Part 2

Loud punk music blared from the small nightclub in Chicago's upper south side. Nicknamed 'the link,' Lincoln Square Night Club was one of Chicago's more popular metal / punk rock bars and was more often that not packed with every kind of person you could imagine. Leather pants and heavy metal band T-shirts were always in abundance along with chain link jewelry, and hair of every shade of the rainbow. The mood at the Link was always that of fun and an adrenaline filled night.

Even now, though it was only nine p.m. a large crowd had formed outside, and most from inside spilled out into the street. People where everywhere mingling, laughing, fighting and in general, having a good time. The scene was much the same inside of the club, with people packed in to the rafters, each dancing, moshing, or running about. Alcohol was everywhere, along with cigarettes and various types of drugs ranging from prescription to the highly illegal.

The pace in the club sped up even more as the band switched to a faster song, a song the crowd knew and loved.

"You took what was mine," the lead singer hollered into his microphone as the audience went wild. "You'll get it all this time."

The two guitarists were playing their hearts out as the drummer thrashed around on the drums, hammering out the notes to the band's most popular song, 'Drown Revenge.' The whole group had a hand in writing this one, and they were all proud of it, therefore they played it especially well. However the one who had poured the most into it was the groups lead singer, Preston Hall. So when he belted out the words it was as if you could feel them in the very depths of your soul.

However, there was one person in the back of the club who was not feeling the words, in fact, all she was feeling was a splitting headache. "Max!" Bea yelled at her blonde friend who was in the middle of screaming out the lyrics to the song. "Max!!!"

Turning to his friend with a smile on his face, Max Bankes leaned in closer to her, "Great aren't they!?" Max bellowed into Bea's ear.

"Great?" She began loudly, "Max, I can't hear a thing!"

Max nodded his read capped head, "yeah, they ARE amazing!" Max then turned away from her and went back to head banging with his other friend, Felix.

'Damn him,' she thought to herself as she attempted to plug her ears even more than she had been before. 'Out of all the places to visit in Chicago, why did he have to pick here?' Bea was not only upset at Max's choice of music, but also at the fact that they had gone to a night club. They were all only 15 and could be arrested for being in here, even if they weren't drinking.

Unplugging her ear long enough to brush a lock of her short, black hair out of her face, she sighed. This school trip to Chicago had been her chance to prove to her mother how responsible and mature she was, but look at her now. In a metal bar in some city she had never been to before. 'If I wasn't in love with Max…' Bea stopped her thinking before it could go any further, it was pointless. Max only thought of her was a friend, one of the guys… a bookworm. Loudly she sighed, 'damn him.'

Max on the other hand was having the time of his life! He was not only away from home, but he was with his two best friends, in a bar, and listening to Felix's favorite band play live. As he continued to dance he smiled deeply, this was a great way to spend the week before his 16th birthday, but the best part of all was that for this next week Virgil had promised him that he would not have to save the world. "Falling, falling, falling… can't let go!" Max yelled out along with the song, "Hit the ground bleeding, it's all you know!"

~*~

After the band had finished, Felix had insisted that they wait out back for over an hour and a half to get autographs.

"So Fe, where did you hear about these guys?" Max asked as he leaned on the brick wall behind the night club.

Lighting up a cigarette, Felix grinned, "My sister banged the drummer last year."

Max snickered and rolled his eyes at the thought of Felix's sister. She banged everybody.

Bea looked disgusted, "What does that have to do with you?" She pulled her warm jacket tighter around her as the wind started to pick up.

"Well," explained Felix, "I was staying with her when she did it, next night the dude took her to a rehearsal, she brought me along. Been hooked ever since." Felix took a long drag of his smoke then continued, "it's too bad their only local and don't have any CD's or anything."

"Yeah," stated Max adjusting his position on the wall, "they rule ass, especially that guitarist chick, she was a hottie."

Felix nodded in agreement, "Amen to that." He looked at the large, white van parked outside of the door with a sappy smile on his face.

Folding her arms over her chest, Bea scowled at the two boys, "is that all you guys ever think about?"

Max and Felix looked at each other, then coursed proudly, "yes."

"Disgusting."

"Oh stop being such a bring down, Bea," said Max as he patted her shoulder. "We had fun tonight, and tomorrow we'll go to the museums, just like you wanted."

