Zachary stands at the edge of insanity, as he lifts his head to the Dark form that hovers before him. A menacing cloud of energy, giving off lightning flashes of red and green, with deeper black light warping around his form. Steeling his mind, the vampire lifts his hands, palms facing upwards and holds them out toward the Dark Lord.

“I command you,” Zachary’s voice wavers not an iota, as he speaks to the devil. The being gives a hard bark of laughter, a sound like a million nails raking across a metal post.

Zachary’s green eyes light up like jewels in the stark white of his face; he repeats in a deeper voice than is usual, “I command you, Lucifer.”

“You command me? You worthless blood sucking demon?” The devil’s laughter intensifies. “You have no idea what you’re doing, how could you possibly dare to think you could command me? I could reduce you to dust as easy as a single breath.” The malevolent spirit hisses his threat, sending a heavy wave of power toward the vampire.

Zachary grits his teeth as the atmosphere seems to close in around him. His whole world has been reduced to this moment; nothing else exists for him except for the devil and himself. Now is the time to make right the wrongs that have been done.

It has been many years since he first summonsed the devil. Yet, he knows he has grown in strength and ability; he is not the naive, wet-behind-the-ears youngling he was back then.

“Yes,” he raises his voice to drown out the devil’s laughter, “I command you! Be gone, you devil!”

More laughter. “How B Grade of you...”

Zachary snarls, fangs flashing savagely.

“I command you in the name of the-” he starts but then halts, shakes his head and slaps his palms together in front of him, eyes narrowing as he slips from English to Latin, murmuring a low curse.

The formless haze that encompasses the similarly shapeless body of the devil begins to darken and expand, rising above them. Tendrils of smoke snake from it down toward the vampire, swirling around his body.

Zachary allows his eyes to drift upwards as he keeps murmuring silent curses, which then shift into soft blessings, his breaths steady, even as the devil attacks him, probing with its smoky appendages. He tenses, pupils almost completely overcome by the green of his irises. He growls in the back of his throat.

The devil keeps pushing at him, causing bile to rise in the back of his throat, a strong urge to surrender to the darkness pressing in all around him. Zachary snarls more, biting down hard his fangs clinking against his snakebites, as he continues muttering, his gaze focused determinedly on the heavens above.

A spiralling vortex of air forms at the base of the cloud, diving down from the darkness and attaching itself to the crown of the devil’s amorphous form. Then it begins to pull with an immense surge of power.

The devil shrieks in fury as he is sucked into a cloud of oblivion bright green streaks of light exploding in every which direction like a mini sunburst. The young vampire stands below him hands still pressed together in prayer, fingertips pointing upwards. Eyes glowing like emeralds, he murmurs deep, penetrating words, words of destruction, and dismissal.

The air screams around him as he stands in an epicentre of power and unbelievable energy. Light spills from his eyes and envelops him in an aura of light, which spreads out cleansing the surrounding atmosphere, chasing away the dark clouds, the last remnant of the devil’s touch.

Afterwards, a terrible calm is felt, settling over the city. An ancient evil permeates the air, and then suddenly it disappears. Like a dark room, which is flooded with light, the heaviness is lifted and a sense of peace fills the heavens. Dark clouds slip away to reveal a clear night sky, stars twinkling bright and filled with hope.

And, Zachary stumbles away from the bus and sinks to the ground, giving in to nature and letting everything go.

Later, on SP’s Bus

“That’s Luigi Mario, you dumbfuck!”

“Pat, shut up. Nobody cares.” Chuck rolled his eyes as his friend railed at the characters on the small screen.

Pat looked over at him and scowled. “I care, alright. As much as I care that-” He halted mid-phrase, all his senses pricking up. He whipped his head round and lifted it slightly, nostrils flaring. Chuck caught his motion, frowning faintly, and looking around as well.

Pat saw though and shook his head. “It’s not something you can see, Chuck. Something’s happened.” He paused, before adding, “Something to do with Pierre.”

As soon as the singer’s name left his lips, the others clambered around him, like little kids gathering around a Christmas tree. David sat forward, hands bracing against his knees, eyes wide.

“What is it, Pat? Is he okay? Can we go see?” The bassist’s words came stumbling out before the Were could say anything. “Can we, Pat?”

