*Authors note*

I would like to say thank you to everyone! This story is at over 96k hits! We've almost made it to 100k! Thank you to everyone! Readers, people who fav, and people who are following. You guys are great! Especially you reviewers, you guys really help keep me going.

And, before I end this, I just remembered. In case anyone else remembers the poll I was taking for predators or not in the story, it came close, but it was decided by majority to leave them out of this story.

Now, without further rambling... End authors note***

Uttering a small grunt he leaned over, and putting one hand on his thigh he pushed up from the ground. While standing he pulled at his wet shirt the fabric sticking to his skin, making him chill. He regretted the mess on his shirt, and as he looked about his room, he regretted all of that mess as well. A nicely prepared stir fry had been thrown in pieces all throughout his bedroom. The room had a short fibred carpet that helped to show where everything had landed. And the oils from the pieces of meat would no doubt stain the floor they touched.

He sighed as he ran his hand over his face, applying pressure as he did, trying to push away the feeling of annoyance as well as the look of it. As his hand left his face he put it to his hip, his other hand dittoing as it rested on his other hip. Groaning a little more as he moved side to side to stretch his sore back while looked at his no-longer-moving attacker. The creature, whom had struck at him while carrying food, was now lying in fetal position on the floor. It laid on it's side with legs brought up close to itself, it's long, bony, black tail kept close.

He managed, after a while, to pull his eyes from his alien guest, to then look down at his wet shirt. He pulled at it with a pinch of his fingers as the cool, wet fabric tried to stick to his skin. Without a second thought he reached behind to the back of his shirts collar and pulled the shirt off and threw it to the floor. His guest had seemed to move now as he watched it curiously. It's tail moved between its legs and came up to its chest, its arms wrapped around it as if to cuddle it. It could have seemed cute but seeing it only reasserted his current

understanding of this… Alien. This creature with it's terrifying black exoskeleton and claws as long as and sharp as paring knives was absolutely… lost. It wasn't injured by what he could immediately gauge, and yet there it lay like a doe. It was beastly predator and far fitter than a human for killing and regardless of how smart it could be he felt his own life at stake whenever he was near her. If he had had any sort of sense for self preservation then it was absent in the presence of her. He understood this arrangement could be the death of him. It was his inability to feel concern for his well being that made it easier to feel pity, sympathy. As he stood closer to her he felt that he could faintly hear the sound of sobbing. He had felt the sobs sounded too familiar and were echoing from a memory.

And there it was again, a prickling, funny sensation in the midst of a fleshy wound which should be the last place for a feeling such as that. The desire to scratch himself came and was held down but the thought made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. His hand reactively moving to his wound then pulling this hand away and making a fist. He wanted to look beneath the bandage but he had just replaced his last one. Lifting his arm and turning it so he could see.. The itching was coming from under the white gauze that held in place a soft, absorbent cotton press. The worst part of the bleeding was well over with and the white fabric was pristine. This was not the first time he'd felt an itch from a wound, but this was a much stronger sensation than he had ever had. Perhaps due to the nature of severe burns he'd taken on some kind of nerve damage. A single thought crossed his mind for just a second of a faceless black parasitic worm wiggling deeper into the gorey hole in his shoulder. It was enough to give him a cold chill but with the fading of that sensation so did the memory go as well and he felt the itch no more.

Being smacked around then falling on him was not what he would call being friendly. So he would have to be even more careful now. He almost had an urge to lock it up, even in here his own room, just for his own and perhaps this planet's colonies safety. Yet such a thing, felt monstrous, to do that to this creature would not help it. He felt that he wanted to find out about this entity, where it came from, and how he could help it get back if that's what it wanted. So no, he decided, he would not do anything of the sort unless it was absolutely necessary. Though he had almost thought it so, only moments ago, nearly sealing his entire house with him inside. It would have kept the creature, at least until forces responded to the alert that would be sent automatically after the lock-down.

