Perdition

Bet's Are On

In my dreams, I'd be with my family. My mother would make dinner, and my gran would sit back with her coffee and watch her shows. My dad would be getting my sister ready so that my mom had some time to herself after dinner. I'd be on my laptop, browsing videos and checking emails. In my dreams, the world was how it used to be.

Not anymore.

They threw me like a sack of potatoes into a dark, box shaped room. Humiliated, stripped of all but my underwear, and soaking wet, I let out a strangled sob. They had hosed me down and 'cleaned' me of any filth I might bring into their precious domain. Bruised and broken, I gathered what little strength I had left and scattered to hide in the corner of this cell.

They laughed at me. Their glowing gold eyes sparkled at my misfortune and they made comments about how utterly disgusting I was. I tried to ignore them by curling into a ball and pretending I was somewhere else – a happier place.

The man who had knocked me out back on the streets of Seattle marched towards me. He knelt beside me and grabbed my chin forcefully, making me look at him. All I could do was hold back a startled yelp.

"Poisoned blood should only be tasted by the lowest of creatures," he chuckled, "Good luck."

As the giant iron door slammed shut, a beeping sound echoed through the room, I could hear them laughing and betting on how many days I would survive.

Were they going to starve me? Is that what they were laughing about? Or perhaps wait until I went mad from isolation? Maybe it was all the above.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could faintly see a single cot-bed off to the side of the room. Although my legs were still numb from the cold, I found the strength to get up and move towards it. I jumped onto the springy steel cot and curled up, covering my exposed skin as best I could.

Sleep never took me. I stayed awake, wide-eyed for what seemed like hours. The tears blurred my vision, but soon dried up. After a short amount of time, my eyes started to adjust to the darkness. It was probably best I get used to being alone.

At first, I started to shake. Then sweat. My scream never came out of my mouth – I was paralysed with absolute fear as red, demonic eyes glared at me from the corner of the room. The more my eyes adjusted, the more this figure horrified me.

Had he been there this whole time? Had he been watching me? I had never noticed him until this point. When I was thrown in here I didn't even bother to look around.

I let out a squeal of disbelief as I turned on my stomach, hiding my face. "Go away!" I screamed.

I couldn't sense any movements. He never said a word, either. Those eyes that seemed to penetrate my very soul just... stared. Through the darkness I could see he was wearing some sort of armour that was ripped and jaded. Some parts were missing while others had broken metal spikes. His hair was dark – a black colour that contrasted with the darkness – and his face was marred with old scars.

All I could do was shake uncontrollably.

"Relax, I'm too weak to eat you," the figure growled, turning his face away from me.

For a moment there, I stopped breathing. Perhaps I was hoping I could just melt into the wall and disappear. This thing in front of me looking terrifying, but for some twisted reason or other, he looked almost... defenceless. It was as if he couldn't attack even if he wanted to.

"Who-who are you?" I stuttered. I didn't bother covering my nakedness as I continued to grasp at the wall. I was never a shy person and I doubted it was my body he wanted.

His eye seemed to twitch – he was obviously annoyed by my stupid question. He cracked his neck to the side and snapped, "I don't answer to my dinner, human."

Oh God, oh God, oh God... He was going to eat me! I let out what must have been a terrified noise and squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't want to look when he came and sucked my veins dry.

Light chuckling echoed throughout the room. I peeked one eye open and saw his body rumbling with soft laughter. As if I weren't confused and frightened enough, he asked, "And what would your name be?"

'Certainly not dinner, I hope,' I thought, wincing at the idea.

"Delta... Delta!" I stuttered.

His smile, which would have been a very nice smile, was ruined when his fangs poked out. "Well, Delta-Delta, you can call me Aros."

He was mocking me.

Suddenly – and for the life of me I didn't know why this thought occurred – I mentioned, "From the river's mouth..." Our names both had the same meaning.

His smile turned to anguish as he twisted from his spot on the dirty floor. He growled wildly as he looked away. "I shouldn't look too long. Bad blood or not, it's still tempting when you're starved."

And that's when it dawned on me that they were making bets on how long it would take this vampire to give in and eat me. They had starved him – but why?

"It's going to be a long night," he murmured to himself as he turned, leaning against the wall and facing away from me.

I sighed shakily, turning back over on my cot.

I didn't get a wink of sleep.