See, I didn't make you wait too long. LOL. I'm happy to hear everyone liked the idea of John Putnum making an appearance; I was slightly worried it might seem to "Sue-ish". For a picture of the man, check out my profile

Chapter 44

Pogue groaned in relief as the pressure in his mind faded and slowly willed his eye to open and lock with the man standing in front of him.

"John Putnum."

The figure straightened proudly. "Smart boy."

Pogue blinked and wearily took a few steps backwards, ignoring the pain from his bleeding leg. "But that doesn't make- how? You're suppose to be–"

"Dead? Now, now boy, I assumed you were smart." Putnum answered with a slight chuckle. "You of all people should know there's dead, and there's this."

Putnum held up his hand and Pogue saw the pale fingers waver and appear transparent in the rich candle light. The man in front of him wasn't real, just another spectral form like Chase was. However, real flesh or not, Pogue could still feel the endless ancient power clouding the air around him and that was enough to keep the empath on his full guard. He heard all the stories of John Putnum, heard of how powerful the man once was and if Chase was any decent indication, the man was just as dangerous as his decedent, if not more.

Putnum for his part remained unnaturally still, his eyes sizing up the teen in front of him. Pogue could feel the dark man's presence lurking around in the back of his mind but he forced himself to ignore it and keep his eyes on its host. After a minute or so of this, Putnum finally withdrew his powers.

"I'm impressed. You are much more alert then my sorry excuse for a decedent."

Pogue blinked after that statement and a thought came into his mind. Chase, where was he? He couldn't feel him in the room anywhere now that Caleb was...was... Pogue shook his head and forced those thoughts away before the man in front of him could read them.

"Where's Chase?"

Putnum answered almost immediately. "Gone."

"Gone?"

"Yes boy, gone. He won't trouble you or me again."

The coldness in the man's words seeped right into Pogue's bones. "What do you mean?"

"How do you think he came to know about this place or what it can do? Who do you think kept him in once piece after his body was destroyed?"

Pogue couldn't hold in his disbelieve. "You? You were helping him do all of this?"

"Not just him." Putnum drawled smoothly. "I've been helping you as well, sending you images of this place and of course, giving you your new gift. I'm very happy to see that you've adjusted so well to it."

Pogue felt the air squeezed out of his lungs.

"W-what gift?"

Putnum stared at him for a long moment, his blue eyes almost glowing from the room's golden light. Those pale orbs roamed over Pogue's face and the more he looked into them, the more Pogue started realizing it was almost like looking into a mirror; they were almost the same color as his own.

"You did this to me?"

The man bowed his head proudly. "Yes. I gave both you and Chase small shreds of my power."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to see which of the two of you was stronger. Although I'll admit your victory caught me by surprise." Putnum replied and then turned his gaze towards Caleb's lifeless body. "Such a shame for this one though...it's always the innocent that suffer in the end."

Putnum leaned over Caleb's slain form and stared for a long while. Pogue felt his chest tighten and tears gather in the corner of his eyes but he forced himself not to look in Caleb's direction. Gorman always told him John Putnum was a monster and Pogue believed it even though the man was currently showing no signs of it. After all, judging from the memory he witnessed earlier, Gorman had known this man personally and had always labeled him as a monster and that was enough reason for Pogue to closely watch every move he made.

"I'm guessing he's a Danvers?"

The empath tried his hardest to hide his jump when the elder spoke.

"So what if he is?"

"That hostility isn't called for boy, especially towards someone who can help you." Putnum said evenly as he finally drew his eyes away from Caleb.

The cold orbs lingered on Pogue's face for a short second before they were drawn to something behind him. Pogue wasn't about to take his eyes off the man's frame and glance at what it was over his shoulder but the man's eyes seamed to light momentarily as he gazed at it.

Pogue tensed slightly from the sidelines of the glare. "Help me with what?"

His words reached the elder's ears and cold eyes moved back on him a heartbeat later.

