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Spike's eyes flick to the door as it opens and closes beyond another patron.
'You look jumpy tonight,' one of his opponents hisses quietly, his forked tongue slithering out of his mouth like a snake. 'Maybe you shouldn't be here.'
'Yeah,' another Demon giggles, a sound that would shivers down any human's spine, 'maybe you should be up your girlfriend's skirt.'
Spike moves his cigar to the other side of his mouth, playing it cool. 'I'm my own man,' he retorts calmly, adjusting his cards. He is his own man, but it wouldn't do to have Buffy find him playing poker again. He knows she doesn't approve of it, and even if he isn't draining the kittens, it also will never do for her to discover what he's really doing with them. He knows darn well he'd never live it down.
Kitten poker was played in the back room. After shooting Buffy, to which he wrongly thought killed her, Warren Mears celebrated at a demon bar only to discover that Buffy survived the attack. Buffy and Spike took Kennedy, Rona, Vi and Molly to a demon bar as part of their training. A 'Multiple Crossings General' fan-fiction story. Mostly 100 word Buffy and Angel crossover drabbles with The Shield, Deadwood, Hellboy, Rounders, The Drew Carey Show, The Sopranos, and Star Trek. Detailing my peculiar obsession with kitten poker. 'The Kitten Poker Drabbles', chapter 9 by trinfaneb. But this is 'Buffy,' not our boring lives, and she gets to get drunk watching a vampire and demons play kitten poker. She also slays at the puns when Spike demands someone stake him (pokerwise) and she pipes up, 'I'll do it!' Buffy's great at handling big, demon-y problems, but it's always been a little funny watching her fail at life. Saved by Natalie Crippa. Spike Buffy Buffy The Vampire Slayer Vampire Bites Buffy Summers Sci Fi Shows I Ship It Some People Say Joss. William the Bloody. Captain Peroxide. But you know him as Spike—the platinum-haired vampire from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Played by James Marsters, Spike went from a wannabe big bad to a big-time love interest and co-star in his own right. Put down the kitten poker and savor a bite of 44 bloody cool facts about Spike.
He'd like to be able to blame his lack of concentration on the mewling furballs in the center of the table, but he knows it's not them. This bar stinks of blood and death; it's no wonder the kittens can't settle down. They're only animals, and babies at that, and on a night like tonight, this place makes even a Vampire itch for a fight.
Thunder rumbles outside, and then, suddenly, something soft and warm brushes against Spike's bare knuckles. He jerks his hand away with a snarl as the Demons laugh.
'Looks like he likes you,' the green and brown Demon who Spike swears has got to be at least part snake comments, chuckling.
'Yeah, well, he won't like anybody when I'm done with his little ass,' Spike remarks, waving his long, agile fingers at the kitten. 'Shoo. Get back in that basket.'
'Aw, Spiky doesn't wanna hurt the wittle kitten.'
The table erupts in laughter that burns Spike's high cheekbones. 'Oh, I'll hurt him all right. I'll drain every one of them, but after I've earned them. I ain't owing you lot nothing.'
'That's good,' the Demon to Spike's far right comments from the shadows. The laughter stops abruptly at the sound of his low voice. 'Because we also won't owe you anything, Vampire. Put him back in the basket, Lestate.'
Buffy And Spike Relationship
'Can I have a nibble?'
'No.'
The kitten spits and slaps at the Demon's hand, drawing blood. Lestate yanks his hand away and back to him. 'Ow!'
Spike again moves his cigar to the other side of his mouth. 'Leave him,' he directs as the reptilian Demon reaches for him. 'He ain't hurting nothing.'
'Very well. Just as long as you remember who owns these cats, Vampire, and this bar.'
'Yeah, yeah. We gonna play, or do you wanna chat and do each other's hair? I forgot.' Spike sneers, looking at the Demons' leader. 'That's a toupee, and a bloody poor one at that.'
'Ha. Ha.' There's no humor in the Demon's voice, and the glare from his glowing eyes would cut straight through a lesser Vamp. But Spike's taken down worse Big Bads than him. Hell, he's been a worse Big Bad. 'Very well. I'm in.'
