Walker of Night Part 8

[madimpossibledreamer]

weird spelling of cordy continues
this one's...odd?  I kinda like Angel's speech, but I don't know if it's in his voice.
the first not-even-sentence is a reference to something that shows up later.  I'd meant to add start it earlier on, but didn't ever go back to do so.
~dreamer~

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Summary: Some fatherly/sire things.  Angel and Spike interaction, not entirely sure what the conversation between Angel and Xander was about, and I love Kate but she's definitely out of character here.  (I wanted her to become a more critical Karrin Murphy which she...kind of never did.  Shame.)
Word Count: 1381
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Xander/Spike

 

The “self defense” classes.

 

Xander’s feeling the need for some fatherly approval.  From Angel.  He gets Spike to agree to go to LA (as a ‘holiday’ or a change of pace, not telling him the real reason).  They are walking back from a violent movie (Matrix maybe) when they get jumped.  They manage to knock Spike out (therefore they know what they’re doing) and he swims out watching Xander’s shoes as he’s dragged away.  He ends up, sullen, in the police station, being grilled by Murphy.  Angel comes in and finally convinces Spike to let him help.  “That’s enough!” Angel yelled, losing his patience with the younger vampire.  He turned toward Spike, all of his strength going into not vamping out as he got ready to yell.  “You can stop making your assumptions, Spike, and actually listen to someone else for once!  Yeah, sure, I’m not entirely happy about the relationship.  Xander’s annoying.  You’re annoying.  The thought of the two of you as partners in crime makes my head hurt and worry about the world ending.  I’m scared of how you’re going to rub off on each other and just make each other worse.”

“Great, thanks, not changin’ my mind one bit,” Spike snarked back, and Angel actually hit the car door with something approaching full strength, ignoring the crunching sound that accompanied it.

“I.  Wasn’t.  Finished. I’m tired!  I’m tired of everything around me falling apart and turning to dust.  I’m tired of there not being happy endings.  I’m tired of all the pain and suffering.  For once in my life, I’d like to see happiness and love survive.  I’d like to see beauty and the kind of commitment that lasts a lifetime.  No one else around me has worked out-Cordie, Doyle…me and…Her.  As much as it bothers me, it’s beautiful-perfect-what you have between the two of you.  I dislike it, but I will fight fist and fang to protect you both and this budding thing between the two of you.  You’re family, and I respect the both of you and love you even as you drive me crazy, and I…I just need you to know that even as I judge you and complain, I need this as much as the two of you, something stable, something I can count on not to change, something so utterly good and that makes the two of you so happy.  Okay?”

The car was conspicuously silent.

A guy’s collecting one specimen of each race for a collection.  He takes Angel as a replacement for a fledge.  Angel called Giles, who comes in all Ripper and kills the man.  Xander’s been put in a robe that doesn’t completely cover and gets really really embarrassed.  Spike lays on top of him, covering him, and finally loans him the duster.

“Hi!  Um…Yeah, good ta see you again, um…Kate, wasn’t it?  Now that I’m not…naked.  That is.  Yeah, um…could you do me a favor and forget all about that?  Just…so embarrassing.”  He scuffed at the back of his neck, and Officer Lochley smiled at him.  The boy…Xander…was so adorable.  She could see how even the evil…bad guys…could fall in love with something so precious.

“Nice to meet you for the first time,” she answered back, and the way his face lit up…Charisma, definitely.

 

Angel and Kate had gone out for a drink.  At first, she hadn’t wanted to know anything about his world.  Suddenly she wanted to know everything, determined not to be left out, to master this, too, and protect herself.  Surprised, he’d agreed to take her to one of the less dangerous bars with some decidedly less than human patrons in town.

One minute, he was laughing with her, and the next…

Something was wrong.  He could smell it in the air.  He tried to pay attention to her as every instinct screamed at him.  He cast a look over the room, as if casually, and his eyes didn’t catch on anything.  Somewhat furious, he mentally shook his head and growled and tried again.  That time he caught a familiar face ducking into a corner, and felt confusion fill him.  He’d know that annoying face anywhere.  Xander Harris.  What was he doing here?

