Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 15:13:38 -0500
From: Jason Gordon <jaygordon_1981@hotmail.com>
Subject: Things that Go Bump ch 24

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 "A Light in the
Darkness."  The story lines are related and the characters occasionally
interact, and the frequency of this will be increasing. My sincerest thanks
go out to Tarton and Phoenix Rafael, 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 membership
requires permission to avoid spam and flames, so just let me know!



			Things That Go Bump, Chapter 24
				"Spreading Terror"





	The pressure Sebastian felt around his neck was extreme, and he
knew the ancient vampire wasn't trying to choke him.  She was trying to
manually decapitate him.  Just when his world started to go black, however,
and his pain reached its peak, he felt the pressure abruptly lift.  He
vaguely heard Avery begin to move as well, just before Sekhmet howled in
pain and terror.  A nearly deafening roar was her foe's response, as it
slashed at her back with its heavy paw.  Wherever it struck, her flesh
sizzled as if in flames.

	Sekhmet rounded on the white bengal tiger, giving it all her
attention, and it thanked her with a quick slash to the face that blinded
her in one eye before she knocked it to the ground with a ferocious blow.
The beast was stunned, not dead, however, and Sekhmet was seriously
injured.  She fled quickly back toward the east side of the park where her
compatriots were meeting heavy resistance from Christen and Musa and their
forces.  Sebastian and Avery took off after her, but even injured and even
in the sunlight, Sekhmet was a formidable foe.  Resheph and Aethon were
facing off against Christen and Musa when Sekhmet joined them.

	Aethon, between blasts from Christen, quipped, "You've seen better
days, girlie!"

	"You're not doing so hot yourself, for a god," she retorted,
conjuring up a fireball to throw at Sebastian.  So they stood facing off,
four consuls and a band of wizards against three of the Old Ones, one
almost incapacitated.

	"It could be worse," Avery muttered.

	"Never say that," Christen whispered sharply.

	"Indeed," bellowed a loud voice echoing off the concrete walkway.
Sammael walked toward them clapping his hands wickedly.  "It almost invites
trouble, does it not?"  As if to illustrate his point, Sammael lifted two
fingers and pointed them at Avery, before giving them a little flick.  The
man flew back, crashing into the wall of the nearby gift shop and crumpling
to the ground.

	Sebastian reacted instantly, raising a hand at Sammael, but his
eyes narrowed and he pointed at Sekhmet and yelled, "Incindere!" drawing
deeply on his rage.  At first nothing happened and his supporters and
enemies alike looked on in surprise.  But then Sekhmet began to scream.
She could have been a tornado siren, it was so piercing.  "How important is
your plan to you, Sammael?  I called up the fire INSIDE of her....  You can
still save her, but not here, not now, not fighting us...."

	Sammael glared at him, then looked at Sekhmet, then back at
Sebastian.  "This is NOT OVER, vampire!  This is just a taste of what's
coming...."  And then, he and his compatriots were gone, simply vanishing
with a wave of the demon's hand, again at a huge expenditure of energy.  He
would have to expend more to work the counter spells to save Sekhmet.  But
Sebastian knew he was a slave to his plan, and his minions were more
susceptible to magick than he was.

	"Get this place clear and sweep the parking lot for stragglers....
Any vampires or wizards he brought with him are still here," Sebastian
called.  They had precious few minutes before swat teams and authorities
would show up.  Sebastian would deal with them but some things were best
done without oversight.  The Council's forces disposed of three more
vampires and two dark wizards, and helped the human authorities clear the
zoo.

	In the parking lot, they made a key discovery: Sammael's mobile
command unit, with its communications systems and trackers operational.
Sebastian made sure his people transported the unit away to a secure
location for study.  With any luck, they would get enough information to
begin striking out at Sammael's operation around the world.



	The consuls returned to Sebastian's manor with their troops and
collapsed, exhausted, in the living room.  "Well," the waiting boys
demanded.

