A/N: And once again I'm back. *grin* I'm doing this a lot nowadays, really.
Peterson looked back at me with a curious expression as I gaped at him.
Peterson was alive?!
Him, of all people! In this hideout of unnatural beings, why was he here?
Was Holmes right after all?
"Good day, Assistant Surgeon Watson." I jumped. It had been a long time since that title had been applied to me, but it was the tone which frightened me the most. Soft and smooth like velvet, hiding a peculiar danger. I felt a shiver run up my spine. Behind me, I heard my guide quietly exit.
Peterson had risen to his feet, and I recoiled as I finally realized how much he had changed. The hair when fell past his shoulders was silvered, yet he did not look a day older than when I had seen him last. His ears were pierced with gold ringlets and, most horrifying of all, his eyes had turned violet.
"Peterson-"I stammered, unable to find the words to speak, to utter my astonishment. But Peterson raised his hand, and my last will to speak vanished. It was as if I had been struck dumb.
"Dr. Watson." Again the soft musical, dangerous voice rang out in the room and something stirred behind him, though I could not tell what it was. "That is what it is now, isn't it?" Peterson smiled benignly at me.
I could only stare at him, unable to comprehend the situation. A slight frown marred his features at my continuing silence and he raised his hand. My neck was forced downwards and upwards in a approximate nod.
"That is better. I prefer good manners, which includes answering when you are spoken to."
With a jolt of shock, I realized that my voice had returned to me. "You silenced me." I croaked, massaging my throat, which was burning.
Peterson looked amused. "I merely wanted to test the extent of your powers. It seems you have not progressed very much if you cannot shield yourself against another's powers.
"I-what?"
He impatiently waved a hand. "All of our Order have the capability to protect themselves from the powers of beings like us. It is a capability which comes quite early. It is a latent ability in some…humans also." He said the word 'human' with the same scorn as one would treat a particularly stubborn piece of dirt with. "How much have your powers progressed?"
I felt myself compelled to answer him. But I would not. Because I had suddenly realized the position I was in.
"You kidnapped me." I said hoarsely, and then felt the sudden strain on my voice. Peterson was frowning.
"Yes, I did." It was a statement of fact.
"Why?"
Again that indulgent smile. "Why, my dear doctor, have you not guessed?" He spread out his arms in a gesture of benevolence. "You are one of us! You belong in our order, your powers have already proved that!"
"My 'powers' were not given to me at birth." I said angrily still struggling with my voice. Peterson was still smiling with that smile that did not reach his eyes. "I am not like you!" I could not say why I felt so terrified at the thought of being one of them, but it was an excruciatingly frightening notion, being an outcast from society as long as I lived.
"So were mine, doctor." In the faint light, Peterson's eyes were momentarily white, opaque. "So were mine."
I could only stare at him for a moment before the implications of what he was saying finally broke onto me.
********************
(Holmes's POV)
I sat in the chair given to my, and studied my audience.
After all, it was not everyday that I get samples liken this. For a moment, it was almost like an interesting experiment, until I remembered the events that preceded them.
They were ranged in all age groups, from five to what I judged to be forty. The youngest of the group was a expressionless girl who stood, almost completely hidden, at the back. Her eyes were large and dark and…soulless. I am not given to emotional fantasies but that was the best way I could describe the group which stood around me. It was as if they had endured hardships beyond the scope of a normal man.
A normal human, I instantly corrected myself.
They numbered twenty in all, and looked mostly from the lower strata of society. None of them showed any obvious signs of their unnaturalities, except the woman who had admitted us, and Marfusus.
The woman interested me. After I had recovered from my first shock of seeing a woman covered in scales, with snake like features, who spoke in a hissing voice (I had never quite got over my childhood revulsion of snakes), I found her to be an intriguing study. Her name was Echidna. How apt.
The girl, Elizabeth, who had led us in was standing in the corner, fidgeting with a dirt stained handkerchief. She was the only one in the entire group who moved even a muscle. The rest were motionless, silent. Looking at me.
I kept my silence, and looked back at them. Two can play the game.
After a long silence which lasted approximately ten minutes, Marfusus spoke. "This is Dr. Watson's friend, Mr. Holmes," and though there was no visible movement in the gathering, the whole group's attention seemed to shift onto him, "He will be helping us in our crusade."
Crusade? I glanced sharply at him, but his expression was blank, his demeanor calm.
"Mr. Holmes, eh?" A thick heavy set man from the back called out. He looked at me shrewdly. "Wouldn't be Mr. Sherlock Holmes, would it?"
For the first time that day, the group stirred. Whispers broke out. A few turned and looked and spoke to their neighbors, but when Marfusus raised his hand silence fell once again.
"Yes, it is he." This time there was no response save that the intensity of their gaze's increased. I felt, for the first time, slightly uncomfortable. The looks were almost hostile.
"He has come to help us. He is Dr. Watson's friend, and as Dr. Watson is our friend, he is our's as well-" I was not the only one having started this time. The man at the back spoke up again, rising to his feet.
"Our friend?" he hissed. "Our, Marfusus? Do not push your authority too far. I have so far seen no reason to suppose why this unknown doctor will have any reason to be our friend!" He spread out his arms. Some in the crowd nodded.
"Edgar." Said the girl, Elizabeth, nervously, but Edgar did not stop.
"You have gone too far with your antics now, Marfusus! First you risk our position and stability to find some fool of a doctor whom we have never met, and then you have the gall to suggest that we endanger our men to rescue him, and now, you bring on the ultimate risk of bringing an outsider to our hideout!"
The room was utterly silent.
I felt my anger rising to the surface like an striking snake. How dare they slander Watson? How dare they! They were the entire reason that he was in the position that he was in now and-
But it seemed that my unspoken words were unnecessary. From the corner of the room there was a soft sound and someone slithered forward.
"Enough, Edgar."Echidna hissed. There was menace in her tone.
All the fire seemed to go out of Edgar. He drooped back to his position and never looked up, save to shoot a malovent glare at Marfusus and me. I looked back at him coolly.
"It seems," said Marfusus tiredly, and everyone looked at him, "It is time to tell the whole story after all."
A/N: My whole worry is that if my Holmes POV was ok. Any suggestions anyone?