The Blood of the Soul

Divergence of Souls

A/N: Just a quick heads up that I'm planning another 3 chapters and an epilogue after this chapter (I may have to break that into multiple chapters depending on how long they get).

Please be patient with me through the holidays. I'll try my best to get another chapter out before the new year, but I have quite a few one shots I'll be dropping in December, so stay tuned!

TW: This chapter is emotionally dense and complex; it also contains explicit smut that involves blood play. If that's not your thing, head over to my AO3 account where the smut is in its own separate chapter.

Theo

"I don't like it." Liam paced the waiting room of the hospital. In the days since Xander had been taken to the hospital, their group had been planning for war. Although, if Giles was successful, if they could put the weapon together, it wouldn't be a war so much as a massacre.

Most of the demons in NYC wouldn't know what hit them, but they'd deserve it. Theo couldn't help but wonder, though, about the vampire from the McCall clan who'd been kind to him at one of his lowest points. He and Spike weren't the only demons with an ounce of goodness inside of them.

"And you think I do?" Theo asked. "The dread doctors drilled it into me that the other vampire clans were pure evil, but I'm starting to think that nothing Doug ever told me was the truth, and I'm willing to bet that he was the one who put out the hit on you and Mia."

Liam frowned. "The bounty doesn't even matter anymore."

"Of course it matters," Theo said. "Doug's been planning this from the start. None of us has any idea what he's got up his sleeve, and we won't know unless I go find out."

"What makes you think he'll trust you again?" Liam demanded. "Narada knows you're not on Doug's side anymore. I don't care how charming you think you are-"

"I think I am?" Theo scoffed. Liam's cheeks flushed ever so slightly.

"-Doug's not going to believe that you're suddenly on his side again."

"When will you learn to stop underestimating me, Slayer?" Theo asked.

Spike pushed off the wall. Theo had gone to him first with the dregs of a plan and asked for his help to flesh it out before bringing it up to Liam. "Even if by some small miracle, Giles 2.0 happens to solve the mystery and we show up to a knife fight with a laser gun, that doesn't help us any if we get ambushed the second we step foot in the City," Spike said. "And if the weapon doesn't work, Theo approaching the other vampire clans is the best-really, the only-contingency plan we have."

Liam raked a hand through his still-dyed stark black hair, and Theo wondered how long it might take for the color to leach away and for the thick and luscious strands of his beautiful hair, infused with a myriad of colors from light brown to dark brown to the edge of copper, to return.

"I-"

"Hey, there you guys are," Willow said, popping around the corner. "They're about to discharge Xander-whoa the energy in here is real weird. Everything okay?"

"Fine." Liam's smile was stiff. "Just planning."

Willow narrowed her eyes. "Sure, because that's believable."

Liam shot Theo a glance that he knew meant this discussion wasn't over before following Willow into Xander's room. As much as Theo hated upsetting him, it wouldn't change his mind in the slightest. Just because Liam didn't like it didn't mean it wasn't the right course of action.

"You coming?" Spike asked.

Theo shook his head. The past few days, he'd barely had a second alone. Not that it was all bad, but the constant influx of people had left him exhausted and seeking quiet alone time in every spare moment he could.