Patrick didn’t answer right away, instead continuing to take in the signals he had picked up. Grimacing, he stood and headed for the steps that lead to the door. Pounding the keypad, waiting for the door to open, he glanced back at the others a grave expression on his face.

“I’m going outside. Join me if you want.”

Only Chuck took up the Were’s offer, following him out into the cool night air. Pat glanced back at the drummer as he made his way across the parking lot to a lone tree. Leaning up against the slender trunk, he looked thoughtfully at the younger male.

“What do you make of all this, Chuck?”

Chuck bit at his bottom lip as he sat tailor-style by the other man. Fiddling with the end of his belt and grimacing faintly, he shook his head slowly.

“I’m not sure. I can’t stop thinking about what happened. What you said.” The drummer looked at Pat. “Pierre really hurt Chelle bad, didn’t he?”

Pat nodded slowly, scratching at his arm, observing the many different emotions that passed across his friend’s face. When Chuck made no other comment, Pat gave a low growl, shifting his weight. The drummer tilted his head. Pat slapped his palm against his left thigh and looked up into the sky.

Then he sighed. “She’ll be ‘kay though.”

“Yeah, you said.” Chuck glanced toward the bus to the top level, where he knew Lachelle was resting in one of the bunks.

Pat smiled weakly. “My Dad had a hideout in town. She was safe there, so that’s why we took her down there first. Pierre couldn’t even find it if he wanted to. It’s hidden unless a Were leads you there.”

He slid down so he was sitting on the ground, the tree supporting his spine. “But, she needs to be with us, so that’s why I brought her back to the bus. She’s healing, and I can keep an eye on her better here.”

Chuck nodded as he lay back on the ground looking up at the stars.
“So, anyway, what did you sense?”

Pat glanced over at the drummer. “Something. Darkness. We won’t know what happened until after. But...I’ve a feeling Pierre will be back soon.”

“Yeah?”

Pat frowned deeply, staring out across the parking lot. “Yeah.”

“Is that good?” Chuck asked, watching the Were.

Pat shrugged, turning his head to the drummer, anxiety evident on his face. “No idea, Chuck. I don’t have a fucking clue.” Slipping a hand into his front jeans pocket, he curled his fingers around his Rosaries, rubbing each bead as he returned his gaze to the horizon. The drummer moved closer to him, following suit, looking out into the distance.

The two friends remained in silence, waiting, for there was nothing else they could do, except wait and see what happened.

Meanwhile...
Avenged Sevenfold Bus
11 PM

“Now what? Now what the fuck do we do? Nothing even fucking changed!”

Synyster was right up in Shadows’ face, snarling in frustration. Several feet from them, Zachary stood bent over at the waist, puking up. His wet heaves was causing the others to send sympathetic, yet slightly disgusted looks his way. Not that he noticed because he was far too busy dumping the contents of his stomach and his soul all over the ground.

After several long moments, Syn still railing at Shadows, the younger vampire straightened and called for their attention. “Oi. Stop it. Just fuckin’...stop. Alright? He’s gone. For good.”

Zachary groaned. He looked extremely pale. Much paler even than during the early era of the band when they had all painted themselves with pale makeup to create the illusion of them being vampires.

Panting, he went on, “He’s no longer influencing all this shit...” He looked directly at the master vampire. “Just look into your soul, Shads...you’ll find the proof there.” He wiped the back of his hand over his mouth before feeling another lurch coming on and hurling once more.

Shadows grimaced, but it was Sherry who crept over to the young vampire and placed a hand on his shoulder the look on her face suggesting she wished to ease his distress. Zachary turned to her, smiling weakly. The master vampire felt an inexplicable sense of tenderness as he watched them. Though, his contemplation was interrupted by Syn’s next barrage of complaints.

“Look at Pierre, what the hell has this done for him?”

Shadows turned to look where his lieutenant was waving his hand. The Rev was still sitting on top of Pierre, who was lying, surprisingly, quiet on the ground. His dark eyes were taking everything in, an expression of awe still evident in his expression from the scene they had all just witnessed.

