As We Know It
Chapter 13Taylor didn't move for several minutes after Zac ran out the door. His body was still and in shock. One brother having an inhuman breakdown was bad enough, but both of his brothers had stormed through the door, hell bent on destroying something.
Taylor was having an exceptionally bad day.
He mused for a moment on what he should do. He could call the police, and hope that they tracked Isaac down before he did anything stupid. He could try and find Zac and find a way to reason with him, and simply pray that he'd be willing to listen and put a stop to this. But he no longer knew what his brother was capable of.
A loud crashing near the door took Taylor out of his thoughts. For a split second, he hoped it was Zac, so he wouldn't have to make this decision himself.
Micah came in through the door, barely recognizable in a pair of Taylor's skinny jeans, and a Led Zeppelin tee shirt, clumsily carrying a guitar case through the door.
"You know, I think I could get used to a job like this," he said. "It's so much less stressful, and really, there's something kind of satisfying about doing-" he cut himself off when he took in Taylor's expression.
"Oh dear, what's happened?"
"I quit, that's what happened."
"You... you quit? You can't do that, there's so much that's going to happen."
"Then fire me, because it's already happening. I failed and I can't stop him, and I'm not sure if I even want to anymore."
You can't mean that," Micah said, reaching over to put a comforting hand on Taylor's shoulder. Taylor shrugged it off.
"Well, does it sound like I'm kidding about this?"
"You couldn't possibly be putting the well-being of your brothers over the entire world."
"I can do whatever the hell I choose to, actually."
"But there's the prophecy! And a divine plan! You can't just say not to that," Micah looked beyond panicked at this point- he had reached a point where Taylor was quite sure he was going to faint. He sat down in the nearest seat, fanning himself.
"Oh dear," he repeated.
"If you're so convinced that this is how things are meant to be, you go ahead and kill him yourself. I'm sure it's much easier from your side of things."
"If you're serious about letting the whole world be laid to waste, then so be it. I'll have to take care of things myself then."
"Fine," Taylor said, before he could stop himself from letting the petulant twelve year old inside of him retort.
Micah was out the door before Taylor could think of anything else embarrassingly immature to say, but it was just as well.
Taylor was alone again, and he was taking his retirement seriously. He couldn't think about what was happening - with no will to stop it, he knew he shouldn't dwell on it. He sat down at his piano again, his fingers grazing the keys lightly. Music was the only thing that made sense to him anymore.
He played. It didn't matter what he played, he just knew that it was soothing, letting the melody wrap around him, a small comfort, but still a comfort. The world could have - and very well might have - collapsed around him - he didn't want to stop.
"Look at you, the world's big damn hero. Sitting this one out, are you?"
Taylor paused when he heard the voice behind him. He was surprised to see not one, but four women standing behind him in the room, none of which he recognized. The one that spoke to him stepped forward, a red haired woman who looked at Taylor so intensely that he felt uncomfortable under her scrutinizing gaze.
"Who are you?" Taylor asked, getting to his feet immediately.
"I think part of you already knows that," the woman said. "What, are you afraid? Big, scary protector of the world. I guess you'd better watch out or you might end up like your brother. But the, everyone's going to end up like him once we're done with them."
"What did you do?" Taylor asked softly.
"We had fun," another one of the women said. "We're going to be having an awful lot of fun."
"I thought Zac-"
"And I hate not getting credit where credit's due. I mean, honestly. Zac doesn't have the stomach for it, he never has."
Taylor looked around the room for an escape point, but with the four women surrounding him on all sides, he felt closed in. he searched the room for anything that was discernible as a weapon, and suddenly felt quite annoyed with Micah for not giving him any better training in this. If he made it through this alive, Taylor promised himself he would tell Micah what a piece of crap angel he really was.
There was one incentive for surviving, at least.
"Ok, girls, if you want to play, you'd better aim a little higher than that."
Another female voice boke through the room, but this time it was one that Taylor recognized - he whipped his head in that direction, somehow unable to place the voice.
"Wait... Lilly," he asked blankly, before fear started to set in again. "You need to get out of here, right now."
"Funny," Lilly said through a grimace, "I was going to say the exact same thing to you."
War stood momentarily considering her options - her thought process must have taken less than a split second, because she was coming towards Taylor swiftly before he could blink. Taylor didn't have time to think, only react; his reaction was to jump out of the way and let her crash into the piano. Not a heroic reaction, sure, but it did the trick just as well. Just as Taylor was beginning to worry that he was running out of ideas that spanned any further than "run" or "dodge," Lilly grabbed his wrist, a knowing and frightened look on her face.
"What are you doing here?" he whispered harshly, and her face turned grim and serious as she spoke.
"Really not a good time to talk about that. But I have an idea."
"What idea?"
"Get the fuck out of here," she said. As far as plans went, it happened to be the best oen Taylor had heard in awhile.
"That works for me." Taylor knew that they had seconds, if that, to act. He backed away from his spot, trying to imagine any escape plan that didn't end in death. He'd even settle for a brief maiming at this point.
Lilly grabbed his hand and yanked him towards her. She was much stronger than Taylor would have imagined, and he cringed as her nails dug into his palm. He felt the ground move beneath him, and everything around him became a blur. He closed his eyes tightly, and waited. For what, he wasn't sure.
When he opened his eyes, he was no longer standing in the studio, but standing outside what looked to be a bar. He pulled his hand to his chest, curling it up in pain, his head still spinning. Lilly wasted no time, pacing back and forth furiously.
"It won't buy you much time, but they've at least lost our tail for the moment."
"I think I'm going to be sick," Taylor groaned, doubling over a bit as he adjusted to his surroundings.
"Well get it over with, then, because we're not staying here long."
Taylor's thoughts were finally beginning to settle, but the realization that he and Lilly had simply materialized into a new location didn't help him feeling sick to his stomach. Of course, he should have been more surprised by this, but he was far beyond the capability of being surprised by anything anymore. With his mind a bit more clear, he could feel the necklace under his shirt, and the metal hadn't yet gone cold - it was hot - not burning as it had been when the women walked into the studio, but it felt just as unnatural against his skin.
"Let's get out of here," Lilly said, but Taylor stepped back from her, his eyes narrowing with caution.
"What are you?" Taylor asked, a lump in his throat. "You're one of them, aren't you?"
"You're kidding, right? You're going to start with this right now? Let me remind you that I was the one that saved your ass a few seconds ago."
Taylor reached into his shirt and pulled out the chain. Lilly's expression changed as soon as she saw it, a mixture of panic and anger mingling on her face.
"The angels," she said, her voice dropping to a low growl. "Where is he?"
"He's looking for Zac right now."
"Shit!" she muttered. "I have to go. Right now."
"What are you going to do to him?" Taylor asked, reaching out to grab her arm, but she slipped out of his grasp quite easily.
"I'm going to save him. You're on your own."
And she was gone. And Taylor was standing there, stranded, unsure of where he was,or where either of his brothers were, and he felt quite certain that the minions of hell had some sort of tracking device on him.
He wasn't certain how many saviors the world had seen in its time, but he was pretty sure that he was the worst.
His fingers curled around the necklace again, which was suddenly cold to the touch. It didn't matter, not really. One way or another, he wasn't going to go out without a fight.