InsaneJournal

The interrogation of David Lash’s father was… enlightening. The clues to the state of David’s mind were disturbing. In the end, Blair felt more uncomfortable than before.  But there were no leads. 

 

 Carolyn’s analysis of the water in the victim’s lungs showed that the victims were killed away from their home and brought back later. But she couldn’t tell yet where the water came from. Jim went and searched Susan Frasier’s home yet again, but what he found Blair didn’t know as Blair had gone back to school. He had been feeling useless around the station and knew he had more than enough to do at school with a full day of testing and grading still to deal with.

 

Jim took advantage of his defection to go and hit the gym, saying he needed to release some stress. Blair couldn’t blame him, he wished he had a more proactive way of dealing with things sometimes too, but as it was he was really going to rack up the meditation hours when he had a chance. But until then his nerves were on edge and he was a wreck. Exhausted and hungry, but he didn’t think he would be able to sleep or eat.

 

Then on his way home he felt again the unmistakable tingle of electricity skating across his nerves, a feeling he had been having off an on all afternoon and night. Thinking that maybe he was being followed he took the long way home and kept checking in his rearview mirror. Twice he had seen a non-descript car weaving in and out of traffic. *I got a bad feeling about this.* he thought as he turned onto Prospect. He got a flash of the vision he had earlier in Simon’s office and his blood turned to ice as he caught sight of what could have been his double.

 

His stomach muscles clenched into a solid mass as one thought raced through his brain.

 

 *Oh god, I’m next!*

 

He turned and raced for the apartments, reaching the third floor in record time and burst in the front door. He turned around and promptly locked it before leaning against and fighting for control of his breath. He was out of time, he knew it somehow. He looked around and nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the sound on the rooftop and saw the shadow crossing the skylights. Again haunting snippets of the vision from Simon’s office came to him. He knew that had been a warning, he just hadn’t known how soon they had meant it for.

 

Glancing around the loft, he saw again the crazy double image of the whirlwind tour from the vision and knew what he had to do. He rushed around, closing windows, shutting doors and pulling shades automatically. Everything was locked and secure as he could make it, but his heart was still tripping and beating madly. His own voice echoed in his mind, “Just relax. Relax. Oh, man, just calm down.” It was still good advice, he forced himself to slow his breathing. 

 

He felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to stand on end as the silence drew its self out.  “Have to tell him, have to warn him…” Blair muttered as he grabbed a pen that hung on the hook next to a message pad for the phone. He wrote three words, *See, Smell, Taste*, on the pad with one hand as the other hand snatched up the phone receiver and he dialed the number for Jim’s cell phone. No answer after four rings. He hung up and dialed the pager, leaving the home number and a 911 alert.

 

Eyeing the front door Blair purposefully drew on the memories of the vision again. He was a sitting duck down here, he needed to level the playing field so to speak. Jim’s bedroom, that’s where he needed to be. From there he could see the whole loft and there had to be something he could use as a half-decent weapon up there. Hurrying to his destination, he quickly detoured to kill the main power with the switchbox under the stairs, plunging the main room into darkness broken only by intermittent light let in via the skylights.

 

Unerringly even in the darkness, he made his way to Jim’s room where he found a lamp that would make an admirable first weapon. Now he was crouched by the railing watching through the openings as the first loud thud sounded. An ominous cracking of wood followed, then another thud and the door to the loft slammed open. What entered didn’t appear human at first, not to Blair’s eyes anyway.

 

With his adrenaline racing he was suddenly blessed with Shaman Sight and could almost see the evil as it flowed in the opening. Blair gazed in horror at the huge-assed spider that crept into the room. Wolf nudged Blair with his nose and Blair blinked, looking again at the figure slipping through the shadows. He could see that it was Lash dressed in his ‘Blair’ clothes, but he was still shivering with reaction. He had no idea what exactly it was that he had seen before. His mind supplied *spirit animal* and he tripped back over to normal sight, aided only by the scant moonlight. He heard the sound of light switches being flicked in an attempt to gain light.

 

He judged his assailant to be in the vicinity of his room and so he moved to cautiously make his way down the stairs. The third step down squeaked and all movement stopped, his, the unknown attacker, the spirit guides. Blair mentally cursed his fate as he leapt from the stairs, only to be tackled from behind. He struck out quickly, first with his feet and then with the lamp he still clutched I his right hand. He dealt his foe a blow to the shoulder, but unfortunately it was not strong enough to stop them.

