Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction which will include t/t and m/m relationships, and probably some sex too. If it is illegal in your area to read this, or if you are not old enough to read this (you know who you are), stop here. Otherwise, please enjoy.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is a companion story to "Things that Go Bump." The story lines are related and the characters will occasionally interact. The stories begin at roughly the same time. My sincerest thanks go out to Tarton and Darryl the Radio Rancher who kindly edited this chapter. And thanks to everyone for writing such encouraging emails.
I am now posting my stories to a Yahoo!Group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jaygordon_1981/ as well. I'm putting them up there a little in advance so I can make final edits before submitting to Nifty, so if you are interested, you can check it out. It's closed membership to avoid spam and flames, so just let me know!
A Light in the Darkness, Chapter 13
"It's the End of the World as We Know It"
The air around Chase pulsed and glowed as he was completely surrounded by an angelic shield. He'd never called the shield up before with such force, and it raced out from him to meet the two spells aimed at him, neutralizing them completely.
As the little teen stood, his eyes fairly glowed as he raised his hands. Blue light began to fill the air around him in a swirling mass he controlled with the tips of his fingers. The vortex was so thick with power that Chase could not be seen at its heart.
The queen looked at Avery with an uncertain look on her face as a weak voice called from the center of the storm, "Do you yield?"
"Never," the queen answered, casting another spell at the impudent boy. But the dark magick was swallowed up by the light surrounding him.
"Very well," he called, drawing his hands inward. William, perceiving what was about to happen, fell to the ground on his face, followed shortly by Sebastian and Lt. Spencer. Suddenly the vortex of blue flame exploded outward in all directions at a terrifying speed. All around, wizards and witches were blasted against the walls of the garden, against the house, against vehicles. The queen was knocked off her feet and into a wall nearly forty feet behind her.
Only Chase remained standing, and he dropped his arms, finished. "Are you alright, William?"
William rose to his feet and ran to the boy. "I'm fine.... Sebastian and I, and Lt. Spencer got down in time. Everyone else will be okay when the shock wears off. Avery and the queen will probably need some Aleve," he added with a laugh. "That was amazing!"
"I wouldn't have, but ... attacking a blind kid from behind isn't very nice!" Chase answered with a weak smile, and William helped him sit down.
Some of the queen's men helped her to her feet and she walked up to Chase, William standing by him. "How dare you?" William demanded in a loud voice.
"I am ... truly sorry," the woman said, bowing her head slightly, "but it was the only way...."
"The only way to what?" Chase asked.
"To complete the test," Sebastian interjected. "When you matched Avery, the only way to raise the test to the next level was to add a second Marshal to the contest...."
Chase wore a look of confusion on his face. "What does all this mean?"
Smiling at the cameras, the queen took his hand and helped him to his feet, "It means that, for the first time in a thousand years, there is a third Marshal of the wizards, my lord, Grand Marshal!" With that, the queen and all the wizards under her command, dropped to one knee and bowed to Chase.
William leaned in and whispered to him, "They're all bowing, your Excellency," the last bit with a teasing inflection.
"Please, please rise," he said, his voice faltering. "I assure you, your majesty, I am not what you think I am," he added, his voice faltering.
"My dear boy, you have just defended yourself against two of the most powerful wizards and witches of all time! Without the benefit of sight! I assure you, you are not what YOU think you are!" With that, the woman added, "I apologize that we do not have your uniform ready, but we'd only anticipated a lower rank, my lord!"
Chase just nodded. "If this is your way, then I accept it," he said.
At last, the queen smiled and curtsied. Turning to William and pinning an insignia on his collar, she said, "Colonel, take your husband inside. He's tired. We'll leave your uniform with the High Consul...." With that, the crowd disassembled and the queen and Avery retreated with Sebastian to his office for a conference before her departure.
William, meanwhile, helped Chase upstairs and onto the inflatable and snuggled up next to him. "I AM tired," Chase said. Then he giggled. "She called me your husband!"
Taking Chase's left hand in his own so that their rings were touching, they both felt the vibration of the energy as the two rings met. "It's true, isn't it?"
"Yes," Chase sighed, as he put his head on William's chest. "What are we going to do?"
"I don't know.... There's a limit to what we can do here to help," William said.
