Chapter 117

Sebastian's eyes bore into Brian's. "You will stand here and not move or say anything unless you are told to by anyone here. If you are asked a question, you will answer it truthfully. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Brian answered as he shook. Everyone could tell he was filled with terror, but there wasn't anything he could do except listen to the compelled commands.

Sebastian nodded and then looked at Kahlan. "He's all yours."

"You should ask him what's in the rest of these rooms," Cam suggested.

"Yes, but if he's starved Nate, then he's probably starved them all," Willie said.

"So we need to find the food first, so we're ready for the rest of them," Rossi offered.

She took a deep breath and then stepped up to the harvester. "Where is the food?"

"For which beast?" Brian asked.

Kahlan's hand stiffened. "For all of them!"

"Some of it's in the last room on the left, some of it's in the cave, and the rest I bring; but I didn't bring any with me this time. I wasn't planning on feeding them tonight."

She huffed. "Of course not." She looked at him again. "Where is the cave?"

"The door next to the freezer leads to it."

She looked at the guys around her. "Rossi and I will go to the cave, someone check that last room, and someone have him tell you what's in each of these other rooms," she ordered.

Chuck nodded and went towards the last room with Cam, Willie followed them, Sebastian and Christian moved closer to the harvester, and Rossi moved to the door that led to the cave and held it opened for Kahlan. "After you," he said with a smile, but inside he was cringing. He knew Kahlan wanted to talk to him alone, and after what they'd already learned, he was dreading it.

Rossi lit their way with a flashlight as they walked down a long, dark passage. It was damp, and smelled of earth and decay, and Rossi wondered if it was just nature he was smelling or something worse. After Kahlan's third deep breath, Rossi stopped her with a hand. "Just say it, kiddo."

She shook her head as her eyes watered, and he pulled her to him and wrapped her in a fatherly hug. "I know, kiddo, I know," he told her as his eyes filled, and he rubbed circles on her back.

"But he's. . . they probably. . ." She pulled back enough to look him in the face. "They could be doing anything to him," she blubbered as tears fell down her cheeks.

He winced as he nodded. "I know, but he'll survive," he assured her as he pulled her back to him.

"Are you sure about that, Dave?"

He pushed her away and held her out at arm's length. "Of course I am."

She studied him and then nodded as she wiped her face off.

He sighed. "Besides, you would know what they're doing to him better than anyone."

She swallowed and shook her head. "I haven't felt anything in a few days."

That made his heart clench, but he forced a smile. "Then that means they're not doing anything to him," he tried and hoped she didn't hear the fear in his voice.

She snorted. "Or that means he's frozen or. . ."

"Stop!" he demanded and then took her chin and made her look at him. "Don't you dare say it, Kahlan Lavonne Hotchner! Sebastian said he would know without a doubt if he was dead, so he's not dead. You hear me, young lady?"

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes, sir."

He smiled and pat her cheek. "Now, let's go see if we can find any food."

She wiped her face again and then nodded. "Yeah, I want to get out of here," she told him and then continued down the passage.

He sighed and caught up to her while he silently prayed that Hotch wasn't being treated as badly as the supernatural beings they'd found.

XXXXX

"Da?" Dag said as he walked up to where the others were sitting and quietly talking.

Maxin turned to his son and the look on the young dwarf's face caused him to stand. "What is it, Dag?"

He cringed. "There's something happening to the vampire."

"I'll come look," Maxin told him, and Copper and Tucker scrambled to join him.

When they got to Hotch, Dag pointed to Hotch's hurt leg. It was twitching, but Maxin smiled. "I think he's just healing, son."

Copper watched Hotch's face, but he still looked to be sleeping peacefully.

Tucker frowned. "I've never heard of a vampire healing this quickly, especially one that hasn't fed."

Copper shrugged. "Maybe he ate right before they got him."

"Yeah, but that beating, everything he's suffered in here. . . I don't get it," Tucker continued.

Maxin thought about it and then smirked. "The leprechaun called him an alpha, maybe that has something to do with it."

The others looked at each other. "Have any of you ever met an alpha of any race?" Dag asked.

Tucker huffed. "I never thought those myths were true."

Copper sighed. "I guess it doesn't matter, so we shouldn't worry about it."

"Shouldn't worry about it? When vampires heal, they get hungry," Tucker pointed out.

Copper fixed him with a hard look. "If you still think he'd. . ."

Tucker raised his hand. "I didn't say I think he would, but I have heard stories about vampires losing control when their hunger gets too strong for them to handle."

"He's also been dreaming about weird stuff," Dag put in.

"Like what?" Maxin asked him.

"He's been muttering about babies and angels. Why would a vampire dream about them?"

"As out of it as he was, his dreams are probably messed up, too," Maxin suggested and then yawned. "I say we let him sleep and do the same while we have the chance. Come, Dag. I think he'll be alright by himself."

"I'll stay here with him, and I'll stay awake. You all sleep," Copper told them.

Tucker frowned. "Why will you stay awake?"

"Because I think one of us needs to keep watch."

"But nothing's happened in this cave so far," Dag pointed out.

Copper gave him a smile. "I know, and it will probably stay that way, but it's better to be safe than sorry, right?"

He nodded. "I guess so."

"Go, you all sleep. I can sleep when you wake up," he told them and then shooed them away.

XXXXX

"Maybe this is it?" Rossi wondered as they came upon a door.

Kahlan looked at it suspiciously. "I guess we should have asked him if there was anything being held down here."

Rossi's hand stopped before he reached the handle. "You think we should get one of the vampires?"

She took a deep breath. "Well, there's no window in this door, so maybe it is just storage."

