Author's Note: I'm a sucker (pun intended) for all things vampire, so this plot bunny was too good to ignore when it popped into my head. This story will be dark and its themes are definitely adult so read ahead with caution. The characters in this story are not related to my characters from the fics (Remember How We Forgot, The Dark I Know So Well, and Build Me up From Bones) despite having the same names.
Feedback of all types is appreciated! I hope you enjoy
October 22nd 2077
I adjusted the brim of my hat so it shielded the bitter autumn wind from wiping at my face as I walked through the streets of downtown Boston. The golden glow of the setting sun reflected off the perfectly-polished windows of the Boston high rises. Bodies jostled against mine as the mass crowd migrated like cattle towards the subway stations to go home for the evening.
After spending nine months in the frozen mountains in Anchorage, coming home to Boston was still an adjustment I was trying to make. The medical examiner's office for the Boston Police Department was good about reinstating my job back to me when I came back from my tour of duty, but I also think they were just glad to have another knowledgeable and capable hand in the morgue to deal with all of the bodies that Eddie Winter's gang was sending in.
On top of that, the anti-military sentiment amid the bubbling tensions over the whispers of a possible nuclear strike made me sometimes thankful that the majority of the people I saw during the day couldn't talk my ear off about the Red sympathizers or about possible - no, eminent - nuclear annihilation. Out in the streets, however, American citizens put their first amendment right to use. Protests, pogroms, sit-ins, and strikes were a daily occurrence and today was no different.
Protest signs reading MAKE LOVE NOT WAR, WE'RE THE REAL ENEMY, UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU FOR AMERICA'S DESTRUCTION were bouncing erratically as the protestors hooked themselves together in a human chain and blocked the entrance to the subway. Another group of people, working men and women still clad in their business suits and dresses, were yelling insults at the protestors and throwing rocks and mud at them.
"God damn Red-lovin' bastards." A tall man spat in between puffs on a menthol cigarette.
The woman he was with tutted her disapproval and they both crossed the busy street as cars and buses honked their own consternation.
To compound the situation, a group of draft dodgers and military men who had gone AWOL were chanting in the street while waving the American flag with a large black anarchist symbol spray painted onto Old Glory.
"Hey. Ho. We won't go! Hey. Ho. We won't go! Hey. Ho. We WON'T GO" chanted the military deserters.
"You fucking traitors!" A drunk man snarled as hurled a beer bottle over the cars. The bottle shattered, a large man wearing the insignia of a corporal on his chest fell like a ton of bricks, and his compatriots crossed into traffic to attack.
Bodies jostled against me as some people ran to see the fight while others fled in the opposite direction. I was lost in a sea of fear and anger.
I tried to push my way towards an alleyway to escape but the crowd prevented me from cutting through them without getting trampled. Just then, a hand tugged me from the crowd and pulled me around a wall and beneath a fiberglass bus stop awning.
"Alright there?" A voice asked.
I glanced up into my savior's face and saw his golden-hazel eyes were red-rimmed and sleep deprived. Wrinkles from stress and grief permanently aged his face and although he couldn't be more than thirty or thirty-five, he was greying at the temples. It was a face I had seen quite a bit of over these last couple of weeks.
"Thanks detective." I said.
"Call me Nick. Please." He grunted. "No need to stand on occasion for my account."
He offered me a cigarette which I politely waved off. He light the stick and took a few deep drags from its end before exhaling the smoke out in a long whoosh like a car exhaust.
"Seem's the whole world's goin' crazy." He observed. "The protests have been getting worse it seems. Our cells are filled with people who seem to be lookin' for any excuse to go off on this or that."
"That's war for you." I remarked. "Never really changes I guess. The same kind of thing happened with Vietnam, Korea, Desert Storm …" My voice trailed off and I sighed.
I heard indistinct yelling and the shrill whistles from the local police trying to keep the peace. Cars honked even louder as though the force from their horns on their own could blow the protestors away.
