Chapter 6 - The Shadow Of My Circumstance

Notes: Thanks to everyone who has shown so much interest in this story. I've never had so much love before!
Yoko-sempai – Sorry for all the delays but I'm glad you're enjoying it.
Mus4u – Pretty sure they're still coming, just not fast enough!
Werebitch – Yes the Irish Wolfhound and the mouse were for you and a not so subtle hail to Jim Butcher! No not milk gourd, or stick, or anything else there was which was so wrong!
kirallie – Ah I will answer that question, but much later. You'll have to keep hanging around.
Gryffyn – Glad you're intrigued.
Bandgsecurtiyaw – Thanks.
Cheers to Moon-Angelica, Sin Piedad, kirallie, Lady-of-the-gray, Daefea and Kawaii Tenshi no Shi for adding me to their C2s.
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Xander hadn't realised something as mundane as riding on train would be so exciting, in that scary sense. In all Rehani's fifteen years she had seen the train pass innumerable times but had never dreamed of riding on it. The fare was too much for her family, and now an orphan, she was hanging onto what had been left behind.

Xander was forced to answer questions that flashed from her in moments of unguarded curiosity. He found he knew a lot more about trains than he thought or ever wished to know, but Rehani reminded him at lot of Dawn, in those months after Buffy's death. Trying to be tough, smiles out of place, understandable but bewildering silences.

Aware of the disapproving eyes on them Xander guided them quickly through the streets to his hotel. Rehani often looked down at herself, aware she was out of place, and her nerves grew as she saw more and more white people. She grabbed Xander's hand and clung tightly to him, refusing to let go even when they entered the revolving glass doors.

They crossed the cool stone lobby, heading for the back and the elevators.

"Sir! Excuse me sir!"

High heels clicked across the floor and a petite woman appeared at Xander's side.

"Mr Harris. There is a letter for you."

She held out a folded piece of paper with the hotel's emblem on the front.

"Thank you," Xander took the offered item. "Who left it for me?"

The receptionist ducked her head as she blushed,

"The man told me his name was Spike, but would not give me his real name."

"Don't worry, that is what he always says."

She nodded and scurried back to her desk. Xander glanced at the letter and suppressed a sigh. What was he up to now? At least this could mean Spike wouldn't be in his room when they got up there. One less thing to deal with. He was dreading having to explain to Rehani why there was a vampire in his room, a male one at that, especially since she had been so accepting of his other companion.

Xander tucked the paper into his pocket when he became aware of Rehani's curious eyes on him. He would read it in private later. The elevator doors dinged open in front of them and Xander gently guided Rehani into the shiny box of mirrors and lights.

Xander put his feet up on the table as he rocked his chair on its back legs. Rehani had fallen asleep in the double bed behind him and Xander doubted somehow she had meant to. He hoped it meant she trusted him to keep her safe from the monsters in the dark night.

Pulling the paper from his pocket Xander unfolded it and read Spike's short note.

'Harris,
Know you wish I was gone and for once never say I don't do anything for you.
With a new Slayer and all I'll make myself scarce. Don't wish to lose my hands again. Maybe I'll catch up with you later.
Knowing our luck I'll be seeing you around,
Spike.'

It sure sounded like Spike but the it also sounded way too polite to be Spike. It was brief, to the point and Xander wondered why he bothered writing it at all. Granted it was nice that Spike had let him know he had gone, why he had but… Xander looked at the letter again. 'Know you wish I was gone'. That wasn't exactly true. Whilst he had been more than annoying when he'd been here, and she had caused problems between them, Xander had enjoyed the plain and simple talking he had done with Spike.

Now there was no one. He didn't speak Swahili well enough to talk with Rehani and somehow she struck Xander as someone who wouldn't be doing a lot of talking. He'd also left his guardian behind at the train station and had expected her to meet at the hotel but she wasn't here.

Xander wasn't worried about her, but every time she left he could feel this hole in his stomach. All his instincts said she should be here at his side and she wasn't. Where could she be? Who else could she be with? Who else could be that important that she had to be with them too? Why would… A conversation flashed back to mind and suddenly Xander could guess at where she was.

Spike.

The vampire in question had made it back to where they had been the previous night and found the whole place deserted. It looked like an empty warehouse, with boarded up windows and litter in the doorways. Spike prised a loose board up from one window on the shaded side of the building and slid inside.

