Title: Possession
Chapter: 8-Rescue
Rating: R
Summary:
Characters: Luke, Noah, Howl, Patricia, Tom
Genre: AU, Romance, Horror, Supernatural
Warnings: Some strong language/violence
Disclaimer: This site is no way associated with "As the World Turns", CBS, P&G, or Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann. This is not for profit. No copyright infringement is intended. Authors submit and write their own work.

Noah grabbed Howl by his shirt and threw him against the wall. “Where’s Luke?” he yelled.

“Noah, you have to listen to me!” Howl cried, struggling against the man.

“What did you do? What do you mean they already took him?!”

“We don’t have time for this!” Howl shouted, pushing Noah away. “If you want your husband to live, you have to do exactly as I say.”

“Why?” Noah cried. “Why should I trust you?”

“Because three years ago, they killed my wife!”

Noah stared at the man. Before Howl could explain, he brushed past Noah and ran down the hall out of the apartment. Noah followed him.

“What do you mean?” Noah asked as Howl led him into his own apartment. “Who killed her?”

“They made it look like suicide, that I might have had something to do with it,” Howl said as he went to the office where his stacks of books and papers sat for him. “Back when I still had my medical license, my wife and I moved here so I could start my own practice.” Howl opened the drawer to his desk and shuffled the papers around. He pulled out a vile of clear liquid and stuck it in his jacket pocket.

“I don’t understand,” Noah said. “What’s this got to do with—”

“They feed off of sexual energy,” Howl continued, buzzing around his office like a madman. “They’re attracted to it like moths to a flame. That’s why they came after your husband. He’s weaker, he didn’t fight it like my wife—”

“But that woman,” Noah said, struggling to keep up, “that patient of yours—they told me she committed suicide.”

“She wasn’t my patient, she was my wife!” Howl cried, whipping around with a Bible in his hand. A crack of lightning ripped across the sky and illuminated the room for a moment, and in that instant, Noah could see a teary mist in the old man’s eyes.

“Your wife?” Noah asked.

“They got her,” Howl said. “In the end, I couldn’t save her.”

“Who?” Noah said. “Who are ‘they’?”

Howl looked at Noah, winded from running around his office. “Who do you think, Noah?”

0000000

Luke slowly awoke as he felt someone stoking the side of his face. His body was lethargic and floaty, his head feeling as though it were a balloon hovering over his body.

“Noah?” Luke mumbled.

“Shh,” a voice murmured.

Luke slowly opened his eyes and instantly squinted at the yellow light hanging above him. A coppery smell filled the air. Luke tried to draw his arms down but could feel restraints holding them near his head. He jerked his leg but it was confined to the hard surface he was laying on.

“What’s . . .?”

“Tom, he’s waking up.”

Luke opened his eyes wider and saw Patricia standing over him, a black hood covering her hair. Tom appeared opposite of his wife, dressed in the same black robe. The two stared down at him with unsmiling faces.

“What the hell is going on?” Luke asked groggily. A dream. This had to have been another horrible dream. “Noah—”

“Let me do it,” Patricia said, holding her hand out to her husband.

“You always get to do it,” Tom said.

“Noah?” Luke called.

“That’s because I’m better at it,” Patricia shot back. “You always leave such a terrible mess.”

Luke looked to his left, then to his right, and could finally see that he was in the basement of the building.

“What is this?” Luke asked tugging on his restraints.

“We’re having a little party upstairs, dear,” Patricia said, smiling down at Luke in that irritatingly perfect way. “And you’re the guest of honor. There’s just one tiny little detail we have to straighten out—”

“It’ll be over quicker if I do it,” Tom argued.

“This isn’t real,” Luke mumbled to himself. “This is a dream.”

“Tom, I am not having this discussion with you in front of the sacrifice!” Patricia snapped. “Honestly, if our friends could see us like this—”

“Fine!” Tom sighed. He pulled out a long, jagged knife from his black rob and handed it to Patricia. “But don’t expect me to help you clean up this time.”

Patricia took the knife and motioned to Luke’s torso. “Could you at least open his shirt for me?”

“Wake up, wake up!” Luke yelled to himself as Tom tore the front end of his shirt open, revealing his bare chest. “Wake up!”

“Thank you,” Patricia said sarcastically to her husband. She looked down at the writhing Luke. “I hope this little domestic squabble doesn’t change your opinion about us,” she said.

Luke’s eyes widened as Patricia slowly lowered the knife towards Luke’s heart. “This is no dream, this is really happening!” he yelled.

0000000

“Take this,” Howl said, thrusting the gold necklace he had taken from Luke to Noah. “I managed to slip in and take it back from Patricia and Tom at the party. It might be the only thing that can save Luke.”

