Mojoverse: Percy, Bucky,Vax, and Vex
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ax_mainMojoverse: A Supernatural ripoff starring Percy, Bucky,Vax, and Vex.
OVER BLACK---
Previously on TWO HUNTERS.
INTERIOR. FRONT ENTRYWAY OF A GRAND HOUSE - DAY
CASSANDRA heads for the door with a weekender bag over her shoulder. She navigates around THE TWINS as the two younger siblings chase each other out of the room. PERCY stops halfway down the stairs and gives her a wry look.
PERCY: Tell your boyfriend to keep you safe, or I'm coming after him.
CASSANDRA: (rolling her eyes) Seriously, Percy. We're glamping, not camping.
PERCY: (brow arched) I trust the woods more than I trust romantic weekend getaways.
CASSANDRA: And that? Says everything.
EXTERIOR. CABIN - NIGHT
A storm rages, rattling the screen door. Branches shake and scratch against cabin windows. A bloodcurdling scream comes from inside.
BUCKY (V.O.): CASS! CASS!
CUT TO---
INTERIOR. CABIN - NIGHT
BUCKY holds CASSANDRA'S bloody body in his arms. A layer of frost mixed with blood coats the kitchen floor. The backdoor swings wide open. Black symbols are burned into the walls.
BUCKY sobs.
EXTERIOR. FUNERAL - DAY
PERCY looks grim and immaculate in his suit. BUCKY stands near the family in a rumpled blazer over torn black jeans and a tight, black t-shirt. BUCKY removes his sunglasses to wipe tears from his eyes. PERCY catches his gaze. They share a look.
OLD WOMAN'S VOICE (V.O.): Boys, you can't bring back the dead.
INTERIOR. ARCANE BASEMENT - NIGHT
PERCY is on his knees. Smoke pours into his mouth as he screams. A DEMON looms over him with a long beaklike face. The color fades from PERCY'S hair.
EXTERIOR. LAKE - NIGHT
BUCKY punches a snarling monster in the face.
BUCKY (V.O.): What's more important, getting her back, or revenge?
INTERIOR. CAR - NIGHT
BUCKY drives a 1959 Plymouth Fury. In the passenger seat PERCY scribbles notes in an overstuffed journal.
INTERIOR. BAR - NIGHT
PERCY and BUCKY approach a CHARMING DEMON with yellow eyes that turns to smile their way.
PERCY (V.O.): Why can't it be both?
EXTERIOR. SIDE OF THE ROAD - NIGHT
PERCY stands next to the car, arm outstretched, gun in his hand. Smoke unfurls from his sleeve and around the barrel of the gun.
PERCY (V.O.): Whatever it takes. Until it's done.
OVER BLACK---
NOW
INTERIOR. PARTY - NIGHT
Upbeat music plays, a stark contrast to the desaturated lighting. The party is crowded and busy. A COLLEGE BOY sits with his friends. Across the room a BEAUTIFUL GIRL catches his eye. She tips her head toward the backdoor.
COLLEGE BOY: Does anyone need another drink? I'll be back in a minute.
FRIEND: (CLAPPING HIM ON BACK) Yeah you will!
The friends laugh and the COLLEGE BOY sheepishly goes to follow the BEAUTIFUL GIRL outside.
EXTERIOR. OUTSIDE OF THE PARTY - NIGHT
She pushes him against the wall of the house, kissing him deeply. His hands helplessly grab her hips.
CUT TO:
His back hits the grass as she straddles him beneath a looming tree. Moonlight floods through the branches. Her skin is pale in the white light.
COLLEGE BOY: Oh god, do you want… What do you want?
She puts a finger to his lips, quieting him.
BEAUTIFUL GIRL: Shhh. I just want you.
His eyes are wide as he nods eagerly. She takes her hand back and leans to kiss him slowly. Before their lips touch a blue aura stretches up from his lips to hers. He moans in pleasure.
She drinks it in and seals the kiss.
OVER BLACK:
SHOW OPENING CREDITS
TWO HUNTERS
IN SMOKEY BOLDED TEXT.
WITH DRAMATIC MUSIC.
THAT LASTS FOR THIRTY SECONDS.
CUT TO:
ACT ONE.
***
Percy and Bucky might fit the age group of this party, but in so many ways they were out of place. Was it only three years ago that Bucky met Cassandra de Rolo at a party like this? They were giddy kids in their first years of college. Cassandra was too good for him. Old money. Classy as fuck. Sarcastic, brilliant, beautiful. He had a thing for women with sharp tongues and sharp minds. Who the hell knew why she liked him so much?
But, Cass was gone now. Fucking demons existed in this world and one of those bastards took her from him. Maybe they'd never find a way to get her back, but at least they could track down the fucker and end him before he ruined more families and broke more hearts.
Traveling with Cassandra's brother was strange. Personality wise, sometimes they were way too much alike. Sarcasm and stubbornness ran in the de Rolo family. Bucky looked like he belonged at this party. Jeans, t-shirt, a casual bad boy look that drew gazes his way. Percy on the other hand was too buttoned up for today's adventure. Seriously. He understood incognito, but he still pressed his fucking shirts whenever they crashed in a motel that had an iron. Percy was the younger of the pair, but between his crisp appearance and newly white hair he was the old man between them.
"Do you see our contact?" Bucky asked as he smiled nonchalantly at some girl working hard to catch his eye. Yeah, not the woman they were looking for.
“Unless our contact is a wasted college student, no,” Percy answered as he surveyed the party.
They’d gotten a tip through the hunter grapevine. College students were disappearing. Their last known whereabouts were always at parties, and they’d all been reported as seen leaving the party with someone. It didn’t scream demonic activity, but it didn’t not not scream demonic activity either. They had a few running theories, as well as a running bet as to what it could be, but, without any bodies, they couldn’t really be sure what it was.
A girl smiled flirtatiously at Percy. His eyes passed over her and continued their sweep of the room. Everything looked…normal. Though, honestly, he wasn’t sure he really knew what that looked like anymore. “Anything?” he asked Bucky.
Bucky kept walking, leading them through the rooms. “No.”
Which either meant a parameter walk or subtly asking some questions. “Perimeter first, or chatting the locals?”
“Mingle.” In hindsight, Percy should have asked for more out of his deal with his demon. A sixth sense for the supernatural, maybe. Orthax would have given it to him. It just would have cost him more in the end, and what was more, really, when you’d already sold your soul? “I’ll take a walk.”
Bucky gave him a nod. Just like that, the charm was up, and he went to socialize with the co-eds.
Percy started on a slow sweep around the perimeter of the party one room at a time. He kept it casual, like he was looking for a friend or checking out who’d made it to Phi Kappa Whatever’s spring bash. His attention flitted from one college student to the next, searching for something—anything—that might point him in the right direction. Visual cues were all he had to go on; the music was loud, drowning out the conversations going on around him.
Throughout it all, Percy could feel the eager, quick thrum of his pulse. His heart picking up with the thrill of the hunt. It happened all the time now. Every time. He told himself it was Orthax. That he hadn’t always been this way. That it was the demon that made him so greedy to hurt, so hungry for revenge. But, deep down, he wasn’t so sure. He skirted around a broad-shouldered giant of teenager who was flirting hard with a blonde, and was about to head towards the kitchen when something caught his eye. A boy, a little nerdy in that cute, hipster kind of way, had suddenly broken off mid-conversation with friends, and was making a beeline through the crowd.
Percy tracked the boy’s eye-line and spotted a dark-haired girl with high cheekbones. She was dressed in jeans, a tight blue tank top, and a short, cropped leather jacket. A blue feather barrette was clipped over one ear. She was smirking, and staring right at the boy. They joined hands, and the girl lead him off into the adjoining room. Percy followed. They were hard to keep tabs on in the crowded room and he lost them once, only finally catching sight of the boy again as he slipped out the back door.
Fuck. Percy looked around the room. Where the fuck was Bucky? Fuck. He quickly made his way through the crowd, squeezing past a makeshift Beer Pong table, and then darted out the door.
