King's Blood: Vampire Descent (A Serial Novel, Part 4)

by Day, P. J.

  KING’S BLOOD

  A Serial Novel

  Episode Four:

  Vampire Descent

  P.J. Day

  Acclaim for P.J. Day:

  P.J. Day breathes fresh air in a genre oversaturated with the same plotlines and characters. This page turner is something special.”

  —H.T. Night, author of Vampire Love Story and Winning Sarah’s Heart

  “A fun departure from the usual vampire tale, with King’s Blood author P.J. Day has introduced a whole new kind of vampire.”

  —sookiestackhousebooks.com

  “Hip. Relevant. Darkly funny. Day’s vampires offer a unique perspective on what it means to be human. A fantastic new series.”

  —J.R. Rain, author of Moon Dance and Dark Blood

  BOOKS BY P.J. DAY

  King’s Blood: Serial Novel

  Episode One: Vampire Revealed available on Kindle

  Episode Two: Vampire Unleashed available on Kindle

  Episode Three: Vampire Lust available on Kindle

  Episode Four: Vampire Descent

  Other Works

  The Sunset Prophecy

  Zombie Party & Other Stories w/ J.R. Rain

  Daughters of Eve w/ J.R. Rain

  Mercy's Magic (A Witch Series #1) w/ Elizabeth Basque

  King’s Blood: Vampire Descent

  Published by P.J. Day

  Copyright © 2012 by P.J. Day

  All rights reserved.

  E-book Edition, License Notes

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written consent of the both the copyright owner and/or author.

  Cover Design by Susanna at:

  susannakubernus@gmail.com

  www.photogravity.de

  Dedication

  To my beautiful baby girl, I thank you for perspective.

  Acknowledgments

  Special thanks to H.T. Night, J.R. Rain, Sharon F. Stewart, and Eve Paludan for all their help.

  Author’s Note

  King's Blood: Vampire Descent is the conclusion to the serial novel which has been split into four episodes. Descent follows Vampire Revealed, Vampire Unleashed, and Vampire Lust, and is best understood when read in succession. In Descent, Jack King has been captured and betrayed by his company, Schnell Link, a multinational pharmaceutical company. Schnell created a customized drug whose creation was influenced by Jack from information he gathered as a wayward vampire in a Central American jungle a hundred years ago. Jack has also been having strange, reoccurring dreams that oddly enough, have been spilling over into real life. Right before Jack was captured, he sent his friend Ted to meet a stranger, who had contacted him through an instant message service, claiming to know what he was.

  King’s Blood: A Serial Novel

  Episode Four: Vampire Descent

  Chapter One

  I woke up. Everything was foggy, nothing was clear, just shadows; nebulous shapes were the only patterns I could make out as the room slowly came into focus.

  My wrists and ankles were tied down with hard, steel cuffs. I would feel my skin unglue itself slowly from the cold, metallic table every time I committed to a small movement or two.

  “Hello, is there anyone there?” I asked into the empty cold air.

  I heard someone or something punching what sounded like a piece of meat in the echoing, far reaches of the room. I lifted my head so I could make out what was making the beefy, grotesque sounds.

  “Rebecca? Alan? Is that you?” I asked, my faint voice bounced off the seemingly large, concrete walls in the room.

  As my eyesight slowly focused, the first image that caught my eye was that of a broad-shouldered, thick man clubbing the shit out of somebody who was suspended, naked, from the ceiling. The poor soul, who was hanging from his hands, looked completely skinned from head to toe. His body was covered in blood, the skin porous and burnt, each exposed ligament in his neck vibrating with each punch, like stretched-out guitar strings that had been tuned to the highest pitch. I couldn’t tell if he was alive since there were no screams or groans or spastic movements as the savage beating continued inside a fully transparent, Plexiglass cube.

