*****

Spike looked down at his creation with love in his eyes. Xander lay on his back with his head in Spike's lap. His hair was tousled and drool snaked out the corner of his mouth to drip down his chin and end up in a puddle on Spike's jeans. He breathed; he wouldn't give up that reflex for a while. When a childe is created, there us hardly any difference in the way they act and the way a human acts. They have an unquenchable thirst but they don't let it overtake them the way minions do. They're stronger and smarter. They are almost human. Xander more so. Xander was an innocent. Spike could sense it on him, smell it. It was the reason he was a demon magnet. He was pure and good and holy. He was humanity at it's finest. Now he was Spikes.

Spike played with wavy dark hair. He continued to watch his childe sleep, knowing he was tired. It had been a week, but Xander still needed constant supervision. He needed to be with his sire non-stop. It was a physical need. He was Xander's God, and Xander couldn't live without him.

They rhythm Spike had memorized changed. Xander was now awake. His breathing quickened, but that was the only sign. He lay still, enjoying his sire's attention. He could feel the blue eyes on him. One hand tangled in his hair, the other stroking his face lovingly. The only sound was Xander taking unneeded breaths of air.

A British voice broke the silence. "Pet, I know you're awake."

An impish grin made the face even more beautiful. Xander opened his eyes and looked up at his sire, a look that managed to communicate his love, devotion, and undying trust in his sire. "How'd you know I was awake?"

"I'm you're sire. Sire's know everything." Xander nuzzled the back of his head against his sire's crotch, the way a dog or cat does in a show of affection. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the feel of solid muscle under a denim skin. He opened his eyes again a looked up at Spike with the same look he had earlier. A look that managed to hold all his fascination, wonderment and awe. Spike felt his unbeating heart melt for the millionth time in the past week. When his eyes met his childe's he felt as if he were looking into his soul.

Xander had a soul. It was part of being an innocent. An innocent always remains pure. Xander could have gone to hell and back and he still would have been the same childish, sweet, secretly sensitive, let's-all-smile-and-nod-and-humor-doughnut-boy kind of guy he'd always been. It was what Spike loved about him.

Spike and Xander both researched innocents intensively before making the final step. Spike always knew Xander was an innocent. It was why he never killed him, though he had plenty of chances. He thought it would have been more fun to corrupt him. And then he fell in love with the human that was Xander Harris. He stopped wanting to corrupt him. He was happy with him the way he was. He didn't change him until he was sure Xander wouldn't acquire a demon. He wouldn't have gone through with it otherwise.

Changing Xander was difficult. Xander had to do the bloodletting himself. He slit his own throat, hard to do as it was. It was a sign of his devotion to his soon to be sire. The blood ran fast. Spike licked his chest and neck, wanting to get as much nourishment as possible, for he would have to give Xander a lot of blood to make him a child rather than a minion. Once Xander was far gone enough, he went for the wound, sucking it with wild abandon. He reveled in the taste of fresh, live, human blood after having gone without for so long. It didn't have the faint tastes of fear and adrenaline that hunting brought, but it had something much sweeter. It held the flavors of trust, love, and self-sacrifice. It was different than anything he had experienced. Spike thought he knew it all, that in turning Adrienne Montclaire he had learned all that there was to making a childe. He was wrong. This would be a sire/childe relationship built on love and passion, not dominance and submission. The childe wanted it.

Xander sat up and moved closer to Spike. He wrapped his arms around the smaller vampire and pulled him closer for a kiss. Spike gave in momentarily but stopped when Xander started to grind against him. "Xanpet, stop."

Xander stopped and moved away, ashamed at having offended his sire. Seeing the look of guilt on Xander's face Spike pulled his childe back against him and held him. "You didn't do anything wrong, luv. It's just you need to feed." Xander perked up at the mention of food. Spike smiled back at him. "C'mon pet."

Xander pulled on his clothing that had been discarded on the floor the previous night. Spike put his shirt and boots on, he was already wearing his jeans. Then they left.

Xander licked the blood of his lips. Spike moved closer and grabbed the dying body. His fangs tore into the flesh of the unconscious girl's throat. The creamy white flesh of the throat was tore open as Spike jerked in orgasmic pleasure. Then they heard somebody approach.

Turning to see who interrupted their dinner, Xander numbed as he felt a shiver of fear that made its way slowly up his spine. He was scared before he saw who it was. He could sense her just as she could sense him. The slayer.

"Well well well," she said in all her bitchiness. "Look-y who got his chip out and tuned the one who trusted him most." She spoke to the male human who stood behind her. "Rye, toss me a stake."

The slayer's boytoy did as told. "Be careful Hun," he warned. "Hostile 17 has killed slayers before."

