Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cursing, he finally flipped on the lights.

The blood was everywhere. Ryan could only stare, the vivid metallic tang of it filling his nose. Gavin’s lifeless green eyes stared at him from where he was spread-eagled on the kitchen counter, throat slashed from ear to ear. Jack was disemboweled on the linoleum at his feet. Trevor, Alfredo and Geoff were seated on the couch. Ryan realised the grisly marks around their necks meant that all three had been decapitated and their heads swapped around. Michael was propped up in the living room, impaled through the chest with a curtain rod. Jeremy was pinned to the wall like a butterfly. He’d been slit down the middle and across at the collarbones, in typical autopsy fashion. His insides decorated the wallpaper like streamers. Ryan looked down. In his hand was a cold, sharp knife.

“Red’s such a beautiful colour, don’t you think?”

About two weeks prior...

 Michael paused by the art department props cage. He slurped his drink as his eyes fixed on the contents of one of the big plastic tubs used to categorize the many odds, ends, and assorted sex toys that made up Rooster Teeth’s prop library. This particular tub appeared to contain Halloween paraphernalia. Michael grinned and headed inside the cage.

The box was heavy as he pulled it down from the shelf. He opened it up and began rooting around. He sorted through cheap plastic jack o'lanterns, a bag of vampire fangs, and what appeared to be a very realistic, but fake set of intestines. At the bottom of the box was a bunch of melty black candles and a large round wooden board. Michael gathered the candles up and flipped the board over. A large pentagram was carved into the other side of the wood. It looked almost like the Achievement Hunter logo.

“Perfect,” said Michael with a smirk.

“Get that weak shit outta here!” Michael kicked open the Achievement Hunter office door, arms full of his stolen Halloween spoils. Steffie, who’d been decorating with cheap paper bat-shaped bunting looked over sourly. She gathered up the decorations and left the room in a huff.

“Check out what I found in the props cage,” Michael said, dumping the candles and the pentagram on the table that they’d long ago dubbed The Lovely Ryan.

Gavin trotted over. “Oh, nice Michael!”

Jeremy looked up from the video he was editing and pulled off his headphones.

“What’s all that for?” he asked.

Michael rolled his eyes. “You were here both times we went over this.”

Jeremy shrugged and gave him a shit-eating grin. “Doesn’t mean I was actually listening.”

Michael growled in annoyance.

“It’s the Halloween spooky week thing. All the themed Let’s Play videos for October. We’re gonna announce it during this week’s AHWU. I thought we could do a cool creepy bit or some shit,” he said and began arranging the black candles around the edge of the pentagram board.

“Oh! Sweet!” said Jeremy. “I’ll get the lists of games videos coming out.”

Jack came in, a bag of takeaway in one hand, and his backpack in the other.

“Oh, is that for the spooky week?” he asked, eyeing Michael’s work.

“See? Jack knows what’s going on, unlike some people,” said Michael.

Jeremy flipped him off without looking over.

Michael put the last candle in place and stepped back to admire his work.

“Hm… It’s pretty good,” he said.

“Needs something more though…” said Ryan who’d been watching from his own desk. “Oh! Wait! I have an idea!” Ryan dove beneath his desk. Michael raised his eyebrow at Gavin who just giggled. Ryan emerged with a book. It was large, with a black leather cover. A gilt title was stamped across the front.

“Necronomicon?” Gavin spluttered. “Why the bloody hell would you have a Necronomicon, Ryan?”

Ryan chuckled and narrowed his eyes at Gavin.

“Every Dark God needs an instruction manual,” he intoned.

Gavin squawked and hid behind Michael. Ryan laughed again more normally.

“Nah. A fan sent it to me as a joke. I opened it on an AHWU recently. It’s not real. It’s still got a price sticker on the back.” He brought the book over and placed it in the centre of the pentagram.

“Damn. That looks pretty cool now,” said Gavin.

“Yeah. Hopefully the fans like it. I didn’t exactly ask the art department if I could borrow all this shit,” Michael said with a grin.

Geoff walked in, followed by Trevor and Alfredo.

“Oooh, spooky shit!” said an excited Alfredo.

“Hells yeah!” added Trevor.

Geoff looked barely interested.

Jack took the lens cap off the AHWU camera and turned it on.

“So, how we gonna do this?” he asked.

Michael shrugged.

“Oh! We could do like the normal intro, like, ‘Hi, this is whoever and welcome to-’ then we cut to a dark screen and all you can see is us all standing around the pentagram and candles and we all chant ‘AHWU’ really creepy,” said Trevor.

There was a general excited mutter at this suggestion. They carefully maneuvered The Lovely Ryan so it was no longer in frame and Jeremy grabbed the microphone. He stood with his back to the camera and Jack hit the record button. Jeremy whipped around and grinned into the lens.

“Hi, this is Jeremy and welcome to…”

“Perfect,” said Jack. He hit stop and they moved the table back. Jeremy dropped the mic on his desk.

“Come on all of you. This will look way cooler if we’re all stood round,” said Michael. He, Gavin, Trevor, Jack, Jeremy and Alfredo all arranged themselves around the little table.

“Wait! We still gotta light all the candles,” said Gavin.

“Who’s got a lighter?” said Jack, looking around.

“I’m sure we’ve been sent like twelve in the mail so far,” said Jeremy, also glancing about the room.

“Right here,” said Ryan and they heard a terrifying hissing noise.

“Jesus fuck, Ryan,” said Jeremy, jumping back a little.

Ryan brandished the tiny gun shaped lighter that was currently sporting an almost invisible blue-white flame. He lit all the candles and let the lighter click off.

Jeremy groaned and rolled his eyebrows as Ryan did the clichéd ‘blowing the smoke from the barrel’ thing.

“Somebody get the lights!” crowed Gavin.

Alfredo darted over and flicked them off. Immediately the room was plunged into darkness.

“Ah, fuck, can’t see shit,” said Jeremy.

Everybody’s eyes began to adjust to the darkness.

“Hm, we should probably check whether you can see anything through the camera,” said Jack and went to look at the viewfinder.

“It looks kinda weird with all the monitors in the darkness. Can you guys turn them off?”

The Achievement Hunters all went to switch off their respective computer screens. Gavin swore as he tripped over something in the gloom. Michael laughed. Jack checked the camera again.

“I mean, it looks okay. It’s really dark though. The candles barely light anything.”

“We need some up lighting,” said Gavin.

“Up lighting?” asked Michael.

“Yeah, like this, watch.” Gavin went over to the lamp that stood in the corner of the room. He removed the shade and dragged it over to the table. He laid it down and switched it on. Immediately everyone now gathered back around The Lovely Ryan were eerily lit from below, casting sharp shadows over the curves of their faces.

“Yeah! That looks much better!” said Jack.

“Fuck, you guys look nearly identical in this lighting,” said Ryan, pointing between Trevor and Alfredo.

“Uncanny,” added Jeremy.

“Alright, lighting sorted. Now recording. Everybody arrange themselves. Squeeze in so you’re all in frame. Make room for me and Geoff - Geoff, get over here!”

There was an exasperated sigh from the other side of the room. The rest of AH laughed. Jack dragged the reluctant Geoff from his chair and stood him with the rest of the group.

“Okay. So, should we be looking at the camera for this?” Gavin asked Trevor.

“That might be the creepiest, sure.”

“And we just say ‘AHWU’?”

“Sure.”

“Where do you find waves and sand?” asked Jeremy.

“Sure -hey!” said Trevor. Everyone sniggered after a second and somebody punched Jeremy in the darkness. They all settled and focused on the camera.

“On three? One, two, three…”

“AHWU…”

“Ugh. That was awful. Too quiet. And you all trailed off at the end,” said Trevor.

There was some grumbling and shuffling.

“Again, but more volume. One, two, three-”

“AHWU…” This time they sounded a lot more like some dark cult. There was laughter.

Trevor’s grin was bright in the up lighting. “Okay, just one more for posterity.”

“Heh. Posterity,” muttered Jeremy.

“Ass!” added Geoff unnecessarily.

“Ugh, Alfredo’s in my bubble,” whined Gavin overdramatically.

“Okay, okay. Alfredo, come stand closer to me,” Trevor said and slung his arm around his pseudo-twin. “Come on. One more time. One, two, three…”

The Achievement Hunters took a breath. Michael wasn’t sure how to describe what happened after that. When he played the tape back later, it didn’t seem like anything odd had happened, but he would have sworn up and down that there’d been a sudden draught in the room. The chill breeze stole around him, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. The black candles guttered and flickered.

“AHWU!” they chanted. The sound rang around the room with a sudden intangible weight. There was a deathly pause and then-

“Ah! Fuck! What the fuck!”

“Ow! Bloody, bollocking-”

“Shit! Ow!”

“Ow! That hurt!”

“What happened to the lamp?”

“Fuck, somebody turn the lights back on!”

There was muttering and more cursing and somebody stumbled in the direction of the door. The Achievement Hunters winced as the room light switched back on. They all blinked, adjusting again to the sudden brightness.

“What the fuck just happened?” cried Geoff. He brought a hand away from his face where a tiny cut was already welling with blood.

A wisp of smoke ousted the culprit; the lamp that Gavin had laid down for the up lighting effect had blown. The bulb had burst, sending glass shards everywhere. It seemed that everyone had gotten a tiny slice or two. Gavin was moaning and holding his finger. Jeremy laughed as he touched the blood dribbling from the tiny cut on his arm.

“Well, that couldn’t have been better timing for extra creepiness,” he said.

“Spoo-oo-ooky!” wailed Alfredo, wiggling his fingers at Jeremy while Trevor winced and pressed a hand to the gash on his bicep.

“Alright, if any of you babies need a bandaid I have some in my desk,” said Ryan, rolling his eyes. The rest of AH chattered and returned to work. Jeremy blew out all the candles, picked up the microphone and began recording the rest of the AHWU segments. Ryan had already grabbed a parcel for the unboxing part of the video. Michael stood in the middle of the room still. He touched the tiny cut on his neck and frowned. A strange feeling coiled in his gut. What had just happened? Had something broken the light? That weird cold sensation… He shook his head. He was just imagining things.

They played a multitude of spooky games during the month of October. Dead by Daylight made a recurrence with some brand new killers, along with Friday the 13th, Witch It, White Noise Two, some Call of Duty: Zombies, and they even managed to get Geoff into a VR version of Duck Hunt which turned into some weird virtual horror game where the dog came out of the game and hunted you. The spooky AHWU intro went over with the fans well, and the art department wasn’t too pissed when Michael returned the pentagram and candles later. Everything was normal in the AH office, but still, Michael felt uneasy. He put it off at first, blaming it on bad breakfast food perhaps, or maybe too many drinks from that recording of Off Topic. But as the days continued, the feeling persisted. Whenever there was a lull in conversation, or he found himself alone in the office, or the bathroom, or the car - it was there. The others seemed perfectly normal. None of them seemed to have that same strange cold feeling gnawing at his insides. The breeze tickling at his neck hairs. The faintest imagined whisperings at the edges of his hearing. Michael sighed. Years of working at Achievement Hunter had probably finally driven him insane. Maybe he could slowly transition into becoming the Mad King’s acolyte or something?

“You alright, boi?”

Michael looked up, startled.

“What?”

Gavin was peering across at him.

“You okay, my little Michael? You’re being awfully quiet,” he said, grinning into his microphone. Michael turned back to his screen and realised he’s been staring at the same spot of ground in his magical garden in their Skyfactory Let’s Play for the past few minutes. He made his character jump around a bit in an effort to shake himself out of whatever funk he’d slipped into.

“Micoo, Micoo,” Michael mocked. “When are you gonna grow out of that dumb-ass accent?”

Gavin squawked, offended. Michael chuckled.

“Ge-off,” Gavin moaned. “Michael’s being pissy… He’s being all mean to me.”

“Don’t make me turn this Let’s Play around,” Geoff deadpanned. The others laughed.

“Are we there yet?” Jeremy added, pretending to whine.

“Mom, he’s touching meee…” Ryan complained in a high voice.

Gavin had leaned over and pushed against Michael's shoulder, giving him a reproachful look. Michael just laughed.

“Gavin, quit it - stop it Gav - fuckin’ stop! He really is touching me now!” Michael said, his character jerking around on the screen uncontrollably as Gavin bumped him. Gavin persisted as Michael tried to brush him off. The curly haired lad’s smile slipped.

“Gavin! Fucking stop! I mean it!”

The Brit made more squeaking noises and withdrew. Jeremy and Ryan laughed.

“Michael the rage guy,” said Jack.

Michael turned back to his screen. He felt the anger simmering in his gut. His mouth twisted to the side as he forced himself to calm down. That was weird. Gavin hadn’t been bothering him that much. He normally wouldn’t have blown up that quickly.

“That reminds me though - Michael, did you have a look at that game I sent you? It seems pretty alright for a new Rage Quit,” said Ryan.

Michael schooled his features into a calm expression.

“No, I haven’t had a look yet. I might get to it this afternoon though if I have some time-”

“Argh fuck no I fucking did it again I threw another egg fuuuuuuck-” Geoff screams were drowned out by roars of laughter.

Michael logged into the Xbox in the soundproofed streaming room. The rest of AH had already left for the afternoon, so it was just him in the office. He loaded up the cheap-ass game Ryan had suggested and put on his headphones. He was almost relieved at the blast of techno menu music. The silence of the office had been getting to him. Michael scratched his forehead. For some reason his scalp had been weirdly itchy all day. He was also beginning to get a headache. He took a sip of the water he always had on hand for Rage Quit - it helped to not blow out his voice too much.

Michael started his capture, checked the audio levels and then began recording. The game seemed to be a cross between Race the Sun  and The Impossible Game, a sort of half flying platformer. It was, of course, also infuriating as fuck, and he reiterated this fact into the microphone several times at volume. As soon as he’d begun playing, a counter at the top of the screen had begun counting up his deaths. He hit a hundred deaths within ten minutes.

“The most annoying part about this fucking game - I don’t mind the dying - dying’s fucking fine and dandy, and even the counter isn’t bothering me - it’s that fucking sound. That smug-ass fucking sound like the game’s laughing at you for dying. Listen to it-” Michael let himself die on purpose, and the mocking little tone sounded again. “Fucking condescending piece of shit sound effect!”

He tried. He really did. He’d made it almost a minute through the levels that ever-increased in speed and then ran into the same obstacle he’d been running into, again.

He swore. Long and loud. He threw the controller onto the desk and pounded the surface with his fists. He tore off his headphones and ended the video capture. It was a pretty good ending, but he didn’t think he could record for a second more anyway. The pain in his head had spiked. Michael groaned and shut his eyes, rubbing at his temples with his hands.

“Michael…”

Michael jumped and his eyes snapped open. He looked around. The AH office was empty. He leant back in his chair and peered into the support room. Empty too. He frowned.

“Imagining things…” he muttered. “Fuckin’ headache is driving me nuts.”

He grabbed his water and slammed the rest of it. Maybe he was dehydrated or something. As he put the cup back on the desk, he noticed the black marks. He froze, staring at them. Two rings of dark marks had suddenly appeared on the fake wood laminate. He leant closer and got the distinct smell of burnt plastic.

“Scorch marks…? What the…?”

He rubbed at one. He could feel where the laminate had started to bubble from heat. Surely those hadn’t been there when he’d started recording? But they must have been. What could have made such a mark anyway? A cup of tea or coffee that was too hot, perhaps? No… The centres were too large. Slowly, Michael curled his hands into fists. The cold feeling stole back into his stomach as he moved his hands to line up with the marks. They matched perfectly. The dark burns radiated out from where he’d slammed his hands on the table in anger.

“Michael…”

He leapt away from the desk. His chair toppled and clattered to the floor. He grabbed his phone and tore out of the office.

Michael was tempted to call in sick the next day. He certainly felt ill enough for it. His headache had not subsided, and he felt strangely cold and hot all over. He took a bunch of Tylenol and downed a gallon of water and told himself to get the fuck over it. It had been late. He’d been tired. He was probably dehydrated and possibly hallucinating. There was nothing to be frightened of. It was just work. He wasn’t Lindsay - he wouldn’t believe in something as fucking stupid as a- well, whatever the fuck supernatural explanation she might have for his dumb imaginings. He made himself go in and act natural.

Ryan noticed that Michael looked a little pale. He’d also been noticing the lad’s odd silences in videos. It’d been like he’d had something else on his mind. Ryan rubbed his head.

“He’s not the only one,” he muttered.

“Michael!” cried Gavin, bouncing over to the curly-haired lad. “Do you want to do a playps’ today?”

Michael gave him an irritated look, but then schooled his features into something more amiable.

“Maybe later Gavvers. I'm not really feeling up to it just this morning.”

“Aw, what's wrong, boy?”

“Eh. Just this weird-ass headache. I'll be fine later.”

Gavin frowned at his friend and went back to his desk.

Ryan put his headphones on. Michael had a headache too? Perhaps they were coming down with something. Ryan sighed. Wouldn't that just be their luck - finally a few weeks where they were all in the office together and they all get sick. He went to get himself a Diet Coke. Water it may not be, but it was still some form of fluid, and the cool drink would be able to help with his head. He passed Trevor on his way to the fridge.

“What’s on the shooting schedule for the day?” he asked.

“Good question,” said Trevor. The lanky man pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled through it.

“Ah, there’s some new multiplayer races and cars in GTA5 that you guys could check out. Races with the whole crew are always a big hit. We’re full up on Skyfactory episodes- don’t pout at me! You guys love that game so we always have a backlog ‘cause you play it so damn much. If you wanna do something, record some more Seven Days. That ought to scratch your open world crafting fix,” Trevor said, brandishing his phone. Ryan laughed.

Trevor looked back at his phone. Alfredo appeared behind him, peering over his shoulder.

“Don’t forget the raid,” he mock whispered.

“Oh! Of course. Also - Destiny 2 raid. Are you all appropriate light level?”

“It’s power level,” called Geoff.

“Power, light, confetti - who cares? Are you all ready to do that?”

“Hell yeah!” said Jeremy, swivelling in his seat.

Geoff gave a thumbs up. Ryan and Michael nodded.

“Good. Perhaps we can do that tomorrow?”

“Wait! No, we can't tomorrow. I’m not leveled enough,” said Jack.

“How about by the end of the week?” asked Trevor.

“I can probably be ready by then,” said Jack.

“Weird. Who would have ever thought that at some point in your life, your homework was to go home and play video games?” said Jeremy.

“Can’t believe I’m not in it,” Gavin muttered.

Alfredo bounced over and gave him a hug from behind. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of all of them for you.”

“Geo-off! The Sauce is touching me again!”

“What? Do you need a napkin or something?” said Geoff.

Gavin made an unhappy noise as Alfredo rubbed his cheek on Gavin’s head.

The week progressed and things were mostly normal around the office. On Wednesday morning Geoff made an announcement that there was a stack of painkillers, hand sanitiser and instant chicken soup on his desk and that “If any of ya’ll motherfuckers end up sick, I’m gonna fire your asses!”

By Friday, the supply was nearly gone, along with all of their patience. They were normally snippy at each other, but it had always been a playful thing. Lately, the sharp comments had been downright mean. Everyone’s heads were aching, but they refused to quit. Besides, they had a raid to do.

The Destiny 2 recording had started out slow. The Achievement Hunters made their way through several levels without major incident, but then things started spiraling out of control. Alfredo was losing his wits trying to explain what they had to do, while Jeremy, Michael and Geoff desperately tried to follow his instructions. Ryan, who’d been fed up all day, had attempted to make the recording session go faster by kicking things off before they were ready, and Jack thought it would be fun to needle the man when everything then went to shit. Tempers flared, controllers were slammed on desks and a shouting match ensued. Ryan and Alfredo were standing at their desks, yelling at each other while the others looked on, half in amusement, half in concern.

The two finally ran out of steam. Ryan closed his mouth with a snap and fell back into his chair. He put a hand to his head and screwed his eyes shut. Angry spikes of pain were shooting through his skull. Alfredo looked to be nursing his head too when he chanced a peek at the room again. Damn Alfredo. Damn this game. Damn the lot of them! Ryan briefly fantasized for a moment about letting out his frustrations on them in a particularly gory fashion. He blinked. There was blood on the walls. The dark, viscous red liquid was stark across the whiteboard, and turned the green wall into a strangely festive holiday colour scheme. Ryan yelped and launched out of his chair. The blood was everywhere! How did it get there so quickly? Who was hurt? What was going on? Ryan looked down and yelled again. He was drenched in it. He flinched as a hand grabbed his shoulder. He looked up and met Geoff’s concerned blue eyes.

“Ryan!”

“W-what?”

“Are you okay dude?”

Ryan looked around again. He looked at his hands. The blood was gone. Like it had never been there.

Ryan swallowed.

“You were yelling at Alfredo and then suddenly you were just freaking out. What the hell happened man?”

Ryan felt the others slowly crowding around. He avoided their gazes.

“Nothing. Nothing happened. I’m… ugh…” Ryan put his hands to his head as the headache suddenly flared again. Geoff’s grip on his shoulder tightened

“Okay. That’s it. Everybody go home. None of us are feeling well at all. None of ya’ll can tell me otherwise. We’re better off just saving where we’re at and trying this raid again next week. Early weekend everyone!”

It spoke to how bad everyone was feeling when nobody objected to this.

Ryan felt the others move away. He lowered his hands. Only Jeremy remained standing by him, wringing his hands and looking worriedly at Ryan. Despite the pain in his head, Ryan smiled.

“I’m okay Lil J,” he said.

Jeremy frowned.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. We’re all coming down with something. We’re all better off going home and resting,” Ryan said. “How are you feeling?”

Jeremy shrugged. “Yeah. Weird. Sore all over. ‘Specially my head. And irritable. I yelled at my cats this morning.” He looked ashamed.

Ryan chuckled. “You know I always pegged you for a dog guy.”

“Nah. I love my cats. They can be assholes, but they’re my assholes,” Jeremy said. He winced, turning red. “Sorry, that came out really weird.”

Ryan laughed. Jeremy grinned.

“What about you? Dog or cat guy?”

“I don’t pick favourites. I like them both,” Ryan said. “Anyway, you should go home. Feel better,” Ryan said.

Jeremy rubbed his shaved head and nodded. “You too.”

Behind them, Geoff and Jack were gathering up their things.

“Do you want to drive, or shall I?” asked Jack.

Geoff sighed, the slump of his shoulders showing just how much this illness was wearing on him. Jack smiled softly.

“I’ll drive then, don’t worry.”

Geoff looked up at him, gratitude written in every line of his face. Jack pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead and led him from the room.

Gavin faffed about at his desk. Michael watched him out of the corner of his eye. He was worried about the Brit. Gavin complained about every little thing that happened to him, except the actually important things. Everyone else’s heads were throbbing and Gavin hadn’t said a thing, so it was guaranteed that he was in just as much pain. Gavin would probably deny it til it killed him. Gavin looked up and Michael quickly pretended to be doing something on his computer. He felt heat rush into his cheeks and anxiously hoped that his fair complexion wouldn’t give him away. He’d worked with Gavin for years now. At first he’d been irritated by the squawking British presence, but had gradually warmed to Gavin. They became fast friends and worked together extremely well. It had only been in a recent moment of drunkenness during an outing for ‘bevs, that he’d stumbled into Gavin, coming much too close to the man and had suddenly realised how downright gorgeous Gavin was. Of course, Michael’s idiot brain had thrown up excuse after excuse, starting with the fact that he wasn’t sure if Gavin was gay. Gavin knew of course that Michael was gay, but that made it even more odd. If Michael had never shown an interest in dating Gavin in the many years they’d been working together, why would he start now? It was all just so fucking complicated.

The outcome of this continuing affection made Michael now want to keep an eye on Gavin while this weird sickness or whatever it was ran its course. Trevor and Alfredo walked in and told the room that they were also not feeling real great and were heading home as well. Michael had a sudden brainwave.

“Hey! You two!”

Michael fought the urge to roll his eyes as the pair turned around nearly in sync.

“I know you guys are heading out, but do you maybe want to come around my place? We could have like a night in. Maybe play a boardgame. Relax and stuff.”

Trevor and Alfredo considered this. Michael looked at Gavin who was fiddling with his phone now.

“Hey,” he said, nudging him with his foot. “You wanna come too?”

Gavin looked up and gave him a dazzling smile. “Sure, boi.”

Chapter Text

Jack was quiet in the driver’s seat. He knew Geoff was in pain, and was trying not to let on how much his own head hurt too. They just had to get home and then they could collapse and finally rest.

He parked in the driveway of their new house. They’d only just moved in together a few months ago, and the pair couldn’t have been happier. After years of dancing around each other, and the growth of AH, they were finally together. The thought made Jack smile as he grabbed his bag and headed to the door, Geoff trailing after him.

They both went inside and Geoff flopped onto the couch.

“Do you want me to get you anything?” Jack asked. “Water? Tylenol? Some food?”

“I’d love a drink. Maybe that will numb the pain a little,” Geoff mumbled into the couch cushions.

Jack frowned. “Geoff, don’t say that. You’re doing so well. You’ve been dry for ages now. You can’t let a little headache defeat you like this.”

“Little headache, my ass! It feels like someone’s cutting my head open with a chainsaw!”

Jack wrinkled his nose.

“I’ll get you some soup,” he said.

Geoff huffed.

Jack strode to the kitchen and grabbed a pot and a can of chicken soup. Utensils clattered loudly on the cooktop as he worked. Jack tensed as he felt a hand on his back.

“I’m sorry I’m being a bit of a dick. I haven’t even asked how you feel,” Geoff said.

“I’m fine,” Jack said. The growl it came out as belied his words.

“That’s not true. You and I both know it. Here, let me help,” Geoff said. He reached for the ladle in Jack’s hand, but the taller man snatched it away.

“I can do this,” he snapped.

Jack met Geoff eyes to see the man frown. A muscle twitched in Geoff’s jaw.

“Jack. I’m just trying to help. We both feel like shit. Why won’t you let me help?”

“Why won’t you let me just do this?” Jack said. He was half surprised by how loud his voice was. The other part of him revelled in it. There was a feeling, somewhere deep inside him. It felt good to yell. All he did was look after the others. Look after Geoff. Even the fans knew it. The called him the Mom of Achievement Hunter. The healer. The support class. The least liked.

“It seems it’s the only thing I’m good at!” he yelled.

Geoff looked shocked, but the expression turned almost instantly to anger. His eyes flashed.

“I’m just trying to help you! Don’t fucking yell at me when I’m just trying to lend a hand!”

“Who’s fucking yelling now?” Jack roared.

Geoff took a step forward, his teeth bared. His blood was racing. He felt too hot. Something was wrong and he knew it, but couldn’t tear himself away. Something in him was urging him on, egging him to fight, to yell, to scream, to rend…

A searing pain shot through Geoff. He bellowed. Hands going to his head.

Jack grinned cruelly. The thing inside him rejoiced at seeing someone in pain. Geoff squinted up at Jack and seeing the other man laughing, couldn’t hold back. He struck out. Jack snarled and reeled back, his cheek smarting. He recovered quickly though, anger suddenly coursing through him, followed swiftly by a bolt of agony that knocked him onto his knees. Geoff was clutching at the kitchen counter, keening in pain.

It was hard to say whether Jack’s or Geoff’s started first, or whether it was simultaneous. Black horns erupted from Geoff’s head, while dark brown ones grew from just above Jack’s temples. Geoff’s grew upwards and outwards slightly with thick ridges along their lengths, then kinked backwards a little. Bright blue spits of flame licked along their lengths, and a larger, sputtering ball of fire burst to life just above his head. From the base of Geoff’s spine sprouted a thin black tail. Blue fire flitted down its length, engulfing the arrow-shaped tip.

Jack’s horns grew out and downwards, curving towards his chin. The ridges grew hard and sharp, jutting out along the lengths of the thick horns, framing his face in spikes. The dark brown horns were accompanied by wisps of ethereal black smoke. Black smoke also seeped from the tail that now poked over the top of Jack’s jeans. This tail too was brown and had spikes along its tip, matching those on its owner’s head.

Both men panted and groaned. Jack felt weirdly lightheaded even as his new horns weighed him down. Geoff looked confused as his brain tried to process the sensory information that was coming from his new limb.

Jack looked up at Geoff and froze. When their eyes met, they both screamed and tried to scramble backwards. Jack yelped again in pain as he landed on his tail. Geoff somehow managed to get his horns caught in the stair banisters.

Jack was shaking. Geoff’s eyes were no longer blue. The sclerae had turned completely dark, while the irises glowed a terrible red. Jack didn’t know it, but his own eyes had changed too; they were entirely black.

“Ow! What the fuck!” Geoff’s hands came up to grab onto the stair railing. His tail lashed. His right hand grabbed the wooden railing, but his left landed on something a lot warmer and rougher.

“What…” His hand travelled down the horn to where it emerged from his skull. Geoff swallowed.

Jack meanwhile was staring at his hands. His fingernails had elongated into what could only be called claws. He jumped again as his tail swished into view, trailing wisps of dark smoke.

“Geoff…?” he called cautiously. “I… um… I think something’s happened to me.”

Geoff’s eyes were wide as his tail too waved about, flickers of pale blue fire emanating from it.

“I think something’s happened to me too,” he said slowly. He tried to pull his head away from the banister, but found he couldn’t. “And I think I could use a little help.”

Jack’s anger flared at Geoff’s words, but he squashed it down immediately. He did not know what the hell was going on here, but they needed to be level headed about it.

Jack got cautiously to his feet. He had to steady himself on the kitchen counter as he suddenly felt off balance.

“Probably the tail,” he muttered, the total disbelief he was feeling not making itself known in his tone. He walked slowly out of the kitchen, quickly adjusting to the new weight at his back and head.

He stopped when he saw Geoff again. His breathing stuttered. Geoff in turn looked equally as apprehensive. The older man cleared his throat though.

“I, uh, seem to be stuck,” he said. He gestured with a hand, also clawed now too, to his horns. His horns . Dumbly, Jack walked over and gently helped Geoff free from the banisters.

Half of Jack was screaming at him to get away, to run and hide, because that was a monster. There was some sort of demon in their living room. The other half saw the scared, reproachful look on Geoff’s face and just made him want to hug his boyfriend. So he wrapped his arms around Geoff’s shoulders and held him tight. After a moment, he felt Geoff’s arms encircle him and hug back.

“What’s going on?” Geoff whispered.

“I don’t know,” Jack whispered back.

They both pulled back and, almost shyly, looked at each other. Jack watched the little flame sitting between Geoff’s horns flicker. His gaze traced down again to Geoff’s strange eyes. Geoff hesitantly reached out and ran a light finger down one of Jack’s horns, then laid his hand on his partner’s chin.

Geoff frowned. “My headache is gone.”

Jack tilted his head. “Now that you mention it, so is mine.”

“You don’t think that… that maybe somehow this illness we’ve been coming down with… it somehow led to this?”

“I’ve never seen, or even heard of an illness like this,” Jack said.

“It would explain it though. The headaches could have been like teething pains. The horns growing inside our skulls.”

“It - it does sound logical,” Jack stammered. “But that doesn’t explain why or even how .” He was starting to panic. He could feel his hands trembling. Geoff pulled him closer. He looked into those black eyes.

“Hey. Hey, calm down for a second. It’s okay. This is all going to be okay,” he said softly. “You’re fine. You’re not hurt are you?”

Jack went still. He shook his head.

“Good. See? We’re okay.” Geoff broke eye contact and hugged Jack again. They just held each other for a few minutes.

“I’m sorry,” Jack mumbled.

“Huh? What are you apologising for?”

“I yelled. I was being terribly unreasonable. You were just trying to help me.”

Geoff shook his head. “You don’t have to apologise. I’m starting to think that was another of the side effects from all of this. You’re never intentionally mean. I know you didn’t mean it.”

Jack nodded. He was suddenly exhausted. Dealing with the headache, the fight, the transformation - it had taken a lot out of him. He sagged against Geoff. Geoff rubbed his back soothingly. Jack felt the ghost of a smile creep onto his face. It was nice to be taken care of for a change, rather than looking after all the others. Jack’s black eyes snapped open. The others .

Trevor was rattled. He’d been having these awful headaches and moodswings all week. Just this afternoon it had all peaked and he’d nearly fallen out of his chair from the pain. He knew the Achievement Hunters all had similar ailments and he’d raided their stash of soups and pain-killers. He vaguely heard shouting through the walls as he grasped his pounding head in his hands. That level of furour ought to be a good video, whatever it was. Eventually the pain subsided a little. He took a drink of water, his hands trembling slightly. He was surprised when Alfredo traipsed in soon after. He dropped his head down onto Trevor’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong sweetie?” he asked, leaning his head on his boyfriend’s.

“Geoff’s sending us all home. We’re not feeling well.”

“Aw. Infighting in AH? Not good.”

“Well, I mean, the video did go to shit, but none of us are feeling well. I don’t really wanna leave but...” Alfredo said, turning so he could face Trevor. The pair smiled softly at each other. The rest of AH had laughed and joked about them looking and acting so much alike when Alfredo had first come to visit. So they had hammed it up. They were always together, and played and flirted like nobody’s business. It was only after Geoff had invited Alfredo to become a permanent member of AH, and Trevor’s heart had leapt, that he’d realised it. He’d stuttered when he’d asked Alfredo if he needed help moving his stuff to Austin and Alfredo had picked up on it immediately. The pair had been happily dating for weeks now.

“I think I could still edit, but I’m not feeling so great myself,” admitted Trevor.

“Well, then you should go home too,” said Geoff, sticking his head in the door of the support office. “And so should anyone else who’s feeling ill. We’re all going, so you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

“Okay. I’ll go let the rest of AH know too,” said Trevor. Alfredo grabbed his hand and helped him out of his seat.

A relaxing game at Michael’s house sounded perfect. Alfredo pulled up behind Trevor and got out. Michael had pulled into his garage and he and Gavin slammed the car doors. Michael fished his keys from his backpack as he led the three up the front steps.

“Not expecting guests?” Trevor joked as they all stepped over some shoes in the hallway.

Michael shoved him but laughed.

They all dropped their bags and kicked off their shoes and collapsed onto Michael’s giant couch.

“So. Board games or video games?”

“Board games. I don’t think I wanna look at a screen any more tonight,” said Alfredo.

“Fair point,” said Michael. He rummaged around underneath the coffee table and pulled out a couple of battered boxes.

“What do we feel like then? I have Risk , Scrabble, Catan and of course, the ever popular Monopoly. ”

“Not Monopoly, ” said three voices in unison. They all laughed.

“ Catan then?” asked Trevor.

There was a general murmur of agreement.

“Here, you guys set this up then. I’ll order us some pizza,” Michael said and shoved the other games away.

They’d barely started before Michael was already tearing his hair out. Somehow the pissy mood from the office had followed them here and they’d begun sniping at each other over the opening moves of the game.

“But I wanted to move there!” Gavin yelled, his voice high.

Alfredo and Trevor giggled as Michael groaned.

“Tough shit. I went there.”

“But Michael! That’s so mean! You mean Jersey bastard!”

“And you’re an annoying British fuck! Why the fuck do you always have to be so irritating? You piece of shit!” Michael narrowed his eyes at Gavin.

The bright light in Gavin’s eyes dulled. “Michael…”

“Seriously? Do you just get off on being annoying? The squawking noises, the carrying on, the just… everything… you are so annoying!” Michael didn’t know when he’d gotten to his feet, much less when he’d begun advancing on Gavin, pointing a threatening finger. The lad’s eyes were wide and frightened and he was scrambling backwards across the floor. Part of Michael knew what he was doing was wrong. He was yelling at Gavin. He was scaring him. He wanted Gavin to like him, not be terrified of him. He couldn’t stop himself though. Harsh words poured from his mouth, fed from a source deep within him that pulsed and burned like fire.

Gavin was scared out of his wits. It was rare that Gavin tossed out insults, but something had urged him to jab at Michael. Michael had turned to him with hard eyes. The vitriol that had spewed from the Jersey lad was not surprising, but the fact that it hadn’t stopped was. Michael had leapt up, towering over Gavin. Gavin had never been truly afraid of Michael before this.

Alfredo and Trevor looked on in shock. They’d always known Michael to blow up at stuff - he was the Rage Quit guy after all. This was something else though. They reacted at the same time as Michael lunged at Gavin. The British lad screamed as Trevor and Alfredo pulled Micheal off him.

“Michael, dude! What the fuck are you doing?” yelled Trevor.

“Yeah! Calm down man!”

Michael was still yelling, but there were no more words. His eyes were screwed up as if he was in pain. Trevor and Alfredo both cried out and let go of him. They jumped backwards.

“Ow! Fuck! That burns!” Trevor moaned.

Alfredo was looking wide-eyed at his reddened hands. Michael, with no one left to hold him up, collapsed to the floor and clutched his head in his hands. Horns burst from between his fingers as a tail sprang from the top of his pants. Two large, dark, rough horns grew from Michael’s temples, curled back and around like a ram’s. Two smaller horns also sprouted further up his forehead, but stopped at about two inches. A small fringe of horns sprouted in a line down into Michael's sideburns. The dark tail that lashed suddenly was lined along the sides with similar spikes, culminating in two large ones at the end. Michael was on his hands and knees. He heaved in great breaths, his whole body trembling. There was a few seconds of shocked silence. Then Michael opened his eyes and burst into flame. The others screamed and fell backwards. Michael screamed too. He was burning. Hungry orange flames licked along his arms and obscured his vision. His whole head was on fire.

Trevor scrambled into the kitchen on autopilot. He threw open cupboards, searching frantically for - there! He grabbed the small red cylinder and yanked out the pin. He popped up over the kitchen island and saw Michael now shaking his arms in a panic, trying to put out the flames. Trevor took a second to aim the nozzle, closed his eyes and squeezed. The fire-extinguisher was surprisingly loud as a cloud of white erupted and engulfed Michael. After a few moments, he let up. Michael was coughing and choking, now covered in a layer of thick white powder, and unfortunately, still appeared to be on fire. Trevor rounded the island and squeezed the handle again, hosing his friend down. After a few more seconds, he stopped. Trevor’s eyes widened. Michael had fallen to the floor. He was thoroughly covered in white now and was struggling to breathe. Gavin and Alfredo had retreated to the couch and looked on in fear as the flames near Michael’s head flared up again. Trevor raised the extinguisher again.

“Wait!” cried Gavin. He pointed to Michael who was feebly attempting to raise his arm.

“Stop,” Michael croaked.

“I think you’re hurting him!” said Gavin. He vaulted over the back of the couch and approached slowly.

“Hurting him? But he’s still on fire!” Trevor yelled.

“I know! I think he’s supposed to do that,” Gavin said.

Trevor’s mouth hung open as Gavin dropped to his knees in the white powder and shuffled towards Michael. He swallowed down his fear and confusion and reached for his friend. He could still feel the heat from the small orange flames that flickered around Michael’s horns as he helped the lad wipe away the worst of the powder that was choking him.

“You okay boi?” he asked softly.

“I… what… what just happened?” Michael’s voice was rough as he looked up at Gavin. The skinny lad flinched. Michael's pupils had been reduced to slits. His irises were pools of fire and no white could be seen.

“I… I was on fire… I was trying to put it out. I -” Michael’s strange eyes grew wide as he looked at his hands and the claws that tipped his fingers.

They both jumped as tinny music blared through the room. Trevor dropped the fire extinguisher with a thump and pulled his phone from his pocket.

“Jack?” he said, answering it.

Jack and Geoff pulled up at Michael's house. They parked behind the other two cars that were there and got out. Geoff hung up his phone and cursed.

“Jeremy still not answering?”

“Neither is Ryan,” Geoff muttered.

Jack raised an eyebrow as the fireball above Geoff’s head sputtered.

Trevor and Alfredo were waiting on the porch. They’d gotten up, relieved grins on their faces, as soon as the gents’ car had pulled up, but upon seeing Jack and Geoff, their expressions had turned to ones of horror. Alfredo grabbed onto Trevor’s arm as the pair approached.

“Hey, whoa. We’re not going to hurt you,” Jack said, frowning.

“Uh-huh, sure,” said Trevor, shrinking back against the porch railing. Geoff and Jack both had to squash down uncomfortably angry reactions. Jack shook his head.

“Where’s Michael and Gavin?”

“They’re inside,” said Alfredo. “Michael won’t come out of the bathroom.”

Michael sat in the bathtub, arms around his knees, rocking back and forth. He’d leapt up from the living room floor when Gavin had tried to touch his face. He’d run into the bathroom, locked the door and leapt into the bathtub. He’d turned the water on full blast and stepped under it, only to leap back with a scream. The had water hit him and turned to steam. The feeling of the liquid on his body had been excruciating. So, he sat at the other end of the tub, watching the cold water run down the drain, his clothes and skin still caked in flame-suppressant powder.

“Michael! Michael! Let me in! You need help! Please let me in!”

Michael ignored Gavin’s continued pleas. He ignored the strange feeling of the horns curled about his ears and the long tail that twitched behind him. He ignored the smoking holes in his shirt and jeans. And he staunchly ignored that whisper in the back of his head.

“ Michael… Why are you afraid? You are finally free, don’t you see? Free to do anything and everything you’ve ever wanted… ”

There was a sudden pounding on the door.

“Michael!”

“Geoff! He’s probably really freaked out. No need to scare him any more.”

Geoff. And Ryan? No, that was Jack’s voice.

“Michael. Could you please open the door? We just need to know you’re alright,” said Jack, his words gentle.

“Please, just let us in,” said Gavin.

“ Just let them in Michael. Let them in and let them see what you’ve become… Let them cower in terror… ”

Michael squeezed his eyes shut and hit his head on his knees.

“Michael. We know what you’re going through. We just want to help, okay?”

Michael laughed. The sound had a hysterical edge to it.

“You know how I feel? How could you possibly know? Did you spontaneously catch on fire? Did you burn your friends? Did you nearly burn down your house?”

There was a moment of silence.

“I mean, I am on fire a little bit,” came Geoff’s timid voice.

This made Michael pause.

“Huh?”

“Michael. The same thing has happened to us. And we think it’s going to happen to everyone else too,” said Jack.

“You wot?” yelped Gavin.

Michael stared at the bathroom door.

“Just let us in please,” said Geoff.

Michael cocked his head. All he could hear was the rushing of the water down the drain. The voice in his head had stopped.

“Michael let us the fuck in or we will break this door down!”

“Geoff! Stop that!”

Michael huffed. “Okay! Hold your horses you impatient fucks. I’m coming!”

He hauled himself out of the tub and carefully turned off the water. He paused for a moment as he passed the vanity mirror. He knew he was still on fire but it alarmed him to see it in his reflection. The horns that curled around his face glowed like the embers of a campfire, and flames blazed eagerly around his head and along his tail. He was surprised to think back and realise that it hadn’t actually been burning him when he’d been in the living room. He felt warm, sure, but as he tentatively poked at one of the fiery horns, all he felt was a curious tickling sensation as the fire licked over his fingers.

Jack and Geoff sat on one of the couches, while Gavin, Trevor and Alfredo sat on the other. Michael stood by the coffee table, unwilling to go near the furniture for fear of turning it into ashes. He squirmed. Everyone was staring at him.

“So, uh, what happened to you guys?” Michael asked.

Jack and Geoff blinked their strange new eyes and looked away.

“Well, we got home and we kind of had a fight,” Jack said.

“Voices raised, tempers boiling, the whole shebang,” said Geoff.

Gavin looked sharply at them. Trevor and Alfredo were holding onto each other tightly.

“I - something inside me made me want to yell at Geoff.”

“And then something inside me made me want to hit Jack.”

“Then it felt like my head was going to explode. It kind of did, I guess. These grew in about four seconds,” Geoff said, reaching up to feel the tip of one of his horns.

“Sound familiar?” asked Jack.

Michael nodded. “I don’t remember why I got so angry, but… yeah, it was basically the same thing here.”

“You said something about this happening to everyone else too?” Gavin asked.

Jack nodded. “When we’d both finished our, uh, transformations, our headaches and all the other pains and stuff had vanished. Your headache’s gone now, yes?” Jack direction the question at Michael.

Michael nodded again.

“But what - why - how -” Gavin spluttered.

“We have as much an explanation as you do Gavvers,” Geoff said. He got up and went to sit next to Gavin. Gavin only flinched a little as Geoff sat and wrapped an arm around the skinny lad. Trevor and Alfredo however leapt up off the couch. Everyone turned to look at them. Alfredo grasped Trevor’s hand and the pair of them backed away slowly.

“You… you’re all mad. This is crazy. This has to be a dream or something.” Trevor was pointing a shaking finger at them all. Jack stood up now too, hands raised in a peaceful gesture. He moved towards the pair.

“Stay back!” yelled Alfredo.

“We’re going. We’re going. Don’t any of you… you demons follow us!”

“Demons?” Michael retorted. The flames around his head flared and leapt higher. “We’re not demons! We’re your friends!”

Jack looked stricken. Trevor and Alfredo continued to creep towards the hallway.

“And you two are cowards!” Jack shouted.

“Jack!” gasped Gavin.

Jack glanced to a horrified Geoff. “Just trust me,” he whispered.

“Cowards?” hissed Alfredo.

“That’s right! You two are cowards!” Jack strode over to stand next to Michael. “Both too spineless to stay and help your friends in a time of crisis!”

Trevor and Alfredo growled, their eyes narrowing and fixing on Jack. Michael side-eyed Jack.

“Yeah! You two are too chicken to even come near us!” he said.

The pair switched their attention to Michael.

“And now you’re just going to run off. Wimps!” said Jack.

It was eerie how the couple turned in unison, mirroring each other's movements.

Michael pursed his lips. “Pussies.”

Alfredo and Trevor howled. Jack swore and grabbed Michael and pulled him out of the way as the pair lunged at them. Geoff and Gavin shrieked and leapt from the couch as the two landed with a crash, shattering the coffee table and sending Catan playing pieces all over the room. The fall broke their handhold and both of them grabbed their heads and screamed.

“What do we do? We have to help them!” said Michael.

“I - I don’t know if there is anything we can do now that their transformations have started,” Jack said, going to stand next to Geoff.

The two young men on the floor writhed and shrieked. Tears were leaking from Alfredo’s eyes. Gavin stood next to Geoff. He twisted his hands together. Michael wrapped his arms around himself. He wanted to go comfort Gavin, but after seeing him flinch when Geoff put his arms around him, he didn’t want to freak Gavin out any more.

Geoff frowned.

“Something’s wrong,” he said. Jack looked from the two on the ground, to Geoff and back.

“It’s taking too long. For us it was over in a few seconds. Something’s wrong,” Geoff hissed.

Gavin stared at them.

“What?”

“I don’t know, but something is off here. They should have transformed by now. Michael’s was quicker, wasn’t it?”

Gavin nodded rapidly.

Trevor and Alfredo were whimpering now. Trevor had rolled and was clutching the leg of the couch. His whole body seemed to seize with spasms. Alfredo was lying on his back, hands fisting his hair, feet thumping on the ground as he cried out in agony. Geoff and Jack rushed forwards. Michael darted forwards too, but could only hover uselessly as flames flickered over his skin in his agitated state.

Jack grabbed Alfredo by the shoulders, trying to dislodge his hands from his hair.

“Hey, buddy, I’m here. It’ Jack. I’m sorry I goaded you into this, but I needed to make sure you guys were with us when you turned. I would have been worried if you had to go through this alone. ‘Fredo? Can you hear me bud?”

Geoff was trying to gently remove Trevor’s death grip on the couch.

“Come on Treycs. Let go man. It’s just me. Trying to help you. It’s Geoff dude. Can you hear me?”

“It’s not working!” wailed Gavin. “They’re in pain!”

“I don’t know what to do!” Jack said, panic in his voice.

Michael’s gut was twisted in knots. He honestly just wanted to pass out from exhaustion. This night was never-ending. He wanted to help, but couldn’t do anything! He stared at the two writhing men, Jack and Geoff holding them down, trying to stop them from hurting themselves. Trevor and Alfredo’s hands grasped at the air.

“Their hands!” Michael blurted. Geoff and Jack looked over at him, startled.

“Their hands. When they got pissed, they were holding hands. They fell and broke apart. I don’t know - maybe that’s got something to do with it?”

“I don’t know,” said Geoff, frowning.

“I don’t know what else to do!” Jack said. He grabbed Alfredo by the shoulders and dragged him closer to Trevor. It took him a few seconds to pin Alfredo’s hand down, but he managed it. He pushed it down onto Trevor’s. The effect was instantaneous. A flash of green light seemed to explode from the connection, shooting up Trevor and Alfredo’s arms, coalescing around their heads. The pair screamed again as pairs of horns sprouted. These were dark and branching, almost like a stag’s, but pointier. Long, thin tails slithered from their backs, tufted with dark hair. The green light subsided as the pair relaxed on their backs, breathing like they’d just sprinted several miles. Their hands were still clasped when they opened their eyes. Everyone leapt back in shock, because they didn’t just open their own eyes. On their foreheads directly above, another pair of eyes opened. All four sets of eyes blinked up at the ceiling, their entireties glowing an otherworldly green. They sat up in unison. They looked at each other and screamed.

“Whoa! Whoa! Calm down!” Jack said, putting a hand on Alfredo’s shoulder. Alfredo jumped and looked around.

“Jack?” said Alfredo and Trevor at the same time.

“Er, yeah?”

“What… It’s happened to us too, hasn’t it?”

Gavin gulped and stood behind Geoff. Michael didn’t blame him. Trevor and Alfredo had continued speaking at exactly the same time. Jack looked mildly terrified, but kept his hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Yes. And I’m sorry I pushed you guys into it. I was just scared that you’d go off and… well I don’t know what might have happened.”

Trevor and Alfredo nodded in unison. They looked at each other and cocked their heads at the same time. If it wasn’t so fucking creepy, it would have been comical.

“Why do I see you, as well as me?” they said together. “And why do I - you - have more eyes?”

Jack backed away as Alfredo and Trevor both reached up to each other’s faces.

“We’re taking this rather well, don’t you think?” said the two.

“That is fucking creepy as dicks,” whispered Geoff.

The two turned to him, and their new antlers collided and locked.

“Ow!” they exclaimed together and let each other’s hand go. Immediately the extra pairs of eyes closed. Trevor and Alfredo blinked.

“That was fucking weird,” said Trevor.

“Definitely weird,” said Alfredo. He reached up to try to disentangle their horns.

Gavin gave a sudden snort of laughter. Everyone turned to him.

“This whole situation is too weird. I think I might be dreaming. I think I have to lay down.” He promptly sat on the floor. Michael had the urge to go comfort him again. He hung back.

“You okay  down there buddy?” Geoff asked the man at his feet.

Gavin just flapped a hand at him. Geoff looked to Jack in concern. Jack just shrugged.

“Four of his friends have just turned into, for lack of a better word, demons. I’m pretty sure he’s allowed.”

Geoff shrugged and nodded too. “Just don’t pass out on me, okay?”

Gavin nodded weakly. Jack went to help Trevor and Alfredo unlock their horns.

“You guys feeling okay now? Your, well, your transformation was a lot longer than ours. We had to get you to hold hands for some reason and you only sprouted your horns after that.”

“Hold hands?”

“Yeah for some reason it only started when you guys touched. But anyway - any residual pain?”

“No. My headache’s completely gone now. I don’t know what was with the double vision though. That was just odd.”

“Tell me about it,” said Trevor.

The pair’s heads fell away as Jack disentangled them.

“Thanks,” said Alfredo.

Trevor was rubbing his chin. “Can I try holding your hand again? I wanna see what was up with the extra eyes.”

Alfredo hesitated, but then shrugged as Jack moved away.

“Okay.”

Trevor turned and crossed his legs. He took a deep breath and laid his palm out. Alfredo looked reluctant, but laid his hand in his boyfriend’s. They both gasped as the second eyes opened again. They blinked in unison, just staring at each other.

“Oh… I get it. I’m looking through your eyes,” they said together. They both grinned. “That’s kinda freaky.” They both let go and shook their heads. They looked up at the others.

“I reiterate: fucking creepy as dicks ,” said Geoff.

Jack couldn’t help it. He laughed. Trevor began to giggle too. Pretty soon they were all lying on the floor, holding their stomachs, crying with slightly hysterical laughter.

“Seriously though, what the fuck is happening?” Trevor asked.

“I don’t have a clue dude,” Geoff said, wiping a tear from his eye.

Gavin looked around at them all shrewdly.

“The ritual,” he said.

Michael raised an eyebrow at him. “The what now?”

“The ritual. That’s what happened,” Gavin said.

Geoff patted him. “You’re making less sense than usual buddy.”

“What are you talking about?”

“During AHWU! The pentagram, the candles, the bloody book. The light shattered. We all got cut, didn’t we?”

Everyone’s hands went to the tiny cuts, now long healed, that had been caused by the burst bulb.

“Nah. That can’t be it. How could that have caused… this?” Alfred gestured to Trevor’s impressive set of antlers.

“Well, can you think of any other weird, dark spell that we’ve all done recently?” Gavin asked, crossing his arms.

“He raises a fair point,” said Jack.

“Okay. Dark summoning ritual. On accident. Brilliant,” said Geoff. “Sounds just like something Achievement Hunter would do.”

“The book! Do you think the book would have some way to reverse this then?” said Trevor.

“Of course! It’s got have to have some kind of reversal spell!” shouted Geoff.

“Yes, okay. It’s very likely, but we do have more pressing concerns at the moment,” said Jack.

“Like what?” asked Alfredo. “Something more important than getting rid of the giant horns sticking out of our heads?”

“Yes. Like the fact that Ryan and Jeremy could be going through this very same thing all on their own.”

Chapter Text

Jeremy juggled his phone, keys, bag and water bottle as he reached the front door of his apartment. His mind had been on Ryan the whole way home. He was worried about the man. He always worried about Ryan. He’d had a crush on the guy even before he’d worked at AH, back when he was just a fan, making the Rap Battles of Roosterteeth and the other dumb stuff that had helped him get hired. The first time he’d walked into the AH office as an official part of the company he’d been fucking ecstatic. Of course, he’d also make a complete fool of himself in front of Ryan immediately. For weeks after that, he’d avoided Ryan, blushing deeply whenever they made eye contact. It was only after the chastising and encouragement of his friends that he finally pulled up his socks and made a move. He flirted with Ryan, albeit terribly. They had in-jokes, they formed the Battle Buddies, and they teased each other. But when Jeremy had asked if Ryan had wanted to go get some food one day, Ryan had looked at him with a smile, apologised and explained he had other plans that evening. Jeremy had been crushed. He felt a suddenly flare of envy at whoever that lucky guy or gal was. Jeremy had smiled too and backed off after that. He still harboured an intense affection for the guy, but no longer continued to try and flirt knowing that Ryan was happy already.

Jeremy finally got his keys in the door and nearly tripped over Booker upon stepping foot inside his apartment.

“Ah! Cats!” he snapped as the disturbed feline shot away. Jeremy huffed as he shut the door.

He wondered if he should text Ryan and check that he was okay. They didn’t really text that much so that might make it weird. And besides, he only just saw the other man at work not half an hour ago. His head pounded as he kicked his shoes off in the direction of the bedroom and dropped his bag on his table. He was starving. Maybe some food would help with his head. He put some leftovers in the microwave and then shuffled the cat dishes on the floor with his foot.

“Dinner time you lot!” he called.

Immediately Booker, Scooter and Zipper came dashing out from wherever they were hiding and began meowing loudly. Jeremy chuckled and pulled their food out from the cabinet. Booker dug into his without waiting for Jeremy to finish filling the bowl. He grinned and rubbed the cat’s ears. Zipper and Scooter were a little more polite and waited til Jeremy was finished before eating. Jeremy pulled his food from the microwave when it beeped and ate it at the breakfast nook. Booker finished his dinner quickly and came over to wend his way through Jeremy’s legs, meowing again.

“No more, fatso,” Jeremy said, petting him fondly. He went back to his leftovers. He grinned, remembering his conversation about his cats with Ryan today. Jeremy groaned. He was back to thinking about Ryan again. He really needed to get laid. Maybe then he’d stop fantasizing about the man he couldn’t have. He finished his food and dropped the plate in the sink. For now, he just needed some kind of distraction. His head was pounding, yes, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Not at this early hour. So he switched on the Xbox in his living room and started a match of Rainbow 6 Siege .

Three or four matches in, Jeremy was beginning to get frustrated. Not only did this not help distract him from Ryan - they’d played the game together too much for him to not think of Ryan - but whoever he kept getting teamed with was having a terrible problem where he would shoot his teammates instead of the bad guys. Jeremy was about ready to reach through the TV and throttle the guy. A loud sound somewhere else in his apartment made him jump. He pulled off his headphones and looked around. Scooter slunk away from the kitchen in the direction of the bedroom.

“Oh no…” said Jeremy. He dropped his controller and hurried into the kitchen.

A scene of utter devastation met his eyes. Glass and and broken bottles littered the floor. The or four different alcohols mixed into one unpleasant looking brown puddle that seeped towards the fridge. Jeremy let out a bellow of frustration.

“Caaaaaats!”

He rushed to get a towel to stuff under the fridge before the sticky liquid could creep any further, ignoring the sudden spear of pain in his head. That situation averted, he turned to the job of clearing up the glass. He grabbed a sponge and a wet cloth and turned back to the mess. Among the broken glass was a lot of green shards.

“My new bottle of Jaeger!” Jeremy moaned, his headache pounding behind his eyes. “Fucking cats!”