"I know. They can reach us at home if they need us, but.... Don't you think everyone is safer with us here?" Chase asked.
"No, I don't.... Anything they do to our loved ones to hurt is ... it works even if we're not around. Better for the bad guys because we aren't there to protect them," William said.
"If Sebastian's okay, I just want to go home," Chase said, running his hand over William's stomach and squeezing him.
"Alright," William sighed from the warm tickling feeling generated by the light touch of Chase's hand. The boys relaxed and later William went to get Chase a snack. Finally he was getting his energy back, and the boys went down to find Sebastian, who was sitting alone in his office with his back to the door.
"Sebastian," Chase said hesitantly, causing the vampire to turn in his chair and look at them blankly for a moment before coming to himself. "Are you alright?"
"No," he said with a sad smile that bespoke a deep weariness. The ancient vampire was feeling every second of his millennia weighing on him. "But I'll make it. He's out there somewhere.... He may be beyond our reach, but he's out there."
William nodded. "Chase and I are feeling a little ... homesick, and there doesn't seem to be a lot we can do here, right now...."
"Of course," Sebastian said, rising and putting his arms around the two boys. "Thank you for all you did.... All you tried to do...."
"You'll call if there is anything else we can do?" Chase asked, worried for his friend.
"I promise," Sebastian said, smiling and giving him a peck on the cheek. "Now go, and try to forget all this for a while.... Maybe go on vacation?"
"We couldn't," Chase said. "School...."
"Forget school," Sebastian said. "You can always make it up? Go, have fun, maybe a tropical island beach, you and your family! Take your friends too!"
"Sebastian?" Chase asked, his concern deepening.
"Just think about it?" Sebastian asked, trying not to plead.
"Alright," William said. "We'll think about it...." Chase's face contorted but he didn't say anything, and the two departed via the portal to Chase's back yard.
When it closed behind them, Chase, sounding very despondent, said, "He thinks we're going to lose.... He wants us to enjoy the time we have left...."
"I don't think so," William said softly. "I think he thinks you're next...."
And they didn't know which idea was more appealing.
Back in his office, Sebastian picked up his phone and dialed a number he'd only used once in many years. The old man picked up and answered, "Petrus Marcus D'Angelico...." He sounded older than the last time they spoke, and only weeks had passed.
"Father Peter? It's Sebastian...."
"Sebastian," the old man said. "The Holy Father was an unhappy man after your last conversation," he added with a grim laugh.
"Have they looked over the intelligence I provided?" Sebastian asked.
"Yes.... They were in doubt until the events of recent days. The revelation of the Beast has, of course, confirmed everything you warned us of."
"I'm sorry, my friend," Sebastian said, "I truly am.... What will the Church do? Will they agree to work with us?"
"The Holy Father has summoned all available Cardinals who can reach Rome within the next two days to a conclave. They'll decide then," Father Peter sighed.
"That's too late! By then ... he may have done irreversible damage!" Sebastian fumed.
"The Beast will not rest," the man agreed. "If there was anything I could do...."
"Do you still have full access to the Vatican archives?" Sebastian asked, cautiously.
"Full access," the man acknowledged, the question lingering in his tone.
"As I recall from my days in the archives," Sebastian began.
"You were a naughty boy," Father Peter replied with a laugh that made him sound, momentarily like the teenage seminarian Sebastian had known.
"I wasn't alone in that, I recall, Peter my friend.... There was a special archive dealing with the fallen...."
Father Peter sat silently for a moment, before responding, "I'll go and retrieve the material -- research for the conclave. I'll call when I have it...."
"Thank you my friend.... I'm sorry to have to ask you to betray the Church," Sebastian said.
"It is not I who has betrayed the Church, Sebastian," the old man said firmly. "And, ironically, it may be you who will save it...."
After their final farewells, Sebastian turned his attention to reports flowing in by the hour from around the world. Spontaneous outbreaks of disease, crop disasters, border skirmishes and civil unrest. Sammael was making people think prophecy was being fulfilled before their eyes, stoking them for Armageddon. And at the moment, it looked as if, one way or the other, it was the end of the world as we know it.
That night, after they had talked to Chase's parents about what had been going on, William and Chase lay in bed and talked. "What should we do?" Chase asked. "Should we try to talk everyone into leaving everything behind?"
"Do you think they would?" William asked.
