Chapter 33

"I'm not an unreasonable person Pogue. I can give you what you want; all you have to do is help me."

The hairs on the back of Pogue's neck stood up as Chase's voice kept repeating inside his head non stop. His eyes blankly stared out of the window at the dark passing scenery in an attempt to block out the thoughts running rapid in his mind but to no avail; Chase and his cruel promises would not be silenced.

Over in the driver's side, Reid was also coldly silent. His eyes kept darting to the rearview mirror, watching the wounded boy in the backseat and occasionally glancing in Pogue's direction, hoping for an answer to the events that had unfolded over the length of the passing day. The Hummer turned off the paved cement of the main street and onto the lone dirt road that led to the colony house with a heavy bump that made all its passengers rattle in their seats.

"Mmp."

Reid's eyes immediately moved to the mirror when he heard Tyler's groan.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine. That bump just hurt my leg, that's all."

Reid's eyes stayed glued to the mirror for a moment before he turned his eyes back towards the road.

"We'll be there in a minute Ty, just hang on."

Tyler didn't say anything back, which didn't surprise the two boys sitting in front of the car and the next few minutes were sent in complete silent until the dark shape of Gorman's old house came into view. With a loud squeal of tires, Reid slammed on the brakes and the Hummer skid to a rough stop. Pogue barely had enough time to grasp the handle on the door behind his head could connect with the dash bard.

"Fucking hell Reid–"

The blond was already out of the car and pulling open the door to the back seat before he could say anything further so Pogue left it at that and slid out of his own seat. Reid had already helped Tyler down from the backseat by the time Pogue had his feet on the ground and the youngest of the three was already clinging heavily to Reid's body. The sight caused Pogue's chest to tighten to a crushing size, the feeling made all the more upsetting by the waves of fear and distress Tyler was emitting and the empath lowered his eyes to the ground.

To say Chase's words upset him was an understatement. They cut right into him like a rusty knife, tearing every single shred of logical thought to pieces and more Pogue tried to fight against it, the louder Chase's voice grew. Now he was having a hard time silencing it, it was almost like the bastard was there next to him whispering all this shit in his ear.

"Pogue!"

The empath blinked as Reid's voice reached his ears and he moved his gaze towards the direction his voice came from.

"Will you help me already? He can't make it up the steps by himself." The blond yelled impatiently, gesturing to Tyler's free side.

With a nod, Pogue moved towards the two boys and tossed Tyler's free arm around his shoulder. Tyler's limp grew heavier as they neared the house and the two boys had to physically lift him up the stairs as it grew worse. The door was pulled open just as they neared it and Gorman's figure could be seen moving up the dark hallway. At first, Gorman was speechless as he gazed at his youngest god child but his voice returned with a heavy growl as he crossed the room.

"Damn that boy! Bring him in."

Reid and Pogue did as they were told, leading Tyler down the hall towards the bedroom. Gorman fallowed behind them silently, his anger crushing against Pogue's mind the entire way. Pogue branched off from the group as they neared the bedrooms, knowing that he would no longer be needed and grateful for that fact; Tyler and Gorman were starting to give him a serious headache from all of their emotions.

He lingered in the hallway for a moment, glancing in the doorway at Gorman as he examining Tyler's leg before lowering his head and continuing down the hall to the elder's study, wanting to be alone. A small thread of Gorman's powers brushed against him as he left, obviously tracking his movements in the house as he entered the small room.

He immediately threw himself onto the plush couch and let his eyes drift closed as his headache reached another painful peak. By now he was sure what was causing it, all of the emotions in the air or Chase's malicious voice rolling around inside of his head, and it showed no signs of receding anytime soon.

"You know what I want, I want my own body back but the more dire question would be, what does little Pogue want?"

Pogue growled and squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to hear that son of a bitch's voice inside his head again. He couldn't let Chase get to him, he needed to be strong; Caleb needed him to be strong.

"It felt good, didn't it, finally having him in your arms."

(Shut up, get out of my head.)

"Help me get my body back, and I'll give you Caleb."

(Leave me alone!)

With a growl, Pogue covered his ears with his hands and screamed mentally. He felt the wave shoot threw the whole house and more then likely reached Gorman's ears but he didn't care. The voices were finally quieting down and tiredly, Pogue slammed his head into the plush cushions with a groan.

(I wouldn't hate it so much if that son of a bitch wasn't completely right about everything.)

"Are you alright?"

Pogue startled when he heard Gorman's voice and when he raised his head he saw the elder was standing less then a foot away from him; he didn't even hear Gorman's footsteps.

The empath eyed him for a moment before moving his gaze back to the floor. "How's Tyler?"

"His injuries aren't serious at the moment, it's you I'm more concerned about."

"I'm fine. Go heal Tyler." Pogue grumbled tiredly.

"Tyler's emotions aren't the ones tearing my house apart."

"I'm fine dammit. Just leave me alone for a bit." Pogue growled dangerously.

