Chapter Thirty-five
Memories flashed through Carlos' mind as he clung to Trent's weak hand and continued to pray. Tears streamed down his face like rain, and although the storm from earlier was long gone, it continued to echo in his mind. If only they'd not gone out into the storm, maybe that child would not have been caught upon the mountain, and if he'd not been there, Trent and Trina would not have risked their very lives to save him.
And yet a part of him, the part that always listened to Trent even if he didn't admit it openly, knew that they had done what was right and would not regret doing so even if they never opened their eyes again. He heard the rumbling thunder and howling winds echoing again in his ears, and he heard Trent's voice. They'd had to save that child, and his beloved Trent would never have hesitated to do everything within his power to save Little Wildcat even if he had known what was to come because of his heroics.
At one time, Carlos would have argued vehemently against going out in the rain, but that had been years ago, way back when they were children. He had been aware, even then, of the forbidden feelings that Trent evoked inside of him. They'd gone out into a storm when they had been children in search of a lost kid. Trina had teased him about his fear of the thunder and lightning, but Trent had held his hand every time they had been alone and had explained the wonders of God's work until he had opened Carlos' eyes to both the need and the beauty of the rain.
Carlos had never told Trent just why he had come to like the rain, however, but it had come to remind him of those treasured moments with the man he loved but could never have. He saw again now how Trent's blonde hair, wide-brimmed hat, jacket, and shirt had become so wet that they'd clung to him and how he'd smiled so charmingly despite becoming first soaked and later cold. He remembered how Trent had shivered against him and how he'd gotten to wrap his arms around him and claimed it was only to help shut out the cold and warm up his best friend. Yes, his arms around him had helped to warm Trent, but the embrace had also warmed him, a warmth that again spread throughout his body.
Softly, without even truly being aware of the words that escaped his lips, Carlos began to sing.
"I never liked the rain until I walked through it with you
Every thunder cloud that came was one more I might not get through
On the darkest day there's always light and now I see it too
But I never liked the rain until I walked through it with you
I hear it falling in the night and filling up my mind
All the heaven's rivers come to light I see it all unwind
I hear it talking through the trees and on the window pane
When I hear it I just can't believe I never liked the rain
Like the rain I have fallen for you and I know just why you
Liked the rain always calling for you I'm falling for you now
Just like the rain
When the cloud is rolling over thunder striking me
It's as bright as lightning and I wonder why I couldn't see
That it's always good and when the flood is gone we still remain
Guess I've known all along I just belong here with you falling
Like the rain I have fallen for you and I know just why you
Liked the rain always calling for you, I'm falling for you now
Just like the rain I have fallen for you
I'm falling for you now just like the rain"
"GIBBS!" Will shouted and raced after Jack. The Pirate had had him so befuddled with his flowery words of love and the heat that he could feel spreading through him from him without him even laying his hands upon him that Will's reactions had been too slow. He dove through the window he'd seen him go out and down into the water . . . only to find no sign of Jack!
The waves splashed across Will's head, but no matter where he looked, he could find no sign of him. His heart thundered. He barely knew the man, but he knew that this world's Gibbs would be devastated by his loss and felt a hollow ache beginning in his own rapidly pounding heart at the thought of his death. "GIBBS!" he screamed again. "HE'S GONE OVERBOARD!" He dove further into the water, desperately seeking any sign of the Pirate who already stirred stronger and strangers feelings in him than he'd ever before felt.
"DAMN IT, JACK!" Gibbs yelled as he raced back to the cabin. "COME OUT O' TH' WATER, BOY! IT'S NOT GONNA DO YE ANY GOOD! HE'S NOT DOWN THERE BUT UP THERE!" Gibbs pointed skyward... "HE'S GOT SOME FOOL PLAN TO END IT ALL! HE KILLED TH' BITCH YESTERDAY; SAW HIM FEED HER T' TO THE SHARKS! HE WENT UP T' DIE AFTER, BUT THEN YE CAME! HE'S GOIN' T' DO TH' SAME THING AGAIN AN' AGAIN UNTIL..." The old man choked on his own words...
