Musical Wars
Chapter 5
By the time Spike and Xander reached the crypt with the hidden entrance to the Aurelius tunnels, a dozen minions trailed them, not even trying to hide their presence.
"Look. Dandelions. Did you know dandelions can have roots up to ten feet long?" Xander asked. Spike stopped and looked at his childe in confusion. Xander's brown eyes focused on the ground, and when Spike followed the gaze, a yellow mop-head flower stuck up from one of the graves.
"Pet?" Spike asked. He watched the various trailing minions scatter and lean against headstones and random trees. Not exactly a subtle lot, but then old Bat Face had always picked losers to turn, and the Hellmouth stunk of his scabby minions. After all, Batface had picked Darla, and that spoke volumes about the wanker's taste.
"I'm thinking this is not good in a Titanic or Custer's Last Stand kinda way. I'm going to say something monumentally stupid as opposed to just normal Xander levels of stupidity." Xander stared at his thumb for a moment before starting to chew a hangnail.
"Oi, just stay by my side and keep your gob closed," Spike said as he turned back toward the crypt. Xander grabbed Spike's arm and stopped him.
"Okay, you tried your best with my mom, and look how well that did not turn out. She barely kept herself from stabbing you to death with the cake server. It was like watching boy scouts build a bonfire in the middle of the Ice Capades and wondering which ice-skating cartoon character will fall through first."
Xander stopped to take a breath and Spike reached out, curling his hand around the back of Xander's head and pulling him close. Never before had Spike seen such open distress in those brown eyes. Hell, the boy's heart hadn't pounded so fast when Spike had first dragged him off the street in L.A.
"Pet," Spike kept his voice soft, both to calm Xander and to avoid the eavesdropping minions that circled. Spike used his hold on Xander's neck and his hip to herd Xander into the crypt over the entrance to the tunnels. Silently, Xander's body yielded, and that silence worried Spike more than all the babbling in the world.
Seeking some privacy from the minions still waiting outside, Spike urged Xander toward one of the two sarcophagus in the shadows. Under his hands, Xander's skin felt warm, and the smell of fear made Spike growl at nothing. Xander jumped, and the movement seemed to shake loose his words.
"I'm so going to fuck this up, only I think they're going to have something deadlier than my mother's cake server," Xander admitted in a strained whisper.
"Bloody hell, pet. You've gone up against whole lairs and courts and Master Angelus, what's got your knickers in a twist?" Spike could feel Xander nearly vibrate with manic energy, and he held the boy closer, slipping his second arm around Xander's waist and using his strength to hold Xander still as he leaned in, trapping Xander against the stone.
"Not as your childe, I haven't," Xander muttered, his words muffled as Xander buried his face in Spike's shoulder.
Spike pulled back and held Xander's shoulders, keeping him at arm's length. Despite the darkness, Xander's eyes remained large and brown, without even a trace of the demon's yellow. But obviously the demon was stirring up something that Xander couldn't even talk about without bloody idiotic comments about dandelions.
"Pet, how are ya feeling right now?" Spike asked softly. "Nervous?"
"Well, duh. Big with the nervousness which was the whole point of the Ice Capades metaphor with the fire and the melting ice and the potential for drowning ice-skating plushies, and I really think being around Willow is bad for my babble gene." Xander bit his lower lip.
"Pet, I'm not announcin' ya to the court." Spike watched the fear shake out of Xander with an exaggerated shiver. The boy was right to be nervous, or rather the boy's demon was. If the Annoyin' One threw around his power like Angel said he did, the boy-king would want a way to disgrace Spike. Spike definitely didn't want his childe—his souled, breathing, warm childe—getting in the middle of that.
