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Chapter Nine

Sunday 5:54 PM

Flashback begins...

A man in all black walked into the room and quickly surveyed it before nodding, obviously satisfied at whatever he wanted to see, silently close the door, and went to stand in a darkened corner of the room.

Around two minutes later, a second man with familiar chestnut hair and multicolor eyes tentatively stuck his head into the room. Seeing that it was supposedly empty, he opened it and quickly walked in before taking great care into closing it quietly. He surveyed the room carefully, and seeing that it was empty, decided that now was the best time.

He hastily crossed over to an armoire on the left side of the bed and started hurriedly started to rifle through it.

"What are you doing?" a cold voice said. "The gala is downstairs. I'm sure our guests must be missing you."

The dark haired man quickly turned around, eyes wide and shocked, clearly surprised to be caught, even as the wall shifted until it revealed the blonde man, who seemed to appear out of no where.

"Nothing," he answered nervously, stammering slightly, his voice a little too innocent. "I was just...uh...I was just trying to find a new shirt."

The other just stared at him. At the blonde man's stare, the shorter just opened his blazer to reveal a perfectly fine shirt.

"I was startled when the Miraox demons put on the fire show and I spilled some red wine on my shirt," he said, his voice only slightly wavering. "I was standing a little too close to a Harpy and her claw cut the back of my slacks," he said as he motioned to the seat of his pants. "I just came up to get some clothes from your closet. I...uh...I know how much these things mean to you...h-h-how...how I shou...how I should look."

The blonde man grinned as he saw how the other acted around him, obviously taking pleasure from his little power trip.

"Oh...alright. There should be at least some clothes for you in there," he replied.

He turned and opened the door and could almost hear the other man fight to sigh in relief, seconds before he started hearing the sounds of metal and plastic rub against each other from the armoire.

"Oh, and, Brett?" he asked sweetly. He saw the other completely tense.

He knew he was in trouble now...

The chestnut haired boy turned to face the taller man. If you ever try to run away again..." he paused, and suddenly a boy, not much younger than he was, materialized, bruised and bloody, pulled flush against the taller man's body, bony and cut hands clawing, gripping the arm that held him in a choke hold.

"Oh, my God! Matt!" the chestnut haired boy yelled as he started towards the boy held fast in the other man's grasp, only to be telekinetically thrown across the room, back hitting a mirror, then crumpled to the floor as shards of glass started to fall around him.

"If you ever, ever try to run again, more than just him—"the blonde man paused to shake the boy firmly before turning to look at the other on the floor. "—will die."

"Brett? Is that—"

The gasp was what made the shorter man look up. His eyes watered and his throat became tight. He watched as the now dead body unceremoniously slump to the floor as the blonde man callously cleaned the blood off the athame he just used as a murder weapon.

"How could you?" he asked in a whisper, eyes spilling tears that didn't want to be let go, before his voice seemed to pick up. "Bastard, how could you?! He was your BROTHER! What happens to your precious Charmed Ones now, you idiot?! God, you killed your own brother!" he yelled, his teeth gritting, as he tried to rush the other man, completely forgetting that he and his powers were free right now.

The blonde man just waved his hand at the upcoming attack and sent the shorter man back into the armoire, completely breaking it, and pushing it back into the wall.

"It's Lord Wyatt to you, bitch," the blonde man sneered at the hunched over form of the man in front of him. "If you ever try to trick me with one of you illusions again, I'll make sure you'll never be able to focus enough to do so. If you ever try to humiliate me by even attempting to escape, I'll make sure I double the...heh...'guards' around your room and personally kill Alden and his family myself...and I promise that it will be nice and slow."

The dark haired man shuddered as he thought about what the situation would feel like as images already started to invade his mind. He looked up at where the voice was supposedly coming from and was startled to see no one there, until he felt two hands grab his arms and force him to stand, pulled flush against a broad chest, his arms immobile as another arm curled around him, pinning them to his side.

"As for Matt being my brother...well, they don't last forever..." The chestnut haired boy could feel rather than see the smile that graced the other's face as it kissed the back of his neck and hair.

He shook.

"And, as for destroying the Charmed Ones..."

The boy tensed slightly before feeling something sharp pierce his back and straight through his stomach, as he fought to stop the yelp of pain playing on his lips.

"...now...who said anything about destroying the Charmed Ones?" the blonde boy asked innocently.

The brunette could feel the energy leaving him slowly, being sucked into the cold steel that invaded his body, even as his blood began to seep into the floor. The sharp twist of the knife made him start, and this time, he couldn't help but let out a scream.

He felt the knife gently slip out of him and a slight glow filled his back as the process of healing began.

It stopped before it could fully be healed, but at least it wasn't mortal now.

Gasping for air, the shorter man began sinking to the floor, the only thing keeping him up was the arm of the man who stabbed him. Tears started to flow now, freely, and he knew that it would at least be awhile before he had the energy to sob again.

He was confused when he felt the knife's handle being crushed into his palm, even until his palm seemed to burn with the sensation as it crept up his arm and spread through his body.

Exhausted, he slipped out of the other's grasp and slid to the floor, words breezing at his ears.

"Even if you try to run now, I'll always be able to find you. I've bound you to me, Brett."

The next words were clear, even as sleep was already claiming its territory, haunting him in his dreams then and even now.

"You're mine..."

End flashback.

I apologized to everyone who thought that this chapter would be anything more than you thought it would be. I don't want Chris nor the girls to find out more about Brett until later, basically because I don't feel that it's time to give away any of Brett's bigger secrets or agendas.

Please review and e-mail suggestions.

Thank you for reading.