Chapter 121
The skull man walked Hotch up to a thin, human looking man. "Here's some extra help from the primary cage."
The man looked Hotch up and down and then nodded, and the skull man turned to leave. Once he was gone and the door shut behind him, the human looking man sighed. "Muzzled, huh? You eat raw meat or something?"
"No," Hotch told him as he studied him. The man was a little shorter than Hotch and blonde, and he looked to be in his mid-thirties. "I'm a vampire."
The man's eyes grew wide, and then he winced. "And this is just another way to torture you."
Hotch nodded. "I figured."
The man stuck out his hand. "Name's Brady."
"Aaron," Hotch told him as he shook his hand.
The man sighed. "And I know how much this is going to bother you, but I really could use the help," he told him as he gestured to the pile of body parts at the end of a long table. "Besides, if one of them comes back in here and you aren't working, we'll both be punished."
Hotch's brows furrowed. "One of them? You're not part of them?"
Brady immediately shook his head as he grabbed a huge, grey torso and slung it onto the table.
Hotch frowned some more. The man was a lot stronger than his frame suggested.
"No. I'm what you would call a long termer, I guess," he explained as he pushed the torso down the blood slicked table to a furred being who proceeded to push it into a huge grinding machine making Hotch wince. "They captured me a few years ago."
"And what are you?" Hotch asked as Brady leaned down and grabbed two limbs.
"A werewolf."
"And you're down here and not up in the arena?"
The man froze and looked at Hotch. "You know about the arena?"
Hotch sighed as he nodded. "I was up there before being brought down here."
The man huffed and pointed to the pile. "Grab something and send it down to Chewie. I have to go check on the others, but I'll be back."
Hotch looked at the furred being and then back to Brady. "Chewie? Really?"
The man laughed. "I don't know what its name is, none of us can understand the thing. You a Star Wars fan?"
"I know someone who is," Hotch admitted as his heart clenched.
"Yeah, well, start on that pile. God knows how long they'll make you be in here," Brady told him and then walked to the other side of the room where several little beings were scooping up entrails and putting them in pails.
Hotch sighed and moved to the pile. His stomach growled as he stared at the blood covered pieces. And yet, I didn't think I was hungry. He swallowed, took a deep breath, and reached for a yellow and green leg. Just don't focus on it, and you'll be fine, he tried to tell himself, but when he put the leg on the table, a thick, green fluid came out of it onto his hand. He turned his head away because he could tell by the smell of it, that it was the thing's blood. And now I wish I couldn't breathe through this damn thing!
He swallowed down the excess saliva that had flooded his mouth and shoved the leg towards Chewie, and then he reached for another piece. Just do it and get it over with, Hotchner.
XXXXX
"Come on," Chuck told Kahlan. "The little things are down there in the room on the left."
Kahlan nodded as she followed him, but then frowned as she stopped next to a shut door.
"We don't know what's in that one," Willie told her. "We were going to ask the harvester, but we haven't gotten to it."
"Yeah, they were too afraid to open it without knowing what is written on the door," Cam explained as he stopped next to them.
She huffed.
"We were not too afraid, we just can't open it," Christian told her. "It must be spelled."
Kahlan looked at Chuck and Cam. "Did either one of you try it?"
Chuck shook his head. "I couldn't even find a lock to be picked."
She reached for the handle, but suddenly Sebastian appeared in front of her. "There's no telling what's in there."
"But it says what's in there," she told him as she gestured to the symbols on the door.
"You can read that?" Christian asked and then shot a look to the other vampires.
Kahlan sighed. "Yes. It's Old English. You can't read it?"
Sebastian huffed. "Old English? That was even before our time."
She chuckled. "That's true. Sorry, but yes, I can read that and Middle English, too."
"And many others," Rossi put in with a grin.
She looked at the vampires. "So, can I try to open it? Maybe it has barriers against the supernatural like this whole basement had on it."
"What does it say?" Christian asked.
"Basically, 'caution, witch'," she told them.
"A witch could be dangerous, and that doesn't even include what species it may be," Willie told her.
Christian nodded his agreement. "There are many evil witches in the world."
"But we can't just leave it, right?" Chuck asked. "He's starving everything here. How dangerous could it be?"
Sebastian huffed. "Just like some wild animals, things can get even more dangerous when hurt or abused."
