Disclaimer: Joss, WB, UPN et al. own Buffy. Capcom owns Devil May Cry, and DMC 2. I don't.
Title: Better the Devil You Know…
Author: Paradigm Shifter
Feedback: I guess I'm reduced to begging again, hmm? Please?
Rating: R.
Notes: Final Fantasy II is hard once you get off of 'easy' mode (you have to complete 'easy' before it'll let you play the 'original' game) but I must admit, the only one I have enjoyed more, 'plot-wise' is FFVI, with V being the hardest one ever. [Shrug] My opinion…
Crossover: Devil May Cry / Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Continuity: DMC1, not 2 (except for a few enemies). Xander's road trip. That's pretty much it. Enjoy.
Summary: The enemy's plot still is not revealed, while Xander makes an uncomfortable trip back to Sunnydale. Fortunately, he doesn't encounter the Scooby Gang. Yet.
Oh yeah: it'll be a while before you find out what I actually named the pistols in the end… Xander doesn't think of them by name, and the others don't need the intro. Yet.
*
Xander and Cordelia stood in the broom cupboard of the old high school, wrapped in a passionate embrace. Not even the smells of cleaning agents and mildewed fibres could put them off. Xander ran his hands slowly through Cordelia's hair as she licked his neck with raw passion fully evident.
"God… Cordy… you're killing me here…" whispered Xander in her ear.
Cordelia smiled into his skin, and replied in between kisses to the skin on his neck. "Not yet, but I will be…" she suckled hard on the junction between neck and shoulder, and Xander cried out in pain at the sudden increase in suction. He pulled back violently, to see Cordelia's face twist into that of a vampire, and a hungry one, at that.
Xander screamed, and was through the closet door before Cordelia could even get another word out. He shut the door, and leaned back on it. "This isn't happening… this isn't happening…" He repeated it like a mantra, trying to convince his brain, which knew damn well that it was happening.
Cordelia's arms burst through the door, either side of Xander's head, and wrapped about his neck lovingly. "Come back, lover…" Cordelia whispered through the wood, "and I'll show you a real good time…"
She pulled her arms back for a fraction of a second, to open the door, and that was all the opportunity Xander needed. He took off down the corridor like a bat out of hell, rounding a corner at top speed, and crashing into a line of lockers that stood between him and the wall. The echoes of the falling lockers rattled in his mind, even as he forced himself to his feet and carried on.
Round the next corner, who should he run into but Buffy, innocently putting some books into her locker. Xander skidded to a halt as he reached her, stopping inches away from bowling her over like a skittle.
Buffy turned to look at him. "Whoa, Xander! Slow down! You nearly had us both over there!"
Xander stood with his hands on his knees, catching his breath. When he stood up properly, he apologised, and told her what happened. "Um… sorry. I… er… I'm running from Cordy. Um… she's a vamp…"
Buffy giggled, and stepped closer. "Well, I always told you that she was a bloodsucking bitch. Maybe finally you listened to me…" As she spoke, Buffy continued to edge her mouth closer to Xander, until she had captured his mouth in a fiery kiss.
Xander stood dumbstruck for a second, before snapping to his senses and pulling away. This was difficult, as Buffy's mouth followed his as it moved.
"Uh… Buffy… not that I'm complaIIIINing…" his voice went up an octave as Buffy began to lick his throat, "…but I wasn't kidding about Cordelia being a vamp."
Buffy pulled back slightly, looking hurt. "And that's such a bad thing, Xander?" she asked through lust swollen lips. As she leaned in again, Xander took a step back, and was just in time to see Buffy's face as it slid into the ridged form of a vampire.
"Buffy…" he whispered sadly, and then took off again as Buffy took a seductive step toward him.
Halfway down the next corridor, Xander nearly jumped out of his skin as a confused voice came from a room to his left. "Xander?" said the voice, "What's going on?"
Xander looked through the door, and froze in shock. "Aims?" he took a step inside, "Amy? Is that you?"
Amy sat on the teacher's desk, hugging herself against the cold in the room. Well, the cold in the room for her, as she had no clothes on. She looked down at herself. "What happened, Xander? The last thing I remember is casting that love spell for you…" She licked her lips slowly. "And then…" she looked up, with an indescribable look in her eyes.
