Lance awoke with a start, his heart hammering in his chest. He blinked rapidly as he tried to clear the sleep out of his eyes. It took a minute for his eyes to adjust to the pitch blackness of the bedroom, but when they did he realized that nothing looked out of place. So he hadn’t been woken from something falling.

But then what had? Lance let his head fall back against the headboard and tried to remember if he’d been having a nightmare. Nothing came to mind, but that didn’t put him at ease. An uneasy feeling had settled in his stomach in the few minutes he’d been awake, and it left him disconcerted.

He cocked his head to the side as he listened to the stillness of the house, trying to determine if something was wrong. There wasn’t anything that alerted him to danger that could be lurking somewhere in the house, but that did nothing to alleviate the pit in his stomach.

Without another thought, Lance eased himself out of bed and onto the plush carpet below. The silence of the house was comforting instead of suffocating like it would be if there was danger, so he wasn’t sure why he was feeling unsettled. But one thing he did know was that he had to check on the guys because otherwise he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep anytime soon.

Lance walked down the hall and peeked into the first room on the left. It was dark, but he could make out Chris sleeping on his stomach with his arm hooked around his pillow. Satisfied that he was fine, Lance continued his trek down the hall to Joey’s room.

Quietly, he pushed the partially open door further into the room and had to stifle a chuckle at the sight of his friend. Joey was sprawled across the twin bed with the comforter twisted around his legs, and the room was filled with his light snoring. That was normal for him, and Lance was glad to see that Justin’s vision hadn’t freaked him out enough to keep him awake.

He didn’t bother returning the door to its original position as he crossed the hall to check on Justin. When Lance poked his head into Justin’s room and saw that Justin was sleeping just as soundly as Chris and Joey were, he was left feeling silly that he’d considered something had happened. Except that the pit in his stomach hadn’t disappeared. And it wasn’t until he got to JC’s room that he understood why.

The door was open, which was odd but not alarming. But the empty bed was. Lance felt his heart leap into his throat, but he swallowed roughly and forced himself to take a deep breath. Just because JC wasn’t sleeping in his bed didn’t mean that something had happened; he’d been having trouble sleeping lately.

With that thought in mind, Lance pivoted on his right foot and hurried out of the bedroom for the stairs. His bare feet barely touched the cold linoleum of the foyer before he quickly glanced to his right into the dining room even though he was sure JC wouldn’t be in there. And the dark room with the faint glow from the streetlamp outside proved him right.

Lance swiftly crossed over to the office and flipped the light switch. Disappointment clouded his features because he’d figured that if JC hadn’t been able to sleep, that he would’ve gone there. But that feeling was quickly replaced with fear and worry as he spun out of the doorway, walking towards the living room and kitchen.

“JC!” Lance called within feet of the kitchen. Again there was no sign of his older friend as he turned the light on. His eyes briefly landed on the basement door before he yanked the door open and called down the stairs, despite the fact that he was pretty sure JC wasn’t down there.

“Where the hell are you?” Lance yelled as he slammed the basement door. A couple of strides led him into the living room, which was as void of JC as the rest of the house. As a last resort, Lance tried to utilize their connection to reach JC only to be blocked. That just made him worry even more. It was unnerving not knowing where he was.

Glancing to the left, Lance noticed that the back door was unlocked. The suspicion that JC had snuck out was confirmed when he walked to the front door and momentarily stepped outside to find that his car was missing. Lance sighed heavily as he felt the knot that’d been in his stomach since he’d woken up tighten as realization set in. JC was gone. As much as he didn’t want to believe it, there was no denying it.

“What’s going on?” a groggy voice asked just as he reentered the house and closed the door.

Lance turned so fast that he almost stumbled from the sudden movement. He saw Joey was standing there, rubbing tiredly at his eyes. Chris was behind him, leaning against the wall by the closet with his arms crossed as he yawned loudly. All of the yelling must’ve woken them up.

“JC’s gone,” Lance said grimly.

Joey abruptly stopped rubbing his left eye to frown at him. “What?”

“He’s gone,” Lance repeated, agitated. He took a few steps away from Joey and Chris towards his office before he froze in the doorway, tugging on his blonde spikes as he tried to get his scattered mind to focus.

