Disclaimer: Same as previous chapter.

Warning: Drug abuse in a few chapters.

Chapter 2

Xander woke up a couple of hours later; he blearily opened his eyes and realized that he was still in pain. He looked around and groaned, he was on a damned hammock; he looked around again and muttered, "Where the hell am I?" He saw a wolf and tiger cub look at him and they ran off.

Xander thought, 'Who keeps wild animals in,' as he smelled the air, 'A pizza place?' He felt a brief shot of intense pain and rubbed his head and went into his backpack and pulled out the prescription painkiller pills when he heard the door open and an older looking man with light shaggy hair look at him, frowning.

RJ looked at what would apparently become his newest student and saw him popping pills, he ran over and pulled the pill bottle out of his hands and he said, "Dude, these won't help your pain."

Xander glared and said, "Look, I'm in pain and these little miracle tablets are the only thing keeping me from blowing my goddamned head off!"

"Dude," RJ said, "These pills are only killing you," and sat down next to him and smiled reassuringly.

"Look, I'm looking for something called Pai Zhuq," Xander grumbled, "So they can rip this damned Primal Hyena spirit from my head!"

RJ looked at him in shock; students would train for years just to meet their spirits once and he was treating this powerful and wonderful creature like it was a curse? He put his hand on Xander's shoulder and said, "I'm a master Pai Zhuq and if you want I'll help you with your spirit."

"You mean you can rip it out?" Xander asked hopefully.

"Dude calm down, the way things are now ripping it out of your mind and body would kill you," RJ said in a placating manner.

Xander looked at the man and said, "This thing made me nearly rape one of my best friends and, though it apologized, I still feel bad about it."

"First of all; why don't you tell me how you got your beast?" RJ asked.

Xander snorted and explained about the spell the zookeeper cast and what his pack had done, he noticed the man looked disgusted and horrified at what happened and thought, 'Maybe he would understand why I wanted the damned thing out of my head and body.'

"First of all," the man said, "My name is RJ and I'll help you and your beast merge, it's the only way. It'll be alright for you," and he looked at Xander and said, "Can I have your name little man?"

He looked at him and said, "Xander."

RJ's eyes twinkled and said, "Just Xander?"

Xander nodded and thought, 'No way I'm going to give this weirdo my whole name,' he shook his head and said, "How bad could it be if you rip this thing out of me?"

"Like I said dude; it will kill and note that I said 'Will' not 'might' or 'could,' RJ said looking Xander in the eyes, "And when I say 'kill' it will be the most unpleasant death you could ever imagine, it'd be like that scene in Alien, only more painful and grotesque."

"You're kidding me, aren't you?" Xander growled out.

RJ smiled gently and said, "You're going to have figure that out for yourself."

Xander sighed and saw RJ take the pill bottle out of his bag, Xander glared again at him and said, "I need those to sleep man."

"No you don't," RJ said and came in with a cup of tea for him and said, "This tea will help you sleep."

RJ watched Xander drink the cup of tea and smiled as the young man fall into a deep sleep and began to snore softly. RJ decided to go into a meditative trance to attempt to contact the spirit inside of Xander. He traveled into Xander's mind through the spirit realm and as he walked through Xander's mind he saw all kinds of things.

"Oh man!" he said, "This kid watches WAY to many horror movies," as he moved through Xander's mind.

RJ felt an ancient primal force that had a gentle feel to it, he followed it to its source and he saw the mindscape transform into a massive African savannah. He heard animal growls and saw a massive hyena look at him, her eyes bright green.

She got up and said, "Greetings Master RJ how are you?"

"Uhh, I'm fine," RJ said, surprised at the spirit's eloquent speaking manner as she walked towards him and sniffed him.

"My name is Surana and I am the spirit that was forced into Xander's body."

RJ said, "Well, he wants you out of him because of what you did while you were in control of his body."

"That was a mistake," Surana said, "We're on the Hellmouth and nothing can live on the Hellmouth without being tainted in some way and I was forced into the merging by a dark spell. But what the foolish sorcerer didn't know was that he was doing the spell wrong and so the spell to banish me from my cub actually strengthened me and made the joining permanent."

RJ winced and said, "That's why he's in so much pain? He can't accept your presence, as I thought."

She smiled and thought, 'This one is smart, that was good and he might be patient with the boy too,' she looked at and pleaded with him, "Help my pup please," and with that RJ was forced back into his own body.

'Whoa!' RJ thought as he looked at the sleeping boy, 'No way is he going to be able to live in this much pain much longer,' and got up to leave Xander in peace. When he walked out he was confronted by his three worried students.

Casey looked in and saw Xander resting comfortably and said, "Is he going to be alright?"

RJ said, "Maybe, just maybe. But right now he needs rest and tomorrow we have to begin his training and hopefully he takes it well."

They nodded and Xander slept while Casey crept in and sniffed at Xander, his tiger had grown attached to the boy and wanted to make sure he was alright. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and saw RJ looking at him, shaking his head.

"Casey man, he's sleeping and is emotionally and physically drained, so let's not creep him out just yet."

"But he smells so damn good," Casey whined.

RJ nodded, his spirit noted the odour coming off the young man too but he had just a little more control over his emotions than Casey did.

As RJ led him away Casey looked at Xander one more time and inhaled the scent in and growled.

The others were talking and RJ said, "Guys, I know all of you are curious about him and I'll tell you what I found out about him, other than the fact he's royally pissed off about things and his beast brought him here looking for me, I guess."

"His name is Xander and from what I got from the spirit, which if anyone's curious to know is a Hyena, and she said that he's from something called the Hellmouth," RJ said.

Fran looked up and said, "U-u-uhh, I know what the Hellmouth is," she suddenly realized everyone was staring at her and said, "It's a place where the dimensional walls are weak and it's linked to place that is best described as Hell and if your new friend is from there then his spirit might have picked up a taint from the place and he himself might be tainted."

RJ frowned and said, "I'll need to give him a spiritual cleansing to get rid of the taint on him and his spirit," and he suddenly realized what Fran said and asked, "How do you know about this Hellmouth?"

Fran smiled shyly and said, "And it might not be a good thing if he goes back there and I know about the Hellmouth because I read a lot of books about the supernatural."

"But," RJ said, "What the problem is that he hates his spirit and, if what Fran says is true, this Hellmouth tainted her and him in the process and, like I said, I have to help cleanse both of them of its taint."

"And," Casey added, "We have to merge him and his spirit correctly too, right?" RJ nodded.

As they got ready to turn in for the night Casey looked down at his feet and said to Theo, "Did you notice how good Xander smells?"

Theo looked at him and said, "No and I usually don't go smelling strange men either," and went to sleep.

Casey walked into the back and was assaulted by Xander's scent, he growled again and wanted to do nothing more then go over and comfort Xander but he managed to stop himself and went to sleep.

The next morning Xander woke up and saw some fresh clothes waiting by him and a note telling him to meet that RJ guy out in front and to wear the clothes.

Xander pulled on the green T-shirt and blue jeans and blushed as the clothes were a bit tight on him and he wondered why he had to wear these clothes. He walked out and RJ looked at him and said, "Whoa, you look good man."

"Uhh, yeah," Xander said, "Thanks sir."

RJ said, "You and I are going to be doing some cleansing exercises to remove the taint of the Hellmouth on you."

"What?" Xander said, surprised that RJ even knew about the Hellmouth.

"So," RJ held out his hand, "Will you accept me as your master and guide?"

Xander gulped, he came this far already so he might as well go all the way. He nodded and accepted the offered hand.

TBC

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