SIX

After the funeral, Emily and I started to spend more time together. She and her Creature stayed close to me. Emily was helping me look into Frankie's death, along with Jeff and Ken. We had our work cut out for us. The bad guys had covered their tracks well.

Things were changing. Jamie came back to TNA and began a storyline feud with Lauren. Because of the demand for his abilities, Mark started splitting his time between TNA and WWE, but Jamie stayed with us. Since the man who had made her run screaming from TNA, Dan "Austin Aries" Solwold was still on our roster, I made it my personal mission to keep an eye on her. After his attack on Jamie, Aries had been killed and a doppelgänger had been created. Somehow, the leader of Team Baddie had taken control of that vessel and infused it with Aries on Steroids. I don't mean physical steroids, but psychic ones. He'd become the deadliest guy on the roster next to Khoya, and none of us could do anything about it.

The thing is, Jamie had changed more than her appearance while she was gone. She wasn't afraid of Aries. She stared him down and refused to let him intimidate her. Amusingly, it appeared that as he waited for the proverbial "other shoe" to drop, the one thing Aries was afraid of was Miss Velvet Sky. She was enjoying letting him stew in his fear.

"Son of a bitch," Jeff drawled under his breath, getting my attention.

"What is it?" I asked. He was looking over a journal in what had once been Frankie's room.

"He knew..." Jeff looked torn between crying and cursing some more.

"Knew what?" Ken asked, leaning over Jeff's shoulder.

Jeff took a deep breath and started reading aloud. "Tonight, I make my WWE debut as a jobber for Claudio and TJ. I'm excited, but the nightmares, visions, hallucinations, whatever they are won't stop. This little voice keeps telling me, 'they're coming for you.' I feel it with every bone in my body. Carlos and I are in danger. They want our power. They want to suck out my soul and consume me. They want to recruit him. With his ability to control fire and even create it, he's useful to them, and he's always been darker than me. I have visions and a couple of tricks up my sleeves, but Emily says I'm pure energy. I can fuel them and they need that, but they know I'll never go darkside and turn heel on my peeps. I can't do that. I think they're going to kill me." Jeff paused. He was crying. Ken put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Ken took over reading aloud. "Tonight, they'll make their move. If the things I'm seeing are right, TJ has already been given the job. I don't know how he's going to do it, but he's going to steal my powers. He's going to absorb my lifeforce, and I'm going to die. Knowing this, I shouldn't go, but if I don't, we'll never have another chance to make it to WWE. I can't give up my dream, and I can't deny Carlos his. Besides, this entire thing is nuts. It can't be literal. Can it? And even if I don't go, I know they will come for me. Fuck it. If tonight is my swan song, I'm going out singing loud." Ken bowed his head. "Ah, Kid... If he'd just come to us..."

"He was right. They were going to kill him either way," I said. I felt numb. We'd known he was murdered, but to see it in his own words... I wished he'd asked for help. Could we have saved him?

Jeff threw the journal across the room. It was rare to see him get that pissed off. "You gonna be okay, man?" I asked.

"TJ did this," Jeff said. "Fucking Tyson Kidd! I want him to pay."

"We all do, but we can't touch him," Ken said. "He's WWE. We don't have access to him."

An idea occurred to me and I grinned. I pulled out my phone and dialed. "What's wrong?" A voice answered, knowing I'd only call him in an emergency.

"Hey, Joe," I said. "How would you like to help us get some justice for Frankie?"

I could practically see our Samoan friend foaming at the mouth. "You know I liked that kid. What can I do?"

"It was TJ, Joe. He killed him and absorbed his powers."

Joe was silent for a full minute, which said more than words ever could. Finally, he said, "I'll take care of it."

Three nights later, at a house show in front of a packed crowd, Samoa Joe broke Tyson Kidd so thoroughly, it should have killed him. Being one of his master's top bitches saved his life, but TJ will almost definitely never wrestle again. My only regret is now Nattie's stuck caring for him. Nattie is one hundred percent on Team Good, but you can't help who you fall in love with.

Emily and I watched the footage on Youtube. She leaned against me and I held her as we watched Joe seek revenge for the murder of a kid we'd all loved. When it was over, Emily shocked me by kissing me. After a split second of shock, I kissed her back. The energy between us was unlike anything I had ever felt before. She felt so natural in my arms, so soft and vulnerable suddenly. She wasn't what I expected, but so much better. I never wanted our lips to be apart.

Eventually, the kiss ended, as kisses do, but I could still feel her on my lips. I had to catch my breath. "I... Wow," I said lamely.

"I needed to feel something that was good after all that bad," Emily explained. She looked at me shyly. "I hope that's okay?"

"Okay isn't the word for it." I pulled her back against me and kissed her again because I needed her lips. When I say I never felt like this before, it's not a cliche. I am totally serious. The physical part was great, but the psychic and emotional connection was so intense I can't put it into words. I've only ever connected that much to one other person in my life, and it was James.