Spike examines his cards as the other Demons make their moves. He's got one Ace in his hand, but it's not enough. He ignores the kitten nipping at his fingers holding his cards until the little, brown beast wiggles underneath his cards and comes straight up at him. Their eyes meet. Spike quirks a brow as he notices a certain flair in the kitten's yellow green eyes. The kitten bats at Spike's nose. He shoves him gently away with his other hand and suddenly realizes there's another Ace in his hand he wasn't seeing. He makes his move with easy suave.
Again, the play goes around the table. Two Demons fold. The reptilian Demon slithers his tongue out of his mouth before drawing another card. He stays, and Spike makes his move. Qt signals and slots tutorial. He's drawing a card just as the kitten butts the hand he already holds. He curses softly around his cigar and straightens his cards while the Demons laugh.
'Having trouble?' the leader asks in his cool, deep, and dark voice that reminds Spike too much of Angelus. He thinks he has everything just the way he wants it and there's nothing the little Vampire can do about it, but Spike knows better.
Then he sees a third Ace in his hand and abruptly hushes. He eyes the kitten, whose tiny, brown head is thrusting up between him and his cards. The kitten keeps his eye contact and smiles. Spike sucks his cigar, and the play continues. He doesn't draw another card, but he stays in the game until it comes down to just him and the leader. Only at the end of the round does he lay down his full house of three Aces and two tens.
The Demon hisses his surprise. Then he shrugs. 'So you have a little luck tonight, Vampire,' he says as the raging storm outside rattles the old walls of the bar. 'It won't keep.'
'Says you. I've had luck longer than you've been alive.' Spike just doesn't elaborate on exactly what kind of luck it is he's had. He knows he only drew one Ace tonight, but he's not yet certain what exactly is going on, and as love's bitch, he knows luck has rarely been on his side.
'Then you won't chicken out of another round. Double or nothing.'
'Let's make it interesting,' Spike remarks casually, his yellow eyes taking in the Demonic faces all around him as well as the tiny, mewling kittens in the center of the table and the one silent one sitting right in front of him. 'Cash and kittens. You got more?'
'Oh, I've got plenty more where these came from.'
'Let's see 'em.' Spike flicks his finished cigar behind his shoulder and lights another one. The brown kitten staring intently at him and slowly striking the table with his stub of a tail doesn't seem to mind the tobacco or quick strike of fire.
The leader makes a motion, and one of his henchmen steps behind the bar and comes back with another five kittens. He dumps the furry, trembling felines unceremoniously into the basket on the table. The leader shoves the rest of his chips into the center as well; Spike meets him calm and cool, watching the kitten more than he's watching his opponent.
'Let's play,' the reptilian Demon says, slithering his tongue again.
The cards are dealt. Spike pulls up three diamonds and two clubs, only one face card and no Aces. When his turn comes, he tosses one card down into the discard pile. He feels, rather than sees, the brown kitten shift between him and his cards as he picks up the card he's dealt. He looks back at his hand, and suddenly, where there was only one Queen before, he now sees two ladies. His black lips start to lift in a grin around his cigar; he stops himself just in time and silently adds his new card into his hand.
Turns go around the table three times more before the play comes down again to only himself and the leader. The snaky Demon once again is the last to fold, this time with a disgusted snarl. 'I don't like you, Vampire,' he hisses.
Spike's eyes dance with mirth on the other side of the table. 'Good, 'cause I don't like you either.' He lays his hand down, showing off his three ladies, only one of whom he's pretty damn confident he actually drew.
The leader slaps his cards down. Spike grins as he leans forward and draws the chips and basket of kittens into his arms. The brown kitten mews, the first sound he's made all night except for the time he hissed at that one Demon who'd reached for him, as the leader reaches out and places a hand over Spike's. The blonde Vampire glowers up at him. 'We better not be getting all touchy feely - '
The leader cuts him off calmly. 'One more time.'
