We got there and I recognized the Michigan house. I knew it wasn't a very fancy medbay around here. But this one had now made it his life's work to torture me. So much for the good times. I knew that while I was hoping for this, a little separation might be in order. I just wasn't sure how to do it. He carried me off to Medbay and put me in the spiked chains. He had gotten me very small spiked chains so that my skeletal wrist was tightly clasped.

He said " We were in the shed for two months, eight weeks, isn't that quite a long time? Yes, I have strengthened you well." Unbelievable. He tortured me for two months. And then on top of that. I had wounds that had to be cleaned, it was done without painkillers or if he gave me something, it was about the equivalent of human ibuprofen, it didn't help very much.

He paralyzed my voice box so I wouldn't scream so much. I had a diaper on because my bowels were leaking all the time, he had me catheterized but he didn't have to change the bag very often. He gave me dilute nutrient solutions and didn't use his own blood at any time. Just dressing the wounds made them throb for hours. It was as if he had the knowledge and skill to do what needed to be done, but a complete lack of empathy and caring. He was a cold, distant clinician and clearly enjoyed how weak and helpless, and in pain I was.

Then Samuel came to visit with Colin. And Oh how he put on a show, how he tried to fix me when his rage led to him torturing me. But neither Colin nor Samuel believed him. After Samuel and Damon had gone to the other end of the medbay to talk about me, Colin came up to me and said "Damon's not well, is he? Don't worry. We'll get him to Dresden, or actually, Dresden will be here. He'll want to curse you for being infertile, but just keep eating those contraceptives anyway. ' I watched as Colin went behind Damon and quickly took and snapped his neck. Then they carried Damon out of the medbay.

Samuel came up to me and said " First things first, where does it hurt the most? You are very weak and Damon's treatment was already getting on your straps. Luckily we happened to come here when Dresden was asking where you were and I happened to catch up with the Salvatore. Do you believe he first said you were in New Mexico, but Dresden did a trace on the day, so he was a little surprised when we got here? But I have a feeling that you, my lady, are going to get some rest and then I'm going to get right on you. " Samuel walked over to the medicine cabinet and began to curse harshly. He came over to me and said "Little delay, it seems there's no medicine to put you to sleep, but don't worry, I've got some painkillers in the car." Samuel stomped off muttering something.

I was still lying in the restraints, helpless, weak, tired, tortured. And I knew I couldn't punish Damon for this if he got better because he can't always help himself, I just had to keep believing in good times. Samuel finally came back with the syringe and said "This will help with the pain, at least for a couple of hours so I can get you transferred to somewhere where I actually have some medicine."

I was silent for a moment and then I remembered. I said " Well, we have warehouses where they've brought in medicines from the pharmaceutical facilities. One warehouse is about 5 kilometers from this house. Is there anything there?" Samuel rubbed his chin and said. "I'll go and have a look, but now I'm going to give you this medicine, will you suffer trying to sleep or will you have nightmares?" I said, " Take these shackles off my wrists, they hurt too." Samuel lifted the blanket and only then did he see the spiked chains. His eyes were yellow when he looked at me. Then he twisted the chains open and got some bandages from the cupboard and bandaged my wrists. Then he put an injection in my cannula and pressed the plunger. The pain stopped or lessened considerably and I felt how powerless I was. I let my eyes close and fell asleep.

Damon could feel himself returning to normal, or getting a good grip on himself, but he remembered everything he did to Mimi, including the treatment and he knew he had gone too far. Now he couldn't, he had no right to interfere with her care. He didn't say a word, he just went and drove away, on the way he called a couple of women already.

When Samuel came back with the drugs, Colin and Dresden told him how Damon had just driven off. Samuel rolled his eyes. But fine. He'll fix Mimi without Salvatore. He used the drugs and made sure Mimi was under a deep anesthetic, then asked Charles to fly them to Chicago. Now Mimi would rest in the incubator and he and Colin would take care of her alone. Mimosa and Mirella were fine but asleep. Samuel found this interesting, how Damon never wanted to hurt either of those two, just Mimi.

Mimi was kept asleep and slowly but surely Samuel got her better. After six weeks in Chicago, Samuel and Colin knew that now Mimi could safely wake up. There had been no word from Damon, other than a few rumors that Salvatore was in a shagging mood again and the ladies were getting a ride . Samuel wanted so badly to go and shout at Damon but what good would that do, worst-case scenario he would throw the switch again and then Dresden would be back in business.

