Another Time, a Different Dimension

Disclaimer: The characters from the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter Series does not belong to me; neither do the characters from the X-men.

Warnings: This story contains Slash M/M relationships.

“This is getting us no where,” Logan growled.

We sat at a café sipping on coffee, and waiting for the twins to finish browsing in a store across the street.

“They like to shop more than I do,” I said tiredly.

I was exhausted. It was almost nighttime, and the twins still had yet to finish shopping. After the mall where their mom dropped them off at, we had followed them for three hours before they left it and walked around the town. They entered nearly every store on the street, one or the other coming out with a new bag with the stores logo printed across it.

They had several bags, which must have been pretty heavy, but they carried them with ease.

Must mean they do this a lot, I mused to myself. I stared down at my coffee tiredly; twirling the stirrer slowly and watching the dark color slowly turn cream.

“They’re leaving,” Logan said, getting up.

I followed him reluctantly. I nearly ran into him when he stopped suddenly in front of me.

Scowling I looked over his shoulder (he is short) to see what had caused him to stop so suddenly.

Silvies red Volkswagen had pulled up besides the twins. Glancing around. I didn’t see our jeep anywhere. Scott’s good at the whole following undetected thing.

Bags were loaded into the back, lots of bags. Silvie drove off, waving to her boys. A few heartbeats later I saw Scott driving by. He didn’t even glance at us.

The two brothers walked off down the street minus several bags, talking softly. Following them all day showed that, while they looked the same, they were completely different people. I’m not entirely certain which one is which, we never got to close to them; but it seemed as if one was more quiet then the other, more serious. They also didn’t seem to be very close, like I’d think twins would be. Acting more like friends then brothers, not even close friends at that.

Logan had mentioned earlier a strange sent coming from the two. One scent different then the other. He had no idea what they smelt like, but he had said it was somewhat familiar, though he couldn’t pinpoint it.

By the time the twins had reached their destination, it was dark. The streetlights and store signs were lit. The sign above the building the two boys entered gave both me and Logan pause.

“’Guilty Pleasures’? Sounds like an adult store…or a strip club,” I shifted nervously.

“What’s wrong, Wings? Nervous ‘bout entering a strip club? Or is it the fact that it might be an adult store that bothers you? Never been to one?” Logan smirked.

I glared at him, not bothering to answer that. Of course I’ve been to a strip club before.

That was a while ago though…

There was a bouncer at the door that let us in with a nod. Entering the building I didn’t notice the frown Logan was wearing until he turned towards me.

“I couldn’t smell him,” he said, slightly disturbed.

“Do you have any holy items?”

A lady stood behind a counter asked. “You’ll need to check them in here if you do, it’s the rules.”

“Holy items? No, we don’t,” I answered confused.

“She smells weird,” Logan mumbled into my ear, “kind of like the twins.”

“Twins?” the lady smiled, not noticing our surprise, “yes, they are here today. They should be on stage later on tonight. They are quiet popular here.”

“Come on, let’s go Logan,” I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him further into the building.

“How was she able to hear me? There is something seriously wrong with this town, and I don’t like it.”

It was a male strip club.

I nearly gawked at the man on the stage, but managed not to. I noticed Logan looking at me with a slight smirk on his face.

“Uncomfortable, Fly boy?”

“No, course not,” I lied. I knew that he knew that it was a lie, but I still had to deny it.

“We should split up and search for Gregory and Stephen,” Logan glanced around at the crowd, “I don’t see either one of them here. Be careful though, I sense that most of these people here are…different, though I can’t tell exactly how.”

“Right.”

“Oh and Warren?” I turned around, quirking an eyebrow, “try to keep your mind on business, and not pleasure.”

And with that, Logan disappeared into the crowd.

“Asshole,” I swore.


Ten minutes later, there was still no sighting of the twins.

There were women and men alike, crowding the stage, waving large amounts of bills around in the air. The man on stage was extremely good looking, with bright red hair and very pale skin that seemed to glow under the stage lights.

