Chapter 87

"Mr. Bartles, I didn't think we'd see you again so soon. I thought you were only in town for a short visit," a beautiful woman behind the bar said as she walked up to Sebastian and Kahlan with a smile.

Sebastian sighed. "Unfortunately, Laura, something has kept me in town."

She frowned as she looked between the two. "Anything I can help with?" she asked as she grabbed a bottle off the shelf behind her and then held it up.

Sebastian shook his head at the offer of a drink and then gestured to Kahlan. "Laura, this is Kay. She's soon going to be joining my family."

The bartender looked Kahlan up and down as a sly smile formed on her lips. "I can see why, she looks absolutely delicious."

Kahlan smiled and held up her left hand. "Thank you, but I'm already taken."

Laura sighed as she shook her head. "They always are," she muttered, and then smiled again as she looked at Sebastian. "And here I thought you were asking me to change her for you."

Sebastian chuckled. "That's already been taken care of, but thank you for the gracious offer."

Laura shrugged and then looked at Kahlan. "Can I get you something, sweetie. We have excellent drinks even for your kind."

"Sure," Kahlan offered thinking that most human bartenders liked to talk as long as a person was ordering something from them, and she was hoping vampire ones were like that, too.

"Anything in particular, or can I surprise you?"

"You pick," Kahlan agreed, and Laura nodded and moved to the end of the bar.

Sebastian leaned close to Kahlan's ear. "I thought we were trying to get information, not spending our time flirting."

Kahlan huffed and sat down on the barstool. "She might feel more like talking if we treat her nicely and not just dismiss her as a worker who can only provide drinks." She pat the stool beside her. "Now sit, and go ahead and order something expensive." Bartles frowned as he looked at her, and she sighed. "Making money puts bartenders in good moods, and we need her in a good mood if she's going to talk to us."

Sebastian sat down and then looked at her with discerning eyes. "You speak as if that comes from experience."

Kahlan smiled. "I have been many things."

Sebastian chuckled. "I bet."

Laura came back with a creamy colored drink and sat it down in front of Kahlan. "I call it 'Spilt Milk' cause there's no use crying over it."

Kahlan chuckled and then took a sip. She frowned and took another, and she smiled. "I can't really tell what's in it, but I like it."

"I guess if she's having one, I'll have one," Sebastian started, "I'll have. . ."

"I know what you like," Laura assured him and turned to pour a rock glass full of blood. When she turned back and set it in front of him, she looked at them. "So what's going on?"

Sebastian opened his mouth to speak, but Kahlan jumped in first as she leaned on the bar to be closer to the woman. "Have you heard of anybody being attacked by hunters?"

Laura's eyes shot open as she leaned back. "What?"

Sebastian sighed as he put a hand on Kahlan's shoulder. "What Kay is asking is if you have heard of any trouble or anything in the area."

Laura swallowed as her eyes narrowed. "That's why you're still in town? There are hunters here?"

Sebastian raised his hand to quiet her down some. "We think they were hunters, but we don't think they are here anymore."

Her eyes searched his. "The rest of your family?"

Sebastian cringed, but he shook his head. "Just one."

Laura watched as his eyes drifted to Kahlan and she cringed. "Your man?"

Kahlan nodded as she inhaled deeply. "Yes."

Laura looked at the vampire. "Which one? I thought your whole family was older."

"Aaron. They caught him alone."

She frowned for a second and then her eyes shot open again. "Tall, dark, and brooding?"

Kahlan smiled. "That would be him."

"Oh, honey," Laura exclaimed as she put a tender hand on Kahlan's arm. "I am so sorry."

Kahlan licked her lips as she willed herself not to tear up. "So you haven't heard of anything?"

She wilted. "No, nothing here, but. . ."

Kahlan stiffened as she leaned in.

"If anyone would know anything about that around here, it would be Tommy."

"And who is Tommy?" Sebastian asked her.

She winced. "Tommy has his hands in everything, and nothing happens without him knowing it. If hunters have been around here, I bet Tommy knows it."

XXXXX

"It'll be morning soon, why don't you try to get some rest while you can," Leo suggested as he studied Hotch.

Hotch frowned. "How do you know what time it is? I haven't seen one window in this place."

"When Helios is your father, you always know where the sun is, Aaron."

