The Source of Our Power: Chapter 8

"Blaine, concentrate."

Blaine let out a frustrated groan from his position on the mat in the basement, flat on his back. Rachel leapt to her feet lightly and opened her mouth to add her two cents before Kurt shot her a dark look and held up a hand.

Surprisingly, Rachel actually closed her mouth and looked at Kurt expectantly, used to deferring to a Watcher.

"I know," Blaine muttered. "It's just hard. All I can think about is Brittany. Hasn't anyone heard anything?" He pushed a hand through his sweat-damp curls and climbed to his feet.

"That's the point, Blaine," Kurt said, avoiding the question. "You have to be able to concentrate even when it's hard. Especially when it's hard. What if Brittany needs you? She needs you strong and focused, Blaine. We all do."

Blaine closed his eyes and sighed, but nodded. Kurt was right. Of course he was. He couldn't simply allow Rachel to pummel him over and over again.

"Take a moment to find your center," Kurt said, his voice soft and smooth. "Both of you. Standing meditation. Rachel, don't be so sure of yourself. Blaine really needs to improve and you're going too easy on him. Blaine, you are not here. You are not fighting Rachel. You are wherever and facing whomever you need to be in order to be at your best, all right? I need your full attention on this fight."

The two Slayers stood, breathing deep and slow and rhythmic, allowing themselves to fall into very shallow trances, feeling the faintest glimmer of their thrumming connection to all the Slayers in the world. They let it fill them, let themselves become centered in what they needed to face the next battle. It was a scant few moments before Kurt's voice reached them again.

"Okay. When you are ready, you may open your eyes and begin."

They opened their eyes and raised their heads simultaneously. Rachel leapt.

Blaine was barely able to sidestep her attack, but sidestep it he did. His eyes were sharp and focused despite the bags beneath them, flashing with something decidedly new. Kurt didn't know what Blaine was thinking of to allow him to focus this way, but it was working.

It had been a rough couple of days, and Kurt had wanted nothing more than to bundle Blaine up on the couch with steaming bowls of homemade soup and silly movies and murmured assurances that everything would be okay. But he couldn't. Not now. They still didn't know exactly who they were dealing with behind it all, but it was starting. It was all starting, and Kurt needed Blaine strong. Especially since it was probably only a matter of time before news of the prophecy fell into the wrong hands. And once that happened, Blaine would be lucky to survive an hour.

Blaine fought well, though he was still using mostly defensive tactics. Rachel did up her game, and Blaine rose to the challenge. Kurt had always found it beautiful watching Slayers train together – the physical perfection with which they moved their bodies, strength that they never had to hold back, not with one another – but he had to admit that watching Blaine train was something else altogether. To see the strength and grace and intuitive skill that he had always associated with women demonstrated by this boy – this irrefutably beautiful boy – it was almost too much. Kurt found himself struggling to focus on Blaine's technique rather than his other attributes.

He sighed inwardly. It had been far too long since he'd had any type of sexual or romantic activity in his life. And now here he was, drooling over his Slayer. This was not good.

Will descended the stairs to the basement just as Rachel was once again pinning Blaine to the mat. It had taken far longer for her to overpower him in this round, though, and he had caused her to lose her footing more than once this time around. Blaine was definitely getting better. It would only be a matter of time before he won a round as well.

Both Slayers rose to their feet panting heavily. "That was really good, Blaine," Rachel said encouragingly.

Blaine smiled at her. "Thanks. And thanks for not going easy on me this time."

Rachel giggled slightly and gave Blaine a gentle punch on the arm that would have sent any normal person flying across the room. "Oh, please. You almost beat me fair and square that time. I've got half a mind to stop training with you before you actually do."

Blaine bit his lip and smiled shyly at her before looking over at Kurt, uncertainty written all over his face.

"She's right," Kurt confirmed gently. "You really stayed focused. That was phenomenal, Blaine. I'm proud of you."

Blaine openly preened at the attention, and Will clapped Kurt on his good shoulder. "That really was great, guys – good job, Kurt. I came down to tell you that dinner is almost ready, and we've got the meeting after that, so you might want to finish up."

"Just one more round?" Blaine asked hopefully. "I really want to beat Rachel."

Kurt glanced at Will and Rachel with a small smile."One more round," Rachel agreed. "But don't get to sure of yourself, Anderson."

Blaine didn't beat Rachel that night, but he did come very close. It was enough to get his mind off of Brittany for a little while, especially with the genuine praise Kurt was giving him as he worked harder and harder and fought better and better.

He was just glad Kurt hadn't asked what Blaine was thinking about to help him fight that much better.

After dinner, everyone busied themselves with preparations for the monthly Council meeting. The Hummel-Hudson home was one of a handful of work-houses that hosted the meetings in the area, and it was not only an opportunity to discuss threats and strategies, it was an important social event too. Council meetings were where many people in the fold met their significant others. It was where strong friendships were formed and rivalries were developed. It was an evening of openness, where no one had to hide what they were.