He thought about it and then grabbed the handle. "And if it is something he's keeping prisoner, it'll probably be chained," he reasoned and then opened the door.

As soon as he had it halfway open, Kahlan turned and threw up as the smell wafted out of the room and hit her in the face. Rossi's eyes took in what was in the room, and then he quickly pushed the door shut.

He took a deep breath, and if it wasn't for years of being in the BAU and working around rotting corpses, he would had lost his breakfast, too. He went to her. "Are you alright?"

She coughed a few times and then wiped her mouth off. "What the hell was that?" she asked as she still leaned over with her hands on her knees.

"I think that's where he put what was left of his victims, the pieces he couldn't use or sell."

She spit and then stood up. "That room was full!"

"Yes."

She took a drink from her canteen, rinsed her mouth, and then spit again. "He will pay!"

He nodded. "I assume you will kill him once we have everything we can get from him?"

She giggled her evil giggle. "Oh no, I have much better plans for that son of a bitch!"

The evil he could see in her eyes sent a chill down his spine. And God help anyone who gets in her way. He took a deep breath and gestured down the passage. "Let's go. The sooner we find the food, the sooner we can all get out of here."

She nodded and started walking.

After a few turns, the passage started to get lighter, and they both frowned as they sped up. After another turn, the passage opened up into a decent sized cave that opened to the forest. She huffed. "I guess that explains why we didn't see a vehicle." There was a newer Escalade parked beside an old wagon.

Rossi looked around. "That's how he made this place. He found the cave and then tunneled into the mountain to make that cellar and everything."

"That probably took years and a lot of labor," Kahlan speculated and then cringed as she imagined Brian using the beings he was holding as slave labor.

"Let's look for that food," Rossi said and went into the cave.

The whole right side of the cave had a wall built around it with several doors in it. "I'll check these, you check the other side," he told her.

She nodded and went around the huge SUV.

Rossi held his breath as he opened the first door, but that little room was empty. He moved to the next, but when he heard Kahlan cuss, he forgot the doors and went to find her.

He sighed when he saw what had her attention. There, in a corral that was too small, was a horse, and it looked to be starved even more than the werewolf.

Kahlan's eyes filled as she took in the poor animal. It was dirty, its fur was falling out in patches, everyone of its bones could be seen under its loose skin, and it was covered in long cuts signaling that it had been whipped many times.

When Rossi moved next to her, she looked at him. "Why the hell would he have a horse?"

Rossi gave her a comforting squeeze. "I don't know, kiddo. Maybe he used it to pull that wagon."

"We have to help it, too," she said as she looked at the miserable animal.

"Yes," he agreed as he took a step towards it, but the horse flinched back from him as a pitiful sound escaped it.

With as shaky as its legs were, Kahlan knew it was almost too weak to stand, and she cringed. Rossi looked to her. "Maybe you should approach it, it might not like me because I'm a man like the asshole who has been torturing it."

She took a deep breath and took a step and held up her hands. "It's ok," she soothed. "I'm not gonna hurt you," she tried to assure it as she moved even closer.

When she got closer to the fence surrounding the animal, she noticed the hay on the wagon, and her insides tightened. "Poor thing, it's food is right there, but it couldn't reach it."

"Just another way to torture something," Rossi said and the disgust in his tone was plain. "You should give it some, but not too much. I'll see if there's any water in here."

She went and grabbed a handful of the hay and held it out to the horse. "Here you go," she tried as she got closer to it. It snorted, but it didn't move away. "Yeah, that's it. I'm not gonna hurt you," she continued as she got closer and then looked under the horse. When she was close enough for the horse to reach the hay, she smiled. "It's ok, girl. You can have it. I promise I will not hurt you."

Its eyes stared at her as it snorted again, but after a few seconds, it leaned forward and took the hay with greedy lips, and Kahlan smiled. "There you go, girl," she told it as she reached up and tried to pet its head.

It froze, and so did she. She locked eyes with it. "I'm not going to hurt you, girl. We're going to get you out of here. We only want to help you," she promised.

The horse stared at her for a couple more seconds and then finally started chewing again. Kahlan smiled as she nodded, and then gently ran her hand down the horse's long nose. "That's a good girl."

When it was done with that handful, Kahlan grabbed as much of the hay as she could and put it on the floor of the corral. When it started eating that, she ran her hand down its neck. "You're a beautiful girl, you know that?" While the animal was in terrible shape, Kahlan could envision how wonderful it must have looked before the harvester got his hands on it.

Rossi came around the wagon with a bucket full of water, and the horse stopped eating and raised her head as she stared at him. He froze because he didn't want to scare it. "Here, you better give it to it."

"It's a girl, and no, you bring it," Kahlan told him as she continued to rub the horse's neck. She looked at it. "This is Dave, and he's a great guy. He will not hurt you," she assured it. "No one here will, I promise."

Rossi smiled at the horse. "I'm just a big teddy bear, really. I wouldn't hurt any animal."

After a few seconds, the horse lowered her head and started eating again, so Rossi took the bucket and placed it beside the hay. It immediately got a drink, and Rossi reached out a slow hand and scratched behind her ears. "See, I'm not so bad."

Kahlan smiled at him.

He nodded. "There's bound to be some place around here that would take her in and help her recuperate," he told her and then decided to go check out the other doors. "Lots of places rescue horses," he added as he went around the wagon.

"Ahhh, Dave. . . I don't think it's a horse," came Kahlan's voice, and the awe in her tone made him turn around with furrowed brows.

And his jaw dropped. Kahlan's hands were frozen, one on the horse's cheek and one on its nose; and she was staring wide-eyed at it because right in the middle of its forehead was a golden horn.