Before he could start cleaning, Jeremy’s phone buzzed. He picked it up and pressed the home screen. For a second he could see the ten or so messages from Jack and Geoff before the screen crackled and went black, an arc of purple electricity surging over the device. Jeremy yelped and dropped the phone - directly into the putrid puddle. Jeremy stared dumbly for a second, disbelief and fury building in him - and then screamed as the pain spiked in his head. Thankfully he did not land in the glass, but rather fell backwards onto the tiled floor of his kitchen. Was this a stroke? Was he having an aneurysm? There was a strange crackling noise and Jeremy felt all the hair on his arms stand on end. He forced himself to open his eyes and look. He watched in shock as arcs of violently purple electricity shot down from the light fixture, into his body. He yelped and tried to crawl away. He didn’t make it very far before collapsing again. He howled as the pain washed over him. Something sharp protruded from the side of his skull, pushing his hand away from his head. At the same time, it felt as if his spine had suddenly elongated, coiling and thrashing down about his legs. He could barely breathe the pain was so intense. He didn’t know what was going on, but he felt like he was dying. His whole body burned and ached. And then, just as suddenly. All the pain stopped. Jeremy continued to lay facedown on the floor. He was panting as if he’d just done half a dozen full layouts in the gymnasium. He tried to sit up and somehow his head felt too heavy. He blinked in the darkness. What had happened? Was he suddenly blind? He’d had some sort of brain-thing and now he was blind! Oh, wait, he could see the streetlights shining through the living room window. Not blind then. Just a power out. He remembered the electricity coming down from the light. What the fuck was that? Had he just been electrocuted? Jeremy grumbled as he got to his feet. He needed flashlight… His phone? He turned around and patted the floor gently where he’d last seen it. He swore as he nicked a finger on a piece of glass. He found the phone and turned it over in the darkness. He cursed again when the device didn’t turn on. Of course. It had been electrocuted too. And the swim in spilt Jaeger, Baileys and vodka was not going to help its case for survival.

Jeremy padded to his bedroom, feeling along the walls for the doorframes. He fumbled with the doorknob and opened the door to his study. He blindly felt his way to his computer desk and the drawer in which he knew there was a torch.

“Aha!” He flicked it on and headed for the breaker box in his hallway. It was on the wall directly beside a large mirror that Jeremy had gotten in order to make the tiny apartment feel larger. When he passed the mirror, Jeremy shrieked and dropped his torch. With shaking hands, he bent to retrieve the light. He straightened up, took a deep breath and looked in the mirror again. He froze in terror.

Jutting out from the sides of Jeremy’s head were two horns . They were wide, curving downwards at first, and then they turned sharply, jutting almost straight up like small sickles. They were a dark colour at the base of his head, and faded to a bright orange at the tips. The next thing Jeremy noticed was his eyes. They were glowing purple, and every now and then, emitted little sparks of purple electricity. He watched, dumbfounded as an errant arc of electricity skipped over his head and travelled up one horn, then leapt across to the other.

Inside of his head, a major battle was going on. One part of him was freaking the fuck out. It wanted to scream, to run away, to just panic and collapse. The other part was freaking out, but in an excited way. He had fucking horns . He eyes were glowing! He was shooting electricity from his fingertips!

“Whoa. Claws,” he muttered, looking at said fingertips. The guys were going to flip when they saw this. Jeremy remembered his phone and the dozen or so messages from Geoff and Jack. He frowned. What had that been about? He should probably try and get back to them. But he couldn’t like this. He’d already toasted his phone. He wasn’t going to risk the same for his beloved PC. He sighed and rubbed his peach-fuzz covered head. He suddenly felt exhausted. The transformation seemed to have sapped a lot of his energy. He’d just have to see the guys tomorrow. They were so going to freak. Jeremy grinned as he flopped down onto his couch again.

Jeremy startled awake to a loud pounding at the door. He rubbed his bleary eyes. He must have been tireder than he’d thought to be able to fall asleep on his lumpy-ass couch. He stumbled to the door and pulled it open. He blinked in shock. Most of Achievement Hunter, and Trevor, was standing outside of his apartment.

“Jeremy. Before you freak out, we can explain,” said Jack, his tone low and quiet, like he was trying to soothe a scared animal. Only then did Jeremy’s eyes travel up to the new additions on their heads. His face fell.

“Aw, You guys got horns too? Not fair! I thought I was the only one!”

The others stared at him, dumbfounded.

“I… you… what?”

“Yeah! I got horns too! Bloody knocked me on my ass and fried my phone because of it, but they’re pretty sweet looking. Come in anyway.”

They all filed past Jeremy and into his living room.

“Oh - uh, sorry about the no lights and stuff. That also was part of it I guess.”

Wordlessly, the others pulled out their phones and set them on the coffee table as a light source. They seemed to illuminate the room far better than Michael's smouldering horns and the little blue flame that bobbed above Geoff’s head. They were all suddenly reminded of the moment that this had all started. It seemed to click in Jeremy’s head too.

“Wait - is that how this happened? That dumb Halloween hocus-pocus we pulled during AHWU?” Jeremy asked.

Geoff and Jack nodded and looked at each other.

“Jeremy, why aren’t you more freaked out about this?” Alfredo asked, leaning forward in his seat.

“Well, I mean, you gotta admit, it’s kinda cool, us growing horns and shit. Michael, dude, look at you! You’re literally on fire!”

Michael shifted and looked away.

“Jeremy. You don't have any horns,” Trevor said. His words were met with a confused look from the short man.

“Sure I do! They’re -” Jeremy grasped at the air next to his head. Both of his hands went to his head. “But I…” Jeremy ran to the mirror. When he shone his torch at his reflection again, it was normal. He walked back into the living room. “I swear… I had them! I had these cool looking blade horns. They were orange and my eyes were purple and shit…”

Jack stepped forward. “It’s okay Jeremy. We believe you. Honestly, there’s nothing I wouldn’t believe right now. You could tell me aliens live among us and invented velcro and I’d believe you.”

Jeremy chuckled, half-hysterically.

“Why don’t you walk us through what happened to you?”

So Jeremy did. He showed them his singed phone, the puddle of alcohol in the kitchen and then pointed to the spot where he collapsed.

“I grabbed torch and went to check the breaker in the hallway. Saw my reflection in the mirror and - yeah.”

“And that’s it? That’s when you came to answer the door?”

“I mean, essentially. I went and sat on the couch. I think I must have fallen asleep. Maybe the horns went away then?”

Alfredo, Trevor and Michael looked at each other with sudden excitement.

“So we’re not stuck like this?” Geoff asked, his voice cracking.

“I fucking hope not,” growled Michael. “How am I supposed to walk around looking like this? This is Texas! Some God-fearing idiot would probably see me, start screaming about the devil and then shoot me on sight!”

“Valid concerns,” said Alfredo, nodding, his great crown of antlers threatening to hit Jack.

“So you fell asleep and they just, what, vanished?”

“I, uh, I guess,” said Jeremy. He frowned. “So does that mean if I get mad again…” The shorter man concentrated for a moment. He felt for the anger at his cats breaking his favourite liquor, his frustration at his useless teammate in Rainbow 6 and his absolute annoyance and probably having to fork over a bunch of money for a new phone. He let the feelings flow over him and the other Achievement Hunters stepped back in shock. Jeremy’s hands went up to the sides of his head and he grabbed the sharp edges of his horns.

“Holy fuck!” breathed Geoff.

“Toldja they were cool,” Jeremy said, grinning.

“Jeremy, you’re shooting lightning bolts, Jeremy,” said an awed and scared Gavin.

Jeremy wiggled his sparking fingers at the lad and poked his tongue out, making the cheeky squeaking noise they’d come to associate with the action. Jeremy dropped his hands suddenly. A cold feeling stole into the pit of his stomach.

“Wait… where’s Ryan?” he asked, mentally counting the number of people in the room.

Jack looked grim. “That was where we were heading next. He wasn’t answering texts or calls either.”

Ryan barely made it home. HIs hands were shaking on the steering wheel the whole time. It was a miracle he didn’t hit his mailbox as he pulled into his driveway. He turned off the car and rested his head on his hands for a few minutes, just trying to get his breath. Images of the AH office drenched in blood were still flashing through his mind. No matter what he did, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. The deep, viscous red on the carpet, the walls, on his hands… Ryan shuddered. They’d always joked he was mad. He had a penchant for bloodthirstiness, but that was just in video games. He’d never do anything to hurt anyone in real life.

“I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

But you could.

“So could anyone! There’s nothing stopping people from just running other off the road, or going on a spree with kitchen utensils. Hell, this is Texas, there’s probably several guns in every house on this street. It’s just called being a sensible fucking human being.”

But just imagine it. Imagine all the red. It would be like painting…

“I don’t have to, because I wouldn’t do that.”

Ryan jumped in his seat. He was used to having internal conversations, but this was something else. He scrabbled at the car door and practically fell out into the garage. He pulled the keys from the ignition and hurried to his door. It took him several tries to get the key in the lock because he was shaking so badly.

“I wouldn’t hurt anyone… I wouldn’t…” he muttered over and over.

Red. Red, red, red…

Ryan rushed inside the house and slammed the door behind him. He felt slightly better in here. The darkness soothed his eyes. He let out a deep breath and hung his head. He should probably go to the doctor. He’d heard of fevers making people hallucinate, but this was such a sudden onset. He traipsed into the living room. He dropped his keys on the counter and went to grab a drink from the fridge. His hands were still shaking when he pulled a can of Diet Coke out and looked around for his koozie.

“Fuck. I left it around here somewhere…”

He rooted around in the cupboards in the darkness, but couldn’t find it. Cursing, he finally flipped on the lights.

The blood was everywhere. Ryan could only stare, the vivid metallic tang of it filling his nose. Gavin’s lifeless green eyes stared at him from where he was spread-eagled on the kitchen counter, throat slashed from ear to ear. Jack was disemboweled on the linoleum at his feet. Trevor, Alfredo and Geoff were seated on the couch. Ryan realised the grisly marks around their necks meant that all three had been decapitated and their heads swapped around. Michael was propped up in the living room, impaled through the chest with a curtain rod. Jeremy was pinned to the wall like a butterfly. He’d been slit down the middle and across at the collarbones, in typical autopsy fashion. His insides decorated the wallpaper like streamers. Ryan looked down. In his hand was a cold, sharp knife.

Red’s such a beautiful colour, don’t you think?

The procession of cars pulled up outside Ryan’s house and the Achievement Hunters got out. Thankfully it was dark now, so the troupe of demons went unnoticed as they approached Ryan’s front door. They fidgeted as Geoff rang the doorbell. Jack checked his phone again.

“Still no answer,” he muttered.

“He has to be in there,” Jeremy said, craning his neck to look past Geoff and Jack. “The lights are on.”

Geoff pressed the doorbell several more times. He then took to pounding on the door.

“Ryan! If you’re in there, you better let us in! We need to know if you’re alright!”

Geoff’s demands went unanswered.

Gavin was peering through the darkness at the garage. “Look, his car’s here too.”

They all turned and saw that Gavin was correct. Ryan’s SUV was parked in the garage with the roller door still up. Jeremy darted around and peered in through the driver’s door.

“Not in there. Keys are gone too.” His head whipped around. His tail lashed, showing his agitation, and purple sparks ran up and down its length. “Hey! This door is open in here!” Jeremy dashed into the darkness.

“Jeremy! Wait!” said Jack.

The rest of them hurried after the shorter man. They found him standing in the middle of the living room.

“Nothing. He’s not here.” Jeremy’s voice trembled.

“You check everywhere?” Jack pushed past everyone and went to look in Ryan’s other rooms.

“Yeah, I already looked.” Jeremy put his head in his hands. “Something’s happened to him. He can’t have just vanished!”

Geoff grabbed Jeremy’s shoulder. The younger man looked up at him, purple eyes sparking furiously. Geoff glared at him.

“Calm the fuck down. I’m sure he’s fine.”

Immediately Jeremy sagged under Geoff’s hand, the power dulling in his eyes.

“Okay,” he said in a soft tone.

Geoff’s brows drew together. “That worked better than expected… You okay Lil J?”

“I’m calm now,” he said.

“You didn’t have to take it so literally. Tell me you’re okay?”

“I’m okay,” said Jeremy.

“What the fuck…” he stuttered. “Jeremy, sit down.”

To Geoff’s shock, the lad’s knees buckled immediately and he collapsed into a sitting position on the floor. Oh god. Jeremy was doing everything he was told. Had he been doing this to the others too? Had he accidentally told Ryan to do something terrible? Geoff’s hands were shaking as he looked at his claws.

“Okay. I don’t just look like a demon. I have freaky powers to go with it.”

Geoff fell onto his knees and grabbed Jeremy’s face in his hands.

“Jeremy, listen to me buddy. I uh - fuck - I told you to calm down. How do I undo that? What’s the opposite of calm? Angry? No, I don’t want to tell you to do that! Um…. uh…” Geoff bit his lip. “Okay, Jeremy. I want you to go back to feeling like you normally do, before I told you to calm down.”

Jeremy blinked up at Geoff, purple electricity flaring in his eyes again.

“Geoff? What just happened? I was freaking out, then you told me to be calm and I just… It was like I shut down. I felt so zen I just stood there.”

“Oh thank god,” Geoff said and threw his arms around Jeremy.

“Hey! Guys, I think I found something!” Michael yelled.

The rest of AH ran from where they’d been searching the bedroom and bathroom. Michael was standing behind the kitchen counter. Geoff and Jeremy got up from the floor and crowded around too. The fridge was sitting open, the fan whirring with an exhausted sound. A Diet Coke can lay on the floor, its contents in a puddle around it. Michael knelt and touched the spilt drink.

“It’s still cold. It must have been dropped only recently,” he said.

“Do you think someone attacked Ryan?” asked Gavin.

Michael gently closed the fridge door.

“I don’t know…” Jack said slowly. “I think that if he was attacked, there would be more signs of a fight. Ryan’s a big guy. He would have gone for the pot and pans, or maybe the knife block if someone tried to get him in here.”

The dishes in the sink and the knives appeared to be untouched.

Alfredo nudged the keys on the counter. “Well, wherever he went, he left in a hurry. He forgot these.”

“Perhaps he still has his phone though?” said Trevor.

“Call him again!” Jeremy said, pointing at Jack and Geoff.

“We’ve tried that! He doesn’t pick up,” Jack said.

“Fine. I’ll do it,” Jeremy snarled. They could hear the crackle and pop of the purple sparks that ran up Jeremy’s horns. He pulled his phone out and groaned.

“Right. Of course I can’t.”

“I’ll do it Lil’ J,” Gavin said and whipped out his own phone.

He flicked to Ryan’s contact number and pressed the phone to his ear. They all watched in silence.

“It’s just ringing,” Gavin said.

“Wait,” said Michael. The all looked at him.

“I can hear… I think I can hear his phone ringing.”

They all strained their ears. Jeremy turned his head, and he could hear it too. He took off in the direction. The sound led him back to the hallway from which they’d entered. He dashed out into the garage. The sound was much louder in here. He looked under the car, but there was nothing there. The others came out too, peering around the boxes of stuff that Ryan had stacked against the sides of the garage. Finally Jeremy yanked the car door open. He reached inside and pulled out Ryan’s phone. They all looked on as he stared at the little screen. It stopped ringing as Gavin hung up his own phone.

Chapter Text

With no clue as to what to do next, they all went back to their respective homes and tried to get some sleep.

Jack and Geoff had collapsed into bed from sheer exhaustion. Their sleep was fitful, owing to the fact that they hadn’t been able to ‘turn-off’ their horns and tails as Jeremy had done. Jack’s spiky horns snagged in his pillows, and they were both kept up by the cold blue flame that hovered above Geoff’s head.

Trevor hadn’t wanted to go home alone, so he and Alfredo went to his place and they curled up on the couch, heads resting gingerly together so as not to tangle their antlers again.

Jeremy did not sleep well either. He couldn’t stop thinking about Ryan and where he might be, imagining all the horrible things that could have happened. This meant his horns stayed where they were, and made it very difficult to sleep on anything but his face. He’d tried to lay on his back, but his tail was squashed under his butt. If he moved it to the side, the vertebrate felt terribly strained at the angle.

Gavin had sidled up to Michael as they were all leaving.

“Do you think I could stay with you tonight Michael?” he asked.

Michael stared at him. “Why?”

Gavin frowned at him. “Because Michael. I’m the only one who hasn’t turned yet. I want you - someone to be there in case. Like how Geoff and Jack had to help Alfreyco.”

“I don’t think you should come home with me then. I was useless then. I’m on fire Gavin. I won’t be of any help if and when you transform,” Michael ground out.

Gavin fiddled with the hem of his shirt.

“Look. If you really are worried, and it is a legit concern, I think you should stay with Geoff and Jack. They’ll look after you, just like they did with Treycs and ‘Fredo.”

Gavin looked at his feet.

“Quickly, you moron. Before they leave,” Michael said, pointing towards the gents’ car.

Gavin nodded and traipsed off.

When Michael got home he walked into his bedroom and stared at the bed. His reflection flickered like candlelight in his dresser mirror.

“How the fuck am I supposed to sleep without burning my bed to the ground?”

His anger only made the flames climb higher.

It was a very tired and irritable Michael that walked into Geoff and Jack’s house that Saturday morning, clutching a can of Redbull. The others were already there. The seven of them had decided to call in sick for the next few days. Michael rubbed his head, realising that he’d have to somehow book a cast for the Off Topic the next week. It’d be a shitty one as they’d probably have to rope in Andy and… God, anyone else who was normal cast was in this room, currently with horns sprouting from their heads, or missing. Except for Gavin of course.

Michael sat down on the tiles where the kitchen met Geoff and Jack’s living room carpet. He waved to them all and they gave him a tired greeting.

“So. How are we going to find Ryan?” Jeremy said, hands on his knees.

“We could file a missing persons?” Geoff said.

“We will absolutely do that, but for all we know, Ryan’s turned. He’ll be trying to hide, if anything.”

“God. He could be anywhere…” said Alfredo, staring at the coffee table with glowing green eyes.

“But we’ll find him! Won’t we?” said Gavin.

“We absolutely will,” said Michael.

Gavin turned to Michael, giving him a ghostly smile. Michael suddenly realised how much pain Gavin must still be in. The curly-haired lad frowned.

“We could just go out and look for him?” suggested Trevor. “Like start at his house. Work our way through the streets from there.”

“Only one problem with that plan,” Jack said and tapped one of Trevor’s antlers.

“Ah, yes, right.” Trevor pursed his lips.

“Also, I hate to be callous, but we also kind of have to retrieve that creepy-ass book from the office. Ryan is our first priority, I know, but, if we could reverse these it’d be a lot easier to search for him,” said Geoff, indicating his own horns.

“It’s on the list,” Jack said.

“We should probably keep an eye on like local news feeds and shit. If people are reporting sights of a demon around Austin, that might clue us in,” said Jeremy.

Geoff clicked his fingers and pointed at Jeremy.

“Somebody but me better do it though. I think I toasted the stereo in my car on the way here,” Jeremy said. He clenched and unclenched his fists in front of him.

“Alfreyco?”

“On it,” said the pair and pulled out their phones.

The room was silent save for the soft tapping of fingers on screens. Michael let a heavy breath out through his nose. He look down and frowned at his spiked tail. It was twitching from side to side, giving away the anxiety he was trying to hide.

“Does anyone else have any other suggestions as to how we could find him?” Geoff asked.

Gavin bit his lip. Michael cocked his head.

“What are you thinking Gav?” he asked.

“Okay. Well, I’m not saying that something bad could have happened to him… but we could check hospital ER rooms?”

Everyone jumped as a thin bolt of purple lightning leapt from Jeremy’s horns and hit a nearby metal picture frame with a crack. Jeremy shut his eyes and shook his head slowly.

“Sorry about that…” he muttered.

“It’s okay Jer. We’re all on edge,” Alfredo said.

“It’s a good idea Gavvers,” Geoff said, ruffling the lad’s hair.

“Let’s do this then,” Jack said, standing up. He looked at Gavin. “You’re going to have to be our inside man on this one. We can’t exactly go walking into the office, or the hospital reception rooms looking like this.”

Gavin nodded and stood up too.

“I’ll come with you,” Geoff said.

“What do we do then? Sit around here and scratch our asses?” Michael said.

Jack gave him a pitying look. “I’m sorry Michael. I’m not sure you’d be much help. We’re probably just going to have to sit in the car while Gavin runs in and asks around.”

“You could help Trevor and Alfredo look for news reports?” Geoff suggested.

Michael looked at his feet. “Yeah. Okay.” He didn’t know why he was being so snappish. It seemed that ever since he’d transformed, he was much quicker to anger.

“Just look after Gav, hey?” he said to Geoff and Jack. “He’s the only one who hasn’t gone through the transformation yet.”

“And a lucky thing too!” Geoff said, grabbing the lad’s shoulders and steering him towards the front door. Gavin made protesting noises and Jack followed them.

Michael sighed and pulled out his phone as the door closed behind them. He turned it on carefully and navigated to a few local news sites by poking very gingerly at the screen. He didn’t want to have to get his replaced like Jeremy. Who knew that the heat from his flames would do to the poor device. He drained his Redbull and chucked it towards the trashcan in the kitchen. He cursed as he missed.

“Do you think Geoff and Jack have any more energy drinks?” he asked Jeremy.

The orange-horned lad was leant up against the wall behind the couch, watching as Trevor and Alfredo researched. He shrugged.

“They probably have coffee though,” he said.

Michael wrinkled his nose.

“Why do you ask?”

Michael shrugged now. “I’m tired as shit. I didn’t sleep.”

“You didn’t - oh. Right. The flames…”

“Yeah, no shit the flames. I couldn’t even sit on my couch in case I set that on fire. I ended up just sitting in my fucking kitchen all night on my phone,” Michael snarled.

“I had no idea…”

Michael looked at his feet again, cursing under his breath. Running on zero sleep was also having adverse effects on his anger.

“If you want, I could try to help?” Jeremy trailed off.

Michael cleared his throat. “I’d appreciate that Jer.”

Jeremy gave him a small smile.

Jeremy had Michael lay back on Jack and Geoff’s tiled floor and close his eyes. They went through some basic deep breathing for relaxation, but Michael couldn’t concentrate.

“I feel stupid, just breathing. Like, I’m even getting breathing wrong,” he muttered, lashing his tail in annoyance.

“It’s okay. Everyone feels self conscious at first.”

Michael heaved a great big sigh.

“There, that was better,” said Jeremy. Michael could hear the teasing in his tone and snorted in amusement. He straightened his back again and breathed in again, holding it for a few seconds, then letting it out, trying to focus his whole mind on the action. He felt like he was getting there slowly, but every time he thought that it might be working, his traitorous brain piped up with some new fear or worry.

“ Michael… ”

Michael jolted up and his eyes snapped open.

“Whoa,” Jeremy said, holding his hand up and leaning away.

“Huh? What happened?”

Jeremy pointed at the top of Michael's head. “Your flames jumped up. It got very hot all of a sudden.”

“That’s what they fucking do. It’s fire. Of course it’s hot,” said Michael. He bit his tongue and looked away.

“Sorry,” he said after a moment.

“It’s okay,” Jeremy replied.

Michael sighed again. “How are you not freaking out more at all of this?” he asked, turning back.

Jeremy’s mouth twisted to the side. “I guess I am a little. But that’s mostly me worrying about Ryan.”

“What about you then? You’re not worried about yourself? We’re demons Jeremy. We have fucking horns and tails and freaky-looking eyes. It doesn’t freak you out that we might have accidentally sold our souls or something? What if we’re stuck like this forever?”

Jeremy was leaning away again. Michael swore and scooted away across the floor. He crossed his arms.

Jeremy rubbed his head. “I hadn’t thought of that I guess. I was mostly just happy that my damned headache had stopped. As for our souls… I dunno, but I feel like myself. I would think that if something like that had happened, I wouldn’t feel like me, you know?”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait for the others to come back with that book,” Michael said. He let his head hang and rubbed at his eyes. They were sore and dry and probably shot to hell under the blackened sclera.

“You really need to sleep.”

“How the fuck am I supposed to do that? We’ve been trying for like half an hour. I can’t sleep on this fucking hard tile.” Michael moaned.

“I might have an idea,” Jeremy said.

Michael watched him root around in the kitchen cupboards for a few minutes.

“Aha!”

Michael looked up at Jeremy’s triumphant shout.

“Oh no, you ain’t putting that thing on me. The last time someone tried to smother my flames, it felt like I was dying.”

Jeremy tutted at him and pulled the fire blanket out of its bag. “This is not for you.”

He disappeared into one of Geoff and Jack’s back rooms and emerged with a pillow, which he then wrapped in the fire-proof blanket.

“You might have to sleep on the tiles for now, but this might make it more comfortable,” he said, handing the bundle to Michael.

The curly-haired lad took it and held it in his lap.

“You’re kind of a genius,” he said, looking up at Jeremy with a tired smile.

Jeremy gave him a smug look.

Gavin giggled as Geoff attempted to get into the car.  He had to bend forwards so far he almost doubled over to be able to get his nearly foot-long horns inside the doorframe. Once inside, he grabbed the tips, and made sure they wouldn’t rip up the ceiling upholstery any further as he leant back in the seat. The roof had several gouges in it so far. The seat itself was adjusted way back to accommodate his increased height, so much so that he could very easily turn his head to look at Gavin when he got in the back.

“I wonder how long mine will be? Or maybe I’ll have curly little ones like Michael's?” Gavin mused, running a hand through his messy brown hair.

“Just be thankful they haven’t sprouted yet. You’re lucky, honestly,” Geoff said.

Gavin picked at the back of Jack’s seat.

“Yeah, I s’pose.”

Gavin tapped his wallet on the scanner, and after a moment it read the access card inside. He jerked the door open and hurried inside. It took a while for his eyes to adjust from the glaring Texas sunshine to the darkness of the Soundcheck building. Gavin padded quietly through the maze of chipboard walls towards the Achievement Hunter office. He punched in the code, slipped inside and flipped on the lights.

“Book… book… creepy book. Where would I be if I was a bloody terrifying book…”

He ran to Ryan’s desk and rummaged through the items stacked on it. He wrinkled his nose at the dozen or so empty Diet Coke cans strewn about. The man could make a quick buck if he took all the cans he produced for scrap aluminium.

Gavin checked all the drawers in Ryan’s desk to no avail. He swore under his breath and put his hands on his hips.

“Balls. Where could it be?”

He ended up going through everyone’s desks, but still came up with zilch. He cursed and kicked at the beanbag. Then he spotted the Lovely Ryan still set up and shoved behind the AHWU camera. On it sat a large, leather bound book.

“Of course it’d be right out in the open,” Gavin moaned at the room. He snatched it up.

“Gavin?”

The Brit yelped and turned around. Steffie was standing in the doorway, a confused look on her face.

“Oh, hey Stef.” He quickly hid the Necronomicon behind his back.

“What are you doing here? I thought all you guys had come down with something awful?”

“Uh. Yep. We have. I just needed to grab the - a thing… Then I’ll be back home in bed. Feel bloody awful.” Gavin tried to let some of the weariness he was feeling show. Steffie raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Need any help?”

“No! Uh, what I mean is, nah, I should be able to find it. You’d better not come too close. You don’t want whatever this is, trust me. You’re lucky you didn’t pick it up from Trevor while he was in the office.”

“You sure?”

“Yes! I’ll be gone in a second. Don’t worry about me,” Gavin said.

Steffie gave him a look that clearly said ‘your funeral’ and left. Gavin let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding. He didn’t think anyone would be here on a Saturday, but Steffie was dedicated and was probably finishing some edits when she’d heard Gavin’s noise. He waited a minute or so for Steffie to go back to the support office and then slunk over to the door. Seeing no one in the hallway, he flicked off the lights and headed back outside.

Gavin tossed the book into the backseat and jumped in after it. Jack put the car in gear and they made their hasty exit. The windows weren’t quite as tinted as the two new demons were comfortable with. It wouldn’t do to have other Roosterteeth staff seeing them like this.

“You got it?” Geoff asked, twisting around as Gavin buckled his seatbelt.

“One bloody creepy book, order up,” said Gavin, handing it over.

“Excellent!” Geoff crowed and ripped it open. He began reading quickly, Gavin looking over his shoulder. After a moment, frowns appeared on both of their faces.

“What the hell is this garbage?” Gavin asked in an offended tone.

Geoff’s tongue was between his teeth as he tried to decipher the first few sentences on the page.

“ This tome enwheels the dunnest secrets of this w'rld; beest v'ry careful those gents art dang'rous and th're shall beest consequences …” Geoff read slowly. He put the book down. “What the fuck?”

“It’s the Necronomicon - what did you expect? The modern American translation?” Jack asked, a wry smile on his face. Geoff groaned. He passed the book back to Gavin.

“Here. You come from dear old Mother England. Maybe you have more hope of translating this fucking gobbledegook.”

“Wot? Me? I don’t know half of these words! This is some Shakespearian toss,” Gavin said, looking at the pages in confusion. Geoff sighed and rubbed at the bases of his horns.

“And of course, the one person we know who is at least a little fluent in Shakespeare is currently missing…”

“Who knew a theatre degree might come in handy after being turned into a creature from hell?” said Jack.

Gavin huffed as he jumped back inside the car.

“Was Ryan there?” asked Geoff.

“Geoff, do you think I wouldn’t lead with that information if he was? That I wouldn’t come running out of the ER waving like a madman?”

“Alright. Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Geoff grumbled, facing forwards again.

“It’s knickers Geoff. Knickers in a knot. It’s even alliterative.”

“You and your Britishisms…”

“Was that the last one?” Gavin asked, turning purposefully towards Jack.

“We’ve got one more, and then we’ll head back. We might pick up some food along the way  for the guys back at home. We’ll have to get you to order it though,” Jack replied, pulling up his maps app.

“Okay,” Gavin said, settling back in his chair.

The ride was quite long. They’d spent all day going from one ER room to the next, along with walk-in clinics. They’d also stopped by the nearest police station long enough for Gavin to fill out a missing person’s report. They’d taken the information that Gavin had provided, but the woman at the counter had looked very skeptical. The description of a missing six-foot, blonde, white male who was for all intents and purposes probably in good health made her raise an eyebrow.

They made their way through some back roads to what looked like the last walk in clinic before you hit rural Texas. Despite the sun having gone down and the sky starting to darken, Gavin could still feel the heat from the tarmac as he got out and headed inside. No matter how many of these rooms he’d walked into that day, the smell that was a combination of disinfectant and just the hint of underlying vomit was enough to make him almost puke himself. He waited for his turn at the counter behind an older looking man on crutches who looked like he had to get back to his ranch before rustlers on horses showed up, and a larger lady with dark skin and a royal purple toga-like dress.

The matronly-looking woman behind the check-in desk gave him a smile that clearly had been practiced over many, many years.

“How can I help you?”

“I’m looking for a friend of mine,” Gavin said. “He’s been missing since last night we think. He might be injured or in a bad state of mind, we’re not sure. He’s about six-foot, blonde-ish hair, blue eyes. Goes by Ryan Haywood. Or James Haywood.” He’d gotten the spiel down pretty well after doing it all day.

The woman gave him a cool look and turned to her computer. He hear the clicking of an ancient keyboard.

“Sorry. No Jameses, Ryans, or Haywoods come in here in the last week,” she said.

“What about John Does?” Gavin asked in a quiet voice.

The woman narrowed her eyes.

“Ain’t none of them, neither,” she said.

Gavin let out an anxious breath. “Thanks,” he said bitterly and turned away.

He headed back outside into the muggy darkness. Every time he’d had to ask that today, it had chewed him up inside. Half of him had to hope that they’d say yes and they’d finally find Ryan. The other half had been terrified of what he would find if they did say yes.

Gavin fell into the car and Jack turned the engine over.

“We called ahead. The others wanted some Homeslice. You up for pizza?” Jack asked.

Gavin just nodded.

“Oh, God yes! Food!” Alfredo vaulted over the back of the couch and ran forward to grab a pizza off the stack in Gavin’s hands. Trevor and Jeremy came over too and grabbed some boxes.

“Any luck?” asked Jeremy.

“Not with finding Ryan unfortunately,” Jack said, shaking his head.

“We did grab this though,” Geoff said, slapping the Necronomicon down on the dining table.

“Shush!” Jeremy said. When Geoff looked quizzically at him, Jeremy just pointed towards the kitchen. Michael could be seen curled up on the tiles, head on the fire blanket, sound asleep. He looked extremely uncomfortable resting on the side of his curled horns, and his mouth hung open slightly. There was a tiny hiss as a string of drool dribbled out of the corner, landed on a ember-like horn and evaporated.

Jeremy picked up the Necronomicon.

“What language is this even written in?” he asked, his eager expression turning to one of confusion.

“We think it’s like some kind of old English. We might have to look up translations online,” Geoff said with a shrug. “Wish Ryan was here though. He’d probably know how to read it, him being a theatre nerd and all.”

“Seems just like him to be the only one of us able to read the demon book,” Trevor said with a snort.

“Where else could we look for him?” Jeremy asked, putting the book down again and folding his arms.

“I honestly don’t know Jeremy,” Jack said.

“We might have to get Gav to walk around the streets yelling ‘Here Ryan!”” Geoff said.

Jeremy glared at Geoff. “Hey! This is serious!”

Geoff put up his hands. “Sorry. I’m just trying to ease the tension. We’re all worried about Ry, you can be sure of that.”

“Well, quit it,” Jeremy grumbled.

His loud words had disturbed Michael though. He awoke from his slumber with a sudden burst of flame and sat bolt upright.

“Who - wha?” His voice was croaky from sleep. There were a few chuckles.

“Hey Michael. Have a nice nap?”

“Shuddap.”

“Want some food?”

“Fuck yes.”

Michael stretched and got up.

Jeremy turned back to Jack. “Well, what more can we do then?”

“We can go back to the hospitals tomorrow and see if he’s turned up overnight. It… it’s all we can do, really…”

“We’re lucky that Gavin hasn’t turned yet and can still be our gopher boy,” Geoff said, ruffling the younger man’s hair. Gavin turned sharply to Geoff and opened his mouth. After a moment, he shut it again and looked down at his plate of pizza. Michael might have just woken up, but he didn’t miss a thing. He sidled over to Gavin.

“Are you okay?”

Gavin looked up, alarmed. Michael swore internally at himself and shuffled back a tiny bit. He knew people found it awfully uncomfortable to stand near him now.

Gavin’s expression softened a little as Michael moved away.

“I’m okay Michael boi,” he said.

“That’s bullshit.”

Gavin looked at his pizza again.

“Look. I know that your head probably feels like it’s got an axe in it. And it’s been like that far about two weeks now. Don’t you want that to stop?”

Gavin gave a kind of shrug-nod combination.

“Then you know what to do.”

“But Michael, I’m scared Michael.”

“Of what? Of turning into a demon? Don’t worry, we’re all in the same fuckin’ boat here. We’ll help you.”

“Well, yeah, that of course. But I’m scared that then we won’t have anyone normal to look for Ryan.”

Michael’s brow furrowed. “I’m worried about him too. But that doesn’t mean you have to keep doing this to yourself. We’ll figure out some other way to look for Ry. If Jeremy can get back to looking normal like he did by accident, we’ll get him to do it. Fuck, Geoff keeps making you do this shit - he should learn how to control his damn horns and do it himself.”

“Geoff controls what?” asked the older man, looking over suspiciously.

Michael ignored him. He peered into Gavin’s green eyes and saw just how exhausted the lad was from fighting the pain in his skull.

“C’mon Gavvers,” he said.

“Hey, what are you doing, Michael?” Geoff asked. His voice cracked a little.

“You shut up!” Michael snapped at him.

Geoff looked at the pair of them.

“Oh no. Uh uh. Michael! We need him to stay normal!”

Michael bit back the sudden urge to let loose on Geoff. He took a hissing breath in through his teeth. This was not his fight to finish.

“You can do this,” he said softly to Gavin and took a step away.

“Don’t you dare, Gavin! We need - fuck, how will we do anything without one of us looking like a normal human being?”

Gavin finally looked up from his pizza, fixing Geoff with a flinty glare.

Geoff saw it and immediately put his hands up in a peaceful gesture.

“Gavin, c’mon dude. We need you. Can you just hang on?”

“No I can’t Geoffery ,” Gavin bit.

Geoff tried to keep his expression under control, but his tail betrayed his emotions. It lashed back and forth behind him, trailing lines of blue fire. Everyone was watching the two now. Alfredo had a slice of pepperoni halfway to his mouth.

“We need…”

“No you don’t! You just need to learn to control your own damn self! Have you even thought about how I feel? Surrounded by you lot?” Gavin turned away and ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up haphazardly. “You all have bloody antlers and tails and blimmin’ claws and I’m stuck looking normal! You’re getting cool powers while I’m stuck being your errand boy! And this whole time I’ve had a headache the size of bloody Australia!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Michael saw Jack’s face go white.

“I’d forgotten that he’d still have the head pains…” the bearded man muttered.

Gavin’s chest was heaving now.

“Gavin, look at me. Look at me now,” Geoff said. There was something off about his voice. His black and red eyes were narrowed.

Jeremy started forwards, a horrified look on his face. “Geoff! No!”

Gavin’s eyes flicked up to meet Geoff’s. Gavin opened his mouth to yell again.

“ Calm down ,” intoned Geoff.

Immediately Gavin’s face went slack. His shoulders slumped and the anger left his stance. Everybody stared in shocked silence.

“Gavin!” Jeremy ran forwards, gripping the young man by the shoulders and peering into his face. Jeremy turned back to Geoff.

“You motherfucker. You undo this right now,” he snarled. Purple lightning crackled up his horns. Geoff had folded his arms, but his tail still lashed.

“Undo what? What the fuck just happened?” Michael was anxiously trying to examine Gavin too without touching him. It seemed to him that all of the fight had just gone out of Gavin. Jeremy was acting as if something was terribly wrong.

Jeremy let go of Gavin and stormed up to Geoff. “Fix him!”

“ Why should I? We need him like this! ” Geoff hissed. Cold blue fire flared along his horns.

“Put him right!” Jeremy’s hands curled into fists. Everyone in the room felt their hair suddenly stand on end as the atmosphere charged. Geoff’s cold expression twitched.

“ Do you not want us to find Ryan? ” he asked.

The look that Jeremy gave him was beyond fury. “Not if it’s at the expense of Gavin’s free will.”

Jack stepped up beside Jeremy, his face dark too. “Geoff, what does he mean by Gavin’s free will? What have you done?”

Geoff looked up at Jack. “ I should make you… I could make all of you… ” Geoff trailed off slowly. A strange look crossed over his face. His tail drooped suddenly. He stared past Jack and Jeremy at Gavin.

“I… what did I do?”

Suddenly he was shoving past the two and rushed to Gavin. He took the lad’s face in his hands and stared into his eyes.

“Gavin. Listen to me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. Go back to what you were feeling before I told you to calm down,” Geoff babbled.

Gavin blinked slowly and pulled himself away from Geoff’s hands. His placid expression slowly turned into one of horror. He backed away. Michael didn’t know what was going on, but he watched the way Gavin’s whole body stiffened and trembled. Gavin pointed a shaking finger at Geoff.

“Fuck you!” Gavin bellowed. There was a flash of white light and Gavin screamed.

Chapter Text

There was a flash of white light and Gavin screamed. The lad didn’t even have the time to drop to his knees as the horns sprang from his forehead. They were tall, taller than Geoff’s, gleaming white as they reached up in a graceful arc. He shuddered violently as a thin white tail tufted with fur grew from the base of his spine, and long white claws suddenly tipped his outstretched hands. He didn’t have cold blue fire like Geoff’s or dark fog like Jack’s; instead, Gavin seemed to emit faint wisps of white vapour from the tip of his tail and his horns, rather like mist or thin smoke. The scream petered out and Gavin stood, swaying precariously.

“Someone help him,” Michael said, hovering uselessly. Trevor and Alfredo darted forwards, grabbing the lad before he could collapse and towing him over to the couch where he sat, shivering and gasping for air. Jack, Jeremy and Michael turned on Geoff again.

“What the fuck did you do to him?” Michael snarled. He felt the flames around him leap higher. Geoff flinched.

“I… I just wanted him to stop. I didn’t realise he was still in so much pain. I wasn’t thinking right…”

“You sure as hell weren’t thinking right!” Jeremy crackled menacingly. Geoff’s tail was literally between his legs and his eyes were downcast.

“It was like when I fought with Jack - something inside me was urging me to do it. Making me think I could force him into doing what I wanted.”

“And so you fucking hypnotized him!” Jeremy swung at Geoff, but Jack was there. He grabbed the younger man’s arms and pulled him away. Jeremy roared and tried to twist from Jack’s grip, but the taller man held on. Jeremy’s eyes glowed and waves of fizzling energy coursed over him. To everyone’s surprise, Jack’s skin suddenly grew thicker and darker. Rows and rows of neat, crocodile-like scales appeared on his arms and neck, creeping up his face. He flinched a little as Jeremy attempted to shock him into letting go, but the scales seemed to protect him. Michael barely noticed. He was turning Jeremy’s words over in his head.

“You hypnotized him? You - you forced him to -”

Michael could feel the rage building. It was like a red haze descending over his brain.

Rip… tear… claw… burn…

He narrowed his fiery eyes and lunged at Geoff.

“Michael no!” Gavin’s scream rang out.

Geoff shrieked and cowered.

“Whoa…” said Alfredo and Trevor in unison. Even Jeremy stopped struggling in Jack’s arms to gape. Geoff peered through his fingers. He saw Gavin by the couch, arms outstretched, a confused look on his face. He followed the direction of Gavin’s fingers and saw Michael suspended in mid-leap. He hovered, almost entirely still in the air. The flames around his horns still moved a little, as if in slow motion.

“Holy shit Gavin. Are you doing that?” Jeremy asked. Jack was able to let him go. Jack watched as the scales and protective plates on his skin vanished with wisps of black smoke.

“I - I think so,” Gavin said, lowering his hands.

‘You have slow motion powers! That’s so fuckin’ cool!” Jeremy said. “And coincidental. You’re actually a slow-mo guy now!” He stepped closer to Michael and could see now how he was slowly still moving forward in his leap towards Geoff. Gavin hurried towards Michael as well. He was wringing his newly clawed hands.

“Michael, are you alright Michael? I didn’t mean to do it! It was just, you were so angry and I didn't want you or Geoff to get hurt. And - I don’t know how to stop it…” Gavin babbled.

Jeremy noticed Geoff trying to slip from the room.

“Oh no you don’t” he said, grabbing the older man’s shirt.

Geoff made a sad noise as he was dragged back towards Gavin. Jack, Alfredo and Trevor were crowding around now.

“Explain,” he said firmly.

Geoff sighed. He looked up at Gavin. “I’m really sorry.”

Gavin bit his lip and nodded. Geoff scratched at his wrist. “It seems that in addition to looking like freaks, we might also have some freaky-ass powers.”

Gavin looked at his hands then at Michael again. Geoff nodded.

“That’s Gavin’s special ability then. Slow motion. Jeremy’s is pretty obvious.”

“He’s Emperor Palpatine!” Alfredo said.

Trevor sniggered. Geoff cast them a wry smile. “I have no fuckin’ idea what you two do.”

“We think we might be figuring it out,” said Trevor.

“Yeah,” said Alfredo. He grabbed Trevor’s hand and their other eyes opened.

“Now that we know we’re supposed to have one,” they said together.

“Alright! Fucking creeps… Anyway. I figure Michael’s is probably something to do with fire.”

“I think I just found mine too,” said Jack, flexing his arms.

“We saw that!” said Alfredo and Trevor. “It looked like you had armour plating or something.”

“Right, well. My power… I seem to be able to hypnotize people into doing stuff. But hypnotize seems too weak of a word for it. It’s more like… ah, fuck. What’s that dumb vampire show that Michael loves?”

“The Vampire Diaries ?” said Gavin.

“That’s the one,” replied Geoff. “They do like a Jedi mind thing and make people do whatever they want.”

There was a roar and a crash behind them. They all jumped and looked around to see Michael getting up off the floor.

“Michael! Are you okay?” Gavin rushed over. Michael held up a hand when Gavin tried to help him up.

“Okay. That was fuckin’ weird. I felt frozen, but I could still hear and see all you guys. It was like I was trapped in really thick syrup.” He fixed Geoff with a glare. “You have compulsion powers?”

“It seems like that,” Geoff said in a small voice.

Everybody looked at him again, frowns clouding their expressions.

“Have you been compelling us to do stuff we don’t want to do?” Alfredo asked, his voice icy.

Geoff looked alarmed. “Fuck no! Of course not! I - I did it accidentally to Jeremy when we went to Ryan’s house, but undid it just as quickly. I also think I might have done it to Jack when we first turned… and for that I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it. Really - I didn’t know. You were just freaking out so much…”

Jack frowned at him. Everybody fidgeted awkwardly, side-eyeing Geoff.

Geoff sighed and rubbed the bases of his horns.

“I’m sorry, okay? As I was saying before, it was like there was something else inside me, egging me on. It’s not like I’d do that sort of thing to Gavin normally!”

Alfredo spoke up slowly. “I - I know what you mean. I’m normally a chill guy, but ever since this has happened to us I feel like I’m constantly at the edge of doing or saying something mean. And part of me wants to.”

“I get that too. The exact same,” said Trevor.

“I thought it was just because we were all so stressed,” Jack said, nodding.

Gavin screwed up his face. “I can feel it now too. What you guys are describing. Like an itch. An itch that wants me to pick a fight with you all.”

“That’s it!” Geoff said triumphantly.

Michael kept silent. He felt what they all did too. But none of them had mentioned the insidious little voice that he’d heard whisper in his ear. The one that told him to burn .

“Anyway. I know that’s no excuse for my actions,” said Geoff. “No matter what I feel, I should never force any of you guys to do anything you don’t want to. I’m really fuckin’ sorry.”

The others nodded, their grave faces softening a little. Geoff looked at Gavin sheepishly.

“I really am sorry. Treating you like that. Ignoring your pain. I feel like a complete ass,” he said.

Gavin smiled. “Well it’s gone now. So we’d better figure out some other way of searching for Ry-bread, seeing as I look like you guys now,” he said and reached up to feel one of his horns for the first time. His smile turned concerned when his fingers led him up, and up, and up. He could barely reach the tips of his horns they were so long.

“Bloody hell! They’re blimmin’ massive! Why didn’t no one tell me?” he squawked. “I need a mirror!” Gavin rushed towards the bathroom and immediately clotheslined himself on the doorframe that was now much too low for his huge horns. The tense feeling in the room dissipated as everyone else broke down laughing.

Everyone went home after they ate their pizza. Michael took the fire-blanket and drove Gavin home. Trevor and Alfredo left together. Jeremy opened his apartment door and was greeted by the sounds of plaintive meowing.

“Hi guys. I’m home again,” he said as he stepped in the door.

Zipper took one look at Jeremy’s new horns and tail and left the room in a hurry. Scooter raised the fur on his back and hissed. Booker did not seem to give a fuck about his owner’s new additions and continued to sit by his food dish and meow at Jeremy.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Jeremy said, hurrying over to fill their food dishes.

He put Zipper’s up on the counter so Booker wouldn’t eat it before the little ginger cat came out of hiding. Luckily Booker was too fat to jump up onto that counter.

Jeremy dumped his bag in the hall and toed off his shoes. He flopped onto the couch, feeling the weariness settle into his bones. What a couple of days. His brain was whirling with questions and worries. He was tired, but completely wired.

He cursed and got to his feet. All he could think about now that he was alone was Ryan. Where was he? Was he hurt? Was he okay? Was he coping with his demon form? Ryan had no idea that the rest of them had turned too… Jeremy groaned in frustration and grabbed one of his horns. He couldn’t just sit around here doing nothing. He had to do something to help. He grabbed his keys again.

Ryan’s house was still open, just as they’d left it. Jeremy was mildly relieved to find that all of Ryan’s stuff was still there. They had left in such a hurry that they hadn’t thought about locking it up. And Jeremy didn’t want to do that anyway. He closed the doors and turned off the lights though, leaving small lamps on. He’d be here just keeping an eye on the place. He’d be here for Ryan if he somehow made his way back home. Jeremy sat perched on the edge of Ryan’s nice leather couch, feeling an odd combination of sadness and awkwardness. He’d never been invited over by Ryan, yet he’d been in his house now twice without him there. He sighed and settled back into the cushions. He felt mildly concerned as to what might happen if burglars did get into the unlocked house now with him there, but then realised they’d be in for a rude shock - literally.

“Gavin. What the fuck are you doing?”

“I’m filmin’ Michael boi!”

“I can see that, you idiot. Why are you filming us was more my question,” Michael said with a growl. After a night of varyingly successful rest, the seven recently demon-ified Achievement Hunters had gathered back at Jack and Geoff’s house. It was still early and several were still munching on assorted breakfast foods while they decided on their plan of attack for the day. Jack was resolutely making his way through the Necronomicon, a laptop open in front of him as he tried to translate the nonsense-seeming words. Trevor and Alfredo had a laptop and an iPad between them and were doing other demon related research in hopes of figuring out if there were any other sources of knowledge about their conditions.

Gavin moved the camera towards Michael’s face, getting a nice closeup of the eyes that seemed to be a well of flickering flames. The fire intensified as Michael glared at the Brit.

“Fuckin’ quit it. It’s not like you can upload this anywhere,” Michael snapped.

“Who says?”

“I says! You are not putting up videos on YouTube of me looking like a freak!”

“You’re not a freak Michael,” Gavin said, giggling as Michael’s anger spurred his flames even higher.

“Delete that video!”

“Michael, no .” Gavin was backing away now, holding his phone to his chest.

The fiery lad let out what could only be described as a growl. He was up and out of his chair and after Gavin. The white-horned man turned and fled with a shriek.

“Hey! No using powers on each other!” Geoff yelled. He eyed the two. “Is it just me or do they seem extra…”

“Extra what?” Jack asked, bleary-eyed over his coffee. Having horns that curled down the sides of his face made it uncomfortable to sleep at night.

“Just extra everything,” Geoff said, waving a hand in their general direction.

“Honestly, I want to join them,” said Alfredo.

Trevor and Jeremy nodded.

“Gavin pretty much summed it up when he said he felt like he had an itch inside him to constantly pick a fight with anything and everything,” said Trevor.

There was an extra loud squawking noise from the living room. Everyone turned to see Michael launch himself over the couch at Gavin. The skinny lad scrambled backwards in terror, hit the wall, and to everyone’s astonishment, he kept going. Gavin scrambled up the wall backwards like it was natural. This made Michael finally stop. The curly-haired lad looked up at him agape.

“Gavin… how the fuck did you get up there?”

Gavin blinked and looked around. He made noises of distress and seemed to lose his balance on the wall. He fell flat on his face. Michael stared for a second more and then started laughing. Gavin picked himself up, a sour look on his face. He ignored Michael and eyed the wall again.

“Must be another one of them demon power things,” he said.

“What? You didn’t get just one?” Michael became immediately serious. “That doesn’t seem fair.”

“I dunno! What if we have a bunch of powers? Hey! What if we can fly? Or teleport! Like, bamf -” There was a sudden puff of mist and Gavin vanished. Just as suddenly, Gavin reappeared in the kitchen on the dining table. He collapsed with a shriek and licks of white smoke.

“What the toss just happened?” he bellowed from his position on his back. Everybody roared in surprise and leapt up from their chairs.

“Holy fuck Gavin. You gotta teach us how to teleport man,” Trevor and Alfredo were leaning over him with wicked grins on their faces.

“Teach you? I don’t even know how I bloody did that,” Gavin said with a groan. He sat up, looking rather pale. “Ah man. I think I’m gonna vom.”

“Will you guys quit fucking around?” Jeremy slammed his fists on the table with a crackle of purple lightning. All faces turned to him. He unclenched his hands slowly.

“Sorry. I just… I just wanna find Ryan.”

“We know Jeremy,” Jack said softly. “Unfortunately, we can’t really go out looking like this. We’re trying to figure it out, but... Honestly, Gavin discovering this might help us. If we can teleport, maybe we can get around another way.”

Jeremy’s lips twisted to the side. “Yeah. You’re right. And I should really figure out how I turned my horns off by accident, huh?”

Jack smiled at him. “It couldn’t hurt.”

Jeremy sighed and scratched at the base of one of said horns. He got up and helped Gavin down off the table.

“Right you,” he said. “Let’s figure out how the hell this is all supposed to work.”

“Sounds like a plan, Lil’ J,” Gavin said giving him a cautious grin.

Jeremy looked the lad up and down. “Okay. I admit the teleport thing was pretty cool. How’d you do it?”

Gavin bit his lip and looked towards the table. “I honestly have no idea. One second I was here, and then there. I felt, like darkness in between. Like there was nothing. Not even air. Like I was wrapped in tight rubber. Then brightness again and I fell.” Gavin shrugged.

“Could you try to do it again?” asked Jeremy.

Gavin shrugged again, but then nodded. He looked across the room at the couch and narrowed his eyes. Jeremy watched in interest. Minute flickers of the muscles in Gavin’s jaw and the clenching of his fists showed how hard he was concentrating. Finally Gavin released a pent up breath. He stumbled.

“Whoa. Lightheaded.”

“You didn’t even move an inch!” said Jeremy.

“I tried! I really did! I don’t know why it’s not working this time.”

“Try it again then.”

Gavin nodded and concentrated again.

No matter how hard Gavin strained, or muttered, or what part of the house he glared at in attempt to warp there without taking a step, he didn’t budge. After half an hour, Jeremy sighed.

“Okay. Obviously we’re missing something there. Maybe we can figure out how you walked on the wall first then? That seems easier that teleporting or whatever-the-hell-you did.”

Gavin looked quite relieved and nodded. He and Jeremy walked back over to the wall Gavin had somehow climbed. Gavin looked at it thoughtfully.

“I wonder… If it worked on walls, could it work on ceilings?” said the lad.

“Focus Gav. First learn to walk on the wall, then you can pretend you’re in Australia all you want,” Jeremy said. Gavin emitted a squeaky laugh.

“Now, walk us through what you were feeling when it happened the first time.”

Gavin scratched at his chin. His white, tufted tail swished in big wide arcs. “I’m not sure really. I was just trying to get away from Michael. I barely noticed it ‘til after he stopped chasing after me.”

“So you were feeling fear?” asked Jeremy.

“I mean, yeah, I guess.”

“Do we think we could recreate it?” Jeremy asked, looking at Michael. The flaming lad shrugged.

“We could try,” he said. “I’m always up for terrorizing Gavvers.”

“ Michael .” Gavin’s tone was playfully shocked.

Michael stuck his tongue out and raised his claws, advancing on Gavin with the dumb ‘ bleeehhhh ’ noise they all seemed to have adopted. Gavin giggled and dashed away. Michael proceeded to chase Gavin about the house, his teasing tone turning to laughing threats as Gavin kept dancing out of his grasp. Again and again Michael herded Gavin towards the wall, but when Gavin tried to climb it as he had, it just would not work.

“Alright, alright, enough,” Jeremy called.

The two stopped in front of him, panting heavily.

“It’s just not working,” Gavin said, looking crossly at the wall.

“There’s gotta be something else to it. Tell me what exactly what was going through your head when it all happened.”

Gavin put his finger on his chin, deep in thought again. “Well, I guess after I climbed the wall I was really kinda excited. Like my imagination just went a little bit nuts and was like, if that’s possible, then anything could be. I just kind of accepted that anything might happen.”

Jeremy clicked his fingers. “That’s it. That’s gotta be it. You believed without a doubt that you could do it and you did. When you climbed the wall, you weren’t even thinking about it. You just had to get away from Michael and your body did what it knew it could.”

“So what you’re saying,” Michael said with a raised eyebrow, “That we need faith, trust, and fucking-”

“Demon dust!” cried Gavin. Even Jeremy cracked a smile.

Gavin rubbed his hands together. “What the hell. Let’s give it a go then.”

He approached his nemesis, the wall, and looked it up and down.

“Okay. I’m a demon. Yay, look at me. I got big horns, and a bloody tail. I’m a demon and I have slow mo powers. I’m a demon and I can totally walk on walls,” he muttered. He placed one foot flat on the vertical surface. He tried putting weight on it and it slid back down. He tried again with the same result.

“Hm.” Jeremy tilted his head to the side. “You’re not believing hard enough.”

“I’m bloody believing as hard as I can Jeremy!”

“No, I got a better idea. The believing bit is totally important. But maybe we kind have to trick your brain a bit. Gavin, lie down,” said Michael.

Gavin looked skeptically at Michael but did as he was told. Michael got him to lie down so that he was on his back with his feet flat against the wall. He then told Gavin to close his eyes.

“Okay, now I want you to imagine that you’re standing normally. Just on the ground. Can you do that? Imagine you can feel gravity pulling at your feet like it normally would. Imagine you’re actually just leaning up against a wall,” Michael said.

“Okay,” mumbled Gavin, his eyes still closed beneath furrowed brows.

“Alright. Now take a step. Just a step,” Michael said.

Gavin’s frown increased. His left leg extended towards the ceiling, and he stepped upwards. His whole body lifted off the ground. Jeremy’s eyes went wide. He pointed excitedly. Michael waved a hand at him, motioning him to stay quiet.

“Okay Gav. Take a few more steps. Just a little stroll.”

Gavin did so.

“Okay. Now, just remember where your gravity is. It’s below you, ain’t it?”

“Right,” said Gavin.

“Alright. Open your eyes.”

Gavin’s glowing white eyes fluttered open. He gasped. Michael and Jeremy were standing below him, grinning like idiots. Gavin let out an incredulous laugh. He looked at his feet.

“I’m doing it! I can bloody walk on walls! God! This is so easy! It feels just like walking on the ground! It’s like I’ve just taken the whole world and turned it portrait instead of landscape!” Gavin laughed again and stamped his feet on the wall. He danced a jig and even jumped up and down.

“Oi!” shouted Geoff. “No jumping on the walls.” He looked disgruntled, but distinctly impressed.

Gavin giggled and turned to walk up towards the ceiling. He looked at it, took a foot and pressed it to the surface.

“My gravity is now here,” he muttered. Jeremy and Michael gasped as he seemed to stumble a little - but then Gavin was hanging from the ceiling. He turned to them and grinned. Jeremy still had to look up a little, but Gavin and Michael were basically at eye height again. Gavin’s smile was set to split his face and Michael couldn’t look away for some reason. Trevor and Alfredo sniggered.

“You could totally do the Spiderman kiss right now,” said Alfredo.

Michael immediately felt his face get hot - hotter. He looked away from Gavin quickly. He missed seeing the other man turn a rather interesting shade of pink.

Jeremy was deep in thought again. “Okay. So. You have to completely believe that you can do whatever it is. Trust that you can do it. And then maybe just trick your mind into it. Maybe that’s how it works for the horns too?”