I woke up in Chicago, I recognized the smell of it already in my dream and it somehow brought a sense of security that I haven't felt since that house no longer exists. I woke up tired and when I opened my eyes, Samuel was sitting in the chair next to me and he said " Do you feel wise now?" I said " Not too wise, tired and weak. Did Damon get well, is he where?" Samuel sighed and looked at the floor and said " As far as I know he's fine, he didn't take care of you at all now. He went to the women. Sorry. "

Oh well. Fine maybe then a little ice age could be in place or at least I keep myself busy enough to not be available. Samuel helped me to the toilet and I weighed 43 kilos. I was a muscle-less whippersnapper and I knew it would be another while before I was an Amazonian again. Samuel said " Magnum came yesterday, he's waiting for you. " That's interesting. So the sergeant major is back to get me in shape again.

And yes, he did again. Recovering with a physiotherapist is not as fun as you might imagine, as this physiotherapist was relentless, overbearing, and bossy, but the results started to show and once I got a good grip on my rage that allowed me to get better, then things started to flow. Magnum left after four weeks. I was fucked and so we had another night with Magnum.

Fucking Salvatore I thought to myself. Adam had come almost as soon as I woke up, but they were having a party with Damon and Adam had a little pussy with him, he had left pretty quickly to go back to the party. I would go to the gigs. First to Europe and then to America. Now I'd kick the shit out of every witch, wizard, and demon. I was so full of rage somehow that I just had to vent.

I left a week after Magnum had fixed me up and I was relentless. I destroyed witches' houses, wizards' nests, and demons' nests. I had a bunch of fleas with me including Jake and we were fucking hard at it. After I had been on the gig for 2 weeks, we had another emergency gig, the sark had been spotted again near one of the facilities and there were suspects to be rescued. I started investigating and Jake went on another gig in the US. After a week of investigation, it was starting to look like a damn good target.

We had satellite images that actually showed targets being taken out of the car on an unconscious stretcher, and transported inside. We had several pictures of the sark, both outside the facility and also inside. We had gone through the facility as thoroughly as we could, and I assembled my team. It consisted of Angela, Katie, Gerard, Tyler, Jim, Billy, Mick, Pamela, Sandra, and Louise. There were more women than men but these women knew their stuff. Jimmy, Billy, and Nick would be the destroyers, Pamela would be our driver, but she'd come along for the ride, Angela, Katie, Geragd, and Tyler would be the movers, and I, Sandra, and Louise would be the saviors.

We had new armor, developed by Magnum and Magnum couldn't come along because he was chasing demons that I had already gotten moving. These would also withstand some kind of hit from the armor-piercing projectile and yet we still had our body armor and other safety gear on. We drove up and rolled around the perimeter. I put six drones in the air and we looked everywhere. We had a new camera that let us see if there was any cover on the roof, there was. I notified our sniper teams that had come in and would be on the lookout the whole time. I dropped bombs that disabled the shelter so that our snipers could kill everybody on the roof.

The destroyers would go out the front and clear the way. Then we went after them and started looking for victims. I started waking up the victims, these were werewolves and shapeshifters. I was forced to work efficiently and quickly because there were a lot of victims and this was a semi-public facility so there would be more guards. I had to keep calm, be articulate and get the victim on their feet as quickly as possible. And of course, make sure the transporter was ready. We probably saved over 200 victims because each of us had to wake up almost a hundred. When the last victim was on the transporters, we started to pull away and that's when they struck.

All of a sudden twenty guards came out of nowhere and Pamela was swearing and saying "Just drove into the yard, that's why there's a lot of people there, and there's more coming, start getting the fuck out of there. " We backed up and the guards were wearing armor and helmets so we couldn't get too many down. I was alone on the eighth floor when I saw Sark. I went after him. I shot Sark in the leg with a big goddamn bullet so I knew he wasn't going to walk right away, but the guards had everything from tasers to sticks so I backed off. I went down seven flights of stairs as fast as I could and out the front door. Then I saw. I was still hiding but every single member of my group had been captured. They were on their knees on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs already.

Now I had a problem. How the fuck do I save my whole group. I knew that if I surrendered it wouldn't do any good, because Sark would torture them to death in front of me. But if Sark's condition was detected, or if I had Sark as a hostage, but before I could do anything, sark stepped into view, fully recovered. his pants were bloody but his legs were intact. Oh fuck, they have healing blood. But would it have time to heal if I hit Sark in the head?

