Chapter 39

Pogue bit the inside of his cheek to keep from crying out as he lightly felt the torn skin of his bloodied hands. His knuckles were still bleeding from the contact to William's jaw and the empath honestly feared the sharp stings coming from his hand were never going to fade.

(Fuck, what the hell have I gotten myself into?)

Pogue thumped his head against the mattress behind him and closed his eyes, not wanting to see the large room was left alone in. His room, he was alone in a fucked up place that was suppose to look like his bedroom but everything felt wrong.

(This place is wrong.)

The empath shivered a moment later; there was something dark in the air that kept biting at the back of his subconscious. After a moment passed Pogue felt himself squirm slightly as it grew stronger, almost like there was more then one presence in the air around him. Growing slightly uncomfortable, Pogue drew his knees to his chest and forced himself to focus on one thing in an attempt to block the feelings out.

(Come on, keep it together. Remember what Gorman always used to tell you, focus on one thing. Keep it together.)

The feelings wouldn't yield so he tried harder. He thought of his bike and then tried reciting the lyrics to random song in his head when it didn't help. It wasn't working, if anything all it did was make the presence in the air around him try harder to invade his mind. He couldn't describe the emotions flowing through his head if he tried, they were either to dark or too faint for him to focus on but one thing was clear, they were going to drive him insane if he didn't block them out.

A small image of his family popped into his head and not finding anything else to work, Pogue focused on it intently, ignoring the tightening of his throat from the memories. His father's face came into view along with his mother's. For a while, the images worked and he was able to relax until a hand running along his shoulder grabbed his attention. With a jolt, his eyes snapped open and he jumped away from the source, causing the figure lying on the bed behind him to chuckle softly.

"Don't be so jumpy, it's only me."

Pogue glared over his shoulder at now awakened incubus and roughly shoved its hand off his shoulder. "Don't touch me."

"Still being difficult I see."

The empath sent a glare over his shoulder and scooted a few feet away from the bed, trying to ignore the figure behind him. Sadly it didn't work, the incubus merely slid off the bed to the floor, next to him. Its hand caressed the side of Pogue's arm once again, completely ignoring the fact that the empath kept moving his arm away from the contact.

"I said, don't touch me."

"You didn't have a problem with me touching you during the night." The creature giggled in Caleb's voice. "If I recall, you begged for it."

The creature's smug look quickly disappeared when Pogue violently shoved it to the floor.

"If you're not gone in the next few seconds–"

"You'll do what? Hit me?" The creature laughed as it righted it's self.

"No, I'll fucking kill you." The empath snapped back.

At that, the creature laughed. "Sure Pogue, you'll kill me."

The remark caught him slightly off guard and Pogue gave a wounded growl.

"I fucking will if you don't stop talking."

"Right." The creature purred darkly and slyly crawled back in front of him, its long legs parting as he scooted closer to the empath. "We both know it's an empty threat."

They were now face to face and Pogue didn't even try to his shiver as the incubus curled Caleb's long legs around his hips, drawing the creature even closer. It eventually wormed its way back into Pogue's lap and the empath shuttered heavily as their naked skin touched once again. Pogue had to summon every once of restraint he had in order to prevent his fingers from touching the warm figure currently straddling him and looked the creature dead in the eye, trying hard to ignore the fact that it was Caleb's brown eyes he was actually looking into.

"Think I won't do it?"

A smile lit up Caleb's face as the creature grinned.

"No, I know for a fact you won't."

"Really?" Pogue scoffed, not convinced.

"Yeah, you won't kill me because you can't."

"What makes you think I can't?"

"Cause I look like Caleb." The creature replied simply. "And I know for a fact that you wouldn't dream of hurting him."

Pogue narrowed his eyes into thin slits and turned away from the creature, not wanting to hear anymore. However, the creature was persistent.

"But unfortunately you have hurt him, haven't you? Just like you hurt me." Caleb's lookalike drawled, lightly tracing the thin scratches on the soft skin of his thighs that were done by none other then Pogue's very hands. "Not that I mind though."

He tried to resist it but Pogue soon felt his eyes drawn to the thin, white scratches and a heavy weight settled against his insides. Even though he knew the thing in front of him was nothing more then a sick creation made by Chase, Pogue couldn't help feeling sick for hurting it.

With a hard, mental sigh, Pogue pushed the creature away.

"Leave."

"I will when you want me too."

"Then I want you to leave."

Growing irritated, the incubus rolled his eyes once again. "So you say. But a part of you apparently doesn't other wise I wouldn't be here."