“This can’t be happening,” Noah muttered to himself as he grasped the chain. “This doesn’t happen in real life—”

“I need you to follow me closely and keep your voice low,” Howl said, exiting the library. “They’ll know we’re coming, anyway . . .”

“Howl,” Noah grabbed the old man’s arm and stopped him in the hallway. “What if we’re too late?”

Howl stared at Noah for a moment. He remembered feeling the same kind of pain, the same anguish Noah was feeling when his wife was targeted those three years ago. “It’s not too late, Noah,” Howl said. “You have to believe me. It’s not too late.”

Noah nodded curtly, then continued to follow the man down the hall to the front door. Howl placed his hand on the knob and paused, an unsteady fear growing in his chest. He looked at Noah.

“Whatever you see,” he whispered, “whatever you hear . . . you have to do your best not to be afraid.”

Noah swallowed hard and nodded again. He clutched the necklace in his hand as though it were the one thing that connected him with reality, and followed Howl out the door into hell.

The hallway was dark when they exited Howl’s apartment. No light from the other flats shone through the doors, not a sound was heard from any of the other neighbors. Noah looked towards Patricia and Tom’s apartment and saw that the door was open, dark on the inside except for the flash of lightning from the windows. He squinted in the darkness and saw figures in black robes watching him and Howl, the same people Noah had seen earlier at the dinner party.

“Come on, move!” Howl cried, pulling Noah down the hall.

“Who are those people?” Noah asked as they ran down the hall.

“Just keep walking!”

A pounding noise was heard in room 303, as if someone was trying to get out from the inside. Down the hall, Noah could hear the barking of a dog in another flat.

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Howl yelled.

They reached the staircase and Noah heard a door opening from across the hall. Noah stopped and looked over his shoulder as an elderly man stood in the doorway of his flat with a pit-bull chained on a leash.

“Noah!” Howl called. He was already on the second-floor landing, miles and miles ahead of Noah.

“Bingo,” the owner of the dog said with a smile. “Sic him!”

The pit-bull barked madly and ripped itself away from its master’s leash as though it were nothing but a wet noodle. The dog charged after Noah, snapping and gnarling his teeth, rabid with fire in his eyes.

“Howl, run!” Noah cried, running down the stairs as the dog chased after him. The dog leapt and jumped on Noah’s back, pushing him down the stairs. Noah fell hard, fast, his body slamming on the sharp edges of the stairs like a sack of potatoes. Pain shot up his back and shoulder, and when Noah finally stopped falling, he landed on his back with the dog snapping in his face with his sharp teeth.

“Howl, help me!” Noah yelled, straining to keep the dog’s face away from his. The creature bit the air and grazed Noah’ shoulder with his teeth. Noah cried out in pain.

“Get off of him!” Howl cried, kicking the satanic beast in its side.

The dog yelped in pain and fell off Noah. Howl helped Noah to his feet and they ran again as Bingo chased after them. The dog half-limped, half-ran after them down the stairs. When the reached the first floor, Howl ran out the front door.

“This way!”

Noah followed the old man, his head and back and shoulder throbbing in white-hot pain. They exited the building into the pouring rain outside, slamming the door shut behind them to keep the beast inside. Noah leaned in the archway of the building, winded and dizzy with pain.

“Are you all right?” Howl shouted over the rain and thunder.

“I’m fine,” Noah said. “Now what?”

“Come on, there another way in!”

Noah took Howl’s arm as the man led him around the building to the back. Howl stopped in the mud of the unfinished garden and picked up a plank of wood from the flowerbox. He smashed in the window to the cellar, barely visible as mud gathered around it from the rain.

“Go in!” Howl yelled. “I’ll be right behind you!”

Noah slowly climbed into the broken window of the basement, wet from the rain and trembling with fear. He jumped down into the darkness and stumbled to his knees. As Howl cautiously inched himself in feet first, Noah stepped back and helped the older man down. Water dripped down in a small, steady stream from the open window. When Howl was finally inside, the men stopped to catch their breath. Noah bent at the waist and coughed, delirious from everything.

In the distance of the dark cellar, Noah could hear someone groaning. He stood and listened again.

“Luke—”

Howl stopped Noah and slapped his hand over the man’s mouth. “Shh!” he hissed. They waited one heartbeat, two, both men covered in mud and soaked with rain and blood. The groaning intensified and Noah knew it was Luke.

“Follow me,” Howl said. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a vile of clear liquid. Howl handed Noah the small Bible he had tucked in the back of his jeans. “Do you still have that necklace?”

Noah nodded.

“Then you better put it on right now.”

