“I can’t believe him!” Lance exploded as soon as the door closed behind JC. “How could he just leave?”

“He’s upset,” Justin said. That much had been obvious when JC stormed out. Normally when JC was upset he’d lock himself in his room. But since his room had been where the fire had happened, it made sense that he’d go find solitude elsewhere. Lance should’ve recognized that.

“He’s upset? And we’re jumping for joy?” Lance started pacing. “If we can stay here and wait for news on Joey, then so can he.”

Justin watched as Lance paced the length of the room with an angry look on his face, ranting about JC leaving. This wasn’t normal behavior for Lance. He was usually always more worried than angry when something happened to one of them. That was especially true lately with JC not taking care of himself and refusing to talk. And now there was definitely more anger than worry.

Maybe there was worry behind that anger, but Justin was worried and he wasn’t pitching a fit like Lance. He supposed it was because he knew JC would be back once he spent some time alone to collect himself. After the fights he’d had with JC about this over and over, Justin realized that sometimes JC had to be left alone to deal with things and get all of his anger out. Just a few days ago when he had stopped JC from going into his room and they had ended up fighting on the stairs. Justin kept pushing him even though JC had kept trying to get away from him. JC needed time to deal with what’d happened himself first. Otherwise he’d end up arguing with one of them.

“It was selfish of him to leave like that.”

Justin stepped back in surprise. “I think he’s entitled. I mean, he brushed off his wellbeing for Joey and didn’t take off until he knew that Joey would be taken care of.”

JC was the least selfish person he knew. He always looked out for everyone but himself. JC refused to help them research a solution because he saw that as his way of looking out for them. In JC’s mind giving up and not looking for a solution would make them hurt less because he knew that he was going to die and didn’t want to fight it. It didn’t matter that they disagreed with his method because that was how JC’s mind worked, and it portrayed just how unselfish he was to do that for them.

“Like that justifies it.” Lance paused. “Why aren’t you more upset about him leaving? Don’t you want to know what happened? What he’s up to?”

“Of course I do, but I’m going to give him the time he needs.” Justin sighed. “Just give him a few hours and we’ll grill him when he gets back.”

Lance scoffed. “You’ll be waiting forever.”

“Is that what this is about? You’re pissed about him leaving because now you can’t get answers to your questions?” Justin asked.

“No! It’s about him taking off after what happened!” Lance countered.

“Why aren’t you worried?” Justin asked, rephrasing Lance’s question. “I mean, he just took off for a drive after he was locked in a room that was on fire. And he just brushed off going to a hospital. What if he isn’t OK?”

“The demons can’t hurt him. At least not yet,” Lance said.

“How do you know?”

“Katrina told me,” Lance replied.

“When did you talk to Katrina?”

“Yesterday.”

Justin temporarily pushed aside his anger that Lance had kept this from them and focused on the more important matter at hand. “So what did she say?”

“She said that the demons have to follow certain…rules when killing someone, and that they probably can’t do anything to him until some specific thing happens,” Lance said.

“Is there any way to know what they’re waiting for or how long?”

“Not that we know of, no,” Lance replied.

Justin sighed and ran a hand over his face. They still weren’t any closer to answer. “Did Katrina say anything else?”

Lance nodded. “JC has this…Katrina called it a mark, that only supernatural things like her and demons can see. She doesn’t think it’s because of anything he did though because apparently it can be passed down through other generations.”

“How does she know JC didn’t do anything?” Justin asked. None of them wanted to believe that JC had made some kind of pact with the devil, but if Katrina had some kind of proof, it would make Justin feel a lot better.

“She says his…mark is faint, so it didn’t start with him. But there’s no way to know for sure if it started with his mom,” Lance explained.

A moment passed in silence before Justin shook his head and crossed his arms. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner? We’re all on the same side here.”

Lance glared back at him and said, “When would you have liked me to tell you? While you were unconscious in the bathroom at the club? Or how about when we were trying to beat the door down to get to Joey and JC?”

