Musical Wars
Chapter 19
From their sizes, Xander expected the fight between Angel and the Anointed One to last a whole five seconds, but every punch, every throw, every move the Anointed One made was too powerful for his size. It was as if the Anointed One had one of those cheat codes that gave him unlimited hit points, and that might have been cool except that Angel bled from a long gash on his skull and favored his left side.
Spike clenched his fists and jerked slightly as Angel landed another punch. The weight of the hit sent the Anointed One crashing against the wall, but he just stood up and launched himself at Angel again. Angel met the attack with a toss that sent the Anointed One off to the other side, but the tiny vampire rebounded and hit Angel's knee before Angel could react.
"Fuck," Spike swore as Angel stumbled to one knee. "Fucking stubborn bastard. Just submit," Spike hissed, but Angel didn't seem to hear as he lunged forward, grabbing the Anointed One and slamming his small forehead into the floor. The image looked just so wrong what with big, scary looking Angel attacking little tiny Anointed One, but the Anointed One wrenched himself free and didn't even have a mark where his skull had hit concrete. The kid moved a little slower, but whatever superpower juiced him up was some seriously scary shit.
The Anointed One laughed as Angel fought his way back up to his feet.
"Your soul slows you down, Angelus," the little vampire laughed, and Xander could feel entirely inappropriate admiration as Baby considered the Anointed One's strength. He was quickly beginning to suspect that demons were slightly on the fickle side when it came to loyalty. Or at least most were, Xander could feel Spike's quivering need to leap into the fight, and he didn't doubt that Spike would choose to fight for Angel, even if the broody one was going down.
"If you would like to submit now, I will certainly consider your surrender. The broken body of a slayer would be the proper gift to offer me after displeasing me so much."
Angel didn't answer, but instead he just glared as he tracked the Anointed One's circle around the perimeter of the room. Minions pressed forward slightly as he walked by them, quick to return to his side now that he had shown his superior strength.
"I will even let you decide which slayer to bring me."
With a growl, Angel threw himself at the Anointed One again. At first, Xander thought Angel had lost control in a wild attack with no hope of hitting any vital areas. Angel's fists flew with the unfocused rage of a fledge's attack, and the Anointed One easily deflected them while landing strike after strike at Angel's battered body. Angel fell to his knees at one point, only to get up and launch himself again, forcing the child-vampire back even as he took so much damage that his chances of winning dwindled to nothing. Xander didn't realize the strategy until the Anointed One's back pushed toward them.
Xander glanced at Spike, feeling his sire's need to act even as Baby cringed away. The masters fought. The masters had to show strength. Only the masters could fight for control of the clan. A hit sent the Anointed One stumbling backwards and before Xander could blink, Spike had grabbed the child and given his head the same vicious twist that had decapitated Colin.
A sickening crack proved that Spike had broken the boy's neck, but the Anointed One simply growled and went into game face for the first time in the fight. His head tilted awkwardly, half resting on one shoulder as though he had a phone tucked up to his ear, and the small vampire struck out, sending Spike crashing backwards into the beam that Faith had been balancing on earlier. He turned toward Angel again, his head held at a sickening angle, but he didn't turn quickly enough. Angel threw himself forward, but instead of punching the Anointed One, he grabbed the small body and sunk fangs into the exposed neck.
Xander gasped as the Anointed One's fist punched through Angel's side, cracking ribs while his fingers dug into the flesh. The air filled with the thick scent of blood. But slowly, the Anointed One's struggles weakened as Angel fed. The small hand pulled out of Angel's gaping side and ineffectually pushed against Angel's larger frame; however, the larger vamp just jerked the small vampire's body against his and kept feeding. Slowly, Angel's eyes closed in an expression of bliss.
"Right then, I think that settles who's in charge," Spike offered as he picked himself up off the ground. Angel lifted his head, his mouth red with blood, and now the Anointed One's broken neck flopped so that he looked like a big rag doll. Angel carried the limp body over to a ragged chunk of fallen ceiling where he raised the Anointed One over his head and then flung him down onto a chunk of ceiling beam. The wood impaled the body for a half second, and then the Anointed One exploded into a cloud of ash.