Noah threw the chain around his neck as they slowly made their way through the basement. Lightning was their only source of guidance through the dark labyrinth of boxes and broken washing machines. From under the staircase, Noah could make out a dull yellow light near the middle of the basement. The men followed it, Howl looking around as though something could jump out at them in any moment. As they moved around the rotting staircase, Noah could make out Luke in the middle of the yellow light, a single bulb hanging above him as he writhed and squirmed on the floor. Blood soaked his bare torso from a cut on his left breast.

“Luke!” Noah cried. He ran to his husband.

“Noah, wait!” Howl yelled.

Suddenly, Noah was knocked from his feet by a chair hurling itself at him. Noah gasped for breath, the wind slapped from his body as he lay on his stomach. He pushed himself to his knees by his quivering arms and saw Patricia sitting behind Luke with his head in her lap. She wore a black robe over her head and that damn quirky smile on her face.

“Oh, sweetie, you really ought not to be a hero,” she said.

“Let him go,” Noah said raggedly.

“But we’ve only just begun!” Patricia laughed.

Noah felt a presence behind him and turned to see Tom standing near, dressed in the same black robes as his wife. He smiled, pulled Noah to his feet, then pushed him across the room with inhuman strength. Noah’s body slammed into the cinderblock wall and fell again onto the floor. He yelled in pain and felt his body go numb for a split second.

“Hey!” a voice cried.

Tom turned and Howl greeted him with a splash to the face of the clear liquid in the glass vile. Tom let out an agonizing cry and held his hands to his burning face. The flesh blazed like meat searing on an open fire. The man fell to the floor and wriggled in pain.

“Tom!” Patricia cried. She got to her feet, setting Luke’s head back on the bloodstained cement floor, and charged at Howl.

“Noah, get up!” Howl yelled.

Noah moaned, struggling to his feet in time to see Patricia push Howl over into the open stairs as if he weighed nothing. Patricia put a hand around Howl’s throat and squeezed tightly.

“I should have killed you when I had the chance,” she said, her voice raspy and demon-like.

Noah stood. He looked at Howl, then at Luke, wondering if he had time to save both of them.

“Noah, the necklace!” Howl choked.

Noah ripped the chain from his neck and went up behind Patricia, wrapping it over her neck like a serial killer with piano wire. Patricia cried out in pain and released Howl. She fell over as Noah choked her with the necklace from behind, her skin bubbling like boiling water.

“Get it off!” Patricia cried. “It’s burning!”

“Noah, come on!” Howl yelled, rushing to Luke.

Noah tugged harder on the necklace. He wanted to make her pay, he wanted to make sure she was as close to being dead as possible. He wanted her to feel the same pain she had caused Luke for so long.

“Noah, he’s going to die!”

Like coming out a spell, Noah blinked and let go of the necklace. Patricia fell to the floor, squirming and groaning in pain. Noah went to Luke as the man convulsed on the floor, blood smeared over his chest from the wound above his heart.

“Luke! Luke, can you hear me?”

Luke had his eyes squeezed shut, his teeth clenched as he thrashed and arched his back. The deep cut on his chest was red but had stopped bleeding, as if someone had sealed it shut with an invisible band-aid.

“Hold him!” Howl said. “Keep him steady!”

Noah did as he was told and cradled Luke’s head in his lap, stroking his hair. “Luke? Come on, it’s okay. You’re okay.”

Howl stood and took the vile of water from his pocket. He sprinkled the liquid in a circle around Luke ad Noah. Patricia and Tom slowly began to rouse. Luke opened his mouth and sucked in a labored breath, his legs kicked and pushing at the cement floor as if to expel the pain from his body.

“Luke, it’s okay,” Noah whispered. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“Hold him steady!” Howl said, kneeling next to them.

“Can you help him?” Noah asked.

“They’ve already bled him,” Howl said. “He’s in between our world and theirs.”

“I don’t under—”

“Look at me, Noah,” Howl said.

Noah ripped his eyes from his husband and looked at Howl’s face.

“You need to believe that he’s going to make it. You need to not be afraid.”

Tom stood, blinded and burning from the water in Howl’s vile, and charged at them. He was stopped along the outside of the circle Howl had made, barred from getting in as though there were a protective shield around them. His face had changed from an ordinary man to something different, something with red eyes and sharp teeth.

“Don’t look at them, look at me!” Howl yelled, grabbing Noah’s chin and forcing him to look the other way. “You need to focus all of your emotions—all of you love, all of your compassion and trust and happiness into Luke. Can you do that for me?”

From the corner of his eye, Noah could see Patricia push herself up from the floor and crawl towards them. Her eyes were red, her teeth jagged and monstrous, too big for her face. She was stopped exactly where Tom was on the outside of the circle.

“Noah!”

“I can do it!” Noah yelled, looking down at Luke again.

“Give me the Bible,” Howl instructed.

Noah handed the man the book from his back pocket. Howl placed it on Luke’s stomach and Luke let out an agonizing cry.

