Another day, gorgeously sunny with the open road laid out before him. New adventures waiting over the horizon. New enemies to defeat. New friends, lovers, partners to meet. ...Just like the day before. And the day before that. And the day before that.
There were no adventures. No people to meet. No demons to slay. Unless you counted the one about a week ago now, but as he hadn’t actually slain it so much as hid behind a dumpster when it had managed to corner him…. Well, suffice to say that he didn’t count it.
Rogue Demon Hunter indeed. The demons were far more likely to hunt him as anything else.
And now he faced another day of trying to what? Prove himself? To who? No one was left and even if there had been, none of them would care.
His father may as well have disowned him and Wesley had the suspicion that if Roger Wyndham-Pryce actually knew where his son was he’d be getting a call stating just that. His father hadn’t even offered to help him get back to England, after all. Back home. It wasn’t a call Wesley was looking forward to if – when – it came.
Giles and his little…band of followers. They hadn’t even given him a lick of a chance. He was condemned before he’d even opened his mouth and every word – every move – since then had simply made everything worse. For them and him. And he couldn’t even blame them for it. By the time he had tried to redeem himself, realized how terribly he was failing them all, it had been too late.
Now he was out here, dressed in leather, riding a bike and wielding a cross bow. Having the gall to call himself a Hunter. He was lucky he hadn’t shot himself in the foot. Yet. Surely that was only a matter of time.
Trying to prove himself to nobody because nobody was left and nobody cared.
Now he was out for one more day of the same. It would seem that he didn’t know when it was best to give up.
With a sigh, Wesley looked off down that long stretch of road again, flanked on both sides by the ever more exciting wheat fields that were nearly all Iowa actually seemed to contain. Which wasn’t true, he knew, but at times it certainly seemed a never ending dismal sight. He supposed that it could be considered soothing, relaxing. …He was seriously beginning to miss Chicago. Plenty of decent bars there, good to either con someone playing darts or pool, or maybe let someone take him home for the night. Both good ways to knock him out of any contemplating moods that threatened to turn far too self-pitying. Perhaps he could stop in the next city here and get himself sloshed.
Plan now firmly set in his mind, he pulled out of the parking lot of the small hotel he had stayed at, heading down the long stretch of road into the sun, noise from the bike ripping through the early morning silence.
Two towns and he wasn’t sure how many miles later the sun was beginning to set behind him and he blew past a green sign that announced his arrival to the town of Huxley.
It was, perhaps, a little early to be stopping for the night – he more often drove well into the dark – but honestly he couldn’t care less. The thought of that drink still plagued him. Maybe he could even find a warm body for the night. Plus, one never knew, evil could be afoot in Huxley.
Only as he drove slowly along the streets, eyes on the lookout for a bar of any sort, it quickly became apparent that there simply wasn’t one.
Well…surely there would be much more evil afoot in the next town. A town with a bar in it preferably.
Luckily enough there was a small town not too far outside of Huxley, complete with easy to find bar. Nothing much, small and probably only sparsely crowded if the lack of any amount of vehicles outside was indication. But, at least it was something.
He pulled up in the small gravel lot, in front of the windows so that he’d be able to keep one eye on the bike. Last thing he need was to have his only transportation stolen or vandalized. Not too mention his saddlebags were there. Everything he had left was there. The thought was depressingly sobering.
Kicking his thoughts away from the maudlin, Wesley moved to the door and stepped in. Dark, and clean and…sort of homey. Probably, he wasn’t going to be able to bring anyone back to a hotel. The only patrons appeared to be two older men at the bar and a group of what looked to be college kids in a booth at one corner.
So one option was ruled out. That didn’t mean he couldn’t still have that drink. He slid onto a bar stool at the opposite end of the bar from the two men. He didn’t particularly want a conversation unless it was one that was likely to lead to a press of warm bodies. Even then he didn’t particularly want a conversation.
He ordered whatever they had on tap, not caring what as it would all taste like crap anyway. At least it would help to quench his throat, dry from dust kicked up by the bike for hours on end, and he could start up on the more heavy drinks later. The cheap heavy drinks, that was. Money was a tight commodity and he was unlikely to get any here. Drink too much and he would wind up sleeping on the streets with no money to buy gas for the bike the next day. A situation he didn’t particularly enjoy and he sighed once more to himself. Perhaps a drink was all that he would be having this evening. Bloody perfect.
He nursed his beer slowly, savoring this small thing at least, pleased that it didn’t even taste half bad, and let the soft noise from the others in the bar fall away.
The last thing – well one of the last things – he’d expected when he glanced around he didn’t know how long later, was for someone to be sitting next to him. Let alone a young good looking someone. Dark hair, dark eyes, he seemed to blend into the dim shadowed light of the bar.
Evil really was afoot in Huxley. Or…around it, in any case.
Heart racing at the thought that here, at last, would be his first kill, he would be able to call himself a Rogue Demon Hunter and actually have it be true. He didn’t let any expression other than mild interest cross his face though. Hoped that the vampire would just take his racing pulse as excited fear. Which it was but with a different spin on it.
Which was exactly what the vampire seemed to assume as intense eyes traveled along Wesley’s body, making no effort to hide the obvious heat in that gaze. Wesley made no attempt to hide the stab of arousal that coursed through him in automatic reaction. It may have mortified him that even a vampire could set him off like that but for the moment it worked in his favor.
The vampire lifted his gaze back to Wesley's face, eyebrow rising in a silent question. Wesley didn't bother with an answer, turning back toward the bar to down the last of his drink and then get to his feet. He didn't look to the vampire as he walked out of the bar but he could feel himself being followed.
