chapter 31
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Chapter 31: Guardians
Warnings: coarse language, lack of zombies
It was impossible to stop thinking about the night before. Watching helplessly as firefighters tried to put out the fire that took out the first floor of the place he'd lived in for the past few years. The oddly glowing woman was pacing in front of him, carrying on different conversations on her cell phone with almost no regard to the emergency at hand. In the end, she muttered something about "all this had to be dealt with later... more pressing matters at hand... "
Gabriel knew it had to do with Willow.
He'd spend over half the night sleeplessly staring at the blank ceiling, wondering why he just wasn't out there looking for her. The witch lady was on it though, she assured him and his small company. Willow was out there and she will be found. Though he did want to know what they intended to do with her once she was found at that moment, all he cared about was seeing her again... alive and in one piece. It was something he couldn't stop thinking about. Eventually, closer to dawn, he finally gave in to sleep.
It didn't seem to last too long. It was a gentle knock on the door that brought him back.
"Gabriel?"
He didn't recall having company in bed with him when he crashed. At first he thought he was dreaming, looking up at the little dog panting enthusiastically beside him. Did that puppy just say his name?
The sheets smelled newly washed and felt like soft satin. The room was well decorated, coordinated and organized. The only clutter in it was the stuff that Gabriel had brought with him. It took a moment for Gabriel to remember where he was. Jasmine had driven them over to her Dad's - his Uncle's - place. He was in their guest bedroom.
Gabriel sat up. The dog lay there and watched him, eagerly expecting him to do something.
Gabriel: You're new here, aren't you.
The door opened slowly.
Cecilia: Gabe, are you up?
Gabriel: I am now.
Cecilia: Sorry... I didn't mean to wake you..
Gabriel: Then why did you?
Cecilia: Well, I thought you'd want to know that there's pancakes downstairs. It's been sort of sitting there for a while though, so they're kinda cold...
Gabriel: You woke me up for cold pancakes?
Cecilia: I see you've met Tucker.
Gabriel: Tucker? You replaced Morrison already?
Cecilia: I didn't replace him, Gabe.
Cecilia: Dad adopted him. He says he got him for me, but I figure Dad hates being alone around here, not that he'll admit it. He's not Morrison... I guess he's okay.
Cecilia: How are you doing? I could ask that, can't I?
Gabriel: I don't know, Cecilia what do you think? My dorm burned down and my girlfriend disappeared.
Cecilia: I'm really sorry about all that. It's not like I expected any of this to happen. And anyway, it was her idea to go to the Landgrabb Mansion...
Gabriel: Because she wanted to help you. With your "ghost".
Cecilia: Gabe, I feel really bad....
Gabriel: Cecilia, I'm not blaming you for what happened last night but this isn't about you. Just because you feel bad about it isn't going to make me feel less like shit.
Gabriel: And no, pancakes and brand new puppies probably aren't going to do much for my mood.
He left Cecilia with Tucker and walked out of the room. He didn't feel like trying to get back to sleep.
Though he didn't quite feel like hanging out with his Uncle either.
Clive: Morning.
Gabriel: Hey.
Clive: You doing okay?
Gabriel: Okay look, I don't feel like being asked that by everyone I see today. That cool?
Clive gulped down his coffee and nodded.
Gabriel didn't look at Clive as he helped himself to the stack of pancakes. Even after everything that had happened, it was still pretty difficult to forget their last encounter at the hospital weeks ago. He hadn't given Clive a lot of thought since then. He didn't really know what he expected to happen.
Gabriel: Sorry. Thanks for letting me crash here, Uncle Clive.
Clive: Don't worry about it. Just didn't think there was any point in worrying your mother at one in the morning.
Gabriel: I'll give her a call. I'll let her know what happened.
Clive watched his nephew quietly. He didn't forget their confrontation either. He remembered exactly what Gabriel had told him. And somehow, he didn't blame him for it. He couldn't even remember why he was that angry in the first place. Most of what he regretted about his breakup with Denise was how it affected the kids and how they perceived him after the fact. It was difficult for anyone to come out looking like a saint this situation.
Gabriel: Where's Jasmine?
Clive: Out back. Shooting hoops.
Gabriel: What, in this weather?
Clive: I said the same thing. But you know how she is.
Clive: Listen... I don't exactly know what happened to you guys last night. All I know is that there was a fire and Jasmine isn't saying anything else which is making me think that something serious is up.
