Penny smiled at her son as he finally returned from upstairs. She was sitting at the counter reading a magazine.
"Everything alright? It was awfully quiet up there."
Collin sighed and sat on the barstool next to her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Yeah, everything is fine. Uh...mom...I..." Collin scratched the back of his head with a small chuckle.
Penny put down her book, offering Collin her full attention.
"I think I'm going to be, um, moving into the guest room with Logan."
Penny cocked her head briefly as she pondered the meaning of the words, then she pursed her lips, "Oh, I see."
"Is that okay with you?"
Penny smiled, "Of course it is, honey. As long as you're happy, that's all I care about." Penny kissed her son's cheek.
Collin sighed, "I still don’t think I'm gay...I mean, I've never been attracted to a...man before, but somehow Logan..." Collin stopped talking as he realized he had no explanation, but at this point it didn’t matter to him, "I just...didn't want to feel like we—I—had to sneak around."
"I know, Collin...I've been suspecting there was more than meets the eye between you two but the last time I'd suggested it, I remember how much it had upset you."
"I was...a different person then." It was amazing for Collin to fathom that he'd truly hated Logan enough to want him dead at one point. No, not hated...feared. He'd sensed the attraction towards the mage almost immediately; a raw, sexual energy that rolled off of Logan. In truth, Collin wasn't entirely certain he could have resisted, even if he'd continued to fight the seduction.
"I love him...damned if I understand why, but I do." Collin sighed, dragging his fingers through his hair.
"Don’t try to rationalize it, sweetheart." She beamed at him, "I'm pleased to see you so happy again, and proud of you for following your heart."
The doorbell rang and Penny got up to answer as Collin poured himself some coffee. A few minutes later, she called desperately to him,
"Collin, honey, there is someone here..."
Philip Wahl's voice surprised Collin with its volume. "Where is he? Where the hell is that mage??"
Collin met Philip in the hallway; the other man was pacing and wringing his hands.
A sense of dread hit Collin at the base of his spine. "Phil?"
"Have you seen what's on the news?" Philip demanded, his eyes looked wild and were raw with tears.
Collin kept a small television in his kitchen and Penny followed close behind him—as anxious as he was to find out what could have caused Philip to be so upset. When Collin turned it on, he saw a large building engulfed in flames with a few smoldering school buses parked outside. The news ticker running along the bottom of the screen confirmed that it was a private school in Oregon where a riot had occurred.
"That's where she is—Samina—I'm certain of it! Someone suspected there were mages among the students—a group confronted them...and..."
"Mom, could you go get Logan?" Collin asked urgently, trying to comfort Philip until they could get some answers from the only man who might have something to offer.
Penny nodded and hurried from the room as Collin tried to calm his friend. Philip was teetering very close to a dangerous edge. One of the side-effects of the Felsyrum the Templars used was that it opened certain parts of the brain where imagination and emotion were housed. After several years of taking the drug, it often didn’t take much to make them snap, and Philip, Collin could tell, was on the verge of breaking down. Hopefully Logan could say something to reassure Philip and calm the situation.
*****
Logan felt a sense of dread as he heard Philip Wahl's voice downstairs. He had no idea what the problem was, but had an intense foreboding that everything was about to change. As Logan followed Penny downstairs, he could hear the television in the next room. He felt heavy sludge forming in his gut as Collin approached him looking grim.
"Logan...the school where Samina is...can you tell me the name?" He asked in measured tones.
"Why? What's happened?" Logan looked over Collin's shoulder at the live image on the screen of the fire, and his heart froze in his chest.
"There has been a mage-riot in a private school in Oregon...several students suspected of being mages were killed, and I think Philip deserves to know if his daughter was one of them."
Logan's mouth worked as he tried to comprehend what was happening. This was a perfect opportunity to cover his lie forever by claiming that Philip Wahl's daughter was among the dead, but something inside of him, like a suppressed sense of conscience, wouldn't let him maintain the lie. He glanced at Collin with the knowledge that by telling the truth, anything they might have had together would burn right along with that school.
"No. She's not in that school..." Logan said as Philip came up behind Collin. The man's eyes were red with tears.
"She's not in any school." Logan murmured and turned away.
"Wait—what did you say?" Collin asked him, a sick feeling beginning in the pit of his stomach.
"What's he talking about? Goddamn it, mage, where is my little girl?" Philip demanded, pushing past Collin to confront Logan.
Logan spun to face him, knowing that what he was about to say would ruin any chance he had with Collin ever again. So much for him not abandoning him—if anything, Collin would hand him over to the Red Seal in a body bag.
"She's in your head." Logan answered coolly.
It seemed to take Philip nearly a minute to process what Logan was saying, and when he finally did, he backhanded the mage viciously across the face, knocking him to the floor.
Penny cried out and started to rush towards Logan but Collin caught hold of her as Philip pulled out his gun. He pointed the weapon at Logan. The gash on Logan's face had split wide open again and blood ran from the gash, made larger by Philips strike. Logan looked up at Philip, but made no move to defend himself.
"You sonofabitch! You put that in my head! You could have ruined my life over a fucking lie!"
"Philip, put the gun away." Collin said steadily, trying to figure out why Logan hadn't conjured his defensive shields. Any other mage would have been surrounded by an aura of protection, and he certainly knew that Logan was capable of such power. Logan crouched on the floor, resigned to his fate, but it was difficult for Philip not to see his lack of reaction as defiance.
Philip's body was trembling but his hand holding the gun remained steady, "No—not until this piece of shit is dead!"
Everything happened so quickly that Collin felt like he was stuck in slow motion. Philip fired one shot at the same time Collin charged him, slamming into him with his body. But despite the intervention, the bullet struck Logan in the chest, ripping through him and sending him to his back.
