The Strain:Another Season
Episode 6

Captives
Chapter One

East Berlin Autumn 1989

In the feeding dungeon, Sandra lies on her back, hands by her sides, still presumably trying to keep as much of her body in contact with the heated floor as possible.

No more fast food has been consumed and only an inch or two of water indicating that only an hour or so has passed.

The door creaks and Eichhorst enters as the naked vampire. That is to say no makeup, wig or prosthetics. He still wears a robe but nothing else, besides a triumphant "This'll teach her" smile.

Sandra reacts with a long, loud hissing gasp and a 'Dear God!' Scrambling to her feet, she presses her spine into the back corner in a much more appropriate terror reaction.

Eichhorst's smile widens.

Then Sandra stops, relaxes and takes a second, longer look. 'Eichhorst?' she says, unsure.

She walks towards him as his smile fades.

'It is you,' she says. Then she whispers to herself, 'It was all true then.'

She raises her right hand slowly to touch his face. It is not a lover's caress – it looks like she's going to put curious fingers in the internal nares.

But, now scowling, Eichhorst catches it, pulls the arm straight and with his index and thumb nails slices a centimetre wide ribbon of flesh from the inside of her right arm from pit to wrist.

She pulls back from the pain and stiffens. She makes a noise like a kind of reverse hiss through her teeth. It's the noise a paddling teenage boy makes as his testicles hit the English Channel but he doesn't want his mates to think he's a cissy – and especially doesn't want any watching teenage girls to think that. It's definitely not the agonised scream it should be.

She glares at him. And he looks, first expectantly, then disappointed at her.

'It's not enough is it?' she says through gritted teeth.

Eichhorst looks frankly at her, puzzled.

He moves to make some more slices on her abdomen but Sandra extends an interrupting finger.

'Let me clarify our negotiating positions,' she says. 'Using a sexual analogy – there's "rape", which is what you want; there's "enthusiastic mistress", which is what I'm proposing…'

'And if I refuse to compromise?' He seems intrigued by the novelty of the situation. 'If I continue to force the issue - what do I get then?'

'Bored hooker,' she says tartly.

'Show me,' he says, almost amused.

'Ooh, role play…' says Sandra archly. 'I love it! But there'd better be steak in it for me.'

She puts all her weight through one hip and places a hand on it. 'Fillet as well – not boot leather.' she adds. Then, assuming an air of complete indifference, she affects to chew gum with her mouth open and looks Eichhorst up and down scornfully.

Grinning broadly, he takes the other arm and makes the same double slice. This time she's prepared and takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly.

'That'll cost ya double, pal,' she says in a totally different accent.

Eichhorst is fascinated and goes to reel her in with the winch. She sighs exaggeratedly, swaggers to the block and lies down - still chewing - and stares at the ceiling. He stays where he is and waits interestedly for a few seconds, to see what happens next.

She sighs again and tilts her head backwards to look at him. 'I'd get on with it if I were you, sunshine. You're payin' by the hour.'

Eichhorst depresses a lever and the chain is released. Sandra gets up and raises an eyebrow.

'That was fun,' Eichhorst says. 'And not your first time, I suspect. What does Enthusiastic Mistress offer that's better than that?'

'Oh, Eichhorst,' she teases. 'Did you lose your imagination when you lost your…humanity? Can you really think of nothing you can do with a willing partner that you couldn't with a victim?'

Eichhorst's demeanour flicks a switch and, instantly angry, he pulls her close and, grabbing her throat with a bloody hand, he lifts her in the air.

'Don't test me, you brazen …' he snarls, resorting to German for the necessary saltiness. 'You've no idea what I can do to you. I am not a nice man. And you're just a little girl - nothing like this has ever happened to you. I was three times your age before I even ascended. I've fought in wars – in trenches. I've done things you can't imagine – seen things I'd never imagined. And I have an imagination stretched by decades of Dreverhaven's company. You know about him? Yes, yes I can see that you do. The estimable A230385,' he says, smiling with nostalgia. 'He would have included every detail.' He shakes her like a doll and makes to throw her against the wall.

'Go ahead,' she says defiantly. 'Hurt me. Each time you cut, or bruise me, break my bones or tear my flesh there is blood loss. You'll soon run out.'

He pulls his hand back to strike her but she doesn't flinch. He pauses, thoughtful. 'I will soon run out,' he concedes and, dropping her back on her feet, he starts to lap up the excess blood from her arms, fangs retracted.

'You can do anything to me. That's right, anything. I have an imagination too,' she pants, her eyes flickering to the stinger, working on her arm. 'And I will never fight you. Because I will not only let you – I'll join in. You're not the only freak in this room.' She raises her eyebrows for emphasis.

'Yes, I'm young,' she continues, warming to her subject. 'But I'm adventurous - and more experienced than you think. I've dated older men. And the last one opened my eyes to all kinds of dark pleasures. I love Corey but his tastes are a bit…traditional. It won't be cheating. He told me once I should do anything I can to survive.'

'You're right, nothing like this has ever happened to me before,' she continues. 'But, you know what, Mr Eichhorst? Nothing like me has ever happened to you.'

Her breath quickens still further as she goes on. 'You can go out right now and find any number of victims. But hasn't the taste of fear become a little boring?'

She pauses for effect. 'I will be a participant in all of it. Bring. It. On.'

She's so worked up by this point, that she goes to kiss him but he wheels away without noticing. He perches on the block with the attitude of a casting director at an audition and says, 'Elaborate.'

She walks slowly towards him, smiling. She places her foot on his shoulder and nods encouragingly. 'Fear is all that other vampires have ever tasted. You can be the first to experience something new.'

'Go slowly to start with though, please,' she adds. 'You're not ready for all of it.'

And, either because he's stunned by what she's suggesting or because she's asked instead of demanded, he tentatively strokes his stinger up her leg to drink from the femoral artery – much higher than before and she makes a sound he hasn't heard for more than forty years - a gasp of pleasure. He looks up at her, astonished. She is looking back at him from beneath half-closed eyelids, her head tilted back, lips slightly parted. She smiles a slow smile that says, 'Yes, I know fully what door I've opened and you won't have to drag me through it.'

As the stinger begins to draw, they each moan softly just once, his body jerking very slightly with the rhythm of the stinger, eyes closed.

After only a few seconds, she starts to sway and lose her balance. 'No. Stop,' she cries. When he doesn't cease immediately, she repeats, 'Stop it. Please!' urgently tapping the stinger.

He reluctantly disengages and she staggers away, very pale. The artery is still pumping away and she collapses. Eichhorst is there in an instant, putting pressure on the wounds and slicing his finger to push a bit of white inside.

He waits, with concern but not compassion, and she eventually regains consciousness.

She groans and smiles weakly. 'You'll have to learn some control before we take that any further.'