Current music:	Jackyl - The Lumberjack
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 3/7
full header & part 1 || part 2




Xander groaned as the water sluiced over his body. As if the workout with Faith hadn't left him with enough bruises and aches, interrogating a master vampire was strenuous exercize, and he and Wes hadn't let Faith and Spike have all the fun.

Not that Faith was having much fun. She was too furious and hurt. Angel had been the one that believed in her, Angelus' taunts of keeping a Slayer indebted to him helped the brooding soul keep his place with the powers. Wes seemed to believe that was not just Angelus throwing out digs.

Miss Vine and Whisky Rose had been the voices of reason because the four of them would have happily bled him to dust. As it was, without the two crows Spike had caught he just might have, anyway.

Angelus had been back for years, and some one with half a brain had his number and was pulling his strings. Angel had gotten drunk, and beyond that drugged after Wolfram & Hart went up in a bang. Then he'd gotten laid. Soul was long gone, and he claimed to have taken steps to have made sure the soul wouldn't be able to be returned.

Angelus wasn't smart enough. He sure as hell wasn't sane or clever enough to have managed over five years undetected, even at the distance he stayed. There had been enough visits, he'd shown up in Cleveland a couple times when Faith was still there, when Buffy had been there to help with training though that hadn't lasted long. Nope, there'd been enough contact someone would have noticed he slipped. Nor was Angelus all that competent of a magic user. Not much ability, not much patience. Dru had been the one with the mojo, even if she was dancing around singing about lambs getting their eyeballs plucked or whatever.

Someone somewhere knew Tara was back, and wanted her good and neutralized. The “Owning” Stone was meant for tying Tara to Xander, Angelus had thought Matt would be even better. Basically it was a demonic marriage/binding curse with Matt as the Owner and Xander as the Owned. The proper name was in Zrrshk and about seventeen vowel-less syllables Xander couldn't begin to remember, especially when there was a straightforward simple translation.

He groaned again as he rubbed his hands over his face. This was going to be fun to explain-not.

“Hey, sugar.”

Xander managed to stifle the yelp at the cold hand that slid over his ass. “Watch it, Rose, I can and will perform another exorcism. And I'm in the shower, do you mind?”

“Not at all,” Rose laughed the shower spray passing through her, eyes glowing just a little as she circled him with a blatant leer. “I drained off Dulcy's baby good and proper. Gonna have to watch it. Your little halfling's not going to be able to take the lust and rage off him more than once a month or he'll start changing completely.”

“Devon isn't half,” Xander frowned. He was too tired to deal with Rose in a mood, and a free pass to look her fill at the moment was probably fair trade for her feeding on and as a result bleeding off the lust and rage that had built up on Matt. Oz had sent Keith after her to do it not letting Dev feed again so soon. “He's like an eighth or less, figured the hellmouth factor-our high school was directly on top of the hellmouth was what pushed him to needing to feed at all.” Yeah, raging hormones and active hellmouths, never a good combination. Teenagers spending no less than eight hours a day nine months of the year directly on top of the damn thing? Yeah, that was definitely a contributing factor to Devon actually needing to feed and needing sex rather than just able to get a contact high of sorts from being near someone horny.

“Boy feels half or better to me, darlin'. Time to start watching his feeding close if he's already changed that much. He's felt close to half since I first laid eyes on him. Might just be the recent feed, Dulcy's baby has fire in him like she did when it was wantin' and not business. That boy was hot-blooded without addin' no curse.”

“Great. Lust component to a curse put on a natural horn dog,” Xander muttered.

Rose managed to slap his ass.

“Ow!”

“Temptin' target and you mind your mouth about your husband. Ain't no way to undo an Owning Bind like that but dying. And even then, probably only if he's the one that kills you and he wants completely done of you. Nasty business those, and go soul deep, can taint the purest if something evil owns them. Least you're of an age and both human. Human bound to a demon can live as long as the demon. That baby boy of my Dulcy's is all yer getting' unless he gives ya to someone and enjoys the show. Otherwise he'll go insane and won't stop til he's killed you. Ensures good behavior on the part of the owned, and keeps the owner from shaming their clan if they get a weak spot for the one they own.”

Xander fought down tired laughter. “Well, at least I got a human even if the marriage is demonic.”

