Thanks for all the help Holly (My BETA) You rock!
Nick rushed to Greg's side and gasped at the sight before him; if he thought Greg looked bad before, up close was even worse.
Greg looked like he had gotten hit by a car and had been left for dead on the side of the road, sure there were bandages covering the worst of the injuries, but he could still see the bruises and shallow cuts on his face and arms. What really had him concerned was the blood gushing from Greg's shoulder.
Nick put his gun to the side, applying pressure to the wound. Greg hissed in agony, his eyes cracked open slightly. Through his blurred vision he saw a blurry human shaped figure, but he couldn't quite make out who it was. Whoever it was he prayed to God that they would not inflict anymore harm on him. His prayers were answered when he heard the familiar Texan drawl of his secret love.
"Hang on Greg, I'm gonna call an ambulance and everything is going to be okay." Nick tried to assure the brutally beaten figure beneath him, hoping Greg could hear him.
Upon hearing this Greg panicked and tried to shoot up from the floor, but gasped in pain from the stress it put on his injuries.
"Just relax G, you're hurt pretty bad. I'm surprised you managed to get in here without passing out from the blood loss." Nick would not say 'without dying' because he couldn't bare the idea of Greg dying, even though with the state he was in now it was a very big possibility.
"Y-You can't c-call the hospital Nick . . . you c-can't tell anyone that I-I'm here . . . I-If you do . . . t-there could be unthinkable . . . r-repercussions," Greg stammered from the writhing pain throughout his body.
"Greg you need to get to a hospital so a doctor can help you! The whole team has been worried sick about you since you escaped from the hospital. Why did you escape Greg? Please I need to know what's going on so I can help you!" Nick pleaded.
"Y-You can't help me Nick . . . I-If anything were to happen to you . . . I-I'd never forgive myself . . . s-so please listen to me . . . when I say that k-keeping you in the dark . . . I-Is for your own good." Greg pleaded.
Nick looked deep into Greg's pleading eyes and his heart was torn in two. He really wanted to help Greg and get him the help he needed, along with finding out what the hell had happened to him, but on the other hand he didn't want to betray Greg and destroy the trust he had in Nick to keep his presence here a secret.
"All right, but I don't agree with your decision. I won't call an ambulance and I won't ask about what happened to you, but will you at least let me dress your wounds myself?" He pleaded.
Greg managed to nod; Nick sprung up from the floor and dashed into his kitchen to get the first aid kit, along with making a pit stop by the liquor cabinet to get a bottle of half empty vodka.
He returned to Greg's side and opened the kit up. Getting out a pair of small scissors from the kit he carefully cut Greg's blood soaked shirt off his fragile body. When the tattered remains of the shirt was removed, he quickly set to work on checking the wound; the worst of the injuries had all ready been taken care of by some unknown person, but the one he was focusing on now was the obvious bullet wound in Greg's shoulder.
Nick got a pair of tweezers out of the kit and sterilized them with the vodka, but before beginning the amateur surgery he handed Greg the bottle of vodka and carefully held his head up so he wouldn't choke as Greg drank most of the remaining vodka down.
When Greg had his fill Nick took the bottle and set it down.
"Just grab my hand and squeeze as hard as you need to . . . because I'm not going to lie, this is really, really going to hurt." Nick warned, trying to hold it together for Greg's sake.
Greg took Nick's offered hand; Nick gave him a reassured squeeze before turning to the work on Greg's injury. With a deep breath to prepare himself for the pain he was about to inflict on the man he loved he began the surgery.
The tweezers entered Greg's wound and Greg barely managed to keep the earth shattering screams that wanted to erupt from his throat, but he held on and put Nick's hand in a death grip. Nick flinched from the pain his hand was in, but he wouldn't stop what he was doing until he got the bullet out.
"I'm sorry G . . . but the bullet is really in there." Nick apologized.
Regretfully Nick was forced to dig deeper into the wound and that was when it started to happen. The room began to quake, pictures, trinkets and other items began shaking from their places on the walls and shelf's, crashing to the floor. The more fragile things shattered to pieces on impact.
Greg screamed and the supernatural earthquake only got worse.
