Special Note: This chapter was quite the struggle to write as I was having a hard time trying to bring the story back to the original plot. I worked through it and this is what I have. Be warned that I have one more chapter in me for "Proof" and then I'm ending this part of Chase and Claudia's life and moving on to the sequel… which I'm really excited about. I have so many plans and ideas… It's insane.

Proof of Life

Chapter 14: The Backend of Forever

Claudia still wore the heaviness that had crept up on her during the dinner with Martin and Jack like a burial shroud. It hung on her like waterlogged moss; wet, cold and suffocating as she lay on the sofa with her arms stretched out over her head, watching clouds creep across the sky out of the large picture window that looked onto the back courtyard.

When they'd returned home from dinner Chase had kissed her softly and wished her a goodnight before returning to his room and closing the pocket doors behind him.

She'd stood in the darkness of the foyer for a moment and thought about knocking on his door and asking him to stay with her, but her need to break away from his control stopped her and she retreated to her room; hungry for physical contact with the man that she loved and drowning in fear of the future.

She supposed it was for the best. She already knew what she had to do and taking that next step would only make things more complicated… so she decided that she wouldn't; not now and maybe not ever. It was very possible that she would never see Chase in person again or worse, lose him to the reaper, so bonding with him physically would only make the pain burn hotter and that much harder to overcome.

She let out a sigh and turned her head, burying it in the crook of her arm. She rubbed her legs together and for a moment was distracted from the heaviness as she marveled at how smooth they were from the waxing she'd gotten to prepare for the double date.

She'd gotten more than just her legs waxed too, which was probably her subconscious assuming that would be the night she and Chase would finally consummate their relationship. But as always things veered off course and she was just as chaste as she was a week ago. Only she could live with a beautiful man that wanted to make love to her and still botch two opportunities for sex.

She let out a frustrated grunt. She was hopeless.

"Hey," Chase said softly as he smiled down at her.

He stood over her in a white wife-beater half tucked into his pair of jeans to reveal the belt buckle. His hair was a mass of wispy brown strands causally strewn on his head as if he'd run his fingers through it, looked in the mirror, and then left it at that.

She turned her head slightly to look at him with one eye and then grunted weakly turning back into the crook of her arm.

He looked so good. She couldn't stand the sight of him.

His smile collapsed and at first he didn't know what to do. She'd started with the gloominess halfway through dinner and it was still with her, making her Deus feel weighted like lead.

He walked around the arm of the sofa and lifted her legs to sit down beside her. He rested them over his lap as she still laid there hiding her face in the darkened confines of her up-stretched arms.

"Claude, what's wrong? I'm serious this time. You're starting to freak me out," he whispered softly, trying to coax her out of the funk she was in, "This isn't like some "period" thing that you go through, is it? Should I expect this every month?"

She whipped her head around, "This is not a "period" thing, Chase. Jeez, you're such a guy," she said rolling her eyes.

He shrugged, "I figured. I was just asking. Besides, it's not time yet."

Her eyes shot open, "How do you know that!?"

"When you're in a relationship with someone you get to know these things."

"Not those kinds of things," She protested.

"Yes, Claudia, those kinds of things. It's all about getting to know someone on a deeper level. When you love someone you want to know everything about them, even when "Aunt Flow" comes to visit," he said with a hint of sarcasm.

""Aunt Flow?" This is ridiculous. I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you," she twisted her head back into the crook of her arm, this time grabbing one of the throw pillows and putting that over her head as well.

"Claudia," he whispered, stroking her leg, "Claudia… please tell me what's going on. Has something happened?"

She didn't answer him. She continued to cover her head with the pillow.

"I want you to know everything about me," he said softly, "I want you to know everything. I don't want to keep any secrets from you. That is how much I love you. I'm willing to open myself up to you completely… I wish you felt the same way."

She moved the pillow away from her face slowly.

He could always say something like that and make her feel guilty.

He was the bad guy, he was the one that had done all these terrible things, but he could say things like that and make her feel like total shit; like she was the worst person in the world and he was high up on his true love pedestal, looking down on her and judging her because she wouldn't open herself up to him and spill her insides all over the floor.