At this Felix dropped his smoke and brushed his dark hair out of his eyes, "we'll what?"

Smiling cordially, Bea walked over to Felix, "in exchange for me coming tonight, you go the museums with Max and I tomorrow."

"Says who?"

Max spoke up, "says me… the Mighty one, and the birthday boy."

Hanging his shoulders in defeat, the brunette sighed, "bunk. Fine, whatever."

It was at that moment that the backdoor swung open and two of the four members of 25 to Life walked out of the bar carrying band equipment.

"Preston," said the dark skinned drummer in an annoyed voice, "you could carry something heavier then a microphone stand."

Preston laughed, brushing his blue tinted hair out of his face with his free hand, "not after all the shit I had to drink tonight." Putting down the microphone stand the tanned male heaved open the side door to the van for his friend. "Anyway," Preston sassed, "I couldn't open the door if I was caring stuff, Jeff."

"Shut up," Jeff grunted as he placed an amp into the van then climbed in after it.

Alex Carter, lead guitarist for the group was the next one out the door, his arms full of cords, hookups and his guitar. "A little help?"

Knowing that Alex wouldn't let him get away with not lifting a finger, Preston grabbed Alex's guitar and placed it gently in it's spot in the van. "We can make more than one trip, ya' know?"

"I know," said Alex with a grin as he turned around, "but where's the fun in that?" It was then that his expression changed from that of good humor to one of confusion. "Who the hell are they?" He asked, looking at Max, Bea and Felix.

Jeff and Preston looked up from their tasks, their eyes also falling on the three teenagers.

"I dunno," Jeff said unimpressed as he grabbed the cords from Alex and placed them in the back of the van.

"You guys were really slammin'," Max piped up as he smiled at Alex and Preston, "ultrashibby!"

"Yeah," said Preston, happy to have an excuse not to carry more equipment, "so you caught the show?" He stepped from the van and went to stand next to Max.

Felix nodded as he flicked a freshly lit cigarette into a puddle, "you rocked, hard-core."

Preston grinned, as he ran a hand through his blue-tinted hair and leaned on the wall of the building. "Glad you liked it."

"I don't think his ego could get much bigger," Alex mumbled as he and Jeff walked back into the building to get more equipment.

At this Bea snickered, then quickly looked up at the clouds in the night sky.

"I more than LIKED it," Max began as he gestured with his hands, "it was the best!"

Quickly pulling a wrinkled piece of paper from his pocket, Max passed it to Preston. "Can I have an autograph, dude."

Preston took the paper and fished around in the pocket of his baggy jeans for a pen. Upon finding one, he quickly wrote the name of the group and then signed his own name underneath. "Her ya' go," he said handing it back.

"We got the autograph," mumbled Bea to Max, "can we go now?"

"Bea," said Max under his breath, "you're embarrassing me."

Preston folded his arms over his chest, "man, girlfriends can be such a pain."

At this Felix began to roar with laughter and had to lean even further into the wall to keep himself from falling over.

"Shut-up," growled Bea as she smacked him the head causing Felix to lose his balance and fall onto the cement.

"Ow," he said through laughs, "ow…"

Preston grinned, "why don't you guys come back in and have a drink? My treat."

Max's face lit up a like a light bulb as Felix leaped from the ground at the mention of free booze.

"Max, no," whispered Bea harshly, as she grabbed his arm, "we can't!"

Pulling Max from the girl's grip Felix took on an air of dignity, "we most certainly can!" He squared his shoulders, adjusted the seems of his long leather coat lifted his stubbly chin, "Maximillion, shall we?"

Max tossed his blonde head and he too raised his chin, "yes, master Felix," he declared in a mock British accent, "Beatrice?"

Bea was faced with quite a dilemma. On the one hand she really did not want to go back into the bar and run the risk of getting arrested, but on the other she really didn't want Max in there without her to look out for him. After a brief moment, she hung her head, "fine," Bea mumbled as she allowed Max to lead her back into the bar.

