A/N: This chapter is a bit of a beast. I didn't want to break it up. Enjoy.

Part Eleven

Sypha and Trevor did not return before dark. The only indication that Adrian had of the time was his own senses, but as the hours slipped by he knew that the day had come and gone, and there was no sign of them. He was worried, but he knew that it could take time for Trevor to fulfill his hunting request, and he did not know how far they needed to travel to access the flowers which were necessary for the potion. It was reasonable that they would need until the next day to complete their mission. He reminded himself that they were both very strong and capable; they would be fine. They would come back. They were not going to leave him alone in this place forever.

Time is a funny thing. It goes so fast – days fly by into weeks, and weeks into years. Years soon pass into decades, and Adrian knew that for him those decades would eventually pass into centuries and so on. But time has a way of slowing to an absolute crawl when one is waiting for something. It becomes more and more difficult to really gauge how long something has taken, or how long one has been waiting in the dark. A minute can feel like an hour, and an hour can stretch on and on and on. Adrian was an incredibly patient person; he was good at waiting and still better at keeping himself occupied if he needed to spend a long stretch of time waiting. He was level headed, practical, reasonable. He knew that he had to be patient.

It was very important that he did not let his fear and doubt begin to overtake his reason. He had known from the moment the stone had sealed him into the Hold that he was essentially in an underground tomb that might not be opened again for centuries if Trevor and Sypha didn't come back. Even if only Sypha didn't come back, because Trevor could not perform magic and therefore could do nothing to open the Hold. So Adrian waited patiently, and quietly, and ignored his nagging fear.

But time has a way of wearing even the most resilient person down. Combined with hunger, that effect is increased. Hunger is far less tolerable than time for a vampire, even a half vampire. Adrian had thought that by the time Trevor and Sypha had left the Hold that his hunger had already essentially peaked. He knew his body was desiccating from starvation, poison, and the attempt to constantly regenerate itself. He thought that he was handling it very well. He had resisted his instincts and his ravenous need for blood even when Sypha had offered for him to drink directly from her. He had never been willingly offered blood by a human before. He had been secretly proud of himself for being able to resist that offer, because it made him better than other vampires. It made him less of a monster, less of an animal. Truthfully, he had always thought of himself that way. Perhaps it was a trait he'd picked up from his father. Perhaps it was because Dracula was his father that he had always privately believed that he was more than them, better than those hedonistic creatures who roamed the Earth in search of blood and power and control. He prided himself on being set apart from them. His partial humanity made him feel like he was somehow above them, even though he was actually looked down on in vampire society because of it. They were fools – he knew better than they did. He was exceptional, half human, the Son of Dracula, he was a prince. He had more pride than he had ever bothered to acknowledge, so when he had refused Sypha he had been empowered by resisting his baser instincts.

His pride was a poor companion in the ever growing span of time that persisted relentlessly as he waited in the dark. He thought that it certainly must have gone past the point of a single day, but with no way of measuring it he was unable to be sure. He could sense his body getting weaker; the tiny bit of nourishment had been completely used up within the first hours. Some of his injuries did heal a bit more. The bone in his leg seemed to be doing alright, and eventually he lost his patience with the splint and tore it off, wondering if he might be able to eat the leather belts before throwing them down in frustration and finally letting out a scream of anger at his predicament. Anger was easier than fear. It masked the fear, albeit thinly. He didn't care how dizzy he was, or how much every part of him hurt. He used one of the splints like a crutch and got to his feet, spending hours pacing around the tiny cage, counting his steps to try and keep his mind busy. He eventually grew too weak to stand, his head spinning from the starvation. He sat down in the middle of the cage again, drumming his claws on the stones. It had to have been more than two days, maybe three by now. What had happened? When were they going to return? Maybe he could try his bat form, or the mist. He attempted to summon one of these shapes on the off chance that he could somehow escape through them, but he was too feeble to even call his sword, and there was no chance of using these other abilities without blood in his system.

He tried to exit the cage once, rushing at the hole in the bars, hoping that if he could just get through that the spell that bound him would cease to have effect. He suspected that if he exited the spelled area entirely it might negate the effect of the magic. Of course he knew before he tried that it was a futile effort, and only succeeded in making horrible fire engulf the arm that he managed to force out before he collapsed against the bars and dragged himself back away from the spell's weakening effects. He also tried using the sword to damage the bars. At first he thought that it might actually work, but the magical estoc was heavy and he was having difficulty wielding it without his normal strength. He struck as hard as he could, sending a clanging vibration along its length and into his hands. It rattled him to the teeth. The long blade wavered in his double-fisted grasp and clattered to the stones. He even tried scraping it over the engraved spell, but he could not damage the inscriptions, and in the absolute dark he couldn't see where they were clearly enough to target them. It was not going to work. He finally re-sheathed the weapon and laid it with his few possessions, not wanting to damage the blade. His legs were trembling from weakness, but that didn't matter. His broken tibia screamed every time he put weight on it, as all his other injuries burned and protested when he abused them with his movements. Finally in a last and most desperate bid to escape he attempted to literally claw his way through the floor of the cage. The stones couldn't be that thick – there were other floors beneath this one. If he could find purchase in one of the cracks and slowly chip his way through maybe he could fall to the next floor and be free of the cage that way. He spent hours at this, using his claws to pick and dig at the tiny cracks between the stones, trying to damage them. He did manage to make some scratches, but his nails ground down to to nubs long before he had made any kind of progress. Finally he gave up, laying face down on the floor of his prison and screaming in agony and helpless fury. Tears tracked down his cheeks, he beat on the floor, tried again to throw himself at the bars, and in the end he was just as trapped as he had been the entire time, only much much hungrier.

