Aaaaand here we go! Chapter two! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, I really appreciate it X3

I could just barely reach the cold floor with the tips of my toes. I was still far too weak to go anywhere, and even if I could, I was being held hostage by a family of vampires that had already almost killed me. I had the feeling that the second time around, Frederick wouldn't listen to his wife and my head would be leaving my body.

I had nothing to do but sleep while I hung there in my shackles. So I did. I figured that since I couldn't go anywhere, I could at least try to get some strength back. It must have been the next afternoon when I heard footsteps echoing through the corridor. I was dozing on and off, bored with sleeping. I was hungry, my limbs hurt, and my throat was parched. The shackles were already chaffing and things were overall miserable.

I closed my eyes, not caring to see who it was that was paying me a visit. The vampires were going to kill me eventually anyway. It wouldn't matter if they did it now or in fifty years. I still didn't want to have to look at any of them.

"What, afraid?" I opened one eye a bit and saw that it was Gregory. "I should kill you right now if you're a coward."

I snorted at him. He talked big for a vampire. I weighed a couple hundred pounds more than he did, and here he was poking fun at me.

"Don't believe me?"

I raised my lips in a grin.

"Fine. Why would I kill you anyway? No point in it. You're worth more alive than dead. I've heard that live werewolves go for thousands on the black market. Broken ones are worth even more. We're not going to keep you around forever, and even Father is going to get annoyed with a fleabag skulking around eventually. Your days here are numbered, dog."

No shit, Sherlock.

My profound silence shut him up for a minute. We stared each other down and I won when he finally broke eye contact. I wanted him to know that I didn't care about all of his fancy-talk and black market dealings. I didn't want to hear about his leech family or how I was a coward. I was going to die soon, and if my last moments would be at the hand of a vampire, so be it. He began the staring contest again with renewed fervor. After several minutes, I growled and looked away at last.

He sneered. "Good to know you're already recognizing your new masters, you filthy canine."

I snorted again.

"If I didn't know better, I'd almost think you could understand me. That's obviously not true though, given your disgusting appearance."

I snarled at him. What a jerk! Was he always like this? I was already forgetting about not wanting to kill him. The second I got out of these shackles, I was going straight for his throat.

"Gregory! Mother wanted to see you!" Anna called, bouncing in. Seeing me, she stopped. "Oh."

Gregory looked at me one last time before growling and stalking away, leaving Anna alone with me. She began quivering and made a little whimpering noise, but she didn't go anywhere. She didn't say anything for a long time either, and we both just looked at each other before I sighed and hung my head again.

"Don't pay any attention to him," she said quietly. "He's not always like that."

I smiled in a way that showed my teeth and she took a step back. Closing my mouth again, I tried to imagine how deranged I looked. Covered in blood, dust, and cobwebs, hanging from rusty shackles in a crypt—it probably wasn't a very flattering image.

She sat down on the floor and tucked her feet under her in a very lady-like manner. "It must be horrible, being all chained up like this."

I just stared at her.

"Why did you attack us?" she waited for a few seconds and then realized that I couldn't reply. "Can you change back to your human form so that we might talk?"

She was very poetic, wasn't she? And how was I supposed to convey to her that I needed light to change back to a human? It was just too dark here. I could change into my wolf form during daylight, but not back unless it was still bright out.

Yeah. It kind of sucks.

I shook my head weakly.

"Oh," she said quietly. "I see. Then…might we talk, you and I? Or perhaps I can talk, and you can listen?"

I studied her pale little face for a moment before slowly nodding.

She smiled. "Thank you. It's been so long since I've been able to speak with a stranger."

Did she really want to talk to me? I had attacked her not too long ago. She should be avoiding me above all else.

"Are you a boy or a girl?" she asked.

I laughed. My fur was so shaggy from my time in the Alps that she couldn't tell.

"You fight like a boy," she said defensively. "But you mope like a girl."

I smiled again and she looked uncomfortable.

"Well? What are you? A boy?"

I scowled and shook my head.

"I knew it," she said happily. "Rudolph tried to tell me you were a boy, but I knew otherwise."

Wasn't she at all scared of me? The second I was out of these chains and my numerous injuries were healed, I was busting out of this crypt and crawling back to my smelly employer who would undoubtedly send me back into the graveyard to have another go at killing some vampires.

