Chapter 6 - Out Of The Fire And Into The Frying Pan?

Rain is just waking up when I return. With a smile I hand him the food and drink. The kid smiles shyly back at me, it's pretty obvious he's not used to smiling like that. Soothing shuts the door behind me and stands outside, but I note he's not locked the cell again.

"Hey, how you doing?"

Rain nods and gulps down some water to wash down the chunk of sandwich he's just chomped on.

"I'm fine, thanks for this."

"Don't need to thank me, Soothing gave it me to give you." I thumb over my shoulder in Soothing's direction for Rain.

Rain ducks his head and then looks at Soothing "Thank you sir."

I raise an eyebrow and catch Soothing's shocked expression "Umm, you're welcome." I can't help but grin a little, oh ye of little faith. Told you this kid had some saving graces if we shifted some of the shit.

That makes me wince. My powers, they're all gone. Fucksticks. I can't do this again, I can't help any of the other Black Spirals like this one. Well, I guess the trade off is kinda ok. I mean, now I know what it's like to have been a vampire, I'm not wanting to repeat it. Though that does mean that the Salubri line is going to have a problem. But I'm gonna bet that they were expecting as much anyway when they were the ones who encouraged me to come to this damn world. If not, oh well. I'd like them to come a collecting on my ass.

I plonk my butt down on my bed and lean back against the wall. It's all been a fair bastard of a ride for me, but I never thought about the kid. Rain's been thrown into a whole new world himself now. Granted, this one ain't gonna have people talking to you and telling you it's a good idea to build a big ass sword, but at the same time, he's not going to be used to people being nice to him. Though on the plus side he's either aware of manners or smart enough to pick up stuff like that quickly. Just looking at him I can't help but feel a new emotion, one that I've not quite felt before. It's like I don't want to see the kid hurting or I want to help him as much as I'm honestly able to. I think I'm feeling protective of him actually. I know I'm worried about him now I've thought about it, but on top of that I'm getting the feeling that if the big shot turns up and starts deciding that the kid should be put out of his misery, then I'm going to have to learn how to use my beast very quickly.

The thought about Rain being hurt or killed seems to evoke a response from me though. I feel a growl slip from my lips and my body trembles a little. Naturally Soothing and Rain are looking at me. Rain looks worried, Soothing is frowning at me.

"Chill, don't worry. Just thinking bad thoughts. I'll try to tone it down."

Christ, just the odd bad thought and it's like I'm thinking the easiest option is to start rampaging. Goddamn, is this what Colt had to deal with around me so much? I'm surprised that I still had body parts with how much I must have wound him up over the last few years. Fuck knows how he'd react if I turned up like this now. Well, if he didn't try to kill me on sight that is.

Now I guess I gotta play the waiting game until the head honcho shows up. No sense in worrying about what might happen right now. Mainly cos it seems when I do, the ol' beast blood starts a boiling and doing not so very pleasant things.

My mind keeps drifting into boredom so I start to sing again, an old fave of mine springs to mind. A tad melancholy, but it's apt for the situation.

" Close every door to me, hide all the world from me,

bar all the windows, and shut out the light

do what you want with me, hate me and laugh at me

darken my daytime, and torture my night

if my life were important I, would ask will I live or die

but I know the answers lie, far from this world

close every door to me, keep those I love from me

children of Israel, are never alone

for I know I shall find, my own peace of mind

for I have been promised, a land of my own.

Close every door to me, hide all the world from me

bar all the windows, and shut out the light

Just give me a number, instead of my name

forget all about me, and let me decay

I do not matter, I'm only one person

Destroy me completely, then throw me away

If my life were important I, would ask will I live or die

But I know the answers lie, far from this world

Close every door to me, keep those I love from me

Children of Israel, are never alone

For we know we shall find, our own peace of mind

For we have been promised, a land of our own."

I force my voice to hit the powerful final note and my ears hear it ring through the complex. A smile on my face as for the first time in years I feel proud of being able to sing so well.