It wasn’t obvious at first where they’d gone. They were no longer by the back of the house. Beyond the building the tree line started, sparse at first, filling into the woods. It was possible she’d already abducted him into the forest… Moving closer to the tree line, Percy caught a glimpse of shadows moving below the canopy of a massive tree. Obscured by the trunk, two bodies tangled, yearning palpable in the way they moved. The boy’s hands roved desperately, rucking up the back of the young woman’s shirt. In the moonlight her skin was pale, perfect. Each exposed inch a lure in itself. The boy moaned beneath her.
Two strangers in a passionate embrace. It would be a perfectly normal college experience were it not for the ripple of want that Percy felt when he moved closer. The glamor wasn’t intended for him. Since he was on the lookout for trouble it didn’t snare him.
Even if this was a consensual liaison, something was wrong.
Percy’s pace quickened, a fast walk, then a run, cutting quickly and silently across the dark lawn. His pulse was rushing, the world narrowing and slowing. Quiet, deep in the dark corners of his mind that Orthax called home, a voice, hungry and eager, hissed yessssss. He grabbed the girl by the shoulder, yanking her off the boy, and swung up with his other hand to catch her in the jaw with his fist.
“Run,” he snapped at the boy, not looking back at him. “Now!”
The boy was too enthralled at first to notice Percy’s order, but as the woman turned her focus on Percy he started to come around. In the party, her eyes were a natural brown, but now they glowed with a silver-blue light. The first blow caught her off guard. She jerked back with an unnatural dexterity to avoid a second.
“Stop,” she said, lacing as much influence as she could into the word. “This isn’t what you want.”
A feeling, like sinking into a tub full of hot water, washed over Percy. It was warm and inviting and made his whole body feel loose. A rush of heat followed it, want so bone deep it was as if it was a part of him, an itch he’d tear himself apart just to scratch. He pushed hard against it, fighting, and it dissipated.
Smoke started to spill out from beneath Percy’s jacket. It slipped out from his cuffs, curling around his wrists and fingers, and unfurled from his collar, caressing his cheek like a lover, swirling higher and higher until it surrounded his head like a dark halo.
“No, I really I do.” Percy rushed the not-really-a-girl, throwing one punch quickly followed by another.
Her eyes widened as the smoke began spilling from him. She’d been warned someone was coming. Someone that she and her brother should keep an eye out for. This party seemed like a safe last meal to fill up reserves, but apparently the hunters were due sooner than she expected.
“Fuck,” Vex swore, bringing her arms up to block or minimize the blows. She ducked low and swept at his legs. “What the fuck are you?”
Asked the succubus to the boy billowing smoke.
Percy didn’t answer, jumping over the girl’s leg, and going right back in at her. He didn’t stop, one fist quickly following the other again and again and again. Smoke swirled around him, enveloping him, embracing him like an old friend.
“What the…” a voice to Percy’s left said. He looked and there was the boy, still standing there and staring at them in wide-eyed horror. Fucking idiot.
“Run,” Percy told him again, voice hard and angry.
The boy rolled to his knees and finally got up as suggested. He ran for the house.
Vex took advantage of that moment. She disengaged from Percy and tried to run for the woods.
Swearing, Percy took off in a sprint after the girl. She was fast, and was already quickly putting distance between them. This was his fault. He should never have taken his eyes off her.
They darted into the tree line, one after the other, silent as shadows, and disappeared into the forest.
Percy ducked under a low-hanging branch, then plowed through some undergrowth without slowing. He’d gained ground, and the girl was close enough now that he could have reached out and touched her.
With a burst of speed, Percy tackled the girl, sending them both to the ground. He scrambled to his feet, his gun already out and trained on her. “Don’t move.”
She stared up at him, watching smoke twist around the barrel of his gun. The unnatural color faded from her eyes until they were wide, brown, and helpless. The vulnerability in her voice was nothing like the compulsion she’d slammed him with. “What are you?” Vex whispered.
Heavy footfalls crashed from the forest edge. Bucky was close behind, having spotted the victim running back to the party. Muffled curses accompanied the sound of branches snapping.
Percy fired a warning shot into the ground just over the girl’s shoulder. “I didn’t say you could speak,” he said, training the gun back on her.
Vex shut her eyes so he wouldn’t see them flare blue with anger. The threat was solid. This was a bad position to fight back with force.
This was not how she died.
Vex’s hands trembled as she kept her rage in check. Her fingers caught one of the charms dangling from her wrist and she silently broke off the alert beacon tied there. With a shaky breath the burn of her power ebbed. She peered cautiously up at Percy, memorizing his face.
“Perc,” Bucky finally stumbled onto the scene, eyes going wide at the quantity of smoke bleeding off his travel companions body. “Hey,” he said cautiously.
“James,” Percy said as a greeting. Smoke extended from his wrist like a reaching hand and curled around the barrel of the gun. “Look what I found. She was playing with her food. Such terrible manners.” He tsked-tsked with a shake of his head at the creature on the ground.
“Did you get to the questions part yet?” Bucky asked. This smoke thing was happening more frequently, generally with violent results. If this was one of the creatures related to the greater demon they were tracking down the last thing they needed was Percy blowing off her skull before they started interrogating.
A cold smile curled Percy’s lips. “You got here just in time. We were about to start. Should we skip past all the bullshit and dive right in?” He gestured with his head at the ground. “Lay your hand flat.”
“Percy,” Bucky bit out, because no mercy Percy got shit done, but Bucky had a thing with dismembering. “I’ve got iron. Let’s just get her wrapped up and into a circle.”
At this point Vex was trembling. Maybe some of it was fear. A portion was restraint. If she attacked him he’d likely kill her. That didn’t stop the urge to take him with her. People thought she was a monster.
Neither Percy’s gaze nor his gun strayed off the girl, but his finger left the trigger. “We’re going to kill her. Are you really going to tell me you draw the line at torture? If she knows anything about the yellow-eyed demon, do you honestly think she’s going to tell us willingly?”
“Go too far down this road, and we’re not coming back.” Bucky stepped closer and put a hand on Percy’s shoulder. “Iron. Circle. Somewhere further from the drunk kids in that house. Let’s pack her up.”
Before they could take a step, the woods seemed to grow darker, as though the shadows around them grew in strength. A dark figure suddenly swooped in on wings like pitch, sweeping the succubus into his arms. With one violent gust of air, they were both suddenly gone, leaving the hunters to their questions and their smoke, as though they'd never been there to begin with.
Bucky’s hand tightened on Percy’s shoulder at the sudden storm of shadow. Shit, there went that plan.
Percy stared at the empty space where the monster had been and bit back a curse. Shoving his gun back into its holster, he spun around and stormed away, smoke swirling around him. “If she kills anyone else, that blood is on your hands,” he ground out as he passed Bucky, heading in the direction of their car.
***
When the shadows settled Vex was wrapped safely in her brother’s arms. She trembled with adrenaline and relief. He took them home to the trailer they currently shared outside of town. It was a comforting mess of odds and ends. Boots in a pile waiting to be tripped on, various shiny pilfered items, leather garments, scattered hoodies that got more use at home than on the hunt. Vex pressed her face against Vax’s shoulder and took a deep breath. When she looked up her eyes were deep brown again.
“Found them,” she said dryly. Fucking hunters were always more trouble than they were worth.
"You scared me," he murmured, pulling her close to his chest. He didn't really need to say it, either, judging by how protectively he'd held her the whole way home. "What the fuck was with all that smoke?"
"I'm guessing he's the hunter Belial warned us about." She tucked her cheek against Vax. "He said to get the gun. I bet that's where it came from. I love how hunters are all self righteous, and then their tricks are just as if not more destructive than demons."
"He's not bad looking, underneath the smoke. I bet I can get the gun..." Vax murmured thoughtfully, half-gloved fingers smoothing her hair.
Vex laughed, rough and low. "I’ve no doubt you can. Be careful. I can’t move the way you do.” When they’d made their bargains with the demon Belial they received certain gifts. Vex’s dealt with tracking, Vax’s related to shadows. If someone took him she’d find him, but she couldn’t sweep in to save the day.
Vax frowned thoughtfully. "Your wiles didn't work on him?"