"You're probably wondering why I'm not afraid of you," Anna continued. "Well, I am, a bit. But you're a lady, and I imagine that if you weren't covered in fur, you would be a proper one."

I snorted. Me? A lady? I might be a girl, but I was hardly a lady. In fact, I had never worn a dress or even anything that could be considered business-casual. I had, however, once worn a ceremonial headdress given to me by an old baron after Mom and I had rid his estate of vampires.

"Anna, come on! Back to bed with you!" Freda called.

"Coming, mother!" she yelled back. To me, she smiled a little and curtsied after standing. "I do hope to speak with you more in the future."

I watched her go and then pondered why she even cared to talk about me when she was supposed to be asleep. It was daylight; I had never heard of a vampire being awake in the day. They usually kept a very strict schedule when it came to that sort of thing. Probably some stupid old vampire tradition they insisted on sticking to.

While they slept, I stayed awake, sniffing the shackles that kept me contained. They were ancient, and now that I was conscious and thinking straight, I saw that I could probably destroy them with only a few tugs of my arms. But the vampires would hear me, and then I would really be done for. The leader wouldn't keep me around if I showed any signs of aggression other than those that I had already displayed. They would probably either kill me or decide that this wasn't a safe location and would leave, and then I would be looking at days of tracking before I could finally take care of them.

It was a few hours later, probably after nightfall, when I heard sounds that forced me out of dozing on and off. It was a man's voice, one that I didn't recognize, coming from somewhere aboveground.

"It's my graveyard. It's my job. I'll do it." he cleared his throat.

"Well…if you insist," Rookery said. "Take this safety line.

"Not that I'll need it!"

I thought for a second before realization dawned on me. Rookery was sending a human down here? He already had me in this stupid crypt! Why would he…unless, of course, he thought I was dead. I suppose it seemed logical; no word, not a peep, from me for a whole day and a half. Therefore, assume I was dead and start sending normal people into a vampire-infested hideout.

I heard footsteps of the caretaker and strained against my restraints. He was going to get killed, and I was going to get blamed when Rookery found out I was still alive. Growling, I held my feet against the wall to steady myself and pulled my torso forward with as much strength as I could muster. The shackles gave and I fell to the floor in a cloud of dust.

Shaking bits of debris from my face, I sniffed the air and followed the poor man's scent as silently as I could. I heard him scream and shout and broke into a clumsy run, sprinting around corners and through tunnels until I rounded a corner and spotted that idiot Gregory clinging to the Scotsman's legs as he was pulled up to the surface by the safety line.

"Let go, Gregory! It's a trap!" Rudolph yelled, grabbing his brother.

I roared and stood on my hind legs to swat at Gregory, but Rudolph had already pulled him down and the human was already up out of the crypt, dead as could be. Rookery leaned over the hole and saw me down there, whining as I tried to reach up and attempt to climb out of this hell.

"You're still alive, eh?" he asked, still jolly from the death of the caretaker.

I barked, turning around as Gregory stood and hissed at me.

"Don't just stand there, pup! You're bred to fight, you bloody idiot!" Rookery shouted down at me. And with that kind remark, he set about making his leave.

Gregory approached me with a furious expression. "You—bloody dog!"

I stood over him and roared in his face, spittle flying all over as he refused to do anything other than bare his fangs and stand his ground. We stayed like that for several minutes before his parents and Anna appeared.

"Gregory, what do you think you're doing?!" Frederick asked angrily.

I sat back, smug, as they reprimanded him. Anna approached me cautiously and I growled for a moment before falling silent as I thought. Rookery didn't care about me. He might care about my mother, but not about me. I was expendable. He wasn't really my master; he just had a useless little piece of paper that said he was. A paper that I couldn't read. So why should I please him by doing away with this family? I had passed dozens of vampires on the streets at night and not done a single thing, simply because they weren't on my list to kill.

I felt a hand on my head and realized that it was Anna stroking my fur. I looked at her and pondered. If anything, I could let her live simply to spite Rookery. He thought that I was his fighting dog, but not the best one. I was the one he sent to go and scope things out. Mom was his prize. She was probably more than willing to go and find someone and have more puppies if I died.

They didn't actually care about me. But this little vampire girl…she did.