Child of the Hellmouth

Child of the Hellmouth
Conversations with Kings
calikocat
word count: 4647

Author's Notes: Yay! Chapter 7!

xxx

Xander kicked at one of the four vampires that had picked the festive pumpkin stand as a nice place to hang out and compare their unlives over a quick bite. Their meal had run away screaming the moment the undead fiends were distracted. As luck would have it Xander wasn't alone, Buffy had appeared from the shadows and was knocking another vamp around. Quickly they each staked a vampire and moved closer to one another in an almost instinctual move as the remaining two circled around them. Somehow they ended up back to back. It was an action he decided to ponder later, when they weren't kicking vampire butt.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Xander quipped, keeping his eyes on the circling predators.

She nodded, or he assumed she nodded from the way her hair bobbed at the corner of his vision. “Didn't realize our patrol zones overlapped. Duck and roll!”

He heeded her warning and they both ducked and rolled away from the vampires...who ran into each other before going after them again.

“Are they serious?” He asked her as he dodged a failed flying kick. “And what's with the lame kung fu?”

“Newbies are usually like this. You got an extra stake?”

He tried not to sigh. “You've got to learn to pull them back out before they dust Buff!” He scolded her as he blocked and countered the vampire that lunged at him again. Buffy did the same with her opponent.

“Fight now, lecture later!” She knocked her vamp flat on his back and grabbed a picketed sign and proceeded to stake him with it. “You okay?”

“Fine!” Xander knocked the last vampire back and reached for the nearest pumpkin and threw it at him. The vampire staggered as the pumpkin exploded in his face. Xander proceeded to brain the undead with pumpkins when suddenly one hit the vamp in the chest and he exploded into a cloud of dust.

Xander blinked, and looked at Buffy who gaped at him. They looked back at the settling dust and looked at each other again.

Buffy's voice seemed loud in the suddenly calm night air. “You just dusted a vamp with a pumpkin.”

He nodded dumbfounded. “Yes. Yes I did. Go me?” At her snicker he shrugged. “The stem must have hit it just right.”

Buffy nodded in agreement and glanced at her watch. “Oh! I'm late!”

He grinned. “Date with Angel?”

“Yeah.” She looked sheepish. “I can...I mean I'm already late.”

He gave her a one armed hug. “Don't stand the demon up Buff. I'm okay. Go on your date. Take some down time.”

She nodded. “You sure you're okay for the rest of your patrol?”

“I'm good. Watch your back.”

She smiled at him and started to walk away. “We should patrol together more often.”

He grinned back her. “And then go to Willow's for snacks.”

“Read my mind Xan.”

xxx

Buffy stared at the sign up table and Snyder randomly dragging students over to it. “What's the deal?”

Xander wrinkled his nose and leaned against the lockers next to Willow who was currently arm deep rummaging in her own. “A bunch of kids need older sibling types to take them trick-or-treating. Of course the trick is to keep them from eating too much candy before they get home. The less candy they eat the less hyper they'll be.”

Willow closed her locker and smiled softly. “Remember last year when Jesse volunteered?”

Xander smiled back. “He had fun.”

Buffy gave them a sad smile in return. “Was he a huge Halloween fan?”

He grinned and shook his head. “Not just that, Jesse always wanted to be a big brother, so he volunteered as soon as we were old enough. Last year he went as a tube of toothpaste.”

Buffy blinked. “Toothpaste?”

Willow giggled. “His Dad was a dentist.”

Xander grinned. “He threw water balloons full of mouth wash at all the jocks.” The sudden disappearance of his grin was the only warning they had.

Buffy was jerked back as Snyder grabbed hold of her. The little troll could be damn sneaky when he wanted to be.

“Just the menace to society I was looking for. Instead of egging houses this Halloween, you're going to do something worthwhile. You're volunteering, all of you.” Snyder smirked and handed pens to Xander and Willow. “Costumes are mandatory.” He walked away leaving three upset teens behind him.

Buffy pouted. “This sucks.”

Xander nodded. “I vote we dress up as Troll hunters and paint a target on his ass.”

xxx

They entered the cafeteria a short time later, the forced volunteering still the topic of conversation.

Xander sighed. “There goes my allowance. Can't believe we have to dress up too.”

Willow raised a brow at him. “You like dressing up for Halloween.”

“Not when fun sucking leeches make me.”

Buffy nodded. “And I was gonna stay in and enjoy my night off.”

They stopped and gave the Slayer odd looks. Willow frowned. “Night off?

Xander nodded. “Halloween? The night that is holy to all that is spooky?”

