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.
Chapter 15
I am now posting my stories to my new website, jaygordonstories.com. 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. Currently, A Light in the Darkness II Chapters 16-22 are available there, (The latest chapters are for registered users only, so if you don't register you won't find them!), as well as new stories not available on Nifty, so check it out if you like the story!
Sarah took Chase to their favorite Chinese restaurant on the way to the mall. "You know, I miss spending time together, just you and me," Sarah said.
"And Alex," Chase joked, smiling over the top of his menu. "William thought it would be nice for us to have some alone time."
"He's a very thoughtful young man," she said. "It's still hard for me sometimes," she added softly. "You're growing up so fast!"
"But I'm growing up so well," Chase smiled back.
"Yeah," she shook her head. "But my baby's moving out, getting his own place, having his own family, and he's just 16."
"Mom, we're moving into the yard, and soon you're gonna have 3 new babies to worry over!"
"You'll always be my baby, Chase," she said, wiping here eyes.
"Mom," he said, "mom, I'll always need you too..." He wiped his own eyes and said, "How are you doing?"
"Feeling better after vacation," she said. Patting her tummy, she continued, "It's harder now, and more risky. I'm glad I've got your `special' doctors looking after me." With an ironic smile, she admitted, "I'd be much more nervous if I was relying on simple medicine! Don't tell my colleagues in the lab that!"
"Have you picked their names yet?" Chase asked.
"No, but they'll be surprises!" she smiled, knowing it would drive her son crazy.
They ate a leisurely meal and then headed for the mall. Sebastian's extra security teams were secretly shadowing them, even as Chase had already picked up the regular security in his rearview mirror.
They started at the Barnes and Noble, which had the best parking and then strolled around a while, browsing. Sarah pushed the stroller, while Chase walked at her side. They ran into a couple of her acquaintances and stopped to talk. Most of them wanted to hear about her pregnancy, and unlike her close friends they assumed Alex was hers as well. That led to some interesting conversations!
"Too bad we don't have a better story than my son made a mistake, huh," Chase laughed. "It would be simpler if William was a girl!"
"Yeah, but then you wouldn't have gotten knocked up," his mom kidded. "Besides a girl, even a girl William, wouldn't have caught you, and you know it..."
They walked along a bit and stepped into a store. As they were browsing the baby clothes, Sarah picked out an outfit and an attendant approached them and said, "That one is so cute! What a sweet little boy!" Then she added, "We've got some like that, but on sale, back on the clearance rack!"
They followed the woman over and as they reached the sale rack in the back corner, a couple of gunshots rang out in the mall outside.
Xavier's phone buzzed, and he pulled it out. "Mother fucker!" he exclaimed as he dialed Sebastian's number.
"I just got the same message," Sebastian said. "It's going down now! The original security team has been pinned down, and the backup teams are trying to flank the shooters."
"It'll be a blood bath if we don't do something fast," Xavier said.
"Oh, no," Sebastian said. "No, no, no..."
"What?"
"I know what they're doing, and I know why now... Call Chase and tell him not to leave Alex alone! I'm on my way now," Sebastian said, hanging up the phone.
"We can hide in the stock room until the police get here," the manager suggested, and started motioning for customers to get in the back.
"Go, mom! Take Alex and get in the back. I'm going to guard this door, and make sure nothing gets through!"
"Chase, don't be a hero," Sarah said, but his eyes flashed angrily with brilliant light and the argument was over. Chase hunkered down behind the counter and watched the door with a cold eye, ready to kill the next thing to step through it.
Then he saw a gunman run by outside, and threw a fireball through the glass, dropping the man cold. That both drew the gunmen's attention and freed up the embattled security team a bit.
When his phone rang, he saw it was Xavier, but between holding off the gunmen and anticipating their next move, he simply couldn't be bothered. When the phone rang again, seconds later, he picked up.
"Chase, Sebastian is on his way to the mall. He told me to tell you that you shouldn't let Alex out of your sight."
"Mom's got him in the stock room with the customers and I'm guarding the door," Chase said, confused.
"It's a trap, Chase! It's all a trap!" Xavier said, but Chase was already gone, the phone forgotten. The stockroom door was locked and he blasted it off its hinges. Three adults stood around casually, while his mother lay unconscious on the floor. Alex and his things were gone.
