The Knight who Sees Chapter Three
Phew! I did it. I finally finished chapter three. This one has seriously kicked my butt, and it's quite a bit longer than the other two. I might have been able to finish a little faster but I occassionally got distracted by some other story idea and have another short fic almost ready to post too.
Anyway, here we go.
The Knight who Sees
Pairing: Xander/Angel/Spike
Rating: NC17 for threesomes, and language
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and a lot of people who aren't me. Darn it!
Chapter 3
A.N. I’m changing the time frame around a little and the episode for Lover’s walk occurs in January instead of November. I needed to give Angel and Xander some time to get over their differences and become close.
Xander almost giggled as Angel and Spike gaped at him in shock. To say that he’d surprised them was a bit of an understatement.
“Did you hear us talking luv?” Spike asked a little uncertainly. Spike was sure Xander had been asleep when he and Peaches had been discussing their plans, but maybe he was wrong.
“Nope.” Xander couldn’t contain his smirk. He knew it was a bit silly, but he couldn’t help feeling a little smug that he was actually a step ahead of the two of them for once. He usually felt like he was the one who had to catch up.
Angel couldn’t help but smile a little at Xander’s obvious glee. It relieved him that despite the loss of his eye, Xander was bouncing back. “Okay, I’ll bite. How did you know that you and Spike are moving to L.A. with me?”
Xander instantly became serious. “I had a couple of visitors while I was sleeping.” Seeing Angel and Spike’s confusion, Xander gently squeezed their hands. “I met with the Oracles of the Powers that Be.”
Angel shook his head. “That’s impossible, Xander. They’re dead, remember?”
Xander laughed softly. “That’s what I said. The dude’s response was that they were true immortals, and that nothing could really kill them except the Powers.”
Spike chuckled. “Makes sense, Peaches. I guess you worried for nothin’.” He grinned at Angel’s annoyed yet relieved expression. Looking back at Xander he became serious once again. “So what did the Oracle gits tell you?”
Xander sighed. “Well, among other things it turns out that I’m a seer.” Seeing Angel’s expression become tight with worry, he hastened to reassure him. “It’s okay, Angel. Being a seer isn’t going to hurt me.” The unspoken ‘unlike Cordelia’ was clear to all of them. “It turns out that I’ve always been a seer, but my ability has been dormant. Losing my eye to Caleb turned it on.”
Xander shifted restlessly. Seeing his discomfort Angel fluffed his pillows as Spike raised the head of his bed a little. When the vampires had settled back in their previous positions, Xander continued. “We might have some issues with Buffy.”
“Because I’m taking you and Spike back with me?”
“That and because we have to take Dawn with us.”
“Why?” Spike loved the Bit, but figured she’d never want to leave her sister, especially if she had to live with Angel. Dawn had never forgiven Angel for terrorizing everybody when he’d been Angelus.
Xander sighed again. “The Oracles told me that if the First gets a hold of Dawn then It could become corporeal in our dimension. The same thing could happen if we stay here, because our family,” the vampires smiled as Xander made a gesture encompassing the three of them, “would tip the scales out of balance. Then the First wouldn’t even need Dawn to enter this dimension. We’ve been told to get our butts out of town to keep that from happening.”
Angel scrubbed his face with his hands and groaned. Xander was right; they had to take Dawn with them, but he didn’t look forward to that conversation with Buffy. Not to mention the fact that Dawn hated him, and would likely refuse to go even though Spike and Xander were going too.
Angel looked up as he felt a gentle patting on his arm. He looked up and met Xander’s reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Angel. We’ll work it out somehow.”
Spike had been watching Xander carefully during his explanation of his ‘visit’ and he knew that there was something their boy wasn’t telling them. He wanted to question him further, but Xander’s obvious exhaustion and pain held him back. Whatever it was could wait until morning. Right now they had something more important to do. “Sire, I think we should renew our claim.”
Xander blinked, surprised by the change of subject, but Angel immediately understood where his childe was going with this. Renewing their claim on Xander would not only reassure the three of them of their ties to each other during this stressful time, but it would have the added benefit of sharing the healing properties of their blood with Xander. Their blood wouldn’t help him re-grow his eye, but it would help him heal a lot faster with a lot less chance of infection.
“Good idea, Spike. It’s has been a while. I think we could all use the boost.”
Xander hid a smile. His vampires were so not subtle. Yeah, it was true that renewing the claim would boost the bonds between them, and that the vampires, at least, would gain some strength from it, but he knew they were really doing it to help him heal faster.
“Okay, let’s do it before the girls show up. That’s an explanation I don’t feel like going through tonight, or,” Xander glanced at the clock on the wall, “make that this morning.”
As Angel and Spike untied his hospital gown and helped him sit up, Xander couldn’t help but remember the first time the three of them did this.
January 1999
Xander knocked on the front door of Angel’s mansion. He couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been. What the fuck had he been thinking, kissing Willow like that? He knew it was wrong; they were both seeing other people, and despite all the fights, he really loved Cordy. Yeah, they’d both been scared ‘cause Spike had kidnapped them, but he knew that it didn’t really have anything to do with that. Hormones had certainly played a part, but in his case, it was mostly a desperate bid to hold on to his best friend before she drifted too far away from him.
And look where it got him. Cordy was hurt, and refused to talk to him. Willow was avoiding him, hoping to convince Oz to take her back. Buffy claimed she was there for both of them, but somehow seemed to be giving Willow all her support while practically ignoring Xander.
Xander felt like he was at rock bottom, and could only hope that Angel, at least, would still be there for him.
It still amazed him how close he and Angel had become. If someone had told him six months ago that Angel would become one of his friends, possibly his best friend, he would have laughed his head off. Xander and Deadboy, friends? No way!