	"We beat them back," Sebastian said, his voice heavy with
disappointment.  "But they'd already done so much damage....  And we
wouldn't have stood a chance in a fair fight...."

	That scared the young men.  Sebastian was arguably the strongest,
most knowledgeable opponent arrayed against Sammael.  Musa saw their faces
fall and tried to reassure them, "Have faith, young ones!  God is with us!"

	"To bad he didn't show up with a big-assed sword today," Avery
grumbled under his breath, earning a frown from Musa, Chase, and,
surprisingly enough, Sebastian.  "Well, it would have been nice," he added
grumpily.  "Sekhmet could have taken us both," he said, indicating himself
and Sebastian, "if it hadn't been for the damn tiger...."

	"Tiger?" James asked with a wry smile.  "This has got to be
good...."  So the men filled them in on the whole story, leaving out none
of the horrific detail.  The fact of the matter was that they all knew
that, sooner or later, these ... boys ... would have to fight.

	"But ... having their command unit, won't that help," William
asked, sitting forward.

	"Yes," Sebastian allowed.  "In time, it should give us access to
their communication, and perhaps even an archive of information.  But it
probably isn't the only one, and the fact is that Sammael and his minions
have the power to move around at will, just like we do...."

	"But," Avery corrected, "they expend tremendous amounts of energy
to do it their way, unlike us....  Unfortunately," he began, but broke off.

	"What," James asked, but Chase had already discerned.

	"They feed off of chaos....  So the more energy they expend, the
more they need to feed," Chase said, grimly.

	"I'm afraid so," Sebastian added.  "But our best people are on the
unit, studying it....  We'll know more very soon."  After a pause, he
looked at Chase and William.  "I suppose we need to get you boys home?"
They nodded.  "Alright," he said, pushing himself up.  He and James led
them downstairs, along with Sam, who took them through the portal and saw
them safely home, after Sebastian and James said their goodbyes.

	When they returned upstairs, Musa said, "It's hard to imagine
sending those boys into battle against these ... creatures...."

	Sebastian nodded, but said, "No choice, Musa....  William is nearly
as capable as most governors, and Chase...."  He paused briefly and shook
his head.  "It takes a terrible toll on him, but Chase is able to do things
no one else is....  Yesterday afternoon, we saw him ... destroy a demon."

	"Banish?" Christen asked.

	"No....  Destroy.  As in nothing, matter or spirit, remained...."

	"Impossible," the woman replied.

	"Indeed," Sebastian nodded, raising his eyebrows to indicate that,
nevertheless, the impossible had happened.  Musa grunted and returned to
his pondering silence.

	Shortly, Musa and Christen moved to return and said their goodbyes
as well.  Avery had gone looking for Sarah, leaving Sebastian and James
alone.  "We're going to have to get into it soon, you know," James said
when no one was left to hear the rebuke in it.  "You can't protect us from
it when the whole thing looks like it might turn on what WE do...."

	"I know," Sebastian said with a deep sigh.  "But ... I'm glad you
weren't there to see....  It was terrible...."  After a pause, "There are
many things that I've done that were more destructive of life, but they
... they treated the weak, the defenseless as targets in a sick game....  I
could never do that....  I suppose it's why I never got to be as powerful
as they are...."

	"Their power is stolen," James insisted.  "Gaining power that way,
they're parasites....  Better to be weaker than them than get power that
way....  You'll still be strong after they've expended all the power
they've got...."

	Sebastian smiled and took James's outstretched hand.  "I hope
you're right....  Maybe I'll let William and Chase go on a mission
soon...."

	"I think that's a good idea," James said with a smile.  "I'll take
good care of them," he added.

	Sebastian smiled at him and raised his eyebrows.  "I'm sure you
will...."

	James poked a finger into his ribs and laughed.  "Don't push me,"
he chided.  "But I'm going too...."

	"I know," Sebastian responded.  "I don't have to like it...."

