Phantasm by Mare, Chaos, Bianca, Jenna, RokofAges75, mersey, swenglish
Summary: So what happens when one night you are bored and suddenly get this stupendous idea to gather together your absolute favorite authors and ask them to collaborate on a story, each author taking one chapter as predetermined by moi? Well you get Phantasm... There really is no summary of what it is about because the stories plot will constantly be twisting and turning.

This is another old one guys lol never posted on AC as a finished story and written by a gabillion people :O)
Categories: Fanfiction > Backstreet Boys Characters: None
Genres: Action, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Humor, Science Fiction, Supernatural, Suspense
Warnings: Death, Graphic Violence, Violence
Challenges:
Series: None
Chapters: 21 Completed: Yes Word count: 47826 Read: 33980 Published: 01/13/07 Updated: 01/13/07

1. just a brief intro before we start lol by Mare

2. Chapter 1 ~ written by Chaos by Mare

3. Chapter 2 ~ written by Bianca by Mare

4. Chapter 3~ written by Swenglish by Mare

5. Chapter 4~ written by Susan by Mare

6. Chapter 5 ~ written by Julie by Mare

7. Chapter 6 ~ written by Kat by Mare

8. Chapter 7 ~ written by Jenna by Mare

9. Chapter 8 ~ written by Mersey by Mare

10. Chapter 9 ~ written by Mare by Mare

11. Chapter 10 ~ written by Jennifer Stevens by Mare

12. Chapter 11 ~ written by Kritter by Mare

13. Chapter 12 ~ written by Julie by Mare

14. Chapter 13 ~ Written by Bianca by Mare

15. Chapter 14 ~ written by Mare by Mare

16. Chapter 15 ~ written by Susan by Mare

17. Chapter 16 ~ written by Eboni by Mare

18. Chapter 17 ~ written by Mersey by Mare

19. Chapter 18 ~ written by Susan by Mare

20. Chapter 19 ~ written by Mersey by Mare

21. Epilogue ~ written by Eboni and Mare by Mare

just a brief intro before we start lol by Mare
Author's Notes:
AM I posting all these new stories to get out of having to update my newer ones? Ermm...perhaps? lmao Sorry about my horrendous lack of updates. I am trying to write, but I thought you might like this one. This story is how I met most of the great fanfic writers out there. Many of these people no longer write, sadly. But many of them still do.
So, before we just jumped into this story, I wanted to give you a little bit of background.

When I started to get into fanfic I never wrote and only ever read and I was so blown away by the talent of some writers out there that through giving them feedback etc...I was inspired myself to write.

One day I decided how cool would it be to get in touch with all of these people and see if they would all like to collaborate on one big monster sized story. With all of our different writing styles etc... I thought it would be interesting to have to go along with whatever the last person was writing.

There was no discussion about plot, no Iming about storylines and characters. Part of our goal was to just try to jump in and continue as best we could, only working from what we had.

Sometimes we did this well...sometimes we did not lol

So, as you read, I hope you enjoy. :O) This story brings back fond memories for me, of a time when BSB was all over the place and you could click onto any of a number of websites, and see tons of new chapters of great stories popping up.

So without further adieu...I give you Phantasm

:O)

Writers:

Chaos - (Ground Zero)
Bianca - (Happenstance)
Swenglish - (Swollen Issues)
Susan - (Scared of Reality)
Julie - (Broken)
Kat - (Can You Keep a Secret)
Jenna - (Swollen Issues)
Mersey - (On the Run)
Mare - (Mizpah)
Jennifer Stevens - (Snapshots)
Kritter - (so clue lol sorry Kritter)
Eboni - (Boys in the Basement)
Chapter 1 ~ written by Chaos by Mare
phantasm (phan-tazm)
1. An image formed by the mind, and supposed to be real or material; a shadowy or airy appearance; sometimes, an optical illusion; a phantom; a dream.
2. In Platonic philosophy, objective reality as perceived and distorted by the five senses.


1993

It was the strongest that he'd ever felt it.

The pull.

Something was coming. The same something that he'd felt lurking on the edge of reality every night of his life. His mother had humored him despite the fact she obviously didn't believe him that it was real. His dad? He hadn't been quite as inclined to humor and had just repeated that there was nothing out there. Nothing was lurking under the bed and nothing was hiding in the closet. And his dad had seemed to get more annoyed each time he brought up his fear until finally he'd stopped mentioning it. His little sister, the one time he'd told her about it, had laughed and called *him* a baby for being afraid of the dark.

He learned then not to speak of it, but to lie awake in silence each night, terrified that this would be the night that whatever it was that was out there would break through and take him. And it was *him* that they were coming for, that he knew. He felt as though he was a magnet, drawing it to him with enough strength to bring it near, but not enough to pull it through to his world.

But tonight was different. The pull was stronger. Tonight was the night it would break through and take him. That he knew, beyond a doubt.

He peeked from beneath the covers, glancing at each of his roommates for the night. They all had it, too. The pull. He'd never felt it in another person before--not his mom, not his dad, his sisters or even his brother. But he felt it in each of these four guys. Though it was auditions, luck, and being in the right place at the right time, he couldn't help but feel like they were meant to find each other. He'd felt it the first time he'd met each of them. It was like he'd been drawn to them as the...thing was drawn to him. He wondered if the other guys felt it too, or if they just felt the bond because of the music they were creating together.

It was the first night that they were all together, sharing a room on the tour. Management had said that it was so that they could get used to each other and spending a lot of time together in small quarters. The other guys had complained a little but he hadn't. Though he'd never admit it to these guys, he was scared of sleeping alone. But he knew if he told them that it would just be one more thing they'd tease him about. As if being the youngest by almost a full two years wasn't bad enough?

Unexpectedly, though, he was even more scared now that they were all there together. Alone, they each had the pull. But together...it was going to be enough to pull the thing to this side of reality. He could feel it getting closer. The rest of them had all managed to fall asleep. Did they not feel it?

He pulled the blanket up as far as he could to feel safe and yet still be able to peek out at the room.

Sleep was not going to come to him that night.

***

2003

They used to have a nightly ritual.

It had been years since they'd all been together in one room to sleep, so Kevin couldn't recall exactly how it went, but as he looked over at his sleeping bandmates, he remembered it fondly. It was only fitting that here they were, 10 years later, all sharing the same hotel room again. Just like their first tour. And he was still the odd one out who got stuck on the floor. Well this time it was on the lush couch. Things had definitely changed.

The ritual started on their very first mini-tour as a group. He remembered that much. They'd all shared a room back then. Though management had given valid sounding reasons, Kevin knew it was likely because they didn't want to spring for an extra room or two since the boys hadn't yet started making profit for them. AJ and Nick were allowed to stay with their moms if they wanted to, but of course they'd opted to stay in the room with the older guys.

They'd stayed up late, watching movies and goofing off. Kevin had pulled the plug on the poker game when AJ had suggested that they raise the stakes from cookies to cash. And then Nick and Brian had accidentally broken a lamp while roughhousing. Kevin had been furious at the time, but now, years later, he remembered the incident affectionately.

Finally around 2am Kevin had made them all turn out the lights and go to bed. They had a show to do and people to meet in the morning. This could be the one that got them noticed. Not that he expected it to be, really. They were just getting started. But, you just never knew who was watching, so every performance had to be their best.

Howie and AJ had immediately claimed one of the hotel beds, and Brian and Nick quickly snagged the other, leaving Kevin to bunk on the floor. They gave him a blanket and an extra pillow to make up for it, but really, he didn't mind. At least he didn't when it came time for making sleeping arrangements. Mornings were a different story, when waking up with a stiff neck and sore back he'd mumble and curse (out of hearing range of AJ and Nick of course) until he got his coffee to settle him. But at night, the floor was fine with him. He was the oldest, and thus he would make a few sacrifices, looking out for the younger boys.

The rest of the boys had fallen asleep rather quickly that night. At least he'd thought they had. He himself was struggling with finding a comfortable position. Around 3am he'd decided that maybe he should get up and take a walk, see if he could make himself more tired. As he'd gotten up, he'd spotted Nick. The thirteen-year-old had the covers pulled up so far that just his eyes and shock of blond hair were visible. It would have been an amusing sight except that Kevin could see the fear glistening in the kid's wide-open eyes.

"Nicky?" he'd whispered as he moved to Nick's side of the bed. "You're still awake?" Nick had looked up at him, his look of fear quickly turning to a mixture of guilt and embarrassment. Kevin had smiled to let the kid know it was okay. "Can't sleep?" Nick had shook his head, looking even more embarrassed. "Yeah. Big day tomorrow huh? I'm having trouble sleeping too."

"Yeah," Nick had agreed, smiling at last and looking relieved. Too relieved, Kevin had noted. Obviously there was something else bothering the kid, though Kevin never found out what it was. He'd invited the kid to go for a walk with him, intending to find out what Nick was keeping from him. Nick had agreed, but Kevin couldn't remember what they'd talked about. Actually, he really didn't remember anything after that point at all. Though he couldn't recall it, he figured that they'd gone for a walk and by the time they'd gotten back, they'd dropped from exhaustion. The next day he'd been so tired that he'd pretty much sleepwalked through the whole day. He'd noticed the others doing the same. He didn't even remember their performance, but apparently it had been remarkably good because they'd gotten lots of gigs from people who'd seen them that day. But he knew that they really couldn't do any more days on such little sleep.

So that night was the first night they'd done the ritual. He couldn't remember who'd thought of it. It was as though they'd all just known to do it. He'd thought that if they did it, maybe it would help Nick get to sleep easier. Amazingly all of the guys had gone along with it without teasing Nick at all. And they'd done it every time they were all together at night whether it be in a hotel room or on the tour bus. They'd done it without question and without a single jibe at the youngest boy. It was just something they always did.

But tonight they hadn't done it. He hadn't even realized it until after the others had gone to bed.

He was sad as he realized that they'd all forgotten. Something that they'd done countless times together and they hadn't even thought about it. He hadn't either until he'd lain awake for a while.

He looked over at AJ and Howie, feeling momentarily sad. It was just a silly little ritual, he knew, but suddenly to him, it kind of represented what had happened to them as a group. They'd outgrown the ritual. And Kevin couldn't help but wonder if they had outgrown each other as well.

It was bound to happen, he supposed. They were all so young when they started out. Especially Nick and AJ. It was natural that they'd get older, get married, start families. And it was wonderful. He couldn't imagine life without Kristin, and wouldn't trade in his marriage for the world, but...it was still sad that he and the guys had barely even talked after their performance tonight. He missed them. They'd all just gone to the hotel room and crashed. And they hadn't even thought about doing the routine they'd done so automatically for years.

He smiled sadly at the thought as he switched his gaze to his cousin and Nick.

To his surprise, a pair of blue eyes was gazing back at him, peeking out from under the sheet much as they had a decade earlier. He couldn't help but grin at the sense of déjā vu as he moved over to Nick's side of the bed. Surely at 23, the young man couldn't still be afraid of the dark. "Nicky?" he asked. "Can't sleep?" Nick nodded, looking highly embarrassed. Good lord, he *was* still afraid. He'd never outgrown it!

Kevin sat on the edge of the bed and reached forward, tousling Nick's hair affectionately.

"We didn't do it," Nick whispered.

Kevin looked at him questioningly, though he suspected Nick was talking about the ritual. He smiled at the nervousness Nick was exhibiting. Nick had once said something about being young and crazy forever, and Kevin didn't doubt for a moment that the kid was right. And God bless him for it.

"The thing. We didn't do the thing..." Nick explained as he caught Kevin's look.

Kevin chuckled softly. "I was just thinking about that. I thought you all had forgotten."

Nick nodded, sitting up and letting the sheet fall. "They did. They all did. How could they forget?" he asked, looking around nervously. When his gaze returned to Kevin, the older man was startled to see the intense fear in the younger one's eyes.

"Whoa! Nicky, it's okay."

Nick shook his head insistently, his attention snapping to the other side of the room as if he'd seen something move. He relaxed slightly when he saw nothing but was still obviously still on high alert. Borderline panicking. "They're coming back, Kev," he whispered.

Kevin frowned. "Nick...nothing's coming. It's okay," he soothed, much as he had when the boy was younger. Boy. 23 was hardly considered a boy, but Kevin would probably always see him as one. Especially when he got freaked out like that.

Nick's eyes narrowed, then his look turned from one of fear to one of sorrow. "You forgot, too...didn't you?" he asked sadly.

Kevin smiled at him. "I didn't remember until they'd all fallen asleep," he admitted.

Nick shook his head insistently. "No...you still don't remember."

***

1993

"Yeah, big day tomorrow huh? I'm having trouble sleeping too," Kevin admitted.

"Yeah," Nick agreed, smiling in relief. The older boy didn't feel it. So maybe it wasn't real. It couldn't be real. His dad was right. After all, he felt the pull coming from Kevin as well, but Kevin didn't feel it. So it was just all in his head. All in his head. Nothing was coming.

"I'm going to take a walk. Get rid of some of this energy. Want to come? We'll just go around the block a few times or something and by then we'll be ready to come back and drop. How's that sound?"

Nick glanced over at Brian, who was still sleeping soundly. Looking over at the other bed, he saw that both occupants were sleeping peacefully as well. Without a care in the world; nothing more to worry about than the next day's performance.

It was all in his head, he reminded himself. He took a deep breath and looked back at the oldest of the group. He carefully extracted himself from the bed, trying not to wake Brian. Absently, he reached for the older man's hand as he headed for the door.

Kevin smiled down at the little blond boy. "Want to grab some pants, little man?" he asked, grinning at the fact that the boy seemed ready to go take their walk wearing only a t-shirt and briefs.

Nick turned a bright shade of red as he realized his state of dress. He pulled away from Kevin and headed for the closet to grab his jeans from his suitcase. He ignored Kevin's light chuckle as he pulled the closet door open.

He didn't have a chance to scream before something that he couldn't see slammed against him, knocking him to the floor, simultaneously pinning all of his limbs to the floor and filling his mouth with an invisible snakelike tentacle. He tried to scream as he felt it clogging his throat, but he couldn't breathe let alone cry out.

"Nicky?" he heard Kevin call out. He saw Kevin moving closer, staring at him as though he were on fire. He stared up at Kevin, wishing he could warn the older boy that the things were there. It wasn't in his head. They were real. And they were in his world. Kevin was on his knees at Nick's side. "Nick, breathe, kid!"

At that moment AJ began flailing wildly in his sleep. "No..." he moaned. A moment later, Howie's whimpers joined AJ's.

Kevin turned to stare at them. His first instinct was that this was some kind of joke, but...as soon as he had that thought he knew it was wrong. This was real. "Wake up!" he called loudly, starting to panic. What was going on? "Guys!" He whirled as a loud gasp came from Brian's bed. He turned to see his cousin bolt upright, his mouth and eyes wide open. Brian's hands went to his throat and began to claw as if something grasped him there. Kevin just stared, unable to make sense out of what he was seeing.

Nick felt tears rolling down his cheeks as he tried desperately to free himself from the thing that had him, but it was no use. It was much too strong and he was feeling faint. He tried once again to call out and managed to make a few gurgling sounds to get Kevin's attention.

Kevin stared wide-eyed down at his suffocating little brother. "Nick! Come on, breathe! You're...you're having some sort of seizure. Just relax and breathe..." Kevin seemed to be talking to himself. "911. Someone has to call 911," he continued to babble for a moment before he realized that he'd have to be the one to do it.

As he got to his feet, however, he felt something grabbing him and lifting him into the air. Before he could recover from the shock, he was slammed into the wall. He felt something pressing against him, crushing him. But there was nothing there! He could feel it, but he couldn't see anything! Nothing but the sight of his littlest brother's lips turning blue and his baby cousin's frantic clawing.

Then suddenly Howie was on his feet and rushing toward him. Straight at him. He was shocked as he saw the smaller man smash into something that seemed to be right in front of him, his arms encircling something invisible. As the small man fell backward to the ground he felt whatever had been crushing him go with Howie. He watched as Howie continued to struggle with something that he couldn't see.

He stared in horror as he turned his attention back to his littlest brother. That couldn't be real. He gaped as he saw his little brother's body sprawled as if in sleep. There was sweat on his forehead and it was obvious that he was in the throes of a nightmare. "Kevin!" the boy on the ground called out in his sleep. "Brian?" Kevin wanted to help him, but he was frozen by what else he was seeing. A ghostly image of his littlest brother struggling against an unseen enemy. It was apparent that whatever had him was trying to drag him into the closet. "Please! Someone!" Or what used to be a closet. Now it appeared to just be a gaping hole, dropping endlessly into darkness. "Please...someone help me."

"Nicky!" he screamed out, leaping forward and trying to grab at the ghostly figure, only to crash to the floor on the other side, having gone right through it.

Nick was in hell. It was dark. So very dark. And he was alone. He screamed and whirled around. One moment he'd been struggling to breathe and then he'd suddenly found himself here. Was he dead? He could feel his heart pounding though, so he couldn't be. "Kevin!" he cried out. "Brian?" he tried when he still got no answer. He began to run, hoping to find an end to the darkness, but there seemingly was none. His heart felt like it was going to explode at any moment. "Please! Someone!" he screamed again, tears starting to fall uncontrollably. He screamed as he felt something brush against his ankle, but as he turned to see what it was, he saw nothing. This was what he'd always feared most. Being alone. In the endless dark. Pitifully alone and vulnerable to attack. "Please...someone help me," he whimpered as he sank first to his knees and then completely to the ground where he curled up into a little ball, hoping to just hide from whatever was coming for him. And it was coming. He could hear it approaching.

It took Kevin a few moments to recover from his fall. As he stood up he saw that both AJ and Brian's bodies were deep in slumber as apparitions with their likenesses were being pulled away, like Nick's. He stared at AJ, who was mumbling something in his sleep. Kevin wasn't sure, but he could have sworn he heard something about clowns eating him.

"Stop them!" Kevin heard Howie yelling out, breaking him out of his daze. Kevin looked down at the smaller man who was still grappling with the invisible beast. "You have to stop them!"

Kevin sprang into action, this time leaping for whatever it was that seemed to be dragging Nick's...ghost to the closet. He felt himself strike a body that at once was solid but slimy. He couldn't see it, but he could sink his hands into it. He clawed at it desperately. "Let him go!" he growled, trying to get it to relinquish its hold on Nick.

No sooner had the thing let go, but Nick's ghost snapped back into his body and Nick leapt to his feet, whirling around, flailing his arms as though to ward off an attack.

"Nick!" Howie called out. "Help Brian!"

Nick stopped his flailing long enough to look around. He saw Brian's apparition being hauled along the ceiling. As if he innately knew what to do, he swung into action, grabbing the lamp that he'd accidentally broken earlier in the night and swung it at the creature that he couldn't see. A moment later Brian's ghost snapped back to his body and Brian fell from the bed with a soft cry.

Meanwhile Howie managed to get out from the creature he was battling and grabbed the creature that had AJ's ghost captive. Kevin joined him and kept pounding at the thing until AJ, too was released.

Nick grabbed Brian's arm and pulled him toward the other three. Within moments they stood in a circle, their backs to each other, warding off the creatures. "Link arms!" Nick cried out, as if he knew exactly what to do. "They can't take us all if we're together."

None of the others questioned him. He didn't know how he knew that it would work any more than he'd known they were going to come. But it was working. The beasts kept trying to take them, but they couldn't break the circle.

They stayed like that until dawn started breaking and then, all at once, the beasts disappeared. Like they had never been there.

Exhausted, each of them had crawled back into their beds and fallen into slumber. When they were wakened an hour later to prepare for their first show of the day, all remnants of the battle were gone, as though it had never happened. The closet was still a closet. The room was all in order. The lamp was even back on the table where it belonged, though nobody had noticed it but Nick.

And they never talked about what had happened that night. Nick had tried, but AJ had laughed and told him he must have one heck of a wild imagination. Like it had never happened.

Could he really not remember? And what of the others? They didn't seem to remember it either.

***

2003

They'd all forgotten. But he couldn't. He never would. He knew some part of them had to remember it, or they never would have done the ritual so religiously each night without ever questioning why.

Until tonight.

Kevin reached forward and ruffled Nick's hair again. "Tell you what, I can't sleep either. We could maybe play a game or two on that box of yours..." he suggested as he turned on the television, immediately turning the volume off. "For old times sake I can whip your heinie."

Nick smirked. "Heinie? Who actually *says* that?" he teased. "And since when have you *ever*--" he froze mid-sentence as he felt it intensify. The pull.

It was coming.
Chapter 2 ~ written by Bianca by Mare
It was coming,”Nick repeated aloud to himself. He was sitting on his hotel bed with his laptop—writing. “Okay, so I’m stuck now.”

A knock on his door interrupted his concentration and he quickly closed his laptop. “Just a sec,” he called. He knew it was one of the other guys—likely Brian or maybe AJ. They were coming to tell him to get ready to leave for the venue. Even after all these years they still treated him like a child that they had to take care of. “Doesn’t matter that I’m 23 years old,” he mumbled to himself.

When he opened the door, Brian smiled. “Hey man, just came to tell you that we’re gonna be leaving in about 20 minutes or so. Be ready.”

“’Kay.”

Nick didn’t understand why they still didn’t get the fact that he wasn’t a kid anymore. Sure he wasn’t always the most mature person, but he knew when it was time to be serious. With a sigh, he re-opened his laptop and read over what he had so far.

It was coming.

“It’s coming alright,” he said sadly.



***



“You’re late,” Kevin’s voice boomed across the empty arena.

“Yeah, sorry,” Nick said with little emotion. He heard Brian whisper something to his cousin, but couldn’t understand him.

“Where have you been?” Kevin asked, trying to keep his temper under control. Nick was almost an hour late and he had long been pissed.

“My mom called,” Nick said, looking at his older brother. As much as he loved the other four guys, he couldn’t wait to get home. They only had three more shows left before the tour was over, and Nick was becoming very impatient. “Sorry to keep you waiting with such petty things like my family.”

“Okay, that’s it.” Kevin had finally lost it. He was tired of Nick’s I-don’t-care attitude and he was going to put a stop to it. “I don’t know what crawled up your ass, but I think you need to get over it. We’ve busted our asses while you sit back and pity yourself and treat the rest of us like we’re bothering you.”

Nick looked at Kevin and walked up to him…keeping his eye contact. “You know what? To tell you the truth, I’m not happy any more. You guys—especially you Kevin—don’t treat me like a grown man. I’m tired of being talked down to and told what to do. You have to face the fact that you can’t control me anymore.” When Kevin made no attempt to comment, Nick continued. “After Friday I’m going home and I don’t intend on doing this anymore.”

“Nick-” Brian stopped when Nick held up his hand.

“I’ll be here for the show tonight, but I’m not staying here right now,” he turned and stalked off.

“Great going Kev,” AJ said sarcastically.


***

“That was a great show,” Howie said energetically as they all made their way backstage.

“Yeah,” Brian agreed.

“Hey,” AJ spoke up while wiping his face with a towel. “Why don’t we all go out tonight? A sort of celebration. One last night on the town.”

“Yeah,” Brian smiled. “I think we should.”

“I’m up for it,” Kevin said. Then they all looked at Nick.

“You guys can go, but I don’t really feel up to it. I have to finish packing anyway.”

“Come on Nick, for old time sake…” Howie tried to coax his fellow band mate.

“Y’all go and have fun.”

***

“BSB what time is it?”

Nick looked around at the group. He smiled and felt a rush of adrenaline course through him. He always loved right before they went on stage…they were all so excited. He glanced toward Brian who had the cheesiest grin on his face and he was bouncing as they chanted.

Howie was smiling, and as always, every few seconds he would wink at someone. Nick would never understand why.

Kevin, leading the chant, looked professional even in the silliest of times. Nick never thought he looked much like a musician, but he wouldn’t dare say that to Kevin. Instead, he kept it to himself.

AJ had dyed his hair…again. Tonight it was blue. Not quite as funky as some nights, but Nick guessed that AJ had gotten lazy.

As they finished their chant and prayer, they all lined up to go on stage. The crowd was going crazy with their continuous chant for the group. They had started the chant halfway through the opening act and it was still going strong.

“Okay, you guys ready?” Kevin’s voice boomed over the crowd. “Let’s go!”***

“Where do you think he is?” Brian asked, looking around at his fellow band mates. They had gone out without Nick, and now it was almost 3 in the morning. “He’s still not answering his cell phone.”

“Rok, you worry too much,” AJ mumbled. “You heard him today…we don’t treat him like a grown man.”

“Yeah, but we have a right to be worried about him,” Brian gave AJ a hard gaze. “I mean, what if something happened?”

“I doubt he even went out tonight, Brian,” Kevin’s voice broke the silence that had fallen over them.

“Uh, yeah he did Kev. I saw him leave,” Howie told them. “I figured it wouldn’t do any good for me to question him about it. I thought it would just piss him off, ya know? He left right before we did.”

Brian turned his gaze toward the passing buildings. He couldn’t believe what was going on. Nick was upset at all of them and he could be anywhere. Brian tried calling his cell phone one last time. He thought maybe Nick would finally answer, but he had no such luck.

“Just don’t worry anymore,” AJ said. “He told us how he felt today. He’s a big boy so we can just let Nicky take care of himself.”

***

Nick stumbled down the sidewalk of a street he wasn’t familiar with. He glanced at his watch and barely made out 4:36 am. He had been to nearly every bar he had passed and gotten a drink. Now, he was completely wasted and he didn’t know his right from left.

“The guys are gonna kill me,” he slurred to himself. Almost loosing his balance, he began to laugh. “That was a close one.”

Looking around the dark street, Nick tried his best to remember which direction he was supposed to go in order to make his way back to the hotel. His mind, however, wasn’t cooperating with him. He had no clue where he was and there was no one around for him to ask.

“What will the guys think? I’m sure this won’t be good for our image,” he chuckled drunkenly. “Oh, never mind. There isn’t an image to uphold anymore, is there? Nope…sure isn’t. I can do what ever the hell I want to and get away with it.”

Suddenly, Nick heard something behind him. He turned slowly so he wouldn’t fall, but didn’t see anyone. He shrugged to himself and decided it was his imagination running wild. After all, alcohol had that affect on him. “What was I saying?” he continued to think aloud.

Before Nick knew what was happening, Nick heard footsteps quickly approaching him. Then without any warning at all, he felt a bottle come crashing down against the back of his head. Everything was quickly fading, but he managed to stumble a few more feet before he lost all consciousness. He never saw his attacker and the satisfied smile on their face.

***

“Hello?” Kevin’s voice was thick with sleep when he answered his cell phone. Looking at the clock on his bedside table, he saw the large, red numbers read 5:58. We don’t have a wake-up call, he thought, confused.

“May I please speak with Kevin Richardson?” a polite female voice asked.

“This is Kevin. May I ask who this is?”

“Mr. Richardson, I’m Joanna Merritt from Memorial hospital,” she began her tone grave. “I’m afraid I have some bad news. We just had a young man brought in unconscious and he had your name and number on his emergency contact card.”

“Oh my God. Nick?” he questioned, alarmed. He knew what her answer was before she even spoke.

“Mr. Carter was found on Lincoln Avenue a short while ago. Apparently, he was assaulted with a beer bottle. He has some rather severe abrasions on the back of his head and he is still unconscious at the moment.”