I realized I was staring, and immediately turned away, slightly flushed. My abrupt movement caused me to bump into the man standing slightly behind me.

“Sorry,” I apologized hastily, trying to go around him.

“It is quiet alright, monsieur.”

The soft, musical voice caused me to glance over my shoulder as I walked a way. I caught a glimpse of long black hair that seemed to blend into the dark room, and dark brown eyes that were watching, then the crowd covered the view.

A strange feeling went threw me, as if I recognized him. But I’d never seen the man before.

I was musing over the strange feeling when someone else bumped into me. I felt liquid sliding down my shoulder, and onto my right arm and shirt front. Looking down in horror I realized someone had just spilled some sort of wine all over my expensive suit.

“What the hell?!”

“Watch were you’re going!”

“Watch were I’m going?! You just spilled alcohol all over my suit, you asshole!”

“You’re the one who bumped into me! You should be paying more attention to where you’re going, if you’re so worried about ruining your suit!”

Great! Just great! This is just what I needed! First we get sucked into some weird alternate universe where all my money is gone and now some dimwit has just spilled wine on the suit in which I put a lot of money into!

Glaring eye to eye with the man who just ruined my clothes, I couldn’t help but notice how attractive he was.

His shoulder length golden hair glowed slightly under the dim lights of the club, it looked soft and covered half his face. The one eye that I saw was a crystal blue that I’ve only seen on a husky. The rest of his face was perfect, if a bit feminine looking. He was wearing a loose, silky blue shirt tucked into extremely tight black leather pants and high boots.

It was strange that I even noticed how good looking he was. Especially since he had just ruined my suit, and was trying to be innocent about it.

Well, no matter how attractive he is, he’s paying for the damage!

“If you were paying so much attention to where you were going, then why the hell did you bump into me and ruin my expensive as hell suit?”

There was a few seconds of silence. I stood there, arms crossed, glaring angrily at the man. The man stood there just as silently, the empty glass in his left hand, the other hanging limply at his side. His glare would have been more effective, though, if I could see both his eyes, and not just one.

“Asher, Asher, wait up!”

A female of small stature pushed thorough the people around us. She looked Mexican, with wavy dark brown hair and eyes. She seemed to be out of breath as she stood beside us.

“You should have waited till he had finished his proposal, Asher,” she said to the man, ignoring me. “Jean-Claude knows it’s not a good idea, but it’s the only way. We went over all other options, this is the only one that has a remote chance of working.”

The man, Asher, was silent, I took my eyes off the woman (she was a pretty little thing) and glanced at him. He was still glaring at me, completely ignoring the woman as she waited for him to reply, the rude bastard!

“I hope you don’t think that I’m going to pay for the damage? It was you that ran into me,” he said finally.

“What the fuck?! Like hell you are! This suit costs more than your life, jackass!” I yelled in his face, stepping in closer till we were practically nose to nose.

“What the hell is going on Asher? Who is this guy?” the woman asked, seeming slightly alarmed from the yelling.

“It’s nothing, Anita,” Asher broke eye contact and turned towards her, “tell Jean-Claude that I’ll think about the offer, but that’s it. I don’t want any involvement what so ever.”

With that he turned and walked away.

“Hey! Asshole!”

He ignored me, and I followed him through the crowd towards the back of the club, leaving the woman behind us in the crowd. He opened a door and was about to go in, but I grabbed his arm before he could.

Swifter than my eyes could follow, he flung me against the wall and held me there. My mouth opened in surprise. A mutant?

“I am not paying for your suit,” he said firmly, glaring at me with one eye again. He pushed me again for emphasis and went through the door, closing it silently, but firmly behind him.

I glared at the door for a minute, deciding what to do. Realizing how childish I was being by standing there, I wandered off wondering what to do next.


Wandering around looking slightly lost, I found, was not a good idea. Especially if a very persistent man was on the loose.

“I tell you, I’m with someone. Please get out of my way,” I said rather nervously. I’ve never had a guy hit on me before.

“From what I see, you’re by yourself, sweetie,” the annoying man smiled flirtatiously at me. “My names Jason, what do I call you?”

