Eleven
Twenty Three O Five: 4
by Josie_h
Notes
For three days Richard had kept his charges drugged, he had driven across two state borders then entered another country with ‘two dead bodies’, sold his car at a rather questionable establishment in exchange for cash and a very old van, and now faced the next dilemma.
The van allowed him to purchase a large cage and deposit his charges inside as gently as possible, then drove around for a full fourteen hours to locate a place to stay, various supplies and some blood for his charges. He eventually found animal blood at a butcher’s, some groceries for himself, and paid for a week at a long stay hotel.
He hefted the two unconscious vampires and some meager possessions into their room but had to leave the cage in the van. He contemplated the implications, and reaching down into his pocket, fisted the two controls thoughtfully. He entered the room again still a little worried, then spied the unconscious and rather emaciated figures on the bed, and recalled the reasons he had acted so rashly in the first place… “There but for the love of God….”
Richard was alone… utterly alone and not sure what he was doing. He looked at the four plastic bags of beef blood and suddenly recalled a conversation with one of his fellow researchers. “Human blood seems the best for them but it’s interesting to see what happens when we drop back the supply… Seems animal keeps them animated, but their condition drops off and strength is compromised, strange that. We’ve been testing the two here, that smaller guy, seems to feed the newly made guy from his own vein quite a lot. And hey they’ve both lost a ton of weight! Hey… losers more ways than one… Pffft *big time* losers!!”
Richard thought hard about it. He taken the six untouched blood bags from their enclosure the night of the rescue, He now sorted them to find that only one was human the rest some Animal Blend’. Richard knew no way of getting more bags of human blood other than officially through a hospital or the Red Cross, so he did the only thing he could think of. He opened his own vein with one of the catheter needles from his little pack of medical supplies he had brought on their journey in case his vampires needed to be sedated. He let his life blood drain into one of two sports bottles he had in his gym bag. He transferred the other bag of human into the second bottle and simply sat waiting for the vampires to rise…. (but for two trips to the fridge for orange juice and a snack).
He was utterly stunned by the actions of Spike when he first woke, and by the care and adoration displayed by both Master and Childe before both slept again.
The next time Spike woke, he was far more aware and could still smell the blood he had eaten the night before, he couldn’t work out why until he saw their rescuer on the bed next to him reading a book his elbow lightly bandaged. He noted the butcher’s bag but knew what they had been fed.
He pushed himself up on one elbow, “Bloody hell, Pet, you really are a daft bugger!”
Richard sat up abruptly and twisted to identify the owner of the deep male voice.
His azure eyes met their rescuer’s and he smiled a little. Spike heard the change of heartbeat, smelt fear and excitement and extreme nervousness. He noticed the man’s hand shift to his pocket, and took a guess at the reason. His Xan couldn’t take much more…
“C’mon…. Needn’t fondle the controls Luv. Got you inside me now haven’t I… Gift o’ life and you gave it fer free. True white hat..”
“I…. Um… I just thought you needed…”
Spike gave Richard a look that shook him to the core, “Yeah we do pet… easier to handle if we’re all weak, starved and chipped though innit…” Spike then stared hard at the young man, “But you’re a bloke with a conscience, and a good heart… and I can feel you a little, after a vampire feeds we always can…”
“You’re kidding right?”
Spike noted the worried expression and decided to leave the subject, “It passes… so just windin’ you up….… Note the change of venue, which is nice, but still smellin’ fear, and ahh figure you still thumbin’ the controls ain’t such a good sign... Care to fill a fella in…”
Richard was utterly thrown, “I… Umm I just have these…. because you might… oh I don’t really…” He looked hard at Spike and saw a desperate individual who had been so badly treated that the obviously beautiful face was now impossibly thin and spelt pain and suffering. Suffering so horrid that he had witnessed the beautiful creature beg him to end their lives. Yet despite the maltreatment there was a patience, a nobility, a strength and a love for his mate that was easily readable. Richard pulled the controls into the open and regarded them contemplatively, his eyes down.