Everything changed, though, after Angel came back from hell. Xander had felt so guilty when he realized that Willow’s spell had worked, and that it was Angel not Angelus who was sent to hell. On the one hand, he still believed that lying to Buffy was the right choice because he knew she wouldn’t have been able to hold Angelus off if she’d believed there was any chance of getting her Angel back. On the other hand, though, an innocent soul had to endure a hundred years in a hell dimension, and Buffy had been so devastated she ran away from Sunnydale and all her responsibilities.
Only a week after discovering that Angel was back, Xander had gone to him and confessed what he’d done. To his surprise, Angel had commended him on doing what needed to be done. He told Xander that if he’d been in Xander’s shoes he likely would have done the same thing. Buffy had allowed Angelus to murder a lot of innocent people simply because she hadn’t been able to ignore her feelings and do her job. And now Angel had to live with the guilt of even more deaths caused by his demon.
Angel was shocked to hear that Buffy had run away from Sunnydale after sending him to Hell. He was even more furious when Xander told him how the rest of them had patrolled in her absence. The only thing that stopped him from rushing off to confront her was Xander’s quiet reminder that although Buffy was the Slayer, she was still just a young girl; a young girl who had sacrificed her boyfriend to save the world.
Angel and Xander spent the rest of that night talking, and discovered they had a lot of things in common. Both realized, even if they’d never admit it out loud, that they likely would have been friends all along, if they hadn’t both had feelings for Buffy. Both had been a little jealous of what they thought the other could give her.
Since then, Angel and Xander had met a couple times a week. Sometimes he and Angel would spar to work on Xander’s fighting techniques. Other times they would just talk. They talked about everything, including Xander’s not so good home life.
Somewhere along the way, they grew to know each other better than anyone else ever had.
Xander was pulled from his thoughts as Angel suddenly answered the door. Seeing Xander’s distress, Angel pulled him into a hug. Xander resisted for about two seconds before leaning into Angel’s embrace. It just felt so good that someone was actually concerned about him.
After a few minutes, Angel pulled back and looked Xander in the eye. “How are you doing?”
“About the same as usual. All fucked up.”
Just as Angel opened his mouth to respond, the last person, um vampire, Xander ever expected to hear again, shouted, “Oi, Peaches! You gonna untie me any time soon?”
Xander’s eyes widened incredulously. He stalked to the never used dining room and saw Spike tied to a chair. Spike’s eyes were swollen nearly shut and his bottom lip was split open.
Somehow Spike still managed to smirk at Xander. “Hey, whelp. How’s your noggin?”
Ignoring Spike, Xander turned to Angel, who looked as embarrassed as it was possible for a two hundred and fifty year old vampire to look. “What the hell is going on?”
“I smelled your blood on him yesterday when we were at the magic shop getting the supplies he said he needed for Willow’s spell. It made me angry so I went after him before he had a chance to leave town. I tied him up, and then went to check on you. When I found out he’d hit you with a microscope and gave you a concussion, I got even more angry.” Angel growled as he glared at Spike.
“So you beat him up?”
“I disciplined him.”
“Why would you do that? Even if he did hurt me, you could have just made him leave town.” Xander was confused. Despite their lack of souls, Angel loved Spike and Dru. That was the reason he’d been unable to stake them the last time they were in town.
“You’re my friend and under my protection.” Angel’s glare intensified as he growled, “He should have known better!”
Xander was stunned to see Spike instinctively cower at Angel’s words until he checked himself and straightened as much as he was able in his bonds. “Not like you had him marked, you wanker. That makes him fair game and you know it.” Spike’s words were disrespectful, yet his tone oddly wasn’t.
Angel gazed silently at Spike for a moment. Abruptly, Angel whirled and kicked the only other chair in the room, destroying it completely. Just as suddenly, he slumped wearily. “Dammit, I hate it when he’s right,” he muttered.
Spike just sat back and smirked.
Xander had been watching the interplay between the two vampires curiously. “Angel, what the hell is Captain Peroxide talking about?”
“Oi!” Spike shouted indignantly.
Xander ignored Spike again, keeping his eyes on Angel.
Angel sighed. He’d never intended to have this conversation with any of the Scoobies, not even Xander. But…Spike was right, without being marked they were all fair game in the demon community. Buffy, he wasn’t worried about; she was the Slayer after all. Giles and Willow had varying degrees of magic to help protect them. Xander, though, was a human without any supernatural means of protection.
He normally wouldn’t be overly worried because Xander, unlike most humans, was aware of the potential dangers and knew to take precautions. The trouble was there was something about Xander that seemed to attract demons to him. He had more incidents than Willow, Giles, Oz and Cordy did all together.
Angel sighed again. He knew he had to explain this to Xander, but he suspected he wasn’t going to take it well. Mentally bracing himself for Xander’s probable reaction, Angel stared at the broken chair as he began to explain. “Xander, most demons don’t really think much of humans. Even the various peaceful species tend to look at humans as beneath them. Most won’t even interfere if a human is attacked by another demon.”
Angel sneaked a peak at Xander, who, although he appeared a bit angry, didn’t look nearly as upset as Angel expected. A bit relieved, he continued. “There is one exception to this; one that all demons will respect. Any human claimed and marked by a demon is treated with respect and protected. Any demon that violates that claim is killed as painfully as possible.”
“What do you mean by claimed and marked?” Xander asked suspiciously.
Angel groaned softly as Spike snickered. He would have to ask that, Angel thought to himself. “Marking is just what it sounds like; usually the claimant is bit by whichever demon has claimed him or her, although some species brand their claimant.”
