Chapter Ten

By the time they got out from the pub the boy and his abductor were gone. There wasn't a single trace anywhere.

"If we can't find Tosh and Owen at least we can find Kiren. They can't have gotten far." Ianto said, already taking off down the road. Harry didn't agree, they didn't know what was doing this, they didn't know how fast or strong it was, but Ianto wasn't giving him a choice. He couldn't leave him to search on his own.

Roughly 15 minutes into their search they saw the first proof of life, apart from Kieran, since they entered the village. Coming towards them on the dark road was police car. They had barely had time to greet the PC before Ianto caught sight of some lights further down the road.

"What's that down there?" Ianto asked. The PC glanced over his shoulder before answering.

"The big house? That's an official village hall. There is a village meeting tonight, that's why I'm here. Now who are you?" He asked, but Harry and Ianto were already passing him in a sprint as they took off towards the house. It was further way than they had thought but at least it was a goal. However the sudden flashes of light in the woods close by made them stop. All it took was one look at each other and they took a sharp turn into vegetation and away from the paved road looking for its source.

A few minutes later Ianto got his chance to shine as he kicked a large middle-aged male of off Tosh. He had had her in a strangle grip and when Harry ran over to her, checking her pulse Tosh was fighting to hold on to her consciousness and trying to desperately pull in as much air as humanly possible into her lugns. When she finally regained her breath it seemed like nothing could have stopped her from speaking as words started pouring out of her mouth.

"They have Owen!" She gasped. "They murdered all the villagers! They cannibalised their bodies!"

Looking up Harry saw Ianto standing over the older man with an expression Harry had never imagined seeing on Ianto's face, his gun raised and aimed at the man's head. He could only assume he had heard Tosh speak.

When he spoke Ianto wasn't speaking to Harry or Tosh but the PC that seemed to have chosen to leave his vehicle and take off on foot after them. Though the words seemed forced, as if he rather just kill the man in front of him.

"You can arrest him now." Ianto said, only to receive a laugh in return as the man looked over at the police constable. The PC smiled in return and before Harry could move he had a gun aimed at his head.

"My own uncle?" He asked. "That would be a laugh, wouldn't it? No, I think this will work out better. Let him go."

After that it didn't take long for Ianto to lower his gun and within a couple of minutes Tosh, along side with Ianto and Harry, found herself thrown into the same room she fled 10 minutes earlier, Owen bleeding on the floor, barely awake.

Harry had never had to fight so hard to keep his facial muscles neutral as he had when he looked around the room, there were human bodies hanging on meat hooks, human hearts and livers on display in glass jars as one might keep dried mushrooms or sugar. Of all revolting things he had seen this was perhaps the worst. He barely even registered the other, living, humans in the room, calmly sitting around a table.

It had been years since Harry last lost control of his magic but just like all those years ago in Dumbledore's office but he could feel it slipping away from him as glass canisters began exploding and shelf began shaking. In fact it was as if the whole house had suddenly begun to shake.

Harry closed his eyes as he tried to force himself to calm down, if he snapped the only one who would be left standing would be Harry himself and only because death wouldn't take him.

So concentrated on his task Harry didn't see as the man dropped the cleaver he previously held against Owen's throat, nor the man reaching for his gun and falling into a defensive position. Harry didn't see a thing as he tried to block everything out, as he tried to force himself to take deep breaths. It wasn't until a tractor came barreling through the wooden door, smashing it into splinters that Harry looked up.

What happened next took only seconds as Jack jumped down from the tractor and started shooting until only Kieran and the Torchwood team remained standing. After taking them all out Jack marched over to the man who had held the cleaver against Owen's throat and held Tosh in a strangle hold, and pressed the gun against his head and suddenly Harry was back to those months after the war when ordinary witches and wizards began to take the law in their own hands and hunt down their offenders during the war. It wasn't right.

Once again in control of himself and his magic Harry walked over to Jack and placed his hand on his arm.

