Tainted Returns

AN: My apologies for the long delay in putting this up. It is unbetad after I figured something strange must have happened to my beta reader. : )~ Please ind ind about any mistakes I probably missed in editing. Thanks.


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Part Fifteen
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The laughter died slowly. As it did, Xander was surprised to see the wary expectation return to Spike, his body tensing subtly. He doubted he'd have seen it before, but now it was as obvious to Xander as Willow's blushes. He watched Spike in confusion, wondering what had caused the returning wariness.

"What are we doing here, Spike?" Xander asked, shaking his head.

"Thought that would have been bloody obvious," Spike retorted, tensing further.

Xander rolled his eyes. "Not that! I *know* what that was. I meant-- Damn it! What about Buffy?"

Spike's eyes narrowed. "What about her?" he asked cautiously, his voice taking on a hint of danger.

Xander wasn't sure he wanted to continue, but it was either that, or back off completely. He wasn't ready to do that. He'd already decided what he wanted--

//When did you do that?//

--he wasn't going to second guess himself -- no matter how much he kept trying to -- and he was just going to go with what felt right. It was confusing. It was scary. But he was doing it anyway.

"I **,"*," he said slowly, "I thought you were in love with her."

am, am," Spike replied simply, not elaborating at all.

Xander blew out a frustrated breath, and wondered whether Spike was being purposely obtuse. He rolled his eyes at himself. **Of course he is! He's *Spike*!** Fine, he knew how to play.

"Doesn't seem like it to me."

"You," Spike replied, his tone low, vibrating menacing, "don't know squat."

"Then why are you here, Spike?" Xander countered. "You say you love Buffy, but you're here with me . . . letting me kiss you, seduce you." Xander stepped back toward Spike, invading the vampire's personal space. "Why?"

To a casual glance Spike was closed off, unaffected, angry even. To Xander's heightened senses, there was far more than met the eye. Spike's tense body, his narrowed eyes, his tightly controlled tone were more than just arrogant anger.

"You started this, Git!" Spike retorted.

"Oh, that answers a whole lot," Xander snorted. "Not!"

Spike's eyes closed, frustration rolling off of the vampire. They didn't stay closed long, though, and he pushed himself away from the door with an angry shove, moving them even closer together. "Sod this, Harris! I don't need this crap from you," he snapped, his eyes flashing with flecks of gold. "You can just crawl back to your *scoobie* friends and make nice with the kiddies. I'm out of here!" Spinning away, Spike wrenched open the door.

Raw anger suddenly rolling through him, Xander grabbed Spike's arm, yanking the vampire back from the doorway. Shoving a startled Spike against the door jamb, Xander himself was surprised to feel a quickly suppressed shiver run through the vampire. It was almost enough to him him let go.

"Let go, Harris!" Spike hissed angrily.

It was then that everything fell into place -- though it did absolutely nothing to clear up Xander's confusion. Spike was afraid. He imagined that was *so* not sitting well with Spike. He relaxed his hold; though he did not release Spike.

"What are you afraid of?" he asked quietly.

Spike shook him off, glaring. "I'm not afraid of sod all!" he denied hotly.

Xander just stood still, silently watching, his gaze calmly locked with Spike's glare. It wasn't often he could keep his mouth shut, but somehow he knew doing so now would yield more results than spouting off -- or pushing.

Spike looked away, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets. "You have absolutely no clue what you've done, do you?"

"Tell me," Xander replied softly, his mind swiftly reviewing the last few days He couldn't find anything that would make Spike react this way. He almost laughed. He could think of a lot of things that would piss the vampire off. . . . But make him scared? "Explain to me what I've done."

"I'm not explaining *anything*! You want to know so badly, do some more of that *research* you were so proud of the other day and bloody well figure it out yourself!"

Xander started to reply, but found himself at a loss for words, floored by the angry defeat he'd heard in Spike's voice.

**What the hell?**

Before he could find his voice again, he had no one to answer. Spike was already half way out of the apartment building. Shaking his head, Xander thought about following. He was pretty sure he could trail Spike, whether or not he could actually keep up.

No, he decided. Spike was obviously very . . . upset, or maybe unsettled with whatever it was that was bothering him that it wouldn't do any good. Maybe he should take Spike's advice and do some more digging. The though of voluntarily opening those books of Giles', though, reminded him all too well of studying. Well, of *trying* to study, back when he was in school.

