The Feeding House

by Savill, Josh

  It was on the fourth day of lying there in the bed that Jack felt once again in control of most of his body and able to at least get up and walk around. Most of the transformation had already taken place and he had survived. It would still take a while for the transformation to be complete but he had survived the most dangerous stage and for that he was thankful. The threat of dying was now greatly lessened, now he just had to find a way to survive as a vampire in a human world.

  Jack looked around the room as he lay there flat on his back and he saw the full extent of where he was for the first time. He was guessing that he was at some sort of inn as there were the noises of talking and drinking downstairs all to the tune of a piano that was playing a jaunty ragtime style song. Looking at the crack in the drawn curtain he saw a large amount of light coming through. It must have been midday judging by how high and intense the sun seemed in the sky.

  Cockroaches scuttled around the floor and into the dark crevasses of the room. It was simply laid out in its design with poor quality wooden furnishings dotted around and a large full length mirror in the corner. Jack was greatly confused however what he was doing here or how indeed he even got to this place. The last thing that he remembered was the alter and being told that he was going to be taken to meet his fate amongst the humans but he didn’t expect this, he didn’t expect a room at an inn. He needed to get his head straight and find out what was going on.

  Slowly he pulled himself out of the bed. As he sat up a great throbbing pain began in his head, he held his head in his hands for a few minutes breathing deeply as he did so and then threw up all over the floor. But he wasn’t in a state to care about something like that and once he had recovered he pulled himself off of the bed his joints feeling as though they were going to give way at any moment if he was to move too fast or at the wrong angle.

  Jack walked very carefully towards the mirror, stumbling as he went, trying to grab onto the chair and the bed post for support. Once he had reached the mirror he took a very long look at himself taking in the changes that the transformation had done he gave out a long sigh as he touched his face. It was still his face but slightly different it looked just that bit more menacing. He gripped his arms and legs feeling the new found strength in the muscle. He knew that he had a row of retractable fangs and somehow naturally knew how to bring them down but chose not to look at them. He had seen enough and although his face and his body were reminders that the transformation had in fact successfully taken place there would be no bigger reminder than the fangs and to be honest he didn’t want to look at that he’d had enough already.

  Jack walked over to the window where the crack of light in the curtains shone through it was the only light source in the entire room. He could hear the sounds of a city behind the curtains and pushed them slowly open to take a look. An interesting sensation flooded over every part of Jacks skin that was exposed to the light and his eyes hurt forcing him to squint. It was almost like he was in pain but not at the same time obviously the transformation had not been completed yet or else he would be burning in this direct sunlight. Bellow him he saw as his eyes adjusted to the light, a city that he could only presume was oxford, Mississippi the city closest to the feeding house. He could not however be certain about this as he had only ever seen the city by night and he usually only ever had the Ariel view of the rooftops to go by.

  The door to Jacks room swung open very quickly making him turn around in a defensive stance. He dropped his guard when a confident woman walked in holding a broom. She was one of the maids and at first she did not notice Jack but then quickly jumped at the sight of him standing in front of her by the window.

  The women quickly averted her gaze from him as a form of respect “I am so sorry sir, I didn’t mean to intrude like this I just thought you would still be unconscious you see I’ve been coming in and checking on you and doing a bit of cleaning too while I was here sir, my deepest apologies for intruding like this I know I should have knocked before entering.” The women was in a deep panic as the thought of her losing her job came to mind with each passing moment. But Jack did not look down on the women or scold her. Jack knew that this women was a valuable asset and that she would most likely have the answers to some of the questions that he had been thinking since the moment he first looked around the room.

  “It’s ok but if you don’t mind I have a few questions that need answering?” the women nodded and let out a sigh of relief at his lack of anger towards her Jack continued “Can you tell me how I got here and where here actually is?”

  The women looked confused momentarily at Jack wondering how someone couldn’t know where they were or how they’d even got there especially when they had been there for over three days but if this kept him happy, and most importantly kept her employed, then so be it. “You’re at the holy Moses in Oxford Mississippi sir. You were brought here a couple of nights ago out of the blue at around 11 o’clock at night by some, if you don’t mind me saying peculiar, looking fellows. The land lord was going to turn you lot away until one of the men that had been carrying you pulled out what seemed to be endless amounts of money out from his pockets and told us to keep you for as long as it takes for you to get back onto your feet. Of course the land lord isn’t stupid and said yes to the offer so we put you up here in this bed since your arrival and you’ve been having nightmares and the like since your arrival.”

  Jack momentarily held his head in his hands as he let the situation sink in. Obviously the vampires had gone through with what they said. He was lucky that he had survived the transformation but in a way was worried for the safety of the women that he spoke to and all others that were around him. It had appeared that the vampires had gone to great expense to make sure that he survived his transformation and would live on to be hunted and killed by the people of Oxford leaving him not in a ditch by the side of a road but instead in a comfortable room with a bed and people who would watch over him to make sure that he was still breathing all of which unknowing as to what was actually going on inside of him.

