Chapter 116

The chained man flinched back as Kahlan got closer to him. "But I only have one nail left, so I hope you aren't seeking those," he told her as he held up his hands. Every one of his nails, except his left pinky one, had been torn away leaving bloody stumps.

She turned back to the vampires and Sebastian winced. "Werewolf claws are used for a variety of things."

She sighed as she shook her head and then turned back to the chained man. "We don't want anything from you. We're here to release you."

Rossi saw a glimmer of hope flash in the man's eyes, but it was gone in a second as he huddled against the wall. "You're a hunter, so by release you mean kill me."

She frowned and then winced. "No," she told him as she took a step forward. "These clothes are just what got me in the door. We are here to help you," she tried as she took another step.

Rossi could tell the man didn't believe her, so he also stepped into the room. "It's alright. She's telling you the truth."

A whimper escaped him as he tried to melt into the floor. "Don't lie. I can sense the silver on her."

Kahlan winced again. "You're right," she started and pulled Rossi's gun out of her pocket. "This is loaded with silver bullets, but I'm not going to use it. I'm going to give it to him, and he is going to take it out of this room," she finished as she held the gun out to Rossi.

He took it, but his eyes told her to be careful.

Willie moved close to Kahlan. "They're not hunters. You can trust them."

The man looked at all of them and then at Willie. "I wish I could believe you, but I can't. The only ones who come here are hunters and the like. Why should I believe you?"

Willie smiled as his fangs dropped and his eyes turned to yellow. "Because hunters would never be with vampires."

The man gasped and then looked at the others in the doorway. Sebastian and Christian both changed, too, but when the man's eyes landed on Chuck he shrugged. "I'm just human, like her. I can't do any cool tricks."

The man's eyes watered. "Are you really going to free me?"

Kahlan nodded as she squatted down in front of him. "If you'll let us, yes," she told him, and he broke down crying, so she moved and hugged him to her chest.

Chuck tensed not liking the close contact the supposed monster was having with his best friend, but Sebastian put a hand on his shoulder. "Not to worry, Charles. If he moves one hair wrong, I will rip his head off before you can blink, and then you can shoot him with David's gun," he told him seriously, and Chuck nodded his thanks.

After a few moments, the man calmed down and pulled away from Kahlan. "I figured I was going to die here."

She gave him a kind smile. "That's not going to happen. Now, can we get those chains off you?"

He swallowed and nodded as he held his hands out again.

"Let me," Willie offered as he darted to him and then tried to rip the shackles off, but no amount of struggling would budge them, and he snorted as he released them. "They must be spelled."

"Well, then, maybe I can do a cool trick that they can't," Chuck said as he reached into his back pocket and took out a lockpick set.

Kahlan nodded and waved him forward as she joined the older men. She looked at Sebastian. "How the hell could that damn harvester keep him chained up when he turned into the werewolf?"

Christian shook his head. "The silver stops him from changing."

"But it doesn't stop the pain caused by his body trying to go through the transformation," Sebastian added with a grimace. "I've seen that first hand, and it isn't pretty."

"The poor bastard," Rossi uttered as he shook his head. He looked at Willie. "Let's see if we can find him some food and water."

Willie nodded and joined him in the hall.

XXXXX

Copper walked back over to Therry who was still beside Hotch. Hotch's eyes were closed, but he was still chewing on the elthump, so he didn't think he was asleep. He sat down. "Is that stuff helping any?"

Hotch's eyes opened very slowly and he smiled. "Yep."

Copper smiled, too, "Good." He studied him a little and then frowned. "Are you feeling any pain?"

Hotch bit his lip and then smiled again. "Naaaaoope."

Copper looked at Therry. "How strong is that stuff?"

Therry huffed. "Not very. I was worried about it even working with how big he is."

Tucker came over. "And how's he doing?"

"Heees good," Hotch slurred.

Tucker's eyes grew. "Look at me, Aaron." It took Hotch a few blinks and a lot of searching, but his eyes finally settled on the lycan's face, and Tucker laughed. "He's high as shit."

"No, he's not," Copper insisted.

"High? But he's lying on the ground," Therry pointed out.

Tucker shook his head. "Not high as in position, but high as in the stuff he's chewing on is way too strong for him and he's. . . not right in the head," he tried explaining.

"Ah, I understand, but he can't be. He's only had one bud," Therry told them.

Tucker snorted and held up two fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up, Aaron?"

"That's easy. . ." Hotch started and then smiled. "None, cause you have pawzz," he told him and then laughed.

Copper shook his head. "He's definitely high."

"But how can he be? One bud is nothing. We give our little ones three to chew on when they're teething," Therry insisted as she looked completely confused.

"Maybe it effects vampires differently," Tucker offered as he laughed.

Hotch ran a hand down his face and then rubbed his eyes. After blinking a few times, he turned to Therry and shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry for?" Maxin asked him as he stepped next to his wife.

"Cause Snow White just ditched you guys. That was so wrong," Hotch uttered as he shook his head again.

Maxin frowned at Therry, but she shrugged letting him know she had no idea what the vampire was talking about, but Tucker laughed. "Snow White is a character in a human fairy tale."

Maxin huffed. "Oh, let me guess, it has dwarves in it."

Tucker nodded as he laughed some more.