Shadows rubbed his jaw, shaking his head. But, before he responded, he took Zachary’s advice, closing his eyes so as to search inside himself. Clear, everything was clear, more so than it had ever been before. Blinking rapidly, he swung round to face his lieutenant, jaw clenching tight.

“You want to know what this has done?” He inclined his head toward Zachary who was crouching by Sherry, face in hand. Shadows kept his gazed locked with the brown-eyed vampire, repeating harshly, “You want to know?”

Synyster growled, drawing his body to its full height, which still wasn’t as tall as the Master Vampire. “Yeah, enlighten me, Shads.”

Shadows took several deep breaths, glancing over to the top of the bus, still able to envision what had just passed. He hadn’t seen anything like it in his two thousand years of life. Considering he hadn’t witnessed the first summoning of the devil, it was entirely alien to him. It was a gut-wrenching, heart-aching experience. Yet, at the same time it had cleansed his soul, renewed it. He felt different than he had ever done so before. And that was definitely something worth more than just a mere life.

“It’s changed everything, Brian. Everything. It’s changed me. I am not the vampire I was before, and that’s a great thing.” Shadows paused in his stream of words, breathing hard. Then he went on. “I have my soul back, Syn; and that means everything.”

Synyster rolled his eyes. “What about the rest of us?”

“You never lost yours.” Shadows laughed sadly, mumbling, “Never had one to begin with.”

“Hey, that’s a bit below the belt,” his lieutenant grumbled. The master vampire shrugged off his protest, it was of no importance, and turned back toward Pierre and The Rev. The tall vampire was no longer pinning the singer to the ground. Pierre was sitting upright, kneading at his temples. The Rev sat beside him, rubbing absently at his arms.

Shadows bit at his bottom lip, fangs protruding. “Pierre.”

Pierre lifted his head to meet the elder vampire’s questioning stare. “Yeah?” His face was impossible to read, whatever he thought was not available for Shadows to discern. The master vampire grimaced, searching for the right words to speak.

Pierre got there first. “Nothing’s changed.” He growled low. “I still feel the same. Still wanna rip you to pieces, you bastard.”

Shadows raked his fingers wearily through his hair. “All the more reason for me to do what I’m about to do.”

“And what might that be?” Pierre sneered, baring his own fangs viciously.

Shadows moved forward so he was standing above him. Glowering down at the vampire who was his son, he breathed out roughly, “Stand up.”

Pierre hissed, muscles tensing. “Why?”

“Just stand up.” Shadows was in no mood to be messed with.

The others turned to watch; Zachary was leaning up against Synyster, Johnny and the younger Were watched on silently beside them. Serena, and Luna who had materialised, sensing what had happened, also stood by watching on.

Pierre slowly, keeping his eyes locked upon Shadows’ big body, rose to his feet to confront him. He breathed deeply, nostrils flaring, eyes taking in every twitch of Shadows’ muscles.

“Now what?” Pierre muttered, eyebrows rising. Shadows’ lip curled and he circled the smaller male; Pierre turned though so he could keep his gaze fixed on the master vampire. “Well, Shadows? Now what’re you gonna do?”

The master vampire’s lips peeled back from his fangs as he halted directly in front of Pierre; his pupils dilated almost swallowing up the hazel of his irises. “Look at me, son.”

Pierre growled, but something inside compelled him to obey the command. He blinked once before allowing his eyes to meet the dark pits of Shadows’ and a chill coursed up his spine then spread through his body like an ice-cold wave.

Their eyes locked together and something flowed between them, some electrifying power, energy. The others all felt it, the hair, and fur, at the back of each of their necks rose in response to the charged sensations spilling from the two vampires. A tangible link formed between them and then before any of them could blink something broke.

A loud crackle of energy split the air, and rolled like thunder, a shockwave of energy emanating from between Pierre and Shadows. They all stared, watching as Pierre blinked once, and then his eyes rolled back in his head and he crashed to the ground, his body spasming as if trying to be rid of whatever pent up energy had build up inside him.

“Holy shit!” Zachary gasped.

Sherry’s face mirrored his shock and she scrambled forward to Pierre’s side. Shadows debated whether he should stop her, but judging by the expression in her eyes, there probably wasn’t any point. Right now, she was the terrified mother who wanted to make the world right for her child. So, he would let her be.