  “Thank you for your help, I need to be left alone now. I have a lot to think about and I need to get my things in order,” At this the women backed slowly out of the door facing Jack every step of the way, she wore a look of confusion and fear on her face unable to understand what was going on or indeed why he was behaving like this but all she knew was something was very wrong with this guest. He made her blood run ice cold as if he was some sort of shadow in the night.

  Jack looked back over the city scape as he poured himself a glass of strong drink looking at the label on the bottle before swallowing the content of the glass. It made him feel good almost like it was a return to normality he let out a cool exhale of air as his throat clenched from the strength of the drink. He now felt that bit more alive and ready to face the world but was still in pain and knew that the transformation had not quite ended it would not be long now he thought before sunlight burnt his skin and the over whelming urge to feed ran deep within his mind he worried endlessly about this but chose to take his leave from the room he had spent too long here already. He would gather his baring’s downstairs and try and learn what had happened to him and what was going on. Jack needed some sort of secure plan if he was ever going to survive through the next few days let alone the future.

  Jack walked towards the door. His long black trench coat had been neatly hung up on a hook on the back of it ready for him to wear. He put it on slowly feeling the pain in his arms run down all the way to the bone and realised how much work the body actually put into simple everyday tasks such as putting on a coat. There was something in the side pocket a lump that felt obvious that it shouldn’t be there. He picked it out and bringing it closer to his face he saw that it was the doll that belonged to the child. Obviously the vampires had left it in there as a reminder of the fate that he was to meet and what he had done to deserve it. He looked at the doll for a while remembering the girl and hoping that one day somehow he could make it good
for her and take away the pain. Maybe that would finally bring an end to the turmoil that was going on within his mind. He paused briefly as he looked at the doll feeling as though it summed up every emotion that he felt regarding his current situation and chose to put it back in his coat keeping it as some sort of mascot that would keep him going, reminding him of what he would work towards as the future seemed ever bleaker.

  Jack looked for his gun belt but couldn’t find it anywhere. Obviously they had been confiscated by the vampires who had brought him here or had been stolen by the maid who had happened to have come across them whilst cleaning the room and chanced that they were worth at least a month’s wages for her. He took this optimistically feeling that with a new start comes a new fresh pair of guns the killing that he would do from now on would be very different to any that he had needed to do before.

  Jack momentarily gathered himself at the door as he tried to numb some of the pain the flowed through his body. He was going to look strange to the people down stairs but he wanted to minimise the attention he didn’t want any trouble. Jack opened the door and the sounds of merriment filled his ears from the saloon downstairs. The piano flooded his ears but did not fill him with joy it just made his head throb angrily at him as he began to walk down the creaking wooden steps.

  The saloon was full of patrons. They played games and gambled and shouted at each other about unfair odds and tricks that they had played to get the upper hand in the card games. Some were talking business and several men of God could be seen dotted about the bar room floor indulging themselves in the very sin that they preached against, as they spent their parish’s collection bowl money. Many sat with hired women on their laps who laughed at their comments out of common curtsey as they tried to wean more money out of the men.

  The whole bar fell deadly silent as Jack began to descend into view, his head still a mess as he struggled down gripping the banister tightly. They were all intrigued to see who this mystery man was. Jack had been the talk of the tavern ever since he was brought in a couple of nights earlier. People had speculated as to who he was and why he was here some thought, judging by the amount of money that had been given to the proprietor in exchange for his room, that he was some sort of rich army officer gone rogue. None of them however came anywhere near the truth.

  Every eye was turned to Jack and the piano had stopped playing as he walked slowly down the last few steps slowing his pace as he felt the silence. It was almost impossible to walk through. Jack took a quick look around the saloon and looked a few of the men in the eyes. Once he did so they quickly looked down at their drinks as if they feared him. The only noise to be heard was that of the horses outside and the slight mumbling of hushed voices as some people whispered into others ears. The entire focus of the room was on Jack.

  He walked slowly up to the wooden bar the drinks behind it laid out neatly in rows as they stood perfectly in their half empty bottles. Jack looked at the elderly gentleman behind the bar he gave him the kind of look that said that he wanted service but the barman pretended to ignore it, not wanting to interact with the stranger.

  Jack let out a long sigh of frustration and was about to start shouting at the people around him who were so rudely paying full attention to his every movement, while at the same time attempting to completely ignore him, when a women stepped out from the door behind the bar that led into the back room. The women wore a dancer’s style dress. It was in pristine condition and was the same sort of dress the younger women who were sitting on the preachers knees wore. Obviously they were hired hands that had a very different role in the saloon to the cleaners and the bar keeps. She seemed to be in her early 40’s and she had a strong face and held herself in a powerful posture. It was easily noticed that she had spent a life time in this profession and knew how to deal with herself and her customers. She did not seem like the sort of lady who would take shit from anyone.

