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Perspective Shifts

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The race to find and rescue Joe was on.

Addie relayed the information that he had while they drove, and the location was quite a way off. When they finally got there, Rami and Faolan were waiting for them, with a sad looking 'lead' sitting tied up. He'd definitely seen better days. They were in a small abandoned shed in what looked to be the middle of nowhere.

Not wasting too much time on greetings, Rami happily let Mel ave her time with the obligated informant.

-----

Meanwhile Joe's situation wasn't improving. Marshall was getting more violent with her, not that he really needed to since she was easily overpowered. Her mind was so fractured by now that there was only a cornered wolf left, savagely trying to defend herself. One of her hands were broken from prying it loose from its restraint. A few ribs were broken too from their most recent fight that had broken out after he had once again had his way with her.

She was pinned down on the floor by a vice grip on her neck and another had the free hand's arm bent at a dangerous angle behind her. She was lying on her stomach, with Marshall bending over her. She felt the broken ribs' sting and the arm was threatening to break. She was breathing heavily, or tried to as much as her chest would let her.

"Why don't you just accept me, Joe? Is it because of that pathetic excuse of a wolf you found?" he yelled at her, his mouth close to her ear.
He knew that he'd succeeded already in his other plans, but he wanted her willful consent as well. He was careful not to harm her on her lower torso, but that didn't prevent him from harming any other part.
"I'll ask you nicely one more time, Joe... accept me or I will break every bone in your body." he warned her.

The door opened again, and the female looked with dissapointment at Marshall.
"You really shouldn't stress her too much, you could lose the-"
"Shut up!" he turned and snarled at her. There was a tense moment in the air as the girl stood quietly. "We'll just have to wait... and try again. Won't we, Joe." he growled at her.
She still had fight left in her, and started a growl, but Marshall had had enough and twisted her arm, and with a loud snap the bone broke, making Joe yelp loudly. She was pretty much pushed to her limits from all the abuse, but she'd rather die than give in to this asshole.

She'd accepted Matt's claim. She belonged to him.
Joe clung to this fact with literally all her mind and life. It was all she could do, it was all she had left... Marshall had taken everything else from her.
 
Mel's first act on entering the shed was to usher everyone else present out of it. For a brief moment she considered allowing Matt to stay; the look on his face suggested that he'd be more ruthless even than her if it got the information they wanted out of this guy quickly. After a moment's hesitation, she ushered him gently out the door.

Then she sat down on a crate, fished in her many pockets and came out with a little silver cigarette case. She opened it, slid one out, lit it. Then she turned her attention to the prisoner. "Hold this, will you?" she said conversationally. He just stared at her. In one swift movement she stood up, wrenched his head back and rammed the case between his teeth, right to the back of his throat so that he gagged. There was a soft hissing sound as the metal burned his tongue, and he let out a small involuntary yelp. She smiled. "I'm afraid unless you're ready to talk I'm going to use your mouth for other purposes." She still hadn't released her grip on the wolf's hair, and she twirled the cigarette idly between the fingers of her other hand. "Guess what?" She tapped the end of the cigarette so that ash flaked down onto his upturned face. "I don't smoke."

----------

It took her ten minutes to get what she wanted out of him. They were in the caves, apparently, but the informant made the mistake very early on of boasting that without a member of Marshall's pack to guide them, they'd inevitably get lost. After that, it was just a question of leverage, and this particular wolf seemed rather fond of his eyes. She emerged from the shed dragging him with her. By the end, she'd broken six of his fingers, there were small round burns peppering his face and torso, and there was a good chance she'd ruptured a testicle at one point. That had been more for sport than anything. The last of the burns was a long, oval welt that ended right at the corner of his eye. Overall, she considered this to have been quite easy. The smell and appearance of Matt had contributed, of course – for the first time in her life, she'd been legitimately able to play 'good cop'.