Spike simply waited. This was not an average employee of an evil organization but a white hat and one with the balls to pull Spike and his mate from hell and make a run for it. But Spike knew that there was still some way to go before their rescuer trusted them. He dropped his tone and asked, “Why did you do it pet?”
Richard eventually spoke in a near whisper, “I really don’t know what I was thinking… I just… I just had to do something… I saw you… and I was one of them… your torturers… and we talked and you asked to… and you love him I saw that… It was all so wrong… but then… and you’re vampires so I wasn’t… and I had a cage but can’t get it up here and I’m…” He looked up with genuine confusion and noted the lack of malice, rather one of patience in Spike’s eyes, “ The truth? I’m a bit scared OK, I’ve done something… and I don’t really know you … but I thought… and hey I really don’t mean you harm… Oh God … never that and I’m sorry… um I…” He trailed off looked at the controls again and frowned.
Spike took an unnecessary breath for dramatic effect and a little thinking time. He looked at the man hard. Usually a pretty good judge of a person, Spike saw Richard clearly and spoke up, “Why would I take by force what you so generously gave for free? Why would I hurt the hand that not only feeds but saves us. Nobless Oblige is a debt to be paid forward when one can… and it seems the debt is ours Pet. You have my word of honor. You will not be injured by our hand, and I speak for my mate, my Childe.” Spike sat up a little and held out his hand, “Figure you’re a bloke who needs to shake on it.”
Richard sat for a moment then seemed to come to some profound decision and thrust his hand out to meet Spike’s. Then reached out with the other hand to drop two tiny black electronic controls in Spike’s lap… Spike had not expected the latter gesture and was utterly overwhelmed, so sat staring down at the hated objects as though they might somehow disappear again as he watched.
Richard squeezed the hand that Spike had forgotten to release, “I take your word. And those are not mine, they belong to you and your friend... And I guess um you’re free to… but I’d had hoped you might still… I think you have a story to tell and I would um… I figured I owe it to you and…” Richard finally took a breath then blurted out, “What I saw and what they said, it just doesn’t add up! And what they’re doing to… well it’s just wrong… and I can’t… I couldn’t… and … I need to know… but if you don’t then…” He looked hopefully at Spike wishing for the vampire to fill in the blanks.
He was rewarded as a deeply grateful set of crystal blue eyes brimming with tears lifted to meet the worried hazel green of Richard’s, and answered in a near whisper, “You have no idea…” a single tear escaped and tracked down the refined features, “You have no idea what this means to us pet, so umm …”
Spike then blinked away the tears and lifted his chin, shook the hand he was still holding once, then dropped it and stated proudly, “I’m no welcher, just so long as it’s accurate and not an Anne-bloody-Rice novel we’ll help yer research! And reckon I might even be able to check over your draft for spellin’ and such – that way at least it’ll be in the Queen’s English not some bloody made up rubbish from you colonialists.”
The mood lightened suddenly and Richard let out a sigh of relief and laughed heartily, then seemed to shift his mood and thoughts, “Thanks… um… would you like a beer?”
It was Xander who answered rather unexpectedly in a sleepy voice, “Won’t kill for one – given Sire’s mood wouldn’t dare – but alcohol all of the good…”
………..
Richard was meticulous and thorough in his research, but also friendly, extraordinarily considerate and when he let his guard down… a lot of fun.
Over the next couple of weeks they had moved house to a tiny two bedroom apartment near the port in Vancouver. Richard had insisted on providing everything and had obtained a low paid cash in hand job in a warehouse near the docks. After he arrived home exhausted on the third night obviously worried about their dwindling funds, Spike took matters into his own hands.
Spike, William the Bloody, Master Vampire, was an unexpected visitor to the ‘darker side of the docks’, but there were a number of mild mannered demons who needed a certain protection racket dealt with. Spike and his bonded mate dealt swiftly, and a stunned Richard the following night by handing over enough money for three months’ rent and a guaranteed supply of blood.
“But you didn’t… ??”
