They had kept Caspar for much longer than they had kept me. I was sure to the fair haired young man it felt like the time spent within the care of the mad doctor was an eternity. It had felt it to me and I had been within his grasp for only an hour at the very most. When he had been deposited back into his cell just as night had fallen outside, the young man had been unconscious. He had not roused in all the time since. If it wasn't for the occasional pained groan or the way that his breath rattled with each inhale and exhale I would have thought him dead. There was no denying that the mad doctor had no care as to whether his prisoners lived or died - he could simply send his men out for more.

Leaning against the bars of the cell, my head leaning on my arms where they rested on top of my knees. I sighed into the darkness. Daylight would be here soon which meant my turn with the mad doctor would soon be here. Fear gripped me. I was human here. The bracelet around my wrist kept me so. I knew I was more than human but even now, I could feel its effects numbing my arm, dulling all of my senses and my mind. It was difficult to retain any kind of coherency, even when I wanted nothing more than to lapse back into sleep.

Casper voice called out hoarsely into his sleep, the words unintelligible but the agony within them real - too real.

"Hush, Caspar," I murmured. "Rest now, I will watch over you."

When he only became more distressed, I started to hum, softly first but getting louder as my confidence grew. And then I sang, the words to the lullaby escaping my lips with practiced ease. My little boy had fallen asleep every time I sang to him.

Closing my eyes, I lost myself in the moment. As I sang I could feel the weight of my little boy in my arms, feel his beautiful eyes staring up at me with unconditional love and feel the comforting warmth of his small body as it pressed against mine. The image was so real, I felt a tear slip from the corner of my eye but I made no attempt to wipe it away.

I continued to sing long after Caspar had fallen into a fitful sleep and the others had fallen. It was only when the tell-tale clank of the door opening at the end of the corridor echoed down the hallway that my voice failed me. Pressing my lips together, I wrapped my hands around the bars of my cell and then ignoring as it bit into my skin, I hauled my body up on to my feet.

Even as I felt fear rear its ugly head, I lifted my chin and straightened my back. When the guards finally made it to my cell, the both reared back a step. They exchanged glances, uncertainty warring in their depths as they looked at the other. I was sure most of their 'guests' were normally cowering in the corner - not me, not today. They had made me feel small but I wasn't just a human - I was something more and it was time I remembered that.

Smiling at the pair, my grin going as wide and as bright as I could make it, I felt amusement as they danced back on their heels. Their hands twitching towards the dart gun on their belts. I giggled at them, loving how it only unsettled them even more.

"Hurry up you imbeciles, I don't have all day. Bring her to me!"

Both men jumped at the mad doctor's voice.

I grinned at them even as the taller of the two pulled out the dart gun and shot me with it. I felt the dart piercing skin, felt the drugs within it flow outwards from the point of impact. Then my body started getting loose as they took effect. It was only by sheer force of will that I managed to lock my knees and keep myself on my feet.

When I didn't collapse to the floor, the guards glanced at one another before the smaller of the two, drew his keys from his belt and unlocked the door to my cell. These were different guards but were strangely unremarkable in my drug induced state of placidness. The bigger and burlier of the two o - why was it always little and large - stepped into my cell, a black baton in hand. I was surprised he hadn't thought to bring a Taser too. He was afraid, it hung thick around him. I could smell it - literally. The stench of his sweat was cloying, it burnt the inside of my nostrils but I didn't want to breathe in through my mouth in case I started to taste his sweat. Smelling it was bad enough.

Wrapping his thick meaty hand around my upper arm, he then proceeded to wrap his other arm around my neck, pulling me into his body and constricting my airwaves in one movement. Disgust rolled through me. I was feeling far too much of the man and it was enough to make my stomach roll. There was only one man I wanted to be pressed this close to me and it certainly wasn't him.

"Let's make this nice and easy, walk when I tell you to walk and I won't need to punish you." The man whispered in my ear, his breath nauseating. Stale sweat and onion breath definitely were not an attractive combination, not one that appealed my senses anyway.

Nodded my head stiffly, I tried to edge away from his body and put some space between us. His arm tightened around my neck, cutting off my air supply as he pressed me closer to his body. He had obviously gotten over his fear quickly as his growing arousal was pressing into my behind. I clamped my mouth together to stop myself from being sick. It was wrong.

The other guard shifted uneasily. He was young. He couldn't have been more than eighteen whereas the man holding me was at least two decades older, fine silver smattering his temples. I stared at the young man and held his gaze. He wasn't unsalvageable. It was there in his eyes and I felt it within my own soul. He blinked and I looked away.

The big burly man threw me forwards and I almost stumbled into the younger guard. His hands shot out and caught me before I could fall to the floor. They left me as soon as I had caught my balance. Lifting my gaze, I offered him a smile of thanks. It was a small gesture but I knew that the man behind me had intended for me to fall, to see me humiliated. His disappointment radiated off of him in violent waves. I wasn't sure why I was feeling these emotions from this strange man. I was deprived of my wings and my sword - I was basically human.

