Note: This one’s basic idea was the product of a very inspirational weekend when the lil’ devils refused to get out of our minds. ;)

Note 2: The title comes from Slipknot’s “The Negative One”.

Disclaimer: This is a product of our imagination and was written only for entertainment and fun. We don’t profit from this fanfiction and we mean no harm or disrespect against any real person, culture or custom that might appear in the story.

Fandom/characters/rating/category: Slipknot, Machine Head, Corey Taylor/Jim Root, Corey Taylor/Paul Gray (past), Cristina Scabbia/Jim Root (past), Shawn Crahan, Mick Thomson/Stacey Riley, Jay Weinberg, Robb Flynn, supernatural AU, R, slash, M/M, drama, romance, hurt/comfort, angst, dark, torture, violence, demons, witches, betrayal, Stockholm syndrome, blood/gore, blood play, mating/bonding, some (kinda manly) fluff.

Full sized picture HERE

The Negative One

By S.M.A. and Useless-girl

Chapter 1

With a groan the tall man forced himself to get up and get going. He had a task to do but he had no desire to fulfill his duty. Running his hands along the shaved sides of his head he sighed and glimpsed at his favorite white guitar on its stand. He'd rather practice on it than dirty his hands for a demon clan he was starting not to believe in.

There were serious attitude changes in the leadership and Jim wasn't sure he liked where the head of his clan was taking them. But the recent events – finding the eldest daughter raped and dead – gave a good reason for the tension among their lines. Hatred towards the other clan was flaring up again, because surely they did it from the grudge that's been going on between them for fuck knows how long. They were both strong and ancient demon clans, choosing to infiltrate the music business to spread their teachings with success more often than not. That's what made them so famous and influential. But the two clans seemingly couldn't get on the same page and the feud kept going.

Jim doubted that anyone could tell the real reason why all this hostility broke out in the past. Not that he'd really care about it. He barely cared about anything anymore. All he wanted to do was play, eat and sleep – and to be left alone in his own world. But unfortunately he had duties towards the clan. His newest afternoon activity was one of them. Wanting to get over with it, he left his room, his sanctuary and headed towards the basement. Way to fuck up his day.

As he descended on the uneven stairs, he had to pull down his head not to bump it into the low and moist ceiling of the staircase. His red and black plaid shirt and black jeans were starting to cling to his long body as he got deeper into the warm belly of mother Earth.

The right holding cell was easy to recognize from another clan member standing in front of the bars. The second thing the straightening up demon saw was the man sitting on the chair with his bared and tattooed chest, hands tied behind his back. He had long dark curls with blue and red streaks in it. "What the actual fuck is with that hair?" Jim thought as his long legs took him closer. He only paused for a moment at the entrance of the cell to tell the guard that he could go. Jim was one of their best torturers, although he never really found enjoyment in the act itself. But he showed up results and that's all that mattered to their leader.

He hated the additional pressure the background of this torture had put on his broad shoulders. But they were very clear this time: he had to get the information they needed. If it was true and the other clan had done this, it meant war. Fuck his life if that broke out.

His thoughts were interrupted for a moment as the captive, some young little fuck Jim had heard about before but had never met, raised his head and the clearest pair of glowing blue eyes looked right up at him. The fucker even used some eyeliner to accelerate the color.

Ignoring that smug little half-smile that Jim found slightly annoying, he entered the cell and stepped to the small rusty table with his torture kit already prepared for him. His expression was emotionless, nearly bored as he ran his long fingers along the different kind of tools, trying to decide with which he should start. His calloused fingertips stopped at a small blade. He pulled it out from its holder and flipped it between his fingers with practiced ease before turning to his next subject.

"Corey... Isn't it? Well, I think you know why we're here. We can do this the easier or the harder way. It's up to you. I have time," he said on a bored tone.

