Chapter Twenty-One

I woke up to cold air.

I tried to blink my eyes open, but fuck, my eyelids were heavy and even when they did open, my vision was strangely blurry. I blinked slowly a few times, feeling a low moan come up my throat and get trapped behind my lips, which felt sealed somehow. I ran my tongue across them and managed to part them so I could suck in a shuddering breath of air.

I turned my head slowly, and it was like trying to roll a bowling ball. I blinked some more and my vision cleared slowly, but surely, revealing... hospital equipment. Machines of all kinds were connected to me, my chest, my head, my arms, my abdomen. I blinked more rapidly, clearing my vision and snapping my head to look around, realizing I was in some kind of cold white room.

Nothing sat in the room aside from the machines, the bed I was on, and an obvious two-way mirror looking out over where I was laying. I tried to lift my hand to scratch my head, only to find that my wrists were secured to the sides of the bed, and a tug at my feet made me realize my feet were also pinned down. I stared at the restraints, stared at the machines, then at the two-way mirror.

And I felt my panic rise.

What the fuck.

What the fuck.

What the actual fuck!

Where the hell was I? What had happened? I squeezed my eyes shut and struggled to remember how I got here in the first place, but I could only vaguely remember... the bed, laying there with Keros. Having sex for the first time. I remembered that. I remembered Keros getting up to shower, and then... What happened after that?

I jerked at the restraints, my eyes flying open so I could stare at the two-way mirror. I didn't hear or see anything, no matter how hard I tried, and I frankly didn't feel anyone there either, so I was alone.

Fueled by panic, I started to jerk at the restraints. They were snug and padded, but they weren't tight enough to stop me. A few more hard jerks and the buckles slipped off and dangled lifelessly by the bed railing. Once I'd managed to rip my hands free, I got to work unbuckling my legs before I threw my legs over the side of the bed. In the process, I tore some of the sticky pads from the machines off my body, making me wince. I reached up and tore the rest of them off, including the IV that was in my arm. I threw them aside and got to my feet, wobbling for a moment before I made my way to the door on the other side of the room.

I threw it open and found myself walking into a sterile white hallway, which only caused my panic to increase.

Oh god, no.

No.

No, no, no, no.

I couldn't be back. That was impossible. How had she done it? What had she done to bring me back? And why alive? Why was I back here alive? Wasn't death the end game?

No, no, this just didn't make any sense.

I'd defected. Thirteen and I both. Six had come to me and told me... Wait, Six. I remembered something about Six. Had he come for me? What had he done to wipe my memory? I couldn't remember no matter how hard I tried.

My blood was pumping as my panic began to rise further as I wandered out into the hallway and looked up and down the sterile white corridor. I saw a few other doors, as white as the walls, the floors, the ceiling. Everything was white, including the hospital gown I was wearing. I looked down at it, giving the paper gown a tug before I looked up, my heart pounding.

Footsteps.

I could hear footsteps coming closer.

They were far, but they were growing nearer and nearer. Soon, they'd be on me and there was nowhere in the hallway to hide. I looked around frantically, took a few steps to the left and unsure why I bothered.

I heard the door at the other end of the hallway swing open, the footsteps stopping, and I whirled around as my vision flickered and flashed from normal to suddenly red. Everything faded away until it looked like I was staring at a photography dark room, except the features of everything seemed to suddenly fade away. It was eerie, because all I saw was different shades of red.

And at the end of the hallway, standing in a doorway, was a red figure I didn't recognize.

Immediate aggression surged through me as my fangs peeled back off my fangs and I bared them at the figure standing at the end of the hall. They appeared to be watching me, because they looked startled somehow. I wasn't sure how I could tell. It was almost like I could smell it.

The figure moved, took a step toward me, and I snarled at them, immediately running after them. The person gasped and cursed before reaching for the nearest door and ducking inside. I charged after them, wrenching the door open to reveal a small operating room with machines and lights and counters and medical shit everywhere.

The figure was on the other side of the surgical table in the middle, going for another door, but I quickly rounded the table on the other side and blocked off the exit, baring my fangs at them. They leapt back, said something I couldn't quite understand. I literally couldn't understand the words they were saying. It just sounded like gibberish.

I snarled at them again, and this time, they took a step back, holding their hands up and I tracked them, stalking toward them, ready to rip them to fucking pieces.

It's their fault I was here!

It had to be!

Their fault!

Their fault!

