Chapter Twenty-Five (Daimonas)
I woke up to a familiar sensation that cut through me like ice.
I held my breath at the feel of an oxygen mask on my face, cool liquid caressing my skin like fine blankets. I felt restraints constricted tightly enough around my wrists and ankles that it was beginning to bruise, and I didn't even need to look to know for sure. I could hear the liquid around me moving gently, bubbling on occasion. Things were muffled, but I could still hear the voices of the Zephyra vampires chattering back and forth, most of them rather excited.
It made my heart sink into my stomach that churned sickeningly. I forced my heavy eyelids open against the sedatives that were taking their time to seep out of my system. Everything was blurry for a moment as I adjusted to the fluids encased around me before I blinked and focused in on the top of my glass box.
My heart hammered hard in my chest and I could feel the familiar sensation of panic returning.
I was back in the glass box.
The container thingy that Julian had told me about. A whimper escaped my throat as I tilted my head to look around before I went still. I turned my head to the left and froze at the sight of Julian's little friend, Seth. He was lying in a container like mine, hooked up to more machines than I was. He was stark naked, his eyes barely closed as if he were struggling to stay conscious.
Or, judging from the whispers in the back of my head, he was talking to my brother and hadn't even realized where he was or what was happening.
I turned my head back just in time for a hand to slap down on the container. I squeaked at the force of it and flinched, watching as a familiar stoic face peered in at me. My eyes widened in horror as Giorgos studied me through the glass, his head cocked. His wavy blonde hair framed a stern, harsh face with glassy blue eyes studying me like a science experiment, cold and calculating. He ran his hand gently over the glass as if he were stroking me and it gave me chills. A very faint smile crept onto his face as he looked up at someone out of my point of view.
"Excellent work, Jack. You've done well. I honestly thought someone else would beat you to him." He commented, not lifting his hand from the glass. Jack stepped in view, a scraggly man with a very deadly look to him that made me grimace. He glanced in at me with a wicked grin before looking at Giorgos.
"No problem at all. In fact, it was pretty fun. I should've left prison years ago to get my hands on these little guys." He responded. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. They were talking about me as if I were a toy, and Seth too. He was still out of it, gazing into nothingness while the muffled, faint whispers continued at the back of my mind, assuring me that Seth wasn't dead, just busy talking to my brother.
"Are you almost finished packing all of the supplies?" Giorgos asked, making me frown and tilt my head at that. Jack nodded, gesturing around the room that actually looked a bit bare now that I noticed, save for a few machines hooked to Seth's container.
"We're just waiting to get the other one stabilized before we finished the rest of the packing. Once that's done, we should be able to move the containers to the vans." He explained, to which Giorgos nodded, looking all too pleased with himself. I felt my throat clench at his words.
Moving? They were taking us somewhere else?
Was it the base in California?
But I liked it here! I wanted to stay here! Julian was here, somewhere! He'd come for me, I knew he would. Maybe he didn't come before, but he was planning on it! I know he was, because he liked me, I know he did.
I squirmed against the restraints, hissing into the oxygen mask. Jack and Giorgos looked down at me. Jack was amused and Giorgos kept a calm façade. I kept squirming, even after Giorgos walked away, but Jack stayed to peer in at me as I stared up at him.
"You're adorable," Jack commented with a smirk, eyes searching me face as he laid his hand against the glass, then trailed his fingers along it as if to touch me, "Even in your demonic form, you still manage to be one of God's greatest creations... or maybe you're something the Devil made to entice me. After all, you're a demon." I had no idea who he was talking about. I wasn't created by a devil or a god. I was created from my mother, who was also a demon and came from another demon and so on and so forth.
Instead of responding, I narrowed my eyes and curled my lip at him in disgust. It didn't have the effect I wanted as Jack grinned before walking away when someone called him over. I tsked and went back to struggling against the restraints, but for some reason, I couldn't break them. It was harder this time.
"Don't bother," A voice crackled in over the intercom near my ear, startling me, "We've discovered something interesting while you were away, and while you were asleep. It seems your species isn't too fond of steel, hm?" I blinked and looked down as best I could to see the steel clasps on my wrists and ankles. I hadn't even created a crack in the material. If anything, it was like the steel wasn't reacting well with my skin and turned it red.