"He's going to take us into the caves," she said firmly, shoving the prisoner forward. She glanced around the little group. Matt's hair was standing up straight where his fingers had run through it too many times, and his eyes were wild. Rita was sitting on the bonnet off the car with her arms wrapped tight around her torso, rocking gently. Mel frowned. For a relative stranger, she was looking almost as badly affected by Joe's predicament as Matt.
 
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When Mel had exited the shed, Addie and the other two lifted their heads expectantly. Rami looked impressed with Mel. She was good, and he didn't mind admitting it. Addie noticed Rita's discomfort, and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. He didn't have any words, so he tried an encouraging smile instead and even offered a gentleman's hand to help her get off from her seat.

Faolan and Rami followed directly after their prisoner and when they entered Faolan focused on the smells around them. Addie did the same and kept a friendly eye on Rita. She didn't seem to be one who was used to outside adventure. Then he decided that for added strength to both his nose and body, to shift into his wolf form. One never knew if there might be traps about...

-----

Marshall had left Joe again and as always locked the heavy door and turned off the lights inside the room. If Joe wasn't going to give in then she could stay in the dark for some time to think. He was frustrated beyond sense at Joe's stubbornness. As he passed two pack members who were acting as guards, they straightened up immediately. They could smell his foul mood, and knew not to draw any negative attention.

There were other built-in rooms in the cave, where there was a natural pool and larger space. He washed his face and sat on his haunches as he stared angrily in front of him. What the hell did Joe see in that scrawny twerp. He didn't even know how to fight, and gave up after the first injury. He took a deep frustrated breath as he rubbed his hands over his face.

... and then caught a scent. It said 'trouble'.

Without looking around he grunted an order for five of the bigger males, calling them by name. "We have visitors. go and give them a welcome. If it's Matthew, you bring him to me." his voice was low and dangerous. If Matt was the problem, then he'd get rid of him... and he'd make Joe watch until the end of that weakling's life.
 
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Rita accepted the hand that Addie held out for her and slid off the car. She knew they'd noticed her mood and she also guessed they would be wondering about it. Neither of these things bothered her. What bothered her was that she knew Joe wasn't going to have done the sensible thing – surrendered to her kidnapper and awaited rescue. She didn't blame the girl, but it was only going to make all of this more painful.
Give a male werewolf, the dominant kind, what they wanted and they could be perfectly civil, but at the first slight sign of defiance… they'd destroy something rather than admit that it was out of their reach for good. She only hoped Joe wouldn't push Marshall to those lengths.


Matt meanwhile was flexing his hand in front of his face with his slightly unfocussed eyes fixed on it. Every movement seemed to be running together in bizarre detail to him, and it hurt. His chest was burning, and not just because she had gone. There was a war being waged inside his body, but just now, he was balanced on a perfect precipice. Neither one thing nor the other… and everything else was moving so slowly.

There were sounds from the deeper tunnels, which resolved themselves into running feet. Everyone except Matt halted; he accelerated up the passage and came to a halt only when they came into view. Five of them, and they were huge. For a moment he considered the languid pace at which the world was moving and wondered if he should take them apart – but they weren't attacking. Starting a fight here would only slow him down, and if they wanted to take him to Marshall, then they were very welcome to do so. He raised his hands slowly, showing himself to be unarmed. If he knew anything about guys like Marshall, then surrendering himself was the fastest way he was going to get to Joe.
 
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"You really should just accept, Joe." the girl was saying. "He'll stop hurting you then." her voice was soft and eerily calm. "Think about it... he's very strong, and has a large pack that you could be a part of. Not to mention the great babies you'll have." she mused. "Don't you want the best future for them?" The girl was busy cleaning her wounds again, and they were really bad this time. Really, really bad. She was surprised that Joe hadn't completely passed out from the pain already.