“He saw me snacking. He was set on seeing me as a monster.” Vex tucked her cheek to Vax’s shoulder. “It was a college boy. Not exactly someone worth killing. But you know, all monsters are the same.”
"To hunters, they are," Vax reminded her darkly. Still, he continued to stroke her hair, keeping her close to him, feeling her heartbeat against his. The shadows pulled in around them, keeping them in a safe cocoon.
“Hunters are idiots,” Vex said dryly. Reconsidering, she added, “Most people are idiots. Be careful with that one, and get out if he starts smoking. He deserves a taste of his own medicine, but nothing that risks you, darling”
"You know me. Soul of discretion," he teased her.
She leaned back to look at him, lips quirking. “Yes. Never a bit of trouble at all.”
"Dear sister, I don't know what you're trying to imply." Vax winked, then leaned in to kiss her forehead. "I'll be fine. I always am."
“Goodness knows you have luck.”
"And I'm a gorgeous bastard. He won't be able to resist," Vax waggled a brow.
***
The literal smoke cloud disappeared by the time Bucky and Percy got in the car. Percy’s mood on the other hand stayed stormy the whole drive to the motel. Bucky kept his mouth shut until it was time to check them in. He slung his duffel (filled with weapons and ritual components) over one shoulder and led the way to the room.
“Alright,” he finally said as they entered the shabby night lodgings. “You. Need to chill the fuck out. I know you’re pissed we lost our lead, but I’m getting real sick of worrying about you losing your soul. If the only way to get Cass back is to turn her brother into one of the monsters she will never forgive me.” Bucky pointed at the motel bed and then the adjoining bathroom. “Sleep. Shower. Jerk off. Whatever the fuck you need to do to calm down. I’m going out.”
Too late, Percy thought, matter-of-factly. He was already a monster. The moment he’d made a pact with Orthax, he’d been damned, and there was no coming back from that.
Suddenly exhausted, Percy dropped his bag by his bed and shrugged out of his jacket. He neatly laid it over a chair back, then turned to Bucky. “Where are you going?”
“Run,” Bucky said. “And we’ll see from there.” Might mean finding a gym, or might mean finding a drink.
Percy gave Bucky a look that said just how much he disapproved of that given that there were two supernatural entities still on the loose. “Stay in touch. Don’t do anything foolish.”
“Yes, Mom. I’ll find somewhere with people.” He pointed at Percy. “Call before you kill anything.”
“I’ll ask whatever demon that’s trying to eviscerate me to wait a moment, shall I?” Percy resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Don’t worry. The only thing I’ll be killing is a shower and bad take-out. Go on your run.”
Bucky gave a small salute as he exited and shut the door behind him.
Relief washed over Percy when the door closed. As much as he disliked Bucky going out on his own with two unknowns on the loose, he just wanted to be alone. Tonight had been a fucking disaster. He was...God, he was a fucking monster. All that hate, all that rage... It had felt good. He’d liked it. He hadn’t just been willing to torture that woman, he’d been eager to do it. The fact that she was a monster was beside the point. Who enjoyed torturing someone?
Exhaling tiredly, Percy headed into the tiny motel bathroom, loosening his tie along the way. He closed the door behind him, looked around, frowned, and then looked around again. ...There were no towels. Of course, there were no towels.
Percy left the bathroom and picked up the phone that sat on the nightstand between the beds, dialing the front desk.
“Hello?” Percy said when someone picked up on the other end. “Sorry to bother you, but we don’t have any towels. Yes. Room 122. Thank you.”
Vax whistled to himself as he set the phone down and smiled at the blissed out receptionist slumped beneath the counter. "Don't worry, love. I've got this."
Five minutes later, he was heading toward the hotel room, shirt off, hair pulled up into a jaunty ponytail, and a stack of towels in his arms. With a knock on the door, he called out, "Room service!"
Percy opened the door, and blinked in surprise at the person who stood on the other side of it. That was definitely not the middle-aged woman who’d checked them in. “Ah. Thank you.” He extended his hands to take the towels.
Instead, Vax stepped into his space with a flirty smile and headed for the bathroom. "Sorry, rules state I should make sure they're all nice and fluffy myself!"
“That’s really not necessary.” Percy closed the door, and followed after the man. He didn’t ask where that apparently vitally important policy had been to begin with. “You’ve done enough. They look plenty fluffy as is.”
Vax turned and smiled knowingly at the human, then began properly arranging the towels. "A quiet night in? Where's your mate?"
Percy tried not to gape at the man. He really was going to insist on fluffing the towels. Shirtless.
Jesus Christ.
Turning away, Percy picked up his bag and deposited it on the end of the bed to unpack. He and Bucky never stayed in one place long enough, but it gave him something to do that wasn’t staring at the criminally attractive man artfully arranging fucking towels. “Out for a run.” Avoiding me. “Because he’s a glutton for punishment.”
"And you aren't?" Vax hummed thoughtfully. He glanced out of the bathroom. "Maybe you're a glutton for other things."
Percy found that funnier than the man had probably meant it to be, and laughed. “Maybe. Aren’t we all?” He took out a pile of clothes, his research notebook, stretched at the seams, stuffed between two shirts.
Vax didn't mean to. He found him smiling at that laugh, warmed by it. For a moment, he forgot what he'd come to do (really do), and leaned in the doorway smiling softly. "I suppose you're right about that." His gaze was drawn to the notebook, and he tilted his head curiously. "You're a scholar?"
No person should look good illuminated by the shitty lighting of a motel room, but there the man stood, cast in a gentle glow, his smile distractingly gentle. Percy glanced at his notebook as an excuse to look away from it. “More like a researcher,” he said as he put his handful down on the bureau. “My friend and I are private investigators.” He wasn’t sure why he said it. It was more honest than he ever was with a stranger. He and Bucky lied about what they did all the time, to everyone. They had to.
Vax pushed off the door and crossed toward the man and his book. "Yeah? What are you investigating?"
The answering silence stretched on for so long that it seemed like Percy would never answer the question. When he did, it was quietly, and there was something rough in his voice. “A girl died.” The emotion, whatever it had been, was gone when he turned to the man and offered a smile. “I can’t say anymore, sorry. Client confidentiality.”
The emotion was enough, and Vax found himself reaching for the hunter, hand laying softly on his shoulder, his thumb laying close to his pulse. "I'm sorry," he breathed, taking a step closer.
Percy froze under the touch, and was surprised by the sudden welling of emotion that tightened his throat. He swallowed against it, then stopped out from under the man’s hand and turned to face him. “Sorry won’t bring her back.”
Vax was surprised that he was more...sympathetic, than disappointed by the man stepping away. Yeah, that needed to be crushed right away. He had a job to do. Sadly, the hunter was clearly less interested in sex than he'd hoped. He had his hair in a jaunty ponytail, after all! But some things took more honey than usual, and Vax could see where the man was coming from. That kind of loss...he wasn't sure what he'd do if he lost Vex. "Maybe not," he agreed, with a slight nod and a soft smile. "I suppose I had the wrong idea, coming here like this. I saw you in the lobby and- ah, sorry. Wrong time, wrong place, eh?"
Percy’s surprise registered briefly, before disappearing behind a frown that pinched his brow. He looked the man over, down then up, finally settling on his face and lingering there. Something passed across his eyes, and he stepped in closer. He glanced down at the man’s mouth, then put a hand behind his neck—he thought about how lonely he was, the way it felt like this yawning fucking chasm inside him that seemed as if it would get bigger and bigger until there was nothing of him left—and pulled him in for a kiss.
Aced it. Vax melted against him, one hand moving up to squeeze at a rather impressive bicep as he found himself more eager than usual in tempting this particular human. He needn't bother drawing on his power now. Not yet, at least. Not when he could draw the man in all on his own. Not when he was enjoying it plenty enough just like this. He let a soft moan slip out, happy and to all appearances surprised by the development.
Warmth raced through Percy, washing that cold, empty feeling away like light scattering shadows. He chased after it, greedy and desperate. The kiss deepened, his tongue slipping between the man’s lips as they parted with a sound, and he hooked his other arm about his neck, drawing him in closer even as he pressed into him.
