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Lycanthrope Factory	By : StarLightMassacre Category: Anita Blake > Crossovers > AB/Harry Potter Views: 23091 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 7
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter; all rights go to J. K. Rowling. I do not own anything from Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter; all rights belong to Laurel K. Hamilton. I make no money for this piece of fictional writing and never will.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Last Time
Harry smiled then, weak, shaky and tenuous, but he still smiled and once again there was hope. Hope that they could teach Harry to be his own person. Hope that they could help him to grow and learn. Hope that one day, they wouldn’t need to babysit him every hour of every day, but they would always look out for him. They would always love and care for him, because it was going to be a long, difficult road ahead, full of stress, failure and frustration, but Harry was worth it because there would also be love, success and development and that would make everything worth it in the end.
Chapter Fifteen – Strike
Harry’s seizure had not repeated itself again. Almost two weeks after the event and Harry was back to his happy, quirky self and no more seizures, or tantrums, had happened.
Finding out that Harry was seventeen had not changed anything, as Richard had initially thought that it would. Harry had known all along that he was around seventeen years old and that his birthday was at the end of July. He’d known what age he’d been sold and how long he’d been in the factory. He knew more than they gave him credit for.
“Neeta!” Harry called out as soon as Anita walked into the living room, his arms up and out for a hug, using the new nickname that he’d given to her as soon as he’d declared that she was one of his favourites.
She had become one of Harry’s favourites after she’d helped him through his seizure and Harry had warmed right up to her, even giving her a coloured picture. Something which he’d only ever given to his favourites before.
“Hello, Harry.” Anita greeted, bending down to hug him before opening a packet she had in her pocket and handing Harry a biscuit.
Harry screeched in delight and sucked the biscuit and nibbled on it, still not complete used to such solid food, but he was getting much better and he was improving daily. He was still overly thin, but he had gained a substantial amount of weight according to Lillian. He was just shy of an eight kilogram weight gain and it truly showed. Harry wasn’t so much a bag of bones anymore, but he still needed to gain a lot more weight before Lillian would even try to declare him healthy. They were all trying to help Harry eat more, and more solid food now, and he was getting much better, slowly but surely.
“Any more news?” Richard asked quietly as Harry nibbled and focused completely on the biscuit he’d been given.
“No, nothing. We have the description of the doctor who bought Harry from what Dursley remembers, but we’re still trying to figure out who it is. We suspect that it was Isiah, the head of the whole thing, or rather the money behind the whole thing, but we have no way of being sure, though so far we’re having absolutely no luck in tracking any them down. We won’t give up though, we’ll keep trying until every single last one of them is behind bars.”
Anita sat down with a sigh and rubbed at her tired eyes.
“How about the actual factory?”
“We’ve stripped it. We haven’t found any more bodies in days and no more clues like the blood on the weretiger’s teeth. All we have are a few names, some tidbits and one blood sample.”
“It’s not enough?” Richard lilted the end of his sentence like a question and Anita shook her head.
“Not nearly enough to track them down, especially when we think they’ve gone off the grid and underground.”
“Harry hasn’t said anything in a while, but I don’t want to upset him, you know, because of the seizure.” Richard whispered.
Anita nodded. “I know and I understand. He needs to be comfortable here. I don’t want to ruin that for him either, Richard, but the thought of them doing this to anyone else, of starting over and hurting more people like they hurt him…”
“They’re hurting others?”
Anita grimaced at Richard and turned to face Harry, who’d eaten his biscuit and had tuned into what they were saying just in time for him to catch the last sentence.
“We don’t know if they are, Harry.” She tried weakly.
“But you think they are.”
“Do you?” She asked back.
Harry sucked in the left side of his bottom lip and bit at it, considering her question. He nodded.
“They were doing it for years and years and they made lots and lots of money. They’d want to do it again. They liked doing it.”
“That’s why we need to find them, Harry.” Anita said gently.
“Can I help?” Harry asked, looking terrified by what he was offering, but doing so regardless. “I don’t want more people to be hurted by them and their experiments.”
“We understand that this is hard for you, Harry. But if you can be brave and tell us everything you know, it would really help.”
“I’ll be right here to help you.” Richard said immediately, indicating his lap and Harry crawled over and scrambled into his lap, taking Richard’s arms and wrapping them around his own waist before he clutched at Richard’s fingers. “There you go, you’ll be safe here.” Richard told him, settling Harry more into his lap and holding him tight.
“Can you tell us who first took you, Harry?” Anita asked.
Harry frowned at her.
“When you first came to the factory, who brought you to the factory.” Anita amended.
“Oh! Wussell.”
“Russell.” Richard amended.
“He was horrible and nasty to me. He jabbed me with a needle and made me sleep and when I woke up I was in a bag.”
“A bag?”
“Case bag, for a fly plane.”
“An aeroplane. You were in a suitcase.” Richard asked.
Harry shook his head. “Like Anita’s bag.”
“A carry-on bag. He kept you with him.”
