Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 07:04:07 -0600 From: Jason Gordon <jaygordon_1981@hotmail.com> Subject: Things That Go Bump, Ch. 14 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. Things That Go Bump, Chapter 14 "Rage" ****NOTE: In the next week or so, I plan on getting a second story up and running. I've been working on it for a while, and it seemed always to be trying to cross paths with this one. SO I want to get the other story up so that the characters of the two can interact as appropriate. Thank you for your patience, and please watch for "A Light in the Darkness".**** Sebastian was still cradling Richard when he heard the knocking at the door. "High Consul, are you alright?" He slipped away from Richard and put his hand on the pad that opened the door. A tall man of about 40, a seasoned battle wizard stood at attention and saluted. "Colonel Robert Fisher, at your service, consul! May we see to your wounded?" Sebastian nodded and men rushed into the room with gurneys. "Take James," he said, pointing to his lover, "to the master bedroom on the second floor, and take Avery to the bedroom just beyond it.... You have medics with you?" "Healers, yes sir! The best in the business...." "Very good, colonel.... Bring the prisoners down to the basement please...." The man saluted and barked the order into a walkie-talkie, remaining outside. Looking at Roman and Horatio, he said, "Please ... look after Richard for me.... I'll be right outside...." The men nodded and flanked Richard, each wrapping an arm around him. Sebastian was standing by the door when two men were led into the basement. He positioned two chairs in the middle of the dirt floor and instructed the wizards to tie them down. While he invoked a magic circle around one of the men, the wizards saw to the other one, then stood at attention. "Thank you," Sebastian smiled at the wizards assisting him, "For this and for earlier...." The men saluted and stood at attention, the younger of the four smiling back at him, earning a hard stare from the colonel, who was watching carefully. "So," Sebastian began standing in front of the men, "the first thing I want to know is where were you going to rendezvous with the rest of your team?" They both smirked at him, so he nodded. "We're beginning here," he said calmly, because this information is time-sensitive.... But the rest, I can take as long as I like.... And I like...." Walking to his shelves he continued. "Colonel, do you know how to kill a vampire?" "Yes, sir...." The man looked decidedly uncomfortable answering that question, asked by the most powerful vampire he'd ever met. "You know the humans think that a stake through the heart will do it...." "A minor inconvenience, sir.... But painful, I understand...." "Oh, yes," Sebastian laughed, "especially when, like this one, it has been soaked in salts of silver...." He picked up the stake that had minerals caked to it, and a mallet. He walked to the tougher looking vampire and placed the stake to his chest. "One last chance...." The vampire spit in his face, so he took the time to wipe it off and, with one strike of the mallet, drove it in until it struck the chair behind him. The sweet smile he gave the younger vampire was chilling. "Another thing that's very irritating to vampires is the venom of the Emperor scorpion," he addressed the younger vampire as he walked to the large aquarium teeming with the fat black devils. With a small net, he scooped five into a small jar, walked over to the screaming, staked vampire and pouring them into his open mouth. "If one of you gents wouldn't mind taping his mouth shut," he added tossing a roll of tape to the young one who had smiled at him. The young man saluted and did as he was instructed. Sebastian walked to the younger vampire and sat in his lap seductively, running a finger along his jaw line. "How old are you, cutie?" The younger vampire swallowed and stuttered, "Around ssseventy-five...." "What's your name?" "Jean-Philippe...." "Do you know who I am, Jean?" "Nnnnno, sir...." "What do you think you're doing here tonight?" "Apprehending a fugitive...." "Would you be surprised to know that I am the Consul van der Meer, and you have just attacked the headquarters of US East?" The man closed his eyes as if it was a nightmare and he'd wake up any moment. "This very night, Consul Chang has betrayed the Council and has been declared an enemy, and I have been elevated to High Consul...." The boy, in vampire terms he was a pup and he looked to be perhaps twenty-four, actually began to cry. Sebastian stroked his cheek softly and kissed his forehead. "Now, now.... Enough of that...." Sebastian stood and untied him from the chair, and led the boy into his office and logged onto the subnet, proving his identity to the boy, who broke down again. "If I remove the chains from your wrists, you won't do anything stupid, will you?" "No, sir," the boy said through his tears. "Good boy...." Sebastian loosed his restraints and put hands on his shoulders. "Now, where was the rendezvous point?" The boy wrote the address on a pad and handed it to Sebastian. "I only meant to do my part for the council, sir, I swear...." Sebastian nodded, leading him out and handing the paper to the Colonel. "This was the rendezvous point. See what your men can find.... Use a werewolf to track them.... If we can identify any of the participants, put out a world-wide alert.... And ground all planes which are flying under council authority or under the authority of any group which might ally against us...." "Yes, sir!" The man rushed off to put Sebastian's plans into effect. Turning to Jean, he said, "Your friend, will he talk?" "He's a true believer, sir.... He is Chang's