"You doin' okay there Doc?" Nick asked.
I met the other man's gaze and smiled but it was hollow and thin. "It's been a busy day at the coroner's office. I'm dead on my feet if you'll pardon the pun."
Nick swallowed thickly and looked down at his shoes. At first, I didn't understand how I had offended him, but then I felt like the biggest ass in the world.
Just last week, the commissioner for the Boston Police Department and the BADTFL closed the book on the Eddie Winter's case. A week before that, I personally attended to the body of Jennifer Land: it was a single shotgun blast to the abdomen if I remember correctly. Nick Valentine had come in to corroborate her identity and left when Captain Widmark and a security guard dragged him out of my lab kicking and screaming.
"Hey…I uh. I'm sorry. That was a poor choice of words on my part."
Nick shook his head, "It's the least I deserve after what I did to your lab. Don't worry about it."
He coughed and shifted uncomfortably beside me. He chewed on his lip until it was slightly swollen and red.
"Are you doing okay?" I asked, echoing his question to me.
"No." His voice was dry and emotionless. "But the Captain's got me seein' someone. Some fast boys down at the CIT are giving me a brain scan. They say I have PTSD or something funny like that."
I nodded. "I served in the war. I was a combat medic for the 2nd Batttalion, 108th Infantry. I saw good soldiers die right in front of me. Seeing death never really leaves you."
Valentine looked at me. He was half a head taller than I was but his gaze, how his eyes seemed to glow beneath his fedora, made me feel like I was a child.
"I'll never stop thinking of her." He whispered.
"I'm sorry." But I knew my condolence was paper thin.
He cleared his throat, looked away, and sniffled heavily. "So — ah — how's the wife? You have a kid now don't ya?"
"Yeah. Shaun. He's getting big. He'll be ten months old next week. And Nora's doing well. I bought her one of those RobCo Mister Handys for her birthday. He's been a big help around the house so Nora can work from home. I know she misses the drama of the courtroom."
Nick nodded, "And the courtroom misses her. The shmuck they have in her place couldn't sell bread to a starving man."
The detective flicked his cigarette onto the ground and crushed it with his heel. Silence fell between us and the guilt over me going home to my wife while he went home to an empty apartment gnawed at my chest.
"Hey. Why don't you come over for dinner? Nora's making lasagna." I said. "I'm sure she'd love to hear all about the goings on down at City Hall. Being cooped up in the lab all day means I'm often left outta the gossip."
"Well — I — I dunno if —" He mumbled, grasping for an excuse.
"I insist. It's a Friday night and I have a six pack of Gwinnett Stout in the fridge that I've been thinking about dipping into."
Now the detective looked embarrassed, "No really…that's a nice offer but I can't. I — uh — I have an appointment. You know … one of them court-ordered ones."
I caught the innuendo in his voice as well as the chagrin. It was no secret among the Boston Police Department and the Coroner's labs that Detective Nick Valentine was saddled with mandatory psychiatric counseling for the outburst he had in the morgue. I just didn't expect court-ordered appointments to be scheduled so late in the evening.
"A rain check then?" I replied with a smile. "You know. Just so you know there's not bad blood over … what happened."
The larger man sighed, "Yeah. Rain check, then."
The noises from the street had lessened considerably and I poked my head out from the bus stop awing. Half a dozen cops were arresting protesters from both sides; the rest of the mob had scattered to the wind and the sidewalk was back to its usual hustle and bustle traffic.
"Well I think the angry mob has dispersed enough for me to head on home. Take care Detective." I said.
He nodded at me, the embers on his freshly lit cigarette glowed like a small orange star, "Watch yourself out there Doc."
I nodded back and walked down Third Street at a brisk pace. I checked my watch and saw that I had missed the 6:15 train so I'd either have to walk four blocks to Jury Street station or catch a bus for the long trip back home.