"Not announcing?" Xander asked, but even in his confusion, his heart rate slowed and his breathing evened out. Spike tightened his grip, his fingers slipping under Xander's shirt and dancing over the warm skin as Spike felt the panic and confusion fade. Now the boy subtly writhed as his body reacted to the familiar fingers. Smiling, Spike scented the vulnerable neck, opening his mouth to taste the musk of lust. After placing a small kiss over the red claim mark, Spike slowly traced the oval mark with his tongue, holding even tighter when Xander groaned and twisted in need.
As much as Spike wished he could toss Xander up on the sarcophagus and take his childe over and over until the warm body lay sated and limp under him, he had to deal with the court and Xander's own insecurities about the court.
"Remember how I said we all carried part of the same demon?" Spike whispered quickly. They didn't have much time. Xander relaxed in the confines of Spike's embrace, his body fitting into Spike's curves so their bodies pressed close. He nodded, and Spike continued. "If we want our demon strong, we can't let little bits of it get corrupted with weakness. Minions, now they're just cannon-fodder, not much more than human pets, and they don't bloody count for piss-all. But childer and masters of a line have ta be strong. And if they aren't strong, the others will cut them off before they can corrupt the whole bloody line."
"They're killed," Xander's voice carried no emotion and the body went still. Spike inched back to consider his childe. Now the eyes that watched him were all yellow, their black pupils focused on Spike without revealing anything. In fact, even the lust scent of earlier had disappeared into nothing.
"You think they'd kill me." Even though Xander's voice was barely louder than a breath, Spike could hear each painfully slow syllable, spoken as though Xander were sounding out unfamiliar words.
Spike knew exactly what Xander thought, and he swore a silent oath to all the gods of evil vampires that one day he'd eat Xander's wanker of a father for making the boy so quick to assume the worst. He just had to deal with his childe first.
Spike captured the back of Xander's head, holding him in place while he leaned forward and stole a kiss. For a second, Xander stood stiff, and then he sighed, his lips opening so that Spike could take what he wanted. Xander tasted of sweetness and musk, and Spike nipped at a soft lip before releasing Xander's mouth. Now Xander had a slightly dopy expression, his eyes brown with yellow bits bobbing to the surface and then sinking again so fast that Xander's eyes seemed to almost shimmer.
"You're the first and favored childe of William the Bloody, slayer of soddin' slayers. You're the one who saved my arse from Cassidy, and ya refused to submit to either that arse wipe or even to Peaches. There's not a weak bone in your body and ya need to get that through your head before I bloody carve it into your back," he threatened. Spike could feel Xander's muscles flex and tremble in response, the musk returning to his scent.
"Sire," Xander breathed.
"Now, what do I always say 'bout the enemy?"
"Kill them before they kill me?" Xander answered uncertainly.
"Well, yeah," Spike admitted. "But also, ya never let them see enough of the truth that they can figure ya out."
"Like a secret weapon?" Immediately the yellow flecks disappeared as the demon retreated, hiding inside Xander's warm, living body. "But wait, aren't these vamps like family?" Xander asked.
"Oh, pet, no worse enemies in the world than your own family."
Xander's expression turned sour, as if he'd bitten into chocolate cake only to find spinach. "No joke." He paused for a second. "So, do I have to play good little pet?" The expression on his face showed both his disgust and his willingness to play the part.
"Bloody hell no," Spike quickly assured him as he turned to the hidden entrance to the tunnels. "You walk by my side, and cover my back. Let them think whatever they bloody well want to."
A quick pull on a cover revealed the mouth of the tunnel. When Spike ducked down into the tunnel, a warm hand found his back, resting there. Glancing over his shoulder, Spike saw Xander's blind eyes wandering the darkness even as he stepped confidently forward, relying on Spike's guidance. The court really might deny Xander's claim to the Aurelius line and even might want the boy dead, but Spike would rip every one of these court-bound vamps limb from limb before he'd give up his childe.
Turning back, Spike headed into the dark with Xander's warm hand on his back and Xander's heartbeat echoing off the brick walls.
