by Noah Harris
He felt terrible for having made Kell watch as Johnny walked to his death. Johnny should have known Kell wouldn’t have given up so easily. If it had been Johnny being forced to watch as Kell gave up, he wouldn’t have been so content to do nothing either. That he’d almost forced Kell to watch as he walked to his death would be a burden Johnny would have to bear until he found a way to make up for his own foolishness.
Kell’s anger abated at the apology and his features softened. “I know you were doing what you thought was best for me. But watching you walk toward them, knowing they were going to kill you. It was almost too much…”
“I’ll make sure you never have to witness something of that sort again,” Johnny vowed.
“Good…and what is that awful smell?” Kell asked, wrinkling his nose.
“Uh,” Johnny began, unsure how to explain as he looked at the burned corpses.
Kell turned around to follow his gaze and Johnny felt him go rigid. “Are those…the Vigil prisoners?”
Johnny nodded. “That’s…yeah, I think it is.”
He didn’t need to be facing Kell to know the look of dawning horror which was covering his face. Johnny sat forward, placing a hand on Kell’s side and tried to draw him back. Kell was rigid, his fingers curling against the asphalt so desperately Johnny could see blood from his scraping knuckles.
“Kell,” Johnny whispered, still trying to draw him back.
Kell shook his head, trying to get to his feet and stumbling. “No, no, no, no! Oh, Johnny, why, why did I do this?”
Johnny drew forward to his knees, still fighting to keep Kell from getting close. “Kell, it wasn’t you.”
Kell turned to him, and Johnny was startled to see streams of tears running down his face. “How can you say that? Look at what I did!”
Kell’s voice cracked on the last syllable, and Johnny’s heart went out to him. Johnny could tell him repeatedly that he hadn’t been himself, but all Kell would see was the blackened flesh and the blood on his hands.
Kell gasped, his breathing heaving. “I don’t even remember doing it! How could I have done this? I didn’t want to kill them, I just wanted to—to scare them.”
Johnny succeeded in finally pulling Kell away from the gruesome sight. No longer holding himself up, Kell collapsed against Johnny and began to sob in earnest. The tears flowed and Johnny held him tight, saying nothing as he comforted Kell as best he could. Faced with the reality of what he’d done, even by accident, Kell was undone completely. Clinging to Johnny, Kell sobbed his guilt and shame out, until he was left with only a few tears and hiccupping breaths.
As Kell’s immediate sorrow began to pass, Johnny thought on what he’d said. Johnny had been conscious for most of the outburst and he remembered it clearly. It was conceivable that Kell had flung the woman away so there would be only one witness. Kell had passed out after Johnny and the rest, so it was certainly possible he’d killed the Vigil members while the rest of them were out cold.
Johnny stroked Kell’s hair gently. “Kell, you said you don’t remember doing it.”
Kell whimpered. “I don’t. After I knocked everyone out, I walked over here to you. I could barely walk by the time I got to you. I made sure you were okay and then I passed out. How could I have done this?”
“I’m not sure,” Johnny murmured.
It certainly seemed necessary for Kell to be awake and aware in order for him to use his power. While Johnny knew it was possible for some powers to be used while the user was unconscious, he’d never heard of anything so powerful as what Kell would have had to do in order to fry the Vigil members so thoroughly.
He had no trouble believing Kell’s version of events, trusting in the man’s honesty. Kell could barely hold himself up just moments before, with only the strength that came from powerful emotions giving him the ability to do so. Although Johnny could feel some of the strength returning to Kell’s body as he huddled against him, Johnny knew he wouldn’t be capable of any physical feats for a while.
“Can you sit up?” Johnny asked.
Kell nodded, easing himself away from Johnny and leaning against the side of the car. “Yeah, why?”
Johnny pushed to his feet, glad to find his legs were steady. “Because I want to see something.”
“Oh, Johnny, don’t, please. I don’t want to know any more about how they died. Isn’t this enough?” Kell asked breathlessly, closing his eyes tight.