 

Jerking out from the grasping hands, Blair tripped when one hand snuck out and grasped his ankle, he went down again, only to roll to the side and jump back up. During the struggle, his enemy got between himself and the front door. He knew he had no time to make for one of the back entrances; he had to go out through the man before him. A flash of moonlight showed Blair the face of David Lash, only with long, curly brown hair so like his own. It was as he had suspected, he was Lash’s next victim. But only if he was caught.

 

He reached out a hand and swept the fruit bowl from the counter next to him into Lash’s face. Lash blocked the bowl with one hand before attempting to advance on Blair. Blair ducked and raced to the living area. Lash leapt forward and they tumble crashed together into the couch, rolling around the floor and tossing anything they could get their hands on into the other’s face.

 

Suddenly, Lash rolled over on top of Blair, reared back and smashed a fist into his face, stunning him. The last thought that raced through his mind as he felt the stick of a needle in his neck was to his spirit guides.

 

*Help Jim, he’s going to need you. Help him find me.*

 

o-O-o

 

At some point, Blair woke up to darkness. All around him he could still see Moonlight so he knew it was night, but how long he had been held was still a mystery to him. He struggled to move and found his hands and feet shackled with thick chains, and his mouth was gagged. He was helpless and he knew it. Sleep soon claimed him again and he left with it.

 

o-O-o

 

When Blair woke next, it was to the sight of a leering David Lash looming over him. He struggled to move, finding himself in much the same situation as before, only this time he was sitting in a chair and surrounded by candles and other oddities. And suddenly he knew where he was. He remembered this vision quite well. The candles, the psycho trying to become him, Blair Sandburg. He remembered the fear and the distress he had felt when he was being held by this serial killer, this madman.

 

But this time, instead of fear, all Blair felt was rage. Rage at destiny and fate. Rage at insecurity and despondence. Rage at David Lash for the people he hurt and would have continued to hurt. All that rage filtered down into one small ball of pain in the pit of his stomach and he shoved it there to heat and fire his blood. As soon as he could get Lash to loosen his gag, he was going to have his last say with the man.

 

As Blair attempted to get a better look at his surroundings, he was plagued with Déjà vu. From the visions, he sensed a sort of detachment as he watched over himself and Lash. He wondered vaguely if all visions were like this when one was about to die. A snort from his right and he could almost feel the hot breath of Panther on his hand. Damn the cat, he was supposed to be with Jim!

 

But instead, the cat sat next to the dentist chair that Blair was strapped in, a silent source of strength reminding Blair that he was not alone. *Remind me to find some way to reward you later* Blair mentally muttered. A rumbling purr from the feline was his only answer.

 

“I'd like you to meet my friends,” called Lash as he walked out of the shadows. Blair noted the presence of many spiders around the room and hanging in the web like artistic representations of people. “I only have four of them now, but there will be more. You know, friends are, like really easy to make, dude.”

 

Blair rolled his eyes for a moment at the hideously awful rendition of his speech mannerisms. Lash smiled as he pointed out the first web, the spiders… tarantulas… scurrying away from his touch as he swung the chair that hung from the ceiling. “There's, uh... Adam Walker. He was really easy. He didn't struggle at all. But I guess it's 'cause he was really stoned.”

 

Lash chuckled as he moved on to the next web, this one with pictures and clothing of yet another of Lash’s victims. He picked up a pair of drum sticks from amongst the webbing before continuing. “And then there's... Billy Bright. Bright...he was not. But I...overlooked that because, man...” He turned and tapped the sides of the dentist chair with the sticks. “'Cause he had talent.”

 

Blair sighed as Lash turned in a flourish to the third webbed entity. “Oh...then there was sweet Susan. She had really good taste in cars, but that hair, those clothes? I mean, what was the girl thinking?”

 

Blair grunted when he saw the fourth webbing, the good Doctor Bates. “You know... I think my finest hour... was getting up into your partner's face. But now... it's time for hairy Blairy who is sooo smart.”

 

If there was one thing that Blair detested, it was egotistical madmen. He hadn’t been too excited about Kincaid, he sure wasn’t intimidated by this trumped up Mama’s boy. He growled low in his throat, catching Lashes attention and glaring at him meaningfully. If this guy wanted to be Blair Sandburg, he had another think coming.

