Chapter 2

It had been a week since I last heard from Zak. I was actually really glad that I hadn't heard anything from him. That meant that things were okay for him and that he didn't need my help. I still wanted to know how it was going, though.

But all this changed when I checked my email at a coffee shop. I saw that I had one from him. I sighed and opened it. My stomach was clenching as it loaded. The subject was simply, "A little help?". When it loaded, I my fears were realized.

He didn't do it right. If he didn't do it right, then it would have just stirred up the demons. I read that things had gotten worse for him. He left his private number for me to call him with. I sighed and picked up my cheap ass phone. I flipped it open and I dialed the number.

"Hello?" I heard Zak say from the other end. He was quick with phone calls. I was impressed.

"It's Lea. I got your email. Where are you?" I asked him. I was looked at some people and they seemed to be enjoying each other's company.

"I am in New Orleans, Louisana. Where are you?" He asked me. Louisana?

"You are in the settling place of voodoo?" I asked him. This was bad. That was probably why he was having a harder time. It wouldn't surprise me if he picked more up.

"Yeah, I know that it sounds bad, but it is my job." He told me. He was going to use that for an excuse for everything.

"Are you a fucktard? Or do you just seem to be like this?" I asked him calmly as I packed my laptop back in it's bag.

"Excuse me?" He replied. I then started to walk out of the coffee house.

"I will be there in 6 hours. I will call you when I get near you." I told him. He sighed on the other end.

"I will see you then." He told me. I sighed and hung the phone up. At least I didn't need to find a new town, now. That was now a second priority. 

I got in my car and cranked the radio up. This was going to be a long drive, then I figured it would be a headache working with Zak too. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once I arrived in New Orleans, it was already dark. I had called Zak and he told me the hotel that he was at. It wasn't too hard to find. When I pulled up, I saw that it was a really nice place. There was no way that I was going to be able to afford this hotel. Or at least afford it and get away with it.

The inside was grand, but quaint. It was very nice. I walked to the elevator and to Zak's floor. It was really late, so I wasn't expecting him to be awake and start working, right now. I walked to his room and I knocked on the door. This would be at least a roll call, at the least. 

"Hey, there you are." He said as he answred the door. I walked in the room and I looked around. He had picked up a couple more and they were pissed at him. None of them were happy to see me and I knew that they were going to fight me. I then turned to face him. He was wearing a tight black shirt and a pair of sweats.

"Here I am. I guess we can start tomorrow. I just wanted to see how bad it was. Is it hard for you?" I asked him. I could see the bags under his eyes.

"Yeah, it is, actually." He admitted to me. I nodded my head and looked back around the room.

"I guess you should head off to sleep. What are you doing tomorrow?" I asked him.

"We are going to be filming some dramatic scenes and some interviews." He told me.

"What time should we start?"

"How long will it take?" He asked me.

"It will take a long time, but we are going to start small. It will be tiring." I warned him. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Okay, tomorrow evening, I am free." He told me. That was going to have to be good enough.

"Alright, I will see you then." I told him. I then opened the door. That was when I saw Aaron and Nick. They were standing there and they looked like they were about to knock.

"Um, hey. What is going on here?" Nick asked Zak with a smile on his face.

"It's not like that, you perv. He needs help because of what you ass hats do. I am his help." I explained to them. Nick started to luagh after I explained what I was doing there. He then walked in the room and sat on Zak's bed.

"So is that a;; that you are here for?" Nick asked with a wink.

"Why? Do you not like to know that your boyfriend might have someone else?" I asked him with the same amount of sass.

"Ooh! Do you need cold water for that burn?" Aaron asked him. I smiled a little at him.

"No, Aaron. It's do you need aloe vera for that burn." Zak said in an exhasperated voice.

"Alright, I will see you guys tomorrow." I told them as I left the room. I heard them say goodnight to me. I kept walking down the hall way. I walked out of the hotel and I went to my car. I got in and put the seat back in a laying position. I grabbed my blanket that was in the other seat and I pulled it over me.

This was how I fell asleep most nights. Overall, it was better than a padded room. Thinking about being in a padded room made my stomach churn. I stopped thinking about and I fell asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

"Oh shit!" I yelled as I woke up. I bolted up and I saw that the sun was already up. I then saw that Aaron was standing at my window. I looked at him with wide eyes and he motioned for me to roll my window down. I sighed and opened my door.

"What was that for? I had an alarm set!" I yelled at him. I really couldn't think of any rational reason to wake someone up like that.

"I am sorry about that. Have you been sleeping here all night?" He asked me. He seemed to be really concerned. I calmed down and nodded my head as I looked at my car. It was really my home, at this point.

"Did you drive all the way here from Utah to sleep in your car?" He then asked. I sighed and shook my head.

"No, I was in Florida. Zak called about his little problem and I came to help." I told him.

"That's right. You can see things. That must be pretty hard." He told me. I leaned against my car and he came and leaned on the car too.

"It is. I think that most people think that I am faking." I confessed to him.

"I believe you. I guess I just know that there is other stuff, so it makes it easier." He said. I looked at him and he was really calm. He didn't have too many attatchments. They didn't really bother him either.