"Chase, we need you to come with us, now, please!" the woman who had pretended to be a clerk earlier said calmly.
"My mother?" he growled.
"Is fine! And the babies are fine! We were quite gentle with her. We have no interest in harming her. But you must come with us now. Some very devoted servants have your son and are on the way to a secret location right now, and they will punish you if you do not submit," she said earnestly.
Defeated and resigned, Chase nodded and followed her, flanked by a man on either side. "One day," he whispered, "I'm going to kill you all."
"We shall see," the man to his left said, simply.
Once they had cleared the building and got in the car, the woman instructed Chase, "Make sure they can't follow us. If the abominations rescue you, they'll kill the boy!" Chase looked up and whispered a few words, pouring energy into a spell to confuse any magickal traces.
When they were well on their way, they made a call, and all resistance in the mall melted, and numerous innocuous enough civilians simply slipped from the mall and drove off in various directions.
Sebastian marched through the mall and followed the destruction to the epicenter of what was clearly an enormous ambush. He saw the back door of the Carters exploded off its hinges and rushed into the back, finding Sarah still unconscious. He looked around and all he found were the incapacitated store staff. At last, all he could do was pick up Sarah and take her home.
Xavier left his office and found Steve and William watching the television. "Guys," he said, but stopped as the television news' breaking story sound caught their attention.
"We are reporting live from the latest scene of mass violence to strike the United States, where teams of gunmen have opened fire on mall shoppers," the woman began. William muted the story and looked at Xavier, whose face had gone white.
"Guys," he tried to begin again, this time to be interrupted by the doorbell.
He opened the door to find tiny Sebastian carrying Sarah, so he opened it wide and took her shoulders, while Sebastian carried the ankles. They got her to the couch and explained, "I found her knocked out in the back of the Carters store."
William's fists were balled up, his knuckles white. "What happened?"
"The gunfight was a distraction for the security teams, and was designed to draw Chase out. They knew he'd try to actively defend the baby. But they already had people in the mall, so what he thought were shoppers and employees knocked Sarah out and kidnapped Alex. Then they used him to force Chase to come with them and help them avoid our efforts to track him. Our most powerful ally is now being forced to prevent us from helping him," Sebastian said with utter disgust.
"Alex AND Chase?" William asked with a hollow tone, and Xavier sat next to him, pulling him into a hug. "What am I supposed to do?"
Steve knelt by his wife and checked her vitals, finding she was alright. They all watched silently as William got up and walked to the window, finding the darkness there light paled in comparison to what he felt in his heart. And before anyone could do anything he was simply gone, no portals nor spells, touching magick even Sebastian had never seen.
Alex was carried aboard a private jet with a small crew by two women, and the baby seat was buckled in for the flight. They would take him to a place so remote and solitary no one would ever find him, or at least get close enough before it was too late. Within five minutes, the plane was barreling up and into the sky.
Inside the hangar, another plane awaited its midnight passenger. In the back seat of the car, a woman reached into her bag and pulled out a vial and syringe. "Don't worry a bit, Chase. Just a mild sedative to keep you calm during the flight," she said.
"Where are you taking me?" he asked weakly, and falling fast, after the dose was administered.
"You're going to the compound in Jerusalem," she laughed, and he dosed off. Two big men would lug him out of the car and load him onto the plane. The woman would accompany him and give him additional doses as necessary to keep him quiet.
They no longer needed him to cover the retreat, because the Black Thorn had already provided some incantations for their airplanes and facilities.
William stood before the ancient altar and said, "I call upon the ancient power..."
"THIS IS NOT YOUR ROLE, BOY!" the room filled with thunder.
"YOU'VE TAKEN EVERYTHING FROM ME!" he yelled back. "MY PARENTS! CHASE! MY CHILD!"
"I gave you your parents, Chase, and your child," the voice replied more gently. "The night is dark, but day is coming..."
"CUT THE YODA CRAP! HOW DO I GET MY SON BACK? CHASE?"
"It is not yet time," the voice said. "There are greater considerations. Have faith!"
"Faith," William whispered with a contemptuous laugh and turned his back. "Give me a reason why I should?"
