***************************************************************************** Author's notes: I know I was a while getting this one out, and I don't really have an excuse. Only that I've still been weighed under with college work, and I haven't had many e-mails encouraging me lately. Anyway, hopefully that will change after you've read this chapter. The story's almost over, so if you have any suggestions for the last chapter (I've already wrote it, but hey, a woman's allowed to change her mind) I'd be happy for your opinion.
Standard disclaimer: You know the drill. Too young? Don't read. Too homophobic? Don't read. Too repressed? Don't read. Think this is real? Seek help. Like The Backstreet Boys? Read on. Start to believe they're actually gay? Well, just don't start stalking them. Then I guess we'll all be okay.
'Turn me on, take me for a hard ride Burn me out, leave me on the other side' - Otherside, Red Hot Chili Peppers
********* Chapter 8 *********
"Are you sure they went this way?" Brian whispered loudly to Nick. Nick stared down the long dark street, the sense of foreboding already weighing his stomach down.
"Positive." He answered. "I can feel Louis in my heart. He's near, he's really near."
"What if Mark was wrong?" AJ asked, echoing all their thoughts. "What if Howie and Kevin don't turn back after we kill Louis? What then?"
"They'll turn back, okay?" Brian told him sharply. "They have to."
"But if they don't, will we have to kill them? Is that how it works?" AJ asked.
Brian sighed. "I don't think we'll have much of a choice, to tell you the truth." He answered. They walked along silently for a while, contemplating the horror that would overcome them if they had to kill their best friends.
"Wait." Nick stopped walking suddenly. Brian and AJ turned to him.
"Do you wanna go back?" Brian asked him anxiously. "We could, if you wanted to."
"Why would I wanna go back when we're already there now?" Nick asked quietly. He pointed to what looked like an abandoned warehouse of some kind. "They're in there."
"Okay." AJ swallowed. "I am way past the point of scared now."
"Are you sure?" Brian asked. He was trying not to act nervous, but his trembling hands clenched into fists were enough to give him away. Nick nodded resolutely.
"I've never been more sure." He whispered, as silent tears began to run down his face. Brian pulled him into a hug, inhaling the scent of his clean hair. It struck him that this could be the last time he did it, if things didn't go to plan.
"I don't wanna do this anymore." AJ exclaimed. "When I was little, I was chucked out of my karate class because I used to cry when I had to do any kind of fighting. Can't we just leave the vampire slaying to Buffy?"
"AJ, tonight you get to help save mankind. Feel honoured." Nick pulled away from Brian to speak to AJ. Brian sighed unintentionally, but it went unnoticed.
"Man, I feel just like Bruce Willis in Armageddon." AJ rolled his eyes. "Not."
"Let's go." Nick patted the side of his shoulder bag. "We're prepared, aren't we?"
"Materially? Yes. Physically? Maybe. Mentally? Hell no." AJ replied.
"Yes, we're prepared." Brian ignored AJ. "Let's go."
As they walked towards the warehouse, Brian suddenly spun round to look at Nick
"I want you to know that I love you, Nick. You're everything to me." He confessed. Nick shook his head, but carried on walking.
"No I'm not." He whispered. "You've got so much more, Brian. Don't waste your life waiting for me."
"How is it a waste?" Brian asked. Nick finally turned to look at him.
"Because my heart belongs to the one person I can never have. I can't give it to anyone else. Not you and not Kevin. Only Louis." His voice cracked tearfully on the last word, and he continued walking. "Only Louis." He repeated under his breath. He descended into the dark building, with AJ quickly following. Brian stared after them for a few seconds, and wondered if their lives could ever return to normal again after tonight. It seemed that, whatever the outcome of it, nothing would ever be the same again. With a heavy heart, Brian followed his two friends into the impending darkness.
The warehouse was completely dark inside, and Brian realised straight away that he couldn't see Nick or AJ. Resisting the urge to call out, he swung his hand in front of him until he felt a hand reaching out for his own. He grabbed it, thinking it to be Nick's.
"Didn't know you cared, Bri." He heard AJ's unmistakable voice whisper in as much amusement as he could muster. Brian dropped his hand quickly, and he heard AJ snicker.
"Nick?" He whispered loudly.
"I'm in front, Bri." Nick told him. Brian sighed, and then felt himself pressing his eyes together as a sudden gush of light filled the room. When he opened them he saw three figures standing at the opposite end of the large, empty room. Kevin, Howie, and an incredibly handsome man who could only be Louis. Brian gasped quietly when he saw him. How could he compete with that?
"What took you so long?" Kevin smiled, as he confidently strode up to them.
Brian subconsciously stepped in front of Nick. The other two men followed Kevin forward.
"We had some problems. Somebody locked us in a room." AJ looked pointedly at Howie, who smiled widely, revealing his glowing white fangs. The three humans all shuddered.
"But that matters little. Now you're here, Nick, we can begin our new life together." Louis exclaimed. He didn't seem to notice anybody else in the room. His eyes were fixed on Nick's, and they were burning with such bright intensity that Brian was clueless as to how to stop the interaction.
"No." Nick shook his head, his gaze on Louis never faltering. "I'll never live like that. I'd kill myself before you made me."
"That is insignificant. When I am done with you, you'll never die."
"You're already dead." Nick swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. "I've just come to nail your coffin."
"Harsh words, for one so pretty." Louis laughed. "Your present temperament will be much better suited to your after life." He lunged forward suddenly, and in a brief interaction of glances, Howie and Kevin pulled Brian and AJ aside, forcing them out of the room. Brian pulled back desperately to see Nick laying on the floor, dazed and bewildered, with Louis standing over him.
"Nick!" He shouted, resisting Kevin's strong hands for all he was worth. His cousin simply laughed, and pushed him out of the room, onto the cold sidewalk outside.
"Do you think that by saving him, he'd love you?" Kevin sneered. "You don't rule Nick's heart. You were always second best to me."
"No." Brian shook his head. "I was third best."
"What the hell is that meant to mean?" Kevin asked angrily. Brian smiled through his pain.
"I was third best, you were second. Nick told me himself. He's resigned his heart to Louis. Surely you're not even so blind as to not see that?"
"Brian, don't." AJ warned him. Brian looked across to see AJ a few metres away, with Howie dangerously close by.
"Nick loves me." Kevin exclaimed adamantly. "He told me so himself."
"But what does love mean, at the end of the day?" Brian asked. "What's it worth? Nothing. Not when Nick's already made his choice. Not me and not you. It's Louis or nobody, Kevin. That's what he's decided. And Louis just tricked you into sleeping with Nick so he could go through with turning him into a vampire and have him all to himself."
"Liar." Kevin growled, but his regretful face betrayed a completely different frame of mind.
"And now Louis' gonna have Nick in a way that you never can. And it will be entirely down to you." Brian concluded. Kevin turned for a second, as if he was going to make his way back into the warehouse. AJ and Brian looked at each other hopefully, but then the older man span back round, shaking his head.
"Let Louis turn him into a vampire. It will save me the trouble. I'll see to Nick after they're done. Anyway, I'm weak, I need to feed." He smiled evilly as he approached Brian. "And what could be better than feasting on my own dear cousin?"