"I can help you get rid of the few that you have." I told him. He nodded his head and started to walk away.

"Come with me and I will buy you a coffee." He told me. I followed him to the coffee shop.

"Just becuase I slept in my car, doesn't mean that I don't have money." I pointed out to him. He sighed and paid for my coffee. 

"I don't care. It is my treat." He told me. I thanked him and the two of us went back to the hotel with our coffees. 

Aaron and I walked in and went to the rooms. Nick was already awake and he was working out in the gym. Zak was in his room dressing. I went with Aaron to his room. I saw that it was a little bit of a mess. Then I saw that equipment. It was all neat and tidy.

"Is that what you use on your lockdowns?" I asked him. He walked over to where I was.

"Yep, that is it. It seemed like a lot and it is." He said jokingly. I rolled my eyes at his little comment. I then went to his bed and sat down.

"So what would you have me do with these attatchment things?" He asked me. I smiled at him and took a sip of my coffee.

"Well, you would have to meditate and clear your head every day. That is basically it for you." I told him. He smiled at me and nodded his head.

"What about Zak? Is he going to be harder to take care of?" He asked.

"Yeah, he will be. It will be hard for him. He will start turning dark, but he will get better." I told him. He nodded his head, like he understood.

"I think that we should go check on them." He told me. I thought that it was a good idea too. He and I went to Zak's room first. We knocked on the door and waited for him to answer. When he answered, he was dressed, but his hair was in it's natural state.

"Hey, what's going on?" He asked the two of us. Aaron then invited himself in the room. I stood there until Zak opened the door more, as a silent invite. I walked in too.

"We were just hanging out." Aaron told him. I looked around the room and I felt like it was too crowded. He was going to have a really rough time with it. One of the demons came over to me and started to size me up. I stared at it the entire time.

"What are you looking at?" I heard Zak say. I looked up at him then I realized that I was just glaring at a chair. I sighed and closed my eyes.

"It was nothing. I was thinking." I said instinctively. They both knew that I was lying. The fact that they knew, was making me uncomfortable.

"No, please tell us, for real." Zak said to me. I rolled my eyes and looked back at it.

"It is just a demon. He is trying to figure how much of a threat I am to him." I told them. I saw that Zak and Aaron started to get worried. They went into a bit of a panic mode. Aaron started to move his foot really fast and Zak was pacing. 

"Guys, what's wrong?" I asked them. 

"Sorry, it's just that we usually are trying to provoke them. I wouldn't think that one would be in my hotel room." Zak said to me. I rolled my eyes and sighed. They both were then looking at me. 

"Guys, it isn't an actual demon. Well it's a type, but it isn't one that would posess you. It is just an attatchment. Nearly harmless. It is just here and there is nothing that you can do about it. That's why I am here." I explained to them. They seemed to find a little comfort in that. This whole thing had just been reall weird for the three of us. Then Nick came in the room.

"Hey, so I was thinking that we could have Lea as a 5th member." Nick said. He didn't even see that I was in there.

"Um, hello to you too, Nick." I said. He then looked at me and started to blush.

"Wow. Man, I am stupid." He said as he put his hand on the back of his neck. I rolled my eyes and looked at Zak and Aaron.

"We will talk about it later. We need to get going, now." Aaron said as he looked at his watch. Zak then grabbed a hat and sighed.

"This is why I don't like anyone coming in here when I dress." He muttered as we left the room.

The guys invited me to come with me for their interviews. I agreed to go. I told them that I didn't want to be on any of the cameras. They got some footage of me, but that was just because I would end up walking with Zak, between the buildings. I didn't even realize it until later when Aaron told me to stick with him. 

Once all the interviews were over, we went back to the hotel. Tomorrow, they would be doing the lock down and I would be somewhere else. I had really gotten there. I was thinking about going off to a shop to gather some stuff. It wouldn't be hard to gather spirit stuff in New Orleans.

 "So are we going to start, now?" Zak asked me as we went to his room. I looked at Nick and Aaron. They seemed to be really interested in it too.

"Yeah, we will start. I know that this is going to sound really bad, but the demons will be looking for another place to attatch. I don't want either of you to get attatched to them, so is it cool if it is just me and Zak?" I said to Nick and Aaron.

"Yeah, that's cool." Aaron told me. I saw that Nick wasn't so sure about my plan. I could tell that he didn't really trust me. I haven't really given him a chance to, either. Zak and I then walked to his room. When we walked in, I went to his bed and I sat on it. He stood there and looked at me. 

"What are we doing?" He asked me. I smiled at him and sighed.

"You are going to relax and clear your head. That is the first thing. You have to start to sever the bond, first." I explained. He nodded his head and laid on the ground. The attatchements sat around him. They looked at him like he was a peice of fresh meat. The way that their eyes were glowing, was making me a little more nervous.

"Okay, now what?" He asked as he laid on the floor. I walked over to him and the demons would move out of my way. They knew that I could see them and they respected me, to an extent. They saw me as a threat, so that was some what of a good thing.

