(no subject)
My car is magic! It really is. Are you ready for this? It's *invisible*. That's the only thing that could explain the way people have been pulling in front of me and ignoring my turn signal or trying to drive right over me. I wonder how much I could get for this sucker on Ebay?
And in other news, cousncarla hijacked my brain and forced me to write a cross over between Buffy and Law & Order: SVU. Xander/Elliot Stabler, post-Chosen, no particular spoilers for SVU or Buffy.
Huge thanks to cousncarla who was just about the best cheerleader ever - this fic is totally her fault. Thanks to kamadu and yuri007 for their encouragement, too.
Title: City Hunting
Rating: NC-17
Explanation: I’m easy. That’s all there is to it. Cousncarla threw the idea of Xander/Elliot at me and I couldn’t resist. Be warned. I wrote this fic in five to ten minute bursts over the course of a couple of weeks with little or no planning.
Summary: While looking for a Slayer lost in New York, Xander runs into Detective Stabler.
Elliot walked down one side of the street, knowing that 'livia had the other side covered as they looked for that kid the sister called him about, the one that said he was a big brother looking for his lost sister, the one with one eye and a goofy smile that hid something else, something that kept the pros off him as he roamed the streets. He freaked out the sister and the hookers she works with and that was enough of a warning to send them looking.
Elliot caught movement from the corner of his eye, there down the alley and he signaled his partner as he eased his way in, hand near his gun as he stuck close to the wall. He could hear a scuffle just beyond the dumpster and he drew his weapon as he stepped around it. "Everybody freeze!"
Everybody was one guy brushing dust off his hands. He squinted at Elliot with a single eye as he raised those hands to shoulder height. "Whoa. Hey, what's the problem?"
Innocent pose, innocent words, and every instinct Elliot has was telling him not to put away the gun.
And did that kid's eyes just shine green?
**
He was blowing it, Xander could tell. The cop hadn't put away his gun, hadn't relaxed, and Xander had already thrown his best 'who me? I'm innocent' act at him. It was almost enough to make him miss Sunnydale and the easy blindness of the people there. There was willing blindness here in New York, but it just wasn't the same.
He missed Africa. He'd thought Giles was insane for asking him to go, but he'd had nothing to lose and nothing to do and so he'd gone, backpack laden with pidgin-to-English dictionaries that did him no good and weariness that seemed to suck up the dust and heat and just grow heavier on his back and in his heart.
That all changed when he got out of the cities. Out in the wilderness where there weren't any questioning looks at his face, at his pale skin and missing eye and stuttering American voice, out where the phones didn't work and there were no worried calls from people who needed him to do his job even as they doubted his ability, out where it was just him and a jeep and the endless sky overhead...things were easier. Better. He'd felt the weariness and mourning sorrow drop away from him, felt at last like he was fitting into his own skin properly for the first time in years.
Felt the hunter come back, only this time he was the one in control of the predator. He focused the intensity and the urges into seeking out the Slayers that were hidden from him and he found them, no matter where their people might have moved or how their families might have tried to hide their new strangeness. He found girl after girl, explaining what had happened and then sending her off to the city for the others to pick up and train and care for.
Pulling him from Africa and sending him to America was supposed to be a reward of sorts, he knew. He also knew that the others were worried about him, that they wanted to get him back to civilization and normalcy. It might have worked if they’d sent him to Des Moines or Orlando or Denver. He might have learned to let the hunter inside sleep again, hibernating in the back of his head, in the shady side of his soul. Not here. Not where the alleys held as many dangers as the veldt, not where he could hunt vampires and Slayers both while knowing that other things might hunt him at the same time. The predator couldn’t rest and Xander couldn’t let it go. It marked him, changed him and people close to the hunt could tell.
People like the cop who was still pointing the gun at him.
**
Elliot watched as the goofiness slid away from the guy's face. He straightened to his full height. It wasn't a threat - it was like the slouch had been a part of the disguise. He was a good height but thin, rangy, although his shoulders were bulky.
A taller, bulkier guy himself, Elliot still didn't put away his gun. The kid's eyes might be brown now but he still didn't trust him. "Where's the other guy?"
"What other guy?" Less goofy, but he was still pleading innocent.
"I heard you."
"Talking to myself. I don't know why I keep shortcutting through these alleys. I just get lost."
"Elliot!" Olivia's voice cut over whatever response he might have made to the lie. "What's up?" Deceptively casual: she knew something was wrong.
"That's what I want to know," the kid complained, hands still carefully raised.
Elliot wasn't sure himself, but he was damn sure going to find out.
**
"So when you say you're taking someone downtown, you really take them downtown. I thought it was just a figure of speech." Xander relaxed back into his chair in the interrogation room, legs stretched out in front of him.
The cop who'd cornered him - Detective Stabler - didn't seem to find it funny. "Yeah. And you know why we take people downtown?"
He bit back the flip answer. "To answer questions."
"Let's get started, then. What were you doing in that alley?"
"I told you, taking a short cut." He met Stabler's gaze easily, the lie just rolling off his tongue. He'd been checking out a noise that had the animal inside quivering with anticipation - wounded prey. Turned out to have been a vampire caught out when the sun rose, hiding under trash and debris and waiting for nightfall.
He didn't have to wait anymore.
"And what are you doing in New York?" That from the woman, Benson.
He didn't miss the way both of them tensed just a little. Getting ready to lunge, because they had the prey where they wanted him and were ready to attack. Ready to kill.
He let the words 'sight-seeing' drop out of his vocabulary. "I'm looking for someone."
"So we hear." Stabler relaxed a little bit. "Who is she?"
Xander pulled the photo of the new Slayer he was looking for out of his pocket. "My friend."
"You've been telling people you're looking for your sister," Benson said.
"You ever tried telling hookers that you're looking for a friend?" He shook his head. "I thought it would be better to say she's my sister. I thought people would help me more."
"Why not come to the police?" Every line in Stabler's body said he wasn't buying a word of it.
Xander knew that he should just wrap this up, give them the quick and easy answers that would get him back out on the street. Hell, he could just walk out - they couldn't stop him. But there was something about this Stabler guy, something in the way he moved, something in the look in his eyes...Xander was interested. Interested like he hadn't been in months. He leaned forward slowly. "It's like this..."
**
The kid - Alexander Harris - was lying. Elliot wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew a good chunk of what he was telling them was false. It was a good story: a friend of his getting involved in drugs, getting into trouble, running away to the big city. He said he was just trying to find her, flashing her picture around places where he thought she might be. Dark places. Lost places. Places where predators hunted, not where small town boys went looking for lost friends.
"And you didn't come to the police…why?"
"You're always hearing stories about how many runaways are in this city. You guys are going to be able to find one more?" Harris shook his head. "She's my friend. I'm looking for her."
"You've got our attention now. Why not use it? Fill out a missing persons report. Maybe somebody's seen her."
"Maybe." Harris stretched and looked at his watch. There was something almost like regret on his face, although the patch made it hard to read his expression. "Look, I don't have much time in the city. I'll have to go back home soon and I don't want to do that thinking that I did anything less than everything, you know?"
Elliot glanced over at Olivia, but she just shrugged. He knew she was right. There was nothing they could hold him for, nothing that he'd done wrong. Still, he didn't like letting him go. "Those places where you're looking...they're dangerous."
No fear on him at all. "I'll be careful." Harris almost seemed *amused* by the warning.
"If you want to leave us a way to contact you, we can let you know if we find out anything about your friend." Olivia, easy with him, making the offer like they really were on the same side.
"Thanks." Xander grabbed the pen and paper on the table, scrawled down an address and phone number. "I'll be there until the money runs out." Again with that damn secret smile. He stood up. "You’ll call me?"
"Of course," Olivia promised.
Harris moved toward the door. He looked back over his shoulder as he opened it, gaze moving up and down Elliot before he was gone, out into the hallway.
Elliot looked down at the sheet of paper. "What? Son of a bitch. He's lying."
"What?"
"You really think that guy is staying at the Hilton?"
Olivia grabbed the paper, but Elliot was already gone, out into the hallway. He grabbed a passing uniform. "You see a one-eyed guy come this way?"
"No."
Son of a bitch.
**
Xander didn't run when he got out of the police station. He stayed calm and Keyser Soze as he turned the corner and headed for the nearest subway station. He needed to get back to where he'd been.
No one had admitted to seeing Amanda yet, but he was sure she was in the city. He'd heard a few rumors of strangeness, of kids freaked out on angel dust throwing each other around...but no bodies being found. Amanda had freaked when her powers manifested, the dreams and the strength and the knowing that still weirded out Buffy sometimes still - they were all too much for her to handle on her own. She'd taken off, but she'd been seen on a bus to New York. Other people sent by the Watchers hadn't been able to find her...which was when they called in Xander.
She was here. There was nowhere else for her to run, not once she hit NYC. There were endless streets to get lost in here, plenty of places to hide. Not in the good areas, not in the safe ones, but Xander was used to one kind of jungle and he was learning this new one fast.
He was going to keep looking. Daytime was good: he knew that she'd be sleeping, stationary, letting him get closer and closer. She'd be more visible at night when she'd be awake and alert, looking out for the monsters her dreams warned her about and that were slowly seeking her out. She'd make herself known then, but she'd be moving and he didn't want to lose any of the ground he'd gained.
Back to hunting. Xander slid through the crowd with ease, arms swinging loosely from his shoulders as people gave way before him. Hunting. He wasn't the only hunter out there.
His lips curled up in a smile. Stabler was a hunter. Maybe they'd cross paths again.
**
Elliot stewed at his desk, staring blindly at his paperwork.
"Let it go," Olivia said.
He nodded shortly, not looking up.
"I'm gonna get some coffee. I'm bringing you decaf."
He sighed after she was gone, tossing the pen he hadn't used back down onto the papers he'd stared at without reading. She was right. He had to let it go. They'd run into a guy who was acting weird, who felt wrong...but he hadn't been doing anything wrong. His instincts might be warning him Harris was dangerous, but he had nothing to back that up except the lie he'd told about where he was staying, but there were plenty of reasons why he might not want them to know that information. Hell, he could be trying to stop his parents from finding out he'd taken off after his friend, although he looked a little old to be worrying about that.