"Because we love you," the voice said as William stepped out of the Temple, feeling hurt and confused, and more than a little helpless. He knew what he had to do to feel a little more in control.
Aiden, Xavier, and Sam stood in the kitchen talking to Sebastian, while Steve saw to Sarah in their room. "What are we going to do?" Xavier asked.
"Excuse me," Sebastian said, picking up the phone which was ringing. "Yes?"
"We found his phone, Sebastian," Avery said. "A hangar out at the airport was cleared out a couple of hours ago, but we can't track the planes."
"Someone put a charm on them?" Sebastian asked. "Who could block us?"
"That is a short list, my friend. Have we called everybody?" Avery asked.
"Agents are pouring in; James has told everyone back home..."
"What about the boys?" Avery asked.
"God!" Sebastian said. "I've got to go..." Hanging up the phone, he looked around the room and said, "Has anyone called Matt, Carl, or Edward?"
Xavier rubbed his temples and shook his head. "Sam, call Marcus and have him go to Edward's and talk to the boy."
"Where are you going?" Aiden asked.
Sebastian exhaled. "I'm going to Matt's house myself..."
None of the men saw Steve creep around and exit through the garage, and drive away.
In the Far East/Hong Kong consul's complex, an intruder alarm went off. Horatio checked his screen and the read-out alerted him that an extraordinarily powerful, unauthorized magickal being had just entered his compound. Guards rushed down two hallways to meet the figure.
"Consul," the radio crackled, "the intruder has been apprehended. He says he's here to speak to you!"
"His name?" Horatio asked.
"William Jennings, sir!"
Horatio rushed to the hallway where William was on his knees, hands on his head. "Let him up!" Horatio yelled and beckoned for the boy, hugging him.
"I'm so sorry, William," Horatio said.
"Don't," William whispered, the emotion palpable in his voice. He coughed and said, "I've come for information. I know you're Sebastian's go-to guy for research on this stuff..."
"I don't know, William. I should call Sebastian..."
"Just give me some names, Horatio. Order in Richmond! Otherwise ... well I'm still going to find them, but I'll just go off half-cocked."
Horatio frowned and said, "Follow me to my office..."
"Hello, Edward... Is Carl here?"
"Yeah, he's – we're just having dinner with mom," the boy replied. "What's wrong?"
"Can I come in please?" Edward motioned for him to come inside, and Marcus followed him to the dining room.
"HELLO!" Carl brightened as he stood to shake Marcus's hand. But seeing Marcus's face, he asked, "What's wrong?"
"Edward, Carl, please sit down," he said, settling into the empty seat across from Edward's mother. The boys looked at him expectantly and he sighed and said, "There was an incident tonight at the mall, and..."
"We saw that on television," Edward's mother piped in. "Terrible..."
"Who?" Edward asked, his face white.
"Chase," Marcus said, sucking the air out of both boys. "And Alex."
"Not ... dead?" Edward asked, still holding his breath.
"No, taken," Marcus said.
"How's William?" Carl asked.
"I don't know," Marcus said. "I haven't been over to the house. They said he left..."
"Then I suspect some people are going to get hurt," Carl said. Seeing questioning looks all around, he said, "They took his son and boyfriend! What would you do in his place?" A sobering thought for them all.
Sebastian stood on the sidewalk looking at the house. He could see Daniel and Matt talking, laughing together through the boy's blinds. He walked nervously up to the door and rang the bell.
"Hello?" a woman, Matt's mother, answered.
"Hello, ma'am! I'm Sebastian, a friend of Chase's. I just thought I'd come by and say hi to Matt..."
She nodded and motioned for him inside and called upstairs, "MATT! DANIEL!" Soon both boys emerged.
"Yeah, mom?"
"Your friend Sebastian is here!"
"Hey, Sebastian, I wanted to ask you something. I was going to call you tomorrow, but..."
"Matt, I'm sorry but there's something I need to tell you," Sebastian said, deep anguish in his voice silencing Matt and erasing his smile. "Matt, this evening at the mall, it was the Order."
"What were they after?" Matt asked, and then his mind filled with searing anger. "Why are YOU over HERE?" Matt collapsed onto the couch and clenched his eyes shut and put his hands over them.
