Bleeding Nights

Selwyn stirred from his forced slumber with a heartfelt groan of discomfort and opened his eyes to blearily stare at the stone walls and ceiling that made up his new cage. ‘Nothing terribly new then,’ he thought and gave a wince when he sat up, apparently there was not a single muscle group that had been spared abuse in last night’s fight with Kazan; nor, it seemed had any of his bones been left untouched though luckily it seemed only a few had been broken. However, it also seemed that everything had been properly set while he was out of it and his body should heal correctly if he didn’t do anything stupid. He blinked slowly as his mind registered the comfortable pile of quilts and blankets that he was sitting on which explained why he hadn’t felt the cold stone pressing into his back. He also noted that while he wore a silver collar about his neck he was not chained to either the floor or wall behind him,which was a vast improvement over his last cage. In fact the only thing that was consistent with previous experiences of being captured was that he was clad only in his loose black jeans and socks.

“Ah, you’re awake, that’s good,” a cheerful voice said from the corner opposite himself that caused him to flinch in fright and then growl at the intruder that he hadn’t sensed until now. Unfortunately the sudden movement jarred his still healing bones, and he had to clench his teeth to keep from voicing the hiss of pain that he wanted to make; however, he didn’t dare allow himself such a luxury in front of this complete stranger, after all that would be admitting to a weakness.

He turned blue eyes onto the male as he slowly stood up and noted the friendly smile and calming aura he extruded. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” he demanded as the other carefully stepped closer to him.

“Name’s Finn, and I’m here to make sure that you’re mending right as well as to make sure you feed…after all you’ve been out of it for a day and a half,” the words were brusque but still calming as he extended a warm packet of blood to the hybrid.

Selwyn eyed the packet with a private distaste that was left over from when he had been a simple wolf shifter and thought of turning it down. Of course his clenched gut reminded him that he had not fed since returning to Cascade and he grabbed the offering without so much as a thank you and bit into it. As always the first taste of human blood on his tongue made him feel sick, but of the initial nausea it was more addictive than the finest weed or alcohol and he felt one half of his animal instincts subside to a muffled whisper. Once the packet of completely drained his lupine senses and desires pushed the vampiric ones to back of his mind and cemented themselves into the forefront. Now that he was sensing and thinking clearly once more he stared at Finn with softly glowing eyes, “You’re a Healer,” he accused mildly.

Finn gave a slight smile and shrugged, “More or less, though I do other things for Lord Ancel as well.”

“What kind of things?” the suspicion was thick in his tone and he did not bother to hide it as he stared at the other with more wariness than he had displayed previously.

“Not the kind of things you’re thinking about,” Finn countered, his even tone did not even falter in the face of Selwyn’s renewed hostility, “For the main part I cook and handle his daily schedule as well as assign tasks to the servants and pets given into my care.”


Selwyn blinked tiredly and turned away from Finn to gaze at the wall, even never ending boredom was better than the company of someone who seemed so content with his lot in life. “Go away, I ate so you can leave now,” his growl lacked the heat it would have held if it had been directed towards Ancel or Kazan. There was no point in taking out his aggressions on someone who so obviously did not know any other kind of life but the one he was currently leading, rather he should rail against the creature responsible for his current situation.

“I can’t do that until I’ve checked your ribs, ankle, and wrist to make sure they’re healing properly and on schedule,” it was the first time since meeting Finn that a note of steel had crept into his words.

Selwyn narrowed his eyes into a glare and curled his upper lips to reveal his sharp canines, his vampire fangs had retracted the moment after he’d finished feeding and the eight dagger sharp teeth he bared now where the ones he was born with. He allowed a low rumbling growl to start in the depths of his throat to emphasis his silent threat and bunched his muscles accordingly should the other not get the hint he wanted to be left alone.