Slutty the Vampire Layer scoffed at her boyfriends warning. Did he really think the bleached wonder would be able to defeat him?

Buffy stalked toward the two vampires. All was silent, save the sound of her heels clacking against the pavement. Spikes voice broke the silence. "Slutty, what the fuck are you doing?"

"My job, fang-face. I'm the slayer and you are vampires. It's my job to kill you. Duh."

"That all sounds good and well slayer, except the whelp isn't a vampire."

"Of course he is! Why else would he be here with you while you're un-chipped and attacking innocent humans." She gestured at the lifeless body on the ground.

"Um… actually Buffy, Spike still has his chip."

Buffy glared at him, he dared to correct her.

"Really, Buffy. I'm not a vampire."

"Yeah?" she asked. "Then why is this burning you?" With that she uncapped a bottle and doused him with holy water. Spike flinched away, snarling as the water burned his skin. Xander stood still, seemingly unaffected.

"Told you."

Buffy surveyed the scene again, looking about confused. The commando moved closer now that he knew he was in no immediate danger. "I don't understand," Buffy said. "You and Spike were feeding on that girl."

"Actually, we weren't. There was another vamp. It killed the girl then Spike killed it. Spike decided not to let the other vamp's scraps go to waste."

Buffy turned up her nose. "Eww. So, like, why were you sucking on her neck?"

"Well see Buffy… there's something I haven't been completely honest about."

"I knew it! You are a vampire! I'm gonna send you back to hell." She raised the stake again and positioned it at Xander's heart.

"No, Buffy, I'm alive. It's not that."

"Well what is it?" she asked bored.

"I'm gay."

"What? No you're not. You have a crush on me." She looked almost hurt at the fact that he could be gay."

"Yes I am."

Buffy took a menacing step forward. She poked him in the chest with her stake to punctuate each word. "No you're not. You can't be gay, you're hopelessly in love with me."

At the sight of the Slayer touching his childe with her pointy stick Spike became enraged. He slammed into her, ignoring the white-hot pain that flashed through his forehead. They ended up on the ground, him on top of her. He raised himself to his knees, still wincing from the chip. "Sod the fucking chip!" he screamed in her face. "If you ever touch my mate in a threatening way again I will personally tear you're throat out.

He slid on top of her as the pain overtook his body. She rolled him off of her and left him convulsing on the ground. "Mate?" she asked Xander.

"That's what I was going to tell you. I was licking that girl's neck because Spike and I are together and it really turns him on."

Buffy's pretty little nose scrunched up even more than it had before. "Mate? Spike? Neck licking fetishes? Um, like, yuck."

Spike sat up and grinned. "You should hear about some of the fetishes soldier-boy has."

"Spike!" Xander hissed under his breath. Riley turned red and Buffy didn't notice any of it.

"Well now that I know Xander is Xander I can continue my patrol." She turned and walked briskly away.

As soon as Buffy was out of earshot Xander turned to Spike with a look of betrayal on his face. "Spike, you promised me you wouldn't let Buffy know I've been fucking Riley.

*****
Part 2:

Spike and Xander's relationship was new. They were both deeply in love, but the turning has still been a giant leap forward and a huge act of trust on Xander's part. They'd only been together for about a month when it took place.

Now Xander knew that he had made the right choice. He could feel the bond between him and Spike, and it was strong. When he was alone he could still feel Spike's presence.

At the moment he wasn't alone. They walked together, close enough to be touching. They were on their way to a Scooby meeting. It was at Gile's.

They arrived at half past sunset. Tara, Willow, and Giles sat around his living room. Xander could hear Anya is the kitchen. He could actually hear her heartbeat and identify her by it. The strength of his vampiric senses was still slightly disorienting.

Xander flopped down on the couch and Spike sat beside him. "So, G-man, what's the new big bad?"

Giles looked at Xander disapprovingly. How many times was he going to have to ask Xander not to call him that? Giles opened his mouth to answer the question but was interrupted by Anya's chipper voice. She entered the room carrying a tray of tea. She let out a squeal when she saw her ex-boyfriend. It was the first time they'd seen each other in the week since they had broken up and Xander was changed. She'd insisted on fighting 'The Good Fight' with the Scoobys even though she and Xander had broken up. The others assumed Xander's week long absence was due to hurt at having to see Anya so soon after their break up. There was no way they'd guess that Spike had been teaching Xander how to control himself so he wouldn't accidentally kill one of them when he got hungry. As fun as that might be, Xander still loved his human friends.

"Xander!" Anya placed the tray on the coffee table. "How are you! I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you too," Xander said trying to be sociable.

