Part 6

+++ An oath, an oath! Their lives for an oath! +++

Angel felt a bit like a cornered animal.
He and his gang were backed up against the stairs.

But facing 30 soldiers with guns, Angel knew that running was no option.
Spike, Wes and Gunn stood to his left, Connor and Nikolai just one step behind Spike, the Russian vampire was trying his best to hide himself. To Angel’s right Buffy, Willow and Giles built a defence line, Dawn behind them and Riley and Sam in front of them.
Lorne was practically hiding behind Angel, with a death-grip on his leather coat.

“Ah, surrounded like cattle!” General McKenzie had a triumphant gleam in his eyes and Spike felt ready to beat the crap out of him – if only those soldiers weren’t pointing guns and electric rods at them.

“General McKenzie!” Riley sounded as furious as Spike felt. “I swear, when-“
“Ah! But there will be no ‘when’, General Finn!” The ‘General’ was all but spit. “This is the final battle and you decided to team up with the enemy, so you’re going down too.”

Riley’s fist were clenched tight, just like Sam’s and Buffy’s. Both girls looked like they were ready to go down in a fight – against humans…

“Maybe you could explain to us, what this is all about! There are such things as ‘rules of war’!” Giles tried – surely for the last time – to be the voice of reason.
“Ah, but of course I have rules in this war!” General McKenzie laughed. “And rule number one is to never make prisoners. Only dead demons are good demons!”

“No, that would be rule number fourteen!” A voice explained from the other side of the lobby. “Rule number one is to always have your back covered. But you tent to forget that one, don’t you?”
A tall figure stepped from the shadows towards the soldiers. Blue jeans, denim-jacket, eye-patch, crossbow…
It was Xander…

To Angel’s surprise General McKenzie paled visibly. “YOU! How did YOU get in here?!”
“Well, duh!” Xander pointed his crossbow over his shoulder. “Through the doors…”

After a moment of silence, the General had composed himself. “I knew you would come here to help. Friends of yours?” He gestured towards Angel’s group.

“Yeah, my best friends!”
Maybe it was just him, but Spike could have sworn, Xander had looked straight at him when he said that.

Angel could feel the confusion coming from the ex-Sunnydale-friends at seeing Xander here. Willow even muttered a silent “I’m confused now…”, before all attention was turned towards the quarrelling men again.

“Maybe you like to hear what happened to one of your ‘best friends’ lately?” Commander Fox grinned and moved a little closer to Spike.
Spike glared and was ready to vamp and take the human out. If only those soldiers weren’t pointing guns and electric rods at them!

“Maybe you like to hear how we captured your ‘friend’-“ Spike growled. “-in a sewer and took him to our base. We always play nice games at our bases. Don’t we?” Commander Fox shifted his grinning face towards Nikolai, who desperately tried to blend in with the pot-plant behind him.

With swift strides Fox stood before Xander. “How about we take you to our base and play nice games with you?” He moved one hand to Xander’s chest and Spike let out a seriously threatening growl.

Xander’s hands came up surprisingly fast to rest on both sides of the still grinning soldier’s face. The crossbow hit the floor.

Just as suddenly there was a loud ‘crack’ and a split second later the body of Commander Fox hit the lobby floor. Neck twisted and broken.

Xander looked down at him. “How’s that for a ‘no’?”

Angel felt truthfully shocked. Xander Harris – Xander bloody Harris – had just killed a HUMAN being without a twitch.
Inside his head Angelus cheered. Angel – mentally – knocked him out…

Looking to his left and his right, Angel found the other members of both groups equally shocked.
Willow even looked like someone had just pulled the ground from under her feet.
Only Spike had a sudden proud gleam in his eyes. Something like: ‘Look at my boy! Isn’t he great?’
With a little frown Angel noticed that Connor didn’t looked spooked at all. Like he had seen Xander kill humans before and was fine with it…

When Xander turned to face the General again, McKenzie had an evil grin on his face.
“You noticed that this was the most stupid thing you could have done?”

Xander shoved his hands into his pockets. “Felt rather good to me!”
“SHOOT HIM!” General McKenzie screeched. “SHOOT THEM ALL!”

When the soldiers lifted there guns, Angel actually heard Gunn mutter a prayer under his breath.
Oh, he would go down fighting to protect his friends!
His muscled tensed and his fist clenched. Just like Spike’s and Buffy’s.
Giles had a dark look that clearly said ‘Ripper came to play’.
Riley was visibly shaking with anger.

Only Xander stood relaxed and even smiled a little.

The first soldiers pulled the triggers.

..Nothing happened…

Unless you counted the little blue lights surrounding the soldier’s fingers, keeping them from actually firing their weapons.

Xander had crooked his head to the side. “General, do you know what a ‘spell’ is?”

“Of course I know what a spell is!!” General McKenzie yelled, then composed himself again and grinned. “Your ‘friend’ Ethan Rayne taught us a few of his own to use as protection against you!”
Giles’ – Ripper’s – eyes got wide when his former friend’s – and enemy’s – name was mentioned.

While McKenzie looked triumphant, Xander scratched his head a little.
“General, you do know that Ethan is a chaos-mage, right?” Xander put emphasis on the word ‘chaos-mage’.

“Of course I know that!” The General looked angry again. “He taught us good spells…” The grin was back.
“Yes, but-“ Xander begun to gesture helplessly with his hands, “-do you know the meaning of the word chaos-mage?”

Angel had no clue what point Xander was trying to get through. Ripper obviously did, ‘cause he grinned real evilly…

“A mage is a wizard. A male witch. A magic-user! He taught us spells!” Anger was back with the General.
Xander sighed desperately. “He taught you spells. Defence spells to protect you from harm.” The General just gave short nods. “Like the protection spell Fox had on him?” Xander pointed down to the dead soldier.

McKenzie opened his mouth to reply when it finally – finally – hit him, was Xander was saying.

It also hit Spike, who started laughing, followed by Ripper.

“My dear General,” Ripper took Giles’ glasses off and pocked them. “a chaos-mage only does spells that will ensure mayhem. Bloody mayhem on the most occasions.” He crossed his arms over his chest, grinning.

“That little shit fooled us!!” The General nearly howled with anger.
“No, he did not!” Xander insisted. “He just ensured chaos, like any good chaos-mage would. Your fault when you’re not double-checking what you’re doing.”

McKenzie glared. “And, what kind of ‘great magic spell’ did you use?”
“Let me put it this way,” Xander grinned from ear to ear. “Hmmmm, Angel…”

Both Spike and Angel went down with laughter.
Lorne, who still held onto Angel’s coat chuckled.
Gunn laughed too and Wesley just smiled. “Yes, of course, the Banshees…”

Buffy now looked utterly confused – and a little offended ‘cause she wasn’t involved in the joke.

General McKenzie of course was back to yelling.
“DO YOU REALLY THINK WE CAN’T TAKE YOU DOWN!?” His face was flushed a deep red – pure anger and hate.

Xander blinked at him.
“Yeah, that’s exactly the thing. You can’t harm us because of the spell, but we can harm you…”
“AH! The only ones mentally able to fight us are you and the bleached vampire! The other will never be able to kill a human and life with it!”
Angel frowned.

Before Xander could speak, Willow chimed up. “I killed a human once.”
EVERYONE looked at her. She smiled sweetly. “Skinned him alive. Was lots of fun.”

In the shadows behind Xander someone snickered.
Xander turned towards the noise and smiled broadly, gesturing towards Willow. “That’s my girl! Pretty cool, huh?”

A werewolf slit from the shadows and next to Xander.
The soldiers stepped closer together, fear on their faces and even Buffy considered backing up a step – or two…
The beast was at least a head taller than Xander and any werewolf Buffy ever saw.
It also was more hairy and more ‘wolfish’, with boarder shoulders and meaner claws.

“Where the hell have you found THAT ONE!?” Angel was far too shocked to realized that he had used Spike’s way of speaking.

“Rumania,” Xander smiled. “And here’s a good advice for you: never take an all American werewolf to Rumania, or it will get complexes!”
Dawn snickered. Buffy scowled at her.
Angel tried to do the math. Vincent was from Rumania. But Vincent was a vampire. Could vampires turn into werewolves?

“YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH KILLING THE WHOLE INITIATIVE!!!”
Spike was sure General McKenzie was about to explode.

Now it was Riley who spoke up. “Well, I’m still left, aren’t I? And I’m simply going to tell the Pentagon to stop the whole Initiative-thing because of future casualties that are to be expected.” He smiled.

“Maybe we could find a different solution,” Giles was back. “Maybe our dear General would like to swear an oath to save his neck.” Or was it still Ripper?

“An oath?” Xander, Angel and General McKenzie looked doubtful.
“Yes, a rather nice oath,” Giles – Ripper? – turned and came back with a book only moments after.
It was an ancient looking book, leather on the outside, yellowed pages inside.

