Demon Rock (6 page)

Just as the day before, the guards came around at six thirty in the morning. I was in the middle of dreaming about my wife. In the dream we were away on one of our many weekends away. More of a memory than a dream; we were in Dublin, the weather would suggest that it was around January time but it’s hard to tell when you're in Ireland. We had just returned from the Guinness factory and were out for a meal. My wife and I sat over a candle lit dinner conversing, laughing and enjoying ourselves. All of a sudden my wife became inaudible; all I could hear was the clanging of metal. Her lips were still moving but all I could hear was the metal. I looked down at my plate but my venison had turned to the thick yellow porridge. The clanging got louder. I was torn from my dream and awoke in my bed with a guard rapidly rattling his baton between the bars back and forth as the siren wailed out. I yawned and slowly rose from my bed. Warlock had already stood up and was stretching. The cell door opened and we lined up.

We walked to the mess hall taking the same route as we had previously the day before. The queue seemed to move slower. When I finally got to the front of the queue, the same beauty of a woman served me. This time it was not porridge but scrambled egg, however, even the egg bore a resemblance to yesterday mornings porridge and yesterday evenings milk. It was almost enough for me to not eat it but I needed my strength if the Master was to attack. I sat with Warlock as we ate. A few people were staring at me, having seen me attack the vamp five nights before. Each one probably wondering how I survived the chamber. I spied the vamps in their usual spot. The gang was one member short. As with the last time I had seen them, the Master sat in the middle protected by his loyal servants. The Master's gaze was fixed on me. I could feel his stare burrowing through me to my core. I brought up the courage to look the Master in the eye. As our eyes met the Master parted his mouth slightly exposing his fangs. His eyes remaining on me the entire time. I turned to try and stomach my eggs, Warlock looked petrified. 

"He is not happy with you..."

"Tell me about it."

"So, you got a plan yet?"

"The plan is to survive, at whatever cost."

For the remainder of breakfast the Master did not once look away. If only looks could kill... He remained almost perfectly still continually staring at me like a predator stalking his prey... but he did not make a move. Breakfast ended and we all headed towards the yard. The Master would make his move in the yard, that's when he would do it. I was sure of it. 

As the morning progressed the Master was still yet to make his move. Out in the yard the Master never took his eyes of me, but he did not act. Self preservation must have been his motive I figured. He wanted to avoid the fate of his brother and the chamber. But that look... he had something planned. Perhaps he knew where and when to get me alone. Perhaps he had an ally in one of the guards, someone who out of fear would look the other way. Either way, I was half a day closer to my escape and still alive. Given the Master's rage, a positive outcome. 

The afternoon involved manual labour again. Once more I was assigned with toilet duty, going round the various cells as the other inmates went about other tasks. It was a horrid task but I ground by teeth and bore it. When I got to the guard's toilets they hadn't even bothered to flush, present for the new guy I guess. During the day I left my inhibitor cuff on as to not to draw attention to myself. The cuff was loose enough however that I could still use my ability. Healing would be beneficial for when the Master came for me. 

Dinner in the mess hall involved a pasta style dish, with a tomato sauce. There were very few things they could do wrong with such a simple dish but they managed it. The dish smelt like feet but its taste was manageable and probably the best of the previous three meals I had endured. The Master kept his routine of staring; stalking me but again he did not make a move. What was he waiting for?

After dinner we retired to our cells, I had done it. I had survived the day. The boat would be here tomorrow evening; it would be docked overnight before heading back to the mainland the following morning. One more day I thought to myself. Just one more day until I could leave the island. Once I got back to the mainland I would need to change my name and plan accordingly, I'd be hunted but one step at a time. The rest would come in due course.

After the government’s announcement about the existence of supernatural beings, vampires could no longer occupy the same areas of the city. It aroused too much suspicion when people went missing. Vampire gang war ensued across the country over who was allowed to hunt where. One nest of vampires in a ten mile radius was the general rule obeyed by all.

The Master of the blood nest was tall and strong and the rest of the nest looked up to him. A particularly bad turf war had begun against the fang nest resulting in several causalities on both sides. One night the blood Master went to speak to the Master of the fang nest, hoping to come to some form of resolution. He felt that the bloodshed was pointless, at least the non human bloodshed anyway. The fang nest Master turned down the offer, laughing as he did so. Perhaps he knew something that the Master of the blood nest did not.

A figure moved about quietly the following morning when the blood nest was at rest in the tunnels beneath the city. It was a member of the blood nest who was not resting. The fang nest had approached him several days before offering him a deal. Kill the Master and he may have a place among their ranks when the turf became theirs. He made it sound like the blood nest’s effort was futile and that joining the fangs was the only way to survive. The traitor moved like a cat in the night and found the Master’s resting place. Since the lockdown on supernatural beings, they could no longer afford the luxury of coffins or burying themselves and so the Master slept in an offshoot of one of the tunnels large enough to fit his body in. The other vamps of the nest slept in close proximity to the Master in other off shoots or walkways. The traitor moved over the Master’s resting place looking down over his hibernating body and with one strong stabbing motion he impaled a large wooden stake through the Master’s heart. The Master gave a squeal of pain like no other animal on earth. The other vamps awoke to the sound and swarmed round the traitor at once. The traitor vamp did not plea nor beg as he knew it was futile. A large vamp with a bald head stepped forward from the circle and demanded an answer. The vamp explained the deal put forward by the fang nest. The bald vampire walked out of the circle giving a slight nod to the other vamps that immediately jumped the vamp and began to drain the life out of him, tearing flesh from his body.