Xander stepped back as Amy advanced. "Uh… Amy… you're naked…"
Amy continued to stalk forward. "That makes it one less person to get undressed, then…" she smiled seductively, and began to step round Xander, blocking his exit. As he realised this, he made a beeline for the door, and got through it just in time to avoid a lunge from the just vamping out Amy.
"Come back, Xander! I want you!" Amy's call sounded down the hallway as Xander sped off.
Xander bowled Willow over as he rounded the next corner, and the two of them sat on the floor looking at each other.
"What?! Xander?" Willow was thoroughly confused. "What are you running from?"
Xander looked up, and pulled himself and Willow to their feet. "Cordelia's a vampire. So's Buffy. And so is the de-ratted Amy." As if to prove his point, Cordelia and Buffy stepped round the corner together, with twin smiles on their faces.
"Come now, Xander…" both said together, "it will hurt so much less if you stop trying to get away…" Amy stepped out of the classroom, still naked, and with an angry look on her features. "If you hadn't run, it might have been fun. Since you did, now it has to be far less quick, hon."
Willow squeaked in terror, and grabbed Xander's hand. "Come on! The library! We can hole up in there!"
The two turned a fled, three angry vampiric versions of their friends hot on their tails.
Willow pulled Xander up short just before they entered the library. "Just once…" she murmured to herself, and leaned in to kiss him passionately.
Xander pulled back in shock as Willow began to slide down his jaw to his neck, and screamed in renewed terror as Willow's vamped features leered at him. "Just a little bite, Xan… then it'll all be over…"
Xander fell backwards through the Library doors. "Giles! Giles!" He called out, "they're all vampires!"
Giles stepped out of his office, "Who are… oh, my!"
Amy, Buffy, Cordelia and Willow all stood in the doorway, eyes fixed on Xander. Who was scrambling along the floor, trying to get away while keeping his eyes on the girls.
Giles shouted at him, "Quick, Xander! Round here!"
Xander gratefully rushed behind the counter, and stood by Giles.
A laugh echoed out of the stacks, and Xander jumped. "Who? What? Angelus?"
The laughter ceased, and a voice spoke. "Why does every vampire related act have to be related to Angelus in your mind, Xander? Can't you give someone else the credit for a change?"
Xander stared at the stacks, as a shadowy figure emerged, and smiled evilly down at him.
Xander choked on his tongue. "Miss… Miss Calendar? I thought you… you were dead…"
Jenny Calendar laughed, and everyone else in the room joined in. "Oh… I am dead, Xander… as is everyone else in the room. Except you, of course… and you will be joining us soon enough…"
Xander took a frightened step back, and Giles behind him. "Don't struggle, Xander…" said Giles from behind him, "it's better that way…"
As Xander turned in horror to see the face of Giles, twisted and brutalised by the vampire features displayed so proudly, he found himself being flung through the air. As he landed, with all of his friends standing around him, laughing at his fate, he closed his eyes and screamed…
*
Dante found himself being flung across the room as his partner screamed and writhed on his bed.
He had woken up about ten minutes ago, to see Xander writhing around, mumbling in his sleep. This escalated to the point where he put his hand through the wooden headboard, and left a sizable dent in the wall. Fortunately, Nathan was in a different room of the hotel and unable to see this display.
As Dante forced himself out of his bed, and over the other side of the room to pin Xander down, and even try to wake him up, Xander's moans became shouts and screams of terror. Dante slapped Xander gently to wake him, and got no response.
"Xander! Xander, wake up!" Dante was now fighting a loosing battle to keep Xander's hands away from his guns. "XANDER!" Dante pulled back and drove an open-handed pile driver into Xander jaw, which did no more than the gentle slap had. Then, Dante found himself flung across the room as Xander's fist connected hard with his face.
Too dazed to do anything other than slump against the wall, Dante watched mutely as Xander continued his internal struggle.
His hands found his pistols, and he suddenly catapulted out of the bed, eye wide, but unseeing. He stopped, pinning Dante to the wall and grinding a pistol into his left eye. Dante tried to turn his face away from the pain, but the second pistol found his temple, pinning his head in place.
