Disclaimer: don't own anything but Jezebel who I created myself. Rest are owned by Vince Mcmahon and the WWE

"You can hear me now can't you Mark?" her voice was clear and painful

Mark looked about; he was in a space filled with thick black nothing, no light at all. How did he get here? He couldn't walk; he felt like his feet were stuck to the ground, he couldn't move his arms either, what had happened to him? Was he paralysed? Then he felt someone land beside him. He frowned, trying to twist his upper body to see, unsure who to expect. Eternal smiled at him, her hand lightly dancing over his arm, before resting on the spot where the stitches were. Mark winced as pure coldness seeped in. Abruptly Eternal pulled her hand back.

"I told you it would hurt if you didn't co-operate" she said softly "It's going to get much worse, me and Reckless have so much planned, for you, your wife, your friends, and I can't wait to see what Jezebel has in store for you"

Mark could just make out her outline as pale silvery light filtered into the space. One hand on her hip, she was a silhouette of toned beauty except for the fact that blood pooled out of her mouth. Almost as though she knew what he was thinking, she wiped some of the blood away. She looked at her hand smeared with the blood and smiled, almost lovingly. Then she lifted her hand and waved at him. Now all he could hear was her voice, as piercing and focused as before

"Unless you're willing, this will go on for a very long time, drop by painful drop we will drain you and people will disappear one by one, see you soon Mark, I'm on my way to the ring now, I'll wave to you while I'm out there"

The light faded and he was left in darkness, he felt as though the ground was spinning beneath him, leaving him dizzy and nauseous. Then pain filled his head again, he felt like it would explode. He squeezed his eyes shut willing for it to disappear

*

"Mark!" Sara pleaded "get up, don't let her win!"

She gripped one of his hands; he was still, no breath in his lungs. Sara had the urge to inject some of her heated power into him but she knew that whoever was talking to him would hurt Mark more if she did. Jeff shook him; concern etched on his face, Trish knelt beside him. Matt stood beside Amy, an arm around her shoulders, unsure what to do. It felt confusing, what was going on? Was Mark really getting words from them now? Matt shook his head. It was getting all too bizarre for him. Amy simply stared blankly, unable to find words to speak. She felt cold and numb. If she opened her mouth, she felt as though she'd throw up again.

Suddenly Mark sat up, nearly knocking Jeff out by head butting him. Jeff ducked flat to the floor, narrowly escaping. He breathed a sigh of relief. Trish helped him sit up; he shot her a thankful smile. Mark stared across the room, his skin has gone deathly pale. Sara tentatively touched his arm. He jumped in shock and pulled his arm away, glaring at her. For a moment, he wasn't Mark, he was the Phenom and it shocked Sara to the core. Then his face cleared and he blinked.

"How the hell did I end up on the floor and why are you all looking at me like that?" he demanded gruffly

Sara closed her eyes, letting out a sigh of relief. She smiled lovingly at her husband

"Eternal got to you again, then you blacked out and fell down to the ground" she supplied, sitting down on the floor properly

It all flooded back to him then. He looked at his arm, the stitches were still there, there was no blood or anything. Yet he felt as though something had been taken away, he just couldn't put his finger on it. He noticed Jeff sitting on the floor with Trish beside him, arm in arm. Matt and Amy stood looking at him.

"I ain't a damn side show" he growled "give me some space"

"You're back to normal" laughed Sara, offering him a hand as she got to her feet

Matt took Mark's other arm and together, he and Sara helped him to his feet. Amy sat down again, feeling as though she was floating above everything, aware of a dull pain in her stomach. Matt sat down beside her, taking one of her hands in both of his and gently stroked it. Mark sat down again on his chair, Sara stood beside him

"I was in a pit, black, empty" he began, visualising it "I could hear Eternal and then she appears by me, touches my arm and that damn cold pours in, she says I have to submit so that it won't be so painful, that she was gonna drain me and that people'll disappear, she stands in shadow, there's blood coming from her mouth and then the pain comes back into my head, next thing I know I'm back here"

"You know this was all in your head right?" said Jeff from his seat

"I know that boy! But when you're there, it sure as hell feels real" retorted Mark, rubbing his aching head experimentally

"I can guess" replied Trish quietly, remembering her own brush with Eternal

From the stormy look on Jeff's face, it looked as though he hadn't forgotten it either. Trish squeezed his shoulder gently and when he looked questioningly at her, smiled and shook her head. It was her own battle to fight and win, not his. Jeff nodded; he felt the same way about Reckless. Suddenly Mark leaned forward and switched the monitor on. On the screen, Eternal was making her way between the ropes to appreciative whoops from the men in the audience. As she stood in the ring, she turned to the camera suddenly and waved her smile radiant. Just as abruptly as he'd turned it on, Mark switched it off

"She said she'd wave to me" he muttered, more to himself than the others although they could hear him

He tried to get to his feet but found that his legs wouldn't work; they shook. With a look of surprise, he fell back into his seat

"Why the hell can't I get up?" he demanded out loud

Sara looked at him carefully; his skin was pale, as though the colour had been taken from him. His hands shook a little. She looked at the place where his stitches were, nothing broken

"She took something out of you" Sara said suddenly, an idea forming in her mind "she took some of your power, kind of tapped it off, drained it like she said, right?"