Outside, the vampire was there and instantly taking the lead, hand fisting in Wesley's shirt to drag him along and give Wesley no choice about following to the back of the bar. Not that Wesley was going to complain, willingly letting himself be drug, hand slipping into his jacket to grasp the stake that lay hidden there.
He drew the stake just as the vampire turned, shoving Wes up against the hard wall of the bar with enough force to drive the air from him with a gasp, hand releasing its grip on the stake in surprise as fear suddenly skyrocketed and the stake clattered away.
The hard press of the vampire's body against his made him look up and into yellow eyes. The vampire, it would seem, was less than impressed.
Wesley forced himself to meet those eyes, masking the fear with a show of bravado that he was well aware never worked. The vampire looked amused as his eyes flicked from Wesley's down to the stake.
"You didn't really think a pathetic thing like you could do anything, did you?" A deep voice laced through with a growl.
Wesley gasped as the vampire pushed forward, pressing him harder against the unforgiving brick wall. He tried not to stammer in his response, suddenly and absurdly being reminded of himself as a boy being chastised by his father.
"Perhaps I could do more than you'd think."
A hand fisted in his hair had him gasping, a strangled noise coming from his throat when his head was jerked roughly to the side. He tried unsuccessfully to repress the shudder that ran through him when the vampire's lips touched his neck.
"Why don't you show me then?" It was whispered against his neck, cool lips brushing over too hot skin. The lewdness of the question was obvious, made more so by the sudden press of the vampire's hard length against Wesley's thigh.
No way to even make a show of hiding his fear now. He whimpered. Would have thrashed against the vampire's hold had he not been so firmly pinned. He, at least, had the presence of mind to try and grapple in his jacket for the cross he also had hidden.
Unforgiving fingers wrapped around his wrist, digging hard into sensitive flesh and Wesley cried out at the sudden pain. He released the almost grip he'd had on the cross.
Lord. He was going to die behind a bar in a town he couldn't quite remember the name of.
Only maybe not because shoes crunched over gravel and he realized that he'd had his eyes clenched shut. They snapped opened now though, trying to crane his head against the vampire's grip on his hair and his eyes widened at what he was sure was one of the college kids from in the bar standing behind the vampire. He had to warn the kid to get out.
But if Wesley had heard the kid coming then surely the vampire had heard first. Voice laced with menace, the vampire didn't even spare the kid a glance as he spoke.
"Best not to meddle in others affairs, human."
Wesley could only watch helplessly as the kid stepped forward. Not at all intimidated if the look of pissed off determination over his face was anything to go by. Which Wesley rather gathered it was, especially as the kid ignored the low growl from the vampire and looked very much prepared to hit him.
"I think you'd better step away."
Wesley could feel the vampire's lips turning up to a smirk against his neck. A whispered 'don't move' from the vampire, too quiet for the kid to hear, had Wesley nearly frozen against the wall as the vampire did as told. Stepping away from Wesley and turning to fix the kid with his demon gaze instead.
The kid didn't even step back, didn't even loose an iota of that steely determination, even in the face of a vampire.
That could have had everything to do with the fact that the next thing Wesley saw was the kid's fist slamming into the vampire's face with deadly precision. The kid dropped then, leg sweeping out to knock into the vampire's and topple him to the ground with a snarl. All executed with smooth deliberation.
That seemed to break Wesley from his frozen state. As the vampire hit the ground, Wesley moved, dropping to his hands and knees to scrabble for the stake. He managed to get hold of it in one searching hand.
The vampire snarled, made to lunge at the kid and most likely rip his throat out. Mid-lunge though and the stake that Wesley had hurled at the last moment buried itself in the vampire's chest. He looked a little irritated before disintegrating into dust.
The kid only stared for a moment - or three - before quietly moving over to Wesley, who was still on his knees, and held out a hand to help him up. Wesley took it and let himself be hauled up by the strong grip. He was grinning and couldn't quite find it in him to bother to care about stopping himself.
His first kill, the thing that now truly let him be the Rogue Demon Hunter he claimed. True it hadn't exactly been the most traditional method of killing a vampire. And he had had help of sorts. But who cared? The point was that he had been the one to know what to do and as such he had been the one to ultimately and permanently deal with it.
He really should stop the manic grinning though before he scared the poor kid away. Who was probably traumatized over the whole, admittedly bizarre, incident. His grin faded as a look of concern passed over his features instead.
"Are you-" They both started the question. Wesley cut off with a smile to answer. "I'm fine. With much thanks to you."
"Yeah. You're welcome." Wesley got a slight smile in return but didn't miss the way the kid's eyes quickly flicked to what was left of the dust of the vampire before he focused back on Wesley. "About what just happened... Uh, what just happened?"
"Ah, yes. You're probably better off drawing your own conclusions." He went on before the kid could question him. "My name is Wesley. Wyndham-Pryce."
The kid looked like he was about to protest but after a moment he reached out a hand to Wesley once more, this time to shake. Wesley took it without hesitation and the kid returned the introduction. "Riley Finn."
"Well, thank you for the assistance." That grin was starting to make its appearance again. "Perhaps you'd let me buy you a drink as a thank you?" Not that he could exactly afford to lose the money but, well, this called for a celebration and anyway, he could always win it back at the next city in a game of darts or pool.
Riley only hesitated briefly before intrigue clearly won out and he smiled and nodded. "Sure."
Wesley had an inkling that his agreement had more to do with pumping Wesley for information over the strange event than anything but honestly didn't care. His mood had changed and he could use a bit of company. Besides, he had no intention of telling Riley anything about any of the evils that lurked in the shadows.
