The Progeny

by Shelley Crowley

  He could feel his brain. Feel it pulsating inside his skull. It was making him want to hurl - that feeling, and the blood lining his throat. His eyes slammed shut, sealing him in darkness. The motion of opening his eyelids sent his head spinning so he gave up and let himself be trapped by the uneasy pitch black and deafening silence.

  The feeling of flying took over him and made him force his eyes open. His body thudded against something hard yet comfortable. He flung his arm out and whacked it against the interior of a car. He was inside Eric’s SUV, sprawled out across the backseat on his back.

  “Be as quick as you can. Please. He means the world to me.”

  Alexander opened his mouth and let out a strangled cry at the sound of his sister’s voice so broken and distraught. He rolled his head to the side so he could see her through the window. Her long blonde hair was blowing back in the breeze and all he could make out through the mess of blood on her face were her two shockingly beautiful eyes. They were the colour of the ocean after a storm, he had always thought, whatever that meant. It just felt right.

  He grabbed the air, trying to catch her attention but her eyes were set on Eric who he now realised was in the driver’s seat.

  “I will. I promise,” Eric replied, his voice sounding determined yet conflicted.

  Evie appeared at the window beside Varsee, her cheeks stained with fresh tears. Her eyes, too, were desperate and set on Eric. Alexander felt the driver’s seat shift and Evie gulped, stepping back. Then the image before his eyes started to blacken like burning paper. His sister was slowly receding from him.

  No! Sis! Look at me! I will make it! I promise! I won’t… “I won’t leave you!” Surprised at his own ability to force words passed his lips, Alexander watched in wonder as his sister turned to face him. He tried to smile encouragingly but it still hurt. The white noise pressed against his ears again but he managed to focus on her long enough to make out what she was saying by the movement of her lips. “I love you,” she had said, right before he fell unconscious.

  “…can’t believe she never told me…”

  Alexander felt himself slipping back into the land of the living, still irritatingly sore all over. He rolled his eyes open and fixed his gaze on the driver’s seat. His head was directly behind it so all he could see was the back of Eric’s big burly shoulders and head. Alexander thought back to the snippets of conversations he had witnessed and tried to piece everything together to understand what Eric was mumbling under his breath about. It wasn’t too hard.

  “You never guessed?” Alexander managed to wheeze out, at the cost of another mouthful of blood pouring from his lips.

  Eric’s head whipped to the side, acknowledging him, before focusing back on the road. Alexander could feel the car moving and wished he was back in Caius’ arms. He had been nice to cuddle up against.

  “No,” replied Eric curtly. “I mean, thinking back… I guess there were signs. I never saw her in the day. But we were bouncers and we had night shifts- that wasn’t out of the ordinary. And then there was her thing about blood. But that’s a known phobia. I can’t believe she didn’t trust me enough to tell me. We’re friends. She shouldn’t have felt the need to hide the truth from me.”

  “Like you are… from her.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Eric’s shoulders noticeably stiffened.

  Alexander smiled then instantly regretted it as a shooting pain shattered his skull. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts too much!

  “You… like her… not just… friends.”

  “What?” Eric scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. What’s she been saying to you?”

  “I’m just perceptive.”

  “Well, you’re wrong. Evie’s just a friend. And still is a friend. Regardless of her being-” He shook his head. “And Caius is one, too? I guess I should have seen that. He is very…”

  “… hot?” offered Alexander.

  “I was going to say secretive.”

  The pain in Alexander’s gut rendered him mute for a moment as he tried to calm it down by force of will. He had been stabbed before. Shot. Bitten. Beaten. Burned. But nothing had ever been as painful as what he was going through now. Even when that vampire hunter had managed to graze his heart with a silver tipped stake, he had been able to shake it off after a week of hibernation and a harem of walking blood bags.

  “So… if not Evie… anyone… else?” asked Alexander.

  “Are you hitting on me?”

  “Maybe… you look… snuggly.”

