Chosen One - Chapter 20

[madbottoms]

  Title: Chosen One - Chapter 20
Summary: Our favourite tortured boys are back in this third and final instalment in which they try to outrun Hell.
Notes: See chapter 1 for disclaimer warnings and related info. Thanks for reading and commenting and as always enjoy. 

20

Living on a Prayer

*~*

JOHN

Something’s wrong. It started out as an itch under my skin that I chalked up to paranoia at my dwindling abilities but the itch became a tug. I know it’s more.

I focus on Jack’s room and instantly panic chokes my thoughts. I burst through his door without knocking because I know it won’t matter.

The room is empty.

“Damn!” I hiss under my breath, charging through the family room and onto the porch. There are a few groups clustered on the beach but no Jack.

I run to the side of the house and check his window. Open. And under it is tracks in the sand. One set leads toward the road and another heads to Hope’s house. I follow the ones toward the road first but lose them on the pavement. At a jog, I cross the thirty feet or so to Hope’s and pound on the door. A few seconds later, she’s standing in the doorway.

“Hi John.”

“Have you seen Jack?”

She nods absently. “He went for a walk. Said he needed some time to think.”

It makes sense. And sneaking out the window for some alone time is exactly something Jack would do, but something nags at the back of my mind. “Where did he say he was going?”

“Just down the beach.”

“Then why do his tracks disappear on the road?”

Her face scrunches as she thinks. “I swear I saw him go toward the beach.”

“Was he alone?”

The creases in her forehead deepen as she shakes her head. “He needs time. You’re not supposed to look for him.”

Panic grips my pounding heart. “Who was he with Hope?”

“No one.”

“You’re sure.”

“I’m…” She hesitates, then shakes her head.

I’m running for the bungalow even before she’s finished the word. When I get there I move around the corner and press myself into the shingled side, asking the Light to take me. I have to get to the Board. But instead of transporting into the Collective, searing pain slices through me and I find myself in a heap on the ground.

“What’s going on?”

I haul myself out of the sand and turn to find Ianto standing on the porch staring down at me.

I drag myself to my feet. “Jack’s gone,” I pant through the pain.

He eyes me suspiciously, then hops the rail, landing next to me in the sand. “Go find him and tell me where to meet you.” He holds out his hand for the keys to the Jeep.

I dig the keys out of my pocket and drop them into his hand. Summoning everything I can muster I focus on Jack, but all I pick up is a whisper of a trail. I walk across the street and stand for a moment on the spot where his tracks stop opening myself up to anything. Finally, I take a breath and hold it before answering. “I don’t know where to go. I can’t find him.”

Ianto just stares, unbelieving. “You’re joking.”

I feel like my throat is closing, depriving my brain of oxygen. I can’t think. Why can’t I sense him? Is it my waning power or something the infernal are doing to block me? I look up at Ianto. “Can the infernal Shield a mortal?”

He shakes his head. “Not that I’m aware of.”

“Though that would be a handy trick.”

The voice behind me sends a ripple of dread up my spine.

Ianto looks over my shoulder at the bungalow, drops his head and exhales. “Suzie. Sweet sin of Satan.”

“I missed you too, brother,” she says, stepping out of the shadows of the house.

Ianto looks up at her, his eyes narrow. “How did you find us?”

“Just my lucky day.” She leans into the corner of the bungalow and grins. “And by that I mean your cheesy celestial Shield seems to be malfunctioning.”

“Unholy Hell,” Ianto hisses as he shoves me hard into the side of the house, leaving his palm planted firmly on my pounding chest. Red rage is clear in his eyes even though he’s still human. “How could you let this happen?” he finally says when he confirms his fear with the wild beating of my heart under his hand.

A heart I’m not supposed to have.

It’s the same question I’ve been asking myself since we got here.

*~*

IANTO

The crushing pressure of this is almost too much to bear and I have to hold my breath against the pain as I realise what this means. Everything that it means. Jack turned him human.

He wanted him that much.

I slam him back into the side of the house. “You son of a bitch. How could you let this happen?” I ask again.

He shoves me away but he doesn’t look up. “The same way you did.”

I grab him with both hands and throw him harder into the side of the house. “But I wasn’t his protector, damn it!”

