Chapter 14-Waking Up

"How long have you been awake?" was the first thing out of Roe's mouth when she saw that Adrian's eyes were open.

"Just a couple of minutes. Where are we? What's going on?"

"Do you remember the truck, and Savage shooting you?"

"Yes, and?"

"We're being held by Major Marsden and his men including Savage. I think we're in an old insane asylum, but I'm not positive."

"What happened while I was unconscious, and where's Shane?"

"Shane is in the other room." Roe said, waving her hand toward the door. "As for what's been happening, it's a long story."

"How long have I been out?"

"I'm not really sure, I was unconscious for a while too, but I was told we were captured night before last. As I said, it's a long story."

"I've got time." Adrian rattled his chains. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

Roe smiled at him. "I can see that, but I'd rather not have to go over everything that's happened twice. It'll be easier to tell you both at once instead of one at a time."

"Can't he hear us from in there?"

"He probably could, but he's still unconscious. "

"Why? What's wrong with him?"

"They shot you with wooden bullets and him with wolfsbane coated silver."

"So? We should've woken up about the same time."

"Not all of the bullets went through y'all. We had to dig one out of each of you."

"We? Who's we?"

"A couple of the guards helped me. I couldn't get you down by myself without just dropping you on the floor, and they wouldn't trust me with a knife."

"A couple of the guards? Savage helped you after he shot us?"

"No, two of the others that are here. I'll explain them later. Right now, do you have any idea why Shane's not awake yet?"

"Wolfsbane coated silver? How long ago did you get it out of him?"

"We did him first because I thought it was more harmful for it to stay in him than you. So maybe half an hour? An hour at most."

"Okay. It may take him a couple of hours for the wolfsbane to get out of his system. The longer it's in there and the more there is, the longer it takes to recover."

"Okay." Roe sighed. "That makes me feel better. I was worried that I'd missed something."

"I doubt it." Adrian said. "How did you know we still had bullets left in us?"

Roe glanced back at the door behind her, then walked right up to Adrian and whispered "I cast a spell to be able to see wood on you, and silver on him. Even though they were inside of you, they still gave off a slight glow."

He whispered back to her. "How did you manage to hide that from them?"

"I did it as best I could while they weren't in here." She shrugged. "That's why I'm worried that I missed something. Y'all were attached to the wall when I did it, so I couldn't see your entire back."

"Didn't they think it was strange that you knew where the bullets were when they got us down?"

"Not really." Roe replied, moving back away from him. "The bullets had gone far enough through you both that you could feel them through your skin. I told them that I counted entrance and exit wounds and they didn't add up." She shrugged again. "One of the guards can back me up, he felt them too, then cut them out."

"Oh, okay. That makes sense. "

Neither of them said anything for a minute, then Roe asked "Are you hungry? Thirsty? There's supposed to be blood and food in here for y'all. I haven't looked yet, though."

"I would love some blood if there is any."

"Do you drink it cold, or warmed up?"

"I prefer it warm, but cold will do if that's what's available."

"Okay." Roe said, walking over to the little refrigerator. She opened the door and saw rows of wine bottles. Huh, why wine bottles and not blood bags?

She looked over her shoulder at Adrian. "Do you have any idea why it would be in wine bottles, not blood bags?"

"It's quite common, actually. There's a company we can order it from that delivers it that way. They can use human courier, or deliver it to humans and they all just think it's wine."

"That's a good idea." Roe replied, digging through the bottles, trying to figure out which ones might be drugged.

"What are you looking for?" Adrian asked, noticing her digging.

"Marsden told me that some of these were drugged and some weren't. I'm trying to figure out which ones are which."

"If you'll open a couple and bring them over here, I can smell them and tell you if they're drugged or not."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

She unscrewed the tops of two of the bottles. One from the right side of the refrigerator, and one from the left side. Then she carried them over to Adrian and held first one up then the other so he could smell them.

"The one in your right hand is not drugged, but the one in your left is."

"Okay." Roe walked over to the cabinet and put the drugged bottle down.

As she started walking back toward Adrian, he asked "How are we going to do this? I can't drink it myself like this."

Roe looked down, then back at him. "I can't release you right now, but I can give you some slack on the chains. I'm afraid that they'll come back to check on us soon, and I've got them convinced that I don't believe in supernatural creatures. I don't want to let you roam around just yet."

"Why not?" Adrian asked, confused.

"It's hard to explain. I will give you enough slack in the chain that you can drink this yourself." She said as she moved over to the chain wheel. She watched him as she unspooled it and stopped when she thought he had enough slack to bring the bottle to his mouth. As she started back over to hand Adrian the bottle, she quietly continued trying to explain. "I have been playing stupid human since I got here. I've almost convinced them all that I don't believe in anything supernatural and that I think they're all crazy. They've warned me so many times that y'all will hurt me, that I want them to believe that I'm at least heeding their warnings about y'all being dangerous, whether I believe that you're a vampire or not. I don't want them to realize that I'm not afraid of either of y'all, because that would give them a reason to doubt what I am, and that wouldn't help us at all."

