Sentinel / Stargate crossover with a heavy emphasis on The Sentinel.

Sentinel Spoilers: Any episode is fair game, but the ones I can recall off-hand are Blind Man's Bluff and Switchman.

Stargate Spoilers: Anything through season four is fair game.

Special thanks to Spacepixell for beta reading. Of course, all errors are solely my doing.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Inner Demon

~~~~~~~~~~~

Blair leaned back in his chair, raising the urn-type container and eyeing the inscription on its stone-like surface. He frowned. The symbols looked vaguely hieroglyphic in nature.

Carefully, he set the artifact on his desk. It really did look like an urn, and he wouldn't be surprised if it contained the remains of some dead ruler from ancient times.

Rainier was lucky to have it. Rumor had it that someone in the physics department had taken an interest in the thing because of some weird spectrographic properties it exhibited. There'd apparently been some kind of electrical accident, and the seal that had kept the lid secured had been partially compromised. After that, the Chancellor had thrown a fit and ordered the artifact back into the custody of the anthropology department.

Stifling a yawn, Blair glanced at the notes he'd scribbled on the yellow legal pad on his desk. They were barely decipherable as English, but it didn't matter as long as he could read them in the morning. Glancing at his watch, he saw it was getting way too late. Eight o'clock just wasn't a decent hour to be leaving the campus.

Swiveling in his chair, he shut down his computer. He was just about to push himself to his feet when a scraping sound caught his ear. His eyes snapped back to the urn. It shook, almost skipping off the edge of the desk.

"Whoa!" Blair grabbed it, his heart suddenly pounding, and the artifact continued to tremble in his grip.

The top exploded off, and with a cry, he dropped the urn. It bounced off the edge of the desk, and he shot to his feet.

Shit! The Chancellor's gonna....! He froze, his eyes wide, as he stared at the snake-like creature writhing on the ground.

It raised its head, then with a squeal, launched itself at him. With a yell, Blair stumbled backward. The chair rolled away from him, and he crashed to the floor onto his back. The creature snaked behind his neck with unnatural speed, and a sharp pain sliced into the base of his skull before darkness claimed him.

~~~

Jim eyed the clock, giving a slight frown. It was a little after 8:30, and Blair's dinner wouldn't sit much longer in the microwave. Leaning forward, he grabbed the cordless phone from the coffee table and dialed Blair's cell phone number. After three rings, Blair answered.

~~~~

Serapis tilted his head as he completed his inspection of the room. The Tau'ri, if still on the planet, had advanced considerably since he'd been in stasis. Still, their level of technology was nothing to rival the Goa'uld.

A ringing pierced the quiet. The sound seemed to be coming from the sack lying on the floor next to the desk.

Oh God, Jim!

A smile quirked the lips of the body he now inhabited. His host was a fiery one. Full of passion and life...and fear. It was delicious. He'd been without these sensations for hundreds of years. Far too long.

Reaching into the host mind, he pushed past the pathetic resistance and found the information he sought. The ringing came from a cell phone in the sack, called a backpack, and it was most likely a man named Jim Ellison calling.

Bending forward, he reached into the front pocket of the backpack and retrieved the cell phone. He gazed at it as it rang a third time. What a primitive communication device. With a chuckle, he hit the TALK button and raised the device to his ear.

"Hello."

"Hey, Chief, you gonna make it home soon, or should I pack up your dinner and put it in the fridge?"

His stomach grumbled. He was hungry, or rather, his host was hungry. "Sure, man," he felt the host cringe inside him as he deftly picked the information he needed to produce a convincing impersonation of the host's linguistical style. "I'm starved and on my way."

"Great. See ya soon."

"Bye, Jim." Ending the connection, Serapis dropped the phone back into the sack, then grabbed the bag's straps and flung them over one shoulder.

The host had grown refreshingly complacent. He recognized the condition as shock. Humans were so susceptible to it, and it made the blending much easier.

Walking to the door, he left the office. The image of a green Volvo, parked in the lot to the West of Hargrove Hall, sprang in his mind. He frowned. What an abhorrent piece of transportation.

~~~~

Walking. Cold against his face. Wind in his eyes. It was night. He felt his legs moving and his arms swinging. A mist hung in the air, threatening to turn into a drizzle. The thing inside him had full control, steering his body toward the west parking lot. Ahead, the Volvo sat in a sparsely-populated lot, alone beneath a fading lamp.

'No!' Blair commanded his legs to stop. They kept moving. He screamed at them to stop. They didn't listen. 'Stop! Dammit, stop!' He couldn't let this thing drive home. He couldn't let it get to Jim.

Whatever was inside him -- What the hell was it? -- was evil. Vicious. Ugly. He couldn't let it ---

Fire! He screamed, writhing in it. The garage. Ashes. Flames. He was burning. In agony. 'Stop! Oh, God, please stop!'

Suddenly, the assault ended, and he found himself at the Volvo. His hand lifted the door handle. It was locked.

Anger exploded inside him. What do I need to open this? the thing demanded of him.

'It's a small world, after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small world--'

The pain returned, and Blair screamed again -- silent inside his mind. He could swear his body was on fire. How was the thing inside him not feeling this? It couldn't possibly be experiencing the very pain it inflicted. It was unbearable. He couldn't.... God.... Jim....

Tell me! the creature commanded.

He thought of things that were green. Frogs. Grass. Tree leaves. Uh...Uh...His flannel shirt. Stop light. The cover of his Medicine and Witchdoctors textbook.

Enough! The being inside his mind snarled at him. With a single, vicious thrust it ripped into his mind, tearing through his thoughts, leaving Blair quivering and broken. A picture presented itself. A pair of keys. In the backpack with the cell phone.

