Chapter 18

Xander burst out laughing as he and Spike stopped in front of the plate glass window at the front of the Chanticleer’s restaurant. “Mon Petite Choux?” Xander spluttered. “My Little Cabbage? Please tell me that Angel did not name his restaurant ‘My Little Cabbage’.” Spike rolled his eyes. “Actually, mate, I wouldn’t put it past him, but the name came with the joint.” Spike swept the door open and bowed at the waist, ushering Xander inside with a grand gesture.

The restaurant was located on the penthouse floor and had an expansive view of the Los Angeles skyline. The room had vaulted ceilings hung with crystal chandeliers, and it was decorated in sumptuous shades of burgundy, navy and antique gold. In front of the windows, a long table was set with white tablecloths, gleaming china and glistening crystal. The fresh flower centerpieces glowed with candlelight. Willow and Oz were seated at one end of the table. Xander hurried to shake hands with the red-haired man. “Oz, hey,” he said, when they clasped hands. “It’s good to see you.” Oz clasped both of his hands around Xander’s and squeezed. “Hey, man.” Xander recognized that this, in Oz terms, represented an enormous show of support and sympathy. Oz released Xander’s hand to greet Spike with a laconic, “Spike.” The response was an equally measured, “Dogboy.”

Xander settled into a seat next to Oz, and Spike crossed to a service cart sitting by the window. He removed a beer from a brass tub of ice and poured it into a tall pilsner glass, leaving a perfect inch of foamy head on the top of the amber liquid. Reaching under the cart, he found a bottle of red liquid that had been placed in a thermal wrap to keep it at the perfect temperature. He poured the blood into a crystal goblet, admiring the way the flames of the candles were reflected in the facets of the vessel before he carried the two glasses to the table and set the beer in front of Xander. Brown eyes rose to his. With a soft smile Xander said, “Thanks, Will.” Spike slid into the chair next to Xander and sipped his drink, starting slightly when a warm hand stole into his lap under the crisp, white tablecloth. He smiled into his glass when he realized what Xander was doing. The whelp’s stealing my plan, he thought, gleefully; full of surprises, he is. Wonder how far he’ll take it. Spike shifted in his seat and spread his legs to give the hand better access and suppressed a shudder as fingers ghosted across the fly of his jeans.

The others joined them at the table, Dawn and Cordelia settling their children and then taking their places with Angel, Buffy and Jase. Spike was distracted by Xander’s hidden ministrations, but not so much that he didn’t notice the relaxed, satisfied expressions on the faces of Willow, Buffy and Angel. He grinned into his glass again at the thought that his grandsire owed him for what was undoubtedly a hot encounter with the Slayer, if memory served.

Dinner was a lively affair. The restaurant wasn’t in regular use – Angel had had the dinner catered. Two uniformed stewards served and then departed discreetly. Spike marveled at Xander’s composure as the brunet deftly ate with his left hand while keeping his right occupied in the vampire’s lap, running his fingers up and down hardened flesh, curving them down and around, then resting them on Spike’s cool thigh, the heat of his hand searing his lover’s flesh. When Spike stood to refill their glasses, Xander ran the back of one hand down the lower curve of his ass. By the end of the first course the vampire hovered in a state of exquisite arousal. He had carefully avoided returning any of Xander’s caresses, waiting to see how far this wonderful game would go.

Xander’s fingers kept up their gentle torment as he told his friends about the martial arts students who would be coming over the next afternoon. He had cleared his plan with Angel earlier and had finalized the details with his teacher over the phone that afternoon. Angel, Buffy and Spike were all planning to participate, and several of the others wanted to watch. Xander fielded questions about his training in a low, calm voice, and Spike was amazed at the human’s control, since he himself could barely manage to speak because of the sensations Xander’s hot hand was causing.