"Interesting choice of songs there. One might almost say a prediction of things to come." Says a new voice.

I quickly turn to the cell entrance and an older gentleman is standing there. He looks to be about mid 40's, his black hair peppered with grey. He's got a 5 o'clock shadow on his rather solid set jaw below deep brown eyes. He reminds me of Mark Landau from space 1999.

"Well, I hope not. I've spent the better part of a fortnight in cells. That song was one I sang when I was younger in front of an audience."

"Oh? So do you sing in front of people often?"

I shake my head gently "No. When I sang that song at school, I was teased about it, so I stopped singing until recently."

"Ah yes, the fangs of youth leave much deeper marks than the blows of adulthood."

At this moment in time, I'd be debating that sentiment, but this guy seems to be pretty smart or wise, one of the two. Which means he's probably the guy the Sept has sent to take care of me and Rain. The thought makes me look over at Rain who's huddled back in his bed. I immediately get up and move over to him, slipping an arm around him and hugging him against my side.

"Hey, calm down. It's alright, there's no need to be afraid." I gently try to reassure Rain as I feel him shaking against me.

"That's not exactly true now is it?" says the gentleman at the bars. "Why exactly is there no need to be afraid?"

"Two reasons why to be precise" I say. "Firstly, if you're the guy from the Sept, then you're still a good guy and the worst that can happen to us both is we're killed. That will suck, but death isn't something either of us should be scared of. We both know there are worse things, both of us have been them."

The guy raises an eyebrow and gives a bit of a nod.

"Acceptable answer, but what is the second reason?"

I squeeze Rain firmly and then let him huddle against my side. "Because I'm here."

I feel Rain react besides me, I know he's looking up at me and I can just see out of the corner of my eye that he's looking at me with tear filled eyes. I can't see his expression clearly as I'm focused completely on the man in front of us. He on the other hand has a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth and a slightly arrogant look to his face.

"Oh ho, so, you being there and protecting him makes it all better does it?"

"Hell no, but he already has had it worse, now at least he's not alone. I'll protect him as best I can." I meet the guy's eye and smile almost defiantly. I can't back down now, I have to keep this guy safe. I brought him some of the way, letting him down now would be a crime.

"Well then. That kind of camaraderie is quite welcome I must confess, but you know right now that you both are a problem as you both contain the spirits of Black Spiral dancers. Even if you both have managed to break free of the effects, their taint still seems to linger behind."

Crap. That means I wasn't able to shift all of the corruption from Rain and on top of that, the merger with the Black Spiral and myself must have infected me with it too.

"Is there a way to cleanse us? If so, will you help us do so?" I ask.

"Yes, yes and no."

That makes me do a slow blink. "Umm, ok. Would you be kind enough to elaborate please?"

"Well, since you asked nicely, yes there is a way however the help I can give you to do so is limited."

"Alright, so how do we go about it?"

"There's only one way, I will have to open a path to Erebus for you."

I feel Rain go almost rigid against me and a soft whimper slips from his lips. Immediately I look at him and gently squeeze him. "Hey, easy now. What's Erebus?" I ask Rain.

"It's sometimes called the hell of the garou. To go there is to be cleansed of everything."

"Those in Erebus have a saying" says the man behind the bars.

" That was the old Hell. That was a place of mindless torture and purposeless pain.

There will be no more wanton violence; no further suffering, inflicted without reason or explanation.

We will hurt you.

And we are not sorry.

But we do not do it to punish you. We do it to redeem you.

Because afterward, you'll be a better person and because we love you.

One day you'll thank us for it."

I wince. That does not sound like a lot of fun.

"To go to Erebus will indeed remove the taint from you both and set you ready to become full garou. But as you can tell from the saying, it will be no easy journey and not one you may come back from any time soon."

Soothing steps into view from around the corner and looks at me.

"Alias. You will not come back from Erebus until you are redeemed for your past. You will get redemption in Erebus."

