Born This Way - Chapter 31
Sep. 4th, 2012 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbottomsTitle: Born This Way 31
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, John, Gray, Owen, Toshiko/Tommy, Suzie, OCs
Rating: NC-17
Warnings/Contains: Supernatural themes, character death, drug references.
Summary: Sequel to Choices - Ianto Jones was born and raised in Hell, but he isn’t feeling as demonic as usual lately—thanks to Jack Harkness. But you can’t desert Hell without consequences and suddenly Ianto’s and Jack’s happily ever after may not be so happy.
Notes: As always, Jack does what he wants and this time the consequences may be more than he bargained for.
31
*~*
Blood and Lust
*~*
Jack
I left Tosh and Tommy in my room a half hour ago. They think I’m in the bathroom. If my Sway is worth crap, they’ll keep thinking it. Where I really am, is parked on the side of the road behind the Williams’ house, waiting. It’s nearly dusk when I speed-dial John and raise the phone to my ear with a shaking hand.
“Jack? Is everything okay?”
“I just talked to an old classmate. She said Owen is over at the Zone. I think Russell’s with him.” About as far from the Williams’ house as you can get before you’re in the Atlantic Ocean. And crowded on a Saturday evening. “I’m gonna send Tommy over to check it out,” I say, hoping he thinks my shaking voice is my worry for Owen. I hold my breath and wait for the answer I need.
“No. Tell Tommy to stay with you. I’ll go for him. If he’s there and Tommy approaches him…Lilith’s a succubus, Jack. Even though he’s Tommy’s brother, too, it’d be dangerous for him.”
That’s only half the answer I need. “Will you be able to handle Lilith and Russell by yourself?”
“I’ll get Ianto over there too.”
There’s the other half. A shaky sigh escapes my chest. “Fine, but hurry.”
“On my way,” he says, and clicks off.
I sit, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles. It worked. I’m on my own.
I can’t do this. What was I thinking?
I shake my head and push back the doubt.
No. This is right—the only way to get close to Lilith. John and Ianto would scare her off, or if they didn’t, they’d never let me close enough to her to help Owen. It’s gonna work.
It has to.
I breathe deep, repeating the mantra in my head. I worked it out so that there shouldn’t be any loopholes. I step out of the car and into the woods, moving as quickly as I can, but from where I am, there’s no real path, so my progress is slow. I start to panic, sure I’ll be too late. But the faster I try to go, the more I seem to trip. Adrenaline starts my heart pounding and I try to run, but my shoe catches in a tangle of vines and I go down hard.
Just when I’m sure that I must have taken a wrong turn, I make out the shed through the trees, a gray slab framed by green foliage. I claw my way through the bramble to the small clearing, out of breath and bleeding from a zillion scratches and scrapes, and pull up short.
Crap, I’m not alone.
The shed is about fifteen or twenty yards into the woods behind the Williams’ house, so I can’t see the yard or house from here. Which is exactly why this is the spot couples disappear to when they want some privacy during parties. Owen’s spent plenty of time here, and I caught Tosh and Tommy on their way out of the woods during the graduation party.
And now Lisa and Dale are here. He has her pinned up against the side of the shed, jeans around his knees.
I duck behind a tree in the shadows at the edge of the clearing and try to slow my rasping breath.
What now?
I stand absolutely still, swallow back the panic rising in me, and try to think. But then the noise from the couple stops and everything goes still. I wait a second longer and then peek cautiously around the tree in time to see Dale chuck the condom onto the ground and zip his jeans. He walks off toward the Williams’ backyard without a glance at Lisa, who’s tugging her skirt back into place.
She runs after him. “Wait up!” But he doesn’t.
And then I’m alone. I step slowly into the clearing and exhale a shaky breath.
The woods are deceptively calm. The low din of chatter from the crowd gathering in the Williams’ backyard filters through the trees to where I am. But, as I take in my surroundings, I feel my skin start to crawl. It’s the exact image from my head—except without Owen’s bloody body.
I look around wildly for any sign of Owen and almost have a heart attack when a cat bounds out from behind the shed. I brace my hands on my knees and breathe deep to settle my nerves—and nearly jump out of my skin when music starts. But it’s not Jackson’s car stereo. It’s Crash. They must be set up at the party.
