Ten

The light in Xander's eyes made him nervous. He could already tell that things were heading in an ugly direction and there was nothing he could do about it.

Micah had given him a little phone call, so he knew that stuff had happened between Xander and Nathaniel. Things that had pretty much freaked the wereleopard alpha right the fuck out, which said a lot since the guy'd survived Chimera without totally cracking up.

“Uh, Xander, I don't think Jean-Claude would like it if...”

“Why don't you just shut your mouth until I suddenly start caring?” Xander said, his look so flat that Jason felt as though he'd been slapped physically.

His mouth closed with a snap and he realized yet again that Xander was one scary motherfucker and he really didn't want to mess with him. Or be messed with by him.

"What kinds of things will entertain you?" Carl asked nervously.

"I like blood, violence, and sex, and I really don't care what combination you give it to me as. So why don't you take an educated guess and surprise me." Xander smiled, that disturbingly charming smile that made him seem as though he was just another young kid and not a psychopathic blood-sucking fiend.

Jason looked around the room at his co-workers, his sometime friends, and knew that something absolutely needed to be done. "All right guys," he said, stepping forward, He didn't really want to take charge of such a fucked up situation, but he didn't really have much of a choice about what needed to be done.

"Ah, ah, ah," Xander said, wagging a finger at him. "You don't get to play with the other boys, Jason. I want you to stand next to me. And don't you fucking say a word. They've gotta get it right on their own."

It didn't take much imagination for Jason to know that things were about to get fucking crazy. And there wasn't anything he could do about it.

With a heavy sigh, he slunked across the room to stand by Xander's side. Though it made his skin creep to stand so close to him, knowing what was going to happen.

I don't want to fucking be here, he thought. But there was no one out there to offer any answers.

*____________________*____________________*

Stalking through the Circus of the Damned, her bodyguards at her back, Anita didn't know if she should tell Jean-Claude that Edward was in town. Some part of her--so stubbornly loyal--was urging her to open her mouth and say something. But the largest part of her wanted to find out what Edward would do to Xander.

The scene that greeted them when they pushed open the door that lead into Jean-Claude's private quarters... it was startling to say the least.

Unchanged, partially changed, and fully changed lycanthropes writhing around in an orgy of flesh, their bodies shining with the lubrication slickness of the fluid from their changes. The smell... it was overpowering musk, animal pheromones, and the blood dripping from the gaping jaws of one of the wolfmen as he rubbed against the cringing, fresh-bitten flesh of his victim.

"What the fuck is going on?!" Anita demanded, her voice rising up shrilly as she realized what was happening to herself. All that sex in the room... it was perking the interest of the ardeur.

From where he was sitting, like a king lolling on his throne, Xander laughed. "We're just having a little fun, 'Nita. You don't always have to be such a fucking prude just because it's not you doing the dirty."

"Shut up!"

"Ah, did I strike a nerve or something? If you really want to join in... go right ahead. I'm sure they'd like a little pussy with all the cock they've got going on."

Anita growled under her breath, her hand flashing down to the grip of her gun, half pulling it free of the holster.

A strong hand on her wrist stopped her and she looked up into the still, cold eyes of Toby, her supposed bodyguard. But she knew what he really was. He was there to keep her from hurting Jean-Claude's precious whore.

"Fine," she jerked her hand away. She pointed at Xander. "This is fucking disgusting. I don't know what the hell is wrong with you... but it's gotta stop."

Xander just laughed. It was a sound that vibrated up and down her spine chillingly as she whirled and left the room faster than she came in. But she wasn't running. Yet.

*____________________*____________________*

There was something so satisfying about fucking with Anita. She was just so damned easy.

The look on her face had been priceless. Way more entertaining than the impromptu little orgy he had going on in front of him. Icing on the cake.

"Why do you do that?"

Xander looked at Jason, a smirk tugging his lips. "Why not?"

"She wouldn't try to kill you so often if you would stop baiting her," Jason said, as though that made a world of sense.

"Maybe I want her to try and kill me. She's more interesting when she's being all aggressive. It adds a bit of spice to life. Plus, if she pushes me hard enough... Maybe we'll all get to see what happens when the Executioner is executed."

"If she dies, that will kill Jean-Claude," Jason warned nervously.

"That's about all that's stopped me so far," Xander said. "But for every problem, there is a solution. And if I ever find a way to have her gone, but keep Jean-Claude unliving... well, won't that just be a happy-happy joy-joy."

"You're sick," Jason said, but even if he refused to acknowledge it, there was a hint of admiration in his gaze.

Maybe that was why Xander liked screwing with the guy so much. Jason tried so hard not to be a monster, but it was such a huge part of him that even when he tried to be his most human, he ended up letting his hunger for darkness shine through.

It was just such a tasty treat to make the guy squirm.

He was just planning what he was going to say next when he felt that surging warmth of metaphysical energy go through him. It made his spirits brighten with unwilling happiness.

"Looks like Jean-Claude's waking up. Good. I was getting bored." He waved a hand at the grunting, groaning, whining mass of writhing man-flesh in front of him. "These guys need more practice in how to make their show entertaining. For a bunch of strippers and exotic show pieces, they're pretty sucktastical. And not in the fun way."

