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It's Just A Job

Now the chip was history it would be so very simple to install himself as Master of Seattle. The locals were the weakest bunch of vampires he had seen these past few decades, and they practically begged to be controlled, to be subsumed, to be made subject to his will.

His consort shouldn't need to earn a penny, should be kept, a treasured companion, not be someone who insisted on leaving him alone in bed each day to go to work for a faceless corporation which made him dress in suits and ties and schedule breakfast meetings!

But Xander insisted...



Earning Self-Worth

"I've never had something I'm good at before, Spike. I was always the kid tripping over his own feet, stumbling into the middle of a spellcasting and getting zapped or... or possessed. I was always bait, or the one told to stay back so nobody had to worry about getting me out of trouble. I was the unwanted son hidden in the basement so I didn't remind my parents every day how they'd screwed up their lives with a quick fumble in the back of my grandfather's Chevy."

"I'm good at what I do now, Spike. People rely on me."



Daily Grind

Some nights Spike would want Xander to come out with him, out into the underbelly of the city, to join in the hunt, to choose the prey, to share the adrenaline rush that came from running down a rapist or a drug dealer until they collapsed and begged for mercy or a swift and painless death.

Some nights Xander was too tired to do much more than kick off his shoes and collapse into the sofa so that Spike could massage away the killer headache that was trapped behind his eyes. He loathed computer work, but vehemently rejected wearing glasses.



Retirement

"They offered me a chance to join the big boys' club today, Spike. A partnership. I told them thanks, then quit. For fifteen years, you've let me do what I thought I had to do, and today I finally realised - I don't. I don't need to be successful and career-driven, or rich. I don't need to be found worthy in any eyes but yours, and you loved me way before I thought I was. So it's your turn now, I place myself completely in your hands."

Spike's eyes glittered with glee.

"Pass the phone, Pet, I've work to do..."



The sequel, 'Playing Together' is coming soon...