"What? How can she do that?" asked Matt incredulously

"Wouldn't surprise me" said Mark darkly "She's got some weird powers and taking something that ain't her's for the taking seems to be her style, on instructions from her of course"

"And she'll keep doing it until he gives it willingly" said Trish, getting the idea

"No wonder it hurt so much, you didn't want to give it to her" mused Sara "its part of you and very deeply buried so hard to pull out"

Mark looked at her, he felt as though the edges of his vision was blurred, like it wasn't all quite real. He blinked furiously, trying to clear it but it wasn't working. Just then, the voices in the room got fainter, as though coming from far far away. He knew what was coming. He grabbed Sara's arm, then nothing. Darkness descended.

*

"Excellent" Jezebel breathed

She smiled as Eternal said goodbye via mind-message. Everything was perfectly aligned. Mark was being broken down and he didn't even know it. Slowly, his life would drain from him, leaving an empty shell, just Mark Calloway and nothing else. Every bit of life blood would flow from him, into her. There was no way to stop it since Eternal had implanted a plug in him thanks to those very lovely stitches in his arm. How convenient. It was as though someone had injured him for this purpose alone.

She smiled and knocked on the door in front of her.

"Come in" a voice rumbled on the other side

She pushed the door open and found Vince sat behind his desk, writing something down. He looked up and indicated for her to take a seat which she did. After a few minutes of silent scribbling, he took his glasses off and looked at her with a smile

"Well Jenny that was good work today out there, how do you think it went?" he asked

"I think I did ok, my timing was a little out but the guys helped me out" she replied

"The interaction between you and Amy was very good; we think there could be a good storyline in it" he told her "find some time before next week to work out with her and see how well you work together in the ring"

"Will do, is that all?" she asked

"I think so, see you next week" Vince replied, turning his attention back to the papers on his desk

Considering herself dismissed, Jenny got up and quickly went out of the room with a smile. She'd been completely accepted. How simple things were once you knew what to do. It would be plain sailing from now on.

*

"I'm gonna go get a medic" announced Jeff, leaping to his feet

"Are you kidding? He's being hurt inside his head, there ain't nothing a medic can do for that" replied Sara from where she crouched beside Mark's fallen body for the third time that day

"Maybe but I'm still getting one" Jeff retorted

He raced out the door before anyone could stop him. There were no medics in sight as he scouted the corridors

"Why aren't there any here when you need one?" he muttered angrily to himself, increasing his pace

There were crew members wandering around, talking on two way radios and talent sat in clumps around the corridors but no medics. Jeff looked left and right, his frustration growing with every step. Then as he turned a corner at a high speed, he found himself flying onto the floor. He'd been floored by a spinning heel kick. He looked up. Reckless stood over him smiling. Jeff went to get to his feet but Reckless grabbed him and threw him into the wall easily. Jeff shook his head a little and then waited before slammed a foot back into where he thought Reckless was. He hit his mark right in the stomach.

"Don't you ever give up?" Jeff hissed angrily, turning to face Reckless

Reckless observed him for a few seconds then suddenly ran and cannonballed through the air, over Jeff's head, kicked off the wall and splashed onto Jeff. It all happened so fast that Jeff had little time to think let alone react.

"I'm in no mood to play" said Reckless as he twisted one of Jeff's arms behind his back "wanna hear my name?"

"No" replied Jeff through gritted teeth

He knew there was no point answering since he remembered what happened last time. Reckless laughed as Jeff wriggled beneath him, trying to escape. Then he spoke close to Jeff's ear in an icy whisper

"Reckless"

It was like a chain reaction, starting in his legs and ending in his head, slowly taking over his body and refusing to let go, no matter how he tried to resist it. Jeff found his movements weakened greatly, he was shivering from the cold in fact. Then nothing, his mind gave up resisting.

Reckless laughed and stood up. No one was about in the corridor. He picked up Jeff lightly and threw him over his shoulder, carrying him like an empty sack. He whistled as he walked, as though there was nothing unusual about walking down a corridor with an unconscious man over your shoulder. To him there wasn't.