Xander’s eyes bugged out a bit on the word ‘brand’ but, surprisingly, he made no comment. His gaze remained on Angel as he waited for him to continue.
Nervously, Angel started pacing. “There are a lot of reasons why demons would claim a human, and the reasons vary depending on the species. A single master vampire might claim a human as a pet, or a future childe, or even as a mate. If more than one master vampire is involved then the human is usually being claimed as family.”
“What do you mean by family? Does that mean the claimant would be turned?” Xander asked hesitantly.
“Not necessarily. When more than one master of a clan claims a human it usually means the human has proven worthy of respect and earned the right of the protection of the entire clan. The qualities which entitle the human the status of family could be lost at turning.” Angel stopped pacing and met Xander’s gaze when it looked like he was about to protest. “I’m not saying it never happens, but most of the time the human is cherished just as he or she is.”
Xander was quiet for several minutes as he digested what Angel had just told him. Finally, his voice little more than a whisper, he asked, “Were you thinking of claiming me?”
Angel smiled a little shyly. “I’d like to, but I wouldn’t claim you as a pet or a future childe. And even if we felt that way about each other, I couldn’t claim you as mate because of my curse. I’d like to claim you as family, but there has to be more than one master of the clan involved and I doubt any of them would be willing to have you as anything but lunch.”
Xander and Angel were startled as Spike spoke for the first time in several minutes. “I’d be willing to claim him as family with you.”
Seconds later, Angel was leaning over Spike, clutching his hair as he glared into his eyes. “Is that some kind of joke?”
Spike tried to shake his head but Angel’s grip was too tight. “No! I like the whelp. He’s brave for a human. Tried to stand up to me to protect his witchy friend, and stood up to Angelus to protect the Slayer. Not many people brave enough to stand up to two master vampires without even a weapon for protection.”
As Angel released Spike’s hair, Xander moved to stand next to Angel. “Wait a minute. You like me?” Xander’s voice was filled with disbelief.
Spike snickered. “Well, I’m not about to pick out china patterns with ya, but yeah, I like you.”
Xander covered his face with his hands and leaned against Angel. “Okay, this has gotten too weird.”
Angel studied Spike intently for several minutes. Finally, he nodded and gently turned Xander towards him. “Xander, would you let us claim you as family?”
Xander cast a worried look in Spike’s direction. “What’s to stop him from killing me instead?”
Angel smiled grimly. “If he does anything other than help me claim you, I’ll rip his heart out.”
Spike snarled. “I said I’d do it, wanker. Do you wanna make me change my mind?”
Xander realized to his amazement that Spike was insulted that Angel doubted his word. Hmm, I think he really means it. He’s really willing to claim me as family. Jeez, should I even be thinking about this? I would have to let two different vampires bite me and trust that neither one plans on killing me. Of course, I know Angel wouldn’t hurt me, and I’m sure he won’t let Spike hurt me either.
It would be nice not to have to worry about random demons wanting to kill me or trying to mate with me. I would feel a lot more secure during patrol. Xander smiled a bit sadly. And…it would be nice to be part of a family that actually wanted me.
Xander heard Angel calling his name and realized that he must have zoned out while he was thinking about the claim. “Sorry, I was just thinking it over.” He smiled at Angel and Spike. “If you guys really mean it, then I’m in.”
Angel’s smile was so bright Xander worried for a moment that Angelus was about to make an unexpected reappearance. Much to Xander’s relief, Angel’s expression grew serious again as something else occurred to him. “Xander, there’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“In order for the claim to work you have to drink a little of our blood.” He rushed to continue when Xander began to protest. “It’s only a swallow or two from each of us; it’s not enough to turn you. It’s just necessary to complete the bond between us.”
“Plus small amounts of our blood can help heal you if you’re hurt or whatnot.” Spike added.
“He’s right. As long as you’re not almost completely drained, a little of our blood won’t hurt you at all.”
Xander had to admit that he was kinda wigged about drinking their blood. He realized, though, that he wanted to be claimed badly enough to do it anyway. “I guess I can deal. It’ll only be a couple of mouthfuls, right?”
Angel patted Xander reassuring on the back. “No more than two mouthfuls a piece.”
Xander sighed, relieved. “Okay, let’s get on with it then.”
Angel removed the ropes holding Spike to the chair, but left the restraints keeping his hands behind his back. Dragging Spike out of the room, Angel called over his shoulder, “We’ll do this in the main room where we can do it more comfortably.”
Minutes later they were all sitting on Angel’s bed, ready to start. “Xander, you’ll need to remove your shirt.” Angel gently touched the area where his neck and shoulder met. “We’ll bite you here so that your shirts will cover the marks. Demons will still sense them, but we’ll avoid awkward questions from your friends.”
Xander nodded before removing his shirt.
Spike was stunned as he got his first look at Xander’s torso. He’d thought the boy to be a bit pudgy with all the baggy clothes he wore. Instead, the boy was sleek and smoothly muscled. Why in sodding hell does the whelp wear such awful clothing? He’s got nothing to be ashamed of. Spike shifted restlessly as he started to get hard thinking about running his tongue over those smooth muscles.
Angel’s thoughts were running along the same line as Spike’s. For the first time since they’d become friends, he was thinking about Xander in a sexual way. Damn. How did I never notice how attractive Xander is before?
Spike smiled knowingly at Angel as he smelled his Sire’s desire for the boy.
