She rubbed her eyes and looked ahead to where the disturbing sounds were coming from. The albino vampire was still in hibernation. It was the vampire in the neighbouring cell that was kicking up a fuss.
The vampire was thrashing around, screaming and smacking into the wall. He was clawing at himself, spilling blood over the floor. His short black hair was now a dank mess on his head and his pale face was smeared with blood like tribal marks.
His eyes were completely black and the hollows under them were thick with spidery purple veins. Evie had seen that look before. That manic, possessed look that chilled her to her very bones. It was the look of the Rage.
Everyone knew of that look ever since 2020, when vampires were ‘outed’. Humans feared for their lives, naturally, and so the authorities had come up with an idea. They tried to alter the vampire’s dietary needs and make them hunger for animal blood instead. This worked for about six months. Vampires were given blood from butchers and lived amongst the humans as if they were part of them, happy to be no longer seen as a threat. But then the Rage kicked in. Even the vampires hadn’t seen it coming. No one had ever attempted to change their diet before and so they had no idea what affect it would have, and how viciously the real hunger would fight back.
One by one, vampires were consumed by the Rage and lost complete control of their bodies to the hunger. They killed without thought, pulled humans apart on the streets, almost destroying houses trying to get inside. The humans that had already invited a vampire into their homes had no chance. Towns were wiped out. Some vampires even scrambled out in daylight in hope to feast and went up in flames in the attempt.
Caius had noticed the Rage taking over and sent himself and Evie into the basement of their home. He compelled a human to tie them up in chains of silver and return in ten months to release them. It had been risky. The human could have died and the two of them would have been down there until they were found. The pain of the silver sent them into hibernation, and when the human came back, the Rage was over. Due to their severe lack of blood, Caius and Evie killed the human on the spot. But it was better to have been her than half of the town.
The authorities had taken charge. When Caius and Evie resurfaced, Dial-a-bite buildings were already in place and blood rations were being handed out from hospitals. The real hunger was sated and had been kept under control ever since.
Evie cringed when the Raged vampire wrapped his hands around the silver bars and started rattling them as they burned into his skin. He howled in pain and fury, snapping his fangs at the sleeping albino in the neighbouring cell.
“You were like that.”
Sophie had dragged herself a little closer but still lay slumped against the back wall. Her pale hair hid half her face but Evie could tell she’s looking at her.
“What?” she asked.
“The other night after Nico injected you. You were like that.” Her head rolled over her shoulder, gesturing to the Raged vampire.
She winced at the thought. “So, I’m guessing he was just here?”
“Yeah… went a few minutes ago. Doesn’t like to stay for long after his serums take effect.” She laughed bitterly but ended up gargling blood.
“Is there a specific system? Does he come on a regular basis?” Evie paused as the Raged vampire let out another shrill cry and tore open his business shirt. She looked at him with disgust. When face to face with a Raged vampire, it was easy to see why humans hated their kind so much. “Is there some sort of pattern when it comes to him choosing who to inject?”
“Not really. Takes him a while to create the stuff. I don’t know how he chooses who he’s going to test them on. I think it’s to do with age. But how he finds out how old a vampire is, I don’t know. He can’t always take a vampire’s word for the truth.”
“How old are you?” Evie asked. “In human and vampire years.”
Sophie sent her a sad smile. “Was Turned when I was fourteen. Lived for sixty-two years since.”
“Has your Maker not tried to find you? Surely they’ve felt your pain?”
“I was released. He was only a new-born himself. Didn’t understand the responsibility of being a Maker.”
Evie frowned. The thought of being released made her feel sick. It must be such a smack in the face. Sophie was completely without hope, just waiting to die. Did Evie and Caius share that fate too? All three of them were going to die in this crazy doctor’s basement.
The Raged vampire tired himself out after a while and dropped onto the bloody floor in a heap. In that time, Evie stayed silent, her eyes on his lifeless body as she contemplated her end. When he woke, he wept into his hands.
“Not been here long,” said Sophie, “few days before you.”
Evie could tell he was new to this place. He was still well filled out, unlike Sophie who looked like she’s nearly falling apart. Evie thought of how she would rather die. Would she rather die quickly by injection or slowly dwindle into unending hibernation? She looked to the albino in front of her and noticed he still hadn’t moved. That’s not an effect of Nico’s special serum. That’s the effect of months without blood, animal or human. What was he still doing here? Was Nico going to feed him and start all over again? Get him healthy again just to tear him apart?
She turned to Sophie to ask how long he had been hibernating but she was sleeping. Had she joined him? Was she to sleep forever or was she just fatigued? Was she faking it like when Nico’s around? Sophie was the closest thing she had to a friend in this Hell and the thought of her being nothing but an empty shell made Evie feel empty, too.
The door clanged open again and Evie was on her feet. The familiar click of heels made her step as close to the bars as she could.
He studied the vampire he sent into the Rage. “Hello? Are you okay?”
There was no response. He turned and caught sight of Evie.
He smiled so wide it crinkled his eyes. “Well, hello there. Feeling better? When I came earlier, you were like him.” He jerked his thumb to the sleeping vampire. He had a small bag strapped around his waist. That must be where he keeps his bottles.