He turned about from the creature and walked out of the room; the metallic door sliding shut behind him with a whisper. He would let it be for now. Perhaps it needed to be alone. Yet, that somehow felt wrong in his mind. It was already alone.

She watch him with a rear vision as he stripped the wet cloth from his torso, in that moment he had let down his guard and with it she felt a slight tension in her muscles as if they half wanted to react on it. Not only that, he had no protection on that she could see. He bared his soft flesh with no regard in her presence, making him seem to her a reckless creature or perhaps an ignorant one. Maybe both. A fool. He confused her, everything he did was strange and foreign. His scent was like that of the humans she had the ones she had met in that place of horrors.

Disgusting human!... She tightened her hold on her tail as her mind was tormented with memory of the far and recent past. All of which, her whole life, had been full of wrong and fear. And now she was alone, to suffer its memory until she died, with no one to speak to her of the future or a kinder past. She had no mother, and her sisters may or may not be dead now; though she cared almost none at all what happened to her siblings. Not after what they abandoned mother for dead, and then they had done the same to her, maiming her back as they left.

She brought her hand up to her face, looking below her palm towards her wrist. Perhaps, she thought... Perhaps she could just chew through her wrist. She knew that once you cut deep enough into parts of her kind's body that there were places that would bleed and bleed when ruptured. At least, she was pretty sure of this. Her only experience with such was seeing her sister's arm blown off and no matter how she had tried, the bleeding would not stop. It had sprayed everywhere, melting all where it touched. Except of course on her, and she had been excessively splattered with her rash siblings blood at that time as she had tried to help her wailing kin.

She felt her throat go tight at the thought. The gruesome reality of her bodies inner workings being laid to the open disgusted her. And yet she couldn't bring her mind from the thought, she tried in her mind to work around the grotesque thought of biting deep in her wrists. And even so much as the thought disgusted her, it also made her weep, a long soft whimper being pulled out of her by it.

It would be so easy to quickly bite through. But the pain, and whatever came after, most likely a nothing, scared her. Yet she felt that throughout that, that in the end it had to be so much better then here and the gut punching feelings that she couldn't be rid of. Part of her tried to plead she was being weak, that things could get better, but her stronger emotions, almost deafening to all else, told her of the pain of the past, and the premonition of an empty and likely more painful future. This is what made her bring the smooth flesh of her wrist up to her mouth. What else could there be in this world but pain? Maybe death would even take her somewhere better, anywhere had to be better.

Her attention was taken away then, brought back to her surroundings as she heard him approaching. The sound of his heart, easy and calm. His bare feet made an audible slap against the floor outside the room she was in. As she listened she heard the sound of his very skin rubbing as he walked, and the sound of the fabric he wore moving as he did. And she could already smell him, and how he smelt confused her more. He smelt remarkably different to any human she had ever had the displeasure of sensing through scent. The only thing she could gather from him, through smell, pace of step, the beat of his heart, was that he was perhaps anxious.

She, decided to stop listening, and turned her minds thoughts inward again as she remembered what her kind's born abilities had lead her to sense while in that place. . Every last retched, crude sound, and smell that these creatures made, and every heart-wrenching cry of one of her own being suffered in a way similar to her.

She didn't want to remember, she didn't want to endure the memory nor whatever the cruel world still held in store for her. She opened her mouth, bringing the skin of her wrist inner wrist to touch at the lips of her mouth, her hard, pointed teeth poking tenderly at the flesh. Her breath washing over her cool, sensitive skin. The moistness of her mouth felt somewhat nice on her wrist. She clenched her jaw, willing herself to bite harder and harder. From there onwards it was an inner battle of her emotions and her will, one side pushing at the other, while all the while she tried to chant to herself. "Bite...bite...bite!... just... bite..."

"I don't want to, I do want to, I don't, I do... I- I just, it's.. I don't want to give up, but... I don't-... I don't want to keep trying.."

