She kept her eyes squeezed shut while she tried to listen for anyone or anything around her. Although she was completely human, she could small that she wasn't at home. This place had a distinct odor of male musk and roses. It was a strange combination that she was certain she would have remembered had she ever experienced it before, so she was even more determined to play possum until she had a better handle on the current situation.

Since she had become aware of her surroundings with her eyes closed, she figured that she must have been unconscious when she had been moved, so she tried her best not to look too alert just yet. Instead she kept her eyes closed, but was careful not to squeeze them shut lest she betray herself, and used her other senses to investigate. Beyond the scent of the room being unfamiliar, she moved her fingers ever so slightly to try to feel what she was laying on. Since her back didn't hurt and she felt quite comfortable, she decided that she was on a bed or mattress of some sort. Her eyes very nearly flew open in surprise when she felt her fingers brush against silk sheets on both sides of her hand.

So inside of a bed? She thought to herself. But whose bed and what did they want from or with her?

"Oh good, you're awake," a gruff voice thick with a Scottish accent called out from somewhere to her left.

She couldn't help but to scowl at the unfamiliar voice acknowledging that she was conscious and somewhat alert. She was sure that her movements were minimal enough that they couldn't be detected because she had been trained to do just that. In fact, her instructors had even lavished her with compliments of how well she did at faking sleep or unconsciousness.

So how in Hades does he know that I'm awake?

"Come my little primrose," he commented conversationally as he gently ran the backs of his fingers against her cheek. "There's no need for you to pretend with me. Please open your beautiful violet eyes Lass."

Too confused and curious to stop herself, she opened her eyes so that she could see who was touching her. Sitting on one hip on the bed beside her was a handsome man that looked so solid in his upper body that she almost thought he was a body builder were it not for the clothes that he wore. He had on a traditional kilt in a clan's tartan colors that she didn't recognize and a shirt that looked so old she almost would have guessed that it had been hand stitched.

His unearthly, moss green eyes twinkled with excitement, although she reminded herself that that could have just been the fire's light reflecting on them as well. His unruly brass red hair was pulled back and tied in a ponytail at the base of his skull, but his face was still mostly obscured by a bushy mustache and beard that matched the color of his pulled back hair.

Now that she had completely abandoned her ruse of sleeping, she tried to look around the room she was in to try to figure out where she was right then. Unfortunately his sheer physical size was so imposing that he obstructed the majority of her view of the room. That led her to believe that it couldn't be all that large of a room to begin with. The bed that she was on was sitting flush against a wall that looked like it belonged to a log cabin. She reached out to touch the smooth wood and she could feel a slight breeze coming through the area between the large logs.

"Are we in a cabin?" She heard herself ask before she realized that question had formed in her head.

He gently pet her long black hair answering, "Aye Lass. Tis me wee hideaway where I come when I be needing some solitude."

She swallowed thickly as a thousand thoughts ran through her mind at once. Since he seemed to be able to hear her thoughts, she tried to make her mind go blank just as quickly. Right now he was petting her gently and speaking to her in reverent tones. She shuddered to think what would happen if he 'heard' her contemplating if he was a serial killer and how many bodies he had buried he had buried in his basement. That is if a cottage this size could have a basement.

She continued to try to slow her racing heart, but she just couldn't seem to calm herself down. He had no malice in his eyes and his touch had been nothing but gentle and yet she couldn't shake the feeling that he was going to hurt her. It would be easy to chalk that up to it just being paranoia born and bred from growing up in an era when horror films and slasher flicks were a primary source of entertainment for her generation, but she knew better. She had been raised in a world where vampires fed on souls instead of blood and people like her were raised to be the helpers of the immortal warriors that hunted them down. She knew that real life was stranger than any story an author or screenwriter could come up with and she was convinced that what was going to happen to her in the near future would be too gruesome for even the hardest of hardcore horror fans to stomach.

