Chapter 15

Catherine smiles as she feels Vincent spoon up behind her, wrapping his strong arm around her waist and nuzzling the back of her neck, his scruff tickling her awake. She turns around in his arms, pressing herself against the ever obvious sign of his desire for her. He kisses her gently, lips barely brushing each other. "Catherine" she hears him say quietly and breathlessly as Vincent's voice fades away…"Vincent!" Catherine cries out as she wakes up. She is alone.

Vincent smiles as he feels Catherine scoot her bottom up against him. She wriggles into his embrace and he tightens his arms around her. "Good Morning," he says as she burrows even deeper into his arms. He lifts her hair and kisses the back of her neck. She moans, pushing back even more against him. He lifts her top leg and slides his between them. He runs his hand along the inside of her thigh, finding her wet as she pushes against his hand. "Vincent" she breathes his name. He lifts her leg even wider as he enters her from behind. He groans, "Catherine…" He wakes up, he is alone.

Catherine and Vincent are both pacing in their cells as Maxim watches on the monitors, he could tell that they each were having erotic dreams right before they woke up. They are both frustrated and clearly agitated. "Well! No time like the present, let's get things started."

Vincent is tranquilized and moved out of his cell. He is shackled to a post in the middle of the lab; the area around the post is clear of anything as far as his chain will allow him to move. Tess, JT and Gabe all have a good view of what is going on. JT is looking at Vincent who is slouched at the base of the post while the tranq wears off. He has pads and wires on him, probably to record his vitals. Vincent also has a band around his bicep; JT can't tell what it is for….What in the hell are they going to do to him? He wonders.

Maxim comes to collect Catherine.

"I am sure you are impatient to begin the testing so first up we need to establish a base line for Vincent. So for right now, we are going to let you see him. You will be able to touch him and talk to him. Keep in mind that we still have your friends and if you do not cooperate, I will kill them."

Vincent is awake when Catherine is brought into the room. He quickly looks her over from head to toe; she appears unhurt even as her heart is racing. He closes his eyes, God he missed the sound of her heartbeat. As he opens them Catherine is staring at him checking him over as aggressively as he had her. She notices the wires and the cuff and the shackles.

"Vincent" she breaks free of the men behind her and runs up to him.

"Hey, Catherine, I am ok", there is enough slack in the chains that he puts his arms around her. "I am fine."

The men leave the room…..

Catherine pulls back, "Oh Vincent are you sure your OK, what is all this" She runs her hands over him checking again to make sure that he is unhurt.

"They are recording and measuring my vitals, and probably my reaction to you."

They take a moment to just look at each other. Vincent cups her face in his hand. There is so much they want to say, but they know Maxim is listening and recording. They both try and tell each other how much they love one another without saying a word.

Catherine's heart rate slows as does Vincent's. Vincent puts his forehead against Catherine's, and at the same time they take deep breathes and say "We are going to get out of this"

This causes them to smile and Vincent kisses her, he lifts his head and nods at JT and Tess, "All of us." Catherine turns to look at Tess and then back to Vincent. "All of us," she echoes.

Not really sure what she is supposed to do, Catherine fills Vincent in on what Maxim told her yesterday.

"So it's me against Beasts, and mind controlled beasts and to see how you react to a female beast with and without me around. I am not sure what good this is all going to do them, how can they tell if it's my DNA or a Pheromone thing or something in my brain chemistry unless they dissect me afterward. Oh shit!" Catherine looks at Vincent.

"That would make sense, there is no way they can just let me go after all this, they can't let any of us go can they?" Catherine continued the thought.

Vincent was trying to remain calm, " I am not going to let that happen, we will get out of here, I just need some time to figure out how. We…." Vincent stopped when he remembered they were being monitored.

He gathered Catherine close and whispered in her ear. "Act like I am seducing you….Catherine moaned and cradled Vincent's head with her hand keeping him at her ear.

"We have to figure out how to get control of the command center before they can kill JT and Tess," he whispered "So play along with what they want for now, but look for an opening, you are the one they are going to be moving back and forth it's going to have to be you." Vincent kissed her ear, sending shivers down her spine as he pulled back from her.

