NOTE from the PHOENIX: Happy 2010 everyone!!!!

Chapter Eleven

Salen woke slowly feeling sick to his stomach. Laying on his side he tugged experimentally at the ion cuffs. The earthly stench of decaying leaves infiltrated his senses as he became more aware of his surroundings. Fluttering his eyes open Salen was greeted by a dense forest. It was still dark, the moon provided the only light that splashed silver on the dark forest floor. Salen didn't mean to make any noise but a splitting headache caused a low moan to escape his lips.

"Good morning, Sunshine." Langin snickered.

"Langin," Salen growled "what are you doing?"

"I'm following in my father's footsteps and selling you to the highest bidder, who should be along any minute now."

Langin walked around and came into Salen's limited view, cautiously keeping his distance. Acting far more drugged than he was Salen laboured for breath and made a grand show of unsuccessfully struggling to his feet. Rolling over onto his back he panted noisily and lolled his head to the side. Welding his eyes shut he whimpered in a combination of false pretense and true pain.

"You're pathetic." Langin clucked. "From what little I know about this guy your life is about to get a hell of a lot worse than this. In fact I'm willing to bet that you're going to end up in a dark basement slowly bleeding to death again."

Salen ground his teeth together but continued his broken wing act. Langin became more confident in his position over his captive and came closer. Cringing in exaggerated fear Salen lured Langin closer. With a cruel smile on his face Langin came up to kick Salen like an unwanted dog.

When Langin lashed out with his foot Salen threw his own leg up and wrapped it around Langin's. Twisting towards his opponent Salen easily brought Langin down to the dirt. Langin landed hard on his back with a cry of surprise. Despite having his wrists pinned behind his back Salen was able to get to his feet before Langin. He quickly straddled Langin in hopes that he would try and sit up, which would give Salen the opportunity to slam his head into Langin's already beaten face.

Instead of unwisely sitting up to give Salen a clear shot at his face Langin fought to get his hand into his pocket. Salen's heart raced as he realized what Langin was trying to do. He tried to stop him, but it was too simple for Langin to get a hold of the small sonic device. Still on top of Langin Salen tried his hardest to block out the razor sharp sound that only he could hear.

Salen was unable to concentrate on blocking out the pain and keep Langin under his control at the same time. Langin pushed Salen off and quickly switched places. Sitting down heavily on Salen's abdomen Langin reached down and grabbed a handful of his white hair. Salen tried to arch his back enough to buck Langin off, but he just rode it out.

Desperate to escape the agony of the sound Salen uselessly trashed. Langin smiled cruelly and brought the small device out of his pocket and pressed it against the Vulcan's sensitive ear. Salen cried out at the top of his lungs, taking a breath only to repeat his agonized cry. With his next breath catching in his throat Salen gagged as eyes rolled back. Convulsing against the assault on his senses Salen jerked at the restraints on his wrists with enough force to cause them to drip green blood into the leaf litter.

"Those pointed ears of yours are bleeding," Langin mocked "if you can call that sickly green slime 'blood'."

"Stop!" Salen finally broke down and asked for mercy. "Please..."

"I wonder if this makes it louder."

Whatever Langin did the device did indeed dramatically increase in volume. Brought well above his threshold for pain Salen stopped fighting. Too exhausted to continue the pointless efforts to escape he could only moan. Unable to even think he closed his eyes as tears slipped from the corners. Gasping for breath he shivered against the unrelenting siren call.

Just as he started to black out the pain suddenly ceased. Salen assumed that Langin had simply turned the device off. There was still a white noise ringing that throbbed in his head, but it was not painful. Able to breath freely and thing again Salen once again played being weaker than he was to trick Langin. It seemed to work and Langin leaned in to say something in his ear.

If Langin had anything to say Salen was not interested in hearing it. Instead he pushed himself up as best he could and bit down on Langin's exposed throat. Salen could taste Langin's sickeningly metallic blood but he didn't release his painful hold. Langin struck Salen across the temple causing a blinding flash that was quickly followed by a nauseating pain. Salen automatically released Langin and fell back to the forest floor.

"I was about to put you out of your misery with another hypo, but now..."

Salen made no reaction to Langin's threat. He barely even protested when Langin grabbed the collar of his shirt and tore it open. It wasn't until he felt the sharp point of a knife sinking into his chest that he renewed his struggling. Langin was still easily able to keep Salen pinned simply by sitting on his stomach.

Smiling coldly Langin dug the knife point deeper into Salen's flesh before slowly drawing it across the large scar that was already etched across his chest. Memories from the original injury flooded Salen's mind, however it was Langin who suddenly screamed in a mix of horror and pain. Dropping the knife Langin clutched his own chest in pain. Terrified he tore his collar open and stared down at his uninjured skin in disbelief.

"Wha...what the fuck are you doing to me, Vulcan?" Langin demanded.