“What about when we were just laying around watching TV? Or when we were trying to decide what to have for dinner? There were plenty of opportunities for you tell us before now,” Justin shot back.

“Did you expect me to go up to you and say ‘I talked to Katrina, but it didn’t make any difference because JC is still going to die’?”

“No. I expected you to say ‘I found some information that might be useful and I want to keep you in the loop,’” Justin replied.

“Can we stop with all the hypotheticals?” Lance snapped and turned to look out the window.

Justin let out another sigh. “I don’t want to fight with you about this.” He looked down at the carpet of the study and muttered, “There’s certainly enough of that already.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lance asked, turning around to face him.

Justin looked up at him. “You know what it means. You and JC can’t go two seconds without fighting, and it’s always about the same thing! Though, I guess that’s to be expected since your arguments never settle anything! Why is beyond me!”

“We don’t fight that often,” Lance objected.

Justin scoffed. “Please. You do too. It feels like every time I turn around you two are at each other’s throats.”

“There’s no other way to get through to him!”

“You’re delusional if you think that you yelling at JC is getting through to him. All your yelling does is piss him off and make him even more distant,” Justin said.

“I wouldn’t have to if he’d talk to us instead of keeping secrets that jeopardize his health,” Lance replied.

“JC isn’t the problem here. It’s you, Lance.”

Lance’s eyes narrowed. “What gives you the right—”

“You’re different,” Justin interrupted. “Normally you’d be more worried than mad that JC just took off, and you would never volunteer to go into his mind without permission.”

“How do you know about that?”

“Joey told me. Did you think I was the only who noticed? We’re worried about you,” Justin said.

Lance shrugged off the comment. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not,” Justin insisted, feeling like he was talking to JC. “For you to suggest…You were the one who always respected JC’s privacy and were telling us to give him space, but lately you’ve been pushing him so hard that he’s fighting back.

“And I’m afraid that if you two continue like you are that we’ll have a lot more problems than the demons. JC’s probably at his breaking point, and I’m sure you are too,” Justin said.

Lance heavily sat down on the couch that he’d been standing in front of and fell silent. Nearly a minute passed before he said, “I just…I can’t control it. I see him lying to us and not taking care of himself, and I just…snap, I guess.” He looked up at Justin. “I can’t lose him.”

“We won’t.”

Justin wasn’t really surprised by Lance’s confession. Anyone could see that he cared about JC, which was the only reason Justin hadn’t confronted him sooner. It had never really occurred to him before that there might be some negative consequences to Lance throwing himself so deeply into research. But he was certainly seeing them now. He was sure that the stress Lance was feeling had a lot to do with him constantly getting on JC’s case and yelling at him and the worry that lay beneath the anger. Hopefully now that Lance’s attention had been drawn to what he was doing, he would stop fighting with JC so much.

Just then his phone rang. Justin pulled it out of his pocket, looked down at it and over at Lance before he stepped out into the hall. Lance watched him leave out of the corner of his eye and sighed as he leaned back against the cushions.

He couldn’t believe how he’d been acting towards JC. Lance was glad that Justin had never been one of those people who was afraid to be honest with their friends for fear that they’d get all pissed at them. If it wasn’t for Justin, he probably wouldn’t have realized how he’d been treating JC. It made him feel horrible that he was so angry that he had to have someone point out to him what an asshole he was being.

But now that he knew he could change back to the way he was where he was more concerned than angry and gave JC the space he needed. Lance knew that was easier said than done, but he was going to make an effort. The last thing he wanted was to cause a rift between himself and JC because that wasn’t why they were trying to save his life. It was a lot harder than he thought it would be though since JC didn’t want them to, and Lance figured that was a main part of why he was so quick to jump on JC. He didn’t want to believe that he was giving up so easily.

Justin came back into the room, causing Lance to look up at him questioningly. “That was Chris,” Justin said, as he put his phone back in his pocket.