There was no doubt in his mind where JC had gone. They should’ve been keeping an eye on him, but there was no time to dwell on that now. Lance knew that time was of the essence if they wanted to find JC before something happened. So he turned around to retrieve his shoes out of the hall closet.

As Lance slipped on his sneakers, Joey asked, “Where are you going?”

“Where the hell do you think I’m going?” Lance snapped as he stood up, glaring at Joey. He took a step forward and grabbed a pair of keys off the small table that was pressed against the opposite wall. The Tar Heels keychain told him they were Justin’s.

“Where’s Justin?” Lance didn’t even bother to wait for a response before he leaned over the railing and yelled up the stairs. “Justin!”

“Lance,” Joey began, but Lance ignored him as he swiftly moved toward the kitchen.

Lance could hear soft footsteps behind him and knew that Joey and Chris were following him. He could even hear Joey saying something. But he wasn’t paying them any mind. His attention was focused on trying to get everything together that they could possibly need for when they caught up to JC.

Grabbing the knives that had been purified the night before, Lance set them on the table as he suddenly remembered that they’d probably need flashlights. So that set him in motion towards his office where he kept them in case the power was to go out.

“Lance,” Joey tried again as Lance passed him, but Lance continued on down the hall without bothering to respond to Joey. He’d just reached the foyer when a hand caught his shoulder and spun him to face Joey.

“Lance!” Joey lifted his other hand so that he was gripping both of Lance’s shoulders. “Slow down for a second, will you? Tell me what’s going on.”

“I can’t slow down! JC’s probably already at the cabin by now, ready to sacrifice himself. We can’t waste time,” Lance said, trying to shrug out of Joey’s grasp, but his grip was firm.

“You don’t know that’s where he went,” Joey said. “Maybe we went for a drive. You know how he gets.”

Lance nodded. “Yeah, I do. And that’s why we need to hit the road. We can’t let anything happen to him.”

“Nothing will,” Joey tried to assure him, but Lance could see that he was just as freaked as him. “I mean, he has the necklace.”

Lance sighed and looked up, his eyes catching Justin standing halfway down the stairs with a blank expression on his face. Just as Lance was about to ask if he was all right, Justin turned and walked back up the stairs.

“We need to see if he’s OK,” Joey said, drawing Lance’s attention back to him. Though, his eyes were still on the spot Justin had been standing just seconds ago.

Lance rubbed at his eyes, feeling the stress continuing to build behind them. “Yeah, I know.”

Lance wasn’t blind. He’d been able to see how much Justin had thought JC was onboard with the whole thing, so he knew that it must’ve been a blow to Justin to find out that JC had gone against that. Justin had every right to be upset. Hell they all did. But at the same time, Lance knew that they’d have to get a move on, and the sooner they made sure Justin was all right and got in the car, the better.

Movement swept passed him and Lance shook himself out of his thoughts as he saw Joey leading the way up the stairs with Chris right behind him. Lance followed them into JC’s room. At first he wasn’t sure why they were going to JC’s room instead of Justin’s, but then he figured Justin had probably wanted to see that JC was gone for himself.

“Oh my God,” Joey breathed.

Lance stepped further into the room and saw what Joey had seen. Justin was standing next to JC’s dresser with something in his hand. More specifically, JC’s Leo necklace that’d been covered in protective spells. If Lance were honest with himself, it wasn’t that surprising, especially when he thought about how much JC had fought them on it.

Just then Lance was startled when Chris suddenly punched the wall just above the desk, throwing the weight of his body behind it. A muttered curse escaped his lips as he retracted his hand, leaving a medium sized dent in the wall in its wake. The action had caught Lance off guard because while Chris was a physical person, he hadn’t said two words since he’d found out about JC up and leaving.

“How long has he been gone?” Joey asked, breaking the silence that’d settled over the room.

“I don’t know,” Lance said. “I just woke up and saw that he was gone.”

Joey glanced around the room before his eyes landed on Lance with determination and a hint of fear in them. “We can still catch him.”

Lance just nodded. He was glad that they were finally going to go after JC. But the pit in his stomach grew. There was so much riding on if they found JC before he managed to reach the cabin because if they ended up at the cabin, Lance knew they’d probably run into the demons. And that was something they weren’t prepared for.