"With him." Putnum replied evenly, gesturing towards Caleb.

A growl echoed in Pogue's throat. "What?"

John Putnum closed his eyes for a long moment and sighed heavily. When his eyes opened again, they looked almost regretful.

"It's always hard losing someone you care about isn't it? Everyone loses someone they care about over the course of their meaningless existence but very few people can fully understand the cold, numbing pain of having a lover taken away from you."

Sorrow and emptiness touched Pogue's mind and it took a few moments for him to actually believe they came from the man standing in front of him.

"The feeling is almost unimaginable until it happens. At first, a cold numbness works it way into your body, making every other emotion aside from pain feel insignificant."

Those words cut right into Pogue's heart and with a painful lurch, he realized the words were actually true and he silently damned the man in front of him. Putnum seamed to pick up on Pogue's feelings because his words turned even more serious.

"Was he special to you?"

Pogue's answer came in the form of a glare. "What the hell do you care?"

"I care because I can bring him back for you."

The empath felt his body freeze.

"What?"

At that, an amused chuckle sounded in the air. "Come now boy, think of where you are, of what you have seen...of what you are. Think of what this place was made for..."

The last words were whispered softly but Pogue heard them loud and clear.

"You...you can bring Caleb back? You can make him...live again?"

With a cold grin, Putnum turned his head in Pogue's direction. "Yes boy, I can."

Pogue could finally bring himself to take a deep breath.

"How?"

Putnum looked lost in thought for a moment. "Well, that depends. How much does he mean to you?"

Pogue blinked and thought for a moment.

"Caleb's everything to me."

His answer was truthful; he didn't know where he would be without the other boy. He loved Caleb in every meaning of the word. Caleb was the only one he ever let close to him, he was the only one Pogue could ever feel at peace around.

"And are you willing to do anything for him?"

"Yes."

"Would you die for him?"

Those five words robbed the empath of all breath and seamed to rattle around inside of his head after they were spoken.

"Yes..." Pogue whispered, knowing he was somehow damning himself.

"Good." Putnum growled happily and turned. "Fallow me and bring him."

Pogue wearily watched as the man walked past him towards the far end of the room. The empath lingered where he was for a few short moments, wondering what he just condemned himself to before reaching down and sliding an arm under Caleb' stiff shoulders. He used some of his powers to help him lift Caleb's dead weight over his shoulder, almost falling to the floor when his leg throbbed painfully from its stab wound. The empath forced himself to ignore the pain and used some of his powers to ease the pain as he fallowed the elder. He found Putnum halted a few strides a head staring down at something. The teen fallowed the older man's eyes and quickly found out what it was, or rather who it was.

Putnum's blue eyes were gazing down at Tyler's unconscious forum and judging from the angle, Pogue assumed the younger boy was the thing the elder was gazing at a few moments prior. The younger boy still looked trapped in a dreamless sleep and was it not for Caleb's dead body slumped over his shoulder; Pogue would be attempting to wake him.

"What did Chase do to him?"

He didn't expect an answer from the man in front of him but surprisingly he got one.

"Nothing, I was the one who put him in that sleep."

Pogue was surprised at this and felt his tempter start to awaken. "Why?"

Feeling his anger and somewhat amused by it, Putnum glanced over his should at the teen. "Because he can't have his powers robbed from him if he isn't awake."

The empath let that roll around inside his head for a moment before speaking. "And you did that because?"

Putnum remained silent for a moment and his answer came in the form of a whisper.

"Because I would never let any harm come to him."

Pogue's jaw dropped at that answer. The elder didn't say anything more and continued walking the stone path between the sea of lit candles. Pogue remained standing where he was, feeling more confused then ever by the man's words. What was even more confusing were the feeling of sorrow and loss left in the air after the man's leave.