“How’s Joey?” Lance asked.

“They’re waiting for a doctor to look at him. Chris was complaining that their celebrity status wasn’t getting them in any sooner, but he says the waiting room’s pretty empty so he thinks they should be up next,” Justin said.

“So probably a couple more hours until they’re home then?”

Justin shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Lance stood up. “You want to watch a movie or something?”

“Doesn’t it feel like that’s all we do?” Justin replied, following Lance into the hall.

Lance chuckled and shook his head. “You’re the TV junkie, not me.”

“Hey!”

Chris fumbled with the keys trying to find the right one as Joey leaned against the side of the house. It’d been a few hours since Chris had called Justin, and he couldn’t wait to get inside and relax for a bit. But he knew that wasn’t possible because no doubt the other three would have questions for him about what the doctor said.

“C’mon, Chris,” Joey complained. “You grab the key and stick it in the hole. Not that hard.”

“What’s the hurry? It’s not like you’re getting rained on or anything,” Chris said.

“No, but it’s cold out and I’m tired,” Joey replied.

“Wuss,” Chris teased good-naturedly as he finally got the door unlocked and pushed it open. They’d barely walked in the door before Justin and Lance came running into the room.

Chris exchanged a smile with Joey and said, “Look, Joe. The dogs have come to greet us.”

“Ha ha,” Lance replied sarcastically and rolled his eyes.

“How are you feeling, Joey?” Justin asked.

Joey shrugged. “Better, I guess. They had me on oxygen for a while.”

“It was to clear the smoke out of his lungs,” Chris jumped in when he saw the worried looks on their faces. “The doctor kept him there for another hour to make sure that everything looked good. He wouldn’t have let us leave if Joey was in any danger.”

“What about his arm?” Lance asked.

“They put some ointment on it and bandaged it,” Joey replied and held up his right arm, which had white gauze wrapped around it. “They said it wasn’t even that bad and the bandages aren’t even really necessary. It was just to let the cream get soaked into the skin.”

“See? He’s fine. Everyone can stop worrying now,” Chris said.

“I’m going to go lie down,” Joey told them after a moment of silence passed in the foyer. He held up a hand when he saw Lance open his mouth. “I’m just tired.”

Lance nodded. “Yell if you need anything.”

“I will,” Joey promised. The three of them watched as Joey disappeared upstairs.

“Where’s JC?” Chris asked, having just noticed that JC wasn’t standing among them. “Upstairs?”

Lance and Justin exchanged a glance wearily before Lance said, “He took off after you and Joey left.”

“What?” Chris yelled in surprise.

Justin pulled Chris into the study with Lance right behind them. “Joey’s trying to sleep.”

“How could you let him leave?” Chris asked, shaking off Justin’s arm roughly.

“We tried to stop him,” Lance said.

Chris scoffed as he crossed his arms. “Obviously not hard enough.” He paused. “Do you know where he went?”

“All he said was that he was going for a drive and that he’d be back in a few hours,” Justin said.

“Did either of you call him?” Chris asked.

“We were giving him some time,” Justin replied.

“To hell with that.” Chris dug his phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial five. He listened to it ring and ring before JC’s voice mail picked up. The beep sounded and he said, “JC, answer your damn phone. You better come back before I decide to go looking for you. Because I will find you and drag your ass back here.”

Lance crossed his arms. “You think that’s going to make him return faster?”

“It’s more than you two have been doing.” Chris paused. “Have you tried to contact him…you know?”

“I can try.” Chris watched as Lance stared into space for about a minute before his eyes blinked and refocused. “He’s blocking me again.”

“Sounds like we’re going to have a little while to wait,” Justin said.

Chris nodded and moved towards the living room to relax for a bit while he waited. Justin and Lance followed him. It hadn’t been that surprising to hear that JC had left like that, but he was still mad that Lance and Justin hadn’t been able to stop him. But now there wasn’t a whole lot they could do but wait. Though, one thing was for sure, JC was going to get bitched out when he got back.