Almost no one, anyway. To most of those present, Burt Hummel was simply Burt Hummel, Warlock mechanic and father to a young Watcher protegee. He was not Burt Kalderash.

He was only Burt Kalderash to those select few who had been invited to join them early.

Blaine helped Finn bring extra chairs in from the garage while Carole, Kurt and Burt set up drinks and hors d'oeuvres for their guests. By the time they brought the last load of chairs inside, a small group was assembled in a tight circle in the living room. Finn smiled at a tan-skinned boy with a short, well-groomed mohawk, and ran over to sit next to him, the two bumping fists as Finn settled in his chair. Blaine began unfolding chairs awkwardly, unsure of whether or not he should join the group.

"Blaine," Kurt called out quickly, "come join us. I want you to meet everyone."

Blaine smiled nervously as eyes in the room fell on him, and he moved to sit in the (thankfully) empty seat next to Kurt.

Kurt reached over and took Blaine's hand, giving it a soft squeeze before releasing it. Blaine felt his whole body exhale at the gentle touch.

Kurt introduced Blaine to everyone in the room, and it quickly became clear that these were the trusted few within the local Council chapter. There was a former Slayer named Shannon, solid and butch and dressed almost like a gym teacher, who was now Watcher to a strong-willed young woman named Mercedes. When Kurt whispered that it was in fact Shannon Beiste sitting in their living room, Blaine felt his eyes go wide. She was even more famous than Will Schuester, if only because she was known to be one of the strongest, most effective and least scrupulous Slayers of her generation. Her Slayer must be good.

"Mercedes trained at the Figgins School," Kurt whispered. "She's good, but she wouldn't be half as good without Shannon. She can be a bit lazy when left to her own devices."

Kurt kept up a stream of steady commentary about everyone present as they introduced themselves to Blaine and joined in the conversation.

The mohawked boy next to Finn was Noah Puckerman, heir to the Puckerman estate, and as close to an Alpha wolf as the pack had, "although who knows if that would be the case if it weren't for mommy's money."

Next to him was Mike, also a wolf, and quite new to their inner circle meetings. "His parents still don't know and he still lives at home. I have no idea how he manages it."

The boy in the wheelchair was Artie, the warlock that Burt and Kurt had been discussing turning to for help when Brittany went missing. "He's an apprentice, but he's good enough to be full-fledged. He's taking the hit so he can work with Lauren, though. She's absolutely the best in the state and she has very specific criteria for taking on students." Artie had petitioned for Lauren's inclusion in the inner circle, but no one else was convinced that she could be trusted yet. She would be showing up for the meeting later with her other students.

Then there was Rachel and Will, of course, and Emma, who sat with one arm wrapped around Will and used the other to give Blaine an excited little wave when she caught his eye.

Blaine nodded pleasantly to everyone and tried to follow the threads of conversation that swirled around him. There was "the ritual" that Quinn, Tina and Dave had spoken of, and Blaine noticed Burt shifting uncomfortably when Artie proclaimed that he was sure Lauren would be able to figure out what it was. There was the Sylvester School and the Brittany incident – Blaine's main role in this conversation seemed to be swearing up and down that Brittany could never pose any sort of threat to any living person – and speculations as to who on the Council might be working for the advancement of evil generally and the Tea Party in particular. This seemed to be a rather sore subject, and almost everyone had an opinion.

"I'm telling you, that coven in Dayton is hiding something," Artie insisted.

"But they haven't even been properly inducted into the Council," Mercedes protested. "They couldn't possibly have enough information to be a real threat."

"Or maybe that's just what they want us to think. Maybe they have someone on the inside."

"Right, but who?"

"I bet it's that Lauren chick," Puck spoke up. Artie rolled his eyes.

"Puck. For the last time. It's not Lauren. You just think she's evil because she won't go out with you."

"Well, that is pretty evil of her. I mean, look at these guns." Puck flexed his bicep proudly and wagged his eyebrows at Rachel, who smiled and went slightly pink. Finn glared at Puck and made a low noise that almost sounded like a soft growl.

"Guys," Will said in a tone of condescending near-patience. "It's bigger than that. Who do we know with ties to politics?"

"Sue Sylvester," Rachel said quickly just as Mercedes started to open her mouth. Rachel gave her a smug smile while Mercedes glared at her in return.

"Really. Sue Sylvester. Just because she made you cry once or twice while you were at school," Mercedes spat.

Blaine kept his mouth carefully shut. Sue had definitely made Rachel cry more than once or twice.

"She did not make my cry," Rachel insisted. "And I think it's obvious. She has ties to several politicians in the Mid States, and something is definitely going on at that school if they're claiming that Brittany Pierce of all people is a threat. I heard they even have armed guards stationed outside the walls now."