He drew in a deep breath. He had a lot of actual bad guys to worry about. He didn't need to obsess over a guy who hadn't done anything...that he knew about.
By the time Olivia came back he was able to accept the coffee with a smile and an apology. She accepted and they got back to work.
When the call came in about a possible sexual assault in a neighborhood near where they'd been earlier that day, he only thought about Harris once.
Maybe twice.
**
Xander nudged the man at his feet with the toe of one boot. "What was it you said you gave her?"
"Fuck you," the man wheezed.
"Fuck you? I've been gone for too long. I don't recognize that one." Xander nudged again, harder, and the man curled in on himself with something close to a whimper. Amateur. A kick to the shoulder sent him over on his back, belly exposed. Much better. Xander crouched down beside him, elbows resting on his knees. "Try again."
"What are you? Her keeper?"
"Her Watcher." For the moment anyway. "What did you give her?"
"I sold her some uppers, man. Sold. She wanted them. She came to me."
"Where did she go after?"
"I don't know. I'm not her watcher."
Xander leaned forward.
The man threw up a protective hand. "Uptown! All right? All I saw was her heading uptown. We didn't really talk." He curled up again when Xander reached for him. "I told you everything!"
"Yeah. And because you did, you get to walk away." Xander went threw his pockets, emptying them of drugs and cash.
"That's mine."
"Was yours." If the man wasn't strong enough to hold onto them, then he didn't deserve to keep them. Law of the jungle, law of the streets.
Uptown with uppers. The monsters were scaring her, then, and she was moving toward people and away from the dark. Uppers to stay awake and hyper-alert. She must have run into trouble to think that she needed to enhance Slayer senses and energy.
He passed by the nun with no habit, the one he thought had called the police about him. He smiled as he dropped the dealer's cash off on her table. After he turned the corner, he dumped the drugs down a sewer grate.
It wouldn't do to have them on him when Stabler came looking for him.
**
"I think I've heard of someone using this MO before." Olivia stared down at her notes, brow creasing the way it did when she was trying to force a memory.
"We'll go back to the station, run it through the computer." Elliot kept his eyes on the street, checking the faces of everyone they passed. Habit, but something more this time. He was looking. Searching.
Olivia looked up and he tried to relax, but it was too late. He'd been caught. "Elliot, she got a look at the guy. Blonde hair. *Two* eyes."
"We don't know what he had under that patch. Could just be a cover."
"Could just be we need to have a talk. Have you met Harris before?"
"What? No."
"It's not like you to get hung up on someone like this." She tapped her shoulder with her notes. "We've got a case. A bad guy that we know did something. Let the strange guy go."
He nodded, but he knew it wasn't going to be that easy. He'd already tried to put Harris out of his mind but as soon as they were back on the streets he'd started looking for him again. There was something about the guy that tweaked every instinct he had. It was more than the lies he'd told. It was the way he moved, loose-limbed and deceptively easy. Elliot had height and weight on him and he still didn't like the idea of going up against him. It was also his gaze, that strange color-changing gaze that seemed to recognize him on a level that he just didn't understand. It made him want to find Harris and get him in the interrogation room again. Alone this time, no one in the room or at the mirror. Get Harris there and press for answers about who and what he was. Grab him by the shoulders and back him against the wall or the table and -
"Detective!" The sister's voice cut into his thoughts and he stopped walking just before he ran into her.
"Whoa." Olivia grabbed his arm to steady him. "What's going on?"
"You remember that guy I called you about? The one looking for his sister?"
"One eye?" Elliot asked.
"That's him. He walked past my table about an hour ago and dropped this." She held up a wad of bills.
"Did he say anything?"
"Just smiled and kept walking."
"Walking where?"
"Elliot..." Olivia's tone was a warning.
"I know we've got a case. I'm just asking."
"Uptown," the sister said.
Uptown. Elliot wasn't going to forget that.
**
God, he'd missed hot water. Africa had been full of endless dust that no amount of baths out of a bucket ever seemed to remove. Add blood and tears and sweat to the mix and sometimes he'd thought he'd never be clean again. The first thing he'd done once he'd gotten back to civilization was find a shower and he hadn't been sure that he'd ever crawl out of it: hot water pounding down on him, harder than any rainstorm and soap...it was pure pleasure and he never missed a chance to indulge himself now.
When he finally turned off the water and left the shower stall, the air was heavy and wet, the mirrors and fixtures fogged so thickly he couldn't see himself. He toweled off and dropped the wet cloth on the floor, then grabbed another and ran it roughly over his head. He didn't mind getting dirty but he *loved* getting clean.
Xander grabbed a pair of track pants and pulled them on. Room service should be arriving any time and he was starving. Out on the streets for most of the night and the cops had pulled him in before he could grab lunch. He needed to refuel and take a nap before heading out again. If Amanda was running scared and popping pills, he'd need to be at the top of his game when he found her. Fast talking and answers to her questions would only take him so far. He might need fast feet and a hard right to the head to get her to listen.
Still ruffling up his hair with the towel, he walked out into the bedroom. The sound of a knock on the door had him out into the sitting room in a matter of moments. Food...
He opened up the door and stared at Detective Stabler. He grinned. "Not food." This could be even better.
**
Holy shit. Harris really was staying at the Hilton. Elliot was so surprised to see him open the door that it took him a moment to register the fact that he was half-dressed and obviously just out of the shower. And what had he just said? "Not food?"
"I thought you were room service." Harris stepped away from the door, walking back into the living room of his suite.
Elliot followed when he realized he wasn't going to get an invitation. The room was nice. Harris seemed at home for all that he looked out of place in it. "Am I interrupting something?"
"Just lunch. You want me to call down and order you something?"
"No." He looked around the room, exaggeratedly taking it all in. "The money's gonna run out fast, staying at a place like this."
"All depends on how much you start out with." Bare feet half-sunk in deep carpet, Harris looked less like a kid then before. He had a body that had seen hard work and hard times, judging by the scars that crossed the skin over well-formed muscles.
Elliot snapped his gaze back up to Harris's face, but it was too late: the guy had a 'I've got a secret and it's *yours*' grin on his face. "You know why I'm here?"
"My animal magnetism?"
"The money you left."
"I was just doing my part to try to help out. I mean, she keeps such a good eye on the streets. That should be rewarded."
"What do you mean by that?" Did Harris know the sister had been the one to call them?
"She seems very devoted to her cause."
"Where did the money come from?" Elliot moved forward, getting in his space, tired of being jerked around.
"I found it."
"Tens and twenties. That was drug money."
Harris's eye went wide with obviously false surprise. "Was it? This city, man. Too dangerous for a small town boy like me."
"Where did the money come from?"
"I found it."
This was getting him nowhere. Why had he come? He watched an errant drop of water slide down Harris's collarbone and knew that he'd made a mistake.
**
Stabler’s gaze on him was hot, heavy: it made him feel like the steam from the bathroom was inside his head. His thoughts slowed down and everything else itched to take over, his body, his instincts, the hunter within.
He wanted to know where he’d gotten the money? Xander was tempted to show him, to push the big man down to the ground and show him the real difference between city and wilderness. He flexed his hands, feeling the need to strip away that suit and tie, tear off the veneer of civilization and show him how hunters were meant to be.
Another knock at the door stopped him from doing something to get himself arrested. He had to walk past Stabler to reach it and he strayed into the man’s space, barely brushing past him. He opened the door before the detective could object.
“Food.” He stepped aside to let the hotel guy wheel the tray in and slipped him his tip on his way out.
It was hard to concentrate on Stabler with the food in the room. He was starving and the steak smelled just about as good as the other man. He sat down in front of the tray and started uncovering the dishes.
“Oh, we’re done here?” Stabler asked.
Xander looked regretfully down at his steak. “No.” He moved to face Stabler, close enough that he could feel the heat coming through his clothes. “I don’t know what you think I’ve done. It wasn’t me. I’m not here for you or anyone you protect in this city. I have a girl to find and keep safe. That’s all.”
“I don’t-“
He didn’t wait for him to finish the thought before leaning in to sniff at Stabler’s neck. Oh, yeah. Way better than the steak.
**
Elliot was ready for just about anything when Harris got close to him: swearing, an attack, an order to leave the room…anything except sniffing. He also wasn’t ready for his own response. Instead of shoving Harris away, he closed his eyes and stayed very still, not wanting to provoke him…not wanting him to stop. The guy didn’t; instead he inhaled again, like Elliot smelled better than the steak waiting for him on the room service tray.
“Anger and frustration,” Harris murmured, voice low enough for Elliot to *feel*. “All that for me?”
“No.” That came out way too strangled and the sound pulled him back to himself. What the hell was he doing, standing there and letting this guy sniff him like he was dinner? He took a step back and almost fell into the couch.
For a moment it looked like Harris was going to follow him and Elliot felt a weird rush of disappointment when he didn’t. Instead, he sat down by his steak like the weirdness of a few seconds ago hadn’t even happened. “What’s it from?”
“What?”
“If you don’t smell good for me, then what’s it from?”
Christ, had Harris managed to dose him with something? Those words shouldn’t have made his stomach and everything south of there tighten up like that. “A case.”
“How’s the hunting?” Cutting his steak like the conversation was one he had every day.
“We’ll find him.”
“I know.” Harris took a bite and held Elliot’s gaze and it was like every movement of his mouth meant something slick and dirty and dangerous.
He had to get out. Get out and figure out what the hell was wrong with him so he wouldn’t be thinking that maybe he should go over there and show Harris exactly what that mouth was better suited for. “This isn’t over.”
“I know.” Another bite.
Elliot headed for the door.
Before he could open it Harris was there on silent feet, standing way too close as he pulled it open and watched him go. “Happy hunting.” The door clicked closed softly.
Out in the hallway, Elliot kept his back to the open space and adjusted himself in his trousers and tried to tell himself that it was just the fucking job and that he needed a break. That was all.