He seemed content to just pet the length of her hair in silence, so she tried once again to survey the room as quickly as she could now that he had moved closer to her. On the other side of the room at the foot of her bed and extending to left was a quasi-library with a living room type area with a large stone fireplace. The large crackling fire appeared to be providing all of the warmth which led her to believe that the cabins was primarily a single room dwelling. He shifted his body so that he could pick up a brush from the bedside table. She didn't flinch or acknowledge when he started brushing her hair, but she did let out a silent sigh of relief that he had moved enough that she could see almost all of the rest of the room. To their left appeared to be a small dining area connected to a small kitchen. At least she hoped there was a because a major flaw with being human was that she still needed to eat to live, even if he was some sort of psycho that was going to kill her. To the left of the dining table was another wall with a door. That wall appeared to extend into the room a bit from the exterior, so she prayed that that meant it was the bathroom and that he had such modern luxuries as running water in this rustic style cabin.

He appeared to have finished brushing her hair because he was once again smoothing it down with his hand as he said, "Me wee bonnie Primrose, are you feeling hunger pains?"

She stared at him blankly because she couldn't believe that he was talking to her as if she should be familiar with him. He just smiled warmly and then pointed to a large pot on his modern, state of the art looking stove and added, "Tis a fresh batch of venison stew and there be me homemade bread in the oven."

She could now smell the bread baking so she took in a deep breath. Everything smelled so delicious that her stomach let out a very loud growl. She hadn't wanted to let him know that she was in fact quite famished. After her body's unconscious betrayal, she then began to wonder how long it had been since she had eaten. That thought was then quickly followed up by her nearly becoming panicked wondering how long she had been unconscious and what had he been doing to her while she wasn't able to defend herself.

He picked up her left hand and gently tugged it saying, "Come now lass, let's get some nourishment into your starving body."

"Oh… no… that's okay, I'm not… I mean, I'm fine," she protested weakly because she truly did want to eat something, even if it was tainted with some sort of drugs.

"Aye you are quite fine… in looks," he teased. "But your stomach is telling us you need to have something to eat. Please my Primrose, follow me to the table." She opened her mouth to protest again, so he added, "If you don't you'll force me to carry you over there… although that isn't much of a chore."

Not wanting him to touch her any more than he already had, she smiled politely then answered, "Alright… I guess I could eat. Lead the way."

"Ahh there be the wise Highland Primrose I remember," he replied as he helped her off the bed. He then walked ahead of her into what she could now tell was a rather nice looking kitchen and dining area where he pulled a chair out at the table and waited behind it with a look of excited expectation. After she had eased her weight onto the chair he then pushed it in closer to the table. After he was satisfied that she was comfortable he moved around the kitchen behind her. From the sounds that she was hearing, she was confident that he was portioning out their meals.

Since she was once again alone with her thoughts, she once again took some time to survey her surroundings. First she noticed that she was still wearing a threadbare Green Day t-shirt that she had bought when she saw them in concert and her black and white plaid patterned flannel sleep pants. She felt her whole body relax slightly at the knowledge that she was still wearing the same thing that she had been wearing when she went to bed because at least that meant that he hadn't stripped her and seen her naked. It was a small victory, but at this point in time she was more than willing to let herself become giddy about most benign trivialities.

From this angle the room didn't look much different than it had from the bed. It still looked like a cozy vacation cabin that she would have loved to be staying in during her time off with a few friends. The fireplace did look larger when you were facing it straight on and she finally noticed a large wardrobe at the foot of the bed, but other than that she didn't learn anything new or helpful. Although now she was curious to know if he only had clothing for himself in the large oak wardrobe or if he had a few choice outfits he was going to be expecting her to wear as well.

An involuntary shudder ran through her body at that thought. She had a rush of questions pop into her head at once, but she forced herself to wait until her captor was seated before she asked, "You said you 'remember' me… I'm sorry but are you sure that we've met before because I'm drawing a complete blank about who you are… and I'm sure that I would remember someone like you."

Although she wanted to be anywhere but this cabin, she made a conscious effort not to let him see that. She added in some overly sweet flattery for good measure because really what harm could it do? He had been kind, courteous and complimentary to her, so hopefully he hadn't poisoned her food in some way.

While she very slowly asked her carefully worded question he had started to dig into his stew so he nearly choked when her awkward commentary elicited a boisterous laugh from him.

"Fret not lass, twasn't in this fetching form that we last met. It has been more than one lifetime since we've met. And even back then twas quite a brief moment in time."