  “Back to your drinks you lot,” said the women her voice booming across the saloon. At this the music continued and the bar slowly kicked back into life. As normality resumed Jack looked across the bar room floor and saw a few eyes still gazing across at him in wonderment.

  “Now lovey can I get you a drink on the house you look as though you need it?” The women said as she to Jack as she took a tumbler out from the bottom of the bar and filled it with scotch. She passed it along towards Jack who thanked her by raising it in the air. He took a big sip and then turned his attention back towards the women.

  She began to speak again before Jack could get a word in “My names Valerie but the people round here call me boss. I run this saloon and as long as you’re not one of those trouble making cowboys that come through here looking for fun in the big city from time to time then you’re more than welcome to stay. After all when your friends brought you here they left enough money for you to stay for the next few weeks. Now tell me friend what’s the deal. You some sort of fancy business man or something? I would reckon as much judging by the money that was left what’s your name?”

  The woman was good at talking. She seemed to have a friendly yet stern voice about her, probably came with the job to be honest “My names Jack Crowe,” he replied as he finished off the last of his drink. The alcohol giving his system that much needed wakeup call “I don’t know what I’m doing here, I barely know where I am do you know anything about what’s been happening to me over the past few days?” Jack saw the confusion in the women’s eyes he had to give her some sort of a normal response just to make her feel a bit safer around him. He began to lie as best as he could “I’m in law enforcement I’m researching a few leads on a case around here it’s all very secret. I’m sure I don’t need to bother you with any further details on the matter.”

  Jack thought that this was a pretty good alibi but quickly realised that the women’s expression had turned to one of worry, the girls that walked around the bar flirting with men were paid by the saloon and their job wasn’t exactly legal. The women began to try and make any excuse that she could as fast as was physically possible “My girls are all legal,” She began the sound of panic in her voice was evident “You can ask them yourself there’s nothing illegal going on round these parts I can promise you that, this is a well-respected saloon, I would never let anything illegal go down on my watch I can swear that on the Lord Jesus Christ’s name!”

  Jack realised his mistake and quickly tried to correct it “No don’t panic I’m not here to investigate anything about your bar. I can promise you we know everything here is legal and we have no problem with your business in fact we quite like how you run this place,” The lie seemed to be working as Valerie calmed down and her face went flat as she listened closely to what Jack had to say “I just think that I have ran into a few problems with the case and might have been brought here by my fellow officers can you tell me what’s been going on over the past few days with me, as I’ve been in a bad state.”

  “You can say that again,” replied Valerie as she calmed down completely letting out a sigh as she moved nervously behind the bar “Well let’s see all any of us know is that you were brought here out of the blue a couple of nights ago by some shady looking characters who didn’t really have much to say. You seemed terrible then all bruised and bloodied looked like you’d had a head on collision with a train. Come to think of it it’s strange that you look fine now,” Valerie looked up and down Jacks body and from what she could see he seemed to be fully healed like he had never had a scratch on him. She continued anyway “ well It must have been the light that made you look that way, anyway you tossed and turned up there for a couple of days it sounded like you had the devil inside of you. Some of the folks round here started to get worried as to what you actually were. There’s a lot of stories going around about you, but either way that’s all I or anyone else knows.”

  Valerie poured him another drink without asking whether or not he wanted one and Jack took it with much thanks finishing the scotch this time in one gulp. He put the tumbl
er back down on the table and relaxed on the bar as Valerie went off to serve another customer. So far things seemed to be going well for him, he’d got some key pieces of the story and he was pretty sure that that was all that he was going to get. After all no one seemed to know anything else about him. The patrons would be of little help they seemed happy just to stare at him and either way their minds were now too clouded with stories of his arrival and tall tales of who he might be for them to actually know anything about what had happened.

  After finishing his drink Jack decided that since there was nothing else going on that he could do he would go back upstairs to his room in order to gain some much needed rest. He began to climb back up the stairs towards his room the eyes of the people in the bar burnt in his back as he climbed the first few stairs until he was out of sight hidden by the low wooden roof. He reached the top of the stairs and turned the corner walking slowly past the other doors that covered the walls of the poorly lit hallway.

  Jack heard loud shouting from behind one of the doors that he was about to walk past it sounded as though a man and a woman were having a very loud and very public argument. There was the smash of a bottle that sounded as though it had been thrown with great force against the wall. He slowed up momentarily in front of the door listening out for what was going on.

  The door swung wildly open hitting the wall with great force Jack felt thankful that he had not been in the way of the full force of its hit as it missed him by mere inches. A woman stumbled out as though she had taken a small run out. She was dressed like the other girls downstairs and was sorting her dress out putting the strap back up onto her shoulder. Her makeup was smudged which really exemplified her frantic and wild state she was screaming like a banshee at the man who was still inside the room.