"W-What'ssss happening?" I managed in shock, squirming a little more. The movements of my skin against the metal burned and my skin reddened.
"An allergic reaction," The voice I soon recognized as Giorgos' responded, "We're still not sure if it'll work on your sibling considering he's trapped in his host and we're trying to extract him, but as far as we know, you're allergic to steel."
"I don't underssstand what that isss." I complained. I didn't receive a response and groaned in frustration, returning to my attempt to escape, but my skin was starting to bleed the more I fought and before long, I was injected with more sedatives. My muscles felt like pudding as they opened the container and reached in to heal my wounds, but they were already healing on their own. I tried to fight against them, but my body simply wouldn't obey my commands and continued to lay there limply.
And sickeningly enough, Giorgos had offered to help. He held my head up in his hands, out of the liquid, so he was looking right down into my face. He smoothed his thumbs over my cheek, brushing the wet hair out of my face. I wanted to spit at him, yell at him, bite, kick, scream, but I could only lay there helplessly, staring at him through hooded eyes, lips parted every so slightly in response to my attempt to speak.
Giorgos leaned down, his lips brushing mine and making my eyes widen in shock. I managed to finally move and leaned up, sinking my teeth down into his cheek. He snarled, catching me off guard as he broke his stoic expression to glare at me angrily. He dropped my head into the fluids and I choked, the liquid rushing into my lungs. I choked and gasped, body convulsing instantly at the lack of air before he tore me back up out of the liquid and into a sitting position. Someone came over and hit my back repeatedly until I coughed up all the junk from my lungs. I panted hard, looking around shakily at the scientists, who stared in surprise.
"Someone make a note of that," A scientist person ordered, "He can't breath under liquids. And make sure to make a note about his reaction to the anesthesia from earlier. Why aren't you working faster? Come on, people, we're pressed for time--" He was cut off when suddenly Seth's machines went off, all of them screaming and beeping at the same time. Most of the scientists left me, except maybe two or three. They ran to Seth, who was convulsing in the machine, making choking sounds that alarmed me.
"What'sss happening to him?!" I demanded, trying to move out of the container, but someone caught me by the shoulders and held me back. I squirmed as best I could in their grip, trying to push the weird drug out of my system.
"He's having a seizure," Someone barked as they worked quickly to get Seth out of the container, "We need to get him stabilized somewhere else. You four come with me, the rest of you stay behind." Everyone obeyed his orders and rushed around quickly. I watched as they lifted Seth out of the container and onto a hospital bed before rushing him away. I winced, watching him leave as I continued to pull and writhe against the other scientists.
"We're having trouble, Mindy! Call in more help." One of the men holding me ordered. A female in a white coat nodded in response to him and hurried to do just that. Panic rose inside me and I fought harder. Someone reached their arm across me to twist me around, but I bit down and he screamed in pain. I sank my teeth in deeper, feeling a sharp burn of power rip through me. I hissed and bit harder, using my tail to slam two of the other scientists away from me.
I let go of the vampire who was in my arm as he sank to the floor growling in pain, but I whacked him over the head with the container door to knock him out. I scrambled, eyes darting around to search for Giorgos and Jack, who both seemed to have disappeared. I panted hard, scrambling out of the container and hitting the floor. I slipped on the liquid that had clung to my skin, but I shook it off and got up just as Mindy returned with six Zephyra members, one of which was Jack, who snarled at me.
"Grab him!" He shouted. No one hesitated and came after me. I yelped and ducked away from one, only to have another one grab my tail. I hissed at him and lifted my tail, dragging him with it and slamming him into a couple of machine that crackled and sizzled on impact. Another lunged at me and grabbed me around the waist.
"No! Get off me!" I yelled. As if reacting to my anger, several other machines exploded and burst into flames, causing the sprinklers over our heads to turn on. I gasped as the person released me, but went to grab me again. I ducked under his arm and raced for the door, leaping over Seth's container and sliding on the wet floor between another vampire's legs. I met up with Mindy at the door, but she only cried out and leapt away from me.
