2. Born In U.S.A.

A couple of days passed and Adam was busy, as usual, at work and looking for Ben, so I decided to go to the shop.

"Adam," I said as he was having breakfast, "I'm going to the shop and market next to get some supplies."

Adam grunted, looked at his phone for a moment, and said, "Fine, be careful, there shouldn't be any medical facilities looking for you but I was supposed to install the software on the phone to see the location but I'm pretty damn careful with those and I think it's just a risk. I haven't found a secure enough software to trust it to be hacker-proof but, fine. Will you take a gun with you?"

I nodded. I always went armed even when I went to the shop. It was a good safety, and I hadn't had to use my gun once outside of gigs yet, but the safety was the best.

I finished my meal, put on my clothes, and grabbed my car keys, my bag with my beretta, my phone, and my wallet. I went to my car and knew I could buy my car otherwise.

When I was rich, Adam had talked about investing some of my money or helping me buy a house. He'd said that he'd put the house as a safe place before I moved in. We had a few discussions about my money already, and even if Adam wanted me to be independent, he was still protecting me with all his might. Meaning, that looking after me, he had much more experience with the money business than me, and even though it was not so hard to get more capital, he wanted me to have a life, other than killing so my money would be spent wisely.

 I drove to the store, lingered there for a while, browsed all the products, and then went to the market next, bought all the fun and necessities, mostly baking supplies. There were local farms selling meats, eggs, and fish. I bought everything because the test kitchen was calling.

I was on my way to my car when suddenly I couldn't move anymore. I had walked across the square and only had a few small bags with me as I had put the produce to go straight to the house. It was as if an invisible force was surrounding me, preventing me from moving. I struggled against it. I knew I could do something, but what? 

I felt like a force was pushing me down and then there was a terrible pressure in my head. I couldn't think anymore and my eyes were blurry. I almost felt sick and wondered vaguely if this was some telepath attacking me.

My bag fell to the ground as I fell to my knees. There would be my gun and my phone, but I couldn't move. I felt dragged by the armpits and then thrown into some car. Not tied up, but the pressure in my head didn't let up. Then I felt someone grab my head and twist quickly, plunging me into the darkness.

I woke up in a cage, and my neck was sore. This was a silver cage and it hurt. I knew someone had broken my neck. I remembered what the fuck happened. This wasn't the medical facility. I knew that, first, they wouldn't put me in a silver cage, well they haven't so far, but this didn't smell like the medical facility.

I opened my eyes and found that they had stripped me of my jacket and trousers; I was wearing underpants and a tee shirt and I could feel the silver burning my legs and I pulled myself up into a sitting position. It wasn't so easy now, as I was wearing shackles, with runes or magical symbols on them.

I couldn't control my rage. Mimosa and Mirella were also asleep. Neither reacted. Oh, so freaking hilarious. My thoughts were pretty darn sarcastic, as usual, when I found myself in a situation like this. I cleared my head and started looking around. This was a basement space, with no windows, and there were several cages with people. No, they were werewolves, and in really poor condition, silver cages do the job.

Then there were several women walking around dressed in black and putting crystals on the cages or saying something and the victim in the cage started groaning and moaning.

The women passed by my cage and I felt their power. Black witches, oh fuck, it wouldn't be that easy to escape, but not impossible. But what the hell do they want? Then I saw and really heard others.

One witch came up to my cage, looked at me, and said something. I felt her magic, but it didn't stay with me; it slipped away. The witch furrowed her eyebrows.

Looked at her and said in a bored voice, "Sorry, but I'm resistant to magic. So I'm not a very good victim."

The witch said nothing, but walked away and went to talk to the others. They glanced at me before continuing to torture the others. This one is not so easy. I could reach no one via packbonds or my mating bond with Damon. 

Adam had told me before about the different witches. That was part of it when I was doing the gigs. Know your enemy and don't think that medical institutions are the only ones, because it will not be like that. The more gigs I did, the more likely I would have other enemies, and you always have to be prepared.

These were black witches and their main purpose was to torture and make the victims feel pain and they also slowly drained the life force out of the victim. But Adam had said that in this kind of tortured victim, the pain remains even in the body after death. They tortured the victims for that. They could extract that pain from the corpse, too. 