Finn merely raised his eyebrows and waited with a pointed stare fixed on Selwyn’s splinted right wrist, before he moved said stare to include his bandaged ribs and left ankle. ‘Come on, I can’t and won’t leave until I make sure you are indeed healing without complications and I’m sure that your injuries hurt,’ he directed the thought at the hybrid who was doing his best to be the most stubborn patient the Healer had ever had. Not that he was succeeding since Finn had to deal with Kazan whenever he managed to get hurt by someone other than Lord Ancel, and he also sometimes tended the master vampire whenever he decided to get into a physical fight with his sire.

Of course Selwyn remained absolutely still and refused to budge on his stand of just wanting the other to go away without touching him. He hated being touched particularly when he was hurt, as a matter of fact there were only three beings that could actually touch him without bringing out an unfavorable reaction and none of them were in Ancel’s mansion. He really hoped that none of them where hurt because of him, he did not need that on his conscious and since they cared for him he worried about their well being.

“Look, if you don’t cooperate with me then I have to get Kazan in here to hold you still and I doubt that you want that,” Finn’s patience with the youngling had evaporated since he had other duties to attend to and did not have all night to play around with his reluctant patient. He felt a small twinge of regret when Selwyn flinched violently and looked scared for a heartbeat before fixing his glare back in place, the twinge went away when the hybrid then uncurled and extended his broken wrist to be examined first. ‘I am sorry, but you made me do that,’ he both apologized for and defended his words silently as he carefully removed the splint and tenderly probed the wrist to make sure it was still set right. He gave a silent sigh when his probing revealed a slowly healing break and produced a nearly noiseless pain filled whimper. He then splinted the wrist again and moved his attention to the sprained ankle, which was still swollen and bruised though not as badly as it had been at first. Once the ribs were examined and bandaged again he turned and left the comfortable cell, and made sure to lock and bolt the door after himself since it would be bad to accidentally let Lord Ancel’s newest acquisition get loose.

Selwyn turned onto his back and returned to his bored hobby of examining the ceiling while his worries and fears ran rampant throughout his mind.

Miska regained consciousness slowly and brought a hand up to her head which throbbed like she had had it slammed into a brick wall, she pulled said hand away when she encountered something slightly sticky but for the most part crusty. She stared at the dried blood on her fingers and nearly growled aloud when she remembered being ambushed by that mutt bastard Kazan a night or two ago…no not only Kazan, a mage as well which explained why she’d been out of it for so long. Now the question was where was she exactly?

“Oh, good you’re awake,” Gavin’s voice said from the shadows of the doorway where he stood, his amber eyes were showing all the concern that his face did not and it worried her.

“What happened?” she demanded and carefully stood up, making sure to balance herself against to wall so she would not fall down.

Gavin gave a deep sigh and shook his head slowly to say he was not quite sure himself. “Apparently Lord Ancel wanted to see Selwyn more badly than we reckoned on,” he admitted softly and nodded his head to where a snow leopard curled in a corner.

“Bronwren,” Miska breathed and crossed to check on her mate, to her relief the other female was merely sleeping deeply, most likely because of that energy mage that had siphoned off all of her own stamina. Of course this did not answer where they were or where Selwyn was and she looked up at Gavin inquisitively.

He sighed and ran a hand through his messed up hair, and the movement drew the shifter’s attention to the vivid bruises on his wrists and his throat. “Evidently he wanted to see the rest of us as well,” he gave an ironic chuckle and shook his head to emphasis his self-annoyance before he stepped fully into the room and sank against the wall. Now that he was no longer blocking the opening Miska could see into the room beyond and noted the large bed and wardrobe as well as a desk and high backed chair, definitely not one of the cells or pet rooms at the mansion.

”Nice of him to put us in guest rooms” Bronwren’s mental voice sounded exhausted as she stirred on the luxurious carpet and opened cobalt colored eyes to stare at her mate and Gavin. She gave a stretch and shifted into her human form, her black hair fell in waves and curls to the middle of her back and her skin was nearly as pale as the vampire’s. “So just why are we being treated like guests and where is my cub?” she asked coolly as she swept her hair out of her face.

