The Competition

Author: Pippychick
Pairings: Angel/Demon, Demon/Neal, Angel/Neal
Warnings: There will be (in no particular order): Graphic sex, slash, gender ambiguity, BDSM, and a complete lack of respect for all organised (and disorganised) religion. There will probably be many more warnings applicable to this story in time, but I will update you on those as they come around. Expect horror in later chapters.
Disclaimer: They’re mine… all mine! The characters and their universe belong entirely to me. I do not, however, own Jesus. He belongs to God, and no copyright infringement is meant.


Author’s Notes: Yes, here we go again. I took this down, perhaps to lengthen and edit it, to remove some of the smut so that I could market it to a more mainstream audience… but of course I haven’t done any such thing. *blushes* It has just been sat there occasionally making me feel guilty for abandoning it. Now, a friend is making me want to write on this again (although that will probably be in the new year, since I have so many Christmas fics to write), so I thought I would post the first few chapters again, and see how they go.

This hasn’t been beta read.

The Competition

Chapter One

Angel and Demon were lovers. Their names were not really Angel and Demon, of course, they didn’t have names, but for the purposes of this story we shall call the players by name. The names are suitable ones.

Angel was all things — or so he thought. Demon thought exactly the same about himself, and yet somehow they managed to be complete opposites. Their similarities were limited. Both of them grew bored with eternity, and both of them created worlds. But there was a problem. Angel tried hard to ignore the problem at first. He looked down on his creation, and it was beautiful. The sea was blue, as was the sky. The grass was green. And the creatures that lived on his world existed in endless, perfect harmony with each other. In the beginning Angel would smile down on his creation in happiness, and his smile made the sun shine and the sea sparkle. It was perfect. It was Heaven.

But something slowly began to niggle him. He resisted the feeling as long as he could, but in the end he had to admit it to himself. The world was boring. He didn’t know what he longed for. If he had it in himself to know, then it would be. Angel thought about it over and over, but no matter how much he thought, he couldn’t see what was wrong. So he sighed softly and began again. But the new world was exactly the same. Heaven.

Demon, meanwhile, had problems of his own. He too was all things, and as such he thought he would create a world. There was nothing wrong with his world either. He looked down on it sometimes, but often he descended into it to watch the pyrotechnics at work. His world was beautiful. The volcanoes were impressive and destructive, colouring the land around them in red and black. The sea was unruly and aggressive, frothing in anger when it hit land. The creatures that lived on his world were wonderful predators, and he watched them too with a kind of self-satisfied pride. His pride spurred the entire world to gain his attention with more and bigger displays. It was perfect. It was Hell.

But soon the fireworks and the blood and the angry sea bothered him. He resisted it for as long as he could, but eventually he had to admit the truth. As stunning as it was, the world was empty in some way. What could possibly be missing? Demon didn’t have the imagination to figure out what was wrong, and the world began to anger him. Almost petulantly, he destroyed it and began again. But the new world was exactly the same. Hell.

Time did not exist for them. So when they noticed each other it became a fact that they had always been lovers. They studied one another, and in so doing they saw their differences. Angel was surprised to find he was not all things. So too, was Demon. And they became fascinated with each other, endlessly circling around each other in the heavens while the universe waited. Eventually they drew close and clashed together, as comets will do after eternities of passing close by. The kiss was inevitable, but that too was as endless as everything else, and in the finite space between their lips a new world was created. It wasn’t Heaven, and it wasn’t Hell. It was a combination of the two.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the woods the twilight was bewitching. It was the kind of evening that someone should appreciate, and soon Angel did. He didn’t descend onto the earth, and he didn’t make his form from anything as common as atoms. He came into existence on a sigh and a wish. He was made of bluebells and moonlight, of romantic evenings and log fires. He was himself. He was Angel. He was everything he had given to the world. Angel quite simply loved the fine spring evening. He smiled at the rabbits that were not disturbed by his approach, and wondered why Heaven had not been like this. All of this was surely him.