Suddenly, I’m confused. The music in my image wasn’t live.
Oh, God. Did I get this wrong? Frustration rips from my chest in a growl. Between my growl and the music, I don’t hear anything else, so I yell out in surprise when I turn back to the shed and find Owen standing there.
*~*
Ianto
I’m halfway to the Zone when I feel it. Jack isn’t at his house. I pull my phone and dial him. No answer. I call Tosh.
“Hey, Ianto,” she says in answer.
“Tosh! Where is Jack?”
“In the bathroom.”
“The truth, Tosh. It’s really important.”
“I’m telling you the truth. He’s in the bathroom. Promise.”
“How long has he been in there?”
There’s a pause. “Just a few minutes…I think.”
“Go check on him.”
I hear the door click open and a knock. “Jack,” comes Tosh’s muffled voice. Another knock. “Um, I think he’s in there….”
“Open the door, Tosh.”
“It’s locked.”
I swallow my panic. “You’re sure he didn’t go out?”
She sounds anything but sure. “I don’t think so….”
I disconnect and try to focus. He’s not very close, that much I know. My demon’s sixth sense isn’t strong enough yet to get a solid feel for where he is. But the fact that I can feel him at all means he’s not all the way across town at his house. Wherever it is, I have to gamble that he’ll have his car so I can get him the Hell out if I need to.
I pull to the side of the road and phase behind the Zone. I look in the window of Giovanni’s, but I already know he’s not here. I’ve lost the buzz.
I try the quarry again. The buzz is stronger, but only a little.
But when I hit the road in front of the Williams’, I know he’s here, and I catch the thread of Lilith’s thoughts. Jack’s car is among the multitude of others parked at the edge of the woods.
Unholy Hell.
I take a sweep of the Williams’ backyard, but he’s not here. I turn to head into the woods when Charlie and Kate see me.
“Hey!” Charlie says as they approach. “Flying solo tonight?”
“I was looking for Jack. Seen him?”
Kate shakes her head. “Not here. He was at home when I left a while ago.”
“Thanks,” I say, already jogging for the road.
Once I’m out of sight of the partygoers, I cut into the woods and try to home in on Jack. The trees are dense, and I can’t see very far into them, but he’s in there. I can feel it. I could phase blindly around the woods searching for him, but with the gathering crowd, I run the risk of someone seeing me. And I might never find him. I’m better off zeroing in on Lilith’s thoughts and Jack’s energy.
The golden shadows of dusk make picking a path through the trees and low shrubs a slower process. I trip several times as I weave through the trees at a jog, because I’m focusing on Lilith—targeting her. My foot catches on a tree root and I skid to the forest floor.
And I don’t get up.
Because, in the next heartbeat, Suzie is on top of me.
“Hey, loverboy,” her voice rasps in my ear.
I try to shake her off. “Suzie, this really isn’t a good time.”
She backs off and rolls me to my back, her knee buried in my chest. “He wants you dead. He doesn’t even care that whatever soul you still have is tagged for Heaven.”
“Then stop wasting my time and kill me. Either that or get off.”
“How’d you pull it off?”
My brimstone heart pounds in my chest. “What?”
“Defying King Lucifer. Slipping out from under His nose?”
“I really don’t have time for this.” I kick up and wrap my leg around her neck, twisting her into a neck-lock and slamming her to the ground. “Can we talk about it later?”
She raises her glowing fist and points it at my chest. “Now.”
I shove my own glowing fist into her face. “Why all this interest?”
She hesitates. “You’ve got some of us thinking.”
“Thinking? Aren’t you afraid you’ll sprain something, Suzie?”
She looks nervous, but doesn’t back down. “We want to know how you did it.”
I roll my eyes. “So, are you going to kill me or what?”
“Probably not.”
“That’s an act of treason.”
“I know.”
I let her loose and pull myself out of the dirt.
And hear Jack scream.
I take off, running deeper into the woods, heedless of Suzie.
*~*
Jack
I stare Owen in the eye, unable to breathe.
He leans against Russell, who’s propped against the shed. His lips pull into a lopsided smile. “Hey, Jack. Fancy meeting you here.”
I don’t know what to call him. Owen? Lilith? “Hey.” I can barely get the word out.
