The Cost of Butterfly Kisses

[lit_gal]

The  Cost of Butterfly Kisses, Part 36
Fandom/Pairing: BtVS, Spike/Xander
Rated: ADULT

STOP
This is the second chapter of the day, so you might want to read chapter 35 first!   Now that the boys are together, it's time to deal with a certain villain.

( Chapter One... )  ( Chapter Two... ) ( Chapter 14 . )

Chapter 36

Xander woke up stiff and sore and tangled in knotted sheets and jeans that he hadn't fully kicked off yet. His shoulders throbbed from where Spike had grabbed him, and Xander wasn't even a little sorry because the various bruises just made the night before more real. He had sex. He had sex with Spike. Gay sex. Xander liked gay sex. A lot.

"Stop thinking so bloody loud," Spike grumbled. He rolled over and caught Xander in the ribs with an elbow, and Xander wasn't sure it was accidental. He grinned. Yep, Spike did like being chip free.

"It's almost three."

"In the afternoon. Sun's still up," Spike sounded grumpy, and Xander lay staring at the ceiling, a big goofy grin on his face as he traced a circle on Spike's bare shoulder. Above him, he could hear muffled voices, which meant someone was screaming.

"Spike?"

"Dawn figured out her sis was stealing her good shirts for slaying. The only person in danger of dying is any git stupid enough to jump in the middle," Spike muttered, his breath skittering across Xander's skin, making all his little hairs raise up and his skin turn to gooseflesh.

"So that would be one vote for butting out," Xander guessed. Spike didn't bother answering, but he did tighten his arm around Xander's waist, pulling him closer. Xander hadn't had that many lovers in his life: three in fact. Faith hadn't even given him time to dress, and mornings had not been Anya's best time of day.

"What ever happened to Anya after she kicked us out of the Magic Box?" Xander asked.

One bleary blue eye opened. Clearly morning was not Spike's best time of day, either. "We shag, and you start asking about the ex?" Spike asked, an eyebrow going up.

"Um… only in that I'm wondering if she's still in town."

"She took off about a month back…. Boarded up the place and said she'd come back if we didn't end up getting the whole town sucked into hell."

Xander thought about that. "Oh."

Spike's eyebrow twitched. He wanted to know why Xander had brought her up, but he wasn't coming out and asking. Xander wasn't used to that.

"Anya used to use mornings to set our goals for the day. It was a little… uncomfortable," Xander admitted.

"More uncomfortable than getting woken by some rude git who doesn't know to wait until sunset?"

Xander poked Spike in the ribs.

Spike narrowed his eyes, and Xander had a half second to worry before fingers found his side and started tickling. Xander gave a high-pitched scream worthy of a potential as Spike stole all control and Xander squirmed helplessly to get away. Luckily… or unluckily… someone started pounding on their door and Spike froze. Xander had one leg thrown off the bed and was even more tangled in the sheets than ever with Spike's arm pinning him to the mattress.

"Who is it?" Spike yelled at the top of his lungs. Grandmother had some mighty thick doors down here, but Xander's guts tightened as he realized that Bonnie would hear them if she was outside the door. Shit. Shit and more shit. A voice called back, and Xander looked at Spike for a translation.

"Halvard came over wanting to talk to the slayer," Spike said with a frown.

Halvard. That was the boy from next door that had been spending more and more time with Dawn. "You don't think he's dumb enough to talk about officially dating Dawn, do you?" Xander asked. From the sour expression on Spike's face he wasn't ruling it out. Buffy might not kill Halvard, but Xander wasn't betting on whether or not she'd kill Dawn. The sister had been a little too sisterly lately, and not in a good way.

"Right then, move your arse." Spike got a wicked look in his eye that warned Xander about a half second before Spike lifted his arm and let Xander fall out of bed.

"Ow!" Xander complained.

Spike leaned over the edge and looked down with exaggerated sympathy. "No major injuries, I hope."

"I'm going to put Tabasco in your blood supply," Xander warned.

"Spices it right up when you do that." Spike wiggled his eyebrows before getting out of bed and going for his jeans.

"Annoying vampires," Xander muttered as he kicked off his jeans from the night before. He paused, and for a second, he could feel Spike against his skin, hands on his hips, their cocks pressing together, their breath heavy and sweat slicking his skin.

"Someone's feeling randy. I'll take care of you just as soon as I make sure the slayer doesn't kill her sis," Spike offered with a smile so really, really sharp it could cut something really, really tough. Xander was almost sure his blood supply was heading south again. "Or I could just take care of that now," Spike said. Pursing his lips, he stalked toward Xander, his hips rolling, and his open jeans framing his dark, curled hair and uncut cock.