'Yeah, boss! Do him again! I'll get him this time!'
'Silence, Snake. Just me and you, Vampire. Whadda ya say?'
Spike shrugs casually and leans back, leaving the kittens and the chips slightly to the left of the middle of the table. 'All right. I'm game. What do you wanna lose this time?'
The Demon dangles a gold pocket watch. 'I took this off of the Slayer I killed - '
The brown kitten mews. Spike's eyes flick to it. He runs his tongue over his black lips as he looks back at the Demon. 'You got any more kittens?'
The Demon hesitates, clearly surprised. 'Yeah,' he says at last, and at Spike's nod, one of the Demon's henchmen hurries off to grab the remaining kittens still hiding and crying behind the bar.
'But what are you offering?' the leader asks, eyeing Spike warily. 'These are all the kittens you bought, and you don't have any more cash.'
Spike hesitates before bringing a diamond ring out of an inside pocket on his jacket.
'That was crafted by humans,' the Demon starts, sneering.
'So was my jacket. But it was worn by the Slayer I killed.'
'Are you offering . . . ?'
'Yeah.'
The leader nods. It isn't much, but he wants to beat this Vampire down. 'Very well.'
The brown kitten sits between Spike's arms as play once more resumes. The whole bar is silent as the leader draws a card. Some one coughs when Spike draws his; that Demon's quickly dispatched by his own kind, never again to make another sound. The boss is the first to lay down his cards this time, his glowing eyes alight with certain triumph.
Spike watches as the Demon across from him lays down a straight flush, beginning with the nine of diamonds and ending with the King. 'Good hand,' he remarks as he starts laying down Spades. 'Better hand,' he finishes upon placing down, for all to see, the Ace of Spades. He grabs his basket of kittens, throws the chips in them, and jumps to his feet as the Demons all begin cussing and yelling. The brown kitten jumps onto his shoulder as Spike switches his game face on.
'I knew better than to think you blokes would play fair,' he remarks as they come at him from all angles, but that's fine with him. He's been itching for a fight all night. He throws three off of him and into their boss before pulling a curved dagger from inside his trench. Its blade glistens in the poor lighting of the bar, looking both hungry and mean.
Spike drops to the floor, letting the Demon that was about to attack him from before topple into the two rushing him from the front. He leaps into the air, kicking back five more, and then swipes a head clean off its shoulders as he lands. He turns swiftly at the sound of a low hiss, like the kettle back in Giles' apartment just beginning to boil. Striking again with his blade, he smirks as he sees the Demon's forked tongue hit the blood and slime covered floor. 'Told you that tongue was going to get you into trouble one of these nights.'
The brown kitten on his shoulder mews a warning and lashes out with his claws, slicing into green hands before they can close around Spike's neck. Spike turns and kicks the Demon backwards, but three more rush him at once. He fights deftly, his punches swift and solid, and pauses only to grab a falling kitten and throw her back into the wicker basket with her companions.
The kitten on his shoulder meows again. The little guy's got his claws hooked solidly through Spike's leather jacket and into the Vampire's flesh, but he doesn't care. He's not sure what the cat's been doing, but he knows he owes tonight's wins to him. He turns again at his direction and drives his dagger straight into Lestate's chest.
Lestate falls back, screaming like a girl, as Spike draws his blade out of the Demon's flesh. He leaps into the stale air of the bar, kicking back another rush of Demons, and picks up another kitten as she falls out of the basket on his landing. The brown fellow mews again, and Spike understands just as he slashes off a pair of hands reaching into his basket. He can win this fight, but he doesn't like the odds of doing so without losing at least one kitten. And he does owe his wins to one of their litter mates, after all.
'It's been fun, boys,' he says and pounces from one snarling, Demonic head to the next as he makes his way to the door.
'STOP HIM!' the leader hollers.
Spike grins. 'You can try,' he offers, stepping on a horn. The Exit sign glows just ahead of him. The kittens' cries hurry his pace, but he still turns as he hops down from walking on the Demons who couldn't tackle a ball properly if the bloody thing was given to them.