The captive creature couldn't hold back that smirk. Holy fucking shit, what a tall, dark and gorgeous demon stood before him in all his neglecting boredom. Corey felt his heart throbbing hard against his ribs and the urge to make that annoyed/pouting lip break out in a long moan was almost a torture.

Nah, what the tall guy was offering didn't bother him. The physical pain actually exited him in more than one way. That was the main reason he was tied to that chair. His clan knew about what happened to this clan, of course. They wanted to know more about it and who was actually trying to make the two already fighting group jump at each other's throat more. They showed up in an open place near this clan’s territory and as Corey was the main masochist, he was to be taken away.

The plans were already in work for freeing him two days later at dawn but this fine piece of his "type" of male almost made him forget his duty.

“Just do what you must, dude. I like it rough and bloody anyway,” he said on a smug voice with a wide shit-eating grin, making his blue eyes glow more.

Jim raised a brow from the demon’s answer. As he glimpsed at that grinning face, he didn’t see or feel any fear in him. Fuck, this guy was going to be hard to crack, he could already tell. Fucking awesome. He was hoping that this was going to go down nice and smooth and short so he could get back to his room, guitar and perhaps a few cold beers. It didn’t seem like that it was gonna happen soon.

“Very well,” he murmured under his nose, putting down the knife on the table for a moment so he could roll up the sleeves of his plaid shirt, revealing quite a number of colorful tattoos on his forearms. He suspected that this one would end up in the trash too. Too bad, he really liked this shirt.

His expression got unreadable again as he picked up the chosen tool and stepped closer to the other male, slowly circling him with his towering presence. Although he doubted that this was gonna scare or intimidate the other demon.

“So…” Jim started, reaching forward from behind Corey to press the tip of the blade against the bare skin over the captive’s heart. “As I’ve heard, you were found on our territory, near where our leader’s daughter was found dead,” he started and pressed down harder on the knife, making the tip cut into the fair skin, drawing blood to the surface. “I need to know what you were doing there. It’s highly suspicious if you ask me…” and with that he jerked his hand back, leaving a long bleeding line up to Corey’s collarbone.

This all was so fucking exiting for Corey that he had to bite down on his lip to not smile wide. Damn, knifes were his favorite toys. As the handsome devil held him back it made his breath hitch. Little did this clan know that Corey and a few others were beasts, mixed creatures with more animalistic features and sharper instincts than the "normal" earthly demons like Jim and his clan. And they had more bloodlust too...

The small demon couldn't hold back a moan when his dark blood started to drip, and a hissing throaty groan from the cut that left him trebling and almost losing his cover. As he raised his head to look at Jim, the blue eyes lit up more with his four fangs slightly grown longer for a split second before he could get himself together.

“Then I ask you... What are your thoughts about it, big guy?”

Something unusual happened that made Jim pause. He has always been a good observer with a cool head – especially when it came to torture. But today he’d noticed a few things that kinda made him intrigued. First, the cut didn’t bring the usual painful moan he expected. It was more… as if Corey was enjoying it. Okay, that wasn’t such a big surprise since the guy’d told him already that he liked it rough and bloody. It wasn’t unusual among demons led by their instincts. Especially when someone was from Corey’s clan.

You see, Jim’s clan was a more traditional, earth-bound one. While Corey’s was a more mixed breed with stronger animalistic instincts. Jim always thought they were savages reveling in their strong bloodlust and tearing apart their enemy like some kind of uncivilized animals. It was fucking disgusting if you asked him. Jim couldn’t understand why they would prefer to give in to their animalistic side instead of using their higher skills, intelligence and senses like the tall man’s clan did. It always puzzled him, but he never took the time to get to the bottom of it. They were enemies and that was it. He didn’t care about the reasons, he was just a good soldier when needed. Especially when in the past he actually believed in the path his clan was following.

Another thing he’d noticed was the slight change in Corey’s features as he looked up at him. It was as if his mask was slipping or something before he could get a hold of himself. What the actual fuck? Jim had to take a step back to collect himself too, because what really was fucking with his mind was the fact that he kinda… enjoyed?... that moan coming from the other male… What the fuck was wrong with him today?