  Eric shifted in his seat. “Thanks but no thanks. I’m just the chauffeur. Evie told me you were dying yet you’re healthy enough to flirt.”

  “Can’t let… impending doom… ruin my… game.”

  Eric laughed. “Well, it seems our little meet-cute is nearly over. I think I see the house I’m supposed to deliver you to.”

  Deliver me? I’m not some sort of Amazon package, chief.

  The car rounded a corner and Alexander nearly toppled off the seat. Then it stopped and he whacked his head against the backrest with a grunt of annoyance.

  “Wow. Now this is what you call a mansion,” mumbled Eric in awe.

  Intrigued, Alexander put all his strength into pushing himself up onto his elbows to gain enough height to see through the window. As he did so, he also managed to take a quick look down at himself. He grimaced at the blood that was splattered all over him. Not a good day to wear white jeans.

  Biting down on his tongue to suppress his groans of agony at the clutching sensation deep in his stomach, Alexander swivelled his head around to see what all of Eric’s fuss was about. His jaw dropped.

  Eric had parked up opposite a huge, bare brick, three story building that made Mrs. Braverman’s grand farmhouse look like a shoebox. The bat winged mansion, with its white windows and huge forecourt, looked like a cross between a fancy grammar school and a hospital.

  Alexander could only blink in amazement. He wanted to voice his wonder but felt like he had forced too much passed his lips already. The blood that had lined his throat was now completely blocking up his trachea. If he was human, he would have died of suffocation by now.

  A high wall surrounded the mansion. There was a turn-in to a heavy, silver gateway. Probably silver coated. Would have been robbed by now if it was solid silver.

  He tried to stay conscious and upright as Eric manoeuvred the car further up the road and pulled into the turn-in. He stopped before the gates and Alexander noticed a white face in the darkness behind the gate. He focused harder and made out a man in a black uniform with a rifle in his arms.

  “E-excuse me,” said Eric. The tremor in his voice set Alexander on edge. He was such a huge, brutish guy, and hearing him stutter was very off-putting.

  “What business do you have here?” ordered the guard.

  Unable to hold his weight, Alexander’s elbows buckled and he slammed back down onto the seat with a groan. The darkness was closing in on him again. He could feel unconsciousness sucking him under, easing his pain into a numbing ache. Desperate to stay awake, he widened his bleary eyes and sank his teeth into his tongue, hoping the new pain would hold his attention and fight over the existing, growing agony taking over the rest of his body.

  Don’t let me die. I can’t go into hibernation. I can’t die. I need to stay alive. For my sister. I need to stay alive for Varsee. Please, don’t let me die.

  “I have a vampire. He’s been infected by something. I was told to bring him here,” said Eric.

  “Where is he?”

  “In the back.”

  Alexander’s eyelids were drooping and he couldn’t stop it.

  “Do you know what this place is?” asked the guard.

  “Look, I was just told to bring him here. This has been a very weird night.”

  Alexander heard the rattling of the gates opening and saw the white face of the guard appear in the window. But then that white noise hit him again, making him roll onto his stomach and curl into a ball, coughing and wheezi
ng. The car rolled into motion once more and, despite his resistance, Alexander slipped back into the depth of unconsciousness.

  When his eyes rolled open again, Alexander felt different. Blood was no longer clogging up his throat and that twisting feeling in his gut was gone. The light was sharp and stinging and he shielded his eyes with his hand. Blinking hard, he let himself adjust to his gleaming white surroundings.

  He was sitting on the floor, propped up against a wall. Before him and beside him were vertical bars.

  He was in a cell.

  Jumping to his feet, he ran up to the front of the cell and wrapped his hands around the bars, attempting the pull them apart enough to slip his slender frame through. But it was no use. They weren’t budging. He released his grip, looking more closely at the bars that confined him. Being a vampire, he knew the difference between real silver and silver paint. These bars were real silver.