Emily and I finally stopped kissing when we remembered the Abigail Creature was asleep in the other room in the suite. We spent the night on the couch watching television together because neither of us could sleep after that.

Needless to say, things began changing. The next morning, Emily asked Abigail, "How would you feel if I told you I was seeing someone?"

Abigail scowled at me. "If you hurt my mom, I'll hurt you," she told me.

I tried not to laugh because I was certain she was deadly serious and she'd find a way to do it. "Abby!" Emily scolded her.

"It's okay," I said quickly. "It's good that she is so protective of you, Emily."

"I can't talk her out of it, but I can make sure no one hurts her," the Abigail Creature informed me.

"That's the closest you'll come to getting her approval," Emily told me with a slight smile.

"I'll take it," I said happily. I loved seeing Emily smile. It made me forget all the crap and destruction around us for a little while.

Naturally, things didn't stay perfect for long. My new girlfriend and her Creature moved in to my place so they didn't need to pay for hotel suites anymore. We didn't sleep together. It was too soon, and we both decided having sex with her Creature so close by was wrong. We kissed and laughed and talked for hours. It was the best I'd gotten to know another person in ages. This went on for about a month. Then, as is typical for psychics caught up in a battle between good and evil, everything fell apart.

My phone started ringing at four in the morning. I knew it couldn't be good news. "Hello?" I answered in a groggy state.

"Michael..." The voice on the other end of the line was crying.

"Jamie?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

"It's Lauren... She was supposed to meet Carlos tonight, to check on him and get a status report on what side he was on... She never checked in."

"I'm sure she's fine," I said, although I wasn't. A thousand possibilities raced through my head.

"She was worried they'd recruited him, Michael. She told me he's been acting really strange and his energy is off... I didn't want her to go alone, but it's Carlos, you know? Neither of us thought he'd hurt her."

"We don't know that he did."

"She isn't even answering Wes, Michael. I'm scared. I can't shake the awful feeling in the pit of my stomach."

I knew how she felt. "Where's Mark?"

"He's here. I called him first, and he told me I'd better call you."

"We'll find her, Jamie. I promise." I meant that. I just hoped we'd find her alive.

Emily came into the living room and looked at me as I hung up. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Jamie called. Lauren's missing. She was meeting Carlos."

"Crap."

"Exactly."

"How can I help?"

"I'm going after her. Just stay with Abigail and I'll call you when I know something."

She looked like she wanted to protest, but instead she nodded. "Be careful, Michael," she said. "I love you."

It was the first time she said it to me, and suddenly, I didn't want to leave her. I knew Lauren needed me, so I forced myself to be responsible. "I love you, too, Emily," I told her. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her.

I closed my eyes and did my magic trick, opening a portal right in front of her. Emily looked impressed. "You're full of surprises," she said.

"Yes I am," I said with a smile before jumping through. I focused all of my energy on Lauren and hoped I'd be able to find her.

I spotted her a few feet from where I landed as the portal closed. Lauren was bleeding badly. The sight of Carlos holding the knife that had wounded her broke my heart. This was it. He'd gone darkside. Could I save him?

I hoped so, but first I needed to focus on saving Lauren. She looked at me with pleading eyes. Don't hurt him, she thought at me. He's still in there.

How bad are you hurt? I sent back. Carlos still hadn't seen me.

I'll live. She was being optimistic. I wasn't so sure the blood loss wouldn't kill her.

I had to get to her without hurting Carlos. If there was any chance of saving him, I needed to try. I struggled to think of a plan, but when Lauren's eyes rolled into the back of her head, I knew I was out of time.

Fuck it, I thought. Who needs a plan when you can fly into things blind? I walked right up to Carlos and said, "Hey, man, how's it going?" Then, before he could react, I knocked him unconscious with my strongest spell just so I wouldn't have to hurt him.

I wanted to bring him with me so I could talk some sense into him, but Lauren was dying. I had to save her first. Choices, choices... I picked Lauren up and opened a portal. I tried to get to Jamie, but someone followed us. I changed direction and we ran straight into Brandon and MVP. I rushed to portal away from them and hit a brick wall of energy. Before anyone could reach us, I portaled again and went to Wes.

We landed at his feet. Wes was practically wolfing out before my eyes. He pulled Lauren into his arms. I wanted to heal her, but I was exhausted. I'd portaled in too many directions too quickly to try and rescue her and not run into the Army of Assholes and now I could barely stand up. I can fling other people through portal loops all day long, but actually travelling through that many myself drains my energy fast.

"You're a paramedic," I said. "Can you save her?"

Wes looked at me and understood. "You overdid it?" He asked.

"Understatement."

"I've got her. Go crash in my guest room."

"I should go-"

"You'll never make it home, Michael. Go." He handed me a cup of soda knowing I'd need the sugar and sent me on my way. I downed the soda quickly as my body shook. I crawled into the bed and immediately blacked out.