Buffy nodded, her lip still in a pout. “Giles said Halloween is when the paranormal goes on vacation.”

“Huh. Crazy vamps, they're always skewering my world view.” Xander grumbled as he moved toward the coke machine and the girls sat at a table. He put in his change and pushed the button for root beer. Nothing happened. “Come on you piece of crap.” He shifted in awareness just before a heavy hand clamped down on his shoulder.

“Harris.”

He turned to face the quarter back. “Hey Larry, shouldn't you be with your jock buddies playing with finger paints somewhere?”

Larry smirked at him. “Funny man aren't you Harris.”

Xander tried not to roll his eyes. “I do my best. What do you want Larry?”

The jock moved his hand away from Xander's shoulder. “You and Summers, you're just friends right?”

Xander shook his head. “Nah, she's more like a sister.”

“So she's not your girl friend?”

Xander frowned at the taller boy. “What part of 'she's like a sister' did ya not get?”

Larry ignored him. “Do you think she'd go out with me?”

He shook his head. “Not a chance. You're not her type.”

Larry stepped closer into his personal space. “Oh yeah? I heard she was fast.”

“We're going in circles here Larry.” He narrowed his eyes in warning. “I know I just told you she's my sister in all but blood. Which means I'm very protective of her.”

Larry sneered at him, discounting him because he was shorter than the quarter back. “Really? Doesn't change what the guys say in the locker room.”

Xander glared at him. “You're going to shut up and never talk about her like that again.”

Larry grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. “And who's gonna make me Harris?”

Xander moved faster than Larry could follow, he grabbed the jock's thumb, yanked it back, releasing his hold on Xander. He then twisted Larry's arm behind his back and slammed him face first into the coke machine. A can of coke dropped into the opening.

A wave of lust and pheromones rolled off of Larry. Xander blinked in realization but kept Larry's arm twisted behind his back as he leaned forward, crowding against his back to whisper in the taller boy's ear. “Are you sure it's Buffy you're after?” Larry gasped and squirmed a bit, more pheromones filled the air. “I'm gonna let you go and you're gonna walk away.” He stepped back and released him.

Larry moved away and turned to look at him, almost as if he were really seeing Xander for the first time. It was a kind of hungry look. “Where did you learn to do that?”

“Ask me again when you're not being a jerk.” He reached for the coke. “Yuck, diet.”

“Hey Harris?”

Xander ignored him. “You're not walkin'.”

Larry shuffled his feet. “Maybe we can talk some time.”

The scent of Larry's lust tickled his nose again. He met Larry's eyes and smiled, doing his best to make it coy. He slowly raked his gaze over Larry, the older boy shivered. Nifty, he could do sexy eyes. “Bye Larry.”

xxx

Buffy poked at the various props on the shelves while Willow compared wigs. “So what are you going as?”

Willow looked up from the oriental wig in her hands. “Well, I was going to go with a classic.”

“Which was?”

“A ghost. But Kagome sent me a miko outfit, so I'm gonna be a miko. I even saw some toy bows in here.”

Buffy nodded in approval. “Cool. How is she anyway?”

“She's good, keeping busy with school and work at the shrine. Hey Xander, what did you get?”

He pulled a toy machine gun out of his bag.

Buffy looked at the gun and then tried to look behind him. “Where's the rest of it?”

He grinned. “I've got some face paint in here too, and I've got some old army fatigues at home that came from a surplus store.”

She nodded. “Man with a plan.”

“Yep, that's me.” Xander frowned as Buffy's eyes got a glazed look and she wandered over to a pink ball gown. He gave Willow a confused look. “Girl thing?”

“Yep.”

“Just checking.”

xxx

“Fancy meeting you here.”

Spike watched the screens closely as the boy and Slayer took on the simpletons posing as vampires. They had taken out two of the newly dead with ease. He shook his head. “What's this then?” He walked around the suspended screens and sneered. “Every bloody fledge thinks he's Jackie Chan.” He frowned as he watched them fight side by side. Both were good, fast, neither wasted much on movement. “You see that? How she staked him with that post.” He gestured to the screens for the minion behind him. “This Slayer is bloody resourceful.” He laughed, it was always nice to have a challenging opponent, and here in this town he had two. “And the boy.” He grinned as the whelp dusted his last fledge with a pumpkin. “Crazy kind of luck he has.”

Drusilla drifted into the room from the darker shadows, Miss Edith clutched in her hands. “The world is spinning in all directions. It made Miss Edith spill her tea.”