Angel ignored Spike and focused on Xander. “Spike and I both have to verbally invoke our claim on you as part of the ritual before we bite you. Before you drink our blood you need to say, ‘I accept your claim.’ If everything goes right we should be able to feel the bonds form between us immediately.” Angel studied Xander’s face for a moment, searching for any possible doubts he might have. Seeing nothing but calm acceptance, he nevertheless asked, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes.” Xander said firmly before he continued. “I just want…I need to belong to a family who actually wants me. Not one who wishes I’d never been born.”
Angel stomped down on his anger towards Xander’s parents once again. He vowed he’d never let his precious boy feel unwanted ever again. “Then let’s begin.”
Angel allowed his ‘true’ face to appear. After indicating to Spike to do the same, he began. “I, Angel Aurelius, claim Alexander Lavelle Harris as kin to the Aurelius clan. From this day forward shall he be bonded by blood and vow.” Angel leaned forward and bit deeply into the muscle where Xander’s shoulder and neck met. He swallowed twice before releasing Xander. Angel looked into Xander’s eyes and waited for his response.
Xander met Angel’s gaze solemnly. “I, Alexander Lavelle Harris, accept you claim.” Angel bit his wrist before offering it to Xander. With only a little hesitation, Xander took two swallows of the offered blood before releasing Angel’s wrist. To Xander’s surprise, Angel’s blood didn’t taste too bad. In fact, it was actually pretty good. Huh, maybe that’s why so many people get turned.
Angel released Spike’s arms but retained hold of him to make sure he didn’t try anything. Spike smirked, but didn’t protest. He grew serious as he met Xander’s gaze. “I, William Aurelius, claim Alexander Lavelle Harris as kin to the Aurelius clan. From this day forward shall he be bonded by blood and vow.” Spike leaned over and bit down on Xander’s other shoulder. He swallowed twice before releasing Xander. Spike waited with surprising patience for Xander’s response.
Xander smiled gently at Spike. “I, Alexander Lavelle Harris, accept your claim.” Spike bit down on his wrist before offering it to Xander. Xander took two swallows of Spike’s offered blood before releasing his wrist.
A moment later they all felt a sudden pressure surround them as the magic of the ritual took hold. Xander gasped as he felt a connection form first between he and Angel, and then between he and Spike. Vaguely he was aware of a connection to many others but that seemed more like faint background noise. The connection he felt with Angel and Spike was much, much stronger.
It felt like he could almost hear what they were thinking. From Angel he got a sense of relief and happiness; from Spike he sensed a little smugness, but more than that he perceived longing and…an intense loneliness that made his bones ache. Instinctively, Xander projected feelings of happiness and belonging along his link to Spike, and smiled as the vampire purred in response.
Xander yawned, suddenly very sleepy. The vampires smiled and moving, for once in perfect accord, they carefully positioned Xander until he was lying in the middle of the bed. Then each vampire stretched out on either side of him.
Angel smiled as Xander blinked sleepily at him. “Go to sleep, Xander.”
Xander yawned again. “Okay,” he mumbled.
Spike gazed fondly at Xander as he immediately drifted off. After a moment he met Angel’s eyes. “Ours,” he whispered fiercely.
Angel nodded. “Ours,” he agreed. “Get some sleep, childe. It’s been a long night.”
“Yes, Sire,” Spike said dutifully for the first time in over a century. He settled back onto the pillow and unconsciously snuggled closer to Xander as he too fell asleep.
Angel settled back onto his own pillow, and turned towards his family. He threw an arm around both Xander and Spike and followed them into slumber.
Sunnydale April 2003.
Xander came back to the present as he became conscious that both Angel and Spike were calling his name. Glancing at the clock he realized that several minutes had passed while he’d been remembering the past. “Sorry, guys. I was just thinking about the first time you guys claimed me.”
Spike sat back relieved. “Yeah, that was pretty memorable. First time Peaches and I had gotten along for about a century. Probably the first time in a century he hadn’t spent the whole night brooding, too.”
Angel reached over Xander and lightly smacked Spike on the head. “I wasn’t that bad.” At both Spike and Xander’s incredulous stares, he amended, “Well, I’m not like that so much any more.”
Xander laughed. “Not that I mind now, but remember how mad I was the next morning when I realized you hadn’t warned me that I’d be able to feel what you two were feeling?”
Angel grimaced. “I swear I didn’t know! It’s not like humans are claimed as family that often. I knew it could happen between mates, but no one had ever said it would happen with claimed family.”
Xander blushed slightly at the word mates and quickly changed the subject. “Are we ready to do this?”
Angel nodded. “Definitely.”
Angel moved to sit on Xander’s hospital bed. It was no longer necessary to say the complete ritual; the exchange of blood between them was enough to renew the claim. Looking into Xander’s remaining eye, he whispered, “Mine.” After he had bitten into his claim mark and taken two swallows, Angel sat up, bit into his own wrist and offered it to Xander.
Xander reached for Angel’s wrist. “Yours,” he responded with a fond smile. Xander brought Angel’s wrist to his mouth and took two swallows before releasing it. He turned towards Spike.
Spike sat down on the opposite side of the bed from Angel. He ran a caressing hand over Xander’s hair before meeting his gaze. “Mine,” he proclaimed before he bent and bit into his claim mark. Straightening, he bit his own wrist and offered it to Xander.
“Yours,” Xander agreed. He took the offered wrist and swallowed twice. He released Spike’s wrist and swayed as he felt their bonds strengthen.
Moving as one Angel and Spike eased him back onto his bed and pulled the hospital gown back up. As Angel bent over to retie the gown he affectionately kissed Xander’s forehead. “Go to sleep, precious. We’ll wake you when the girls get here.”
Xander nodded, exhausted. He could already feel their blood starting to heal the damage in his eye. “Love you, guys,” he whispered before slipping easily into sleep.
