The Feeding House (3 page)

Upon arriving to the house the little girl had been taken to her own private roo
m where she was being cared for. She had not let go of the doll since arrival and although she had not cried once, she had a vacant stare in her eyes almost like a part of her was already dead. No one knew why she was here or indeed why she was being cared for in this way but it was the high chancellor’s orders that she be here and for that reason alone no one dared question it.

Jack had helped the young harvesters transport the girl from the carriage to the room in which she was kept
. He still didn’t know why he felt so connected to this girl or why it felt so wrong when he’d killed her family. After all they were only human. He had killed plenty others like them in his time and he was sure he would kill plenty more.

They walked down a corridor lined with artwork and candles making their way to one of the currently unused bedrooms
. A harvester carried the girl in his arms. The girl did not struggle but instead looked blankly into nothing. She had been clutching the doll for as long as Jack could remember but now looking at her saw she was staring intently at the floor making a small whining noise as she did so. Jack looked behind him and saw, there on the floor, was the child’s doll. He felt sympathy for her it was the one thing that she had left in her life that she truly loved. He held himself accountable for taking the rest away from her. Jack walked over and picked up the doll, looking at its poorly stitched face and dirty fabric clothing, he carried it all the way to the room they had put the girl in and went inside.

She sat on the bed huddled in a ball,
as Jack approached her. This was very unfamiliar territory for him and he did not feel completely comfortable. He handed the girl her doll and she held it close to her body seeming much more settled now that she had it. The girl looked up into Jack’s eyes, although she didn’t speak, her eyes said a thousand words. She seemed empty and dead inside, much like himself. He knew he was once fully, human just like the girl, and wondered if he had come into the vampires service through as violent means as this.

The sun had set and a group of vampires stood at the front of the house dressed in their finest clothes
. A grand black carriage pulled up. There was no question as to who this was. The carriage was grand, painted in full black with gold leaf and pulled by the six most beautiful black horses you could ever hope to see. The driver stepped down from the front and removed his top hat as he opened the side door revealing the velvet interior of the carriage to the outside world.

The vampire
who stepped out looked grand and had an air of power to him. He was dressed in a full black suit, his shoulder length hair sleeked back to perfection, not a hair out of place. He looked around forty but was one of the oldest vampires living. This was noticeable in his pure black eyes and sharp teeth and nails. You see gradually, over hundreds of years, a vampire begins to look more like a supernatural being, it’s the simple principle of the longer that they are out of the normality of human life, the more supernatural they begin to look. There are very few recorded cases in history of a vampire managing to live past 1000 years old due to fighting and of course the many years they were hunted. It is said that after 1000 years the signs become very noticeable. The oldest vampire in recorded history lived to be 1800 years old. He was said to have bat like wings which they developed towards the end of his lifetime. Dreno would be celebrating his 974
th
birthday this year.

The other vampires stood to attention after a nervo
us hum had cleared from the air. The High Chancellor walked slowly towards the house, his fellow vampires trying to look at him without making eye contact. They were scared of him. It was easy to tell even the chancellor of the feeding house was nervous staring straight at Dreno not knowing whether to look away or keep staring almost like a deer in the headlights. He was caught under dreno’s spell of fear.

“Welcome to our humble feeding house oh great high chancellor
. I hope you find your stay most agreeable. We bow before your almighty presence,” The chancellor went down on one knee. It was not planned but he felt that it was only right, the other vampires slowly followed suit, each down on one knee bowing their heads to Dreno in submission to his power.

The chancellor was trying a bit too hard but Dr
eno did not mind he simply smiled to himself. He certainly had a large ego and loved it to be massaged. “You may rise,” the vampires got to their feet “I am weary from my long journey and wish to retire to my room for a while. I trust all of the arrangements have been made.”

The chancellor kn
ew exactly what Dreno meant by the arrangements as they had been talking via letters for quite some time now. It seemed strange that the day had finally arrived when the plans would finally come to fruition “Yes my lord everything is ready and in order please follow me this way.”

The chancellor led Dr
eno into the feeding house and up the stairs to his master suite. It was large and furnished to the standard of a king but of course he would expect nothing less. A bottle of fresh blood sat on the side Dreno instantly took interest in it and walked over to begin pouring a glass.

“Ah, I see you are taki
ng an interest in the blood my Lord. That particular bottle was made only hours ago from the blood of virgins only,” he said hoping for a positive response from Dreno who was drinking the entire glass in one long gulp.

“I
thank you for your hospitality. Now if you don’t mind I wish to rest. I will see you in a few hours chancellor. We have much to discuss. You may go.”

The chancellor backed out of the door thanking Dr
eno as he went, closing the door behind him he let out a sigh of relief. He was happy that everything so far had gone off without a hitch. He could only hope that their conversation later would go just as well. He knew that he could keep up his formalities and please the high chancellor but this was not his concern. His real concern was how would Jack react and more importantly what would he do?

It was late at night and Jack was extremely confused
. He had been given specific orders not to go out and hunt today, an order he had never heard a harvester being given before as the vampires are usually dying for fresh blood. He had also been given orders to not drink but he could guess why that was. He was told he had to meet the high chancellor and the chancellor in the drawing room in only a few minutes time.

