A/N: Sorry guys- Muse nearly O.D.ed on RL. Hope this was worth the wait…

Thanks to DoS for betaing, and to all who have reviewed :D

And to Pari, for my new lovely:



“Slipping Away”


Xander had been heading to the Magic Box. Because it was such a lovely evening, he had decided to walk there. It wasn’t so far from his home, and he felt it was his duty to do his part in helping to preserve the ozone layer.

That, and Anya was currently in possession of his vehicle.

It had been particularly windy that morning, and she insisted on using the safe confines of the car to preserve a curly look she was trying with her hair. That, and she not-so-discreetly mentioned that Xander walking around a bit more would burn off the many calories of his personal vises of beer and doughnuts.

“See? Nothing but good all around. I save gas, the ozone, and Anya’s new do all while burning calories. Look out, evil villains of the world, for I am Xander— Multitasking Man.” Xander paused in his not-so-inner monologue when he noticed Riley up ahead; a look of determination was etched hard on his face as he veered to the left with a taser in his hand.

“Hey, Riley! What’s goin’ on?” he called out to the former soldier, then slapped himself mentally for with his ignorance. He knew that Riley didn’t particularly care for loud talking, let alone full blown yelling, when he was in pursuit of something.

Stealth, and all, Xander thought. But either way, his yelling hadn’t been loud enough to disturb whatever was going on, for Riley hadn’t so much as paused in acknowledgement, continuing to head through the trees that led to the woods.

“Huh. Wonder what action’s going down tonight.”

Knowing that there probably wouldn’t be a Scooby meeting later that evening…

Unless Riley’s little excursion right now has to do with a meeting I inadvertently missed due to my having to walk five hundred miles…

Xander decided to follow his friend and see what was the what, and if he could be of any help.

Riley was moving incredibly fast—he was clearly in hot pursuit of someone or something.

“Maybe Anya’s right. A little extra workout never hurt anybody,” Xander huffed to himself a few minutes later as he jogged to the spot where he had last spotted Riley.

“Man, I gotta get back in shape.”

Xander remembered days of yore when running, or jogging for that matter, wasn’t such an arduous task. The construction work kept his arms and hands good and strong, but his legs and quads could use a little assistance. Maybe the strengthening of his lungs would be a good thing as well, ‘cause, good God!

Even breathing with any sense of normalcy was becoming an issue.

But Xander figured that this little impromptu trek of chasing after Riley would be a good start.

The glorified brick layer, however, received quite the start indeed when his heart that had been beating and pumping oh so hard from what he didn’t quite want to describe as overexertion, briefly stopped at the stunning sight before him. Riley, within the span of five minutes or so that it took for Xander to catch up with him, had gone from hunter to prey. His predators, for the most part, were all too familiar.

Harmony held his bound wrists to the ground, all the while smiling gleefully up at a platinum blond, leather clad man who could be no one but Spike. He stood before her, licking the blood off of a knife. An unknown male, whom Xander assumed to be a vampire as well, was on top of Riley, grinding on top of his struggling form. The presumed vampire barked out a laugh before ripping Riley’s shirt down the middle, caressing his broad chest in a gesture akin to that of a lover.

Or an eager rapist.

Xander felt winded as well as sickened. The scene he now saw did nothing to help regulate his erratic breathing.

“Don’t you think it’s better this way?” the vampire rhetorically asked an overtly stricken Riley.

“Oh god…what is this? Spike?”

Spike’s head whipped around, his vampiric, yellow eyes rolling in exasperation at the sight of the Slayer’s boy.

“Harris, just walk away. You have no idea—”

“Xander! Help me!”

“Shh, shh. Calm down. The party’s just getting started,” the brown-haired vamp murmured as he started to unbutton Riley’s baggy cargo pants.

“Wait,” Spike commanded darkly, all the while keeping his eyes on Xander.

“Aah, but I just wanna—”

Spike whipped his head briefly around to stare Chris down.

“Not now,” he said darkly. “This is my bloody show. Do what I damn well say when I say it.” Chris smiled, nodding his head in acknowledgement, and settled for sitting directly atop Riley’s pelvis, waiting for permission to go on.

“What the hell is this?!” Xander demanded, eyeing the two blondes as he pulled a stake from out of his coat pocket.

Harmony snarled at him in disgust. “God, Xander. Do I have to bitch slap you again? You’re out-muscled and outnumbered.”

Xander nodded somberly at her obvious assessment. “Maybe so. But I can stop you,” he said with what sounded like resignation. He then lunged for Spike, stake at the ready, knowing Spike couldn’t stop him.

Of course, the evening continued to be chock full of surprises.

Spike grabbed Xander’s wrist, twisting it behind his back so that he released the stake from his hand. At the boy’s groan of pain, Spike released him, simultaneously shoving him forward, causing Xander to stumble.

“I said, sod off,” Spike gritted out, staring at a dumbfounded Xander.

“Your chip—”

“Is currently out of order, thanks to the illustrious Captain Cardboard.”

Xander swallowed thickly, unsure of what to do— if he could do anything, that was. He slowly began to back away, knowing that there was only one obvious solution.

Buffy.

“So, I don’t suppose you’re gonna just…let me walk away, are you?” Xander questioned hesitatingly, trying to block out Riley’s loud breathing, caused by duress.

Spike gave him a somewhat sad smirk before answering. “Nah. Go on. Got no problem with you. Toddle on off to safety.” Spike didn’t move until Xander was fully out of sight.

“Well, pity there was a distraction. But at least now the festivities can officially begin. Hold his legs.” Chris moved down Riley’s body until he was sitting on his legs, his strong, firm hands gripping Riley’s thighs tightly in order to force him to remain still.