Harry nodded. “Issy-ah’s plane, he used it to get experiments to his factory from all over. Wussell was the one who went out to collect experiments, but he took Patick and Fabice with him sometimes.”
“Patrick and Fabrice.” Richard said for Anita’s benefit, who had a notepad out, writing everything that Harry was saying down carefully.
“So Isiah had a private jet?”
Harry nodded.
“Russell brought you to the factory and then what happened?”
“I was examined and tagged and then I was put in my cage.” Harry said.
“When were you injected to become your animals, Harry?”
“The next day.” Harry said. “By Stella, though Jillian was there to watch. The experiments started as soon as I changed into my animals.”
“Is there anything else that you can tell us?” Anita asked, trying not to let her desperation come through and frighten Harry.
“I heard them once, when I wasn’t supposed to.” Harry whispered to them, as if the doctors would be able to hear him if he spoke any louder. “I was supposed to be sleeping, on the ‘topsy table.”
“The autopsy table?” Anita swallowed.
Harry nodded. “They put me to sleep with needles and I wasn’t supposed to wake up, but I did. I hurt a lot, because my organs were in bowls on the tables around me and my belly was open. They were arguing.”
“Who were arguing, Harry?” Anita asked, trying to stop herself from being sick at the thought of Harry waking up halfway through an experiment to find himself cut open and his organs in metal bowls around him.
“Ruby and Issy-ah. The brother-sister doctors.” Harry told her.
“I remember.” Anita nodded.
“I hurt a lot, but the doctors buckled our mouths shut when experimenting, so I couldn’t make a noise and because it was the ‘topsy table, I was all strapped down too so I couldn’t move. They didn’t know I was awake.”
“What were they saying, Harry?” Anita asked.
“They wanted a new factory. A bigger one. They said they needed more room, more labs and more people. They were going to move all the good experiments to the new factory too. I was going to go, I was interesting, they liked calling me interesting.”
“Did they say where the new factory would be?” Anita asked, hardly daring to breathe.
“They were arguing about that.” Harry told her with a nod. “They had lots of spots to pick from. Benny didn’t want to stay in America. He wanted to go to Africa?” Harry asked, looking at them both as if questioning if that was a real place.
“But the top, top doctors, Isiah and Ruby?” Anita asked.
“They wanted to stay in America. They said it was easier to com...comun…commun…”
“Communicate?” Richard offered gently and Harry wiggled and nodded.
“They needed to talk to their buyers.” Harry nodded. “Always they were talking to their buyers and Issy-ah and Ruby needed to talk to them always to get lots and lots of money for the factory.”
“So where did they want to stay instead?”
“Neva…Never…”
“Nevada?” Anita asked quickly and Harry grinned and nodded.
“Ruby said no Neverda because Issy-ah liked gambing too much and he wouldn’t focus on his work.”
“Gambling.” Richard corrected and Harry nodded.
“Issy-ah said a desert would be perfect, but Ruby said it was too empty and they’d be spotted too easily. She wanted to go to Nebaska.”
“Nebraska?”
Harry nodded. “She said that there were lots of trees there to hide the new factory from pying eyes.”
“Prying eyes.” Richard offered.
“Issy-ah agreed to Nebaska with Ruby.”
“Harry, how long was this before you got rescued?”
“I became an animal five times between then and when I came here.”
“There hasn’t been a blue moon recently, so roughly five months.” Richard told her. “Long enough for them to have bought and secured the area, set up supply channels, but not long enough for them to have moved the experiments and all the work they’d done.”
“They’d moved some of their work over.” Harry corrected. “Big lorries came and took lots and lots of paper in locked boxes away. They moved all the spare cages too and lots of boxes of experiment stuff, like needles and knives.”
“They’d already started the move to Nebraska?”
Harry nodded and Anita grinned ferally.
“Call Bradford and go and get them.” Richard said viciously. “I think Harry and I are going to go out and get some ice cream.”
“With saucy stuff?!” Harry asked with wide eyes.
“With sprinkles and saucy stuff.” Richard told him and Harry did the full body wiggle he always did when really excited and happy.
“Take Jamil with you.” Anita breathed into his ear when Harry went to get his shoes from the bedroom. “You heard what he said, those doctors wanted to take him with them to the new factory. They might still want him.”
Richard swallowed hard at the thought of these doctors getting their hands on Harry again and he nodded, taking out his cell and dialling Jamil.
Harry loped back into the room with his shoes and he handed them to Richard, who pulled Harry onto his lap and bent to get his shoes on.
“Jamil is coming with us, is that okay?” Richard asked.
Harry nodded. “Does he want ice cream too?”
“He does.”
Harry giggled. “Micah likes ice cream too.”
“Micah’s in work today, remember.”
Harry nodded. “You’re here with me today because it’s the weekend.”
“That’s right. Come on.”
“Has Neeta gone?”
“Yes, she went to her friend’s.”
“Should we leave a note for Asher?”
“Already done.” Ricard said with a smile.
