The Feeding House

by Savill, Josh

  Jack picked the vampire up by the collar of his shirt and held his face close to the vampire’s bloody mess of features “Tell me what you have done with her.” Jack was even more forceful this time in his speech yet even now the vampire continued to chuckle.

  The vampire looked at Jack for a while and the laughter began to die down until it eventually came to an end. A momentary silence filled the air then he spoke “If only Dreno was here he would be so pleased with you Jack. It seems that by beating me so harshly you are truly embracing your new life as a vampire. You are weak Jack you have given in to everything that you once stood against. Your death shall soon follow mine mark my words but for now I shall give you the answer you seek,” The smile appeared on the vampires face again “She has been feasted upon.”

  The vampire began to laugh once again, a laugh even more manic than before. Jack’s rage was now uncontrollable and he began to punch the vampire over and over again until he could no longer feel the pain of the blows upon his hands. He must have continued for at least ten minutes as his fist repeatedly connected with what by the end of it was a bloodied mess upon the floor. He returned to the saloon that night and wept like he had never done before, finally this was all beginning to feel real to him and he did not like it.

  Missy could feel nothing but fear. All of her other senses had numbed to the point of no return. Her panic had gone beyond the state of tears and pleading and she now sat in the middle of the room in complete silence, her eyes glazed, the vampires surrounding her. Dreno had been pacing around silently for some time now looking down at Missy. Now and then as he began to seem to prepare himself for something. The other two vampires stood still like statues guarding over Missy, making sure that she did not move.

  After a while of pacing Dreno walked over to a table by the side of the fire place and poured a drink from a bottle into a glass. Missy watched him as he did this and drunk it in one and thought it maybe to be some form of red wine but she knew in her hear of hearts that it wasn’t. She could tell that there was something different about this drink, there was something not completely right about it that she just could not put her finger on. It was the same sort of experience that she had had when she first got a proper look at the faces of the men who had captured her.

  Dreno let out a refreshed sigh. He placed the glass back on the side and licked his now red lips. He turned and looked Missy directly in the eyes “Jack Crowe is not half the man that you believe him to be, not even quarter I would say. It seems as though he has deceived you and told you nothing but lies he is not the man that he says he is.” Missy did not want to hear anything Dreno had to say to her but although her senses were overwhelmed with fear curiosity was getting the better of her and she could not help but listen to what he had to say.

  Dreno continued “It may be hard for you to believe due to your weak cattle mind but a natural predator of the human race does exist and we are that predator, we are vampires. Jack used to hunt humans for us you know,” Dreno could sense that he had hit a nerve even if Missy didn’t want to believe the story she could not help but think it to be true “He is now a vampire too and he has lied to you to get close to you, maybe to feed on you maybe not who knows? but the point is through his lies he has endangered your life and the lives of all those that you know and love.”

  Dreno walked around Missy stroking the back of her neck as he did so. His cold fingers sent shivers down her spine, his hands felt like death itself. “Oh but don’t worry young girl you will not live in this lie for much longer,” Dreno sniffed at Missy’s neck the warm smell of the blood within was enough to make Dreno lust for a bite of her flesh “No you shall not live this lie he has trapped you in, we have far greater plans for you. You my dear will bring an end to his web of lies, you shall be the spark.”

  Missy looked up at Dreno her eyes unchanged but inside she was going mad she knew that whatever was about to happen to her it was not going to be good, she took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing mind she knew that this was the end. Something deep inside of her told her so and to her surprise she accepted this fact. The memories of her life played in front of her eyes and although they were her memories she somehow felt as though she was looking in on the life of another. Nothing seemed to matter to her anymore, not her job or friends or life, she just waited for the cold embrace of death to fall upon her.

  Dreno picked up a knife from his desk it glistened even in the dim light that surrounded them and walked up to Missy. She closed her eyes and scrunched them together knowing that knife was for her but when the initial moment had passed and she hadn’t felt the steel on her flesh she looked up at Dreno who still standing there still as he had been before, she began to feel as though this knife was not intended for her.

  Missy watched as Dreno cut into his hand with the knife and held it together in a tight fist allowing his blood to drip down onto the floor, letting out a pleasurable moan as he did so. One of the vampires, who had been standing over her, now placed a vile smelling bowl underneath Dreno’s bleeding hand. Missy was not sure what sort of liquid was in the bowl but she knew that it smelt terrible and was as black as night. A violent chemical reaction began in the bowl as Dreno’s blood connected with the vile liquid, black smoke flew into the air and a great bubbling noise could be heard from within the bowl.

  Once the reaction had ended the two vampires held Missy tightly, their strength over whelming, their grip painful. Forcing her mouth open Missy began to struggle knowing what was to happen next but she could not escape the vampire’s tremendously strong grip. Dreno walked closer to her and began to pour the black and red liquid into her mouth, it smelt foul and tasted even worse. It had the consistency of tar and as much as Missy tried to fight the urge to swallow the vampires now held her mouth tightly closed, their fingers placed over her nose to stop her breathing.