The sound of his emotions strangling Mister Gibbs shot straight to Will's heart which was already aching for Jack. "THROW ME A ROPE!" he cried, and when the rope came sailing, he grabbed it and began to climb, heading after Jack without a moment's doubt. He did not understand all of the feelings churning within his being at the moment, but he knew one thing beyond any shadow of a doubt: He had to reach him and find a way to stop Jack from killing himself! Even as Will told himself it was to protect this world's Gibbs from further heartache, something whispered deep inside him that that wasn't truly the only reason for his determination, anguish, and fright.
Crys jumped back and barely avoided being squashed. Something grabbed Blue from behind and snatched the little dragon into the saloon. "BLUE!" Crys screamed. She tried to run for him, but the hand came again. This time, however, a bullet blazed through it. Flesh and blood rained down, and the Troll howled in furious pain.
"GO!" a dark-skinned man bellowed at the blonde-haired being that he perceived to only be a boy. "GET AWAY FROM HERE!"
Crys shot his hands up, and the Troll's entire arm became encased with ice. The movement gave Cindy just enough time to reach him, and together they barreled into the saloon. They stood together in the doorway. Blue's spell had been broken when he'd been distracted, and now Cindy, and Elvira up on the roof before Lorne, could both be seen. The lioness' fur raised on her back, and her furry lips pulled back from her fangs in a savage growl of warning. She'd rip out the heart of whoever had her brother!
Angel had fought halfway up the staircase, hoping that Coco was up there somewhere, when he heard something crying out in pain behind him. Turning, he saw a Troll trying to pull the wings off what he thought at first was a bird. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a little, blue dragon, and Angel felt obliged to rescue it.
Jumping for the chandelier, Angel rode it across the floor with his boots pointed towards the front, slamming into the Troll and knocking him backwards through a wall. The impact freed the dragon. "Fly for your life, little fellow!" he encouraged the blue dragon. He turned and ran back up the stairs.
Crys and Cindy had entered the saloon just in time to see the dark-haired stranger in the trench coat sail to Blue's rescue. This particular Troll, however, had its mind set that it wanted dragon for dinner. It had been a long time since the beast had had such a tasty morsel, and it growled its hunger as it lumbered back to its feet. "Bad Vampire turn from us! Me eat dragon first, then Vampire for dessert!"
"When Kingie get hit in head?" one Fiery whispered to another.
"I dunno," the second Fiery answered, "but he done gone loco!"
Another snickered. "He always been a bit loco!"
"That what makes him so fantaso!" a fourth exclaimed.
"Yeah, man," a fifth said, taking out his eyeballs and rolling them across the floor, "we all nuts here!"
"Yup! Runs in the family!" agreed a sixth even as another Fiery hollered in excitement, "Snake eyes!"
"Silence, you fools!" Delvira snapped. A flick of her pale wrist sent a lasso of fire snapping out. It slapped each Fiery who had spoken derisively of Jareth and Salem in their mouths before vanishing back into Delvira's palm. "You'll not speak that way of either of your Kings or else you'll lose your tongue permanently."
"Kings? But, Queenie, we only got one Queen!"
Delvira's pupil less, black eyes narrowed in on the Fiery who had dared to speak again with such a dangerous glare that they shook so badly in its sight that their body parts began to fall apart and scatter across the floor. Instantly another Fiery grabbed one of his legs and kicked his head across the floor with a snicker. "Salem is the King of your King, so what do you think that would make him to your lowly hides?" Delvira demanded, her tone as bitter and cold as ice. She knew what Salem meant to Jareth and would not have the Fieries or any other of their subjects belittling Salem or her beloved husband.
The one who had taken the other one's leg glanced at Salem, looked at Delvira uncertainly, paused, and then asked foolishly, "A cat?"
Delvira popped him in the mouth with fire a second time. "The King of your King is also your leader! Now kneel before him, you insolent fools!" As her whip of fire cracked through the air, the Fieries dropped to their hands and knees before Salem and Jareth.
Delvira looked apologetically at Salem. "As I said, the Gods unfortunately neglected to remember their brains."
Salem smiled and tried not to laugh. His long, black tail twitched in his amusement. He glanced back at Jareth. "Where did you find this one, son? She's certainly a firecracker." He smiled his approval.
