Title: Death Sealed IV

Author: Caliadragon

Fandom: Buffy

Category: AU

Pairings: Spike/Xander

Archive: Any List I send it to, those with previous permission and my archive.

Disclaimer: Not mine never will be.

Warnings: Angst

AN: Set not long after the First has been defeated. Faith is a vamp. The LA crew is in Sunnydale. Spike is souled, but not chipped. He still has moments of dementia.

AN2: The episode were Dracula came to town never happened in this reality. Also I'd like to thank Scribe for this version of Vlad. And thank you to everyone for the lovely fb.

Summary: Spike and Angel explain what Xander has become.

Thanks to Edi for the beta.

Death Sealed IV
by Caliadragon

I was lost in darkness, but you
became my light.
I hid my shame, but you found me
and bathed me in light.
Even knowing what I was
you became my light.
Who needs the sun when they
have you as their light?


Angel looked up as his Childe and Grandchilde came into the room. He could smell sex on both of them, and knew that Faith and Oz could as well. There was something else about the younger vampire that pulled at him and made him want to claim the boy as his own. It was more than just blood lines that called to him. It was even more than the smell of his beautiful Childe on the boy.

Spike watched his Dark Sire with wide, wary eyes. He could tell that the elder vampire was sensing something different about Xander. Spike wished that someone besides his Sire, the ex-slayer and the wolf had noticed his and Xander's entrance. All his fears were trying to rip their way through his unbeating heart. Beside him, Xander felt Spike's anxiety and pressed closer to his love.

Faith couldn't stand it any longer. She had to touch Xander, had to be sure that he was really there. She jumped from her place at the table and ran across the room, throwing herself into Xander's arms. Faith's actions seemed to cause a chain reaction in the room. Suddenly Xander was swarmed by friends and loved ones. They clung to him in turns.

Spike would always remember the minute the witch touched Xander. It was as though magic rolled through the room. Everyone felt it. Willow and Xander were more alike than anyone ever realized, even Spike. The pair had shared a secret so deep that not even Buffy or their lovers had ever known.


\\Flashback//

Willow screamed out with rage, the air burned with pain and hatred. Xander stood in front of her. Everything he had ever learned from her was fighting the blackness inside of her. "Don't do this, Wills. I love you. Don't make me fight you, please, Wills, I love you." Tears slid down pale cheeks and Xander fought the call of his magic.

Willow screamed and lashed out him again. "Do you really think you can stop me, Xander? You won't even tell anyone that you have magic in you. Magic that I will take."

Xander shook his head. Tara was alive, but the dark magic had so infected his grief torn friend that she wouldn't listen to reason. So he did the only thing he could think to do. He released his magic and let it and all his love bleed into her.

Minutes later he held his Willow in his arms as she cried out her grief and horror over all that she had done. Relief coursed through Xander; he had Willow back.

\\End Flashback//


As the magic coursed through the air, Willow and Xander gasped. In that moment Spike saw recognition roll over his Sire's face. "Childe, I think we have some plans to make."

"I won't let you destroy Xander!" Spike screamed hysterically.

Everyone froze and looked at the two vampires in confusion. They were further confused when Spike began to sob. Angel felt something rip in his chest. "Spike, Childe of my heart, I will not destroy Xander. He is a gift to our line. Only the foolish destroy one such as he. He is a gift to you, as you are a gift to him. Like you, Xander is a rare and unique vampire." Angel's words soothed the frightened vampire and confused everyone else in the room.

"Will someone kindly tell us what is going on? More to the point, what the bloody hell just happened?" Wes demanded.

Angel sighed and motioned everyone to be seated. He was not surprised when half of the room ended up seated around Xander and Spike. Everyone wanted to be near Xander. "Xander is a true vampire."

"Oh my god!" Giles, Wes and Ethan cried out as one.

Buffy looked at the four men and scowled. "What's the big deal? We already knew he was a vamp?" she asked for everyone.

"Xander is a very special, very rare form of vampire, Buffy. I hadn't even considered that this could happen. After all, Faith was a Slayer and she didn't turn out to be one," Giles murmured.

"I think that is because she has committed murder. Xander was a clean soul when he died. He was turned by Spike out of fear and love, not want or greed, another rarity among vampires. Also I believe Xander had white magic at his disposal before he was turned," Angel told them. They all looked at Xander and Willow.

Both young people nodded. "We decided to keep it a secret. Xander was unsure if it was a side effect of his possessions, and didn't want to worry anyone. By the time it became obvious that Xander was a true wicca there was so much else going on that we just never said anything. What exactly is a true vampire?" Willow asked.

Angel rubbed his forehead. "A true vampire is a clean soul that spent their lives fighting for the light and believing in goodness to their last breath. The Master said that a part of their turning was shifted, that they never lost their souls, and that any power they had in real life was amplified in death. In most cases vampires like Xander are immediately destroyed because they are very powerful. Even as young as he is, Xander is stronger than Spike, Faith and myself combined; add in his magic and he is a powerful force for the light. Often times they turn on, and destroy, their makers. I've only heard of one case where this did not happen and that was nearly four hundred years ago. The pair were lovers before a tragic incident forced the old vampire to turn his lover.

That vampire was another rarity like Spike. Even after being turned he still retained a part of his soul and was able to choose to do right. He very rarly killed humans, and even then it was only evil humans."

"You keep saying Spike is rare, that he could have turned his back on darkness, yet he was one of the most brutal members of the Scourge," Giles interjected.

Spike shivered and pressed closer to Xander. They all watched pain and sadness cross Angel's face. "It was Darla and Angelus' doing. They tortured him for two years straight. Twisting and harming the goodness that was inside of him, just as they did Dru. We created the vampires that they were. If they had been turned by someone else or even taken in by Vlad they would not have been the Scourge."

"Vlad? Vlad who?" Faith asked.

"Dracula," Spike answered. He was finally getting control of himself.

That was met with shocked silence. "Vlad the Impaler?" Buffy asked, then huffed at the surprised looks on everyone's faces. "What? I can read. Besides, I watched Dracula with Winona Ryder in it." Laughter came from everyone in the room, and she giggled at the exasperation on Giles' face.

For a few minutes, true laughter filled the Summers' house for the first time in several days.



End for Now