“Told ya mate… services rendered! Bastards were holdin’ it over a whole swag of good citizens… just persuaded them to ‘move on’ is all, and grateful clients gave us a fine tip for our trouble.” Spike’s overly innocent demeanor belied something else but Richard left it… his black and white world was definitely becoming very grey late.
…………..
Richard trusted them for no reason he could particularly think of, and they did not violate his trust.
Over the next couple of months, he started to go out with them, at first he leading them and then the other way around. Spike’s vampiric seniority and lineage gave immense status, though the ensouled status caused some concern, but his fully ‘virgin’ mated, unsouled Childe from the now defunct Sunnydale Hellmouth and Richard’s ‘marked’ human, guaranteed deference… and Richard a ticket to the ‘other’.
Richard was true to his word, and despite his long days of hauling boxes, began to meticulously record the two vampires’ stories. He started by documenting Xander.
The former Sunnydale resident had obviously moved on since the references to his ‘Scoobie’ days in the Wolfram and Hart files. Richard had read of his successful construction career on the internet via a simple search, but there was only one reference to his Watcher commitments in the later dated W&H reports. Xander’s darker side had definitely come out, though whether that was courtesy of being turned, or a result of losing everything in the Sunnydale episode, and the general process of growing up, Richard was not sure.
As the weeks went by, he and Xander discovered their mutual love of baseball, pizzas, Twinkies, and comics. The latter something which a rather disgusted Spike swore should have been, “Bred out when the bloody demon took residence!” Adding that “any respectable demon read *real* literature.” The comment had Richard wondering and resolved to ask just what that meant at a later date.
The researcher knew some of the Sunnydale story, but the truth of Xander’s lost eye, the as yet unrecorded sad home life, and the apparent genuine bravery of the big hearted Scoobie was extraordinary. It drew what had been done *to him* into such sharp relief that it genuinely horrified their gentle rescuer, and further cemented his commitment to telling their story… despite all Spike’s words of caution…
Xander began truly exploring his vampire skills and attributes for the first time ‘in the wild’. His experiences however, were not those of most fledges. He had fed from an old Master, his Sire and mated fully, and repeated the process many times under duress, and voluntarily… The effect was profound… he was as tied to the soul of Spike as his Sire was. They were as one.
Richard encouraged the exploration of Xander’s growth, and respectfully asked Spike first, then Xander, if he could monitor the process in exchange for aiding it.
The initial experiences had been guarded… but over the weeks Richard was true to his word. He drove them farther and farther afield so Xander could test his physical limits. It was as thrilling for the researcher as for the Sire and the new vampire…
Richard watched, was thrilled, then pulled himself back to his researcher mode and took notes, as Xander realized his power for the vertical jump; his speed - in all things; and his joy for the kill.
Richard had drove them up into the mountains where two vampires could hunt and ‘run free’. Spike reveled in the experience… the open hunt, the required stealth, planning and acceleration was exactly what his Childe needed. They chased and subdued, only killing very occasionally, even bringing down a fully grown moose, only to let it wander off, rather confused, after being caught in the hunt.
On the docks, Richard watched in amazement as a different hunting technique was employed,and Xander learned… Spike was the master of seduction.
Now restored to full health, it did not matter if the target was male or female, he could convince any chosen human to give up a pint of blood in exchange for his ‘favors’. Xander was a quick study. And Richard silently wished himself one of the targets, as a tall male blissfully gave up an amount of his blood in exchange for Xander’s charms and careful attentions. The young man obviously reaching completion the instant fangs met his throat. Richard was doubtful the lad would ever realize what had truly transpired.
Much later, and in discussion with Spike, he understood that the ‘confusion’ of the victim was a viable survival strategy for vampires… and that killing the victims was not always the agenda.
Richard asked and Xander realized… his hearing was extraordinary and his night vision that of the nocturnal creatures of nature, and his lack of heartbeat or need to breathe did not bother him any more.
After the fourth week, Spike and Richard began to talk more openly, Spike to that point very guarded. By the fifth week Spike challenged their ‘savior’ to a game of chess and by the sixth, the table was never clear of pieces and the discussion flowed.