The weather was cold, wet and icy. The shackles were frigid, bitting into Eire's wrist. His captor tugged on the chains, yanking Eire forward to his knees. He snarled ferally, pulling against the chains on his wirsts. His captor and his men laughed. There was the sound of car doors closing. He watched his captor chaining the chains to the jack on his truck bed tightly with a pad lock and settled down into the bed of the truck with his shot gun and two other men, also armed.

Headlights behind Eire came on and he raised his shackled amrs to block the light, which illuminated the wounds over his chest, back and sides. Then his captor gave a yell. "Move out!"

The engines all raced, and then the truck shot forward. There was a hard jerk on Eire's arms and his feet flew out from behind him as he slammed into the ground as the truck sped off, being dragged behind it through the ice, snow and gravel on the roads.

Eire had no idea how far or how long they'd been driving. He was concussions, but in a lot of pain. As the truck came to a stop in the lit yard with fencing about it and the smell of a barracks about it, Eire grabbed a hold of the jack on the back of the truck and began pulling himself to his knees. Blood dripped off his chin onto the dirty ice and snow of the drive. More blood ran down his chest. He hissed in pain, pulling upward.

Then a hand grabbed his hair and jerked his head up ward while a pair of hands pulled his hands from the jack and undid the chains. He was thrown backwards and when he landed, he lashed out from his hands and knees, snarling and attempting to bit at any leg with in reach. The wolf in him growled hostility at the enemy around him.

Then a boot caught him in the stomach and Eire went down, rolling over as hands grabbed hard at him and he was thrown into a small cage, the door slamming shut on him. He rolled over on his back as the cage was being pushed over the gravel and then into a building. He began laughing as he watched the lights disappearing through the holes in the cage's roof as it was being pushed a long.

A few moments later, it came to a slammed stop against another cage and was connected up with it.Eire rolled over on to his side, raising his head to look into the new cage. And heard a voice from outside yell, "If yer gonna act like an animal, I'm gonna cage ya up like one!"

He growled, some what in amusement, until sharp sticks came crashing down to his cage's holes. Eire rolled dodging them and came up in the corner, timing the stikes before grabbing one with both hands and pulling it into him, before flipping it over and ramming it back out a hole, straight into the thigh of one of his captors legs. There was a yell a shuffing of feet, then the muzzle of a gun came through the hole in the cage and a rough voice ordered, "Get in there!"

Eire scurried out of the smaller cage into the pen and into it's corner, huddling against the wall. Around him, hounds began baying and Eire's dirty cloth bandaged hands went to ears. He snarled back as the cage door was slammed shut and locked. He listened to his captors marching the other cage out and the slamming of a door.

The hounds still continued to bay and howl, some growling. Eire twitched irritably, clawing at his ears with scrap covered fingers. Then he screamed. "Can we shut the god damned NOISE?!" The noise stopped and Eire opened his eyes, starting to lower his fingers from ears.

Then the noise started up again, worse then before. Eire screamed in rage and rolled into a ball, howling in pain and irritation.

***
Armoni heels clicked on the gleaming tile hall as the owner strolled the dark, black light halls in an angry stride. He was carrying a folder and frowning dangerously. Tall, immaculately dressed and distinguished. He strolled toward the door and pushed it open, shoving past several other suit dressed men, toward the figure in the middle of the computer littered room.

"Is there a reason why we still have this program running, Holden?" The man in the middle of the room asked as the man came to a stop.

"I believe my report specifically said results were positive, I have no idea what...Meeks has been telling you, sir." Holden replied through clenched teeth.

"How can you ensure success with such violate test subjects?" The man asked.

"They're completely under our control sir...if you'd just accompany me on a tour..." Holden tryed another approach, and was releived to see the man turn to look at him, then nod.

"I think I will, Holdon, lead me on and show me your best."

***
Eire snarled and bit at the man holding the end of the leash connected to the collar and felt the the jab of an electric prod, he'd gotten used to, stab him in the side. He rolled over and continued to snarl, but the guards stood their ground. A young woman Eire had come to hate stepped forward and jabbed the needle into his neck and Eire snapped, trying to bite at her arm, but she pulled away quickly.

He began to convulse, fighting the serum, but it was no use. He went still, breathing hard and waiting. Waiting for the next order that got him through the days in this hell hole, that kept him alive as long as he followed it. But even they could see he was breaking the serum's hold quicker and quicker each time. What was taking a day to break now, could be hours in a few days times.

chapter 2

He stared at the woman standing over him. She had blondish white hair, piled high and stood no taller then five five, even in the heels. She discarded the syringe in a sink near by with the flick of her wrist and bent down in the expensive skirt suit and grabbed the leash, yanking. "Now you're going to behave for Mr. LiVed, aren't you?" She asked sweetly.