Serapis smiled, slid the pack off his shoulder, and reached into the front pocket. His fingers found the cool metal of the keys, and he withdrew them, selecting the correct one and inserting it into the lock. It turned easily, and he opened the door, throwing his pack in the passenger seat and sliding behind the wheel.

~~~~

Jim tilted his head as the sound of the familiar Volvo chugged on the street below. He listened as the car slowed, finally stopping. The engine died. Keys jangled. Fabric rustled. The door opened, then closed, and the steady thud of footsteps beat against the cement, approaching the building.

Jim rose from the couch and walked to the microwave, punching in one minute to warm Blair’s food. Seconds later, he heard the elevator squeak into motion. Then the lift came to a stop, the doors slid open with a slight hiss, and the footsteps marched toward the front door.

Jim headed off his partner, opening the door before Blair could get his keys into the lock. The young man looked up, his keys dangling in mid-air. A flicker of surprise crossed his face, then he smiled and walked into the loft.

“Hello, Jim.” He pocketed the keys.

Jim eyed the basket next to the door. It was there for a reason, but he chose not to say anything. Blair was a big boy. If he couldn’t find his keys in the morning then….

Oh, hell.

“Hey, Chief.” He pointed to the basket.

Blair tilted his head and followed the direction of Jim’s hand. A single set of keys resided in the basket, next to a set of cuffs, and Blair nodded. “Right.” Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew his own keys and tossed them with the others.

“Food’s still in the microwave.” Jim turned to the couch, intent on catching the evening news.

“Thanks, man.”

There was an odd quality to Blair’s voice, and Jim stopped before sinking to the cushions. He eyed his partner as the kid headed toward the microwave, his movements unusually stiff, almost forced.

“You feeling okay, Sandburg?” Jim extended his hearing, tuning to Blair’s heartbeat and finding it surprisingly fast. He frowned, then stopped breathing when he caught another sound. A second heartbeat -- maybe, but not quite. It sounded odd. Very fast. Shallow. He had to strain to hear it.

What the hell was that?

“Chief,” Jim moved toward his partner, “tell me you didn’t bring a pet home with you? A gerbil? Stray kitten? Homeless rodent?” That, Jim mused, would explain the kid’s marathon heartbeat.

Blair turned slowly, irritation etched plainly on his face, and Jim frowned as he studied the younger man’s expression. Had something happened at the university to put Blair in a bad mood? He’d sounded okay on the phone earlier.

“Why do you ask?” Blair’s eyes narrowed, and Jim listened as the heartbeat spiked to an even faster rhythm. 

He looked down to see Blair’s hands, curled into fists at his side, trembling.

“I hear a second heartbeat, or something, coming from you.” Jim moved forward slowly. “What’s wrong, Chief? You're shaking. Why? Did something happen?”

“Just cold,” Blair answered, almost mechanically, then turned toward the microwave. "Just cold.” His voice took on a hard edge that sent a shiver down Jim’s spine.

~~~~~~~

Enough! Serapis snarled, exerting control over the host. The young one was a fighter, and Serapis was weak from his prolonged stasis, making controlling the host more difficult than usual.

With his back to the human named Jim, Serapis could use greater force to subdue the troublesome host. He hammered at the host's mind, felt the familiar pressure as the eyes -- his eyes, now -- glowed momentarily with the exertion.

Immediately, the quaking of his hands stopped and, feeling more in control, he allowed a slight smile to play on his lips as he turned to face the strange human with the unusually good ears.

"You know me, man. I hate the cold."

Jim gave a small smile, but Serapis thought it looked fake.

"Yeah, well, you picked the wrong city to live in, Chief." Jim took another step forward, his eyes locked with Blair's. "You haven't answered my first question, though. Why am I picking up a strange sound from you?"

Serapis tilted his head. It was very odd that this human could hear the host heartbeat, much less the barely decipherable one of a Goa'uld. The Goa'uld 'heart' was nothing like a human's, but the organ system that allowed oxygen and nutrients to circulate did produce something similar to a beat. He probed the host mind for information and, after plowing through the weak barrier of resistance from the host, found what he sought.

Jim Ellison was an extraordinarily gifted man who had five highly acute senses. Serapis studied the man more closely. He was somewhat older than the current host, but his physique was more developed. Perhaps he would make a better host.

'No!' The host's mind screamed. 'You don't want, Jim. His senses go haywire. He zones. He gets headaches. You could be left vulnerable at any time from a sensory assault or a zone. Trust me. You don't want him.'

The human host was becoming annoying.

'I'm telling you the truth!'

The ploy was obvious. The host cared for the Sentinel human, but….

'You can read my mind, dammit! Go ahead. Look all you want. I'm telling the truth!'

Serapis hesitated, probing further, finding a flood of information. Images flashed before him. Jim Ellison standing in the middle of a street in the path of a large vehicle. Jim Ellison crying out, his hands covering his ears as a car blared its horn. Jim Ellison falling to his knees, blind, from a drug reaction.

Perhaps the Sentinel human wouldn't be such a fine host, after all. He'd have to consider it further before making a rash decision.

"Blair?"

Serapis brought his head up and returned his attention to the conversation. "I don't know." He swallowed. The Sentinel human may not make a good host, but his acute senses could pose a threat. "Perhaps it has something to do with your senses."

Jim's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps, huh?" He took a breath. "C'mon, Chief. What's up? You're acting strange, and I'm hearing something. I'm not sure what, if it's a heartbeat or something else, but it's definitely there." The confusion in his eyes turned to anger. "What're you hiding? Spill it."

The faint smile hovering on Serapis' lips faded. He would have to act quickly. His hands again curled into fists, and he longed for the comforting hardness of the ribbon device on his hand.