She knew he wasn't doing it on purpose. He was trying to be honest, but that didn't make her feel any better. It still made her feel horrible.

"How are you feeling, Chase?" she asked him.

He looked at her puzzled, "You mean about the injury? I feel great."

"So you're 100 percent? You've completely healed from your run in with Caleb?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. Why are you asking?"

"Because you'll have to go home soon," she said flatly.

Chase's skin began to burn and he looked away from her trying to comprehend what she'd just said. He'd never thought about actually going home. About getting on a plane and flying back to Massachusetts, about leaving Claudia. He couldn't do that. He didn't have any intention of going back and even if he did, she would have to come with him.

The idea seemed so silly to him that he chuckled, "I can't go back. Why would I? Everything I have is here with you."

"Your friends are there, your family estate is there, and Yale is waiting for you. You didn't expect to stay here forever, did you?"

"I mean, if you're sick of California and want to move east that's fine. We can go back, but I didn't expect you to be so quick to uproot your life like that."

"I don't plan to," she said casually.

He was silent for a moment, "Then I don't understand," he said as the concern swept through his voice. He was getting scared, "I don't understand where this is going."

"It's not about where this is going, it's about where you're going; back to Haversfield," Once again that casual, slightly patronizing tone presented its self.

What she was saying was starting to sink in and he was getting angry, "Wait a minute, Claude, what about you and me… about us? I can't just go back. There's nothing there for me; NOTHING!"

She sat up on the sofa and rested against the arm, hugging the throw pillow to her.

She gazed out of the window and let out a breath, "I love you, Chase."

His eyes were wide at her admission, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want to ruin the moment when she'd finally decided to give into him, to admit that she did indeed love him like he loved her, that it wasn't all in his imagination.

She let her eyes shift to him and then looked back out of the window, "I need you not to fight with me about this and do this favor for me. Just go back to Haversfield and deal with your shit. Deal with it now because you might not be able to deal with it later. This is important to me."

He shook his head in confusion, "I don't understand. Why do you need me to go back? If you love me then you should want to be with me, you should want me to stay with you. I WANT to stay with you. Forget about Haversfield. Let's focus on us," he reached out to touch her, but she shrugged him off.

"The invocation is happening in Ipswich. It's happening on June 21st; the Summer Solstice. It's a spell to invoke The Deus from The Five Sons of Ipswich; Danvers, Parry, Garwin, Sims and Putnam. This spell will rip The Deus from them much like their ancestors did with Martha, only it will rip away their life essence too and burn them from the inside out. This is the spell that will kill The Five Sons and I wrote it," she looked at him directly, "The spell is finished. I plan to deliver it to The Community shortly."

He stopped stroking her legs at once and just stared at her blankly as if his mind was computing all that she'd just said.

He looked away, down at the floor and swallowed hard. He was thinking and the fear that had been sitting in Claudia's gut like a dormant volcano erupted into life and burned the back of her throat.

"I'm… I'm confused," he said weakly.

"Chase, look at me," Claudia commanded and he immediately shifted his eyes up from the floor to focus on her, "I can't get out of this. It's gone too far. If I don't give them the spell, they'll kill me, do you understand?"

He didn't say anything. He just looked at her. He was still trying to figure out the importance of what she'd just told him.

"Chase!" she shouted, "You need to focus. This is important. I've gotten myself into something that I can't control and this thing between me and you… the fact that you're even here has fucked everything up. I can't let them go through with the invocation… not now. That's why you have to go back. You have to warn the other Sons, make them understand what's happening, tell them about their history. I think that if you all band together, if you reform The Covenant, you can stop it."

Chase laughed.

He couldn't help himself. He was compelled to laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole thing. At first, when he'd put most of it together in his head it didn't seem that insane, but now that he was hearing it out loud it seemed like something out of a bad B horror movie.

Claudia rubbed her temple as a headache began to surface, but she could understand why he was laughing. It all sounded so stupid, so far fetched.