Harry grinned and Richard helped him up the stairs. He was getting much better and his stamina was increasing, especially during the full moons when he ran around like a hyperactive puppy, but it still took him twice as long to reach the top as it normally would have because Harry had to have both feet on the same step before he could step up to the next one.
They made it out and into the sun and Harry looked every which way with a happy grin as he held onto his hand like a small child.
“Are we walking or going in car?” Harry asked curiously.
“It’s a bit too far to walk, so we’re going by car, but we will be walking around a bit.”
Harry nodded and let go of his hand to lope over to his car at a faster pace than usual and Richard realised that Harry was trying to run, but not go too far ahead of him. It saddened him. Something had to be done about these people to make Harry safer and something had to be done about Harry’s gait and posture, about the damage that had been done from him being cramped up in a tiny cage for hours on end for the last nine years. He made a mental note to ask Louie and Lillian about something that could straighten Harry’s back at least.
He opened the car door and Harry scrambled in and sat nicely on the seat and allowed Richard to buckle him in before he climbed in the driver’s side and took him to the mall, where Jamil would be waiting for them.
“Jamil!” Harry screeched as they exited the car and he loped over to Jamil and hugged him tight, not noticing that people were staring at him. Richard doubted he’d care even if he did notice them.
“Where’s Shang-Da?” Jamil asked.
“I didn’t call him.” Richard said as he took one of Harry’s hands and Harry grabbed a hold of Jamil’s hand with his other one.
“Why not?”
“Because we’re going to the mall for ice cream, not into a diplomatic meeting so I don’t need an entourage.”
“Ice cream!” Harry cheered wiggling both of his arms in their hands, making their arms sway.
“Doesn’t he have ice cream at the Circus?” Jamil asked as Richard got them walking when Harry tried to dive off in the direction of the mall that Micah had taken him to weeks before.
“He deserves a treat and some fresh air. We think he just gave Anita the crucial information she and Bradford needed to nail this case. The do…people, wanted to set up a new place in the cornhusker state. We think that’s where they are now.”
“Really? So all of this could be over soon.”
Richard nodded and smiled down at Harry, who was trying to jump between them. At the next attempt he pulled up and Harry screeched in delight like a toddler as his feet left the ground for several moments.
“Again! Again!” He demanded happily and Jamil joined in unhappily as people turned to watch two men play Daddy with what looked to be a twelve year old. It was no wonder so many people were whispering, pointing and laughing.
“Ignore them.” His Ulfric coached him. “They have no idea what Harry’s been through. Who cares about strangers that you’ll never see again when it makes Harry so happy?”
Jamil nodded and swung Harry with more gusto, making Harry shriek at how high he went, but he was grinning and laughing and it was the happiest that Jamil had seen him in a long while.
When they reached the ice cream parlour, Richard got Harry several different flavours of ice cream, including mint, pistachio and Peach Melba. Harry tried them all with increasing relish as it got everywhere. Jamil had got himself a coffee ice cream, but he surrendered it to Harry after only several bites when he turned that green eyed pout to him and asked to try it.
“Bleh!” Harry grimaced and pushed the little cup back at him. “Nasty.”
Jamil couldn’t help chuckling as he got to go back to his ice cream. Richard’s raspberry ripple had been taken from him and Harry had liked it enough to keep it.
“I know to buy coffee flavour next time.” Richard chuckled.
Harry dipped his spoon into the green coloured ice cream and clumsily got it into his mouth. He grimaced as that one spoonful made him shiver and he immediately pushed the cardboard cup away.
“You don’t like mint chocolate chip either?” Richard asked as he took the cup and ate it himself.
Harry shook his head and went back to the orange and red Peach Melba. They stayed there for a couple of hours, feeding Harry all different ice creams, watching him as he tried each and every flavour. He liked them all apart from the mint, the coffee and the peanut butter flavours, his new favourite was surprisingly a tossup between watermelon, green apple and maple, honey and walnut, he couldn’t make up his mind which one he liked the most, but he assured them that chocolate was definitely his second favourite.
“You’re a complete mess.” Richard laughed as he looked at Harry, whose face, neck, hands and shirt were covered in all different coloured stains.
Richard’s phone rang and he cursed as he was trying to clean a squirming Harry off with a wet wipe. Jamil reached over and stuck a hand into his pocket and answered the phone.
“Oh, hi babe. Yeah, he’s here, the both of them are here, we’re just on our way back.” Jamil said as Richard managed to clean off both of Harry’s hands and part of his nose and mouth that had been covered in melted ice cream. The boy would definitely need a bath when they reached the Circus.
“Is it Anita?” Richard asked and Jamil nodded.
“Hi Neeta!” Harry moved over to shout into Jamil’s ear.