Joe was on the verge of doing so, and her shackles had been fixed tighter. Even the chains were shortened and she could hardly move from the position she was in. As the girl kept talking, trying to persuade her, Joe lay on her back and stared at the ceiling as she fought to stay awake. Her breathing was irregular, as she tried to take bigger breaths in between the shallow ones. Her whole body was hurting, the broken hand and arm throbbing. If her human mind was in control, she would be crying by now. It wondered if this was ever going to end... what would Marshal do to her in a few months once... once she would no longer be useful to him.

Would she see Matt again?

The group that had found him started to surround Matt carefully. this could be a trap of some sort, he could just be a distraction. If not though, the would take him to Marshall as instructed, but not without 'disabling' him a little, or maybe a lot.
One of them rushed at Matt, and another followed right after. Their plan was to get him on the ground and kick the stuffing out of him. Once they were satisfied, they would take him to where Marshall was.

He had moved to another part of the cave, away from where Joe was and added more guards to the narrow entrance leading to her cell. He'd also sent another bunch of members to keep an eye on the previous group that he had sent out.
 
As the first of the werewolves rushed at him, Matt's fingers itched with the temptation to side-step, grab the guy by the throat and floor him. Sure, there were five of them, but he was feeling pretty much invincible and in any case he had backup. He wasn't sure about most of the others, but with Mel alone he could tear these caves apart. On the other hand… if the pack's defences couldn't hold them back then Marshall had to know he had the perfect leverage in Joe. All he would achieve by trying to fight his way to her would be to get her dragged out and threatened or hurt until he stopped.

So he swung for the first wolf, but when the second arrived he went down almost immediately. He dropped to his knees as they landed the first blow, then curled into a ball as the others joined in. On top of the pain singing in every part of his body already, the kicks were almost unbearable, but he held on. He had to be conscious when they reached Joe.

From his prone position it was difficult to see where blows were going to land, and despite his best efforts a few of them caught him unawares. There would be a lot of bruising, but by the end of it the only bone that he'd had to sacrifice was a lower rib. He'd seen that one coming and considered blocking it with his already damaged arm – but he would need his arms later. A rib he could do without.
Eventually they reached down and lifted his limp body off the floor. He didn't fight as the five of them carried him back the way they had come.


When the attack started, Rita made a move to run to Matt's aid, but Mel's hand caught her arm and swung her back. She signalled to the others to stay put as well. So far they hadn't been noticed, and the boy was doing the best thing under the circumstances. Once the sounds of the kicking stopped, she waited. There was every chance that some of the five werewolves would round the corner to check for more intruders. If that happened, there was going to be trouble with Matt's plan.
 
The group wasted no time in bringing Matt to where Marshall was. They threw him down in front of their leader and stepped back as one of them locked the door with them inside. Without a word, Marshal gave Matt a very forceful kick that made two of the others flinch. The wolf was ruthless. He was smart too, though and didn't get very close after the kick.

"Well well, you came for her." he said, not sounding surprised. "Unfortunately, you're too late to save her." he grinned. He was lying of course, or was he? The caves were extensive, with many hiding places and he had decided to have Joe moved further into the maze. He just needed to to keep her 'rescuers' from going after her. Breaking Matt's spirit should help with that. "She certainly put up a good fight, but I was stronger."

The second group was meanwhile searching for any the other intruders. They had the home field advantage and moved swiftly to ambush them. It didn't take them long to find them, and there happened to be a surprise spike trap nearby...
 
Matt had got onto his hands and knees and was about to try to stand when Marshall's kick came. He had hoped the stronger wolf would be arrogant enough to take him straight to Joe, but as it was the kick landed on his ribs and he gasped as two more of them shattered under the impact. The blow sent him sprawling, but after a second he tried again to get up, spitting blood onto the floor as he did so.

He looked up at Marshall's taunt and for the briefest of moments his heart believed it. His mind, though, overruled that – Rita had said he wouldn't kill her, not if he wanted her as a mate. Not yet. She'd have months left before… but he didn't want to think about that. "She's not dead," he said quietly.