"William, ye challenged me," Angel now said as he turned toward Spike.
Spike cocked his head to the side and stepped to Xander's side.
"You challenged me and have generally annoyed the unlife out of me, childe."
"Yeah, well, ya deserve some annoying," Spike answered, but Xander could hear the uncertainty in his voice. He glanced toward the gap and then toward Spike, but Spike kept his eyes focused on Angel, and whatever was going on, it wasn't going to include running.
Angel moved forward, ignoring the minions and his own still-oozing wounds as he stepped into Spike's personal space. Spike smirked up, and for a second, Xander thought he was about to see round two, but then Angel shook his head, his game face disappearing as he looked around at the groveling minions that lined the room.
"Get out," he roared. For a moment, the room balanced in silence, and then vampires scrambled to race for the door, eager to get away from the very cranky new head of the Aurelius line.
"Peaches," Spike offered.
"I mean it Spike, get out," Angel said wearily as he limped toward the door. Spike watched for one second, and then Xander found himself pushed toward the gap in the wall behind them. Knowing that he had missed something, he allowed Spike to herd him out into the night.
Spike didn't speak again until they got back to the warehouse, and by then, the first pink rays of dawn were backlighting the buildings, making them appear black against the lightening sky. Baby sent up a random worry which Xander pushed quickly aside as he watched Spike slide the door shut and lock it.
"Spike?" he asked when his sire walked right past him and headed for the main room.
"It's late, get some nibbles and get to bed," Spike said. Xander stared at Spike's back as the vampire disappeared into the bedroom. Okay, this so wasn't right. Baby squirmed uncomfortably, sending up fear about not being in sire's favor. Xander had to put a hand on the counter just to keep his balance as Baby stirred so strongly that Xander got a bit motion sick, like when he was ten and his father tried taking them on a car trip to the Grand Canyon.
"Pet?"
Xander opened his eyes to find Spike's hands on his arm, steadying him. Baby twisted, knowing he had done wrong again by making Xander ill and worrying sire.
"Xander, you alright?" Spike pulled at Xander, guiding him to a chair.
"I'm fine," Xander said as he shook his head. "It's just that Baby…" Xander stopped, and Spike narrowed his eyes.
"It's nothing," Xander hurried to assure him. "I'll just go get something to eat, like you said." He tried to push up from the chair, but Spike pushed him back down.
"Pet, what is going on in that head of yours?"
Xander looked up as he chewed his lip. Spike hadn't had the best night, and Xander really just wanted to go to bed. And some sex wouldn't be turned away, but given the cranky expression on Spike's face, he'd settle for bed.
"I'm just tired," Xander made his excuse with a shrug even as Baby stilled into a perfect silence.
"Oi, don't bloody start with this shite," Spike snapped. "Now, what the hell has got you so bloody worked up?"
Xander froze.
"Pet," Spike sighed after several seconds, "what has ya wound so tight that you can't even keep yourself upright?" Spike's fingers reached up and stroked a long curl.
Xander shrugged helplessly. "I just feel like…" okay, he was out of words. Spike crouched down in front of him and strong fingers gave his hair a little tug. He really needed to cut his hair. And that would be mental babbling showing up right on cue.
"Oi, now I know something's wrong, ya aren't talking."
"Ha ha, Spike."
"What are ya feeling, pet?" Spike asked, and this time the distracted annoyance of earlier was gone.
"I just don't want to bug you when you're already feeling so bugged," Xander said as he stared across the room at the open door to the bedroom. Hopefully Spike would take it as an invitation.
"So, you're bothered that the great poof has managed to annoy me again?" Spike asked with a frown.
"Kinda. I'm not sure," Xander finally admitted as he looked at Spike. "You're unhappy, and you unhappy just reminded Baby that you're not happy with him, and then he got all worried because his worry got me dizzy, and you're even more unhappy that his unhappiness is making me dizzy and there's just a whole circle of unhappy going on."