  I felt pain as I watched the beating and realized that it was my pain. I focused my eyes on my throbbing forearm—a straight, seven-inch row of stitching ran down the back of it. It seemed that I had been dissected alive. I instinctively let out a loud moan as the realization hit me that something as barbaric and inhumane as vivisection had been done to me against my will.

  My howls of agony caught the attention of the shirtless strong man as he ceased his weighted wallops and looked at me through the glass. Like a jaguar identifying its prey through the brush, his eyes made sharp eye contact with mine. He squared his body and exposed his muscular, tattooed physique. His chest was emblazoned with the image of a long-beaked black bird with outstretched wings. The middle of the bird’s throat looked squeezed, as if choked tightly with string.

  “Can you please let me out of here?” I asked politely, mercifully, hoping to break the monotony of pain. He stood completely still, without expression, his knuckles slit and bloodied.

  As my eyes cleared further from my delirium-induced haze, I slowly realized that the brutal savage was an enraged Havens Ling. His chest heaved in exhaustion, his circulation coursed with rapid fluidity as a rush of adrenaline pumped into his maddened, bloodshot eyes. His bulging muscles and veins, his inked body, and seemingly war-like state, confirmed my suspicions that this man was no scientist or engineer, but a mutilator of men.

  “Mr. Ling,” I yelled. “This is a big misunderstanding. Please be kind and call Rebecca and Alan?”

  Havens didn’t say a word and smiled as he smeared blood on the glass, blood that he had gathered on his hands from his series of torrential hay-makers. I didn’t know if he was mocking me or somehow reveling in his psychopathy.

  Behind Havens, the pendent victim began to move his head slowly. He carefully cocked his head back and opened his mouth, revealing a set of beautifully sharpened canines. I could tell the vampire was male; his scrotum, luckily, hung untouched from his lower extremities.

  Before I woke up into my grotesque reality, Milton had said something in my dream about a cormorant with its neck squeezed. I had no idea what a cormorant was, but I think it was what Havens had tattooed on his chest, and surely enough, the neck was tied, too. Milton was also right about there being another of my kind present within the facility, however, it was obvious that he was of no help and was in the same horrendously emasculated state I was in, but much worse off than I was.

  Havens opened the clear door that led into the glass cube and began slowly walking toward the table I was laying on, all the while maintaining an intense and predatory look about him. I began hyperventilating, my heart started racing uncontrollably. I was jettisoned into a sudden state of panic. In an act of unrealized futility, I began tugging my wrists and ankles away from the cuffs. I felt the dull metal edges begin to dig into my skin, as I did everything I could to escape my imprisonment.

  “You’re going to let me go, right?” I asked in a panicked tone. “Cause if you’re not, I’m not going down without a fight.” My pathetic attempts at negotiating had no effect on Havens as he continued to approach me like an enraged gorilla.

  Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the concrete wall reveal a door-sized opening. Two men and two women in lab coats walk
ed into the room. Yi, Alan, Rebecca, and an unrecognized young Asian woman stopped a few feet away from Havens and me.

  Yi snapped his fingers, which caught Havens’s attention as if were a trained chimp. “Havens, please step away. We like Jack,” Yi commanded, with a general’s posture.

  Havens pursed his lips and gave Yi a frustrated look. His tense posture relaxed a little, as his massive shoulders drooped, and he stepped away from the group that were all looking at me like I was some type of science project.

  “Jack, it’s good to see that your sedation has worn off, how are you feeling?” Yi asked.

  “What the fuck are you doing to me?” I yelled.

  “Are you going to remain hostile, or do you want me to let him continue?” Yi said, motioning at Havens.

  I laid my head on the table and let out a deep sigh. I was trapped and there was nothing I could have done that could have alleviated my situation. I had no choice but to submit any sense of outward pride.

  Yi sat on the leather office chair that was next to me. He gave me a slight grin and a look of superiority. His cologne was strong. I held back a sneeze. I noticed his forehead was full of perspiration. I sensed nervousness, but he was doing a good job of hiding it.