The wooden boards that he remembered from the entrance corridor were rotten and sagged under his weight. He tapped his toe against the floor and listened to the dull thud echo down the hall. The red paint was peeling and the wooden panels were mostly missing down the whole length. There was years worth of dust and mould spores in the air. He was glad he couldn't breathe because he would be sneezing himself to death right about now.

"Cosy," Spike muttered.

This was real, but last night, that had been real too. Spike cocked his head to one side as he consider the possibilities, but it wasn't how that had him bothered so much as why. Why would anyone go to so much trouble to change one warehouse for one night?

There had been lots of things about last night that Spike had found suspicious but hadn't mentioned to Xander, but the biggest had to be how they had found their answer so easily. Nothing came that freely without some hidden price. Granted they had given their names and Spike was sure that the demon either knew their histories or that they were 'tainted goods', but that was nothing. It was who he'd talk to after them that Spike was watching out for.

Spike made his way down the corridor until he got to the balcony. It creaked ominously as he stepped onto it and the metal stairs hung at a crazy angle. There was nobody here. Now that he'd found nothing Spike wasn't sure what he was doing here, except that he didn't have much else to do as he couldn't go back to Xander.

As he turned to go the floor groaned and four little clouds of dust puffed up. Spike folded his arms and spoke to the air,

"Why are you here?"

A pause and then a shudder ran down Spike's spine. Subtle pressure built up on one shoulder and Spike fought not to pull away from the unknown.

"Bloody hope you're not sliming up my coat. It's…"

Spike faltered as an image filled his head. A small, thin girl looked up at him from a dusty floor. She had big brown eyes but they hurt. Spike remembered that look from people's eyes when they had lost everything.

"The Slayer," Spike stated quietly.

That one faded and was replaced with one infinitely more familiar; Xander. As Spike frowned both images were imposed on top of one another and then washed red. Spike jerked back.

"Xander's in trouble. Big trouble," he pointed a finger at the space in front of him. "Why aren't you with him?"

Something shoved him hard in one shoulder and he had to take a step back to maintain his balance. Spike scowled and pushed forward. The dust swirled in front of Spike as she stepped back from him and off to one side.

"So the big, bad guardian needs my help does she?" Spike sneered, but underneath it was concern and resignation. Here was the something more he expected and here he was walking straight back into it.

As he headed out another thought occurred to him. He was talking to thin air, just like everyone thought Xander was doing, the reason everyone thought Xander had flipped his lid. If they had people here that had seen Xander doing just that then they'd spot Spike too.

"Bollocks."

A knock on the door startled Xander and woke Rehani up. She jerked upright in bed, pushing the sheet away with one hand. Xander held up a hand to placate her. It was probably a maid checking to see if the room was empty before she came to clean.

He set the chair back on all four feet before getting up and walking across the floor to answer the door. Xander pulled the heavy handle down and drew the door open. He shot to one side as a taloned fist grabbed at his face and desperately tried to shut the door on the arm.

"Rehani help me," Xander braced his feet against the carpet and shoved with all his might.

The girl had scrambled out of bed and was staring at the claws gouging holes in the wallpaper next to Xander's head.

"Rehani!" Xander yelled, hoping to snap her out of her daze.

She flinched and then ran to him, hands out to push the door shut. Even with her small weight, her Slayer strength, it wasn't enough to slam the door shut with the demon's arm where it was. The door was too weak in itself. Xander left Rehani holding the door and raced across the room to where he had left his axe. Brandishing it he returned and swung it in an arc that made the demon on the other side of the door scream hideously as his arm was severed.

"Shit, shit, shit," Xander panted, shoving the door shut. "Always look first moron!"

Rehani was wide eyed with fear as she huddled into him, trying to get away from the lifeless arm on the carpet. She screamed when a body thudded into the dangerous side of the door. Xander pulled her away and to the big double bed, where he latched onto one side of the headboard. He grunted as he tried to free the bed.

"Stuck," Xander muttered, glancing up at the door as the banging became more insistent.

Rehani pulled at the bottom and the whole thing groaned. Screws squealed as they were torn from their fastenings but the bed came away from the wall. Xander scrambled in behind it and began to push it across the floor.

"The door," he explained to Rehani and she nodded before surprising Xander by turning the bed on its side. She shoved it the rest of the way until it was wedged between the door and the bathroom wall, then she looked at Xander expectantly.

Xander knew all to well he had to find a way out of the room. He ran to the window, tore the curtain to one side, and flung it open. Looking out Xander could see the windows around them but all too far for him to reach. Rehani probably could manage it with his help and her own innate agility, which would leave him stuck here.