  It was not long until all of the fight that she had left inside of her had been spent and she swallowed the vile liquid shivering as she did so. Missy collapsed into a heap on the floor and curled herself tightly into a ball. She could not muster the strength to cry but could not have felt any lower. She sank down inside herself and felt as though she was slipping away. Her thoughts began to blur and her vision became hazy at best. She could feel that whatever this poison was that they had put inside of her was working fast.

  Dreno looked down at Missy and then began to order the two vampires “The poison should have completely taken hold of her within the next hour. Once it has she will be completely under my control, as soon as this happens you shall take her back to the saloon where Jack is staying, he will have no choice but to kill her and as soon as he does his true identity will be revealed. He has been a thorn in my side for far too long now and I do not want him to survive any longer than he already has.”

  The two vampires nodded and picked up Missy’s limp body and dragged her away. Dreno smiled, his plan was coming together, it would not be long now until Jack was being hunted day and night and Dreno’s revenge would finally be fulfilled. If all went to plan Jack would be dead within the next few days and this thought was something that he enjoyed above all others.

  Jack woke up and lit a cigarette. He hadn’t slept well and now the alcohol that had finally helped him rest was punishing him with an almighty headache. He remembered what had happened last night and what the vampire had said. He remembered the pleasure and relief he had gained from killing the vampire too. It felt as though he was getting a lot of his stresses out and he had needed it.

  However, most of all, Jack remembered the fact that Missy was still gone. Jack held no hope for her return. He knew now that she was with Dreno and he knew that he had taken her as a punishment to him. Jack began to beat himself up inside. He thought about how much of a stupid idea it was to try and form relationships with people, especially one that was becoming as close as him and Missy. He should never have got her into all of this and now, because of him, she was dead.

  Jack knew that he had t
o leave today if he was ever going to get out of this alive. He knew it would look suspicious but at least it would give him the chance to run after all they would link her disappearance back to him anyway so why wait around for them to try and get him? Why waste yet more innocent lives? Jack began to pack his bag not knowing where he was going to go. All he knew was he had to get away, far away.

  Jack took the doll out of his jacket pocket and looked at it. He noticed that he had begun to do this regularly when he was down or felt like he should just give up on everything and either let the darkness take him or allow those who were to hunt him take his life. As Jack looked at the doll it reminded him of why, even now, he was still holding on to the shreds of humanity that he had left inside of him. He had sworn that he would one day rescue that poor innocent girl who he had allowed to be locked up. He blamed himself for everything that had happened so far but knew that even if it was the last thing that he did, helping that girl to escape and destroying Dreno’s sadistic operation would make it all right again.

  The urge to feed had slowly been building up again and he knew that this time around only human would quench his terrible thirst. Even so he was trying to put it off as much as he could, burying it deep into the back of his mind and trying to ignore it. Needing to feed upon human blood had really opened his eyes to the situation. Now that he understood why vampires needed it so badly he did not think of it as a necessary thing, no he believed the complete opposite he could now see how terrible a plague vampires truly were on humanity. Here were humans building great cities and advancing their society ever further with each passing day, while the vampires on the other hand tried to suck them back into the prehistoric age of hunting and being hunted. Jack realised that vampires had no place in modern society.

  Feeling ready to go out and face the no doubt eventful day that was to follow, Jack threw on his coat and headed for the bar down stairs. He knew that it was too risky to try and go outside and search for Missy as he had not fed and would burn up in an instant but even so he needed to go down and speak to the bar staff and see if Missy had come back.

  The bar was fairly empty only a few loyal drunks and low lives sat around the tables, faces pushed down onto their drinks. Some gave Jack an unwelcoming look as he reached the bottom of the stairs but mainly they just tried to ignore him, no longer was there talk and rumours of Jack instead people now just tried to forget the fact that he existed all together.

  Jack asked the girl at the bar if she had seen Missy today but he was met with nothing but disappointment as she told him that there was still no word as to where she was and that the sheriff had now gotten involved in it. This worried Jack and he knew that there would be a knock on his door soon enough but he tried to ignore that fact. Missy not returning today was the final straw. He was leaving tonight. Slipping out unannounced, as soon as the bar began to fill up, it was two o’clock already and Jack was fully packed, he decided to head up to his room and try and get one final bit of rest before he left. For all he knew it could have been the last time he would ever sleep on a bed.

  Jack swigged down a couple of shots of whiskey and winced before he lit his cigarette. It was 9 o’clock now and he hadn’t really managed to rest since he had gone back up to his room, unless of course you count lying down on the bed with your eyes open. Jacks bag stood by the door and he was ready to go in the next few minutes. He was sad to leave this place and was even more sorry for the trouble that he had caused while he was. He knew he needed to get somewhere where the vampires couldn’t find him, he needed to find somewhere safe.

  Jack stood up and placed his hat on his head. He was about to try and slip out of the bar when a loud knock came from the door causing him to drop his cigarette from his mouth. Jack knew who it must be and had no hesitations in trying to escape through the window. He knew it had to be the sheriff and that he had obviously pinned the disappearance of Missy on Jack.

  Panicking he ran for the window and had one leg out when he heard a voice call through the door “Sorry if I startled you Jack, it’s me, its Missy open up.”