"Some would.... Mom and dad would...."
"Could you really leave your friends behind? Carl and Edward? Matt?" William asked.
"Maybe they'd come?" Chase asked, not really believing it. "No, I couldn't...."
"So we stay here, and do our normal thing, and do our best," William said, drawing him into a tight hug.
When they returned to school the next day, they were met by excited hugs from their friends who were in the know about their situation. But overall the mood was somber. People were afraid, tense. Kids huddled together and talked quietly, the normal din of the lunchroom subdued.
Overnight, terrorist bombs had destroyed border crossings between Gaza and both Israel and Egypt, breaking the blockade. And the disease spreading through Italy was identified as a bioweapon developed in the former Soviet bloc, a weaponized flu virus. Russia was providing countries with the information they needed to produce the vaccine, but it would take weeks before production could begin and hundreds of thousands, maybe millions would fall before a world-wide rollout was completed.
CNN was playing on a television in the corner of the cafeteria and students huddled around as the grim news got grimmer. The United Kingdom initiated an isolation, banning traffic into and out of the British Isles and placing the populace under martial law. There was talk that the United States might follow their lead, and all available national guardsmen and reservists were being called up in anticipation of that decision.
What was not being reported was that the military threat level, for both the conventional military and the strategic air command, had been raised to DEFCON 3, and heightened security measures were being put into place at American military installations around the globe.
Late in the afternoon, Father Peter made a call to Sebastian to let him know he had retrieved all the material he thought might be relevant from the Vatican archive. Shortly after that, the man wrote a letter of resignation and placed it on his desk, before stacking the books in a little duffle bag. Avery was in and out of the Vatican in moments, and the old priest was gone, leaving behind a life of service to the institutional Church.
Father Peter stepped into Sebastian's basement in front of Avery, who carried the books, and gasped. "Somehow," the old man began, "I am never prepared, though I know to expect it. You're as lovely as the day we met...."
Sebastian hugged the old man and gave him a familiar kiss on the cheek. "It has been a long time, old friend," Sebastian smiled.
Turning to Avery, the old man explained, "This is the smile that nearly stole my heart from the Church as a boy...." Father Peter had been a teenager, a high school seminarian just beginning to explore his calling to the priesthood, when he met the dark and mysteriously beautiful boy he now knew as Sebastian.
What had started as a friendship blossomed into a young romance, and Sebastian had more than once wondered whether the seminarian was the one. They'd been lying in each other's arms looking up at the stars when Peter had made his choice and let Sebastian go with a kiss.
The whole thing welled up at once in Sebastian's tumultuous soul, and he half smiled, half sobbed, "I ... found what I was looking for, Peter.... His name is James," Sebastian said, grabbing a photograph from his desk of the boy with his mother. "He loved me...."
Father Peter's eyes filled with misty sadness as he asked, "What happened, Sebastian?"
"Sammael, the Beast, has taken him...."
"Mother of God," the old priest replied. "Perhaps something in these will help us retrieve him," the man said, abruptly pulling the heavy books from the bag Avery deposited on the table. "Let us hurry...."
The three men split up the books and scanned them as fast as they could, working late into the night.
By the next evening, one thing had become clear. They could not defeat Sammael as he had planned. His rough plan was to capture Sammael in a magickal trap and have Chase used the annihilation matrix to destroy the demon. But all the literature showed that, while the procedure might work, it would fulfill Sammael's plan. In fact, it would be the easiest way to do so. To destroy Sammael completely would so destabilize the balance between good and evil that all the worlds would come off their axis, like a top that begins to wobble. Hell, maybe that was Sammael's plan: a universal suicide bombing.
"So the only way to stop this apocalypse is to convince the humans that, no matter what, they just have to keep taking it on the nose and not do anything that would destroy their world," Avery asked, incredulous.
"It's the best we've got now, he said.
And another evening deepened. Shots were fired across the Korean DMZ, wounding a South Korean commander. His troops returned proportional fire, killing three of the North's soldiers. Meanwhile, red-hatted cardinal's began arriving for early morning mass at St. Peter's before conferencing with the pope. Most of the men wore masks, because the flu had arrived in Rome.
As the grey haired potentates of the Roman Church argued from their ancient seats about how to respond to the crisis which could no longer be ignored, the doors burst open with a resounding crash. A tall, gorgeous young man in a white robe burst into the room, his shoes clicking heavily on the floor as he walked into the midst of the unofficial conclave.
