Chapter 39

(Chapter song ‘How To A Life’ by The Fray)

MARCUS Medics and people pass me as I walk through the halls of Axelridge General. They walk around me and I barely notice. My heads deep in thought about the mess we have now.

Two friends. One demon.

This one creature destroyed them both. Now, we're tasked with how to save them.

I turn and walk down another hall and see Finn, Jax, and Noah standing at a window. They look defeated and concerned.

Finn looks my way. “Marcus.”

“Hey.” I give a little wave as I approach and stand beside Jax.

I take a breath and look into the window.

‘You’re like a brother, Marc. A better brother than mine.’

‘Come on, Brock. It’s not that bad.’

‘If you only knew.’

I stare at my friend sitting on his bed. He’s leaning on his knees. His hands are folded on his chin and his leg is thumping bad. He stares at nothing with his brows stitched up. I stare at the cuff on his wrist that’s chained to the bed.

“He looks like he’s suffering.” I say.

“Demonic DT's. He’s suffering withdrawals from having Alistair in him too long.” Jax informs.

Brock grunts loud then rubs the back of his head.

“Has he said anything?” I ask as Brock tried to pull on his cuff then gives up.

Finn shakes his head and stuffs his hands in his pockets. “Not a word. He just fights. We sedated him for awhile, but he’s not coming out of it.”

“Bobby and Blade are on their way.” Noah adds.

“You think he’d want to see them?” I arch a brow. “They did him dirty. You know that.”

Finn glances at me. “I know, but I’m hoping they can snap him out so we can get some answers.”

“Getting passed over for Beta isn’t dirty, Marc. It happens.” Jax grumbles.

“He spent his whole life preparing for that position, but because his brothers could party with the Jacksons right, they got it. It had nothing to do with skill. That’s fucking dirty when you’re the oldest and took the position seriously.” I growl.

“I get it, but it’s not worth selling your soul to Alistair. He moved here, made a pack and made Alpha. He should have been happy with that. Now, his pack is disbanded and his head is fucked because he couldn’t let it go.” Jax crosses his arms.

“He didn’t sell his soul.” I mumble. “It's Alistair’s fault.”

“No. It’s ours. We put Eddie over Brock.” Finn says as he lowers his head.

“I told you not to trust a demon.” Noah eyes us all.

“Yeah, well, we were young and stupid.” Jax grumbles.

“He was helping us fight the lycans. He wanted asylum, it was the least I could do.” Finn looks at us all. “The only reason I allowed the switch was because Eddie was suffering. Alistair couldn’t stay in him. Brock volunteered. I couldn’t say no. Alistair promised just to hide. Like Jax says, I was stupid.”

“He double crossed us.” I say.

Finn crosses his arms. “He probably felt Brocks anger. Felt he could get more power from him. Now, he’s like that crazy boyfriend that wants his ex back.”

“I’ll be breaking that relationship up as soon as I get my hands around Eddie’s neck.” Jax growls.

“In order to do that, we need him.” Finn motions his chin to Brock.

Brock scratches his arm obsessively and make several body twitches before running his fingers through his hair.

“Can I talk to him?” I turn my head to Finn.

Finn nods. “Just don’t get to close. He’s injured several medics so far.”

“I’ll be alright.” I whisper as I walk passed the guys to the door.

Brock was a good friend to me. I knew he had a hate on for his brothers, but I didn’t think it was enough to feed a demon for 10 years. If I had known it was that bad, I would've tried to help him more.

This is definitely my fault. I told Brock he could handle it and to trust me. I trusted him to not to let Alistair take control. I put my faith in Brock. I should’ve known that Alistair was too strong and would overpower him. Now, he messed up and I’m not sure he’ll ever recover.

I hold my breathe and push open the door.

He’s fondling the cuff on his wrist and I study his body in the low light.

His body is weak with yellow white skin and eyes sunken in. His hands shake and black hair is dulled.

I slowly step around the bed and stand in front of him.

“Brock.” I say low.

He doesn’t move. He growls and continues to play with the cuff.

“Brock?”

He raises his eyes to me and a weak smile forms on his lips.

“H-Hey, Marky.” He scratches his head with his cuffed hand. The chain jingles as he does. “Wha-What’s shaking?”

I look around and find a chair. I glance at Finn who motions to me to keep going. I sit and lean on my knees. “Nothing. How about you? You ok?”

He huffs and looks around the room. He looks down and picks at his arm. “I’m ok.” He mumbles.

“Yeah? That’s good. That’s really good, bud.” I sit up and motion to him. “Ya look good.”

“I look like I haven’t eaten, drank or slept in 10 years.” He scoffs.

“True, but ya getting better, right?” I smile.

He raises his head and his lips shrink. His eyes glass over. “Where is he?”

I rub the back of my head and lean forward. “He…uh…Alistair…He took Eddie.”

His brows stitch up. “Why?” He chokes.

“I wish I knew, but you don’t have to worry about that now. You’re free.” I say with concern on my words.

He shakes his head all over. “No.” He hits his leg and the chain clings against the bed. “No!” He growls.

I slightly turn my head as I eye him. “Brock. Alistair kidnapped you.”

He shakes his head. “No.” He looks around the floor. “No, he didn’t. We’re partners.”

“No, you aren’t.” I say sternly. “He used you.”

“NO!!” He hits the bed and glares at me. He raises a finger and points to me. “He was my friend.”

“He killed people, Brock. He used your body to kill people.” I state.

His chin quivers and he looks away. “It was for a purpose. We needed the strength.” He drops his head.

“Purpose for what?” I ask. “Brock? What was he going to do?” I search his face.

