The Danger Saga

Comparing Notes and Coming Clean

"Since it's my bar, I am going to go first." Johnny cleared his throat and Kenny crossed his arms, sitting back and getting comfortable. "Offer you a drink?" He asked politely. Kenny just shook his head in response.

"Never was a drinker."

"Fair enough." Johnny slid the stool just a little closer. "Last night, as I was locking up, I was cornered in the front corridor and beat down by a crew sent by The Circle. A few rough looking creeps. They had me bloodied and a wreck on the floor until Alec came looking for me, wondering what was keeping me from getting home."

"What did they want?" Kenny had uncrossed his arms and sat forward listening intently.

"They wanted you, and a mystery woman they thought would be with you." He paused. Kenny wasn't going to offer anything until he was finished. Johnny continued.

"Look, you are like a brother. You should have been my brother-in-law. I know we keep some things from each other, and believe me, I understand why we do it. We could easily become each other's liability in the crowds we work through. I will say this clearly to you: I have no wish to be drawn into the business of The Circle. So, whatever it is you are in with them, a woman? Whatever. I want out of it. This isn't a Sarah thing. I don't mess with Elementals." Johnny was laying things out that Kenny had always assumed he had an idea of, but never confirmed the extent of his underworld knowledge. They had always helped each other discreetly, and didn't try to pry on each other's activities. Kenny remained attentive to his friend's words.

"The Elementals have a lot of power, so much that most of my patrons, human and non-human wouldn't even dare to cross them. I don't want to give my customers a reason to fear me even more than they do them." Johnny pulled the amulet from beneath his shirt. "Brother, you have to know that my path was laid out long before my family had come to our home town, my dad was the Sheriff and mom was cooling apple pies on the window sill like a normal family. But, the Bennetts, through my father, have served as members of a lineage of paranormal Peacekeepers. Peacekeepers prefer peacekeeping to violence or force. When we are openly attacked by beings of the Other World, or our underworld in some cases, we have to weigh the options as to how we will respond. If I have to use this amulet, my bar will suffer for months before the crowds come back. If the Elementals cannot respect neutrality, and thusfar they have not, beating me within heartbeats of death. All just to get information about you, then I will be removed from my choice of response. I have to uphold the Peacekeeper code. So, tell me, why you?" Johnny crossed his arms and shifted on the stool. He watched as Kenny took a deep breath and rubbed his brow.

Necessity over the last ten years has kept boundaries between the two of them sharing more about themselves. That was something they both regretted. Cards were being laid out on the table and Kenny did not trust anyone else the way he trusted Johnny Bennett. But he knew nothing about the Peacekeepers, since they were basically considered a myth. What if telling him he was one of them, an Elemental, changed everything? What was this "code" he referred to?

"Listen J.B., I don't know precisely why they want me." He paused. Johnny made no indication of accepting that as the truth. "Here is what I do know for sure: the woman they want is one of their own. She is a Sylph. We are acquainted. The rest of what I know is that The Circle has its own rogue faction and they are the ones behind the uptick in disappearances. They are taking humans for some plan, they have to mate with them."

"They are looking to get souls through the mating so they can remain here after they are disrupted?!" Johnny interrupted incredulously. Johnny stood up, clearly unable to sit still after receiving this revelation.

"Disrupted?" Kenny asked, genuinely curious.

"They don't die. Their source of power comes from the Other World and when the connection gets "disrupted", they dissipate energetically and phase back into their realm and cannot come back into this world until a once-a-decade phenomenon occurs, opening a doorway for them to re-incarnate in our world."

"How do they get 'disrupted'?" Kenny was very curious about this, since he would have to guard against his own "disruption."

"Usually, directed electricity, which basically overloads their ability to energetically channel the connection to the Other World projecting themselves here." Johnny chuckled. "That is if you can get close enough to deliver it. What else did you find out from your Sylph, friend?"

"Something tells me you can tell me more than she was willing to." Kenny rolled his eyes.

"Well, why did she tell you anything?"

"She is not part of the faction that wants to achieve this. She said that her people acknowledged this would create a disastrous imbalance but that those few who are taking part in the disappearances want to live among humans openly and take more control of things, they don't care what it costs. She is asking for my help to stop them."

"Your help? Why you? You know, you can tell me what you are holding back."

Kenny didn't respond right away. Deep down he knew he could tell him everything. It was the thought of telling him everything, hearing his own voice say it out loud that gave him pause. It was more than what he was. It was tearing open old wounds that were barely healed.