Jeremy shut his eyes to the sight of Michael laying down on the floor and placing his feet on the wall in attempt to join Gavin. Jeremy thought back to the night he’d transformed. He’d looked in the mirror and been shocked that he suddenly had demonic features. The eyes had been scary, but he also remembered the intense feeling of awe and excitement. He’d been freaking out a little, but he’d been more fascinated than anything. He’d seen his demon form, and totally accepted that it had actually happened.

“So, if I take that and apply it…”

Jeremy concentrated on the sides of his head and the base of his spine. He imagined that he could no longer feel the weight of his horns on his skull. He stilled his tail and ignored the sensations that came from the new nerves there. He thought about his eyes, and how underneath his eyelids, they were actually a nice shade of brown, with normal white irises. He allowed himself to breathe deeply for a minute or so, just concentrating on not feeling his new body parts.

“Holy shit Jeremy…”

He opened his eyes to the shocked faces of his coworkers. Jeremy reached up slowly and his de-clawed hands met air at the sides of his head.

Jeremy attempted to teach each of them to harness their horns. For the time being though, it seemed he was the only successful one among them. Gavin had managed to make his long white horns flicker away for a moment, before they sprang back into full materialization. After a while though, everyone was getting fed up. Jeremy had made them all sit in a meditative circle, but Gavin was getting antsy and Geoff was complaining that he could no longer feel his legs. Continuing failed attempts just raised Michael's ire. His snappish tone fed the others and eventually they all had to leave the room before another demon fight broke out. The frustration had Jeremy’s horns rematerialise too.

Jack found him on the back porch just after he managed to vanish them again.

“You’re getting pretty good at that,” Jack said.

Jeremy could see the older man forcing himself to take a civil tone. Jeremy elected not to comment on it.

“It’s tough, but everyone will get the hang of it. We’ll be able to reenter society as high-functioning demons any day now,” Jeremy said.

This wrought a smile from Jack. He eyed Jeremy’s human appearance.

“So, do you want to go look for Ryan?”

“Oh God do I,” Jeremy muttered.

“Do you want someone to come with you? I could drive while you keep your cool to go into the ER rooms,” Jack said.

“It’s probably a good idea.”

“I honestly just want to get out of the house. Being around that lot is making me want to do bad things…” Jack muttered.

“I hear you,” said Jeremy.

There was a pregnant pause. Jack picked at the chipping paint on the deck railing with a brown claw while Jeremy watched the bird-feeder in the gents’ backyard.

“I don’t know how you’re taking this all so calmly,” Jack said.

“Michael said something similar to me earlier. He’s worried, and you have a right to be too. We really don’t know what’s going on here, but apart from the cosmetic changes, and the mood swings, you feel okay, right?”

Jack frowned. “I guess…” he said slowly. He sighed. “I’m mostly worried about the others. Our tempers are boiling over all the time now. And somehow we have superpowers to back them up. You saw what Geoff did to Gavin, and what Gavin did to Michael. I’m just worried…”

“I am too Jack. But we’ll figure this out. We have each other. We’re lucky. I can’t imagine someone else going through this on their own -” Jeremy broke off and looked at his hands that were suddenly clenched tightly on the railing. Jack put a hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll find him. I promise,” he said.

Jeremy sighed as he entered the fourth hospital that day. He waited in line for what felt like forever, but finally made it up to the reception desk.

“What can I do for you?” asked the lady behind the desk. She was young and had bright red lipstick. Jeremy gave her a grim smile.

“I’m, ah, looking for a friend. He went missing a few days back you see.”

The girl’s smile disappeared in sympathy.

“I’m sorry to hear that. You want me to check the records to see if he’s been admitted?”

“Yes please,” said Jeremy.

The girl turned and tapped at her keyboard. “Alright, what’s your friend’s name then?”

“Ryan Haywood,” said Jeremy.

She typed it in. “Hm, sorry. No one in by that name.”

Jeremy muttered a curse under his breath. “Actually, he’s probably in by his first name. He goes by his middle name Ryan instead. His full name is James Ryan Haywood.”

The lady typed that in too.

“Nothing there. We have a James Wood though?”

Jeremy felt his heart speed up. “Maybe - if he was kinda incoherent they mighta got his name wrong.”

“It says here that James is fifty years old and has a black hair. Sound like your friend?”

Jeremy’s heart sank. “No. Ryan’s 37. He’s about six foot, blonde, blue eyes.”

“Sounds like a dreamboat,” the girl said.

Jeremy’s cheeks reddened.

“Sorry. Then it seems like he’s not here,” the receptionist added.

Jeremy picked at the counter for a moment. “Um. Have - have you had any unidentified… bodies come in matching that description at all?” He could barely get the words out.

The receptionist looked up at him again. He could see her trying to hide her pity. She turned around in her chair.

“Lucas, could you please take this gentleman through to the mortuary?”

Lucas turned out to be almost Jeremy’s height. He was thin and had red hair and he didn’t try to make small talk as he led Jeremy through a hallway behind the reception desk. Every step Jeremy took down the corridor he felt his body get colder. By the time they reached a set of double doors labelled with an innocuous silver plaque reading ‘ Morgue ’ Jeremy felt numb. This couldn’t be Ryan. Of course it wasn’t. It would just be some other poor soul. But what if it was Ryan? What would Jeremy do? What would he tell the others? How would he even react? Jeremy’s heart clenched like a vice. Who would tell Ryan’s significant other?

“Sir?”

Jeremy’s head snapped up. Lucas was back.

“This way,” said the man, gesturing to the double-doors.

Jeremy nodded shakily and pushed them open. He’d been expecting a cold room lined with those little hatches and bodies under white sheets on tables. The room was actually quite comfortable. The couch and armchairs looked non-threatening but not too homey. A doctor in teal scrubs was waiting for him in one. She gave Jeremy a soft smile. He looked around at the decor, confused.

“TV has a lot to answer for with this sort of thing,” said the doctor.

“Oh,” was all Jeremy could manage.

“Why don’t you take a seat? Your name is…?”

He felt himself sink into a seat. “Jeremy,” he croaked.

“Hi Jeremy, I’m Doctor Martinez. Lucas told me you’re looking for a friend of yours and there’s a possibility that he might be here with us.”

Jeremy nodded stiffly.

“We do have someone who matches his description, but we will need you to make a positive identification.” Doctor Martinez held up a square piece of paper. “This is a photograph of him. Now, he has a few wounds on his neck. I don’t want you to be alarmed when you see them is all. We try to make this process, as terrible as it is, as calm and as non-frightening for you as possible.” Doctor Martinez placed the photo facedown on the coffee table in front of Jeremy. Jeremy stared at it.

“It’s okay Jeremy. You can take your time.”

His heart was going a million miles an hour. Part of him wanted to flee the room. If he chose to ignore the photo, maybe he could still pretend Ryan was out there somewhere. The other part just wanted to pick up the picture and get this damn mess over with. Ryan had been gone for several days and not knowing what happened was eating at Jeremy. What would he tell the others if it was Ryan’s face looking out at him from the photograph? Ryan’s face, looking too pale, too quiet, too dead? Jeremy Suddenly felt waves of regret crashing over him. How many things had they not had the chance to do together? How many things had he not told Ryan because he was scared? How many times had he avoided Ryan because of how he felt?

Before Jeremy could psych himself out further he snatched up the photograph. He stared at it for a few seconds. Jeremy laughed hysterically.

“It’s not him,” Jeremy said after a moment. He grinned. He couldn’t help it. The guy was a sandy blonde and looked to be around the same age, but the cheekbones were all wrong and he had a clean shaven face. He was a poor sod, to end up dead, but it wasn’t Ryan . Jeremy stopped smiling. “I’m sorry. That’s probably really insensitive.”

Doctor Martinez smiled. “No, it’s quite normal. You’re allowed to feel relief.”

Doctor Martinez took the photo back and escorted a weak-kneed Jeremy back out to the reception. Jeremy thanked her and said his goodbyes before heading back out to where Jack was sitting in the car. He tapped on the window and got in when Jack unlocked the door for him.

“You okay Jeremy?” Jack asked. The lad looked quite pale.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Let’s just go to the next place,” Jeremy said, running a hand over his face.

Jack nodded and they pulled out of the parking lot. Jeremy sighed and rested his head against the window. He groaned internally when he realised he might have to do that again at the next hospital. He felt like throwing up at the prospect. Jeremy concentrated on the world outside the window in an attempt to alleviate the nausea. They were passing by a park now. They stopped at a red light and Jeremy watched a man sitting on a bench. He looked rather worn and dirty. He had a hat upturned in front of him and seemed to be talking to thin air.

“We’re all idiots .” Jeremy smacked himself in the head. Jack turned to look at him with raised eyebrows.

“He hasn’t been hurt. We’re not going to find him in a hospital. At least not these kinds of hospitals.”

Chapter Text

Jeremy practically skidded into the reception area of the Austin River Psychiatric Facility. He bounced on the balls of his feet in the queue. When the big dude in front of him had his inane question answered, Jeremy was finally able to talk to the receptionist.

“Do you have a patient here named James Ryan Haywood?” he demanded, slamming his hands rather harder than he’d intended on the desk. The man behind it gave him a disgruntled look, but checked his records.

“Yes. We admitted a man under that name a few days ago. Are you a relation of the patient?”

Jeremy’s heart nearly leapt out of his throat. “No! I mean, yes! I mean - we’re really close. Can I see him?”

The receptionist narrowed his eyes at Jeremy but checked his documentation.

“I’m sorry, but you will not be allowed to see the patient.”

Jeremy’s world screeched to a halt. “Wait, what?”

“I’m sorry, but because of the patient’s, uh, status, he unfortunately cannot receive any visitors.”

“I… I can’t see him?” Jeremy’s voice was small.

“I’m sorry. I cannot give you any further details on his condition as that would be covered by patient-doctor confidentiality, but I can assure you that he is getting the best possible care.”

“We have to get him out.” Geoff’s words were accompanied by a fist on the table. His tail flicked back and forth. Jeremy could barely hear him. He was overwhelmed by the mantra that had started in his head. He’s alive, he’s alive, he’s alive …

“Yes, but how?” asked Jack.

Everyone had been ecstatic at the news that they’d found Ryan. The smiles had slid slowly off their faces when Jack and Jeremy explained the situation further though.

“Can we pretend to be family and try and see him?” asked Alfredo.

Jack shook his head. “I called and tried to reason with them. It seems that they’re not letting anyone in to see him. They said his condition was too severe for any kind of visitor.”

The room was silent.

“They don’t want people to see him because of his horns...” said Trevor.

“It’s a distinct possibility,” said Jack.

“Which is another reason we have to get him out of there as soon as possible. If like, the military or something gets wind of him, or the government - we’ll never see him again,” Geoff said. The blue flame above his head sputtered.

“A prison break then?” said Gavin.

“What? No, that’s absurd, Gavin,” said Jack.

“No. That’s exactly what we’re gonna do.” Jeremy was suddenly on his feet. His voice shook. Everyone stared at him.

“Ryan needs us. We’re gonna do whatever we can to get him out of that place. We have these new powers and we’re gonna use the hell out of them. We are going to get him back.”

Michael stepped forward. “Okay. I’m in. When are we doing this?”

“Tonight,” said Jeremy. “I’m not leaving him there for a second longer.”

After making a hasty plan, and testing whether they could actually use their powers to do the things they needed to do, they all piled into two cars. It was a relatively long drive to the Austin River facility, and Jeremy’s knuckles were white on the seat the whole way there.

They parked down the street a little from the hospital and got out. It was nearing three in the morning so barely any other cars were out and about; a good thing, considering their various exotic appendages. Trevor and Alfredo stayed in the cars as their getaway drivers. Jack, Jeremy, Gavin, Geoff and Michael hopped the wall and crept through the gardens towards the hospital. They crouched in the shrubbery, Michael the furthest back to hide his flames from view, and waited. After about ten minutes them sitting and fiddling anxiously, Jeremy waved at them all. He pointed through the branches to where they all saw a security guard come around the corner. She had a flashlight in her hand and a bored expression on her face. Jack moved up, a grim look on his face. The guard ambled closer. She turned away from them, shining her flashlight out at the parking lot and Jack leapt from the garden. He charged towards her, Geoff hot on his heels. The guard turned back towards them, her bored look turning instantly to one of terror. She made it halfway to her weapon when Jack caught her in a bear hug and pinned her arms against her sides with one of his, and clamped a large hand over her mouth. She started struggling, her screams muffled beneath Jack’s hand, her eyes rolling in fear. Jack yelped in pain and brown scales erupted on his hands and arm. She’d bitten him.

Geoff stepped in front of the two and the woman’s wide eyes were drawn to his tail and horns, then finally to his red eyes.

“Be calm,” Geoff said.

Instantly the woman stopped struggling. Her eyes glazed over.

“When my friend here releases your mouth, you will not call out for help. Nod if you understand me.”

The guard nodded. Jack slowly removed his hand from her mouth. The security guard continued to stare at Geoff.

“Are - are you the devil?” she asked in a flat voice.

The flame above Geoff’s head flickered. “No I am not the devil!” he snapped.

“Geoff. Stay on track here,” muttered Jack.

“Right. How do we get into the hospital?” Geoff asked her.

The woman said nothing.

“You gotta tell her to answer you, I think,” Jack said.

“Ah, right. Answer my questions. Truthfully!” Geoff said.

The woman sighed. “My keycard can be used to get into the building. There is also a pin code. Five-three-five.”

“Okay. Give me your keycard,” Geoff said. The woman handed it over.

“Now. I want you to-”

Jack jerked forwards with a pained grunt. The armoured scales on his arm suddenly expanded to cover the rest of his skin. He turned to see another shocked security guard standing behind him. He had a taser gun out. The weapon had been discharged, but the prongs lay at Jack’s feet having bounced off the tough scales. The man dropped his taser and went for his radio.

“No! Stop!” yelled Geoff.

“Wait!” cried Jack.

The man raised the walkie talkie to his lips but then convulsed. A streak of purple electricity sparked through his radio and he collapsed. Jeremy stood behind him, crackling with energy.

“Shit Jeremy! Is he okay?” Jack asked.

Gavin appeared out of the darkness too and bent to check the male guard.

“He’s definitely breathing. And he has a pulse,” Gavin said, after checking the man’s neck.

“Jeremy! You could have really hurt the guy! You don’t know what your powers can do!” Jack said.

“Well it was either that or let him call for help and the whole place would have probably gone on high alert or something!” Jeremy snapped.

He and Jack glared at each other.

“Guys. This is not the time,” said Michael, the cool-headed one for once.

Jack let a heavy breath out through his nose and Jeremy looked away.

Geoff caught the eyes of the female security guard again.

“You will take your friend and hide in the garden with him. Make sure he’s okay.”

Jack loosened his grip and the woman started to move towards her downed colleague.

“Geoff, you can’t just leave it at that! You have to give her follow up instructions, or she’s just gonna hide in the garden bed for-fucking-ever,” Michael hissed.

“Fuck. You’re right.” Geoff hurried over to the woman again and grabbed her shoulder to look into her eyes. “When your friend wakes up, you will stop hiding in the garden. You will resume your job as normal. You will go back to feeling like you felt before I told you to be calm. Oh! And you will forget you ever saw us. You will forget that five demons came to break in here. Nod if you understand?”

The woman nodded.

“What about the bloke? He’s still gonna remember trying to taze Jack!” said Gavin.

Geoff swore again. “And I don’t think I can compel him while he’s out cold.” He bit his lip and locked eyes with the female guard again. “If your friend here tries to tell you he saw demon men, or anything like that, you will tell him, in your own words, that he must have fallen asleep and had a strange dream.”

The woman nodded again and began dragging her partner off into the garden.

“Do you think they’ll be okay?” Jack asked.

“God I hope so. This compelling thing is hard dude. I mean, what if I do accidentally tell someone to do something and they can’t stop? Or if they hurt themselves?” Geoff said as they headed for the side door of the hospital.

“You just have to be careful,” said Jack.

They paused at the door.

“Your turn,” Geoff said to Jeremy.

The lad nodded and took a minute or so to compose himself. It was taking less and less time for him to let his horns and tail melt back into his human appearance. When he finally looked normal again, Geoff ran the card through the scanner on the door and punched the code in. Jeremy pulled the door open and slipped inside. He padded quietly into the hospital. The lights were low at this time of night, but Jeremy could still make out the calming blues and greens of the paint and decor in this reception area. Jeremy could hear voices down the hall. He looked around and saw a door labelled Locker Room . Bingo. He scurried inside. His blood turned to ice in his veins when he heard shuffling in the back of the room, but the person was hidden behind a row of lockers and so did not see Jeremy. Jeremy tugged quietly at the locker doors one by one until he finally found an open one. He pulled out the pair of blue scrubs it contained and slipped them on over his clothes. The dude who owned the locker must have been over six-foot because the scrubs swam on him. He had to roll the sleeves and pants up several times. He also found a name tag clip in the locker. The guy on it looked nothing like him; for one thing, Jeremy was white. He clipped it on anyway, but made sure that it accidentally hung backwards, obscuring the information on it. His hands were shaking and sweaty by this point. He swallowed down his nerves and took a quiet step around behind the lockers. A gentleman in green scrubs and a white coat was facing away from him, apparently tying his shoes.

“Er, hi,” Jeremy said.

The man straightened up and looked around. “Hi,” he replied.

Jeremy wrung his hands. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I kinda need your help. I’m new here and I - well I noticed something weird going on. I’m not sure who to ask about it, so maybe you could tell me when you see it,” Jeremy rattled off.

The doctor quirked an eyebrow at him.

“A new night nurse?”

Jeremy nodded. “Yeah, that’s me. I’m - I’m Tim. Nurse Tim.”

“Thank god,” said the doctor. “We’ve been in desperate need for more nurses on the nightshift. I’m Doctor Angelo. You can call me Nick though.”

Jeremy gave him a grin and hoped to hell it didn’t look as nervous as it felt.

“Well, very nice to meet you, but uh, about the strange thing…?”

“Oh, right, yes of course. Lead the way,” said Nick.

Jeremy hoped the doctor also didn’t notice the sweat on the back of his neck as he led the way out of the locker room and down the corridor he’d entered from.

“So, did you want to tell me more about what I’m dealing with here? Is it a patient?”

“No, not a patient… it’s, uh, you’ll just see when we get there,” Jeremy said, feeling too strung out to even come up with a plausible story. Nick didn’t seem to mind though and followed Jeremy willingly enough. Jeremy reached the external door. He grabbed the handle and took a deep breath. He opened it quickly, admitting the waiting forms of Geoff and Jack. Nick let out a startled noise, but was soon wrestled under control and hypnotised. Under Geoff’s instruction, the man took Jeremy to the main hospital control and camera room. There was another security guard in here. Nick stood quietly in the corner and Jeremy plastered his fake smile on. He repeated his story about something weird going on and needing help. The guard looked suspicious, but when Nick offered to stay and watch the cameras, as he’d been told to do, the guard went with Jeremy. Geoff told the guard to go and take a three hour break in the toilets to play on his phone.

Jeremy, Jack, Geoff and Gavin hurried towards the control room, now no longer needing to worry about being spotted on the cameras. Michael elected to stand guard at the exterior door. Nick blinked serenely as Jeremy burst into the control room, followed closely by three demons. Jack immediately sat down at the control panel. Geoff turned to Nick.

“Okay doc. You’re going to tell me everything I want to know,” he said.

“Sure,” replied Nick. His eyes were wide as he stared again at their horns and tails.

Geoff eyed him. “Don’t freak out.”

“I won’t,” replied the doctor.

“Okay. Well. I want to know the location of the patient named James Ryan Haywood.”

“Location… I wish I could tell you. He’s not one of mine.”

“Where can you get that information then?”

“I could look him up in the system for you?”

“Can you do it from this room?” asked Geoff.

Nick looked at the various computers. “I think I can.”

“Then do it.”

Nick walked over to one of the computers off to the side and began tapping away at it.

“James Ryan Haywood. Thirty-seven. Admitted earlier this week in an extremely agitated state. Patient was delusional, babbling and particularly violent. He was confined to our maximum security ward.”

“Holy fuck…” whispered Geoff. Jack’s face was pale. Gavin fidgeted. Jeremy felt cold all over.

Geoff shook his head. “Tell us how to get there,” he said to Nick.

“Go out this door and take a left. Continue up the corridor to B Ward-”

“Stop!” Geoff said, cutting him off.

Nick fell silent but didn’t seem to mind. Geoff turned to Jeremy instead.

“You ready bud?” he asked softly.

Jeremy dug into the pants pocket under his stolen scrubs and pulled out the phone he’d borrowed and a pair of earbuds. Geoff pulled out his own phone as Jeremy inserted one earbud and looped the wire back over his ear in an effort to hide it. Geoff called him and he answered the phone. Geoff looked to Nick again.

“Okay. Now, slowly relay the instructions on how to get to Ryan’s room.”

Jeremy’s palms were sweating again. He’d taken Doctor Nick’s security card which had allowed him through several locked doors.

“ Okay. Keep going straight up this corridor. You’re looking for a set of double-doors labelled as E-Wing, ” Geoff said in his ear.

“Thanks,” Jeremy whispered into the little microphone on the cord that dangled from his ear. Finding the doors, he slipped the borrowed card into the scanner and grabbed to door handle and pulled it open. He yelped as he ran into someone coming out at the same time. The nurse was dressed the same as Jeremy and he was thin.

“Hey, man! Sorry, didn’t see you there,” he said, clutching a clipboard to his chest.

“ Fuck. Quick Jeremy. Say something to him ,” Geoff hissed in his ear. Jeremy tugged the bud out.

“Uh, hey, yeah, sorry,” Jeremy said. He tried to step around the guy, but he clapped a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder.

“Hey, have I seen you around here before?”

“Oh, no, I’m uh, new here,” Jeremy said.

“A new nurse, thank god. We need some relief on nightstaff,” the nurse said.

Jeremy nodded. “So Nick - uh, Doctor Angelo, told me.”

“Oh? You with Nick’s team?”

“Yeah. I’m Tim. And I’m actually on an errand for him. He needs, uh, this patient’s status update right away,” Jeremy said. He turned around and backed away from the chatty nurse. The nurse who was frowning at him.

“Are you sure we haven’t met before?”

Jeremy’s heart sank. This guy was young. If he was into internet culture at all, he might know of Roosterteeth and, possibly, Achievement Hunter.

“Nope! My first day!”

“Huh. I swear I’ve seen you somewhere before,” the nurse said.

“Listen, I’d love to stay and talk, but you know how Doctor Angelo gets,” Jeremy said, pushing through the doors into E-Wing.

“Oh, yeah, definitely.”

Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief as the nurse turned away. Suddenly, he turned back though, pointing a finger at Jeremy. The short man froze.

“And you should know your ID tag is all messed up. Nick will have your ass if you don’t have it displayed properly,” he said.

Jeremy’s heart unclenched and a hand went to his pocket and the stolen tag. He faked a smile of gratitude.

“Thanks dude,” he said, and the nurse finally disappeared with a wave.

Jeremy hurried into E-Wing and stuffed his earbud back in. He was met with the sounds of Geoff cussing him out.

“Geoff! Quit it!”

“ You little shit! Why’d you pull the earbud out? I was trying to talk to you and all of a sudden you weren’t responding. I thought something was wrong! ”

“I just had to get rid of the guy without someone else talking in my head. This is hard enough as it is!” Jeremy hissed. Geoff growled.

“ Alright, alright. Well you’re nearly there anyway. Nick says go directly across this hall and take a right .”

“Going,” said Jeremy.

He passed a couple more nurses along the way, but he kept his eyes forward and his pace brisk. As long as he looked like he had somewhere to be, he hoped they wouldn’t stop to question him. He reached another door. At Geoff’s instructions, he used the keycard and let himself in. He found himself in a long hallway with about a dozen or so doors to the left.

“ Nick says that this is the maximum security ward . Ryan should be in room number nine .”

Jeremy’s breath caught in his chest. After so many days, they’d finally found him. He jumped at the sudden noise to his left. He caught a glimpse of dark hair through the tiny window on the first room to his left. The patient inside was obviously not in good spirits and was making as much noise as humanly possible. Jeremy ignored the sound and hurried up the corridor to room number nine. His sweat-slicked hands fumbled the keycard and it took him several tries to get it through the scanner. Finally the LED flashed green and he yanked the door open.

The room beyond was lit with soft, dim lights. It was painted a warm, cheery yellow and there was a high window that might look over the gardens in the daytime. In one corner was a bed that looked like a large block of foam rubber. It would have been quite a pleasant room, had the walls not been completely padded. There was a figure in the far corner, hunched up with their head resting where the walls met.

“Ryan?” Jeremy croaked.

“Okay. We’ve found him. Now we need to make sure that all of Ryan’s patient files are deleted. Can you do that?” Geoff asked Nick.

The doctor nodded. “Sure can,” he said. He sat at the computer, hands flat on the desk. Geoff rolled his eyes.

“I want you to delete any and all files on James Ryan Haywood,” Geoff said.

“Okay!” Nick said and he got to work. “Do you want me to get rid of the hard copies too?”

“Yes. Get rid of the hard copies of James Ryan Haywood’s files too. Also, tell me how I can delete all of the security footage from tonight. Oh, fuck, and you will go and fetch all of his personal effects from wherever they store them when they check people in here.” Geoff massaged his temples. God he was getting sick of this articulation. It was hurting his brain trying to come up with the most accurate orders for people to follow. Geoff looked over Jack’s shoulder. Jack was watching the cameras for the surrounding area getting ready to warn Jeremy if someone were to approach, but Geoff’s eyes fixed on the feed from the maximum security ward. Jeremy had gone through into cell nine, but had not come out yet.

“Come on,” Geoff muttered.

Ryan looked up and Jeremy gasped. Ryan’s face was gaunt, as if he’d lost a dozen or so pounds in the span of a week. He was pale. His hair was unkempt and oily, plastered to his head with sweat. His eyes were dull and unfocused. There were sticking plasters on his head just above his temples. He was barefoot and dressed in plain, powder-blue pants and a long white shirt. Jeremy’s mouth dropped open when he realised it was a straitjacket. The man’s dishevelled appearance was contrasted by the inane grin on his face. Jeremy stumbled forwards and knelt next to Ryan.

“Ryan, buddy… Are you okay?”

“Hi Jeremy!” Ryan’s voice was too high and too fast. “Boy am I really not glad to see you. Again. You know, we don’t really have to do this today. We could always take a break and do this again, you know, never. Never sounds good to me. Okay. Please go away now.” Ryan promptly shut his eyes and put his head back in the corner of the room. Jeremy stared at him.

“Ryan,” he said, carefully gripping the man’s shoulder.

“No. Nope. You’re not here. You’re not real. Go away now,” Ryan muttered to the wall.

“Ryan. Ry-bread, I am here. I’ve come to get you out of here. You gotta come with me please. ” Jeremy’s voice cracked.

“Not listening. Not listening. If you’re not here, then you can’t die. Jeremy's not here. Jeremy's not here. Jack’s not here. Geoff’s not here. Gavin, ‘Fredo, Trevor, Michael. All not here. Especially not Jeremy.” Ryan’s mutterings were picking up speed. Jeremy flinched when he heard Ryan sob.

“No… No. Please. I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t do it. I can’t have.” Ryan slid towards the floor, openly crying now, glazed eyes darting all over the room. Jeremy couldn’t do anything but stare.

“Make it go away. Make it them go away. They’re not dead. I didn’t do it. I can’t have. I would never. I wouldn’t do that,” Ryan babbled.

“Ryan,” Jeremy grabbed the man’s shoulders and hauled him upright. Jeremy was shaking. He was terrified. That manic grin crossed Ryan’s face again.

“You’re not here,” he whispered conspiratorially.

Jeremy let out a growl of frustration.

“Ryan. I know you’re not right in your head at this moment. You’re in a padded cell for god’s sake! But you need to snap the fuck out of this right now or so help me…”

Ryan’s pale blue eyes focussed on Jeremy. He tilted his head.

“Huh, that’s new,” he said.

“What?” Jeremy asked, totally confused.

“Jeremy. You’re horny,” Ryan said. He giggled.

Jeremy felt his face flush red, but then his tail twitched behind him. “Ah, fuck,” he muttered. “Ryan. I can explain the horns. And the tail. And the lightning and the eyes. But right now, you need to come with me.”

Ryan’s broad grin returned. “Okay!” he said and tried to get up. Jeremy watched him for a second and then started helping him up.

“Just like that, you’ll come with me?” Jeremy asked.

“Yep. This could be just a messed up dream or hallucination so none of it even matters. Sure, you have demon horns and there’s also a distinct possibility you might be an actual demon come to drag me to hell for my sins, but you know, I’m cool with that right now. The main thing is, you’re not dead, so I’m inclined to think you’re real. ”

Jeremy stared at him again. “Trust you to be so logical even when totally bonkers. Come on, let me get this jacket off you.” Jeremy started undoing the buckles and straps and eventually worked the contraption free. Once it was off, Ryan stood awkwardly and continued to stare at him. One of his hands jumped up to scratch at the bandage on his head. He picked at the edge and began to peel it off. Jeremy darted forwards and slapped his hand away as a rivulet of blood ran down Ryan’s face.

“No! Leave that on! You - you’ve been scratching your head too much, haven’t you?”

Ryan nodded sheepishly. “Head hurts. Hurts too much. They give me painkillers, but it’s never enough. It feels like…”

“Like something’s crushing your skull?” Jeremy said, his eyes widening.

Ryan nodded, his brow furrowing as a wave of fatigue seemed to wash over him. Jeremy cursed under his breath. Ryan hadn’t turned yet. He hadn’t transformed. His horns were still trapped in there. He was still suffering the blinding headaches, along with… whatever had happened to make him go insane.

“Are you sure you’re not going to die?” Ryan asked him.

“What? No I’m not going to die!”

“Oh, good,” said Ryan, smiling again.

“Okay, I am going to have to put away the horns and stuff. I need to look a little more normal so I can-”

“Please don’t!” Ryan said.

Jeremy paused. “Why?”

“Because if you’re you, then you’ll die,” Ryan said matter-of-factly.

Jeremy could think of nothing to say. He just nodded instead. He went to the door and peered out into the hall. He stuck his earbud back in.

“Geoff,” he muttered into the mic.

“ Finally. Ryan… Ryan’s there right?”

“Yeah, he’s here Geoff.”

“ ... and? ”

Jeremy let out a breath. “He’s not okay.”

Geoff swore.

“We’re coming out now,” Jeremy whispered. He took Ryan’s arm gently and led him into the corridor. Ryan was slow and his movements were clumsy. He looked even worse in the bright lights of the hallway. The harsh angle gave deep shadows to his face.

“ Jeremy! Your horns! Put them away! ”

“I can’t! Ryan freaks out when they are,” Jeremy hissed back.

“Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness you know,” Ryan said with a raised eyebrow.

Geoff’s sigh was a rush of static over the phone. “ I’ll guide you out then but you better be fucking quick about it. ”

Geoff began giving Jeremy directions. Jeremy grabbed Ryan’s sleeve and led him down the hallway. They had to stop a couple of times, hiding in side passages while staff and other patients went past. Ryan didn’t seem to mind. In fact he seemed to be humming happily under his breath at times. Jeremy couldn’t quite keep his eyes off the man. It felt like a lifetime since he’d seen Ryan. He knew he’d missed him, but the sense of relief it gave him for Ryan to be here, to see him, to touch him… Ryan glanced up at Jeremy and the shorter man felt his heart leap in his chest at the sight of those impossibly blue eyes.

“ Jeremy! Jeremy are you listening to me? This is worse than in the office when you can’t hear us. For god sake, move your ass! There’s someone coming! ”

“Where? Where do I go?” Jeremy grabbed Ryan and shoved him towards a turn in the corridor. It was a dead end. Jeremy clenched his fists and screamed internally.

“He’s coming! Jeremy! You’d better get rid of them now!”

Jeremy turned away from Ryan and shut his eyes. He concentrated on relaxing himself. He let his extra appendages grow numb to him.

“Tim?”

Jeremy’s eyes snapped open to see the nurse he’d run into earlier.

“Oh, hi again… I, uh, sorry, I didn’t get your name back there.”

The young nurse squinted at Jeremy.

“Jake,” he said.

“Well, Jake, I’m sorry, but I really do have to go.” Jeremy grabbed for Ryan’s arm. The taller man made an anguished noise and shook him off. He stared at Jeremy with wide, scared eyes.

“Jeremy. Jeremy. Where’d they go? You have to bring them back,” Ryan said, reaching up to the sides of Jeremy’s head. Jeremy grabbed Ryan’s hands and lowered them again.

“Having trouble there, Tim?”

“We’re fine,” Jeremy called over his shoulder.

“Jeremy. Please Jeremy. Please bring them back. I don’t want you to to die. Not again. Please Jeremy…”

Jeremy gasped at the strength of Ryan’s grip on his arm.

“Hey! You! Stop that!” Jake called, hurrying towards them.

Jeremy grabbed at Ryan’s fingers and pried them from his arm. “Ryan! Calm down!”

“I can’t see you die again Jeremy!”

Jake appeared behind Jeremy. “I’m going to sedate him. He’s not in control of himself.” The nurse reached into a pocket and pulled out a bottle and a syringe. Jeremy tried to wrestle Ryan off of himself and Jake jabbed the tip into the vial and withdrew a clear liquid. He advanced on Ryan with the needle.

“No! Stop!” Jeremy yelled. He managed to get a hand free and slapped the syringe away. It clattered to the floor.

“You idiot! What did you do that for? We have to get him under control!” Jake yelled.

“Don’t you dare touch Ryan!” Jeremy snapped.

Jake stopped. He looked from Ryan to Jeremy and back.

“His name is Ryan. You say yours is Tim. But he keeps calling you Jeremy…” Jake’s eyebrows shot up.

Jeremy’s stomach dropped into his shoes.

“I knew I recognized you!” the nurse shouted. “You - I’ve seen videos on the internet - wait - what are you doing here?”

Jeremy swallowed back a wave of fear. “You know us? You know Achievement Hunter?”

“I’m more of an RvB fan. But I’ve seen some of your videos. When’d you shave your head?”

Jeremy waved a hand. “Never mind that! We have to get out of here. Can you help us?”

Jake looked taken aback.

“Please. We have to get out of here. Ryan - Ryan shouldn’t be in here,” Jeremy said.

Jake’s eyes flitted to the side. “I - I really shouldn’t.”

“You gotta trust me. If you’ve seen our videos then you know us.  We need your help,” Jeremy pleaded.

“Okay, okay!” Jake looked up and down the corridor again. “Come with me.”

Jeremy sighed in relief and grabbed Ryan’s shirt again. He needed Jake’s help to get him moving again. Ryan kept looking to Jeremy and muttering. Jake led them down several corridors.

“How’d he get in here anyway?” Jake asked.

Jeremy sighed. “Long story dude. Some weird stuff happened, but needless to say Ryan’s not supposed to be in here.”

Jake shrugged. “Looks like he’s had a bad break man. You sure he shouldn’t be getting treatment?”

“He’ll be better off with us.” Jeremy had to hold back a snarl.

“Okay, alright! Jeez. And they say never to meet celebrities in real life. You’re always gonna be disappointed,” Jake muttered.

He led them down another corridor towards set of double doors. Jeremy saw the plaque and frowned. It read Staff Room. He was half aware of the sudden tinny squawking in the earbud bouncing against his chest. Jake pushed the doors open and a dozen or so other doctors looked up. Jake leapt forwards and pointed at Ryan and Jeremy.

“Help! He’s trying to break that patient out! He’s not a real nurse!”

The doctors dropped their coffee and clipboards and started towards the two Achievement Hunters. Jeremy’s gaze zeroed on Jake and he felt a surge of anger.

“Wrong move,” Jeremy growled at Jake. All the doctors paused midstep. Jeremy opened his mouth and roared. He latched onto the fury and let it out. There was a crash and they were thrown suddenly into darkness. Jeremy felt his horns extend either side of his head as he stepped in front of Ryan. His tail whipped back and forth and purple lightning sluiced from his skin with a terrible crackling noise. The doctors screamed.

In the darkness and confusion, Jeremy was able to usher Ryan out of the room and they ran down the passageway beyond. The entire hospital had gone dark. Emergency lighting glowed softly at their feet. Ryan seemed perfectly happy again now that Jeremy’s horns had reappeared. Jeremy shoved any and all questions about his behaviour out of his head and just concentrated on getting them out. He grabbed for the earbud bouncing on his chest, but the tiny speaker was silent. Jeremy pulled the phone from his pocket and swore. The device was blackened and useless. He shoved it back in his pocket and kept running. He jumped and cursed again as an alarm rang out through the hospital. He stopped and looked around. They’d reached a four way intersection.

“This place is a fucking maze!”

Ryan had stopped behind him. His hand was at his head again. The bandage was missing and blood was running freely again down his face. Jeremy grabbed his hand and pulled it away from his face.

“Please don’t do that,” he said as gently as he could.

Voices came from behind him. Jeremy pulled on Ryan’s hand and they started running again.

They burst through another set of double doors and ran straight into Jack, Geoff and Gavin.

“Guys!” Jeremy yelled.

“Lil’ J! Ryan!” Gavin threw himself at them. Ryan let out a surprised ‘oof’ at the lad’s weight.

“Okay, time for tearful reunions later. We gotta get the hell outta here!” Geoff said.

There were more voices and shouting behind them.

“This way,” said Jack and led them onwards.

They pounded through the dark hallways and Jeremy suddenly recognised the empty reception area. Jack ducked down the hallway to the outside and grabbed the door handle. It wouldn’t budge. There was a red light above the card reader.

“Fuck!” he yelled. He grabbed for the security card he still held and slid it through. The light remained red.

“Come on!” Gavin cried, glancing back to where the shouting was growing louder. Ryan was looking scared. Geoff was hopping from foot to foot. Jack slid the card through again, this time slower.

“It’s not working!”

“Here, try this one,” Jeremy said and thrust Nick’s clearance card at him. Jack caught it and slid it through too. The light stayed red. The heard a faint banging on the door from the outside. Michael was trying to get it open too.

“They must have locked down the building. That’s what the alarm is. They trying to stop us from escaping,” Jeremy said, looking around wildly.

“What do we do?” Geoff wrung his hands.

Jack strode back up the corridor a few yards. “Stand back,” he said. “A single door is not going to be the thing that stands in our way here.”

Everybody flattened themselves against the wall. Jack charged at the door. The moment before impact, thick, tough brown scales erupted on his flesh. He crashed into the door with a solid sound. He pulled back to reveal a huge dent.

“Again!” said Gavin.

Jack jogged back for another runup. He sprinted again at the door. It buckled in its frame. The search party behind them entered the reception area as Jack ran at the door a third time. He staggered as it collapsed outwards. They all rushed forwards.

“Come on! I don’t know what the fuck happened in there but we have to fuckin’ vamoose!” Michael yelled. The others sprinted ahead. Jeremy tugged Ryan along behind them. Suddenly Ryan stumbled and stopped. Jeremy stopped as well and turned to him.

“Ryan! What are you doing? We have to go!”

Ryan was breathing heavily. He was much too pale.

“This has been a nice dream. I think I should wake up now,” he muttered. He looked sad and resigned.

“Ryan!” Jeremy tugged at him again, but Ryan refused to move.

“Just leave me. The respite has been nice, but it’s time to get back to my regularly scheduled programming of you dying over and over again,” said Ryan.

Chapter Text

“Ryan! What are you doing? We have to go!”

Ryan was breathing heavily. He looked much too pale.

“This has been a nice dream. I think I should wake up now,” he muttered.

“Ryan!” Jeremy tugged at him again, but Ryan refused to move.

“Just leave me. The respite has been nice, but it’s time to get back to my regularly scheduled programming of you dying over and over again,” said Ryan.

Jeremy growled. He grabbed Ryan’s head in his arms and dragged it down to his eye level.

“We did not Hitman all the way into a psychiatric hospital for you to just give out on me now Haywood! I have no idea what it’s going to take, or what I have to say to get you to believe this is reality, but you are going to shut the fuck up and get that sweet ass of yours into the car right fucking now!”

Ryan blinked those blue eyes.

“...you think my ass is sweet?”

Jeremy went red. He grabbed Ryan’s hand and dragged him away. The taller man relented and followed.

They dashed into the gardens and battled through the undergrowth. Jeremy helped the panting Ryan over the brick wall and Jack, Geoff and Gavin caught him on the other side. Jeremy scrambled over and they ran towards the cars. Green eyes glowed out at them from the darkness. Trevor and Alfredo hastily started the engines. They bundled Ryan into a backseat and Jeremy slid in after him. The rest of the AH members leapt into their own seats and the two cars took off into the morning.

They’d brought Ryan back to Geoff and Jack’s house for the time being, not wanting him to be alone in his own home. He was obviously exhausted by the escape and the running. Jeremy had no idea when the last time the man had slept; the purple shadows under his eyes suggested it had been quite a long time. It was an effort to get Ryan out of the car and into the house. His strength was gone, so Jeremy and Jack basically had to carry him inside.

The sun was coming up as they brought him into the living room.

“He doesn’t look like he’ll be real steady on his feet. Shall we take him to the spare bedroom?” asked Jack.

“No… no… don’t wanna be alone…” Ryan’s head was lolling with fatigue.

“He’s been stuck in that cell for several days. I think he needs someone around right now. Let’s put him on the couch,” Jeremy said.

They laid him down on the big L-shaped sofa. Ryan heaved a ragged sigh and lay still. His eyelids were half-closed, but Jeremy could see those glazed blue eyes flickering from person to person.

Everyone crowded around to look at him.

“God. He looks…” began Alfredo. He’d travelled in the other car.

“Like shit,” said Michael.

Ryan groaned and a hand went to his bloodied head. Jeremy darted forwards and grabbed it so he couldn’t scratch again.

“Rye. Sorry but you can’t keep doing that,” he said.

“Hurts…” Ryan moaned.

“I’ll get some painkillers. I ought to have some strong ones leftover from when I broke my finger,’” Jack said and immediately hurried off.

Jeremy placed Ryan’s hand over his breastbone and patted it. Jack returned with a handful of pills and a glass of water with a straw. Jeremy fed a few of them into Ryan’s mouth and offered him the straw. Ryan raised his head a little to take a sip of water and then flopped back down. Jeremy put the glass on the coffee table and motioned for the group to move into the kitchen.

“What the hell happened to him?” Trevor asked.

“I - I don’t think Ryan’s turned yet. I think his power, whatever it is, somehow manifested before his horns did. That’s what drove him crazy,’ Jeremy said, running a hand over his bald head.

“That doesn’t seem normal,” said Gavin.

“What the hell do we know is normal for our situation?” Michael said.

“Do you know what his power is?” Jack asked Jeremy.

Jeremy bit his lip. “I’m not sure. He just kept… He mentioned our names a lot. He kept on about if we weren’t there, then we couldn’t die.”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Trevor. “You don’t think… he might have prophetic visions?”

“Wot?” spluttered Gavin.

“The fuck?” said Geoff.

“No!” said Jeremy. “I don’t think so. I don’t know what his powers are and I doubt he does either. He had no idea what was going on. We just need to let him rest and keep an eye on him. When he regains some kind of lucidity we have to explain everything to him and then we have to help him turn. I cannot imagine what a week’s worth of headaches has done to him.”

“Bloody hell. His skull must be splitting,” Gavin said, glancing over at Ryan’s limp form.

Geoff sighed and glanced out the window. The sky was a beautiful gradient of cold blues struck with gold as the sun crept over the horizon.

“Fuck. Did we really just break someone out of a mental hospital?”

“Yeah, we kinda did,” Michael said with a grin.

“God I’m tired. And starving,” said Gavin.

“Do you all want breakfast? You’re welcome to stay if you want. And if anyone wants to crash on the spare bed, feel free. We haven’t slept all night,” Jack said, rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn.

Everyone assented. Breakfast sounded great. Jeremy followed Jack into the kitchen, and for the first time in so many days, felt the heavy weight on his shoulders lift. Ryan was here. Ryan was alive. Ryan was okay .

Jack and Geoff whipped up a ton of bacon and eggs for everyone. Gavin complained at volume about the “Bloody American bacon! It’s like eating a crisp! You’ve gone and turned bacon into jerky!”

The Achievement Hunters milled about eating as the morning grew longer. At some point during this, Jeremy noticed that Ryan had fallen asleep. He motioned to the others and they all lowered their voices. When the dishes were piled in the sink, Geoff retired to his bed and Alfredo took the offer of the spare room. The rest of AH congregated in the living room where Jack flicked through Netflix and put a quiet movie on. Jeremy sat on the floor next to the couch. He had no idea what was going on in the movie what with his attention being elsewhere. His eyes kept flicking back to the sleeping form on the sofa, as if to reassure himself that Ryan was still there.

Halfway through the film Ryan made a strange noise and his eyes snapped open. His hands shot out, grasping at the leather of the couch. Jeremy was on his feet.

“Whoa there, buddy,” he said, putting his hands on Ryan’s shoulders.

The older man was suddenly panting. His blue eyes darted around and then landed on Jeremy.

“Jeremy?” His voice sounded like he’d swallowed crushed glass.

“I’m here Ryan,” Jeremy said soothingly.

“Where am I?” asked Ryan.

“You’re at Jack and Geoff’s house. You’re alright Ryan. You’re safe,” Jeremy said.

The others had gotten up too. Jack peered over Jeremy’s shoulder. Ryan’s eyes flicked onto him. Jeremy could see them tracing the brown horns. Movement at the end of the couch caught Ryan’s attention and he turned and his eyes roved over Michael, Gavin and Trevor’s horns too. Gavin fidgeted under the scrutiny.

Ryan turned questioning eyes to Jeremy. The lad couldn’t help but smile. Those eyes were bright and clear.

“Right. You probably have some questions,” Jeremy said.

Ryan nodded slowly. He swallowed and winced. Jeremy handed him the water glass and Ryan took a swig. His eyes fixed on the side of Jeremy’s head. The lad ran a claw down the gleaming orange blade.

“What are they?” Ryan asked, his voice still terribly gravelly.

“Horns,” Jeremy said.

“And they’re real?”

“They feel pretty real,” Trevor said with a shrug. He sat back on the couch. Jack rested against the wall. Jeremy lowered himself back onto the floor.

“How?” Ryan asked.

“You remember that AWHU a few weeks ago? The one where we did the spooky intro thing? We think that’s what did it,” Jeremy said.

Ryan snorted. “No, seriously. How?”

Nobody spoke. Ryan stared around at them. “You’re serious.”

“It was the only explanation we could come up with,” Jack said. “What other dark rituals have we done?”

Ryan let himself flop back onto the cushions. He made a face. “So the pentagram, the book, the candles - that was enough to make you all turn into demons and me go fucking nuts?”

Jeremy bit his lip. “You left out the blood drawing. When that lamp burst, we all got cut, remember?”

Ryan stared at him. His hand went to his arm. Jeremy nodded.

“You’re one too,” he said.

Ryan swallowed, turning a shade paler.

“You mean I’ll get…?” he gestured to Jeremy’s horns.

“Probably,” said Jeremy. “That’s why your head currently feels like a champion prize fighter is using it as a speed bag.”

“Oh,” said Ryan. His hand went up to touch his forehead. His fingers came away with flakes of dried blood stuck to them.

“I’ll get you something for that,” Jack said and headed for the bathroom. Ryan stared at his fingers for a few more seconds but then his head snapped up.

“Wait!” he croaked.

Jack stopped and turned back.

“Please don’t go.” Ryan’s voice was small.

Gavin had knelt down beside the couch next to Jeremy. He cocked his head, nearly clocking the bald lad with an enormous horn.

“He’s just going to grab a cloth and bandages Rye-bread,” he said.

Jack took another step towards the bathroom.

“No! Don’t go!” The leather of the couch creaked in Ryan’s grip.

Everyone stared at him, alarmed. His chest was heaving again. His eyes darted around.

“Where’s Geoff? Where’s Alfredo? Where are they? Are they safe? Are they okay?”

“Ryan, Ryan, they’re okay. They’re just in the other rooms taking a nap. Ryan, calm down,” Gavin said, his hands fluttering over the gent’s chest. Ryan’s blue eyes were dilated. Jeremy grabbed Ryan’s face in his hands and tried to still it.

“Jack! Get Geoff and Alfredo!” Jeremy said.

Jack looked confused.

“Now!” Jeremy snapped.

Jack jumped and ran from the room. Ryan continued to babble, his eyes wild, his limbs jerking. Jack returned moments later dragging a frightened looking Alfredo and a half-asleep Geoff. He pulled them into Ryan’s eyeline. As soon as he registered they were there Ryan began to calm down. Geoff blinked his weariness away and frowned. Alfredo fidgeted. Soon Ryan had regained his composure. Jeremey released him and the gent sat up.

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry for freaking out… I just…” Ryan shivered. He looked up at them all. “Thanks for coming to get me.”

“You’re welcome, buddy,” said Geoff.

“Hell, it was actually kinda fun,” Michael said with a wry grin.

“You gotta tell us how you wound up there in the first place though,” Gavin said.

“Gavin!” Jack scolded. “He doesn’t have to. He probably doesn’t even want to think about that right now.”

“No, it’s okay Jack,” Ryan said. He ran a hand through his messy hair. “God… Where do I even…”

“It’s alright Ryan. Just tell us whatever you can remember,” Jeremy said.

“That’s the problem though. I can remember everything .”

“It started with the raid. Alfredo and I got into that huge argument. I was so angry,” Ryan said.

Jack and Geoff looked at each other.

“I remember that anger so clearly. It was like a living thing inside of me. Then… the blood.”

Everyone went very still.

“It was all over the walls, the floor, me - everything. That’s the moment I was acting real weird and jumped out of my chair. I blinked and it was gone. Then we were all sent home. I barely made it home because of the pain in my head. And the… and the voice. In my head there was this other voice. I didn’t realise it at first. I thought I was just talking to myself, then I realised I was, you know, actually talking to myself. When I got home, I stumbled inside and turned on the light and you were all there.”

Jeremy saw all of his muscles tense.

“You were all there. You were all very, very dead.” Ryan’s eyes flicked up and over them. He shuddered when his eyes came to rest on Jeremy.

“Dead?” Trevor asked, his voice wobbly. Everyone’s thoughts went back to Trevor’s speculation.

Ryan let out a breath and nodded. “It was gruesome, to be blunt. I was covered in blood and had a knife in my hand. Needless to say, I freaked the fuck out. Dropped the knife. Tore out of the house. I didn’t know where I was going. I just panicked. I ran and ran. I only stopped when I crashed into someone. I know I was babbling at that point. I remembered asking the people to get help. That I’d done something terrible. Then I turned around - and there you all were again. Lying dead on the pavement around me. Pools of blood. Oh god there was so much blood.”

Jeremy found himself gripping the coffee table. Ryan looked so distraught. Jeremy didn’t know what to do to help him. Ryan ploughed onwards.

“An ambulance came for me. They strapped me to a stretcher. Took me to the hospital. I was admitted. I was still screaming and crying and begging for someone to help. They shot me up with a ton of stuff. No idea what it was, but I spaced the hell out. It didn’t help. Wherever I looked, you were there. I think I was only there a few hours before they put me in the jacket and the padded cell. I could see your bodies when I closed my eyes. I couldn’t sleep because I dreamed of them. Whatever they shot me up with after that was a little better. At least I could go a few hours at a time without seeing you all. I thought Jeremy was just another body come to haunt me at first, but then… his horns.”

“So that’s why you wanted us all in here where you could see us?” Jack asked.

Ryan nodded sheepishly.

“Because you saw us dead on the floor when we weren’t?” Alfredo squeaked.

Ryan swallowed. His eyes fixed on a point on the floor between the couch and the kitchen. “Yes.”

Alfredo looked at the spot and shivered.

“Good news is, we know what’s causing it,” Jeremy said. He patted Ryan’s knee.

Ryan’s attention snapped to him. “You do?”

“Yep. We think it’s your power.”

“My what now?”

“Along with the horns and tails, each of us got some freaky ability,” said Geoff.

“Not that we have any clue what your power is or does,” Jeremy said quickly, cutting off Trevor who’d opened his mouth.

Ryan sat back and his face seemed lighter. “That… that might explain it. And makes me feel a hell of a lot better. Wait. What powers do you have then?”

Gavin grinned and reached for Ryan’s glass of water. He lifted it high in the air and dropped it. There were some shouts, but they all petered off when Gavin suspended the falling water in midair. It still fell, but extremely slowed down.

“Whoa. Since when have you been able to control that so well?” Jeremy asked him.

Gavin shrugged. “Been practicing.” He reached out to grab the floating glass and ceased his influence over the liquid. He squawked a little as it sloshed into the cup and onto him. Ryan smiled slowly as the others laughed.

“Mine’s pretty self explanatory,” Jeremy said, holding up his hand and letting the purple electricity leap between his fingers.

“Mine too,” said Michael, gesturing to his flames.

“My skin becomes armoured when I’m threatened or injured,” Jack said, holding up his hand.

Geoff fidgeted. “Mine’s a little hard to explain.”

Gavin rolled his eyes. “Geoff can basically mind control people.”

“Hey!” said Geoff, his voice cracking in indignation, “I just suggest that they do stuff, and then they do it.”

“He was the main reason we were able to get you out,” Jeremy said.

Alfredo walked over to stand beside Trevor and took his hand. Ryan jumped when their other eyes lit up.

“There’s some kind of telepathy thing going on here,” they said together. “But we’re beginning to think there’s more to it than that.”

“So whatever I’m seeing… What the fuck kind of power is that?” Ryan said, his brow furrowing. Jeremy saw his hands twitch.

“Hey. Ryan. It’s okay. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out. We’re all here for you,” Jeremy said.

Ryan grabbed the couch again, forcing himself to calm down. He put a hand to his head again.

“Ah. We should probably try to fix that as soon as possible,” Jack said.

“Fix what?” Ryan’s voice was strained.

“The headaches are because you haven’t turned yet. That blinding pain in your temples? That’s your horns trying to burst out of your skull,” Gavin said with a wry grin, pointing at Ryan’s head.

The gent raised an eyebrow at him.

“He’s telling the truth. We all had them before we turned,” Jeremy added.

Ryan frowned again and bit his lip. “And how did you, uh, turn?”

“We figured out that it’s triggered by anger,” Jack said.

“Getting really, really fuckin’ pissed. Mine happened when Gavin annoyed me,” said Michael.

“Jack and I had a big fight,” said Geoff.

“My cat broke my Jaeger,” Jeremy muttered. Everyone laughed.

“We kinda had to be forced into ours,” said Alfredo and Trevor.

“Same,” said Gavin. He picked at the carpet.

“Forced?” Ryan looked alarmed.

“Nothing bad. We just provoked them into fighting,” said Jeremy raising his hands.

“Okay, so, who’s going to fight me then?” Ryan asked.

There was silence.

“You want to do it right now?” asked Jeremy.

“I would prefer it right now. This pain in my head is not getting any better,” Ryan said with grimace.

“Fair enough,” said Jack.

“Ryan, you suck and you love to fucking argue the point,” Michael said and pointed at him.

Ryan put a hand on his chest and looked wounded. “So mean .”

“You drink all of the Diet Coke and steal all of the donuts!” said Geoff.

“And they’re quite delicious,” Ryan said with a smug look.

“I feel bad about ragging on a guy who looks as pathetic as you,” said Jack.

Ryan looked down at his stained hospital clothes and grimaced again. “I can’t fault you there,” he said. Jeremy groaned.

“You’re supposed to get angry Ryan,” he said.

“You guys just suck at making me mad.” Ryan’s eyes sparkled. Gavin meanwhile was tapping his chin.

“Ryan… If you flipped a coin three times…”

There was sudden uproar.

“I am leaving the room if you start that Gavin,” Geoff said and went to sit at the dining table. He resolutely pulled the Necronomicon towards him. He made sure to keep in Ryan’s line of sight though. Alfredo and Trevor huffed and sat on the end of the couch to continue watching the movie together. Jack chuckled and went to the kitchen to grab a wet cloth for Ryan’s face.

Ryan turned to Gavin. “No matter how many times you flip the coin Gavin, you will always have a fifty percent chance at getting either heads or tails,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

“But surely if you’ve flipped it three times in a row and gotten three tails, then there’s a higher chance of getting a head the next time you flip it!”

Jeremy dragged a hand down his face. Gavin was bound to get Ryan to turn within seconds. No one could possibly be more irritating than the skinny Brit.

“Gavin. You just don’t get it. The chances are still the same! The coin still has two sides! It’s half and half!”

“What if you get ten tails in a row! Surely putting on money on heads is the smart thing to do!”

“I’ve told you again and again - the chances are still the same. They even have a gambling game about it in Australia! It’s called Two Up, and apparently it’s banned now. Except for on their national holiday,” Ryan said, jabbing his finger at the lad.

“How do you even know that?” Jeremy asked.

“What about a hundred tails in a row? I would bet a million dollars that the one after a hundred will be a head!” said Gavin.

Ryan groaned and a hand went to his head. Jeremy’s eyes widened and he shuffled back. Geoff got up from his chair. Jack hurried back over. Trevor and Alfredo looked on in concern.

“Fuck. My head,” moaned Ryan.

“That’s it buddy. That’s what’s supposed to happen,” said Jack.

“Just, like, let the anger flow through you. God I sound like an idiot,” said Jeremy.

“I’m trying.” Ryan leant back against the couch, the heels of his palms against his eyes. His breathing became uneven again. Jeremy nudged Gavin again.

“Keep going,” he whispered.

“Even if you rolled a dice Ryan. If you’ve already landed on every other number a bunch of times, isn’t it more likely that you’ll roll the number you haven’t yet? How is that any different to coins? I’ll bet you real money if we flip a coin a bunch of times right now-” Gavin was gesticulating, but his worried eyes were fixed on Ryan. Jeremy could see the gent muttering behind his hands.

Suddenly Ryan’s spine arched. He writhed on the couch.

“No!” he shouted. His hands clamped over his head and he went rigid.

Jeremy leapt to his feet. “Ryan? Ryan, are you okay?” Everybody crowded around again in concern.

“Is this normal?” asked Alfredo.

“Fuck. I don’t know. Every one of our transformations was weird.”

Jeremy pried Ryan’s hands from his head. He could see the gent’s blue eyes flickering to each of them. He was still muttering. Jeremy leant closer.