Angel and Spike met each other’s gaze for a long moment before Spike replied, “We love you too, Xan.”
Smiling, both vampires settled back into their chairs and waited for his friends to arrive.
Anyway, here we go.
The Knight who Sees
Pairing: Xander/Angel/Spike
Rating: NC17 for threesomes, and language
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and a lot of people who aren't me. Darn it!
Chapter 3
A.N. I’m changing the time frame around a little and the episode for Lover’s walk occurs in January instead of November. I needed to give Angel and Xander some time to get over their differences and become close.
Xander almost giggled as Angel and Spike gaped at him in shock. To say that he’d surprised them was a bit of an understatement.
“Did you hear us talking luv?” Spike asked a little uncertainly. Spike was sure Xander had been asleep when he and Peaches had been discussing their plans, but maybe he was wrong.
“Nope.” Xander couldn’t contain his smirk. He knew it was a bit silly, but he couldn’t help feeling a little smug that he was actually a step ahead of the two of them for once. He usually felt like he was the one who had to catch up.
Angel couldn’t help but smile a little at Xander’s obvious glee. It relieved him that despite the loss of his eye, Xander was bouncing back. “Okay, I’ll bite. How did you know that you and Spike are moving to L.A. with me?”
Xander instantly became serious. “I had a couple of visitors while I was sleeping.” Seeing Angel and Spike’s confusion, Xander gently squeezed their hands. “I met with the Oracles of the Powers that Be.”
Angel shook his head. “That’s impossible, Xander. They’re dead, remember?”
Xander laughed softly. “That’s what I said. The dude’s response was that they were true immortals, and that nothing could really kill them except the Powers.”
Spike chuckled. “Makes sense, Peaches. I guess you worried for nothin’.” He grinned at Angel’s annoyed yet relieved expression. Looking back at Xander he became serious once again. “So what did the Oracle gits tell you?”
Xander sighed. “Well, among other things it turns out that I’m a seer.” Seeing Angel’s expression become tight with worry, he hastened to reassure him. “It’s okay, Angel. Being a seer isn’t going to hurt me.” The unspoken ‘unlike Cordelia’ was clear to all of them. “It turns out that I’ve always been a seer, but my ability has been dormant. Losing my eye to Caleb turned it on.”
Xander shifted restlessly. Seeing his discomfort Angel fluffed his pillows as Spike raised the head of his bed a little. When the vampires had settled back in their previous positions, Xander continued. “We might have some issues with Buffy.”
“Because I’m taking you and Spike back with me?”
“That and because we have to take Dawn with us.”
“Why?” Spike loved the Bit, but figured she’d never want to leave her sister, especially if she had to live with Angel. Dawn had never forgiven Angel for terrorizing everybody when he’d been Angelus.
Xander sighed again. “The Oracles told me that if the First gets a hold of Dawn then It could become corporeal in our dimension. The same thing could happen if we stay here, because our family,” the vampires smiled as Xander made a gesture encompassing the three of them, “would tip the scales out of balance. Then the First wouldn’t even need Dawn to enter this dimension. We’ve been told to get our butts out of town to keep that from happening.”
Angel scrubbed his face with his hands and groaned. Xander was right; they had to take Dawn with them, but he didn’t look forward to that conversation with Buffy. Not to mention the fact that Dawn hated him, and would likely refuse to go even though Spike and Xander were going too.
Angel looked up as he felt a gentle patting on his arm. He looked up and met Xander’s reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Angel. We’ll work it out somehow.”
Spike had been watching Xander carefully during his explanation of his ‘visit’ and he knew that there was something their boy wasn’t telling them. He wanted to question him further, but Xander’s obvious exhaustion and pain held him back. Whatever it was could wait until morning. Right now they had something more important to do. “Sire, I think we should renew our claim.”
Xander blinked, surprised by the change of subject, but Angel immediately understood where his childe was going with this. Renewing their claim on Xander would not only reassure the three of them of their ties to each other during this stressful time, but it would have the added benefit of sharing the healing properties of their blood with Xander. Their blood wouldn’t help him re-grow his eye, but it would help him heal a lot faster with a lot less chance of infection.
“Good idea, Spike. It’s has been a while. I think we could all use the boost.”
Xander hid a smile. His vampires were so not subtle. Yeah, it was true that renewing the claim would boost the bonds between them, and that the vampires, at least, would gain some strength from it, but he knew they were really doing it to help him heal faster.
“Okay, let’s do it before the girls show up. That’s an explanation I don’t feel like going through tonight, or,” Xander glanced at the clock on the wall, “make that this morning.”
As Angel and Spike untied his hospital gown and helped him sit up, Xander couldn’t help but remember the first time the three of them did this.
January 1999
Xander knocked on the front door of Angel’s mansion. He couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been. What the fuck had he been thinking, kissing Willow like that? He knew it was wrong; they were both seeing other people, and despite all the fights, he really loved Cordy. Yeah, they’d both been scared ‘cause Spike had kidnapped them, but he knew that it didn’t really have anything to do with that. Hormones had certainly played a part, but in his case, it was mostly a desperate bid to hold on to his best friend before she drifted too far away from him.
And look where it got him. Cordy was hurt, and refused to talk to him. Willow was avoiding him, hoping to convince Oz to take her back. Buffy claimed she was there for both of them, but somehow seemed to be giving Willow all her support while practically ignoring Xander.
Xander felt like he was at rock bottom, and could only hope that Angel, at least, would still be there for him.
It still amazed him how close he and Angel had become. If someone had told him six months ago that Angel would become one of his friends, possibly his best friend, he would have laughed his head off. Xander and Deadboy, friends? No way!
