Pain

It was an unusually dark night, Tyler notices as he passed by the windows of the empty dorms. No one seemed to be around, which was odd for this time of night, seeing as it was already almost 3:00. He'd called both Caleb and Pogue earlier, and neither of them were answering their phones. It was possible that they were out with Sarah and Kate, but he didn't think so. "Oh well," he shrugged to himself. He decided to just go back to the dorm that he shared with Reid. He was probably watching some terrible late night TV show or getting drunk, as per usual.

With every step he took closer to their room, he felt more and more of the sharp pangs of magick, as though someone had just been using. He brushed it off though; it was probably just Reid being too lazy to get up and close the door to the fridge.

Finally he reached his door. As he opened it, he called inside, "Reid what hell have you been doing? I can feel you using from a mile aw--"

But as he pushed open his door it wasnt Reid he saw sprawled across his bed. It was... it was Chase.

"Well, well, well, baby boy...took you long enough," Chase smirked up at him.

"What... what are you doing here," Tyler growled slowly, a slight edge of anger creeping into his voice.

"Who me?" Chase replied. "Oh nothing much... just came to extract a little, ehm... revenge on you and the rest of your little... 'Covenant.'"

Tyler moved forward, taking a step towards Chase, his anger forming small clear spheres of power in the palms of his hands.

"Now Tyler, do you really think you want to do that?" Chase said in a sing song voice from the bed, "because that would be very foolish... you're not even ascended yet, and Caleb with both his and his father's powers combined couldn't even defeat me." Chase casually put his hands behind his head and lounged as though he were at the beach. "Besides... look what I have." Chase snapped his fingers quickly, and the other three Ipsiwitch boys appeared in the air next to Chase. It was as if they were suspended in the by invisible ropes, bound tightly to the air around them. They were spelled, and in a state of deep sleep, oblivious to the world around them.

"Now... you wouldn't want me to accidentally just... slip..." he said, with a slight upward lift of his hand in the boy's direction, "in my 'fear' of you and your 'tremendous power' and... oh... I dunno... cut one of their arms off? Would you?"

Tyler noticed a thin trickle of blood was appearing on Reid's arm as Chase spoke, dripping quietly onto the floor. He glared at Chase, but knew that this was just meant to provoke him into doing something stupid. The problem was, it was working, and quickly. He took another few steps toward Chase, the spheres of power in his hands now pulsing with increased light.

"Oh so you want to play...?" Chase grinned, " Maybe I wasn't clear enough then... I have total power over your friends right now." Chase was becoming angry now, obviously not expecting Tyler's resistance. He took a moment, and recovered himself, taking in a deep breath. "I may have said his arm," he said calmly, coolly, "but I could easily change that to his head if thats what you want..." Instantly the cut on Reid's arm disappeared, the blood fading away, and a newer, larger one made its way across his neck and chest. Tyler's hands instantly clenched in anger and rage. His adrenaline was high and pumping, and acting without thought he sent the ball of energy at Chase. Chase laughed openly and caught the ball easily with one hand.

"Hmmm," he said, "Thats got a nice massage to it... it almost tickles... almost."

Before Tyler could move he found himself thrown backwards and pinned against the wall. Chase stretched, yawning, and got up off the bed. Tyler could tell that he was trying his best to be an asshole. He stepped slowly towards the younger boy, until their noses were just inches apart. His body language was mocking, degrading. Their eyes locked as Chase spoke.

"I wouldn't worry so much about them... I wouldn't want to break something thats been so well kept... not yet anyway..." He smirked, and then brought his fist up to the boy's head. Then, for Tyler, all was blackness, and he quickly went unconscious...