He stopped laughing and swallowed hard, the amusement still gracing his face, "Warn the other Sons…" It took a moment for him to realize what that meant, "Go back to Ipswich…" he whispered dazed and then his face lit up with anger, "GO BACK TO IPSWICH! I can't do that! I can't waltz back into town like whatever and then try to convince them of some conspiracy theory about The… The Community. By the way, who the fuck are The Community?"

"I told you that there were other Deus users; that your Covenant wasn't the only one. There are hundreds of thousands of people all over the world who can use The Deus and these people form The Community. It's a hub, an organization that keeps everyone in contact and there are rules and guidelines that need to be followed when you're a user… it's complicated."

"It's like Harry Potter," he said flatly.

She was slightly insulted by the comparison as it was not as fanciful, glamorous or wondrous as the world of "Harry Potter," but she didn't argue, "Yes, Chase. It's like… Harry Potter," she forced this out as she rolled her eyes.

"There's a magic train and everything?" He said smiling.

"Chase! This is serious. Do you understand that you will die if they go through with this? If they find out I've been hiding you here all this time they could kill me. I've broken so many rules. My life is in danger; my mother's life is in danger; Martin and Jack are in danger! If they find out about any of this before I have a chance to figure something out, I'm dead! Do you get it?" Her face was flush with frustration. She was angry at him for poking fun and tears began to well in her eyes.

"You're telling me those Torrance triplets, those Paris Hilton wannabes have got such a vice grip on you that you're running scared? You? Claudia Harrington? I don't believe it. No body can punk you… I don't believe it for one second." He said dismissing her.

"That just proves that you don't know a damn thing about me. This is so fucking typical. You always think of yourself. You're so fucking selfish, Chase. You were thinking of yourself in Ipswich and you're thinking of yourself now. Don't bother to think about how your actions affect other people. Go ahead; be completely blind to the fact that the woman you claim to love is asking you for help. You don't love me. You desire me, you want to own me because you always get what you want, but you don't love me. If you did, you'd do what I ask you to do… you'd believe me." She pulled her legs away from him and stood up.

He looked up at her stunned.

What the hell did she expect from him? She spills this off the wall story about a community of witches and wizards from all over the world out for the blood of The Sons of Ipswich. She tells him she loves him, then she says she's apart of it, the one who wrote the spell that will kill him and she expects him to just roll over and walk into something completely blind? Then she accuses him of not loving her!

"You know, I've done a lot of dirt and told a lot of lies, but the truest thing I've ever done is love you completely with all my heart. That's an astounding feat considering I'd decided to close myself off completely and be all about "death and dirt" as you put it. The fact that you're even questioning my feelings for you is not proof that I don't love you, but that YOU don't love me."

He stood up, "You can go ahead and play the victim all you fucking want. I never said I didn't believe you. I said I didn't believe those blonde bimbos could punk you. There's a difference. But that invocation conspiracy shit is a lot to swallow and for the record, you've lied to me this entire time. You've kept this from me and now you're spilling the beans and asking for my help. I offered my help to you even when I had no clue what was going on and instead of taking the opportunity to tell me everything right then, you blew me off. Not to mention you asking me to go back to a town that's home to four guys who hold nothing but contempt for me. You're basically asking me to walk right into my own execution. If YOU loved me you wouldn't ask me to do that."

"It has to be done. You have to go back," She whimpered as tears streamed down her cheeks. "If I thought there was another way--"

"Save it," he said dismissing her with a wave, "I'll go back. I'll warm those uppity bastards about the "impending danger." Shit, I'll even fake a smile and be nice, but I won't apologize for what I've done and I won't let them take me down. Fuck Caleb Danvers and those bitches he calls friends. There will be no reforming of The Covenant. I'd rather get in a warm bath and cut at an angle. And when June 21st rolls around the only people I'm looking out for are you and me."

He thought for a moment, "Who knows. I may pull out my old bag of tricks and start collecting power again. It'll be a lot easier than trying to explain shit to those idiots."

"It doesn't work like that, Chase--" she began.

