Embracing Chaos [2/4]
A/N: DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER UNLESS YOU’VE READ DANCE WITH THE DEVIL. THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Again, if you didn’t catch that - don’t read unless you’ve read Dance with the Devil. This chapter contains major spoilers for that book! Seriously. I’m not kidding.
Timeline: Chapter takes place during Zarek’s fight with the daimons - before the police arrive and he attacks them.
Harry landed heavily, his feet slamming into the ground causing his knees to instantly buckle. He gave a yelp as the rest of him followed his downwards decent and crumpled onto the floor.
The smell of wet pavement, rotting rubbish and urine invaded his nose and he grimaced as he levered himself up off his front.
He eyed a pile of rubbish that had spilled out of a broken bin bag right next to his head.
“Well...that could have been worse.”
There was silence.
The sort of unnatural silence that comes with people staring at you in disbelief.
Harry tensed slightly and turned around slowly to find three guys staring at him, their hands raised and bloody as if they had just been fighting mere moments before.
Which, Harry mused as he stared back, was entirely possible.
They were all really tall, and Harry took a moment or two to mentally pout at how unfair it was. They were also very attractive, but two of them - the ones with the blond hair - went way past attractiveness and into stunningly beautiful. The third one had dark hair and...was that a silver claw on his hand? He also had a really weird power signature coming off him. It reminded Harry a little of Talon.
In fact, now that he was paying attention, the two blond men had weird power signatures as well. Almost as if...
Harry’s eyes widened when he recognised just what exactly the two men were.
“Daimons,” he breathed out in surprise. Then inwardly kicked himself as he broke whatever ‘spell’ his arrival had cast.
The two blond men turned away from the darker haired man and started to slink towards him. Harry scrambled to his feet and backed away.
“Such power...” they hissed.
Harry felt very uncomfortable.
He started to panic slightly and tried to draw his magic close to him so that he could easily defend himself if needed. Unfortunately his chaos powers were drowning out any magic he tried to grasp, roaring just beneath his skin - causing it to prickle uncomfortably and all the hairs on his body to raise.
The two daimons looked punch drunk and they were still coming after him.
Harry was really starting to panic at being cornered when one of the daimons disintegrated into dust with a short scream.
Harry barely had time to see the dark haired man with his clawed hand outstretched at exactly the same height the daimons inkspot would have been before he was rushed by the other daimon.
He let out a yell and jerked backwards into the wall, cracking the back of his head off the brickwork. The power that had been swirling around him lashed out, lighting up the alleyway with a dazzling blast of light and sending the remaining daimon flying backwards and disintegrating en route.
There was a shocked silence as the dark haired man turned to look at Harry in surprise.
Harry, for his part, was feeling rather woozy. He must have cracked his head pretty hard. He brought his hand up and carefully groped the back of his head, wincing as pain shot through his skull.
He brought his hand back down and grimaced when he saw that his fingers were covered in blood.
“You’re bleeding.”
Harry looked over at the remaining man who was staring at him stoically, though Harry could see wariness and concern buried deep in his eyes.
He smirked.
“You got a name? Or am I gonna have to keep calling you tall, dark and handsome in my head?”
The man scowled, concern and wariness disappearing instantly.
“What are you?” He asked instead.
“Ah, ah!” Harry smiled, trying to banish the fuzziness that was starting to cloud the edges of his vision, “Answering a question with a question is rather rude. And my name is Harry.” He added on as an afterthought.
The man growled and gritted his teeth together. Harry took more pleasure than he probably should at the irritation he was causing.
He blamed it on the chaos influence.
“Zarek.”
Harry blinked in surprise and gave the man another once over.
“Zarek the Dark-Hunter?” He asked, “The one Ash was bringing in from Alaska?”
Zarek frowned, “You know Ash?”
Harry grinned, “He’s my nephew.”
Zarek’s jaw dropped.
Harry just laughed until something occurred to him. “Hang on...that can’t be right...”
Zarek was just to ask why when flashing blue lights lit up the alleyway and three men in uniform sprang out of the car with their guns out.
They took one look at Harry, who was still slumped against the wall looking a little out of it and his hand in front of him covered in blood and turned their guns on Zarek.
“You! Get on the ground! GET ON THE GROUND!” They yelled when Zarek didn’t obey immediately.