  Jack froze in the window sill, his mind teaming with ideas, eventually he came to his conclusion, it was obvious that the vampire had just been lying to Jack to make him worry. How could of he been so dumb he thought? Quickly he lifted his leg back into the room and closed the window he gave off a beaming smile as he ran for the door.

  Opening the door he saw Missy standing there, her clothes and body were pristine Jack was ecstatic, she was alive. Jack was not a huggable man by any means but could not control himself in this instance and flung his arms around Missy.

  “I’m so happy to see you, I was worried you were dead, where have you been for the past few days I have to admit I have been worried sick?” Jack heard himself talking and it felt strange, he had never talked this way before to anyone it was obvious at this point how much he truly did like Missy, even dare he say it, possibly love.

  “I just had to take a few days away, I needed to clear my head. I meant to say something but time didn’t allow it, I’m sorry.” Jack noticed that there was something weird in the way that Missy was speaking and walking, she wasn’t acting like herself. She seemed cold and as Jack could tell from the hug that he gave her she felt cold as well, almost corpse like.

  “Are you ok? You’re so cold and you’re acting a bit strange?” Jack stepped away from Missy as she let herself into the room her movements seeming unnatural and almost eerie.

  Missy turned and faced Jack looking him dead in the eyes, her eyes were glazed and her pupils were tiny a creamy while film seemed to cover her eyes removing most of the colour from them. “ I am fine Jack, I wanted to see you first before anyone else,” She paused and quickly pulled her dress off revealing her naked body underneath “I want you to fuck me Jack and I will not take no for an answer.”

  Jack stared in shock and amazement for a moment as Missy stood naked in front of him, slowly the urge to feed was building up inside of him again and would soon become uncontrollable. Her nakedness did nothing sexually for him, instead he could feel her warm blood rushing around her body through every vein and artery he looked at her neck and his mouth began to salivate.

  “What’s wrong vampire, can’t you control your urge? can’t you fuck me the women that you wanted to be with? or were you just lying when you said that just like you were lying about who you were?,” Missy spat fire at Jack as he stood there in complete shock at the words that were spewing from her mouth.

  Jack realised now what it was that was wrong with her. He could hear it in her voice now and he cursed himself for being so blind to it at first. The snake like quality in her voice, the fact she was as cold as death, the strange milky white eyes. Dreno had captured her. She was not Missy any more. Jack remembered now Dreno’s great skill in necromancy; her reanimated corpse was now under his control. Missy the girl that he had cared for and maybe even loved was now Dreno’s puppet, a tool sent to destroy any hope that Jack had of escape.

  Jack tried to appeal to Missy. He hoped that she was still in there somewhere and although he knew in his heart of hearts that she was lost for ever he still wanted her back “Missy if you’re in there then listen to me,” he said as he walked slowly closer towards her “You can fight this you’re tough, I know you can fight this.” Jack looked deep into her eyes but could see nothing, no spark of life no hint that anything might be going on in there, there was only nothingness in the blackness of her pupils.

  “You lied to me Jack. You put me in harm’s way and you knew that all along. How could you have been so stupid? How could you have put my life on the line so easily like it didn’t even matter? Now look at what’s happened, I’m here to end you Jack. Your death will be merciless and I shall take great joy in watching you die, just like you let me die.”

  Missy bent down and picked up a knife that was concealed in her dress and waved it in Jacks face. A horrible smile formed on her face she seemed murderous and unstoppable. Jack stepped back
and began to plead “Missy please listen to me, I didn’t know. It was all too much for me. I couldn’t think please just fight this I know that you’re in there somewhere.”

  Missy’s face changed and colour began to return to it ever so slightly “Jack?” her voice was back to normal she seemed fine “Jack I think it’s, it’s all over.”

  Jack walked up to Missy and wrapped his arms around her, they embraced and kissed passionately. As they did so however Missy’s eyes began to once again change colour and her skin turned cold again, Jack felt this as her warm lips now felt like death and tasted of ash but it was too late and Missy plunged the knife into Jacks shoulder, twisting it as she did so.

  Jack pulled away and hit Missy around the face knocking her across the room as he did so. He looked at his arm, it was bleeding heavily but he had bigger problems to deal with at the moment he could worry about his shoulder later. Missy jumped up. The hit around the face had knocked her straight back into a wall but it seemed not to have bothered her. Her arm was dislocated but without even flinching she popped it back into place and ran screaming at Jack once again.

  Jack did not want to hurt Missy any more than he already had and so instead of fighting back he dodged her charge at the last minute, Missy went flying headfirst into the door, her teeth were left mangled and bent, she spit a mixture of blood and tooth onto the floor and once again came at Jack knife raised into the air as she screamed like a banshee.

  Jack grabbed her arm and stopped her, gripping her wrist tightly. She forced her lips upon his and that was when he tasted her blood, that sweet metallic taste that he had been longing for he could barely bring himself to pull away, it was everything that his body needed and it completed him. He felt for that moment euphoric but this only lasted a second and soon the feeling was replaced by another.