OK, I'm tired, and I think I'm about to have a heat stroke. So I won't waste any more time typing because God knows that this chapter caused me many sleepless nights. BSB and N'Sync are (not) gay. Hope you like it. Here's chapter 12.
Justin curled up against the cold building wall watching Derrick. Derrick wasn't in a good mood. He was expecting a sign to attack, a gunshot, anything that would signal them to move. But the night was wrapped in the most unnatural quiet that made Justin's skin crawl. The rest of the guys crouched in the darkness little further away, and Justin could barely see them. The only way he knew they were still there was by nervous and frightened whispers that were exchanged between Lance and JC. Derrick finally settled down next to Justin, and Justin reached for his hand without even thinking about it. The second his hand gripped Derrick's, he realized what he had done. But Derrick gripped his hand tightly and refused to let it go. Justin could feel fear radiating from Derrick's mind, and that was the most frightening thing of all. Derrick spoke quietly: "Justin... if I don't survive this..." Justin felt panic seize him: "No! Don't say that... no one is going to die... everything is gonna be OK..." Derrick silenced him by putting a finger to his lips: "Please, just listen. If I don't survive tonight... I want you to know something. I... I forgot a lot about myself while trying to be a vampire... I forgot a lot of emotions, what it means to care, to really care about something..." He got quiet for a second as if gathering his thoughts. His words came out shaky, nervous, as if didn't want to say what he was saying, but he had no other choice: "When I met you that changed. Everything changed. You showed me a life I had forgotten... emotions I buried deep inside of me... You shoved me what it means to love..." Justin gripped his hand tightly, his heart beating like wild. He could now clearly feel the emotions coming from Derrick... emotions he never thought were possible. Derrick kept talking, his voice strangled and cracked: "You showed me what it mans to be human... and then I realized one thing... I love you." Justin was left speechless. He could barely breathe, and his mind was swirling around in circles. He didn't know if he wanted to cry, or laugh, or scream off the top of his lungs. Instead he managed a whisper: "I love you too." He felt Derrick lean in, and his lips softly touched Justin's. Justin let all of his control go, and was lost in Derrick, lost in his love, in his pain, in everything that Derrick was. He kissed the man he loved more than his life; he kissed his fear, and his pain, and his soul that beat wildly like the most pure heart Justin could ever imagine. Derrick's lips were cold, but soft, and hesitant as if he had never kissed before, or as if he was trying to remember it from some long lost life. Justin pushed his hands in the smooth waves of Derrick's hair, and pulled him closer, holding him tight as if that was the last time they would have together. When Derrick pulled back, they were both out of breath. Justin found himself curled up in Derrick's arms, crying softly. He could barely form a sentence: "I don't wanna lose you... I can't lose you. If you die, I will..." Derrick silenced him again: "If I die, you will go on living. I will always be with you, in your thoughts... and I will always love you." Justin cried softly without responding. He would not go on living... if Derrick died, Justin would die with him. And there was nothing anybody could say or do to change that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian regained his conscience, and then instantly wished that he hadn't. The pain on the back of his head was unbearable. There was white mist over his eyes, and he panicked, blinking constantly and hoping he would regain his sight. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder, and instinctively moved back trying to avoid it. It was a bad move, because the pain in his head doubled and he whimpered quietly. Then a soft voice reached his ears: "Brian... Brian, It's me. I'm not going to hurt you... you've been hit pretty hard. Can you get up?" Robby's voice was the most beautiful music to Brian's ears, and his sight started clearing out. When he could clearly see what was going on around him, he could see Kevin, Howie, and AJ crouched over Nick's crumpled figure, and Robby leaning over him with his eyes full of pain and worry. Brian touched the back of his head and felt the warm blood under his fingers. He sat up slowly, cringing in pain, and looked over at Nick again. Fear rose in his throat: "Is he... is he...?" Robby smiled softly: "He's OK... just a couple of broken ribs. He's better off than you are. Can you get up?" With Robby's help, Brian got to his feet, and stood in the same spot for a second, waiting for the room to stop moving: "What happened?" Robby's face crumpled in anger for a minute, then it was back to its usual cold mask: "All six vampires that were here are dead. Mike is gone... disappeared. No one else is here... but I know where Mike went. I'm going after him." "I'm coming with you." "No. You and Nick are staying here. Kevin and AJ too... I'm taking Howie with me." Brian straightened up, and staring coldly into Robby's eyes, clearly announced: "I'm coming with you." Robby seemed to be struggling with himself for a minute, and then smiled: "So you are. I should have known you would refuse to be left behind. I should have left while you were unconscious." Brian just shrugged: "You should have." The smile quickly slipped off Robby's face: "You know