dragging Spike to a stop with him since the vampire wouldn't let go of him. He looked firmly toward the reddish glow that was Spike and did his best to imitate Willow's resolve face. "Nope. Na-uh, not happening, not until we get to that ridge and can see over. If Riley's out here, we need to find him even if it's creepier than... okay, I've done horrifying and terrifying, but I actually think this tops the scale on creepy."

Spike sighed, and for a half second, Xander thought they were going to turn around and go back, as though talking about the possibility made it more reasonable somehow. "Somethin' sure isn't right which is why we're getting to that ridge, peeking over and getting the bloody hell out of here."

Spike started up the trail again without a word, and Xander followed with a small smile. Yep, his vampire loved him enough to care about what Xander wanted, and that shouldn't be quite so warm-and-fuzzy feeling, but it definitely was.

"Spike?" Xander said after several minutes of hiking up the trail, the smell of smoke starting to tickle his nose.

"Wot?"

"Thanks," Xander said softly.

"For what?" Spike sounded genuinely confused, and Xander struggled to find a way to explain it. Buffy and Willow and Spike, they all loved him. They all wanted to take care of him. But only Spike really trusted Xander to know the right thing for himself. Yeah, he certainly enjoyed giving Xander shit about the string of demon girlfriends and his ability to chase after the bad guys armed with nothing more useful than a rock, but Spike never sent him away or lied about there being a bad guy or exchanged those funny looks that made it clear that the girls didn't really trust his judgment.

"For not dragging me away by my ear," Xander finally answered quietly.

"Don't think I'm not considerin' it."

"Yep, I know you're big with considering because I'm considering running like a rabbit with my tail between my legs, and I think I just lost the metaphor somewhere in the middle, but you get my point."

"Just keep in mind that I reserve the right ta drag you out of any situation that's too dangerous."

Xander couldn't help it; even with all the weirdness and even though Spike was being serious, Xander started laughing.

"Loon," Spike complained softly without slowing down.

"Chasing around a dead mountain for a soldier-boy who might be dead with a big bad who seems to eat anything moving, bones and all. That doesn't qualify as too dangerous, but why do I have the feeling that you would so not let me go on a weekend retreat with Willow?"

"Bloody right that's on the too dangerous list," Spike snidely agreed after a moment of silence. "There's tryin' to do the right thing, and then there's just stupid."

"Says the guy with the up-close and personal relationship with self-immolation."

"Yeah, well..." Spike fell silent, and Xander really didn't have anything to say after that either. Yep, they were both self-preservation-impaired when it came right down to it. The reference to Spike's second death kinda killed the conversation, though, so Xander concentrated on keeping up with Spike who was still walking fast, even if he wasn't going as fast as before.

They had climbed for another half-hour or so, enough that Xander could now smell the smoke from the "accidental explosion" which had really been a military bombing. Xander just really hoped that there weren't any campers out here at the time, but then again, if there had been campers, the local big bad had probably eaten them. Eaten and potentially pooped. Spike stopped and Xander focused on breathing for a second.

"The ridge is about five feet ahead. The other side is a bit steep, so don't move forward without me ahead of you," he said. Xander nodded, knowing that Spike could see him. A nearly full moon was shining through the clouds, and even Xander could make out the shadowy forms of trees and rocks by now. Spike moved slowly forward until the blackness ahead of him turned into a view of stars and the shadowy form of the mountain slope falling away on the far side of the ridge.

"Right then, if ya don't see sign of Captain Cardboard, we're out of here."

Xander scanned the area and could see the faint thread of someone who had passed through a while back. "Spike, I'm seeing yellow."

"Soddin.... That's it, we're out of here."

"Whoa, hey, not that kind of yellow," Xander yelped as Spike yanked him away from the ridge. "There's a cord all pulsy with blue and yellow."

"You're sure? You're sure someone's alive and ya aren't seein' more of that dead shite?" Spike didn't sound happy at all, but at least he'd stopped trying to drag Xander off the mountain.

"Um, that or I'm having new and wacky fun with the powers."

"Bloody hell," Spike sighed before he turned and started back toward the ridge. "When this shite is over, we're setting up camp in Cascade for a while, pet," he calmly announced as he went over the ridge and started down the slope without letting go of Xander's arm. Spike made it look so easy that Xander was fooled into thinking that the slope was solid rock. Instead, he found himself sliding in loose shale, struggling to stay on his feet, and succeeding only because Spike kept a firm hold on his arm.

"Surf's up, dude," Xander joked at the bottom, but his heart pounded in his ears and he had to lean against a rock to get his breath back. That was a little too exciting, if you could really call sliding down a rockslide in the middle of the night exciting. Maybe terrifying was a better word. Xander had images of losing his balance and breaking random bones on a nasty fall. "Thanks for the catch," Xander finally said. Spike was standing a little off.

"Wouldn't let you fall."

"Nope, you wouldn't, and my unbroken bones thank you again," Xander agreed.

"Right then, which way?" Spike asked. Xander pointed in the direction of the cord he'd seen, and Spike again took him by the arm, leading him through the rocky debris and around burnt skeletons of trees lit by the moonlight.

"Hey, wait, we're moving to Cascade?" Xander asked several minutes later. "I thought that you thought that I was spending too much time with Blair."

"You are. But if being around the fuzzy, little Shaman is going to turn new powers on, then he'll bloody well help you figure out how to use them," Spike just about snarled.

"Hey, I'm all for party crashing, despite a bad experience with frat boys and a bra, but don't you think we'd better talk to Jim and Blair before just setting up camp in their city?"

"Oi, first off, they don't own the whole bloody city."

"An argument which might make sense if I hadn't seen you run demons out of London claiming the whole city for yourself," Xander pointed out with a wry laugh. Spike and territorial were pretty much next to each other in the dictionary, and after living with Jim and Blair for a while, Xander knew full well that Jim's name was right there with them. "And what's second off?"

"Already talked to Jim when you were sleepin' like the dead. The git likes you, and after we had a little discussion about who does and who does not have permission to touch you, we both agreed that you needed to work with Blair for a while."

"You threatened Jim," Xander accused him.

"Soddin' right I did." Spike sounded all defensive now, but Xander smiled.

"Thank you."

"For threatening Jim?" Spike had gone from defensive to confused in record time, and Xander smiled wider at the sudden shift.

"No, for knowing that this Shaman stuff is really freaking me out. It's not all wacky fun with string, and I just... I don't know." Xander shrugged.

"When I agreed ta take care of you, I meant it. You're mine, and if you need something I can't give ya, then I'll make sure I find someone who can. Blair can teach you just as well as that wanker Rupert picked out."

"Yep, better than."

They had reached another rough section which was obviously closer to the center of the blast, and they fell silent as Spike helped Xander climb over the charred remains of fallen trees and loose boulders which littered the slope. A few times, Xander had to point in a new direction as the yellow/blue cord threaded through the landscape, weaving wildly at one point as though the owner had been drunk and stumbling through the scorched landscape.

Even in the moonlight the place looked horrible, so Xander really didn't want to see it in all it's sunny glory. Hopefully by morning they would be back to camp with Jim and Blair and the next day they could get to the truck. Yep, retreat was sounding mighty good. Retreat and then call Giles and recommend that they find a demon who ate not just people but everything whole and didn't leave bodies. And after that, Faith and a dozen slayers could come kick ass. Faith would enjoy the challenge. They came around another outcrop of rock, and Xander stopped.

"Either my powers are abandoning ship, which I really hope is not like rats abandoning a sinking ship, or the soul cord vanishes into solid rock."

"There's a cave," Spike said, his voice tight and clipped.

"Or that. You know, the Shamanic vision is cool, but night vision is much cooler," Xander tried joking. It didn't really cut any of the sudden tension or make Spike loosen the now-painful grip on Xander's arm. "Ow," Xander whispered, and immediately the grip loosened.

"You stay behind me. We don't know what's in there."

"We know it's afraid. Afraid should mean good guy since whatever killed all the critters would definitely not be feeling fear. Besides, this is a person, no demons on the radar, so it should be okay," Xander argued.

"We can talk about your lack of logic later, pet. Right now just bloody stay behind me," Spike ordered in a voice that didn't invite argument.

"Right, staying behind," Xander agreed softly as Spike walked toward the cliff face. At the last possible moment, he turned and slid into a narrow crack in the rock. Xander followed, suddenly glad to have Spike between him and the unknown. Of course, with all the animals gone, there shouldn't be any spiders or bats. Xander had a sudden urge to ask Spike, just to be sure, but the vampire was moving silently forward, and Xander could only see their feet as the soul cord they followed glowed softly. Yep, not the time for stupid questions. Definitely not the time. Xander held his breath and watched the yellow/blue cord beneath their feet as he followed Spike into the darkness.

Chapter 22

"Stop, or I will fire," a rough voice from the dark ordered.

"Oi, you fire, and I'll tie your bloody intestines into a knot around your neck," Spike snarled, but Xander just shouted one word. "Riley!"

"Xander? Spike?" Yep, that was Riley; that was a confused Riley.

"Score one for the home team. Spike, we found Riley!"

"Think I noticed, pet," Spike said without much enthusiasm, but at least he was once again walking forward into the dark. "So, what happened to your leg?" Spike asked.

"It's broken," Riley said curtly. Xander waited for some sort of explanation, but nada.

"Your leg is broken?" he finally asked in the silence. "Okay, this is going to make the fast retreat sorta awkward." And again with the silence. Funny, Xander didn't remember this much silence with Riley and Spike, there was more of the random insults and sniping and death threats, but those were downright fun compared to the silence. It was like putting freaky icing on the freaky cake, which was not actually anything like cake. Xander opened his mouth to say something else, and Spike's hand found his arm and squeezed lightly. Okay, that would be the close the mouth signal.