I bolted out into the hallway and ran, breathing hard as I listened to everything around me. I could hear the machines sputtering and catching fire to other rooms. I could hear frantic beeping from machines in another room. I could hear shouting from a staircase nearby and from behind me. I could hear hearts beating like crazy, blood rushing through veins.
I didn't know where to go, I realized as I came to a halt near a staircase and another door that seemed to lead to another hallway. I only knew what the other headquarters looked like because I had been conscious when they brought me in, but I was unconscious throughout the entire moving into this one. I had no idea where the doors went to or where the staircases went to.
But I didn't have time to cry about it because I could hear the shouting behind me growing nearer. I threw open the staircase door and dove inside, whipping my tail around to crunch the handle so hopefully they couldn't get inside if it wouldn't twist right. I stood still for a moment, closing my eyes and doing that concentrating thing Julian had told me to do.
I needed to take a human form, a somewhat human form at least. What did I do last time?
Oh, right, right. Change into an ordinary human. No tail, no claws, no where teeth, or tongues. Although, the tongue thing was kinda hard since I was so used to them both, but I concentrated on getting rid of them anyway.
A bit of pain rippled through me, but only for a split second before I opened my eyes and turned to look into the reflection of the windows that lined the staircase. My hair was still white and fell right down my back, bangs a bit on the long side and falling over my face and hiding my eyes, which were still gold, but I managed to get rid of my skinny pupil. I even managed to change my skin color so it had faded to a light tan sorta color, like Xed's, the merman Julian talked about. Except there was a tiny black dot near my temple. I frowned, reaching up to touch it when someone banged on the door.
I squeaked and ran down the stairs quickly, breathing hard as I glanced behind me, still hearing people smash themselves on the door. They would break it down soon. They were vampires. They may not be as strong as me, but they were still strong.
I started skipping steps to get down the stairs faster. I finally reached a door on the bottom and went to open it, but it opened sharply in my face and almost hit me. I leapt back as two members of Zephyra lunged right at me. I gasped and ducked to the side quickly, then raced past them out the door, only to have one grab me by the back of my neck and swing me around, slamming me into the wall at the bottom of the stairs. I hissed in pain, clutching at my back before I jerked my head up to look at the two Zephyra members, who were smirking at me.
"You can run, but you can't hide, demon." The raven-haired one sneered at me, making me wince. I hissed at them in hopes of freaking them out, but it only made them laugh.
"Doug, close the door." The raven-haired one ordered his friend, who hesitated for a moment before a sick smirk curled onto his lips. He obeyed, shutting the door and locking it behind them before they both turned to me.
"Come 'ere." The first member reached for me and tore me up by my elbow before forcing me around, slamming me up against the wall. I gasped at the force of it and tried to push back again, but he only forced me back.
"Jerek, what're you doing?" Doug asked cautiously, approaching his friend now as Jerek grabbed my wrist and forced them behind my back. I gasped in pain and struggled to get away. I tried to concentrate on a way to get him away from me, but I was confused at the way he was touching me. His hand wandered up and down my back as if he were savoring the feel of it under his leather gloved hand. Why was he touching me? Wasn't he supposed to be dragging me back?
"Jerek!" Doug snapped now, grabbing Jerek's wrist to twist away from me, but Jerek elbowed him backwards and shot him a deadly glare.
"Buzz off, D. I've been wanting to get my hands on him the moment Orion brought him in the first time. I'm not gonna get another chance like this... And neither are you," He added, making Doug pale, "I saw the way you eyed him just now. Just look at him." I started to pull away again, but Jerek slammed my head into the wall, making me gasp as my vision tilted. Jerek ran his hand down my side to rest on my hip before he reached in between my legs and cupped me. I blinked at the odd sensation that tingled through me.
What was that? I looked down, confused as my body trembled. Whatever it was, I didn't like it. It gave me goose bumps and made my heart beat frantically. The hairs on the back of my neck raised and I instantly felt that something was wrong.
I didn't like the way he was touching me. His hands made my skin crawl and the way he kept looking at me made me nervous. What did he want with me if he wasn't going to hand me over to Giorgos?