“All right. Everyone throw on some jeans and meet downstairs in five minutes,” Joey said.

Chris immediately left the room, and Lance was about to follow him only to stop in the doorway when he realized that the other two weren’t behind him. Lance glanced over his shoulder to see Joey gently pulling the necklace out of Justin’s hands. Then Joey wrapped him in a bear hug.

“It’s all right, J. We’ll get him back,” Joey whispered. He looked up and his eyes connected with Lance’s before he nodded, signaling that he would take care of Justin. Lance backed out of the room to go get ready and grab some flashlights along with the weapons that were sitting on the kitchen table.

Ten minutes later the four of them were piled into Justin’s car as Joey backed out of the driveway. Joey had grabbed the keys off of Lance, saying that he’d drive, which had probably been a good idea because Chris thought Lance looked kind of distracted. But Lance was sitting in the passenger seat, most likely to give directions in case Joey wasn’t sure where he was going.

A heavy sigh came from his right and Chris turned his head to look at Justin. Joey had managed to snap him out of his daze to get him to change, but Justin seemed to be spacing out again. As Justin anxiously chewed at his thumbnail, Chris could feel his blood start to boil again.

JC was going to have hell to pay when they caught up to him. What he did was inexcusable because he knew how close they were to coming up with a plan. And instead of sticking around and waiting until they could go together, he’d snuck out in the middle of the night.

But what made it worse was that Chris had suspected that he’d do that. At least until last night, which just pissed him off more. He’d suspected JC was up to something from the minute that Justin had said JC was onboard, but he’d let JC convince him that he wasn’t, only to do exactly what Chris had thought he was going to do. And it all could’ve been avoided if he’d just paid more attention. That was what sent him over the edge.

“I’m such an idiot!” Chris exploded, forcefully kicking Joey’s seat. The motion startled Joey and the car jerked slightly as he quickly straightened the wheel so the car wouldn’t veer into another lane.

“Chris!” Joey reprimanded.

Lance turned his head, looking back at him with a frown on his face. “Why are you an idiot?”

“Because I knew he was up to something! And what did I do? Nothing!”

“You couldn’t have done anything to stop it,” Lance said.

“I could’ve stuck to my guns instead of letting him manipulate us,” Chris replied bitterly.

Joey frowned at him through the rearview mirror. “Manipulate? JC didn’t do that.”

Chris leaned forward so he could see into the front and narrowed his eyes. “He made us think he was in it. It was never his intention to go along with our plan.”

“If that’s true, shouldn’t there have been warning signs? Like not sleeping or something?” Joey asked.

“No.” Chris shook his head. “JC knew just the right amount of sleep to get so it wouldn’t tip us off either way. And it was the same thing with food. He ate enough to get us off his back, but not enough that we suspected something was up. Hell, he even made sure he fought with us occasionally because he knew I was watching him and full cooperation would’ve been suspicious.”

“He fought with us on purpose?” Joey replied, doubt evident in his voice. “Why would he do that?”

“To keep us from being suspicious! It would’ve tipped us off that something was wrong if he’d just gone along with purifying the weapons or putting protection on his necklace right away.”

“But he agreed to all of that stuff eventually,” Joey pointed out. Chris growled in frustration. He didn’t understand why they were having such a hard time believing what he was saying.

“Because he knew we’d worry and push for answers if he didn’t! He was so meticulous. He knew exactly how we’d react to every little thing he said or did. You can’t tell me that’s not disconcerting and so damn creepy,” Chris said.

“But that’s not JC,” Lance protested weakly. Chris could tell that he was finally starting to get through to them.

“You’re right,” Chris agreed. “It’s not, but we’re not dealing with JC. At least not the one we used to know.”

Lance frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about!” Chris exclaimed, growing agitated again. “All of this demon stuff has changed him. He’s become a better liar, better at keeping secrets, and manipulative. Not to mention he freaks over stuff he normally wouldn’t, his temper is worse than it ever was, and he’s so freakin’ obsessive over his privacy, it’s scary.”

“That may be true, but what can we do about it? He refuses help every time we try,” Joey said.

“Well, first we drag his stupid ass back home. Leaving was the final straw, so he doesn’t get a say in it anymore,” Chris replied.

