Part 36
"Max!" He jerked his head away from the hard slap to his face, resisted the voice calling his name. He had to find Liz! His connection to her had been cut off with a resounding snap when he had felt Khivar's essence burn itself out in his consciousness. His desperate calls for her in his mind were met only with silence.
"Zan, will you bloody well snap out of it?" He was hit again, this time much harder than was really necessary since he was conscious again, despite all of his efforts to remain within the connection.
Max's eyes flew open. He sat up gasping, rubbing his face, reorienting himself.
It took him a moment to realize where he was. He was still on the ground in the main dome area of Atherton's house. He blinked, looked up at Michael, who was standing over him, his arms crossed, a supremely irritated expression on his face. "It's about time! What the hell happened to you?"
It was taking Max longer than he liked to get his bearings. He shook his head, hard, trying to clear it.
The first coherent thought that he could grasp was Liz's name. "Liz…" He muttered as Michael helped him to his feet. A feeling of emptiness was coming over him as he tried desperately to get any sense of her at all. With the intensity of the connection they had made to fry Khivar's essence, he should be able to find her easily.
But there was nothing.
"Isabel is who you should be worried about!" Michael snapped. "Khivar has her! We need to go after them."
Max blinked again, stared at Michael. "Aren't you supposed to be with them?" He asked, beginning to frown. It was all coming back to him now. Kyle had said that Khivar had taken both Isabel [i] and[/i] Michael.
Michael looked away for a moment. "He knocked me out as soon as we got in the car. I woke up in the dust a few minutes ago," he finally said slowly.
Max narrowed his eyes. There had been something evasive in that answer…and it didn't make sense with what Max knew about Khivar. Khivar had wanted all three of them dead. Michael was the reborn version of his brother Rath, but Max knew that would have meant nothing to Khivar. If he didn't want Michael with him, he would have just killed him.
With all the essence hopping that had been going on over the past week, he needed to be sure this was really Michael.
"Tell me how you proposed to Maria," he ordered abruptly.
Michael's head whipped around. "What? Why?"
And Max knew immediately. He had seen the panic that had flashed through the eyes of the monster impersonating his best friend.
"Humor me," he replied grimly.
"It's private Max."
"It wasn't so private when you told me all about it yesterday."
There was a long pause and then he broke, "Okay, fine. I have no idea." He looked resigned, rubbed his face wearily. "How did you know?"
Max felt his nostrils flare. It was taking all of his strength not to beat the living crap out of the body in front of him. But he would be hurting Michael too - if his best friend still existed in there. "Michael would never have called me Zan. What is it going to take to get you out of there…[i] Nicholas[/i]."
"I want my body back. Plain and simple."
Max clenched his fists at his side. The bastard who had tried to kill his son was staring at him through his brother's face. "And then everything can go back to the way it was - right [i] Jesse[/i]? Or are you even bothering to go by that name now?"
"I am in love with your sister Zan." He sounded exhausted, defeated.
"You're [i] obsessed[/i] with my sister you little weasel. You have been for two lifetimes. If you think Isabel will take you back after what you've done…"
"What have I done other than to love her?" Nicholas demanded. "I am the father of her child. I would die for her."
"You tried to murder my son!" Max bellowed. Nicholas flinched. "And you tortured all of us when we were teenagers - including Isabel. Do you think I would just forget that? That she will?"
"At this point, I don't really care," Nicholas snapped. "I just want her safe. Can you understand that?"
Max clenched his jaw. "Of course I can. But I don't want anything to do with you. I want you gone. If you think I'll trust you to help me, then you must be even crazier than I thought."
Max could feel himself slowly but surely losing control. He took a few deep, calming breathes.
They were in a stand off and it was getting them nowhere. The longer he argued with this bastard, the more panicked he was becoming about Liz. He still could not feel her at all.
Max saw a vein pulsing on Michael's neck, could almost see Nicholas' brain working in his best friend's head. "I'll let Michael emerge if you'll go after them," he finally ground out. "Michael can be the one who helps you. Just go after them Zan!"
"And you'll be where?" Max demanded. "Just lurking?"
He looked at the ground. "I won't interfere - won't hurt Michael." He raised his head, his eyes meeting Max's squarely. "Because I can Zan. I can extinguish him right now if I want to."
"Oh, [i] that's[/i] making me want to trust you," Max shook his head, disbelieving. "You'll never change Nicholas. You are evil, treating lives you don't care about like pawns."
"I'm trying here!" Nicholas yelled. "Which is more than I can say for you! We're just wasting time. Khivar has Isabel [i] and[/i] Liz!"
"Khivar is dead," Max told him quietly.