"Jerek," Doug started, although, he had stepped closer to touch my shoulder, making me shiver and try to inch away, but Jerek slammed me into the wall again, "If we do this, Giorgos is going to kill us. You saw what he did to Rolo." Jerek smirked and grabbed me by the hips, jerking me up against his groin, making me gasp when I felt something hard pushing through his pants against me. I squirmed to get away, but Jerek pushed my cheek against the wall hard with one hand while his other gripped my hip, holding me back against him.
"If you're not gonna do it with me, then leave. Tell them he's somewhere else in the building." Jerek snapped in irritation, then leaned in to bury his mouth against my throat. I cocked my head to the side to try and close the space there, but he refused to let me do anything and hit my head against the wall again. I gasped and twisted to get away again. I reached back and sank my fingernails into his skin, making him hiss and reel back. I started to take off, but this time Doug snatched me and threw me against the wall. I didn't even get a chance to fight as he twisted my arms up behind my back. He took out some kind of wire from his belt and wrapped it tightly around my wrists, making me cringe as it sliced into my skin, causing it to sting.
"L-Let go of me," I managed angrily, wincing every time I wiggled my arms for escape, "I don't know what you want, but I don't care! Get away from me!" Jerek actually laughed at that and grabbed me by my hair, making me gasp as his fingers entangled themselves in my hair.
"Ya hear that, Doug," He said mockingly, making Doug frown, "He doesn't even know. I guess it's true; the pretty ones are always stupid." He jerked my head to the side and placed his mouth there. I waited for him to bite me, but he only seemed to slobber there, his lips clamping and sucking, but I didn't feel his teeth. I squirmed, whining as my body shuddered and chilled.
I didn't understand. What did he want for me? Why wasn't he taking me away or just killing me? Why was he doing that thing to my neck?
I gasped when I felt Doug rubbing his hands over my hips, then down between my legs to cup me there. I writhed, then hissed as the wire around my wrists cut in sharply. I squeaked in pain at it, my heart hammering away at the inside of my chest. Doug raked his nails around to grasp my butt. I hissed at that and snapped my teeth at him, only to have Jerek smash my head against the wall again.
My vision darkened and I thought I was going to pass out for a moment. I could feel a warm trickle of blood running down from my temple, my heart throbbing in my ears. Jerek's rough gloved hands rubbing at my chest, the other holding me tightly by the back of my neck. I felt his fangs graze my shoulder dangerously, but he still didn't bite me, just suckled and licked. I felt Doug put his mouth against my skin between my shoulder blade. His hands gripped me by the hips. I could hear the sound of a zipper going down, breathing and heart rates picking up.
What's going on? I'd never been in this kind of situation before. Julian had never taught me what to do when someone wasn't trying to hunt me. I wasn't being hunted. I felt... like I was being used. It scared me. My body trembled and I felt like my heart was clenching tight in my chest. I couldn't concentrate on any one thing, so my mind was a jumble of fear and disgust. I tried to jerk and twist away, but my body felt like it was too scared to move.
"Stop." I managed, but my voice sounded small and far away. Jerek laughed and pushed me away from the wall to get in front of me, grabbing my hips and jerking me up against him. I squirmed some more and snapped my teeth at him, but he held my head still and smashed his mouth against mine. I whimpered as his fangs finally bit into my skin, piercing my lips. I writhed, trying to get away from him when I felt something hot and hard invade me.
Pain ripped up from behind me and a scream ripped free from my throat as I panicked at the sensation. I tried to push the feeling away, out of my body, but my powers wouldn't cooperate without concentration and I couldn't concentrate with the raw pain burning through me. I couldn't even turn to see what Doug was doing to me because Jerek was pushing my head down to his groin where he was unbuckling his pants.
"No," I choked, pushing at him to get away, only increasing the pain of whatever Doug was doing behind me, "Stop! J-Julian! Juliaaaan!"
"Is he seriously calling out for that Grey boy?" Jerek laughed breathily, wrapping my hair around his hand tightly to push my head down further, my cheek running down his abdomen. Doug joined him in a breathy laugh interrupted by grunts and pants for breath, his nails biting into my skin. I whimpered, squeezing my eyes shut, trying hard to fight against Jerek's grip on my hair.
"Pleassse," I gasped, feeling tears burn my eyes, "I-I don't know what'sss happening." Jerek smirked and gave my head another shove until my mouth was buried against his groin.
