Wrath and Emeralds - Chapter Four

[draconica-nova.livejournal.com]

Title: Wrath and Emeralds - 4/12
Characters: Colin, Ryan
Chapter Rating: PG
Overall Rating: R
Summary: For how long can a man hide his fear? His anger? His love?

Author's Notes: Well, this chapter is quicker than the other ones, at least... xD  Your comments and feedback make all the difference. xxx



The click and whirr of a high-tech coffee machine was the only companion to the silence in the room as Colin ran a heavy hand over his face.

“What a mess,” he sighed, leaning back against a counter in the staff room in exhaustion. “This is all my fault.”

“Oh? How is it your fault?” Bryce sounded amused as he handed Colin a polystyrene cup filled with hot liquid encouragement.

“I don’t know, maybe I exposed him to the virus or something? Maybe…”

As Colin figured out his possible guilt, Bryce chuckled and patted his back heartily, persuading the man to walk with him as an accompaniment to the inevitable long discussions.

“It’s only natural that you should feel that way – Something happens to someone close to you and it feels like blaming yourself is the only plausible explanation. This was nobody’s fault.”

Walking out onto a cold concrete and steel balcony surrounded by treetops, Colin became disorientated when looking ahead through a gap in the trees saw the glowing LA skyline. He blinked at the view astoundingly, almost dropping his coffee in the aftermath of realisation, “Are we…?”

“On the Hollywood Hills,” Bryce finished proudly. “We’re situated partly underground. Where we’re standing now is the only exposed area of the facility. I always did love a view.”

There were a few plastic chairs scattered around the balcony randomly – Bryce moved to fetch a pair and place them by the railings, giving the sitters the best view. “Sit,” he motioned to the chair beside him as he sat down himself. “You must have a lot of questions.”

“That’s true,” Colin replied, sinking sheepishly into the chair. Unconsciously, he began to smooth out his shirt in an impulsive fidget, and suddenly realised that he was still in his taping clothes. The sight made him reminisce about the show – despite feeling like hell, Ryan had managed to get the audience, and most of the cast members, into hysterics with ease. He smiled at the memory of what now seemed like ancient laughter in the man’s green eyes.

“It’s like a curse,” said Bryce, shaking his head, “that the virus has to infect the nicest of people. Such a shame.”

Colin looked up at him, intrigued. “Who were the other victims? The three that died?”

Bryce nodded solemnly. “I know he’s a bit edgy and that makes you a little uncomfortable, but Hunter’s been through so much – the very first reported case was his own father.”

Colin’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Really?”

“Hunt was only nineteen at the time. It’s hard to imagine what it must’ve been like for him to go through that. As you can expect, he doesn’t talk about it very much. However, I am a lot more open about my experiences with this virus.”

“How do you mean?”

A shadow descended over the man’s face for a moment, then smiled and continued. “The second virus case, the one contracted in Budapest, was my wife, Rózsa.”

“Oh.” Colin started picking awkwardly at his now half-empty coffee cup. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”

Bryce shook his head in understanding. “No need to be sorry, Colin. It’s not your problem. It does mean though that I can give you answers based on my experiences.”

Colin seemed reluctant to seemingly arouse painful memories in the man, but his curiosity, not to mention his own fears for Ryan, got the better of him. “How did she die?”

“One of the most basic human instincts is to hunt, to kill. Though after millions of years, we’ve learnt to heavily suppress it as a species.”

“But you still get fox hunting, poaching, that sort of thing,” Colin said, thinking about where this might be going.

“Precisely. People are easily panicked, Colin, and frightened people do some crazy things. Extraordinary, crazy things.” Bryce leant in a bit, divulging a secret. “It wasn’t the virus itself that killed the last three victims - the wolves were hunted down by terrified and angry people. It’s my belief that they were blinded by instinct, unable to distinguish what the virus actually was. They just wanted to see the beast killed.”

“They were hunted?” Colin was shocked to his core by what he was hearing, but the other man just nodded seriously.

