16. M I R A
My eyes open and all I see is a wall of grey, and my first thought is, I'm imprisoned in the void again.
But the muffled sobbing of a woman tells me I'm wrong. I roll on my back with a groan, and I feel as if I've been repeatedly hit with a concrete hammer.
Suddenly, it all comes rushing back to me, my home was invaded and demolished. By a band of human hunters led by Octavius, and his fowl eye. My legs still ache with burns from the whipping Leila gave me. And Horace's weak voice suggesting I be sent to a labour camp, plagues me.
I close my eyes, it's all so much. I can still feel the heat emanating from the fire that desecrated the church. The memories haunt me, the smell of burning wood lingers on my body while ash stains me. The sound of glass exploding pierces my mind. Although the island was sinking, it seems wrong that the land was so brutally abused beforehand. Just like that, my home is gone. Only two reminders of the island remain, Thorn and I.
Thorn!
I bolt up and unfortunately my forehead slams into a pipeline that runs from floor to ceiling. A hum of pain escapes from me.
"Careful now," a woman calls to me.
My eyes shut from whiplash as I let the ringing in my head subside. I'll definitely be sporting knots and bruises tomorrow, if I live. As of now my fate doesn't look so hopeful.
I look around to see I've been hauled into a small room with six other people, two women, and four men. A fluorescent lightbulb is dangling from the ceiling, revealing a basic holding area. Like me, the others have wiring binding their hands. Some are sporting injuries of their own, and a few are looking at me with hate.
Across from me is a woman who seems to be in her late thirties. She has kind brown eyes, and a soft round face.
"Did you do that to ole cyclops?" She asks me. Her lips turn at the corners.
It takes me a few seconds to understand she's referring to Octavius, and the injury I gave him. I nod mutely, unable to find my voice. Maybe it's from the shock of what's happened, or maybe it's from the disappointment of life. I think of my daydreams, of pining after finding others like me, a society. I had imagined a perfect world, a peaceful world. Instead, I was met with violence and greed. My wish has come true, in the form of a twisted nightmare.
"Can't you talk?" She asks me.
My eyes flicker around the room again, she's the only one who isn't looking at me with fear or hate. The men are glaring at me resentfully. Which confuses me, how can these people who don't know me, hate me? And why would they fear me?
"Yeah," my voice is raspy as I drag out the words. "I did that." I won't ignore the only person who wants to talk to me.
She laughs, and a genuine smile lights up her face. "How'd you do it?"
Despite the condition I'm in, I find a smile ghosting my lips, I nervously swallow. "I swung an axe at his face. Was he in here?"
"Yes ma'am." The woman nods her head then glances at the door. "Came inside raging like a bull after his bitch kicked the lights outta you."
My head throbs as I think about how Leila used her boot to knock me unconscious. I cross my legs under me and I see that my captors haven't taken my book or newspapers. The literature is wedged in my pocket, and I almost cry out with joy when I see Thorn curled in the crook of my book. There's a small hole inside my pocket, she probably cut into it to crawl inside.
I'm careful not to give away my emotions, I don't know what would happened to Thorn if the other prisoners found out about her, or worse Octavius. I shudder at the memory of his face.
"How long have I been asleep?" I look up at the woman and find her staring at me.
She's about to answer when one of the men shouts out in anger.
"How can you talk to that demon!" He's older then the woman and his face is bruised in blue. Spit flies out with each of his words. His eyes dart back and forth between us.
I'm stunned, apparently I'm the demon, he's calling me a demon.
The woman shakes her head at the man. "Best fix them eyes of yours. She ain't no demon, she's just as human as you and me. Or any of these people." She shrugs her shoulders around at everyone else.
"She has fangs." The man growls out like a curse, his eyes settle on me.
"A fledging then, if you gonna get technical." The woman scowls at him before turning to me, "you've been out cold for six hours."
"Fledging, Octavius called me that too." I say more to myself, before asking louder, "What's a fledgling?"