Vax almost instinctively wrapped shadow wings around them, and stopped himself just short. Instead, he hauled the man's body against his own, then began to backpedal toward the bed.
***
Two hours later, Vax was half asleep, dozing wrapped against the man whose name he actually hadn't gotten yet, naked in his small bed. The shag had been good. Really good. Better than he'd had in awhile, and that was saying something for an incubi. He hadn't actually completed his mission, but hey, there was time for that, right? This was good. He had time to enjoy it.
If one were to compile a list of the stupid shit Percy had done in his life, this would be near the top. He was currently tucked against someone he shouldn’t be, his fingers slowly combing through his long, dark hair as he slept. It was an absolutely terrible idea and yet he’d absolutely do it again. He wasn’t sure what that said about him. It couldn’t be anything good.
The cozy tableau was broken as the door clicked and Bucky swung open. He pushed Vex ahead of him. Vex's eyes went to the bed, narrowing when she saw Percy cuddled up to her brother.
"Not dead," she confirmed, looking back to Bucky with a resigned expression.
"Well, that's something." Bucky got a good look at the pair on the bed and snatched Percy's trousers up from the floor. He chucked them toward the bed. "Good evening, sunshine. We all need to talk."
Vax wasn't nearly as asleep as he'd wanted to be. Not enough that he'd miss that entrance. He lifted his head, but by the time the hunter was throwing clothes at the bed, he was forming a knife of darkness beneath the sheets, though he slowly sat up and let his gaze travel lazily toward his sister. He wasn't exactly sure in what capacity she was there, but it didn't seem to be consensual. At the very least, he could play it cool for the moment. He didn't want to give away their hand too soon.
“Oh, good. You’re back,” Percy said like it wasn’t that good at all. He pulled the pants over to himself, but made no move to get out of the bed just yet. Partially because he was naked, but mostly because he was feeling, as Bucky would say, bitchy. “So much for that run then. Unless you just happened to bump into one another?”
"Stopped for a drink, acquired a stalker," Bucky explained.
Vex rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, all the strong men are victims today. Now that we've confirmed that everyone's safe, can we talk nicely? And maybe give the boys some space to get their pants back on?"
"Who needs pants?" Vax asked, even though he managed to pick his boxer-briefs off of the nightstand. He was still watching the others, albeit trying to appear lazy about it. "Care to explain what we're discussing?"
Percy didn’t look at the man in beside him. They’d both lied, both used one another, there was no shame in that yet he felt something quite like it curdled in his belly. “I imagine it’s about you and she being whatever you are,” he answered, affecting a casual tone, his gaze fixed on Bucky. “Is that right?”
"That's a start," Bucky agreed. "Apparently there's a great reason for why our friends here are eating people."
"The same great reason you're hunting demons," Vex shot back. "Don't pretend that what we are is any different than your friend and his pistol." Vex might not be in the best position to argue, but her courage was stronger as long as her brother was close. "We've both lost something important and made the deals necessary to see that problem through to an end. You might not like how we live, but take a look in a mirror sometime."
"Sister dear, let's not insult the men just yet," Vax murmured, slipping into his pants and standing. "It's true, we aren't human any longer. We did what we had to. But that doesn't mean we can't still work together." Or, at least, that's what he was hoping that Vex was getting at, because that was news to him.
“Yes, let’s not argue the semantics of killing innocents versus killing the ones killing the innocents. Best to leave that for another day.” Percy tugged his trousers on under the covers, then stood as well, looking over their motley assembly. His eyes lingered, just for a moment, on the dark-haired man before finding their way back onto Bucky, and the girl. “At least until we’re dressed for the occasion.”
Percy picked his shirt up off the floor, pulled it on, and started buttoning it up. “So, what’s this great reason?”
Vex looked from Percy to Vax. She held his gaze as she shared the information she’d managed to get from Bucky before he’d turned the tables on her. “The greater demon you’re after—they’re responsible for destroying our home.”
Vax's eyebrows slowly lifted, and he turned his gaze from Vex toward the man he'd recently been in bed with.
Percy could feel the man’s eyes on him, and he fought the urge to look over at him in return, keeping his unimpressed attention resolutely focused on Bucky and his new friend. “Really? What an unlikely coincidence.” He almost believed it. Why the lie, though? The man could have killed him numerous times over already if that’s what they wanted. Why a long con? What would be the point other than to toy with them?
“We weren’t always like this,” Vex said, softer than she intended. Shaking her head, she added, “Monsters and demons have different allies. It’s not one ‘destroy mankind’ initiative. Something hurt us. They hurt you. Where do we go from here?”
Bucky crossed his arms across his chest. “That’s a great question.”
"I... would suggest that we offer something to you, and you offer something to us," Vax noted, moving to the table to scoop some ice out of the bucket into a cup. "I hear that is the kind of thing that promotes trust."
Percy’s gaze lingered on Bucky a moment, trying to figure out what he thought about all of this, before moving onto the man, a far harder riddle to crack. He and the girl looked so alike but were so different. She seemed to burn bright, while he moved as smooth and quiet as shadow. What had been the point of his coming here first? Had he known that Percy knew what he was when they slept together, or was he just good at hiding his surprise?
“What do you have in mind?” Percy asked, watching him. “You must have something. You wouldn’t have come here without a plan.”
"My plan was to seduce you, steal your gun, and walk out the door," Vax told him, glancing briefly at his sister. Yes, he was aware he'd screwed that one up.
Vex's lips twisted wryly. Yes, he'd failed him mission. But at least that meant he was still here after she'd slipped up with Bucky.
“You’d have wasted your time. The gun is just a gun. I—” Memories flooded Percy’s mind like a dam had broken. They played ping-pong with the other memories in his head and then, suddenly, everything was clear. His name was Percy de Rolo, but he wasn’t a monster hunter. He was a mutant. Cassandra was alive. Their family had been murdered. He remembered Vox Machina. A group of assholes he wouldn’t trade the world for. His found family. Vex, Keyleth, Shaun, Grog, Scanlan, Pike. And Vax—His boyfriend. His other half, his better half. The love of his life.
Percy, wild-eyed, looked at Bucky—A virtual stranger he’d somehow been convinced was like a brother to him, then to Vex and Vax.
Vax, meanwhile, was experiencing a shift in personality, from incubus to brooding teenager, and he lost his grip on the glass in his hand as it tumbled to the ground and spilled its contents at his feet. He stared at his sister, momentarily forgetting everything but his twin, his sister, his original love. “What. The fuck.”
Vex jolted at the shattering glass. Her hand came up, touching the necklace at her throat. She let out a breath when she confirmed Trinket was still part of her ensemble. As was her charm bracelet, which she reached for next to pop a taser marble off of. “What the fuck indeed,” Vex agreed sharply. “Shoes, quickly. I don’t know where the hell we are but we’re getting out of here.”
Bucky’s expression was inscrutable. As the control snapped off his memories reasserted themselves. Most of them, the ones he had access to. This was not his first mind control rodeo. His posture changed as he surveyed their surroundings, assessing exits and danger.
Percy was already in motion. Moving quickly, he finished getting dressed, then grabbed the gun from where he’d stashed it. He frowned at the heft of it, and looked down at it to examine it more closely. Bloody hell. It was a fucking prop. He tossed it onto the bed. “Check your weapons. Mine’s a fake,” he said, passing Vax’s boots to him.
Vax grabbed his boots, then checked the knives he'd hidden under one of the towels. Blunt edges, both of them. Then he reached for his shadows, and sucked a relieved breath when the room visibly darkened. "One thing still works. Let's get the fuck out of here."
“I don’t know why I bother replacing all my best knives,” Vex said bitterly.
Bucky reached to check the most obvious knives on his person. The fact that they were blunt was only unfortunate for anyone he ended up lodging them in.
Before they could get out of the room a familiar anomaly sliced a hole through the air. Clarice stepped through the portal.
“Time to go.”
OVER BLACK---
Previously on TWO HUNTERS.
