There’s Always a Sneer in Vegas (90b/90)

[stillrose]

Title: There’s Always a Sneer in Vegas (90b/90)
Fandom: BTVS; Spike/Xander
Warnings: Slash,AU, Post Apocalyptic, violence,non-con, slavery, tentacles,
Rating: NC-17
Summary: It’s been seven years since Angelus killed Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Seven years after Angelus opened a portal to hell on Earth. Humans are food, slaves or on the run. There’s hope only in small band of resistance fighters. However, that’s a hope Xander Harris no longer has. It’s been six months since he was taken in a raid. At first Xander thought he was lucky the demons didn’t know who he was; but then that was before he became property to an Azora demon.

As always: Feedback makes my heart go pitter-patter.

UNBETAED

Previous parts here.

*********************************************************************************
She nodded into his shoulder as she continued to sob. He held her. Together they soaked up the moment as they both needed to hold on and to let go. Eventually, Willow sniffed loudly and lifted up her tear streaked face to look at Xander again.

“How were you going to get there?” she asked softly.

“First bus out this morning,” he answered.

“C..can we take you to the bus station?” she asked.

“I’d like to see the fool who’d try and stop you,” he said smiling before he was suddenly enveloped into a hug from all three women in the room.
*********************************************************************************

The closer the bus had gotten to the Vegas the more nervous Xander had gotten. He’d thought the hard part was leaving the girls. Yet, the closer the bus had rolled toward Spike’s city the more Xander began to second guess himself.

Willow was right. He had been happy. Just, not happy enough. His thoughts had been chaotic playing out all the possible outcomes to his return until he’d been tempted to get off the bus, call the girls and go back to San Bernardino.

He had distracted himself by looking around the bus. It wasn’t crowded. Vegas was still not the most popular destination in the post-post-apocalyptic world. Still there had been enough passengers to get a read on the mix of motives of his fellow travelers.

Looking for sanctuary, he’d thought as he spotted the demons disguised as humans.

He had spotted the humans who were looking for the dangerous and thrill of seeing a demon run city.  Some people had gotten addicted to danger during the Fall.  Vegas could satisfy that addiction.

Then there had been those humans who’d tucked self-consciously on their shirt collars. The ones who had sat as close as they could to the demons in disguise.  The ones who were quiet unless spoken too and who rarely made eye contact.

Xander had tried not to stare or think of those too much. He had known why they were going to Vegas. He’d met many like them in the Survivor’s group meetings he’d gone to with Tara. The meetings Willow didn’t know about. The meetings where former demon slaves had talked about their life during the Fall.

There had been those who couldn’t figure out how to live anymore without a master; without the demon rules. The meetings had helped some while others had simply drifted away to seek out someone to collar them again be they human or demon.

In the first few weeks after leaving the desert Xander had wondered if he was one of those humans who’d slip away looking for a new Master. There hadn’t been a day where hadn't he’d felt the need to go to his knees, to snap his fingers for permission to speak or to even reach for the collar he kept tucked in his pocket or under his pillow.

The meetings, Tara and the new life in San Bernardino had helped.  He’d gotten better but his dreams were still full of the memories of being Spike’s good Pet. He’d wake up hard, aching and calling out for his Master. Those had been the confusing days.

The good days had been the mornings he’d woken up hard, aching and calling out for Spike.  Those had been the days where his nights had been dreams filled with him being Spike’s pet.

The bad days had been after those nights where he’d thought he could feel the claim burn through him. He’d ache for Spike so hard he thought the vampire had revoked his permission for Xander to be away from him. Those were the nights where Xander would stroke his hardness to completion with one hand while silencing his cries with the other.

The worst days were the nights he had nightmares about being in the Vault. The nights he’d dreamt about being a bottle. Those were the days he’d lie in a cold sweat and long for impossibly strong arms pulling him close to an impossibly perfect chest which practically purred.

All the days had grown into weeks and the weeks had grown into months. The want and the ache had never abated but Xander.

During that time he rebuilt his life.  He gotten a job. Reconnected with Willow. Learned how to be human again. He’d even tried seeing someone else.