Fearing that Las Vegas was currently experiencing a massive earthquake, Nick tried to hurry, knowing it would be wiser to bring Greg with him into the bathroom and get him in the tub so that they could wait the earthquake out, but he didn't have time for that right now, he had to get the bullet out.
"Just hang on Greg . . . I almost got it," and in fact he did because he could see and feel the metal siding of the bullet against the tweezers. He managed to get a hold of the bullet and carefully pulled the foreign object out of Greg's body before it could do any further damage.
Disposing of the bullet in the first aid kit he quickly got the surgical thread and needle out of the kit, which he fortunately had stocked up in case of an emergency. Nick pulled the lighter out of his pocket, holding the needle over the flame, making quick work of sewing the wound closed to stop the blood flow. He then wrapped gauze over the stitches to keep the stitches safe from getting infected.
As soon as the operation was over, the 'earthquake' miraculously stopped.
Nick thanked God then carefully picked Greg's weakened body from the floor. He would have laid him down on the couch, but there was debris from the 'earthquake', so he carried Greg off to his room at the back of his apartment, that had somehow remained untouched by the 'earthquake'.
He carefully lay Greg down on his bed then sat down on the side, neither one had relinquished the other's hand.
Since Greg's disappearance Nick had been thinking a lot about his decision to not tell Greg about how he felt about him. He had been scared out of his mind that he would never see Greg again and he had vowed that if he ever saw Greg again he was going to hell him how he felt about him, no matter the consequences. So if Greg never wanted to see him again then so be it because he couldn't bare the thought of Greg not knowing that he loved him.
"Greg I-," right as he was going to reveal his biggest secret a new voice penetrated the room.
"Figured you'd come here." Nick whirled around and reached for his gun on his holster, grabbing air as he remembered he had left it in the living room. He cursed himself inwardly, but remembered he had a spare gun in his nightstand from anxiety that another stalker would try and kill him, but if this person was armed he wouldn't have a chance of reaching the weapon in time.
He looked round at the intruder in his bedroom, seeing a young woman who didn't appear to be armed, but it could be concealed; she was wearing blue skinny jeans, a green blouse and black converse trainers. Her blond hair was tied back in a tight ponytail and she had her hands on her hips.
"Who are you, and how did you get in my apartment?" Nick demanded, rising from the bed.
"Relax I'm unarmed . . . I'm not going to hurt you. Ask Greg if you don't believe me." Nick turned to Greg who nodded his head in reassurance, easing himself up from the bed. Nick moved to lower him back down, but Greg assured him he was fine.
"What are you doing here Korey?" Greg choked, staring at her intently. Through that gaze Korey knew that Greg was demanding answers and wouldn't stop asking until he got them.
"I came here to help. Sean and his goons will be here soon. When I left the sanctum him and his men were gathering weapons from the artillery room, I overheard him talking to George; Sean's planted a lie in George's head that you've betrayed them and that your continuing Tina's work. He told him you're going to sell them to the General and in exchange you'll be a free man, living the rich life." She concluded.
Greg turned away from her, looking down at the floor.
"If my father's declared war on me then all of his followers will listen to him . . . we have to get Nick out of here!" He said in a panic turning back to Nick.
Nick got up from the bed, looking at the two people in front of him in confusion.
"Look Greg I know I told you that I wouldn't ask what happened to you, but I really think you need to tell me now because from what I've heard, sounds to me like an army is heading this way intent on killing you and I'll be damned if I allow them to hurt you."
"We're shifters…"
Greg cut her off. "We can't tell him Korey, he'll be in danger if we do." He pleaded.
"He has a right to know Greg! I know you want to protect him, but that will be a lot easier if we tell him exactly what we're protecting him from. To do that there can't be any secrets." She reasoned. Greg shook his head, biting his lower lip.
"Fine tell him," He huffed. "But I still think this is a bad idea." Greg walked across the room and leant against the wall.
"As I was saying before; we're shifters, we have the ability to walk through any solid objects and some of us have gained extra abilities." She turned to Greg. "From the state of your living room, I'd say that you've all ready experienced Greg's other ability, telekinesis."
Nick looked at Greg in shock. Greg looked down at the floor awkwardly.