Penny cried out and rushed towards Logan; as Philip hit the floor, the jolt caused him to squeeze the trigger a second time. There was a flash of violet as Logan threw up a shield in front of Penny, absorbing the stray bullet that would have hit her in the head.
Philip wailed as he realized that in his blind anger, he'd nearly killed an innocent woman. Collin scrambled off of Philip and to his mother as the shield dissolved and the heavy bullet dropped to the floor.
"Mom!" Collin embraced her, knowing that Logan had just saved her life, but had done nothing to try and spare his own.
"I-I'm alright..." She said, trembling in her son's arms. "Is Logan...?"
"Call 9-1-1!" Collin barked at Philip, but he was too stunned to react.
Collin released his mother and realized how badly he was shaking as well. He pulled together his composure as Templar Commander and returned to Wahl who was still curled up on the floor in tears.
"Give me the gun, Phil." Collin said calmly, reaching out his hand as he crouched down.
Phil turned his head like it weighed a hundred pounds to look at the weapon in his hand. Slowly and mechanically he turned the gun and handed it to Collin, then his dark eyes met Collin's face as if just noticing him.
Collin received the gun and emptied it of the rest of its ammunition. His jaw clenched as he tried to remain in control of the situation and his emotions. He could hear Penny behind him on the phone, calling for an ambulance from the kitchen. Her voice was clear but trembling, and Collin dreaded having to face the rest of this situation. Logan's breathing was hitched, and Collin recognized the sound of the air rattling through a damaged lung.
He put the bullets in his pocket and turned slowly to make his way to Logan.
"Penny—?" Logan choked as Collin reached him.
"She's fine...how are you?" He answered grimly. He felt nauseous. He understood Wahl's reaction too well, as he'd come close to wanting to do the same thing to Logan at one time, and he couldn’t say that if he was Wahl, he wouldn’t have followed though. But he'd fallen in love with Logan, and seeing him like this was tearing him up from the inside, despite the gravity of the lie.
"Doesn't matter." Logan smiled weakly, trying not to cough.
Collin moved Logan's shirt aside to check the wound. The bullet had gone into the left of his sternum, dangerously close to his heart. Blood bubbled from the wound as Logan struggled to breathe.
Behind Collin, Wahl was moaning, "Why in the hell did he have to be in my head?? Why couldn’t he have used you??"
"Because he couldn't." Collin answered him grimly without turning. The realization that he would have if he could, caused Collin to close his eyes as he swallowed back the stinging bile that rose to his throat.
"The Sanctuary..." Logan murmured, getting Collin's attention once more. The Veil...is thin there. That's where they'll be."
"Stop talking—we have to get you to the hospital."
"Ambulance is on its way." Penny confirmed, wringing her hands
Logan shook his head, desperately gripping Collin's sleeve, "You can’t let them drug me...please, kill me."
"Not going to happen," Collin shook his head, understanding that, in a plainblood hospital, they would have to operate and that would mean a general anesthesia; that is, if they would accept him into a regular human hospital.
"Demons...will...take me..." Logan pleaded.
"Then I'll just have to come in after you." Collin replied softly, but he was concerned by Logan's words. It was his job to kill a mage who had become a profane by demonic possession; and to make an exception in Logan's case would put every human life at risk. He looked down at the gun in his hand.
Logan sighed, not believing that Collin meant his words for a second. Even if he did, he was less concerned about Collin going in than what would come out. He felt a sense of bitter relief as Collin contemplated the pistol, although inside his heart was breaking. He'd brought all of this on himself through his lies, yet he'd never expected he'd care so much about it...so much about Collin.
*****
The police arrived, attending to Wahl, with the EMTs entering behind them.
One of the emergency technicians frowned down at Logan. "He's a mage—no can do."
Collin glared up at the man, "He's been shot."
"Sorry, Mister, it's against the law..."
Collin stood up and pulled out his badge, "He's under Templar protection and it's vital that he stays alive. You'll transport him to the mage infirmary in Spiretown—I'm giving you that legal authority."
The technician looked at his partner, then at one of the cops who nodded, and bobbed his head, "Okay; let’s get him loaded—he's lost a lot of blood."
Collin watched how the plainblood EMTs handled Logan carefully—not necessarily for his comfort, but out of concern for themselves. Still, they were caregivers, and so they did the best they could to treat him as a human being despite considering him otherwise.
"Sir, we're going to require a Templar in the ambulance with him in case..." The man didn't say it, but Collin understood. In case a demon took over.
Collin looked back at his mother who waved him away,
"Go with Logan, I'll take care of things here."
He nodded grimly then followed the stretcher as the attendants loaded Logan into the waiting ambulance. A small group of interested neighbors and passersby were loitering outside, and gasps and murmurs went through the crowd when they caught sight of Logan and the man following the stretcher with a gun. Collin could imagine their assumptions, even if he couldn’t hear them. A mage outside of Spiretown, shot in a plainblood's home. If Logan and the city survived, Collin would have a lot of explaining to do to the media to keep misguided panic in check.
Collin had no idea what was going to happen as far as Philip was concerned. However, he was certain his mom really could handle things. She was a strong woman—a lot stronger than he'd ever given her credit. He'd have to be sure to tell her, assuming they all survived.
Logan smiled weakly when Collin sat down on the bench beside him, but Collin could see the tears and watched as they rolled from the mage's eyes. He swallowed the lump in his own throat.
"No drugs." Collin warned the man who prepared an IV.
"Just fluids," the EMT explained and started the IV line.
Logan sighed and stared up at the round disk of light above him. He didn't really want to die, not anymore, but if he had to, he hoped Collin would be the one to kill him. The Templar Commander had certainly earned that right.