Jason gave him a dark look, but that only made him laugh.

"Come on va-Jay-Jay, don't look so down, turn that frown upside down. Your master's awake and he feels a tad peckish. Maybe you can get your jollies off getting your blood sucked out."

"You're really screwed up, you know that?"

"I know. And I love it."

*____________________*____________________*


They were skulking outside of one of the Master of the City's clubs--Danse Macabre.

Peter didn't really know what he was supposed to think of the place, since he really didn't have a whole lot of experience with the club scene, but he couldn't help thinking the place was a bit overdone. Kind of like most vampires seemed to be.

There was just something so stupid about adults running around in a place that had blowup dolls stuck to the ceiling. It was like an S&M scene gone horribly wrong.

"Do you see those two?" Edward asked, low voiced. Peter nodded. "Those are Flick and Swish."

"What's with their names?" Peter asked.

Edward shrugged. "I don't really..."

"For some reason, most of the vampires that come to St. Louis decide to change their names to something stupid. I think they're ashamed to have their little friends know who they really are. It's kind of pathetic."

Hearing that voice so close behind them, Edward whirled around with blinding speed, his gun jumping into his hand. Peter was just a bit slower, his heart thudding in his ears.

The boy standing there couldn't have been much older than Peter when he died. He just looked like some kid--dark hair, brown eyes, a nice enough face. But that smirk on his mouth was kind of unpleasant.

"Xander," Edward said flatly.

Peter twitched a little in surprise. So this was the monster that had used Edward's name on a kill. The Master of the City's lover.

He really didn't look like a being of ultimate evil. Then again, they never did.

Peter's hand tightened on the grip of his gun nervously.

"What brings you into our lovely little town?" Xander asked.

"Oh, I was just a little curious as to how I could have been killing things here when I was all the way in New Mexico at the time."

"Astral projection?" Xander raised a teasing eyebrow.

"Can the crap, Xander. I want to know what was going on here and how my name managed to be dragged into it." Edward's voice was completely without emotion, which conversely made his anger more clear.

"Come on man, a hit of that magnitude didn't do your reputation any damage. It was something that almost brought down the Execution until Death stepped in to handle the situation. Totally looks awesome on your resume. So why can't you take the props and let it go?" There was something in Xander's tone that made his words a lie. He was laughing at them, mocking Edward and everything that he did.

"Why'd you really bring me into your game, Xander?" Edward asked.

Xander tried to look innocent for a moment, then gave up with a laugh, tossing his hands in the air. "All right, you totally got me. Come on Eddie, lighten up a little. You're going to make your hair go white... oh wait." He strolled closer to them, not even seeming to care that Edward's gun followed his every movement. "You're always such fun to play with, but Jean-Claude is such a worrywort. He thinks that if I go up against you I might get hurt. It's kind of sweet that he cares that much, but sometimes I just wanna have fun. So when the opportunity presented itself... well, I knew that if I threw the bait out there, you'd come my way."

"You really want to go against me?" Edward asked, something quickening behind the stillness of his eyes.

Xander gave him a flashing smile. "Don't you think it would be fun? I'm just so bored of the no-killing-humans rule. But you, you don't really count as human in the eyes of the community, especially if you come after me first."

The whole time they were talking, Xander was gliding around them like a shark, his hip-swaying stroll bringing him in ever closer circles.

Peter felt sweat trickling into his eyes and fought the urge to blink. His heart was beating fast, his hands wanted to flex and tremble, and he suddenly felt as if he needed to urinate. This was everything he'd been training the last two years for... and he suddenly wondered if he was going to wimp out at the last minute.

Only the image of Becca and his mom that he kept locked away in his mind kept him from turning and running. The last time he had seen them, or what was left of them. It was what made him want to kill all the monsters, no matter how pretty and charming.

He suddenly felt the warm burn of eyes focusing on him, but refused to let himself meet Xander's gaze. He knew what happened to stupid hunters that let themselves look directly into a vampire's eyes--they died.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? What's your name, little pretty?"

"Peter," he couldn't help saying, mesmerized by the sound of that voice, seeming so close to his ear even though the owner was still feet away.

"Peter," Xander tasted the name. "Aren't you scared of the big bad wolf, Peter? What will you do if I want to EAT you, little boy? Will you scream and cry for help? Will you beg and plead with me not to hurt you?" Xander was suddenly barely a handsbreadth away. He leaned in close, pressing a kiss against Peter's neck, breathing in the scent of sixteen year old boy. "Are you going to call out for someone to help you? Are you going to yell for your father?" He breathed deeply. "Ah, no, you seem more like the kind to scream for his mother. Go on little one, yell for your mommy to come save you."

"Get the fuck away from him!" Edward didn't quite yell, but his voice was powerful. There was the crack-BANG of his gun and a hole blossomed in Xander's chest.