Eric took the final steps into the room, he wore his dark brown work coat now, it had thin lines of bright yellow reflector going up the arms and on its upper back were the words "Mine Security". He wore it now with it zipped up. He stood still in the room, staying close to the door, his close presence keeping the door from closing while he looked at the entity on his floor. The midnight-black hided creature, with it's strangely beautiful, intricately weaving exoskeleton. There was no mistaking her for anything besides alien, though her basic figure was vaguely humanoid with two legs, two arms.

He walked over to the side far side of the room, near the bed. Kneeling, he began picking up the pieces of glass and food. Dropping them into a small plastic bucket he carried. The food was cold now as he finished picking up the pieces he could reach, he would shuffle on his knees to the next section. He occasionally glanced at the creature as he cleaned, though he managed to let it's silence work on his mind and he began to forget about its presence as he began scrubbing at the floor with a destainer.

Working the cleaning sponge gently in circles on the carpet. He looked around him and saw that multiple stains were still visible on the ground. He glanced at her and saw her move as he did.. He turned his attention away nonetheless though, standing up to walk over to pick up more of rest of the mess. He was standing, walking to the door when he heard it.

A cry, or was it a whine? It was a whimper like a wounded dog might make but this dragged longer, dropping and catching like a wounded animal whimpering. It slowly quieted as it went, until it stopped. And as he looked to the creature while it finished, he saw it squirm again. And then he saw that it was doing something else. Making him start back towards it.

"H-..hey! Hey, cut that out! Don't do that!"

She clenched her jaw, trying to bite, tasting the bitter of her skin as the black flesh of her wrist rested between her lips. She wanted so much to bite, but her jaw seemed to clench in refusal just as her stomach turned in knots and her chest seemed to heave in sorrow and angst. From this she couldn't hold in the sound of her misery, unable to contain it, she let out a long whimper. As she did she wanted to berate herself for being unable to control herself. Instead she managed to tighten her teeth around herself. Her skin was starting to give, and she began to feel the pain of the bite when the human began to move.

He crossed the distance quickly, and as she laid motionless, not biting further, she continued to lay still as he spoke.

"H-..hey! Hey, cut that out! Don't do that!" The soft fleshed human called at her, she ignored him. She tightened her ball of pity and tried to angle herself away from him. She let go of her tail as he came close to him, and brought it up in a threatening way. He had no weapons, but she had a few, more than enough. Tail, teeth, claws, he had nothing and if he tried to even touch-...

He knelt down as he reached her, almost skidding on the floor as he came close to her. She at first didn't move, but in an instant she reacted to his sudden close proximity. She shot forward the tip of her black tail, diving up straight towards his face.

He saw the head of her tail, its tip pointing to his face it seemed, and yet he didn't flinch at its presence. For that moment he didn't think, he couldn't, the urge to stop what he saw about to happen was all that drove him. He began to drop to his knees beside the creature, and as he did he quickly saw that he had been very hasty, and as he realized it, everything started to slow as he nearly felt his life flash before him. The spear-head end of the tail suddenly darted at his face, while he quickly fell to his knees beside the creature. He felt his heart flutter for a quarter beat. It was in that semi second, that his head fell completely to the side, his left ear touching down to his shoulder. And as he continued to fall to his knees, with his head now turned to the side to avoid the tail, he felt it graze just over his head. It brushed through his hair, and the air running off it at the speed it traveled made him feel a cool air on his cheek and forehead.

She had missed! Ridiculous! She thought.. But she didn't dwell on it long. As a sort of remorse quickly struck at her, she felt remorse in what she now thought was to be her final act. A failure to the end, she thought to herself.

And as the three or four seconds passed after this failure, she still didn't feel pain. Or lack off either, since she was still sore. She realized that she was alive, and the smelly male human hadn't killed her, or even yet started to try so it seemed. She felt a bead of her saliva drip down her skin as she kept her mouth open around her wrist. She didn't move, instead she listened, listened to the steady thumping of his heart. The beating of it was as constant as it had ever been, and his breathing was calm. Though he sighed, and as the breath escaped and came back to him he made from his mouth the crude sounding speech that humans use. And to her surprise she was understanding the meaning from the sounds he made. In a way that she hadn't before. Not in her entire time in proximity of humans while she was captive in that place.

