Heart's Redemption (MxM)

Chapter 14 ~ Sam

Distantly, I hear Ian shout my name.

He's hurt.

I want to help him, but there's something wrong with me.

I can't keep my balance, and my senses are confused. It takes a lot of effort to draw air into my lungs, and my heart thuds heavy and slow in my chest. Lights dance behind my eyes, and a funny rushing noise fills my ears, blocking out other sounds.

I feel sharp gravel stab into my palms as I fall, and see the toes of Toni's work boots as she stands at my side.

She poisoned me. Something in the powder that choked me like burning smoke. I can't move, and it feels like I can't get enough air.

A paralytic, I realize.

She probably only meant to incapacitate me, but I think it might be working a little too well.

That's okay; I'd rather die than let Karin take me back.

The only thing is, I don't want to leave Ian alone. He needs me, I think, maybe even more than I need him.

I try to raise myself. If I can just get up, just gain my feet, maybe then—

Toni's foot connects with my side and I collapse, unable to move.

Blackness creeps in at the corners of my vision and my lungs burn. From a long way off, I hear something like a roar—a torn growl that sounds like a wordless expression of rage and pain, and then something flies over me and lands in the gravel about ten feet away.

Through the gathering dark, I recognize the shape as Toni.

I watch as she rolls, clutching at her side, and starts to rise; but then a shadow falls over me and something soft brushes my face, nudges my side and turns me onto my back.

My vision is blurred, and I realize that even the muscles in my eyes aren't working properly. Through a haze like frosted glass, I see something enormous standing above me and feel a puff of hot, moist breath on my face.

It's Ian, as his bear.

In my mind, I reach up and stroke his red-furred face, speak his name, offer him a smile.

In reality, I lie as still and unmoving as a corpse, my eyes wide and unblinking, and I don't know if I'm even breathing enough for him to detect that I'm alive.

He sniffs at my face, his bear's low moan reverberating in my chest. He paws at me gently, and rolls me back onto my side.

Then I watch through my static, dropped-camera view as he turns to where Toni is slowly rising to her feet and charges her again, knocking her once more to the ground. This time she lies still, and I see Ian raise a claw-tipped paw above her, ready to bring it down with deadly force. Before he can, another form falls upon her, raising a hand towards Ian in a gesture of defense.

I can't hear what Carlos is saying, but it's clear he's asking Ian to spare Toni's life.

I hope he does, but I don't know if I can blame him if he won't.

I'm almost surprised when he lowers his great bear's paw with a grunt, turns, and lumbers back to my side. He limps badly and changes shape as he comes.

He's a man when he falls to his knees, cradling his right arm against his chest. Carlos joins him and presses his fingers beneath my jaw. He says something to Ian. Then he leans over me, his face inches from mine, and my vision fades to black as his head eclipses my view of the sky.

I hear an echo.

My name.

A question.

And then the silence comes grasping with a thousand sticky fingers and pulls me down into the deep.

~☆~

It's been days since I've seen anyone. Seen anything. The total darkness of the cell is so complete my brain is left to make up for the lack of input with imagination. I see swirls of color, bursts of light, faces...monsters.

I can't even make them go away by shutting my eyes because there's no difference between having them open or closed. It's endless, and even sleep doesn't stop it. It just continues in my dreams.

I'm here because I defied Karin—again. He'd wanted me to pull a teenaged boy's soul out and replace it with the soul of a man who'd recently died—a soul that Karin had forced me to help him catch.

The boy's father was upset because he'd found his son in bed with another boy, and the only explanation for that had to be demons.

His son would certainly never do such a thing, after all.

Karin had promised him a cure—in exchange for a hefty fee, of course: remove the 'demon' and restore his son.

Karin had advised the man that his son might be a little 'different' afterward—might be a bit confused, might seem like an entirely different person, in fact—but at least his 'immorality' would be cured.

The father had been only too happy to make that deal.

I, on the other hand, had refused.

Karin had gone ballistic. He'd threatened me with all kinds of things, but I knew he wouldn't follow through. However angry he might be, he needed me alive and whole.

I was the one who could see and touch demons, after all; the one who could speak with the souls of the dead.

On the other hand, there were ways to torture a person without ever touching them, and locking them in a room with no light, no sound, no...anything...alone, for days, was one of those ways.

I'm nearing the end of my ability to hold out on him.

I want to get out of here so badly, I'm ready to do almost anything.

Almost.

So, when the door opens a crack, revealing a thin sliver of precious light, I feel my whole body start to vibrate with relief.

Then I hear Karin's voice.

"Alright, Sammy, you ready to cooperate now? I have a desperate man waiting for me to 'cure' his boy, and my reputation is on the line. Will you help me, or do you need some more time to think it over—alone, in the dark? What do you say: yes or no?"

The hatred I feel for him seems hot enough to burn through solid steel, and yet it's impotent.

I'm powerless.

I have nothing: no weapon I can use against him. Nothing except a single word.

It means more pain, more loneliness, more torment; but I speak it anyway.

"No."

~☆~

The jolt and jostle of a moving vehicle shakes me gradually from my unquiet sleep. I hear the rumble of an engine and the rush of wind, and feel a cold metal surface pressed against my back.

Someone soothes me with calming words and caresses my face.

As my vision clears, I realize that I'm in the bed of Ian's truck, lying in someone's arms with my head cradled in their lap.

A handsome tan face looks down at me, and it's owner smiles.

It's not Ian though.

It's Carlos.

I sit up too quickly, clip him in the chin with the top of my head, and swear.