Gray
Gray
After having her world destroyed by the Winchesters, Eve wanted to rebuild her family. She claimed a soul with his own dark power and his own moral gray. He would be her champion. Hopefully. Xander just wanted to go home, preferably before the hunters Sam and Dean Winchester caught up with him.
Chapter ONE :: Chapter TWO :: Chapter THREE :: Chapters 4+5 :: Chapter SIX :: Chapter SEVEN :: Chapter EIGHT :: Chapter NINE :: Chapter TEN :: Chapter ELEVEN : Chapter TWELVE :: Chapter THIRTEEN :: Chapter FOURTEEN :: Chapter FIFTEEN :: Chapter SIXTEEN :: Chapter Seventeen :: Chapter Eighteen
Nineteen
Spike is not happy
“Oh boy, considering I got kidnapped out of my dimension while sleeping in my own bed, staying out of trouble is harder than it looks.” Xander tried giving Spike a smile, but it definitely wasn’t working.
Dorsey moved to the right, and Willow to the left. Oh this was not good. Xander moved so that he was standing next to Spike and facing off against Willow. “Hey, guess who I ran into, Spike,” Xander said as brightly as he could to make up for all the dark emotions he could feel roiling under the surface. Yep, Spike and military-not a good mix.
“You must be Spike. I’m Major Dorsey, US Air Force.”
“Bully for you, mate. Now shove off.”
Dorsey and Willow traded looks.
“Oh bloody hell. Look Red, I know you don’t know me from Adam, but I’m not here to cause you and yours any trouble. However, I’m not a fan of the boys in green, so get your pet soldier out of here before we have an accident.” Spike talked to Willow as he poked his thumb in Dorsey’s direction.
“You want me to send him away?” Willow looked absolutely alarmed, so Xander was guessing she’d never had to step up and take charge in this world.
Spike hooked a thumb in his belt and looked her up and down for a second. Slowly, he grinned. “Nice cover, luv. I do appreciate the wide-eyed look, but you have steel under all the camouflage, and you always have. Now, the boy gave you the hint about Rupert being in the know. Take that and sod off.”
“Uf. You aren’t that nice,” Willow complained.
“Rosenberg, let’s move out,” Major Dorsey suggested. He had his hand on the butt of his gun now, but Xander was more worried about the big ball of sun in the sky. If these guys knew Spike was a vampire… actually if they knew he was a vampire, they would assume the sun would only be uncomfortable and that a stake to the heart wouldn’t work. However, they’d probably try to behead him.
“Xander, are you safe with him?” Willow asked without showing any interest in leaving.
“Totally,” Xander nodded. “Well, mostly. He’s going to completely kick my ass and make me miserable about the whole getting arrested thing.”
“And then some, pet. Hell, Rupert is in town, so I have the feeling that you’ve set off all sorts of alarms by getting your name put in the system.”
“Giles is here?” Xander wasn’t sure how he felt about it.
Spike nodded. “Trolling downtown looking for the lair.”
“Which is fairly rude. I mean, we could have a nice four-star hotel for all he knows.”
Spike rolled his eyes. “Stop giving them information, ya nit,” Spike said with a jerk of his head toward Dorsey. Xander looked over at the soldier in confusion.
“You have given us a lot of intel,” Dorsey agreed. “We need to investigate the possibility of non-hostile… monsters, although the commanding officers may be less than enthusiastic about that thought. There’s someone named Buffy and a soldier named Riley who were both significant fighters for your side in your own universe. There are alternative magical sources other than demonic, and Rosenberg has an aptitude for them, although given your response when talking about power corrupting, something there worries you, so she must have had a rough patch.”
“If I started using magic at fifteen, I’d be more shocked at not having a rough patch,” Willow said. “I had my teen angst issues.”
Xander shook his head. “Your girlfriend was killed right in front of you. This guy… he wanted Buffy dead, and Tara was just there, and her blood… it splattered.” Xander stopped and frowned. That was a day he didn’t want to relive, but he couldn’t let Willow think that something like teenage angst could have driven her to evil. “But you turned away from hate and came back to us.”