“Harry says hi.” Jamil said, trying to keep the grimace off of his face as his sensitive ear rang from the unneeded volume. “Anita says hi Harry.” He told the boy who giggled and wiggled his body in joy. “Yeah, it won’t take us long to get back. Oh, you’re ready to strike? That’s good, we’ll be there before you leave. No, he hasn’t mentioned anything more, his mouth has been too full of ice cream. Yeah, he’s an absolute mess, he really needs a bath and a change of clothes. We’ve just realised that he was putting spoonfuls of ice cream in his lap, apparently to save them for later. He didn’t realise that they’d melt.”
Jamil laughed at the look on Richard’s face as he stood Harry up to see the utter mess of melted ice cream covering his lap and legs.
“Yeah, we’re just leaving the ice cream parlour now, we’ll get him into the car and we’ll be back in ten, fifteen minutes. Have his pyjamas ready for him and a bath. The ice cream’s even in his hair.” Jamil said he walked behind Richard and Harry.
At his words Richard looked at the back of Harry’s head and saw the clumps of hair stuck together by melted ice cream where Harry had clenched it between his sticky fists and he sighed.
“Richard’s about to have a fit.” He told Anita with a laugh. “If we find any more ice cream on him the bees will be following us home.”
It happened too quickly for him to comprehend as a gunshot rang out in the car park and people started screaming and running. Jamil saw Richard go down and Harry was staring around himself, lost and then he screamed, his eyes glued to something.
“Doctor! Doctor!” He screamed out in utter panic and fear.
“Anita! Richard’s been shot! The doctors are here for Harry!” Jamil said into the phone as he tried to see where the gunman was and who Harry was looking at.
Jamil opened the car and all but threw a screaming Harry into it before he went to see to Richard, who’d been shot in the neck.
‘Where has Richard been shot?’ He heard a voice yelling and Jamil turned back to the phone in his hand.
“In the neck. It’s bad, Anita, he’s unconscious and I can’t see where the gunman is.” He said as he scanned around the rapidly deserting car park, people still screaming.
“Jamil!” Harry screamed and he snapped his head around to see Harry staring at a man who looked like he was running in fear, his hands over his head and crouched down, but if Harry was afraid of him, then he was a doctor or someone involved in the factory.
Jamil kept the man who was pretending to run away in his sights and he realised that the man was running between the cars, right at them. He growled lowly and touched a hand to his gun. He did not expect to be shot in the back.
He fell forward, onto his Ulfric. He felt pain, a white hot agony. He heard Harry screaming for them both, for Anita, for Micah, for Asher and Jean-Claude, for Wicked and Jason and Stephen and Nathaniel. He was screaming about the doctors, begging them to help him, but Jamil couldn’t move and he lost consciousness soon after.
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Anita arrived with the wererats before the police did and they saw Richard’s abandoned car and ran to it. One of the back doors was open, Richard and Jamil were on the floor beside it, bleeding out. Harry was nowhere in sight.
“Harry?!” Anita called out, just in case he was hiding. “Harry, its Anita!”
Louie, who had come with them, was assessing Richard and Jamil.
“They’ve both been shot. Richard in the neck, from what looks like a front facing shot, and Jamil has been shot in the chest, from behind. There was more than one gunman here. This was a planned attack.”
“Are they both alive?”
“Alive and healing.” Louie told her. “Looks like the shot to Jamil’s chest hit a lung. We need to get them both to the clinic.”
“Take them.” Anita said as she looked around. “Do it now before the police get over here.”
“What about Harry?” Claudia asked.
“I think Bradford and I need to pay a visit to Nebraska.” She said firmly, her teeth bared as she watched a bloodied Jamil and Richard being loaded up carefully into the cars. “Make sure you be careful with Richard’s car, if Harry was inside when he was taken it might have fingerprints on it that we can use.”
Anita called the Circus, unfortunately the vampires couldn’t come out to help as the sun was still up, but she’d promised to call as soon as she could. Jean-Claude answered on the first ring and she heard Asher in the background demanding where Harry was.
“Ma petite, are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Richard was shot in the neck, Jamil in the chest. Harry’s gone. I’m on my way back. We need to get to Nebraska and comb the state for that factory. Based on where the one here is placed and how secluded it is, Bradford has people looking for the best possible spot and they’re using satellites to check for anything unusual.”
“Are you on your way back?”
“I am, yes. Richard and Jamil are on their way to the clinic. Did Nathaniel pack those extra guns?”
“Oui, he’s added extra clothing and more ammo too.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
“Be careful, Ma petite.”
“I will. I’ll get Harry back too.” She swore as she closed the phone and climbed back into her own jeep.
She couldn’t stop thinking of the phone call she’d given to Richard, the one Jamil had answered. They’d sounded so happy, they’d had such a good afternoon and she’d heard the gunshot over the phone, she’d felt through her links to Richard the pain that had ripped through his body and she’d heard Harry screaming and shouting out about the doctors. The next thing she knew, Jamil had stopped answering her too.
Anita’s mind kept playing over Harry’s scream of terror and she tried to imagine how he felt now that he was back in the hands of the doctors. She felt sick.
