The Ties That Bind (19/34 + epilogue)
May. 20th, 2012 10:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbottomsTitle: The Ties That Bind - Part 19
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.
A/N: A certain demon interrupts Jack and Ianto from further exploits and Jack is far from happy, to say the least. And John lets a certain ‘truth’ slip out.
“I want you so badly,” Ianto told him, still gripping him in his hands, “but I meant what I said before. We…we can’t have intercourse.” Yep. Jack definitely didn’t like it.
“Why?”
Ianto looked away, and Jack nearly howled for the second time that night. “Damn it, Ianto. What is it? You know I would never hurt you. If it’s the fangs, I promise I can control myself. I won’t bite you.”
“It’s not the fangs,” he said, shaking his head. “I like the fangs.”
Frustration burst out of Jack in a violent, gravelled string of curses that had Ianto pulling his hands away and moving back from Jack, his back to the headboard as he pulled his legs to the side. He scrubbed his hands over his face, wondering what the hell was going on, when a hard knock suddenly rapped against the door to their room.
Hanging his head forward, Jack muttered, “Shit.”
“It’s John,” Ianto whispered.
Jack grunted and Ianto moved off the bed. From the corner of his eye, he watched as Ianto pulled on his clothes, and wanted to fucking cry. Or kill something with his bare hands. Like the demon.
“Well,” Ianto said when he was dressed, his gaze carefully focused on his face, instead of his cock. “Let him in.” Jack ground his jaw as he refastened his jeans and rolled off the bed, thinking the situation seemed fitting. After all, there was a bloody demon at his door.
And he’d definitely landed in hell.
~*~
If there was one thing John knew, it was how to make someone angry. At least, that’s what his ex had said, just before she tried to slit his throat. And judging by the look on Harkness’ face as he ripped open the door, the human was picturing something right along those lines.
He also looked like a man who’d just been interrupted in the middle of something really…important. Poor bastard. John almost felt sorry for the guy. “Did you get lost?” the human growled. “Because your room is next door.”
“I’m not here to sleep,” he said easily. He was buzzing on so much energy after the hot little redhead that he’d found in the nightclub, he probably wouldn’t sleep for a few days. “I came to look at that spell for you.”
Jack muttered something creatively foul under his breath, but he did step aside to let John through the doorway. “You have shitty timing, Hart.”
“So I’ve been told.” He knew better than to wait for an invitation as he strode past the human and into the room. Ianto was standing beside the rumpled bed, looking all flushed and mellow, his mouth kiss-swollen, eyes hazy with satisfaction, which explained the sweet scent of pleasure lingering in the air.
Good for him. He loved Ianto and wanted him to be happy. Not many guys had caught his eye over the years, and he’d never seen him watch a man with as much hunger as he did Harkness.
The human stalked over to the bag he’d left on the sofa, rummaged around inside and then crossed the room again and handed John some folded sheets of paper. “This is a copy of the passage in the journal.”
“Okay, let’s see what we have,” John murmured, taking a seat on the foot of the bed. He recognised the obscure demonic dialect the spell was written in, but only because his mother had forced him to study the ancient demon languages when he was young. She’d been fanatical about history, and though he had hated the lessons when he’d been a boy, a lot of the things he’d learned from her had served him well as a man.
Ianto and Jack paced as he read, their nervous energy vibrating against his highly sensitive skin. Their restless movements would probably have driven him crazy, if he hadn’t been so absorbed in what he was reading.
“It’s a helluva spell,” he said twenty minutes later. Rubbing his jaw, he looked at Jack and asked, “Do you know what it does?”
The human crossed his arms over his bare chest and leaned his back against the door. “Ianto mentioned to you on the way here that his aunt told us it’s a Death-Spell. One of the most powerful she’d ever seen. She said it could kill anything.”
John nodded. “She was right, to a point. But do you know exactly what it does?”
“You mean how it works?” Ianto asked, perching his bottom on the edge of the sofa. Some of his rosy flush had faded, but his mouth was still red. John hoped Harkness knew what a lucky guy he was, then thought about the prophecy that had been read at Ianto’s birth, as well as the spell he was holding in his hand, and decided that lucky might not be such a great description.
“John?” Ianto said, trying to catch his attention.
“Sorry,” he rumbled, a crooked smile on his lips. “I was just thinking about how gorgeous you are.”
Ianto huffed, and John didn’t have to glance at the human to know that Jack was giving him a deadly glare. There was definitely something powerful going on between these two, and he couldn’t help but wonder how this was all going to play out in the end.
For all the hunger blazing between them, he could also sense an underlying current of tension. One he figured was going to get cranked higher, and higher, as the days wore on. It would be interesting to see if Harkness could take the pressure. But one way or another, he had a feeling Ianto was finally going to know just what the human’s feelings for him were.
