The leech had apparently decided the time had come to leave the bloody capital of the leeches, dragging the rest of us along like mere luggage.
Not that the monster had condescended to tell its plans to anyone insofar as I knew, which was not surprising.
Still, all the leech's obedient slaves seemed to know what was going on, almost as if the monster was a queen of an insect colony and it communicated commands silently to its drones. I would not be surprised if the idea turned out to be basically true.
The last time the leech had directly spoken to either Trisha or I was when it had informed her that she would be required to donate blood for the leech, an oxymoronic command. Theft was far from donation.
Trisha had paled, but had submitted because she'd had little choice. She had returned a few hours later, slightly shaken up with a tiny bandage on her arm, not large enough to hide fang marks. I had been confused, until one afternoon I spotted the leech mixing blood into its coffee. No doubt that was where Trisha's blood had ended up.
In that moment I had fantasized about staking the monster right through its cold dead heart and then cutting off its head for good measure before grabbing Trisha and fleeing the capital. If only it could be so easy.
Instead, I bided my time.
Now, I was travelling somewhere in a large motorized vehicle with two parallel rows of seats divided by an aisle, along with all the other slaves. Blondie was manning the wheel at the front of the vehicle while everyone else was sitting around loose, even Trisha. The leech was somewhere else entirely.
Unlike the other slaves, I had been chained to the wall of the vehicle, in shackles once more. I was conflicted. My pride urged me to be taken seriously as a threat in spite of my efforts to the contrary, but the leech's caution while on route was removing what would be a prime opportunity for my escape.
With nothing else possible, I slept as best I could sitting up with my hands restricted in front of me, so that I was ready for whatever came when I was finally released, assuming I would be eventually.
When I was not dozing, I kept my expression blank and watched the creature's slaves move around the enclosed space as if their lives were something more than pathetic captivity. Marcel, or Agro as I preferred to call him, was the screamer who had surprisingly turned out to be the leech's biggest and most aggressive suck up.
The dark man who was built like a mountain was named Dean, but I had dubbed him Rocky because he resembled a boulder.
The final one with glasses was Theo, but I called him Stump since he spent a large part of the journey hunched over his work until he resembled one.
Both Bean Sprout and Rocky seemed to be vying for Trisha's attention. It was pathetic and pointless in the world we lived in.
Sometimes, I thought the most effective strategy against the bloodsuckers would be to simply give up and die, because if all humans did that, they would die out shortly after.
The world would be left to be a paradise of nature. I scoffed. I had survived in that so-called paradise for a long time. Nature was a cruel beast who wanted to kill humanity almost as much as the vampires did.
Every little surviving creature stood upon a teetering pile of death, devouring the creatures below them. Even the most deceptively harmless little rabbit ripped and tore the life from plants, the plants that grew in soil composed of a thousand decomposed dead organisms. Hidden in the grass, between the little rabbit's jaws was an unlucky caterpillar being inadvertently chomped into unrecognizable protein goop.
So, was the fox that ripped the rabbit to shreds evil, or was it merely distributing justice on the rabbit for its thoughtless chewing?
I ultimately didn't care about questions of good or evil, I did not know about the justice of the fox and the rabbit, but I would kill every leech I could get my hands on while I had breath left in my lungs.
And I would start with the one who dared hold me captive.
I schooled my expression to dull neutrality.
When you boiled it down to its essence, what was left of my life was actually quite simple.
Survival of the fittest and I aimed to survive long enough to find my own justice.
* * * * *
I was dozing when the vehicle slowed down to a stop. I kept my eyes shut and listened to the activity around me.
Had we reached our destination, or were we were simply again changing drivers? I was surprised at the clank of my chains as they were released from the wall. I opened my eyes and frowned at Ponytail.
"Come on, Little Human, time for a break from the bus," he said.
I got up and followed Ponytail out of the vehicle. I was allowed to relieve myself and assumed I would return to where we had come from, but instead I was herded over to a much smaller vehicle. I hid my confusion. "Get in," he said.
I did not argue, since several of them were watching me cautiously. Agro, in particular, was glowering as if he thought he could intimidate me. It was laughable. A bloodsucker's pawns were about as frightening as a fawn.
I forced my face to stay emotionless as I got in.
Unsurprisingly, the bloodsucker was behind the wheel and it smiled silkily at me. I wondered what it wanted to take from me this time, but I just looked ahead and tried to appear impassive. Ponytail shut the door.