“That’s the Book Of Oaths!” Wesley explained at the blank stares Giles got. “Whatever get’s sworn into the book will never be reversed.”

Giles opened the book at a random page and stepped up to the General.
“General McKenzie, you now get to make a decision. Either you swear an oath or we’ll let the werewolf rip you apart.”

Angel could have sworn the wolf mutter a ‘but I’m a vegetarian’ at this, but because nobody else seemed to have heard, he kept quiet.
Maybe being around Angelus that much lately was finally getting to him…

“Fine, so I do an oath and then my man and I go home.” Giles nodded. “Just like that! Please repeat after me now!”

Xander thought he heard Ethan howling with laughter somewhere, but he kept his eyes on Giles and the General. McKenzie placed one open palm on the book-page that Giles held out to him.

“In the name of the Initiative I swear this oath…” Giles began and McKenzie repeated – without much élan. “In the name of the Initiative I swear this oath…”
“…with our lives that never ever again…” “…with our lives that never ever again…” “…shall beings, demonic and non-natural…” “…shall beings, demonic and non-natural…” Obviously the General was bored by this. “…be harmed in any way by our doing.” “…be harmed in any way by our doing. – Hey, wait a second!”

But Giles had already pulled the book back, ignoring the General protests. “These oath he swore shall bind them all, forever through out all times!” He slammed the book shut and Xander was now sure that somewhere behind him Ethan was rolling on the floor.

“Now you can leave!” The Brit returned to his save place in Buffy’s line.

“AH! If you think this was the last you heard of us, you’re wrong!” The General was back to yelling, obviously pissed by the oath.

“General,” Xander sounded calmer and more dangerous than ever before, “this better be the last we ever heard of the Initiative, or you’ll be real sorry…”

For a moment nobody spoke.
The werewolf had his snout on Xander’s shoulder and growled threateningly.
Then Angel stepped forward – after Lorne had finally let go of his coat…

“I’m with Xander on this. ‘Cause from my point of view, we are the good guys. So you must be the bad guys. Which means the good guys get to kill the bad guys. I can live with that…”

“This world is even more simple!” McKenzie yelled. “Demons and other non-naturals are bad! We’re good if we get rid of them!”

Before Angel could answer – or agree with Angelus to simple rip the men’s head of – Dawn spoke up.
“What about me then? I’m ‘non-natural’ too. Does that mean I have to watch were I go, because you might kill me when I’m out grocery-shopping?”

Buffy’s eyes first got wide and then narrowed. She glared at the General.
“Yes, what about my sister and me? I’m the Slayer, I’m ‘non-natural’ too.” With a grin she added. “And see how well the ‘getting-rid-of-me’ part ended for our dear Maggie Welsh…”

Gunn turned to Wesley. “Suddenly I feel like you and me bein’ the only humans here…”
Wesley chuckled. “In a way…”

The General still fumed. “This is not the end! Just wait!!”

Would this have been a comic, steam would have been pouring from the General’s ears, when he turned and stalked towards the doors.
His soldiers followed slowly, making sure to step a wide arch around the werewolf.
Two of them – the braver ones – picked up Commander Fox.

Shortly before the General reached the doors, Xander yelled: “Let them pass!”
And in the shadows figures moved and made way for the soldiers.

“But Xanny!” a voice whined, “I can already see where this is leading!”
“So can I,” agreed Xander, then glared at Giles. “But if this oath-thing isn’t working, we can still rip them apart later.”

Somewhere in the shadows to Xander’s right Ethan spoke up. “Believe me, pup, the oath was a good one. They either behave or die now.”
Xander sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Somehow I can already see them forming suicide-squats…”

There were moments of silence while the soldiers left the hotel, curiously watching the shadows for someone that might attack them.

On the right side of the lobby, Doc appeared, helping Ethan to sit down. Two of his eyes were on the mage, while the third watched Xander closely. Two hands helped Ethan to sit, while the third started to pat down pocket in search of something and the forth hand gestured towards Xander.
“Want an aspirin for that headache?”

“I wouldn’t dare to call that a headache…” Xander called over and started to gently scratch behind the wolf’s ears.

Giles had started to stare at Ethan – and Doc – in amazement while everyone else just looked like they waited for a needle to drop.

Then Xander smiled – a real Xander-smile – at Willow. “What? Don’t I get hugged anymore?”

Seconds later his arms were full of Willow and Dawn. Grinning Buffy came and waited for her turn to hug her friend.

“Oh, Xander! It’s so good to see you!” Willow squealed and took half a step back.
The wolf sniffed her hair experimentally. “Uhm, Xander…”
“Don’t worry Willow!” Xander ruffled the wolf’s fur. “He’s pretty harmless – unless you threaten him.”
“Xander,” Dawn tugged at his shirt. “I don’t want to spoil your fun, but it’s in the middle of the day and we had a new moon two nights ago. Why is there a werewolf?”

Willow, who had started to pet the wolf too, started at him curiously. “It’s all about control!” Xander laughed. Then he removed his arm from around Dawn and turned a little, so he could hug Buffy.

The blond Slayer first squeezed him tightly, whispering: “God, I’m so glad you’re alright!”
Then she took a step back and swatted him on the arm – hard. “You never called! Where have you been the last year?”
“All around America,” Xander smiled. “I saw a few sights and made new friends… Had fun most of the time. Just lived for a while…”

Loud mewls from the floor made the girls and Xander look down.
Two little kittens, one black and one with tiger stripes, sat next to Xander’s feet and mewled for his attention.
“UH! Kittens!” Dawn dove down and picked the two cats up. Xander smiled. “The black one’s named Ink and the tiger is called Rei.”
“Are those yours?” Dawn squealed, delight in her eyes. “Can I hold them and pet them for a while?” “Pet right away!” Xander laughed and watched how Dawn settled down on the floor, both kittens in her lap, stroking the soft fur.

Buffy put her hands on her hips. “So, you been around America, befriended two cats and a werewolf. What else do I need to know?”
Xander automatically knew that Buffy was speaking about the Initiative and the soldier he had just killed. Curiously, Angel and Spike stepped closer too.

Xander heaved a deep breath through his nose, before he answered. “Well, the Initiative kept stepping on my toes, wherever I went. I had a lot of discussions with General McKenzie about good and bad demons, but in the end they just kept on killing every demon in sight, so we decided to fight back…”

“We?” Buffy looked from the werewolf to Xander.
Xander nodded. “Me, wolf-man, the cats-“ Buffy and Willow looked down at the little fur-balls in confusion. “-sometimes even Ethan, the Doc-“
All eyes went to Ethan. Giles sat next to him and they talked animatedly, while Doc was holding one of Ethan’s hands, looking at his watch and redoing his ponytail at the same time. His third eye was moving between the mage and the librarian.
“-Andrew,-“ Xander continued and said boy crossed the lobby with a cooler. “-Connor came with us, ‘cause I promised him I would drop him off with his father…“ Conner, Wes and Gunn were at the counter, pouring water and other liquids into glasses. Lorne was trying to persuade Nikolai to let go of the pot-plant.

“You’re still a demon-magnet, aren’t you?” Willow grinned and Xander gave a small chuckle.
“You got no idea…”

“While speaking of Ideas,” a voice said and the blue-haired demon stepped from the shadows, “these soldiers seem to have gotten the idea of camping outside!”
“Yeah,” Shasha followed him towards the group, “they are still out their. I think McKenzie is giving some kind of speech…”

“Let them speak as much as they want,” Xander replied coolly, “as long as they don’t run around harming people… demons… whatever…”

Curiously Willow leant a little closer to Shasha, resting herself against the wolf.
“Are those wings?” she asked, pointing at the beginnings of re-growing wings on Shasha’s back.
“Yes!” Very proudly the angel flapped the little unfinished things. “And when they’re full grown they’re gonna touch the ground!”

“Girls, these are Shasha-“ Xander pointed towards the angel, “-and Watashi-Wa-Hatsujo-To-Joyoku-To-Kowaku-Anata-No-Desu.”
The looks of ‘huh’ and ‘come again’ were marvellous and Xander chuckled again.

“I knew your name sounded like someone sneezing,” Angel complained, “but I didn’t get all of it.”
“That sounded like a fucking sentence and not a name!” Spike complained loudly.
“Oh, but it is a full sentence!” the blue haired demon replied smiling. “Just like some native Americans are named ‘sun-that-shines-on-the-first-morning-dew-in-a-blossoming-valley’…”
“Great!” Spike scowled at the demon. “And your friends actually call you that? I can see how that works out in a battle.”
The demon chuckled. “Friends are allowed to call me Hatsujo. Actually they even decided to call me that. They could also have called me Watashi.”

