Smoke Required

Disclaimer in first chapter.

Crossing: BtVS/Harry Potter

xxoxx

Spike walked outside the club and sat on the curb, fishing around in his trench coat for a bit before finally finding his little vice. The lighter was cheap, lime green plastic and easily replaced. It served its purpose and he all but purred at the first sweet burn of smoke in his undead lungs.

He exhaled a soft gray plume and leaned back against a conveniently placed mailbox to watch it dissipate in the cool night air. The throbbing beat of some techno mix of an eighties classic thrummed through the pavement beneath him; somewhere off to the right a couple was enjoying activities generally restricted to bedrooms.

The air smelled of oil, sweat, and… wet dog?

Spike glanced down the street and saw a large, black animal staring back. Its eyes were large and gray like smoke in the yellow cast of the streetlight. It approached slowly, cautiously, until it was barely a meter away. Then it hunkered down, gaze unwavering.

The vampire frowned; attempting to figure out what had the beast so enthralled. Squinting, he looked from dog to street and back again, twisting about to try and see through the animal’s line of sight. His hands moved a bit, and he saw the dog’s eyes twitch.

Slowly, he raised the cigarette to his lips and grinned at the soulful, hungry look of the dog.

It was the little torments in life that made it so very sweet, Spike decided as he finished his cig under watchful, envious eyes. Nicotine was a wonderful fix, but the longing in the dog’s gray eyes made every puff that much sweeter. He flicked the tiny butt into the street and headed back into the club. The vamp still needed to get some dinner after all.

The dog’s form melted and coalesced into a ragged, skinny man. He scampered after the dying butt and held it to cracked lips, inhaling every bit of death-dealing, poisonous, wonderful smoke.

“Fag,” he muttered under his breath, his tone making it apparent that he was not talking about the cigarette.

xxoxx