After traveling down far enough that beads of moisture gathered on the stone, the tunnel widened into the cavern Spike vaguely remembered from the one time Darla had dragged him here. When she'd publicly turned her back on him and Dru, denying him acceptance into the clan as a full childe, Spike knew he had to escape the bitch or wake up to a stake in the back.
Spike slowed down and slid his hand around Xander's arm as they stepped into the dimly lit cavern populated with dozens of demons, and not all of them vampires. Now this really wasn't kosher. Way he remembered it, old Bat Face only let clan in the lair, and Spike had learned on the end of Angelus' whip that ya kept a lair secret from anyone outside the blood.
But now, two Lakshu demons, with their yellow skin and dinosaur-like ridge running up their bald heads, leaned against a far wall and a small cluster of B'lasha crouched over some sort of game... either that or they were crouching over the remains of some previous dinner, he couldn't tell which. Their heads crowded together so closely that their stubby horns almost touched. Three zombies even leaned against another entrance to the chamber, their dead flesh making the air smell heavy and oily. The normal vamps he expected hovered in twos and threes, their status determined by how far from the raised throne they stood.
"Spike." An old vampire growled his name without any title. Spike slowly turned toward the throne with the boy king and the old one standing behind. The Anointed One sat on Bat Face's seat, his angelic face watching curiously, and the older body guard stepped forward, cutting off Spike's view of the boy. With a snort of disgust at the gesture, Spike strode into the chamber, his hands pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his coat pocket.
"You're the one sired by the seer," the boy said in a soft voice, and his body guard, a vamp with dark hair and a long horse-like face, stepped to the side even as he continued to glare at Spike. Spike had an overwhelming desire to just step forward and snap the tiny vampire's neck. He could probably control the other vampires, at least after he killed the old one playing body guard; however, he couldn't predict how the other demons might react.
A Mohra with his forehead jewel shining in the dark waited on the far side of the chamber. Two more Ethros, who both looked exactly like the one Spike had seen on the street, watched with their eyes shining out from under their hoods. The B'lasha shifted nervously, their pointed ears twitching and rotating like aggravated cats. The sheer numbers and variety of demons made Spike want to growl, but he'd be buggered by Peaches in public before he'd show that kind of fear.
"Dru sired me," Spike agreed. He tightened his hand on Xander's arm, but he shouldn't have bothered; Xander pressed closer without any encouragement.
"Where's your sire?" the Annoying One asked.
Spike could feel the court shifting as the subtle fight for dominance started, but he wasn't a fledge who trembled at the threads of power twisting around the boy-king. Instead of answering, Spike tapped a cigarette out before stuffing the pack back in a packet. When he snapped his lighter, casting a yellow pool of light around him, several fledges flinched, their instinctive fear of fire driving them back. Spike smirked as he pulled at the cigarette and felt the warmth stuff his lungs. When Spike started pacing the chamber, circling the throne and studying the various supplicants, Xander followed.
"Made some changes 'round the old place," Spike observed without answering the boy's question. The body guard vamp growled, making Xander jump. Then again, most of the fledges in the room jumped at the murderous tone.
"Things change," the boy responded. Spike pulled deeply on the cigarette and then blew a warm cloud into the air as minions shifted nervously. Boy king lost points by answering. Spike tilted his head and considered the tiny vamp. Even with the power flowing through the demon, the demon still only had access to the boy's memories, and that meant that he didn't understand the verbal power games. Spike could feel a twitching need to throw himself against the boy, but he simply stopped in his pacing and cracked his neck first one way and then the other as he soaked in the heat of his Xander at his back and the cigarette between his fingers. The body guard vamp growled even louder, the rumbling threat echoing off the walls and the zombies inched forward, smiling with dead flesh… in one case, dead flesh that looked ready to fall off its face.
"Much like your line has changed--Darla and Dru dead, Angelus souled," the older vamp taunted him, verbally distracting the group from the boy king who had answered Spike without even demanding an answer to his own question.