man on the ground for this operation...." "What is his name?" "Daniel Richards...." "Thank you," Sebastian said, patting the boy on the arm. Standing before the other man impatiently, he ordered the wizards to make the second ring of salt. "I summon you, guardian wind of the north, come and stand in your place, opening this magical circle.... I summon you, guardian wind of the east, come and stand in your place, opening this magical circle.... I summon you, guardian wind of the south, come and stand in your place, opening this magical circle.... I summon you, guardian wind of the west, come and stand in your place, opening this magical circle.... Guardian winds protect this circle that none may enter and none may exit, that what is in this world remains here, that what is in that world remains there...." The two circles glowed as before, and he continued. "Across the vast expanse of space and time I banish thee, Daniel Richards, to your place in the ancient prison of Ashaer, where you will be interrogated until no more can be learned.... Your sentence is ... eternity.... Be gone, be gone, be gone from before me...." An orange flash filled the room and Sebastian brushed his hands together and he sat down again, this time inviting Jean to sit for a conversation. "Now, Jean, what can you tell me about the kidnappers?" "Kidnappers, sir?" "The team who took Peter Lively.... That is one of the groups your team was going to rendezvous with...." "I'm sorry, I was only aware of one target, sir -- Horatio Vickers and Roman Sylvano...." "You'll pardon me if I can't take your word for it...." "Please, sir.... Look into my mind.... You'll see...." "This," Sebastian warned, raising his eyebrows, "is going to hurt...." "Please, do it...." Placing his hand on Jean's temples, he could see it all -- the team being instructed on a standard extraction, no mention of any other teams, Chang instructing Richards privately.... Chang.... Where did this meeting take place? On the plane.... Chang was here? He broke the connection and the Jean doubled over in pain. Sebastian whispered, "I'm sorry," in his ear before running upstairs to find the colonel. "Colonel Fisher! Chang's here! He flew in on the plane with the teams.... He could be anywhere now...." "I'll get the seekers on it, sir.... Wizards the world over will scour this place for the bastard...." Again the man was off. Sebastian smiled -- he liked the man's dedication. One of the wizards came downstairs and he asked, "How are the patients?" "Both are being worked on by the healers.... They'll sleep for a while, sir...." "Thank you," he said, heading back downstairs, where Jean sat with his head in his hands surrounded by four guards. "What's going to happen to me, sir?" "Strictly speaking, the punishment for your crime would be an endless sentence in Ashaer, like your colleague.... Given your lack of knowledge and your willingness to help ... I can offer you a punishment of ... servitude...." "Really? You'd allow me to serve you?" "You understand that this would be endless.... At least as long as I live, and that if you ever attempted to betray me, it would mean your instant death at the hands of the magical bond?" Jean fell to his knees in front of Sebastian and grasped at his hand. "Please!" Sebastian thought he saw a little more than relief in the man's eyes. The wizards joined their power to Sebastian's and made the unbreakable bond between Sebastian and the man. Then, he dismissed the wizard guard to return to their posts in the yard. "Jean," he said, lifting the man to his feet. "I'm going to see to my friend.... Please take a seat in the library.... Feel free to read...." Across town at the hospital, a van sped up the emergency room and dropped a body from the rear before speeding off. Nurses rushed outside and tried to find vital signs, but the boy was dead and his body was cooling.... The police were summoned, and a nurse slipped away, calling a number not used that often. "Hello? "I'm calling from the hospital.... A body was just dumped.... Puncture wounds to the shoulder and the ... penis.... The police are on the way...." The other line simply clicked and the nurse hung up. "Manners," she thought to herself. Council agents, Sebastian's agents, arrived before the police and dealt with all the witnesses and the cops, basically erasing the incident. An operative would destroy the recordings at police headquarters and the 911 call center overnight.... As they were wheeling the body out of the morgue, one of the men looked at the body. "Oh, fuck," the man exclaimed, causing his partner to raise eyebrows. Then he took a look. "Shit!" "You're making the call...." "Like hell I am.... You're the boss...." Sebastian grabbed the phone as he walked into his office and he grimaced at the news. "Take him to the facility.... Observe the body...." "Three days?" "Keep this one for ten.... Take no chances.... And then, no cremation, but burial...." "Richard," he said, kneeling down before the man. "Richard, look at me.... We ... have Pete's body.... It was dumped at the hospital...." "He's dead...." "Yes, Richard, he's dead...." Sebastian looked away, his eyes tearing up. "Richard, I don't know how to say this, but.... They drained him.... He ... there were traces of blood on his lips...." Richard shot to his feet. "Take me to him!" "Richard, we don't know when, or if...." "Sebastian, please! Send me to him.... I won't leave until it's over...." Sebastian grabbed Richard by the shoulders and looked into his eyes. "Alright.... But Richard ... when he wakes up, if he wakes up.... Richard, they didn't just turn him...." The pain was etched into the man's face as he closed his eyes and asked, "What else?" "Richard," Sebastian