In John’s opinion, it was an answer that’d been a long time coming.
It was Jack who spoke next. “Damn it, Hart. Are you going to tell us how the spell works or not?”
Setting the papers to the side, he hunched forward so that he could brace his elbows on his knees, his fingers threaded together in a loose hold. “It sucks the evil out.”
“Sucks the evil out?” Ianto shook his head and frowned. “What do you mean?”
He slowly arched an eyebrow. “I mean if you have sins you’re thinking of confessing, it’d be good to do it before performing this spell. Because it feeds on any life force that is inherently evil and consumes it. All that’s left behind is the shell.”
“So then it’ll work on the Pharis, as well as the Wraiths?” Jack asked.
“It could,” John replied, settling his gaze back on the human. “But it isn’t the kind of spell you can pull off at the drop of a hat. It’s going to require some careful planning.” His brows lifted, and he paid close attention to the human’s expression as he said, “Plus, the catalyst isn’t one that’s going to be easy to come by, unless you’re carrying a source around with you.”
“Was Donna right about that, as well?” Ianto muttered. “About the virgin’s blood?”
John kept his gaze on Harkness as he nodded. “The virgin’s blood is the main catalyst, just like Donna told you. It needs to be placed in a special ritual perimeter that’s pretty fucking complicated to make, but I can manage it. But the virgin’s blood isn’t the only blood you’ll need. You need the blood of the damned to pull off the first part.”
The human was back to scowling. “What’s the first part? How many parts does this spell have?”
Harkness’ blue eyes started to glow, and John knew the guy liked what he was hearing. He wondered how long that feeling would last, considering he was pretty damn certain that Ianto hadn’t confessed yet. Then the human answered his question for him when he said, “So let me see if I’ve got this right. You’re telling me that once we get our hands on some ‘damned’ blood, we’ll be able to use it to pull those bastards to one location, and then use the virgin’s blood to kill them all at the same time?”
“Every single one,” John rasped, wondering just how badly Ianto was going to hurt him when he spilled his secret. Knowing him well, he might not be able to walk for a week.
“And seeing as how John is a demon,” Ianto murmured, “he’ll be able to provide the blood of the damned.”
“Only if you ask nicely, Eye Candy.”
Ianto slid him a wry smile. “I guess it’s a good thing we came after you.”
He lifted his shoulders in an easy shrug. “Hey, I’m happy to help.”
“Why?” Jack asked, unsure of the demon’s motives. “Exactly why are you so eager to help, Hart?”
John raised his brows. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“For one, it isn’t your war.”
“Hey, it’s not like I asked to get involved.” The demon slanted him a narrow look, clearly insulted by the line of questioning. “But you’re the one who told me these Wraiths are killing innocent people. The way I see it, that makes it everyone’s war.”
Christ. Jack couldn’t believe it. The demon really did have a conscience.
Ianto quickly steered the conversation in a new direction. “Is there anywhere specific that the spell has to be performed?”
John shook his head. “We can choose the location, so that’s good. If there are as many Wraiths running around as you guys think, then we’re going to need someplace in the middle of nowhere.”
“Devon,” Ianto blurted, and they both looked at him. “I worked a case there a few months ago, in South Devon. The family that hired me owns several acres practically in the middle of nowhere. It’s an ancient Manor farm, dating back to the twelfth century that’s been converted into holiday cottages. It has lots of open spaces and it’s near the moors and nothing else around for miles. It would be perfect for what we need and I can guarantee that no one will be there. I just talked to the family last week and they were leaving for a month-long trip to Australia. The cottages will be empty until they return.”
“I’m thinking this farm place sounds like a good idea,” John rumbled, the streak in his hair once again a dark ruby red, as was the symbol at the side of his throat darkened from his recent ‘meal’. His eyes glittered with humour. “But you’re not getting me on a horse, Eye Candy, no matter how much you beg.”
Ianto snorted, and Jack felt like he was missing a private joke.
“And what about the virgin?” he practically growled, feeling stupid for feeling left out. “Do you have any suggestions where we might be able to track one down?”
“Believe it or not, that won’t be a problem.” A flat smile twisted the corner of the demon’s mouth. “We already have someone who can help with that little issue.”
“Oh, yeah?” Jack tensed, as if he knew a blow was coming, but didn’t know from which direction. “Who?”
“A friend of mine,” John drawled.
Jack narrowed his eyes. “Call me crazy, but I find it hard to believe that a sex-eater would hang out with a virgin.”
“Well, you can believe it, because he’s right here.” Then the smug git jerked his thumb toward Ianto, who looked ready to take the demon’s head off.
