Broken Warrior

Prison

Eirene

I didn't remember processing much the first few times consciousness pulled me back. Pain. Blistering pain on my back and the deep wounds of my body, combined with a never satiated thirst. Every time my eyes opened, they would focus on the two bottles of blood left for me and I would feed, then lose myself to the darkness of healing.

When I truly woke up, I forced myself to listen and take stock of where I was before showing whomever was watching me that I was awake. There were two more bottles beside me, though they didn't smell of glass. No, these were made of a plastic that was probably unbreakable and incapable of being used as a weapon.

I was chained.

I could feel the heavy manacles around my wrists and ankles and was surprised that when I finally did open my eyes and pull myself to a sitting position, there was enough room for me to do that. I had expected to be incapable of even that small movement. Nor had I expected the small comfort of the blanket that pooled on my legs as I glanced around the room.

My body wanted the blood that sat beside me but I forced myself not to reach for it, unsure if they had found a way to put some type of tranquilizer in it that was completely undetectable to vampires.

The room was lit lowly, but enough that I knew there were cameras watching me, even if there were no windows. The walls were smooth, though I did not recognize the smell of the dark glass-like substance they were made out of. There was a door, I could detect the faint break in the perfect surface where the seams were, but there wasn't enough to tell me if the door swung in or out.

Slowly, I tested the chains, though it did not surprise me to find that they were strong enough to hold me without issue. Ducking my head down to my hands, I inhaled the scent, frowning when I didn't recognize the material there either. I had travelled throughout most of this world and had never come across anything of the sort.

My clothing was gone, replaced by sterile medical scrubs that did nothing to fight the chill in the room as I sat and settled my mind. I was not escaping. I had no idea why I was even alive, though I suspected that it was merely for the perverse pleasure Alesky would get from killing me himself. Life had come full circle, but I found my normal anger hard to summon, craving sleep instead.

I did not track the passage of time, settled into my mind and the slow rhythm of my heart rate as I let my mind drift from where I was to a stillness that allowed me to drown out the pain and hunger. In the corner of my awareness, I heard the door open and footsteps falling softly, near silently, on the floor towards me. The scent of the vampire slowly pulled me back to the present moment, even as he placed a chair in front of me and straddled it.

I recognized this one, the blonde one who had defended Alesky before Rurik stepped in, the one who had held a gun to me. I saw that if I had managed to fool him once, I would never get that luxury again. Whatever Rurik had told them, it was enough that this man saw me as a threat, even when I was chained to the floor and half dead.

"They're not poisoned." His eyes flicked to the bottles of blood. "You won't heal if you don't continue to feed."

I didn't look that way, staring at one of his shoulders blankly. "Is it a more pleasurable execution when I'm not bleeding to death?"

"You haven't signed your death warrant yet." He offered simply, and that surprised me enough that I lifted my eyes to his, raising a brow. His look was cool, collected and very hard to read. "But how the next few days go, will be the deciding factor."

"I am not going to beg for my life." I snorted and glanced down to my hands.

"How is it that you managed so long, without anyone knowing you exist?" He didn't correct me, but there was also no bite to my goading.

I shrugged. "I have no desire for the trappings of power and wealth that most of these narcissistic creatures have. They wish to be known because they wish to have status amongst their peers. They take as much pleasure in the sycophants below them bowing and scraping as they do in the slaughter of innocents."

"Not all vampires are bloodthirsty murderers." He offered, leaning on the back of his chair. "We have rules now..."

I interrupted him with a bark of a laugh, grinning bitterly and looking up to him. "Ah, yes. The Orders, hiding behind their need to not slaughter too many of their food sources. Manipulating and twisting the truth so that they can hide in the shadows and we can all pretend that monsters no longer exist. Rules." I snorted and shook my head. "When you enforce the rules, you don't have to follow them, do you?"

He clenched his jaw, ever so slightly, gripping the back of the chair. "So you would murder us all? For the crime of not being human?"

I shook my head and sighed softly. "You younger ones. Some of you were humans as the world became better, more peaceful. We are all... products of the violence we were born into. As humans and vampires. There are those who are not monsters. I hunt who is evil."

"You work for the Teutonic Order." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. And it surprised me.

"No." I glanced up to him, shaking my head slowly. "I work for myself. Have done so for a long time. I destroyed the Teutonic Order. Or the branch of it who sought to use me."

"Who you sold Ryker to." I heard anger in his tone then, though I didn't immediately understand what he was saying.

"Ryker?"

"You called him Rurik." His words were nearly a growl.

I watched him for a long time, frowning as I let that knowledge settle into my mind, storing it away with the realization that whatever this place was, this man at least cared for my Rurik. Finally, I shook my head. "The only person I will answer to, for my sins in regard to Rurik, is him."

"Why did you destroy the Knights? It was you who slaughtered them and burnt their monastery to the ground, wasn't it?" This man wanted to understand me, wanted to figure out what made me tick. His comments made me believe that my life depended on what he found in my answers, but I found that I had no care to try and deceive him.

"Because I learned of what evils they had done." I whispered softly, shaking my head and looking away. My hands gripped the chains holding me to the ground, feeling a surge of anger for a moment. "There were the evils of training us to become weapons. I understood that, and even believed that they were necessary, for a long time. But there were things that the original Knights had not done to me, things that good, just people, would not do to anyone. Rurik was an angel who could have saved my soul, and I sold him to the devil in my ignorance. When I found out, I killed them all. Every one of them that had tortured him. I did not sin in murdering them. I sinned in not doing it sooner."

Let him kill me for that brutality if he wished. Let the judge watching on the cameras, listening to us speak pretend at his newfound love for human life. I only regretted that I did not have the chance to atone for my sins. I had no illusion that Rurik would come see me.

There was no salvation to be found in his soul for me.