Maria pulled away from the person, who she thought was Michael. She looked at the person that stood in front of her. He smiled down at her and then laughed. That laugh, Maria knew that laugh. The laugh that was so full of evil. "Damn, ya got me." He said. "See, I thought I would, you know, play with cha' mind a little mo'. But I guess that isn't gunna work." He said with a smiled. Maria backed away slowly, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards her again. "Let me go!" Maria told him. "You know, Ria. You are one strong sexy thang. I thought you would have cracked but now. But you haven't, I tried everythang too. Opening your windows, but nothing made you crack." He told her, while his grip on got tighter. Maria pulled away and kicked him in the balls. He fell to ground and hissed at the pain. Maria started to run away hoping that he wouldn't catch up to her. The fake Michael got up and turned into Rath. Rath smiled to himself. He wasn't going to chase after her, he would let her go, for now. Rath turned around and started walking to back to his hotel, where he could do the real damage. ----- Maria didn't know if Rath was chasing her or not. But she didn't want to stop running to find out. Maria was getting closer to Michael's apartment. Just a few more blocks and she was there. She turned corner and bumped into someone. Maria screamed when the person grabbed both of her arms. "Let me go!" Maria screamed. "Maria, Maria. It's okay! It's me." Maria stopped and looked at who was holding her. It was Michael, she looked into his eye's making sure it was really him, and not his evil twin. Maria sighed in relief and flew into Michael's arms. "Oh my god, Michael. I'm so scared! Thank god it's you." Maria cried into his neck. Michael held Maria tighter thanking god that she was safe and in his arms. "Shhh, it's okay, Maria. I'm here, I'm gunna protect you. I promise." Michael whispered into her ears. "No, Michael. It's not okay. They're not just nightmares. They're real, they're real!" Maria sobbed. "And Rath, he was here, Michael. He made me think he was you." Michael pulled Maria away from him, and looked into her eye's. "It's Rath? He went to you?" Michael asked her. Maria just nodded her head. "Did he hurt you, Maria? Did he touch you?" Michael asked getting even more angry. "I'm not hurt, Michael." Maria paused. "I got away." She whispered as he pulled into another protective hug. "Come on. We're gunna go back to my apartment and call Max and Isabel." He told her while they started walking. Michael stopped and looked into Maria's eye's. "I won't let him hurt you, Maria. Ever!" Maria smiled and gave Michael a passionate kiss. ------ Max hung up his cell phone and turned towards Liz, Isabel and Kyle. They all had worried looks on their faces. Each of them wondering what was going on. "That was Michael." Max told them. "What did he say?" Kyle asked. He felt a little guilty, now he knew why Maria was so easy to scare. He sighed to himself and prayed that she was okay. "He said, he found Maria and she's okay. But we have a big problem." Max told them. "What is it?" Liz asked. "Michael said he would explain it when we all get to his apartment. But he said Rath is here in town and to be careful." Max explained. "So let's get out here and hurry to Michael's." Everyone nodded their heads and headed out the door. Each of them having a hundred and one questions flying through their heads. ------- Michael was holding Maria in his arms. She seemed so tired, all he wanted to do was to make her happy. To make her pain go away. She looked so pale, and her eye's didn't have the spark in them, that they usually have. Michael kissed Maria's head and pulled her closer. "Maria?" "Ya?" "How come you haven't told me what the nightmares are about?" Michael asked her. "What?" Maria asked trying to play stupid. "You haven't told me what the nightmares are about. So why don't you tell me?" Michael asked again. "Maybe it will make you feel better if you let it out." Maria didn't answer right away. "Michael, I...." She paused and then continued. "Why don't you do the little flash thingy." Michael nodded his head and turned more so he was facing Maria. He placed his hands on her face. The flashes pored into Michael's head. When the flashes finally stopped Michael pulled away. Sweat dripped from his forehead. He couldn't believe the things he saw. The things Maria felt, how alone she felt in the dark hallways. How she felt when she saw him die. How she felt when she thought he was the one that killed her. Michael pulled Maria into a hug. "Oh god, Maria." Michael's voice cracked. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." He kept repeating to her. Maria couldn't say anything, she just let Michael hold her. She just wanted to be in Michael's arms, she wanted to be safe, she wanted to be home. Michael's arms will always be her home to her. It's where she felt the safest. Ten minutes later the rest of the gang joined Michael and Maria. Michael explained to everyone what was going on. He didn't tell them everything about the dreams or nightmares. He just told them what they needed to know. And they didn't need to know how painful her dreams were. "What do we do?" Liz asked as she looked at her best friend. She looked so tired, and pale. But then she looked at the person next to her. Michael, was so protective of her. She knew as long as Maria was with Michael, no one could hurt her. Michael would die before he would let anything happen to Maria. She was truly loved. "For now, we don't do anything." Michael said. Everyone was in shock, this was Michael Guerin that was saying this. Michael never said that, he was always ready to fight whoever was ever hurting the people he cared about. "What?" Kyle asked. He knew he wasn't ready to fight some alien, but for Maria Kyle was willing to try. Maria became like a sister to him. And he hated seeing her like that. "Michael, don't you think we should go looking for Rath or something. I mean, come on." Isabel said. She cared about Maria. She had grown so close to her and she hated the fact that she couldn't even go sleep. She hated the fact that Maria was in so much pain. Michael didn't say anything about Maria being in pain, but it was written all over her tired and pale face. "No, I bet that's what he's waiting for. He want's us to find him. If we find him, we would be falling into his hands. We would stepping into his world. But if he goes out and trys to find us, we will be ready." Michael told them. Everyone was shocked at how Michael was showing leadership. Maria smiled and looked up at Michael. She didn't think she could have loved him more. "I agree with you. We shouldn't go out and looking for more trouble. We all need to stick together. He probably wants to take us down one by one. But if we stick together, he won't be able to do that." Max said. Everyone nodded their heads. "Well, what do we do tonight? I mean we can't all stay here tonight." Liz asked. No one said anything, until Maria finally said something. "Why don't we all stay in pairs or something?" Maria told everyone. She really didn't feel like talking but she couldn't just sit there like an idiot. "Ya, that sounds good. Me and Liz, Isabel and Kyle and Michael and Maria." Max suggested. "I hate to kill the whole plan here but what I am going to tell my husband when I come home with Kyle?" Isabel asked. "Make up something. Say Kyle had a fight with his dad or something." Michael told her. Isabel just sighed and nodded her head. She really didn't want to fight about something so small when all this was happening. "Alright then. Lets all just get some sleep." Maria winced when Max said that. "If anything, and I mean anything weird happens call Michael's apartment or just come here." Max told them. Isabel and Kyle nodded their heads and headed for the door to leave. -------- Rath was sitting down in his hotel room. He was so pleased with himself, he wasn't mad that he let Maria get away. If anything he was kind of happy. That just made the game more fun. That's what this was to him, a game. Nothing more, he really didn't give a sh!t about his dupe or others. All he wanted was to have some fun. He thought about doing it to Max's little bitch Liz, but that would be to easy. Then he thought about Maria, she was a spunky little thing. She had so much fire in her, he could just tell when he looked into her eye's. Rath almost felt bad about doing this to her, almost. He smiled to himself again, he just remembered how fun it was. He knew Maria would put up a fight until the end. She wouldn't be easy, and that's what he loved about it. Rath laid down on his bed and sighed. All he had to do was wait until she fell asleep, he knew she was getting tired. He could almost feel it. She would crack sometime, she will let her guard down. And thats when he'll slip right in. The truth was he wouldn't be able to get in so easily if she wouldn't let her guard so easily. But she did, she did all the time. There were only a couple of times when Rath couldn't get in. It was probably because she was with his dupe, Michael. He would never let his guard down, not even when he was sleeping. Rath hated when she was with Michael. He would guard her like a lost treasure. He wouldn't let his guard down for a second. Rath sighed again, he just hoped that Michael would be to tired to guard Maria tonight. Because tonight was the big night, he would do some real damage tonight. All he had to do was wait, just wait for her to drift off to sleep. Just wait for her to let go, just wait for Maria to fall asleep. Then he would do what he please. TBC

Part 9