Angel shivered when one of the last icy winds of winter nudged at him. He pulled his robes tighter around him. His robes were made from lambswool and summer embraces, and as such they couldn’t keep him from the cold at all. The woods darkened, and what had looked peacefully beautiful a moment ago suddenly seemed dark and forbidding. The trees became sinister, their branches starkly outlined against the silver moon. The rabbits that had been playing at Angel’s feet scurried quickly away, chased by a fox that burst from the bushes. He closed his eyes at Demon’s approach, wincing at the sound of the foliage as it shrivelled where he passed. When Demon’s cold hand fell onto his shoulder, Angel wanted to scream, but he didn’t. He was in love with Demon.

“Are you contemplating our union again?” His voice was deep and powerful. It reminded Angel of the furious earthquakes that befell the land, or the raging sea in the midst of a storm. Really! Why couldn’t he tone it down a little sometimes? Angel sighed in his heart, but decided to play Demon at his own game. When he turned to face his lover his smile was as brilliant as the sun in mid-summer. While the robes hadn’t helped him, now his own warmth chased the cold away, and he knew Demon felt it because he shivered in the face of it. He shivers before my warmth. Angel took in the sight of Demon quickly, completely taken aback by his clothing. Demon was dressed all in black leather. It was strangely appropriate. It suited him.

“Why would I do such a thing?” Angel asked with a little laugh as he embraced his lover. “I am love.” Where he was dark, Demon was light, and Angel pressed his lips to his lover’s hair, grateful as he did so that Demon had chosen the more palatable of his preferred incarnations this time. Demon was temptation, all blond hair and large blue eyes. He had lips that begged to be kissed, but he was not innocent, however he chose to appear. Demon’s coldness battled with his warmth in the air around them, and sure enough the familiar thunderstorm soon began. He felt Demon’s lips on his neck as the first heavy drops of rain began to fall, and he welcomed it.

“I am lust,” Demon whispered heavily, as a reminder that he was not capable of the finer emotion his lover felt. Angel didn’t care. It was enough. Demon’s lust was as insatiable as Angel’s love was endless. “You have chosen the male form again,” Demon noted with a smile against his throat as the rain soaked his hair. “Is it something you are beginning to favour?”

“Do you favour it?” Angel wanted to know. Demon pulled his lover close roughly, and Angel gasped as the embrace brought their bodies into intimate contact. They were both male, both hot and hard. It made Angel moan. “Let me love you,” he pleaded, knowing that he didn’t need to beg, but wanting to anyway. Demon laughed at him, and drew back to look into his eyes.

“Let me fuck you,” he retorted, and Angel wanted to shake his head, remembering how such altercations usually went, but instead he smiled in answer. Demon liked to see his pain when he was flesh. It was not asking for so very much to please his lover — and Demon was always pleased when Angel hurt. He looked up to the heavens, where he and Demon were still leaning towards each other to share the first kiss. Suddenly being here, in this finite place, was infinitely better.

“Or…” Demon began suggestively. “Maybe I will let you love me this time.” He looked at Angel, his gaze smouldering. “You could tie me up again,” he said deeply, his eyes closing now in desire. “Make me accept you even while I beg and plead for it to stop.” Angel began to shake his head, unable to understand his lover’s needs sometimes. But then Demon’s next words made his heart race. “Imagine how good it would feel to be inside me again, Angel. So slowly as I know you like to do it, making me moan and breathe your name.” It was the perfect thing to say, and Angel suddenly needed that more than anything.

“Oh, yes,” he moaned helplessly, rubbing his hips against Demon longingly. “Let me,” he begged. Demon grinned in the form of temptation. He was irresistible, even to Angel, whose love was pure.

“Only if you force me to,” he challenged. Angel groaned, but didn’t make a move to restrain his lover. “Then I think you have decided for us both,” Demon breathed as he laid Angel down on the ground. He looked like a sacrifice to the invented devil, his white robes contrasting with big brown eyes and darker hair. Demon ripped the robes from Angel’s form impatiently; taking in the sight as the warm rain immediately fell on his fair skin, making it wet and luscious. Demon licked the rainwater from his lover’s ribs, feeling him tremble.

“You want to please me, don’t you,” he stated, watching Angel’s dark lashes flutter as he closed his eyes.

