Disclaimer: Don't own, unfortunately. I just borrowed the boys so i could play with them for a bit. No profit is being made.

A/N: Reposted because I appear to have accidentally deleted this at some point. Not sure exactly when or how I managed to do so but apparently I did. So anyway, if this seems familiar once you start reading, that's why.

"We're even now." Cutler said. He almost sounded sane. "And we can watch dawn break over the new world together."

Hal stared at Alex's torn, bloodied corpse and he felt sick. He had done this to her. It was because of him, because of what he'd been and what he'd done that she was dead, her body now just an empty shell, throat torn open, blood, all but a few drops, drained into plastic water bottles at her feet. This was his fault. She'd done nothing wrong, except be fool enough to be someone he liked.

A sudden panic slammed into his brain. The wolf that Cutler said he had… Could it be… He was using the people that Hal cared about, that was clear but… Did he even know about Tom, had he made that connection? Part of him didn't want to know, couldn't bear to even think about it, but the bigger part of him needed to know.

"Who's the werewolf?" He asked, turning back to Cutler.

"Does it matter?"

"Who is he?" He demanded.

"His name's Tom. Why?"

"Of course." Dear God, Tom. Of course it was Tom. Who else could it have been? He should've known, should've seen it the moment Cutler had told him his plan but he'd been too shocked, too appalled to really see anything else.

"This is why you coming back is so perfect. This is the end of the journey that you started me on." Cutler continued, oblivious.

Hal was hit by another wave of nausea. He barely managed to swallow it down.

"Don't do this." He said softly. "Please."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I'll do anything." He sank slowly to his knees, his body shaking with horror and dread, eyes meeting with Cutlers, pleading. "Just, please stop this."

Cutler stared at him, his brow creasing into a frown.

"What are you doing? Oh God… Are you begging?" He took a step back, grimacing. "Will you stop? Seriously, it's horrid."

Hal thought he looked a little unsteady on his feet, like something had unnerved him. Him, Hal, maybe. Whatever had caused it, it was a weakness that just maybe Hal could use against him.

"Please, Cutler… Nick." The name sounded soft as it dropped from his lips, belying the disgust that Hal really felt.

"Now he's calling me Nick." Manic laughter pierced the air. "You can't do this." He yelled. "YOU'RE HAL YORKE… I'm gonna heave." He turned away, head in hands, body retching silently.

"Remember w…"

"SHUT UP!" Cutler spun round and glared at him, eyes jet black, fangs descended. Hal felt that fear again, not for himself, for Tom and Annie and Eve and Alex's father and brothers and… the rest of humanity. He lowered his gaze and tipped his head forward so that his chin was resting on his chest, hoping that his submission would be enough to snap the other man out of his rage.

It worked. Black eyes returned to blue, fangs receded and Cutler just looked at him. He seemed somehow lost.

"You know him, don't you?" He asked after what seemed like an eternity. "The wolf. You know him."

Head still hung low, Hal nodded silently.

"Are you fucking him? God Hal, please tell me you're not fucking him. I couldn't stand that."

"I'm not." He answered, looking up at last, meeting his progeny's gaze, desperate for him to see the truth, that he'd never thought of Tom that way.

Cutler nodded slowly, still staring intently.

"But you want to."

What Hal wanted to do was tell him how utterly ridiculous he sounded but he held his tongue.

"No. We're just friends. He's a good man Nick, he doesn't deserve what you're planning to do to him."

Cutler growled. He grabbed the front of Hal's shirt dragging him up, throwing him against the wall, holding him there by his throat.

"He's a killer."

"And what are we?" Hal rasped.

"Swear to me Hal. Swear to me you're not fucking the wolf, that you don't wish you were."

There was an oddly desperate edge to the question that sent a chill through Hal, and suddenly he understood. It had been half a century since they'd last been together, all that time Cutler had believed him dead and this insane plan of his was just an attempt to keep his maker's memory alive, if only in his own mind. Cutler still felt everything just as keenly as he ever had, he still remembered what they had been to each other, he still loved in his own twisted way... He still wanted.

"I swear Nick, I'm not, I don't. He's just a friend."

Cutler seemed satisfied and he released his grip fully. Hal sagged against the wall and bought his hands to his throat, lightly fingering the bruised flesh there.

"Good. Because if I thought you were lying to me, I would kill you both. And you know I can draw it out Hal, you know I can make the pain last for days and days until you're both begging me to let you die. I know all kinds of ways to inflict indescribable agony on a body, living or dead. I had the best teacher."

"I had the best pupil." He answered with a forced smile, one hand coming up to cup the other mans face, willing himself not to shake. "So quick to learn, so eager to please, so… so beautiful."

He tilted his head slightly and reached for a kiss, his lips just brushing the other mans, making him moan. Yes, Hal thought. I was right, this is what he wants. A cool tongue slipped between his lips, exploring and Hal tried to let himself go but his body refused to respond the way he wanted it to and he recoiled involuntarily.

Cutler let out an anguished howl, slamming his fists into the wall behind Hal.

