Date: Sat, 2 Jan 2010 08:27:21 -0600
From: Jason Gordon <jaygordon_1981@hotmail.com>
Subject: Things That Go Bump, Ch. 8

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 8
				"Choices"


    The dim light continued to burn.  The soul was there, but James could
not give him any indication.  Sebastian yelled, "What do you want, James?
I can stop this," he cried, tears in his eyes.  "I'm not ready....  Tell me
what you want...."  But James was fading and even in his mind there was no
coherent picture.  Laying the boy flat, Sebastian used a claw to slice his
wrist, shoving the wound into James' mouth.  The blood dripped into his
mouth as his blood flowed from his back onto the floor.  At least he was
spared having to drain the boy himself.  He laid down next to him as a
trickle of his blood flowed into James' mouth, whispering, "I'm so sorry
baby....  I just ... can't let you go...."  When the ambulance arrived, he
pulled his arm away from James' mouth and wrapped it around his chest.  He
could feel the robust heart stop beating.  He heard the medics talking --
"We've got three gunshot victims, at least two dead....  This one's just a
flesh wound...."  The younger one grabbed Sebastian, but he wouldn't let go
of James.  "Let him go," the man said, "he's gone...."  Sebastian did let
go, and they led him to the back of the ambulance, letting the police begin
their work.  As the medics bandaged his arm -- another inconvenience as he
could heal himself as soon as he was alone -- he talked numbly to the
police.

    "We were coming to tell his mom about the big party last night....  The
football team had their party at my house last night.  When we got here the
door was open.  I went inside first and before I could warn him about his
mom, we were shot from behind....  It was his father, I saw him holding the
gun....  His father hated that James was gay, and Maureen was divorcing
him....  There was a hearing scheduled for tomorrow....  James is dead," he
said, breaking down into tears.  He let them take him to the hospital
because he had a very elaborate plan that had to be put into place....

    When James' body was brought in, he demanded and begged to see it, at
last using mind control to get access.  Then he convinced the doctor that
James was still alive.  Despite the fact that none of the instruments
showed any life, Sebastian used the vast power he had developed to sustain
the illusion for police and doctors that there had in fact been a miracle.
It would be three days before James' eyes would finally open, and until
then Sebastian would stand guard.  As he sat by the hospital bed where
James lay dead, he picked up his phone and called Richard in tears.
"Richard?"

    "Sebastian, what's wrong," the man asked in a panic.  Sebastian heard
Pete in the background, so Richard had apparently invited him back over
again.

    "James is dead....  His father ... shot his mother and ambushed us at
the house....  He's dead...."

    "Did you...?"

    "I had to, Richard....  I couldn't let him go...."

    "I understand....  I'm so sorry....  We're on our way...."

    "They all think he's alive....  That way it won't arouse suspicion when
he ... well, you know...."

    "We're on our way...."

    Twenty minutes later, after police asked Sebastian, they were admitted
to the room.  Pete immediately hugged him and whispered, "I'm so sorry!
Are you okay?"

    "Yeah, mine's just a flesh-wound," he said.  "Who needs to be called?
I just don't know ... with his mom dead and his father the murderer...."

    "Let me take care of it," Pete said, walking outside to make some calls
-- the coach, who could make sure the school people knew, a couple of key
guys on the team, to spread the news, and importantly, Chris and Steve.  He
called Chris and Steve was there.

    "Chris, put me on speaker!"

    "What's going on," he asked, as he did what he was told.

    "I'm at the hospital," he said.

    "Are you alright," Chris asked immediately.

    "Yes, no, I mean, it's not about me....  Guys, James has been shot, it
doesn't look good, and his mom's dead...."  There was absolute silence on
the line, then a sob he recognized to be Chris'.

    Steve asked, "Sebastian?"

    "Shot in the arm....  He's calling the shots here....  No one seems to
be questioning that...."

    "We'll be there in thirty," he said, and Pete explained to him how to
get to the room and what to tell the police guarding the room.  Soon, the
six of them were all there, Sebastian and one other in the room at all
times.  James continued to be dead, but the appearance had to be maintained
for the sake of his friends.  Sebastian knew James wouldn't want to abandon
them when he was revivified.


    At around midnight, Sebastian asked Pete to send Richard in -- he
needed to talk to the man privately.  "Richard, I need you to stay with him
tonight....  You know how to keep up the illusion, just don't get
distracted...."

    "Sebastian, please....  Don't ask me to do that alone...."

    "You are a big boy, and I trust you," Sebastian said, putting a hand on
his arm.  "You're the only one I can trust with this...."

    "Why can't you stay?"

    Sebastian's eyes drained of all warmth, and for once, his eyes too
burned like black fire on white fire.  "I'm going hunting...."

    Richard grabbed his arm.  "Please, don't...."  But Sebastian's face was
set and burning with pent-up fury.  He stormed out of the room and past
James' friends without a word.  Pete ran after him.

    "Where are you going?"

    Sebastian stopped, and turned.  The look on his face gave Pete a shock,
as Sebastian almost hissed, "HE is still out there...."

    "What can you do?"

    "I've got power, money, influence....  There is nowhere under heaven he
can hide...."