"My Lord, she found me, and that was my lucky day! I'll let her tell you about it, but first I must introduce my Lady to you." Still kneeling, he turned to Delvira, "My love, come and meet our King." He held his hand out to her.
The click-clack of Delvira's black high heels echoed a bit in the room as she moved to take her husband's hand and kneel beside him. Salem fought to keep his eyes from moving to the severely low cut of her dress, but he was still a man within a cat's body and it was sorely tempting for him to gaze upon the luscious, pale globes of womanhood that nearly dropped out of her sexy dress as she lowered herself before him. "I have heard much about you, Your Majesty. Jareth and I had began to fear that this night would never come, but at last we have found you, when we need you the most."
Emotions threatened to clog Carlos' throat, and his words became strained as he continued to sing, remembering the events of the first night he'd recognized the truth of his feelings for his sweet and wonderful best friend and the song he'd secretly created that night, a song he'd never dared to sing to the true love of his life and now might well never get the chance to do so.
"And when the night falls on our better days
And we're looking to the sky
For the winds to take us high above the plains
I know that we'll find better ways to look into the eye of the storms that will be calling
Forever we'll be falling"
Carlos clutched Trent's hand to his lips. He kissed it softly and laid his face against his hand as he cried even more heavily, sobs raking him as he heard Sean softly echoing the chorus of the song. He was amazed that the Sheriff had not turned against him when he'd discovered how he felt about Trent. Part of him wondered if there was any hope for Trent to ever feel the same about him and not turn from him in horror should he ever dare to speak the truth of the feelings that so completely filled every fiber of his being whenever he looked at him or even just thought of him, the feelings he'd claimed for years to have for Trina as an excuse to stay close to the twins but had never once felt for any one other than his best friend in all the world.
Yet, in truth, Carlos knew that Trent would never understand. He was the best man he had ever known, and his thoughts were always filled with doing the Lord's work. He'd never dare to look at him with true love alighting his majestic blue eyes, and he'd see Carlos' real feelings for him as nothing more than the deadliest sin. Carlos kissed his hand again, and his eyelashes batted against the skin that had become roughened from years of hard work as his tears continued to fall.
That would be okay, he promised silently. It would be okay if Trent never loved him the way he would always love him. He only needed him to open his eyes and live, and if he'd just do that, his whole world would be complete and righted once more. Yet Carlos also knew that, without Trent's light lighting up his dark life like lightning cutting across the night-time, desert sky, there would be nothing left for him in this world . . .
"Like the rain I have fallen for you, and I know just why you
Like the rain always calling for you, I'm falling for you now just
Like the rain I have fallen for you, and I know just why you
Like the rain always calling for you, I'm falling for you now just
Like the rain I have fallen for you, and I know just why you
Like the rain always calling for you, I'm falling for you now just"
Jack's heart was broken in a million pieces drowned at sea. He laughed hoarsely to himself as he climbed to his perch for the last time. He looked down far below and could see the boy Will thrashing in the water. He watched as Gibbs got him out and pointed at Jack way up in the mast. There was no way they could see what he was about to do.
Jack smiled wryly to himself as he saw in his mind's eye his own Will and the first time he had climbed the mast. He'd been terrified but had done it any way, trying to catch Jack when they had been fighting over something so unimportant that Jack couldn't remember what it even was. Tears filled Jack's eyes as he remembered holding Will when he'd almost fallen from there and barely catching him. But he had caught him, and the kiss they had shared had been so beautiful it made the Angels sing...
"It's all over but th' dyin', Will! I'm coming home to you, my love!" At the first touch of the paring knife, Jack winced and wished he had some rum to dull the pain, but he continued cutting both his wrists until he could no longer hold the knife... It slipped out of his hand and fell, head over hilt, all the way down until it landed in the deck, quivering and barely missing Gibbs!
Gibbs screamed, "OH MY GODS! NOOOOOOOO! MY BOY'S DONE IT!", and stared at the bright crimson that stained the knife. He began to frantically climb the mast, knowing he could never reach Jack in time but desperately trying any way. Looking upward, he saw that Will was almost there! Would he make it or fall? What could they do to save Jack?
