A/N : Long time wasn't it? I'm sorry it was a bit long but i wasn't satisfied with what i wrote, so i re-wrote like a hundred times before getting this chapter. This tells you what happened in the warehouse, as the title reveals it. I wanted this part to be particularly dark, and i hope i succeed.
I feel then that i have to put a warning : that this chapter is rated R, for some events, and language. So be warned. I hope that you'll like it however, or at least that you will feel something as you finish reading.
Author : ontheDL
Warning : Rated R, for language and some events depicted. Be warned.
Again, i don't owe anything, you know the usual blabla!
The parts put in italics are flash backs.
shelsmed - thank you for your review...it's always a pleasure for me to know that i have new readers.
Sky Angel - hey you're back! so you couldn't stop reading, i'm blushing! i hope you'll like this one. And thanks for the reviews.
Nevanroy - Thanks for your comment about Max's feral state. Nice to have a new reader! Hope you'll continue to review me...
New York Hope - Thanks for the review, keep reviewing
Dory Shotgun - I was pleased to read your review (as always). About Max being Alec's 2IC, the fact that she finds herself being feral at the beginning of the story kinda compromise her position. It's not important that she is or not in this part of the story...It might be important later...but not right now...let's just say that there's a link with the past...that why i mentionned it, and used it a bit...About the bullet, yep, it was to kill her...but i couldn't possibly kill one of my heroes, could i?...and the mantikhoras, it's really greek! Promise. Anyhow, i hope you'll like this one...
babs08 - I liked your review...it was a pleasure to read it... I hope you'll continue to read (and review).
lakergirl08 - there you are! I know it's been a long, long time since i sent you a mail. i hope you're okay...and i hope you'll like this chapter...
alecs-dark-angel-452 - I love your story too! I don't know if i said it in my reviews...i hope i did...if i didn't, well i love your story...i know you update but i didn't quite get the time to read the chappies yet, so...anyway, thanks for the review...
Guest type person - You reviewed as usual! Thanks! it really makes my day, you know...i hope you'll like this one and that you didn't wait too long...
btm452 - Thanks for the review!
callie - well i'm glad that your friend recommende you my story...i'm blushing...i lost counts of how many times i blushed today.
Baby22 - I hope i didn't keep on the verge of your sanity. It's not good of me to have put a new cliffhanger...i don't think that this chapter will give you the answers about the senses, but, it'll tell you what happened...i hope you'll like it.
Thank you so much to all of you who took 5 minutes to review! It's really nice of you, and it's encouraging me to write some more...Thank you so much...You're the best...kisses and hugs to all of you! And if i don't update before the holidays (i promise i'll try to), MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you and a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Spend awesome hollidays everyone!
It took her two days to control her senses. She was feeling everything, seeing everything, smelling everything. Her senses were so enhanced most of the time she was so frustrated that she cried until she couldn't shed any tears any more. But a day and a half later, with Sid's help she managed to calm down and focus on her new abilities.
Max wasn't the only one to be frustrated. Mole was really getting angrier because he couldn't smoke around when Max was near; all people working at the head quarters had to take a bath at least twice (which was also a problem cause the water supply was running low).
Everyone was on the verge of sanity (words of one of my reviewers), luckily for them, most of time Max was so depressed that he stayed at home. At least, now, 5 days later she could completely controm them so they didn't have to whisper around her anymore.
« I can't stand it! » she shouted. She put her hands protectively on her ears.
« Sorry. » she said more calmly after a few seconds.
« It's okay. » assured Alec.
« You're the only one left that come and see me. Well it's not really like you come and see me because you live with me. » She flopped on a chair wearily. « I'm a freak. » she said.
« Aw, Max! Weren't you the one who said you were proud to be a freak, huh? »
« They say 'seuls les cons ne changent pas d'avis'. Only fools don't change their minds. » she joked half-heartedly.
« Come here hon. » said Alec opening his arms.
She complied happily.
« I'm a freak. » she repeated snuggling close to her lover.
« But you're a freak that i love. » he said before he could stop himself.
Max's heart skipped a bit. « What did you just say? »
« I...um...well... » he stammered.
« You said you love me. » she said with a huge smile.
« Well, yes...it's...um...possible that i love you. » he said more confidently as he saw her smile.
« Good because i do love you too. »
« Everything will be okay. » he amused as he pulled her more tightly.
« Did Miles found anything? » she inquired.
« He said he'll drop by at 5pm. » answered Alec.