The Boston Library sat on my left. It's floodlights illuminated the marble pillars and the banners which advertised their newest exhibition: The American Revolution's Lost Secrets. Patriotic banners hung next to red and blue flags that depicted the profiles of our Founding Fathers. I made a mental note to bring Nora here on Sunday for their matinee hours. I would probably want to blow my brains within the hour, but Nora was the biggest history buff that I knew.
I stopped at a phone booth outside the train station and dropped two dimes in and typed in our landline phone number.
Nora answered on the first ring.
"Hey hon," I replied.
"Hey." Her voice was tight with worry. "Are you doing okay? Are you running late at work?"
"Yeah. A huge fight broke out in the street which made me miss my train. I'm going to cut through the alley and take the subway from Park Street station. I should be home around seven-thirty."
"Okay. Just hurry home." I heard Shaun's squeals and giggles in the background. Nora chuckled, "He knows I'm talking to you".
Daddy's coming home soon sweetie." She cooed.
"Shaun is learning new words every minute it seems. Today he said 'Coddy' I think he's confusing you and Codsworth actually, but Codsworth gets a kick out of it."
I sighed and felt slightly ashamed. "Hon, I'm sorry. I know I've been working a lot. This whole Eddie Winters case is sending a lot of guys into the morgue and the DA is breathing down our neck for the autopsies. And after the —"
"— I know. I know." She replied. Her voice was soothing. "Just get home soon, okay? Now that Shaun's been sleeping through the night, I think we might finally have some uninterrupted alone time."
Her voice trailed off seductively and I picked up my pace with urgency. "I'll be home soon. I promise. I love you."
"I love you too. Hey, maybe while on your way home, you can practice your speech for the Veteran's address tomorrow night so you wont be so nervous."
I groaned but I knew she was right. The Director of the Women's Veteran's Auxiliary had asked me personally to give a speech in honor of the fallen and in support of the men and women who were still stationed overseas as they were having a mass memorial for the men and women who were confirmed dead or who were still missing in action. The affair would be somber, so it was important that I didn't screw it up.
"Alright. I'll practice on the subway home." I promised. "See you soon."
"See you soon, babe. I love you."
When she hung up, I picked up my pace and cut through the closest alleyway to avoid the foot traffic. Nearby, a homeless man was passed out on a flattened cardboard box. He smelled like piss and looked like hell, but he didn't stir from his spot. Then I looked up and saw a man in a white tank top smoking what looked to be crack off a metal spoon. He didn't pay me any mind so I didn't bother him.
Still, I couldn't shake this sense of foreboding. I felt that something bad was going to happen, but I couldn't put my finger on why. Maybe it was because the tall brick apartment buildings rose above me like cliffs. Or because none of these buildings had fire escapes which could provide a quick escape to the roof of a building if someone tried to jump me. Or perhaps it was because none of these buildings looked inhabited but I still felt a presence of something around me.
My quick footsteps echoed off the cobblestones and I felt a prickling on my neck that danger was near. I glanced over my shoulder. I expected to see nothing but what I actually saw was a man; he was tall, average-build, and looked to be about his mid thirties. He was dressed in a tailored grey suit so I assumed that he was another businessman taking a short cut through the city and away from the rablerousing protestors. When I turned completely around to face him, he smiled hungrily and then quickened his steps.
Everything in my mind screamed at me to run, but I didn't understand why. He didn't look threatening. He certainly didn't fit my stereotype of the city thugs that might rob me or assault me and then rob me. But as he got closer to me, adrenaline flooded through my system. I could feel my heartbeat thudding in my head. All of my senses hyper focused on my breathing.
"Do I know you?" I called out to him.
The man smiled again but this smile was cold and calculating. This was a smile of a predator who had set his sights on some prey.
I bolted down the alley. I felt the familiar life-or-death terror that I had felt running through the trenches in the war. I could think of nothing else except escaping. The rest happened too quickly for my terror-filled mind to comprehend.