"You have? That's good, maybe we can get together and have orgasms later. It's not very much fun having them without you."

To Xander's credit he didn't blush, but he was already use to Anya's bluntness and how indiscreet she was. Smiling slightly, as if humoring a small child, he said, "I'm sorry Anya. We can't." Willow started studying Xander then. He was passing up a chance at sex, no-strings-attached sex since they'd already broken up. Tara just giggled to herself, as she always did when sex was mentioned. Giles blushed for Xander.

"Why not?" She asked. Xander opened his mouth to answer when she cut him off. "Oh! I know. You found someone new to have orgasms with. Am I right?"

Now Xander blushed, and glanced shyly at Spike. "Well…"

"Ooh, I knew it. Who is it? Is it someone we know? What's her name? Since I can't have orgasms with you can I watch you have orgasms with her?"

Now Xander blushed. "Well it's not exactly…"

At that moment Buffy burst in, dragging her boy toy behind her. From their appearance, flushed skin and rumpled hair, it wasn't hard to tell why they were late. She stopped when she saw Spike and Xander and the post-orgasmic flush became a blush of embarrassment when she remembered her mistake from the night before. She was the Slayer, she wasn't supposed to make mistakes and she wasn't supposed to get embarrassed. 'Well,' she thought. 'If he can embarrass me then I can embarrass him.'

"Hey you guys," she said. "Guess what I found out about Xander last night!" Excitement was evident in her voice. Even if she weren't doing this to pay him back, she still would have enjoyed telling everybody. Once she was sure she had everybody's attention she continued. "Spike and Xander are fags together."

Immediately Anya set in on Xander. "You're choosing to orgasms with HIM over ME?" she asked outraged. "That's just sick. And you never did answer my question before. Can I watch?"

Xander was confused. Was it sick or did she want to watch? He turned to Willow for help who was currently shooting an icy glare at her best friend. "I can't believe you said that about Xander," Willow ground out.

"Said what?" Buffy asked, not realizing her error.

"Buffy," Willow said very slowly, as if talking to a child. "I am a lesbian. I don't like it when you call other lesbians fags."

"Xander's not a lesbi-" Buffy began.

"You know what I mean," Willow cut her off.

"I didn't mean anything by it. And since when are you a lesbian? You were in love with Oz."

Willow repeated her self. "You know what I mean."

"Anyway, being a fag is nothing bad. I love you even though you're a fag. I think we've all done the fag thing at one point or another now. Spike's a vampire and they're all fags. Xander told me he was in love with Jessie. Riley had a thing going on with Graham and Forrest. Yes, both of them. And I know the reason Giles stutters when you mention Ethan doesn't have anything to do with his fear of him."

"Xander and Jessie?" Willow asked.

"Uh-huh. And you're with Tara now. Anya was a man hater for thousands of years so I can only assume she was a lesbian. And me… did you know Slayers have all the stamina of vampires but with the bonus of having warmth? Faith was awesome."

Willow looked at Buffy. "Uh-huh."

The thing that's bad about what I said it that he's with Spike. SPIKE. Isn't that disgusting?"

Giles didn't let anybody answer. He gave Buffy a stern, reprimanding look. "Buffy, now is not the time or place to discuss Xander's sexuality or whom he shares that sexuality with."

"Fine," she said. She pulled up more chairs and her and Riley sat. "So, what's happening.?"

"Well," he began. "As you know, I keep in contact with Angel. We usually talk on the phone several times a month. During our last call he told me of a prophecy that's supposed to come to be on the hellmouth"

"So?" Buffy asked annoyed. "I'm sure prophecies come true all the time. What does that have to do with us?"

Through gritted teeth, "I'm getting there." He quickly surveyed the room, making sure all eyes were on him. Xander had joined Spike at the other end of the couch and Spike was holding him in a protective manner. Willow and Tara sat in separate chairs beside each other, their hands joined at the center. Buffy and Riley sat in kitchen chairs they had pulled up. Buffy was looking intently at Giles and Riley was looking intently at her cleavage. Anya was banging around in the kitchen again. It was as much attention from the group as possible.

"The prophecy tells of the joining of good and evil. Good and Evil join, and that merger calls upon The Force.

"Star Wars?"

"Xander, shut up," came from Buffy.

"There isn't really much known about the force…"

"So is this force thing good or evil?" Willow asked, eager to learn.

"Neither. As I said, there's not much known about it. It has the potential to be both, much like witchcraft. But it's not the same thing. It's what shapes the universe. When you cast a spell, witchcraft is the means, and the results are the end. The Force is different. It's the means and end combined. If the wrong person had control of The Force the results could be drastic.