Jack stood very still, waiting to fall. In his mind, he could hear Angels singing and Demons howling. He knew he was bound for Hell, but he was already in Hell for any place without his beloved Will was Hell! Would the Angels get him and take him to Will, or would the Demons pull him down into a dark, watery death where he'd never again see his sweet love? He smiled wryly at himself, heedless to both his tears and blood dropping slowly downward, as his life drained from him, and down onto those who were below...
Cindy's low growl turned into a full-blown roar. "No." Crys' voice was quiet and soft, but his command was firm. The lioness stayed by the blonde's side as he raised both fists. Ice began to cover the Troll, spreading up his smelly, wart-covered feet, each of which was the size of a small hill; over his bare, green legs; and further up his body. He roared his anguish and fought against the spell, but the ice held him firmly.
Cooing loudly, Blue circled around until he was able to come in to land on Crys' shoulder. "Coo?" he asked Cindy.
"*She's in the room with the Demon,*" the lioness replied, her tail lashing through the air. "*She'd better stay there and he'd better not hurt her, or I'll have him for *my* dinner!*"
Screeching filled the air. "POWER!" Crys' attention remained focused on the Troll, but the animals looked up to see harpies flying about, their wings batting rapidly to keep them afloat in the small, dusty building and their vile faces twisted with interest of what was happening below them.
"*FRY TIME!*" Blue screeched and flew up to meet them, belching flame as he soared.
The Troll was almost completely covered in its impending casket of ice by that time, but Cindy whirled with a fierce roar belting forth from her lungs as she felt evil converging upon them. The lioness flew bravely into the nearest creature's face, and the Werewolf howled as he got a face full of twenty, frenzied claws. No sooner had he fallen back, however, than three Vampiresses rushed forward at once.
"CINDY!" Crys screamed. He whirled from the Troll, of which only its head was still free of ice, to see that a whole group of the evil creatures were aiming for Cindy and himself. "GODDESS!" He flew into the fight, placing himself between the nearest Vampiress and Cindy seconds before her claws would have struck his baby. He took the claws full in the face and drove his sword of ice straight through her stomach.
The Vampiress fell back with a hiss. Cindy met the second Vampiress and kept her own, meeting her claw for claw. Crys pulled his sword out of the first Vampiress' stomach, chopped off the third's arms as she reached for him, and moved again to meet the oncoming assault of another Troll.
Blue, meanwhile, was toasting harpies and hobgoblins as fast as he could go. The little dragon had become a streak of leathery, blue skin and red flames.
"COCO, ARE YOU QUITE CERTAIN THAT THIS IS NOT A NIGHTMARE?"
"DAMN STRAIGHT, EZ! WHY? WHAT'S HAPPENED NOW?"
"NEVER YOU MIND! JUST GET THE LADIES TO SAFETY!"
Coco ripped his eyes away from where his best friend, clad only in his night clothes, stood at the top of the staircase, rapidly firing off his derringer at any creature who came too close to the hallway, to the women he was ushering into his bedroom. They had already lost many of their people by this outpouring of monsters from Hell itself, and his mind whirled with a thousand questions a minute. Where were these things coming from? Why were they out to get them? What did they want? What were they?
"I DON'T BELIEVE MY DAUGHTER ABANDONED US!" Sophia screeched, glaring holes in the door of Blanche's bedroom.
Coco, too, was hurt by Blanche's abandonment, but he could hear her arguing with her gunslinger boyfriend inside the room and moving furniture and was determined to give her the benefit of the doubt. "You mean your son," he advised Sophia, when a few of the women who remained shot the old lady questioning looks.
"No, I mean my pussy of a daughter!"
"MA!" D screeched indignantly as he and Blanche almost fell out into the hallway.
"Quick, Sophia, get in here!" Blanche urged.
"We're going in here!" Rose told them. "You can come with us if you want, even though you tried to shut us all out!" Several of the other women nodded.
"Ah'm sorry about that," Blanche said, hurrying to Coco and giving him her most apologetic look. She shot D a glare. "D got spooked - " Her words cut off into a shrill scream as the woman who had been guarding the left end of the hallway with her father's handed-down shotgun got snatched out of the hall by her throat.
"IN THE ROOM NOW!" Coco bellowed, shoving Blanche into his bedroom. "EVERY ONE, GO!"
"Coco, what are ya gonna do, shugah?"