« I took my shower, brush my teeth, now can i come in? » teased Miles as he knocked on Max's door.
« Ha, ha! Really funny Miles. You know i couldn't help it. Now i can control it. Most of the time. » she replied.
« I know. I was teasing. »
« Alec's not here yet. » she informed.
« I know i already saw him. Said i should go and see you first. »
« Ok. Shoot. »
Miles took a seat near the kitchen counter.
« Nate was right when he said there was something unusual with their blood. »
« And what's interesting for us? » Max inquired.
« Well it's the interaction between the three bloods. Ours, the familiars and the seekers. Put out together and independently, we fight. »
« At the blood state? » she asked bewildered.
« Yes. But there's more. Once our blood is unified with the Familiar's blood, we have the upper hand on the Seekers.
« Do you mean that in the bullet, they put their blood in it in order to kill me? »
« That's one way to put it. » he hesitated about the words to use. « You see, it's not really our blood, you know. It's what makes our blood. And the Seekers blood is constantly changing. It's a bit complicated. I don't really understand it myself. Let's just say that this change in their blood is caused by something that they regularly inject themselves in their blood system. I'd say one time per year. »
« That 'something' is the virus that i caught with the bullet. » she concluded.
« Yep! The Seekers are immune to it. »
« But you said that they regularly shoot themselves with it. »
« As i said it to Alec, the virus is really unstable. Let's say i analyse it today, i'll find the antidote after six months, and by that time its own formula would have already changed. And my antidote wouldn't be worth anything. »
« Ok. »
« I guess you could say that you can compare it with the snake thing of the familiars. » commented Miles.
« They are both bunch of lunatics! » agreed Max.
« One more thing. Lydecker was right about your blood. You have a perfect DNA. »
« So. » she cut in. « We all have the best of the best DNA, right? »
« What i mean Max is that you have no junk DNA. » informed Miles.
A silence followed his statement.
« And i thought Ames was kidding... » she commented trailing off.
« I made the same tests with another X5, with junk DNA. And Ria's blood responded the same way you did. »
« Ok. That's good news. » she said.
« Yeah. If i find something new, you'll be the first to know. In the meantime, take care of you Max. I think that you'll need all your strength later. »
« I know. » she sighed.
« I know Alec doesn't want to push you – he stills feels guilty about the tape and Cindy – but...um what happened there Max? At the warehouse? » asked Miles hesitantly.
At that precise moment, Alec and her siblings entered their appartment.
« Honey, i'm home! » he joked, but he stopped immediately when he caught her eyes.
« I guess now that everyone is here... » she murmured.
« What's wrong? » asked Jondy in a concerned voice.
« Miles was asking me what happened in the warehouse. »
Again, a silence filled the room.
« You should sit. » Max finally said. « I might take a long time. »
Everyone sat but her. She paced around the room and remained silent for a long time. Zane was starting to think (he wasn't the only one) to show signs of impatience and think that again, she wouldn't say anything. But after what seemed an eternity, she finally uttered some words.
« He wanted to know where his son was. » she started in a deep voice.
They all guessed easily that she was talking about Ames.
« That's nothing new. » she continued. « He always wanted his son back. Why couldn't he let go? Besides, i didn't know where his son was, i still don't. » she paused. « And even i knew where he was, i would have never told him. Never. » the last word was pronounced above a whisper but yet her stubborness and determination shot through.
Syl felt the urge to comfor her sister. « We all know that. You would never betray anyone under torture. You were the best when we were young. You always managed to make yourself forget, and get back the information when needed. »
She still remembered seeing Max during those sessions. Lydecker had made some of them watch as Max, Zack, Jade and Jack were undergoing the torture session.
« Ames tortured me. He hit me, starved me, threatened to kill me. But then who would give him the information that he so much wanted me to give him away. Sometimes, he gave me to his men so that they could beat an 'animal' as they so nicely put it. They stopped when i pass out each time, and get back to it the day after when i wake up. They used tazers on me. » she stopped and looked at the faces of her siblings and Alec.
They were all wearing their Manticore mask. Not the one that says 'i'm fine don't worry' but the one that says 'i won't let Manticore, or any ennemy get to me or my family again.'
« I guess if on day i'll get to see Lydecker again, i'll have to thank him for the little training that i got. » again, she paused. « I mean, torture is still torture, but i could... » she hesitated on the word. « Bare it. » she finally said.
She looked like she was about to say something but seemed to change her mind. Something in her eyes caught Alec's attention, but as soon as it came, she hide it away.
