Musical Wars
Chapter 4 -- Simple Truths
"Xander, duck," Gunn yelled as he brought his stake up. He would have ignored the request, only he felt himself physically thrown to one side as Spike first flung him to a nearby couch and then planted himself in front of that couch, loudly growling.
"Son of a …" Gunn started, and then he lunged. Without even a sound, Spike grabbed the arm, twisted it and sent the rest of Gunn sailing toward the door. Spike might have continued the move to its logical conclusion with Gunn's arm ripped from his body, except Xander threw himself on Spike's back pulling at the vampire and throwing off his balance.
"Sit," Spike roared, and Xander felt his legs moving without his permission.
"Fuck, Spike, stop!" He yelled from the couch once he realized he no longer had the option to physically intervene.
"William," roared a new voice, and Spike stopped with Gunn trapped face first on the wall and his arm, still clutching the stake, twisted up behind his back. "Let him go," Angel roared again as he walked into the room. He could see Spike's arm tremble, but Spike simply turned his game face to Angel without releasing the now squirming Gunn.
"What's this, then, Peaches? Always figured you'd have at me yourself when you wanted me dust." At these words, Xander froze. Never in his life had he felt so panicked, so desperate. He looked around for a weapon he could use because he sure wasn't letting Angel kill Spike without a fight.
"William, that's not what this is about," Angel insisted, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. Xander didn't stop looking for that weapon; lamp, good as an impromptu club; coffee pot, break for cutting edges. Oh great, he was considering taking on a centuries old vampire with a lamp, no wonder everyone thought he needed protection.
"Better start talkin' if ya don't want your toy broken," Spike snarled as he twisted Gunn's arm up higher. He could hear Gunn gasp.
"Spike, please," he quietly begged.
"Quiet, pet. Won't hurt 'em as long as Peaches starts talkin'. Course, if he don't, might just have to rip the wanker's arm off and beat him to death with it," Spike pointed out cheerfully. He watched as Gunn grew suddenly still, and he could just imagine the fear going through Gunn's mind; it wasn't that long ago that Spike had him pinned to the ground in a parking lot and he thought that he was going to die. Not a pleasant experience.
"William, let Gunn go and we'll talk."
"Right, just like he tried to talk when I first walked in? Nope, never trust an enemy enough to let go of the leverage, you taught me that, Peaches, remember?"
"You don't need leverage, William. We just want to talk,” Xander watched as Angel took a step toward Spike, but Spike simply growled his response. Angel took a step back, but he could see how Angel had actually inched toward him. He opened his mouth to warn Spike, but the younger vampire was not so easily fooled.
"Ya take one more step toward Xander, and I'll tear the human into dog food sized pieces." Spike warned. "Pet, get over here." Xander slid down the couch so that when he stood he was as far from Angel as possible. He quickly darted to Spike so that they were just a few feet from the front door. Please God just let them get out without anyone getting killed. Funny how he prayed so much more now that he hung out with the evil undead.
"Spike, please, just let Gunn go," he tried again, but Spike's growl only deepened.
"You want to talk, go ahead," Spike suddenly spun Gunn around and launched him toward Angel. Gunn hit Angel and nearly took both of them to the ground.
"That's right, you better let me go 'cause I'm gonna tear you apart for what you did to my boy."
"Gunn," Xander stepped forward, but Spike's arm and Gunn cold stare both effectively stopped him.
"Don't," Gunn warned him. "Didn't save Alonna and won't save you." Gunn shifted into an attack pose, and Angel put a hand on Gunn's shoulder, a hand Gunn quickly shook off. "You gonna claim he's got a soul too? Maybe there's some big souled monster convention in town I don't know about."
"Ain't got no soddin' soul," Spike objected quickly, and Gunn turned to glare at him.
"Then I ain't got no problem dusting you for turnin' my boy," Gunn raised the stake, and Angel put a hand on his wrist.
"Xander isn't a vampire," Angel calmly declared, and Xander could see the suspicion, the hope, the fear all cross Gunn's face like a series of veils dropped down over his features.