~*~

Max had been sitting at the table with Felix and Preston for about an hour, and he felt that he was having the best time of his entire life. Though, he wasn't really sure how much or what exactly he'd had to drink, Max knew that it had been pretty good and he was totally drunk. With bleary, blue eyes he looked across the table at Felix, who was in the middle of a chugging contest with Preston. Max grinned as best he could, Felix had been a lush since birth, so Max wasn't worried about him, however as he looked to the dance floor and saw Bea moshing with a group of people, a little apprehension began to set in.

'I hope she's gonna be OK,' he thought as he had another sip of the brown liquid in front of him. 'OK… OK… Who's gonna be OK?' he wondered as his eyes traversed the room, 'what was I thinking, again?' Feeling a little woozy, the blonde leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. The loud music from the bar rang through Max's head and he swore that he felt the base pumping through his veins, "nice," he whispered.

When Max opened his eyes again, the music had died down to a dull roar and all the people in the club were gone save for Felix who was lighting up a smoke and chewing on piece of beef jerky, and Bea who was fast asleep next to him.

Upon seeing his friend open his eyes, Felix got a lopsided grin on his face, "ya' pashed out, Max," he slurred, "sheap drunk, you is."

Max groaned as he tried to stand up and stretch, "I can't believe I passed out," he said as his head started to clear a little bit. Looking around he frowned, "where is everybody?"

"Dude," said Felix with a giggle, "ish three shirty, e'ryone's home by now. Preshtons gonna get us a ride."

Knowing that a way back to the hotel was taken care of, Max relaxed, "shibby."

~*~

"Preston," said the blonde guitarist in a dangerous tone, "why am I on taxi duty?"

"Jules," Preston said soothingly as he brushed a lock of her hair from her tanned face, "they're just kids and they really don't have any other way to get home."

"Alex?"

"He has to drive the van, and Jeff and me are wasted." Stepping closer to her, the singer smiled flirtatiously, "besides, I can make it worth your while…" Preston's invitation was more than clear.

Giving the him a shove, Julie rolled her azure eyes and smirked. "With your teeny weenie, boy please." Grabbing the keys to her car from a near by table, she left Preston slack jawed and more than a little irate. "That is if you could even rise to the occasion." That said she jogged off to find Max and his friends.

"Yo' mama," Preston growled as he picked up a beer and headed out of the back door.

~*~

"So, uh… nice night?" Max had been trying to make conversation with the pretty blonde who was driving him to the hotel, but so far he had gotten little more than a few one word answers and a nod. Plus, it didn't help that Bea and Felix were passed out in the back seat, leaving him to his own devices.

"I guess," Julie Carter said quietly as she whipped the small black car around yet another corner. She knew that her being here wasn't Max's fault, and she really didn't mind the kid that much, but the way Preston had talked to her really upset her.

"Yeah."

Julie nodded and continued to drive, "Wanna do me a favor and grab my Korn CD from the glove box?"

Eager to please, Max popped open the over-flowing glove compartment and began to root through papers and sunglasses, looking for the CD. "Korn rules," he said offhandedly.

"Uh huh, they do," Slowing the car to a stop, the Blonde, glowered at the now red light in front of her and then sighed. 'Why do I always let him get to me?' Julie questioned herself. Finding no answer and deciding that being angry wasn't going to solve anything, she took a deep, cleansing breath. After that was done, Julie's mind felt a little more at ease. "Hey kid?"

"It's Max" said Max, still looking for the CD.

"Max, You like Ice cream?"

To this he gave a vigorous nod, "best food in the whole world next to hot-dogs."

Liking his answer, Julie drove through the red light, pulled up to a small all night diner and turned off the ignition. "Let me buy you a cone to make up for being such a bitch."

Putting the newly found CD back in the glove box, Max smiled. "Sure!"

The two of them sat in the diner for about an hour getting to know each other and in general just having a good time. Julie learned that Max's mom was an archaeologist, like her own and that the two women had actually worked together on several digs. The blonde had also discovered that Max was in 10th Grade at George Washington High school, in Santa Barbara, California, and he had a mad crush on Tyra Banks.

Max, on the other had not really learned that much about Julie and he was determined to even the score. "I like your band a lot," Max said through as he powered through his second bowl of Ice cream.

The blonde snickered a little as she watched the teenager eat, "do you?"

Max continued on, "uh huh, and 25 To Life is a really shibby name, how did ya' come up with it?"