Everything changed, though, after Angel came back from hell. Xander had felt so guilty when he realized that Willow’s spell had worked, and that it was Angel not Angelus who was sent to hell. On the one hand, he still believed that lying to Buffy was the right choice because he knew she wouldn’t have been able to hold Angelus off if she’d believed there was any chance of getting her Angel back. On the other hand, though, an innocent soul had to endure a hundred years in a hell dimension, and Buffy had been so devastated she ran away from Sunnydale and all her responsibilities.
Only a week after discovering that Angel was back, Xander had gone to him and confessed what he’d done. To his surprise, Angel had commended him on doing what needed to be done. He told Xander that if he’d been in Xander’s shoes he likely would have done the same thing. Buffy had allowed Angelus to murder a lot of innocent people simply because she hadn’t been able to ignore her feelings and do her job. And now Angel had to live with the guilt of even more deaths caused by his demon.
Angel was shocked to hear that Buffy had run away from Sunnydale after sending him to Hell. He was even more furious when Xander told him how the rest of them had patrolled in her absence. The only thing that stopped him from rushing off to confront her was Xander’s quiet reminder that although Buffy was the Slayer, she was still just a young girl; a young girl who had sacrificed her boyfriend to save the world.
Angel and Xander spent the rest of that night talking, and discovered they had a lot of things in common. Both realized, even if they’d never admit it out loud, that they likely would have been friends all along, if they hadn’t both had feelings for Buffy. Both had been a little jealous of what they thought the other could give her.
Since then, Angel and Xander had met a couple times a week. Sometimes he and Angel would spar to work on Xander’s fighting techniques. Other times they would just talk. They talked about everything, including Xander’s not so good home life.
Somewhere along the way, they grew to know each other better than anyone else ever had.
Xander was pulled from his thoughts as Angel suddenly answered the door. Seeing Xander’s distress, Angel pulled him into a hug. Xander resisted for about two seconds before leaning into Angel’s embrace. It just felt so good that someone was actually concerned about him.
After a few minutes, Angel pulled back and looked Xander in the eye. “How are you doing?”
“About the same as usual. All fucked up.”
Just as Angel opened his mouth to respond, the last person, um vampire, Xander ever expected to hear again, shouted, “Oi, Peaches! You gonna untie me any time soon?”
Xander’s eyes widened incredulously. He stalked to the never used dining room and saw Spike tied to a chair. Spike’s eyes were swollen nearly shut and his bottom lip was split open.
Somehow Spike still managed to smirk at Xander. “Hey, whelp. How’s your noggin?”
Ignoring Spike, Xander turned to Angel, who looked as embarrassed as it was possible for a two hundred and fifty year old vampire to look. “What the hell is going on?”
“I smelled your blood on him yesterday when we were at the magic shop getting the supplies he said he needed for Willow’s spell. It made me angry so I went after him before he had a chance to leave town. I tied him up, and then went to check on you. When I found out he’d hit you with a microscope and gave you a concussion, I got even more angry.” Angel growled as he glared at Spike.
“So you beat him up?”
“I disciplined him.”
“Why would you do that? Even if he did hurt me, you could have just made him leave town.” Xander was confused. Despite their lack of souls, Angel loved Spike and Dru. That was the reason he’d been unable to stake them the last time they were in town.
“You’re my friend and under my protection.” Angel’s glare intensified as he growled, “He should have known better!”
Xander was stunned to see Spike instinctively cower at Angel’s words until he checked himself and straightened as much as he was able in his bonds. “Not like you had him marked, you wanker. That makes him fair game and you know it.” Spike’s words were disrespectful, yet his tone oddly wasn’t.
Angel gazed silently at Spike for a moment. Abruptly, Angel whirled and kicked the only other chair in the room, destroying it completely. Just as suddenly, he slumped wearily. “Dammit, I hate it when he’s right,” he muttered.
Spike just sat back and smirked.
Xander had been watching the interplay between the two vampires curiously. “Angel, what the hell is Captain Peroxide talking about?”
“Oi!” Spike shouted indignantly.
Xander ignored Spike again, keeping his eyes on Angel.
Angel sighed. He’d never intended to have this conversation with any of the Scoobies, not even Xander. But…Spike was right, without being marked they were all fair game in the demon community. Buffy, he wasn’t worried about; she was the Slayer after all. Giles and Willow had varying degrees of magic to help protect them. Xander, though, was a human without any supernatural means of protection.
He normally wouldn’t be overly worried because Xander, unlike most humans, was aware of the potential dangers and knew to take precautions. The trouble was there was something about Xander that seemed to attract demons to him. He had more incidents than Willow, Giles, Oz and Cordy did all together.
Angel sighed again. He knew he had to explain this to Xander, but he suspected he wasn’t going to take it well. Mentally bracing himself for Xander’s probable reaction, Angel stared at the broken chair as he began to explain. “Xander, most demons don’t really think much of humans. Even the various peaceful species tend to look at humans as beneath them. Most won’t even interfere if a human is attacked by another demon.”
Angel sneaked a peak at Xander, who, although he appeared a bit angry, didn’t look nearly as upset as Angel expected. A bit relieved, he continued. “There is one exception to this; one that all demons will respect. Any human claimed and marked by a demon is treated with respect and protected. Any demon that violates that claim is killed as painfully as possible.”
“What do you mean by claimed and marked?” Xander asked suspiciously.
Angel groaned softly as Spike snickered. He would have to ask that, Angel thought to himself. “Marking is just what it sounds like; usually the claimant is bit by whichever demon has claimed him or her, although some species brand their claimant.”
Xander’s eyes bugged out a bit on the word ‘brand’ but, surprisingly, he made no comment. His gaze remained on Angel as he waited for him to continue.
