The Feeding House (15 page)

The vampires soon managed to completely over whelm Jack and soon he was on the floor being beaten to a bloody pulp, as he lay there his mind began to think about how this was the end these vampires were so strong that they were obviously Dreno’s finest. These vampires would either kill him here now or take him back to Dreno where he would meet a fate much worse than anything that his assailants could do to him here and now. Once again Jack found himself at rock bottom and begging for death to come swiftly.

Unfortunately for Jack death did not come to him at this point and when Jack was as close to passing out from the injuries he had sustained the vampires picked him up and began to drag him over to the main street where Jacks biggest fear was waiting. It was one of the horse drawn carriages designed for the feeding house to transport the
cattle to the feeding house. Jack knew that this was truly it he would now have to face Dreno and he would no doubt be killed in the most painful and horrible way that Dreno could possibly imagine.

The back door was opened and Jack was dragged closer towards it eventually being thrown inside seemingly as violently as possible, the vampires laughed to themselves as they mounted the carriage and began to head off with some speed.

Jack lay there in a pool of his own blood. He had been beaten within an inch of his life and he kept dropping in and out of consciousness. It was impossible for him to tell how far they had already travelled as Jack was so incapacitated that the world was little more than a blur his only sign that he was still alive was the small crack of light coming through a small hole in the back of the wooden carriage. Jack remembered the times that he had thrown his own victims in here it was more than surprising he had never expected to find himself in the back of one of these things.

The carriage had not travelled far when
Jack could feel that something had changed. It was different now it seemed that there was a certain sort of tension in the air. You could cut through the atmosphere with a knife and the carriage had now slowed down from the speeding pace that it had been travelling at before. Jack may have been injured beyond belief but he sat up slightly and listened to what was going on his curiosity was intrigued by the silence.

Seconds later the sound of a gunshot was rattled through the air and soon another hole was in the carriage as a bullet came flying through letting in the moon light from the hole that it had left in the side of the carriage. Shouting could be heard and the waggon ground to a halt. Bullets could be heard flying through the air and Jack ducked down hoping that he wouldn’t be hit by a stray bullet.

Soon the shouting began to die down until it had completely stopped and still Jack had no idea what was going on for all he knew he was under attack just as much as his kidnappers seemed to be. Jack heard the sound of footsteps around the wagon and the sounds of hushed voices. Jack was still falling in and out of consciousness and could not fully concentrate on what was going on but was trying his hardest to figure out what was going on outside of the wagon, he wasn’t sure who had won the battle but he knew he was soon to find out.

The footsteps stopped outside the back of the carriage by the door and the hushed voices began to talk once again falling silent soon after. The door swung open and the light flooded in, Jacks vision had not been good as his eyes were swollen and it was even worse now that he had been shut in darkness for a while and so because of this he could not fully make out who was getting into the carriage now but he did not fear the obviously male figure who was climbing in, it was not one of the vampires from earlier this was someone new.

The figure bent down by Jacks ear and held his head up slightly supporting it as he did so he spoke softly to Jack as he did so his voice and words were soothing “It’s ok Jack, everything is going to be fine from now on we are here to look after you,” the man said no more than this but it helped Jack and it was the nicest thing that he had heard in a whole month. Jacks wounds overwhelmed him but he felt safe enough now to let them he fell into a deep state of unconsciousness knowing that he was safe now.

Jacks head was a mess over the next few days but at least he knew that he was somewhere safe now, he still had no idea where he was or who he was with but he could tell that these people didn’t mean him any harm. It had been such a long journey getting here that as he lay in the bed provided for him dropping in and out of consciousness he felt as though he had achieved something, he felt as though finally he had reached the destination that he had been heading for since he had first been abandoned from the feeding house all that time ago.

Jacks vision remained blurry and his view of the room was scarce over those few weeks people would come in and out they seemed like nurses as they would take care of him and make sure that he was feeling alright while they would ask him questions trying to see if his health was improving. He knew all the while that these people were not people at all but were vampires just like himself but something seemed different about them. A vampire can always tell when another vampire is near it’s almost like a smell that they carry that flags them out to others but there was something different about these vampires, something that for the mean while Jack didn’t understand.

Every day of Jacks recovery he began to notice mor
e and more about the room. It seemed comfortable but somehow cold as if they had tried to set the nicest environment up for Jack in a place that really shouldn’t have been occupied. However Jack was happy the bed that he lay in was warm and he seemed well cared for and for once didn’t have to worry about his life or the life of anyone else for that matter he knew that he was surrounded by likeminded people and was looking forward to finding out more about them.

Jack had noticed something about his time spent recovering though, every day it seemed even though he currently had no concept of time he was visite
d by the man that had saved him. The man seemed very interested in Jack’s recovery and would often have conversations with the nurses that were attending him about how Jack was doing. He learnt to start trying to pick up on some of the conversations that they were having in an attempt to try and find out more about where he was and why he was there, he never properly got a look at the man but knew it would not be long until he introduced himself.

Jack picked up on bits of their conversations but never more than a few sentences, he learnt that he was making a very quick recovery and they weren’t worried about there being any complications and he also learnt that this man who had saved him
seemed to have a plan for Jack. He seemed to somehow fit with some plan that the man had in fact it seemed that he was more than just part of the plan but was an integral part of it. Jack tried to get as much information as he could but it seemed for now that the information was being held very close to his host’s chest. He knew that he would know soon enough, once he was well again.

