Purpose (22 page)

Movement and a change in breathing told him Ryan had woken up. Maybe he’d roll over and go back to sleep.

“Will?”

Smiling, he held his position. “In here.”

“What’re you doing?”

More movement. Ryan would be joining him in a moment. “Tai Chi.”

“At this hour?” Wearing just his boxers, Ryan plunked down on the couch. To Will’s eye, his body looked tighter, stronger. He tried to recall the changes in his first two weeks but didn’t remember anything noticeable.

“I don’t need much sleep.” Twisting, he changed positions. “This helps clear my mind and lets me think things through. You should join me.”

Ryan’s eyes darted to the blue foam under Will’s feet. “We’ll need a second mat.”

“I think we can afford it.” He winked, nearly breaking his concentration, but he earned a smile in return. “You should go back to sleep. We start training this morning.”

Rolling his eyes, Ryan tilted his head back. “I can’t believe you’re making me do that.”

Relaxing, Will stopped his routine. “Ryan, this is important. I can’t train you to defend yourself if you don’t practice. And before I can start—”

“I know, you need to know what my abilities are.”

For a moment, he considered starting over, but decided to wait. He lifted Ryan’s legs and placed them on his thighs after he sat down. He gently rubbed the calves and worked his way down until he was massaging his boyfriend’s feet.

“That feels amazing.” Ryan had his eyes closed, a contented smile on his lips. “How come you never did this before?”

“We’ve known each other less than two weeks. You can’t expect me to use all my tricks on you right away.”

“Good to know you didn’t suck me in with all your best tricks.”

Will found the pressure points and gently squeezed. “So why did you get up?”

“
It
talked to me.”

His fingers froze, and he turned slowly. Ryan stared at him, serious and a bit confused. “
It
spoke to you?”

Nodding, Ryan swung his feet off Will’s lap. “Sorta. I think my Purpose is a bit more sentient than yours.”

“
It
spoke to you?” He still couldn’t get his mind around the idea. “Are you sure it wasn’t a dream?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Will leaned back and the leather creaked from the contact. Thoughts raced against emotions as the impact took hold.

“It’s not words or anything.” His sentence came out in a rush. Ryan must have seen what his words did to Will. “It answers my questions by showing me memories of past lives.”

“Memories?” Impossible. If the other hosts knew anything about
It
, they’d have found it. “How’s that work?”

“Like I said,
It
doesn’t use words to answer questions, but it can communicate with me.” Fingers to his temples, Ryan rubbed quickly. “Trying to make sense of things was hard. Sometimes, I asked the wrong question and had no idea what
It
was trying to tell me. But toward the end I got the hang of asking questions to get an answer I could understand.”

“So… so what did you learn?” He could barely contain his excitement. It felt as if it might burst out of his throat. Answers, real answers, not speculation. This might help him manage this thing.

“I confirmed some of what we figured out.” He placed his hand over Will’s, squeezing but not removing it. “Mine chases yours to help you, but I’m not sure exactly how. I’m sorry, Will. The rush of images got to be too much. I had to stop.”

“Hey, hold on.” He pulled their hands to his lips. “There’s nothing to apologize for. Whatever you learned will be helpful, and if it really will answer questions, there’s time later.”

“I know, it’s just… ugh! It’s maddening. The answers are there, but I can’t see them. I can feel
It
getting frustrated too.” He took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “I’m supposed to help quiet the innocent.”

“The innocent? Not the Purpose?” The innocent were fleeting. How could that be right? Maybe Ryan misunderstood.

“What is the purpose of your Purpose?” Ryan snorted, shaking his head. “Sorry, that sounds weird, but you understand the question.”

“Vengeance.” It had always been about avenging the innocent and punishing the guilty.

“What about justice? Balance? Doing what’s right?” There was an edge to his words. Ryan was challenging him to revisit his entire existence.

“What about them?” Those weren’t his responsibilities. The souls of the dead demanded revenge. The guilty deserved nothing less.

“Are you sure it’s vengeance?” Ryan wouldn’t meet his eyes. He was upending Will’s whole life and wouldn’t look at him.

Phillip Greer’s cloudy-eyed, bald-headed face flashed through his thoughts. He killed an innocent. Why hadn’t Will been required to kill him? The victim wanted revenge, demanded it even, but Will ignored her and let him live. “No, not anymore.”

“Me neither.” Finally, Ryan turned. “We were—are—supposed to be a team, but something happened. The two were separated and never found their way back. Mine tried, constantly, but no one understood what was happening. No one until you.”

“Me?” Will couldn’t hide his disbelief. “I didn’t figure out anything.”

“Yes, you did.” The voice was soft, distant. “You felt my Purpose calling yours. That’s what it was. Every new host called to you, yours.”

“What are you talking about?” He’d only felt that sensation twice. Both times right before the host was about to die. “Yours and David’s were the only two calls I heard.”

“I know.” Standing, Ryan pulled his boxers down slightly. “Damn leather couch, keeps giving me a wedgie. Can we go back to bed and talk? It’s more comfortable.”

Smirking, Will stood up. “Sure.”

When they were under the covers, Ryan rested his head on Will’s chest. “The call attracts the guilty. You were supposed to come save me.”

“I figured that, but how come I never felt the others?” Forty damn years, he should have heard more than two.

“You needed to meet me,
It
, for the call to make sense. You might have heard it, but it didn’t register.” He lifted his head so he could look at Will’s face. “I don’t really understand it. That was one of those parts that was hard to figure out, but my Purpose calls out, hoping yours is close and will hear it.”

“So why didn’t it call out when we met? Why did it wait until you were in danger?” This made no sense. Why would
It
put Ryan and the other hosts at risk just to attract his Purpose?

“I think it did. Why else did you need to speak to me? It’s not like I’m drop-dead gorgeous.”