"What is the meaning of this?" the pope's chamberlain called, rising to his feet. With a wave of Sammael's hand, the man was forced back into his ornate wooden seat.
"Who are you?" the old pope asked from Saint Peter's throne.
"I," the young man began and paused a long time, as his entourage entered and flanked him, plague and famine to his left, war to his right, as he giggled almost innocently, "am the star of the morning...." Again he paused, looking around, before adding, "whose coming was foretold in your prophecies," breaking off again with a mad giggle. Once more he looked around, looking suddenly very serious, and each and every man saw that his eyes were pools of burning fire. "You have no idea how long I've waited to say that," he said, cackling madly now. It was clear that whatever facade of human rationality he had constructed, his grasp on that mask was fading into his natural, irrational passion for chaos and destruction.
Rising resolutely, the pontiff called out in thickly Germanic Latin, "Get behind me, Satan!"
Sammael's grin dissipated instantly. With the roar of a thousand lions, he cried, "SIT DOWN, PRIEST!" The very force of the sonic wave knocked the man into his seat. Panic set in around the room, as the cardinals looked to the door for security. "Your nearest guards are ... incapacitated.... And YOU men, look to the guns and sabers of the Swiss Guard for your salvation! Should you not look to heaven? Where is your God, priests? Where is HE now? Mundus senescit, gentlemen! The end of all things is seriously fucking nigh, so now is your chance.... Hail ... Satan!"
Again, the pope struggled to his feet. "How dare you come into this place and demand worship!"
"How say you all?" Sammael called out with a laugh, examining the face of each man. The pope looked scandalized as three of the men rose and approached the demon and knelt down, kissing the hem of his robes. The thunder of boots reached him as the remnant of the Swiss Guard arrived. Sammael just smiled at them and said in his faux-innocent voice, pointing at the rest of the cardinals, "These men are trying to kill the pope...."
The Swiss Guard slaughtered the cardinals loyal to the pope to the last man, before Sammael released the control he held over them. With a wave, Sammael called out, "Good day, your holiness.... I leave you to preside over the end of your Church...."
The old man cried out after him as he walked out, three former cardinals trailing in his wake, "We shall rise from the ashes, stronger than before, and shall remain long after you are returned to the pit...."
Sammael turned and sneered at him like a petulant child. "We shall see," he said, stomping his foot, causing the ground beneath his feet to shake. Large pieces fell from the ceiling, some crushing the bodies of the dead, others killing and injuring soldiers, leaving the pope standing in the midst of destruction.
A few moments later, the commander of a Chinese submarine was walking from his quarters to take control from his XO when he was ambushed by a horrible demonic woman. In an instant, she was in his head and had control over him.
He walked onto the bridge and announced. "I have word from Beijing that the United States and the South have attacked North Korea. We have orders to engage naval forces of the coast of the peninsula. Our targets are here and here," he said, bringing up two ships on the display, an American cruiser and a South Korean destroyer. This is not a drill." for a moment, claxons sounded and the Chinese sailors manned their battle stations.
If they had been trained to think critically and question orders, they would have noticed that the naval force they were about to engage was not behaving defensively, was not on alert. As it was, they were just glad they had an easy mission. The submarine emptied its torpedo tubes all at once and began reloading. Both targets were hit entirely unawares, and a second round of torpedoes were in the water before anyone could respond in a significant fashion. Both ships were sunk, and other nearby vessels were incapacitated as the Chinese submarine slipped back into the gloomy deep. But not before its signature was detected by a Los Angeles class nuclear submarine, which fired two torpedoes after its target, sinking it to the bottom. Then the submarine surfaced and relayed its data to Pacific Command.
Shortly, American and allied forces across the Pacific were raised to DEFCON 2 alert status, and the Strategic Air Command put strategic bombers in the air so they wouldn't be caught with their pants down again. Within hours, chaos was breaking out in the United Nations as irrefutable evidence was presented that one Security Council member had, without provocation, committed an act of war against another, as well as another member nation.
"Mr. Secretary General," the Chinese ambassador began, "this incident is a terrible accident.... The offending vessel has been sunk. There is nothing to be gained by the United State's provocative new alert status...."