Kevin sat completely shocked. Nick was assaulted. Who could have done this? Who would want to do this? he thought to himself trying to find any reason that came to mind. He couldn’t think of anything. “I’ll be there in a few minutes,” he told Joanna and ended the call. Kevin then immediately made his way to wake up the other three. He didn’t remember ever getting them up…it was all a blur to him. The only thing that kept racing through his mind was Nick. He was attacked and no one knew why. There had to be some reason, but nothing that Kevin could think of. They just had to pray that Nick was going to be all right.
Chapter 3~ written by Swenglish by Mare
The ride over to the hospital was in complete silence. None, not even AJ said anything and the usual chatter and comments that could be heard were replaced with a fog thick with fear. Fear that something would happen to their little brother, the youngest member in the group.

Nick unconscious. Getting hit with a bottle in his head. Seriously injured.

It was all too surreal and for the first time since AJīs drug rehab, their existence was threatened again. People, especially in the music industry had predicted the group's ending. Especially when Nick was going solo, but they had surprised them all by popping up. Like Jack in the box.

They were immortal. Or where they? The thoughts swirled in their heads. Thoughts that Nick was more injured that the doctors had let on. Thoughts that this was a serious situation.

"Weīre here." The driver announced stopping at the entry at the hospital. Curious people stopped, looking at the black long Limo with tanned windows. Waiting to see which celebrity would come out, drugged to their gills. They could thank their lucky stars that it was dawn and the worst morning rush was yet to come. No reporters had made their way to the hospital which indicated that the "accident" wasnīt out in the news yet.

"Great" Kevin uttered, opening the cardoor. He was as always taking the lead and with no words he marched straight to the hospital entrance. The moment he heard about his friends accident he had at first thought the worst. To survive, all emotions had been pushed aside. Kevin was a man that worked best when he was under pressure, although the pressure back in the early days had given him an ulcer. Those days he always had to be perfect. Never making a mistake. Kristin was the one that told him that it was all right to fail. To screw up every once in a while in life.

Kevin Richardson had matured. He was an adult.

Tight in Kevin's pace came the rest of the men, still not saying anything. Walking through the glass doors the smell of hospital crashed against them and Brian shielded away. Even if it was several years since his heart surgery it still gave him the hives when it came to hospitals. He detested the smell of disinfection and if he could he tried to avoid this place as much as possible.

The short man was unnaturally quiet as he walked into the emergency room, nodding to a nurse that looked like she had seen a ghost. Hospital personnel were whispering something and Brian couldnīt help but smile. It was the same wherever they went. People acting like they were coming from outer space. At first Brian had thought it was kind of flattering, then he thought it had been annoying and these days he didnīt care. It had become part of life. His life.

"You all right?" Howie asked, putting a hand on Brian's shoulder. There was concern in his friend's voice, as always. Howie or Sweet D' as his friends called him, was concerned about everyone's well being. He was the band's shrink as well as the negotiator. At first Brian had thought he was annoying being so nice and tidy. But then he had found out that Howie had a heart of gold and these days he was happy to be the Latino's friend. Everybody used to say that Brian was the glue in the band, the one that kept them all together but the Kentuckian knew better.

It was Howie.

"Yeah, I guess so," Brian mumbled, not knowing if he meant what he said. He was taught never to let his guard down. Never to say when something was making him sad or angry. For a long time he lived like that, smiling all the time. Smiling that famous Backstreet smile. Just like Nick. But not anymore. He didnīt need anyone else to rule his life and nowadays he was independent. It was freedom. He was a grown man like the rest. But what had changed him the most was when he had became a dad and now he never left home without his wife and baby son. They were the sunshine in his life. The ones that he lived for.

"I'm sure that everything will be just fine" Howie said comfortingly, giving away a squeeze on the shoulder.

Brian nodded. "I hope so."

His first reaction when he had heard that Nick had been in an accident, had been that the young man was wrapped up in another drunken fight. Nick had a hot temper and there was more than one occasion that he had to pay that price. Then Brian had heard that someone hit his friend with a bottle and he had gotten concerned. The hospital had told them that Nick was still unconscious and that he was seriously injured. This news hit Brian hard. Much harder than he had ever thought was possible.

Nick was seriously hurt. His friend who he had grown up with and come to love like his own flesh and blood. His little brother.

"Man, this is creepy," AJ broke the silence as he was the last one to enter the emergency room. Kevin was already talking to one of the nurses about where to find their friend. The young blonde was showing them to a hallway and Brian could see that she was more than thrilled about having them for a visit. He smiled to her. Friendly.

"I know" Howie answered back with a whisper, not wanting to cause any commotion.

"Dude I could really use a smoke right now." Alexander James McLean was nervous, really nervous. Just like Brian, hospitals gave him the creeps. But for different reasons. They reminded him of his own mortality. Reminded him of death and how in the blink of an eye, situations could change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. When he was in rehab, he had many hours to kill and then he started to think about life. How fragile it was and that it could be lost the next second. This had changed him. Made him a better person. Not different just better. A bit more humble.

"Not here" Brian snapped, sending away a disapproving glare.

"Relax" AJ said with a sigh. God Brian could be so anal sometimes. Usually this was Kevin's table but ever since Brian had married Leighanne he was a worrier. Always expecting the worst to happen. AJ on the contrary had started to look brighter at things. Not always looking at the dark. "I just said I WANTED one, not that I would smoke one. Jeeze" The tattooed man shook his head, "Chill out man."

"Follow me" Kevin said pointing with his finger towards an elevator, "He is in ICU. Third floor. Come on."

"OK." Without questioning they followed the oldest member like they had done so many times before. He had a natural authority and it was more than once Kevin had been the bands spokesman. Like when there had been strong winds blowing and the guys needed a safe rock to hang on. Especially for Nick.

People in the corridor were staring and whispering when the four famous men entered the scene. Two young nurses giggled.

"Good morning ladies" AJ said with a chauvinistic smile that only he could muster. It wasnīt for nothing that he was the band's ladies man. Or more likely had been. Nowadays he was a married man and it was Nick that was handling the title now. Sometimes way too much. The nurses giggled even more.

"Hi" Howie smiled, following in his friends footsteps. The Latino had secretly admired AJ. His carefree rebellious attitude. This was something that the rest of the guys knew about and one time Nick had been allowed to dress Howie up. They had never laughed so much since he didnīt look cool at all. More like a worn out pimp. Howie smiled at the memory. Nick had been a real prankster.

"Whatīs so funny?" Brian wanted to know as they stepped into the elevator.

"Oh nothing. Just thought about something Nick did once."

"You mean that time when he stuck a Kit Kat in your mouth when you were asleep." Brian chuckled and suddenly their was a laughter filling the elevator.

"Yeah or that time when he put firecrackers on the toilet seat. Talk about bombing away." AJ belly laughed.

"Man that scared the shit out of me." The oldest man said with a grin.

More laughter was heard.

"Nick was such a prankster." Howie could have bit his tongue after uttering those words. Killing the happy moment in a second.

"WAS?" Brian looked ready to rip the Latino's head off. "What do you mean WAS? You make it sound like he is dead."

Feeling misunderstood and hurt Howie defended himself, "I didnīt mean it like tha.."

"What DID you mean then?" Brian sneered, interrupting his older brother. His eyes were cold. Ice cold.

"Cool it." AJ was coming to Howie's defense. " Man Rok you're way too tense. Chill, man!" He rubbed a tired hand over his face" I think we are all getting too worked up over this, like we're expecting the worst."

"I think maybe youīre right." Howie said silently, getting a glare from Brian. He quickly looked away, avoiding the eyes.

"Well, try to behave like adults when we get to Nick." Kevin said when the elevator stopped. All of the men went silent as they suddenly became aware of why they were
at the hospital.

Nick.
Chapter 4~ written by Susan by Mare
Nick lay in the hospital bed staring at the ceiling, a blank look on his face. The nurse moved around the bed checking his chart as she stole glances at him. He knew who she was, and why she was here. She was here to keep an eye on him.

She made a few notations on his chart and then gave him a smile. He watched with fascination as her blue eyes flashed flames of red and orange. It was reminding him. Reminding him


It was dark. So very dark. And he was alone. He screamed and whirled around. One moment he'd been struggling to breathe and then he'd suddenly found himself here. Was he dead? He could feel his heart pounding though so he couldn't be. "Kevin!" he cried out. "Brian?" he tried when he still go no answer. He began to run, hoping to find an end to the darkness, but there seemingly was none. His heart felt like it was going to explode at any moment. "Please! Someone"

"Your eyes." He said to the nurse, "They remind me of a place I visited once."

"Really?" She said coyly, picking up a small cup from the tray. She plucked two pills from the cup, one pink and one green and held them out to him. "What place is it that my eyes remind you of?" Taking the pills from her hand, Nick watched her eyes flash flames again. He then pushed both pills into his mouth and swallowed.

"They remind me of hell."

***

When Nick woke up he knew he was not alone. He felt the pull, and for the first time in his life he didn't fear it. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed he got to his feet.

"Can you do what needs to be done Nick?"

"Yes, I can do what needs to be done."

"Yes you can Nick. Yes you can. Who will you kill first Nick? What method will you use? What will you feel when you have to kill those who have protected you for so long?"

"Shut up, just shut up for a second and let me think. They'll be here soon and I need to think." Nick paced the hospital room pulling his hands through his short spiky blonde hair. The guys were coming, just like he knew they would. Getting them to the hospital had been so simple. It made him laugh to think that after all these years they would still come following after him like he was an infant.

"What are you going to do Nick?" The voice filled his head, clouding his brain with evil thoughts.

"Why do I have to tell you?" Nick replied as he leaned against the door to his room, a slight smirk on his face. "What if I want to keep it all a secret?"

"You have no secrets from us Nick..you never have." Nick smiled again his own blue eyes flashing flames. It was true. He had never had any secrets from "them". And tonight when "they" had found him drunk and alone on the street they had made sure that he knew that.

That there were no secrets.

***

"So who is going to go in and see him first?" Howie stopped, turning to face the others as the elevator stopped on the third floor with a loud ding.

"What the hell difference does it matter who goes in first?" A.J. leaned against the back wall of the elevator his hands shoved deep in his pockets a look of annoyance on his face.

"It matters to me." Howie reached a hand out and pushed the door close button just as the doors slid open.

"What are you doing you idiot?" A.J. moved forward, reaching for Howie's hand as Howie shoved him back with his free hand.

"I want to know who is going to go in his room first."

"Why Howie. Why does it matter?" Kevin stood in the far corner of the elevator arms crossed against his chest trying to understand.

"Because.because I don't want it to be me." All eyes were on him. A.J. looked disgusted. Brian looked confused and Kevin just looked tired.

"Look you guys. Today I went in Nick's room to see if he had a CD he borrowed from me and I saw something on his laptop."

"You were going through his personal stuff on his computer?" Brian looked over to Kevin and then back to Howie. "Why would you do that?" All four men ignored the buzzing of the elevator as the doors struggled to open.

"I didn't do it on purpose. And I really didn't think anything of it until you told me he was hurt. I just thought it was Nick and his weird imagination." Howie swallowed hard and continued. "He was writing a bunch of crazy gibberish. Stuff about some unseen force that had been after him for years. About how alone he was vulnerable, but together the five of us could keep this force at bay. He wrote about his fear of the underworld despite the pull he had to be there. And then the writing just stopped" Howie's voice trailed off and an eerie silence followed as the elevator lurched and buzzed again.

"Look, let me the hell off of this thing." A.J. smacked Howie's hand away and punched the door open button over and over until the doors came apart. Stepping off he moved quickly shouting over his shoulder, never breaking his stride, "I'm going to go and see him first. And the rest of you can kiss my ass."

***

Nick lay in the hospital bed, his eyes shifting around the shadows in the room. He had turned the lights off for good measure, because what was going to happen next would be so much sweeter in partial darkness and shadows.

So A.J. was going to come in first. Funny but he had thought it would be Kevin since Kevin had always enjoyed being the boss. That was okay though, it would be fun to take care of them out of order.

***

A.J. opened the door slowly peeking his head around, squinting into the darkness of the room. Walking the rest of the way inside he let the door shut softly behind him, allowing his eyes to adjust to the lack of light before he continued on.

"Nick?" He whispered as his eyes stopping on what appeared to be a motionless figure in the bed. "Nicky, it's A.J." Bumping into the rails of the bed A.J. felt his heart began to thump wildly in his chest. The moonlight that pushed through the partially open shade caught the silver pull chain on the light above the hospital bed. Giving it a tug A.J. waited while the light pulsated a few times before giving off a soft faint glow. Looking down A.J.'s eyes went wide.

Nick was pale and covered in deep scratches that ran two to three inches long down each cheek and horizontally across his forehead. His left eye was purple and swollen and his bottom lip was sliced and caked with dried blood. A.J. clearly remembered Kevin saying that Nick had been hit with a beer bottle. Well, unless he had been attacked by a man wielding four hundred beer bottles there was no way these kind of injuries were caused by a blow to the back of the head? Reaching forward with a trembling hand A.J. picked up one corner of the hospital blanket that was pulled up to Nick's shoulders.

Slowly he peeled it back.

"Oh my God." He whispered. Bruises and scrapes ran the length of each one of Nick's arms, weaving in and out of his tattoos in intricate patterns. Dark bruises ran in dots around his wrists, like someone had taken hold of him hard. But upon closer inspection they didn't appear to be caused by a human hand, and if they were whoever did it must have had seven freaky fingers. Backing up A.J. wanted out of there and he wanted out of there now, but something stopped him.

Turning there was nothing there. He moved to the right a little and started to walk forward but was stopped again. Suddenly he felt a pulsating throb running through his body. It started at his heels, working its' way up his calves, thighs, racing quickly up his back as it merged into his spine finally bursting up into the base of his skull making him feel as if he might explode.

***

The guys walked slowly down the corridors of the hospital none of them speaking to one another. Suddenly the overhead lights flickered off then on and then off again leaving them in complete darkness.

All three men stopped.

"What happened?" Brian reached out his hand grabbing onto Kevin's arm.

"Must be some sort of power failure." Kevin answered calmly. "I'm sure the backup generator will kick on in a second. Don't worry." They all waited but the lights didn't come back on.

"Where are all the nurses and hospital staff?" When they had stepped off the elevator the third floor had been pretty deserted. Come to think of it they had not seen any nurses or patients. No one. Which hadn't struck Howie as too strange until right now.

"Hello?" Kevin called out his voice echoing in the darkness. "Hey is anybody here?"

Nothing.

And then they heard screaming, like a wild animal being tortured. And the sound of someone begging for his life.

"Oh my God it's A.J." Kevin said, running blindly in the direction of A.J.'s voice.
Chapter 5 ~ written by Julie by Mare
“AJ!” Kevin yelled, tearing down the hall. The deserted hall. “Somebody help!” he cried as he ran, Howie and Brian at his heels. “Please!”

But no one came.

What kind of hospital is this?Kevin wondered vaguely, as he turned a corner. We’re in the ICU, and there’s not even a nurse around?He didn’t have much longer to consider this, for at that moment, he reached the door to Nick’s room and burst in. Inside the room, he stopped dead in his tracks, staring in shocked silence. He was hurtled forward as Howie and then Brian slammed into him from behind, but he never broke his gaze.

Following Kevin’s line of sight, Howie let out a horrified gasp and pushed past Kevin. “AJ!”

AJ lay flat on his back on the floor at the foot of Nick’s bed, completely motionless. His eyes were squeezed close, but his mouth hung slightly open, as if frozen in mid-scream.

Howie sunk to his knees beside AJ and grabbed his friend’s wrist, terrified that he was dead. But he could feel AJ’s pulse racing and hear his breath. “He’s alive,” Howie said hoarsely to Brian and Kevin, who had come up behind him to look down on AJ.

Kevin knelt down beside Howie. “AJ?” he asked hesitantly. “AJ… can you hear us?” He gingerly reached out and touched AJ’s shoulder very gently. When there was no response, he gripped it harder and gave AJ a little shake. “AJ!” he cried out more urgently. “AJ, open your eyes!”

But there was no reaction. AJ did not open his eyes, nor did he even flinch. He stayed motionless, almost lifeless, except for the slight rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

“What happened to him?” Brian asked, his voice small and frightened. “It… it sounded like he was being stabbed to death or something!”

At these words, Kevin’s eyes traveled up and down AJ’s body, looking for some kind of physical injury. But, as far as he could tell, AJ’s body was in perfect condition, not a mark on him.

“I don’t know,” he said slowly. “But I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.”

“We need to find a doctor,” said Howie. “Get him checked out.”

“I’ll go,” Brian said immediately, backing away from them. “This is freaking me out.” He darted out of the room without another word, leaving Kevin and Howie behind to puzzle over AJ’s mysterious condition.

***

Brian jogged through the halls, his heart pounding with anxiety, searching frantically for a doctor, nurse, or anyone who could help him. Finally, just when he was beginning to think something was very wrong at this hospital, he saw a woman towards him. She was dressed in blue scrubs.

“Oh, thank God,” Brian panted when he reached her. “Excuse me, miss, but my friend… well, I don’t really know what happened to him, but he’s unconscious, and he needs help.”

The woman stared at him. She had piercing blue eyes that seemed to bore right through him. They made him very uncomfortable, though he wasn’t exactly sure why.

“Miss?” he asked hesitantly. “My friend…”

“Yes,” she said briskly. “You friend. Where is he?”

“Come on, I’ll show you,” said Brian, starting back to Nick’s room. “We were visiting our friend Nick – he’s here in the ICU – and my other friends and I just heard him screaming, and when we got to Nick’s room, he was lying passed out on the floor. But we don’t know what happened to him.”

“I see,” said the woman, following him.

“Are you a nurse?” Brian asked as they walked along, glancing back at her.

“Yes,” said the woman, pointing at the nametag clipped to the pocket of her scrub top. Desdemona Aden, R.N., it read.

Brian nodded, feeling a little bit better. At least there was one certified employee on this floor. “Right in here,” he said, as they made it to Nick’s room. He led her inside, where Kevin and Howie still knelt on the floor beside AJ.

“Oh good, you found someone,” said Kevin, when he saw Brian and the nurse come in.

“Yeah. Here he is,” Brian said to Desdemona, pointing to AJ.

“I see,” the nurse said again. Howie and Kevin moved out of the way, and she knelt down beside AJ, taking his pulse and lifting his eyelids. Then, abruptly, she stood up. “Would you three please step out of the room? I’m going to call a doctor in to examine him.”

Brian, Kevin, and Howie exchanged glances. Then Kevin nodded. “Thank you,” he said. “Come on, guys.” He led the other two out of the room, Brian casting one last wary look over his shoulder at Desdemona. She just smiled, those penetrating blue eyes flashing, and turned away. Tearing his gaze from her, Brian followed Kevin and Howie out of the room and closed the door behind him.

As soon as he heard the door close, the man lying in the bed opened his eyes. Nick had pretended to be unconscious the whole time his friends had been in the room, although it hadn’t really made any difference this time – for once, Kevin, Howie, and Brian were too busy fretting over AJ to even notice him.

“Some friends. They deserve to die,” he muttered.

“Then why didn’t you kill them. Why didn’t you kill him?” a voice from across the room asked sharply.

Nick looked over at Desdemona and glared, his eyes alighting with fire. “I tried,” he said. “But they came too quickly. I couldn’t finish.”

Dancing flames flickered in her blue eyes as well, and a grin spread slowly over her face. “Don’t worry,” she said. “You’ll have another chance. There’s always a second chance.”

Nick’s lips turned up maliciously. “Good,” he said.

Desdemona’s smile grew wider. “The others will be pleased with your newfound enthusiasm. Just see that you don’t fail us again.”

“Oh no,” said Nick. “Next time, I will not fail.”

***

“Yes… he will not fail again. Next time, he will kill your friends. All of them. And you… you will be powerless to stop him.”“No!” Nick cried out, but the voice only laughed at his misery.

“Oh yes, YES!”it bellowed, echoing all around him, a chorus of demonic chants. “You are nothing, Nick Carter, nothing but a lost soul. We have taken over you, taken over your body, and your other side will do what we desire.”Nick did not answer. He clamped his hands over his ears to drown out the reverberating voice, to block its horrible words. He knew what it said was true… he could do nothing to save his friends now. Not since he had succumbed to the pull…


Nick’s eyes flew open, and he sat up with a start. Immediately, his whole body began to throb, the pain starting in his head and quickly spreading downward.“God, what the hell happened to me?” he moaned, rubbing his eyes and feeling extremely disoriented. When he took his hands away from his eyes, he blinked and looked around, suddenly realizing he had no idea where he was. This was definitely not his bedroom, nor the hotel room he had checked into earlier. It was too dark to see much in the room, but he could make out enough to tell that.

His heart began to beat faster with the anxiety of awaking to find himself in a strange place. But that feeling was soon replaced with something much worse – terror. For at that moment, he felt it, the thing he had dreaded ever since he was a little boy.

The pull.

It was coming from beneath him, from under his bed. “There’s no monsters under your bed, Nicky,” his father had told him night after night during his youth. “See?” He had turned on the light and lifted up Nick’s dust ruffle and shown him the bare floor beneath the bed. “Nothing there but dust.”

But there had been something there. There had been a monster, the monster that haunted his dreams, that kept him awake at night. And it was back, here with him in this strange room, lurking beneath this strange bed. It had come for him. And this time, no one was there to protect him. Kevin, Howie, Brian, AJ… they were not there. Not there to do their ritual, to stand back to back in their circle, their hands bound. Not there to block the monster, to deflect the evil force, to stop the pull.

And so it came.

Nick could feel it tugging at him. “Please, no,” he whimpered, feeling like a child, not caring. He pulled his covers up around himself, as if a few pieces of cloth could actually protect him from this unseen evil. But still it came, drawing nearer to him, surrounding him. Nick gasped, suddenly unable to breath. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. The pull was stronger than ever before now, and it seemed to be sucking him in. He could feel himself being lifted up, yanked away from his covers, elevated off the bed. Yet, when he looked down, he could still see himself lying there, motionless, as if asleep.

It was like an out of body experience, as if his soul had been ripped from his body.

And, in truth, it had.

The pull continued to lift him up and then brought him slowly down, down to the floor. And then, as Nick’s terror grew even more, the pull dragged him across the floor, towards the bed. There was no dust ruffle on this bed, nor was there a bare spot of floor beneath it. Instead, Nick saw a light, a glowing red light, which seemed to shine up from some kind of gateway that had opened under the bed. He knew what was coming before it happened, and he clawed frantically at the floor, trying to find something to latch on to. But there was nothing, and helplessly, he was pulled under the bed and into the light.

It had finally happened, the thing he had feared for his entire life.

The pull had won.Yes, after twenty three years, the pull had finally won. It had grabbed hold of Nick’s very soul and torn it from his body. And now, it seemed, there were two Nick’s. One lay in Memorial hospital, plotting the death of his friends, while the other, this Nick, was locked away in this Godforsaken place, the Shadow Land, as he called it, a place that was not quite reality, yet not fantasy… a living nightmare, that’s what it was. Here, in the Shadow Land, he was all alone and all-knowing… he knew what was going on in the real world, knew that the other Nick, the evil Nick, was going to kill his friends, knew that he had already tried to kill AJ. He knew it all, and he could do nothing to stop it. It was his worst nightmare. The other Nick had to be stopped, and he could not stop it.

No,Nick told himself fiercely, it’s not “The Other Nick”. It’s not Nick at all. I’m Nick! That thing up there… that monster… is nothing but a shell… a shell that’s been taken over and possessed by evil. It’s not me, it’s not me doing this, it’s them!But those thoughts didn’t help much. Either way, something was after his friends, and he could not save them. They had always been there for him, always looked out for him, always tried to protect him. And now, when they needed him more than anything, he could not help them.

A solitary tear ran down Nick’s cheek as he thought back to the last real conversation he had had with them…


“You’re late,” Kevin’s voice boomed across the empty arena.

“Yeah, sorry,” Nick said with little emotion.

“Where have you been?”

“My mom called… sorry to keep you waiting with such petty things like my family.”

“Okay, that’s it… I don’t know what crawled up your ass, but I think you need to get over it. We’ve busted our asses while you sit back and pity yourself and treat the rest of us like we’re bothering you.”

“You know what? To tell you the truth, I’m not happy any more. You guys—especially you Kevin—don’t treat me like a grown man. I’m tired of being talked down to and told what to do. You have to face the fact that you can’t control me anymore. After Friday I’m going home and I don’t intend on doing this anymore.”

“Nick-”

“I’ll be here for the show tonight, but I’m not staying here right now.”And he had walked away, stalked off in a huff. He had come back later, as he had promised, and done the show with them. And after the concert, he had gone out drinking without so much as a goodbye to any of them. And then, that night, the pull had taken him. There had been no chance for a goodbye, no chance for him to tell them how much he loved them, how much he appreciated them, despite what he sometimes thought and said, how much he realized they were only trying to be good friends, only trying to watch out for him. He had never gotten to say any of that to them, and now he never would. For the evil had locked him away in the Shadow Land and taken over his body.
And it was going after them next.
Chapter 6 ~ written by Kat by Mare
Going after them next going after them next

Nick snapped awake, screaming in his hospital bed. He was covered in perspiration and shaking to no end. He did not even notice the presence of his friends in the room, as they rushed to his side.

"Nick! What is it? What's the matter?!" Kevin yelled, trying to get the young blonde's attention.

Nick continued to carry on, his blue eyes terrified and his arms flailing as he tried to fight off the invincible demons that seemed to be attacking him.

Howie looked at the others, his face pale and frightened. "I'm getting his doctor!" he decided, running from the small room.

"Nick, please! Calm down!" Brian begged, taking him into his arms.

The screaming stopped for a minute, as Nick gazed up at his best friend with fear filled orbs. "It's coming for you! Must run..." he babbled, his vision darting over the other boys.

"What?" AJ asked, coming closer. "Nick, what are you talking about?"

"It has you already! AJ, I'm sorry, I tried to stop it, but sheshe took me, I just couldn't!" Nick continued, his heart monitor racing as he took in gasping breaths.

"Nicky, please buddy, just slow down, it's okay," Kevin soothed, gently easing Nick down against the mattress as Howie and a tall balding man rushed in.

"What's going on?" the physician asked, placing his stethoscope over Nick's chest.

"I-I'm not sure," Brian replied, his voice trembling. "He woke up, and he just started screaming! Is he delirious or something?"

The doctor listened to Nick's heart and began to examine his eyes, shining a small flashlight into them as Nick stared blankly at the ceiling. "Nick? Nick, my name is Doctor Harris, can you tell me how you're feeling?"

"Don't worry about me, save them!" Nick insisted, tugging at the doctor's hand.

"Nick, I want you to listen to me, you took a very bad blow to the head last night. You may be experiencing some confusion. No one is going to hurt you. But, I need you to calm down, we don't want you making yourself worse."

The other Backstreet Boys watched in stunned silence as Nick blinked several times.

"I wasn't dreaming! I know I wasn't dreaming! It happened, they HURT me, they-" Dr. Harris held up his hand as Nick persisted in his rant, his voice growing louder and louder.

"Nick, I'm just going to speak to your friends outside, I'll be right back, just relax."