"Gunn, I'm not. I'm still the same Xan-man demon-magnet as always," he tried to laugh, but the noise came out sounding more strangled than anything else.
"No, you're *not*. The Xander I knew didn't hide from me behind a filthy monster." Xander stood, immobilized by those words as surely as if Gunn had paralyzed him.
"Oi, watch your tongue, wanker, or ya might well lose it."
"William."
"Don't soddin' preach to me, Peaches."
"Well if he ain't a vamp, someone better start explaining or I will find a place to stick this stake."
"Gunn, you don't need…"
"Bloody hell, just try and stick it here, I'll bugger ya with it before I tear out…"
"William!"
"I'll show you how my boys and I dust vamps."
The words washed over Xander, the voices overlapping, shouting, intersecting until the words themselves disappeared under the general tone of hostility and promised pain. He leaned back against the wall as he watched Angel hold Gunn back with one arm while trying to keep his body between Gunn and Spike. Shit. He felt the terror rise as he realized that someone was about to die, and he wasn't going to like any possible outcome. The two vamps each continually squared off, Spike's head tilted up slightly in a posture he associated with Spike searching for some scent. Angel still wore his human face, but flashes of gold in brown eyes revealed his anger. Oh yeah, imminent bloodshed, and here he stood utterly and entirely helpless to stop it.
"Oh. My. God," a female voice yelled from the open office door. He watched as Spike instantly stepped back to stand between him and the door as Cordelia walked in and slammed the door loud enough to stop all yelling. "We have a lease people! A lease that says we will not disturb the neighbors by screaming in the middle of the night." Cordelia stood with her hands on her hips, a small bag dangling from one wrist.
"You, blondie, lose the fangs before you scare off the paying clients," she ordered as she darted a finger toward Spike. "And you mister don't have the money to get blood cleaned out of the carpet, so you better chill out," she declared as the finger turned to Angel. "And I don't even know who you are, but if you know what's good for you, you WILL NOT come in here waving stakes and threatening murder," she finished with the long finger pointed right at Gunn.
"You tell 'em," Spike cheered even as the fangs and wrinkles disappeared.
"This *another* vampire? If this is a nest, I know what my boys like to do with nests."
"Oh get over yourself," Cordelia snapped as she walked to the desk and leaned over to pull out a cross. "Do we need to pass this around?" she asked as she waved the ornately carved wooden crucifix.
"I'll pass," Angel said as he retreated to the wall opposite Spike. Xander held up his hand.
"Toss it here, Cordelia." The cross made a nice arc through the air and he caught it before holding it up for Gunn to see. "No smoke, no burning," he pointed out as he waved it.
"Watch it, pet" Spike complained as the cross came too close to him.
"Sorry." He tossed the cross back to Cordelia and risked a quick glance at Gunn. The man stood in the middle of the room with an expression that made him fear Gunn for the first time in his life. He wondered if this was the look Gunn gave vampires before turning them to dust.
"I'm really not a vamp," he promised. "Probably look like one cause of the whole clothes thing, but really that's just cause Spike hates the flowers and surf themed shirts even more than Luther. Of course Luther only complains while Spike tends to shred them when I'm not looking. It's kinda like the whole 'your mother dresses you funny' thing only with a vampire instead of a mother and the whole dressing well thing…" He let his voice trail off when Gunn's expression didn't change.
"You always hang out with vampires, cheerleader?" Gunn cocked his head toward Cordelia. "What? You have death wish?"
"Oh, please. Angel is about as dangerous as a houseplant," she insisted as she walked over to the couch and sat down, placing herself between Spike and Angel and within three feet of Gunn.
"And that one, you trust that one too?" Gunn demanded with a nod toward Spike. He tried not to show how much it hurt that Gunn wanted someone else's opinion and didn't even give him a chance to explain.
"Not as far as I can throw him," Cordelia scoffed. "But Angel and Xander can handle him."
"You trying to tell me you don't mind being in the same room with that monster, a monster who's probably thinking about how much he'd like to tear your throat out right now?" Gunn kept his eyes on Spike.