	"No more than I do watching you go off without me," James asked,
raising his eyebrows.

	Sebastian nodded and smiled.



	"Clearly, we weren't ready," Resheph complained as Sammael worked
carefully over Sekhmet to try to mend her wounds.  He'd already put out the
fire Sebastian had set inside her, but the damage done by the tiger was
persistent.

	"Clearly," Sammael scowled.  "I wasn't prepared for them to respond
so quickly....  This was meant to strengthen us, not weaken us further...."

	"Perhaps ... we should separate for a while....  Spread the
destruction around?" Aethon asked, longing to have his leash loosened.
Sammael's glare was unsympathetic.

	But Resheph added, "It would distract them....  Divide their
forces...."

	"Perhaps," Sammael allowed.  After a moment's deliberation he
looked back at them.  "Tomorrow.  Two days....  Be as visible and
destructive as you want, but return here by the end of the two days...."

	"Where would you like us to go," Aethon asked with an excited grin.

	"Europe, Asia, anywhere you please.  Just make it bloody and
visible.  And take Peter with you....  Make him ... participate...."
Sammael smiled to himself.  The boy had proved he was willing to kill, but
could he do the work?  Terrify and torture?  He can learn, Sammael thought
to himself.  "First thing tomorrow," he muttered as he returned to his
careful work.



	The next morning, Sebastian and James showered early and joined the
others, getting back to their daily routines.  Sebastian and Avery visited
the site where Sammael's command unit was being studied between James's
training sessions.

	As they entered the little facility, the guards snapped to
attention.  "High Consul!  General!"  The soldier barked with a salute.

	"At ease," Sebastian said, smiling and rolling his eyes so that
only Avery could see.  But Avery just smiled.  He had been a part of the
wizard-warrior structure, so he understood.

	A young woman in a lab coat emerged from the unit and smiled.
"Sebastian!"

	He gave her a quick hug, and asked, "How are you, Meg?"

	"Enjoying myself with this thing!  It's amazing!"

	"I'm glad," he laughed.  "You've met Avery Salazar?"

	"No," she said, giving Avery a thorough looking over.  "Pleasure,"
she said, extending a hand.  "Megan Fortier...."

	"Now, what can you tell us," Sebastian said, getting back to
business...."

	"Well, there's good news and bad news...."

	"Bad news first," he sighed.

	"We can't break the encryption yet...."

	"Damn!  What's the good news," Sebastian asked.

	The woman smiled cutely.  She had been a coed at Radcliffe studying
science when she was turned in 1914.  She had finished her studies and
earned multiple advanced degrees in physics, mathematics and computer
science over the years.  But she would always look like a bubbly, busty,
blond nineteen-year-old.

	"Damn fools forgot to log out before they went on their
rampage.... As long as we keep the unit powered up and running, we can
monitor communications on this channel...."

	"But," Sebastian asked.

	"There are seven alternate channels of information we don't have
access to....  But an eighth of their information is better than none.  And
that's real-time intelligence....  We're decoding documents fast now, so
we're beginning to piece together some of the structure of their
organization...."

	"Good," Sebastian replied, the hope returning to his voice.  A
moment later, he asked, "Identified any low-risk targets, like research
facilities or inactive safe-houses?"

	"LARRY," Megan yelled, making Sebastian laugh and shake his head.

	"WHAT?" came the gruff reply of an older man.

	"BOSS IS HERE!"

	They heard quick, heavy footfalls and a middle aged man in
ridiculous clothes with a little bulge around the belly waddled into view.
"Sorry about that, consuls!  I thought it was just another unnecessary
interruption!"

	"Not at all, Larry," Sebastian said, smiling at the man.  "I was
just asking, have you identified any targets so we can begin our
counterstrikes?"

	"A couple of heavily fortified safe houses in Europe, packed with
dark mojo-slinging bastards and some mean old blood-suckers....  No
offense...."

