Marcus Keane

Marcus isn't arguing with the demon so much as he's actively trying to swat the aggravating presence out of his head. For months now it's been a low level irritant more than anything, almost like the buzzing of a fly that's gotten indoors somehow at the end of the season and can't be found, but hasn't died yet either. If the demon's plan is to annoy him to death, it might just happen.

There are voices in the darkest moments of the night, whispering like silk against his ears, trying to tempt him, but Marcus doesn't think he can be tempted. One morning, all the fruit in the bowl has gone off, stinking and rotting, with squirming maggots in the centre of one orange. Marcus throws it all away without a word and washes the bowl thoroughly. Spider webs build up in the corners of rooms no matter how often he dusts them away and he sees several fat bodied wasps crawling sluggishly across their back porch.

But beyond the very presence of it, it doesn't try anything beyond occasionally showing up at Bennett or Tomas or Mouse. All tricks Marcus has seen before. He's not frightened. He's mostly just wishing something would happen so he can deal with it and get it all over with.

He's passing by the Church when it finally comes for him.

At first it's only a man, a stranger, young and handsome, standing a few feet away. He smiles and his teeth are black. His shirt is open at the throat and on his chest Marcus can see wasps crawling in and out of holes in his skin. Beside him stands a little girl wearing a pillow case mask over her head. They're holding hands.

"Andy?" Marcus asks aloud before realizing he knows this man's name.

Marcus, no! It's Verity's voice and he turns, confused, to find her running toward him from down the block. She's holding a gun in one hand, pointing it at Andy -- and how the hell does he know this man's name? -- and shouting something Marcus can't quite hear. As she reaches him, she evaporates into smoke, but he can almost feel her whispering against his ear. Don't trust him.

He's not sure who she means.

Then it comes all at once. Tomas, the woman named Cindy and the scene in the hospital. The way Tomas went inside with her, with the demon, and Marcus can feel the fury he'd felt then. There's Harper and her mother, the woman who kept her sweet, bright daughter so sick just to convince her there was a demon inside of her. Mere steps from Marcus, Andy smiles again and Grace, the little girl, she giggles as she grows taller and taller, a pool of black and stinking ocean water spreading out around her feet. The pillow case mask slips away and he sees a beautiful, rotting red haired woman.

He remembers the island and the home, the place where Andy had been fostering those children. Verity. Her disdain for him. His heart aches to suddenly remember her, all the things she had wanted him to remember when she was here, all the things he couldn't. Shelby and Truck and Caleb. Good kids. Such good kids. And a foster father who couldn't accept his wife's death. Who was terrified and sad and who let a demon in.

"God," he gasps, stumbling a little on the street. There's a strong hand around his elbow and he looks up into Matthias's face.

"Hello, älskling," Matthias says and Marcus feels the edges of his vision begin to go black.

The exorcism had gone on for days. Andy had killed a woman, he had killed... Harper's mother, Marcus realizes, and he and Tomas had put her body in the bathtub while they tried in vain to bring Andy back. Nothing had worked and then Mouse. He can hear her telling them both that it's hopeless, to just end it, to kill Andy, and even now Marcus is horrified by the very suggestion. By the woman Mouse has become.

"What-" he asks, but Matthias, still holding him, shushes him softly.

Tomas had almost died. Tomas, who had become Marcus's partner, his best friend, his infuriating protege, he had almost died trying to save Andy and Marcus knows what's about to happen before he gains the memory of holding that cold, heavy gun.

The shot rings through his head. He can hear it clear as day and he gasps and drops to his knees. He'd killed a man. He hadn't just failed Andy, he had killed him, and for a moment Marcus thinks he's going to be sick right there on the street in front of the Church.

But then Matthias is there again, slowly helping him to his feet. He's strong and gentle and exactly like Marcus remembers him being, even though he knows he can't possibly be here. Matthias is gone. He's been gone for months. But he's here, he's collecting Marcus, speaking to him softly, and when he asks, "Will you come with me?" there's really only one answer to give.

Marcus says, "Of course."

While their relationship is still new and while it's only been a few weeks, Marcus thinks he can rather safely say he and Dan have already reached a point where plans tend to be assumed more often than not. It's not that he's not still trying to make dates with a particular purpose, because he very much is, liking how it feels to drive to Dan's and pick him up for dinner or for a movie or even just for a walk along the beach holding hands. But there are days, too, when Dan calls just as Marcus is thinking about him and they end up spending an afternoon together or going for coffee before Marcus has a shift at the Home.

He enjoys that time together just as much as he does the official dates.

This evening he's alone, Sabrina having gone to Charlie's, Trass having disappeared out into the trees. Some nights he doesn't come back at all, but Marcus is used to his comings and goings now, and it's hard to truly worry about a wolf of his size. It used to be that being alone in the house made him feel lonely, but no longer. His people will come back and if it really gets to him, there are others he can call.

Like Dan.

He's in the living room sketching when the call comes and Marcus grins before he answers his phone, already knowing who's going to be on the other end. Sure enough, within a few minutes he's tossing down the sketchbook on the coffee table, leaving it open without even looking at it, then grabbing the keys to his truck so he can pick Dan up at the last train stop.

