~ Alek ~
Alek usually didn’t care for sleeping because of the disturbing nature of his dreams. His nightmares were filled with images of the long over alien wars and the people close to his heart who he lost. Though it had been fifty years since the ships landed, he could still remember what it was like to live aboard the alien vessels…the smells and the pain would be with him for the duration of his long life. Alek had been a third generation slave aboard the ships. It was all he had ever known before coming to this world. He could not believe he even survived such harsh conditions. He could still remember when the first few huge battle ships hit Earth’s atmosphere.
The slaves were restless and looking for an opportunity to secure their freedom. Whispers of rebellion found his ears. Others, far smarter than he, had devised a plan for crippling the ships mainframe long enough for shuttle crafts to make it to the surface. There were some few humans held as slaves on the ships and the humans assured them that the human race was warlike and would tolerate no encroachment onto their world. The human slaves were certain that if they had adequate warning and assistance, they would fight to the very last man in protection of their world.
Within the span of an Earth day, the slaves had very slyly put their plan into action. His heart was heavy as he remembered how many slaves had given their lives on the ships to enable that early warning to happen for Earth’s inhabitants. The loss of life was not related to merely getting the shuttle crafts and life pods clear of the ships but rather, to protect their methodology so that as more ships came, they could continue to free their fellow slaves and take the fight back to their masters with humans at their side.
The shuttle craft Alek had come down on was one of the very first. Leaving the ship was dangerous and they took only volunteers. He was one of the few early volunteers because he simply didn’t care if he lived or died, he just wanted off the ship. To feel real dirt beneath his feet and be able to look up at the sky and breathe something other than the stench of the ships recirculated air was, to him, something worth dying for.
Alek had half expected humans not to be able to differentiate between the slaves and their slave masters. He was sure that, in the heat of battle, they would just shoot any alien that moved. However, that did not turn out to be the case. He found humans to be a strange lot. On the one hand, they were extremely vicious, had a strong sense of being righteous in their killing of the alien overlords, and they seemed to have no remorse for their actions. On the other hand, they were willing to extend the hand of friendship to the slaves because they had the capacity to empathize with the suffering they endured aboard the ships. Humans turned out to be very loyal to their newfound allies.
He could still remember being rescued. An Earth female had rescued a vampire child who had accidentally been left behind when she hid in a storage compartment aboard the shuttle craft. The human female figured out the small child drank blood and somehow secured blood in little clear bags for them to drink. Alek could still remember how good the human blood tasted. He was given, and drank, an entire bag. It was more than any of them had drunk in months.
He was shocked that within a few days of his crash, actual humans were offering to live feed him. The Earth females seemed very positive and nurturing and took turns feeding him. The females seemed surprised that it only took a few of mouthfuls of blood once a day and a liter or so of water for him to survive. They seemed to find it very little of an inconvenience to keep them fed.
In the beginning, he felt mothered to death by the Earth females who hounded him to feed several times a day. It was only some time later, that he was shocked to find out they considered feeding somehow sexy. Even fifty years later, he still could not figure that one out. Vampires the universe over were considered dirty because they subsisted on blood. He had never in his long life, ever had enough blood to feel sated until he landed on this planet with billions of people with blood suitable for feeding and so very many who were willing to allow him to feed.
Squeaky woke Alek from his dream and fed him the synthetic blood he had come to rely upon since the end of the wars. The Kalian and the human, Josh, were still arguing. It had been a couple of weeks and Alek was becoming used to the ridiculous behavior of his kidnappers. They absolutely never unchained him and he realized that alone would ensure he never escaped.
Although the small vampire, Squeaky, had been continuing to feed him twice a day and ensured he had water, they were never left alone together. The kidnappers continued to mill around, doing absolutely nothing but eating the food from the round box, playing cards, surfing their data streams, and watching human entertainment in the form of 3D movies.
