October 8, 2006
3,968 words
slash_100 prompt: vacation
Birthday present for the always fabulous cala_jane.
* * *
Giles sat by Xander's bedside, trying to read but unable to concentrate. The sounds of the busy New York hospital weren't the most helpful when you needed rest. The machines hooked to Xander were beeping steadily. The doctor had assured Giles that despite the significant blood loss, Xander would be fine.
It had only been a few hours, and with the doctor being optimistic, Giles wasn't too worried. Or at least, he tried not to be, but the sight of Xander lying on the bed wasn't helping him.
There was a commotion outside the room, and Giles frowned, turning to the door just in time to see two men coming in.
"Mr. Giles?" the younger one asked. Dark-haired and slender, he was holding out his police badge.
"Yes. How can I help you?"
"I'm Detective Flack, and this is Detective Taylor. We're with the NYPD crime lab. We'd like to ask you a few questions."
Giles' frown deepened. He hadn't called the police, and couldn't remember any of the nurses mentioning it either. "Of course," he said, standing up and shaking hands with the two men. He gestured towards Xander. "I'm afraid I'd rather not leave him, if that isn't too much trouble for you."
"Absolutely not, sir," Flack said, pulling a chair from the corner and sitting face to face with Giles. "We've been notified that Mr. Harris' wounds seemed suspicious in nature."
Taylor moved around the bed, examining Xander's sleeping body, and Giles' eyes followed him.
"We've had several attacks in the past few months where the victims were left with the same wounds as Mr. Harris. Some of them have died, but some have survived, and none of them can give a good description of the assailant," Flack continued when Giles stayed silent.
"You were hoping Xander could help." It seemed that the NYPD was starting to meddle into things that could only lead to trouble; their getting involved in vampire attacks certainly wouldn't lead to any good. They really needed a bigger contingent of slayers in this city. "I'm afraid he's-"
"It's all right, Mr. Giles," Taylor said, picking up the bag that held Xander's clothes. "I'll need to take these; there might be evidence on them."
Evidence of what? Dust, most probably, as Giles had staked the vampire over Xander's body. Blood, which would undoubtedly be Xander's. Oh, and semen. They'd had sex barely ten minutes before leaving the hotel room, and Giles remembered that Xander had found a drop on the lower part of his shirt, close to his belt buckle. That would teach them to have sex as they were dressing up to go out. "You can take them, of course."
"I just have a few questions for you, about the attack," Flack said, drawing Giles' attention back to him.
"All right, what do you need to know?"
"Were you with Mr. Harris when he was attacked?"
"I was-" Giles rubbed the corner of his eyes, trying to remember the details he had wanted to forget. "I was in a nearby store. I'd asked Xander to wait for me outside." He should have known; they were in New York to ascertain the vampire activity after all, he shouldn't have left Xander out there on his own after night fall, no matter how trained and used to this life Xander was.
"What were you buying?"
"Why do you need to know that?"
"We need to verify your alibi."
"My-oh, of course." Giles reached into his pocket. "I was putting an order for Xander's birthday present." He handed Flack a paper slip. "His birthday is in three days."
Flack nodded thoughtfully and looked at the paper. "Nice," he said, impressed. He handed it to Taylor.
"Thank you. Do you need to keep it? I'd-"
"You'll get it back as soon as we've contacted the jewelers, it's just procedure," Taylor said.
"Mr. Harris and yourself are on holiday here?" Flack resumed the questioning, and Giles turned to him.
"Yes," he answered. "We've been together for three years today, and with his birthday approaching, we thought a nice vacation together was in order." Giles looked at Xander fondly, picking up his hand, and squeezing it lightly. "I consider myself a very lucky man."
"You're not the only one," Taylor said, and Giles noticed a teasing glimmer in the man's eyes as he looked at Flack.
The other detective gave Taylor a sharp look before turning back to Giles. "So you placed the order while Xander waited outside, and then?"
"I came out of the store, and Xander was gone. I heard some noise in the nearby alley, and arrived just in time to see Xander's attacker vanish, and I called 911." That wasn't exactly how it had happened, but the truth wouldn't have helped any more than this would. Giles had seen Xander on the ground, the vampire already feeding on his neck, and acted quickly, staking the vampire with ease. Xander had been too pale, blood trickling down the side of his neck, and he had been barely breathing. Giles took a deep breath, and tried to smile, even as the memories made his heart ache.
Flack nodded. "Did you get a look at the assailant's face?"
"No."
"That's all we need. Thank you Mr. Giles," Flack said.
Taylor shook Giles' hand. "We're sorry for what happened to Mr. Harris. We'll be in touch."
Flack smiled tightly and shook hands, then followed Taylor out.
