The Feeding House (17 page)

Eventually they arrived at one of the far corners of the room, the sound of screaming was muffled at this distance at least enough so that you could hear yourself think.
Over at this far end of the room an extremely curious experiment was taking place. There was a large cage that looked as though it had seen quite a lot of damage over its short period of time of being there.

Inside this cage was a vampire who did not look like his normal self. This vampires clothes were ripped and cuts covered his arms and chest from where he had been scratching himself trying franticly to feed upon his own blood. His clothes were tattered and his face
was gaunt and paler than normal. He looked washed out and near death like an addict coming off of his fix. His eyes were yellow and bloodshot and as Dreno got closer the vampire, even in his delirious state, seemed to recognise the High Chancellor and pushed his face against the bar. His behaviour was aggressive and desperate.

The vampire stumbled with his words as he tried to spe
ak in a pleading tone “Please, High Chancellor Dreno, your Lordship, help me. I need more I’m so close to death I can feel it, please,” the vampire was now pushing his hands out of the bars trying to grab at Dreno’s Jacket. Dreno moved away a scowl of disgust filled his face.

“I am guessing t
hat this is our test subject,” said Dreno to the scientist. The sarcasm in his voice was not in, any way, subtle.

“Indeed it is sir, he as you know was originally one of the test subjects who was given the new blood from the machines or as we are now referring to it the “Pure blood” if that is ok with you of course,” Replied the scientist.

Dreno smiled he seemed pleased with the name that the scientists had chosen. “I like that idea very much, pure blood,” Dreno seemed to contemplate over these two words for a moment “yes it’s very fitting isn’t it, I like it.”

The scientist could not hide a smug look on his face after hearing
Dreno’s reaction to the name. It was not often that anyone manages to impress the High Chancellor he continued “His supply of pure blood has been cut off for the last two days and he has been given only the normal blood, the one that he originally craved so much. It has shown some interesting results. He has tried feeding on himself as of yesterday, desperately trying to drink any morsel of pure blood that is left in his system. This, of course, is preposterous however as you can see he is not in his right frame of mind, I would go as far as to say that he has gone completely mad.”

Dreno
was amazed at the results, and to think this had all happened so quickly. It was as if this vampire had not drunk any blood for weeks he had become that bad. However as shocking as the results were Dreno only had one thing on his mind, he wanted to see how much control he had over his test subject.

Dreno
turned to the scientist “Bring me a vial of fresh pure blood,” the scientist nodded and went off to quickly fetch some of the blood as Dreno had ordered, upon hearing these words the vampire locked in the cage began a frenzied torrents of thanks only to be quickly silenced by Dreno as he once again looked down upon the vampire with disgust.

Soon the scientist returned with the vial of pure blood just as
Dreno had ordered he handed Dreno the vial.

“Now, open the gate,” The scientist gave
Dreno a questioning look when he heard this but once he saw that the High Chancellor was not joking he quickly pulled out the key to the cages gate and unlocked it.

The vampire came running out and fell at
Dreno’s knees thanking him once more and hugging his legs. Dreno quickly kicked the vampire off, he fell the floor but this did not seem to faze him as he quickly got back to his feet and approached Dreno once again his eyes were clearly not sure what to focus on more as they darted between Dreno and the vial of pure blood that he held in his hand.

“Quite down now and don’t worry you shall have your precious pure blood in a moment,” said
Dreno as he looked at the twitching vampire in front of him “first however you must answer me a quick few questions then you shall have your reward.”

The vampire nodded his eyes still firmly fixed on the vial of pure blood,
Dreno began to feel as though this experiment truly was going to be a success. It all rested on how much control he had over this vampire. Complete control was what he needed, any less would not do at all and that would mean going back to the drawing board this was something that after spending years perfecting the new feeding machines he was just not willing to do, this experiment had to work.

“My first question,” began
Dreno “is this, does the normal blood, the very same blood that you have been feasting upon here at the feeding house for so many years truly not satisfy your thirst any longer?”