"Bloody hell, was that supposed ta make sense?" Spike asked, but he smiled, so Xander guessed he wasn't actually annoyed. He did bite his tongue to keep any more babble from spilling out, though.
"So, Baby wants the punishment out of the way so that things are right between us again, right?"
Xander nodded.
"If I were a right bastard like Angel, I'll let Baby stew in his own worry for a while, let him wonder if he was going to get a second chance or if I was just going to let him twist in my displeasure forever."
Xander's gaze snapped up to Spike's face, worried even as he felt Baby shrink back in despair.
"Spike?"
"Oi, not that cruel, am I?" Spike relented as he stood up. "But I want Baby to the front for this. I know you can step back far enough ta let the vampire bits take over, and that's what I need you to do now, pet."
"Just make him give everything back after," Xander joked, and Spike's hands, which had been stroking his shoulders, stopped.
"You're strong enough to make him do that, pet. I can't do that for ya, so if you can't face this right now…"
"No, no, I'm facing it boy," Xander interrupted. "I just don't want to deal with any more of the sire's-pissed-with-me vibes from Baby. It was bad enough when I went and did the big stupid by flying into that fight with the fledges back at Safari, which, by the way, I would totally do again, but when you're pissed at Baby, he's just not very rational about it. Me? I've had lots of experience with disappointing people."
Xander held up his hand to stop Spike from answering that even as he pulled at Baby's edges, reluctance and shame flowing back into him. Rather than fight those feelings, Xander closed his eyes and allowed himself to sink into them. The pain washed through him, and Xander just focused on breathing, all his attention concentrated on that to prevent himself from countering with his own memories and feelings.
In. Out. In. Xander could feel himself sinking under, his vision sliding toward red as the world faded into the distance. Something brushed against his arm, and Xander only realized Spike had grabbed his arm when his body started moving, pulled along by Spike's grip.
The distraction brought the world into sharper focus, and Xander cleared his mind, focusing on the breathing as he struggled to slip into that small space inside his own mind where once he'd hidden as Cassidy ordered his body around the enemy lair, and there came the sharp edges of the world as that memory pushed Xander toward the surface, Baby retreating from the memory of trying to stake sire, at betraying sire with Cassidy before betraying sire with Angel.
In. Out. In. Out. Xander counted his breaths up to ten and then backwards to one and then up to ten until he had turned off his own mind enough to sink under Baby. And it didn't used to be this hard. And it didn't used to be this hard. Hell, in high school, he had the whole fazing out thing down to a science, some easy science that he actually knew how to do. For a second, Xander wondered if Baby ever surfaced back then, but he turned his mind to counting breaths in order to stay behind Baby.
"Count 'em, then," Spike's voice droned from far away, but Xander couldn't figure out what he meant until the line of fire across his back penetrated his darkness.
"One," Xander's voice called out while Xander still struggled to get the breathing back under control. The pain seemed to brighten the edges of his dim world, but it didn't pull him toward the surface. A flash of lightening and Xander's voice called, "Two." Baby's shame brightened with each hit. He had disappointed sire. A stripe fell lower than the other hits, catching Xander just below the butt and throwing him forward. "Three." Baby hadn't quite got his balance back before another hit. "Four." Oh yeah, Spike was pissed because that was definitely a whip.
Shame. Fear. A searing pain that Xander was only dimly aware of took his breath away again, and now Xander felt the ache as his shoulders bore his weight. He was hanging from chains. "Fifteen." And Xander realized he'd lost some time there, which would explain the ache from shoulders down to knee.
"Whose are you, childe?" Spike's voice echoed distantly.
"Yours, sire," Baby answered immediately, and Xander could taste the desperation. Baby would rather be dust than be alone or shamed by sire.
"And why did you turn to Angel?" Spike asked. Baby didn't have a good answer for that one, or a bad answer even.
