General Zargon: Here is chapter 3!!!-Does the Macarena-

Ryuuketsu: The author does not own the Dark-Hunter Series, Sherrilyn Kenyon does.

The first thing Jared became aware of as he slowly regained consciousness was the fact that someone was touching him, and not in a way that he was familiar with either. The person touching him was being very gentle, as if whoever it was didn't want to hurt him anymore than he already was; which ruled out Zephyra or Medea as being the one touching him. Though, from how small the person's hands were, he knew that whoever it was, they were female, and they had incredibly soft skin. The second thing that registered in his mind was the fact that he was purring, and that stunned him enough that his purring faltered, and the woman touching him immediately resumed stroking the tensed muscles of his left arm. His mind whirled as he tried to absorb the fact that someone was touching him without the intent to hurt him, though he couldn't quite get over the fact that he was purring, no matter how good the mystery woman's hands on his skin felt. He couldn't ever remember purring, not even before he had betrayed the other Sephiroths to the Malachai. As always, the memory of that time sent a wave of pain through him, reminding him of what he had done and what had been done to him. He ruthlessly shoved those memories into the back of his mind before he turned his attention back to the fact that some unfamiliar woman was giving him the greatest massage he had ever had, not that he'd had many, mind you. He mentally took stock of what was happening, and that when he became aware of the fact that his wrists didn't throb quite as much as they normally did, and as he mentally checked the rest of his body, he noted that the rest of his muscles from the neck down were more relaxed and loose than they had ever been. He finally couldn't take not knowing who was touching him so gently any longer, so he cautiously cracked open his eyes just enough to see straight down in front of him.

As his red-ringed yellow eyes focused, the first thing he saw was a woman at least one foot shorter than him with tousled black hair, slightly tanned skin, and gentle light brown eyes. Momentarily blindsided by how unassuming she looked, it took a moment for him to register that he didn't immediately know everything about her, like he usually did whenever he saw someone. Incredibly confused, and maybe even the tiniest bit frightened, he took a moment to examine the rest of the woman, who he could plainly see was about as far from a demon as possible, as she was apparently too focused on working at the muscles of his left arm to notice that he was awake. He frowned a bit as he saw the coffee stain on her dark blue blouse, distantly wondering how it had gotten there, before he turned his attention to her hip-hugging blue jeans and her light blue and white sneakers. His lips quirked up just a tad as he took in her nice, rounded hips and her not-to-thin waistline. He looked at her chest and realized with sudden clarity that she had apparently decided to forgo a bra that day (or night, since he couldn't really tell whether it was one or the other) and he could clearly see the outline of her breasts, which her blouse set off to perfection. He imagined that they would be a perfect fit for his hands, and he barely restrained himself from starting when he felt the sudden stirring of lust shooting straight down towards his groin. He managed to keep his unexpected desire from showing, but he doubted that he could keep it hidden for much longer if she kept rubbing on him, so he regretfully ceased his purring and instead cleared his throat in order to draw attention to the fact that he was awake.

Elizabeth jerked her hands back as though she'd been burned when somebody suddenly cleared their throat very near her, and it was only after she looked like an idiot by looking left and right that she realized that it was the man she was massaging was now clearly awake, and looking at her with a raised eyebrow. She couldn't control her blush as she looked into the man's now open eyes, and she quietly gasped as she looked at them. 'Beautiful,' was her only thought as she looked into the yellow orbs ringed by a narrow band of blood red, and it was only after the man cleared his throat a second time, looking unsettled by her reaction, that she remembered where she was and she felt her face heat up once again as she looked up uncomfortably, wondering what she could possibly say or do to make their situation any less awkward. To her surprise, it was the man who spoke first, "Who are you?" his voice was low and deep, the perfect voice, she imagined, for sending shivers down women's spines. Like it was doing to hers', she thought as she contained her shiver as best she could.

Elizabeth took a moment to remember that the man had asked her a question, and then another moment to remember how to breathe before she answered, inwardly yelling at herself for making herself seem like an idiot, "My name is Elizabeth Tiarnon, but I answer to either Lizzy or Beth, if you prefer…" you're babbling, her inner voice that sounded suspiciously like her best friend Lillian commented, and she abruptly shut up, mentally cursing her blush reflex as her face heated, and she hurriedly asked, "What's your name?"

Jared smiled in amusement, thinking that Elizabeth, he just couldn't bring himself to call her Lizzy or Beth even in his mind, looked cute when she was embarrassed. He smiled again at her hurried attempt to distract him from noticing her blush, and he quietly answered her question, "My name is Jared." And, simply because he was curious, he asked, "Why were you rubbing on me?" he knew there was a better way he could have phrased that, but he couldn't restrain his urge to make her blush again, and he was pleased when it worked.

