The Ties That Bind (7/34 + Epilogue)
May. 3rd, 2012 05:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbottomsTitle: The Ties That Bind Part 7
Beta: Blackcat1000
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Donna, John Hart, Owen and James Harper, Mickey/Martha, Toshiko/Tommy, Claudia, Phillip, Saxon, Rhiannon, OCs
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 75K+
Warnings/Contains: Explicit sex (does that need a warning?), witchcraft, horror, supernatural themes, character death.
Summary: Ianto is a powerful magical warrior, one which Jack Harkness has never been able to resist. Once enemies, then almost lovers, he broke his heart. Years later, Jack must return to his hometown and seek help before it is too late. Jack and Ianto must now put aside their past and work together to defeat an evil threatening to overwhelm and take control of Jack because of his unique bloodline. Secrets and foretold prophecies will plague them and in this paranormal battle, they will need more than magic to survive.
They finally caught sight of the motel Ianto had said would be a good stopping point, and he pulled into the car-park. It was already well past midnight and the place was nearly full with travellers and truckers, but the clerk knew Ianto and managed to find a room for them. It was clear from the look in his eyes that he wasn’t thrilled about having to share a room, but he didn’t openly complain. Instead, he simply tossed his bag on the king-size bed and told Jack he was going for a shower.
As Jack sat on the foot of the bed, listening to the rattle and hum of the pipes, Jack considered the situation he and Ianto now found themselves in. They’d never really been friends. They’d been more like thorns in each other’s sides when they were younger, always bickering and snapping. Constantly rubbing each other the wrong way.
And then everything had come to a head on that last night he’d been in Brecon, and all that prickly energy that’d always been between the two of them had transformed into something mind-blowing. Into something that’d shocked the hell out of them both.
Now, twelve years later, they still weren’t friends. They were more strangers than anything else, and yet, it didn’t feel like he’d just spent hours with a stranger. In some ways, the years since Jack had last seen Ianto seemed nonexistent—but at the same time, everything had changed. What had happened between them that last time they’d been together had irrevocably altered the pace of their relationship. Like a match to flame, all that restless, uncomfortable energy had spectacularly combusted, flaring into something violent and raw and explosive, creating a feeling that was… Well, it was...
Damn it, he didn’t know how to explain what it was. Jack only knew it was something he’d never felt before. That he’d never come close to feeling since. And it was still vibrating in the air between them, impossible to ignore.
He just didn’t know what to do about it.
“But I knew this was going to be a mistake,” he muttered under his breath, shoving his hands back through his hair so hard that his scalp stung. He rested his head back on his shoulders, staring at the motel’s water-stained ceiling, and told himself that he needed to start focusing on the mission.
He also needed to check in with the others back at headquarters.
Taking a seat in the cheap wooden chair that matched the room’s even cheaper desk, Jack booted up his laptop and then clicked on the icon that would initiate a secure video connection via satellite. He knew exactly why Mickey, a tiger-shifter, and their resident tech support and weapons specialists, had uploaded the software onto his system, insisting that he use it while he was on the road. His friends back in New York and the manor in Scotland wanted to be able to see him—to check his expression and read the look in his eyes—so that they could be sure he was still Jack…and not some dead man walking under the control of the Master. Not that he blamed them. If he was in their shoes, he’d have done the same thing.
As he waited for someone to connect on the other end, Jack admitted to himself that while he missed his friends, he was glad for the time away from them. As happy as he was for the guys, their luck in the love department had started wearing thin. All the laughter and smiles and satisfied looks of pleasure. They weren’t naive. They knew there was still work to be done. Knew the fate of the world was resting in the balance. And they were prepared to deal with it. But it didn’t stop them all from wallowing in romantic bliss. It was enough to make a single guy sick to his stomach.