"What's wrong, dear?" his mother asked.
"He's just realized why I've come," Sebastian said. "I'm ... here because something's happened and I didn't want him to hear from anyone but me." Sebastian knelt at Matt's knees and gently grasped his hands, removing them from his face. "He's alive, Matt, but they've taken him and..."
"And they took Alex too," Matt whispered.
"How did you know?" Sebastian asked with a sad smile.
"Because, otherwise, he'd still be here," Matt said.
Sebastian put a cool hand on his cheek and said, "I'm so sorry," tears rising to his eyes. "We tried to protect him, we really did..."
Matt pulled him into a hug and started crying too, as Matt's mother and Daniel looked on, their own tears unnoticed.
Steve typed in the code and shook his head as the light turned green. "All these years and you're still using the same old passkeys!" He walked up the walkway and up the steps and checked the door. Locked. He reached into his pocket and got out an old key he'd had to search his desk drawer for. "God," he said, as the key turned.
As quietly as he could, he moved through the house, until he saw what he was looking for. The light in the office was on and he could hear a little music playing. His father's back was to him as he stepped into the room.
"Where's my son?" Steve asked, satisfied that the man jumped a little in his seat before turning to face him.
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," the man said, his face totally impassive.
"So you and your buddies at Evil, Inc., HAVE NO IDEA about who might have taken Chase hostage using his baby for leverage? NO IDEA?" Steve took a few angry steps forward, and when his father stood to face him, Steve reached into his pocket, pulled out a .38 and shot the man in the leg.
"Where is my son?" Steve asked.
"Wherever they want him! Because you raised your boy weak," Felix said. "They've got power over him, no matter how powerful he may be!"
"Weak? I loved my son, like you never loved me. I raised him to be a kind, loving man. THAT makes him weak?" Steve seethed.
"It means that weaker men always have power over him," Felix said.
Steve's smile poured out hatred and rage. "Where is my son?" he asked again, raising his pistol again.
"I DON'T KNOW!" Felix yelled.
Steve pulled the trigger, putting a bullet in the man's other leg. "I WILL kill you," Steve said. "They took my SON!"
"I don't know where they are, or where they are taking him!"
"But YOU DO know who they are," Steve said, picking up the phone. "Aiden?" he said when the phone rang. "I need you at my dad's house, now..."
"Steve, what are you doing there?"
"Now! IN his office," Steve said, hanging up the phone. "Now, you were about to tell me about the Order?"
"Our contact is a man named Abraxos. I don't know his real name," Felix said.
"Who does he contact?" Steve asked, and the man remained deadly silent.
He heard the pistol cock, and knew his son knew the truth. "ME! It was ME! I told him how to control Chase!"
"Why, Felix?" Steve asked, collapsing into a chair. "I know you've always hated me, hated Sarah and the choices we made, but ... this? Your own grandson?"
"Hated you?" the man asked with a weak laugh, shaking his head. "I've tried to protect you all! Steve, the power. They're not going to hurt him! They're going to EMPOWER him to do ... terrific things, Steve. I didn't do it out of hatred, but to give him the chance to make the world how he wants it to be! If you've raised him to be sooo GOOD, shouldn't that be a good thing?"
"These religious fanatics, what will they do to him, to mould him into a leader of their own design? What will they do to a sweet little gay boy to make him see straight, dad?"
"For the greater good, sacrifices must be made!" Felix said.
"Yeah, and the guy who wants the changes gets to make the sacrifice, not make others sacrifice for him," Steve said, pulling the trigger and letting a bullet slam into Felix's shoulder.
A few moments later, Aiden walked into the room and found Steve with the gun in his lap, his father bleeding at his feet. "Steve?"
"He's alive," Steve said blankly. "Take him to a Council facility for interrogation. He's been leaking to the Order. He's been in contact with their leader. He advised them on how to best control my son," Steve said, anger rising, and raised the gun and put one last bullet in the man's other shoulder. "Get him out of here before I kill him," Steve spat, and Aiden whisked the man away, returning moments later to get Steve home, depositing the gun in some out-of-the-way dimension on the way.
"Was that your gun?" Aiden asked him outside.