"I assume Buffy sent you," Riley eventually offered.

"Assumed right," Spike answered, but Xander could tell he was distracted.

"Spike?" Xander whispered softly.

"I sure as hell wouldn't come after your sorry arse. As far as I'm concerned, you got yourself into this, and you can get yourself out." And now Spike was definitely back on the hate Riley train. Xander wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but at least it was familiar.

"I don't know why Buffy won't believe me when I tell her you haven't changed," Riley grunted the last word, and Xander realized that the Spike soul cord had kinda scrunched down, so either Spike had shrunk or he was kneeling next to Riley. Xander was hoping for kneeling.

"This is going to hurt," Spike said without sounding all that sympathetic and Riley gave another pained grunt.

"This whole soul business is just a scam, isn't it?" Riley demanded, his words coming between heavy breaths.

"You ungrateful git. I move ya without tightening the brace and the broken end of that bone could hit a vein, but if you want to take the risk, I'm more than happy ta haul you back as a lifeless body."

"Hey, hey, creepiness still abounds here," Xander hurried to interrupt the fight. "Riley, are you going to be okay and could you please let Spike do whatever he has to do? I'd like to get off the mountain now, and share stories of mutual hatred later." Both Riley and Spike were silent for a second and then Xander heard a rustling of fabric and something dragging before Riley grunted again.

"Xander, why are you here?" Riley asked after a couple of seconds of more heavy breathing.

"I'm part of the rescue team," Xander said with just a little hurt in the voice. Okay, so he wasn't the rescuing part of the rescue team, but he was teamlike and even if Riley didn't know it, he could do the search part of search and rescue.

"Xander, I didn't mean it like that. I mean, why are you up here with just Spike? He doesn't have the chip anymore."

"No, I don't," Spike agreed with a little more enthusiasm than strictly necessary. "And Xander's a lot more useful up here than you are, wanker. He found you, so show some gratitude."

"I am grateful to *Xander*."

It was funny. If Xander were in a cave with a broken leg and a vampire who wanted to eat him, he'd be too busy being terrified and in pain to do the snarking, but Riley obviously had the whole soldier multi-tasking thing down because he could be in pain and get pissy with Spike at the same time.

"When I find whatever did all the killin', I'm throwing your kicking and screaming body at it," Spike muttered. "This is going to hurt like a bitch, so try not ta piss yourself and scream like baby when I lift ya," he suggested. Xander winced at just hearing the tone, but Riley didn't answer. "Pet, back up some, yeah?" Spike asked, and Xander used his hands to feel his way back toward the entrance to the small cave.

"Mother of--" Riley cut himself off with a sharp gasp and then Spike and Riley were moving closer and Xander backed out into the night where the stars gave him some light. Spike and Riley's soul cords lay side by side, Riley's hovering slightly above since he was getting carried, but the two cords--Riley's blue still streaked with yellow and Spike's burgundy and midnight blue double helix-- pushed against each other. It was like watching two magnets push apart because everywhere that Riley's soul would surge forward, Spike's would recoil only to pulse brighter at some other point of contact so that Riley's cord retreated.

"Pet, call Jim and let him know we had a bit of bad luck and found the wanker," Spike suggested as he put Riley on the ground. Xander stood behind Spike, and the vampire pushed the radio into his hand.

"Jim, right."

"Jim?" Riley asked.

"Big, scary ex-Ranger type," Xander explained as he clicked the radio. "Jim? Jim? Earth to Jim because we're needing some help here."

"Ya have to let go of the button, pet." Spike even managed to say it without making Xander feel more than a little stupid.

"I knew that. The freaky and weird going on just distracted me," he defended himself as he let go of the button.

"... on, Sport, over," Jim's voice immediately came through.

Xander pressed the button. "Sorry about that. Brain fart," Xander said. "We found Riley, but he has a broken leg and the mountain has become one serious no-mans or bugs-land, over."

"Slow down, Xander. What's the situation? How many survivors? Any sign of demons? Over," Jim's voice barked over the radio.

"Um, the situation is creepy, Riley is the only survivor so far. Riley, is there anyone else who survived?" Xander asked the bluish coil on the ground. Yellow still pulsed around the edges of the cord.

"No one we want to find," Riley answered.

"Okay, I'm assuming you heard that, Jim, and now you know why it's big with the creepy. And speaking of creepy, not only are there no demons up here, but Spike says there's pretty much nothing alive at all, not a single bug left in the trees, over."

The radio was silent for several seconds, and Xander could just imagine the conversation Jim and Blair were having. Xander was willing to bet a year's salary it included things like 'go to the truck' and 'no' and 'then stay behind me' and 'bite me.'

"We're bringing the portable stretcher up, do you need anything else, over," Jim's voice finally came over the radio.

"Spike?" Xander asked as he pressed the button so Jim could hear them.

"Just tell 'em to get their arses up here as fast as they can. I still want off this soddin' mountain by tomorrow," Spike said. "The area below that ridge is dangerous enough for me, so tell 'em to wait at the ridge, and we'll bring soldier-boy that far on our own."

"Over," Xander added, assuming that Jim would get all that.

"We're on our way, out." Jim didn't sound happy, but Xander knew that the man would come.

"We need to get out of here," Riley hissed the words, and Xander could see Spike start pacing, the dark outline of his body barely visible in the dark, but his soul glowing and leaving a trail behind that shimmered in the faint light of a moon that was barely peeking over the trees.

"Tell us somethin' we don't already know," Spike growled.

For a second, the mountain was quiet. Now that Xander had a chance to really think about it, the quiet should have been a tip off because the one time Tony Harris had a 24-hour case of fatherhood, he'd taken Xander camping for the day, and Xander hadn't slept at all. The woods had been full of noises that had left an 8-year-old Xander shaking with fear. But now, Xander would so prefer bears to whatever was out there. The silence went on just a little too long for Spike.

"That wasn't rhetorical. It's time you tell us what the bloody hell you prats have been doing up here," Spike snapped.

"It's classified," Riley spat. Xander caught on to the whole classified meaning that the government had something to hide a half second behind Spike because Spike covered the distance between him and Riley and had hauled the injured man off the ground before Xander could say anything.

"Hey, no killing the rescuee! That is so in the hero handbook!"

"He's hidin' something. So, he's either going to tell me what he knows, or I'm going to rip his bollocks off and then deliver him to Buffy. She likes emasculatin' men, so she might see it as an improvement."

"You son of a--"

"Whoa!" Xander shouted over both of them. "Okay, we are way past the bounds of fair fighting here. Spike, there will be no ripping off of body parts. Riley, I really want to avoid getting eaten, so start with the talking."

"You heard him. Talk." Spike's words had an extra side of sneer, and for a second, Xander thought Riley was going to tell Spike where to put some piece of his anatomy.

"Fine, I'll tell you what I know, but we need to get moving now, before Sungsen comes back, so unless your Jim shows up here in the next two minutes, we need to get moving."

"Sungsen? Is that a demon?" Xander asked.

"Not one I've ever heard of," Spike answered as he put Riley down on a rock. He stepped up next to Xander and slipped an arm around his waist. "So the question is what you soldier-boys have been stirring up this time."

"Sungsen's not a demon, or at least he wasn't," Riley said, and either anger or pain made his voice strain. "Lieutenant Zhi Sungsen, language specialist, was one of the members of charlie company."

"What the bloody hell have you lot been up to?" Spike nearly whispered and that was so bad because when Spike got too angry to even yell, things, or people, got with the breaking.

"That's a long story, so I'm willing to ignore the fact that you're a heartless monster who should be staked if you'll help me get off this mountain and warn someone that the attempt at containment failed. Sungsen's still out there, somewhere."

"And cue the creepy music," Xander muttered. "But this is still not big with the explaining. I'm kinda wondering where the people are and where the bugs are and what Sungsen is."

"We can talk about it later." Riley started to push himself up with a series of heavy grunts. For a second, Spike just stood next to Xander, even when Xander poked him in the side, and then with an exaggerated sigh, Spike stepped forward and helped Riley.

"You bloody owe me."

"You help me off the mountain, and I'll give you information. It sounds like an even trade to me," Riley argued.

"Wasn't talking to you, wanker. The boy owes me because I'm soddin' carrying you off this mountain to make him happy."

"And I will repay with interest, scout's honor, and unlike some people of the less-than-honest variety, I actually was a scout," Xander said, happy to pay any price to just get moving now. "Moving would be good," he said when Spike just stood. The moon was a little higher so Xander could see a faint image of Riley draped over Spike's shoulder.

"Pet, you see anythin' out there?" Spike asked quietly.

"Um, no." Xander did a full circle, studying the black forest, but he couldn't see anything other than dark, dark, and more dark.

"Right then. We're out of here."

Xander would have answered, but he was a little too busy with the freaking, and Spike was walking so fast that Xander had to blink away his Shamanic vision and keep his eyes on the dimly lit trail to just keep up. Trotting the whole way, Spike made his way up to the loose shale slope, stopping only when Riley started making the unmistakable sounds of someone ready to barf all over his rescuer. Then Spike unceremoniously dropped the man on the ground.