"J.B., I think I will take that drink first." Without another word, Johnny, still standing from his earlier exasperation about the Elemental's plans, walked out to the bar counter and returned quickly with a bottle of whiskey, and two shot glasses. He put the two glasses on the beat-up coffee table in front of the small couch Kenny sat on, and sat down beside him with the bottle in hand, pouring one for each of them. They held up the shot glasses a moment with a nod at each other, and drank them down. Kenny placed the small glass back down and gestured to his friend to pour him another. Johnny obliged and did the same for his own glass.

"Oh, this is going to be good, isn't it?" Johnny jested as light-heartedly as he could manage. Kenny just shook his head as they repeated their gesture and drank down the whiskey.

"Ten years ago, the fire that took my mother's life..." Kenny began but paused. "f**k it all...," he muttered as he reached for the bottle of whiskey and just took a decent swig straight from the bottle. "I had no idea what I was. I still have almost no idea. I am one of them. An Elemental. A Salamander." Johnny jumped up from the couch and backed away a few steps.

"You're a Fire Elemental?!" Johnny paced a few steps in the small room. "Kenny, why didn't you come to me?!"

"Look, let me finish. Sarah and I had a night together. The night of the fire should have been our beginning of being together. We were still kids, but I wanted to be with her and have a life with her more than anything. Basically, as things ...climaxed... with Sarah, my bedroom was in flames, and the whole house caught fire so fast and I didn't know what was happening when it did happen. I have no idea how Sarah managed to survive but she was outside and safe before I was. My mother was downstairs, asleep on the couch. Her usual spot after coming home from her night shift, except she was home early that night and she wasn't supposed to be home, so I had no idea she was even there." Kenny only stopped to take another drink from the whiskey bottle which Johnny promptly snatched away from him once he finished his swig. "I didn't even think to check for her. I just sat outside with Sarah staring at the house, trying to sort out how the fire started. When the EMT's arrived, they said my mother had left work early. I just couldn't believe it. I let her burn in there. I burned her in there." He sat back, his posture slumped back, he fought back tears so hard his teeth were grinding.

"Kenny...I..." Johnny just decided to shut up and he moved closer to sit beside his friend.

"The worst part is," Kenny finally continued, "I have no idea why or how I am an Elemental. My mother never said a word about it. My dad died before I knew him. Even my uncle, my dad's brother, never said anything about anything. I was completely in the dark. More questions than answers. I knew then after the fire that I was dangerous to Sarah. I had to leave so that I would know she was safe from me."

Now it was Kenny's turn to stand up and pace. He just paced in silence. Johnny had no words that would be able to improve the silence. Kenny's mind was swimming with images of Sarah's face. His mother. His skin felt hot. He didn't even notice that his shoulders had produced a small green blaze on each side. Johnny noticed.

"Your flames... are green?" His eyes were wide.

"So? Isn't this how they all are?"

"No." Johnny shook his head. "You are not just an Elemental, you have a soul too. Sarah, she was a willing human mate, but that doesn't explain how..." He didn't get to finish.

"She wasn't the first for me." Kenny interrupted him, clearing his throat, expecting disapproval from Sarah's older brother. He showed none. He was too old for childhood grudges and immature big brother antics.

"You were her first." He shrugged, informing him that he knew what Kenny already knew. "She couldn't look at anyone else."

"I know. I was an idiot." The flames that had ignited on his shoulders smoldered out.

"At least I think we know why The Circle is so interested in you." Johnny continued, "Firstly, you are one of them and, secondly, you already did what this faction is trying to do. The only difference is, you did it without knowing what you did. If enough of them receive a soul, they will shift the balance in a way we cannot possibly know the consequences of. They think because you did it, they can too. The problem is, the soul you received belonged to your first human lover. She would not have lived very long afterward." At the mention of this Kenny hung his head low and shame and guilt hit him again heavily and deeply. He didn't want to think about it. Johnny continued, "So if these renegade Elementals can convince their captives to mate with them willingly, the humans basically die. Lord A'mighty, you are the center of it all."

"Really? It sounds like you are the one with all of the intel," Kenny snorted. "If my parents were Elementals, they wouldn't be dead from what you are saying. So, where are they?"

"The thing is, they can also be "disrupted" by an overload of any nature-driven elemental disaster. Drowning, like your dad and uncle or burning in a fire, being crushed in an earthquake, swept away by a tornado. Then, it is up to them if they come back during the phenomenon that allows them to cross back. You won't ever have to worry about that. You will be stranded here." Johnny reminded him.

"That's the imbalance then. If too many Elementals are stranded away from the Other World, nothing will be left there to tether us back to our realm. We won't be able to get back, and the energy keeping us here in physical form will not have enough of a source there." Kenny finally sat back down on the couch. He snatched the whiskey back from Johnny, taking a long draught. "So, tell me, was Sarah in on being a Peacekeeper?"