INTERIOR. FRONT ENTRYWAY OF A GRAND HOUSE - DAY
CASSANDRA heads for the door with a weekender bag over her shoulder. She navigates around THE TWINS as the two younger siblings chase each other out of the room. PERCY stops halfway down the stairs and gives her a wry look.
PERCY: Tell your boyfriend to keep you safe, or I'm coming after him.
CASSANDRA: (rolling her eyes) Seriously, Percy. We're glamping, not camping.
PERCY: (brow arched) I trust the woods more than I trust romantic weekend getaways.
CASSANDRA: And that? Says everything.
EXTERIOR. CABIN - NIGHT
A storm rages, rattling the screen door. Branches shake and scratch against cabin windows. A bloodcurdling scream comes from inside.
BUCKY (V.O.): CASS! CASS!
CUT TO---
INTERIOR. CABIN - NIGHT
BUCKY holds CASSANDRA'S bloody body in his arms. A layer of frost mixed with blood coats the kitchen floor. The backdoor swings wide open. Black symbols are burned into the walls.
BUCKY sobs.
EXTERIOR. FUNERAL - DAY
PERCY looks grim and immaculate in his suit. BUCKY stands near the family in a rumpled blazer over torn black jeans and a tight, black t-shirt. BUCKY removes his sunglasses to wipe tears from his eyes. PERCY catches his gaze. They share a look.
OLD WOMAN'S VOICE (V.O.): Boys, you can't bring back the dead.
INTERIOR. ARCANE BASEMENT - NIGHT
PERCY is on his knees. Smoke pours into his mouth as he screams. A DEMON looms over him with a long beaklike face. The color fades from PERCY'S hair.
EXTERIOR. LAKE - NIGHT
BUCKY punches a snarling monster in the face.
BUCKY (V.O.): What's more important, getting her back, or revenge?
INTERIOR. CAR - NIGHT
BUCKY drives a 1959 Plymouth Fury. In the passenger seat PERCY scribbles notes in an overstuffed journal.
INTERIOR. BAR - NIGHT
PERCY and BUCKY approach a CHARMING DEMON with yellow eyes that turns to smile their way.
PERCY (V.O.): Why can't it be both?
EXTERIOR. SIDE OF THE ROAD - NIGHT
PERCY stands next to the car, arm outstretched, gun in his hand. Smoke unfurls from his sleeve and around the barrel of the gun.
PERCY (V.O.): Whatever it takes. Until it's done.
OVER BLACK---
NOW
INTERIOR. PARTY - NIGHT
Upbeat music plays, a stark contrast to the desaturated lighting. The party is crowded and busy. A COLLEGE BOY sits with his friends. Across the room a BEAUTIFUL GIRL catches his eye. She tips her head toward the backdoor.
COLLEGE BOY: Does anyone need another drink? I'll be back in a minute.
FRIEND: (CLAPPING HIM ON BACK) Yeah you will!
The friends laugh and the COLLEGE BOY sheepishly goes to follow the BEAUTIFUL GIRL outside.
EXTERIOR. OUTSIDE OF THE PARTY - NIGHT
She pushes him against the wall of the house, kissing him deeply. His hands helplessly grab her hips.
CUT TO:
His back hits the grass as she straddles him beneath a looming tree. Moonlight floods through the branches. Her skin is pale in the white light.
COLLEGE BOY: Oh god, do you want… What do you want?
She puts a finger to his lips, quieting him.
BEAUTIFUL GIRL: Shhh. I just want you.
His eyes are wide as he nods eagerly. She takes her hand back and leans to kiss him slowly. Before their lips touch a blue aura stretches up from his lips to hers. He moans in pleasure.
She drinks it in and seals the kiss.
OVER BLACK:
SHOW OPENING CREDITS
TWO HUNTERS
IN SMOKEY BOLDED TEXT.
WITH DRAMATIC MUSIC.
THAT LASTS FOR THIRTY SECONDS.
CUT TO:
ACT ONE.
***
Percy and Bucky might fit the age group of this party, but in so many ways they were out of place. Was it only three years ago that Bucky met Cassandra de Rolo at a party like this? They were giddy kids in their first years of college. Cassandra was too good for him. Old money. Classy as fuck. Sarcastic, brilliant, beautiful. He had a thing for women with sharp tongues and sharp minds. Who the hell knew why she liked him so much?
But, Cass was gone now. Fucking demons existed in this world and one of those bastards took her from him. Maybe they'd never find a way to get her back, but at least they could track down the fucker and end him before he ruined more families and broke more hearts.
Traveling with Cassandra's brother was strange. Personality wise, sometimes they were way too much alike. Sarcasm and stubbornness ran in the de Rolo family. Bucky looked like he belonged at this party. Jeans, t-shirt, a casual bad boy look that drew gazes his way. Percy on the other hand was too buttoned up for today's adventure. Seriously. He understood incognito, but he still pressed his fucking shirts whenever they crashed in a motel that had an iron. Percy was the younger of the pair, but between his crisp appearance and newly white hair he was the old man between them.
"Do you see our contact?" Bucky asked as he smiled nonchalantly at some girl working hard to catch his eye. Yeah, not the woman they were looking for.
“Unless our contact is a wasted college student, no,” Percy answered as he surveyed the party.
They’d gotten a tip through the hunter grapevine. College students were disappearing. Their last known whereabouts were always at parties, and they’d all been reported as seen leaving the party with someone. It didn’t scream demonic activity, but it didn’t not not scream demonic activity either. They had a few running theories, as well as a running bet as to what it could be, but, without any bodies, they couldn’t really be sure what it was.
A girl smiled flirtatiously at Percy. His eyes passed over her and continued their sweep of the room. Everything looked…normal. Though, honestly, he wasn’t sure he really knew what that looked like anymore. “Anything?” he asked Bucky.
Bucky kept walking, leading them through the rooms. “No.”
Which either meant a parameter walk or subtly asking some questions. “Perimeter first, or chatting the locals?”
“Mingle.” In hindsight, Percy should have asked for more out of his deal with his demon. A sixth sense for the supernatural, maybe. Orthax would have given it to him. It just would have cost him more in the end, and what was more, really, when you’d already sold your soul? “I’ll take a walk.”
Bucky gave him a nod. Just like that, the charm was up, and he went to socialize with the co-eds.
Percy started on a slow sweep around the perimeter of the party one room at a time. He kept it casual, like he was looking for a friend or checking out who’d made it to Phi Kappa Whatever’s spring bash. His attention flitted from one college student to the next, searching for something—anything—that might point him in the right direction. Visual cues were all he had to go on; the music was loud, drowning out the conversations going on around him.
Throughout it all, Percy could feel the eager, quick thrum of his pulse. His heart picking up with the thrill of the hunt. It happened all the time now. Every time. He told himself it was Orthax. That he hadn’t always been this way. That it was the demon that made him so greedy to hurt, so hungry for revenge. But, deep down, he wasn’t so sure. He skirted around a broad-shouldered giant of teenager who was flirting hard with a blonde, and was about to head towards the kitchen when something caught his eye. A boy, a little nerdy in that cute, hipster kind of way, had suddenly broken off mid-conversation with friends, and was making a beeline through the crowd.
Percy tracked the boy’s eye-line and spotted a dark-haired girl with high cheekbones. She was dressed in jeans, a tight blue tank top, and a short, cropped leather jacket. A blue feather barrette was clipped over one ear. She was smirking, and staring right at the boy. They joined hands, and the girl lead him off into the adjoining room. Percy followed. They were hard to keep tabs on in the crowded room and he lost them once, only finally catching sight of the boy again as he slipped out the back door.
Fuck. Percy looked around the room. Where the fuck was Bucky? Fuck. He quickly made his way through the crowd, squeezing past a makeshift Beer Pong table, and then darted out the door.
It wasn’t obvious at first where they’d gone. They were no longer by the back of the house. Beyond the building the tree line started, sparse at first, filling into the woods. It was possible she’d already abducted him into the forest… Moving closer to the tree line, Percy caught a glimpse of shadows moving below the canopy of a massive tree. Obscured by the trunk, two bodies tangled, yearning palpable in the way they moved. The boy’s hands roved desperately, rucking up the back of the young woman’s shirt. In the moonlight her skin was pale, perfect. Each exposed inch a lure in itself. The boy moaned beneath her.