"Provocative! Provocative!" yelled the South Korean ambassador. "You sank two ships killing thousands of sailors, and you say we are being provocative by trying to make sure this isn't repeated? And are we to believe that this is not some plan, coming hours after an aggressive act across the DMZ initiated by the NORTH?"
The American ambassador was rising when he was caught off guard by an urgent message via his earwig. "Gentlemen! Gentlemen! Pacific Command has just informed me that two missiles were fired from within North Korea just moments ago.... One appears to be headed toward Seoul, the other toward our base in Okinawa."
"This is an act of war," the Japanese ambassador shouted. After a few minutes of angry shouting, the room began to fall silent as messages began to be transmitted to the ambassadors via pager, cell, pda, etc.
"Mr. Kharkhov, where will Russia stand?" the American ambassador demanded, as intelligence confirmed the appearance of a mushroom cloud over the capital of South Korea. If the missile intercept system in Japan missed the incoming device, thousands more American troops, as well as many Japanese civilians, would be incinerated.
"Russia understands that you cannot stand by in the face of this unprovoked aggression. Russia stands ready to offer moral and military support for military action against North Korea...."
The Chinese ambassador rose angrily and said, "China demands an immediate investigation. How do we know that this is not some kind of ruse? We will veto any premature action against our historic ally...."
The American ambassador arose angrily and said, "Veto away, Ambassador Chen.... But your nation's ally has aggressed, with weapons of mass destruction, against us, on the same day that your navy 'accidentally' sank two of our warships.... A United Nations with a Chinese veto is no United Nations.... Your diplomatic credentials have been revoked, and agents are standing by to escort you to the nearest airport...."
Following the dissolution of the old United Nations, ambassadors from the nations allied to or sympathetic with the United States, South Korea, and Japan met privately to hammer out a plan for an international response.
Chase had gone to the park with Matt after school so he wasn't home as the news began to flutter. Steve was sitting next to Sarah watching the news when the news breaking from the Vatican when rumors of war began to spread.
"Thank you, Neill.... I'm reporting live from Vatican City where a powerful ... tremor has damaged Saint Peter's, as well as other sacred sites.... Early reports coming out of the Vatican indicate that the toll on the Catholic Church will be great.... Official reports indicated that an unofficial meeting of all available cardinals was taking place at the time of the incident, and that as many as thirty cardinals, as well as significant portions of the Swiss Guard, were killed by falling debris.... We have official confirmation that the pope is alive and unharmed...."
The anchor, Neill, sat forward, and said, "Excuse me, excuse me.... We have confirmed reports that, just hours ago, a Chinese warship sank an American cruiser and a South Korean destroyer in South Korean territorial waters...." The graphics began to change as the man went on. "An emergency session of the United Nations is underway, and we have unconfirmed reports that North Korea has attacked the South, and Japan...." William, who was in the kitchen with Avery and Xavier, yelled for him to turn up the volume.
William and his uncles had walked into the living room to watch the news report, so everyone was shocked when a too-sweet voice from behind them said, "Such a pity, all those lives ... and of course the beautiful frescoes in the Vatican."
All eyes turned to face the lone white-robed figure. Even as Sammael raised his hands to send a shock wave through the room, William felt time crawl to a near stand-still. Chase was with Matt.... Thank God.... But the most important people in the world to them both were in this room, the people Chase needed to survive the end.... And then there was Sarah who, like his own mother had at her death, had young life growing inside of her. She saw but barely had time to register the sad smile that danced at the edge of William's lips as he leapt forward, raising his arm in a defensive gesture to raise an angelic shield that would deflect all of the energy aimed at Steve and Sarah. But he would not be behind that shield.
When the wave of energy impacted him, William was thrown across the room into a silent, unmoving heap. Steve and Sarah started to move to William's side, as Avery and Xavier laying stunned on the other side of the room, but Sammael sinisterly smiled at them as he walked to the boy's side. When Sammael disappeared, William was gone.
Steve and Sarah rushed to help Xavier and Aiden, both of whom were bleeding and unconscious. Steve quickly called 911 and asked them for an ambulance, whose sirens were Matt's and Chase's first sign that anything was amiss next door. Matt gasped and grabbed Chase's arm.
"What is it?" Chase asked, afraid to know what had shocked his friend.