Nervously, Angel started pacing. “There are a lot of reasons why demons would claim a human, and the reasons vary depending on the species. A single master vampire might claim a human as a pet, or a future childe, or even as a mate. If more than one master vampire is involved then the human is usually being claimed as family.”
“What do you mean by family? Does that mean the claimant would be turned?” Xander asked hesitantly.
“Not necessarily. When more than one master of a clan claims a human it usually means the human has proven worthy of respect and earned the right of the protection of the entire clan. The qualities which entitle the human the status of family could be lost at turning.” Angel stopped pacing and met Xander’s gaze when it looked like he was about to protest. “I’m not saying it never happens, but most of the time the human is cherished just as he or she is.”
Xander was quiet for several minutes as he digested what Angel had just told him. Finally, his voice little more than a whisper, he asked, “Were you thinking of claiming me?”
Angel smiled a little shyly. “I’d like to, but I wouldn’t claim you as a pet or a future childe. And even if we felt that way about each other, I couldn’t claim you as mate because of my curse. I’d like to claim you as family, but there has to be more than one master of the clan involved and I doubt any of them would be willing to have you as anything but lunch.”
Xander and Angel were startled as Spike spoke for the first time in several minutes. “I’d be willing to claim him as family with you.”
Seconds later, Angel was leaning over Spike, clutching his hair as he glared into his eyes. “Is that some kind of joke?”
Spike tried to shake his head but Angel’s grip was too tight. “No! I like the whelp. He’s brave for a human. Tried to stand up to me to protect his witchy friend, and stood up to Angelus to protect the Slayer. Not many people brave enough to stand up to two master vampires without even a weapon for protection.”
As Angel released Spike’s hair, Xander moved to stand next to Angel. “Wait a minute. You like me?” Xander’s voice was filled with disbelief.
Spike snickered. “Well, I’m not about to pick out china patterns with ya, but yeah, I like you.”
Xander covered his face with his hands and leaned against Angel. “Okay, this has gotten too weird.”
Angel studied Spike intently for several minutes. Finally, he nodded and gently turned Xander towards him. “Xander, would you let us claim you as family?”
Xander cast a worried look in Spike’s direction. “What’s to stop him from killing me instead?”
Angel smiled grimly. “If he does anything other than help me claim you, I’ll rip his heart out.”
Spike snarled. “I said I’d do it, wanker. Do you wanna make me change my mind?”
Xander realized to his amazement that Spike was insulted that Angel doubted his word. Hmm, I think he really means it. He’s really willing to claim me as family. Jeez, should I even be thinking about this? I would have to let two different vampires bite me and trust that neither one plans on killing me. Of course, I know Angel wouldn’t hurt me, and I’m sure he won’t let Spike hurt me either.
It would be nice not to have to worry about random demons wanting to kill me or trying to mate with me. I would feel a lot more secure during patrol. Xander smiled a bit sadly. And…it would be nice to be part of a family that actually wanted me.
Xander heard Angel calling his name and realized that he must have zoned out while he was thinking about the claim. “Sorry, I was just thinking it over.” He smiled at Angel and Spike. “If you guys really mean it, then I’m in.”
Angel’s smile was so bright Xander worried for a moment that Angelus was about to make an unexpected reappearance. Much to Xander’s relief, Angel’s expression grew serious again as something else occurred to him. “Xander, there’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“In order for the claim to work you have to drink a little of our blood.” He rushed to continue when Xander began to protest. “It’s only a swallow or two from each of us; it’s not enough to turn you. It’s just necessary to complete the bond between us.”
“Plus small amounts of our blood can help heal you if you’re hurt or whatnot.” Spike added.
“He’s right. As long as you’re not almost completely drained, a little of our blood won’t hurt you at all.”
Xander had to admit that he was kinda wigged about drinking their blood. He realized, though, that he wanted to be claimed badly enough to do it anyway. “I guess I can deal. It’ll only be a couple of mouthfuls, right?”
Angel patted Xander reassuring on the back. “No more than two mouthfuls a piece.”
Xander sighed, relieved. “Okay, let’s get on with it then.”
Angel removed the ropes holding Spike to the chair, but left the restraints keeping his hands behind his back. Dragging Spike out of the room, Angel called over his shoulder, “We’ll do this in the main room where we can do it more comfortably.”
Minutes later they were all sitting on Angel’s bed, ready to start. “Xander, you’ll need to remove your shirt.” Angel gently touched the area where his neck and shoulder met. “We’ll bite you here so that your shirts will cover the marks. Demons will still sense them, but we’ll avoid awkward questions from your friends.”
Xander nodded before removing his shirt.
Spike was stunned as he got his first look at Xander’s torso. He’d thought the boy to be a bit pudgy with all the baggy clothes he wore. Instead, the boy was sleek and smoothly muscled. Why in sodding hell does the whelp wear such awful clothing? He’s got nothing to be ashamed of. Spike shifted restlessly as he started to get hard thinking about running his tongue over those smooth muscles.
Angel’s thoughts were running along the same line as Spike’s. For the first time since they’d become friends, he was thinking about Xander in a sexual way. Damn. How did I never notice how attractive Xander is before?
Spike smiled knowingly at Angel as he smelled his Sire’s desire for the boy.
Angel ignored Spike and focused on Xander. “Spike and I both have to verbally invoke our claim on you as part of the ritual before we bite you. Before you drink our blood you need to say, ‘I accept your claim.’ If everything goes right we should be able to feel the bonds form between us immediately.” Angel studied Xander’s face for a moment, searching for any possible doubts he might have. Seeing nothing but calm acceptance, he nevertheless asked, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes.” Xander said firmly before he continued. “I just want…I need to belong to a family who actually wants me. Not one who wishes I’d never been born.”