"Oh, please. Melodramatic much?" she rolled her eyes. "Spike, are you thinking about tearing my throat out?" she asked with such perfect calm that Xander found himself wishing he could have watched this goddess emerge from the self-involved girl he had known in high school.
"Not really, luv. Thinkin' about tearin' out the wanker's throat, but I wouldn't do that to you." Spike dug in his duster and came up with cigarettes. When he lit one and leaned back, Xander realized that he hadn't seen this casually violent and detached Spike since before his capture by Cassidy.
"There, you see?" Cordelia challenged Gunn.
"If Peaches ever cuts ya loose, I'll probably just turn ya. You'd make a beauty of a vampire," Spike finished with a leer as he took a deep drag on his cigarette.
"Okay, and now we're back with the disturbing compliments, Spike. Can't you ever give someone a compliment that doesn't lead to nightmares and expensive therapy?" Xander asked with a disgusted face.
"Hey, at least he gives compliments," Cordelia countered. "Angel over there, you almost have to throw yourself at him to even get him to notice new shoes."
"Yeah, well Spike gives compliments that would make Mengele proud. He once told me that my hair was so nice that his Drusilla would have kept my body around to pet until I started stinking up the lair."
"Ew," Cordelia's nose wrinkled up in disgust until she had managed a fairly good impression of a vampire game face minus fangs. "Okay, you win that round."
"You're all nuts," Gunn declared as he retreated to the fourth wall and sat on Cordelia's desk, stake still in hand.
"Can we talk now?" Angel asked from his position near the door leading to the back.
"Came here to talk, Peaches. Your boy over there started something he couldn't finish."
"I ain't nobody's boy, especially not some vampire's," Gunn started standing again, and Xander jumped in before all hell broke loose again.
"Gunn, what did you mean about Alonna? What happened?" he asked, fear making his voice tremble. Gunn met his eyes for a moment, and then he sank back down on the desk, his anger buried under pain.
"She got vamped," he whispered, and Xander felt his legs get suddenly weak. He reached out for the arm of the couch, and he felt Cordelia's hands guide him down to sit with her.
"Oh god, Gunn, I'm so sorry. I should've been there." Xander felt his heart break for the beautiful woman he thought of as a sister.
"Too many vamps on the streets, we couldn't cover everybody," Gunn said in a voice as flat and emotionless as a robot, but he knew Gunn, he knew how Gunn hid his own heart, and he knew Gunn's pain. "Angel here saved most of the crew, but we lost Trey too."
"Oh god." Xander couldn't come up with any other words. How many people would die before this war was over. "It's my fault," he finally whispered into the silence that had fallen on the room. "I killed Cassidy; it's my fault."
"*You* killed Cassidy?" Angel asked in surprise, and he could see the vampire looking from him to Spike. He really couldn't blame Angel for doubting it; he wasn't exactly prime vampire hunter material.
"Who's Cassidy?" Gunn broke in. "What kinda trouble you in, Xander?"
"Cassidy's the wanker who kidnapped Xander, the same vampire who commanded most of those fledges that've given you gits so much trouble. You're ready to bloody well throw him to the wolves when he's been fighting to protect ya," Spike walked to the open door and flicked his cigarette outside.
"You took out a vamp? Way to go, Xander. Why didn't you call for backup?"
"Oh, and you and Spike would've worked together so well, what with the bonding and the sharing and the love," Xander snapped. "Oh God, I'm sorry Gunn," he quickly added as he saw the expression of shock on Gunn's face.
"So you runnin' with him then?" Gunn demanded.
"Shit, can we start at the beginning?" Xander asked as he leaned his head back against the couch and looked at the ceiling. "I really think I'm going to need someone to put all this in easy to understand bits using small words. Might even need a few Cliff's notes."
Three pots of coffee later, Xander leaned against Spike on the couch as Gunn sat expressionless at the desk and Angel sat in a folding chair with an expression of intense indigestion. Of course Angel always looked like he had indigestion, so it might not have been a reaction to the night's revelations.
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," Cordelia swore from her end of the couch. "I think *I* need the Cliff's notes version." Xander just chuckled; he had lived most of it, and he still felt like he couldn't get his mind around it.