The four men followed the doctor into the hallway, concern etched on their features.

"Something is wrong," Howie started, "he really thinks someone is after him!"

Dr. Harris sighed as he viewed Nick's chart. "I believe Nick is suffering from some sort of post traumatic stress disorder because of his attack last night."

AJ's brown eyes widened as he removed his ever-present sunglasses. "I thought that only happened to like marines and stuff."

The doctor shook his head. "No, it's actually very common in attacks, or muggings or anything where the person is physically harmed to the point of terrifying them. Nick is reliving what happened to him, except I think it's coming to him in his sleep, which is why he wakes up so afraid."

Kevin kept an even gaze with the doctor as he listened to him speak. "Well, what do we do?"

"Right now he is emotionally numb, he's scared it's going to happen to him again. Maybe if you can get him to talk about it, we can help him get on the right track to recovery. He suffered a bad attack last night and he is lucky to only be experiencing these symptoms. The cuts and bruises on his body luckily spared his vital organs, but I'm a little concerned about his head injury. I'd like to keep him a few days for observation."

Brian nodded. "So we should just try and talk to him? Assure him that he's safe now?"

"Exactly," Harris said. 'I'll leave it to you to try and do that because he knows who you are, he trusts you."

"Not so sure about that after what happened yesterday," AJ mumbled.

"I'll check back in on him later when I make my rounds. If he has another episode, I can have a nurse administer a mild sedative to help him sleep."

"Thank you," Howe said, giving the doctor a small smile as he walked away.

***

Nick lay very still in his room. Maybe if he was quiet, the force wouldn't come back, it wouldn't take him again. He sighed with relief as the guys re entered, slowly approaching his bed.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to freak again on you," Nick said, laughing weakly at their faces.

Brian's face remained serious as he took Nick's hand. "Nick, I just want to tell you how sorry I am. I didn't mean any of what I may have said to you to make you angry and I didn't want you to get hurt" he said, his voice cracking as tears escaped his sad blue eyes.

Nick squeezed Brian's hand back. "I know, Brian, this wasn't your fault, it was mine. I didn't do the chant like I was supposed to."

"Chant?" Brian asked, his face a picture of confusion.

"You know!" Nick repeated. "The chant so they wouldn't take me!"

"Nick you are seriously scaring me," AJ said, stepping forward.

"That's how I got hurt!" Nick retorted. "And you toobut I don't know how you got better"

"Nick listen to me," Kevin said gently. "You were attacked last night. Someone hurt you when you went out. What you were having before was just a dream, buddy. It was just a dream but it may have seemed like reality because of what happened."

Nick started to shake his head and then suddenly, he remembered.

It had been late, he just wanted to get back to the hotel after drinking so much. The footsteps had come so quickly and all of a sudden he was struck. Before the world went black, he had seen his attacker, wearing a black ski mask and holding a beer bottle

Nick started hyperventilating, his pulse quickening within him. "NO! DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME AGAIN! I DON'T WANT THEM TO HURT ME AGAIN!"

Brian covered his face as he witnessed Nick's panic attack. This was just too much for him to handle! Bolting from the room, he ran from whatever was hurting his friend so badly.

"No! Brian, come back! You can't be alone!" Nick screamed.

Howie and AJ held him down as Kevin spoke again. "Nick, you need to stop this! You're safe here, no one is going to hurt you! Stop doing this to yourself!"

"Kevin you just don't get it! I'm not dreaming this, it really happened! You know how the force used to come and try and take me, well it finally got me! And it took AJ too! That's not really AJ right there, it's evil AJ!"

AJ couldn't help the smile that came on his lips. "Nicky, it is too me. Stop making this shit up, you're being ridiculous!"

"AJ! He has a head injury," Howie scolded. "he's confused and scared."

"I don't care if you believe me or not but please, don't let it get you too!" Nick screeched.

Kevin turned away from the blonde and glanced at his other friends. "If I ever find the guy that did this to him, I'm going to kick his ass myself!"

"It's not a guy, it's a girl! She works here and she's going to get to Brian if you don't get him! She's crazy and she'll take him to the Shadow Land and put evil Brian in his place, just like she did with me and AJ!"

"Nicky, when was this girl here?" Kevin asked softly.

"Before! Don't you remember AJ? You came in to see me and evil me tried to kill you and then she came in and you guys were here too!"

"Nick, this is the first time you've been awake since what happened. We just got here a little while ago and you woke up a few minutes after we got in the room."

Nick leaned his head back in frustration, turning on his side. If they didn't want to believe them, it was their own fault. "I'd like to be alone now, please," he said curtly.

"Nick, listen, we're always here if you want to talk, please don't shut us out, because right now, I'm not sure what's going on in that head of yours, but I promise you, you are going to get better," Howie told him.

Nick rolled his eyes. "There you go again treating me like a baby. I may sound crazy but I'll prove to you that I'm not! You know, this doesn't fix anything with the group situation. I still plan on leaving."

"Nick, stop being stupid-" Kevin started.

"Kevin, in case you're deaf, I said I wanted to be left alone."

Kevin set his mouth in a line as he stared into Nick's cold blue eyes. "Fine. Howie, AJ, lets go and find Brian. We'll leave Nick and his fantasies alone."

Brian was standing outside in the hall as the door swung open, revealing Kevin, Howie and AJ. His face was tearstained and he saw the feeling of worry he had inside of him on each of his band mate's faces. "What are we going to do guys?" he asked softly.

Kevin leaned his head back against the cold wall, shutting his tired green eyes. "I don't know just yet, Brian. But, we have a problem, a big problem.

***

Nick began to sob as the door shut behind his brothers. He didn't mean any of that. It was just frustrating they didn't believe him! He knew what was going on, he was just a little confused right now in the details. Soon, he would be able to show them what had happened and hopefully prevent the same from happening to the rest. He shut his eyes from the pain in his head and thought over what he had just said to the guys. It did sound a little weird and no wonder they thought he was nuts, but it did happen--didn't it? It couldn't have just been a dream, right? Nick put his face into his pillow, the tears coming quickly.

What was happening to him?
Chapter 7 ~ written by Jenna by Mare
He was laying in the bed, as still as he possibly could. Nick decided this was his best defense in escaping the demons that were haunting him. He had pulled the blankets up close to his neck; the top cover stretched over his head. Although he was covered up, he could still monitor who or what would be in his room through the holes in the loose weave of the pale blue thermal blanket.

The door to the room hissed open and Nick stared at the door through his peephole, holding his breath so that whoever or whatever would be entering the room wouldn’t see him.

A young woman with chestnut colored shoulder length hair pushing a small typewriter sized device entered the room. She was dressed in blue scrubs and long lab coat. The glasses that were perched on her nose dictated that this person had a business only air about her.

Through the safety of underneath the blankets, Nick watched her look around the room. Maybe she didn’t see him!

“Mr. Carter, I know you’re awake under there.”

White spots were floating in front of his eyes, compliments of his brain being deprived of life giving oxygen and Nick let his breath out in a loud gasp. The woman reached up for the blanket, trying to pull it from his face, but he maintained his grip and it became a tug of war.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of Mr. Carter,” the young woman coaxed as he took a stronger pull and finally managed to get the blanket away from Nicks hold. “I’m Alicia from Neuro. Your doctor has ordered an EEG---“

“EEG?” Nick questioned as his eyes went from the woman to the cart that was beside her.

“Don’t worry, its nothing that’s going to hurt you.”

“What’s an EEG?”

“It’s a test to measure your brain waves—“

Folding his arms across his chest, Nick sighed. “I’m not crazy.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

He watched as Alicia pulled wires from a compartment on the box. “They seem to think I am. “

“Who is they?”

“Everyone.”

“Oh.”

“You think that too, don’t you?”

Alicia stopped her task for a moment. “I’m not here to make any assumptions on your mental status Mr. Carter, I’m just trying to do my job.”

“So you think I’m psycho then.”

When Nick saw the woman’s shoulders sag, he knew he had pushed her too far and probably pissed her off. She held the same body language that Kevin had when he got tired of answering his endless questions about anything and everything.

“I need you to hold still so I can put the electrodes onto your scalp,” she stated in a crisp voice.

Gritting his teeth, Nick sat still for the woman, wishing he could jump out of the bed and put distance from her and this place, where ever the hell he was. “Where am I again?”

“Sh-h-h, just hold still wouldja?” As he reached up to touch one of the wires, the woman swatted Nick’s hand away. “Don’t touch! You’ll mess everything up!”

As Alicia turned on the machine, Nick watched with mild interest as she typed in his name and birthdate and patient number. Paper slowly spewed out as deep black lines danced over the graph. She quickly adjusted the shades on the window to block out the street lights that filtered into the room and walked across the room and turned off the lights.

The room was dark, the only light was a soft blue glow from the screen on the EEG machine. I want you to close your eyes and rest. “Don’t speak, keep your mind clear and try not to move. This test needs to be accurate, she directed in a soft whisper.”

“Great,” Nick thought to himself. “Now she tells me to stay still, this is gonna be--"

“I said to close your eyes and rest! Don’t let your mind wander!”

Nick jerked at her harsh words and quickly squeezed his eyes shut. He didn’t want to risk pissing the woman off more than he already had.


*~*~*~*~*~*
“Brian, you’re gonna wear the carpet out,” Kevin sighed as he watched his cousin pace the floor in the private waiting room.

As Howie shifted his frame on the vinyl couch, all eyes quickly focused on red faced Latino.

“It was the couch... I swear!”

AJ cocked a sly grin. “Sure it was.”

“It was!” Howie defended, trying to make the sound again but failing in his attempts, different octaves singing out with each move he made.

“Knock it off! You’re making me sick!” Kevin hissed as he rubbed his temples.

Using Howie’s shoulder as a lever, AJ pushed his body off the couch, feeling his shirt pockets. “I’m going out for a smoke.”

“Why don’t you quit smoking? It’s a disgusting habit,” Howie mumbled.

AJ lowered the shades from his eyes. “And why don’t you stop shitting your pants? That’s a sick---“

“I said it wasn’t me!”

“SHUT UP!”

Howie, Kevin and AJ jumped when Brian shouted, directing their attention to the young man whose face look like it had aged ten years in the last twenty-four hours. “Our little brother is down the hall and no one knows what’s happening to him and all you guys can do is bicker and insult each other!”

No one spoke; the silence hung in the air like a thick blanket.


*~*~*~*~*
Alicia tried to find a comfortable position in the hard, plastic chair as she watched the EEG monitor. Her patient had finally fallen asleep and up to this point the waves were symmetrical and typical for a man of twenty-two. His breathing pattern was slow, even and soft snores broke into the silence of the room.

Her own thoughts started to wander as she watched the soft peaks fall and then rise on the graph. Suddenly her patient’s cries shook her from the peacefulness of her self absorbed thoughts.

“GET AWAY FROM ME..... GET OFF OF ME..... LET GO!”

The peaks were rising sharply on the paper and the machine sounded like it was going to overheat with the activity from his brain waves. Her job was to observe and not intervene during the test but when the heart monitors started ringing, a flood of nurses dressed in scrubs raced into the room.

Alicia could only watch as Nick thrashed restlessly in bed, his eyes wild with fear. His screams sounded like they were coming from the depths of his soul.

Something was out there, something had him in its grip and wasn't releasing him.
Chapter 8 ~ written by Mersey by Mare
The place was like a vacuum. Nothing echoed and nothing stirred. And it was dark. No, it was pitch black. Emptiness stretched out front and even that couldn't be seen with the naked eye. It was that black and that silent. And it was killing him. No walls, no ceiling, no nothing. He had tried walking forward, hands stretched out like a blind man, groping the veil of darkness. Legs that could walk a straight line now going zigs zags and everything in between. And after what had seemed like forever, he found nothing. Not a stumble against any objects blocking his way, not a single voice calling out his name, no breeze to whisper soft whistles flirtatiously in his ears...no nothing. And through all that, his legs had trudged on with no effects of slowing down, of being tired. Everything just stopped in this forsaken place. Except, for his fears. They kept on growing and eating at his insecurities and loneliness. Gnawing into the very core of his being, where his faith once was. Faith that whispered hope and promises that he would never end up here again.

So he had given up, knowing that there was no way out. Sinking down to the flat, smooth ground underneath him, he had stayed that way for God knows how long. There was no night nor day in this place, no hunger nor desires, no sleep nor awake. No today nor tomorrow. He was just there, to exist in this non-existence. As far as he was concerned, this was Hell.

He didn’t want to come back to this hell. But he had failed yet again. He knew he shouldn’t stop thinking. He knew he should keep his mind occupied for the Pull loves it when it was empty and void of voices and concerns and emotions. Everything that made someone human. And as hard as he tried not to, he had slept. Drowned in a dreamless slumber, served as an open invitation for the Pull to take him.

And pulled it did.

The familiar tingling at the tip of his toes that gradually grew and ran up his legs and up his spine, the surge of pure energy going up to his head, seeking that empty place where his thoughts should be. And the Pull would come next. It wasn’t there but he could feel it. A being of some sort, jumping up on him, restricting any form of passage for oxygen to enter his body. That menacing voice in his head telling him not to fight it. You can’t fight it Nickolas, surrender yourself to me...that invisible hand gripped his heart, slowly but surely, weakening him down. He tried, for the love of God, he tried. Screaming and pushing that thing off him, it doesn’t matter if everyone else thought his flailing arms were trying to grab the air, it doesn’t matter if everyone thought he was crazy and needed to be put away, all he knew was, he could not go back to Hell.

But he failed, just like the voice in his head had promised. It pulled him back to where he ˜belonged’ and left him there to live in this hell until the end of time. End of time...when will that come around?

However, this time, he had felt something different. He felt a presence, someone that he should know. Someone important in his life and yet he couldn’t call out to this person. Not that he didn’t try, but how do you yell in a vacuum? But he could feel this presence’s fears, it’s desperation in trying to grasp the fact that he was indeed trapped in nothingness land just like him. God knows how long he had walked, hoping to stumble upon this other presence there, but just like before, he found nothing.

"AJ, where are you?"

Alone again.

All the time it would end up the same. His legs surrendering to gravity, caving in beneath him as he collapsed, bringing down together his admittance to defeat. He knew it wouldn’t work, with him alone, it will never work. The man in the white robe had told them so. They need to be together, all five standing back to back in a circle. But there was only him there. It wouldn’t work. It wouldn’t work. But he said it nonetheless. Said it over and over again, knowing that no one would hear him in this barren place.

~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~


“See, I told you Brian, I’m NOT crazy!”

NICK!

Sweaty palms, sweat soaked shirt, sweaty forehead, damp tousled hair, sweaty legs, a dangerously fast beating heart. And yet the room was chilled by the ferocious blow of the air-con. The still of the night so out of place, only the sudden, eerie shifting of a chair next to him- a result of the earth revolving and the gravitational pull of the core of this very earth- had him startled.

Blurry and still in the grasp of pieces of his sleep, one name uttered from his lips in a whisper of urgency.Nick.

It was a nightmare he wouldn’t want to revisit any time soon. No. It was a nightmare he wouldn’t want to revisit EVER. Nick wasn’t trapped in a dark forsaken place somewhere; he was in the hospital, dangerously ill. Make that strangely, dangerously ill. But he would be fine for now, AJ was with him. AJ, the guy who couldn’t stand being in the same room as Nick when both were too charged up with elephant sized egos. The typical brother rivalry you see in a family, who couldn’t be near each other but were the only ones who understand each other best. Who would have thought AJ would offer to stay in the hospital with Nick?

Not that they didn’t voice their concerns. Kevin was quick to dismiss his offer. Howie had agreed too, adding that it was best that Brian instead, should be with him. And he of course, was more than willing to take that sacrifice, but AJ started begging the rest of them to go back to the hotel for their deserved sleep. And after awhile, they had nodded their approval. Probably just plain tired of hearing AJ’s strings of the reasons why he should be the one to stay behind.

It wasn’t always Frick and Frack. In fact, it hadn’t felt that way for awhile. Frick and Frack never keep secrets from each other. But Frack did, and went mental somewhere along the line and Frick was totally in the dark about it.

Dark. Pitch black. Just like the nightmare.

And Nick was in it.

Something wasn’t right, he could feel it. Something about the dream...no...nightmare...that had troubled him, that had roughly woke him up. It was a warning. Nick was trying to tell him something.

But it was a dream! Nightmare! It was supposed to be scary! With this charm I beseech thee...With this charm I beseech thee...With this charm I beseech thee...

Nick was saying those words in his nightmare and he knew there was more to it. What was it? Why couldn’t he remember? Why does it feel like he SHOULD remember? He should KNOW. It sounded like a chant.

A chant.

Nick was telling him about the chant back in the hospital. It sounded so crazy then, that Brian was certain his little brother was delirious. He was talking about something after him and that he had taken AJ too. But it was even disturbing when he had referred to AJ as Evil AJ and then telling him that AJ got better when he didn’t, the next. It was enough to decide that Nick really wasn’t himself. It has got to mean some kind of a blow to the head. Post traumatic stress disorder, the doctor had claimed. Yes, that was it. I know, "Brian, this wasn't your fault, it was mine. I didn't do the chant like I was supposed to."

"Chant?"

"You know! The chant so they wouldn't take me!"

"What chant Nick? WHAT CHANT?"

"With this charm I beseech thee..."

Blinking those troubled thoughts away, he decided that he wasn’t any far from being branded crazy as well. His throat felt dry all of a sudden and the urge to wash it down with a glass of iced cold water was inviting. He pushed himself out of bed and out of the room.

It doesn’t surprise him at all to find Howie sitting on the beige coloured sofa, facing the TV. It was switched on, sound set to mute and Nick’s laptop laid on top of his folded legs. The sweater a tad size bigger, making him look a lot smaller and vulnerable than he actually was. He assumed something had caught his full attention for he didn’t acknowledge his presence until he dropped next to him.

“Oh hey...did I wake you? I thought I set the TV to mute.” Howie frowned, pressing some buttons on the remote.

Brian shook his head while his gaze dropped to the document folder Howie was reading in the laptop. “I got thirsty...is that Nick’s laptop or did you just get one yourself and I didn’t know about it?” Howie absent-mindedly dropped the remote beside him. He reached out for the bottle of Evian that had been sitting on the table in front of them and passed it to Brian. “It’s Nick’s. And the more I go through all these files, the more I think he needs help.”

“Help?” Brian frowned, no longer interested in the bottle of drink in his grasp. “Like a psychiatrist?”

“I know it sounds...crazy...but you’d agree with me once you read this.” Howie explained, shoving the laptop to him. Brian adjusted himself before placing the laptop on his lap. ‘There’s a reason why a laptop is called a laptop, Bri,’ Nick had told him once when he had commented that Nick should place the laptop on a table instead of on his lap. “What are we looking at?” Brian asked as he looked at the microsoft word document displayed before him. 23 pages of paragraphs after paragraphs of words.

“He’s writing a story about us.” Howie said. “About some force...the pull...trying to get him and supposedly, it did attack all of us back in 1993.”

“93? That was...long...and it attacked us?”

“Yeah. But we survived...obviously.” Howie smirked. “Why would he write such a thing? And the scary part is, it was very detailed, like it did happen. Do you remember any such thing happened?”

“I think I’d remember something THAT scary D.”

“Worst, I found out the last entry was made yesterday, before the concert. And he ended it with...ah well, why don’t you read it and tell me.” Howie was stressing himself out and Howie never stress out. He was supposed to be the calm, cool and collected one. Kevin stressed out, he stressed out, hell, even AJ and Nick stressed out at times, but Howie...never. Until tonight.

He dragged the cursor down to the last page of the entry. Supposedly, it was set in 2003, the present. Nick was pissed because the rest of them had went straight to sleep when they should all do the ‘ritual’. Then Kevin woke up and Kevin remembered the ritual. But it was too late, he had felt the pull.

“He felt the pull.”

“Yes. The pull. When did he get this...disturbed? How come we never see it coming? I thought the solo thing was supposed to make him be a better person.” Howie sighed.

Brian thought of Kevin. If what Nick wrote was indeed the truth, then why didn’t he tell it to any of them? About them forgetting the ritual? Suddenly, he felt jealous of Kevin. He must be sleeping his night away. Damn the man sleeps like a dead log.

“This ritual he was talking about...is it the same one we...”

“Yeah, the same one.” Howie cut in. “I thought he had outgrown that phase. We all did. I didn’t think he’d still be afraid of monsters under the bed, I mean, he's all grown up! Do we still have to do the ritual?”

“Do you remember if we were saying stuff? Say...like a chant of some sort?”

“Chant? You’re beginning to sound like Nick, Brian, and frankly, you’re scaring me. The ritual was stupid okay? We did it just so Nick could go back to sleep.” Howie spat.

“But do you remember how it goes? I mean...the ritual...what was it that we do when we did the ritual?” Howie slumped his body back to the sofa. Sinking as deep as he possibly could. “I don’t remember. Do you?”

“Precisely, I don’t. Neither did AJ. But Kevin remembered last night, Nick said so in his...story...”

“Which, let me refresh your memory, is just that, a story! A figment of his own imagination."

“D, he said he felt the pull and that very night, we found him lying in a hospital bed. He wasn’t mugged D, his wallet was intact, no money missing, credit cards still there.And I bet it wasn’t a fight cause he showed no signs of struggle.” Brian reasoned. Howie stood up, eyes darting around as if trying to keep his cool.

This was something new to Brian. “What are you trying to say Bri? That this...this...Pull...is out to get him? And us? That this stupid ritual is supposed to protect him? We all know the ritual was fake Bri.”

“Look, did you find anything else worth reading about in here?” Howie combed his trembling fingers through his curls, tugging at it slightly, hoping to ease the soft throbbing of an impending headache. “Most are gibberish.”

“Where should I go?” Brian asked as he patted the seat next to him, motioning for the Latino over.

“Journal.”

He found the folder in his desktop and double clicked. The entries had gone right back as far as 2000. Before that, he used to have a thick book as a journal. He randomly picked 2002. He had always wondered what Nick had felt going solo for a little while and 2002 was the year where it all happened. “I didn’t know Nick was this organized.” Brian smiled. He received a chuckle from Howie. “I didn’t know he was this disturbed.”

3rd November 2002

I can’t do this anymore. I called the guys and told them that I want the Backstreet Boys to do another album. I told them I’m ready to go back and make more beautiful music together. But you see, although that is true, it isn’t the whole truth. I HAVE to have them with me. We NEED to be together, just like the man in the white robe had told us. We NEED to do the chant again, it’s going to be a full circle come 2003. We HAVE to renew that chant. Renew this bind that will ward them off us. I don’t know if they remember this, they never seem to remember any of it. WHY am I the only one who does? WHY ME?

Brian closed the document, feeling the hairs on his hands standing on end. Had this suite always been this chilled or was it just him? He shifted closer to where Howie was but Sweet D was trembling himself. He clicked on another entry.

2nd December 2002

Nickolas...you know you’ll never win. Soon, this body is mine. Who’s going to help you now? No body.

That was disturbing enough. He really wanted to stop, reading them only made Brian more convinced that Nick was just that...crazy. But he wasn’t ready to face that truth. Not yet.

They didn’t remember! THEY FORGOT! THEY FORGOT! We didn’t do the ritual, we didn’t say the chants! They’re coming for me, I can feel it and if I fail, then they will be next. We will fail. I can’t believe they FORGOT! They promised they’ll never forget! Why didn’t that man in white help us this time? WHY?

“You still think he doesn’t need help?” Howie asked.

“I don’t know D...I have a feeling like there’s something we forgot. Something that we shouldn’t have and Nick’s entry on this one was angry that we did forget something.” Brian murmured. He shifted again, this time looking into his friend’s eyes. “I mean, even Doctor Harris said he found it strange that his EEG reading was...out of the norm. You saw those lines on that paper D...something made him violent like that.”

Howie sighed. Not Brian too. It was enough to see AJ acting strange, he couldn’t afford to lose Brian now. AJ...he had been watching him closely, knew him inside out and knew when things weren’t right. AJ was becoming too sensitive and too temperamental at the same time. That wasn’t AJ. AJ hated sudden changes, need to adapt to new things before he could get comfortable, the AJ he was looking at that day was edgy and even at times when he was so near, he felt distant. “It’s all in his head Brian. For God’s sake, he even has his own spells to ward this...evil thing! You can’t say you believe that too, would you?”

“Spell? What spell?” Brian asked,

“Click under ˜Safe’ “ Brian did as told and was met with what Howie had meant by gibberish. They were small thoughts that were jumbled together. Sentence after sentence of ramblings. But it frightened him to no end. White robe man, are you an angel? Come and save me! WHY ME? THEY FORGOT, THEY FORGOT, THEY FORGOT!!!!!

They think I’m crazy. I’m NOT! I’m NOT! I’m NOT!

Stop talking to me! STOP TALKING TO ME!

“Where’s this spell you’re talking about D? I can’t find it.” Brian groaned, eyes browsing rows after rows of yet, more gibberish.

“It’s somewhere there...” No sooner than Howie had said it, Brian had found the ˜spell’ he was looking for. Bold and in red, it had spelt.

With this charm I beseech thee
Out of sight and out of me

and Nick had stopped. The next sentence filled with more gibberish. But Brian knew it was incomplete. He knew they were missing and it frightened him that he was able to finish it off.

“With this charm I beseech thee, out of sight and out of me,” Howie mumbled lazily. “Would be convincing if Nicky had taken the time to at least make a complete spell, don’t you think?”

“Bind by blood this chant hold may, ward all harm and evil at bay.” Brian continued calmly, earning Howie’s fullest attention immediately.

“What?”

“It’s the chant Howie!” Brian said a little too excited. “With this charm I beseech thee, out of sight and out of me, bind our blood this chant hold may, ward all harm and evil at bay! It’s the freaking chant Nick was talking about!”

“How...how did you...”

“I don’t know! I just...remembered!” Brian laughed, shoving the laptop over to Howie and pushing himself off the sofa. “Oh my God, D! You know what this means?”

“What?”

“Nick wasn’t lying to us D! He was really trying to tell us something!” That was when it came. Like an incoming flood, surging forward with no warning. Bits and pieces of memories that he didn’t even know exist now playing in his mind. As if it should have been there in the first place.

“How is AJ?” Brian asked all of a sudden.

“AJ?”

“Yeah, how is he? We never did find out what happen to him, did we?”

Howie glanced nervously towards Kevin’s room, wishing that he could just run away and get the oldest man to wake up and witness his cousin’s weird behaviour. This suite was meant for Nick alone. Four rooms, a kitchen that a 23 year old would never touch, a living room equipped with the magic Xbox, he wondered why a young man would need so much. His own suite was as huge and pleasant. But why would they need five suite when one would be enough for the five of them? Nick had wanted them to stay in just one suite, saying it was a waste to spend a lot when most of the time, they would be out there in the public. Did they actually sleep in one suite a few days back? He couldn’t remember. “Brian, AJ’s in hospital looking out for Nick. He’s not the one in trouble here.” Howie reminded him.

"Really? But...didn’t we find him on the floor in Nick’s ward? He was attacked by...someone...and we got him help. We got that nurse...what’s her name? Des...something....to help us...don’t you remember that?”

“Brian, you’re tired. Go to bed.” Howie sighed.