By the time they're back at the house, Marcus is trying to convince Dan to give Space Hospital a try, laughingly attempting to explain some of the more ridiculous plot lines as he unlocks the front door to let them inside.

"It's really not that absurd," he says. "When you've seen demons and ghosts and goblins, is it that farfetched to think of aliens?"

Marcus really and truly doesn't like that Sabrina doesn't come straight home as soon as she's safe, but at least Nick's kept his promise and had her call right off. He would much rather see her with his own two eyes and hold her and make sure she's in one piece, but for the time being, her voice assuring him she's okay will have to be enough.

If Kat and Dan had already gone home, he thinks he might have gone straight to Nick's anyway, regardless of what he'd agreed to, but they're still with him and it's their presence alone that keeps him from going utterly mad with waiting. He sleeps like hell that night, worse than he has in awhile, and not even the comforting presence of Dan -- and Trass now -- in the bed with him does anything to make it easier.

Letting Dan sleep in, Marcus is up early, moving around the house, trying to find something to keep him busy. The snow is already melting, creating great puddles and mounds of slush in front of the house, but the temperature has risen enough that there's no ice, so he's comfortable going outside even with his injured knee and breaking down some of the bigger piles of snow still left behind. He does this until there's movement in the house, then he goes back inside, sweating and sore, and showers before helping Dan and Kat prepare a bit of breakfast.

Marcus doesn't eat much, though. He drinks black tea and eats a piece of dry toast, then resumes looking toward the door and waiting for Sabrina, too distracted to be very good company at all.

Not being able to go back to Kagura and help is driving Marcus up the wall with restlessness.

Dan and Kat seem to be sleeping well enough and he's grateful for that. But there are nights when Marcus simply can't drift off and either he lies awake in bed and stares out the window, praying to God to bring Sabrina and Salem home safely, other nights when he gets out of bed and goes to the living room to read or draw, even some nights when he goes out to stand on the front step in the cold until he can no longer stand it.

It never helps. He just wants to be there if something changes.

Tonight he's trying to sleep. Dan is asleep beside him and Trass has grudgingly given up his spot in the bed and is curled up at the end, but Marcus doesn't think he's sleeping either. Since the snow started, the wolf has been more on guard, clearly sensing something is wrong with their world. He grunts in the dark, then lifts his head, his ear pricked as if he hears something.

Marcus sits up as well, taking care not to wake Dan. He hasn't heard anything, but that doesn't mean nothing is happening.

He sits, conscious of his injured knee, and he waits.

The wind and the snow haven't let up in days, all but cutting Marcus and Kat off from the rest of the city, and he's even more glad now than ever that he'd thought to call her once the snow started to fall. Going to get her from her place and bringing her out here where he knows they can stay safe and relatively warm even if the power goes out was an easy decision and having her here with him eases some of the low, simmering distress he feels with Sabrina's departure. It puts one of his people out of danger.

He's been in touch with Neil, too, and some others, making sure they're safe. Maybe he can't bring everyone out here to his house, especially with the snow still coming down, but he wishes he could try.

Trass is long gone, out in the snow, probably patrolling the property. Marcus knows Matthias would love this weather, would be in his element here, and so it doesn't surprise him at all that Trass has essentially disappeared. He'll be back, but probably not until the snow melts.

At the moment, Marcus is doing his best not to worry. He's not checking his phone every five minutes, looking for a response from one of the many people he's messaged in the last day. He's not checking in on Kat every ten minutes to see if she needs something. Instead he's sitting at the table in his kitchen, sketching absently.

He'd like to hear from Neil again. From Nina and Kaz. He wishes the workers at the Home would call with an update on the kids. He'd also like to hear from Dan. Earlier in the day he'd sent a text message, checking to make sure he was okay, but he hasn't heard anything back yet.

Another page in the sketch book is turned and Marcus starts on the same house again. And he tries not to worry.

It's a cliché, but the accident happens so quickly that Marcus isn't even aware he's moving toward it until after he's halfway to the form sprawled on the road.

Not five minutes ago he'd run into Dan Torrance near the shop where Marcus likes to get his tea when he walks to the Home for his shifts there, and with a bit of time to kill, not to mention still nursing a fierce and what he assumes is an entirely impossible crush, he'd found himself falling in step with Dan instead of heading straight for the Home. They're chatting, not about anything of particular importance, and Marcus is focused on his tea to keep himself from staring at Dan's mouth as he speaks. It's a little like the friendship he'd had with Nate, the kind where he does his best not to fan the flames of his crush, hoping it'll snuff itself out, all while never uttering a single word about his romantic life. Or lack thereof, in this case.

At the moment of the crash, Marcus is in the midst of offering some silly story about the Home, telling Dan what he does there, and then there's a piercing squealing of rubber on asphalt, a horrific thud that Marcus knows is a body being hit with far too much force, then a scream of shock and fear. He's already running, even before that scream, with the sense that Dan is doing the same thing beside him.

