I always feel bad leaving people at cliffhangers. Maybe it's because I've been on that side of the situation. Oh well, to answer Raya's question, I voted for Kerry with my trusty absentee ballot. I suspect that had I been from Ohio, I could have changed the world...

"Matt?" Wesley asked, straining his neck to see if Matthew was behind him.

"Wesley?" Matthew asked slowly, shaking his head. "Where are you? Where are we?"

"I don't know," Wesley answered. "Don't you remember anything?"

"Only," Matthew said, "fighting some guy and then just blacking out. Next thing I know, I'm sitting here with my hands tied behind my back."

"Sounds like what happened to me," Wesley said. "So, where's Jimmy?"

"I don't know," Matthew said. "Maybe that's a good sign. But it seems like there's a reason we're here and he's not. I just don't know what. But speaking of Jimmy, I think we should talk about, you know, the three of us. We've got nothing but time, and you can't go anywhere."

"Well that's fair," Wesley sighed. "Anyway, I need to get out of here. I need to find Stephanie."

"Look," Matthew said, "I know that you really don't like being on your own. You're sixteen years old..."

"Seventeen," Wesley corrected as his watch beeped. "Right about now."

"Well happy birthday," Matthew said. "So you're seventeen, then. I'm nineteen and Jimmy's twenty."

"I thought you were eighteen," Wesley said.

"My birthday was two months ago," Matthew explained. "September 1st. But it's good to know how close we are."

"And the point is?" Wesley said in an exasperated tone.

"That it's time we started doing our jobs," Matthew said. "Whether you like it or not, we're all in this together. The sooner we all realize this, the better off we'll be. If we're all not together in this, it's only a matter of time before we all get killed. I don't think any of us want that. I can apologize and tell you that we weren't ourselves back when Matthias was around, but that's it. You have to accept that things like that can happen in this family, and you have to be able to move on afterwards. You can't just assume that we attacked you because we hate you because that's not true."

"Matt," Wesley cut in, "remember what I said last time? I said that evil doesn't create feelings; it just magnifies them without inhibition."

"That's from your perspective," Matthew argued.

"My perspective it pretty important to me," Wesley said. "I do like to be the star in any of my relationships."

"Anyway," Matthew insisted, "it's important that we all keep focus on the bigger picture. We're witches, but we're also brothers. That's the source of everything. We have to be brothers before we can be witches. You understand?"

"I do," Wesley said, "but does Jimmy? I mean, all of this stuff sounds nice and all coming from you, but what does he think? You can't speak for him. I have a pretty good feeling about what he thinks of me. Frankly, I don't like it. You can't hide the fact that we're just two people who can't get along well. And if that's the case, then I really don't think that the whole brother thing can go over."

"You have a younger brother back in Texas, right?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah," Wesley answered. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"How did you feel when he first came into the picture?" Matthew asked. "I mean, did the two of you always get along smoothly?"

"No," Wesley said. "We just recently started liking each other."

"Do you get it?" Matthew said. "People fight, but real brothers and sisters are able to move past it all. That's how the bonds grow stronger over time. You and Jimmy can't expect to become best friends overnight. It takes time, tolerance, and trust."

"What are you," Wesley asked, "a poet or something? What's with all this alliteration?"

"Think about that," Matthew said. "He may never admit to it now, but he likes you. I like you. And I know that you like us."

At the realization of Matthew's words, Wesley glowed a faint yellow color briefly before returning to normal. He never realized it, though, and continued to converse with Matthew.

"Everything's in place," Krasney said, appearing behind Lina in a cloud of smoke. "I have the two younger ones in captivity. Are you sure that everything will work out?"

"Have I ever steered you wrong?" Lina asked, grinning and turning to Krasney.

"We've never worked together," Krasney answered bluntly.

"Now," Lina said, ignoring him, "all we need is to get that handsome Jimmy to them. He won't be able to choose, of course, and you can kill the two other ones and take their powers. But leave the oldest one to me..."

"What have you got planned?" Krasney asked. His interest was definitely piqued.

"Don't worry about it," Lina said. "I just want to have a little fun..."

"Krasney," James read aloud, "the Demon of Choice. A formidable demon with the power of persuasion. He targets witches and forces them to choose between two of their loved ones. When the witch cannot decide or chooses him or herself, Krasney kills both loved ones and uses his powers to drive the witch to suicide, relinquishing their powers to him."

James looked at the picture above the entry. It was a man on one side and a creature on the other. It looked as if someone had taken two pictures, cut them in half, and pasted them together into one person. He recognized the human half as the guy who attacked him and Matthew earlier. He figured that the other half was Krasney in his true form. He grimaced at the demonic version.

"Pretty ugly, huh?" a voice said behind him.

James turned around to see a cascade of blue lights rearranging themselves into a man. The man was an African-American, around the same height as James. He looked to be in his mid forties, but was also healthy looking. He sported a stylish goatee and kept his hair cut short.

He slowly walked towards James, who didn't know what to think. James immediately viewed him as a threat and waved his hand, sending the man flying towards the door. However, before the man made any impact, he disappeared in the same blue lights and reappeared in the same place, unharmed. He put up both his hands, signaling peace. It was quite a while before James said anything.

"Who are you?" James asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help you," the man said. "If I was going to hurt you, I would have done it by now. I've been sent here to guide you and your brothers every now and then. Think of me as a kind of...guardian angel."

"Guardian angel?" James asked. "Do you even have a name? At least tell me that."

"It's John," the man answered. "You know, like uh...John..."

"Nice to meet you," James said warily. "How can I trust you? Who sent you?"

"You three have been witches for only a short while," John explained. "As the Complete, you three have an enormous weight on your shoulders, but it is one that no one but you three can bear. I can't tell you much else, except that I'm here to help you for now."

"For now?" James asked. "Is this a one time thing?"

"You can't learn anything if you don't learn anything," John said.

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" James asked, confused.

"Don't worry about it," John said. "Right now, you need to focus on finding your brothers. Are you sure that this is the demon who took them?"

"Yeah," James said, pointing to the picture. "His name is Krasney. He attacked me and Matt earlier and took him off. He probably took Wesley as well."

"Well if this is what I think," John suggested, "then this could be trouble."

And who is this John character? And what kind of trouble could there be, besides the obvious? And I was gonna make this chapter more of a cliffhanger, but then I'd be contradicting myself. And coming up: Matt gets another premonition and a "plan" is formed. And y'all don't wanna miss this!