"When we caught word that another shifter had been found; George, the leader of the shifters in the Las Vegas area, also Greg's father; assembled a group of shifters to awaken Greg's shifter gene. Among these men was Sean. They cornered him when he was walking out of a club and forced him into the alley where they administrated the drug that would awaken his gene. When Greg was unconscious they brought him back to the sanctuary and had our tattooist tattoo the mark that would symbolize his gift…" Nick looked over at Greg as he covered up his arm. "But something went wrong . . . Greg woke up, we didn't see the need to strap him down, so he managed to spring out of the chair and attack not only the tattoo artist, but a few other shifters who were in the room. He was a man possessed as he fought them, blood was everywhere and if his father hadn't come and forced him to go to sleep he would have killed at least five men . . . It was unbelievable that only a few drops of blood managed to stain his shirt, but I'm guessing that there was more blood that couldn't be seen." She turned to Greg who had a haunted look in his eyes. Nick followed her gaze and his concern for Greg grew, he made his way over to him.
Flashes of what she described came back to him. He remembered the rage that had filled him as he attacked those men and he didn't even care that he could kill them because that's what he wanted; he wanted to kill those men.
"All that blood." He breathed, remembering the horror he had felt when he had taken a shower and had seen all the blood wash down the drain; he had been horrified that he had killed someone and now he knew that he almost had.
A hand suddenly found its way on his shoulder and he jumped in surprise and cried out when he rattled his injuries.
"Greg! It's just me Nick, you were spacing out man…I was worried about you." Nick soothed him, looking into Greg's worried gaze. He hated to cause him so much grief.
"When I woke up I was back in the alley, why did you guys just dump me there and not just keep me in the sanctum?" Greg asked.
"Your father thought it would be a better idea that you were returned so that no one would come looking for you. He sent Sean and Toby to your apartment so that they could explain what you are and to deliver your medication." She answered.
"Medication? You mean those shots we found in your pocket?" Nick asked.
"Yes, I know you guys probably thought they were drugs, but they were antibodies that were helping stabilize my genes. They told me that if I didn't take them, I would die so I had no choice but to take them. I brought a handful to the lab to find out what they contained. That day when I walked into the parking lot to go to our assigned case Sean and Toby cornered me and knocked me out. When I woke up I was in the sanctum sitting in a chair and before me was my father. I hated him and I still do . . . he murdered that girl Tina because he thought he was protecting the secret of the shifters, but in all reality it was his right hand man that would betray him in the end. He tried to reason with me that killing Tina was the only option they had but I wouldn't listen . . . it wasn't until he threatened to kill you Nick . . . that I went along with his plan. I helped Sean steal evidence from the evidence locker that pointed to the secret of the shifters. I gave them information about the security in the lab and I gave them the schedules of everyone on nightshift, but Hodges showed up and if I hadn't of pushed him out of the way he would be on Doc Robbins slab right now. I hate what I did, but I did it all to protect you Nick . . . I would die to protect you." Greg finished with tears in the corners of his eyes.
"You're not the only one who played a part in this Greg. Sean got the information from me. I work at the memory base that contains all the information on known shifters; including yourself. Sean came to me and told me that if I gave him all the information on the shifters he would allow me to see my brother . . . but the bastard lied! I knew I never should've trusted him, but the offer he was dealing was just too great, I couldn't refuse a chance to see Chris again, so I went to his quarters with all the information on a UBS drive and when I asked him about my brother . . . he laughed in my face and told me that I was a stupid girl for actually believing him! When I turned to run and tell George, he grabbed me by my hair and forced me into his room; locking the door behind him he turned to face me and told me that not only would he kill my brother, if I said anything to George . . . but he would go after everyone I care about in my family and beyond!" She confessed.
She wiped the tears from her eyes and spoke again. "Enough down memory lane, we have to get out of here before Sean and his men arrive."
Greg nodded and even though Nick was still a little unsure if he should believe what they were telling him, he agreed to go with them. As they were heading for the door a hand popped out of the wall and grabbed Korey by the neck; cutting off her air supply. Greg ran to help her and when his back was turned Sean stepped out from the wall behind Nick and grabbed him, grabbing a fistful of Nick's hair and pointing a gun at his head.
