King's Blood: Vampire Descent (A Serial Novel, Part 4) (4 page)

“
Maybe you have psychic abilities and your clairvoyance manifests itself through your dreams and your subconscious.”

“
There is no such thing as psychic abilities, that’s rubbish,” I said, as I towered over Milton in the dank cell.

“
That’s rather ironic coming from a vampire.”

“
You know, I’m sick of you messing with my head.” I sat down on the concrete bed again, closed my eyes, and shook my head, hoping that Milton was gone once I reopened my eyes.

“
I’m not going away. I’m still here,” he said, as he hopped onto the concrete bed next to me.

“
I give up.”

“
No, no, no...don’t ever give up, Jack.”

“
You misunderstood me. I’m getting out of this place on my own...I just have given up on you.” I shook my head in annoyance and looked at Milton. “What do you want?”

“
In due time, you’ll know. Right now, I want you to do a couple of things for me.”

“
What?” I asked, in agitation.

“
Close your mouth whenever you see the small, Asian-American with glasses.”

“
Alan? Why can’t you just say Alan? You mean Alan, right?” I grabbed Milton by the shoulders and shook him a bit. “Why can’t you be direct? Why are you so damn cryptic?”

“
It’s complicated.”

“
So, you aren’t a dream?”

“
I am.”

I clawed at my chest and pinched my nipples, I even punched myself in the jaw, hoping, and praying that I would wake up from the madness that was Milton’s world.

“Hold on, Jack, what...what do you think you’re doing?”

“
Trying to wake up from this nightmare, you’re of no help.”

Milton grabbed one of my wrists, hoping to stop me from injuring myself and possibly breaking out of his spell. “Stop, you’re going to damage your pretty little face. You want girls to continue to like you, right?”

I closed my hand into a fist and cocked my arm back, readying for a self-inflicted uppercut. Milton again snatched my wrist and yelled in my face, “Stop.” He leaned in real close, an inch away from my eyes. I could make out every pore on his nose. “Do you want me to get you out of this mess or not?” he asked, with hasty perturbation.

I stared off into the ceiling and covered my ears with my fingers, “
la la la la la la la.”

Milton pulled my head down by tugging on my right sideburn. “Ow, what the hell?” I screeched in pain.

“Enough! The entire vampire world hangs in the balance.”

“
Everyone keeps saying that...is that really true?”

“
We are getting you out, but I need to know how you do it.”

“
Do what?”

Milton made a motion with his hands as if they were biting his neck. “You know, how do you make humans and mortals want to continue to get bit by you?”

“I don’t...”

“
...
know what you’re talking about
?” he said, in a mocking tone, cutting me off mid-sentence. “Cut the crap, you’re taking something special. We want it. In fact, it’s going to save us all. The world does not revolve around you.”

“
Fine, you want to know everything about me? Get me the hell out of here,” I said. I slapped myself on the forehead and bellowed, “God, this is so stupid, I’m probably talking to myself.”

“
Listen, Jack, this is very important.”

“
Okay, let’s hear it.”

“
First, you are going to hear a loud explosion...”

“
Are you going to blow this place up?” I asked, kind of worried. “Because I do want to make it out in one piece.”

In the distance, I heard the sound of a large crash. Not a detonation, but of something large and loud hitting the floor with great force. “Was that it? What do I do?” I asked, in a panic.

“Calm down...that wasn’t it...or was it?” Milton asked. He ignored the large sound and looked at me straight into my eyes as he continued. “You are going to count to thirty and then hit the floor,” he added.

“
Now?” I asked.

“
No...I don’t know. Dammit, okay, if you see smoke, crawl on your belly until someone finds you.”

“
What? Like now? Was that you guys?”

“
I don’t know,” Milton said, slightly in a panic. He walked up to the door, and stood up on his tip-toes, staring through the little window that led out of the cell. “I don’t see shit,” he said.

I walked behind him and took a peek out the window as well. “I don’t see anyone out there—this is madness.”

Milton stepped away from the window and closed his eyes real tight and began saying out loud “
Jiào wǒ qǐchuáng.”

“
What...the...” I said.

“
Wake me up,” he said to himself, this time a little louder.

“
Who me?” I asked, completely confused.

“
Dammit, this is not good,” he said, opening his eyes.

“
What’s not good?”

“
Here, lean right about here?” he said, pointing down in front of me at his eye level.

“
You need a boost or something?”

“
Yeah, a boost.”

I crouched and got on my knees. I stretched my arms out in front of him, putting my hands together, making a small cup for him to stand.
Milton pursed his lips and crinkled his brow. He made his tiny little hand into a fist and pulled his arm back in an exaggerated wind up. With surprising speed and precision, his little fist landed on the bridge of my nose. Instantly, I had a sour taste rush throughout my sinuses. I shook my head and opened my eyes. As I was about to retaliate with a punch of my own, I realized he was gone. I heard a loud siren and what sounded like people screaming. I ran to the window and saw security, in full-on riot gear, run right past my cell. However, there was no smoke or anyone coming to my rescue. If things were about to go down, being trapped in a cell by myself and forgotten, wasn’t an ideal starting point for any purported escape.

Chapter Four

I sat with my arms wrapped around my knees, swaying back in forth in the darkest corner of my cell like a mental patient. I felt weak, defeated, and worst of all, humiliated. Yes, I felt depressed but it felt that it was due to my captive state, rather than getting bitten.

