| Chapter 14 Tara looked at the clock in the room. It was around two a.m. Brian was sound asleep next to her, and Nick hadn't stirred all night. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand and wondered if she could find something on TV to watch, when she felt Nick start to slip into a dream. This was what she had prayed not to happen. There was no waking him up from it. He would have to sleep off the drug, and if he couldn't wake up, he would definitely be in danger. Tara nudged Brian, "Honey, wake up." Brian looked up at her, "Huh? What is it?" "I need you to move," she said. Brian sat up blinking his eyes, not really understanding her. "Bri, Nick's starting to dream, I need you to move over there where you aren't touching me," Tara said, pointing to the other chair in the room. He finally realized what she was saying to him, and got up, making his way to the other chair. "Baby, what are you going to do?" he asked. "I have to go with him, make sure he doesn't get hurt," she answered. Brian really wasn't sure what that meant, and was about to ask another question, when the three appeared in the room. He watched them all take each others hands, forming a kind of circle around the bed. Tracy looked over at him, seeing the concerned look on his face. "Brian, make sure we aren't disturbed, and pray for him, OK?" she instructed. He nodded his head and placed his chair near the door to stop anyone from coming in. Then with his eyes glued to them, he started to pray. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick was standing in the desert. He knew where he was expected to go, so he started walking. Just then the four appeared in front of him. "What are you guys doing here?" Nick asked. "Nick, you can't have this dream. Not now," Tracy said. Nick was confused, "Why not now? I've been having this dream for weeks." "Nick, you're in the hospital right now. The doctor gave you something to make you sleep. We can't wake you up until the drug wears off," Tara said. He realized just what that meant. If he was hurt in the dream there would be no way for them to pull him out of it. "So what do we do?" he asked. "We stay here," Jade said. "That won't work. I tried that already," Nick answered, "They always come and find me." "Then we'll have no choice but to defend you," Gideon said. Nick reached up and rubbed his eyes, "Crap, they're coming." "How do you know?" Tracy asked. "Cause everything just went blurry," Nick answered. The four formed a circle around Nick, not sure where Jered and Ephah would show up. "Well look what we have here," Jered said, appearing in front of Tara. "I believe you used to belong to us," he taunted. Tara glared at him, "And I believe you started out as one of us." "Yes, well it takes a while to realize your mistakes," he stated. Nick was squinting his eyes, trying to see what Jered looked like. Tracy reached over and took his hand, letting him see through her eyes. Jered was a tall man, a few inches taller than Nick. He had fair skin, and light brown hair. But his eyes were what sent chills down Nick's back, they were ice blue, with an evil cold stare. There was no feeling in them other than hate and malice. "Now that's not very fair," Ephah said, appearing next to Tracy. Nick could see that he too was a tall man, with darker skin. His hair was jet black, and his eyes were dark. "Who said this was ever fair?" Tracy retorted. "Why are you interfering with my fun?" Jered asked, looking at them. "You can't have him tonight," Gideon said, glaring at the man. Jered looked amused, "And what makes this night any different than any other night?" Ephah started laughing, "Just because you can't wake him up? All of you come to rescue him because of that?" "Well Nick, you must be in His favor for such an escort? Lets see, He sent you two warriors, if you want to call them that. A redeemed fallen one, and a helper that refuses to take a body. What a motley crew, don't you think?" Jered teased. "Shut up," Nick said through clenched teeth. Gideon placed his hand on Nick, "Don't talk to them." They all stood there staring at each other for a long time. Each ready to fight if they had to. "You can't fight all of us," Jade said. "You're right, we can't," Ephah said, "But we aren't here for all of you, just one." Tara could feel Nick's fear, and she reached back, taking his hand in hers. "Aw, teacher has feelings for her student. Isn't that sweet?" Jered hissed. Tara glared at him, "Make this easy on yourself and leave." Jered laughed, "Hum, that's not what you said to me the last time we saw each other." Nick looked from Jered to Tara, he could feel the anger in her and knew she was about to lunge at him. "Listen, you guys obviously aren't gonna get what you want tonight, so let's just end this now," Nick said, staring at the men. "Fine," Ephah said, disappearing. Jered glared at Nick, then down at Tara. "Don't be to happy about this," he warned, "Soon they won't be able to save you. Then I'll have you all to myself, and what fun we will have." He caught the look of fear in Nick's eyes and smiled, "Yes, what fun it will be," and with that he vanished. