The Spirals Nightclub Pt 03

Xander held his friend of centuries close to him, and moved them both with the music. Although he was protected from it by ear plugs, the music or more specifically the subliminal messages in the music, was having a profound effect on his old friend. Her mind had been all but put to sleep quite a while ago, and now her body was on autopilot. She swayed to the music as she held her dearest of friends close to her and danced with the music filling her ears.

For Xander, it was a nice change of pace. It had been a good night for him so far. He had found a place that, for him, was filled with nostalgia and friends from long ago. He was trying to keep his mind focused on the positive memories of the location and not let his depression, which he was still battling, override his mood. Keeping depression at bay is always easier when you have a friend close by to hold. When said friend is a sexy as hell angel, the effect is even greater. When she's hypnotized...it's damn near impossible to be depressed. And to be honest, something about this place felt right to him. More than just the fact that he had already seduced and drained two old flames of his and was currently dancing with his hypnotized best friend. Something here felt like...he couldn't put his finger on the right word.

Before he got a chance to formulate more thoughts the song ended. He pulled back from Veo with a smile and bowed in a very gentlemanly fashion. Veo replied with a curtsy before the next song started up, a nice fast one, still filled with subliminals. The effect was quite profound, in less then a few seconds the hypnotized angel went from swaying to a nice romantic slow dance, to jumping up and down to a death metal song. Complete with headbanging. You haven't seen a girl headbang until you've seen one with three feet long hair and wings doing it. It's an awesome sight.

Of course with her being an angel, her hair was practically a lethal weapon. So Xander moved back as quickly as he could to avoid taking a hit to the face from the high speeds her hair was moving at. As he backed up he bumped into a young woman, he quickly spun around to apologize but once he saw her he could only stand and stare at her in shock. "... Doctor Stacy?!" Dancing before him was a beautiful young woman, who looked like she was in her late 20's, with brown hair that fell just past her shoulders. She was wearing a very slinky black dress and was dancing to the music, completely hypnotized.

Xander blinked at the young woman in absolute confusion and shock. The woman before him looked exactly like the family doctor that he used to go to over ten years ago. The fact that Xander is immortal, with regenerative powers that prevent him from being injured or getting sick, is irrelevant when you consider the fact that he is also a hypochondriac. But the fact that she was here, in this club, more than half a world away was not the strangest part. If in fact it was Dr. Stacy dancing in front of him...she had not aged a day in the last ten years.

He leaned in close to her and asked "Dr. Stacy? Is that you?" But the young woman was far too deeply hypnotized to respond. She was busy swaying to the music that was filling her ears. He quickly glanced back to Veo who was lost in her own dance. "She'll be fine here for a bit." he thought to himself before turning to the good doctor and taking her by the hand to lead her out of Spirals. Of course that proved to be too easy, she resisted the tug and kept bobbing her head and wiggling her hips back and forth as she danced to the music.

Xander sighed, rolling his eyes as he created a hypnotic orb and held it up behind Stacy's head. A moment later the hypnotized patron turned around in the middle of her dance and came face to face with the flashing orb of hypnotic energy. It only took a few seconds of staring at it before Xander's abilities overpowered the subliminals. Stacy's arms slid down, hanging limp at her side as her face went even more slack than it had been while dancing. She stared helplessly into the orb. "Follow me" Xander said in a commanding tone, as he guided her out of the club and into the cool night air.

He guided her a safe distance away from the club before letting the orb fade. He took a moment to admire the beautiful young woman, relaxed and limp in front of him, practically asleep on her feet. Finally he snapped his fingers and a gave a nice short "Wide awake" command to his helpless target.

At the sound of the snap Stacy jerked and blinked at the same time. She instantly came to life and looked around, understandably confused. "Where am I? I was just in the... Xander?!" she said, as she finally realized who she was talking to. A second later she gave him a quick hug and held on to him tightly. "Oh my god...what are you doing here?" She said with a smile.

Xander returned the hug tightly, more than pleased that he was right about it being his old friend, but still very confused. "Hello, Doctor...it's so good to see you!" He said with a warm smile.

"Stacy, it's just Stacy when I'm not in the office." She quickly raised a finger to cut off his objections. "No, you don't get to argue it. It's Stacy...got it?" she managed to say firmly through a wide, happy smile. When he finally nodded in agreement, she gave him another hug before she pulled back and asked "What are you doing here? And where did the club go?" The second question had more of a confused tone to it as she looked around to try and get her bearings.