Hotch's eyes grew wide. "You never did say how old you were." He wasn't sure if the Helios Leo was referring to was Helios, the God of the Sun, from Greek Mythology or not.

Leo sighed and rested his head down on his front legs. "I was born, if you would, in what you all would refer to as the third century BCE."

Hotch actually choked on his own breath and once he could talk again, he looked at the creature. "You're kidding me, right?" To find out that the mythological stories were just as real as vampire stories was almost too much to consider.

The snake curled up on Leo's back and the goat shut its eyes. "Am I?"

"But. . . if you've been around that long. . . how. . . How could you stay hidden so long?"

"Chimeras are invisible to the human eye unless we want to be seen," he explained and then the lion shut its eyes.

"Then how did they capture you?"

One goat eye opened and locked with Hotch's. "A spell, a divining tool, I don't know to be perfectly honest."

When Leo closed his eye again and then sighed as he relaxed even more, Hotch knew that their talk was over. He ran a hand down his face and had to admit that he was tired, so he laid down on his back and shut his eyes. After about five minutes, though, he found himself staring at the ceiling as his mind went over everything that had happened. Stop worrying about it, Hotchner. There's nothing you can do about it tonight, so just go to sleep!

After taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, he felt himself relax a little. Instead of worrying about his predicament, his mind went to his family and friends. Knowing that they wouldn't have any clue about what happened to him didn't bother him as much as it had. At least if they can't find me, then they can't be hurt. His eyes filled and tears dripped down the side of his head. But then they'll go crazy not being able to find me. God, guys, I'm so sorry. Knowing that him being a vampire is what had gotten him into his latest mess made him feel even more guilty. If I hadn't had let Zimmerman get the drop on me then Sebastian wouldn't have had to change me and none of this would be happening! As he laid there hating himself and his immortality, he eventually drifted off to sleep.

XXX

The sound of the door opening brought Hotch awake and he sat up; Leo did, too. Hotch watched as two men dragged a naked man into the room and into the cage in between him and the chimera. Without a word, they dropped the man, locked his cage, and then left. Once the door was closed, Hotch stood up and studied the new arrival. His eyes locked with Leo's. "Is he alright?" The man was cut up, bruised, and bloody, but he was breathing, barely.

Leo nodded. "He'll be out of it for a few hours, but he'll be fine."

"So you know him?"

"Yes. Cole has been here even longer than I have been."

The collar stopped Hotch's super hearing abilities, so he couldn't hear the man's heart, but he looked human. Hotch knew, though, that that didn't mean anything. "What is he?"

Leo laid back down. "He's a werewolf."

Hotch's eyes grew wide. Since Sebastian and being in Hawaii, he knew that most legendary monsters were real, but he didn't actually think he would ever see one. "Is there anything we can do to help him?"

"We can't even reach him, but I assure you, he will be fine come morning. Now go back to sleep, Aaron. They're liable to but you in the pits sooner rather than later."

"Pits?"

Leo sighed. "Sleep first, talk later."

Hotch opened his mouth to argue, but the snake fixed him with a look and while Hotch never would have thought a snake could frown, it certainly was. He sighed and sat down. After a while, Leo started making a purring mixed with snoring kind of sound and Hotch chuckled lightly. With it being the only noise in the room, Hotch focused on it without meaning to and his lids grew heavy so he stretched back out onto the floor and was out in no time.

XXX

Voices peeked into Hotch's sleep and pulled him awake. His eyes opened and he saw Cole, the werewolf, talking to Leo, so he just closed his eyes again and laid there listening.

"Tiny thinks we'll be made to fight the cyclops next," Leo stated.

Hotch swallowed as his brows rose in shock.

"Well, the beast is big but it's stupid; I don't think you'll have a problem with him," Cole told him.

Hotch bit back the grin that wanted to show. He could always just hide from him and tell him his name is Nobody.

Leo snorted something and coughed a few times.

"Are you alright?" Cole asked him as he frowned.

"One, his name isn't Polyphemus, and two, do you really think I'm a small enough to hide amongst the sheep?"

"I know what his name is, and why are you talking about sheep?" Cole asked him as he looked at the chimera like he'd lost his mind.