(What the fuck?)

Once again the creature sensed the comment biting at the back of Pogue's mind before the empath voiced it.

"You don't want to be alone in here, its okay to admit it. You're scared."

"I'm not–" Pogue's growl soon turned into a yelp as another presence lightly clawed at the back of his mind once again.

Caleb's long fingers traced along his jaw shortly afterwards and Pogue felt himself relax into them almost instantly and the pestering inside his head soon halted, almost like the creature it's self was blocking the intrusions. With a small sigh of relief, Pogue slowly opened his eyes– he didn't even notice how tightly closed until he saw how blurry the room was– and was met by the same brown eyes that had haunted his thoughts for many years.

"See, I can be useful." The incubus said softly, the tips of his long fingers still caressing the side of Pogue's face. "Can he do that for you?"

Pogue growled quietly, growing more annoyed after ever word. It wasn't bad enough this thing looked like Caleb, it was on its own personal crusade to prove it was better! That alone was good cause for Pogue to knock that smirk off it's face with his fist. The creature in his arms must've sensed his intentions because it quickly removed its protection from Pogue's mind, leaving the empath completely open to the other feelings roaming around in the air.

In a panic, Pogue tried to protect in his mind by throwing up his mental shields but they were quickly penetrated by all of the hostel feelings in the air. At once, hundreds of feelings flooded into his mind, tearing into the back of his skull. The pain traveled down Pogue's spine a moment later, white hot and blinding and Pogue crumpled under their attack, falling to the floor in a crumpled heap.

The intrusions halted a moment later as a heavy barrier was placed around his mind and Pogue felt himself being pulled into a strong pair of arms afterwards.

"See what I mean? Empath's never last long in this place, it drives them insane." The incubus cooed in Caleb's deep voice, running his fingers through Pogue's soft blond locks. "They can't touch you as long as I'm here."

Pogue couldn't bring himself to speak over his labored pants, the intrusion was too intense and his mind was still reeling from the shock of it. He couldn't even shrug the thing's arms off of him and after that event he wasn't sure he even wanted too. The only thing keeping the painful things in the air away was the creature that had the nerve to look and sound like Caleb. He was stuck here with that damn thing!

--

Reid awoke with a start as his body was slammed against the floor heavily. With a pained groan, his eyes slowly fluttered open just in time to see a pair of feet walk by his head.

"I'm sorry, did that hurt?" Caleb asked, faking concern.

The blond groaned as he tried to rub the back of his head but found he could even raise his arms and groaned once again. "You asshole."

Caleb gave the thick rope around Reid's hands a tight twist, hard enough to make the blond wince. "Can't have you getting rowdy again, now can I?"

Reid glared at him but his attention was soon diverted when his eyes caught sight of another figure lying on the floor a few short feet away from him.

"Gorman?"

The elder lay crumpled on the ground, his back to the blond. For a heart-stopping moment, Reid feared the elder was dead but the almost faint movement from the old man's shoulders singled he was still breathing and relief swelled inside of Reid's chest. It lingered for a moment before another more pressing thought entered Reid's mind; Tyler!

"Where's Tyler?" Reid growled, narrowing his eyes at the man towering above him.

"Baby boy is just fine, don't worry."

Caleb's tone was even but all it did was increase Reid's anger.

"If you fucking lay one hand on him again I'll fucking kill you."

A laugh eased from Caleb's lips, it was cold and empty of any emotion other then malice. "Right, so far everyone one of you has threatened me with that and guess what, I'm still here."

Reid's answer came in the form of a growl. "Untie me and find out for yourself then."

Caleb stared down at him, his brown eyes boring down into the blond's face and with a dark grin, Caleb tilted his head back and gazed up towards the room's high ceiling. Reid watched him warily but before the blond could do anything, Caleb's head moved downwards. His eyes were a piercing pale blue color and Reid felt himself squirm under their gaze.

"No Reid, you don't want to kill me. In fact, all you want to do at the moment is go to sleep."

Reid blinked and flinched mentally. "What the fuck?"

"Go to sleep." Caleb said evenly but there was a dark trimmer to his words, almost like another person was saying them. "And you won't wake up until I'm gone."

For what felt like a long strand of moments, Reid gaped up at the older boy like he was ready to throttle him but suddenly a feeling of wariness came over him. His eyelids soon started feeling heavy and against his will, his body started shutting down.

(No!)

Using all of his strength, Reid tried to fight the sudden feeling off but it soon became too much and against every once of his will, Reid felt himself close his eyes.