"I don't know, but there isn't time for arguing. Get in there, every one of you!"
Another scream meant the woman at the right end of the hall had just been killed, and that left only Ezra to defend them. "Give me that," Coco demanded, robbing D of his gun before he could stop it. "A real gunslinger needs it!" His dark eyes shot at him, daring him to defy him. Before D could do so, however, Blanche put her hand over his mouth, Rose took his other gun and handed it to Coco, and the two women dragged him into Coco's bedroom.
"Get me the basin quick," Sophia demanded, "over by the window."
"By the window?" Lorelei asked. "Are you nuts?"
"They'll be coming in there next!" Rose cried.
"I need to gather the moonlight," the old lady explained, "to make holy water."
"You know how to make holy water?" Buffy questioned in disbelief.
"Yes, you nitwit! Now get moving!"
"Ma!"
"Don't Ma me now, D, or I'll tell the whole world your secret."
D hushed. Sophia had almost spilled the beans, and he had no doubt that she'd finish uncovering all his secrets for the world to laugh at in his final moments.
"I'm going under the bed," Rose announced and proceeded to do just that. "They won't find me under here. It's an old Viking tradition for hiding from Trolls. If only we had a nuncabloggin, we'd be able to fight them, but we're defenseless now!"
"Rory, get out of the closet!" Lorelei told her daughter. "That's my hiding spot!"
"But, Mom!"
"Fine. You can hide with me."
"EVERYBODY, SHUT UP," Sophia snapped, "OR ALL YOUR BRAINS WILL GET EATEN AND I WON'T EVEN TRY TO STOP THEM!"
"MA!"
"I SAID SHUT UP! I HAVE TO CONCENTRATE!" The few remaining women watched in stunned silence as Sophia held her wrinkled hands over the basin of water that Blanche had carried to the window and began making strange movements as though she was trying to pull something into the water.
When the elderly woman began to chant, Buffy shrieked. "SHE'S A WITCH!" she said, pointing a quivering finger at Sophia and falling against the door.
Meanwhile, Coco had turned from the closed door to take D's guns to Ezra when he saw three blondes slowly making their way down the hallway. All three were shaking from head to toe, but it was Coco who screamed and dropped the guns he carried, causing both to go off and shoot holes through the roof, when he saw one of the women point at a charging Werewolf and the beast's mangy, furry head transform into a bouquet of flowers. He fell, quivering, against the wall, too stunned to even move!
"Like the rain
Like the rain
Like the rain
Like the rain
Like the rain
Like the rain"
A white hand fell softly upon the flap of the teepee, and the woman's heart pounded in her ribcage. It did not pound so frantically for the thought of what was about to come to the people who she had left behind nor for fear for herself lest she be discovered in the Indian village. Instead it pounded so in a rhythm she dared not name in response to the soft, lilting Irish croon singing within the teepee.
She tingled as she listened to Sheriff Cassidy sing. His delightful accent had done strange things to her body, heart, and spirit ever since she'd first heard him speak, and she silently wished that those words could be intended for her though she knew such to be impossible. He was far too much of a strict and upright man of the law to ever look at her in such a light.
She wondered who he was singing about, and her hands clutched the skin of the teepee harder as she longed to be able to wrap her hands around the bitch and choke the very life out of her. No one but herself deserved the amazing Sean Cassidy, and yet she knew that she could never have him. She'd have him one night, sooner or later, but it would be only one night that he would hang his hat and pistols on her bedpost. She would never be able to hold him for more than one night for he would never allow himself to be degraded so greatly again and would not live in sin and she was certainly not the marrying type, and yet, Emma knew, that once she had that one night, she'd never be able to turn away from him and would hold on to those cherished memories for the rest of her life.
"Missus . . . " called a tiny voice from within the circle of Fieries.
"I'm getting to it," Delvira returned. Her tone had changed from the severe snapping command she had used when the Fieries had been misbehaving. Now it was a soft, sensual croon full of compassion.
Salem sniffed the air again. He'd been smelling something ever since Jareth and his new family had begun arriving in his and Cole's chamber, and although he'd thought at first that the scent belonged to the Fieries, a quick survey of their lot told him that it did not. He rose and walked away just as Delvira had been reaching to grasp his paw and kiss it.
