Turning and Burning, Chapter 11

[tigerstriped86.livejournal.com]

Title: Turning and Burning, Chapter 11
Author: tigerstriped86
Fandom/Pairing: BtVS, Xander/Jonathan (it's getting hot and heavy folks!)
Rating: M (for Mature: Isn't it always M with me and vampires?)

Prompt 110:  Necrotizing Fasciitis (I may have spelled it wrong in the story, but you can't mistake it)
Disc.: You get the idea that I'm not part of Joss Whedon's gang, right?
Author's Note: My version of the Vamp Xander AU.  We're in Trio territory now people.  And how is it Jan's Sanctuary always seems to post right before I finish for the week?  Also, the prompt shouldn't frighten.  I had a ball with it.

How This Story Begins: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4237605/11/Turning_and_Burning

The knock at the door was hesitant at best. It took the better part of his concentration away from the sound of the movie to hear it. Tommy Lee Jones' better half froze on the screen as Xander clicked the little pause button. He swiveled his head towards the door.

“Come in.”

“Don't you want to know who it is?”

Jonathan. Xander glanced at himself, all the better for shock value. “I already knew it was you.”

“How?”

“I have cameras.” Which wasn't exactly a lie. Just leaving out the part about the boy's signature blood scent was. “Are you going to stand outside the door all night?”

“No.” Jonathan stopped at the doorway, his teeth just visible above his lower lip as he considered the scene with shock.

“What?”

“It's just that I've never known anyone to...”

“Watch a movie upside down?” Xander bent himself in half and flipped downward while holding the bar. His dark bangs cut the wind and he grinned at Jonathan as he landed in one of the comfier chairs near the half of the room converted into a pseudo-library and entertainment shrine. “Used to do it all the time when I was a kid.”

“Did you watch the Super friends upside down?”

“And the Wacky Races.”

“There were so many things about the continuity of those shows that bothered me, for instance...”

Xander shook his head and raised his hands. Jonathan's head deflated slightly as he pursed his lips, stopping the babbling before it started. “While I do appreciate a good nerd bull session as much as the next guy, this is my night off from my work. And so I must wonder why you are here, Jonathan? Didn't I say I would return to you?”

“Well, I did stop by earlier, but your mansion was all shut up and so I figured you were at work. Speaking of which, where did you get the money to pay for a place like this?”

“I'm babysitting it for a friend.”

“And I thought you were getting married?”

“Who did you hear that from?” Xander quirked his eyebrow and scanned the room for the nearest chair to offer Jonathan.

“I have my sources. I liked keeping tabs on the Scoobies. It's not every Sunnydale class that had a protector.” Jonathan winced at the memory of one of his few selfless and whole-hearted acts.

Xander kicked out a chair across the ottoman. It made a slight screeching sound against the thoughtful silence. Jonathan lowered himself and looked exceedingly small in the chair.

“You seem nervous.”

“I'm not nervous. Just full of energy. I stopped by Denny's while I waited for you.”

The remnants of Xander's stomach rumbled at the memory of the Grand Slam. “That brings back memories.”

“Did the Golden Trio of Sunnydale go there often?”

“No. We were more likely to haunt the Bronze. But after a long week of patrolling, nothing beats a hearty, fat-filled meal like Denny's.”

“You're watching a Batman movie.”

He's stalling, Xander thought. He must be nervous. But why? “I was, indeed. A new favorite. Although nothing beats Batman Returns. Cat woman and the Penguin, played expertly.” Xander turned his wrist and reached for the remote. Pressing stop, the screen went blank.

“You know, Harvey Dent always fascinated me as a villain.”

Xander folded his hands together across his lap. “Why?”

“Well, I mean if you take the insanity the Joker has for no reason and the strength of mind of the Riddler along with the sex appeal of cat woman, you have Harvey Dent as Two-Face, a man with a warped sense of vengeance.”

“But I don't get how that fascinates you.”

“Necrotilis fasciliiatis.”

“Come again?”

“It's the latin term for flesh-eating virus. Well, technically that's a misnomer. The flesh isn't actually eaten by the bacteria...”

“And you think this contributed to his insanity?”

“I do. I mean, think about it. You have this massive infection running around near your brain. It's bound to get in there.”

Xander smiled a bit and licked his lips. “Very astute. What does Warren think of Two Face?”

Jonathan's skin went pale. “He doesn't. He spends all his time in plotting and doing maniacal things so he pretty much gets a little farther away each day as he's consumed a little more.”

“Did you guys think of the dangerous game you're playing in Sunnydale? This is no child's suburb, Jonathan.”

Jonathan drew himself up in his chair. “I know the risks. I've toyed with the dark side.”

“I remember.”

“How?”

“You have your secrets and I have mine.”

“I think you can tell what one of my secrets is.”

“Oh?”

“You frighten me.”

“King of Cretins? I frighten you?”

“There's something new and different about you. This subtle confidence that I've noticed in Warren as well. It's like a mad genius lit you with thunderbolts and you've just become something.”

“How about a secret for a secret?” Jonathan tensed in his chair. “I am something different than what I was.”

“You aren't human anymore are you?”

“Am I that obvious?”

“No. Not with them. But what, what are you Xander?”

“Is that what you came to ask me? Is that what you want to know, really?” Jonathan gulped and Xander began thinking wicked things as Jonathan's Adam apple bobbed nervously around his throat.

“I came to...”

Xander rose from his chair and began drifting in thoughtful pauses to Jonathan. “You came to what?”

“I...”

“Come now, Jonathan. I couldn't shut you up about Harvey Dent. Surely you must have something to say...”

“Stop enunciating like that.”

“Why? Does it make you feel something?”

“You're not...”

Xander quirked his eyebrow again and let the vampire soul surge through his arm, changing one hand. That hand moved across Jonathan's arm, clutched against the chair as though it were about to lift through a tornado.

“I'm not what?”

“Stop...”

“Stop what?”

“Don't stop...”

“Which is it, Jonathan? Why are you here?”

A knock at the door. Louder and more incessant than Jonathan's had been. The sound of Charlie and a female voice arguing. Xander cursed and let his hand revert to human form. Dawn burst into the room with Charlie at her heels.