"Don't go to the police. Don't tell anyone anything. I'm letting you go with your memories intact, trusting you can keep your mouths shut about it for now. If you say anything you can jeopardize our search for Willow... " Samantha's warning to all of them was still fresh in his mind. And yet he still had no clue what any of this was about.
Gabriel: Yeah well if someone could fill me in too, that'd be spiffy.
Clive: You're all adults now and you can... and have... made your own decisions. I don't expect any of you to tell me everything going on, but if something's wrong, I'd like to know. I'm still around to help.
Gabriel could barely finish his breakfast. He pushed the plate away and lowered his head into his arms.
Gabriel: I appreciate it Uncle Clive, but I don't know what anyone can do at this point.
Clive: I can start by finding you your own place to stay until you graduate. And not a dorm either.
Gabriel: It's okay, it's not necessary. Spend your money on Cecilia, she'll like that.
Clive: You're still family, Gabe. I want to see you do well too. Just think about it.
It took Rowan way too long to get to the old church. He was lucky he was cohesive enough to remember the way back from here. All he had to do was attempt to retrace his steps which was sort of difficult when the cabbies had no idea what he was talking about. Eventually, he managed to get one of them to drop him off at the side of the little travelled highway a half hour walk away. And it wasn't pleasant walking in the snow. But he had to start his search somewhere.
It wasn't the first time Willow had gone missing. Though it was the first time in over a decade that she was in this situation and Rowan didn't know if it was voluntary or not this time. He overheard what he could from that witch, Samantha, the night before. But he didn't trust her. What did they want with Willow?
He looked around, determining that there didn't seem to be any way into the cemetary grounds that was easy to get to.
The gates were locked. He didn't want to have to bother walking all the way around for a way in. Climbing this has the potential to suck, he thought as he looked up.
He had trespassed in a lot of places, climbed a lot of high fences when he was younger. He hadn't had to do this in a long time, but he was still able to get over and jump down.
The church doors weren't locked. Rowan couldn't be sure if that was intentional or not. He was wary if this was a trap, but he had to know if Willow was here.
He called out her name a few times. His voice carried throughout the empty building, disturbing pigeons roosting on the rafters and whatever else was scurrying throughout the walls. Nothing answered.
The place was cold and drafty. Not like vampires had to worry about staying warm, Rowan figured as he walked to the rectory. The place was kept relatively clean. Someone lived here obviously. But there was no sign if Willow had been here at all.
The steep stairwell to the cellar caught his attention.
Cautiously he walked down, the old stairs creaking under his boots. It was fairly dark down here with only a little light from upstairs finding its way through. He was suddenly conscious that he was probably the only living sim around for miles. This place was really creeping him out. Willow wasn't here, why was he even looking...?
And was that a fucking coffin?
His hand found his way under his trenchcoat to the hilt of the katana that he'd been inconspicuously carrying around for the past little while. Just in case he needed to behead zombies. Or encounter sleeping vampires.
He leapt back as the casket lid fell open, banging loudly against the stone wall behind it. But the coffin was empty. No Sibyll. No Mr. Wesley.
The place was empty, though in all honesty Rowan didn't know what he should be expecting.
He jumped as he heard the loud yowl and hiss that seemed to belong to something significantly larger than the small creature behind him.
It was at that point he decided he needed to leave.
Gabriel stayed at his Uncle's place until he couldn't stand to sit around anymore waiting to hear back from anyone. Cecilia was on her phone most of the day, fielding calls and gossip about what happened in the dorm down the street from the Tri Var mansion. Local news was reporting the tragic fire that killed three students. Gabriel's stomach knotted up listening to the news. Preoccupied as he was about Willow's disappearance, it only suddenly hit him that people had died, and those were his roommates.
He wandered around campus for a while. It was at least something he could do to make him feel less useless. He didn't know where Jasmine was and at the moment he didn't really care. Word about the "accident" was everywhere. SSU was planning a memorial for the tragedy. Gabriel just felt numb to it all.
The area around the dorm was empty the night after. Yellow caution tape kept people out. The front of the building was charred, but it looked like most of it was intact. Willow wouldn't be here, Gabriel thought. But he didn't know where else to go.
Rowan: You had the same idea I did.
Gabriel: What are you doing here?
Rowan: Why the fuck else would I be here? This is the third time I've hit this place today.
Gabriel: You were looking for Willow.
Rowan: I've been everywhere she might have gone. Campus. The library. At my folks place. In the middle of fucking nowhere. If I haven't found her I doubt you will.
Gabriel: You're a ray of sunshine, you know that?