The vampire stumbled backward, a hand rising to press against the hole, his mouth forming a pained "oh." But he didn't fall down, didn't give anything more than those couple of steps backwards. "Ouch, that fucking hurt. What do you do, load your ammo with silver nitrate or something? If I was a werewolf I'd probably be convulsing on the ground right now, dying if I was really weak." He straightened with a feral grin. "Good thing I'm not, huh?"

"What the hell are you? You should be down on the ground," Edward asked, his voice sounding almost conversational.

"I'm like nothing you've ever seen before," Xander said, before taking another shot to the chest.

It took Peter a couple of heartbeats to realize that it had been his finger to tighten on the trigger. He had been the one to put that new hole in Xander's shirt.

"Geez kid, you better watch it with that thing," Xander said, laughing. "You could put somebody's eye out."

This was like every nightmare come to life. One of the monsters was before him, and no matter how many times he fired his gun, it didn't do any good. All he needed now to make the horror complete was to open his mouth to scream and not have any sound come out.

Peter felt trembles going through his entire body and knew that he had never been so scared in his entire life.

For months, since the deaths of his mother and sister, he had lived with a terrible emptiness inside. Nothing had been able to touch him. Now he wished he could go back to that because he kind of thought maybe the fear would kill him.

On first seeing Xander, he had almost let himself believe the harmless mask, but now he knew better. He may have looked human, but Xander was nothing but another monster.

"I really didn't think you had it in you to shoot someone," Xander said, "but it looks like you've actually got some balls, kid. Kind of makes me proud or something."

Peter's fingers began to tighten, but in a blur of motion Xander was just RIGHT THERE and the gun was flying out of his hand. He didn't even hear it fall, his eyes caught in warm chocolate orbs that wanted to suck him right in.

There wasn't the overriding pull he had heard about a vampire's thrall, just human eyes, but there was a wealth of experience there that was nearly as overwhelming. It was as though Xander had seen and done things that he could only imagine, that some darker piece of his soul had always wanted to be a part of.

Without being aware of what he was doing, he felt himself stepping closer to Xander, drawn in by those eyes, drowning in dark chocolate that seemed to pulsate as it was steadily swallowed by a glowing green that was quickly becoming the whole of his world.

"Peter... Peter... Peter WAKE UP!"

A rough hand clamped down on his shoulder, jerking him backward, away from that consuming gaze.

He gasped for breath on the tail end of a sob, his entire body shuddering. His hands clutched at the front of Edward's shirt and he pressed himself against his stepfather's chest. "I'm sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to look into his eyes.

"Pull yourself together Peter," Edward said, his voice hard.

Peter jerked a not and forced himself to step back, away. He was almost a man. It was time for him to stand on his own two feet instead of cringing away from shadows like a child.

"That's so fucking cute," Xander said, his voice a sick echo of the young man he used to be.

Looking in Xander's general direction, careful not to meet his gaze, Peter forced himself to think of Xander as the corpse he was. Animated and walking around, but he was nothing but a dead body.

It should have made things easier. It didn't.

*____________________*____________________*

Jean-Claude was going to kill him. He was supposed to keep an eye on Xander, but somehow his charge had managed to disappear on him.

Brett drew in deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart. "Where the fuck could he have gone?"

Alec C. shook his head. "Who knows. That guy's crazy. He's probably off eating babies or something."

"You better watch saying that kind of thing when the boss is around. He'll rip you a new one, literally." If there was one thing Jean-Claude was touchy about, it was anyone disrespecting Xander.

Though anyone that fucked around with the Master of the City's lover pretty much deserved all the bad stuff that happened to them for being so stupid. And that was just the bad stuff Jean-Claude would have done to them.

Even in the short time he'd been guarding Xander, Brett had already picked up on the fact that there was something very not right with the guy. He was a definite devil in disguise.

Racing after Alec C. toward the fire door that opened at the rear of the club, Brett wondered if he was going to die.

"And where are you hurrying off to so quickly?" a smooth, French accented voice asked from behind him, sending a surge of dread throughout his body. "And where is my Xander?"

Brett turned slowly to face the Master of the City, carefully keeping his eyes downturned. "I'm sorry, Master. We don't know how he did it, but he somehow managed to get away from us. We don't know where he's at."

The vampire's lips tightened. "I should kill you... but I know Xander too well. If we do not find him soon you will be punished for your incompetence in a way to match my anger."

Brett knew he was looking at a lot of pain in the near future. Xander was very important to Jean-Claude and he was one of the ones to lose him.

There was no being forgiven for that kind of stupid.
.

It was almost a physical relief when they found Xander in the back alley behind Danse Macare, until he realized who exactly he was facing down.

Jean-Claude kept dossiers of the most important and deadly bounty hunters, assassins, and crazies in the world, and the man Xander was currently in a beef with... well, he was at the top of the list.

Death definitely didn't look like the kind of guy that would have such a descriptive name, but there it was. His body counts were higher than Anita's, though his take down ratio of old time masters was smaller. Still, he was almost on a par with the man simply known as "the Exterminator," who treated vampires and weres like bugs and killed them by the dozens.

Xander didn't seem too worried that he was facing Death, but he was crazy. And Brett figured he was scared enough for all of them, because he knew what would happen to him if Xander died.