Over those few weeks Jack really began to recover he even began to be able to sit up and see off into the distance he had been badly beaten and the month that he had spent outside in the co
ld dirt had also not helped him. Jack became stronger by the day however and soon he was beginning to make a full recovery. He had come off lucky from the attack despite the multitude of broken bones no serious damage had been done and for that he and it seemed the man who watched over him was very thankful. As the weeks of recovery drew to a close and he began to be able to walk again he knew that at any time the man of mystery would finally introduce himself.

Around two weeks after Jacks arrival he had finally made a full recovery, he could feel it as he woke up, the pain and grogginess had been lifted like a weight from his chest and he could finally see his surroundings properly again.
He sat up in the bed and was very happy to feel no pain from his previously cracked ribs although when he looked down he could see that they were still bandaged up, the bandages tied with expert skill.

Jack looked around his room it was the first time that he had properly seen it, he had given the room a look over the past few weeks but his eyes had been blurred from their injuries that they had sustained and as such he couldn’t see more than the rough outline of shapes using his imagination to fill in the rest.
Looking around and saw that it was a very simple lay out his bed sat in the far left corner facing the door which was locked but had a large slit at eye level obviously so that the nurses that had been coming in and out could keep an eye on him to make sure that all was ok.

Jack also noticed that there was a table to the far side there were his things stacked neatly on its surface including his shirt and trousers that had now been neatly washed and dried for him as well as some cigarettes and matches which he was more than happy to see as he had missed the sweet relief of a cigarette. Jack also realised what had felt strange about the room, he knew that he was in a house and from the design of it probably a big farm house but Jack realised that his room that had been set up was in fact supposed to be used as a storage cupboard, obviously they had been in a rush to set something up for him but he was just happy that they had taken such good care of him, he was not used to kindness like this especially after being on the streets for so long.

Jack got up slowly his legs remembering how to support his own body weight, slowly and with more than a few wobbles he made it over to the table putting on his shirt and trousers upon arrival, he grabbed the cigarettes and sat back down on the bed with a thud, he lit one up and felt instantly relieved finally now after all that time he felt relaxed. Jack looked over to the corner of the room as he smoked his cigarette and saw that his coat was hanging from a hook on the wall he could see the doll poking out of the pocket. He was happy to see that doll in fact he was more pleased to see it than he ever had been before as he knew now that finally he could try and do something about saving that poor girl. He took a long drag on his cigarette and smiled in a way that he had not smiled in a long time.

The door slowly opened and in walked one of the nurses that had been looking after him
. He wanted to thank her but thought that it might be a bit inappropriate at the moment, the women was not dressed like a nurse but had the look and demeanour of a nurse and as she approached she began to speak as she looked down at Jack sitting on the bed smoking his cigarette “Ah I see that someone is feeling a lot better, it’s good to see that you’ve managed to get yourself out of bed.”

The
woman was not old but she seemed to be about middle aged and she had a very motherly look to her. She was a reasonably large and jolly looking woman which was strange as Jack knew fully well that she was a vampire but one like he had never seen before this vampire seemed nearly human in fact all the senses of fear and such that usually surrounded vampires was not present around this women. She was nearly human, the predator inside of her that was meant to drive her and rule her life seemed to be gone.

The nurs
e seemed to have no care for Jacks personal boundaries as she unbuttoned his shirt with a swift hand, and quickly took it off along with the bandages underneath so that she could examine his ribs, she began to poke around asking if certain areas hurt to which Jack much to his pleasure replied no.  The nurse then continued to examine various parts of his body Jack realised from her keen observations of certain areas of his body that he had obviously been hurt in many places with some severe bruising coming up around his body.

The nurse let out a small sigh as she put down Jacks arm her examination of Jacks body was now finished “It seems as though you are a very lucky man Mister Crowe you have made a complete recovery, you’d sustained more than your fair share of injuries and I’m not going to lie it’s been a challenge keeping you alive at points, you should be very pleased that you’ve come off like this and without anything more serious like we believed you might have at first.”

Jack felt slightly nervous at the way that the nurse spoke she was blunt and in a way Jack could appreciate that, at least he was speaking to someone who spoke their mind “Thank you, I understand that you really didn’t have to do this for me, I’m sorry for being a burden on you but thank you again.” Jack felt as though this was polite enough and the nurse seemed to appreciate it.

“Well it wasn’t like I could just leave you be,” She began “There’s someone here who wants to have a word with you and you seem more than fine now so get your shirt on and I’ll let him in
, I’m sure that he will be more than pleased to see that you’re ok now.”

With that the nurse turned and left the room leaving Jack as he struggled to get his shirt on
before whoever it was who was coming to visit him entered into the room, Jack knew exactly who it would be, it would be the mystery man who had saved him the man that he had wondered who he was for so long the man that hopefully held all of the answers to Jacks many questions.

It was no surprise to Jack that moments after the nurse left the room a man dressed all in black just like Jack walked into the room, he was tall and had long combed back brown hair he seemed to be very official and ha
d had a perfectly styled goatee. There was not a hair out of place on the man’s head he seemed very handsome and looked as though he was in his mid-thirties his eyes were the main focus point however and seemed to command respect they were a piercing blue and were the kind of eyes that seemed to look straight through you and into the very deepest recesses of who you were, you could not hide from eyes like that.