Xander fumbled to his knees and then nearly fell over as he pushed himself up and kicked his last foot free of his jeans. "Buffy…. Halvard…."

"Lost your verbs again, pet." And then Spike was on him, pressing him back into the wall. Something tumbled off the bedside table and clattered to the floor, and Xander felt feverishly hot as Spike thrust into him, their bodies undulating against each other. Spike was kissing him, one hand behind Xander's neck, and Xander was almost sure he had meant to push Spike away, but instead, he was pulling him closer, his fingers scrambling at Spike's soft skin. There was something Xander was supposed to be caring about, but he pretty much couldn't remember what it was as Spike leaned his weight into Xander.

Strong fingers wrapped around Xander's cock, and in three or four pulls, Xander started coming with a shout. Backing away, Spike watched him with this expression that reminded Xander of a well-fed cat, but his cock was still jutting out. Xander leaned back against the wall gasping for breath as he tried to gather up brain cells that were as scattered as their clothing and his loose change which had hit the floor.

"You want some help with that?" Xander licked his lips and looked at Spike's cock. Oddly, he found that he wanted to touch it… to feel it when Spike came… he might want to taste it, but Xander was filing that desire away for a little later after he could admit it to himself without a little hint of panic in the pit of his stomach.

"I'd love some, but the slayer's getting impatient, luv. I'll tell you what," Spike stuffed his cock down inside his jeans and zipped them up, an action that made Xander's cock ache in a sort of sympathetic pain, "it'll be even better after having to wait," Spike said. Walking over, he caught Xander by the back of the neck and pulled him close, and Xander thought they were going to kiss, but then Spike tilted his head down so they rested their heads together, and the gesture was both intimate and uniquely Spike. Xander leaned forward and brought his hand up to rest his bare palm against Spike's chest. "Let's take care of the slayer and then come back here."

"Good plan," Xander agreed.

"Yep." They stayed there for long seconds where Xander's body slowly cooled and he struggled to get his breathing back under control. If he walked out looking flushed and breathless, he was never going to live it down. Without warning, Spike turned and headed for the door, grabbing a shirt off a hanger as he passed the closet. "Have someone up there we don't know, Xander," Spike said, all flirting gone as he suddenly became a predator.

He ripped the door open and slammed past whoever was outside while Xander dove for sheets to cover himself. Shit.

"Xander?" Willow stood in the doorway, her eyes so big that Xander was afraid they were going to fall right out of her head.

"Door, as in CLOSE THE!" Xander shouted.

Willow gaped like a fish for a second, her mouth working without producing sound, and then she turned brilliant red and backed out, slamming the door on her way. Sagging down, Xander rested his forehead against the mattress. Well, damn. Xander might have taken a few minutes to feel sorry for himself, but Spike had said there was a stranger, so Xander grabbed the first clothes he could shove himself into and headed for upstairs.

The basement was oddly empty when Xander came out, still trying to shove an arm into his shirt and his foot into his second shoe at the same time. On the stairs, he heard the first whispers of potentials, and a whole group of them were on the landing.

"It's some magic guy," one of the potentials offered, her eyes wide with fear.

"Buffy and Spike will kill him if he's a threat," one of the others said in the panicked tone of someone who really hopes that's true.

Xander stuck a finger in the back of his shoe and used it to pull the damn thing on before he raced up the last set of stairs. Spike and Buffy had the new guy and Halvard pinned near the door, and Dawn looked so angry that for one second, Xander considered that fleeing was the better part of valor where the Summer women were concerned.

"Halvard?" Xander asked. He'd always been a friend, but the guy standing next to him did not exactly scream 'friend.' The guy was over six feet with short cut hair and the wildest black and red tattoo Xander had ever seen running up the side of his neck and face. The same pattern of black and red symbols went down one forearm and onto the back of his hand.

"Watch out, pet. Halvard's brought a magusaean."

"Magawhat?"

"Magusaean," the man offered in a quiet voice. "One who uses ancient Zoroastrian magics to understand and sometimes even manipulate fate."

"A wizard?" Xander asked.

Everyone in the room except the new guy flinched at that word, but then Xander found that almost no one actually like to be called a wizard, which was odd because they were wizards. Male, cock-having people doing magic would always be wizards in Xander's book.

"Actually," this new man offered, "the term wizard comes from the root word for wise man, and was not strictly a term for those with magical power until the church started using it as a criminal charge and excuse for executing people with special abilities. Wizard came into use in the 1500s largely as a word that would be equivalent to murderer or rapist or Satanist. I try to avoid 'wizard'."