“How are you feeling tonight?”
“Tired,” she replied.
He half frowned. “Yes, that tends to happen.”
“Let me see my Maker,” she said. Her voice didn’t come out as sharp as she intended.
Nico rolled his eyes with a sigh. “You have a one-track mind.”
“Please.” She went to grasp onto the bars pleadingly but stopped herself just in time. “I need to see him. I know he’s alive. But he’s been in here over a week. He might not make it much longer. Please, just let me see him.” The pull between Caius and Evie was always strong, even when they were countries apart. But now it was starting to dwindle, like a flame dying out, and he was within reach. He was either in hibernation or heading that way soon. She tried to keep eye contact with Nico long enough to compel him to do her bidding, even though glass was known to block the effects. He seemed to understand her intent and looked away.
“I’ll think about it,” he said dismissively. “But I didn’t come down here for you.” He spun on his heel and walked to the front of Sophie’s cell. Something flared up within Evie, strong and urgent, like a sort of maternal instinct to protect.
She crossed her cell and stared at Nico through the bars and glass.
“Nico. Leave her. She’s been through enough.”
“Even in hibernation they are useful. The serums still take effect.” He took out a bottle from his bag and slotted it into place in the machine. He then flicked the switch and Evie watched in horror as the liquid begins to travel down the tube and into Sophie’s ankle.
As if yanked up by imaginary strings, Sophie wailed and convulsed forwards in a jittery motion like she was being electrocuted. She clawed at the needle in her ankle and pulled it out but it was clearly too late. Whatever Nico has pumped into her was working fast. He quickly stepped through the glass door and slammed it shut.
Sophie was wri
thing on the floor, her bony legs kicking and her arms stretching for something to grasp. She crawled to her knees and started gasping, clawing at her neck. Her bleary, brown eyes stared absently at the ceiling, and with one last screeching wail, she started to combust. Her skin sank inwards, bubbling blood. She cried and threw her arms out as she exploded and splattered like a tomato in a microwave.
Evie threw her arms over her face to shield herself but none of the goo came flying her way.
She dropped her arms and blinked, horrified.
So that’s what the glass is for.
The glass separator that stood in front of her was now covered in bloody pulp. It oozes down onto the floor, leaving smears behind. Beyond it, after the clumps slipped onto the floor, she could see the remains of Sophie’s summer dress still in the centre of the cell within a big heap of slopping gore.
Trembling, she turned to Nico who was still standing behind the red smeared glass, frowning. He squinted at Sophie’s remains and a muscle in his cheek flexed.
“Y-you’re a monster.”
He arched an eyebrow. “No. I’m trying to fix the monsters.”
“B-but you killed her.”
“One must first be alive to be killed.”
Evie gritted her teeth. “She was alive! She was a nice person and you killed her!”
“She wasn’t a person. She was a vampire,” Nico snapped.
Deflated, Evie dropped her back against the tiles.
Nico inspected the mess in the neighbouring cell. “Don’t worry. I’ll send my men to clean this up.” And with that said, he left.
Evie clutched her vest and blinked away the red from her vision. Sophie was dead. Evie and Caius were next. Her natural instinct to protect her Maker churned inside her gut. She had no idea how to save him when she was free, and now she was locked behind bars just like him. She was failing as a progeny.
Her own death didn’t concern her anymore. She was a vampire, most of what made her who she was died back in that graveyard in 1934. But dying knowing she hadn’t been able to help Caius? Dying without even seeing him once last time to say sorry? To say goodbye? No, she couldn’t let Nico win. Evie and Caius couldn’t both die in this place alone and afraid.
For what felt like hours, Evie sat there on the cusp of sleep but never actually going under. She couldn’t relax enough to let her eyes droop closed. But her body was loose and heavy, wanting to give up. Her mind had gone from reeling to clouded emptiness.
She didn’t even flinch when the doors banged open and footsteps echoed through the room. Many footsteps. Heavy and clunky, not like Nico’s which were almost musical.
Three men dressed in white all-in-one overalls and goggles went into Sophie’s cell with jet washers, cloths, buckets and other cleaning equipment.
One of the men dropped to his knees in the centre of the cell and started to shovel the bloody mess and Sophie’s summer dress into the bucket. Evie watched in silence as they hosed down the glass walls, scrub off the bloody smears left behind, and collect all the bloody pulp scattered across the floor.
Chapter 4
Evie woke and was surprised she even managed to sleep. She didn’t know how long she was out for. Or how long she’d been in this cell. Time seemed to stand still. She figured the sun must have gone down but then again it was hard to tell. She felt like she was back in her basement with Caius, the Rage destroying the outside world.
They’d been chained to metal posts like wild animals. Wrapped in layers and layers of silver. She remembered them sitting opposite each other, the pungent smell of their own burning flesh like smog. They had stayed looking at each other, biting back cries of agony, red beading in their eyes.
It took several nights for their hunger and pain to put them into hibernation. By that point their chains had chewed up most of their chests and were charring their wrist bones.
“We’ll make it,” Caius had said before hibernation made everything go black.