She blushed crimson as she mumbled her answer, but when she saw his curious look, she steeled herself and said clearly, "I saw how raw your wrists were, and I couldn't just sit there on the floor doing nothing, but since I'm a masseuse, not a doctor, I decided that the best way to help was to get your muscles to relax. You see, the reason why your wrists were so raw is because they are supporting so much weight, and the reason they are supporting so much weight is because you're so tense, so I started giving you a massage." She took a deep breath, not having paused during her explanation, and gave him an expectant look, hoping that he understood why she'd done it and didn't think she was some kind of pervert. Thankfully, he seemed to understand. She was about to speak again when she noticed the smile on his lips, and before she could even begin to stop herself, her body acted on autopilot and she placed her hand against his cheek.

Time seemed to freeze as they stared into each other's eyes, neither one quite knowing what to do, and neither one quite wanting be the one to break the moment. Finally, Elizabeth tore her eyes away and slowly, almost reluctantly, removed her hand from Jared's cheek. Her palm tingling from the contact, she kept her gaze centered on a spot on the wall somewhere to the left of Jared. As she mentally scolded herself, she couldn't help noticing the difference in their height, though she knew that he was taller than her by a healthy margin. However, compared to his six foot eight, her measly five foot two made her feel like a midget. She set those thoughts aside, instead gathering up her courage before she looked back at Jared, who was staring at her with an intense look in his eyes. She swallowed nervously, instinctively shifting from one foot to other, only to be reminded rather abruptly that her right ankle was still injured. She couldn't stop herself from crying out as her right leg buckled and she found herself on the stone floor looking up at the ceiling while her ankle throbbed in pain.

Jared jerked his head back in shock when Elizabeth suddenly cried out and fell to the floor. His startled eyes scanned over her body, wondering if she suffered some injury that he had failed to see during his initial examination. Seeing no obvious injuries, he mentally replayed the last few minutes and tried to figure out why she might have fallen. Still finding nothing that might have caused her to fall, he returned his attention back to her prone form and asked her in concern, "Are you alright? What happened?" he saw only the obvious injuries, like the large bruise on the side of her head, so he had to wait for her to answer in order to find out what had caused her to fall down. While he waited, he had to wonder why the woman had been tossed in with him. Sure, there was always the possibility that she was a decoy, put in there to gain his trust and then used to hurt him more, but he dismissed that option almost as soon as he'd thought it. There was no way that someone as inherently good as Elizabeth could be possibly working for Zephyra or Medea. Then again, he thought skeptically, he had once been good as well, but he had turned on his allies and led them to the slaughter. He once again shoved those memories into the back of his mind, but that didn't stop him from doubting his ability to accurately guess Elizabeth's character, since he was apparently blocked from her mind by some powerful force.

Elizabeth groaned before she gingerly levered herself up, careful of her still injured wrist, and drew her right leg up so she could gently clasp it in her good hand. She registered the fact that Jared had asked her a question, but it still took her several moments before she gathered her wits enough to answer, "I'll be okay, it's just that my right ankle is a little sore, probably a result of having that bastard slam his foot into it…" she growled out the last part, remembering the events that had led up to where she was now. Seeing Jared's questioning look, she elaborated, "I was walking home after work – you remember how I said I was a masseuse, right? – well, just as I was only a few blocks away from home, some guy grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into an alley. I wasn't about to lay down and let the guy do what he wanted with me, so I struggled, and I guess I irritated him enough that he decided to punch me in the head to knock me out. After that, I lifted my legs up and dropped to the ground in order to make the guy let go of me. When he did, I kicked his legs out from under him and made a break for it. Unfortunately, he dragged me back before I'd made it out into the street, and we fought some more until I managed to knee him in the balls," she blatantly ignored Jared's wince and blithely continued, "When he went down that time, I made another break for it and managed to make it out into the street and began running in the direction of my house. Though I guess the bastard recovered faster than I thought. Well, that and my right leg cramped up, since he tackled me again just when I was a few yards away from my house. He hauled me up before I could recover and proceeded to slam his fist against the side of my head again. I went with the punch to minimize the impact and I think I pulled a few muscles in my arm as a result. Anyway, before I could do anything else, he slammed his foot into my right ankle and just crouched down beside me when I fell down. I don't know what he was going to do, but I think he was waiting for me to fall unconscious. I wasn't just going to go quietly, so before I did black out, I clawed at his face with my good hand, and I'm pretty sure I drew blood since I felt something wet on my hand before he slammed my head into the ground and knocked me out…" she trailed off as something occurred to her and she raised her good hand up to examine her nails, only to gasp in shock moments later.