Harry could see the fury in Zarek’s eyes at the threat and knew that if he didn’t act soon then Zarek was going to act like a cornered animal and things would get bad - fast.
Thinking quickly he used a weak sonorus charm on himself and staggered upright.
“Wait!” He yelled at the three police officers, holding up his bloody hand in a stop gesture.
One of them turned to look at him whilst the other two covered Zarek.
Harry caught Zarek’s eye and mentally begged him to wait before he acted rashly and did something stupid like attack. At least the man had had the good sense to hide his metal claw away.
“Are you alright, sir?”
Cancelling the charm had his head spinning and he groaned slightly, blinking rapidly.
The police officer that was talking to him holstered his gun and moved towards him in worry. “Sir? Do we need to call an ambulance?”
“It’s not...” Harry tried, “It’s not Zarek’s fault.”
Harry mentally hit himself when the policeman just looked at him in confusion. Harry glanced past his shoulder to see that the tension between Zarek and the police was stable but rising slowly with every minute that Zarek wasn’t lying on the ground.
Harry just gestured at Zarek before going back to clutching the back of his head.
“Zarek.” He said, “It wasn’t him. There were two guys, they both jumped me and dragged me in the alleyway. They said they were going to kill me.” He added in a whisper.
“Sir, do you know this man?”
Harry could tell that the police were just checking that he knew Zarek and was sure that he wasn’t in on his supposed attack.
Harry nodded, then closed his eyes when he realised that that was a bad mistake.
“Yeah,” he said weakly, and then had to bite the inside of his cheek hard when the perfect reason popped into his head, “he’s my boyfriend.”
There was silence.
Harry cracked an eye open to see a small uncomfortable look pass over the policeman’s face before it was buried beneath solid professionalism.
Harry had to hand it to him; he wasn’t letting any prejudice show. If that was what the uncomfortable look was in the first place.
Harry sometimes had difficulty telling. For all he knew the look of uncomfortableness could have well been caused by embarrassment over holding Harry’s supposed boyfriend at gunpoint.
Harry had the distinct feeling that when his head wasn’t hurting so much and making everything fuzzy, he’d regret coming up with that excuse.
The policeman turned to his colleges and told them to stand down. One of them started to run down to check the other end of the alleyway to see if he could spot where the two ‘men’ had run off to. The other made his way over to where Harry was standing.
He was followed closely by Zarek whose face, Harry noted with amusement, looked positively thunderous.
Well at least, Harry tried to console himself; it could be passed off with his boyfriend’s attackers getting away.
He snickered to himself.
“Sir,” the policeman that had been talking to him called out, getting his attention, “a paramedic has been called to check you over.”
“Oh no,” Harry tried to protest, “I’m fine. Really.” He stood up and immediately collapsed. He would have hit the dirt for the second time that night if Zarek hadn’t caught him on his way down and dragged him back up, his arm wrapped securely around Harry’s waist.
Harry could feel the tenseness in Zarek’s muscles as he leaned against him. He would care, but Zarek felt solid and warm beneath his hands and his head stopped hurting just that little bit when he leaned it against his chest, closing his eyes.
“We’ll also need a statement from you both and a description of your attackers.”
Harry barely heard him, the fuzziness in his head made everything sound kind of...soupy.
Then there was the startling feeling of vertigo as he was jerked. He blinked awake to see Zarek frowning down at him.
“You have a concussion.” He said in a gravelly voice, “Don’t go to sleep.”
“But am ti’ed...” Harry whined, barely noticing the slight slur his words had taken.
“No.”
Harry pouted and looked back at the policemen who were looking at him in slight concern.
“Y’ur police. O’der him to l’t me sle’p.”
The second policeman looked at him in amusement. Whilst the first turned back to Zarek.
“The ambulance should be here any minute, sir.”
The third officer returned from wherever he had been and joined them.
“No sign of anyone.”
Harry stared at the man, who shifted slightly under his scrutiny then turned to look at the other two officers before looking back at Zarek.
“H’w com’ y’ur all reeeeally tall?” He asked, “’T’s unfaaaair.”
The third policeman chuckled slightly. “Concussion?” He asked.
Zarek smirked and rolled his eyes.
Another flashing light joined the police car in lighting up the alley. Harry flopped backwards over Zarek’s arm and grinned happily.