"Spike!" Xander hissed, but yellow eyes turned to glare at him. Yeah, Xander could feel the guilt for not doing what Spike wanted, but right now, what Spike wanted was on the slightly sadistic side because Riley was hurting. Yeah, Riley had done his bit to hurt Spike, but that was back when Riley had been younger and stupider and more with the idealism than the thinking. Xander hurried to Riley's side, getting there just in time to have the soldier roll in the opposite direction and vomit something that splashed against the rocks. Panting, he dry-heaved for a few seconds before he rolled back toward Xander.

"Did you hear that?" Riley gasped.

"Hear what? I didn't hear anything. Nope, not hearing."

Spike ignored the question, but he pulled a chemical light out of his pocket, shaking the plastic before he snapped the inner chamber to let the two chemicals mix. The green light bathed the mountainside, now Xander could really see Spike in all his vamped out glory and Riley whose face was twisted in pain and whose leg was bound up like a mummy. Two branches kept it straight while strips of fabric and a jacket and some rope tied it all together.

"Okay, ow," Xander said softly as he touched Riley's hip. Riley's hand reached out and caught his hand, squeezing as the man closed his eyes and trembled. Xander was just impressed he wasn't with the passing out. Xander would have been passing out… or begging Spike to hit him hard enough to make him pass out.

"Stay here," Spike said before he stalked to the edge of the green island of light.

"No problem," Xander quickly agreed. "This is me so staying here." Spike paced a little farther out, and Riley jumped like a snake had bit him, only Xander had it on good authority there were no snakes around anymore.

"Riley?"

"I'm just not feeling well," Riley said, still sounding nauseous and smelling a little like a sour wash cloth.

"Okay, I know Spike's not good with the asking questions without sounding like he's somehow accusing you, probably because he probably does think you had something to do with this, but Riley, what happened?" Xander asked softly.

Riley took a shaky breath and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Our unit had divided with one half doing a local job while I took four specialists to Truro in Canada where some demon had started eating the locals."

"Okay, not seeing the point yet, but okay."

"When we got back," Riley said with a glare even though he still held Xander's hand in a tight grip, "we were told Sungsen had been infected or something by some demon they'd been hunting down here. The demon had been targeting an immigrant community, so the guys took Sungsen with them to translate."

"Okay, still not point boy."

"The higher-ups said that his infection could be an advantage, a lucky circumstance."

"And right now I am more with that point than I want to be," Xander said, suddenly disgusted with his government all over again. "They are idiots, you work for idiots, you know this, right?"

"I know," Riley said tightly. "We were sent on a training mission to determine how much Sungsen had been changed, but I insisted on bringing live ammunition and I insisted on having a fail-safe plan."

"Your fail safe is blowing up a mountain? I would call that overkill, but I'm guessing it wasn't kill-enough considering how twitchy Spike is right now."

"I've seen Sungsen since the blast," Riley agreed. "He's playing with me."

Xander looked at Riley's leg and at the pain-filled expression on his face. "And this is so not the family fun night type of game, either," he said softly.

Riley gave a bark of laughter. "No. It's not. I broke the leg when Sungsen ripped Lieutenant Carlson out of my grip. He lifted her thirty feet into the air, and I held on until she got about eight feet up, but then she pushed me off her to keep me from dying with her when he threw her at the mountain."

"Threw?" Xander could feel the giant stone that was his stomach sink a little lower. "Define threw her at the mountain," Xander demanded even though a little part of him so did not want to know. Huge with the not wanting to know, in fact.

"He grabs people with his mind--telekinesis."

"And your bosses couldn't figure out this was bad? Do you people drink stupid water?" Xander demanded. He didn't realize he was shouting until Riley flinched.

"Probably not pet, the stupidity's natural," Spike commented as he reappeared at the edge of the slope. "Jim and Blair are here, but I don't want them tryin' to come over that ridge. Goin' to be fun enough trying to get you two over it."

"As long as no one picks me up with the power of his mind and throws me over it, I'm happy," Xander said softly. Letting go of Riley, he stood up, and for a second, Riley held onto him, his hand tightening until Xander flinched. Spike stepped forward with a growl, and immediately Riley let go and blinked as he looked at his own hand as though trying to figure out why it had done that. Yep, they were all losing it, Xander decided.

"You first, pet," Spike said.

"But Riley's hurt."

"Don't give a shite about that berk. I want you safe and sound over that ridge, and you're going first."

"Xander, go," Riley added weakly.

"He doesn't need your permission," Spike growled, and yep, this was familiar territory what with the mutual hatred. "Come on, then, pet." Spike held out his hand, and Xander took it. Spike just about had to drag Xander up the slope because the rock just slid out from under his feet, but eventually, Xander got close enough to the top to grab a line of shale that didn't give way under him.

"Give me your hand," Jim said. Xander did and with Spike's arm around his waist and Jim pulling his wrist, Xander got up and over the ridge.

"I'm going back for Captain Cardboard," Spike said, his voice making it very clear just how much he hated himself for being the one to rescue the soldier.

"Xander, are you okay?" Blair called from a little farther down the trail.

"Peachy," Xander answered.

"He's fine," Jim then answered for him. With a clatter of rock, Spike was gone, and Jim's hand guided him down the steep bit of trail to where Blair stood. "Spike said you might have a few answers," Jim commented.

"Oh yeah, and you so aren't going to like them," Xander agreed. "Okay, you remember how I told you about those idiots making Adam and all hell breaking loose?" Xander started. "Well, it's kinda like that only this time we have a linguist named Sungsen..." Xander repeated the story Riley had told him, wondering briefly about the odds of Spike just dropping the soldier down that slope because going along with the whole Sungsen plan was just stupid. Riley knew better. The army knew better. And considering how many people knew better, why did they keep trying this same shit?

Chapter 23

Xander watched as Spike grunted his way over the top of the ridge, Jim's flashlight showing the scene and Xander was so not thinking Blair Witch Project, not even with them having their very own Blair who was softly muttering curses, and Xander was so not surprised at the cursing part. Spike almost tossed Riley over the ridge, the soldier's wrapped leg sticking out awkwardly.

"Fuck," Riley hissed, and for a second, all Xander could do was think about the fact that he'd never heard Riley swear before... at least not that word.

"You're bloody heavy, so you should be thankin' me for not dropping your arse on the other side," Spike growled as he sort of hopped over Riley's body and headed down the slope. Xander's brain suddenly engaged and he started up the slope, ducking under Spike's arm and landing on his knees next to Riley.

"Shit. Are you okay?" Xander asked as he put a hand on the bundled leg and tried to decide if it was still straight, which was hard because right now the leg just looked lumpy, and Xander was seriously hoping that was just the stuff used to tie it up.

"Oh man. You are just... no words, man. No words," Blair backed him up as he came up next to Xander, bending over Riley's body. "Hey, Blair Sandburg. So, you're Riley. Xander's got some good things to say about you."

Riley just kinda blinked up.

"Okay, before we try to move you, did cranky-pants break anything new?" Blair asked. Spike made a sound that was something like a growl or possibly a snort, but Xander tried to ignore the cranky-pants in question.

"Back off, Sandburg. Let me in." Jim's voice was distant and cold, kinda like the first time Xander had met him, back when Jim had chained him to the kitchen, but at least he wasn't pulling out the handcuffs. Jim handed his flashlight to Blair and then his hands made a cursory check of Riley's elbows and neck and unbroken leg. "Anything besides the leg hurt, soldier?" Jim asked.

"No, sir," Riley quickly answered, but that wasn't necessarily a good tone of voice.

Xander blinked to pull on his Shamanic vision, and the yellow streaks of fear and pain had been replaced with little sparks of red that danced in this soul cord, which Xander wouldn't have really thought weird because for all he knew, sparks of red were normal for being hunted by a big-ass scary linguist on a mountaintop. Only Jim was sparking red and Blair wasn't and Spike... well Spike's demon was pretty much freaking out, and Xander really did think it was unfair that the vampire could look so cool even during freakage. Xander so needed to learn that skill. But no red sparkage for Spike.

"Right then, if he still has all his bits attached, we need to get off this mountain." Spike didn't move any closer, but Jim nodded by the light of the flashlight.

"If we can get to the campsite tonight, we can make it to the truck tomorrow."

"Still not bloody soon enough. I don't much care for the thought of some wanker yanking me off the ground without giving me a chance ta fight back."

"Not helping with the impending freakage," Xander muttered, but everyone seemed to hear him anyway. For a second, the forest was eerily silent.

"We get back to camp, and we'll be fine. Blair and I set up a few surprises on the perimeter," Jim said, and Xander could hear the self-satisfied surety in that tone. Whatever the guys had done, Jim expected it to work. The problem was that Jim didn't know the kind of creepy crawlies Xander did. Jim's idea of surprises probably included guns and explosives and all kinds of things that didn't actually work on supernatural creepy crawlies nearly as well as on a good old fashioned serial killer or dictator. Nope, Xander was not on the hopeful side there. And Spike's silence was not bringing the hope either.

"We'll be fine," Blair added softly. Unlike Jim, he wasn't sounding smug.

"Can you handle being carried?" Jim asked Riley, his voice once again slightly cold as he talked to the other soldier. Before Riley could answer, Jim stood and physically stepped back.

"Yes, sir," Riley answered quickly.

"Blair, you and Xander carry," Jim said.

"Totally. Leave the two warriors free to shoot the serial killer," Blair muttered as he headed a bit down the slope. Even without looking, Xander could hear him setting up the stretcher.

"So, you're the Jim who's helping Spike and Xander," Riley said carefully. "You're a soldier." Xander blinked his Shamanic vision away and just looked at the scene. Jim's body had gone stiff.