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian watched as the three vanished and Tara slowly sat back down in the chair. He walked over to her, seeing the look on her face, "What happened?" "They left," she said, rubbing her temples. Brian watched her, seeing something in her eyes he couldn't place. "Tell me," he said. She looked up at him, "Tell you what?" "Tell me what I'm seeing, what you're hiding from me," he said, sitting next to her and taking her hand in his. She looked away from him, "It's nothing." He reached up and pulled her face back around, "It's something. Please tell me." Tara bit her lip, this was the one thing she never wanted Brian to know. But how could she have thought that he would never find out? They were to close for him not to sense when she was hurting, and when she was hiding something from him. Brian waited patiently. Tara finally looked at him, tears in her eyes, "There are some things that I haven't told you. I thought that I wouldn't have to, but now that all this is going on, it's obvious that you're gonna find out." He looked at her, afraid of what it was she was hiding. In all their time together, he thought they had no secrets. "Go ahead," he said. "Well, you know what Nick is going through right now. That we all have to go through it," she started. He nodded his head. "When I did, I um," she closed her eyes, letting the tears come, "I fell." She could feel the shock from Brian, but it was quickly replaced with compassion. "Can you tell me what happened?" he asked. "I gave in. I stopped trying to resist them, and I became one of them. For a while I was paired with one, and we um...." she broke down, sobbing. Brian put his arm around her and held her, "It's OK," he whispered. Tara shook her head and wiped the tears from her face, "No it's not." Brian stared at her, "What did you do?" She looked down at the floor, not wanting to face him, "We tormented ones like me who were going through their trial. They paired us together for a reason. He knew what my weakness was then, and he exploited it. We became lovers until Tracy found me and she and the others brought me back." Brian said nothing, and Tara looked up to see tears in his eyes. "Brian, I'm so sorry. I never wanted to tell you this because I knew it would hurt you. It was in the past, and I wanted to keep it there," she said. "So why bring it up now?" he asked. She took a deep breath, "Because the one I was paired with is the one tormenting Nick." Brian stared at her for a moment, then pulled her into his arms, holding her as she cried. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He instantly knew he was in a hospital. His head hurt, and he reached up to touch it. Tara grabbed his hand, "You have to let this one heal on its own," she whispered. He looked around, seeing all the guys in the room, along with Stephen and a man he assumed was the doctor. "What happened?" he asked. "You hyperventilated and passed out," Kevin said. "Yeah, you hit your head on the way down," A.J. added. "How long have I been here?" Nick asked. "All night," Brian said. Nick pulled himself up to a sitting position, and was instantly dizzy. He reached up and held his head, "Whoa." Howie raised the bed up for him, and Nick lay back, resting his head on the pillow. "Nick, I'm Dr. Jamison," the man said. "Hi, so when am I getting outta here?" Nick asked. The doctor laughed, "That's what I'm here to determine. What's the last thing you remember?" Nick thought for a moment, "Being on stage." "Do you know what sent you into your panic attack?" Dr. Jamison asked. Nick looked at him shocked, "How do you know about those?" Stephen stepped up, "I told him. I thought he needed to know." Nick fidgeted, he wasn't about to tell the truth. He'd be a shoe in for the luney bin if he did. "Um, I really don't know. I think the crowd got to me," he stammered. "You know there is medicine that can help with that," the doctor said. Nick shook his head, "No, I don't want to take any medicine. I can handle it on my own." "Nick, you wouldn't be here if that were true," Stephen pointed out. Nick glared at Stephen. He loved the guy, but right now he wanted to throw him up against the wall. "Nick, just because you take medicine doesn't mean that you are a weak person. The medicine can help get you over the initial panic so you can deal with what's causing the problem," Dr. Jamison said. Nick looked up at Tara. She shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what to tell him. "What kind of medicine?" he asked. "Well the most common prescribed is Paxil," he answered. "Isn't that an anti-depressant?" Kevin asked. "Yes, but it has been proven to work for panic attacks also," the doctor replied. "I'm not taking an anti-depressant," Nick said. "You won't be taking it for depression," Stephen said. "Yeah, we know that, but if it ever got out, that's what everyone would think," Nick said. "It won't get out," Stephen assured him. All the guys laughed. "What?" Stephen asked. "Man, you know we can't keep things from the fans. Those people are like the FBI, they will find out," A.J. said. Stephen raised his hands, "I swear to you they won't. Nick you need to do what you can to get a grip on this, we're running out of excuses to tell the fans when you bolt out of an interview or off stage in the middle of a concert." Nick sighed, his head hurt to much to argue any longer, "Alright." The doctor smiled at him, "I'll have the pharmacy bring your prescription up, and start the paper work to release you." "Thanks," Nick said, as the man left. "We don't have to leave til this afternoon, so we'll take you back to the hotel," Kevin told Nick. "OK," he said, half listening to him. He was watching Tara and Brian whispering to each other in the corner of the room. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could feel the emotion from them both. He knew something had happened while he was asleep. Brian caught Nick looking at them and stopped talking. Tara looked over at him, an unreadable expression on her face. "What's going on?" Nick asked, as they walked back over to the bed. "I need to talk to you when we get back to the hotel," she said. Nick looked from Brian to her, knowing he probably wasn't going to like whatever it was she had to tell him. Chapter 15 |