“I’m really not in the mood for this, move!”

Now don’t get me wrong, this Jason character wasn’t unattractive. Actually he was quite cute. Blond hair, blue eyes…there seemed to be a lot of them around here.

“Not going to tell me, are you? I’ll just give one to you,” the man thought, moving to block my path when I tried to get around him again. “How about…Angel?”

I nearly choked. How did he know?

“Don’t like it? Well then how ‘bout just Sweetie, then? Sound better to you? Though I think you do look rather angelic.”

I nearly sighed with relief. It must have just been a lucky guess.

Just then the music changed, and the noise around us went silent. The lights overhead darkened slightly and the light on the stage turned a sultry red.

The two figures that stepped on stage were familiar.

Well, I guess I found the twins.

“What’s goin’ on here, Warren?”

I looked up and saw, to my extreme relief, Logan walking towards us. Jason seemed to nearly growl at the older man as he came up and stood beside me.

“It’s about time,” I said to him under my breath.

“Sorry, I was a bit distracted,” he murmured back.

“Excuse me, but I was talking to him,” Jason took another step closer to me, causing me to back up into the wall.

Damn! I tried not to shift my wings to much in their cramped harness, but I was getting way to uncomfortable here!

Logan put a strong hand on Jason’s chest and pushed him back slightly.

“Hm, you are pretty strong for a human,” Jason looked surprised, “Most people wouldn’t be able to push me back like that.”

“’For a human’? What the fuck is that suppose to mean?”

Jason smirked.

“What? You can’t tell? I’m not even trying to hide it!” he leaned forward so that his face was in Logan’s. “I’m a werewolf, of course!”

Logan’s face matched my own of disbelief.

“So that’s why you smell so much like a dog,” was all he said, before pushing Jason even harder. He pushed him again, but wasn’t able to move Jason anymore.

“Don’t you ever give up, human?” Jason asked in exasperation, clamping a hand on Logan’s arm.

“And what makes you think I’m human?” Logan smirked up at Jason.

“Logan,” I warned, “don’t say anything stupid.”

He let out a near animalistic growl, his hands curling to fists.

“Wait, hold on a sec Logan, I think it’s time for us to go, Scott is probably waiting for us,” there was a near plea in my voice as I tried to get between them.

“Get out of the way, Angel, no one insults me and gets away with it.”

“But he didn’t even insult you!”

“Yea, he did,” he pushed me out of the way to hard, and I smashed into the wall. “He didn’t get out of my way.”

“What’s going on here Jason, need any help?”

By this time we had a slight audience that surrounded the little corner. So much for being inconspicuous.

The man that stepped out from the surrounding people was tall. His hair was dyed neon green and he was wearing something that belonged on S&M porn. His voice, when he spoke, was deeper then most peoples, and I assumed he was another werewolf, like Jason.

“Zane,” Jason greeted with a grin, “this one should be easy, no need for back up this time.”

“Angel, you gonna leave me hangin out here, bub?” Logan growled at me.

Geez! He’s the one that pushed me out of the way!

“Fine, but Scott isn’t going to be very happy about this, you know,” I sighed. “My suit is ruined anyways.”

“I’ll handle our fearless leader, you just handle the skinny guy.”

I took off my tie as I walked forward. I was not happy about this. If Logan could just barely push Jason out of the way, how was I supposed to handle his buddy?

“How long are you going to take there, pretty boy?” the new guy, Zane, asked as I unbuttoned my shirt a bit.

“Wolverine,” I said, ignoring the question, “try not to hurt him to much.”

With that, I swung hard with my right and landed a hard one right into the smirking mans stomach, causing him to double over. By the sound of it, I could tell Logan had already started fighting the other werewolf.

Grabbing Zane by his greasy green hair, I smashed his face into my left knee. Not letting go, I hauled him up and punched him in the face. Or at least, I tried to.

My hand was caught in a tight grip. I tried to pull away, but couldn’t.