“NO D! Listen to me! IT HAPPENED OKAY? AJ wanted to see Nick first, remember? You were...you didn’t want to see him first and AJ said he would and the lights went off and we heard him scream, remember?” Brian urged. He wanted to hear Howie say that he remembered. He wanted to know that this was the truth. No way was he going crazy. It really DID happen.

“Oh yeah? What happen then Bri?” Howie mocked. He felt irritated, he felt like giving Brian a tight slap so that the man would calm down and come to his senses. Brian was like a raving lunatic on the run. Brian was anything but THAT.

But Brian had gone silent. The load of memories now etching in his brain, all rushing to get out together, filling him with renewed memories he never knew he had. Where did they come from? Where had it been to all these time? Why didn’t he remember them in the first place?

It was 1993 and they were sharing a hotel together and it was small and crampy, he remembered that. He had slept like a baby, oblivious to the night. And suddenly he felt it. The Pull. He couldn’t exactly remember what happened but Nick had woke up screaming bloody murders, saying that something was out to get him. To get them all. It had annoyed him then, being so rudely awakened by something so childish. But he watched as Kevin came up to him and gave him a bracelet. ‘It’s a charmed bracelet Nick, it will protect you.’ But all of them know it was the bracelet Kevin had bought earlier that day, meant for his brother back home in Kentucky. Never mind if it was a tad bit bigger than his wrist, Nick had held on to it like a life line. That very same bracelet had been hanging on his left wrist for the next two years, until a fan had made a grab for it. He remembered Nick being very upset and Brian could never understand why. Standing there in the middle of the suite, Howie watching him with creases of concern lining his forehead. How could he not remember? Then he remembered the ritual. It was supposed to be Kevin’s idea. He remembered his cousin wanting so badly to make it all better for Nick and so he had made it up, saying that the chant held special powers and that it would protect him and his brothers. And so, with pajamas and hairs sticking out on ends, they had stood back to back in a circle, repeating after Kevin’s chants. It felt silly but it made Nick felt better and they had all went back to bed after that. And it became their ritual. Something to make Nick feel better.

But another set of memories told him that it was all a huge lie. That it wasn’t just Nick being 13 and still believing in monsters under his bed. It was Nick and them fighting off something that wasn’t even there. But they had all felt it, he had felt it. Choking him and pulling him towards Shadow Land. The Pull.

And they had somehow managed to fight them off and in came the man in white robe handing Nick a bracelet. Out of nowhere, standing in the middle of the stuffy room, calling Nick by his name. This will protect you my child, he had said. And so will your brothers. They were too stun to even react. And the man had assured them that it would be all right. And so they succumbed when the man had asked them to stand in a circle, back to back. He had made a little prick on each of their palm, letting just a drop of blood to ooze out, and they had all linked hand in hand, back to back, repeating what the man said.

with this charm I beseech thee
out of sight and out of me
blood this chant hold may
ward all harm and evil at bay

And it did made him feel safe and protected. And the man had told them that memories of what happened will be erased, for no human being could live a normal life holding such an ugly secret. The power of the Pull. But Nick had told them that he will never forget and it upset him to know that he had to live with the secret alone. "We’ll never forget Nick. You are not alone, we’re stronger, the five of us", Brian had told him then. But the truth was, when the memories were erased, he had forgot. So did Howie, Kevin and AJ.

AJ...something happened to AJ in the hospital. He remembered it now. And if all of these were true, then AJ wasn’t AJ. And Nick wasn’t Nick. How he wished now that Nick was just crazy. It would be a lot simpler then.
Chapter 9 ~ written by Mare by Mare
I sat with my legs curled up in my arms embrace, rocking. Trying to rock this nightmare away. That is what this had to be. A nightmare. I had many of these nightmares on my road to recovery. Shaking so hard while my body craved drugs and alcohol, seeing demons in every corner. I was sober now though, had been for awhile so if this wasn't a drug induced dream, then what the heck was it?

The sounds were the worst. True if it wasn't bad enough that it was pitch black in here, the moaning and whispering was enough to drive a guy insane. Moaning that started far off in the distance but would escalate to equal that of a Banshee's scream. Making every hair on my body stand up in strict attention. A barrage of whispers would follow, spoken by body less voices, crying out for help. Sounds of desperation then silence. It happened enough to set my watch by, if there was a sense of time in this place. There was none though. No time. No light. Nothing.

Maybe I was dead? I tried my hardest to think back to the last thing I remembered before entering this hell. Was I at a hospital? Was I hurt? Or was it someone else? Come on AJ think! We were all at the hospital. Sad and...desperate. I paused to listen to the moaning once again. I tried to cover my ears but it still managed to echo right through the gaps in my fingers. Then the voices, jumbled together, crying out for help. One voice stuck out though. A voice that felt like Christmas, familiar and exhilarating to hear.

NICK!

I stood up, and turned around looking for him, wanting to grab him in an embrace but he wasn't there.

"Nick!" Still silence I ran forward a little careful not to trip over any unforeseen monsters along the way. I cupped my hands to my mouth once again, "NICK CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

I felt the wall and pulled my hand back. It was so cold to the touch. Was I in a freezer? That's how cold it was, the only problem was my body didn't feel the chill. I was actually quite comfortable, as comfortable as someone trapped in hell could be I guess. I shook the thought out of my mind. What was I going to do again? I felt myself so easily distracted in this place. No focus at all, just a world where tangents reigned. "This would be perfect for Nick. He is the king of the two-second attention span" I said aloud smiling to myself despite my grim situation.

Nick..then I remembered. I heard Nick, he was among the voices crying out for help. There was no more crying though. Only the sound of my knees knocking. Funny I hadn't even realized they were knocking at all. I went to my original perch and sat back down on the floor holding my knees. That's why I held them in the first place. To keep them from shaking. I knew why I wasn't cold. Because fear had numbed me.

FOOTSTEPS...

My head shot up at the sound of someone...or something approaching me. It was an odd feeling, do I try to run away or run towards it and give it a hug for keeping me company? Steps getting louder now, making my heart vibrate in my chest with every footfall. My eyes bulging. I squint, trying to make out a form in the darkness. But it isn't that dark anymore. The shadow of the person or thing approaching me, is bathed in a warm glow. Like a flashlight being held under a cloth. Friendly, not menacing in the least.

As it grows ever closer, I see that it is a man. He approaches slowly at first and then stops. He is short and by his posture, I can see he is trying to figure out if I am a monster. I want to yell out to him, but I am still a little scared. So I sit and wait for him to approach. He stands still for quite awhile before continuing his trek closer and closer to me. It seems like it is taking him a year and a day to reach me. He stops as the moaning begins. I see him cover his ears, "It doesn't work!" I try to yell to him over the screams. I'm not sure if he heard me or not. That is how loud the moaning gets, a crescendo of pain coming from some invisible source. I myself, place my hands to my ears again, hoping that maybe it would work this time. Maybe..

"AJ?" Once again a voice of familiarity coming to my ears. It is not Nick's voice this time. It is coming from the figure who is approaching. Calm and inquisitive.

I stand no longer afraid as it gets closer and closer. I find myself running towards him, and see that he does the same, he says my name again just before we embrace. I can tell there is just a hint of hesitation in his voice. "AJ? Is that really you?" I let out a sigh, maybe this nightmare will end afterall. "Yes, Howie it is me!"

Then we hug. I have never been one to enjoy a hug but if that boy had permitted me too, I would have never let go. "Howie where are we? What is this place?" He pulled away and tried to look around. His glow, cast eerie shadows on the wall, "D, do you have a flashlight?" I asked him looking at his hands. There didn't seem to be anything in his grasp. "No, I don't have a flashlight"

"Mind telling me why you are glowing?" He looked down at himself, seeming surprised like he hadn't noticed before. "I have no idea, AJ what the hell is this place?" I shrugged. I was so happy that Howie was here, but at the same time I took it as a bad sign. "And what was all that moaning?"

"D, I wish I knew, but it never goes away. Get used to it, as long as we're stuck here it happens all the time" Now that there was a small source of light, I was able to see the room that I had called home. It was empty. No sign of life anywhere, like the waiting room for hell. The walls seemed translucent but cold to the touch. Almost transparent but there all the same.

"How did we get here?" He asked me, like I would know. I looked at him feeling defeated, "No clue" I said before sitting back down. He joined me on the floor. "Well, I vaguely remember being at the hospital, I think we were there visiting somebody. Something bad happened."

"Yeah D, I remember that too"

"It was strange J, I remember going to the hospital, riding in an elevator and then suddenly I was terrified. I didn't want to get off that thing, not for any amount of money in the world. It was this feeling, this strange sensation like I was being pulled."

"I felt that way too" I did but I don't remember how or why. "Right before I ended up here, I felt like I was being pulled, almost like an invisible wind picked me up and brought me here."

"The last thing I remember was being at the hospital" Howie took a deep breath before continuing, "I was on that elevator, we all were. I didn't want to go see him."

"See who?"

He looked up at me, pain in his eyes as he tried to remember, "I don't know. Whoever it was, I cared about him"

"Was it Nick?"

"Nick?" He said the word like he never heard it uttered before. Then I saw the look of recognition on his face. "Yes, it was Nick!" That's when I remembered too. "Nick was hurt. We were going to see him at the hospital" He tried to interrupt but I wouldn't let him, I wanted my memories to come back and they did in a flood. "I ran ahead of all of you, he was lying in the bed, he looked so bad D, He was pale and beaten up. I remember being mad. Mad at whoever did that to him" I stopped, closing my eyes trying to will away the rest of the story, It was too painful to recall but yet, I did. "I approached him to get a better look. I grabbed his hand and then.."

"And then what? What happened next?" Howie had moved up closer to me. I turned to look his way, "He grabbed me D, He grabbed me and sat up, his grip was strong, and his smile menacing. He scared me. I screamed." I felt my heart racing in my chest as I recounted what exactly led me to be here in this place. "He pulled me off of my feet and said I've got you now boy!" I screamed again but this time I stopped because when I looked down I saw myself still lying on the ground" I paused and laughed at the ridiculousness that was coming from my mouth. How could that be possible? Was I insane? I decided that I would stop right there just In case Howie thought I was crazy
until...

"That's what happened to me too" I looked at him feeling better instantly. Once he saw me gaze in his direction he continued, "The force I felt in the elevator, it kept me there. Once I decided not to be the first to go see Nick, I felt a pull. As everyone walked out of the elevator, I found I couldn't move at all. I heard a voice, soft but menacing. It said I've got you now boy!" His look becoming more and more panicked, all I could do was listen. There was no room for consoling in this place. He seemed to tense up as he continued, the glow irradiating from his body seemed natural, like it was always there. "I couldn't talk or move. I felt like I was glued to the wall of the elevator. Then I saw ME. I was walking out with Kevin and Brian. I was watching just like a movie. They heard you scream and they took off down the hall. The whole time the elevator door never closed, while I watched. Then the weirdest thing happened AJ"

"Are you serious D? You mean it gets weirder than this? pffft!" He ignored my mini rant and continued, "The Howie I was watching, turned to me and smiled. Then he threw his head back and laughed." He looked over at me for confirmation, hoping I would laugh at what he was saying, but yet, no laughter came. Instead the revving of those constant moans in the distance. It seemed to be getting louder if possible. Louder and more sinister sounding. A chill ran down my spine, as Howie clutched onto me for the duration of the howling. Then the voices came again, this time more like an explosion then a whisper. He was there again, coming in loud and much clearer now, "J. HELP!!"

Howie and I both jumped up when we heard Nick's pleas for help. "Nick, where are you? Can you hear me?" Howie screamed while spinning slowly in a circle hoping his light would lead us to him. "Oh my God" Howie said slowly accenting every word as if it were his last. I felt his tap but I didn't want to turn around, I was too afraid of what I might find. When I resisted, he physically moved me to face the wall, that's where I saw him. It was Nick, looking scared and confused, just like a child. He was standing on the other side of the wall and banging. His mouth was moving but we heard nothing. He was banging with the palm of his hands as he kept looking behind him. A look of complete terror on his face.

Howie moved right next to the wall placing his hand up to bang. Nick seemed to hear it because as soon as Howie knocked, Nick jumped back. He banged harder this time. "Why can't we hear his banging?" I asked moving right next to Howie."I have no idea AJ"

Nick turned away from us for a minute looking like he was talking to someone or something, "Maybe he has company" I looked at D, "Howie, for some reason that isn't making me feel better about us being on one side of this wall and him being on the other." Almost on cue we saw Nick being elevated and then thrown down on the floor, we both immediately started to pound on the wall with all our might. I was hitting the wall so hard my knuckles began to bleed. Nick just laid on the floor not moving, "Come on Nick get up, come on Nicky you can do this get up GET UP!!!" I found myself screaming at the wall. He stayed totally motionless though, then we heard the moaning again, it was very close now and it was coming again, for Nick. There was no mistaking it, that thing that had been moaning into a near deafening howl was standing inches away from Nick and kept moving closer and closer. Howie and I could only watch as it moved into the dim glow of the light. I looked at it's eyes and was thrown by the evil staring back at me, evil to the core. But that was nothing, once we got a full view of what was staring us in the face, I took a step back, we both did.

Neither of us made a sound. We just looked as he picked up Nick's still form and moved away from us. Howie looked over at me and spoke as a man who was barely clinging to his sanity, "Was that Kevin?" I couldn't answer, I could only look at the wall as the sound of desperate voices called out for help, Nick's no longer heard amongst the crowd...
Chapter 10 ~ written by Jennifer Stevens by Mare
Bathed only in the dimmest touches of moonlight, Brian sat motionless in a chair beside the window, his body in much the same position it had been in for the past hour and even the hour before that. A passing nurse would probably have thought him just another friend or family member hovering close to his loved one, no different than the hundreds of distraught visitors seen every day in the hospital corridors and waiting rooms. But as Brian stared unblinking into the darkness, heart thudding fast and hard within his chest, he knew there would be no passing nurses; not at this hour, and not where he and his friends were concerned. The hospital became a different world for them at night, splitting into a reality he barely understood, filled with the shadows and emptiness and deep, drifting silence that lingered close to him now, and chilled his skin every time he moved.

His mind was reeling, spinning with emotion and thoughts that wheeled past so quickly he barely had time to touch one before another had leapt up to take its place. He felt almost nauseous, and the only thing he been able to figure out was that the whole situation was just ridiculous. And terrifying. And real; horribly real, and surely enough to drive him mad, if not for the fact that he thought he just might be already.

When he had first entered the room earlier that night, he had fully expected to find A.J. inside. He would be curled up in a chair at Nick's bedside, Brian had thought; asleep, perhaps, or staring out the window with his arms folded tightly in about himself and a stiff set to his shoulders. Problem was, that would have been his A.J., his friend of ten solid years now. His A.J., who had taught him how to regurgitate spaghetti and crush a beer can on his head. His A.J., who would come to hospitals bearing armfuls of teddy bears for the children he loved to visit and coax into fits of giggles.

But his A.J. was gone.

Brian's heart twisted at that, but he gritted his teeth and swallowed back the cool, bitter taste on his tongue. They were probably all gone by now, his brothers. Even his Nick, and that was the hardest to accept, because staring at the still form lying loose and languid beneath white sheets that gleamed ethereal in the moonlight, it was so easy to believe that Nick was really there. So easy to believe that at any moment he would wake up and cry out as he always did when the darkness got too close. And then, all Brian would have to do was grip his hand, feel it warm and alive within his own, and whisper his apologies through tears and then the world would be steady and turning once more. If only it could be that simple.

He'd ended up standing at the foot of the bed for a long time when he found Nick alone, watching him, waiting for an attack that had never come. Whatever demon it was that lurked in Nick's body would come exploding up to seize him, he'd thought, and A.J. and the others would fly in from behind and the circle would be complete once more, except this time their circle would not seal the gates of Hell but wrench them open, and Brian's soul would be torn free from his body and flung away to join the others in that eternal darkness he knew waited for them all, if he didn't succeed at this. He'd been ready to put his plan into motion, but with no challengers he had taken hold of a hospital chair and dragged it back into a far corner, positioning himself so as not to miss the slightest of movements within the room.

So far, nothing had happened.

His eyes drifted closed for just a moment, then snapped back open and scanned the darkness sharply, piercing down to the heart of the shadows. Since that conversation with Howie, which had happened only hours earlier but already felt like days, he had moved as though shrouded in thick fog; even his thoughts grew muddled, obscure. Once those long-hidden memories had been drawn up to the surface they slithered like snakes into the deepest parts of his mind, hissing their mysteries and coiling their slick, cool bodies around him tightly. Charms and riddles packed his head, and from then on it was sheer instinct that guided him, because everything conscious within his body and mind withered under the vicious assault. A torrent of memories, and suddenly he didn't have to look at Nick's laptop at all, because he knew every word of what he would find there, every doubt and terror and determination that Nick had set down.

Every truth.

And he had known, then, what he had to do. The memories were clear and full, and he understood them, at least. Still, the larger issue of how in the world he and his four friends had ended up with something so monumental and horrific at their feet was beyond him. He and the others, they'd lived good lives. They were good people. There'd been that Dorito incident with A.J., of course, and the entire free world knew about Nick's I-fought-the-law-and-the-law-won encounter a January or two ago. But whatever the reason, the truth of the matter remained that something deep within their souls had the power to unlock a doorway that had no business ever being opened, and now one by one they were falling and Heaven help them all if he couldn't do this.

Brian closed his eyes again, lightly. The magnitude of this task was crushing, and he thanked God that there was something strong buried deep within him; something he hadn't known he had until it pushed him out of the hotel room and got him to this chair, because without it he might never have had the courage. Perhaps it was the others, Nick and Kevin and Howie and A.J. reaching out to him from wherever they might be now, lending him their faith. He had to believe they were with him; couldn't bear to think of anything else.

And he waited as the night slunk on.

They would come. Of that, at least, he was certain.

Brian let his hand slip down to the cushion of the chair upon which he sat, tightening his fist over the blade of the sharp steak knife that rested beside him and letting it dent his flesh. He'd grabbed it on his way out of the hotel, off a room service tray, and though he hadn't understood exactly why at the time, he knew now. The kaleidoscope of memories had continued, filling in all the missing bits and pieces as they continued to roll along, and he knew every bit of what he would have to do, now. And it sickened him.

But what choice did he have? He had sworn to remember, and he had forgotten. He couldn't fail; not again. Not this time.

"Courage," he whispered. Not a sound in the night beyond his own soft, broken voice. "Faith, courage; oh, God, what if I can't do this."

As hard as he tried to push them away, his fears rose again, just beneath the surface of his consciousness.

*Oh my God. what if I fail?*

The sudden rap of knuckles against the room's half-closed door made Brian jump, and he quickly moved to grasp the knife by the handle, keeping it concealed at his side.

"Brian?" Kevin poked his head into the room, pushing the door open cautiously before stepping inside. Brian knew him only by the voice; there was not enough light for him to make out much more his silhouette cut out from the shadows. "Brian, is that you?"

"I'm here." He did not move from the chair and hoped the darkness at least did the favor of masking the way he trembled.

"What are you doing?" Kevin asked softly, approaching. Two other forms moved into the room behind him, their edges blurring with the dimness. "Howie couldn't find you. We got worried and thought you might have come here. Why did you--"

"Don't come any closer," Brian whispered. Kevin stopped, immediately.

"Brian?" That was A.J., and his voice was so worried and so painfully familiar that Brian almost let it collapse him; almost let it drive him to his knees. But he found his resolve and leaned heavily upon that strength within him, standing and taking a quiet breath of relief when his knees didn't buckle on the spot. A dramatic speech would have been nice, seeing as how he was the center of attention and all, but if things were truly as out of control as he suspected, he needn't bother.

Actions spoke louder than words.

Brian lifted the knife, holding it close to his chest and letting the reassuring glimmers of moonlight play along its edge.

The sharp intake of breath was Howie's. the silhouette that went ramrod straight, Kevin. "Brian, what are you doing?"

"You know." And he could feel them inside now; undeniably, his brothers, lending him the strength he needed now. "We're together," he whispered. "And now it ends."

The voice of reason broke through one final time to scream at him; crazy, crazy crazy--

And in one swift, fluid motion, Brian turned the knife blade-down and buried it deep in the center of his palm.

The pain of his flesh tearing apart was nothing, nothing compared to the reactions of those in the room with him as his hand dripped blood, a red flood streaking down his fingers and pattering to the floor. A.J. and Howie curled back into the shadows instantly; behind him, Nick twisted in the sheets and moaned, the first movement Brian had seen from him all night. And for a single, painful second he prayed that Kevin would cry out in horror and rush to him to stem the bleeding; to wrap a warm hand over his wounded one, but instead his cousin hissed and staggered back, turning his face away.

He truly was alone, then.

Brian moved away from them, putting his back to the opposite wall, and as he did so could feel his brothers stronger than ever in his soul, gaining courage from that blood loosed to run free. He could recall in vivid clarity that day so long ago, that day they had slashed their palms and gripped hands to ward off the Pull, letting the blood seal their bond and repel the demons as surely as if they clutched crucifixes in their hands.

In the next instant, as Nick writhed before him and the others drew away, he felt the pull; felt it stronger than he ever had before, in fact. The closet door beside him exploded open to reveal a swirling black vortex that had become its interior, and Brian gritted his teeth and held his ground, thrusting his bloody palm out before him and clutching the knife tight in his opposite hand. A woman in white rushed into the room, startling him, but his surprise was gone when she turned and he recognized her face; felt her fire-capped blue eyes tangle with his own. "Stop," Desdemona warned, her voice a full octave lower than the last time he had heard her speak and barely female at all. "Give in. You can't win."

"Back off," he replied, inching back further as the strength within kept him upright. He had no doubts that had his brothers not been filling him with such immense courage, he already would have fallen.

The pull clawed at his back, consuming, trying to dip inside to hook its claws into the fasts of his soul and tear it free. He could feel the pull's sucking wind crawling beneath his shirt, stirring up his hair. "With this charm I beseech thee."

Desdemona's eyes flew wide.

".out of sight and out of me."

She reached back to claw at Howie, dragging him forward. "Stop him! We can't let him enter the vortex with his body and soul still as one--"

".bind this blood this chant hold may."

He prayed again for courage and for faith; prayed that these moments would not be his final ones on earth. His gaze flicked left for an instant, across Nick's tattered body, and he found himself pierced by awful, furious orange eyes burning in his brother's skull.

".ward all harm and evil at bay."

His voice cracked with doubt and terror on the last line, but it was there. He hoped it would be enough, because with those final words, Brian flung himself body and soul into the blackness, Desdemona's screams echoing in the rapidly fading twilight as the pull's gateway swallowed him whole.

***

*embrace the darkness.*

Hands, upon him. Fingers tight about his arms, shaking him, and cool fingers pressing into his cheek.

Brian startled awake, his first instinct to recoil back from that cold touch, but when his vision cleared the first thing he saw - the only thing he saw - were eyes, Nick's blue eyes, boring into his own, and he froze.

A threadbare couch was beneath him, his body lax and lethargic upon it. Above was a single window, four panes of glass so spotted and dirty he could see only the faintest traces of dawn through them, bleak gray streaks on a dark sky. Beside him was Nick, crouched on a dusty wooden floor, ballcap backwards on his head and eyes peering at him intensely. The air was thick, and Brian could see boxes and rubbish piled deep in the corners of the room. Heavy cobwebs clung to the rafters above him.

"Hell is an attic," he whispered.

Nick frowned and shook him a little. "Brian? Talk to me; are you all right?"

He blinked; reached out to snag the edge of Nick's sleeve. Nick?

Nick. His Nick. "Oh, God," Brian managed, then tried to sit up. Nick gently pushed him back, keeping him reclined on the sofa. "Oh my God, Nick! Are you okay?"

"You're the one I'm worried about. How do you feel? Dizzy? You need to throw up?"

Brian's gaze darted left and right as he continued to clutch to Nick's sleeve in his fist. The world was slowly sorting itself out around him. "I. did it work?"

"Did what work?"

Brian looked up at him and was startled into silence by the curiosity there. The last thing he had expected when he found Nick again was to see him this relaxed, this in control. this normal.

"Brian?" Nick said again, softly. "Did what work?

He took a moment to swallow; lick at his lips. "Where are we?"

"What do you mean? You don't remember?"

"Where are we?"

"God," Nick muttered, his gaze raking down Brian's body before coming back to settle on his face. "Man, I fucking told A.J. not to put that shit in your drink."

"What?" Brian's head was beginning to throb unpleasantly, and he gripped tighter at the sleeve within his fist. "No, Nick, don't you understand? They didn't get to me; I didn't let them! I jumped into the gateway, Nick; I came here on my own! They haven't gotten me yet, and I don't think they can now! Where are the others?"

Nick's expression had grown steadily more incredulous, and was even a hint frightened now. His mouth was pulled down into a small, solemn line. "Uh... Brian, maybe you better sit still for a minute, okay? Let that stuff wear off; I think you're delusional."

"What do you mean? Nick, I--"

"Remember the concert we had, Brian?" His voice was soft; eyes shining with intensity. "Kevin wanted us to all go out for old times' sake? A.J. brought us here, to this house for a party. I guess you came up here to crash after that stuff made you sleepy; we're in someone's attic right now." He grinned a little at the absurdity of it. "Remember, Brian? The concert? The party?"

"I."

Nick sat back on his heels, running his free hand down his face. "I'm gonna kill A.J. for this. Can you remember anything at all besides your nightmare?"

Brian swallowed hard and slowly turned over his left hand. He had felt no pain, he realized now, yet was still equal parts amazed and stunned to find the skin unmarred; perfect. It had been so real. "Nick, are you hurt?"

"Hurt?"

"Turn around."

"What for?"

"I need to see your head. Please," he whispered, and after eyeing him suspiciously for a moment Nick turned his back to the couch, pulling off his hat. The motion ruffled the short blond hair on the back of his head, as messy as ever and without even a hint of injury.

No no no no no

"Listen. Brian, it may have seemed real, but it was just in your head, bro." Nick stood, pulling free of Brian's grasp and pushing his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. "Everything's all right."

"It couldn't have been a dream, Nick."

"It's that shit of A.J.'s. I'm lucky I didn't find you on the roof. I took it once and came to inside a washing machine. Did I ever tell you that story?" He reached out a hand. "Don't worry, everything's fine."

Brian took the outstretched hand without a second thought.

It was ice cold.

He jerked out of Nick's grasp, scrambling back on the couch with wide eyes. Nick frowned. "Now what?"

"No," he whispered.

Nick took a step closer, reaching out again. "Brian, relax. I told you, it's the--"

"I won't forget; not this time." His eyes were wide and stricken. "Don't come any closer!"

Nick stopped, immediately. "Bri, I already--"

"No!" he shouted, his voice cracking the walls of reality. Everything around him seemed to shimmer, vibrant with energy, and he curled his hands into fists, clinging desperately to what was left of his sanity. "Not again!"

"Brian, it's the high, okay?" Nick stood nervously nearby, his hands stroking through the air before him as though trying to gently ease Brian's emotions down. "That's all."

"Don't jerk me around."

"I'm not--"

"You are. I know what you're trying to do, dammit."

"What?"

