Hooked [Complete]

22. Rivals

Author's Note: Well, you knew it was coming, right? Hearne and Sean. You might think you know how this ends. You might be wrong. I've been tellin' ya....there's more to Sean than the boy next door....mwah-hah-hah!

Song for this Chapter: Demons by Imagine Dragons. This is a song that could speak to both of these men, but the chapter is told from Sean's perspective, so it's really his song.

Sean considered having a drink before he went to Hearne's office, but decided it was bad form to show up with bourbon on his breath to a meeting with a professor. Even if it was Hearne. Not to mention, alcohol wasn't known for its positive affects on anyone's temper.

Sean sat down in the chair, and regarded Hearne.

Fuck, now he was extremely glad he was sober. And that he hadn't eaten that cupcake Carrie offered him, either. Otherwise he wouldn't believe his eyes. But he was stone cold sober, and now, staring at Hearne, he could no longer deny the truth. About Hearne, or about himself.

He was distracted from his musings by Hearne pulling a bottle of scotch and two glasses from his desk drawer. That was ironic. He wasn't the only one that needed a stiff drink for this little meeting.

"Drink?" Hearne gestured at Sean with the bottle.

Sean narrowed his eyes. "I don't think so. I don't trust you not to slip a Carrie special in it."

"Fair enough," Hearne poured two generous fingers and slugged it back, staring at Sean with cat-like intensity. Then he pushed a sheet of paper across the desk to Sean.

"Can you fill that schedule with local acts for the Spring festival?"

"Sure," Sean shrugged.

"Good. Do that, and you can exempt the final for my class. You don't have to come to the planning meetings for the Festival, or anymore rituals. Also, you should be getting an email from your sociology professor. He's had a rather urgent desire to offer you a paid internship to run a small study for him. It won't take much of your time, but you won't need to attend his class anymore."

Sean slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans and stared above Hearne's head, collecting himself. He wouldn't resort to temper or violence—it wouldn't do any good, anyway. He doubted Hearne had even felt the punch that broke his hand.

"So removing me from Dru's classes...this is your idea, or hers?"

"Mine, of course," Hearne had a dangerous edge to his voice now. "Dru is...special. Powerful. And she's mine. She knows now, how much she needs me. It's all over but the formalities. If you care about her at all, you'll just...fade."

That was the moment that Sean decided. Up until then, he'd been leaning towards trying to fade Dru...from his thoughts, his heart. After all, how could he compete with Hearne? Not to mention, he hadn't even been sure he wanted to. Seeing Dru with Hearne had hurt him more than he cared to admit. He wasn't sure he could get over it, and it wouldn't be fair to try move forward with her, but hold it against her.

But the way Hearne spoke about her, like she was a possession, like she needed to be controlled, it pissed him off. And it made Sean realize, the way he had treated her was hardly any different. He had dismissed her concerns about her magic, sure it was something he could handle. Not only that, he had pushed her, when every sentence she had uttered told him she was reluctant. Making her promise "No Hearne", rushing her to exclusivity when she was conflicted, promising her slow, then moving too fast. Proving her worries about the effects of her power on his judgment to be true, by fighting with Finn, just half an hour after barely being able to hold back from sexing her up.

What she had done, running to Hearne—it hurt, but there was a certain logic to it. The truth was, even though Sean was sure Hearne had an agenda, he probably could help Dru with her power. And Sean knew perfectly well, if he tried to get Dru back, the way things stood now, he would not help her, he would hurt her.

So he wasn't going to stand in the way of Dru and Hearne, but he also wasn't going to walk away like a jilted lover with a fragile ego cracked into pieces. No. If he was going to crack, he was going to crack wide open and show Dru who he really was.

Hearne might have his fucking braids and his tribal tats and his personal magnetism...and those goddamn things Sean was seeing above his head...but Sean had something with Dru that Hearne didn't have...a basis of friendship, a place to regroup, reconnect. And chemistry that was...hot, but also tender and powerful, the kind of chemistry that could be real intimacy. Much more potential power than just a dirty fuck from behind in the woods.

"No Hearne, I don't think I will fade." He rose to go. "You can play magical house with Dru in the woods, but we both know she only turned to you because she was afraid of hurting me. I'm willing to play the long game, because you are right...she is special. Eventually, she's going to see that about herself, and then she won't need you. But she might still want me."

He took the sheet of paper. "I'll bring the band schedule to the planning meeting. If you kick me out of class... frankly, Dru will hear about it."

"Faraday," Hearne stopped him at the door, and his voice was almost pleading, "I'm not a bad guy. I care about her. Do yourself a favor, go find yourself some other pretty little girl to worship and bury yourself inside her for the rest of your life. Leave Dru to me. I will give her more than you ever could."

Sean stilled his hand on the door, he didn't look back. "I know what you are, Hearne. I know what you want from Dru, and what you will give her in return. But will you give her the choice? Because it didn't turn out so well the last time you made a goddess, did it?"

He shut the door behind him and strode down the hall, half expecting that bastard to come raging down the hall after him and gore him or something.

Why had he not seen them before today—the horns on Hearne's head? Maybe it was because he hadn't wanted to see. Or maybe they weren't really there in the flesh. He hadn't had a vision since he was twelve years old, and he was never sure what was future, what was past, when it came to The Sight. Lana saw auras —did she see Hearne's horns? He wanted to ask her, but he didn't want her to know what Hearne was, if she didn't already. It could put her in danger from the bastard...

Hell, if he couldn't talk to Lana, there was only one other person to turn to.

He managed to make it outside without looking over his shoulder once, and then with shaking hands, he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed a number he hadn't called in five years. His hands weren't shaking from his encounter with Hearne, but from the conversation he was about to have.

One, two, three, rings. "Sean," the woman's voice said. He wasn't surprised that she knew it was him, even though his number must have been unfamiliar. She had The Sight, too. He got that curse from her.

"Yeah, Mama it's me. I'm in trouble. I think the binding you put on my magic is cracking. That's not the worst of it. Also...I've pissed off the Horned God."

A/N: Whaaaa????? Sean's a witch??!?!?! Yep. In my story, I'm choosing witch as the designated term for a male born with the magic to cast. He's not a Warlock...that's a position of title within a coven...and in my world, female witches rarely give birth to male children with magic and those men even more rarely assume a leadership role within a coven...Warlocks are practically unheard of in my little fantasy world. So that makes Sean a natural born witch. Just a little background, so ya know! Vote if you love Sean as much as I do! Thanks!