"So let me get this straight. When Luther and I saved your sorry ass from Cassidy, the blood put this piece of demon in ya?" Xander nodded. "And when your buddy there smelled you, he grabbed you 'cause he thought you were with Cassidy?" Spike raised his cigarette in affirmation, either that or he had just flipped Gunn off. "And you two idiots were so busy fighting out back in an alley that you let Cassidy take off with my boy?" Angel's expression went from indigestion to constipation, and this time Spike's two fingers didn't even hold a cigarette as they flicked upwards. Gunn glared at both vampires for a moment before continuing.
"And when Angel wouldn't move fast enough, Spike tried to take on Cassidy's entire army alone?" Xander found himself smiling at that thought. Yes, disturbed that Spike had nearly gotten himself killed but still smiling. "But Xander, whose little inner demon tried to turn him into Cassidy's slave, killed Cassidy." Xander felt Spike's arm slip around his waist and tighten. Gunn's eyes narrowed, but Gunn simply continued with his checklist of events. "And now hundreds of vamps with appetites and no self control are running around L.A.?" Xander's flinch must have been confirmation enough because Gunn continued. "So, Xander still has a piece of demon, but now that demon enslaves him to bleach-head."
"Oi," Spike loudly interrupted. "Ya can still end up dinner if ya don't watch yourself."
"William," Angel warned.
"Won't listen to that rot," Spike snarled. "Won't listen to it, and I won't have him sayin' it to Xander."
"Yeah, right, like you give a rat's ass what's best for Xander." Gunn snorted. "So next question, how do we get the demon outta Xander?" The words barely passed Gunn's lips when Spike, in full game face stood and stepped in front of Gunn.
"Touch him and I'll rip your guts out and string 'em around your neck before ya die."
"William," Angel said again, and Xander wondered if the older vampire actually knew how to say anything else when it came to Spike.
"Time out," Xander added. "Maybe someone better ask me what I want."
"Right, you tell bleach-head here the facts of life, Xander." He could see Spike's head tilt, the posture of uncertainty familiar even from the back since Spike refused to turn away from Gunn. He knew Gunn's expression equally well, that look of calm self assurance when he held the winning hand in a poker game or set off a vampire trap. He opened his mouth and nothing came out; how could he say anything knowing that he had to cut off one half of his life or the other. The demon made its choice clear, but he couldn't say the words.
"Can we even get the demon out?" Cordelia saved him by asking. He heard Spike growl, but Cordelia ignored it, and after a brief glare, Angel did too.
"Normally there is a spell, but I'm not sure this is a normal case. There've been a couple of…abnormalities."
"Yeah, ya know, sorta tired of hearing how abnormal I am, especially from a vampire with a soul," Xander pointed out. Time for him to make a decision. "Gunn, I appreciate everything you've done, and we can still be friends and hunt together, but I can't walk out on Spike. He saved…"
"I saved your sorry ass more than he ever did, and I'd never turn around and use you like a slave or a quick dinner." He could see Gunn's hand tighten on the stake, the knuckles paling on his dark hand.
"That's not what we have; that's not how it is between us…" Xander struggled. He wanted to just crack a joke and make it all go away, but he knew he couldn't do that. "He understands the part of me that's the demon, and I think Angel's right, after four years this isn't a normal case of possession." He sighed and tried again. "You never knew me without the demon. It's part of who I am and Spike understands…"
"No, I understand you perfectly well. You made your choice now live with it…or don't. I guess that's your problem now." Gunn slid the stake back into the back of his jeans and then held his open palms up as he walked past Spike on his way to the door. "Next time, all truces are off. I catch any vampires on my turf, and I'll dust them. And whitebread," Gunn turned to look him in the eye, "We aren't friends, so don't come looking to hang out with the real vampire hunters." Gunn disappeared out the door, and he tried not to cry or scream or beat his head against the wall. He felt Cordelia's hand on his back.
"And don't you be gettin' any ideas about the mojo, either," Spike growled as he turned on Cordelia.