"I kept it in the glove compartment, but it's not registered," he said, and Aiden nodded.
"Did he tell you anything concrete?" Aiden asked.
"Abraxos. The leader goes by Abraxos," Steve said. He sat on the couch and buried his face in his hands, his chest heaving.
"Are you okay?" Aiden asked as he sat next to his oldest friend.
Sniffling, Steve asked, "Do you remember when Chase was born?" The man nodded. "He was so tiny and so perfect. Always so beautiful. And then he went blind, but he was always so ... perfect to me." Aiden squeezed him tight and he sobbed, "They've got my little boy, Aiden!" When Steve calmed down, he asked, "What now?"
"I could get you another name and a new gun?" Aiden said, joking darkly.
"Where is William?" Steve asked, sitting erect suddenly.
"We figured he'd gone off to think," Aiden said.
"Tell Xavier you've got to find him..." Aiden looked confused and Steve added, "Look at what I just did! William has something far more dangerous than a gun!"
William stood outside the house looking in the window. The family looked normal, but the children were clearly subdued. They didn't smile, they didn't make eye contact, they did whatever their parents said with frightful speed. This was NOT a normal family. He could go inside and find out what they knew.
But the painful thought occurred to him. These people, like Daniel's parents, did not love their children. That was his and Chase's weakness, he knew. It was a weakness for which there was no acceptable cure.
Pain? Pain might work,' he thought to himself. They're believers, but are they true believers? Would they die before turning on their leaders? He raised his hand and thought, Time to find out!'
He decided to make a splashy entrance, so rather than use the front door, he magickally punched a William-sized hole in the wall and stepped through in the rubble. "Good evening," he said as he brushed himself off. The children stared up and him and he said gently, "Run upstairs and hide! Don't come out no matter what you hear! A monster is coming!"
The children ran off instantly, and when he turned, the father was gone. He looked at the woman and she said, shakily, "Mmmmonster?"
"Oh, yes," he said, "a monster is coming," thinking to himself, `She's the one!'
The husband returned with a shotgun and said, "Get out of my house!"
"He says a monster is coming," the wife said, shakily.
"I misspoke," William smiled, his eyes flashing fiery. "A monster is here!" The man unloaded both barrels at him, but William's hand stopped the buck-shot in the air. With an invisible push, he sat the woman down and faced her husband, a cloud of tiny projectiles between them. "We are going to have a little chat!"
"What are you?" the man asked with a sneer.
"I am the worst thing you're ever going to meet in your rapidly shortening life," William said.
"I'll never talk," the man sneered, "abomination!"
"I know," William smiled. "But your wife will when I show her what I can do to you!"
The man's face got serene in a way that scared William, and then he unexpectedly pulled a pistol from his waistband and shot the woman between the eyes. William looked at him with horror before pointing in his direction and sending the shotgun blast back toward its source, killing the man.
William picked up the phone and dialed 911. "What's your emergency?" the operator asked.
"I just found my neighbor. He shot his wife, then killed himself. The kids are hiding upstairs, screaming about monsters!"
"What's the address?" she asked.
"I'm not sure, I was just walking down the street when I heard the gunshots and when I got to the house I saw them through the window!"
"We've got the address. I'm dispatching police and rescue," she said. "Are the children okay?"
"They're all fine," he said. "Just scared." At the last minute, he fixed the wall as he heard the sirens approach and the lady on the line said, "Keep your hands where the police can see them and step carefully outside onto the porch..."
William put the phone down and opened the door and stepped onto the porch his hands way out to his sides, palms open and facing the approaching cars. "Did you make the call?" the first officers yelled as they got out of their car.
"Yes," he yelled back. "They're inside, in the living room..."
The officers rushed past him and a younger one stopped and asked, "Where're the kids?"
"Upstairs! I told them there was a monster to keep them from coming downstairs and seeing," William said. He stayed and made a statement, and the officers said they'd want to talk to him more later. William gave them his address and started walking, but not toward his uncle's house.
He was a couple of blocks away when Xavier emerged from the shadows and asked, "So, what happened?"
"He shot his wife and then killed himself," William said.
"Just like that?" Xavier asked.