“I’d move my hands, if I were you, mate,” Spike warned, kneeling alongside the captive soldier with the knife at the ready.

“Spike, I swear—”

“What? That it’s gonna hurt?” Spike interrupted Riley. “Yeah, it probably will. At least, I’m hopin’ as much.”

“You know Xander’s gonna get Buffy.”

“Perhaps the boy did go and do such a dastardly thing. Ooh— scary. Not that she’ll get here in time.” With that, he slashed the knife several times across Riley’s thighs, shredding the material of his pants so that they fell in wisps to the soft, dirt ground beside him, and leaving shallow cuts on Riley’s vulnerable flesh. He cut enough to hurt, but not enough to make him bleed.

Angelus had taught him well.

Chris growled at the scent of blood just beneath the surface, gazing longingly at the welts on Riley’s muscular thighs.

“Well then, get to it,” Spike said casually, standing back up.

“Hold him tight, Harmony,” Chris said with a grin, shifting into game face as he unbuckled his pants.

“And leave him on his back—I wanna see his face when I rip into him.”

He moved quicker than lightening, rolling off Riley before lifting his legs up and over his shoulders, and rammed into him all at once. Riley screamed, tears instantly accumulating in his eyes, causing him to close them in shame.

But they wouldn’t stop coming.

Riley cried as Chris hummed in satisfaction as he hammered himself into the soldier’s body in rapid succession before pulling nearly all the way out, and slamming back in.

He had slowed down his tempo.

He was in no rush.

He wanted to savor every moment.

“Nothing like a virgin ass,” Chris murmured, reaching out to caress Riley’s face. Riley jerked his head away in disgust as he heard a deep, rich baritone laugh.

It was Spike.

“Hmm, hmm, hmm,” Spike chuckled with mirth. “How’s it feel to be a bottom, Finn? This uh, dark enough for you?”

Riley whispered “no” as his tears continued to fall. And then Chris began to stroke him to hardness.

“Well, well. Looks like the soldier boy is enjoying it a bit after all,” Spike commented as Riley’s length grew.

Riley looked down, mortified by his body’s involuntary reaction.

“Actually, I’ve heard that even if the victim is aroused, it doesn’t mean they’re enjoying it,” Harmony commented offhandedly. Based on Spike’s blank look, she quickly added, “I mean, not that he’s really a victim or…I saw it on Lifetime?”

Spike sat there silently, staring at her as Chris’ grunts and Riley’s harsh pants filled the background. Finally, Spike laughed, releasing the tension between him and his pseudo girlfriend. He leaned over and kissed her briefly, though hard, on the lips.

“You’re bloody amazing sometimes, you know that?”

~~~~~

Buffy was beginning to panic when another fruitless ten minutes passed, and she had yet to find any trace of Spike. Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t hear a heavily panting Xander approach behind her.

“Buff!” he yelled, hands braced on his knees as he bent over a bit, trying to get air into his lungs.

Buffy walked closer to him, rubbing his back in concern. “Xander?”

“You…have to stop them. I couldn’t…outnumbered.”

“What? What’s going on?” Buffy tried to ignore the heavy pounding in her chest.

“It’s…Riley. They’ve got him, Buffy.”

Buffy looked confused for a few seconds, Xander’s sentence attempting to register in her mind. “Wait, huh? Where? Who?”

Xander ignored the burning fire spreading rapidly in his chest, and wheezed out, “Spike. And Harmony. And some other vamp. Close to the woods on the South side—”

Before Xander could finish, Buffy was running, leaving him behind to pant in the street.

She had no idea what to expect, but just hoped to anyone that was listening that they weren’t killing Riley.

It wasn’t the way.

Apparently, Spike didn’t feel it to be the way either. He much preferred an eye for an eye.

For the moment.

Buffy was completely unprepared for what she now saw—a crying, aroused Riley laid out on the ground, pants in shredded tatters as some unknown vampire thrust into him with leisure as Harmony held him down. Spike’s barking, almost hysterical laughter eclipsed the noise of slapping skin on skin, whimpers and moans.

“Oh my god… What— what is this? Spike?” Buffy asked quietly.

Spike sighed, standing up and approaching her. “Harris already gave me those lines, luv.”

Buffy looked back over to the trio before shutting her eyes tightly from the scene of the rape. Riley hadn’t seem to notice her presence, and kept his eyes shut, tears still leaking through the lids, all the while keeping his mouth clamped shut. She assumed he was probably biting his tongue.

“Vengeance is not the way, Spike. You have to stop this.”

“Know what, Slayer? To ere is human. To forgive is…oh, wait…I’m far from divine, aren’t I, love?” Spike reminded her in a fiercely bitter voice.

“No—”

“No? What then? You suppose I just should’ve forgiven him then? Let him go, even though he was the one to attack me? Twice, I might add. You wanted me to let him get away with it?!” The underlying anger in his voice had finally boiled over, and Spike gripped her upper arms tight, and pulled her close to speak directly into her face.

“That’s what you want though, innit? To have me leashed, and have pillocks like him roam free, just cause he doesn’t happen to have a demon. Sorry I can’t conform to your idealistic ways, luv,” he spat derisively. “But thanks to your raping boy toy, and his fondness for electrical weapons, I’m not caged anymore.”

Buffy’s eyes widened as Spike shifted into game face.

“No more bars and cells for this vamp. The Big Bad is officially back.”

Buffy went limp in his arms, eyes fluttering shut as he sank his fangs into her neck, making it his chalice.

Just as he promised.