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."Please.""Shut up!" Lampon yelled."I'm gonna—" My stomach muscles clenched with the threat, and I didn't know if the blond felt the tension in my belly, but he instantly put me down.Nothing slid up but burning stomach acid.The metal of the cuffs dug into my wrists as my whole body contracted in the humiliating bent-over position.The blond's hands never left me, their weight almost comforting as I tried to calm down."Humans are fucking disgusting," I heard from the side."Shut up, Lampy, you eat the things, don't you?" For some reason, I felt the blond was defending me."Not by choice, you know that."The hands sliding over my back paused."Nor mine." What they were talking about, I had no idea, but I did know it involved me, and I didn't like it.I was startled when the blond picked me up again and carried me with one arm under my shoulders and the other under my knees.This allowed the nauseating motion sickness to pass but the blood-rush headache lingered.The blond had a firm body and smelled of wet stone.It was odd but good.The other smelled like rotten meat and I hated it.The two kept on walking, and the next thing I knew one was handcuffing me to what felt like a metal pipe.I must've fallen asleep or passed out along the way.Fear seized my body, freezing me in place.Which one was with me?A soft touch along my bruised cheek sent me flinching away.A gentle hushing noise told me it was the blond, and I relaxed.I knew it was unwise, but of the two, I felt safer with him."I'm going to take the blindfold off, okay?" he asked.Try as I might, I couldn't swallow to talk.My mouth and throat were too dry.Without any answer from me, he took off the blindfold.Soft light hurt my sensitive eyes, intensifying my headache, and I tried to hide my face in my cuffed arms.The blond said nothing else and eventually left, disappearing around a corner of a pile of stacked boxes, the creak of old stairs and a door softly closing told me he was really gone.Every sound stabbed fear into my gut.I gathered the courage to look up and see where I was: the sparsely lit space was large and cluttered with what looked like old furniture and keepsake boxes piled as high as the ceiling in some places, mainly near the corners.A basement, it looked like.A small rectangle window near the ceiling let in a small amount of light, which was still enough to intensify my headache.I was handcuffed around a pipe near what I thought was the back.Boxes piled high hid me from view of the stairs.Stacked this way to allow access to this pipe, no doubt.The pipe I was cuffed to groaned, and the sound of water rushed through the pipe.Something in the darkness moved.It sounded like a rat, but after the day I'd had I wasn't ruling anything out.Something fell in the corner, sending spikes of fear all over my body.Water hit my arms, and I thought it from a leak in the pipe until cool streaks chilled my cheeks.I was crying.Once I realized it, I couldn't stop it.My situation finally, solidly sank in.At least before I had a running chance, but now They had me and I couldn't do anything about it.They weren't human.They were monsters.They were going to eat me.Terror seized my chest, making it hard to breathe.Cold, damp air brushed over my mouth and rushed into my throat.Small, sharp pants burned my fear-constricted lungs, my head felt like it was floating, and I knew I'd pass out if I couldn't control this hyperventilating.I took deep breaths, trying my damnedest, and finally succeeded, but the fear was still present.Every sound, every groan, sent me deeper into panic.This time I couldn't keep it under control.The cuffs dug into my wrists, and black crept over my vision, but this time it wasn't from a blindfold.I jerked awake as the door slammed, and fear crept under my skin when I heard footsteps coming down the old wooden stairs.The blond rounded the stack of boxes with a tray of food and two bottles of water.My body relaxed the moment I saw him, but the promise of food and water kept my attention on his hands.He set the tray down out of my reach on the floor.I wanted the water more than the food.I needed it.A clanking chain noise jerked my attention to him.I hadn't noticed the chain, as concentrated on the water as I was.The blond approached with it.He knelt, and I finally realized he had on clothes.The water was more distracting than I thought.He rolled up my jeans.Cool fingertips tickled against my good ankle, and I fought to suppress a shiver.I glanced at his face.It was tight with anger.I froze, unsure if the anger was directed at me.The blond didn't seem to notice my unease.Cold metal clasped my ankle.He leaned in to secure the other end to the pipe.The chain seemed long enough for me to take a few steps if I was able.His fingers curled around the handcuffs, and their cold tips seemed colder than the basement air.His wet stone scent washed over me.His build was slight, similar to mine, though he was taller than me.Which really wasn't saying all that much because almost everyone was taller than me.Even my niece, who was fourteen, was taller than me."I'm going to take these off," the blond said.Just a small tug, and the cuffs gave way under his strength.This only further served to remind me what he was.They were monsters.And they were strong as fuck.Bryce, I believe our former prey called him, eagerly took the meal I offered, guzzling an entire bottle of water right away.I stood back, near the pile of boxes the previous owners of this remote home considered valuable enough to keep.My presence made the human uneasy, his scent said as much, and for some strange reason I didn't want to distress him any more than I had to.I felt an overwhelming urge to protect him from Lampon, my herd mate.The thought of Lampon laying a finger on this human stirred my ire.What made this one different than the others I had slain? Was it because I actually felt something when I touched him? It'd been so long since I'd physically felt anything besides the occasional painful experience that I'd forgotten what touch felt like.I was unsure but I intended to find out.My strange and unnatural feelings of protectiveness for this human reminded me of my past anger and current hurt.We used to be a herd of four together since the time of Hercules and our creator, Diomedes, but a little over ten years ago, Podargos and Deinos, our once herd mates, had severed all ties with Lampon and me.They'd chosen two human brothers over us.At first, anger had taken us over
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