Some Ideas and Characters Borrowed. Storeyline is Mine - DON'T COPY!

Chapter Five – Waking Up

Voices… I could hear voices… but I couldn't tell what they were saying. I was also so cold; freezing cold… Distantly I remember thinking that this wasn't right. I never got cold, not even a chill - I control fire for gods sake! Then I fell back into blackness, where I dreamed of horrible things; things so horrible, that I hoped were too horrific to be true. As I endured those nightmares, one word stuck in my head - 'Lycan'. What was that?

I had no sense of time whatsoever, so this fitful slumber seemed to continue forever, until I woke up screaming. My head felt like it would explode and my limbs ached so much that I thought that they were being ripped from my body. I was vaguely aware of someone applying a cold compress to my forehead and holding me down - maybe to ensure that I wouldn't hurt myself.

Whoever it was kept saying soothing things like "everything will be ok", or at least that was what I thought they said. They gave me something bitter, almost metallic, to drink and I soon drifted off again. Luckily, no dreams - bad or good - plagued my mind.

Some time later, I woke and I found that I could shift my head without it issuing screaming protests. I just sat there looking at the ceiling, trying to figure out if what happened had been a dream or reality. It took all of my courage to look down at my left shoulder and what I saw brought a whimper to my mouth and tears streaming from my eyes.

There were fresh bandages wrapped around my shoulder and I caught the faint scent of blood in the air.

I spent the next hour or two curled up in a foetal position until no more tears would come to my eyes. I felt numb and I fell into a dreamless sleep.

I hovered on the border between consciousness and unconsciousness, sleeping to waking until one time I awoke I decided I would try to stay alert and see if there were any possible routes of escape.

It seemed to take forever for me to raise my head and sit up to lean against the headboard, but even that simple act seemed to use up all of my energy. I was extremely weak and that scared me beyond comprehension, as I always had plenty of energy to spare and was always trying to find ways to free myself of it. Another whimper threatened to escape my mouth but I stopped it before it had a chance. I do not whimper.

I looked around and gathered that I was in some sort of room, maybe three or floors up in the mansion. More like a prison. Looks like I finally got to see that attic. Oh joy. I estimated this by glancing out of the window, where I could see that the foliage of the trees outside was quite dense. Miraculously there were no bars on the window, so getting out should be easy enough and landing from a jump this height was no problem for me.

The only problem was the huge black man sitting in the chair next top the window, who was staring intently in my direction. Just what I needed. Damn.

"How are you feeling?" he enquired. I just glared at him and did my best to ignore him as he found other ways to phrase the question, switching between Japanese and English.

Each time he asked, I glared at him and turned away so I think he eventually got the message that I wasn't going to willingly talk to him any time soon. He shut up and went into a sort of bodyguard mode. I say guard because that is what I think he was - a guard, guarding me. He sat in the chair with his hands on the arms, palms up, giving off the universal signal of being unarmed; but also being able to move quickly to defend himself if the need arose. He was treating me like a dangerous person. Good - I was.

For an hour or so, we sat there in silence until my stomach betrayed me and grumbled for food. Damn that stomach.

"You hungry?" he asked. I was getting bored of the glare and ignore routine so I decided to reply – in a fashion.

I looked at him - still glaring - and nodded my head.

"Still not going to talk are we?"

I glared at him and shook my head, which to my surprise he laughed at. Didn't even bother to disguise it with a cough or anything. That made me glare harder which in return made him laugh more. I don't like being laughed at when I am not trying to be funny so I glared at him one last time and turned away to face the wall. He got the message and shut up.

My stomach started to grumble relentlessly so after a few minutes of squirming around, trying to make it shut up, I gave up. I let out an exasperated sigh and sarcastically declared 'Can I have some food. Happy now?'

Amazingly, the sarcasm got across. He smiled and asked 'Fine. Would you like anything special?' which made me glare some more and that made him laugh again. 'Got all the talk out of you, for now, have I?' he asked, to which I grinned roguishly. He left the room chuckling to himself - hopefully to get food.

Around ten minutes later, he returned with a tray and a plate of what looked and smelled like raw meat. Yuck! I stared at it with a perplexed face and then in a very small voice I asked 'Um…is that really what I think it is?'

'Raw meat has lots of iron in it plus, lots of protein and fat to build your energy back up.'

This was said without humour so I paled and asked 'You aren't joking, are you?'

'Sadly not. You can't cook it yourself either. You won't be able to control your power again until after you change, so you need to keep your energy up to stay warm.'

Even though I was trying to figure out how he knew I could control anything, I hadn't missed the word. 'Change?'

'Ear your food first. Lucian will come up later to explain.'

At the mentioning of his name, I actually stopped breathing for a few seconds as I turned to stare wide eyed at my injured shoulder. I didn't know what to expect next, but when the guard placed the tray on the bedside table and crawled next to me on the bed, I was surprised.

He scooped me up in his arms, being careful of my shoulder, placed me in his lap and cradled me in his arms like a child. I was startled for a few seconds but a wave of tears crashed over me. He held me as I cried, muttering soothing words as you would do to a child. That was how I actually felt - like a child - cradled in his arms, as he was so large and I was so small compared to him. I lay there, surrounded by his arms, with him stroking my hair until I relaxed into his warmth. It was a long time since anyone held me like this and that was by my mother, all those years ago, when I was a small child and she was still alive…

After I had been peaceful for a short length of time, he asked me if I wanted to try some of the food, so I just nodded my head against his chest. He didn't even move but suddenly I could see the tray resting on the bed through the corner of my eye.

'How did you do that?' I asked in a stunned voice.

I was rewarded with my earlier grin, but this time from him. 'I am like you, a Furion. Instead of controlling fire like you, I am telekinetic, so I can move things with my mind without having to touch them.'

I eyed him sceptically for a few minutes but then in an excited voice I enquired 'Really?' To answer me he made the plate of meat rise off the tray and float towards us - still wearing my grin!

Just seeing it so close made my stomach groan and surprisingly my mouth water, but I still eyed it suspiciously. I was so not going to eat raw meat; but still, I was so hungry!

'You don't have to eat all of it, but if you want to build your energy up you should try some. You never know, you might even like it.'

'I doubt that' I grumbled, but as I stared hungrily at the food it sort of ruined my protest.

'Look, I'll eat some first, ok?' I thought he was joking but when he actually took a bite, the only thing I could think of saying was 'Gross!'

'It actually tastes quite nice. Try some.'

I continued to eye it sceptically but eventually gave in. I pulled a face, scrunched my eyes closed and took a bite. Surprisingly he was right, it wasn't that bad. I just told myself that I was just so hungry that anything I ate would taste good, as I worked through the whole plate in a few short minutes.

'See, wasn't that bad, was it?' he joked.

'Shut up.' I mumbled through the last mouthful.

He laughed and made the tray and plate float back too the table. Seems like I am quite the comedian today. 'Feeling better?' he asked.

I sighed and languidly replied 'Mmm… I guess so. What's your name?', to which he replied, 'Raze.'

Thanks for reading amd I hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully there will be more soon and it would be great if you could review it. Thankyou to everyone who already has. Tricky.