“No. No, I wouldn’t. Stop it. Stop talking. Please no…” Ryan was whispering.

“Ryan, talk to me buddy. What’s wrong?”

Ryan wouldn’t respond to any of them. Eventually though his body loosened and he went limp on the couch. He was panting and his too-pale face was covered in a sheen of sweat. He ran a shaking hand over his head. He swallowed with difficulty.

“It didn’t work, did it?” he asked.

The others shook their heads. Ryan groaned and let his head fall back.

“I don’t feel so good,” he said.

“Did you want to try again?” Gavin asked.

Ryan shook his head immediately.

“But, your headache?” said Jack.

“I’m fine. It’s fine for now. I just - I gotta have a shower. And sleep. And eat something. And sleep. God I’m so tired.”

“Fuck. I hadn’t even thought about when you’d last eaten,” said Geoff.

“I’m sorry too Ry. I didn’t realise,” said Jeremy, looking shocked. “We should never have forced this on you so soon. You might need to get your strength back before you can turn.”

Ryan waved a hand at them. “It’s okay. It’s alright. I just… Can I use your shower?” Ryan squinted up at Jack and Geoff.

“Fuck yeah. Go right ahead,” said Geoff and Jack nodded vehemently.

Ryan muttered his thanks and attempted to get up off the couch, only to fall back down.  Trevor and Alfredo hurried forwards to hook each of his arms over their shoulders and helped him up and towards the bathroom. Everyone followed. Ryan seemed to be able to lean up against the wall of the bathroom without falling over. The other seven Achievement Hunters felt odd standing outside. Jack went to shut the door.

“Will you be okay, uh, getting undressed?” Jack asked.

Ryan nodded once. “I think so.”

“And… if you start seeing bodies again?”

“I’ll leave the door unlocked,” Ryan said. He turned pink.

“Hey. There’s no need to be embarrassed. We’re all a bit freaked out by all of this. We’ll all be right out here,” Jack said gently.

Ryan nodded again and sighed as Jack closed the door. They all heard the shower start and they began to drift away. Jeremy stayed. He slid down the wall opposite the bathroom door.

“Shit,” he mumbled and dragged a hand over his face.

Ryan sat under the hot spray. The shower felt incredible after those few days in the psychiatric hospital. His face reddened even further remembering his complete and utter inability to function normally during that time. The nurses had to dress him and bathe him and… God he really did feel pathetic. Jack’s words had been joking, but they’d cut him just a little deeper than he’d let on. He grabbed his head as another spike of pain shot through it. He swore again. He’d been arguing with Gavin. He’d felt himself get angry. The rage had bubbled up so easily, like it had that first time way back in the office during the raid. He’d felt the pain in his head ramp up, he’d felt the points just above his temples throb, as if they were about to burst open, allowing a pair of horns to grow through. And then he’d heard it again. As clear as day, that voice had spoken again to him.

“ Yes. Let the fury in. Let it in. You will be so powerful. So strong. You will be beautiful. And then… And then you can do whatever you want.”

He’d freaked out. He’d felt the transformation almost upon him and his anger completely dissipated, leaving him babbling in absolute terror. That voice had talked to him every time he’d seen his friends’ bodies lying cold and mutilated on the floor. He hung his head under the shower and the water mixed with the tears that seeped from his tightly closed eyes. What was going on? What was the thing talking to him? Was that the demon part of him? Was it trying to manifest? To take him over? Ryan’s blood ran cold. Had the others had voices too? Had they all succumbed to demon possession? Were they even his friends anymore? He was suddenly reminded of his visions - images of them all lying dead around him and his heart lurched. The visions… Was he seeing the future? If his friends were no longer human, was he seeing what he’d have to do to them? Ryan’s chest clenched as a sob broke through.

When Ryan emerged from the shower wrapped in one of Geoff and Jack’s towels, he looked a little better. Jeremy leapt up and offered him his arm to lean on. Ryan waved it away.

“I’m okay,” he muttered.

“Oh. Alright. Well, here, have these,” Jeremy grabbed the bundle at his feet. “Their Geoff’s clothes, but hopefully they’ll fit. Better than the psych ward stuff.”

Ryan took them from Jeremy.

“Thanks.”

He shuffled back into the bathroom, then came back out again a few moments later dressed in a faded Achievement Hunter shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants.

“Come on. Jack made some food,” Jeremy said and jerked his head towards the kitchen.

Ryan nodded and Jeremy led the way. The table had been set for eight. Unfortunately it was a little small and there seemed to be two computer chairs shoved in beside the regular chairs to accommodate the full AH contingent. Jeremy paused by the table. His mind suddenly raced back to the moments in the morgue waiting room when he’d been sure he was about to see a picture of Ryan lying dead on an autopsy table. He thought about all the things he’d never gotten to do, or never been brave enough to do. He briefly considered the fact that Ryan probably still had a girlfriend or boyfriend out there somewhere, but then just thought ‘Fuck it.’ He pulled out Ryan’s chair for him. Ryan blinked and looked at him. Jeremy desperately tried to stop his face from going pink as he gestured for Ryan to sit down.

“Er, thanks,” Ryan said and sat.

“No problem,” Jeremy said and went around to take the seat opposite him. He’d be less likely to blush if he wasn’t constantly trying not to elbow the guy. The other AH members came and sat down too. Geoff and Jack came out of the kitchen carrying a couple of dishes. Ryan’s stomach growled fiercely when the savoury smell from the large pot of mac and cheese wafted over him. There was also some grilled chicken and a large plate of mashed potatoes and dinner rolls.

“Sorry we couldn’t do up a roast. Wanted to get some food in you as soon as possible and I thought comfort food might be best,” Jack said gesturing to the spread. Ryan looked up at the man and couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face.

“Thank you,” he said.

Geoff plunked a can of Diet Coke in front of Ryan.

“Oh god yes,” Ryan said, much to the amusement of the rest of the table. Jack and Geoff sat down at opposite ends and everyone dug into the food. It was a strange meal and rather too early for lunch, but no one complained. Stranger still was watching seven demons tuck into their food together. Ryan’s thoughts couldn't help but stray back to the conclusions he’d draw in the shower.

“Ryan?”

The man jumped a little.

“What?” he asked, turning to his left. Michael was offering him a dish. The flames on his hands curled around, licking at the china.

“Did you want some potatoes?”

“Uh, yeah, thanks,” Ryan muttered and took the plate.

Chapter Text

Everyone had stayed at Geoff and Jack’s house until it had gotten dark. No one had wanted to leave Ryan and cause him to have another dead-body-filled-vision-induced-panic-attack. Ryan had seemed grateful, but awkward about the situation. They’d played video games for a few hours and then watched some movie before Ryan had told them he felt bad for making them stay and to go home and get some rest themselves. He’d begged a few sleeping tablets off Jack and passed out in the guest room after promising to call them if he freaked out again and needed reassurance they were all alive. After agreeing that they’d all meet here again the next day, Gavin, Michael, Trevor and Alfredo left. Jeremy asked to stay on Geoff and Jack’s couch. The couple had agreed. They knew how much he wanted to keep an eye on Ryan.

Trevor and Alfredo both looked exhausted when they got to Trevor’s house. They’d agreed without saying anything that they really didn’t want to be apart right now. They headed up the steps and Trevor unlocked the door. Both men stooped a little so their enormous antlers didn’t hit the doorframe. They’d started getting used to the little accommodations they had to make; ducking, sitting together in a particular way so they wouldn’t get tangled, shifting their tails so as not to sit on them.

Trevor sighed and dropped his keys and wallet on the hallway table. He turned to Alfredo and smiled softly.

“You want something to eat?”

Alfredo smiled back. “Sure. I’m starved.”

They both puttered into the kitchen. Alfredo dropped into a chair at the breakfast nook and Trevor went to the fridge.

“Hey, how are you holding up?” Alfredo asked. He had his phone on the table in front of him and was flipping it over absentmindedly.

“Surprisingly fine,” said Trevor. He wiggled his tail.

Alfredo couldn’t help but giggle a little. “You look like a golden retriever when you do that.”

“What? You mean this?” Trevor asked and his tail swung back and forth again, giving him quite the excited-puppy look.

“It’s kinda cute,” said Alfredo. He twisted around to see if he could copy the movement. It had been extremely odd getting used to the new appendage. He supposed the human brain wasn’t really designed to learn new limbs.

“I really do wonder if there’s more to our weird mind-meld power thing. I mean, if Gavin also has the ability to teleport and walk on walls and ceilings, maybe we can too?” Trevor said.

Alfredo was now attempting to make a sine wave with his tail. “I dunno. I think the wall walking and teleporting may be something we can all do. Michael was able to take a step up the wall before he fell back down, remember?”

“You’re right,” said Trevor. He pulled out a tupperware container, opened the lid, sniffed the contents, made a face and closed the tub again. “I am just kinda jealous of their powers is all. Jeremy can shoot lightning for christsakes. What can we do apart from look like the strange offspring of the twins from The Shining and characters from Bambi ?”

Alfredo frowned at him. “I dunno dude. I’m kinda grateful that we don’t have Michael's powers. That face he made when he realised he couldn’t touch Gav was heartbreaking.”

“That does really suck, I agree. But maybe our powers are like, more mental. Like, imagine if we had telepathy, or telekinesis or something!”

Trevor shut the fridge and turned to Alfredo with a hand at his temple.

“Go ahead, think of something.”

Alfredo rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why you’re pushing this issue dude. We should just be grateful we didn’t get more fucked up by all of this.”

“What do you want for dinner?” Trevor droned.

Alfredo sighed, but found himself thinking about Homeslice. He jumped as a pair of green eyes popped open above Trevor’s regular glowing eyes.

“Aha! Pizza!” crowed Trevor.

“Shit! Your other, er, eyes are open,” Alfredo said, pointing.

“Holy fuck. And I think I’m totally reading your mind right now,” said Trevor. “What kind of pizza do you want?”

As soon as Trevor asked the question, Alfredo couldn’t help but imagine a nice pepperoni pizza.

“Ooh, pepperoni. I can practically see it dude. Cheese stuffed crust too,” said Trevor.

“Okay, point made man,” Alfredo said.

“Now you’re thinking about our powers again. You’re worried about Michael and Gavin again. Oh, you totally imagine them together too! That’s so sweet,” Trevor said, grinning.

Alfredo’s eyes widened. He slid off his chair. He had indeed been thinking about the two lads, concerned because obviously Gav was head over heels for the Jersey boy and Michael was totally into the Brit, and both were too in their own heads to do anything about it. He’d also seen the way Jeremy looked at Ryan.

“Oh! And Ryan and Jeremy too. I knew he was into Ryan, but him going nuts when Ryan disappeared totally confirmed that,” Trevor said.

“Stop it!” bellowed Alfredo.

Trevor jumped and removed his hand from his temple. He blinked and his extra eyes disappeared. Alfredo realised he was breathing hard. His tail was curled and tucked between his legs.

“Whoa, are you okay?” asked Trevor.

Alfredo bit his lip and nodded.

“Are you sure? You sounded-”

“I’m okay. Just surprised. You just did that really well like instantly,” Alfredo said.

“Damn right I did! It was fucking cool! I wonder if it’s only you because of our connection? I hope I can do it on others. I’ll have to find out when we see the guys again tomorrow. So, pepperoni then,” Trevor said and snatched up his phone.

Alfredo swallowed and went back to his chair. He didn’t look at Trevor as he sat down. He rubbed his shaking arms.

Michael had become attached to his fire blanket like a kid with a safety blanket, not out of some childish fear, but out of necessity. He straightened it out on the seat of his car before he got in. Gavin was watching him.

“Are you alright to drive, boi?” Gavin asked.

Michael sighed and started the car. “Well, I mean it’s not like you’re gonna drive yourself home.”

“But it’s dangerous to drive tired. I know you had a sleep yesterday on the floor, but then we were out all last night finding Ryan and you haven’t slept since-”

“I’m fine Gavin,” Michael snapped.

“Just want you to be safe, Michael,” Gavin said and reached out to pat Michael's shoulder. The Jersey lad flinched away. Gavin froze and then withdrew his hand. Michael stared out the windshield and put the car into drive.

Gavin bit his lip. He was sure he’d done something to piss Michael off but for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what it was. The past couple of days Michael had been avoiding him. He’d never done it before. Gavin and Michael had always play-fought and argued, but now Michael was just giving him a cold shoulder, which was impressive because the lad was literally on fire. Gavin couldn’t help but think that it had something to do with his new white horns. Did Michael not like him anymore because he was a demon? The other part of Gavin’s brain argued that it shouldn’t be a problem because Michael was also a demon-thing, or whatever they were. Then again, Michael had not seemed thrilled that he’d become a creature from hell.

Gavin pulled out his phone. “Gonna look up some video game news. I feel weird that we haven’t been in the office in a bunch of days. I really hope the B-Team has enough videos in the back catalogue that they can still put some out. I saw the tweet that Larry made yesterday saying we were all out sick. And the B-Team Off Topic went okay, don’t you think?” Gavin looked up at Michael.

The curly-haired lad just nodded. Gavin went back to his phone.

“Dude! You know they’re dropping a new Breath of the Wild DLC soon? Kotaku just announced it!”

“Oh really?” Michael's eyebrows rose and he glanced over at Gavin’s phone as they stopped at a red light. Gavin hid a smile.

“Yeah, it looks real cool. Oh my god - you’re never gonna want to ride a horse again when you see what they’re adding,” Gavin said.

“What? What is it? What are they adding?” asked Michael as traffic began moving again.

“Not telling,” Gavin said. “You’ll have to find out yourself.”

“You little shit. Tell me what they’re adding! You don’t even play fucking Zelda that much, what do you care?”

“Nope! Not saying!”

As soon as they’d stopped at another light, Michael leant over and tried to snatch Gavin’s phone out of his hands. Gavin squawked and flailed and eventually let him grab it. Michael's fiery eyes widened as he looked at the photos of the new game content.

“Holy shit. That’s a proper motorbike.” He cackled. “A fucking motorbike in Zelda. What will they think of next?”

He tossed Gavin’s phone back at him as the traffic lights switched to green. Gavin caught it clumsily and grinned at Michael.

They continued to chat and argue the rest of the way back to Gavin’s house. Michael pulled up in his driveway and Gavin undid his seatbelt. He put his hand on the door handle.

“I, um, never really got to thank you,” Gavin said slowly.

Michael frowned at him. “Thank me for what?”

Gavin fiddled with the handle. “For helping me, you know, turn and stuff. When Geoff went weird with his powers.”

“Oh. That. Yeah, well, you all would have done the same for me,” Michael said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well, you did it and that’s what counts,” Gavin said.

Michael smiled. “You’re welcome then Gavvers.”

Gavin went for the door again, but hesitated once more. He had no idea why Michael seemed to be pulling away from him. He’d liked the Jersey lad almost as soon as he’d walked into the Achievement Hunter office. Yet, being the awkward twat he was, Gavin had never been brave enough to make a move and had just resorted to annoying Michael at every given moment. Gavin thought back to the moment where Michael had looked into his eyes and called him on his bullshit. He’d encouraged him to do what he needed to do and stand up to Geoff. That courage filled him again.

“Michael, are you sure you’re okay to drive home, Michael? You - you don’t want to come in?” he asked. His voice seemed ridiculously high.

Michael stared at him.

“Michael?” Gavin asked, reaching for him. Michael jerked away again at the last moment.

“Don’t - don’t touch me Gavin!” he stuttered.

Gavin drew his hand back. Distantly, he felt his tail curl in close to his body. He grabbed for the door handle again and let himself out of the car. He hurried across the lawn and slipped inside his darkened house.

Michael wanted to scream for Gavin to come back. His hands were clenched on the steering wheel and his heart was racing. Gavin had asked him inside. He’d hesitated and blushed, and then he’d asked Michael into his house. Goddamn had Michael waited and wished for a sign like that for such a long time. And what had he done? He’d pulled away from Gavin and yelled at him. Michael’s knuckles cracked as his hands tightened on the wheel.

“Fuuuck!”

He’d done it on instinct. At the sight of Gavin’s slender, tanned hand approaching the flames he’d just reacted. Michael knew that Gavin never made the first move. In all the years and various dates the lad had been on with others, Gavin had never been the first to initiate things. And what happened the first time he did? Michael had fucking shouted not to touch him. Michael slammed his head a couple of times into the headrest. He was a moron. A big, fat, flaming moron. He stared at his hands on the wheel. His anger was making flames rise everywhere, including on them. The rubber of the steering wheel cover began to smoke. Michael swore and jerked his hands away. There were scorch marks where his fingers had been. He let out a heavy breath and shut his eyes. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe it was better that Gavin thought Michael hated him. It was best if everyone stayed away from him - him and that little voice in his head that told him to burn . Yes. Gavin was better off without Michael.

“What’s wrong Geoff?”

Geoff hastily moved his eyes away from the mirror.  “Huh? What?”

Jack narrowed his eyes at the older man. “Don’t you try to pull that on me. We’ve been together too long for me to not notice when something’s up.”

Geoff sighed. “It’s nothing. I’m being stupid.”

Jack wrapped his arms around Geoff from behind and rested his chin on Geoff’s shoulder. “If it’s nothing, then it won’t hurt to tell me.”

“You’re gonna think I’m stupid,” Geoff moaned.

“I always think you’re stupid,” Jack rumbled with a grin.

“Oh fuck you,” Geoff snapped.

“Don’t I always?” Jack whispered in Geoff’s ear. The dark-haired man froze. Jack blinked.

“You okay?” he asked, his brows furrowing as he drew away to look at Geoff properly.

Geoff’s red and black eyes flicked to the mirror again.

“That’s just it. Ever since this happened, we haven’t… You haven’t…” Geoff said haltingly.

Jack’s eyes grew very round. “Oh, no. Oh Geoff, sweetheart. I’m so sorry. It hadn’t even crossed my mind. We’ve been dealing with all of this and Ryan missing and I feel like I haven’t even stopped to catch my breath.” Jack took Geoff’s chin in gentle claws and tilted his face up to look him in the eyes. “I love you. I will always love you.”

Geoff half smile was wobbly. “Even now I look like this?”

“You could grow bat wings and a forked tongue and I would still want you Geoff Ramsey,” Jack rumbled. Geoff flushed and looked away. Suddenly he shivered.

“Dear god I hope neither of us gets forked tongues. I just imagined that in the bedroom and… eugh. It’s way too snakey for my taste,” he muttered.

Jack chuckled and nuzzled at Geoff’s neck. The older man sighed and melted into Jack’s touch.

“So you seriously don’t mind?” he asked, his voice slightly muffled by Jack’s shoulder. Jack pulled back again and looked over Geoff’s horns.

“I actually quite like them on you. They’re elegant, and they give you this dark kind of look. Sort of dangerous,” Jack said. He reached up hesitantly to run his hand along one. Geoff let out an incoherent spluttering moan. Jack snatched his hands back quickly and looked at Geoff in confusion. The dark-haired man had turned bright red.

“Geoff? Are you alright? Did I hurt you? Did-”

“No! No, I’m fine,” Geoff stammered.

Jack tilted his head in confusion.

Geoff wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I, um. Could you, maybe, um, do that again?”

Jack’s eyebrows shot up, but he obliged. He raised his hand again and gently stroked one of Geoff’s horns from the base to the tip. He could feel the ridges bump under his fingers. Geoff practically vibrated in his arms and his eyes rolled up. He let out another strained moan. Jack couldn’t help but grin.

“That good, huh?”

“Shut up,” Geoff muttered. “That sensation man… it feels like it’s going all the way down my spine. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

Jack did it again, eliciting another moan from Geoff. Jack giggled. Geoff glared at him.

“What? I like making you feel good,” Jack said with a shrug. “You make such pretty noises.”

Geoff’s glare turned flinty. “I do not!”

Jack ran a finger up Geoff’s horn again while his other hand went wandering below Geoff’s belt. He kissed away the ungainly whimper that Geoff emitted.

“Come on,” Jack purred, pushing Geoff out the door and towards the bedroom. “Let’s see how many more noises we can make…”

“What about Ryan?”

“He had a bunch of sleeping tablets,” Jack muttered with a wicked grin.

“And Jeremy?”

“He’s in the living room. He won’t hear. And if he does, he should be so jealous...”

Geoff moaned.

Ryan shuffled out of the spare room and yawned. He still looked awful, but at least the dark rings under his eyes had lessened. Jeremy was already digging into a plate of toast and Geoff sat next to him, looking sleepy, but happy as he sipped a coffee. Jack placed a handful of painkillers and a Diet Coke on the table beside a plate of toast and eggs for Ryan. Ryan looked at Jack with overly-wide eyes.

“Sorry Geoff, but I think I’m in love with Jack now,” he said.

Jack and Geoff chuckled. Jeremy seemed to inhale a piece of toast, but then laughed too as Ryan darted around Jack and headed for the painkillers and caffeine. Jack sat down too and the four men ate in silence. Ryan frowned at the bunch of papers, books and the laptop shoved unceremoniously into the centre of the table.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“That’s our very unsuccessful attempt at translating the book that caused all of this nonsense,” said Jack. He flipped a heavy tome over to reveal the Necronomicon ’s gold embossed cover.

“We were actually hoping that maybe you could take a look at it,” Geoff said.

Ryan held out his hand and Jack passed the book over. Ryan flicked through it and snorted.

“I can see why,” he said.

“Are you able to read it at all?” asked Jeremy.

Ryan pursed his lips. After a moment he spoke. “Some of it, yeah. But a lot of it… I dunno. Actually - I might have some books at my house for this kind of thing. Latin dictionaries and stuff.”

“Of course he would,” Geoff muttered.

“Did you want one of us to go and grab them?” asked Jack.

Ryan bit his lip and shook his head.

“Nah. I’ll grab them. And while I’m there, I might change my clothes and water the plants and stuff. I’ve been away for quite a while now.”

“I could do that, Ryan,” Jeremy said. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

“No! I mean, thanks, that’s really nice of you. But I think I’ve taken up enough of Geoff and Jack’s hospitality. They probably haven’t had a moment alone since all of this happened,” said Ryan. He looked at his plate. Geoff immediately turned pink.

“Are you sure? You know you still have to turn, Ryan. I think it’s better and safer if you do it when you’re around us,” Jack said.

Ryan ran a hand through his hair. “I know, I know. I just - even after sleeping, I feel totally wiped. I don’t know if I could handle that today. That’s another reason I wanted to go home. I might have a nap or something in my own bed. Your spare bed is great, but I never sleep well in strange beds,” Ryan said.

“Fair enough,” said Jack.

Jeremy frowned at Ryan. “Are… are you sure you’ll be alright by yourself?” he asked.

Ryan toyed with his Diet Coke. “You mean, have I stopped seeing your dead bodies on the floor when you’re not there?”

“Well, in more polite words, but yeah.”

“There… there was a moment last night, but it went away very quickly when I told myself it wasn’t real. I guess that now I know I’m not actually crazy, the logical part of my brain is winning that particular war,” Ryan said.

Jack smiled at him. “That’s good to hear.”

“Well, you’ll probably need these then,” Jeremy said and pulled Ryan’s house keys from his pocket. “I was keeping an eye on the place while you were gone. You left them on the kitchen counter and the whole place was just open.”

“Thanks Jeremy, I really appreciated it,” Ryan said and reached for the keyring. He jerked back with a yelp however when a spark of purple electricity jumped through the metal from Jeremy's. Jeremy looked horrified.

“Oh god! Are you alright? I’m so sorry!”

Ryan flexed his hand as the tingling slowly went away. “I’m fine. Just more surprised than anything. Wow, your electricity packs a punch.”

“Yeah. It does that,” Jeremy said. He placed the keys on the table instead and pushed them towards Ryan. The gent picked them up gingerly.

They all jumped as a loud bang reverberated through the house. Gavin appeared in a blur of white horns and flying limbs - while walking on the ceiling. He came to stand right over the breakfast table, grinning down at them all, much to Geoff, Jack and Jeremy’s annoyance and to Ryan’s bewilderment.

“I’ve told you several times, stop walking on my roof,” Geoff grumbled.

“But Geoff, it’s so much fun Geoff!” Gavin said, doing a little pirouette.

“Yeah, but now I have to fucking figure out how to clean footprints off the ceiling!”

Gavin pouted. “Spoilsport.” He gave a little hop and flipped over, landing with a thump in the middle of the table. Everyone leapt up in alarm as plates and papers went everywhere.

“Oh! Sorry!” Gavin said, turning around and attempting to avoid the laptop and food. This caused his long white tail to thwap into the side of Ryan’s head. Ryan staggered and blinked stars out of his eyes. A wave of anger rose suddenly in his chest. He glared at Gavin as the lad hopped off the table.

“Did I get you, Ry-Bread?” the lad asked, grinning at him.

The fury built, and voice with it.

“The demon pup thinks he’s something. He’s cocky. You could show him what true power is. Just let it in Ryan. Let the anger in. You will be so powerful…”

Ryan shook his head. Cold terror overrode the anger and he took a step backwards. Gavin frowned.

“Ryan? You alright?” the lad asked. He reached out and Ryan twitched as Gavin’s claws patted his shoulder.

“I’m alright Gav. Just - just watch where you swing your tail, okay?”

“Oh god. Sorry Ry. It’s weird having a tail. I really don’t know what it’s doin’ half the time,” Gavin said. At his words, it swung back and forth in agitation.

“It’s okay Gavin. Really.”

The lad nodded.

“Where’s Michael?” Geoff asked, sitting back down with a disgruntled look.

Gavin turned him. “Dunno.”

Geoff and Jack shared a look.

“Don’t you generally catch rides with him?” Jack asked.

Gavin shrugged. “I took a Lyft,” he said.

"What?" screeched Geoff.

Jack stared at Gavin in shock too.

"You - you what - with the horns and-"

"It's fine Geoffrey. I convinced the driver that I was going to a fancy dress party."

"Gavin! You can't just do that!"

Geoff continued to go off at Gavin. Ryan had begun to edge towards the door. Jeremy saw him and scooped the Necronomicon up off the table and jogged over.

“Don’t forget this,” he said.

Ryan took the book. “Right. Thanks. Gotta get on that translating.”

“I’ll give you a lift,” Jeremy said.

“No, it’s okay,” Ryan said. “I got it.” Then he paused.

Jeremy grinned at him. Ryan sighed.

“And of course my car is not here. I blame my suddenly lowered IQ on the lack of sleep.”

“I’ll drive you. Besides, I gotta go home and feed my cats.”

Ryan smiled at Jeremy. The young man was suddenly transported back to the office that day last week before any of this freaky stuff happened, and they’d just been two normal guys talking about his cats.

“I’d appreciate that,” Ryan said.

Jeremy dropped Ryan off at his house. Ryan had declined his offer to come inside and help Ryan with any chores, or with starting the translation of the Necronomicon . Ryan had waved him off though, citing the need to sleep immediately. Jeremy took pity on him. The effort of having breakfast and then dealing with Gavin’s appearance did seem to have taken a toll on him. Ryan waved at him from the porch as he drove away.

Booker, Scooter and Zipper were all waiting at the door when he got home. Zipper still took off when he saw Jeremy, but Scooter seemed more willing to approach the man with his demonic features. Booker immediately dashed to his food dish and started wailing. Jeremy laughed.

He filled their dishes and then decided to have a shower and change his clothes. Those few things done, he stood in the middle of his apartment and found himself at a loss. It had been a rollercoaster of a week. Everyone’s transformations, finding out Ryan was missing, looking for Ryan, breaking him out of Austin River, his recovery… Jeremy felt antsy without anything to do. Usually work kept him busy. There was always something to record or a Between the Games to film, or some editing to do. It was midday on a weekday and Jeremy had nothing to do. He wondered if he should go back to Geoff and Jack’s, but dismissed the idea. Ryan had been right. Those two needed a break from everyone. His eyes fell on his xBox. When had he last played a video game? He laughed as he realised it was the night he’d turned. He plopped down on the couch and reached for his controller. He yelped and dropped it though when the smell of burning plastic reached his nostrils. Jeremy frowned and looked at the controller. Great. He’d short-circuited it. Jeremy groaned and sat back in frustration. No video games, no one to talk to. Even his phone was still dead. Jeremy sat up. That’s what he’d do. Gavin had obviously been practicing with his powers, so Jeremy would too. Then he’d go and buy a new phone. That should take up a few hours until it was a reasonable enough time to go and check on Ryan.

Jeremy was finding it easier to hold his human form. When he got the the Apple store at the mall, they’d taken a look at his poor shocked iPhone and offered to replace it free of charge. Jeremy couldn’t believe his luck. As they were organising him a new device he couldn’t help but wonder why they were being so nice. Perhaps Apple were used to this kind of thing? Did iPhones do this a lot? He didn’t complain when they presented him with the new phone, all of his data downloaded from the cloud already. He thanked them for their service by finding and buying the biggest, thickest rubber insulated case they offered. He hoped that it would help prevent future electrical disasters.

He did some window shopping until he couldn’t stand it any longer. He’d wasted an appropriate amount of time and he really wanted to go check on Ryan again.

There was no answer when Jeremy knocked on the door. Jeremy was immediately hit with a wave of panic, but he squashed it down, telling himself he was being irrational. Ryan couldn’t have run away twice within a week. Jeremy knocked again. He tried the door, but found it locked. That was a good sign. Ryan was probably just dead to the world asleep. Jeremy shifted from foot to foot. He knocked a third time, then cursed.

“Ryan, where are you?” he muttered. He pulled out his new phone and shot Ryan a text.

Jeremy: Hey. You asleep still?

He waited a few minutes. The panic was coming back slowly.

Jeremy: Ryan. You up?

Still no response.

Jeremy: Ryan, are you okay? Seriously dude. I’m worried now.

Jeremy was working up the courage to break the door down when his phone buzzed. He laughed shakily when he read the message.

Ryan: Hey Jeremy! Sorry to freak you out. I was working on the translation. I made some headway but then I fell asleep for an hour. I got up and did a few chores and realised I was kind of out of food. I went shopping. Turns out milk goes off when you’re committed to a psych ward for a few days

Jeremy tapped out a reply.

Jeremy: Well, when you’re done just come back around to Geoff and Jack’s and you can let us know what you’ve translated

Ryan sent him back a thumbs up emoji. Jeremy sighed in relief, stuck his phone back in his pocket and headed for his car.

Ryan sighed and moved away from the window. Outside, Jeremy got into his car and pulled away. Ryan ran a hand over his face. In the real world, he would have believed that Jeremy had just been checking up on him. But now? Now he knew it was something a little more sinister. He’d had a hard time getting away from all of them this morning They all seemed so normal . He did have some Latin books here at his house, but he’d had no intention of doing any translating. Ryan turned back to the suitcase on the bed and continued packing. They would expect him to head back to family, so he was going in the opposite direction. Washington was nice this time of year. Unfortunately the earliest flight he’d been able to find was leaving late that night. He rummaged in the top drawer of his bureau and pulled out his passport. From Washington, it was an easy hop to Canada. He decided that he should probably pack some more warm clothes. He was getting out of this city and the monsters that were not inhabiting it. Ryan swayed, catching himself on the doorframe of his bedroom. He swiped roughly at the wetness in his eyes. Geoff, Jack, Michael, Gavin, Jeremy… his friends. His friends were gone. They acted like everything was fine, like they didn’t have horns and tails and demon eyes. He hated to have to leave. He loved his job and his life here. But what else could he do? A cold surge of terror spurred him to continue packing.

Chapter Text

“Hey Lil’ J!”

Jeremy looked around for the source of the voice as he let himself into Jack and Geoff’s house. He heard a giggle above him and groaned. He looked upwards. Gavin was laying on the ceiling. He even had a fucking pillow.

“That’s getting old,” he said.

Gavin stuck his tongue out. “You’re just jealous you can’t do it yet,” he said.

“Fuckin’ watch me,” Jeremy growled and started at the wall. He took a deep breath and put his foot up on it. He knew the theoretics and that if he could just trick his brain a little, he could do it. He tried to imagine gravity shifting to the vertical plane. For a moment he wobbled, stuck between the floor and the wall, and then he fell over backwards. There were cackles from the ceiling. Jeremy swore as he got up, flipped the bird at Gavin and went to sit with Michael and Geoff on the couch.

“Come to join team earth-bound?” Michael asked, his voice laced with sarcasm.

“It seems that way. For now,” Jeremy grumbled but grinned.

Geoff was playing the new Call of Duty . Michael just watched with his arms crossed. Jeremy looked at him sympathetically. He was probably having the same problems as Jeremy when it came to controllers.

Jack came in.

“Where’s Ryan?” he asked Jeremy.

“I dropped him off at home. I offered to stay with him, but he said he was okay. I swung by his house again a few hours later but he was out. He must be feeling better now because he texted me to say he was getting groceries,” Jeremy said.

Jack’s eyebrows rose. “He really must be feeling better. Strange. I thought the headaches would still be pretty debilitating.”

“Yeah me too. Honestly I was surprised that he wanted to be alone. The way he freaked out yesterday when he couldn’t see us all in the same room. He needs us, and then he doesn’t, just like that. He seems to have recovered really, really quickly,” Jeremy said, rubbing his head.

Jack shrugged and left the room.

They watched Geoff play for an hour or so. Eventually it started getting dark. Jeremy checked his phone.

“I wonder what’s taking Ryan so long. I told him he should come around once he got back from shopping,” Jeremy  murmured. Michael turned to Jeremy, his eyes narrowed.

“What?” asked Jeremy.

“Nothing,” said Michael. He got up. “Hey. I’m gonna go grab some food. You guys don’t mind tacos, right?”

Everybody made excited noises and Michael left. Jeremy watched Geoff for a few minutes before remembering that Michael still had his flaming horns on display. How was he going to fetch food like that?

Michael pulled up at Ryan’s house. It was nearing dusk and there were no lights on. Michael looked at the house carefully. There was fleeting movement at a window upstairs. Michael frowned. He got out and headed towards the door. He was glad of the tall shrubbery in Ryan’s front yard. It hid Michael from people passing by on the street. In the darkness, his flickering orange flames were like a beacon. Michael rapped on the door but no one answered.

“Ryan!” he called. “I know you’re in there!”

There was no sound from the house.

Michael pounded on the door again. “You better still be in there Ryan!”

He waited a few more minutes and then continued his assault on the wood.

“Open the door Ryan! I know you’re there! I saw you up in the bedroom. Get your ass down here now! I just wanna talk to you!”

Michael swore and slammed his fist on the door for a solid half an hour, continuing to call out to Ryan, alternating between persuading him to come to the door and threatening to break it down. He stopped when he realised he was leaving scorch marks. He cursed.

“Ryan. Listen. I just wanna talk. Jeremy’s worried about you, but I don’t think he realises what’s going on. He said something that made me realise… Well, I just need to talk to you okay?”

Michael kicked at the iron railing of the porch.

“Ryan, will you please just let me in?”

Michael glared at the firmly locked door.

“Fine. If you won’t let me in, I’ll just say it out here. Listen. This whole situation - it’s completely fucking insane. I had no idea how to react to, well, everything. I still don’t. I think I need a new fire blanket. Mine’s already starting to wear out. God. I don’t know how I’m going to live like this. I’m -  Ryan I’m scared.”

Michael put his back against the railing and slid down. He grabbed one of his horns.

“I’m scared too. I’m scared - I’m scared of the voice in my head. I heard it first when I turned. I locked myself in the bathroom, thinking I was some kind of monster.” Michael squeezed his eyes shut. “It was in my head, whispering for me to do stuff. It went away for a while, but occasionally it pops back up and just hisses in the back of my head. The others don’t hear it. I don’t know why. But when you were telling us about the psychiatric hospital - you said there was a voice. You said you were talking to yourself…”

There was a faint sound. Michael's head snapped up. Ryan was standing in the doorway. His hands were white on the door and he looked as if he was ready to slam it shut at any second. He glared at Michael.

“Pretty words Michael. But for all I know you’re just here to try and convince me to turn into one of you. You want me to just give into the voice and turn. How do I even know you’re still you Michael?” he snapped.

Michael stared at him. He grinned. “That’s what you’re worried about? You’re worried we’ve been possessed or some shit?”

Ryan just glared at him.

“Sure, we’ve been a little more punchy now we have all this weird aggression, but have any of us changed? Geoff and Jack are still as sickeningly cute as usual. Trevor and Alfredo are creepier, sure, but they’ve always kinda been like that. Gavin has always been that annoying. And Jeremy… He’s just worried about us,” Michael said.

Ryan looked away.

“If we were possessed, don’t you think we might have started acting a little different?”

“I - I don’t know...” Ryan muttered.

Michael laughed. “And if we were evil demons trying to persuade you to turn, would it really have been me to come and try to convince you?”

That drew a reluctant smile from the gent.

“It could be a double-bluff?” Ryan said.

“Are we really smart enough for that?” Michael said.

Ryan shook his head and continued to smile. He sighed.

“Come in,” he said.

Michael got up and dusted himself off. Ryan led him inside and flipped on the lights. Michael raised an eyebrow at the suitcases in the hallway.

“You going somewhere?”

Ryan avoided the lad’s eyes. “Uh. Well…”

Michael raised his hands. “Honestly I don’t blame you. Hey, it’s probably the smartest thing any of us has tried to do considering. If all of my friend turned into fiends from hell and were convincing me to join them, I’d run in the opposite direction too.”

Ryan smiled sheepishly. “I’m glad you get what I was going through.”

“Kinda just happy I caught you in time,” said Michael.

Ryan offered him a chair. Michael shook his head.

“Sorry, I don’t have the fire blanket. I don’t want to leave burn marks,” he said.

Ryan waved a hand. “It’s a shit chair. It’ll give me an excuse to replace it.”

“Thanks,” Michael said and begrudgingly sat down.

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

“So you sure you’re not possessed?” Ryan asked awkwardly.

“Fuck if I know honestly. Jeremy put it a good way when I was talking to him the other day though. I got all the horns and the tail, but I still feel like me. Apart from the, you know…”

“So, uh, what does the voice say to you exactly?” Ryan asked quietly.

Michael let out a breath. “All sorts of stuff. Mostly when I get angry. It tells me to burn. It’s - it’s not very talkative really. Just individual words - burn, tear, kill, rip - more burning.” Michael shrugged.

Ryan scratched at the table’s surface. “But it still feels like something inside you - some other thing that’s telling you to do that?”

“Yeah. It’s definitely separate. Something else.”

Ryan nodded. “That does sound a lot like what I hear. Although… Mine is a lot more articulated. It sounds like there’s another person just talking in my ear. It tried to tell me how powerful I would be when I turned. How I could do anything I wanted. It… it kept talking about blood…”

Michael could only stare.

“Fuck. I can see why that would make you terrified of turning. And why you thought we’d all been possessed. Fuck man… That’s rough.”

“Tell me about it,” Ryan said, rolling his eyes. He slumped back in his chair. Michael couldn’t help but notice that the he seemed lighter though, like talking about this finally had lifted some kind of burden from him. Ryan winced and pressed a hand to is forehead.

“I still can’t believe you’re dealing with those headaches,” Michael said.

“I’d give anything for them to go away,” Ryan groaned.

“You really do have to turn then dude. Now you know we’re not trying to pull a fast one on you, you’ll be alright, won’t you?”

Ryan lowered his hand, but still looked worried.

“I don’t know. It’s possible that it’ll happen like last time. I locked up halfway through because the voice started talking to me again. I got so scared that I stopped being angry… It hurt so fucking much to just stop dead in the middle of that.” Ryan shuddered at the memory.

Michael bit his lip. “Maybe there’s something we can do to help…”

Michael returned with a stack of books in his arms. Ryan trailed behind him, carrying a bag of tacos. Gavin stood up on the ceiling and reached down to snag one from the bag.

“I see you’re the human mule now,” he said.

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Not for long, I hope.”

As soon as Ryan had walked in, Jeremy had bound to his feet. He approached Ryan.

“Need any help with those?” he asked.

“Nah, I got it,” said the gent.

Jeremy’s face fell a little, but then he smiled again as Ryan reached into the bag and handed him a foil wrapped packet. The other Achievement Hunters swooped in and relieved Ryan of the rest of the tacos. Michael dropped the stack of books on the table.

“From Ryan’s place. To help us translate the dumb Necronomicon ,” Michael said nodding to the big book on top when Jack sent him a questioning look.

“What took you so long in getting back, Ry?” Gavin asked.

Geoff glared up at the lad as he bit into his food, raining crumbs down on his head.

“Erm, traffic back from the grocery store,” Ryan said.

Michael’s tail twitched.

“Thursday afternoon shopping gridlock?”

“Something like that,” muttered Ryan.

“You must be feeling  lot better then if you were able to drive yourself to the shops,” Jack said after finishing his taco. He crumpled up his foil in a ball and arced it to the trash can. It bounced off the rim.

“Only a little,” said Ryan. “My head is still splitting, but yeah.”

Gavin tried to copy Jack, but the fact that he was upside down messed with his perception and he whiffed completely. Geoff and Michael laughed.

“I was actually, uh, hoping you guys could help me out again with that…” Ryan said. He rubbed the back of his neck. Everyone turned to look at him.

“You want to try to turn again?” Jack asked.

Ryan took a deep breath and nodded. Michael took a step forward.

“I had a thought about how we could help him out,” he said.

‘You see my problem is that it all starts out normally, well, I guess whatever passes for normal in this situation. But then, I dunno. I just got real scared. I remember locking up. And then the anger went away. You guys made it pretty clear anger is what triggers it, so when that went away, I was just left with a hell of a migraine,” Ryan said.

“Ry’s having anger performance issues,” Gavin said.

“Hey!” Ryan glared up at him.

Geoff sniggered. “It’d be unfortunate if that happened to Michael - your whole career as the Rage Quit guy would go down the drain if you started having trouble keeping it up.”

“Oh hardy-har,” Michael said, his tail lashing as he stared Geoff down.

“Anyway. Michael suggested that I have a little help. From you,” Ryan said and gestured to Geoff. The older man blinked.

“Me?” he pointed at himself.

“Yeah. You tell Ryan to stop being scared. We make him angry - poof, Ryan’s turned and no more headaches!” Michael said.

“Holy shit, why didn’t I think about that before?” Geoff said.

Jack’s lips were thin behind his beard.

Jeremy frowned at him. “But you did.”

They all looked at Jack. The ginger man sighed. “Yes, it did occur to me. I didn’t really want to mention it though, because, well, we all know what happened last time Geoff compelled one of us…”

Everyone but Ryan looked awkwardly at their feet.

“Why? What happened?”

“Geoff kind of overdid it,” Gavin said in a low voice.

“That’s an understatement,” Jeremy muttered darkly.

Ryan ran a hand through his hair.

“Does that mean you won’t do it?” His voice was strained. Ryan was putting on a good pretense of looking alright, but he was going to fall apart sooner than later.

Geoff looked up at him. “Are you sure you don’t want to do it some other way?”

Ryan shook his head and shrugged. “Look. I’m tired. I’m exhausted really. I don’t remember what it’s like to be without an ice pick lodged behind my eyes. I just want the pain to stop.”

Geoff stood up. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

Ryan’s shoulders slumped. “Thank you.”

Jack was still frowning, but he came forwards and took Ryan’s arms. He steered him to the couch and sat him down.

“Should I get something for after he turns?”

“Maybe a glass of water?” said Jeremy. “I kind of panted a lot.”

“Good idea,” said Jack and he bustled off.

Jeremy sat on the couch a little apart from Ryan. He wanted to comfort the man, but was wary of the purple sparks jumping agitatedly about on his skin. Geoff sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of Ryan. Gavin moved closer.

“Okay. Okay. We’ll do this smart then. I’ll compel you. All you have to do is look into my eyes. Then we’ll have to make you angry. As soon as you’ve turned, I’ll take away the compulsion. Or, do you think you’ll need it after you’re done?”

Ryan clasped his hands together. “I shouldn’t think so. It’s just getting to the point of turning that’s the problem. Once I’ve passed that, we should be good. Any other tips?” Ryan asked the room.

“Try not to get your horns stuck in the stair banisters,” Geoff said. The corner of Ryan’s lip curled up.

“If you burst into flames, that’s normal. Don’t try to extinguish them,” Michael said with a shrug.

Ryan laughed. “Really?”

“Apparently they're vital to me. It hurt like a bitch,” replied Michael.

Jack returned an placed a silipint of water on the table. Ryan raised an eyebrow.

“Afraid I’ll break a glass?”

“There can be some, er, thrashing,” Jack muttered.

This seemed to sober the gent.

“Alright. Are you ready?” Geoff asked.

Ryan put his hands on his knees and looked into Geoff’s eerie eyes. The sclerae were a deep glossy black and Geoff’s irises glinted with a nearly luminescent red.

“Ryan. You will now stop being afraid,” he said.

After a moment, Ryan blinked.

Geoff broke eye contact. “Well? How do you feel?”

Ryan rubbed at his stubble. “I’m not sure. I feel okay. I mean, nothing’s wrong.” He shrugged.

“How do we know if it’s worked then?” Michael asked.

Gavin suddenly dropped from the ceiling to the ground with a loud thump. Everyone but Ryan jumped.

“Well, one way to find out,” Gavin said. He gave Ryan a calculating grin. “So. I can totally make a new triangle.”

Ryan narrowed his eyes at the lad.

“No, Gavin, you cannot. You can’t just go around making up new shapes willy nilly,’ Ryan said.

Jack couldn’t help but grin. Not this dumb argument again. Geoff was covering his mouth with his hand and Michael was chuckling through his nose in that odd way that made him sound like a Star Wars pod-racer.

“But Ryan, if you remove the euclidian, you can totally make a triangle with all ninety degrees!”

Ryan groaned and rubbed his forehead.

“Then you don’t have a triangle! You’ve gone and changed the fundamentals of the - it’s basic math Gavin!”

“This is math too! People sent me a bunch of stuff proving I was right! I could make a triangle with five sides if I wanted to,” Gavin said, jabbing a finger at Ryan.

Ryan got to his feet. He glowered at Gavin. “Then you’ve completely missed the point of a triangle! Tri, being three, angle being fucking angle! You are-” Ryan broke off with a strangled yell. A hand went to his head, the other flailed until it found the arm of the sofa.

Geoff and Gavin leapt backwards with startled yelps. Jack raised his arms, ready to dash forward and help if Ryan should need it. Jeremy was off the couch too, watching anxiously.

Ryan’s fingers flexed and he screwed his eyes tight in pain. He hadn’t even noticed the fury building. He’d just been concentrating on Gavin’s needling. It surged through him now, scorching at his veins and boiling his nerves. He screamed as his spine shifted and adjusted. He’d thought the headaches had been bad, but now his skull felt as if it was being cleaved in two places. But he wasn’t afraid. He felt all of these changes and accepted that they were happening. He felt the anger and the agony flow through him, shifting and changing his body and he let it happen. His fingers contracted, long, lethal claws springing from the tips. A bizarre feeling coursed through him as his spine elongated, growing new vertebrates, skin and fur. A dark-red skinned tail appeared at his back. It was tufted with long black fur. Ryan bent double as the pain in his head somehow increased. He roared as the horns erupted from his skull. They were thick and grew out and forwards, bone white at the bases and dark at the curled up tips. Ryan’s cry petered off into a pained moan. His teeth also hurt all of a sudden. His eyes snapped open to reveal that the whites had turned completely red. He had no irises left, instead there was a deep, dark pupil. When he flicked his eyes from left to right, they glowed like that of an animal with night vision. And then the pain was gone.

Ryan shivered, hands still clenched on the leather couch. He realised that his sharp black claws were digging into the fabric and he released it. He staggered, feeling suddenly off balance. His head was suddenly too heavy.

“Whoa, easy there,” said Jack, moving towards him.

Ryan gratefully took the arm that was offered to him. He was breathing heavily and he felt like he was about to collapse.

“I feel…”

“Don’t worry. The transformations really took it out of us all too,” Jack said soothingly. The others had crowded around, curiously examining Ryan’s new features.

Ryan shook his head. “No. I feel amazing,” he said with a crooked grin.

Jack laughed. He led him back to the couch. “Here. Sit down before you fall over.”

Ryan sat and grimaced. He reached behind himself and pulled his tail out of the way. He held it and his eyes widened. The others grinned.

“Yeah. Pretty weird, feeling a new limb,” said Gavin.

Ryan could only nod as he ran a hand over the black fur tuft.

“Wait,” he said. His hands darted to his horns and he felt them all over. “Fuck! I have bull horns, don’t I?”

They all considered the size and shape of the horns and burst into laughter. Gavin squeaked and pointed.

“Ryan’s turned into Edgar!”

Ryan dropped his hands and glared at them all. He bared his teeth and growled. Everyone jumped in surprise. In addition to all of the normal features, it seemed that Ryan’s teeth had changed. In place of pearly whites, he now had a mouthful of very carnivorous looking teeth.

“Holy fuck Ryan, that’s terrifying,” Michael said still chuckling.

Ryan tongued one and grinned.

“Ryan looks different to us,” Gavin said, cocking his head. If Jeremy had been a little taller, the lad would have smacked him with a horn. Gavin’s observation was astute though. The teeth weren’t the extent of the differences. Ryan’s ears had grown into points. The skin base of his claws had become a similar dark-red colour to his new tail. Thin black veins spiderwebbed out from the corners of his reflective eyes. Then there was the strange aura that seemed to surround him. Where Michael, Geoff and Gavin gave off flames, and Jack smoked slightly, Ryan seemed to be the opposite. There was a fuzzy kind of darkness surrounding him. Light seemed to be dragged towards him and disappeared into a void that looked to be just behind Ryan somewhere. The nothingness moved with Ryan and was difficult to stare at for too long.

Ryan was looking at his hands again. He stretched them and flexed them. His tail thumped on the couch. “This is great. Man, this is so nice. I feel… The pain is gone and it’s amazing. I’m not scared of this at all,” he said. He rolled his head on his neck, getting used to the weight of his horns now. Geoff grinned.

“I’m happy for you bud. But now we gotta get you back to normal,” he said. He took a step towards Ryan. The gent held up a finger.

“Wait,” he said slowly.

Geoff frowned.

“I’m not afraid. I don’t feel scared. That… that’s what it was all along…” A smile stretched across Ryan’s face.

“What? What are you talking about Ryan?” asked Jeremy.

Everyone looked uncertain now. Ryan fixed the lad with his strange new eyes.

“My power Jeremy. Fear.”

Ryan pointed a black claw at him and Jeremy gasped. He dropped to his knees and shut his eyes. He began shaking.

“What? What’s happening? What did you do Ryan?” Jack asked, staring open-mouthed from Ryan to Jeremy. Ryan grinned and pointed at Jack. The older man let out a small, sad sound and his eyes glazed over. He sank slowly to the ground. Gavin yelped in panic. Michael bristled, his flames flaring up. Geoff started towards Ryan.

“Ryan, stop whatever you’re doing right now!” he called, his voice cracking. Ryan turned his gaze on Geoff, that crocodile grin widening even further.

“Geoff, no!” Michael lunged at the older man as Ryan’s finger swung around to point at him. Geoff screamed and collapsed. Michael grabbed him and hauled him to his feet.

“Ryan! Ryan, stop!” Gavin raised his own hands, but Ryan was quicker. With a flick, Gavin’s eyes also went glassy. Michael didn’t know what to do. Geoff was muttering and sobbing in his arms. Ryan’s head was turning towards him. He dragged Geoff to the hallway, flung open the door and ran.

Chapter Text

Growing up in Boston, Jeremy had always had the most amazing view of the city over the river. Anybody else would have loved it, but Jeremy hated it. It would have been fine if he’d actually lived in the city, then he would never have really noticed it. Because he saw the skyline every single day, he couldn’t not see it. Ever since he was young, he’d always had a fear of heights. He’d laughed off all of the jokes -  “Haha, the short guy is afraid of heights,” - and honestly tried not to make a big deal of it. But that skyline, with those two skyscrapers was a constant reminder.

He knew that the new John Hancock tower was technically taller, but as it had been further away from his house, the much closer Prudential Tower had always seemed the most imposing. The worst part about it wasn’t the building though - it was the enormous red and white antenna that topped the tower. Just imagining how far away the world would look from the top of that antenna had always made Jeremy feel sick to his stomach, so when the floor dropped out from under him and a bitter wind suddenly nipped at his exposed skin, Jeremy knew exactly where he was.

It was pure instinct that made him fall to his knees and spread his weight as evenly as possible over the platform that was barely three feet in diameter and gently curved. He clamped his eyes shut immediately, but that did not dispel the knowledge of how high up he suddenly was. His stomach lurched violently as the wind blew again, making the tower creak and shift under him. He couldn’t help the strangled scream that burbled up from his throat. His hands started sweating immediately, even though he was suddenly freezing from the altitude. He dared not lift them from the platform to wipe them on his jeans though. Jeremy’s mind was reeling. He’d been in Jack and Geoff’s living room. Ryan had finally turned. Jeremy had been so happy to finally see Ryan be pain free. And he had to admit that the bull horns, tail and other additions did not detract from the man’s appearance in any way. Geoff had moved to undo the compulsion he’d placed on Ryan and then - Jeremy cried out as the tower shifted under him again. How had he gotten here? He didn’t remember. Had he teleported somehow? Gavin had teleported once. How had Jeremy teleported then? And how had he gone so far? Jeremy gritted his teeth as he began shivering. He was just in a t-shirt and jeans. He could already feel his extremities going numb. He refused to think about what would happen when he couldn’t feel his fingers anymore. This was okay. This was fine. He would just have to figure out how to teleport back. Or down. Or at least to a lower fucking floor. Jeremy’s heart sank as he heard a low rumble. He worked up the courage to crack an eye open. The sky to the east was a roiling, bruised mass of clouds. A storm was coming. A storm, and with it wind and driving, cold rain. Rain that would freeze him solid. That would make this precarious platform slippery. Gales that would rock the tower to its foundation. He had to get down. He had to get down right now. Jeremy’s shoulders shook as a sob escaped him.

The scene seemed to blur in front of Jack. He felt off balance for a moment, but then righted himself. He was standing in his living room. He looked around, feeling oddly uncomfortable. He was sure that there’d been more people here a moment ago. He frowned at the decor. Something was missing. Lots of things were missing actually. The bookcase on the far wall was practically empty. Photo frames from the mantelpiece were missing. There were too few shoes by the door.

“Geoff?” Jack called. The house was silent around him. He went to their bedroom. Hazy afternoon sunlight filtered through blinds, illuminating dust motes. The bed was messy and there were clothes all over the floor. Jack recognised that all of the clothes were his own. The bedside table on the left was cluttered with his things, but the one on the right was bare. A cold dread gripped at his heart. Jack whipped out his phone and looked through his contacts for Geoff’s number. He opened their text history and began typing out a message to ask him where he was. He went to hit send but paused. He looked at the last messages they’d exchanged. The date on them read over two months ago. Jack felt as if a rug had been pulled from under his feet. He scrabbled for something to hold onto as he read the conversation.

Geoff: Did I leave my kindle there?

Jack: Yeah I think I saw it the other day

Jack: Do you want me to bring it around?

Geoff: Don’t even bother. I’ll come get it.

Jack: You sure? It’s not an issue, I can drop it off

Geoff: Jack just leave it. Fuck. You know what, forget about it. I don’t need it right now.

Jack’s eyes swam. Geoff… Geoff had left him? When had this happened? Why didn’t he remember? The tone of the other man’s words was so cold. What had happened between them? His hands were shaking as he held his phone. Not knowing what else to do, he called Geoff. The phone rang and rang and rang. Jack hung up and called back. Geoff still didn’t pick up. Jack hastily shoved his phone back in his pocket and strode into the living room. His eyes were wide and his breathing ragged as he grabbed his keys and headed for his car.

He drove maybe a little too quickly to the Rooster Teeth offices. Jack parked next to the Soundcheck building and got out. He was still breathing hard as he went up to the door. He grabbed the handle and tugged. He cursed. Of course, he needed his keycard. He pulled out his wallet and rummaged through it. He swore again. He must have left the card at home. Jack jumped as the door opened in front of him. A woman with spiked hair and dozens of piercings pushed it open and walked out. She had a guitar case in one hand and ignored Jack. Before the door could swing closed, Jack grabbed it.

He hurried through the maze of plywood that separated the hangar into its offices. He reached the Achievement Hunter office and stopped. The door looked different. He shook his head and opened it. Jack stopped dead.

The room was empty. Gone were the six desks and the dozen or so computers. Gone were the shelves of paraphernalia and gifts from fans. The room was completely bare. Jack closed the door. He walked back through the corridors in a daze. He made his way out into the parking lot on autopilot.

“Hey! Watch where you’re fucking going!”

Jack’s heart soared at the voice.

“Geoff?” Jack looked up into those heavy lidded blue eyes. Geoff was dressed in one of his collection shirts and he was holding a cup of coffee. Jack felt an overwhelming urge to gather him into his arms and hold him tightly. The surprise on Geoff’s face was quickly chased away by a sour look.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he snapped.

Jack could only gape.

Geoff’s glower only increased. “Jack. What the fuck dude. You call me twice out of the blue and then you turn up here?”

“I - I work here,” Jack said in a small voice.

Geoff blinked. “What the fuck’s gotten into you? You haven’t worked here in a month.”

Jack couldn’t believe his ears.

“What do you mean? A month? What happened? Where are all of our desks? Where are the guys?”

Geoff narrowed his eyes at Jack. “If this is some kind of weird, delayed post-traumatic stress thing, then I ain’t fuckin’ dealing with it.”

“Geoff, please, I don’t understand what’s going on. What happened? What happened to us?” Jack’s voice was cracking. He was on the verge of tears now.

Geoff’s scowl lessened somewhat as he watched Jack’s emotional outburst, but then he hardened again.

“Oh no you fuckin’ don’t. You don’t get to do that. You know exactly what happened. You did this. You - me - Achievement Hunter - everything. You did this,” Geoff snarled. He poked a finger into Jack’s chest with each word. Jack could only stare, his chin wobbling. Geoff gave him one final furious glance and then strode away. Jack watched him walk to his car and drive off. He felt numb. He was sure he wasn’t breathing properly. He scrabbled for his phone again. He tried to call Ryan. There was no answer. Like Geoff’s phone, it just rang out. Next he called Michael. He found himself frowning when the machine informed him that the number had been disconnected. The case was the same for Jeremy’s phone number, Alfredo’s, Trevor’s and Gavin’s. The sunset over Stage 5 was beautiful as Texan sunsets always were. Jack’s fingers were slow as he tried Ryan’s phone again.