It wasn’t, but Johnny wanted to be sure of the growing suspicion in his mind before he dared to voice it. Taking a few steps forward, Johnny approached the corpses carefully. As he grew closer, he could see they’d certainly been exposed to a great deal of heat. Yet, he noticed the shape of the burns was odd, large splotches rather than the jagged patterns he would have expected. The ground around the bodies was singed, but not in the way he’d expect from a lightning strike.
“I don’t think this was you,” Johnny called over his shoulder.
Kell groaned. “Don’t lie to make me feel better, Johnny, please.”
Johnny pointed down at the bodies. “I’m not, unless you’re somehow capable of being able to summon fire, and you didn’t show that off before I passed out.”
Hope flickered across Kell’s face as he slowly picked himself up from the ground. Johnny turned to help him, but Kell motioned and glared as he made it to his feet. Kell took a deep breath, before slowly walking forward. Johnny wasn’t sure if Kell’s slowness was due to reluctance or because he was still weak. As he watched Kell come to a stop, wobbling where he stood, Johnny figured it was a bit of both.
Johnny pointed down. “Bear with me here, okay? These burns aren’t consistent with an electrical strike. And I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure that even a blast of electricity enough to kill a human wouldn’t be enough to burn away most of their clothing.”
“I don’t…I don’t use fire,” Kell said softly.
Johnny reached out, partly to reassure Kell, but also to help hold him up. “Because you’re the Windward, which has nothing to do with fire. You didn’t kill these people, Kell.”
Kell visibly sagged with relief. “I didn’t do it.”
“No, but someone did,” Johnny said, still smiling.
Kell looked up at Johnny with red-rimmed eyes. “But who?”
Johnny shrugged. “Could have been any of them. Both Children have a reason to kill the Vigil. Probably figured there was too much going on to bother with dragging a few prisoners back with them to torture for information.”
“The woman,” Kell said, looking toward the woods.
“Well, if you were careful or she was lucky, then she is probably fine. If they were in a big enough hurry to just torch the Vigil prisoners, I doubt they were feeling up to a manhunt through the woods. That woman is no doubt halfway to the nearest Vigil group to tell them all about what happened, and what you said,” Johnny told him.
“God, I hope Alyssa is okay too,” Kell said worriedly.
Johnny chuckled, tightening his hold on Kell’s waist. “That woman is too damn tough and stubborn to die—don’t you worry about her. Plus, even if you might not have been the gentlest with the woman from the Vigil, I know you didn’t simply chuck Alyssa away like a bit of…garbage.”
“You almost said ‘rubbish’ there, didn’t you?” Kell asked.
“Congratulations, you found me out. I’m a little British,” Johnny said dryly.
Kell turned into Johnny’s arm, holding him tight. “You’re Johnny, and that’s exactly what I need right now.”
Johnny looked down at him, giving him a squeeze. “Good, because I’ve had a few insights about my life ever since I decided to be an idiot martyr.”
“Hopefully some of those insights are about not being an idiot martyr,” Kell said with a raised brow.
“That, among a few others, but for the moment, we should probably find ourselves getting as far from this place as we can. The Children might be willing to leave us in one piece while they try to f
igure things out but I doubt the mortal authorities will be so gracious,” Johnny said with a glance around.
Kell’s eyes widened. “Oh shit, I forgot about cops.”
“Not terribly surprising, considering we’ve been a bit preoccupied lately. But eventually, they’ll show up and I think it might be a good idea if we aren’t here when they do,” Johnny said.
Kell looked at the dented, ruined car and groaned. “You wouldn’t happen to know that teleporting trick Alyssa knows, would you?”
Johnny chuckled. “I’m afraid I am not quite witchy enough for that particular trick, and I’d only be able to get us so far anyway, short range trick and all. We’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way, on foot.”
Kell nodded, looking down at his feet. “Well, I hope we can make it a decent distance before I have to sit down.”
“Still feeling a bit wobbly?” Johnny asked in concern.
“I’m not wobbly, just a little tired. It feels like I already ran a ten-mile race,” Kell explained.