"I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe here." Were the words that came from him, and as they did the meaning of them washed over her. His close proximity, the warmth from his body, and the seriousness and sadness in what he said made her close her hands tight. She tried to shuffle away in half attempt to hide the shudder that came over her with the stream of emotion that ran up and down her, twisting her stomach into knots.

As she moved, she felt it, something foreign. A warmth, his hand, it touched her forearm. It was a sensation she hadn't felt before, the heat of it sent tingles across her skin. Through his palm she could feel the rhythm of his heart, pulsing through his hand and onto her cool skin. The longing for more, for something outside herself that wished for her wellbeing was great. She had had such a relationship with just one other person, Mother… Right now she felt vulnerable of the like that one can only know if they have lost everything.

The skin of it's forearm was smooth and it was chill, like touching the skin of a cool, scaleless reptile. The arm was bony, yet muscular. It was no doubt strong, and he knew that for sure in a sudden instant as the arm shot out at him, hitting him in the stomach and ribs. Throwing him back with the force of the impact. He choked out a shocked gasp, with it went the air in his lungs as he was suddenly thrown onto back His vision fluttered, blurring dark grey invading his sight but slowly receding as he laid there heaving. Clutching at his middle and choking out coughs. He hadn't felt a crunch, but he felt the pulsing pain exploding from his stomach. It was going to be a horrid welt of a bruise. But he couldn't think of anything of the sort yet, as he felt his clutching arms being pulled away by force.

He didn't have much time to think as he found himself face to face with his guest. It's mouth open as it seemed to pant. It hissed continually at him, almost as if with each breath. The creature kneeled over top of him, forcing both of his arms side by side by his head as it kept them pinned down under the strength of its hands and arms. The legs of his guest stood either side of his hips, pinning him to the ground. He could hardly even wiggle anything above his waist as the immense strength of the creature kept him down.

He groaned and clenched his teeth as his newly received wound was stretched by the position that the creature kept him in. The pain was throbbing in his shoulder while at the same time feeling as if he were pulling open a hole in his side as his wounded muscles were stretched mercilessly by the black creature. He pushed up against his restraints, but to no inch at all to be given by the effort. It's face was nearly featureless while still containing a mouth, one full of sharp teeth and a strange appendage inside, definitely not a tongue. From its open mouth it drooled thick beading strands of saliva down onto his jacket.

She had him! The creatures was under her and she could end its life as it deserved. She brought her tail up and its head stood over her shoulder, the tip of it looking down at the soft human like a meal. She could see it's eyes dart to her face and to her tail, he looked unsure, but he didn't look afraid. His heart had barely picked up a pace, and even though he was wounded now he made so little instance of caring. Sure he looked pained, but it was as if the pain was nothing more than pain in his mind. It didn't hurt him emotionally, it didn't make him weep, and it didn't fault his gaze on her. He continued looking to her, even as terrifying as she tried to be, as if she was a child having a tantrum.

And as she looked at him, and her tail stayed up and pointing, still not striking him through. She realized she was hesitating. Somehow she felt an urge to not stab him, a tension in her muscles and her gut that stopped her from acting on her anger in such a way as to end this creature's life. It was like an argument in her mind, one side purely angry and the other, trying to calm the other with words of reason and, strangely, kindness. This human in particular had done her no harm, did he really deserve to die?

But-... it was humans that had done all the horrors to her and her kind, why shouldn't they all deserve to die?

Yet was that okay? To hold the crimes of some against others who had no hand in the matter, just because they looked and smelt similar?

She was shaking, from exhaustion, and from pain, both physical and mental. She just wanted to have it all shut out from her mind. Would killing this human really make it all go away? Would it make her feel better? Would it make her pain go away? All the memories? What about the emptying loneliness that she felt now more than she ever had?

"It's not worth it."

What? She didn't understand what was meant by the human's words. So in her retort to it's words she hissed, twitching her tail, trying to make her look anxious to impale him. Which was still partly the truth.