“It’s about damn time you checked in.” James Harper’s deep voice suddenly cut into his thoughts, and Jack jerked his gaze back to the laptop. The werewolf was buttoning up a white shirt, his green eyes sharp with concern. He sat behind one of the desks they’d set up in the new high-tech room they all referred to as command central and stared up at the video monitor mounted on the wall. “We’ve been worried.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” he rumbled. “It’s, uh, been an eventful day.”
“I’ll just bet it has,” Owen groused, coming into the room and pulling up a chair beside his brother. He was shirtless, his black hair mussed from sleep, and Jack realised he’d probably pulled them both from their beds. “And?” Owen demanded, while he scratched the dark stubble darkening his jaw. “Did you find what you were looking for? Is the mystery over? Can you finally tell us what all the fucking secrecy was about?”
Owen really hadn’t taken well to Jack’s insistence that he make the trip to Brecon alone, but then neither had any of the others. The rest just hadn’t been as blunt about it as Owen.
“I’ve gotten a good start,” he said, keeping an ear out for the sound of the shower turning off, “but before we get into it, I need to quickly explain a few things. First of all, I know the witch. The one who was working with Adam, who took the Master out of the Veil.”
Owen rolled his eyes. “We figured as much, considering you called her Rhiannon,” he offered dryly, scratching his chest.
“Yeah, well, what you didn’t know is that I grew up with her.” While his friends listened, Jack quickly explained his connection to the Jones family, telling them about the feud and his friendship with Brandon. He left out the part where everything had gone to shit between him and Ianto, simply explaining that tensions between the two families had prompted the Harkness’ to relocate.
He also admitted why he hadn’t filled them in on any of this before, and then he told them what had happened when he’d shown the spell to Donna. When he was done, he sprawled back in the uncomfortable chair and waited for them to rip into him.
It didn’t take long. He didn’t need to hear the guttural curses to know how pissed they were with him. Their expressions said it all. What he hadn’t expected was the hurt he could see in their eyes.
“We protect our own, Jack.” Though James kept his voice soft, it resonated with anger. “You should have known that.”
“Yeah, I know,” he muttered, scrubbing his hand down his face. “And I’m sorry. I was a dick not to trust you. I just haven’t been thinking straight lately.”
“You’re also a twat,” Owen added, and Jack barked out a gruff laugh.
“Yeah, that, too.”
Getting back to the issue of the journal, James said, “You told us the aunt was able to work out the catalyst for the spell, but you didn’t tell us what it is.”
Leaning forward in the chair, Jack braced his elbows on his knees. “I know this is gonna sound crazy, so I’m just gonna say it. We need an adult virgin. One with warrior’s blood. And they can’t be human.”
Owen gave a low whistle and shook his head. “Well, hell, that leaves me out.”
“Now there’s something we didn’t know,” drawled a deep voice with a slight New Orleans accent, and Phillip walked into view, the vampire’s arms crossed over his chest as he lounged against the wall behind the desk. The Kindres vampire and his sister, Claudia, had been working with the Guardians for months now, and had recently come over from New Orleans. Phillip was staying at the house in Scotland more often than not these days.
“I don’t like this,” James rasped. “It doesn’t feel right.”
Phillip gave a low laugh. “I tried to warn you, James, that you might not like what has to be done in order for you and your friends to survive.”
“This isn’t about our own arses,” Owen growled.
James shifted in his chair, cutting a dark, suspicious glare at Phillip. “Did you know it was going to be a virgin’s blood that was needed?”
The vampire shook his head. “Not specifically. But this is dark magic, we’re dealing with.’
“I’ve got a lead on a demon who should be able to help us interpret the rest of the spell,” Jack said. “I’m hoping to track him down in the next day or two.”
“In the meantime,” James told him, “we’ll research virgin rituals. See what we can dig up.”
“Ask Martha,” Jack suggested. “She knows all about this kind of crap.” Martha Jones was an anthropologist who was engaged to Mickey Smith, and her knowledge about clan history was extensive.
“Will do,” Owen assured him. And then, quick as a snake, he said, “You planning on telling us who’s in the shower before you head off?”
