The Soldier's Hostage

Chapter Seventeen

Jason brought Max back two days after our brush with Sonya. Four days after his kidnapping. The rest of the humans and I were elated to have him back. He was glad to be back too, but it was tempered by a terrible sadness. Given that Katty hadn't returned with them, I could guess the reason.

The Vampires quickly got information from Jason about the disappearance of their Mistress. There was much talk after that, of rescues and trust and who could be responsible. Arthur and Zach took command of that discussion while Tony stepped up into her sisters shoes. Jason and Max relayed every shred of information they could think of. It wasn't much.

When all was said and done, the decision was to give Katty some time to contact home. If she didn't, a rescue would be mounted. Until then, they would assume that she was handling everything.

Arthur seemed to handle it best. When we all met up for Monday movie night, he was calm and composed as ever while everyone else was rather morose. They couldn't summon up the same enthusiasm as they could usually.

Except for Tony. She was rather snappy, especially when Tabitha tried to commiserate with her. "Knock it off Tabs! You and I would be the first to know if anything happened to her. She's our sister for Sire's sake! If we can feel when she links up with us then we'll feel if she needs us."

I crept over to Max while Jason and Atreyu tried to calm Tony and change the subject. He jumped a little when I bumped him and said his name.

"Hey, Max. You okay?"

He slowly turned to look at me. He hadn't been sleeping well. I didn't have to be in the same apartment as him to know that. It was all over his face. There were dark circles under his eyes and a sickly pallor to his skin. His posture was hunched, as if he carried a heavy weight on his shoulders.

"I'm fine."

I frowned. "You don't look it. The nightmares got worse, didn't they."

He stiffened and his eyes got a faraway look, like he was remembering them all in an instant. He probably was. We had all developed defense tactics to protect ourselves when things got too rough. Max always slipped into his head and got lost. He said it was usually just darkness. But every now and then it was a memory.

The tactic came with the tendency to give him some pretty vivid flashbacks. It didn't even seem to need a trigger anymore.

I gently reached out and grasped Max's shoulder. Then I was falling back in surprise as he snarled and reached for my throat with wild eyes. I threw my arms up to defend myself even as I called his name, trying to break him out of whatever bad place he had fallen into.

I overbalanced as I tried to escape and fell on my ass. I managed to scramble back a foot before Max was on top of me, one fist closing in my shirt while the other flew for my face. I yelped when he struck me. Max reared back for another strike and I desperately tried to escape from him, my gaze fixated on his dead eyes and expressionless features. He was a million miles away, with no idea what he was doing.

Jason was suddenly there, grabbing Max's wrists and pulling him away from me. Arthur was right behind Jason, prying Max's grip loose and then dragging me to my feet. I swallowed, leaning forward to try to help my friend even as Arthur put himself half between us.

Jason wrapped Max up tightly in his arms and pressed his lips to my friends ear, whispering there. We all just watched in stunned silence. Jason continued to whisper and plead as Max fought him. I bit my lip when I noticed the dead look was slowly fading from Max's eyes.

Max slowly calmed his fighting, but he started hyperventilating instead. Jason didn't seem concerned. In fact, he seemed pleased, his whispers trading pleading calls for encouraging praise. Max suddenly stiffened with a tremendous inhale, blinking rapidly as he looked around frantically.

Jason spoke up a little. "Come on Max. That's it. Good. That's it my love. Come on back to me. Calm down now. Deep breaths. Match mine, alright? Focus on me Max. Focus everything on me. You're alright now."

Max shuddered, going limp and forcing himself to breathe at the same rate as Jason. Jason slowly rocked him, his arms going from restraining to embracing. Max rasped, his voice breaking. "What did I do?"

Jason glanced at me. There was a question on his face. It took me a moment to decipher it. Should I tell him? I quickly shook my head. I would be fine and Max didn't need the guilt. I didn't blame him. Jason shot me a grateful look as he gently leaned his head against Max's.

"Nothing Max. You just got a little lost. Everyone is just fine. They just want to know that you're alright."

Arthur looked over his shoulder at me, appraising my condition for himself. I ducked my head and gave him a pleading look through my lashes. He grimaced, but he dipped his head in acquiescence. My mouth quirked in a thankful smile.

The movie wasn't quite over, but no one could focus on it anymore. We slowly filtered out, quietly giving Jason and Max some space. I shot them one last glance before I followed Arthur out of the apartment. They were wrapped up in each other in the middle of the floor. Logan hovered nearby, kneeling within Max's line of sight.

I sighed and left them alone. Jason and Logan might look a little better rested than Max, but they were worried. Not to mention feeling helpless in the face of Max's explosive breaks from reality. They had to be. I knew I did and I wasn't even in close proximity to Max on a regular basis.

Arthur herded me into his apartment and put a firm hand on my shoulder, guiding me to my seat. He pushed me down to sit and then he was digging into the freezer. I bit my lip as he pulled out some frozen vegetables and wrapped a towel around the bag before coming back towards me with it, eyeing me.

He tipped my head up with two fingers beneath my chin and carefully positioned it on the side of my face, close to my eye. I winced at the tenderness and reached up to hold the ice pack there myself. "He got me that good?"

Arthur relinquished the ice pack to me and straightened. "Your friend has quite the right hook." He cocked his head as he studied me. "It'll certainly be red. Hopefully you won't end up with a black eye. Otherwise your lie won't hold up for long."

I sighed and frowned as he turned away from me. "He's got enough on his mind. He doesn't need to worry about me too. If it ends up looking bad I'll just say I don't want to see him until it's better."

Arthur turned back, raising a brow in skepticism. I couldn't hold that gaze so I dropped my eyes to the table. "He'll know that something is wrong, but he'll know it's because I'm protecting him. That's how we always protected each other. We'd take whatever we could and then hide until we were better." I glanced up when Arthur didn't say anything and found him watching me carefully, contemplation on his face.

He abruptly shook his head and turned away again. "Protection, both physical and psychological."

I cocked my head as he dug into the fridge and pulled out a beer. He got me a glass of water while he was at it and sat down across from me. I couldn't help but remember the first night I had come to live here roughly a month and a half ago.

Arthur noted the mild look of amusement on my face and hesitated in tipping his beer up to take a drink. Then he was noticing the same deja vu I had and smirking as he tipped back a swallow. He set his beer down on the table as he studied me.

"Full circle. And yet..."

I smiled as I nodded. "Yet we've come so far." I glanced down at the mark on the inside of my wrist, staring at it pensively. "Did you ever think it would turn out this way?"

Arthur only shrugged.

I leaned back in my seat and lifted my arm when I noticed Angel waiting to jump into my lap. She purred as I stroked her back. "I didn't. I figured I would hate it here just as much as I hated it at Sophia's. I thought you and the other Vampires would be just as cruel and scary as all the other Vampires I had met. You were a Vampire and I was a human and that was just the way it always was."

Arthur slowly smiled. "Now?"

I cocked my head to make some more room when Angel jumped up to sit on my shoulder. "Now, we're friends?" I couldn't help the note of question that crept into my tone. Arthur just smirked as he nodded and lifted his beer to his lips once more.

"We're friends."