"Do you realize what you said?" Don growled as they wheeled out of the hospital's parking lot. "You're the one who keeps saying we have to lay low."
Mac sighed. "I have no idea why I said what I did, Don."
Don rubbed his face with his one hand, the other clutching to the steering wheel. "I have no problem with coming out, Mac, you do. But you just almost told a complete stranger."
"We weren't wired."
"I know that, Mac!"
"I don't know why it matters to you so much, since we weren't wired, and you don't care anyway," Mac said, looking out the window at the near empty street. He sighed. "I don't know why I said what I said. He seemed like a guy who would get it, you know."
Don smiled, shaking his head. "I just don't get you."
"He said he was a lucky man, and looking at that man on the bed-it was like flashing back to last year when you were in a coma and I was the one holding your hand. I feel lucky every day, Don." Mac looked at Don, and their eyes met for a brief moment before Don had to look back to the road. "I just don't tell you often enough."
"No, you don't," Don replied, and he bit his lip, keeping his eyes on the street and the car in front of them. He turned and parked in front of their office. "Let's get this evidence processed."
"Giles?"
It was barely a murmur, but the voice startled Giles, and he closed his book with a thump. "Xander," he whispered, tugging his chair closer, and taking Xander's hand in his own. "You're awake."
"What happened?"
"Vampire. You lost a lot of blood; I had to take you into the hospital for a transfusion." He tried to sound cheerful, but he knew the worry still crept in.
Xander managed a half-smile. "I'm alive, that's what counts, right?"
"Absolutely." Giles kissed Xander's palm and stood, brushing his lips against Xander's forehead. "I'll go notify the nurse that you're awake, now, all right?"
"Okay." Xander yawned and closed his eye.
"Mr. Giles' alibi checks out, he was at the jewelers," Don said, walking into Mac's office. "One of the employees saw him going out, panic, and take off running. Oh, and Mr. Harris woke up. He's going to be fine. Do you want to go back there and interview him?"
Mac looked up, thinking. "I still need to process the dust we found on his clothes. There was semen near the base of the shirt, and it's not Mr. Harris'-though I'm betting it would be a match to Mr. Giles. No evidence of sexual assault, and he did admit to their relationship. The blood is Mr. Harris'. But I don't have the results on the dust yet."
"Didn't you say there was dust on the other victims' clothes, too?" Don walked further into the room, and looked over Mac's shoulder.
"All seven of the survivors, yes. But none of the dead."
"Did you figure out the nature of the dust on the other victims?"
"That's just it-we have, but it doesn't make any sense."
"Explain?"
Mac shook his head, turning around and reaching for another file on his desk. "According to trace, the dust has the same composition as bones. It's basically bones ground into a fine powder. But it doesn't have any DNA, so it can't be bones."
"Huh. You mean the DNA's too damaged to identify it?"
"No. There isn't any DNA attached, not even fragments. It's just-bone dust without being bone dust. Same composition, but it's not human or animal or anything we can identify. So we really don't know what it is."
"Man, that sounds-" Don frowned. "Two of the corpses disappeared from the morgue, didn't they?"
"Yes, and we haven't been able to figure out where they are. We're thinking body snatchers-" Mac looked up as he talked, then stopped when he saw the expression on Don's face. "Do you have something in mind?"
"Come on, don't tell me the idea didn't cross your mind. Massive blood loss, fang marks, bone dust, disappearing bodies-"
"That sounds like a vampire movie to me," Lindsay said, walking into Mac's office with a smile.
"Vampires? You've got to be kidding me, Don!"
Don laughed, picking up the file Lindsay was giving him. "Thanks, Lindsay." When she was gone, he sobered up and continued. "I'm just putting the facts together, Mac. One of the survivors did mention fangs, the marks are always on the victims' necks."
"So we're dealing with a cult?"
"Maybe."
"Great, just great."
"Xander?" Giles murmured, smiling when Xander opened his eye. "The detectives are here."
Xander nodded, sitting up and looking behind Giles at the two men standing in the doorway. "Hi."
"Mr. Harris, I'm Detective Flack, this is Detective Taylor-"
"Crime lab guys, right?" Xander smiled, leaning back against the pillows Giles had just put behind his back. "You know," he whispered, twisting his head to look at Giles. "I should be hurt more often."
"Don't you dare," Giles warned, sitting down on the nearby chair, sparing Xander a fond look.
"We'll just get right down to it, since the nurse told us you're ready to be discharged," Flack said.
"We found bone dust on your clothes. Any idea how it got there?"
"Bone dust?" Giles asked, frowning.
Flack's laughter echoed in the room, and he looked back at Giles. "I've seen a lot of people try to look surprised before, but you really take the cake. You could have fooled pretty much anyone. Just explain it to us, no lies; we have a bet-"
Xander snorted. "A bet? How much did you bet?"
