Stopping a murder that happened forty years earlier may be the only way to heal a tortured mind ...<br><br>Six months after Jesse Madding is brutally tortured by Marcus Brooker, he is still experiencing flashbacks, panic attacks, and jumping at his own shadow. His lovers, Gideon Keel and Emma Coolidge, would do anything to help him, but Jesse refuses to be hospitalized for treatment, or even visit a therapist. Desperate for a change, Gideon and Emma suggest a radical solution.<br><br> Jesse wants to fix his life. More than anything, he wants to be normal again. He doesn't want to live in fear. He doesn't want to be ashamed of his scarred and mutilated body. He doesn't want to shy away from Gideon's touch. Certain that the holding pattern will kill him, he agrees to Gideon and Emma's proposed solution: travel to an alternative dimension and save Marcus Brooker from witnessing Mary's grisly murder ... in order to save Brooker's soul.

Chaos and Communion

Gideon had been stretched out on Mary’s bed, and looked quite happy to be there, despite his injuries. Mary was heating blood on the stovetop, like it was something she had done a thousand times before. Jesse had never heated blood on the stove, and he wondered if blood did the same thing milk did if you let it boil for too long.


Gideon had looked awful. It didn’t matter how much they cleaned him. It didn’t matter how much they bandaged him. Mary helped him into a clean shirt and a pair of sweats, covering up the worst of the bruises, and that didn’t even make a difference. Jesse thought he would stop feeling so sick with some time and distance. But it had been hours since they left Mary’s home, and he didn’t feel better. His Gideon was within touching distance, and he didn’t feel better.


Chapter 39