Unfortunately, he was without Goa'uld technology. He would have to use cruder methods. It was time to end the charade. He would not risk taking the Sentinel as a host. The unknowns presented too great a risk. However, he would not allow the threat the man presented to remain. He would dispose of the human, then find the Chappa'ai on this world and escape to a place where he could begin to rebuild his fleet.

The smile returned, and he moved forward, anger churning in his breast, and felt his eyes glow. The reaction of the human Sentinel amused him. He watched as the man staggered back, his jaw going slack, stumbling toward the table by the front door.

When Serapis spoke, it was with the authoritative timbre that revealed his true nature. "You should bow before me as your God."

"What the hell?" Jim Ellison's eyes went wide, then narrowed as he stiffened. A gun appeared his hand.

Serapis stopped, his eyes dropping to the weapon. He looked back up at the Sentinel. "You will not shoot your friend."

"What are you?" Ellison asked, his voice almost hoarse.

"I am Serapis." He moved forward until the gun was inches from his chest. "I am your God!" His hand lashed out, batting the weapon from Ellison's grip.

The Sentinel lunged forward, tackling him, but Serapis was stronger. He staggered back, then twisted, tossing the human to the ground. Then he moved forward swiftly, grabbing Ellison by the shirt and flinging him against the front door.

'No.'

Serapis felt the host struggling. His hands quaked. He cursed. He was far too weak since his reawakening.

Silence! Serapis curled his hand around Ellison's neck as he lifted the man off the ground. He would crush the Sentinel's windpipe, then find the Chappa'ai.

'No.'

His hand trembled. He ordered his grip to tighten, but the limb remained frozen. Ellison brought his hands up, clawing at Serapis' fingers, and Serapis felt the digits begin to give in to the force.

"You will die!" He commanded the Sentinel. "The hand of your friend will kill you." He screamed inwardly at his hand, commanding his grip tighter, but the host fought for control of the limb, and Serapis' rage built as he felt himself losing a battle that should be no battle at all.

Ellison's knee came up, contacting Serapis' groin, and pain shot through his pelvis. He crumbled, the agony overwhelming him, and was only vaguely aware of Ellison collapsing next to him.

~~~~~~~

The pain assaulted Blair even as he sobbed with triumph. He folded on to the floor, curling into a ball as his groin throbbed with the insult Jim's knee had bestowed upon it.

He found himself staring into the blue eyes of his friend. Jim was on the floor, too, gulping air and moving forward, toward him.

"Sandburg…" Jim gasped, and his hand wrapped around Blair's arm.

"Jim." The word sprang from Blair's mouth, shocking him. He had control! He could still feel the mind of the creature inside him, writhing with pain, and he wondered if the being was too overwhelmed with the agony to exert control.

Blair needed to take advantage of the opportunity while he could. "Help me, please. There was an artifact….at…." He felt Serapis' stirring inside him, gaining strength, hot with anger. "A creature." Blair bucked mentally against Serapis. "It was…It went inside me. I can't…"  Fire engulfed him, searing him, and he screamed. "Please, Jim…"

"Blair!"

~~~~~~~~

Jim lunged forward just as Blair screamed and his eyes glowed. He had no idea what was going on, but Sandburg was trying to tell him something. He wasn't sure what to make of it, though. A creature?

For whatever reason, Sandburg had some kind of control. He was still there. Jim's eyes almost teared with relief. The kid was still there. Still alive. Still kicking through whatever the hell had him in its grip.

Blair's body rose, and Jim realized his opportunity was about to vanish. He reached up and snatched the cuffs from the basket, toppling it to the floor in the process. In seconds, he was on top of Blair, flipping him to his stomach and securing his arms behind his back. He locked the second cuff just as Blair bucked, a scream exploding from him, sending Jim backward with the force of the motion.

"How dare you!" Serapis was on his feet, spinning toward Jim, his arms behind his back. "You will die slowly for this!"

Jim pushed himself up, swaying on unsteady legs, and grabbed his discarded gun. He raised a hand and rubbed his tender throat. "I don't think so."

"Unbind me!"

"I'll be happy to uncuff those wrists just as soon as you leave Sandburg."

"If I leave him, he will die." Serapis' smirked, and Jim shivered, unaccustomed to seeing such a smugly superior expression on his friend's face. "And then I will have no choice but to take you, even with the problems you may represent. Still, you might make an exquisite host."

"Well, then, seems we're at a stalemate here." Jim closed the distance between him and Serapis, grabbing his partner's shirt and steering him toward the couch. He pushed him on to the cushions. "I can keep you in those for a very long time."

Serapis scowled, tugging against the chain linking the cuffs. "Take me to the Chappa'ai, and I'll let you live."

"What's the Chappa'ai?"

Serapis tilted his head and looked up at him with a wide-eyed gaze that was achingly familiar. "The Chappa'ai will allow me to leave this world. Take me there."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Jim leaned against the side of the armchair. "Enlighten me."

"The Chappa'ai is a device that will allow me to travel to any planet I choose. Your people have advanced. You must know about the Chappa'ai."

"Sorry to disappoint you." Jim swallowed, wetting his dry throat. Here he was, interrogating Blair, or rather, a creature inside Blair. He could barely wrap his mind around the concept, but the proof had flung him across the room and glowed in Blair's normally passionate blue eyes. "Where is this Chappa'ai?"

"Where your pyramids are."

"Egypt?"

"It was there last. I can sense it. What continent are we on?"

Jim's eyebrows rose. He could see no harm in answering the creature's questions, and as long as he kept the thing talking…. "North America."

"That term means nothing to me."

Jim sighed.

"Show me a map."

Jim straightened. "I'll show you if you'll let me speak to Sandburg."

"Show me!" Serapis sprang from the couch, but Jim lunged forward and pushed him back down.

