A/N: Much longer chapter, much more drama... including a small twist. This one is almost over, one more chapter and the epilogue left.
Chapter 24: For Good
Marblehead
He felt his chest tighten, his mouth ran dry and he couldn't comprehend what he was thinking. All of his thoughts were jumbling together, forming nothing but nonsense. His dark thoughts were overshadowed by his heart. He felt things for her that he knew he shouldn't.
He could give in to his eternal need for vengeance and destroy the Sons while they were off guard. A part of him wanted to do this; wanted to feed the evil demons with what they wanted, the demise of the Sons of Ipswich.
Chase was caught in her gaze; he could take Penelope whisk her away and forget about everything in his past. He could love her, he felt a strong feeling for her, and he could give her everything and not bother with the likes of Massachusetts or his descendants.
"We can forget it all," She whispered to him sadly.
Chase stared over at the four teens who looked confused as far as what they should say or do. Tyler looked the most perplexed of the bunch. Chase could feel the envy rolling off of the younger boy, his eyes locked on Penelope.
The dark haired boy swallowed hard, and looked down at Penelope, her sad eyes staring up at him with hope.
"They'll leave us alone," She promised him. "They'll forget you even came here… if we just go… just disappear…" She turned to look at them, desperately. "Won't you?"
Her eyes locked on the leader, the tallest of the four, who was breathing heavily, trying to regain his composure. Caleb took a step forward, his eyes filled with concern as he cocked his head to the side, "We'll back off if he does…"
Chase looked down at Penelope and sighed. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what he should do.
"Think about all of the people that have been hurt because of this, you don't want that on your conscience… I know you don't… you don't want to hurt anyone anymore…" Penelope tried to get inside his brain. Tried to feel what he was feeling, see what he was going to do, but she couldn't tell.
She couldn't read him.
Chase took her words to heart. He remembered all of the people that lost their lives because of him. People that loved him, people he didn't even know that just got in his way. He sighed and ran a shaking hand through his dark brown locks.
Guilt stricken, Chase felt his knees give in. He fell to the ground, his large hands grasping on to Penelope's bare legs, he could feel her tears falling. They were like a slap in the face. Could he hurt more people?
Did he have it in him?
Could he kill all four of the Sons, and live to tell about it? If he used that much power, would he die too? If that happened, that would leave Penelope with nothing, with no one. He would hurt her even if he did live by taking away the Sons.
In his heart, he knew he couldn't do it. He didn't want to.
He had killed the two people that loved him most in this world, unselfishly loved him. They had adopted him when his mother died, given him everything he had every asked, wished or dreamed of. And he had hurt them; he had killed them with the rage that had boiled deep inside of him.
His hate was too much for him to control then, he was blinded by revenge. He found out who he was and what had happened to his descendants. He had found out there were four more just like him, four more that grew up together, had someone else to lean on when he had nothing. He had no one.
His jaw set tightly at the thought of forcing his biological father to will him his power. To feed his addiction. Another person on his list.
His blue eyes stared up at Penelope's. He could feel her hurt, he could hear her heart beating rapidly, her thoughts running through his head. She didn't want him to hurt them, especially not Tyler. He felt envious of this; she didn't want him to die the most of the four Sons.
She cared for him, and Chase knew that Tyler cared for her in away he was sure he couldn't.
He hated this feeling; he did not like to feel guilty. He did not like the way that it made his entire body ache, his head pound and his heart break.
The four Sons had never done anything to him before he threatened to make their perfect lives, unnecessarily imperfect. He had thrown daggers at them, and he liked it at the time, but now… he didn't know why he couldn't have been civil.
He could have been friends with them; slowly let them in on the fact that he was the fifth son. They would have accepted them, hell they already had when he threatened to kill them.
His stomach turned in knots and Penelope slid down, cupping his handsome face in her hands, "Chase, we can be happy…" She whispered to him, rubbing her thumbs over his paling cheeks.
"No," Chase shook his head sadly.
Penelope opened her mouth to protest and those vibrant blue eyes that belonged to Chase Collins stared at her. Openly, she could feel him now. She could feel his emotions, she could feel his pain and it hurt her.
She could see he felt guilty for all the pain he had caused. She kissed him.
Her lips tasting his once again, she missed that feeling. The way those plump lips fit with hers, and the taste of him; cinnamon. She loved it, she loved him.
"No," Chase pulled away sadly. "I can't do this to you,"
He placed his hands on top of hers, a heavy feeling in his heart. He was having an internal struggle. He could run away, but the idea of the power consuming him again, making him go crazy at the inkling to use.
He was already aged beyond his true years; he used a spell to make him look his age. He shook his head at her, he couldn't go on like this not wanting to use. Not wanting to seek redemption against his 'brothers'.
"I'm sorry Nelly," He whispered.
His eyes flashed black and he released the spell. Penelope's hands were no longer touching soft, taut skin that belonged to her lover; she was now cupping the face of an older man. A man that looked old enough to be her father, maybe even grandfather.
"What happened?" She asked tears stinging her eyes violently. "Chase…" She whispered his name.
He pulled her hands away from his face and pressed his dry lips to back of them, "I have feelings for you Nelly, I do…" His voice sounded staggered, his breaths harsh.
Tyler grabbed on to his best friend's arm as he watched what was happening. Caleb's brow was furrowed and Pogue looked absolutely dumbstruck. Reid's face fell in complete horror; was that what was going to happen to him if he continued to use at the pace he was? Chase was only eighteen years old and he looked like he was pushing fifty, maybe even further.
"But I couldn't make you happy… not like this…" He whispered to her, his hand brushing her cheek.