"We don't kill humans if there is another choice." He told him. "And we won't be able to identify the victims without their help, are you going to take that closure away from all those families?"

As the police came to lead the man, his nephew and the rest of the conspirators, the cannibals, away an hour later all Harry could do was watch. The entire village had been in on it, every decade they would kill and eat people passing through the village. They called it 'the harvest' and they had been doing it for decades, maybe even centuries. It was a first for Harry. He had seen people kill and torture before, he had seen remains of human sacrifices, he had even seen people kill for sport, but never had he seen human beings kill other humans for dinner. No matter what the aliens had done or would do against the human race they would never be as frightening as humans themselves. That was a fact.

As he watched them being led away the man with the cleaver looked up and smiled at him. Harry didn't do anything but stare back dead in the eyes.

"Are you even human?" He heard Ianto say beside him, at first he though the question had been aimed at the man but they weren't. His eyes were firmly on Harry.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you feel anything?" He asked. "In the pub… even when they were about to kill us… it was as if you didn't feel anything… you might as well have been dead..."

"They take pleasure in fear and anger, even courage. They would just laugh and mock you for it. Might as well not give them the pleasure." Harry said, looking up to meet his eyes. "That doesn't mean I don't feel." Harry said numbly before walking away from him.

The car ride back to the city was a somber ordeal, no one spoke much and as they reach the hub every single person went their own way. Everyone dealing with the events of the last 24 hours their own way. Harry found himself in his old pub, Tina pouring him pint after pint after pint until old Ed came over and stopped her.

"If this is what your new job is driving you to after just one day you should quit before it kills you." In the wizarding world no one would have tried to stop him, he thought crossly.

"I just helped stop a cannibalistic village after almost ending up as their dinner." Harry told him after a short staring match. "I think I have the right to get pissed tonight."

"Not by yourself you don't." Jack's all too familiar voice called out from behind him just before he sat down on the seat next to him. "Two more pints and a whiskey."

This time Ed didn't protest, instead he put a large glass of whiskey in front of Harry. "On the house." And left them be.

When Harry woke up the next morning he wasn't surprised to find that he wasn't alone. Fast asleep next to him was a very naked Jack Harkness. Shit. He almost wished Jack would have left some time during the night so that they could avoid the awkward "the day after" moments. Normally Harry wouldn't have a problem with them, but Jack was his boss. He would have preferred it if they could just pretend it hadn't happen.

Forcing himself to get out of bed and Harry started making coffee. He wasn't usually a coffee person but even immortality had made him immune to hangovers and flobberworm mucus wasn't exactly easy to get ahold of in this universe so a hangover potion wasn't really an option. Coffee would just have to do.

By the time Jack woke up Harry had cooked a complete breakfast with sausages, eggs, beans, spinach and toast causing Jack to raise an eyebrow when he saw it.

"Didn't know you were so domestic." He grinned.

"Hangover." Harry muttered, he really didn't feel the need to be social or even polite. He felt like shit. "Eat and be quiet or get out." Jack took a seat. He looked perfectly at ease, neither offended nor awkward. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

It seemed one night had been all I had taken Jack to find Harry's weak spots and despite Harry's earlier concerns it hadn't taken much for Jack to get him back to bed again, metaphorically speaking. They hadn't made it quite that far when Jack showed up on his doorstep two nights later or the night after or even the night after that.

But apart from those visits nothing else had changed between the two. Not that Harry was complaining, her preferred it that way. Sex was the prefect release. He had used it before to cure boredom or guilt, but it worked just as well to forget the world around him for a few hours and that was something they could both do with every now and again.

TBC…

First of all I have a confession to make; I'm a review junkie, when I don't get reviews I don't feel as inspired to write so you have to give me my fix if you want new chapters! I'm not a recovering junkie, I'm a stone cold junkie and I am not planning to change anytime soon!

Second, In the chapter after the next one I am considering to have Harry go back to his universe for a chapter or two to get something. Now…should Jack go with him or not? I can't decide since I see ups and downs both ways… what do you guys think?