Title: Family Matters

Author: DhampyrX2

Genre: X-over

Series: Impure Souls

Rating: PG-13, just to be safe

Summary: Xander has hidden family. Xander discovers them. Xander's life gets turned upside down in a way that will hopefully help everyone evolve a bit.

Timeframe: The college crap has begun.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Don't sue me, I'm poor.

AN: The first part will be R-ish level kind of dark for some heave visuals. You don't want to read it, then please skip to the next section break.

The first thing a casual observer would notice was the oppressive darkness. Well, that is if they could ignore the inhuman howls, moans, and wails. The coppery scent of human blood in the air might impose itself quickly if the the first two conditions didn't scare that hypothetical observer off.

"Heh, heh, heh. I warned you Mister Abrams. You really should have known better. Not even a day to think about your future before you ruined it. How very sad. Still, lessons /must/ be learned," a sinister voice that bore only a passing resemblance to the friendly timbre employed by one Alexander Lavelle Harris, now Hellsing, purred as soft cries for mercy and death added to the other sounds encompassing the darkness that saturated the area.

"p...pu...please. No more..." Parker wept. "Just let me die. Please."

"Die? But if you die, you won't learn nothin," Xander protested with a cheeky grin that melted into the sick type of chuckle that would make his great-great grandfather Vlad proud. "I told you what would happen you sorry little pervert. It's hardly my fault you were too stupid to hear what I was saying while you thought with your manhood instead of your brain," he added harshly as he emerged from the shadows that surrounded Parker's naked, impaled form.

As promised, the pike that currently suspended the womanizer off the ground entered through an opening that only a catheter was meant to enter, and exited up past his head through a hole punctured in the hollow of his left collarbone. It was truly a miracle that the young man was still alive. A miracle he could have done without, quite honestly.

Parker let out another pitiful moan before he degenerated into mindless babble, a sure sign the stress of his situation had long since broken him.

Xander moved back and forth between taunting, lecturing, and taunting again for what seemed like hours before ax exasperated voice broke in on his fun. "Honestly, Kitten. Must you spend all your time playing with your new toy like this? We still have things we need to talk about, you know," Seras chided with a mild sense of annoyance as she glanced at Parker only long enough to snort at him in disgust and sneer in a manner that would make Master proud.

"Like what, beautiful?" Xander asked as if Parker wasn't being tortured in a horrific manner right in front of them.

"Well, have you thought about what you want to wear for the costume party at the fraternity party yet?" Seras inquired.

"Hmmm. Not really. Well, you know beyond the idea of you in a French maid outfit with me dressed as Tarzan. You know, for easy access later and all," the no life prince teased with an exaggerated wiggle of his brow.

Seras smiled seductively at her paramour for a moment before her expression grew concerned and she admonished, "Xander. Not in front of...that," as she nodded her head toward Parker. "I don't want him getting any perverted thoughts about me in his subconscious. The very idea makes me flash crawl," she admitted.

Xander seemed to consider that for several seconds before he replied, "Good point." His attention returned to the moaning Parker as he scowled and snapped, "Keep your thoughts to yourself lover-boy," as he drew Shenzi and fire several rounds into the wiggling body.

Parker grew blessedly silent for a few moments then, before wailing again in despair as he realized he had not been killed in the salvo, just hurt badly.

Both mideon-blooded Hellsing agents sneered at the pitiful creature on its pike before they turned their attention to a more important matter...their Halloween costumes.

"Well, the big thing for costumage is that they aren't anything weak and/or vulnerable. After that mess with Ethan, the last thing I want is to be caught with my britches down in the face of turning into my costume," Xander mused aloud.

"I was kind of hoping we could go together with some kind of joint theme. Willow and Oz are going as Joan of Arc and God, respectively, to show their 'close relationship'," Seras interjected.

"Somehow I don't think Teg would approve of that sentiment with her Protestant values," Xander replied with a somewhat mocking grin. For a moment, both lovers thought they could hear a familiar cackle from a certain red-clad weapon off in the distance. Parker seemed to hear it as well as he began to shiver uncontrollably.

"Big baby," Xander spat mockingly at the impaled man, before he turned his attention back to the question before him. "Well, there are definitely themed pairs we could go as that are strong characters."

"I'm not dressing as Jane to your Tarzan. It's bloody hard to fake feeling the cold in a tiny scrap of cloth like that. Being from somewhere as cold as Britain will only take me so far," Seras warned her man with a cheeky grin.

