Tainted Returns

Thanks everyone for the encouraging reviews. : ) My profound apologies that it has taken this long to update. I can assure you the next chapter won't take nearly so long, as it's already half written. I hope this and the next chapter make up for the long wait.

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Chapter Sixteen
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Xander frowned as he hung up the phone. He'd ended up telling Angel a *whole* lot more than he'd intended to, and he still wasn't quite sure how that had happened. He supposed it had been worth it, though, because it had gotten Angel to quit hinting and start telling him the bald facts. And man! Had some of those facts been bald! Reading the watcher's accounts had been totally different than hearing it from the source.

He closed the door quietly behind him. He had a vampire to find.

Xander had been honest with Angel; he didn't like the dark vampire -- never had and probably never would -- which, surprisingly, had made it easier to spill his guts.

Striding out into the night, Xander paused as he made the street, inhaling deeply. It was faint, very faint, but he could still smell traces of Spike's scent, and after three false starts he managed to begin following it. After about thirty minutes, Xander found himself thoroughly enjoying the chase -- even if the prey didn't realize they were involved . . . yet. The crisp night air and the mingled scents on the breeze kept him vigilant, constantly backtracking with the wind changes and mistakes.

He grinned suddenly. He was catching up -- despite his false starts and errors. Spike's scent had been growing steadily stronger -- thanks largely to the fact that Spike had obviously made several stops along the way -- Xander's unwary prey still unaware of being trailed. Xander's grin widened as the undeniable scent he'd been following suddenly grew stronger still.

And there he was! Shivering, anticipation racing through him, Xander watched. Quietly scenting the air, he was very grateful to discover he'd caught up to Spike while the vampire was upwind. He was unalterably certain that Spike would be far better at the hunting gig than he was. He needed to be careful if he wanted to maintain the upper hand. If he got too close at this point, Spike was sure to sense his arrival -- regardless of the advantage wind direction now gave him. Vampires weren't animals; they had senses beyond those of the average hunting creature. This was the tricky part of the chase, the part that wound him tight.

He wanted to get close enough to alert the vampire that *something* was there . . . watching, but he didn't want to get close enough for him to figure out exactly who that 'something' was -- at least not yet. He wasn't sure he could do it, but he sure as hell wanted to try. His chances of success depended largely on luck; he knew that. He had to be able to disappear from sight any time Spike's senses told him to double-check his surroundings. Timing also played a large part.

**Oh!** Xander ducked behind a tree as Spike spun his direction. In his preoccupied excitement he hadn't seen the vampire resume movement. Of course, it had been just his luck that Spike had decided on a direction that brought him closer.

He heard an irritated growl, and quickly held his breath, then let it out slowly, quietly. If he could hear Spike's reaction, Spike could probably hear him if he wasn't careful. His heart pounded as he listened closely for any sound that might indicate Spike was again on the move. He was dreadfully sure that Spike was sure to hear the overly loud sound as it certainly sounded deafening to *him*.

Xander had to clench his jaw shut to prevent himself from laughing as he heard Spike mutter under his breath something about going crazy as the vampire stalked away. Grateful that despite his near discovery Spike was not yet trying to move stealthily, he followed, and for a few minutes, he carefully stayed far enough away not to alert the vampire.

That didn't last long. As soon as he had a good place to hide, he quickened his stride just enough to move inside the range of the vampire's senses. He knew it the moment he'd done so. Spike froze. Xander quickly ducked out of sight, hoping he was quick enough.

Several long, tense moments passed while Xander waited, breath held, listening for the slightest sounds from his prey.

"All right, Harris!" Spike shouted angrily. "What the bloody hell are you playing at?"

Xander let out a giggle that hand him *instantly* clapping his hand over his mouth. **I did *not* just GIGGLE*!** he thought, his eyes widening. Forcing himself to drop his hand, Xander stepped out into view. The gig was up and now it was time to take this to the next level.

"Playing?" Xander called out. "What makes you think I'm *playing*?" A thrill shot through him as he caught sight of blo blond vampire. Standing defensively, the moonlight glinting off the shockingly white hair of his, Xander couldn't recall a better sight.

Spike strode toward him, stopping several feet away and eyeing him in confusion. " *What* are you doing out here?" he demanded.

"Hunting," Xander replied, debating whether to draw this out or just jump the vampire now. With a purely mental sigh, common sense won out and he decided drawing it out would be better -- at least until he either convinced the blond inside somewhere, or alternately chased him there.

Spike frowned. "Are you daft? Your little stint affected by demon blood gone to your head?" he snapped. "What the bloody hell are you 'hunting'?"

"You," Xander replied honestly, taking a single step forward, allowing the smallest portion of what he was feeling to show.

"Come again?" Spike retorted, looking just a touch gobsmacked.

Xander grinned, taking three more, deliberate, slow steps forward. "I said, I'm hunting you."

"Why!?"

"Because it's fun."