I wouldn't have left without making sure that you were OK. I thought you were dead... I thought..." He swallowed looking away: "I love you. I don't want anything to happen to you." Brian took his hand gently and pressed a kiss against it: "Nothing will happen to me... but my friends need me. Colleen needs us. We need to move. Now." AJ and Kevin were on their feet and Howie was trying to help Nick stand up from the dusty carpet. Robby turned to Kevin: "I'm gonna need you and Howie with me and Brian. We're going after Mike, and Colleen is going to need help. Nick and AJ need to stay here... I doubt anyone will come back so you don't need to fear another attack." Nick tried to straighten up: "What are you talking about? I can still fight." He tried to take a step forward, but almost ended up on the floor, so AJ helped him lay down again. Robby frowned: "We might need to get him to the hospital. AJ, see what you can do about that." Brian gripped his hand tighter: "Can you...?" Robby looked at him, then kneeled next to Nick touching his chest. A minute later he was raising to his feet: "It's not that serious. He will live, and healing him would take all the strength I have left. I need it... Colleen needs it." Brian just nodded, and bent down to press a soft kiss on Nick's forehead. Robby turned to Kevin and Howie: "OK, it's time to show those bastards who rules these streets."Colleen felt the sweat pouring down her back and face, but chose to ignore it. She knew that when you notice the sweat, then you will notice the cold and pain in your muscles, and then there will be a moment in which you will just give up. She had no intention of giving up. The vampires that kept pouring from the darkness seemed unstoppable, and they just kept coming, as if there was millions and millions of them just waiting to get their part of the feeding. She watched her men, her friends, fall down bleeding, their faces white and drawn of blood. She watched the cruel vampire faces disappearing and appearing in the night, and enjoyed their painful screams as they disappeared into handfuls of ashes and dust. They weren't supposed to be there, they weren't even supposed to know that there was an attack waiting for them. But somehow they knew, and just like she predicted, the whole plan was worthless. Because after the first bullet was fired, she knew they were going to die. She fought with all her strength, but she knew when there was no chance of survival. And they were greatly outnumbered. Dom disappeared somewhere east of her, and into the deep woods of the lake. She hadn't seen him since, but she knew he was alive. She had to believe he was alive, because if he wasn't... her hand and the knife in it faltered at that thought, and a well calculated kick from her disfigured opponent sent her to her knees. She knew it was the end. The knife was out of her reach, and her guns were long gone. She looked up at the disgustingly twisted face above her, and stared at its eyes defiantly, hoping to at least die with dignity. Cold hand grabbed her hair, and an inhuman head moved towards her throat... she closed her eyes and bit her lips until they bled, refusing to let herself cry out in pain. The fangs, sharper than knife points touched her throat, and then a piercing scream shot through her ear, as she felt the soft dust fall over her body and hair. When she looked up, Robby was standing above her and grinning: "Well? Are you going to fight or sleep?"
The gun shot echoed the street. Then another one, and then a series of shots turning into thunder that was almost deafening. Derrick was already on his feet. He stood in one spot for couple of seconds, with his hand up, testing the air. The he wiped it off his coat as if he touched something filthy and evil. His voice was a whisper: "They know where we are. They were expecting us. I can feel Robby at the Lady Lake which means the plan fell through." Everyone was on their feet and forming a tight circle around Derrick. Lance's voice was a pathetic attempt at steadiness: "What now?" Derrick stood deep in thought for couple of seconds as the thunder grew louder. When he spoke, the fear he was trying to cover up came out in cold waves: "We move back. Circle the Main Street part of town, then hit the headquarters from the back." As soon as he stopped speaking, he was moving towards the darkness of side streets, and everyone followed quietly, afraid to voice their fears. Justin still gripped Derrick's hand, and it suddenly stopped feeling so cold. The main building was wrapped in unnatural darkness. However, they had no problems getting close to it. Derrick made them wait for couple of seconds, then flashed everyone a relieved smile: "No vampires. Two humans, one hurt... it's safe." They climbed the steep stairs that seemed to go on forever, and Justin started imagining that they will never get to the top, or that they were simply on the stairs to hell. But soon, the light flickered above them, and they hurried tripping over the stairs, eager to see the light again. The room they walked into was something Justin wouldn't have seen even in his worst nightmares. Red carpet and ghostly candles, coffin, and ashes mixed with blood everywhere an eye can see. In the corner, he noticed a figure curled up above a seemingly unconscious body. As they stepped closer, he recognized AJ and Nick's blond hair mixing with blood and ashes on the carpet. Derrick quickly kneeled over Nick's body while ignoring AJ's startled expression. He looked up at AJ, his eyes hard: "Did Robby...?" "He... uh, he just checked his... condition. Nick isn't seriously