He had been listening in on Rita for a few minutes before she'd come to answer his phone, and he at least knew the vampire's opinion on this subject. He decided to let Rita guide him, and made a stab in the dark. "You want to know why she won't give in to you?" He raised his head and looked straight at Marshall. "She knows I'm alive… and she knows I'll come for her." It might even be true. He could at least be relatively confident that Joe had not yielded. He'd seen the Voice in her memories – she'd faced torture and hopelessness before and she had never yet given in.

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Meanwhile, Mel was briefing the rest of the group in a low whisper about what was to come. "He's a decoy, ok?" Rita nodded reluctantly at that, but Mel still added, "When they come, we're the main attack and we were expecting him to draw them off."

That was all she had time to say before the second group of werewolves got too close, so she walked on in silence, pretending to be oblivious to the impending ambush. Truth be told she wasn't entirely comfortable in this situation, and Rami was the only one of her companions she valued worth a damn. She had Rami, two kindergarteners and an OAP against an entire werewolf pack. Oh, and an unexploded Matt who was, with any luck, right at the enemy's heart by now. For one brief instant, she hoped he was all right out there.
 
"Well then," Marshall said, as he grabbed Matt by the throat and lifted him effortlessly in the air, "I'll just have to kill you and show her your lifeless corpse." his hand tightened on Matt's throat, and he was very tempted to crush it right then and there.
He was stopped by a very hard and urgent knock on the door. One of the guards went over and opened a small window to find out who it was, but didn't get too close.

A female's voice spoke, and she sounded almost frantic, "Something's wrong! Joe is... we have to get her... she needs - I can't help her here!" she almost cried, "I think she's dying... or, or maybe both of them!"
The guard looked at Marshall to hear his order. He snarled with annoyance and then looked at Matt. Then discarded him violently, throwing him hard against a wall. He walked out and barked an order at the guards, "Take care of him. We're moving out." and exited the room quickly. The guards were pleased with this order, and moved in on Matt.

Four of the guards approached the rescuer group from the front, and another one silently moved to behind them. Addie, still in his wolf form let out a warning growl as they came into view and Faolan stood ready, though a bit behind the group. Two of the attackers went straight for Addie and Mel, and the other two focused on Rami. They had made sure to be one faster wolf and the other stronger to even their strengths and weaknesses.

Addie met one of his attackers head-on as he had also shifted into wolf form, while the other one focused on Mel. The fur flew between the two wolf forms and Addie twisted and lunged, trying to get a good bite on his opponent. Rami meanwhile had already incapacitated on of his attackers and was busy with the other one who was posing more of a challenge. He seemed to enjoy it and even engaged in some witty banter, as he made sure to have the upper hand.

The sneakier one had meanwhile closed the gap on Rita, and was ready to go for the kill. As he dashed forwards though, Faolan seemed to appear out of nowhere and gave him a good upper-cut in the stomach, sending the male head over heels and landing flat on his back. "It's not polite to sneak up on a lady, young man." he said, and the guy was out like a light.
 
Matt hit the wall and still landed on his feet, albeit in a crouch. The news about Joe had sent his mind spinning away. The part of him that had been holding back, calculating, hoping to somehow get to her before he had to start killing, was hit like a sledgehammer by the female's words. She's dying. She can't be dying.

He didn't bother trying to slow himself, to hide some of his strength for later. Marshall was already gone in any case, so he just straightened up and grabbed for the closest of the guards. He turned and slammed the guy's head into the wall, so hard that his skull fractured on impact. Breaking Sally's wall with Mel's body had been easy, but this was sport. The burning intensified, coursing through him. He rounded on the other guard.

She's dying. A stab of pain shot through his chest and he gasped, losing his focus for a moment. The second guard was ready for him, wary after seeing what had happened to his friend. He didn't have time for this. He shoved the second werewolf out of his way and ran for the door. There was almost no chance that he could save her alone, but perhaps if he could get her to Rita, or to Rami… the only hope he had now was to tail Marshall and hope the bastard had the decency to go straight to Joe.