“Not bad, pretty boy,” he smirked at me as I kept trying to pull away. His hand wasn‘t human, it was clawed and furry. “That actually hurt.”

He threw me into the wall (I was getting a bit tired of being thrown into it) and slashed at me.

The sound of expensive silk ripping filled my ears. The pain that followed was almost blinding. The damn piss ant ruined my suit even more!

“Damn it! Why is everyone going after my suit!?” I growled. Leaping forward I grabbed Zane by the arm and swung him into the air.

The crowd around us scattered as Zane fell.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that the twins were no longer on the stage. Straightening up in alarm, I looked over at Logan and saw that he was struggling on the ground with Jason over him. Animentium claws glinted in the dim light, the startled look of confusion on Jason’s face was almost funny.

The rush of air warned me, and I turned around to get a face full of leopard. Guess he wasn’t a werewolf then.

The impact nearly knocked me off my feet, I braced myself, trying to get the cat off me. Sharp claws dug into my shoulders and stomach, ripping skin and suit.

The pain gave me more adrenaline, and I was finally able to tear the snarling leopard off. As I did I felt a small tug and snap at my neck, and I realized the image inducer had just been ripped off by one of Zanes claws.

I bent quickly and picked it up, grimacing at the pain from the claw marks across my body. The broken image inducer lay in my light blue hands, completely useless.

Glancing around quickly I was relieved to see that most of the people had run out of the club when the fight had started. The rest were scattered every where, watching the fight from a distance. Zane was crouched down in front of me, giving me the same expression I saw on every other persons face, complete and utter shock.

I was amazed that no cops or bouncers had come to stop the fight so far, it must not have been as long as I thought.

I turned towards Logan and Jason, we had to get out of here before anything else happened.

Logan had Jason dodging attacks, both of them were in bad shape, blood spilt everywhere. I wasn’t so much worried for Logan as I was for Jason. I knew that Logan could heal quickly, and it’d take more then a few swipes from a werewolf to hurt him. Jason, on the other hand, I wasn’t so sure of, even being a werewolf. Having some one die would be a very bad thing.

“Logan, we have to get out of here, now!” I shouted over the fighting.

I was ignored by both of them, they were to intent on their fight to let anything outside of it to interfere. Rushing over, I grabbed Logan from behind, not a very bright idea I found out as he hurled me off of him.

I hit something hard, but it wasn’t a wall. Hands grabbed my shoulders before I could turn around, I never let people touch my back or shoulders, I was sure that the hands could feel the lumps on my back. I felt a breath on the back of my neck before I even heard the soft, sexy voice that warned me to stay still. That voice was most definitely male and I almost recognized it, I couldn’t help but feel a slight stirring of desire.

The sudden quiet made me realize that the fighting had been stopped. Looking over towards Logan I saw a man with long wavy black hair holding Jason by the throat. Logan was on the ground in a daze, that man must pack quiet a punch to do that to him.

I started to struggle, we had to get out of here, who knew what these people did to mutants?

“Stay still,” that sexy-but-male voice said, slightly irritated. The hands on my shoulders clamped down harder, causing my wings to twitch in pain.

“Let go!” I nearly shouted in panic, any sort of damage to my wings, especially after what Apocalypse did, put me into a near frenzy.

“Just calm down-!”

“I think if you just let him go, Monsieur, he will calm down on his own,” another voice came from the sides.

The same dark haired, dark eyed man that I had ran into briefly, stepped into view. He smiled at me, seeing that I had recognized him and seemed to be slightly pleased about it.

Once the arms started to relax around me, I pulled away quickly, and turned to glare at the man that held me captive. A single crystal blue eye glared at me, as if daring me to say anything.

“Of course it would be you!” I growled angrily. It was the bastard that had first ruined my suit before it got put through the shredder, Asher.

He chose to ignore me, and glanced instead over my shoulder to the scene behind me.

I followed his gaze and saw that Logan had regained his feet, and was walking towards me, angrily shooting glances at the dark haired man still holding Jason by the throat.

The man seemed to be reprimanding him in a low voice that I couldn’t hear, and by the look on Jason’s face, I don’t think I would’ve wanted to hear.