“You might want to change that to unwilling guests,” Gavin informed her caustically and indicated the locked window cages, “ Since the windows and doors, except for the one connecting the rooms, are locked.” His eyes were slowly bleeding to red but they stopped halfway and changed back into his usual amber with the soft back glow.

“OK, the question still remains: why aren’t we in a cell or pet’s quarters and where is Selwyn?” Miska spoke up, her tone nearly as caustic as his. Bronwren had gone silent again and was simply watching the two interact, fighting off an inappropriate smile of amusement.

He refused to look at either female, “Well he can’t exactly lock his baby brother in cell…no matter how much he might want to at the moment,” he muttered resentfully and touched a hand to a particular bite shaped bruise on the side of his neck.

Bronwren did not even blink at the confession, she’d already known since she had spent the better part of her life vampire researching…though they called it stalking. Of course she found it horribly amusing that almost no one else knew this little bit of information, not even the council’s hunters had any idea that Ancel and Gavin had the same sire, come to think of it she did not think that anyone knew Gavin was technically a Lord despite living in his brother’s territory, she shrugged to herself and returned her attention to Miska. Her poor mate looked stunned and was speechless as she stared at her long time friend and part time enemy, she had never questioned why Gavin had been able to rule the small amount of territory inside of Ancel’s without major repercussions and now it made terrible sense.

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” she asked feeling slightly betrayed, after all he knew almost everything about her.

He looked sadly at her before returning his gaze to the wall, “Because you hate Ancel—not that I blame you—and I rather thought that if you found out that you’d hate me too,” the answer was flat and anyone else would have thought it was unemotional as well; however, both females heard the note of sorrow and worry that they would reject him.

Miska rubbed a hand on the back of her neck sheepishly, “Yeah I guess that you would worry about that,” she admitted quietly before her voice hardened, “But it is an unnecessary worry since I like you and it doesn’t matter who your brother is and if I hate him.” She smiled after informing him of this and Bronwren nodded her approval, she didn’t hate Ancel the way her mate did after all.

Gavin looked relieved and was about to answer when the outer door unlocked and Kazan stepped into the room. “Ah, it’s so sweet that the three of you made up,” he sneered in a way that showed off his teeth, “Your brother wants to see you, Lord Gavin,” he made sure to put mocking emphasis on the young vampire’s title.

“What for?” he demanded with a growl and sneer of his own even as he stood up to comply with the summons, after all he was sure he would manage to piss off his older brother as soon as they began talking so there was no need to start now.

The large Werewolf shrugged broad shoulders, “How should I know?” he asked in bored indifference as he ushered the slighter male out of the rooms and locked the door on the females once more. “All he said was to bring you.”

Gavin remained silent all the way to Ancel’s study where he hesitated just outside the door as Kazan knocked calmly on the thick oak door. He did not want to see his brother after the other nights events and he was sure that Ancel merely wanted to see him so that he could inform him of just how pissed off he was at the fact that he’d granted Selwyn Sanctuary even if had only been for one night. He was dimly aware of Ancel granting permission for them to enter and Kazan shoving him none too gently into the room.

What he was aware of was Ancel looking up from his book to pin the two males with his odd colored eyes, “Thank you Kazan, leave so I can talk to my baby brother alone,” he said coldly as he marked his place in his book and closed it.

“Of course Master,” Kazan answered calmly before giving a brief bow and backing out of the room, unwilling to expose his unprotected back to Ancel when he was in this sort of mood. He closed the door behind him and made tracks to the garden where he could bask in the quiet and be out of the way of any stray rage.