"I'm the person hauling you off this mountain when your people left you to die," Jim said darkly before he went off to join Spike. Oh yeah, this was just one big love in, Xander thought as he went back to Riley's side. The man had seen his friends die, been thrown around, broken, and battered, and he really didn't deserve the Jim and Spike intimidation-for-fun show.

"Hey," Xander said as he sat down near Riley's head. Blair came dragging the stretcher over the rocks.

"Ignore him," Blair huffed as he set the stretcher next to Riley. "He woke up on the wrong side of his AK-47 this morning."

"And Spike always wakes up on the wrong side of his fangs when it comes to soldiers, although that metaphor sounded better before I said it." Xander shrugged as he helped position the stretcher as close to Riley as they could.

" I understand Spike, even if I don't know why Buffy insists on trusting him."

"Because she knows he's trustworthy," Xander pointed out. "Believe me, without massive amounts of trustworthiness, he so would have left you for the crazy linguist. You know, I keep thinking that... thinking that this is some linguist and not a demon, but it's not helping. The sense of impending doom is still impending."

"Think about me," Blair said with a huff. "I work at the university. Man, I know how pissy these linguists can be. Spill a little chai tea on one notebook and whoa... emotional meltdown in multiple languages."

"You aren't military," Riley said to Blair, who just laughed at the thought.

"No way. I mean, I've learned to respect society's protectors, but no fucking way. Ready?" Blair asked. Xander reached out and slipped his arms under Riley's legs while Blair grabbed his shoulders.

"Ready," Xander answered. With a one, two, three, they transferred Riley over to the stretcher without getting more than a grunt out of him.

Jim appeared out of the dark, offering to help get Riley off the steepest part of the slope, so Blair and Xander took the front of the stretcher while Jim handled the back until they reached the flat part of the path.

"Just... keep an eye open," Jim said quietly when he surrendered his end to Xander.

"Eye open in the open eye way or the seeing things that no one else can see way?" Xander asked quietly.

"I keep hearing someone," Jim admitted.

"He's playing with us. Up on the mountain, he would stalk me, watch me when I crawled out of the cave for water." Riley said the words without emotion, but Xander could still hear the terror, probably because Xander himself was big with the freaking even with Spike and Jim, two of the scariest people Xander knew, playing guard.

"Sadistic tendencies," Blair mused. "He killed the others and now he's sorry because he can't play with them. Monumentally not good. Oh man, he's watching us, isn't he?"

"I'm feeling a little bug in a glassish, which is never of the good." Xander looked around but could only see dark, dark and more dark.

"Oi, get your arses moving or I'm takin' the boy and lettin' the rest of ya find your own way home," Spike yelled from farther down the trail.

"I have the truck keys," Jim countered, but he left, his hand lingering for a second on Xander's arm before he headed forward.

"Not after I take them away from you," Spike pointed out.

"You can stop the asshole impression now," Jim just about growled.

"And why do I think it's not an impression?" Xander commented as he started down the trail. Spike got a little assholish when things were going totally wrong, and this came pretty close to the total end of totally wrong. He looked behind and shivered. It wasn't the unprotected back that was creeping him out as much as the fact that Spike and Jim wouldn't be up front and leaving their back undefended unless they knew the something to defend against was up front. Oh yeah, sometimes Xander wished his brain would turn off before making these horribly right connections. Right bad. Right very bad.

The hike down the trail left Xander's shoulders aching and his hands cramped as he held the stretcher's handles despite the sweat. Ahead of him, Blair seemed to just plod along, his head down as he followed the trail in moonlight, even ignoring it when Spike had suddenly doubled back and sprinted past them to growl at the darkness behind them.

Xander wanted to crack some joke or maybe just scream at the darkness, but he focused everything on getting down the trail to the campsite before dawn. By the time he carefully put Riley down in the middle of the camp Jim and Blair had set up earlier, Xander could feel every muscle in his body. His forearms burned, and he just sat right there on the ground next to Riley. Blair dropped down beside him. He'd grabbed a camp lantern, and now he flicked it on for the non-Sentinel members of the group who really did appreciate something stronger than moonlight.

"My hurts hurt," Xander complained softly.

"Xander, are you okay?" Riley asked, and a hand reached out to touch Xander's back.

"Oh man. Xander. You should have said something." Blair reached out and took one of Xander's hands, holding it palm up and bringing it closer to the lantern. A blister had split, and the runny stuff inside had leaked out to make a clean streak on his grimy palm. The flopping edges of the blister didn't do much to hide the red skin underneath.

"Okay, ow," Xander said as he considered the damage. "You know, that didn't hurt until you made me look at it." Turning an accusatory glare toward Blair, Xander didn't notice when Spike dropped down in front of him.

"Bloody hell! Why the fucking hell didn't you say something?" Spike snarled. Xander could feel a little jump of fear, and then Riley's hand was on his shirt, pulling him back away from Spike, and Xander didn't even have time to open his mouth.

"Leave him alone. He's hurting!"

Riley had a lot more upper body strength than Xander expected because he'd been pulled over Riley's body, his back sliding across Riley's stomach until he landed on the far side, his legs still draped over the soldier.

"Keep your bloody hands off him," Spike vamped out, his hands reaching out to grab Riley by the throat, and Riley pulled a knife from his belt.

"HEY!!! Whoa, slow down!" Blair shouted.

"No killing. Absolutely no with the killing," Xander seconded that as he threw himself across Riley, pinning the knife hand while making it really hard for Spike to get to the soldier's neck.

"Xander!" both men yelled unhappily.

"Soldier, Stand Down!" Jim's voice bellowed over it all. Xander could feel Riley tense under him for a second, and bloodshed was a definite possibility. Then Riley sagged. Xander slowly sat up, but Jim was there, taking the knife from Riley before he could do anything. Given the way Riley still glared at Spike, Xander thought it was probably a good idea.

"What happened?" Jim asked, and from the way he glared at Riley, no one had any doubt about just who he expected an answer from. Xander sat back, and immediately, Spike's arms were around his waist, pulling him into a tight embrace. Riley gave Spike one last murderous glare before he turned to Jim.

"Xander's injured, and this thing comes in screaming at him. I won't stand for abuse on my watch, physical or verbal." Riley spit the words at Jim, making it perfectly clear just who he thought was responsible for letting the abuse go on.

"There's no abuse here. Spike was just being cranky," Xander defended his vampire.

"Cranky? I'm cranky?" Spike demanded incredulously. "You've bloody crippled yourself without ever openin' your gob, and I'm cranky? Pet, cranky doesn't even cover what I'm feelin' right now."

"Xander, are you okay?" Jim instantly asked.

"He's ripped the skin from his own hands carrying that ungrateful berk."

"Okay, we have someone out there trying to kill us, can we please try to not kill each other?" Xander asked as Riley propped himself up on one elbow clearly ready to have another round of taunt-the-vampire, which was big on the stupid scale considering he was injured.

"Xander, how bad are your hands?" Jim asked, glancing down.

With a shrug, Xander held his hands out toward the camplight. "I didn't even notice until Blair pointed it out. Blisters... homicidal linguist with telekinetic powers..." Xander did a pantomime of balancing those two ideas for a second. "Okay, I was slightly more worried about the homicidal linguist."

"He's not carrying Major Moron tomorrow," Spike snapped, and the arms tightened around Xander's waist.

"He can't," Jim agreed quietly. "Blair and I will carry him."

"Aren't you going to do anything about—" Riley waved his hand in the direction of Spike and Xander.

"No," Jim said, the tone making it clear that he wasn't discussing this anymore. "Spike, it's almost dawn."

"Yeah, think I noticed," Spike agreed. "I'm not sleepin' in the tent, though. One flick of this wanker's mind, and I'll be drifting in the wind."

"Okay, not a good thought," Xander complained softly as he grabbed Spike's arms, holding on as if to reassure himself that Spike was very much undusty.

"I'll dig into the earth. I'll come back up at dawn." Spike reached up and rested his hand on Xander's cheek, pulling his head around so that he could kiss him passionately. Xander answered hungrily, his cock starting to harden at the unexpected attention. Slowly, Spike pulled back. "And when we get off this soddin' mountain, you and I will talk about you taking care of yourself," Spike promised. Without another word, he stood and went to a flat spot near a dead tree. Xander couldn't see, but he could hear the shovel hitting the ground faster than any human could have managed.

"Let's doctor those hands," Blair said quietly, and Xander sat and let the other two wash and dress his hands, mummifying them with antiseptic and gauze as Spike continued to dig. By the time the first pink of sunrise highlighted the tops of the trees, the clearing had a Spike sized patch of ground and nothing else.

"We could leave now," Riley said quietly. He had laid on the stretcher silently during the first aid, and now he just stared up at the pre-dawn without looking at any of them.

"Oh man. He comes to get you, and you want to leave?" Blair was the first to find his voice, and he didn't even attempt to hide the disgust.

"Did you miss the way he talked to Xander? He's on some sort of power trip, ordering him around," Riley turned to look at the three of them.

"Soldier, you don't understand what you're talking about," Jim said, his voice still dark with anger, and he wasn't exactly warming up to Riley.

"I know that he doesn't have a right to talk to Xander like that. I've known Xander a lot longer than you guys, I'm thinking, and I know that Xander has no time for vampires. He hates them."

"I hated them," Xander corrected him. "The 'ed' on the end of hate means past tense, and my English teacher would be so proud."

"You wanted to stake him," Riley pointed out.

"Well, duh. Hello, me normal human, him vampire with superpowers. Fear and insecurity makes you want to do a lot of things that are probably pretty dumb when you stop and think about it." Xander stared at Riley, daring him to go farther down that path. While Xander didn't want to bring up the whole getting himself bitten past, he would. He wasn't going to let Riley act like he had the moral high ground here.