“Are we considered friends?” Willow wanted to know and Angel was asking himself the same question.
“Of course you are! Your are Xander’s best friends, so you are my friends too!” Hatsujo explained, smiling.

Lorne stepped up to them and tapped Spike on the shoulder.
“Spikey-poo I need your help with Nikolai…”

Turning, Spike sighed heavily, seeing that the other vamp had managed to crawl behind the pot-plant.
“Nikolai?” Xander repeated, like he had heard the name before. Questing he turned his head towards the shadows.

Black removed itself from Black as Vincent stepped forward. “Nikolai!” he called and held his arms out.

Nikolai’s eyes got wide, he gave a surprised little scream and then used his vamp-speed to cross the lobby. He throw himself at the dark haired vampire, arms around the taller ones neck, buried his head against his shoulder and started to cry.
Vincent held him and rocked him back and forth carefully.

“Problem solved!” Xander smiled at Lorne.
“So that’s his sire!” Spike grinned happily. “He thought he lost him.”

Angel started to frown. If the werewolf and Vincent were both from Rumania, but not the same person, then who…
It hit him suddenly and he stared wide eyed at the werewolf, who grinned right back.

++++

 

Part 7

+++ Explanations of some sorts +++

Concerning Werewolves

Xander looked up at the werewolf again.
“Hey, could you de-wolf, please? I’m getting a neck-cramp, looking up to you like that.”

The wolf took a step back and started to shrink.
Fur turned to hair, claws to hands, the snout transformed into a human nose.

And suddenly Daniel “Oz” Osborne was were the wolf had been before – dressed in nothing more than a pair of jeans.
“See, sometimes the feeling is mutual…” the much shorter man claimed, smiling brightly.

The next minute he was caught in a lovingly witch-hug. He hugged Willow back.

“Oz?” Buffy was totally bewildered. “When the heck did you get that – wolfish?”
Oz smiled at her from over Willow’s shoulder. “A bit more than a year ago I went overseas to Europe, and visited Rumania. There I came across a ‘real’ werewolf who gave me part of his magic. Now I’m allowed to call myself a ‘real’ werewolf too, not the American-copy-types that run around here…”

“I always thought the American-non-real-werewolves were scary enough…” Riley pointed out, holding his wife in his arms.

Oz grinned. “Well, your Initiative-buddies didn’t think so before – back in Sunnydale – but they sure as hell fear me now.”

Xander started to look around, searching the lobby with his eyes. “Oz, were are-“
A yellow shirt, thrown at Oz and landing on his head, cut Xander short. The elf who had thrown the garment smiled.
“It’s OK, Xander, I’m here, Tink’s here-“ he pointed to a pink light on his shoulder, “-and Drusilla is over there with Doc. We are all safe inside.”

Concerning Burning Stars

Buffy’s eyes widened a bit. “XANDER! You’ve been dragging Drusilla around? Have you lost your mind?”
“No, actually I think she lost hers,” Xander grinned at the Slayer, but got serious again, when he saw her glare.

“No, really Buffy, she’s as harmless as those kittens, probably even more so!” Dawn frowned at the kittens in her lap.
“What makes you think that a loony vampire is not dangerous?” Buffy put her hands on her hips.

“Want me to repeat the words you always used when you told us how Angel and Spike were not dangerous?” Xander smiled at her.
“They chipped Drusilla?” Buffy raised an eyebrow, Angel looked stricken.

“Bloody hell!!” Spike dropped the cigarette he had tried to light. “She’s got a star inside her!” He exclaimed as if it was the solution to all her insanity, then he rushed off to his princess.

“That even made less sense…” Angel complained.
“What words does Buffy use to tell us how Angel and Spike are not evil?” Dawn wanted to know with a grin. “She slept with them?”
“Dawn!!” Buffy hollered, glaring at her sister.

Xander laughed out loud before he said with a small chuckle: “No. She has a soul…”

Angel nearly dropped to the ground – nearly – while Angelus complained about souled vampires all around. “She has a soul?!”

“Yes,” Xander turned to Angel, “she calls it her star, or her burning star. I don’t know who and I don’t know why, but she got it in Brazil, before or maybe even after the Initiative captured her and shipped her and Ethan off to America again when the base in Brazil was destroyed.”

“Unfortunately we don’t have Gypsies or a basement filled with the First Evil to explain her loonyness!” Xander continued happily.

Buffy hid a chuckle, while Angel wandered over to the counter to get himself a drink. He felt the need for some whiskey right now.

Concerning Extremely Long and Complicated Names

When he reached the counter, the blue-haired Hatsujo held out a glass for him, filled with a familiar amber liquid.

“Thank you,” Angel mumbled and took the glass, his fingers brushing Hatsujo’s unintentional.
“Your welcome,” the young demon smiled and leaned against the counter, next to the vampire.

“Hm, Ha-Hatshu…” “Hatsujo! Ha-Tsu-Jo!” the blue-haired one laughed. “But if you like Hatshu better…” He brought one hand up to tug at Angel’s collar.

“Hm…” Angel looked down at the slim fingers. Hatsujo followed his gaze.
“Ups!” The demon pulled his hand back. “Sorry, I’m a Incubus, I can’t help it…”

Angel raised an eyebrow. “A sex-demon? You don’t look like one…”
Smiling Hatsujo tapped the burned side of his face with a finger. “Yeah, bit damaged here, but once I’m fully healed I will be back to all my beauty! Hopefully…”

For a moment Angel was deep in thought. Then he smiled. “So, what does ‘Hatsujo’ mean?”
The incubus smiled. “It’s Japanese and means ‘sexual urge’. My full name would be: ‘I’m your sexual urge and desire and seduction’.” (1)

Angel choked a bit on his whiskey.

Concerning Oaths

Meanwhile Xander had turned to Wesley, how had approached the group with drinks.

“Wes, care to explain that oath to me? I’d like to understand why Ethan and Giles found it so funny.”
“Of course!” Wesley made sure he had his hands free, so he could gesture around. “You see, the Book of Oaths is a very ancient book. You can swear any oath into it, and it can never be erased again. Not even destroying the book would help.”

“So the Initiative-Oath is bound to be forever? But what does it do?”
Wesley smiled. “To see what it does, you have to look at the words spoken:
‘In the name of the Initiative I swear this oath with our lives’ – that means that the Initiative promised their lives to be taken, should they break the oath,
‘that never ever again shall beings, demonic and non-natural be harmed in any way by our doing’ – which simply means that they can’t harm any non-natural and demonic creatures anymore in anyway. Never!
‘These oath he swore shall bind them all’ – means, that only the General is bound to the oath, but also the whole Initiative and every single person they ever hire or ask.
‘forever through out all times’ simply stats that this oath is eternal.”

“Let me get this straight…” Xander frowned a bit. “Neither the Initiative, or anyone they hire to do what they order, can harm demons etc. in any form without dying?”
“Precisely!” Wesley beamed at him.

“So they could kill demons but would kill themselves in the same moment?” Wesley nodded.
“Then let’s just hope that those jerks have a high instinct of self-preservation!” Xander sighed.

(1) At least if this authoress got it right…

+++ Our bloody little lullabies +++

Nightfall was beginning to creep in, when everybody was finally settled into the lobby.

Well, nearly everybody.
Vincent had to take Nikolai upstairs. The younger vampire simply wouldn’t stop crying and shaking.

Riley and Sam now sat cuddled on a couch, both silently discussing the downfall of one General McKenzie and the Initiative in general…

Dawn sat on another couch, the kittens still in her lap, Buffy and Willow at her sides, Oz to their feet.

Ethan and Giles still were deep in conservation, Doc either watching over them or Drusilla.

Spike couldn’t get his princess to talk to him, so he now sat on the counter with Connor and Xander – brooding.

Shasha, Hatsujo and Cutie had taken over another couch, while Gunn sat on the ground before them, the little fairy now on his shoulder.

Lorne had changed clothe and now sat in a chair with a martini and a smile.

Angel and Wesley had perched themselves onto the arm-rests of Lorne’s chair. Comfortable silence had settled over the lobby.

At least until Lorne’s curiosity got the better of him. “Say, dears, you got a victory-cheer?”

The Sunnydale-lot laughed because of their ‘episode’ with Sweets, the singing demon.

With a gesture of his hands, Xander made his group stand up.
Cutie hummed, so they had a tune and then the demons – and Xander – sang.

“Mit blutverschmierten Händen,
mit einer Träne im Gesicht,
einem Lächeln auf den Lippen
und der Hoffnung tief im Blick.
Aufzustehen auch aus dem Dreck,
tief beschmutz und stolz im Herz.
Dem Leben neu erwacht
und erwacht ganz neu im Leben!“ (2)

Nobody really managed to follow that, so they just stared. Except for Giles, how spoke a little German and understood one or two or maybe three words. So he just gaped, mouth a little ajar.

