Chapter 3

I woke with a jerk of my foot, springing me out of the strange position in which I had fallen asleep. My head throbbed as my vision slowly came back to me, little green stars bursting in front of my eyes in the dark room. Suddenly, the previous day came rushing back into my mind and I sighed hopelessly. There was something white crouched on the floor next to the half open door. With a sharp intake of breath, all of my drousiness was forgotten as I leapt up, preparing for an attack.

 

"Shh!" He whispered, walking closer. It was a man dressed in one of my doctor's white cloaks, but I did not recognize the face. His arms and legs were long and muscular, but his body was very thin. He had thick, dark eyebrows casting shadows over chocolate brown eyes. The vampire's olive skin glistened in the moonlight as he took a step towards me.

 

"What are you doing here?" I asked hoarsely, relaxing a little. My eyes were red and raw with tears and exhaustion. We could barely see each other, as our faces were buried in darkness.

 

"Listen to me, Ayuri," his voice was very deep and scratchy, like he hadn't drank blood in a long time. But he spoke quickly and urgently all the same. He rubbed his crusty eyes and sat next to me. It wasn't necessary for vampires to sleep, but it did help in healing small wounds and giving more energy.

 

"You were the one watching me earlier, weren't you?" I asked before he could say anything else, as he sank down next to me in the corner. My hand brushed against his thin thigh as he sat cross-legged.

 

"Yes. You were very good," there was a shadow of a smile on his tired features.

 

"But...You can't stay here, Ayuri. You have to leave."

 

"How do you know my name?" I asked, barely registering what else he had said.

 

"I help to rescue people like you. You've been locked up by that tyrant, Landry."

 

I let that sink in. I agreed with the tyrant part, but what did this street rat know about Landry? I remained silent and left my face expressionless as the ninja continued.

 

"Ayuri, you never had a parasite. If you did, why would you still be locked up in here once you were transformed into a vampire?" We heard something scuttle across the floor in the distance, like a rat. I started, but my attention never wavered from this stranger's shadowy face. Did he just say that I'd never had a parasite? That my whole life was a lie?! Who did he think he was?

 

"I'm supposed to help Landry protect Devadas, because he cured me," I said mechanically, hardly believing it myself.

 

"So that's what they told you? They're turning you into a bleeding patriot? If you even knew..." He rubbed his eyes again and then shook his head as if to say I was hopeless.

Bang! The door slammed off the dirty wall and some of its hinges were unleashed. In the doorway stood my livid Keeper and two doctors, one of whom was not wearing his white cloak. The man next to me must have stolen it.

 

The ninja was already on his feet and jumped over the heads of my doctors and Keeper, but I heard a thud out in the hallway and ran to look. My Keeper tried to restrain me, so I sunk my teeth into the thick skin of his wrist and he let go of me with a yelp of pain.

 

My ninja was pinned to the ground by Alexei Berendt, both of them panting and kicking each other. I reached out a hand to help him but my doctors stood in front of me, like a wall.

 

"Get this loser out of here," my Keeper announced with unblinking, furious eyes, staring down at the stranger who had broken into my room.

 

I fought with my doctor until the ninja was taken away and then I slumped down the wall. I knew what was coming next.

 

"UP!" barked my Keeper. I refused, shaking my head and hugging my legs close to my body as though it would help.

 

With a roar like a lion, my Keeper grabbed the end of my hair and pulled me to my feet. I screamed, it hurt so bad, but he didn't let go. I tried to bite him again but he held his hand up above my head, a chunk of my hair held firmly between his straining knuckles.

 

I stumbled a little as he pulled me down the stairs to the fluorescent, highly polished laboratory. I tried to pull apart from him again, but that only made him angrier. He flung me from him and I landed ten feet away into a table filled with test tubes and wires.

 

Crash! Glass crunched into pieces and flew everywhere, at my arms, at the floor, at the walls, and a test tube filled with green liquid burst and poured majestically onto my shoulder.

 

"Aaaaaaaaargh!" I screamed and knelt on all fours, as the green liquid burnt a hole through my dress and left a black, crusty, burning mark on my shoulder. I couldn't move, and could barely breathe, the pain of it was so strong. It smelled like burning rubber, like a dumpster and a forest fire mixed into one. The burn went past my flesh and into my very bone. It numbed my whole arm and, though my eyes were wide open, all I could see was a white sheet of pain.

 

I let out a blood-curdling scream as the old, frayed black whip made another mark on my stomach. The laboratory came bursting back into my vision, as did the face of my enraged Keeper, attacking me with the whip.

 

I sobbed without tears, lung-tearing, rib shaking sobs, as he pulled me to my feet, turned me around, pulled up my dress and threw water on me. The whip thrashed the back of my knees and I doubled over in pain as another blow hit the small of my back.

The force of it knocked me off my feet and I went skidding across the room, through the spilt contents of the test tubes.

 

Before I could stand myself up and try to fight him off, there was my Keeper again with the whip, ready in his hands. My breath caught in my throat and I closed my eyes before the whip reached me. This time, it was aimed at my face.