He rolled on his back and laid there for many hours, unmoving, listening to the slow beating of his own heart. It was getting slower, he thought. Or maybe he was just losing his ability to judge how long passed between each beat. He drifted in some place between wakefulness and sleep, not really sure if he was conscious or not. He lost himself in memories, sometimes being a child in the castle, his mother teaching him how to dress neatly and how to comb his hair, his father closing an approving hand on his shoulder when he succeeded in cooking something delicious for the first time. The man had a great appreciation for finery and food was no exception. If something was worth learning, it was worth learning how to do it well, he had said many times. Sometimes Adrian would see himself battling his father again. His sorrow and pain and hopelessness hung over him; his blackness was swallowing him without Lisa to temper it. It had been hard to see such brilliant creature be reduced to a shadow of his former self, and he still wondered if all of this – the war on humanity – was just an elaborate plan to get Adrian to kill him so he could take his place in the castle. He suspected it was, because the heart had gone from Dracula. Adrian knew that better than anyone; he was the only person alive who knew that there had been a heart there to begin with.

His visions and memories eventually settled over Trevor and Sypha, his friends, his comrades. His companions. Sypha had believed in him before she even knew he was real. She had thought him some God-like saviour and had nearly given her life attempting to find him and waken him. She had an infections smile, and she never backed down from a challenge. She had proven herself over and over, and she had touched him in a way that made him realize that there was so much more to her. He had only started to scratch the surface of Sypha. He saw she and Trevor together once more, like they had been that morning before they left the inn. She had been stretched over that little desk begging Trevor to fuck her harder, deeper, faster. She had wanted his violence, he had choked her and it had made her come. Adrian didn't even know what made a person want something like that. He wished he had more time with them – time to understand, to discover. He wanted to know her body, he wanted to smell her and taste between her legs, to enter her and give her pleasure like Trevor had. Trevor… Adrian's heart clenched as he thought on the man, the same image of that morning flying past his eyes as though he was really there. He could hear the desk hitting the wall, he could see the clenched teeth and the muscles in his back moving as his body worked. He was both savage and attentive to her, taking his pleasure in her by force, which she seemed to both want and enjoy immensely. He'd bitten her, just like he'd bitten Adrian when they had fooled around by the lake. Not a real bite, not like a vampire, but for pleasure – something Adrian didn't fully understand yet but wished he could. Trevor was as strong as he was sad, he was deeply angry for what the church had done to his family, and he had survived on his own for years simply by his own sheer determination. Trevor never lost a fight. He never passed up a drink. He had told Adrian he was pretty…

The tears leaking from his eyes eventually dried up, and when he cried nothing more came out.

His mind drifted, confusion and hunger winning out over the hallucinations of times past. He truly had no idea how long it had been now. Weeks? A month? A year? He was no longer able to get up, nor to shift himself into a more comfortable position. His heart had slowed, beating only infrequently, and he thought he could feel his veins collapsing on themselves, the capillaries that fed his extremities drying up, his skin now sinking and pulling so tight that he thought it had torn away in some places. He couldn't easily open his eyes anymore. They were sunken, his beautiful body was long since an unrecognizable horror. He remembered very clearly the many desiccated and suffering prisoners in the castle dungeon; the young ones had not lasted very long before they dried up. Adrian was very young in vampire terms.

He was still aware, however. Barely, and only in patches, but he was still able to feel his enormous, monstrous hunger as though it were the very thing that kept him alive, and he was able to drift in his thoughts. Trevor and Sypha were not coming back. They had gone, and they had not returned. He initially believed that they wanted to come back, but in his isolation he began to imagine that they didn't, that they had discovered that it was easier without him. Maybe they had never wanted to share with him in the first place, maybe they had regretted it, or had been unhappy with him. His rational mind knew that made no sense and was not true, but the self-pity became easier as he got weaker, and it became harder to remember which things were facts and which were his own musings.

It was easier to imagine that they had chosen to leave than the more likely scenario, that one or both of them had been killed and the reason they never came back was that they couldn't. That they were dead, rotting away like he was, except actually dead. Even in his present state Adrian could feel the fear and sorrow that came with those thoughts. It tore at him, the guilt that they had gone out to get things to help him, they had been put in danger because of him. He could not protect them, and they were dead because he had needed their help. Stupid Belmont Hold. Stupid night creatures. Stupid cage that he would never escape. Stupid hunger.

