~ Alek ~
Alek slowly woke up in a fog. His eyelids were heavy and his mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Forcing his eyes open, he saw that he was in some kind of warehouse environment, which kept blinking in and out of focus. Unsure which was more concerning, the pounding headache or the fact that the room was spinning, he tried to move. His limbs seemed to be made of lead and were sluggish when he tried to move. He pushed off the floor with his hands into a sitting position and slowly shook his head, trying to make the grogginess dissipate.
As the fog cleared, he became aware that he was thirsty and very weak. Memories of being knocked with an animal tranquilizer dart came flooding back. Whatever drug his abductors had used had dropped him on the spot. How long had he been out?
Alek slowly became aware of the smell of human food. It smelled awful and he instantly became nauseous. He glanced around, trying to take in his environment. His wrists and ankles were chained to a metal plate on the floor.
He quietly tested his chains. The chains were strong and connected to metal bands around his wrists and ankles. There was a fingerprint scanner on each cuff. He didn’t have to wonder whose fingerprint would be needed to release the chains. They were the type used on the slave ships that brought him to this planet. It was scrap salvage and most likely keyed to a Kalian’s fingerprint. The Kalian were exceptionally good at cobbling together useful tech items from just about anything. Their resourcefulness was a source of never ending fascination by Earthlings.
As happenstance would have it, a Kalian had noticed him sit and was not moving towards him. The male was large, like a vampire warrior, but his skin was a dark olive color and had subtle veining running through it. He had long, black, coarse hair falling loosely around his shoulders and gray eyes. The Kalian had come with them to this planet about fifty years ago and their natural propensity toward fighting and violence made them the thug of choice for humans. Therefore, it was no surprise that whoever wanted him out of action chose a Kalian for the job.
The Kalian grabbed his chains, gave them a good yank, and loudly proclaimed, “You owe me sixty large, Little Jo. I told you the animal tranq would have him down for days.”
The smaller human shrugged. His unkempt, sandy blond hair and dingy, baggy clothing indicated he didn’t care much for grooming. He was wearing vintage running shoes that had seen better days. The dirty human, who was obviously called Little Jo, began to argue the validity of his wager, “We took him down around noon yesterday. It’s only four pm. That hardly qualifies as days.”
The Kalian replied, “Over one day is days. Pay up, little man.”
The other human stood up, walked over to them, and gave orders to the vampire still sitting at the table, “Feed him, the boss wants him kept healthy. I don’t want so much as a bruise on his skin. Are you listening to me, Kalian?”
The Kalian turned on him and yelled, “I have a name, use my name. I use your name when I address you, Josh. It is discourteous to…”
Josh instantaneously made a course correction. “Fine. Faran, do not hit, punch, slap, scratch, or otherwise injure the hostage until we receive orders to do so. Am I understood?” Faran nodded and watched a split second too long as the other man walked back across the room and sat back down at the card table. Even Alek noticed Josh was stunningly gorgeous.
The human was probably in his early thirties and had short, blond hair clipped close to his head. His large, light blue eyes didn’t miss much and his muscles rippled under his tight cotton shirt and jeans. He wore a cuff on one wrist, made of thin strands of black leather. It accentuated the fact that his hands were huge. He was well put together and well groomed. His clothing was neat and clean. An aura of authority surrounded him, clearly communicating he was the one in charge.
The Kalian and two humans went back to playing their card game. The human named Josh gave some of the foul smelling human food to his Kalian friend along with a cold beer. The Kalian smiled his approval at being served. Alek wondered if the human realized that in Kalian culture, serving another food was considered a gesture of love and intimacy. Within moments, Josh and Faran were arguing about Faran going to a club. Alek didn’t understand the nature of their argument so he turned his attention to the small vampire.
He had watched the small vampire male get up from his chair, go to a small ice chest, and remove two small bags of actual human blood. He put them into a small sink and ran hot water on them. It was the most primitive thing Alek had seen in years. In his world, synthetic blood was delivered to his home daily and kept in a specially designed warming cabinet to keep it at the appropriate temperature.
The little vampire must have an ounce of compassion to have heated the blood. His vampire brother was one of the smallest of their kind he had seen. He was neat in appearance and meticulous in his hygiene. That was not unusual for vampires because they tended to overcompensate for the stereotype of being intrinsically unclean. His body was lithe and what he lacked in muscle definition, he made up for in attractiveness. The vampire wore his long, dark hair down the middle of his back and his dark brown eyes were hauntingly beautiful. His facial features were quite lovely for a male.