She all but ripped herself out of her jeep and ran to the Circus to pick up her stuff and Bradford. No one dared stand in her way and most of those at the Circus leapt out of her way as she tore down to the underground.
“Did they take Harry?” Asher demanded as she batted her way through the fabric and into the living room.
“Yes, Asher.” She scowled. “I said on the phone.”
“Are Richard and Jamil going to be alright?” Sylvie asked.
Sylvie was Richard’s Geri, or second in command, and if Richard died, she would be the Ulfric of the pack, but Anita knew that there was no way that Sylvie would want to gain control of the pack in this way, not at the price of Richard’s life.
“You’ll have to keep in contact with the clinic, they both went right there.”
“Is it true Richard was shot in the neck?” Jason asked quietly.
“Yes. Richard’s neck was shot. Jamil’s was a chest shot that Louie said nicked a lung. I don’t know any more than that. I need to go, but please keep me updated.”
“I will, Ma petite. Be careful.” Jean-Claude held her tight and they shared a kiss.
Anita made sure to kiss Nathaniel and told him to tell Micah that she was sorry that she wasn’t able to say goodbye personally, but she’d call them both as soon as she could.
She hefted up the hold all bag and she checked through it, just in case, but of course everything was there. Nathaniel knew well by now what she needed and wanted when she was away from home. He’d even packed Sigmund the penguin for her.
“Are you ready?” Bradford asked her and she nodded once, curtly.
“Let’s get going. I want Harry back before they have any chance to hurt him.”
Anita left the Circus and climbed into Bradford’s FBI issue dark sedan and she let him drive as she checked in with his team, hoping that they’d found something with the satellites or just a place where they thought that the factory could be, taking what they knew of the one in Saint Louis, taking it’s measurements and making it bigger.
“They got anything?” Bradley asked as she dropped the call.
“They have a few areas of interest and they’re going to cut them down with the satellite before we arrive.”
“How many areas of interest? Nebraska is a big state.”
“Eight or nine and they’re still searching. It doesn’t help that they could be in an abandoned or sold farm or that the factory might not be fully built or operational yet.”
“We’ll find him.”
“We will, but put your foot down.” Anita told him as Harry’s scream echoed in her head again.
She just wanted to get to Nebraska and get searching for him. She even debated calling Edward, professional assassin and fellow federal marshal. If anyone could find Harry, it was him.
“I’m going to call in another federal marshal.” She told Bradford, making up her mind.
“We can do this, Anita. You, me and my team.”
“I’m not taking any chances here, not now that Harry’s been taken.” She said sternly. “I care more for Harry than any glory or credit for solving this case. I just want that boy back in Saint Louis and back at the Circus, where he belongs!”
Anita dialled Edward’s number and thought about what to say as it went to voicemail several times.
“Come on, pick up!”
“What marshal are you calling?”
“Ted Forrester.” Anita answered as she dialled again.
“Albuquerque.” Bradford nodded.
“That’s right.”
The phone clicked over and the first thing Anita heard was a hail of gunfire.
“This had better be important.” Edward’s best blank voice answered, even as more gunfire sounded.
“It’s Anita.” She said. “I need you in Nebraska, Ted.”
She made sure to stress his name so that he knew not to talk about Edward gigs.
“What do you need, Anita?”
All at once his blank voice had more of a southern drawl to it and she could almost see him settling into his Ted persona. The same persona that had a steady girlfriend in Donna and was a step-dad to Peter and Becca.
“I assume you know already of the lycanthrope factory uncovered in Saint Louis.”
“Yes. There was only one survivor and he was put into your protection.”
“He’s just been taken, Ted. To a new factory in Nebraska. Not only do we have to find the new factory, we have to do it quickly, before Harry is hurt again.”
“I’m in. Just let me finish up here.” He told her as an explosion almost deafened her. “I’ll need an hour tops to finish up here. I’m in Minnesota, so I won’t take too long to get to Nebraska. Do you need Bernardo too?”
“No, just you. I’ve got Agent Bradford here with me and his FBI team. We’re taking out this factory and all of its operators, Ted. They’re already facing the death penalty for what they’ve done in Saint Louis, we’ve called up the FBI stationed in Nebraska and they’ve agreed to allow us to handle it and they’re on standby as back up. We just need to find this place.”
“Alright, you know I’ll be there. I’ve been curious about the little survivor since I heard about him on the grapevine. He’s incredibly strange, isn’t he?”
“That’s one way of putting it.” Anita sighed. “Finish up what you’re doing and I’ll call you later when we know where we’ll be settling.”
“Lincoln.” Bradford said from beside her.
“Lincoln, Ted. We’re going to Lincoln.”
“Got it. I’ll fly directly there. Be ready to brief me on everything and we’ll go from there. I’ll look into some avenues I have in Nebraska and see if they’ve heard of anything or have any leads.”
“I’ll see you soon.” Anita said and then left Edward to whatever he was doing. She’d ask him when she saw him in person.
“Is he coming right away?”
“He has a job to finish up first, but he’ll be here as soon as he can.” Anita said with a sigh.