	"None taken," Sebastian said with a laugh.  He liked the old fool.
"And excellent, get me the coordinates as soon as possible....  Any low
risk targets?"

	"There's a boat in the Atlantic they're using for something...."

	"To tricky for what I have in mind," Sebastian said, shaking his
head.

	"Well," Larry said, "there's a communications center in Canada,
somewhere in the fucking permafrost....  Doesn't seem very well defended
but it could be important....  Disrupt their com and maybe give us some
clues about decrypting their channels...."

	"Perfect," Sebastian said.  "Get some of your best people on
pinpointing its location, and begin feeding me locations of potential
targets....  It's time to make some dark mojo slingers and mean old
bloodsuckers bleed...."  Larry laughed and nodded, waddling off.

	"What's the deal with him," Avery asked when he was out of sight.

	Megan's smile faded.  "Human....  Used to work for the NSA.  Little
boy was killed by something dark and scary....  Sebastian's organization
helped kill it, and he wanted on board, so I agreed to train him up for our
needs.  Good man, but he's got an axe to grind with the darkness, so he's
loving this!"

	Sebastian laughed darkly and nodded.  "It's time for the bad guys
to learn you can't just do what you want....  There are consequences...."


	Shortly after Avery and Sebastian returned to the manor, they got
an alert and logged on to the shadow network.  Americ had posted an alert
of violence in Prague.  He'd posted a screen shot of two figures leaving a
popular youth hostel.  It was Aethon, with a mad grin on his face, with his
arm slung protectively across the shoulder of a sick-looking Peter, whose
face was, nonetheless, smeared with blood.

	Sebastian closed his eyes and exhaled, cursing.  Avery hailed
Americ, asking, "What's happened?"

	"The youth hostel...."

	"Yeah," Avery said.

	"EVERYONE!"

	"What?" Sebastian asked.

	"They struck before dawn....  Everyone was in for the curfew....
Every single resident who made it home was killed, and every employee on
duty.  Right now it looks like Peter did four, Aethon did ... dozens...."

	"How can you tell," Sebastian said, getting a sick feeling.

	Americ sighed, "Because Aethon makes a mess, or leaves his victims
looking like they died of starvation....  Peter strictly drains them, or
kills them quick and clean...."

	"Small fucking mercies," Avery barked.  He remembered the handsome
boy and shook his head.  The boy was gone.

	"Get people on the streets there and in nearby places....  We need
to know where they strike next, and be ready...."

	About that time, a young Indian man, Phoolendu Prabhu, hailed them.
"Consuls," he said, exhaling heavily, "We have an attack in progress in
Delhi, sirs!"

	"Exact location?" Sebastian asked, grabbing a cloak and wand, as
well as some weapons as the man answered.

	"Outside the main entrance of the Lotus Temple, sir!"

	"Very well, Governor Prabhu....  Contact other consuls, as well as
General Roth, directly and let them know where we are going....  I'm taking
my personal retainer, as well as Avery Salazar, into the field
immediately...."

	"Thank you, sir!"  Avery had already summoned Sebastian's men and
opened the portal.  Sebastian led them through.

	Immediately, the stench of blood and death filled his nostrils, but
something else, too, and he pushed back against the door to close it,
preventing the wizards from coming through.  Quickly, he took cover and
called Avery's cell.  "Tell the men, full hazard gear....  There is a
biological agent....  It's Resheph here...."

	"Plague," Avery muttered and passed word to the wizards.  "Take
cover and take care while I put a notice out...."

	"Sure thing," Sebastian muttered quietly and pushed the phone back
into his pocket.  He could tell by the screams that Resheph had moved into
the Temple complex, looking at his watch cursing.  He couldn't wait so he
rushed ahead.  He passed groups of people huddled in fear as he followed
the fear.  'Poor bastards,' he thought to himself, 'they probably think
they've been spared....'