Eventually everything just came back to hunger. It got to the point that he began to think and dream only of red, of blood. His personal thoughts and feelings started to fade and an all-encompassing thirst was all that was left. Everything became blood. Killing, tearing into living flesh, ripping out hearts. The violence of these fantastical hallucinations intensified until he forgot everything else and spent every moment trapped in an endless and repeating obsession with his appetite. He lost himself in it, and it was almost a relief after spending so long alone and miserable and hurting. He fought it at first, but what was the point? He was never getting out of here, so it didn't seem to matter if he let the fantasies of killing overtake his more rational thoughts. It was a coping mechanism. It was the only way he could continue to exist. His humanity was pushed further and further into a diminutive space at the back of his mind, kept safe and cushioned from further damage by the ravenous demon that turned all the rest of this thoughts to feeding.

In reality, it had been fourteen days. Adrian's body had desiccated at a vastly accelerated pace because of the poison and the injuries that it could not heal. The poison was injuring him over and over, and the wasting which would have taken several months or longer without this effect had occurred very rapidly.

Finally something happened. There was a scraping noise as the stone far above moved aside and the change in the air current brought the scent of outside air rushing in along with the smell of animals and blood. The scent of Trevor and Sypha was there too, rushing down into the Hold where Adrian lay.

He had been drifting, sleeping, when his body became aware of the disturbance. Unconsciously he snarled, his claws twitching. He heard a huge noise, voices, a cacophony coming down the stairs, animal screams. He thought he was dreaming, as he had dreamed so many times of them returning, and fantasized that he was drinking, filling himself. But he was not imagining the smashing din that came down the stairs and he was jerked from his restful state when the door to the Hold slammed open on its hinges and the dim light from beyond blinded him against seeing what was in the doorway.

"Adrian!" came both voices together, Sypha's and Trevor's. Behind them was a commotion, but he could not rise to see what it was. He remained still, his ability to move having deserted him a few days past. He squinted into the light, not sure if this was really happening or not.

"Adrian?" That was Sypha, her voice filled with worry. "Adrian can you hear me?"

He could hear her voice, but his rationality was locked away in a tiny corner of his mind. Thirst ruled him now. The same monstrous thing that had kept him alive throughout this entire ordeal had taken charge of his body. He hissed, trying to make some kind of words, but not having much success. The smell of blood was overwhelming, it was making his mouth tingle, it was pulling him from his still, unmoving state, making his body twitch. Visions of rending flesh and soaking himself in blood clouded over any intelligent thoughts he might have had.

Behind Sypha, on the other side of the door there was a deep snarling, and then Trevor's voice shouting some kind of insult, and then a bunch of crashing noises.

"Adrian I don't know if you can hear me or not. I'm sorry we were gone for so long, but I have some very good news. I found a way to lift the spell on the cage, and we also made the antidote for the poison. We brought you food. I… Trevor warned me that you might be like this, but also that I should be careful going in the cage before you get something to eat, so we brought more than one thing. Can you hear me?"

He had been listening to her words but he was having trouble with the meaning when the blood smell and the sounds of heartbeats were so overwhelming. He tried to formulate a response which he was fairly certain came out as a feral growl. Understanding her was not going especially well.

"Sypha don't you dare go in that cage just yet. Remember what I told you!" Trevor's voice was far away, still on the other side of the door with the cacophony of animal noises and smashing sounds behind him.

Adrian's eyes were open now, a deep and luminous red glowing in the dark of the Hold. There was a blinding flash and Sypha illuminated several of the lanterns, washing everything in firelight. He hissed again, cringing at the brightness and feeling confused as to what was happening. His body curled in on itself, a skeletal wraith in the middle of the cage. Sypha gasped.

"Oh Adrian, oh I'm so sorry, we tried to get back sooner… here," and then something alive and warm was being pressed through the bars beside his head. He heard a tiny heart fluttering madly and his body reacted completely beyond his conscious control. His claws seized the small furred thing and he savagely tore its head completely off, forcing the open and bleeding neck hole into his mouth, animal noises coming from him as he devoured it, breaking its tiny bones against his mouth, finishing whatever it had been in seconds. It was enough to renew his mobility. He flew at the bars, snarling, snapping his teeth. There was more, he could hear the little hearts beating in terror, small animals of some kind, appetizers. The spell activated when he touched the bars, weakening him, making him fall back to the floor. Heedless of it he lunged again, claws sinking into the next small thing that was pushed through and repeating the same process. He tore its chest open, eating its heart whole and burying his face in the small body, devouring what he could. When there as no more to be taken from it he threw that aside as well and then he paused, a sense of awareness coming back to him as the blood immediately began to restore the most basic functions, his heartbeat speeding up, his body regaining movement and strength. He blinked several times, trying to process the overwhelming rush of warmth that flooded him from the two little rabbits he'd been given. He was so hungry, he needed more, he couldn't think straight. His body screamed, some terrible thing inside him wakening for the first time in his existence. He wanted to kill something more than he had ever wanted anything and there were more heartbeats nearby. He crouched, baring his bloodied teeth and squinting in the light.