“Play it again.” Without taking his eyes from the screens he held out his hand to her. “Come here poodle.”

She grasped his hand, a serene look on her face. “Do you like watching them? Him? Did you like his taste?”

Spike nodded absently, his own eyes glazing at his memory of the not quite kiss he'd stolen from the boy two weeks before. “Boy called me a tease.” He grinned.

“Do you love me?”

“You know I do Dru.” His eyes never left the images on the screens above them.

She frowned a little. It was already starting. Her Prince watched the Kitten, he was already intrigued. “Chaos is coming, the stars giggle, poor tipsy little bursts of light. The Slayer shall trip on her pretty gown and cry at her weakness.”

Spike's eyes broke away from the image of Xander throwing pumpkins to rest on his dark goddess. “Go on pet. What makes her weak?”

Drusilla smiled.

xxx

Xander grinned at his reflection. The face paint he'd gotten at Ethan's was good stuff, almost professional quality. He glanced back at the picture of Raizen in the book that Giles had given him. He already had the fatigues on, and the gun lay on his dresser in front of him. Just a few more lines left.

He had decided to a little something in honor of his ancestor. If it weren't for Raizen, he'd never have met Yusuke, heck neither of them would have been born. And the old guy seemed to be someone that Yusuke respected. Carefully he applied more of the black paint on his face to mimic the tribal markings on Raizen's picture.

“This is gonna be great.”

xxx

Xander gazed around him at the sudden chaos, there was no other way to describe it. Just moments ago the night had been filled with laughter and children scurrying from house to house. Now all he could hear was screaming.

He saw Willow fall to the ground in her miko robes.

“Willow!”

It was the last thing he saw before everything went dark.

xxx

Raizen blinked. One moment he was in Reikai, the next he was...in a strange sort of building. A library by the looks of it. There were shelves upon shelves filled with books. He was sitting at a table, a book was spread open in front of him. He glanced at the open pages and stared at the illustration of himself. “What in the three realms is this?”

A noise caught his attention and he looked up to see a young human male come in through a set of double doors that hadn't been there a moment ago. As the boy drew closer he noticed that the brown eyes set in his young face seemed familiar. His dark hair was cut short and he walked with some confidence in his step.

What really caught his eyes though, were the markings on the boy's face. Markings that were identical to his own.

The youth stopped in front of the table. “Sorry for barging in. Didn't know anybody else was here. You wouldn't happen to know where here is would you? I mean it looks like the high school but it just stops at the doors to the cafeteria. Which sucks cause that means no food and—Oh my GOD! You're Raizen! This is so cool!”

Raizen regarded the boy silently for a moment. “Have a seat child.”

xxx

Xander gulped as he sat down. He felt mortified, he couldn't believe he'd just babbled in front of his ancestor. Yusuke would never let him live this down...if he ever found out about it at all. “So...why are you here?”

“I know not, I did not appear in this place under my own power. Perhaps it has something to do with those marks on your skin.”

“Marks?” Xander blinked at him confusedly. Raizen tapped his own marks and Xander lifted a hand to his face. The marks weren't oily paint anymore. “Oh crap.”

“Care to share?”

“Uh...it's um...Halloween, and I dressed as a soldier. Except instead of traditional soldier camo face paint I might have copied the tattoos from a picture of you--” He trailed off and his eyes glazed over for a moment. Raizen waited until he shook his head and his eyes cleared. “I think maybe everyone turned into what they were dressed as. My body is going around shooting a gun. It figures something weird would happen.” He sighed. “The one night a year the vamps stay in, something crazy happens.”

“Vamps?”

Xander nodded dejectedly. “Vampires. The hellmouth is almost overrun with them...well it would be a lot worse without our group, but still.” He blinked. “Sorry about the babble fest. Um...I guess you want to know who I am—and how I know who you are.”

Raizen nodded and pointed at Xander's right hand. “I suppose it has something to do with that ring on your finger. Tell me boy, why do you wear a trinket that bears my crest.”

“Yeah. My brother gave it to me, he found a whole bunch of them in some vault of yours. He wears one too, so does his wife.”

“And just who is your brother?”

Xander grinned, as cheeky an expression as he could manage. “Yusuke.”

Raizen leaned back in his chair and gaped at him. “You are my descendant?”

“Um...surprise?”

“Yusuke didn't tell me he had a brother.”

He rushed to defend his older brother, in case Raizen was starting to get pissed. “That's not his fault, he didn't know. We haven't known each other very long, less than a year really.” At Raizen's puzzled look he continued. “We have different moms...and I'm younger. Tony, our sperm donor, got Atsuko pregnant then left Japan. He married my mom and I was born three years later. Anyway, Yusuke had only been back from the Makai for about a month when he heard me calling out.”