"Seems like Angelus did well enough against you lot, even with his bloody soul," Spike offered after another drag of his cigarette. "But that's history... bloody borin' history. I prefer to live in the here and now." In his peripheral vision, he watched minions taking up position around him. Without even needing prompting, Xander separated from him, turning to take up a position covering Spike's back. Spike smiled darkly.
The Anointed One stood up, stepping down off the throne, and the very fact that Spike had to look down at the ankle-biter made him want to snap the little vampire's neck. "And in the here and now," the Anointed One commented, "you have no recognition as a childe or a master and no sire to speak for you. Are you worthy of our line?" The child's words made Spike painfully aware of the sheer numbers that surrounded him.
Spike took a slow drag on his cigarette. "Been a Master for long enough. Besides, seems like standards have dropped a bit around here, mate." Taking the half gone cigarette, Spike flicked it toward the zombies. A few fledges scattered away while others growled at the spark that arced through the air. Right, this wasn't going to plan at all. Spike tucked his hands into his waist and prayed that Xander recognized the signal.
After decades of painting Eastern Europe with the blood of innocents, Spike hadn't expected a challenge to himself. Yeah, the clan might be a little put out with one more souled demon joining the line, but unlike his childe, Spike wasn't souled. His own demon roared at the challenge, at the suggestion that he needed a sire's protection or that he wasn't worthy of the clan. Spike ignored the white-hot fury and focused on tracking his enemy. The zombies and fledges moved forward while the other demons faded back to the walls. Spike smirked. So, not everyone bought the party line and backed the boy-king then.
The boy-king turned his back, and at some signal that Spike didn't see, the fledges and zombies leapt forward. Spike snapped the knee of the first attacker, leaving him howling on the ground as he pulled his long knife. Sparing one glance for his childe, Spike watched the boy neatly stake the first reckless vamp to rush him. With his own demon screaming in pride, Spike concentrated on his end of the fight, determined not to let anyone get past him to attack Xander's back, and trusting Xander to do the same.
Three fledges attacked in a flurry that might have distracted a younger vamp, but Spike ignored their flailing and decapitated one with a sweeping cut before lodging the knife deep into the heart of a second. A quick twist and vicious yank, and he ripped the unbeating muscle out of the body. The fledge had time for one last incredulous look before turning to dust. The third vamp hit Spike's hand hard enough to send the knife flying, but Spike simply twisted his head off with his bare hands, feeling bones crack before the dust exploded all over him.
Snatching a stake out of his duster pocket, Spike spared Xander a quick glance, just in time to see the boy rip an arm off a zombie and use it as a club against a fledge. The fledge hadn't yet decided what to do with the rotting arm in his hands when Xander jammed the stake into its heart. Xander turned back to the attackers with the vamps ashes settling like snow over his dark curls.
If there hadn't been so many enemies, Spike would have stepped back an allowed Xander to fight while he reveled in his childe's ferociousness; however, one of the zombies crashed into him, sending him stumbling sideways before he could regain his balance. He ripped at the dead flesh, feeling it tear like rotting fruit under his fingers. Two more minions rushed into the fight, and Spike had to settle for crippling one with a roundhouse kick while he focused on the second minion, an older one who moved in more cautiously.
"Enough!" a tiny voice bellowed, and while the volume and girlish pitch might be easily dismissed, the threads of supernatural power backing the order sent the remaining vamps cringing back. A mist of fine ash floated through the air, slowly drifting toward the ground, and two of the three zombies lay in so many tatters that they would never rise again.
"Master Spike," the boy-king offered as he climbed back up to his throne and took a seat, "what brings you to the court?"
"Just passing through. Figure ta be here a few days, a week at most," Spike answered calmly as he brushed the dust from his coat. He'd made his point, and he trusted that he didn't need ta make it again. Scenting the air, he checked Xander, but all he could smell was his childe's excitement. Hell, boy looked ready to vibrate out of his own skin as he returned to Spike's side, his eyes still scanning the room.