The throbbing pains in his leg and the numbness in his shoulder soon brought him out of his thoughts and suddenly remembering the reason why there was several hundred pounds of weight crushing down on his body; Pogue continued fallowing the elder's strides until both came to the front of the large stone table. The empath blinked, he didn't even know he had wandered that far away from the stone during his scramble with Chase. He turned a weary eye towards the man standing next to him.

"Put him down there." Putnum instructed, pointing towards the center of the table.

Pogue crouched near the heart of the stone table and lowered his shoulder, letting Caleb's body gently slump onto the surface. He groaned as the feeling soon returned to his shoulder in intense, prickling waves but forced himself to ignore the feeling as he turned and faced the dark man once again.

"Give me your hand."

Pogue waited a moment and then held his left hand before Putnum stopped him.

"No, the other one."

The empath frowned and held his right hand out, the one that Chase has cut open with the blade and winced when the man pressed against the cut with his thumb, drawing fresh blood to the surface of the wound. Ignoring the empath's curses of pain, Putnum then pulled the limb towards the table and placed it palm down on the stone's surface. Like before, the stone seamed to glow under the candle light as Pogue's blood spread across its surface.

A hot, prickling pain then shot up Pogue's arm, rendering his leg good leg weak. He slumped to the stone floor heavily a moment later and winced when he saw the entire right leg of his jeans starting to stain with blood. The blade must've cut deeper into his leg then he thought. Even with the assistance of his powers he was amazed he was able to carry Caleb's entire weight with the wound.

Putnum paid him hardly any mind, only giving him a quick glance out of the corner of his eye before he hummed deeply in his throat. Pogue looked just in time to see the color flash out of the man's blue eyes, turning the ovals pure black. A fierce wave of power then flooded into the small room; wafting past Pogue with such force it almost knocked the empath to the ground.

Putnum then begin speaking, Pogue couldn't understand the words because they were spoken so softly but Putnum then extended his arm towards the foot of the stone table. His long, thin fingers then pushed all four of the gold pendants the last few inches all the way back into their respected carvings and then moved his hand up towards Caleb's body. Pogue watched as the man pushed up the dark stained cloth of Caleb's bloodied shirt, exposing the thin line the knife had cut into his skin. It was still bleeding but the blood loss had slowed immensely from Caleb's dead frame.

"It's deep." Putnum muttered as he trailed a finger along the cut before extending his other hand in Pogue's direction. "Give me your hand boy."

Pogue stared at the man wearily but a presence gathered at the back of his mind before he could do anything.

Pogue can you hear me?

The empath blinked as he heard William's voice in his head. It was strained, almost as if the elder was weak.

(William? How–)

It doesn't mater boy, now listen to me. You need to get out of here!

(Why?)

Just do it! He can't harm you in this state, leave while you can.

Pogue mulled the elder's words over for a short moment.

(No.)

He didn't need his empathic powers to tell him William was angry.

Do not argue with me boy! You have no idea what the man is capable of.

(Yes I do...he can bring Caleb back.)

At this, William's voice quieted for a moment and when the elder Danvers spoke again, Pogue could feel the remorse in the man's words.

Pogue, what happened to my son was not your fault. You don't need–

(Yes I do William. Caleb's worth more then I am!)

With a loud, mental grow Pogue sealed his mind off from the elder's presence and turned his attention back towards the man holding his hand out.

"Is there a problem?" John Putnum asked, more curiously then impatiently.

"No." The empath replied, taking the hand a moment later.

"Good, now this might hurt."

Pogue yelped as a painful jab of pain shot down his right arm a moment later. The pain felt no less horrible then a set of razor blades being slashing his arm. The feeling crawled up his arm into his head a blink of an eye later, causing hundreds of memories to uproot themselves and run through his mind non stop. He could feel John Putnum's powers watching every one of them as they flashed by, appearing to be amused by some and intrigued by a few regarding Reid and Tyler.