Xander just smiled "I've been on a bit of a drive-about. Traveling the country to try and see where I fit in, if I fit in...somewhere...anywhere. As for the club...I might have accidentally, kinda, maybe, activated a playlist filled with subliminal messages while I was hypnotizing the DJ. And then kinda, sorta, accidentally hypnotized the entire club...yourself included. So when I found you in there I brought you out here to clear your mind." He gave her a nervously sheepish grin as he finished answering her questions.

Stacy just blinked at him a few times as he gave his explanation. Strangely enough, it made perfect sense to her, and her only response was a playful "Sweet! I'm sorry I missed it. Well, I guess I didn't...really...miss it. But I'm sorry I didn't get to enjoy it more." She gave Xander a playful grin and slowly walked two of her fingers up his chest. "Or you..."

Xander smiled and took his former doctor's hand in his... "What are you doing here, though? I mean I remember you saying at one point that you were leaving Metro General Hospital to get residency. But that was...a long time ago. Like ten years ago."

Stacy smiled as she took Xander's arm to allow him to escort her down the street. "It was, I moved here to do my residency. When that ended a few years ago I just decided to stay. I like the city, it's full of activities and people, and life, and culture and art. And then I found the new Spirals nightclub, so I figured I would go see how it compared to the original. Imagine my surprise walking in and the next thing I know I'm waking up here next to you."

Xander gave a smile at the flirty, innuendo filled way she said the words "waking up here, next to you." He winked at her and smiled. "It is weird, isn't it. It was a shock to me, as well, when I found the club...and even more of a shock to find you here. I haven't seen you since..." he trailed off as the memory of the last time he saw her came to mind.

Stacy gave him a comforting smile. "Since you were arrested for hypnotizing, immobilizing, and/or sedating a group of women, including me, and storing us in a warehouse?" The question was asked in a way that felt completely relaxed, with not even the slightest hint of anger or animosity towards him.

Xander nodded and looked out at the lake shore they were walking toward. "Yeah, my life changed pretty badly that day."

Stacy squeezed his hand gently. "I heard...I'm sorry. And I'm sorry I couldn't be there or get to see you before I had to leave. They assumed everyone that was in that warehouse was under some kind of posthypnotic suggestion, and I didn't have time to prove that wasn't the case before I had to leave. But you're here now, and I'm very happy to see you."

Xander smiled and squeezed her hand gently. "Thank you...that means more than I can tell you." He felt better about the things that had happened to him, and slowly was starting to let go of the pain and the guilt. But then his brain came back around to the big question in his mind as he bluntly blurted out "Why the hell do you look like you haven't aged?"

Stacy laughed loudly. "Why would I?"

The response was about as crazy as he had ever heard. "Umm...because that's kind of what humans do. They get older as time passes...you know...nature and all that crap?"

Stacy looked at Xander with absolute confusion, not only at what he was saying, but that he could possibly be this oblivious. "Xander...I'm not human." She said it so matter of factly, like he should have somehow known.

Xander looked at her in shock and surprise. So much so that he even stopped walking and looked right at her, as if for the first time trying to figure out what she was. "You're...not?"

Stacy gave him the world's best 'are you serious' look, as she moved her hand to her hair and uncovered her pointed, elvish ear. "No...Xander...I'm not human."

Xander jumped back in shock, "Holy shit! Your an elf! When the hell did that happen?"

Stacy looked at him, even more confused, and responded. "Ummm, right around birth." She said matter of factly.

Xander looked like his entire world had been turned on its head. "You've been an elf this whole time? The whole time I was going to you, as a doctor, you were an elf?!"

Stacy cocked her head to the side "Kinda how that works...it's not like joining a cult, you can't exactly convert to being an elf."

"Wow..." Was the only answer Xander could manage in his dumbfounded state.

Stacy just shook her head and smiled, taking his arm and dragging him down the street towards the lake. "You seriously never noticed, huh?" she said as she laughed at him.

"In my defense..." he started defensively "every time I saw you I was always worried I was coming down with typhoid or something. I wasn't exactly paying close attention. Until that last time when you kind of started hitting on me." He actually blushed a bit at that comment.

