Work Text:
It’s unfortunate, Andrew thinks, that the demon is so handsome. The demon has been following him and Aaron from job to job for weeks now, and Andrew is sick of it. Sick of his blue eyes and floppy auburn hair. Sick of the way his beautiful mouth quirks up when he's flirting with Andrew.
He and Aaron pull up to Wymack’s rickety house around two in the morning and they know the demon is close behind.
It’s a trap, of course.
Wymack helps them lay devil’s traps under a couple rugs and if Andrew looks close enough he can see the one carved into Wymack’s living room ceiling.
The demon, Nathaniel, walks right into it.
Andrew sits alone in the living room when Nathaniel strolls in. Blue eyes meet his and a terrible smile stretches across his handsome face.
“Minyard,” he purrs. “Were you waiting for me?”
Andrew swallows and stands, positioning himself right in the center of the devil’s trap. Nathaniel quirks an eyebrow and looks Andrew up and down.
“This is new,” he remarks.
Andrew shrugs and says, “I’m tired of fighting this. You might be a demon, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t blow you.”
Something flickers on the demon’s face.
“You like me,” he says.
Kevin almost ruins it. He and Aaron are up on the second floor landing, rock salt guns trained on Nathaniel's advancing form. The second Nathaniel steps into the light, into Andrew’s bubble, Kevin gasps.
In an instant, Nathaniel has their bodies pressed together and a knife to Andrew’s throat.
“Kevin Day,” Nathaniel drawls. “Which one of us do you think is faster?”
Andrew feels the press of the knife, the bead of blood, and he is certain this is how he dies. But the body behind him freezes.
“No,” Nathaniel chokes out.
His voice is different now. Not the (admittedly sexy) drawl Andrew has grown accustomed to.
“Lola,” Nathaniel says. “Don’t hurt him.”
Suddenly, Andrew is shoved to the floor and Nathaniel moves at an unnatural speed straight into the center of the devil’s trap.
“I’m sorry, Andrew,” he says before falling to his knees and screaming.
Nathaniel has never called him Andrew before.
Aaron runs to his twin’s side and helps pick Andrew up off the floor. Kevin stands on the edge of the devil’s trap staring at the man who is laughing hysterically on the floor. At the man who pushed Andrew to safety.
“Get out of him,” Kevin says.
Nathaniel’s eyes turn black and he slaps a hand across his own face.
“Now, Junior,” he purrs. “Look what you’ve done. You’ve given us away.”
“He said Lola,” Kevin says. “Lola Malcolm, I presume. I said get out of him.”
“Oh, Kevin,” the demon smirks. “You think I’d let this body go after his daddy finally gave me free reign? You’re stupider than you look.”
Kevin gives the demon an affronted look. Andrew exchanges a look with his brother and moves to stand next to Kevin. He studies the person in front of him and the words Kevin has been saying finally click.
“Nathaniel isn’t the demon,” Andrew says.
“No,” Kevin answers. “That’s one of the Butcher’s demons in there. Nathaniel is the person trapped in there with her.”
“Shit,” Aaron breathes. “There’s a person in there?”
The demon smirks and Kevin nods. Over the past few weeks of being followed they have seen this demon do some incredibly violent things. They’ve seen this body covered in blood. They’ve seen this body kill multiple people. They’ve seen it slit a man's throat and use the blood to make demonic phone calls. Andrew’s stomach lurches for the man trapped in there that just saved his life.
Wymack stomps down the stairs and hands a book to Kevin.
“Bookmarked page oughta do it,” he says. “Your Latin is better than mine, so you might as well.”
The demon, Lola, recoils at the sight of the book.
“You can’t,” the demon says. “You’ll kill him. I haven’t been kind to Junior’s body.”
“Aaron—“ Kevin says
“—on it,” Aaron replies as he rushes out the front door to grab his medic kit from the backseat of the Indy parked outside.
Kevin starts the exorcism as soon as Aaron comes back inside. The demon screams, and cuts open on the man’s face. A deep burn appears under one eye, and the eye clouds over a little bit. Andrew feels ill watching the blood and bruising appear on the man's body.