"It's just like what you did to Nick; taking him over so you could get at A.J., then letting him come back to himself to make him think he was crazy. Make us think he was nuts! Using Howie and Kevin." Brian jabbed viciously at his temple. "I know what you're trying to do! I can't break us out of Hell if you convince me that I'm not there at all!"

"Brian, you're not making any sense." Nick looked frightened now, and he swallowed visibly. "Please, calm down. It's the drugs, Brian. I'll kill A.J. for this; I swear, I will. You can help if you want."

Brian sucked in a deep breath, closing his eyes. The world felt fractured around him; his body splitting as he was pulled towards two loyalties, two directions. Had the gateway deposited him within the depths of Hell or the coarse darkness of his own raging mind? Surely to God this couldn't be reality. No, somewhere was the surface of this nightmare, the truth, but he was trapped by his own panic and desperation. There was nothing left inside to guide him; he felt neither the steeliness of his earlier convictions nor the strength of his brothers.

Nothing. but fear.

"Shh," Nick whispered gently. His voice was soothing; almost hypnotic. "Relax, Brian. Take deep breaths. Relax. relax. and just let yourself think. of nothing at all."

Brian's eyes flew open.

He didn't even have a chance to scream.

Because suddenly, Nick - or, rather, whatever demon it was masquerading as his friend - was atop him, pinning him down with its weight and plunging its hands deep within Brian's body, grasping for his soul.

Brian gasped and shoved back with all the strength he could muster, but it was pitiful compared to the power of this creature. "What do you want?" he choked, strangling off a scream as the demon's taloned hands sliced through skin and muscle, up to the wrist now in his flesh.

The creature smiled at him then; a frightening grin, and in the teeth that glistened with flecks of saliva Brian could see the reflections of his brothers; trapped, terrified, and knowing that their one hope was about to flame out. "I have what I want," it whispered. "Really, did you honestly think that it would be just this simple, Brian?"

".This. can't be. real." He could taste blood in the back of his throat. "You're not going to beat us!"

The creature sank its sharp claws into the core of Brian's soul.

Through the cracked and crusted glass of the attic's single window, the first tongues of red orange fire licked at the horizon.

But mercifully, Brian's world had already faded to black.
Chapter 11 ~ written by Kritter by Mare
Kevin shifted the burden in his arms slightly, trying too ease the weight of his youngest brother onto his left arm rather than his right. It had been years since he'd tried to carry Nick like this - the boy had grown into a man who was simply too tall and bulky to be carried efficiently by someone of Kevin's size. Nevertheless, when he had seen the blond laying in a heap on the ground, the only thing he could think of doing was getting the boy away from whatever force was attacking him, just as he had done ten years ago.

Ten years ago. How he'd forgotten about that terrifying night, he'd never know. But, in that moment when a pair of slimy, ice-cold hands had grabbed his shoulders as he slept and dragged him somehow out of his body, it'd been brought back to him, clear as day, and it was like he'd never forgotten at all.

All this walking was killing him, and it wasn't like he was getting anywhere either. The countryside, if it could be called that, was notable for its sheer lack of anything, and that hadn't changed at all. By Kevin's estimation, he had been carrying Nick for almost a half hour, and the landscape of.wherever they were seemed remarkably similar to the place where he had first seen Nick.

And Howie. And AJ.

Kevin shook his head, trying to erase the look of horror and fear that he had seen on their faces when he met their eyes through that damned clear wall. They'd actually recoiled from him, and maybe that hurt more than seeing Nick, laying motionless on the ground again.

What had they seen that had scared them so much? Or, perhaps the better question, what had they seen in him?

And had Howie really been glowing? Because people generally didn't glow, but he could've sworn that Howie had been giving off some sort of light. Of course, not much made sense in this place.

Like that lamppost up ahead. What a lamppost, of all things, was doing in a place like this, he couldn't quite grasp. But, never the one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he quickly covered the ground to it. Any light in this place seemed like a blessing.

Nick's weight shifted again, but Kevin hadn't done anything this time, and he looked down to see Nick tossing his head lightly. He smiled a little; at least something good could happen in this place. Moving as smoothly as he could, he lowered to young man to the ground, making a vain attempt to pillow some dirt under Nick's head, but the ground was oddly sleek, much like glass, so Kevin gently cradled Nick's head in his lap. Then, Nick began to moan slightly, and Kevin idly brushed his blond hair, trying to provide some sort of reassurance in Nick's restless slumber.

At least he had Nick, he rationalized. Brian was God knows where, and AJ and Howie, well, they'd been scared of him. And sure, maybe he should've walked towards the two of them and tried to work whatever it was out, but their fear had scared him. Kevin had never known AJ to be scared of much of anything, and the fact that he was scared of Kevin himself, well, he just wanted out of the situation. There was some lost connection between them in Kevin was scared of AJ because AJ was scared of Kevin, and Kevin had lost enough people he loved and he didn't want to lose AJ too.

It didn't make much sense, but not much did right about now.

All of a sudden, Nick's eyes slammed open, and the blond sat up, wildly swinging his head around as if searching for something. Kevin reached for him, but Nick threw his arms out, battling wildly against something Kevin couldn't see.

"Nick!" Kevin called, frantically trying to pull Nick back into whatever reality this was. "Nicky, hold up!"

Nick gave no sign that he heard Kevin's voice, so Kevin tried again. "Nick! Look at me, kid. It's Kevin. C'mon Nick, please!"

Nick stopped flailing, but continued looking around wildly. "Kev?" he said, voice cracking slightly. "Kevin, that you? Where are you?"

That was puzzling. He was practically on top of the kid. Still, the kid was half scared out of his wits and the nearby light didn't provide that much illumination. He supposed it wasn't shocking that Nick didn't recognize him immediately. "I'm right in front of you, Nicky. Calm down, okay? Just focus on me. It's all right." He put a hand on Nick's knee.

Nick practically jumped out of his skin. "Shit! Where are you? Where are you?!" His hands groped blindly until they met Kevin's own. "Kevin? Oh God.I can't see you.what the hell? I can't see you!"

Nick's hands worked their way out of Kevin's grasp as Kevin sat their stunned, running their way up over his shoulders and onto his face. Nick couldn't see him. Nick was somehow blind. This couldn't be happening, couldn't be real. Nick was.

Nick was still talking.

".and I know it's you and not an Evil Kevin but don't ask me how I know that, but it's like with A.J. and I can tell and there's your nose and eyebrows and hair and oh God Kev, it's dark and I hate the dark an.."

Kevin clamped a hand over Nick's mouth using the other to guide Nick's hands away from his face, hushing the boy so that he might get a word in edgewise. "Hey, whoa there Nick. Breathe for a second." He slowly removed his hand from Nick's mouth, trying to look anywhere but the sightless blue eyes. "Okay, slowly this time. You can't see...anything; is that right?"

"Uh-huh. And it's dark and you know how much I hate the dark because all sorts of things could come and get me and."

"Nick!"

The blond stopped short and then threw himself at where he guessed Kevin to be, missing by a little, but Kevin knew what Nick wanted and pulled him into an embrace. "Oh God, Kevin, I don't know what's wrong and I'm so scared."

"Okay, that's okay." Kevin said as he ran his hands lightly down Nick's back. And really, it wasn't okay, wasn't okay at all, but Nick was worked up enough as it was - being trapped in the dark was practically the kid's worst fear - and he didn't need Kevin's panic on top of his own. "When did you, um, when did this happen?"

Nick shifted, burying his face into Kevin's shoulder. "I don't know. I could see out there and then here I couldn't. But I just thought it was dark, so I yelled but no one came, and then I heard someone banging and I found something that felt like I wall and I banged back." He sighed. "Then something grabbed me and I guess I blacked out, because then I woke up and you were here. But I couldn't see anything for all of that." He pulled himself out of Kevin's hug, but left a hand on Kevin's leg, as if to keep track of where he was. "What's wrong with me? And where are we?"

Kevin frowned. "I wish I knew either of those answers, Nicky. I really, really do."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In a scene eerily reminiscent of the "Everybody" video, Brian awoke with a start, pawing frantically at his arms, trying to get the Evil Demon Not-Nick off of him when.huh?

Okay, this really was strange. Last thing Brian could remember, he was being mauled by one of the demon things, his soul being brutally ripped out of his body, so how did he end up on what appeared to be the "Everybody" set, in that same itchy bed with the cheap, scratchy sheets, same not-quite-dry but still somehow musty paint smell, same cheap "moon and lightning" window effect and everything.

Pushing himself out of the bed, he frowned as he examined his left hand. There, on the palm, was a lightly bleeding gash. A dream, he thought. It had to have been a dream. He ripped a piece of the scratchy sheet and wrapped it around his hand before feeling a distinct need to scout out his surroundings. He wandered out into the hallway, and he felt a distinct shock. This wasn't real, it couldn't be. This.place was only a soundstage in LA, and it was only a set, not a full building.

So this couldn't be real, it just couldn't. No matter what his senses were telling him.

The hallway opened up into a landing. Apparently, the room Brian had woken in had been on the second floor, and Whoa. He would've sworn he was just on the second floor landing, which he now saw above him, and not the ballroom floor where he now stood. What the hell was going on?

"Well, you're close, but it's not exactly hell."

"What? Huh?" Brian spun around, looking for whoever had just spoken, but there was no one. Or, maybe more appropriately, there was nothing.

"Nah, I think you were closer on the first one."

"Okay," Brian scowled, trying to intimidate the speaker, wherever it was. "I don't know who you think you are, but the least you could do is come out and say.whatever it is you want to say to my face."

"I already am." The voice seemed quite amused by Brian's frustration. "You 're just not looking hard enough."

Brian sighed. "What do I need to look for then? I've already been to hell on this trip. Are you gonna jump out of the walls this time?"

"I already told you, it's not quite Hell, at least not in the sense you're thinking of." The distinct sound of feet hitting the ground sounded. "Now, turn around and really look."

Brian turned and nearly jumped out of his skin. "Shit!"

There, standing not two inches from his nose, was Chris Kirkpatrick. But no, he couldn't be, but still.

"Chris, what the hell are you doing here?"

Chris smirked, just a little. "Again, not hell, and, well, to be truthful, not exactly Chris."

Brian stumbled back, tripping over a chair leg that he could've sworn hadn't been there a moment before. "But you are.I mean, you're Chris, but no, you can't be. And you look like, but how would you be here?"

The Chris-thing laughed. "You wanna try making a coherent sentence out of that? Not that I couldn't listen and figure it out, but it's more fun this way."

"Listen to what?" Brian was now thoroughly confused and more than a little angry. "And stop being so damn smug." Then, almost as an afterthought, he added "Who are you then, and why do you look so much like Chris?"

"My name," the thing replied, settling into what looked like the chair AJ had sat in during the.oh. He got it., "is Chaucer, and I don't really know why I look so much like this Chris person." Chaucer shrugged. "It's your idea, buddy, not mine."

Brian sank back on to, a sarcophagus? What the heck? He glanced over his shoulder, and saw that he and Chaucer were no longer in the open room with the chairs, but somehow in a basement filled with stank smelling straw and dried bandages. "This," Brian gestured to the room around him, "Is my idea? Um how? And, while you're at it, why? And where did the other room go? And yeah, so your name is Chaucer, but that doesn't answer my question."

"Do you always have this many questions?"

Brian glared at the other man but didn't answer.

"All right. Geez, you're a tough crowd." Chaucer leaned back against the wall. "This," and he waved his arms around in a mockery of the movements Brian had just made, "is all your idea. Somewhere, deep within that little head of yours, this place has some sort of meaning to you. I don't know why, that's up to you. This," he gestured to himself, "is because you think he looks vaguely like an elf. And because I thought the beard horns would be fun. This,"

And all of a sudden, Brian and Chaucer were in a room with an open coffin, lined with silk and fit for any self-respecting vampire, "is because it's fun and because I can."

"And as for me," Chaucer disappeared in a puff of smoke and a man clad in a white robe took his place. "Do you recognize me now?"

Brian did recognize him. It was the same man who had taught them how to defend themselves against the demon things, the man who had given Nick his charm bracelet. He was immeasurably glad to see at least this familiar face.

Then, a chilling thought struck. "How do I know you're who you look like?" Aware of how silly that sounded, Brian tried again. "How do I know you're not one of those.those soul stealing things?"

Chaucer, because Brian really didn't have a better name for him at this point, sighed. "Brian," and Brian was suddenly very conscious that he'd never introduced himself. "Brian, look at me. Look into my eyes if you 're not sure. Touch my hand, whatever. You just have to trust me on this one, okay?"

Brian looked long and hard at the man. He certainly looked like the man who'd come to them so long ago, but then again, Fake Demon Nick had, in his dream at least, looked like Nick, and who was to say that visit 10 years ago had been with good intentions, anyway?

Chaucer rose and went to kneel in front of Brian. "Look, I know your whole world has been turned inside out, and you can't tell up from down and back from front, but you're going to have to trust something eventually. Let that be me."

He stood. "Somewhere deep inside you, beyond where see and hear and touch, you want to trust me, and that's because you know that I'm telling you the truth. All these things, these places, all these games I'm playing with you, that's just the surface. Look inside."

So Brian did. He tuned out the musty smell of the room and the scratchiness of the chair on which he sat and the howl of the wind and tried to focus on what he knew was real. There wasn't much, he realized, not much at all. But there was enough.

He knew he was real, and he knew his brothers were in trouble. He knew that, wherever he was, he had to be careful. And he knew that somehow, some way, he would find his brothers and they would win.

He knew that, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

He heard Chaucer laugh, so he opened his eyes that he didn't realize he had closed. Wait, no. They were still on the stupid set, or whatever it was. This time, they were in a laboratory, much like the one Kevin had used when dressed as the strange Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde lizard thing. This wasn't, couldn't be right.

Yet Chaucer, who had changed to look like Chris again and was perched precariously on top of a cabinet full of nasty looking tools, still laughed. "Nice choice," he commented with a smile. "Very Stevenson of you, but very appropriate."

Brian scowled again. He'd had quite enough of Chaucer's doubletalk. "All right. I don't know what the hell you're trying to tell me with this.charade, but it's not funny and it's not real. None of it! You're not Chris and this is just a set, but my brothers are out there, fighting God knows what, and all you can do is sit here and laugh! It's not funny, not at all, and if you're not going to help me, then just leave and I 'll figure it out myself!"

Chaucer stood, suddenly sober and very intimidating. "You're more right than you know." He paced the small room, never breaking eye contact with Brian. "This isn't real, and that's the point. Not much is real here, and it's your job to find out what is."

"Everything about this room feels real to you, does it not? And so did the room where you woke up, and the room where we were two minutes ago. All your senses, your smell, your touch, your sight, tell you that we' re standing in a room straight out of one of your videos. Everything about me told you that I was this "Chris" fellow, but there was a little voice telling you that it couldn't be."

Suddenly, he was the man in the white robe again, without the theatrics of the smoke this time. "You say you want to save your brothers. That's fine, great in fact. But you can't do it on your own, and you know that. You wouldn't be here if you could."

Brian stayed silent, absorbing the words.

"You are the method, but not the key, Brian. This," he waved his arms, and the room disappeared, melting into a blackness that seemed impossibly deep with the only visible things being Chaucer and Brian, "was not real, but it felt that way to you. A lot of things feel real, Brian." An miniature image of the attic in his nightmare appeared in the blackness. "A lot of things."

"But, I don't understand. So things aren't real here."

"Things are real here, but not the things you think. Things seem real, not just to you, but to your brothers as well, and they simply can't be. You'll know."

"How?"

"Listen. Not with your ears, like you've been trained. But with your heart."

"Oh. And, uh, not to seem ungrateful or anything, but why me? Why not Kevin or Howie or someone?"

"Do you remember what Desi said when you leapt into the vortex?"

"Desi?"

Chaucer sighed. "Fine, have it your way. Do you remember what Desidemona said when you jumped into the vortex?"

Brian thought back through a haze of memories, and came upon a vague recollection. "Stuff about not being able to go in, well, here I guess, whole and willingly. Something like that."

Chaucer nodded his head forward, letting the implications of what Brian had remembered sink in.

Then, the memory hit Brian almost like a Mack truck. "No one can willingly enter the vortex with their body and soul still as one," he said quietly. "But that means I."

He didn't know how he knew, but Brian realized that somehow, someway, he was going to be the one to bring them back together. He wasn't going to get them out - someone else was going to be that particular piece of the puzzle - but it was his job to reunite the five of them.

Brian bit his lip, slightly unsure of himself. "I can't do this alone."

Finally, a kind smile from Chaucer, and suddenly the image of the attic faded into Nick's old charm bracelet, the one that had been stolen when the kid was 15. "'With this charm I beseech thee, out of sight and out of me.'"

".Bind our blood this chant hold may ward all harm and evil at bay.'"

Brian took the surprisingly heavy bracelet in his hand.

"I have to find them, don't I?"

"Yes, you do."

Brian noticed that Chaucer had begun to fade into the blackness, but, strangely, he wasn't scared. "You have to go? I thought you would be with me."

"For the moment. I'll be back."

Brian started to smile, then frowned a little. "How will I know what to do?"

Chaucer was nothing more than a Cheshire cat-like grin now. "You'll have all the pieces, Brian. Just put them together."

"Together." almost an echo, and then he was gone.

Brian looked around and realized that he couldn't see anything at all. He was alone. But not for long, he added internally. In the distance, he thought he could see a speck of light, and he set off towards it.

He clasped the bracelet around his wrist and smiled. For the first time in a while, he felt the strength of his brothers join with his own. They were going to beat this. Whatever this was.
Chapter 12 ~ written by Julie by Mare
Brian clasped the bracelet around his wrist and smiled. Then,



“CUT!”



A man’s voice barked out the command sharply, and all of a sudden, the blackness disappeared. Illuminated by the bright lights shining from all angles, Kevin’s “Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde lizard thing” laboratory set returned.



“Great job, guys,” the man said, as Brian and the man in the white robe – Chaucer – crossed the laboratory. “That’s a wrap on that scene. Just a few more left to shoot today. If we keep going at this pace, “Backstreet Boys: The Movie” should be all shot by the end of the week.”



“Great.” Brian smiled and stepped off the laboratory set. And that was all it was, a set. The smoke and the blackness… it was all gone, replaced by the lights and equipment and noise of a Hollywood sound stage. It was all fake… it was a movie… a bizarre movie.



“Oh, Brian, one more thing-” said the man – obviously, the director of this strange movie. Brian stopped and turned around.



“Yeah?”



And suddenly, the man transformed (was this another part of the movie?) into another person all together. Not a man, but a woman, a woman with vibrant blue eyes… eyes that were deathly cold… yet flaming… literally.



Desdemona.



A malevolent smile spread slowly across her face, fire exploding in her blazing blue eyes. “Brian.” She said his name again, but it was not the curt voice of the director, nor the feminine voice of the hospital nurse. It was a deep, throaty rasp… the voice of evil.



The blood drained from Brian’s face, but he swallowed hard, set his jaw, and gazed levelly at her. Then he held up his arm. Still gleaming from his wrist was the bracelet Chaucer had given him in the last scene… it was just a scene, right? Just a movie?



“You can’t scare me, Desi,” Brian spoke, his voice confident. “You can’t hurt me either.” He clamped his other hand over the bracelet so that his arms were locked together. “With this charm I beseech thee, out of sight and out of me, blood this chant hold may, ward all harm and evil at bay.”



Desdemona’s fire-engulfed eyes narrowed, and she took a step back. And then Brian took a step forward, chanting the spell again, his voice powerful and unafraid.



“With this charm I beseech thee…”





Howie’s eyes flew open and he sat bold upright, looking around him. After a moment of disorientation, he realized what was going on. He was still in this place… this hell… and he had been sleeping. Dreaming. The movie set… Brian… Desdemona… all just part of the dream, just figments of his tortured mind.



When did I fall asleep? Howie wondered. He couldn’t remember. There was no sense of time in this place, and he had no idea how long he had been there. The last thing he remembered was seeing Kevin (if that was indeed Kevin, for it did look vaguely like his older brother, but so… evil) pick up an unconscious Nick – with much struggle, he recalled – and stagger away with him… away into the darkness… to where, Howie did not know. Then came the movie dream, and now… here he was.



But where was AJ?



Looking around again, Howie spotted AJ lying on the ground a few feet away, fast asleep. So they had both fallen asleep at some point after Kevin’s strange appearance. But for how long? And where were Kevin and Nick now? A quick glance over at the transparent wall through which he had seen Nick before told him the room – or whatever it was – was still empty. Kevin and Nick had vanished and not come back. But where had they gone? And how had they gotten out? Howie and AJ had circled their enclosure many times and discovered that it was just that – an enclosure. Completely enclosed, no way in, no way out. Not that they could gain access to anyway. They knew there had to be same entrance because Howie had gotten in there somehow, but maybe it had gone away. Howie didn’t know and tried not to contemplate it too much. It only made his brain hurt. Nothing made sense here, and he was learning to accept that. Still, questions of time and the fate of Nick and Kevin continued to flood his brain.



And then there was Brian.



Howie thought back to his dream. Apart from the whole strange movie thing, he remembered two things – Brian had met the man in the white robe – Chaucer, as he was called – and Brian now had a bracelet like the one a rabid teenybopper had ripped off Nick’s wrist years ago. And Howie knew that that bracelet was not just any bracelet, not just a souvenir Kevin had bought for his brother. That bracelet truly was charmed. It was something special, something that would serve as protection. He remembered Brian’s encounter with Desdemona right before he woke up and realized that the bracelet had done its job – Desdemona had not been able to get at Brian, not been able to suck his soul out of his body and send it hurtling to the pits of Hell with the others. With that bracelet and the chant, that forgotten chant, Brian had been able to keep her at bay.



But had that actually happened? It was only a dream, after all. And he was sure that the movie part was not real (he knew they would never sink so low as to make a Backstreet Boys movie – that was something only ‘N Sync and the Spice Girls would do), but what about the rest? The important stuff – Chaucer and the bracelet. Did it really happen, or was it all just wishful thinking… just wishful dreaming?



Howie was not sure, but, ever the optimist, he had hope. Hope that something like it really did happen. Hope that Brian had help and guidance and protection. Hope that Brian was going to save them.



He knew Brian was up against extraordinary odds. The evil force had already taken four of them; how hard would it be to take the fifth member of their group? But if there was anyone who could fight the force, it was Brian. Brian’s faith was stronger than any of them, and that, if nothing else, empowered him. When it all came down to it, it was a battle of good versus evil. In movies, good almost always wins. But this was no movie, as in Howie’s dream. This was real.



Would Brian’s faith, the bracelet, the chant, and Chaucer be enough to conquer the greatest of evils? Or would Desdemona and her demon faction ultimately reign supreme?



Come on, Brian, Howie thought, squeezing his eyes closed, chanting the thought in his head, as if somehow, Brian would hear it and be strengthened by it. You can do it, Brian. Fight. Fight them… and save us.



Brian was their only hope. And hope was all Howie had left.



***



It was the light that woke AJ up. Its shimmering brightness filled the dark room he and Howie were trapped in and seeped through his eyelids, causing him to awaken. Confused and still half-asleep, AJ opened his eyes and looked towards the source of light, which seemed to be coming from the center of their enclosure. The light was in a tall column and glowing within it, suspended in mid-air, was the face of his grandmother.



AJ gasped, scrambling to his feet. From somewhere near him on the ground, he heard Howie cry out, “AJ! What’s wrong?” But AJ ignored his friend and ran to his grandmother.



“Grandma?” he asked in a whisper, looking up at her face in awe. Now that he was closer, he saw that she was crying. Pearly, shining tears streamed slowly down her cheeks. “Grandma, what’s wrong?”



“Your mother,” she said softly. It was her voice, her loving, comforting voice, a voice he never thought he’d hear again. But it was different somehow – hollow, echoing, distant.



“My mother? What about my mother?” AJ asked, staring at his grandmother’s tearful face in anxiety. “Has something happened-“



“She’s very ill, Alex. She’s dying.”



“Dying?! No! No, no, she can’t die! Grandma, help her!”



“I can’t, Alex. No one can help her now.”



“But… but…” AJ stammered, feeling a prickling sensation in his eyes and a lump in his throat. “Grandma, I have to go to her then! I have to be with her!”



“You can’t, Alex. Not while you’re here.”



“But, Grandma, can’t you get me out of here?” AJ asked with waning hope.



“I’m afraid I don’t have that power.”



“But…” AJ trailed off. What else could he say?



And then, his grandmother began to fade, her face dissolving into the column of light.



“Grandma, wait!” he cried. “Please, please don’t go, don’t leave me here, come back, help me!”



But she was gone, and a moment later, so was the light. The room was pitched into darkness once again.



“AJ? Are you all right?” came Howie’s voice. AJ looked over at him in surprise, having forgotten he was still there.



“No,” he said. “My mom’s dying. I have to go to her!”



Howie looked at AJ sadly and said nothing, but AJ knew what he was thinking. There was no way out.



“There’s got to be a way!” cried AJ, his voice brimming with desperation. “There’s just gotta be!” And he began to race around the perimeter of the room again, searching for some kind of opening, some kind of portal out of this hell.



And, though he was sure he would find nothing, for there had been nothing there before, he found one. All of a sudden, there was a door in one of the walls.



“Howie!” he cried. “D, look, it’s a door! It’s a door, D, we’re free!”



Howie scrambled over, his brown eyes wide. He looked at the door in amazement. “But how…?” he asked, trailing off in confusion. “It wasn’t there before…”



“I know,” said AJ. “But it’s here now, and I say we go through it. We’ve gotta get out of here!”



Howie hesitated a moment, staring at the door. Finally, he nodded. “Okay… let’s go.” He made a move toward the door and reached out to push it open, then stopped. He looked back at AJ, his expression wary.



“Come on,” AJ said, striding up to the door with confidence. “This may be our only chance. We’ve got to take it.”



And he pushed the door open and walked through.



He found himself inside another room, but this one was much, much different from the one they had just left. While the previous room had been a black, empty void, this room was crowded, filled with people sitting at tables and chairs and on stools along a wooden counter. Behind the counter, there were shelves and shelves of bottles.



They were in a bar.



AJ looked around, shocked to see other human beings, shocked to see something that was utterly normal-looking. “Are we home?” he asked, turning to Howie. “Back… back in the real world, I mean?”



Howie was looking around in disbelief as well. “I don’t know,” he said slowly. He walked up to the counter, where there were two empty stools left. It was as if he and AJ were expected. They sat down. The bartender had his back turned, mixing drinks. AJ leaned over to the person sitting next to him, a pretty woman that looked to be in her early twenties.



“Excuse me, miss, this is going to sound really weird, but… where are we?”



But the woman did not answer him or even acknowledge his presence. She kept her eyes straightforward and sipped her drink robotically. Looking around, AJ realized the others in the bar were doing the same thing. Howie tried the man sitting on the other side of him, but he, too, just ignored Howie and continued his drink.



The bartender turned around, a shot glass filled with liquid in each hand. Looking straight at AJ and Howie, he set the glasses down on the counter and pushed them slowly across, one to AJ and the other to Howie.



“Excuse me, sir,” AJ said, ignoring the drink, “but what is going on here? Where are we?”



The bartender just stared at him, not responding. Then, after a moment, he turned and went back to mixing his drinks.