Jack made his expression blank. He’d deliberately left out the fact he was travelling with Ianto, wanting to avoid the inevitable questions. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he lied, refusing to give in gracefully.
Phillip snorted as he glanced from one Harper brother to the other. “Does he think we’re deaf?”
Owen looked into the camera and smiled like an idiot. “I can hear it all, big boy. Even the race of your heart. You got a new friend with you?”
“I doubt he’d call me a friend,” Ianto murmured, his voice coming from just behind Jack’s left shoulder, and he damn near jumped out of his skin. He’d been so focused on the conversation with his friends, he hadn’t heard him slip out of the bathroom. “I’m sure Jack would just tell you I’m a pain in the arse.”
Phillip gave him a slow, appreciative smile. “If they all look like you, my boy, I think I’ll have to get one for myself.”
Jack scowled. “Keep a leash on the vamp, James. Or better yet, a muzzle.”
Phillip’s brows arched with amusement. “You’re awfully touchy, Harkness.”
“Oh, you guys have no idea,” Ianto said with a laugh, the fresh, fragrant scent of his skin damn near making Jack drool. A wave of possessiveness swelled up inside him, strange and unsettling, and he had to choke back a snarl as he turned to look at him.
And that was his second mistake.
He’d seen a lot of beautiful people in his time, their naked bodies displayed in erotic poses that would have tempted a saint—but none of them had ever made him feel the way Ianto did when he saw him standing there in nothing but a tattered white towel around his waist, his body still wet and his red mouth curved in a wicked smile. Damn, he was gorgeous. Droplets of water clung to the defined muscles and his skin was shiny from the moisture. He wanted to put his tongue to Ianto’s body and lick those drops off. He wanted to slide his tongue over and into other, more intimate places.
Knowing damn well that he was about two seconds away from completely losing it, he growled, “For fuck’s sake, Ianto. Put some clothes on.”
“If you insist.” He started to drop the towel, but Jack’s hand shot out and snagged his wrist.
“Don’t even think about it.”
Turning back to the computer, he glared at every one of the grinning jerks staring back at him and then disconnected the connection. The instant the screen went blank, he moved to his feet, and into Ianto’s personal space, as he tightened his hold on his wrist, but Ianto didn’t back down. Instead, he stared up at him as he licked his bottom lip with a provocative sweep of his tongue…taunting him. Screwing with his mind.
Was this some kind of game to Ianto? Did he just enjoy flirting…or was he trying to push him? And if so, where the hell did he want him to go? Needing to find the answer, Jack released his hold on his wrist and stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the desk. “If you’re so eager to get naked in front me,” he rasped, running his heavy-lidded gaze down the front of his body, before looking his right in the eye, “then do it.”
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on 2012-05-03 11:20 am (UTC)Suffice to say, I'm really liking this story and anxious for more :)
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on 2012-05-03 08:39 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 09:04 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 08:06 am (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 08:39 am (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 09:24 am (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 09:36 am (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 11:24 am (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 12:13 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 09:17 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 02:58 pm (UTC)Definitely, definitely evil you are. More soon, please.
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on 2012-05-03 09:22 pm (UTC)I don't mean tro stop there...really! Well, maybe. But it makes it so much more fun...for me.
I won't make you wait too long.
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on 2012-05-03 03:27 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 09:23 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 09:24 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-03 09:16 pm (UTC)The blow of the hotel full . One single chamber and one king size bed!! ;-)))
I wonder if they are going to sleep and if so, how they are going to wake: up in the arms of one another?
I like the discussion Jack with Owen, James and Philip : it shows a great complicity.
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on 2012-05-03 09:25 pm (UTC)Owen and James are great and they are good friends of Jack's too.
Cheers and more soon.
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on 2012-05-03 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-04 06:54 am (UTC)By the way - loving your Dark Hunter fic.
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on 2012-05-04 07:27 am (UTC)no subject
on 2012-05-04 07:39 am (UTC)