Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:11:36 -0500
From: Jason Gordon <jaygordon_1981@hotmail.com>
Subject: A Light in the Darkness Chapter 13

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.