“Hey!” AJ cried. “Get back over here!”



But he was just ignored.



Sighing, he looked down into his drink. It had been nearly two years since his last drink, and though he had had many cravings, he had done a good job at refraining from alcohol. Slowly, the cravings had diminished, and he rarely got them at all anymore.



Until now.



Whatever was in that shot glass seemed to be calling him, tantalizing him, luring him nearer. No, AJ thought determinedly. I won’t do it. I won’t drink it.



A moment later – “Fuck it,” said AJ, grabbing the small shot glass, raising it to his lips, and downing the alcohol in a single gulp. It tasted like heaven to him, and for a moment, he forgot he was in Hell. But that shining moment faded fast, and he yearned to have it back. As if on cue, the bartender appeared again with another glass and pushed it over the counter to him.



“AJ, no!” Howie cried, grabbing AJ’s wrist as he moved to pick up the glass. “Don’t do this! We have no idea where we are or who these people are or what the hell is in that drink. And what about all those months of sobriety? Don’t ruin it now, AJ!”



“I already have,” AJ snapped, and he downed the shot again.



Several more shots later, things didn’t seem so bad anymore. AJ was drunk, and it felt wonderful. He could have stayed in that bar forever, but Howie simply would not allow it. Against AJ’s will, he yanked him off the bar stool and dragged him through the bar.



“No!” AJ cried, as they reached the door, trying to wrench himself out of Howie’s grasp. But Howie was sober and stronger and more coordinated, and he held fast to AJ, guiding him out the door.



AJ expected to find himself back in the dark, empty room they had come from, but he was pleasantly surprised once again. He was outside, in a small, dimly lit parking lot. There was only one car in the lot, a shiny black sports car.



“Look, Howie!” AJ breathed, pointing at it. “Look!” Before Howie could stop him, he broke out of Howie’s grasp and raced across the blacktop to the car. He yanked open the driver’s seat door, climbed inside… and gasped.



There, sitting in the passenger’s seat beside him, was his wife, Sarah.



“Sarah?! What are you doing here?” AJ asked, his word slurring slightly from the alcohol.



“I’ll tell you everything later on,” she said with a smile. “Let’s get out of here.”



Those were the sweetest words he had heard all night. “Okay, baby,” he said, smiling in relief. “Let’s go.”



The keys were already in the ignition. He turned them, and the car sprang to life. Without a second thought, AJ put it in drive and sped away, forgetting all about Howie, who stood forlornly in the now empty lot, watching them drive away without him.



We’ve escaped, AJ thought elatedly, as he sped along the road. It didn’t bother him in the least that the area was completely unfamiliar to him, that he had never been in the woods this road was winding its way through. It looked like the real world to him, the world he was used to, and that was all that mattered. Sooner or later, he knew they would find a place to stop and ask where they were, and then they could find a way home.



He didn’t count on his inability to drive. He barely noticed that he was weaving in and out of his lane or that everything looked slightly blurry and out of focus. But he was quite aware of losing control of the car and veering off the road into the trees.



As the car crashed into a thick tree, its hood crumpled. Why there were no airbags in such a sporty little car, AJ would never know. And why his body seemed to defy the laws of motion and remain motionless in his seat was another mystery. But he sat there, quite uninjured, just reeling from the shock of the impact.



Next to him, it was a different story.



He had heard Sarah scream as the car hurtled off the side of the road. But now, there was only silence. AJ turned to the passenger seat, almost afraid of what he was going to find. Then he began to scream.



Sarah was slumped over, motionless and lifeless. Her face was a bloody mess, apparently from crashing into the dashboard. And even before AJ touched her, shook her, tried to awaken her, he knew the horrible truth.



Sarah was dead.



“Oh, God, no,” AJ whispered. “Please, no… God, what have I done? I killed her… I KILLED her!”



He began to cry then, sobs racking his body just the way they had when he found out his grandmother was dead. That was the last time he had really cried like this.



A rustling in the trees made him look up. His sobs quieted, and, tears still running down his red cheeks, he squinted out into the dark forest.



Something was moving out there. Something big.



AJ sat stock still, debating whether to go investigate or stay there. In the end, he decided to get out of the car. It might not have been the smartest decision, and in a normal situation, he probably would have thought twice. But he was drunk and lost, and Sarah was dead, and frankly, he didn’t give a shit about what happened to him. In fact, he almost wished it was a giant, vicious grizzly bear who would finish him off in a few bites and end the misery.



When he climbed out of the car and stepped into the trees, he saw that the thing was not a grizzly bear. It was much, much scarier.



It was a clown.



A clown that could only be described as… evil. It had gleaming red eyes, and a toothy grin. A grin full of fangs. It laughed, no, cackled, at him, grinning cartoonishly and stalking closer to him, the big red eyes fixed hungrily on him.



“AHHHHHH!” AJ screamed.



And screamed.



And screamed.



And screamed some more.



***



Somewhere in the distance, Kevin and Nick were sleeping. How Kevin had managed to fall asleep in this place, he would never know. For Nick, it was easier. His world had become a sightless void, a world of blackness and fear, fear of the unknown and the unseen. It was better when he was asleep. He could not be afraid when he was asleep, except for in his nightmares. But those were just that, just nightmares. The real world – or this hell, which didn’t quite seem real – was another story. And so, he had allowed himself to fall asleep, knowing that Kevin was at his side, sure that Kevin would be there to protect him while he slept. For once, he was glad to have Kevin hovering over him. For once, he did not resent being treated like a child. He sure felt like one now, scared of the dark and the evils that lurked within it.



But, unbeknownst to Nick, Kevin had fallen asleep too. All the straining to carry Nick had worn him out more than he realized. However, his sleep was not peaceful. Not long after he had closed his eyes and succumbed to his exhaustion, he was jarred awake by horrible screams. Familiar screams.



“AJ?”



Instantly alert, Kevin leapt to his feet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nick sleeping soundly on the ground. He was safe there… right? But AJ was not, at least he didn’t sound like it. By his screams, he sounded like he was in terrible trouble. And Kevin knew he had to go to him, had to rescue his little brother if he could. That was his duty. Nick would be all right there, fast asleep. He would come back to him later. But right now, he had to go to AJ.



And so he took off running across the strange, lustrous ground, following the sounds of AJ’s haunting screams and hoping he would not be too late.



***



“AJ… AJ…”



The clown chanted his name in a strangely high-pitched, psychotic tone. And then, more stepped out from behind the trees. They walked towards him, an army of clowns, their sharp teeth bared, their blood-red eyes gleaming.



“No!” AJ cried, stumbling back. “No, please, don’t eat me! Don’t eat me!”



Clowns – they were the things that frightened him most, the things that had terrorized him in his nightmares as a child. He wasn’t sure exactly why – a bad circus experience he couldn’t quite remember, maybe? Or perhaps it was just from seeing the movie “It” too many times… or maybe that one episode of “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”



“AJ… AJ…”



“No!”



“AJ! AJ!”



“No, no! Leave me alone! Don’t eat me!” AJ screamed, squeezing his eyes shut in terror as the lead clown advanced upon him.



“AJ!!!”



AJ felt hands gripping his shoulders. He tried to tug away, but the grip was too strong. He could feel the clown’s hot breath on his face and knew the end was coming. Against his better judgment, he opened his eyes to greet his oncoming death…



… and found himself face to face with Howie.



“AJ?” Howie asked, his voice trembling, his face pale. “God, AJ, are you okay?”



AJ sat up and looked around, horribly confused. The woods and the clowns and the car and Sarah… they were all gone. He and Howie were back in the dark room. Maybe they had never left the dark room…



“Howie, what happened?” AJ demanded.



“You had a nightmare,” Howie said shakily. “You were screaming bloody murder… something was trying to… eat you?”



“The clowns,” AJ panted.



Howie gave him a strange look. “Are you okay?” he asked again.



“Yeah… yeah, I think so. So it was all just a dream?”



“Yeah…”



“Sarah – where’s Sarah?”



“I don’t know. Home?”



“And my mom… and Grandma… was Grandma really here?”



Another strange look from Howie. “No… AJ, are you okay?”



“Stop asking me that!” AJ snapped. “Yes, I’m okay. I’ve just been living out my worst nightmare, okay? My grandma came… my mom was dying… I got drunk… I killed Sarah… and then… and then the clowns came.”



Howie just blinked. Then, “Sounds scary.”



“Yeah,” AJ said, glaring at him. “It was.”



***



The speck of light was growing larger. He was getting nearer.



“Hang on, guys,” Brian whispered. “I’m coming.”



He was a little afraid of that light, of what he was going to encounter when he reached it. But his resolve and determination to save his friends, his brothers, kept him going. He trekked on, hastening his step as he grew closer to the light.



And finally, he was there, at a vortex of shining, silvery light. He knew this was it. This had to be the way into wherever the others were. And all he had to do was get in… with his body and soul still intact. That was the key – he couldn’t let his body be stripped of his soul like the others. If he could just get inside in one piece, he somehow knew he’d be able to find them and rescue them. He would have his body, his soul, his bracelet, and his chant. Their chant.



And of course, he had his faith. God would watch over him, that much he was sure of. He just had to step into that light..



But of course, things could never be quite that simple.
Chapter 13 ~ Written by Bianca by Mare
Howie shifted his attention toward the soft voice he heard calling his name. ' That canīt be..' He glanced in the direction the voice had come from, but saw nothing but darkness. Sinking back against the wall, he took one last worried glance at AJ before he closed his eyes.A loud noise brought him away from the rest he had been seeking, and when he opened his eyes, he was somewhat distressed to find AJ was gone. In fact, he wasnīt even in the same dark room he had been in just a few minutes earlier."Whatīs going on?" Howie was sure he hadnīt moved, he hand only closed his eyes to rest.Now, though, he was in an oddly familiar room by himself. He stood up and cautiously walked around the room, carefully examining his surroundings. It was like any other den, but for some reason, Howie felt like he had seen the room before. He was about to plop down on the couch when he saw a wall full of pictures in the next room.

He was careful not to move anything out of its place as he moved from one room to the other. Soon, he was standing in front of the wall covered in various photographs that seemed to span decades. Almost immediately he recognized photos of his grandparents and parents, and it only took seconds to notice that they all seemed to be placed in chronological order.The last picture was one of his family that had been taken a couple years before at a get together-Christmas, if Howie remembered correctly.

Taking the last picture off the wall, Howie looked at it closely.The date on the bottom of the frame was December 2000. Howie soon became consumed in memories and didnīt hear the footsteps as someone entered the room.He didnīt realize the person standing next to him until they gently touched his shoulder. Startled by the sudden presence, he cried out and dropped the picture, watching as the glass in the frame shattered into hundreds of pieces. "You scared the shit out of me!"his voice faded as he looked up.

Standing before him, was his sister Caroline.

Her tender smile was warm and inviting and she looked exactly the way Howie remembered her.When he finally found his voice, he stammered for the right words to say. "How...where..Ķwhat are you doing here? You canīt be real!"

"Howie,I am real," her voice came out very soft, almost melodic.

"No!" Howie cried, furiously rubbing his eyes, hoping to wake up from this dream. What kind of awful trick was this? "You canīt be real.Youīre dead!"

"Thatīs right Howie, I am dead," Carolines voice was growing harsh and her delicate features darkened dramatically."Where were you when I died?"

"What?..What are you talking about?" Howie was confused. How was he talking to his dead sister? Where was he? There were so many questions running through his mind and he didnīt know where to begin asking them. This wasnīt the same person he remembered. Caroline wasnīt easily angered, but this..this thing was growing angrier with every passing second.

"What do you want with me?"

"Howie, where were you when I died? "What were you doing when I needed you? When our family needed you?" Her once harmonious voice had now deepened to a frightening tone; she sounded almost demonic."Where were you dear brother?"

Howie began to back away from the creature before him, but he soon stopped when he felt the wall behind him. He did the only thing that he could think to do, he answered. "I was working, sissy." He thought that maybe if he explained, he could get whatever this was to calm down." There was nothing I could do for you."

"You could have been there!" she thrust her arm in his direction. Howie quickly ducked out of her reach and got out of his corner. "You were too selfish to care that I was dying..you only cared about making your fortunes. Our family meant nothing to you...I meant nothing to you."

"No!" he cried," thatīs not true, and you know it!"

Howie watched at bright flames began to dance in her eyes. "You have to pay for that, Howie. You have to pay with your life.

Wasting no time, he turned and bolted for the door.He could feel the creatures hot breath on his neck and he was sure that it almost grabbed him more than once. Howie didnīt think he would ever make it to the door, but finally, he was there. With no hesitation at all, he grabbed the knob and threw the door open; he didnīt even look as he ran through.

Suddenly, he found himself falling. His own screams seemed to be muffled by the voice of his sister. He kept falling and screaming until suddenly, there was nothing...

************************************************************************************************************

Brian looked all around, suddenly unsure of what he was about to do. What if he was making a mistake; what if this wasnīt where he needed to be? "No, this is right," his voice sounded soft and almost childlike. All he had to do was step into the bright vortex of light, but for some reason, he felt like he could not move.

Becoming frightened, Brian began the chant, "With this charm I beseech thee Out of sight and out of me Blood this chant hold may Ward all harm and evil at bay." He still did not move. ' Whatīs wrong with me?' he asked himself. It was as though he was stuck to the ground; just like something was holding him in place.Then with no warning at all, he was thrown to the ground with a hard thud. He opened his mouth to speak the chant once again, but this time, nothing came out. He made no noise at all. The darkness enveloped him quickly and he began to hear the most awful moans.

'I wonder if thatīs how they sound in Hell?' All of a sudden, Brians body felt like it was on fire. He looked around to see if he was in fact, burning, but to his alarm, he saw nothing.

He was blind.

Brian couldnīt scream or see, and now he was even loosing the feeling in his body. The only part he could still feel burning was his heart. After a few more minutes of darkness, Brian began to see a speck of light again. As he grew more aware of his surroundings, he saw that he was lying on a table in a bright white room. There were people buzzing around busily, heading back and forth from various places. He still could not feel anything in any part of his body except his heart.And the pain he felt was excruciating; he felt like his heart would explode at any moment.

Brian looked down at his chest to see what was wrong and suddenly felt as though he was going to pass out. He found himself looking at his open chest. He didnīt know what was going on, but now he was more terrified than he had ever been in his life. 'What were they doing to him?Why on earth did they have his chest split open?' He had already had surgery almost five years prior, and he still remembered clearly. Brian tried his best to say something..anything, his attempts, however, proved to be in vain. He still could not speak or move.

A deafening noise filled the air and ever machine that was hooked up to him seemed to be going crazy.He had to let these doctors know that he was awake. Every time he felt his heart beat, there was terrible pain,just like a knife being plunged deep into his heart. "I have to do something." Brian felt as though something was lying on top of him that kept him from moving; he felt like his arms and legs were being restrained by some unseen force.

Brian looked around the room, frantically searching for something that could help him get out of this. Someone standing at the window caught his eye.

It was Leighanne.

She was holding Baylee and staring into the operating room with a horrified expression on her face. The doctors had not even asked her to be seated somewhere away from the operating room so she would not have to see what was happening to her husband. 'Leigh, donīt stay here.',he thought, desperately trying to focus all of his energy into getting himself out of this situation.

' With this charm I beseech thee Out of sight and out of me Blood this chant hold may Ward all harm and evil at bay' He recited the chant in his head, but nothing happened.

A nurse finally made her way back over to Brian. She seemed calm and composed, unlike the doctors and other nurses who were still rushing about. Instead of running around grabbing different objects for the doctors, this nurse came over and placed her hand in the gaping wound in Brians chest. He was sure that if he had his voice, he would have caused everyone to be deaf. Looking up into the nurses eyes, he was petrified so see flaming blue eyes.

Desdemona.

She appeared to be doing what any caring nurse would do, but in reality, she was slowly killing Brian. As Desdemona continued to "massage" his heart, Brian could feel the fire spreading throughout his entire body.He suddenly found himself calling for death to come quickly. His sight was once again fading and all he could hear was the pain rushing through his veins.

"No, you canīt let yourself be taken, Brian," he heard a faint voice call from somewhere far away." If she is able to take you, there’s no hope for any of you.None of this is real, Brian..you just have to believe.

"Chaucer?" he was surprised to hear the chocked whisper escape his lips.

"Donīt give up yet, Brian. Concentrate! You have to focus all of your attention on the chantâ€Ķthat is the only way you can break free of Desdemonas spell. You donīt have to speak the chant vocally, but unless you concentrate completely on it and nothing else, it will not work. Do you understand?"

"Yes,"he managed to say a little more clearly than before.

"Focus, Brian." Concentrate on nothing else." Doing as Chaucer instructed, Brian cleared his mind and began the chant.' With this charm beseech thee Out of sight and out of me Blood this chant hold may Ward all harm and evil at bay.'

He kept repeating it over and over until he found himself saying it aloud.With every word, he felt stronger and more confident that he was going to get out of this nightmare. The pain he felt was now subsiding and he could see clearly.

'With this charm I beseech thee Out of sight and out of me Blood this chant hold may Ward all harm and evil at bay.'

He watched as Desdemona withdrew her hands from his chest and backed away from him. All of a sudden, she disappeared and he was back where he had been; staring into the vortex of light. He knew he had gotten past that obstacle, but that was just the beginning. He was well aware that Desdemona would stop at nothing to keep him from his brothers.

He just had to believe.
Chapter 14 ~ written by Mare by Mare
phantasm (phan-tazm)

1. An image formed by the mind, and supposed to be real or material; a shadowy or airy appearance; sometimes, an optical illusion; a phantom; a dream.

2. In Platonic philosophy, objective reality as perceived and distorted by the five senses.


He watched with great relief when he saw that the chant Brian said seemed to get him out of his dilemma. He watched with great interest as Chaucer, the man in white, spoke to Brian telling him exactly how to ward off all the evil demons. His heart fluttered with excitement at the site of Kevin carrying an unconscious Nick and nearly exploded with laughter when he saw those evil clowns run out of the Forrest chasing AJ and Howie.

He enjoyed seeing the good Backstreet Boys conquer and wanted the evil ones to suffer. The only thing he didn't understand was why Chaucer never talked to him. He had seen Chaucer his whole life. He was there for every important thing that had ever happened to him. Through the death of his parents, through the numerous foster homes until finally landing with his sister, through the taunting and the teasing at school. Chauser was there but only watched from a distance.

He clasped the charm in his hand and uttered the chant. The chant that Chauser told Brian about. The chant that would keep the real boys safe from harm.

"What are you doing?" Gary turned around at the sound of his sister's voice.

"Nothing" She walked over to his desk and grabbed the charm out of his hands, "Don't tell me nothing! You're talking to him again aren't you?" She asked in a cold hard voice. The voice of frustration. Gary looked away from her, ashamed. Behind her was Chauser talking to Brian once again. He wasn't sure what they were saying. His sister's voice overpowering theirs.

"Gary, you have got to stop talking to these imaginary people. It's not right. Remember what your psychiatrist said?" He was ignoring her, still trying to make out what was going on behind her. She noticed he wasn't paying attention and pulled his chin to meet her eyes. "There's nothing there honey! It's all in your mind!"

"But there is Desi, you just can't see them"

"You know why I can't see them Gary? Because they don't exist. You made them up honey. Haven't you been taking your meds?"

No, this is where he had to ignore her, this clearly wasn't his real sister, but the evil Desi. The evil Desi tried to drug him up so he couldn't see Chauser anymore. The evil Desi had him put away in a mental hospital, the evil Desi refused to let him talk about, hang posters up or buy anything Backstreet related. This was the evil Desi!

He grabbed his charm back from Desdemona "No! I can't listen to you! I have to help Chauser and The Backstreet Boys!" Her blood went cold at the mention of the singing group. She thought that by now, Gary would be done with his whole obsession. Hoping the therapy and time on his medication would keep him from thinking about them 24/7. When she heard him utter their names again she almost cried. "Honey, what about the Backstreet Boys?" She sat down next to him, still holding the balled up piece of paper, that Gary had referred to as his charm, in her hands. "I have to help the real Backstreet Boys. The evil ones are going to kill the good ones" He grabbed the charm back from his sister and recited his chant once again while tears ran down her face.

"No Gary, GOD not again. please honey come on" She said once again grabbing the balled up piece of paper from his hands. She didn't want to go through this again. She couldn't go through this again. He pushed her down to the ground enraged.

"I don't have to listen to you! You are NOT my real sister! You are her evil double!" She panicked when he got like this. She scooted away from him while still sitting on the floor. She knew she would have to call the hospital and have him admitted again. He was a danger to himself and her. He sat back down, holding the paper and staring at the wall intently.

She looked on, her body trembling. The last time this happened, he was caught outside a hotel that the Boys were staying at. It was maybe 1999. That time, he overheard Chauser telling someone that Desdemona was planning on having one of her demons attack Nick. So he waited outside the hotel for hours and when the blonde superstar finally had made his way out into the crowd of screaming fans, he ran with all his might and tackled the boy. Bringing security on top of him. That led to a restraining order and a stay at the mental hospital. She knew he was sick before, but it was that incident that made her realize her brother was totally insane.

Gary sat and listened to Chauser talking to Brian, he took a piece of paper and wrote every word he heard.

Brian you did an excellent job remember you just have to believe!

"Believe" He uttered under his breath as he looked over at Howie still recovering from seeing his sister. His sister. For just a moment his fantasy world disappeared replaced by his empty wall, his sister's crying echoing through his room. He turned to her, "Desi, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

She looked to him, lowering her voice to a whisper, "You are sick baby, you need to go to the hospital" Her tender voice reminded him of Caroline's. The loving way she talked to Howie, right before accusing him of not being there when she died. Her eyes had turned red then. Now he looked at HIS sister and saw the same thing. A red glare coming from her eyes. He jumped out of his seat in fear.

"No! Stay away from me!" He screamed at her, placing his hands in front of his face to block out those eyes.

"That's not your sister! That is her Gary. Desdemona!"

Gary turned around shocked to hear those words spoken to him. He saw Howie standing there next to Chauser.

"She is evil, you need to kill her for us please!" Now Brian came into view, "We are running out of time Gary. You have to kill her and then help me to kill the others" He turned to his three phantasms and smiled, "Me?"

"Yes you!" Brain insisted. He walked over to the boys once again, "You finally see me?"

"Of course we do"

Desi looked on in horror as her brother continued to talk to the wall as if there were people standing there. He was so sick. She stood up and went for the phone that was laying on his desk.

"What do you need me to do? I will do anything you ask"

Chauser moved forward and placed a firm but reassuring hand on Gary's shoulder. "You need to kill Desdemona, than you can help Brian kill the others before it's too late"

"But she is my sister" That statement made Desi look at her brother with a new found curiosity.

"NO she isn't Gary. THAT is her, our enemy, OUR Desdemona. Kill her, you have to"

He tried to ignore their words, tried to block them out completely but what if they were right? He looked over at his sister who was fishing for something in her pocket. "What are you looking for?" He asked her. She looked up and with an air of deep regret said, "The phone number for Doctor Harris. You need help honey. Help I can't give you" She finally found the card with his number scribbled on it. She had had to call him once before when Gary fantasized about Nick being in the hospital. She had caught him roaming through the streets looking for the attacker.

"You can't let her do that Gary! You have to stop her now!" Brian screamed.

"Kill her quickly before it's too late" Howie yelled

"Do it!" Chauser added.

He grabbed for his sister's neck, watching her evil red eyes dull to brown before becoming empty. She had scratched at him. His skin bleeding slightly, he dropped her lifeless body to the floor. "You did the right thing" Brian said as Gary took a blanket, the one his sister had made for him one Christmas, and gently covered her body.

"Right thing?" He asked them as he stood back wondering how the evil one could look so similar to the one he had loved soo much.

"Yes, now come on. We have to find the Backstreet Boys before it is to late. And Gary?" Gary moved his eyes away from the still form lying in front of him.

"Yes Chauser?"

"Bring your gun!"
Chapter 15 ~ written by Susan by Mare
"How was that?" Nick pulled the headphones off resting them around his neck.

"You sounded like a dying cat." A.J. said from the other side of the glass.

"No way. I sounded like fucking Josh Groban. I nailed that take."

"You sounded like Josh Groban's dying cat." A.J. said as Nick flipped him the bird. Flipping the bird back with a grin A.J. slapped the shoulder of the producer who was wildly turning knobs and flipping switches. "Hey bro, we're going to call it a night." The producer threw a wave over his shoulder as A.J. met Nick at the studio door.

"You know we're screwed right?" He said offering Nick a cigarette.

"No way, everything is going to be fine. The CD is going to kick ass, you just have to have faith." The guys were in Los Angeles recording what was to be their "Big Comeback". It was supposed to be the best work they had ever done. The CD was almost complete save for some last minute tweaking, and everybody but A.J. felt confident that it would be a best seller. A.J. didn't know why but he had been feeling strange lately. He'd been having dark nightmares and pounding migraines that wouldn't let up. His Mom always said that she thought he was psychic, but the very idea only made him laugh. If he was psychic then why wouldn't he have foreseen a drinking problem and headed it off at the pass instead of winding up in rehab the butt of jokes on Late Night T.V.

p> "I'm going home what about you, you wanna come by?" Nick climbed behind the wheel of the rented dark blue Mercedes, flicking his cigarette to the ground.

"Nah, I'm going to go home too. We have an early interview tomorrow to plug this damn thing so I want to get some beauty sleep."

"Okay man I'll catch you later."

"Yeah, later Nick."

************************************************************************************************************

Gary walked into the gas station around 1:00 a.m. his mind racing. He strolled around the store jingling the charms in his pocket. He had picked them up at some store in a strip mall in town weeks before, not telling his sister. They were perfect, matching the charms he had created in his mind.

Smiling to himself he grabbed a package of Twinkies and then walked back to the cooler for a drink, the reflection in the glass of the pretty cashier behind the counter catching his eye.

************************************************************************************************************

Nick was sitting on the couch watching some old eighties movie when the phone rang. Picking it up he was trying to figure out when Demi Moore and John Cusak had ever been in a movie together?

"Yup." He always answered with the same greeting.

"Hello Nick." It was a female voice, one he didn't recognize right off the bat.

"Hey." Flipping the station he stopped on a Steven Segal movie just as the old guy was kicking some major ass.

"Did you get Gary's letter Nick."

Dropping the remote Nick scooped up a fistful of popcorn and shoved it in his mouth. "What letter, who is this?" He had to stop giving out his home phone number to every pretty girl he saw. It was definitely a weakness but he craved company even if it was just on the phone.

"Did you get Gary's letter." She repeated the question in a soft trembling voice.

"Nope," Nick smiled as Segal slammed two guys' heads together before dropping them to the ground. "I don't read my mail I have some security company that does it for me to weed out the psycho shit."

"You should have read my letter Nick." A man's voice came on the line. "It would have prepared you more for what is to come next."

"Who is this?" Nick reached for another handful of popcorn. "Brian is that you? I told you to quick prank calling me when you're bored." Suddenly there was a blood curdling scream from the other end of the phone followed by the woman Nick had first spoken with pleading for her life.

"Please, please don't hurt me. Just take the money if that's what you want."

"Shut up, shut up."

"Oh my God, why are you doing this to me. Why, why??.."

