Serena's POV:

I was shaken awake. "Wake up!"

I blinked groggily at a younger man in a white lab suit as he shook my shoulder. I was disturbed and alarmed by the presence of this stranger, and I pulled back as I tried to sit up. A second man walked into the room, and I recognized him as the man from the time before.

"Come with us, Serena. Darien is having anger issues, and I am curious as to how he is going to react when he sees you."

The younger man in front of me managed to grab my elbow and pulled me to my feet. I stumbled a bit at the unexpected action, and I leaned away uneasily from the stranger. The younger man seemed somewhat panicked and tugged my elbow again as he tried to get me to follow him. I tried to pull my arm away from his grasp without success.

The older man sighed, "Relax, Ty. She is barely awake and you are scaring her. Just point her in the direction she needs to go."

The younger man released me and stepped back before gesturing me towards the older man. I knew I didn't have a choice, and I did want to see Darien. Neither of these men could be allowed to know that though. I took a hesitant step forwards while I rubbed my eyes sleepily, "What is going on? What time is it?"

The older man walked beside me as he led me down the hallway, "I should probably introduce myself since we will be seeing one another a lot. I am Dr. Halbert, and I am in charge of most of what goes on here. It is 2am."

I glanced around at the numerous hallways as I was still trying to wake up. This place was a complete maze... "Am I being discharged? Did someone find my backpack? It has my ID and money in it."

Dr. Halbert shook his head, "Sorry, you aren't being discharged. I am taking you to see Darien. He is unusually upset and I am hoping you can calm him down."

I gave him a confused look, "How do you expect me to do that? You know him better than I do. I barely met the man."

The magnet pull was growing stronger, and I was starting to hear shouting from down the corridor. We stopped in front of a stainless steel door as Dr. Halbert swiped a card in front of a scanner. Noise flooded out as the thick steel door opened. An enraged roar boomed through the hallway.

I knew it was Darien, but I hadn't been aware that a human could actually roar. Dr. Halbert had said he was unusually upset, and I now considered that the understatement of the century. Darien sounded ten stages past furious.

If I hadn't known it was Darien, I would have balked and refused to enter. As it was, my feet paused at the enraged sound that promised violence. Dr. Halbert put his hand on my back and gently pushed me forward. We rounded the corner and I blinked in shock. About 50 guards holding some bizarre weapons had Darien backed into a corner at the end of the hallway.

The door beside him was open, but looked severely damaged. That door had more in common with the door on a bank vault, a rather dented door... Streaks of blood splattered the walls, and the guards looked pretty shaken up. My eyes flew to Darien, but other than some red marks on his skin, he looked unharmed. I had never seen someone look so angry before.

He was in a crouch as he snarled fiercely at the guards. The ache in my heart relaxed as I finally saw him again. Despite his towering rage, I wasn't afraid of Darien. Dr. Halbert kept going forward, "Darien, calm down. Serena is here, and you will scare her if you don't relax."

That gained his immediate attention. His head whipped around towards us. Our eyes met and time froze. Just like the first time, I forgot to breathe. I simply couldn't look away. The glow in his eyes was blazing brighter than I had ever seen it before.

Dr. Halbert stepped between us and broke our eye contact. Darien snarled, but Dr. Halbert interrupted him, "Stay there. If you cooperate, we will let her visit. There are rules though. There is an electrical restraint band on her ankle, and if you try to remove it, that could very well kill her. If you fight us, she will be punished."

Silence reigned as my heart started pounding in alarm, that band could electrocute me? I shivered slightly as his words sunk in. They were using me against him. This place was even sicker and more demented than I had imagined. Dr. Halbert stepped aside and reached back towards me. Darien roared in rage, "Don't you dare touch her!"

Dr. Halbert paused with a surprised look, before simply waving me forward. I really didn't want to have to walk through all of those soldiers as they packed themselves in the narrow hallway, but I wanted to get away from the insane doctor. The pull was practically dragging me towards Darien with an invisible force.

I walked forward and, thankfully, the soldiers parted for me. I was nervous and uneasy as I passed through the crowd of armed men, but their eyes never left Darien.

Darien watched me with a worried look in his eyes. His muscles were tense as if he was ready to fight if anyone tried to harm me. I passed the last rank of men and Darien came forward while holding out his hand. I took his hand, and something deep inside of me relaxed as the familiar heat and tingles re-appeared.

He immediately pulled me behind him before he started backing away from the weapons that were still pointed in his direction. I realized that he was using himself as a shield in case they fired. I put one hand on his back as he kept backing up.

I peeked out from behind him to see Dr. Halbert slowly working his way through the soldiers towards us. The look of excitement on his face, and the speed at which he was writing on his clipboard, made me uneasy.

Darien didn't like it either, he growled as he backed up against the wall, and blocked me from the sight of the others in a defensive position. Dr. Halbert's voice was calm, "She can keep you company if you go into your room. Don't touch the band on her leg, otherwise she will regret it - if she survives."

Darien snarled at his threat. Pain shot through my ankle, causing me to gasp. Darien glanced back at me in worry with a somewhat pained expression. I lifted my leg and gingerly tried to rub the skin around the band. That had hurt.