The ‘Xander-Gang’ just laughed. “Let me guess,” Xander smiled. “You didn’t get that, huh? How about a second one then?”

He exchanged glances with Cutie, Shasha and Hatsujo and when they finally nodded, they joined each other in the middle of the lobby, so that everyone else could see them.

Again Cutie hummed, slow this time, while he swayed his body a little to the left and right.

“It’s done – the dark clouds have disappeared
and almost like a miracle they made way for the sun!”
Hatsujo began, singing slowly and moving his body along slowly too.

“We’ve won – the battle won’t go on,
the force that endangered us defeated by our trust!”
Coming from Xander, that sounded like a promise.

“Right now we’re standing together side by side!”
Together say picked up the volume and speed of their singing and the movement of their bodies.

“Hooray ho! We finally made it! We did what we had to do!
Hooray ho! We finally made it! We did what we had to do!”

Again the speed dropped, the song becoming slow.

“Then – the day it all began –
we couldn’t dare to hesitate! We went to meet our fate!
We all stood up and joined in unity.
And even if we risked our lives
we never cared about the price!”
Shasha had the nicest voice everyone had ever heard.

“Right now we’re standing together side by side!”

“Hooray ho! We finally made it! We did what we had to do!
Hooray ho! We finally made it! We did what we had to do!”

They sang together now and moved their bodies along. Hatsujo sliding along Shasha, making it look a little like they tried to have sex. With their cloth on. In front of everyone. While dancing.
Xander and Cutie just leaned against each other.

“We were so far away from home!
Have you ever thought that we could be so strong?
We never gave up hope,
We never felt alone!”

“Hooray ho! We finally made it!
Hooray ho! We finally made it! We did what we had to do!
Hooray ho! We finally made it! We did what we had to do!
We did what we had to do! We did what we had to do! We did what we had to do!”

The lobby erupted in applause and cheers and cat calls!!

Everyone was standing, applauding and yelling.

Well, everyone except for Lorne, who had a really bad time since the first note was hummed.

+ CUTE ELVES +

Lorne listened with excitement! Finally he would be able to get something about this boys!
What he wasn’t prepared for, was the movie that started in his head the second they started to sing…

It was a bit more intense than any other ‘reading’ he ever did.
It was like a movie, with him right in the middle – as an unwilling audience, damned to hear every word and see every move without being able to help.

He stood inside a lab, with cold white walls and cold silver tables. Cold people – mostly female! – ran around in white lab-coats. Lorne already hated the place.

He hated it even more, when a bunch of soldiers dragged in two elves.
One of them was Cutie – no doubt about that! The blonde was trashing and screaming – in elfish, which nobody understood.
The second elf was blond too and looked like it could have been Cutie’s brother. He wasn’t struggling against his captors. In fact, he wasn’t moving at all.

“We only managed to get one!” One of the soldiers said. “The other died – wasn’t our fault.” One lady in a lab-coat just shrugged her shoulders. “Dump the corps somewhere over there. We can take it apart later.”

Lorne felt the urge to throw up.
Cutie was still screaming and trashing, while six soldiers started to tie him to a table.
“I thought elves were a silent, graceful race…” One of the other lab-coats complained.
“Oh, I think he will scream even more the minute we release him!” the first lab-coat-lady said with an evil smile and went over to the still struggling elf.

Lorne felt helpless. He couldn’t talk to Cutie or help him in any way, because this were his memories. Nasty, nightmarish memories!

The leading lab-coat-lady had meanwhile filled a syringe with a blue liquid. “This, ladies and gentlemen,” she told the assembled lab-coats, who hastily took out notepads and started scribbling, “is our newest invention. It was developed over the last five month and has now reached the finished stadium. It will render this nasty wood-elves helpless in the most efficient ways!”

Lorne was temped to cover his ears. He really didn’t want to know this!

“The only problem is, that the elves have to be captured, so we can insert the toxic to their blood system!” The lady went to the table, where Cutie was just panting harshly now, but no longer able to struggle. She insert the syringe into his arm and pushed the blue liquid inside the small elf.
After a few moments, Cutie’s eyes rolled back in his head and he started to scream again.

“Please take notice, that his toxic-“ The lady got no further, because the doors to the lab burst – no, rather exploded – open and arrows started to fill the air.

Lorne was about to cover up, when one of the arrows flew straight through him. ‘Oh, right! Incorporeal!’ He sighed with relieve.
Then his eyes widened as he saw not only a group of elves, but also Xander and Oz had charged into the room.

Oz was in his wolf-form, going after the scientists, the moment he saw them, while Xander swung a sword and charged at the soldiers.

“That’s the spirit, honeys!” Lorne cheered, unheard of course.

Two elves fell, before all soldiers and scientists were dead.
The three dead bodies were gathered and carried outside, while Xander and an older elf with long, brown hair approached the table. Cutie had stopped screaming and went back to panting.

Xander undid the holdings. “Did we make it in time?”
“No,” the older elf shook his head. “It is to late to help him. He will now go insane, like the other elves they have take from my tribe. Let us kill him.”

“Kill him?!” both Xander and Lorne yelled.
“Are you out of your mind?” the human continued. “I will not kill him simply because he might go insane! I already have an insane vampire. I know how to deal.”

Xander scooped Cutie up into his arms. “Listen, Mari-Ha, let’s get out of here first and than let’s decide what to do!”
The other elf stood still for a moment, then he nodded and they left.
Lorne followed them outside.

They ran and walked for a while, before they reached a forest. There stood two vans, and Lorne saw the other elves already return to the woods.

But the moment Cutie, who was still in Xander’s arms, but awake now, saw the trees, he started to scream again and tried to get away.
Xander tightened his grip, noticing pure panic when he saw it.

“Sssh,” he whispered and moved the elf, so that his head was now on Xander’s shoulder and his legs were around Xander’s waist. The elf clawed at the back of Xander’s black shirt.

“It is the poison,” Mari-Ha informed the human, and Lorne who was still next to them. “It makes him fear trees. He will never again find peace in the woods that raised him. Let him suffer no longer.” The elf made a grab for his knives and Xander took a hasty step backwards.
“No way Mari-Ha! You called us for help, and help we will!” Xander glared at the elf. “I will take Trey-Sa with me if you no longer want him!”

Mari-Ha gave a short nod. “Trey-Sa is no longer part of the wood-elves. He shall no longer carry the name the trees gave to him. As long as he despises them.”
“He doesn’t ‘despise’ them!” Xander shot back, then simply glared. “Oh, why am I talking to you anyway! Go! Go back to your woods! And never call us for help ever again!”
With this words Xander stalked off towards the vans, carrying Cutie safely cradled against his chest.

Lorne followed him.
“Gang, this is now our personal elf!” Xander announced, grinning and Drusilla went to stand behind him to look at the elf.
“He looks like a cutie!” she said with a smile.

Xander pondered that for a moment. “Hey, Trey-Sa! We gonna name you Cutie now! Like that?” But the elf just whimpered.

Sighing Xander eyed his gang. “As long as he clutches me like this I can’t drive… Oz, van one?”
“Sure,” the de-wolfed youth nodded and climbed in. Drusilla followed him and Lorne could see Ethan and Doc inside too.

Xander eyed Stephan and Andrew critically, while both boys beamed at him brightly.
“Oh, hell… Stephan, you drive!” he finally decided and the boy let out a whoop of joy.

With a found smile Lorne watched the cars drive off, then he suddenly got pulled into the next memory.

+ SEXY DEMONS +

Again, Lorne found himself in a white and silver lab, but this time without table, but with glass-cells along one wall.

The cells all had tree glass walls and stood tree feet apart from each other. Lorne found them all empty – except for one.

Still being incorporeal, Lorne slit through the glass-wall and eyes the demon inside.

The boy was beautiful!
Long, blue hair fell down his back until it reached his ass. His skin was creamy white, his lips full and crimson and his blue eyes glistered.
His body was lean and well taken care off…

With a frown Lorne noticed that the demon was not wearing anything and the glistering eyes were full of unshed tears.
He also made the most heartbreaking whimpering noises.

Footsteps made them both look up just in time to see a soldier kneel down next to the glass-wall closest to Hatsujo.
“Hey, how is my lovely Incubus today?”

With another keening noise, Hatsujo pressed himself against the glass, trying to get into physical contact with the soldier – although there was solid glass in between them.

A man in a lab-coat – Lorne was sure he could never again look at a doctor – walked up behind the soldier, reading from his notes.

“Well, he has now reached his 250th day without human contact.” He throw his notes away with a sigh. “Experiment finished, Specimen alive. That’s too bad. And we have to get rid of him too!”

“Let’s set him free then!” The soldier suggested and smiled. Lorne didn’t like that smile at all.
“Set him free?” the lab-coat-guy screeched. “Are you out of your mind? I invested 250 days of research in him! If I set him free he will go and fuck some humans and be back to his full powers in no time!”

