I thought it was just a nightmare. I thought, feeling my knees beginning to shake. It’s okay, Sam, calm down, I said to myself, as I watched Hade and the dark brown haired man he was with walk over to Seth and me. Maybe Hade was referring to an other Zachary in my dream? Yeah, that’s it. There are tons of people with the name Zachary out there; I tried to reassure myself, with no luck.

Once Hade and the guy he was with reach Seth and me, Hade looked at the elegant chair that had the “N” on it. He had a puzzled look on his face. “Where’s your dad?” he asked Seth.

“Out trick or treating with Taylor,” Seth replied vapidly.

Hade rolled his eyes. “Let me guess, Taylor’s going as a Spartan again, and your dad is going as… Barbie?” he suggested.

“You’re half right,” Seth answered, obviously trying his best to suppress a chuckle.

“Really? Wow. I would have never thought Taylor would actually go as something else this year,” Hade commented then scanned the room with his eyes for a moment. The confused look was back on his face. He seemed to narrow his eyes, before sighing.

“Anyway, Sam, this is Hade; Hade, this is Sam,” Seth said to us, nudging his hands at both Hade and I.

Hade gave me a smug look and a nod, then turned to the man he had brought with him. “This is Eddie,” he told Seth and me; then told Eddie what our names were.

“So, is Mr. Scrooge letting Eddie sit in his seat since he isn’t here today, or are we going to have to bring one in for him?” Seth asked.

Hade nodded. “Yeah, he can sit in it today. I question if it is safe for him to sit there though,” he said then frowned. “I’ll go grab a blanket and put it over the chair just to make sure,” he said then walked away from us.

Eddie looked at Seth and me with small nervous grin. “Should I be worried?” he asked us.

Seth shook his head. “No. Just stay on the blanket, and don’t put your arms or hands on the arm rests,” he replied.

“A seat that isn’t even safe to sit in?” I asked Seth, who simply nodded in response.

Hade came back a moment later with a dark blue blanket over his left arm and walked to a chair that was two to the right from Taylor’s. It was the same style as Taylor and Seth’s, but wasn’t white or red. Instead, it was a pale, pasty looking green color.

He put the blanket over the chair, not caring that his bare skin touched the green leather, and maneuvered the blanket around a few times, trying to get as much of the seat covered by it as possible.

“It should be good now,” Hade said with a small grin.

Eddie frowned at Hade; acting as if he didn’t fully trust his statement. Hade in return, rolled his eyes once more. “It’s fine. I promise,” he said to him.

Eddie sighed, made his way to the now blanketed chair and sat down in it. “See, you didn’t have your life force sucked out of you,” Hade said a little too earnestly to him.

I looked at Seth, about to ask him who’s seat it was, and how much longer until the meeting started, but I ended up getting cut off by Hade.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” he asked Seth, who raised an eyebrow. “Alone.”

Seth looked confused at the request, but nodded. He and Hade walked by the metal doors and started to whisper to each other.

“Any idea what that’s about?” Eddie asked me, apparently just as much in the dark as I was.

I shook my head, still feeling uneasy with Hade. For some reason, still not completely known to me today, I knew that Seth wasn’t involved in the Zachary or Hade business. Still, I couldn’t help but feel… cautious after the way he talked with Hade. Two things seemed obvious to me at that point. One, Seth had known him for some time; and two, Hade was good at keeping things unknown to others.

“I’m assuming you’re not that Horseman, war, right?” I heard Eddie say, snapping me back to the real world.

At first I was confused at the question, until I remembered, and saw, that I was still standing directly behind Taylor’s chair. I nodded. “Yeah, I’m not him,” I answered. “So, why did they decide drag you down here too?” I asked him.

Eddie twirled the chair around into a complete circle before answering. “Apparently I’m…” he said, and looked as if he was struggling to remember something. “Eleven through- sixteen, of thirteen. New, and of the last- I think,” he said with a pondering expression. After a few moments, he nodded, as if he decided that what he had said was correct.

“That’s the mean exactly?” I asked. “I heard Seth say some of that gibberish so we could come inside,” I continued.

“It has something to do with the bible,” Eddie replied, shrugging his shoulders. “New is meaning the new testament. Last means the last book of that testament. And eleven through sixteen of thirteen means: Chapter thirteen, verses eleven through sixteen,” he explained. “Apparently, they like to refer to themselves a lot,” he added sarcastically.

“What do those verses say?”

Eddie snorted. “Your guess is as good as mine,” he answered flatly. “The only reason I knew all that stuff, was because I just asked Hade went we got in here,” he said then looked over at Hade and Seth, who were still whispering to each other.

“Let me guess,” Eddie said after a few moments. “You’re that other guy in chapter thirteen.”

Shrugging, I replied, “Either that, or someone in chapter six.” Just after I said that, I saw Seth and Hade walking back to where Eddie and I where.

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Hade said to Seth arrogantly.

Seth shot him an irritated look, and then before I even realized what was going on, Seth bent his back slightly, and literally sniffed the right side of my neck. I took a few steps a head of me. “What the-” I started.

“Yeah, I can smell it now too,” Seth said to Hade in a surprised manner, then looked at me. “Have you been around anyone a lot that you’ve just met recently?” he asked. “Besides me.”

Shaking my head, I answered, “No. Why?”

Hade turned his head, and gave Seth an “oh crap” look. Seth shook his head. “It doesn’t have to be what you think,” he told Hade.

“What’s your theory then, Einstein?”

Seth glowered. “Yours isn’t even ethical,” he snapped at Hade. “There has to be an other explanation.”

“An other explanation for what?” I tried to cut in, but ended up being completely ignored.

“How about we get another opinion on the subject then during the meeting-,” Hade looked at his watch, “in three minutes,” he suggested irritably. “Bael, perhaps?”

Seth snorted. “Please; don’t embarrass yourself. You don’t want to end up looking like a fool in front of twenty-five people when they say I’m right.”

Hade’s nostros flared. “Maybe you’re the one who doesn’t want to bring it up to him because you’re afraid of looking like a proud idiot,” he countered.

“Or maybe you’re both right!” I suggested recklessly. Both Hade and Seth looked at me with cocked eyebrows. “Great, now that’s been settled, we can all just sit down,” I said and sat in Taylor’s chair, which I found to be surprisingly warm.

After a few seconds, Seth finally sat in his seat, and Hade walked over to my right, and sat in a black chair that was made out of tough, worn out black leather. It was sitting beside were Eddie was to the right. And, unlike the chair I was in right now, Hade’s didn’t have wheels on the bottom.

I turned my head towards Seth. “What was that all about?” I asked him, as I saw someone from the corner of my eye sit beside me on the right.

Seth shook his head unhappily. “You’ll find out in a minute,” he said, shooting glares passed me and over at Hade, who was making a point in not returning them.