“What?”

Jack was surprised that Ryan answered this time.

“Ryan?” His voice was creaky.

“What do you want Jack?” Ryan’s tone was terse.

“I - uh… What happened?” he asked.

“The fuck are you on about?”

Jack wanted to curl up in the parking lot and cry.

“I’m so confused. Geoff’s moved out. The Achievement Hunter office is empty. Geoff - Geoff won’t talk to me. The lad’s phones won’t connect. What - what happened? Did - did I do something?”

Ryan was silent for a few moments.

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re on, but if you’ve fucking forgotten, Google it,” he said in a low voice. There was a click and then nothing but dial tone. Jack took the phone from his ear and navigated to a web browser with clumsy fingers. He typed in Achievement Hunter and hit search. Dozens of results flooded the page. Heartfelt messages of condolence were among the top hits. There were a few ‘Remembering Achievement Hunter’ videos. Then finally a news item. Jack clicked on it. Tears blurred his eyes as he skimmed the article.

TRAGEDY BEFALLS AUSTIN BASED ENTERTAINMENT POWERHOUSE ROOSTER TEETH - Millions of fans around the world were shocked this week as reports surfaced of the terrible accident that took the lives of five of its personalities. Professional video gamers Alfredo Diaz, Trevor Collins, Gavin Free, Michael Jones and Jeremy Dooley were killed in a car accident in South Austin on Monday night when the car they were travelling in ploughed into a lightpost. The driver, Jack Pattillo, also an employee of Rooster Teeth, was driving and managed to walk away from the wreck with only minor injuries. Investigations have begun into whether Mr. Pattillo was under the influence at the time…

The ground under Jack’s feet seemed to fall away.

Gavin blinked. He was standing in a medium sized room. The walls were a bland, middle-grey with an odd texture. There wasn’t much difference to the floor or the ceiling. There room was lit evenly, but there were no light fixtures that Gavin could see. The lad scratched his chin. He was sure he’d been doing something not moments before. He remembered reading that article about the ‘doorway effect’. Apparently it was something to do with the brain compartmentalizing stuff or some nonsense when entering a new room which made one forget why they’d walked in in the first place. He shrugged and turned around to leave. He stopped as he came up against another blank wall. Gavin looked around again. There were no doors or windows in this room at all. He rubbed the back of his neck.

“How the toss did I get in here?” he wondered out loud.

He tapped on one of the walls. It sounded pretty solid. All four walls produced the same result. Gavin frowned. His hand went to his pocket, seeking his phone, but met only fabric. Gavin frowned again and checked all the rest of his pockets. He couldn’t even find his wallet. He bit his lip.

“Hello?” he called. There was an odd sensation when his voice didn’t echo back. The texture on the walls seemed to soak up the sound.

“Is there anyone out there?” Gavin called, his voice slightly raised. He knocked on the wall again. The sound was muted by the dense material. “Michael? Guys?”

Gavin scuffed his foot on the floor. He didn’t know where he was, or how he’d gotten here, but he was already starting to get bored. He rapped on the wall again.

“Hey! Somebody let me out of here!”

He was silent for a moment, ears straining for any sound from the outside world. There was no sound apart from that coming from himself. He was suddenly oddly aware that he could hear his own heartbeat. Gavin glared at the dull grey wall and turned away from it. He strode across to the opposite, identical wall and thudded a fist on it.

“Hey! Can anyone hear me? Get me the hell outta here!” Gavin shouted. His words were quieted by the room. He stared around, feeling a buzz of panic latch onto the back of his mind. He heard his heart speed up a notch. He banged on the wall again.

“Let me out! Someone! Anyone?”

His hands felt jittery. He was used to having his phone to fiddle with. There was always something to do. Scroll through social media, videos, games, content, content, content. Gavin’s eyes flicked from one identical wall to the other. He had nothing in here. He could hear his breathing as well as his heartbeat now. Gavin clapped his hands to his ears. For a moment it worked, but then he realised he could hear his pulse pounding in his ears. He groaned and removed his hands.

“Let me out of here!” he yelled. He kicked at the wall, but only succeeded in hurting his foot. He dropped to the ground, holding it close and nursing it. His heartbeat was so loud. He backed into a corner and buried his head in his arms. Maybe if he went to sleep, someone would be there to get him out of this dumb room when he woke up? Gavin shut his eyes and tried to slow his breathing. The brightness of the room pressed in on his eyelids, shining through the flesh and making his vision red. There was no darkness in this room. Gavin swore and sat up again, resting his head against the wall. He didn’t feel tired anyway. Come to think of it, he didn’t really feel anything. Not sleepy, not hungry, not toiley… Gavin sniggered, remembering that podcast conversation. The grin slid off his face again as he looked at the blank wall opposite.

Gavin stared. He fidgeted. He tried to hum but couldn’t remember the tune. He scratched at the floor and the wall but made no indent. He tried not to hear his heartbeat. He crossed his arms. He uncrossed them. He stood. He sat. He walked around the room. He didn’t listen to his heart. He lay on the floor. He spun in a circle. He considered taking his clothes off.  He sat again. He tried not to listen to his heartbeat. He walked the perimeter of the room. He gazed at the ceiling. He really tried not to hear the blood pumping through his veins. He leant on a wall. He lay down again. He sat with his legs straight out. He got up again. Gavin screamed. He threw himself at a wall, kicking and scratching and punching and tearing.

Michael threw Geoff into the backseat of his car and jumped into the driver’s seat. He was swearing under his breath the whole time. He shoved the car into gear and took off.

He was about ten blocks away when he finally let off the accelerator. Michael pulled over into a side street. They were still in the suburbs and tall fences and hedges surrounded them. Michael ran a hand through his hair. He noticed absentmindedly that the flames fluttering around him were tiny and meek.

“What the fuck,” he muttered.

There were small scared noises in the back seat. Michael took off his seatbelt and turned around to check on Geoff. The man was whimpering, his head tucked in his hands. He whole body shook. Michael saw too, that the blue flames on Geoff’s tail and between his horns had shrunk to bare flickers.

“Geoff?”

The older man did not respond.

“Geoff. Geoff, what happened? Are you okay?”

Michael heard sniffles and realised Geoff was sobbing. His eyes widened. He wasn’t sure what to do. He got out of the car and then climbed into the backseat. He was hesitant to touch Geoff for fear of burning him, so resorted to just sitting with the older man while he tried to comprehend what the fuck had just happened.

Geoff had compelled Ryan. Gavin had antagonised him with unerring ease. Ryan had seemed to turn normally, apart from the weirdass teeth. Michael frowned. He’d seemed strangely happy. Michael had been glad his headache was gone when he’d turned himself, but Ryan had been too happy. Michael bit his lip. Had he been wrong about the voices in his and Ryan’s heads? Ryan had said that his voice was much more talkative. Michael had suggested they remove the only barrier to stop Ryan from turning. Had the voice somehow taken over?

“Oh god. What have I done?” he whispered.

Geoff shuddered under his hand. Michael looked down. Geoff had stopped crying.

“Hey,” Michael said, as gently as he could.

Geoff peeked up at him, his demon eyes red-rimmed.

“You okay?”

Geoff’s eyes flitted around the cabin. “Um. Could you…” Geoff coughed to clear the croakiness from his throat. “Could you please look under the seat?”

Michael raised an eyebrow, but did as he was told.

“What am I supposed to be looking for?” he asked.

“Just - is there anything under there?” Geoff asked in a high voice.

Michael was about to reply with a sarcastic remark, but at the vulnerable look on Geoff’s face, he held back. Michael looked under the seat and shook his head.

“No. There’s nothing there,” he said.

Geoff’s shoulders slumped.

“Geoff. You gotta tell me what happened. All I saw was Ryan grinning and then you guys collapsed,” Michael said. He forced himself to keep his voice gentle.

“I - I dunno what happened to the others but… They were everywhere. They crawled out from under the couch. They were hanging from the light. They were slithering on the walls. There were snakes fuckin’ everywhere -” Geoff broke off with another sob.

Michael stared at Geoff. “Snakes?”

“Yes! Snakes! Big honking, scaly, hissing, slimy motherfuckers!” Geoff snapped.

“There were no snakes,” Michael said.

Geoff fixed him with a glare.

“I’m serious! Ryan pointed at you and you just collapsed. The same with Jack, Gavin and Jeremy. There were no snakes that I saw.”

“Well I fuckin’ saw them, and it was fuckin’ terrifying!”

Michael frowned. “Wait. Isn’t that what he said?”

Geoff frowned now. He sniffled and wiped his eyes. He sat up a little and looked at Michael.

“What?”

“That’s what Ryan said. He was grinning like an idiot and talking about how he wasn’t afraid anymore. He said that was his power.”

“I took away his fear. What did that have to do with his power?” Geoff asked. He was still trembling, but was pulling himself together now.

“No, you don’t get it. Geoff, what would you say is your greatest fear?”

Geoff shifted, his eyes darting around the interior of the car.

“Snakes, of course,” said Michael. “So, you take away Ryan’s fear and then you’re suddenly pissing your pants, facing your own worst fear. That’s Ryan’s power. He can make you see your worst fear, and - fuck -” Michael smacked himself in the head. “That’s why he was seeing our corpses. Ryan’s worst fear is us all dead. And specifically by his own hand.”

Geoff looked pale. Michael looked down at his lap.

“Gav, Jack and Lil’ J are still in there…”

Geoff’s eyes went wide. “God. I was only there for a few seconds before you dragged me away. I can’t imagine what they’re going through. Fuck. Why would Ryan do this to us?”

Michael bit his lip.

Geoff noticed. “What? What do you know?”

Michael didn’t respond.

“Michael! You fucking know what’s going on here and you’d better tell me. I just saw a hundred fucking snakes and nearly went batshit insane. My boyfriend, your dumb fuckin’ crush and one of our best friends are back there in that house enduring God fucking knows what.”

“Fuck! Alright! Just… don’t freak out okay?” Michael looked at Geoff. When the older man nodded, Michael continued. “Do you remember when we brought Ryan home from the asylum? He told us what happened and how he got there. He talked about a voice in his head?”

Geoff nodded again.

“I think that’s what has him. That voice was the reason he couldn’t turn in the first place. It would talk to him and he would be too scared to transform. He said his anger would just dry up. When you took away his fear, I think we gave it free reign.”

“You mean... Ryan is actually possessed?”

Michael shrugged. “I don’t know what else to think.”

“How do you know all of this? When did he talk to you about this?”

“When I told him that I kinda have one too…” Michael said, running hand through his curls. He felt more than saw Geoff shrink away from him slightly. He felt his flames flare up, but he tamped them back down.

“Yeah. And that’s why we were reluctant to share the info. Look. I’m still me okay? I just… When I get mad it tells me to do stuff. It’s like the feelings you all get, ‘cept mine’s… pushier. Ryan’s was practically sweet-talking him. Without his fear, I don’t blame him for not being able to resist it,” Michael said. He looked up at Geoff who was staring at him warily. Michael wrinkled his nose.

“Look, I get you might not feel like you can trust me now, but we have bigger problems. Namely how to get a demon to lay off whatever nightmare worlds he’s jumped our friends into,” he snarled.

Geoff blinked and looked away.

“You’re right,” he muttered. “How the fuck are we supposed to do that?”

Michael rubbed at his eyes. “I don’t know man. All I can think of is knocking Ryan out. That doesn’t guarantee that he’ll release the guys though. We have no idea how his powers work.”

“I have to remove the compulsion then. He’ll go back to normal then, won’t he?”

“I assume so?” Michael gave him an anxious look.

“How the hell am I supposed to get close enough to look him in the eyes without him… without him…” Geoff’s knees drew up to his chest and he buried his head beneath his arms.

“We’ll figure something out. We have to,” Michael said.

“Could there be something in the book?” Geoff mumbled to his knees.

Michael shook his head. “Even if there was, we can’t read it. It’s also now sitting on your dining table. Right in the middle of crazy central.”

“Fuck. Fuck!” Geoff punctuated his curses with punches to the back of the carseat.

“We gotta have someone distract him while you sneak up and do your mojo on him,” Michael said.

Geoff fidgeted. “Would you be willing to do that?”

Michael was still for a moment, but then nodded. “I would. But… I don’t even know that it would work. He was so quick to take down the others. And if you get got, then we’re done.”

“We need more people to distract him. Wait,” Geoff looked around. “Where’s Alfreyco?”

Michael swore and whipped out his phone.

Michael: Are you heading to Geoff and Jack’s?

Alfredo replied quickly.

Alfredo: Yeah, why?

Michael's fingers flew over the screen.

Michael: DO NOT GO THERE. Turn around RIGHT NOW

Alfredo: Wtf? Why?

Michael: Ryan turned.

Alfredo: Isn’t that good news?

Michael: Ryan was scared to turn, so Geoff compelled his fear away. Ryan turned and everything went wrong. I think he figured out his powers. He’s gone full Dark God Ryan.

Alfredo: … well fuck.

They met at Michael's apartment instead. They hurried inside the building, thankfully without running into any of the neighbors. Geoff was still rather shaky as he sat on Michael’s couch. Trevor and Alfredo stood in the living room, giving Michael confused looks at the lad paced back and forth explaining what had happened.

“So, what you’re saying that something took over Ryan?” Alfredo asked when he’d finished.

Michael threw up his hands. “Yes - no - I don’t know! Look, that’s not the point here. The point is that we have to get Gavin and the others out of there. We have no idea what he’s putting them through. If Geoff suddenly saw a fuck-ton of snakes, then we can assume that they’re seeing some pretty terrifying shit too.”

“We have to stop Ryan somehow,” Geoff said in a small voice.

“We have to stop Ryan long enough for Geoff to undo the compulsion,” Michael clarified.

“How are we even gonna get close to him?” Trevor asked. “Won’t he just zap us too?”

Michael bit his lip. “We might have to. If we can distract him long enough with that for Geoff to get in there, then that’s what we’ll have to do.”

Trevor and Alfredo paled.

“Fuck that…” muttered Trevor.

Michael bristled, his flames popping and crackling about his shoulders.

“If you don’t want to help, then fine. But I am fucking doing this. Jack, Gavin and Jeremy are trapped in their worst nightmares and we are the only ones who can help. If you can’t suck up enough courage to do that for them, then fuck you.”

Trevor drew himself up to his full height, which was now considerably more impressive with the added antlers, and his glowing green eyes flashed. He bared his teeth at Michael and snarled. Michael felt the rage flash into his chest.

Burn him… burn him… bathe in his ashes…

Before Michael had taken a step forward, Alfredo stood between them.

“Stop it!” he yelled.

Trevor tried to move Alfredo away, but the man grabbed Trevor’s hand and glared at him. The furious look on Trevor’s face softened. Michael looked away, fighting down the instinct to leap at the taller man and rip him into pieces.

“We have a better idea anyway,” Alfredo and Trevor said together. They tilted their heads in unison. “We do? We do.” The pair disengaged and their extra eyes blinked out.

Michael crossed his arms. Trevor looked awkwardly at his feet.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

Michael sighed. “Don’t worry. I get it. I don’t want to see my worst fears come true either.”

“Not just mine,” Trevor said, glancing at Alfredo. The other man smiled softly.

“What’s this ‘better idea’ anyways?” Michael asked.

Trevor and Alfredo glanced at each other.

“Do you think we could do that?” Trevor asked him.

“Well, I mean, it worked the other way around,” Alfredo said.

“We don’t even know if it works on other people,” Trevor said.

Michael glanced between them. “You two and your fuckin’ twin-mind-meld thing. Explain!”

“Okay,” Trevor said, turning to Michael. “Can we test something on you?”

Michael frowned. “Will it help Gavin and the others?”

“We hope so,” said Alfredo.

“Sure. Do it,” said Michael.

Alfredo gestured at Trevor. The man sighed and reached up to his temple. He narrowed his eyes at Michael.

“Anything?” Alfredo asked Trevor.

Trevor shook his head. “Nada.”

Michael raised his eyebrow at them.

“Maybe it only works because of our connection then,” Alfredo said, his eyes downcast.

“What if we do it together though?” Trevor asked. He grabbed Alfredo’s hand again and suddenly Michael was looking at four sets of neon green eyes. Slowly, twin grins grew across their faces.

“Michael, what’s the unlock code for your phone?” they asked.

Michael briefly pictured the sequence of numbers he tapped into his iPhone and then frowned at the pair. “Why do you wanna know? What are you two doing?”

“Your code is 52388,” they said.

Michael’s mouth dropped open. “How the fuck did you know that?”

“You just told us,” they replied. They then sniggered. “And you just told us what it means.”

“I didn’t say shit!” Michael felt his face turn red.

The pair turned to Geoff. “What about you?”

Geoff looked alarmed. “What about me, what?”

Trevor and Alfredo frowned. “Your code is just 12345?”

“Hey!” Geoff shouted indignantly.

Michael gasped. “You can read minds?”

The pair turned to him again, still grinning.

“We told you we were still figuring our powers out,”

They parked down the street. They got out, thankful for the cover of darkness that still hung over them. After a few feet, Michael realised that Geoff was not with the group. He looked back to see Geoff’s tiny flame still sitting in the car. He motioned for Trevor and Alfredo to wait and went back.

Geoff was sitting with his face in his hands and started when Michael opened the door.

“Come on Geoff, we have to go.”

“I can’t,” Geoff whimpered.

Michael’s nerves were frayed thin. The whole drive here he couldn’t stop wondering what nightmare world Gavin was stuck in. If this was what Geoff had been reduced to after just a few seconds, he couldn't imagine what would happen to those who’d been trapped for hours.

“Geoff, you have to. We need you,” Michael said.

Geoff didn’t move. “I’m such a coward Michael.”

“Fuck, dude. I know you’re scared, but we need you. Gavin is in there Geoff. Jeremy’s trapped in there. Most of all, Jack needs you. Think about Jack.”

Geoff looked up, his red-rimmed eyes wide. “I am. That’s all I can think about. This is all my fucking fault, Michael.”

Michael stared at Geoff.

Geoff closed his eyes and shook his head. “If I hadn’t… If I hadn’t compelled Ryan, none of this would have happened. This is all my fault. Jack is in some kind of nightmare world because of me .”

“Shut the fuck up,” snapped Michael.

Geoff still had enough presence of mind to frown at Michael.

The lad shook his head vehemently. “This is absolutely not your fault Geoff. You do not blame yourself for this. This is Ryan’s fault.”

“But-”

“No fuckin’ buts! We were trying to help him! If we’re gonna start pointing fingers, then you’re gonna have to point at me for suggesting the idea to compel him. Point one at the fan who sent us that damned book in the first place! You were trying to help a friend in pain, Geoff. He decided to go psychotic on us.”

Geoff was staring at his lap. “Fine. I’m doing this for Jack and the others. But let it be known that after this, I am never using my powers again. All they’ve done is fuck things up.” Geoff’s movements were clumsy as he climbed out of the car. His tail was tucked between his legs as he followed Michael.

They crept up to Geoff and Jack’s house, hiding behind Jack’s neatly trimmed hedges. Michael peered in through the kitchen window. Ryan was on his feet. He was peering at Jack with a bemused smile on his face. Jack knelt on the ground. His shoulders heaved and tears poured down his face. Jeremy was in a similar situation. He appeared to be holding onto the ground for dear life and was shivering violently. Gavin was standing, arms wrapped around himself. His hair stood up in all directions and his glazed eyes were wide and anguished. Michael’s heart clenched. He ducked down below the sill.

“Okay. Here’s the plan. I run in first with Geoff following me. You guys can stay out here if you think you can do your thing from this range,” Michael said to Trevor and Alfredo. They nodded. “So, Ryan’s distracted by sending me into his weird fear-dimension thing, then by you two. Hopefully that gives Geoff enough time to un-compel him.”

The others nodded again.

“Fuck. When did our lives get so weird?” Alfredo said.

Michael couldn’t help it - he grinned. “What did you expect when you signed up to Achievement Hunter? Weird is the job description.”

There was a smattering of chuckles. It even wrought a smile from Geoff.

“Okay team, let’s do this. And break!” Michael said.

They snuck over to the front door. Michael’s nerves were jangling. He could feel Geoff behind him. The twins remained by the kitchen window. Michael closed his eyes and calmed his breathing. He could do this. He had to help his friends. He had to help Gavin. He pictured Gavin as he was now, standing bolt upright, confused and afraid. Gavin shouldn’t look like that. Gavin ought to be happy and chirpy, all loose-limbed and klutzy. A surge of anger blazed through him. Michael gritted his teeth and burst through the door. He saw Gavin in his periphery, but charged at Ryan. He threw himself at the taller man, knocking him to the floor and wrapping his hands around Ryan’s throat. The demon beneath Michael snarled and snapped. Michael yelled out at Ryan swiped at him with razor claws, dragging gashes down his side. Michael didn’t let go.

“Geoff! Geoff, where are you? You gotta do this now!” Michael yelled. He glanced behind him. Geoff was on the floor, his face in his hands, writhing in terror. Michael glanced around. He couldn’t see Trevor and Alfredo in the window. He cursed. It was up to him then. He yelled again and jerked backwards as Ryan swiped at his face. Unfortunately Michael lost his grip on Ryan’s neck. The taller man rolled, throwing Micahel to the side and got to his feet. Michael scrambled to stand too and launched himself again at Ryan, swinging wild punches. Ryan was quick, but not enough to evade all of them. He grunted as Michael caught him in the ribs. He growled and retaliated. He lashed out again with claws. Michael ducked and dodged, swiping as well. He avoided a huge wound up swing and slipped in close to Ryan, whipping his claws across the gent’s face. Ryan roared and stumbled back. The four lines began to dribble viscous, pitch-black blood. Michael stared in stunned. It sank in that he was fighting Ryan. Ryan, who had been one of his best friends and closest colleagues for years now. Ryan touched the cuts, a cold look on his face. His reflective eyes flicked from his bloodied fingers to Michael again.

“You think you can best me?” he purred.

Michael narrowed his eyes. No, this wasn’t Ryan. This was a monster. A demon that was torturing his friends.

“You are nothing compared to me,” Ryan said, a small grin on his face. The tip of his tongue darted out to taste the blood.

“You let them go!” Michael yelled.

“Or what? You’ll scratch me up again with your little kitty claws?”

Michael growled now.

“I’m stronger than you and you know it,” Ryan said with a sneer. “You want them? You have to go through me.”

Michael threw himself at Ryan. They traded more blows, claws and fists flying. Ryan’s eyes were alight with malicious glee. Michael’s teeth were bared in fury. Michael grappled the older man and managed to throw him against the living room wall. Ryan shook off the blow and stood up - on the wall. He grinned at Michael. The lad hissed as Ryan strode up to the ceiling and came at him again. Michael was forced to crane his neck back to dodge the strikes that came from above his head. Black blood dripped from Ryan’s face onto the floor, but still he grinned with that crocodile smile as he forced Michael backwards. Ryan’s claws bit into his shoulder. He felt the hot blood flow, and wasn’t surprised to see it glow orange like his flames as it splattered on the floor.  Michael yelled as he tripped over something soft and fell onto his back. He’d walked into Geoff who was still prone on the ground. Ryan hissed in triumph and dropped down onto Michael. The lad roared as he was now the one pinned. Ryan’s hands went around his throat. Michael swore and beat at the taller man’s arms, ripping deep gouges in the flesh, more black blood running free. Ryan’s smile just widened as his grip tightened. Michael struggled. He couldn’t draw breath. He could feel blood pounding in his head. He kicked at Ryan, but the man was too heavy. His limbs were growing weak. The lack of air was causing his vision to darken at the edges. He was going to die. He felt anger surge through him. This couldn’t be happening.

Fight. Fight this.

Michael tried. He struggled. He beat ineffectually at Ryan’s chest. Ryan was going to kill him.

Don’t let him. Let the anger in. Fight.

Michael was scared. He’d never see his friends again. He’d never see Gavin again. Never have the chance to talk to him, never play with him again, never even have the chance to kiss him like he’d dreamt of for so long now. All those opportunities were slipping away with every beat of his oxygen-starved heart.

Beat him. Let it in. Burn him. BURN HIM.

He let it in. Molten fury consumed Michael. His hands tightened around Ryan’s forearms and he poured the fire into them. The flames grew brighter, turning yellow, then white. Ryan’s eyes grew wide and he tried to pull away. Michael held on, a red haze descending over his vision.

Burn… burn him… burn it all…

The fire was so hot. It roared forth from Michael. Ryan screamed as it consumed him. Michael’s blood seared in his veins and he felt a grin grow on his face. The heat was so intense. Once he would have flinched away, but now it made him feel alive. He laughed as it filled him, his whole body becoming incandescent. Waves of heat flowed from him. He felt so powerful. He felt unstoppable. Ryan couldn’t stand in his way. His friends couldn’t. No one could. Michael paused. His friends… He’d been fighting to save them. Gavin. Where was Gavin? Michael blinked. He couldn’t see through the flames. A sudden cold fear gripped him. Instantly the fire began to die down. The flames disappeared and Michael breathed in only to cough and choke on thick black smoke. He waved a hand in front of his face, his eyes watering. He looked around him as the air cleared somewhat. Everything was dark. Michael gasped. The roof was gone, reduced to smouldering embers that had collapsed in. The house was a blackened wreck. Ash drifted down around Michael like dark, terrible snow.

“Gavin?” Michael called. His voice was thick. He spun in a slow circle. He couldn’t even tell where the kitchen had been. Then he saw it. Thin claws stuck out from under a blackened section of roofing. Michael darted over, heaving the shingles up and away. He knelt in the embers and gathered Gavin into his arms. Michael could barely feel anything. The heat had vanished, replaced by an icy numbness.

“Gavin. Please talk to me. Tell me you’re okay,” Michael said.

He stared down at his friend. The only recognisable feature was the long, thin horns. The body was blackened and burned.

“Gavin.” Michael shook the charred corpse in his arms. It was stiff. “Gavin. Please talk to me.”

Michael traced the jaw gently. He didn’t notice the tears streaming down his face.

“Gavin. Please wake up Gavin.”

Flesh crumbled to ash beneath Michael’s caress.

Chapter Text

Slowly, very slowly, it sunk in. Gavin was gone. Michael dragged his eyes away from the body and looked around. He saw the others around him, stiff and black, contorted in poses of agony.

“I did this…” Michael whispered. He sobbed. “I did this. I’m so sorry! Oh god! I’m so sorry!”

Michael pulled Gavin close and hugged him tightly. His breathing became ragged. His whole body shook with the overwhelming knowledge of what he’d done. He looked down again at the body in his arms. How would he be able to live with this? Simple, Michael thought - he wouldn’t. Perhaps he’d jump off a bridge. If the fall didn’t kill him, the water extinguishing his flames might.

Gavin flickered in his arms. Michael blinked. The corpse suddenly felt too light. Michael tightened his grip, but his hands seemed to pass through the charred body. Michael’s head jerked up. The house around him flickered too. One moment it was the smouldering ruin, the next it was pristine again. Michael squinted through his tears. On the unburnt floor in front of him, he saw flashes of Ryan. The man had his hands to his head, his red eyes screwed up. As he watched, the vision of smoke and corpses blurred and warped. Michael tried to concentrate, but the flickering was coming faster now. He felt nauseous. Their plan had to be working. Alfredo and Trevor had reversed their abilities. Instead of reading his mind, they were sending a message directly into Ryan’s brain, disrupting his powers. Michael watched as Geoff, as if in slow motion, ran towards Ryan. He grabbed the gent’s head by his horns and wrenched it around. Ryan’s eyes snapped open in surprise. Michael saw Geoff’s lips move. Ryan blinked slowly.

Michael, Gavin, Jack and Jeremy collapsed into the real world. They all shook as they looked up. There was a moment of silence.

Jack glanced around. He looked scared and seemed to draw into himself. His eyes went wide as Geoff skidded to his knees in front of him and threw his arms around Jack. Jack’s eyes slid to Michael in surprise, then travelled over Gavin and Jeremy. He sobbed as his arms came up slowly to return Geoff’s hug.

Jeremy splayed himself out on the floor, revelling in the sudden warmth and stillness of the room. It was bliss to feel solid ground underneath him again. He groaned as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

Gavin got to his feet and staggered towards Michael. The Jersey lad looked up at him. It only took Michael a few seconds to shake off the fugue state. The sight of Gavin stumbling towards him made him hiss in a breath and jerk backwards. The phantom feeling of Gavin’s charred corpse in his arms was heavy. Gavin stopped. He was shaking like a leaf, his face pale.

“Michael…” he whimpered, reaching out a hand. The sound sent a dart of pain through Michael’s heart. He wanted to hold Gavin, to pull him close and tell him he’d be alright. The flames that licked up Michael's arms said otherwise. Michael forced himself to look away.

“Don’t Gavin,” he croaked. It sounded like he’d been inhaling real smoke. “Stay away from me.”

Michael stood up and stomped towards the back door. Trevor and Alfredo appeared in the front hallway. Their hands were clasped.

“What happened?” Jeremy asked, dragging a hand down his face.

Trevor and Alfredo turned their eight eyes on Ryan. The gent was staring at his claws. Ryan swallowed and looked furtively at them all. He stood up and stumbled towards the door, knocking Alfredo and Trevor out of the way.

“Ryan?” Jeremy called, but he was gone.

Geoff pulled back from Jack, his black and red eyes swimming with tears. Jack still looked shocked.

“Are you okay? Jack, I’m so sorry we couldn’t get to you sooner. I was so scared man. I’m so sorry…” Geoff’s voice cracked and wobbled. Jack just gripped his shoulders tightly.

“Geoff…” Jack’s tone was reverant. “You’re real, right?”

“Of course I’m real sweetie. I’m real. I’m right here.” Geoff took Jack’s hands and brought them to his face. He kissed Jack’s knuckles. Jack quivered.

“It was awful…” he whispered. “I dreamed… I imagined terrible things. I had done something so awful. The lads… Oh god. You all blamed me. And you were all right. It was my fault. It was all my fault. You - you left…” Jack’s black eyes filled with tears again.

Geoff looked horrified. He gathered Jack into his arms again and held him tight, rocking him back and forwards. He hushed Jack.

“Hey. It’s okay now. None of that was real. I know you’d never do anything to hurt the lads. You love them. I love you. I’d never leave you. Well, I mean, not unless you asked me to.”

Jack pressed his face into Geoff’s shoulder and sobbed.

“Please don’t go,” he mumbled.

“Oh, sweetie. It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere,” Geoff said.

“What about you? Are you okay? Did Ryan get you too? All I remember is Jeremy going down and then…”

“I’m fine. I saw a fuck-ton of snakes, but now that you’re back, I’m good,” Geoff said.

Jack’s laughter was sniffly.

“Michael?”

“Gavin! I’ve already told you to leave me alone,” Michael spat. His hands were tight on the deck railing. He hadn’t heard Gavin follow him out into the backyard.

“Michael please…”

Michael gritted his teeth. He dared not turn around. He knew that Gavin would have his arms wrapped around himself and his chin would be quivering.

“Gavin. If you need help, ask one of the others. I can’t do anything. Just - just get away from me,” Michael said. He heard Gavin shuffle closer.

“Is it my horns? I’ll learn to make them go away. Please Michael. Just tell me why you don’t like me anymore-” Gavin reached for Michael’s arm again and Michael jerked away.

“Gavin!” Michael whirled around. Gavin’s white eyes were wet with tears. Michael felt torn in two. He so desperately wanted to comfort the lad, but images of charcoal and ash flickered through his head like a badly rendered gif.

“Just stop. Okay? I - I don’t want you touching me,” he muttered.

Gavin was still shaking. He shut his eyes, tightening his arms around his thin frame. “There was a room. I was stuck in there with nothing to do. There were no windows or anything.”

“What?” said Michael.

“I didn’t have my phone. I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t get hungry. I couldn’t sense time, or whether it was day or night. There was nothing . No one to talk to. I didn’t know how long I’d been there or when or if I was ever going to get out. It was endless -” Gavin’s voice wobbled.

Michael swallowed, understanding filtering through him with a cold feeling. That was Gavin’s nightmare. To be completely and utterly alone. Gavin had said a few times that he didn’t like being alone with his thoughts. Michael had always brushed it off as a silly thing.

“I need… Please can you just hold me?” Gavin asked. He looked so lost as he gazed at Michael and inched closer.

“I can’t…” whispered Michael, backing away again.

Gavin’s gleaming white eyes narrowed. “Michael, please. I just need to be near someone right now. I can’t breathe. I can’t think. I don’t even know if this is real. Just let me…” Gavin reached for him again.

“Don’t touch me!” Michael roared.

“Why the bloody hell not?” Gavin yelled.

“ Because I killed you! ”

Michael’s words echoed around the dark backyard. He was breathing heavily. He could see a red tint at the edge of his vision as he glared at Gavin. The lad looked taken aback. Michael cursed and looked away.

“You saw a vision. Yourself all alone. Mine was different. I saw myself burn. I got so hot I burned the entire house to the ground. I burned you Gav. You were dead in my arms. I touched your face and you turned to ash. If you stay near me, that’s what’s gonna happen to you,” Michael ground out.

He looked up at Gavin and was surprised to see the other man looking confused.

“Michael,” he said. “You won’t hurt me.”

“How can you say that?” Michael’s voice cracked.

Gavin huffed and reached for Michael’s arm again. The Jersey lad flinched away, trying to protect Gavin, but the other man’s tanned fingers caught him. Michael looked down and stopped moving. The orange flames seemed to part. Gavin ran his hand further up Michael’s arm. The fire flickered around Gavin, not touching him at all. Michael shivered as Gavin’s cool fingers trailed up to his neck and then traced around one of his curved horns.

“You didn’t realise?” said Gavin.

Michael shook his head slowly.

“You’ve never burnt me. Not even when you first turned,” Gavin said.

Michael vaguely remembered Gavin’s lithe fingers wiping away the smothering fire-extinguisher powder. His eyes widened in realisation.

“I thought you didn’t like me,” Gavin said, his eyebrows knitting together.

“I could never not like you Gav.” Michael felt the words slip from his mouth.

Gavin blinked. “Then why…?”

“I- I was trying to protect you,” said Michael.

“From the fire?”

“I just saw the flames and I immediately thought I would hurt you if you got too close!”

A slow grin grew across Gavin’s face. “Silly Michael.”

The curly-haired lad felt his face turn red underneath his flames.

“Shut up,” he muttered. “I had every reason to think I’d hurt you. Fuck, how come you don’t get burnt, but I have scorch marks in my car and on my couch?”

“Because you keep holding your powers back,” Gavin said.

Michael lifted an eyebrow. “I’m doing what now?”

Gavin bit his lip. “Well, you haven’t really been using your powers at all. I think that they seem to build up if we don’t. And when there’s too much pressure they’ll just explode. At least that’s what happened to me.”

Michael cocked his head in confusion. Gavin shuffled his feet.

“I uh, kinda slow-motioned myself by accident once. In the bathroom,” he said.

Michael couldn’t help the snort of amusement that escaped him. Gavin grinned sheepishly.

“What? You were in the shower or something?” Michel asked.

Gavin shook his head and bit his lip. Michael’s eyebrows shot up and he let out that humming laugh.

“Were you on the toilet? Did you accidentally take the world’s slowest shit?”

“Worse… I had to take a piss,” whispered Gavin.

Michael suddenly pictured it and burst out laughing. Gavin giggled with him.

“After that I started practicing using my powers. That’s how I was able to levitate the water glass.”

Michael righted himself after a moment, still grinning.

“So, what? I just gotta practice? That’s it?”

“Worked for me,” Gavin said with a shrug. “Who knows. Maybe that’s how we’ll figure out how to hide these too.” He reached up again, running his fingers over Michael’s curled horn again. He marvelled at the way the flames parted around his hands like grass before a breeze. The texture of Michael’s horns was so different to his own. Where Gavin’s were smooth and bone-like, Michael were rough and craggy, almost like a cracked and burnt piece of wood. Gavin looked back at Michael’s face to see the lad’s flaming eyes positively glowing. Gavin felt his breath catch in his chest. Normally Gavin would have pulled away, feeling too shy or awkward. Every instinct in him screamed at him to move closer instead. After spending so long in that room, he needed to be close to someone. The moment he’d been released from that bland prison, he’d flung himself at Michael. Now he couldn’t move away.

Michael felt Gavin’s ivory claws tick over the ridges on his horns and the sensation shot directly into his skull and down his spine. His tail lashed back and forth as he gazed into Gavin’s crystal white eyes. He was so close he could see the refractions of his own flames in those diamond irises. Michael’s heart leapt into his throat as his eyes flicked down to Gavin’s lips. He had no clue whether Gavin was still into him. The lad had been avoiding him since that terrible moment in the car. But now, Gavin wasn’t pulling away. Michael’s mind went to the moments in his vision where he’d thought about Gavin and the moments he thought he’d never get. Michael screwed up his courage and closed the distance.

Kissing Gavin was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. For one, he’d never kissed anyone taller than him. It felt odd to tilt his head back. But Gavin’s lips were so soft and sweet beneath his. He moaned when Gavin brought his hand up to grip Michael’s other horn and draw him in closer. Michael responded in earnest, pressing his body up against Gavin’s, crowding him against the porch railing. He wrapped his arms around the skinny man and delighted in the way Gavin moulded himself against Michael. He felt a thrill at the fact that the heat of the body in his arms was from Gavin’s life, rather than that of a charred ember. The burnt memories were washed away as Michael ran a hand up to tangle in Gavin’s messy hair and the lad practically purred. When Michael swiped his tongue at those velvet lips, Gavin opened them eagerly and Michael surged inside. Michael was almost overwhelmed. Gavin’s scent, warm and heady, wrapped around him. He felt his toes curl as Gavin ran his lithe fingers over his spiral horns again, tracing them to the points at which they sprang from his skull, then scratched lightly at Michael’s scalp.

When they finally broke apart for air, they could only stare at each other. Their foreheads were pressed together, arms still wound tightly around each other. Michael’s slit pupils were blown wide and Gavin’s chest heaved. Their tails swung back and forth languidly.

“That was okay, right?” Michael asked, suddenly feeling self conscious.

“Yes Michael. That was wonderful,” Gavin said, his eyes bright.

“Are you sure? Are you sure you’re not just lashing out for attention because of your vision?”

Gavin’s face twitched and he went stiff for a moment. Michael looked concerned.

“It might be a little bit of that,” Gavin said slowly. He cupped the back of Michael’s neck and drew him in closer. “But it’s not the only reason. I might have liked you for a while, boi.”

Michael rumbled happily.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this,” he said, hands trailing up Gavin’s sides.

“And you’re okay too?” Gavin asked.

Michael felt the solid warmth of Gavin in his arms. He suppressed a shiver at the ghostly memories of his vision and nodded.

Jeremy had to enlist Alfredo and Trevor’s help to stand up. He knew now that his terrifying ordeal on the tower had all been in his head, but his muscles still ached as if he truly had been hanging onto the top of an antenna in a storm for hours. He collapsed onto the couch feeling exhausted, relieved, and more than a little pissed. He gratefully accepted a blanket from Trevor and Alfredo and wrapped himself in it. They sat down on either side of him. He rested a for a few minutes, listening to Geoff and Jack talking softly. Eventually Michael and Gavin came back in. The pair looked ruffled but calm.

“Are you guys okay?” Jeremy asked Trevor and Alfredo. He didn’t know what had happened after Ryan had pointed a finger at him, but apparently some time had passed. Michael, Gavin, Jack and Geoff joined them in the living room.

“We’re fine,” said Trevor.

“What - what exactly happened?” asked Jack.

“It was Ryan,” Geoff said bitterly. “Ryan did this.”

“Ryan did what?” asked Gavin.

“Visions,” said Michael. “He made us all see fucked up visions.”

“Our worst fears, apparently,” Geoff said and shuddered.

Gavin reached for Michael’s arm and clung to it.

“To be fair...” Jeremy began. He untangled one of his hand from his blanket cocoon and rubbed his face. He still felt like his insides were frozen. “Do you think he actually knew what he was doing?”

“Oh, he certainly did,” said Trevor. His glowing green eyes were narrowed.

Jack cleared his throat. His eyes were still puffy and his voice was croaky as he spoke. “You’re going to have to start from the beginning.”

“Ryan turned. We all saw it. He grinned and then started with Jeremy,” Geoff spat. His fingers threaded through Jack’s. “Then he went after you, then Gavin, then me. Michael managed to drag me away and I snapped out of it. We got the Terrible Twins here to help us.”

Trevor and Alfredo nodded. The normally genial Alfredo had a sour look on his face, his lips twisted to the side.

“We used our powers to disrupt his. While we were in his brain, we could see what he was seeing,” said Alfredo.

Jeremy looked up at him. “So you saw…”

Alfredo and Trevor both nodded. Jeremy looked at his lap.

“We saw all of your visions. It was fucking terrifying to watch,” Trevor said.

“Except Ryan didn’t seem to think so. He was just watching, and grinning. He was curious . It was like a fucking science experiment to him,” Alfredo said.

Jeremy’s brows knitted together. “Why would he do something like that to us?”

The others were silent. Michael looked pale.

“When you were in his head,” Michael said, “Did it seem like he was still… Ryan?”

The two antlered demons looked at Michael. The Jersey lad continued.

“I mean, it wasn’t like he was possessed or something? Like it wasn’t actually him doing it?”

Trevor just looked stonily at the ground while Alfredo shook his head.

“We’re… not sure. He seemed like Ryan, but he did not give a single fuck.”

“How could he do that to you?” Geoff’s expression was horrified as he looked at Jack.

“He tried to do it to all of us,” Gavin said, his arms curling around himself again. “He was going for you boi. I tried to stop him, but I was too slow,” he said to Michael. The lad said nothing, but placed a hand on Gavin’s shoulder.

Alfredo and Trevor looked at Jeremy.

“He hit you with it first, didn’t he?” said Trevor.

“Are you okay?” asked Alfredo. The man reached out to Jeremy but the lad leapt to his feet.

“Don’t,” he snapped.

“Jeremy?” Trevor’s brow was creased in concern.

“God damn. I have to go hit something,” Jeremy said and he stormed away.

Chapter Text

“Steffie?”

“Geoff, what the fuck is going on?”

“Steffie, look. We told you we’re all sick. We explained that we might not be in for a few days.”

“That was last Friday Geoff. It’s Thursday! All eight of you have been out for an entire week now!”

“Hey! That’s only six days! Four if you don’t count the weekend.”

“Geoff, it’s not just content. We have plenty of videos on the backlog. We’re going through them but that should be fine. It’s everything else. You guys have disappeared off social media. None of you has posted a picture, a gif, or even the hint of a tweet. The fans think you’ve fallen off the face of the earth!”

“Or just into hell…” Geoff muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing! Nothing! Steffie, look. I’ll tell the guys to start posting stuff again. We’ll let them know we’re still alive. We’re just… not feeling great is all.”

There was a heavy silence on the end of the line. Steffie sighed, causing a rush of static.

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you is all. And so are the fans. They all know you’re ill and they worry.”

Geoff couldn’t help the little smile that pulled at the corner of his mouth.

“We’ll let them know,” he said.

“Feel better soon,” Steffie said.

“Thanks Stef. You’re My favourite of the B-Team - don’t let Matt tell you otherwise.”

Steffie giggled and hung up.

Geoff set his phone on the table and bowed his head. His tail hung limply behind him and the blue fireball above his head was small and weak. He wasn’t sure at what point he’d become used to the sensations from his new appendages. He ducked under doorways instinctively now to accommodate his horns. He used his tail for balance. He wasn't sure how he’d coped without it. Geoff had even become aware of how the puff of blue fire between his horns responded to his emotions. It was no longer a shock to see his black and red eyes in the mirror. He briefly wondered if he would ever see them as their natural blue again. He shuddered and forced himself not to pursue that train of thought. Of course they’d figure their way out of this damned curse. They would. They had to.

“Everything alright?” asked Jack.

Geoff jumped at the noise. He tried to play it off by running a hand through his hair and turned around. “Yeah. That was just Steffie. She wanted to know when we were coming back in. I let her know we’re all still, uh, out of it.”

Jack’s mouth twisted to the side.

“She did ask us to like, post stuff on Twitter though. Apparently all the fans are freaking out. We accidentally went completely dark on social media,” Geoff said.

“Oh. Yeah. That’s true,” said Jack.

“Not me!” said Gavin, popping over the back of the couch. The lad had been particularly perky that morning. Geoff had known Gavin long enough to realise that the sprightliness was nothing more than an act. Or at least, that’s all he could attribute it to. Gavin’s eyes had been red when he woke up and he had shadows like the rest of them. Geoff couldn’t imagine the empty, lonely nightmares that plagued Gavin’s sleep.

Gavin continued. “I’ve been tweeting a bit. I even posted a slow motion video! The fans went ape.”

Geoff and Jack’s eyes went wide.

“Gavin! You did what? You can’t- you can’t just go and post videos of your powers online!” Geoff spluttered.

Gavin smirked. “Don’t worry you big goose. Nobody could tell the difference between my video and the iPhone’s slow motion feature. Mine’s just nicer quality.”

“Gavin, even still…” Jack looked seriously concerned.

Gavin rolled his eyes. “Okay. I won’t do it again. It’s just that my powers are really cool. I wish we could tell people about them. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about getting rid of our horns or hiding them.”

“Yeah, but can you imagine the comment section? You’d have a whole new terrible sect of hateful bible-thumping trolls,” Trevor said.

Gavin made a face. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

Geoff sighed and rubbed his face again. They would figure this out.

“You sure you’re alright Geoff?”

“Yeah, I’m okay Jack,” Geoff said. He looked around the room. After last night no one had left. The seven of them had all wordlessly agreed to stay. Michael, Gavin, Trevor and Alfredo were all curled in a big pile on the couch. Jeremy was perched on the arm on the sofa, the heavy scowl on his face making him look much like a purple and orange gargoyle. Nobody had wanted to be alone. None of them had slept well. Geoff had managed to get a scant few hours before being awoken from an awful nightmare filled with slithering and hissing. Jack had huge bags under his eyes. He’d slept less than Geoff. Normally they weren’t too cuddly in bed, but last night Jack didn’t seem to want to let go of Geoff.

“We have to do something,” Geoff said. His solemn tone drew all eyes to him. “I know that most of us are still recovering from the events of last night, but we really do need to so something about these.” Geoff gestured to his horns.

“What the fuck are we supposed to do?” asked Michael. Michael on the other hand always tried to hide his weaknesses, this time his exhaustion and his uneasiness, with anger. “We tried to translate that damned book. Fat lot of good it did.”

“Forget the book for now. What other ideas do we have?” asked Geoff.

“You could always learn to accept it and hide them like I do?” Jeremy said. He concentrated for a moment and demonstrated, his orange horns fading to nothing and the purple glow vanishing from his eyes.

“I was hoping for a more permanent solution,” Geoff said.

“It’s not like you guys have even tried…” Jeremy’s eyes turned back to purple mid-roll. Geoff hadn’t know Jeremy for as long as the others, but he was sure the sarcasm was another coping mechanism.

“I might have an idea,” said Alfredo. All eyes shifted to the antlered demon. Alfredo swallowed nervously. “Well. We’re demons now, right?”

“I mean, we certainly look the part,” said Jeremy.

“There’s one group of people well versed in demons and stuff,” Alfredo said.

“Wait. Really?”

“Uh, yeah. Priests. Churches. You know - exorcisms? ‘Get thee behind me’ and all that shiz,” said Alfredo. Trevor, Gavin and Jeremy frowned. Geoff just blinked at him, a blaze of hope shooting through him. “Holy shit. Why didn’t we think of that before?”

Alfredo shrugged.

“Michael, you were raised Catholic, why didn’t you say anything?”

“I haven’t been to mass since I was fuckin’ three feet high Geoff,” groused Michael.

“Well, never mind. That’s what we’re doing then. Late tonight when most people are asleep, we’ll find a church and a priest and get ourselves fucking exorcised.”

“I’ll start making a list of churches that will be open at that hour. There should be a bunch around Austin,” Jack said and hurried over to the laptop on the kitchen table.

“What are we all gonna do in the meantime?” asked Trevor.

“Uh. More research?” Geoff said.

Trevor let his head fall back against the couch. “We’ve been through tons of sites Geoff. There’s nothing real, or even remotely solid out there. Everything I read is just ridiculous hocus pocus.”

“I don’t know then!” Geoff snapped. He felt his tail lash and the fire above his head flared and sputtered. The lads all looked at him warily.

“Just… Hang on. This might all be over by tonight. Maybe you guys could do your things on social media?”

“There’s nothing we can do to help?” asked Alfredo.

‘Not really. I got this,” said Jack, looking up from his laptop.

“Honestly. Doing the social media thing would be helping. You’ll be letting people know that things are going back to normal,” said Geoff.

“Fair enough,” replied Alfredo.

“Okay. Good.” Geoff sighed again, his flame flickering. He went to sit with Jack. He felt ill from the lack of sleep as he rested his head on Jack’s shoulder. This was a great idea. Of course the church would know something about demons and exorcisms. He was still apprehensive, but that little spark of hope in his chest flared. Finally. Finally they might have an answer to this nightmare.

Trevor, Alfredo, Jeremy and Michael pulled out their phones.

“Fuck. What am I supposed to be posting about?” asked Alfredo. He rubbed his green eyes and stifled a yawn. He and Trevor had crashed on Jack and Geoff’s couch for the night. Trevor had thought they would be okay, but apparently seeing the terror worlds in Ryan’s head still caused them to have nightmares just like everyone else. Alfredo had woken up nearly every hour on the dot panting and swearing. Trevor had hugged him tightly and whispered soothingly until the man had been able to fall back asleep.

“How about… ‘Being sick is hell’,” said Trevor with a tired smirk.

Alfredo shoved him. “I am not punning about this.”

Gavin was typing out something on his phone with his tongue between his teeth. “For breakfast today, I had deviled eggs.”

Michael and Alfredo groaned.

“Or what about, ‘I’d sell my soul to get better quicker’,” snarked Trevor.

“Guys!” Jeremy’s voice made them all jump. “Quit treating this all like a joke.” Purple sparks fizzled up Jeremy’s horns as he glared at them. The three had the decency to look cowed.

“Sorry Lil’ J,” said Gavin.

“Just trying to lighten the mood...” said Trevor.

“Yeah, well, stop it,” Jeremy muttered.

Trevor shrugged and went back to his phone.

“Aaand I’ve tweeted. ‘Still alive. This flu is kicking my ass but I’m still going strong. Hope to get back to making videos soon’,” said Michael. He yawned. “And with that, I think I’m going to try to get more sleep. I had fucking nightmares all night.”

“Tell me about it,” muttered Jeremy as he drafted his own tweet along similar lines.

Michael stood up and stretched. He caught Gavin’s eye and gave him a little grin before heading off towards the guest bedroom. Nobody noticed the pink in Gavin’s cheeks as the lad went back to his phone. After a few minutes, Gavin got up with a mutter of “Bathroom,” and headed down the hall. Jeremy who’d been idly scrolling through Instagram in an effort to distract himself from the memories of his nightmares glanced up to see Gavin slip into the guest room as well. Michael and Gavin alone in the same room together? Jeremy had known that the pair had a thing for each other for a while, but this was new. He smiled grimly, happy that his two friends had finally worked out their blatantly obvious attraction. His gaze drifted from the hallway to the kitchen. Jack was hunched over the laptop. Geoff sat beside him, head resting lightly on his shoulder. On the other end of the couch, Alfredo shuffled closer to Trevor and Trevor wrapped an arm around him as they browsed on their phones. Jeremy’s tail twitched.

“I have to go feed my cats,” he blurted out. He was out the door before anyone could even say goodbye.

Gavin closed the door quietly. He shrieked as someone grabbed him from behind.

“What took you so long?” asked Michael. Gavin turned in his arms and pouted.

“Don’t do that Michael,” he whined. Michael just grinned. He tightened his arms around Gavin. He was right to have done this. He hadn’t slept at all, plagued by terrible visions of ash. Gavin here, warm and solid in Michael’s arms pushed those memories away. Gavin clung to him like a limpet and Michael knew that similar thoughts ran through the lad’s brain. He was glad to be able to provide a distraction for Gavin.

Their faces drew closer and Gavin let out a breathy sigh as his eyes fluttered closed. Tingles ran down Michael’s spine at the sound. He leant forwards and pressed his lips to Gavin’s. Both of them made little moaning noises. Michael pressed forward, his tongue tracing Gavin’s lips. Gavin giggled and opened them. His laughter petered off into a murmur of delight as Michael groaned and delved further into his mouth. Michael’s enthusiasm soon had Gavin backed up against the bedroom door. The taller lad’s white horns tapped on the wood as the pair made out. Michael’s hands travelled from Gavin’s back to his shoulders, then slowly down. He slowly explored the long, lean lines of Gavin’s chest, savouring every inch. Gavin meanwhile could not stop threading his lithe fingers through Michael’s curls and running them up and down the shorter man’s faintly freckled neck. Those long fingers trailed over Michael’s curved horns, causing Michael to break off the kiss. His breath stuttered and he shivered at the feeling. Gavin grinned and repeated the motion.

“What does that feel like?” Gavin asked softly.

Michael paused for a moment, blinking and seeming to collect his words.

“I dunno. Not like anything I’ve ever felt. It’s like you have a direct line to my spine and brain. You want me to try it on you?”

“Sure,” said Gavin.

Michael grinned, his eyes hungry. He pressed his lips back to Gavin’s. The taller lad made protesting noises, but then soon softened under Michael’s ministrations. When Michael was sure Gavin was properly distracted, he lifted one hand up and ran a light finger up one of the lad’s long gleaming white horns. Gavin shuddered and made a surprised squeaking noise into Michael’s mouth. Michael stopped immediately and drew back.

“You okay?” he asked.

Gavin nodded. His cheeks were pink and his lips red. The pupils in his white eyes were wide. “Sorry, just surprised me. It does feel very nice though. Kinda like that feeling you get if you’re listening to music. That tingling that starts in the top of your head and rushes over you.”

“Yeah, that’s a good way to describe it,” Michael said.

Gavin bit his lip. “Could you do it again?”

Michael smiled and closed the distance between them again. He kissed Gavin languorously and reached up again. Gavin didn’t jump this time now that he knew what to expect. Instead he made a shuddering groaning noise that Michael kissed away with a smirk. Michael trailed his kisses to the corner of Gavin’s mouth, over his jaw, nose brushing the light stubble, and down to his neck. He peppered the junction of Gavin’s neck and shoulder with more kisses and then gently scraped his teeth over the area. Michael was not prepare for the way Gavin’s gentle fingers tightened in response, the sharp claws digging into his scalp slightly.

“ Michael …” Gavin groaned.

Michael grinned against Gavin’s warm, tanned skin and did it again.

Gavin hissed and tossed his head back, his hips juddering forwards. The long white horns drew thin lines in the wood of the door. Michael sniggered.

“Perhaps we should move to the bed. I don’t think Jack and Geoff would appreciate us scratching up the paintwork,” he said.

He pulled Gavin towards the bed and pushed him down onto it. Gavin collapsed in a pile of long, awkward limbs and Michael crawled on top of him. He paused, propped up on his hands and knees and just stared at the other man. After so long, he could hardly believe that he was here with Gavin. The lad gazed up at him through his eyelashes.

“What are you doing, Michael?”

“Looking at you,” replied Michael. Gavin’s cheeks pinkened further.

“C’mere,” Gavin muttered. He reached up and pulled Michael down to him.

A while later found the two lads curled up against each other. Gavin was lying on his side with Michael nuzzled into his chest. Michael’s fire blanket was a little scrunched under them. Gavin ran his fingers through Michael’s curls while the lad made small contented sounds. After a moment, Michael pulled back and propped his head up on his hand. His other traced lazy lines up and down Gavin’s side.

“I thought you were tired? Why didn’t you fall asleep?” asked Gavin.

“I mean, yeah, but that was just an excuse to get us in here,” Michael said.

“Oh,” replied Gavin and he giggled.

Michael’s fiery eyes grew a little glazed and Gavin frowned.

“You okay?” he asked.

Michael shook his head and focussed back on Gavin. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“You don’t really want to sleep, do you?” said Gavin.

Michael sighed. “Ryan only hit me for a few seconds, but that vision felt like it lasted hours. It was so real. I can’t close my eyes without seeing it all.”

Gavin squirmed closer, pulling Michael’s arm tight around him. “I know. I had terrible nightmares too. At least I was able to wake up this time, and then you were all here which made me feel better. It’s gonna take a while for it all to go away.”

“I wish it would go away now. I wish this would all go away. I’m so fucking tired,” Michael said, dropping his head so he lay face down on the bed. Gavin nuzzled the lad’s hair, wriggling even closer.

“I’m here for you Michael,” he said softly.

Michael turned so they were nose to nose and smiled. “Thanks boi.”

Gavin twisted his lips to the side. “We’re still bois then?”

“We’ll always be bois, no matter what,” Michael said.

Gavin pouted dramatically. “Is that all I am to you then?”

Michael laughed and pushed him. “Boyfriend then. How does that sound?”

“Top.” Gavin beamed.

There was the soft sound of footsteps outside the door. Gavin stiffened.

“We should probably get back out there. Or at least I should. I said I was going to the bathroom,” said Gavin. Michael curled himself posessively around Gavin, effectively preventing him from moving.

“Micoo,” Gavin protested with a laugh.

“Nope. Not going anywhere. Staying here with me. They probably think we’re banging anyways,” Michael said. Gavin’s face turned bright red.

“Mmm. That’s a nice colour on you,” Michael said and ducked in to press a kiss to Gavin’s cherry cheeks.

“Michael. Seriously. I don’t… I’m not sure…”

Michael drew back, an eyebrow quirked.

Gavin took a deep breath. “I don’t want to tell the others about us.”

Michael cocked his head. “Why not?”

“I mean, like eventually we will. But, just, not right now. Not with all this other faff going on. The others don’t need this on their plates as well as the demon thing.”

Michael nodded. “I get it.”

“Why do you look sad then?” asked Gavin.

“Just means I won’t be able to touch you whenever I want. We’ll have to sneak away all the time.”