As he makes his final leap, he makes one last turn to look behind him and sends his dagger flying. 'A party gift,' he sneers as the dagger barrels straight for the Demons' leader, 'for a good night. You don't have to return it.' He chuckles, a sound far more dangerous than the snake Demon's hissing or any of their laughter. The sound dies in his throat as the snake one throws himself before his boss.
'Oh, well. Maybe next time,' Spike dismisses the scene with the air of one who just doesn't care and plunges out the Exit into the night. He climbs quickly, hearing the Demons' leader bellow at his henchmen to follow him. A few manage to be hot on his trail, but he kills them quickly and silently with another dagger pulled from his boot.
'Silence,' he hisses at the mewling kittens. The brown one leaps into the basket, and his mates actually hush as Spike pulls them all into the shadows. The Demons run by. His fingers curl with his desire to not run from the fight, but as the brown kitten begins to climb back up his body, Spike remembers why he's hiding tonight. It isn't for himself. He isn't afraid of those Demons. He could take them down pretty damn easily.
There's another reason why he's standing here in the shadows. Maybe he's gone soft. That reason does have a small, furry body, and Spike thinks he'd probably be pretty damn soft to touch. He turns his head as the kitten finally reaches his shoulder and finds himself peering directly into the feline's yellow green eyes, their noses touching. 'What did you do in there, huh?' he asks him, certain the Demons are gone.
The kitten mews. Spike grins in the night. 'Yeah,' he agrees, 'we all have our secrets.' And it looks like, as of tonight, Spike's got one more secret to add to his ever growing list. 'I need to take you lot to a friend of mine, but I think you'll stay with me.' It's been a while since he's visited Mister Fantastico, but the old drag queen has never been able to turn down a furry face. 'Sound like a good idea?' The brown kitten mews again and rubs his nose against Spike's.
Spike laughs. Yeah, he's got a new secret and a new chapter of his life, one that's filled with more good luck than a Vamp deserves and maybe even a little love, is starting with the addition of another presence in Spike's life who may look as gentle as Dawn but who, Spike is willing to bet, can bite when needed as hard as Angelus on his darkest night. 'Let's go.' His luck is changing; maybe it's time his heart did, too.
The End
“I won the bet, which means I get to pick the game, and we’re playing strip poker.” Faith stared him down. “What? You’ve got something to be ashamed of?”
Xander sighed, knowing that he was caught. Faith had been right; it had taken Spike and Buffy all of five minutes to get over being mad and go straight to the sex. Xander had bet on fifteen, thinking that Buffy would surely pop him in the nose at least once for not calling.
Now, he and Faith were stuck in the house together, waiting for Giles’ arrival. The head Watcher was flying in from England, and someone had to be there for him. They’d drawn the short straw, and they had to do something while they were waiting.
“All right. I’ll grab the deck of cards.” Xander found a spare deck in the junk drawer and started shuffling. “How are we doing this?”
“You’ve never played poker before?”
“I’ve never played strip poker,” he corrected her.
She shrugged. “Instead of chips, you bet clothes. If you’re naked, you lose.”
He began to deal. “I know I’m going to regret this,” Xander muttered.
Faith looked over her hand. “So, why’d you come to Cleveland?”
“The apocalypse, what else?”
“Figured you’d stay in Africa.”
“Buffy said a reunion would be nice.” He looked around the living room of the Cleveland headquarters. “Where’s Wood? I haven’t seen him the last couple of days.”
She stared at her cards. “What are you betting?”
“My right shoe,” he replied, “and you didn’t answer my question.”
She smirked at him. “Coward.”
“No, just cautious. You?”
Faith’s expression was daring. “My bra.”
His eyes went wide. “Don’t you have to bet your shirt first?”
“Not if you do it right.” Winstar casino grant ok.
Xander almost choked, beginning to feel a little warm. “Yeah, okay.”
“He left,” she replied as she discarded two of her cards.
He got rid of one and quickly dealt three. “Any reason?”
