Numb darkness was what I enjoyed for the next few hours. I wasn't where I had gone down, either. The doctors in the hospital said that I had suffered a concussion and was required to stay in the facility for a few days. But my mind was not on my own recovery; I had to know what happened to Antonio and my other classmates.
Jordan and Jacob were both in a critical state. Had it not been for one of our fleeing group calling the police, paramedics probably would have been too late by the time they found us in the morning. They arrived, as I later realized, to three youths downed on the spot, sprawled around the area not too far from each other. My head had been bleeding and I had a few visible bruises, but for the most part the ambulance focused on the other two.
Both of them had been pale and near lifeless when the personnel could get to them. Jordan, the one who had rivaled himself against me, had traces of blood around his neck from when I had shoved that creature off him. As bad as it seemed, Jordan was not nearly as damaged as Jacob had been. For when I saw the former in his hospitalized state, he was conscious, though still very shaky, and could at least give me a wobbly thumbs-up. However, the latter was still out cold by the time I was able to see him. The doctors had done their job: the kid was still breathing. A wave of relief fell over me when I heard his pulse on the heart monitor. Though I was quickly shoved from the room by concerned nurses, I was glad my inability to protect Antonio had not been Jacob's death.
Antonio had not been found. Neither at his home nor as a corpse on the street. I cursed myself countless times for my failure. How could I let that monster take him! The poor kid hadn't hurt anyone; he didn't deserve this murder! And he was most assuredly dead, from seeing what had happened to the others. But where were they when he returned to the scene of our loss, the others who had been with us at the time? The cowards didn't even turn to look back to see what fate we had fallen! They could have been able to stop Antonio from coming back!
I was still under bed-rest, so my time for wandering was too short for my liking. My family had come to see me, but I hardly noticed they were there. The tale of our tragedy for the most part fell on deaf ears, whether it was my parents or the police to find a suspect. They would not believe a monster had attacked, bitten two of our comrades and left the rest of us shaken. Nevertheless, though, they took the description of the beast and deemed me too frightened at the time to see the scene the way it truly was. It was not fear, I pleaded for them to understand, what was there had been true: something had taken us down; no mere man could have done the same!
Useless. A deaf-mute had more credibility now. The doctors determined that Jordan and Jacob were infected with a virus that was transmitted by some diseased, drunk fool. Such an ailment caused the body to expel most of the plasma in the blood by either regurgitation or open lesions. A semi well-known epidemic that had now reached our small suburb in morbid fury. An excuse cooked up by many doctors throughout the area, no doubt, in order to hold in the former scientific impossibility that a creature could have taken us for our blood.
Though I was not able to fully accept it, either. Something that wasn't human, doing that? It was nearly incomprehensible, but what else could it have been? A mere man couldn't have taken down three judo students! And I, the instructor, found out cold and bloody. As I lie in the hospital that night in near-stunning shame, retrained to the bed due to my own weakness, I could only hang my head in frustration. I caused Antonio's death! He returned for me because I fell to that bastard! His blood was on my hands alone!
Were it not for the IV in my arm supplying me with god knows what, I would have stormed around the room or found something with which to hurt myself. Never before did I think of doing that, but my private guilt drove me half into madness. After a time, perhaps I would have driven the needle deeper into my arm, but my embarrassing discomfort with syringes halted me for at least a few minutes. My other hand gripped my head, as if in attempts to stop my violent thoughts and simply foolish conclusions. In moments of struggle, my shoulders began to bob from fighting off the angry, lonesome tears. They were standing in my eyes, pleading to be let out from anguish. An angry pride chastised the notion, thinking it weak and stupid. It must have been minutes before I realized I was not alone in the room. Indeed, not even alone in my very bed.
How long had the bastard been there? He was sitting so closely to my right side that we could touch, and still I did not notice him at all. And how did he get into the room in the first place? Visiting hours were long over; half the hospital was asleep!
In my surprise, I attempted to jump into a fighting position while minimizing my vulnerability while lying down. My movement was stopped by the man's hand enclosing my arm in somewhat of a snake-like sting, catching my arm before I could even begin to twitch.
"If you fear needles so much, mon amour, then do not try to punish yourself by stabbing your arm with them in trying to stop me. I mean no harm to you," His voice angered me, caused my hands to turn into fists, but I could do nothing as he finished, "I only wish to talk."