“I’m the one asking the questions. My opinion is none of your business,” he grunted dismissively as he walked in front of the cocky little fuck. “So the harder way it is then…” he gave Corey an emotionless expression, but there was a little spark in his dark eyes as he flipped the now bloody blade in the air a few times, drawing the demon’s attention to it and when his focus shifted, out of nowhere Jim’s fist connected with Corey’s jaw.

The little beast saw stars and murmured some curse. The big guy had a big fist, and that thought brought back Corey to his giggles and lustful moans. “Come on, sweets… You can do this better,” he looked deep into the other male’s hazel eyes, reading into Jim's very core with a confident smirk.

He had to save time to get to know these demons and their auras and powers more. His more special skills helped him to read the power of everyone around him, even in the next room.

If only this fucking sexy male would not distract him...

“Oh I’m just getting started…” Jim found himself answering the challenge in the tied up man’s voice. He was pissed off. Not just because he had to do this when he wasn’t in the mood, or the fact that this fucker was enjoying this more than he should have, but because Jim himself was starting to get into it. Something has started stirring up inside, which he didn’t understand, but it certainly was starting to fuck up his calm demeanor. It’s been a fucking long time since he got any emotion aside from boredom during a torture.

That frustration was building up in him, pulling at the strings of his own beast. He felt the urge to break this guy, to wipe that cocky grin off his handsome face… And he deliberately ignored the fact that he found him handsome. He had a job to do and if it required dirtying his hands, well, he still had to do his job.

So with that he tossed the blade back on the table without even looking and curled his hands into fists before hitting Corey harder into the face, making his lip split, the other big fist landing a few punches into his guts and then Jim gave a variation of hits until his hands started hurting and his knuckles got injured a bit too. Cursing and slightly out of breath he grabbed Corey’s thick throat firmly, his sharper nails digging into the skin as Jim jerked his head up, trying to ignore the stirring in his own pants. “What were you doing there? Did you rape and kill her?”

“I'm not into chicks, darling,” Corey grinned at him, all his blood painting his slightly longer fangs as he spit Jim's face full of it before licking his lips clean with a long satisfied moan. “Oh yeah baby, I'm sporting a bulge as well… Into males too?” the smirk he gave Jim and the front of the tall demon's slightly swollen fly before him were pure evil. This guy was just perfect.

It was something in him and his powers... He was holding back what he was. Probably one of those beasts that were "saved and transformed" by the traditional ones. Meaning they killed families and took the babies raising them to forget their instincts and force their ways on them. Poor things... Corey's clan thought they were no better than humans.

On instinct Jim back handed him hard after his face got full of the demon’s filthy blood, which’s scent was inevitably filling his nose and making his eyes glow brighter. Ignoring the annoying guy’s question Jim wiped his face off with the back of his hand, trying to decide what to do next. Why could this filthy demon’s remarks get under his skin? What was different about him? After all he was just another uncivilized animal, right? Not the first he’d tortured.

His anger stemming from the remarks and his own stirred up emotions made him turn back to Corey as his own control slipped. “Shut the fuck up!” he raised his booming voice, feeling a wave of his power building up in his arm that was already moving through the air before he could think this through. The punch hit Corey’s face from the right and the power of it made the chair tip and then the demon crashed onto the floor unconscious.

“Fuck…” Jim muttered realizing what he’d just done. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Crouching down he saw that he guy was still breathing as blood and spit were dripping from the slightly open mouth.

Feeling the force of the hit before actually reaching him, Corey started to be sure that Jim was one of his kind. How great that was. They could be mates. He just let out a giggle before hitting the hard rock floor and losing his connection to this world.

The way his giggle made Jim even more upset or how he was dragged to a small cell and on top of a bed were things he had missed out on completely as they left him to sleep till the next day.