Current music:	Craig Morgan - International Harvester
Entry tags:	30 seconds to mars, btvs: xander harris, buffy the vampire slayer, hellfire tales, mcr: matt cortez, my chemical romance

Hellfire Tales: Could Have Been Worse--adult. 30stm/BtVS/MCR Xander/Matt 2/7
full header & part 1

~*~


Andrew's house was set up similarly to Xander's only the loft that you walked into from ground level made an L shape along the back of the house, and the three archways along the back wall of the open main level, a good twenty feet under ground, all had custom made doors on them.

Andrew and Xander had the same decorator, Matt thought wryly. Andrew's place was a little heavier on gadgetry and geek-style knicknacks and definitely had more freestanding bookshelves, including four at least eight foot tall in the kitchen area overflowing with cookbooks. Xander's actually less cluttered, shelves more organized and definitely heavier on weaponry. Geeky stuff like a miniature pewter Klingon Warbird on the dinner table, which was Andrew's latest prize and the glasses used at supper included some that Mikey and Gee would spend a fortune on on Ebay. Not the least of which were slightly faded drinking glasses from a Pizza Hut Promotional for the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Spike complained he got Jabba again. It wasn't fair Tara always got the Leia glass and Xander got Han. Wes took the Jabba glass and Spike ended up with an Empire Strikes back glass with Lando Calrissian on it.

Matt couldn't help but smile at that. The bickering geeks was something familiar at least. It made the weapons hung in plain sight a little less unnerving. Though actually, what weapons Andrew had out weren't all that unnerving except in the ”you actually let this kid have these things unsupervised” way.

Clem was-well, he looked like one of those sketches in the book he'd been looking at which judging by the pictures was all about demons and monsters, making sense of the thousand year old caligraphy the book was written in was beyond him. Hell, it had taken Xander saying it was Latin for Matt to even have half a guess as to what language it was. Floppy huge ears and broad kind of deformed nose.

Dennis' brick was there. And so was Dennis. A floating tablet and pen joining in conversations by writing his part on the tablet.

Tara was glaring at the asshole, introduced as Angel, that had been there the day Matt had come to Hellfire with Brian and Tyson. Tyson seemed spooked of the guy and was half hiding behind Andrew. Wes looked like he wanted to kill him. Clem was very obviously staying on the other side of the room. Spike kept taunting him, kind of like a very deadly pissed off six year old. Faith looked like she was about ready to kill him as well, and she had a wicked looking knife with a ten inch blade on her hip, the sheathe attached to her belt.

Xander hadn't exaggerated about the food, hell there was enough laid out for a whole tour crew and have left over. It was damned good too, even if he didn't recognize half of it. The whole get together was kind of strained and stilted, though, despite the food being good and the group seemed to have been friends for years. Matt thought it was more Angel than him. Andrew babbled in Geek covering most of the otherwise quiet going on and on about his video game he was working on. Oz adding bits here and there with as few syllables possible. Devon flirted with everyone, had Tyson blushing and stammering and groped Xander, Faith and Spike. Basically he was an obnoxious ass until Oz growled.

Dennis was curious and kept asking Matt questions about his job. Matt managed not to freak at carrying on a conversation with an invisible dead guy.

There was mention of Vi and Robin. Robin's name made Faith growl. Talk of Vi and someone named Lin Ao were on their bringing the very youngest to Lake Tahoe and turning them over to Xander there on Sunday. Cleveland was heating up and the little ones were the prime targets, along with the Coven's kids. Clem thought his cousins Mamie and Louise would be interested in a job helping if the little slayers -slayers-didn't kill them. Maybe his sister Mae too.

Xander snarked at Oz for not bringing this up sooner, but Oz only shrugged and said that he had been busy all day and was going to see them tonight. The group was already on their way and warded within an inch of doomsday so there wasn't anything to do but meet them by Tahoe on Sunday afternoon. Oz really wasn't sure how many were coming. Robin's call had been abrupt. Cordelia had given someone named Harry directions to Hellfire and she was expected the next afternoon.

Matt swallowed at the question written on the tablet of the places he'd been with My Chem. He was carrying on a conversation with an invisible ghost attached to a brick and a pretty nice guy with floppy ears and supposed genetic condition that looked like one of the monsters in the book from earlier.

Even if he had been drinking heavy, it was real and Matt had walked away.

“You okay?” Clem frowned. “We-”

“Not you. Not either of you,” Matt whispered. “A real good friend. Shit happened and...just stuck on old memories that's all.” Fuck, he'd been so wrong. Sitting here having a conversation with a ghost and a guy maybe not human really proved that. “Be right back, I'm going to get another hot chocolate.”

Matt stood and headed over to where the big ass crock of hot chocolate was, weird choice of drink to make but it was probably the best Matt had ever had in his life and he was less than certain about the things floating in the punch. The three different kinds of tea were all herbal and smelled like flowers. Matt had passed on those and followed Xander's example of going for the hot chocolate. How it was staying the perfect temperature sitting in a stoneware crock on the counter was beyond Matt. The only explanation he could come up with he skittered away from thinking. That was just too much, even carrying on a conversation with an invisible ghost and a maybe not-human. Ghosts okay he couldn't argue with those, but magic?

“The FUCK!” Matt yelped as he was slammed against the counter an arm around his chest. Hot chocolate plashed over his hand burning it, strangely cold dry breath at his ear and a goddamned hand shoved into the front pocket of his jeans.

The laughter was insane.

What the hell happened next, Matt wasn't exactly sure. He was tossed into a bookcase of cookbooks, just flung like a ragdoll, which left him stunned with the start of one hell of a headache. Faith and Spike somehow managed to pin Angel to the floor. Andrew was dragging fucking chains from the pantry. Xander was there trying to help him up.

