The club is dark, loud, and smoky. There are more people here than I would have expected for a Sunday night, but then again, I doubt many of them got up early for church this morning. Smiling at the thought, I work my way through the crowd. Most move out of my path without even glancing up, and those that do turn away quickly. I know what they see. Tall, broad shoulders, muscular, wild hair, elaborate tattoos around my wrists. They are afraid of me, even if they don't know why. They should be. Of those brave enough to look, no one actually meets my eyes. No one ever has.

Except him.

I find him at the bar, perched on a stool. He looks all kinds of wrong there. He's too young, too pretty, and too alive. His long blonde hair seems unnaturally bright, reflecting the reds and blues of the neon beer signs above the bar. He smiles at everyone and everything. Ordinarily, someone like him would not have lasted more than a few minutes in a place like this, but he sits unconcerned, swinging his clunky boots back and forth, banging them against the legs of his stool. He spots me and his face lights up.

"Sean! There you are."

"Here I am." I agree. "Hello Shannon."

"I was starting to think you got held up. I know how busy you are these days." He gives me a playfully harsh look, scorning my busy-ness.

"You too."

"I do what I can." He shrugs, waving a hand.

"I wouldn't complain if you did less."

Laughing, he nods. "I'm sure you wouldn't."

This teasing is our standard way of greeting, although he clearly takes more pleasure from it than I do. I watch as he beckons over the bartender and says something to him. The man stares in wonder at him for a moment before nodding and moving away again. Slipping off the stool, Shannon takes my hand and pulls me away from the bar.

"Let's get a table."

I allow him to tug me back into the crowd. Any will I might have had to resist is gone at the touch of his hand. No words in any language ever created have ever come close to describing the sensation of his touch. The feeling travels all the way up my arm, warming me, making my head swim. It is intensified by the knowledge that he never touches anyone else, only me, only when we meet like this.

The crowd parts as easily for him as it did for me, only, they don't turn away from him. They turn toward him, smiling suddenly, basking in his glow, in his warmth. None of them move closer to him, but it's obvious that they all want to. I've often wondered if he is capable of shutting off the irresistible draw that he radiates, but I doubt he ever would, even if he could.

He stops by a table in the back, where the music is less loud, the people more spread out. There are three large, rough men sitting there who look up, irritated for an instant before they catch sight of him. They all go wide-eyed, mouths hanging open. As nice as I'm sure it is for them, it doesn't get us a place to sit, so I step in front of the object of their adoration. Their gazes reluctantly shift to me, and I barely even need to growl before they are up and moving.

"Thank you." He chirps, waving as they hurry past.

We sit down, him taking the chair at my side instead of the one across from me. His scent reaches me over the odor of spilled beer and cigarette smoke, sweet and fresh, like honey and flowers. Resting his chin on one hand, he sighs and wrinkles his little upturned nose.

"Why do we always have to meet in places like this?"

"I like places like this."

"All these lost souls…"

"You and I both know there is only one truly lost soul here, Shannon, and he's sitting at this table right now."

He rolls his eyes, but before he can comment further, a waitress appears to drop off the drinks I assume he ordered while we were still back at the bar.

"Southern Comfort and a beer back…" She says as she bends to put the two glasses in front of me. She starts to place a glass of what looks like soda in front of him, then falls silent as she notices him for the first time. Her well-worn features soften into a smile, the first in months, I would guess.

Unperturbed, he reaches out and takes the glass. "Thank you."

Still, she says nothing, staring.

"Keep 'em coming." I say, putting more of an edge in my voice than I mean to. It works, snapping her upright quickly. Her eyes dart from me to him and clearly she is confused, but she steps back from the table.

"I'll start you a tab." She says as she moves away.

He turns back to me and laughs at my scowl. "What's the matter? Did you want to order something else?"

"No, this is fine."

"I knew it would be. It's always the same for you. You never change."

I would argue, but he's right. Instead, I knock back half of my shot and sip the beer.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually. Change. I think it's time."

I know exactly what he's getting at, but I study him anyway. No matter how much time passes, his beauty never diminishes. He is as lovely now as he ever was. I wonder if he would be so beautiful if he were just an ordinary man, or if I didn't know him for what he really is.

"I think it's time to reassess our…situation."

"What situation would that be?"

He gives me an exasperated look. "Don't be contrary, Sean. It doesn't suit you as well as you'd like to think. You know what I'm talking about."

Of course I do. Instead of responding, I swallow the last of my whiskey. I take a second to savor the burning in my throat and place the glass upside down on the table. His hand creeps out to cover mine, electrifying me once more with his touch. I stare at it for a moment, watching his fingertips playing over the spider web pattern on my wrist. When I manage to look up at him again, he's still smiling, although there is sadness in his eyes.

"We've been at odds for a long time." He says. "Too long, I think. It's time for things to go back to the way they were."

"There is no going back." I tell him.

"Then let's find some new way. Anything but this…separation. I want us to be on the same side again. Together again."

"No."

"Please, Sean, think about it."

"No."

"You haven't even thought about it yet."

"I don't need to."

A note of petulance creeps into his voice. "You don't want to."

My reply is interrupted by the waitress' return. I suspect she's only come for another glimpse of the gorgeous creature sitting beside me, but she's carrying a fresh shot, so I don't care. I wait until she's gone, glaring at her to speed her departure, before turning my attention back to him.

"The answer is no, Shannon. It's never going to happen."

He snatches his hand away from mine, denying me the pleasure of his touch. "Because you don't want it to? Or because you're afraid?"