Finally, he looks up at me. “Let me go so I can find him.”

I throw him one last time into the house and back off. “If anything happens to him, I’ll kill you myself.”

Suzie’s low chuckle from behind me is more than I can handle. Before I realise I’ve done it, I spin and my fist is ricocheting off Suzie’s jaw.

Her head snaps back but then she turns to me with a grin. “There aren’t even words to describe how pathetic that was.”

I glare up at her and rub my hand. “Why are you here?”

“You’ve been a slippery little used-to-be demon,” she answers, rubbing her jaw and looking me over.

“Can you find Jack?” I ask, my heart in my throat, grasping at any possibility.

She chuckles again, a deep rumble from her chest, and she fixes John in a cold stare. “I thought keeping track of the ninja was your job, cherub.”

John shoots her a glare and with an obvious effort of will and a growl that shakes the ground under my feet, he shifts.

I look at the empty space where he was, feeling the cold edge of dread cut through me, then turn back to Suzie. “I take that as a no.”

The humour clears from her face replaced by surprise. “You’re serious? You don’t know where he is?”

I stare her hard in the eye and ask again. “Can you find him?”

She backs off a step. “That wasn’t our deal,” she grumbles.

“Your deal?” I ask.

“Your boyfriend’s ex-cherub brother.” She pokes a finger into my chest. “I told you he was no fan of yours.”

“That’s how you found him? Gray?”

“It was a quid pro quo. He swore to me he could find him, and I swore to him I’d keep you and Ozone Head out of his way—and maybe make you scream a little in the process.”

“But you didn’t.”

A grin stretches her face. “I lied. Figured if you slowed him down some it would give me time to get…” her grin pulls into a leer, “… close, shall we say, to your little friend.” She steps forward, right up into my face. “Did he tell you we got sweaty together this morning?”

My nails dig into my palms as I work to contain my fury. “Can you find him?” I ask again through gritted teeth.

Her brows furrows in concentration. Finally, she shakes her head. “No.”

“Then Gray got the last laugh, didn’t he?” I say shoving her back. I run for the Jeep and hop in, fumbling the keys into the ignition with a shaking hand.

Suzie appears in the passenger seat. “Looks like your feather-faced friend is losing his touch.”

“Looks like,” I say, ignoring the pang in my heart. As much as I’m painfully aware that there are bigger issues at the moment, it nearly kills me that Jack wanted John enough to do this to him. I should have destroyed him when I had the chance.

“Well this bites,” she says. “A lot of good a dried-up Dominion is going to do the uprising.”

“The uprising,” I repeat, a tickle of hope in my chest. I throw Suzie a sidelong glance as I crank the engine to life. “How’s that working out for you?”

“It’s not. We were counting on yours and Ozone Head’s help but then you vanished off the face of the planet.”

“We were on the planet,” I say as the engine finally turns over. I pause, wondering just how far gone John is and admonishing myself for not seeing what was going on. It was right there in front of me—his temper swings and violent outbursts and the way he looked at Jack, like a starving animal. “As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure neither of us can leave it at the moment.”

“How pathetic is that?” Suzie mutters. “All I need to know is how he does it.”

In the next heartbeat, which I can easily count since mine is pounding out of my chest, I’m shoving her up against the door.

“You will not come within a mile of him, except to help me find him. I’m assuming since my Shield is ineffectual, Jack’s is too, in which case if we get you close enough you should be able to sense him.” You and every other demon on the coil, I think as a thread of panic twists through my gut.

“You expect me to help a celestial?”

I glare at her. “I thought you just said you were counting on John’s help. I’m sure you’ve heard the adage, what goes around comes around?”

“I’m not going to take orders from a used-up featherface. I can find him. And you’re both useless now. I don’t need your help.”

“He can’t help you, Suzie,” I say.

“He will help me,” she says. A depraved grin tugs at her face. “And then I’ll help myself … to his soul.”

I glance her way and she’s gone. I floor the accelerator not sure where I’m going except away from here, and nearly run over Hope who appears out of nowhere in the road in front of me.

I slam on the brakes and she runs to my window. “Where are you going?”

“To find Jack.”

She runs to the passenger door and throws herself in. “I’m coming with you.”