"So what exactly is this thing? Can't we just get it and not let anybody else have it?"

"Well, Buffy, The Force is within somebody. Human or otherwise, it didn't show differentiation. When one Slayer dies…"

"What does this have to do with me?"

"I'm using an example Buffy." Giles continued, "another one rises. It's there in you all along, it just has to be called forward. When the lightness and darkness merge it happens."

For the first time Riley spoke. "When is this supposed to happen?"

"About seven days ago."

"So we're late."

"Quite."

*****
Part 3:

The group's discussion of The Force was cut short by a loud, persistent knocking at the door. "That would be Angel," Giles announced from where he stood. "He told me he would be here tonight. It is early though." Giles moved to the door and threw it open. He recoiled in fear.

Spike turned toward the door. If he had breath it would have been taken away. "Drusilla," he murmured, not aware that he spoke.

"Invite me in Spiky."

Spike had no choice but to oblige. Even if she wasn't his sire, there was no way he could refuse her. She used to tell him how much she enjoyed having control over a creature as powerful and deadly as Spike. That was before the chip.

"Come in Dru."

Giles leapt back and grabbed a stake, glad that he kept them in such handy places. Buffy grabbed a stake also.

"Have no fear children. I bring good news."

She moved into Giles living room and sat on the couch between Xander and Spike, shoving Xander to the side. She ran a hand seductively over Spike's clothed chest. "Miss Edith told me something."

"What's that love?"

"Sleeping Beauty, she woke up. You kissed her."

"Huh?" Xander asked, not fluent in Dru-speak." Spike shushed him wanting to hear what Dru had to say.

"Go on pet," Spike urged his used-to-be lover.

"Oh Spiky, you wouldn't believe what she told me. She stared past him for a moment, not looking at anything. Then she met his eyes again. "The stars said she was telling the truth!" Drusilla grinned, as if she had told a joke. Spike grinned back.

"When you woke up Sleeping Beauty the Big Bad Wolf decided to come after you. He's also the fairy godmother." Her eyes sparkled when she said the next sentence. "He can make your wishes come true." She stared into space dreamily again, forgetting there were others in the room. Then she collapsed against his chest and closed her eyes. Spike stroked Drusilla's hair lovingly.

"What was that all about?" Riley asked Spike. He didn't know if Drusilla was crazy or on drugs or just retarded.

"Drusilla has visions." Spike answered succinctly.

"Care to elaborate?" Buffy asked.

"Drusilla had a vision about us, Xander and I. She said I woke Sleeping Beauty, which would be Xander. I guess something changed in him when I changed him."

"What do you mean when you changed him?" Buffy asked suspiciously.

"Huh?"

"You just said you changed Xander. He's not a vampire, is he?" Buffy threw a cross at Xander. It was headed for his head. With his vampiric reflexes he easily blocked it. It bounced off of Xander's arm and burned Spike.

"Ow!" Spike yelled, waking Drusilla. She sat up dazed.

"You just said you changed Xander," Buffy stated.

"I said claimed you silly bint. I put my mark on him, it makes him immune to vampires. It's like when a farmer brands a cow, other farmers know not to go near it." Spike thought for a moment. "Ok, bad analogy, but you get what I mean."

"Ok, so what about this Wolf thing?"

"I don't know. Maybe there was another vamp that wanted Xander but now he's off limits to him or something. Ask Dru."

"I don't understand Dru!" Buffy cried out fustrated.

Tara could actually see Giles aura form in the shape of a light bulb above his head before he spoke again. "I've got it! Xander and Spike are the Chosen Two spoken of in the prophecy."

"Say what?"

Giles dumbed it down more for Buffy. Xander is the Good and Spike is the Bad that is mentioned in the prophecy. When Spike claimed Xander it must have brought that into effect.

"I still don't understand about this wolf thing."

Drusilla looked to Buffy. "My puppy."

"What?"

"My puppy dog. He's waiting outside. He can make wishes come true," she said again. "I'll go get him, I tied him to a tree."

"If she brings in a werewolf I'm staking her," Buffy announced.

Riley nodded along, knowing that it was best to agree with whatever the Slayer said. He turned his attention back to Xander and Spike. Something was different about Xander. He seemed more confident and secure, and Riley would know, he spent a lot of time studying him. Riley realized it must be because he finally told his friends the truth about his relationship with Spike. Yes, that was it. He didn't pay the topic any more attention.

Instead of the demon they were expecting, Drusilla walked in with a boy on a leash. When Xander realized whom it was he sucked in a breath. It was Jonathan, his ex.