Rossi ran a hand down his goatee. "And some get weaker." He looked at the vampires. "Either way, can it hurt you guys?"
Sebastian considered it. "With the state the rest of these beings are in, I would think not, but we can't even open the door."
"What if I open the door, if I can, but you guys go in first?" he suggested.
Willie opened his mouth to volunteer, but Christian put a hand on his shoulder. "I will do it. You have suffered enough with the dead blood."
"Alright, but everyone else needs to move back. I will stay close and shut the door if needed," Sebastian ordered, and the rest of them moved down the hall a little.
XXXXX
When Hotch put the last dismembered piece on the table, he groaned as his stomach rumbled. He had tried just breathing through his mouth like he'd learned to do at crime scenes, but that practice didn't work with being a vampire. He could basically taste the blood with as strong as the smell was, and it was bothering him a lot more than he wanted to admit. He'd also stopped wiping his hands off on his pants because his pants were soon soaked, and it didn't do any good.
As he slid the mangled arm to Chewie, he swallowed and moved away from the table.
Brady came back towards him, and he smiled. "I know that was difficult but thank you. I was hoping we'd get that pile done before they sent more."
"That's not just from today?" Hotch asked as he looked around the room. He didn't think it was because some of the pieces were definitely not fresh.
"No. They only process every couple days."
Hotch studied the gore covered man. "How do you know how difficult that was for me?"
Brady frowned. "You don't know what werewolves eat?" he asked, but he could tell from Hotch's look that he didn't. He sighed. "Our food comes from here because we eat raw meat when we can get it."
"They torture you in here, too?"
Brady shrugged. "In the beginning, it was torture. I think they try it with any that it will bother. Course, that was before they found out that I wouldn't be any good to them."
Hotch's look asked for an explanation.
Brady gestured for Hotch to follow him. "I am a werewolf, and they somehow found that out, and they captured me like they captured all of us, but what they didn't know is that I had been cursed by a voodoo priestess. I can't turn."
Hotch stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Cursed? You mean she cured you?" he asked as his mind raced.
Brady held up his hand as he shook his head. "Not like you're thinking." He winced. "I. . . well, the wolf version of me killed her grandson, and she got her revenge on me, by cursing me. I'm still a werewolf in every sense of the word, except I can't change into the wolf anymore. I get to spend the three-day moon cycle suffering the worse pain you can imagine as payback for my crime."
Hotch's eyes narrowed as he studied him. "So they brought you here expecting you to be a real hit in the arena, but you can't even fight like they want."
Brady cringed, "Yep. I tried to tell them, but they wouldn't believe me. Stuck me in the arena with a huge lava monster. I was sure it was going to kill me, but I dropped to the ground screaming when the pain hit, and it freaked out and wouldn't touch me." He huffed. "Then they believed me and stuck me back in a cage. After the second set of three days, I found out that they were either going to let something kill me and then process me, or they were going to send me to the pits as a worker."
He paused in his story as he started grabbing the full pails and putting them on a cart, and Hotch helped him. Brady smirked. "Course, it's obvious which one they did."
"Yes, because they couldn't just let you go," Hotch added sarcastically.
Brady laughed. "No, they would never consider that." He shrugged again. "It's not so bad. I run this room, get to eat when I want, get to make sure the beings in here with me are treated decently, and they pretty much leave us alone."
Hotch's stomach rumbled again as he bent over to grab more pails, and his cheeks heated.
Brady reached into the next pail, pulled all the guts out of it, stuffed them into other pails, and then handed Hotch the pail.
Hotch took it as his eyes narrowed. "What's this for?"
Brady huffed. "Do you not know what vampires eat, either?"
Hotch investigated the pail. All that was left in it was the blood that had drained out of the guts, and his hunger pangs doubled. "Yes. I know, and I do drink blood, and you making me hold this is just torturing me more. Will you take it back, please?"
"Oh, yeah, I forgot you can't take that damn muzzle off. Sorry," Brady told him as he took the pail back and sat it on the floor, and Hotch sighed and slurped back the drool in his mouth. Brady reached towards Hotch's face. "It has been a while since anyone new has been brought in, but I can take it off you."
Hotch backed up a step. "You can? Are you sure about that? That skull guy said it would peel my face off with it."