"What?" Nicholas' eyes widened in shock. "How?"
"Liz." Max felt a rush of pride and love, mixed with dread. He still could not feel her at all. It was beginning to become real to him that while Liz had been so brave and strong, she may have sacrificed herself completely. She may have relived Kadiya's life - and death - in more than just a vision.
He couldn't think that way. Not now. He had to find her.
He would make a deal with the devil himself if he had to. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, Nicholas was right. They didn't have time to argue right now. He didn't have time to make Nicholas pay.
There would be plenty of time later.
He took a deep, steadying breath then growled, "Give me Michael and I'll let Isabel decide what's to become of you when this is over."
He owed that much to his sister. She at least deserved the right to decide what grisly death this bastard had earned with his deceit.
Nicholas appeared satisfied. "Fine." He closed his eyes briefly.
Max watched in fascination as a grimace passed over Michael's face. His eyes snapped open again a moment later. He stared at Max in horror. "Jesus Christ Maxwell!"
"I take it I don't have to fill you in on what's going on?" Max demanded, bringing a hand down affectionately on his best friend's shoulder. The relief that rushed through him, because somehow he just [i] knew[/i] that this was Michael again, made him weak.
"No." Max could see fury beginning to claim Michael. "That little bastard…I was aware the whole time. I just didn't have any control of my body. We need to get him out of my head. It's bloody humiliating." He glanced toward the bedroom. "Jesus Max. I need to get Maria out of the closet."
"Hurry."
Max trailed after Michael as he bolted for the bedroom. "How did he do it?" Max asked quietly.
"He just took over." Michael replied. He changed the subject abruptly. "I'm guessing you know that Dan is Khivar?" He asked as he opened the closet door, scowled at the sight of Maria bound hand and foot. She was glaring up at him, her eyes wide, her face tear-streaked. "Oh hell. Maria, please just don't freak on me. I had no choice."
"MICHAEL!" She shrieked, the minute he removed the gag from her mouth. "I hate, hate, hate you! The wedding is off!"
"Maria, if I had let you come with me and Isabel, there would have been no wedding," he replied, pulling her into his arms. "He would have killed you." Max watched her melt against Michael, unresisting. Max breathed a sigh of relief. She would forgive him.
"I wanted to be with you!" Maria exclaimed through her tears. "You can't just arbitrarily make decisions for me Michael! It's not fair!"
"It is fair when it's the difference between you getting killed or not," Michael returned sternly.
"Guys, there's no time for this," Max interrupted reluctantly. "I'm sorry, but we have to find Liz and Izzy."
"I thought you said Khivar was dead," Michael turned his head, Maria still pressed against him. He narrowed his eyes. "Again," He added. "How exactly is it that he came back anyway?"
"It's a long story. The short version is that Larek helped him to possess Dan and then Jesse immediately after I killed his body on Antar." Max glanced at Maria. "Which is why Nicholas was bumped into you Michael."
"What?" Maria shrieked, wrenching away from Michael. She was behind Max an instant later, clutching at him. "Michael?"
"It's me Maria," Michael sighed impatiently. "The troll has let me have control back."
Max brought his arm around Maria to support her. "It's true Maria. Nicholas is in there, but Michael's in charge. We need to get him back into Jesse's body as soon as possible though. Now that Khivar's essence is gone, the body is going to be useless really quickly."
"Are Liz and Isabel and the kids okay?" Maria asked, still apparently unable to go anywhere near Michael now that she knew that Nicholas was in there as well.
"I don't know," Max replied, trying not to allow his fear to reflect in his voice. "I hope so."
They had better be, he thought grimly as he led the way out to the Cherokee. Because if they weren't, then Nicholas was going to pay the price. There would be no mercy at all if either his sister or Liz were hurt.
They were on 285 North moments later.
"Are you sure they went this way?" Maria asked from the back seat.
"Yes," Max told her. The instant he had turned the car onto the highway, he had had a flash of emotion from Liz. It was almost like an echo of exactly what she had been feeling when her car had passed over the spot.
She had been scared - terrified. But not for herself. For Ben, for Isabel, for Lexi - for him. Trust Liz not to worry about herself.
The flash gave him a jolt of adrenaline, a rush of hope. Was the connection kicking back in, was that why he had had that flash? Because if so, then Liz was alive. Despite the amount of energy he had drained out of her to destroy Khivar, she lived.
Now he just had to find her.
**LIZ?** He called out with his mind, could hear Michael and Maria talking quietly, tried to ignore them.
Still nothing. But the emptiness in his heart was not as complete as it had been a few minutes before.
"Max!"
He jumped, focused on the road. It was Michael yelling at him. "There's a car up there - on the side of the road. It looks like a Volvo."