“Ryan—”

“Stop, this isn’t me being insecure. It’s about the truth. I know you think I’m attractive—thank you, by the way. I’ve never told you how much I like hearing you say it—but there is nothing so amazingly special about me that would draw you to me the moment you saw me. No offense, but as hot as you are, there isn’t anything that special about you that on first glance would make me need to speak to you. Want, sure. Lust, of course. But need to or else? Sorry, Will. Even you’re not that amazing.”

He couldn’t stop the laugh. Ryan was right. There had been an unnatural attraction between them from the start. At first he’d thought it was a resemblance to David.

“You’re thinking about David, aren’t you?”

He nodded, even though Ryan couldn’t see it. “Yeah. When we met, I thought you had David’s eyes. I felt a connection to him.”

“Not him, Will,
It
.”

“Right.” Made sense, they were nothing alike. “So again, why did it call out when you left? And why did it attract violence to David? We were already together by then.”

“This is another part I’m fuzzy on, but I think—
think
—my Purpose can sense the violent ones, and it calls to you to stop them.”

“That’s absurd.” The words escaped him before he realized he’d insulted Ryan. “Sorry, I didn’t mean you’re being stupid, but whatever it’s showing you, that’s just not logical.”

“It’s not crazy.” Ryan didn’t sound upset, so Will relaxed a fraction. “We’re a team. I can feel the guilty before they do something. The innocent flock to you after they’re gone.”

“Let’s say you’re right about that. Why would your Purpose call to me? Why not save them yourself?” Forcing himself to breathe normally, he caught Ryan’s scent. Two weeks and it was already familiar, calming even.

“Your Purpose is stronger.” Ryan moved his hand in small circles over Will’s stomach. “You, the others, were right.
It
gets strength from the dead.”

“Okay, how do you know that?”

“I asked
It
where you got your strength from. It showed me the dead you avenged.” He shrugged. “Will, I know this isn’t exact, but when I come to the right conclusion it lets me know.”

“How?”

“The best way to describe it is, it feels like
It
’s smiling. Yeah, I know, I’m basing this all on a feeling, but I know when I’m right.”

Much as he hated hearing it, he understood what trying to get answer from
It
felt like. “Sounds pretty much like how mine works.”

“There’s one more thing.
It
calls to you, because I get my strength from you. For now—maybe for a while—I need you to protect me. Just like you said.”

The last sentence had a sadness that tugged at him. “Don’t sound so upset. I thought I was good company.”

“Oh, it’s not that.” He perked up, leaning over to kiss Will. “It just means I have to get up early and go with you for that damn early-morning exercise.”

“E
IGHT
…
nine… ten.” He called out the numbers to encourage Ryan. The fitness trail along Rock Creek Park was mostly empty, perfect time to work out away from too many prying eyes. “C’mon, you got five more in you.”

Ryan almost stopped halfway but completed the chin-up first. “Five more? Are you kidding me?”

“Four now.” He flicked his wrist up, telling Ryan to get to it. “You’re definitely much stronger than the day we met.”

A jogger ran past, turned to stare at Ryan as his body shook with the effort. He let go as if the bar burned his hand and turned to follow the jogger. “That guy thinks you’re hot.”

“Actually, I think he thought, ‘I’d do them both,’ or did I get that wrong?” Will raised an eyebrow and stared at Ryan until he laughed.

“Okay, so that is what he thought, but he was checking you out.”

“Whatever.” Pointing to the bar, he added, “Three more to go.”

Ignoring the groan, Will scanned the area for other joggers. Seeing none, he leapt up, grabbed the bar with his left hand, and joined Ryan for the last three chin-ups.

“Show-off.”

Will shrugged as he led them to the next station. “If your strength keeps increasing at the rate it is now, you’ll be able to do that soon enough.”

“Will, how do we know I’m not weakening you by taking some of your strength?”

They stopped by the slanted sit-up board. Waste of time. His abs were so strong now, he could do sit-ups all day and not tire. But they’d do them together.

“I thought about that,” he said as they got in position facing each other. With Will matching Ryan’s movements, they started the first set. “As with a lot of this, I can’t be sure,
but
I don’t think you’re sapping my strength. I might not be getting stronger, or my growth rate may have stalled, but I don’t think a host backtracks.”

Ryan paused at the top of his movement. “Really? What makes you think that?”

“Keep working, slacker.”

Ryan stuck his tongue out but returned to his reps.

Ignoring the gesture, Will asked, “Which part were you asking about?”

“Why don’t you think you’re getting stronger?”

“The human body has a finite capacity—comic book superheroes notwithstanding. Muscles can only grow so strong, flesh and bones get but so hard. Everything has a limit. Eventually, you reach a level that you can’t go up from. I might be there already.”

“Assuming your theory is right, why do you think you’ve reached that level?”

Wonder if he knows we’re up to sixty already?
“Just a hunch. Like I said, there’s no manual, like on a video game, that says, ‘When you reach this level, you’ve maxed out.’ All I can do is come to logical conclusions based on the facts.”

“So you really don’t know.” Ryan was barely breathing hard. He was getting strength from somewhere.

“No, not for sure. But I still don’t think you’re leeching my strength. You might be getting your increased abilities from me, but I suspect I’m more of a conduit than a source.” Pausing at the top of a rep, he smirked. “That was seventy-five. How many more do you want to do?”

“Seventy….”

“Six.” He watched Ryan’s face go from confused into a big grin. “Next time I’m going to make you hold a big rock.”

“Don’t I get a say?” Despite the question, Ryan looked happy.

“No.” Nodding, he moved them to the last station. “Did you feel the most recent call?”

The smile drained from Ryan’s face. “Yes.”

“I want you to stay in the apartment while I’m gone.”

“Will….”