"You want to know, let me speak with Sandburg."

Serapis smiled. "As you wish." He tilted his head briefly, then looked up again, his eyes suddenly wide and fearful. "Jim?"

"Blair." Jim sat on the edge of the coffee table, across from his friend. "You okay?"

"Do what Serapis says. Please. Take him to the Chappa'ai. He just wants to leave our planet. No one will get hurt if you let him leave."

Jim's eyes narrowed. He grabbed Sandburg's collar and shot to his feet, bringing Blair with him. "That's not Sandburg." Jim dragged the man to the support beam near the kitchen. "If you don't let me speak to him, you'll be spending the night attached to this." He slammed Serapis face-first into the beam. "Your call."

"Jim, please!"

"All right." Jim pressed Serapis harder into the beam. "Have a nice night." He spun Serapis back around and looked into the fearful eyes of his friend. "I'll…"

"Jim, it's me." Blair sagged back against the beam. "It's me. It's me."

Jim hesitated, pulling back a fraction, but he kept his hands on Sandburg's arms. "Blair?"

Blair nodded, his shoulders sagging. "Help me, Jim, please."

Jim leaned forward, desperate. "How?"

A sob escaped Blair, then a chuckle. "I don't know. It's evil, Jim. Don't trust…"

Blair's eyes glowed, and his head chin snapped up. "You spoke with the host," his voice resonated with a strange, echoing timbre, "now show me."

"All right." Jim dragged Serapis back to the couch and deposited him once again on the cushion. "I'll show you a map, then we're gonna play twenty questions."

~~~~~~~

"Here." Ellison, seated on the edge of the coffee table, pointed to a section of land above a thin strip. It was labeled as the 'United States of America.'

Serapis' eyes narrowed as he studied the crude drawing on the page of the map book. "This is not the land formation where your great pyramids are located."

"No."

"I sense the Chappa'ai is relatively nearby. It must be on this continent, at the very least."

"How do you sense it?"

Serapis leaned back on the couch and studied the Sentinel with flat, cool eyes. "It is composed of Naquada."

"What the hell is that?"

"I have no intention of attempting to educate you about the most elementary concepts. Your intellect is far too inferior to comprehend these matters." Serapis gave a small smile as he observed the anger flash across the human's face.

He felt the host's mind stir inside him. Fear radiated from the host, but beneath the fear, Serapis' sensed anger...and even a hint of curiosity.

"How did you get inside Sandburg?"

Ellison's question pulled Serapis' attention back to the Sentinel. He was growing tired of the questions. The human knew astonishingly little about even the most basic concepts.

"I am weary of your insipid questions. Leave me!"

A faint smile touched Ellison's lips. "I think you're forgetting who has the upper hand right now."

Serapis bolted from the couch. "No, you have forgotten your place." He tugged at the cuffs, but they held. "Unbind me now, or I promise you I will kill you."

Ellison leaned back but didn't rise to his feet. He looked up at Serapis, his expression madenningly calm. "Are you through with your little temper tantrum?"

"You insolent....!"

Ellison finally shot to his feet and pushed Serapis back on the couch. "Shut up."

Rage flared hot inside Serapis, burning his cheeks. He had had more than enough of the human Ellison. It was intolerable that he was the man's prisoner. A mere human....

The image of Ellison standing in the middle of a road in the path of a large vehicle once again sprang to his mind.

Zoned. Ellison had zoned. The host had provided him with that information. Ellison's senses made him vulnerable.

If Serapis could induce a zone, he could kill the human and free himself.

~~~~~

'No! No! No!' Blair chanted, his fear turning to horror as he read Serapis' intent.

How do I make him zone? the creature demanded.

"I want to talk to Sandburg again. Longer this time," Jim demanded, but neither host nor parasite paid him much attention.

Blair had to get control. He'd done it before, briefly. He knew the creature inside him was still weak but gaining strength rapidly. He could feel his own will ebbing further and further away. Soon, there'd be nothing left of him with which to fight. He had to act now if he had any chance at all.

Serapis read him easily. Futile! I can bring you great pain.

'Jim!' Blair screamed inwardly, but nothing emerged from his mouth.

Serapis gloated. You are weak. All humans are weak, useful only as slaves and hosts.

"Do you hear me? Let me talk to Sandburg."

'I'm trying, Jim!' Blair had studied ten different forms of meditation. He could do this! He pictured the wolf in his mind. He didn't know if it would work, but something had surged enough energy through him at the fountain to get his heart started again. Maybe he could find some of that energy again, even without Jim's help.

Nonsense!

Blair ignored the creature and focused on the wolf. He pictured its thick, gray coat in his mind. Its fierce eyes. It was standing in the middle of the jungle. It tilted its head back. Its powerful jaw opened. A howl ripped from its throat.

A calmness settled over Blair, and Jim's face seemed to waver in front of his eyes briefly. Then, everything became brighter. He opened his mouth, sending a prayer to whatever God or Gods existed. "Jim."

Jim's eyes flickered with uncertainty. "Blair?"

Silence! Serapis commanded, and Blair felt a surge of joy as he read the disbelief and rage in the creature's mind.

He'd done it! He wasn't about to waste the moment, either. He had no idea how long he'd be able to retain control.

"Jim, listen to me." His throat grew tight, and he could feel Serapis hammering at him, vying for control. "He's going to try to make you...."

Fire!

Images of flames engulfed his mind, and Blair could feel the heat puckering his skin. "....zone," he finished, breathless. "Gag me. Tie me to the beam, Jim. Don't take...."

Serapis bucked, gaining strength, his rage giving him power.