Ancel stood from his chair abruptly, ignoring the way it made Gavin flinch, and stalked to the door to lock it so he would not be disturbed…not that any of the servants or pets would go any where near the study when they could all feel the type of mood he was in. “I don’t suppose you want to tell me what you thought you were doing?” the demand came across as calm and that scared the younger vampire more than any yelling would have. After all when waves of fury were rolling off of the master vampire it simply was not right for his voice to be so tranquil.

“I was not aware you were so eager to examine Selwyn, Brother,” Gavin’s excuse was feeble and he knew it also wasn’t what the other had meant by explaining himself, he knew that he shouldn’t have fought with Kazan over possession of Selwyn, but he had been unable to help himself. The very thought of the young hybrid in his brother’s custody had made him feel sick since he had always been fond of the little thief even when he had been a simple shifter. Before he could blink in surprise Ancel was in his face and threw him into a wall where he then pinned him there by his bruised throat with a wordless snarl.

“You know that that is not what I am talking about,” his voice was still calm despite all the contained violence that curled in his body and leaked from his now red eyes, he allowed his grip to tighten to the point of cutting off the blood flow to Gavin’s brain. “I’m in no mood to play with you or those cats that are still waiting for you to get back,” he warned mildly even as he constricted the choke hold he had on his brother.

Gavin had decided against struggling when he knew that he couldn’t get loose, but all of his instincts demanded that he not surrender so meekly to his death despite his mind knowing he wouldn’t die from this, he also knew that he didn’t really need air since he was a pure vampire and not still half alive like Selwyn but his lungs still burned with phantom pain. Of course the blood flow restriction was making him rather dizzy so he nodded his understanding just as the odd roaring in his ears reached the loudest pitch so far and darkness started to creep into the edge of his vision. ‘Ok, please let go,’ he kept the silent plea to himself, despite part of him that wanted his brother to hear it anyway, when Ancel did not let go right away. A sigh of disgust was given and the hand that had been clasping his throat released him to crumple at Ancel’s booted feet.

The master vampire glanced down at his wheezing brother with a bit of interest and confusion as the other tried desperately to get his breathing back under control, not that he needed to breathe, and coughed up some blood from his nearly crushed windpipe. ‘Such an odd vampire, nearly a master and just over two hundred years old and yet he still retains his human responses,’ the thought was devoid of any emotion whatsoever, it was more like he was a scientist studying a new species. He nudged the younger male none too gently with the toe of his boot to encourage him to get up; however, the only reaction this garnered was a red tinged glare at his foot. He gave another gusty sigh at such a pathetic display and grabbed Gavin’s left bicep in a crushing grip and pulled him onto his own feet. “Get up,” he added aloud to ensure the other did not just crumple back to the ground

The wide-eyed amber stare at his hand made him let go of his brother and he growled pointedly to prompt him into an explanation of his actions.

Gavin sighed and meekly lowered his eyes as he struggled to find an explanation that would not get the shit beaten out of him, well actually that would most likely happen anyway, but he wanted a less severe beating so…oh, screw it he was not going to be able to explain this in a way that wouldn’t piss his brother off any more than he already was. “I don’t know why I fought Kazan when he came to get the Puppy-- I don’t know why I lost either-- but I suspect that it’s because I have always felt more like family with him and his two guardians than with you or our sire,” he admitted and looked Ancel in the eye to convey he was not bullshitting him.

Ancel smirked, “Well, I know why you lost; however, what about all the rest of our siblings, have you never felt a connection with them?” his voice was soft, deadly and completely not amused.

Gavin shook his head slowly, his currently renewed terror had quite robbed him of the ability to get either his vocal chords or his lips to work. It was not his fault that the aristocratic vampire clan had never really felt like his family, rather it felt like his old roommates back when he’d been human and stuck at a military boarding school everybody tolerating each other because that was the only way to survive.

“That’s too bad, and to think that I let you get away with things I don’t let the others in my territory get away with because you’re my baby brother,” the smile that accompanied this statement was more sadistic than usual and Gavin could not stop the whimper that escaped him at the sight. In the next second his left wrist was grabbed in an even tighter grip than had been used before and he was being dragged out the door and down the hall.