The bus lurched forward and the brakes hissed as the bus rolled to a stop interrupting Xander’s thoughts. There was a bustle of movement as human and demon alike stood up to gather belongings.  Xander sighed and picked up his duffel bag from the empty seat next to him.

He looked out the window as he waited to get into the line of people in the aisle waiting to exit the bus.

Ready or not, here I come, he thought.


***


“Next!” the green skinned demon who reminded him a little of  Lorne called. Xander stepped forward through the gate. He was at the his third checkpoint of a day. The first they had verified he had no forbidden weapons as well as any magical items or status. The second had verified his species.

It was now after sundown and he at the final checkpoint before the “Demon Zone.” It was the one where humans entered at their own peril. The only protection they had  beyond was one a demon or monster gave them.

They might enter voluntarily but that didn’t guarantee they could leave. Xander’s hand curled tightly around the collar shoved deep in his pocket.

“Purpose?” the demon asked looking at a form on a clipboard in front of him.

“Uh? Purpose?” Xander asked suddenly unsure what to say. “Uhm..well I’m here to se...”

“Immigration? Hunting? Tourist?” the bored demon interrupted not looking up.

Hunting? Xander thought.

“None of the above,” Xander answered.

“Right,”  the demon said finally looking up at him. “Let me guess. You’re not sure.”

“I am but it’s kinda of comp....”

“Sing me something,” the demon ordered.

“What?” Xander asked.

“Sing me something..or recite me a poem.  Ain’t that hard...just for Luna’s sake don’t recite a limerick. I’ve heard them all.”

“Righ…,” Xander thought struggling to think of something. ‘Uhm Ok, how about, ‘Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterpris….’”

“Stop!” the demon suddenly cried it’s eyes fixed on Xander as it grew pale.

Xander’s mouth snapped shut. The human and the demon stared at each other for a brief moment then suddenly the demon stepped behind Xander and pulled the gate shut. He turned back to face Xander then licked his lips.

“I think I need to refer you to someone else, won’t you please follow me?” he asked very politely.

“And where are we going?” Xander asked cautiously not willing to wander off into the Demon zone with just any demon.

“To see my boss,” the demon said doing it’s best to offer a non-threatening smile.

“And that would be, who?”

“Lorne, sir,” the demon answered growing more nervous.

“Lorne,” Xander cried suddenly smiling then frowning. He’d learned harsh lessons about the demon world of Vegas.  “Look, I know Lorne. Could you just call him and tel.…”

The demon grew paler and nodded his head furiously.

“If you prefer, I could see if he could come here, personally. It would be no trouble! No trouble at all!,” the demon said stepping into his little booth to reach for the phone before Xander could finish.

“Ok,” Xander said as he leaned against the side of the booth.

Vegas really has changed, or I have, or both, he thought as he waited to see his old friend.



***
Lorne was in a foul mood. He’d brought several recruits from Pylea to help with the much needed readings around Vegas.  However, days like today he’d wondered why he had bothered. Already he’d had two false negatives on immigration readings nearly causing one triad and a pair to be separated. The human partner in the triad had been pregnant and the fetus had thrown off the reading leading Reguir to declare the group not a voluntary bonding. The pregnant woman had been on the bus before the demons’ urgent, and bloody, appeals had reached Lorne.

Then Veryla had tried to do a reading from a knock-knock joke! The demon from that pair had already gone one round in the arena by the time representative from Wolfram and Hart, carrying a copy of the couple's binding contract, had stormed into Lorne’s office bringing back way too many unpleasant memories.

Now, Koahn was insisting he come to the Koval Lane checkpoint because he had a master vampire’s Claimaint seeking entrance into the Demon zone.

“Koahn wouldn’t know a Claimaint from a good Cosmopolitan,” Lorne muttered as he got out of the limo in front of the booth near the gate.  He froze when he saw a familiar form leaning against the booth’s frame with his back to Lorne. The Plyean’s throat went dry and his hands began to shake. He blinked.

Xander? he dared to hope.

“Lorne!” Koahn croaked dashing out of the booth.

The figure turned at Lorne’s name and the demon couldn’t stop himself from rushing forward.
“Xa...Claimant Xander!” he cried. “It’s you! It’s really you!”

“Yeah, in the flesh, though not the naked flesh,” Xander said blushing a little.