Lenny and Jenny joined the group to see what was so funny, but when Hotch noticed Lenny right beside his head he flinched back.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Lenny told him.

Hotch turned back to him, and both gnomes took a step back because Hotch was using his stare. He exhaled through his nose. "The way you guys stand there in the flowers. . . watching. . . everything and everybody, that's really creepy, just saying."

"What?" Jenny asked.

"What flowers? I haven't seen any flowers," Lenny told them, "and I certainly didn't mean to stand on them."

Tucker shook his head as he tried to hide his smile. "Ignore him. He's out of it."

"He's talking out of his head," Copper told them, and then they both understood.

Hotch turned his stare toward the faun. "And you. . . If you wouldn't have told the white witch that the human child was there in the first place, none of that would have happened! You should have kept your mouth shut and just helped the little girl!"

Copper sighed, but no one else understood that except Tucker who started laughing. Once he stopped, he shook his head. "It's from a book, well, and a movie."

Copper huffed. "I do not look like Mr. Tumnus!"

That made Tucker laugh so hard that he about fell over.

Copper took a deep breath and pat Hotch on the shoulder. "I think you should stop chewing on that elthump, Aaron."

Hotch shook his head.

"Spit it out," Copper ordered.

"Can't make me," Hotch told him and then put his hand over his mouth.

Copper huffed. "You're acting like a child."

Hotch huffed. "I'm not a child, you are, and those baby horns on your head prove it. You couldn't fight off anything with those horns!"

Copper went to open his mouth, but Therry held up her hand. "Just leave him. There can't be that much left of it, anyway."

"Yes. Let's all leave him be, so he can rest," Maxin ordered as he stood up.

"Someone should watch over him, don't you think?" Jenny asked.

"I'll do it," Dag said as he moved next to Hotch and sat down.

Therry nodded as she leaned down and kissed his head. "That's very nice of you, Dag."

Once they all stood up, Hotch looked at them like he didn't understand what was going on, and he started to shift like he was going to try and get up.

Maxin leaned down and pat his chest. "You sleep, son. You'll feel better after some rest."

Hotch sighed and nodded. "K," he said and then closed his eyes.

"He'll be fine as soon as it wears off," Therry told them.

Before they could walk away, Hotch's left arm went out and drew Dag's foot close to him causing Dag's eyes to get wide. "What's he doing?" He tried to pull his foot away, but Hotch had too firm of a grip on it.

A soft snore escaped Hotch, and Copper chuckled. "He's sleeping."

"But. . ." Dag started with a horrified look on his face.

"Just pull your foot out, son," Maxin told him.

Dag did, and Hotch snuggled the little leather boot in closer to his side.

Tucker snickered. "Maybe he's used to sleeping with a stuffed animal."

"With the state he's in, it's hard to say what he thinks it is," Copper said and then ushered them away.

XXXXX

While Chuck was leaned down next to the werewolf's head to work the lock on his collar, he moved closer to the man's ear. "And just so you know, if you try to bite any of the humans here, I will shove these silver chains through your chest, and believe me, you'll wish I had used that gun."

His threat had been delivered on a quiet breath, but the man heard it, and he flinched back. After a deep breath, he shook his head. "You don't have to worry. I couldn't bite anyone even if I wanted to," he told him and then opened his mouth to reveal nothing but jagged and bloody gums.

"Holy fuck!" Chuck said as he looked at him. "That bastard do that?"

The man nodded. "Yes."

Chuck's hands tightened into fists for a second and then he worked at getting the lock open even faster. "I know it can't make up for what he's done to you, but please find some comfort in knowing that he will pay, and he will pay dearly," he assured him.

The man's eyes searched his and then he nodded and smiled a tight smile. "I guess prayers still work even for monsters like me."

Chuck smiled. "Yep."

Once Chuck had the collar off, he held out a hand to the man, but the man shook his head. "I don't think I can stand just yet." He sighed. "This is the first time in a long time that I've even been able to stretch my legs out. I think I'm going to just sit here for a while if that's alright."

Chuck nodded. "Take as long as you like. Name's Chuck, by the way."

The man smiled. "Nate."

Chuck nodded again and then went into the hall as Rossi and Willie came back with Cam in tow. Chuck looked at the bottled water and protein bars in Cam's hands.

Rossi shrugged. "Unless one of these doors leads to a kitchen, we couldn't find anything."

"So I brought the rations out of our bags," Cam added.

Chuck winced. "He can have the water, but I don't think he'll be able to eat those hard ass bars."

"Why not?" Kahlan asked.

"Fucker took all of his teeth," Chuck told them as his face showed how much that angered him.

"He did. . . what?!" Kahlan yelled as she looked into the room at the man.

Nate shrugged. "I'll heal when the full moon comes, and my teeth will grow back." He swallowed and then sighed. "Course, that let him take them over and over again."

Kahlan's eyes slid shut as she shook her head.

Rossi took a deep breath. "Demented pantry indeed." He swallowed and looked at Cam. "We could run to that little town we past. They're bound to have some sort of store where we could find him something."

"When he fed me, it was usually a disgusting mush, and he came from the right with it, but I don't know any more than that," Nate told them.

Kahlan ran a hand through her hair and then looked at the vampires. "One of you need to go get that bastard. He needs to start answering some questions."

Christian smiled. "With pleasure."