"Childe, answer or we'll do another set." Xander could feel the panicked fear, not about the pain, but about sire's tone of voice and his disappointment and Baby's disgrace. Xander poked, and an answer popped out.
"He's strong," Baby blurted. Oh yeah, Baby had a whole lot more cool because even mired in self-loathing he managed to not babble or cry, and from the emotions rolling from Baby like low-lying fog, Xander knew he would have long ago broken out into both.
"Not bloody strong enough to see what he was doing to ya. Who should you have turned to, childe?" Spike asked, and Baby shivered as a hand stroked his abused back. "Who would do what I wanted ya to do? Who would have understood if you'd given him a chance to work through his pain a bit?"
"Xander," Baby finally sighed, relief washing through him as he understood the right answer to give.
Spike didn't answer, but the whip didn't return. For a still moment, Xander let himself sink into the calm that followed Baby's storm of emotion. His shoulders complained as he shifted, but Xander didn't realize why until the first fingers reached into him, stretching him.
Baby growled his pleasure and pressed back into the feeling just as Spike pulled out. "You're mine, childe. You and Xander are my childer and you always will be." Xander felt the pressure at his hole as Spike pushed in, but he felt it at a distance, a tickle against his skin. "Mine."
Baby roared his agreement as Spike then thrust in violently, his hands bracing Xander's hips as he pulled out and slammed in again. Baby writhed savagely in the chains, making them rattle as something started slowly trickling down the inside of Xander's legs.
"Mine," Spike growled again, and Baby dropped his head to the side in submission, baring his neck happily. Sire wanted him.
Xander had just figured out that he was bleeding from the rough coupling before twin knives seared his neck, Spike's fangs digging into the flesh of his neck so deeply that his front teeth cut crescent shapes into his skin.
"Sire!" Baby snarled, his own cock hard and neglected as sire took his pleasure, took his blood until Baby sagged weakly, his fears gone with his strength, his erection flagging without enough blood to feed it, but it didn't matter. Sire found him worthy enough to take, to drain.
"Xander, Baby needs you," Spike whispered in his ear, and Xander definitely questioned that comment. Baby didn't need much of anything else now that he had found sire's approval. The pain of the whip, the frustration of his unsatisfied cock, the fears and shame and insecurities all vanished under the sated feeling of being worthy. As Baby sank back, Xander let himself slide forward, the world focusing a millisecond before he gasped in pain, his body screaming at him from so many places that he couldn't even process it all, leaving one blinding white agony.
"Drink, Xander," Spike ordered, and for a second, Xander couldn't even process the words, distracted by the overwhelming suffering in his body. Then a smell penetrated, and something touched his lips. Suddenly something balanced the agony, offering as much pleasure as his backside radiated pain. Xander sucked, the heavenly taste strong in his mouth and warming him with each swallow.
"Heal, pet." Spike whispered, and Xander could feel the heat from his stomach radiating out to his torn back and ripped hole. He sucked harder, his cock aching so badly that Xander no longer even cared about his backside.
"Sire," Xander complained as the ambrosia pulled back. He blinked up to see Spike shrugging his shirt off, his neck still dripping ruby drops down his strong stomach. Eying the fat red trails, Xander whined unhappily. Then he shifted uncomfortably as his hard cock jutted out in front of him.
"Let me get you down," Spike promised as he reached up to the heavy metal shackles around Xander's wrists. Blood trickled from cuts, but the pain of just seconds ago faded into a dull ache that didn't matter nearly as much as the lithe body pressed to him as Spike stretched out to unhook the chains. With his first hand free, Xander reached up and trailed a finger over Spike's arm, tracing where the muscle curved and dipped toward the bone.
Spike smirked, giving him a wink before going to free Xander's other hand. "See somethin' ya like?" he asked salaciously.
"Oh yeah. Much with the liking," Xander agreed. He ran his hand up to Spike's shoulder, touching the twin punctures where Xander had driven fangs into Spike's neck. Spike shivered and then reached up and grabbed Xander's hand, pulling on it like a leash to pull Xander into his arms.