Dr. Halbert's spoke again, "That was just a warning Darien. We are being nice by letting you see her. Unless you want her to leave, I would advise going into your room."

Darien was livid at what the doctor had just done and shaking in anger, but he pulled me a bit to the side and through the doorway with the beat up door. I glanced behind me, but the room was very similar to the one I had been held in. White and plain.

Darien continued backing up while keeping himself between me and the men. The door swung closed and someone on the other side locked it. From the sound, numerous massive deadbolts were securing the door.

I rubbed his back lightly, trying to calm him. I wasn't sure why I did it, it just seemed right. He exhaled heavily as he relaxed a bit. He turned around and pulled me into a hug with a sigh of relief. I returned the hug, I couldn't believe how much I had missed him. He had his face once more buried in my hair.

I looked at one of the red marks on his arm. It looked like a burn mark, although it was fading even as I watched it, "Are you okay?"

He lifted his head, "I am fine. Did they harm you?"

I looked up at him, the furious rage from earlier was gone, and he only seemed concerned about me at this point. "No. Just that shock in the hallway."

He growled lightly as he pulled me closer, "I am sorry they hurt you."

I shook my head, "It wasn't your fault. They were the ones who did it."

He sighed heavily before releasing me, although he kept hold of my hand, as if he couldn't bear to let go. He tugged me towards the bed as he sat down on it. I sat beside him and he put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer until I was leaning against him. The contact felt so right and Darien seemed to crave it as well.

I glanced around and noted that there was a camera in this room as well. My eyes moved to the black bulky thing on my ankle, the skin around the edges was red from the electrical shock earlier. They had forbidden Darien to touch it, although I had touched it several times already. I doubted that I truly needed to touch it to get it off with my particular abilities.

I looked up at Darien and saw he was watching me with softly glowing eyes. I knew his hearing was excellent and whispered softly, "I am pretty sure I can get this thing off my ankle without them realizing what I am doing. If I can get it off, can you get us out of here?"

His eyes blazed once more as he replied quietly, "Without a doubt. At this point, nothing here can actually stop me."

In other words, only their threat of harming me was stopping him. I nodded and leaned my head against his chest as I regarded my ankle, "Would a certain time be best? I can probably get it off within five minutes if it is like other locks I have encountered."

He regarded me in curiosity, "The sooner the better, before they try to separate us. You have likely never encountered locks like these before. There is no way to actually pick them."

I would be the final judge of that. I focused on my ankle and started humming, testing out the lock. My magic rose, although I was still quite tired from my last song. Luckily humming took almost no power or energy.

This lock was indeed different and it did not rely upon a mechanical toggle. I kept my hum soft so those watching wouldn't hear it. The last thing I needed was for them to realize that I also had an unusual ability. I tried a few notes and the deeper ones fit best.

I modulated my hum into a deeper range. I could feel when I got closer to the correct note. Usually simply humming a correct tone would work, although the most complex locks required a series of notes in the proper order. I knew the instant I hit each note, although the order of the notes was a bit harder to figure out. As soon as I got one in the proper order, I could feel it and just had to play with the other notes.

There were five notes to this lock. Two minutes later, a click sounded as a clasp came undone, and the anklet fell to the floor. My ankle was red where it had sat. I felt a breeze and almost fell to the side as Darien took off full tilt and tackled the door. A bang echoed as it blew off of its hinges, two deadbolts as thick as my arm looked like twisted pieces of scrap metal. He instantly returned and scooped me up as he cradled me against his chest.

"Close your eyes." I leaned my face into his chest obediently as he started running.

His scent relaxed me, even though my heart wanted to race at our escape attempt. I felt the wind of our passage whip around me, and I had a feeling that I didn't want to know how fast we were going. He slid to a stop before he kicked another door clear off its frame. An alarm sounded and red lights started flashing.

Darien seemed to know exactly where he was going as he took numerous turns in this rabbit maze. I occasionally heard startled shouts, and I ducked my head further down as I heard gunfire behind us.

A growl rumbled through Darien's chest as he picked up even more speed. I prayed that they wouldn't manage to hit Darien. I wasn't sure I could stand to see him injured or dead. My heart hurt at the mere thought of it.

I lost track of how many flights of stairs he raced up. This place must have had at least thirty levels below ground. He kicked open hundreds of doors or shouldered through them while shielding me. Did this place even have an exit? It was beginning to seem doubtful.

Suddenly, the air was fresh and cool. I lifted my head a bit to see the night sky above us. Moments later, trees were streaking by us at phenomenal speeds, branches just barely missing us. I ducked my head back down in alarm at our speed. No wonder he hadn't wanted me to look.

The bus had never gone this fast, although it had been limited by the slow city roads. I really hoped he didn't run into a tree. I had no idea how he was weaving through them without so much as a branch touching us.

We had escaped and I was relieved to be out of there. I wasn't sure where Darien was going, but I was hoping that he was willing to let me follow him. I doubted those people would ever stop looking for either of us and they had all of my ID now.

The way he held me, his warmth surrounded me and comforted me in a way I wouldn't have thought possible. I was still tired from the first song I had sung, the more recent stress hadn't helped either. I was no longer afraid since Darien was here. I rested my head against his chest, and despite trying to stay awake, I fell asleep.