Then it was over. He felt his control snap, and Serapis exploded forward, taking over. A pressure built in his eyes. When he spoke, it was with the creature's voice. "Take me to the Chappa'ai or you and your friend will suffer greatly."

~~~~~

Jim rose from the coffee table, sliding the gun out of his rear holster. He aimed the barrel at Serapis -- and at Blair. He swallowed hard. God, this was insane! He couldn't shoot Sandburg, and that damn creature knew it.

Jim only hoped Serapis had enough doubt and survival-drive not to call his bluff. "Stand up."

Serapis' eyes narrowed. "Why?"

Jim cocked the gun. "I trust my partner, and I won't hesitate to shoot you. He knows that. I don't want to, but I will if I have to."

With a huff, Serapis pushed himself to his feet, glaring at Jim. "You will pay for this. I swear it."

"Take a number." He jerked the gun toward the beam. "Over there."

~~~~~~~~

Blair's butt had long since stopped aching. Now, it was blessedly numb. His shoulders, however, strained from too many long hours forced in an awkward position, radiated with a hot pain. In contrast, his arms had lost most of their feeling.

He couldn't sleep. Handcuffed with his back to the support beam, a gag in his mouth, he couldn't do much of anything. Jim had let him try the bathroom before tying and gagging him, but Serapis had interfered, and Blair's bladder hadn't cooperated. Now, the pressure was building.

The creature was spiteful as hell. How could any sentient being be so coldly hateful?

At least Serapis was silent, and Blair had control over his body...for the moment. Maybe the thing inside him was asleep. It had to sleep sometime, didn't it?

Blair fidgeted slightly, disrupting the numbness that had permeated his rear-end and setting his tailbone on fire. He tilted his head back and glanced at the balcony windows. It would be dawn soon. He could keep control of his bladder until then.

A snicker filled his mind. Not if I wish otherwise. You are nothing more than a beast, and I control the reins.

'Yeah, and you're doing such a good job of it. I'm sure you wanted to be gagged and tied to a beam.'

You are an insolent fool!

'Why are you doing this?'

Because I can.

Blair closed his eyes and leaned his head against the beam. Immediately, the creature took over and tilted his head forward again, then screamed against the gag hard enough to set Blair's throat on fire.

The muted screaming continued for almost three minutes, until Blair's throat was raw and the sounds turned hoarse. Finally, Serapis stopped, allowing Blair's head to thump back against the beam.

He heard Jim stir on the couch and wondered whether the detective was actually sleeping. Probably not, but Blair couldn't see over the back of the sofa to satisfy his curiosity.

Blair wished he could get some sleep, but the thing inside him had other plans. He was tired, his eyes heavy and his limbs numb. God, what he wouldn't give to be in his own bed with a soft pillow beneath his head.

And what he wouldn't give to have this thing out of him. Right now. Whatever the hell it was.

I am your master! You are nothing but a slave, Serapis taunted. I will use you for as long as I desire. Centuries. Millennia. Then, when I am ready for a new host, I will discard your body, and you will cease to be. Remember that. You need me to survive.

Blair felt a hot pressure build behind his eyes, and he closed them just before the tears spilled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jim lay in on the couch with his eyes closed, but he was far from sleep. There was no way he was lowering his guard while that thing was in the loft, even if it was handcuffed to the support beam. Even if he wanted to sleep, he knew he wouldn't be able to. Not while Blair was held hostage by that creature, whatever it was.

When Blair, or rather, that thing inside Blair, started screaming against the gag, he turned on his side and tried to ignore the sound.

God, Blair….

Several minutes later, it stopped. It was turning out to be a very long night. 

Some time later, the soft rays of morning drifted through the windows, bathing the room in a subdued, orange glow. Finally giving up on any pretense of sleep, he pushed the covers off and slid off the sofa.

His eyes snapped immediately to Blair, still securely handcuffed to the support beam. "Sleep well?"

Blair's dark blue eyes glared up at him, the gag tight in his mouth. Jim managed a smile that he hoped looked appropriately smug. Inside, however, he felt a twisting, pulsing agony in the center of his chest as he stared at the familiar blue eyes of his partner, now looking up at him with obvious anger.

