Chapter 96

"I'm telling you, it's a satyr," the human looking man whispered to the dwarf he was sitting next to.

"Nah, it's just another goat like that fully furred beast over in the corner," the dwarf argued quietly.

They were right behind Hotch and he mentally shook his head. Really? Of all the things that you could be discussing. . . He sighed and craned his head around to look at them. "He's a faun. Satyrs look human except they have horse ears and a horse tail."

"Yeah? What makes you an expert?" the dwarf asked him.

"Because I've actually read a few books in my time," Hotch told him simply.

"Bah. He doesn't know," the man with the collar put out.

The half goat – half man being snorted. "He would be correct, though. I am a faun," he insisted.

Hotch nodded to him and then shot an 'I told you so' look over his shoulder at the guy and the dwarf.

"Whatever. Just mind your own business and stop eavesdropping on other people's conversations," the man told him.

"Like that's possible. We can all hear everything in this stupid cell," the birdman countered.

"Shut up, Tweetie," the man yelled. "No one was asking for your opinion, either."

The birdman jumped up. "Who you calling Tweetie, gadha?"

"You obviously, and don't call me an asshole!" the man insisted.

"You know, we're all in the same boat. The least we could do is be nice to each other," Hotch suggested.

"He's right. We're all facing something sinister here, so either be nice or just be quiet," the faun proposed.

While most of the beings in the cell agreed, a few of them grumbled, but none of them outright went against the faun's suggestion.

Once most of them had gone back to the quiet conversations, the faun got up, moved next to Hotch, and then sat down.

Hotch nodded a greeting to him.

"So you know what I am, but what are you?" he asked.

Hotch smirked. "Vampire."

"Vampire?!" screamed one of the gnomes. "You're that vampire?!" it asked as it scrambled backwards.

Hotch frowned as all the beings in the cage moved away from him effectively creating an empty circle around him. Even the beings who seemed to dislike one another huddled a little closer together, and he licked his lips as he stood up. "What do you mean, 'that vampire'?"

"He killed over twenty beings before they could get ahold of him again!" one of the dwarves in the back yelled as it pointed at Hotch.

"What?!" Hotch asked with raised brows. "I have not. Don't know what you're talking about," he tried thinking that there must be some other vampire loose in the fortress.

"He's lying! That's why he's chained up. It's so he can't attack us, too!" the goatman hollered, and that even had the faun moving as far away from Hotch as he could.

"No! I haven't killed anyone!" Hotch insisted and then mentally cringed as the creatures around him seemed to get even more afraid. He'd thought that the others weren't chained up because they hadn't been put in the cage by Red and the other guards were either too lazy or not worried about them, but as he thought about it, it was a kind of damning. Is that why I'm chained up? Were they really scared I'd feed on one of these beings?

More stories erupted all at the same time, horror stories that they'd heard since being captured, and they were all looking at Hotch as if was some horrible beast.

"I heard one guy say that he ripped the throat right out of a unicorn before they could get ahold of him!" the man with the collar insisted as he backed against the wall.

The other beings gasped and moved back even more. Apparently killing a unicorn was a severe crime in the supernatural world.

"No! I swear! I haven't hurt anyone in this whole damn place!" Hotch tried again as he looked around at the beings. "I'm not like that!"

"You drink blood, do you not?" the goatman asked.

Hotch could tell most of the others really wanted to know the answer to that question, and he mentally cringed. He knew he couldn't lie to them because chances were that they would all see him get fed. "Well, yes, but. . ."

"Monster!" was screamed out and a couple of the other beings flinched and started crying, too.

Hotch could tell none of them were going to believe him, and he sighed. Great! Now even the beings of supernatural world are afraid of me. Like they don't have enough to worry about, now they have to worry about being slaughtered while trapped in a cage with a bloodthirsty killer.

He looked around at them again, and suddenly felt very tall because he was towering over most of them. He huffed and sat down, and the movement made some of the beings cry even harder. He dropped his head to his chest. Now I know what the witches of Salem felt like.

Not wanting to scare any of them anymore, he decided to keep to himself and focus on the ground in front of him as he listened to the older beings comforting the younger ones.

Once everyone settled back down, he started thinking and then mentally huffed. There's no other vampire; I'm the only one, and I would bet money that damn warlock spread those stories on purpose. He wants them to fear me because he wants me isolated and alone. Son of a bitch! He huffed. He probably wants all of us to feel alone.

He glanced around the cell; no one was even looking at him except the goatman, and the look of hatred in his eyes had Hotch's mind racing. Why do I bother you so much?

XXXXX

Chuck waited around the corner until he saw Joey's bus leave and then pulled into the Hotchner driveway. He took a deep breath. Come on, this has got to work. We've got to be getting close, right? He sighed. At least, I sure hope we are for her sake. It bothered him that his best friend seemed to be losing hope of finding her husband quicker than he had ever seen her lose hope before.

He let himself in the house and then frowned when he saw her at the island basically staring into space. She didn't even seem to have realized that he'd come into the house, and that bothered him even more and he sighed.

"Oh, stop being so dramatic; I know you're there, Chuck," she put out without even moving.