“Look! Flashy! Pr’tty!”
Zarek shared a look with the police officers before wrapping his other arm around Harry and carrying him over to the back of the ambulance which had opened up.
Harry stared around in dazed wonder as the paramedics looked him over. One of the police officers got into the back of the ambulance with them and started to take down Zarek’s statement and descriptions of the two men.
Harry would have helped but he was enjoying thwarting most of the paramedics attempts to get close enough to him to examine him.
It probably would have gone on a lot longer with the man getting more and more frustrated if Zarek hadn’t spotted what Harry was doing and lifted Harry to sit in his lap.
Harry pouted as Zarek’s arms wrapped around him, restraining him, and only whimpered a little bit when the paramedic was finally able to examine him fully.
He ignored Zarek’s smirk.
It was over half an hour later, after the crowds that had gathered had been driven off, that Harry was let out of the back of the ambulance, still supported mostly by Zarek.
The police had left after they had confirmed the statement with Harry (which had been so much harder than it should’ve been) and had checked with the paramedics that Harry wasn’t going to have to go to hospital.
The paramedics assured them that it was just a mild-ish concussion and that as Harry had refused point blank to go to the hospital they couldn’t actually take him.
The police were more assured when Zarek let it be known that he could take care of his ‘boyfriend’.
After the ambulance had driven off and left them alone Zarek dug out his mobile phone and texted Talon - letting him know that the Daimon’s outside Runningwolf’s were after his girl and that he should be careful.
After that he turned back to the shorter man still in his embrace who was staring at him with wide eyes.
“I think we need to talk.”
“Okay!”
Zarek slid his other arm beneath Harry’s knees and lifted him bridal style and started the long arduous trek back to the apartment Ash had gotten him. When there he dropped the smaller man on the couch and straightened his spine, cracking out the tension that had gathered there.
Harry just stared up at him with a smile.
“Right.” Zarek said, “Before we were interrupted by the police.” Zarek paused, not wanting to ask the question because he didn’t really want to know the answer.
“Yeah?” Harry prompted, feeling a little better. The long walk in the crisp evening air had helped clear some of the mugginess out of his head.
“You said you were Ash’s uncle.”
“Yes.” Harry confirmed.
“You are?” Zarek asked in some surprise. “Does that make you a Dark Hunter too?”
Harry stared at him. “No...?” He said slowly in confusion, turning it into a question at the end.
“Zarek frowned, “What do you mean by that?”
“It’s just,” Harry’s confusion was thick now, “I don’t understand what you mean by ‘too’.”
“I’m a Dark Hunter.” Zarek stated, looking at Harry as if he had lost his mind.
“No you’re not.” Harry countered, wearing the exact same expression.
Zarek could only stare at him dumbfounded.
“Of course I am,” he managed to get out; his throat feeling like it was slowly closing.
“Nu-uh.” Harry shook his head wildly, then gripped it with a grimace and levered himself up until he was propped up against the backrest. “Dark Hunters lose their souls. You still have yours.”
Zarek’s mouth went dry.
“I might have a slight concussion now.” Harry continued, “But I think I can sense souls. And you,” he said pointing imperiously at Zarek, “have a soul.”
“So,” Zarek croaked out, then cleared his throat, “so, I’m not a Dark Hunter?”
Harry shrugged. “Dunno. You have a soul and,” he paused and scrutinised Zarek carefully, brushing his magic along Zarek’s skin and tasting the weird power that he seemed to exude, “you are immortal.”
Zarek’s eyes widened and he sat down heavily next to Harry, unable to believe what he was hearing.
The something occurred to him.
“Sunlight.”
Harry looked at him questioningly.
“Sunlight.” He repeated, “What about sunlight? Would that affect me?”
Harry stared at him with wide eyes, “Well, it certainly didn’t seem to affect you in the alleyway.”
“What?”
Harry frowned a little, “In the alleyway,” he repeated, “that bright flash of light was sunlight. I knew that sunlight kills daimons and when it attacked my powers lashed out to protect me and kill in the quickest way possible.”
“Are you,” Zarek cleared his throat again, anger seeping into his voice, “are you telling me that for all this time I’ve been able to go out in sunlight without dying?”
Harry bit his lip. “Yes...?” Seeing Zarek’s fury he winced, “Was I...was I not supposed to tell you?”