“This..is..” Koahn’s voice disappeared into a high pitched squeak.

“Oh get a hold of yourself,” Lorne said to his fellow Pylean.  “Stop your squeaking, close up shop, get a properly prepared cocktail and say nothing of this to anyone or you’ll be answering to my boss.”

Koahn’s eyes grew wide then rolled back in his head before he crumpled to the ground.

“Uhm,” Xander said looking to unconscious demon.

“Don’t worry about him,” Lorne said motioning for Xander to follow him. “Vegas just isn’t for everyone.”

“But..”  Xander said following Lorne towards the limo.

“Trust me, Cupcake,  He’ll get a promotion out of this,” Lorne said with a smile as they slid into the privacy of the back of the limo. Xander automatically kneeling in front of Lorne’s seat.
He smiled at the human as he watched him tuck his duffel bag on the floor next to him. So many questions were stampeding through his head but there was only one which was important. He knocked on the privacy window signaling to the drive to return to the Slayer’s End.

“So..” they both said at the time. Then laughed.

“You first,” Lorne said.

“Spike?” Xander asked softly.

“Better,” Lorne answered.

“Better?” Xander asked anxiously.

“He was..” Lorne paused. He was uncertain how much he should tell Xander. Afterall he really didn’t know for sure why he had returned to Vegas. “Cupcake, what are you doing here?”

“I..wanted Sp...I wanted to talk to Spike.”

“Talk?” Lorne asked looking at the duffel bag.

“Some talks taking longer than others,” Xander shrugged.

Your talks could level Vegas if you’re both not careful, Lorne thought.

“So..is he at the Slayer’s End?” Xander asked.

“At the Mandalay actually. Cage match tonight.”

“He’s fighting in the arenas?” Xander ask his face twisting in concern.

“About once a week,” Lorne sighed. “It’s a good cash draw. Don’t worry, it’s not a deathmatch.”

Spike hadn’t participated in another deathmatch since the night Lorne put a stop to them after the broken hearted vampire had come back from the desert. That’s the night Lorne had gotten through the vampire’s rage and grief to understand if he lost not only would he lose his life and his city but he would also be killing Xander.  Just because Xander hadn’t been with him hadn’t meant the Claim was any less binding.

Cupcake doesn’t need to know any of that though, Lorne thought.

“So..?” Xander said breaking the silence.

“So we get back to the casino and take you up to the suite where you can get cleaned up.  You can say ‘hi’ to Ante while getting a good meal and wait for Spike to get back.”

“Wait. Ante’s living in the suite?”

“And making Master Spike’s life a happy hell everyday,” Lorne said leaning forward.

“And he survived?”

“Oh Ante’s much tougher than he looks,” Lorne replied.

“I meant Spike,” Xander corrected.

Lorne gave a full throated laugh.

“Oh, Cupcake, I’ve missed you,” he said.

“I hope you aren’t the only one,” Xander murmured.

***

Spike’s shoulders ached, his fists were sore and he needed a drink, a shower and a long drag off a cigarette without the nagging of a certain busy body demon. Sunrise was in a few hours and it looked like he wasn’t going to get any of his needs met.

Lorne had been waiting to pounce on him as soon as he’d set foot inside the Slayer’s End. The bloody nuisance had been practically vibrating with nervous energy and gone off about a series of misreadings, appeals and paperwork from the shysters out of L.A.. He’d hustled Spike to the private elevator and insisted Spike go straight up to his suite.

“Lemon drop, now no snarls, grumbles and depictions of lurid hours of torture. Up straight away to your suite for a quick shower. Need you fresh and dandy. Need your signature on paperwork and your dulcet tones on the phone,” Lorne had set as he’d practically shoved Spike into the elevator and pressed the button to floor to his suite.

“Oi! Know where ya can sti..” Spike had started to snarl but the elevators doors had closed cutting him off from view of Lorne’s too perky face.

S’not too late to make a new pair of shoes out of him, Spike thought as he stepped out of the elevator. He strode over to the door and opened it. Even that probably wouldn’t shu…

Spike froze. If his heart could beat it would have stopped as his brain tried to reconcile what his eyes were seeing. There was a man standing in front of the suite’s wall of windows staring out at the Vegas skyline.

TBC