Title: Lies that go forever
Author: Adalisa
Email: [email protected]

Feedback: It helps a lot when one is depressed.
Distribution: XanderSlash's site and my site. Anywhere else, just ask. I won't say no.
Web site: http://members.tripod.com/luxshine/

Summary: Corey is back and Spike is jealous.
Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Xander, Spike, and everybody else here is property of Joss Wheldon, Warner Bros. And another bunch of people. Corey Raines belongs to I don't know who. But they keep treating them bad, so I play with them.
Date: 02/06/2000

Content: X/Others
Spoilers: Season 4. But very vague.
Series: Forever Young, pt. 4 (Crossover with Highlander) Notes: I've been able to see a little more of Highlander... Basically, while on the hospital I saw again Corey's first appearance, and got to know Richie a little more... So hopefully this will have more sense regarding HL cannon.

In the very instant he launched against Corey, Spike felt the blinding pain building in his head, but this time he did not care.

Corey Raines had caused Xander's death, and Spike was not going to rest until he saw the other man's entrails. Even if his own head blew up in the process.

It took all his strength to keep his pain a secret. He managed to hide his weakened state because Corey was wasting his time trying to tell him something, but the words didn't pass through the blinding daze of pain. Spike didn't care much, the only words he wanted to hear from Xander's 'friend' were cries of pain.

"Spike! Stop! Let him go!!"

For a moment, amidst the pain, Spike thought he had heard Xander's voice. But of course, that was impossible. He had seen the body of the teenager fall, embedded with the rusty sword, he had smell the blood. Xander could not be speaking to him.

"Spike, stop!! You're only hurting yourself!!" Xander's voice was clearer this time, but Spike was still unwilling to believe it. It was only until the boy came between him and his intended victim, bloody, battered and hurt but alive, when the vampire finally stopped. "Have you gone insane? If you attack a human like that, you will die!"

"Xander?" Spike asked, feeling somewhat more dizzy.

The walk to the Harris' house was filled with an awkward silence. Thankfully, no one they knew was around to ask about Xander's state.

Corey kept looking at Spike with mistrust. He had never planned for someone outside the game to know about the immortals. He had never expected to be attacked with the strange strength that Spike seemed to posses. And he couldn't forget the sudden change in the other's face. A weird mix of deformations and ridges, that had appeared in one second. His eyes had turned yellow, his fangs had grown.

It was impossible.

Spike was having the same wonders about Corey and Xander. He had seen Xander die. There was no doubt about it. But now Xander was alive. And he still had a pulse.

It was impossible.

When they finally arrived to the house, both turned to see Xander, whose face was unreadable.

"What is he?" They asked at the same time, pointing at the other.

Giles closed the last book in his personal collection, frustrated.

He had found a lot about immortal demons, vampires, werewolves, black witches, and a very interesting text about teenage zombies. But there was nothing about normal human beings, which also happened to be immortals.

He had also called everyone he knew, with no results. The next step was to contact the Council, and since his relationship with the old Watchers was still too edgy, he didn't want to resort to that.

The possibility that Spike was lying came to his mind. Of course, it was Spike. But there was one factor that didn't fit in the equation, the question Xander had asked before Spike re-appeared to bring chaos to their lives. The young man had been interested in immortal human beings too, even since then.

There was a bang on his door, and Giles went to answer, only to find himself face to face with a strange man, with dark long hair wearing a trench coat.

"I know you're looking for some information, Mr. Giles."

"He's a what?!!" Corey and Spike yelled at the same time, looking at Xander with disbelief, then at each other.

"There are no such things as vampires"

"There are no immortal humans!"

Xander couldn't hold the chuckle that came out as he saw his two guests act so stubborn, when he had seen them both see quite some strange things. When that grabbed their attention, he continued. "Corey, there's no easy way to say this. There are demons, and vampires and a lot of ugly things roaming in this town. You name it, we have it. Spike, you were right. I've not been honest about what happened last summer." Then, he proceeded to explain both of them what had happened in the summer, what had happened before.

Corey listened in shocked silence, amazed at the incredible courage of the young immortal. He knew many grown men who, even if they were immortal, were afraid to live just because someone could come after their heads... and Xander, without knowing his death wouldn't be final, had faced horrors out from a bad movie or a nightmare, and still did... He had known from the beginning that there was something special in the boy, he had never expected to be so amazing.

Spike was equally stunned. He had seen many strange things in his life. He had seen the Hellmouth, souled vampires, good demons... he had seen his own heart changing sides, something that until his forced cohabitation with Xander, he had thought impossible. But to know that a living, breathing human being could be immortal, could have all the advantages of being a vampire, and still be alive... That was incredible. And now he was in the presence of two. Even if he hadn't seen Corey even get hurt, after seeing Xander return to life...

Xander couldn't die. Xander would be around forever, and Spike didn't had to turn him... and that, surprisingly, brought a grin to his face.

"Vampires." Corey said again, looking at Spike. "I can't believe it... I never saw one, and I've been around for a long time!"

"Then you never knew where to ask." Spike grinned. "I've seen a lot of vampires, in a lot of different places."

The immortal thief didn't answered. He had always thought that he knew a lot about the world, especially since hanging around with Duncan and his friends. But now he was being confronted with a whole new world, below of the one he knew. There was the fact that Xander had been fighting vampires with his friend Buffy since he was 16, that he was friends of not one, but two vampires. He had been possessed twice, once by a hyena and a second by a soldier, which explained the young man's military knowledge. Xander's 19 years were far more exiting than Corey's couple of hundred years walking on the planet. "So, Spike's a souled vampire too?"