“Did that Clem say anything about the fertility factor?”

“No no no! We don't have the right equipment for that! NO!”

Rose laughed at him. “I saw the stone, sugar, seems straightforward and a standard one to me. Ain't completely sure, o'course but feels like it was meant for male and female...”

“Angelus said it was meant for me and Tara.”

Rose's eyes glowed furiously. “If you'll help me past the cell wards, or Wesley, I'll be wanting a word or two with that damned vampire rather than just watchin' from the outside of the cell! Tara!”

“Mmm better it was me.”

“Ain't that the truth, but you two are both going to be-you put a girl between you, she'll be pregnant within the hour. Don't care what you do to try to stop it, don't care if curses or surgeries were involved if the right innards are there, the spellwork will make it work again. Think about the only thing female you'd be safe touching is a vampire, never heard of one of them pregnant.”

“I have. He was born about seven, maybe eight years ago, time growing up in a demon dimension he's like twenty three now. Going to grad school at Stanford.”

“Damn, well then. Unless yer ready for diapers, I wouldn't be touchin' a woman if I was you two.”

“What we going to have a part succubus- half ghost kid since you fed from him?” he snarked, the whole of the day and night before and that morning getting to him and he still had a husband to inform they were married.

“Oh, oh hell and damnation! I need to go talk to Aggie, Doc Bidlow went and done passed on but his books are all still there, and there's library. Fed good and proper enough he should be settled at least a couple of days. Might give you all an itch or two to have me close after taking so much in--” Rose dropped her eyes down Xander's front with a leer. “Mm, Dulcy's baby is a lucky boy. Took a bit of doin' to feed cause he's more inclined to boots than dancin' slippers. But I fed proper-and hard...Hell and damnation!”

“I was kidding-”

“You know the spawn of a vampire!”

“Two vampires actually, and some prophecies and heavy mojo involved,” Xander shot back.

“There's heavy mojo here! And a resurrected witch was the intended target! That seems mighty prophetic to me!” Rose shot back. And blinked. “I-”

Xander stared in horror as water dripped off a wet strand of her hair. “Are you doing that on purpose?” Rose could hold a solid shape for a time, several hours and all the easier if she'd fed. He really hoped it was she'd just fed heavily, more heavily than she probably had since she died and was holding solid form at the moment.

“I need to talk to Aggie!”

Xander leaned out of the shower and watched Rose leave, opening and slamming the bathroom door behind her after she walked straight into it.

He turned off the taps, dried and dressed mechanically, his mind driven to a short lived halt over the thought of ghost-demon spawn...

At least Rose was bound to her bar, she could roam around town for short periods, but had stay within a distance of her bar. She'd be safe enough within the wards of Hellfire. Angelus had only gotten in with an invitation, which was permanently revoked. One foot out of the jail and he'd be ashes. Not that the wards on Hellfire's jail were anything a mere vampire was getting out of, not even Angelus.

“Rose used the door,” Devon frowned from where he was curled up next to Oz on the couch in front of the tv more asleep than awake.

“Yeah-you don't feed until Wes has some better research Rose thought you were half to start and stronger than that now. And fuck...go wake Wes up. Pregnant dead women? Pregnant resurrected women? Prophecies involving any kind of dead and buried for a while female having kids.”

“I'm not half...” Devon frowned.

“You gonna be okay with him?” Oz asked with a yawn. “He's tied...”

“Yeah. I'm good. I'll call if I need help, go home and get some rest. Put the bug in Wes' ear though when you get up if I haven't gotten to him by then.”

Oz nodded and hauled Devon to his feet.

“I'm not half.”

“We'll figure it out. No more screwing around about your meditation though,” Oz said and steered Devon toward the stairs and the door.


Xander shuffled toward the bedroom. Sleep would be nice. He wondered how much he was actually going to manage, it was already going on noon. They'd lost track of time trying to get any answers from Angelus.

The room reeked of sex. Matt was in the middle of the bed, hands chained to the headboard, t-shirt ripped down the front and pushed aside. Jeans bunched up around his ankles and a sheet tossed over his waist. He was sweaty, dazed and looked completely wrung out with bites, bruises and scratches on his neck and chest. Basically he looked like he'd been rode hard by a succubus and left near comatose, which, was, well, exactly what had happened. Goddess, he'd fought the chains hard, that was clear. The dried blood around the cuffs and his hands showed that.