"Then settle down and just enjoy it." He ordered, to which I gave a muffled response. This time, no amount of squeezing my eyes shut could stop the tears from streaking hot trails down my cheeks as I dug my nails at Jerek to try and get away from him.
Fear pulsed through me, mingled with pain and humiliation. I was supposed to be the most powerful creature in the world. I could move objects, make them explode, without touching them. I could hear and read thoughts. I could heal myself and other people from fatal wounds and diseases. I could do anything.
Except stop these people from hurting me.
And the only thing I could think of was Julian. I wanted to be back with Julian again. I wanted him and Adam to teach me things. I didn't even care if we were back at Vladimir's and he was showing me how to work the television thingy. The burger things that were so good. I didn't even care if Adam snapped at me when I asked stupid questions.
I just wanted to be back where I was safe.
Julian, please! Help me!
A sharp painful withdrawal from behind me made me cry out in pain, along with the wires being torn off my wrists. I couldn't turn around still, but I saw someone grab Doug off me and throw him into the stairs. Blood splattered against the side of my face and I gasped, flinching away from it. Jerek released me instantly to attack whoever was killing Doug, but the killer grabbed him and threw him away too. I didn't even look to see who it was.
My body felt weak and destroyed. I slumped against the wall and fell on my side, curling up tightly and squeezing my eyes shut. I couldn't stop trembling and the pain that throbbed everywhere they touched me. I could feel stinging and burning in places I didn't know could feel like that. I just balled myself up, listening to the wet splatters of blood and flesh ripping.
And then there was a hand on my shoulder. I shrieked and scrambled into a corner, grabbing at myself to hide. My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. Fear crackled through me so hard that I whimpered.
"Daimonas." A voice ordered. I blinked at the familiarity of the voice and looked up past my fingers to see Vladimir standing there, staring at me with a stern expression. He was wearing black pants and a matching vest over a gray shirt and a long leather jacket that was splattered with blood. My eyes dropped involuntarily to see the mess he'd made of Jerek and Doug. A scream tore up my throat again and I squeezed my eyes shut, jerking my head away and curling up again.
"Daimonas," Vladimir said in a calm voice that scared me more than the bloody walls, "I need you to get up and take my hand, do you understand me?"
"N-No," I cried out, not looking at him, "I'm not going anywhere!"
"Daimonas, I'm not going to hurt you--"
"You're lying," I screamed, breathing hard in an attempt to calm down, but it didn't help and just made my heart beat faster, "You wanted to kill me before! I-I'm n-not ssstupid! Get away from me! You're going to hurt me like they did!" Vladimir gave me a serious stare that made me hesitate.
"I will never hurt you like they did, Daimonas. I give you my word. Now take my hand and I can get you out of here." He said. I bit down on my lower lip to keep it from trembling as I stared at Vladimir's outstretched hand. I didn't want to trust him, not after the way he shot me when Julian had brought us to his house. He'd wanted to kill me since the beginning, and worse, he was the host for Voltaire.
Voltaire was the demon most humans feared. He was powerful and cruel and merciless, the perfect demon for Vladimir.
But that was Voltaire. Vladimir was different. I had seen the way Vladimir treated Alexander, how much he loved him and cherished him. I'd seen the way Vladimir took care of Julian when Zephyra had first begun to hunt him. While Voltaire probably didn't even have a soul, Vladimir did.
And he just saved me. I didn't understand what was happening. I still didn't understand what happened or why it happened, especially to me. I just knew it was painful and humiliating, and Vladimir made it all stop and now he was going to take me away somewhere safe.
I managed to lift my hand, trembling as I laid it against Vladimir's, risking a look at his eyes. He seemed to relax at that, then came forward to help me stand, but my legs wobbled so badly that I could barely stand. Expecting him to leave me behind, I was surprised when he lifted me up into his arms. A sliver of pain and fear coursed through me at that and I almost pushed him away, but I looked up into his face and he seemed completely calm and stern, like Julian was when he scolded me.
