Chapter 21

Richie shook his head as if trying to wake himself up from a horrendous dream.

“He fried him?! So this potion doesn’t work?” Richie was shaking, shock and fear was playing havoc with his intestines.

Ksenia hit the switch and turned to close the door.

“Some of them don’t even get past this test but other’s have a more favorable reactions. Some become immune to sunlight even gain control of their bloodlust. Some learns how to control their gifts and manipulate them to their best ability and then suddenly they get sick…” her head sagged forward, her hair sheltering her face.

“Like the one in the second cell?”

“Some become demented, violent ..so utterly violent, their thirst becomes worse..they can’t get enough…”

She nodded, sniffing slightly. Richie reached her, lifting her chin with his finger.

A single tear rolled down her cheek.

“I know they aren’t human and to a lot of people they seem vile and immoral. But they don’t deserve to suffer like this! No one does!”

“Isn’t there a way to put them out of their misery?”

“The professor doesn’t believe in that, he takes notes from each patient from the time they walk in until the day they die..naturally as he calls it.”

“So you wanna tell me, they all die?” Richie was ready to lift his heels and run the hell out of there.

“Some survived but they are weak and cannot fend for themselves. I think your friend has special abilities and that’s why the professor wants to meet him.”

“Over my dead body!” Richie was almost roaring.

“I think its time we head up. I don’t want the professor to find us here.”

Richie was more than agreeable to that.

“Now I have a question for you. How do you fit into this sick puzzle?” he twitched his eyebrows at her.

“You really want to know?” her smile was vulnerable. “Just another sad story about a sad little girl…” her voice trailed off.

As they reached the hallway, she turned towards him.

“Why don’t you go to your room and I’ll bring some coffee ok? You had one hell of an eye opener tonight and I think sweet, strong coffee could do no harm.”

“Ok..but then I want to know about you and how you fit into this sick situation.”

A few minutes later she pushed open the bedroom door, two cups of coffee and a few sandwiches were balanced on a tray.

She smiled shyly as she met his chocolaty pools.

“I though you might be hungry..after…you know….eat up.”

She placed the tray before him and was about to turn towards the chair when she felt his warm hand clasping her wrist. “Sit her with me on the bed its much more comfortable anyway.”

Her eyes turned towards the gesture and a tiny sigh slipped from her.

“Something wrong darlin’?”

“It’s just been a long time for me to be feel warm hands on my skin…. warm, gentle, HUMAN hands…I’m just silly don’t mind me.” She blushed and sat down. The silence stretched before them and Richie was about to asked her about her life when her soft voice penetrated his ears.

“I had a very happy childhood. My parents weren’t rich but we were so happy! I had a little brother when I was about five and our family was complete. My father died in an accident and life began to change for us. We were still happy but money was an issue and my mother had to work two jobs to keep us all alive and it did…barely. So mother met the professor. He promised her a huge salary and she accepted it. I didn’t know what it entailed but the money was getting better and we were living again. A year or so after she started working for him, he offered to take us in. My mother was skeptical at first but I remembered the night the professor came to visit so clearly. There was shouting and he stormed out. I went into the room and saw my mother crying, her face was swollen where the professor had slapped her. I asked her what the matter was but she just hugged us to her and kept saying she was doing this for us. I didn’t understand then, I was seven years old, my brother, Dmitri, was two.”

She took a sip of her coffee, staring at her hands. Richie wanted to urge her to go on but he knew she was reliving it and might needed some time to put her thoughts together.

His hand dwarfed her own and her eyes cleared as a smile broke through, her fingers entwined with his, needing the warm, consoling human contact.

“We moved in here a few days later. We didn’t like this place. My brother and I was forbidden to go downstairs, we weren’t allowed out of our rooms at night and my mother thought I didn’t know, but after we fell asleep she would lock us in the room. I could feel something was wrong but didn’t know what….” She gulped. “ that one fateful day….I will never ever forget it….I was suppose to look after my brother…..” her eyes were huge and tears threatened to spill.

“Its ok sweetness….it ok…”

“I was playing with my new doll, he just wandered off and I didn’t realize. A few hours later my mother came for us and he wasn’t there. I can still remember the fear etched on her face as she rushed into the house and her blood chilling screams that followed not long after that.”

Tears were now spilling freely, her shoulder shuddered as she relived that moment in her mind’s eye. She was that scared little girl again.

Richie scooted closer, cupping the back of her head he placed it on his shoulder, feeling her warm tears soaking his shirt.

“Ssshhhhhh…it’s ok now….sshhhhhhhh…..”

She hiccupped into his chest, her body pliant and trusting curved into his, her voice was muffled as she continued.

“He had gone through the doors, a vampire had coaxed him to unlock the door for her, she had known exactly where the keys were.  After she let him out, she turned her fury onto my brother. He never stood a chance, that’s how my mother found him, his throat ripped open, drained of all his blood. It was my fault Richie, I was suppose to look after him!”

“It wasn’t honey. You were a child of seven years old, how in the name of God can you let two kids on their own? “

“My mother had to work, she had no choice!”

“I know..I know….but it wasn’t your fault it just wasn’t.” he squeezed her head to his shoulder, his big hand cradling the soft tresses between his fingers. “So I take it your mother was a donor too, just as you are now?”

She nodded.

Cold fingers squeezed at his heart.

“Where is she now?”

“Dead.”

Somehow he knew what the answer would be but he was still hoping.

“Not how you think either.” She lifted her face from the warm protectiveness of his shoulder.

“She killed herself. After my brother’s death she wasn’t the same. She couldn’t look me in the eye. If she didn’t work, she was lying in her bed, sleeping. She refused to eat, the professor had to force feed her, she wasn’t able to donate blood anymore, too weak. She was an empty shell, shadow of her former self. She didn’t hold life dear anymore, and I was to blame for it.. I found her the next morning. She had drawn herself a bath and when she didn’t come back I went in search for her. She was in the bath, her wrists slit, her body was floating in her own blood. I was alone, an orphan. I fled to the streets and made myself a life there.  There I discovered the underworld of the vampires..the hard way…..” A noise outside the house halted her words. Pressing her fingers to her lips she craned her neck, trying to determine what it was.

Comprehension dawned and she paled even more, her complexion now pasty and her eyes swallowing half her face.

“Oh God! The professor is back from his hunt! I better go, switch of your light and get in bed...QUICK!”

Richie did as he was told, his dark eyes trained on her scared face.

“Hunt what hunt?”

“How do you think he gets his guinea pigs? Sometimes you get a loner , come knocking for help…but most of them…” She whirled out the door. He expected to hear the door slam but was met with a slight click.

Undressing himself in the dark he slid between the sheets, his mind racing. This was just to fucking scary to be real! He felt so far removed from the real world right now…damn he needed to get his ass outta here! He listened as footsteps shuffled and orders were barked, Ksenia’s tiny voice could be heard above the commotion and Richie felt rage building.

“Is our guest safe in his room?”

“Yes professor.”

“Make sure he stays there. I don’t want him disturbing us as we prepare the subject.”

“Of course professor.”

Richie felt a cold hand clamping his heart as he heard the unmistakable slide of the lock on his door….