As he passed a room, Eternal fell into step beside him. She smiled, resting a hand on his free shoulder as they walked through the empty corridor.

"One down" she drawled

"A whole collection to be made" said Reckless "you told her?"

"Will do right now" Eternal replied "how long till they find out?"

"An hour or so" answered Reckless as he pushed a door open

They entered a room, locking the door behind them. Reckless dumped Jeff's body in the corner, carelessly taping first Jeff's wrists and then his ankles together. Eternal sat down, eyes closed concentrating. A few minutes later she looked up smiling

"She's coming in a minute, she reckons with each one we take, I should increase the strength of the draining" she relayed "I started a slow burn in Mark a minute or so ago"

"Sounds good, you gonna go next?" asked Reckless as he sat down

"Yeah, why not?"

They fell into compatible silence.

*

"Damn that's it, I don't care" Sara said suddenly

Matt looked at her surprised, unsure what she meant, did she mean she didn't care about Mark? Frowning slightly, she gripped his hands tightly in both of her's, barely able to cover his huge fingers with her own delicate ones. Trish bent down, watching closely, she had an inkling of what was going to happen. Sara closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to envision she was pouring something in. She heard Amy gasp and then her own hands heat up. It was working. She hoped it wouldn't melt him.

"It's working, keep going" she heard Trish's voice float into her consciousness

She felt like she was surrounded by warm yellow light, that she and Mark were all that existed. A pain burst out in her chest, hot and sharp, it stabbed right through her, leaving her breathless. She was getting dangerously close to her own core for comfort, if she wasn't careful she'd drain herself.

With a gasp, she opened her eyes, breathless, her forehead glistening with sweat. Trish gently wrapped an arm around her, enveloping her in a hug, smiling. Matt looked at them confused, he turned to Amy for an explanation but she was staring at them blankly like she wasn't even seeing them

"Amy, baby, are you ok?" he asked gently

She turned to him as though she didn't recognise him; her eyes searched his face before nodding and turning back to Trish and Sara.

"I'm empty" she said tonelessly "like everything has been sucked out, I want to throw up but I can't, everything's gone"

"Ummm Ames, you're beginning to sound a lot like someone we don't want you to sound like" Matt said a little nervously

"It's her" Amy replied "she's pulling his crap, if I see her, I'm gonna kill her"

"Or get frozen" countered Matt

"It's a chance I've got to take" Amy's voice was filled with emotion at that point, she turned to Matt, her eyes filled with liquid "I'm connected to her in some way Matt because since this draining's been going on, I've been feeling weaker and more and more empty, unless we stop her, I don't know what's going to happen to me"

She leaned into him at last, her tears falling wordlessly down her cheeks. Matt was shell-shocked, he had no idea of how to react to this or what to do. He numbly put his arms around her, holding her tightly against him. He closed his eyes, letting out a sigh, feeling a rumbling anger inside of him. Jezebel was responsible for so much; his own kidnapping, hurting all his friends and now draining Mark of his own existence and maybe even Amy too.

Sara smiled, feeling strength begin to pour back into her veins. Trish helped her to her feet, her legs were kinda shaky.

"Did you just do what I think you did?" asked Trish softly "pour in your power to scare off who was inside of Mark's head?"

"That was the idea" confirmed Sara "he's wiped out, I think I managed to seal him off for the night at least, I just poured enough in to stop them entering any more for a while anyway"

"Things are getting so strange" sighed Trish "like it's not even reality any more you know? Like she'd warped everything I took for granted that made up normality, now everything's twisted out of shape and to be honest, beginning to scare me"

Sara stooped, looking at Mark carefully. His chest rose and fell as though he was simply asleep, colour beginning to seep into his face. She smiled, squeezed his chilly hand and straightened out to face Trish again. It was as though they were back at the Jezebel's ruined house, Jeff and Amy was embracing, locked in their sorrowful desperation at Matt's second disappearance, Trish was sat in the car with Sara, Mark lay out unconscious on the back seat. Sara had looked hard and unrelenting, she'd changed so clearly that night, she had powers and she knew she had to use them to help save her husband. Everything had changed and it seemed to Trish that they were back there again, sat in the car talking to each other about all that had happened.

Then quiet sobs penetrated the silence. They both turned to see Matt holding Lita close, her face buried against his chest, her body shaking. Matt looked pale, his eyes frozen wide. Something had happened. Sara took a step towards the couple and was about to speak when suddenly, Mark sat upright, staring ahead and yelled a single word

"Jeff"