Angel stomped down on his anger towards Xander’s parents once again. He vowed he’d never let his precious boy feel unwanted ever again. “Then let’s begin.”
Angel allowed his ‘true’ face to appear. After indicating to Spike to do the same, he began. “I, Angel Aurelius, claim Alexander Lavelle Harris as kin to the Aurelius clan. From this day forward shall he be bonded by blood and vow.” Angel leaned forward and bit deeply into the muscle where Xander’s shoulder and neck met. He swallowed twice before releasing Xander. Angel looked into Xander’s eyes and waited for his response.
Xander met Angel’s gaze solemnly. “I, Alexander Lavelle Harris, accept you claim.” Angel bit his wrist before offering it to Xander. With only a little hesitation, Xander took two swallows of the offered blood before releasing Angel’s wrist. To Xander’s surprise, Angel’s blood didn’t taste too bad. In fact, it was actually pretty good. Huh, maybe that’s why so many people get turned.
Angel released Spike’s arms but retained hold of him to make sure he didn’t try anything. Spike smirked, but didn’t protest. He grew serious as he met Xander’s gaze. “I, William Aurelius, claim Alexander Lavelle Harris as kin to the Aurelius clan. From this day forward shall he be bonded by blood and vow.” Spike leaned over and bit down on Xander’s other shoulder. He swallowed twice before releasing Xander. Spike waited with surprising patience for Xander’s response.
Xander smiled gently at Spike. “I, Alexander Lavelle Harris, accept your claim.” Spike bit down on his wrist before offering it to Xander. Xander took two swallows of Spike’s offered blood before releasing his wrist.
A moment later they all felt a sudden pressure surround them as the magic of the ritual took hold. Xander gasped as he felt a connection form first between he and Angel, and then between he and Spike. Vaguely he was aware of a connection to many others but that seemed more like faint background noise. The connection he felt with Angel and Spike was much, much stronger.
It felt like he could almost hear what they were thinking. From Angel he got a sense of relief and happiness; from Spike he sensed a little smugness, but more than that he perceived longing and…an intense loneliness that made his bones ache. Instinctively, Xander projected feelings of happiness and belonging along his link to Spike, and smiled as the vampire purred in response.
Xander yawned, suddenly very sleepy. The vampires smiled and moving, for once in perfect accord, they carefully positioned Xander until he was lying in the middle of the bed. Then each vampire stretched out on either side of him.
Angel smiled as Xander blinked sleepily at him. “Go to sleep, Xander.”
Xander yawned again. “Okay,” he mumbled.
Spike gazed fondly at Xander as he immediately drifted off. After a moment he met Angel’s eyes. “Ours,” he whispered fiercely.
Angel nodded. “Ours,” he agreed. “Get some sleep, childe. It’s been a long night.”
“Yes, Sire,” Spike said dutifully for the first time in over a century. He settled back onto the pillow and unconsciously snuggled closer to Xander as he too fell asleep.
Angel settled back onto his own pillow, and turned towards his family. He threw an arm around both Xander and Spike and followed them into slumber.
Sunnydale April 2003.
Xander came back to the present as he became conscious that both Angel and Spike were calling his name. Glancing at the clock he realized that several minutes had passed while he’d been remembering the past. “Sorry, guys. I was just thinking about the first time you guys claimed me.”
Spike sat back relieved. “Yeah, that was pretty memorable. First time Peaches and I had gotten along for about a century. Probably the first time in a century he hadn’t spent the whole night brooding, too.”
Angel reached over Xander and lightly smacked Spike on the head. “I wasn’t that bad.” At both Spike and Xander’s incredulous stares, he amended, “Well, I’m not like that so much any more.”
Xander laughed. “Not that I mind now, but remember how mad I was the next morning when I realized you hadn’t warned me that I’d be able to feel what you two were feeling?”
Angel grimaced. “I swear I didn’t know! It’s not like humans are claimed as family that often. I knew it could happen between mates, but no one had ever said it would happen with claimed family.”
Xander blushed slightly at the word mates and quickly changed the subject. “Are we ready to do this?”
Angel nodded. “Definitely.”
Angel moved to sit on Xander’s hospital bed. It was no longer necessary to say the complete ritual; the exchange of blood between them was enough to renew the claim. Looking into Xander’s remaining eye, he whispered, “Mine.” After he had bitten into his claim mark and taken two swallows, Angel sat up, bit into his own wrist and offered it to Xander.
Xander reached for Angel’s wrist. “Yours,” he responded with a fond smile. Xander brought Angel’s wrist to his mouth and took two swallows before releasing it. He turned towards Spike.
Spike sat down on the opposite side of the bed from Angel. He ran a caressing hand over Xander’s hair before meeting his gaze. “Mine,” he proclaimed before he bent and bit into his claim mark. Straightening, he bit his own wrist and offered it to Xander.
“Yours,” Xander agreed. He took the offered wrist and swallowed twice. He released Spike’s wrist and swayed as he felt their bonds strengthen.
Moving as one Angel and Spike eased him back onto his bed and pulled the hospital gown back up. As Angel bent over to retie the gown he affectionately kissed Xander’s forehead. “Go to sleep, precious. We’ll wake you when the girls get here.”
Xander nodded, exhausted. He could already feel their blood starting to heal the damage in his eye. “Love you, guys,” he whispered before slipping easily into sleep.
Angel and Spike met each other’s gaze for a long moment before Spike replied, “We love you too, Xan.”
Smiling, both vampires settled back into their chairs and waited for his friends to arrive.