"Why do you assume it's money?" Flack replied with a smirk, just as Taylor exclaimed: "That's none of your business!"
Giles leaned down to speak into Xander's ear, a smile on his face. "I told you."
"Told him what?"
"Nothing," Xander replied, leering slightly. "You wanted an explanation. Are you sure you can handle the truth?"
Taylor snickered. "We had a guy call us and tell us the 'experts' were taking care of it. Are you the experts?"
"Yes." Giles took hold of Xander's hand. "I had my employers call you to keep you out of danger." It wasn't too hard to have one of the several watchers on Giles' payroll call and act as Giles' employer. Giles couldn't very well call himself; that would have been a rather suspicious behavior for him.
"We tend to get suspicious of that kind of behavior, Mr. Giles. Oh, and danger is our job. You can't really keep us out of it."
"Not that kind, Detective. You have no idea what you're up against."
"Is it vampires?" Flack asked, an amused smile on his face, obviously trying to stop either men from losing their temper.
Xander just looked at Giles, and at his nod, he answered: "Yes."
Of course, the truth wasn't good enough for the detectives. Flack laughed, and Taylor just scowled.
"Obviously," Giles said. "You don't believe us, so perhaps you should just forget this thing happened."
"We can't. We have five bodies and seven survivors-"
"You have fewer bodies than survivors?" Xander asked, with a frown. Then he turned to Giles. "Maybe there're more slayers in New York than we thought there were. Cause if there's only one, she has to be really good. And we know it's not one of the trained ones..."
"Slayers? You mean there's a killer?" Now Taylor's interest was piqued, and Giles couldn't help wondering when he was going to have either of them arrested.
"Vampire slayers. Their job is the same as yours, but they take care of the more-fantastical side of protecting the innocents. Our job is to train them. Now, you either believe us or not; it doesn't matter at this point. We came to New York to ascertain the vampire situation-"
"And get some vacation time," Xander interrupted him.
"Yes, that too. We've heard that the vampire population is on the rise in the city, which is most probably the reason why the corpses, as well as the survivors, have made their way to you. These attacks are usually dealt with a long time before the police can intervene. And possible survivors are tended to as well."
Taylor scoffed, but Flack stopped him from talking by grabbing his arm. "You guys know how to stop this?"
"If you have fewer corpses than survivors, it means the situation is already getting better. There are more slayers-or better ones, not necessarily more-walking your streets and taking care of the vampire threat. I'd wager that in about two weeks, you'll hear no more of those attacks." Giles took on his most professional tone as he spoke, even though he was more than aware that it would seem ridiculous to the two men he was speaking to. "We still need to find the slayer, or slayers."
"What kind of guy are we looking for?" Flack asked.
"A girl," Xander said. "Slayers are always girls. They're stronger than most, and they have-"
A nurse entering the room interrupted him. "Your discharge papers, Mr. Harris, you can go home now."
"I guess a hotel room's like home, yeah." Xander smiled at her, and signed the papers, standing slowly and reaching for his coat. "Let's continue this conversation somewhere else-bonus points if the somewhere else has food in it."
Mac and Don stood and followed Giles and Xander out of the hospital, sharing a confused look. They agreed to meet them at a small restaurant close to the hotel Giles and Xander were staying at, and then they separated.
"Vampires. I can't decide if I should arrest them or have them institutionalized," Mac said, climbing into the passenger side of Don's car.
"I'm curious to hear their story," Don said, rolling down his window and lighting up a cigarette. "I know vampires look like a really stupid explanation, but-it just fits."
"Do you have any other basis to believe that vampires really exist? Because it really doesn't look all that possible to me."
"Just-something I saw one night. I was walking home after a shift, and-I don't know, the kid could have been wearing make-up for all I know. I didn't ask." Don shrugged.
"All right. We can at least hear them out."
Don couldn't find a parking space close to the restaurant; he had to leave his car a couple of blocks away. They walked in silence. Just as they were passing an alley, Mac stopped abruptly.
"What?" Don asked.
"I heard something." Mac took off at a run.
Don followed him into the alley, almost bumping into Mac when he stopped running without warning. Looking up, Don saw Lindsay fighting a man-and winning. "Whoa."
"Stay there!" Lindsay said, before Mac or Don even had the time to process what was happening. And then it was done. The big man Lindsay was fighting was on the ground and-
Gone.
Lindsay looked up, brushing her hair away from her face. "What are you doing here, Mac?"
Mac gestured behind him at Don and the street. "We were walking and-uh-we heard a fight."
"What was that?" Don asked, although he knew what the answer would be.
"A vampire," Lindsay said, looking up at Don defiantly. She patted Mac's shoulder as she passed by. "You can forget all about it, if it makes you feel better."