“Calling out?”

“Yeah. See I got possessed by this Primal Hyena demon spirit thing, a whole bunch of stuff happened, but in the end I got un-possessed. Except...I wasn't the only kid that had a hyena in their head for a while and we were a pack, a family. And then the connection was suddenly gone...and I guess it woke something up in me. That's what we came up with anyway. I didn't know I was calling for pack or anything, but Yusuke heard the call and went to see Koenma, cause he was freaking out about the voice in his head. And that's how he found out about me.”

Raizen stared at him for a moment before smiling cautiously, as if Xander might suddenly attack him. “Do you not need to breath as most humans do?”

Xander blushed. “It's a rare talent. Only my best friend Willow can out babble me.”

He nodded in acceptance. “What is your name?”

He could feel his blush deepening. “Alexander, but please, call me Xander.

“Urameshi?”

He shook his head. “Harris.”

“How old are you?”

“Sixteen.”

“Why do you live on a hellmouth?”

Xander gave him a curious look. “I've always lived here...there. Its not like I knew there was a hellmouth growing up. Not until earlier this year.”

“Would it not be safer to live somewhere else?”

Xander nodded. “Probably, but it's home. Besides I'd never leave my pack behind.”

“The other possessed children?”

“Ah, no, we don't hang. No more hyena's to bind us. But the hyena I had left a few things behind...I've got sort of this pack mentality now. Willow, Buffy, and Giles are my pack. And really we've gotten pretty used to the weird that the hellmouth throws at us. When you hang out with a Vampire Slayer you can't avoid the weird stuff.”

Raizen gave him a pained look. “You associate with a Slayer?”

xxx

“Ladies, what exactly is going on here?” He was beyond confused. The last thing he remembered was walking into the armory. He had no idea how he'd ended up in this suburb version of hell. And the whimpering girl in the party dress that was clinging to him was really annoying.

“Quit joking Xander, your taking this Soldier Boy thing too far.” The brunette glared at him, though the effect was lost due to her skimpy catsuit. “And you Willow, what's with the Chinese get up.”

“I don't think she understands you kitten.” He peered at the robed girl, her skin was pale and her hair was fixed in an oriental style...but he'd never seen an Asian with green eyes before. More importantly the girl seemed to be very calm, as if she dealt with this sort of chaos every day.

An inhuman scream caught their attention and they turned to see a small demon charging at them. The Asian girl notched an arrow and almost fired.

“Wait! That's a little kid! You can't shoot a kid!”

He fired into the air, the monster shrieked and ran away. “Didn't look like a kid.”

“That's because there's some weird and freaky hellmouth mojo flying around. But there's a little kid in there. I think...” The cat lady bit her lip in thought. “I think a bunch of people turned into their costumes...not me obviously because I have better taste. I only buy my costumes at Party Town.”

He met the Asian girl's eyes and they both shrugged. “Whatever Cat Woman. Any ideas? We don't need to be out in the open.”

“There you are! I've been looking for you!” Before he could turn and aim at the intruder the robed girl was glaring at the newcomer and had her arrow ready to fly again.

“Youkai!” She snarled.

The man in black stopped and held his hands up. “What's going on? Willow? Xander? Why don't you put the weapons down?”

Cat Woman shoved past them. “Angel! You have no idea how happy I am to see you. Well I'm always happy to see you, but right now it's nice to talk to someone who's not completely loony.”

“Cordelia? What's--”

“None of them know who they are and a bunch of people turned into their costumes.”

“I see...we need to get to a phone, see what Giles thinks about this. Come on, Buffy's house isn't far from here.”

“Thank god, a voice of reason. Come on you amnesia freaks, you heard the man.” Cat Woman ushered the bow-happy and party girls after Angel. “Coming Xander?”

“If it gets us any closer to what's going on...sure.”

xxx

Raizen kept staring at him like he was crazy. “You fight alongside a Slayer?”

He glared at his ancestor, he could feel his eyes flicker that creepy hyena green. “Her name is Buffy and she is a member of my pack.”

They stared at each other for a few moments before Raizen smirked at him. “Interesting. Is she your mate?”

Xander snorted. “Nope. Never gonna happen. She's too busy making googoo eyes at Angel.” At the confused look he got he shrugged. “Vampire that got himself cursed with a human soul. Besides, she's the sister of my heart, Willow too. I don't see them that way.”