"Well, he said he wouldn't break, but I told him I knew that, but that his wife would talk after I made an example of him. So, cold as ice, he kills her. At that point, I turn the buck-shot he shot at me back on him, so he did kinda kill himself. Xavier, he looked like he thought he was on his way to heaven when he just shot her in the head! We can't fight people like that, we can't break them. They'll never tell us where he is!" William said, collapsing to his hands and knees in tears. "I went to the Temple, and they told me to have faith! FAITH! These fuckers have faith in spades, but in what! And they've got them!" William's forehead was on the ground, his tears wetting the concrete.
Xavier knelt down and put his arms around the boy, lifting him up. He held the boy for a long time before sighing and saying, "You've lost so much, William, and God knows I'm the last person to put any stock in all that religious talk. But ... maybe faith isn't such a bad idea. Don't forget who Chase is..."
"High Priest," William growled, as if he was still standing in front of God.
"Fuck that," Xavier said, shocking him back to the world. "He's CHASE! He's that fiery little blond that caught your heart at a glance. He's good and he's stronger than any of us ever imagined. And he will never let them keep you and Alex away from him! You can have faith in THAT!" William thought for a while and nodded. "Let's go home. Everyone's worried about you..."
William stood up and said, "I've got to make a stop on the way."
Xavier nodded and put his arm across the boy's shoulder. "He'll be glad to see you... Sebastian went to talk to him already."
"Sebastian?" William ask, surprised.
"For some reason, I think Sebastian feels a kinship with Matt that even he can't explain. Don't ask me why I think that, but..."
"I can see it," William said. "They're a lot alike in some strange ways..."
"I suppose so," Xavier smiled. "I suppose so..."
Xavier waited on the curb as William trudged up to the door and knocked. When Matt's mother, still teary-eyed, opened the door and saw William, the waterworks began again for them both as she pulled him into a big hug and dragged him inside.
When she let him go, Daniel surprised him by very forwardly initiating a hug of his own. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. "So so sorry..." William was surprised by the depth of emotion – he couldn't yet have named it as guilt – behind the outpouring, and Daniel held on to him until Sebastian put his hand on the boy's shoulder and gently eased him back. William sat next to Matt and leaned against him, his head against Matt's.
Sebastian led Daniel and Matt's mother into the dining room and said, "Let's give them some time!"
"I'm sorry," William whimpered when they were alone. "I should have been there. It should have been me..." Alone, with Matt, he fell apart completely and Matt wrapped his arms around him and cried with him.
"Why don't you stay with me tonight?" Matt asked when they had gotten it under control a bit.
"No, I should be home," he said.
"Nothing's going to happen tonight, and you don't have to be alone. Stay with me? I ... I don't want to be alone either," Matt said.
William nodded, and Matt went to talk to his mom. Sebastian offered to walk Daniel home, and the boy accepted. On their way out, they let Xavier know that William was staying with Matt.
He looked up at the door and wiped his eyes. "Those have to be the two saddest boys in the world tonight," Xavier said. Daniel's face went unnoticed, and then Sebastian wrapped and arm around him and walked off with him, leaving Xavier to hurry home.
Matt took William and led him upstairs, where they both hurriedly stripped and crawled into the bed. William took Chase's normal position and curled up next to Matt, his head on the boy's shoulder, and let Matt stroke his back rhythmically.
"It's not your fault, William," he whispered. "Please remember that."
"I ... I can't help but think I didn't do enough to protect them," William responded.
"William, besides you and his parents, I probably love him as much as anyone else. I don't blame you, they don't blame you. It hurts everyone to hear you talk like that," Matt said.
William put his hand on Matt's chest and nodded. "We'll get him back," William said.
"Damn straight," Matt replied with a squeeze. Soon, in the warmth of the covers, they drifted off to fitful sleep. About two in the morning, Matt was awakened by William's whimpering. When he began to cry in his sleep, Matt leaned over and whispered, as he rubbed his back, "William, it's okay, it's a dream. It's all a dream. Everything's alright." William slowly fell back into a deeper sleep level. Matt watched him sleep for a while before secretly kissing him on the forehead and going back to sleep himself.
