Prompt 96 - Lessons - BtVS

[thismaz]

It's been a strange week and I am still knackered, so I hope this makes sense. But on the bright side it is a long week end, so I am going to dedicate it to some serious reading. There is so much that I really want to catch up on, I can't believe how productive you've all been over the last week... fortnight... three weeks, even. I know I should go back over the last few chapters and rework them a little, to make Angel's motivations a little clearer, but I don't think that will be this week end. Meanwhile, I want to thank you all for the wonderful comments that have helped me shape this story and these characters. When I eventually get it finished, it will be immeasurably better for your input.

 Title: Lessons
 Fandom: BtVS
 Prompt: 96 - Keckle. I haven't used the actual word, because it doesn't fit into any of my characters' vocabularies in a way that wouldn't be forced, but it is there and I know that's alright, because I've done it before (I used the prompt word 15 times, without actually using it, in my first ever Taming story). It also caused Dru to say something she otherwise might not have said, but which really worked out well for me.
 At: tamingthemuse
 Rating: Older Teen/Adult
 Summary: Part 35. Set during the summer before season 1, Xander's existence is changed radically when vampires invade it. In the meantime Angel and Spike have their own, separate agendas.
 Word Count: 2,900
 Comments: Are greatly appreciated, loved and cherished.
 Previous parts: In reverse order, in tags here In my memories.
 Or, starting here with links to the next, at the end of each chapter.
 Disclaimer: here.
Now beta'd by the wonderful laazikaat

Warning (highlight the white area to see the warning text):

Vamp Xander story

 Extra Warning: Torture - mental and physical.
 Some dialogue sort of borrowed courtesy of http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/



dark_amia made a wall paper and she turned it into a banner for me. Lookee here -

Isn't it pretty?


35. Lessons

Tuesday night

Leading the way out through the small back garden into the woods in the grounds of the big, empty mansion beyond, Spike slapped the coil of thin rope he carried against his knee and listened to the two pairs of footsteps behind him. There was no other sound from either of them. They had both picked up on his displeasure and sensibly were not pushing their luck. Reaching a small clearing with a single large tree in the centre, he stopped and turned around.

Xander and Jesse immediately halted too, a few feet from him, and waited to see what he wanted. Spike spent some time surveying them, allowing the tension to build. His initial anger had been diffused by his more urgent concern in the face of Dru's collapse and now he felt only cold determination that a lesson needed to be taught and taught thoroughly. If Angelus was telling the truth, and knowing Angelus he was, because making up such a story would be too easily discovered, Xander was in danger of going seriously off the rails. It was Spike's job to nip that danger in the bud.

Gesturing Xander over to him, he took him by the shoulders, positioning him under one of the main branches. Holding both Xander's hands in one of his own, he dropped one of the lengths of rope and looped the other around Xander's wrists. Xander was looking really worried now, but he allowed Spike to do what he was doing without protest, and without saying anything, which just went to show that he had a good idea of Spike's mood. Tossing the free end of the rope over the branch, Spike hauled it taut so Xander's arms were stretched above his head, and tied it off around another, lower branch. Once Xander was secure, he turned to Jesse, just in time to see a small smirk of satisfaction on the minion's face at Xander's predicament. The creature obviously thought he was there to witness Spike's punishment of Xander for some offence.

That misapprehension lasted as long as it took Spike to string him up exactly the same way. Jesse opened his mouth once or twice, as if he would voice some protest, but in the end, he also, wisely, kept schtum. "Stand there!" Spike said harshly, if unnecessarily. "Don't move!"

Stepping back, he surveyed his handiwork. They were both secure and, while they were able to stand on the flats of their feet, there was little give, so they couldn't get free without assistance. They were also both watching him with identical expressions of trepidation. Fixing his gaze on Xander, Spike asked his first question, "Who am I?"

Xander's eyes widened with surprise. "Er, you're Spike?" he suggested. Seeing that Spike wanted more, he tried again. "You're my sire?"

Spike nodded and turned to Jesse. "Who am I?" he asked.

Jesse flicked a quick glance at Xander, before turning back to Spike, bowing his head respectfully. "You're Master Spike."

Again Spike nodded his approval. Stepping up close to Xander, he reached out and gripped his childe's chin. "Who's he?" he asked, turning Xander's head towards his co-defendant.