Chase watched quietly as Reid's head fell to the floor. He felt a cold feeling run down his back afterwards. With a sharp intake of breath, Chase raised his hand, flexing his fingers and turning it over a few times before he lowered it when he realized he was controlling its movements. That was a handy gift he just used but it wasn't his.

(Not that I'm complaining or anything.)

Slowly, Chase moved through the room and locked the door behind him with his powers. If he was going to coax Tyler out of his powers he was going to need some time and no interruptions. His feet sounded heavy as they moved across the wooden floor of the empty hall but the sounds were soon silenced as Chase past by a mirror.

(What the hell?)

Chase blinked and stared at the figure in the mirror, watching it closely. It wasn't Caleb's face that gazed back at him or even his own, it was someone he didn't recognize. Someone with dark hair and skin so pale it almost looked white. It stared at him with a pair of pale blue eyes that bore right into the back of Chase's mind, sending shivers down his back and just as the feeling grew intense, the figure smiled darkly.

Chase felt himself blink and when his eyes opened he saw the figure was gone. The only thing in the mirror was Caleb's reflection and it looked just as confused as he felt. His throat started to tighten and before any other feelings could wash over him, Chase forced himself to calm and moved away from the mirror.

(I want my body back. Now.)

--

Pogue wake up

Pogue groaned as a small voice echoed inside of his head but in his exhausted state he chose to ignore it. He finally got himself to settle in a light sleep and he wasn't in any hurry to leave the only peace he knew he'd find in this damned place.

Pogue, the voice persisted, growing annoyed from the lack of response.

The empath growled mentally and slowly opened his eyes. His surroundings came in the form of a dark red blur and he blinked a few times to clear the haze from his eyes. He was lying on the floor near a bed, his bed, and his fingers were covered with something warm and wet. As he straightened upright, Pogue drew his hand close and with a sharp intake of breath he realized what his fingers were covered with, blood.

(What the hell?)

Pogue shot upwards and moved his eyes about the room until he spotted the blood's source, the incubus lay a few feet away from him, it's pale skin covered with large splashes of crimson blood stains. Pogue was across the floor and at its side a few short heartbeats later, his eyes running over the creature's body. It was dead without a doubt, its neck was cut right open and all color was gone from its brown eyes.

Feeling like his throat was in knots; Pogue shakily raised his hand and bought it over the creature's eyes, closing them. The sight was made all the more painful by the fact that it was Caleb's eyes he slid closed and Pogue couldn't help the fact that his eyes were starting to water.

"That had better not be pity you're feeling."

Pogue's head snapped up and he saw William sitting a few feet away on the edge of the bed, his eyes empty of all emotion as he locked gazes with the empath. For a small handful of seconds, Pogue felt relieved to see the elder Danvers again. After their last encounter Pogue honestly felt he'd never see William again, or if he did it would've been the last thing he'd ever see judging by William's anger.

"Did you do this?"

William's eyes darkened a few shades as he eyed the dead creature. "Yes."

Pogue couldn't hide his shock. "Why?"

"Because you wouldn't."

Pogue eyed the dead body once again before nervously reaching for his discarded clothing. He risked a few glances over his shoulder at William but the elder's eyes were focused intently on the floor of the room, not even blinking. As he finished with his jeans, Pogue felt something cold brush against his subconscious. The dark emotions were heavy in the air again and with the incubus lying dead a few short feet away he knew within mere moments they'd be tearing down his defenses again but much to his surprise something else seamed to be keeping them at bay.

"Relax, they can't touch you."

Pogue gingerly opened his eyes and moved them in William's direction. "They can't?"

William sighed and shook his head slowly. "No, not while I'm here."

Pogue bit his tongue for a moment as a question formed in his mind but he was almost afraid to voice it for fear of William leaving and rendering him helpless, almost.

"Why are you here?"

William eyed him closely, making Pogue's skin crawl from their intensity. His knuckles still stung from the swing he took at the elder and he could still the feel heavy anger waves William sent in his direction along with something else that almost felt like fear; something was wrong.

"I'm here because there's a problem." William replied around a sigh. "And no, I haven't forgiven you."

"Yeah well, the feeling's mutual. What kind of problem?"

"Caleb." William shakily started, sliding off the edge of the bed. "I can't reach him."

Upon hearing Caleb's name, Pogue's chest tightened. "What?"

The next few words were almost Pogue's undoing.

"Something else has taken hold of my son's mind."