"I don't know what you've been through. But it can't be something worth-.. ending your life over!"

But she refused to be swayed by a human, especially one who knew nothing. So she snapped her jaw, bearing her teeth at him as she hissed her discontent at hearing him talk. But he wouldn't shut up. And as she did nothing to stop him, she realized that some small part of her wanted to hear his words.

"Nothing. Nothing is worth taking your life over! Trust me, there is far more good in this world than bad. Even if you haven't seen it, it's there and it's worth fighting for."

Why? Why, why why… Why was she shuddering under his words? Why were they making her feel this way; Making her want to crumble into a heap of sorrow. She couldn't hold it in, and as she drooped her head and pinched her shoulders inward and whimpered over top of the human. She couldn't help but let go of the human's arm, bringing her hand up to her stomach. The emptiness, in her. The void in her being, making her unable to withstand the crushing of her memories and emotions.

"That feeling, the emptiness, being alone, it almost feels like having a hole inside your middle constantly reminding you of the state you're in. I know how it feels, and well, I know what it is like to carry it while suffering bad memories, and to face the painful present in that state, only to look ahead and see no hope in sight for my future. Feeling alone at a time like this you just want to cave in under the berating of life's misfortune."

She watched him as he did it, moving his arm as it regained its freedom of movement. But she couldn't find the will to focus on anything as she lessoned the tenseness in her muscles on top of him. She now let herself sit gently on top of his groin without forcing her strength down onto him, instead she rested herself on his warm flesh. One hand on her stomach and the other still holding his other arm, as she whimpered pitifully in low stuttering breaths. All he said, why did it touch at her feelings so deeply? Why did it feel like this creature, one of the same kind that had been so cruel and uncaring to her and her family, actually had some idea of the suffering she was enduring now? She had thought, that somehow, humans were nothing more than cruel, at least, to anything that was not also human.

"Haha," He laughed half heartedly, as his face portrayed sadness and an off gaze that said he was remembering the past. "It's really not worth it, trying to end it." He said to her, and with his free hand he brought it up between them and held it toward her with his palm facing her. At first she didn't understand, but then she saw it, as she tilted her head to the side partially. A pale white line that was an old scar worked its way down his inner forearm. At it's sight she lifted her head back, a tremor of disbelief and saddening understanding passing through her. She found herself waiting on his next words, she wanted to hear. She wanted to know if there could be another, another who was or had suffered like her.

"A while after my mother died… I was young, and doing bad things and it all just caught up to me one night. It almost happened, but it didn't, and not even a year later I started to feel very glad it didn't..." The human rubbed the back of his hand over his eyes, he clenched his brow and blinked a lot before he sighed, and did not seem to want to continue what he was saying as he looked up at her, a blank, yet half smiling expression on his face. She smelt the saltiness on his face and she half wondered at it. But above that she found herself being shocked by both the facts that humans were so emotional a creature, and that they too had mothers they loved, perhaps as much as she had loved hers.

She watched him unsurely now, as he lifted his hand up to her, what his intent was, she didn't know. But he moved slowly and gently as he touched his hand to his left breast, looking to her seriously as he did, as if he wasn't sure of how she would react to his movements. And after his hand had touched over his heart, he brought his hand up. She remained still, not breathing or making a sound as he did it. He touched his hand to her chest, his warm fingers pressing gently against her cool skin, again she felt the pulse of his heart gently beating through to the tips of his fingers.

He was smiling up at her absently, as if he were picturing another. But then his eyes turned to look clearly at her, looking at her face and smiling. "I'll help you find where you belong. And until then I will look out for you, if you'll let me.

She felt disbelief, and she felt a strange sensation of emotion, a feeling like happiness but, different. Like a weight being brought off of her, no, not like that. She felt like his words were building her own strength, to push back against the crushing, surrounding weight of then she felt something else, a tremor of pain pulsed through her body, stemming from her back like she and it sent her into a small convulsion of pain.