**
His belly was full and the bed was comfy, but Xander was too keyed up from his encounter with Stabler to nap like he should. He needed rest and strength if he was going to find Amanda and be able to handle her when he did, but instead of dropping off like a good soldier he was side awake, thoughts filled with the man he'd been teasing.
Maybe if he'd kept him...but no. Timing was wrong. He needed to be sharp and fresh, not mellow from success and sex. He'd had to let Stabler leave without doing anything more than jerk him around a bit.
He grinned a little. Jerk him around...he slid his hand down inside his pants, sliding fingers down around his cock and then he squeezed just right. No playing around: he licked his other palm and then both hands were working, hard and quick like he could have had with Stabler. If they both hadn't had prey to find he could have followed Stabler down onto the couch and wrestled his clothes from him, getting sweaty and angry and a little roughed up until they were both naked and the only thing separating them was fear which wouldn't matter anymore, anyway.
God, he wanted that. Wanted to find release with someone he didn't have to worry about hurting, someone who understood the importance and the ritual of the hunt as much as the results of it. He wanted to feel his strength matched, his hunger met by one that was just as full of burning and want as his own. He wanted to sink his teeth into Stabler's shoulder and taste all that anger and frustration and make it his own.
That was the thought that did him in and he came, hands and belly slick with his release as he pumped his cock until the sensation was too much to bear any longer. He wiped his hands on his pants, then pulled them off and finished mopping himself off with them. He tossed them to the floor and curled up on the bed, warm and full and the edge taken off.
Nap and another shower. Then he'd be ready to continue the hunt. He'd find Amanda...and then he'd go looking for Stabler.
**
Elliot avoided Olivia's questioning gaze when he got back to the station. It wasn't like him to lose focus and disappear in the middle of a case and if he didn't watch it she was going to do more than look: she'd start demanding answers that he didn't have.
Not wanting to tell her that he'd gone to see Harris, he focused on what they knew about their guy so far, rooting through the files the uniforms had brought in on similar cases. It was easy to lose himself in the work, just like it always was. He hated it, hated the people he went after but he couldn't stop, couldn't turn away for a moment. There were dangerous animals out there and too few people willing to hunt them.
He started to see a pattern. "Livia? Check out where the girls had been the night before."
"101st Street," she said, flipping through her own batch of files. "The bars."
"That's where he's seeing them. He's gotta be following them home and making his move the next day."
"Friday night," she said. "The bars are going to be packed."
"And our guy's going to be hunting." He stood up and pulled on his coat. "I'll buy the coffee."
"Decaf for you," she said, but she was right beside him, ready to go. "I'll clear it with Cragin."
He nodded and watched her go, grateful for her silence. They had a job to do, a bastard to find and bring down. He wasn't going to lose sight of that. Still, he caught himself wondering what Harris would think of the way he smelled now.
**
Sliding through the crowd, Xander didn't care that his jeans and rough jacket didn't fit in with the slacks and dresses of the people around him. He wasn't ever going to be able to sink back into the anonymity of the crowd again, so why even try? He wore what he usually wore on hunts. They were his work clothes.
Too many people on the street even so late at night and he couldn't get a fix on where Amanda might be. There were too many people here for her to be comfortable close to the bars, but she wasn't going to stray far from them, either. Humans weren't the ones she'd be scared of anymore...but they were the ones she was most likely to end up hurting.
He pushed his way to the fringes, where the pretty people walked fast and cursed the cabbies for not dropping them off closer. Here. He breathed in deeply, scenting barely hidden danger and studiously ignored rot. Good block, bad block and this was the border, where all kinds of things could slip through the cracks, including people.
He stepped into an alley, ignoring the guy huddled against the wall. He wasn't after easy meat tonight. He worked his way into the shadows, hands swinging easily at his side. Sight wouldn't do him much good in the dark and so he listened, ignoring the city sounds of cars and sirens and that hum of too many people crammed too close together.
There. Up ahead he could hear things that set his blood flowing faster, his breath quickening. Soft grunts as flesh met flesh, muttered curses. He ran through the alley, sure-footed and silent until he reached the corner.
She might not understand what was happening to her, but Amanda had all the instincts of a Slayer. Two vampires were moving in on her and she was holding them off. Her pupils were dilated and her movements jerky: the drugs were keeping her on her feet but they weren't helping her in any other way. She was missing blows she should have landed, especially against such a pair of inept opponents.
It would be dangerous to add himself to the mix, but he couldn't resist a fight, not anymore. The stake felt good in his hand, like coming home and then Xander was in the middle of it, dusting one vamp before they knew he was there. The other turned on him and that was the last mistake it would ever make.
Xander tossed Amanda the stake. "Through the heart. Just like the dreams told you."
She held onto the weapon awkwardly, staring at him in awe and terror.
He fended off the vampire's attack, kicking it back a few feet. "Amanda. Through the heart."
The sound of her name broke her out of whatever daze the drugs and fear had put her in and she moved, muscles flowing with instinct and strength. The vampire was gone before it had time to react. Amanda watched the dust settle down on the filthy pavement and began to shake.
Xander was right by her side, close but not touching. He didn't try to take the stake from her tightly clenched fingers. "That was good. That was right." He'd done this a dozen times. Different words for different girls, but they'd all been scared and needed to hear the same thing.
"What the hell is going on?" she asked.
"You've had dreams and nightmares and weird stuff happening with your body and your head." He waited until she was looking up at him. "Now you're going to get some answers."
Her face started to crumple as she took a step toward him.
Light flashed in his eye, blinding him for a moment. Xander moved to stand in front of Amanda.
"Freeze!"
**
The guy they were looking for hadn't shown so Elliot and Olivia had left the uniforms to look through the crowd and had started fanning out, just in case they'd missed him somehow. She'd gone left, he'd gone right. He'd expected to see garbage and rats, maybe a couple of drunks. He hadn't expected to see Harris standing too close to a frightened girl. His reaction had been automatic and aside from Harris stepping in front of the girl, neither of them had moved.
He took a few steps closer. The girl looked rough: her hair was stringing down into her face and he hadn't seen eyes that gone in a while. She looked terrified and almost nothing like the smiling girl in the picture Harris had shown him down at the precinct. "Step away from her."
Harris didn't move except to shake his head.
Elliot indicated his drawn gun with a little nod. "Step away."
"Not when I've just found her."
"Harris, I don't know-"
"Harris," the girl said.
It was like Harris forgot he was there. He turned around so he could face the girl, ducking his head a little. "Yeah. Xander. Xander and Amander. We'll fix this."
Something that might have been a smile twitched at her lips but the fear didn't leave her eyes. "Can it be fixed?"
"Yes." Then Harris was touching her, god dammit, reaching out and brushing a finger over one filthy cheek. "I'm gonna show you."
She reached up to wrap her fingers around his and when Harris turned back to him it was like they were a fucking wall. She was scared, but she was scared of him, not Harris even though Elliot was sure that whole 'Xander and Amander' thing was something he’d made up on the spot.
"Who's he?" she asked.
"It's all right. He's one of the good guys." Harris smiled at him, all mockery. "A cop."
"Are you all right?" Elliot didn't take his eyes off Harris, but he saw her shift a little closer to him.
"Do I look all right?"
Harris didn't even look at the gun. "He really is a cop."
"I'm getting better," she said, and Harris smiled a little at that. Nothing creepy, nothing weird, just a little bit of relief and pleasure and that was almost enough to make Elliot put the gun down.
He had to get a hold of himself. "Let's all go down to the stationhouse. You can call your folks."
She didn't like that idea, judging by the way she edged closer to Harris.
"Let's go back to my hotel," Harris said. "I've got showers."
Elliot heard himself agree and knew that Olivia was going to kill him.
**
Xander could hear Stabler talking on his cell phone as he trailed along behind him and Amanda. He could almost hear Stabler's partner yelling at him, but the cop had a good run of patter and settled her down although Xander was pretty sure the fight was gonna pick up again in the morning.
That was fine. By the time Stabler and his partner started to really get into it, he'd be on his way out of town.
They got strange looks in the lobby: the guy with one eye and the filthy girl clutching his hand and the guy in the suit following after. They're own little freak parade but Xander didn't care. He'd gotten better at not letting stuff like that touch him. Besides, he was a freak. He didn't wince when Amanda tightened her grip on him.
He ducked his head a little so he could talk in her ear. "No one will look at you like that where we're going."
"Right," she said.
He could hear how much she wanted to believe underneath the sarcasm. "Remember how the stake felt right?"
Her grip let up a little as she flexed her fingers. "Yeah."
"That's how it's going to be with everything. Different, but it'll feel right."
The hope in her eyes was terrible. Xander held her gaze until he could see belief there, too, and then he let himself look away. He wasn't lying. He just wasn't going to tell her about the monsters and the fighting. That could wait until she'd settled down and the drugs had cleared her system. That speech always came better from Dawn, anyway.
When they reached his suite, Amanda hesitated for only a moment before following him in. Stabler was right on her heels, looking like a vengeful protector just waiting for a target.
Xander couldn't wait to give him one. Amanda still came first, though. He led her over to the door to the bedroom he hadn't been using. "There's a shower in there with endless hot water."
She took a step into the room, then turned around, hand plucking at her shirt. "Clothes?"
"Check out the closet." They'd probably fit. They'd be enough to get her through the night and on the plane, anyway. Once she was in London there would be a ton of girls eager to take the newbie shopping.
Smiling, she closed the door.
Xander turned around but didn't look over at Stabler. Instead, he picked up the telephone. "Room service?" He could feel the cop's frustration growing by the minute as he proceeded to order enough food to wipe the kitchen out.
As soon as he hung up the phone, Stabler's hand was on his shoulder, spinning him around and pushing him into the wall. "What are you doing?"
Xander didn't fight. "I'm ordering enough dinner to fill her up and leave a little behind for you and me. When she gets out of the shower, she's going to be clean and then she'll get full and she's going to go to sleep knowing that for any of the monsters out on the street to get her, they'd have to get past security guards, bellhops, me and a cop before they got to her."
Stabler stared at him for a moment. "You think I'm staying?"