Beyond the metallic thickness of my cell’s door and the concrete walls within, I heard the faint sounds of bangs, pops, screams, and yells in the distance. Whatever was making the ruckus surely interrupted the unhinged madness that permeated throughout the facility. No smoke, friend, or foe came to my rescue, just the smell of gunpowder misting through the small opening at the bottom of my door.

A sudden realization of abandonment, snapped me out of my malaise, as I ran up to the door, banging at it with both my fists. “Get me out, goddammit...can anyone hear me?” Another guard with a baton and visor ran by my window, oblivious to my voice or presence.

I proceeded to close my eyes, trying to force myself into a deep sleep. I laid flat on the ground, slowed my breathing and heart rate, hoping for Milton’s reappearance. I quickly realized that willing sleep was as likely as willing my next meal in the form of a beautiful 18-year-old damsel’s neck.

As I got up and began dusting my scrubs from the chalky particulates that had accumulated on my behind, I noticed someone’s head bobbing outside the door’s window. Had Milton finally arrived to rescue me? I skipped toward the window and was met by Yi’s cold, black, and sunken eyes. He had Havens, Alan, and Rebecca behind him, as well as a small posse of guards. I stepped away from the door as soon as I noticed the lab-coat lynch mob.

“
Jack, we are transferring you immediately,” Yi said, his muffled voice traveling through the food chute in the door.

“
Last words I heard from you were instructions to let me bleed to death, now you want to protect me from what’s going on out there?” I asked.

“
You shouldn’t have let Jon bite you. He’s now rotting away in some cell because he’s no longer beneficial.” He paused. “I advise that you listen to my instructions so you do not share the same fate.”

I backed even further away from the door and sat down on the raised concrete slab, crossing my legs in a casual manner. “Sounds all right by me,” I said. “I’ve got all day long.”

“Jack why are you so difficult? Fine! You leave me no choice but to take you by force,” Yi said loudly, from beyond the door.

A loud buzz soon gave way to the sound of three large metallic mechanisms clanking away as they were being unlocked by the group. The large door slowly opened. I inhaled deeply before they made their way into the cell. I internally closed off my nostrils with my palate and held my breath as best I could. I feigned a reaction as if I was punched in the chest and hit the floor violently. Two guards picked me up from the ground, one in each arm. Alan looked at Yi and nodded, as I continued to hold my breath, making sure I didn’t breathe in whatever invisible substance Alan sprayed in an attempt to subdue me.

“There is a demonstration going on above the facility. The market has been overrun by protestors,” Yi said. “We're moving you to a more secure location.”

I purposely drooped my shoulders as the guards held both of my outstretched arms. I looked at Yi with a set of drowsy eyes, hoping to accentuate my supposed weakened state.

“Well, you don’t look to be in a fighting mood.” The group all laughed in unison at Yi’s crack. “I take your silence as a confirmation that it’s okay to move you to a different location,” he said, turning his head toward Alan, Havens, Rebecca, and the rest of his colleagues.

Alan stepped closer. He lifted my head by pushing up on my chin with his hand. He lowered his glasses and began to examine my neck with a careful, squinted eye. I was practically turning blue at this point as I continued to hold my breath. “Fascinating,” he said. “It hasn’t even been twelve hours and your neck has completely healed.”

I couldn’t take it anymore and led out a loud gasp as I opened my mouth for what seemed like five minutes. Luckily, whatever Alan sprayed throughout the room had already dissipated.

“
You okay, there?” asked Alan.

“
Sorry, Jon's bite has made me feel like an asthmatic,” I said, giving the best acting performance of my life. Okay, second best; I felt so bad for Holly.

Even though there was a commotion going on outside, Yi and the group didn’t seem fazed or bothered and continued to examine and analyze me with a preplanned urgency. However, Havens did look a little disappointed, or so I thought. He always had a nasty scowl about him, but this time it was a little more pronounced than before. He probably was hoping I’d resist and proceed to wail on me like a rabid beast. It was clear that Havens’s thirst for assaulting vampires was the man’s
raison d’être
.

The guards held me in their arms as we walked out of the cell. My toes dragged the floor, as I continued to sell my perceived invalid state.

              My ears perked up as I heard rumblings above. I heard a chorus of monotone chants in the distance, followed by a large blast.

“
Sounds like tear gas,” stated Yi.

“
Is there some kind of protest up there?” I asked, as we all proceeded down a large empty corridor.

“
It’s a bunch of greedy monsters,” Yi reprimanded.

“
Is protesting even allowed?” I asked.

“
They had homes down by the river, which were all given up in exchange for some real nice apartments, so the government could build a new power plant.”

Something about Yi’s explanation seemed rather forced. The inflection in his voice when he called them
greedy monsters
seemed more angry than annoyed. Moving me to a different location over some protest of displacement seemed too reactionary.

We arrived at the same cavernous room where I was almost burned alive. The small conference room to the left had displayed a DNA chart on the whiteboard, technicians were still running around toiling with the servers right above us, the larger girders in the ceiling had lights that splashed tremendous amounts of light below, making my skin feel slight pricks. In the center, was the examination table with thick leather straps and pointy, metallic stirrups.

Havens came over to where the guards and I were standing and grabbed one of my arms and twisted it behind my back. Even if I weren’t feigning weakness, I would have had a difficult time resisting his extraordinary strength. I ponied up a fake stumble as Havens led me from behind to the examination table in front of me. Alan assisted Havens as they put me on the table, both strapping me in as tightly as possible. One of the thick leather straps ran across my upper torso, another around my thighs. They cuffed my wrists and legs; they weren’t like the cuffs I had on before, which extended out from the table with metal links or twine, but they were built into the table, welded on, in fact.