"Oh." Xander suddenly felt about two inches tall.

Halvard spoke up. "Mom and Dad wanted me to introduce Vovka to you guys. He's really good with magic stuff, and he's the best at tracking down information. If we're all in danger of getting sucked into hell like Grandma says, then he's going to be a good help, right?" Halvard looked around, but his gaze settled on Dawn. He wanted to impress her by helping.

"She thinks we're going to get sucked into hell?" Willow asked. She was also carefully avoiding looking at Xander.

Halvard shrugged. "Grandma predicted that in the 1910s, too. Mom and Dad said that they'd take their chances on you fixing whatever has gone wrong.

"Which is why I came to offer my services-no strings attached, ma'am," Vovka offered.

Xander sucked in a breath, and Spike spared him a quick glance, but Xander had no idea how to explain his sudden realization without pissing Buffy off. The second Vovka had said 'ma'am', Xander recognized him. He was the wizard… magastein… magic dude that had been with Riley. This was the man who had cast the spell to protect the unit when they went to question Warren and Andrew.

"Well, nice to meet you," Xander said as he stepped between Spike and Buffy to offer the guy his hand.

"Very nice to meet you as well," Vovka said with a smile. Xander clearly had not redirected all the blood back to the big brain because now that he remembered the guy, he couldn't imagine how he had missed the whole military haircut, military physique and military polite thing the guy had going on. Xander backed away, and Spike was giving him an odd look, but at least he wasn't openly hostile to Vovka anymore. Buffy, on the other hand, was. "I have heard many great things about your guardianship of the Hellmouth," Vovka said, tilting his head toward Buffy.

"Right," Buffy said, her voice dripping with suspicion. "So, you're just volunteering to enlist?"

Vovka didn't have a chance to answer because Xander started choking on his heart which was suddenly in his throat.

"Bloody hell, breathe, Harris," Spike said, slapping him on the back. Xander gave Spike a wide, panicked look, but Spike just stared back blankly.

"No ma'am, I don't think I'll be joining your army. I was simply offering my services for a little reconnaissance. "

"Reconnaissance?" Giles came out from the hallway, a crossbow in hand, but at least he was pointing it at the ground.

"Yes, sir," Vovka agreed. "Most of the demon community says that evil is rising from below, and I've heard more than one rumor that an apocalypse is coming." Vovka looked right at Spike. "Something about evil committing a purely selfless act and good committing one of ultimate evil." That was almost word for word what Xander had said on the phone, and Xander really hoped that Spike had gotten the clue, but he just stared at the magic guy who was now looking around the room again. "Both seem rather unbelievable, but then humanity always manages to do the unexpected."

"And you can help, how?" Giles asked.

"Beljoxa's Eye," Vovka said.

Giles straightened up. "That's a demon myth."

"Demon, yes. Myth, no," Vovka said. "Most demons know how to open the portal, but trying to get a straight answer out of Beljoxa's Eye is a task that requires planning and decades of preparation. I had thought to offer my assistance in that arena."

"We need an eye?" Xander asked.

"Beljoxa's Eye is a myth… a story of a demon in another dimension who sees everything."

Xander thought about what he'd just done in the bedroom. "Okay, I'm really hoping that's an exaggeration."

"Beljoxa's Eye is no myth," Vovka insisted. "Ask the vampire."

Everyone turned toward Spike. "Don't bloody ask me," Spike quickly said. "Old Heinrich and Darla were all Beljoxa's Eye this and that, but vampires have too much of the human in 'em. They never could get the bloke to tell them anything useful. Dru with her mad visions was about a hundred times more useful."

"Yes, very convincing," Giles said dryly.

"It's real," Halvard said. He straightened up and looked right at Buffy. "Lots of demons treat it like it's some sort of god, deify it, but my family always takes the children to the Eye when they're three to find out if the Eye can see anything useful, like hidden powers, and the Eye said that I had great emotional fortitude. I've seen it." He just about oozed this desire to be believed. His gaze slid over to Dawn, and she was smiling at him.

God save them from adolescent romance. Halvard was cute and nice, and Xander actually didn't have any problem with Dawn dating him, or even getting more serious, but if Buffy ever found out that he wasn't quite as old as he looked, the nuclear fallout was going to level entire cities. Demons grew faster. Xander's daughter looked like she was ten or eleven, so it didn't exactly surprise him that Harvard had hit adolescence at age nine.