I look at Rain, then back to Soothing and the guy. "If I don't come back, promise me you'll look after Rain." Rain tenses against me, but keeps quiet.

Soothing smiles and nods gently "You have my word I'll look after him if he comes back before you do."

I squeeze Rain firmly then let go and stand up to face the other guy.

"When can you send us there please?"

He smiles "You're brave, I'll give you that. I can be ready within the hour. You need not pack anything to take with you, Erebus will take care of you."

I nod and let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

"We'll be waiting for you."

He nods again and walks off, Soothing following behind.

"Alias? Are... Are you sure about this?"

I turn and give my best reassuring smile to Rain.

"It'll be fine! Look, from what the guy said, the place is there to cleanse us, not kill or keep us there forever. We just have to be strong and remember why we're going there in the first place. You want to stop being a Black Spiral right?"

He nods and sniffles.

"And I want to make the most of this new life I've been given. I can do that by firstly keeping my eye on you and making sure you get the life you want!" I smile at him.

"So we're doing the right thing?"

"Yes. Remember, the garou are trying to make a better world. They can't do that by killing things left right and centre. There has to be a chance at redemption or salvation. The verse that the guy just said 'Because afterward, you'll be a better person and because we love you.' Garou don't love to hurt people, they do what's right even if it hurts. This whole thing, yes, it's going to hurt, but they're doing it because they love you. In time, we will thank them for it. I believe it will be true. We just have to have faith in them and ourselves. We can get through this Rain. I'll be there for you at the end, just as long as you'll be there for me. Ok?"

He looks up at me, his eyes shiny with unshed tears and his face beaming with faith.

"You got it Alias. I'll be right beside you. Count on me!"

Oh goddess, please don't let me fail him.....

After some time has passed, Soothing reappears and motions for us to follow him. I walk to the door and open it, catching sight of Rain's shocked look. He didn't even think about escaping either. The door could have been locked and he'd have never thought to check. I motion for him to follow Soothing and I step out behind him, following up beside him and we both trail after Soothing.

We're lead to what appears to be an interrogation room. I'm guessing that due to the giant mirror on one side of the room and the table with a couple of chairs in the middle. I have to confess, I was expecting something a little more, grandiose, for our send off. Or at least some mystical symbols and incense etc, I mean come on, we're being transported to a land within the spirit world. Doesn't that require some flair?

"Everything is ready for you two." says the guy again.

"We'll be waiting for you getting back." says a familiar voice behind me. I look around and Wyrmripper is stood besides the door. I didn't even notice him come in, or was he stood there the whole time?

"Just don't take forever okay? I can't promise we won't die of boredom whilst you're gone." he grins and I roll my eyes as he moves up and then to my and Rain's surprise, he reaches out and ruffles the kid's hair.

"Good luck squirt. We'll be waiting for you too."

The look of shock, followed by the smile on his face makes my heart leap a little. So this is the sensation of hope again. I'd missed it. Maybe I can come back and start to make a new life HURCK!!!!!!

My thoughts are promptly cut off as I've gotten the mother of all bear hugs from Soothing. For a second I actually forget that I now need to breathe and as soon as Soothing lets me go I gasp in a chunk of air.

"Don't you dare take the piss and be gone for ages. You're both starting to grow on us."

"Soothing.. I.." I'm blushing heavily as I meet his smiling face.

"You're leaving, that's what you're doing. Now hurry up and step into the umbra you two." barks the guy.

That gets my attention. "Ummm.. I don't know how to do that..." I mumble.

Rain's hand grasps mine and he smiles "No problem, I'll lead the way this time."

I smile right back and nod as he pulls me towards the mirror. I glance back one last time and meet the smiles of Wyrmripper and Soothing before turning back to see Rain stepping through the mirror and the wall, my hand follows as it feels like I'm being pulled through a waterfall. I can't help my reaction to shut my eyes as my face meets the mirror...