Shadows breathed hard having felt the link between them snap abruptly, feeling a tender ache in his chest. Pressing a hand over his heart he stood there, eyes fixed on Pierre’s prone form. Sherry leaned over him, a small hand resting against his chest, as she tried to rouse him.

“Pierre, come on...please...” Sherry closed her eyes, shifting even closer so she was almost laying over him. Shadows hissed through his teeth, looking at The Rev who was standing back a little looking as if he wanted to intervene, but at the same time not wanting to get in the way.

“Jimmy?”

The tall vampire glanced over at the master’s use of his Christian name. “Yeah, Matt?”

“Anything you can do?” Shadows nodded to Pierre and Sherry.

The Rev shook his head slowly. “No. It’s not for me to interfere.”

Shadows swore roughly and moved to kneel next to Sherry. He felt her stiffen slightly; he clenched his jaw tight, knowing he shouldn’t have expected anything less than her wariness. He knew she was still afraid of him, regardless of the understanding they had. Pushing those thoughts away, though, he focused his attention on Pierre.

“I don’t think talking to him like that will wake him.” He spoke in a low voice so as not to spook her. Sherry swung her head round to look at him; there was fear in her eyes. She was horrified by the turn of events and Shadows couldn’t say that he blamed her. He was stunned by what had just happened as well. He had not expected Pierre to go out for the count. However, as long as no permanent damage had been done, that was all that mattered.

Shadows reached out and laid a hand next to hers, on Pierre’s chest. It rose and fell slightly, a sure sign that he was at least still alive. Whatever had happened hadn’t mortally wounded him, luckily. Sherry blinked, staring at his hand then up into his face.

“Sire? What do we do?”

Shadows took a deep breath then let it out in a weary sigh. “Matt...”

“Pardon?” Sherry lifted an eyebrow.

The master vampire shook his head at her. “Call me Matt. Not, sire...not master...I’m not that to you...not anymore. Just Matt...or Matthew, whichever you prefer.”

Sherry looked away, gazing upon their son, lips drawn in a hard line. Shadows sighed again, removing his hand and sitting back. He sensed that trying to talk to her probably wasn’t such a good plan and so he nodded to Pierre, turning the conversation back to him.

“We should get him back to the Simple Plan bus. I’m sure Pat and the others will want to make sure he’s okay.”

Sherry scoffed suddenly, an edge to her voice, “Yeah, if he is it’ll be no thanks to you.”

Shadows closed his eyes fighting the instinct to lash out at her for her candidness. He had no right to come down on her, and she was right in a way. All of this was his fault, if he hadn’t been so Hell bent [no pun intended] on controlling Pierre, none of this would ever have eventuated. Pierre would be still living a relatively peaceful life. Well, as peaceful a life any vampire could ever live at least. But, he wouldn’t have had to contend with a power hungry, blood thirsty master vampire.

He opened them again and inclined his head in her direction. “I’ll concede that, Serena.”

Sherry stared at him then took several deep breaths before responding. “That’s...good.”

Shadows smirked faintly. “Well, for a badass like me, I guess that’s an accomplishment...y’know, doing good.”

Sherry smiled then, a soft expression appearing in her eyes. She didn’t need to say anything though, what she was thinking, feeling was clearly written on her face and it was like a light to the master vampire, a bright guiding light drawing him from the depths of his darkness.

Before he ran the risk of getting mushy at the sentimental feelings that were building inside him, Shadows shifted his weight and cleared his throat. “Right. We need to move him.”

The Rev spoke up from where he was standing, Luna now by his side. “You and Serena should take Pierre, we’ll stay here.” He glanced around at the others. Zachary was sitting down, forehead resting against his knees, still recovering. Synyster was crouching by him watching on in stupefied silence. Johnny and Shamus sat by tongues lolling from their mouths, equally as silent as Syn.

Luna agreed with The Rev, her eyes bright and warm as she looked steadily upon her brother. “Yes. He’s your son. You should do the right thing by him...after all, what are parents for?”

Shadows pinched at the bridge of his nose, feeling tension all over his body. Sherry sat watching him. He lowered his hand and met her wary look.

“Serena?”

The female swallowed hard then reached out to him. He bared his fangs ever so little, but then took the hand she proffered, squeezing it gently.