Still in retaliation, Eire curled back his lip and snarled, but other wise did nothing. She smiled her cold frigid smile and stood up, yanking on the leash to get Eire to his feet. Two guards moved forward, placing the handcuffs on Eire's wrists. He watched them with cold eyes and growled softly as one bent to close. The man backed away.

Just as the door opened. Holden and LiVed came into the room. "This is our most potential subject, sir. He's part shade, able to transform into a wolf at will, although only for short time periods, but we're looking to rectify that with gene therapy, in hopes of prolonging his change."

"And he's been under the tranquilizer?" LiVed asked, as he moved around Eire to inspect him as if he were a thorough bred.

"Yes sir." Holden answered with a positive nod.

"And you've had no trouble out of him?"

"The occasional dog bite. He's been a tough one to break, but they say Shades are usually impossible to tame..."

"He'll tame, or else he'll taste my sting..." The woman said with her frigid smile again as she tugged almost playfully on the leash. Eire's eyes snapped to her with sapphire fire. She only continued to smile, silently challenging him.

"Impressive, when can he be ready for a mission?" LiVed asked, turning from Eire. Eire breathed deeply, memorizing LiVed's scent.

"Very soon." Holden answered

"Good." With that, LiVed left the room. The woman motioned to the guards to take Eire back to his cage, before following in LiVed's wake.

Two guards moved up on either side of Eire to grab his arms. Eire turned on the two, throwing his knee into the groin of one and shoving at another. He lashed out, attempting to bite anything on his captors, but they struck back with the electric prods, driving Eire to his knees.

"God damn it! How many times do I have to tell you to be careful with this fucking freak!" Came the angry voice of a man known as Right. The man who'd captured Eire in the first place. He came marching over and slugged Eire across the jaw, knocking his head back as two men grabbed him, keeping him up right. "Fuckin' animal!" Right snarled, striking Eire again.

Eire had had enough and when the man went to strike him a third time, Eire clamped his teeth down on the man's hand, drawing blood. Right howled in pain, and the guards mercilessly beat Eire off Right. They would have continued beating Eire, if Right hadn't stepped up.

"No, no. I've got somethin' better planned for this animal...bring him down to the pit." He said with a psychotic grin. The guards snickered and began dragging Eire from the room.

They followed Right down a few levels, to a basement that was lit by naked bulbs. Several officers and guards who'd seen them on their way, followed behind, all knowing what was coming.

In the center of the room was a pit at least five feet deep. Eire eyed it wrly as the guards dragged him to the edge. It was hard packed dirt, but long claw marks in the side revealed it's use. Right turned to Eire, grabbing his face and jerking it up. "You wanna act like an animal, lets see wha ya got." WIth that, Right shoved Eire into the pit.

Eire rolled gingerly to his feet and looked up at the guards and officers standing around the pit. Several were now talking amung themselves and two were taking bets. Then Eire heard a snarling and baying he knew well and watched one section of the crowd part. Three guards came forward, dragging a large Doberman by the leash toward the pit. It's sides and muzzle where bloody and it lashed and snarled at it's holders.

The three guards unhooked the leash from the dog and shoved him into the pit at the same time, where it rounded on Eire. Eire crouched, staring at the animal. It was scared, Eire could smell it from where he was. It was on survival instincts, which meant it wasn't going to give Eire a chance.

The chanting and name calling and shouting started. Eire stayed in his present position and locked out everything but the other dog. The dog leaned down low, ears back and snarling, canine's exposed. It was always worth a chance that Eire could talk it down.

He stayed crouched and began holding out a hand slowly, holding its gaze. "Come on boy..." Eire's voice was cracked and harsh from not having done anything but growling and snarling in the last few days, but he made the extra effort to keep his voice soft and calm. "I'm not gonna hurt ya. There's no need t' get into this..."

The Doberman crouched lower and snarled deeper. Eire lowered his hand just as slowly as he'd raised it and crouched lower himself, making ready for what he knew was about to come.

The animal lunged at Eire, snapping it's jaws at Eire's neck. Eire deflected it's jaw with his elbow, felt the dog's canines tear into his elbow and rolled away from the animal, coming up on all fours, instinct causing him to snarl back at the Doberman. Around him, the men laughed. Eire's anger rose. If these men wanted a blood bath, Eire would give them one.

Looking back at the Doberman, he lunged at the same time the dog did and as he did, he changed into a silver wolf, snapping hard at the doberman's neck, while scratching with his front paws. The Doberman over powered him and knocked him over, trying to tear at Eire's neck. Eire kicked at him with his back feet and dug his claws deeps into the Doberman's side.