"Nuts," Xander retorted sunnily before he began to consider matters seriously again. Inspiration hit him as he suggested, "You know, going with a theme doesn't even have to mean being unarmed in the face of Hellmouthyness. All we need is the right theme. Like say...Great-Grandfather Adrian and Great-Grandma Sonja Belmont. I can wear the mojo-mail and accessories, and we dress you up in period armor with a cloak and a cross and a whip and viola'; we have full arms undetected in plain sight."

"That sounds brilliant love," Seras complimented as she leaned in and gave Xander a congratulatory kiss.

Any further actions they would have normally have initiated then were stymied by another wail from Parker as he began to mutter again begging for his end. The couple watched him suffer in eerily companionable silence for a time before Xander asked, "You're certain he'll retain none of this?"

"Positive," Seras replied. "We're buried so deep in the wanker's sub-conscious right now all he'll remember is a maddening pathological fear of us, and a good chance of night terrors for the rest of his life, as well as soiling himself at the first inkling of acting the way he did with Buffy."

Xander seemed to contemplate the deep ramifications of his torture of Parker within his own mind for a long while before he smiled his 'Tepes-grin', a smile only those of Dracula's get could produce, before he passed judgment with a single word before the pair left Parker's mindscape.

"Good."

The next morning found Xander roped into helping Oz deliver his sound system to the Alpha Delta fraternity house as a loaner-replacement for their own less maintained system while Seras helped Buffy recover from the 'Poopy-head Parker' incident by going shoe shopping with her Willow.

As they carried in the sound speakers, one of the brother helped them keep their footing and direct them where to place it. "Okay, watch your step, boys. Paint's still wet in a few spots," he warned.

As they moved and eventually set their load down, another frat brother exclaimed, "Thanks for the loan, man. Our sound system sucks."

Oz employed his usual amount of emotion as he responded, "Mi casio es su casio."

Xander looked down and pointed to the symbols being painted on the floor as he asked, "Well, that's an interesting little design. What does it mean?"

"No - clue. I got it out of this book. There is a lot of really cool stuff about..." replied the painted as he showed the White Knight said publication.

Xander nodded in response and would have paid closer attention to the book had his attention not been diverted. "Ooh, grapes! he said as he picked up some of said fruit from a bowl near them. "Wow, peeled. You guys know how to spoil your guests," he added with a grin.

The brother that thanked them for the use of Oz's sound system explained. "Eyeballs, man. Blindfold chicks and have them stick their hands in the bowl and tell them it's eyeballs. They love that."

Xander valiantly reigned in his budding comment about real eyeballs feeling nothing like that. His only experience was with some rather gruesome aftermaths of ghoul and FREAK attacks, and they were best not recounted outside of the official debriefings for the sake of his own sanity. They haunted his nightmares too much already. "And here I was wasting time buying them flowers and complimenting them on their shoes. So, you go through the whole house of horrors downstairs and it ends up here. Sweet. You fratly guys have a nice setup," he said instead.

The fraternity member smiled proudly even as he grinned at Xander's joke and responded, "Hey, mighty, mighty Alpha Delts. You should think about pledging."

"Appreciate the thought, but I lack time for it. My life borders on nocturnal between work and my girlfriend already with very little sleep. I take to sleeping in class ala High School, and I answer to member of my family you do /not/ want to cross," Xander deferred.

"They're grooming him to join in a family business," Oz supplied in his usual minimalist way.

"Too bad, man. Well, if you change your mind, the offer stands," another frat boy replied.

As they spoke Ox looked unhappily at the speakers after he tested them with the scary sound effects track.

"Cranking," one frat member says without seeing a similar cause for displeasure as the musician.

Xander looked at Oz's expression and asked, "You're sensing a disturbance in the force, master?"

Oz pulled out a folding pocketknife as he replied, "Ah, the left speaker is crackling a little bit."

"And you feel stabbing it is the proper solution?" Xander inquired with a raised brow.

"I'm just going to trim the wire. It might be a short," the werewolf explained.

Xander nodded at that and turned his attention away to the rest of the setting up.

Suddenly, Oz straightened up with a small wince and hiss of pain.

"Oz?" Xander asked in concern for his friend as his senses filled with the scent of werewolf blood.

"Cut myself. It's okay," the taciturn young man of many hair colors replied.