"The ambulance is at your house," he said, and the boy slipped his grip and tried to run to his house, tripping on a little step up. Matt was a few steps behind him and helped him up and into the house.
"What's happening?" Chase asked with terror in his voice.
"My God," Matt whispered as he saw the living area of his friends house, which looked as if a small bomb had gone off. "It's your uncles, they're both unconscious," Matt whispered.
"MOM? DAD?" Chase called, and Sarah ran around the corner and wrapped her arms around the boy. "What happened mom?"
The woman started to speak, but a deep sob wracked her and left her silent. His father spoke gently. "Sammael ... he came here.... After he attacked the Vatican.... He was going to kill us all," Steve said, falling silent.
"But you're okay?" Chase asked, relief seeping in. "Are Avery and Xavier going to be okay?"
"They're going to make it," Steve said, with a sigh.
"But I don't understand, how did you all surv.... NO! NO!" Chase's denial didn't keep his head from spinning and he began to wobble. When he finally collapsed, it was Matt who caught him. A deep pain welled up inside of him, tinged with an anger like he'd never felt, a rage that bordered on madness and threatened to overflow. Sammael had come into HIS HOUSE!
Sarah knelt down beside him and whispered, "When Sammael unleashed his ... whatever ... there wasn't time for him to defend us all.... I don't know why he...."
"Babies," Chase whispered. "He was saving you and the babies.... Where is he? Take me to him...."
"Chase, he's gone," his mother said, her voice pleading.
"I KNOW HE'S GONE! I just need to 'see' him," Chase said, tears beginning to flow.
Steve looked away from his son, unable to bear to watch his heart breaking over and over again. "His body is gone, son.... Sammael ... he took it with him...."
Chase's tears turned to sobs and his mind's eye saw red, and with all the tremendous power he had access too, he felt his emotions reaching for it, determined to seek and destroy and damn the consequences. Chase began to rock softly as he cried, and tried to focus, tried to control himself, because if the torrent were released that very moment, he could very well give Sammael what he wanted. No one else saw the huge black figure appear in the room and walk over to the boy, kneeling in an almost fetal position, and touch his shoulder. Suddenly, his dark world went silent and insensate. He couldn't feel, smell or taste....
He was experiencing pure sensory deprivation, but his mind was active. "Chase, you're losing control," Raziel said, appearing in his mind's eye.
"He's destroyed my world! I WANT TO LOSE CONTROL! I WANT TO DESTROY HIM, AND ALL THOSE WITH HIM!"
"Chase, I'm so sorry, but I cannot let you out until you have control of your vast power.... I can't allow you to do his work for him," Raziel said, turning and walking away in Chase's mental image.
"God damn it all! God damn him!"
Raziel looked over his shoulder sadly and said, "See how well that worked out last time?" And then he was gone, and Chase was locked up inside his mind.
The paramedics left with Xavier and Aiden, and Matt knelt by Chase, holding him in his arms. The boy was absolutely nonresponsive, so Steve called Sam, who arrived shortly.
The man checked the boy out and shook his head. "Looks like he's had a mental break.... I don't know what to tell you, there is no telling how long this will last or how to reverse it...."
"Isn't there something you can do?" Sarah asked.
"Even if there was, I wouldn't.... Messing with a mind like that would be too risky to be worthwhile.... Matt, could you get him into bed upstairs?" Sam asked.
Matt slipped his arms beneath Chase's slight body and lifted him with ease, carrying him upstairs and laying him gently on his bed. He removed Chase's shoes and pants, and pulled his sheet up over him before lifting off his shirt. Then Matt sat on the edge of the bed and rested his head in his palm like the thinker.
Meanwhile, Sam called Sebastian. "There was an attack here," the old man said immediately.
"I heard," Sebastian said. "Everyone's alright? I was just about to come...."
"No, everyone isn't alright. It's William. He's gone," Sam said.
Sebastian sniffled and coughed to clear his throat. "I ... I thought he'd go after Chase," Sebastian murmured.
"He's a coward.... He did go after Chase! He came to kill everyone the boy loves, but William put up a shield to defend Chase's parents. Aiden and Xavier just made it, as they were partially shielded. But William was hit by the full force of it, as well as the energy that reflected off of his own shield. And Sammael succeeded -- Chase has had a psychic break.... Right now, he's gone, too...."
