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Coercion 4 The Old Astronomer to His Pupil Xander kept waking up all night,
thinking he heard Spike come in. Finally, the sun rose, and Xander tried to
dismiss this. It wasn’t the first time Spike had holed up somewhere else, come
back the next night with fresh tears in his clothes, and dust on his duster.
“He’s fine. He went out and got drunk and decided he’d rather find a girl,
which is just what he should do. I should, too. I’m not so hard up I have to
take on a… skinny… (lean)… dead… (drop dead)… gorgeous…” Xander
mumbled to his pillow. “Tonight, after work… oh hell. Tomorrow, after
looking for a job, I’ll go out and find a nice non-demon to date. A nice
non-demon girl.” After fretting and attempting to sleep for another hour, Xander got up and went out in search of girls and distraction. +++ Spike moodily stared into the
empty fireplace at the old mansion on Crawford street. The place was still
marked as belonging to Angelus, and most local baddies knew better than to mess
with it. Spike knew Peaches would never come back here, and didn’t care if he
did. He was family, after all. Spike used it as a crash pad on a regular basis. He drained his third bottle of Jack for the night and sent it crashing into the fireplace. “Bloody idiot. I sodded that right up! He smelt so good and was so warm… I pushed too far and he’ll have had Red uninvity me.” Spike captured another bottle from a sack and wrestled the cap off. He guzzled a mouthful and stumbled back to the dusty couch. “He’ll have the Slayer stake me. ‘An make me go back to the Watcher’s. Bloody fool. He don’t know what he’s passing up. William the Bloody’s the best damn lover of woman… or man out there!” He swigged the amber liquid again, sliding low on the sofa. “’s been a while... since a guy… Angel…” Spike slipped into what would have been an alcoholic coma in a human, and the bottle slipped to the floor to quietly gurgle out as much of its contents as it could. +++ Xander headed to campus with the
pretence of looking at the jobs posting board. While he was there, he figured he
may as well look up Willow or Buffy. Finding neither, he headed to Giles’
house. Maybe Spike had returned there. The fact that his path took him through
several cemeteries and promising crypts was a coincidence. He knocked at the heavy door and
waited. After getting no answer, he peered in the tiny window to see if maybe
the vamp… Watcher was asleep on the couch. “Why don’t you just walk in
like you normally do?” Giles said, making Xander spin guiltily away from the
window. “Giles! I was... I was looking
for Spike.” Giles’ eyebrows crumpled
together behind his glasses. “Spike? Why are you looking for Spike? And why
are you looking for him here?” “Um… he ran off last night
and I… I donno. I wondered where he went.” Giles sighed and unlocked the
door. “I don’t know Xander, I’ve blessedly not seen him for a week.” “Oh.” “Why aren’t you at the
docks?” “They fired me. I got hurt
twice in too short a time and they sent me home. Both times I was keeping
someone else form getting hurt. So unfair.” “It’s not a safe place to
work, anyway. How were you injured? You appear to be fine.” “Oh, the first time I wrenched
my back and yesterday it was my shoulder but Spike fixed it both times.” Giles looked confused. “Spike
fixed your injuries?” “Yeah. He’s… he’s good
with his hands,” Xander admitted, blushing. "Who knew?" “I guess it makes sense. He
has an intimate knowledge of how the body works. If one knows torture, it must
follow one may very well know healing.” “That’s what he said. Only
he didn’t put it quite like that. That’s what I wanted to ask you about.”
Xander flopped down in the familiar chair. “What?” “Vampires. And… not causing pain.” “Oh.” Giles sat down and took off his glasses, dangling them in one hand. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “So, what exactly do you want to know?” “It’s just because of the
whole Buffy and Angel thing, but Spike keeps teasing me about… about humans
and vampires. He keeps saying how great a lover a vampire would make.” Giles sat up straight and put
his glasses back on. “Good lord! Is he attempting to seduce you?” “No! No! Nothing like that. I
mean, why would Spike come after me? I’m just a schmuck who can’t keep a
job. When we watch… movies… he keeps up a running commentary of ‘go
vampires!’ A vampire could do this better and that longer and… What?” “I shouldn’t ask, but why
are you watching porn with Spike?” “P-p-porn? No! Just action
flicks! Adventure! Bombs and Bond! Great busty chicks! Bosoms!” “Oh, good. Now, what was your
question?” “Is it true? I mean, you’ve
read the Watcher’s dairies, you know the top hush hush. Are vampires better
lovers than humans?” “Good lord, Xander.
Watcher’s do not address such issues.” “They’re all British,
huh?” Giles sighed, knowing from his
tone that Xander wouldn’t drop it. “I suppose… given what is known about
vampire constitution, and their… inclinations. Add in their lack of moral
fiber, I would speculate that a vampire could, under the right circumstances,
prove a most… satisfying lover. Not that any information on such things
exists.” Xander chose to ignore Giles’ furious polishing of his glasses. “So. I shouldn’t tease the
Spike.” “What? Good lord, no. Why
would you anyway?” “Well, he fixed my shoulder
and I was sitting there with my shirt off and I told him he should buy me
flowers before we went any further. He got mad and left,” Xander lied. “Oh. I see. He probably left
before he gave in to the urge to try to hurt you and thus set his chip off.” “You’re probably right.”
Xander stood up. “If he comes by, tell him he can come back and stay in the
chair. I was joking. I mean, me and Spike…” Xander laughed and quickly left. Giles peered after the boy, attempting to puzzle out the true meaning of the strange visit. If it was anyone but Spike and Xander, he would have sworn the boy was lying. He knew Xander had gotten into the dairies and books he attempted to keep hidden from underage eyes long ago. And when Anyanka had asked him to the prom, Giles had copied him chapters from a book on the topic of demons and sex. From his questions, Giles wished he'd copied the pages about vampires as well. +++ The sun went down and a figure moaned on Crawford street. “Oh, bloody hell…” Spike scooped up the half-empty bottle, took a slug of dog hair and flung the bottle into the fireplace.
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