 

Slash! I couldn't even scream as the whip cut through my left cheek and my nose. I tasted the blood in my mouth but lifted my eyelids to see my attacker.

 

I went charging at my Keeper. He was stronger than me, but I was able to kick him in the gut twice and punch him in the face before he overpowered me again.

 

He dragged me back up to my room but I no longer fought. He laid me down in the middle of the darkened room, but then two doctors joined him. I held in my screams as they punched and kicked every part of me they could see.

 

After what seemed like a decade, they left, my Keeper spitting on me before stepping out of the room and saying, with a ringing certainty, "Your friend won't be back."

 

~*~*~

 

The next day passed in my mind almost mechanically. I slept a few hours, so the scar on my face was reduced to a small pink line and after another good night of sleep it would probably be gone. The marks left by the whip throbbed dully, but I could barely think of it. My mind was blank as my cell was unlocked and I was led to the training area and practiced stealth, which I was already good at. My mind was blank because I had a plan.

 

That man's appearance had certainly been random, and so had his conversation. He said that Landry was a tyrant and that I didn't need to be locked up, that I had never even had a parasite. He was critical when I told him I'd help protect Devadas.

 

Was my entire life a lie? Despite how naive and destroyed I'd feel if this were true, I couldn't get worked up about it. Whether it was true or not, I needed to get out of here. Feeling for my own stupidity and pathetic life wouldn't get me away from any more beatings, or a life of imprisonment and employment as a soldier for Landry.

 

I had to find my ninja to figure it all out. For this, I would need help. But where would I go with the ninja whose name I didn't even know, once I found him? If it was true that I'd never had a parasite (my insides burned with anger at the thought), I could follow him out of the hospital. I would have no debt to owe to Landry, and I wouldn't contaminate anyone. I could be free.

 

"Thomas," I said, shifting my small body's weight to one foot and smiling shiftily at my favorite trainer, who smiled back, brown eyes twinkling. My hair was angled in front of my face so that a shadow fell across my scar in a way that made it appear less greusome. I had never had any practice with this flirting idea, of course, but I gave it my best shot. Alexei scowled in the background, but I did not care; he and his short, bulky body could go to Hell, for capturing my ninja.

 

"Yes, Miss Ayuri?" Thomas Cain asked flirtatiously, with a crooked smile playing on his lips. This was going to be too easy.

 

"Do you know where that loser is who broke into my room last night?" I tried to sound angry, like the memory was unpleasant. But in fact, seeing that ninja face to face had been somewhat relieving. It proved he was real; someone who wanted to see me.

 

"They're keeping him in one of the doctor's rooms until the prison van comes later tonight to collect him. He won't bother you anymore."

 

"Oh, thank goodness," I breathed a fake sigh of relief, while fighting the urge to run from him and steal my ninja immediately. That meant I only had until tonight. I needed a plan.

 

I would have to pretend to want some blood from the cafeteria; would that look suspicious? Did vampires need blood everyday? The blood I had drank yesteday had certainly been wonderful, and the temptation the first time I'd been near it as a vampire was overwhelmingly seductive, but now there was nothing remotely tempting about it. So perhaps my idea to drink blood two days in a row would appear somewhat sick and twisted.

 

Alexei was staring over at us suspiciously, but Thomas remained clueless. So I used him a little further. "Thomas, I think there's something wrong with me..." I sat down on the grass and put my head in my hands.

 

As I knew he would, Thomas sat next to me and put a hand on my exposed shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with you, Ayuri. You're a vampire now; there's no more parasite in you."

 

So Thomas was in on it, too, was he? "That's exactly it, though! I don't know anything about being a vampire."

 

"It will come with practice. I think you're doing a fine job."

 

"But...I have all these cravings..." I sighed dramatically.

 

"Cravings? But what for?" He chuckled, the sun shining on his alabaster face.

 

I looked up at him, making my eyes big and round. "Blood! It's all I think about!"

 

He laughed heartily and shook my shoulder. This irritated me, but reminded me of when I had sat down next to my ninja in my cell last night. The memory brought a smile to my face, even thought it was short, and Thomas must have thought my smile was due to his laughter.

 

"Craving blood is only natural, miss. At least at these early stages. You're practically a newborn baby! After a while it will die down. In the meantime, help yourself to as much blood as you can get. The humans are plentiful outside of Devadas."

 

"Yes, you're right.  Thank you so much for your advice," I would not need to go farther than Devadas to get the blood I needed. It was sitting, ready and waiting for me in the refrigerator on the same floor as the doctors' rooms, where I knew my ninja would be waiting for me until dusk, when the prison van would take him away from me. I couldn't let my one chance for freedom be stolen from me again.

 

Reviews

[snopadelic]

You do action scences very well, they run smoothly and are easy to follow. I am really intrigued now by the situation. I'd still like a bit more information regarding the situaton and exactly who the vampires need protecting from. I'm assuming the humans but id defo like a bit more detail on that. I like the introduction of the mystery vampire and the new information about whether she has a parasite or not. Looking forward to reading the next chapter.