The soldier smiled even more and Lorne felt like running away.

“Let’s make sure he won’t whore himself around then!” The soldier got up and now Lorne really wanted to run – fast and far.

He came back only minutes later with something that looked like a fire-extinguisher. Lorne frowned.

“Like this we can even track him down later and get him back to you!” The soldier laughed. “Open the door!” Then he held the fire-extinguisher like a weapon in Hatsujo’s direction.

Seconds later the glass-wall slit open before the soldier and the Incubus tried to crawl towards him.

“NO!” Lorne yelled and tried to grab the demon, but being incorporeal inside someone’s memory was not useful.

The fire-extinguisher turned out to be a flame-thrower.

With absolute horror Lorne watched the left side of the demon go up in flames and burn and turn black.

The soldier laughed. But not for long.

The next moment a solid body collided with his, the flame-thrower went flying and the soldier started screaming.

Lorne opened his eyes – closing them didn’t help that much – and started at Xander – XANDER! – who had his teeth in the soldier’s throat and was tearing him to peaces – literally…

With some kind of morbid fascination Lorne watched as Xander and friends took down this lab too. The green demon hadn’t noticed all the other soldiers and scientists until they lay in their own blood on the ground.

Carefully, Xander now approached the whimpering and crying demon inside the glass-cell.
“Doc!” he yelled. “I need something to cool his burnings! And maybe a category to put him in! What is he?”

Slowly Xander kneeled down. “Hey there… I’m Xander. I’m here to help. Can you hear me?”
With a keen whimper the demon made a grab for Xander and clung to his wrist with both hands.
“Hey, slow down! We’re gonna get you out of here!” With very gentle fingers, Xander stroked burned hair aside.
The demon tried to climb into his lap and Xander frowned – a bit.

Doc approached them, holding a dripping wet blanket. “Here, I soaked it with cold water. We need him out of here, now!”
“What do you think I’m trying to do? Have a picnic down here?” Xander took the blanket and wrapped it around the demon as careful as he could. “Time to leave now…”

He hoisted the demon up into his arms and wasn’t surprised when small arms wound themselves around his neck and a set of legs circled his waist.
Xander stood up, bringing the demon with him.
“What is he?” he asked again, but Doc only shrugged his shoulders.

“An Incubus!” Ink chimed up happily, holding a blood-soaked notepad.
“And now for stupid leaders?” Xander moved out of the glass-cell and everyone followed him.
“An Incubus is a sex-demon!” Rei translated, before he changed into his tiger-form and ran of ahead to make sure the path was clear.

“I always knew I was a demon-magnet, but the ‘carrying-you-around’ part gets annoying!” Xander complained, following the tiger.
Cutie chuckled.
“Don’t laugh!” Xander grinned. “I had to carry you around for three days like this before you finally would let go!”

With a sigh Lorne started to follow the group outside, only to be pulled into the next memory.

+ HEAVENLY ANGELS +

Lorne anticipated what was about to come next. He had already seen and felt too much.

Yes, he had felt what the others had felt, too. A new experience for him – one he doesn’t want to repeat! Ever again!
He had felt the horror when facing a tree like Cutie had and he had felt so alone and ‘needy’ while in Hatsujo’s memory.

Now all he felt was peace. Silence. More peace.

‘My! Must be heaven!’ he thought happily to himself, only to be ripped out from that happy place the next minute.

Lorne found himself in another lab, next to another examination-table.
This time it was Shasha tied to it, face down, cursing so loud and bad it would make sailors blush.
He was trashing like mad and cursing the soldiers three times to hell – and any hell dimension he knew.

A soldier – and for the first time Lorne had a name, because this was Commander Fox – stepped up to the table.
“For an angel you sure know a lot of bad words!” He laughed and all soldiers around laughed with him.
Lorne noticed that there were not lab-coats around and he wondered if that was good or maybe not…

Fox motioned for six of his soldiers to move closer. They positioned themselves around the table, three right, three left and while one each pressed Shasha’s shoulders down, the other four grabbed hold of a wing each.

Lorne took in the sight of the wings for the first time. They were beautiful! Pure white and slim and as long as Shasha was tall.

Suddenly realizing what the soldiers were about to do, Lorne turned green – or even more so than normal – while Shasha started to scream and curse louder.

Fox nodded once and the soldiers ripped the wings out.

Shasha wailed in pain and Lorne was sure he would throw up any minute know.

Commander Fox only laughed again, while the bloody wings were cast away to a far corner.
“Turn him around!” the soldier ordered and his men set to work.

The angel was now in so much pain, he could not struggle enough anymore and was turned around and tied down again.
Crying the angel now lay still and didn’t move anymore.

Fox grinned at him and tore his white robes away. When he climbed onto the table, Lorne screamed and turned around, closing his eyes and putting his hands over his ears.

But it didn’t help during the ‘reading’.
No matter what he did to block the sight and the sound, Lorne had to witness how the ten soldiers and Commander Fox raped the angel and broke the pure creature down with their cruelty.

When they left the room, Lorne was crying harder than Shasha was.

Suddenly the sound of fighting broke loose somewhere and Lorne knew that Xander and his gang had arrived.
Several minutes later, Xander ventured into the room, a sword battle-ready.
When he took in his surroundings and noticed the bloody angel and the bloody wings, his brain put one and one together and came up with lots and lots of dead soldiers…

He tore off his jacket and placed it carefully over the angel, before he started to undo the bindings.
“Hey, can you hear me? You still there?” He moved his hand carefully above the angel’s face, but got no reaction.
“Good! Well, not really, but try to stay like that while I get you out of here. It’s probably easier to carry you when you don’t freak…”

“Xander?” Stephan popped his head inside the room and his eyes grew wide. “FUCK!”
“No…” Xander whispered, then threw his sword towards the youth. “Steph, go gut some of them for me!”
Nodding the teen ran off and Xander managed to lift Shasha into his arms.
“It’s gonna be alright…” He told the angel and ran for it.

Breathing a happy sigh of relieve, Lorne got ready to venture into Xander’s memories.
He could never been ready for what he found there…

+

The lobby erupted in applause and cheers and cat calls!!

Everyone was standing, applauding and yelling.

Well, everyone except for Lorne, who had a really bad time since the first note was hummed.

Nobody noticed how the green demon had started to twitch and gasp and whither in his chair. They didn’t even notice when he fell to the ground, because Angel and Wes had stood up much earlier to watch the demons.

Finally Wesley turned. “That was fantastic, wasn’t it?” He noticed Lorne on the ground and screamed. “LORNE!”

Angel spun on his heals and kneeled down. Wes fell down to his knees too, trying to hold the twitching demon still.

“Doc!” Xander yelled and ran over to where Lorne was on the ground. “What happened?”
“It’s nothing bad,” Angel said, trying too to get Lorne to stay still, “He has that sometimes…”

Doc kneeled down too. “Something I can do?” “Probably not,” Wesley tried to smile. “We just have to wait for him to come around…”

“Does he do that often?” Xander wanted to know, leaning down a bit. Spike came up next to him. “Sometimes,” the blonde said and suddenly Lorne stopped twitching and just lay there, panting.

“Lorne, are you alright?” Angel’s voice was full of concern. Lorne looked up and directly at Xander.
“X-Xander – w-watch out…”

“What for?” the human wanted to know, when it hit him – literally.

His hands flew up to his temples, his head flew backwards, his mouth fell open and he screamed.

Reacting out of instinct, Spike grabbed the boy and carefully laid him down. Connor rushed over to help him hold the now screaming and trashing Xander down.

The wails and screams the boy let loose were horrifying and tore at Spike’s unbeating heart. And the trashing only made it worse.

The lobby erupted into hysterics.

Willow and Dawn started to cry and demand an explanation; Buffy, Riley and Sam looked stricken and the others couldn’t do nothing but watch.

It took Xander nearly twenty minutes before he finally fell unconscious and Spike knew he was crying, when they carried the boy upstairs.

++++

Part 8

+++ The Damaged Vampire +++

It took quite a while for everyone to recover from the shock of Xander collapsing like that.

Nearly everybody had retired to their own bedrooms.
Lorne had fallen asleep immediately after his head hit the pillow.
Angel had tucked Connor in and made sure the boy was asleep, before he allowed himself to rest too.
Oz had taken over ‘first watch’ at Xander’s bedside.
Buffy had locked herself inside her room, and Angel was quite glad of it.
Rei and Ink – still in cat-form – had curled themselves up with Dawn and Willow in their room.
Giles had helped Ethan to get into bed and had stayed with him.
Cutie, Shasha, Hatsuyo and Gunn had managed to get away from everyone else too.
Doc had settled Drusilla down and Tink had decided to stay with them.
Spike had heated a thermos full of blood and took it upstairs, to where Vincent and Nikolai had retreated.