"Oh please, give it a rest. You're going to wear your face out at this rate," Cordelia sighed. "I just thought if there wasn't a cure, Gunn might be a little more forgiving." Spike's game face faded back into human features, and he started digging in the duster.
"Whether he wants help or not, we've got to do something," Angel sighed. "They're kids in the middle of a vampire war."
"So, stakes and swords all around?" Cordelia asked cheerfully. "I can call Doyle, you can call that weird little demon who owes you money, and the six of us can go start making dust."
"Oi, not goin’ to solve anythin' that way," Spike interrupted. "Need to have a master strong enough to hold the minions in check and chase off any newcomers," he finished as he lit a cigarette.
"And I suppose you think you're strong enough to take the job?" Angel growled.
"Bloody right I am, but I don't want the soddin' job. Came here to kill Cassidy, and I'm not goin' to get tied down to some piece of turf." Spike blew his smoke toward Angel and the older vampire narrowed his eyes in annoyance.
"This isn't a game, William. You try to set up as the master here, and I will stake you."
"Listen ya nancy-boy, I told ya I don't want the job, so you can take your threats and shuv them up your oversized arse."
"Boys!" Cordelia snapped and both vampires stopped to look at her. "Play nice," she absent-mindedly ordered.
"Ya have to find someone to be master here, Peaches. Either that or ya have to take the job yourself."
"That's not how I work," Angel opened the door to the inner office. "I kill vampires, and I'll hunt down there until I kill all of Cassidy's minions." Angel disappeared into the inner office without giving anyone a chance to respond.
"Wanker," Spike hissed.
"If by that you mean totally unfashionable and unreasonable, I agree." Cordelia nodded.
"Really, I thought the translation was broody, overbearing, and overly willing to use threats when completely unnecessary," Xander added to the banter even though he thought his heart would break. If Cordelia could accept Spike for his sake, why couldn't Gunn? Four years he had fought beside Gunn, and yet a girl he hadn't seen since his freshman year of high school stood by him while Gunn walked out.
"Think 'wanker' covers all that," Spike confirmed. "Time to go, pet." He felt a hand on his arm as Spike gently pulled him up and out the door.
"Be seein' ya ducks," Spike called to Cordelia as they reached the door, but he couldn't find the energy to do anything other than follow Spike's lead. On the motorcycle and again with the freakish careful driving. Back to the lot where Spike unlocked the door without a word. Down into the safety of the lair and he finally felt like he could breath.
"'S'all right, pet," Spike offered as he felt a hand guide him toward the bed and sit him down. Delicate fingers pulled apart the boot laces and then pulled the boots off his feet. He watched as slender hands worked the buttons of the shirt before pulling it off.
"He walked out on me," he whispered.
"'S'all right," a soft voice repeated. "We'll get a hot bath and a bit of sleep, and things'll look better, pet."
"I thought you'd be celebrating, you know, what with the not having me talk about Gunn all the time and all." Spike stopped at that, and he watched the vampire settle down on the floor in front of the bed. Spike put a hand on either side of his face, the cool fingers pulling the warmth from his hot skin.
"Wanted you to turn to me and not him, but I never wanted ya to hurt like this." Spike's blue eyes locked onto his own. "Could bloody well gut him for doin' this to ya."
"Not worth it."
"You're always worth it, pet." The hands left his face and continued to undress him, unbuttoning and unzipping the pants.
"If Angel just kills, more masters'll come, trying to take charge of all these minions, won't they?"
"Yeah, pet, they will. Bloody pouf's forgotten how to be a vampire, forgotten how they think. The way he's doin' it, he can fight for the next decade and he'll just keep the population down without ever gettin' them under control."
"God, my mother lives in that neighborhood, Mr. Evans down at the comic book store and Mrs. Walker who paid me to watch her cats. How am I supposed to walk away from all those people? How can I stand back and let them all face this without trying to help?"
"Don't worry, luv." He realized Spike had finished undressing him, but the vampire only helped him lay down before pulling up the covers. "Just rest and I'll get the bath."
"Angel's going to get them killed," he groaned.
"Not goin' to happen, pet. We're goin' to set up some vamp as the master for L.A., whether Peaches likes it or not.