"I'm on my way," Sebastian said, slamming the phone down. On his way out of his office, he called for Avery and said, "Mind the desk! I'm in Richmond!" And he was gone before the man could answer him.
Before Sebastian could get out of William's training area, however, he was waylaid by the dark and surly figure of Gideon/Gabriel. The figure blocked his exit, and Sebastian said, "I don't really have time for this...."
"You have time for THIS, vampire," Gabriel grumbled. "There is precious little time left, and our only hope is dangerously destabilized...."
"You mean YOU did this to him?" Sebastian asked, the anger rising up in him.
"No.... Not me. Raziel. The boy was losing control. His anger and sorrow were so intense, it could have dragged the world down with it.... He had to be contained."
"CONTAINED? CONTAINED! Your boss did this to him, made him like this, and when things went wrong, you lock him up in his own mind? What kind of reward is that? Be the best person you can be, and God will punish you again and again, with a side of loss for good measure?"
"Sebastian, calm down," Gabriel said, more a plea than an order.
"After what I've lost? No! It's enough! Let the whole fucking mess get swallowed up! Why not?" Sebastian asked as he collapsed to his knees and struck the ground.
"Sebastian," Gabriel sighed and knelt beside him, "I, of all beings, understand loss, betrayal ... but there is a bigger picture. A world of life and love and opportunities. A world where James is still alive. Remember that. He's not lost forever...."
"How can I ask Chase to overlook what he's lost ... for a world full of potential?" Sebastian asked as his dark, thick blood dripped from already healing knuckles.
"I can offer no more guidance on this matter.... It is beyond my sight. But you must save him if he is to save the world...." And then he was gone.
William's body was battered and bruised, and blood was trickling from his nose, but he was alive. James could tell that much. He could smell the boy's blood, despite the fact that he was outside the room....
"He got loose! He's got a protective circle," Sammael railed at Pursan.
"But he can't escape," the wise demon nodded. "And bringing him here was never my idea, was it? Put the boy in with him.... It is enough they are trapped...." At last, Sammael assented and tossed William's unconscious body into the room, so he rolled into James's circle of protection.
James rushed to the boy, and he suddenly wished he'd learned a little healing magick. The boy was in desperate need of healing. James knelt over him and placed his hands on the boy, and tried to visualize his energy probing at the battered form, pouring healing into it. He could feel it working, but he knew it was costing him much more than it was helping William, and at last he had to stop. Finally, he scooped the boy up into his arms and just held him as he watched the door.
After a while, Daemon snuck in and exclaimed, "Hell!" James looked at him with raised eyebrows. "What? He looks terrible. I kinda liked him.... He tried his best to resist me...." That had inspired something akin to respect in the demon, who could not fathom love in any case but who understood the kind of power it took to resist his charm. "Here, drink this.... Keep your strength up to help him," Daemon said as he tossed the young vampire a couple of bags of warm blood.
James smelled it and could tell it was free of any ... additives, so he nodded. "Thanks...." Daemon smiled a smile that would have softened marble, winked, and exited quickly.
James quickly drained the first bag, then the second, before turning his attention back to the friend in his arms.
Sebastian walked into Chase's room, where he found Matt curled up next to the boy. Matt moved to get up but Sebastian shook his head and smiled. "Please, stay...."
"I'm sorry about James," Matt said softly, brushing Chase's hair from his face.
The pain in Sebastian's face was evident, but he pushed out a smile and nodded. "Thank you.... And now William ... and Chase.... And you know about James's friend Pete?" Matt nodded; Chase had explained that to him. "Some moments, I hate him, I want to destroy him, I know he's caused some of this. But ... in clearer moments, I know that he's as much a victim as the rest of you...."
"And you," Matt said softly.
Sebastian gave Matt a look that was something between thankful and pitying. "I'm much more to blame than a victim would be...."
Matt gave him a hard look and said, "You really believe that...."
"It's the truth," Sebastian said sadly.
"No. It isn't.... Sammael is responsible. Demons and old evil things are responsible. The leaders of this fucked up world are responsible. If it wasn't for you, it would all be so much worse now...."
"You've been talking to Chase," Sebastian said with a simple smile, sitting by the bed and taking the boy's hand under Matt's watchful eye.