“I wasn’t the Slayer he wanted.” Room casino no deposit bonus.
He was surprised to find himself sympathetic. “Yeah. I could see he had that whole ‘mommy complex’ going for him.”
Faith frowned. “What?”
“His mom was a Slayer, right?” Xander pointed out. “He was sniffing around Buffy for a while, and then you. He was trying for a replacement mother.”
She snorted. “I’m no one’s mother.”
“That’s his problem, not yours.”
Her eyes took on a new respect for him. “Yeah, I guess it is.” She laid her cards down, revealing a flush. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
He looked from her cards to his own, then began unlacing his shoe. “This is going to be a long night.”
~~~~~
Faith’s eyes went wide as Xander pulled his t-shirt off over his head. He’d lost some weight, and it was clear that he’d been working a lot more than he’d been eating.
He tossed his shirt to the side. “See something you like?”
She met his good eye. “Maybe.”
He flushed, then began reshuffling the deck. “What’s it going to be this time?”
“My shirt.” Faith had already lost her bra, and she could have bet her pants, but she’d never been one to play it safe. Besides, if Xander was distracted, all the better. “You?”
“Pants.”
She took the cards he dealt. “Does it bother you?”
“What?”
“That.” She pointed at his eye patch.
He touched it self-consciously. “Nah. Chicks dig it.”
“Only if you’ve got a story to go with it,” Faith responded. “What do you tell them?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You make something up, right?” she asked. “It’s not like you can tell them that some crazy ex-priest possessed by the First Evil poked it out.”
His lips quirked. “No, I usually tell them that it was a construction accident.”
“Lame,” she judged. “You’ve got to do better than that if you’re going to get laid.” At the expression on his face, she sat back. “You have been laid sometime in the recent past, right?”
He pulled out three cards and put them down. “Of course.”
“No, you haven’t,” she accused, getting rid of two cards. “How long has it been?”
Buffy Spike Kitten Poker Game
“None of your business,” Xander snapped.
Faith raised her eyebrows. “Oooh, temper.”
“Shut up.”
She suddenly remembered something Buffy had told her, after the Hellmouth had been closed, about Xander grieving. “Not since Anya, huh?”
Instead of replying, he dealt the cards.
Faith let the awkward silence hang, thinking that she’d probably crossed a line. Not that she cared, but she felt the need to say something. “You could always tell the girls you got gored by a wild boar or something.”
“They’d never believe it,” he replied. “I prefer telling them that I got knifed by a mugger while saving a friend’s life.”
“Not bad,” Faith admitted. “What about getting attacked by a rabid gopher?”
A reluctant smile formed. “We don’t have gophers in Africa.”
“Never been there.”
“Would you want to go?”
“What would I do in Africa?” she asked.
“Same thing you’re doing here,” he replied. “There’s plenty of evil in Africa to fight.”
“Are you going back?”
“Yeah, eventually.” He smiled crookedly. “It’s nice to have hot water for a while.” Xander put his cards down. “Full house.”
Faith looked at her flush and smiled ruefully. She put her cards down and pulled her shirt over her head—slowly. When she tossed her shirt aside, his jaw was slack. “Like what you see?”
She could hear him swallow. “Uh…”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
Faith would never find out what he would have said, because Angel and Giles entered the house, arguing.
“I wasn’t evil!” Angel protested.
“It was an evil law firm,” Giles shot back. “What was I—” He stopped, staring at Faith.
“Faith?” Angel choked out.
She smiled, not bothering to reach for her shirt. “Hey, Angel.”
Giles quickly averted his eyes. “What is going on here?”
“We’re playing strip poker,” Faith replied, feeling as though the answer to that question should have been obvious. She rose from her position on the floor. “Looks like it’s a tie, Xander.”
Xander scrambled to his feet. “I guess so.”
“Come on,” Faith seized his arm. “I think it’s time to get you back on the horse.”
Much like the first time, Xander didn’t offer a protest, although Faith had a feeling that the strip poker had softened him up considerably…so to speak.
It was time they both moved on.