The vision that woke Tomas up a few days later left him gasping for breath and blinking away the confusion, sweat dripping down his face.

„Sweat dreams?" Marcus asked sarcastically from the driver's seat, pulling Tomas back into reality. They were sitting in the truck, the engine turned off. Marcus looked at him searchingly and Tomas had a feeling that he was being watched longer than he realized.

Clearing his throat, he straightened a bit in the seat, trying to regain his composure and push the vision back.

"Where are we?" he asked, ignoring Marcus' previous question. In return, he got a small disappointed shake of head and a soft 'Here', before Marcus stepped out of the car, slamming the car door shut. Tomas looked around and realized they were indeed there, in Seattle. So much for staying off the radar. Sighing, Tomas straightened his clothes and stepped out of the car, ready to face another day and another demon.

The moment when Marcus rushed into the room and pushed away Harper's mother, Tomas realized something wasn't right. As Marcus shouted the facts and Harper's mother fled the room, Tomas knew his vision was wrong, that this was all a mistake. He momentarily froze, unsure of what was even real anymore, but then he decided it didn't really matter, not in this moment.

"I'll go after her," he said, too ashamed to stay with Harper and a bit worried of what would Marcus do if he caught up with the mother. Running down the steps, he called out after her.

"Mrs. Graham?"

There was silence and his steps slowed as something caught his eyes. There on the kitchen table was a box filled with medication. Taking one of the bottles in his hand he read the label and the sinking feeling in his stomach only deepened. Marcus was right. Harper's mother was the one poisoning her mind and body. Letting out a sigh of disbelief, he was startled by a screech coming from behind him. Instinctively turning, he saw the angry woman launching at him, saw the glint of something deadly swishing right at his head. He was still mid motion when the hammer connected with his skull, sending him sprawling on the floor. His head exploded in pain and his vision went out.

He couldn't have been out long, but his mind was fuzzy as he opened his eyes. The left side of his face felt kind of numb, while there was a piercing pain in his head. Something warm was running down his face, over his left eye, making it hard to see. Reaching up, Tomas frowned when his hand back red.

'Blood,' he realized, dumbfounded. Blinking, Tomas slowly turned on his back and stared up at an unfamiliar ceiling. He was in a house, doing something important. It seemed impossible to remember just what happened and the growing nausea didn't help. He might've stayed lying there much longer, if not for the scream and the crash.

"Harper?" Tomas breathed out as the last few hours came crashing back, along with his last conscious thought.

"Marcus!" There were sounds of a scuffle and even from the bottom of the stairs Tomas could hear Harper's sobs. He had to get up, to help her. Slowly, so damn slowly, Tomas managed to stand, although he had to lean hard against the wall. Another crash as someone's body hit the ground and the screeching of a woman and Tomas made it up the stairs stumbling and half crawling, but faster than he imagined possible in his condition.

When he crashed into the room, leaning hard against the doorjamb, the scene before him made his stomach clench. Harper was curled up in her bed, hiding under the covers and screaming with fright. Marcus was pinning Mrs. Graham to the ground even as she was making a perfect imitation of a possessed person, what with her screaming and trashing around. There was a piece of bloody mirror lying next to her hand. Tomas blinked and saw spots of blood on the floor, the deep cut on Marcus' arm.

Stumbling in on wobbly legs, the room kept spinning and his head was killing him, Tomas made it to Marcus and pushed the piece of glass out of reach.

Marcus looked up at him with wild eyes, his breathing harsh from the fight.

"Tomas?" he breathed out and Tomas saw the pure relief in his eyes. It was short lived when Marcus really took in his appearance. Tomas wanted to reassure him, to tell him he was fine and not to concern himself, but he had trouble forming words and all he could focus on was the steadily bleeding cut on Marcus' arm and the still trashing woman.

"What now?" he managed to ask and Marcus looked momentarily lost. They needed to secure the woman then call help, but neither of them was in such a great shape. Their dilemma was quickly solved though as they heard a sound from downstairs. The police have arrived.

In the first moment it was utter chaos. When three armed cops entered the room and saw two men leaning over a woman on the floor, blood everywhere, they logically came to the conclusion that they were the bad guys.