"Okay, I understand that, but what makes you think they'll be back anytime soon?" He asked, taking the bottle from her.

"For one thing, they're supposed to be bringing me some clean clothes. For another thing, one of the guards seems to be Marsden's right hand man, and he's very interested in y'all being alive. So I'm sure he'll be along to check up on you both shortly. I doubt that they'll leave us alone until Shane wakes up." Even though they said that they wouldn't come back in here, I have a feeling that Marsden will insist on someone seeing that the guys are alright instead of taking my word for it. Roe paused while Adrian finished drinking the blood.

He sighed. "I guess I understand where you're coming from, but I don't appreciate being chained to the wall."

"I know, and I tried to talk them into letting you stay on the bed, but they both seemed to think that as soon as you woke up, you'd eat me." She shrugged. "Since Marsden wants something from me, they didn't want y'all to eat me. Though I think Savage would've liked it if you had."

"What does he want from you?"

She shook her head. "I really don't want to explain it twice, but I think he's lost his mind."

Adrian scowled at Roe. "You're not the most forthcoming person, and it's rather annoying."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I'll go check on Shane now. The sooner he's up, the sooner I can tell y'all what's been going on." She turned and left the room, walking through her room and into Shane's.

It doesn't seem like he's moved since the last time I checked on him. But it's rather hard to tell since he's chained so closely to the wall like that. She walked right up to him, so she could see his face clearly, trying to determine if there was something wrong with him or not.

"Aargh." Shane yelled as he lunged forward and snapped his teeth at her face.

Roe jerked back just in time to miss being bitten on the face. She lunged backward so hard that she lost her balance and fell onto the floor, her right side taking the brunt of the fall. "What the hell!?" She screamed at him.

"What have you done to me?" Shane snarled at her.

"What are you talking about?" Roe asked him confused, as she slowly started getting to her feet. What is wrong with him? Is this a side effect of the wolfsbane? I don't think I should get too close to him until he's back to normal. Even his cranky normal self would be an improvement over this snarling monster.

"Why do you have me chained to this wall?" Shane growled at her.

"What's going on in there?" Adrian called from the other room.

Roe sidled closer to the door and said "Shane seems to think that I'm the one keeping y'all here, so he tried to bite my face off."

"You are keeping me here." Shane yelled at her. "You're not chained up, like I am."

"Shane, she's not the one behind this." Adrian spoke from the other room.

"I don't have anything to do with it." Roe snapped back at him. "And I may not be chained up, but that doesn't mean that I'm free to leave, or that I can release you. I'm a prisoner here too but instead of chaining me to the wall, they've locked me in this set of rooms with y'all."

As Shane started to argue with Roe some more, they heard the hallway door start opening.

Roe quickly turned to Shane and hissed "If you want out of here alive, remember that I'm human. If they chain me up too, we're sunk." She then turned and walked into her room to see who had come in.

Parker was nervously standing in the middle of her room. Relief filled his face when he saw her. "What's going on in here?"

"They're both awake, and that one," she gestured toward Shane's room "thinks I'm the one that kidnapped him and is insisting that I let him go."

"Seriously?" Parker asked. "How exactly does he think you could've kidnapped him?"

"She's in league with you." Shane howled, then subsided to making snarling, spitting, and growling noises seemingly to himself.

"Um, okay then. Are they both still chained up like we left them?" Parker hesitantly asked.

"No." Roe said. "I-"

"Are you crazy?" Parker asked quickly looking around.

"Parker." Roe snapped to get his attention. "I only gave that one, she gestured to Adrian's room enough slack to drink a bottle of that stuff that's in the fridge in there. That's all, and I haven't touched the other one's chains. He tried to bite me."

"I warned you that they were dangerous."

Roe nodded. "I'm glad y'all refused to let them stay on the beds now." I really am, because if they hadn't Shane would've tried to kill me.

"See, we knew what we were talking about. They're dangerous."

"Yeah you did. Not to be rude, but what're you doing back in here? I thought you said y'all were staying away."

"Marsden wanted me to check and make sure that they were both awake and nothing else was wrong with them."

"They're both awake, but I'm not sure if there's anything wrong with the snappy one. Is that how they all act?"

"Every one that's come here has acted that way. I don't know if they normally act that way or not."

"No, they don't." Adrian spoke up from inside his room. "They're supposed to act like a normal human until they get extremely angry or are defending themselves or someone else. This is not normal behavior."

As Adrian spoke, Parker slowly eased closer to the doorway so he could see him. "How would you know?"

"I've been around werewolves before. The only time I've ever seen one act like this, he'd accidentally fallen into a field of wolfsbane. It took a few days for the effects to wear off. I don't know what's wrong with this one."

Parker opened and closed his mouth, stunned. "I wonder if they're being given too much, and that's why we've been having so many problems." He spoke to himself more than to the others. "I've got to go talk to Major Marsden about that."