“We’ll be there soon.” Bradford told her, following the GPS to Lincoln, Nebraska.
Anita comforted herself with that and with the knowledge that a coincidence that morning had led to Harry revealing about the new factory in Nebraska. If he hadn’t, then they’d still be in Saint Louis, panicking and trying to figure out where those people would have taken Harry. It would have taken them days, if not weeks before they’d tracked him down, if not even longer and there was no telling what those doctors would have done to him in that time.
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Harry whimpered as he came to lying flat on a cold, solid metal table, his arms, legs and head restrained and a very familiar, leering face standing over him.
He screamed as much as the jaw strap allowed him and tried to wiggle away, the tears already falling.
“Hello again number one hundred and sixteen.” The stern man greeted him curtly. “We’re happy to have you back. We’d thought you were lost to us.”
An evil faced, old woman stepped to the opposite side of him.
“Let’s see what damage those idiots it was holed up with did.” She said with a cruel smile, holding up a gleaming surgical scalpel.
Harry screamed and screamed behind the mouthpiece that pinned his jaws together, calling mentally for Richard, for Asher, for anyone to come and save him, to help him as the familiar and agonising sensation of being cut open scrambled his thoughts and tensed every muscle in his body. He was terrified and upset and he didn’t want to be back here. Not in this evil place.
“Specimen one hundred and sixteen has gained weight.” Isiah dictated to a recording device.
“Seventeen pounds and eight ounces.” Ruby added precision to the recording. “They’ve been feeding it.” She scoffed in distaste.
“It has more fat layers than our last exploration on the fifth of February, a little under four months ago.”
“Just to make our research that much harder.”
Harry sobbed almost silently, unable to make any more noise due to the tight, buckled strap under his chin, and he gave up trying to get loose. It never worked, the restraints were too tight, too well made. He had never gotten free in nine years, no one ever had, not even that huge man five years back who almost got out of his cage. He had been a bear and he was strong enough to break the cages, ignoring the almost acid like burn of the silver, but he’d never been able to get out of the restraints when he was shackled to an experiment table.
There was no point in him trying, he was not a bear and he wasn’t muscly or strong, not like Richard or Asher or even Anita. He lay still and he cried, closing his eyes and just hoping that this agony would be over soon, or that he’d pass out and go to sleep and wake up when it was over. It hurt so, so much.
“Its stomach has swollen to a more normal size. It’s bloated too, it has been fed in the last four hours.”
“They had the specimen on solid foods then.” Isiah answered his sister curtly. “Perhaps not for very long, however. Its kidneys and liver are still below optimum size.”
“Feeding monsters.” Ruby sneered. “Animal lovers.”
“They probably campaign against medicine in their spare time.” Isiah laughed dryly.
“Barbarians.” Ruby agreed. “Oscar! Bring me specimen one hundred and sixteen’s previous notes!”
Harry whimpered as the wooziness threatened to steal his consciousness as Isiah jammed a large hand into his body roughly and felt around. His belly felt strange, like it was going to try coming out of his mouth. It was a new, strange sensation and Harry didn’t like it. It made him cry harder in his tight, buckled restraints.
“Here you are.”
Harry opened his eyes to see Oscar grinning down at him.
“I’m glad to see you back where you belong, one hundred and sixteen. You’ve been missed and no one else exhibits your special energy. We’ve been after you for weeks trying to get you back so that we can study you more.”
“Don’t speak to it.” Ruby instructed him. “You’ll give it ideas above its station.”
“Ruby’s right, you’ll give the specimen dangerous thoughts. The animal shouldn’t be thinking at all. Who knows what those clueless people have told it or got it thinking about.”
“We should open the specimen’s skull and do a brain scan to see if there are any new connections that have been formed.” Ruby insisted.
“Oscar, add it to the itinerary at the first available opportunity. We might have the time in three days. We’ve got the new batch of specimens to examine and tag tomorrow. Then the internal for two hundred and seventy-one and two hundred and ninety the day after along with the muscle examination of two hundred and sixty-five, it’s showing advanced toning of musculature, I think it’s been working out in its cage. If it has, we need to move it into a smaller one, where it can’t move as freely.”
“Russell called not too long ago too. He and Patrick have taken a longer route to pick up another potential specimen in Elsmere. A woman was killed in a car crash, leaving behind a teenaged son. The boy’s step father doesn’t want him now that his Wife is dead, but he’s under legal obligation to look after the boy. He’s going to see if he can’t take the boy off of his hands.”
Isiah nodded. “He has enough spare money on him to do another transaction if he’s careful.”
“Perhaps we should try the hyena and bear hybrid again.” Ruby said thoughtfully, even as she prodded around his stomach with her rubbery fingers.
“Those crossbreeds never fuse together properly.” Oscar argued. “The last one tore herself apart, literally.”
“We just need to find the right person.” Ruby insisted, a manic gleam in her blue eyes.