Spike didn't bother looking at the others now that he had officially claimed his title. He focused on the miniature head of the line.
"And will you be staying with the court?"
"Wasn't plannin' to. Have a place already, something Angelus laid claim to back when the old Master still ruled and he'd come ta town from time to time," Spike casually answered. The court shifted at Angelus' name. The old vamp who played body guard just as Luke had once guarded the old Master stepped forward in full game-face.
"And do you take Angelus' side in things? You bring a human here; your line is corrupted with humanity. Darla often said that you stank of humanity and stupidity, and now you try claiming the title of a full Master."
"Not claimin' anything. Took it, didn't I? Left the dust of your soddin' minions scattered over the floor. I've tasted the blood of two slayers, and the title's mine!" Spike growled as he vamped out for the first time, his demon's fury pushing forward.
"Colin." The boy-king stopped the body guard with a single word. "Enough."
"Yeah, Colin, enough," Spike mocked the body guard. He hadn't liked Luke, and he didn't like this newer version any better. Colin growled, and then his eyes shifted to a spot behind Spike.
"Do not look at me, human," he snapped. His eyes returned to Spike. "Your pet seriously needs training."
"I know you're not talking about my Xander because I've never told ya he's a pet." Spike felt the warmth as Xander moved closer, and he reached back, urging Xander to step up beside him.
"What else would he be? He's human," Colin sneered.
"Ya hear that, luv? Wanker thinks you're a pet, that you're weak and helpless and not worthy of fighting by my side." Spike could feel Xander's anger gathering just under the surface, but the eyes that glared up at Colin remained brown even while Colin stood beside the Anointed One's throne and snarled. Spike reached up and gave a dusty curl a sharp jerk. Yellow flecks appeared before the demon emerged. Colin's eyes widened, and he gave a low, deep warning growl.
In return, Xander gave his own small growl in response, and Colin might never have even heard the small rumble except that Spike encouraged it with a growl of his own. Xander raised a lip and small fangs appeared as he growled louder, clearly still worked up over the fight. When Xander pressed forward, Spike tightened his grip to keep Xander beside him. They didn't need another fight.
"He's not human." The boy-king sounded more curious than anything else, but then for the head of a vampire line and a newly made vampire, the boy always seemed remarkably calm.
"Never said he was, mate. He's young and excitable, but he's not a soddin' human."
"What type of demon is he?" Now the Anointed One leaned forward.
"One that passes as human easy enough ta go places I can't. But don't mistake it, he's a demon who's fought by my side and proved himself, and he's mine."
Spike watched at the other demons considered Xander with a new interest. At the very least, he'd make them worry about Xander and take the boy off the menu if anyone had any more thoughts about challenging them.
"You offer an…" the Anointed One paused… "interesting diversion."
"Yeah, and you're plannin' something mighty interesting here. So, want ta let me in so that I don't muck up some plan you got brewin?" Spike pulled out another cigarette as he considered the remaining court.
Fewer vamps now, and only one zombie watched… the one Xander had ripped the arm off of. He sat cradling his severed limb and glaring. The B'lasha had in a dark recess, or maybe it was the mouth of another tunnel. They weren't fighters, and Spike dismissed them altogether. Instead, Spike focused on the Mohra who watched with narrowed eyes. Hard to kill those buggers, and they normally didn't work for vamps. Then again, the B'lasha normally avoided all violence, preferring the financial and moral corruption of humans over the blood lust.
"What makes you think I'm planning anything?" The Anointed One's false innocence made Spike's skin crawl. Colin retreated a step to his master's side where he glowered.
"Let's just say I'm followin' a trail of breadcrumbs here," Spike snorted as he waved a hand in the direction of the various demons. The two Lakshu demons nodded their agreement, but the Mohra crossed his arms over his chest and simply glared.
"We have plans," the boy-king nearly whispered.