He needed to call some back up. He couldn't risk guarding the thing by himself for much longer. Fatigue would eventually make him vulnerable. Heading to the phone, he picked up the cordless and dialed Captain Simon Banks. 

~~~~~~~~~

"Uh-oh." Dr. Daniel Jackson froze as he stared at the photo in the advertisement.

Colonel Jack O'Neill looked up from his eggs and eyed the magazine Daniel had been engrossed in, hardly touching the SGC breakfast and dodging most attempts at conversation. The cover of the publication showed the shriveled face of some mummified dead guy.

"Uh-oh what?"

Daniel laid the magazine flat on the table and rotated it so that it was properly oriented for Jack's perusal. "Right there." He pointed to an advertisement for an upcoming archeological exhibit.

"Okay." Jack shrugged. "A bunch of geeks getting together to cluck over a bunch of dusty old rocks. What's the big deal?"

Daniel took a breath and pursed his lips, frustration evident in the crease between his eyes. "There's a picture of what looks like an urn."

Jack leaned closer to peer at the tiny gray image. "Okay. Hey, wait…."

"It's exactly like the artifacts that housed Osiris and Isis."

Jack looked up, his half-eaten breakfast suddenly heavy in his stomach. "That's not good."

Daniel turned the magazine back toward him, his eyes lingering on the image. "Definitely not good."

"I guess we'd better go bother the general and arrange a trip to, uh…." He leaned toward the magazine again.

"Cascade, Washington," Daniel supplied. "Rainier University."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jim heard the footsteps in the hall and smelled the deep odor of cigar. Rising from the couch, he eyed Blair-Serapis, ignoring the fiery glare from those familiar blue eyes, and opened the door.

"Hello, sir."

Simon did not look happy as he slipped out of his expensive jacket and marched into the loft. "All right, Jim, what's so important that I need to spend my Saturday--" He stopped, the jacket poised in mid-air on its way to the rack, when his eyes found Blair, handcuffed to the support beam. "What the hell...?"

Blair screamed something unintelligible against the gag.

"Jesus!" Simon moved quickly over to the anthropologist. "What's going on here?" Quickly, he undid the gag.

"Back away from him, Simon," Jim began.

"Simon, help me," Blair's voice interrupted. "Jim's having a reaction to some..."

"Blair's not himself, sir," Jim interrupted, closing the door.

"Simon, he's dangerous!"

"Hold on a minute!" Simon put his hands in the air and moved into the kitchen, away from both Jim and Blair. "You!" He pointed to Jim. "Start talking. And you'd better have a damn good reason for having that kid handcuffed to the beam."

"This is kidnapping, Simon! You're a police officer. Help me!"

Jim sighed, ignoring Serapis' outburst. Moving to the armchair, he sat down, hoping the gesture would show the captain that he wasn't a threat. "When Sandburg came home last night from the university, he was..." He swallowed, his throat tight. "He was different."

Simon's eyes narrowed. He seemed to study Jim with the same skeptical intensity one would impose on an escaped mental patient. "Different how?"

"This is going to be hard for you to believe, sir. Hell, it's hard for me to believe, but I can't guard him by myself. I need help."

"Simon, please!" Blair's voice intruded. "He's not himself. I think he ingested something, and it's reacting funny with his senses. He's paranoid. I don't know, maybe there's another Sentinel in town, and he's going crazy again."

Jim stiffened, mirroring Simon's reaction. "Sir, just hear me out. Please."

"I'm listening." The captain's voice was hard. "Make it fast."

Nodding, Jim tried his best to get his thoughts in order. It was imperative that he convince Simon. It had been a huge risk even calling the captain, but he needed help, and Simon was the only man he trusted with his and Blair's life.

"Blair is infected with some kind of creature. It controls him."

Simon's expression didn't waiver. He didn't move a muscle except to take a deep breath. "A creature?"

"I know it sounds crazy."

"That's because it is crazy!" Blair's voice urged, laced with desperation. "Captain Banks, sir, please...."

Jim tilted his head back. "Look at my neck, sir. Blair's hand made these marks." He raised one hand, and his fingers brushed over the hot skin on his neck where his partner's fingers had dug into his skin.

"I tried to stop him from handcuffing me, Simon," Blair's voice protested. "Captain, sir, if I tried to attack him, have him officially arrest me, or something. Holding me here like this is illegal!"

Simon's eyes darted from Jim to Blair and back again. "All right. I've heard enough. Uncuff him, Detective."

Jim sighed. Things were going from bad to worse. "I can't do that, sir."

"I'm making it an order." Simon's hand went toward the holster beneath his suit jacket.

Damn. Jim rose slowly from the couch. He'd hoped it wouldn't go down like this. "Captain, you don't understand..."

"Where's your gun?"

Jim sighed. Slowly, he reached to the holster nestled in the small of his back and removed the gun, then set the weapon carefully on the table. "The keys are in the basket by the door."

Simon nodded, his eyes never leaving Jim as he stepped backward and grabbed the keys. "I hate to do this, Jim, but until I figure out what's going on here, I need you to move away from the table."

Jim nodded and took several steps toward the balcony. "I understand, sir." He knew releasing Blair was dangerous, but the only way to stop that from happening was to take out Banks, which wasn't option. Jim only hoped he'd be fast enough when Serapis made his move, and when he did, the captain would become a believer.

"Thank God." Blair's head tilted back against the beam, his eyes wide with relief.

Simon moved behind the young man and unlocked the handcuffs. Blair exploded to his feet. One arm sailed out and flung Simon halfway across the room. The captain landed hard on the wooden floor, just next to the couch.

In a blur of motion, Blair's lean body leapt over the couch and grabbed Jim's gun from the table, but by the time he swung it around to aim at Jim, Jim had the gun from his ankle holster pointed squarely at Blair's chest.

"Drop it," Jim ordered.

Serapis pulled the trigger, but it clicked blankly.

A tiny smile lifted Jim's lips, and he nudged his weapon higher. "This one's loaded."

"You won't shoot your friend," Blair's voice once again held the strange, resonating timbre of the creature.

Jim tightened his grip on the firearm.

A groan from the floor pulled Serapis' attention away from Jim, and he looked down. Simon held his own gun on Blair.

"Sorry, Jim." Simon's eyes never left Blair.

"It's okay, sir. It's a wild story, I know." He jerked his chin toward the beam. "Now, be a good boy and go back where you belong."

Blair's head cocked. "Or you'll shoot me?"

Simon rose to his feet.

"He's strong, sir. Don't try to overpower him."

Simon stopped, and a smile brightened Blair's face as he looked back and forth between Jim and the captain. "You won't harm me. You value your friend's life."

Serapis tossed the empty gun on the couch and moved slowly toward the door. "As long as I live, so does your friend." His smile brightened, and his hand wrapped around the doorknob. "When I find the Chappa'ai, I may even release him."

"You're lying, and I can't let you leave." Jim held the weapon steady. "You can either stay here alive, or try to leave and have me put a hole through you."

"Goodbye, Detective." Serapis turned the knob.

Jim fired.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"This is it, I guess."  Jack peered through the glass set into the door. "Nice office for a grad student, but it looks empty." He knocked on the wood, anyway.

Daniel, Sam, and Teal'c stood in the hallway behind Jack. Teal'c wore a baseball cap that did a decent job of hiding the gold emblem on his forehead.

"Well, we can't stand out here forever," Daniel remarked as a cluster of female students walked by, several of them eyeing the group with obvious suspicion.

"I don't intend to." Jack smiled and turned the knob as he pocketed a tool, then pushed the door inward.

The four members of SG-1 moved into the spacious office. Jack sauntered to the desk, his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, it's empty all.... Damn."

"What." Daniel slid next to Jack and followed his gaze, peering over the desk. "Oh."

On the floor lay a stasis jar, its top resting several inches away on the soft carpet.