Penelope leaned in to it and sighed, her nose clogged from her crying, her tears still dripping from her water ducts. She couldn't control herself. She wrapped her arms around him and cried.
"I love you," She whispered.
"I can't hurt anyone anymore. I just can't…" His voice made him sound determined.
Penelope grabbed his hands, "What are you going to do?" She asked looking at him sadly.
Chase looked past her to the four Sons, his lips pursed together and he motioned for them to come closer. Idly Caleb started moving towards him, Tyler, Reid and Pogue behind him, their pace slow.
"I can't live like this…" He looked down at himself. "I can't live with the guilt that has overcome me…" He looked at Penelope. "I can't make you happy, Nelly… you deserve so much better than me…"
Penelope shook her head and Tyler was behind her soon, hesitantly reaching out for her. Penelope watched as Chase stared the four Sons in the eye, Penelope now behind them.
"I'm sorry for what I have done…" Chase muttered angrily. "And I will make it up to you," He nodded his head.
Caleb, Pogue, Reid and Tyler stood confused, wondering what Chase could possibly mean by this. They watched as the clouds came rolling in, a loud crack of thunder was heard a mile away, and a strike of lightening came out of nowhere.
Chase's eyes went black and the four Sons stood their ground wondering if he was going to attack. Penelope stood up, she grabbed on to Tyler's arm trying to see what was going on, but he urged her back.
"What is going on?" She demanded. "What are you doing?" She yelled at Chase. "Tyler!" She gave his arm a hard shove and the taller boy glanced at her his eyes black and she let out a loud scream.
"I…" Chase cleared his throat and looked past Tyler to lock eyes with Penelope. "…will my power…"
"Oh my god," Pogue sounded completely shocked.
"What is he doing?" Penelope demanded to know. "Chase!" She yelled his name but it was too late.
"… back to the Covenant…"
A loud crash of thunder and strike of lightening hit down where the six bodies were. Rain began pelting away at them, the four Sons of Ipswich were elevated in the air, Chase's eyes going wide, his body going limp and he fell backwards.
Penelope let out a loud scream watching him fall in to the mud, she stared up at the four Sons who looked as though they were being electrocuted. She was horror stricken, this was the most bizarre, unnatural thing she had ever seen in her life.
She rushed towards Chase's limp body and cupped his head in her lap. Her hair matted down to her face as the rainwater mixed in with her tears, "Wake up, wake up… Jesus Chase… please!" She begged him, sniffling as she rocked back and forth.
The thunder and lightening eased up but the rain continued as a loud thud tore her gaze away from Chase's stoic features. She saw all four Sons lying on the ground in withering in pain. She laid Chase's head down gently, crawling over to the four bodies.
She prayed to God that they weren't dead too. How would she explain this, how could she live her life knowing she watched these teenagers die. She saw Pogue blink first and rested her hands on his chest, ranking him up to meet her eye level.
He coughed and held his chest in pain, "Fuck…" she heard Reid's voice from behind her and she snapped around. He was pulling himself up off of the ground.
"Nel, you can let go of my shirt…" Pogue coughed and she let go and he flopped back in to the mud and groaned again.
"Tyler!" She called his name immediately coming to his side. His eyes were still closed, his chest rising slowly. "Oh Jesus, Tyler… please be ok…" She whispered pushing his hair out of his eyes.
"He'll be ok, Penelope…" Caleb muttered sitting up, propped up on his elbow.
Violently coughing made her look back down at the brunette she was hovering over. She met a pair of smoldering blue eyes and she fell on top of him, holding him as tight as she could. Tyler hugged her and forced them both to sit up.
"So, Chase is going to wake up too, right?" She asked looking over at his motionless body. Caleb met her gaze and then looked down shaking his head, "No?" She asked fearfully. "Why not?" She got up and rushed over to his side, pulling his head in to her lap again, stroking his cheeks. "Wake up, baby please…" She whispered leaning down to his ear.
"Pen," Tyler groaned as he tried to move.
"The power is your life…" Pogue winced as he walked over to her. "Will it away, and you die…"
"That's what he did?" She asked her eyes wide as she stared up at the hazel eyed man, her face showing her complete lack of understanding.
"Yes, he willed his power back to all of us… and now…" Caleb hung his head and Reid walked up next to Pogue.
"He's dead."
Pogue nudged Reid and the blonde raised his hands in question. Penelope stared at them for a second, her face wrinkling in displeasure as she threw herself on to Chase's lifeless body, holding on to him, muttering under her breath incoherently.
Tyler managed to come over, he kneeled next to her, pulling her off of his body. Her bloodshot eyes met his and she fell in to his arms completely useless of her mechanics. Tyler lifted her up in to his arms and carried her over to his truck.
"We need to get out of this rain before we all catch pneumonia…" Caleb commented looking around.
"Always the fatherly one…" Reid grumbled under his breath.
"What are we going to do with…" Pogue trailed off as he looked from Caleb, to Reid to Chase's body.
"I'll take care of it… go back to the truck…" Caleb motioned to where Tyler was managing to get himself and Penelope in to the backseat of the vehicle.
Pogue and Reid nodded heading back to the SUV. Caleb turned back to the body and sighed. He hadn't wanted it to end like this. He never thought it would come down to this situation. The fifth line was really gone.
No more threats, no more revenge coming their way.
He wasn't glad to see Chase do what he did, he never wanted anything to result in this. It just wasn't right. He didn't want to have to witness the fifth bloodline die out, for good.
Wow, so I was not meaning for this to happen in the original draft of this story. Seriously, the outline for this story changed about a bizilion times... not kidding. But I followed my muse, and my Evil Chase Muse decided to become a martyr of types.
He liked it, don't let him lie to you... LOL... so REVIEW!