"Keep walking, we wouldn't want Doc to get mad, would we?" Onion breath barked, his fat hands pushing between my shoulder blades so that I staggered and stumbled forwards.

Upon reaching the little surgical room, I was again surprised at how ordinary the room appeared. And yet it was where so many horrors had taken place. I was under no illusions about the number of people who had been brought to this room and tortured. They were too practiced for it to be an entirely new operation. The constant sedation and the wrist bands were proof of trial and error based upon previous research.

I prayed for the poor souls who had come before me. It was only the slim hope that I could shut down this office and provide justice for those who had perished which brought me a modicum of peace.

"There she is my special guest. Sit up on the table and we can get started." The Mad Doctor said with his mask already in place as he slipped on a pair of rubber surgical gloves. I flinched as he pulled the gloves up his wrist before allowing them to slap into place.

Despite his words, there was nothing warm or welcoming about his tone. I climbed up on the table only because it would be more painful to disobey. Sometimes survival was about knowing when to fight and when to submit to the enemy. This was not the time to fight. My flesh, where he had cut away sections, was only just starting to heal. I didn't want to tear open the scabs or invite new wounds in a form of a beating. And in my sedated state I was nowhere near battle ready.

The metal was cool and soothed the slight feverish burn to my skin. I lifted my legs and lay down without being asked, mainly because my feigned strength was wavering and the control over my own body was slipping. It was all about show - if I showed them my weakness, they would take advantage of it.

A few seconds later, cuffs were strapped around my hands and my feet, restraining me to the table. I kept my features blank even as every part of me rebelled at the thought of being restrained. And then a blindfold was being slipped over the top of my head. I breathed in deep and released it slowly to try and steady my heart. Don't react - don't show them my fear. I repeated the words in my head, chanting them within my mind. I clung to them like a lifeline.

There was something terrifying about being denied your sense of sight in the company of people who would happily see you dead. All of my other senses fought to compensate but it all felt like a sensory overload. I could hear everything, from the squeak of the guard's shoes as they shuffled against the walls, the clang of metal instruments as they were placed on a trace and the whoosh of my breath as it passed my lips.

Clenching my hands together, I turned my head and tried to discreetly shift the blindfold.

"We have a special friend in with us today, he will be observing so make sure you are on your best behaviour." The Mad Doctor murmured, patting one hand on my bare foot as if I was a small child.

I flinched as something cool touched my skin but there was no bite of pain. I did not feel my flesh being torn from my body.

"No, no, no. We have something different for you today Miss Holmes. And I demand your co-operation with everything because we have something you care about." The Doctor taunted, his voice sickly sweet as he stroked his hand over my leg like he was petting his favourite Chihuahua.

I frowned. What could he have that he believes would be leverage?

The doctor chuckled. "You don't believe me? I have captured two people you care about, your little boy Daniel and your boyfriend Mr Satani." The man clucked his tongue. "Dating your boss, haven't you ever been told that it's against the rules to sleep with someone you work with?"

Inside my heart thudded against my chest. I knew he was lying, knew that he couldn't have Danny as he was safe in Heaven with his father yet it did nothing to dispel the panic welling within me. My hand twitched and fought against my bindings, sitting up as far as I could face the Doctor even though I was blind to his location.

"You lie."

Stinging pain raced across my cheek as I was slammed back on to the metal table as I was backhanded. The hand was big so I had no doubt that onion breath was responsible. Despite how much it hurt, I laughed.

"ENOUGH." Mad Doctor ordered, losing his calm when I spent several minutes just laughing irrationally. A hand closed over my nose and my mouth, closing off my airways so that I couldn't breathe.

My hands once again strained against the bindings, my head fighting to move away from the bruising grip but it moved with me, not allowing me any escape. My lungs burned and I felt myself panicking. There was something more terrifying about being suffocated than being stabbed. I had now endured both and I could honestly say I would endure a knife would over this. I felt completely helpless.

I needed air but it was not coming. Despite the darkness afforded by the blindfold, the edge of my vision started to darken. I fought harder, one last desperate attempt to get free. And then, just as my body was staring to give in to the oxygen deprivation, the doctor released his hand from my face.

Sucking in a greedy breath of air, I slumped back onto the table. In and out, my breaths whooshed past my lips so quickly in my need to regain what I had been deprived of I started to feel light headed.

"There now, that's better." The Doctor soothed, his hand smoothing down my check, the feel of the rubber gloves detracting from the faux niceties.

Ignoring the hand on my face, I continued to breathe deeply, drawing in lungful after lungful of air in an attempt to soothe the burn lingering after my near suffocation.

"Now, that I have your attention. We have a special friend with us today. He wants to see how you perform so I have an extra special treat for you." The doctor chirped.