Liz!
He slowed the Cherokee, drove off the road, pulling to a stop behind the Volvo. Max was out of the car instantly, forgetting to even turn off the engine. "Liz! Ben!"
His cries were met with nothing but silence.
Max wrenched open the driver's side door. Liz, who had been leaning against the window, tumbled out into his arms, her dark hair falling over her face.
"She's breathing!" He reported to Maria, who was hovering behind him.
"Thank God!" Maria exclaimed. Max's voice caused Lexi, who had been sound asleep in her car-seat to jerk awake. The baby started to cry. Maria hurriedly opened the rear passenger door, reached over a sleeping Ben, but not before running an affectionate hand down his exhausted face.
"Ben's fine too Max. Just totally conked out," Maria told him as she lifted the baby out into her arms.
Max sighed with relief. He pulled Liz more fully into his arms, began to speak quietly in her ear. "Liz, wake up sweetheart. It's time to wake up." Now that he knew she was alive, another more poignant fear was beginning to take hold.
What had happened in her mind during the final confrontation with Khivar had been intense - maybe [i] too[/i] intense for a human brain to be able to absorb undamaged. Because while Max knew in his heart that the essence that graced this beautiful body was that of his soulmate of two lifetimes, she was still human. There might have been brain trauma, irreparable harm done to the brilliant mind he had fallen in love with…
"Liz, please wake up." He could feel the panic again, the desperation that he had relived as Zan during the connection that had ultimately killed Khivar. He had felt everything that Zan had been feeling through Kadiya's memories - everything that [i] he[/i] had felt during that past life.
He could not live without her anymore now than he had been able to then. He just could not do it. If it made him the weak one, well, that was just the way it was.
She had always been his strength, had always been the one with the will to survive, to fight for them. He would be nothing without her. He closed his eyes, felt tears beginning to form behind the lids as she continued to lie lifelessly in his arms, breathing, but not [i] living[/i].
"Liz, [i] please[/i]. I can't do this alone."
"I will never leave you." The voice was weak, but entirely music to his ears. His eyes snapped open.
She was gazing up at him, tears shining in her dark, beloved eyes. "You left me once, but I will [i] never[/i] leave you," she repeated, smiling slightly.
He crushed her against him knowing, once again, that he did not, in any way, deserve her.
"Max!" He jerked his head away from the hard slap to his face, resisted the voice calling his name. He had to find Liz! His connection to her had been cut off with a resounding snap when he had felt Khivar's essence burn itself out in his consciousness. His desperate calls for her in his mind were met only with silence.
"Zan, will you bloody well snap out of it?" He was hit again, this time much harder than was really necessary since he was conscious again, despite all of his efforts to remain within the connection.
Max's eyes flew open. He sat up gasping, rubbing his face, reorienting himself.
It took him a moment to realize where he was. He was still on the ground in the main dome area of Atherton's house. He blinked, looked up at Michael, who was standing over him, his arms crossed, a supremely irritated expression on his face. "It's about time! What the hell happened to you?"
It was taking Max longer than he liked to get his bearings. He shook his head, hard, trying to clear it.
The first coherent thought that he could grasp was Liz's name. "Liz…" He muttered as Michael helped him to his feet. A feeling of emptiness was coming over him as he tried desperately to get any sense of her at all. With the intensity of the connection they had made to fry Khivar's essence, he should be able to find her easily.
But there was nothing.
"Isabel is who you should be worried about!" Michael snapped. "Khivar has her! We need to go after them."
Max blinked again, stared at Michael. "Aren't you supposed to be with them?" He asked, beginning to frown. It was all coming back to him now. Kyle had said that Khivar had taken both Isabel [i] and[/i] Michael.
Michael looked away for a moment. "He knocked me out as soon as we got in the car. I woke up in the dust a few minutes ago," he finally said slowly.
Max narrowed his eyes. There had been something evasive in that answer…and it didn't make sense with what Max knew about Khivar. Khivar had wanted all three of them dead. Michael was the reborn version of his brother Rath, but Max knew that would have meant nothing to Khivar. If he didn't want Michael with him, he would have just killed him.
With all the essence hopping that had been going on over the past week, he needed to be sure this was really Michael.
"Tell me how you proposed to Maria," he ordered abruptly.
Michael's head whipped around. "What? Why?"
And Max knew immediately. He had seen the panic that had flashed through the eyes of the monster impersonating his best friend.
"Humor me," he replied grimly.
"It's private Max."
"It wasn't so private when you told me all about it yesterday."
There was a long pause and then he broke, "Okay, fine. I have no idea." He looked resigned, rubbed his face wearily. "How did you know?"