Jack, just like everyone else
, had heard the stories about the high chancellor and personally thought a lot of them to be bullshit as he put it. He was the sort of man who never had respect for anyone unless they had earned it from him. More to the point, why did the high chancellor was to see him of all people? It was said to be rare that the high chancellor ever spoke to fellow vampires let alone harvesters. Sure he was known to be the best harvester at this feeding house but that didn’t give any explanation as to what the high chancellor would have to say to him.

Jack walked down the hallway towards the drawing room and walked inside
. He wasn’t quite sure if there was some way he was supposed to greet the high chancellor but he didn’t really care either. Upon entering the room Jack saw Dreno standing next to the chancellor as they both drunk blood from brandy glass’s and smoked pipes together it was easy to tell just from that moment that the chancellor was doing a hell of a lot of ass kissing. Jack was also surprised at how young the High chancellor looked.

“You wanted to see me sir?
” Jacks voice cut the conversation dead and he felt the high chancellors eyes on him. Jack turned his head to look at him and corrected himself “Sirs.”

“Ah yes,” The chancellor looked genuinely pleased for the sudden break in the conversation “High chancellor Dr
eno this is our finest harvester Jack Crowe.”

Dr
eno eyed Jack up and down as he stood in front of him following his eyes with his own, wondering what he was doing, not trusting him. Dreno walked behind him seeing him from every angle almost like he was weighing him up in his mind but for what purpose he did not know.

“A fine specimen you are indeed Jack Crowe, strong in body and in mind it would seem,” Dr
eno ran his index finger down Jacks cheek as he tried to stop himself moving away from him. Obviously this was a vampire who knew very little about personal space “The chancellor has told me great things about your work for this feeding house. I’m impressed with you. I was right to come here I have found my test subject, my guinea pig if you will.” Jack was trying to translate his way through the heavy French accent but did not like the sounds of being a guinea pig, the chancellor seemed to have a celebratory glint in his eyes almost if he knew that the majority of his hard work was now done.

“You are probably wondering why I have come out to this lovely
, yet small, feeding house. It is certainly not usual for a vampire of my position but I have been exchanging letters with your chancellor for well over a year now I have chosen this as the best place to test out my new plan,” A questioning look filled Jacks face as the chancellor stepped closer to Dreno feeling like he should play a part in this conversation “The old way of feeding was good for a while but we need to become detached completely from the human race. With their new inventions of war it will not be long now until there technology beats our physical strength and agility. They are becoming smarter and as such we need to change with the times, we need to adapt the way that we feed with the modern times, this is where you come in Jack.”

Dreno
paused waiting for a response but received nothing but the stern expression on Jacks face. He continued “For many years now we have sent harvesters taking few people on often occasions but this is becoming far too dangerous for our people now. Already several harvesters have been followed back to feeding houses across the world and attacks have been made upon them by the armed forces killing many of their residents and leaving the survivors stranded with no blood to drink and no safe house to return to. The world is changing and as such I have developed a new way for us to feed. It involves making each feeding house completely independent from the outside world. We shall trial run this new concept here first before making it world-wide but you have brought me the young female that I needed and for that I thank you. She will be our first test subject.” Jack did not like where this was going he already felt for this girl but what could he expect it was always obvious that they needed the child here for a reason “The taking of every day human adults is a task now too risky to carry out instead we shall now take a child every few years much like you did making it untraceable by burning the house. These children shall then be plugged into the feeding machines upon arrival and only unplugged upon their death my top advisors have assured me that if the child is young enough their body will naturally begin to create more blood to compensate for the constant but slow taking of blood, we shall feed them on a diet made specifically for increasing blood production and because they know no different they will never give up on life and want to die, the blood shall never be tainted and shall remain forever pure, Jack I want you to gather these children and run the machines in the cellar If you do a good job I shall reward you greatly. It is either this or death. There is no other choice. I promise you the other harvesters shall meet their doom shortly once we have this project up and running I have no doubt that you will do this.”

Jack paused for a second
, the silence hanging in the air, as his response continued to not develop. He tried to think through the options in his head. He had no choice, it was take this opportunity or die. He should count himself lucky that he had been given such a choice. However he really felt something deep inside him disagreeing with this idea he already had a strange unknown feeling of remorse for the life that he had now forced upon the little girl he had taken. After all of that could he really in all honesty, plug her up to a machine and make sure she survived for as long as he could. She would not live, she would not feel, she would just survive and, more to the point if he could do it once could he do it to more children? He knew the answer to this question was no.

Taking priests and prostitutes, the unloved
, unwashed and uncared for was one thing. These people at least had lived lives and had made what in, Jacks mind, were bad choices. These were also people who, if they had only been observant or careful, could have protected themselves from his assault. Those were people with a fighting chance. Children though were different. What fighting chance did children have? But he had to take this. He could not die over something like this. It was far too noble a move for a person like him.   

Jack spoke slowly regr
etting every word as he said “I shall obey.”

The high chancellor knew that Jack was unsettled by the thought of taking the children
. If it wasn’t written on his face it was because he could also see into the human part of his mind. Dreno continued regardless, knowing that this would not be an issue after Jack had settled into his new role “Good,” he said. A wry smile appearing upon his face “You have made a wise move in choosing to help us. Your work has already begun but I wish for you to continue tonight during the feeding, you shall plug the girl you have taken up to the feeding machines. I trust that it shall not take long and that you shall do it to the best of your ability.”