Beyond the doorway there was another series of crashing noises and then it grew quiet and Trevor came into the Hold, panting, covered in bloody scratches and soaked in sweat. He immediately went to the side of the cage and pushed Sypha back, out of reach even though it was safe because of the spell. "Be careful, Syph, I don't want you to get hurt."

"Its alright Trev, he just needs more. You were right to bring these little ones to start. He's like an animal… I don't think he even knows its us."

Adrian heard her voice, he blinked in confusion, listening to the sound of Sypha speaking to him intently, but still mostly just hearing the little animals.

"Give him the goat, push it through the bigger hole. I think that might bring him back."

There was a bleating noise, and a white creature was forced into the cage through the hole. Adrian jumped on it and sank his fangs into its throat immediately. This was a larger animal, its heartbeat was louder, the drumming taking almost a minute to finally slow and give out as he pulled blood from its body in greedy gulps. He tore it open, ripping meat and organs brutally from its freshly slain carcass and devouring them whole. He was panting, he was flushed, he felt alive for the first time in weeks. He could think again, his body was regenerating. He saw his skin begin to fill out, to firm up, he felt his strength returning, and with it rational thought. When he had taken what he could he slid to the floor, his eyes falling closed for a moment as the rush of sustenance flowed through his body and immediately began to regenerate him. His wounds started to heal and he licked his lips, eyes flickering open finally to see his two friends standing several paces back from the cage watching him. Trevor looked unsurprised. His expression was calculating, assessing. Sypha looked like she was going to puke. He stared at them for a long moment and finally he was able to stand up, still a little dizzy, and look at them through the bars.

"You-you came back," he said slowly in amazement, tears pricking at he corners of his eyes, emotion overwhelming him. It was difficult to speak, the words hard to formulate. "You're alive… you didn't abandon m-me..." he hiccuped and began to cry, all the fear and sadness and misery he'd experienced in the last several weeks rushing back, the endless hours locked in darkness wondering if they were ever going to return, if they were dead, if they just didn't care. He wiped his eyes, smearing blood everywhere, his body shaking as his sobs grew louder and more intense. Trevor and Sypha took a few steps closer, but they didn't reach into the cage.

"Adrian," Trevor said quietly, "I'm sorry, I knew it would be bad when we got back, that you would have suffered here. I knew what you would think, but there was nothing we could have done to get here faster. We'll tell you about it, but first lets deal with this cage. I brought you a big animal, like you asked. Its in the hall."

Adrian's shoulders shook, he sniffled. He was so fucking hungry still, he was barely hanging on to his composure, but he was so relieved to see them that it took precedence for the moment. He wasn't going to spend centuries locked in the dark. They had come back.

Sypha took another step closer, reaching a hand through the bars. Trevor stopped her, pulling her hand back quickly. "Just wait Syph. Just give him another second before you lose your hand," he stepped closer, keeping Sypha behind him. He had something in his hand, the other ready to draw a dagger, just in case. "Adrian, we have the antidote to the poison. You have to drink it. Are you… are you good if I stick my hand in?"

Adrian stared at him for a second, his eyes still red, but they weren't glowing anymore, He took a breath, very much aware of their hearts drumming and the larger one beyond the door. He was doing a little better now. He knew himself, he could actually speak and maintain a train of thought that wasn't about killing something. He could resist ripping off Trevor's hand if he stuck it in the cage now. "Yes," he said when he was sure.

Trevor put his arm through the bars, a small glass vial in his hand. Adrian took it, smelling it and wrinkling his nose. His fingers left bloody smears on the glass. He looked back to Trevor. "It stinks."

"Just drink it, you have no idea what we went through to get that." Trevor said with fond exasperation. He was smiling now, pointedly ignoring the gory scene in the cage.

Adrian pulled the cork stopper from the vial and snorted at the disgusting scent, but he tipped the little thing into his mouth and swallowed the entire contents.

At first it just tasted terrible and he didn't think anything was going to happen. Then a pleasant coldness began to spread out from his stomach, washing through him, cooling the burning that had been incessant for weeks. He slumped, sighing in relief as he was finally free of the horrible relentless fire in his veins. He felt his wounds immediately begin to heal faster, and even his hair was starting to grow back in, his scalp itching as it did. He let the vial fall to the floor, looking at his friends. The burning stopped. It worked. It feels better."

Sypha nodded. "Good. I want to open the cage now, are you ready?"

He wanted to say yes right away but he paused, thinking carefully on whether he was actually alright. The savagery and intensity of his thirst in the last few minutes had been far greater than he had known possible and it had most certainly been beyond his control. He hadn't been able to think properly through it. He still felt it, not very far beneath the surface – the desire to rip something apart – but it was not in complete control now. He was not an animal and he was not going to hurt Trevor or Sypha. He swallowed, thinking about whatever lay beyond the door, knowing he would need to find out quickly.

"More than ready Sypha. Please get me out of here," he said when he was certain.

Trevor didn't stop her now, he could see that Adrian had some control again. Beyond the door to the entry hall there was growling, and the noises of something heavy lurching around "Shit, I think it woke up again. Fuck you had better appreciate that thing."

