She heard their footsteps before they reached the top of the stairs. She forced herself not to smile as the door slowly opened behind them. She wondered how long it would take Creed to realize he had made a mistake by bringing them here.
She caught the scents of the new guards, and also three more mutants besides her own. Two of which were male, one in the beginning of his life, the other closer to the end than he was allowing the others to believe. She could smell it on him; death and illness. Weakening of his organs. It was hard to mask the stench of a diseased body, but she would not let on that she knew. She would give this stranger the grace to tell whom ever he wanted when he chose. She wondered if her two ferals would have as much tact, though.
The other mutant made the hairs on the back of her neck rise. This new member was female, about the same age. And another feral. Rogue suppressed the growl that was building in her throat. It surprised her, though. She hadn’t encountered anything like this before. This atomatic anger and hostility just by picking up an unfamiliar scent.
“Ah yes, the other members of my collection. Of course, I won’t be keeping all of you,” Creed stated with a sadistic smile. “Actually, about half of you will be auctioned off. Frankly, the thought of having a couple of you any where near me makes my skin crawl. I would rather you were someone else’s problem.”
“I’ve missed you, too, son,” Victor replied with a growl, flashing his canines.
“My father…” Creed practically growled as he spoke the endearment, “will be the first to go. I have settled his price and his owner is only waiting for him to be delivered. His transportation will be here shortly. In the mean time, my men will place these unique collars on all of you. A necessary precaution.”
Creed nodded and a few of his men stepped forward, collars in hand. Rogue and Victor both knew exactly what those collars meant. They were the same devices that had been placed on them while they were still in the lab.
“No,” Rogue whispered as one of the guards drew closer to her. She could feel every voice, every person she had ever collected in her head begin to panic. Every single one of them refused to go through that fiasco again. None wanted to go back to being mere whispers and shadows in her head.
Rogue screamed and grabbed her head even as her body jerked to the floor. The voices grew louder, slamming through the barriers she had put in place between the personalities within her own head and herself. She could see the guard stepping away from her, wary of what she was doing. She gave no thought to him as the voices swarmed over her and fought for control.
The last thing she heard was Logan screaming her name, her real name, even as she hit the floor.
~*~*~*~*~*~
He tried to catch her as she fell, but the other was much closer and was able to scoop her just out of reach. Logan could feel his hackles rise as he watched Victor gather her close. He still didn’t like to see them together under any circumstances, but even he could admit that she was safe in the savages arms.
Logan growled as Creed nodded to his security team again, signaling them to step forward. Victor let out his own growl, his shoulders hunching even as he held Rogue close to himself.
“You ready for this, Jimmy?” Victor asked slowly, gently placing Rogue on the ground and giving himself a wide stance. “It’s kind of a tight spot, but I think we can take them.”
“Just keep Rogue safe,” Logan replied, nodding to Victor.
“She’s going to be pissed when she comes back.” There was no time for a retort. One of the guards had gained a momentum of courage and attacked, aiming the collar for Wolfbane. Logan let out a roar even as he watched her morph into her animal form and lunge for the man, her jaws clamping around the arm holding the collar and snapping it in half.
Everything became a blur then. The handful of mutants fighting against one another. Artie had moved to the side, hiding amongst the shadows, watching as Creed jumped to make his escape. Artie realized that he hadn’t been the only one who noticed when he heard another loud roar fill the room, this one more feminine, more animalistic. But Artie knew that it hadn’t been Wolfsbane who growled.
No one stopped moving, with the exception of Creed. He turned slowly, and Artie could see the fear in his eyes. Artie followed his gaze around the large room. He had a hard time trying to find what ever it was
In the years to come, Artie would grow into a man named Arthur who would do a great many things and die alone, always looking for a lover who could match the power the one woman before him exuded. It wasn’t her physical strength or her mutation that called to him, though, but the power that seemed to float around the room even as she walked.
Her calmness seemed to sing to his blood, and he felt drunk off of it. For only a second, he seemed to wonder if anyone else in the room felt her presence, felt the dizzy wave of power this woman seemed to exude without realizing it, but the thought was quickly dismissed as he allowed her aura to enrapture him.
Her hair fell loosely around her shoulders, brown chestnut hair that fell far down her back. White streaks that flowed effortlessly around her face like a halo. So beautiful that, for a moment, Artie believed he was dead and this was an angel come to save his soul.
He realized how close to the truth this was when she growled before taking flight and launching herself across the room and into the man who had brought them all together. He adverted his eyes, knowing that this wasn’t something he would be able to stomach.
“You are one seriously twisted son of a bitch,” Rogue muttered as she pinned Creed against a book case. “You do realize how badly you fucked up when you brought Wolverine and Victor in here, don’t you?”
“Get the hell off of me,” Creed demanded as he tried to push against her lithe form. “I don’t want your filthy hands on me.”
“Who’s got you wrapped around their little finger, Creed?” Rogue asked, enjoying his struggle. “Because after being stuck in this house with you, I can guarantee you are not smart enough to pull off the enslavement of mutants this powerful.”
She moved her face closer to his, letting her cheek brush against his lightly, her skin turned off. She felt him try to flinch away, but her grasp on his neck wouldn’t allow it. “You don’t like it when I do that, do you, Creed?”
Her voice had become husky, more seductive, as she pushed her body against him. “Why don’t we take this somewhere a little more private, Sugar?”
He couldn’t help but whimper as he was pulled away from the wall and dragged out of the room, the other’s all unaware of their departure. All except one little boy .
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Author's Chapter Notes:
So i know that I said I wasn't going to post the next chapter till this weekend but I have no idea when I am going to get to use the computer again. Hopefully mine will be working again soon. So I am just going to post all the chapters now. PLEASE R&R!!!