She realized too late that she wasn't going to be able to hold herself up through the pain. Pain which only added to her sore muscles, hunger, and exhaustion. It blurred her vision and she felt like she was going to fall, but before she could bring her stomach holding hand to steady herself, she began to crumble. Unable to stop herself, she began to cave, falling off of the human as her supporting arm collapsed under her. She was going to roll off the human and down next to him as she fell. She let her grip of his left forearm slide off as she toppled to her elbow and her right leg came over to the left side of his body.

Before she could fully roll off and onto her back in the crude, clumsy fashion she was going in, he reacted to his freedom, using it to help her to lower herself down. And as she now lay, she did not lay for long. And she felt somewhat helpless to act in any way against him, as he reached his hand under her shoulders and another under her legs. He lifted her up with some effort, as he got her into a better grip.

"You're going to need more time recovering before you can finish me off." he says half jokingly as he carried her like she was light

Who was this human? She thought as he carried her, he was bringing her towards his nest she hoped. She wanted right now to curl in the softness she had felt while in it for that seemingly short amount of time. But it still nagged at her mind, that a human could act this way.

Why did he seem so strong, not necessarily physically, but the way he was… Like he was made of metal, but inside he had something softer, something kinder and gentle. Why did he even try to help her? What was it that made him do a single thing for her or care so much that she not end her life? But the answer to her question was one she only partially understood, and her conclusion came just through simple observation. He lived by himself, there was no other living thing in his hive. And she could not sense anything anywhere else, not a scent or a sound from a creature that might be living in the near distance. He had no one but himself here. And it made her wonder if he was alone as well.

*Xerah Flash back end*

She couldn't help but get angry at herself more, as she approached the edge of the colony. A hundred yards more and she would be there. It was nighttime as she came to the human settlement and she made sure to keep in the shadows of the artificial lights. She looked up at the two large white circles that glowed with pale light high in the night sky. She honestly couldn't tell how long she had slept, it could have been days for all she knew. And though she was now feeling much better and she was even beginning to grow back her dorsal tubes, she couldn't help but feel hurt and angry that she had been allowed to sleep so long. Even after she had specifically told herself or "It" that she must only sleep a short while.

"You needed rest. You were much more injured than you let yourself believe, young one. "

She did not feel the need to respond to the voice inside of her mind. And so she stayed silent, though she internally fumed with raw anger and annoyance at it. How was she to find her mate if she slept like that? She had to hurry, she didn't know how much time she had.

She sighed as she approached the side of grey metalic building. It was two stories high and rectangular, though it had seemed to curve in an "L" shape. There were windows that she could see, all of them dark but for one.

"Be careful, Xerah. I know you can feel them too. Your siblings are scattered all over throughout this colony. There is much death here now. Fresh death. We have to be careful. I can stop them from pinpointing your mind. But they can still find you with basic senses. And I feel I must say, it's very well that you stink of Eric, that may just throw them off your trail."

"It is not a stink!" She said stubbornly in her mind.

The voice did not reply, and so, as the two of them remained silent, Xerah began her traverse into the Colony. She saw an air vent that had been torn open by the looks of it. Most likely by her own kind, but she felt none of her kind near by, and so she took the route into the building. Her eyes sight adjusted accordingly to what would have been pure darkness to a human. The vent was tight fitting on even her slim frame, but she found herself moving through it with ease. She would have to use every stealth she had to get through this colony. She wasn't sure, but Eric very well might be here somewhere. And she would not let anything stop her from finding him and holding his loving warmth against her again.

*Back to flashback, for Eric only this time*

His guest was lighter than it looked, in fact, surprisingly so. Though, as was obvious to tell by the look of it's exoskeleton and by just the fact that it had one. The strange, black alien was quite hard, bony in fact. And it was so cool, it skin chill to the touch, like an amphibian. And it's skin was smooth to the touch, like a dolphins.