Max felt his nostrils flare. It was taking all of his strength not to beat the living crap out of the body in front of him. But he would be hurting Michael too - if his best friend still existed in there. "Michael would never have called me Zan. What is it going to take to get you out of there…[i] Nicholas[/i]."
"I want my body back. Plain and simple."
Max clenched his fists at his side. The bastard who had tried to kill his son was staring at him through his brother's face. "And then everything can go back to the way it was - right [i] Jesse[/i]? Or are you even bothering to go by that name now?"
"I am in love with your sister Zan." He sounded exhausted, defeated.
"You're [i] obsessed[/i] with my sister you little weasel. You have been for two lifetimes. If you think Isabel will take you back after what you've done…"
"What have I done other than to love her?" Nicholas demanded. "I am the father of her child. I would die for her."
"You tried to murder my son!" Max bellowed. Nicholas flinched. "And you tortured all of us when we were teenagers - including Isabel. Do you think I would just forget that? That she will?"
"At this point, I don't really care," Nicholas snapped. "I just want her safe. Can you understand that?"
Max clenched his jaw. "Of course I can. But I don't want anything to do with you. I want you gone. If you think I'll trust you to help me, then you must be even crazier than I thought."
Max could feel himself slowly but surely losing control. He took a few deep, calming breathes.
They were in a stand off and it was getting them nowhere. The longer he argued with this bastard, the more panicked he was becoming about Liz. He still could not feel her at all.
Max saw a vein pulsing on Michael's neck, could almost see Nicholas' brain working in his best friend's head. "I'll let Michael emerge if you'll go after them," he finally ground out. "Michael can be the one who helps you. Just go after them Zan!"
"And you'll be where?" Max demanded. "Just lurking?"
He looked at the ground. "I won't interfere - won't hurt Michael." He raised his head, his eyes meeting Max's squarely. "Because I can Zan. I can extinguish him right now if I want to."
"Oh, [i] that's[/i] making me want to trust you," Max shook his head, disbelieving. "You'll never change Nicholas. You are evil, treating lives you don't care about like pawns."
"I'm trying here!" Nicholas yelled. "Which is more than I can say for you! We're just wasting time. Khivar has Isabel [i] and[/i] Liz!"
"Khivar is dead," Max told him quietly.
"What?" Nicholas' eyes widened in shock. "How?"
"Liz." Max felt a rush of pride and love, mixed with dread. He still could not feel her at all. It was beginning to become real to him that while Liz had been so brave and strong, she may have sacrificed herself completely. She may have relived Kadiya's life - and death - in more than just a vision.
He couldn't think that way. Not now. He had to find her.
He would make a deal with the devil himself if he had to. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, Nicholas was right. They didn't have time to argue right now. He didn't have time to make Nicholas pay.
There would be plenty of time later.
He took a deep, steadying breath then growled, "Give me Michael and I'll let Isabel decide what's to become of you when this is over."
He owed that much to his sister. She at least deserved the right to decide what grisly death this bastard had earned with his deceit.
Nicholas appeared satisfied. "Fine." He closed his eyes briefly.
Max watched in fascination as a grimace passed over Michael's face. His eyes snapped open again a moment later. He stared at Max in horror. "Jesus Christ Maxwell!"
"I take it I don't have to fill you in on what's going on?" Max demanded, bringing a hand down affectionately on his best friend's shoulder. The relief that rushed through him, because somehow he just [i] knew[/i] that this was Michael again, made him weak.
"No." Max could see fury beginning to claim Michael. "That little bastard…I was aware the whole time. I just didn't have any control of my body. We need to get him out of my head. It's bloody humiliating." He glanced toward the bedroom. "Jesus Max. I need to get Maria out of the closet."
"Hurry."
Max trailed after Michael as he bolted for the bedroom. "How did he do it?" Max asked quietly.
"He just took over." Michael replied. He changed the subject abruptly. "I'm guessing you know that Dan is Khivar?" He asked as he opened the closet door, scowled at the sight of Maria bound hand and foot. She was glaring up at him, her eyes wide, her face tear-streaked. "Oh hell. Maria, please just don't freak on me. I had no choice."
"MICHAEL!" She shrieked, the minute he removed the gag from her mouth. "I hate, hate, hate you! The wedding is off!"
"Maria, if I had let you come with me and Isabel, there would have been no wedding," he replied, pulling her into his arms. "He would have killed you." Max watched her melt against Michael, unresisting. Max breathed a sigh of relief. She would forgive him.
"I wanted to be with you!" Maria exclaimed through her tears. "You can't just arbitrarily make decisions for me Michael! It's not fair!"
