9. I'm So Excited.

The first thing I realized was that I was in the car. I pretended to be sleeping, trying to discover my surroundings as much as possible. With a brief movement, I noticed I didn't have an intravenous line attached, but the cannula was still veins in my neck.

I smelled the pear, the lemon, and the lime, and somehow, I knew that this was not the rescue mission it was supposed to be. Because I smelled the guards. I had learned to smell their sour sweat and to listen to their breathing, even though I was only human. When I wanted to escape, I had wanted to escape all along, so I had learned to sense the guards around me.

I also smelled like burning skin or flesh. I was pretty damn drugged, but I fought myself awake as hard as I could, but even then, I tried to pretend I was unconscious. There were other victims or targets in the car. Suddenly, someone grabbed my eyelid and flashed a light into my eyes.

" Hey, this one's awake," the man said. One of the fucking guards.

Another man said: " Leave it alone. It's not going anywhere. She's all drugged up and weak. Now it's no danger."

I started to gather my rage, and I got ready. Oh, no danger only, I thought in my mind and felt my rage sweep over me, burning again into the drug-induced confusion out of my mind and giving my muscles strength. It would not be time to act yet, but soon. 

Adam started to wake up. The last thing he remembered was being shot with a silver net with aconitum and then several stun darts. At least five hits, Adam thought. What had awakened him was such rage.

 Not his own rage, but someone in this car was really pissed off. He could smell it. Clearly, this thing was really charged with rage. He could hear the racing heartbeat and smell the adrenaline in the air. 

Then he realized there were four of them here. He could smell Bran and Samuel, but then this wasn't Mercy and Charles. It took Adam a moment to realize that the rage he sensed was Mimi's. Mimi was awake and was furious. She was so furious that she would probably maul anyone who got in her way.

This would be an exciting experience. Adam hadn't actually even seen Mimi, but her rage was convincing, and Adam could smell the drugs in Mimi. And the rage effortlessly pushed through the god-awful, potent cocktail of drugs. Mimi's rage was contagious, and Adam felt himself becoming a little more alert.

Soon, however, the truck stopped, and the doors were opened. One by one, they were carried on board to some kind of hospital ward, where they were lifted onto beds. Adam was exhausted, yet he could not really move, and the silver chains weakened them further. He had silver shackles on his wrists.

While they were being lifted, their shackles were tied together in front of them, and after the transfer, they were reattached to the floor just so their hands could be on the bed, but the chains did little else. The shackles were replaced with steel ones, and Adam grunted as the silver peeled off his skin when the shackles were removed.

Bran and Samuel were still unconscious when they were transferred to the bed. Bran came to the other side of Adam, and Samuel came to the window. On the other side of Adam, the bed was still empty. Adam tried to get himself more awake, but the drug was strong, and he could still feel the aconitum burning in his veins. 

He could see the burns on the other's wrists, too, and knew it would take time to heal the silver burn and eat the calories again. But moment by moment, Adam had an army background, so he knew how to plan and keep his head cool.

The men untied my stretcher and proceeded to carry me. I got myself loose; I wasn't very tied up, and I hit the first man who was closest. I hit him in the face with my fist and felt his nose crack, but my punch was slightly upwards, and the man roared; he pressed his hand to his eye, and blood trickled from between his fingers. 

I had hit him right in the eye then, good for him. I punched the guy next to me in the nose hard, so the blood just spurted out. Several hands grabbed me and pushed me back onto the stretcher. They tried to tie me up, but I had destroyed the ties. I felt someone looking for my cannula.

I dropped it on the floor. At least I had managed to tear it off. Someone hit me in the thigh with an injection, and it stung like hell. The men held me down long enough for the medicine to take effect, and I couldn't do any more damage. At least three men lay on top of me, literally, until I was almost unconscious.

 They tied me to a stretcher somehow and started carrying me on board. I tried to stay awake. To make myself rage so that my rage would burn this satanic sedation away again. I had learned to hate this and hate it hard. I didn't want to be weak and helpless all the time. It pissed me off and badly.

Eventually, we arrived at some kind of hospital ward, and I discovered I had roommates. Men. One of the men was awake. His dark eyes were looking at me through long, thick lashes, and there was fury in his expression but also a little surprise.

I fought with everything I had, even biting one man until the blood spurted. I used my fists every time I got my hands loose, my wrists bruised, with finger indentations as the men clenched them in an attempt to control me. If I got my teeth caught on something, I would bite as long as I could.

 My jaws ached as the men twisted my mouth open so that whatever was between my teeth would come out. Sometimes, I could bite a piece off. I tasted the blood and flesh in my mouth, but I continuously spat it out right away. Someone hit me with a taser so hard that men lifted me up on a hospital bed and tied me up with metal shackles.

They were tight. But I had narrow wrists and narrow hands. Getting out of the restraints would have been easier, but I considered it challenging. After the men had tied me up, they left. By then, I had begun to recover from the taser blast, and I began to twist my hands and try to untie myself. Also, to find my rage.

"Did you know you are only hurting yourself unnecessarily with all that wrestling, fighting, and flailing? Aren't you already bruised and battered enough? You won't get out of those shackles. "

The man remarked softly. His voice was low, soothing, and dark. There was something soothing in his voice, but there was the same control and dominance I had heard in the Native American man's voice.

I said, "I will fight the drugs as long as I can and a little longer. You never know when I might win. And I will get out of these shackles; it will take a while, but I have the motivation, as long as I can get my rage going, then...."

