I went to eat and didn't let it bother me. When I had finished my food, Damon stood up and took my plate, and slammed it against the wall. Then he walked out of the kitchen into the living room and picked up a bottle of bourbon and started drinking. I went back upstairs and Adam followed me in. He was in an extremely excited mood and we celebrated in bed with our mating Bond.

Then when I went to breakfast in the morning, Adam had left earlier for his own shower, I saw Damon passed out in the armchair in the living room, several dozen bottles in front of him. Fine. If he wants to get drunk instead of talking or doing something, fine by me. I'm sick of watching that kind of behavior. He woke up as I was gathering breakfast and the others started to come into the kitchen. He wasn't feeling too well but he still didn't say anything. Everyone had already gathered to eat and I was just getting coffee when the doorbell rang. I went to answer it.

The demon was surprisingly fast and strong. He knocked me out of the way and the black wizard that came up behind him glued me to the wall. The demon went into the kitchen and the wizard followed, holding me captive in some kind of stench so I couldn't move.

The demon looked at everyone and said " You were warned. But you have not believed but killed, destroyed, and violated our property, us. Now then, let's use a little harder weapons. You men get to fight in the demon dimension. There time just runs at a slightly different pace so a week here equals a year there. 8 weeks. Eight years you'll fight there. Be our gladiators, and you're not going anywhere. And you, lady. You only get eight weeks in the fight club ship. You fight every day for 18 hours. That's all there is to it. But let's see if you have any men left when they arrive. Look at the gladiators getting the women. We've been taking human women and vampires there for decades, and they don't age. They help your men get in shape, partners, and caregivers. Everything. Think of how they spend 8 years with other women, forgetting all about you. Women who help them, nurture them, love them. Then you've got what's coming to you. You're alone. Completely."

I was completely shocked and couldn't do anything when the demon snapped his fingers and all the men disappeared. Also, the mating bonds between me and Adam and Damon disappeared. The demon looked around for a moment and said " Well you must have somewhere to go back to because I don't think you're in the pack anymore."

The wizard held me in his grasp as the demon came right in front of me and looked at me. I could smell his stinking breath and just wished I could kill this satanic bastard. They took me to the car and threw me in the cage, the car took off and the cage was enchanted so I couldn't get out. I didn't even want to think about how this was going to turn out. The car drove into the harbour and there was a big ship with no name or anything on it.

The wizard held me in place again as more demons came and dragged me onto the ship. I swore to myself that all of these, every single demon would die and help me when I got to these. They took me into the bowels of the ship and I felt the ship shake as it started to move. I was tied to the wall with strong chains.

One man came to look at me and said "I'm Wulfe's brother. Horatio. And you, a flea, are going to make me a lot of money. There are rich people on this ship who like to bet, and I'll give them a chance. But every bet is a different fight. I tend to take suggestions and the bettors tell me how to do it. So as an example, let's say someone wants, to find a bet that you would fight through, let's say drugs. I might agree to that if enough people want it done. Oh my flea, you wouldn't believe how many people want to see you underdog in some way and see how well you do. You'll find out. So 18 hours of fighting, 1 hour of rest and the rest is up to you to prepare for the next time. drugs, metals, and wounds. Whatever anybody wants to be done to you. Oh, one more thing. This is just to fight demons. I have a policy of not taking fear demon, but there may be music playing."

That was the beginning of my torment. I was drugged. With various drugs and making sure I was always under the influence of the drug. Then I was taken into a cage to fight demons, fully drugged. It was such a balance of terror. Keep the rage under control long enough for the drug to kick in. You're drugged, then when you get in the cage, get the fucking rage out while you still can. And start killing. The rage + the drug is not a combination that works and in those fights, I was pretty victorious.

But then the metals. The horror foursome was somewhere to be found. That's Iridium, Rhodium, Cobalt, and Vanadium. Now there was no Salvatore to bind the metals but luckily there was no nitrous silver because then well I probably wouldn't have fought, just begging the demons to make a scene with me. Mimosa and Mirella had a great time advising me. In fact, Mirella started collecting different demon anatomy information and so it was then easier for me to kill when I actually knew where to strike.

For some reason, not everyone was very happy with me. I was metalized up to my eyeballs. I'd had quite a few different drug implants installed, most of which had already broken down. And then after the fight I was always taken to the wall in chains where I was always treated in different ways. One of their favorite things was to put an electric spike collar on me and let it hit me randomly but hard. Then try to build up strength for the next 18 hours.

Oh, I had plenty of use for my rage and my teeth. I ate every demon I could get my hands on and let my vampire side get stronger and more present, so the electricity wasn't quite as bad as they would have hoped. Not thinking about the future, not about men, not about anything but the very immediate moment of what I should do next. Yes, I had tried to escape many times but I never got far. They had some drugs against which even rage didn't really help and a couple of fights and I got a nice collection of different injuries. But one thing I did manage to do.