"Just close your eyes and think of a light that is filling your body. You need to think of it like it is going through your body." I told him. He sighed and closed his eyes. I walked around his body and made the attatchements move a little away from him. I then saw one of them touch his temples.

I stood there and watched him this happen. Zak started to wince. It was like he was trrying to fight something. That was the one that we would have to get rid of first. That was the ring leader.

"Zak, open your eyes, you are fine." I told him. He opened his eyes and gasped. I saw that there was something a little different about him. He sat straight up, like a robot.

"You think that you can just get rid of us like that? It is going to take a lot more than just a little meditating." Zak told me in a rough creaky voice. It wasn't him. It was the demon.

"Then I will fight you." I told it. He then stood up and came after me. That was not a good move that I made. I backed away from him as he walked to me. He lifted his arm up and I knew that this was going to be an actual fight.

I ran to the door and I flung it open. I ran down the hall. When I had to turn, it turned into more of a scramble. I needed to get away from him. He was much stronger than I was. Plus he seemed to know more than I did.

"Where is the fire, Lea?" Nick asked me as I bumped into him. I looked up at him and he saw that I was scared.

"What is happening?" He asked me seriously. I then looked behind me.

"It isn't him. It is something else. I swear, if I know that this was going to happen, I would have brought some stuff with me." I told him quickly. He then looked behind me and he saw Zak. He was still stomping quickly to me. Nick then stood in front of me.

"Zak, stop." Nick told him. He kept walking towards me anyway. I wasn't sure if I should run or not.

"She wants to fight, though." He said. He was slowing down a little. It was sort of like he was getting ready.

"Zak, listne to me." Nick said as he grabbed his friend by the shoulders. I stood there and watched Zak's eyes. once Nick shook him a little, it was like the demon fell out of him. Zak then came back in control. He looked at me and sighed.

"I am sorry." He said to me quietly. I lifted my chin up a little.

"It is fine. I should have known that something like that was going happen." I told them. Zak looked exhausted. He then started to walk to his room. I watched him take a couple of steps, before I followed him.

"Woah, what are you doing? Are you sure that you are going to go back there?" Nick asked me as I left him in the hall.

"Yeah, I have to talk to him. I know that he feels bad. I have to try to make it better." I told him. Nick looked really concerned, but he knew that I would be okay. I then walked behind Zak as we went to his room.

"I am sorry about that." He told me as we went back in.

"No, don't be. You couldn't do anything about it. I should have done something, but I didn't." I confessed to him. He didn't seem angry about it, though. He just sat on his bed and stayed quiet.

"What was it thinking of?" I finally asked. He looekd up at me with a pained expression. He didn't want to tell me. I needed to know, though.

"It wanted to kill you. It wanted to ring your neck out." He said quietly. Inodded my head. That would make sense. I then walked over to him. He looked up at me. I then took one of my necklaces off.

"This will stop anymore from attatching to you." I told him. He took it from me and held it in his hand.

"I will get you one for possessions later." I concluded. He looked at me like I was speaking a new language.

"There is stuff out there like that?" He asked me.

"Yeah, there is. I kinda need to keep mine on. Without it I am really vulenerable." I told him. He sighed and looke dat the necklace again.

"Are you sure that you don't need this one?" He asked me.

"Zak, just put it on. Please." I said. He did as I said and I smiled at him.

"I will see you tomorrow, I guess." I told him. Zak then looked really sad.

"Are you sleeping in your car?" He asked me. I stopped and looked at him.

"Aaron told you?" I assumed. He nodded his head as confirmation. Of course Aaron would tell him. It was just my luck that these guys would actually care about a stranger too.

"Look, I am not a charity. I have my car. I have money. It is my choice." I told him. Zak then got off of his bed and walked to me.

"I'll walk with you, then." He offered. I couldn't tell him to stay. He and I walked down to the lobby and out of the building. I then took him to my car.

"You can go, now." I told him. He then looked around. We weren't in the safest place in the world, but I had been in worse. Zak seemed to be really worried about me and what I did. That actually reall annoyed me, because I was very capable of handling myself.

"If you want a bed, just come to my room. We can figure something out." He offered to me. I smiled at him and leaned against my car.

"Zal, why are you being so nice to me? You hardly know me. Hell, I am the crazy woman that you ran into a week ago. Now you are offereing me your bed and you are walking me to my car." I pointed out. Zak seemed be trying to form the right words.

"Look, I am a nice guy. I think that you need help too. Maybe just some people that believe you, but you do need a little help. Just let Nick, Aaron, and I help you with it. We can. We all believe you." He told me. That was not what I wanted to hear.

"You might believe me, but you will nevver understand. You need to get that straight, right now. I am not your project either. I am able to take care of myself. So goonight, Mr. Bagans." I said to him. I then unlocked my car and I got in it. He stood there and looked at me. I tried to not pay any attetion to him.

"My offer still stands. I know that it is going to get cold." He yelled, so that I could hear him. He then walked away. I watched him walk away.

Once he was a good distance, I kicked the floormat and screamed. Damn him. Why would he care? He has everything. He can just get whatever he doesn't have. I layed my seat back and I grabbed my blanket. I just needed to sleep it off.