The Doberman jumped back, and snapped and snarled at Eire in challenge, foam coming to it's mouth. Eire snapped back at the Doberman once, while snarling, trying to tell the dog to back down. But the Doberman wasn't going to listen.
Again it lunged and this time clamped it's fangs on the back of Eire's neck. Eire yelped, then began snapping repeatedly at the Doberman's neck and shoulder while kicking hard at the dog. After a moment, his teeth caught on the Doberman's flank and he bit down hard, dragging the Doberman off of him with a hard kick from his back legs.

He let go of the Doberman's shoulder, only to lunge again and sink his canine's into the Doberman's neck. He felt the Doberman jerk, and yelp, but he held on. When it seemed the Doberman's legs would drop him from the kicking and the poor thing was whimpering, Eire let go and stalked away from the poor thing as it began to cower.

Eire stalked to the other side of the pit where he sat down, and proceeded to become himself again, breathing hard. He wiped his hand across his mouth, a mix of sweat and blood, and touched the wound on the back of his neck gingerly, while watching as a ladder was lower and the dog removed.

There were a few angry voices, but for the most part, the men seemed satisfied. He heard some one ask what they should do with him, then Right answer. "Leave him down there for the night...and shoot that fucking dog." Eire winced in sympathy for the animal. It hadn't deserved what it got. The men walked away and the lights went out. Then it was silence.

Eire snorted illy as he curled up on the corner of the pit, at this one irony. At least it was silence.

Eire woke, to the sound of boots hitting the packed dirt. He looked up, to see a tall young man with nearly white hair in a pony tail. He was dressed in camo pants, combat boots and a white t-shirt like most of the guards and soliders about, but there was something different about him that said he wasn't any of those. His movements were to relaxed, almost defiant toward the military trained. He came to kneel next to Eire, who started to raise up but groaned from the pain.

"Easy." The young man said. He had a soft spoken voice, the kind that didn't need to raise their tone to be heard or understood. "They only dropped ya back down here again a couple hours ago..."

"Again?" Eire asked, his voice cracking. He looked at the young man, who produced a small cantin of water.

"Yeah, after the dog fight, they came and collected you to give ya the buzz. Then dropped ya back down here..." The young man said, handing Eire the cantin.

Eire rolled up right, leaning against the wall, and took the cantin. "Wa's the buzz?" He asked, before taking a drink.

"The ultimate control device. A tiny bug implanted somewhere on your body, containing a dose of the most secret and most powerful nero toxic, the Mudesa Effect. If these guys feel you're goin' rogue, the enter a key stroke in their computer, the bug recieves, and releases the poision. Yer dead with in an hour."

Eire snorted, illy amused. "Wha', only an hour?" The young man grinned. "How'd ya know all this?" Eire asked, taking another drink. The young man had a familiar smell, as if he'd smelled it before, but wasn't quiet sure.

"You an' me..." THe young man motioned back and forth, while sitting down on the ground. "We're in the same boat. See...I'm part of this little Super Project of theirs, same as you. I've been here...two years I think...It's all a blurr. I'm a buzzie too."

"So then wha' is this place?"

"It's a base for a black ops military group, known as the Illuminatie. They're runnin' this super natural project. They're trying to put together a team of super soliders, from our kind." The young man replied.

"Our kind?"

"Well you know. We 've got a fae girl, a werewolf, a half demon, a vampire, a two heritary witches, and you and I...their shades."

Eire blinked in surprise, the smell registering now. "Yer part shade too?"

The young man shook his head. "Nah, I'm FULL shade." Eire just stared. "That's why yer trainin's fallen upon me. Now that your buzzed, your not a threat...lot, they know."

"Wha's your name?"

"Daniel Spike." The young man said with a grin.

"Spike?"

"Don't ask..." Daniel said, waving it off.

"Wha' bout the serum..." Eire asked incrediously.

"Oh, they with hold that for when ya get rowdy." Daniel said with a grimace. "It's the nero-shock therapy ya wanna watch out for."

"The wha'?" Eire asked taking a swallow.

"They've found away to fuck with you memories...and they're not above using it if, they think they can program you that way, and don't wanna throw ya away. Sam's already had it done, now he's a loyal subject and we can't talk around him..." Daniel said with a mock look.

"They don't wanna loose control of us, do they?" Eire asked.

Daniel nodded. "Still, they can't keep a wild animal caged up for ever." He said, eyeing Eire amused.

"What is that supposed t' mean?"

"That's what they're all callin' ya. The animal. Said ya beat the fuck out of their best fightin' dog. That's sayin' something for a caged and wounded shade, especially a half blood." Daniel said, before climbing to his feet. He dusted off his hands and held out a hand to Eire. "Come on, t'night ya can sleep in...well it looks like a bed...we'lll put it that way." Daniel grinned.