Langin began hyperventilating in escalating panic as he continued to press his hand against his chest. With a foot long gash across his chest Salen was the one in true danger of bleeding to death. Langin cried out sharply as tears traced down his cheeks without reason. Bright red blood began running freely down his face from his nose as it began to spontaneously bleed. Salen's thoughts were too disorgainze to realize that he was projecting his own emotions and pain on Langin.

Looking down at Salen Langin lashed out in panic and struck Salen hard against the temple. Roaring in rage Salen yanked at his restraints once again. Unlike during his previous attempts this time his wrists easily escaped the ion cuffs as though they had suddenly lost power. Once free Salen spent no time questioning his luck and went right for Langin's already bleeding throat.

"How did you..."

Langin was cut off as Salen threatened to choke him. Twisting out of Salen's blood slick grip Langin rolled off him and scrambled to his feet. Salen rose to his full height and glared murderously at Langin. Completely consumed by rage he bared his teeth at Langin and roared like an angry lion who felt that his pride was being threatened.

Crying out in surprise Langin frantically fumbled with the sonic device that he had retrieved from his pocket. The threat of the device did not keep Salen from advancing and despite the fact that Langin was frantically pressing the contact button the incapacitating sound failed to rise above the sound of Salen's own blood pounding in his ears.

Rushing forward Salen slammed his fist into Langin's stomach. He quickly followed the strike with a powerful back hand across Langin's face. Falling to his knees Langin retched bile blood onto the forest floor. Picking up the fallen sonic device Salen crushed it in his hand before kicking Langin in the ribs. Even though Langin was no longer a direct threat Salen struck him again. Salen didn't even realize that all he wanted was to cause Langin pain. The purpose of violence had always been self defense, but Salen was no longer interested in mere survival.

"Salen, wai..."

Any pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears as Salen grabbed a fist full of Langin's hair. Forcing Langin back to his feet Salen dug his nails into the skin over Langin's collar bone. Langin screamed as Salen opened up four raking gashes across his chest. Langin put his hands on Salen's heavily bleeding chest and put all his strength into pushing the Vulcan away.

Unmoved by Langin's efforts Salen took a hold of his victim's throat with one hand. With an icy smile Salen effortlessly lifted Langin up off the ground. Langin clutched Salen's wrists to try and relieve some of the choking pressure on his throat. Salen studied Langin's face as his fear degraded into pure animal panic.

Just as Langin was threatening to pass out Salen threw him to the forest floor. Landing on his back ten feet away Langin struggled to catch his breath. Coughing and spiting up blood Langin wasted little time in forcing himself to his feet to face down his attacker. Salen was more than prepared to block Langin's clumsy attack and landed another hit on his face.

Stumbling back this time Langin decided that running was his best option. Salen knew that he shouldn't chase after Langin, that he should take this opportunity to escape. It was only logical to return to the Academy campus. However his emotions were controlling his actions now and he sprinted after Langin.

A well practiced and trained runner it did not take Salen to catch up to Langin. Realizing he was caught Langin turned to fight once more. Salen brought his arm up and blocked all of Langin's skilled attempts at striking him. With his mind sick with the fever of rage Salen played with his enemy, delivering quick precise blows to Langin's body that were designed specifically to cause pain.

Quickly losing ground Langin was soon dripping in sweat and gasping for each breath. Not daring to turn his back on Salen he kept stepping backwards. Eventually he came to the edge of the cliff that Salen and Douglas had spent the previous evening drinking on. Langin yelped as he almost stepped off the deadly ledge.

Salen had won the fight long ago, however he found himself unable to stop. Grabbing Langin's throat once more he lifted him up. Salen stepped up to the edge of the cliff and dangled Langin over the fifty foot drop. Langin glanced down and started kicking in terror of being dropped to his death.

"Salen!" Langin cried in panic. "No! Please!"

Salen narrowed his eyes into icy slits.

"Salen, I...I'm sorry!"

Salen could see Langin's mouth moving as he cried for mercy, but the words didn't get through to him. He held Langin over the cliff internally battling with himself over whether or not he should let go. Langin gripped Salen's wrist in desperation. Closing his eyes he began to cry.

Salen furrowed his brow as he slowly came to his senses. Gasping sharply Salen stepped away from the edge of the cliff and released Langin safely on the ground. Crawling on his hands and knees Langin dragged himself away from the drop off and pressed himself against the base of a large tree. Salen stared at the bloodied and terrified human in shock, unable to believe that he had almost murdered him.

Salen pressed his hand against his chest as he felt a constriction in his lungs. He looked down and noticed that the wound across his chest was still bleeding freely. Starting to feel dizzy Salen stumbled away. Leaving Langin huddled against the tree Salen started to wander in a weaving pattern back towards the Academy.

As Salen reached the edge of the forest he jerked back in surprise as something cold and wet struck his face. Looking up he saw that a storm had developed and was beginning to rain down hard. Still disoriented Salen shook his head and stared up at the sky. He could see flashes of lightning, but something was out of place about it. It took him a moment to realize that there was lightning, but there was no crash of thunder to follow it.

Salen's blood ran cold as he realized that it wasn't only the thunder that he couldn't hear, he couldn't hear anything at all.