Stacy smiled, but there wasn't a hint of a blush. "I had to. I was about to leave and, well, you are an incubus. An opportunity like that doesn't come around all too often." She gave Xander a playful wink. "In fact, I seem to recall us having a date in the books the last time we talked."

Xander's face lit up in a smile as he remembered that she had, in fact, kind of asked him out. "Oh yeah...that was right before I..."

"Injected me with a drug that turned me into a human statue?" she said with a playfully teasing smile.

"Yeah... sorry about that. Between that and storing you in a warehouse, and figuring I would never see you again, I kinda figured the date was off."

Stacy smiled at him, more seductively this time. "You thought wrong, mister. You're not getting out of it that easily."

Xander laughed, then smiled at Stacy "Deal. I promise I will make good on our date."

Stacy came to a stop and turned to face Xander, sliding closer to him. "Well, you know, we did already go dancing. And you did hypnotized me, you naughty boy. And oh look, wouldn't you know it...you walked me home." She said, pointing to the apartment building they were stopped in front of, before leaning in to Xander with a deviously seductive smile. "Would you like to come in...for a nightcap?"

Xander smiled and tilted his head to kiss Stacy. She responded with energy and passion, but also with a shiver, like a school girl kissing her crush. "You know... " Xander said, sliding a hand along Stacy's cheek "If I do come in...and one thing leads to another...you'll end up hypnotized..."

Stacy grinned as she leaned closer. "Mmmmm, sounds relaxing..."

Xander kissed her cheek and whispered into her ear. "You'll be drained of your energy. "

Stacy just smiled as she moved her head to run her nose along his "Uh huh... " was her only answer.

"If I do that..." he paused to give her a gentle peck on the lips, "you won't remember anything in the morning. You won't remember our date."

Stacy gave Xander a playful yet serious look. "Then you'll still owe me a date...won't you, big boy?" she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Xander tilted his head to look off at a non-existent reading audience and before he commented. "Well then..." just before he turned to Stacy and began to focus his energy into his eyes. A flash of blue hypnotic energy pulsed out of his eyes, and of course he was looking directly at Stacy when this happened.

The moment the hypnotic pulse occurred Stacy's eyes dilated in an instant as her mouth fell open just a bit more. Xander smiled and slid his finger along her jaw before kissing her deeply. He had never thought of her as a possible date until that day years ago. And then he thought he had lost his chance. Yet here she was again. Willingly letting herself be hypnotized. Almost like it was scripted.

He broke the kiss with a big, stupid grin and kept his finger under her chin to lead her gently into her own apartment building.

--

About thirty minutes before dawn, the door to Stacy's bedroom opened as Xander quietly made his escape. The young elven doctor was visible in the room behind him, fast asleep with one arm and one leg visibly hanging off the side of the bed. A nice thick comforter covered up most of her body, but enough was visible to see that she was naked. Aside from the fact that the slinky dress she had been wearing earlier was now discarded on the floor.

He walked in the early morning air with a spring in his step as he moved back to Spirals. Inside he found Veo, still dancing away while most of the other patrons had either been drained into sleep by the hypnotized angel, or simply succumbed to exhaustion.

He gently took her hand, pulling her close to him and whispered into her ear. "Sleep, my friend." Her eyes sank closed as she slumped against his shoulder. Her massive wings came crashing down to the ground, knocking over two tables, several chairs and at least one person that was still dancing.

The comedy of errors continued as he tried to carry the lovely, sleeping angel out of the club and down the street. All the while her massive wings continued to get in the way, blocking doorways, getting stuck in the banister, it was quite a mess. Once they were outside he threw her over his shoulder where he could keep hold of her with one hand and her wings with the other, and carried her down the street to the pier by the lake.

Veo slowly woke, sitting up against her old friend as he held her close and looked out over the water. "Good morning..." he said to her with a smile.

She stretched and whispered back "Good morning. Wow, last night is a complete blur...what happened?"

Xander laughed as he rubbed her shoulders. "It's a long story, I'll fill you in over breakfast. Right now I just want to watch the sun rise. With you." Veo smiled as she snuggled up into him, and simply relaxed with her old friend.

As the sun started to rise above the lake, Xander realized what the feeling was that he had been trying to name earlier. It wasn't so much an emotion as it was a place that he had found. He squeezed Veo gently as he managed to softly whisper out one word, as the sun danced along the waves.

"Home."

The end of this story...The beginning of another.