Sypha began chanting and as she did the bars of the cage glowed blue, brighter, brighter until the light was impossible to look at, then all at once the light simply cut off and stopped and Sypha lowered her hands, the magic dissipating.

"There. Its done, you can come out now."

He almost didn't believe it. He had spent so long in his prison he found it hard to imagine that a simple bit of chanting and light could render the spell inactive. That spell and the cage had broken him down, crushed him into nothing over the past two weeks. He had become something he had never known was within his capacity, he had sunk to the depraved level of an animal within these bars. He had lost all his dignity, his ability to take care of himself, his strength and his magic. He had essentially lost his mind. He had been reduced to nothing in this cage, and he still reeled from the effects. He expected it would take him a long time to feel whole again after having so much stripped away by helplessness and starvation. He had not believed that he could be what it had made him, but the impenetrable walls had forced him to face the most horrible parts of himself in a stark and unforgiving light. He took a tentative step towards the opening in the bars, not really believing that he would be able to pass through them. He noticed that the engraved writing of the spell was no longer there, and that renewed his confidence. He stuck his hand out, still expecting the spell to drop him to his knees.

Nothing happened. He didn't weaken, he didn't sag to the floor. He was free. It was real.

He immediately raced from the cage, not taking a chance that it was too good to be true. He reappeared on the other side of the bars, staring at the hateful box in disbelief. He didn't quite know what to do with himself now. He was still feeling very dangerous, still not free of the ravenous hunger. His reddened eyes flit from the cage to Trevor and Sypha, their heartbeats filling his ears, his mouth watering. No. No he knew better than that. They were his friends. Trevor pushed Sypha behind him, his hand hovering over the hilt of his sword.

"Adrian. Don't get all murder-y on us. I'd really prefer not to have to fight you right now," Trevor spoke clearly and slowly, pinning him with an unwavering icy stare.

He blinked, remembering himself again. "S-sorry," he whispered, sniffing, picking up on the animal scent from the other side of the door. He didn't wait. He disappeared from in front of Trevor and Sypha at vampire speed, pushing open the door and slamming it shut behind him to find out what they had brought. He did not notice Trevor cracking the door and peering through, unable to help his curiosity.

He was not disappointed. There was a gigantic tawny coloured bear pacing around the lower landing, the stones rattling beneath its paws. It had blood on its muzzle, on the fur of its hindquarters. It was wounded, but still in mostly peak condition. When it saw Adrian materialize out of seemingly nowhere it roared, an enraged, pained, frightened noise. It had no idea what was happening, why it had been injured and dragged here. It was a majestic, incredible creature and it did not deserve to die. But something was going to have to die and better this than the two humans on the other side of the doorway.

Adrian wasted no time. He bared his fangs, claws extended and rounded on the creature, pinning it bodily to the wall so hard the bricks sunk in around it. The animal raged, roaring and thrashing against him. He was not able to bite through the thick loose skin of its throat. He had to slash it open with his claws, extending them as long as possible to manage. He had hunted large predators before, but never a bear. He was not prepared for the immense strength, and he was still recovering his own. He sank his face against the slash he had made, trying to find the vein buried deep beneath the skin. It was not an easy thing. How had Trevor managed to bring this thing here? Surely it could have killed him numerous times. The animal's huge paw struck at him, its claws raking along his body, slicing through his still healing flesh and throwing him free. He tumbled to the floor, surprised that it had thrown him so easily. He redoubled his efforts, delivering two swift blows to the large head, hoping to knock it out. bear roared again and stumbled, slumping against the wall. It panted, growling as he approached.

He closed in on the animal when it stayed still for a few seconds, confident that it would not be able to strike him again. The claws had sunk deep, but he hardly felt the long gashes after everything else he had endured recently, and his body was singing with the pleasure of his returning strength and power now that he was free and the poison had been cleared away. He made good use of his speed, darting in again to the animal's throat and slashing, hoping to deepen the initial wound. This time he managed to get through the incredibly thick defenses, and a river of red ran immediately over the light brown fur. He didn't waste any time, throwing himself bodily into the bear again and slamming its head into the wall for good measure. This time it stilled, and didn't move beneath him as he found the artery and closed his mouth over the hot spray. Torrents of blood burst into his mouth almost faster than he could swallow them, he was covered quickly, the smell of the animal's fur and musk all around him as he finally satisfied the ripping hunger inside him.