Dread welled within me. His happiness could only spell out bad things for me. There was nothing humane about him. He enjoyed making me feel pain, enjoyed inflicting his perversions on others. Closing my eyes behind the mask, I prayed for the strength to get me through this.

I had never been big fan of prayer in my previous human life. After the death of much of my family I wasn't afraid to admit that I had stopped believing. How could I be forced to lose so much and be left so along in the world? But as I lay upon the table waiting for the new horrors to come, I knew one thing for certain - there was a God and he cared - even about those of us who have long forgotten about him. I don't know how I knew it. I just felt it in my bones.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting to come next - maybe a cut or stab. Maybe even to have my flesh peeled open once more.

There was a faint buzzing on the air, something which sounded familiar but I couldn't quite place the sound. And then it happened, my muscles locked up, my teeth clamped together and my entire body shook under the tremendous force of the electricity. There was no escaping it. The metal bed I was laid upon only served as a conduit for my agony. I couldn't even cry out in pain, even my throat was locked up.

And then it stopped just as suddenly as it came. Even after the electricity had stopped my body continued to shake with aftershocks, my heart was struggling to finds its rhythm and there in the air lingered the scent of my burning flesh.

"It's day two of testing on subject matter Savannah Holmes. She has been assigned designation non-human though test so far show many human characteristics. Our testing will attempt to see how far those human characteristics stretch and to try and determine the source of the mutation which had corrupted her form." The Doctor said plainly and I had a feeling he wasn't talking to me.

My mind struggled to focus. There had only been the two guards and the doctor within the room when I had arrived but it was entirely possible someone else had come in after I had been blindfolded. I listened carefully and there it was the tell-tale shuffle of feet. It was apart from the others almost like the owner was there out of necessity but doing everything they could to separate from the others.

"And this test accomplishes what exactly?" The stranger drawled.

I frowned. There was something familiar about the way he spoke but it was hard to place where exactly I had heard it before. It wouldn't surprise me that most of the people I had met recently were participants in this evil, too many people were afraid of the new world and what it now meant for them. I was terrified of where my life was going - should I ever make it out of the cave alive that is.

The Doctor chuckled nervously and I felt the air above me stir as he gesticulated wildly. "This experiment is testing the electrical impulses and receptors in the subject. I am comparing how her reactions differ to humans. I am also attempting to trigger the source of her abnormalities. When I dissected the flesh on her back, I found no evidence of the wings and no trace of how the appendages could be concealed."

There was silence and then the other voice drawled. "Basically, you are electrocuting the woman in an attempt to force her wings to appear." The statement left his lips in a way which threatening even to me. "You had better get the results or you will find my funding dries up quickly. I have three other teams researching so please remember you are expendable when making - business - decisions."

The table beside me clanged as a hand slapped down on to the table. The loud bang was so close to my head that it startled me. I jumped as far away from the sound as I possibly could, my head slapping back down at the table causing the blindfold to snag.

It moved. Not much but just enough for me to see the hand. The hands were manicured; I could see the ends of perfectly trimmed and polished finger nails. It was the ring which adorned his index finger that captured my attention. It was made of bold, the yellow gold which had been popular in previous centuries. A crest was inlaid into the top, highlighted by gaudy red gems. It was old - maybe a few centuries old.

"I want to see some results or you may find yourself out of work. And we all know that unemployment only means one thing in this line of business." The male voice spoke softly, his finger stroking a lock of my hair with the tips of his fingers.

The doctor choked and spluttered. "Are you threatening me?"

I almost laughed at the words he spoke next as I had said the same thing only the day before.

"No, I am making a promise. Disappointment me and you won't live long enough to regret it." The finger which had been stroking my hair stopped, wrapped a tendril around several fingers and then, before I could protest, the man pulled.

I yelled out, my dry throat hoarse as the sharp pain from my scalp echoed the pains in the rest of my body. I felt the trickle of blood seep from the wounds on my head.

"You may continue."

Dismissed, the man spun on his heel and left without another word. I closed my eyes and braced for the pain to come. With a sharp jolt, another bolt of electricity invaded my body. It set my nerve endings on fire, painfully so.

Over and over I endured until finally the doctor was done with me for the day. I couldn't have walked back to my cell if I had tried. Onion breath pushed and shoved me from the table in a poor attempt to motivate me. It was the young guard who took pity on me. One of his hands slipped around my back and the other slipped under my knees. I felt oddly weightless as he carried me back to my cell, my body still twitching from aftershocks.

He set me gently on the floor, taking care to put my head softly so I didn't sustain any further injuries. Unable to find the energy to even open my eyes, I managed to peel my tongue off of the roof of my mouth in order to issue the guard with a reluctant grunt of thanks.

As I relaxed into the floor, one thought remained in the forefront of my mind. Tomorrow we would all get out. The Doctor had been given orders and would be getting desperate. If we didn't escape soon there would be nothing left to save.