 

Lash turned to his mirror, the candles flickering and causing an unearthly glow to the room. Blair glanced at Panther, who was pacing the wall near the stairs. Blair looked at the second to last step and noticed that it was loose. Anyone stepping on that step would be thrown horribly off balance. It was something he needed to remember, or else the Panther wouldn’t have shown him. *Right, watch that step… I’ll remember.* Blair replied mentally. Panther nodded his great head knowingly and resumed his vigil. This night was far from over, but by the agitation that Panther was showing, it was going to end soon.

 

“Yeah, this is going to really be fun.” Lashes words had the effect of a cold shower on Blair’s emotions. He wanted very much to wring the man’s neck and be done with it. “You have a wicked sense of humor. You know... Kind of hip... With a touch of the nerd. All in all, man... Quite a piece of work.”

 

*Right, that’s enough of that.* thought Blair as he snarled behind the gag. He tried to speak to Lash from around the knotted yellow sash. “What are you doing?”

 

Lash stopped momentarily, taking a step towards Blair. “What?”

 

Blair tried again. “What are you doing?” It came out more consonants than vowels and sounded more like a growl than proper words. Lash walked up to him and began to tug the sash out of Blair’s mouth.

 

“I can't hear you. I don't understand. I need to hear your voice more anyway.” Lash succeeded in removing the gag, leaving Blair to stretch his aching jaw and spit out threads. For a moment, Blair just sat there, glowering at Lash. In any other situation, Blair would scream his head off. But he didn’t for two reasons. Number one, he was in an abandoned building, most likely near the warehouse district. And he knew that there was no chance of reaching anyone that way. And number two, Blair wasn’t ready to start the end of the show until he had confirmation from Panther that Jim was nearby. In the mean time, Blair decided he would play a few mind games with good old Davey.

 

“I bet Susan was quite a challenge for you. All that work to appear to walk and talk and look like a woman… really good.” Blair spoke each word carefully, watching his opponent to gauge his effectiveness. Lash smiled as he turned back to the Susan web.

 

“Yes, she was… quite the challenge… But then you were at the funeral… you saw me, and… you knew it was me. I had to leave before I got a good look in the casket.” Lash brushed a finger along the jaw line of the mannequin he used to represent Susan Frasier.

 

“Yeah, about that… how did you survive the jump into the water? You could have lost your ankles that way.” Blair continued keeping his voice neutral, uninteresting. And without the usual speech patterns he was known for. His voice dropped an octave as he rumbled on. “And playing drums? In a grunge band? That was really creative of you.”

 

Lash moved over to the Billy web and twirled once. “Yeah, he was really cool, you know?” Canting his head to the side as he looked at Blair, he frowned suddenly. “What happened to your voice? You changed it. What are you doing?”

 

What Blair was doing, was using his lecture voice. A nifty disguise he had affected over the years as a TA at the university. Unlike ‘Blair Sandburg’, neo-hippy-flower-child, this was ‘Blair Sandburg’, don’t-mess-with-me-I’ll-kick-your-ass. He reserved this voice for delinquent jocks in the back row with all the pithy little attitude slams to his character before he handed them the papers for a pop-quiz.

 

“I don’t have a clue what you are implying, Davey. This is how I always talk.” Blair replied, one brow arched up slightly. His Mr. Spock impression merely irritated Lash, who walked over to him and grabbed his lapels roughly, pulling him tightly against his bonds.

 

“No, no, this isn’t how you talk when you’re with Jim. This isn’t the voice on the phone message. This isn’t you, this is… it’s something else.” Lash slapped Blair’s face lightly. Blair blinked back at him, his breathing calm and relaxed. He didn’t know when exactly he had begun his meditation breathing. For some inexplicably reason, he was feeling no fear.

 

Lash snarled at him. “You think you can hide behind some sort of disguise. I control the disguise, not you!”

 

“Right, you’re in control. Just like you were in control with Homer, eh? Yeah I know about Homer… and your brother. Why Davey? Why’d you kill your brother?” Blair’s voice dropped to a softer register, his expression sad, his eyes watchful. Panther stood by the stairs, his hackles raised. Blair saw the shift in the great cat and knew that Jim was near. He decided that now was the time to up the ante. “You want to know why your father hated you, Davey? He said you were a Devil and he was glad to be rid of you. He hoped your mother would kill you.”

 

“Shut up!” yelled lash. Blair closed his eyes and forced himself to remain calm. He opened them again to see Lash pacing and ranting. “I can be you! I can be...”