Jonathan looked scared. His clothes were messed and there was blood down the side of his face. Xander could smell it clearly. There was something a little off about it but Xander didn't pay attention to it. There were also numerous smaller scratches and wounds on the rest of his body. 'Drusilla must have had a hard time getting him in that collar,' Xander thought.

"Tada!" Drusilla exclaimed. "My puppy!" Jonathan's scared eyes darted from one person to another, silently asking for help.

"Dru baby," Spike said. "Why did you bring him here?"

"The stars told me to Spiky. They told me to find the one with the hole in his heart and to bring him to you two."

"Why?"

"They didn't tell me. They just said to bring him. It was important. They said it would help me get my daddy back."

Spike's brow furrowed. Now she was bringing Angelus into this mess. "Exactly how is that whelp going to help you get Angelus back?" Spike asked.

Drusilla opened her mouth to speak but then shut it. She smiled covertly at Spike. "You'll see Spiky, you'll see." She reached out and handed Anya, who was the closest to her, the leash. "I'll be back." She smiled again at them all then turned to leave.

*****
Part 4:

After Drusilla left the room was silent except for the sound of Jonathan quietly singing along with his headphones, pretending he wasn't there with blood dripping down his face and tied to a leash.

"Whitey Ford, forty and white lethargic ass dick-head. I keep um coming while you running out of breath. Steady talking while I'm punching at your chest. You need a rest." He paused for a moment, lost in the music. The he began rapping again. "I let you faggots know it's on for life. But Everlast might die tonight. Ha-ha. Fat boy murdered on… Grab three ladies when you see Slim Shady. Call the Dr. to heal your heart. They shocked you back to life at the clinic but you 'bout to get relapsed any minuet. Honkey I hit um up."

Jonathan stopped his poor Eminem impression when he realized everybody was staring at him.

"J-J-Jonathan?" Xander asked. "Are you ok?"

"Yes," he replied. "Fine is what I am. My parents and sister just got killed by a hell-spawned creature of the night, which in turn attacked me, kidnapped me, and brought me here. Yeah, I think fine covers it. How could I be anything less then fine when…"

Buffy cut him up with, "Jonathan, shut up."

Jonathan did shut up. And Xander stared at him in amazement. He'd babbled. Jonathan was babbling. It was the first time Xander had ever heard him babble. "Did she hit your head?" he asked Jonathan.

"No, I'm fine. As good as can be. Hey, can any of you tell me why I'm here? And while you're at it, tell me why the girl holding my leash is looking at me like that. It's like she's getting some kind of weird, sadistic pleasure out of having me on a leash."

Anya tugged on his leash, which began to choke him. "Shush," she commanded.

"Give me that!" Jonathan yanked the leash away from Anya, then tried to get it off. He only succeeded in tightening it.

Riley got up and moved to help him. He got it untangled and was trying to remove it when he doubled over in laughter. Jonathan gave him a 'what?' look. That just made the commando laugh all the harder. He curled up on the floor, his face red. "He-he," Riley giggled. "You're wearing a leash. Like a dog." He continued to laugh as Jonathan looked at him, helpless to shut him up.

Gradually, soldier-boy's laughter became less like laughter and more like a coughing fit. He began to spasm and shake violently on the floor. Buffy hurried to his side. "Riley, what's wrong?" she asked, her voice thick with concern.

"I'm going to self destruct," he said, his voice like that of a man who knew of impending doom.

"What?"

"I'm really a robot." Those were Riley's last words. His head exploded, sending mechanical parts flying everywhere.

Buffy began sobbing. Willow came over to comfort her. "He was so good in bed," she cried into Willow's shoulder. "How could I have not known he was a robot? Wouldn't our showers have shocked me?"

Willow made comforting cooing sounds for the slayer, while Spike rummaged through the debris from the robo-commando. Nobody noticed his little scavenger hunt, everyone too busy comforting the slayer over her loss. Finally, it looked as if Spike found what he was looking for. The memory chip. It would hold all of the robot's memories, including anything concerning the behavior modification chip in Spike's head.

Spike looked around quickly, trying to see if anyone had caught him taking the chip. He found himself staring into his childe's bored eyes. Xander mouthed the words "Let's go," to him. While everyone else was concentrated on the recent tragedy, the two vamps slipped out.

Once outside, they hurried toward Xander's apartment. On their way there they saw Angel's car go by, in the direction of the ex-watcher, but they were too consumed by lust to care.

As soon as they arrived at Xander's house, Spike threw him to the floor and pinned him there. "Time to finish what you began earlier, luv," he whispered in his childe's ear. Xander moaned from underneath him, wanting to be dominated by this picture of perfect vampiric beauty in every way possible.

*****
TBC