#usually Abrahamic stuff makes me a lil uneasy but not this heh

[dhampiravidi]

"I know I should let you go, but I can't bear the thought of living without you." (And, lastly, a lil' Cass and Caleb heartbreaking au scene :) )

He shouldn'tve said that. That was irresponsible of him, to be saying that to her when she was the one sobbing and tugging at his shirt, pleading for him to go into hiding with her and their friends.

"Cass. Cassia, stop." It was supposed to come out as a hiss or a snap, something mean so she'd want to let go of him. Caleb forced himself to look away, to Ipswich burning in the distance and then over to Pogue, who was waiting by his motorcycle--a blue one. Yellow motorcycles reminded him of the beating that'd landed him in the hospital years before. Caleb locked eyes with Pogue and the two had a silent conversation, the last of many that they'd shared over the long time they'd known each other. Then Caleb looked back down at his girlfriend. "Cassia, I love you. But I gotta go." She'd buried herself in his shirt, right next to the dried patch of Reid's blood. Pogue pulled her out, and all the way back to his bike. She screamed, but she let him. That was the thing about Cass: she always let you be who you were and loved you for it. No matter what.

Caleb watched as Pogue got her on his Ducati, putting the helmet on her head for safety. She'd need it--the apocalypse had just been halted, after all. She sat down first, and Pogue got on behind her, driving towards town. There were still people that needed help evacuating since the fires had touched pretty much every part of town. Ironically, Danvers Manor would be one of the only places in Ipswich that remained.

"You really meant that, didn't you?" Caleb's jaw clenched right as his hands turned to fists. Chase.

"I did, yeah."

"How sweet. Well, the good news is, you won't have to live without her." The demon appeared in front of him, fangs making his shark-like grin even worse. Chase hadn't aged a day, but most of his hair had burnt away. His nails had grown into black claws, his eyes became a blank white, horns broke the skin on his forehead, and patches of scales randomly decorated his body.

"Caleb!" SHIT. Cassia had teleported back, back to where Pogue had been standing. Chase didn't even look at her. He just smiled even wider.

"Say cheese, Caleb. Your girlfriend's watching." There was a sudden, sharp pain, and Cassia cried out like she'd been slapped. But she wasn't the one Chase had chosen. The demon took pleasure in squeezing the weakly-beating heart he'd snatched as the witch girl sank to her knees in disbelief. Caleb stumbled forward, and Chase caught him with his free hand. "You didn't say cheese. Disappointing, hubby," he whispered.

---

Caleb woke with a gasp. He immediately went to feel that his heart was, in fact, still in his chest. It was, but unfortunately, his heartbeat was still racing, and it took a minute or two before he could even breathe properly. He moved to sit on the side of the bed and muffled a scream with his pillow, eyes beginning to tear up. Once he'd stopped trembling, and the afterimage of Chase's grin had left his mind, he went for his cell phone, checking for texts. There was just one.

[Jayn, 15 min ago]: Are you OK?

She must've heard him screaming, or...something like that. After all, her room was right next to his. He texted her back.

[Caleb]: Yeah. Bad dream. I'm OK 🙂

He wondered if she could hear the screaming in the emoji's frozen smile, he thought with a sigh. It was 3 AM, so she might not come to his room, but she'd ask him about it later on during breakfast. Would she tell Cassia?

The echo of her scream was still in his head. He went to their last conversation and stared at the six letters that formed her name. Caleb still hadn't told her (or Jayn) anything about Chase. The other guys hadn't either, because if they had, she would have come to him asking questions. He was the one who had fought Chase and came out with two deaths on his conscience. But that was the thing--Chase was dead. No, the firefighters hadn't found his body, and neither had the Sons. They'd made a pact to keep from Using for three whole days, just so that any bit of the Power floating out there could be definitively traced back to one source. Reid kept his promise, as did Pogue and Ty. Caleb was pretty sure they did it because they felt bad for him, though. His mom, Gorman, sort of Sarah before she cut her losses and left--they all felt bad for him.

Caleb wasn't used to people giving him that look. Sad eyes, no words. He didn't want that from Jayn or Cass. So they didn't need to know. Chase wasn't coming back.

Hopefully, Caleb would convince himself of that one day.

[Caleb, to Cass]: I love you ♥

It wasn't the most romantic way to tell her that he'd fallen for her, but he'd make it up to her later. He put his phone back on the nightstand and got under the covers, eyes open. He'd had enough dreams for one night.