"Fun!?" Spike exclaimed. "You *have* lost it, mate."

"No, actually, I've just found it."

Spike's confused frown returned -- Xander was growing to like the look. He was surprised to admit it, but it was a cute look for the vampire. "What in bloody hell are you talking about?"

"I took you up on your advice."

That got a growl. "What advice?"

Stifling the strange impulse to let out another giggle -- **I do *not* giggle!** -- Xander grinned instead. "You told me, if I wanted to know what I'd done, research it. Well, I did."

"Ri-ight," Spike replied, disbelievingly, but warily taking a step back. "And just *where* did you do your 'research'? I happen to know for a fact that the watchers books don't have anything good in them."

Xander snorted. "Nah, I bypassed the books. I went straight to the horse's mouth, so to speak," Xander frowned, pretending to ponder the question. "Or maybe that should be the horse's ass."

Spike's eyes narrowed. "What did you *do*, Harris?"

Xander grinned again. "I called Angel."

Spike's jaw dropped. "You what?"

"I know, shocking isn't it? But once we got things explained a bit, he was most helpful, though he did threaten to come up here, until I told him a bit more than I wanted to."

"Bloody hell!" Spike exclaimed angrily. "I *cannot* believe you did that! It's not bad enough that I've had the crappiest night of my life; you have to go and bring the *poof* into this?" Spike spun around and stalked away.

"Don't you think you've run enough, Spike?" Xander taunted, following.

"No!"

"You may be better at the tracking and the hiding, Spike, but I've got an advantage you don't."

"Oh?" Spike inquired sarcastically, not stopping. "And what's that?"

"The sun will be up in a few short hours."

Spike growled and spun around to face him. "What the hell do you want from me, Harris!?"

Xander shrugged. He hadn't thought much beyond the need to find Spike, really. "Nothing much," he replied evenly, stepping closer, invading the vampire's personal space. "Just you."

Spike's jaw dropped. "If you think for one sodding minute, that I'm just going to *let* you--"

Xander struck out, punching Spike in the jaw with every ounce of his strength, sending a *very* shocked vampire to the ground.

"How the hell did you do that?" he exclaimed, jumping back to his feet and rubbing his jaw.

"Left over benefit," Xander shrugged. "I'm not letting it all fade away this time around."

Spike's eyes narrowed. "You're being bloody obtuse, Harris," he growled. "Explain what you mean, or leave me the sodding hell alone!"

Xander sighed. "Do you think we could take this somewhere a little more private," he asked. "I really don't feel like letting the whole of Sunnydale's demon population in on my business." He saw a brief flash of temptation in the vampire's eyes before it was quickly squashed.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, Harris. I still need to eat tonight."

Xander frowned. "Didn't you get anything while you were at Willy's?"

"How did you know I'd gone there?"

Rolling his eyes, Xander shrugged yet again. "I've been following you. Took me a while to get the hang of the following of scents gig. Now, why didn't you get something at Willy's?"

Spike let out a long suffering sigh, dropping his head back and grabbing the bridge of his nose in obvious frustration. "You remember what the Margaso said about announcing the trade, right?"

Xander's eyes widened as memory flashed. "Yeah, something about making sure everyone knew. I assumed they meant demons."

Spike nodded. "Well, they followed through with it."

"And?" Xander asked, not understanding what the point was. So the other demons knew what happened, well, what happened between them and the Margaso. What did that have to do with him not eating?

"Apparently," Spike growled, closing his eyes and looking away, "that means my m's 's not good anymore."

Xander growled right back, spinning away and storming off. He had a bartender to visit.

"Where are you going now, Harris?" Spike demanded from behind him. Xander was pleased that the vampire had decided to follow.

"Willy's," he replied shortly.

"What for?" Spike demanded suspiciously. "Haven't I been humiliated enough for one night?"

Xander stopped dead in his tracks, spinning back around to face the vampire. "You want to be able to buy blood at Willy's?"

Spike nodded warily.

"Then I'd better straighten out one dodgy bartender, hadn't I?" he asked, the question mostly rhetorical considering he was going to do it whether Spike answered in the affirmative or not. It was either this, or he was buying all Spike's meals in the foreseeable future. Not something he was interested in doing when the vampire was quite capable of doing it on his own.

Surprising him immensely, Spike followed in silence after that, but Xander didn't know what prompted the silence. He didn't dare turn around to check. For the first time since he'd caught up with the vampire, however, he took a moment to scent what he could, the confusing mix of scents radiating off the vampire, the base of which was pure Spike, was a heady combination that had him swallowing heavily and shifting uncomfortably, that ratcheted up his own latent arousal up several notches.

With that as impetus, it didn't take them long to arrive at Willy's Bar. Throwing open the door, Xander stalked straight toward Willy, trusting in Spike -- amazingly enough -- to watch his back. "Willy," he growled. "What's this I hear about you not serving Spike?"


TBC
Kiristeen
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