Another Chance (1/9)

[stillrose]

Title: Another Chance (1/9)
Fandom: BTVS;  Spike/Xander
Warnings: Slash, AU 5^th/6^th season, violence, character death
Rating:NC-17
Summary: Another Spike shows up in Sunnydale insisting he has a soul…and that he loves Xander.

Since you've all been so wonderful while I've been gone I think you all deserve a treat! So, I'm going to post periodically over the next week or so a story I wrote for BASCON in 2008. The story IS complete, and I've divided it up in to 9 parts. It's been over a years since it appeared in the conzine so per my agreement with them I am free to post it now.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

“Once I had the rarest rose

That ever deigned to bloom

Cruel winter chilled the bud

And stole my flower too soon”

 

-Love Song for a Vampire

Annie Lennox

 

“NO!” Spike managed to choke past a throat suddenly too tight with fear.

Xander’s body was limp in his arms. His eyes were staring sightlessly up into the vampire’s.  Already Spike could feel the warmth bleeding out of Xander along with the blood pooling around him.

“Xan!” Spike barked. “NOO!”

There was no response. There couldn’t be.  The Drokken had already used it’s talon to rip Xander from bowels to sternum.  No amount of pleading or begging could bring him back.

“Please, pet,” Spike cried as he cradled the body closer searching for any last flame of life.  All he needed was on last spark, one last ember, and he could turn him.

“C’mon! Don’t leave me, Xander! Don..I..PET!”

Pleading was useless, Xander was gone. Spike had been too late. He’d been too late to save him. He’d been too late in killing the beast.

“XAAAAAAANNNDEEEER!” the vampire screamed with all the rage and grief inside him. In that moment he cursed and hated his soul. He hated he could love. He hated that he had loved.  He howled his rage as if he could expel his soul with that one long cry of agonizing pain and fury.

He fell quiet. The pain of loss was still burning bright in his chest. Xander’s blood still pooled around him.

“Xander,” Spike whispered and curled around his pet’s body. “Just another chance! Please!”

***

I’m really not made for this, Xander thought as once again he was just a fraction of a second slower than he needed to be to successfully dodge the vampire’s blow. Knuckles scraped under his chin and he flew backward. He stumbled while swinging blindly with the stake in his right hand.

“A little help here!” he called out.

“Keep yer panties on,” he heard Spike growl from somewhere behind him.

Xander wished he could spare the chance to roll his eyes. Spike may have been faithfully helping them kick undead ass since Buffy’s death, but that didn’t mean he hated the blonde vamp any less.

“Thought it was your week to wear them!” Xander  shouted as he managed to keep his ribs from blocking the rogue vampire’s next punch.

“Aren’t you the witless one tonight?”

“Learned everything I knew from yo…”  Xander didn’t finish his retort. His fanged opponent had closed ranks and had managed to wrap his arms around Xander’s torso. He growled and swung the human around. Xander heard his stake scuttle across the asphalt in the alley before he realized he’d lost his weapon.

“SPIKE!” Xander shouted as he craned to keep his neck from the hungry jaws snarling towards his throat.

“XAN!” he heard the vampire frantically shout.

Suddenly there was a flash of light. There was a terrible wrenching feeling that Xander might have noted if he wasn’t so busy screaming at the pain in his eyes. The light was too bright! He must not have been the only one to think so as he found himself staggering free.  He blinked against the brightness to see the vampire he’d been fighting using both hands to cover his eyes.

A little light on the subject never harms anything...but vampires, Xander thought in a brief moment of smug humor.

The light was beginning to fade. Xander quickly looked around. Spike was bent over trying to use his coat as cover. His opponent was cowering against the wall. Xander scanned the area for his stake. Whatever had caused the distraction, he didn’t intend to waste it.

The light winked completely out just as Xander spotted his stake.  The plunge back into darkness once again left him temporarily blinded. He heard a growl behind him as he felt around on the alley floor for the stake.

“XANDER!” he heard Spike scream before suddenly feeling a solid weight slam into him.

Being Alexander LaVelle Harris meant being grateful for the quirkier things in life. For example, Xander was once again grateful he’d been knocked around so much in his young life that he knew the drill when he suddenly found himself flying through the air; tuck, roll and pray for a soft landing.

Sometimes Xander was lucky. Sometimes he wasn’t.  Most of the time he just came out even.  Xander tucked, rolled and landed in a large pile of smelly garbage bags which burst open underneath him.  A thick damp mash of rotting uneaten remains of “Joe’s Specials” from the corner diner caked Xander’s backside.

I hate vampires, Xander thought as he tried scrambling to his feet in the slick stinky mess.  I really hate one in particular.

Just as he got to his feet two hands grabbed him. They steadied him.

“Pet?” Spike asked worriedly.

“Pet?” Xander growled as he tried to shake loose from the blond vampire’s grip. “Not in this or any other lifetime fangless.”

“Are you OK?”

“Oh peachy! Eau de yesterday’s lunch is my fragrance don’t you think?”

Spike stared at Xander. His hands moved up to touch Xander’s face and neck.

“HEY! Bad touch!”

“XANDER” he heard worriedly Spike shout from his left.

Xander froze. He stared at Spike. Spike was still standing right in front of him staring at him as if he couldn’t believe Xander was standing right there in front of him.

If he’s in front of me than how could I have heard him coming from my left? Xander thought.

“Spike,” Xander said softly as he tried to take a step backward deeper into the pile of garbage. “Tell me you’ve learned a new trick. Tell me you can throw your voi…”

“HARRIS!” Spike growled again. Xander looked to his left. There was a very angry and confused looking Spike standing there.

“Spike?”

“The one and only!” Spike growled.

“Pe..Xander,” the other Spike said softly as he held out a hand to Xander. “It’s OK. I won’t hurt you.”

“Bloody right!” the other Spike barked as he moved in closer to his doppelganger. “Cuz in about two shakes yer gonna be a pile of ash.”

The new Spike turned at looked at the original Spike. He cocked his head and smiled. Xander’s blood froze. He knew that smile. It was the smile Spike wore when he was ready to lay it all out because he had nothing else to lose.

“You can try, mate. You can try,” the new Spike said in a very soft voice.

TBC...