~~~~~

The bullet flew true, ripping through the flesh of Blair's leg and hurtling into the wall. A cry escaped the young man, but Serapis flung open the door and ran out, limping, without even a backward glance.

"Shit!" Jim took off at a run, with Simon on his heels. He couldn't believe the shot hadn't immobilized Sandburg. By the time he made it to the hall, Blair was gone.

There weren't many places he could disappear to, and the trail of blood was a good clue. Jim extended his hearing even as he headed for the stairs. He heard his partner's thundering heartbeat, accompanied by the odd rhythm he associated with the creature. Blair's footsteps drummed unevenly on the stairs, his limp evident.

"What was that, Jim?" Simon asked, panting, as he followed.

"Later, sir." Jim burst through the door and thundered down the stairs. He heard Blair make it to the bottom floor.

A startled cry from below made him wince. A woman's voice, "Watch it!"

Jim flew to the ground floor, his gun raised. "Freeze!"

Blair was almost to the exit, a woman with graying hair next to him. A bag of groceries lay in chaos on the floor. Jim recognized the woman as Mrs. Sarah Warren from 202. Her husband had died a couple of years ago, and she'd kept to her apartment ever since, only venturing out for the mail and to do her laundry and shopping.

"No!" Blair's voice, deep with the creature's influence, echoed through the room. He grabbed the woman, and in a blur, swung her in front of him, blocking Jim's aim. "Put the weapon down, or I'll kill her."

"You kill her, I kill you." Jim tightened his grip on the gun, trying to ignore the woman's wide, fearful eyes.

He heard Simon's heavy breathing behind him, and he knew the captain also had his gun aimed at Blair. He forced himself to meet the painfully familiar blue eyes now glaring at him. He'd aimed for Blair's leg back at the loft. Now, he might have to take a chest shot.

A tiny smile lifted Blair's lips, then his arms jerked, and Mrs. Warren's head cracked to the side as her body flung forward at an impossible speed.

The body careened into Jim, knocking him to the floor. His gun clattered from his grip, but he heard gunshots and breaking glass. He rolled the woman carefully off him, and his stomach tightened when he saw her blank stare. Placing his fingers on the side of her neck, he confirmed what his ears and eyes had already told him.

She was dead.

He looked up. Simon was gone. Retrieving his gun, he shot to his feet and ran outside. He saw Simon heading back toward the building, shaking his head, his face grim.

"He got away. Damn, he's fast. That leg didn't even slow him down."

"He hasn't gotten away yet." Jim jerked his chin. "Call it in, sir. I'm going after him." His eyes found the drops of blood on the sidewalk, and he extended his hearing, finding Blair's trip-hammer heartbeat and pounding footsteps.

On the trail, he bolted into a sprint down the sidewalk.

~~~~~~~~~~

'No. No. No. Oh, God, no.' Blair was in shock. Even as his legs pumped and his arms swung, he was in shock. He'd killed Mrs. Warren. That poor, lonely woman. His hands had snapped her neck. He'd---

How do I make him zone? Serapis demanded as he pushed Blair's body to the limit, pain throbbing in his injured leg.

'You son of a bitch! You psychotic son of a bitch! Why'd you kill her?'

Tell me!

'Go to hell!'

Blair felt Serapis in his mind, tearing through memories. The garbage truck. Pushing Jim to the pavement. What had he zoned on....?

'No!' Blair tried to block his thoughts. Focused on anything. Something. Mrs. Warren. Oh, God. The feel of her head in his hands. The sound of her spine cracking.

His stomach revolted suddenly. Apparently, not every part of his anatomy was under the creature's control. He stumbled, slowing down, breathing hard. Then something slammed into him from behind, and his wounded leg screamed, crumbling and sending him into a hard tumble on the blacktop. Pain shot through his right side. A car horn blared at him, tires screeching. The smell of burned rubber stung his nose.

~~~~~~

Damn! He's fast! Jim pushed more speed from his legs as Blair took a corner. The kid was limping but still moving much too quickly for someone who'd just taken a bullet to the leg.

As Blair gained ground, options flew through Jim's head. Should he take a shot, in public, with witnesses and potential danger to civilians? What if the creature inside Blair got desperate enough to start taking more lives?

God. Blair.... He'd been aware of everything, no doubt. Back at the loft, he'd seemed to know what the creature was doing and thinking even when he wasn't in control. What was going through his mind now, after having witnessed himself snap Mrs. Warren's neck?

Jim had to stop Serapis. Now. He'd already failed Blair...and Mrs. Warren. He shouldn't have brought Simon in to the situation. No reasonable person would've believed his story about a body-snatching creature. Hell, he wouldn't have believed it if he'd been in Simon's shoes.

Ahead, Jim saw Blair head into the street, oblivious to oncoming traffic. Jim's heart skipped several beats as horns blared, and he prepared himself to witness his partner getting slammed by several tons of metal traveling at 40 miles per hour.

To Jim's surprise, Blair stumbled, folding over to clutch his stomach. A car barely missed him, swerving and screeching its horn. Jim closed in on Blair, and with a final leap, twisted his body and wrapped his arms around Blair, hoping to use his own body to cushion the blow. Instead, Blair crumpled too soon, and Jim went tumbling with Blair. He winced when he heard something crack, and half a second later, he and Blair came to rest on the blacktop.