I heard what sounded like the rush of wind and then I felt a sensation of weightlessness before I was slammed into the concrete and asphalt. My head cracked against the ground and my vision quadrupled. My tongue felt thick in my mouth and the copper taste of blood stuck in the back of my throat.
Then the man's face was in front of mine but it was inhuman and monstrous. His eyes were pale blue and had a milky white film that obscured the cold fire within. They were the kind of eyes I'd see on corpses or cadavers that had sat awhile before making it to the morgue. His face was ethereal, pale, and the blue and red veins that sat just below the skin's surface bulged out. These features coupled with his jet black hair and harsh and angular facial structure made him look like a biblical demon.
It crouched down like an animal. I knew it was about to deliver the killing blow. What would it be? Gun? Knife? Blunt force trauma? When its claw-like hand gripped beneath my chin and turned my face to the side, another thought entered my mind. The concept was so ludicrous and impossible that I didn't believe it.
That is until the monster opened its mouth and sank its fangs into my neck.
My eyes opened and I saw that I was in an earthen room. The ceiling above us was hard-packed dirt but the floor beneath me felt like cheap linoleum. I tried to lift my head to get a better look at my surroundings but the sheer thought of moving sent painful jolts through my entire body.
I whimpered and forced myself to lie still. Although I was still alive, I could have a possible spinal fracture from the physical trauma. I hadn't bled out yet which meant that my carotid artery was still in tact, but the thing could've severed muscles and ligaments in my neck, or worse, compressed my cervical vertebrae.
I was breathing without pain which meant that my ribs and chest weren't damaged, but my pulse was much too fast. There was also an annoying tickle in the bottoms of my feet but I couldn't move my legs. That wasn't a good sign.
"He — Help!" I croaked.
A cruel laugh responded to my plea and I heard footsteps approach me. A metal chair squeaked as the monster sat down nearby.
"How are you feeling Nathan?" He asked. His voice was soft and low. I was surprised that I could even hear it over the terrible pounding in my head.
When I glanced to the left, I saw my attacker's grey suit pants. At his feet was my money, my identification — both my driver's license and military ID — and my loyalty card to Slocum Joe's.
"Is this your wife?" The monster asked and flashed my wallet-sized picture of Nora in front of my eyes. Her hair was pulled back into a fashionable twist, her brilliant blue eyes seemed to sparkle, and her lips were twisted into a coquettish smirk.
"Nora…" I rasped. My throat was on fire and I desperately wanted something to drink.
The monster chuckled, "She's quite the looker. You've done well for yourself, friend." He then threw the picture on the ground with the rest of the contents in my wallet. "I might just pay her a visit after I'm done with you."
"Please don't hurt her." I rasped. "I'll g-give you wh-whatever you want."
The creature sighed in annoyance. "You have nothing that I want that I can't take from you by force. If I have the inclination to go after your gorgeous wife, then I will. And I'll make you watch as I drain the life from her body."
His threat was meant to be horrifying but I was a practical man. Unless I got medical help and quickly, I'd be dead within a couple of hours from either blood loss or shock. His threats meant nothing to me, but I worried that he would make good on them and hurt Nora.
"Please don't hurt her." I begged. "If you want to kill me, then kill me. But don't hurt her."
He laughed but his voice held no true amusement. His voice was cruel and cold.
"You'll be dead in five minutes. But let's not rush it. These next few moments are my favorite part."
The blood in my veins grew cold — either from fear or from my circulation slowing down due to the blood loss. The monster moved closer to me and knelt by my head. I tried to turn my head to catch a glimpse of this psycho; I'd be no help to the cops as a corpse but I'd be dammed if I left this world without looking my enemy in the eye.
"Tisk tisk. Don't be too hasty, pet." His hand stroked my cheek like I was his lover, but his touch was ice cold. I had felt that same uncanny coldness before when I pulled corpses out of the freezer to transport them to a mortuary for embalming and their burial. I shivered despite myself.