“Shall we?”

She nodded firmly. “Let’s do this.”

Shadows rumbled in his throat as he turned his eyes onto Pierre’s still body, resting his free hand on his arm, he closed his eyes, murmuring low. Sherry gripped his hand tightly, resting her other on Pierre’s hand.

The others stood back anxious expressions on their faces, which Shadows took in as he gave them all one last look before he vanished, taking Sherry and Pierre with him.

Simple Plan Bus
Same time

Patrick stiffened, sitting up from the tree trunk, eyes narrowing, fingers tightening on his beads. Chuck looked over at him.

“What, Pat?”

Pat tilted his head, not answering. His nostrils flared and he turned his head slowly. He sensed something, very close. Then, springing to his feet he practically ran back to the bus. The drummer followed on his heels, and as they scrambled back onto the bus, they were just in time to see Shadows materialise in the middle of the lounge area. In time to see David almost jump right out of his skin and yell out in shock.

“Holy crap! Don’t do that!”

Shadows didn’t bother apologising to the stunned bassist. His head swung around his eyes locking on Patrick as he stepped into the aisle of the bus.

“Wolf,” the vampire’s voice rasped out, “Clear some space.”

Pat judged by the expression in the master vampire’s eyes that his best course of action was to do exactly what he said. So, he hurried to the lounge, tossing magazines and random crap off it onto the floor. The big vampire nodded in gratitude, and then a familiar form took shape upon the cleared piece of furniture.

“Christ Almighty...” Pat breathed in hushed tones.

“Pierre?” Chuck stared. David did as well, yet for a change was unable to form any words. Shadows nodded tightly, noting to himself that Serena hadn’t appeared. That was probably for the best, considering all that had happened. It would be too much for him to expect them to meet Pierre’s mother without even more confusion.

“Yeah. He’s out though. I don’t know how long for.” He looked at Pat. “You might have to be prepared to feed him as soon as he wakes.”

Pat looked hard at the master vampire. “What happened?”

Shadows smeared a hand over his face as he explained the short version of the night’s events. “We summoned the devil...Zachary destroyed him...somehow...and then Pierre and I confronted each other...and I broke something between us. Knocked him out cold.” He paused trying to think if he had missed anything out. “That’s it, really. I guess Pierre will tell you anything more when he comes around.”

Pat stood there silently, allowing what the vampire had told him to sink in. After several long minutes, he moved to sit next to Pierre’s head.

Then, looking down at the floor, he murmured low, “Thanks...for bringing him back.” There was another long silence where Chuck and David looked between the Were and the vampire, curious to hear what would be said next.

Then Shadows spoke in an equally low voice, “He’s my son, Patrick. I owed it to him.” He grimaced then added roughly, “I owed it to his mother, too.”

Pat lifted his head, eyes hard. “Serena Volaire.”

“Yes. And you needn’t fear for her. I haven’t harmed her,” Shadows smiled weakly.

The Werewolf blinked at him then laughed sadly. “You know what? I actually believe you.” He laughed a little more. “And, you know what else?”

“What?” Shadows cocked his head to the side.

Pat grinned, hazel eyes suddenly bright. “It’s a great feeling.” The joy he felt was evident in his whole being; Shadows had a feeling if Pat was Wolf’d his tail would have been wagging as fast as possible. He chuckled at the image as he stepped back, preparing to leave.

“Good to hear, Pat...” He blinked several times, his mind already thinking ahead to the debriefing he needed. “I’ll leave you now...give Pierre a couple of hours to wake...”

Pat nodded. The other two lifted their hands to wave; Shadows smiled at them, fangs flashing as he vanished. Chuck and David stared nonplussed at where the vampire had been standing then looked at Pierre.

“Now what?” The drummer frowned.

Pat sighed leaning his head back against the window. “We wait...some more.”

David groaned, “That’s all we seem to be doing lately.”

Chuck snorted. “If you don’t want to wait, go to bed. Seb and Jeff already did. Before.”

The bassist shook his head, settling down next to Pat. “No. I’ll wait.”

In the end, though, David and Chuck fell asleep where they sat, leaving Pat the lone soul awake and waiting for Pierre to resurface.

Notes