“Kill them.” He smirks.

“Them?” I narrow my eyes. I turn my head as I piece it together. “Blade and Bobby.”

He smiles then looks down at his pants. He picks at them as he quietly chuckles.

I try to find his eyes. “Brock. You can’t want to kill your brothers.”

“THEY’RE NOT MY BROTHERS!” He yells as his face twists into anger.

“Did you want Alistair to kill your brothers?” I ask as my brows cinch.

“He promised.” He mumbles.

Realization grows on my face. “You let him take over.”

He pauses then nods.

“That’s not you, Brock. The friend I had wouldn’t want that.” I whisper.

“You don’t know what I want.” He grumbles.

“You need to let it go, bud. Just let it…”

“I CAN'T!!” He looks at me and his lip trembles. A tear falls out his eye.

He lowers his head and starts to whimper. “He promised.” He whines and holds his face in his hands. “He promised.” He starts to quietly cry.

A knock on the window gets my attention. I look and Finn thumbs to two guys with long black hair. They both look like Brock with deep tanned skin, brown eyes. One is larger than the other and they both have tribal ink on their arms. Their faces look hurt and I see them wanting to bust in here.

I shake my head at them meaning it’s not good.

Blade holds himself and lowers his head as Bobby throws his arm over his brothers shoulder.

I turn back to Brock. “Where’s Eddie?”

He takes a huge sniffling breath. “Eddie who?” he looks out the window.

“Eddie. Our friend. Where is he?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Don’t know. Don’t care.”

“Tell me. You had 10 years with Alistair. Where’s his hideout?” I ask.

He turns his eyes to me. “Somewhere in the middle.” He mumbles.

I furrow my brow and look to Finn. Finn shrugs.

I look to Brock. “What to do you mean?”

“Somewhere between here and there.” He says.

Another frantic knock came on the glass. I look and Blade is waving me out.

I glance at Brock then get up and walk to the door. I open it and step out.

“He’s in a pocket dimension.” Blade says.

“A what?” We all say at the same time.

He nods. “You need Kita.”

“Grahams mate. Right. She controls pocket dimensions.” Finns says as he looks at us.

“What the hell is a pocket dimension?” I flop my hand to my side.

“A place between dimensions. Like here and the mirror world. A pocket dimension is in between them.” Blade informs.

Bobby pushes past his brother. “Can we talk to him?”

I shake my head at Finn.

Finn glances at me, folds his arms and steps to Blade. “It’s…um…it’s not a good idea right now. Alistair’s mark is deep in him and he’s…saying and doing things…we don’t want anyone getting hurt. We're working around the clock to fix him. When he’s recovered, we can set something up.”

Blade looks at his brother. They both look so upset, it crushes me. He turns back to Finn. “Ok. We'll stay in the city for as long as we can. Is that OK?”

Finn gives a half smile. “That’s perfectly fine. I should tell you, he may not recover from this. Being possessed for 10 years has done a number on his mind and body. The Brock you knew may be gone.”

Bobby shakes his head. “No. Brocks a Slone. He’s damn strong. He can fight this.”

“That’s not what he’s saying.” I step in. “He’s saying Brock may not want to. Alistair fed his deepest, darkest addictions and he may not want to recover.”

“I don’t understand.” Blade eyes me.

“I'LL KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!”

We turn to the room and Brock is standing, pulling on his arm as the bed moves slightly.

“I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU BOTH!!!” He roars.

Blood flies from his wrist.

“YOU FUCKERS ARE DEAD! DO YOU HEAR ME?! ALISTAIRS GONNA RIP YOU APART!!”

Finn stops a medic. “Get the tranquilizers.”

The medic nods and jogs off.

“I'M TEARING YOUR HEAD OFF, BLADE!! AFTER YOU EAT BOBBYS HEART!!” He growls loud. He pulls harder and more blood splatters across the sheets. Three medics run past us and into the room.

“NO! NO!” His face turns to panic and he runs the other way. He tugs on the chain and the bed is pulled sideways.

“Brock. You need to calm down…” The medic loads the tranquilizer gun.

“NO! FUCK YOU!!” He pushes the bed and the medic fires. It hits him in the chest and the other two lunge at him and tackle him to the bed.

“NO!! BLADE!! BOBBY!!! HELP ME!!!!” Another dart is fired and he thrashes under the weight of the medics.

His fight slows and then stops. A medic checks his pulse and his eyes. He looks over his wrist then turns to Finn and nods.

“What happened to him?” Bobby says with a hint of fear on his face.

“Alistair happened.” Jax growls and pushes through us. He walks down the hall and turns the corner.

I feel Jax's pain. If I had to name a heart to our Alliance, it would be Jax. Without him, a lot of us wouldn’t be here right now. But with Brocks possession, Scott’s death and now Eddie, he’s been beating the shit out of himself. He feels personally responsible. The reality is, we all do.

Finn, Noah and I stand in front of Blade and Bobby who look like they’re trying to process all this.

“We'll call you if anything changes. Right now, he’s our prisoner until we can find Alistair.” Finn informs.

“Ok.” Blade agrees. “I’ll contact Phoenix to see if there’s anything they can do. Maybe the pool can do something.”

“Let me know.” Finn nods.

The medics patch up Brocks wrist and place him back in bed. As they clean him up, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if he didn’t say yes to Alistair. I think about what has to be breeding in his body to get this far. Could he actually do it? Kill his family?

What if Eddie has the same? What if we can’t get to him in time and something horrific happens?

My stomach feels sick as we leave the hospital. All I can do is hope.

Just like everything else in my life.