Eire snorted, but took Daniel's hand and the other young man pulled him to his feet. Daniel helped him over to the edge of the pit, then over the side. He supported Eire who was quiet, out of the basement area, through several halls, outside across to a small barreks. IT'd been the first time in weeks Eire had been outside, and he had to stop, breathing the night air in deeply and looked up at the stairs, or what he could see of them from the bright halligen lights. He sighed forelornly. He missed Nate and Mike. He wondered absently if they were looking for him. And he missed Ruby, the only mother he'd ever known.

He watched as vaguely as guards made their rounds, more or less ignoring Daniel and Eire. Daniel, for his part gave Eire the time he needed. But after a moment, he tugged gently on the younger man, to get him to move. "Come on, we can get Morgan to heal those wounds...before Nick smells the blood. Not that he'll bite you, but it tends to aggravate him a bit to the point where he wont speak to us. And really, he's a great guy...for a dead one..." Daniel said with a slight smirk. Eire looked at him, but let Daniel lead the way to the small barracks.

Inside, were six people. The vampire was easy to spot, standing by a window staring out almost viciously at the walking guards, his hair was red, his skin was pale and he moved in a blink of an eye, silenter then a whisper. He'd shut the door for Daniel, where a moment ago, he'd been across the room. A blonde young woman was sitting on a bed, looking at something and near by doing push ups, was a burly man with brown hair, and an animal smell, the werewolf. There were a pair of twins playing chess and shooting a black haired very tall young man dark looks. One of the twins was male, the other female, they had copper colored hair, which instantly reminded Eire of Nate and Mike, and he felt another twinge of homesickness.

"Ye brought him back then?" The redheaded vampire asked, he had an refined irish accent, He was looking Eire over, and Eire noticed it wasn't a hostile look, almost pitying.

"He's been buzzed." Daniel answered. Eire saw the werewolf, the fae girl and the male twin wince, and heard the vampire sigh.

"Welcome t' the club kid." The vampire said, before extending his hand. "The name's Nicolas, but most everyone calls me Nick."

"Eire..." Eire answered softly, taking the vampire's hand. His skin was only pleasently cool.

"Morgan, ye wanna do somethin' for this kid's wounds?" Nick asked, looking at the blonde girl.

She bound off the bed and towarrd them. She looked to beautiful to be stuck in this mess and Eire judged that must be her fae blood that made her so pretty. She slid up to Eire's side, and investigated the wounds, before placing a hand on the one on his neck. Eire winced and started to pull away, but Nick and Daniel held him tightly and and Morgan put a hand over the wound, her fingers touching the middle.

Eire let out a howl of pain as she set about healing it. Before long there was nothing but nasty scars where the wounds were. Nick and Daniel let go of Eire slowly who had to lean back against a footboard, breathing heavily. "Thanks?"

"No problem." Morgan said with a smirk. "I'm Morgan," She introduced herself.

The werewolf appeared at her side, and offered a hand with a smile. "Name's Jake." He said in a friendly manor. Eire shook his hand.

There was the sound of chairs moving and the twins appeared. "It's very nice to meet you, Eire." The female said with a musical voice. "My name is Diana."

"And I'm Pheabus." Her twin brother added. Both offered their hands with a smile of weary friendliness.

"Well aren't we all one big fuckin' family." Came a snide reply from across the room.

"Don't start, Samuel." Nick said rolling his eyes. "Seeing as we're all stuck 'ere t'gether we might as well make the most of each other."

Sam snorted, giving Eire a cold look. "Not all of us see it that way." He replied to Nick, before turning and going into another.

"Cheerful fellow that one..." Nick muttered with a shake of his head.

"He's evil and he's bad and he's going to get us ALL into trouble..." Diana muttered fearfully, Pheabus slid an arm around her shoulders. "Hush Di." He said softly to his sister.

"Be awfuly hard if say...his skull was to get cracked...on accident...while he's sleeping..." Jake said cracking his knuckles.

"Bid your time, Jake." Morgan hissed, eyes flashing.

"I take it you don't trust him?" Eire asked softly, looking around at each of them.

Nick shook his head. "And ye'd do right not t' yerself."

Eire snorted. "I don't even like the scent of him..." He muttered. "Can I just...I gotta rest..." Daniel was already steering him toward a bed.

"Rest all ya want, mate." Daniel said, gently pushing Eire on the bed.

Eire collasped, fell back and was asleep before anyone else said anything to him. Daniel turned to the others, all five exchanged a grim knowing look. Nick shook his head again, turning with his hands behind his back and walked over to the window again. Morgan moved back to her bed. The twins were once again at their table playing chess and Jake went back to working out, now doing sat ups. Daniel flopped down on the bed next to Eire's and leaned against the headboard with a sigh, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.