He walked over toward the others shaking his hand as he spoke. Nobody seemed to notice that some blood dropped on the symbol on the floor as he did so.

"Playing with knives, fun, yes, but not safe. And when you bleed to death I've got dibs on your equipment," Xander admonished playfully with a wag of his finger at Willow's boyfriend.

As no one noticed the blood before, outside of Xander smelling it, likewise did the ripple effect that ran over the symbol, nor the plastic spiders at its edge coming alive and crawling away draw any attention at the time.

That night, Buffy Red Riding Hood was accosted by a lecherous sounding call of "Hey, Red. What you got in the basket, little girl?"

Buffy smiled sweetly as she answered, "Weapons."

Xander just grinned at her as he responded, "Oh. Us too. I thought girls frowned on bringing matching accessories."

Buffy rolled her eyes a bit as she took in the sight of Xander and Seras Victoria, who were dressed to look like Alucard and Sonja, respectively, complete with a a long blonde wig for the Police Girl as she queried "Just in case, right? Like the outfits guys. Who are you?"

Xander shrugged affable as he answered "I my dear Elizabeth, and Adrian Fahrenheits Tepes, ally to the famed Belmont clan and bane of the evil that is my cursed father, Count Dracula. You however, may call me Alucard."

Seras continued the introductions as he elbowed him and spat, "Don't let his airs get you too worked up. He's just dramatic like that. I'm Sonja Belmont, sister to the famous Simon, and this poor sap's wife."

Buffy looked on in appreciation as they even affected Romanian accents and replied, "Color me impressed with the historical figures."

Xander smiled in a self-deprecating manner as he responded, "Well if seemed a good way to be outfitted, honor my family history, and see Seras decked out with a whip of her own all at once so..."

His thought was cut off by a squeak of embarrassment and another elbow to his gut from Vicky.

The three chatted amicably from there, with Buffy feeling much more at ease with Seras after shopping beside her and introducing her to American malls, until the eventually met up with Willow and Oz, and made their way to the fraternity house without incident, besides the encounter with the soldiers that smelled too much like gun oil and cordite to be costumers, even if Xander and Seras couldn't bring that up to the others.

As the five entered the haunted house part of the frat house, Xander was attacked by a plastic skeleton with an equally plastic knife that he decapitated bare handed without even thinking after his experiences in England over the summer.

"Nice reflexes," Buffy complimented as she looked at the dead novelty.

"Force of habit. Too many things jumping at me that want me dead back at Hellsing," Xander responded with a shrug.

"Know the feeling," Buffy replied with a sad grin. She knew after the Gem of Amara incident that Xander could take care of himself even without herself or Seras for back-up. Although she was still a bit miffed he sent the Gem to his cousin for safe keeping instead of letting Angel have it. She had to admit his reasoning about it just making her ex more of a target to jerks like Spike than he already was made sense, but she had wanted to give her former beau a taste of daylight none the less.

They moved further into the house before Willow let's out a shriek at the very real tarantula that found itself on her shoulder. "Okay, that is not sanitary!" she exclaimed in mortification as she had Oz check to make certain the arachnid was gone.

"Something isn't right here," Seras muttered ominously as she checked her 9mm where it was tucked under her cloak.

"I second that," Xander replied.

"Motion carries," Oz added as he moved to unplug the sound system.

"Praise the Lord," Buffy said at the silence, to which Oz responded with a cheeky 'You're Welcome.'

It was a matter of several other unusual occurrences, from real pools of blood, to real bats becoming rubber, to disappearing door with hysterical frat bots, that drove home just how wrong everything was.

"RELEASE ME!" a deep demonic voice rumbled throughout the house, which made Xander and Seras both draw their side arms and go back-to-back to sweep across the room and search out the threat.

"Guys! What's with the guns? We don't use guns!" Buffy exclaimed agitatedly.

"Wrong, Buff. You don't. These are SOP for Hellsing, remember? We even have international permits to carry them concealed," Xander emotionlessly responded.

"Xander!" the Slayer shouted in protest, only to be cut off be a feminine shriek. Neither Xander nor Seras needed to say a word, not that they couldn't speak in each other's heads at this distance anyway, as they broke off to investigate. It was only after a couple of turns that they realized the house had configured so that they could neither fine each other, not the others.

Xander wandered through the halls carefully his senses as tuned as he could make them as he kept Ed at the ready in his hand.

"And just what do you think you're doing, Xander?" an icy voice inquired behind him as he checked another room.