"He's a vampire," Riley tried for a reasonable tone of voice.

"Yeah, and so is Angel and Harmony, and yeah, we don't have anything to do with Harmony because of the whole evil thing, but Spike and Angel are not evil. So, we don't judge the non-evil vampires with the evil ones."

"You don't?" Riley's voice dripped with disbelief. "You're the one who hated Angel."

"I'm the one who was scared shitless of Angel after I found out he was a vamp."

Jim broke in on the conversation. "I don't care what you have in your past, either one of you. Right now, we have one mission, and that is getting off this mountain. Nothing else matters, so if you aren't discussing ways to get us to safety, don't talk," he insisted. Riley wasn't going for it.

"But Spike..." Riley started to complain.

"He's a vampire," Jim interrupted, "and he's rude and he has no respect for anyone or anything, with the exception of Xander."

"And Buffy," Xander added, but that didn't exactly improve Riley's expression. "And sometimes Giles and Willow, and, of course, Angel, but he doesn't actually admit to that one."

"Yes," Jim said with a pointed look in Xander's direction that clearly suggested less talk and more listen. "But the point is that he is doing the right thing even when he complains about it, and he is Xander's choice, so there must be something good under all the attitude."

"And you're going to just let him abuse Xander? We should get out of here." Oh yeah, Riley was like a dog with a bone: a big dog and a very big bone, only Jim was a bigger dog and he didn't really like Riley's bone.

"And I'm telling you again, I'm not leaving Spike," Jim almost growled. "Right now, I'm more likely to leave you."

"Whoa, Jim," Blair interrupted.

"He's a vampire, and I don't know what hold he has over Xander, but he can't be trusted." Riley's hand reached for Xander, resting on Xander's knee, and that was slightly creepy.

"Hey, I get to decide who has what hold over me," Xander protested as he shoved Riley's hand off his leg. The strangest expression flitted across Riley's face for a second.

"He's dangerous," Riley appealed to Jim again.

"So am I," Jim said as he stood up and glowered down at the man. "Two man sentries, Xander you and Blair have the first three hours. Wake me up and Xander and I will take second shift. Blair, you and I will take third. And the next time Spike comes to me, I'm going to tell him where to shove his mission," Jim growled before he got up and headed for the tent.

"He's just worried," Blair said softly when Jim had gone.

"He's worried, you're troubled... me, I've skipped all that and gone straight to wigged out and spazzing."

"Xander," Riley said as he reached out to Xander again, but Xander had put up with enough creepy. Besides, if Riley kept with the touching, he was going to have two broken wrists to match his leg. Xander scooted backwards.

"We'll be okay. Jim and Spike will stop whatever this guy has turned into." Blair said the words, but Xander wasn't sure even he believed them. However, there really wasn't anything any of them could do until darkness came again. Xander sure wasn't going to be sleeping, though. He had a better chance of spontaneously spouting calculus equations than closing his eyes. Taking a deep breath, Xander reminded himself that they just had to get to the truck and get far enough off the mountain to call Giles and get slayers up here to kill one Lieutenant Zhi Sungsen, language specialist.

Chapter 24

"Xander," Riley said softly.

The sun had come up, and Xander's body had started demanding sleep even though his brain kept sliding to thoughts of evil linguists. "Yeah?" Xander turned to Riley, happy for anything that would help keep him awake and distract him.

"Where's Buffy?"

Xander could hear the insecurity in that question. Why wasn't Riley important enough for Buffy to come after herself? Oh yeah, this relationship was healthy.

"There was this thing, and a demon, and potential world ending. You know those wacky demons... always with the world ending. There must be a real lack of hobbies in other dimensions. I bet a craft shop would do good, teach them a little crochet, maybe some jewelry making and pottery," Xander joked with a shrug.

For a second, Riley was quiet. "I can see Anya doing that," he finally answered.

"Oh, yeah. I think I would have been afraid to make the joke in front of her because she would have been down at the bank filling out loan paperwork."

"You look good Xander."

"Terror agrees with me," Xander shrugged again.

"What's going on with you and the vampire?" Riley's voice was neutral, but Xander could tell when they'd left the land of small talk for the land of big talk with a side of 'Xander, how could you?'

Blair looked up from his journal but didn't even offer to rescue Xander from yet another round of bashing Xander's decisions.

"Sex," Xander said, hoping the bluntness would at least shock Riley into silence. Instead he just looked pained.

"Xander, I understand the attraction. I do," Riley reached out again, resting his hand on Xander's ankle, the only part of Xander close enough to touch.

"Riley, no offense, but you're not really understanding much of anything."

"Yes, I do," Riley argued. "I went to those vamp houses for the danger, the feel of them feeding was… I couldn't stop. But I did stop, and I know you're just as strong. You need to walk away before you lose your soul to whatever is going on."

"Oh man, you and vampires?" Blair gasped. Riley turned his head to glare at Blair, but it lasted only a second before he sighed.

"Yeah. It's an incredible feeling, which is why I know better than anyone what Xander is fighting here."

"And yet, you don't," Xander interrupted. "Okay, I'll admit that the biting isn't bad, and for someone who has enforced a strict no-biting policy for much of my love life, or at least the no biting with fangs rule because there was biting with Anya, but okay, off track now," Xander stared at the injured soldier. The weird thing was that he knew, he absolutely knew, that Riley was just worried, but that didn't stop this from being a seriously freaky conversation.

"I don't understand this. I mean, Buffy didn't even tell me you were gay, not that there's anything wrong with being gay," Riley hurried to say.

"And I'm hoping you mean that in a 'nothing wrong with me being gay' way and not in a 'coming out yourself' way," Xander said as he considered the hand still holding his ankle. Yep, freaky. Riley pulled back his hand as though burned, like the good little heterosexual male he was.

"I'm not hitting on you. Buffy and I are trying to work things out."

"And hitting on the best friend, not so much with the helping to work things out," Xander said from experience.

"I think I love Buffy," Riley said, and Xander flinched away from that lack of ringing endorsement. He didn't want Buffy hurt again, and this was looking hurty. And then Riley's hand was back on Xander's ankle. "But loving Buffy and not wanting to see you hurt, there's nothing wrong with me feeling both. Jim and Blair are obviously friends, so you can't believe that caring about someone else means you're gay."

At that, Blair started laughing. "Oh man, why is it that people refuse to see Jim as gay? I know it's not me because plenty of guys down at the station joke about my sex life, but not big, bad Jim. God forbid he's gay. Come on, butch guys can be gay, too."

"Wait, you mean…" Riley looked over at Blair.

"We're so doing it like bunnies," Blair laughed. "Well, not right now because of the whole serial killer situation, but once we catch this guy, we'll be right back to doing it like bunnies."

"I don't get it. Buffy sends four gay guys to rescue me?" Riley sounded so genuinely confused that it took a second for Xander to even process the totally offensive meaning in that.

"Hey!" Xander reached over and gave Riley's arm enough of a punch to sting. "She sent two badass warriors and two Shamen, so don't go dissing the rescue team." After it came out his mouth, Xander realized that Buffy had actually sent one warrior and one Shaman, but that made it sound like Riley was even lower on the priority totem pole, so Xander didn't correct himself.

"Shamen?" Riley pushed himself up onto both elbows and looked from one to the other.

"Twice the Shamanic power for the price of one," Xander agreed. "Blair's a trado Shaman, big with the teaching mojo, and I'm an animus Shaman. That's how we tracked you."

"Are you sure? Shamanic powers are hard to identify. The military—"

"Whoa, no offense, but I'd rather not have a discussion of the military, thank you," Blair cut him off. "The military and people who might be a little different don't mix well."

"You don't want the Army to try and take you," Riley said as he looked at Blair more closely. "You're afraid they'll want to experiment with your powers."

"Man, considering what the military has done in the past, yeah."

"It isn't like that—" Riley started, but Blair cut him off.

"Just stop. You're an idiot if you don't know what they're capable of. The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was just the start." Blair leaned forward. "I mean, have you ever heard of Harold Blauer? 1950's? His case is totally fucked up. The army gave him more and more mescaline just to see what would happen in case of chemical attack. They didn't even have evidence that any of the compounds were being used in Korea, and they killed the guy and then paid his ex-wife $18,000 to apologize for it. As late as the seventies, the army was giving people radiation poisoning while lying and telling them it was cancer treatment, and in 1999, the Los Angeles V.A. hospital was shut down because they had so many violations of ethical standards. Man, they experimented on people who refused treatment, they lied, they told people they were getting one treatment and then gave them another. So, I’m not trusting the government. And if you do anything to turn the Army toward me or Jim, I will personally make you pay."

Xander stared at Blair. The gentle man who had held him and laughed at Xander's jokes had vanished under something cold and dangerous.

"I know something about unethical experiments and doctors who don't tell the subjects what's going on," Riley said carefully. "I don't plan on telling anyone that you or Xander are Shamen."

"Good." And with that, Blair blinked and the anger was gone. Xander stared at the man for a second before he turned his attention back to Riley.

"Xander, I would never turn you over to the Army."

"I was hoping. It wouldn't be a good way to impress Buffy," Xander joked.

"It has nothing to do with Buffy. Even if Sam and I were still married, I wouldn't turn you over to them, either of you," Riley said as he now glanced back toward Blair. "But Shamanic powers are difficult to identify or quantify. You've been fighting demons since you were fifteen; isn't it possible that you're just good at tracking?"

"I'm thinking no. First, I wasn't the tracker. I was the bait… the one who walked around blindly until a vampire found me and tried to throw me head-first into a gravestone."