He closed his eyes as the massive heart slowed, and he slowed as well, allowing the heart to push the blood into his mouth, not pulling, not wanting to kill it before he had as much as he could get. He was aware of the seemingly impossible way that his body could consume more than its own volume in blood and still thirst, but that was simply part of what he was. As the heart slowed and eventually stopped Adrian paused his feast to breathe, panting over the animal for several seconds, considering if it was enough. It was. For the moment he was fully sated. He rolled off of the bear and laid his head against the bricks as he felt his body regenerate at an incredible rate. His hair grew back, long, blonde, silky as it had always been. His face returned to its normal shape, his skin was no longer stretched over him so tightly, and it returned to its pale and almost luminous state, the translucency disappearing. He felt his strength redoubled, his musculature filling back out, the horrible wounds from which he had suffered for so long finally closing over, though he would be left with numerous scars. He didn't think of that for the time being. He trembled at the sensation of all of his normal functions resuming as they should, and the dangerous, predatory quality of his thoughts eased, freeing him of the desire to kill and feed which had been so powerful minutes ago. He panted, his eyes closed, the warmth of the bear beside him, blood covering every inch of him. He almost fell asleep, his stomach was so full and warm, he felt so good, so alive. It was a lot all at once. He had tears in his eyes from the sheer overwhelming relief that the horror was finally over. He was free. He was ok. He was out of that fucking horrible cage.

He stiffened, thinking of one more thing he wanted to do before anything else. Strength coursed through him, he nearly trembled with it. He rose, floating, enjoying the feel of his power back under his control. He pushed back through the door, barely noticing Trevor jump out of his way. He glared at the cage. Sypha was staring at him in shock and fear, but he ignored her as well. He grabbed the thick, heavy structure by one of the bars and yanked it out of place. It was easy to manipulate now that he had his strength back. It broke through the door, smashing the wall on either side in a crash of rubble and dust. He flew with the horrible thing in hand up the central column of the rounded room, dragging the cage up, easily breaking through anything that got in the way. The thing just barely fit through the opening at the top of the Hold – they were nearly the same size. He yanked it free, flying high into the sky with the horrible offending thing in tow and hurled it with all of his might. It went sailing off into the forest, coming to rest almost a mile away with a distant crash. A flock of startled birds erupted from the nearby trees.

Satisfied, Adrian slowly returned to the earth, floating back down through the opening and into the pleasant darkness. He touched down beside the bear, glancing at it thankfully. There was still a huge amount of meat on the animal, as well as fat which could be rendered and put to use, and the huge thick pelt. It would not go to waste if possible, but right now he was content to leave it be. He allowed himself to relax fully, his feet settling on the ground. He took a breath and walked back into the now larger doorway to the main body of the Hold.

Trevor and Sypha were both standing off to the side, frozen in surprise and shock at everything which had just transpired. They eyed him nervously, neither of them daring to approach just yet. Even Trevor seemed to have momentarily forgotten his bravery and his protectiveness. He was just gaping at Adrian, evidently speechless.

He considered them briefly and walked silently past. He wasn't ready for talking yet. He was filthy. He knew there was no denying or hiding any of what had just transpired. He had never expected to be in a position like this in his lifetime – he was still reeling from the terrifying experience and the way his condition had caused him to think and behave. He hadn't yet come up with a way to handle the inevitable discussion that was going to transpire, but at the very least he would begin by cleaning himself. He could smell the water deeper in the Hold. Sypha had said there was a well. He floated down the many floors to it, pulling off his bloodied shredded shirt. He began drawing buckets of water and dumping them over himself to clear away the worst of the blood. After a few buckets he was cleaner, and he ran his fingers along his skin, through his hair – oh his hair, he was so happy that it had grown back – and scrubbed his face with his hands. He heard his friend's footsteps coming down the last of the stairs just as he was clean enough for his own satisfaction. He wanted to hide from them, to bolt, but he needed to face them. He couldn't be a coward after everything they had been forced to do on his behalf.

Trevor and Sypha came off the bottom of the stairs and approached Adrian with some caution. He didn't blame them – he knew he had been a sight. He met their blue stares with his own gold one, taking a step towards them.

"A-Adrian?" Sypha ventured uncertainly. "Are you… are you ok now?" he didn't like the look in her eye – it reminded him of someone trying to determine whether a dog they'd encountered would bite.

He nodded, but couldn't hold her gaze. He looked at his feet. Could she tell that he was scared too? Disturbed by himself, by the ferocity of his own nature? He was reeling still from everything that had transpired, just as they were. He had no idea where they had gone, why it had taken so long for them to come back. He knew whatever they'd had to do had been a challenge, but he had suffered that entire time alone in the dark, starved and tortured by horrible agonizing pain. He had endured more than any human alive could physically tolerate many times over and he was deeply frightened by what it had done to him. He felt his shoulders beginning to shake, and before he knew it he was sinking to his knees and crying again, much harder than before. His body shook with the force of the sobs. It was too much. Everything had been so awful, he had been alone in that fucking prison for weeks, and he had truly believed that it would go on for centuries. He was crying so hard he couldn't speak, couldn't breathe.

He was draped in something warm and soft, which smelled strong and familiar. The fur cloak. Trevor knelt beside him, covering him gingerly with it. He shuddered harder at the tenderness of the gesture after all that had just transpired. It was despicable that they would be comforting him after it all, and yet he was so fragile that he couldn't refuse being wrapped in it. Trevor put a hand on his shoulder, rubbing his back gently. He expected him to say something, but he seemed to know that words wouldn't help at the moment. On his other side Sypha came and knelt as well, her hand on his other shoulder, smoothing over him reassuringly. The absurdity of the whole thing was not lost on him, but he still needed them. He needed to touch them, he needed them near. He couldn't stop crying. Eventually Trevor sat on the floor and pulled Adrian against him, and Sypha put her arms around his middle. They both held him tightly while he cried until he had no more tears and his sobs tapered off into the occasional hiccup. He still didn't move, needing their warmth and their closeness.