Catherine grabbed Vincent's head and pulled him to her, placing her mouth against his ear. Vincent growled and tightened his arms around her. "Ok, I will, but be ready for anything, I am scared of these tests Vincent, what if I fail you?" Catherine pulled back looking at him.

"I trust you, we can get through this, remember we…"

"Are stronger together…..when we get out of this, we are getting matching tattoos!"

Catherine stepped out of Vincent's arms to look around the lab. "How far can you reach?"

Vincent stood up and walked as far as his chains would allow, "About 8ft in a circle."

They were startled by a voice over an intercom…. "Now that you have gotten reacquainted lets begin."

Vincent and Catherine looked at each other….A click was heard coming from the ring around Vincent's bicep and Vincent felt the burning sensation of being injected.

"Catherine" was all he got out before the change was on him. He went from Vincent to Beast in the blink of an eye.

Catherine had recognized the tone in his voice and had stepped back just outside the reach of the chain. She watched fascinated as Vincent roared and pulled on his chains, he lifted his head as he scented her and before she could breathe he was right in front of her.

He was magnificent…..powerful, beautiful and really pissed off. Catherine did not know what they had done to him, but obviously they and turned him beast. He was straining at the end of his chain to get to her. She stood there unafraid of him.

She was surprised that she was not afraid considering last time she was this close to his beast, it was the night he had kidnapped her and had pushed her down. Catherine recognized the difference in Vincent now. Even though he was beast, she knew he would not hurt her because he loved her. Before when he had pushed her, he did not know her, even though he was trying for her sake. But now he loved her and she felt no fear.

"It's OK Vincent…. I am right here….. Come back to me….. I need you here with me….. I love you Vincent…"

Catherine put her hand against Vincent's cheek as she kept repeating those words. Vincent snarled yet turned his head into her palm.

She could see in his eyes the battle he was waging to regain control. He was fighting hard against whatever they had done to him. His breathing ragged, chest heaving, claws' clenching so hard, blood was starting to show between his knuckles.

She placed her other hand on the other side of his face and held him there.

"I love you Vincent Keller…..Come back to me….I can't do this without you….."

Vincent dropped his head and with one deep breath, the beast was gone and Vincent slumped to the ground exhausted. Catherine went down with him wrapped in her arms. She held him there, rocking him back and forth.

"You did it! I knew you could do it."

So faint she could barely hear him, he whispered "No you did it Catherine, it's always been you."

The lab doors slid open and Vincent shot to his feet his beast easily taking over to protect its mate. He snarled at the men coming in, he automatically shifted Catherine behind him. They shot him with tranq darts without saying a word and as he went down the last thing he saw was Catherine being pulled away from him.

Catherine struggled against the men pulling her from Vincent. "You didn't have to do that, he would have gone willingly"

The men held Catherine there as the others got Vincent back into his cell. As the ones holding her turned to leave, she begged them. "Please let me stay until he wakes up, I just need to be sure he is alright." They ignored her pleas as they dragged her out of the room and back to her own cell.

Maxim was pleased with the results of the first test. Catherine obviously could get through to Vincent even in the middle of an adrenalin enhanced change. The next question is would she be able to get through to a stranger as well. Or was it something special between them. He would have his answer to that this afternoon.

Vincent woke up, with a hell of a headache; being first injected with adrenalin and then tranquilized will have the effect on a person. He looked up to find JT staring at him a questioning look on his face.

"I'm OK Man or at least I will be." Vincent waved off JT's concern. He looked past JT to Tess who looked like she had been crying….That was something he thought he would never see. He nodded his head toward her and mouthed, Catherine?

Tess shrugged her shoulders and again pointed to the door.

Vincent sat there trying to work out a solution to their current situation that did not end up getting his friends killed. He'd had no chance to do anything when they let him out of the cage with as much tranq as they were hitting him with each time they moved him. It was going to be up to Catherine to get them out of these cages.

His heart hurt thinking of her, she was so brave, standing up to his beast, even reaching out to him, loving him, showing no fear at all when the last time she had been that close he'd shoved her down. Just thinking about that makes him sick to his stomach. His greatest fear was not these tests they wanted them to perform, but that Maxim would repeat the mind wiping from the last time he was their captive. Knowing what Catherine had gone through what he put her through last time he could not remember, no way could he face that again. He would rather be put down than hurt her again.