Salem surveyed the charred remains of the girl. She seemed vaguely familiar but was too badly burned for him to be able to put a paw on her identity. "What happened?" he asked softly, the tip of his tail twitching and his unblinking, green eyes taking in every inch of the damage. His stomach churned, and a tremble passed, unseen by his subjects, underneath his ebony fur. It had been a long time since he'd seen damage such as this!
"She our sis sis, Kingie Two," one of the younger Fieries spoke. "You heal her pweeease?"
Salem inclined his head in a nod. "I shall do what I can." His tail swished as he contemplated the situation. He could no longer work magic, but he still knew his spells of old. He turned to Jareth. "Rise, the both of you. Jareth, you are to stay with me. The rest of you must leave for we must have absolute concentration and not be interrupted no matter the cost. Once the spell has begun, any disturbance could prove to be dire to the girl's health."
Brown eyes opened in the darkness, and the young woman looked across the one-room house to where her younger sister was finally fast asleep. She rose from her bed and moved with all the quiet grace and stealth of a cat to the door and straight through it without ever opening the door. She stood alone on the porch and gazed out into the night. She walked to the nearest post, wrapped her arms around it, and leaned against the hard wood as she listened intently.
"Coo?" asked a small voice as her best friend settled onto her shoulder.
"There's no howling, 'Heed," Kitty spoke quietly. "That's not like them."
"Coo?"
"They couldn't be done so soon," Kitty answered with a shake of her head. "Not them. They'll be going all night."
"Coo."
"I know he can take care of himself, but I'm his daughter. It's my right to worry."
"Coo."
Kitty's brown eyes cut sideways at the small, purple dragon perched on top of her shoulder. "That's different. Jubie's too young for these kinds of worry. She needs her rest."
"Don't mean I can sleep any better," the girl in question spoke up.
Kitty glanced back at her little sister with a slightly teasing grin. "You're getting too quiet."
"No," Jubilee countered, "you're getting too slow." She stuck her tongue out at her sister.
Kitty laughed and pulled her baby sister into her arms, squishing her blue doll between their chests. Jubilee sighed and laid her head against Kitty's shoulder. "What are we gonna do, Kitty? Somethin's wrong."
"What makes you think that, pumpkin?"
Jubilee's nose scrunched in distaste. "Don't call me that. Only Pop gets to call me that. Where is he, Kitty? They're not howling, so why isn't he home yet?"
"I don't know," Kitty admitted with a soft sigh, "but we both know he's the best there is at what he does."
"Yeah, yeah," Jubilee muttered in agreement, "and what he does . . . "
" . . . ain't pretty," the girls spoke in unison.
"He'll be back in the morning," Kitty assured her.
"But why's he so quiet now?"
"I don't know." She paused as her ears caught a faint howl off in the distance. "See. There he is now."
Jubilee shot her a look that could have slayed. "Don't," she told her angrily. "I know that ain't Wolvy. That's just a wolf, not our Wolveroonie."
Kitty sighed and hung her head. "I'm sorry, Jubes. I don't know where he is, but he'll be back." Holding her hand, she led her back into the house. "He'll wake us up in the morning, you'll see, but the sooner we go to bed, the sooner he'll get here."
"He ain't Santa Claus," Jubilee shot irritably.
"No," Kitty agreed, laying down on her own cot, "he's way better."
Jubilee smiled. "Yeah." She laid down. "I still say we oughta go lookin' for him."
"And you know how pissed he'll be when we ride up on him and Creed and he's fine."
Jubilee shrugged. She knew Kitty was right, but she also knew that something was wrong with their father. It was a feeling that twisted her gut and refused to be ignored, and Wolveroonie had always taught them to follow their gut instincts.
"We'll go looking at first light. Promise. Now try to get some sleep, okay?"
"'k," Jubilee murmured, curling up into a tight ball on her cot and clinging to her little, blue doll.