Besides, he rationalized, would the watcher's book accurate? Where had they gotten their information? Watching? Xander really didn't see the watchers actually *questioning* vampires to get it. He laughed. Even if they had, he *seriously* doubted their research . . . subject would have told the truth. That left him back at square one.

His frown deepening, Xander absently shut the door and wandered back to his couch. Maybe he could figure it out himself. Mind racing, Xander worried his lower lip between his teeth as he thought. He tried putting himself in Spike's position, shivering in distaste as he did so. The parts of him made up of the hyena and soldier memories *really* hated the idea. To be so . . . dominated went against the grain.

Was that it?

He shook his head. No, he didn't really think so. Spike *had* said he hadn't 'minded' what had happened.
//Could have done without the uncertainty factor.//

"What uncertainty?" Xander asked again, this time to the empty apartment, suddenly realizing he'd never managed to ask Spike what he'd meant by that, the vampire having gone on the offensive when he'd tried. A faint glimmer of an idea began to form, but it was elusive, darting just outside his conscious control, and he couldn't quite pin in down.

He grinned then, a new source of information hitting him like a brick wall. Who better to tell him exactly what Spike's problem was. Laughing, knowing damn well this call was going to be received with shock, Xander leapt to his feet and started punching in numbers. He was going to enjoy this call.

"Angel investigations. We help the helpless."

"Cordelia?" Xander asked, surprised. Though why he should have been, he didn't know. Willow had told them about Cordelia working with Angel, about her getting visions now. He *so* did not envy her the headaches Willow had told him went hand in hand with them.

"Xander!?"

"Yeah, it's me. Can I talk--"

"Is everyone okay up there?" Cordelia demanded. "Cuz, if Angel has to go up there, I need to prepare myself. He always gets so broody after."

"Everyone's fine, Cordy," Xander assured with a chuckle. "I just need to--"

"You're sure, Xander? I mean, you didn't just call to chat did you? Because I've got to say this is a--"

" *Cordy*!" Xander shouted, interrupting his ex-girlfriend's rant. He rolled his eyes, feeling an amused nostalgia. Some things never changed it seemed"I j"I just need to talk to Deadboy. He in?"

Silence reigned from the other end of the line.

"Cordy?" he asked, wondering if they'd somehow been disconnected.

" *You* want to talk to *Angel*," she said flatly.

He laughed. "Yes," he said drily. "I want to talk to Angel." He paused. "Okay, maybe saying 'want' is a little strong, but I'm gonna enjoy shocking the shit out of him."

Cordelia laughed. "Now *that's* the Xander I remember," she said. "I take it I shouldn't tell him who's calling?"

"Oh, go ahead. It won't hurt the shock value one bit."

"It won't?" Cordelia asked suspiciously. "Just what are you up to, Alexander Harris?"

"Me?" he asked. "Up to something?"

"Yes, you! Now Spill."

"Can't rightly say right now, Cordy." He heard the swiftly indrawn breath from Cordelia and hurriedly continued. "I promise, after this is over, I'll come up there and 'dish all the dirt'. You'll feele yoe you've hit gossip central."

Xander didn't know why, but it was easy to talk to Cordelia, where he'd just wanted off the phone with Willow. It didn't make a lot of sense to him. Shouldn't it have been the other way around? He shrugged it off; he would figure it out sooner or later. He almost laughed again, though. He could almost *hear* Cordelia squirming, trying to decide whether or not she could worm anything out of him now.

"Okay," she said finally, "but if you don't keep your end of the deal, you'll find me *in* Sunnydale and in your face." She paused. "And it *won't* be in a good way."

"Okay," he laughed, smirking as he added fuel to the fire of her curiosity. "Now make sure you can see Angel's face while I talk to him, so you can tell me about it later."

Cordelia growled at him and his eyes widened a fraction. **She's been hanging around Deadboy too long,** he thought as the hollow sound of a hand over the receiver sounded through the line. He wasn't sure, but he thought he heard her calling out to Angel.

**Good,** he thought, suddenly anxious to hear what Angel might have to say.

"Xander?" Angel asked tentatively, sounding as though he hadn't believed Cordelia.

"Yeah, listen. I need some information from you."

"Is B--everyone okay?"

