Elements of a Selfish Desire

They had just gotten back to the hotel after playing the second show of the tour. Good set, great crowd, but it was definitely time to turn in for the night. Being that he had already showered at the venue, all he had to do when he got into his room was strip down to his boxers and slide under the covers of the king-sized bed. It didn’t take much after a ninety plus minute set to sink into the mattress and drift off into a pool of contentment just this side of slumberville.

Unless you were a hybrid like Zack.

One thing he didn’t like about being who he was, was not being able to turn certain abilities off. Like being able to see his surroundings when he was asleep. For the first few years, he thought that he was dreaming about the room he was in. Once he learned that he had another side (Vengeance), he attributed it to that half being awake when he was not. He knew differently now, but that didn’t make it any less annoying. It had never done him any good, and though he truly should know better by now, he had pretty much filed it under the useless gifting category of his mind. What he did not know was that he was about to be set straight on that theory.

As he lay on the plush pillow top bed, he caught glimpse of something. Peeling an eye open, he glanced around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Mumbling to himself, his lashes met his cheek and he tried to focus on the whole sleep thing again. Just seconds after doing so, he saw a maroon and black streak jet across his supernatural vision. This time, he sat up out of bed.

“Who’s there?” it came out slightly less authoritative than he had intended, but it was still clear.

Zack, the room seemed to whisper in a tangible breeze. Light as it may have been, he definitely felt it. On several levels.

He was definitely awake and alert both, but he couldn’t see anything. It seemed the room had grown darker somehow. He shifted and stretched to flick on the light on the bedside table. To his dismay, he still saw nothing. Frustrated, he closed his eyes again. Though it was blank for just a moment, that began to lift and his vision adjusted within.

Zack, we don’t have much time, the woman that was clearly in his view now relayed telepathically, without so much as moving a muscle.

Time for what? And why are you following me? he questioned right back. I saw you in the crowd tonight.

I came to the show to warn you, but you left so quickly.

Warn me about what?

A few noises came in rapid succession from out in the hallway, and it caused the guitarist to snap his head in that direction. When he looked back, he was slightly surprised that he could see her in the flesh. With his eyes fully open.

We don’t have time now.

A harsh series of knocks sliced through the heart of their conversation, and Zack sat up further in his spot. “Yes we do. It’s probably just one of my friends being stupid.”

It’s more than that. I’ll be in touch.

“Look, you came all this way to find me here. The least you can do is tell me why! Wait!” a growl escaped his lips when she dissolved like a fine misted rain. “Omega!” He was not amused.

“Z- ugh- ZACK!” coughing and sputtering from the other side of the door caused him to turn his attention to the earthly realm once again.

Knowing all too well the voice on the other side, he flung the covers off and hurried to answer the knocks. Though he wasn’t particularly planning on dressing along the way, he did see a shirt flung haphazardly along the breakfast bar in the small kitchenette, and he tugged it over his torso as he went.

“Brian, what’s going on?” he asked the second he opened the door.

His response was a loud cough and a heavily inked hand came to cover his mouth as he rushed for somewhere to be sick. Unfortunately for the both of them, it did not help. Before he could even get passed the rhythm, the contents of his stomach unleashed in a most violent manner. The soured mucousy substance landed on the both of them and a few choice words spewed out of his mouth in an attempt to apologize.

“Let’s just get inside.” Swiftly pulling the ill man fully into the room, he pushed the door shut and felt around on the wall for a light switch.

Light flooded the room, and the green-eyed man grimaced at the sight of what had become of his upper half. He said nothing, but sighed inwardly in gratitude for his last second decision to put on the undershirt. With a point to the bathroom, he showed him the way. He sounded terrible. What in the world was going on with him?

“You’re fine dude. Don’t worry about it.”

“Was just trying to—” another gush of vomit cut his explanation off. With a wave of his hand to dismiss what he had been attempting to say, he summed it up by saying, “Your room was closer.”

“It’s fine. If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen.”

