A fury that was not entirely rational threatened to consume Erik once again as the retraction began in the chains. For a moment, he feared that all of this could be some kind of cruel joke, and he very nearly railed at Alexi once again. But he did his best to push that idea from his mind, deciding that, just for the moment, he would trust the human just barely, just enough to see what was happening. His anger was not erased, but once again he could smother it. Focusing on breathing deeply, he walked back with the chains, until they finally pinned him to the wall. As he was immobilized, another jolt of fear bolted through him, but once again he forced it beneath the surface. 

He watched carefully as Alexi sliced himself open and drained his blood into the bottle. The smell drove him insane and seemed to intensify his agony, but he could see the point well enough. The blood was untainted by the potion, an offering of pure trust. Practically unconsciously, he fruitlessly tried to pull against his restraints to reach it, until he realized Alexi was slicing his arm as well. Even in his current state, the vampire would heal from the wound within minutes.

The second the chains were finally loosened, he grabbed the bottle hungrily and drained it of the blood, going so far as to use his claws to break it apart and lick the remainder from the inside. Completely indecent, but he felt that not a drop should be wasted. 

But he paid enough attention to what Alexi was doing, and watched with incredulity as he added the potion to Erik's blood and drank it.

[i]What?! That can't be the Binding potion, can it? First of all, I thought it didn't work on humans? Then again, no one has tried. Secondly, it is not supposed to cause such horrible horrible pain. Maybe he's faking all of it, and maybe that potion was just colored water or something.... But no one could fake that agony in his eyes. I don't understand.[/i]

He watched as Alexi struggled with the agony, and a tiny part of his conscience even wished he could assist the human, despite his anger at him. But the least he could do was wait several minutes until the spasms of pain were through before he began his barrage of questions.

“What exactly was that? I thought the potion didn't work on humans, and even if it did, I've never seen results like that. What exactly did you do? And why did you do it? Why would you cause yourself such horrible pain?” Erik asked, curiosity overtaking his voice, and his anger at being chained temporarily evaporated. His mind was much more clear now, thanks to the infusion of blood, and the pain, nausea, and other symptoms had already evaporated while he had been watching Alexi.

~*~*~

Joseph smiled, and bowed respectfully before leaving the room once again, glad that he had been able to relieve his old friend's stress in some small way. The faintest of smiles traversed his lips as he resumed his normal chores.