Without a seconds hesitation the vampire replied “Not at all, I have never felt pain like this before. The blood that I once fed upon happily now feels like ash in my mouth, if anything it makes my urge to feed greater. This new blood, the pure blood it invigorates me in ways that I never thought possible I would give anything to have a chance to taste it once more.”

Dreno was happy with the reply “My second question, and this is the most important one so think carefully before answering is this, if I was to supply you with this blood for the rest of your existence would you do anything I commanded you to do?”

The vampire did not even need to think before he answered thi
s time “I would do anything my Lord, I would serve you until the end of my days, I would fight for you, even die for you. I would cut off my own arm right now if it would prove my allegiance to you.”

Dreno
was more than pleased with this answer it was exactly what he needed to hear. He pulled a large knife out from his pocket “You say that you would chop your own arm off to show your allegiance, then prove it. Take your arm off now with this knife. If you do so I shall supply you with more pure blood than you could possibly feast upon.”

Dreno
threw the knife down onto the floor in front of the vampire who without even stopping and thinking for even as much as a second quickly picked up the knife and began to hack away furiously at his arm. Blood shot everywhere but the vampire did not scream his concentration was on the pure blood and nothing else. As he hacked away at his arm the scientist looked away repulsed by this ridiculous act of self-mutilation, Dreno however looked on seeming over joyed with what was happening in front of him.

Eventually after spending much time working his way through the bone the arm dropped to the floor in a pool of blood, the vampire now obviously felt the pain and began to clutch where his arm now ended.

Dreno smiled “You have done well truly you shall do anything for this blood.”

“Please just let me drink the vial of pure blood now, I have proved my allegiance,” Replied the vampire.

Dreno dropped the vial of blood onto the floor the glass shattered into a million pieces and quickly the pure blood mixed with the vampires own blood that lay around his arm on the floor making it impossible to tell the two apart.

Dreno
smiled at the vampire as he scrambled around the floor desperately trying to get the blood a look of absolute despair filled the vampires face “I lied,” said Dreno “put him back in the cage and leave him there to rot, it’s more fun that way.”

Dreno
continued to smile as the vampire was led away kicking and screaming as he desperately tried to attack Dreno for his lies and deceit. This however did not bother Dreno one bit. If there was one thing that he was most known for it was that he had a great intellect but had an even greater sense of malice.

Once the scientist had put the vampire back into the cage sealing the gate tightly behind him the two vampires began to walk off leaving the vampire in the cage, the sc
ream and pull at the bars like trapped animal.

As they walked off
Dreno turned to the scientist and began to speak. “This experiment has gone well, I believe that everything is now in order we have tested this as far as it can go. Kill the remaining test subjects you have locked away down here. I believe it is about time that we have an experiment on a much larger scale I shall inform the harvesters that it is time for our herd of cattle to be increased. It is time for us to release the pure blood into the general population of the feeding house, I however shall continue to feed in the old way. Soon we shall have a feast at which I shall reveal the new replacement blood.”

The scientist did not seem bothered like his predecessors would have in fact he seemed to rather enjoy the thought of this blood being released into the general population. It was volatile and dangerous and too a sadist like himself that spelt fun “I shall make sure that the barrels are full in preparation for the feast high chancellor.”

Dreno left the cellar, he was pleased with how his experiment had gone and knew that it would not be long now before his plan came into full swing, the beginning it seemed had gone well at least he was off to a good start.

As
Dreno walked down the corridor he was approached by a vampire who from his panting had tried to find Dreno as quickly as possible, it was obvious from his expression that his news was urgent.

“High chancellor I’m sorr
y to bother you,” He began “the ones that you sent to capture Jack Crowe, they have been found dead. The carriage is destroyed, they were decapitated and Jack is missing. This could only have been the work of somebody who knew what they were doing, but as of yet we can’t think of anyone who even knew that Jack Crowe exists let alone would risk their lives to rescue him.”

Dreno
’s smile vanished upon hearing this news. I did not take long for Dreno to figure out what had happened he knew exactly who the culprit was “Isaac,” he whispered to himself as he gave a puzzled look. It was obvious to him who had taken Jack however why he had done this was unclear. Dreno could only imagine that this was part of a much greater plan one that more than likely involved him. He had to act fast.