Michael pouted now. Gavin smiled and darted in to kiss the protruding lips.

“It’ll be fun. Our little secret,” he whispered.

“For now?”

“Just for now,” agreed Gavin. He snaked his arms around Michael and then with a twist, he was lying on top. He smothered Michael with kisses as he slowly extricated himself from the Jersey lad’s arms. He giggled as he managed to duck out and across the room. Michael blinked in surprise then glared.

“Hey. Not fair. You distracted me,” he said. He flopped back against the bed and crossed his arms.

“Aw, I’m sorry.” Gavin trotted back over and petted Michael’s curls.

Michael latched onto his arm and attempted to pull him back down onto the bed. His efforts were weak though and he yawned.

“God, I really am tired,” he muttered. “I hardly slept.”

Gavin bent to press a kiss to his forehead. “You have a nap then, my little Michael,” he said softly.

“Fine. But I won’t be happy about it,” Michael said, frowning and closing his eyes.

Gavin giggled and slipped from the room.

Gavin made sure he did actually go to the bathroom before he re-emerged into the living room. His lips looked a little reddened, but nothing too out of the ordinary. He practically had to stop himself from skipping over to the couch were Trevor and Alfredo were still sprawled. He looked around.

“Where’s Jeremy?” he asked.

“He said he had to go feed his cats,” said Alfredo. His gaze was trained on the television.

“What you watching?” asked Gavin.

“Not sure,” said Trevor, who was similarly transfixed.

Gavin stood behind the couch for a few minutes, trying to make sense of the show, or was it a movie?

“I’m bored,” he announced. Disbelieving faces turned to him.

“What?” Gavin asked.

“I kind of thought you guys would need some more recovery time after, you know, last night...” said Trevor. Other than their quick conversation about what had actually happened to them all, they hadn’t discussed it any further. Their memories were all still too raw. No one asked about Ryan either. They’d seen him run out, but they did not feel inclined to go looking for him after what he’d done.

“Oh. Well, yeah, I guess. But being a couch potato doesn’t help me with that. I gotta keep my mind occupied otherwise I go nuts,” Gavin said. He twiddled his fingers.

Trevor and Alfredo just looked confused.

“Well what do you expect? I’m used to playing video games with you guys all day. Or filming stuff. Now we’re just sitting around doing nothing,” Gavin said, waving his hands about.

“I would argue this is pretty important,” Jack said, gesturing to his laptop.

“Yeah, okay. But what are the rest of us supposed to do?”

“You could always try to learn to hide your horns like Jeremy can?” suggested Geoff.

Gavin bit his lip. He turned back to Alfredo and Trevor. “You guys want me to teach you to walk on walls?”

Alfredo didn’t look too thrilled at the idea, but Trevor perked up.

Michael emerged from the guest room as it was getting dark. He’d forced himself to go back to sleep several times after choking, ash and flame filled dreams. He stretched and rubbed the sleep from his eyes to find not only Gavin, but Trevor also grinning down at him from the living room ceiling. He swore at the both of them and went to see what Jack was cooking. The two inverted Achievement Hunters followed.

“Mmm, smells good Jack,” said Michael as he stifled a yawn.

“I’m making nachos,” said the older man.

Indeed he was. It was oddly comforting to see Jack cooking a normal meal after the horrors of yesterday. Michael sighed and shook his head.

“What’s wrong Michael?” asked Gavin. The skinny lad had sat upon the bottom of one of the upper dish cabinets, perched as if sitting on the kitchen counter.

“Nothing,” said Michael, shooting him a wan smile.

“Anything I can do to help?” Michael asked Jack.

“Not really,” said Jack with a shrug.

“Oh! You can join in with us then Michael,” said Trevor. He patted the patch of ceiling beside him.

Michael snorted. “I already tried that, remember? Didn’t work the last time.”

“You weren’t trying hard enough. If me and Gavin can both do it, then we’re sure everyone else can too.”

“Ugh. Can’t we start out with something easier? Like raising the dead? Summoning demonic minions? How about creating a fiery portal to hell?” Michael said.

“Have not tried raising the dead yet, but it’s going on my to do list,” said Trevor.

“Oh! Fiery! Michael, you could work on your own powers,” said Gavin.

“My what now?”

“Your powers. Your flames. Surely you can do more with them. Have you ever tried?”

Michael looked down at the flickering orange tongues that danced up and down his arms. “I mean, no. Not really.”

Gavin clapped his hands. “Let’s do that then! Jack, do you have any candles?” he asked.

Jack frowned. “I think there should be some in that cabinet up there. Be careful, hey?” he said and pointed to Gavin’s left. The lad opened the cupboard and rummaged around, coming up with some plain white tapers obviously stored in case of a power outage. Michael sighed and trailed after Gavin as he dashed back to the living room.

“No running on the ceiling.” Geoff’s tone was rather dejected. Gavin ignored him. He dropped the candles to Michael who barely caught them.

“Maybe you’ll be able to set things on fire from far away! Or maybe you can even breathe fire! Do you think we’ll grow wings? Then you’d be like a dragon!”

“Okay, hold your horses there. We don’t even know if I can light the dumb candle. Sure, I’ve put holes in things, but that’s been totally random,” Michael said.

“Just try it Michael!” Gavin said. He was grinning from ear to ear, and Michael couldn’t help but feel the enthusiasm infect him. He sighed and held the taper out. He looked at the wick. It was unused, so it was still coated in white wax.

“Anything?” Gavin asked.

Michael glared up at the lad. “I haven’t even started yet.”

“Okay, sorry,” Gavin said and giggled.

Michael rolled his eyes and looked back at the candle. He stared at the wick. He concentrated on it. His brow furrowed in effort.

“Anything?” Gavin whispered in his ear.

“Jesus fuck!” Michael yelled and jumped away.

Gavin let out a squeaky laugh. Michael straightened and tossed the candle onto a nearby side table.

“No. To answer your question. I wasn’t getting anything. This isn’t gonna work,” he muttered.

“Aw,” said Gavin. He dropped down onto the ground, only managing to stumble a little. He retrieved the candle and pressed it back into Michael’s hands.

“You can’t give up,” he said.

“Sure I can,” muttered Michael.

“Aw, come on Michael. Try again? For me?” Gavin batted his eyelashes, causing Michael to snort in amusement.

“God, fine.” Michael held up the candle again and stared at the wick. “See? Not working.”

“You’re not doing it right,” Gavin said.

“How the fuck am I supposed to be doing it then?”

Gavin took the other candle and tossed it upwards. With the flick of a finger, the candle slowed until it was barely rotating in the air.

“You kind of have to will it to do what you want. But also believe that it will do that. It’s the same with walking on walls. You gotta know, with absolutely no doubt, that it’s something you can do.”

“In other words, the candle is my bitch,” said Michael.

Gavin laughed again. “Yes, Michael. The candle is your bitch.”

Michael looked back at the wick. “Okay fucker. This is stupid as shit, but alright. I have fire and you are meant to light. So go on and light already.”

The candle remained stubbornly flame-less. Michael growled. He focussed harder.

“Come on you little wax shit. Light!”

He could feel himself getting angry. It suddenly reminded him of how he felt in the vision that Ryan had forced onto him. The anger and fear that had flowed through him.

Yes. Burn...

He felt it build inside him. He could hear a roaring in his ears. He yelped as he was suddenly being lifted off the ground.

“Whoa! What the fuck! Put me down,” he yelled. Michael blinked. The sudden red tint vanished from his sight and he looked down to see thick arms encircling him. They were covered in hard, shiny brown plates and scales.

“Jack?”

The older gent placed Michael back on the ground and stepped away, coughing. Michael turned to see that the front of Jack’s shirt was shredded and smoking. The lad’s eyes widened as he saw that his own clothing was in a similar state, as was the carpet beneath him.

“Oh god,” he muttered.

Gavin crept out from behind the couch. Alfredo was looking on warily. Geoff was poised by the kitchen bench with a fire extinguisher. Trevor was peering around the upper kitchen cabinet.

“You okay, boi?” Gavin asked softly.

Michael looked down and cursed.

“Oh god. I didn’t mean to do that,” he said.

“You turned into a furnace, Michael,” said Gavin, gingerly patting his shoulder.

“I - I don’t know what happened…”

“What were you thinking about that made you do that?”

“I… I just got angry I guess. I didn’t even notice…” Michael turned to Jack. “I’m so fuckin’ sorry. Your clothes - the carpet - I can pay for that.”

Geoff put down the fire extinguisher. “Don’t worry about that. Fuck. Are you okay? You looked like the goddamn Human Torch lighting up.”

Michael looked down again. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Apart from my clothes I guess.” He held up his candle. It had melted to his hand a little, but still hadn’t lit. He glared at it.

“It’s okay. Jack will grab you a change of stuff,” said Geoff.

Jack nodded and hurried off.

Michael peeled the candle from his grasp and put it down. He realised he was shaking as he ran a hand through his hair. He felt sick. The frustration and anger at his failure had crept up on him so quickly.  That voice, whatever the fuck it was, had snuck in, whispering so seductively in his ear. It had been so easy to let the anger in. He was terrified. Gavin had told him that he’d be able to control this, but it was obvious that he couldn’t. He was certain that if Jack hadn’t intervened, they could quite possibly have witnessed something very much like his vision come to life.

“Don’t worry boi, I’m sure you’ll get it eventually,” Gavin said and patted his shoulder again. Michael jerked away.

“What if I can’t? What if I’m a fucking fire hazard for the rest of my life? I’m just going accidentally light everything on fire. Candles, the couch, the fucking curtains too, why not-” Michael gestured to the windows. Suddenly the drapes burst into flames. Everyone stared for a second and then leapt into motion. Alfredo screamed and scrambled away from the fire, while Geoff yelped and ran towards it. He pulled the metal pin and hosed the curtains down with suppressant powder. Once the flames were extinguished, all faces turned to Michael again. He was staring in horror at the singed drapes. Gavin beamed and caught him up in a hug.

“You did it Michael! That was it!”

Michael looked at his hands. In his fit of sarcasm, he’d actually believed himself capable of the ability to light the drapes up. Gavin had told him he’d be able to get the fire under control if he practiced. Michael hoped to whatever deities were out there that there was some truth in the lad’s words. Michael trembled. He didn’t think he could could have been more scared of himself previously, but he’d managed it.

Jack gasped as he came back into the room. “Is everyone okay?”

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Geoff said, setting the extinguisher down and wiping his face. The curtains looked very sorry for themselves. Jack hurried over to Michael who still looked rather shocked, and Gavin who looked ecstatic.

“Michael, are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, Jack. I’m okay...” replied Michael. The lad’s Adam’s apple bobbed and he didn’t meet Jack’s eyes.

“Phew. Kinda smokey in here now,” Trevor said.

“Well, you are up near the ceiling,” said Gavin.

“Fair point,” replied Trevor and dropped down. He went to open some windows.

Jack was still hovering around Michael.

“I got you some other clothes,” he said, holding a small bundle out to Michael. The lad took them gingerly.

“Thanks Jack,” he said.

Gavin bounced after him as he headed to the bathroom. Jack watched them go, a worried look on his face. He hurried over to Geoff.

“What about you? Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine Jack. I think we should start stocking up on extinguishers in the office though. If that’s what happens when he gets angry, I don’t wanna know what’ll go down when he tries to record a Rage Quit.”

Jack offered him a nervous smile.

Jack could barely eat any of the nachos he’d cooked. The others dug in with gusto. Michael seemed to play with his food at first, but hunger must have gotten the better of him eventually. Just the taste of ground beef however had Jack’s stomach in knots.

The whole afternoon he’d watched Gavin try to coax Trevor up the wall. The taller man had fallen a lot, and every time it had made Jack’s heart clench. Every single fall could have been bad. What if one of them fell and cracked their heads on a side table? Or broken their necks?

And then Michael… The lad had suddenly lit up like a forest fire and Jack knew he had to intervene. He barely remembered reacting, racing towards Michael and snatching him up. It had been nearly impossible to put him down after that.

Jack eyed the others.

“I want you all to get some rest before we head out tonight. It’ll be late and I know none of us have slept well.”

There were nods around the table. Jack grunted and went back to pushing his food around his plate.

“Wonderful, as usual,” said Trevor and pushed himself away from the table. He went to grab his empty plate, but Jack jumped up and reached over to pick it up.

“I’ll get that for you. Or did you want some more food?”

“Oh, uh. No I’m good. I’m done,” said Trevor.

Jack nodded and took the plate to the sink. He sighed as he rinsed it off. He collected the others’ plates as they finished as well.

It was early, but they all decided to try and get some sleep. There were an air mattress in the living room. Michael took it. Trevor and Alfredo commandeered the foldout couch. Gavin disappeared into the guest room. Geoff and Jack headed for their own room.

Jack fussed about folding clothes and putting them away as Geoff used the bathroom. The older man came out dressed in his sleepwear and looking rather worn.

“I don’t know if I’m gonna fucking sleep a wink,” he muttered, going to sit down on the edge of the bed.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Jack asked, coming to sit beside him. Jack’s weight on the bed caused Geoff to lean into him. Jack wrapped his arm around his boyfriend.

“Not sure. Just come to bed with me?”

“Okay. I’ll be quick in the bathroom then,” Jack said and got up hastily.

Geoff was already under the covers when Jack turned the ensuite light off. He padded through the room in the dark and slipped into bed too. Geoff turned to him, the little flame above his head illuminating his face.

“How you doing?” Jack asked softly.

Geoff brought his hand up to cup Jack’s cheek. “I’m fine. Tired but can’t sleep yet. Also, you’re starting to weird me out. All you’ve been doing today is asking how people are? Are you feeling alright?” Geoff asked.

“I’m fine. I’m totally fine,” said Jack. He shuffled closer and put his hand on Geoff’s hip. He leaned in and kissed the other man. Geoff made a pleased noise. Jack drew away again.

“Did you wanna…? It might make you feel more sleepy if we…”

Geoff smiled, but sighed. “Nah. Don’t really have the energy for it tonight.”

“Oh, okay,” replied Jack.

Geoff kissed him again and settled down. Jack rolled onto his back and tried to do the same. He couldn’t help but notice that Geoff’s eyes were still open. The red irises were almost violet in the blue light.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” whispered Jack.

“God, Jack. Yes, I’m alright,” said the other man. Geoff let out a tiny sigh and closed his eyes. He snuggled closer to Jack and wrapped his arm around Jack’s torso. Jack watched as the cold blue flame flickered and calmed, becoming almost perfectly teardrop-shaped as Geoff fell asleep. Almost immediately Jack began to feel uncomfortable. His arm started to go dead and his back itched. He dared not move though in case he disturbed Geoff. He rested his head back on his pillow and stared at the ceiling. He hoped that Gavin and Michael would be able to get some sleep. It seemed that whenever any of them closed their eyes now they could only have nightmares. He wondered how Trevor and Alfredo were coping with the couch. It was pretty lumpy and probably not the most comfortable place to sleep. He had the sudden urge to check on them all. And Jeremy had not returned after leaving that afternoon. A sudden panic gripped Jack. Had something happened to Jeremy? Why hadn’t he joined them for dinner? Had he been in an accident? Gotten caught?

Jack swallowed and reached gingerly for his phone on the bedside table, trying not to jostle Geoff. The bright light made Jack squint as he unlocked his phone. He sent a quick text off to Jeremy. It was still pretty early, so he hoped the lad would reply soon. He waited a minute. Then another. Five minutes passed and Jack could only stare at the clock in the corner of his screen. He sent Jeremy another text. Icy anxiety bled into Jack’s veins. He waited another two minutes before sending a third text.

Jack: Jer, you okay getting back?

There wasn’t even a notification that his message had been received and opened. Jack’s hands were shaking slightly, making the words on the little screen hard to read.

“Can you turn the light off please?” muttered Geoff.

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Jack whispered, putting his phone down.

“Thanks,” mumbled Geoff and he rolled over, freeing Jack. The ginger man took the opportunity to escape from the bed. He slipped from the room and stood in the hallway, looking at his phone again.

Jack: Jeremy, please message me back. I’m getting worried

The panic was rising in Jack’s gut. He cursed under his breath and tiptoed towards the kitchen. Luminous green and white eyes blinked out at him from the darkness.

“You guys okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” came Trevor’s quiet voice.

Gavin’s horns were visible even in the gloom as he nodded.

“You guys haven’t heard from Jeremy?”

There were shakes of the head this time.

“Okay. Not a problem. Get some sleep,” Jack said. He padded back down the hallway. He pushed open the door to the guest room. Michael was laying on top of his blankets, snoring gently. His flames flared gently with each indrawn breath. Jack sighed. The sight of the four younger Achievement Hunters assuaged the knot in his stomach somewhat, but he still felt as if ants crawled under his skin. His head was pounding from the combination of the anxiety and exhaustion. He checked his phone again and headed back to his and Geoff’s bedroom. He bit his lip as he tried so carefully to slip into the bed unnoticed.

“What are you doing?”

Jack jumped at the voice. Geoff rolled over. His flame was alert.

“I was just, uh, checking on the lads.”

“We said goodnight to them like ten minutes ago,” Geoff said, an eyebrow quirking.

“Yes. I know. I know. I just… are you okay? I’m sorry I woke you up. I just wanted to make sure that everyone was fine. Is that so bad?” Jack wrung his hands.

Geoff sat up.

“Seriously. You’re scaring me now. I know what you saw in your vision was terrible. Awful. Being unable to protect those closest to you sucks. I get you’re being protective of them, but you need to rest Jack! I swear a storm could brew on your face with the size and colour of the bags under your eyes.”

“I just… Jeremy’s not here. I need to make sure he’s okay. I have to make sure they’re okay.”

Geoff’s brow furrowed in pity.

“Hey, come here.”

Jack came and sat by him. Geoff wrapped his arms around Jack.

“You love those boys so much, and that's one of the things I love about you. You are a wonderful, amazing, and protective. But they are grown men, hard as it is to believe. Jeremy will be fine. You need to sleep.”

“I’m so sorry,” muttered Jack.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay,” Geoff said softly, stroking Jack’s back.

“I’m so sorry. I woke you up again. I didn’t mean to. Here, let me make it up to you,” Jack said. He ran his hands down Geoff’s side and over the front of his pajama pants. Geoff jumped and grabbed Jack’s hand, moving it away.

“Hey, no. You don’t have to do that,” Geoff said. His voice was a little squeaky.

“But - but the other night you said that you were worried I didn’t think you were attractive anymore!”

Geoff’s eyes widened. “Jack! You more than proved I was wrong that night. You don’t have to prove anything else to me. Please can you just get some sleep now?”

Jack brushed Geoff’s hands off and got to his feet. He paced across the room, turned and walked back. He ran his hand through his hair in agitation. His spiny tail jerked from side to side.

“I can’t sleep. I can’t. I have to protect them. I have to protect you. Have to keep you happy. Have to make sure everyone is safe. Jeremy won’t answer my texts. Why won’t he answer Geoff?”

Jack could feel the anxiety and frustration rising from his gut into his throat. He felt ill. Geoff was on his feet now too. His flame flickered erratically. He raised his hands in a placating gesture.

“Jack. Please calm down,” he said.

“How can I be calm? I have to protect you all! Then you all go and decide to play with fire and gravity and - and - how am I supposed to protect everyone from one of our own? How do I stop Ryan from doing what he did again?”

Geoff was making soothing noises now, but Jack couldn’t hear them over the roaring in his ears.

“How do I do this?” Jack cried. He felt the emotions swirl within him and boil under his skin. He felt trapped. He needed to get out of this cloying, enclosed space. He’d tried so hard to protect these others, but they resisted so hard.

Break...

He needed to get out of here. Jack narrowed his eyes at the wall and stormed towards it. The thick brown plates and scales flowed over his skin as he drew back a fist. He threw it at the wall, grunting in satisfaction as plaster and wood exploded outwards.

Smash…

Jack hit the wall again. He revelled in the feeling of the simple object shattering before him. This was so much easier.

“Jack!”

Jack growled at the voice. He turned eyes narrowed. A demon with red eyes and dark horns stood across the room. A blue flame flickered over his head.

“Jack, stop, please!” said Geoff.

Crush … You are strong …

Jack snorted at Geoff’s whining tone. It irritated him. Brought him feelings of frustration and worry. He didn’t want to feel that way.

Destroy ...

Jack started towards Geoff. His hands balled into fists. He’d remove this man that caused him such irritating emotions.

Chapter Text

“Jack, stop, please!” said Geoff.

Crush … You are strong …

Jack snorted at Geoff’s whining tone. It irritated him. Brought him feelings of frustration and worry. He didn’t want to feel that way. His anger spiked.

Destroy ...

Jack started towards Geoff. His hands balled into fists. He’d remove this man that caused him such irritating emotions.

Suddenly there was another man in the doorway. He crackled with purple lightning. Jack roared as one of the tendrils reached out and flitted across his scales. The pain was muted, but the attack only served to stoke the fires of his rage.

Break. Crush. You are strong. You are stronger than these morons.

Jack changed directions, heading for Jeremy instead. He laughed as the man threw more purple bolts at him. Jack shrugged them off.

That’s it. You are stronger than all of them. They do not deserve you.

Jack swung at the short demon, but he was fast and ducked out of the way. Jack’s fist took a great chunk out of the doorway instead. He snarled and followed the man out into the hallway. His anger seethed and roiled within him as he stalked the lightning-thrower into the living room. Jeremy tripped and went sprawling. Jack laughed and launched himself at his prey. He was shocked when his body suddenly jerked to a stop. He could see the little demon beneath him, but it felt as if he was suddenly swimming through the air. Everything seemed too thick and slow. His eyes were too sluggish to track the motion as the electricity-thrower got up and moved away from Jack. He was replaced by a pair of tall, thin men with green eyes and antlers. Jack wanted to growl at Trevor and Alfredo to get out of his way, but his jaw would not respond fast enough. The two clasped hands and then Jack felt an terrible pain in his head. His mind felt muddled and too light. Gravity decided to turn back on at that moment and Jack collapsed onto his hands and knees.

Jack felt cold. He was shaking and exhausted. He knew that he had been angry, but didn't understand why. He blinked blearily up at the people who’d gathered around him.

“Is he okay?” That was Geoff’s voice.

“We think so. We did what we did to… Well, we just disrupted him enough to snap out of his rage.”

Jack blinked again. His mind was clearing. His eyes widened as he remembered what he’d done.

“Oh god. Oh god I’m so sorry. What did I do? I don’t know… I was so upset, and mad and just… Is anyone hurt?”

Geoff dropped to his knees in front of Jack. He cradled Jack’s face in his hands as tears began to stream down the gent’s face.

“Geoff - oh god Geoff, I’m so sorry. I was so mad - I just snapped…”

Geoff said nothing and drew Jack in to hug him tightly. The older man’s red eyes were round as saucers and he was shaking. He darted anxious glances at the others standing around them as he tried to calm the now-sobbing Jack. The other Achievement Hunters looked just as bewildered and scared.

After convincing Jack that no damage had been done, except to the plasterboard walls, Geoff managed to get his boyfriend to take a sleeping pill and made sure he was snoring fitfully before heading back out into the living room.

“What the fuck happened?” said Michael. The four younger men had all gathered on the couch again. Michael had missed the bulk of the incident, only stumbling from the guest room upon hearing the sound of the house being torn down.

“I - I don’t know,” said Geoff. His fingers itched for a bottle. Something to wrap his hands around. Something to warm his gut and cut the edge off the tremors that ran through him. He pushed the urge down.

“I just got here and heard the shouting,” said Jeremy. He was looking at his new phone with a confused expression as he scrolled through the worried texts Jack had sent him minutes ago. He’d been driving here so hadn’t had a chance to look at them until now.

Gavin was curled in the corner of the couch, he white eyes wide and glassy. His arms were locked around his legs.

“It was like Ryan all over again,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper.

“This was nothing like Ryan!”

Even Geoff was surprised at the whip-crack loudness of his voice. Everyone stared at him.

“This was nothing like what Ryan did. That evil motherfucker was laughing as he tortured you guys. Jack was just upset,” Geoff said. He rounded on Trevor and Alfredo. “Wasn’t he?”

The pair blanched under Geoff’s red glare.

“Yeah, I guess it was like that. I think he was really, really angry. He just seemed focused on breaking things,” Trevor said. Alfredo nodded hastily.

“See? He was just upset. None of you can tell me that you haven’t had flashes of anger lately from all this demon shit?”

There was no answer from anyone in the room. Geoff pointed at Michael.

“Case in point! Michael’s gone off at people a couple of times already. It’s those fucking nightmare visions. Jack’s still dealing with all of that.”

“Okay, fuck, Geoff. We get it,” said Trevor, putting up his hands.

Geoff crossed his arms. His tail lashed and his fire orb spat wisps of cold flame. “Good,” he muttered. He turned and stormed back to the bedroom. The lads heard the door slam and turned to each other.

“Do you believe him?” Michael asked Jeremy.

The short man looked shaky as he shrugged. “I don’t know what to think. I heard shouting and growling and what sounded like a wrecking ball hitting the house. I ran in and all I saw was Jack heading at Geoff like a freight train. He looked so… demonic. His whole body was covered in that armour.”

Gavin had crept off the couch and inched towards Michael. The Jersey lad’s angry glare dropped into a softer look as he gazed at Gavin.

“Is that really what was going through Jack’s head?” Gavin asked.

“Yeah, I mean, kinda,” said Trevor.

“Jack was just… anger. Pure fury,” said Alfredo. He bit his lip.

“Ryan was different… He was like cold, calculated curiosity. There was no anger there.”

“I think Jack’s just really stressed. I mean, who wouldn’t be?”

They all stood around for a moment longer.

“Do you think it will happen again?” Jeremy asked softly.

No one answered.

“I think we’re gonna stay here, just in case,” said Trevor. Alfredo nodded shakily.

Michael frowned as someone shook him awake. He cracked an eye.

“It’s still fuckin’ dark,” he muttered.

“He’s such a bright spark,” said Geoff.

“Are you making fun of my demon features now?”

“Someone has to…”

Michael rolled his eyes and sat up. He and Gavin had swapped out in the guest room after the Jack incident. Michael checked his phone which was plugged in with three others attached to a powerboard that snaked over from the nearest wall outlet. He blinked.

“It really is fuckin’ dark. It’s three am!”

Jack shuffled past. He was pale and didn’t look at Michael as he spoke. “I checked. The church should still be open at this hour.”

Jeremy stood up from his blow up mattress next to Michael’s and stretched his back. “Apparently salvation is a twenty-four-seven kind of thing.”

The seven of them shuffled about in half stupors, not used to being up at this hour. Jack hastily made coffee and toast for those who wanted it and then stood in the corner of the kitchen, looking like he was trying to blend into the cabinets. No one mentioned the incident.

Once all the dishes were cleared away, they gravitated towards the living room. Geoff took a deep breath and pasted an overly happy grin on his face.

“Come on you guys. This nightmare of a week could be over real soon! We won’t have to duck under doorways! Or sit on our tails! We can go out in public again!”

“Ew, public,” hissed Trevor, making the sign of a cross at Geoff.

The others chuckled weakly.

“Uh, shall we go then?” asked Jack, who was looking at his feet.

“Yeah. Come on. Let’s all load up and get this over with.”

Jack and Geoff headed for the garage. Alfredo was close behind. Jeremy glanced at Trevor who was looking rather uncertainly after Alfredo. The tall man bit his lip, one hand going up to trace the base of his antlers. Alfredo turned to him and Trevor quickly withdrew his hand.

“Do you really think that an exorcism will work?” Alfredo asked. His brow was furrowed, but he had a hopeful look about him. Trevor stepped up beside Alfredo.

“I’m not sure, ‘Fredo. Let’s hope so.” He smiled encouragingly at his boyfriend.

Jeremy felt his own forehead crease. Jack and Geoff didn’t have a hallway mirror, but Jeremy could see his horned reflection in the glass panes of the front door. Within hours, this could all be over. They’d be back to normal. Jeremy found himself tracing the edge of one of his horns and his frown deepened.

Michael patted down his pockets.

“Car keys, check. Phone, check. Wallet, check. Boyfriend-” Michael turned to see Gavin and grinned cheekily at him. “Check.”

“Michael,” Gavin said, colour rising to his cheeks as he glanced towards the garage where the others had gone. Michael chuckled.

“Relax. They couldn’t hear me,” he said.

He sidled up to Gavin and slipped his hands around the thinner man’s hips.

“ Micoo …”

“They can’t see us either,” Michael whispered, pecking Gavin on the cheek. The Brit giggled and Michael released him.

“Come on,” he said and turned back towards the hallway. He headed for the door after the others, but then stopped, realising Gavin was not following him. He looked back. Gavin stood in the middle of the living room, his arms wrapped around himself again. The grin and the blush had vanished.

“Gavin? You okay?”

“Yeah, Michael. I just…”

“What? What’s wrong?”

Gavin’s eyes darted about the room.

“Have you lost something?”

“No,” Gavin replied.

“What’s wrong then?”

“I - nothing.”

“Then hurry up and get your butt in the car. We don’t have all night!”

“I - I’m not going Michael,” Gavin said.

Michael frowned at him. “What?”

Gavin’s tail was not quite between his legs and he wouldn’t meet Michael’s eyes.

“I’m not going,” Gavin said a little more firmly.

“Yes. I heard you. When I asked ‘What?’ I meant ‘What the fuck do you mean you’re not going?’”

“I don’t want to be exorcised Michael,” Gavin said, looking at him with sad white eyes.

Michael relented. “If you’re scared, that’s fine. I’ll be with you the whole time, boi.”

“No, no, it’s not that. I don’t want it. I want to stay.”

“Stay?”

“Yeah. Stay. Like this.” Gavin gestured to his horns and swished his tail.

Michael just stared at him.

“You want to stay a demon?”

“Yes.”

“You can’t! How are you going to go out in public? How are you going to go to work?”

“I’ll learn to hide them, like Jeremy can! I’ve learned to control my other powers better than anyone. I’m sure I can do that too,” Gavin said. He folded his arms.

Michael lunged forward and grabbed Gavin’s hand. “Come on. You’re getting in the car.”

“Michael! No!” Gavin wrenched his arm out of Michael’s grasp and gave him a shocked glare.

Michael just bared his teeth at Gavin.

“I don’t want to Michael. I like being like this. It’s cool,” Gavin said.

“It’s not cool Gavin! Look at you! You’re a fucking freak!” Michael yelled.

Gavin took a step backwards. Michael blinked and looked away. The hands that had curled into fists at his sides unclenched. His mouth tasted bad. He wanted to take the words back as soon as they’d slipped out.

“Gavin. I didn’t mean that like that. I meant…”

Gavin took another step backwards. Michael reached out his hand.

“Gavin. Please, just wait…”

Gavin turned and fled into the guest room, slamming the door behind him. Michael let his hand drop. Guilt churned in his gut. He stormed out to his car.

“You guys all just wait here,” Jeremy said. He’d hidden his demonic features and gotten out as their small convoy pulled up at the church. Soft golden light spilled from the large double front doors, making the high stained glass window above them shine prettily.

“What if someone sees us?” Jack hissed through the partially wound down window.

“Just lay your seats back or something. I’m just going to talk to the pastor so he doesn’t have a freaking heart attack when you all walk in there,” Jeremy said.

“Okay. Just hurry up. I don’t like being out here,” Jack said. He glanced up and down the deserted street. There was a parking garage on the opposite side of the street, next to a tall commercial building. They’d chosen to go at this hour to make sure they ran into as few people as possible, but there were still cars about. Jeremy nodded and hurried towards the church doors.

The marble steps were worn down in the centre from the thousands of feet that had trod upon them over the years. Jeremy wondered just how old this place was. It had likely been around since Austin’s founding. He paused at the doorway suddenly remembering how churches were considered consecrated ground. Jeremy took a deep breath as he stepped over the threshold. He passed it without incident. He frowned, wondering if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He shook his head and continued into the building.

He passed through the entryway and into the hall. Here rows and rows of ornately carved wooden pews stood. A huge dome soared over the far end where the priest would normally stand to lead mass. He wasn’t there now. Jeremy stared around. Where would the guy be then? Was there some kind of back office? Did priests have offices? Jeremy’s eyes landed on a set of two doors set against the wall. Ah, right. Confession time.

Jeremy approached the doors. He felt much too awkward to enter the little cubicle that had the door open, so he just raised a hand and knocked on the closed door.

“Oh, good morning,” came an old, but pleasant voice.

“Er, hi,” said Jeremy.

“What brings you here, my son?”

“Uh.” Jeremy hadn’t really thought about how to parse his request.

“Don’t be shy, my son. You can tell me anything,” said the priest.

“Isthedevilrealaredemonsactualthingswhataboutsoulscanyouhelpus?” Jeremy clapped a hand over his mouth. He knew he’d been optimistic about their situation when they’d all first turned, but since Jack - Jeremy was beginning to get worried for the others.

The priest just chuckled.

“Some heavy questions for such an early hour. Would you like to talk about this in the booth?”

Jeremy shuffled his feet.

“Is it okay to talk face to face instead?”

“Of course. Whatever makes you most comfortable.” The door opened.

The priest looked just as Jeremy imagined he did. An older man, white-haired and balding. He wore black with the traditional white collar and bore a warm smile.

“I’m Father Don,” he said.

Jeremy gave him an awkward smile. The Father gestured to a pew and Jeremy sat down. The priest sat next to him.

“Now. I heard most of your question. The devil, demons and souls, right?”

Jeremy nodded, suddenly feeling rather self conscious about his outburst. Father Don only smiled again.

“No need to feel awkward…?”

“Oh, uh. I’m Jeremy.”

“Jeremy. They are all valid questions. Yes, the devil is real, and yes, he has many demons in his legions of evil in hell. Souls are also real. I have one, and so do you,” said Father Don.

Jeremy twisted his lips to the side. Father Don raised an eyebrow.

“You have doubts about that?”

Jeremy hemmed and hawwed. “Kinda. Sorta. Well, it’s complicated.”

“Not really. Every mortal has a soul. What we do and believe in life will affect its destination in the afterlife.”

“So… What would happen to a soul that say, made a bit of a mistake along the way somewhere?”

“Depends upon the mistake. And whether the sin can be forgiven,” said Father Don. He fixed Jeremy with a gimlet eye. “Are you sure you didn’t want to use the confessional booth?”

Jeremy flapped a hand. “Uh. No. It’s okay. It’s kinda, uh, easier if I showed you anyway.”

The priest frowned. Jeremy pressed on.

“So. Demons. Tell me more about them.”

“Well. Demons inhabit hell and form the Devil’s legions. There are many, many demons. They are the the former angels who followed Lucifer and fell with him. The mission of the demons is to induce humans to sin.”

“And what about other stuff they do? Can they… possess people?”

Father Don gave him an odd look. “Yes. We believe that demons can possess men. Why are you asking me these things Jeremy?”

Jeremy sighed. “Look. There was… Something weird happened to me and my friends. We’re all really scared and we were hoping you could help us.”

“Something weird?”

“Yeah. Super weird. I’m going to tell them to come in. Just promise you won’t freak out, okay?”

Father Don raised his eyebrow again, but nodded.

Jeremy sent a quick text to the others then turned back to the priest. “So have you ever run into a demon?”

Father Don pursed his lips. “No. Personally I have not.”

“But you would still know how to perform an exorcism, right?”

Father Don looked suddenly alarmed. “Jeremy, what have you and your friends been doing?”

“Nothing! We swear! It wasn’t meant to be anything. We were just doing a dumb video and then a few days later…”

There were footsteps in the great echoing chamber. Jeremy looked over to see the five other Hunters walking through the pews, looking rather uncomfortable. Father Don turned too. His eyes grew wide. His jaw fell open slowly. He turned back to Jeremy and jerked back in shock. Jeremy had freed his horns and tail. He looked at Father Don apologetically.

“You’re… you’re…” The Father gaped like a fish.

The other five made their way over. Father Don’s old grey eyes darted between them all. His wrinkled hands gripped the wooden pew so hard they began to turn whiter than his hair.

“Uh, you okay Father? I kinda did warn you…” Jeremy said.

The priest continued to stare. Jack stared at his shoes. Alfredo wrung his hands. Finally Trevor stepped forward, clawed hand extended.

“Hi. Nice to meet you. I’m Trevor.”

Father Don calmed down considerably once given half an hour of deep breathing and two strong cups of tea. Finally he came out of his back office - Jeremy felt slightly vindicated to find out he actually had a back office - to find the six Achievement Hunters where he’d left them sitting awkwardly together on a pew.

“Alright. So. You’re all demons,” he said.

Trevor made a face. Michael made a small scoffing noise.

Geoff raised a finger. “I mean, I don’t think so?”

“But you…” Father Don gestured to their horns and, well, all of them. His mouth was hanging open again.

“Besides the fancy additions, we’re fucking human,” Michael snapped.

Alfredo elbowed him. “Language dude. We’re in a church.”

Michael just glared at him.

Father Don shook himself. “Right. Okay. How did this, er, happen then? Jeremy mentioned an accident?”

“There was a pentagram-”

“And candles-”

“Dumb fuckin’ chant-”

“There was a book-”

Trevor, Alfredo, Michael and Jeremy all tried to talk at the same time. They fell silent. Father Don rubbed his forehead.

“Some kind of ritual?”

“That’s what we figured,” said Geoff with a sigh.

“But why would you do that to yourselves?”

“I told you, it was an accident,” said Jeremy.

Father Don just looked at him. “You did a ritual by accident?”

There were vehement nods. Father Don looked skeptical.

“Look dude. We don’t care if you believe us or not. We came here for your help. Can you fix us, or not?” snapped Michael.

Father Don looked from the fiery lad to Jeremy. “This is why you were asking about exorcisms?”

“Duh,” said Trevor.

Father Don ran a hand through his thin hair. “Six exorcisms.”

“Uh, eight actually,” Jack said softly.

Father Don looked up sharply. “There are more of you?”

Michael had explained on the drive over what Gavin had said.

“Yeah. One we might have to convince. The other… We’ll get to that later,” said Geoff, the tiredness in his tone evident.

“Just - can you do the exorcism or not?” Trevor got to his feet. He placed a hand on Alfredo’s shoulder. Father Don looked at them all again, then seemed to pull himself together.

“I believe so, yes.”

There was a collective sigh of relief in the room from everyone except Jeremy. He just looked at his feet, feeling a little ill. When Michael had told them all of Gavin’s declaration, he couldn’t help but feel a little on Gavin’s side. These powers were pretty cool. And the horns. And the tail. And the bitchin’ claws. The only reason he was still here was because he was worried about his soul and stuff and about R… Jeremy sighed and made himself not continue that thought. Father Don had disappeared again, presumably to fetch things for the exorcism process. What would the others think if Jeremy decided not to go through this with them? He remembered Michael’s tight tone as he described Gavin’s stance on the exorcism idea.

Father Don came back. He was holding a bottle and a beautiful old copy of the bible. The leather cover was smoothed almost to a polished gleam from years of love and use. He was wearing a different set of clothing. His cloak was white and he wore a purple sash around his shoulders. He looked around.

“I’m not sure I can do everyone at once. I was only ever taught to do single exorcisms. Does… anyone want to go first?”

The Hunters looked at each other. Trevor was still holding onto Alfredo’s shoulder. The pair looked at Jack and Geoff. Geoff looked back and nodded. He gently steered Jack forwards to Father Don.

“This guy right here,” he said. Jack gave Geoff a grateful look. Geoff suddenly shot Father Don a sharp glare.

“This won’t hurt him, will it?”

“Oh, no, of course not,” he said adamantly, his eyes fixed on the fizzing, popping fireball above Geoff’s head.

Geoff nodded. “Okay, let’s get started then.”

Father Don cleared his throat and looked to Jack.

“Your name, my son?”

“Jack. Jack Pattillo,” replied Jack.

“Jack, if you would please kneel.”

Jack did so. He kept a hold of Geoff’s hand though. Father Don frowned at this, but then placed the end of his purple sash on Jack’s other shoulder. The other six Hunters gathered in close, a feeling of anticipation buzzing among them. Father Don opened his bible and began to read.

“Praise the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Praise ye the God of gods... the Lord of lords... Who alone doth great wonders… Who made the heavens, for his mercy endureth for ever.”

Father Don paused, uncorked the small bottle he held, and shook a little of its contents over Jack. He frowned again as Jack did little more than wipe a speck of the Holy Water from his glasses.

Father Don continued to read. He made the sign of the cross as he went through several psalms and more prayers. His voice grew louder as he continued the litany, a deep, rich bass coming through, obviously well practiced from years of holding mass. It echoed powerfully through the grand chamber of the chapel. Father Don snapped his bible shut, placed a hand on Jack’s head and looked to the heavens.

"I exorcise thee, most vile spirit, the very embodiment of our enemy, the entire specter, the whole legion, in the name of Jesus Christ, to get out and flee from this creature of God!”

Father Don’s voice reverberated off the old stone walls. He looked down again, panting heavily. Jack reached up and sighed heavily  as his claws tapped against thick, spiny brown horns. Michael’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. Trevor and Jeremy frowned.

“Was that it?” asked Alfredo. He looked worriedly at Father Don.

Father Don looked terribly confused. “That should have worked. I mean, I’ve never had to do this before, but I did everything correctly.”

“Maybe you didn’t. You should try it again,” said Geoff. His hand was still gripping Jack’s tightly. He gestured to the book in Father Don’s hands.

“I - yes, of course,” said Father Don. He opened his old bible and began reciting the prayers again. The litany was interspersed with more crossing of Jack and the sprinkling of Holy Water. Father Don placed his head again on Jack’s head and the chapel rang with his powerful voice as he pleaded with God, begging for the demon in Jack to be cast out. Spirits fell when the priest fell silent again and Jack’s demonic appearance had still not changed.

“Do you feel any different?” Geoff asked Jack desperately.

Jack sighed again and stood up. “Damp. And my knees hurt,” he muttered.

“Maybe he should try again with someone else?” suggested Michael.

Alfredo stepped forwards, his Adam’s apple bobbing nervously. Father Don looked rather out of breath as he gestured for Alfredo to kneel.

No matter who knelt in front of the Father, or how many prayers he recited, or pleas he made to the heavens, or blessed water he sprinkled, the six remained horned and tailed. Father Don sat heavily on a pew, wiping his face with a handkerchief.

“I don’t understand…” he muttered. “It should have worked!”

“You’ve told us that several times now,” Geoff said in a harsh voice. He paced up and down in front of the Father. “There’s gotta be something you’re not doing right? Some other part of the ritual you haven’t done? Is there anyone more experienced at this than you?”

“I mean, I could try finding someone. There has to be someone I could call who has actually done an exorcism. Perhaps he could come in and help you. I just… It’s so bizarre. In every casting out I’ve ever heard about, the possessed has never been compliant in the process, let alone volunteered for it.”

“So you’re saying we’re not demons after all?” Geoff snapped, turning on the man, his fireball hissing. Father Don raised his hands.

“No. I’m sure you are. I just… I think I should get some consultation on this.”

“Fuck. We have to get a second opinion for our diagnosis as demons,” Geoff shouted, throwing his hands up in the air.

“Geoff, language,” said Jack softly.

Geoff sighed and turned to him. He came over and pressed a kiss to Jack’s head. “I’m sorry. I just want this whole nightmare to be over already,” he muttered.

Father Don made an unimpressed noise.

“Now that sort of behaviour is more typical of demons,” he said. Everybody looked at him. He turned red.

“What did you say?” asked Geoff.

Father Don cleared his throat. “You know very well what I mean. It’s a sin, that is. The monsters possessing you obviously have homosexual tendencies.”

Father Don was suddenly faced with six glares. Jeremy got to his feet.

“I will have you know that Jack and Geoff have been together way before any of this ever happened,” he said. “Also, I’m bisexual.”

Trevor stood too. “Dyed in the wool pan over here.”

“Bi,” said Alfredo, raising a hand.

“Gay as fuckin’ rainbows,” said Michael folding his arms.

Jack and Geoff smiled at them all.

Father Don stared around in horror. “This is worse than I thought,” he muttered.

Geoff reached for Jack’s hand and pulled him to his feet. “Let’s get out of here, beautiful. The sun’s about to come up anyway. We’ll be trying a different church tomorrow night. We’re obviously not in the right place.”

Jack nodded and Geoff led the way down the aisle. Jeremy, Michael, Trevor and Alfredo shot venomous glares back at the still rather red-faced priest on their way out.

“Should we compel him not to tell anyone?” Jeremy asked Geoff in a low voice after turning around. The older man looked a little pale at the lad’s words.

“No. Don’t worry about it. Who’s going to believe him anyway?”

“What a fuckin’ waste of time,” snapped Jeremy as soon as the heavy wooden doors swung shut behind them. They stood in the shadow of the church as the dark sky above was tinged with the blue of dawn.

“So true,” said Trevor.

“Let’s all just go home and get some more rest. We’ll find another place for next time,” said Jack.

Michael and Alfredo nodded. Trevor however bit his lip.

“What if Geoff’s right though? What if this isn’t really the place for us? Alfredo had a good idea, but I mean, we tried the exorcism and everything and just - zip. Zilch. Nada.”

Jeremy nodded. “If we really were demons, don’t you think the Holy Water, or even the church itself might have done something to us? I was wondering that on the way in. Maybe Trevor’s right,” he said.

“What the fuck are we supposed to do then?” said Geoff. “Just give up?”

Trevor threw up his hands. “I don’t know! Maybe? Look, perhaps Gavin kind of had a point about all this. Maybe we don’t need to do anything. We could learn to hide our horns like Jeremy. We could go back to work like normal.”

“And just live like this?” Michael snarled. He took a step towards Trevor, his flames flaring up violently.

“Why not? Sure, I was a bit freaked out when this first happened to us, but since then I’ve come around on the idea. As a scientist, do you know how fucking cool it is that I have the ability to read minds? The technology for that sort of thing probably won’t be developed for hundreds of years!”

“You’re starting to sound real Ryan-like. He liked the science of this all, didn’t he? You said it yourself - it was like he was fucking experimenting on us!” Geoff yelled, pointing a black clawed finger at Trevor.

Alfredo stared at his boyfriend, a scared look on his face.

“Is that really what you think?” he asked in a small voice.

Trevor gritted his teeth. “Am I not allowed to think that this is even a little bit awesome? I can walk on the fucking ceiling. We could all eventually learn to teleport .”

“You guys, please stop yelling,” said Jack. It was hard to tell with his completely black eyes, but Jack was glancing up and down the empty street. “We aren’t being real discreet here.”

“And all the while, our fucking souls could be going to hell!” Geoff roared, advancing on Trevor.

“We don’t know that!” Jeremy shouted, jumping in between the men and placing a hand on each’s chest. Trevor ground his teeth as he stared at Geoff while the older man growled at Trevor, the flame above his head growing in size and causing blue flares to flicker up and down his dark horns. Geoff’s red eyes fixed on Jeremy now.

“What? You’re on his side now?”

Jeremy glowered at Geoff. “Yes! No! I don’t know! I admit that my powers are pretty cool, okay? I’ve never really had a problem like you guys. Maybe the answer is that you just gotta learn to control them…”

Geoff whirled away with a roar of frustration.

“Guys, please . Can we go now?” Jack shifted from foot to foot.

Alfredo was staring accusedly at Trevor. “I knew it was weird. You were way too excited about learning you could read my mind. That we could read others. This is not natural Trev!”

“I know it’s not! But why look a gift horse in the mouth? We could use this! Imagine what we could do! We could help people!”

“What the fuck do you mean help people?” snapped Michael.

“As far as I know, we are the only humans in the world who have supernatural powers. Telepathy, pyrokinesis, chronokinesis, electrokinesis - We could do some amazing things!”

“We’re not fucking superheroes!” Geoff was fuming. The blue fire had extended down his thrashing tail.

“You said it yourself! Michael was like the Human Torch! The Torch is a hero!”

“Our lives are not a fucking Marvel movie! Or a comic book!”

“ Guys! ” Jack’s panicked voice cut through their shouting. The five looked around. There was a young woman standing on the pavement. She was obviously halfway through an early morning jog from the looks of her activewear and the sweat on her brow. She was staring at the six demons in horror.

“Fuck,” muttered Geoff.

“Miss. Please don’t be afraid,” Jack said soothingly. He held out his hands in a peaceful gesture, but this only seemed to scare her more.

“It’s okay! We’re not going to hurt you!” babbled Jack.

The woman was retreating slowly, shaking her head.

“Just let her go,” muttered Jeremy. “It’s like the priest. Who’s going to believe her? Unless we actually go and stand in a crowded, public area, people won’t figure it out.”

“We’re sorry for scaring you,” Jack said softly.

“This is not over,” Alfredo said, pointing at Trevor.

“Let’s just go. We’re going to attract more attention if we stay here any longer,” Trevor said and began leading Alfredo to their cars. Geoff turned to go as well. Michael followed him.

“Jeremy’s right Jack. Just let her leave. She’ll convince herself she just saw people in masks or something,” he said.

Jack bit his lip and nodded. There was a low droning sound as the woman backed slowly further and further away. Jack looked up at the sound. Headlights pierced the morning gloom. Sudden panic gripped Jack as the woman turned to run across the road. He saw it all happening as if in slow motion. There was the screeching of brakes as the bus driver saw the jogger. The other Achievement Hunters turned, their voices clashing in a cacophony of alarm. The woman wasn’t even aware the bus was there. Her animal brain was just trying to flee from the scary monsters behind her. She was not going to make it. Geoff was reaching out beside him, starting to run towards the woman. He wouldn’t be fast enough. Jack remembered Gavin. Gavin had taught Trevor to walk on walls. Gavin could teleport. That meant Jack could too. He knew he could. He stepped forward. Suddenly there was nothing around him. Nothing but a dark, empty void. Another step and he was in the middle of the road. The headlights were bright and he could smell the bus’s engine fumes as he wrapped his arms around the woman. Another step into the nothingness and then they were rolling and tumbling onto the pavement on the other side of the street. The bus’s tires squealed as it skidded to a stop twenty feet down the road. The brakes released with a violent hiss and the whole vehicle shuddered on its hydraulics. Jack sat up, feeling terribly nauseous. The woman was picking herself up too. She was white and shaking.

“Are you -” Jack paused, panting heavily. “Are you okay?”

The woman looked up at him and screamed. She scrambled away, finally getting to her feet. She sprinted down the street into the darkness.

“Holy fuck! Jack! That was amazing!” Jeremy said, running up to him. The others were hot on his heels.

“What happened? Where did she go?” Geoff asked, panic giving his voice squeaks and breaks.

“She’s okay. She ran that way,” Jack said, waving a feeble hand in the direction she’d vanished.

“You saved her,” Trevor said, staring at Jack in awe.

Geoff ignored them and hauled Jack to his feet, checking him over. They all jumped at the sound of the bus door opening. Footsteps clattered down the bus steps and the driver began calling out for help.

“Let’s get out of here before anyone else sees us,” Geoff muttered, pulling Jack towards the cars.

Chapter Text

The following night, and the night after that, they tried four more churches. At the first one, the priest was a younger man. He took a while to get over the fact that there were six demons standing before his pulpit, but he did agree to try and exorcise them. His ministrations unfortunately had no effect either. The second priest straight up passed out. As did the third. The fourth took one look at them all and chased them out of his church, screaming to the high heavens and brandishing the giant wooden cross from the altar.

Spirits were low at Jack and Geoff’s house. Jeremy held an ice pack to his forehead where the last priest had clocked him with the huge crucifix. Damned thing had taken a tiny chip out of his horn too. Despite their opinions otherwise, he and Trevor had still accompanied the other four on every excursion. Jeremy was still the only one who could hide his horns and scope the place out, and Trevor knew that Alfredo didn’t feel the same as he did, but wanted to be there for his boyfriend anyway.

It was Monday morning and they were all exhausted. Jack and Geoff were at the kitchen table, coffees clutched in their hands. Michael sat with them, poking listlessly at a bowl of cereal. Trevor and Alfredo sat at either ends of the couch. Gavin had taken up a spot in the corner of the ceiling. Jeremy was pacing up and down the hall slowly. Geoff sighed and put his coffee down.

“Maybe you should go back to work Jer,” he said slowly.

Jeremy stopped pacing and turned to him. Something like guilt flitted across his face.

“No. I’m sticking around to help you guys. You need me.”

“But you must be bored as hell. You can hide your horns. You don’t want to be involved in this… you can go back if you want,” said Geoff.

Jeremy gave him a grim smile. “Thanks Geoff. But really. It’s okay. I wanna help you guys.”

“Thanks Jer, but you can’t help if we don’t have a fuckin’ plan to go off,” Michael muttered into his cornflakes.

“We will think of something. We will. We have to,” said Geoff, looking down at his coffee. Jack’s hand rested on Geoff shoulder and Geoff sighed again.

“I’ve had a look around to see if there are any other churches,” said Trevor, waving his phone. There was a low, dissatisfied mutter around the room. Trevor slumped in his seat. “Yeah. I don’t know why I bothered. That idea is a total dead end.”

Alfredo huffed and reached for the television remote. He flicked it on and the glum silence was filled instead with the low chatter of the morning news. Geoff and Jack finished their coffee. Jack took Geoff’s cup to the sink and then the pair went to join the two on the couch. Gavin got up and sidled over to the dining table.

“Hi Michael,” he said softly.

The curly-haired lad glanced blearily up at him. Gavin smiled shyly.

“Hi Gavvers,” Michael replied dully.

“How are you feeling?” asked Gavin.

“Like eight kinds of shit,” said Michael.

Gavin fiddled with his fingers. “Anything I can do to help?”

“You can get off the ceiling for one,” Michael groused.

“Oh, okay,” said Gavin. He dropped down with a thump and sat in the chair next to Michael.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Michael glanced sharply at him. “For what?”

Gavin shrugged and picked at the table with a sharp, bone-white claw. “Sorry that you guys haven’t found someone to exorcise you yet. I know it’s frustrating.”

“What do you care?” Michael snapped.

Gavin looked at him with sad eyes. “I might not want it for myself, but I know you’re unhappy like this.”

Michael’s gaze dropped back to his cereal.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Gavin asked again.

“Not really,” said Michael. He stirred his cornflakes around. “Thanks though.”

Gavin shuffled his chair closer and snaked an arm around Michael’s waist. Michael couldn’t help but smile at the contact. He and Gavin had not touched since the night they’d fought. A little warmth stole into Michael’s chest.

“Careful Gav. The others are right there. They might see,” he said.

Gavin snorted softly. “Psh. At the moment I don’t care. My Michael needs comfort.”

Michael smiled wider and rested his head on Gavin’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry too,” he said.

Gavin hummed.

“I’m sorry for trying to make you come with when you didn’t want to,” Michael said. “And I’m sorry for calling you a freak. I was just… scared.”

“I know. I know and it’s okay. I get it,” Gavin said. He rubbed his cheek against Michael’s curls. They continued to sit in silence, just enjoying each other’s presence.

“As a first fight goes, that was pretty bad, huh?” Gavin said.

Michael snorted. “That was not our first fight. We’ve fought tons of times.”

“Yeah, but it was our first fight since we got together. It’s special,” said Gavin.

“Ooh, special? Are you gonna cherish it forever?” mocked Michael.

Gavin smiled and poked him. “You know what I mean you mong.”

Michael just smiled.

Gavin grew pensive. “You know, if you think about it, it’s special in more than one way. We might have been the first people to ever have a fight about that particular thing. Which other couple in history could have argued about whether or not they wanted to stay as demons?”

Michael chuckled under his breath.

“Oh fuck.”

Gavin and Michael jumped at the sound. Gavin let go of his boyfriend and the two looked to the living room. Everyone there was staring at the television. Jeremy had stopped pacing. He’d evidently been the one to speak. Someone turned up the volume.

“...around the Austin area reports have been coming in about strange people in costumes seen in and around the city. Eyewitnesses have said that these men have been spotted individually, but have also moved in a group of five to six, and all wore very realistic looking tail prosthetics, contact lenses and horns. Some have even gone to suggest that these men might be actual demons, claiming to have seen them conjure fire, or even teleport. Are these just sightings of just some month late Halloween-fanatics, or is it possible that hellish fiends may walk among us?

A two car pileup on the I-35 yesterday has left three people in a serious condition…”

Geoff muted the television with a shaking hand.

“Shit,” muttered Alfredo, running a hand through his hair. “I knew we should have had Geoff compel all those damned priests. Some of them have obviously talked.”

Geoff’s lips were thin.

“We didn’t think they’d tell anyone. Who would have believed them?”

“Obviously someone does!” Alfredo yelled, jumping up and pointing at the television.

“Alfredo! Calm down dude! There was barely any info in that. They speculated like it was guys in Halloween costumes. I don’t think we’re in any danger,” Trevor said.

Alfredo ignored him, pacing up and down in front of the couch. His hands gripped his hair and his glowing green eyes were wide.

“What if they come after us? What if they try to hunt us down? Trap us. Catch us. What if the government gets to us?” Alfredo shuddered and squeezed his eyes shut.

“‘Fredo. Buddy. We won’t go out again. It’s not like the priests were very successful anyway. We just gotta keep our heads down now. They didn’t even have any pictures. They’re not going to find us,” said Jeremy.

“How do you know that?” yelled Alfredo.

Trevor’s eyebrows knitted together in concern. He got up slowly and moved towards Alfredo.

“Sweetie, please calm down. Everything’s going to be okay,” he said. As Trevor approached, he could hear a low growling emerge from his boyfriend's chest. He reached out, fingers gently brushing Alfredo’s shoulder. Alfredo whirled, teeth bared and grabbed Trevor’s hand. Their second pairs of eyes snapped open. Trevor mirrored Alfredo’s snarl immediately. Everyone else jumped up, suddenly on edge.

“ We should let them… ” they muttered together.

“Wh - what?” asked Geoff. Jack edged a little in front of Geoff, arm out to protect him. Jeremy had his knees bent slightly, arms partially raised. Michael also looked ready to fight and Gavin had ducked behind him.

“ We should let them come to us. Let them see our power. They should learn to fear us. Why should we run and hide from them? They should hide from us… ” The two antlered demons turned to look at the others, grinning slowly.

“They - they’re talking like…” Jack stammered.

Michael felt the blood run from his face. “They’re talking like the voice.”