Willow took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, but I am not lesbian. I truly am Jewish, which I might have mentioned once or twice, so no girlfriend and no collateral damage. I’m truly sorry for your Willow.”
Spike answered when Xander couldn’t get the words out. “She’s strong. She’s survived everything the world threw at her and then some. But you aren’t her. I can’t say I want anything to do with you.”
He turned to Dorsey. “And you can take that information and do what you like, but you leave the boy alone. Clear?” Spike let yellow bleed into his eyes, and Dorsey held up one hand in a placating gesture.
“You have a right to protect your geek, and I’ll just worry about protecting mine. I do plan on following up on those leads unless you have a good reason I shouldn’t.”
“Piss in a windstorm for all I care,” Spike offered.
Dorsey nodded again. “Then let me just give you some numbers. If you want them, fine. If you throw them away, fine. But I do understand from certain mission reports others have turned in that travelling dimension poses special problems, and I will do my best to help as long as helping does not compromise our position or put Rosenberg on the spot.” Moving slowly, Dorsey pulled a card out of his inside jacket pocket. “The numbers are private.”
Spike looked at the outstretched card like it was infected with the plague or something, and Xander darted forward and grabbed it. “Thanks,” he said softly. “He really isn’t that bad when he isn’t scared shitless about whether we’re going to get buried under some military complex, stuck in an all-white cell with scientists that poke and-” Xander had a lot more to offer, but Spike reached out, caught him by the back of the shirt, and yanked him back.
“You’re a menace, Harris. I should hand you over so you go mucking up their plans instead of mine.”
“But then you wouldn’t have… yeah, I’m done,” Xander quickly said when he saw the thunderous look on Spike’s face.
Dorsey laughed. “He sounds like Rosenberg.”
“They babble the same,” Spike agreed before he ran his tongue along the inside of his lip. This was bordering-on-violence Spike, and maybe Dorsey knew it because he started backing away.
“Come on, Rosie. You can tell me a whole bunch of stories about your Xander as we catch a ride back to Colorado.”
“But.” She stopped and made a little frustrated noise that Xander knew so well.
“Bye, Willow,” he said softly. He could see how close she was to crying, but it wasn’t for him. It was for her Xander. And her Xander lay at the bottom of a deep crevasse opened by an apocalyptic earthquake.
“Bye, Xander,” she finally said as she started backing away. Xander watched as they headed down the street. After a half-block or so, Dorsey moved closer and put a hand on her back, and she leaned closer. They were teammates, partners. She looked to him when she needed to cuddle on the couch and watch Bollywood movies.
As soon as they were gone, he turned to Spike. “I can explain.”
“Save it, Harris.”
“No really. I mean, yeah, I was totally wrong, but I found out about leviathans, and they actually aren’t very large fish.”
Spike grabbed him by the shirtfront and slammed him back into the wall hard enough that Xander’s teeth clattered together. “Save it. I don’t want to hear one thing out of you until we get back to the lair. Got it?” His eyes were totally yellow, and the ridge on his nose almost rippled as it appeared, vanished, and reappeared.
Xander nodded. Okay, clearly Spike had reached his breaking point. Xander kept his mouth closed and silently vowed to just keep his head down and take whatever punishment Spike doled out. The specters rose, and Xander watched as the fanged four walked down the street. Darla was in a long red dress with fancy trim, her hair up in an old-fashioned style that most women would never wear outside their wedding day. Angel had long hair and a dark suit with a long coat, but Spike… he looked absolutely gleeful as he leaped over a dead body and caught Drusilla around the waist and swung her around. His dark brown coat and light shirt were splattered with blood.
Xander could almost feel Spike’s glee-his power-his absolute belief that he was strong enough to do anything, and that gave him the right to do everything. Right, Xander was definitely getting the point, even if Spike wasn’t saying anything.
After growling at Xander for a second, Spike turned and stalked off. Xander followed behind, much of his earlier joy drained out. The specter of pre-soul Spike danced with Drusilla in their wake as they headed for a sewer entrance.