Across town the Master of the fang nest was waiting impatiently. It had been several hours since he had heard from his accomplice and he feared the worst. The sun was setting and retribution could come at any minute. The Master sat on a chair with human slaves attached to chains coming from it. The Master pulled one of the chains when he got hungry, devouring a human in a matter of seconds.

A sound of shattered glass rang through the warehouse as shards fell onto the Master’s head from above. The Master managed to look up and see a bald vampire jumping through the window and falling towards him. The vampire landed behind the chair with a controlled landing, he wore a long black coat and torn jeans. He stood up and kicked the back of the chair sending the Master and his human slaves flying forward. The Master seemed stunned and called for the rest of the nest to attack. The vamps ran at the intruder one after another, each as unsuccessful as the last. The first vamp was quickly released by a powerful punch that shattered the vamp’s sternum and hit its non beating heart. The bald vampire ducked and spun simultaneously to avoid the next attack from another vamp. The vamp dove but missed, the bald vampire taking the missed attack and using its momentum to push him into the wall, cracking his skull. A third vampire attacked from the roof. It had been nested on a metal beam and got the drop on the bald vampire. He landed on top of him and went straight for the neck. The bald vampire managed to move his head out of the way whilst bringing his left knee up into the side of the vamps ribcage, the bald vampire then straightened out his hand and with this talon-like claws, sliced through the vamps side between two ribs. The bald vampire then clasped his hand around one of the ribs snapping it clean off, the vampire squealed as the bald vamp pulled the rib from his side and used it as a stake through his heart.

The bald vampire stood up and walked towards the fang’s Master.

“
You win, our nest will move on.” The Master begged.

The bald vampire kept walking removing a silver blade from the inside of his long coat and with one single slice, took the Master’s head clean off.

The bald vampire arrived back to the blood’s nest holding the fang Master’s head. The other vamps looked on in silence as he walked into the centre of the room, held up the head and gave a roar. The other vamps started roaring too. He had become their new Master.

The fang’s nest had been under surveillance for some time now unknown to both nests at the time. After the massacre the government no longer waited for their opportunity, they tracked the new Master’s movement through CCTV cameras back to the blood’s nest and made their move as they slept. The nest lost half its members from UV grenades and silver bullets, the other half were captured as was the Master and brought to Demon Rock.

I awoke in the dead of night. The only sound was the footsteps of a lone guard doing his midnight rounds. Curiosity had gotten the better of me.

"Warlock." I whispered.

He didn't stir.

I lowered myself quietly from the bed and shook him awake.

"Warlock!"

"I'm up, I'm up..."

"Quiet."

"Sorry. What are you doing waking me up?"

"It's something the warden said which I can't get out of my head. He said he 'needed me'. What could that mean?"

"I don't know but come on who cares; we’ll be gone from here by tomorrow night."

"I need to know what he meant. I'm going to check his office, see if I can find out any information."

"Are you crazy!? What if you get caught, our whole plan is out the window."

"My plan." I responded bluntly. "It'll be fine; I'll be back before you know it. I need you to do that spell on the guard again and tell me where the Warden’s office is."

Reluctantly Warlock rose from his bed and agreed.

"Nothing stupid now you hear me? If you jeopardise our freedom out of some curiosity, I'll make your manhood disappear with a single spell! Deal?"

"Deal" I agreed, half wondering if he could perform such an act. 

“
The warden’s office is on the third floor near the back of the prison.”

Warlock cast his spell, same as before. The guard moving towards our cell hypnotically and removing his clothes. I again put on the guard's uniform and proceeded through the dissipated cell.  

Under the guise of Shadow I moved through the prison. Some of the inmates spat at me and called me profanities as I passed their cells. I blocked them out, not rising to the challenge. If I really was Shadow I doubt I would have been so restrained. I emerged from the cell block into a back stairwell and began to ascend the stairs two a time. On the first floor were the guard’s quarters. Warlock had told me that the guards live on the island for three week rotations before taking the boat home when the new set of guards arrived. On the second floor there was a kitchen, toilet area and recreational area for the guards. I reached the top of the stairwell on the third floor. No one seemed to be about. Apparently the warden had a small house on the other side of the island. The corridor on the third floor was dark with several small rooms branching of it, presumably other offices. I moved along the corridor slowly, knowing that the guards were on the floor below me, I did not want to make any noise. I moved down the corridor for about one minute before I spied a large wooden door which was situated at the very end of the corridor. On the wooden door there was a silver plaque which read ‘Warden O’Brien’. I carefully approached the door, placing my ear against the panel. I could not hear a sound from inside the room and so reached for the door handle, turning it slowly. I opened the door slowly; no light escaped which confirmed to me the room was empty. I opened the door fully and entered the office.

The Warden’s office was enormous. It was decorated with a deep green carpet that ran along the floor up to a large mahogany desk. Behind the desk was a large red leather chair with the initials O’B embroiled in gold lettering at the top. Behind the desk was a tall bay window partially covered by the draping of thick red curtains. I moved towards the desk and turned on a gold lamp that stood atop.