Matt grabbed his hand away in a flash and Sebastian looked at him, hurt and offended. "Oh, I'm sorry Sebastian," Matt said, blushing. "It's just, I noticed something.... Look at the ring!"
"It looks like it did the night it was made," Sebastian said, confused.
"Would it? From what I understand of these mystical bond thingies, the signs only last as long as the bond.... What happens when the bond is broken by death?" Matt asked.
Sebastian smiled brightly and looked like he might cry for a moment. "The black swirls in the ring would disappear and it would look like a golden ring...."
"So William is alive," Matt said, returning the smile.
"And he's probably being held where James is.... I could kiss you," Sebastian said, glowing.
Matt blushed a little and said, "If I didn't have a girlfriend, I might let YOU...." Then it was Sebastian's time to blush, making Matt laugh.
Sebastian got on the phone and called Sam over. When the man arrived upstairs, Sebastian said, "William's alive, and I think I can track him!"
"What? How?"
"Matt figured it out," Sebastian said, smiling again at the boy. "The ring, the bond is not broken...."
"Of course," Sam exclaimed.
"I can use something of Chase's to trace back to William's energy because of the bond, and I'll find James with him. I'm sure of it!"
"Good Lord," Sam murmured.
"I'm going to assemble one last team, Sam.... Will you stay with the boys? Protect them?" Sebastian asked.
"Of course, of course, my friend.... Good luck and God bless," the old rabbi added.
Clasping the old man by the shoulders, Sebastian said, "Thank you my friend.... If things don't go well ... it was one of my greatest pleasures to serve with you...."
Sam wiped his eye and gave a hard nod, and the vampire was gone.
"Can he win?" Matt asked, sounding more like a man than the boy he was. Sam's look pleaded that he could not answer. So Matt looked down at the boy he loved like a brother, and he began to whisper in his ear. "Chase, it's Matt.... PLEASE HEAR ME! PLEASE HEAR ME! WILLIAM IS ALIVE!" He pleaded with the boy over and over.
"He cannot hear you," Gabriel/Gideon's deep voice interrupted the quiet mumbling.
"Can he hear you?" Matt asked.
"He is beyond me.... Only Raziel could reverse this spell, but he is convinced the boy is too unstable to be allowed to return to consciousness...."
"And that's worth risking the end of the world as we know it?" Sam demanded angrily of the angel.
"An unstable Chase could mean the end of the world, period!" Gabriel declared.
"But William is alive!" Matt pleaded.
"You are a bright boy," the angel smiled approvingly. "But Raziel is convinced by this episode that Chase is just too dangerous...."
Matt turned his eyes back to Chase and lowered himself onto the boy's pillow and stretched out next to him and resumed talking to him, ignoring the conversation that proceeded between Sam and Gabriel. "Chase, I love you.... It may all be over soon, but I hope you always know that.... I wish I could talk to you one last time, tell you all I want to tell you.... William is alive and Sebastian is going for him and James. Maybe he'll make it."
In a vast empty void, Chase's self-image railed angrily against the chaos. Anger, sadness, and confusion rolled off of him like tsunamis. He cast spell after spell into the abyss impotently, tears streaming down his face.
And suddenly he wasn't alone. Suddenly, the figure of Matt stood before him, and called to him: "Chase! Stop!"
Chase's anger almost overcame him to the point that he struck out at his oldest friend. But at the last minute, he pulled back. "WHY SHOULD I?"
Matt looked at him like a deer caught in headlights, but at last choked out, "Don't you love me at all?"
"What?" Chase asked, flabbergasted. "I.... I...."
"Chase, I love you, your parents love you, Sam and Sebastian love you, Gideon loves you.... Chase, what are you doing?"
"It hurts so bad," the frail form collapsed to its knees, and soon Chase felt ethereal arms around his self-image.
"You can't lash out at the world, Chase.... There's so much left worth saving, and you ... blowing up.... You could do so much damage...."
"I know.... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...."
"Chase, they say you are putting the whole world in danger if you lose control, so Raziel has locked you inside your mind until he believes the threat is past...."
"I.... I ... can control it," Chase said.
"Chase, I need to tell you something.... William ... William IS alive...."
Chase looked like he was in shock before standing, and raising his hands, which filled with the brightest of white light. Then he pressed his arms outward until the whole world filled with light.