I lunged for the figure, but they managed to scramble back and doubled back around for the other door, throwing it open at the same time I lunged for them again. This time, the door hit me in the face and fury overrode any fear I had. I roared and grabbed the door, catching it by the sides and pulling hard with everything I had. It took a second, but the door hinges cracked and the whole fucking thing came off the wall. I heaved the thing over my head to the corner of the room and went after the figure, who ducked out the door.

The feeling of hot blood running down my face from getting hit with the door only infuriated me further and I vowed I was going to get my hands on the son of a bitch who did it. The door was taken care of, but now it was time for the person who used the door.

The figure ran back through the doors they came out and I went after them, running at full speed and catching up quickly. I was almost on them, reached out and felt my claws catch on the person's shirt, only for some mammoth sized fucking tank to come out of nowhere and plow into me. All I heard was a scream of horror, a roar, and my ears ring as I was slammed up against a wall at top speed.

My whole body froze up for a moment, shocked at the blow that should've broken every bone in my body, except somehow it didn't, and only succeeded in pissing me off even more.

Who the fuck dared to touch me without permission?

My fury returned as I was swung around and shoved against the wall. I bounced off and launched myself at my attacker, who swung their arm up to block me, so I bit down on a hard muscular arm. I heard a curse, a shout from the other figure. I sank my teeth in deep, feeling the hot rush of blood going down my throat, and holy shit, it was like drinking straight gasoline. It set me on fire from the inside out and I released my jaw from their arm before they could hit me again.

I ducked the next blow and slammed into its body hard, making it stumble back and into another wall. I went to bite down on the attacker's throat, but the thing blocked me with its arm again so I bit that instead, then released and went to bite it again, except it grabbed me by a handful of hair and hauled me backwards, swinging me around and throwing me across the floor.

I slid across the tiles, then shot back up to my feet, baring my fangs at the attacker, who stalked toward me. I could hear the other figure babbling, saying something incoherent, which infuriated me. I whirled on the other figure and roared at it, but that was a big mistake.

The attacker launched at me and took me down on the floor. I screamed in fury, thrashing around as my attacker managed to get its arm around my throat and pulled hard. I felt my windpipe get crushed, felt the air leaving my lungs and unable to get back in. I sucked in sharp, helpless gasps for air, kicking and squirming in the arms of whoever was holding me.

"... hurting him! Stop!" The screams of the other figure surprised me. I felt like I recognized the voice, but I wasn't sure how. I couldn't really focus, though, when the air was being squeezed out of me and I was struggling to take in more breaths. I writhed in a panic now, fighting desperately to get the fucker off me, but it was like fighting against a bear. My attacker had me pinned down and I wasn't going anywhere, and my panic turned to ice cold fear as I felt my body start to give up. My vision began to fade to black around the edges, growing in closer and closer.

"Stop! You're hurting him! Hannibal, let go of him!" Whose fucking voice was that? Hannibal? Who...?

Wait.

Hannibal.

The King?

Akin? Was that Akin screaming?

"Calm down," another voice said from out of nowhere, "He's not going to kill him." I recognized that voice too... Hades. Yeah, that was Hades's voice.

Confused, I blinked a few times as my vision flickered from red to normal again. Or, as normal as it could be with the air being choked out of my lungs.

"Ouch," I managed. A second later, the hard muscular arm was lifted off my throat and I sucked in a rush of air, gasping. I slumped over on my stomach, gasping for breath and feeling a hand on my back, holding me on my side. I started to ask what the fuck was happening when a surge of vomit shot up my throat, so fast, so suddenly, I didn't have time to stop it as I puked on the floor. My hair fell over my shoulder, ready to glide right through the mess, except I felt a familiar hand holding it back. It reminded me of the night I'd gotten drunk and puked up enough food to end world hunger.

Who was that?

"Breathe," a familiar voice commanded, and I obeyed immediately, sucking in deep breaths, "Just breathe." I think... that was the King's voice. Yeah, that was definitely the King's voice. And it was his hand rubbing my back, his hand holding my hair back. I glanced back at him breathlessly, confused, and he just looked at me sternly, propping himself up behind me. I closed my eyes and sucked in another deep breath. The world spun a little and I almost slipped back down onto the floor, except the King caught me and surprised me as he curled his arms up underneath of me and lifted me off the floor. My head lolled on my shoulders, like it was just too hard to hold up, and it flopped against the King's chest as he carried me somewhere.

"S'happening?" I mumbled, blinking in confusion. My muscles suddenly felt weak, like I'd done too many push ups and my bones had turned to noodles. No one answered me, of course.