Giles and Xander arrived first and sat at a table close to the door. Giles doubted that the two detectives would show up, but Xander believed otherwise. Xander ordered some food, and Giles a beer, and they waited in silence, their hands linked on the table. They hadn't talked about Xander's 'accident' since he had woken up. Giles couldn't bring himself to breach the subject, and Xander seemed happy with the status quo. Giles forced himself to think of something else.
Just as Giles' beer appeared, Taylor and Flack walked in, followed by a young woman. Giles stood to let them know where they were sitting.
"Hey, I think we found one of your slayers," Taylor said, keeping his voice calm, even though it was obvious he wanted to go home, sleep, and forget everything.
"Slayer? Mac, come on, I just killed a vampire. It's no big deal," Lindsay said, a smile on her face as she sat.
"Apparently," Flack replied, pulling a chair from another table, and sitting down. "That's the definition of a *vampire* slayer."
"Seriously?"
"Yes," Giles replied. "But slayers are also stronger, faster, and have certain abilities that normal human beings don't."
"Like I can crush a gun with my fist? And when there's one-a vampire I mean-near, I get a shiver down my spine, and my blood turns cold?" Lindsay asked, leaning down over the table to whisper so that none of the other patrons could hear.
"When did you realize you could sense them?" Giles asked, sipping his beer.
"About six months ago? But I thought I was going crazy."
Flack waved the waitress and they all ordered a beer, and a second one for Giles.
"Then last week, it's just-I was on a case, and I saw this girl with a wooden stake in her hand. Then the vampire just vanished, and everything clicked." Lindsay shrugged.
"So there is at least one other-"
"Two. We're meeting later."
Giles nodded. "I'll need to be put in contact with them, then; we'll arrange training and financial compensation-"
"Financial? You mean she's getting paid?" Flack just blinked at Giles. "She's getting paid to kill vampires?"
"If I hadn't seen that guy just vanish, I'd think this was ridiculous," Taylor said, shaking his head. "I was just about to have you both institutionalized, you know."
Xander laughed. "We've had that reaction a lot, don't worry."
"So you believe them?"
Don shrugged off his coat, and walked into the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of water and offering one to Mac. "You saw that guy turn to dust just like I did, and we know Lindsay. She wouldn't make up a story like that."
Mac drank half of his water, walking to the bedroom. "But, Don, *vampires*? Really?"
"Why is it so hard to believe?"
"VAMPIRES, Don, do I have to spell it for you?"
When Don entered the room, Mac was naked from the waist up and working on his belt. "Let me," he said with a leer. He tugged on Mac's belt, bringing him closer. "I know how to spell 'vampires', Mac. And you're a CSI. You saw the guy, you saw the evidence, and you can't deny what it tells you."
Mac pulled his pants down, shaking his head and climbing into the bed. Don undressed quickly and joined him. "And I thought serial killers were the most dangerous things we could come across on the job."
"In a way," Don said, wrapping an arm around Mac's torso and bringing him closer, "vampires are serial killers. They're just-easier to deal with. A stake through the heart and they're gone. No trial, no attorneys, no mess."
"So now we have to add stakes to our required weapons. I wonder how well that's going to go over with everyone else."
"I don't think we need to go that far. Lindsay's probably got the situation well under control, and Mr. Giles said to just keep doing what we do." Don closed his eyes and kissed the skin at the base of Mac's neck. "I guess you're staying for the night."
Mac chuckled. "Seems like it. Is that a problem?"
"Mmm," Don moaned, trailing kisses on Mac's shoulder. "Not at all."
"They seem to have everything under control," Giles said as they walked into their room.
Xander took off his shoes and let himself fall onto the bed. "Mmm, bed, I missed you."
"I'll start being jealous now," Giles called out from the bathroom.
"I missed you more." Xander sat up and took off his shirt and pants, sliding under the covers just as Giles was coming back into the room, completely naked. "And yes, I think they've got it all under control. They've got a patrol schedule and even training hours. All they need is a watcher and monetary compensation," he said, using the words Giles had used when talking to the three slayers.
"And that will be dealt with as soon as we are back in England. For the moment, though," Giles whispered, sliding under the sheets and pulling Xander close, "I think it's time we start enjoying this vacation."
Xander kissed Giles eagerly, his hands sliding up against Giles' warm skin. "I think you're right." They kissed and caressed each other for a few minutes until Xander had to come up for air. "I don't think we've seen the last of those detectives, though."
"No?"
"Taylor seemed way too spooked not to need more answers, and Flack looks like he just wants to indulge him." Xander chuckled. "And they're so doing it."
Giles' mouth latched unto Xander's neck, and Xander moaned loudly. "Perhaps, if you stopped talking, we could move on to better things?"
"I'm all for that. Shutting up now."