"Thought ya might like a little treat, tonight, childe. Ya fought like a champion. Ya fed on your enemies and still controlled the demon without lettin' the demon control you," Spike whispered as he allowed his hands to slide around to Xander's ass. The agony of just seconds earlier had become a dull aching heat that begged to be scratched, and Spike ran a sharp nail over a healing whip mark. Xander hissed and shivered as the warm pain made his whole body come alive.
Xander smiled, ducking his head in embarrassment even as Baby growled his pleasure. "I know what I'd like as a treat," Xander answered, following as Spike backed up toward the bed. "Your cock deep inside me would be a start," Xander finished, blushing at his first attempt at dirty talk, but at least he'd managed to say it without babbling, giggling or stuttering.
"Thought we might try that the other way 'round," Spike whispered back, and Xander found himself falling onto the bed before his brain could fully work out the meaning of that, but his cock had gotten the message alright and it throbbed in anticipation. Of course, his cock usually did get things faster than his brain.
"Oh fuck," Xander breathed as Spike shimmied out of his jeans, dropping them to the ground before cat crawling up Xander's body. "Fuckity fuck."
"I'm a bad influence on you, I am," Spike offered with a smile as he reached down and kissed Xander breathless. "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Spike asked when he finally pulled back.
"Oh no, no bringing up of mothers," Xander complained.
"Scoot up," Spike ordered with a laugh as he straddled Xander's waist, and Xander squirmed farther up on the bed as Spike reached over for the lube.
"Oh god," Xander swore as Spike reached back and slipped a finger into his own hole, twisting his body so that he could leer at Xander even while showing off that pucker where a second finger quickly followed. "Oh god."
"Close enough, pet," Spike agreed. "'Course I'd love to suck that cock of yours while I do this, sucking all that creamy filling while I opened myself, but I'll have ta do that another time since you look about ready to go. Some other day I'll suck you 'til you can't help but come and then I'll flip you over and drive into you, fill you so full of my cock that you can't help but get hard again, and then I'll slip down onto you and ride you til you forget your name," Spike promised. Xander felt his own cock bob in agreement as he balls drew up close.
"Already there," Xander muttered as he watched a third finger disappear into the depths of Spike's body.
"Just remember, don't bloody come until I say, even if ya need Baby's help ta get there," Spike warned as he shifted back until his hole lined up with Xander's cock, which was sitting up, begging, and very willing to do tricks.
"Oh fuck," Xander answered as Spike slowly lowered himself, the pressure on Xander's cockhead nearly making him come before even getting into Spike.
"Pet," Spike warned darkly. Xander gasped a deep breath, and Baby uncurled from his corner, lending his own fear of disappointing sire, and yeah, that pushed orgasm back far enough that Xander could start breathing again as Spike pushed down. And oh god, it was so tight and felt nothing like the various hands Xander had experienced.
Spike was almost down when Xander couldn't control himself any more, and he dug his heels into the mattress and bucked up, driving himself the rest of the way into that tight grip. Throwing his head back and fisting the sheets, Xander gasped as Spike pulled off, and then he drove himself up even higher, arching his back as he thrust into Spike's body.
Blind need overwhelmed him, and Xander drove up before Spike could even move again, throwing Spike in the air and then dropping to the mattress heavily before thrusting up again. Tears gathered in Xander's eyes as raw lust overwhelmed him, but he still couldn't reach the final release as he bucked wildly again and again.
"Come," Spike growled, and Xander felt the explosion that tightened every muscle and made him arch and hiss and claw the sheets until he finally sagged back down, his cock still twitching as it remained buried in Spike's ass.
Xander lay, sweating and panting as he watched Spike from half-opened eyes. Spike flopped down on the bed next to him.
"I'm so going to end up in the wet spot," Xander muttered as Spike pulled him close, strong arms wrapping around his waist.
"For a ride like that, it's worth a wet spot," Spike answered in an equally exhausted voice. And Xander would have answered, only sleep pulled him down into darkness.