"It wasn't that—"

"Oh, it totally was," Xander interrupted Riley's attempt to reassure him. "But that's okay. I've gotten over the whole Zeppo stage, and even Willow and Giles, who are so not in the 'support Xander's new powers' column, have admitted that I'm down with the Shamanism." Xander blinked and the world ghosted out so he could see the soul cords curled around him. Riley's was stretching, reaching for Xander and the red sparks from earlier had brightened.

"Wow. Okay, the freak just continues," Xander whispered as he reached out. Riley's soul cord sank through his hand, but Xander could feel his bandaged fingers slide through something like loose jelly.

"Xander?" Blair's hand landed on his shoulder.

"Riley's cord. It's being weird."

"Define weird."

Xander stared at it.

"What are you two talking about? What cord?" Riley asked after a second.

"Your soul. Xander sees souls."

"Shit. That explains Spike. He wants the power, Xander. You deserve better than some asshole who just latches on to the nearest source of power." Riley's cord snapped out, an end breaking free and curling toward Xander. Xander scrambled backwards.

"Okay, that should not happen."

"What? Xander, what's happening?"

"Riley's cord, it's reaching out for me," Xander said, and then he backwards crab-crawled into something that turned out to be two legs. He looked up and Jim's cord distorted his face, only Jim's cord was definitely unJimlike.

"Chief, what's going on here?" he asked, and that was his cranky voice.

"Oh man, I have no idea. We were talking, only Xander says that Riley's cord is reaching for him."

"What are you doing?" Jim snarled, and for a half second, Xander expected to get yanked off the ground, but then Jim stormed past him and grabbed Riley's neck, pushing the man to the ground, and Riley's cord snapped back into place in his own body.

"Nothing," Riley rasped out, but Jim wasn't letting go.

"The longer I know you, the less I like you."

Xander held his breath as the two men faced off, Riley's hands clawing at Jim's arm, and now both their cords had nearly vanished under the red flares Xander had seen earlier.

"Jim?" Xander asked.

"Hey, let's all calm down," Blair suggested.

"You leave Xander alone. You don't comment on his powers, his choice of bed-mates, or his life. In fact, you don't even comment on the color of the sky to him, am I clear, soldier?"

"Very," Riley hissed.

Jim continued to kneel next to Riley, pinning him to the ground. "Chief, do you find it at all strange that Finn here would be the only member of his team to survive? Everyone else is dead, and yet the major here doesn't have more than a simple leg fracture."

For a second, the camp was deathly silent. "I don't think a broken leg is simple," Blair said slowly.

"I don't know. A soldier is trained to do all kinds of things, to endure all kinds of things to ensure that the mission goes as planned. What was your mission, soldier?"

"To assess Sungsen's skills. I told you already." Riley's words ended with a gurgling noise, and Xander could tell from the frantic punches Riley threw that Jim had cut off his air. But Riley was injured and tired and flat on his back, so his hits landed ineffectually on Jim's sides. Jim pinned one of Riley's hands to the ground before he let up with his other so that Xander could hear the pained gasp as Riley dragged air into his lungs.

"What else?"

For a second, Xander could only hear Riley's harsh breathing. "To contain him if necessary."

"And?" Jim demanded darkly. Xander flinched from the raw fury he could hear in that tone, the promise to hurt Riley and hurt him badly if Riley didn't talk.

"That's it. It was a training exercise." Riley's free hand dropped to his side, and Xander could see Jim's cord flash red so brightly that he flinched back and blinked away the Shamanic vision altogether. Now he could clearly watch Jim pinning Riley to the ground, Blair standing to the side and looking just a little alarmed.

"You're holding something back, so let me make this clear," Jim said softly, only his soft was kinda scary in the way that the world ending was kinda bad. "You either tell me what you're hiding or when the sun goes down, the four of us are leaving and you can crawl out of here on your own."

Xander opened his mouth to protest, but sound wasn't coming out. Panic did that to him sometimes.

"Last chance, soldier. This is my mission, and my primary objective is getting Blair and Xander out of here alive, and you are quickly becoming a liability."

Riley's eyes darted over toward Xander and then looked up at the man who had him pinned to the ground.

"Ri, if there's something you're not saying, now would be a good time to say it. Great time. Perfect time." Xander bit his tongue as babble threatened to spill out.

"There was a second person infected." Riley's eyes were focused off on the distance, but Jim stared down.

"Go on," he ordered.

"She didn't show the same symptoms Sungsen did, so they think she didn't get enough of the poison to change her."

"You think differently." Jim let go of Riley and sat back on his heels.

Riley lay there staring over at nothing and nodded. "I'm worried the poison might just take longer to change her." Riley bit his lip and then looked up at Jim. "She's in the middle of base… all those men and women, the advisors and civilian consultants and support staff… my ex-wife is there. If Susan Clark goes the way of Sungsen, she'll be in the middle of all those people."

"Shit." Jim scrubbed his hand over his face. "Why didn't you say something?"

"No offense, sir, but I don't know you. And I have no reason to trust Hostile 17 at all."

"Is there anything else you haven't told us?" Jim asked.

"No, sir."

"Great." Jim's voice dripped with sarcasm as he stood up. "So, we get back to civilization, and then you call your buddies and give them a warning."

"And expect them to do what?" Xander asked. "The military is long on stupid when it comes to handling the supernatural. This is Giles and slayer territory, so we need to call them with the 411—where the base is, how long ago she was infected, what the demon looked like who did the infecting."

"I can't compromise base security," Riley interrupted, and Jim was instantly back, a hand wrapped around Riley's throat as he knelt by the stretcher.

"You don't have a choice. Your people fucked this up, and if Xander tells you to give Giles the information, you will give him everything you know, everything you've heard, and everything you suspect, and you do it before you have a chance to get anyone else killed. Clear?"

"Yes, sir," Riley said, his voice tight.

Xander blinked into his Shamanic vision and studied the scene. Riley's cord had returned to blue, no red sparks and the yellow was only in thin streaks, and considering that Jim in scary-mode was pretty damn scary, Xander had expected more yellow. Jim's burgundy and gold cord still had the red sparks, though. Xander was so going to have to talk that through with Blair because whatever freakiness was going on with Riley was going on with Jim. Both men were totally being more assholy than usual, and yeah, maybe Riley had just gotten more assholy in general in the years since Xander had known him, but Xander didn't think so. Buffy didn't usually fall for guys who acted like morons. Well, there was the Immortal, but he had done a good job of pretending not to be a moronic asshole all the way up to the end there.

"Xander, why don't you head in for some sleep. Blair and I will take second watch."

"It hasn't been three hours," Xander protested. Considering that Jim was the one who would hear this guy coming and shoot at him, Jim needed the sleep way more than Xander.

"Trust me, Sport, I will not be sleeping. You go get some rest, and I'll wake you up when it's your turn to take Blair's spot on watch."

Hesitating for just a second, Xander headed for the tent. Jim in alpha mode wasn't going to take no for an answer, not unless it was from Blair and not unless Blair really, really put in some effort. Xander had zero chance.

After he crawled into the tent, Xander blinked into his Shamanic vision and looked toward the place where Spike had dug into the earth. The tent fabric became sheer and even the rocks faded so that Xander could see the midnight and blue twist of Spike's soul curled under the ground. The black demon cord was still whipping wildly, and Xander could only imagine how pissed Spike was going to be at Riley when he came out of the ground. And that was American pissed as in wanting to rip off limbs, not British pissed with the drinking. Of course, if they had whiskey, Xander could probably talk Spike into getting British pissed which would definitely be of the good for Riley's health.

"Okay, so that was weird, but Riley's had a bad week, so cut him some slack," Xander told the ground. The black demon cord just whipped harder, which meant Spike was hearing him. It was weird, being able to tell Spike whatever he wanted without the vampire saying anything back. Xander settled onto the sleeping bag as he considered what he wanted to say.

"I know that Riley is worried because he doesn't know you. I mean, you go all grrrr around him, which I get. Hey, if he had tortured me, I would not be out here saving him at all, so I'm big with the understanding. But he doesn't know the rest, so I can see where it would be freaky thinking of someone dating a vampire that was all grrrrr. Maybe that's why Buffy has an easier time with us. She knows that you have stuff in there other than the vampire bits, not that I don't like the vampire bits, because Riley is right on that. The biting is totally and completely not horrible. Sometimes when you bite me, I can't figure out why we try to save people from the biting because biting good. Biting very good. Well, except when it leads to death, which it won't with you, so it's all good."

Xander rolled over and studied the sky. With the Shamanic vision on, he could see the sky through the tent, both looking like faded mirror images of themselves, one superimposed on the other. Xander kept hoping that if he practiced, he could use his Shamanic vision without just about blinding himself to the real world, but so far it wasn't happening. The clouds had blurred away to gray and the trees were one big blob on either side of the tent, and the tent itself just made everything look like he was peering through a piece of cloth.

"Before. I didn't know how to be alive without hurting. I felt like every time I opened my mouth, I was going to start screaming and not stop until I just fell over dead. I'd lost so many people and somewhere in Africa, I realized that I couldn't meet a new person without wondering when they would die or imagining their body lying under the sun, rotting. That's when I came home. But I couldn't be that fucked up person at home because Willow needed me to be strong when she and Kennedy were having their meltdown and Buffy was finally happy. And then Kennedy was gone, and it seemed like everyone else had sort of shed all that horribleness from Sunnydale, and I didn't want to be the one who couldn't deal, so I just shut down.