"I'm not thick as pig shite, think I figured that out." Spike lit his second cigarette and wandered over to a pillar where he leaned his shoulder into the stone.
"If you are not going to stay, I would not ask you to get involved." The Anointed One leaned back, his hand dangling over the arm of the chair, and Colin sat. Slipping back into his human mask, he leaned against the chair and allowed the boy's fingers to play with his hair. Spike could hear a small gasp from Xander, but then the boy hadn't ever seen the courts where shows of dominance and submission were the norm, even between two full vampires. Bloody hell, if he were presenting the boy proper like as his childe, he'd throw him down and fuck Xander until Xander could only lay helplessly spent and sprawled all over the floor. 'Course, other demons weren't usually around to see it. Spike watched as the Mohra's face curled in disgust before a mask of indifference covered the expression.
"Just don't want to go stumblin' into some mess of your making," Spike shrugged as if it didn't matter to him, and it didn't. He just wanted to make sure Xander was safe, and if his childe wanted the witch safe, he'd fight for that too.
The Anointed One looked at him, his small head tilting as he considered. "Avoid the slayer and the Vahrall who have recently appeared and the humans who hunt for demons on the Hellmouth."
"Demon hunters?" Spike lowered his cigarette and looked at the boy-king in surprise. Those lot should have been hunted down and either killed or turned.
"Stay in groups and they are cowards who will not bother you, but they are useful in keeping others out of our plans." The boy leaned back, his fingers still playing with Colin's hair.
Spike would have asked a dozen other questions, but the scent of excitement from Xander was slowly souring into something weary, so time ta head for safety. Besides, for this many demons to come together, it really could only be one more attempt to open a bloody Hellmouth, like that stunt hadn't screwed every other Aurelius vamp who'd ever tried it. That's what got the Master trapped in this rat hole. Angelus had gotten his soul shoved back in him when he'd been so distracted with some soddin' statue that he forgot ta take care of his enemies. Even Darla had given up her jewels and silk to sit by scabby's side and dream of hell on Earth. It just got her a stake in the heart from her own favorite childe.
Well, let the little nipper try; he'd get his arse kicked, especially with a slayer in town. Spike could feel a thread of shame that one more of his line would go down, but ending the world wasn't high on his agenda. Now if country music ever took over the media, he might consider it, but he liked the world pretty much the way it was now, no gaping Hell mouth to bring in hoards of hungry demons.
Without a word, Spike turned and headed for the tunnel. The minions at the tunnel's entrance stiffened, but before Spike had covered half the distance to them, they retreated so that Spike and Xander could pass. This time when they walked the dark tunnels, Xander's demon eyes allowed him to follow, and Spike missed the warm touch. Smiling, he just planned on getting more warm touches once they got back to the lair.
Out in the cemetery, Spike waited while Xander closed the entrance to the tunnel and followed him out into the night air. A breeze stirred the treetops, and as dawn approached, the night had gone absolutely silent. An early bird sang a couple of hopeful notes and then went still.
"Well, that went… moderately better than I expected. Of course, anything short of me dead or in chains is actually better than I expected," Xander said with a shrug as he closed the heavy door to the crypt.
"Told ya. Nothin' to worry about," Spike answered as he picked a direction and started walking to where he'd left the car. Tomorrow he'd need to hunt early; the faint scent of human on the air reminded him of his own hunger, but they didn't have time to hunt down prey, and Spike didn't want to just grab some mother off the street, at least not with Xander right there.
Spike opened his mouth to ask Xander if he smelled the odd human scent on the breeze, an almost dull or masked smell. He hadn't even gotten the first word out when silver bits flew through the air. Spike wheeled, dodging out of the path of the first set, when a jolting pain ran up his back and driving him to his knees. Immediately, Xander turned toward him, and Xander's confusion turned to agony as his own body stiffened and collapsed. The last image Spike saw was a camouflaged leg step out of the bushes. Then nothing.