"Umm... He's Jesse."

"Yeah, and what else is he?"

Xander looked a little alarmed, as it obviously occurred to him that he didn't know what answer Spike wanted. Spike gave Xander's chin a small shake to encourage him and Xander drew a sharp breath before uttering an unconsidered, but for Spike's purposes, perfect answer, "He's my best friend."

Keeping his voice calm and encouraging, Spike asked, "Your what?"

"My, my best friend," Xander said again. Looking up into Spike's eyes, he expanded on his explanation. "I've, I've known him since forever."

"Have you now? And what have I said about the human Xander and you?"

Finally Xander seemed to realise where this was going, because there was marginally less hesitation in his reply. "That I'm not him?"

Spike smiled and nodded approvingly. "Yes. You're not him. You have his memories. You feel him, you've taken all he was and wrapped yourself around it. But you're not him." Releasing Xander's chin, he stepped back. "That gives you an advantage when hunting," he explained. "You can think like the prey, but you aren't the prey. You're a vampire, a demon." He turned to the Jesse. "What are you?"

There was no hesitation in Jesse's reply. "I'm a vampire."

"And what's your name?"

"Jesse."

"Why?"

That gave Jesse pause, but only for a moment. "Because that's the name of the human whose memories I took when I was born."

Again Spike nodded and Jesse assayed a small smile of satisfaction. "And who's he?" Spike asked, indicating Xander.

"He's Xander, your childe."

Tilting his head thoughtfully, Spike stepped up close, but spoke clearly enough that Xander would be able to hear too. "And what do you feel for him?" Jesse face screwed up in confusion so Spike expanded on the question. "Do you care for him? Love him?"

It didn't seem to help. "I... I don't understand," Jesse stuttered.

"Would you sacrifice your existence for him?"

Here, Jesse seemed to feel he was on surer ground. "If he asked me to. He made me. I know what he wants and I serve his purpose."

Now they were getting to the meat of it. "But he doesn't understand that, does he?" Spike asked gently. Jesse shook his head. "Did he call you his childe?" Spike asked.

Jesse pulled himself up straighter. "Yes."

"And what did you feel when he did that?"

"Proud." Was that a hint of defiance? Spike wondered.

Flicking a glance at Xander, Spike saw relief warring with concern in his face. He turned back to Jesse. "You have ambition?"

"Of course! I'm strong and the strong shall inherit the earth."

"Amen," Spike murmured with a smirk. "You want to be someone important?" he continued. "You want to prove yourself?

"Yes! Just ask. Anything you want, I'll do it!"

Mentally Spike sighed, Minions, so bloody predictable. "Tell me what you feel," he suggested, keeping his voice calm and friendly. "Cast your mind out and describe what you are."

"I'm... I'm a vampire." Jesse seemed at a loss for words, but he did his best. "I feel good! I feel strong! I'm connected, to everything!" He began to warm to his theme under Spike's encouraging gaze. "I... I can hear the worms in the earth and smell the blood in the humans down in the town. I can feel hell stirring!"

"And what about the human Jesse? What do you feel about him?"

"He's like a shadow of me. Occupying my mind, giving me an advantage, an edge." Jesse turned to Xander. "It's like one of Willow's computers, man. Full of information on how to act, how to talk, how to play the part, to hunt. You feel that too, don't you?" Turning back to Spike, an expression of cunning flickered across his face and he asked, "Is there something wrong with Xander? Can't he feel it?" He looked back at Xander. "You're my sire. You made me. How can you have made me so perfect, if you are not whole?"

Sharing a smile with Jesse, Spike turned away and took the two paces necessary to bring him to Xander. Allowing the smile to fade, he instructed, "Come childe, answer the question."

Xander snarled. "I am whole. I remember it all. There's nothing wrong with me!"

"But you think like a human," Jesse taunted. "You cling to the memory of friendship. I remember how it was. How it really was. There's no such thing as love. It's a myth that humans invented, so they wouldn't be alone. We don't need it. I don't need it!"

