A young witch lives here, guarded by her whitelighter.

::Justin and Paz arrive outside.::

"This is the place."

::Paz nods and pulls his coat more tightly around himself.::

"I'll go in and do the deed. You-"

"Wait out here. Yeah. I know."

::Justin sighs.::

::Paz gives Justin a sidelong smile.::

"You hate that, huh?"

::Justin shrugs.::

::The demon slides a hand over to his lover and runs it through his hair and down his back.::

"Okay. Come in with me."

::Suddenly Justin looks uncomfortable.::

"Uh, no. It's fine. I'll stay out here. Keep guard."

::Paz frowns.::

"No, it's fine. Really. I want you to."

::Justin acts like Paz is kidding and gives him a small shove.::

"No! Go! Come on!"

::Confused by Justin's behaviour, Paz pouts slightly and turns to the house.::

"All right..."

::He goes up to the door. When it won't open, he uses his power to burn the handle off. The other end falls into the house and the snib catch of the door falls inside its own mechanism. The door swings open. Paz quietly steps inside and glances back at Justin.::

::Justin watches Paz with a stony expression, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. He then snaps out of it and gives the demon a small nod.::

::Paz nods back and then walks into the house, covering the rooms methodically. The place seems empty.::

"Little girl..."

::He lets his voice come out high-pitched and mocking, wanting to frighten her for wasting his time.::

(Maybe the damned whitelighter has her.)

::The damned whitelighter does have her. Ozymandias and Samantha are both outside, and the whitelighter and girl approach Justin slowly.::

"Is he inside?"

::Justin looks around and thrusts his hands into his pockets.::

"Just like we talked about. He'll be back out soon, so get your witchy crap ready."

::With a hand on his charge's shoulder, Ozymandias nods at the girl.::

"This is real, Sammy. Be ready to cast your spell as soon as you see him."

::Justin sighs lightly and shifts his weight, nervous.::

::Ozy notices this and watches the demon carefully.::

"I thought you and Paz were meant to be close. Like brothers, they say. Closer."

::Justin purses his lips and shakes his head.::

"We were. We used to be. We used to be a team. Then he got into de Clare's favour and since then he treats me like a toy. His ego surpassed everyone else's put together. Nobody likes him anymore."

::The demon looks at the ground, then at Ozy.::

"It's this or getting torn apart by demons sooner or later. I thought this'd be a more noble way for him to go."

::Ozy's grip tightens on Samantha's shoulders.::

"Enough talking. He'll be out soon."

::Paz's grip also tightens. On the window frame he'd been holding on to since he chanced to look out of the window and catch the entire conversation between his trusted Justin and the filthy whitelighter. Rage, betrayal, hurt and jealousy whips at his entire body while he struggles to stay composed. The house is completely dark and he knows they haven't seen him, but he moves away from the window anyway, just in case.::

"Fuck... fucking... bastard..."

::Tears swim in his eyes and he stumbles over to Samantha's empty bed before using a foot to slam down on it and break its legs. He doesn't shout in fear they'd hear him, but a muffled roar comes from behind his tongue, which is pressed to the roof of his mouth.::

::Outside, Justin and Ozy and Sam freeze as The Source appears in the same room as Paz.::

::Paz spins around and stares.::

"... the hell are you?"

::The Source watches Paz for a moment, the speaks.::

"I come with a proposition."

::Paz stares, then light shows his face in the darkness.::

"What have you got to offer me?"

"Allow me to show you. This is your future."

::The Source shows Paz a vision where the demon will feel like all of it is really happening. Paz walks out of the house and tries to use his powers to destroy his lover, the whitelighter and the witch, but Ozy throws himself in the way of the beam and explodes, giving Samantha time to recite the spell while the whitelighter reforms, unharmed. Paz's skin starts to feel tight as his body is hit by beams of light from all angles and he is vanquished. However, the vision ends just before he actually dies, and Paz is back in Samantha's bedroom with the demon. Everything will have been so real, it's impossible to disbelieve.::

::Screaming in pain, Paz is swatting various parts of his body, trying to hit the agonising light away until he realises that he's back where he was. Breathing hard, he stares at The Source.::

"What was that?"

"Your future, Paz. Unless you accept my offer."

"What is it??"

"I am from the future, Paz. My offer is that you return with me where you will be free to live your life there."

"... yeah right."

"All you would have to do in return is locate your future self, a man who's life is undeserved, when yours was cut short so unfairly... all you have to do is switch places with him. Send him here, so you can remain there, and the balance through time is sustained."

::Paz hardly understands what The Source is saying but shrugs.::

"If it saves me from that."

"Then come with me."

::The Source returns with Paz to the fourth dimension.::

::Paz hovers around a corner, watching the trio from the darkness.::

(So they're still waiting for me. Unbelievable.)

::His eyes narrow on Justin but there's a tearing feeling in his chest.::

(Bastard. You fucking...)

::He catches his breath and forces himself to concentrate on the task at hand.::

::Ozy crosses his arms, shifting his weight.::

"What's taking so long? Do you think he's seen us?"

"I'll go in and check."

::Justin walks up to the house and silently lets himself in. He doesn't call out but instead quietly walks up the stairs to where he thinks Paz will be.::

::Taking this as his opportunity to get his revenge, Paz runs as fast as he can around the back of the terrace of houses and gets into the gardens. He throws himself over fences and hedges until he comes to the right one and lets himself in the back door. He finds Justin upstairs.::

"Hi lover."

::Justin jumps and whips around.::

"There you are. What happened? I waited for as long as I could."

(Shit. Now what?)

::He walks over to his demon lover and cups his cheek, speaking with a teasing tone.::

"I was starting to worry."

"The kid isn't here. We should go."