Jameson
I woke in wolf form. It took me a moment to register my paws as I brushed them against my face – no, not my face, my damn muzzle. Alright, being a wolf had its benefits. But not when I was locked god-knows-how-many-feet under ground in the Helsings' prison.
I rolled over, gaining my feet and taking in my new surroundings. I was in a glass cage - it made a change, albeit, not much of an upgrade. A bowl of water – are they shitting me? - was laid out beside me.
I said a dry retort in my head, but it came out as a snarl instead. I spotted Ignus sat behind the pane with a group of men and women in white overcoats. I noticed the weight of a collar clamped around my neck. A heavy, metal thing – not an endearing little band with a tag swinging from it engraved with my name. Nope, the thing was ugly-as-sin according to my reflection. And I was pretty sure I was about to find out what this creepy Helsing invention was capable of.
Ignus was speaking to the group, but the words were a muffled din. I strained my hearing until their voices became clearer, my ears flicking back and forth.
“Give him 500ml to start. Let's keep this slow.” Ignus placed an iPad on his knee, typing information as the group set to work around him, moving to the control panel just in front of the glass tank I was in.
I wanted a reaction. Those freaks were looking at me like I was a little puppy here to play.
Not gonna happen.
Aiming the full, hardened front of my head, I rammed it against the glass. A violent tremor ran through my body but I'd gotten their attention, which was the idea.
Rearing up, I placed my front paws on the glass, tilted my head and bared my teeth, drool dripping to the floor. I glared at them, telling each of them with my eyes how I was going to rip their limbs off the second they got close.
My display had given me a little response, but not nearly as much I'd hoped. The youngest of the group backed up, perhaps newly enrolled at the Helsings' playground. How did one go about applying for this shit?
Wanted: creepy scientist who likes to screw with immortal beings.
It wasn't exactly a 'back of the newspaper' kind of ad.
“500ml.” Ignus pointed at me with a long finger and I crushed my jaw together, picturing biting off his perfectly manicured digit.
The scientists fiddled around with the control desk then a mechanical sound caught my ear. Something was happening within the collar. Some wonderful treat for me was no doubt on its way.
I braced myself, but the force with which two needles rammed into my throat made me cry out with a cub-like screech.
Wonderful. Ignus was smiling at my reaction like a kid who'd just been given a day off school. This morning was getting better and better.
Whatever they'd injected me with felt like ice melting in my veins. It took a few minutes to act, but I felt it when it did. Like someone had kicked me up the rear end. A flood of fury bled through me.
I snarled at the glass, butting my head against it. I continued to do so until I was dizzy, losing control for a moment.
I fought off the rage with all my might.
This was more of their games. And I couldn't let them win.
“Up the dosage,” Ignus's voice carried to me and I would have torn his throat out right then if he'd been within reach.
I blinked hard, fixing my gaze on him as more of the vile liquid spilled into my veins.
You're dead, I tried to say with my eyes. And no doubt he knew that look very well. Probably received it on a daily basis from all of his not-so-willing 'subjects'.
At once, I was lost. Rage took over me so consuming that I started snapping at the glass as if I could break through it with my teeth. Ignus signalled upwards with his finger and the world seemed to spin as more of the poison slid into my body.
The world became dark. I slipped away into a shadowy space at the back of the wolf's mind. Because I no longer had control of it. I was beast, through and through. I wanted blood, I needed to feed. There were no more words circling in my head, just pictures of my most primal needs.
The glass seemed to evaporate to my side and I lunged through it, hankering for a kill. I was in another room, this one surrounded by silver bars.
A girl sat on the floor across from me: red hair cascaded around her, so much of it that I could barely see her face. It didn't matter though. I wanted nothing else but to feed. Starvation ripped at my belly like I hadn't eaten in days. And perhaps I hadn't. I couldn't recall anything but this present moment.
I lunged forward, wild and hungry, ready to rip this girl limb from limb.
She moved in a flash, like lightning and I spun in a blur to follow her, my hackles raised. She lifted her palms, trying to halt me, but I kept coming, lunging forward again and again, whilst she dodged and dived with inhuman agility. A word crept up from the back of my mind: Vampire.
My hunger dropped in a wave and I panted as I flopped to the ground, giving in. She couldn't offer me anything I needed. The girl seemed relieved, slinking toward the edge of the cage, careful not to touch the bars as she kept her distance from me. She parted the curtains of her lank hair and recognition tugged at a place deep inside me. But my mind was foggy as I continually slipped between beast and man.
“Bring in subject eighteen,” Ingus's voice rang out. I lifted my head, turning toward him across the room. I licked my lips. He would taste delicious.
Lights flickered on above me and I winced beneath their glaring heat, flattening my ears. The Vampire didn't fair as well, screaming to high heaven as the sunlamp ravished her flawless skin.
The cage door swung open and I made a dash for freedom. Before I could escape, however, a man in threadbare clothes was thrust into the space and the gate clanged loudly as it swung shut behind him.
The lamps flickered off, but before the space grew dark, I was upon the newcomer, tearing him apart. He screamed once, his hands raised before I bit and tore at them. I stemmed my hunger, feeding from him, lost to the kill.
It took a few moments for me to realise the red-headed V had joined me, feasting on the man's neck.
Her olive-green eyes met mine for the briefest of moments and some of the hatred inside me receded. A violent yank in my stomach made me feel ill. My human-side returned just enough that I could feel what I had done with the force of a hurricane ripping through my body. The V sobbed as she fed, but never stopped. I managed to tear myself away, my paws leaving bloody prints across the stone floor. Throwing my head back, I howled my fury, pouring all the anger I had into it.
“He fights it off quickly,” Ignus remarked. “But the collar can stay in place during the game.”