JC drove down the highway towards Lance’s house. He had gone to Wal-Mart shortly after he’d left earlier and picked up the candles and chalk that were necessary to perform the ritual. After that he hadn’t been exactly sure what to do because he knew that he wasn’t ready to go back to Lance’s yet. Eventually JC ended up at his own house to give himself some time to prepare because he knew as soon as he got back to Lance’s he’d do the ritual.

Originally he’d considered doing it at his house so he wouldn’t have the possibility of one of the guys walking in on him while he was in the middle of it. But he dismissed that idea because he wanted to see them one more time and find out how Joey was feeling. Even though the guys would probably be less than happy about him running out like he had.

JC knew that he was worrying the guys because he’d been gone since almost two-thirty and it was nearly eight o’clock now. For the past couple of hours his cell phone had been going off every half hour or so. Eventually he had grown tired of it vibrating against his thigh in his pocket, so he threw it onto the dashboard. His phone lit up as it began to ring for the fifth time that night, and JC sighed. He thought about answering, but decided not to because he would be there in a few minutes and they could talk then.

Turning the knob on his radio to increase the volume, JC tried to let the soft jazz music take his mind off what he’d be doing very shortly. But it didn’t help. His body hummed with nervous energy at the thought of what he was going to do within the hour. JC’s eyes wandered to the passenger seat where his duffle bag held the items that would be needed for the ritual. He’d shoved it all in there so the guys wouldn’t be able to question what he’d bought like they would’ve if he walked in there with the Wal-Mart bag.

As JC pulled into the driveway and shut off the ignition, he heaved a deep sigh to try to calm his nerves. He couldn’t go in there looking as freaked as he felt because the guys would be all over him. And it would already be bad enough with them getting on his case for leaving. Finally after a few minutes of sitting in the car, he grabbed his duffle bag and got out. It was a short walk up the driveway to the front door and he mentally steeled himself before unlocking the door.

“Where the hell were you?”

JC looked up to see the angry faces of Lance and Chris and the worried one of Justin staring at him expectantly, waiting for an answer. He ignored their question. “How’s Joey?”

“Why would you care?” Chris snapped. “You left.”

“Because he’s my friend, and I love him,” JC said quietly.

“He’s fine. Upstairs sleeping,” Justin supplied, effectively cutting off whatever Chris was going to say. JC nodded, not surprised by that. He figured it might’ve been a side effect of the fire.

“So where were you, JC?” Lance asked.

“And what’s with the bag?” Chris added, gesturing to the blue duffle that his right hand was still holding.

“Clothes,” JC lied. “I stopped at my house.”

“Is that where you’ve been all this time?” Justin asked.

JC shrugged and nodded. “Pretty much, yeah.”

“Then why didn’t you answer your damn phone and let us know? You could’ve been lying dead in a ditch for all we knew,” Chris said.

“Because I knew you’d react like this!” JC snapped before sighing heavily. He didn’t want the last moments he had with the guys to be fighting, especially about something so stupid.

Without waiting for a reply JC headed for the stairs. He resigned himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to get a nice moment with them and that he should leave before it got even worse. Halfway up the stairs he heard Chris say, “That’s right. Go run up to your room and seclude yourself. God forbid you actually talk to us.”

By the time he reached the top his eyes had filled with tears. While JC hadn’t expected hugs and easy conversation, he hadn’t thought that leaving them like this would hurt so much. Turning around to face the guys for the last time, he had to blink back tears. “Why did you guys have to make it like this?”

Before any of them could say anything JC walked into his room and locked the door behind him. He was sure that one of them would follow him to make sure he was OK. JC leaned back against the door as he dropped his bag to the floor and banged his head against the hard wood. Then there was a soft knock that startled him even though he’d been expecting it.

“JC?” It was Justin. “Are you all right?”