Pulling her long, honey colored hair into to a pony tail, the blue eyed bassist grinned. "Alex and I came up with it one night when we were drunk." Julie smiled a little at the memory of her and her brother's drinking binge. "We said that being stuck in the group with Preston was as bad as jail. Alex said it was like a 25 to life sentence. After that, the name kinda stuck."

The boy grinned, "that's cool. My friend Bea is kinda like prison too." Max gestured through the window, to the car, where his friend slept. "But she's pretty nice, I guess."

"She your girl?"

Max gave a nonchalant shake of his head, "naw, just a friend."

"Ah," the blonde said knowingly, "I see." Slowly she sipped on her Coke as the seconds ticked by. Julie really like Max and thought that he was a lot like Alex when he was younger. Then again, almost every blonde kid she saw reminded her of her adopted brother.

"So," Max asked, interrupting her thoughts, "is Alex your boyfriend?"

Julie smiled brightly, seeming to light up the diner, "he's my brother. I'm a single gal."

At this the teen brightened, "so, uh… … you into younger men?"

"No."

"Not even a little?"

"Nope, I like um' older."

Pausing for a sec, Max laughed, "We're going to the museum tomorrow, you wanna tag?"

That question caused the smile to leave Julie's face. She hated museums, in fact anything that was really old tended to rate at least a six on her 'Freaky Shit - O - Meter.' Even though she knew it was stupid, Julie felt as though all the relics in museums and things of the like were speaking to her. Not so much in words, but in a language of ages that only relics could understand.

Every time she entered a Museum or took a trip to her mothers archaeology sites, she seemed to feel time watching her. Waiting for her. "Uh, I really don't think…"

Max's bright face fell as he lowered his blue eyes. "Oh… well, yeah. I understand…"

'Oh great job, Jules,' she thought to herself, 'you hurt the kids feelings.' Looking at the downcast Max, who really did remind her of her brother, Julie sighed heavily. "I guess I could come for a bit."

Max beamed, "You can!? Great! It'll be a blast, you'll see!"

"Yeah," Julie forced a grin, "a blast."

~*~

Black energies and light leapt back and forth throughout the massive, dark cave, painting it's dank walls with eerie, jolting shapes. Then just as quickly as the energy started to leap, it receded back into the huge pit of crimson ooze from which it had come.

A stillness came upon the dark place so suddenly that the air there in seemed to catch and hold it's invisible position along the murky walls and floor. An ambiance of still fear encompassed the crimson pool as a figure, clad only in the shadows of the night began to rise from it's dense depths. Slowly, as though held still in time, the figure began to take form.

A mass of human bones appeared in the pool, and quickly began to attach themselves to one another, as though guided by invisible hands, joint to joint, limb to limb. The bones were black, and brittle, but as they continued to gain structure, their color changed to dim ivory and the texture became marble smooth. The bones soon finished attaching themselves, and where a shadowy form had once been was now a human skeleton.

When that was done, the pool's Crimson liquid proceeded to leak upwards, cascading and wrapping around the bones, ever so slowly developing tissue and veins. fashioning thick muscles and winding it's way throughout all the joints and nooks that the skeleton possessed.

Flesh, as dark as the depths that gave it form, grew forth from the last of the red liquid and covered the muscles. Next, white hair slowly sprung out of the flesh covered skull, growing gradually at first, snaking its way outward and growing downwards, past the shoulders, to the middle of the back.

Breasts, lips, teeth and fingernails formed themselves upon the now obviously female form, and brown-skined eyelids closed over empty sockets, only to reopen and reveal solid yellow eyeballs that glowed eerily in the dim light.

The liquid from the pool was no more. Only the woman remained. In an ageless glide, she walked from the empty hole where the pool had been and stood over-looking the cave, expressionless.

"The time draws near, my Empress" Said a cold, male voice from the shadows.

Without moving, the woman spoke. Her voice was that of an ethereal goddess, and seemed not to come from her lips, but from the cave itself. "Zadren."

Stepping from the shadows, a tall, red-robed male went to stand before the figure and then dropped to his knees, long black hair falling in front of his strong face. "Lady Xan."

Holding out her long, slender arm, Lady Xan commanded Zadren to his feet. "The time for blood approaches," she stated tonelessly. "Bring me the Cap Bearer."