Xander leaned into his space, looking for that same place on his neck. He inhaled. He smelled even better than before and Xander couldn't resist darting his tongue out for a little taste. "I know you are."
**
Elliot leaned back into the couch and watched Harris push more food on Amanda. They'd already lain almost total waste to the service cart that had been brought up but Harris seemed determined to feed Amanda until she popped.
He caught himself rubbing at his neck again and forced his hand back down on to the back of the couch. Harris hadn't had time to do more than lick him once before the water had cut off and they'd separated, not wanting Amanda to walk in on them.
She'd knocked before coming into the sitting room, hair wet and clean, wearing clothes that were a little too big for her.
Harris had been at her side immediately, sitting her down, talking about dinner, keeping up a constant line of chatter that seemed to help relax her and keep her calm until the food arrived.
Elliot had taken his share of the food, wanting to help reassure Amanda that everything was all right. She hadn't said anything about what had happened to her, but she didn't have to. He worked the streets. He knew what happened to the children who found themselves in them. He ate and kept his mouth shut and watched Harris.
He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting to see. Harris lick her, maybe, but there was nothing like that. He talked about the food and about friends that Amanda didn't seem to know. He talked about how great and safe the hotel was and how the future was just going to get better and better for her. It was almost like he was a different person with her. The only thing that was the same was the stillness of him, the watchfulness.
Elliot thought the talk was doing her as much good as the food. Her pupils were still off but she was steadier, calmer. She'd been frightened and wary, but now she just looked tired. No matter what else Harris might have done, he'd gotten her off the street and it looked like he was going to keep her from going back. Elliot couldn't call that bad.
Her head was beginning to droop, just a little. She looked ready to crash.
Harris apparently noticed that, too. "Amanda? If you face plant in your dinner you're going to need another shower."
She jerked her head back up. "I'm kind of tired."
"You've got that whole room just waiting for you."
Some of her happiness slid away and she looked down at her hands. "What about you?"
"I've got a whole room over there for me."
"What about him?"
"Detective Stabler?" Harris leaned in to her. "Couch. He gets first crack at the bad guys because he has the gun."
That seemed to steady her. "I think I'm gonna go to bed."
"See you in the morning," Harris said. He watched her go. When Elliot would have spoken, he held up a hand, asking for silence. After a moment he smiled. "Good girl."
"What?" Elliot asked.
"She shoved a chair under the door. Smart."
Scared, Elliot would have said, but smart, too. "Harris-"
"Not here. I'm not going to keep her up." Harris rose smoothly to his feet, ignoring the mess all around him. "This way."
Calling himself a fool but not able to resist, Elliot followed him down the hall. He had time to realize that Harris had taken him to the bedroom before Harris pounced.
**
Xander didn't give Stabler a chance to think. This wasn't about thinking. This was about want and frustration and the way Stabler tasted even better than he smelled. As soon as they were in the bedroom he was on him, not attacking but not far from it, either. Surprise let him push Stabler into the wall and hold him there with the press of his own body. He went for the throat again, not willing to be satisfied with a quick taste. Teeth and tongue went to work and he slid his hands between them, working at first Stabler's pants and then his own.
Heavy hands on his shoulders, not holding him close but not pushing him away, either. Xander heard questions start to rumble up from the other man's chest and he changed tactics going high, teeth clacking against Stabler's as he silenced him with his own mouth. "Not about talking," he ground out, palming Stabler's cock. "It's about this."
For a moment he'd thought he was going to lose him, that he'd misjudged this hunt but then Stabler's hand was over his, pressing his hand even closer. "Then let's get on with this."
That was all the answer Xander needed. He shoved closer, needing the heat and the pressure and the feeling of Stabler's big hands tearing at his shirt while he kept one hand over the hard ridge of his cock and the other toying with the fastenings to his pants. Everything was slick and wet and hard and when they finally got down to skin against skin Xander twisted his head to the side and closed his teeth on Stabler's shoulder.
Stabler pushed him back hard and looked down at the teeth marks in his skin. "You bit me."
"I didn't break the skin."
"You *bit* me."
Xander curled back his lip and brought his teeth together in a loud taunting click.
All dangerous smile and wide shoulders, Stabler bent down and shoved off his shoes and that was all the warning Xander had before the cop was on him, toppling him hard to the bed and driving the breath right out of him. Xander fought beneath him, each movement dragging his cock against a thigh, a flat belly, an arm trying to pin him down. Hard and rough and perfect like he hadn't had since leaving the jungle. The only thing stopping him from howling out his glee was the knowledge that Amanda would come charging in here to save him.
Stabler's mouth closed over his and then the other man was doing his own biting, nipping down his jaw, his throat, his chest. Sharp pain and hard pleasure and Xander wanted more. He lifted up his knees and wrapped his legs around Stabler's middle, giving an invitation that couldn't be misunderstood.
**
This was insane. Elliot knew it was insane and knew that it would look even crazier in the light of day but he couldn't stop himself. It had been all about want when Harris had pushed him up against the wall but after the son of a bitch had shown him his teeth everything had turned into need. He needed to feel Harris under him, fighting like he was trying to get away but only ending up closer. It was wrong but felt right and he ground down against Harris, scraping his teeth over his tongue and pressing a thumb against a nipple.
He froze for a moment when Harris's legs wrapped around him. The move shifted their bodies and his cock was sliding down and between and Elliot couldn't move for the shock and the lust slamming into him. He forced his gaze up to Harris and found nothing but desire there, desire and amusement. "You sure?" he asked. He couldn't not ask.
In answer Harris stretched beneath him, driving his body against Elliot's as he reached his hands up over his head and grabbed at a pack that was on the bed. He upended it and junk pored out: a cell phone, passport, a couple of wallets, some things that could be weapons that Elliot wasn't going to look at too closely. A small tube of lube and a minipack of condoms. "Travel size," Harris said.
Elliot reached for the condoms but Harris beat him to the lube. Elliot started to protest when the other man rolled away from him, but all the words died in his throat when he saw Harris use the lube on himself, fingers reaching behind and down and stretching fast and hard. His breath started coming in short pants, slick chest rising and falling as he watched Elliot with an impatient gaze.
Managing to tear his gaze away, Elliot finally got a condom out and on. He'd only just finished when Harris's hand closed around him, up and down, teasing him and slicking him and making him crazy. He looked up and saw the amusement was more open on Harris's face. He reached down and grabbed the taunting hand. "Enough."
Harris slid his free hand around the back of his neck and pulled him into a hard kiss that was more teeth than anything else. He kept pulling and then Elliot was back on top of him, pushing him down into the mattress as they grappled all over again. Harris kept moving, wriggling and squirming and bucking until he managed to flip over onto his stomach. There was no thought: Elliot just grabbed Harris's hips and pushed into him. The initial resistance surprised him and he stopped, the fear of hurting someone halting him.
"Fuck that," Harris said. "Fuck *me*." He shoved backwards and Elliot gasped. All the way in and it was tight and hot and his hands spasmed on Harris's hips as his brain threatened to short out.
Harris moved beneath him, impatient and greedy and that got Elliot moving again. "You want this?" he asked, pulling back and then snapping his hips forward.
Harris didn't answer; he just shoved back harder, animal grunts working their way out of him.
Sweaty and rough and so hot he felt like he was burning and Elliot couldn't stop. The rhythm was right and instinctual and he couldn't slow down even if he'd wanted to. He snaked a hand down beneath Harris and circled his reaction. Harris damn near howled, bucking back up against him. Too much, too much and Elliot stripped Harris's cock ruthlessly as he hunched into him, hips working harder and faster. Harris through his head back and Elliot thought he caught a flash of green from the corner of his eye but then he was coming and there was no room for thought, only sensation. He sank his teeth into Harris's shoulder as everything went dark.
**
Xander squatted down next to the bed and watched Stabler sleep the sleep of the utterly fucked out. His face didn't relax much in sleep and Xander wondered if he chased bad guys in his dreams.
Probably. When waking life was a nightmare, 'sweet dreams' rarely applied when sleeping, either.
Leaning in a little closer, Xander breathed in deeply, inhaling Stabler's sleeping scent, heavy with sex and sweat. He wasn't ever going to forget that smell and hoped that it would find him in his own dreams. Temptation urged him to lean in further and take a taste of that skin, one last for the road.
Instead, he stood up and grabbed his backpack, silently sliding in all the essentials, making as little noise as possible. Once he had everything he wanted, he took a look back at what he wanted, then walked out of the room. He hesitated when he caught sight of Stabler’s coat thrown over the back of the couch and he smiled a little, stealing an extra moment as he gave in to a less dangerous temptation.
When he was finished, he knocked on the door to Amanda's room. When she opened the door, he put on a cheerful smile. "Ready to go?" It would take some explaining, some comforting words and hopeful smiles but she'd be ready in a few minutes. They'd get breakfast on the plane.
He’d finished his hunt and caught his prey - both of them. Time to get back to work.
**
Elliot woke up slowly, wondering what the hell he'd done on his shift last night to leave him feeling like this. The sheets around him were ripe with sex and then he could feel the bites on his shoulder and the ache in his body and he was awake, perfect recall making him sit up. Harris.
It only took a few moments to figure out that Harris and Amanda were gone. The suite wasn't completely cleaned out: Amanda's dirty clothes were still on the floor and there were scattered bits of Harris's own clothes discarded on the floor. The ruins of dinner from the night before were right where they had been left.
What the hell had happened? He hadn't been drugged: he could remember every second of the night before, every move, every taste, everything. He closed his eyes. If he tried he could feel Harris beneath him, holding him close with scratching hands.
No. With a hard shake of his head he banished the image and flung away the sensation. That was last night. This was morning and sanity. He picked up his coat. He'd stop by the station and change and shower there. There was no way he could go home like this and he didn’t want to stay here any longer than he had to.
He dressed quickly, shrugging into his coat as he walked down the hall. When he put his hands in his pockets he found a small sheet of paper in the left. He'd never seen the handwriting before and the note wasn't signed, but he knew exactly who it was from.