Xander sighed, rolling his eyes. "Yes, everyone is just fine. Well, except Spike."

"Spike!?" Angel asked in shock.

Cordelia's gasp in the background was loud enough that Xander heard it.

He grinned, knowing that after hearing just that much, his ex-girlfriend would be dying of curiosity.

"Why would you care about Spike?" Angel continued suspiciously.

Xander frowned, pulling the phone away from his ear to stare disbelievingly at it.

"You *are* his Sire, right?" he asked after he pulled it back.

"Not that I see what difference it makes," Angel replied in irritation, "but."
."

"Then you should understand."

For several long moments, silence once again roared loudly through the phone line. "If Spike's being a pain, why doesn't Buffy just stake him and get it over with?"

Xander felt instant rage fill him to overflowing. "I can *not* believe you saidt! t! Buffy would *never*. Well, she's threatened to a couple times, but I think it's more habit than anything."

"I coming up there."

"What?!" Xander asked, his rage turning immediately to panic. "Why? You obviously don't give a shit about him."

"Him?!" Angel asked incredulously, "I'm more worried about all of you! What's he done to make you all so vulnerable to him?"

Xander's thoughts froze. They'd told him. Sure they had. Angel *had* to know. He frowned. "Oh, my God!" he breathed. "You *don't* know."

"Don't know *what*, Xander?”

Taking a deep breath, Xander rapidly filled Angel in on the initiative and what they'd done to Spike. All the while he wondered how the hell Angel could *not* know about it already. He'd been in Sunnydale since Spike had been chipped. He'd even met Riley. Hadn't the two of them met since then? Wait. Spike had been tied to a chair when Angel had come to help that one Thanksgiving.

Didn't he even ask why?

By the time Xander finished his explanation, held his breath, hearing Angel growling lowly through the phone.

"Is this why you're calling me?" he asked lowly. "You need help getting rid of them? How is Spike taking it?"

"No. That happened a long time ago, Angel. He was in a bad way to start with, but he's pretty much dealing now. And we *already* took care of the initiative."

Angel blew out a frustrated breath. "Then what *is* the problem?" he asked, confused.

Xander grinned, this was getting fun again. "I needed some information about vampires -- from someone who might actually know, *and* would tell me the truth."

"And you think that someone is me?" Angel asked. "Obviously I know about vampires, but what makes you think I'll tell you the truth about anything?"

Xander laughed. "Because you don't care what I think about you. You won't worry about sugar-coating the honest truth *just* so I won't think less of you."

"Good point," Angel admitted wryly. "But that wasn't mean I'm going to to just open up to you either -- for the same reason."

"True," Xander acknowledged. "Look. You don't like me, and I don't like you. We both know this. But this is important Angel. You can believe I would *so* not be asking if it wasn't."

Angel sighed deeply, and Xander instantly knew the vampire had given in. "Okay, Xander. What do you need to know?"

"Vampires have a . . . pecking order, don't they?"

"Yes," Angel replied slowly.

“Where would you say Spike rates in that order?"

"Pretty high," Angel replied immediately, then hmmm'd in uncertainty. "Before the chip, anyway. Now, I don't know."

"How do vampires assert their . . . dominance?"

"Why?"

Xander grit his teeth, clenching his jaw tightly. "Just answer the damn question Angel. I need to know. If it'll help, it never gets repeated."

Several moments passed and Xander began to wonder if Angel had completely closed off, or like spaced, or something. To his relief the vampire began speaking, his voice a near whisper. He could just imagine Cordelia leaning closer trying to hear what her boss was saying.

"That depends a great deal, Xander."

"On?"

Angel sighed again, this time his reluctance coming through loud and clear. "On why exactly the dominance is being asserted."

Xander felt like he was trying to pull teeth! He was about to snap when Angel continued.

"If it's a case of two random vampires meeting and a challenge is issued, they fight. Of course, the loser usually ends up dead -- unless the winner has a use for him."

"Go on," Xander urged.

"If it's the case of a master vampire wanting to take over a territory, he goes in, picks the current master and kills him. Usually everyone falls into line after that, but he may have to fight a few others, loyal childer, an especially stupid minion or two."

"Go on," Xander said again, when Angel fell silent.

"Xander, what the hell is going on up there, if that doesn't cover what you need to know?"


TBC


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