wrapped his arms around the man, and whispered into his ear, "he was sexually violated by at least two...." Sebastian felt the man squeeze him tight and sob. "Send me to him," he whispered. "I'll have them bring him here, my friend," Sebastian whispered and picked up the phone. "Yes, sir," a voice answered. "Have them bring Peter Lively's body to my home...." "But sir...." "The decision ... is made...." "Yes, sir...." The van pulled into a hangar at the airport and Martin and Vanessa hopped out. "You made it," a man said from the shadows. "The rest are all dead or captured.... What did you do with the boy?" "We were going to kill him," Martin laughed, "but we decided to rub it in Sebastian's face, so we turned him and dumped the body at the hospital...." "So you didn't kill him?" "No...." The man in the shadows shook his head. "Sebastian will be furious...." "That was the point...." "Except, he made it through the assault and came out stronger than before! Do you realize they've made him High Consul! Sebastian is dictator now!" The pair became pale, suddenly. "What's more, he's revealed himself.... Do you know who he is? He's almost four thousand years old.... You two are on your own.... I'm washing my hands of you...." Martin was about to object when a second man spoke from the shadows. "Chang, I'm holding you responsible for this ... debacle...." He stepped in behind Chang and twisted his head off before the man could even speak. When Chang's body fell to the ground, the man dropped the head onto it and waved his head over the pile, raising a huge and unnatural fire between him and the two vampires, obscuring his face, as the shadows had before. But his laughter chilled their wicked hearts. "Martin, Vanessa, when you see Sebastian, tell him that Sammael says hello," he said, laughing, and then he was gone, in an instant, simply disappearing before their eyes. A moment later, twenty wizards and two werewolves charged the hangars and subdued the vampires. "Where's Chang," a young major called, and Vanessa pointed to the smoldering pile of remains. They collected those and put their prisoners in an armored truck before heading back to Sebastian's compound, where their comrades were dealing with police and fire officials who were investigating the explosions on the street. "Richard, Peter's here," Sebastian said, putting the phone down. "I'm having him put in your room...." "Have they ... cleaned him?" "Yes...." The man stood numbly, and Sebastian kissed him softly on the cheek, sending him on his way. When he was gone, Sebastian turned to Colonel Fisher, who nodded. From storage, two large wooden tables were being moved into the basement. Indeed, the table tops were solid butcher's block and to anyone who paid attention, it was clear that the tables had been used. "There are no restraints," Colonel Fisher observed. "No," Sebastian said in a way that sent chills down the man's spine. "Could you have your men send Jean down...." When the young man arrived, Sebastian sent the colonel away. "Jean, my closest advisor is paralyzed by grief, the love of my life is unconscious, and my dearest friend was nearly killed.... So it falls to you to assist me...." "What do you need?" Sebastian looked at him grimly, handing the young vampire a handful of silver spikes. He winced from contact with the irritant, but did not complain. Good sign, Sebastian thought to himself. Martin and Vanessa were marched to the basement, and Sebastian looked up at them. "Do you have anything to say to me?" They both looked at him blankly, so he nodded to the guards, who forced them onto the tables and laid them down. "Stop me at any time," he said, as he held out his hand for a silver spike. It was a short one so he took Martin's right hand and placed it about 12 inches from his thigh. Holding his arm down, he drove the spike through his wrist into the table, hammering the spike so that the top bent at a ninety degree angle. The man kept screaming until Sebastian walked around to the other side and did the same. The screams stopped as he passed out. "Vanessa, right? Tell me, do you have anything to say?" "Chang is dead.... Kill us and get it over with...." "That's a great place to start, Vanessa.... Who killed Chang?" She sneered at him and said, "He told me to tell you he said hello, just after he killed Chang with his bare hands...." "What was his name?" "Sammael...." "Hmmm," he pondered, sounding mildly curious but almost bored. His face barely registered the sound of her screams as he drove the spikes through her wrists. He looked at Jean with ice in his eyes and said, "Call me when they wake up...." Jean shuddered as he looked down and saw that there were about ten spikes remaining.... As he walked up the stairs, Sebastian called over his shoulder, "If you think that was bad, wait until we've got them restrained.... Wait til Richard knows they're here...." In the living room, he waved for the colonel to join him. "There are two more humans, Steve and Chris.... They need to be brought here first thing this morning.... Pick them up as they're leaving for school.... Have a vampire exercise mind control over their families. The cover story is that they are away for a special sports training program.... Handle the school as well...." Then he walked up to his room and laid out on the bed next to James, where two healers were still at work. Sebastian simply ignored them, though his presence made them tense. "Please, pay me no attention...." In lieu of cuddling up with him and getting in their way, he took James's left hand in his own and closed his eyes, imagining they were a thousand miles away. His heart eased a little when he felt a unconscious squeeze, and he drifted off for a little while.