Just before Kevin finishes the exorcism, the demon pulls the knife out of the man’s pocket and tries to plunge it into his heart. Andrew doesn’t hesitate, doesn't think, before he runs into the circle to halt the demon’s hand. When Lola smokes out, Nathaniel sags into Andrew’s arms.
Andrew scoops him up and carries him to the couch in Wymack’s living room. When he pulls away, his entire front is covered in Nathaniel’s blood. Aaron immediately slices bandage scissors through his t-shirt and starts barking orders at Andrew, Kevin, and Wymack.
The biggest threat to Nathaniel’s life seems to be the blood loss from multiple wounds opening at once. On their own, none of his injuries seem to be mortal wounds, but together they spell trouble.
He has a bullet wound on his shoulder that is bleeding freely. Road rash covers his entire torso and makes his t-shirt stick in places. He muffles a scream as Aaron peels it off him. His face, arms, and torso are covered in cuts and burns that ooze blood and pose an immediate infection risk. Aaron tasks Kevin with putting pressure on the bullet wound and hands Andrew an irrigation solution to start cleaning some of the superficial wounds. Wymack calls Abby and then gets to work with a suture kit of his own.
Nathaniel, thankfully, passes out. Abby arrives with IV hydration and a few units of O negative she was able to grab from the fridge in the emergency room.
After what feels like hours, Nathaniel lies asleep on the couch, his torso and arms wrapped in gauze and bandages. Fluids and antibiotics run steadily through an IV in the crook of his elbow. Peeking out from under the bandages on his chest is a wrecked anti-posession tattoo that looks like it was cut and burned through repeatedly before Lola was let in.
Kevin gives the man a long look and then stomps into the kitchen to find an unopened bottle of vodka. Andrew follows him and waits until Kevin is a quarter of the way through the bottle before speaking.
“You know him,” Andrew says, a statement not a question.
Kevin takes another swig of vodka and nods.
“I met him a long time ago,” Kavin says miserably. “I watched his father kill a man for the Moriyamas.”
“He’s the Butcher’s kid?” Wymack asks from the stove where he's frying up some eggs and pancakes for everyone to eat.
Kevin nods.
“Great,” Aaron says. “The serial killer who works for the demon clan your mom accidentally sold you to as a kid is on our tail?”
Kevin glares at Aaron.
“Hey,” Wymack says. “In Kayleigh’s defense, she didn't know they were demons.”
“Yeah and technically she bequeathed him to demons. She didn’t sell him,” Andrew adds.
“Yeah,” a new voice rasps, “only psychopaths sell their kids to demons.”
All heads turn to see Nathaniel hobbling into the kitchen from the living room, one of his bandaged hands pressed into the crook of his elbow where his IV just was. Both Andrew and Aaron stand.
“You should get back in bed,” Aaron snaps.
Nathaniel raises an eyebrow.
“Technically I was on the couch,” he points out.
Andrew’s stomach swoops uncomfortably.
“Nathaniel—“ Kevin starts and the other man holds up a hand.
“I go by Neil,” he says. “I’ve never liked being named after him.”
“How long?” Kevin asks.
Neil clenches his jaw and sways a little on his feet. Andrew puts an arm out to catch him if he falls again.
“A little over a year,” Neil admits.
Multiple people suck in shocked breaths.
“How much do you remember?" Wymack asks.
Neil shrugs and says, “some of it. I kinda felt like I was handcuffed in the passenger seat while Lola was the driver most of the time.”
Neil sways on his feet again and this time Andrew puts both arms out to catch him. Neil stumbles toward him but doesn’t touch him. He stops short and rights himself. Andrew huffs out an exasperated sigh and puts a hand on Neil’s back to steady him.
“Come on,” Andrew says. “Let’s get you back in bed.”
Neil relaxes into the touch and lets himself be led back to the couch.
“Hi, Andrew,” Neil says as he settles back in his blankets. “You were amazing.”
Andrew feels that swoop in his stomach again. He gets a good look at Neil’s sincere blue eyes, his soft auburn hair, features that look so different from Nathaniel's but are still so beautiful. And Andrew realizes he may be completely fucked.