  Turning his hands palms up, he inspected his skin with confusion. No burn marks. Not even a tingle.

  Something thumped in his ears. The sound of a heartbeat. He had heard it since he had woken up but his mind had been so fuzzy he hadn’t tuned into it. Now he could feel it, loud and echoing in the silence. Pushing back his damp hair, he scoped the room he was in. It was long, bright white and filled with two rows of cells running along opposite walls. And each cell was encased in a glass box.

  He was alone. Well, he couldn’t see anyone else in the room. All the cells he could see were empty. But there must be someone with him. There must be a human close by. He could hear their heart beating.

  Realisation gripped him and rendered him immobile for a moment. Cold sweat beaded between his shoulder blades. He started to shake uncontrollably and the pulse in his ears began to beat faster. Looking down at his unmarred hands, tears blurred his vision, making it distorted but not stain red.

  He was alone. The heartbeat he was hearing was his own.

  Alexander was human.

  “No,” he gasped and slammed his hands to his chest as he felt it tightening. “No. No. No. No. No.”

  He gulped the air, feeling it inflating his lungs. No no no no no no no. Buckling backwards, his back slammed against the wall and he slid to the floor as tears poured down his cheeks. He swiped at them and looked down at his shaking hands, at the clear salty water of his own tears. “What the hell…”

  The loud, clanging sound of doors opening brought Alexander to his feet. He crossed the cell and peered down the aisle. His heart jumped at the sight of a figure heading his way.

  “Hey!” Alexander called.

  The figure was a man dressed smartly in a white shirt and grey trousers. His shoes clicked against the tiled floor. He stopped before the glass panelling in front of Alexander and fixed his glasses on the bridge of his nose. His black hair was thick and lightly ruffled. He looked in his late twenties, maybe. Alexander was bad with ages. Being a vampire for so long, he had forgotten what people were supposed to look like at each stage of human life.

  The man’s grey eyes inspected Alexander appraisingly. “Hello.” The voice was courteous, and kind.

  Alexander gulped, so much was buzzing around in his head. “Wh-who are you? What is this place?” His teeth gritted together and his hands turned into fists by his sides. “What the fuck have you done to me?!”

  The man just smiled. “My name is Nico Bergan.” Alexander’s eyes widened. He’d heard that name so many times before he almost felt like he should have recognised him. But this man was nothing like the elusive ‘Nico Bergan’ he had envisioned. He had pictured a crazy scientist with mad white hair and a drawn-out face. But this man -this man stood before him looked so young and delicate. It felt wrong that he was the man that Evie had been so afraid of. “And I have cured you.”

  “Cured me?” Alexander asked, then thought back to what had happened to Evie. “You cured me of vampirism?”

  Nico nodded. “Yes.”

  “But…” Alexander stepped back. “It only worked on Evie. You needed her blood to make the cure universal. You… you shouldn’t be able to cure others. It didn’t work on anyone else!”

  Nico’s eyebrow quirked up. “You know Evie?”

  “Your men tried to take her again but we took them out.”

  Nico’s eyes brightened with realisation. “You were one of the vampires that my men cornered? Before they were wiped out.”

  Alexander smiled. “You can thank the kid for that.”

  Nico shrugged. “It didn’t matter that I never got her back anyway. I worked around it. I needed a catalyst, something that could be found in each vampire that the cure could then work against.” A soft smile was fixed on Nico’s face as he explained. “So I created a virus. A virus completely harmless to humans but deadly to vampires.”

  “That’s what that blood whore gave me,” said Alexander, inwardly seething.

  Nico nodded. “I injected it into several blood whores and let them go about their jobs. Once they infected a vampire, they were to tell them or their company to come to me to be saved.”

  “When you say saved-”

  “I mean cured.”

  Alexander felt numb as the information sank in. “How many of us have you… cured?”

  Nico opened the glass panelling and took a ring of keys from his pocket. “How about I show you to your room first? You can get fixed up and then you can meet them.”