The bruised man rolls his eyes, "don't try to act stupid."
I ignore him, as the woman looks at me curiously then she answers. "Child, a fledgling be a new born vampire, or one that ain't drink from the flesh yet." Her brow flicks up just a little, "or in your case, one that ain't drink at all. They found you on that island, right?"
My chest pangs when she mentions it, but I'm at loss for what's she's just said. Vampire, I'm a vampire? "Yes, that was my home." I squeak out. "They destroyed it."
"I'm sorry about that." She murmurs before asking, "it was just you out their? All on your own?"
Instinctively, I look at Thorn sleeping in my pocket. "Yeah, it was just me." I confirm.
"I'll be damned," she says to herself while looking at me with wide eyes. "You been abstaining from the vein this whole time?"
The way she says it makes my stomach turn, vein. "I've never drunk blood before, if that's what you're asking and it will stay this way." My vision drifts to the leather book in my pocket, lines I've read come to me in this moment.
Do not consume flesh marred with blood, these bloody veins will condemn you.
I don't have to tell myself twice, I will never drink blood.
The man snorts, "Don't believe the spawn!"
"Shut up," she says to him.
I rest my head against the cold metal wall, and look up at the ceiling. Vampires and monsters, they run in the open now. Ostracised by some humans, who I can't blame, I've been given a small taste of what human life is like in this world, there's no regard for it.
I ask before I can stop myself. "Can you tell me what the Red Plague is?"
"Our future." The hateful man's voice strains as he decides to answer on behalf of the woman. "The Red Plague festered in the world and spread so rapidly that no cure could be found. A disease that infected many, killed many, and fucked us all."
A chill goes down my spine as he speaks and I see him differently then I did a minute earlier. His clothes hang off his body of bones, like he's stopped eating. Dark circles hallow his under eyes, and there's a hopeless look on his face, like he's given up on life.
"About fifteen years ago," the woman says, getting my attention. "There was pharmaceutical company, Reed Enterprises. One of the most respected companies in the world. They fell from grace, when news of a scandal broke. They were producing a drug that could improve the quality of human life."
I furrow my brows, at what she's saying. "What do you mean, quality of human life?"
"Reed Enterprises illegally concocted an elixir that could extend the longevity of human life." She answers.
The man shakes his head with a look of disgust on his face. "Can you guess what happened next Fledgling?" His eyes roll to me. "Well?"
"They sold it?" I ask
"No," the woman sighs, "someone broke into the Reed lab and stole the elixir. But, the thief didn't realise that the drug was still in the early stages of development. It hadn't been tested. Whoever took it, released it into the open for everyone."
My mind is racing at what they're telling me, but all I can think about is the aftermath of what happens when humans play God.
"Some Russian news agency named it The Red Plague, because whoever contracted it got real thirsty." The man interrupts the quiet. "A thirst that could only be quenched by blood. Fast forward to present time, humans are scarce and vampires are running out of blood sources."
"Surely there's a way to reverse this disease?" I ask while looking at the man's bruised face. "An antidote?"
He shakes his head once,"if there is it's never been found. After the scandal broke Reed Enterprises was destroyed in a fire."
Then a silence fills the room, even the sobbing of the woman ceases. We're all left to our own thoughts as we think of how humanity's past has royally damaged the future.
"It would have been better to have burnt to ash with my island." I look at wrists that are bound. I can make out the scars that rim my flesh.
"Oh no," the woman chastises, "don't say that."
I look up at her, with my shoulders slumped, feeling very much defeated. "There is no hope."
Her eyes burn with emotion, she bristles at my words. "Listen now, and listen well. You're not going to survive out here, if you think like that. As long as you live, so does hope, there is always hope." I can feel the passion brimming off her. "You haven't even seen the most brutal parts of this world yet. Not everything is sunshine and blue sky, child. I suggest you find your reason to want to live, and hold onto that. Vampire or not, in this world we're all blood and bone to them, nothing more. You think on that, because we dock within the hour."