All Dante could do was watch, with one eye the rifling of a pistol, and with the other, the steadily tightening finger round the trigger of the gun which held his future.
"Xander…" Dante's own voice shocked him, with the flatness and utter lack of emotion present.
The wide, unseeing eyes widened further, but a flicker of something was present in the depths.
"Xander…" Dante spoke again, putting all the force he could into the word.
Xander's eyes flickered once, then closed and opened. Dante heard a deep, shuddering sigh, and realised that both of them had been holding their breath. Then, Dante saw the finger round the trigger loosen, and the hand go slack.
The two pistols clattered to the floor, and Xander took another shuddering breath.
"Dante…" Xander's voice was unnaturally loud in the sudden silence. "I'm sorry…"
Both sank to the floor, Dante with his back to the wall, and Xander seeming to find purchase on thin air to lean back on.
"Just… just tell me what all that was about, someday, Xander…"
Xander looked up at his mentor and partner. He nodded sadly.
It had been so real…
*
Dante, Xander and Nathan had arrived at Sunnydale the evening before, and had checked into the nearest hotel. Dante would have just checked into the cheapest one possible, and Xander wouldn't have minded, as long as he didn't get… that room, but Nathan complained.
"I refuse to base our operations in a cesspit! That hotel is totally disgusting, and I vehemently object to it even being suggested!"
Dante fixed the Watcher with a piercing stare. "Well, it's this, or you're paying. I am not going to pay for you living it up!"
Nathan stared at the white haired man for a few seconds, before turned around and stalking off back toward the car. "Very well!" He called back, "but make sure that I am well satisfied with your performance! Or else there will be… consequences…"
Xander, who was standing next to Dante, frowned. "Consequences? What's he talking about, Dante?"
"Don't worry about it, Xander. I have it a strange feeling that there will be 'consequences' even if we do exactly what he wants…"
Xander looked at the retreating back of the Watcher. "Why do I feel like I should have killed him when I had the chance?"
Dante snorted. "He doesn't leave you full of confidence in the Council, does he?"
Xander began to follow Nathan. "More than Travers does. I wish you'd never taken this job."
Dante looked back longingly at the decrepit hotel. "Why do I have the feeling that he's gonna take us right into the middle of Sunnydale? And why do I have the sneaking suspicion that he's setting us up?"
*
Buffy and Willow walked slowly down the high street of Sunnydale, window-shopping in their afternoon off. Buffy was hanging on the arm of her new boyfriend, Riley, while Willow walked at their side with a sulky look on her face.
Riley glanced over to her. "Um… you know, Willow…" he started nervously, "you shouldn't be so hung up over one guy… lots of men run off after someone else. You're not the first chick it's happened to…"
Willow looked over at him, but the shining innocence and near gormlessness present in his expression made her bite down on the scathing response she was going to deliver.
Buffy squeezed Riley's arm gently in warning. To the unknowing soldier, it felt like his arm was being crushed by a Boa constrictor. 'Gentle' for the Slayer, was full out assault for everyone else. Buffy looked up as he looked down, and whispered in his ear. "Now, Riley, that wasn't a great idea, you know. Willow likes to be left alone when she's unhappy…"
While Willow and Buffy looked through the window of a clothes store, seeing a large sign proclaiming 'Up To 60% Off!' Riley was facing the street, watching the traffic and the people going about their everyday tasks. He shook his head slowly. If only these people knew what lurks in the shadows, in the night itself… even Buffy and Willow have no idea what is going on in this town…
How wrong could he be?
Riley focussed on two men standing on the corner, having a conversation. One with near black hair and dressed in a dark green full length coat, who was facing away from him; and the second, a man with shockingly white hair and dressed in a deep red coat with the same cut as the other. Riley's mouth moved before he could stop himself, "Wow! I like the coat…"
Both Buffy and Willow turned surprised, to see Riley staring at two people across the street, rather than at the coat the two girls were looking at. Willow snapped out, "It wouldn't suit you…" harsher than she intended, and winced as Buffy shot her a look.
The two girls focussed on the two men once more, and Willow couldn't stop a quiet, "eep…" as the one in green turned his head slightly to the right.