  “My room?”

  “Yes.” Nico slotted the key into the door. “I need you to stay here for a while so I can keep you under surveillance. Make sure everything has worked alright. Can never be too careful when it comes to changing the chemicals of the human body.” He opened the cell and gestured Alexander to come out. “I’m sure the rest of the Cured will be delighted to meet you.”

  Alexander stepped out of the shower and ruffled his wet hair with a towel before wrapping it around his waist. He wiped away the steam from the mirror above the sink just enough so that he could see his own reflection.

  He hadn’t always been so fond of his reflection. It wasn’t until a certain special someone had come into his life when that had changed and he had begun to feel lucky when it came to his appearance. But with everything else… not so much. And that’s exactly what Alexander believed in. Luck. There was no God as far as he was concerned. He had witnessed too much hate and destruction to believe there was some benevolent force watching from above. He had laughed when he had heard about the slaughtering of the vampire hunters as they prayed for protection in their crummy little church. But God hadn’t help them. Because he didn’t exist. The world that he inhabited was a disaster and whoever thought that all the pain and grief they went through while they were alive was going to be magically made up for after they died, were just kidding themselves.

  His heart started to pound as he stared into the blue eyes shining back at him. He didn’t like thinking about life after death. The idea had always given him the creeps. He didn’t like the unknown.

  With a sigh, he cleared away the rest of the steam.

  Something flashed in the corner of the mirror and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. It was like a flicker of movement. A wisp of brown and cream. A wave of… brown hair?

  He spun around, his eyes wide and blazing. But he was in the room alone. Shaking off his unease, he moved into the adjoining bedroom and lifted his lip in disgust at the outfit that had been laid out for him. Nico had pointed it out to him to change the subject after Alexander asked about calling his sister. To bring the argument to an abrupt end, Nico had left to let Alexander get cleaned up.

  Alexander dropped his towel and changed. He looked down at himself, at the simple black t-shirt and sweatpants, and sighed. “Tragic.”

  The clock beside the double bed read that it was just past midnight. Nico had told him to get cleaned up and then come down and join the others in the morning. That first he should get some rest and come to terms with what was going on. Come to terms with what’s going on? That fucker had infected him
with a virus and then turned him human. Human.

  His legs gave out and he dropped onto the edge of the bed. Shaking uncontrollably, he curled his fingers into the duvet and bit down on his lip to suppress a scream. His temples began to pound as his vision blurred with fresh tears.

  This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.

  Alexander rarely got scared. Even when those vampire hunters had been chasing him down, all he felt was a rush of adrenaline and fierce, primal excitement. The last time he could remember being scared - really scared- was back before he had been Turned. Back when he was on the front line in the First World War. Back when he was wading through piles of bodies that were shin deep. Back when rats would nibble at his fingers as he slept in the mucky, disease-infested trenches.

  But right now, as he lay on the bed, Alexander was terrified. The feeling gripped him like a vice. It was like everything had been amplified when he had turned back human. Now his heart was crashing against his ribs. His throat felt like it was closing up. His palms were sweating.

  For just over a hundred years, he had never needed to breathe. And now that he did, he found himself unable to. He gulped at the air frantically but just ended up coughing and wheezing as if his body was rejecting it. He dropped onto his side on the bed and curled up into a ball, his body juddering as he let his tears fall.

  What did all this mean? What was going to happen to him now? Would his sister accept him like this? Maybe she could Turn him back…

  But first he had to get out of this place. If Evie and Caius could do it, so could he. Well, he had no doubt about being able to escape when he had been a vampire, but as a human? He had no idea how stunted he was now.

  Unable to stop himself shaking, he crawled under the duvet and balled himself under it. He had never felt so weak before and it was irritating the hell out of him. In his mind, he saw himself bursting out of the front door, bounding down the stairs, vaulting the gate and running back home. But it was just a fantasy. It was impossible. Right now, he didn’t even know if he could stand on his own two feet.