"It is fair when it's the difference between you getting killed or not," Michael returned sternly.
"Guys, there's no time for this," Max interrupted reluctantly. "I'm sorry, but we have to find Liz and Izzy."
"I thought you said Khivar was dead," Michael turned his head, Maria still pressed against him. He narrowed his eyes. "Again," He added. "How exactly is it that he came back anyway?"
"It's a long story. The short version is that Larek helped him to possess Dan and then Jesse immediately after I killed his body on Antar." Max glanced at Maria. "Which is why Nicholas was bumped into you Michael."
"What?" Maria shrieked, wrenching away from Michael. She was behind Max an instant later, clutching at him. "Michael?"
"It's me Maria," Michael sighed impatiently. "The troll has let me have control back."
Max brought his arm around Maria to support her. "It's true Maria. Nicholas is in there, but Michael's in charge. We need to get him back into Jesse's body as soon as possible though. Now that Khivar's essence is gone, the body is going to be useless really quickly."
"Are Liz and Isabel and the kids okay?" Maria asked, still apparently unable to go anywhere near Michael now that she knew that Nicholas was in there as well.
"I don't know," Max replied, trying not to allow his fear to reflect in his voice. "I hope so."
They had better be, he thought grimly as he led the way out to the Cherokee. Because if they weren't, then Nicholas was going to pay the price. There would be no mercy at all if either his sister or Liz were hurt.
They were on 285 North moments later.
"Are you sure they went this way?" Maria asked from the back seat.
"Yes," Max told her. The instant he had turned the car onto the highway, he had had a flash of emotion from Liz. It was almost like an echo of exactly what she had been feeling when her car had passed over the spot.
She had been scared - terrified. But not for herself. For Ben, for Isabel, for Lexi - for him. Trust Liz not to worry about herself.
The flash gave him a jolt of adrenaline, a rush of hope. Was the connection kicking back in, was that why he had had that flash? Because if so, then Liz was alive. Despite the amount of energy he had drained out of her to destroy Khivar, she lived.
Now he just had to find her.
**LIZ?** He called out with his mind, could hear Michael and Maria talking quietly, tried to ignore them.
Still nothing. But the emptiness in his heart was not as complete as it had been a few minutes before.
"Max!"
He jumped, focused on the road. It was Michael yelling at him. "There's a car up there - on the side of the road. It looks like a Volvo."
Liz!
He slowed the Cherokee, drove off the road, pulling to a stop behind the Volvo. Max was out of the car instantly, forgetting to even turn off the engine. "Liz! Ben!"
His cries were met with nothing but silence.
Max wrenched open the driver's side door. Liz, who had been leaning against the window, tumbled out into his arms, her dark hair falling over her face.
"She's breathing!" He reported to Maria, who was hovering behind him.
"Thank God!" Maria exclaimed. Max's voice caused Lexi, who had been sound asleep in her car-seat to jerk awake. The baby started to cry. Maria hurriedly opened the rear passenger door, reached over a sleeping Ben, but not before running an affectionate hand down his exhausted face.
"Ben's fine too Max. Just totally conked out," Maria told him as she lifted the baby out into her arms.
Max sighed with relief. He pulled Liz more fully into his arms, began to speak quietly in her ear. "Liz, wake up sweetheart. It's time to wake up." Now that he knew she was alive, another more poignant fear was beginning to take hold.
What had happened in her mind during the final confrontation with Khivar had been intense - maybe [i] too[/i] intense for a human brain to be able to absorb undamaged. Because while Max knew in his heart that the essence that graced this beautiful body was that of his soulmate of two lifetimes, she was still human. There might have been brain trauma, irreparable harm done to the brilliant mind he had fallen in love with…
"Liz, please wake up." He could feel the panic again, the desperation that he had relived as Zan during the connection that had ultimately killed Khivar. He had felt everything that Zan had been feeling through Kadiya's memories - everything that [i] he[/i] had felt during that past life.
He could not live without her anymore now than he had been able to then. He just could not do it. If it made him the weak one, well, that was just the way it was.
She had always been his strength, had always been the one with the will to survive, to fight for them. He would be nothing without her. He closed his eyes, felt tears beginning to form behind the lids as she continued to lie lifelessly in his arms, breathing, but not [i] living[/i].
"Liz, [i] please[/i]. I can't do this alone."
"I will never leave you." The voice was weak, but entirely music to his ears. His eyes snapped open.
She was gazing up at him, tears shining in her dark, beloved eyes. "You left me once, but I will [i] never[/i] leave you," she repeated, smiling slightly.
He crushed her against him knowing, once again, that he did not, in any way, deserve her.