"You know why I'm doing this, it's all part of the plan. With this charm I beseech theeâ!!"

Sitting forward, wide eyed, Nick pressed the phone to his ear. "Who is this? Hello." He could hear more screaming followed by gurgling sounds and then a thud.

The man came back on the line.

He was breathing hard but his voice was laced with the faintest hint of amusement as he said."You better watch outâ€Ķ..I'm coming for you Nick."

Why did the name Gary sound so familiar to Nick?

************************************************************************************************************

The story was on the evening news and it was bizarre. Some people in an apartment building in Los Angeles heard screaming and fighting coming from the apartment below them. They called the police to investigate.

When the police arrived at the apartment they found the older sister Desi Wainwright dead in her brother's bedroom from an apparent strangulation, a small silver charm had been placed in the center of her forehead. And her brother was nowhere to be found.

The news reports stated that the police had found large boxes in the brother, Gary Wainwright's bedroom closet containing thousands and thousands of photographs, posters and magazine pictures of the band The Backstreet Boys. In his bookshelves there was an impressive assortment of books on the supernatural, witchcraft and the occult as well as a thick manuscript for a story Gary had apparently written with the title PHANTASM scrawled in red on the title page.

While there was no word yet on what was contained in the manuscript, the police had confirmed that it was a strange rambling dialog that had many mentions of The Backstreet Boys. They felt that what was contained in the manuscript showed that it was the work of a deeply disturbed young man who had gone off the deep end.

As the evening progressed there was a late breaking news story involving the murder of a young woman working at a gas station in Los Angeles. She was strangled to death while working the swing shift, her body dumped behind the counter a silver charm placed in the center of her forehead.
Chapter 16 ~ written by Eboni by Mare
Brian stood at the kitchen counter studying his choices, he lowered his head onto his arms so he could be at eye level with all the small pastel colored cans.... Lets see, he had powdered formula, ready to use formula, and concentrate. Then within those categories he had soy, cow, or lactose-free. Within those categories he had his choices of iron levels. He let out a loudsuspiration and raised his head with a groan, if only he hadn't of thrown out that damn breast milk! How was he supposed to know she would put it in a jug like the regular whole milk. He'd poured himself a nice big glass, took himself a nice big gulp, and had spit it out all over kitchen table. He'd thought the milk had gone rancid, and he poured it all down the drain, grimacing at the remnants of the taste still in his mouth and at the yellow tint he then discovered it had. He had gone and brushed his teeth twice, and continued washing out the then empty jug. After he'd washed it, he turned it over just before tossing it in the trash and read the pretty label, "Balyee's Milk."

If that wasn't enough to make him want to go brush his teeth again...he'd shuddered. Then panicked, oh no... Leighanne had left that morning to go to LA to follow up on a call back, and participate in the cold reading. Brian wasn't as supportive as he should have been, he really didn't feel she should leave the baby...alone with him. He just knew he was gonna mess up and drop poor little Baylee on his head, or forget to burp him and he'd explode. After he had been assured that he was a competent parent, Leighanne had packed her bags and left that morning, leaving Baylee in the care of a trusted nanny, until Brian returned home that evening after putting in his last vocals for the next Backstreet album.

He'd been fine up until he'd thrown away Baylee's dinner. So in a panic, he wrapped his son up, and rushed to the local grocery store. He was rather proud to say that it had only taken him 30 minutes to figure out how to strap Baylee safely into his car seat that time! He remembered one of his previous fiascos where he'd had to call Leighanne's mother for help after he'd succeeded in buckling Baylee in upside down, and had gotten his hand buckled into the mixture some how as well. It was a fine fix, and he was glad Leighanne's mother was the nice type who kept things to herself, though he could have lived without seeing that smirk on her face as she undid him from the mess, and strapped Baylee in properly. Well at least Baylee always seemed to enjoy his Daddy's blunders. Who said infants couldn't laugh?

After that incident he would never call Leighanne's mother again for help, but he sure could have used it... He'd ended up in the baby food aisle surrounded by mountains of different brands and types of baby formula. He was totally clueless as to what some of the stuff even was, and resorted to consulting with other women in the store. Every woman had a different opinion about what to feed a baby. Brian ended up practically buying the aisle, he couldn't buy the wrong thing if he bought everything now could he? So now, there he was hours later sitting in the kitchen trying to decide what would be best to feed the baby.

Baylee had tired of Daddy's game early on, and was thankfully taking a nap. Brian sat him inside the baby bassinet and carried it into the kitchen just in case the baby woke up. Alright Brian...if you were a baby, what would you prefer to eat? He frowned as he studied his choices, well he'd had soy milk before and it didn't exactly tickle his taste buds. And he would never subject himself to horror of lactose-free milk. But...weren't these the kind of formulas that would keep the baby from spitting up on him so much? He frowned deeper, he didn't want to be spat up on, but he didn't want to feed his kid something nasty either. But then again, he'd tasted that breast milk...yech, and Baylee seemed to like it. Decisions, decisions...

He ran a frustrated hand through his curls, and was about to shut his eyes and just reach out and grab an entree when the phone rang. Saved by the bell...unless it was Leighanne. She'd demand to know what he was doing, and if he had fed the baby. And try as he did, he just couldn't lie to the woman, not even over the phone. He left his work, and went to answer the phone, he glanced at the caller ID briefly feeling relieved at seeing it wasn't Leighanne.

"What's up Nick? You lock yourself out of your house again? I really can't help you with that one anymore buddy, seeing as though we're in different states now."

"Shut up B. Did you prank me?"

"Did I what?"

"Did you just prank call me?"

"Oh yeah, like I would really admit to it if I had...." Brian rolled his eyes carrying the cordless phone into the kitchen so he could go back to his debate.

"So true..."

"But for the record I didn't. Really Nick, you need to quit giving out your number to all those various females you run across," Brian rolled his eyes and began to read the label on the Similac can. Don't care what's in it, where's the part that will tell me it keeps the kid from spitting up on me?

"I can't help it if I'm friendly! So....what are you doing?"

"I'm not telling you!"

"Oh no....you got your hand stuck in the baby seat again don't you?" Brian felt his shoulders tense as his so-called best friend began to laugh hysterically at his misfortune.

"No," Brian growled, "Now if you don't have anything else to ask me, I'm going to have to cut our conversation short. I'm busy!"

"No!" Nick practically shouted, and Brian nearly jumped. He clutched the can of Similac and took a deep breath to calm himself after the start Nick had given him, "Nick, what's going on? Why can't I get off the phone? And why did you scream louder than AJ when he found that lady bug in his bed?"

"I...uh..."

Brian rolled his eyes yet again, great.... he had been mistaken, he had to take care of two babies that night, Baylee and Nick. "Are you watching scary movies again? What have I told you about watching those things when you're home alone? Why don't you call AJ or Howie and ask them to come over?"

"AJ's with Sarah...and Howie? Brian, Howie?" Brian could hear the grimace on Nick's face, and he chuckled. "Hey, Howie's better than sitting alone jumping at every strange nose you hear."

"I am not watching scary movies for your information. I'm just...I don't know, lonely I guess, and I kinda miss you. It was cool getting to hang out with you again this week. How's little B?"

"Hungry."

"Well, here's a tip, feed the kid."

"Uh...I'm going to..."

"Uh oh... What did you do now?" Nick was beginning to chuckle again. Daddy Brian Blunders were high on the list of entertainment in Camp Backstreet as of late.

Brian scowled, did he want to tell Nick about his predicament, or did he want to keep his dignity? One glance at the leaning tower of baby milk led Brian to choose to tell Nick. He'd taken care of babies before, maybe he knew something about formula. He set down the Similac took a breath and began to relate his tale to his friend.

He stood patiently waiting for Nick to stop laughing at him, "You done?"

"Oh God....oh God...Brian, you need to win father of the year... Ok, ok... I'm done. I promise," Brian heard Nick sniffling and probably wiping his eyes. "Alright, can I help?"

"I thought you'd never ask. As I told you before I bought everything, but I just don't know what's best to give him. I mean, a few ladies told me soy based formulas, and lactose-free formulas would keep the baby from spitting up."

"B...nothing keeps a baby from spitting up, it's what they do. Spit up, cry, poop, and sleep..oh and in Baylee's case, laugh at Daddy."

"Ha...funny. So what do you recommend then?"

"Um...well the soy stuff might not keep him from spitting up, but I think it makes them less gassy, meaning less fuss. I don't remember what my mom gave Aaron and Angel...it was some off brand."

Brian nodded walking around the counter to the bassinet to make sure Baylee was still sleeping. He smiled at the tiny baby he had helped create. He still couldn't get over the fact that he had reproduced! He wanted to clap himself on the back in congratulations. "Ok, so you say soy milk? Iron fortified? Pre-prepared, ready-to-use, concentrate, or powder?"

"Geez..."

"Oh never mind, the ready-to-use expires in 48 hours, 24 after opening it, I guess I'd better use this."

"Man... B, I wish I was there with a freakin'camera," Nick was chuckling again.

"Yeah, yeah... if you were here, you'd probably beat me to throwing out the breast milk. So you feeling better now buddy?" Brian was opening the formula and now puzzling over how he was supposed to get it into the bottle.... Why did baby contraptions have to be so damn complicated?

************************************************************************************************************

Nick smiled and reclined on the couch lying his head back on the arm, "Yeah, I feel better. Thanks for talking to me, man." He had turned the volume down on the TV, but still gazed at the screen keeping track of what was happening in the movie. The strange call he'd received earlier was carefully making its way to the back of his mind for him to only recall when in a deep sleep, and his brain decided he needed a nice nightmare to help rouse him. He had told Brian he was just lonely, which he was, but the truth was the caller had unnerved him a bit, his voice, the familiar name, the screaming lady... He knew it wasn't Brian that called him, but he had to have some sort of excuse for getting his friend on the line.

He yawned and stretched his free arm over his head, perhaps he'd sleep out there on the couch tonight in front of the big screen. He grunted as one his dogs, Willie, climbed onto the couch and pounced on his stomach. The little dog was trembling, and he reached to stroke his short fur with a frown, "Hang on Brian...What's wrong baby?"

Willie gave a sharp yelping bark and tensed, and Nick's frown deepened, lines appearing in his forehead.... there was a clumping noise, followed by a series of metallic and glass clanks. It sounded as if someone, or something had turned over the trash can in the kitchen. Nick made a frustrated noise and sat up, pushing Willie off his belly. "Mikey, Houston, Nicky, if you've turned over that trash again...."

He could hear Brian chuckling now on the other end, "Problems Nick?"

"Damn mutts..." Nick was muttering standing and heading towards the kitchen. He flipped the light switch before entering the dim room, and walked across the tile floor scanning the area for his other dogs. He bowed his head in defeat when he saw the overturned trash can. Soda cans, and glasses, napkins and left over food decorated the once clean floor. Shit. He turned the metal trash can back right side up, "Mikey, Houston, Nicky!"

The chirping of crickets from outdoors was his only answer, that was when he noticed the side door was open part way. How had that happened? He always closed the door and locked the doggy gate so the dogs wouldn't be able to go out at night. He moved to close it, then thought better of it when he realized the dogs could be outside. He panicked as he thought about the beautiful private patch of beach he owned...and how it would be a perfect place for a small dog to drown...3 small dogs in fact. They weren't smart enough to know about the changes in the tides from night to day. They barely knew how to let themselves out during the day to go to the bathroom.

Shit again, "Um Bri?"

"Hmmm hmmm..." Brian sounded like he had something in his mouth, "I'll be right back, I gotta go outside and check on something. Hold on, ok?"

"Hmm hmm..."

Nick took that as an "ok," and ventured out the side door barefoot onto the sand outside. "Mikey! Nicky! Houston! Come!" He let out a loud whistle, and began to make kissing noises trying to coax his dogs to appear. "Mikey!" He began to jog, as his mind began to show him horrible images of his poor puppies fighting to stay afloat in the murky Atlantic. He stopped running at the strangled noise he heard coming from nearby.... He turned back toward his house, and he heard the noise again...it sounded like a dog. "Mikey?" he called faintly, and began to creep back towards the side door.

"Here he comes now," Brian whispered to him, and Gary nodded, "You have no more use for the dog." Swiftly Gary used his bare hands to break the canine's neck, and put it out of its misery. Sure the real Nick might miss it, but he would care more about getting his body back, and Gary was going to make sure he got it. He watched as the evil Nick inched closer and closer to where he lie in wait.

"Do you know what to do when you have him, Gary?" Chaucer quizzed.

"Yes."

"Nick's counting on you Gary, once you get his body back for us, we'll have one more ally."

"Mikey?" the evil one called softly, he sounded apprehensive, and Gary feared he wouldn't continue his advance, "What do I do if he won't come?"

"He'll come."

"Houston?" Closer still...He gave another whistle, and clapped his hands to his knees, "Nicky? Here boy..." Just one more step....

"Now!"

************************************************************************************************************

"Ok...I think I got this," Brian was mumbling to himself. He held out the bottle, formula, lid, and nipple all securely inside, attached, you name it, Brian was on top of it. Oh yeah, he was the man! Wait...wasn't he supposed to heat it a little first? Dammit! The instructions said nothing about heating the bottle...but every TV show and movie he had seen where babies were in the plot, involved heating bottles. He scratched his head, but then those bottles had regular milk in them, didn't they? People kept bottles of formula in the fridge. He was so confused. Maybe he'd call his mom... sure she would laugh at him and tell his father, but it would be better than poisoning his kid. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded. He'd call his mom after he got off the phone with Nick. He glowered, Nick sure was taking his sweet time coming back to the line. He should have told Brian he'd call him back. Dumb kid, but Brian couldn't help but feel a touch of affection towards him. He was all alone in a big house at night, and had probably watched something on TV that had frightened him. Nick was so easy to scare. That kid was never gonna grow up, he needed a nanny.

Brian played with the bottle a bit, still proud of his neat assembly. It looked like the bottle in the picture, he grinned. He was spinning the bottle round on the counter when he heard someone handling the phone, "Geez Nick, it's about time you picked back up. Listen, I need to call my mom, and ask her something...unless you know if you're supposed to heat up baby formula?" Brian was silent on the line waiting for Nick to answer him, but all he got was heavy breathing, "Nick? You ok bud?"

"I'm coming for you too, Brian. Don't think because you're so far away I'm going to forget about you."

Brian blinked, a slight chill running down his spine, that didn't sound like Nick... "Nick, if this is you...you aren't being funny. If you don't know about the formula, then I'm hanging up."

The person on the other line beat him to the punch and hung up first, and Brian stood holding the phone listening to the dial tone. He dialed Nick's number and bit his lip when he received a busy signal. Nick was either on the phone again, or it was off the hook. He bit his nails after setting down the phone, he was sure it was nothing to worry about, but something told him he'd better call AJ, and have him check up on Nick....just in case. But he was sure nothing was wrong, just Nick playing a dumb joke. Dumb kid... he tried to laugh it off, yet he continued to bite his nails. He picked up the phone again and dialed AJ's cell phone number, knowing he would answer it. He'd go check on Nick.... Nick was fine.But...Just in case...
Chapter 17 ~ written by Mersey by Mare
Like all the other previous nightmares, it had started with thousands of voices whispering at once. Some louder than the other, some belonging to men while others sounded like women and even children. And like other times before, he could never quite comprehend what they were saying but it always ended up with him feeling that it was calling for him to wake up and understand. He never did though and tonight, he would expect no different.

It got louder with every whisper and much more urgent. Some of them came out sounding like spats of disgust while others sounded down right pleading. And in between the land of the slumber and reality, he found himself standing in the core of nothingness. No ground, no roof, no walls, no lights, no nothing. When it got really bad, he would feel himself spinning slowly, which like everything else in his nightmare, turned faster and went out of control That night however, he had not found himself jolted out of his nightmare drenched in cold sweat because of the spinning; it was a voice that called out to him that did.

AJ!

One syllable that sounded desperate, urgent, fear and even menace; The voice of Nick Carter.

The beating of the pneumatic drill that was his heart now told him that it wasn’t just a nightmare anymore. That there had to be some truth in his mom’s claims that he could be somewhat psychic. Something told him that there was a reason why he felt strange, that no normal person could have recurring nightmares for over weeks. That there must be a reason why the voices had finally became one to that of Nick Carter.

Yes, something was terribly wrong.

Before he could even regain his composure, he was startled yet again and this time by the barking of his cell phone. Good thing Sarah wasn’t here to witness how jumpy the supposedly cool AJ could be.

“Which continent of the Earth are you at now?”

“Hopefully same as yours...right?”

AJ sighed, stifling a yawn in the process. “Then you do know it’s almost two in the morning.”

“You’re asleep?”

“Most people are during this time of the morning, but then again, you’re not most people.” AJ replied sarcastically.

“Don’t have to be so peachy about it. Anyway, I need your help.”

AJ forced himself out of bed and strolled to the bathroom, “Brian, is Baylee breathing?”

“Wha...of course he is! What kind of a question is that?”

AJ pulled the single towel hanging by the hanger and started wiping the back of his neck with it. “Well, Leigh’s not home and you’re not exactly father of the year.”

“I’m fully capable of looking after my son all by myself, thank you very much!” Brian gritted. “Besides, this is urgent, can you not fool around for a sec?”

“Fine...what?”

“I need you to check on Nick for me.”

AJ froze. If that wasn’t a good enough reason to start worrying, nothing would it? How long does it take to get to Nick’s house if you’re only living a few streets down away from him? Considering the fact that it was AJ behind the wheels, it shouldn’t take too long.

************************************************************************************************************

But half an hour had gone and still no call from the man. The clock on the wall showed it was already fifteen minutes past two in the morning and he was wide awake. If Nick is sleeping it off when AJ comes, he’d get hell from him tomorrow. There would be a lot to spill for the interview too. The interview, Brian wouldn’t want to think about that now. Just the thought of how sleep-deprived he would look early morning was enough to make him cringe. But something felt wrong, he could feel it in the air, as cliche as that might sound. “How come you’re never awake when daddy’s awake huh? ”Brian whispered as his worried glance fell back to Baylee, sleeping on their bed. He knew it was selfish, but he wished the baby would wake up and keep him company.

Then, out of nowhere, it happened. His cell phone rang. “AJ?”

“I’m here.”

“What took you so long?” Brian whispered urgently as he got out of bed and went for the window. Outside, everything felt stilled. Even the crickets weren’t too excited to make much noise.

“It’s way past 2 in the morning Brian, I can’t be speeding and not get into a fatal accident.”

“Shush, don’t talk like that!” Brian scolded, shaking his head as if AJ could see him.

“Yeah whatever...I’m going in now, I hope I catch him watching porno or something.”

Brian smiled, that was expected of AJ Mc Lean. “You might catch him making out with some woman on the couch.” You do not expect that from Brian Littrell,

“B-Rok! You Rule!”AJ chuckled on the other line.

“I try.”

“What’s that noise?”

Brian stopped on his track. Noise? He pressed the cell phone against his ear but still, it was hardly possible to hear anything. “AJ? What noise?”

“It’s coming from the back, I’m gonna check it out.” AJ whispered.

His heavy breathing penetrating into Brian’s ear. He felt uneasy, something was definitely wrong. “AJ be careful, and don’t hang up on me.” AJ didn’t answer but he could hear his soft foot falls threading the ground. He tried picturing Nick’s pad in LA and guessed where AJ might be heading right then. “At the back...AJ, wouldn’t that be his kitchen?”

“Yeah,”AJ whispered, followed by a short silence before adding, “I think it’s his mutts. They’re barking for some reasons.”

“All three of them?”

“Um,” paused. “I heard two.”

“He did say the dogs were barking non stop when he called me earlier, that’s when that strange voice came to the phone and threatened me...”

“Brian, I have a feeling that ain’t a prank call.”

Brian didn’t dare to say anything. More silence ensued. He moved away from the window, desperately needing something to do to divert his attention from the growing tension building in his body. He turned towards Baylee and assured that he was too deep in sleep and the bed huge enough for him, he walked out of the room and started pacing the corridor. “Come on AJ, what’s going on over there?”

“Brian, his back door is opened but the kitchen light is off. Something’s definitely wrong man.”

AJ sounded scared, rightly so, Brian thought. He started to tremble a bit and wondered if AJ had worn enough clothes in his hurry to get out. The night was too cold. “AJ, I don’t think this is a good idea, I think you should get out of...”

“Brian, listen to me carefully,” Brian, again for the umpteenth time that night, stopped breathing. There was something in the way AJ talked that convinced him whatever was about to be said was nothing good. “I want you to get on another phone...call...call 911. Tell them someone is critically injured and need help now! I’ll wait for you on this line.”

“AJ, tell me what’s wrong! Why do you want me to call 911? Did you find Nick? Is he okay?”

“I...I don’t know...but there’s a trail of blood on the kitchen floor Brian...there’s too much of blood...”

“AJ, listen to me, get out of the house NOW! Don’t try to be hero on me now Bone, get out of there, I’m calling for help!”

************************************************************************************************************

Howie would love to kill the person who had successfully woke him up in the middle of the night, but considering the ID caller showed Kevin’s number, the intention was blown with the wind. 'Please say they cancelled the interview! Please, please, please!' “Yes Kevin, good morning to you!” Howie answered, hoping to sound sarcastic enough.

“Sorry to wake you up D, did anyone from Management call?”

'YES!' “They cancelled tomorrow’s interview?” Yes please!

“I wish it’s that simple D, but no.” Kevin replied. A small sigh later, he continued. “Management called. Does the name Desdemona Wainwright meant anything to you?”

Desdemona...Desdemona…

“No offence Kev, but it is 2.30 in the freaking morning.” Howie yawned. As expected, he was drawing blanks, although Wainwright sounded familiar.

“She’s Gary Wainwright’s sister, you remember him?”

“Should I?” Howie asked, a little annoyed that Kevin had woke him up for a little name quiz.

“Gary Wainwright, the wacko who attacked Nick like four years ago outside the hotel; remember him?”

Howie was wide awake; he found it strange for Kevin to call him that late just to recall the past. That would normally be Nick. And he always had fun dozing off while the blonde one was still blabbering on the other line. But it wasn’t Nick on the line playing this little game now, and he had no intentions of sleeping it off when it comes down to Kevin. “What about him Kevin?”

“It’s not him, it’s Desdemona, his sister...she...she was found dead in her room today and Gary was nowhere to be found.”

Howie thought he heard fear in Kevin’s voice but wasn’t sure why. “Kevin, did Management tell you this?”

“Yeah.”

“Then it must be something serious...”

“They’re searching for Gary, he’s the main suspect now. And D, if what the police found in his room are true, then we might be in danger.”

Danger. Us? “Kevin, tell me what’s going on. No one called me so far.”

“They tried calling Brian but his cell phone was busy for the longest time and they couldn’t get hold of Nick and AJ.” Kevin explained in a hurry. “And I offered to call you myself.”

Danger.

“Why couldn’t they get hold of them? You think something happened to them?” Howie asked in a panic.

“Howie slow down...all I know is they tried calling Nick and AJ but couldn’t get through and Brian’s busy. Anyway...”

“Did you tell them Nick and AJ are in LA?”

“Oh, aren’t they in Florida?”Howie sighed. Not like Kevin to forget that easily.

“They’re supposed to record their parts today, remember? And I have a feeling Brian might be on the phone with Leigh about some baby trouble.”

Kevin chuckled lightly but Howie remembered that they were supposedly in danger and cut the older man away. “Not to sound heartless or anything, but what’s her death got anything to do with us?”

“Everything. The police suspects Gary had intentions to hurt us and now that he’s missing, he might be...you know...on his way for one of us. They called to inform that securities are coming over to our houses as we speak and I’m supposed to tell you in advance so that you won’t kick them out of your house.”

Was this really happening, or was he just dreaming this away? They’ve had countless of stalkers before, why would this one be so serious?

Because he just killed his sister, slow brain.

Shaking his thoughts off he asked, “Kevin, where was his sister murdered?”

“In LA...oh shit.”

************************************************************************************************************

Something out there just killed Nicky, broke the canine’s neck with its’ bare hands. And it had pounced on him out of nowhere in the dark, scared the hell out of him too. He couldn’t remember what happened except that he did all his best to fight it off. It wasn’t easy but he had somehow managed to scare the thing off and it had leap once again, suddenly leaving him all alone again. But common sense told him it wouldn’t be a good idea to hang around out there. That whatever it was that had attacked him will come back for him. He couldn’t look at the dead mutt now lying still somewhere in the bush, it nauseate him just to think that someone or something had the heart to do the deed. And whatever it was that had attacked him had managed to kick on his leg good. With a limp, he forced himself to take big steps back to the kitchen. The two remaining dogs appeared from behind some bushes and followed their master in. Fear was evident in their eyes too.

“Come on boys, get inside and we’ll think of something.”

The first thing that caught his eyes once in the kitchen was the abandoned cordless phone on the dining table. He remembered the weird call and the sound of the woman struggling before someone threatened to come for him next. And then he remembered Brian, who must have been waiting for him on the line. Yes, he could ask Brian for help. Two more steps was all it took to get to the phone but he never reached it in time. A sharp pain exploded from the back to every part of his body and he felt his legs gave way and his head connected roughly to the ground. Footsteps somewhere near him and a shadow of a man passed him by before a voice was heard.

“Don't think because you're so far away I'm going to forget about you.”

He didn’t understand what that was supposed to mean and he didn’t care. The dogs had started to bark again outside and he was in a lot of pain. What happened to him?

The footfalls came back and out of nowhere, heavy breathing was heard just next to him. “I could have used the gun but Chaucer said it would make too much noise. The kitchen knife however is a silent killer and you’ll die a slow death. That’ll teach you a lesson for stealing Nick’s body!”

“I...I’m...Nick...” He struggled to reason, only to be met with his yelling to shut up.

He felt his legs being lifted and seconds later, he was dragged on the kitchen floor all the way to the living room. His back throbbed its defiance from being forced to move and he knew he wasn’t going to last long but slumber never paid a visit. He was forced to feel everything and hear everything that this mad guy was saying “Stay still, it’ll soon be over for you, don’t fight it!”

He remained dazed as the lights were switched off and he watched the shadow of death coming for him. He felt something cold placed on his forehead and Death’s low growls as he repeat over and over again what was to be a ‘chant’. And still, darkness never come for him...

“WHY AREN’T YOU DEAD YET!!!!”

He watched as the shadow paced the ground back and forth, wishing that he could somehow escape it’s wrath. But he knew he was done for.

There is no way to escape this. He will die. “I can’t wait for you to die, I have four others to stop! And Nick will die if he doesn’t get his body back!”

But I’m Nick! “Yes, that’s a good idea Brian! Thanks!”

Brian?

“Brian said I’ll have to stab you again, and this time, I’ll go for your heart. Isn’t Brian smart?”

Brian?

He felt the sharp cold steel pressed against his chest; somewhere along the line, he must have ripped his shirt off. If only he had taken the call seriously “With this charm I beseech thee...”

This is going to hurt like hell. This is so unfair.

“Out of sight and out of me...”

'I can’t back out now Brian, Nick might be hurt somewhere,I’ve got to get to him!'

AJ?

“Shit!”

He felt the sharp steel slowly fading away and Death backed away from him.

“What do you know...looks like I’ll be killing two birdswith one stone tonight.”