  The rest of the group stood behind him without expressions. Alan had a tablet in his hand, Rebecca and the other girl had notepads in theirs. Yi leaned in to me and adjusted his tie. “Jack, I’m sorry we had to do this to you, but believe it or not, you are doing good work for mankind and science.”

  I didn’t respond. I just looked straight up at the ceiling, refusing to give Yi the pleasure of eye contact.

  “Jack, I know you’re very upset.” He paused and rolled his chair closer to my face, giving me an intense stare. “However, by studying you and others like you, we can hopefully cure many of humanity’s ailments.”

  I continued looking at the ceiling and said, “What? By torturing me? By making me suffer? There is no reason to have me tied down to this table.”

  Yi backed away from me while in the chair. He crossed is his arms and wrinkled his brow. “We might untie you, but you need to comply with some interviews...do you think you can do that?”

  I rolled my head in the direction of the group and scanned each set of their eyes, hoping to identify a flinch or a small movement that indicated deceit.

  Yi continued, “The other one like you, which was captured a few hours after you arrived, is being a little uncooperative.”

  “Can you un-cuff me now?” I calmly asked.

  “After the interview,” Yi responded.

  Again, I really had no choice in the matter. I paused and took a deep breath. I relented and gave Yi and the group a nod of resignation.

  “Rebecca will conduct the interview; be friendly and cooperative,” Yi said, as he got up from the chair. He proceeded to put his cold, wrinkled hand on my shoulder. “My advice to you is...just be nice,” he said, flashing me a condescending wink.

  Yi, Havens, and the rest of the group exited the large room, leaving Rebecca behind. Her eyes drew down in a flash and had a look of unease as I gave her a cold stare from the table. They probably thought that leaving me alone with an attractive female they would get more information out of me. Truth was, I was in no mood to play games with anyone, no matter how pretty she was.

  * * *

  Rebecca sat down on the same chair Yi had used. She took a recorder out of the pocket of her lab coat and placed it on top of a small metallic table that was next to my head. She gave me an awkward smile as she pressed the large, red record button. She leaned closely into the recorder and spoke in a slow methodical way, “Friday, March 18th, 2012. Day One of interviews with Jack King, American Vampire...subject number three.” She tucked some of the loose strands of her long, curly brown hair on the side of her head behind her right ear, before settling into the chair.

  I gave Rebecca a stinging look. “You and Alan aren’t genetic engineers, are you?” I asked.

  Rebecca had a somber look on her face and her eyes got lost into the empty pages of her notepad. She took a deep breath and responded, “No, we’re not, okay? I’m sorry for deceiving you. If you want the truth, Alan is a primatologist and I’m a behaviorist, a leading one in my field.”

  “Hmm...okay...” I said, calmly. “A primatologist, huh? Am I monkey?”

  “Well, biologically speaking, we’re all primates, so yes, we’re all kind of monkeys...well...apes, to be exact.”

  “I was joking. You know, I’m just too trusting. You’d think someone with my lifespan would have learned by now.”

  Rebecca flashed another uncomfortable smile.

  “Well, now I feel like an idiot for not researching both of you a little more thoroughly. I shouldn’t have trusted the written words of another man.”

  “Jack, I wouldn’t feel bad. These aren’t our real names either. You wouldn’t have found anything about us on the web.” Rebecca pressed the button on the top of the ballpoint pen and cleared her throat, “Let’s move on, shall we?” She then asked in a clinical tone, “Is Jack King really your name?” .

  “So far it is,” I responded.

  Rebecca made a quick note on her yellow pad, making sure she didn’t make eye contact with me. It was obvious she was still mildly uncomfortable.

  “Rebecca?” I asked.

  “Yes?” she said, still avoiding eye contact.

  “Can you please cover me with a sheet or something?”

  “Sure.” Rebecca got up and grabbed a bed sheet from a set of cabinets that were behind me. She unfolded the sheet and placed it over my naked body with gracefulness and care.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  She grabbed the notepad she had left on her seat and proceeded to sit back down. She exhaled deeply and continued her questions, “How old are you?”