Such a fascinating and beautiful creature. And now, as he laid it down onto his bed, he wished that it could somehow communicate with him. He had spoken quite a lot, but he had felt nothing else to do. It moved him to deeply to see another wanting to harm itself. Yet he wished that he could hear words from it to help him understand more deeply of how it felt. It's despair and pain were obvious, but… He wanted to know how he could help it more. He only wanted to help it, to perhaps hear the sounds it would make when it was happy. Would it have some sort of laugh? He sighed, putting his hands on his lap as he set the creature down. It was very asleep, as it curled itself up somewhat, it's tail pulled close as his guest hugged the bony appendage close.

He wouldn't let anything happen to her. He would not let her be hurt, he would not let anything despair her, he wouldn't-...

But he had! He had failed, he had let her be hurt. He had hurt her emotionally himself with all this bullshit regarding that shadowy figure in his mind. He had let her be killed! Murdered! Blown up in a fiery explosion! He saw her again in his mind, sitting on his bed with her knees pulled close, her tail wrapped about her as she waited. Scared, confused, holding hope in the final words he had spoken to her. Hopeful that he would make it better, that the men outside would go away and that he would come back to her. And then, a sudden jolt, she doesn't even get time to shout before she is reduced to nothing! Nothing!

He saw nothing now, not his old memories. Nothing but the blackness that he wished that he too could become a part of. He didn't want to be alive anymore. He wished that he could just stop being.

He was no longer asleep, but he kept his eyes shut. The cool, slimy restraints on his arms and legs, keeping him taught against the wall. It felt like he hadn't eaten in days, but he couldn't be sure, not of how long he hadn't eaten anyway. He was certain in his hunger, in the stiffness in his body. But he didn't feel pain. He felt numb, he felt like he was swaying but he stood still, he was perhaps delirious. Yet it didn't matter. He tried to stay unfeeling, continuing to silently wait for his death.

"Do not spend much time on the stragglers. Focus on hiving the ones we have…"

The word echoed through his mind, like a ghostly voice from a raspy woman. He didn't fully understand, what it meant by the single word, had he missed something?

He managed to mutter it, speaking from his dry mouth, his tongue feeling as of cotton and his throat felt closed and dead. But he managed to whisper.

"What?" He asked, his voice mostly air as he breathed out through his mouth while he uttered the single word of questioning.

He did not seem to get an answer, the voice continued on, as if it had not heard him.

"Yesss… I feel her as well…Mother's pathetic little favorite really didn't die then..." Said the ghastly voice as he heard it once more.

He decided that he would try and tune out the voice if he could, as it was not speaking to him. And though he was hearing it in his mind, he found he didn't care. He didn't care if it was a new voice from the shadow that plagued his mind, or if it was someone or thing else.

He tried to lift his head, but found he couldn't. He had sweat pounds off in this place, he didn't need to see himself to know that he was much skinnier than he had been, he could feel his weakness. It was hot in here and humid like a sauna

"Of course you may kill her. In fact, kill her on sight if you see her. Rid all of us of her weakness. This time we'll be sure of it."

He didn't know what to make of it's words. Whoever it was speaking of was a very unlucky sod indeed. The way the voice spoke, it was as if just speaking of the person infuriated her. Hopefully that person would get some warning. He almost wished himself to be able to relay what he had heard to this person of interest. Just to hinder the voice of course.

Unfortunately though, he wasn't going anywhere. He was tired, and he felt his own internal systems straining to keep operational, time was short before they would start to fail. He wasn't sure how long he had gone without water and even though food could be done without for many days, to be in here, sweating and healing… All of it was no doubt cutting up his time limit. Staying in this place for so long was killing him. He wasn't sure if he would have even been able to walk out of here, let alone escape from this place with the murderous monsters that dwelled here being hot on his tail. And he wouldn't be able to do a damn thing nonetheless, not while he was in these strong, slimy bindings. Even if somehow he could, why would he even want to?

And then he heard a different voice, one that he recognized, yet it was different than it had been when he had heard it before. Somehow the voice of the shadow kept changing, and as it was now, it sounded like a dozen voices whispering the same words. That might sound chaotic, somehow, the meaning of the words reached Eric clearly.. It was grim, the voice of the reaper.

