Run, run Young Blood!

Chapter Four

"Where the fuck are you?" Kelsey yelled down the phone loud enough for everyone in the van to hear.

"Calm down, and don't worry." Luce didn't want this conversation but she knew the more she put it off the more awkward it would get.

"Don't worry? You left in the dead of night with some band and I haven't heard from you since! You could have been dead for all I know!" Kelsey's voice was shrill with anger but for a good cause, she was just worried about her friend. Wasn't she?

"Well I'm alive, everything's okay and the guys are taking care of me. There's no need to worry at all."

"STOP telling me not to worry, I'm your best friend, it's what I do. Now please tell me what the hell you think you are doing running off with Fall Out Boy when one of them is fucking murderous?!" If Luce ever made it back home alive she thought Kelsey would kill her for what she's done.

"I need to find out what's happening, I need to find out who I am. If that means running away with a band with the risk of death then that's what I'm doing. I need this, Kelsey. Can't you see? There's something... Something I don't know, about me, that's inside me and I need to find out what it is. If you can't understand that then I'm sorry but I'm not coming home anytime soon..."

Silence and then a sigh. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you when you end up hurt and heartbroken just for the sake of finding out you are who you've been all along."

"Thanks for understanding. I'll see you again one day, Kelsey." Her voice held promise but sadness as well.

"I'll hold you to that Rachel, or is it Lucrezia now?" Kelsey replied with a laugh but still, sadness was hinted in her words too.

"No, it's Luce from now on. Goodbye, Kelsey. See you on the flip side."

"Bye, and be careful or I'll kill you myself."

And that was it, the line went dead and Luce was left listening to silence as a tear threaten to fall from her eye.

"You okay?" Patrick asked quietly.

"Umm, yeah, I'll be fine." She cleared her throat. "Shouldn't we be heading to London by now?"

"Yeah, let's go." Andy said as Joe pulled away from the gloomy house they'd just spent the last few hours in.

***

For a while everyone in the van stayed quiet. It was one of those silences that is deafening so eventually Luce spoke up. "What are we going to do when we get to London?"

Her voice shocked everyone from the silence and everyone tried to answer at the same time. After another second they let Pete speak in reply.

"We're going to Chicago. That's where we find the answers and that's where we get all this shit sorted out." Pete said with a clearness that seemed scary.

"How are we going to get there? I mean you're rather well known, you'll be being watched no matter what happens. We're not going to get out of here without being noticed." Luce said matter of factly.

"We'll be fine, don't worry about the details, just trust me." Pete replied with a sly smile on his face.

"I do trust you, I think that may be the problem." For the first time in the past night everyone smiled. A genuine smile that stretched their mouths and forced crinkles at the corners of their eyes.

"Don't worry, we're here to protect you, even if it is us putting you in danger in the first place." Joe said looking at Luce through the rear view mirror.

The van went quiet again, no one speaking, you could barely even tell that they were breathing it was so quiet. They drove for about thirty minutes with no words between them. Not until someone turned the radio on..

"Who's put that on?" Andy asked Pete and Joe, the only two close enough to switch it on.

"Not me, I'm driving anyway, my hands are on the wheel" Joe replied puzzled at why it was on too.

"Me neither." Pete said pressing the power button to turn it off. "And.. it won't turn off!" Alert rose in Pete's voice as he repeatedly hit the power button but the radio wouldn't switch off.

"Pull it out!" Luce yelled to them knowing what would come next.

Pete pulled but the radio wouldn't budge. It just got louder with every tug. The music changed as he continued pulling, turning into some form of music you'd hear in a psychological thriller with a twist of eletric guitars.

Everyone except Joe turned to look at Patrick. His head was buried in his hands and a growl broke from his throat. "Help me" he wimpered. "I don't want to be this anymore."

Patrick lifted his head, eyes locking on Luce. Eyes that had turned golden yellow, shining like the sun. They burned into Luce reaching for her soul.

"Hold him back!" Pete shouted to Andy as he attemped to climb into the back of the van. Andy grabbed Patrick's shoulders pushing him back into the side of the van and pinning him where he sat breaking Patrick's lock on Luce's eyes. The music got louded as Pete finally fell onto the floor in the back of the van and picked himself up.

Patrick snapped. He grabbed hold of Andy and pushed away throwing him into the other side of the van rocking it as he fell to the floor. This time it was Pete who tried to stop him. Pinning him at the shoulders with his hand and his knee into his stomach. With only one leg to support his weight though Patrick easily got rid of Pete throwing him to floor. The van started slowing and pulled over to the side of a road as Patrick began to stand.

Andy and Pete were back on their feet ready to fight back against Patrick again, but they didn't need to. Luce stood facing Patrick, this time she locked her eyes on Patrick holding him in place. Pete and Andy just stared as she held him back with just her gaze.

Luce's eyes had taken on their own golden affect and glowed like a fire on November 5th. She spoke quietly as Pete and Andy watched and Joe twisted round to see into the back of the van. "Stay excatly where you are. Do not move, I don't know how long I can do this for.."

Luce kept Patrick's gaze for the next few minutes none of the others moved an inch in that time even though Luce could tell they wanted to. After another minute Patrick's knees began to weaken and then completely gaveway to the weight of his body and he fell to his knees.

"Now!" Luce shouted to Andy and Pete who moved forward and grabbed Patrick, pinning him to the ground on his stomach.

Luce moved fast now, she knew Patrick wouldn't stay weak for too long. She jumped into the front of the van. Clenching her right hand into a fist Luce puched it into the radio, she opened her hand again before grabbing the wires inside. Yanking her hand back from inside the radio the music cut off, leaving the van silent again.

"your eyes.." Joe said as he looked at Luce in amazement.

"I.. I don't know what just happened." Is all Luce could manage to say.

"No, but I'm sure you'll get your answers just as soon as we get ours." Pete said as he walked over to the front of the van. "Now, mind letting me have my seat back?"

"Oh.. Yeah, sure." Luce replied, forgetting she was knelt on the passanger seat where Pete had earlier taken up shotgun. Luce jumped over into the back of the van. She helped Andy up who was still pinning Patrick to the floor. When he got up Andy went and sat near the front of the van. Patrick sat where he was, a look of guilt filled his eyes but at least now they had turned back to their original blue-green colour. Luce slid down next to him.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't want that to happen, I just wish this would stop alreay!" Patrick said, tears falling down his cheeks.

Luce grabbed the end of her sleeve in her hand and wiped the tears from his eyes. "It's not our fault. I promise, we will fix this." She didn't know whether any of this could be fixed but she was determined to find out, for Patrick's sake if not for her own.