Two strangers in a passionate embrace. It would be a perfectly normal college experience were it not for the ripple of want that Percy felt when he moved closer. The glamor wasn’t intended for him. Since he was on the lookout for trouble it didn’t snare him.
Even if this was a consensual liaison, something was wrong.
Percy’s pace quickened, a fast walk, then a run, cutting quickly and silently across the dark lawn. His pulse was rushing, the world narrowing and slowing. Quiet, deep in the dark corners of his mind that Orthax called home, a voice, hungry and eager, hissed yessssss. He grabbed the girl by the shoulder, yanking her off the boy, and swung up with his other hand to catch her in the jaw with his fist.
“Run,” he snapped at the boy, not looking back at him. “Now!”
The boy was too enthralled at first to notice Percy’s order, but as the woman turned her focus on Percy he started to come around. In the party, her eyes were a natural brown, but now they glowed with a silver-blue light. The first blow caught her off guard. She jerked back with an unnatural dexterity to avoid a second.
“Stop,” she said, lacing as much influence as she could into the word. “This isn’t what you want.”
A feeling, like sinking into a tub full of hot water, washed over Percy. It was warm and inviting and made his whole body feel loose. A rush of heat followed it, want so bone deep it was as if it was a part of him, an itch he’d tear himself apart just to scratch. He pushed hard against it, fighting, and it dissipated.
Smoke started to spill out from beneath Percy’s jacket. It slipped out from his cuffs, curling around his wrists and fingers, and unfurled from his collar, caressing his cheek like a lover, swirling higher and higher until it surrounded his head like a dark halo.
“No, I really I do.” Percy rushed the not-really-a-girl, throwing one punch quickly followed by another.
Her eyes widened as the smoke began spilling from him. She’d been warned someone was coming. Someone that she and her brother should keep an eye out for. This party seemed like a safe last meal to fill up reserves, but apparently the hunters were due sooner than she expected.
“Fuck,” Vex swore, bringing her arms up to block or minimize the blows. She ducked low and swept at his legs. “What the fuck are you?”
Asked the succubus to the boy billowing smoke.
Percy didn’t answer, jumping over the girl’s leg, and going right back in at her. He didn’t stop, one fist quickly following the other again and again and again. Smoke swirled around him, enveloping him, embracing him like an old friend.
“What the…” a voice to Percy’s left said. He looked and there was the boy, still standing there and staring at them in wide-eyed horror. Fucking idiot.
“Run,” Percy told him again, voice hard and angry.
The boy rolled to his knees and finally got up as suggested. He ran for the house.
Vex took advantage of that moment. She disengaged from Percy and tried to run for the woods.
Swearing, Percy took off in a sprint after the girl. She was fast, and was already quickly putting distance between them. This was his fault. He should never have taken his eyes off her.
They darted into the tree line, one after the other, silent as shadows, and disappeared into the forest.
Percy ducked under a low-hanging branch, then plowed through some undergrowth without slowing. He’d gained ground, and the girl was close enough now that he could have reached out and touched her.
With a burst of speed, Percy tackled the girl, sending them both to the ground. He scrambled to his feet, his gun already out and trained on her. “Don’t move.”
She stared up at him, watching smoke twist around the barrel of his gun. The unnatural color faded from her eyes until they were wide, brown, and helpless. The vulnerability in her voice was nothing like the compulsion she’d slammed him with. “What are you?” Vex whispered.
Heavy footfalls crashed from the forest edge. Bucky was close behind, having spotted the victim running back to the party. Muffled curses accompanied the sound of branches snapping.
Percy fired a warning shot into the ground just over the girl’s shoulder. “I didn’t say you could speak,” he said, training the gun back on her.
Vex shut her eyes so he wouldn’t see them flare blue with anger. The threat was solid. This was a bad position to fight back with force.
This was not how she died.
Vex’s hands trembled as she kept her rage in check. Her fingers caught one of the charms dangling from her wrist and she silently broke off the alert beacon tied there. With a shaky breath the burn of her power ebbed. She peered cautiously up at Percy, memorizing his face.
“Perc,” Bucky finally stumbled onto the scene, eyes going wide at the quantity of smoke bleeding off his travel companions body. “Hey,” he said cautiously.
“James,” Percy said as a greeting. Smoke extended from his wrist like a reaching hand and curled around the barrel of the gun. “Look what I found. She was playing with her food. Such terrible manners.” He tsked-tsked with a shake of his head at the creature on the ground.
“Did you get to the questions part yet?” Bucky asked. This smoke thing was happening more frequently, generally with violent results. If this was one of the creatures related to the greater demon they were tracking down the last thing they needed was Percy blowing off her skull before they started interrogating.
A cold smile curled Percy’s lips. “You got here just in time. We were about to start. Should we skip past all the bullshit and dive right in?” He gestured with his head at the ground. “Lay your hand flat.”
“Percy,” Bucky bit out, because no mercy Percy got shit done, but Bucky had a thing with dismembering. “I’ve got iron. Let’s just get her wrapped up and into a circle.”
At this point Vex was trembling. Maybe some of it was fear. A portion was restraint. If she attacked him he’d likely kill her. That didn’t stop the urge to take him with her. People thought she was a monster.
Neither Percy’s gaze nor his gun strayed off the girl, but his finger left the trigger. “We’re going to kill her. Are you really going to tell me you draw the line at torture? If she knows anything about the yellow-eyed demon, do you honestly think she’s going to tell us willingly?”
“Go too far down this road, and we’re not coming back.” Bucky stepped closer and put a hand on Percy’s shoulder. “Iron. Circle. Somewhere further from the drunk kids in that house. Let’s pack her up.”
Before they could take a step, the woods seemed to grow darker, as though the shadows around them grew in strength. A dark figure suddenly swooped in on wings like pitch, sweeping the succubus into his arms. With one violent gust of air, they were both suddenly gone, leaving the hunters to their questions and their smoke, as though they'd never been there to begin with.
Bucky’s hand tightened on Percy’s shoulder at the sudden storm of shadow. Shit, there went that plan.
Percy stared at the empty space where the monster had been and bit back a curse. Shoving his gun back into its holster, he spun around and stormed away, smoke swirling around him. “If she kills anyone else, that blood is on your hands,” he ground out as he passed Bucky, heading in the direction of their car.
***
When the shadows settled Vex was wrapped safely in her brother’s arms. She trembled with adrenaline and relief. He took them home to the trailer they currently shared outside of town. It was a comforting mess of odds and ends. Boots in a pile waiting to be tripped on, various shiny pilfered items, leather garments, scattered hoodies that got more use at home than on the hunt. Vex pressed her face against Vax’s shoulder and took a deep breath. When she looked up her eyes were deep brown again.
“Found them,” she said dryly. Fucking hunters were always more trouble than they were worth.
"You scared me," he murmured, pulling her close to his chest. He didn't really need to say it, either, judging by how protectively he'd held her the whole way home. "What the fuck was with all that smoke?"
"I'm guessing he's the hunter Belial warned us about." She tucked her cheek against Vax. "He said to get the gun. I bet that's where it came from. I love how hunters are all self righteous, and then their tricks are just as if not more destructive than demons."
"He's not bad looking, underneath the smoke. I bet I can get the gun..." Vax murmured thoughtfully, half-gloved fingers smoothing her hair.
Vex laughed, rough and low. "I’ve no doubt you can. Be careful. I can’t move the way you do.” When they’d made their bargains with the demon Belial they received certain gifts. Vex’s dealt with tracking, Vax’s related to shadows. If someone took him she’d find him, but she couldn’t sweep in to save the day.
Vax frowned thoughtfully. "Your wiles didn't work on him?"
“He saw me snacking. He was set on seeing me as a monster.” Vex tucked her cheek to Vax’s shoulder. “It was a college boy. Not exactly someone worth killing. But you know, all monsters are the same.”