Jack looked at Michael with wide eyes, but he nodded.

“What? What are you talking about? What is going on?” hissed Geoff.

“We’ll tell you later. Right now we need to snap them out of this,” Jack whispered to him.

“Why? What are they doing?” asked Geoff.

Jeremy’s eyes widened too. “It’s like what happened to Jack. Alfredo was freaking out. He dragged Trevor into it. They’re not in their right minds. Be careful,” he said. Jeremy jerked as the four pairs of green eyes jumped to him. He felt electricity run up his spine, popping and cracking across his horns. The two green-eyed demons cocked their heads at Jeremy.

“ We hear them whispering to each other. They are afraid of us. Such fear. Such weakness. ”

“Trevor? Alfredo? You guys okay?” Jack asked, his voice trembling slightly.

Eight green eyes turned to Jack and narrowed.

“ Jack is afraid of us. Fears for himself. Fears for Geoff. Fears for us. So much fear. ” They tilted their heads. “ How cute. He plans to attack us .”

Jack went pale. “W-what? No. No I’m not.”

“ You were! ” the pair hissed. They stepped closer together, drawing themselves up to full height. Jeremy and Michael growled.

“I - I…” Jack stammered.

Trevor and Alfredo whipped back to Jeremy. “ As are you. You wait for a distraction. Then you will attempt to electrocute us. ”

Jeremy’s jaw dropped open. “They’re in our heads. They’re listening to our thoughts.”

Trevor and Alfredo sneered. “ So much fear. How dull. We should find more interesting people to play with. ”

There was a flicker of movement behind Michael. Gavin had raised his hand slightly. The lad screamed suddenly. He clutched his head and staggered backwards. Michael whipped around, his eyes wide.

“Gavin! Gavin, what’s wrong?” He rushed to kneel beside the Brit.

Gavin keened, his hands pulling at his hair. Michael put his arms around Gavin, trying to hush him and comfort him. He glared up at Trevor and Alfredo.

“What the fuck did you do to him?”

The pair smiled. “ He was planning to use his powers. We merely interrupted his train of thought .”

Gavin was whimpering and shaking. The green eyed demons smiled wider.

“ We’re not sure. We might have overdone it though …”

“Leave him the fuck alone!” yelled Michael. He laid Gavin down gently and got back to his feet. His hands curled into fists, fireballs flaring around them. The antlered pair just grinned at Michael and then he was on the ground screaming and pawing at his head. Jack, Geoff and Jeremy looked stricken. Jack put his shaking hands up in a placating gesture. He realised that his fear had caused the armoured scales to cover his skin.

“Trevor, Alfredo, please stop this. You’re hurting your friends,” Jack said.

The two turned to him. Michael stopped yelling. He collapsed onto the floor, panting and shaking. Gavin was getting unsteadily to his hands and knees. He dragged himself over to Michael, patting the lad’s shoulder worriedly.

“ They dared to attack us. They should not be so foolish ,” said Alfredo and Trevor.

Jack didn’t know what to do. Various plans flickered through his brain, but he dismissed them all with a cold surge of panic when all eight eyes narrowed at him.

“I’m not going to do anything! I swear!” Jack’s voice pitched upwards in fear.

Jeremy screamed now and crashed headlong into the coffee table. His back arched, his fingers going rigid and his face contorted in pain as he rolled off and onto the floor. Trevor and Alfredo grinned cruelly at him. It looked like he’d attempted to sneak up behind them while they were distracted by Jack.

“They can read all of our thoughts at once,” Jack said.

Michael and Gavin got unsteadily to their feet and nodded at Jack’s words. Their eyes were fixed on the two green demons and they did not look pleased.

Geoff grabbed at Jack’s arm, his claws clacking on the scales.

“What do we do?”

Jack shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said as the pair switched their attention to him again.

Jeremy groaned and picked himself up slowly.

Jack cleared his throat.

“What do you want?” he asked the pair.

They looked at each other for a moment. “ You’re all so dull. We want excitement. We crave entertainment. ”

“Uh.” Jack’s mind was blank. He had no idea what to do to help Alfredo and Trevor, so he just kept talking. “Entertainment. Well, the television’s right there. You could watch a movie?”

The pair chuckled. It was the creepiest sound to hear harmonised. “ Foolish Jack. Not that sort of entertainment. We would prefer ours with a little more life… Perhaps -” they broke off and twisted to the side. Jeremy collapsed again with a drawn out cry. His screams were cut off as Michael threw himself forwards again, but reeled back, cursing and spitting and holding his head.

“Michael! Michael, don’t!” Gavin cried, his hands fluttering at Michael’s shoulders.

Jeremy bared his teeth as he got up.

“They can only get one of us at a time,” Jack said suddenly.

Everyone looked at him. Trevor and Alfredo hissed. Everyone in the room tensed.

“We all go for them at the same-” Jack broke off with a roar as a blinding pain flashed through his head. He stumbled, hands coming up to his head. It was unbearable. The pain was searing, blinding, crippling. Then suddenly it was gone. Jack fell onto his hands and his knees, gasping for air. He could hear shouting and scuffling, but when he tried to look up, the room was blurry. His glasses had fallen off. He trembled as he patted the ground around him, finally finding them and shoving them back onto his face. Trevor and Alfredo were on the ground. Trevor was being held by Geoff and Gavin but didn’t appear to be resisting. Jeremy and Michael had a thrashing Alfredo pinned down underneath them. Geoff and Gavin helped Trevor to sit up.

“Are you okay?” Geoff asked him, casting fearful glances at the still flailing Alfredo.

Trevor blinked green eyes and shook himself. “God. I don’t really know what happened. ‘Fredo was just freaking out and then suddenly we were us. His thoughts were mine. Mine were his.”

Jack was still trembling but rushed over to help Jeremy and Michael.

“Alfredo! Calm down! You need to snap out of this before you hurt yourself! Or someone else!”

“No! No! You guys don’t understand! I need to- I gotta- They’re gonna come after us! Let me go!” Alfredo yelled. Trevor flinched and tried to move towards Alfredo. Geoff grabbed him and shook his head with a scared look.

“I know you want to help him, but when you guys touch…”

Trevor’s face fell. “I know… Sorry. He just…”

Alfredo had stopped thrashing now and was just sobbing. Eventually Jack, Jeremy and Michael were able to let him go. They gathered him up and placed him on the far end of the couch. Trevor sat at the other, facing Alfredo, but unable to go and comfort him. Gavin and Michael were checking each other over. Jeremy perched on the edge of the coffee table, clenching and unclenching shaking hands. Geoff looked at Jack with terrified eyes and drew him into a hug. Jack felt the scales and armour covering his skin melt away at Geoff’s gentle touch.

“Okay,” said Jack. He cleared the lump from his throat. “We all need to talk about this.”

Nobody looked at Jack, but he knew they were all listening.

“We cannot ignore this any longer. Something is wrong with us. The horns and tail are one thing - this is something else,” he said. “These attacks - these sudden switches in behaviour are not right. We need to figure out what’s causing them and how to prevent them. This needs to be our priority. It’s happened to six of us now.”

Trevor frowned. “Six?”

“Yes. You two. Me. Michael. Ryan -”

“ He doesn’t count,” Jeremy snapped.

Jack held up his hands. “I admit, his situation was a little different, but it still might give us some clues as to what is happening here.”

“We are not talking about him,” Jeremy bit.

There was an awkward silence.

“Who’s the sixth?” Trevor asked.

Jack sighed and patted Geoff’s knee. “You.”

“Me? When did I go crazy?” Geoff looked confused.

Gavin’s eyes widened. “That’s right. When you got all weird and compelled me.”

“But… That doesn’t make sense. I didn’t get all angry like you guys did.”

“But it was still a complete one-eighty in behaviour. Something you would generally never do.”

“Was that really the same thing?”

Jack looked at Geoff. “When it happened, do you remember something urging you to do it?”

Geoff frowned. “Yeah. I remember that. I was scared and worried about us all. I wanted to just make things better. Like, really, really wanted. Something inside me pushed me to just do what I wanted.”

“But that’s it?” asked Michael.

“That’s it? What do you mean?” said Alfredo. “That’s what it felt like to me. I was just so panicked and scared and, I don’t know, my emotions feel all out of whack. I felt this overwhelming urge to just get everything under control. That’s why I grabbed Trevor.” His green eyes flicked sheepishly over to Trevor. Trevor smiled gently at his boyfriend.

Jack and Michael looked at each other.

“I used to get that,” said Jack. “It was just a feeling, and urge to escalate things. To fight or to overpower you guys. I put it down to stress. That night though, when I snapped…” Jack rubbed his forehead. “It was like there was another voice in my head. It’s hard to explain…”

“I heard the voice from day one,” said Michael. He was staring at his hands clasped tightly as there were several gasps around him. Michael just nodded.

“The day we did the AHWU. I recorded a Rage Quit that day. I left scorch marks on the desk. I swear I heard someone calling my name in the empty office. I thought I was sick and hallucinating. Now every time I get angry, it’s there, whispering in my ear, telling me to burn everything to the ground.”

“Voices? Really?” Gavin looked stricken.

Michael looked at Gavin. “You haven’t gotten anything like it?”

Gavin wracked his brain, but shook his head.

“Me neither,” said Jeremy.

“Nor I,” added Trevor. “But, I believe you guys.” He looked at Alfredo. “I don’t know if it was your voice I heard in your head just now.”

Everyone went quiet.

“So… what does this mean for us?”  Alfredo asked. He’d drawn in on himself, arms wrapped around his knees, brow furrowed. No one answered.

“Guys. What if this happens again? No, not if - what will we do when it happens again? Are you going to be around to stop us from doing god knows what? What is happening to us? Really? Are we actually possessed? Is there something else living in my head? What the fuck is going to happen to us?” Alfredo’s voice was high.

Michael bit his lip, his face pale. Geoff and Jack wouldn’t look up.

“Guys! Seriously! What are we supposed to do now?” Alfredo thumped a fist on the couch. “How do we fix this?”

“We don’t know! Okay?” Geoff shouted. His red eyes flashed as he glared at Alfredo.

“We have to do something. We need to do something!” yelled Alfredo.

“ We’re trying! ” Geoff blinked. He hadn’t noticed getting to his feet. Or when Jack had moved between him and Alfredo.

“First things first,” Jack said in a loud, stern voice. “No more going off at each other. Getting angry and violent, or any other kind of extreme emotion seems to set these… episodes off.”

Geoff forced himself to lower his hands and eyes. “Sorry,” he muttered.

Alfredo looked likewise shocked and cowed.

“As for what we’re going to do; we are going to go to the library. Well, Jeremy is,” said Jack.

“The library?” Jeremy asked, looking up.

Jack had enough dregs of sarcasm left to roll his eyes. “Yes. The library. You know, that place that has all the books. It’s where people would go to research things before we had the internet.”

Trevor, Jeremy and Gavin chuckled. A wry smile quirked at Michael’s lips.

Jeremy stared at the librarian.

“Come again?”

The librarian sighed and readjusted her glasses. “I said we had a break in. A lot of the books we had on that subject were stolen.”

“Stolen?”

“Yes. Stolen. Thieved. Pilfered. Looted.”

Jeremy waved a hand. “Okay, fine, I get it. Are there any left at all?”

The librarian shrugged. “I’ll show you what’s there.”

Jeremy followed her and she led him up a level. Jeremy paused to marvel at Austin’s gorgeous new library for a moment. The modern architecture was simply breathtaking. He hurried after the woman when she called him.

The shelf she led him to was a sorry sight. There was an enormous gap where two dozen or so books should have been. The librarian gave him an apologetic look.

“Sorry,” she said as Jeremy rubbed his head.

He gave her a wan smile. “No, it’s not your fault.”

“I guess so. Even still, I feel bad. I mean, who feels the need to steal a bunch of library books? Library cards are free after all. I hope there’s still something here to help you with your project. What did you say it was on again?”

“I - uh. Demons. And stuff,” said Jeremy.

The librarian gave him a skeptical look. Jeremy shrugged.

“Well, I don’t know much about it all yet. That’s what the books were supposed to be for,” he said, gesturing at the bare shelf. The librarian gave him a conceding nod.

“Maybe you should pick a different subject?”

“Bit hard at this point… Thanks for all your help anyway,” Jeremy said.

The librarian nodded again and turned to head back down to her post. When she was out of earshot, Jeremy couldn’t help but slam a fist down on the empty bookshelf. Sparks of purple electricity burst from the spot. Jeremy cursed and glanced around, making sure that no one had seen it. Fortunately the library was quiet at this hour. Jeremy couldn’t believe this. Another fucking dead end. Jack’s suggestion had given him a little spark of hope again, but that had of course been squashed almost immediately.

With a resigned sigh Jeremy started going through the rest of the books to either side of the empty spot. Most of them looked useless, but he thought it best not to leave empty handed.

“Was that all you got?” Jack asked as Jeremy dumped the pitifully small stack of books on the backseat.

“Yeah. Apparently someone broke in and stole a bunch of the others,” Jeremy said as he slipped into the passenger seat.

“What the hell? Didn’t they know you can get a library card for free?”

“That’s what the librarian said,” Jeremy said and rubbed his eyes.

Jack made an annoyed noise. “Probably some occult obsessed weirdo.”

“Sounds likely,” said Jeremy.

There were similar exclamations of disbelief when they got back to Jack and Geoff’s. The seven had been placated a little by Jack’s idea, but now that was as much a bust as everything else. Jeremy took the books to the table and put them with their other research. They were beginning to look like the crazy, cult-obsessed weirdos now with the amount of notes and scribblings and crossing-outs. Jack sat down and pulled the fist book towards him. Geoff joined him.

“Here, each of you take one too,” said Alfredo. He handed a book each to Michael, Gavin and Trevor, then took one for himself. He plonked himself on the couch and began to read. The others slowly followed suit. Michael sat on the floor so as not to singe the couch.

Half an hour later, Gavin tossed his book aside. “This is trash.”

Trevor sighed and put his down too. “Yeah. I agree. Mine is basically like crystal healing and that sort of garbage.”

“Mine’s not any better,” said Jeremy. He rubbed his head.

“Put them in the discard pile then,” said Jack, pointing at a spot on the table. “And grab a different one.”

Trevor got up and traded his book for a different one, followed by Alfredo. Jeremy and Gavin put their books in the useless pile, but there were no others for them to look through. The pickings had been that slim. They both retreated to the couch again. With nothing else to do Jeremy took out his phone and scrolled through social media absentmindedly. Gavin sat on the end of the couch next to Michael and tried to peer at the book he was reading.

“Any good?” he asked.

Michael shrugged. “There’s some stuff in here, but not much. It’s talking about like generic biblical angels and demons stuff. Nothing about like the ritual thing we did.”

Gavin looked thoughtful. “Huh. Do you think that there are angels then? I mean, we turned into demons, perhaps there are also angel-people out there with wings? Do you wonder if they can fly?”

Michael snorted.

“What?” Gavin asked in an offended tone. “It’s not so silly.”

“Yeah. I guess not. I just prefer not to think about that. If there are angels and we really are demons then… I dunno. That seems kinda bad,” Michael said.

“Ah. The denial approach,” Gavin said, nodding solemnly.

“Basically. So sue me,” Michael snapped.

Gavin just smiled. “Nah boi. I get it.”

Michael huffed and turned back to his reading.

“You okay, Michael?” Gavin had lowered his voice.

“I don’t know Gav. I don’t think any of us are. How are you so calm about this? Also, how come you don’t have the little evil voice in your head like us when you get mad or upset?” Michael muttered. He turned a page.

“I’m not sure Michael.” Gavin twiddled his claws and shrugged. He was silent for a few minutes. He pulled out his phone and fiddled with it. His tail twitched on the couch beside him. Michael rolled his eyes.

“If you’re so bored, why don’t you find something to do?”

Gavin’s white eyes flicked up so he was looking at Michael through his eyelashes.

“Because the thing that I want to do is currently busy, and it would be quite rude to interrupt him,” Gavin said.

Michael stared shrewdly at the lad, a spark of warmth curling in his gut, desperately trying to keep a grin from creeping onto his face. Gavin had no such qualms and smirked.

“Smooth motherfucker,” Michael whispered. “How can you even think about doing stuff like that at a time like this?”

Gavin shrugged those lean shoulders. “Can’t help it. You’re so pretty Michael.” One of Gavin’s white claws trailed rapidly down Michael’s horn. The curly-haired lad twitched, the hot feeling in his abdomen flaring up. Michael’s cheeks reddened and he looked away.

“I’m going for a nap,” Gavin announced to the room. He got up and headed down the hall, his long white tail swishing gracefully behind him. Michael had to resist the urge to watch him go. He heard the guest room door shut. He cursed internally. He was supposed to be helping research. This was important work. They needed to find a way to fix themselves. He forced himself to stay seated and read. Michael’s horn still tingled where Gavin had stroked it. He realised he’d read the same sentence again for the fifth time and had absolutely no idea what it said.

“Fuck,” he muttered. “Here, Jeremy. I gotta go to the bathroom.” He passed his book to the lad with the orange horns, grabbed the fire blanket from the couch and hurried down the hallway. He paused at the bathroom door and glanced back to check if anyone was watching. They were all engrossed in their reading, so he tiptoed to the guest room and slipped inside.

Gavin beamed at Michael from the bed. Michael grinned back, toed off his shoes and tossed the fire blanket onto the bed. He flopped down and drew the gangly lad into his arms.

“You’re a bad influence,” Michael muttered. He moaned as Gavin sniggered and pressed an enthusiastic kiss to his lips. Michael laid back without breaking the kiss, pulling Gavin to lay on top of him. He tightened his arms around Gavin, stroking his back. Gavin squeaked into Michael’s mouth as the Jersey lad ventured southwards and pinched Gavin’s ass.

“Micoo.” Gavin put on a shocked face.

Michael grinned wider. “Serves you right for dragging me in here.”

“I’ll get you for that,” Gavin said.

“Oh yeah-” Michael’s words were muffled as Gavin attacked his mouth again. The curly-haired man chuckled under the assault, but his laughter petered out as he was drawn into the kiss. Gavin’s tongue traced over his lips. Michael opened his mouth and Gavin delved inside. He licked and kissed and claimed Michael’s mouth. Michael couldn’t get enough. Gavin must have felt the same way, plastering his body to Michael’s, wriggling and moving so as to make sure every inch of their bodies were touching. The heat of Gavin’s form on his was bliss. That insistent, wonderful weight made the Jersey lad melt. Gavin moaned, loud and heady as Michael crushed his body closer, dark claws digging into Gavin’s ribs. Gavin’s delicious noises sent shudders through Michael and made his hips buck up involuntarily. The pair hissed as their hardened lengths bumped up against each other. Gavin pulled his face away a fraction. He grinned at the sight below him. Michael’s fiery eyes were wide. His cheeks were pink, his lips shiny and red and well-kissed. They were parted slightly, his breath coming in stuttered gasps. The fire that wreathed his horns squirrelled about erratically. Michael’s view was just as fantastic. Gavin’s golden brown hair was mussed beautifully. Pink also tinged his face, and his crystal eyes were blown wide. He gazed at Michael like he were about to devour him. A sly look came over the white horned demon. Michael was about to ask, but his brain short-circuited as Gavin ground his hips down onto Michael’s. His eyelids fluttered shut and as Gavin repeated the motion.

“Holy fuck, Gavin…” Michael could barely get the words out. Michael was not inexperienced in this area whatsoever. There was no way that simply making out and grinding on top of the covers should turn him on this much. There was just something about the fact that this was Gavin ; Gavin, who he’d worked with for years. Gavin, who was arguably his best friend. Gavin, who was clumsy and British and gawky and downright beautiful. The Gavin he’d fallen for rather abruptly and irrevocably.

The feeling of their clothed dicks grinding together sent sparks shooting up Michael’s spine. Gavin continued rut against his now gibbering boyfriend, that cheeky grin interrupted occasionally by a whispered moan, or the hissing of breath through teeth. He locked their mouths together again, drinking in the feel of Michael’s hands, his lips, his chest, his body. The lad under him swallowed the kisses like he was dying of thirst. Gavin’s kisses wandered across Michael’s freckles and down to the side of his neck. Michael jerked upwards again at the light scrape of Gavin’s teeth across the junction of his neck and shoulder.

“Oh, so it’s not just me who likes that, huh?” Gavin said in a teasing tone.

“Oh fuck you-” Michael broke off as Gavin dove back down, teeth dragging up the lad’s neck.

Gavin sniggered as he pressed more kisses and nibbles to Michael’s neck, revelling in the feeling of the Jersey lad squirming in pleasure beneath him.

Michael was in heaven as Gavin laved attention to his neck. After a short while though, it began to feel a little tender. Gavin’s teeth were rather sharp.

“Hey,” Michael muttered, tapping Gavin’s shoulder. The lad did not respond, except to bite again.

“Ow!” Michael jumped, pulling away. “Hey. Not so hard. You got some wicked sharp chompers in there Gav.”

Gav tensed and moved back. “Oh. I didn’t realise. Sorry.”

Michael grinned at him. “It’s okay. No harm done.”

Michael pulled him down again into a sloppy, open mouthed kiss. Gavin went supine again and put his all into the kiss. Michael sighed happily as he swept his tongue into Gavin’s mouth - only to frown and pull back again.

“Seriously Gav. Your teeth are like fuckin’ razors. Why have I not noticed before?”

Michael moved a hand up and lifted one of Gavin’s lips to examine his teeth. He barely registered the rather carnivorous dental work before Gavin quirked his head and his lips hid his teeth again.

Michael frowned. “What’s going on Gav?”

The lad didn’t meet Michael’s eyes.

“Your teeth weren’t like that earlier. I think I would have noticed with all the making out.”

Gavin fidgeted.

“Please don’t be mad,” Gavin said.

“Why would I be mad? What’s going on Gavin?” Michael’s mind was whirring.

Gavin sighed and reached up to pull one of his ears out to the side. Michael blinked at it. He didn’t know how he hadn’t seen it before. Gavin’s ears had grown slight points. The skin at the tips was turning very pale. His features were becoming more demonic, just like…

“Like Ryan,” Michael breathed. A cold feeling stole into his gut.

Gavin looked stricken. “I asked you not to be mad!”

It took Michael a few tries to speak again. “I’m not mad. Just - a little concerned.”

Gavin continued to fidget. “I’m not going to go psycho, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he said.

“Are you sure about that? Because this… You’re turning even more.”

“I’m fine Michael. I don’t feel any different,” Gavin said.

Michael continued to look worried. Gavin huffed.

“Look, I’m pretty sure this is normal. We’re all going to end up looking like Ryan. Our transformations aren’t complete yet, and this just proves it,” Gavin said with finality. He bent down to press sweet kisses against Michael’s lips. Michael barely responded. Gavin frowned now.

“Michael, come on. Seriously. I feel perfectly fine. I haven’t even had any of the… you know. The episodes like you guys.” Gavin ran gentle fingers over Michael’s chest. The Jersey lad shivered at the touch. His lips twisted to the side.

“You sure, Gavvers?”

“Michael. I am wonderful. You do not need to worry about me,” Gavin said, finality in his tone.

Michael looked at him, frowning. Gavin narrowed his eyes and drew Michael in for another kiss. His clawed fingers ran over the Jersey lad’s shoulders and Michael gasped as he suddenly found himself on top of Gavin. Gavin’s hands travelled even further down and Michael made pleased noises. Gavin grinned through the kiss.

“You’re trying to distract me,” Michael said after a few minutes, his voice muffled by Gavin’s lips.

“Is it working?” Gavin asked.

Michael chuckled. He pulled back and took in his new boyfriend before laying back down and nuzzling into Gavin’s neck. Gavin made happy noises and wrapped his arms around Michael, trapping him in a snug embrace.

“Sort of. I’m just… This whole thing is still overwhelming me…”

“What thing?” asked Gavin.

Michael sat up abruptly, a sour look on his face and pointed at his horns.

Gavin gave him a sympathetic look. “Sorry. Should have guessed.”

Michael sighed and traced a finger over Gavin’s collarbone. “It’s okay. Man, I wish I could be more like you. You took to your horns and powers like it was natural. Me? I just keep burning things.”

“But you figured out some control over it a few days ago? When you lit the curtains on fire?”

Michael shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “That was a fluke. Nothing more.”

“Michael. I’m sure that you can figure this out. You will be able to control it, like what I can do.”

Michael was silent. Gavin bit his lip.

“This is about the voice you can hear, isn’t it?” he asked quietly.

Michael clenched his fists.

“It’s just there . Any time I get angry, or upset, or… It creeps up. I would say that it gets in my head, but hell, it’s already there. I don’t understand this. I don’t know why it’s there. I just want it gone. I want to go back to being normal. I don’t want these powers. I - I’m scared…”

Gavin sat up and threw his arms around Michael again. The curly-haired lad was shaking. Steam wisped around his face as his tears evaporated in the flames. Gavin held Michael as he cried, soothing him and patting his back.

After a while, Michael drew back, wiping his face with the back of his hand. His eyes were red rimmed. Gavin looked terribly concerned.

“You gotta promise me that you won’t let me hurt anyone,” Michael muttered.

“You won’t-” Gavin said, but Michael cut him off.

“I’m serious Gav. Use your powers. Slow-mo me. Spray me down with a hose. Fuckin’ sit on me if you have to. I don’t want whatever is in me to hurt anyone…”

Gavin rested his forehead against Michael’s.

“I promise, boi.”

“Thanks boi.”

Jeremy pretended to read the book the Michael had passed him and look like he wasn’t watching as the Jersey lad snuck into the guest room with Gavin again. When the door was shut, Jeremy let out resentful grunt. Trevor and Alfredo looked at him curiously, but he ignored them and went back to his research. Jeremy had forced himself not to think about it, and there had been plenty of distractions in the past few days to keep him occupied. But now, as he read this stupid book on rather dubious-sounding spiritual cleansing procedures, the emotions and turmoil were finally able to rush in.

Ryan had basically tortured Jeremy. Subjecting him to his worst fear had been hell. And then he’d done it to most of Jeremy’s closest friends. Ryan was a monster. This made Jeremy’s continued crush on Ryan excruciatingly painful. Jeremy felt so guilty for continuing to harbour affection for the man who’d done such awful things to them all. At night he lay awake in the living room, listening to the whimpers and mutterings of his friends’ nightmares, afraid to fall asleep and face his own.

The cover of the book creaked in as Jeremy’s fingers tightened unconsciously. He couldn’t think of Ryan without picturing that terrible, icy grin on the man’s face as he pointed at Jeremy and sent him to that nightmare world. At the same time his heart ached with jealousy every time he saw the other couples being cute or affectionate, or helping and comforting each other. He had hoped that Ryan might be that for him one day. He’d been so elated and hopeful when they finally found and rescued him. But now it made Jeremy want to cry thinking about him. He wanted to rip his feelings out of his chest.

Jeremy took a shuddery breath. He would not break down. He felt like shit but the others didn’t need to know that. They had enough to deal with right now. So, Jeremy steeled his mind and forced himself to think about those hours he’d spent trapped at the top of the tower in the storm. He made himself remember the pain and the terror, and he told himself that Ryan had done that. Ryan had tortured him. Subjected him to hell. And that was unforgivable. No longer would Jeremy pine for that monster. He trembled, feeling ill to his stomach, but set his jaw and continued reading. He could only make himself pretend for a minute that it was working. Jeremy’s eyes watered, tears threatening to spill over. He just wanted Ryan back. He wanted Ryan back; normal, happy, smiling, not-evil Ryan. He’d thought him lost, and then found him, only to lose him again.

The mood in the house the next day was dismal. Jack and Geoff spent most of it cooking enough for the seven of them. Michael was sure that they were just trying to keep themselves busy. He himself had resorted to helping around the house, collecting laundry and figuring out how to use Jack and Geoff’s washing machine. Alfredo didn’t do much of anything. He appeared to have retreated inside himself and watched a lot of Netflix with the volume low. Jeremy went home twice a day to feed and look after his cats. When he returned to Jack and Geoff’s he had resolutely continued to read through the books he’d gathered from the library. Michael however could see the defeated look in Jeremy’s eyes. Eventually he made it through all the books, tossed them aside and joined Trevor and Gavin. The three slunk about the house looking twitchy and anxious, like animals that had been caged for too long. The seven Achievement Hunters barely spoke to each other. Gavin kept motioning to Michael, flicking a questioning finger at the guest room. Each time Michael would shake his head minutely. After breaking down in Gavin’s arms the day before, he didn’t feel much like being affectionate. Everyone was just waiting for something to happen. They had been expecting it, but it was still terrifying when someone snapped.

The seven of them sat at the kitchen table. Most had no real appetites and merely pushed their food around on their plates. Halfway through the meal, Michael caught Geoff glaring daggers at him. He looked at the older man with a confused expression. Geoff’s red eyes were cold.

“Eat your food,” Geoff muttered under his breath.

Michael jerked and looked back at his plate. His hand moved automatically to his fork and he began to shovel peas into his mouth. His stomach qualied at the sudden onslaught of so much food, but he couldn’t stop himself. He tore through his potatoes and finished off his meatloaf in a flash.

“Whoa, Michael. Didn't realise you were so hungry,” Jack said looking up.

Michael tried to make a panicked noise, but his face was full of meat and veg. His attempt caused him to accidentally spray bits of the food across the table. Michael jerked forwards, compelled to gather the little bits and force them back into his mouth.

“Michael! What the fuck!” Trevor sat opposite him, watching the lad’s strange actions with wide eyes. The others slowly took notice. Geoff continued to sit at the head of the table, glaring around darkly.

Michael struggled to speak, but it was impossible. His jaw mechanically chewed the food as his traitorous arms fed more in.

“Michael, dude, slow down, you’re going to choke,” said Alfredo. His face was twisted in concern. As soon as Alfredo uttered the words, Michael tried again to speak, and inhaled something. His body seized as the urge to cough was interrupted by his limbs force feeding him more vegetables. His mouth chewed and swallowed. He couldn’t breath. He wanted to scream. He tried desperately to drag in a breath, but felt his head go light. Blackness crept into his vision as he continued to eat. Michael dimly heard shouting as he slumped out of his seat, forkful of greens still on the way to his mouth.

Chapter Text

Michael awoke, coughing and spluttering. He sucked in a breath through a throat that felt like gravel. His ribs ached. He blinked watery eyes to find Gavin lying on the floor beside him, concern creasing his face.

“Michael’s awake you guys!” Gavin shouted.

Michael flinched at the loud noise. Someone pulled Michael up into a sitting position and looked into his face.

“Also, Michael, you’ve finished your food . You don’t have to eat anymore.”

Michael’s hands had been unconsciously scrabbling for something he couldn’t see. He relaxed and sighed.

“How long was I out?”

“Just a few minutes,” said Jack.

“It was Geoff,” Michael croaked. Jack looked sombre.

“We know,” he said. “When you passed out he started grinning like a maniac. Started saying something about what happens to those who don’t appreciate the gifts they’re given. He - or his demon - or whatever - didn’t seem to think people liked his cooking and got pissy.”

“Jesus fuck,” said Michael. He ran a hand through his hair. “Is that all it took to set him off this time? We’re fucked .”

Jack looked awkwardly at his hands.

“Sorry,” mumbled Michael.

“Had to give you the Heimlich,” said Jack after a moment. “Sorry if your ribs are sore for a while.”

“It’s okay. I’m fine. Main question, is Geoff?”

Jack’s mouth twisted to the side. “Not yet.”

Gavin helped Michael get to his unsteady feet and the three traipsed to the living room where Jeremy, Trevor and Alfredo had Geoff pinned onto the couch. Geoff had a strip a strip of cloth tied around his eyes and he was struggling to get free.

“ Ungrateful little shits… ” hissed Geoff. “ I should rule you all. Reduce you to mewling puppets. You have so much power yet you refuse to accept it. You squander it. You pathetic pussies… ”

He tossed his head from side to side, attempting to throw the blindfold off.

“You want me to slow mo him?” asked Gavin, raising a hand.

“Please,” said Trevor wearily.

“Okay, when I say go, jump back. I’m not sure, but I think if you’re touching him you might get hit too.”

The three nodded and when Gavin counted down they all leapt off the couch. Geoff did too but then was frozen with his hands halfway to his blindfold.

Alfredo looked nervously at Trevor. They gingerly clasped hands and their movements synced up.

“You guys okay?” Jack asked

“ We’re fine ,” they responded together. Together they furrowed their brows at the immobilized Geoff. After a few minutes, they let each other go. They nodded to Gavin and he flicked a finger at Geoff. The older man stumbled forwards.

“Whoa - huh - fuck…” Geoff steadied himself and pulled the blindfold off. Jack walked over and put his arms around the man’s suddenly trembling shoulders.

“Oh Michael. Fuck. I’m so sorry,” Geoff said, looking up at the smouldering lad.

“Geoff - it’s okay dude. We know why it’s happening. Just - just fix it.”

Geoff nodded. He had a hard time looking into Michael’s eyes, but when he finally did, he muttered for Michael to ignore his previous order. Michael nodded in thanks, tension dropping from his shoulders. Jack steered Geoff into the bedroom. Michael watched him go.

“He had it too,” said Trevor. “There’s a voice in Geoff’s head now too. We heard it. It might not have been there before, but it definitely is now.”

Michael squashed the bitter feeling in his chest down. “Fuck,” he muttered again.

Jeremy was roused from his fitful sleep by a muted thud. He shook off the cold fingers of his nightmare and tried to get his breathing under control. This one had been accompanied by a deep, pitiless chuckle from a source he could not see no matter how fast he’d tried to turn his head.

Jeremy’s sigh was more of a hiss as he sat up. It was pitch black. The only source of illumination was the tiny sparks that leapt from Jeremy’s skin. He rubbed his face, but froze at the soft sound from across the room. He squinted through the gloom.

“Jack? Geoff?” he whispered, careful not to wake the others sleeping around him. Jeremy frowned. Why would one of the gents be moving about in the darkness?

Jeremy narrowed his eyes and stood up quietly. He padded towards the kitchen area, ears straining for any unusual noises. After a few moments of nothing, he decided to grab a drink from the fridge. There was a flurry of sounds in front of him. Jeremy lunged. His fists met warm flesh and he grappled with the intruder. The man - the deep bass yelp indicated it was a man - tumbled over backwards. Jeremy pinned him to the floor and raised a fist. The man flinched, hands coming up to shield his face.

“Jeremy, please!”

Jeremy blinked. His roiling sparks and the wan moonlight from the nearby window illuminated the forward-curved horns.

“Ryan?”

Ryan lowered his arms. He peered up at Jeremy with his reflective eyes.

Jeremy face was flooded with warmth. He was practically straddling Ryan. The warm feelings were immediately chased away by cold fear. Jeremy forced himself to remember the torture they’d all gone through. Anger bled into his veins.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Jeremy snarled. He raised his fist higher.

Ryan flinched again.

“Jeremy. I know this will probably mean nothing to you, but I am so sorry. I am so fucking sorry.”

Jeremy growled and got up. He pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. He didn’t want to wake the others by turning on the kitchen light, and was surprised that Trevor, Alfredo and Michael hadn’t already woken up at the scuffle.

Ryan got up slowly, wincing at the light in his face. Jeremy’s eyes widened. Ryan looked simply awful. He had made some progress after getting back from the psych hospital, but that was all gone now. Ryan looked pallid and thin. Deep shadows gave his face a skull-like appearance. Jeremy shook his head and forced himself to look at Ryan’s eyes. Ryan was wringing his clawed hands and looking anywhere but at Jeremy.

“So, so fucking sorry… I - I don’t even know where to begin to apologise-” Ryan stammered.

Jeremy was taken aback by the grovelling. He forced himself to remember the cruel grin on Ryan’s face as he lifted a finger to send Jeremy into that hell world.

“Cut the crap Ryan. Why the fuck are you here? You obviously knew you weren't welcome anymore. Why else would you be creeping around in the dark?”

“I want to fix this. I want to help. If there’s anything I can do to undo my… Oh god, what I did.”

Ryan’s hands went to his face. Jeremy felt a twinge of pity creep in, but shoved it down. He pushed aside all those warm emotions and focused on the part of himself that got satisfaction from watching Ryan whimper. That righteous anger flared.

“Gavin never used to cry you know,” Jeremy hissed. “Remember he told us he was never affected by anything? Not sad movies, nothing. He wakes up crying now. He tries to hide it, but we’ve all seen his red eyes. I got panicked texts from Jack in the middle of the night asking if I was still alive. Geoff jumps at every noise. We all have night terrors and fits and - you have no idea what you did.”

Ryan was staring at him now, horror written across his face.

“I - I’m so sorry…”

“Yeah, well, sorry is not going to fix this!”

Ryan jumped as purple electricity arced around Jeremy; wrathful fingers that sought a victim.

“Why are you here?” Jeremy growled, trying to keep his voice low.

“I hoped that I could have the book. I don’t know if it will help, but maybe there are some answers in it. I - I just don’t know what else to do. Jeremy, I’m so fucking sorry-” Ryan broke off. His red eyes were filled with tears and his black tufted tail was quivering between his legs.

Jeremy stormed over to the kitchen table. It still held the remnants of their failed translations. He snatched up the Necronomicon and thrust it into Ryan’s grasp. The gent nearly dropped it his hands were shaking so badly.

“Thank you. Thank you Jeremy. I’ll try to figure this out. I’m so sorry. Please tell the others I-”

“Get. Out.”

Ryan barely recognised Jeremy’s voice. He quailed under the lad’s icy glare. Ryan stumbled backwards, then turned and scuttled to the door. It slipped shut behind him. Jeremy stared at it. The cold satisfaction suddenly drained away, leaving him feeling hollow and horrid. Jeremy had wanted so badly to be mad at Ryan for what he’d done to them, but the sight of him so remorseful forced Jeremy to realise Ryan’s actions had not been truly his own.

“Is this it? Is this what we’ve been reduced to? Is this how we’re going to live the rest of our lives?” Alfredo didn’t sound mad. He sounded tired. No one answered him. He sank further into the couch and watched as Trevor and Gavin played Xbox. It had been several days. Most of the Achievement Hunters had sunk into bouts of silent depression. Steffie had called half a dozen more times. They were running out of videos in the back catalogue.

Geoff turned to Alfredo to retort but stopped himself with a shudder. He took a deep breath and shut his eyes behind the mirrored aviators he’d taken to wearing around. They’d saved Alfredo from being compelled when the lad had been helping Geoff stack the dishwasher and accidentally dropped a knife on Geoff’s foot. The others’ fits were not so easy to contain. Michael burnt a whole load of laundry after getting pissed at nothing. They were still trying to clean CO2 powder out of the dryer. Jack had another attack and took out the back door before he could be stopped. Geoff got several nasty bruises that day and the door now hung crooked in its frame after they attempted to fix it. The house was awoken by Geoff and Jack’s screams one night as Alfredo and Trevor appeared on the ceiling of their bedroom hissing angrily. Jeremy had fly tackled Alfredo to the ground, leaving Trevor gasping and shaking on the roof.

“I can’t take much more of this either,” Trevor said, throwing down the Xbox controller. “I’m so fucking bored.”

Gavin sighed. “Yeah. Me too.”

Michael stared at Gavin. “Again, how can you guys say you’re bored at a time like this?”

Gavin rolled his eyes. “Well, yes, I can understand that we’re demons and this is a crisis and whatever, but we’ve just been sitting around doing nothing-”

“We’ve been trying to research!” said Michael.

“And we’ve gotten nowhere,” said Gavin.

Michael let a breath out through his nose. He told himself not to get angry. It was difficult. The rage was just there under the surface, waiting for any and all reasons to be set free. Gavin didn’t seem to notice Michael’s internal struggle. Instead the lad turned to watch as Jeremy picked up the controller and had a go at the level that Trevor had been unable to beat. Gavin’s fingers drummed on Michael’s knee.

“Gav, stop that please,” Michael muttered.

“Stop what?” Gavin asked innocently.

“Stop fucking playing with my knee,” Michael said. It was really, very hard to keep the anger down.

“Oh. Okay,” said Gavin. He moved his hand up Michael’s leg and started tapping on his thigh instead.

“Are you seriously trying to make fucking mad?” Michael asked through gritted teeth.

Gavin threw up his hands. “But I’m bored Michael!”

The lad’s antics drew the eyes of the others. Suddenly Michael had a lapful of Gavin. The Brit fluttered his eyelashes at Michael.

“Come on boi. Let’s go to the other room. I’m sure we can find something to do in there,” he said in a sultry voice. Michael sat rigid with shock.

“Uh, Gav. You know the others are looking, right?”

“So what if they are?” said Gavin. He was trailing a claw across Michael’s collar now.

“Well, you know. There was that whole thing about you not wanting the others to know yet. Not wanting them to worry and stuff.”

Even Jack and Geoff had noticed by now. Their jaws hung open slightly.

“Eh,” said Gavin.

“Oh,” said Michael. His face was rather red. Even though he’d had no qualms about everyone else knowing at the beginning, he’d grown accustomed to hiding their burgeoning relationship for now. Having Gavin suddenly thrust it out in the open for everyone to see was making Michael squirm uncomfortably. Gavin tugged on Michael’s shirt.

“So, you coming or what?”

“I - uh. Not right now Gavvers,” Michael said, his cheeks pink as he put a hand over Gavin’s.

Gavin huffed and got off him.

“Well, I’m going to go find something else to entertain myself then,” he said and headed towards the hallway.

Everyone continued to stare at Michael. The lad cleared his throat and straightened his shirt.

“So, uh. How long has that been going on?” asked Trevor, an eyebrow raised.

Michael felt his face grow hotter.

“About a week now,” said Jeremy without looking away from the TV screen.

Michael’s head snapped to the orange-horned lad. “You knew?”

Jeremy shrugged. “You’re not as subtle as you think.”

Michael looked at his lap. He started when he felt a soft pat on his shoulder. He looked up to see Jack. Michael could see the new stress lines that had been etched into the gent’s face, but Jack smiled despite them.

“Always knew you two had a thing for each other. It’s nice to see, especially in such a weird time,” he said softly.

Michael didn’t think his face could get any hotter. The anger had been diminished and embarrassment had taken its place.

“Sorry we didn’t tell you,” Michael muttered.

Jack just smiled again. “It’s fine Michael.”

The gent walked away. Michael took a deep breath turned to Trevor and Alfredo who were still side-eyeing him.

“What?” he asked, trying to play off his red cheeks.

The pair looked at each other. Trevor grinned.

“Michael’s getting some,” he said. “Nice.”

Michael rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help the smirk the played about his lips. “Shut the fuck up.”

There were a few minutes of silence, then Jeremy threw the controller down too.

“I’m bored of this dumb game too. It’s all we’ve been doing for the past few days. I’m going insane. I need to do something.”

“I hear ya,” said Trevor. “I could try to teach you how to walk on the ceiling again if you teach me to hide my horns?”

Jeremy sighed. “Why the fuck not.”

Michael and Alfredo watched in grim amusement for the rest of the afternoon as Jeremy tried and failed, but eventually did succeed in walking up the wall of Jack and Geoff’s living room. Trevor had a little luck in making his demonic appearance normal again - for about four minutes. As soon as Alfredo mentioned Trevor’s concentration face made him look constipated, the horns made their reappearance. Michael said nothing as he watched the pair get more and more confident with their supernatural abilities. He didn’t mention to anyone how when Jeremy grinned at him from the ceiling that the lad’s teeth looked too sharp, or how Trevor’s ears were growing pointed and black.

They continued to research frantically and fruitlessly. Jack and Jeremy took the useless books they’d borrowed back to the library and then spent all day scouring occult shops, only to find that most of those stores had been raided too. Jack nearly had a fit of anger in the car. Jeremy managed to keep his head and drove them back to the house.

Geoff grabbed Jack as soon as he walked in the door. He put his arms around his boyfriend and rubbed soothing circles on his back.

“I’ll be okay. We’ll find something,” Geoff murmured.

Jack relaxed slightly in Geoff’s arms. He rested his head gingerly on Geoff’s shoulder, taking care not to poke the older man with his rather spiky horns.

“I don’t know anymore Geoff,” he said softly. Jack’s tone was flat and lifeless.

Geoff felt his eyes sting and he tightened his arms around Jack.

“Don’t be like that. There will be something. Maybe we should go back to the original book. It might take some time to translate it on our own, but we’ve explored every other avenue we have.”

“Geoff… I don’t know…”

Geoff pulled back and stared into Jack’s black eyes. “What else are we going to do?”

Jack sighed. “Okay. We’ll have another look at the Necronomicon.”

Geoff took Jack’s hand and led him gently over to the kitchen table. They sorted through the piles of paper together.

“Did we leave it on this table?” asked Jack.

“I’m sure we did. Unless Jeremy accidentally grabbed it when you took those library books back,” said Geoff with a frown.

“That’d be just our luck,” Jack muttered.

“I grabbed what now?” asked Jeremy. He was looking over at them from the ceiling in the living room. Trevor and Gavin were also up there. Gavin had brought himself a pillow.

“Do you think you took the Necronomicon to the library with the other books we borrowed?” Jack asked.

Jeremy shook his head.

“Well fuck. Where could it be then?” said Geoff, throwing up his hands.

“No, I know where it is...” Jeremy said. He stopped staring at the TV and looked at his hands instead.

“Care to elaborate?” Geoff snapped. Jack put a calming hand on the man’s arm.

Jeremy sighed heavily. “...I gave it to Ryan.”

Michael and Alfredo looked over at his words. Jack looked distressed.

“Ryan was here?” Geoff’s voice was small.

Jeremy nodded, his mouth twisted to the side.

“You don’t think it might have been prudent to mention this earlier?” Geoff said. His voice grew in volume and cracked on the last word. Scales flowed over Jack’s hands where he was holding onto Geoff. Jeremy glared and dropped down onto the floor.

“Look. It was a few days ago. I didn’t mention it because - well, because I didn’t think anyone would want to know! It was way too soon after...”

No one said anything at this. Jack looked at the floor. Jeremy huffed and folded his arms.

“Well fuck,” Geoff muttered. “What do we do now? That maniac has the book! We’ve exhausted all our other options!

“I mean, we could always go ask for it back,” Jeremy said.

“No. No way are we going to ask that… that monster for anything,” snarled Geoff. “Have you completely forgotten what he did?”

Jeremy narrowed his eyes at Geoff. “As if I could.”

Geoff’s tail twitched. Jeremy forced himself to calm down.

“Look, all I’m saying was that when he was here, he was normal. He kept apologising over and over... I’m telling you that what happened back then was like what’s been happening to all of you. He came to get the book because he wanted to help fix what he’d done.”

“Then why hasn’t he tried to contact us, or call at all?” Gavin asked, his tone bitter.

Jeremy glared up at him. “Would you have answered?”

Gavin just picked at his claws, a sour look on his face.

“Do you think he’s made any headway then?” Alfredo’s voice was small. Jeremy glanced over to see the lad’s dull eyes looking brighter than they had in days.

“I don’t know, but I think I’m going to go over there and see,” said Jeremy.

Geoff rounded on Jeremy.

“The fuck you are,” he snarled.

Jeremy bristled. He stared at his reflection in Geoff’s sunglasses.

“Look. It’s as hard for me to think about seeing him again as it is for you. What he did was awful. But he has the book. It’s likely he’s made progress with a translation. We have no other leads ,” he ground out.

Geoff’s tail lashed. Jack’s armoured hand was still on his shoulder. After a few moments Geoff’s shoulders sagged.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “It’s just… I’m worried that it might happen again.”

A spike of fear shot through Jeremy. “I know. I’ve considered the possibility.”

“I’ll come with,” Alfredo said and got up. “To make sure he behaves.”

“No you will not,” snapped Trevor. He got to his feet too.

Alfredo glared at him. “Listen to Jeremy, Trev. Ryan my be our last hope in all of this. Nothing else has worked. That book got us into this stupid mess - it’ll get us out.”

“ If he doesn’t take one look at us and send us into some freaky ass hell dimension where we have to face our worst fears for all of eternity?”

“We’ll be prepared for him this time,” Alfredo said. He made a show of squaring his shoulders and looking his boyfriend in the eye, but his chin wobbled. Trevor came over and put is hands on Alfredo’s shoulders, pressing their foreheads together.

“We’re just worried,” they said in unison. “We know.”

Jeremy grabbed his keys and headed towards the door, the two antlered demons following him. Gavin sneered at them as they passed. Michael watched from the couch, a mix of emotions flitting across his face. Jeremy felt a hand on his shoulder.

“I wish I could come to help,” Jack said. Jeremy looked up at him. Jack avoided his gaze. “It’s just, the anger fits are so unpredictable and we don’t know if he…”

Jeremy patted Jack’s hand. “I understand buddy.”

Jack nodded and sniffled. Geoff took his other hand and towed him away.

Jeremy looked back at the door and steeled himself. He just hoped they’d catch Ryan in a ‘good mood’.

It was going on dusk when they pulled up to Ryan’s house. Jeremy had been dreading finding him gone again, but the lights on seemed to indicate that someone was at home. The three got out after checking that there were no other cars coming down the street and no nosy neighbors or children were out in their front yards. They hurried from the car into the safety of Ryan’s slightly overgrown garden. Jeremy noted absentmindedly that Ryan needed to cut his grass. An image of a sweaty, shirtless Ryan out in the sun, mowing the lawn suddenly popped into Jeremy’s head. He pushed it away in shock. He should not be dwelling on such thoughts as they crept up to the front door of Ryan’s house, with no idea what lay on the other side.

“You okay Jeremy?” whispered Alfredo.

“What? Yeah, why?”

“Your face is red…”

“It’s nothing. Just, come on…” Jeremy muttered.

The three of them crept up onto the porch. They moved as quietly as possible on the aged wood.

“He’s probably waiting for us in there. Just ready to ambush us...” Trevor whispered.

“Shut up. We don’t know that,” hissed Jeremy, but the other lad’s words sent chills down his spine. He swallowed hard and clenched his fists. They crept the last few feet to the door. Jeremy pulled out the spare key he’d snagged from Ryan’s key-ring before he’d given it back to him. So sue him. They were freaky-ass demons. He’d wanted a way to get in and check on the gent if anything were to happen. Jeremy reached for the keyhole. The sudden blaring of a ringtone made them all jump. Jeremy growled and whipped out his new phone and answered, silencing the Linkin Park tune.

“What?” he snapped.

“Jeremy - you guys have got to hurry back - like right now.” It was Geoff. He sounded panicky.

“What? What’s happened?”

“Jack got kind of upset when you guys left. He was all worried and then - he’s shredded half the couch. Gavin’s got him pinned for now, but I don’t know how long that will last,” Geoff said. Jeremy could almost hear him pulling out his hair.

“Fuck. Alright. We’re here already though. We’ll try and get the book as quick as we can. We’ll be back soon. Tell Gav to hold on,” Jeremy said.

There was a rush of static as Geoff let out an shaky sigh. “Okay. Just - please get back soon.”

Jeremy hung up and turned to Trevor and Alfredo who had been watching and shifting anxiously from foot to foot.

“Jack’s gone all Hulk-smash again. We’ve gotta get whatever Ryan has so far and get back pronto,” he said. The two nodded grimly.

Jeremy steeled himself and slid the key into the lock. It turned smoothly and he pushed the door open. The three moved quietly into the entrance hall and then into the living room. It was eerily similar to when they’d come looking for Ryan the first time. Not a thing was out of place. The house was brightly lit and surprisingly normal-looking.

“This doesn’t feel right,” Alfredo whispered.

“I know what you mean,” Jeremy whispered back.

Someone cleared their throat. The three whipped around to find Ryan standing in the hallway to the bedrooms. He was thin and pale still, but didn’t look as terrible as Jeremy remembered that night. Staring at him, Jeremy felt again that sickening mix of fear, anger, and longing.

“Hi guys,” Ryan said. His voice was croaky.

Jeremy glanced at Alfredo and Trevor. They were both glaring shrewdly at the man and looked ready to leap into action should he try anything.

“Hi Ryan,” Jeremy replied warily.

Ryan’s eyes flicked up to meet his for an instant, then he looked back at his feet again.

“I - um - what are you doing here?” he asked.

“We, uh,” Jeremy cleared his throat too. There was a lump in it. “We came to see if you had made any progress with the Necronomicon.”

Ryan glanced up at them again. “I have. The translation is mostly complete.”

Alfredo dropped his hands, the hopeful look back on his face.

“And? What did you find?”

Ryan ran a hand through his hair. It was at that moment that Jeremy noticed. He blinked.

“Ryan! Your horns! Your tail!”

“Holy fuck. You learned to hide them too?” said Trevor.

Ryan looked at the floor again. “I - uh -”

“Never mind that. That’s great Ryan. But the Necronomicon? Did you find the ritual-thing that turned us all into hell-spawn? Did you figure out a way to change us back?” said Alfredo.

Ryan glanced furtively from Alfredo to Jeremy and back. “I - I’m not sure. There are some rituals that might match? But I still need to r-research…”

Alfredo’s face fell. “But you’re close right?”

Ryan took a breath and gave a short nod. He looked up at them all again.

“Listen. I just… I just want to apologise again.”

Alfredo’s and Trevor’s eyes grew hard. Jeremy’s brow furrowed. Ryan saw their expressions and sighed.

“It’s okay. I don’t expect you guys to forgive me or anything. I just need you to know how sorry I am for what happened. I - I don’t know… I don’t understand… but I remember… and I’m just so fucking sorry.” Ryan shuddered.

Alfredo and Trevor traded begrudging looks. Jeremy felt his anger soften.

Jeremy’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and cursed.

“That Geoff again?” asked Trevor.

Jeremy nodded. “We have to get back there. He says that Gavin’s powers are weakening the more he has to use them. He can’t hold Jack forever.”

Jeremy looked at Ryan. The gent appeared alarmed at his words.

“What’s happened to Jack?” he asked.

“Another - well, we’re calling them fits. Jack, Geoff, Michael and this pair have been having lapses into what can only be described as demonic fits. Insane mutterings, destruction, attempts to injure everyone,” Jeremy said.

“They have?” Ryan’s voice was weak.

“Yes. I told you this when you snuck in to grab the book,” Jeremy growled. He immediately regretted his tone when Ryan flinched.

“Sorry,” Jeremy muttered.

Ryan flapped a hand. “No. No, it’s okay. You don’t have to apologise.”

There was an awkward silence. Ryan wrung his hands and stared at his feet. Jeremy’s tail twitched.

“Uh, so are we heading back now?” asked Trevor.

“I guess,” said Alfredo. “But you haven’t finished the translation yet…?” He gestured questioningly to Ryan.

The gent opened his mouth, then shut it. He rubbed his neck. After a moment he spoke. “I might have something to help Jack and the others though.”

“What? Really?” asked Trevor.

Ryan nodded. “A sort of… preventative measure.”

“Why didn’t you say so!” said Alfredo, clapping his hands.

Jeremy’s phone buzzed again. “Fuck. We really gotta get back right now.”

Ryan held up a finger. “Let me grab the notes I’ve made for you.” He shuffled into the first room to the right in the hallway. They heard the rustling of papers and Ryan came back with stack of pages torn out of a notebook and the Necronomicon itself.

“Here. If you just follow the instructions, you should be able to figure it out…” he said, holding the papers out. Jeremy was distracted by another text from Geoff.

“Fuck. No, we don’t have time to learn this. Ryan, you’d better come with us,” Jeremy said.

Ryan blanched. “What? No - I can’t - I’m sorry-”

“Ryan, if you’re worried about how everyone’s going to react to you being there again, just - it doesn’t matter right now. We have to go help Jack,” Jeremy said.

Trevor dashed to the door and held it open.

“Come on,” said Alfredo, beckoning Ryan.

“No, you guys don’t understand - I can’t-”

“Seriously Ryan. We have to go now .” Jeremy said. He grabbed the gent’s arm and towed him towards the door.

“No, Jeremy wait, I can’t go out th- gurk -” Ryan’s words were cut off with a strangled sound.

Ryan’s arm was jerked out of Jeremy’s grip. The lad turned around and yelped in horror. Alfredo and Trevor echoed his shock as they took in the suddenly altered scene in front of them.

The very normal, nicely-lit living room was gone, replaced by a ravaged, dirtied scene. Every piece of furniture was in a terrible state. There were deep gouges and claw marks in the drywall. Lamps flickered, or were out altogether. The floor was scattered with torn paper, smeared with dirt, grime, and deep red stains. Jeremy’s blood ran cold as he eyes fell upon Ryan.

The gent’s horns were back again, and appeared to be longer than when he’d first grown them. Dark red skin had crept halfway up Ryan’s arms. The man was rake thin, his dark blonde hair dirty and stringy. There were stained bandages on his arms and one around his torso. The black veins around his eyes were only highlighted by his pallid complexion. Ryan trembled under Jeremy’s gaze and averted his reflective animal eyes. The motion made a soft chinking noise, and Jeremy saw the thick metal collar at Ryan’s neck and the taught chain that hung down his back and trailed into the study.

“Ryan?” Jeremy’s voice was feeble.

Chapter Text

Ryan trembled under Jeremy’s gaze and averted his reflective animal eyes. The motion made a soft chinking noise, and Jeremy saw the thick metal collar at Ryan’s neck and the taught chain that hung down his back and trailed into the study.

“Ryan?” Jeremy’s voice was feeble.

Ryan gave a dry cough. “I can’t go. I um…” The chain rattled again.

Alfredo’s eyes were wide. “Ryan? Was this all you?”

Trevor was standing in the doorway, looking ready to flee the scene of devastation.

Ryan picked at the collar with a claw. “Um. Yes. I did this. The… the voice in my head… It doesn’t like to be contained.”

“You’ve been having fits too,” Jeremy breathed. Despite the shock, Jeremy was suddenly relieved. He’d been right. Ryan was having the same problems as the rest of the guys. Trevor and Alfredo seemed to come to the same conclusion too. Jeremy saw them both relax a fraction.

“Fits? Like Jack and you guys?”

“Yeah. You get angry, or pissed, or just too scared or something, and then suddenly the voice is there, suggesting you burn the world down,” said Alfredo.

“You have it too?” Ryan’s eyes were wide now.

“I didn’t used to… The last few times though, it was there, hissing in my brain…” Alfredo ran his fingers through his hair. Trevor patted him on the shoulder.