Dawn and Jase excused themselves from the table after dessert to take a sleepy Sara to bed, offering to also settle Jack and Lily. Cordelia left her seat and stood behind Spike to lean down between the vampire and her ex-boyfriend. She pretended not to notice the location of Xander’s hand. “It’s your lucky night, boys,” she assured them. “Dawn says I have to make sure you two are the hottest things in that club tonight. So, on that note, Xander has to come with me. Spike, you may come back to your suite in 45 minutes, no sooner.” She tugged Xander’s elbow, and he rose to his feet, grinning. He leaned down and buried his nose in the soft white waves just above the vampire’s ear. “See you soon, baby,” he whispered. Spike gave him a slow, hot smile in return.

Cordelia practically dragged Xander away from the table and down the hall. Outside the elevator, she picked up a large satchel from a hall table. At Xander’s questioning look she said, “Bag of tricks – it’s some stuff I keep around for auditions. You never know what you might need.” They traveled down to the fifth floor, continuing the light conversation from dinner. Xander unlocked the suite door and led Cordelia to his bedroom. She stopped at the closet and flung the door open. Staring at the contents, she was silent. Finally, she turned to him with a brilliant smile. “Black it is!” she exclaimed.

Forty minutes later, Xander stared into the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door and smiled a tiny, evil smile. Cordelia was a genius. She’d had him shave, so his face was perfectly smooth, and then she had gone to work. On his feet were short, black leather motorcycle boots that disappeared under the boot-cut legs of a pair of butter-soft black leather jeans. The low waist of the pants was cinched by a wide leather belt that was pierced at intervals with silver grommets, and closed with a chunky silver buckle. Above the belt, his stomach, chest and arms were outlined against a tight black silk tee shirt. A thick silver chain encircled his wrist, and a dark, thick, tribal-style (temporary) tattoo encircled one bulging bicep. Cordelia had coated her fingers with styling cream and swept them through his sable waves, pushing his hair back from his temples. She had then mussed up the top so random waves curved forward to emphasize dark eyes. To further bring out Xander’s eyes, she’d smudged a little black kohl eyeliner around them, and then smoothed a tiny bit of a shimmering gel along the top curve of his cheekbones.

She stood back and admired her work. “You look great!” she enthused, and they exchanged a smile in the mirror. She splashed a minuscule amount of Xander’s cologne on her fingers and dragged them lightly behind his ears and down his neck, then followed her fingers with a swipe of a hand towel. “A little goes a long way with the vampire crowd,” she told him.

When he raised his eyebrow at her, she raised one of her own. “Well, Xander, you do know that there were a few years before Angel and Buffy got back together, right? Let’s just say I had some experience with vampire dating.” Xander mulled that over for a few seconds and decided not to give her a hard time; not when she could be a valuable reference. “OK, fearless vampire layer – tell me some undead dating secrets.” She wrinkled her nose at him. “You probably already know about biting – any biting. Major turn-on.” He nodded sagely, and closed his eyes at the memory of the kiss in Spike’s kitchen, against the refrigerator. “Well,” she began “Turnaround time is almost zero, they’re extra-flexible, omni-sexual, if they have inhibitions of any kind then I don’t know what they are …. Hmmmm …oh, yeah – dominance!” Cordelia’s eyes lit up. “If you can get it turned around where you’re the dominant one, that’s huge. Some vampires are more dominant than others – like Angel – he’s used to being the Big Bad. Now, Spike – you know Angel dominated him in the bad old days, so I bet he would go for you being all manly and rugged.”

Xander smiled his evil smile again. “I think that can be arranged. Any other ideas for me?” She considered him critically for a moment, and then answered, somewhat reluctantly, “Well, I don’t know how far along you guys are or what your intentions are, but there’s always blood.” At his slightly alarmed look she continued. “I’m just saying, if you wind up getting into blood play there is an element of danger. I don’t think Spike would drain you, but there can be consequences from sharing blood.” Xander met her eyes, “Did you and Angel ever …” Her eyes widened. “Oh, no! We weren’t that serious. But I know he drinks from Buffy sometimes. I don’t know if she ever has from him.” She shuddered delicately. “Don’t really want to know, either. If you want to drive Spike really crazy, you should put a little of your blood on something he’s going to wear tonight. The smell would surround him all night. It would be very, um, erotic. Of course, that’s just asking for it once you finally get back here. With that sort of stimulation, you getting bitten would pretty much be a foregone conclusion.”