"Says you." he interrupted, "You don't really know. You're betting on all five of us, but do you really need all five? Is it really about five bodies or five times the power? I've got a double dose already and if I take Danvers out, that's 4 times. Add Parry, Garwin and Sims to that and I'd be one bad ass Ipswich Son. Good enough take on The Community you think?" He looked at her, that condescending glare turning up the sides of his mouth into the devilish grin she knew all to well.

"You're just saying these things to upset me," she said as she felt herself sinking.

"Hey, it was you're idea. I'm just taking it to the next level. That's what you wanted, right? This IS what you wanted, Claudia, wasn't it?"

Her eyes shifted to the floor and the tears streamed down her face.

"You're pathetic," he said walking toward his room, "You assume the worst of me, you think you're on moral high ground especially when it comes to me. It's killing you that you've fallen for me," his face darkened with sadness and a tinge of disgust, "I'll be gone in three days."

Claudia sat on the floor in her room sobbing uncontrollably.

Everything had gone totally wrong. She'd gone about everything all fucked up and now he was pissed at her… again.

Why did she have to come at him like that? Why did she have to be so rude and abrupt about it? But wasn't that always her problem when it came to him?

She had no idea how to talk to him. She would always fly off the handle and say something ill tempered. It pained her to realize that he was better at communicating his feelings than she was. She was supposed to be the better person, not just morally but at everything, even conveying how she felt.

You're a supreme bitch, you know that? Only you can sit here and try to make yourself out to be better than the guy you supposedly love. Get over yourself.

Claudia let out a tortured giggle.

Why was she so obsessed with being better than the likes of Chase Collins? Was it because she was still holding out on truly being in love with him?

She'd told him that she loved him and she did, but there was still that part of her that believed love made you weak.

You made stupid decisions when your judgment was clouded by warm and fuzzy feelings for someone. You'd get caught up in the fantasy and lose your view of the world, oblivious to what was happening around you and then, like that, the magic would fade and you'd be whacked in the face with a problem you could have avoided had you paid more attention to life and less attention to the person you were infatuated with.

She'd already shown her weakness by falling for him in the first place. He was "The Putnam Boy," the rogue Ipswich Son and here she was living with him and loving him. Letting him touch her like a man would touch a woman; letting him see sides of her that no one else had ever gotten to see.

Part of her was happy that Chase was going back to Massachusetts. He'd be on one side of the country and she'd be on the other.

She'd be able to think clearly without him so close. She'd have a chance to focus on finding a solution to their problem instead of dealing with him and feeling his eyes gaze over her with the smoldering heat of lust and love.

Out of sight, out of mind they say.

Yes, out of sight, out of mind.

You're still not dealing with the real issue here. This is a copout and you are a coward.

She nodded, "Yes, I am a coward and this is a copout. I admit that, but this is what needs to be done if I'm to save my soul," she whispered softly.

Save you're soul!? Come on! Dramatic much?

But Claudia knew it was true.

She'd already figured out that what Chase was feeling wasn't The Deus playing games, but was real. He loved her and like his personality dictated, when he got fixed on something, he needed to possess it completely.

She wasn't kidding when she'd said she needed to save her soul. When he wanted something, he wanted it all. He wanted every part of her and despite his valiant effort to stop his wicked ways, he was still consumed with having her utterly. He couldn't help himself.

You know that you're a liar and a fake. You know he's a better person than you are and until you get off your high horse and put your feet firmly on the ground you're going to be conflicted. Why are you punishing him for being human and feeling what humans feel? He's not the problem here, he's not the abnormal one, you are. The bell tolls for thee, Claudia, but not for love. For you, it tolls for misery and the funny thing is you've brought this all on yourself.

Claudia laughed.

Through tears and through pain; through uncertainty and anger, she laughed.

And why not?

It was funny and very true. She was a lair and a fake, a coward and a copout. She was everything she looked down on and tried not to be.

She rolled up into the fetal position on the floor in her room, crying and laughing. She did this until she fell asleep.

It seemed fitting. After all, defeat was imminent. Not only in Ipswich, but on the home front as well.