Zarek stood up with a roar and threw the coffee table across the room where it shattered into splinters against the wall.
“That BITCH!”
“Guess not then...”
“I’m gonna fucking kill her!”
Harry opened his mouth to say something but closed it immediately when Zarek picked up a dining room chair and threw that at the wall too.
Looking down he saw Zarek’s phone which had fallen to the floor when the table had taken the trip through the air.
“Um,” Harry said, snagging the phone and edging away, “I’m just...gonna use your bathroom, ok?”
Zarek’s reply was another chair splintering on the wall.
Harry nodded to himself and ducked into the bathroom, securely locking the door behind him.
Splashing some water on his face to wake him up just that little bit more he sat on the closed lid of the toilet, picked up the phone and opened the address book, immediately dialling Ash.
“Zarek,” Ash’s voice sounded tired and stressed, “what is it now?”
“Hey, Ash.”
There was the sound of scrambling on the other end of the phone.
“Harry?” Ash asked, sounding panicked, “Where are you? Are you okay? Why are you phoning from Zarek’s phone? It’s been three days!”
Harry winced, “Wait.” He said, “Three days? But I just poofed like...two hours ago!”
“Where are you?” Ash asked again, sounding much calmer than before.
Harry winced as the sounds of more splintering wood came through the door.
Looked like Zarek found the dining table.
“And what is that noise?”
“Um...” he said, “that’s Zarek...he isn’t very happy at the moment.”
“Has he hurt you?!”
Harry whipped the phone away from his ringing ear and blinked a few times before he gingerly held the phone back against his head.
“Um no, actually he saved me! Sort of...”
“Harry...”
Harry could tell that Ash was pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
“Really,” he added, “He’s been brilliant. He just...got a bit angry when I told him that he’s not really a Dark Hunter.”
There was silence on the other end. Thinking that he had probably blown the secret he started to apologise.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t know that he wasn’t supposed to know, you know? I mean not know. About the soul thing. The fact that he has one and can go out in daylight and all that.
“It’s just I have a concussion and -“
“Wait. You have a concussion?” Ash interrupted him, sounding worried again, “Where are you?”
“Um...Zarek’s bathroom.”
Ash hung up the phone and before Harry could blink Ash was there hugging the life out of him.
“I was so worried.” Ash whispered into his ear.
Harry was going to joke it off but couldn’t get anything past the lump which had appeared in his throat. Instead he nodded against Ash’s shoulder and hugged him back.
Something shattered.
Both Ash and Harry looked up at the closed door at the same time.
“What?” Ash asked.
“Yeah,” Harry rubbed the back of his head, wincing slightly at the pain. “I’m sorry about that. I really honestly thought he knew.”
Ash looked at him, “Knew about what?”
Harry hesitated, “About the fact that he has a soul and can go out in daylight?”
Ash stared at him blankly.
“Um...” Harry continued, “you did know about that right?”
“How is that...?” Ash started, and then scowled darkly. “That bitch.”
“That’s what he said.” Ash looked at him and Harry motioned towards the door. “Zarek,“ he continued, “that’s what he said. Then he started to destroy the furniture. It looked fun. Not as fun as pottery though” he added, “wood takes a lot more effort to smash.”
Ash sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay.” He said, “Let’s go get this sorted out.”
Ash reached the door then paused, as if he had realised something. He turned to face Harry with a smirk on his face that Harry knew would only spell doom for him.
“Oh,” Ash added innocently, “do you know anything about a male couple that was attacked in an alleyway that match your descriptions completely, by two men that sound alarmingly like daimons?”
Harry flushed bright red. “No.” He said, knowing that it sounded like a complete lie.
Ash just laughed.
000
So! Chapter two! This one was rather fun to write as well - and if you were thinking that the rate of Harry’s recovery was a little unbelievable - just remember that he’s a lot more powerful than he was in Hogwarts.
Also, he hasn’t actually recovered; he’s just used to working with head injuries. So much so that a little fuzziness doesn’t really bother him much anymore.
I hoped you all enjoyed reading the chapter - and thanks so much to those of you who have reviewed and put this on your favs and alerts. There’s only one more chapter to go! And if you liked this then feel free to check out my other HP/DH stories, and again, I’m open to requests (though I have quite a few to get through :P)