It did not say anything, for a long while as it set the car into motion.
Finally, it broke the silence.
"I still don't know your name, Little Human. I've become rather fond of calling you that, but it's not too late for me to change it."
I didn't answer. The silence stretched between us. I hoped the leech found it uncomfortable.
After a while, it chuckled. "You're really vacant, aren't you? I thought I saw something, but I suppose I was wrong. Still, at least you're pretty."
The monster might have been describing itself. A vacant moral vacuum, but pretty.
"Perhaps I should simply drain you dry and have your body stuffed and add it to my collection. Your aesthetic value period could be extended multiple times and I doubt I would see a huge amount of difference between your dead-eyed stare now and then."
I would like to see it make the attempt. With proper leverage I could snap its neck, which would slow it down and with any luck, I could find something to stake it through the heart.
With even more luck, daylight would dawn and the leech would be rendered into a little pile of ash that would blow away on the breeze.
Still, I would prefer to make the attempt at a time when there were less vampire sympathizers about. I risked a glance at the bus full of pathetically happy slaves and had to force my disdain back down into the depths where it could hide undetected.
* * * * *
When the sky finally began to lighten, I began to hope that the leech would be caught in the morning light, but instead it simply pulled over onto the side of the road. Before I was dragged back and locked against the wall of the bus, it got into the backseat and Agro took over control of the car with a look of ridiculous pride at the task. Something that I could only assume might be dividers to protect the monster from the sun were snapped into place, much to my disappointment.
I alternately kept myself calm as I watched the other humans or pretended to sleep for the rest of the journey.
Just after dark we finally reached what seemed to be our destination. A large structure situated inside very high walls, with an extremely guarded entrance, from what I could glimpse as we drove past. Everything was clearly designed to suit the monster's snobbish tastes.
Escape was not going to be easy, but I would not be defeated by a bit of a challenge. Never mind the shackles chaffing my wrists, the collar on my neck or the guards and walls surrounding me, every defense had a flaw and I only had to locate and exploit it to my advantage.
We stopped and I was herded inside by the slaves and shown to the slave quarters by Stump. It had a similar setup to the quarters in the capital, except there were only two beds.
"This one's yours. Stay on your side and we'll get along fine."
I grunted noncommittally. I would have preferred not to have anyone around me, but it could have been much worse so I would not complain.
Before I could get properly situated, there was another knock on the door. An unknown male slave came through, this one lean and muscular in spite of being likely ten years my senior. "Come along, Little Human. The Mistress has summoned you."
I hadn't expected to deal with it so soon, but I supposed it was good to meet my enemy head on in this new arena.
I followed the slave through the halls. He was quiet, much like the others when dealing with me. If I had not seen them interacting with each other and with Trisha, I would have thought they were forbidden to speak unless spoken to.
But no, the common factor was clearly me. I would perhaps need to maintain my neutral persona more closely so as to better fade into the background.
We arrived at extremely large and intricate double doors that stood out even amongst all the other fancy entryways lining the halls. Before the man before me could say anything, two servants opened the doors and the leech called, "Bring him in, Leif."
I followed him to the middle of the centre of the room, where the leech lurked, draped over some sort of cushioned couch, almost as if it were attempting the image of relaxed royalty.
It smiled directly at me. "You all can leave, now."
My guide paused as if he wanted to argue, but instead he bowed and retreated silently. Footsteps departed as the doors closed.
"Come sit," it invited, sitting up and patting the empty space beside it.
Senses at the ready, I did as it bid.
It observed me and the silence stretched around us as if were the only two creatures left in the world.
"I've thought of you a lot since I first laid eyes on you," it told me.
Delightful. I kept my face straight.
"I've never had such a silent slave before. I've wondered what to make of you. Are you barely sentient? Are you partially mute? Insane? In shock? So terrified of me that you are rendered speechless?"
She paused and leaned closer. "Enthralled?"
I wished I could shove it away, break its neck, stake it. I did nothing.
It laughed and it was like tinkling bells, the guise of innocence that it surely had lost, if it had ever even once possessed it at all.
"No, I know better." It smiled at me, displaying its sharp fangs and leaned closer. "It does not matter how quiet you are, how blank your stare, because I know your secret," it whispered with a lightly singsong tone.
I did not respond in word or reaction.
It lowered its voice. "I know your secret, Little Human. You're not broken, at least not yet."
Its smile seemed a threat and a promise that chilled me to the bone.