“Glad you could make it.”
I almost forget what I’m here for when I look into his eyes. They’re Owen’s, but not Owen’s. As I stare into them, tendrils of some dark force start to creep through me, making me wish for the vision from my head to come true.
He smiles. “You feel me, don’t you?”
Behind him, Russell feels him too. His eyes are hungry, predatory, as he yanks him into a kiss, but Owen shoves him away. He lets out a moan, somewhere between pain and pleasure, when Owen leaves him standing there and glides across the clearing to me.
“I feel you too. Are you ready, Jack?”
Russell leans back into the shed and just stands there, arms folded across his chest, anticipation in his eyes.
Run!
But I can’t make myself do it. In some little corner of my mind, I remember I had a plan.
What was it?
I just stand here, fixed on the spot, unable to move, as Owen glides closer, slow and smooth as a rattlesnake. He stops just a few inches from me, and I can feel heat radiate off him along with other, darker things. His smile’s gone as he glides his fingers down my cheek. I press into him, unable to stop myself.
“You want me as much as I want you. I can feel it,” he purrs.
And he’s right. I’m overwhelmed by the thought of being with him…her.
He continues to hypnotise me with his dark eyes as he traces a finger slowly along the lines of my lips. When I don’t pull away, he trails his finger down my neck to my chest. At his touch, the tingling ache low in my belly explodes out into every part of me, making me gasp.
And that’s when he pulls the carving knife from the back pocket of his jeans.
The sight of it snaps me out of my trance. This was the plan. I need to be touching him when I convince Lilith to leave Owen and enter me. I breathe deep and start the mantra slowly in my head; then I say it out loud. “My soul is tagged for Hell. You don’t want Owen. You want me.”
His body goes rigid and he starts to back away, but I grab his hand and pull him back to me.
“You’re not—” he starts.
“I am. I’m tagged for Hell.” I wrap him in an embrace, feeling the cold steel blade between our bodies.
He presses into me again and I have to fight to keep my senses.
“You’re tagged for Hell,” he repeats.
“I’m tagged for Hell,” I confirm.
Then everything happens all at once.
Owen pulls me into a kiss just as Lisa steps out from behind the shed. She looks up and sees us, locked in our embrace. Her jaw drops and her eyes pull wide before her face settles into an incredulous smirk. “You’ve got to be shitting me.” She steps toward us.
Russell clears his throat, and Lisa’s head snaps around. He leans against the shed and raises an eyebrow with a suggestive half smile. “Care to join us?”
Lisa’s jaw drops and her eyes dart from Russell to us then back. “Oh my god! Are you guys—? Is this, like, a three-some? Holy shit!”
I keep my grip on Owen. I can’t risk letting him get away. My pulse pounds in my ears, so loud I can barely hear my own voice. “Go away, Lisa.”
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Harkness. I just lost my necklace.” She bends down and feels around blindly in the grass near the shed and picks a gold chain, barely taking her wide eyes off us. “Dale is gonna love this!” she says, leering at Owen. And then Owen locks Lisa in his gaze.
“Go away!” I say again. But it’s too late.
Before I can stop her, Lisa is closing the distance between us. She pauses midstride when she sees the knife in Owen’s hand, but then her face changes, the smirk gone. In her face I see her need—raw lust—and she can’t get to Owen fast enough. She stumbles as she reaches us. I put my arm out to hold Lisa back just as Owen pushes me away with his free hand. He grabs Lisa and, at the same instant, plunges the carving knife into his own stomach.
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on 2012-09-05 10:00 am (UTC)no subject
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on 2012-09-05 06:39 am (UTC)no subject
on 2012-09-05 12:01 am (UTC)It would be really cool if Suzie decided she's tired of Hell and comes to help Ianto. John showing up sometime soon would be great, too. He always seems to be just a bit late to the party.
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on 2012-09-05 06:39 am (UTC)Suzie is a fickle thing. She has her own plans... as usual.
Yep, John does seem to have bad timing.
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on 2012-09-05 10:20 pm (UTC)Now Jack have another reason to feel guilty and miserable.
Also, Is Suzie planning an insurrection????
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on 2012-09-06 06:46 am (UTC)As for Suzie...hmmmm.