Eventually Trevor's arms loosened a bit. "There's a few cots in the back of the lab. Its not much, but its better than sitting here on the stones, come on."

Adrian shrank in on himself, still not willing to face them. Before he knew what was happening Trevor scooped him up and carried him through some rooms until they came to a small, long forgotten space with some very basic cots. Sypha pushed two of them together. They were dusty, but she spread a blanket over them and Trevor laid Adrian down on the soft surface. He climbed in beside him.

"I'm going to close the door, I'll be right back," Sypha said, and she gave them a few minutes. Maybe she wasn't ready to be beside him just yet, or maybe it was only that the door needed to be closed to maintain their secure position in the Hold. He didn't know. It didn't matter. He wasn't ready to uncurl from his protective little ball of denial yet. He was amazed enough that they were back at all, and that they had seen him like that and were still treating him like a person. He knew he was going to have to face them eventually, but as long as nothing forced him he wasn't going to move. Trevor stayed beside him, arms wrapped around him, one hand stroking his hair. He didn't say a word. He could have fallen asleep, listening to the steady and reassuring drum of the hunter's heart against him, but he would not let himself. He was still much too wrapped up in self-loathing to succumb to such a comfort.

Sypha came back after awhile, a few more blankets under her arm. She opened one of them over Adrian and Trevor, then came around to the other side of the little bed they had made and sat on the edge if it.

Adrian finally worked up the courage to relax marginally. He opened his eyes and looked at Sypha. She put a hand on his arm, squeezing gently.

"It'll be alright," she said quietly.

He shivered and fought the urge to curl back up. He could see the mix of things behind her eyes, the lingering uncertainty. She wanted to comfort him, but she had seen him in a terrible state and it wasn't something that could be easily forgotten. If she had tried to enter that cage before he'd regained control over himself he would surely have ripped her apart before she could so much as summon a fireball in defense. So much for being any different than the full vampires he had thought himself superior to. He gently moved his arm out of her grasp, glancing away. Trevor's body against him was warm and firm, but he tried to pull out of his hold too, wrapping the fur more closely around himself and resuming his tightly coiled ball of misery. Trevor let him go, but he didn't stop gently running his fingers though his hair.

"Want us to leave you here to rest for a bit?" Trevor asked him in a quiet voice.

He shook his head, suddenly terrified at the prospect of being alone again. He snaked a hand out from his little ball and clutched Trevor's arm so he wouldn't leave.

"Ow," Trevor tried to pull his arm free. Adrian held it tighter, wrestling with his irrational panic. They couldn't leave him alone right now. He couldn't take it. "Hey relax, human arm here, not crush proof."

That did the trick and he let go immediately, peering out at Trevor. He saw him rubbing his arm gingerly. There were white finger shaped marks on it where he'd grabbed him. He would probably end up with a nasty bruise.

"Shit you're strong."

"Sorry," Adrian whispered, tucking his face against the bedding. It smelled old, dusty. He thought he was going to cry again. He needed to pull himself out of this pitiful spiral, it wasn't fair to Sypha and Trevor, but he felt broken. He couldn't stop playing it all out, the endless days laying alone in the dark wondering if he would ever see another person again, and then the horrible experience when they finally came back. He saw it over and over: Sypha coming in to the room and talking to him and his animal reaction. He hadn't even been able to understand her words. All he had seen was prey, all he had thought was about killing, and the tiny part of his rational mind that had been struggling for control had been completely overtaken by the monster. It was easier to imagine it as two parts of a whole – a good and evil side, a demon within that had taken him over – but he didn't know if that was right. Maybe there were no two parts. There was only one Adrian Tepes and that horror had been him the whole time, dormant, sleeping until it was unlocked by extreme circumstances. Could it happen again? He tried to picture that. He didn't think it would – he didn't feel anything like that now, nor had he ever before – but now he knew it was possible.

"Adrian we are so sorry that we took so long to come back. We never meant to leave you like that," Sypha began before he could lose himself in his thoughts. She scooted a little closer, so her warmth was on his side. He had the fur cloak pulled so tight around him it was almost covering his head, the white hairs tickling his cheeks. The scent was so comforting, so reassuring. He could smell Trevor on it, and Sypha as well though more faintly, and he could smell Trevor's blood and the bear's, and a variety of other odours that had been picked up in the past weeks. He was warm between them, the comforting rhythm of their breathing reassuring him that they were actually there, that this wasn't just his imagination. He was growing curious about the circumstances that had taken them away for so long and more than anything he wanted to know how Trevor had managed to catch a damned bear. That was most impressive (if not completely idiotic). When he had asked for a large animal he had imagined a deer or perhaps two of them, or a farm animal or something. Not a fucking bear. His friends had obviously taken his needs very seriously and had done everything in their power to help him, including somehow finding the ingredients for the potion and making it as well as discovering how to unlock the cage without having access to the resources of the Hold itself. That was an amazing feat. No wonder they had taken so much time. He needed to acknowledge all of that.

