Beginning 8

She had jumped onto the balcony and in through and open window, the room inside being perfect. It was warm and dark and quiet, the rain didn't reach here and she felt unquestionably safe. Someone had tried to intrude on her space once, during the morning when she was settling down to rest, stomach full for once on some stolen food she had managed to get hold of. She had chased them from her territory and they had not appeared again though she sometimes heard them in the hall outside of her room. Every night she would leap from the balcony, rejoicing in the thrill of the fall, and landing lightly to wander the streets. Finding food was getting harder. She had gone days now with little to eat and the hunt for food was becoming frantic, but she had a place that was hers and warmth. She was better off than many.

Adam picked up the phone as it rang, holding it in the crook of his neck as he treated the young man sat on the chair for the burns on his arm. His friend, the fire elemental, hovered worriedly as Adam continued his treatment.

"Kane." Adam spoke into the handset automatically. He cursed silently, he was going to have to practice not doing that if he wanted to stay undercover long enough to do any good here.

"Adam? It's Lyssa." A molecular, he remembered. She'd been given all the paraphernalia to get her out of the way of Genomex and had got a job in the neighbouring city. As a maid if he remembered rightly. "I think there's someone living in this hotel who needs your help."

"Really? Why do you think that?" He asked, curious.

"Sleeps during the day, glowing eyes, comes in and out through a third floor balcony? Sounds just like Rachel to me." Rachel had been a feline feral who had been around when Lyssa had been at Sanctuary. She had been relocated out of town too, but the two had become friends in the short time they'd known each other.

"I'll come right down. Anything I need to know?"

"She doesn't like visitors. She's in room 33, but don't bother coming after eight. She won't be there."

He drew up outside the hotel in the early morning, the light tinting the horizon and casting a red hue over the surroundings. He had arrived late the previous night, too late to try and meet this woman, and Lyssa had pointed out the window of the room he was supposed to be watching. He watched it now, knowing he was early enough to watch the woman turn up. Assuming Lyssa was right and this was a feral he was in for a fight to get her back to Sanctuary. He saw movement in the front of the hotel and watched as a lanky teenager checked her surroundings and glanced up. She took another glance around and her gaze lingered for a moment on his car, his breath caught - had she seen him? But she turned away and, without a hesitation, threw herself upwards. Catching hold of the first floor balcony, she swung herself up and over and then up to her floor, landing lightly on her balcony and slipping into the shadows of the room.

After her first confrontation with the feral - and Adam had no doubts and longer that that was what she was - Lyssa had told the manager that the room was in too bad a state for guests. It hadn't raised suspicion because all of the rooms in the hotel were pretty crumby and the manager would only do something about it when it got desperate, putting guests in rooms of any quality as long as he got paid. By taking the key Lyssa had made sure that the feral was left alone and as she was the only maid there were no worries about other staff going into the room.

Getting out of the car Adam made his way around to the back entrance of the hotel, knocking quietly and smiling as Lyssa answered.

"Right on time." She smiled. "Is she back?"

"Yes, she's just jumped it. You're right, she is feral. Nothing else could have done that."

"Isn't there anyone with you to help take her back?"

"No, I'm hoping I won't need anyone else." She sighed.

"Guess I'm here to help then."

"Thank you, Lyssa. You know how much I appreciate this."

Lyssa took a key out of her pocket as they approached the room, holding it tight to try and dampen the noise. She opened the door gently and stood aside as Adam stepped in.

The feral was stood in the middle of the room, poised to leap or attack, undecided whether she would run or fight. The man's arms went up in the air and even to her clouded mind she recognised the sign of surrender. She didn't drop her guard, waiting for the man to make the next move. The woman who she had seen before stood just out of site behind the door and that made her edgy. She could have a weapon and that made her hold her guard. The man reached out a hand and she stepped back, watching the hand for a moment. He stopped with his hand out-stretched and she wondered what he meant by it.

Curiosity took control eventually and she took his hand, paying quiet attention to the woman behind the door and careful not to drop her guard. The man stepped backwards and she followed him, still holding his hand. He took another step and she looked up at him. Reaching out with his other hand he touched her neck gently and all she felt was the tiniest of pricks. And the world swirled around her as she fell.

Adam gasped as he finally got a good look at the girl's face. The last photo he had received had been almost two years ago but there was no doubts that it was her, his very own godchild slumped unconscious and completely feral in his arms. When the family had contacted him, telling him what had happened, and then that she had run he hadn't known what to feel. His desperation in her situation had driven him to spend a lot of time searching for her, but looking for a young girl on the streets was like searching for hay in a hay-stack. But now she was here, and by some great chance under his protection again. And he couldn't let her go again.

Adam looked down on the still form in his arms as he carried her to his car. She was so thin that she was barely any weight in his arms. Maybe she could be the one, the one he had been looking for. He had decided that he only needed one to begin training, and a feral had always seemed the most obvious choice, being the easiest to train since only physical training would be needed. Or at least that had always been his reasoning. Looking down on this girl perhaps he had been wrong. There had been little that was human in those eyes as they had watched him, an intruder in her space. Perhaps this would be more difficult than he had expected. He stroked a stray hair back from her forehead as she stirred, marvelling at her ability to metabolise the drug so quickly. Getting back into the car he drove to Sanctuary quickly, not looking forward to the task ahead.