Lockheed circled over Kitty three times before landing on her side and curling in to sleep. He looked at his mistress with a soft puff of air escaping his dragon lungs as she sighed softly again. She stroked him as she continued to watch Jubilee, waiting for her to fall asleep so that she could go looking for Logan. She knew something was wrong, but whatever it was, if it was something he couldn't handle, Jubes definitely did not need to become involved in it. She was too young for such adventuring, and yet, Kitty mused, as sleep tugged at her tired mind, it hadn't been that long ago that she'd argued with Wolvy and Sabes both that she herself wasn't too young for living the lifestyle they had all chosen . . . All, that was, until Sabes had walked away from them. Why, she wondered for the thousandth time, had he chosen to turn yellow and walk away? She didn't know yet, but she had a feeling that Wolvy did and wasn't telling any one. She wondered if that reason, whatever it might be, could have anything to do with why he wasn't home yet and why the night was far too quiet.
Jubilee kept her eyes shut beneath her sister's watchful gaze. She knew she was waiting for her to doze off so that she could go look for their father alone, but it wasn't happening. She'd wait until Kitty fell asleep, and then she'd go off, find Wolveroonie, and rescue him as she'd done so many times before. She wondered what had happened and what part Creed played in it. They couldn't trust him any more after he'd turned coat on them, but she knew that Wolvy would always have a soft spot for Creed, no matter what he did to him. Her hands curled into tight fists, and small lights danced along her knuckles. If he'd hurt him, she swore silently, she'd fry his ass. She just had to wait for Kitty to fall asleep . . .
A deep rumbling filled Logan as their swords worked together to make beautiful music where none had been before. He felt the crescendo only seconds away and tried to hold his own as the tides of love strived to drown him. His nails began to rake Vic's back and he tried not to unsheathe his claws as the music continued building until Logan could no longer feel his own heartbeat! It was no longer a solitary dance but a dual partnership, both striving to please the other and their hearts beating as one.
The flames rose higher until he could no longer even think. Then he touched a finger to Vic's lower back at the base of his ass, and he surged forward into Logan, his hips grinding madly against Logan's. At that added touch, Logan lost it. He felt himself shooting over the top of the highest mountain he had ever seen, holding tightly to Vic so that he would not lose him ever again... He screamed out Vic's name as he joyously exploded into millions of fiery stars and was barely aware of Victor howling his name in return...
"COCO!" Ezra bolted from his place at the top of the staircase and ran to his friend. In one deft move, he rolled through the impending Supernatural forces, grasped the guns, picked them up, and fired. One bullet sailed into the head of a Vampire at the right end of the hall; the other into the wing of a harpy.
"You!" screeched a Vampiress, her black claws that had once been fingernails stretching toward the three blonde woman. "You must be the Spellmans! We will leave you alive if you give us Salem!"
Angel had been very busily making his way up the stairs to where he had last seen Coco disappear. He had dusted several Vamps, but they just kept coming. There seemed to be two for every one he had killed. He tried to stay in control of his brain, but the blood smell was driving him crazy. Suddenly, he vamped out just as he reached the top of the stairs.
A Werewolf jumped on his back, and Angel yanked him over his head and bit his neck out. Blood spattered everywhere. Angel threw the body at a group rushing the stairs, knocking them to the floor. Then he turned and headed up the rest of the stairs.
Just as he reached the top, one of three blondes turned a Werewolf's head into flowers. The Werewolf hit the floor and lay still. It had barely missed hitting a guy firing two derringers simultaneously. Spying Coco, Angel got down on all fours and crawled forward until he reached him. Angel was still vamped out as he gazed down into Coco's eyes and saw the glazed look. He slowly returned to himself and began to check Coco's heart for a beat.
Scooping Coco up, Angel pushed open a door that was slightly ajar. This put him in a room full of screaming women. He called out Coco's name again just in time for some one to hit him in the back of the head with a very hard object. He slumped to the floor, falling upon Coco's prone body, just as he heard some of the monsters outside calling for Salem.
Hansel was still petting Tonto and thanking him for working so hard and being so smart as to begin their rescue when the horse inhaled a scent that made him throw his head back and whinny sharply. Hansel's eyes filled with terror. "FAITH!" he cried. What was his sister doing here, and what had happened to her that Tonto cried out her name in terror? Tonto whinnied again, and Hansel's heart went cold. "NO!" he cried and then sprang onto the pinto's back. He gave the pain of his sword striking the horse's back no attention as he reached down for Jack. "WE'VE GOTTA GO! NOW!"