//Good hunting to you.//
Elliot started to crumple up the note, but stopped before he could do any damage. Instead, he folded it up carefully and slid it back into his pocket. He straightened his shoulders and kept on walking.
And in other news, cousncarla hijacked my brain and forced me to write a cross over between Buffy and Law & Order: SVU. Xander/Elliot Stabler, post-Chosen, no particular spoilers for SVU or Buffy.
Huge thanks to cousncarla who was just about the best cheerleader ever - this fic is totally her fault. Thanks to kamadu and yuri007 for their encouragement, too.
Title: City Hunting
Rating: NC-17
Explanation: I’m easy. That’s all there is to it. Cousncarla threw the idea of Xander/Elliot at me and I couldn’t resist. Be warned. I wrote this fic in five to ten minute bursts over the course of a couple of weeks with little or no planning.
Summary: While looking for a Slayer lost in New York, Xander runs into Detective Stabler.
Elliot walked down one side of the street, knowing that 'livia had the other side covered as they looked for that kid the sister called him about, the one that said he was a big brother looking for his lost sister, the one with one eye and a goofy smile that hid something else, something that kept the pros off him as he roamed the streets. He freaked out the sister and the hookers she works with and that was enough of a warning to send them looking.
Elliot caught movement from the corner of his eye, there down the alley and he signaled his partner as he eased his way in, hand near his gun as he stuck close to the wall. He could hear a scuffle just beyond the dumpster and he drew his weapon as he stepped around it. "Everybody freeze!"
Everybody was one guy brushing dust off his hands. He squinted at Elliot with a single eye as he raised those hands to shoulder height. "Whoa. Hey, what's the problem?"
Innocent pose, innocent words, and every instinct Elliot has was telling him not to put away the gun.
And did that kid's eyes just shine green?
**
He was blowing it, Xander could tell. The cop hadn't put away his gun, hadn't relaxed, and Xander had already thrown his best 'who me? I'm innocent' act at him. It was almost enough to make him miss Sunnydale and the easy blindness of the people there. There was willing blindness here in New York, but it just wasn't the same.
He missed Africa. He'd thought Giles was insane for asking him to go, but he'd had nothing to lose and nothing to do and so he'd gone, backpack laden with pidgin-to-English dictionaries that did him no good and weariness that seemed to suck up the dust and heat and just grow heavier on his back and in his heart.
That all changed when he got out of the cities. Out in the wilderness where there weren't any questioning looks at his face, at his pale skin and missing eye and stuttering American voice, out where the phones didn't work and there were no worried calls from people who needed him to do his job even as they doubted his ability, out where it was just him and a jeep and the endless sky overhead...things were easier. Better. He'd felt the weariness and mourning sorrow drop away from him, felt at last like he was fitting into his own skin properly for the first time in years.
Felt the hunter come back, only this time he was the one in control of the predator. He focused the intensity and the urges into seeking out the Slayers that were hidden from him and he found them, no matter where their people might have moved or how their families might have tried to hide their new strangeness. He found girl after girl, explaining what had happened and then sending her off to the city for the others to pick up and train and care for.
Pulling him from Africa and sending him to America was supposed to be a reward of sorts, he knew. He also knew that the others were worried about him, that they wanted to get him back to civilization and normalcy. It might have worked if they’d sent him to Des Moines or Orlando or Denver. He might have learned to let the hunter inside sleep again, hibernating in the back of his head, in the shady side of his soul. Not here. Not where the alleys held as many dangers as the veldt, not where he could hunt vampires and Slayers both while knowing that other things might hunt him at the same time. The predator couldn’t rest and Xander couldn’t let it go. It marked him, changed him and people close to the hunt could tell.
People like the cop who was still pointing the gun at him.
**
Elliot watched as the goofiness slid away from the guy's face. He straightened to his full height. It wasn't a threat - it was like the slouch had been a part of the disguise. He was a good height but thin, rangy, although his shoulders were bulky.
A taller, bulkier guy himself, Elliot still didn't put away his gun. The kid's eyes might be brown now but he still didn't trust him. "Where's the other guy?"
"What other guy?" Less goofy, but he was still pleading innocent.
"I heard you."
"Talking to myself. I don't know why I keep shortcutting through these alleys. I just get lost."
"Elliot!" Olivia's voice cut over whatever response he might have made to the lie. "What's up?" Deceptively casual: she knew something was wrong.
"That's what I want to know," the kid complained, hands still carefully raised.
Elliot wasn't sure himself, but he was damn sure going to find out.
**
"So when you say you're taking someone downtown, you really take them downtown. I thought it was just a figure of speech." Xander relaxed back into his chair in the interrogation room, legs stretched out in front of him.
The cop who'd cornered him - Detective Stabler - didn't seem to find it funny. "Yeah. And you know why we take people downtown?"
He bit back the flip answer. "To answer questions."
"Let's get started, then. What were you doing in that alley?"
"I told you, taking a short cut." He met Stabler's gaze easily, the lie just rolling off his tongue. He'd been checking out a noise that had the animal inside quivering with anticipation - wounded prey. Turned out to have been a vampire caught out when the sun rose, hiding under trash and debris and waiting for nightfall.
He didn't have to wait anymore.
"And what are you doing in New York?" That from the woman, Benson.
He didn't miss the way both of them tensed just a little. Getting ready to lunge, because they had the prey where they wanted him and were ready to attack. Ready to kill.
He let the words 'sight-seeing' drop out of his vocabulary. "I'm looking for someone."
"So we hear." Stabler relaxed a little bit. "Who is she?"
Xander pulled the photo of the new Slayer he was looking for out of his pocket. "My friend."
"You've been telling people you're looking for your sister," Benson said.
"You ever tried telling hookers that you're looking for a friend?" He shook his head. "I thought it would be better to say she's my sister. I thought people would help me more."
"Why not come to the police?" Every line in Stabler's body said he wasn't buying a word of it.
Xander knew that he should just wrap this up, give them the quick and easy answers that would get him back out on the street. Hell, he could just walk out - they couldn't stop him. But there was something about this Stabler guy, something in the way he moved, something in the look in his eyes...Xander was interested. Interested like he hadn't been in months. He leaned forward slowly. "It's like this..."
**
The kid - Alexander Harris - was lying. Elliot wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew a good chunk of what he was telling them was false. It was a good story: a friend of his getting involved in drugs, getting into trouble, running away to the big city. He said he was just trying to find her, flashing her picture around places where he thought she might be. Dark places. Lost places. Places where predators hunted, not where small town boys went looking for lost friends.
"And you didn't come to the police…why?"
"You're always hearing stories about how many runaways are in this city. You guys are going to be able to find one more?" Harris shook his head. "She's my friend. I'm looking for her."
"You've got our attention now. Why not use it? Fill out a missing persons report. Maybe somebody's seen her."
"Maybe." Harris stretched and looked at his watch. There was something almost like regret on his face, although the patch made it hard to read his expression. "Look, I don't have much time in the city. I'll have to go back home soon and I don't want to do that thinking that I did anything less than everything, you know?"
Elliot glanced over at Olivia, but she just shrugged. He knew she was right. There was nothing they could hold him for, nothing that he'd done wrong. Still, he didn't like letting him go. "Those places where you're looking...they're dangerous."
No fear on him at all. "I'll be careful." Harris almost seemed *amused* by the warning.
"If you want to leave us a way to contact you, we can let you know if we find out anything about your friend." Olivia, easy with him, making the offer like they really were on the same side.
"Thanks." Xander grabbed the pen and paper on the table, scrawled down an address and phone number. "I'll be there until the money runs out." Again with that damn secret smile. He stood up. "You’ll call me?"
"Of course," Olivia promised.
Harris moved toward the door. He looked back over his shoulder as he opened it, gaze moving up and down Elliot before he was gone, out into the hallway.
Elliot looked down at the sheet of paper. "What? Son of a bitch. He's lying."
"What?"
"You really think that guy is staying at the Hilton?"
Olivia grabbed the paper, but Elliot was already gone, out into the hallway. He grabbed a passing uniform. "You see a one-eyed guy come this way?"
"No."
Son of a bitch.
**
Xander didn't run when he got out of the police station. He stayed calm and Keyser Soze as he turned the corner and headed for the nearest subway station. He needed to get back to where he'd been.
No one had admitted to seeing Amanda yet, but he was sure she was in the city. He'd heard a few rumors of strangeness, of kids freaked out on angel dust throwing each other around...but no bodies being found. Amanda had freaked when her powers manifested, the dreams and the strength and the knowing that still weirded out Buffy sometimes still - they were all too much for her to handle on her own. She'd taken off, but she'd been seen on a bus to New York. Other people sent by the Watchers hadn't been able to find her...which was when they called in Xander.
She was here. There was nowhere else for her to run, not once she hit NYC. There were endless streets to get lost in here, plenty of places to hide. Not in the good areas, not in the safe ones, but Xander was used to one kind of jungle and he was learning this new one fast.
He was going to keep looking. Daytime was good: he knew that she'd be sleeping, stationary, letting him get closer and closer. She'd be more visible at night when she'd be awake and alert, looking out for the monsters her dreams warned her about and that were slowly seeking her out. She'd make herself known then, but she'd be moving and he didn't want to lose any of the ground he'd gained.
Back to hunting. Xander slid through the crowd with ease, arms swinging loosely from his shoulders as people gave way before him. Hunting. He wasn't the only hunter out there.
His lips curled up in a smile. Stabler was a hunter. Maybe they'd cross paths again.
**
Elliot stewed at his desk, staring blindly at his paperwork.
"Let it go," Olivia said.
He nodded shortly, not looking up.
"I'm gonna get some coffee. I'm bringing you decaf."
He sighed after she was gone, tossing the pen he hadn't used back down onto the papers he'd stared at without reading. She was right. He had to let it go. They'd run into a guy who was acting weird, who felt wrong...but he hadn't been doing anything wrong. His instincts might be warning him Harris was dangerous, but he had nothing to back that up except the lie he'd told about where he was staying, but there were plenty of reasons why he might not want them to know that information. Hell, he could be trying to stop his parents from finding out he'd taken off after his friend, although he looked a little old to be worrying about that.