“Honey, I’m home!” Xander and Cordelia both jumped slightly as they heard Spike’s voice at the door of the suite. “OK, let me get him into the other bedroom, then you slip out and go downstairs. I’ll send him down when I’m done with him,” Cordelia said. Before she could slip out the door, Xander pulled her into a quick hug and whispered his thanks into her ear. “Thank me tomorrow - with details,” she admonished, pressing a kiss to his cheek and whisking the bag of tricks out the door with her.

Xander stepped out into the lobby and was immediately surrounded by the girls, who dragged him across the marble floor, chattering excitedly about his new look. Once they reached the others, Xander said, “OK, everybody be still, I want to get a good look at you.” The girls quickly fell in line next to their mates and dates. Buffy was wearing a short, low-cut black dress that clung to her curves and emphasized her cleavage. Her legs were covered in filmy black stockings and she wore black shoes that could only be described as “fuck me” pumps. Her blonde hair was piled up on her head to fall in loose waves, small tendrils curved at her temples and ears. Her face was beautifully made up and her lips were a slash of bright red. She stood next to Angel, who was wearing burgundy leather trousers and a fine-weave gray sweater, his hair was gelled to perfection.

Willow was wearing soft, flowing trousers in an emerald green color that contrasted beautifully with her hair and brought out the sparkles in her eyes. She wore a short, fitted jacket of the same green with a silver tank underneath, and silver shoes peeked out from under her cuffs. Oz looked sharp in the camel colored trousers, black turtleneck, and brown leather sport coat he’d had on at dinner. Dawn’s long legs were encased in trim-fitting black pants topped with a sleeveless vest the rich dark color of blood. Black, pointed-toed microfiber boots added three inches to her height. She explained that Jase would meet them shortly, as soon as Cordelia relieved him for baby sitting duty.

While they waited for Spike and Jase, Xander was listening to Angel relate a story about one of the agency’s many bizarre cases, when he saw the vampire’s head go up. Angel stopped his story in mid-sentence and gawked over Xander’s shoulder. Without looking at him, he whispered, “Turn around – you have *got* to see this.” Xander turned slowly. “This” was Spike. His Spike, standing in front of the elevator, staring at him.

Xander ran his eyes appreciatively over his lover, from the floor up. Spike’s feet were encased in his usual Doc Martens. His lower body was held in the embrace of skin-tight black leather pants. A silver chain belt was slung around his narrow hips. He wore a soft-looking, white cotton button-up shirt. The top two buttons were undone, and the rolled sleeves were pushed up to just below his elbows. He had several chunky silver rings on his fingers, and a studded leather cuff on one wrist. In the vee of the shirt, a thick silver chain that Xander was sure was a dog’s choke collar nestled into the hollow of his pale neck.

Spike’s white-blond hair was slicked back on the sides, but he had left the top alone, so loose waves fell over his brow. His eyes were also rimmed with kohl, more heavily than Xander’s, and the contrast made his eyes look huge and crystal blue. In his hands Spike was holding his black leather duster. He swirled it around his shoulders and slipped his arms into the sleeves, then stalked toward the group. Xander met him halfway and, in a quiet but firm tone, said “Stop.” Spike froze, and looked at his lover expectantly. Xander moved closer, and drew his breath in quickly at the sight of two small silver hoops piercing Spike’s scarred eyebrow, and another in the lobe of his left ear. He leaned forward and tugged one of the eyebrow rings lightly with his teeth. Spike sucked his breath in with a hiss. The human stepped back and smiled into the eyes of his gorgeous lover. “You look …wonderful.” Spike returned the smile. “And, you, luv; you look eminently fuckable yourself.”

The elevator chimed behind them and Jase stepped out of the car. Dawn hurried to his side, and shooed Jase, Xander and Spike back to the group. Xander noted that Jase was wearing a pair of steel gray pants and a black tee shirt, topped with an untucked and unbuttoned red silk shirt. He looked at Dawn and wondered if she had any idea of how much her husband resembled the Spike of old. As soon as everyone had admired everyone else, they left for their night out.