Jared didn't know why, but the thought of a Daimon feeding on Elizabeth filled him with rage. Rage and another unfamiliar emotion that he dared not identify. It had to have been a Daimon, he thought to himself, since only Daimons and the gallu had access to Kalosis, and he seriously doubted that the gallu would have dared to enter Kalosis just to toss a human woman into his cell. He was brought out of his thoughts by Elizabeth's shocked gasp, and when his gaze refocused on her, he could see why she had gasped, and paled, as he found when he looked at her face. The reason for her reaction was clearly the fact that her index finger and middle finger were covered in blood up to her first knuckles. There was clearly blood under her nails as well. He immediately remembered the part in her story when she had said she had clawed at the Daimon's face and had felt blood before she had been knocked out. He didn't know why, and he dared not examine the feeling, but he felt pleased that she had actually injured her attacker so severely, if the amount of blood on her fingers were any indication. He inwardly smirked before he became rather sharply aware of the fact that Elizabeth was shaking, and her face had gone even paler, which he knew could not have been a good sign. For some reason he dared not name, he felt compelled to ask her, "Are you sure you're alright? You've started shaking." He mentally cursed himself as he realized that he'd stated the blatantly obvious, and he found himself guiltily hoping that she was too distracted to notice. He watched as Elizabeth seemed to pull herself together, and he found himself admiring her inner strength for being able to recover from her shock so quickly.

Elizabeth took several deep breaths before she finally forced herself to look away from the dried blood coating her nails. She dared not think about why, but for some reason Jared's concern warmed her. However; she doused that warmth by thinking, 'He's just asking what any decent person would ask, don't read too much into it,' she shook herself to bring herself out of her thoughts. She looked up at Jared's handsome face and tried to conjure up a smile to reassure him as she said, "I'm fine, really. I guess I just didn't expect so much blood…" her voice trailed off as she looked back at her two blood-soaked fingers. She shuddered convulsively before she once again tore her gaze away from the blood-covered appendages to look back at Jared, "So, what are you in for?" it was an extremely poor attempt at a joke, and she immediately winced as she looked at Jared apologetically. She felt the blood rush to her face as she blushed and looked down ashamedly as she apologized, "Sorry if I offended you, I didn't mean for it to come out like that." She began to mentally scream at herself, demanding to know why she had had to ask that question, when clearly Jared could have done nothing to deserve what he had endured, judging by the injuries and bruises that showed through his black tattoos.

She was so busy scolding herself that she almost missed what Jared's reply was, but she immediately turned her attention back to Jared's face when he said, "I did something unforgivable." Elizabeth gaped at him, seeing in his eyes that he actually believed that he had done something truly terrible.

She promptly began to try getting to her feet without putting too much pressure on her injured ankle, even as she began to speak, "There is absolutely no way that you could have possibly done something so wrong that you deserved this!" she gestured at the chains, his raw wrists, and the both old and new wounds that covered his skin. She managed to stand shakily, though she continued to speak while she tried to find her balance, "Hitler deserved this, Mussolini deserved this, Goering deserved this, Caligula deserved this, even Attila the Hun deserved this, but you definitely do not!" She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him, her eyes flaring as she dared Jared to contradict her. Her chest heaved as she fought to regain her breath after her passionate defense of him, even though she didn't really know what this 'unforgivable' crime actually was.

Jared was stunned. His mouth dropped open and his eyes widened at Elizabeth's impassioned defense of someone she didn't even know. Through force of will, he managed to close his mouth and his eyes returned to their normal position, even as his eyebrows lowered in thought as he began to reevaluate his first impression of the woman in front of him. While he stood by his first thought that she was inherently good, he mentally tacked on that she had a very passionate spirit packed into that small frame. Finally, he had to nod slightly to appease her, even as he agreed that he definitely didn't deserve what had happened to him, at least for half the time that he had endured it. He watched as Elizabeth relaxed the minute that he nodded, and he had to smile slightly in response to her beaming grin.

He abruptly groaned as he became aware of the fact that his muscles had tensed up again sometime during their conversation, and now his arms were beginning to throb in agony once again. He ground his teeth to try and stifle the groan, but Elizabeth still heard somehow. Before he could think to reassure her that he was fine, she had stepped right up to him and placed her hands back on his left arm. As he savored the feel of her hands on his skin, she began to slowly and gently work her fingers into his muscles, and he promptly began to gently purr in response as he reveled in the feel of her hands soothing him, not asking anything in return for the comfort. He distantly became aware of the fact that his eyelids had gotten heavy, but for the life of him he couldn't quite think of why that might have been a bad thing. As his eyelids drifted shut, his last sight was that of Elizabeth's face as she smiled gently and worked to lessen his pain. His last thought was that he couldn't have wished for a greater sight to accompany him into the realm of dreams.

Elizabeth was startled when Jared's purrs started to sound sleepy, and she looked at his face only to find his eyes closed and a peaceful smile on his face. She grinned to herself, pleased that she had managed to relax him so much that he had fallen asleep, especially given how much discomfort he must have been in while they had been talking. At the thought of how much pain Jared must have felt, she began to work at his skin with even more gentleness than before, and she was rewarded with a deep purr for her efforts. She grinned even wider as she finished with his left arm and started on his right, determined to lessen his pain as much as she could.

General Zargon: Hope you all enjoyed that chapter! Things are about to get real interesting, so sorry about the sorta-cliffhanger!

Ryuuketsu: R&R

General Zargon: Yeah, R&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!