  “Very old,” I said. My curtness agitated her, as she huffed a burst of air to get a strand of hair away from her face.

  “Jack, please. This is extremely difficult. Please work with me, and I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure you aren’t in this position for long.”

  I closed my eyes and said, “I’m 145 years old and I have forgotten my true name.”

  “You don’t remember your real name...how can you not remember your own name?” she asked.

  I continued to keep my eyes closed. “Every time I try to recall my name, I just see the blurry patterns of my parents’ faces...a field or a meadow...a stream? I don’t know...I don’t really remember my childhood—honest.”

  “Interesting,” Rebecca said, as she continued to scribble on the notepad.

  “How can you work with these people?” I asked.

  Rebecca squirmed in her seat, her eyes opened wide and she lightly shook her head, “I’m sorry. I didn’t sign up for this...I mean...I didn’t know they were going to make it so painful for you.”

  “Why did they cut my arm open?”

  “Alan...he wanted to see how your circulation worked...look, I’m sorry. I told them to sedate you...he didn’t want to.”

  “These people are sociopaths...”

  “Can we continue with the interview, please?” she asked, abruptly cutting me off. I rolled my head and faced the ceiling again. I had no other options, I had to continue working with Rebecca.

  “Where were you born?”

  “I don’t remember...it was in the States...that’s all I know.”

  “Do you not remember because it was such a long time ago, or do you just choose not to remember your early past?”

  “Honestly, everything just blends together after a while. I try to remember...I really do. Certain events trigger memories, I just haven’t found the right event that triggers memories of my childhood.”

  Unfortunately, everything I had told Rebecca was true. I wish I could’ve told her more about my origins. I felt tempted to lie about my past but it might have slowed down whatever it was they were after or convoluted my situation even more.

  �
�How often do you think about blood?”

  “I still have cravings, but I have control over them.”

  “Control? How do you go about having control?”

  “I have been a vampire for two human lifetimes. I wouldn’t have survived this long if all I wanted to do was to bite into every neck I saw.”

  “Good point,” Rebecca said, as she adjusted her frames and rested the tip of the pen on her upper lip. “Do you crave blood right now?”

  “Yeah, kinda.”

  “Could you elaborate?”

  “Well, for example, your neck. I could actually see the blood moving in your artery. Humans can’t. You have a magnificent current, a beautifully healthy, wondrous, sensual current, one that is ideal in replenishing even the most needy and starved vampire. If I wasn’t strapped to this table, you’d be my prey in less time that it takes a fly’s wings to flutter. You wouldn’t even know what hit you. All you would feel is this warm, airy fluid flowing down your neck, soaking every last fiber of that nice shirt you put on today.”

  Rebecca pulled on her collar a bit. She stared at the lower half of my body, which was covered in a sheet. I began to bulge a little due to the questions and answers that helped me visualize a proper, carnal feeding. “Did I excite you?” I asked, playfully.

  “No. You’ve kind of scared me, actually,” she said, raising her eyebrows in an uncomfortably spastic manner.

  “It’s a fine line between fear and arousal, you know?”

  “That’s sick and twisted, and you know that.”

  “Excitement is the common denominator, human behavior can be predictable, too,” I said, with an exaggerated smile, playfully revealing my fangs.

  Rebecca began to slightly huff. My misogynistic side imagined it as arousal. However, in reality, she was probably scared. Fuck it, she deserved a little panic and fear. The bitch and all her cohorts had betrayed me and put me one step closer to death. I swear if I escaped, I’d burn this whole place down. I’d tear into every one these assholes’ necks and squeeze every ounce of blood from their soon-to-be listless bodies. I was not going to end up like that man in the glass cube in the corner of the room, fighting for every remaining second of his life. As soon I became free of these shackles, I’d muster every last bit of energy I had and entertain myself with a buffet of villainy.