Shannon frowned. "They do. Something's definitely not right up there, but I don't think it's Sue. I mean, insufferable – yes. Evil? Hardly. Sue was probably the second toughest Slayer in the field when we were active. And from what I understand, she's only keeping her toe in the political stream so she can alert us if there's something we need to prepare for again."

"Like more witch trials," Artie muttered.

"Or more government-mandated reconditioning camps for homosexuals," Burt added stiffly, throwing a fiercely protectively glance at Kurt and Blaine.

"Or whether or not they know..." Emma paused to clear her throat delicately, "about Blaine."

Everyone went silent and turned to stare at him.

"Well, that pretty much rules out Sylvester," Shannon said thoughtfully after a long moment. "She never would have let him just walk out of that school alive if she'd known."

"Known about...about what?" Blaine asked tentatively. He really hoped this wasn't one of those things Kurt had mentioned when Blaine was supposed to be listening to him during a study session but had been daydreaming about his soft-looking lips and bright blue eyes instead. That would be pretty embarrassing.

Emma's eyes went wider than Blaine had ever thought strictly possible as she looked around the room. "You haven't – haven't told him? Kurt? Burt? Carole?" The three she'd named shifted uncomfortably in their seats and avoided both Emma and Blaine's eyes.

"Emma," Will said after a moment. "We just thought..."

"We?" Emma asked incredulously. "William Schuester, just who is Matriarch of Western Ohio, thank you? You mean to tell me that you took this boy out of school, put him in more danger than he's equipped to understand and you made the decision to tell him nothing without even consulting me?"

Will swallowed hard, his eyes alight with what appeared to be real fear.

Blaine liked Emma. He liked her a lot.

"Blaine," Emma said briskly, turning toward him. "I apologize for the confusion, but you should know-"

"We wanted," Kurt began quickly, nervously. "We...we thought it might be better coming from...from family. It's kind of a lot for anyone to take in, and these past few weeks haven't exactly been easy on Blaine." Kurt gave him a sheepish smile. "We've had a bit of a rough start."

"We've had a wonderful start," Blaine whispered, unsure if Kurt had even heard him.

"But when...?"

"Tonight," a voice said from the doorway. Blaine whipped his head around to see a tall man with solid, serious features standing perfectly still in the entrance to the living room. And he was staring straight at Blaine.

It was as if no one in the room was breathing at all. The drop of a pin could have been heard throughout the house.

"I hope it's okay that I let myself in," the man added, walking toward them but not taking a seat. "It sounded like you were in the middle of something."

"No, that's fine," Burt said. "I told you you're always welcome. You are...ah...alone, right?"

"Yes." The man moved closer to Blaine. There was something intensely familiar about him that Blaine couldn't place.

"Blaine," the man said simply, holding out his hand. Blaine stared at it blankly for a moment before remembering his manners and rising to his feet to shake the stranger's hand.

A hand that was as cold as marble in midwinter.

The hand. The eyes. Something...

She was in his bedroom, in Blaine's own bedroom, and at first she had been beautiful with sparkling wings and he'd said I don't have a tooth, I have a loose one but it's still in there, you're early, because he was sure she was the tooth fairy, but then the woman's face twisted into something out of a nightmare, out of one of those fairytale books that Blaine's mother said his grandfather shouldn't have bought for him. Her eyes were red and she had a knife in a weird shape and she was saying things to him in a language he didn't understand and she was a monster, a real-life monster and Blaine wasn't even asleep and he was too scared to scream, but then the man was there. The man his mother had let in the night before because he offered her a free demonstration of something he was selling and his mother always liked to spend money when she was bored. And the man grabbed Blaine and his hands were cold but his eyes weren't mean and he moved Blaine behind him and he fought the thing that used to be a woman and then he had the knife and he stabbed it into the monster and she screamed and there was smoke and then there was nothing, nothing where she should have been, nothing left of her at all, and Blaine couldn't move but the man whispered "You're safe now, Blaine," and then he was gone even though Blaine didn't even see him leave and then his mother was there and Blaine was screaming and crying and she just kept saying "you had a nightmare sweetie, shhh, it was just a nightmare, it was just a dream, a dream, a dream," and eventually, Blaine had believed it.

It had never felt like a dream, but of course he had believed his mother. What other explanation made any sense?

But this man...it was the same man. Blaine was suddenly and completely sure of it.

And he hadn't aged a day since Blaine was five.

"I...I know you," was all Blaine was able to choke out.

The man nodded. "We've had a couple of encounters. I wasn't sure you remembered."

"Who...who are you?"

The man looked around at the circle of faces staring up at him. He gave a small, mirthless chuckle.

"Let's go find somewhere a little more private to talk if you don't mind."

Blaine remained anchored where he stood. "Not until you tell me who you are."

The man sighed. "All right. Well, let's see. I'm your great-great-great-great grandfather. Give or take a few greats." Blaine wasn't really sure how to process what this man was telling him. It didn't make any sense at all. Unless-

The man gave him the tiniest ghost of a smile. "My name is Angel," he added.

Blaine felt like he was going to faint.