Voices swam above her head, whispering and hissing across her skin like a snake preparing to strike with the deadly blow. Her eyelids fluttered causing her eyelashes to twitch against her skin gently before her eyes shot open to gaze upon an ivory ceiling. Her head shifted as the creaking of a door opening reached her ears and there in the doorway stood a man. His eyes blue as the sky, hair the color of gold in the sunlight, skin as pale as paper, and lips as red as the rose. She slowly made herself sit up, careful in case something was damaged. She glanced at the wall across from her and nearly groaned at the sight she saw from the mirror hanging from the wall. Her hair was ratted up, it’s brown and blonde melding into one big lump of knot, her eyes were red rimmed and had lost the bright sparkle that had been in their deep green depths, her skin was whiter then usual, like death had come upon her, and her lips, once a bright pink, now as pale as her skin. She glanced down at her hands and winced at the red gashed traveling from her wrists to her elbows, knife wounds to inject the machine. The machine, the words jilted her awake and she once again glanced up at the man standing in the doorway, a nervous and hesitant smile playing at the edges of his mouth. This must be one of the nurses designated to helping the supernatural get well after the experiments were done. She was in the hospital. The guy took a couple of steps into the room and then stopped again, as if waiting for her permission to come closer. She swung her legs out of bed and stood, holding onto the bedpost so she wouldn’t fall when the dizzy spell hit her. As soon as she was once again to see she let go of the bedpost and raised her hands in front of her waiting for the cold hard slap of shackles connecting with her skin. It never came, instead she felt warm hands wrap themselves around her wrists and pull her into a tight embrace. Her body tensed up and she felt her breath catch in fear. She had heard of the nurses doing improper things with the supernatural sent here but she had never imagined the doctor would permit them to do such things to her, she who had been so willing to subject herself to their experiments so she could finally be with Lyte. At the thought of his name she felt her body relax as she once again remembered what the doctors had told her just two weeks ago, Lyte was dead, she had stayed here for one reason. To join him in the afterlife, maybe then she wouldn’t disgust him with her cold skin and dead heart. Her mind was jolted out of its thoughts as she felt the nurse’s hands start to rub her back in slow circles, almost as if he was trying to soothe her. She raised her hand and met the man’s eyes and she felt like drowning in those eyes, forget all the pain she had to go through every day, forget that he was dead. Her Lyte was dead and she would never see him again. She felt tears prick her eyes and was shocked when the man leaned down and kissed her eyelids with such tenderness as a mother would her own babe.

“You’re okay; everything is going to be okay. You’re home now, they can’t hurt you anymore,” his voice slid through her haze of shock and settled on her heart like a blanket would a body in the winter. The man leaned back and stared down at her as if expecting her to say something but she could only stare. Home? Had he said home? She had no home, the only home she had was the cell the doctor’s confined her in. She met the man’s gaze and felt a shiver of recognition stir in her but before she could catch the thought another man burst through the door. This one had gray hair, gray eyes, pale skin, was bare chest, wore black pants, and had not socks or shoes on. She felt his eyes drive into her and heard the warning bells go off telling her to run because pain was not short coming after that gaze. The gray-haired man strode forward, lifted his hand and brought it down to strike straight across her face. She closed her eyes against the pain for a brief instant and then reopens them to stare straight at the two men.

“What did you think you were doing? Running away and for what reason? Are you stupid?” The gray-haired man’s anger surprised her but his words were what caused her confusion to rise. What was this man raving about? She hadn’t left the research building since she had arrived here. She was a willing subject, she had signed herself over, why would she run away? She gazed between the two men as they in turn gazed at her, waiting, she supposed, for her to answer.

“What . . . are . . . you . . . talking . . . about?”Her voice sounded hoarse and graveled but she wasn’t surprised. She hadn’t spoken a single word in nearly 6 months. The two men’s eyes widened and she glanced between them waiting for one of them to explain but both just stared at her as if she had three heads now instead of one. Suddenly there was a knock on the already open door and the two men turned around to give a brief glance at a third man. Casey backed away quickly as he entered the room. His eyes were a deep blue, his hair as black as coal, his skin also pale as paper, he also wasn’t wearing a shirt or shoes, and wore black pants, but it was his smile that scared her. Nobody smiled at the research facility unless something ghastly was to be done to one of the super naturals. She felt the side of the bed press against the backs of her legs and she scooted to the far end of the bed, getting as far as she could from the men, who had all turned to watch her scuttle away from them. “Please, don’t,” the words caught in her throat as a sob escaped her and tears began to course down her cheeks. The light-haired man stepped forward and slowly lowered himself onto the bed holding out his hand and holding it out to her as if expecting her to sniff it. She only glanced first at the hand, then to the man, and then to his companions. She tensed up slightly as the gray-haired man took a step forward and the black haired man stood behind him. She looked in their eyes and saw pity in them. They pitied her; she hung her head as she realized what that must mean. She wasn’t being given the full amount of time to heal. She was going to have to go through the experiment again. She scooted forward and held her arms out, once again waiting for the shackles to slap on her wrists. The light-haired man stood up and stood by her side, gently laying one hand on her right arm and the other at her waist. He forced her to place the arm he held down before also doing the same to her other arm. She turned her head slightly to look at him and met his sky blue eyes, now full of sorrow and regret.

“Jesus Casey, what did they do to you?” The gray-haired man’s voice asked gently and she turned her gaze to look at him. What had he called her? She tilted her head and studied him wondering if he was insane or if he was speaking to one of the other men. Her eyes flicked to the black-haired man as he shifted where he stood.

“Who’s Casey?” The words came more easily now but her voice still sounded like gravel. All three men froze at her ushered words and all three pairs of eyes remained on her. She met each gaze looking for laughter in their eyes. Experiments didn’t ask questions, that had been one of the rules she had agreed to and she had broken that rule twice today. She saw no laughter in their eyes; instead she saw astonishment, anger, sorrow, guilt, and surprise. The dark-haired man stepped forward and grasped her hand causing her to flinch at how soft his skin felt against hers. She felt her eyelids start to drift as he rubbed her knuckles in a soothing fashion. She didn’t notice when he let go of her hand or when the light-haired man had scooped her up and laid her back in bed or when his hand brushed across her face. Her eyes closed completely and she lost herself in the dreams of lost past.