Chained

Ex Tenebris

"...Death doesn't seem so scary now, does it?"

Rowan shuddered as the gravelly, disembodied voice, pierced his skull. As if speaking directly into his mind. His eyes shot open and his hand clamped down, hard, on whatever he was holding. Unfortunately, this just so happened to be the hand of Rowan's girlfriend, Lana. "Ouch, hun! What the hell was that for?" She exclaimed. His hand flew out of hers so quickly, Lana didn't realize what had happened. His breathing was short and rapid, and his deep amber irises darted around frantically. With his shaggy black hair plastered to his forehead in a cold sweat, he attempted to take in his surroundings. He was sitting on a bus, speeding down the interstate, a few passengers scattered through the rows in front of his seat in the very back of the bus. He looked to his left and watched as Lana's expression changed from pained to one full of concern. "Rowan...? Hey, Rowan, what's the matter?" She placed her hand gently on his cheek. He looked at her with wild and fearful eyes before beginning to calm down slightly. "Sorry, what? Oh... No, nothing I'm fine. Dozed off, nightmare. I'm sorry about your hand, love."

"Nevermind that, are you sure you're okay?" She asked, not entirely convinced with his previous answer. Rowan managed a soft smile at the familiar, empathetic concern that seemed to fill her voice, no matter who she spoke to. "Of course I am, a 6 hour bus ride with no one to talk to but the girl of my dreams? I couldn't think of a better way to spend my Thanksgiving holiday." Lana squeezed his hand affectionately as she rested her head on his shoulder and relaxed her breathing to enjoy the drive.

***

After almost an hour, Lana had drifted off into a light sleep, using Rowan as a pillow. As he stared down at the innocent look on his girlfriend's face as she slept, the hair on Rowan's neck stood up. He tensed his shoulders as if bracing for something, causing Lana to stir slightly. Just as he was about to relax, thinking it had passed, the bus lurched forward, then stopped suddenly before returning to its normal pace. Lana sat upright in an instant, her face full of fear. "What was that? Is that normal?" She queried. Rowan had a calm yet stern look on his face as he pondered her questions for a moment. "I'm not sure, but it's definitely not normal." He glanced around at the other passengers and the driver. None of them seemed at all concerned with that strange event. "This isn't good..." Rowan muttered softly. He shoved his arm out in front of Lana and pinned her against her seat, mere moments before the bus lurched forward again. "Sorry, didn't want you smacking your head on the seat in front," he explained, in response to her confused expression. Lana opened her mouth to argue but after seeing the grim look on her boyfriends face she changed her mind. "You're acting weird babe, are you gonna explain to me what's going on? I know you know." Rowan hesitated at this for a moment. He calculated his response carefully before opening his mouth to speak. "They're here for me."

"And do I want to know who you mean by 'they'?"

"His minions."

Lana huffed. "You're not being very specific! Who's minions?" She demanded. Rowan almost felt sick... Almost. "Jesse." Lana's eyes widened at his answer. "J-Jesse? You mean, 'Jesse your ex boyfriend' Jesse?!" He nodded grimly.

It had been months since Rowan had thought about the destructive man of whom he had broken the heart. However, the lonely feeling of being the only one to acknowledge these random occurrences was all too familiar, and left him with no other explanation. Blurry images and sensations crowded Rowan's brain. The softness of a lock of dirty-blonde hair running through his fingers, his lips brushing against a toned and muscular torso. As pleasant as these memories were, Rowan could sense the dark history hidden beneath the layers and suddenly, they were cleared from his mind all together as he saw Lana get thrown forward. Catching her shoulders, he stood up in front of her, putting his body between her and the metal seat-back in front of her that seemed to be tempting her with a concussion. Choking back her fearful sobs, she looked up at Rowan, "what do we do? Why are we the only ones who can feel it?"

He simply stared into her eyes for a moment, calming himself in the vibrant pools of cobalt, before daring to speak. "I'm not entirely sure why you can, perhaps it's because we have an emotional connection, maybe not. But we both know I can feel it because I'm-," he hesitated, looking over his shoulder at the other passengers. "Uh, not from around here I guess. Look, whatever this is, I need to figure out a way to stop it or everyone on this bus, and possibly others, are in danger." Lana looked at him like he was an idiot.

"What?" He queried.

She rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. "It's almost adorable how clueless you are. There's something hitting the bus from behind, that's why it moves forward every time." He stared at her in awe, how had he not figured that out. "Well, well. Who knew I was in love with a genius." Rowan kissed her on the forehead before sliding the window beside him open. "Auctus visu." He spoke in an unnaturally raspy voice. Holding his hand in front of his face, Rowan watched as a deep purple, emblem in the shape of an eye was scratched into his palm, as if by an invisible force. Once complete, he closed his eyes and held his hand out of the window, his palm facing the back of the bus. Although his view was tinged purple, Rowan could see just fine, with the emblem on his palm acting as his eyes. He observed as clouds of pure white smoke took the shape of wolves and began to charge at the back of the bus. Reflexes kicking into gear, Rowan's eyes shot open as he touched his palm to the side of the bus and shouted, "discutere magica." A layer of soft blue energy rippled outward from his palm and covered the bus. All he heard was a loud sizzling. It lasted for no more than a second and was presumably from the 'smoke-wolf' making contact with the protective barrier that Rowan placed around the bus.

"What just happened? What did you just shout?" Lana questioned assertively, prompting Rowan to turn back to face her. "Wait... You heard that? You shouldn't have been able to..." He furrowed his brow in confusion and looked at her briefly before shaking his head. "Whatever. That doesn't matter right now, there's a shield around the bus so we should be fine for now... Kind of," he explained, unconvincingly. "The point is, we still have something following us, so at the next stop I'll get off and deal with it. Okay?"

"But we still have like 5 hours to go until we get to my parents' house, you're just going to ditch me?" Lana looked hurt. She had told him before how she was treated by her ex-boyfriends so it was no surprise she had come to the conclusion that she'd have to sort things out by herself. "No, my dear, all I ask is that you stay on the bus, I'll catch up with you in a couple stops. I won't be gone long, I promise." Her face rippled with confusion as she processed the insane thing he had said so casually. "But how? We're on the freeway, you'd have to catch up with a bus going 70 miles an hour!" Rowan smirked at her, as if hiding some cunning yet spectacular plan.

"Don't forget babe, there are perks to being a demon."