Terrible Friend

Chapter 23

Albert stood up and looked around. It was dark in the room, but there, in the middle of the rug, stood Jax, in all his naked glory, staring down at the charm that hung on a chain like a heavy weight. The glow eminating from the necklace was the only light in the room and it was faint.

He looked beyond Jax to where Beverly had been standing and found a pile of rubble that used to be her beautiful altar. She was a mangled mess of curtains with bright red hair. She wasn't moving.

Albert rushed past Jax and flew to Beverly's side. He knelt down beside her and blew and patted out the flames of the candles that threatened to set the room on fire. He brushed away the debris of broken glass and wood and fumbled with the swath of velvet black that wrapped around her.

She whimpered. She was hurt. He didn't know how badly, but guessing from the amount of debris around her, he hoped not as bad as it looked. He helped her sit up. She winced and held her left arm at a weird angle. "Are you hurt?" He asked.

"Just my arm. I'll be ok. What happened?"

"I don't know. The necklace started to glow and we got thrown away from it. Are you sure you are ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. This will heal in a few minutes and I'll be good as new. Where's Jax?"

"Still standing there in the middle of the room. This didn't affect him at all it doesn't seem." He looked over at Jax's new physical form.

Jax stood there, almost stone still. He didn't appear to be breathing. Just standing, his head tilted forward, his shoulders sunken and a look of despair covered his face.

Albert gave Beverly a questioning look and looked back at Jax. "He is fine. Probably a little sad, maybe a little disgusted, but he is fine."

"Sad? Disgusted? Why would he be either of those things? He is free."

"No. No he isn't. He is bound."

"He has a human body. He can move about the world now. How is that not free?"

"Silly human. Human form is not freedom. It is for you humans. You have the ability to move about and think that you are free. He is a demon. He has had at least a thousand years, free to move about any realm he chose. This is not freedom for him."

"Here we go with this kind of talk again. Why do you speak like you know something about it?"

"I'm more like him than I am like you." She released her arm and started to rub around it gently. She chanted quietly. As she did, she straightened and twisted her arm. Albert heard popping and cracking sounds. The obviously broken arm under the long sleeve was repairing itself. It kind of grossed him out.

Albert stood and watched, again in awe and confusion. He didn't think he would understand how all of this worked. He was quite certain he didn't want to. He hoped that at some point he would wake up and find it had all been a dream. "I can't believe this."

<Believe it. It's happening. I hope it is worth it. We must find this occult and stop them. Why are we standing around?>

Jax lifted his head. He would have to make the best of this and figure out how to fix it later. Right now, they needed to move on with their plan. He didn't want to stay like this any longer than he had to.

Albert helped Beverly to her feet. Her arm was almost completely repaired and she was steady on her feet. He looked at her and then at Jax. She nodded. Albert walked slowly to Jax.

"Are you alright?"

<I'm, ok. This feels...weird...and squishy. I don't know how you can stand to live like this.>

Albert looked at Jax's new form. From he where he was standing, Jax looked anything but squishy. He was solid. He was built like Hercules and was gorgeous as men go. "What do you mean 'like this'?"

<I suppose you wouldn't know the difference. It doesn't matter. It will be over with soon. Let's go so I can get out of here.>

Beverly approached him. She looked him over again. "We need to find you something to wear. You can't exactly go out into the world like this. You look a little...cold." She jabbed at Jax's ego. "I think I know exactly what you need."

Jax reeled as the words landed in his ears. He glared at Beverly. He didn't find her criticism of his chosen body parts humorous. From the inside, he probably wouldn't have cared at all. Being on the outside, though, made him feel vulnerable and weak. He didn't like it. <You will not speak so unkindly of it when you are impaled with it.>

Albert's head snapped. He could not believe the words that had just spilled out of his voice's mouth. He puffed up and jumped between Jax and Beverly. Breaking Jax's glare at Beverly he challenged the god standing before him now.

"You will not speak of doing that, or anything like it, ever again. This is not how we humans behave, and you will not give us a bad name. Do you hear me, Jax?"

Albert had never been powerful or scary. He meant what he said though and he would have none of it. He would not allow Jax, something that he still considered a part of himself to behave so crudely.

Jax was un-deterred. He didn't have any reason to be kind to the witch that imprisoned him, twice now. He would not be kind. He would damage her in any and every way that he could, as long as he had the ability.

His anger flowed in his words. <I'll not be kind to the witch that trapped me, and has now convinced me that it is a good idea to be here. She will die at my hand, even if the world doesn't end.>

Albert took a step backward. He didn't know this man. He assumed that he would be the same as the voice that was in his head all this time. He was now, for the first time, seeing what it was that Beverly had been talking about. He had a feeling, now, that she might have been right to do what she did to him.