"I am not afraid."

"Oh no? I think you are afraid. I think you're afraid to admit that you might have been wrong to abandon me-"

"Abandon you?"

"Yes, abandon me. And maybe, just maybe, if you were wrong about that, then you might have been wrong about other things too. Maybe you've been wrong about everything."

I stare at him and he refuses to back down, lifting his chin defiantly. I know he's baiting me, hoping for a reaction. I don't give him one, because he's right. Not completely right, but just right enough to be dangerous. The possibility that I have ever made a mistake is too enormous to even be considered, so I don't. I cannot. The price would be too high. I cannot take that risk, even for him.

"You always ask for more than I can give." I say softly.

"More than you're willing to give."

Sighing, I pick up my shot and toss it back.

His anger fades quickly. Leaning closer, he drops his hand onto my thigh. I feel the heat of it, even though my jeans. A heat matched by the intensity of his green eyes.

"Sean, things are different now. The world has changed."

"I haven't changed, as you just pointed out. You haven't changed."

"Maybe I have, and maybe I haven't." He gently caresses my thigh, sending a jolt through every fiber of my being. "But everything else has. You can't deny it. The space between us has grown so thin, it would only take a single word to break through it."

Once again, he's right.

"Remember how good we were together, Sean? Remember the beauty we created together?"

I do. I remember every moment that we shared, all the way back to the beginning of time.

"It can be like that again. We can be like that again." His fingers trail along the inside seam of my jeans.

"It's not that simple." I insist, biting back a groan as his hand moves upward.

"It can be. You can make it simple."

"I can't."

"Why not?" He shakes his head, sympathy softening his smile. "You're not happy, Sean. I know you're not. Why bother with this whole charade if it doesn't even make you happy anymore?"

"It's not about me."

"Everything is about you, Sean. Everything."

His hand is on my crotch now, rubbing lightly before slipping up to toy with the button of my fly. I wish I could deny what he's saying, but I can't. There is part of me that knows that I'm supposed to be the one tormenting him, but it's completely drowned out by the feeling of him tugging down my zipper and slipping inside to brush again my flesh.

"Fuck." I whisper.

He smiles triumphantly and leans close enough for me to feel his breath on the side of my neck. "All I ever wanted was to make you happy. Everything I've ever done was for you. I never understood why you couldn't see that."

He strokes me slowly, obviously enjoying the way I shudder. The waitress comes back once again to look longingly at him as she drops off another shot, apparently oblivious to what is happening under the table. I snatch up the glass as soon as it hits the table and down the whiskey in one gulp. It does nothing to dull the feeling of his hand against my cock.

When she's drifted away again, he whispers, "With the two of us together, we could make the world like it was before. Before all this good and evil nonsense. We could be together, just as we're meant to be. You're lonely Sean. I know you are, because I'm lonely too. We're the only ones who could ever match each other. Why should we be apart?"

"Because you betrayed me."

There it is. He betrayed me. It doesn't matter how small a betrayal it was, or how long ago. It doesn't matter that I hurt him first, pushing him so thoughtlessly aside while consumed with other things. It doesn't matter that he hadn't intended to betray me, that he'd only been hoping to get my attention. All that mattered was that he'd acted against my will, something that no one had ever done before, or since.

Pain flashes through his face and I hate myself a little. Once, there was nothing but joy and love and hope in him. I am aware that any pain is there now because of me.

"And I have paid the price." He says quietly. "You made an adversary of me, and I have played the part. Everything I've ever done was to please you, Sean. Are you pleased?"

I can't answer.

"I'm so tired."

"I'm tired too."

"Then let me come home. Let me stand at your side, where I belong."

I shake my head, closing my eyes.

"All you have to do is say yes." His hand picks up its rhythm again, wringing a groan from my throat.

His voice is like honey. He knows that's what I want. He knows that I want to say yes.

"Just say it, and I'll be whatever you want me to be. Please…"

I believe him. It doesn't matter.

We've met countless times, in countless dingy, smoky places. We've had countless versions of this same pointless conversation.

And we will have countless more.

Taking a deep breath, I catch his wrist and pull his hand out of my pants. "No."

For an instant, the real him shows though this cherubic mask he has adopted just to mock me. His green eyes flash to red, burning with an inner fire. He bares sharp, pointed teeth and hisses at me.

Then it's gone, unnoticed by anyone but me, and he's smiling at me once more, the pain carefully hidden away.

"Oh well. Worth a shot." He says merrily. Taking another sip of his soda, he stands. "I really gotta go. So much to do, you understand, what with all the mayhem destruction and pain. You know how it is."

I nod.

"You're picking up the tab this time, right?"

"Sure." I always do.

"Great. Think about what I said."

I look up at him, taking a deep breath. It would be so easy. So easy to take away his torment, and mine too. With a thought, he could cease to exist, cease to have ever existed. But then I would never have these moments. I would never know beauty like his. I would never know the music of his voice. I would never know the ecstasy of his touch.

"I will."

"If you change your mind, you know where to find me."

I smile finally and nod. He combs one hand through my messy hair, pushing it back out of my face, and bends to peck me on the lips.

"See ya around."

By the time I've recovered from the kiss, he's disappeared, leaving me with a raging hard-on and an empty feeling deep in my chest.

Approaching the table once more, the waitress sees me there alone and her face falls. "Get you another?"

"Yes. Bring the bottle."

She looks longingly at the empty chair beside me before turning to go. She's disappointed that he's gone so quickly.

So am I.

The End

Read the Sequel Into Darkness