"Police! Let go of her! Arms up!" There was shouting, lots of fast movement that Tomas was incapable to follow as he was grabbed from behind and pushed down on the ground, only sensing that Marcus was dealt with in a similar way. His world went fuzzy, but he could hear Marcus shouting at the cops to let him go. Harper was openly crying now and Tomas got lost.

"For fuck's sake, let him go! Don't you see he's injured?" Marcus shouted at one of the cops then turned towards Rose, pleading with her, his words rushing out, telling her the story of drugging and sickness. Tomas wasn't sure what did it, maybe the fact Lorraine Graham started fighting with the cops as well and managed to bite one of them, but soon the weight from his back was gone and hands helped him into a sitting position.

Blinking, he saw as two cops led the still struggling but handcuffed Mrs. Graham out of the room. One cop was kneeling next to Marcus, a restraining hand on his shoulder keeping the older man down. The other cop was standing next to Tomas, intermittently watching him and keeping an eye on Harper, who was being tended to by the social worker.

"Tomas?" Marcus asked, throwing a concerned look at him, while using his hand to stop the bleeding wound on his other arm.

"You okay?" Tomas asked dumbly and was rewarded by a snort of disbelief.

"Me? Really?" Marcus shook his head. "Did you look in the mirror recently?"

"Sir? Can you tell us what happened?" The cop that was standing next to Tomas leaned a bit over, checking him out.

Tomas slowly blinked.

"She hit me with a hammer," he said with a tone of disbelief. "Mrs. Graham. She was the one... poisoning Harper," he added, just to make himself more clear. "I was wrong. Everything was... wrong."

The cop gave him a dubious look and Tomas knew it must've seemed like he was babbling, but he didn't care. He looked at Marcus.

"I was wrong."

Marcus clenched his teeth and gave a small shake of his head. This wasn't the time or place for self-recrimination or for an I told you so. He was just too happy to see Tomas alive. The moment he saw the blood on the hammer...

The sound of sirens pulled Marcus out of his thoughts and for once he welcomed it with relief.

Several hours later they were released from the clutches of the doctors as well as police. A call to Marcus' friend that originally sent them there helped clear up the situation. The fact Harper's doctor found clear evidence of the systematic poisoning also helped their case and even Rose seemed to be on their side. In the end it seemed to be easier to get rid of the police than to dissuade the hospital staff. While Marcus' arm was taken care of quickly, the head injury Tomas suffered was of a bigger concern. Luckily the scan was clear and even though Tomas showed mild signs of a concussion, he managed to convince the doctor that he won't be staying alone and Marcus was experienced enough to keep an eye on him.

Seeing Tomas sitting in the hospital chair, pitifully holding the ice pack to his head, Marcus wasn't so sure about the wisdom of that decision. On the other side, staying in the hospital would put them in more danger. They've already disturbed the waters plenty enough to draw some unwanted attention.

„You hungry?" Marcus asked, looking at the wide assortment of junk food in the automat.

„Not really," Tomas muttered, eyes downcast. Marcus gritted his teeth, frustrated by the situation. On one side, he wanted to say I told you so, I warned you, but seeing Tomas so depressed made him swallow the words in disgust. There was still blood on the younger man's face and neck and Marcus couldn't forget the moment he saw Lorraine walking into the room, brandishing the bloodied hammer. For a minute all he could see was the image of Tomas lying on the floor, his brain leaking out from a crushing head wound, just like his mother. When Tomas stumbled into the room, all bloodied but alive, he felt such a surge of relief that it kept him on his feet even now.

Selecting a candy bar and a bag of chips, Marcus decided to ignore Tomas' mood and pushed both items in front of his face. Tomas looked up, pausing for a while then succumbing to the look on Marcus face, only to be denied the candy bar. Frowning, Tomas looked up at Marcus questioningly and Marcus couldn't help but smile teasingly. Tomas blinked then accepted the bag of chips, the corner of his mouth turning upwards in a small smile of his own. They had their differences, but the look on Marcus face was one of acceptance. Despite all that was said and done, he was giving Tomas another chance.

"You do this long enough," Marcus spoke softly as Tomas put the chips aside, "you think you understand the evil in all its forms, every face that it wears. Then someone like this comes along..." Marcus bit his lip.