	Long before Abraham's birth, Resheph was feared and revered as the
god of the plague.  Sebastian had no idea how old the monster was, but he
knew that by the time Resheph turned him he had already mastered enough
powerful magick to conjure and control diseases.  Local populations served
him faithfully, lest ultimate destruction befall their whole communities.
In a city like Delhi, Resheph could wreak the kind of havoc he couldn't
have dreamed of in Mesopotamia.  Never mind, he was alive again and pissed.

	"Resheph," Sebastian called loudly when he got closer.

	"Sebastian!  You move quick, my pet...."

	"Not anymore," Sebastian spat in disgust.

	Resheph laughed a hearty and familiar laugh.  "Oh the things I used
to do to you....  The things you used to beg me to do to you....  I enjoyed
you longer and more thoroughly than any monster I ever made or met...."

	"I am not a monster," Sebastian cried, closing in on Resheph's
position, taking little heed about how out-classed he was.

	"Tell that to the male temple prostitutes in Jerusalem," Resheph
laughed.  "Or perhaps we should inquire about your memory amongst the
Romanians?"

	"I was misled by a master," Sebastian replied, turning the corner
and coming face-to-face with his one-time lover, and murder victim.

	"I'd forgotten how beautiful you were," Resheph sneered.  "Being
dismembered will do that to you...."

	"I kept you contained for centuries....  Were it not for Sammael,
it would have been forever...."

	"Evil is strong," Resheph answered, "and determined....  You should
have destroyed me completely, when the technology became available....  Why
didn't you?"  The question was legitimately curious.

	Why hadn't he?  Why hadn't he at least put a small piece on a
rocket to the sun, or at a nuclear test site?  "I don't know...."

	"Perhaps," Resheph smiled, taking a step forward, "you wanted to be
able to put me back together if the situation called for it.... Or perhaps
there was still a little of that old affection....  Tell me do you still
cry out my name in the dark?"

	"I rarely sleep anymore," Sebastian answered coldly, "and when I
do, I never think of you...."

	"Ah, yes, James....  Handsome specimen....  I could teach him so
many things...."

	"Don't YOU EVER so much as say his name to me again, or I WILL
DESTROY YOU!"  Sebastian's anger seethed as his eyes narrowed.

	"Ferocious, like a little dog in a handbag!  I ate one a few
moments ago, just to watch its master cry....  I don't fear you, pup!  And
if you could DESTROY me you wouldn't be standing there!"  With a swift
move, Resheph threw a flaming ball of energy at Sebastian.

	With intense concentration, Sebastian caught it between his hands
and poured his hatred into it, swelling it to the size of a basketball and
chanting a little spell before throwing it back.  Resheph was surprised
when he caught it and taken aback by what he did with it.  But he wasn't
suspecting what happened when he dodged it: the ball turned course and
struck him hard in the back, knocking him on his face.

	"Don't mistake me, Resheph," Sebastian hissed.  "I may not get you
today, but I'm much more powerful than the last time we met and that didn't
go well for you.  You were always good with the big punch, but I've learned
finesse!"

	From beneath the floor, vines erupted and wrapped themselves around
the ancient vampire's arms and legs.  At first he broke them as he writhed,
but they grew stronger and tighter until he was almost contained.  But at
just the wrong moment, a bolt of lightning rushed down at him from a nearby
warlock and caused him to jump.  Sebastian's concentration broken, the
restraints failed.

	Sebastian lashed out in fury at the warlock with a killing blow,
before facing off again with Resheph.  "You have grown," the ancient
smirked.  "I underestimated you...."

	"In that case," Sebastian laughed, "you're really going to love
him...."

	Resheph laughed as if Sebastian's attempt to distract him failed,
until he felt his feet leave the ground.  Turning his head, he saw Avery
standing, his arms outstretched, ropes of energy pulsing from his palms and
wrapping around Resheph, squeezing tighter and tighter.

	Suddenly, the humans' screaming renewed, and Sebastian looked back
and forth between the direction of the cries and Avery.  "GO," Avery cried,
straining from the effort.  With one last look, Sebastian ran off to save
the civilians from the dark forces attacking them.  Slowly, Resheph pushed
back against Avery and began to free himself.