Gorman remained where he was however and it wasn't long before Pogue felt a light touch of the elder's power brush against his mind. With an enraged groan, Pogue forced a thick wall around himself, blocking Gorman from entering his mind. The elder's power withdrew a slow second later and with a quiet sigh, Gorman's footsteps left the room.

Feeling that he was alone once again, Pogue opened his eyes and was surprised to see tear stains on the cushions under him. He didn't need to feel his cheek in order to tell he was crying and more tears fell as he gave up and buried his head into the softness under him.

--

Reid grumbled as many curse words under his breath as he could and paced up and down the cold hallway, his eyes returning to the closed door he was standing in front of every few seconds. Gorman had ordered him out of the bedroom shortly after he carried Tyler in it and he'd been wearing a hole in the floorboards since then, silently willing the door to open.

(Tyler.)

He had no idea how the boy was doing and that though more then anything angered him. It was his fault that Chase went after him, it was his fault that asshole hurt him. It was all his fault and he'd never forgive himself for it.

After pacing up and down the hallway a handful of times, Reid finally gave up with a groan and slid down the wall to the floor. His hands were shaking from his anger and with a growl, Reid slammed his fist into the wall behind him. Pain shot up his arm from the impact and he nursed his wounded hand in his lap. His head rose when he heard movement and he jumped to his feet as the door across from him was pulled open. Gorman stepped into the hall, immediately eyeing the fresh dent in the wall caused by Reid's hand.

"Will you please refrain from wreaking my house; Pogue's already done a number on it."

"Sorry." Reid grumbled, rubbing his sore hand. "How's Tyler?"

"He's fine. I managed to heal most of his injuries, even though they were miner enough for him to do so."

Reid blinked heavily and lowered his head. "I know, it's weird. He wouldn't heal himself at all earlier. He wouldn't even... let me touch him."

A slight blush came to Reid's face as he finished and he hoped Gorman hadn't seen it. He didn't know if he was ready for the elder to know about his relationship with the younger boy and he tried to keep his mind clear just in case Gorman decided to pry into it.

"So he's okay now?"

"Like I said, he's fine." Gorman replied with a curious glint in his eyes and started walking a slow pace down the hall.

Reid watched him for a moment, until the elder turned into his study and disappeared. The blond lingered in the hall for a few minutes more before turning towards the open door and entering the room. The bedroom was bathed in a soft glow from a lit candle on the nigh stand near the bed and the gold light illuminated the lone figure curled against the bed's headboard. After closing the door behind him, Reid slowly walked towards the bed and sat down near the youngest covenant member.

"How's your leg?"

Tyler blinked as he was drawn back to reality and turned his head. His blue eyes brightened when they saw Reid, making the blond's heart flutter with warmth.

"It's alright; Gorman patched it up for me." Tyler replied and stretched his now healed leg out on the bed for Reid to see.

The blond eyed the limb with relief but opened his mouth before he could stop himself.

"Yeah but couldn't you have done it?"

Tyler's shoulder grew stiff as he shook his head. "No. I mean, yes I could have but–"

Reid's arms wrapped around him as he shakily cut off. "It's alright Ty; I didn't mean it like that."

"I know." Tyler whispered and crawled into Reid's arms.

The blond's arms came around him a moment later, wrapping around the younger boy's shoulders gently.

"You're safe now, that's all that matters."

"From him?"

"Yeah Ty, you're safe from him." Reid mumbled against Tyler's ear. "He's not gonna lay another hand on you while I'm still breathing."

"Promise?" Tyler asked softly and grew heavier against him, his thin fingers tugging at Reid's shirt.

Reid tightened his arms and moved his head into Tyler's neck. "I promise."

--

Gorman gazed down at the sleeping teen curled in a tight ball on his couch and released a small, pained sigh. The air in his study was still thick with Pogue's anger and the dark emotion gnawed heavily at the elder's subconscious ever since he first entered the room.

(Poor boy, no one should have this chaos forced on them.)

Reaching out gently, Gorman pushed several locks of Pogue's hair out of the boy's eyes and smoothed the strands behind his ears, sighing once more when he saw the empath's eyes were red and puffy.

(And I swore I'd never let you end up like Gavin. Some guardian I am.)

With a quick flash of his eyes and a jerk of his head, Gorman called one of the blankets stern across the room's many chairs to wrap around Pogue's sleeping form. Just as the cloth tucked around the teen's shoulders, Gorman felt something touch his mental field and the elder wrapped his mind around it curiously.

His head with filled with the image of a small, gold trinket and the more he of it he viewed, the colder his insides grew. He knew exactly what he was looking at without a shadow of a doubt.

(It can't be, all but one of them was destroyed.)

His own confusion wafted into the air of the room, mixing with Pogue's left over feelings and their combination made the elder's blood run cold.

(Damn it Roran, you've doomed your grandson's covenant.)