    Knowing what fueled the rage, Pete nodded, but added, "Don't do
anything that will drive wedge between you and James ... when he wakes....
He's too good...."

    Sebastian stopped and considered what he said and nodded, softening
some.  Then he walked out into the shadows and was gone.  He transformed
into a dark bird -- he hated cliché's so not bats -- and soared gracefully
through the town, sorting through scents, scanning minds.  When he at last
settled on what he was looking for, it was ironic.  He settled to the
ground in front of the police station.  They had already found him, and he
was in a holding cell.

    Sebastian walked through the front door, but all the desk officer saw
was dark night.  Sebastian moved invisibly through the lobby, chanting an
ancient Aramaic cloaking spell, and made his way to the cell that held
James' father.

    "Hello, Philip," he said, snapping into view.  "How are you?"

    The man looked at him, at first hollow but then with a vicious smile.
"I meant to kill you...."

    "I know you did," Sebastian added, "but that would have been difficult
in any case," Sebastian said, transforming into a mist and stepping through
the bars, appearing on the other side.  "Tell me, Phil....  Why?"

    With a sneer, the man spat, "He ruined my life, destroyed
everything....  You, if it weren't for you...."  Phil wanted to lung, but
he knew better.

    "I just wanted to tell you that James is alive....  He'll live long
after you're gone," Sebastian said, sitting on the empty bunk across from
Phil.  "Only, the pain you've caused him....  I'm just not sure what to do
with you...."

    "You won't do anything," Phil laughed, sounding none too sure of
himself.  "We're in a police station...."

    "Philip, in case you can't tell, I am ... above the law....  I just
walked through bars, after all...."

    "My name is Phil," the man spat like a petulant child.

    "No, your name is Philip....  Or how did she say it....  Yes, Philip,"
he repeated the name, mimicking Phil's aunt Rita perfectly.  "She did
terrible things to you, didn't she Philip....  I could do those things, but
you'd enjoy them coming from me, wouldn't you.  You're son thinks I'm very
beautiful...."

    Phil closed his eyes and shook his head.  Sebastian stood and walked
over to the man.  "Truth be told, I tire of this, Philip, so I'm going to
give you two choices....  First, you can start yelling for the detectives
and sign a detailed confession to one count of murder and two counts of
attempted murder tonight...."

    "Or," the man asked with disdain.

    Sebastian grabbed his left hand hard, grabbing the proximal phalange of
his pinkie finger between his thumb and forefinger and squeezing until it
was crushed.  Phil screamed a high-pitch scream.  "The trick is ... they
won't hear....  You can scream and scream all night.  Did you know that
there are 27 bones in your hand?  Option 2 is that I break each one of
them, before offering you option 1 again...."

    "Detective," he called, "Detective!  I'm ready to talk...."

    The man, a big African American named Steven's, came in.  "You ready to
talk, Barton?"

    "Yes, yes!  I'll tell you everything, I'll sign, whatever....  Just get
him out of here...."

    "Him," the detective asked, looking around.

    Phil saw he couldn't see Sebastian and sighed.  "Me....  Get me out of
here...."  The man took him to an interrogation room, and Sebastian
followed, overseeing the whole process from the shadows, leaving only after
the man signed.  Sebastian walked the street for an hour, pacing....  He
had done what he knew James would want, but he was entirely unsatisfied.
He turned toward campus and made his way to the frat house where Austin
lived, knocking on the boy's window.

    A few minutes passed and he looked out, opening the window.  Sebastian
climbed in without asking, and the boy stood aside.  "Hello, Austin," he
said.  "I thought I'd pay you a house call," he said, looking at the cute
boy in his boxers without the slightest interest, almost with contempt.
Without any of the preliminaries, he went straight for the jugular.  He
drank hard and deep and furiously, taking a little too much.  Austin
wouldn't feel well for a few days, that was for certain, but the boy didn't
fail to get aroused.  Looking over at the boy's sleeping roommate,
Sebastian smiled.  "Why don't you offer him your ass?  I'm sure he'd like a
piece," Sebastian suggested to the boy under his suggestive power.  He sat
on the end of the bed unseen as the undergrad walked over to his roommate
naked and shook his shoulder.

    "What," the sleeping boy asked, before opening his eyes and seeing the
boner in his face.  "What the fuck, man?"

    "Fuck my ass?"

    "Get the fuck out of here, queermo," he said, laughing a little at what
he thought was a strange joke, but Austin knelt down.

    "Fuck me?"

    "I'm not...."  But then he looked at the boy standing before him,
hairless with a fine ass, and thought, 'who cares?'  "If you ever tell
anybody about this, I'll kill you," he said.

    "Why'd I tell?  It's yours whenever you want," Austin said, climbing
into the boy's bed.

    Sebastian laughed and let himself out.  "Frat boys," he muttered, "I
barely had to encourage his roommate...."  Slightly relieved, he made his
way back to the hospital.  As he opened the door to the room, he saw
Richard in terror standing in the far corner of the room looking like he
was trying to melt away.  His eyes followed the man's gaze to the tall man
standing next to the bed.

    The man looked at him and smiled brilliantly, "Hello, Hesed ben
Nahor...."