Raizen shook his head. “You aide a Slayer and demons do not hunt you?”

“Nope. Yusuke put the word out that I'm off limits. Of course new vamps are always climbing out their graves, and sometimes I think a lot of the world's vamps just come here for kicks. There's a lot of them.”

Raizen nodded in approval. “Tell me about yourself.”

He tilted his head. “Why?”

The ancient demon smiled. “I claim Yusuke as my son. I now claim you as my son as well. Not my heir...” He almost looked apologetic.

Xander nodded. “I don't want to rule anything. I have enough to deal with between the hellmouth and school.”

Raizen grinned at him. “Still, you are my son and I wish to know you.”

Xander considered the offer for a moment before returning the grin. “Sure thing Pops.”

xxx

Botan looked up from the book she was reading as she sipped her tea. There was something in the air tonight that set her on edge. The tea wasn't helping. Neither was the screaming coming from outside.

“I thought Halloween was supposed to be quiet.”

Giles hmm'd from the card catalog where he was working. “It is.” He looked up and met her gaze. “Usually. What is it?”

Botan tilted her head. “Someone is doing some casting tonight.”

“Really? What sort?”

“It's not dark...not really. It feels familiar. Almost like--” the phone rang and she blinked.

“Drat.” Giles walked toward the counter and picked up the receiver. “Hello? What? Cordelia slow down...WHAT!? Good Lord. Yes, yes I'll get right on it. Try to keep them inside until I figure out what's going on. Stay safe.” He slammed the phone down. “Damn.”

“Rupert?”

“Children all over town have turned into their costumes. Cordelia remains unaffected, however the others...were not so lucky. They have no memory of themselves before tonight. Willow cannot even understand English.”

Botan frowned as a thought took hold. “Where did they get their costumes?”

“Cordelia got hers from Party Town. She doesn't know where Xander and the girls got theirs.”

Botan shook her head. “Xander used some fatigues he already had...but he needed a toy gun.” She paled. “That magick. Rupert it's Chaos magick! The store they went to is new, I remember Xander talking about it.”

Giles' eyes grew hard. “What's the shop called?”

“Ethan's.”

They got across town in record time on her oar, no way was she riding in Giles' sad excuse for a car.

The shop was dark and eerie, especially with the flickering candle light coming from the back room.

“Definitely chaos magick.” Botan muttered as they came upon the circle of candles with a two faced statue in the middle. “Janus, God of Chaos.”

“Correct, but then you always were a bright girl Botan.”

They looked up to see Ethan smiling at them. Botan frowned, and if looks could kill, Giles would've needed a shovel by now.

“End the spell Ethan.”

“Now why would I do that? I've had such fun tonight, Halloween is always too quiet.” He grinned at Botan. “How are you my dear? You look lovely as ever. You know, I'm rather curious about that. You haven't aged at all have you? What's your secret?”

She grimaced. “You should do as he says Ethan.”

“Really? And why is that?”

The grimace faded and she perked up as Ripper made an appearance and clocked him. Ethan hit the floor with a thud. “That would be why.” She watched with growing interest as Giles proceeded to beat the crap out of his former friend. It was a shame really, Ethan had had such potential before he'd become so immersed in the dark.

A kick to the kidney's had Ethan gasping. “Tell me how to end the spell.”

Ethan coughed. “The statue, break it.”

Giles wasted no time, grabbing up the statue before hurling it at the floor. Ethan tried to sneak away but Botan opened a portal and gave him a push into it before closing it again. “Well, that was fun. You're still in good form my dear Ripper.”

Giles stood and polished his glasses. “Where did you send him?”

She blinked at him. “I have no idea.”

He sighed. “Really Botan.”

xxx

Yusuke stalked down the corridor leading to Koenma's office. Stupid toddler, calling him for an important meeting. He wasn't even working for Reikai anymore. He threw the ornate doors open. “Koenma!” He entered the room expecting to find the immortal hiding behind a mountain of paperwork. The Prince of Reikai was suspiciously absent.

“Yusuke.”

He froze in mid-step. He'd never thought to hear that voice again. With a gulp he straightened his stance and looked to his right. “Raizen.”

“You look well.”

“Thanks.” Death suited the old guy, he looked healthier, of course when you're dead you can't starve, no need for food. “Why are you here?”

Raizen stared at him for a long moment. “When were you going to tell me about Xander?”

Yusuke slumped a bit, was that all? It could have been so much worse. He shrugged and grinned at the former king. “...oops?”

Raizen threw back his head and laughed, long and hard.

XXX