Brady nodded. "Yes, but that's only if you try to take it off yourself. Anyone else can, and as long as you got it back on before someone comes in here, no one will know."
"Why would you help me? You could get in trouble if we get caught."
Brady huffed. "Then we get caught, so what? What would they do, torture us some more? Kill us and release us from this hell?"
Hotch studied him some more. "But that still didn't answer why."
Brady looked towards the fur covered being. "Cause he did it for me. I was so weak from starvation that I couldn't even hardly stand when they brought me in here the first time, but Chewie took my muzzle off and let me eat my fill."
XXXXX
With his hand on the door handle, Rossi looked at Christian. The vampire took a deep breath and nodded, and Rossi's thumb pushed down on the latch. It moved with ease. Once he was sure it would open, he pulled the door open in a rush and stayed behind it allowing Christian full access.
Before Christian could even figure out what was in the dark, little room, he was blown back against the wall as a flash of bright light erupted out of the darkness.
"Damn it!" Sebastian yelled as he moved to shut the door, but Rossi stopped him with a hand.
"Wait!" the profiler yelled as he looked in the room. He'd caught a glimpse of what was in there before the darkness descended again.
"What?! That door needs to be. . ." Sebastian started as he yanked the door away from Rossi.
"I'm so sorry," came a small voice from the room. "I thought it was. . ." and then something hit the floor.
Rossi grabbed Sebastian's shirt. "It's just an old woman!"
Willie rushed to Christian not caring about another attack from the witch. "Are you alright?"
Christian nodded as he stood up. "Yes. It was just air."
By then, the rest of the humans had made their way to the doorway, and Chuck lit up the little room with his flashlight.
As soon as Kahlan and Cam saw a little, gray-haired woman on the floor in a heap, they ran to her.
"It may be a trick!" Sebastian warned them.
That made Kahlan pause, but Cam ignored him and went to the woman's side. "Are you alright?" he asked in a gentle tone as he helped her into a sitting position.
She wiped her face as she nodded. "Yes, child," she squeaked and then looked at Christian. "I. . ." She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry! I thought you were the harvester. I have been saving that up since the last time that door was opened."
Christian dusted himself off and studied her. "I'm quite alright."
She nodded. "It probably wouldn't have hurt him either, really, but that was all I had." She slumped back against the wall and looked at the others around her.
When she looked at Kahlan, Kahlan's breath caught in her throat. The area around the old woman's eyes, her fingertips, and her lips were black; the skin on her face was cracked and peeling as if it was made of antique porcelain; and her eyes were such a light green that they were almost white. Kahlan swallowed and then looked at the vampires.
Sebastian went into the room and held out a bottle of water to the woman. "I see he has starved you, too."
Cam took the water bottle, opened it, and held it up to her face. She drank greedily for a few seconds and then nodded. After wiping her mouth off, she gave him a small smile. "Thank you, child."
She took a deep breath and then looked at Sebastian. "Have I been a prisoner so long that vampires and humans working together is the new normal, or has the world gotten so bad that you have to team up against something even more sinister?"
"That depends, how long have you been here?" Christian asked.
She rolled her eyes. "You expect somebody my age to be able to keep track of time? All I know is it seems like forever. What year is it?"
Rossi told her, and she sighed as a tear fell down the side of her cheek. "Too long. Much too long."
Rossi walked up to her and knelt down in front of her as he held out one of Chuck's protein bars. "You can have this. It should tide you over until we can get some real food."
The old lady stared into his eyes for a few moments and then smiled. "Your nonna would be proud of you, David Michael."
Rossi leaned back as his eyes narrowed. "My nonna?"
The woman laughed and took the bar. She tried to open it, but the wrapper was too tough for her knobby fingers. Cam reached for it, but the woman held it out to Kahlan. "Would you open it for me, sister, please?"
Kahlan mentally frowned, but nodded and took the bar, opened it, and then handed it back to her.
Christian shot a look to Sebastian, and they both disliked it.
The woman's arm barely lifted off her lap from apparent weakness, so Kahlan moved the bar closer.
Willie, who was watching everything very carefully, stiffened as Kahlan moved closer to the witch.
She put the bar in the wrinkled hand, and the woman's decrepit fingers wrapped around her wrist. The sudden move made both Willie and Chuck suck in a quick air as the witch leaned closer to Kahlan.