“I won’t be long,” he assured her, and she hit him.

“You’re not leaving me alone in…this place.  Wherever you’re going, I’m going with you.”  He nodded halfheartedly, mind already entirely focused on trying to find Harris.

He caught up with him in the alley, and had to catch him to prevent him from running.  “Xander, what are you doing here?  Is…is *she* okay?  Is everything…”  He trailed off, nostrils flaring at the smell reaching him.  It was…it wasn’t normal.  It wasn’t human.  Sure, Xander the human was in the mix somewhere, smelling of pizza and chocolate and soda, but there was an overlay, stronger than anything he’d smelled before.  The slightest hint of death, of blood.  Dusty old books, and danger.  Sand.

And then he recognized something else—someone else’s lingering scent, rubbed on like cologne.

“Spike,” he roared, and trapped Xander against the wall.

The boy tried to laugh it off.  “Not many other vampires would have noticed, which is pretty cool of you, and I…”

“What happened?  What has Spike done?” he hissed, and the boy flinched, though there wasn’t altogether too much fear in his scent.  Odd, and worrying.

“Nothing.  And unfortunately nothing.  I’ll sort it out; don’t bother yourself about it, Deadboy.”

 

“And this is Kate,” Angel finished.

To his surprise, Xander flushed a deep crimson.  “Oh, um…yeah.  I remember.”

“We haven’t met,” Officer Lochley corrected him.

“We have.  Just, y’know, not here.”

 

Xander was looking pale, and suddenly he swayed, eyes blinking uncontrollably.  A low whine burst free from his lips.  “I think I’m going to be sick,” he managed, and then spilled to the ground, curling up in pain.

Angel took in the lengthening canines, the pale and trembling form, the hungry, glazed eyes, the short mewlings coming from the throat, and realized what was wrong.  He knelt next to the body, holding the head carefully.  “Shh, Xander, it’s going to be okay,” he promised, feeling the body shake through his hands.

A quick shake of the head met his statement.  “Hurts…pain, why…go ‘way.”

“Look after him, but don’t get too close,” he warned Kate, then ran off, looking for something suitable.  He returned with a young kitten.  Sad, yes—the kitten was cute—but the demon inside said that it was, instead, scrumptious looking.  He held up the kitten in front of Xander’s quickly greening face.

Petulantly, Xander turned his head aside.  “No, not going to do it.  Innocent.”

Angel almost laughed.  Instead, he asked, “How long has it been since you last fed, Harris?  You look like you’ve been starving yourself.  If you don’t eat soon, you’ll go into seizure and then a coma.”

“Fangs bad.  Not gonna,” Xander repeated.  Angel sighed.

“There’s nothing else.  Unless you want to feed on me.”

“Not going to bite anything,” Xander reiterated, and Angel sighed again.

“I never thought I’d meet the vampiric equivalent of a diabetic.  I’m not going to leave you to die.”

Before Harris could get away from him, he impaled his arm on the fangs.  Despite himself, Xander immediately began to gulp desperately at the cool skin, out of control.  Occasionally a tongue would flick out to soothe the wound, and Angel had to do his best to control himself.  The boy knew what he was doing, and to a vampire, blood was always the way to seal a connection.  No tasting the boy, or he’d almost definitely be hooked for sure.  Surprisingly enough, his self control was more than he remembered.  He crouched, almost stiffly, eyes closed, blocking the pleasure of being fed from.

At last, Xander’s sucking tapered off, though he seemed on the verge of passing out and didn’t make a move to remove his fangs from the vampire.  Carefully, Angel did so, poking at Xander.  No matter how much he wanted, he shouldn’t sleep.  Not now.  Danger of death lay down that road.

“Go away,” Xander was muffled, but he sounded angry and embarrassed.  All very well and good, but there was no way Angel was going to leave it at that.  He was no Angelus, after all.