Vincent remembered the promise Catherine had made him make, to not let them be separated, to kill her if it looked like the bad guys were going to win. Vincent was determined that would be one promise he would not keep; they were going to get out of this, together.

Catherine has just eaten some lunch when Maxim came to see her.

"Marvelous job this morning, your control over Vincent is extraordinary!"

Catherine thought to herself that it was Vincent's control that was amazing, but if Maxim wanted to believe it was her, more power to him…

"This afternoon we shall see if you can exert the same control over a beast that has been injected with Sam's mind control serum. If, you've finished with your lunch?" He held his hand out to indicate Catherine should follow him.

Catherine bravely stood up and said, "Ready when you are!"

She was led back into the lab, she sighed in relief looking at Vincent in his cell, and he was ok. Vincent, JT, Tess and even Gabe were pressed up against the walls of their respective cells in order to watch.

A man she did not know was now in Vincent's spot chained to the post in the middle of the room. Maxim led her over to him.

"Catherine this is Ian. Ian this is Catherine. Ian I want you to kill Catherine"

They looked at each other. Catherine had no idea what to say to him, "Hi please don't kill me?" Seemed kind of lame.

Maxim left Catherine standing there and she turned to look at Vincent, she smiled at him and then everything happened at once and in slow motion. She heard a click and Vincent's eye grew wide….. he yelled, slamming his fists against the glass…. at the same time she turned and was staring into the yellow eyes of a beast.

Before she could move he had grabbed her, claws digging into her arms. He snarled at her and picked her up over his head and slammed her on the ground.

Catherine could not hear or see him, but Vincent was going wild inside his cell throwing himself against the glass trying to get to her.

Catherine saw stars when her head hit the ground and then the beast was on her. She fought him, getting her legs underneath him, she kicked him off of her, she scrambled back quickly getting out of the range of his chain, He kept leaping toward her and growling at her.

Catherine sat a minute and took stock. Her arms were bleeding but nothing bad, her head hurt but again nothing bad. She looked up at Vincent to see him pressed up against the glass, panting.

She put her hand on her heart and said "I'm OK Vincent, hurt but OK, please stop hurting yourself."

Ian/Beast was straining on the edge of his leash to get at Catherine. She stood and faced him. She did not know what to say to him, she couldn't use the same words she had with Vincent; those were spoken from her heart.

"Hey there it's going to be ok," she tried with her hands raised up out in front of her.

"Settle down now, you don't really want to hurt anyone do you?"

She racked her brain trying to think what she could say….

"There there nice beastie."

This was not working. She turned to look at Vincent but he could not communicate with her, his focus was all on her. She looked over at Maxim.

"I am not sure what you think I can do, but I clearly have no effect on him."

Maxim nodded and the security force tranq'd Ian and took him away.

"Well that did not go as planned; I was really expecting you to be able to reach him. Let's see what happens with a beast that is not under mind control."

"Now? How about a bit of a break. I have to pee!"

"Fine, I'll have Carson take you back to your room, I will come for you in little while."

Maxim gestured to one of the guards and he came over to take Catherine back to her room.

"Wait, I want to talk to Vincent first!"

"Sorry not right now, maybe later" Maxim nodded his head at Carson in dismissal.

Catherine looked back at Vincent; he was watching her as well. They locked eyes on each other for as long as they could.

Carson did not say anything to her until just before she got to her room.

"You were very brave in there, just keep it up."

"Thank You" she said as the door slide shut, locking her in.

Catherine went to the small sink and cleaned up her wounds as best she could given her lack of resources. She sat on the bed, lost in thought. Her thoughts raged between concern for Vincent and her friends, to anger at being forced to be Maxim's guinea pig, and concern that when all this is over, they will all disappear just like Rebecca and Lucas.

I wonder if this is how Rebecca felt once they had caught Lucas in NY, even with everything that was going on, she missed Rebecca's journal and was desperate to know what happened to them.

Vincent, he must be almost insane with worry by now. They way he had been throwing himself at the walls of his cage; he was going to get hurt. That was why she wanted to talk to him before she left. He needed to trust her, she was strong enough to get through this, she just wished she knew how they were going to get out of this!

