Caine Soren was sprawled against the wall of the church in Blue Earth, back throbbing with new bruises. He had followed the blonde girl toward the church on a whim. She was pretty and the way she moved sang out that she was dangerous; more dangerous than any normal person had a right to be. Caine knew all about danger, or so he had thought. Then he had come into the church in time to see her murder the pastor of the church. He had used his power to throw the blonde through the church roof, pausing only to steal a longing glance at the weapons arrayed in Pastor Jim's basement before scrambling up the stairs and out of the church to see his handiwork. Unfortunately for him, the girl he thought he had just killed was standing there waiting for him, eyes black as coal.
He had froze in that moment, staring at her in shock. The first thing he thought of was Gaia, he and Diana's daughter that the gaiaphage had possessed, but the creature before him couldn't be Gaia. Otherwise he would have been writhing on the ground in pain by now. No. This creature was something else.
That slight moment of frozen silence cost him. Caine found himself picked up and tossed into the church wall, a wave of pain instantly washing across his back. It hurt but it was nothing like having concrete slowly chipped from his hands as the bones broke and skin tore. He could have got up and fought but the moment he crumpled to the ground a feeling of helplessness washed over him; the same kind of helplessness that seemed to overwhelm him when he saw Gaia or felt the gaiaphage in his mind. It was the kind of helplessness that told him if he killed this girl she would just come back in another body so he let her go. He watched her walk away, backing aching and bruising, before dialing his brother and ordering Sam to come get him. Now he sat outside the church, thinking. Thinking about hate.
More specifically he was thinking about Diana Ladris. Beautiful, bitchy Diana. His ex-girlfriend. He had hated Diana at a time; hated her because she had stood up to him when no one else would. But that hate had turned to attraction and during the months of the FAYZ he had fallen hard for her; for the real Diana. The Diana that cared about people deep down and used her sardonic comments to shield herself from those who wanted to hurt her. But somewhere along the line he had slept with Diana and everything had changed. Diana had gotten pregnant, left him, and had the demon of a baby he and Sam were chasing all across the country in an attempt to stop the world from ending.
Those thoughts led him to Lana, his current girlfriend. Lana Arwen Lazar was definitely no Diana. She was strong and skinny and scrappy. Her dark hair, more often than not, was pulled in a messy ponytail or braid and her curves were almost nonexistent but she had something Diana didn't. Lana was, quite simply, not bitchy. Sure she was snarky and had plenty of attitude to go around but she also knew when to be kind. She knew when to stop pushing and just comfort him and she helped him tolerate his wishy washy twin brother.
That led him to Sam. Self-sacrificing, too noble for his own good Sam Temple. From the moment he had seen Sam, Caine had known the other boy would be the bane of his existence. He just hadn't realized that Sam would also become his grounding point. Sam was his moral compass, his touchstone between reality and the craziness that went on in his dreams. And Sam had given up being with his girlfriend, beautiful and intelligent Astrid Ellison, to help his twin brother he hardly knew track down a monster from nightmares.
Caine Soren hated all of them, in his own way, but at the same time he couldn't help but love them. He loved Diana, the one he'd fell in love with and not the sour and broken shell left behind after Gaia. He loved Lana with her razor sharp wit and her cries of, "Get over yourself! The world doesn't revolve around you anymore!" And he had come to love Sam, despite his best efforts to the contrary. His brother had snuck up on him somehow, hanging around like a determined puppy and dodging every jab Caine sent his way. As if on cue there was a rumble of tires on gravel, the sound of a car door slamming, and then approaching footsteps.
"Caine? Caine!"
"M'fine," Caine mumbled as Sam knelt next to him. "Quit worrying about me."
"You call me saying you need help, which you swore you never would, and then tell me to stop worrying about you?" Sam asked, sounding torn between amusement and outright fear.
"Just shut up and call Lana," Caine growled at his brother. Sam glanced into his eyes and then they both started laughing.
"Man," Sam said suddenly as he dialed Lana. "Our lives are so messed up."
"Tell me about it," Caine replied darkly as Sam, still chuckling, informed Lana of where they were at. Then he sank down next to his brother and they waited for the Healer to show. Some dark part of Caine had to admit it was almost comforting.