The Moonlight Chronicles (Book 1: The First Bite)(Complete)&Book2: (teaser)

Chapter 4: Escape

The next thing I remember is waking up groggy and chained to a hard metal table. I have a muzzle over my face and three sets of chains immobilizing each arm and leg. There are an additional two chains around my torso and one around my neck. There is also one of those annoying medical machines that beep and monitor your vitals along with one that is controlling the drip rate to an IV in my exposed right forearm. As I look around the room I hear Tara say, “Welcome to the world of the living. You have been out cold for three days which is actually a couple days short of what I thought it was going to be. I should smack you around for making me speak monkey talk, but because it worked and because you have had a rough few days I’m going to give you a pass this time.”

I reply, “You’re a jerk. You just had to show me up and speak perfect English when you know I can barely manage something that can be loosely interpreted as English.” She snickers saying, “So you caught that did you…well in time you will be able to do it as well. It’s all a matter of practice.” The chains rattle as I try to get a better view of my surroundings. I am in a cage similar to the last one but this one has a real bed in it…though I’m not on it, and gym equipment along with a couple other niceties that a normal person’s apartment would have. Then I spot Ben.

He turns towards me at the sound of rattling chains. When he sees me look back at him he looks relieved as he says, “Oh thank god. For awhile I thought that maybe I had overdone it on the dosing and turned you into a vegetable. Clever thinking back there by the way. It’s good to know that of the three of us one managed to not wet themselves long enough to figure out an answer. I am also sorry about my brother. He donated that restraint table and those machines… and insisted that I use them on you. Apparently my equipment wasn’t reliable enough for him” He taps the glass and says, “You see this glass isn’t as thick as the stuff in the other cage, but since you tore off the roof to the other one he insisted I keep you in a room without constant access to moonlight. This is actually the room I made for use during days when there isn’t a full moon. No transformation means no need to spend the extra cash on thicker cage walls. But, because of your rage fit he didn’t feel safe with you unrestrained in this room until you had regained control of yourself. Unfortunately my parents listen to him, so my options were either dump you back in the woods unconscious, give you over to his custody, or follow his rules for restraining you until I could prove you were not a danger. I figured that while humiliating…this was the best option of the three.”

I groan in response and he says, “Hey, it’s not that bad, at least you have clothes on now and you have my guarantee that no one was harmed that night. Though I am sorry for that whole mess. It was my fault, I should have called security on him and never let him get near the control panel, but I didn’t think that he would actually piss you off, open up the skylight and then let you out.” I try to reply but it comes out all muffled and weird through the muzzle.

He walks over to a small door and punches in a code on a keypad. The door slides up and stays there as he walks over to me. He looks down at me saying, “I know this is going to be uncomfortable, but lift your head as high as you can.” My head gets maybe half an inch off the table before the chain around my neck begins to choke me. He works quickly and removes the muzzle. Then he says, “I am sorry but I cannot remove the chains just yet. I need to be sure that you have fully calmed down and are actually you first. I nod and as he turns to leave my stomach lets out a deafening growl. I haven’t eaten in days and the only nutrients I got were tube fed into me through an IV. Ben replies, “I’ll see what I can do about getting you some real food and finding a way for you to eat it.” Then he leaves and punches in a different combo to lower the door.

Tara says, “Well he’s happy to see you awake, but still clearly depressed about having to keep you in chains like a wild beast.” I ignore her comment and watch Ben walk out of the room. When he is out of sight, I close my eyes and slip back into the spiritual plain. Tara is there sitting on the rock waiting for me in her human form. I look her straight in the eyes and say, “I need to know.” Her smile fades as she asks, “You need to know what?” I reply, “You know what. Last night your tone and your reaction to us harming innocent people…there is something you are not telling me. Something about your past that you purposefully left out the other night.” She turns away saying, “That is none of your business. It’s a part of my past not yours.” I reply, “Yeah, well call me crazy but aren’t the two of us one now…as in we share a future, so anything from our past can affect both of our futures.” She looks back down at me and growls, “You do have a bit of a point there unfortunately, but I had hoped to spare you from my past unless something came up that made it so you needed to know.”