"I haven't had someone quite like you in a long time. The anticipation of what's to come is part of the fun." His hand traveled from my cheek to my forehead and he brushed my hair off my sweated forehead.
Although his hand felt unnaturally cold, my gut clenched in response when he touched me. I couldn't explain it nor could I control the wave of arousal that had suddenly taken me.
His hand trailed down across the bite in my neck and the pleasure spiked with an aching pain as his fingers touched the wound. The pain. The pleasure. Both were intoxicating and I half-whimpered and half-groaned as my body responded.
His other hand traced outside my clothed hip, crossed over my hamstring, and went back up to the edge of my pelvis. My member twitched in anticipation of his touch and shame, fear, and panic washed over me.
"Stop!" I rasped. "Stop, please stop."
He sighed but withdrew his hand, "Oh come now, soon you'll be begging me to take you against this very floor. Your sense of misplaced modesty will die with you."
Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes and I fixed my gaze on the ceiling. "
"Go. To. Hell." I snarled.
In the back of my mind, I could just imagine the cops' faces as they stumbled across this crime scene. They'd find my body ravaged and desecrated by the whims of a sexual deviant. The rape kit they'd perform would discover that I was forcibly penetrated. If I was lucky, they'd find this pervert's semen on me and they'd be able to identify a connection to other attacks.
The phrase 'if I was lucky' rang through my head and shame-filled tears leaked down my cheeks as I thought of the embittered irony behind that statement. Nobody would ever consider themselves lucky to be found dead with a rapist's DNA on them. Nobody except a coroner for the Medical Examiner's office who knew that the existence of DNA was the best way to track down a murderer.
But what would Nora think? What would she do when she found out her husband had been violated in such a horrific way?
I must've dozed off or passed out because the next sensation that I felt was the cool air tickling across my broad chest. My shirt was nowhere to be seen but I felt a sharp pain slice across my left pectoral muscle. When I glanced down, I saw the monster's dark hair hovering over my skin and I felt his tongue licking the blood from the fresh wound.
My member, now fully erect, pressed uncomfortably against my inseam. I wanted to beg him to undo my pants and completely strip me down. The very material the pants were made of felt unbearable against my ultra-sensitive skin. Dammit, No! This type of arousal wasn't natural. He must've slipped me a drug. Ecstasy perhaps or GHB.
"Please. Just let me go. I promise that I won't go to the police. I just want to go home." I whispered.
"It's too late for you to go home Nathan." The monster replied, sounding almost bored. I heard his lips smack as he cleaned the blood … my blood … off his index finger only to scratch me across my other pectoral just below my nipple and feast on the fresh blood that flowed there.
Once he had his fill, the monster rose to his feet and undid his silk dress shirt with practiced hands to reveal a firm and well-defined chest beneath. Although the man was slight and wiry, he had experienced some hard work in his life. His body was clearly that of a man who was accustomed to doing manual labor.
Next, he unbuttoned his dress pants and slid the fabric off his slim hips and down his legs. I audibly, wantonly moaned when his own erect member came into view. I wanted nothing more than to touch him and to bring him to climax. I had to. I needed to. It was my duty as his thrall.
Thrall.
That word that was meaningless to me mere minutes ago rang in my head and I understood exactly what it meant. The knowledge was instinctual. I could feel the connection between us, it was weak but it was undeniably tangible like we were physically tethered by a rope.
"Ah, I can tell from your expression that you're already putting things together." He grinned.
When he moved towards me, my body yearned for his touch. I wanted to feel his ice cold hands feel every aching inch of my body. I wanted him to touch me, to caress me, to bite me. My mind, however, screamed at me to fight back. The animal instinct to survive roared against the oppressive arousal that overtook my body. It was a battle of wills and my mind was losing.
The monster settled himself on the ground next to me like we were lying in a bed. His bare leg draped across my thigh and he pulled me into his chest like I was a small doll. His pale hands were full of dirt and my dried blood and he gently kissed my shoulder.