“The only specimen we’ve ever found who will hold differing genus of animal is one hundred and sixteen.” Isiah pointed out. “I was actually wondering if we could add lion to its repertoire.”
“We have tried that before, Isiah. Either the specimens have died or they’ve rejected the new beast.” Ruby argued. “Specimen one hundred and sixteen is too valuable to us and our research to waste it on trying to add yet another animal.”
“But one hundred and sixteen holds up so well!” Isiah argued back. “An eight year old specimen accepting three beasts and vampirism! Ruby, we were so shocked when it was a success! We were just gene splicing, we never expected it to live, but here it is, nine years later. Something about this specimen is different and we’ve never been able to figure out what it is! I’ve been thinking about this specimen since it’s been gone and looking over all of the notes and I’ve had a thought, if we watch it accept a new beast, it might lead us right to where that energy is stored and we could try to tap into it. It might be the answer we’ve been searching for! The culmination of all our hard work and research!”
Ruby’s eyes glittered and she nodded. “Yes. Yes, this could be just what is needed to tap into that energy. Oscar, put one hundred and sixteen down on the lists for Jillian and Stella tomorrow. Isiah, are you sure you want to add werelion? Why not hyena or even in a completely different direction and add werebear or wererat? It already holds leopard and tiger, why add another feline based animal?”
“I was thinking of the value of the specimen. There’s no need to try and kill it unnecessarily and with two strains of feline based lycanthropy already, it’s much more likely to accept a third.”
Ruby nodded and Isiah gave a small, terrifying grin.
“Oscar, one hundred and sixteen is to go down for a werelion injection tomorrow. That’s Were-XIV.” Isiah called out.
Harry whimpered and tried to wiggle, but he couldn’t. It was hard enough with three beasts, he wouldn’t be able to handle four of them.
“You should give him Were-XII too.”
“We’ve had this discussion, Benny. Just because you’re currently fascinated by the disgusting little rats does not automatically mean that all specimens will be given Were-XII.”
“But this particular specimen has always been my favourite!” Benny insisted.
“We’re well aware of your interest in specimen one hundred and sixteen. All of us are interested in it, but we don’t want to kill it off unnecessarily.”
“He can handle it!” Benny insisted.
“Stop referring to it as a ‘he’. The specimens are animals, they’re all its!” Ruby demanded.
“Fine. It can handle another dose. I just know it!”
Harry watched with mounting horror as Ruby and Isiah shared a look before Ruby sighed and Isiah nodded.
“Fine, Were-XII and Were-XIV. Go and tell Oscar and get him to schedule them several hours apart. If we miss seeing the one, we might catch the second.” Isiah told Benny, who whooped with joy and dashed off.
“You’d never think that man was almost forty-two, he’s so childlike when it comes to his current interests. Let’s finish up here and then I want to check on specimen two hundred and eighty-four. It was looking a bit too pale this morning.”
“You think it’s rejecting the organ swap?”
Ruby nodded. “Yes, weak thing that it is. It wouldn’t even take to the vampire genes. Specimen one hundred and sixteen is looking well and strong, it has been fed solids, so the fat layer it’s gained obstructs our view, but we can easily rectify that and get it back on a liquid, intravenous diet. It shouldn’t take any longer than a few days.”
“We need to keep an eye on it, just in case it has rebellious thoughts and starts acting up.” Isiah added.
“Get Alfie to give it another bath too, the specimen needs to be completely sterilised again. It was so sticky and messy when it arrived.”
“Do you want to wipe it down with an iodine solution?”
Ruby frowned consideringly. “It might be for the best, who knows where it’s been.”
“I’ll get Lea to do that. She needs to learn to look after the specimens correctly.”
Harry felt like he couldn’t breathe as he lay on the table, waiting, waiting as Ruby and Isiah left him still strapped to the table. The tears had not stopped once through the ordeal and he just wanted to be back at the Circus, he wanted to lay down in his comfy, big bed with Asher and Richard and he wanted this to be another bad dream. He wanted to wake up in the arms of his favourites and he wanted them to hold him and shush him and tell him that this was all another bad dream and that he was safe with them.
A young woman came into the lab and her face pinched as she looked at him, as if she’d smelt something foul. Harry didn’t like her, his hackles raised and he tried to curl up to protect himself, to cover his exposed belly, but the restraints prevented him from moving at all.
A very large brown bottle was lifted out of a cupboard and its cap was unscrewed and a familiar scent reached Harry’s nose. He sobbed as best as he could with his mouth buckled shut. He hated the brown water washes.
“They could have at least wiped the blood off of you first.” The woman sneered. “I came here to learn, not to be a fucking grunt.”
An abrasive cloth was scrubbed over his body and that hurt too, making him mewl and cry as much as he could, wanting this to just be over already. His body spasmed uncontrollably when the cloth was scrubbed over the freshly pinned incision site that Ruby and Isiah had only minutes before had wide open and clamped to prevent it from healing while they worked. It was freshly healed and still very tender and sore and he cried out, fresh tears falling from his screwed up eyes.