“It’s possible it all stems from the concept of ferocious werewolves. But werewolves are things of legend and fantasy. The virus manifests in a similar way, but not by the turns of a full moon. The transformation is based purely on emotion.” He leant back in his seat, his eyes turning up toward the sky as another shadow passed over them. “Rózsa was the most caring woman you could ever meet, but that all changed after the virus…”

Colin noted the man’s tight swallow as he remembered his wife, and his thoughts drifted back to his own wife at home – Deb still had no idea what was happening. And now that he thought about it, neither did Pat.

“Oh, God… I have to tell his family,” he sighed, a hand rubbing over his eyes.

Bryce’s eyebrows rose. “He has kids?”

“Yeah, two.” He suddenly remembered something and then added, “Soon to be three. He only told me just last week that Pat was pregnant again… you’d never seen a guy so happy.”

“In that case, she mustn’t know about his condition. It will protect him, his wife and his children if they are kept in the dark until we can resolve this mess.” Colin looked up questioningly at the statement, so Bryce continued. “The world thinks Ryan Stiles is missing. This has to be believed for a time at least until we can heal his condition for good. I hope you understand this, it’s the most important part of the operation.”

Colin nodded in understanding. “Sure, okay.”

“Sir?”

Both men turned to the double doors and out walked Hunter, his gaze seemingly far more stern than usual. Colin looked away, unnerved further now that he knew such delicate details about the young man’s past.

“Ah, Hunter. How’s the patient?” Bryce asked as he stood.

“The doctor checked him over – he’s still infected but we reckon the virus itself has returned to a dormant state. He’ll have to stay in the cell.”

Bryce let out a short laugh at the suggestion, clearly surprising the young man. “Oh, I don’t think he should be kept here any longer. After what I’ve seen today, I believe I have a sufficient solution.”

“You have?” Colin asked, rising to his feet also.

“Hunter, here’s what I want you to do: You’re going to release Mister Stiles immediately and find him some clean clothes to wear. He’s going to be leaving, tonight.”

Hunter’s eyes shone with reluctance and rejection at the words and he stood a little straighter. “With all due respect, sir, I think the subject should remain here. We don’t know just how unstable-“

“That, Mister Hunt, is an order.”

His eyes narrowed for a moment, his jaw clenched and his shoulders rose in agitation. “Yes sir,” he muttered and left in a fluster, his gaze flicking to Colin briefly as he did so.

“Troubled man.” Bryce shook his head woefully. “Now, Colin, do you happen to live alone at the moment?”

Colin thought for a moment. “I live with my wife and son in Canada, but I do have a house here in LA that I use when filming.”

“Excellent,” Bryce smiled. “Here is what I’m proposing: I am allowing Ryan to leave this facility to live with you, and only with you, until me and my team can create a permanent antidote for the virus. It seems to me that you are the only person capable of suppressing it, and I will be relying on you to ensure he doesn’t subject to any more transformations.”

“Wow, that’s… really asking a lot of me,” Colin sighed, long and slow. “How do I stop him from changing?”

Bryce chuckled deeply and clapped an arm around the Canadian’s shoulders. “Just like you did earlier – calm him down, turn his mind to something friendly, familiar and assuring. The wolf is smitten by you, and so you can use this to your advantage.”

Colin was still very pensive. After all, he’d seen first-hand what Ryan was capable of in his unstable mind and body. The first time he’d prevented Ryan from changing was all about quick thinking and luck, in his mind at least, and he didn’t want to be the one responsible for Ryan’s death if he failed to do what Bryce was asking of him. He would never forgive himself. “I really don’t know…”

“Colin.” The other man’s voice dropped to more serious levels. “I never got a chance like this with my wife. I know it’s not the same thing with the two of you, but you’ve got to be there for him. He doesn’t have anyone else.”

It might not be the same thing, but it’s damn close… “Okay, I’ll do it.”