Johnny said nothing, watching Kell carefully as the man walked back toward the car. He certainly looked as if he were getting his strength back. What bothered Johnny was that he’d never heard of a Ward becoming drained after using their powers. True, he was working off stories and old history texts, but he couldn’t recall any of them mentioning it. If anything, the Wards were considered to be inexhaustible founts of pure natural energy, drawing upon it as they wished.
Kell came back and Johnny smiled at the annoyed expression on his face. “Something the matter?”
Kell huffed, waving his cellphone in front of him. “Damn thing’s ruined. Now I have to get a new one, and I can’t afford that.”
“How about we worry about getting out of the blast zone before we start fretting over broken pieces of technology?” Johnny asked with a chuckle.
Kell shoved the phone into his pocket. “Yeah, I know, but I wanted to message Carson and tell him I was still alive. Figured with the Vigil licking their wounds after all this, they’d be willing to leave him alone long enough for me to give him an idea that I’m alive.”
“When we get to a decent stretch of civilization, we can see about getting you another phone then,” Johnny said.
Kell sighed. “Don’t have one huh?”
“I switch phones a lot. Harder to keep track of someone if they don’t use the same device for too long. I make enough money through the odd jobs I pick up to afford it easily enough,” Johnny said.
“Something tells me these jobs of yours aren’t the type to put on a resume,” Kell quipped.
Johnny glanced around, shaking his head. “No, but some of the skills I picked up are certainly nice to have. Which you should discover as we go on our little hike through the woods.”
Kell eyed the woods doubtfully. “And do we have any idea where we’re going?”
“First, we focus on getting away from here and see if we might be successful at evading the attention of any groups while we’re at it. After that, we rest and recuperate, maybe enjoy ourselves a little,” Johnny explained as he began to walk.
Kell walked beside him, taking Johnny’s hand. “Enjoy ourselves, huh? You wouldn’t happen to have any ideas in mind for that; would you?”
Johnny gave him a toothy smile. “I might, yes. However, my long-term goal is to do a bit of digging and see if we can’t find you a proper guide. Someone old, or even another Ward, if we can.”
Kell snorted. “But first things first, we go stomping through the woods.”
Despite being stuck in the middle of the wilderness, the next couple of days were some of the happiest Johnny had ever experienced. Kell’s previous weariness had slowed them down a bit the first day, with frequent stops so he could rest. After a good night’s rest, however, the Windward was back on his feet and more energetic than the day before.
The second day saw them making better progress through the old woods and Kell proved to be an excellent traveling companion. With the burden of guilt off his shoulders, he was back to his naturally sweet, if occasionally difficult, self. Mostly, they talked about their lives before they’d met, as Kell chatted about his hobby of people watching, while Johnny gave greater detail of the happier memories of living in the Coven with Ash.
By the third day, Kell seemed to have regained most, if not all, of his strength. Their topics over the past few days had been scattered and many but had slowly begun to grow more serious as time went on. Kell was obviously concerned about what he was supposed to do with his gifts, and how that would affect the war between the Children.
“I don’t see how me being a Ward is going to change anything,” Kell was saying.
Johnny chuckled, climbing an embankment and reaching to help Kell. “One man, especially one with sufficient power, can sometimes make all the difference. But it’s not just that. My goal isn’t just to make you stronger, it’s to seek out the possibility of other Wards. History speaks of more than one existing at a time and there may be others out there. With more than one of you united, you might be able to give the Children pause enough to stop all this senseless fighting.”
Kell grunted as he picked himself up. “Look, I’m not opposed to stopping the war. The whole thing is stupid. I mean, for God’s sake, they’re all called the ‘Children of the Moon.’ And they’re so busy acting like they’re anything but united under the same banner. Has anyone considered talking to the moon and telling her to come down and knock her kids’ heads together so they behave?”
Johnny snorted, covering his mouth to muffle the guffaw that threatened to burst out. “No, I don’t believe anyone has considered communing with the moon. I’ll be sure to pass the idea along should we ever manage to sit down and have a conversation with the Children without them attempting to kill one or both of us.”