I smashed the power of that fucking song out of my head. It affected me for quite a while but I persevered, forcing myself to work a little at first and then a little more each time until it was almost an empowering song. I knew I was going to have another challenging recovery and being alone, well actually I wasn't alone.

Mimosa was able to be detached from me for days and Mirella was considering if she would try being detached too. And I had the fleas, magnum, Higgins, Charles. Dresden Constantine. Now I would just have to endure to the end and then move on with life. As Damon said in his wedding vows, eternity is a long time and we'll just have to wait and see if we ever meet again when the ships in the night.

Eight weeks were over. I was pretty damn exhausted and tired when the demons threw me in Florida. fine. Went to a real estate company and bought myself a fully furnished large mansion and went there to recuperate. I called a few fleas to give immediate help and was ready to move on from it myself. I had been in recovery for a week when Charles called and asked if I could come and help.

Apparently, the men had arrived with their wives but they were in bad shape and needed medical attention. Fine, why couldn't I go? After all, I had only put myself together with various bandages and luckily Mirella was able to make quite a few different substances from a molecular stockpile to relieve any symptoms, the men were in the Chicago house.

I went there and was surprised because Damon hadn't taken his wife to the upstairs bedroom. I took my stuff there and went downstairs to the medbay to help Charles. The men, Damon, Adam, Bran, and Samuel were each lying in their own hospital beds and there was a woman sitting next to them stroking and talking. But doing absolutely nothing useful. Fine. I put on my doctor's coat and listened as Charles began to explain.

"Bran has an infection, multiple lacerations, and metal in his blood. He's tired, cranky, can't stand, and restless. Samuel has a bit of the same thing and has even worse sores with some foreign matter in them. Adam has aconitum poisoning, inflammation, and bullets, he's erratic, angry, and can't stand on his feet. Damon. He got holy water, so his vampire side has suffered, so he's not weak but hates being in this condition. Sores, infection, won't let touch, metals, and likes to bite tooth substances when angry enough. I've been trying to help these for a week now and I'm getting tired. If you can help at all. I know you may not want to when you're not part of the pack but." I nodded and said coolly matter-of-factly "Yes I can help where I can. Let's get started then."

Bran first. First things first, I put all the men in chains. Then I said to the women who started whining and feeling sorry for the men " If you don't want to do it yourself then shut up. I'm going to do this the way I see fit. "The women were silent and I heard Damon berate me to his wife completely and vow to divorce me when he got well. I was cleaning and dressing the wounds.

I stitched, and I gave my blood. I was totally focused on medical care. I shut out all my emotions. I walked the men to and from the bathroom. I kept my expression neutral, even though I was hurting like hell when I almost had Damon in my arms. He's a heavy boy trying to get to the bathroom. I wiped after the toilet. I got Damon some human blood because he was now so weak that it was fine for food. If I wanted to put Salvatore to sleep, I gave him my wrist and he couldn't resist. For some reason, he always wanted the kind that wasn't in the cooler and I had to trek all the way to the storage room.

The women did not help at all. They were sneering at their husbands' wounds or the need to wipe after the toilet. They were very subtle and I don't know what in those eight years the men had been through and I didn't care. I'll concentrate on the matter at hand. Damon had a peculiar look on his face after I had once again with Charles' help got everyone's wounds treated, although it then got a spit in the face from the taunts and bites or pinches if I was careless.

I was hungry for blood and I said to Charles "Charles, could I have a little drink from you? Because I'm blood-hungry, I understand, if you don't want to, I have my own supply. " Charles sat down in a comfortable position and said " Come on in and eat. Sit on my lap." Fine. I leaned across Charles' lap so that our pelvises were right up against each other. I wrapped my arms around my victim and sank my teeth in and ate. Very naughty. Mirella had taught me how to eat naughtily so that the victim would be released. Quite a few of the demons lost credibility and life when I got them to come out. They were such easy victims after that. Charles started panting and I could feel the dampness in his pants. I could do this for a very long time.

Oh that I was enjoying myself very much. Charles' blood was like melted chocolate and I could feel it helping me heal too. Damon sipped the A+ human blood and realized how much weaker he was than me. I had noticed for the week I'd been doing men now, how the women didn't let the men actually get stronger. Or wouldn't have if I hadn't intervened.

I drank Damon from my wrist every day until he fell asleep. Day by day the amount and enthusiasm to drink grew. While the wounds and injuries began to heal. I actually did the same thing to all the men when I noticed this effect on Damon. The women got nervous and I heard them talking to each other in the hallway quite often. I knew exactly how good the men's hearing was and left the door open several times.

I didn't care if I got myself in shape or not. I was able to cover up my fucking poor fitness and after three weeks the men were able to move themselves. Now it was time to take care of myself again. I'd secretly taken, painkillers or stockpiled metal binders and was then ready to give myself a chelation treatment when everyone would leave. The men had now been on their feet for three days and I had been slowly gathering myself supplies and familiarizing myself with most schedules. I was still living in the Chicago house and Bran now graciously let me stay even though I was not part of the pack.