The vampire beside the albino was also awake, wandering around his cell aimlessly. She thought about speaking to him but decided against it. There was no point attempting to make friends now that she understood what was going to happen to them. So, she stayed quiet and busied herself by trying to clean up her cell. The blood on the floor had the sticky consistency of being not quite dry so she started trying to rub it off with what remained of her leather jacket. She scrubbed the walls too, managing to make the dried blood peel off and float in flakes onto the ground. She piled up the dry bits into the far corner and just kept scrubbing even after her knuckles burned.
Her fangs pressed against her gums as her hunger stirred. Ever since she’d mauled herself, she felt her hunger fighting for attention. She knew that if she were injected with more of Nico’s serums and reacted the same way, she would be in trouble. Her blood loss and starvation would either make her mad or hibernate. Or maybe she’d react the same way as Sophie and this would all be over.
The sound of the door clattered again, reverberating through the bars. The vampire that had been walking around suddenly hissed and shied away, dropping back against the wall. Evie recognised the click of the footsteps.
She watched him pass the glass panelling, his eyes wandering, inspecting his prisoners. His eyes found hers. He looked around her cell. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”
“Are you here to see me this time?”
“Actually, I am.” Nico smiled. “You’ve recovered well.”
She sank to the floor. “Just let me say goodbye to my Maker.”
“You’re not going to die.”
“Sophie died.”
“That was her eighth shot. This is your second.”
“Sophie said most don’t make it past four.”
“And as I said, this is only your second.”
Evie looked up at him. He didn’t even deny it.
Her bottom lip started to tremble. “But my Maker’s more shots than me. He must have. He’s been here too long already.”
“Have a little faith in me, vampire.”
She scowled at him. “How long have you been doing this? Months? Years? And have you been successful? No. There is no cure for vampirism. All you’re doing is killing us. That is not a cure. That’s murder.”
He studied her and bent down to her level, his bony knees sticking out as he crouched. “You think I’m lying to you?”
“I think you should stop this. You are not getting anywhere. When people find out about this, you’ll be dead. Have you not heard? Vampires have equal rights. You’re committing mass murder.”
He laughed. “Oh, you’d be surprised who already knows about this. Where do you think I found the funding for all this equipment? For this place?” He gestured around, to the rows and rows of cells. “Vampires will never be equal. I’m trying to help you. I’m trying to stop all this prejudice.”
“By changing us,” mumbled Evie.
There was a glint of empathy in his eyes as he studied her. “By giving you your life back.”
Evie shook her head. “I still want to see my Maker. You may be very passionate about what you are doing but that doesn’t make it possible. Just let me see him. Let me say goodbye before he dies in here.”
Nico stood up, cracking his back. “What’s his name?”
“Why? What are you going to do?”
He rubbed his forehead. “A name might help me locate him.”
Her eyes brightened. “You mean you’ll let me see him?”
“If it will stop you whining and you will cooperate, I guess I could arrange something.”
“Caius,” she blurted out. “His name is Caius.”
He pressed his lips into a tight line, thinking. “I don’t know the name. What does he look like?”
“Early thirties. Long brown hair. Light blue eyes. Six foot two.” Her eyes started to flicker around as she listed everything she knew. “Probably wearing,” She thought back to when he first disappeared. Where was he going? To get more blood
bags. What was he wearing? “Ermm, a faded grey tunic. Slim black jeans. Boots. A black corduroy jacket.” She looked back to Nico wide-eyed.
“I think I know who you are talking about. How old is he in vampire years? Ancient?”
Evie nodded. “A thousand.”
“Yeah. I know him.”
Evie fell forwards, ready to clasp the bars but again, stops herself. “Is he in hibernation?”
“Not when I last checked.”
Tears started to slip down her cheeks. “So can I see him? Please?”
“I need to take precautions.”
Evie nodded vehemently. “Injected me as much as you like. More than any of the others. Whatever you want.”
He unzipped his bag and took out a small pot with a foil lid. Inside it was grey, thick looking liquid. He took out a syringe with his other hand.
“What’s that?”
“Liquid silver,” he said as he punctured the foil lid with the needle and pulled back the plunger. Evie watched as the liquid filled the chamber of the syringe. “I’m going to inject it into your bloodstream to slow down your reaction time. I’ll have to keep you connected so I can inject it when it wears off. That will give you more time with your precious Maker but the pain with be excruciating. Sound good?”
Evie nodded. The pain was worth it. He’ll know I’m in here. He’ll know I wanted to see him. He’ll know I tried something. Anything. Just to see him again.
“Okay, now, hold your arm out through the bar. And no funny business now. You know what happened last time.”
Nico stepped through the glass door. “There’s a button on the wall just there-” He pointed to the thin strip of wall to his right, between the glass panels. “If I press it, that UV bulb will switch on above your head.”
“I know.”
He looked at her curiously. “You know?”
“Yes.” She stuck out her arm between the bars with no intention of making him press that button.
He pushed a fresh needle into the crook of her elbow. He taped it secure. Evie tensed when he pressed down on the plunger. Despite the thickness of the liquid, it slid down the tube at a rapid pace and was soon attacking Evie from the inside.
The Progeny Page 4