He drew in a deep breath. He had a lot of actual bad guys to worry about. He didn't need to obsess over a guy who hadn't done anything...that he knew about.
By the time Olivia came back he was able to accept the coffee with a smile and an apology. She accepted and they got back to work.
When the call came in about a possible sexual assault in a neighborhood near where they'd been earlier that day, he only thought about Harris once.
Maybe twice.
**
Xander nudged the man at his feet with the toe of one boot. "What was it you said you gave her?"
"Fuck you," the man wheezed.
"Fuck you? I've been gone for too long. I don't recognize that one." Xander nudged again, harder, and the man curled in on himself with something close to a whimper. Amateur. A kick to the shoulder sent him over on his back, belly exposed. Much better. Xander crouched down beside him, elbows resting on his knees. "Try again."
"What are you? Her keeper?"
"Her Watcher." For the moment anyway. "What did you give her?"
"I sold her some uppers, man. Sold. She wanted them. She came to me."
"Where did she go after?"
"I don't know. I'm not her watcher."
Xander leaned forward.
The man threw up a protective hand. "Uptown! All right? All I saw was her heading uptown. We didn't really talk." He curled up again when Xander reached for him. "I told you everything!"
"Yeah. And because you did, you get to walk away." Xander went threw his pockets, emptying them of drugs and cash.
"That's mine."
"Was yours." If the man wasn't strong enough to hold onto them, then he didn't deserve to keep them. Law of the jungle, law of the streets.
Uptown with uppers. The monsters were scaring her, then, and she was moving toward people and away from the dark. Uppers to stay awake and hyper-alert. She must have run into trouble to think that she needed to enhance Slayer senses and energy.
He passed by the nun with no habit, the one he thought had called the police about him. He smiled as he dropped the dealer's cash off on her table. After he turned the corner, he dumped the drugs down a sewer grate.
It wouldn't do to have them on him when Stabler came looking for him.
**
"I think I've heard of someone using this MO before." Olivia stared down at her notes, brow creasing the way it did when she was trying to force a memory.
"We'll go back to the station, run it through the computer." Elliot kept his eyes on the street, checking the faces of everyone they passed. Habit, but something more this time. He was looking. Searching.
Olivia looked up and he tried to relax, but it was too late. He'd been caught. "Elliot, she got a look at the guy. Blonde hair. *Two* eyes."
"We don't know what he had under that patch. Could just be a cover."
"Could just be we need to have a talk. Have you met Harris before?"
"What? No."
"It's not like you to get hung up on someone like this." She tapped her shoulder with her notes. "We've got a case. A bad guy that we know did something. Let the strange guy go."
He nodded, but he knew it wasn't going to be that easy. He'd already tried to put Harris out of his mind but as soon as they were back on the streets he'd started looking for him again. There was something about the guy that tweaked every instinct he had. It was more than the lies he'd told. It was the way he moved, loose-limbed and deceptively easy. Elliot had height and weight on him and he still didn't like the idea of going up against him. It was also his gaze, that strange color-changing gaze that seemed to recognize him on a level that he just didn't understand. It made him want to find Harris and get him in the interrogation room again. Alone this time, no one in the room or at the mirror. Get Harris there and press for answers about who and what he was. Grab him by the shoulders and back him against the wall or the table and -
"Detective!" The sister's voice cut into his thoughts and he stopped walking just before he ran into her.
"Whoa." Olivia grabbed his arm to steady him. "What's going on?"
"You remember that guy I called you about? The one looking for his sister?"
"One eye?" Elliot asked.
"That's him. He walked past my table about an hour ago and dropped this." She held up a wad of bills.
"Did he say anything?"
"Just smiled and kept walking."
"Walking where?"
"Elliot..." Olivia's tone was a warning.
"I know we've got a case. I'm just asking."
"Uptown," the sister said.
Uptown. Elliot wasn't going to forget that.
**
God, he'd missed hot water. Africa had been full of endless dust that no amount of baths out of a bucket ever seemed to remove. Add blood and tears and sweat to the mix and sometimes he'd thought he'd never be clean again. The first thing he'd done once he'd gotten back to civilization was find a shower and he hadn't been sure that he'd ever crawl out of it: hot water pounding down on him, harder than any rainstorm and soap...it was pure pleasure and he never missed a chance to indulge himself now.
When he finally turned off the water and left the shower stall, the air was heavy and wet, the mirrors and fixtures fogged so thickly he couldn't see himself. He toweled off and dropped the wet cloth on the floor, then grabbed another and ran it roughly over his head. He didn't mind getting dirty but he *loved* getting clean.
Xander grabbed a pair of track pants and pulled them on. Room service should be arriving any time and he was starving. Out on the streets for most of the night and the cops had pulled him in before he could grab lunch. He needed to refuel and take a nap before heading out again. If Amanda was running scared and popping pills, he'd need to be at the top of his game when he found her. Fast talking and answers to her questions would only take him so far. He might need fast feet and a hard right to the head to get her to listen.
Still ruffling up his hair with the towel, he walked out into the bedroom. The sound of a knock on the door had him out into the sitting room in a matter of moments. Food...
He opened up the door and stared at Detective Stabler. He grinned. "Not food." This could be even better.
**
Holy shit. Harris really was staying at the Hilton. Elliot was so surprised to see him open the door that it took him a moment to register the fact that he was half-dressed and obviously just out of the shower. And what had he just said? "Not food?"
"I thought you were room service." Harris stepped away from the door, walking back into the living room of his suite.
Elliot followed when he realized he wasn't going to get an invitation. The room was nice. Harris seemed at home for all that he looked out of place in it. "Am I interrupting something?"
"Just lunch. You want me to call down and order you something?"
"No." He looked around the room, exaggeratedly taking it all in. "The money's gonna run out fast, staying at a place like this."
"All depends on how much you start out with." Bare feet half-sunk in deep carpet, Harris looked less like a kid then before. He had a body that had seen hard work and hard times, judging by the scars that crossed the skin over well-formed muscles.
Elliot snapped his gaze back up to Harris's face, but it was too late: the guy had a 'I've got a secret and it's *yours*' grin on his face. "You know why I'm here?"
"My animal magnetism?"
"The money you left."
"I was just doing my part to try to help out. I mean, she keeps such a good eye on the streets. That should be rewarded."
"What do you mean by that?" Did Harris know the sister had been the one to call them?
"She seems very devoted to her cause."
"Where did the money come from?" Elliot moved forward, getting in his space, tired of being jerked around.
"I found it."
"Tens and twenties. That was drug money."
Harris's eye went wide with obviously false surprise. "Was it? This city, man. Too dangerous for a small town boy like me."
"Where did the money come from?"
"I found it."
This was getting him nowhere. Why had he come? He watched an errant drop of water slide down Harris's collarbone and knew that he'd made a mistake.
**
Stabler’s gaze on him was hot, heavy: it made him feel like the steam from the bathroom was inside his head. His thoughts slowed down and everything else itched to take over, his body, his instincts, the hunter within.
He wanted to know where he’d gotten the money? Xander was tempted to show him, to push the big man down to the ground and show him the real difference between city and wilderness. He flexed his hands, feeling the need to strip away that suit and tie, tear off the veneer of civilization and show him how hunters were meant to be.
Another knock at the door stopped him from doing something to get himself arrested. He had to walk past Stabler to reach it and he strayed into the man’s space, barely brushing past him. He opened the door before the detective could object.
“Food.” He stepped aside to let the hotel guy wheel the tray in and slipped him his tip on his way out.
It was hard to concentrate on Stabler with the food in the room. He was starving and the steak smelled just about as good as the other man. He sat down in front of the tray and started uncovering the dishes.
“Oh, we’re done here?” Stabler asked.
Xander looked regretfully down at his steak. “No.” He moved to face Stabler, close enough that he could feel the heat coming through his clothes. “I don’t know what you think I’ve done. It wasn’t me. I’m not here for you or anyone you protect in this city. I have a girl to find and keep safe. That’s all.”
“I don’t-“
He didn’t wait for him to finish the thought before leaning in to sniff at Stabler’s neck. Oh, yeah. Way better than the steak.
**
Elliot was ready for just about anything when Harris got close to him: swearing, an attack, an order to leave the room…anything except sniffing. He also wasn’t ready for his own response. Instead of shoving Harris away, he closed his eyes and stayed very still, not wanting to provoke him…not wanting him to stop. The guy didn’t; instead he inhaled again, like Elliot smelled better than the steak waiting for him on the room service tray.
“Anger and frustration,” Harris murmured, voice low enough for Elliot to *feel*. “All that for me?”
“No.” That came out way too strangled and the sound pulled him back to himself. What the hell was he doing, standing there and letting this guy sniff him like he was dinner? He took a step back and almost fell into the couch.
For a moment it looked like Harris was going to follow him and Elliot felt a weird rush of disappointment when he didn’t. Instead, he sat down by his steak like the weirdness of a few seconds ago hadn’t even happened. “What’s it from?”
“What?”
“If you don’t smell good for me, then what’s it from?”
Christ, had Harris managed to dose him with something? Those words shouldn’t have made his stomach and everything south of there tighten up like that. “A case.”
“How’s the hunting?” Cutting his steak like the conversation was one he had every day.
“We’ll find him.”
“I know.” Harris took a bite and held Elliot’s gaze and it was like every movement of his mouth meant something slick and dirty and dangerous.
He had to get out. Get out and figure out what the hell was wrong with him so he wouldn’t be thinking that maybe he should go over there and show Harris exactly what that mouth was better suited for. “This isn’t over.”
“I know.” Another bite.
Elliot headed for the door.
Before he could open it Harris was there on silent feet, standing way too close as he pulled it open and watched him go. “Happy hunting.” The door clicked closed softly.
Out in the hallway, Elliot kept his back to the open space and adjusted himself in his trousers and tried to tell himself that it was just the fucking job and that he needed a break. That was all.
**
His belly was full and the bed was comfy, but Xander was too keyed up from his encounter with Stabler to nap like he should. He needed rest and strength if he was going to find Amanda and be able to handle her when he did, but instead of dropping off like a good soldier he was side awake, thoughts filled with the man he'd been teasing.