The Kalian, in particular, was quite comical. He continued to run in and out, flirting it up with the human called Josh. He seemed bent on wiggling out of the obligation of an exclusive relationship but did not want to give the human up either. All they did was argue back and forth constantly, about absolutely nothing. Alek had a strange feeling the human was going to win out in the end. When the human left, the Kalian followed behind him a short time later, leaving him sitting chained to the floor all alone. Everyone, including himself knew he had no hope of escaping the thick chains locking him to the concrete floor.
Even though he knew Arianna was taking good care of Selene, Alek was growing tired of not seeing his girls and worrying about harm coming to them. He was hopeful he would be released soon. He heard someone open the back door. He hoped it was Squeaky because he was beginning to thirst but vaguely thought it wasn’t because the small vampire had never kicked the door open before.
The stranger, who paid him a visit this day, seemed strangely familiar. The human male was in filthy clothing. He squatted in front of Alek for a brief period of time, looking at him. The weirdly colored hair, facial piercings, and leather clothing marked him out as alternative.
Glancing around in disgust at the empty blood bags lying around and then to Alek before, he muttered. “I don’t know why I am surprised those fools refused the kill order. Oscar was smart to send me to ensure the job was done.”
Alek’s heart sank. Oscar Mitchell was the owner of a small venture capital firm. He’d acquired a small amount of a mutagenic substance left over from the vessels recovered during the alien wars. Alek’s research and development firm had been hired to ascertain possible profitable uses for it.
The material was extremely dangerous and preliminary testing revealed it to be quite unstable. Alek had been forced to attempt to destroy the material after a containment breach to preserve the lives of his research team. The eerily glowing blue substance had been impossible to destroy, even at extremely high temperatures. He had resorted to putting in a triple thick stasis unit and storing it where it would never be found. It was the best he could do in protection of this world and would have to be good enough.
Oscar was furious and currently in the process of suing him over the incident. Alek had won the first several court actions and now it appeared that Oscar was taking matters into his own hands.
The man stood up, grabbed a bottle of water from the table, and dumped the entire contents over Alek’s body. Alek thought for a brief moment that the dirty human was confused about who it was that needed the shower more. Then, the human unplugged an extension cord, took out a pocket knife, and frayed the end. He plugged one end into the outlet and threw the frayed end on his body.
Then, he kept pouring bottle after bottle of water over him until Alek saw nothing and heard nothing. Being a strong vampire, it took a very long time to render him unconscious. The pain was immense. It was an awful way to go that should have been reserved for those who committed heinous acts rather than innocent hostages.
*****
Alek lifted his weary head up and noticed the dirty human was still working on the transfusion device. He had not been fed for days and was being kept in what appeared to be an old crypt or mausoleum of some sort, no doubt someone’s sick idea of a joke.
Honestly, it was a good thing the human was not very smart because if he got the device to work…well, Alek knew exactly what he intended to do with it. Such devices were commonly used when he was held on the alien ships to torture vampires.
The device was designed to drain out all their blood, keep it circulating in the device, then just as the life was passing out of their body and they were succumbing to the agony of a painful death, the overlords would simply reverse it, pump the blood back into the vampires body, then do it all over again in endless cycles of pain and torment.
For a vampire, it was a fate worse than death…or more like an endless number of painful deaths. He wondered what had happened to make the human hate his kind so very much.
Alek sighed and wondered how long he had been away from his family. He had lost consciousness several times and was unsure if he had been gone a month, two months, or even more. His heart tightened as he thought of the pain and worry his girls must be going through.
He wondered if the police were still looking for him. He was friends with the detective in charge at his local precinct. He could not imagine Charles giving up on him but he also knew such decisions were not his alone to make. Perhaps Squeaky had managed to get a message to Jared. He needed a hunter now more than ever he did. At this point Dakota Davenport was probably his only hope for survival.