"No. He was our greatest enemy, until he was fixed." Xander answered, smiling.

"Fixed?" Corey repeated, puzzled.

"I'm not going to get into that." Xander said, and left the coach. "It's almost dawn, I'm going to try to get some sleep."

Once Xander was gone, Spike walked to the basement, but he stopped to see the thief before going down. "I meant what I said before. If he gets killed again, I don't care if he can come back. I'll kill you before he wakes up."

Xander was confused. His whole life had made a 360 degree turn, and he wasn't sure which side was up. It had been bad enough when he had discovered he was immortal. After all the years he had wished he had something special, something that would help the Scooby Gang, now that he had, he couldn't tell them. He couldn't tell Buffy that he wouldn't die no matter what happened to him, or to Willow that he no longer needed her protection spells... He definitively couldn't tell Giles what he had learned in the summer. And it was not only because the Game was a secret, because he still didn't fully understood the rules.

It was because he didn't want to know.

He didn't want to find out his friends' reactions. Deep down, he knew it would not be as extreme as Spike, who had been willing to die just to avenge his 'death'.

That kept running in his mind, and no matter what he did, he kept returning to Spike's actions.

Spike, who was his enemy, even if he was living under the same roof.

Spike, who had tried to kill him more than once.

Spike, who had almost caused him to loose Willow's friendship.

Spike... the vampire who had cared for Xander's welfare, when all his friends had ignored him, who had protected him...

There was no doubt that Spike would keep his secret. But even so, Xander had to make a choice: Reveal the truth to his friends, or disappear from Sunnydale forever.

"I don't trust him." Buffy said, lowering her book. "There is something about him that just doesn't add up."

"About who? Riley?" Willow asked, maintaining her eyes on her own notes. "_Parker_?"

"No, Corey." Buffy sighed. She really disliked the idea of Willow was still rubbing in her face that her choice of lovers had been less than adequate, but it wasn't as if her friend's love life was perfect either. "If he and Xander meet during the summer... then why is Xander so eager to let him live in his house. After all, he has his hands full with Spike."

"That's not fair, Buffy." Her friend finally stopped studying, and watched the Slayer intently. "We kinda forced Xander to accept, since he is alone in his house, and he broke up with Anya... And besides, it seems to me that there's more than friendship between them..."

"More the reason not to have him in the same house as a vampire!"

"It's not as if Spike could harm him." Willow answered again, now playing with Amy the rat. "Corey seems like a decent guy, and Xander would tell us if there was something weird."

"I still don't know." Buffy shook her head, and Willow sighed. She recognized the symptoms very well. Buffy was going in Slayer-mode, and nothing would convince her that there were no nasties in the dark this night. "Something is bothering me. I know I'm missing a clue somewhere."

"Maybe is just that we no longer have Xander's undivided attention. That's not something you can slay." To tell the truth, Willow was getting worried with the direction that the conversation was taking. It was a little too much like when Buffy had obsessed with her roommate. Sure, her roommate had been a demon, but even so...

"Maybe." Buffy admitted, looking out through the window. "But I can't shake off the feeling that I should have noticed something else... something that I'm not seeing."

Giles listened to McLeod's story very carefully.

Without the fancy words and the impending doom threat, what he was being told was that he had to stop all research on immortal men immediately, or risk the consequences.

In that short time, Giles deduced that whomever McLeod represented, it wasn't the Council. And perhaps, that the man didn't knew about Watchers, Slayers or Vampires. A knowledge that could prove very useful to the former watcher.

"There is a reason behind my research, Mr. McLeod." He answered, wondering on the wisdom of trying to reach one of his weapons. "There were some murders not long ago in this town. Apparently, the killer could not be killed. He threatened a friend of mine. I can imagine that you understand why we're investigating..."

"Giles, we have a problem!" Buffy interrupted, storming into the house as she always did when there was an emergency, only stopping when she realized that her Watcher was not alone. "We... are out of paper... for homework..." She finished, awkwardly. They were no longer in high school, so the excuse that had sounded silly before now was completely stupid. The tall man who was talking with Giles, only looked at her frowning, without saying a word.

"Homework, Buffy?" Giles managed to say, confused.

"Yes. Paper, for... Xander? And his... visitors? You know... the ones that have not left... yet? The ones that are not supposed to be... here?" She stammered, hoping to make him understand without saying the actual words.

McLeod just looked at the British man, wondering what kind of crazy people he had run into. "Look, only give me the books, and I'll go. They were not supposed to be shipped away in the first place."

Giles apparently agreed, and went to pack some of the diaries that he had received, books that looked a lot like the Watcher's diaries. "Here. Perhaps your associates should keep their books in a safer place."

When McLeod left, Buffy shivered. "Creepy... in an Angel kind of way..." Then she shook his head. "What is with tall and mysterious men and trench coats?"

"I believe you said we had a trouble with Xander?" Giles remind her, as he looked at the book he had kept, changing it for one that looked like it. He doubted that McLeod would notice the fraud, since the tall man didn't seem eager to read the contents of what he had taken.

"Yes. That. Well, I couldn't sleep, and realized what was wrong." She said, sitting on the coach. "Xander was not puzzled to see Spike."

"What?"

"He wasn't surprised. He just said hi, and everything, and took Spike home. If Xander was possessed when Spike first came to us, then he shouldn't remember it, right? Spike should still be bad, evil and ugly for Xander!" The Slayer rushed through the words, as she saw understanding dawn on Giles' eyes.

"Now that you mention it... yes." The Watcher sat down too, putting on his glasses. "But that would mean that Xander is lying to us. Why?"

"I'll take a wild guess." She said, picking up a crossbow. "Corey Raines."

The End.