"To hunters, they are," Vax reminded her darkly. Still, he continued to stroke her hair, keeping her close to him, feeling her heartbeat against his. The shadows pulled in around them, keeping them in a safe cocoon.
“Hunters are idiots,” Vex said dryly. Reconsidering, she added, “Most people are idiots. Be careful with that one, and get out if he starts smoking. He deserves a taste of his own medicine, but nothing that risks you, darling”
"You know me. Soul of discretion," he teased her.
She leaned back to look at him, lips quirking. “Yes. Never a bit of trouble at all.”
"Dear sister, I don't know what you're trying to imply." Vax winked, then leaned in to kiss her forehead. "I'll be fine. I always am."
“Goodness knows you have luck.”
"And I'm a gorgeous bastard. He won't be able to resist," Vax waggled a brow.
***
The literal smoke cloud disappeared by the time Bucky and Percy got in the car. Percy’s mood on the other hand stayed stormy the whole drive to the motel. Bucky kept his mouth shut until it was time to check them in. He slung his duffel (filled with weapons and ritual components) over one shoulder and led the way to the room.
“Alright,” he finally said as they entered the shabby night lodgings. “You. Need to chill the fuck out. I know you’re pissed we lost our lead, but I’m getting real sick of worrying about you losing your soul. If the only way to get Cass back is to turn her brother into one of the monsters she will never forgive me.” Bucky pointed at the motel bed and then the adjoining bathroom. “Sleep. Shower. Jerk off. Whatever the fuck you need to do to calm down. I’m going out.”
Too late, Percy thought, matter-of-factly. He was already a monster. The moment he’d made a pact with Orthax, he’d been damned, and there was no coming back from that.
Suddenly exhausted, Percy dropped his bag by his bed and shrugged out of his jacket. He neatly laid it over a chair back, then turned to Bucky. “Where are you going?”
“Run,” Bucky said. “And we’ll see from there.” Might mean finding a gym, or might mean finding a drink.
Percy gave Bucky a look that said just how much he disapproved of that given that there were two supernatural entities still on the loose. “Stay in touch. Don’t do anything foolish.”
“Yes, Mom. I’ll find somewhere with people.” He pointed at Percy. “Call before you kill anything.”
“I’ll ask whatever demon that’s trying to eviscerate me to wait a moment, shall I?” Percy resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Don’t worry. The only thing I’ll be killing is a shower and bad take-out. Go on your run.”
Bucky gave a small salute as he exited and shut the door behind him.
Relief washed over Percy when the door closed. As much as he disliked Bucky going out on his own with two unknowns on the loose, he just wanted to be alone. Tonight had been a fucking disaster. He was...God, he was a fucking monster. All that hate, all that rage... It had felt good. He’d liked it. He hadn’t just been willing to torture that woman, he’d been eager to do it. The fact that she was a monster was beside the point. Who enjoyed torturing someone?
Exhaling tiredly, Percy headed into the tiny motel bathroom, loosening his tie along the way. He closed the door behind him, looked around, frowned, and then looked around again. ...There were no towels. Of course, there were no towels.
Percy left the bathroom and picked up the phone that sat on the nightstand between the beds, dialing the front desk.
“Hello?” Percy said when someone picked up on the other end. “Sorry to bother you, but we don’t have any towels. Yes. Room 122. Thank you.”
Vax whistled to himself as he set the phone down and smiled at the blissed out receptionist slumped beneath the counter. "Don't worry, love. I've got this."
Five minutes later, he was heading toward the hotel room, shirt off, hair pulled up into a jaunty ponytail, and a stack of towels in his arms. With a knock on the door, he called out, "Room service!"
Percy opened the door, and blinked in surprise at the person who stood on the other side of it. That was definitely not the middle-aged woman who’d checked them in. “Ah. Thank you.” He extended his hands to take the towels.
Instead, Vax stepped into his space with a flirty smile and headed for the bathroom. "Sorry, rules state I should make sure they're all nice and fluffy myself!"
“That’s really not necessary.” Percy closed the door, and followed after the man. He didn’t ask where that apparently vitally important policy had been to begin with. “You’ve done enough. They look plenty fluffy as is.”
Vax turned and smiled knowingly at the human, then began properly arranging the towels. "A quiet night in? Where's your mate?"
Percy tried not to gape at the man. He really was going to insist on fluffing the towels. Shirtless.
Jesus Christ.
Turning away, Percy picked up his bag and deposited it on the end of the bed to unpack. He and Bucky never stayed in one place long enough, but it gave him something to do that wasn’t staring at the criminally attractive man artfully arranging fucking towels. “Out for a run.” Avoiding me. “Because he’s a glutton for punishment.”
"And you aren't?" Vax hummed thoughtfully. He glanced out of the bathroom. "Maybe you're a glutton for other things."
Percy found that funnier than the man had probably meant it to be, and laughed. “Maybe. Aren’t we all?” He took out a pile of clothes, his research notebook, stretched at the seams, stuffed between two shirts.
Vax didn't mean to. He found him smiling at that laugh, warmed by it. For a moment, he forgot what he'd come to do (really do), and leaned in the doorway smiling softly. "I suppose you're right about that." His gaze was drawn to the notebook, and he tilted his head curiously. "You're a scholar?"
No person should look good illuminated by the shitty lighting of a motel room, but there the man stood, cast in a gentle glow, his smile distractingly gentle. Percy glanced at his notebook as an excuse to look away from it. “More like a researcher,” he said as he put his handful down on the bureau. “My friend and I are private investigators.” He wasn’t sure why he said it. It was more honest than he ever was with a stranger. He and Bucky lied about what they did all the time, to everyone. They had to.
Vax pushed off the door and crossed toward the man and his book. "Yeah? What are you investigating?"
The answering silence stretched on for so long that it seemed like Percy would never answer the question. When he did, it was quietly, and there was something rough in his voice. “A girl died.” The emotion, whatever it had been, was gone when he turned to the man and offered a smile. “I can’t say anymore, sorry. Client confidentiality.”
The emotion was enough, and Vax found himself reaching for the hunter, hand laying softly on his shoulder, his thumb laying close to his pulse. "I'm sorry," he breathed, taking a step closer.
Percy froze under the touch, and was surprised by the sudden welling of emotion that tightened his throat. He swallowed against it, then stopped out from under the man’s hand and turned to face him. “Sorry won’t bring her back.”
Vax was surprised that he was more...sympathetic, than disappointed by the man stepping away. Yeah, that needed to be crushed right away. He had a job to do. Sadly, the hunter was clearly less interested in sex than he'd hoped. He had his hair in a jaunty ponytail, after all! But some things took more honey than usual, and Vax could see where the man was coming from. That kind of loss...he wasn't sure what he'd do if he lost Vex. "Maybe not," he agreed, with a slight nod and a soft smile. "I suppose I had the wrong idea, coming here like this. I saw you in the lobby and- ah, sorry. Wrong time, wrong place, eh?"
Percy’s surprise registered briefly, before disappearing behind a frown that pinched his brow. He looked the man over, down then up, finally settling on his face and lingering there. Something passed across his eyes, and he stepped in closer. He glanced down at the man’s mouth, then put a hand behind his neck—he thought about how lonely he was, the way it felt like this yawning fucking chasm inside him that seemed as if it would get bigger and bigger until there was nothing of him left—and pulled him in for a kiss.
Aced it. Vax melted against him, one hand moving up to squeeze at a rather impressive bicep as he found himself more eager than usual in tempting this particular human. He needn't bother drawing on his power now. Not yet, at least. Not when he could draw the man in all on his own. Not when he was enjoying it plenty enough just like this. He let a soft moan slip out, happy and to all appearances surprised by the development.
Warmth raced through Percy, washing that cold, empty feeling away like light scattering shadows. He chased after it, greedy and desperate. The kiss deepened, his tongue slipping between the man’s lips as they parted with a sound, and he hooked his other arm about his neck, drawing him in closer even as he pressed into him.
Vax almost instinctively wrapped shadow wings around them, and stopped himself just short. Instead, he hauled the man's body against his own, then began to backpedal toward the bed.