The reality of their situation seemed to crash in on Xander all at once. He tugged at his bound hands, trying to break free. "No, Jesse, man, that's not true. Remember how we promised to always look out for each other? We used your penknife to cut our hands and shook on it, to mix our blood." There was a note of hysteria entering his voice as he desperately tried to remind Jesse of the connection he still felt. "We said we were blood brothers, because we couldn't be real brothers. Don't you remember, in the tree house, you said you wished I was your real brother, because Harry and Chris were stupid and didn't know how to play? Don't you remember the other night in bed?" With each assertion of memory his voice had been rising and the final plea sounded like it was being torn forcibly from him. "You love me!"

Jesse looked at him, impassively, then he turned to Spike and smiled.

"No!" Xander yelled.

Spike drew his knife from its sheath on the back of his belt. Walking over to the ropes, where they were tied off, he sawed through the one closest to the trunk of the tree. Xander immediately collapsed to his knees on the ground and shook the bindings off his wrists. Grabbing a broken length of branch, about a foot long, from the ground he sprang back up and launched himself at Jesse, makeshift stake raised.

Spike was ready for him to make that move and jumped between them, grabbed Xander's wrist and prevented the killing blow. "No!" he growled. "You don't kill him. He'll live and he'll be a constant reminder to you that the boy Xander is dead!"

Xander fought against Spike's hold on him. "I... I want," he gasped.

Spike forced Xander's arm down, gripping his wrist harder, until the stake dropped. Reaching with his free hand to the waistband of his jeans, he pulled free the riding crop he'd stowed there before leaving the house and placed that in Xander's hand instead, giving the boy a sharp shove to the side at the same time, so he staggered slightly. While Xander was recovering his footing, Spike took hold of Jesse's shirt and tore it up the back, then he stepped away, allowing Xander free access.

It was, he thought, a pleasure to watch such passion, such release of pain and hurt. By the time Xander had finished, the crop was bloody and Xander's hand and sleeve were likewise stained. Jesse's back, arms, and neck were cut to ribbons. In a few places the bone of his ribs and spine showed through the mass of torn muscle. His jeans had slipped down on his narrow hips, but even so, they were sliced through in places around the waistband. But the rope had held, leaving him hanging limply from the branch, the cord cutting deeper for his weight, and blood ran down from the wounds they left.

When Xander's arm eventually dropped and didn't rise again, Spike went to him and removed the crop from his hand, letting it fall. "So I put away childish things," he murmured, clasping his arms around Xander, offering the comfort he knew his childe needed. Xander buried his face in Spike's shoulder hiding his tears as he sobbed.

They stood like that for at least five minutes, before Xander sniffed and pulled back to wipe his hand across his eyes, smearing tears and blood across his cheek. Spike walked over to the tree truck and sawed through the remaining rope, allowing Jesse's body to collapse in an unremarked heap. Returning to Xander, he asked softly, "Who are you?"

Xander gave his face a last angry scrub but his expression was firm when he looked up. "I'm Xander the vampire, your childe."

Cupping Xander's face in both his hands, Spike smiled. "That you are, my fledgling dragon. That you are." He pulled Xander towards him and brought their mouths together, holding Xander firmly still, forcing Xander's lips apart with his kiss, showing him by the most expedient means that he was proud of his childe and that, no matter what Jesse had said and believed, love was as true for vampires as it ever was for the human Xander remembered.

When they returned to the house, Spike again sent Xander off to get cleaned up, while he entered the living room alone. Dru wasn't there, but Angelus was sitting in his usual spot, reading 'La Nausea', the poser - just making the point he could read French. He looked up. "Lesson taught?" he asked.

Spike shrugged. "Yeah, if he manages to crawl in before sunrise, he'll be okay."

"And you really think that'll do the job?"

The hint of doubt narked Spike. "Listen, mate! You're still a bloody guest in my home. So keep your busy nose out of my business!" He glared at his grandsire as he collapsed into the opposite end of the sofa. "And that includes encouraging Dru to go all dewy eyed over you too!"

From the door way, Dru's voice interrupted his little tirade. "You two boys... fightin' over me and all." She wandered into the room and stopped where she could watch them both. For once Spike didn't feel the need to jump up and help her to sit. She was healthy enough to walk, she could seat herself too. Not that she looked like she was going to do that. She had a devilish expression on her face, gleeful and teasing at once. "Makes a girl feel..." She continued, running a hand down her front and stopping on the soft curve of her belly. If her skirt had not been in the way, she might have been touching her sex. Lazily, she allowed her gaze to drift towards Angel and Spike felt his anger stir again.

