Maxim made his way to the basement, allowing the noose he’d slipped over his emotions to loosen ever so slightly as he exited the elevator on that hidden level, then went down the stairs and through the security door.
Once he entered the hallway with the cells, he heard singing from the far end, low and not keeping with the tempo.
“Ring a ring o’ rosies,
A pocket full of posies.
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down!”
Even now, the professor’s voice was teasing.He’d be able to hear Maxim approaching, no doubt.
Maxim had lived for a long time, and his vampire mother had taught him the easy yet useless temptation of wild anger, of furious revenge and the rage it could beget.For centuries, Maxim hadn’t even considered that he might strike another in anger, and yet… Hearing Raven’s tormentor sing a nursery rhyme while Raven himself was sheltering from nightmares induced a long-buried fury in Maxim’s blood.
He took his time walking toward the cell at the end of the hallway, checking on the werewolf first.Shatterproof glass allowed Maxim to see the entire cell at a glance.The werewolf was asleep now, shivering, a tray of food sitting untouched on the floor.
If he isn’t faking it, this might mean he’s been regularly compelled for a long time.Or he was drugged.Possibly a combination of the two.
The implications of that… Maxim wasn’t quite sure.It was rare, if not unheard of.Rare because not all werewolves were susceptible to compulsion, not unheard of because some were and had met the wrong vampire in their time.
Maxim pulled out his phone to text Gordon.
Doctor, while I understand your passion is for the dead, could you recommend someone who might be able to examine a living werewolf?I have one locked up, and I’d like him looked at.
It didn’t take long for Gordon to text back.
You mean the day shifter?In your basement dungeon?
The very same.
Did he have an unfortunate accident?
Would that it were so.I’d like to make sure he wasn’t drugged.
This time around, Maxim had to wait longer for the response.He could imagine what was happening on the other end, Detective Adler’s reaction at the thought of letting his mate examine this dangerous werewolf.Yet, doubtless, if Gordon wanted to do it, not even his mate was going to stop him.
Is tomorrow good for you?Not in the morning.
Oh, Gordon, sleeping in?I fully approve.Whenever you’re free and the detective is sated shall be wonderful.
How’s Raven?
Maxim, for once, didn’t know how to answer.He knew the answer, knew it intimately, but how to convey it?In this moment, with Highgate still singing his nursery rhyme at the end of the hallway, Maxim wasn’t sure how to convey it at all.
Asleep
It was the best he could do.
Behind that other cell door, the chant had changed.
“Bring a ring of pretties,
My lovely, lovely pretties,
Kisses, kisses,
You must bow down!”