« That was the easy part. » she went on. « The...Seekers... » she had lost her confidence now. Her voice was shaky and she used the kitchen counter for her balance. « They arrived, i don't know maybe a...a month or so later...i don't really...i can't remember. » a single tear fell from her eye.
In a second Alec was on his feet, wanting to wipe the tear away but she stopped him.
« No! » she shouted more harshly than she intended. « I need to tell you the whole story. If i don't do it know, i'll never do it again. »
Reluctantly, Alec sat back.
« They were only six. Only six. » she stared at her audience with watered eyes. « It took them less than 30 minutes to tie up all the familiars and get me out of the cell. » More tears were falling from her eyes as all the images flood back to her head. « They had ligned the still breathing Familiars in front of them. They made them kneel before them. I swear i'll never forget the look of terror in the familiars' eyes. Never. They didn't tie me but one of them was holding me. »
She felt the need to breath a bit.
« They made me look. The one that was holding me, he said : 'remember this, this is what we'll do to your race, after we wipe off the Familiars of the face of the Sacred Earth.' And oh God, i remember...the youngest of them slit the first Familiar's throat with obvious pleasure. His head rolled on the floor and he body was like a fountain of blood. I wanted to look away but he maintained his grip on my neck and my head, and made me look. »
She had shut her eyes, as if by doing so, she would 'look away' from the memory.
« I had blood all over my body, my hair, my face...i could smell the blood, taste it, and feel the fear pouring out of the Familiars. »
« Wow! That was fun! » yelled the one that had just slit the Familiar's throat. « But that wasn't enough. Let us see if they don't feel pain now that they lost their precious 'concentration'. How long can these one last without scream? » he asked to his companions while he was wiping of the blood from the blade he had just used.
He didn't wait for an answer and pulled out of his pocket some sort of vial. He put some of it on the blade and without any warning, he, literally speaking, opened from the head to the crotch. Max gasped as she realized that the Familiar was still alive, though he was split in two and he was, yes, he was burning. She was afraid to make any noise that would remind her new ennemies that she was there.
She wondered why she wasn't ligned up with them. Why she wasn't dead yet?
« He was still alive! » she was sobbing now « His blood was rapidly draining out of his body and he died. » she sniffed loudly. « The third familiar, um...he was of my age...maybe even younger. I guessed he was the most inexeperienced among them. He screamed when they...oh my god...i can't do it... »
The body of the young familiar was still shaking though his legs, arms, and head had been cut out of his corpse. And yet, he was still screaming, or at least, his mouth was opening itself mimicking the movement for screaming. There was more and more blood around them. Her bare feet were feeling the blood.
The laughter of the Slaughter, as she called him, filled the warehouse. The others were grinning madly.
« I had blood all over my body. »
« You don't have to continue. » said Jondy, putting a comforting hand on her sisters.
Max shook her head no but remained silent for a long moment.
« They continued like that until, only Ames, his second and i were still alive. » She took a deep breath. « They made sure he was still alive and aware of his surroundings...They opened him and took out his stomach. I swear he was still breathing and he was seeing all of it. They rolled his stomach on a spiked stick and they put the stick on some kind of rotating spit. » she hipcupped. Again she shut her eyes. She was clenching so much her fist that her knuckles were whites. « They fed his stomach to Ames, and they finished, they took out his eyes. After that, the closed the hole they made to take out his stomach and injected something into him. »
Ames' second was bucking like a wild horse once the 'product' took effect.
« That was stupid. » said one of the older Seeker.
« But fun. » replied the youngest.
« The fun part stops now. We get to the serious part. »
Max was still watching the familiar shaking wildly whithout managing to get the 'product' out of him. He had...lost it. He was yelping loudly like a dog.
« God. That's the only thing you animals are good for. Yelping! » concluded the older Seeker.
« They chained him on a collar. A dog collar. They said that the place of the impures like us, at their feet. After that they untied Ames, and injected into both of us the same product they used on Ames' second. »
« We'll leave the survivor alive. » said the Elder. « If there is any survivor of course. »
Max was starting to feel the effect of the injection. The tingling in her hands, the burning fire in her self. It was like she was on fire. But not like when she's in heat, but more like something inside her was devouring her, killing her bit by bit, very slowly. And she knew that even if she survived this fight, she'd die of an agonising death.
But she survived. She was alive.
« They watched us fight until i killed Ames. I killed Ames. » she repeated. « He deserved it. »
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