"At least with a demon, you know where you stand. There's... purity to the design," he paused, his eyes looking into the distance, seeing something else. "A logic... a form. But a parent who did that to their own child," Marcus looked towards Harper's room, then back at Tomas. "...makes you wonder what the hell you're even trying to save."

Tomas gave a small nod, taking in the words that were maybe supposed to make him feel better, or maybe they were just Marcus' way of expressing the sickness of this all.

"I was wrong," Tomas said, repeating the words he said in Harper's room.

"Which bit?" Marcus asked pointedly and Tomas took in a ragged breath, reminded of the fact that there were many points in the last few days they butted heads over. Right now though, there was one point that bothered him the most, because if he was wrong in this, everything else he thought he knew was questionable. It meant he might be compromised.

"My vision," he said softly, feeling the guilt spreading from his stomach through his whole body. "If we had gone through with the exorcism," he looked at Harper's hospital room then swallowed down the lump in his throat. "That girl would've died." The words left his lips and Tomas looked into Marcus' eyes, hoping to see some kind of denial, but relieved when he got the truth instead.

"More than likely," Marcus agreed gently, unsure how to soften the blow or if he even wanted to. Tomas needed to hear the truth, to accept it. His actions had consequences and the sooner he realized that, the better the chance he won't kill someone. Marcus had learned that lesson hard, on his own skin. Tomas was so far lucky. Harper was alive and on the road to recovery. Gabriel in Mexico wasn't.

Tomas shook his head, eyes glistening from unshed tears. Marcus could see he was trying to come to some conclusion and he was really hoping it wasn't the wrong one. Despite their differences, he liked the fact he had company; that he wasn't doing this alone. He wasn't sure he had the will to continue doing this job without Tomas. It was enough that God seemed to abandon him... he couldn't handle Tomas doing the same. There was just too much at stake. Biting his lip, Marcus waited for Tomas to decide.

"I'm not ready to do this on my own," Tomas finally spoke, looking up, his eyes filled with emotion and Marcus almost felt his knees give out from relief that was quickly followed by a rush of giddiness.

"Good thing I'm in it, then," he said, popping a candy into his mouth and giving Tomas a reassuring smirk.

They left the hospital soon after, leaving Rose their number in case Harper needed anything. Tomas felt guilt and shame over what happened. Especially as Rose was now looking at him and Marcus as if they saved Harper, even though Tomas knew he almost got her killed. He wished to be as far away as possible, but Marcus made it clear that he wanted to talk to Harper once she was awake and the drugs were out of her system. He wanted to make sure that she got the message and that she knew there were people who trusted her and who were willing to help. Marcus was through too much himself to know how damaging these kinds of situations could be.

"So we're staying in town?" Tomas asked as they settled in their car and Marcus drove out of the hospital parking lot.

"Not exactly in town, but close by," Marcus said, already thinking of a place they could stay at. "When I spoke to father Lance after his chat with the cops he gave me an address to a motel. We can pay cash, no questions asked."

Tomas grimaced at the fact they even needed to think about such things. It wasn't like they were on the run from the police... despite the fact Marcus killed that demon possessed man, saving the cardinal's life, the police didn't know who they should be looking for. For some strange reason, there was no useful footage of the incident and most people didn't have the time to notice what happened. They were too busy trying to block out the horrible sound ringing through their head, clouding their minds. No, the police wasn't the problem. The only one looking for Marcus Keane and possibly now also for Tomas himself was the church. That didn't make their situation any safer though, not when the church was so deeply compromised.

"This whole thing is just crazy," Tomas muttered, earning a concerned look from Marcus.

"What?"

"Us. Doing this, running from the church. I just... I never imagined this kind of life."

"Are you changing your mind about it?" Marcus asked seemingly lightly, but Tomas noticed the knuckles of his hand clutching the wheel turned white.

"No," Tomas said, surprised by his own answer, but realizing he meant it from the heart. "I'm not. I might regret the way we have to do this, but..." he looked at Marcus, then at the cross that was hanging on the inside mirror. "I believe God led us here for a reason."

He was expecting a snort, some kind of protest, but Marcus just kept watching the road, thinking.

"We shall see," he spoke after a long moment and Tomas leaned back into his seat, hoping he was right. He wasn't sure he could handle the alternative.

TBC