"Hello again Greg!" said the menacing voice of Sean. Greg turned around and his heart skipped a beat at the sight of Nick being held at gunpoint by Sean.
"Please let him go Sean! I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt him please!" He begged.
The man who had Korey by the hair walked out from the wall, heading towards Sean.
"So I'm guessing Korey couldn't keep her slutty mouth shut and spilled my little secret. I guess I'm going to have to not only kill Nick for Greg's disobedience, but all of Korey's loved ones as well." Sean stated with a sinister laugh.
"You lay one hand on any of the people I love and I swear to god with my dying breath, I'll kill you in the most gruesome and painful way I can think of!" and to add to her hatred she managed to tilt her head and spat in Sean's face.
Sean wiped the spit off his face and smirked. "You always were a sassy one," without warning he slapped her across the face and her head whipped to the side. Korey spit blood from a newly formed split lip, turning back to face Sean.
"Fuck you Sean!" She hissed.
"I think I've heard quite enough from her, Henry," the man holding Korey bashed her head against the wall and she was knocked out like a light.
"Blessed silence!" Praised Sean with a smirk.
"What are you going to do Sean? Take me back to my father so that I can be punished for something you've done?" Greg questioned.
"Oh not at all Greg, in fact I'm going to make you a deal. You see I have no use for a weak shifter like Korey, but you on the other hand; I could do wonders with a shifter like you. If you come with me I'll not only leave Nick alone, allowing him to live, but I'll also give Korey back her life as well." Sean explained.
"Greg don't do it!" Nick protested, but was silenced by the butt of the gun whacking across the back of his skull.
"Nick!" Greg shouted and tried to run for him, but was held back by two other men. The blow to the back of the back of the skull didn't knock Nick out, but it did leave him dazed.
"What's it gonna be Greg? Saving your lover's life or watching as I blow his brains out and then forcing you to watch as I slit Korey's throat so I'll never have to hear her annoying voice again. It's your choice Greg, choose wisely." Sean advised.
Greg didn't even have to think very long to come to a decision. "All right, I'll go with you just don't hurt them anymore please!" Greg gave in.
"Very wise choice Greg." Sean approved. Out of nowhere Sean slammed the butt of the gun against the back of Nick's skull, Greg tried to run to him as Nick fell to his knees, falling unconscious to the floor. The same was done to Korey who fell down next to him.
"No! Nick!" Greg screamed. Sean walked over to Nick's body, where Greg was thrashing around in the men's grips.
"I said I'd let them live Greg, by the rise and fall of their chests . . . I'd say I've lived up to my end of the bargain. Now its time for you to fulfill your end." Sean took a shot out of his pocket and held Greg in place by his throat as he injected the knock out serum into his neck. The serum was fast acting and Greg quickly fell into Sean's awaiting arms.
"Let's get out here!" Sean and his men exited the apartment building and got into the van that Greg had stolen from them.
"Back to the sanctum Sean?" asked the man at the wheel.
"No!" The windows of the van were shattered with a spray of bullets; the two men in the front of the van were killed. The two men in the back tried to escape through the van's side door, but as soon as they got the door open they too were killed by two bullets to the heads.
"You guys have impeccable timing." Sean said as he got out of the van and lugged Greg out with him.
The men who had shot the four shifters were in military clothing, they took Greg from Sean arms, Sean followed them to a black limo that was on the other side of the road. When they reached the limo the back window rolled down, revealing a General in the army who was the buyer of the secrets Sean was selling.
"You've done well Sean. Your reward is waiting for you in your bank account. Put the shifter in the trunk and be sure to bound and gag him," the soldiers saluted him, dragging Greg to the back of the limo, they bound and gagged him with bandannas they were carrying; Greg was put in the trunk and the lid was slammed shut, being automatically locked.
"It was a pleasure doing business with you Sean."
Sean stepped back from the limo as it drove off. The soldiers got into their own vehicle, driving off behind the limo.
"And to you sir." Sean walked off happily, starting to plan all the things he was going to do with his new found riches.
A/N: Sorry it took so long for this to updated but I have been mourning the loss of my computer since my hard drive burned out. This chapter wouldn't have been as excellent as it is now if it weren't for my BETA Holly so thanks Holly for being the world's best BETA! Review if you want more.