“Hey,”

Matt slowly opened his eyes.

Xander moved to sit on the bed and scooted over on the bed next to Matt.

“What?” Matt croaked and winced.

“Need some water?”

Matt nodded weakly.

“Be right back,” Xander said quietly.

~*~



Matt had never had a hangover this bad in his entire life.

He knew hangover was probably the wrong word but he had no better comparison. His head was throbbing, probably more from lack of sleep and trying to figure out what the fuck had happened than the powder that Tara had blown into his face and knocked him out for a couple hours.

He remembered waking up chained to the bed and completely losing it. Xander wasn't anywhere near. All he could remember was the absolute insane NEED to find Xander and fuck him, kill him, or fuck him then kill him, or maybe just fuck him to death. That was the only thing even resembling rational he could translate of the blind red rage that burned through him.

His hands felt raw and hurt like hell. It sunk in they were still wrapped around the chains above his head but they didn't seem to want to obey when he willed them to unclench, just throb and hurt all the more. The pain searing through his wrists. The shift he attempted to make to ease his wrists maybe sent fresh agony through his shoulder, almost enough to knock him out.

Little stings and scratches on his neck and chest chimed in faintly, just adding insult to injury. The pain in his hands, wrists and shoulder was too agonizing for those to be anything but annoyance.

His dick felt raw and his balls ached all the way up to his gut. At least he had a sheet over his crotch, which didn't leave much dignity really with his jeans bunched around his ankles and his t-shirt ripped up and kind of hanging around his arms.

He was almost shivering from the sweat cooling on his skin and it felt like every drop of moisture had been wrung from his body one way or another. His mouth was dry all the way up his nose and down his throat half way to his stomach it felt like. His throat was raw and his eyes felt like someone had poured a bucked of sand in each. He remembered vaguely hearing someone screaming and maybe sobbing...he had to think it was probably him that had been.

He remembered the Dingoes there. He was pretty sure it was Oz growling that Dev wasn't feeding again and someone go get Rose. He remembered Rose, sorta. That was lost in a different kind of haze, almost being drained of every bit of energy he had somehow, but the lust and rage bled off with it.

Xander was back, scooting onto the bed and over to sit next to him with a couple re-used water bottles with the labels peeled off-one with water, one with orange juice.

“Water first-just little sips. I don't want you hurling it back up and choking. Don't think I could get you turned on your side without dislocating your shoulders.”

Matt thought one shoulder just might be dislocated as it was but his mouth and throat were too dry and raw to try to get the words out. Just sucking on the straw hurt, tiny drops that barely wet his tongue were all that he could manage at first.

Xander's hair was damp, curls sticking to his neck and forehead a little. Shirtless. Even as wrung out and beyond physically capable of anything at the moment as he was, his eyes roamed over every inch of skin he could see. The red and black tattoo that was almost like a gauntlet on Xander that-he couldn't move enough to see what he remembered of the tattoos that had appeared on his own skin but Xander's confirmed that weird shit with the ruby or whatever it was and exploding into red light and dust and the flat stone left behind after all the sharp edges exploded off and embedded into their skin hadn't been a hallucination. Xander had a collar of strange marking in red and black, far enough onto his shoulder and over his collar bones that a t-shirt would easily cover it but there. Edges of more of the same peeking just barely out of the waist of the pajama pants low on his hips. A fucking-what the hell was it's name-whatever it was called, Xander had a winged snake with a sword and a scythe crossed in front of it on his chest, over his heart.

“What's Devon?” Matt managed to rasp out after finally managing what was almost a whole swallow of water.

“He less than an eighth Incubus. Mostly human, his mom completely human, his dad was not quite a quarter incubus and didn't need to feed. High school on the hellmouth has to be a big part of the explanation for Dev ever needing to start feeding on lust and sexual energy. Rose is about half succubus. Kept human enough she ended up a ghost rather than a pure demon.”

The glowing eyes and the way it felt like every bit of energy had been sucked from him made sense with what he remembered ever hearing about Incubi and succubi in stories and comic story lines, movies and from Gerard and Mikey. He swallowed fighting the nausea that threatened.

“What happened?”

“Can we do the short version for now?” Xander asked.