"You've seen Beljoxa's Eye?" Giles put his crossbow down on the table. "Good lord. If the stories are true-" Giles pulled his glasses off, and Xander noticed for the first time that the man looked exhausted-getting no sleep at all exhausted. Either his guilty conscience bothered him or the family ghost was getting the revenge Xander couldn't. Xander smiled at that thought. "We could find out the source of the First's sudden power."

"The First always had power," Vovka said. "The question remains why it is suddenly able to strike so directly in this universe."

"Yes, yes," Giles said. "Can you open the portal?"

"Me? No." Vovka shook his head. Then he raised his hand and put it on Halvard's shoulder. "However, we have a young warrior ready to open the portal for us, so we only need a safe place to open a doorway between worlds."

"Which would not be my house," Xander quickly said.

Buffy glared at him.

"Buff, I'm sorry, but absolutely not, no, niet, non."

"I wouldn't ask you to do that." She said. "The park has an open space."

"And too many children," Vovka said. "Sometimes opening portals can cause a weakness in the barriers between worlds, and a park is not an appropriate place. It should be in a place where mostly adult demons go so that if a portal rift opens, innocent kids aren't caught in it."

"That would be creepy," Buffy agreed. "But just so we understand each other, I'm going to pick the place, I'm not going to tell you about it ahead of time, you're not welcome to make any calls, and if I think you're turning on us, I'll gut you like a fish."

"Buffy!" Dawn said, her voice horrified.

"And that goes for you, too," Buffy said with a finger poke in Halvard's direction. Halvard normally looked like a fairly pale human with eyes so light blue they looked washed out. However, Buffy's threat made all of him blush blue.

"Oh my god. Why don't you just threaten to kill all my friends while you're at it?" Dawn demanded with true fury in her voice.

"Maybe I will." Clearly Buffy was not at her most rational right now. Xander looked at Spike, desperate for some advice about how to get them to stop, but Spike was busy looking at the window. The closed and shuttered window.

"You would. The slayer, the great massacrer of masses."

"Hey, I've never massacred anyone." Buffy made a face. "Except vampires."

"And in 1507?"

"I wasn't alive!" Buffy just about roared.

"But the slayer was. The slayer destroyed the entire Bauccil clan. Set fire to it and let them burn. Four hundred peaceful demons died so the Watchers could set up a monastery on their land." Dawn's arms crossed over her chest in a perfect imitation of her sister, and from the look of triumph on her face, she thought she'd just given the fatal blow.

"That is simply not true," Giles said, shoving his glasses back on his face so fast that Xander was a little surprised he didn't poke an eye out.

"Actually, she's right," Spike offered. "The slayer did that. 'Course, I doubt it was the slayer. I'm sure the Watchers told her some rot about how she was saving the world from grape-growing, tot-raising, peace-loving demons." Spike gave a disdainful sniff.

Giles' eyes narrowed. "How dare you-"

"Tell the truth," Dawn cut him off. "Hey, I'm all about truth, but in this house, we clearly don't believe in truth. We're more about shooting it dead on sight so we don't have to deal with it." Dawn was yelling by now, and with one last furious look at her sister, she stomped off to the basement with an expression on her face that scared the shit out of Xander.

He looked around and one thing was clear: Halvard was in love. Well, serious power-lust anyway.

"I hate her some days," Buffy whispered as she sort of wilted onto one end of the couch.

"Teenagers. Every species, every time period, every culture-there's always this time frame when the family starts to consider murder. It's nature's way of making sure they move out of the house," Vovka offered. Buffy glared, and he held up his hands. "I'm the sixth child out of nine, and my oldest daughter just turned fourteen. Trust me… that is normal."

Xander walked over to the chair and dropped down into it. "Not to distract anyone from the… yeah… um, so if we do this thing with Beljoxa's Eye, could we really find out how to fight the First?"

Spike walked over and sat on the arm of the chair, and Xander noticed Willow turned three shades of red. And now, Tara was looking at him and Spike and giving them this smirk that really didn't look right on Tara's face. That was almost a Spike smirk. Luckily Buffy was too distracted to notice that the whole family seemed to be losing their minds. "Hopefully this thing can tell us how to take the fight to the First."

"We can't do that," Vovka said. "The First is an elemental, a being that exists both as thought and as a dimension of its own. He is a universe. However, the question is, why is his universe able to reach so far into ours. That is a question the Eye should be able to answer."

Buffy sighed. Last night she'd been demonic in her towering fury and strength. Today she was a limp dishrag. However, she pushed herself up and set her face into a determined scowl. "Then we go start asking questions, and if I don't get the right answers, I'm going to start hitting something." Now that made Buffy smile.