The pain gave the witch strength, and I remembered the stones that Drusilla put near my cage. Fine, I have a pack of Drusilla's here, well, not exactly as they don't drink blood. Let's make some kind of plan here.

Adam had taught me that witches are physiologically and anatomically human, so they are easy to kill as such, but when they can paralyze you pretty quickly, it's a challenge.

But hey, I'll take the challenge. I was somewhat resistant to magic, but a couple of sessions with Constantine and Adam taught me that if the spell was strong enough, it would stop me, so I shouldn't be too confident. However, I learned those lessons well, and even though I was angry at the time, I knew they were necessary. Let's just say that I have had my share of lessons of humility. My limits and what I can do.

The witches talked amongst themselves, and then the tallest one snapped his fingers, none of them were beautiful, they were very plain and even old-looking and all had dead soulless eyes, as if the evil was so deep inside them it was visible from the outside.

The door opened, and a figure came out. Somehow, this was a familiar-looking man. But this one walked almost at a walk, somehow reluctantly or wearily. The basement was dim, and it was only when the figure came closer to his face that I saw him, shocked but trying to keep my expression neutral.

Then a familiar figure walked over to the cage. Ben Shaw. I had last seen him years ago before Damon had joined the pack. Someone captured us, and I saved everyone. Then I jumped in front of a bullet to protect Adam.

Adam had been looking for Ben for a while and I could see straight away that he wasn't okay, or even alive, even though he was walking and moving.

They had drugged me for a week at the vet at the time, as I had been in wolf form when this happened and Ben had just seen the vet's sign, where I was then driven.

Ben was not feeling well. He was dead, and yet he was walking. His skin was pale grey, his eyes were cloudy, his lips were dry, and I could smell his dead flesh. It felt like someone had killed him and then revived him after he had already begun to decompose.

He came to my cage and said, "It's been a long time since I saw you. I only wish it had been a much better time, but can you escape? Can you do anything about these witches? I'm sorry, but I have to do what they tell me to do. They took my heart and burned it in their ritual. I am dead, but until someone releases me or destroys my body, I have no peace. If you, Mimi, are set free, will you let me go? Destroy my body. You must remove my head. Then I can go. I can't be saved, believe it. No way. If I could, I wouldn't mind living as a zombie. I'd like to see my son Burt again. He's only 3 years old. But, Mimi, please. And if you get the chance. We all want out, peace. As you can see, everyone these witches have captured is too far gone. There is no hope. Now they just long for the pain to end."

He stood and looked at me, his expression not changing. 

He said, "I cannot act. I cannot move unless they command me. I am bound to these witches. If they die, I will stand, but when there is no one left to command me. I know this because I have seen one victim myself who was doing this."

His voice was quiet, and it was obvious that witches knew who Ben had been and he had known me. This was meant to shock me.

"Mercy's friend, a vampire, and his name was Stefan. The Hardesty witches, well, they weren't really called that, but you know who I'm talking about, grabbed Stefan, dug his heart out, killed him, and performed this ritual. Stefan was very important to Wulfe and Wulfe did everything he could to save Stefan, but even he couldn't break the spell and he let his friend go, Wulfe was our ally almost, but that broke him, and messed him up even worse and he didn't keep in touch even though Mercy tried several times." 

I was silent, and I said fiercely.

"Ben, Adam will help, and we have wizards. Let's make you a vampire if we have to. Are you sure my blood won't help? Don't fucking give up yet. Adam has been looking for you, and so has Samuel. They're desperate to find you and help you. Wulfe may be strong, but Damon can help. He's a vampire over a thousand years old and he knows what to do and neither Dresden nor Constantine are yesterday's sons."

Ben said, "I would like to exist, even as a zombie. Even if I were tied to Adam or whoever, I know peace is what I need. I'm slowly falling apart. My soul is dying and if I had to be here too long, then my soul will be destroyed. I'd like to be at peace. And please, don't let Adam see me like this. He is still my alpha even though that bond is dead partially. I know he can sense me, but I don't want him to see me."

I tried to think of what I could do, but the fucking shackles blocked everything and I didn't even feel the bond between Damon and me.