Carson reappeared to take Catherine back to the main lab. "I'm sorry you have to go through this, but it is for the greater good."

"That is not the way I see it, you seem like a good person, how can you work for someone like Maxim? Can't you see what he is doing, we never did anything to him, and all we wanted was to be left alone. Hasn't Vincent suffered enough?"

"Your concerned about Vincent, about a beast more than you are about yourself?" Carson questioned.

"Of course, I love him, how could I not?"

Carson looked like he had more to say, but they had arrived at the main lab.

As Catherine entered, her first look was to Vincent. He did not look any better, still pressed up against the wall of his cell, still staring at her as if he could protect her through his sheer force of will. She smiled at him to let him know that she was fine.

"I can do this" she said to him, hoping that while he could not hear her, he could understand her. "Trust me."

Carson noticed this exchange, as he took Catherine over to Maxim.

"Now let's see how you do against a Beast who has not been injected with mind control serum." Maxim pointed over to the pole, and it was only then that Catherine noticed that Gabe was the one chained up, with a cuff on his arm.

Catherine was smart enough this time to stay out of range of Gabe. She looked at him.

"I'm sorry" she said. "Sorry that you ended up here, sorry that I hurt you. It was never my intention, but I hurt you anyway and I am so sorry for that. Whatever happens, I am sorry Gabe."

Gabe stared back at her, then up a Vincent.

He smiled back at Catherine, "Don't be sorry, I never loved you, I was just using you to get what I wanted, and that led me here, so Karma is a bitch, but her name is not Catherine."

She smiled at that, she would always remember his sense of humor. "You did help me and you were there for me when I needed someone, so even if it was not genuine on your part, you helped me get through…."

That was all she got out, before she heard the click and Gabe was no longer standing in front of her, but his Beast was.

She knew better this time what to say to him, she knew Gabe and thought maybe their connection would help him regain control, but it did not matter what she said or did, he remained in Beast form.

Maxim was not happy. He was positive there was something about the treatment she'd received as a child that gave her control over beasts. So far that hypothesis was not being born out. Vincent was the only beast she could exert control over. Tomorrow he would test his theory about Vincent and see how he did with female beasts.

Maxim as promised let Vincent and Catherine have a few moments together, before he took her back to her cell. As he left her in Vincent's cell he reminded them that he could hear every word and advised Carson to take her back to her cell in 15 min.

As soon as the cell door slid open, Catherine was swept up in Vincent's arms. They held each other for a few minutes, and then Vincent pulled back and checked her over.

"Vincent I am fine, please don't waste this time being a doctor."

She grabbed his face and kissed him. He kissed her back like it might be the last time. They were both very aware of the fact that it might be.

Carson watched Catherine and Vincent and if anyone had been looking, they would have noticed extra moisture in his eyes.

Vincent wanted to talk to Catherine but he was finding it difficult to stop kissing her. He pushed back from her, took her by the hand and sat down on the bed keeping her right next to him. He put his arm around her and she snuggled into him as he lay down.

"I just need to hold you for a minute,"

Vincent I really am Ok, I can do this, whatever Maxim wants he is not going to hurt me, he needs me."

"You might be Ok, but I am not. Watching that beast grab you and pick you up, toss you like you were nothing, it just about killed me. You might be strong enough for this, but I am not sure I am." He tightened his arms around her. "Catherine I could not live if anything happened to you, I wouldn't want to."

Despite everything that was going on, Catherine smiled thinking of the last time Vincent said those words, back when Murfield was all they were worried about, having no idea just how big all of this was.

She turned in his arms put her face into his neck and whispered to him. "I would not want to live without you either, we are going to get through this, and we just need time to figure out how. Tomorrow is another day."

Vincent kissed her passionately, not caring that they were being watched and forgetting that JT was right next door. She responded to his kiss, poured all her fears and her worries into the kiss and let Vincent consume her and take them away.

Too soon the cell door slid open and Carson stood outside.

"I'm sorry Catherine it's time to go."

Catherine and Vincent stood up and embraced one last time. Vincent kissed her again, "Good night, sweet dreams."

"Good night, I love you," Catherine said to him as she walked out with Carson.

Vincent watched as Carson led her away, even after they had left the lab, Vincent stood still staring at the last place he had seen her.