“This is all beside the point anyway. What the fuck happened here? Why did it all look clean and nice when we came in? Now it looks like this place has gone through a bloody apocalypse,” Trevor said.

Ryan looked sheepish. “That’s also me. I’ve had some time to work on my powers.”

Everyone suddenly tensed at the mention of Ryan’s powers. Purple lightning rolled off Jeremy’ horns and leapt to the nearest metal object with a sharp crack. Ryan looked alarmed.

“Oh no! Nothing bad! I haven’t hurt anyone. I promise.”

“Elaborate then,” said Trevor through gritted teeth.

“They’re, uh, kind of difficult to explain. I didn’t understand them for the longest time. That was until one of my neighbours called the cops. Apparently I had been making a lot of noise while…” Ryan looked uncomfortable. “Anyway, they arrived and were knocking on the door. I panicked. There was blood and broken shit everywhere. I was trying to clean up when they just opened the door and came in. I was standing right in the middle of them. It was like they didn’t even see me. In fact they didn’t seem to see anything out of the ordinary. They looked around, shrugged at each other and then left. It took me a little while to figure it out, but apparently I can control perception of reality.”

There was a moment of silence as the tree tried to process this.

“...huh?” said Alfredo.

Ryan scrunched up his face. “Basically I can control what people see, or don’t see.”

“So, when the cops walked in, they saw a normal sitting room. When we walked in, we just saw a normal looking house,” Jeremy said.

Ryan fiddled with the collar again. “Yeah… I didn’t know it was you guys… sorry…”

“And the collar?”

“That’s the preventative measure I was talking about,” Ryan said. He lifted his chin and the three could now see several glyphs and runes scratched into the metal.

“Fuck Ryan…” breathed Jeremy.

“The runes ward off demonic tampering. It stops me from leaving the house and causing havoc,” Ryan said.

Jeremy looked at Trevor and Alfredo. “Well. I mean I guess that will help. If we get some more chains and stuff, we can make collars for the others ‘til we find a more permanent solution to this problem.”

“It’s a plan,” said Alfredo. His hand went to his neck and he looked a little pale.

“Is there any way we can take the collar off you, Ryan? You still have to come with us and help us to make more of them,” Jeremy said.

Ryan shook his head. “I can’t take the collar off. Nor can you guys.”

“Well fuck,” said Jeremy.

“I did think of a failsafe though. You can’t remove the collar, but I haven’t put runes on the chain yet. There’s a pair of bolt cutters in my shed.”

Jeremy’s phone buzzed again and he swallowed anxiously.

“Okay, I’ll grab the bolt cutters and let’s get out of here,” he said.

It took them a few minutes to locate the tool in Ryan’s gloomy back shed, but then the strong jaws bit through a link of chain. The gent gathered up all of his research and the four of them headed towards the car.

Alfredo couldn’t help but snigger at the sight of Jeremy and Ryan.

“Guess we know who holds your leash then, huh Ryan?” he said to the gent.

Ryan looked perplexed, but Jeremy, who was carrying the length of chain attached to Ryan’s metal collar, turned bright red again.

“Shut up and get in the car Alfredo!” the lightning demon growled.

When they’d arrived back at Jack and Geoff’s house, Alfredo and Trevor had dashed inside just in time to prevent Jack from annihilating the back porch. The gent was now sleeping off the exhaustion. Gavin too had collapsed. He lay on the partially destroyed couch, looking rather wan. The extended use of his powers had taken its toll. Michael hovered around him.

Jeremy made his way into the house. His palms felt suddenly sweaty against the chain in his hands. He cleared his throat.

“Uh, guys. I just wanna let you know that… Well, just don’t freak out okay?”

Jeremy stepped into the living room and Ryan shuffled into the house after him.

“Freak out at what?” asked Michael.

Ryan’s arms were around the books and notes and he wouldn't look up.

“Jeremy, what’s with the chain, Jeremy?” asked Gavin, propping himself up on his elbows.

Jeremy looked confused. He gestured to Ryan. “It’s… he…” He looked to Alfredo and Trevor who both seemed befuddled too. A thought occurred to Jeremy. He turned back to Ryan with a hard glare.

“You’re going to have to face them sooner or later.”

“What’s he talking about?” asked Geoff. He emerged from the hallway, having just gone to check on Jack.

Ryan looked miserable. “I - I can’t Jeremy…”

“Seriously Jeremy, what’s with the chain?” asked Michael.

Alfredo and Trevor caught on too. “Dude. They’re just gonna be more pissed the longer you hide,” said Alfredo.

“He’s right,” said Jeremy.

Ryan sighed and looked around at the other Achievement Hunters. They knew the instant the illusion dropped when Geoff and Gavin shrieked in terror and Michael growled, his flames flaring around his head.

“Whoa! Whoa!” Jeremy yelled, jumping in front of the advancing inferno demon. “I told you not to freak out!”

“What the fuck is he doing here?” Michael snarled.

“He agreed to come and help us! He has actually made some headway with the Necronomicon. We have a method of keeping us locked down now. It’s not permanent, but it will stop us from getting out and causing damage.”

Geoff recovered from his shock and began yelling too. “Jeremy! What the fuck! I didn’t want you going over there and you brought him back? I want that monster out of my house now .”

Ryan shrank in on himself.

Jeremy bristled. “Geoff. What he did was inexcusable, I know. I was there. But he’s in the same boat as us. He’s been having fits too. And he’s been having to deal with them alone .”

Geoff’s tail lashed. Jeremy knew that those red eyes were fixed on Ryan behind the mirrored glasses.

“ Traitorous slime. That he would have the spine to do what he did …” Geoff hissed. His claws began to move to his face. Jeremy leapt in front of Ryan.

“Alfreyco!” yelled Michael.

The psuedo-twins clasped hands and stared grimly at the back of Geoff’s head. Geoff yelped and stumbled. He whipped around and pointed at the pair.

“What was that for?” he screeched.

Geoff received an eye roll to the power of eight. Geoff swore and turned back to Ryan. He drew in a deep breath, attempting to calm himself.

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuckin’ fine. But let it be known that I am not happy about this,” he snapped.

“I think that’s pretty clear,” muttered Jeremy.

Geoff glowered at them all and stumped back to the master bedroom. The door slammed.

The living room was silent bar for the crackling of Michael’s flames. Those fiery eyes had not left Ryan. The older man peeked up at him and flinched at the sight.

“Michael - I’m so goddamn sorry…” he muttered.

Michael’s lip curled in a snarl. “I’m not the one you should be apologising to, asshole. I don’t know how Jeremy got over it so quick, but you fucking terrorized Jack and Gavin.”

“I know, I know. And I’m sorry for that too. I’m so sorry Gav,” Ryan said, his morose eyes flickering over to the lad. Gavin sat up and twiddled his claws in his lap. He didn’t say anything. Ryan sighed.

“I told the others too - I don’t expect you guys to forgive me any time soon. Or, you know, ever. I just… I want to help.” Ryan made a small motion towards Gavin. The lad shrank back and Michael was there, standing between them and snarling. Ryan looked at the ground and shuffled away.

“C’mon Gavvers,” Michael said. Gavin took the proffered hand and Michael led him to the guest bedroom.

“Hey.”

Ryan jumped at the voice. He turned to see Jeremy standing just inside the back porch door with a plate and a glass. Ryan felt a wave of guilt and nausea at the tiny flicker of fear that flitted across Jeremy’s face when their eyes met. Ryan quickly averted his gaze.

“Hey,” he rasped.

Jeremy pushed the screen door open and stepped out onto the porch. Ryan had insisted on being out here rather than with the others in the house. He knew they wouldn’t want them anywhere near them. And it was probably safer if he was out here anyway. They’d reattached his chain to one of the pillars of the porch. It was still long enough that he could get to the spare bathroom just inside the hallway. He’d made a makeshift bed out of the blanket and pillows that Jeremy had brought him after refusing one of the air matresses.

Jeremy sat down beside Ryan and offered him the plate. Ryan gave him a nervous glance.

“Dude, you’re skin and bones. How are you not starving?” Jeremy said.

Ryan’s mouth twisted to the side. It was true he’d been hungry for a while. There had just seemed to be other more important things to do… He took the plate.

“I also got you a Diet Coke,” Jeremy said and set the glass down.

Ryan made a small moaning noise, grabbed it and took a swig. Jeremy couldn’t help but laugh.

Ryan frowned and lowered the glass.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked.

The smile faded from Jeremy’s face.

“Doing what?”

Ryan put the glass down a little harder than he meant. “Why are you pretending to be nice to me?”

“Ryan, I’m not pretending anything-”

“Don’t! Just… don’t. I hurt you. I tortured you. I see it in your eyes when you look at me. You don’t have to fake it. I deserve everything they’re saying-” Ryan waved a hand in the direction of the house, “-and more. So, thank you for the food. But you can go now. I’m here to help make up for what I’ve done. You don’t have to do this…” Ryan stared at the plate on his knees. He expected Jeremy to get up and go back inside, but the lad just continued to sit there.

“I was scared. For a while there I was scared and angry. I tried to be so angry at you. But that night you came to get the book and I saw how scared you looked - I couldn’t be mad at you.”

Ryan’s shoulders hunched. “You should be though. What I did-”

“You were under the influence of Geoff’s compulsion. You’d just turned. Hell, it’s not like Jack, Geoff, Alfredo and Michael don’t try and kill me every other day when they go all demon-tastic. We’re all a bit fucked up right now.”

Ryan bit his lip.

“Look. I know they’re probably going to hate you for a while. But they need you. You’re the only one with the know-how to translate the Necronomicon. They can gripe and moan and swear at you as much as they want, but they need you to fix them. I’m sure that’ll also go a long way to getting back into their good books.”

Ryan nodded slowly. He fiddled with a piece of lettuce that had fallen out onto his plate.

“You didn’t torture the sandwich, Ryan. You’re allowed to eat it.”

This drew a snort of amusement from the gent. He looked up to see Jeremy grinning.

“Thanks,” said Ryan. “Thank you. Thank you for coming to get me. Thank you for standing up for me. Thank you-”

“Dude. It’s okay. Just eat, before you phase out of existence entirely. I think you might be skinnier than Gavin,” said Jeremy.

Ryan picked up the sandwich and crammed it into his mouth. It was gone in seconds. He wiped crumbs from his mouth and reached for his drink again.

“So, uh, how’s work then?” he asked after taking a gulp.

Jeremy looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

“What?” asked Ryan.

“Dude. We haven’t been into work since this happened,” said Jeremy.

Ryan stared at him. “But… Your horns. They’re not visible. Why haven’t you guys been at work? How has the internet not freaked out by now?”

“Oh, trust me, it has. Steffie is nearly in a coma from worry. Everyone still thinks we’re too sick to work. None of us have been in because not all of us can hide the demon bits.” Jeremy frowned and Ryan jumped as the blade-like horns materialised either side of Jeremy’s temples. His long tail flicked.

“They can’t?”

“No. I’ve pretty much got it down, and Trevor and Gavin have got the hang of it now, but the others…” He sighed and wrung his hands. “They just seem unable to accept their change enough to do it.”

“I… I didn’t realise,” Ryan said slowly.

“Yeah… it’s pretty dire. Something’s gotta happen, one way or another. We can’t all keep cooped up in here forever.”

“Wait - you’ve all been living here?”

“What else are we supposed to do? The others keep having fits. If we’re not on hand to deal with them, who knows what kind of damage they’ll do?”

Ryan ran a hand through his hair. “I… fuck. I had no idea. I didn’t think the situation had gotten this bad. I’m so sorry.”

Jeremy waved a hand. “It’s not your fault dude. How could you have known?”

Ryan suddenly felt cold. “...what if it was me? Did I cause the guys to start having fits?” He didn’t realise that he was shaking till Jeremy put a hand on his arm.

“Ryan. That wasn’t you. Neither Gavin nor I have experienced the fits yet.”

Ryan hung his head. He looked relieved but still guilty.

“Well, we shouldn’t waste any more time then. We’d best get started.”

“What can I do to help?”

Jeremy’s hand was warm where it was still on Ryan’s arm. The gent smiled a little.

“We’ll have to start making shackles for you guys. For that, we’ll need some more supplies. Do you know of anywhere that sells chains and metal at this hour?”

Jeremy pursed his lips. “I’m sure I can find one that’s still open.”

“Excellent. I can get to work on some new cuffs in then.”

“Sounds like a plan. Why don’t you make a list of things you need and I’ll head out and grab them.”

“I will. And Jeremy -” Ryan put his hand tentatively over the lad’s. “Thank you. Again.”

Jeremy stiffened, a strange look passing over his face. After a second, he broke into a smile.

“No problem,” he said. He picked up Ryan’s plate and cup and headed back inside.

Ryan watched him go. When he was out of sight, Ryan’s shoulders sagged. Despite the lad’s kind words, he was still unconvinced that Jeremy didn’t hate him. He should hate Ryan. They all should. Ryan shook his head. He could wallow in his guilt more later. Right now he had to get to work on helping those he’d hurt. He pulled his notes towards him and began writing the list for Jeremy.

Jeremy walked back inside to chaos.

“Gavin! Put it down right now!” bellowed Geoff.

“But Ge-off! I’m so bored,” whined Gavin.

“I don't care! Put it down right now. If you drop that all over my nice hardwood floors, I’m going to be so pissed!”

“But Geoff, I’ll catch it, Geoff,” Gavin said, holding out a large bowl. Michael was looking exasperated. Alfredo hovered nearby nervously while Trevor just watched and chortled. Gavin had evidently taken to amusing himself by tossing a large bucket of water about the room in slow-motion.

“I just - I feel like I haven’t gotten an ounce of peace and quiet these last few weeks. Please Gavin,” Geoff ground out.

“I’m not making any noise though,” Gavin said with a smirk. He scurried over to the admittedly mesmerising floating blob of water and placed his bowl in front, ready to receive it.

“Gavin…” muttered Geoff, wagging a finger.

“Geoff, watch! It’s really cool,” Gavin said. His white eyes were bright and he waved a hand. The water began moving normally, pouring from the air into the bowl and slopping out over the sides. The force of the impact sent Gavin stumbling and he slipped in the sudden puddle, throwing the bowl high in the air. It came splattering down onto Michael who hissed in shock and pain.

“ Gavin!” Geoff and Michael roared his name at the same time.

Gavin sat up, looking a little dazed. “Oh. Haha, oops.”

Geoff’s tail whipped back and forth as he advanced on Gavin and steam was literally coming out of Michael’s ears now. Trevor was wheezing with laughter, but Alfredo had hidden behind the partially collapsed sofa. Michael stormed off, presumably to get a towel. Jeremy hurried forwards and placed himself between Geoff and Gavin.

“Okay! Okay! No need to be getting too upset about this now!”

Geoff stopped and stared at him, fists clenched at his sides. “Jeremy, I am going to flip if I have to deal with this any longer. These absolute infants are driving me insane.” Geoff whipped around to glare at Trevor though his mirrored glasses. “What are you laughing at!”

Trevor straightened and tried to smother his giggles unsuccessfully. Geoff sighed, a pained expression on his face as a hand went to his forehead.

“Look. I have some errands to run. Why don’t I take Ants-In-His-Pants and Sir Chucklehead here for a drive. I’ll get them out of the house for a while. Maybe that’ll give you some air,” said Jeremy.

Geoff looked sharply up at him. “The three of you out in public?”

Gavin leapt to his feet. “Ooh! Can I come for a ride? Please Jeremy! Look! I can hide my horns really well now!” Gavin stuck his tongue out a little and an expression of intense concentration passed over his face, but sure enough, the lengthy white horns disappeared. He blinked green eyes at them.

“Hell yeah, I’ll come too,” said Trevor. He shuddered, but his crown of antlers disappeared too, the eerie green glow fading from around him.

“Fuck no,” growled Geoff.

Trevor looked sour and Gavin pouted.

“You can’t keep us in here forever,” Trevor said.

“The hell I can. It’s not safe out there for us right now! Sure, the news reports have died down, but if you guys are seen…”

Trevor rolled his eyes and made a disgusted noise.

“Look Geoff. I know that you’re worried. If they can’t handle themselves, I’ll lock them in the car. I just… Your house really isn’t built to hold eight people. I need a breather too,” said Jeremy.

Geoff looked at the lad. “You promise you’ll look after them?”

“They’ll be fine Geoff. Go keep an eye on Jack.”

“Fine. Get out of my sight. But you guys had better not be recognised or… Or I don’t know what will happen…” Geoff slumped, weariness in every word.

Jeremy patted his shoulder. “It’s okay Geoff. I’ll wear them out so they’re not as annoying. It’ll be like taking a toddler for a walk. Or a dog!”

“Oi!” Gavin’s tone was indignant.

Geoff cracked a smile.

Jeremy fetched his keys and the three headed out. Geoff watched them go. His chest ached with worry, but as soon as the door shut behind them, it felt like he had room to breathe. He turned to see Michael come back out of the bathroom. The lad looked distinctly upset.

“You okay?”

Michael looked up at him and blinked. “Yeah. I’m good.”

“You look… troubled.”

“Ah - it’s nothing.”

“Gav didn’t hurt you with the water did he? I know it stings like a bitch when I accidentally dunk my head under the shower stream. I just forget it’s there, you know?” Geoff prodded the ball of blue flame above his head with a claw. It bobbed about like it was on a spring.

“Yeah - no, I’m fine. I just… Gav… Nah. It’s nothing. Don’t worry.”

“If you’re sure,” Geoff shrugged. He then frowned at Michael. “...by the way - how do you shower?”

Michael snorted. “I do the hokey pokey.”

Geoff pulled a puzzled face. Michael sighed.

“I put my left hand it, I take my left hand out. I put my left hand in and shake it all about… Rinse and repeat with all other body parts until clean.”

Geoff couldn’t help but laugh.

Ryan had texted the list of supplies he needed to Jeremy a few hours ago. He shifted in his position against the porch railing. There were a few lumps and bumps in it where Jack had attacked it earlier, but Ryan forced himself to ignore them. He turned slightly so that the light from the back door would fall on the Necronomicon’s pages better. Here and there he’d scribbled notes and translations - well, possible translations. The book’s language was so outdated, and frankly the prose had been throttled purple with descriptors and paragraphs that went around and around in circles. Reading it always made his head hurt. But then again, the headaches could have been from the book itself. He’d already read or many more horrible rituals and practices than he had ever wanted to. But still, he forced himself to continue. Somewhere in the book was their ritual. Somewhere in these baffling pages was the key to reversing this nightmare. Muffled voices suddenly interrupted Ryan’s reading. He looked up and craned his neck, trying to see down the hallway. He could hear dulcet tones, and a slightly higher pitched voice. Jack then, and one of the lads? The higher pitched voice rose sharply in volume. Michael it seemed. Then Jack raised his voice in retaliation. Ryan frowned. The yelling continued.

Ryan got to his feet and edged towards the doorway as the yelling turned into guttural snarling. There was a crash and the house shuddered. Ryan threw open the door and rushed inside, his chain clattering on the threshold.

Jack stood in the living room panting and glaring furiously at Michael as the lad picked himself up off the floor. The flames around the smaller demon flared as Michael roared at Jack. Geoff came tearing out of the bedrooms.

“What the fuck!”

Jack’s skin was completely covered in hard brown scales. There were spiky plates on his forearms and tail. He started towards Michael. Geoff leapt in front of him and put out his hands.

“Jack! Sweetie! Please stop!”

Jack put a huge scaled and clawed hand on Geoff’s shoulder and shoved him out of the way. Michael crouched and prepared to leap at his foe.

“We have to do something to stop them!” Ryan shouted. “They’ll kill each other!”

“What do you think I’m trying to do, genius?” Geoff bellowed.

“What do you normally do to stop the episodes?”

“We have Alfredo and Trevor do their freaky mind thing,” Geoff wailed.

“I’ve already called them. They’re on their way back here as fast as possible,” Alfredo called from where he was cowering in the kitchen.

Jack grabbed Michael and slammed him up against the wall. The fiery demon howled and began kicking and scratching at him. The fire surrounding him blazed brighter and hotter.

“They’re not gonna get here in time,” Ryan said.

“No shit sherlock! I shouldn't have let those three go! I knew it! I knew something like this would happen! Jack just woke up pissed and knocked me across the room! He’s never had a fit so close to another one!”

“We have to contain them until Trevor gets back then,” Ryan said, watching in horror as one of Michael’s blows sent Jack stumbling. The fire demon dropped to the ground and hissed. He held out a palm and flames started gathering into a bright ball. Geoff’s eyes widened.

“I’m open to suggestions!”

Michael hurled the fireball at Jack. The bigger demon threw up his arms and stumbled backwards. After a moment, he lowered them. His clothing was singed and smoking but his armour seemed to have protected him from the flame. Fury radiated from him as he stormed towards Michael again.

“Alfredo!” Ryan called.

The young man was startled.

“Grab the salt. Any salt. All the salt you can find,” Ryan said.

“Salt?” Geoff shot at him.

“Yes, salt. Apparently it acts as a barrier to demons. If we can get them in a salt circle they can’t go anywhere,” Ryan said. He swore and leapt to the side as Jack threw Michael towards the hallway.

“Alfredo!” yelled Ryan.

“Right! Salt! I’m on it!”

Michael was gathering another fireball and Ryan was reaching the end of his tether trying to get away from the two. The hard metal band tugged painfully around his neck, the sharp edges chafing at him. He scrambled away across the room as Michael launched another projectile with a snarl. The blast hit Jack, further burning his shirt, but the flames rolled off the armour again. Jack went at Michael again.

“Here!” shouted Alfredo, popping up from behind the kitchen counter, a large cylinder of table salt in his hand. He shrieked and dove back down as Jack ducked another fireball and it flashed into the kitchen.

“Alfredo! Throw it to me!” shouted Ryan.

There was a terrified noise and the salt shaker sailed over the counter and landed on the floor a few feet away from Ryan. The gent cursed and lunged for it. Jack and Michael were wrestling furiously now, claws grasping and slashing, spiny tails whipping through the air. Michael was bleeding; hot glowing blood that sizzled as it hit the floor. Jack emitted dark smoke as he fought, his movements that of a powerful predator.

“What are you waiting for?” Geoff yelled as Ryan grabbed the salt and turned back to the battling pair. Ryan gritted his teeth and opened the container. He upturned it and began the circle. It wasn’t perfect but it was solid. Ryan flinched as another fireball went wide, but he skirted around the fight. The container was getting much too light. His heart was in his throat as it ran out a foot from closing the circle. He flinched at the snarls and dropped to his knees. He swept the ground with his hands, stretching the two ends, scattering the salt to make them meet. And not a moment too soon. Jack and Michael slammed into an invisible barrier inches from Ryan’s face. The gent threw himself backwards and scrambled away in shock. Both demons roared and attacked the barrier again. The salt shuddered but held. Huge antlers and green eyes peeked over the kitchen counter again. Geoff let out a shuddery breath.

“That’ll hold them, right?”

“For now. It’s not permanent. They can’t cross it, but if somethings moves the salt…” said Ryan, picking himself up.

Jack paced the wobbly perimeter of the prison, glaring out at them. Michael got to his feet too. He wasn’t looking at the barrier though. He was watching Jack with narrowed eyes. He let out a guttural hiss and pounced onto the larger demon’s back. Jack roared and clawed at the lad, but Michael wrapped his arm around Jack’s throat and pulled. Jack’s roar cut off. Michael’s grin was feral.

“Michael no!” shouted Geoff. He ran towards the salt line and bounced off the barrier.

“You can’t get in there Geoff!” Ryan yelled.

“I have to! Michael’s going to kill him!”

Michael’s arm was a mess of glowing blood, but still he pulled. Jack’s steps were faltering and his movements slowing.

“Geoff, don’t!” Ryan shouted as Geoff grabbed a bit of the broken couch and approached the barrier again.

“We have to get him off Jack!”

“There’s gotta be another way!” Ryan cast around and saw the shiny red cylinder. “There!”

Alfredo’s green eyes widened as Ryan grabbed the fire extinguisher.

“Ryan no! You’re just gonna-”

Ryan pointed the nozzle and pulled the trigger. White powder shot from the extinguisher and doused the two demons. There was a thud. The fog cleared. Jack was on the ground, eyes closed and armour gone, but moving feebly. Michael released him and turned his blazing gaze on Ryan.

“-make him angrier…” whimpered Alfredo.

Michael bared his teeth and began building a new fireball.

“He, uh, can’t get that out of the circle, right?” asked Geoff.

“I - I don’t think so,” said Ryan. He lowered the fire extinguisher and backed away. Michael gave him a menacing grin and hurled the flames. Ryan yelled and ducked. The fire exploded on the wall behind him. He at least had the sense to blast it with the extinguisher before running for cover again.

“You said they couldn’t get out!” shrieked Geoff.

“They can’t but apparently other things can!”

“Where’s Trevor? We need to snap them out of this!”

“They said they were on their way!” yelled Alfredo.

Ryan watched as Michael conjured another fireball. The lad had stopped grinning now, and the flames surrounding him were getting too bright to look at. The heat was intense. Ryan was sweating and it was getting harder to breathe. Ryan crawled over towards Geoff.

“We have to do something Geoff. Michael won’t stop. He is going to burn this house down,” he said.

“What are we supposed to do?” wailed Geoff. “You saw how he responded to the fire extinguisher! How do we even get near enough to stop him?”

“You could use your powers,” said Ryan.

Geoff turned white. His gaze dropped to the floor beneath his glasses. “No, there’s gotta be another option.”

“Geoff, this may be our only option. Just tell Michael to calm the fuck down!”

“No. I can’t. I won’t. I -”

Both gents yelped and scrambled away as the couch was suddenly engulfed in flames. Ryan hosed it down from a safe distance away. Michael snarled and began to build another fireball, bigger than the last. The demon was now impossible to look directly at. His entire body was wreathed in white hot flame. The inferno was drawing so much air into it there was a strong breeze. Ryan’s blood ran cold as he realised the wind was whipping away salt crystals. Their barrier was breaking down.

“Geoff! You have to!” Ryan shouted over the roar of the fire. “The circle won’t contain him for much longer! And Jack is still in there! His scales receded when he was knocked out - the heat could be frying him alive!”

Geoff just stared at the floor. “I can’t. I won’t do it.”

Chapter Text

“Geoff! You have to!” Ryan shouted over the roar of the fire. “The circle won’t contain him for much longer! And Jack is still in there! His scales receded when he was knocked out - the heat could be frying him alive!”

Geoff just stared at the floor. “I can’t. I won’t do it.”

Ryan grabbed Geoff’s shoulder. “The fuck is wrong with you?”

Geoff snarled at Ryan and slapped his hand away. “The last time I tried to use my powers you happened!”

Ryan jerked backward.

“I won’t use them. Not again,” muttered Geoff. He drew back and curled into a ball, burying his face in his knees. Ryan tried to gather his wits. Geoff couldn’t help. Trevor was too far away. Michael was going to scorch them all to charcoal. Ryan looked down at his dark-red-skinned hands. Maybe he could help.

Ryan forced himself to look at Michael. He hated this part. This was the part where he had to hand the reins over to the demon in his head, and hope that it wouldn’t take over completely. He’d practiced a lot in his own home, but more often than not, woke up hours later to claw marks in the walls and ceiling and bloody gouges on his neck from where the monster had strained at the collar. Ryan took a deep breath of hot, ashen air and splayed his hand out. He needed to think of a situation that would scare Michael into stopping. Or just make him think he could no longer continue. He went with the first one that came to mind.

“Sorry Michael…” he muttered. In Ryan’s head, there was a curious sensation. Like vertigo, or the feeling of falling in a dream. The feeling stretched and expanded, and Ryan swallowed as he heard the malicious, hissing voice in his head turn gleeful. Ryan gritted his teeth and mentally grasped the sensation. He cast it into the room in front of him with a wave.

Michael’s fiery eyes widened and he gasped. Almost instantaneously his flames were extinguished. Michael’s clothes were completely gone now, his body smeared with black soot. His hands went to his throat and his eyes bulged as he gasped for air. He collapsed to the floor, still gulping like a fish. To Michael, it would have seemed like he’d just been ejected from an airlock into the cold vacuum of space. No air, no oxygen - no fire. Ryan steeled himself, ignoring the awful sight of his good friend and coworker begging for breath, and allowed the illusion to continue as Michael struggled on the floor. When the lad finally fell limp, Ryan lowered his hand. A feeling of deep fatigue washed over him. He pushed the feeling away and grabbed up a piece of the couch. Ryan hurried over to the salt circle, brushed away a section and dropped to his knees beside Michael. His fingers went to the young man’s neck, checking for a pulse. He sighed in relief to find it there, steady and strong, now that Michael’s chest was rising and falling normally again. Slowly, little yellow flames began to spring up again around the lad’s curled horns.

Geoff stumbled over to check on Jack. The gent was coughing and wiping at his eyes. His hair and clothing were badly singed, and his skin red and blistered. He hissed in pain as Geoff pulled him upright.

“Oh god, oh god…” Geoff was muttering. His hands hovered gingerly over Jack’s burns.

“Get some cold water and cloths,” Ryan said gently.

Geoff looked up at him. There was a flash of anger on the gent’s face, but it was chased quickly away by shame and relief.

“Okay. Okay, yeah. Good idea.” He got up and hurried away.

Jack was looking at Michael in horror. The lad’s forearms were still bleeding sluggishly, the glowing blood oozing in droplets to the blackened floor. Jack looked at his hands which were also covered in Michael’s bright blood.

“Why? Why is this happening to us?” Jack sobbed, tears coming to his black eyes.

Ryan grabbed Michael's fire blanket from where it had been dropped next to the coffee table and draped it over the lad.

“I don’t know Jack. But I’m going to help fix it,” Ryan murmured.

The household felt as if it was in a holding pattern the next day. Jeremy, Trevor, and Gavin had managed to find a hardware store and bought several lengths of chain and bands of metal. Ryan worked as quickly as he could, but the engraving process was long and difficult, and extremely easy to screw up.

“Fuck!” Ryan muttered and tossed the chisel away from him. He’d been on one particularly difficult rune and the tool had slipped, rendering it and all the other runes he’d already carved useless.

“Hey, you okay?” Ryan jumped. Jeremy was behind him, plate and cup in hand again. Ryan went to brush his hair back in frustration and cursed again when his arm snagged on his long bull-horn.

“No. Not really. I was nearly done with the first shackle. Who knew demonic bindings required such artistic skill?”

Jeremy frowned in sympathy. He set the food down and sat down next to Ryan on the porch again.

“You’ll get there though. Is there anything I can do to help? I have been considered pretty artistic in my time, you know,” Jeremy said.

Ryan’s fingers stilled where they’d been tracing over the ruined carving.

“No. You don’t have to. I can do this. I should do this.”

Jeremy’s hand covered Ryan’s where he was gripping the metal too tight.

“But if I helped, it would go faster, wouldn’t it?”

Ryan looked up at him slowly. Jeremy swallowed. His hand felt way too sweaty and his face much too hot. He desperately hoped Ryan wouldn’t notice. Or maybe he would. At least that way his feelings would be out in the open. Oh God, what was he even thinking? Ryan probably was so messed up right now he wouldn’t even be entertaining ideas like that. Jeremy cleared his throat and drew his hand back.

“So, seriously, what can I do to help?”

Ryan looked down it his work. He had a dozen books and various pages of notes spread out beside him on the porch, along with the pile of chains and strips of metal. He rubbed his head. Jeremy was making sense. Two people could make this work go faster than one.

“Are you sure?”

“Ryan. Of course. Let me help,” Jeremy said.

Ryan sighed and nodded. He waved a hand to a metal circlet. “Grab one of those and start tracing this rune here onto the end,” he said and indicated a strange Celtic-knot shaped symbol in a book close to him. Jeremy gave him a small smile.

“Can do.” He picked up the metal and a pen and began drawing. Ryan did the same. They sat in silence for a while, drawing in concentration. Jeremy straightened and grinned.

“How’s that?” he asked, showing his completed rune to Ryan.

The gent was surprised. It was much neater than he’d managed to make his.

“Great. That’s really good. Now you have to carve it into the metal.”

“Shouldn’t we trace the other symbols on before we carve them?”

Ryan paused. “I - I don’t know… that’s just how I did this one… which has worked.”

Ryan’s eyes dropped and he tapped the metal ring around his neck.

“Oh. I get it. Well… maybe we should try this in case it does work. That way there’s less opportunity for fuck-ups,” Jeremy said.

“I - yeah. Okay…”

Jeremy looked up at Ryan again. The older man’s face was scrunched up.

“Ryan? Are you okay?”

“Stop asking Jer. I need to do this, and I’m fucking it up.”

“Hey - I didn’t mean it like that!”

“Doesn’t mean I’m not.”

“Look dude. You’re the smartest one out of all of this. You figured this all out by yourself. You chained yourself literally to your work and made it work. You got this dude.”

Ryan’s strange eyes went steely and he opened his mouth to argue. Jeremy quickly diverted the conversation by picking up the nearest book and looking at the cover.

“Where did you get these weird-ass books anyway? You can’t have possibly had ‘Occult Designs and Practices’ in your personal library before this,” he said.

Ryan shut his mouth and looked down at his half-finished rune. Jeremy frowned at the book.

“Wait a second. This has a library code. This is a library book! You were the one who broke into the library and stole all the books we went to look for!” Jeremy stared at Ryan.

The gent shrugged. “I thought it was a good idea at the time…”

Jeremy broke into gales of laughter. “You’re a genius, you know that? It took us forever to even think of going to the library.”

This wrought a wry grin out of Ryan. “Wasn’t the only place I stole books from.”

Jeremy’s mouth dropped open. “You went to all the weird little magic shop places too?”

Ryan nodded, still smirking a little bit.

“Since when have you mastered petty theft?”

Ryan shrugged again. “Well… kind of ever since I developed the ability to make it look like doors aren’t there.”

Jeremy looked at him, his forehead scrunched up. “You’re going to have to explain that one further, I think.”

Ryan held up a thin, black clawed hand. “I can alter the perception of reality, right?”

Jeremy pursed his lips. “I still don’t quite get how that works, but okay, continue.”

“Well, it’s the same thing. I walk up to the shop. The door is locked. Like normal. But that doesn’t matter if the shop has no door.”

“So, wait. You just… illusion the door away?”

“Yes?”

“But who is the illusion for?”

“Me, I guess?”

“So you affect yourself?”

“I suppose so.”

Jeremy rubbed his chin. “That… doesn’t make sense though. If it was just an illusion for you, then wouldn’t you just walk into the door that’s actually there?”

Ryan sighed. “Yes. I thought so too. But, the door vanished… and I walked in… I took the books, and I left, and the door was back.”

Jeremy looked like he was screwing up his brain in concentration. “That… that’s cool as hell Ry. I am so impressed that you thought of stealing the books in the first place, and then being able to pull it off so fucking nonchalantly!” He turned to grin at Ryan.

The gent was looking at him, alarmed.

“What?” asked Jeremy.

“I just… I would have thought you out of everyone would be scared of my powers the most. You were the first one that I… that I attacked…”

Jeremy looked down at his lap, the smile vanishing from his face. “Oh. Yeah. Well… But, you know our powers aren’t all bad? Jack teleported and saved a lady from being hit by a bus,” he said.

Ryan looked gobsmacked. “...Jack can teleport? Since when?”

Jeremy couldn’t help but laugh again at Ryan’s expression. “He only did it once, and it was in like, a clutch situation. Gavin did it once too, but we’re pretty sure that was an accident. We think that all of us could be able to do it.”

Ryan shut his mouth and looked contemplative. “Jack really saved someone?”

“Yep. I mean… we did accidentally scare her onto the road in front of the bus, but it just shows that we’re not completely awful… Just like you. You used your powers for a good reason!”

Ryan grimaced. “You call robbery a good reason?”

“Oh, well, when you put it that way, I guess not. But still, you were trying to help us! I consider that a good thing.”

Ryan was silent for a while, grunted, and then went back to his rune. Jeremy watched him for a few moments. He couldn’t help himself. Ryan was trying so hard to fix a mistake he’d barely had control over. He was just as scared and worried as the rest of them. And as disheveled and exhausted as he looked, Jeremy was still so painfully attracted to him. He wondered again if Ryan had a girlfriend or perhaps a boyfriend.

Ryan looked up sharply. “What did you say?”

Jeremy’s eyes went wide. He’d said that last part out loud. He felt like sinking into the wood of the porch and just becoming one with the grain. He cleared his throat and said it again.

“I uh… I just was wondering if you had a girlfriend, or, you know, some other, significant other who’s wondering where you’ve disappeared to?”

Jeremy swore that Ryan blushed as he looked back down at his rune.

“Oh, right. No, I haven’t. Not in quite a while. My last one was, oh, about three years ago now. John and I… He was supportive of my work at Roosterteeth at first, but eventually he started asking me when I was going to get a real job,” Ryan glared out at the yard.

Jeremy’s heart fluttered and a thrill ran through him. He made a noise of disgust. “Playing videos games for a living not enough for him?”

“Apparently,” muttered Ryan. “Although, I’m very glad I’m not with anyone at the moment… you know, because of the…” he gestured to his horns.

Jeremy twisted his lips to the side. “Well, it’s his loss. I think any guy would be totally lucky to have you.”

Ryan looked over at him slowly, a confused look on his face. Jeremy was screaming internally. Curse his stupid big mouth

“I… thanks Jeremy,” Ryan said softly.

Jeremy forced a smile onto his face, hoping like hell it looked normal.

Ryan seemed placated and went back to his work.

Jeremy sighed. He didn’t know how to feel now. This could be his chance, but there was so much going on right now. He was thrilled that Ryan had confirmed that he was single, and into dudes, but it was probably a really terrible time to ask someone out. Then again, look at Michael and Gavin. They seemed happier in the midst of all this shit now that they had each other. Jeremy sighed again and went back to his rune drawing.

“Lil’ J!” Gavin stuck his head out the back door. “Geoff told us to go get a bunch of groceries. Apparently, eight people living in one house goes through a lot of food.”

Jeremy quirked an eyebrow at the lad. “Why doesn’t he just get them delivered? You know, like Favor or something?”

Gavin sighed exasperatedly. “Well, I might have tried to do slow-mo ‘The Floor is Lava’ with Trevor and…”

Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Okay. I’ll get my keys.” He turned back to Ryan. “I’ll come back and continue this after I wear these brats out at the grocery store. Did you want anything in particular while we’re there?”

Ryan looked up at Jeremy. The smile on his face was the most normal looking one Jeremy had seen on him in what felt like a long time. “I’m good, thanks Jer.”

Jeremy felt his cheeks heat up again and he turned to follow Gavin into the house.

As a kid, Jeremy had always wanted a muscle car. He’d been earning a steady salary since working at Roosterteeth, and after a few years he thought, fuck it, and bought a Mustang. It was a fun car.

“Jeremy, you’re no fun,” whined Gavin in the backseat.

Jeremy heaved a sigh. “Gav. That’s the speed limit. Look, there’s the sign. This is a forty zone. And there is no way in hell that I am getting us pulled over by the cops. They could have our descriptions from those blabber-mouth pastors. And I don’t know if you guys can hold your cool!”

“Hey! I’m cool! I’m cool as a cucumber,” said Trevor.

“One of your eyes is glowing green,” Jeremy said without looking.

Trevor swore and clapped a hand to his face as Gavin guffawed in the back seat.

“Can we go out on the backroads then? It’s at least sixty out there,” asked Gavin.

“Ooh! Yeah! That sounds fun!” Trevor said.

“Guys! We are not going fuckin’ joyriding. We gotta pick up groceries and get back.”

“Get back to the stuffy house with nothing to do you mean,” Gavin said and slumped in his seat. “It’s so boring!”

“Gav’s right. We’re out of the house. I am honestly going stir crazy up in there. Can we get our adrenaline going just the teensiest bit?” Trevor wheedled.

“Yeah! A bit of fun! Then we won’t be annoying you guys so much! Please! I’m dying of boredom!”

Jeremy bit his lip. It did sound like fun after being cooped up in Geoff and Jack’s house for days on end. He was going spare himself.

“Okay, fine,” he ground out. Trevor and Gavin cheered as he took a left and headed out to the hilly backroads of Austin.

The buildings slowly began to vanish, giving way to low scrubby bushland. The grins on Trevor and Gavin’s faces grew as the speed limits increased.

“Sixty miles per hour! Jeremy punch it!” Gavin yelled as they passed the sign.

Jeremy pressed his foot down on the accelerator and all three lads were pushed back in their seats.

“Woo!” yelled Trevor.

They cruised along the highway, dry brushland flashing past.

“Jeremy, there’s no one out here. Can we go faster?”

“Gav…” Jeremy said.

“Yeah, come on man! There’s no one around for eons. How fast have you even driven this car?”

Jeremy’s mouth twisted. Trevor shook his head and tutted.

“You own a ‘Stang and you haven’t driven her over sixty?”

“Hey! I am a law-abiding citizen!”

“Jeremy’s boring,” Gavin said with an eye roll. “Come on Jeremy! Just this once. I want to feel the speed!”

“Aren’t you the Slow-Mo Guy?”

“Slow-mo, shmo-mo. Fast! Now! Please!”

Jeremy relented a little. The speedometer crept up to seventy. Trevor was grinning from ear to ear.

“Come on Jeremy! You can do better than that!”

Jeremy bit his lip, pushing them to nearly eighty.

“This is awesome!” Gavin suddenly wound down his window and stuck his head out. Trevor laughed and did the same. The sudden blast of air in the car hit Jeremy. Adrenaline sped through him. He heard banging on the roof and the other two yelling.

“Screw it,” Jeremy muttered. They shot up to ninety, the needle creeping still higher. Trevor and Gavin were going wild.

The blasted past a billboard and Jeremy’s eyes went wide as he suddenly saw red and blue in the rearview mirror.

“Fuck!” he yelled and let off the accelerator.

Gavin popped back inside the car. “Jeremy! Why’d you slow down, Jeremy?”

“There was a speed trap there Gavin! And they’re - oh shit. They’re coming after us. Fuck! I knew this would happen!”

“What? Police?” Trevor’s voice was faint outside the car and he twisted around to look. The lad’s thin tail appeared suddenly, thwapping Jeremy in the face.

“The fuck dude!” Jeremy said, slapping it away and grabbing the steering wheel tightly. “Trevor! Get your stupid head back in here!”

“Uh, I would do that, but I seem to have a problem,” Trevor said. Jeremy glanced over. Trevor’s antlers had popped into existence again and were much too large to fit back through the window.

“Fuck!” yelled Jeremy. He ran a hand over his head and swore again. His own horns had also made an appearance. There were flashing red and blue lights drawing closer now. Jeremy’s knuckles creaked on the steering wheel.

“Jeremy! You’ve got to go faster!” Gavin called.

“Fuck no! We’ll be in even more trouble when the cops catch us!”

“They won’t,” said Gavin. He was grinning placidly at Jeremy in the mirror. His eyes were white again. Gavin turned around waved his slender, clawed fingers. Suddenly, the police car was receding into the distance. Jeremy didn’t question it now, he just floored it.

Once they were several miles away, Trevor had calmed down enough to vanish his antlers and pull his head back inside the car. He was giggling. Gavin was laughing too.

“That was awesome!” Trevor said, reaching back for a high five. “You totally pulled a fast one on those cops!”

“You mean a slow one,” Gavin said. They both laughed sarcastically at the bad pun.

Trevor elbowed Jeremy. “Come on. You have to admit that was good.”

“I am definitely not bored right now,” Gavin said with a satisfied sigh.

“Yeah! We had a little fun. No one got hurt. We totally evaded the cops like badasses. We’re demons baby. Speed demons!”

More chortling at the pun. Gavin was nodding vehemently.

“We could do so much with these powers dude. Imagine it. Imagine the videos we could make…”

“We can do anything,” Trevor said with a wide grin.

Jeremy finally loosened his death grip on the steering wheel. Adrenaline was still coursing through him as he settled back.

“We can do anything!” Gavin parroted.

Jeremy couldn’t help the grin that crept across his face at their infectious excitement. It was so different from the morbid atmosphere back at the house. His fingers twitched and his tail lashed. Something clicked inside his head.

“Whatever we want… Okay, that was a lot of fun,” he admitted.

“Attaboy!” cried Trevor.

“Now, what other trouble can we get up to?” Gavin asked, rubbing his hands together.

Jeremy rolled his eyes.

Their lighter attitudes made the house feel a little more bearable when they got back. No one had had a fit while they were out. Nothing had been set on fire. Jeremy passed Michael and Gavin snuggled up together on the couch. He squared his shoulders and grabbed a plate of food to take out to Ryan.

“Order up!” he called, pushing the crooked screen door open.

Ryan looked up with a small, hesitant smile.

“You’re in a good mood,” he said.

“Getting out of the house seems to clear the head. How are you going?”

“Pretty good actually. I got another set of runes done. It won’t be long now. When my fingers get sore, I work on the translations instead,” Ryan said.

“Multitasking. I like,” Jeremy said, setting the plate down and sitting next to Ryan.

“So, any progress on finding the correct ritual?”

Ryan sighed. “It’s… difficult. Nearly all of them require some sort of chanting and blood-letting, so that doesn’t help narrow it down. The black candles and the pentagram helped though. There are some here that look like they could fit that description. This one here seemed the most promising-” Ryan tapped the page the Necronomicon was open on. Jeremy tried to read the scribbled notes Ryan had written beside it.

“The Separation/Possession of the One/Self?”

“I gave up translating the rest of it though when it started describing the cult you need in order to complete it. Apparently, you need a whole room of people surrounding you, all worshipping your holy darkness or something.”

Jeremy wrinkled his nose. “Black magic is weird.”

“Tell me about it,” Ryan huffed.

Jeremy looked over the carefully organized mess that surrounded Ryan.

“Has anyone ever complimented you on how intelligent you are?”

Ryan looked up and blinked. “I mean… Kind of? I know I’m smart…”

“Well, I really mean it when I say you’re really intelligent. We were struggling so much with all of this. And you’re just tearing through it… Honestly, it’s kind of attractive how smart you are.”

Ryan stared at Jeremy. He felt heat rush into his cheeks and his stomach fluttered. “Uh - thanks? Are you feeling okay Jeremy? I’m just not sure where that comment came from…”

Jeremy’s smile was steady when he looked at Ryan. “I told you - cleared my head a bit. Thinking about our conversation earlier… Also about Gavin and Michael and how they’re making it work between them…”

Ryan felt the redness in his cheeks increase. Surely the skin there was now the same colour as his hands.

“Jeremy... I uh-” Ryan broke off as Jeremy leaned over and put a hand on his.

“I just thought that I should let you know how I felt. It’s scary and uncertain right now, but maybe you need to know that despite everything that’s happened, I like you. I’ve liked you for so fuckin’ long. I tried to ask you out that one time, but you said you were busy. I thought you might have been involved with someone at the time…?”

“I - huh - what?” Ryan stuttered.

“Remember? I asked you if you wanted to go get food with me one day? Just you and me?” Jeremy said.

“I - I remember that - that was you asking me out?” Ryan’s voice had pitched up an octave. “We always go get food as a group! I didn’t know that was different - my mother was coming to visit!”

Jeremy’s smiled widened.

Ryan stared at him, a mix of emotions swirling within him. Shock was the primary one. Jeremy liked him? He’d had no idea. But now that he thought about it, Jeremy had always stuck to him like glue. Always volunteering to team up with him, or to go and grab him a drink. And remembering that day, he had been quite confused about the awfully sad look on the lad’s face when Ryan had explained he’d had other plans. Ryan felt angry at his own stupidity. How could he have been so oblivious? He’d thought that Michael and Gavin had been incredibly dumb not to notice the pining looks they always threw at each other. He'd never recognized the ones that Jeremy had thrown his way. It’s not that he didn’t like Jeremy - he just hadn’t considered the possibility. But now he was. And oh, what a possibility. Jeremy was attractive, and extremely so. He’d always admired Jeremy’s muscled frame and that constant, infectious smile. He was so lively and colourful and fun to be around. Compared to Ryan, who was too tall, messed up his words, was probably a bit overweight, and had absolutely no sense of style. Those were the things that John had always poked fun at him for. Ryan felt a sickening crush of disgust.

“You… you shouldn’t like me,” the gent said, squeezing his eyes shut. “Not after what I did - to you - to everyone.”

“Ryan. I told you already. What you did was not your fault. You can’t keep thinking that. You need to forgive yourself. I know I have,” Jeremy said.

Ryan’s eyes snapped open. “You have?” he asked shakily.

Jeremy smiled gently. “Of course I have.”

Ryan felt tears prickle at his eyes. “Jeremy… I… I don’t know what to say…”

“You don’t gotta say anything. Not if you don’t want to. I just wanted to let you know.”

Jeremy patted Ryan’s knee and then got to his feet. He headed for the back door.

“Thank you, Jer,” Ryan croaked.

Jeremy grinned and headed inside.

Ryan stared after him for a moment, then scrubbed at his eyes. Jeremy liked him. The whirlpool of emotions raging inside him spat out a new one - excitement. Jeremy liked him. He still felt terrible and guilty at all of the awful things he’d done, but, Jeremy was right. It wasn’t truly his fault. He might not want to forgive himself right now, but he could consider the possibility.

Ryan looked at all the work in front of him. The load felt a little lighter somehow.

Chapter Text

“Micoo…”

“Gav - the fuck? It’s the middle of the night… What?”

“Michael, I’m bored.”

“And I was sleeping.”

“But you’re not anymore…”

“Go back to sleep Gavin,” Michael growled. They’d taken the spare room together tonight, rather than sleep separately. It had been such a long time that Michael had slept beside someone, so it had taken a while for him to actually drift off.

Michael could feel Gavin’s claws picking at the pillow. The lad huffed and rolled over.

“What’s up Gav? Did you have another nightmare?”

Gavin’s white eyes wouldn’t meet his. “No. I’m just bored.”

“Gavin… It’s the middle of the night. What do you expect me to do?”

Now Gavin met his eyes, looking up through his eyelashes. Michael could see the soft, calm flames that wreathed his own horns reflected in those beautiful eyes. White claws slipped closer, trailing lightly across Michael’s neck. Michael blinked, waking up a little more. He hummed.

“Well, when you put it that way...” he said with a grin.

Gavin giggled and snuggled closer to him. He pressed their lips together and sighed happily. Kissing Gavin was not getting old, no matter how many times he did it. Those lithe fingers trailed down Michael’s neck to his bare chest. Gavin chuckled into his mouth.

“What’re you laughing at?” Michael grumbled, pulling away.

Gavin rubbed his hand over Michael’s chest again. “My boi is just so smooth.”

“Hmph,” said Michael. “Yeah, well you’re like a walking carpet.”

Gavin gasped in mock indignation. Michael curled his arms around his boyfriend and pulled Gavin on top of his body.

“The most handsome carpet,” he said, nuzzling at Gavin’s neck.

Gavin laughed. “No one’s ever called me that before.”

“Yeah, well, my brain is still half asleep, so you get dumb, cheesy Michael.”

“I like dumb, cheesy Michael. He’s very sweet,” Gavin said. He took Michael’s face in his hands and kissed him again. Michael groaned as Gavin shifted above him, delicious weight pressing down in just the right spot. Gavin pulled back and grinned down at Michael.

“Don’t you dare-” Michael broke off with another groan as Gavin ground back down against him. “You absolute tease…” Michael mumbled, pulling Gavin’s shirt down and peppering his collar with kisses. They hissed together as Gavin rocked against him again.

“Mmm… Michael…” Gavin moaned.

Michael shivered. Hearing his name on Gavin’s tongue like that just drove him wild.

“Yeah Gav?”

“Wanna shag?”

Michael stilled. Gavin looked down at him with bright white eyes and that toothy grin. His teeth had gotten sharper, Michael noticed absently.

“I - uh… I dunno Gav.”

Gavin cocked his head. “Come on Michael. I’m bored. Let’s have some fun!”

“I - uh - what bout, you know. Stuff? Lube, and y’know…”

Gavin launched off him and began rummaging around in the bedside table. A bottle of scented lube and a couple of condoms were deposited beside Michael’s head. Gavin draped himself back over his boyfriend and resumed rutting against him. Michael couldn’t help the noises that escaped him.

“I - whoa - slow down there Gavvers…”

“But Michael…”

“Come here you.” Michael pulled Gavin back down against him and pressed a firm kiss to his lips. “You are hot as fuck. I like you, and your face, and your body and - hnng - that thing you do with your hips. I just… I don’t know if I want to have sex right now.”

Gavin stilled and blinked at him. “But… I’m bored Michael…”

“Yeah, that’s kind of one of the reasons why. It’s the middle of the night. We’re in Geoff and Jack’s spare room. Don’t get me wrong - I think you’re fantastic, and I’m so fucking glad we’re together right now. I just… don’t you want to wait for a better time? A more private moment?”

Slowly Gavin slid off him, curling into his side.

“Sorry,” Michael said quietly into the silence.

Gavin shrugged against him. Michael gathered the condoms that were now poking him in the side of the head and the bottle of lube and placed them on the bedside table. When he turned back. Gavin had gotten out of bed.

“Gav? Where are you going?”

He saw the lad’s shoulders rise and fall and heard a forceful exhale of breath. Gavin grabbed his pillow and stepped agilely up onto the wall. He kept going up onto the ceiling. He lay down and put the pillow under his head. Michael stared up at him, his mouth open slightly. White eyes narrowed at him.

“What? I just… I explained why I didn’t want to. I really like you Gav - just not right now. Come back to bed?” Michael patted the empty space beside him.

Gavin rolled and faced away from Michael. One pointed white ear stuck out from scruffy brown hair. Michael lay back down, feeling very confused and hurt. He rolled over too, his brow furrowed. Gavin was acting weird. Weirder than normal. Was this what he was always like in a romantic relationship? Michael had always he was a bit awkward when it came to them, but this was just strange. Then again, Michael did just reject him again.

“Sorry,” Michael muttered again to the dark room.

Jeremy and Trevor burst into the spare room the next morning. When Gavin heard they were going on another errand, he was up and out of the room like a shot. Michael didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye. He got up much more slowly, taking his time in the bathroom, and dealing with the laundry before shuffling out into the living room. Geoff and Jack were curled up on the couch with coffees.

“You want a cup?” asked Alfredo, from the kitchen.

“Uh, yeah. That’d be great.”

Alfredo handed him a mug and he sat down on the end of the couch.

“You okay Michael?” asked Jack.

The lad blew on his hot drink and took a sip.

“Yeah. Kinda…”

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked, his forehead creasing in concern.

“Well. Gavin’s acting kind of weird is all. Have you noticed any other changes in his behaviour?”

Jack rubbed at his beard.

“I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. Although, there is a lot of wacky shit going on, so I might have missed it,” replied Geoff.

“Yeah. I haven’t really noticed anything either,” said Jack. “Sorry. What are you concerned about exactly?”

“I uh… You know what. Never mind. It’s probably just the demon stuff. Don’t worry.”

Jack didn’t look convinced but turned back to watch the television anyway.

“Anything I can help with?” asked Alfredo sitting down next to him.

“Nah, it’s okay.”

Alfredo fiddled with his own coffee. “Trevor’s acting odd too…”

Michael looked up at him. “How so?”

Alfredo sighed. “I dunno. Just little stuff. I’m sure it’s nothing. We’re all going through some freaky crap.”

“Yeah,” agreed Michael.

Trevor, Jeremy, and Gavin got back a few hours later. They bounced about the room in high spirits.

“What took you so long? And why do you smell like smoke?” Geoff grumbled, getting up to help them carry bags of groceries.

“We stopped for barbeque!” Gavin said excitedly.

“What? And didn’t bring any for us?”

“Sorry Geoffrey,” Gavin said with a cheeky grin.

Geoff grumbled again and began helping them put away all the food.

Ryan looked up to see who’d opened the back door, and immediately turned red again.

“Morning,” said Jeremy.

“Uh. Hi. Good morning,” replied Ryan.

“How’s it going out here?”

“Oh! Really good actually!” Ryan said, looking down at his work. Truth be told, he’d been a bit distracted since yesterday which had rather hindered his progress.

“Can I give you a hand again?” asked Jeremy as he sat down.

“Yeah - yeah, sure. I took your advice about drawing the runes first. I’ve got some better results now. Could you trace another set on this blank band?”

“Sure!” Jeremy reached over to take the metal strip from Ryan and their fingers brushed. Ryan jumped at the contact and withdrew his hand quickly. God, could he be any more typical and useless? He turned even redder when he saw Jeremy’s sly grin.

“You did that on purpose,” Ryan muttered.

“Is that a problem?” Jeremy asked sweetly.

Ryan rolled his eyes, but his cheeks remained red. A sudden thought occurred to him. “When you broke me out of the psych hospital - you said something. Something about me having a nice ass. I thought I’d imagined that?”

Jeremy chuckled. “No, I meant what I said then. You’re incredibly good looking Ry.”

The older man seemed to shrink in on himself, continuing to blush furiously.

“So… since you’ve brought it up, I guess you’ve been thinking about it, huh?” asked Jeremy.

“Yes. Yes, I suppose so… But Jeremy-”

“If you say one more time that I shouldn’t like you, I might just have to come over there and prove it to you.”

Ryan could only gape at Jeremy. The lad grinned at him.

“Well… I… um… I’m sorry that I was a bit of an idiot and completely missed the fact that you tried to ask me out that time.”

“Honestly, I should have been more direct. I’ve realised that recently. I was being a bit of a coward really,” Jeremy said.

“You’re not a coward!”

“Well, not anymore. Recent events have made me want to… act on what I want,” Jeremy said, punctuating this by looking Ryan in the eye. “And I want to take you on a date.”

Ryan was speechless again.

“Jeremy - you realise I am chained to this house? I can’t exactly leave…”

“I know. Just trust me though?”

“I - Jeremy… I don’t know… Are you sure about this?”

Jeremy scooted closer and took Ryan’s hand. The gent was shaking. Jeremy pressed it between both of his, stilling the shake a little.

“I’m sure. I’ve liked you for so long. And from the looks of it, you like me too?”

Ryan chuckled. “I’ve liked you too. I mean, I always thought you were a great friend. I just didn’t think that anyone from the office would ever be interested in me . Just… why now, what with all of this going on?”