-------

Rita was about to go for the wolf behind her, but before she could turn, Faolan had taken him out. She spared a glance over her shoulder to make sure that he was really out, and then turned back to business. Something told her Mel was going to be fine – possibly the fact that she already had the wolf that had attacked her pinned to the wall by its throat and was fishing in her pockets whilst grinning manically – but Addie seemed to be having more trouble.

He was all right, really, for a spy. The least she could do would be to lend a hand.

She didn't have any silver on her, but she had better things on hand. 'Management' – or, as it turned out, Mel – had insisted that she not leave the clinic without a medical bag stuffed with all kinds of ugly concoctions. She had left most of it in the car, but nobody could say she didn't learn from her mistakes. She stepped into the fray, managed to scruff the gigantic wolf that was snapping at Addie for a moment, and slid the needle into its neck. Then she jumped back quickly. She didn't particularly want to go hand-to-tooth with the brute.

She glanced up at Faolan and winked. "Thanks for that tip," she said cheerfully. The tranquilisers should do the job to give Addie an upper hand, and then they could move on.
 
As Marshall ran, he heard running behind him. What? How the hell was Matthew still up? he thought, but his surprise was shoved aside by anger. He weighed the options and took a sharp turn. The girl was also a fast runner, so he could spare a distraction.

He waited for Matt to catch up, and when he did he jumped at him in his wolf form to have his maximum strength and weight. He'd topple the twerp and then finish him with a bite to the throat. Then continue towards Joe and escape.

Faolan was surprised by Rita's resilience and arched his eyebrows to show it, "Oh well done miss, you're very welcome!" he smiled.
Addie took the advantage that Rita had given him, and as he fought he got into position to grab his opponent by the neck. As he did he bit hard and twisted to throw the wolf over on his back and ripped at his throat. Along with the tranquiliser, it was enough to subdue him, and Addie shook himself.
 
Matt was aiming to catch up to the girl and when Marshall turned off, he made up his mind to catch her. Revenge could wait – clearly the female knew where Joe was, and she would be much easier to get that information from than Marshall.

Unfortunately for that plan, Marshall had only peeled off to get into a position to jump him, something he discovered only as the gigantic wolf hit him in the side. He rolled with the impact and, somehow, came up on top, his fingers tangled in the fur around Marshall's throat. His hand wanted to tighten, to finish this with a twist and a snap, but he resisted that temptation. "All I want is Joe," he warned the wolf. At this moment in time, crazed and fuelled by brute strength, it was fairly clear that he wasn't to be trifled with. "Give her to me, and you can go."


Everyone seemed to be back on their feet and the wolves that had attacked were all down. Rita was feeling pretty pleased with this result, but Mel was fuming. Only one of them had bothered to attack her, and two – two! – had gone for Rami. She was about as close to a vampire elder as it was possible to get whilst not actually being one, and they had considered Rami a more significant threat. She'd teach them the error of that assumption.

Rita could see the anger on Mel's face, and indeed everyone else probably could too, so she stepped in diplomatically before things got out of hand. "Well, that went well, but… shall we go?"
 
Marshall snarled at Matt despite his position, "You don't deserve her." and shifted to his human form and shot Matt with an uppercut to his gut to get him off, followed by kicking his knees up to both hit Matt again and flip him over on this back. He seriously wanted to end Matt and grabbed for him to hit him head-first into the cave wall. He would hit until there was nothing left of it, to be finally rid of Matt's interference...

Rami nodded to Rita and so did Faolan. They had to get going to help Matt and get Joe. Rami saw Mel's anger and then realised why... he made sure not to laugh though. The last thing he wanted to do was make her even madder. "Let's go!" he said as he took the lead.
 
It didn't seem like there was anything in the world Marshall could say to make Matt any more furious, but the words he actually came out with somehow did the trick. The uppercut had a knock-on effect on his ribs and pain lanced through him again, but it felt like bee-stings and suddenly, with the roaring in his ears, all his reason was gone.