I replied and concentrated on trying to get the shackles off. I twisted and turned my hands. The drugs blurred my vision. My muscles weren't working so well yet because the muscle relaxant was impairing my fine motor skills, and my coordination wasn't quite right. But I tried anyway.

"You'll get your wrists slit. Please, don't bother. They are too tight." The man said matter-of-factly.

" You must be Mimi, right? Aren't you? Nick and Elias have told me a lot about you. You're a remarkable girl, well, woman, but you look so damn young. Try to calm down, take a breath, and settle down. The time for action will come, but you must wait for the right moment." The man explained calmly.

"Then who are you?" I asked.

My voice was still a little thick from the medicine, and I felt dizzy if I moved my head too fast, but I was determined not to show my weakness.

He smiled and said: "Adam Hauptmann, Chicago's Alpha and one of your saviors, it didn't go exactly as planned, though. We got caught, but a couple of us were rescued, and backup might be on the way at some point." The man said.

The man's eyes turned golden yellow, he added. "I'm a werewolf, like those two others. "

Oh, werewolves. Fine. I wasn't actually surprised at all, whether it was the drugs or the shock, or just my mind being opened up by meeting the vampires. I somehow wondered if Nick's hybrid status must have led to a group of werewolves coming to my rescue.

We had no time to discuss this further when the doctor entered the room.

This fucking acquaintance. The chubby one.

He said: "I'm Dr. Morrisey, and you are my targets. This ship will stop in port, we'll sail for a while, and I'll rent your bodies to any willing payer. You wouldn't believe how many people have already paid to have you, werewolves as their guests for a day or two. We have strict conditions for renting, and you will survive, but it may not be painless or comfortable."

He looked at me coldly. "You will be my masterpiece. I'll get my fortune when I'm done with you because I can guarantee you'll be examined. But only if I allow it. You will be my weapon. My object. With which I will show the world the reality. And you will obey me without question. Dr. Kendrick has done an excellent job with your rage. "

I had no idea what the doctor was discussing and didn't even want to find out. 

"Let's get started then." The man said, and I felt the ship was already moving. "First, we need to get you under a bit more control. Oh yes, those shackles will hold, but for how long since you're going to be moved anyway, you need to be sedated pretty deeply. "

He came over to me and re-cannulated me, took an ampoule from his jacket pocket, drew a syringe of light blue substance, looked at me, and drew more.

"I think this will keep you nice and calm. I'll give you a good dose so you don't cause too much trouble."

He said, pushing the syringe into the cannula and depressing the plunger. I felt my thoughts blurring and the darkness threatening to take over. But I managed to stay awake. He watched me for a moment, grunting, and he moved over to Adam and cannulated him, too. Gave him an injection of something, a different substance, and I saw Adam's eyes roll back in his head; he sighed and fell asleep.

He also gave two other men a similar injection and eventually came to me. He checked the men were unconscious properly. 

"Well, aren't you persistent? All right, then. Let's have some more. I've got other things in store for you here. You're a real challenge, but that's what makes you just right for my minor project. Your looks are just what they should be. Small and weak."

He now had a pink substance; he drew it into the syringe and inserted it into the cannula. All I felt was a buzzing in my head as I lost consciousness.

Adam woke up groggy and sore, as if he'd been in a fight. He was no longer in chains and noticed Bran and Samuel eating at the table.

Adam stood up and asked, "What's this all about? Where are we?"

Samuel said wearily. " We have some kind of remote-controlled implants or something that stuns us instantly; as long as we behave, we can stay awake and even eat, no drugs in our food. We're on a ship, on our way from port to port, and then we're rented out whenever the ship stops. We've had tests and quite a lot of samples taken, so there's quite a lot to mend. Plus, we can't change the shape. These implants will hit you right away if you even try."

Bran said: "Now we have to observe and learn how and when to escape. You were in some kind of operation. You were only brought here half an hour ago. Mimi hasn't been seen the whole time we've been awake, that is. We've not seen her at all. We woke up about three hours ago, and the fucking doctor explained things to us and then came the food, so we eat when we get food; we need calories and lots of them." His voice was tired too.

"There's no way of escape. There are guards behind the door with remote controls, and I do not know where the implants are. They could be in the abdominal cavity. In your arm. Well, there are cameras here, so we're being watched, so if we try to do anything, then..."

Bran glanced at his watch: "Three hours we've been awake, and you were actually only brought in half an hour ago. You weren't chained up, and you don't smell so silver anymore, so you've already got it off. But you've also had bone marrow samples taken and who knows what else."

Adam said: "Mimi was furious in the car. The rage even tasted in the air. She will not behave. She was biting and hitting when they brought her on board, and the poor girl was bruised and battered, but not when she was just trying to wring her hands out of the shackles and fighting all the time. Her rage is so close to the surface if she's not properly drugged. "

Bran said: "We've got to get her to behave if we want to escape. It's bad to escape unconscious. We have to try to talk to her, and even if we have to hold her down, set an example that we have to bide our time."

Samuel cursed. "Damn, if they'd let us be conscious if we were taken somewhere, but I heard the men talking about how you always have to be unconscious when you're taken for a procedure. They use aconitum and silver in addition to drugs, which also take away our strength. And then, when we get the silver out of our system, it takes time and energy. Energy that could be put to better use. But we just have to be alert, and we have to get out ourselves because the doctor said it's an anonymous ship, so I don't think Charles will find us. "

Bran added sourly: " I can't contact anyone, so is there a witch on board, or have I got so much silver stuffed in me that the Marrokforce isn't working? Or something else is blocking it, but I can't get in touch with you, as you can see. This feels weird and then I feel so damn powerless."