JC wanted to scream that he wasn’t. He wanted to say that he didn’t get to say good-bye to any of them properly, which was heartbreaking since he would never see them again. It was unfair that he couldn’t spend the rest of his life with his friends because he had done nothing to deserve demons trying to kill him and hurting the others in the process. A tear fell down his cheek and JC hastily wiped it away because he knew that once he started crying, he wouldn’t be able to stop and would really worry Justin.

“C’mon, Jace, please open the door.” There was a pause. “We were just worried. We love you and we don’t want anything to happen to you.”

JC choked back a sob, but that didn’t keep silent tears from streaming down his face. That was what he’d wanted to hear downstairs even though he knew it wasn’t going to happen because they didn’t know what he had planned. He wanted to rip open the door and pull Justin into a tight hug. But he stayed where he was because he knew once he did that, it’d be over; he wouldn’t be able to go through with it. Instead he breathed deeply to try to get the crying to stop and make his voice not quiver.

“Just leave me alone.” JC paused briefly and added quietly, “Please.”

There was a sigh before Justin replied just as quiet, “You know where to find me if you want to talk or…whatever.”

JC listened as the footsteps moved away from his door and down the hall. Once he was sure that enough time passed for Justin to be out of earshot, he let out the sobs he’d been trying so hard to hold in and slid down the door so that he was sitting on the floor. A deep ache settled in his chest as he thought about how he was going to die with them pissed at him, but he knew he wasn’t going to be the only one feeling pain. When they found out what he’d done he knew that they’d be upset, and that thought did little to comfort him. But what did was the fact that he knew the guys would be able to move on after grieving and live a normal life, free of worry about the demons, which made what he was going to do worth it.

That didn’t mean that he wasn’t terrified because he was scared as hell. And that fear seemed to constrict his breathing even more, making his sobs increase. It was hard to believe this was how he was going to die. JC had always imagined dying after he had lived a full life with the others and they had taken on the world, changing music along the way. Now he wasn’t going to get any of that, and it hurt like nothing else he could ever have comprehended.

JC struggled to take deep breaths, and after a few minutes he managed to get his breathing under control. Shakily, he raised his hands to his face to wipe away the tears. No more stalling. It was time to put his plan into action. Slowly, he rose to his feet and picked up his notebook off the dresser. He flipped until he found the note he’d written for the guys and tore it out before gently placing it on his bed.

Then he crossed the room to where his duffle bag still sat and pulled out the necessary items he’d need. JC took the box of chalk and opened it. But before he could use it, he needed to know exactly what he was drawing. He thumbed through the notebook until he found the notes he’d taken and a picture of the sigil he was supposed to draw. Using that as a point of reference, JC drew the sigil as carefully as he could.

Once that was finished, he grabbed the candles and placed them strategically around the sigil. He fumbled with the matchbox and it took four tries before he was finally able to light the match because his hands were shaking so bad. But he managed to get all six candles lit. Now came the hard part.

JC gingerly picked up the stainless steel knife off the floor and stared at it, jumping when a loud crash of thunder was heard followed immediately by a sharp crack as lightning struck nearby and lit up the entire room. In order for the ritual to be complete, he needed to drip some of his blood into the center of the sigil. This was the part he’d looked forward to the least and knew it was going to hurt, but he knew that pain would be nothing in comparison to what he’d felt watching the demons hurt his brothers.

Joey jerked out of a dreamless sleep by a loud crash of thunder. He’d just opened his eyes when the thunder was followed by a sharp crack of lightning that lit up the entire room exactly like it’d done in JC’s room. The room faded to black and Joey’s eyes adjusted only to land on the apparition standing next to his bed.

“You should’ve kept a better eye on JC,” the apparition said before Joey could ask why it was there for the third time. “But it’s too late now.”

“What do you mean?” Joey asked.

“It’s too late,” the apparition repeated and disappeared without another word.