A thick cotton pad of the brown water was smeared over his body, every single inch of skin was covered. It got in his hair, his eyes, his mouth and dribbled up his nose. He spluttered and tried to spit the fluid back out of his mouth as the bitter, metallic liquid went through his clenched teeth and touched his tongue, but he couldn’t even open his mouth wide enough to get his tongue through his teeth, let alone spit to get rid of the taste in his mouth and he cried harder.
“Alfie! Lab six needs your attention!” The woman called out as she left the lab that Harry was in.
“I’m overseeing specimen two hundred and ninety-seven, Lea.” A voice Harry recognised as Alfie’s called out from a long way away.
“I thought you wanted to greet one hundred and sixteen.”
“Is it ready?” Alfie asked in perverse pleasure.
“Yes, just get the damn thing back into its cage. The doctors think it’s going to be unruly.”
“Take over for me here.” Alfie all but demanded.
The woman, Lea, stomped off as footsteps that were all but running entered the lab that Harry was in.
“Oh, one hundred and sixteen. You don’t know how happy I am to have you back. I’ve missed you.” Alfie cooed, a sinister gleam in his eyes. “You always mewed so sweetly for me.”
Harry was unbuckled slowly and carefully, though not before a thick band was clamped and locked around his wrist. It was new and Harry didn’t like it.
His legs were unbuckled first and Harry pulled them to his chest, curling up.
“Come on now, one hundred and sixteen, behave yourself or you’ll be shocked.”
Harry made a soft noise of distress as one of the shocky sticks was shown to him and his whole body tensed. He hated the shocky sticks that made him fall to the floor and twitch. He wasn’t able to move for ages after being touched by a shocky stick.
Alfie unbuckled his head, neck and then finally his hands and Harry was free, but he knew from nine years’ experience that he wouldn’t be able to get away. There would be more assistants, more trainees, the doors were always locked and there were big, muscly men that had shocky guns on them.
He was carried to a new room, a room that was tiled all the way around and he was dumped on the hard floor, which made him whimper, able to make noise now that his mouth was free.
Alfie flipped a switch and water spurted down from the ceiling, drenching him and making him cry out. It was very cold and he didn’t like it.
“No! No!” He cried and he curled up, trying to protect himself from the cold water.
Alfie stopped the water, only to flip a different switch which rained down a chemical on him, making him smell of the floors and the equipment of the factory as he was washed with antiseptic before a final rinse and then Alfie was scrubbing him dry with a towel, a lot less gently than Richard or Asher did after his baths at the Circus, and then he was being dragged off through the new, much bigger factory and Alfie scanned a little card he had on his belt and a door pinged and opened and Harry gasped in horror and fear as he saw the room full of cages.
“Welcome home, one hundred and sixteen.” Alfie grinned sadistically.
He struggled weakly as he saw the hollow-eyed people in the cages and the few who were struggling and fighting against their bars, snarling and reaching out to try and grab at him and Alfie.
“Settle down you bloody beasts.” Alfie said mildly as he lifted the shocky stick up to show them.
Most of the experiments whimpered when they saw the shocky stick and they stopped trying to get out of the cages as they huddled down, but one man ignored the shocky stick and snarled rattling his cage and trying to break the bars. A simple push of a button and the shocky stick activated and crackled and Alfie shoved it through the bars and prodded the man, who yelped and collapsed down in his cage, quiet and twitching.
Harry whined and hunched up to avoid Alfie’s gaze as the shocky stick was turned back off and Harry was dragged further into the room of caged experiments.
They reached the end of the occupied cages, Alfie missed two that had numbers on them, and he stopped at an empty cage that had no number and he manhandled Harry’s arm to scan the new wrist band against the pad of an empty cage. The blank screen glowed blue, then it flashed up his number, one hundred and sixteen, then it went green and Alfie shoved him into the cage and it locked.
“Welcome back, one hundred and sixteen. We’ve missed you.”
Harry sniffled and curled up in his cramped, too small cage as Alfie left the caging room and he cried into his knees. He just wanted to go home, back to Richard and Asher…he’d even go back with Micah, he just wanted to go back to the one place where he had ever felt safe. He wanted to go back to the Circus with his favourites who looked after him and never hurt him and let him colour and play and explore and gave him ice cream, clothes and a big bed. He didn’t want to be naked in his new cage surrounded by howling, crying, screaming people that he didn’t know. He just wanted to go home.
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A/N: We’re definitely coming to the end now, Harry is back to being an experiment, he is now specimen one hundred and sixteen again, just after the guys had broken him of that habit and had him only thinking of himself as Harry.

Well, it is so fucking hot today that it took me forever to get this out because I can’t concentrate properly in this horrible heat, but I did eventually get it done, I hope you’ve all enjoyed it. Chapter sixteen isn’t quite ready yet, so I don’t think it’ll be up next week, but it is coming on well, so it’ll be up soon. Until then, lovelies,

StarLight Massacre. X
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Lycanthrope Factory