"They are talking about Xerah. Eric, Eric."

He was too weak to be angry, clenching his teeth as his body tensed under the wave of emotions that the name brought over him. He breathed out heavily through his mouth. It was a lie of some sort, it had to be.

"No. It is not a lie. I'd gladly leave you be to die in here if I didn't think that she was alive. You know that in your heart don't you, Eric?" The voice said to him, sounding half mocking, and amused. Some part of him knew that it was serious.

Could it be true then? Was Xerah alive? His heart fluttered at the thought of it to be true. His heart coming into his throat choking him with that potential. If she was alive… Even if it was just a chance… If she was was out there, all by herself. And if the voice he had heard really had been talking about Xerah then dying couldn't help him anymore.

A part of him didn't want to trust the darkness that was growing inside of him, knowing that it could very well lead him onto a bloody path of it's own make and not his. But he couldn't leave it up to chance. If his mate was alive she still needed him, as he needed her and he could not hang here and let himself die. And whoever wanted to hurt his love would die by his hands. He was more than eager to pull apart anything that stood between him and her now. A good stretch and work out was definitely needed, he felt. Though he would need some sustenance

He started to breath deeply, trying to get as much oxygen from the stale air as he could. Using it to help clear his mind as he tried to get a proper grasp on his own body and of his senses.

"She is in danger, Eric."

"I know." He said into his mind, responding to the shadow's statement of the obvious. "Get us out of here."

"I plan to."

"Uh huh?..."

Eric waited half a minute once the whispering voices silenced.

"Well are you going to share your plan with me?" he asked in his mind.

"There is only one way you'll be able to get out of these bindings without one of the sisters doing it for you. And, well, I'll just say that: If I try this again, and your heart fails again, then there will be no midnight stroll through the woods like before ."

Eric took in a deep breath, and slowly let it out. As he did he opened his eyes. Seeing with supreme clearness the inside of his chamber. He managed to lift his head to look around. He was able to peer with pristine vision through the dark as clear as day.

But with a sigh he closed his eyes again as he let his head droop down until his chin rested on his collar bone.

"I can't keep my head lifted like that… I am exhausted." He said in his mind. Whatever it takes to get back to her. He thought with iron determination

And then he felt a heat approaching like a close proximity to fire. Like his determination had become silvery hot metal had poured onto his brain. The burning spread downwards through his spine, from there the pain of it shot with throbbing jolts through his limbs and across every inch of his body. It was more pain than he had ever experienced combined. He was burning alive from the inside and throughout it he did not scream, he moved his mouth open and closed as if he were to yell, but he remained silent, tears streaming down his face as he endured. All the while his mind was jumping through every single image of his mate that he held in memory, trying to stay conscious, trying to stay alive. His heart was beating at an impossible rate and yet was beginning to feel incredibly heavy and cold. But he could do nothing but endure, he could not leave her.

He did nothing save breath in ragged gasps and sputters. He couldn't take the pain. But he did anyway. And all through it felt like eternity in agony, he did not scream.

And then the pain redoubled, and he felt he could faint, to fade into the darkness but he stayed awake. The pain as if his very bones were red hot and searing the muscles they were held by. Molten lead pain pouring through his back and down his arms like a muscular convulsion while rolling in a bed of red hot coals. He panted, sweating and drooling, the taste of metal on his tongue. His eyes teared but the tears made his eyes burn as well and he could no longer see. Blood was coming out of his eyes and his ears and when he squeezed his eyes shut he saw her standing in the woods, her arm reaching out to him. And then the heat was gone, what had felt like a bonfire placed next to him was retreating and so the burning inside of him began fading too. He couldn't move and he couldn't see or hear. He lay there hung against the wall becoming cold as ice and feeling like death all the while unaware that he was falling unconscious. Feeling levitated in darkness his last thoughts were of Xerah wrapping her arms around him and she felt warmer and smelt nicer than he had remembered.