In the aftermath, time crept along for those left to clean up the messes. Sebastian was coordinating round-the-clock missions by agents all over the world, kidnappings of identified Order operatives and their interrogations, and constant meetings over the internet about next steps to be taken. James, Lt. Spencer, and Marcus, as well as Sam and Aiden, were operating at full capacity to support those operations. They had come to the conclusion, after two days, that Seymour Hoffman was the man known as Abraxos.
William was like a caged animal, but they refused to let him go on missions or see prisoners, and the entire Council had been notified that he was off limits. So he spent his days with his friends close by, with Matt and Daniel, or Edward and Carl. Even Chris came to town to visit for a couple of days, and stayed with him. That was one thing; someone stayed with him every night. He pretended it annoyed him, but he couldn't bear the thought of sleeping alone.
Sarah was doing fine physically, though she was inconsolable that she had let them take Alex, and thus Chase, and Steve spent time keeping her company, leaving Josh and Billy to run things out of the office. Dave would be home soon in any case to help them.
Chase woke up wearing white silk pants and a white silk shirt, in a small bed in a tiny room. At first he was disoriented. Where was Alex? Where was William? And suddenly the memory crashed down on him.
"You're awake," a tall man said as he entered the room and opened the curtains, letting light in.
"Why have you brought me here? What is this place?"
"My name is Abraxos; I am the high priest of the Order of Days. To answer your first question, we have brought you here to fulfill your destiny – a goal we have been waiting for thousands of years to achieve. This place used to be a monastery, but our organization acquired it many years ago."
"I am not who you think I am," Chase pleaded. "Please just let me go!"
"My child, I know you are confused, about many things. But your powers ... you are so much more than you could imagine! You are him who shall usher in a new age for all mankind!"
"What are you talking about?" Chase cried.
"You are the Messiah, son of David, King of Israel! And you will lead us to erect your Holy Temple and usher in a new dawn!"
"I'm just your average American kid," Chase said.
"With awesome power like never before seen manifested in man," Abraxos said. "The Abominations call you Grand Marshal..."
"Abominations?" Chase asked.
"The dabblers in spirits, the vampires and werecreatures, the demons..."
"You think I am an abomination too." Chase spit bitterly. "Your kind always does."
"You mean because you think you are a homosexual," Abraxos said condescendingly. "You are misguided, perhaps, but it is inconsistent with your destiny!"
"Then I have no destiny, because I AM GAY! I've always known it!" Chase said.
"You'll have to learn otherwise, as you learn our ways. Remember we have your child."
"A child you'd never dare harm, because if you did, you'd lose control of me," Chase stormed.
"No, we won't harm him except as a final measure. But we will ... correct you as best we can... This is most unfortunate," Abraxos shook his head as he left the room. A couple of minutes later a couple of men entered and escorted Chase down to a dungeon. They bound his hands and attached them to a hook which they hoisted up until just his tip-toes were on the ground. Then they left him for a few hours.
When they returned, they cut the shirt off of him, and one man read to him and asked him to repeat things. When he made a mistake or laughed, or some other transgression, the other man would strike him with the lash across his back. He struggled to repress his own cries until he didn't have the strength; then each blow brought a weak whimper to his lips.
Later, they began to subject him to an aversion therapy that involved sticking his feet in buckets of water, exposing him to images of nude men, and shocking him when he got aroused. Then it was back to the brainwashing.
All the while, they never let him sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time, and never at regular intervals. Sometimes he slept for half an hour, sometimes for two or three. They fed him in an equally odd fashion, sometimes giving him a little snack, sometimes a big meal. There could be a too-brief interval between meals, or whole days.
Gradually, Chase weakened, losing his grasp on the passage of time, but he did not give in. Rather he turned within and retreated, focusing on the band on his hand, through which he could still feel the heart which had forged it. In his mind, in his heart, he could conjure those people closest to him, and this gave him a measure of peace. And his captors totally misunderstood his sudden submissiveness; they thought he was slipping.
But though he never resisted, never struggled or tried to escape, because of his fear for Alex, and though he slipped into an inner quiet, anger, a hatred deep and abiding, began to build in him. He didn't know any better than they when the day would come, but it would be no triumph for the Order: the impact of that day would be measured in blood.
A thanks to Tarton, Mary, and Kevin for reading over this chapter.