"I planned out the jokes I could use because I had to be the joker, that's who I was. It was like I pretended to be the me at fifteen. And Spike, I just couldn't let go of the idea that I had to hold myself together, that I had to make myself be what I wanted to be, only I wasn't and I didn't. And that doesn't make sense even to me, but I hope you get it. And then with the Shaman stuff, that scared the shit out of me because I knew I wasn't as good of a person as everyone thought I was. I couldn't let go and be the real me until I knew you were there to hold me together."

Xander took a deep breath and watched a dark shadow rise from the trees and then sink down again. "I guess what I'm saying is please don't break Riley into little tiny Riley pieces when you get up. He doesn't know any of this, and he really is trying to protect me, only he doesn't know me so it's all coming out kinda… okay, really creepy.

"But he'll figure out that we're good together. Jim and Blair get it, and I think Buffy is starting to get it even though she doesn't want to. And really, I can understand that because it would be like Anya sleeping with Willow, and I don't think I would really be okay with that just because of the creepy conversations they could have about me. And then Giles, he gets it. He just doesn't want to admit that he gets it, which is again fine because I don't want Giles spending a lot of time thinking about my sex life. When he offered me that list of places-- that was only slightly horrifying. He's like my father, and fathers and sex should never be in the same sentence. Or the same paragraph. Possibly not the same book."

Xander sighed. "Okay, I've officially lost track of where I'm going, but don't kill Riley."

Watching the sky, Xander blinked at the dark shadow that rose from the trees again. When he sat up, the shadow sank. "Okay, that's weird." Xander pushed the sleeping bag away and crawled out of the tent, his eyes on the blurry sky and blurrier trees.

"Sport?" Jim called.

Xander didn't answer as he took a step forward. The trees made a jagged dark grayish-green blur, but a dark shadow moved among them. "Whoa, hey, no wandering away by yourself," Blair said as a hand took Xander's elbow.

"What are you seeing?" Jim asked from the other side.

"I don't exactly know, but I'm guessing it's not good," Xander said as he watched a black snake coil up, an arch visible just above the treeline, before it collapsed back down and nearly vanished into the trees. "A soul. A black soul like a demon soul," Xander breathed as the cord rose again. Other demons were black, but black like Spike's which was a blue so dark it soaked up all the light. But this… this was a shining black, a glittering darkness that reflected the light. "A huge demon soul," Xander said as a coil rose again, like a python rippling through the trees.

"Blair, get the detonators and the M4 carbine. Xander, you stay right here and keep watching whatever you're watching," Jim said, his hand steady on Xander's arm.

"Jim," Xander said with just a little panic.

"It's okay, Sport. Whoever's out there, we're more than a match for him," Jim promised, but even Xander could hear the lie in his words.

Chapter 25

"Sungsen won't move in right away. He likes to play with people first, cracking twigs, moving things just out of your line of sight, crap like that," Riley said, his eyes scanning the forest. With the sun fully up, Xander could see the dark circles under his eyes and the way his white knuckles clutched the sides of the stretcher. He hadn't even been able to get up to pee, and Jim had held a container between his legs for him.

"Classic sadist," Blair muttered. "Oh man, what is it with people and power? Give them a little taste of it, and their life's dream goes from playing baseball to ruling the world. Man, people suck."

"Enough. Talk like this isn't helping." Jim didn't sound angry, but he didn't sound like he would put up with any more, either.

"We need to get off the mountain before he decides to stop playing." Riley insisted.

Jim had been checking the treeline, but now he gave Riley a narrow-eyed glare. "We wait for sunset."

"If your primary objective is Xander and Blair's safety—"

"If we are forced to evacuate we will…" Jim started.

"No and way. I'm not leaving Spike," Xander interrupted.

"If we have to, then we will. In an attack, he has a better chance without us to slow him down. This is not a debate, Sport."

"But he's not buried deep…"

Jim reached out, resting a hand on Xander's shoulder. "We have no evidence that Sungsen can do anything until Spike comes up. Throwing a twig or even a body is one thing, but digging in the ground is very different. There are thousands or millions of pieces of dirt, so if he has to lift each one, he won't have time."

"And if he can scoop it all out at once?" Xander demanded.

"Which is why we will hold position as long as possible. But Xander, understand this: If I tell you to retreat, you will do it."

"Oh man, let's not worry about that until the time comes," Blair suggested. He came over and laid a hand on Xander's arm, his other hand still wrapped around a rifle that wasn't quite as large as the scary-looking one in Jim's hand. Even Riley had a sidearm lying next to his stretcher.

"This is a mistake," Riley said so softly it was little more than a breath, but then he didn't know just how well Jim could hear him.

"Finn, do you or do you not understand mission protocol?" Jim snapped.

"Yes, sir, I do."

"Then exhibit some self control, soldier." Jim turned to him with a much nicer tone of voice, "Xander, has the cord moved at all?"

"Oh, it's moving all over. It's flopping around like a snake on a hot pan, not that I ever did that as a kid, but you get where I'm going," Xander said as he watched the cord's movement.

"Sorry, Sport, but we need you to stay awake and keep an eye out. We'll wait here, try to hold off any attack until sunset, but we're going to need someone to let us know where he is."

"Okay, but that cord is flopping around so much, I'm not big with knowing where he is," Xander pointed out uncertainly.

"Just do your best. If he gets closer, it may be easier for you to pinpoint a location on him."

"And yet, that is not making me feel better." Xander muttered the words, but Jim's hand tightened reassuringly for a moment before he pulled Blair off to the side. For one second, Xander wished he could trade in Shamanic sight for super hearing because Xander was getting that feeling like people were talking about him… people were talking about him and how to make him leave Spike if push came to bloodshed. And even worse, with his Shamanic vision on, Xander couldn't tell exactly what they were doing. It looked like they were playing with their guns, and Xander bit down on the urge to make the obvious and inappropriate pun.

"Whoa, hey, hey, that… the cord's stretching out that way!" Xander poked in the direction where the cord reached off into the distance. The black stretched thinner and thinner until it seemed to disappear into a spot.

"It's Sungsen," Riley said darkly.

"It looks more like a bird," Jim countered sarcastically.

"Watch what's happening to the bird, sir."

"Okay, and for those of us who can't really see that well, which of you is going to give the play by play? 'Cause this not knowing is getting to be a little much," Xander complained

"It's a hawk," Jim immediately said. "It looks like it's caught in a net or… Damn!"

"Less damning, more describing! The cord's snapping back!"

"The bird was just yanked through the air. The thing left a trail of feathers behind," Jim said, and a hand found Xander's shoulder.

"The cord is pulling back into the trees," Xander added his bit, still not able to see a bird, but then he couldn't see a whole lot else, either.

"Some invisible force just slammed the bird into a tree."

"It's how he kills," Riley said darkly, and Xander flinched at the idea of having to watch people you knew die like that. Okay, he was forgiving Riley a lot of his freakiness.

"What the—" Jim's voice sounded so alarmed that Xander blinked out of his Shamanic sight.

"What? What? What the what?" Xander looked around wildly.

Jim was staring blankly ahead.

"Oh man, I'm with Xander, this not sharing is creeping me out. What did you see?" Blair demanded as he grabbed Jim's arm from behind.

"The bird, it vanished."

"No way, that's physically impossible. Maybe he threw it so fast it just seemed to vanish," Blair said, clearly confused

"Sandburg, the bird just got sucked into nothing," Jim just about growled, his hands clutching his weapon.

Xander was already shaking his head. "Not nothing. I'm an idiot. God, all those years of research, and you'd think I could keep a fact in my head for longer than fifteen minutes," Xander complained.

"Sport?"

"Telekinesis," Xander said. "Shit. Andrew and I were having this whole fight about which power was more powerful, Jean Grey's telekinesis or Psylocke's psi-bolts. Well, it started as that and kinda turned into who had the better body, but seeing as how they're both cartoons and I'm now gay anyway, we can skip that part of the conversation," Xander hurried to say when Jim started turning the cranky look at him. "Giles said that telekinesis as a power is next to useless."

Xander struggled to explain what Giles had said, only he didn't remember most of the science stuff. He and Andrew had been a little too busy rolling their eyes at Giles' literal approach to comic book heroes. Xander pointed to one of the backpacks. "If it took me a hundred calories to walk over and pick up that bag, then to pick it up with telekinesis would take like a thousand. Giles said that mages had given themselves the power in the past and had to stop using it before they literally starved to death because they were burning up all their calories just trying to focus the power through their minds. Some of them even cooked their own brains."

"The mind isn't built to channel that much energy," Blair quickly added. "Oh man, the law of entropy. The amount of energy that the body must waste trying to force energy through channels not built for it, oh man. Shit. He's eating. He somehow swallowed the bird whole, psychic ingestion or something."

"He what?" Riley demanded from the ground.

"He's eating. That's why he killed every living thing. Man, he can't feed his own need for energy, and the more he used his power, the more energy he needs." Blair ran both hands through his hair, shoving back from his face while his features contorted into something that looked pretty close to panic.

"Okay, that's gross." Xander swallowed and tried hard not to think about Riley's team. Obviously Riley's brain had gone to the same place because he had turned green.

"So, we aren't going to find bodies," Jim said grimly. "But this could be an advantage. If all the animals are gone, that means there isn't anything left for him up here. Starvation should weaken him."

"Um, not to point out the obvious or anything, but we're up here." Just saying it made Xander's stomach lurch, and he immediately switched into his Shamanic sight to check the black cord. It had quieted so that Xander could barely see it through the shadow forms of the trees.