Pleasure bloomed across my skin from that small kiss. I fixed my eyes on the earthen ceiling as the monster's kisses became more incessant and frequent. He rolled into my body and swung himself on top of me so he was straddling my hips and then descended to my neck once again.
He bit into my flesh and I moaned shamelessly as the pain from the wound and the pleasure from his touch mingled together into something incoherent.
This shouldn't be happening, I thought feverishly. This couldn't be happening!
But as his caresses moved across my chest and down to my hips, I felt my arousal jump in anticipation. The feeling of numbness and lethargy from the excessive blood loss and the raw pleasure from this monster's molestation made my stomach churn in disgust. I whimpered in my helplessness as I felt his fingers undo the button on my pants and push the fabric down to finally release me.
"NO!" I moaned weakly as his hand began stroking me from base to tip.
"No, please." I begged.
I couldn't move or thrash. My head swam from the pleasure and from the blood loss. Then as soon as it had started his ministrations stopped. My engorged member sat painfully hard against my thigh and I felt my heart thumping uselessly to pump enough blood through my body whilst trying to sustain my erection.
"You're an extraordinary creature." He purred and laved his tongue across my abdomen. "Do you consent to be mine?"
"N-NO." I screamed and the strength in my voice surprised me. "F-fuck no."
The monster hissed and his clawed hand dug into my inner thigh. The wet, copper smell of blood filled my nostrils and my vision tunneled from the pain.
"You will be mine." He growled. "Otherwise your wife can take your place instead."
His finger twisted into the muscle and I knew that if he slit my femoral artery, I'd bleed out in half a minute.
"Le-eave Nora a-a-lone." I wailed.
"Then agree to be mine." He growled.
My skin felt hot and my guts churned. My heartbeat felt like it was fluttering in my chest like a stunned insect.
Nora's body appeared in my mind. Her beautiful dark hair damp with her own blood. Her throat was ripped out and she lying naked on the kitchen table with her legs splayed having clearly been abused herself. Shaun, our beautiful son, was dead and lying inert in his crib. The image looked so real that I didn't dare consider that it was fabricated by this monster's devilish arts.
"NOOO." I wailed and weakly thrashed. "Alright. A-a-alright. I'm yours. Just don't hurt them."
The monster chuckled, "Good boy."
I saw the monster's deformed face through my tears. His milky blue eyes burned like cold fire as I felt the last warmth in my body drain away. He smiled at me; his white fangs were tinged pink and his lips, chin, and tongue were crimson from my blood. He was truly a demon from Hell.
He bit into his wrist with a sickening crunch and shoved it to my lips. I was too weak to fight him but I pursed my lips and tried anyway. The overwhelming smell of copper clouded my brain and I felt his blood burn as it dribbled over my lips and down my cheeks.
"Drink!" He snarled. His fingers, still slick with my blood, forced their way inside of me and found my prostate. I gasped at the sensation which allowed him to shove his wrist into my mouth.
When the first drop of his blood slid down my throat, I climaxed. I moaned, writhed, and pushed against his hand to achieve a deeper penetration. I needed him. I needed this monster more than I needed life itself. In fact, I needed him more than I needed to live.
"That's it pet." He cooed.
With each greedy swallow, I felt the tether, the thrall, between us solidify into something incomprehensible. I was his now. Only he would provide for me. Only he would be with me. Only he would love me.
I barely registered him withdrawing his fingers from me, but seeing him pull his wrist from my lips caused me to weep.
"More…" I begged through my tears. "Please."
"Not yet my pet. Just listen."
We both fell silent. I could hear my heart struggling to pump in my chest. It sounded sluggish and then fell silent altogether.
The monster looked at me with wonder while I looked back at him in abject horror.
My heart had stopped but I was still conscious. This wasn't medically possible, but then the entire room seemed to collapse in on me.
Then I felt nothing but pure pain.