Parker was still standing there thinking to himself when Savage burst through the door.

Hasn't that man ever heard of knocking? Or at least walking in a door like a normal person?

"What's taking so long in here?" he snapped at Parker.

"Do you know how much wolfsbane is used on the bullets?" Parker answered him by asking another question.

"What?" Savage asked, dumbfounded by Parker's response.

"How much wolfsbane is used to coat the bullets?"

"I don't know." Savage replied confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"The vampire said that the werewolf wasn't acting right, and got me to thinking about whether we were overdosing them with the wolfsbane."

"You're actually listening to a vampire?" Savage asked in disbelief.

"Well, yes. What he said made sense."

Savage turned on Roe. "What have you done to him?"

"I haven't done anything to him." She replied, taking a step back from him toward Shane's open doorway. "He asked me, and the one you're calling a vampire answered him."

"She's didn't do anything." Parker defended her. "The vampire didn't tell me what the problem was, he just said something that made me think of it."

"How do you know that they didn't come up with it together?"

"Enough, Savage. I know that you don't like the girl, or any vampire or werewolf for that matter, but she didn't even know that there was a problem until the werewolf tried to bite her face off."

Savage looked at Roe, suspiciously. "He tried to bite you?"

"Yeah, and I'm sure I'm going to have some bruises from where I fell trying to get away from him." She said, rubbing her arm.

"Really?" Parker asked. "Let me see."

Roe pushed her sleeve up so that her shoulder was showing. "I fell on this arm."

Parker inspected her shoulder and down her arm. "Yeah, you're already starting to get some bruises over here." He turned her arm so that Savage could see it. "She didn't come in with these, and I didn't see them earlier when we were getting the bullets out of the other two."

Savage just looked at Roe like he was trying to figure something out. "Huh. It seems like you've been telling us the truth, but I still don't trust you."

Roe scowled at him. "The feeling's mutual."

They stood there staring at each other for a few seconds, until Parker interrupted to ask Adrian "Is there anything we can do to make him calm down? Return him to normal?"

"The only thing I know to do is feed him and wait until it's worked its way through his system. And make sure to keep him away from any more wolfsbane." Adrian replied.

"You're still listening to a vampire." Savage snapped at Parker.

"Just because he seems to know more about werewolves than I do. I didn't really believe in them before I got recruited for this crazy mission." Parker said, throwing his hands up in the air. "I just thought I'd lost my mind."

"That's still no reason to listen to a vampire."

"It is when you're trying to make Major Marsden happy. He doesn't take kindly to failure. Right now, I'll take all the help I can get, if it'll make his project go right."

"Sorry to interrupt y'all's argument, but how am I supposed to feed that snarling beast in there? Without him biting my hand off?"

"So, you're believing the vampire too?" Savage snapped at her.

"Actually, feeding them is part of my orders from Mr. Marsden. What the 'vampire' says has no bearing on the issue."

"Feeding them is part of your orders?"

"Yes. As I told you before, I'm supposed to keep them alive. I don't know how to do that without feeding them."

"Just throw some meat at him." Savage replied.

"He's chained to the wall. He couldn't reach it, if he didn't catch it in the first place. Also, he can't get his hands close enough to his mouth to be able to eat it, without me unchaining him."

"Do what you did with the vampire." Parker suggested.

"I can try that, but would you stay in here while I do it."

"Why?" Savage snapped suspiciously.

"I'm afraid I'll need first aid after this." Roe said, resigned to getting hurt by Shane.

"Um, if I may offer a suggestion?" Adrian asked.

"Yes." Roe replied at the same time Savage said "No." They stared at each other.

"Since I'm the one who's probably about to get hurt, I want to hear what his suggestion is." Roe scowled at Savage.

"I suggest handing him the piece of meat, then releasing his hands enough to eat it. Then you'll be a safe distance away and can retract the chains when he's done." Adrian paused. "That is if his room is set up the same way mine is."

"That's not a bad idea." Roe replied. "Thank you."

"I don't want to be here for this." Savage said.

"Fine." Roe snapped at him. "Leave."

"I'm not sure I want to be here, either." Parker said. "I need to go talk to Marsden."

"Well, can somebody at least wait outside the door, so if I start screaming, you can come rescue me?" Roe asked. I really don't think I'll need rescuing. I think Adrian's plan will work just fine, but I don't want them to know how comfortable Adrian and I are with each other.

"There's a guard stationed outside your door. He'll get help if you start screaming." Parker paused. "If you wouldn't mind, when you get done feeding him, let the guard know that you're all right."

"Yeah," Savage laughed. "We'd hate to have to replace you because the dog ate you."

"Gee, thanks. I can feel the love." Roe replied sarcastically.

The two men walked to the door. As the guard outside opened it, Parker told Roe. "Good luck." Then they were both gone, and Roe was left alone with a chained up vampire and a crazed werewolf.

I guess now's as good a time as any to try to feed Shane. Roe thought resignedly. I'm really not looking forward to doing this.