"That sucks," Xander sighed before turning to Rehani. "You can get to the next window."

She leaned out the window to look and frowned before running her gaze over Xander,

"Not you."

Xander knelt in front of her,

"You are more important. You must be safe, ok?"

Rehani shook her head,

"You keep me safe."

"Not anymore," Xander picked up his rucksack and pushed it into her arms.

In it was everything he would need to flee the country with a Slayer in tow or in a desperate situation, everything a Slayer would need to get to England and safety. Rehani clung to it as her wide scared eyes met his and Xander had to look away for a moment. The banging on the door never ceased.

"Put it on," and Rehani did so. "Go to the airport. Go to England ok?"

Xander helped her out the window until she stood on the ledge outside, cold hands in his, before he slid his grasp down onto her wrists. She stepped back off the edge, eyes on his face the entire time and Xander grunted as her full weight pulled at his shoulders. He bent forward, lowering her down, until the window ledge dug into his stomach.

Rehani's fingers grasped the edge of the window ledge where she had been standing and Xander let go. Her gaze left his as she looked down, took a deep breath and then she was falling to the next window. Xander sucked in sharp inhalation as one hand missed the next ledge and she swung precariously for a moment before getting her hand back up. Rehani never made a noise.

A huge crash echoed through the room and Xander spun around to see a hole through the centre of the door, with two set of claws set in either side of it. Xander watched the claws rip the doors sideways and a face appeared in the hole, or more a set of teeth. He slammed the window shut and hurried picked up his axe where it stood propped against the table. With one eye missing his depth perception really wasn't up to a sword. Granted he could use one but he had grown use to his axe.

The door disintegrated and the first demon pushed his way through into the room. Xander tensed in anticipation as it broke the bed's back and stormed into the room with a torn pillow cover dangling from one horn. It laughed at Xander and lunged forward, attempting to overwhelm him. Xander swung himself to one side, using his axe as a counterbalance. It sliced through the demon's hide and drew a howl as green blood oozed down the demon's side.

Xander kept moving, keeping his blind side turned away from the demon and the door when possible. He kicked the nearest chair at the demon so that it was distracted by it colliding with its legs when Xander attacked. This time he aimed for the killing blow, like he had taught the Slayers-in-waiting in Sunnydale. The head didn't come off, but fell forward onto the demon's chest before it collapsed.

By that time there was another demon working its way through the mess at the entrance. Xander squared up to meet it and wondered how long his luck would hold when he spied another demon behind it, but he banished those thoughts to simply fight and stay alive.

The demon hissed its displeasure at seeing Xander standing by the dead demon and sped up, making the whole room shake with the footfalls. It lunged at Xander, claws outstretched, and Xander dived sideways. The demon jumped after him, feinting at him, and then with a lighting fast movement dodged in the opposite direction.

Xander was simply human and couldn't move so fast. He managed to avoid the main strike and took the blow to the shoulder as best he could, but it still threw him against the wall, winding him. A lifetime of fighting the odds let Xander bounce back from the wall, slip under the oncoming demon's grasp and slice at him low on the torso.

The demon made a odd, low grunting noise and spun to face a panting Xander, who grimaced and shook the hair from his eye.

"What do you want?" Xander backed across the room. "Well 'cept from the obvious."

If the talking got him out of this and bought Rehani more time then Xander could babble at warp speed. The demon grunted again and then made a noise remarkably like clearing its throat,

"Where is the Slayer?"

"And there's the obvious… Gone," Xander responded. "Why do you want her? There are plenty of Slayers out there, young ones if that's what you're after."

The demon cocked its head to one side in a sharp, almost birdlike motion, and Xander tried to let his attention stay on it, rather than behind it to the other demon now in the room.

"You are weak human," it stated. "Why stand in the way?"

"Answer mine and I'll answer yours," Xander felt the childish temptation to stick his tongue out at the demon.

"Mine is not important enough to delay your death," the demon advanced again.

"D'ang saw right through that one," Xander stepped behind the table and waited for the demon to make it's move, hoping it wouldn't slam the table back against him. Luckily it simply tossed the table away, it bounced off the nearest wall and straight into the other demon.

"Oops," Xander commented.