Lance shook his head slowly. “I can’t believe he just took off.”

“Why the hell not? He’s been thinking about it for days!” Chris exclaimed.

“How do you know he was thinking about it?” Joey asked.

Chris rolled his eyes. “This is JC we’re talking about. When wasn’t he thinking about it?”

“But if that’s the case, then why didn’t he leave sooner?” Lance asked.

“Because he needed answers first, which he got through our research and that psychic chick. So he knew exactly what he had to do to end it. And then Justin had a vision. It was the perfect time for him to leave,” Chris explained.

There was a slight pause before Chris shook his head and muttered bitterly, “I should’ve known that sob story was full of shit.”

Joey glanced up in the rearview mirror to look at Chris, confusion evident in his expression. “What?”

“Last night he cried to me that he didn’t want to die, and I bought right into it. But then he just turns around and takes off to sacrifice himself to the same God damn thing we’ve been trying to protect him from!” Chris yelled.

“Chris, calm down,” Lance said.

“I will not calm down!” Chris yelled, punctuating each word with a kick to Joey’s seat.

“Chris!” Joey shouted as the car swerved again. “Do you mind? I’m trying not to kill us!”

“Well, we might die anyway because JC’s a sneaky bastard who can’t wait to sacrifice himself,” Chris muttered.

This time it was Lance that reprimanded him. “Chris!”

Chris didn’t say anything, but huffed in aggravation as he sat back in his seat. Part of him knew that he shouldn’t have said some of the things that he had, but he couldn’t help it. He’d never felt this angry before, especially because of something one of the guys had done.

A tense silence settled in the car. After a minute or two, Joey opened the center console with one hand and reached inside. He started rummaging through it, keeping an eye on the road as he did so.

“What are you doing?” Lance asked as Joey pulled out a CD.

“I can’t just sit here in silence for two hours. I need something to take my mind off it,” Joey said. He glanced down at the CD in his hand and frowned. “Dear Goodbye?”

Justin, who hadn’t said anything since they’d gotten into the car, let out a strangled “no” before he started crying. Chris’s attention immediately whipped to his youngest friend, and he slid along the leather bench of the backseat to sit next to him. He wrapped a comforting arm around Justin’s shoulders.

“What’s wrong, J?” Chris asked, softly.

“It’s all my fault,” Justin choked out. “I should’ve realized…”

Lance frowned. “Realized what?”

“JC was…saying…goodbye,” Justin said.

Chris looked at Justin confused before he glanced at the CD that Joey was still holding in his hand. “On the CD?” he asked Justin.

Justin nodded slowly as tears continued to run down his face. “He…recorded it…when I was with him. I…I knew it was about…what’s happened. But I didn’t…I didn’t think he would…”

“Joey, put in the CD,” Chris said. He wanted to hear exactly what Justin had heard.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Joey said.

Chris glared at him and firmly demanded, “Put in the damn CD.”

There was a heavy sigh from the front before Joey passed the jewel case to Lance who opened it and inserted it into the thin slot. Lance adjusted the volume so that the opening notes of the song could be heard throughout the entire car.

Chris could hear the agony and hopelessness as JC poured his heart out in the song. Hearing the raw emotion made Chris’s heart ache for JC, knowing just how much pain JC had been holding onto ever since this stuff with the demons started. It made him feel sorry for JC and what he was going through because it really did sound like he didn’t want to die.

But Chris’s anger immediately resurfaced as he remembered that JC had been the one to inflict that pain on himself. It’d been his decision to take off and sacrifice himself to the one thing that’d been after him for the past twenty years. JC could’ve spared himself the pain of leaving them if he’d just stayed put and waited until they went to the cabin together.

Past the point of reasons
I just want you to believe
That it's not your fault 

Justin cried harder, sobs wracking his body as Chris tightened his hold on him. Chris couldn’t help but think how selfish JC was for leaving like he did. Out of all of them, Justin had been the one to have the most faith in JC when he’d acted like he was onboard. And JC wasn’t stupid. He had to have known that Justin would be crushed when he found out that JC was gone.

But then he’d just done it anyway without any regard for Justin and his feelings. It definitely had to be one of the most selfish things that JC had ever done because he’d always been the one to take care of Justin and yell when Chris and Joey had taken things too far.