Knocking softly, Spike entered the bedroom which the two other vampires shared.
He found Vincent sitting on the bed, Nikolai in his lap, cuddled against his chest.

“Dinner!” he announced, grinning a bit. “Just pig, but warm!”
“Thank you very much,” Vincent smiled at him and just continued to stroke up and down Nikolai’s back. “Sweets,” he whispered softly into his hair, “Sweets, it’s dinner. Come on, have a cup…”

Nikolai lifted his head from his sire’s shoulder. He had been crying and now Vincent wiped the last traces of tears away.
“Sorry we didn’t stay for the singing and dancing…”

Spike snorted. “Missed one grand ending! Xander had another pain-wave.”
Thanking him with his eyes, Vincent watched Spike pour a mug of blood.

“Sweets, do you want the cup or rather my blood? Sire’s blood is a lot better for healing and getting stronger sooner…” He caressed his childe’s cheek.
“Cup please…” Nikolai muttered and took the cup from the bleached vampire.

“You know, mate, your sire’s right on the blood thing…” Spike tried, and Vincent coaxed even further: “Yes, Sweets, you can have my neck! Simply sink your fangs into it…”

Nikolai started to sob and shake so suddenly, Spike had to practically throw himself onto the bed to catch the falling mug – without spilling the contents.

Vincent started to rock the crying vampire softly in his arms.
“Hush, Sweets, hush…”
He was confused, angry and afraid all at once.

“You know, I’d really love to hear what the bloody hell is wrong with you…” Spike muttered from where he now lay sprawled on the bed, the cup of blood secured in his hands.

After a moment the sobs subsided and Nikolai whispered against his sire’s chest: “I-I’m a-afraid…”
“Of what, Sweets?” Vincent held him even closer. “Of me being angry with you? Sweets, this is all my fault! I left you alone for the last five years!”
“I-I… I-I’m a-afraid of them c-coming b-back…”

“OI!” Spike stayed where he was, but grinned at Nikolai, “Ya surrounded by a bunch of ass-kicking demons! – And humans… We’ll rip their bloody throats out!”

Giving Spike a very tiny, very wavering smile, Nikolai tried to explain what was making him cry so much.

"First... First..." whispered Nikolai, burying his head against Vincent's shoulder, muffling his voice. "First... After they captured me... They... They gave me the first chip... To keep me from hurting humans..."
Spike and Vincent listened silently to the quiet whispers. The blond vampire knew exactly how horrible those chips were. Vincent felt the distress his childe was in and simply held the younger vampire tightly.
"I've been... I've been with them for five years... And the chip wasn't built to last that long..."
Again Spike knew exactly what Nikolai was talking about. His own chip had started malfunctioning two years ago. He remembered the sudden unprovoked pain well enough.
"They... They had to replace the chip three times..." Nikolai continued. "Last time was two months ago..."
Vincent's red eyes started to turn gold. His grip tightened even more, but he stayed quiet - for the moment.
"They... Last year... Last year they gave me a second chip. It... It hurts me every time I try to change..."
Vincent started to growl and Spike wondered if the Soldiers were already gone from the hotel or if they still had a chance to go and rip them apart.
"And... And..."
Spike and Vincent could only hear the next words because they had their supernatural-hearing.
"...they ripped my fangs out..."

Spike felt like throwing up, screaming, cursing and beating someone at the same time.
Somewhere outside an explosion could be heard, while Vincent's hug was now nearly crushing Nikolai. The older vampire just sat there unblinking and staring straight ahead, fury in his eyes.

After five minutes of silence the door opened and Cutie poked his head in.
"Good aim, Vince! You hit one of their trucks whilst they were leaving!" The elf shut the door behind him.

"Huh?" Spike looked at Vincent, who was now moving, taking the cup from the Blonde.
"I can set things on fire - sometimes - without meaning too. If I get really angry, something just blows up..."
"Neat!" grinned Spike and got up from the bed. "I'll leave you for a while. If ya want anything, yell..." He left the room, duster swirling behind him.

While Spike - still ready to kill someone bloodily - walked - or maybe stormed - down the hall, a door opened and Oz called out to him. "Hey, Vamp!"
"Hey, Wolf!" The vampire twirled around and leaned against the wall next to the werewolf.
"Spike, a few of us want to keep an eye on the Soldiers..." Spike nodded and Oz gave a little grin. "I want to go too. Could you maybe take over my Xan-watch?"
"Xan-watch?" One scarred eyebrow rose. "Yeah, after he has a pain-attack one of us will sit with him and keep watch over him. Xan-watch..."

Spike grinned. "Sure, wolf! You go with the others, and I keep an eye on Xanny!"
Smiling, Oz left the room while Spike entered. "We'll be back soon!" the werewolf promised before he closed the door. Spike settled into a chair next to the bed, still warm from Oz's body-heat.

The curtains were all drawn, and in the barely illuminated room, Xander looked liked dead - and lost on the giant bed.
But his chest was moving with his silent breathing so Spike tried not to worry too much. Maybe he would get some explanations later.

+++ The Damaged Human +++

Spike could not have been with Xander for more than fifteen minutes, when the human started to wake up.
Xander's eyelids fluttered and one opened completely after a moment. One bleary eye stared at Spike for another moment before a sleepy voice muttered: "Who are you...?"
"According to you: fangless!"
Sleepy grin. "Hey big biteless..." "Hey my yummy treat! Thirsty?"

Spike had noticed the glass and water-pitcher on the bedside table earlier and now suspected Xander to be thirsty after waking from such pain.

"Yeah..." The vampire poured a glass and helped Xander to sit up a bit and drink without a problem.
When the human settled back into the pillows Spike sat back in his chair. "You Ok, pet?"
"Yeah... Spike? Did I say 'Thank You' yet?"
"Whatever for?" Confused, the vampire raised one eyebrow.

"For every time you kept my ass from being kicked, for every time you had to save me - and the girls... For saving me from Caleb... For sacrificing yourself back in Sunnyhell..."
Spike grinned. "Don't mention it, pet. I like to save your sorry ass!"

Xander, face half buried into the pillow, smiled at Spike. "Admit it, you liked the girls and me!" Spike snorted a short laugh.

"Spike..." The smile vanished from Xander's face and his gaze became distant.
"Did I say 'I'm Sorry' yet...?
Again Spike raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Whatever for, pet?"
"For every time I called you 'fangless', 'biteless'... For every time I 'chained' you to the recliner... For every time I doubted you and thought just the worst of you... For every time I laughed at you... For every-"
"Oi!! Quit with the guilt-trip already!" Spike moved himself from the chair onto the bed, looking directly into the human's eye.

"Pet, I always liked you best for not forgetting that I was evil. And I liked you calling me names, because then I could call you names too. Thought we were friends!"
"Best friends - if you want me..." Xander answered, and scooted over a bit, to make room for the vampire.
Following the invitation, Spike lay down next to Xander.

"Ya grew up a lot, whelp!" Spike teased him. "You’re letting a master vamp sleep in your bed!"
Xander laughed softly. "Spike, I had a vengeance-demon in my bed for years... And during the last year I’ve woken up often enough with my head on a werewolf's stomach, while an elf and an incubus were cuddled up with me... I adapt easily..."
Spike grinned broadly and Xander continued. "Also had a mantis-lady and an inca-mummy after me once... I am a yummy demon magnet!"

Spike laughed a little, while Xander decided to cuddle front-to-front with the vampire.
"After you were gone, there were so many things I wanted to tell you..." he told the duster-clad chest.
"I wanted to be friends, make up for all the fights we had and the time we spent hating each other..."
Spike's arms came around Xander's body and held him.
"I wanted you to still be around... I wanted to talk to you... I wanted to have fun with you... I wanted to watch 'Passions' with you, or cheer for England in a soccer game, or just have a beer together out on the back-porch..."
Xander started to cry and Spike - at a loss for words - just pulled him a little closer.

And all of a sudden Xander raised his head and pressed his lips to Spike's.

The kiss was a bit wet from tears but warm and Spike didn't pull away until Xander was out of breath.

They just stared at each other a bit, Spike stroking a hand through Xander's hair absently.
"You and me, pet?"
"Maybe...?" Xander asked in a small voice, unsure of himself.
Spike shrugged - a bit lopsided since he was lying on his side - and smiled. "Sure thing! Why not!"
"Buffy?" Xander raised both eyebrows - since he’d never mastered the art of raising just one.
"Girl seems to be changing her lovers quite often lately. Never loved me anyway. Me? I just had a crush on her..."

"Well..." Xander tucked his head under Spike's chin. "Maybe I have a crush on you..."
Spike laughed and stroked the back of Xander's head. "Well, what's not to love?"