And I felt safe. I hugged Vladimir tightly, burying my face against his chest as he quickly turned to the door just as the sound of something up the stairs exploded, causing the glass to clatter in its frame. He quickly kicked the door open and walked out. Without even looking back to use his powers, the door shuddered and crunched, the walls around it tumbling in to block it off. I blinked, staring at it in surprise, then looked up at Vladimir as he carried me down the hallway, moving with the swift prowess of a true predator. Instead of scaring me, it just made me hold onto him tighter.
He paused to look up and down the hallways, a frown working its way onto his face. I swallowed hard, twitching when I heard heavy footsteps overhead.
"V-Vladimir?" I asked quietly. Vladimir looked at me questioningly. I hesitated, then tightened my grip on him.
"What're you doing here?" I whispered. Vladimir raised an eyebrow and looked down at me, cocking his head before one of those enigmatic smiles came across his face.
"Why, I'm here to rescue you, Daimonas." He responded. I blinked at that, stunned.
"R-Ressscue me? I thought you didn't like me."
"I don't dislike you, Daimonas. I just get confused. It happens to the best of us." Vladimir answered, then continued down the hallway. I hung onto him as he carried me through another set of hallways before ducking off into a room and closing the door. It was a big room with counters and a sink, and a door that went to a bathroom. Vladimir set me on a covered sofa before stepping back to rip a piece of the white covering off the sofa. He went to the sink and got it wet before coming back.
I didn't understand what he was doing until he started to wipe the blood off the side of my face. I blinked, watching him work with a relaxed expression, his eyes searching my face for more wounds. I swallowed hard as he went to wiping the blood on my wrists.
"V-Vladimir?"
"Hm?"
"What... What did those two people do to me?" I managed. Vladimir stopped wiping my wrist for a moment. He stared down at my wrist for the longest time without answering me and for a moment, I thought I'd made him angry before he looked up at me, face blank now.
"You have no idea what they were doing?" He asked me for confirmation. I shook my head, sniffing and reaching up to wipe at my eye with the back of my other hand as Vladimir gently wrapped a wet white cloth around my other wrist. Vladimir sighed and looked down again as he tore another strip of cloth off the sofa, wetting it, then wrapping it around my other wrist. He paused again, eyes studying my arms before he looked up.
"Daimonas. You know what happened wasn't your fault, right?" He asked. I suddenly felt like crying again when he said that. I blinked a few times to keep the tears at bay before I managed to speak again.
"Don't patronize me," I choked, "I... I'm like you. I can do thossse thingsss too. At leassst, I'm ssssuppossssed to, but I couldn't concccentrate enough. I dessserved--"
"No," Vladimir interrupted sharply, surprising me when he grabbed me by the chin, gently, but firmly, "Daimonas, listen to me. You did not deserve that. No one deserves that. It wasn't your fault. Do you understand me?" I blinked a few more times to keep the tears back and just gulped, nodding. Vladimir let go of my chin, relaxing as he went back to tending to my wounds, wiping the blood off my thighs.
"You never told me what it wasss that they did to me." I said softly. Vladimir didn't hesitate this time as he cleaned.
"That was called rape, Daimonas. It's something that cowards and pitiful creatures do to other people, innocent people. But you don't need to worry about them anymore. They're both dead." He answered calmly, setting aside bloodied clothes. I didn't know what to say to that, because even if they were dead, the feeling of their hands on me wasn't. I could still feel them touching me everywhere, feel the burning pain ramming into me repeatedly, the inability to stop it all. It made me want to curl up and hide somewhere.
It made me want to be with Julian.
I blinked when I realized if Vladimir was here, Julian had to be somewhere nearby.
"Julian." I managed. Vladimir looked up, then another smile broke across his face.
"Julian's very excited to see you again, Daimonas. He's waiting for you, but you need to be patient. Zephyra is swarming the area and even I might have difficulties taking them all down at once. Just because I have demonic powers doesn't mean I'm all powerful. Even we have our moments. Don't worry, though. We're going to get out of here." He promised, touching my hand for reassurance. I looked at his hand, then at him as he stood up to look down at me with that smile of his.
"And... And I'll ssssee Julian again?"
"Yes."
"And... Can we stop at McDonalds?" I asked hopefully. Vladimir smiled even more now and placed his hand on my head.
"Yes, Daimonas. We can stop at McDonalds."