They round the corner together and the scene is worse than Marcus had wanted to anticipate. There's too much blood on the ground and the person lying on the road is barely moving at all. Nearby, a bystander is speaking rapidly into a cell phone, no doubt calling for an ambulance, and another is weeping, her hands in her face. The car sits halfway up the sidewalk, the driver slumped over the steering wheel.

"I've got the driver," Marcus says to Dan, then heads for the car.

In the weeks since Matthias has left, Marcus hasn't been to see the people from Matthias's home, the ones who, other than Marcus, had known him the best. It's not been an oversight on his part, he's just felt genuinely unable to see them, struggling to sort out his own feelings of loss and inadequacy. He knows he especially ought to go see Nina, but she in particular feels more difficult than anyone else, because he knows she had loved Matthias, maybe loves him still, in much the same way Marcus himself does.

So it's Kaz he seeks out first.

He goes to the Crow Club to find him, unsure of what he might do or say once he's there. At this point, given the length of time since it happened, he's sure Kaz already knows Matthias is gone. Marcus knows they weren't exactly friends in the common sense of the word, but there had been a connection there. He needs that right now. Someone who was connected to Matthias, but not in the same way.

At least it's what he thinks he needs. Everything remains still so tangled up.

He's never been inside the club before. He likes the look of it and were he a more active drinker, could imagine himself coming here to quietly drown his sorrows. But while Marcus likes the occasional beer and has certainly used alcohol to cope in the past, there's Sabrina to think about now. He's not completely alone here.

"Is Kaz around?" he asks one of the bartenders as he sinks into a seat at the bar. He's not sure what he'll say once he sees Kaz. He's not even entirely sure why he's here.

Marcus isn't the sort to be generally starstruck and while there are certainly artistic people who have deeply affected him, people he adores, it tends to be musicians more often than not that get under his skin. Music is something he understands, where he usually doesn't care much about movies or television. Marcus can't explain why that is, nor has he ever bothered to.

But there's something about the damn baking show that he enjoys. It's often just on in the background of the house and he'll find himself leaning against the sofa, standing there to watch while he meant to be doing something else. Whether it's the competition or the subject matter or the competitors themselves, he's not quite sure, but he's rather smitten with the whole damn thing. It would be embarrassing if he were the sort to care, although he's generally not.

Still, what is embarrassing is the way he stops to stare at the young woman he knows he's seen on the show. She didn't win, which he had been rather disappointed about, and he can't quite believe he was invested enough to care about who wins, but here he is. Caring. And now staring at her. Which she's noticed.

"Sorry," he apologizes immediately. "I'm sorry, that has to be annoying."

And it has to be happening to her more and more often, he expects.

It's still so bloody warm.

Marcus isn't especially fond of winter with all its snow and ice and terrible winds -- not nearly as fond of it as Matthias is, certainly -- but the days have been getting shorter and yet no cooler. It's at odds with what Marcus is used to, it being September and still warm enough that people insist on continuing to swim in the ocean. And so Matthias keeps working.

He's not really the beach sort. Which is why he's here still wearing jeans and although he's taken his boots and socks off, it's clear he's not the type to generally spend time at the beach. He looks odd and out of place, but he's here, because Matthias is up on that chair and he'd promised he would come visit near the end of his shift and spend a little time with him.

Truthfully, he's looking forward to the rest of the evening, when they can leave together and get some dinner or go back to Matthias's house, but he's here now. Decidedly not lounging.

"How is it people relax in the sand?" he calls up to Matthias. He's standing close enough to the chair to hide in its shade, knowing if he doesn't, he'll likely end up with a sunburn. It makes for awkward conversation and Matthias has to keep twisting in his chair to see where Marcus has gone, but that's rather funny to him. It's true he's probably a little bored, if he's being entertained by seeing how many times he can make Matthias change direction to speak with him, but he hadn't thought to bring a book.

Marcus is more than willing to let Sam stay in his flat for a few days while he comes down from... well, whatever it is he's done, but for all he's exhausted and sore and unsettled, he knows he needs to speak with Verity first. He needs to tell her how things are going to be, at least for a few days, although it's a terrible relief when they get to the flat and find it empty.

That gives them time to get settled. More importantly, it gives them time to clean up, because after having taken the jar back to that room, that horrible lake of blood, they're both drenched in it. Marcus's clothes are destroyed, there'll be no saving them, and he thinks the same is likely of Sam's.

While Sam is showering, Marcus sends Verity a text message, letting her know he's home. Letting her know, too, if she's staying somewhere else, that's perfectly acceptable. She doesn't have to come running back just because he's here. They've a lot to discuss, but he's also not going to force her into anything if she's found a place where she's comfortable for the time being.

Once he's given Sam some fresh clothes and gotten him squared away in Marcus's room, he takes his own shower and stands in the hot spray for a long time, watching as the blood rinses off him and down the drain. There's a lot he still needs to process, knowing this exorcism was different than so many of the others he's done in the past, but right now he's just exhausted. He wants some hot tea, fresh clothes, and to just sit down for a few minutes.

He's clean and dry, dressed once more, making that tea he's so craving, when he hears the door of the flat open.