Sark said "I know you're watching and seeing this, I've caught myself some entertainment again. Too bad there's ten of them, they're always running out, don't give in, but look, I'm not going to spare you even if you do, not when I've got a better victim." He snapped his fingers and two guards brought Damon. What the fuck, wasn't this supposed to be about drinking and fucking. Damon was unconscious when the guards put the shit down.

I walked out of my shadow and said " Here I am, what do you want? Let my team go. You've already got Salvatore and you'll probably have me soon." Sark said "Fine I won't do anything with your group but I will give them to Krycheck. He will make them see new dimensions. " Pamela snarled at me sternly " Flea, remember, we've talked about this, now do it. There is no other option. ." Oh fuck. We had a protocol. If someone was getting caught in a Krycek or something, and couldn't be rescued, we talked about if possible, a bullet to the brain, because none of the fleas wanted the whole brainwashing thing, and knew too much, everyone was up for it, but not me. I couldn't kill my team.

But Pamela's voice and the way she reminded me of what was being talked about, you don't give up on that. I was thinking feverishly and I could already see the van pulling into the driveway. I took my gun and fired. I'm a professional and I know how to shoot to kill. I killed my whole group in less than a minute and Sark was upset about it actually. I knew I was doing the right thing for the greater good but these are the names I would carve in guilt.

My little show made everyone panic and I kept shooting and dashing forward and grabbed Damon as Sark bolted I lifted Damon on my shoulders and dashed at vampire speed to the edge of the woods. Then into the car. I took Damon to my French base and had the medics check him through when I went to update the list. Damon was anaesthetised with some sort of implant and I left him in the care of the fleas.

They would then return him to the French castle when he was well. Once again I went carving out names. These came with a little asterisk after them. These would be the ones who had died because of me, or by my hand. I stayed on that trip for two weeks and when I returned I was told that Damon was all right and had gone back to the women soon after his recovery.

So much for the reunion. I decided to take a little break and go to my French vineyard again just to be. After a gig like that, you want to tell someone, to talk, but Damon, well, he'd made his choice. I knew that the fleas had told him roughly what I'd had to do and yet he was picking the women before me. When I'm such a pain in the ass to deal with. So is Adam. He didn't call, didn't contact me either. I don't know if he still had his little pussy or not.

I couldn't tell Jarod because I don't share gig information, and I didn't see the point. I even considered calling Jake and telling him, but he had his own family, and I didn't want to burden everyone. So I developed a new protection for myself, a new thin layer around myself that would help me withstand everything.

That armor is still on me, I haven't given it up no matter how much time has passed, I can't give it up. That armor helps me to withstand everything. It's helped me for decades. What that armor protects, I'll probably never tell anyone.

I was in France for a month and then decided to go back to America. At some point, I might buy a castle again but then it's always pretty expensive and when you're rich you learn to stay rich. Adam at one point had a talk about getting Charles to help me with my finances but Bran blocked it. At least for now, since Charles handles his pack's finances, he doesn't want to burden Charles too much. Not by any means. I'd go around the state and go through my safe deposit boxes, then visit a local farm, or several.

I'd fly to America and the first thing I'd do is go to the Alabama house and drop the girls off. Now we'd buy a car again and go on a tour. First, we went round the house and Mirella had found the house papers somewhere. She said " Did you know that this house has a lot of building rights on it? " I said, "I didn't know, I've never looked at the papers of any house." Mirella was clearly left pondering and she went out for a walk.

I showered and changed, now again I didn't want to be a flea, I wanted to be Mimi and it seemed at times that the two had merged more than I would have liked. It was hard to think why Damon was behaving the way he was. Why he didn't wait, call, or text? The guilt wasn't the only reason. I knew he'd meant every word when he'd said I was a pain to deal with, a pain in the ass, and more of a burden than a wife. Even though I tried. When the things that made me difficult to manage were out of my hands. They were the fault of the pharmaceutical companies, which is probably why I was so pissed off because I couldn't help it.

The shower did the trick and I got dressed. The three of us went car shopping. We had a great time. As there had never been many talking wolves at a car dealership, let's just say we got some attention. And the bright yellow Ferrari that Mimosa chose, was a great car to drive. I'd got the GPS set up and we went for a drive.

I hadn't bothered to say anything to the whole pack. They'd had a party and who knows what they'd had the opportunity to call and get in touch. Samuel had certainly told everyone where I was and what I was doing. But no. Our first farm was a poultry farm. we drove again rather eccentric, in a nice sports car along a gravel road but I didn't mind.