hurt... he's sleeping." "What happened here?" AJ looked so tired, as if he had no sleep in months, and in that one night he seemed to have aged beyond recognition: "Mike knew everything... he sent most of his troops to the Lady Lake. The rest was supposed to come for you. Robby, Brian, Howie and Kevin are at the Lady Lake, helping Colleen... or at least I hope they are there." Justin noticed a pained expression on JC's face as he was drinking in AJ's words. It seemed like JC desperately wanted to reach out to him, but he kept hitting an invisible wall that he only could see. AJ kept avoiding JC's eyes, and refusing to acknowledge his presence in the room. Justin wanted to scream at both of them, but it wasn't the time or the place for it. Making a tight circle around Derrick again, Lance asked the question he had repeated at least three times that night: "What now?" "Now we separate. I want Justin and you with me... the rest of you are staying here." Joey opened his mouth, but Derrick spoke over him: "I said you're staying here. Now you can be cooperative and accept it, or I'm gonna have to tie you down and leave you like that. Believe me, I'd do it. I don't have the time to listen to loads of petty complaints. Now, Justin and Lance are coming with me. Any complaints? No? Good. Let's move." They moved out quickly, saying quick good-byes and hoping that they won't be last. Once they were back in the dark silence of the street, Justin found Derrick's hand again, and taking a deep breath, stepped after him towards the sounds of fighting. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As soon as Derrick, Justin and Lance disappeared down the dark hallway, Joey rose to his feet: "Well, we won't do much just sitting here. Chris and I will watch the building to make sure that no one comes uninvited. You guys take care of Nick." How neither JC or AJ voiced any complaints, Joey and Chris quietly left the room. AJ stayed sitting next to Nick, while JC took a seat against the wall across from them. There was a long uncomfortable silence in which they could hear each other's breathing and the far away sounds of guns. AJ felt like crying. The whole world had turned upside down in less than 24 hours, his friends were getting hurt, vampires ruled the streets... everything felt so unreal, like part of a bad dream. Yet, JC was sitting right across from him, and the way he felt about him could not possibly be a part of the nightmare he was living. The wind started to howl through the stone hallways of the building, and a light breeze made the candle lights flicker and threaten to go out at any minute. AJ took his jacket off and gently covered Nick, protecting him against the breeze. JC spoke, and his words seemed to echo the walls: "You left." It took AJ couple of seconds to figure out what was it exactly that JC was saying: "I didn't... I..." "You left. You just left me there, on my knees. You crushed me and then you turned your back on me." JC voice lowered down to whisper: "How could you?..." AJ was close to crying: "I didn't know what to think... I didn't know... I'm so sorry." JC buried his head in his hands as if trying to hide from the pictures in front of him, but raised it quickly, his eyes full of fire: "Do you have any idea how it felt? Well? Do you?! To be left there with your feelings crushed, to spend every night playing with 'what ifs', to wish you were dead, or never born?! Do you, Goddamnit!?!" "JC, I..." "Don't! I don't want to hear it... I don't want to know about it." AJ opened his mouth to defend himself, or at least try, when Joey stormed into the room followed by Chris. His hair was in wild disarray, his voice choked up: "They're coming! They're..." The black trench coats started pouring into the room before he even finished his sentence, and the only thing AJ could hear afterwards were screams. For a second, JC was completely disoriented. Black coats, like long-haired crows, seemed to take up every inch of free space around him. Then he heard AJ scream, and saw him fall down with his hand gripping his right shoulder and the blood gushing in-between his fingers. As if that was a wake up call, he grabbed a knife from his belt and started ruthlessly cutting everything he found in his way. The room became airless, choking, and the sweat poured down JC's arms making his hands slippery and wet. The wolf shaped face with long white fangs grinned at him, and with great ease, kicked the knife out of his hand. JC watched in slow motion the glittering sword lowering towards his chest, and closed his eyes in disbelief. That was it... the moment he was going to die. He was surprised at how calm he felt while waiting for the sword to pierce his chest. Instead, something pushed him backwards with great force. He hit the ground hard and lost his breath from the impact, then felt a warm substance spill down his body. Someone's hand gripped his, and he tried to move although his back seemed to be slow in responding. Next to him was lying AJ, the handle of the sword sticking out of his left thigh, his face contorted with pain. Although his right hand was still gripping JC's, he pulled the sword out with his left hand, biting his already bleeding lips, and threw it towards JC. Letting go of JC's hand, he rasped: "Run!... NOW!" JC rose as if dreaming, realizing that he was covered in AJ's blood, and was holding a sword that was covered in his blood as well. He threw the sword down and turned around to help AJ, but a face blocked his view and JC froze in fear. Mike smiled, and as if that was a command, two pairs of deathly cold hands grabbed JC from behind. Mike's voice could barely be heard over screams that seemed to echo the building walls over and over again: "Bring him with us... he'll make a good bait. Let's move out." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Robby fought with all the strength he could gather. His muscles felt like water, and the swords in his hands were dangerously unsteady. Right next to him, Brian was swinging his swords with incredible strength and smoothness, his face bloody from the cut above his eye which he choose to ignore. Somewhere behind him, he could feel Derrick and Justin but he hadn't had a chance to speak with either one of them yet. Gun shots were so loud that he could barely hear anything beyond them. He had to focus on surviving though, and that was already the hardest thing to accomplish. He suspected that about 60% of the Blood was dead, but Mike still hadn't showed up, and Robby was deathly afraid of having Mike pull off something no one could possibly predict. Colleen was somewhere far in the woods, desperately searching for Dom who had seemed to disappear. Robby still couldn't figure out how Mike knew where exactly to attack and where Colleen's position was. But he planned on finding out. Thousands of thoughts raced through his head as he fought his way through the trench coats similar to his. The grass was soaked in blood and ashes, body parts and ravaged humans. Mike's troops did their job the way Mike wanted them to. No survivors. Robby felt like screaming. So many innocent lives, so many people, with their wives and children and parents waiting for them at home... all of them dead, bleeding, missing arms, legs, eyes... all laying in dirty mud and ashes, never to see their children or loved ones again. Never to see another sunset, another sunrise, never to feel love or passion again. He felt fire burning in him, threatening to destroy him.... all vampires had to die. Every single one of them. They had to be destroyed. For the children that will never feel their father's hug again, for wives that will never be able to touch or kiss their husbands again, for fathers and mothers, whose sons are laying in piles of dirt and warm blood. Die. They had to die. He cut his way hungrily, enjoying every inhuman scream, every distorted face when he pierced its chest. He gripped his swords until their handles were engraved in his palms, and he fought, screamed, and fought. Killed again, and again, and again... Until a gentle hand grabbed his wrist, and it seemed like the world twisted around him, until it settled again flashing with color. Brian was looking up at him with concern in his eyes. His voice was soft and quiet, as if he was afraid of waking up the dead: "Robby... it's over. They're gone..." Robby blinked and looked around. The survivors stood there with their weapons down, or kneeled next to the dead... they were all quiet. Bittersweet victory... The quiet was deafening. The air smelled of blood and death, and light dust swirled around them in circles, traveling gently on a light breeze. Robby felt like crying, but he wasn't sure he had any tears left. He felt Brian's hands around his waist, and buried his head in Brian's shoulder, letting himself be comforted for the first time... letting himself relax in someone else's arms and forget everything but the way Brian's body felt against his. He felt himself drift somewhere between reality and dreams, drift in complete peace... and then reality hit hard. A desperate scream echoed the woods and Robby tensed... he knew the voice... Out of the darkness of woods stumbled AJ, his face bloody, his left leg poorly bandaged. Brian ran towards him, and soon AJ was surrounded by people trying to stop the bleeding from his shoulder and leg. AJ kept pushing them away, until Robby kneeled next to him. Grabbing Robby by the collar, he pulled him close, his voice harsh and barely human: "JC... they have JC... Nick, Chris... Joey... they're dying. Help them... help..." His voice crumbled and his head slipped to the ground. The man across from Robby pressed his hand against AJ's neck, his face turning frantic: "No pulse..." Robby's voice carried over everyone's heads, strong and commanding: "Move back!" As soon as the space around Robby and AJ opened, Robby placed his hands on AJ's chest and started to trace the last thread of life in his body. He could feel Derrick moving away slowly with Justin following him, and he knew that he couldn't stop them. He could also feel Brian's presence pressing against his back, and knew that a river of tears is flowing down his beautiful face. AJ had to live. Robby would make him live, if it was the last thing he did... even if it killed him. His strength was almost gone, and effort he kept pushing into reviving AJ's body kept draining him harder every time, so much it actually caused a blinding physical pain which spread through his body like a snake poison. He could feel every part of AJ's mind, everything that had made him happy, everything that had made him cry... and in the middle of everything was a warm glow, almost blinding, that enveloped Robby in seconds. It was love... the type of love he knew well, the type of love he had felt radiating from Brian many times. It was a love full of pain and desperation, yet full of so much hope. Love for JC. He felt AJ's hear beat once... then again... and again... when it reached a steady rhythm, Robby smiled with his eyes still closed. Then he lost his conscience. OK, what do you think? Good? Not good? The next chapter should be out soon, and then a couple more before the conclusion. Criticize, criticize, criticize...