 

“You can never be me! Only I can be me. I’ll prove it, when's my birthday? Huh? What was the name of my first girlfriend? How old was I when I broke my arm falling out of Mrs. Danbush's tree?” Blair snapped and snarled, his control was almost shot. He managed to pull it back as Lash ranted and raved back at him.

 

“I can be you! I am you! I am Blair Sandburg! You… you’re dead! DEAD! Just like Homer, just like Jimmy!” Lash moved swiftly to one of the dressers against the wall and snatched up a vial of the poison he used to drug his other victims. Blair had read the report; he knew what was in it. He had to keep it out of his mouth if he could. Yelling seemed to be about the only thing he could do now. He had to throw Lash off balance for just a little longer. Lash turned back to Blair and muttered to himself as he poured the mixture in a medicine dose spoon. “You just relax. We're going to see the ducks and then you're going to have a nice-- you're going to have... have a nice bath. Are you ready to die? 'Cause...I'm ready.”

 

“Yeah, I bet you’re ready,” snarled Blair. “Just like your daddy was ready for you to die and leave them in peace. But you couldn’t do it, you couldn’t vanish. You couldn’t be normal. You had to be special. You had to try and be Jimmy. Only it didn’t work. Maybe if you hadn’t smeared filth—“

 

“Shut up!”

 

“Why did you make mommy punish you? You know, if you had just been a good little boy -- a good little Davey -- mama wouldn't have had to have scrubbed you in all those hot baths!” Blair knew he had struck the right chord as Lash rushed to straddle the chair, and force a finger into Blair’s mouth, attempting to make him open for the foul drug he was attempting to pour down his throat. Panther hissed and roared, and Blair could hear the howl of Wolf just outside the door.

 

As the drug reached Blair’s tongue, the door burst open and Jim came in. “Police! Freeze!”

 

Lash let go of Blair’s face. Blair grunted and Lash looked back in time to get a face full of the drug, in the eyes, nose and mouth as Blair spit it all back at him.  Blair looked at Jim, feeling the drug beginning to work in seconds. Before his vocal chords could give out he yelled to Jim. “Jim! Second to last step is tricked!”

 

It wasn’t as strong as he would have liked, but it was all he could give before he began to seize up completely. He could hear and see, but he couldn’t turn his head. He saw Jim cross his vision at one point. He could hear yelling and a crash behind him. He could hear sounds of fighting. And then he heard the gun. One, two, three, four, five… and then silence. Blair tried to turn his head, he tried to make a sound. All that came from his mouth was a whimper. *Oh gods, Jim… Jim, where are you man…*

 

The silence was almost too hard to bare, and just as he was about to start crying, Jim’s face came into view. “Hey Chief, it’s all right. I’m here. I’m gonna get you out, okay?”

 

Blair blinked, his face tight with the strain not to cry. Jim was all right and he was going to get Blair out of his restraints. He felt so relieved. Once the Sentinel had released the shackles, he pulled Blair out of the chair and hoisted him up into a fireman’s carry and took him out of the warehouse to safety.

 

o-O-o

 

*November 21st – Well, that was an exciting six days… not! Okay, not that it wasn’t terrifying and gripping in turns, but it wasn’t something I am in any kind of hurry to repeat. God, when police work speeds up, it certainly puts the pedal to the metal – and I am not a speed freak by any means. Jesus, I am still shaking. Whether that’s more from adrenaline or fear I don’t know. At least neither of us was badly hurt. That at least was a blessing even if getting us both to go to the hospital was enough to make poor Simon want to gnaw that cigar of his in half.*

 

*The check-ups at the hospital weren’t that bad either, Jim stayed with me during mine and I stayed with him during his. He wanted to make sure they checked everything he was worried about and I wanted to make sure my Sentinel was checked out thoroughly after being in that cesspit of a hideout. What? The guy was creepy and there was no way I was trusting anything he actually felt at home in as being safe. Even if all those spiders were on the spirit plane they still had to have dragged in a lot of bad karma.*

 

*Thankfully nothing earth shattering was found. I just had to drink lots of fluids to counter the little bit of the drug I couldn’t help ingesting and Jim was found to have a totally unrelated large build up of ear-wax that he got treated. Good thing too. Man, that could so totally have caused him major issues later on if it had gotten impacted. But other than that nothing was showing up on the old medical radar for either of us. Well I was a bit shocky, but I think that is more than allowable – don’t you? I do have to admit the ear-wax thing made me think of how ‘normal’ health issues could impact (no pun intended) on Jim’s Sentinel health, and so I have now started a diary strictly dealing with medicines and treatments that Jim can and cannot deal with. I should have thought about it a long time ago, but better late than never huh?*