"Is he alright? How's he doing?" Akin demanded, hurrying to keep up with the King and Hades, who took long strides at the King's side.

"He's still under the effects of whatever they gave him," Hades informed, looking down at a tablet in his hands, swiping down some kind of report, "Whatever it was, it was strong enough to down a fucking elephant, so I'm not surprised that even the Beast has trouble staying active." Whatever they gave me? Who were they? What did they give me? It was affecting my Beast? What?

"Did you see what he did to that door," Akin demanded, "How could he possibly do that? He has no magic."

"His Beast is just that strong on its own," Hades said grimly, "Magic, no magic, his Beast is just as deadly as any other Beast. But even it couldn't stand up against whatever they injected him with, which I'm still running through the database. So far, nothing is coming up. Whatever they made to sedate him, it's not a popular choice."

"Clearly for good reason," Akin returned, "He's so pale. His eyes are bloodshot, though, and his skin is so cold." I felt his hand touch my head. Felt the muscles in the arms around me tighten for a moment, then the hand fell away and the muscles loosened.

"He's going into shock," Hades answered, "We need to get him back to the room and fast. I'll get him hooked up again." I blinked my eyes open in confusion, but could barely lift my head and just found myself looking up at the underside of the King's jaw, noting a bunch of scars there, almost like someone had taken a nail and hammered it into the underside of his mouth. It made me queasy, and I heaved for a second, making everyone come to an abrupt halt to wait for it to pass before we continued back into the room I'd escaped from.

The moment I saw those machines, I felt my whole body tense until it was trembling, my hands grabbing in a panic at the King's chest.

"D-Don't," I managed, "D-Don't."

"It's alright, sweetheart," Akin said gently, reaching over to touch me, "We're not going to hurt you. We just need to make you feel better, alright?"

"N-No! No!" I squirmed as the King carried me closer to the table. I was practically grabbing around his neck to hang on so he couldn't put me down on the table. I writhed to try and climb over him to get out the door while Hades went to set up the equipment and Akin came over to try and calm me down. There was just too much going on and my panic was rising again, making something inside me twitch, something... dark, something angry, and something... absolutely terrified.

Suddenly a strange sound filled my ears. It confused me because it sounded like maybe it was supposed to be a song, but it wasn't being sung, just quoted. It took me a second to hear it to begin with, because I was so busy panicking, but the words sank in as I translated them, from Atlantean.

"Sweet son of mine, rest your weary head. Close your precious eyes, and dream of the adventures ahead. Sweet son of mine, take a slow deep breath, breathe in my love for you, breathe in my hopes for you."

Confused, I blinked and pulled my head back to look at the King, who was frowning up at me as he held onto me.

"Why would you sing that to me?" I asked. The King frowned further, like he wasn't sure why himself. I was so startled by what sounded like it should be a lullaby that I just kinda... went boneless. The King placed me on the table and managed to get me situated. I tensed as they jingled the restraints, then relaxed when I realized no one was going for them this time.

I watched Hades come over to reapply all the sticky things I'd torn from myself. He started to slide the IV in and I immediately turned my head in the opposite direction and shut my eyes. I felt Akin's hand touch my head and relaxed a bit. A moment later, I felt Hades move away and opened my eyes again, taking in a deep shuddering breath.

"What are you doing to me?" I heard myself ask shakily. Hades glanced at me from his tablet as he took a seat in a rolling chair by the two-way mirror.

"We're trying to figure out what the hell those people injected you with," he said, making me frown, "They weren't trying to kill you, which means they were trying to capture you, which gives me reason to believe they've discovered you have a Beast, which also means they have access to our records and that pisses me the fuck off." I looked at him, confused for a moment, letting that sink in before something occurred to me; a memory.

"Oh my god, Keros," I managed, sitting up abruptly and almost falling off the bed if the King hadn't caught me, "Keros was with me. Where's Keros..." My voice trailed as I watched grim expressions cross all of their faces, my eyes widening as I looked back over at Akin, who pressed his lips together firmly.

"Where is Keros?" I demanded. Akin glanced at the King, who frowned, but said nothing. Akin looked at me.

"We're not sure," he said at last, making my insides curdle, "Blaine heard the commotion from outside and came running back inside and only saw Seven collapsed on the floor and the room was destroyed. We're thinking... We're thinking they took Keros." I felt like an ice cube slid down my spine as terror consumed me.

The Mother had Keros.

Oh god.

The Mother had Keros.