“The fuck?”

“Think we've got Angelus not Angel, you okay?” Xander asked kneeling next to him.

“He-”

“You okay?” Xander repeated.

Matt shoved his hand in his pocket wincing as whatever the hell it was cut his palm burning hot and stinging like acid. “Shit. Ow. Here, he shoved this in my pocket.”

Angel started laughing insanely, not that the guy really seemed to be playing with all that full of a deck from where Matt was standing, or rather half laying on the kitchen floor against a damn bookcase. One of the cookbooks decided to slide off the shelf it was shoved into belatedly, the corner of it banged into Matt's shoulder on the way down.

The stone in his hand was so dark it was nearly black but the light caught just right and enough to show that it was a dark dark dark blood red. A teardrop about the size of an egg and all sharp cut edges. “Is that a fuckin' RUBY?” IF it was, and it was real? Holy SHIT!

Xander reached for it, eyes only on the blood on Matt's hand from cuts made by the sharp edges of the jewel.

The flash of red burned his eyes, so bright and hot it blinded him momentarily. The sharp edges seemed to explode off the ruby the dust of it settling into lines on his left hand and arm burning in like acid, more ruby-dust burning around his throat and on his chest through his shirt. It took a second for him to realize he was screaming, and he wasn't the only one. Xander was too.

*

Matt struggled to catch his breath. His left hand and arm, patches of skin around his neck and on his chest, shoulder blade and stomach felt like they'd been eaten away by battery acid. His hand and arm at least he could see. Shades of red and black in a series of whirls and designs he wasn't able to focus enough to make out but covered his hand, and palm to his knuckles and up his arm to his shoulder and down the ringfinger of his left hand.

He shook his head trying to shove away the disorientation. He felt almost fevered and drunk, dizzy, disorientated and horny as hell. And he wanted to pin Xander to the floor, lick and bite and fuck him through next week right goddamned now.

“Get away from me,” he croaked out shoving Xander away.

“You okay?”

“Unless you want fuckin' raped or something get the hell away from me!” Matt growled scrabbling back and kicking at Xander's hip. Xander hopefully could stop him, whatever the hell was wrong with him was making him shake. The urge to grab and maul Xander was almost painful. Xander had the same red and black as well, on the back of his hand and partway up his forearm, not nearly as much as Matt had.

Oh God, please let them be able to stop him if he lost it. It was almost comforting Xander had three or four inches and a good bit of weight that looked to be mostly muscle on him, Matt was pretty sure Xander could wipe the floor with him if he had to.

“D-d-d-Dennis!” Tara called pointing to Matt.

Cold invisible arms slid under his armpits yanking him to his feet and pulling him away from Xander.

“Not the one that I was going for but I'm glad it was you, boyo,” Angel spat.

The accent cut through the pain of the red and black lines and the maddening lust. Angel hadn't had a damned Irish accent before that Matt had heard.

“T-that's it, sh-shielding, h-hidden not-not..” Tara shook her head. “Not l-like Spike b-but I thought i-i-it was the c-curse.”

“It's a-”

Matt thought Clem sounded like he was hacking up a hairball. Dennis' cold, invisible arms tightened around him as Matt made a lunge for Xander. His body seemed to have been disconnected from his mind.

Cross bow? Andrew had a crossbow pointed at Angel now wrapped in chains by Spike and Faith. The struggle to do that left a good deal of destruction in it's wake, two or three broken chairs and knocked over bookshelves, pieces of ceramic and glass that had been god knows what.

“Oz, he's fuck, he's eaten alive, let me...”

“Careful.”

Matt struggled as Devon was suddenly in his face, pressed against him. Dennis' hold tightened more. Devon was blocking his view of Xander. Wes had his hand on Xander's shoulder, Matt had to kill him for that. Kill Wes, fuck Xander, punish him for letting Wes touch him and then fuck Xander some more.

“Shit. C'mon I can't take it. You've got to give it.”

Matt tried kicking Devon.

“C'mon, give it. I'll get out of your way if you agree to give it.”

Matt would agree to about anything Xander was--

Sanity slowly returned as the haze of lust and rage kind of drained away. Devon was slumped against him, his face in Matt's neck.

“What the fuck?” Matt managed.

Devon moaned and sniffed at him. “Been so goddamn hungry. Oz tries and Faith and Spike'll help but damn...been holed up here too long. Haven't trusted going to LA or Vegas for a feeding binge with shit stirred up with the Witch.”

“Devon's part incubus. He's human enough, but his incubus nature's strong enough he needs sexual energy to feed on too, or he's worse than the Cordettes with group PMS back in high school.”

“HUH?” Matt tried to look at the one that spoke, it was either Keith or Mitch. Matt still wasn't real clear on which was which. It was the one that talked, the other didn't seem to.

“Cordelia Chase was the queen bitch of the school, Devon dated her a while. So did Xander, she kinda turned semi-human after Xander. She went to Prom with Wes. Her hangers on of the cheer leader squad. Rich-bitch clique. They got called the Cordettes behind their backs. Cordelia would've beat them with her eight hundred dollar shoes if they crossed her I think. Cordy was the richest girl in school. Her dad's still in prison for tax evasion.”

Matt shook his head. Glowy ghost lady was once high school rich bitch with a court of cheerleader rich bitches was not what he meant. Incubus? Fucking incubus?

INCUBUS?

“M-Matt?” the soft voice was right next to him.

Matt turned his head to look at Tara, her hand was out flat in front of her mouth with something like really fine pale orange sand on her palm. She blew the powder in his face and the world went black.

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