Through half-laded eyes, Pogue saw Putnum place his other hand on Caleb's side, near the knife wound. He ran a finger over the cut and a strange red light soon tinted its dark insides. Pogue let out a painful scream a moment later, his right hand still kept in Putnum's grasp tightly. The elder didn't pay him any mind and continued keeping his full attention on the deceased teen on the stone table.

After what felt like the course of a year, Pogue felt the hot pains cease and his body fell heavily to the stone floor almost immediately after Putnum released the hold on his hand. The empath's eyes squeezed shut in relief a moment later, his body almost completely curling in on it's self. His relief was short lived however and just as quick as the other one, another piercing pain moved through his arm. In a panic, Pogue cracked his eyes open and gasped when he saw something dark crawling vine-like up his arm. It looked like a never ending set of dark blue runes were burrowing into his skin.

(What the fuck?)

They continued crawling and writhing until they reached his forearm and just as quick as they came, the blue lines then faded into the skin, completely disappearing in the blink of an eye.

(What the hell was that?)

Confused and gasping for breath, Pogue raised his head in search of the man who caused his pain but soon discovered he wasn't there. The empath moved his gaze through the room and soon spotted the elder a short ways away, kneeling on the hard floor near Tyler's still sleeping form. He was too far away to see the elder's face but he did see something that puzzled him. Putnum leaned closer to Tyler's face and lightly placed his thin, pale fingers on the boy's forehead. With a gentle caress of his fingers, Putnum leaned close to the younger boy's ear and whispered something the empath couldn't hear before moving away from the teen completely.

The dark elder then turned towards Pogue's direction and grinned darkly, the look would've made Pogue's body shutter if he wasn't so exhausted from the pain the elder had caused.

"I'll see you in a year boy."

With that, Putnum waved an arm outwards and the sea of candles completely extinguished, leaving the entire room in darkness. Pogue blinked and lingered on the floor for a moment, wondering if the man was truly gone before gingerly rolling to his knees. His arms shook the moment he place any weight on them but the teen swallowed down the shaking and forced himself to crawl the small distance towards the stone table.

He had to use a small ounce of his powers, a feet that took more energy then he had left in him to pulling himself up the small distance to the stone's main surface. Even in the thick darkness, he could fully make out Caleb's still form. With a gulp, Pogue reached a trembling hand out and placed it on the older boy's arm. A loud gasp came from his mouth when his fingers felt warmth and with a deep breath, Pogue pulling himself up the table's length to place his head against Caleb's stomach. He gave a startled cry when he felt the warm flesh under his ear move and expand.

(He's breathing...)

He kept his ear closely pressed to the body for a few more long seconds, a deep, exhausted laugh escaping his mouth. The relief spread through his tired limbs fully and he didn't feel or care when his arms gave out and he rolled ungracefully back to the hard floor.

(He's breathing... he's alive.)

His eye lids fluttered tiredly and with a deep sigh, Pogue felt them close. Sweet, resting darkness was only a few short seconds away and now that he knew Caleb was alright, Pogue didn't mind slipping into it.

You damned fool, William's voice sighed from somewhere in the darkness.

(He's alive William, that's all that matters.)

William's voice drew silent for a few long moments before the elder replied in a soft tone.

Pogue, for what's its worth thank you. I'm not going to condemn what you've done, but allow me to repay the deed in kind.

Pogue nodded mentally but felt a concern suddenly grow in his mind.

(Wait, Gorman and Reid, they need–)

Leave it to me Pogue, get some rest.

Pogue didn't argue and finally let himself fall into the thick sleep that was pulling him down into the refreshing abyss.

--

Gorman...

The elder was almost startled completely out of his chair as a deep voice touched his mind. He probed the foreign presence wearily.

(Who is this?)

Its William old friend, don't be alarmed.

The elder blinked and composed himself.

(William? How is this even possible?)

William's presence remained silent for a few passing moments before he sighed heavily.

None of that matters right now old friend...I'm afraid your god child has just made the biggest mistake of his life...