He couldn't find any words for a retort but as Marshall grabbed him, he reached up and seized him by the throat. For a moment they both stood there, each wrestling for the upper hand. Matt's grip tightened rapidly and he aimed to crush Marshall's windpipe, whilst keeping his feet firmly rooted to the floor. Through the haze and bloodlust only one coherent thought was still with him: he had to get to Joe.

"You will give her to me," he snarled, his teeth getting in the way of the words. His fingernails too were lengthening into claws, his face changing shape, and if it hadn't been obvious before, it should be plain as day to Marshall that this wasn't a simple vampire he was dealing with.
 
Marshall did notice the change in Matt and it had him almost dumbfounded. What was this guy? Still he fought and used his strength against Matt, and leg one hand go to slash him across the face, aimed at his eyes.

Then a scream echoed through the cave tunnels. It was sharp and resounded with pain, and then Marshall heard his name being called. This momentarily distracted him.

The girl had been running as fast as she could, and spared a glance down to Joe. Unfortunately this made her miss the hole in the ground and she had fallen down into the spike pit. Three went through her leg and upper arm, and it was then that she had screamed. She saw Joe laying at an odd angle, and immediately made to get up, freeing her arm and then her leg, and it was extremely painful. She bit her lip as she slowly but determinedly ambled to Joe.

She gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. Joe was skewered and lay on her back, spikes sticking out from her chest just below her ribs; another through her arm; a third one through her lower right abdomen. There were deep gashes from other barely-missed ones, including one that had almost penetrated her skull. This was going to be tough, and she considered whether she should try to run back and get Marshall to help.
 
The scream made its way through to Matt's consciousness in a dull, damped way. Either something deep in him had already identified it as not Joe, or he was just past caring, lost in a hell where the only hope of escape meant going through Marshall. He had no problem with that. He had turned his head to deflect the slash at his eyes, but as Marshall lost focus Matt regained it. He squeezed one last time and felt something crunch under his hand. Whether it was Marshall's spine or just his windpipe didn't matter any more. He dropped the guy and took off up the tunnel.

The female had screamed, and a tiny, desperate part of Matt hoped that she'd gone to Joe and found her awake and fighting. Deep down he knew that wasn't going to be the case. Whatever it was she'd run into, he just hoped it hadn't affected Joe too…

Then he reached the edge of the spike pit, and saw her impaled on her back, and every part of his existence narrowed to that one little patch of vision. She had been dying already. She couldn't survive this. Both of those thoughts tried to form in his head, but he shoved them away. She would be all right. She had to be.

He wanted to jump down, but he knew doing that would only mean impaling himself. He would just have to hope against hope that the female werewolf could see that refusing him was only going to leave her in a spiky hole with a corpse. He knelt down and reached over the edge. "Pass her up to me," he said, his voice frantic. "Then I'll help you out too."
 
The girl held her breath as she heard someone running closer, but then it didn't sound like Marshall's. The look with wide eyes at Matt, her hands lowering from grasping her head in panic and desperation. Her eyes were soaked with tears. She didn't know if she could trust him... but she needed to get Joe out!

Making a quick decision, she carefully moved closer and painstakingly lifted Joe up. The sound of her flesh slipping off the spikes made her squirm, and she clenched her eyes shut as she lifted. It felt like forever until she finally succeeded, and she then noticed Joe's fever. Looking up at Matt, she moved over to where he was. She couldn't risk getting Joe killed - "Take her and head straight - when you get to the three tunnels take the left one - hurry!" there was desperation in her voice.

Marshall had a problem of his own and he was groping at his throat as he tried to get air into his lungs. His body was bent over forward and as he leaned on his arm, he saw feet coming closer. Rami stepped aside, knowing Faolan would want to give the wolf a piece of his mind. In this case, it was a foot to the face and Marshal was knocked out cold. Addie smirked, but then he got a strange smell from Marshall. He couldn't quite place it...
 