What little hope he had slowly drained from his eyes as he watched the dirty human continue making repairs on the device. His fingers dove in and out of the small trove of wires and relays, checking the connection of each with a generic tool designed for that purpose. Suddenly, the human looked pleased, stood up, walked over to him with the device, and began attaching it to one of his arms.
Alek was weak from not feeding and could barely move. He sighed and asked, “How long have I been here?”
The man replied with a sneer, “Almost two days. Don’t worry. I’ll get many more days out of you before I let you pass into the darkness. You will tell me all that I want to know and more.”
Alek responded, “Weren’t you supposed to kill me?”
The human laughed. “So eager for your visit from the reaper, are you? All in good time. You are dead already, as far as anyone important is concerned. No one cares if I have a little fun with you first. Aren’t you having fun yet?”
Alek refused to look at him.
“No? I’ll have to see what I can do about that.”
Trying to keep his voice even as Alek asked, “What can I possibly know, that someone like you would want to hear?”
Alek looked into the human’s eyes and realized he was no longer functioning in a logical or rational manner. The man bit out, “You can tell me what you did with the mutagenic substance Oscar’s firm gave you to research. You told him you destroyed it because it was dangerous to the people on this planet. I know such things cannot be destroyed. Where did you put it, Vampire Shardon? If you tell me, I will kill you quick, but if you don’t, I will have my fun with you for a very long time. Either way, I win.” The man laughed deviously at his own joke.
Alek immediately recognized the man. The last time he had seen the human, he was clean shaven and wearing a suit. He had no facial pricings. He was the employee tasked with delivering the substance to Alek’s research and development division. He remembered his name was Donovan.
Alek leaned back against the wall as the struggled to figure out how to properly attach the device to his arm and said, “I remember you now. You couldn’t resist the urge to examine it, could you? That is why you are acting so strange. One exposure and you are totally out of control. Can you imagine what multiple exposures to something like that would do to you?”
He glanced down and saw that the human had successfully attached the device to his arm. The human smiled a dirty smile as he hit the switch. It sent a chill down his spine and a jolt of hormones hit his system. He could feel the blood draining from his body. It felt like fire being sucked through his veins.
He could hear a sound that was getting louder and louder. It was a scream. Then came the slow dawning realization that the sound he was hearing was his own voice screaming out in pain. He could feel his eyes getting heavy and his chest felt tight. He could feel his soul fading from the universe. His last thoughts were of his girls.
Alek woke with a jolt and, again, felt the horrible burning sensation throughout his entire body. He looked up into the human’s face and realized the man was greatly enjoying the show. He stated with glee, “Now you have experienced a full cycle of the pain I can give to you. You will tell me what I want to know or I will repeat the process over and over until you are in a more cooperative mood. It is my understanding that this is the most horrific pain known to your kind.”
Alek just stared at the man and said nothing. He made a vow to himself right then and there, that no matter what anyone did to him, he would never disclose information about the substance. If the human population was exposed to the substance, the effects would tear this world apart and he had no intention of watching the life he had built for his beautiful daughters slowly unravel around them.
The human saw the resolve on his face and stated cheerfully. “Pain it is then, stubborn one.” He hit the button and the process began all over again. Alek gripped onto his chains and gritted his teeth. If he thought electrocution was painful, he was wrong. That was merely unpleasant compared to this new torture. It was agony on a level he never imagined.
Alek mentally began to calculate how long he had been away from his family. He had spent a little over a month with his former captors and was only now realizing what a vacation that had been. If he had been with Donovan for two weeks that put him at between seven and eight weeks. He began to panic. Not even a hunter would still be looking for him. The longest hunt he had ever heard of lasted for almost a month. He knew he was totally screwed.
He was certain he had nothing to look forward to but endless pain until his body finally gave out. He would never talk and the crazy human would never stop. Somehow, he never thought this was how it would all end for him. He always thought that after all he had been through in his life, his reward would be dying warm and comfortable in his bed when he was old and gray. Now he knew that was not to be. He would die screaming and there was no getting around it.