After a moment of stroking Spike started to frown. "Xanny, is that a scar on the back of your head?"
"Yeah... Little misunderstanding..." The vampire felt the human tense up a little bit.
Spike rested two fingers on the scar. He frowned some more, because he was sure he had a scar on the back of his head too.

His thoughts suddenly clicked together, his brain did the math and his eyes grew comically wide.

"Pet, they chipped you???"

++++

Part9

+++ Today’s Lesson +++

Alexander LaVelle Harris knew a lot of things.

He knew he preferred to be called Xander. He knew he liked chocolate bars best. He knew he was good at working with his hands. He knew he had lost an eye, which complicated his life slightly. He knew he sometimes liked to sleep in. He knew he had friends he could trust. He knew his life had entered the ‘Twilight Zone’ when he met Buffy years back.

And he knew not to disturb an angry Master-Vampire whilst he was trashing whatever furniture came to hand.

Spike was so angry – he had no idea how angry he was, because he had never before been SO angry.
The two chairs that had been inside the room were now nothing more than splinters beneath Spike’s boots, while he angrily stormed around and started to focus on a chest of drawers.

Xander was still curled up in bed, his eye open and looking at Spike, watching him on his destruction-trip.
When the vampire stopped and started to take a deep breath Xander spoke up. “You done yet?”

Spike slammed his fist down onto the chest of drawers – hard – and smashed the top as well as the first two drawers.

“I take that as a ‘no’!” Xander grinned and tried to sit up. Spike was next to him in under a second.

“Pet! Did I say something about you getting up? I don’t think so! Lay back down, luv!” The vampire pushed the human back into the pillows – gently.
“Spike, I’m fine!” Xander smiled but decided against calling the vampire a ‘mother-hen’. “Really, once the pain is gone and I’m awake again, I’m fine!”

Spike sat down next to Xander on the bed. “How in buggery does that bloody thing work with you anyway?”
Xander’s smile turned sad and he twined his fingers with Spike’s. The vampire squeezed gently.

“Not that I’m trying to make excuses for these stupid soldiers, but it was a mix-up…” Xander began, looking at their intertwined hands, not Spike’s face.
“Me and Andrew were living at 6 Surrey Road. And I knew of a nest of vamps in 6 Burrey Road. The soldiers must have known too, but mixed up the streets and tried to take our place down instead. Stephan was over for dinner and Oz had dropped by rather unexpectedly. Then the soldiers came…”

Spike was staring down at Xander. The blonde was wondering if the memories of the Initiative now outranked the memories of Caleb in the ‘Worst Nightmare Ever’ department.

“I told Andrew and Stephan to run while Oz and I fought our way out. Oz got away but they beat me up and knocked me out and took me to their … place. When I woke up again, someone had already decided that I was a vamp and had ordered to have me chipped.
So I woke to a lot of pain in my head and Oz tearing down the little camp. Ten of them and just the two of us… We got away anyway!”

Xander turned his head away, the hand in Spike’s now shaking.

“We just tried to get away – to heal and forget about them, but wherever we went, the Initiative was already there… So we decided to fight. We joined those demons that were ‘good’ or rather ‘not a threat to humans’ and somehow the guys you met earlier and I got stuck with each other and survived long enough to be here today…”

After a moment Xander shook his head and continued.

“The chip wasn’t made for humans. So it had no clue how to react to my brain-waves. It simply didn’t do anything. No pain. Not when I slayed demons, nor when I killed humans.”

“Yeah, pet! That’s something we need to talk about too!” Spike grinned but Xander didn’t look at him.

“We even kidnapped a doc once – like you and Harmony! But he told us that I had almost no chance of surviving the removal. I’m a human and that chip wasn’t meant for me and I had been more than lucky to survive when they cut me open the first time.”

“So you didn’t have it removed… Wise decision, pet! But if it wasn’t frying your brain before, why did it start now?”

“Oh, it started about two months after I got it. The soldiers – namely Fox and McKenzie – have a remote control. The chip only ‘fries’ me, when they push the button.”

Spike felt like trashing the room some more – or killing Fox all over again! More slowly this time…

“So that’s why you killed him?” Xander looked up at Spike and blinked back some tears.
“Yeah, that and he was threatening you. I don’t like it when soldiers threaten my friends…” Pack! said the hyena.

Spike grinned. “So, we’re friends then, pet?”
Xander couldn’t help the – manly – giggle that escaped him. “Spike, how often did we save the world together? How often did we spend time together in front of the TV and how often did you have to drag my drunken ass home after a good game of pool? ‘Course we’re friends!”

Just when Spike was about to reply an enormous crash vibrated through the hotel.

Xander raised both eyebrows. “Do we want to know?”
“Yupp…” Spike got off the bed. “You stay here, pet, I’ll have a look what my overly gel-ed sire did now…”

When Spike had closed the door behind him, Xander muttered “Mother-hen!” and got out of bed too.

Spike took the steps two at a time. “Oi, peaches! What did ya do now?”

Another crash and a rather large – and rather hot – flame shot past Spike, missing him by inches.

“OI!” “Spike! Duck!”
Angel’s advice came a little bit too late. Spike dove for cover as quickly as he could and took in the chaos in the lobby from a – relatively – safe spot.

Obviously it wasn’t a good idea to store a dragon’s head inside – or at all – because the formally beheaded dragon now had a nice body again and had taken up residence in the middle of the lobby, breathing fire in random directions.

It seemed to be Willow’s doing that the hotel wasn’t ablaze yet. It was raining heavily inside the building.

“Oi, peaches! What did ya do?” Spike watched from his ‘safe spot’ how the dragon set the front counter on fire – only for the rain to put out the flames the next second.

“ME?!” yelled Angel from somewhere behind the counter.
“It wasn’t me!!” came Willow’s voice from the other side of the lobby.
“Me neither!” cried Dawn. She was somewhere close to Willow.

“Who else is hiding here?” Spike tried to see anything, but the dragon was a tad too big for looking around or over.

“Giles is upstairs with Ethan, Drusilla and Doc!” yelled Angel. “Lorne is up there too! And the two vamps! Wes is downstairs with Riley and Sam! They are stuck there! The door kind of melted…”

A burst of flame missed Spike by inches again and he ducked further behind the stairs.
“The rest of Xander’s gang is out ‘sight-seeing’ with Gunn; and Buffy is with me!

Upstairs – hiding out of sight – Xander sighed deeply. “And the lesson today? Never keep a dead dragon around, it might regenerate…”
He pulled his cell from his jacket and pushed a speed-dial button.

“Hey, Xanny!” Shasha’s voice greeted him. “You good again?” “Yupp, but maybe not for long. How far from the hotel are you?” “Screaming distance!” answered the angel. “What’s going on?”
Xander held the cell towards the lobby whilst the dragon roared and breathed fire again.
With another deep sigh Xander pocketed the cell and went to get his sword.

“Peaches, are you armed?” Spike eyed the open weapons cabinet and weighed his chances of getting there without being turned into a human torch – and ash after that.

“Yes, Buffy and I have swords and Willow has magick!”
Spike took another calculating glance at the weapons cabinet, when Xander appeared next to him, carrying two swords.

“Here you go, honey! Good luck kiss?”
Grinning, Spike grabbed Xander and kissed him harshly before standing up. “You stay out of this!”
“And let you have all the fun? Forget it!” Xander stood up too. “I’ll cover your back. Or something like that…” While the soldier was trying to come up with a plan the hyena had already decided on direct approach.

With twin battle cries Spike and Xander stormed forward. Angel and Buffy did the same, confusing the dragon slightly by attacking from different sides, while Willow worked her magick to create shields and intensify the rain.

Only moments later Xander’s gang crashed through the front doors and came straight for the dragon; claws, swords and bows ready.

But fighting a rather big dragon in a rather small hotel lobby didn’t work too well, no matter how many fighters one had.
They couldn’t move around as well as they wanted to, but luckily neither could the dragon.
Dragon scales on the other hand were a rather hard and resistant material. It also didn’t help that Hatsujo – who was a fierce fighter – was still afraid of flames and was a bit handicapped in this battle.

From upstairs Vincent and Nikolai had joined the battle, but Nikolai was not as strong as a vampire should be and was sent off to protect Dawn and Willow rather quickly.

Ethan and Giles tried to come up with some spells between them too. But it was not really helping that Ethan was sick and his magick was leaking all over the place.

Dodging teeth and claws and flames and a rather strong tail the group battled as well as they could. They had no chance of reaching the dragon’s softer belly and there was no way of getting the thing out of the hotel.
First because it would take down the walls whilst leaving and second because they couldn’t release it onto a town full of people.

“Couldn’t this have happened while the Soldiers were still around?” Cutie hissed between clenched teeth, aiming his arrows at the dragon’s eyes again.
“Why? They wouldn’t have helped us…” Gunn swung his sword at a front paw.
“No, but we could have offered them as snacks!” Cutie jumped out of the paw’s way.