When he looked up, the oncoming cars were stopped, despite the green light. It was about time. He felt Blair begin to stir beneath him, making small groaning noises, and he wasted no time. Reaching behind his back, Jim stifled a curse when he realized he'd left his cuffs back at the loft.

He also realized that, somewhere in the tumble, he'd lost his gun. Eyeing the pavement, he saw it a foot away, lying against the blacktop. Quickly, he snatched it up, then pulled Blair's arms back, grabbed the young man's wrists, and yanked him up. He pressed the barrel against the base of Blair's skull.

"Let's go, and don't try anything." Jim eyed the stunned bystanders. A crowd had begun to gather. "Move it along people! Police business!"

Fortunately, Blair -- or rather, Serapis -- didn't protest as Jim herded him toward the loft, one hand around Blair's wrists and the other holding the gun firmly at the base of Blair's skull. Blair was limping badly now, hunched toward his right, favoring his leg and ribs.

"J-Jim," Blair gasped, a sob in his voice. "I killed her. Oh, God, I killed her."

Jim clenched his jaw, not sure whether he was actually hearing Blair or Serapis. The creature was devious and had already demonstrated that it could could mimic Blair.

"Not now," Jim whispered. "We'll deal with this later, Chief." Even if it wasn't Blair talking, Jim decided, the kid was in there somewhere. He'd hear him. The words wouldn't be much comfort, Jim knew, but at the moment, they were all he could spare.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Got it." Jack snapped the cell phone closed. "852 Prospect Avenue. Let's go."

Daniel nodded, following Jack out the door. Sam and Teal'c were right behind him. Teal'c carried a biohazard box in his right hand, the empty stasis jar held within.

Now, all they had to do was find Blair Sandburg and, in the process, very likely find the Goa'uld that had once inhabited that jar.

Daniel swallowed as he closed the grad student's office door behind him. He gave a brief glance over his shoulder into the room, and a pang twisted his chest. Blair Sandburg, PhD student....  Another person in the wrong place at the wrong time, lost to the Goa'uld.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Jim got Blair back to the building, he could hear the approaching sirens. Within minutes, seconds maybe, the place would be flooded with officers. Pushing Blair through the doors into the building, he saw Simon standing over the body of the dead woman, the cell phone to his ear as he barked orders to the person on the other end of the line.

"Oh, God," Blair mumbled, his shoulders hunching and his eyes riveted on Mrs. Warren's body.

"Backups on its way, sir." Jim nudged Blair toward the elevators.

What the hell was he going to do? With a dead body on their hands and the perpetrator in custody, there really was only one way this could go down. He couldn't very well tell the D.A. that the real perpetrator was some creature inside of Sandburg, and even if he did say that, the prosecutor would never believe him.

The situation was spiraling out of control. The creature was too dangerous to allow in to police custody. The officers would have no idea what they were dealing with, and if the thing escaped....

Damn.

Simon snapped the phone closed. "Get him out of here, Ellison."

Jim stopped a few feet away from the elevator. "Sir?"

"Now! This is my fault, I know." His voice caught. "It'll do no one any good if Sandburg's arrested for murder. Call me on my cell later and explain this all to me in detail."

Jim nodded. The sirens were getting louder. "Thank you, sir. Do you have your cuffs on you?"

"Yeah." Simon reached behind him and tossed them to Jim.

"Thank you, sir. What are you gonna tell them?" Jim slapped one of the cuffs around his partner's wrist.

Blair spun around, and Jim caught a glimpse of glowing eyes just as something hard and sharp hit him in the jaw, sending dots of lights dancing in his vision as his head whipped to the side.

"Don't!" Simon yelled.

Shaking his head, the bright spots in Jim's vision subsided, and he saw Simon pressed against Blair, face-to-face and almost crushing the kid against the wall, the barrel of his gun shoved beneath Blair's chin.

"I'll pull this trigger before I'll let you use Sandburg to kill another person." Simon's voice trembled, but the gun remained steady.

A snarl twisted Blair's lips, and his eyes glowed again, but Serapis remained silent.

"Turn around," Jim said, his voice heavy with fatigue. The patrol units would arrive any second. He had to hurry.

Blair's eyes darted toward Jim with a glare, but when Simon moved back, Blair turned around. Jim moved forward and slapped the remaining cuff around Blair's free wrist.

"Looks like we got here too late." An unfamiliar male voice muttered, sounding unusually sad.

Jim spun around. Simon was standing over the dead woman's body, his gun aimed at the four strangers. The newcomer in front had graying hair and a slightly worn face. Although he was casually dressed in jeans and a black leather jacket, his confident stance and alert eyes gave him an air of authority. The two fair-skinned, blue-eyed people flanking the older man appeared nervous. The male wore glasses, and he stood with slightly hunched shoulders, his eyes drifting somberly from the corpse to Sandburg. The woman, thin, with a rigid stance, looked on alert, her eyes scanning the lobby, occasionally darting to the gray-haired man. The large black man standing in the rear looked like a bruiser from a dance club, a black T-shirt stretched tight over his broad chest and a dark baseball cap on his head.

"This is police business, people." Simon's voice was hard. "I need you all out of this area."

The older man stepped forward. "I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, United States Air Force."

Jim stiffened. Military? He glanced at Sandburg, and saw the kid's eyes locked on the large black man.

Blair smiled. "Jaffa! Balz'yac!"

The black man stiffened. "I do not serve the Goa'uld."

Goa'uld? Jim had a very bad feeling. With a military group present, and apparently unsurprised by the dead body and Blair's deep voice and glowing eyes, Jim had a feeling the four strangers knew a hell of a lot more than he did about what had invaded