My aching limbs welcomed the cold hard material of the hospital bed as I sat and watched the nurse wrap my bleeding knuckles. Internally, I resented the order I was given weeks ago to train in things other than my natural talent with boxing. The past few hours had been a lesson as I learned the meaning of humility.

After all of my training I had realized just how much my neglect of certain areas affected me. I had not been weight training enough. I had not been stretching enough. And I was told repeatedly today, I had not been blocking enough. No kidding. My body ached everywhere.

The nurse smiled up at me as she helped me down from the bed. Even though I knew other kids had to be treated, I still didn't feel well enough to be walking around just yet. My injuries had not been severe enough to merit the use of the medicine so I was forced to heal naturally. I never thought I'd admit it, but I actually resented the nurse when she had informed me of this. Still, I nodded and smiled curtly at her before leaving the room, slowly.

By the time I made it to the dining hall, it seemed dinner was almost over. I winced as I sat down, ready to endure my friend's endless banter. Instead, I found them looking at me skeptically.

"What?" They were just staring at me.

"Are you... ok?" Bridget was the one to ask.

"Yeah, of course. Why?" I looked at each of them, namely Tammy and Bridget, as they peered awkwardly from Chase to myself. Hmmm.

"What." This time I phrased it as a statement, surprising myself as it came out almost threatening.

"Well, Chase said-"

"I only said I was worried when you took a while to come back from the infirmary before, and now... you don't look much better," he had cut Tammy off.

I took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to respond. With my day, from Tyler this morning, to the prisoner I'd met, I didn't feel like sharing feelings. So I presented them with a bored look. "Yeah, I went back to the ring to refine my skills after I saw you, Chase, and I ended up getting pretty beat up. But the infirmary is on short supply with the medicine so I wasn't given any."

"Oh." They simply said.

Maybe that will shut them up, I thought to myself as I continued my meal. Chase ended my short lived peace though. "Why, and how could they be on short supply?"

"Maybe they...um," Tammy wondered aloud.

"I bet they just didn't make enough," Bridget shrugged. I gave an appreciative yet sympathetic look in response to her simple reasoning's.

"No... I think I know what it is," I looked at Chase as I followed his gaze around the room. The hall was slowly clearing out, but it was obvious I wasn't the only one denied a serum today. "I've never seen kids wearing casts here before."

"Weird to think, huh?" I mused aloud, as I rolled my eyes looking back down at my plate.

"Dang girl, what's up with you?" Bridget was the only one who had noticed my mood.

I gave her a pointed look, "it's simple isn't it? They don't want us to heal," and when no one acknowledged me, I continued. "Why is that so surprising?" I didn't have the patience for them right now.

The table had finally settled back into a semblance of peace, as awkward as it now was, it was at least quiet. When I finished my meal, I excused myself, only to be followed and stopped by Tammy. Of all people. Not that I didn't like her, I just didn't understand her. She seemed so quiet and reserved yet her opinions were voiced constantly as a surprise to me, with so much tenacity and bitterness in them.

"Look, I know you're upset with Jasha and everything, but I saw you today."

"What do you mean, Tammy?"

"I saw you when you left the infirmary, you didn't go out the normal way. You didn't even wait for an attendant to help you." She purses her lips and crosses her arms. "I just hope you're not getting into trouble."

"You were in there?" I couldn't help but ask. Tammy was so reserved she hardly ever let herself get injured.

"Well, I just," I studied her as she struggled to come up with a response. Something I'd said caught her off guard. "I just was in there briefly to help them. They're all busy with kids now because everyone here wants revenge." I watched as a darkness began to consume her features, something I'd never expect to see in her.

"You mean from Arc 34... right?" What did she want revenge from? Maybe it was a different revenge for her.

She nodded all too quickly, "of course. Everyone wants to see justice for them. I just hope you don't get hurt trying to do so too." She smiled slightly before turning to leave.

I stopped her, touching her shoulder to ask her one last thing. "Tammy, if you knew why they were short on the medicine, why didn't you say anything before? Why let me sit there at dinner and freak everyone else out?"

She gave me a condescending look, almost as if she felt sorry for me, and my naivety. "Because I know that you're a natural skeptic of this place... I wanted to see just how untrusting you were of them. And with what you said, you didn't really surprise me. So I thought I'd tell you what I knew."