Willow grabbed Buffy's arm tightly, and pointed at him. "Xander! That's Xander!"
Buffy looked over, but the man had turned his head back to his friend again. "I think you're seeing things, Wills… that isn't Xander…"
The man in green walked off, never facing the trio again, leaving his friend alone on the street. Willow looked over at him. "Can we at least go ask him who his friend was?"
Buffy shook her head. "Sure, Wills. He might not like it though…"
Willow set her jaw determinedly. "I don't care. I want to know who the Xander look-alike was!"
*
Dante sighed as Xander walked off. Xander had spotted his 'friends' across the street, and after finishing the business they had with the shop, made himself scarce. That left Dante to try to divert the interrogators.
Willow was the first to reach him, mouth already in full flow of babble. He fixed her with a hard stare, and Willow slowly fell silent.
"Yes?" Dante asked with a tone so clipped and hard that it left no doubt in Willow's mind that he could have killed her on the spot.
Buffy and Riley were very near now, and Buffy fixed Dante with her own stare, and said, "Well, you couldn't try to be a little more friendly, could you? Or don't you do the friendship thing?"
Dante ignored her question. "What do you want?" he asked.
Buffy started, "well, we'd like to know why you're such a…" Willow cut her off quickly, before Buffy could put her foot in it.
"We'd like to know who your friend was…" she continued on Dante's look, "uh… if you don't mind, I mean he looked like someone who's a friend of ours…" she continued despite Buffy's ferocious look, "and we'd kind of like to know who he is so that it won't gnaw at us for the next few days, making us wonder what's happened to him…"
Dante held a hand up. "Slow down, breath…"
Willow stopped, and took a breath.
Dante continued, "Not that it's any of your business, but he's my partner…" he brushed his coat back slightly, to reveal the butt of a black pistol. Buffy and Willow took a step back, but Riley had to stop himself for going for his Initiative communicator. Something about this guy screamed 'danger' at full volume.
Dante pulled his coat forward again. "So, if you'll excuse me…"
Buffy stepped forward and grabbed his wrist, squeezing hard. "Wait, who are you? What are you in Sunnydale for?"
Dante looked down pointedly at her hand on his wrist, and Buffy withdrew it self-consciously. "I'm terribly sorry… my card…" He reached into his coat and pulled out a small card. He looked at it before handing it to Buffy.
She took it, and Dante walked off in the same direction as his unknown 'partner'.
Buffy looked down at the card in shock as Willow and Riley crowded round to see it. Buffy had squeezed his wrist hard enough to shatter the bone, but he had not even so much as felt it. Something was up.
The card was plain and unassuming. The single colour logo in the corner was a stylish affair with a woman in full profile, holding two guns above her head, all in blood red. The three words in a strange text sent shivers down Buffy's spine, but the two underneath that eased her fears somewhat.
The card read: Devil Never Cry
Detective Agency
There was no name, no number, and no address.
Buffy pocketed the card. She would show Giles later.
*
Dante met Xander back at the hotel, an upmarket effort that was all fake marble and immaculately dressed bellhops. Dante hated places like that. He felt as if even the lowest little bugger there was sneering at him every time he so much as moved.
Upon entering the room he shared with Xander, he noticed Nathan and Xander had taken up the lounge area, covering the table with books and manuscripts. A laptop computer sat on one corner of the desk, and Xander sat tapping away at the keys. Dante walked past him to see a real life version of 'uplink' being played as Xander hacked the information they needed.
"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" asked Dante.
Xander threw him a withering look. "Please." He said with scorn, "I hung out with the worlds greatest hacker for nearly my whole life… some stuff just rubs off on you."
Dante shrugged; after all, in the end, they could just make themselves scarce if anything went wrong, and continued past into the bedroom.
Entering, Dante saw the carefully manoeuvred bed to disguise the dent in the wall, and the pillows arranged to cover the hole in the headboard. It was fortunate that Nathan had not been here for Xander's little breakdown… but Dante couldn't help but wonder if these were going to continue if Xander stayed on the Hellmouth.
He was beginning to share Xander's misgivings about this otherwise simple assignment. But for totally different reasons…
*