“I have my speculations towards who has done this, follow me we have much work to do and little time to do it in.” The two vampires walked down the hall with a brisk pace,
Dreno was not about to let anything get in his way especially not Isaac.

Jack woke up a cloud of confusion filled his head he was at first unsure as to where he actually was, he had had a terrible dream that night that he was still in the saloon it was the night that Missy had returned under
Dreno’s control the image played over and over in his mind like a broken record. The rage soon subsided however and he began to realise as the haze of sleep left him that he was not in the saloon but was in fact in his make shift room that Isaac had prepared for him. Jack relaxed, he was happy to be here he felt safe and secure and knew that soon after the workings of this place had been described to him he would be able to begin doing some good.

Jack looked across at the table and saw a bottle of whiskey with a note next to it, walking up and pouring a glass he took a look at the note it read:

My observations of you also revealed that this is your favourite whiskey, enjoy, you’ve deserved it.

Isaac

Jack smiled as he downed the glass in one, the taste of the whiskey hijacking his senses as it went down. Jack was happy to finally be in good company with someone who cared, this was something he never thought possible again not since Missy’s unfortunate death. Jack just had time to get his jacket on, have another glass of whiskey and smoke a cigarette before Isaac came into the room.

He
was a well groomed man and there seemed to never be a hair out of place or a crinkle in any of his clothing, his personal presentation was impeccable “I trust that you slept well my friend,” said Isaac.

“Like a baby, thank you for the whiskey it’s a great touch I forgot how much I missed this stu
ff, want me to pour you a glass?” asked Jack holding up the glass trying to tempt Isaac.

“No thank you I gave
up alcohol a very long time ago. You will not know this yet because you are so very young when compared to me but the taste of alcohol becomes very dull and boring over time,” Isaac motioned for Jack to put the glass back down on the table. Upon hearing Isaacs’s response jack shrugged his shoulders and poured himself another glass, this one was just a bit smaller than the others, after all he didn’t want to overdo it. 

“I am however very glad that you have slept well, we have a big day ahead of us there is so much to see and so much for you to learn,” continued Isaac as he began to walk towards the door inviting Jack to follow him.

As Jack walked through the door way of his room he realised that this was truly the first time that he had felt free to do what he wanted since Dreno turned him all that time ago, even though he stood in a rather small farm house hallway it felt like an expansive space to Jack. It was a safe place, a place where he could go about his business without anyone stopping him.

Jack looked around the hallway the characteristics of a large farmhouse were easy to spot, in fact the décor followed along the same lines. Paintin
gs were hung along the wall, they seemed to be fantastically painted portraits of what Jack could only presume were residents here. A feature in the paintings that Jack quickly picked up on was that a lot of them were not in the modern dress of today in fact as he looked down the rows of portraits he saw that quite a few were dressed in much older clothes. Jack had seen this before at the feeding house, vampires often held onto old portraits that they had had for many hundreds of years and it was not uncommon for them to display the paintings of themselves in times gone by.

Isaac turned t
o Jack “Welcome my friend to our humble abode, there are around thirty of us living here in peace. Technically we are a feeding house but I have no doubt that you will find the way in which we feed most interesting. Anyway we can’t stand around in the hallway all day we have so much to see, let me first take you to our cellar and I shall show you how we feed.”

Jack couldn’t help but feel slightly nervous when Isaac said this he tried to persuade himself differently but Jack was having problems shifting the idea that these were normal vampires out of his head. He knew they weren’t, he could feel it in his blood just as every vampire can sense another so can they sense if they feed on human life or not. Jack just tried to ignore his paranoid mind and reminded himself that these were his saviours and not his captors.

Isaac led Jack through the winding corridors as they walked through Jack tried to take in as much as he could of the house. It seemed as though it was quite similar in a way to the feeding house that he had lived in for all those years and so to him felt homely. He did not expect anything different though as after all these were still vampires and vampires seem to have a certain style about them. The house was covered in expensive paintings and furnishings with antic chairs and tables brought over from regal Europe. Heirlooms of the vampires who lived their adorned the walls just as they had in the feeding house.