Her voice made him flinch, but he smiled and moved to the island. "What the hell are you doing, Kay?"

She finally turned to him. "Just thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

"Thinking about what I am going to do to the son of a bitches who have taken away my children's father," she started to explain, "because I don't know how much longer I can keep up the charade that this was all arranged."

He winced and sat down beside her. "They're getting suspicious, huh?"

She snorted. "And that's putting it mildly."

He sat a piece of paper down in front of her. "Well, maybe this will get us to him."

She grabbed it and her brows rose as she read it. "They found an address for this Reese guy?"

He smiled. "Yep, and I have the Jeep locked and loaded."

"Is Cam coming, or are we going solo on this?"

He shrugged. "Cam said he'd go or stay here and see what else he can dredge up; it's up to you. We can take whoever you want."

Her eyes drifted towards the front door for a second and then she looked at Chuck. "Did Pen let the team know?"

He nodded. "She called them first thing this morning, why?"

She huffed. "Because apparently Dave doesn't want us to go alone," she told him as she walked to the door.

"What?" he asked as he tried to figure out what she was doing.

"He wants someone to go with us," she explained.

"Who?"

She grabbed the door handle and pulled it open right as Sebastian had raise his hand to knock. "Morning," she offered casually at his and Christian's surprised looks.

"Good morning, my dear. How have you been holding up?" Sebastian asked with genuine concern.

"Alright, I guess," she answered and just stood there staring at them. That made Christian even more uncomfortable and he shifted on his feet.

"Were you ready to leave now, or are you going to invite us in?" Sebastian asked with a smile.

"Or I could just make you two wait out here until I am ready," she suggested with an evil grin.

"You could, but then your neighbors may wonder about the two strange men who are standing on your doorstep."

She laughed. "Sebastian Bartles, Christian Bonham you are invited into my home from this moment on," she offered and then gestured into the house.

"I told you she'd let us in," Sebastian offered to Christian as he leaned close to his friend.

"I was beginning to think you were wrong," Christian announced.

"She just likes messing with people, Christian, don't take it personally," Chuck told him with a big grin.

"Coffee, tea?" she asked them but they were both froze in the entryway with a big Doberman blocking their path, and she shook her head. "Sampson! Let them in; they're ok."

The side of the dog's lip curled up revealing very shiny, very pointed fangs, and the silent threat wasn't missed by the newcomers.

She went over to the dog and squatted down next to him as she studied the vampires. She wasn't sure if it was an alpha dog thing sensing beings who could turn into wolves or if Sampson really didn't like them. "Really, boy, they're dad's friends and they're here to help find him," she told him as she rubbed his neck.

Sampson looked at her and she nodded so he gave in; his lip went back down and he started wagging his nub.

"It's nice to meet you, Sampson," Sebastian offered as he held out his hand to let the dog get his scent.

Christin finally let out his breath in relief when the dog let the detective pet him, and that made Chuck laugh. "It's a good thing you two passed the test, cause that black beast that you all didn't know was behind you would have taken a piece out of one of your asses."

Both men immediately spun to find Goliath, Jack's massive lab standing there, but he just barked and his tail thumped against the wall as he wagged it happily.

Kahlan laughed and gestured to the island. "So, drink? You could even have some of Hotch's stash if you want or need it."

"No, thank you," Christian answered.

"Well, have a seat at least; I have to go finish getting ready." When she saw Sebastian look at his watch, she huffed. "It won't take me that long," she assured him and headed for the stairs.

"We have chartered a jet, it's standing by," Sebastian hollered to her, and she gave him a thumbs-up to let him know she heard.

Once they heard her bedroom shut, Christin turned to Chuck. "How long have you known Kahlan?"

Chuck fixed him with a hard enough look that Hotch would have been proud of him, and he leaned in closer to the ancient vampire. "Let me make this very clear, bub; that woman is my best friend and I love her like a sister. Don't think that I will let you say anything bad about her, or that I will give you any information about her."

Sebastian elbowed his friend in the side so quickly that Chuck didn't see it, and Christin started shaking his head. "No! I wouldn't want you to. I was just trying to make small talk, that's all."

Chuck studied him for a moment. "Uh-huh, sure."

The vampire wilted. "She's just very hard to figure out, and I was. . ." He sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

Chuck studied him for a few more minutes and finally smiled. "Yeah, she's complicated, and I'll tell you one thing: you'll never find a better ally, or a worse enemy, so watch yourself."

"Stop threatening the vampires, Charles. I don't think Hotch would like that," Kahlan issued as she came up behind the men making both vampires flinch, and Chuck laugh.

"So we ready?" she asked them making ready to put on her coat as she shot Chuck a sly grin.

"Yes, I do believe we are," Sebastian told her and gestured for her to go first.

She nodded and looked at the dogs. "Watch the house, guys. Grandma will be here before the kids get home, and I'll be home as soon as I can." They both licked her hand to say goodbye, and she went towards to the door.

Chuck quickly caught up with her, took her bag from her, and then opened the door allowing her to go out before him.

Christian shook his head and leaned close to his friend as they followed the human's out of the house. "I didn't hear her heart approaching."

"Neither did I, Christian, neither did I," Sebastian whispered back and then shut the door behind them.