Joey’s stomach churned nervously. Something wasn’t right. He didn’t know what, but he had a feeling that it wasn’t good. Quickly he threw back the covers as the urge to check on JC grew stronger. Without a second thought as to what he was doing, he ran down the hall and pulled up short when he reached JC’s room.

Immediately he tried the doorknob because he knew that knocking was pointless since JC probably wouldn’t open it. It was locked. Blood pounded in his head as he stepped back and forcefully kicked the door open, not paying any attention to the pins and needles feeling in his feet. His eyes landed on JC who was kneeling on the floor and was dragging a knife across the palm of his left hand. Without thinking, Joey tackled JC to the floor and knocked the knife out of his hands as it clattered to the hardwood floor. He didn’t have any idea why he’d done that exactly, but he trusted his instincts.

“Guys!” he shouted as loud as he could.

Joey slowly sat back on his heels to allow JC to sit up, but kept himself ready in case he would have to pin JC again. JC sat up and slouched against the wall. “You should’ve let me finish,” JC said quietly.

“Finish what?” Joey asked. But before he could attempt to get an answer, footsteps could be heard rushing down the hall and Joey looked up as Justin, Chris, and Lance came in.

Lance frowned as his eyes caught sight of the candles and sigil on the floor. “What the hell…”

“Someone get me a towel!” Joey shouted, taking JC’s hand and inspecting it. It was bleeding freely and he knew that they had to staunch it somehow. His shout seemed to drag their attention to him and JC across the room, causing them all to spring into action.

Chris ran out of the room, but Lance stayed where he was in front of the candles. “What the hell happened?” Lance yelled. His eyes landed on JC. “What did you think you were doing?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Joey saw Justin rush forward towards him and JC and knelt down next to them. Justin frowned and reached out an arm to grab a piece of paper off JC’s bed.

“Lance,” Joey warned, glancing up at him, “Now’s not the time.”

“Justin…” JC moaned and tried to reach out to grab the note out of his hands. Justin was quicker than JC in his weakened state and easily held it out of his reach.

“Answer me, JC!” Lance shouted, ignoring him.

Joey glared at him. There were more pressing issues to deal with at the moment. “Lance!”

“I can’t believe you,” Justin said quietly, tearing his attention from the note to JC.

“What?” Lance asked, coming closer.

“He...” Justin’s eyes filled with tears and he had to look away from JC. “He was going to kill himself…summon the demon.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Lance shouted. “Of all the stupid, selfish…”

Chris came running back into the room at that moment and immediately knelt down on JC’s left side. He grabbed JC’s left hand and pressed the towel down on the open wound, causing JC to wince in pain. Quickly he glanced around the room and asked, “What’s going on?”

Lance let out a humorless chuckle. “You want to know what’s going on? JC was going to bring the demons here to kill him! That’s what’s going on!”

Joey looked over at Chris and saw the anger that was reflected back. He knew that he had to get their attention away from what JC had done right now and focus on the fact that JC was hurt instead. “Did you see anything we can wrap his hand with?” he asked Chris, cutting off what he was going to say.

It took Chris a few seconds, but he snapped his attention over to him. “No. We need gauze and hydrogen peroxide.”

“I guess we need to go to the store then.” Joey stood up and glanced over at Justin who was standing a foot away from where JC was sitting, but refusing to make eye contact with anyone other than the floor. “How about you come with me, J?”

Justin nodded silently. “You too, Lance,” Joey added. He knew that it would be a good idea to get both of them out of the house and away from JC for a little bit. Justin was upset and Lance had let his anger take hold of him.

Lance raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Three people to go to the store?”

“Yes,” Joey said firmly and turned back to look at Chris. “You’ll take care of him, right?”

Chris looked at Joey and nodded. “I’ve got him.”

Joey could see the anger smoldering behind his eyes, but knew that Chris wouldn’t let it cloud his judgment when it came to taking care of JC. “Call if you need something. We’ll be back soon.”