“Yes,” he admitted. “Let me please you.” Demon smiled. He was going to enjoy this…


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


If it was possible for Angel and Demon to have a lover’s tiff, then that is precisely what they were doing. But this argument was special. This had been raging forever. Angel and Demon were endless, and together they had watched while the world they created between them grew. Seemingly all at once there was a brand new kind of animal, something special, something that neither Heaven or Hell had ever seen. This animal was aware. And the argument between them came to have words. Their disagreement was not serious. Both of them admitted to their need for each other. But it existed nevertheless.

“You have to admit, they created places like this for me.” Angel stood in the small churchyard looking up at the building and the spire with a smile on his face. He took the building of churches as a compliment. Demon sniggered.

“You think so?” He stood not far from Angel, but his eyes took in different details. The carved stone gargoyles belonged to him, as did the graveyard. And besides, Demon was well aware that without him, there would be no need for a church. “They need me, just as you do.” But Angel wasn’t listening. Demon narrowed his eyes and followed his lover inside the church. One of their creations was in here.

Angel and Demon could choose to be invisible, and they did so now, so as not to disturb the human. Both of them had learnt to their cost that appearing to their creation was not a good idea. Indeed, it had been that very bad idea that led to the invention of churches and Gods.

Angel followed the man as he went about his business, watching as he ensured there was a prayer book for each of the parishioner’s, replacing some of the candles that had burnt down too low to be of any use. Then the man fell to his knees in the front of the church and prayed. His lips moved silently, and Angel smiled on him, sending him peace.

“They aspire to Heaven,” he said in pleasure.

“My dear Angel, that is only because they have no idea what Heaven is.” Demon looked up to study the life-sized effigy of the man who was bound to the cross, and smirked. He had been fun! But Demon had lost that time. He looked around to find Angel smiling at him, and the violence that was his wanted to hurt his lover suddenly. But it would not make any difference to kill Angel while he was in the flesh. It would only make him ignore Demon for a while. Besides, his smile was not the smirk Demon would wear if he had been winning. No, Angel was pure.

“Well, they certainly don’t want Hell,” Angel said helpfully, and Demon raised an eyebrow.

“You think not?” One of these days he would have to take Angel to a cinema. He watched as his lover bent to whisper into the mortal’s ear. Whatever he said made the man smile and clasp his hands together tightly. “What did you say?” Demon asked.

“I love you,” Angel replied softly. Demon walked over to the two quickly and stooped to give the man a message of his own. He watched in satisfaction as the man rose hastily to his feet and all but ran from the church. He laughed. Angel regarded him suspiciously. “Lust again? That’s not very nice, you know.”

“You seem to like it when I show it to you,” he flashed back. “But no, that was not lust. It was pride.” Angel looked back at him questioningly. Demon shrugged. “I told him that you loved him.” Why shouldn’t the man be proud of that? Demon was.

“You still made him run away,” Angel pointed out, and Demon seethed. Yes. The man had run away from his voice as though it was wrong. But they had found the man here. It would be different outside. Again, Demon looked up at the cross.

“I think we should have another competition.” Angel’s head whipped around from where he had been stood leafing through one of the prayer books.

“No. Last time was enough.”

“But things have changed now,” Demon argued. He strode from the church, and Angel followed him with a sigh. “Besides. It’s not up to you. You know you won’t be able to help but rescue the poor thing from me.”

Demon was quite right. He wouldn’t leave any part of this world to belong entirely to Demon, just as Demon would not allow any part of their creation to belong entirely to Angel. “Who?” he asked, capitulating.

From nowhere a clear whistle split the early morning air. They watched together on the steps of the church as a young man emerged from the woods. He was walking backward, looking back down the path. But he turned around again when a big, red, lolloping dog came rushing up the path towards him. He was tall, with long dark hair and blue eyes. In looks he wasn’t entirely unlike Jesus — the Jesus they had known anyway, Demon was surprised how often the artists got it wrong — but Demon thought things might go a little differently this time around.

“Him,” Demon said decisively. Angel nodded helplessly. The game had begun.


To be continued…

Author’s Note: Thank you for reading, I hope you are enjoying it. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. Constructive criticism especially so.