"I lost Vicky somewhere as we split up to check the screams Buff. I'm glad I found you, though. Sorry I took off like that. Combat reflexes," Xander explained as he looked back at Buffy.

"You sure that's all they are?" the Slayer inquired with an odd lilt to her voice.

"Huh?" Xander asked bewildered with her question.

"Your reflexes. They're just from...combat?" she asked angrily as Willow stepped up to join her.

An icy dread filled his stomach as he looked at the expression on his oldest friend's face. "What's going on guys?" he asked somewhat fearfully.

"We found what was causing the scream. There was an awful lot of blood around that girl. Lucky thing Seras was there for a drink, huh?" Willow replied stonily.

"Not that she lasted long after I took her head off from behind. Did you really think you could keep it a secret you monster? That I wouldn't see how you manipulated me and made Angel suffer as you used us? Well it end here, vampire. I'm sending you to hell with your lover and your precious Jesse!" Buffy snapped with a malicious grin.

"NO!" Xander cried out in anguish, unable to understand what Buffy had done. "Buffy, Willow how could you?"

"You knew it would come to this, child. You knew you would have to choose. You can't blame them. They are only human. Vermin like them know no better," an all too familiar voice rang out from behind the White Knight.

"Gramps?" Xander asked in awed confusion.

The grin on Alucard's face was one of pure malevolence as he replied, "I'll speak to you in a moment child. I need to extract a pound of flesh for my lost servant first. You really have to learn to take better care of your future toy when we wipe these idiots out and resurrect Castlevania."

Xander could only watch in horror as Alucard, no, he wasn't wearing the red outfit; as /Dracula/ stalked and murdered Willow and Buffy before his very eyes. With their last breaths both cursed his existence as the No Life King's chilling laughter haunted the night air. "You chose the night boy. Someday, you'll learn to love it," Dracula crowed as he bathed in the blood of Xander's friends.

"NO!" he shouted again as he took off running from his worst nightmare, never even noticing the vampiric forms of Teg, Wally, and Aunt Lilith standing near him with insane grins as he passed.

Xander? Xander, love? I can hear your cries. Why aren't you answerin' me? Vicky's all too welcome plea inquired a few minutes later as Xander ran blindly from whatever insanity had taken his family.

Vicky? Oh god please tell me you're real, he pleaded mentally to his lover.

As real as you. What happened? I'd be surprised if Master doesn't show up as agitated as you feel. she inquired after a few moments to calm Xander down. She had already had a very disturbing encounter of her own, but her lover's distress seemed to outweigh her own mental trauma.

It took only moments to relate what had transpired through their bond, and that was all it took for Vicky to reply, Don't move. I'll apparate to you.

The pair were in each other's arms before she had even fully materialized as Xander held her trembling in the face of what he had seen.

After a few minutes to compose themselves, Xander finally had the where with all to say, "We need to find the others. Whatever this is, it's feeding on out worst nightmares. And with what we've seen that's so very much of the bad."

It was a short while later that the pair were lead to the attic dance area where all the traumatized victims seemed to congregate and the group compared notes on what to do as Willow tried to read the Gaelic text the symbol that started this mess came from. Unfortunately, Gaelic was not a language the Wicca novitiate was well versed in, so they relied on Buffy's plan of 'smash the bad painting' which soon brought forth the demon Gachnar...all six inches of him.

From there it was a literal foot race to see if Xander, Vicky, or Buffy would be the first to crush the little beast and erase his magics.

Hours later, the group sat in Giles' flat and regaled him with the tale as he clucked his tongue and suggested they all needed more diverse language courses as most demons were not the actual size of the picture in the spell book used to summon them.

A bit aside from the main group that was indulging in Giles' candy stash, Xander brooded over his vision.

It wasn't real, you know, chided Alucard's voice in his head.

I know, Xander responded tiredly.

They could never killthe Police Girlso easily, and even if they could, vengeance would be yours to take. Do not let that worm's scare tactics trouble you. His petty tricks were beneath contempt. You have enough, both for good and for ill, in your life Xander that you do not need to contemplate what ifs. Remember that, the true No Life King advised.

"Thanks Gramps," Xander muttered aloud as he looked up at the moon through the window. "I'll try to keep that in mind."

See that you do. I don't want to have to pay for the forehead surgery your brooding may warrant otherwise, Alucard playfully admonished before breaking the long distance contact with his youngest heir.

END PART 29