Adrian took a deep breath, inhaling all the comforting scents around him and resolving that he had spent long enough being afraid and sad and that it was time to be an adult and talk to Trevor and Sypha. He consciously relaxed his hunched shoulders, stretching his legs and forcibly uncurling his body. He sat up, resting his back against the wall behind the cots. Sypha gave him a small hopeful smile.

"I think I'm alright," he said experimentally. Whether he was saying it to her or to himself he wasn't entirely sure, but it was a start. They both looked at him.

"You saved me. I'm very grateful," he said almost reverently, extending one hand to each of them. He laid his right palm in Sypha's lap and his left over Trevor's arm, stroking the now reddened area that he had accidentally grabbed too hard in his panic. He would have to be careful, his body was a little off balance after being weakened for so long and he hadn't realized he was clenching onto the hunter so hard. He felt terrible about it, but at least he hadn't broken anything. He took a moment to really study them both now that he wasn't using all of his concentration to stave off the abject panic that had been tearing at him. They were thinner, like they hadn't eaten well in weeks. Sypha had a bad sunburn – her freckles were blazing over her cheeks – she smelled strongly of sweat and her robe was dirty, mud staining the bottom. There was a tear in her skirt. They both had bags under their eyes, their hair was greasy and had twigs and leaves tangled in it here and there. Trevor was banged up, he had scratches all over his arms and his favourite shirt was stained with sweat and blood, and torn in a few places. His cheeks had darkened to a deeper tan, indicating that he had spent a lot of time in the hot sun as well. His nose and the tops of his ears were red and peeling. His lip was split and scabbed over, still oozing sluggishly.

They both looked terrible and exhausted.

"What happened to you guys?" he asked, looking between them.

Trevor gave him a tired grin. "Well, we have been living in the woods for the better part of two weeks. And you may have noticed the fucking bear."

"I did."

"Well believe it or not that was not the easiest animal to persuade to follow us home."

"I don't imagine it was," Adrian said with a small smile.

He could see that Trevor was weary, he was fighting exhaustion. It felt so good to talk to them; he needed the familiar banter, the undertone of humour. He closed his eyes and pulled Trevor into a hug, careful not to crush him too hard. Indeed he felt thinner, leaner, but he was alive. He was real. He paused in his hug to wrap an arm around Sypha and drag her into his lap and into a tight three way embrace. They both felt so delicate in his arms he had to wonder if he was correctly judging his own strength. He snuggled his head against them until they both began to squirm to be let free. He didn't let them go right away, he needed them close. He needed to believe it was real and no matter how many times he had already reminded himself it still felt like they would slip away and disappear if he let them go. Finally he felt Sypha tug on his hair.

"Can't. Breathe." She wheezed and he loosened his arms, letting them free. They both sucked in a few deep breaths. Sypha was now sitting between Adrian's stretched legs, her back to his chest. He kissed her hair and ran his fingertips along her shoulder, reveling in her scent. He still had his arm around Trevor's back. His hand carded through his hair absently.

"You both stink," he said affectionately after another few minutes of enjoying them. Neither of them seemed to care; they looked like they were falling asleep against him. That sounded very nice. He wasn't tired, but holding them while they napped a bit seemed like a very good plan right now. It would give him some time to sort his mind out and to simply appreciate their closeness. Trevor's eyes were drooping beside him, and Sypha had picked up his free hand and was playing with his long fingers over her stomach, but he could hear her breathing slowing. "You both look exhausted, why don't you rest a bit. This is nice, lets just stay like this for awhile."

As if his words had released them of their obligation to wakefulness Adrian felt them both soften against him. Trevor's head dipped forward. He adjusted his arm on the man's shoulder, pulling the hunter against him so their heads were together. He was already asleep, and allowed himself to be pulled into the more comfortable position with only a small murmur. Sypha had gone slack in his lap, her body limp on his chest. She was still holding his hand.

Although he had already cried more today than most other days in his life, Adrian couldn't help a few more tears slipping down his cheeks. He was so grateful, so amazed at them. He was so incredibly happy with them both in his arms. He was done being the victim. He didn't need to be scared or weak or hungry anymore. Most importantly he didn't need to be alone. He was with the two people who meant more to him than anyone else. He would protect them fiercely, with his life if need be just as they had done for him. As the minutes ticked by and he nuzzled them and kissed them he realized for the first time that he thought of them as more than just allies or comrades in arms. They weren't only companions. They were his, and he wanted to be theirs. He realized that he was falling in love with both of them.

He didn't sleep, but he stayed in the little cot for a long time simply soaking up their heat and their scent and thinking about his revelation. He didn't let go of them the whole time.

~o~O~o~

A/N:He is finally out of the cage and healed! Yay! Please consider leaving a comment, I would love to have your feedback. Thanks for looking.