She paused with her spoon halfway to her mouth before she asked, "More than one…? Do you mean…? I mean you think that I…"

He smiled broadly then answered, "Aye, you are the re-incarnation of a sweet lass known to me as 'Primrose' for her eyes were almost the exact match of her favorite flower."

"Oh," she whispered, trying to hide that her eyes were a vibrant blue, not violet.

She then took a couple of dainty bites of her food to force herself to think, slowly and calmly. As far as she knew hers was a new soul and that she hadn't been reincarnated. In her family on her mother's side there were a number of people for whom that was true and she had always been jealous of them for having exciting pasts. She had gone to a number of psychics that were well known to her family and friends and had performed every exercise and ritual available to try to uncover any hint of a repressed memory from a past life, but none of that had worked. It was with a heavy heart that she finally forced herself to accept the truth. Her mother was the reincarnated soul of a highland sheep-farmer, so she instead lived out her dream life vicariously through her mother up until the day she passed away after a valiant fight with cancer.

"Now sweet lass, what be your name during this life time?"

She swallowed the food she had in her mouth with a painful grimace before she very quietly answered, "Parker."

He had a bit of a strange look on his face, one she couldn't decipher completely as he repeated, "Parker…"

She swallowed again and tried to sound more confident, without sounding annoyed (because that's what she usually did when she thought that someone was making fun of her name), "Yeah my first name is Parker. It's a family name."

"Aye and it be a bonnie name at that lass." He paused to pour her more ale into a stainless steel stein on the table. She took it gratefully because her last swallow of food actually had hurt her throat a little going down. "I did not mean to make it sound like I be judging yer name me Parker Primrose. I'm just not well acquainted with the name of these modern times."

Despite all of the reservations she was feeling, Parker smiled warmly as she answered, "It's alright, I'm just a little bit touchy when it comes to the topic of my name, especially if someone is poking fun at it. Not that you were but you know…"

"Nay lass, I don't exactly understand."

"Oh geeze. Well… what I meant was that a lot of people like to tease me about my name… they like to say hurtful things to me about it so whenever the topic comes up… no matter if someone is being nice or not… well I get a little bit defensive."

During her explanation he continued to look confused but by the end of it he too was smiling warmly. He then raised his stein as if to toast Parker as he replied, "Defense of yer family and the ones you love, that most definitely be subjects that I understand."

Parker smiled sheepishly as a dark blush spread across her cheeks. She knew most of her friends had a hard time understanding what she was trying to say once her thoughts started to run together and her sentences came out as fragments, so she could only imagine what this man, who obviously wasn't from the Twenty First century, must be thinking of her. It was bad enough that her modern English slang would be enough of a hindrance for effective communication between them, but then to add in her own awkward affliction of eternal foot in mouth syndrome… well she could only hope to keep from angering him too much because eventually she wanted to be able to get home and in order to do that she had to make sure she stayed alive, which meant staying on his good side.

Trying to deflect attention from herself and her awkwardness, Parker raised her glass and tapped it gently against that of her companion. That seemed to please him because his eyes softened and his smile actually appeared to hold more warmth than it had previously. After they each took a sip from their own cups, he promptly returned to his meal.

Parker studied him for a couple of bites, but still couldn't place to what century she thought he might belong. Since he already seemed to think that he knew so much about her, she was curious to find out more about him.

Where to start? She thought to herself. How 'bout the beginning?

"And may I ask what your name might be?"

He dabbed the edges of his mouth with a napkin and the same familiar smile pulling at his lips as he replied, "Me given name is one that no one can say without stumbling over it. Plus to say it can invoke harm, but me friends call me 'Spike'."

"Spike," she repeated slowly. "It… uhh… it's nice to meet you."

"As it is to meet you Parker. Now please, eat your ration. Your body needs the nourishment."

Parker smiled at his insistent, somewhat motherly nature of making sure that she ate. Before he could remind her yet again, she picked up her spoon and continued to enjoy the stew he had prepared for them. She was in fact quite hungry so it seemed like a reasonable way to appease him because with his size and unknown potential for magic ability she really wanted to keep him happy for as long as was humanly possible. After all she was the only one in the room who was purely human.