"No." Johnny replied. "For some reason, dad never brought her into it. He said that the men in the family were the ones who had to carry on the lineage. As you know, in this world the less a normal human knows, the safer it is for them. I wish I could have shared it with her. Dad was adamantly against that."

For a little while the two sat back and finished the bottle of whiskey in silence. So much had already been said. Kenny was not a drinker. He was nodding off when Alec came in and covered him with a blanket, Johnny followed Alec back out of the office. Kenny was grateful to be in the back room of the Snake Pit tonight. After all he had re-lived talking about the fire and Sarah. His beautiful Sarah. He didn't want to encounter Talia, or The Circle, or anyone else. He slept.

They were standing outside the restaurant where Sarah was a waitress. It was her first job. She was in her uniform on her lunch break. She made Kenny promise to visit her since the fire had only been last week. She was so worried about him and he was so busy with all of settling his mother's affairs, he was making himself scarce.

"... I am leaving for Sangtonville. The money from the fire and my mom's insurance money will help me just start a new life." He was breaking the news to her that he was leaving.

"I cannot even believe what I am hearing! How can you just leave?" Her eyes were streaming with tears almost immediately. "I am heartbroken for your losses, Kenny, but what about us?"

"I just can't stay, Sarah. Please don't make this harder than it is." He begged her.

"How dare you even ask me to take it easy on you?! You are running away from me, us, and everyone who loves you."

"I have to. Besides, J.B. is already living out there."

"My brother!? Is that supposed to make it better?" She cried. "I gave you my heart, and you are breaking it in two. Was I that bad!? Not enough experience for you!?" Now she was shouting. "I have never wanted anyone else. I waited for you to figure out how you felt, knowing the whole time you were just scared of it. Of us being together!"

"You were there, Sarah! Do you think you are safe with me now?" His voice was desperate for her understanding. "I don't know what is happening to me, can't you see I am trying to protect you? If I lost you... I would be beyond hope."

"You are losing me." She slapped him across the face so hard he thought he felt his cheek explode with blood, but it must have just been her tears wiped on her palm. "You are scared of us being together. You won't even trust me to help you figure this out."

"I don't trust myself with you. My own mother is gone because of me... you were the only other person there. You saw me and what happened when we..."

"Just get the hell away from me. All you are worried about is what has happened to you, like as though I wasn't there at all. You got what you wanted from me." Sarah's dark brown eyes were just overflowing with tears. He watched as she turned and ran off back into the restaurant. Her beautiful brown hair flowing behind her. The uniform was plain, but she made it look like a million bucks. What was between them was a deafening level of intensity. Everything they had, they did, they lived through together and he was letting her just walk away. He was making her walk away so he could run away. He hated himself for letting her think he used her. He would never.

"I love you." He said softly. He clenched his fist, trying not to have an outburst of flames erupt from every part of him. He just had to get out of here now.

Kenny had startled awake and sat bolt upright. What time was it? All was quiet but there was a dim table lamp lit on the desk in the corner of the small office. The disorientation wore off but a sharp, painful headache bloomed between his eyes and replaced it. Sarah was in his dreams like she was so many times. He groaned, holding his head in his hands and lying back a minute, grateful the light was so dim. He lay there quietly as his thoughts began to churn.

He needed to know more about what he was, what he was capable of and how he could be helpful in preventing the faction of The Circle from achieving their goals. Hopefully, he could count on J.B. to help him with that part. He had spent so much time in the last ten years trying to control his abilities, but now he needed to really understand wielding them. He did decide he would help Talia, despite her being difficult in regards to providing any kind of information. If anything, it would help him discover more about his own questions. He would do his best to shield Talia from the consequences of involving herself with him, but he knew she could take care of herself if it came to that. Plus, her mother, Attia, would protect her too.

When the faction of The Circle sends its messengers again, he will be here waiting for them. Johnny seemed to have his own plans for keeping himself safe, but now, despite his protests about being involved in the business of Elementals, by being friends with Kenny, he was involved no matter what way things went. Just then the door opened and Alec came in quietly bringing him some water, pain reliever and a hot cup of coffee. He set it on the coffee table.

"I hope this helps." Alec spoke so softly. Since his form was nearly giant, Kenny always found himself surprised by his pleasant voice.

"You have no idea how thankful I am for these things." Kenny smiled up at him. "Thank you for helping J.B. not die out in the front hallway yesterday. He is just like a brother to me.

"I know. Rest now. Johnny will be coming in soon." Alec turned and left, clearly busy but always friendly, polite and keeping an eye on things.