While it was tempting to just blur into the next room and use his gifting to be out of the sickening mess of clothes, the hybrid still chose to do it the old-fashioned way. The normal way. The human way. He saw himself kind of like this: he had friends growing up that were of two different ethnic backgrounds, so they identified as whichever one they felt closer to. In the same manner, he much preferred to see himself as human; because he was. Sort of.

Five minutes went by, then ten. At about the fifteen minute mark, he heard the shower turn on and it elicited a sigh from his lips. That had to be a good sign, didn’t it? Though he knew he could call the front desk to request housekeeping, he already prepared himself for handling cleanup on his own. Not only was Brian’s business no one else’s, but he still thought of himself as a polite man. He didn’t want to bother someone in the middle of the night to take care of something he could do himself. Even if he didn’t necessarily want to. It was just part of being human, and that was something he liked to keep in practice; for multiple reasons.

By the time the lead emerged from the now steam filled room, his friend had a fresh set of clothes laid out for him to borrow. A rugged word of thanks was spoken, but fell on semi- deaf ears as the hybrid was on the verge of sleep. It was actually that six sense-type of sight that alerted him to Brian’s presence.

“You can crash here if you want.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure, man?” he questioned with a concerned glance at the way the other man was favoring his right side ever so slightly. “You look like you still don’t feel well.”

“I don’t, but I’ll be fine. I just probably shouldn’t have had that last beer is all.”

“Okay,” he replied, though he was less than convinced. “See you tomorrow.”

“At this rate I may miss breakfast, but I’ll catch up with everyone before lunch.”

“Alright. Have a better night.”

“Yeah, you too.”

A shake of his head couldn’t be held back as he watched the taller man leave the suite. Something just wasn’t right. While he couldn’t put his finger on it, he wasn’t blind. That wasn’t the only thing he hadn’t been able to figure out yet.

Why the hell was Omega at the venue, and why would she have shown up in his hotel room? He couldn’t be upset with Brian for interrupting, but he couldn’t help but wonder how the conversation would have gone if he hadn’t. He already knew he could not summon the mysterious woman’s presence, so he resolved to sleep on it. A little sleep never hurt anyone, and he wasn’t so sure he could press on through the day that was rapidly approaching without at least a little shut eye.

*

“You’re up late today,” a much too cheerful Johnny mused when he finally made an appearance the next morning.

“Just a tad. Didn’t sleep much last night.”

“Hot date with a sexy woman of the female species, eh?”

“Only the one in my head. And it definitely didn’t have a happy ending,” he snorted.

“Sexy woman….of the female….species. What the hell did you just say?” the singer recited in an attempt to understand the bassist’s language, but it just wasn’t working. Lifting a hand, he smacked him square on the back of the head. “You’re making my head hurt, Seward. Shut up.”

“It’s not my fault you all had shitty nights. I, in fact, had a glorious evening.”

“Johnny got laid, I’ll be damn.”

“No, I didn’t have sex. Smartass,” he punched at the muscled shoulder of the taller man and shot a glare his direction. “I had some wine, talked to some family, played a little Zombies, and got a good night sleep afterward.”

“Oh. Well, forgive me then. You just had the most boring night on the face of the planet.”

“You guys fight like an old married couple sometimes,” Zack groaned and ran a hand down his face. “I’ve been here less than two minutes and I already want to crawl in a hole and drag the dirt in over top of me.”

“Speaking of old, where is old man Gates at?” the bassist asked, and his face lit up a little bit when he finally got a laugh out of Matt.

“Probably video sexing his wife.”

“Doubtful.” The green-eyed man dismissed. “Last I saw Brian, he was puking his guts up in my room.”

“Oh shit. Yeah, I remember now. We were drinking with some of the crew, and he abruptly got up and left to come see you.”

“He left to come see me?” Zack asked the hazel eyed man with a hint of curiosity in his voice now. “Why?”

“I don’t know. He just randomly got up and said he needed to talk to you about something.”

“That’s weird.” Pulling his phone from his pocket, he queued up a message to their absent friend.

Hey man. You okay this morning?