Ben smiled wearily. He wanted out. I could feel it. 

Then one witch said, " Over here on the table, bring that creature. "

He didn't have a chance, but opened the door of my cage, grabbed me tightly, and started dragging me to one table as the witches ordered. They tied me up, put pain crystals on the floor, and started to cast a spell: six witches.

There were normally twelve witches in the coven, so this was half of them. Now again, they found I was quite immune to magic, and whatever they were going to do wouldn't work. I was almost bored. 

They started trying everything. They took ritual daggers and cut me, but when I healed pretty quickly, even a knife wound to the heart. Oh, that they had many spells, and I felt them slipping off me. Then one took a silver dagger and cut me with it. I hissed in pain and my skin burned, sort of smoked. That's how they found out what works: silver.

 It hurt me when they started slashing and stabbing with silver daggers, and the spells seemed to sink and make the pain double. The crystals start to darken. When people play with me and hurt me like that, then they have to take responsibility for what I do if I get too annoyed. The rage pops free and then all bets are off, so to speak. And if I get annoyed enough, my vampire side might come out, as well as my darkness. But I would not say that to the witches. 

I didn't always want to let my rage go full blast when it's not always so easy to take back. It takes work and if I was hurting like I am now, the rage would help and I wouldn't want to put it off. It again gave me a sense of freedom and it could be a danger when my darkness came out.

But as Magnum and Adam have taught me, when I take out my rage, I'm sloppy. Carelessness can backfire too. I just noticed the fact that cutting with silver annoyed me most of the time.

I realized that these silver knives are not solid silver, and therefore the pain is milder. There was only one dagger that was pure silver, and I could feel it. The pain crystals didn't darken at a terrible rate. Eventually, the witches got bored.

They said, "Take this creature back to the cage and shut up."

So they got Ben to drag me back to the cage. Then the witches retreated to ponder what to do with me next. I watched as Ben dragged the next victim to the table. The crystals quickly darkened with that victim, but apparently my pain was stronger because the witches looked at me.

 I had to watch as they tortured their victims, and two of the victims died. Ben dragged the carcasses into the forest. A few hours later, they made Ben drag me to the table again, tie me up, and they tried different spells and different knives again.

Now the entire coven was involved. I let my rage come out and nothing was felt and the pain crystals just didn't darken as apparently they also require mental pain and distress and when my rage was on I felt the pain, but it didn't bother me. Oh, it felt good to let my rage burn it all out if my mind. Not be weak.

The witches tried different knives, but as long as I could keep my rage up, nothing worked. That's not to say I didn't get cuts or stings that didn't heal too damn well. I just didn't care. My rage makes me sloppy, and I almost egged them on to hurt me even more.

I was waiting for an escape opportunity; I saw my bag in the room's corner and so did my clothes; they hadn't gone through them too carefully. They told Ben not to talk to me and then I heard a rather disturbing conversation and I hadn't quite believed my ears.

One witch said to the other, "Getting a clue about this creature was a good thing. It is good to have Marrok make a deal with us. We won't touch his wolves, and he gives us suitable victims. This freak is exactly what we need."

Bran had betrayed me and told them about me. I must tell Adam, yes, and this gave me the motivation to plan my escape... I would get out of here and fast.

The leader said, " Fine, I will make a potion that will work on that creature, get the rage off it, and then we will try different herbs. Start looking for all the herbs you have. We make creature suffer, and then we will be strong. Marrok told us it is actually a sensitive creature and its nutrition is not easy as so many herbs are harmful for it."

The witches went off to gather supplies as this leader went over to one table and apparently started making a potion. Half an hour later, they ordered Ben to drag me out of the cage again.

 So now Ben forcefully brought me to a chair and secured me with restraints, while witches inserted a nasogastric tube into my nose and poured a drink through it. My thoughts were blurred and my vision was cloudy.

Now I didn't really care about anything. I was in my own world. My rage disappeared somewhere, and I was mostly euphoric. All the pain was almost pleasure. I sat tied up in a chair and enjoyed hallucinating, and nothing mattered. I didn't even know who I was or what I was. I just was and enjoyed it deeply.