Maybe if he'd kept him...but no. Timing was wrong. He needed to be sharp and fresh, not mellow from success and sex. He'd had to let Stabler leave without doing anything more than jerk him around a bit.
He grinned a little. Jerk him around...he slid his hand down inside his pants, sliding fingers down around his cock and then he squeezed just right. No playing around: he licked his other palm and then both hands were working, hard and quick like he could have had with Stabler. If they both hadn't had prey to find he could have followed Stabler down onto the couch and wrestled his clothes from him, getting sweaty and angry and a little roughed up until they were both naked and the only thing separating them was fear which wouldn't matter anymore, anyway.
God, he wanted that. Wanted to find release with someone he didn't have to worry about hurting, someone who understood the importance and the ritual of the hunt as much as the results of it. He wanted to feel his strength matched, his hunger met by one that was just as full of burning and want as his own. He wanted to sink his teeth into Stabler's shoulder and taste all that anger and frustration and make it his own.
That was the thought that did him in and he came, hands and belly slick with his release as he pumped his cock until the sensation was too much to bear any longer. He wiped his hands on his pants, then pulled them off and finished mopping himself off with them. He tossed them to the floor and curled up on the bed, warm and full and the edge taken off.
Nap and another shower. Then he'd be ready to continue the hunt. He'd find Amanda...and then he'd go looking for Stabler.
**
Elliot avoided Olivia's questioning gaze when he got back to the station. It wasn't like him to lose focus and disappear in the middle of a case and if he didn't watch it she was going to do more than look: she'd start demanding answers that he didn't have.
Not wanting to tell her that he'd gone to see Harris, he focused on what they knew about their guy so far, rooting through the files the uniforms had brought in on similar cases. It was easy to lose himself in the work, just like it always was. He hated it, hated the people he went after but he couldn't stop, couldn't turn away for a moment. There were dangerous animals out there and too few people willing to hunt them.
He started to see a pattern. "Livia? Check out where the girls had been the night before."
"101st Street," she said, flipping through her own batch of files. "The bars."
"That's where he's seeing them. He's gotta be following them home and making his move the next day."
"Friday night," she said. "The bars are going to be packed."
"And our guy's going to be hunting." He stood up and pulled on his coat. "I'll buy the coffee."
"Decaf for you," she said, but she was right beside him, ready to go. "I'll clear it with Cragin."
He nodded and watched her go, grateful for her silence. They had a job to do, a bastard to find and bring down. He wasn't going to lose sight of that. Still, he caught himself wondering what Harris would think of the way he smelled now.
**
Sliding through the crowd, Xander didn't care that his jeans and rough jacket didn't fit in with the slacks and dresses of the people around him. He wasn't ever going to be able to sink back into the anonymity of the crowd again, so why even try? He wore what he usually wore on hunts. They were his work clothes.
Too many people on the street even so late at night and he couldn't get a fix on where Amanda might be. There were too many people here for her to be comfortable close to the bars, but she wasn't going to stray far from them, either. Humans weren't the ones she'd be scared of anymore...but they were the ones she was most likely to end up hurting.
He pushed his way to the fringes, where the pretty people walked fast and cursed the cabbies for not dropping them off closer. Here. He breathed in deeply, scenting barely hidden danger and studiously ignored rot. Good block, bad block and this was the border, where all kinds of things could slip through the cracks, including people.
He stepped into an alley, ignoring the guy huddled against the wall. He wasn't after easy meat tonight. He worked his way into the shadows, hands swinging easily at his side. Sight wouldn't do him much good in the dark and so he listened, ignoring the city sounds of cars and sirens and that hum of too many people crammed too close together.
There. Up ahead he could hear things that set his blood flowing faster, his breath quickening. Soft grunts as flesh met flesh, muttered curses. He ran through the alley, sure-footed and silent until he reached the corner.
She might not understand what was happening to her, but Amanda had all the instincts of a Slayer. Two vampires were moving in on her and she was holding them off. Her pupils were dilated and her movements jerky: the drugs were keeping her on her feet but they weren't helping her in any other way. She was missing blows she should have landed, especially against such a pair of inept opponents.
It would be dangerous to add himself to the mix, but he couldn't resist a fight, not anymore. The stake felt good in his hand, like coming home and then Xander was in the middle of it, dusting one vamp before they knew he was there. The other turned on him and that was the last mistake it would ever make.
Xander tossed Amanda the stake. "Through the heart. Just like the dreams told you."
She held onto the weapon awkwardly, staring at him in awe and terror.
He fended off the vampire's attack, kicking it back a few feet. "Amanda. Through the heart."
The sound of her name broke her out of whatever daze the drugs and fear had put her in and she moved, muscles flowing with instinct and strength. The vampire was gone before it had time to react. Amanda watched the dust settle down on the filthy pavement and began to shake.
Xander was right by her side, close but not touching. He didn't try to take the stake from her tightly clenched fingers. "That was good. That was right." He'd done this a dozen times. Different words for different girls, but they'd all been scared and needed to hear the same thing.
"What the hell is going on?" she asked.
"You've had dreams and nightmares and weird stuff happening with your body and your head." He waited until she was looking up at him. "Now you're going to get some answers."
Her face started to crumple as she took a step toward him.
Light flashed in his eye, blinding him for a moment. Xander moved to stand in front of Amanda.
"Freeze!"
**
The guy they were looking for hadn't shown so Elliot and Olivia had left the uniforms to look through the crowd and had started fanning out, just in case they'd missed him somehow. She'd gone left, he'd gone right. He'd expected to see garbage and rats, maybe a couple of drunks. He hadn't expected to see Harris standing too close to a frightened girl. His reaction had been automatic and aside from Harris stepping in front of the girl, neither of them had moved.
He took a few steps closer. The girl looked rough: her hair was stringing down into her face and he hadn't seen eyes that gone in a while. She looked terrified and almost nothing like the smiling girl in the picture Harris had shown him down at the precinct. "Step away from her."
Harris didn't move except to shake his head.
Elliot indicated his drawn gun with a little nod. "Step away."
"Not when I've just found her."
"Harris, I don't know-"
"Harris," the girl said.
It was like Harris forgot he was there. He turned around so he could face the girl, ducking his head a little. "Yeah. Xander. Xander and Amander. We'll fix this."
Something that might have been a smile twitched at her lips but the fear didn't leave her eyes. "Can it be fixed?"
"Yes." Then Harris was touching her, god dammit, reaching out and brushing a finger over one filthy cheek. "I'm gonna show you."
She reached up to wrap her fingers around his and when Harris turned back to him it was like they were a fucking wall. She was scared, but she was scared of him, not Harris even though Elliot was sure that whole 'Xander and Amander' thing was something he’d made up on the spot.
"Who's he?" she asked.
"It's all right. He's one of the good guys." Harris smiled at him, all mockery. "A cop."
"Are you all right?" Elliot didn't take his eyes off Harris, but he saw her shift a little closer to him.
"Do I look all right?"
Harris didn't even look at the gun. "He really is a cop."
"I'm getting better," she said, and Harris smiled a little at that. Nothing creepy, nothing weird, just a little bit of relief and pleasure and that was almost enough to make Elliot put the gun down.
He had to get a hold of himself. "Let's all go down to the stationhouse. You can call your folks."
She didn't like that idea, judging by the way she edged closer to Harris.
"Let's go back to my hotel," Harris said. "I've got showers."
Elliot heard himself agree and knew that Olivia was going to kill him.
**
Xander could hear Stabler talking on his cell phone as he trailed along behind him and Amanda. He could almost hear Stabler's partner yelling at him, but the cop had a good run of patter and settled her down although Xander was pretty sure the fight was gonna pick up again in the morning.
That was fine. By the time Stabler and his partner started to really get into it, he'd be on his way out of town.
They got strange looks in the lobby: the guy with one eye and the filthy girl clutching his hand and the guy in the suit following after. They're own little freak parade but Xander didn't care. He'd gotten better at not letting stuff like that touch him. Besides, he was a freak. He didn't wince when Amanda tightened her grip on him.
He ducked his head a little so he could talk in her ear. "No one will look at you like that where we're going."
"Right," she said.
He could hear how much she wanted to believe underneath the sarcasm. "Remember how the stake felt right?"
Her grip let up a little as she flexed her fingers. "Yeah."
"That's how it's going to be with everything. Different, but it'll feel right."
The hope in her eyes was terrible. Xander held her gaze until he could see belief there, too, and then he let himself look away. He wasn't lying. He just wasn't going to tell her about the monsters and the fighting. That could wait until she'd settled down and the drugs had cleared her system. That speech always came better from Dawn, anyway.
When they reached his suite, Amanda hesitated for only a moment before following him in. Stabler was right on her heels, looking like a vengeful protector just waiting for a target.
Xander couldn't wait to give him one. Amanda still came first, though. He led her over to the door to the bedroom he hadn't been using. "There's a shower in there with endless hot water."
She took a step into the room, then turned around, hand plucking at her shirt. "Clothes?"
"Check out the closet." They'd probably fit. They'd be enough to get her through the night and on the plane, anyway. Once she was in London there would be a ton of girls eager to take the newbie shopping.
Smiling, she closed the door.
Xander turned around but didn't look over at Stabler. Instead, he picked up the telephone. "Room service?" He could feel the cop's frustration growing by the minute as he proceeded to order enough food to wipe the kitchen out.
As soon as he hung up the phone, Stabler's hand was on his shoulder, spinning him around and pushing him into the wall. "What are you doing?"
Xander didn't fight. "I'm ordering enough dinner to fill her up and leave a little behind for you and me. When she gets out of the shower, she's going to be clean and then she'll get full and she's going to go to sleep knowing that for any of the monsters out on the street to get her, they'd have to get past security guards, bellhops, me and a cop before they got to her."
Stabler stared at him for a moment. "You think I'm staying?"
Xander leaned into his space, looking for that same place on his neck. He inhaled. He smelled even better than before and Xander couldn't resist darting his tongue out for a little taste. "I know you are."