As she once again walked away from me, I couldn't help but continue to stand there with my jaw open for a little longer. Allowing my thoughts to make sense of what just happened. I never saw Tammy in a light akin to the one I just witnessed. The brief moments of darkness she showed, and a bitterness in her words that all made me feel sorry for her. And worried.

I finally collected myself as I turn in the direction of my room. But wait. Do I go back to Tyler's room again? Do I even want to? Does he? A million questions race through my head as I wander aimlessly around the castle. My thoughts centering on Tyler, Chase, Cecil, Derek, and now Tammy. Unbeknownst to me, a silent Tyler showed himself as he stepped ahead of me.

He was quiet as he looked at me. I didn't know what to say. "Hey..." he was quiet, clearly unsure of what to say as well.

I sighed in a deep breath. "So you were following me." I had meant it as a question but it came out sounding more like a statement. One which he didn't even deny.

"Yeah... Um, listen. I just want to get this out and you need to hear it," He looked at me waiting for approval, so that I wouldn't interrupt and I would listen. I nodded and he continued. "I don't know what happened last night. Whatever it was that has you upset. Or that you think you need to hide from me... I don't care. I realize I'd rather be mad at you or be fighting or trying to figure each other out, than be separated. Last night was the first night we spent apart since the...incident." He carried on the last part with a lighter ere, "I couldn't help but worry about you Lex, even though I was mad at you." He was smiling now, and I found myself smiling back to him.

"You were pretty upset with me, weren't you?" I asked shyly.

He chuckled faintly, the laughter barely reaching his eyes, barely seeming genuine. "I'm over it now, I think."

I studied him as I kept my hands around my waist, holding myself in a physical display of discomfort. There was a lot on my mind, and as much as I felt moved by Tyler's speech, and his obvious worry over me. I didn't feel anything more than pity emanating from him. Sure, he said he cared about me, but only out of worry. Did I want his feelings for me coming out of pity or worry? Of course not.

Sensing my hesitation, he broke the silence. "Well. I guess I can just leave you to whatever it was now..." Looking into his dazzling eyes always showing either confidence or contentment, I now saw sadness and hurt swimming in his orbs. I hadn't rejected him, but then I hadn't encouraged him either.

"I'm sorry," I manage to say. "I just, I really have a lot on my mind right now. Jasha, and..." I trailed off, intending to continue my thoughts but he spoke up first.

"Is it really Jasha? I know you two never got along."

"It has a lot to do with Jasha. Whether we got along or not, it's still scary."

His features visibly softened as he relented, "you're right. Of course it's scary. But I happen to know it's more than that." He seemed to wait for me to say something but when I didn't he continued, "I saw you with Chase."

Dear god. I let out a frustrated breath and pull my eyebrows together, raising them incredulously at him. Was he really jealous? "And what exactly did you see?" I waited for a response from him as he had waited with me earlier. Never actually planning to allow him a chance to answer, I cut him off. "Chase admitting his feelings in between friendship, or something more? Or his issues with trust? Chase is harmless." I raise my hand up in mock defeat, "That kiss meant nothing."

"I don't think it was nothing for him."

Well, he was probably right. But I didn't know how to handle that, or if I would at all. "I just need some time to think about everything that's been happening, ok?"

"Well I would still prefer it if you came back tonight. I know you're going through a lot." His gaze had been centered on the ground before now looking back up at me, with a frown. "But I also don't want you to lie to me either, not about Chase. Not if you feel something for him too."

"I don't even know what I really feel for you!" I couldn't help yell out the words, regretting them as soon as I did.

Immediately, he began stepping back slowly shaking his head, then cocked his head to the side in disbelief. He looked at me distantly, "I'll give you some time then." And he was gone, using his speed to get away quick; I could tell I'd hurt him.

When he was gone, and I was alone again, I let out a frustrated sigh. "Wow," I say to myself and the empty expanse of stone hallway before me, as my words echo ahead of me.

What a bizarre day. Cecil last night, Tyler this morning, Chase, Derek. I linger on the last name... Hmm maybe he could help me. I was closer to his cell than I realized when I'd made it there in no less than five minutes. Once outside, I hesitated briefly over my current mental state and being here before pushing the door open.

