Whee! Guess what? I updated! Bet you didn't know that! I own nothing but Eoife/Echo, no suing or I'll deploy my genetically engineered death kittens.

I can see all of you who have read my story and I want to know why you haven't reviewed! I loves the hit counter. I loves it good.

Margolo Blu: Eoife is now jaguar and a very genetically altered bat, as well as the usual electric eel and human remnants.

A gargoyle fan: You'll just have to read on!

Thankies for actually making the effort to review!

Chapter 2

Eoife moaned as she sat up, clutching her spinning head. She accidentally brushed her ear and winced as her ear twinged. She fingered a small metal stud in her ear and had no recollection of where it came from. She was getting damn tired of being drugged all the time! She squinted blearily around at her new surroundings. Eoife was in a small room with a large mirror on one wall. There was a small, beaten up and none too clean mattress shoved into one corner with a heap of raggedy blankets dropped haphazardly on top. A metal bar and a few ropes hung from the ceiling on the opposite side. A bucket sat in the far corner. Two dishes, one with water and the other with a hunk of bread and a few strips of dried meat sat beside a door. There was no handle on the door and the space between it and the wall was too narrow for even her new claws to catch. Eoife paced the room like a wild animal, which she probably was now, and searched for an escape route, a vent, anything! But there was nothing. She yowled her rage, and beat her fists on the mirror, suspecting it was a one-way window.

"LET ME OUT!" she screamed, the huge volume of her voice surprising herself. "You can't keep me locked up in here! It's illegal! I… Want… OUT!" Eoife punctured each word with a thump. An intercom, hung in one corner and protected by thick wire clicked on.

"Come, come now, Eoife. Don't be this way. The police can't help you now; you aren't human now. You are my property. Don't make me hurt you." drawled Sevarius, cruel mirth lacing his voice. Eoife howled inhumanely and leaped at the box, curling her fingers and toes in the mesh and shaking it in her rage. She was hanging nearly upside down. "You can't just take a hint, can you, you great stupid beast?" said Sevarius. The stud in her ear began to shriek out an agonizing note! She gasped and clapped her hands over her ears, falling heavily. Eoife screamed in agony as the sound played havoc with her ears! Dimly, she heard Sevarius speaking in the background, "Good. It works. Did you know that I engineered you to be vulnerable to that particular sound? It was difficult, but I think it has been worth it. Pity it had to be in the range audible to humans… Such an irritating sound." The pain lanced through her head until she thought her skull would explode! Tears streamed from her eyes, when suddenly, it cut off. Eoife gasped and panted, still crying from the pain. "It would be in your best interests to behave. Like I said, you are too valuable to hurt. Keep that in mind next time you have one of your rages." The intercom clicked off, leaving her to her headache.

…..

Eoife eventually felt well enough to eat the bread, now stale, and meat. She spent a horribly boring night alone before the intercom crackled again. Once more, it was Sevarius. "Now, some people of mine are going to deliver something for you, so you'd better behave. I can see you so remember…" The ear stud screamed briefly, making her clutch at her head before it switched off again. She hissed and spat in anger and surprised herself again. Then she retreated to the mattress and covered herself with a blanket, leaning against the wall and glaring vehemently at the door. Soon, it opened. The gray armored guards stood revealed. The leader, the one she attacked, pressed a button on a remote and her manacled wrists and ankles snapped together! Eoife yelped and tried to force her limbs apart, but to no avail. They were like magnets, only they didn't attract any other metal, only themselves. She growled deep in her throat as the guards dropped a black package, switched her water and put more food down.

"Heh, not so cocky when you can't kill me, eh, monster?" growled the leader. He curled his lip in disgust and flipped her off before leaving. Once the door shut, the manacles released. She made her way over to the package and lifted a thick, black leather belt with a silver buckle. The next item was a black tank top. The final item was a pair of black stretchy shorts with a loincloth attached. What the hell was with this Sevarius character? Did he have some sort of weird fetish or what? The intercom crackled.

"Put those on. Your own clothing is far too tattered." the scientist drawled. Eoife glared at the window with a brittle gold stare. Sevarius laughed. "I'm not going to turn away, so this is no time to get bashful." Eoife looked down at the remains of what had once been her favorite clothes. Either way, she wasn't going to be wearing much. Her attack on the intercom had only widened the rips and she was now in danger of falling out of her shirt. She sighed and turned away from the window. The shirt was too difficult to remove with her wings, so she just ripped it off. It took some doing, but she eventually figured out how to put the new shirt on. Then came the pants. She also ripped those off. Once she finished, she kicked her ragged old clothes aside and glared at the window, arms crossed. Sevarius said nothing; so presumably, he had left or was ignoring her. Eoife sighed and flopped down on the mattress, a small cloud of dust wafting up. She gouged at it with her claws. She was in for some very boring times…