**
Elliot leaned back into the couch and watched Harris push more food on Amanda. They'd already lain almost total waste to the service cart that had been brought up but Harris seemed determined to feed Amanda until she popped.
He caught himself rubbing at his neck again and forced his hand back down on to the back of the couch. Harris hadn't had time to do more than lick him once before the water had cut off and they'd separated, not wanting Amanda to walk in on them.
She'd knocked before coming into the sitting room, hair wet and clean, wearing clothes that were a little too big for her.
Harris had been at her side immediately, sitting her down, talking about dinner, keeping up a constant line of chatter that seemed to help relax her and keep her calm until the food arrived.
Elliot had taken his share of the food, wanting to help reassure Amanda that everything was all right. She hadn't said anything about what had happened to her, but she didn't have to. He worked the streets. He knew what happened to the children who found themselves in them. He ate and kept his mouth shut and watched Harris.
He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting to see. Harris lick her, maybe, but there was nothing like that. He talked about the food and about friends that Amanda didn't seem to know. He talked about how great and safe the hotel was and how the future was just going to get better and better for her. It was almost like he was a different person with her. The only thing that was the same was the stillness of him, the watchfulness.
Elliot thought the talk was doing her as much good as the food. Her pupils were still off but she was steadier, calmer. She'd been frightened and wary, but now she just looked tired. No matter what else Harris might have done, he'd gotten her off the street and it looked like he was going to keep her from going back. Elliot couldn't call that bad.
Her head was beginning to droop, just a little. She looked ready to crash.
Harris apparently noticed that, too. "Amanda? If you face plant in your dinner you're going to need another shower."
She jerked her head back up. "I'm kind of tired."
"You've got that whole room just waiting for you."
Some of her happiness slid away and she looked down at her hands. "What about you?"
"I've got a whole room over there for me."
"What about him?"
"Detective Stabler?" Harris leaned in to her. "Couch. He gets first crack at the bad guys because he has the gun."
That seemed to steady her. "I think I'm gonna go to bed."
"See you in the morning," Harris said. He watched her go. When Elliot would have spoken, he held up a hand, asking for silence. After a moment he smiled. "Good girl."
"What?" Elliot asked.
"She shoved a chair under the door. Smart."
Scared, Elliot would have said, but smart, too. "Harris-"
"Not here. I'm not going to keep her up." Harris rose smoothly to his feet, ignoring the mess all around him. "This way."
Calling himself a fool but not able to resist, Elliot followed him down the hall. He had time to realize that Harris had taken him to the bedroom before Harris pounced.
**
Xander didn't give Stabler a chance to think. This wasn't about thinking. This was about want and frustration and the way Stabler tasted even better than he smelled. As soon as they were in the bedroom he was on him, not attacking but not far from it, either. Surprise let him push Stabler into the wall and hold him there with the press of his own body. He went for the throat again, not willing to be satisfied with a quick taste. Teeth and tongue went to work and he slid his hands between them, working at first Stabler's pants and then his own.
Heavy hands on his shoulders, not holding him close but not pushing him away, either. Xander heard questions start to rumble up from the other man's chest and he changed tactics going high, teeth clacking against Stabler's as he silenced him with his own mouth. "Not about talking," he ground out, palming Stabler's cock. "It's about this."
For a moment he'd thought he was going to lose him, that he'd misjudged this hunt but then Stabler's hand was over his, pressing his hand even closer. "Then let's get on with this."
That was all the answer Xander needed. He shoved closer, needing the heat and the pressure and the feeling of Stabler's big hands tearing at his shirt while he kept one hand over the hard ridge of his cock and the other toying with the fastenings to his pants. Everything was slick and wet and hard and when they finally got down to skin against skin Xander twisted his head to the side and closed his teeth on Stabler's shoulder.
Stabler pushed him back hard and looked down at the teeth marks in his skin. "You bit me."
"I didn't break the skin."
"You *bit* me."
Xander curled back his lip and brought his teeth together in a loud taunting click.
All dangerous smile and wide shoulders, Stabler bent down and shoved off his shoes and that was all the warning Xander had before the cop was on him, toppling him hard to the bed and driving the breath right out of him. Xander fought beneath him, each movement dragging his cock against a thigh, a flat belly, an arm trying to pin him down. Hard and rough and perfect like he hadn't had since leaving the jungle. The only thing stopping him from howling out his glee was the knowledge that Amanda would come charging in here to save him.
Stabler's mouth closed over his and then the other man was doing his own biting, nipping down his jaw, his throat, his chest. Sharp pain and hard pleasure and Xander wanted more. He lifted up his knees and wrapped his legs around Stabler's middle, giving an invitation that couldn't be misunderstood.
**
This was insane. Elliot knew it was insane and knew that it would look even crazier in the light of day but he couldn't stop himself. It had been all about want when Harris had pushed him up against the wall but after the son of a bitch had shown him his teeth everything had turned into need. He needed to feel Harris under him, fighting like he was trying to get away but only ending up closer. It was wrong but felt right and he ground down against Harris, scraping his teeth over his tongue and pressing a thumb against a nipple.
He froze for a moment when Harris's legs wrapped around him. The move shifted their bodies and his cock was sliding down and between and Elliot couldn't move for the shock and the lust slamming into him. He forced his gaze up to Harris and found nothing but desire there, desire and amusement. "You sure?" he asked. He couldn't not ask.
In answer Harris stretched beneath him, driving his body against Elliot's as he reached his hands up over his head and grabbed at a pack that was on the bed. He upended it and junk pored out: a cell phone, passport, a couple of wallets, some things that could be weapons that Elliot wasn't going to look at too closely. A small tube of lube and a minipack of condoms. "Travel size," Harris said.
Elliot reached for the condoms but Harris beat him to the lube. Elliot started to protest when the other man rolled away from him, but all the words died in his throat when he saw Harris use the lube on himself, fingers reaching behind and down and stretching fast and hard. His breath started coming in short pants, slick chest rising and falling as he watched Elliot with an impatient gaze.
Managing to tear his gaze away, Elliot finally got a condom out and on. He'd only just finished when Harris's hand closed around him, up and down, teasing him and slicking him and making him crazy. He looked up and saw the amusement was more open on Harris's face. He reached down and grabbed the taunting hand. "Enough."
Harris slid his free hand around the back of his neck and pulled him into a hard kiss that was more teeth than anything else. He kept pulling and then Elliot was back on top of him, pushing him down into the mattress as they grappled all over again. Harris kept moving, wriggling and squirming and bucking until he managed to flip over onto his stomach. There was no thought: Elliot just grabbed Harris's hips and pushed into him. The initial resistance surprised him and he stopped, the fear of hurting someone halting him.
"Fuck that," Harris said. "Fuck *me*." He shoved backwards and Elliot gasped. All the way in and it was tight and hot and his hands spasmed on Harris's hips as his brain threatened to short out.
Harris moved beneath him, impatient and greedy and that got Elliot moving again. "You want this?" he asked, pulling back and then snapping his hips forward.
Harris didn't answer; he just shoved back harder, animal grunts working their way out of him.
Sweaty and rough and so hot he felt like he was burning and Elliot couldn't stop. The rhythm was right and instinctual and he couldn't slow down even if he'd wanted to. He snaked a hand down beneath Harris and circled his reaction. Harris damn near howled, bucking back up against him. Too much, too much and Elliot stripped Harris's cock ruthlessly as he hunched into him, hips working harder and faster. Harris through his head back and Elliot thought he caught a flash of green from the corner of his eye but then he was coming and there was no room for thought, only sensation. He sank his teeth into Harris's shoulder as everything went dark.
**
Xander squatted down next to the bed and watched Stabler sleep the sleep of the utterly fucked out. His face didn't relax much in sleep and Xander wondered if he chased bad guys in his dreams.
Probably. When waking life was a nightmare, 'sweet dreams' rarely applied when sleeping, either.
Leaning in a little closer, Xander breathed in deeply, inhaling Stabler's sleeping scent, heavy with sex and sweat. He wasn't ever going to forget that smell and hoped that it would find him in his own dreams. Temptation urged him to lean in further and take a taste of that skin, one last for the road.
Instead, he stood up and grabbed his backpack, silently sliding in all the essentials, making as little noise as possible. Once he had everything he wanted, he took a look back at what he wanted, then walked out of the room. He hesitated when he caught sight of Stabler’s coat thrown over the back of the couch and he smiled a little, stealing an extra moment as he gave in to a less dangerous temptation.
When he was finished, he knocked on the door to Amanda's room. When she opened the door, he put on a cheerful smile. "Ready to go?" It would take some explaining, some comforting words and hopeful smiles but she'd be ready in a few minutes. They'd get breakfast on the plane.
He’d finished his hunt and caught his prey - both of them. Time to get back to work.
**
Elliot woke up slowly, wondering what the hell he'd done on his shift last night to leave him feeling like this. The sheets around him were ripe with sex and then he could feel the bites on his shoulder and the ache in his body and he was awake, perfect recall making him sit up. Harris.
It only took a few moments to figure out that Harris and Amanda were gone. The suite wasn't completely cleaned out: Amanda's dirty clothes were still on the floor and there were scattered bits of Harris's own clothes discarded on the floor. The ruins of dinner from the night before were right where they had been left.
What the hell had happened? He hadn't been drugged: he could remember every second of the night before, every move, every taste, everything. He closed his eyes. If he tried he could feel Harris beneath him, holding him close with scratching hands.
No. With a hard shake of his head he banished the image and flung away the sensation. That was last night. This was morning and sanity. He picked up his coat. He'd stop by the station and change and shower there. There was no way he could go home like this and he didn’t want to stay here any longer than he had to.
He dressed quickly, shrugging into his coat as he walked down the hall. When he put his hands in his pockets he found a small sheet of paper in the left. He'd never seen the handwriting before and the note wasn't signed, but he knew exactly who it was from.
//Good hunting to you.//
Elliot started to crumple up the note, but stopped before he could do any damage. Instead, he folded it up carefully and slid it back into his pocket. He straightened his shoulders and kept on walking.