The last thing he saw was the shadow of Death backing away into the dark, hiding somewhere.

Waiting.
Chapter 18 ~ written by Susan by Mare
Nick tried to speak,..tried to move,..tried to scream out for help from the hell his mind and body were spiraling into but he found that he was frozen as his wide blue eyes darted around the room, searching the darkness, the mans words playing over and over in his head,

"Yes thatīs a good idea Brian! Thanks!"

"Brian said Iīll have to stab you again, and this time, Iīll go for your heart. Isnīt Brian smart?"

Nicks chin began trembling as tears pooled in his eyes. What had he done that would make Brian send someone to hurt him?

Gary stepped in and out of the shadows keeping a careful eye on Nick as he scanned the house for the other man who had come calling. Could he be so lucky that the voice would belong to another member of the band? Making his way down the darkened hallway he could see the outline of another figure at the end of the hall. Backing up against the wall Gary smiled to himself as the voices raged inside.

"Youīre doing the right thing Gary. The world will be so proud of you when you are finished." Kevins smile gleamed from the dark caverns of Garys mind. "You know what itīs like to kill now, it only gets easier from here on out."

************************************************************************************************************

"Nick are you here?" A.J. hissed moving cautiously through the house, still clutching the cell phone in his hand, wondering what Brian was doing right now, if he was calling the police on his other line or if he was waiting for word from A.J. on what to do next.

In horror movies the people being attacked were always so freaking stupid. It would take a mound of bloody bodies a mile high for any of the stupid kids to even consider getting out of the house. Making his way down the hall now AJ wondered when he had crossed the line from sane Backstreet Boy to stupid horror movie teen? He should be smart and get the hell out of the house. He should be smart and go for help. He should be smart and think of his own safety over the safety of others.

Turning the corner he made his way slowly down the hall suddenly aware of the sound of breathing,deep quick breaths that seemed to be drawing nearer to him with each step he took. Reaching out a hand into the darkness A.J. paused and then whispered,"Nick is that you?" Just as the cold steel tip of a knife was pressed to his throat.

************************************************************************************************************

"Who is on the phone A.J.?" The voice asked soft and slow in his left ear.

"Itīs Brian." A.J. answered his voice just as soft as the mans holding the knife to his throat.

Gary smiled. How perfect that A.J. would come calling just as he was about to get rid of Nick. Gary had wonderful visions of slaughtering A.J. and Nick as Brian listened in on the other line but Chaucer stopped his visions, reminding Gary of who was in control.

"Tell him to hang up the phone."

"But I have other plans." Gary whispered pressing the knife a little harder into AJīs flesh.

"Since when did you start doing the thinking." Chaucers voice was angry.

"Listen to Chaucer Gary," Brian broke into Garys thoughts. "Itīs the only way to get things done the way we want them done. Chaucer holds the key."

A.J. could feel the knife lightly puncture the flesh in his neck as the man carried on with the one way conversation in his head. He considered making a run for it but the mans grip on his arm was fierce, one tug would surely result in the knife being plunged into his adams apple so he decided for now to stay put at least until the time was right.

"Tell Brian it has all been a mistake." Gary spoke into AJīs ear.

"Are you talking to me or the freaks in your head?" A.J. shot back wincing as Garys fingernails dug into his arm.

"Did you hear what I said AJ?" AJ nodded in the darkness raising the phone to his ear.

"Bri?" AJ`s voice caught as he blurted out Brians name into the mouthpiece.

"A.J.? Goddamn man I was this close to calling the police. What the hell is going on did you find Nick?" Gary could hear Brians voice echoing through the receiver matching the beautiful sound of the voice in his head, and it made him smile.

"Bri it was all a joke."

"What?" Brianīs voice broke with obvious irritation.

"It was all a joke..Nicks fine. Heīs...heīs fine."

"You said there were noises and blood A.J., you said to call 911." A.J. wished that Brian were nearby so he could slap him upside of the head for not calling 911 when he had first instructed him to. He guessed years of pranks and jokes played on one another in hotel rooms, tour buses and venues all over the world had turned each one of them into the boy who cried wolf.

"It was all a joke." A.J. just kept repeating the same phrase. "It was all a joke Brian. Nick set it up for me...he thought it would be...funny."

"Whereīs Nick? I want to talk to Nick." Gary heard Brian asking for Nick and he decided that now was where things were really going to start getting interesting. Tugging A.J. along down the hall he half dragged him half walked him into the livingroom hissing the words "keep talking to him A.J." through his teeth..

"Uh Nick?" A.J. played dumb and Brian could feel impatience creeping up his spine, threatening to explode all over A.J. for making him almost piss his pants with this so called joke that he and Nick were playing.

Stumbling over what he thought was a coffee table A.J. let the guy drag him into Nicks livingroom his eyes taking a moment to adjust to the darkness before he was able to barely make out Nicks figure in the corner of the room.

He was pressed up against the wall, shirtless and trembling, his blue eyes almost electric in the darkness. He and A.J. locked eyes, Nick well aware of the glint of steel at A.Jīs throat and the phone in his hand. The man dragged A.J. closer to Nick signaling A.J. to hand Nick the phone. Reaching out a hand he pulled the phone from A.Jīs grip and put it to his ear.

"Helloooooooooo." Brians impatient voice boomed out over the receiver.

"Bri?" Nicks voice trembled ever so slightly as he remembered the words the man had spoken earlier.

"Brian said Iīll have to stab you again, and this time, Iīll go for your heart.."

"Okay you little shit, obviously you are fine and A.J. is fine so Iīm outta here." Brian began to rant. "You know I have a kid now and a whole other life outside of you two little shits and your pranks and jokes. I donīt have time to just sit on the phone for hours." At some point Nick tuned out Brians annoyed voice wondering to himself was this all just an act? Was Brian really the one who had sent this guy to kill him or was he losing his mind?

"..So you two go ahead and do whatever it was you were doing, watch your porno movies or play football or just keep being big stupid dicks and Iīll talk to you tomorrow."

Slamming down the phone Brian flinched, turning to make sure he hadnīt awakened Baylee before taking the phone off of the hook so that he and the baby could finally get some sleep and not worry about the two jokers that he called friends bugging him anymore tonight.

"Give me the phone." Gary reached out to Nick taking the phone from his hand. Looking at the man now face to face in the pale darkness of the livingroom Nick felt a memory rush over him like a wave, the memory of a man attacking him years ago. He had not seen the mans face, even then but he remembered a small picture in the paper of the guy and he more then remembered the papers he had signed for the restraining order.

"Gary?" Nick sat as the man ripped the phone from his hand with a smile.

"Hi Nick." Gary said tossing the phone to he couch as he raised the knife up and over his head...
Chapter 19 ~ written by Mersey by Mare
After hours of waiting in anticipation, it had finally come down to this. Part of him was expecting that it would turn out that way. He was ready to hear the bad news, but he knew he could never accept it. The awaited phone call came through and he heard the things he feared he would hear in the first place. Something that he wish he could stop. But he was no Superman. Or God.

"They told us to expect the worst Kevin.I don't know what that's suppose to mean."

Howie sounded terrible. His words were slurring and he pictured him shivering as he made the phone call, standing somewhere in a distant, staring at the house where lies the fate of their brothers.

Expect the worst.

"Was that Howie?" Brian asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.

If it wasn't for the seriousness of the situation they were in, Kevin would have entertain his thoughts of finding it almost amusing to see Baylee cuddled in the secure of his father's embrace, away in slumber land. It had felt like only yesterday when he had Brian on his laps. Now his cousin is a proud father of a baby boy, and he has yet to start a family of his own.

"Yeah."

"They're calling for our flight Kev, let's go and you can tell me what's wrong when we're up there." Brian said as he swayed his body from side to side, lulling Baylee deeper into his sleep. Despite the gentle swaying, Kevin sensed the tense that was building up in his cousin. It was hard not to, he was feeling the exact same way.

He watched as Brian reluctantly let Mrs. Wallace took Baylee from him. He kissed the baby's forehead one last time and then shifted his gaze to the old woman. "I'm sorry to bother you this late."

"It's no problem Brian, he's in good hands and Leigh will be flying back tomorrow. I just hope Nick and AJ are safe right now."

The last call for the flight to Los Angeles was announced and they said their goodbyes and left. Throughout the walk into the plane and take off, no words were exchanged. Both too consumed in their own troubled thoughts. Kevin felt sorry for Brian, he had been blaming himself for what happened to AJ and Nick.

"You didn't exactly tell me what's wrong." Brian said suddenly. His voice sounded so clear and strong that early morning. Everyone else were asleep. Even their bodyguards who were with them had finally surrendered to the bliss of first class flight.

"What makes you think something's wrong?"

"Don't try to make it better when it's not Kevin," Brian said calmly as he shifted in his seat. Yet his face showed no calmness whatsoever. "I don't need you to sugar coat it for me."

Kevin sighed. There was no use in holding back, sooner or later, he'd find it out too. "Howie said.they told him that, we should prepare for the worst."

Brian frowned. Kevin knew he was going to hyperventilate any second. "Are they dead? Did they find them?"

Kevin shifted so that half of his body was facing Brian. He looked him right in the eyes and wished he hadn't, but it was too late to turn away now. "They found Nick, Bri.he's.he's barely alive.too much blood."

"Kevin please, don't talk to me in riddles, what happened!" Brian gritted. Kevin knew he was slowly crumbling but those gentle blue eyes had turned somewhat hard and cold. It wasn't fun being the responsible, collected one anymore. He wanted to cry as much!

"How the hell am I supposed to know Brian? Howie was rambling on the phone! He was crying! He said they found Nick, barely alive.said something about blood, too much blood.and.and."

Kevin couldn't take it anymore, why was HE trembling? He knew what should be said, why can't he just say it? Brian reached out and touched his shoulder. "I'm sorry Kevin, I shouldn't have-"

"Brian, they couldn't find AJ. He's not there and they're telling us to expect the worst because Nick doesn't seem like he will make it and.they're saying that by the time they find AJ, it would be too late."

The tears that he had held back now trailed his pale cheeks. He was angry, angry at whoever this 'they' is to say something like that and angry at himself for not doing anything when it had mattered. "Why are they saying these stuff? Nick is not dead yet and they're talking like he is! And AJ's just missing, they could try to look for him instead of wasting time saying all those stupid shit! What? Are they not worthy enough to be rescued?"

Kevin couldn't say anything to calm his cousin down, Brian had took off to the gents, ready to puke his guts.

He sank deeper into his seat, raised a hand and brushed his fingers through his messy hair. He wondered how just within a span of one night could so many lives could be affected this badly.

************************************************************************************************************

"Howie, something tells me that at least someone is in trouble right now, and it's not us."

Howie fiddled with the telephone chord, wishing that he could just laugh it of. But he couldn't, because he knew what Kevin said was right. He felt it too and he hated it. "And I have a feeling reinforcements are not going to be there in time."

"D, they won't even be there for AJ and Nick. They're heading for Florida, remember?"

"We need to call them and have them go to LA instead!"

"But Brian's not answering his calls either. He might be in danger too."

Howie went silent. What was he supposed to say? He was lost. Where should they start, really?

"Howie, I think we should go there ourselves. I can't stand not doing anything here."

Howie nodded, forgetting that Kevin couldn't see his reaction on the phone. "Yeah, we should. I.I think."

"You have that plane ticket to LA for tomorrow morning's flight right? You can make a phone call and change it for anything that is available tonight. I'll change mine for Atlanta. Oh and D, I suggest you wait for security to come to your house first, at least you can have one of them follow you."

Howie glanced at the clock on the wall. It's almost three in the morning and time wasn't going to wait on them. "Will do. And Kev, if find something wrong with Brian, call me okay?"

"You too. I just hope we don't have to make that call."

************************************************************************************************************

The doorbell buzzed just as he placed the cordless phone back to it's place. He rushed up to the speaker and pressed the button. "Yeah?"

"Kevin, your bodyguard is here, with three other police officers."

"Let them in."

He opened the front door and waited for the car to drive up to the front porch and out came Jack with three police officers. "Is everything okay here Kevin?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for coming." Jack nodded.

"Are there anyone else in this house Sir?" One of the police officers asked.

"No, it's just me. My wife is out of town. Listen officer, I understand that they're sending securities over to Florida for my friends AJ and Nick, but they're in LA right now, they need to head over there instead."

"Don't worry Sir, I'll inform them immediately."

The police officer went on to make the call while the other two officers decided to scan the area.

Kevin glanced nervously at Jack and pulled him close. "I'm going to Atlanta, I think Brian might be in trouble. Will you come with me?"

Jack, as expected, was frowning. He didn't find it a good idea. "They're sending police over there too Kev, we can just make a call and find out."

"I know.but I can't sit here and do nothing. I need to see him for myself. He's my cousin Jack and Baylee's with him tonight. I won't forgive myself if something happen to my nephew."

Jack, as serious as he look, finally gave in. "Get your stuff, I'll inform the officers."

************************************************************************************************************

Jack glanced worriedly at the figure sitting next to him. Finally, he had fallen asleep, lulled by the smooth movement of expensive tires against even mortared road. The last phone call Kevin received before they departed to Atlanta was from Howie. And by the sound of it, things weren't looking good.

"Howie said the police officers down at Florida found both their houses ransacked. They hadn't been there for the last two weeks I remember." Kevin had told him after the call.

"Don't they have anyone to take care of the house? Didn't the alarm system set off or something?"

"Nick has someone go up to his house for house cleaning but the lady said the lock to the front gate was changed and she couldn't get in. She thought Nick had fired her. I don't know about AJ."

"Look, let me call up Tony and see if they're in LA okay?" He had offered, but Kevin just shook his head.

"Don't bother. Howie said they are still on the way, I think they had some problems confirming their addresses."

"Too many houses too little time." Jack joked.

"Celebrities huh?" Kevin smiled. "Cocky indeed."

Throughout the flight, Kevin had kept to himself and Jack was more than willing to give him the space he needed. They were close but Jack was never one to pry on their personal lives and to him, what was happening was too personal.

The first thing Kevin did when they reached Atlanta was to make a call to Brian. He tried all five different numbers to his house, his cell phone and even his pager, but there was no answer. It was getting too strange that even Jack felt helpless.

It was not until they were in the car that Kevin finally doze off. Night had given way for morning to stroll in. The sky was burning with signs of the rising sun, splashed in shades of orange. And as the car drove into the compound of the Littrell's, Jack reluctantly pulled the man away from his slumber.

Kevin wasted no time and practically jumped out of the car. He saw a police car parked in front of them and he rushed up, thinking that it was too late. Whatever happened to Brian? Did the son of a bitch touch Baylee?

But the worries were left for the wind to pick up and blown away when he saw Brian's figure standing in the doorway, Baylee safely sleeping in his arms.

"Why didn't you pick up your phone? I called you for I don't know how many times already!" Kevin cried, and then bending his head down and kissed his nephew's forehead. "Thank God you're safe."

"I.they.I didn't."

For the first time, Kevin saw the helplessness in his cousin's eyes. He felt guilty for jumping on him like that. "Hey, calm down, lets go inside and talk okay? How long have you been carrying Baylee around Brian? You can put him on his cradle you know."

They went into the living room and immediately settled on the sofa. "That's okay, I need him with me." Brian replied, one hand rubbing Baylee's back.

"Brian, why didn't you answer my calls? I was worried."

"Nick called me last night-"

"He called you?" Kevin asked, wide-eyed.

Brian nodded. "He called me and asked if I did a prank call on him.said some guy was trying to scare him off.then he went out to check on the dogs cause they were making so much noise, and.and.he never came back on the phone, someone picked it up and told me that just because I'm far away doesn't mean he forgets about me. I didn't feel good so I called AJ."

"You called AJ?" Kevin asked. "He's okay?"

"Yeah, he was asleep. And I woke him up and asked him to go check on Nick. And.it's all my fault Kevin, if I hadn't told him to go, he would still be here now." Brian cried and Baylee was stirring in his sleep.

Kevin got up and sat next to his cousin. He reached out for Baylee. "Let me hold him for awhile." Brian didn't argue and handed him over. Baylee rested on his arms, oblivious to the tension surrounding him.

"Bri, it's not your fault, you can't blame yourself. AJ would have gone even if you didn't ask him."

"But I am to blame Kevin! He called me from Nick's house and he told me there was a lot of blood everywhere and he told me to call 911 but I didn't. Cause I really thought he was playing! And then he told me that it was all a prank, that Nick was there with him. I talked to him Kevin! I heard Nick! He was alive when he called me, but I failed to see that they were scared Kev! Hell, AJ told me it's all a prank and I got so mad I hung up on them and pulled out the telephone chords and switch off my cell phone.! I should have known! It's all my fault."

Brian covered his face under palms of his hands. He was crying softly, knowing that he shouldn't disturb his son. Kevin held his own emotions inside. He couldn't afford to crumble now.

"Brian, we haven't even heard anything from them yet, don't assume the worst okay?"

"Kevin, didn't you hear what I said? AJ told me there was too many blood! Nick is hurt Kev and it's been a fucking six hours ago! And to think I went off to bed after that!"

Baylee made a sound, he was frowning. Kevin swayed a little, hoping that it would calm the boy down. Maybe he sensed his father's sadness.

"Brian, Howie is on his way to LA right now. I want to go there too, are you coming?"

************************************************************************************************************

Kevin felt the empty seat next to him occupied again and opened his eyes. Brian had returned from his little trip to the gents. His face was still damp from the wash and his swollen eyes and blushed nose showed that he had been crying.

He massaged his temple lightly and took a shaky breath. Kevin reached for his cousin just like he had done for him earlier, it was all that he could offer in hope to make him feel a little bit better about it.

"What the hell are we going to do Kevin? I feel so helpless right now, they can't die.I'll die if they die!"

Kevin nodded in understanding. Yes, if AJ and Nick die, Brian, Howie and him will die too.

"Do what you're best at Brian. Pray for all of us."
Epilogue ~ written by Eboni and Mare by Mare
I'm gonna die...I'm gonna die...I'm gonna die.

Damn you Brian for calling me instead of the damn police to come check on stupid Nick!

Nick... Nick was bleeding, Nick was being very quiet.

His eyes dared to glance over at Nick who sat propped against the wall in the corner of the kitchen taking very shallow breathes.

"Alright, fine...fine, whatever you say," the crazy man with the knife pressed against AJ's throat spoke to himself again, as if he were carrying on a cell phone conversation with someone crazier than he was! The imaginary cell phone seemed to have disconnected at the present moment, for now the crazy man was talking to him, "Looks like Nicky over there is going to get a show before he goes. Because of your bad timing, I'm going to have to kill you first."

There went the Pepsi he'd drunk before he'd come. The police would find his corpse in soiled pants, how embarrassing. Wait, when you died, didn't you soil yourself anyway? Hmm...well, he supposed they wouldn't think the worst of him then.

Thump. Thump.

Shh...he hissed at his heart. The crazy man might hear you and decide to cut you out to shut you up, instead of slitting my throat. Having one's heart cut out did not result in immediate death, he'd heard.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

I thought I told you to hush... The crazy man's eyes were not on him anymore, nor were they on Nick. Instead they veered up toward the ceiling. AJ couldn't help but follow his eyes, was there something up there besides the light fixtures that AJ should be concerning himself with?

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Suddenly he realized that thudding sound wasn't his heart. "Who's up there?" the man hissed, his hot breath brushing against AJ's face, "Up...stairs?I ...don't..know..."

"He wasn't alone you fool! You should have checked! One of the others may be up there!" Chaucer roared.

"Well what should I do?" Gary asked desperately.

"Go up there and find them!" Brian hissed.

"But what if.."

"Take AJ as a hostage!" Nick? When had Nick gotten there?

"But what if..."

"Hurry up! I want my body!" Nick fumed.

"Me too!" Brian snapped. "I think we've made a mistake in who to trust. I think someone else would have done the job better. Gary, you were a mistake."

"No! I'm not a mistake! I can do the job just fine! I'll show you!"

"Then show us then! We grow tired," Nick growled.

Gary sneered at the ungrateful blond, "I can get your body for you right now."

"You should have a long time ago, before the other showed up. It's too late to do it now, you have to get rid of THEM first. Leave him to bleed to death."

"Yes," Gary nodded. He revived himself a bit, and pressed the knife against AJ's throat again, drawing a little blood, "Lets go see who you've brought for us, Alex." Slowly Gary began to push AJ out of the kitchen directing him towards the stairs.

AJ trembled, he was going to die... He shot one last pleading look at Nick, who was slowly losing consciousness. No help would be coming from that department. He was manhandled toward the stairs and forced to take them by two's. Just what the hell was up there anyway? Knowing Nick it was some stupid toy he'd left on, on maybe something had fallen. Or it could even be one of those dumb mutts of his... he had 6. Come to think of it, where were those mutts? Probably ran off to safety, screw Daddy, it was every dog for himself. Hell, he bet even Cujo had run when she caught sight of Cybil here. AJ never had been able to make peace with that damn rottweilerr... Sugar he called it, that monster was anything but sweet. It had tried to eat JD, and for that he'd never forgive it.

They reached the top of the stairs and were met with darkness. "Where's a light switch?"

AJ blinked, he didn't know if the man was talking or not. It'd be pretty embarrassing to answer him, and the guy was talking to one of his alter egos. He received a little kick. Oh... "Right wall...just feel for it."

The upstairs den was bathed in light. "So... call for your friend."

"I.... I didn't bring anyone with me." I should have. "I don't know who's up here...OW!"

"Call for your friend!"

"There's no one up here!"

There was a loud thud from one of the bedrooms...something was moving around behind one of those doors. "Stop lying to me!"

"I'm not..I swear..."

"Call..." he could feel the warm stickiness of blood rolling down his neck and trickling down his collar.."your....friend."

"Uh...." he had no choice, he couldn't just stand there and be decapitated, "whoever's in there, come out. Please? He's gonna kill me."

His voice was high and broke at every other word.

More ruffling noises, and another thud. "Your friend doesn't like you much, does he?" he was being pulled towards the door, the crazy man now moving in front of him in a crab march, keeping a firm arm around AJ's waist, the knife still against his neck. They stopped before the door, and listened at the noise of something pacing back and forth inside the room, "Open the door AJ, and let your friend see just where I have you."

"I don't know...ow....ok....just stop," he was beginning to see stars before his eyes, and his hand shook as it reached for the door knob. He twisted it weakly and gave it a push. Gary kicked the door fully open with his foot, "Come out of here now, I've got...AAAAAAHHH!!"

AJ's vision was assaulted by shiny midnight black and rusty mahogany brown as he was struck by a weight greater than he was. He tumbled to the ground with a startled cry, but was relieved to find the pressure of the knife gone from his neck. He and the insane young man fell together under the massive snarling black and brown coated body of....an angry rottweiler, whom Nick hadn't yet put in the garage for the night.

AJ rolled out of the dangerous tango between killer and beast, and scrambled to his knees breathing hard and staring in shock and disbelief. Thoughts to call the dog off penetrated his dazed mind, but had no affect on his mouth. He simply watched as Sugar savaged the man that had put a knife to his throat...the man that would have killed him. He shivered violently, he'd almost died tonight...he'd almost died. Something was licking his face, and his hand came out to stroke the head of a small pug,"Willie?" The tiny dog gave a yelping bark, and nudged at AJ, it wanted him to do something...

As Sugar growled and snapped, biting at the screaming killer, who cried for someone named Chaucer to save him.... cried for Brian to save him...even cried for Nick to...Nick. Oh Nick! AJ stood to his feet shakily, swaying a bit as he ran towards the stairs, "Hold on Nicky...Hold on...I'm coming." ************************************************************************************************************ Nick looked up at the ceiling as he heard first the unmistakable thud of bodies falling to the floor then the horrible blood curdling screams begging for help. He tried crawling over to the steps, just in case J was hurt, even tried to yell his name but the only sound that escaped was a gurgle.

It was actually true he thought to himself as he heard the man who had attacked him, yell his name, there is such a thing as a death gurgle. That's when he lost the battle he was having with his brain. His eyes grew heavy and the sounds of screaming for mersey fell into a distant echo.

He was floating away. It felt good, It felt peaceful.

He saw his family. Mom, dad and the kids playing touch football in the backyard smiling and happy. He saw himself sitting up endless nights playing on the computer. Even trying his hand at writing. Next he saw himself playing with his pugs. How he loved them. And Sugar.

"Nicky, stay with me buddy. You are going to be okay. I promise! Just hold on. Nicky can you hear me?"

He saw his friends, the boys he became men with. He saw them all laughing in hotel rooms joking about love, life and the future. Working their butts off to make it as far as they did.

"Yes..please hurry he is bleeding to death..Oh God..please you have to help him...no! He's not responding to me.."

He spent so much time with those guys. They were his family. They taught him so much. They tried to protect him from everything. Sheltering him from All the pain...pain. He was in so much pain. He felt his side and grimaced.

"Nick? Oh God, Nicky the paramedics are on their way. Please..Hang on kiddo"

AJ...Did he hear AJ? AJ was his confidant, the guy he ran to always when he would have a nightmare about demons coming out of closets and clawing at the five of them while they slept. AJ called him a wuss, but yet, stayed up all night keeping watch with him. Eyes trained on the closet keeping the monsters that lived in there at bay.

"Thank God you're here. Please hurry...he has lost a lot of blood"

Train...Kevin..isn't that what we used to call Kevin way back when? Kevin had also helped to protect him from those demons by giving him a magic necklace. God how he adored Kevin.

"Dammit, I am fine. Can I ride with him to the hospital?"

That necklace was supposed to keep him safe. Keep him out of situations like this. Away from the evil and the cruel world. Protected forever.

"Nick everything's going to be alright.... going to be alright...everything...alright"

As AJ's voice started to fade another one took it's place. A cruel voice. A laughing voice. It was that man. What was his name? He tried his hardest to remember afterall, this was the man that had tried to kill him. Then it came to him...yes, Gary.

Now Gary was sitting there laughing at him, his head almost disconnected from his body; Thanks to Sugar. Gary was laughing and pointing. I got you! I did it! See? I didn't fail afterall Chaucer.

Nick felt a hand in his own as he struggled to open his eyes. He knew it was AJ...wasn't it AJ he had heard last? He was having a hard time distinguishing reality from the phantasms now swarming around him. Reality and his demons becoming one big swirl, culminating in a small pinpoint of light.

"Nick you are going to be alright. Okay? Just hang on for me please Nick?"

From where he was standing...how was he standing? He had no clue, but from where he was, he noticed that the light was coming from a crack in the closet. He looked down at his hands, they were oddly small. Child sized almost. Then he heard the laughter, it was coming from the boys. Sitting there on a bed of some random hotel room. Just like the old days.

The closet door opened and exposed more of the light, "Where are you going Nicky? Don't you want to stay?"

Nick looked over to Howie, the brightness of the light bathing him in a radiant aura. He was glowing.

"We are loosing him...charge the paddles..."

He looked at Howie and smiled. But the warmth and loving glow of the light made him turn and walk toward it.

"He's still flat lining.."

He walked closer to the light becoming almost translucent with every step. The door opened up fully now. It was beautiful...

Then he felt the pull.

Just like that the door closed leaving everything black.

The End?
This story archived at http://absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=8268