The Feeding House (20 page)

It was some time before the sailor eventually returned with an elderly gentleman by his side who evidently was the captain. The captain was nothing less than your stereotypical idea of what an old captain would look like, with his large white beard and old leather coat, he looked wind worn from all the years at sea, but still he looked fit and healthy. The captain had a pipe in his mouth that he continued to puff on, even while speaking he would not take it out of his mouth, instead he would allow the slight obstruction to slur his speech slightly. Jack reckoned that from the strong smell of alcohol coming off of him that the captain didn’t need the pipe in his mouth to slur his words.

“Gentleman hello, its good to make your acquaintance,” the captains cheeks were a rosy red and broken blood vessels from the alcohol showed even in the dim light of the dock. He took first Isaac and then Jacks hand and shook them vigorously “Can I ask what it is that brings you down here at such a late hour?”

Isaac cleared his throat “We are associates of
the High Chancellor Dreno, I believe that his cargo has arrived today aboard your boat?”

The captain
threw Isaac a look of surprise. It was nothing to worry about, for it was obvious to see that the captain did not think Jack or Isaac to be anyone other than the people that they said they were, “I understand, however why have you arrived here so early I was told that the transport would not arrive for at least another hour?”

Isaac did not falter
even in the face of questioning. He knew that he had to keep his cool and not allow the captain any room for doubts “I apologise captain for the change in plans it was indeed unexpected for us too, you see Dreno does like to be thorough and make sure that everything is in place and goes off without a hitch,” the captain nodded in agreement, Isaac continued “The transport will indeed be here in an hour but Dreno felt that it was important that he sent us forward first, all that we require is entrance to the boat and to be left alone while we are in there. I wish that I could tell you more about why we need the time with the feeding machines but it is very secret information for specially selected ears only, I am sure that you can understand that captain?”

Isaacs excuse was clever and Jack felt much more relaxed about the situation after hearing Isaacs’s performance. The captain took a while to think over what he had just heard, this was highly irregular that anyone ever sends people forward, however the captain did remember that from the look of what they were carrying, this was no normal cargo.

The captain spoke hesitantly while Jack and Isaac clung to every word “Alright you can go aboard to do whatever it is that you need to but I want you to know that I’m not happy with this,” The captains voice became much angrier and he began to display his true feelings towards the situation at hand “I know what Dreno can be like and so there’s no way that I’m getting in his bad books for you two. So no matter what it is you two need to do or how official you are just make sure that you don’t break anything.”

Isaac bowed and Jack, looking over, quickly followed “I thank you,” began Isaac “Myself, my colleague and
Dreno thank you for your cooperation in this matter. Believe me that this shall not go unnoticed and Dreno will hear about this as soon as possible, you have my word.”

Jack and Isaac walked off towards the boat after being given the key to both the boat and the hold where they were current
ly storing the feeding machines. A wave of relief washed over the two of them as they reached the boat and despite being able to feel the eyes of the sailors staring into their backs they were relieved that they were finally getting aboard the boat.

Once inside they began to progress along the winding hallways and passages, it was dimly lit inside of the boat and it had a certain stuffy feel, it seemed very well lived in .
Jack and Isaac eventually found their way down a small flight of metallic stairs and entered into the storage room. The door unlocked with a satisfying clunk and as they opened the door they saw the morbid beauty of the cargo. The copper pipes shone in the dim light, all of them beautifully crafted.

For Isaac it was exactly as he had envisioned the feeding machine from the designs that he had seen.
However for Jack the experience of coming face to face with the feeding machines again was an altogether more difficult situation.

He
remembered the feeding house once again, he remembered the little girl and how he wanted above anything else to save her from the hell that he had put her in. His nightmares were still plagued by images of her and Missy and it had been so long now without a good night’s sleep that Jack had actually forgotten what proper sleep feels like. He shook himself out of these thoughts, he had already had plenty of time to dwell on the past and now was certainly not the time for it.

Isaac walked around the feeding machine looking carefully at all of the curves and bends as he did so, regardless of the fact that he had come here to destroy the machines he still
found a strange curiosity in them and admired the craftsmanship. He even seemed slightly saddened when he looked up from the machines, realising that they needed to get on.

“Ok,” began Isaac “Did you remember to bring the gunpowder?”

Jack sifted through his coat pocket and brought out a small box with an intricately shaped funnel on the end, Isaac took the box off of him and began to look around the room  “Ah perfect, there it is,” said Isaac.

He began to walk towards a large keg that most people would confuse for having beer or some other alcoholic drink in, but not Isaac he knew exactly what was inside the keg.
It was full of a very volatile chemical that was used for cleaning the feeding machine in-between uses, when one of the cattle eventually dies the machine that they were plugged up too had to be thoroughly washed to remove the congealed blood from inside the pipes.

This chemical was highly explosive and could easily start the fire that they were looking for “Watch the door, make sure that no one is coming,” said Isaac, his tone sharp
yet whispered.

Jack
kept guard watching over the door as Isaac began to leave a trail of gunpowder from the keg of chemicals all the way to the door and out across the corridor, it was important that they weren’t anywhere near the room when this went off or else there wasn’t much chance of them getting off the boat in one piece.

Isaac was just about to strike a match to light the gunpowder trai
l when one of the sailor’s walked around the corner. His walk was confident at first but soon he was quizzical and slightly concerned. Even in the sailor’s inebriated state he could tell that whatever it was that these two were doing was out of the ordinary.