Eventually they reached the entrance to the cellar and began to walk down the wooden stair case that creaked underneath their feet. Jack could see the dim lighting of the room but could not see its contents yet. The silence in this cellar was strange for Jack and felt almost deafening as he remembered the terrible sounds that could be heard in the cellar at the feeding house.

This place however felt surreal, as he descended further down the stairs he remembered the tortured screams and cries for help, he remembered the prayers that the cattle woul
d say as they begged for their God to save them and of course he remembered the haunting screams of the girl, the screams that for the rest of his life would never leave him.

They reached the bottom of the staircase
and Jack looked around the room. He was pleasantly surprised to see that for one it was much larger than he had originally imagined it would be and two that there were no machines down here that tortured people removing their blood through a network of pipes and tubes.

Jack was surprised to see that there
were instead large barrels full of a strange red fruit. He only guessed that they were fruit from the neatly cut red stems that protruded from them. These fruit were almost glowing red and seemed to resemble an ostrich egg with a very hard looking skin on them that could almost be mistaken for a shell. Jack had never seen anything like it before and could not even hazard a guess as to what they were or what they were used for.

Besides the barrels full of these fruit there were tables covered in grinding equipment and intricate scientific apparatus. Beakers and tubes were sprawled everywhere it was clear that whoever had set this operation up knew exactly what they were doing. Jack knew that this all had something to do with how these vampires fed but just couldn’t bring himself to believe it, it wasn’t possible.

Isaac saw the surprise and wonderment in Jacks face and gave him a smile “Jack, I welcome you to the future of the vampiric race and with that the future of the human race too, would you like me to show you how this all works?”

Jack nodded he was captivated by this whole operation and needed to know how it worked although he knew that he would never fully understand everything about it he at least had to know more.

Isaac led him over to one of the barrels full of the strange looking fruit and began to speak “Jack I feel that I should explain first that we were very lucky to save you that night, I am currently the only vampire here who has any knowledge of vampire to vampire combat. Everybody else here has dedicated their lives to the production of this fruit that I shall tell you about now.”

Isaac picked up one of the fruit and began to play around with it in his hand as he spoke “
Jack this is what we feed upon, I suppose that you could even go as far as to say that we are herbivores.”

Jack was shocked as he looked at the fruit that Isaac held in his hand, how could vampires possibly feed on this. It was obvious to him now why he had felt that something was very different about them. The fruit looked inedible but obviously they had found some way to extract its nutrients,
hewas very interested to hear more.

Isaac continued “I should first set some back story to this that way you should be able to understand how and why we feed on this fruit a bit better. You see this fruit has been known to certain high ranking vampires for a very long time it is called the blood fruit and
Dreno has considered it the greatest threat to his leadership since the feeding houses begun. He wishes to have control over the blood line and as such have control over the vampires however he cannot control fruit, especially from a plant that grows so wonderfully in the climate here.”

Isaac brushed his hands against the grooves in
the fruits thick skin as he spoke “It was actually the famous Captain James Cook who discovered the fruit, being native to Hawaii, he discovered it while exploring the region. It was not long before we began to realise that this fruit, although beautiful and terrible for human consumption, was actually perfect for vampires. It suppressed our urge to feed and gave us the energy to go on; in many ways it is better than blood. Of course Dreno didn’t like this one bit and ordered it all to be burnt and Captain Cook to be put to death before he could cause any more problems. There’s something I bet you didn’t know, he wasn’t killed by savages but was in fact murdered, at sea, by Dreno himself.”

Jack was surprised at the news of what
Dreno had done to such a revered figure however the murder of even a man like Captain Cook was not in any way beyond Dreno. Jack knew that Dreno would kill anyone who he thought was or could possibly be a threat, past, present or future.

“I was one of the few vampires who knew about the fruit,” said Isaac “I managed to escape with some of the seeds and began this secret operation here, bringing some of my closest followers with me.
For many years we have been living in secrecy, happy with our slower pace of life. It is a strange thing for a vampire to want to feel but it feels almost human.”