His condition was scarcely better than the one I had left him in earlier today. New bruises and cuts marred his body. I shivered once before resolving internally not to let that affect me, not tonight. I needed answers, something to help organize my scattered and confused mind.

"Hey," I whisper as I poke his shoulder. When he didn't respond, I step directly in front of him. Reaching out to his face, I gently cup his chin willing him to open his eyes and look at me. He did. And I was momentarily entrapped by their beauty before remembering myself.

He beat me to it, jerking his face to the side and away from my grasp. "The hell are you doing here?"

"I need help," I didn't know how else to put it. I was beginning to lose it.

"You. You need my help?" he was so full of it, even in his chains.

I let my tougher side take over, not having the same patience as I did this afternoon. Folding my arms over my chest, I leaned back, "Well I could say I feel bad for you but of course an attitude like that is bound to get you hurt. And I gotta say, you're really testing the little amount of patience I have right now. I can actually imagine how your torturer must feel."

He blinks, "Again. What are you doing here?"

I throw my hands away from my sides in anger, forcefully unwrapping the wraps they had. "I. Am. Here. Out of my own. Will." I spoke with bitterness as I gritted my teeth and unwrapped my bloodied hands. They looked no better than before, the blood now a deeper color as it had dried in the bandages. I thrust them in his face, "Take a good, hard look. I may not be chained up or physically tortured. But everything they have us doing here is a different kind of torture; a different kind of pain. They force us to train, and get stronger, and learn to fight. So that one day, I can kill; for them." I lower my hands and hold his gaze. "Don't think for a second I'm here for you. I don't feel bad. I am angry. And I need answers."

He frowns, blinking several times at me, clearly taken back by my audacity and vehemence with which I was speaking. I continue, "Now I think they have you here because you know things. I want to know what kind of things." I stepped away from him, "Are you going to help or not."

I watched as his adams apple bobbed in his throat, clearly thinking over what I had said. He finally sighed and lowered his head. "I know exactly what they have you doing here, trust me on that. And I do feel bad, because you are human. They didn't have to involve you, any of you... I can't tell you what they want to know because, well for one I don't completely trust you. And otherwise you wouldn't understand the things I know."

"How's that?" I couldn't help but ask.

"I'm not answering your questions, I'm only telling you what I choose to let you know... I really don't understand why they recruit humans; how they get you on their side. At least we don't kill you guys," he shook his head recalling some old memories, before coming back to reality again. "You just, you can't trust all of them. Just like there are bad, merciless vampires, there are also good ones. And the same goes with the werewolves. Just remember not all of them are good."

Slowly trying to make sense of his words, I wondered where a warning like that could come from. "What aren't you telling me? Who should I not trust?"

"You should be able to figure that out on your own."

"I never said I couldn't. I'm just curious what you think." I say folding my arms again.

"I'm not answering your questions," he repeated to me.

"Agh. I know, but you can't be so vague! I already feel naturally skeptical of the man who kidnapped me. The vampire, Cecil. But he has given me more reason to doubt his motives. Tell me if I'm wrong."

"You're not wrong. He has... people on the inside here. And somehow they get others to change their minds about the vampires; to hate things like me. That's all I know." 

I heard it the same moment he did, my ears picking up voices from the hall outside. "Shit, I should've heard that! Hide, now." He ordered me, whispering as guilt and worry shrouded his words and tainted his features.

Heart racing, I searched the room for an adequate hiding spot as my mind attempted to calm myself down. Think, Alexis. Think! I had been fumbling around the perimeter of the room, where the darkness would hide me better. My hands traced the outline of an old chest, large enough to fit inside. I eased it open seconds before the handle began turning when I quickly, and clumsily climbed inside.

Still slowly lowering the lid, my eyes settled upon the intruder. It was Cecil who entered first, but I saw someone was with him as I closed the lid fully. Curiosity took over as I eased it open just enough for my gaze to settle on the back of the head of a short brunette. Frowning, I forced my hearing to pick up hints as to who she was. The cynical, feminine voice of Tammy danced in my head as I closed the lid once more in shock.