The sailor decided to confront Isaac and Jack “What are you too doing here? This is completely off limits to anyone? Who are you anyway?” The sailor launched a never ending torrent of questions all of which went unanswered as it seemed that the more questions the sailor asked aloud the more he became riled and angry that Isaac and Jack were down here.

They both knew that they had to silence the sailor before he began to attract unwanted attention, Isaac acted quickly and with one swift move his fangs lowered into place and his eyes turned jet black. The sailor recalled in horror and went to scream but his voice was cut short, Isaac ripped his vocal chords from his throat and then quickly removed his head.

Jack knew what was coming as soon as the sailor had begun to speak but he was surprised to see his first vampire on vampire killing, it was remarkable how quickly Isaac moved and the ferocity in which he had pulled the sailors head clean off of his shoulders. It was a sight that he had never witnessed before even with his training he still didn’t realise just how brutal and savage the actual act would be. It was little concern to them now though, the sailor had been silenced and it seemed as though nothing had gone wrong.

“It seems that this man was on his own, either way I haven’t the time or the patience to be dealing with any other problems,” said Isaac as he lit the match.

Isaac bent down
, the match burning in his hand, and lit the gunpowder, it instantly caught fire causing fizzling and crackling as it moved ever closer towards the chemical filled keg “Follow me,” said Isaac as he began to run down the corridors.

Isaac knew that there was no way that they could escape through the way that they had entered, it was too dangerous they would be spotted by the sailors and no matter how good they both were at fighting there was no way that they could fight their way through that many vampires.
Jack followed Isaac through corridors that he hadn’t seen before unsure of where he was going but trusting in Isaacs judgement, they had only a minute to escape and not even hell could get in there way.

The flames from the powder were only inches away however this would leave enough time for a quick escape. The gunpowder moved slowly almost at a snail’s pace, Jack and Isaac moved much faster though and as they sprinted round the corner they were nearly stopped dead by an unexpected surprise.

In front of them five sailors stood bottles in hand, there was no time to speak and quickly Jack and Isaac burst into action. Jack had never used the skills he had learnt from Isaac before but quickly he began to fall into the swing of things, slicing of one of the sailors heads using only the side of his hand. The fight didn’t last long, the sailors had been taken completely off guard and one by one they fell decapitated to the floor. Isaac and Jack didn’t even rest and as soon as the last one fell they ran for the door leading to the observation deck at the back of the boat.

The two of them jum
ped into the icy cold water below seconds before the chemicals within the keg ignited. A massive explosion could be heard aboard the boat blowing a large hole in its side. The sailors watched on as the boat was engulfed in flames. The precious cargo inside destroyed as the boat began to sink to the bottom of the ocean.

Soaked to the very core Isaac quickly located Jack at started to tread water next to him “We did it,” he exclaimed “Are you ok, are you hurt?”

Even if Jack was hurt the adrenaline coursing through his veins was enough to block it out “I don’t think so, I think I’m fine. What about you?”

“I’m fine,” replied Isaac “The carriage is only a short swim away, we have to leave now before they begin to search for us. Follow me I’ll lead you to it.”

Isaac and Jack reached the shore and quickly got into the carriage, as they rode away into the night they changed out of their wet clothes both of them smiling as they did so. They had destroyed the boat and escaped just in the nick of time. Dreno’s machines were destroyed and there was no way he could get any more for quite a long time, just long enough for Isaac to think of what to do next. As they began their long travel back to the farm house they both knew that this was a devastating blow to the enemy.

It was not a
quite night in the streets of Oxford. At midnight a large garrison of black carriages had stormed through the central streets no one had known who they were or where they were going but they certainly meant business. It was Dreno and a horde of pure blood crazed vampires from the feeding house, inside the main carriage adorned with grotesque sculptures of torture and death sat Dreno and Henry.

Henry had drawn up a map to where the farm house was located and the finally they had reached their destination. The large group of vampires, 50 in total, had now stopped half a mile outside of the farm house. They could see it from where they were and as they looked through into the windows they could see the dim light of the candles burning inside.

Dreno turned to Henry “Are you sure that this is the place?”

Henry thought of a few sarcastic responses but then remembered just who he was speaking too “Yes sir this is the place I promise you, Jack and Isaac will be inside too, don’t you worry.”

Dreno smiled, after all these years of searching he had finally found Isaac’s whereabouts. Dreno felt strange as he stood there looking at the house it felt almost as like it were the end of an era. With Isaac out of the picture Dreno would have nothing standing between him and ultimate power, for the only think that outweighed Dreno’s love for blood was his greed and power lust.

Dreno
motioned for his men too move in quietly on the farm house, they extinguished their torches and made their eyes turn jet black so that they could see better in the dark. The walked slowly and quietly towards the farm house, no one would suspect a thing. Dreno watched on as they approached ever closer content in the fact that soon Isaac would be dead.

The vampires moved in on the house, Henry had drawn up a crude form of a floor plan for them to follow and
Dreno had planned out the attack down to every movement. The vampires swept through unnoticed into the dormitory where a few of the residents were sleeping. Standing behind each of the sleeping victims they decapitated them in unison using their knives. The procedure was quick and painless almost as if they were cutting through butter.

With the residents in the barn safely out of the way some of the attacking vampires snuck up behind the main farm house and set it alight. The flames grew quickly until they were completely out of control and beginning to engulf the entire house. The panic from the inside could be heard all the way from where
Dreno was standing, screams of pain and agony could be heard from those inside.