It had been at least four hours before anything happened. Reggie had taken to sitting in the corner on the sorry excuse for a bed and simply watching. She had seen two of her fellow captives leave their cells in that time. Only one had returned.

Whatever their captors were up to, they seemed to have a very firm plan.

"When the door opens, follow the red lights."

There was no preamble, no attempt at communication, just the sudden instruction. Reggie was getting fed up with the theatrics.

"You could say 'please'," she said, even as she moved to comply.

If they had the resources she thought they did, no doubt they had found her birth records already. What they were thinking, however, was a mystery.

The door opened as she stepped up to it, but what surprised her was that so did the one opposite. The werewolf stepped out at the same time she did, eyeing her suspiciously. The other two had only been let out one at a time, just as they had been removed from the van. Reggie didn't like the change. She doubted their captors were getting careless.

"The lights," the voice reminded them.

Reggie turned towards the cellblock door and dutifully did as she was told. This was no longer simply about escape, so she would play along. The werewolf followed a moment later.

The lights led them back into the main corridor, one door back towards where the van had dropped them off, through another two corridors and into a room that was as featureless as their cells.

"Your interior decorator sucks," Reggie said, mostly to fill the silence.

The door slid shut behind them and whirred in a very solid sounding way.

"Only one of you will leave this room alive," the voice said and then cut off.

"Seriously?" Reggie said, looking at the ceiling.

She really wasn't in the mood.

Of course the werewolf growled. One of the big problems with werewolves was that they tended to be less than rational when threatened.

"Look," she tried, glancing at her companion, "we don't have to play their game."

"Only one of the others came back," the werewolf said, eyes already bright yellow.

"We don't even know they went to the same place. They were taken out half an hour apart."

Claws slowly erupted from the werewolf's finger tips. She didn't seem totally decided.

"You've been watching me," Reggie pointed out, "you know I'm not some fledgling."

"Neither am I."

Reggie looked at the ceiling.

"Don't make me do this," she said, because she was pretty sure she knew what game they were playing.

"Too risky," she heard her companion growl under her breath and Reggie sighed.

Even as the werewolf lunged at her, Reggie reached out, far faster than her opponent could manage, and placed her palm on the woman's forehead.

"You are mine," she snarled in Romanian as her vampire traits rocketed to the surface.

Fangs erupted in her mouth, her fingers lengthened, growing long talon like nails and the room brightened considerably. All she could smell was wolf as her whole focus narrowed down to the woman in front of her.

Between one heartbeat and the next, the werewolf froze. Reggie's mind arrowed into her companion's. She felt fear and aggression and thoughts she could not touch, but she wasn't after those. There it was, laid out before her-the wolf, the beast inside. Power flooded out of her, flowing into the werewolf like water. It surrounded the beast, drowned it, until it was yelping like a puppy.

"Mine," Reggie reiterated, feeling the word reverberate along her nerves and into her prey.

Fear came back, but no agreement. This werewolf was no pup. She forced more power into the mind before her.

"Mine," she said again.

"Yours," came echoing back in surrender.

There was no contest, Reggie had been bred to deal with far deadlier prey than a random werewolf. She withdrew her power immediately, leaving behind only the tendrils the wolf now clung to. The werewolf blinked at her, still frozen mid transformation.

"What is your name?" Reggie asked, allowing her vampire nature to fade away.

"Magda," the woman replied, a slight lisp to her voice where her palate had been changing.

"Do you understand what just happened?"

"A claiming," was the still mainly stunned response.

Reggie nodded.

"I will look after you," she promised. "Stand down."

Instantly Magda began to flow back to her human shape.

Only then did Reggie focus back on her current situation. She was furious.

"Imbeciles," she yelled at the ceiling and proceeded to swear as colourfully as she knew how, because it was that or try and destroy the room she was in.

Their captors made no response whatsoever, which annoyed her even more. The last thing she needed was a bonded werewolf following her around.

"Regina Harker," the voice finally said once she had calmed down a little, "you will return to you cell first."

Reggie actually laughed.

"Amateurs," she muttered and pressed her fingers into her temples as she schooled her emotions so she didn't throw a tantrum to end all tantrums. "You do know what you just made me do, right?" she asked the room.

"Regina Harker, you will return to your cell first."

"Oh for heaven's sake," she hissed through her teeth. "If Magda loses sight of me for more than a few seconds she'll frenzy. Her prime instinct right now is to protect me at all costs, which is all your fault, so if you think I'm leaving her here you can go screw yourselves. You just made me responsible for her. I do not take my responsibilities lightly."

Magda didn't look as if she knew how to deal with the situation at all. From strong, confident werewolf she had gone to injured pup, but then Reggie had just ripped the poor woman's autonomy from her, so it wasn't really her fault. Reggie reached out and placed a gentle hand on Magda's shoulder. It was the best she could do under the circumstances. If she ever got her hands on the person who thought the whole charade had been a good idea, she was going to rip them a new one.

"Return to your cells," the voice said, "and attempt to escape will be met with deadly force."

Reggie was unimpressed, but she followed the little lights anyway. Magda did not want to go back to her own cell when they returned to the right block, so much so that Reggie had to order her to do so, but all was peaceful. However, game time was over. All respect Reggie had had for her captors was gone. They might have known how to hold supernatural creatures, but they clearly didn't understand them.

As soon as her cell door was closed she gave a shrill whistle. She made sure to make it look as if she was testing the soundproofing of the cell, but, in the ceiling, her little beacon changed mode.