Rowan: Come on. Probably not a good place to hang out right now.
He beckoned Gabriel to follow and began to walk down the street.
Strangely everywhere was quiet. A lot of students had left for the winter break, including some who lived in this dorm around the corner from Gabriel's. Rowan lived here once and it didn't seem like it changed much. No one came out to bother them.
Gabriel: I've been kind of trying to sort everything out on my own. Kind of 'cause I have to. No one's telling me anything. I mean, there's a lady who's supposedly a witch, and Jasmine is acting all shell- shocked. Willow's gone. I don't even know why. And I'm not supposed to say anything to anyone, but how could I when I don't even know what the fuck I'm talking about.
Rowan: Willow didn't tell you anything did she?
Gabriel: Like what?
Rowan: Fuck...
Gabriel: Rowan, if Willow has some kind of twisted secret she's keeping from me, now's a good time to tell me about it. Because I'm just about losing my mind.
Rowan: Well fuck it all, you might as well know.
Rowan: She's a witch.
Gabriel: Oh, is that all?
Rowan: I'm being serious. Same as that lady you met last night. Except with less sparkling.
Gabriel: My girlfriend is a witch. Oddly that doesn't sound as bad as I'm thinking it should.
Rowan: Well there's worse things out there. It isn't all that bad. Weird as hell but not bad.
Gabriel: What... you're not one too are you?
Rowan: Me? Fuck no.
Rowan: But this doesn't make her any different than the person you started going out with. You told me you'd take care of her, you gonna back out of that now that you know?
Gabriel: I didn't do such a great job of that did I? Taking care of her that is.
Rowan: Look... that's another thing you're going to find out about Willow. No matter what you do, no matter how much you try to keep a watch out for her, she does her own thing. There's a lot about what's going on with her that you and I don't know.
Gabriel: So it's not just me she shut out.
Rowan: If I didn't stay on her back as long as I did, I probably wouldn't have a clue what's going either.
Rowan: She's got her own world going on and that's something neither of us are going to understand.
Gabriel: That isn't comforting.
Rowan: How do you think I feel about it? But you care for someone you make an effort right?
Rowan: And you don't stop. Take my advice when I tell you that if you find someone you care about, the way I hope you care for Willow, you do your best to just be there for them. I've made a lot of mistakes and I'll probably make a fuck-ton more. Don't make the same ones I did... don't just let her go.
Gabriel: You have someone specific in mind don't you?
Rowan: It doesn't matter.
Gabriel: You know, it might matter. You had someone special and you still think about her a lot.
Rowan: Never mind me. I just want to know that Willow has someone who isn't going to take off when things start getting bad. And you being out here is a pretty good sign in my book.
Gabriel: You're pretty confident that I'm going to stick around.
Rowan: You'll stick around. I've got a good feeling about you. You're decent.
Gabriel: Wise ol' big brother, right? You know you not acting like a complete asshole always throws me off.
Rowan: Yeah well, get over it.
Gabriel: I got a good feeling about you too, Rowan.
Rowan: Right. Let's not turn this into a love fest. Just go home. If I find out anything, I'll let you know...
Gabriel: Rowan... you've been pretty forthcoming. I gotta thank you for that.
Rowan: Don't even worry about it...
Gabriel: No, you don't understand. I want to be honest with you too... but I don't know if I should be saying anything. In any case.. shit...
Gabriel: ... you have to talk to Meadow.
Rowan: What did you say?
Gabriel: It's important.
Rowan: What the fuck do you know about Meadow...?
"Rowan Marlen?"
Rowan and Gabriel both turned around at the sudden interruption.
Last time Rowan saw this kid he was unconscious in Willow's arms. Gabriel recognized him too as the guy Samantha had brought with her before Willow disappeared. Neither of them expected to see him here now.
Rowan: Let me guess. Mister Fucking Wesley, is it?
Wesley: I know where Willow is. I can take you to her.
Wesley: She needs your help.
next » [ Chapter 32: Familiar Places ]
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Notes:
* If I didn't post this chapter now, then it would've probably been posted after the weekend. I didn't want to sit on it this long so I got this all formatted this afternoon. :)
* So yes, this is one of those transition chapters I always struggle with. When I originally planned this chapter, there was a lot more going on. Different plot lines, a lot of different characters who's point of views I needed to address. It was tricky fitting it all in. So I decided instead of that, I'm going to try and focus more, hence the shorter chapter. This way I was able to give the time Gabriel and Rowan deserved.
* Apologies that this chapter took a long time. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for reading! <3