“Maybe...” Matt wasn't sure he wanted the long version, but if the short didn't make sense.

“Demons are real. Most of them are everything billed and then some. Vampires are real. Angelus is a vampire. So's Spike.”

“Uh...huh,” Matt agreed doubtfully, that crazy fucker Angel had looked kind of deformed and Matt could have sworn his eyes were yellow the glimpse he'd gotten before Tara knocked him out with that powder stuff.

“Tara's a really powerful witch. Spell work that requires chants is tough and she's...”

“Tara,” Matt offered. The impression he had of her was so gentle that it was hard to imagine any sort of power would appeal to her.

“Yeah. Andrew's got an affinity for black magic and demon summoning.”

Matt was pretty sure his disbelief was plain on his face.

“Yeah, he's a geek. He likes trying to mix magic and tech. He's watched way too much Babylon 5 and Crusade. He's been on a kick about being a technomage like Galen. Wes isn't too bad himself when it comes to certain things. Warding, exorcisms, demon banishments.”

“You?” Matt rasped out.

Xander shook his head. “Boring normal human. No mojo, no superpowers. I make good bait because demons just love me. Wanna shag me or eat me or feed me to their spawn. Xander is a demon magnet is one of the lessons any one around me much learns real fast. Magic goes wrong around me a lot. If it's cast on me or I'm involved with the casting. Seriously we're all human, or at least half human, except for Spike and Clem.”

“Demons.” Clem looked like the picture in the book-were they all real? Real fucking demons not just fairy tales and shit?

Xander nodded. “Clem's kind are among the neutrals, pretty harmless most of the time. Here, little more water then we'll try the juice.”

“Stalling,” Matt accused weakly.

Xander gave him a crooked smile. He didn't deny it and helped Matt with a few more sips. “Your hands and wrists look pretty bad.”

Matt glared. Not happy at being reminded of them and how much they hurt. “Tell. Me. First.” He wasn't going to stop hurting anytime soon but damn it, maybe he could hold on to what was left of his sanity.

“Demons are real.”

“Said that.”

“About five dimensions over there's a demon race called the Zrrshk.”

Five. Dimensions. Over. Oh god what the fucking fuck!

“They're...not pleasant. Not exactly the big evil types but they are a pretty brutal bunch. Live about thirty thousand years and only spawn about once a milenia. They function in warlord-ran clans and have a fair number of pretty freakin' scary magic users in their clans. Their magic's kinda limited to putting the magic on gems and crystals, occasionally rocks. And then when the spellwork on that is triggered the magic goes off. Angelus shoved a Zrshk Owning stone in your pocket. Clem recognized what it was, we got Angelus to tell us that was what it was...”

Matt nodded slowly, gritting his teeth against the pain that caused in his shoulder.

“Magic around me goes wonky. I tend to screw up things without meaning too if there's magic involved, just by being within fifty yards. Tara was the target-the plan was supposed to be me and Tara. Bind her to me..”

Matt saw red, his breath quickened.

“And totally destroy Tara in the process. Tara...think how you were earlier, can you imagine what that would do to Tara having it aimed at her, and part of the spell, is the Owned can't fight back so...”

Oh god, the nausuea was back and violent at the thought of that.

“Angelus decided you would be worse. Tara doesn't know you. She's not big on a lot of people being around, even less happy about a lot of men being around, and really really doesn't deal with strangers well. Figured you'd break Tara worse. I screw up spells, I might have screwed it up and the brilliant plan totally fucked up.”

Tara? Tara unable to defend herself and...Xander could at least, no he couldn't. If there was a don't fight back part to the spell? IF...oh fuck let this be some kind of drugged hallucination.

“The basics-the Owner basically goes insane until the possession is complete...not quite sure how that is all done, definitely sex involved. How much more than that I don't know. Wes is working on researching how much it's going to take to get it evened out before we leave on the bar tour...there's some compulsions. Basically, unless it's your idea and you approved and watched. You'll kill me if I have sex with anyone.”

“What?”