“Shh!” Noah murmured. “It’s okay . . .”

Howl dabbed a bit of water on his fingertips from the glass bottle and made a lower-case T on Luke’s forehead. “In nomine Patris, et Filii,” he whispered, “et Spiritus Sancti.”

“No, stop!” Luke cried. It was the first time either of them had heard him speak since they arrived.

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Howl made the sign of the cross on himself and dabbed more water on his fingers.

“F’uck you!” Luke spat. He tried to sit up and attacked Howl, but Noah locked arms with him and held him down.

All around them, Noah could see and hear dark figures moving around their protected circle of light, howling and screaming like demons from hell.

“Noah, stay with me!” Howl yelled. He made another T on Luke’s chest, right along his breastbone. “You can’t have him,” Howl said to whatever creatures surrounded them. “He’s not yours anymore—”

The floor shook beneath them like an earthquake. Noah gasped and held onto Luke tighter.

“Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei,” Howl said. “The heavens declare the glory of God.”

“I’ll take you with me,” Luke said, his voice raspy as he smiled deviously at Howl. “I’m already gone.” The ground shook again and dust and debris floated from the rafters.

“Luke, please,” Noah whispered.

“Release him!” Howl yelled. “He’s not yours anymore!”

“I love you,” Noah said, putting his hand over the gash on Luke’s breast.

“Release him!”

“Come back to me—”

“De profundis, redivivus!”

“Stay with me, please.”

“Out of the depths of misery, come back!”

Luke let out an agonizing wail. A rush of wind knocked Howl over. The ground stopped shaking and the dark creatures pulsed towards them, then vanished. Patricia and Tom disappeared with the demons, until nothing was left in the basement but the yellow light and the men who were huddled closely together.

Noah opened his eyes as he buried his face in Luke’s hair. He looked up and saw Howl staring at the ceiling, his breath shallow as he repeated the name ‘Maggie’ over and over again. Noah took Luke’s head in his hand and moved to his husband’s side. Luke was still, silent, his eyes closed. The cut on his chest was gone, but he wasn’t breathing.

“Luke?” Noah pressed an ear to his husband’s chest but couldn’t feel a heartbeat. “Luke!” He tilted Luke’s head back and pinched his nose, breathing into his mouth as he performed CPR. Noah began compressions on Luke’s chest, frantically trying to bring him back to life. “Howl, help me!”

He counted one compression, two compressions, all the way to thirty before giving Luke two more breaths. “Come on, baby,” he said, applying more compressions. “Come on, come back to me.”

Luke lay motionless, his chest covered in dried blood with a thin veneer of sweat on his temples. His face was sheet white, as if he were in a comfortable slumber instead of a state of comatose.

“Howl!” Noah pleaded.

Howl drew a deep breath, the vision of his wife gone from his eyes. He blinked at the yellow light above him and shakily sat up. The old man watched as Noah performed CPR, too stunned to do anything else.

“Come on!” Noah cried, pounding on Luke’s chest. “Come on!” Noah let out a cry and fell on Luke’s chest. “Wake up, please!” He laid his head over Luke’s heart, tears streaming down his face. There was no heartbeat, no breath from his husband. Luke was a lifeless shell, his body still warm like a used shirt tossed onto the floor. “Please, God, please,” Noah sobbed. “I love you, Luke.”

Noah’s tears touched Luke’s chest as he cried. He wasn’t ready to give him up yet. They still had their whole lives to live, a lifetime of being together, come hell or high water. It was too soon to end.

“Please, Luke. Come back to me.”

Suddenly, Luke’s chest rose and fell with a regular breath. Noah could hear the man’s heartbeat. He raised his head from his husband’s chest and Luke was staring up at their ceiling, blinking groggily as if coming out of a dream.

“Noah?” Luke muttered.

Noah let out a laugh and wiped his tears away. He took his husband’s hand and stroked his face. “I’m here. I’m right here.”

Howl sighed a breath of relief and put a hand to his forehead. He looked towards the ceiling at the yellow glow of the light bulb and said a silent thank you to God, to his wife, to whatever was out there looking after them.

“Did I fall asleep?” Luke asked.

Noah squeezed his eyes shut as more tears came, tears of happiness and relief. “Yeah,” he said. “You fell asleep. But it’s over now. You’re gonna be fine.”

“Good,” Luke breathed. “I had such a wonderful dream. There was a woman with red hair . . . she told me to wake up. Her name was Maggie.”

Noah looked at Howl and the old man smiled achingly. “You must have an angel looking after you,” Howl said.

Luke blinked slowly and let out a long breath. “I missed you, Noah.”

Noah sniffled and nodded. “I missed you, too.” He leaned in and kissed his husband softly, stroking his hair. He touched his forehead to Luke’s. “You’re safe now.”

To be continued