His vampire brother was wearing a wedding band. Alek tried to imagine what the little vampire’s wife looked like. He imagined she would be small, quiet, beautiful, and well-mannered like he was. It filled his heart with joy to see even the weakest of his kind was able to find a mate on this world. Earth truly was a remarkable haven for his kind. No wonder so few aliens wanted to leave once the humans achieved the capacity for space travel some twenty years ago. Earth offered them a better quality of life than they could possibly find any place else in the verse.
The small vampire approached him, pulled the end off of the tube that came out the bottom of the blood bag and put it to his lips like a straw. He said, “Drink, my brother. You have been unconscious for a day and half. Your thirst must be great.”
Alek turned his head slightly. “I’m sorry but I drink only synthetic blood.” His voice was so dry and he almost choked the words out.
The small vampire looked at him with concern and responded quietly. “I do not think they will care about that. If you want to feed, this is your chance.”
The Kalian was apparently aggravated from the argument he was having with the one called Josh. When he noticed them conversing, he yelled. “What are you two talking about? Get away from him, Squeaky.”
Josh shot Faran an exasperated look, walked over to the two of them, and gave the small vampire a questioning. “It’s been a long day, Squeaky. If we could just cut to the chase that would be great. What’s the problem?”
Squeaky responded, “The gentleman says he does not drink human blood. He will only drink synthetic blood.”
Josh stooped down and looked Alek in the face for a brief moment, then slowly pulled a $20.00 bill out of his pocket and gave it to the small vampire, saying, “Just get him synthetic, Squeaky. They have by-one-get-one at the gas station across the street.” Squeaky slipped out the door.
The Kalian laughed and teased his friend, “So you are purchasing the food of choice for our hostages now? You’re getting soft, Joshua, and you’re even more of a fool than I ever imagined possible.”
Josh stood up, walked back to the table, and they began arguing again. Since Alek didn’t know or care what they were going on about, he concentrated on trying to get out of his chains. It entered his mind to worry about his girls. He knew the older of the two would see her younger sister well cared, but he thought neither of them would do well without him long term.
Alek noticed they ordered more human food, which was delivered by an automated flying droid as most food was these days. The humans seemed to love this foul smelling food that came in a large, round, flat box. He watched as they pulled triangle after triangle out. The small vampire, Squeaky, came back in looking a little roughed up. His hair was messed up and his clothing looked like it had been gripped around the collar in the front, though he did not appear to be injured.
Josh cursed under his breath and said, “I swear that dumb ass Kalian is going to be the fucking death of me.” He turned to the little vampire and said in a frustrated voice, “Just stay the hell away from Faran when he’s upset. God, you should know that by now, Squeaky.”
Squeaky shook his head and waved away the attention saying, “He is harmless. He just likes to shout it out when he is angry. You know, for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. If you make him angry, he is going to show it. What exactly did you think was going to happen when you pushed him too far, Joshua. The humans have a saying about flies and honey. Perhaps you have heard of it.”
The other two men left to check on their out of control partner and Squeaky brought him a synthetic blood back and sat to talk with him.
“Thank you, my thirst is great.”
The small vampire smiled slightly and sat with him as he drank. It was a half-liter bag, which was enough to fill him up completely. Squeaky commented, “I do not know what you did to these people but they are unsure what they should do with you. I am not certain you are safe with the Kalian. I will try to stay with you, my brother, but if he wants to harm you, as you can see, I am no match for him.”
Alek held up his chains and replied, “If not for these, I would be more than a match for him.”
The small vampire smiled again and replied, “Trust me, they know exactly what you could do if you weren’t chained. It’s why they dropped you with the large animal tranq before they took you. It’s why they are never going to take the chains off until they decide what to do with you.”
Alek nodded his understanding. Anyone who had researched him was no doubt aware of his war record. He received several Medals of Honor for his marksmanship skills, battle tactics, and something called valor in battle, which translated in his mind to pure viciousness. Granted, he was working through his anger at his alien overlords and was probably more violent than was necessary. He was grateful to have long since mastered his more violent tendencies.
The small vampire, Squeaky, put his finger on the scanning plate on his wrist cuff and nothing happened. Alek glanced up and the small vampire and he clarified, “Just in case you were wondering. I can’t open your cuffs.”
Alek asked hopefully. “Can you get word to the police?”
Squeaky frowned, shaking his head. “Not if I want to live. The mobster we work for has informants at the police station. Honestly, he would know immediately if I betrayed him.”
“I am wealthy, perhaps I can buy my way out of here.”
“They do love money, my friend.” Squeaky chuckled his reply.
When the younger of the two humans returned, Squeaky stood, leaving two bottles of water. “I am putting your other synthetic blood bag in the cooler. Little Jo will heat it up for you this evening. I will be back tomorrow morning to feed it to you. I am leaving two bottles of water. You must stay hydrated.” Alek just looked at him wide eyed and Squeaky knew it was because he felt uncomfortable being left with the humans.