	"You are strong wizard!  Killing you is not a waste of my talent,"
Resheph laughed.

	Avery laughed and raised a hand, murmuring, "Be silent, beast...."
Suddenly Resheph fell silent, unable to speak, or vocalize noise.  "All
this silly banter.  You'd think you were a television supervillain, when,
in reality you are just a relic of a bygone age, an old vamp with a little
skill in weird magicks...."  The air around Avery crackled and the light
dimmed as paused for effect.  "The age of man has come, and I am the most
dangerous man on earth...."  Black fire shot out of his hands toward the
vampire, crashing into him with a roar of power and a billion angry,
destructive impacts.  Finally, Resheph's voice returned to him and he
roared in pain and rage.  The clothing and skin was ripped from his chest,
the bone and flesh of his ribs bare.

	He fought against his desire to retaliate, instead throwing a
energy ball at Avery and running as Avery avoided it.  Before Avery could
focus on him, he had opened a portal and disappeared.  So Avery ran off to
assist Sebastian in finishing off the warlocks and vampires.



	When they returned to the manor, they were exhausted physically and
psychically, having both expended tremendous energy in the process of
beating back Resheph.  Between the two of them, they had nearly finished
him twice.  They'd taken out ten warlocks and as many vampires, but
thousands of people were infected, and dozens were already dead.  Upon
their return, they learned that Aethon had struck again, this time in a
village near Prague, quite publically.  The news of the village's demise
was running on CNN, with some grainy video of what looked like people
ripping into the villagers with tooth and claw.  The fear would spread
worldwide.  The secrets things were spilling into the open, and that was
good for no one.  No one but Sammael.

	There was little more to be done, however, for the day, as Avery
and Sebastian were spent.  Indeed, James had to help Sebastian upstairs to
bed and see to his feeding personally.  As they lay sweaty in bed -- the
feeding had prompted a bit more vigorous activity -- Sebastian lay his head
on James's chest and explained to him what they had learned and that he
would let James lead a group, including William and Chase, to capture the
communications outpost Larry had told him about, as soon as its exact
location was pinpointed.

	"It'll be fine," James said, running a big hand down the smooth
skin of Sebastian's back, making him shiver.  "We've got to get in the mess
if we're gonna finish this thing," he added.

	"I'd hoped I could protect you all....  You're all so ... good....
This kind of war can change a person...."

	James rolled onto his side so they were face to face and stared
deep into Sebastian's eyes, his cheeks dimpling at the corner of his smile.
"It won't change us....  Not for the worse anyway...."

	"How can you be sure?" Sebastian asked.

	"Because we are all in love....  It may not be everything, but
it'll keep us grounded...."

	"Unless," Sebastian began, but James put a finger on his lips.

	"Don't," he cautioned, slipping a hand from Sebastian's waist to
his ass, drawing his body flush to his own.  "Not now...."  James replaced
the finger with his own lips, initiating another round of lovemaking, this
time not fast and fierce, but slow and meaningful.



	"Sebastian did this," Sammael asked, dismayed.

	"No," Resheph said, with a painful exhale.  "Salazar did the worst
of it, but ... Sebastian could have killed me by himself if that warlock
hadn't distracted him....  Last time he had an army of hundreds and barely
succeeded...."

	"I warned you," Sammael said, as he continued to work on dressing
Resheph's wounds.  Then he called for a few young sacrifices to fuel the
vampire's recovery.  It wouldn't be fast if the black fire was what he
thought it was.

	"What now," Resheph asked.

	"Aethon is successfully spreading terror, and your action was quite
grandiose, if ultimately thwarted....  I'm about ready to send the council
a message...."

	"Sounds bloody," Resheph said through gritted teeth.

	"It's not that kind of message," Sammael said with a cryptic smile.
"But it might destroy the Council...."