Leo's goat head grunted and Leo looked towards the far cage. "It seems that sleeping beauty is finally awake," he said with a grin.

"Huh?" Cole asked as he frowned again and looked towards the newest addition to their room.

Hotch cringed as he sat up. "Sorry. I forgot you could hear me." He stood up and dusted himself off.

Cole looked back and forth between the two and then shook his head. "And what do sheep have to do with anything? Are you two pyshocommunicating about what you'd love for dinner or something?"

Leo's lion head fixed him with a look and then shook his head. "You uncultured swine! How can you not know the story of Odysseus and his run in with the cyclops named Polyphemus?"

Cole huffed, stood up, and looked towards Hotch for a second and then turned back to Leo. "Cause I'm American and only actually thirty-six years old, unlike you antiques," he told him.

"He's American, too, ignoramus, and I'd guess just a few years older than you!" Leo insisted.

"Well, blah," he offered the chimera and then stuck out his tongue. He was dressed in ragged shorts that had obviously been jeans at one time and a ripped-up t-shirt the same color as Hotch's, black. He looked haggard, and when he turned to Hotch, he had sad eyes. "Sorry I wasn't here for your arrival."

"It's alright; the welcome wagon was there to meet me."

"I bet they weren't all that welcoming, were they?" Cole asked him.

"They already bled him out once," Leo told him.

"Fuckers!" Cole exclaimed and shook his head as he walked over to the side of his cage closest to Hotch. "Cole Schmidt, and I'd say it's nice to meet you, but with us being in cages I think that's a little inappropriate," he offered with a grin as he stuck his hand between two of the bars and extended it out towards Hotch.

Hotch reached through his cage and shook it. "Aaron Hotchner, but everyone calls me Hotch."

Cole nodded and then moved his head back and forth between the two others as he smiled.

"What?" Leo asked as his eyes trailed to Hotch's

"Three guys finally," Cole pointed out and then chuckled. "We're the three musketeers."

Leo sighed and shook his head slowly. "And let me guess, you only know that story because of some movie."

"Hey! That movie's a classic!"

Hotch chuckled. "So Leo tells me you've been here even longer than him."

Cole nodded as he sat back down. "Almost a year passed before this beast showed up."

Basically two years? Hotch winced. "You can keep track of time like him?" he asked as he sat down and studied the man. What skin he could see showed that he was healed.

Cole laughed. "The full moon is the only time I change, Hotch, so, yeah, it's pretty easy for me to keep track of time." He sighed. "Although, I wish it wasn't. Maybe being locked up would be easier to take."

Hotch nodded. He knew all about losing track of time while being locked up, and he couldn't imagine how much harder it would have been had he actually known exactly how long he'd been in Michigan. He swallowed. "You were fighting in the arena last night?"

Cole nodded. "A cave troll."

Leo could tell by Hotch's look that he had no idea what that was. "Remember, Cole, Aaron hasn't been a part of the nonhuman world for very long. He has probably never seen a cave troll," he explained.

"Oh. They're nasty things. Huge. Smelly. Yellowish-grey in color. Lot and lots of teeth."

"I could smell its stench on you as soon as they opened the door this morning," Leo told him.

Cole nodded some more and made a disgusting face as his tongue shot out of his mouth a couple times. "Disgusting tasting, too."

"At least you got to eat," Leo put in as he settled himself down on the floor where he could see both men.

Hotch swallowed as he studied them both and then fixed Cole with a serious look. "You ate a troll?"

Cole shrugged. "I had no control over it. I was full when I woke, so, yeah, I guess."

Hotch frowned.

Leo cleared his throat. "When he turns into a werewolf, Aaron, he's unaware as the wolf takes over completely. He has no control over anything."

"And when I'm hungry, the wolf eats whatever's in front of it," Cole added.

Hotch cringed. "That would be horrifying."

Cole shrugged. "I've grown accustomed to it."

"How long have you been a werewolf?"

Cole pursed his lips as he thought about it. "A little over fifteen years."

Hotch shook his head in disbelief.

*A reviewer asked for my website address, so I'll give it again. I don't know why it didn't come through the last time I put it on a chapter, but I hope it shows up this time. If not, it is on my profile page. It is, the tales of hoffer dot weebly dot com. No spaces, of course. Thanks for reading!