Isaac smiled
, seeming to momentarily drift off into his own dream world where he remembered warm summer’s day here at the old farm house. It was not long though before Isaac’s face hardened and it was obvious that a not so nice point was coming up now “However,” he began “Dreno now threatens everything. He plans to use the new blood that his machines produce to be able to finally take complete control of the vampiric community after all its what he always wanted. Once he has them wrapped around his finger, he will set them out on the cities and towns, destroying them and collecting humans to be kept as cattle to produce children whose only life will be strapped to one of those machines. As you can imagine I’m not prepared to let this happen, I am the only one here who can fight. Jack I need you to join me I will teach you the ways of fighting a vampire and together we can destroy Dreno once and for all.”

Jack felt his heart leap u
p in his chest with these words. He had sworn that he would one day kill Dreno and save the girl, as penance for his sins. He was willing to die for this cause and knowing how to fight and having Isaac by his side could only help him. Jack was pleased it seemed as though finally his plan was coming together, finally he would be able to face Dreno and do what he should have done a long time ago.

“I would be honoured to fight beside you Isaac, I promise that I shall spend every day practicing. I know that this isn’t going to be an easy sight.”

Jack was cut off mid-sentence as Isaac interrupted “Easy fight,” he scoffed “Ha, this will be the most difficult fight of even my life time, and my God do I have some stories to tell you.”

“I am willing to give my life for this, I swore that I would kill that son of a bitch.”
Replied Jack, Isaac only had to look into his eyes to tell that he was deadly serious about this.

Isaac smiled slightly “Let’s hope that it doesn’t have to come to that, training will begin tomorrow for now try and get a good sleep. You need to learn fast we don’t have much time, but I’ve seen you fight I know you can handle yourself so it shouldn’t take long to train you up. Once you are strong enough to go toe to toe with even the strongest vampire I shall reveal to you my plan for how we shall kill
Dreno. Do you have any questions?”

“
No I think that will be everything for now, I’m sure any questions I do have will be answered soon enough anyway,” replied Jack. However he couldn’t help but wonder how all of this was going to work, if him and Isaac were too be the only two who knew how to kill vampires properly how were they ever supposed to take on an entire feeding house of them. Regardless of his doubts he chose not to question Isaac about this he was sure that he had a plan that would work around that fact, Isaac was smart and Jack trusted him.

“Good I am glad that you are on side Jack I can’t I do need your help if this is ever going to work. Feel free to walk around the building and explore if you want I am sure that the other residents here will be more than happy to talk with you for a while, your arrival has caused quite the stir. A lot of us thought that you weren’t going to get better but we are all glad that you pulled through. We haven’t had a new arrival here for a very long time now,”
Dreno paused for a moment to check his pocket watch “I have to leave you now, I have other business to attend to I will see you tomorrow Jack.”

The two of them left the room and went off their separate ways
, Jack couldn’t wait to see what Dreno had in store for him the following day. Since he had left the feeding house he had built up a great hatred for vampires despite them now being his own kind he was glad that now thanks to Isaac he would finally have a chance to kill them. Finally he might be able to destroy the feeding house and take his revenge for what they have done to him.

Later that day Jack took
himself downstairs to look at the fields surrounding the farm house. He had been curious about them since he first looked out of the window and saw the blood fruit growing. Their strange red colour glowing in the moonlight. He had got to talking to some of the others who lived at the farm house all of them being more than hospitable and kind towards him. One of the vampires he met, an older looking gentleman with a white beard even taught him a thing or two about how to nurture and harvest the fruit.

Jack went to bed happy that night, he had found a home and hopefully once he had got to know everyone better he had also found a family, something that he had never had before in his life.

“Friends,” said Dreno his voice booming around the great feeding hall which upon hearing the sound of his voice fell into instantaneous silence.

It was the night of a great feast, as it was most nights however this feast was very different to the rest. The blood had been brought to the tables but even without tasting it yet the vampires seated around the long wooden table could sense that there was something very different about it, something that they had not encountered before.