“Hey! Let go!” he protested and gave a slight yank at the trapped wrist, he really did not want to go anywhere with Ancel when he was in this type of mood. ‘Maybe not the best idea I ever had,’ he scolded himself, as his trapped wrist was quickly broken without a word, which made him bite through his lower lip to keep from screaming in shocked pain. He let go of his scream when his hurt wrist was cruelly yanked and he stumbled into his brother’s hard chest since the other had come to an abrupt stop in the middle of the hall.

“ I highly suggest you remain quiet and don’t ever do that again,” he said calmly once Gavin had managed to stop screaming and was merely panting in a frantic attempt to keep from throwing up his last meal. He examined his brother with cold eyes that no longer held even a hint of red and waited for him to get his intolerance for pain under control before he yanked the broken wrist back into place to set it properly. “Oh, hush, I doubt you wanted that healing wrong …after all then I would have had to break it all over again,” he ordered flatly as he let the abused wrist go to grab the right one and continue dragging the other down the hall, pointedly ignoring the whimpers that were an equal mix of pain and fear.

Gavin remained silent except for the whimpers that it seemed he had no control over and did not put up even the slightest resistance as he was drug though the hallways and towards the set of rooms he, Miska, and Bronwren had been imprisoned in. After all the last thing he wanted was for Ancel to break his other wrist even as his right one was slowly healing, he’d be absolutely useless to anybody with both not useable for the next three nights at the most. Besides he just was not stupid or masochistic enough to want to go through that much pain more than once in a night.

He was startled out of his thoughts when Ancel swung him around into the wall just outside of the door and pinned him there again, though this time the grip on his neck was loose, and he let out a yelp of fear and agony as his not yet healed wrist was jostled. He blinked as grayish blue-green eyes stared into his own and tried to meld into the stones digging into his back then gave a flinch as Ancel’s other hand reached up and grasped his chin to make sure he couldn’t move his head.

“Listen to me carefully because I am only going to tell you this once and you only get one screw up,” Cascade’s Master never raised his voice when he was imparting serious instructions, “ You are to remain in these rooms like a properly behaved baby brother until I decide you can leave, and those little kitty cats are to stay with you. None of you are to bring yourselves to my attention and if you do you will wish I would merely break your wrist again,” his eyes gleamed with all of his sadistic delight and the power of being his sire’s eldest. “Nod if you understand,” he ordered calmly and was rewarded with a frantic nod., well as frantic as it could be with him holding the head nearly immobile He smiled widely and harshly squeezed the chin in his grasp before letting his brother go to open the door, and shove him back into his comfortable prison.

Miska and Bronwren both looked up and seemed slightly shocked as their companion was tossed at them, Though with Miska that shock turned to anger within a heartbeat and she glared death at the older vampire even as her body reached out to steady a still reeling Gavin. “You bastard,” she hissed although the words did not seem to affect Ancel at all.

“As I have already told my baby brother the three of you shall be my guests until some indeterminate date that I choose to release you,” he coolly informed the females despite the open glare he received from one, and the look of disbelief the other shot him when she thought he wasn’t paying attention.

“You mean we’re your prisoners until you get bored with keeping us here,” Miska growled as her body coiled and uncoiled with the tension. Oh, how she longed to shred the pompous jackass where he stood as if he had not the slightest care or worry in the world.

“No, if you were my prisoners you would not be in these rooms and I would not be informing you that dinner will be brought to you in three hours,” he corrected her coldly and shut the door on her slightly shocked face before locking the three back in and stalking towards the garden. Eventually he would have to tell his sire, but for now he just did not feel up to it since he would actually have to call using a phone for this news. Pushing such thoughts from his mind he decided to stop by the library and get a new book since he had already read the other one three times and knew it backwards and forwards.