Logan came up beside me, eyeing my skin. “The inducer?”

“Broke,” I said shortly, holding up my right fist which held the broken pieces of the image inducer.

“Well, we sure got our asses whooped, don’t you think?”

“You shouldn’t’ve picked a fight like that,” I scowled him, “Now look what’s happened. My suit’s in shreds, my inducer is ruined so now people know I’m a mutant, property is ruined, and Scott’s going to kick both our asses!”

He crossed his arms and leaned back slightly, giving me a look as you would give a five year old in a temper tantrum. It pissed me off even more, and I would’ve said something more, but movement out of the corner of my eye stopped me.

The dark haired, dark eyed man that I had bumped into earlier glided slowly towards us, a look of curiosity on his face.

“A mutant you say? Is that the reason for your skin coloring?”

At my quiet nod, the man leaned in a bit closer.

“How strange…I’ve never heard of it before. Where are you from?”

“Never heard of it before? What? Mutants, or blue skin?”

“Blue skin, of course I’ve lived for a long time, but in all my years I’ve never heard of a man with blue skin. People who call themselves mutants usually refer to werewolves or other preternatural creatures. Blue skin is quiet unique.”

“Right, then what the hell are you, a werewolf?” I scowled back at him.

“A vampire, of course.”

“Of course, sure, I knew that,” I glared over his shoulder to Asher, “and I assume you’re one as well?”

Instead of answering, he bared his teeth and hissed softly. It made me a bit nervous when I saw those long canines, though the hissing was a bit much.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I murmured to Logan, who stood there silently watching the exchange.

“Can you tell us what exactly happened here?” the brown haired vampire asked.

“Who are you anyway? The owner?”

“No, that would be Jean-Claude, over there. My name is Osha,” Osha waved towards the man holding Jason by the throat, who, by the way, was turning slightly purple in the face.

“I’ll tell him, then, whenever he’s done strangling Jason.”

“You can tell me,” Asher said, “I’m Jean-Claude’s second.”

Giving him a doubtful look, I told them the short, testosterone filled story.

“That’s it? That’s all that caused this ruckus?” Asher said incredulously.

“Yeah, Logan here never backs down from a fight, pointless or no.”

That earned me a glare from Logan, who was being quiet. Which was smart since he was the one to start the whole mess.

“We will, of course, reimburse you,” Jean-Claude walked towards us, the near unconscious Jason sprawled out on the floor behind him. “You have my most sincere apologies, Mr…..?”

“Worthington. Warren Worthington III,” I clasped the offered hand. “Thank you for stepping in like that, usually nothing stops Logan when he gets like that.”

“Mr. Worthington, I had no choice but to step in, if I wanted to still have a club in the morning,” he with drew his hand, and I tried not to notice how cold they were.

Vampire, definitely a vampire.

“We should get going, Warren,” Logan said in a lowered voice as Jean-Claude and his second started talking to each other. “Scotty boy is probably wondering where the hell we are.”

“Well, I don’t see how we’re going to get anywhere with the way I look right now,” I growled back at him, eyeing the three vampires that where currently ignoring us, “my suit’s a mess, as is my inducer, which by the way, I won’t be able to get fixed until we get back to the mansion, even if the mansion is still here, where ever here is, and it’s a long walk back to the hotel we’re staying in. Someone’s bound to notice something wrong with me.”

Logan scowled back at me, “Well, of course we’re not going to take a taxi with the way you’re looking right now, idiot.”

“Then how do you expect me to get back?”

He grabbed a piece of my torn suit and tugged me further away from the vampires.

“The way I see it we have a few choices, the easiest one being we call the hotel we’re staying at and tell Scott to come pick us up.”

“That sounds reasonable, let’s do that.”

“Yea,” Logan crossed his arms angrily. “We lost the two kids because of that idiot pervert over there.”

“Let’s just hope that Scott had better luck than us,” I decided not to mention that he was the one that egged the whole thing on, no matter how annoying Jason was.