“I think it would be a good idea, better than continuing to try to kill each other without a good reason,” Kell retorted.
“And you won’t hear any disagreement from me on the matter. No one even remembers the exact reasons the war began in the first place, but they mindlessly continue it because that’s just how things have been done. Who knows how many deeds have been done in the name of tradition, when all they really are are excuses to continue an already senseless war?” Johnny asked, shaking his head.
“I wish we could get them to understand that they aren’t the main threat to each other. They’ve got an entire group of humans devoted to wiping them out but they still want to fight amongst themselves,” Kell said, popping a handful of berries into his mouth.
Johnny eyed his hand. “That was from the batch I picked earlier, right? Please tell me you didn’t pick berries of your own and decide they were edible.”
Kell looked at him, eyes wide and innocent as a doe’s. “I’d never pick anything I hadn’t made sure looked exactly like the ones you grabbed before.”
Johnny narrowed his eyes. “You are aware that Windward or not, you can, in fact, poison yourself, right?”
“Would you suck the poison out?” Kell asked coyly.
Johnny pursed his lips so he wouldn’t laugh. “That’s for snakebites, and not exactly the recommended treatment either.”
“And here I was going to see if I could get a snake to bite me somewhere fun, just to see you suck the poison out,” Kell said with a wistful sigh.
“There are other, far less dangerous ways to convince me to suck on your body,” Johnny said with a grin.
Kell smirked. “Well, should we ever find a clean river to bathe in so I don’t smell like I’ve been walking through the woods for three days, I might have to take you up on that offer.”
“How about we call it a promise and look forward to it?” Johnny asked.
“Hell, I already marked it as a plan set in stone,” Kell said, threading his arm through Johnny’s.
Johnny was willing to let the topic of the berries go as he felt Kell’s warmth close to his body again. They’d spent every night together, their bodies pressed tight a
s they wrapped themselves in the blanket Johnny had fetched from the Vigil’s car trunk. Johnny was skilled in survival, and every night, he made sure they had a shelter above them, using their jackets as a cover between them and the ground. With their shared body heat and the fire he kept going all night, they managed to stay decently warm.
Yet it was Kell’s company that kept Johnny warmer than any blanket or fire could have. With no immediate threat pursuing them, the two had been able to fully enjoy one another’s company. Of course, the side effect of that had been the two of them growing more playful and flirtatious as well. Kell had pointed out that the two of them were dirty and they were asking for trouble, trying to have a bit of fun out in the middle of nowhere. As their time together stretched on, however, Johnny found he wouldn’t have cared how much they stank. Being around Kell could be a little intoxicating.
Yet their moments weren’t just flirtation and innuendo. Just as Kell had from the start of their disastrous adventure together, he trusted Johnny completely. If Johnny told him what was safe and what wasn’t, Kell heeded him. When Johnny explained anything, from different facts about the supernatural world, to what plants to avoid, Kell listened carefully.
Somehow, someway, Johnny had found someone in the world who trusted him in a way he’d never dreamed of trusting himself.
“I can hear you thinking hard over there,” Kell teased, bumping Johnny’s elbow gently.
Johnny smiled. “I’m thinking about a lot of things, good things.”
“Anything I should know about?” Kell asked.
Johnny wanted to tell him how Kell had somehow given Johnny the purpose he’d always sought. His whole life had been marked by a search for something greater than himself to attach himself to. Without having realized it, Johnny had found that in Kell. The Windward was greater than him certainly, but the bond between the two of them felt even greater than that. Protecting Kell, making sure he was safe, happy, and warm had become the most important thing in Johnny’s life.
Along the path of his pain and loneliness, Johnny had stumbled more than a few times. He’d known more heartache and loss than he knew what to do with. The promise of something more had been spoken by oracle after oracle, and Johnny had clung to the hope they’d given him, praying it would come to fruition. Then the small American man, with more power in his body than Johnny could ever dream of having, had stumbled into his life.