 

*Oh and speaking of better late than never, guess who finally admitted the police were up to snuff in dealing with the problem after bashing them for so long? Yep, Hass finally got his head out of his ass. Now if I could only sleep as easy as he said everyone else in the city will be…*

 

o-O-o

 

*||“I can be you! I am you! I am Blair Sandburg! You… you’re dead! DEAD! Just like Homer, just like Jimmy!”||*

 

Blair’s eyes snapped open and he found himself staring up at the ceiling of his room, staring at where Jim would be sleeping. A noise from the stairs told him that his roommate was awake and making his way to the main floor. For a moment, Blair was afraid he had woken the man, and sat up to look out through the curtain. He shivered as the first wave of chill air hit his feet.

 

Jim slipped in through the curtain. “Hey, you okay?”

 

“Please tell me I didn’t wake you up, man.” Blair sighed and closed his eyes. A moment later, he felt the futon shift and the strong arm of his friend draped over his shoulders. “I’m so sorry, Jim. I don’t know why this is affecting me so much.”

 

Jim chuckled. “I would be more worried about you if you didn’t have a nightmare or two, you know? You aren’t the type to shut away all your emotions and feelings like someone else in the room.”

 

Blair flapped his arm into Jim’s stomach. “Stop it. You’re dissing my best friend. And that is just not cool.”

 

Jim stopped laughing and sat quietly, one arm still wrapped around Blair. For a moment Blair wondered if the man had zoned on something. But then he relaxed as Jim spoke quietly. “Am I? I keep dragging you into these dangerous situations. This one was close, Blair… too close.”

 

Blair nodded solemnly then turned to look Jim squarely in the eyes. “Yeah, sure it was close. But you made it there in time, didn’t you? I’m here, aren’t I?”

 

Jim smiled as he squeezed Blair tightly. “Yeah, I did. But you did an awesome job keeping him talking. I’m proud of you keeping your head together.”

 

“Check your humanity at the door, keep your head on straight… break down in silence when it’s all over. Right?” Blair quipped cheekily. Jim lifted his chin so that they sat staring at each other.

 

“It’s over now Blair… you can break down if you need to… I’m here.” Jim vowed solemnly. Blair watched his friend for a moment, gauging his sincerity. He felt wetness on his cheeks that he wasn’t expecting. He reached up a hand to wipe the wetness away, staring at his fingers in mute confusion. “He was going to kill me Jim.”

 

Once the words were out of his mouth, the pain came. The fear, the confusion, the anger, it all came crashing in on him and he cried. He didn’t know how long he wept, he simply released it all into Jim’s shoulder as the big man held him tightly. It was the first time Blair had ever faced so much evil in one place, in one person. And yet he had survived, thanks to Jim. “My Blessed Protector…” he muttered.

 

Jim rubbed soothingly along his back. “Blessed Protector? What’s that about, Chief?”

 

Blair chuckled. “Certain Asian cultures believe that if you save a man’s life, you are responsible for that man as long as you live.”

 

Jim grinned. “Then I think we are even, kiddo. Cause you saved my life before this.”

 

Blair looked up and matched his gaze to Jim’s. “You mean the garbage truck? No way man, that was like… no Jim, I can’t take responsibility for your life.”

 

Jim sighed as he stroked a hand through Blair’s curls. “The garbage truck would have killed me, you saved me… end of story. Plus ever since then you’ve been helping me with these senses, keeping me sane and out of a mental institution. You save my life every day.”

 

Blair blushed. “Yeah well… I’m glad I can help.” He shivered again as another wave of cold air wafted in from under the fire escape door. Jim tightened his hold on Blair, his chin resting on the curly head.

 

“You help just fine, Chief… And I think tonight I can help you with these nightmares. Come on.” So saying, Jim stood and urged Blair to do likewise. They left the cold little room and climbed the stairs to Jim’s loft where he bundled Blair into one side of the big queen sized bed. Once the young man was settled, the older man joined him, back to back. Just before Jim was completely settled, he leaned over and whispered in Blair’s ear. “It’s only when you get freaked out by all this. You and me have to look out for each other, you know?”

 

Blair settled in with a sigh and a whispered thank you to his friend. Down below, Panther lay on Blair’s bed with Wolf tucked into his side, one great black paw laying across the grey side of his companion.

 

~Finis~