Before being taken from their prisons, theywere drugged, so they didn’t put up any fight. When her father andthe others finished with them, they cleaned them before bringingthem back, but they couldn’t shower, change, or brush their teeth.They fed the vampires but denied them every freedom andkindness.
They also can’t kill,she remindedherself.
But, to her, these creatures were rabidanimals, and rabid animals should be put down, not tortured.
Her steps slowed as she approached the glass.It was then she realized her father, Delilah, and Lucy weren’t withher anymore. She glanced back to discover them standing twenty feetaway, watching her.
Like a crow over carrion, her father waitedto see how his newest experiment would unfold. Delilah looked to berelishing every second of this; Melanie was beginning to suspectshe was like a spider, but instead of feeding on blood, she feastedon the misery of others.
Delilah held her arm out in front of Lucy,keeping her back. She lowered the arm, but Lucy remained where shewas. The look on Lucy’s face was a mixture of anguish and hope.
Melanie gulped and turned her attention backto Kyle. He remained unmoving. For a second, she could only stareat him as sorrow bloomed like an unfurling rose in her chest. Threeshort weeks ago, she’d had so much hope, developing love and trustin this man.
And now, she had nothing other than betrayaland a bone-deep ache. He’d broken her trust and crushed her heart,but shedespisedseeing him like this.
Is that because he messed with my mind andmade me see him as something more, or is he something more?
She’d spent the past week trying to figureout what was truth and what was lies. She was no closer now thanwhen her interrogation first ended.
Sometimes, at night, dreams of being in thatroom would flutter across her mind, and she would wake questioningif they were memories trying to surface or simply dreams. And shehad no idea what the answer was.
Some days, she felt like she’d slipped intothe realm of insanity and everything in it was seeking to destroyher. There were mornings when she woke screaming as the memories ofthat room, the drugs, and endless questions bombarded her. She knewthey heard her and probably enjoyed her suffering, but she couldn’tstop herself from doing it.
When she was five feet away from the glass,she stopped to stare at the man within. Seeming to sense herpresence, he lifted his head, and his red eyes latched onto her.Melanie couldn’t stop herself from recoiling from those bloodredorbs.
They were another stark reminder he wasn’twho she’d thought him to be. No matter what, he’d lied to her. Shewanted to believe not everything between them was a lie, but atleast part of it was, and that made her doubt the rest.
Then the beautiful midnight blue of his eyesreplaced the red. Melanie almost staggered forward to rest her handagainst the glass, but at the last second, she recalled the otherswatching them and managed to restrain herself. She had to becareful; they might never let her return if she didn’t play thisright.
Why do you want to return if he’s such amonster?She had no answer for that question, but shedidwant to return, which meant she couldn’t blow this.
At first, Kyle thought he was imaginingMelanie standing there looking upset, revolted, and ready to bolt.She was thinner and paler than the last time he saw her. Thefreckles on her nose were so faded they were almost nonexistent,and purple circles shadowed her eyes.
It was those differences that he never wouldhave imagined that made him realize she was real. He straightenedhis cramped legs out before rising and walking over to theglass.
The fresh round of drugs flooding his systemmade the air feel as thick as concrete while he walked. He resisteddrinking the blood they gave him but gave in to the starvationracking his body after a while.
He didn’t know how long they’d kept himlocked in here, but he’d only had three bags of blood since waking.He was experiencing the toll that lack of nourishment was having onhis body.
And the blood wasn’t the only thing, so wasthe air in his cage. The acrid scent of it clogged his nostrils. Itwas enough to keep him weakened at all times and to keep him fromdrawing on his ability to control minds.
When he did try, it rose inside him, but ithad the strength of a newborn. He attempted to send it in to a manwalking past him one day, but the man never noticed him.
The first two times he drank the blood, hewoke up in a different room, except he never fully woke. He sawlights above him, heard people working around him, felt needles andpinpricks, and heard the beep of machines.
They sliced open his skin and dug aroundinside him like he was the Operation game and they were searchingfor the wishbone. Fighting against the restraints keeping himpinned to the cold table was pointless, and he wasn’t sure his armsmoved.
He heard the people talking as they dissectedhim, but he couldn’t remember their words. So, he had no idea whyhe was here or what they intended other than to use him as somekind of science experiment.
The days passed into what he assumed wereweeks and maybe months. It was difficult to tell in his permanenthaze. In this place, everything remained the same. The lights, thescenery, and the drugged feeling haunted him constantly.
Every day, he labored to keep the foggyfeeling at bay as he did what little he could to pass the time. Heworked out, paced, worked out some more, worried about Melanie andhis family, and tried not to go mad as some others in this placehad.
Sometimes, the other vampires would startlaughing, screaming, or battering their heads against the glassuntil blood ran free. Sometimes, they did all three at once.
When this happened, a thick mist poured intotheir cages until it obscured them from view. When the fog cleared,they lay unconscious and broken. Sometimes men came, the glassdescended, and they carried the vampires away. Other times, theyremained there until they regained consciousness.
One vampire did this every day, or maybe itwas every other day, who knew in this place. Another did it lessoften, but when they freaked out, they howled like a wolf at themoon and tore at their skin until they shredded their flesh.