Matt hoisted Joe out of the spike pit and ignored the drop in his stomach as he felt her skin. She was too hot. He told himself that it was just an illusion, that he didn't know how cold his hands were at the moment. Anything to keep from acknowledging the truth: she was going to die.

He had already taken two steps when the tears in the girl's eyes made him stop. He thought briefly of Sally, and that made him want to leave her there, but… she wasn't Sally. He turned back, laid Joe carefully on the ground and reached back over the side of the spike pit.
"Come here. I said I'd help you out." He knew he was trusting a lot here – that she wouldn't pull him over the edge head-first, for one thing – but she was badly wounded too and if he'd succeeded in stopping Marshall then she could easily bleed to death down there before anyone else came for her.

At this point Mel, who had abandoned the others upon finding Marshall, shot into view. She took in the scene in front of her and gulped hard. Joe was bleeding heavily, and Matt was leaning over the edge of a pit trying to help one of Marshall's pack. Added to that the shape of his body told her he wasn't quite in human form any more.

"Rita! Rami!" She knew one was a nurse and despite her present anger at the other, he seemed to have some anatomical knowledge at least. It wasn't going to be good enough – they needed a doctor, and a damn good one, if they were going to save her now.
 
The girl looked at Matt with utter confusion. He was helping her? but Joe was the important one... she was just... just a nobody who followed Marshall's orders. Still, maybe she could help Joe, at least with the bleeding wounds. She took Matt's hand and despite the pain from her protesting limbs got out of the pit. "Thank you," she said and without thinking she gave him a hug of gratitude, but then released him as soon as she realised that it was probably inappropriate. "Sorry!"

At the call of their names, Rami rushed over to where Mel was standing and saw what the urgency was about. "Oh crap." he commented. As soon as Rita arrived he opened his own medical bag to get something to at least slow Joe's bleeding. They could then focus on her bleeding wounds and hopefully figure out what else was wrong, and what the cause was for her fever. Faolan stood by and his face was filled with worry at Joe's condition. He knelt down by her head and held her temples tenderly. His hands were starting to shake. "Hold on, lass. You can get through this, Joenie..." he said pleadingly.

Addie had stayed behind to keep an eye on Marshall, and to make sure he wouldn't get away. There were a few people who he had to answer to... painfully. At the slightest sing of Marshall waking up, Addie gave him a boot to the head.
 
Matt stiffened up slightly at the hug, but only because in his mixed state he really had no idea how he was going to react to such close physical contact with a werewolf. As it turned out, it was actually fine, and he managed to muster something that looked vaguely like a smile in response.

Then he turned his attention back to Joe. Faolan was kneeling by her and that one image, of her grandfather holding her head and pleading with her to stay alive, was the last thing Matt could take. He had done it – impossibly, against all odds he had found her in this labyrinth without any help from anyone, and he'd beaten Marshall, and she was dying anyway.

A part of him wanted to lash out at the werewolf girl next to him, who had dropped Joe into a pit and impaled her on spikes. Instead he braced his arms around his head, tucked into a ball and set up a long, low howl that echoed down the tunnels. It would probably attract attention, but he couldn't have cared less. Mel came over to try to stop him, and he shoved her away so violently that she almost staggered into the spike-pit. After that, she kept her distance, and he kept up the noise.

Rita had formed more or less the same plan as Rami and, since he had a medical bag with him, she wasted no time in grabbing bandages out of it and starting to apply firm pressure to the wounds, starting with the one in her chest. "Don't raise her head," she said to Faolan urgently. "Come and lift her legs." It would at least reduce the risk of her going into shock.

She could feel from the temperature of Joe's skin that the blood loss, although severe, was not going to be the end of her problems. Something else was wrong. She looked up at the wolf, the one Matt had pulled out of the pit, and her tone was harsh. "What's wrong with her?" Sure, the girl might not know anything, but Rita wasn't going to waste time skirting the issue. They needed answers, fast.
 
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