How could JC dying be what was best for them? Chris let his eyes fall on Justin who was still crying, and it didn’t seem to have an end in sight. If Justin was this distraught now, Chris hated to think what would happen if JC actually died. But he knew that it wouldn’t be pretty because he could easily see Justin falling into a depression and refusing to leave his house. And he would probably cry all the time.

As Chris let his eyes drift to Lance in the passenger seat, he wasn’t even sure if the other guys would be able to support Justin if JC died. Lance was chewing on his fingernails, staring out of the rainy window with a distant expression on his face. Chris knew that Lance would react similar to Justin in that he’d become withdrawn and distant. When something bothered him he always threw himself into his work. And if that happened, Lance would end up being a hermit who rarely left his house, except to go to the office.

The car jerked forward as more pressure was applied to the gas pedal, drawing Chris’s attention to Joey. He was clutching the wheel tightly with both hands. Almost to the point where his knuckles were turning white, which was the complete opposite of the relaxed position that Joey normally drove in. It was easy to see the stress that Joey was feeling already, and Chris knew that it would increase tenfold if JC died, forcing Joey to go back to drowning his sorrows in alcohol. Last time he’d nearly become an alcoholic, so Chris had no doubt in his mind that it would actually happen if JC didn’t come out of this alive.

And Chris didn’t want to have to be the one to pick up the pieces, but he knew that he’d have to be the rock. However, that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be affected by JC’s death. For as pissed as he was with JC at that moment, Chris knew that it would only get worse if JC succeeded in sacrificing himself. He would be bitter and resent JC, despite the fact that JC believed he was the doing the right thing for them. And that wasn’t how Chris would want to remember him.

Tuning back to the song, Chris felt some of that bitterness grow as he heard JC sing “the days go by and things get better.” It grated on his nerves to hear it yet again since it’d been repeated numerous times throughout the duration of the song, especially since it just reminded him of the conversation he’d had with JC the night before.

Chris had told JC that they would fall apart without him and JC had said, “Maybe at first. But after time, things’ll get better.”

And hearing it so many times in the song was such a slap in the face. It made him feel like JC didn’t truly understand how messed up they’d all be with him gone, and that he hadn’t listened to a word Chris had said to reinforce it. Because as far as he was concerned they wouldn’t be better off without JC, despite what he thought.

The fading notes sounded through the speakers before the CD began to replay the track. Immediately Lance reached out and turned it off. They certainly didn’t need to hear it again. Chris gently detached himself from Justin to give him some room because he seemed to have calmed slightly. At least compared to his sobbing earlier.

“We should’ve talked to him,” Lance said a few seconds later. “I mean really talk to him.”

“What difference would it have made?” Chris snapped. “He’s too damn stubborn to listen to us.”

“We still should’ve tried,” Lance insisted.

“It wouldn’t have worked. Once he gets an idea in his head, there’s no changing his mind,” Chris said.

“Are you OK, Just?” Joey asked, interrupting their conversation as he looked in the rearview mirror.

Chris turned to look back at Justin and saw that he shrugged his shoulders noncommittally even as tears streamed silently down his cheeks. Scooting closer to him, Chris said, “It’s all right to be upset. JC’s a total asshole for taking off like he did.”

“Chris!” Lance admonished before he turned to look at Justin. “I think what Chris is trying to say is that what JC did is horrible and it’s OK to be angry with him.”

“He promised me,” Justin said brokenly. He brought his blue eyes up to meet Chris’s brown ones. “He never used to break promises.”

Chris slung an arm over Justin’s shoulders. “But remember what I said? This guy we’re chasing isn’t JC. Because you’re right, our JC never breaks promises.”

“And we’ll get him back,” Joey added. “You can be sure of that.”

“And you can be the first one to kick his ass when we do,” Chris said and smiled slightly when Justin’s lips upturned a fraction as he tried to wipe away his tears.

Chris’s heart hurt as he watched Justin try to compose himself. This was already hard on him and they hadn’t even dealt with the demons yet. He watched Justin continue to wipe at his eyes with sleeve of his t-shirt and vowed that he was going to kill JC for putting Justin through this. If he wasn’t dead already.