"Nothing has changed. Whatever the reason, he didn't kill Finn and he hasn't killed us. If anything, this is good news," Jim said, and Xander felt that large hand on his arm. He only wished he could have cool arms wrapped around his waist holding him because he was ready to follow Blair to panicksville. Not that Blair was advertising his trip, but Xander could see his green cord nearly swallowed in yellow. Riley and Jim were both streaked with it, but Blair, oh yeah, Blair was on the train to hyperventilation. Jim reached over and pulled Blair to his side.

"I thought it was some sadistic game, but if he needs food, I don't know why he didn't kill me," Riley said as he pushed himself up on one elbow. "I am not holding anything back, sir. I honestly don't know."

Jim nodded slowly.

"Oh god. I hate to rain on the parade of suddenly getting alongness, but he's coming this way," Xander said, watching as the snake rolled through the trees, bulging and twisting like a python that had eaten a horse and gotten it stuck half way down.

"Positions," Jim said as he reached down and grabbed one handle on Riley's stretcher. Pulling the injured man to a position behind one boulder, Jim waited until Blair had pulled Xander to a sheltered spot on the rock face before taking a position in front of them.

"Stay behind me," Jim said tersely.

"No problem, man," Blair agreed enthusiastically, but even with his Shamanic sight on, Xander could see Blair grip the gun.

"Sport, give me some directions here," Jim said. Xander slipped to Jim's side and pointed at a spot through the trees.

"Finn?" Jim called.

"On it," Riley answered. He lay on the ground with his head and arm aiming his weapon around the edge of the boulder, and that didn't look all that safe to Xander.

Jim went to one knee, pushing Xander farther back into the shadow of the rock they were using for cover. Xander held his breath until he could see little spots that danced around that black cord that slowly advanced on them. Then he forced himself to breathe, counting to five on each breath in. "Half a football field," Xander whispered into Jim's ear.

"Finn," Jim hissed.

"Fifty yards, copy that," Riley answered.

"He's stopped. Why did he stop?" Xander clutched the rock and found himself just wishing for an attack because then they could actually do something, or Jim and Riley and Blair could do something while he pointed, but it would be better than waiting.

"Where?" Jim asked.

"Twenty yards, behind that big tree," Xander pointed to a huge pine. Behind it, Xander could see that black soul cord twisting and writhing. And that was way too close to Spike's hiding place. Xander could feel his heart contract.

"Blair, number three," Jim said. Before Xander could even ask what that meant, an explosion tore through the forest. A smaller tree behind the huge pine fell in slow motion and dirt rained down on the whole scene.

"The cord, it's gone," Xander said. The clearing was silent, dust slowly settling as they all waited and watched for long minutes. "Okay, if that's it, I’m calling this anticlimactic. Anticlimactic and good, but anticlimactic."

"Anticlimactic is always good, Sport. Chief, hold position. Finn, cover me."

"Copy that," Riley agreed, squirming a little but keeping his gun pointed at the large tree.

Slowly, Jim slipped out of the small niche in the rock and he slid forward. Xander had to force himself to breathe as Blair stepped in front of him. For someone who didn't like violence, Blair kept the gun pointed steadily at the pine, and the look on his face didn't leave Xander in any doubt about whether or not he'd shoot.

Jim had covered half the clearing when the cord snapped out toward him. "Jim, the cord!" Xander screamed. Jim didn't wait for the invisible cord to touch him, he dove to one side and came up firing on the spot Xander had pointed out.

"He's going left! Left, his left, toward the rock face," Xander yelled, just about panicking when Jim's gun started tracking in the wrong direction. "More left! THERE!"

Jim opened fire again, but the cord didn't even pause.

"Xander, where is he?" Jim yelled.

"He's still moving. It didn't slow him down! Jim, the cord, it's coming for you!" Xander could feel Blair tense beside him.

"Where?" Riley yelled, and Xander stepped far enough out of the shadow of the rock to point. Blair stepped out of the shelter and opened fire, but the black cord kept sliding over the ground to Jim, who was now running toward the spot where Xander pointed. When the cord hit Jim, his body slammed to a stop, and it didn't take Sentinel hearing to catch Jim's pained wheeze.

"JIM!" Blair screamed and then he was out and running.

"He's okay! Jim's okay!" Xander yelled, praying that he was interpreting the cords right. The gold in Jim's cord had flashed to life, growing until it became a glow, and the black thing slid around it, curling and pressing, but never actually touching Jim. Blair still ran to Jim's side, firing at the trees. The moment Blair brushed the black cord, Xander knew there was a problem. The thing uncurled from Jim and wrapped around Blair.

"Blair," Xander yelled as he came out from the shelter of the rock.

"Xander, get back," Riley shouted, but Xander could see the black slip into Blair's body and wrap around Blair's soul.

"NO!" Jim took one running step toward the trees, spraying the trees with bullets.

"Grab Blair! Jim, grab Blair! Get Blair!" Xander screamed. Jim hesitated a second and then reversed direction to grab Blair to his chest. His guide's feet had just left the ground, but now he slumped in Jim's arms as the gold of Jim's cord enveloped Blair's own soul, that odd blending Xander had seen earlier enveloping them both, but this time, instead of the two colors merging, Jim's gold dominated both their soul cords.

"Xander, get back," Riley yelled, and Xander turned to see Riley upright, using one of the stretcher poles as an awkward crutch as he stumbled forward. Xander looked back toward Jim and Blair, but the black cord had unfurled from them and was creeping over the ground toward Xander.

"Oh shit." Xander started tumbling backwards away from the cord, but when the cord was a good six feet away, Xander could feel something pulling on him, making his breath catch in his chest. Hands grabbed him, and Xander turned to see Riley grabbing him, Riley's own soul glowing gold. The black slid up Xander's body, only Riley's soul couldn't protect Xander the way Jim's had enveloped Blair. The black shied away from Riley but still curled firmly in Xander's chest, clutching Xander's soul so tightly that Xander could see the empty tunnel where his own soul would be if Xander could see it.

Xander reached down and clawed at the black cord strangling him with bandaged hands. He could feel it slide through his grip like freezing cold jelly.

"Jim! Help!" Riley yelled, and Xander felt himself lifted from the ground, Riley holding on to his waist, his broken leg dragging over the ground as Xander was pulled toward the trees. Xander felt new hands on him, pulling his leg until he felt like it would come right out of its socket, but Xander kept moving toward the trees.

Gunfire crashed through the trees, and Xander was dimly aware of Blair firing the fully automatic weapon into the trees. The black cord tightened, and Xander gritted his teeth and ripped at it desperately. Little bits of black pulled away like the slimy skin bits of skin coming off a raw chicken breast. Xander clawed at the cord, his small success giving him hope even as all three of them were dragged to the trees.

The cord flayed under Xander's hands, and then the thing split, half crawling over the ground toward Blair.

"Jim! Get Blair!" Xander screamed. Looking down, he could see the pained expression in Jim's eyes. For a second, Jim clung to him. "Blair," Xander whispered, and then Blair screamed as the other half of the cord found him.

Making a pained cry, Jim let go and rolled away before he came up running for Blair. He threw himself onto his guide, and Xander ignored the scene, knowing that whatever Jim had, it would protect Blair but not him. Xander clawed at the cord, feeling the pressure lighten as his feet finally touched ground again. Riley's hands pulled at him as Riley practically crawled up Xander's body, and Xander could smell blood.

Riley threw an arm around Xander's shoulder, and with his other hand, he pulled his handgun out of his waist. The black cord dragged Xander around a tree, his skin grating on the bark until he was finally dragged around to the far side and found himself face to face with a terrifyingly familiar face. Oh, he didn't know the Asian features, but the black eyes and deep veins were all too familiar.

"Why Major Finn," Sungsen said in an almost friendly tone. Riley brought his gun up and fired on Sungsen, point blank to the head. Sungsen smiled as the bullet entered and a red hole appeared in the middle of his forehead only to close over without a mark. The bullet came out the back and thunked into a tree.

"That is against regulations, Major."

"Lieutenant, you've been compromised," Riley said calmly. "You need to stand down, soldier."

Sungsen laughed. "No, I don't. I'm going to finish your friend, and then I'm going to find a better hunting ground."

Xander gasped. The cord widened and swallowed him so that he was in darkness everywhere and then it started tightening so that Xander couldn't pull in a breath. Reaching out blindly, Xander sank his hands into the slime, focusing on the feeling under his fingers. It slid out of his grip and black spots formed in his eyes. Ripping off the bandages, Xander reached out again, desperate, and felt his fingers close around something. With all his might, he tore at it, imagining himself pulling roots out of his backyard when his mom had wanted that garden.

Something gave an inch, and Xander jerked back, suddenly able to breathe. Even as he gasped for air, he pulled at the cord, and with a pop, another inch gave, and then another. Xander fell back, still holding the cord, and Riley fell to the ground with a pained grunt. Xander just couldn't worry about that now. Looking at Sungsen's confused expression, Xander set his feet and pulled with everything he had. His shoulders screamed in pain, and the soul cord ripped free from Sungsen as Xander went flying backwards.

Scrambling to his feet, Xander grabbed a tree branch to confront the weirdly empty Sungsen, but then Spike appeared behind the man, one side of his face burned black and one hand dangling uselessly. Before Xander could gather a single thought, Spike grabbed Sungsen from behind and drove his fangs deep into the man's neck.

Sungsen gave a strangled cry and then the sound of Spike feeding and Riley groaning settled into the shadows. Xander could only lay limply on the ground trying to figure out what in the hell had just happened, and what exactly they were going to do if soldier number two turned into one of these in the middle of a base full of people.

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