***
Two hours later, Vax was half asleep, dozing wrapped against the man whose name he actually hadn't gotten yet, naked in his small bed. The shag had been good. Really good. Better than he'd had in awhile, and that was saying something for an incubi. He hadn't actually completed his mission, but hey, there was time for that, right? This was good. He had time to enjoy it.
If one were to compile a list of the stupid shit Percy had done in his life, this would be near the top. He was currently tucked against someone he shouldn’t be, his fingers slowly combing through his long, dark hair as he slept. It was an absolutely terrible idea and yet he’d absolutely do it again. He wasn’t sure what that said about him. It couldn’t be anything good.
The cozy tableau was broken as the door clicked and Bucky swung open. He pushed Vex ahead of him. Vex's eyes went to the bed, narrowing when she saw Percy cuddled up to her brother.
"Not dead," she confirmed, looking back to Bucky with a resigned expression.
"Well, that's something." Bucky got a good look at the pair on the bed and snatched Percy's trousers up from the floor. He chucked them toward the bed. "Good evening, sunshine. We all need to talk."
Vax wasn't nearly as asleep as he'd wanted to be. Not enough that he'd miss that entrance. He lifted his head, but by the time the hunter was throwing clothes at the bed, he was forming a knife of darkness beneath the sheets, though he slowly sat up and let his gaze travel lazily toward his sister. He wasn't exactly sure in what capacity she was there, but it didn't seem to be consensual. At the very least, he could play it cool for the moment. He didn't want to give away their hand too soon.
“Oh, good. You’re back,” Percy said like it wasn’t that good at all. He pulled the pants over to himself, but made no move to get out of the bed just yet. Partially because he was naked, but mostly because he was feeling, as Bucky would say, bitchy. “So much for that run then. Unless you just happened to bump into one another?”
"Stopped for a drink, acquired a stalker," Bucky explained.
Vex rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, all the strong men are victims today. Now that we've confirmed that everyone's safe, can we talk nicely? And maybe give the boys some space to get their pants back on?"
"Who needs pants?" Vax asked, even though he managed to pick his boxer-briefs off of the nightstand. He was still watching the others, albeit trying to appear lazy about it. "Care to explain what we're discussing?"
Percy didn’t look at the man in beside him. They’d both lied, both used one another, there was no shame in that yet he felt something quite like it curdled in his belly. “I imagine it’s about you and she being whatever you are,” he answered, affecting a casual tone, his gaze fixed on Bucky. “Is that right?”
"That's a start," Bucky agreed. "Apparently there's a great reason for why our friends here are eating people."
"The same great reason you're hunting demons," Vex shot back. "Don't pretend that what we are is any different than your friend and his pistol." Vex might not be in the best position to argue, but her courage was stronger as long as her brother was close. "We've both lost something important and made the deals necessary to see that problem through to an end. You might not like how we live, but take a look in a mirror sometime."
"Sister dear, let's not insult the men just yet," Vax murmured, slipping into his pants and standing. "It's true, we aren't human any longer. We did what we had to. But that doesn't mean we can't still work together." Or, at least, that's what he was hoping that Vex was getting at, because that was news to him.
“Yes, let’s not argue the semantics of killing innocents versus killing the ones killing the innocents. Best to leave that for another day.” Percy tugged his trousers on under the covers, then stood as well, looking over their motley assembly. His eyes lingered, just for a moment, on the dark-haired man before finding their way back onto Bucky, and the girl. “At least until we’re dressed for the occasion.”
Percy picked his shirt up off the floor, pulled it on, and started buttoning it up. “So, what’s this great reason?”
Vex looked from Percy to Vax. She held his gaze as she shared the information she’d managed to get from Bucky before he’d turned the tables on her. “The greater demon you’re after—they’re responsible for destroying our home.”
Vax's eyebrows slowly lifted, and he turned his gaze from Vex toward the man he'd recently been in bed with.
Percy could feel the man’s eyes on him, and he fought the urge to look over at him in return, keeping his unimpressed attention resolutely focused on Bucky and his new friend. “Really? What an unlikely coincidence.” He almost believed it. Why the lie, though? The man could have killed him numerous times over already if that’s what they wanted. Why a long con? What would be the point other than to toy with them?
“We weren’t always like this,” Vex said, softer than she intended. Shaking her head, she added, “Monsters and demons have different allies. It’s not one ‘destroy mankind’ initiative. Something hurt us. They hurt you. Where do we go from here?”
Bucky crossed his arms across his chest. “That’s a great question.”
"I... would suggest that we offer something to you, and you offer something to us," Vax noted, moving to the table to scoop some ice out of the bucket into a cup. "I hear that is the kind of thing that promotes trust."
Percy’s gaze lingered on Bucky a moment, trying to figure out what he thought about all of this, before moving onto the man, a far harder riddle to crack. He and the girl looked so alike but were so different. She seemed to burn bright, while he moved as smooth and quiet as shadow. What had been the point of his coming here first? Had he known that Percy knew what he was when they slept together, or was he just good at hiding his surprise?
“What do you have in mind?” Percy asked, watching him. “You must have something. You wouldn’t have come here without a plan.”
"My plan was to seduce you, steal your gun, and walk out the door," Vax told him, glancing briefly at his sister. Yes, he was aware he'd screwed that one up.
Vex's lips twisted wryly. Yes, he'd failed him mission. But at least that meant he was still here after she'd slipped up with Bucky.
“You’d have wasted your time. The gun is just a gun. I—” Memories flooded Percy’s mind like a dam had broken. They played ping-pong with the other memories in his head and then, suddenly, everything was clear. His name was Percy de Rolo, but he wasn’t a monster hunter. He was a mutant. Cassandra was alive. Their family had been murdered. He remembered Vox Machina. A group of assholes he wouldn’t trade the world for. His found family. Vex, Keyleth, Shaun, Grog, Scanlan, Pike. And Vax—His boyfriend. His other half, his better half. The love of his life.
Percy, wild-eyed, looked at Bucky—A virtual stranger he’d somehow been convinced was like a brother to him, then to Vex and Vax.
Vax, meanwhile, was experiencing a shift in personality, from incubus to brooding teenager, and he lost his grip on the glass in his hand as it tumbled to the ground and spilled its contents at his feet. He stared at his sister, momentarily forgetting everything but his twin, his sister, his original love. “What. The fuck.”
Vex jolted at the shattering glass. Her hand came up, touching the necklace at her throat. She let out a breath when she confirmed Trinket was still part of her ensemble. As was her charm bracelet, which she reached for next to pop a taser marble off of. “What the fuck indeed,” Vex agreed sharply. “Shoes, quickly. I don’t know where the hell we are but we’re getting out of here.”
Bucky’s expression was inscrutable. As the control snapped off his memories reasserted themselves. Most of them, the ones he had access to. This was not his first mind control rodeo. His posture changed as he surveyed their surroundings, assessing exits and danger.
Percy was already in motion. Moving quickly, he finished getting dressed, then grabbed the gun from where he’d stashed it. He frowned at the heft of it, and looked down at it to examine it more closely. Bloody hell. It was a fucking prop. He tossed it onto the bed. “Check your weapons. Mine’s a fake,” he said, passing Vax’s boots to him.
Vax grabbed his boots, then checked the knives he'd hidden under one of the towels. Blunt edges, both of them. Then he reached for his shadows, and sucked a relieved breath when the room visibly darkened. "One thing still works. Let's get the fuck out of here."
“I don’t know why I bother replacing all my best knives,” Vex said bitterly.
Bucky reached to check the most obvious knives on his person. The fact that they were blunt was only unfortunate for anyone he ended up lodging them in.
Before they could get out of the room a familiar anomaly sliced a hole through the air. Clarice stepped through the portal.
“Time to go.”
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Date: 2019-11-13 11:50 am (UTC)Also, Yana wonders if Vex would like to have a talk about how it feels to be part demon? ;)
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Date: 2019-11-13 03:19 pm (UTC)You guys. :D :D :D
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Date: 2019-11-13 03:46 pm (UTC)And people ask me if I do anything with my film degree. Ahaha.
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Date: 2019-11-14 02:36 am (UTC)