Leaping up behind Hansel, Jack held on tightly, worry flooding his mind. He prayed that Faith was not dead as he knew it would break his love's heart. Jack had been impressed by her bravery in saving the Indian child, and had been looking forward to getting to know her. Tonto flew on wings of fear and Jack on wings of hope and prayer while Hansel held on and prayed for his sister's life a second time that night. Could they save her?
Will was quickly but carefully making his way up the Pearl's riggings when he felt something drop onto his head. He raised a hand and touched his brown hair upon which the liquid had splashed. He looked at his hand, and terror caught at his heart at the sight of blood. "No . . . " he whispered chokingly a split moment before Gibbs began to scream.
Will looked up and saw Jack had fallen. "NO!" he repeated, and as his heart began to pound like a drum call to war, he forgot about his precautions and the fact that this man should not mean much at all to him yet even as a friend. He grabbed the nearest rope and swung upwards as he had done when he'd been a boy. Landing on a higher beam, he grabbed another rope and swung again. He repeated the maneuver until he was almost to Jack.
Will's boots barely stayed on the narrow beam as he turned around to face Jack lying so still. "JACK!" Thoughts whirled through his mind while emotions filled his heart. Terror for this man's fate gripped him. Compassion howled within him. And yet, too, there were sorrow and another niggling emotion that he neither recognized nor could have dared to name at that moment so soon even if he had known it. "JACK!"
He couldn't be dead! Will thought frantically as he ran to him. In that moment, the only reason that he cared to keep from falling was because he knew Gibbs would never reach the fallen Pirate in time. He'd yearned many times to put an end to his own suffering over the years since he'd lost his family, but he'd never dared to do it, instead pushing himself ever onward in search of bringing retribution to his loved ones' murderers. Jack's love was gone, and he could never return him to him - even though, in a fact so bizarre that Will's mind was still having trouble clutching it as truth, he had been the lover, not he himself but this world's Will.
Gibbs needed Jack, and in a flash that he dared not investigate further, something deep within Will warned that he, too, needed the Pirate who was Captain to a ship of which only his father should be Captain. "JACK!" he called again, and then he screamed his name. "JACK!" Jack was slipping off of the board, but Will dropped to his knees and caught his legs just before he could fall through the air to that which he sought so desperately: his own death . . .
From far away, Trent could hear his beloved's tender voice calling to him. He hurt like Hell all over but kept listening to the beautiful voice that called him away from a light so bright that it hurt his eyes. A disembodied voice told him, "It's not your time, my son! Your destiny lies before you! Do not fear to take whom you wish. He calls for you even now. Return, live, and love!"
The light faded, and Trent could feel Carlos' tears on his face. He knew it was him! He knew the touch he longed for more then breathing. Who was the being so full of light? he wondered even as the memories faded and he opened his eyes and moved just the slightest bit so that his lips were close to Carlos'. "Live and love!" echoed in his mind, and he moved so that he could lean up just a little and capture the lips that had been calling him forever.
The lithe, blonde man dressed entirely in black slipped into the cave and peered around him in the dark. He'd smelled the fresh blood a good hundred feet before he'd reached the cave, but he thankfully was no longer hungry that night after having dined well on the blood of his enemies. His fangs glistened in the shadows, however, as he looked down upon the sleeping innocent with a dangerous smile curving his black lips.
Addamm always did have a way of bringing pups home with him, the Vampire reflected. He closed his eyes and inhaled the luscious scent of blood assailing from the youth. It wasn't just his own, he noted with slight curiosity. There was his own fresh blood that told the Vampire the boy had just lost his virginity that very night, but yet there was also older blood upon him, stronger, bolder, and with just a whiff of familiarity.
His dark eyes opened, and he looked down at the sleeping lad. If the dried blood belonged to the woman he was thinking of, she'd handle whatever had attacked her and the boy herself and make it spill all of its blood or its dinner, whichever the case was. He leaned closer, taking a deeper intake of the delicious scent of fresh blood, and his tongue started to flick out between his fangs.
To Be Continued . . .
Authors' Note: The song Carlos and Sean sing is "Like The Rain" and belongs to Clint Black and any other rightful owners, none of whom are ourselves.