Angelus apparently sensed something too, because he tried to interrupt her. "Dru, please?"

She scowled at him. "Shhh! Grrrruff! Bad dog," she snapped. Drifting over to Spike, she placed her hand on his cheek, forcing him to look up at her. "You try to keep me wrapped up, to protect me, but all you do is bind me tight. I won't wear away from contact with the world, not once I'm well, my sweet. Once I'm myself again."

Silently, Xander slipped into the room and came over to sit on the arm of the sofa by Spike's side, his arm on the back rest behind Spike's head. Spike placed a hand on the boy's thigh, acknowledging his arrival, but kept his attention fixed on his sire. "Yes, pet. Once you're well, you can do anything. We'll have a coronation down Main Street, and invite everyone, and drink for seven days and seven nights. But until then, will you at least sit down and stop wearing yourself out over this sorry excuse for a vampire? He's got a soul and he's not going to hang around, once he's done what he's promised."

Immediately Xander stood up and offered Dru his hand, guiding her over to her chair.

Spike watched until Dru was sitting down, then turned back to his grandsire. Angelus was looking at him, an expression of puzzled concern on his face. "I don't know what it is that's upsetting you," he said. "I told you, I'm not sleeping with Dru, not since the first day I was here."

"What has that got to do with anything?" Spike snarled. "That's not the point and you know it! What's wrong with you?"

Xander stood up and turned to face the sofa. "He's thinking like a human," he said. "He thinks sex is intimacy. He thinks as long as he doesn't 'sleep with her'," he held has hands up, palms facing forwards at shoulder height and crooked his index and middle fingers as he said it, "he's not doing anything you could object to."

Spike was incredulous. "Is that true?" he asked, looking back to Angelus. "Is Xander right? The reason you're being so... so inconsistent, saying you respect me but acting like a twat, is because you really have lost your mind?" He'd suspected something like this, but somehow, hearing it said in words made it both clearer and stupider, at the same time. Beside him Xander chuckled as he sat back down as he'd been before.

Dru's brittle laugh dragged Spike's attention back to her. "Chilling, isn't it?" she said. "He's so full of good intentions." She picked up her tarot cards from the arm of her chair and glanced around the room. Xander once again jumped up and dragged the coffee table over to her. She smiled up at him. "But it's delicious too," she added. "Rrrr. He's like a fox in a trap, chewing off his own foot. But that won't make him free."

Spike opened his mouth, but finding that he had nothing to say, closed it again. Shame Angelus didn't have the same control. "I was given a mission," he explained, in a voice that suggested he had little hope of convincing anyone present of his argument. "A cause." He hesitated for a moment, seeming to pick his words with care. "I was... I'd lost hope. Whistler... he gave me that back." Placing his book carefully, face down beside him, he leant forwards, resting his elbows on his knees. "I saw the slayer, I saw what she did and how young and scared she was... and I wanted to protect her and help her and do right."

Squinting thoughtfully at Angelus, Spike reconsidered the last few weeks. "Don't you think you burnt that boat, when the watcher rescued your little pet?" he asked.

Angelus looked up sharply, an arrested expression on his face. Spike returned it with his best innocent look, until he couldn't hold the grin in any longer and turned away. He caught Dru's eye and she winked at him.




Final note: Spike's line at the end of the lesson, comes from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 13, verse 11 - When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Continued here.

Comments

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Thank you.
I was put a little in mind of Luke when Spike said it, but only a little.
Yeah, it's the kind of thing Luke might quote, but he'd be all portentous and booming voice as he did it. I think Spike actually felt some regret.
This I wonder because Xander does still cling to so much of the human Xander.
I'm not able to say anything here, for fear of spoiling, but you're right, Xander does cling to his humanity and Spike doesn't want him not to, hence the second lesson in the kiss. But he did need to learn that not all vampires are like Spike and him and Dru.

[smwright.livejournal.com]

But he did need to learn that not all vampires are like Spike and him and Dru. This is terribly intriguing.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

And hopefully now answered.

[smwright.livejournal.com]

Yep. :)