Happy Thanxgiving to everybody! I hope y'all had more turkey than I did…Due to very small oven space and lack of turkeys in Japan, I had to compromise…

Wesley and Matthew were still trying to untie themselves, but nothing seemed to be working. After so many useless attempts to free himself, Wesley finally stopped trying and closed his eyes, sighing.

"I give up," he said.

"No," Matthew said. "You have to keep trying. We'll get them off sooner or later."

"Most likely later," Wesley remarked. "Face it, there's no way that we're gonna make it out of here alive, at least not both of us."

"Is the glass half empty today?" Matthew asked.

"It's twice as big as it needs to be," Wesley replied.

"Listen to me," Matthew said. "We'll get out of here and everything will be fine."

"Easy for you to say," Wesley said. "He's gonna pick you to stay alive, since you're the favorite brother and all."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Matthew asked. "There's no way he's gonna be able to choose between us!"

Just then, there was a loud bang and light filled the room. The doors burst open and there stood James, breathing heavily. He had used as much power as he could muster to get the doors open. He spotted his brothers and quickly ran to their side, using his powers to unbind their ropes.

"If it had been hide and seek," James joked, "I would never have found y'all."

"Not funny," Matthew said, standing to his feet and stretching. "Where have you been?"

"Long story," James said.

"How did you get here?" Wesley asked, massaging his hands.

"Longer story," James said.

"You have to leave," Matthew said. "This demon will kill you."

"Oh," James said, "he can't kill me. You two, maybe, but not me."

"What are you talking about?" Wesley asked. "He's a demon. It's what they do, kill people, anybody."

"I looked in the Book," James explained. "He's the Demon of Choice. He can only kill the two people he makes a person choose from. His power to kill is…limited."

"What is that, some kind of fine print of killing?" Wesley asked. James stared at him upon hearing those words again. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"The deal is," James said, "he can't kill me, but I'm sure he can hurt me. We have to figure out a way to get to him before he uses some weird power he has to make people go to sleep."

"I guess that's how we ended up here," Matthew speculated.

"Give the man a prize," Krasney said, applauding from the doorway. "I see you three have finally found each other. I was wondering if you would ever do it. I got bored waiting."

"So you decided to kill innocent people?" Matthew said, glaring at the demon.

"They had things I wanted," Krasney replied, "so I had to do what I had to do. Just like now, I'm going to do what I have to do."

Krasney conjured a bolt of lightning in his hand and hurled it at the three brothers. Wesley and Matthew ducked while James reflected it with his power, reversing its course. Krasney grinned as he tilted his head slightly to the left; the lightning bolt flew right past him and crashed into the door behind him. James waved his hand again and Krasney was suddenly cast into a wall with amazing force.

"You two stay here," he said to Matthew and Wesley. "I'll be right back."

"Don't tarry," Wesley said dryly as he tended to his sore wrists.

James ran to Krasney, who was shaking his head. He grabbed his shirt and threw him to the ground. He was about to kick him when his feet were suddenly swept from under him and he fell to the ground. Krasney leapt onto his feet and took James arm, twisting it. With one motion, he threw James into a wall, dazing him momentarily. Soon, the two of them were engaged in a full out fist fight. It seemed that neither could gain a clear advantage. Finally, after ten minutes of watching, Wesley hastily froze Krasney in his tracks, just before he could lay his fist into James' face.

"What did you do that for?" James asked, breathing heavily.

"You're welcome," Wesley replied. "Look, we've been watching you show off for about ten minutes. I'm tired, my wrists hurt, and I just want to go to sleep, so can we get this over with?"

James turned away from the still-frozen Krasney and walked back to where his brothers were. About midway between Krasney and his brothers, he suddenly collapsed to the ground. He fell on his face, exposing the dart that was mysteriously lodged in the back of his neck. Matthew ran to help him, but Wesley didn't move. He thought he had seen someone hiding in a corner. He squinted his eyes, trying to confirm his suspicions. He saw a woman, similar to the one who had attacked him and Jason earlier, disappear in a flame. He could barely make out any specific features, though. He joined Matthew, who had pulled the dart from James' neck.

"It's a tranquilizer," Matthew said. "He should wake up in a few minutes."

"Maybe he'll have made a choice by then," Krasney said. He had unfrozen and now was facing Matthew and Wesley.

He snapped his fingers and a thin silver wire appeared around both Wesley and Matthew's throats. The wires tightened until they were firmly around their throats. Magically, the two brothers were lifted into the air, trying desperately to breathe. All of their yelling stirred James awake. He groggily opened his eyes and saw Krasney laughing at something, but what? He followed the yelling to its source and found Wesley and Matthew, dangling in the air by a silver wire. He jumped to his feet and raised his hand menacingly at Krasney.

"I don't think so," Krasney said. "If you use that power of yours, then I'll have to tighten the hold around their necks. Don't you think it's tight enough? Their fate rests in your hands."

"What do you want?" James asked. "Let them go."

"I want you to choose," Krasney answered. "Choose which one of your brothers will live and which will die."

"How about we make a deal?" James offered.

"That's not how this works, my friend," Krasney said. "You're in no position to make a deal. The way it works is that I give the options and you choose. It's that simple."

James stood there, trying to think of what to do next. He knew that things would come to this point, but he hadn't quite thought of what exactly he was going to do. He thought about choosing one, but quickly put the thought out of his mind. He knew that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he knew that one of his brothers had been killed because of him. It was like he had no choices left; Krasney's plan was unbeatable after all. John was right.

Forgive me, y'all! I had to stop here for some reason! It was like something was in my head, sayin', "fool, stop here!" But (there's always a 'but'), coming up in the next chapter: James racks his brain trying to figure out a way to save both of his brothers, or else he risks losing them both.