"DO YOU THINK I'M FUCKING STUPID?" He stepped back and started pacing the room, muttering under his breath. "I know what you're doing. You thought you were being so clever didn't you, but you were wrong. God! What is it about him Hal, huh? He's just a fucking wolf. Why do you care so much? What makes him so special? What is it about him that could make you choose him over me? Why do you want him?"

Slowly, not wanting to startle the other man, Hal moved forward. A gentle hand reach out, touching his arm, stilling the pacing. Cutler looked up and Hal saw what appeared to be genuine pain in those raging eyes.

"It's not like that. I don't want him, not the way you think. I never have. The truth is, there hasn't been anyone since you. How could there be?"

"You left me."

There it was again, the pain, and no matter how much he despised the man he couldn't ignore the crushing guilt he now felt over what he'd done to him.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, and in a strange way, he meant it.

"Why?"

"You made me weak." He lied. Nick wasn't stupid, he'd felt Hal's resistance, he wasn't going to fall for sweet words and professions of undying love after that no matter how much he craved them and the man that offered them. "I hated you for that. If I'm honest a small part of me still does, but I can't deny it anymore. I still want you Nick, I never stopped."

Cutlers eyes, so full of hope, searched his, looking no doubt for some kind of sign that he was telling him the truth. Hal's gaze held steady and he prayed silently to whatever deity might listen to a monster like him that Cutler wouldn't see through the lie.

"What about the wolf?"

"I told you. He's a friend, that's all. I don't want to see him hurt, and what you're planning will more than hurt. It will destroy him."

The other man shook his head. The pain and the longing that Hal had seen in him earlier was gone, now there was only fury and hate.

"WELL HE'S NO FRIEND TO ME. HE'S JUST A FILTHY WOLF, I DON'T CARE IF THIS HURTS, IF THIS DESTROYS HIM… I WANT TO DESTROY HIM, I WANT TO DESTROY ALL OF THEM. WOLVES, HUMANS, THE WHOLE FUCKING LOT OF THEM! DO YOU HEAR ME?"

Hal did hear him, and for one terrifying moment he was sure he'd lost the fight. He was almost ready to concede defeat, then he had a moment of clarity and he realised he still had one last chance to make things right. Nick had been a good man once, he hadn't been born evil, Hal had made him that way and then he'd abandoned him, knowing he wasn't ready to be on his own. This madness was his fault but if there was even just a trace of the old Nick left, if Hal could reach him then maybe, just maybe...

"He saved my life Nick."

"He what? H…he saved your…"

"Yes. More than once. If not for him I wouldn't be here right now. I owe him. We owe him."

He slipped his hand behind Cutlers head, tangling his fingers in the dirty blond hair and pulled him in close, kissing him his hungrily, feeding the other man's desire, moaning needily. And he really did need, he needed this to work.

"Let him go Nick, please." He mumbled against insistent lips. "Call off your massacre, let him go, and my debt is paid. There'll be nothing left tying me to him, nothing keeping me here. We can be together, you and I, somewhere far away from all of this. I know that's want you want, and I want it too, just as much as you."

The kiss resumed, more desperate, more needy than before. Hal's hands roamed the other vampires body, kneading the flesh through the crumpled suit jacket, tugging, clutching. Cutler moaned.

"Just you and me?"

"Yes." Hal whispered, kisses trailing lower, nibbling the unshaven jaw.

"Like we were before?"

It was a wretched and horrifying thought and deep in the pit of his stomach a feeling of despair grabbed a hold of him but Hal paid it no attention.

"Yes" He whispered. Slowly, he let his hands wander, down the length of Cutler's spine to the small of his back, and lower.

Cutler groaned long and low as Hal pressed his hips forward and began to rock against him, building up a little friction, just barely enough to be convincing. He fumbled in his pocket for his phone. Hal continued to grope for him in that way they both knew from past experience would leave him near senseless and begging. Trembling fingers lifted the phone to his mouth.

"Change of plan fellas, let the wolf go." He rasped as Hal's fingers found his belt buckle. "I don't need him anymore I… mmmm… yes… fuck…"

The phone slipped from his grasp and clattered to the ground beneath them. He wrapped his arms around Hal and stumbled backwards until his back hit brick then quickly manoeuvred them so that Hal was trapped between him and the wall. Frantically he tore at Hal's clothes, desperate for the contact he'd missed so very much for so long.

Hal responded in kind, no hint of his true feelings showing in his handsome features.

He fought back tears as he fought to please Cutler. Self pity was a luxury he could no longer afford. This was his life now, tied for the remainder of his sorry existence to a man who disgusted him, a mad man, a man who must never ever find out the truth. He repulsed Hal, but Hal would keep that hidden, would pretend to thrill at every touch, pretend to love. He owed humanity that much. Maybe he even owed Nick too.

He was lost forever now. Tom and Annie, would never know what happened to him, where he went or why he left. They would never know what it had cost him to keep them and Eve safe. Humanity itself would never know the sacrifice he'd made to preserve it's future. A future he'd known ultimately, that he would never really be a part of.

And he was okay with that, because for a short time he'd had a home and people who cared. For a short time, he'd felt almost human again and for that, Hal thought, this was a price he was willing to pay.

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