After only minutes of battle the interior of the lobby was trashed completely.

“I’m so going to sue either Wolfram & Hart or Hell for this!” hissed Angel, hitting a hind-leg with his weapon.

Finally Angel and Xander were able to get onto the dragon’s back and stay up there without being thrown down or being snapped at and eaten.
They made it to the neck and managed to behead the dragon – again!

Silence filled the lobby as the second body and head hit the floor separately.

Then someone started to clap. “Do it again! Do it again!”

+++ Murphy’s Law +++

Angel climbed down the dragon’s back. “This is so going straight to W+H!”

Spike came over to help Xander down. “And they’re simply gonna release it again…” He eyed his sire. “Head for the books, peaches! There has to be something about how to kill a dragon properly…”

Angel sighed and approached the basement door. “Wes?”
Nothing.

“WES!?”
Nothing.

“WESLEY!!!!”

“YES!”
Flustered from running Wesley, Riley and Sam stormed into the lobby.
“We took the sewers…” an out-of-breath Wesley explained.

Xander grabbed Oz by the shirt the wolf was just pulling over his head. “Headcount!!”
Oz nodded and turned to count people.

“Wesley, Giles, we have to find a way to keep the dragon dead!” Angel turned his head from one watcher to the next.
“Daddy slayed the mean dragon!” Drusilla laughed, while she walked down the stairs gracefully.
Then she turned to Xander. “The stars ain’t happy…”

Xander blinked and pulled the girl closer. “Why ain’t the stars happy, princess?”
“They sing songs of blood and death and chaos… That makes them so sad…” The vampiress leaned her head against Xander’s shoulders.
“They say that bad things will happen…”

For a moment everyone was silent, before Connor spoke up.
“You know what this is? This is Murphy’s Law! If something can go wrong, it will go wrong! And if you think it’s bad, it will come worse!”

Angel suddenly remembered something he had been told a few days – or was it just hours? – ago, right here in this lobby… Concerning that dragon…

“Wes! Hit the books! Contact every source you can think of! Call Heaven, Hell and any Dimension in between if you must, but figure out if we have somehow misscalculated the date of the apocalypse!”

There was a long silence and nobody moved.

Finally Hatsujo turned to Xander.
“Xanny, honey, is it too late to go back to Canada?”

++

Research-mode was in full gear.

Nearly everyone who wasn’t on the phone trying to contact other people – or dimensions – had their noses deep inside the books.
Only Drusilla was left out, because she was simply too loony to be of any real help.

Nobody had managed to reach Cleveland, but Giles had contacted the new Council and requested everyone to do research too.
Xander had reached some demons in New York who had promised help and books.
Angel was still trying to get someone inside of W+H to move, but with Lilah and Lindsey ‘out of the picture’ nobody was willing to follow his orders – boss or not.

Wesley had dug up his old calculations and showed them to Giles and Ethan, who were now having an argument about leap years, daylight saving time, solar and lunar eclipses as well as planet movements in general.

Riley was on the phone with the Pentagon right now, but it seemed like he wasn’t getting anywhere. Andrew and Connor had a bet running on when Mulder and Scully would show up.

Shasha had gone so far and tried to contact the Heavens above. But as usual he had gotten no answer. He was banned from up there, thanks to the Initiative…

Spike was more chewing on his cigarette than smoking it. He had a book in his lap and sat next to Xander on the ground.

The furniture was still trashed and the dragon was blocking most of the lobby.

Xander sighed. “To kill the dragon slay it... Slay the dragon to kill it... If you want to kill a dragon, slay it… This book isn’t very helpful…”
“Keep readin’, pet, keep readin’…”

With a little smile Xander leant against Spike. “A bit like the old Sunnyhell times, hm?”
Spike smiled too and snuck an arm around Xander’s waist. “A bit…”

After a while of silence Xander frowned. “Spike, listen, this sounds promising: if you think that beheading isn’t enough to ensure your dragon’s dead, cut out his heart…”

Both turned their heads towards the dragon.
Then they looked at each other.

Spike grinned.
“Oi, peaches!!”

++

With great effort, many ropes and lots of strength they had managed to turn the dragon’s body around, his belly now facing the ceiling.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this…” muttered Angel, while he climbed up.

“It’s for a greater good, peaches!” Spike yelled, grinning like mad.

“How does dragon taste?” Nikolai stood next to his sire and looked up at Angel. “No clue, sweety…”

“Everybody step back!” instructed Shasha. “That thing’s gonna bleed all over the lobby, so if you don’t want to improve your looks with some dragon guts…”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this…” Angel repeated and pushed his sword into the soft flesh. Blood welled up and started to flow.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this!”

“Believe it, deadboy and start cutting!” Angel shot Xander a dark look and was instantly threatened by some growls. Xander laughed.

Angel shook his head and started to slice the dragon open from chest to belly.

“Are we sure his heart is inside his chest?” Lorne questioned.
“Lorne, just because your heart is in your ass, that doesn’t mean it has to be the same with other beings…” Gunn patted his shoulder.
Xander shot the green demon a quick glance.

“Found it!” Angel announced, after he had cut a line across the chest.
Xander looked up and saw blood, flesh, some bones…

“Yuck!” Cutie turned around. “That reminds me why I’m a vegetarian!” “Yupp, me too!” Oz smiled, but didn’t turn his back to the dragon.

“This had better be worth it…” Angel muttered and reached inside the dragon.

Only moments later the dragon’s heart – a black heap of flesh – landed on the lobby floor in a large puddle of blood.

“The book says to burn the heart…” Giles pointed out, when nobody moved.
“Not inside my hotel!” Angel complained, while he climbed down again.

Five minutes later they had a fire going in the yard.

“Smelly…” Ink pointed out.
“Uh-huh…” agreed Xander, who had a wet cloth pressed to his nose and mouth.

“The way the lobby looks right now I would have suggested burning the whole building…” Connor stalked off to prepare some food for his father, who was taking a shower right now.

+++ Loopholes +++

Nobody had any idea what to do now.

Of course they returned to the books and researched the apocalypse, but other than that?

The lobby was a mess.
Broken furniture everywhere. The ground was flooded with a mix of water and blood, the dragon – still open – was blocking most of the space and the smell from the yard was awful.
Luckily no neighbour had called the cops or the fire-brigade yet.

Everyone was either on the stairs or the first floor gallery. They had their noses in the books again or their ears pressed to phones. Or both!

The mood was low and nobody spoke.

For long.

“Uhm… Did I come at a bad time?”

Everybody turned to look at the front doors. Just two steps into the lobby stood a young woman in a neat business suit, eyeing the chaos confused.

“Lisa!” Gunn stood up. Angel looked up too. Lisa was one of the secretaries from W+H.

“Let me guess,” said the girl, “I don’t want to know?” Gunn simply nodded.
“Something wrong?” Angel put the book down.

“Probably!” After a second of hesitation Lisa decided against stepping further down the stairs. “I overheard something that may be bad and somehow concerns you…”

“Somehow I don’t think it can be worse than the dragon…” Angel smiled at the secretary.
“Uhm… Well, it’s about a group called ‘Initiative’ and an oath they want us to check for loopholes…”

Silence.

Xander glared at Connor. “Murphy’s Law, huh? I say: we slay this Murphy!”

“That’s impossible!” Giles took his glasses off. “There are no loopholes in my oath!”
Ethan looked sceptical and started to scratch his chin.

Hatsujo shot Xander a questioning look. “Canada?”

“Lisa can you keep us up to date on that? Tell us everything they do?” Angel had crossed the lobby.
“Sure,” Lisa nodded. “And Mike is on the apocalypse-case.”
Angel sighed relieved. “That’s great! Please keep in contact over my cell. I have no clue where the normal phone went.”

“I think the receiver is over there!” Lisa pointed towards the elevator and left – in a hurry.

“There can’t be ‘loopholes’ in my oath!” Giles said again, turning to Ethan.
“I’m no lawyer… And I only know about loopholes if I need one…” the magician said, “but right now I can’t see one…”
“Maybe…” begun Wesley, “maybe we weren’t specific enough about the limits of them hiring and hurting…?”
Giles frowned. “No, no I think we were very specific…” “What if they found a second book and made an oath to someone else?” Wes voiced his thoughts again.
Now Ethan frowned. “Usually it’s not possible to rule out one oath with another… But in general a second – or our – Book Of Oaths might be a loophole…”

“Oh, great!” groaned Xander.

“Well, look on the bright side!” Connor suggested. “What ‘bright side’?” Shasha sneered.
“We hit the bottom. Can’t get worse now, can it?” Connor smiled.

“Nope, it can…” hissed Xander and his hands flew up to his head.
“Pain wave!” cried Cutie, and Spike made a grab for Xander.

++++