Bryce smiled. “Then he’s in very capable hands,” he praised, patting Colin on the back.

~~~

It was a short while later that Colin got to see Ryan again and at the good news of being allowed to leave, his appearance had improved a significant amount. Bar the bandage around his wrist, Ryan looked a lot better – the dark marks under his eyes had gone and for the first time in so many hours, he was smiling. Colin had let out a sigh of relief and straight away had hugged Ryan thankfully, murmuring various apologies and assurances into the tall man’s shoulder. Ryan had returned it just as strongly, in turn whispering thank yous and words of confidence. Drew had said his goodbyes and good lucks before being taken home by Hunter, who seemed determined to give Ryan a strange look as he passed coldly.

Then, Bryce had someone drive the pair to Colin’s house in a tinted, anonymous car. It was beginning to ascend into the early hours of the morning by the time they arrived, and Ryan’s energy levels had plummeted to an almost lethargic awareness of everything.

They arrived at the house while taking care to avoid being seen by anybody in the usually simple process of walking to the front door. It was like escorting a wanted criminal around.

Ryan collapsed onto one of Colin’s plush couches in the living room while Colin locked the front door and then moved throughout the entire house making sure the windows were closed, too. By the time he returned, about to ask if Ryan wanted anything to eat, the man in question was already snoring softly in a heavy doze. In the back of his mind, he likened the noise to that of an animal’s growl, but hastily pushed it aside. Instead, to take his mind off of it, he moved over to the coffee table and picked up the phone, rapidly dialling a well-memorised number.

It took a fair few rings before a groggy, haggard voice replied on the other end. “Yes… hello?”

“Hi, Deb. It’s me.”

“Colin!?” Suddenly, his wife sounded a lot more awake. “Oh, thank the heavens! I’ve been trying to reach you all night! What’s happened? Are you okay? Where are you?”

“Deb, calm down!” Colin almost shouted into the phone, but had to restrain his voice slightly for the sleeping man a few yards away. “Honey, please. I’m fine.”

“Calm down?! Colin, have you seen the TV? It’s all over the news!”

Curious, Colin quickly grabbed the remote and clicked his television on, waiting impatiently as the picture warmed up. It took him a few channel-flipping moments to find the news stream, which at the moment was replaying a weather forecast.

“It came on last night, I had to send Luke to his room to stop him from seeing it and getting upset,” his wife explained. “Colin, please, just tell me everything. What happened at that taping, and what happened to Ryan?”

Colin was about to reply when the news suddenly flashed up with its headline story – along with a picture of the man currently asleep on his very sofa. The newscasters were wearing serious expressions as they explained what was believed to have happened to Ryan.

“Colin? Colin, are you still there?”

“…Yeah, sorry, I was just…” He turned from the TV screen, which was displaying a photograph of a smiling Ryan above the word ‘missing’, to the scene of the tall man stretched oddly on a couch a few feet too short for him.

He heard Deb inhale a breath before he cut her off with an improviser’s best friend – a story. “These guys invaded the studio,” he explained quite quickly. “They grabbed Ryan at gunpoint and… and they hauled him off.”

“Oh good God…” she gasped, clearly believing the story, which made Colin feel slightly sick to know that he had to lie to the person he loved.

“I’ve been at the police station all night giving statements,” he lied, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m exhausted and stressed and I want to go to sleep. I just wanted to let you know I was okay.” Now though, he just wanted to hang up.

They continued to talk for another few minutes, during which Colin had sworn Deb to secrecy over the matter, which confused her at first but then gave her word. Colin hated to have to abuse her trust so badly, but given the bizarre and grave situation, he had no choice.

He said goodbye and hung up, leaning onto the table in attempt to steady himself against inflating emotions. Turning his attention back to the TV, there was now a police officer on screen in the middle of an explanation of how to trace kidnappers and rescue the abducted. He snapped the power button and sighed as the room went from static speech to the sounds of an early-morning chorus.

“You’re my best friend,” he said to the snoozing man, knowing that he wasn’t listening but continuing anyway. “And I won’t let this virus destroy us.”

Ryan’s face was a picture of peace, his dishevelled curls adorning his forehead lovingly. Colin swallowed and left the room with a sigh, not even noticing when Ryan’s eyelid opened and watched him walk away.

Sniffing quietly, the tall man buried his head back into the cushion in over-powering fatigue, smothering a lone tear in the process.

To be continued...