There was what Xander took to be angry demon swearing and it was enough to distract the demon currently advancing on him for a second. Enough for Xander it step in closer and bury his axe in the demon's chest. It looked at the axe and then at Xander with a bemused expression on its face before it started toppling forward. Xander tugged at his axe desperately but could not free it and was forced to leave it as he scrambled out of the way.

A stray claw cut his arm on its way passed and there was a crunch as the body hit the floor. Xander tugged at the body, desperate to get at his axe. It was it only weapon, well the only one big enough to make any impact on the bulky demons. He couldn't turn the demon over and couldn't prise the axe lose from this angle.

"I am so dead," Xander muttered as he watched the other demon in the room.

It was throwing the final pieces of table from itself, clearly enraged by the simple bits of wood and metal, which did not improve Xander's outlook in the slightest. The last leg clattered to the floor and Xander stood. He thought about raising his fists but didn't want to get laughed at for such an obviously futile effort.

As the demon raised a foot to come thumping towards him there was a shout from the corridor and then a voice yelled,

"Dumb shit aren't you?"

There was a crashing noise before Spike appeared in the doorway with a grin on his face. The demon swivelled his gaze between the two men and clearly decided that Spike was more of a threat. Spike stepped through the ruined door, picked up the severed arm and beat the advancing demon over the head with it.

The talons pierced its hide and made raking gashes all over its head and shoulders. The demon shrieked and grabbed Spike, who let himself be hauled in close. He dropped the arm, grabbed the demons head and twisted. Xander winced at the crack but sighed gratefully when the demon toppled to the floor.

"Nice timing."

"Well seems like I was needed," Spike lit up a cigarette.

"Yeah about that," Xander walked passed him to peer into the corridor. There was two dead in the corridor, one with its missing arm. "How did you know I needed help?"

Spike hooked a thumb over his shoulder,

"Your guardian seemed to think you did and who am I to argue with an invisible thing?"

Xander smiled,

"Yeah she has a habit of that."

"Where'd she bugger off to now?"

"I'd expect she's gone to find Rehani," Xander came back into the room and started trying to find the rest of his stuff in the wreckage of the room.

"Who?" Spike lent against the nearest wall.

"The Slayer," Xander fought his way through a sheet into the bathroom and his voice echoed. "I sent her out the window."

"Should of got her to fight. Slayers are useful like that," Spike commented.

"She was scared. I'm not going to put her through more shit," Xander came back out the room, taping a patch bandage to his forearm.

"Nah the Watchers can do that," Spike kicked a stray sock towards Xander. "Missed one."

Xander scooped the runaway up and stuff it into his bag,

"C'mon we need to get out of here. I am not footing another bill for a messed up hotel room."

"How many have you trashed?"

"A few."

"How many's 'a few'?"

"Six, counting this one."

"Turning into quite a little hooligan aren't you now?"

"Shut up Spike."

Spike expected Xander to check into another hotel, but he just started walking down the main road out of town towards the airport. Frowning Spike kept up with him as Xander was considerate to walk on the shaded side of the road, but could see sun up ahead.

"Where are you off to?"

"Airport," Xander replied.

"Any particular reason why?

"I sent Rehani that way," Xander glanced at Spike and then gestured to his pocket. "Give me that crystal again."

Spike silently fished it out of his duster and passed it over. Xander looked at it and sighed, before stopping. He looked at Spike who watching him curiously.

"I can't re-enable this," Xander admitted.

"Why not?"

"I need her power to do it," Xander shrugged. "I'm not magickally inclined."

"Thought you said 'a guy can learn a few things'," Spike reminded him.

"I did," Xander snorted. "I learnt how to channel her… 'pow'." Xander clapped his hands together when he said the last word. He also wondered why Spike was following him around. He had gone, granted with reasonable excuses, but then come back at his guardian's request and was now hanging around. Sure didn't sound like Spike.

Xander had learnt not to look a gift horse in the mouth, whatever that meant. He wouldn't admit it to Spike but he felt safer with the vampire around. The fact that Spike had just saved his life and seemed willing to stick around… Xander would do his best not to rub him up the wrong way.

"Looks like it'll have to be the sewers then," Spike shrugged and headed into the nearest underground car park for a hotel.

Xander opened his mouth to complain and then realised how soft he'd grown not having to venture into sewers or cemeteries since Sunnydale's destruction. He shut it and followed Spike, hands shoved in his pockets. One thing he wasn't going to question was how they were going to get to the airport once in the sewers. Xander's sense of direction wasn't known for it's accuracy. Spike would be sure to give him some gross information or talk up vampire abilities.