“Yeah, compulsion worked into it-ensures the behavior of the one that's owned, and make sure the owner follows through and doesn't shame the clan if they get wishy washy about doing it. You can get groiny with whoever and whatever you want. The way it worked you gave the stone to me, so you're the owner and I'm the owned. Somewhere between slave and spouse. The Zrrshk consider it a marriage and their inheritance laws and whatever-Wes rattled on a bit about that but yeah. Basically, we're married by way of demonically cursed ruby. Mostly just stuck with each other permanently. Other than the compulsions to completely instate your ownership of me, which is backed off for a little bit thanks to Rose feeding on you, hopefully that can get taken care of and settled while you're not raging out of control. Once that's over with it should calm down. Have the urge to reinstate your ownership every time you think someone came to close or I did something you didn't like. Oh, and the you going insane until you kill me if I ever have sex with anyone without your permission and attendence. Think it's wired in the spell that you'd know no matter what-or just go nuts out of the blue. Not testing the theory.”

Matt gaped wide eyed.

“Oh don't look like that-the particular stone/curse thing Clem thought it was probably standard, but I don't know about that-at any rate was meant for a male/female pair and a race that doesn't reproduce easily. Major. Major. Apocalyptic level fertility spells.”

Matt made a squeak. No way. No way. They were both guys, if he was going along and swallowing any of this story.

“No neither of us have the right parts. It actually has to be a female that gets pregnant but...”

“But?” Matt squeaked.

“I think you knocked up the ghost of your however many greats grandma's ex-girlfriend when Rose fed on you.”

“Wha-”

“If the right parts were ever present the spellwork would find a way to make it work, regrow, heal, whatever. Rose-was turning solid. Walked into a door accidentally. She can take solid enough form and feed, which sustains her energy and like she did with you, which only way to get you rational to talk about any of this-but...yeah. Rose was solid and staying solid when she left. So...yeah. Congratulations?”

“Congratulations?” Matt stammered out incredulously. “Is it going to be human?”

“Half at least if it's a boy. If it's girl, definitely going to have succubus nature, don't know how much of a succubus it would be, Rose was just around half succubus. The gods only know. I just go with demon is there. This knife kills it. Or demon is there, you're bait Xander. Wes and Spike are the ones that know all the that's what it is and history and mating habits and whatever. Succubi usually have girls though. Goddess I hope it's a girl. Be less prophecies and apocalypses to worry about if it is a girl.”

“Prophecies! Apocalypses!” Matt gasped out. Oh god breathing was making his shoulder just throb with each rise and fall of his chest, he was so close to hyperventilating. Xander didn't seem to be kidding. Every instinct Matt had said he was dead serious.

“Angelus being a dumbass and my luck might have royally screwed things up but the original intent was to mentally destroy and impregnate a resurrected powerful witch who can see auras. Yeah. There's just got to be a prophecy involved somewhere, about a kid Tara might have, or gods maybe even a kid I might have-I've been involved in so much crap since I was fifteen and been possessed, thralled. Hit with how much mojo and fed crap that was supposed to turn me into a sea demon, got lucky and it didn't... Technically I'm still human. I was born human. My parents were human in the sense of DNA at least. Actions I've known nicer demons, even ones that wanted to kill me or cook me for supper, but technically physically they were human.”

Matt struggled to make sense of what Xander-fifteen? Fifteen? Fifteen for what? Resurrected...
“Resurrected?”

“Tara was killed. Nutcase with a gun, friend of Andrew's actually in 2001. Willow was -even then we thought she was better and straightening out-Willow's basically a junkie except it's not heroin or some shit it's black magic, the blacker the better...she almost ended the world and was on the wagon for quite a while but I don't know what we're doing with now. She resurrected Tara-that's just as black as black gets. Pure evil shit that lets things loose that should never be. Requires blood sacrifices and calling up shit that you really really don't ever want to imagine let alone mess with or ask favors of. The wards around Hellfire are impenetrable, nothing gets in without an invite, not even the PTB's messengers or them able to look in..Tara and Wes are safe from Willow as long as they stay here. Faith too. And letting Andrew loose where Willow could thrall or manipulate him oh hell no! And hell, we barely managed the First after Willow resurrected Buffy. Then with the imbalance of the slayer system and now...Wes, Tara and Doyle all resurrected. Wes repeatedly to make sure she got the spell right. She fucking killed him and brought him back three times.” Xander swallowed.

Matt tried to sit up unthinkingly and fell back with a scream without getting his shoulders more than an inch or so off the mattress. Xander reached for his shoulder, and the world fell away in a haze of pain.

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