"Do you think I care, you murdering load of shit!" It wasn't a question now, but an angry whisper ranting my formerly smothered hate, "I'll get the doctors in here, get them to put you away! You'll pay for what you did, you son-of-a-"
"I wonder," he contemplated aloud, purposely cutting me off authoritatively, "what would happen if a wandering soul cut your dear friends' plasma IV. How long do you think they'll writhe until they're finally left for your doctors to find cold, with you helpless to-"
"What do you want from me?" I whispered, flinching at his threats, near paralyzed by his complete ability to do exactly what he described, "Why are you here?"
His hand rested on my face in such a tender way, I yanked back at the caress in shock. He pulled me back to him, never breaking his gaze with me and never losing the threat in his eyes.
"Would you like more blood on your hands?" He asked, as if reading my previous contemplations with ease, "Keep still, and keep quiet."
His face came closer to me, and despite his warnings, I could not help but tilt my head away from, him in, fear? An emotion I almost never felt; it conflicted within me. As if to help my resistance, his fingers guided my chin up, to gain my throat expertly. I could do nothing to fight the man now, holding my comrades' well-being in the balance.
"Have you never felt helplessness, mon amour?" He spoke against my neck, causing the grit on my teeth only to increase, "Have you never been at the mercy of another man?"
I struggled to keep my resolve, "Why are you here? Why did you kill Antonio!"
It was a question that came from within me, held in from the moment I saw he was in the room. Why did he take an innocent boy's life! Even the assault on Jordan and Jacob paled in comparison to the child's murder! Why did he do it?
The man seemed to hear my internal war, my inner struggle with Antonio's death. But he still offered a smile of triumph. Bastard!
"Why did you kill him! Answer me!" At the moment, I could care less for my own safety. I am ashamed to say I could care little about my other classmates, either; my only concern was the truth. I demanded it.
His fingers ran down to the base of my throat. It was such a loving touch; how I hated it! I grabbed his wrist, sick of his games. Our faces were close but I didn't care. When our eyes locked, he could see my unbreakable determination. "Answer me." I repeated, regardless of whether he had been listening the previous time. The expression on his face did not change at all.
"He was such a beautiful boy. He loved to try to get away from me. Screamed for help, screamed for you countless times through the ecstasy…" I grabbed his front in anger, unable to control myself. He continued nevertheless, "He still does. Calls you name in desperation, begging to be released."
"He's alive…" I mouthed, the news too amazing. My hand involuntarily relaxed, letting the clump of his shirt free that I had held before with all my might, "He's alive?"
"I lied. What reason would I have for telling you the truth in the first place? It was too much fun watching you squirm."
"Give him back." I ordered, my vice-grip tightening to him again, "Give him back, before I-!"
"Before what, mon amour?" His temper was shown for the first time. A hand snatched my wrist and wrenched it from him without an effort. "I could kill him right now, and it would make no difference to me. I keep him for entertainment, but if you go against me or piss me off any more," One move and I was under him, under his mercy, pushed down against the bed by my neck, "I'll destroy you and everything in your life in an instant."
"Where is he?" Only slightly did I soften my tone.
"Why would I tell you that?" He replied evilly, knowing all too well he held all the advantages and all too well I would do exactly what he ordered to get him back, "Where's the amusement?"
My glare could do nothing against him now, but the gaze did not cease. His eyes glanced down my arm, the one with the damned needle, and placed his hand on it softly. The mere touch made me flinch, not because of him but my utter submission to a syringe. Shame fell over me.
"Your love for him is deafening." he taunted, touching the injection up and down, causing a tensing of all my other muscles.
My focus was askew; why was he doing this! "What are you talking about?"
"You deny it but know it's true. It's almost sickening." He feigned lamentation, gripping the needle in his hand, "You should love me."
Before I could resist, the man tore the IV from my arm. A miserable yell was then muffled by the beast's powerful hand, smothering my face to the extent that only a whimper was released. But now that the leverage against me had been extracted, I slit through the air with my hand and grasped his throat, clenching it shut with a thought. His struggle was futile, for even though he lay half on top of me, in the next moment I had pacified him beneath me, my form closing on his menacingly.
"I wonder how much pleasure it will take the boy to start calling my name in ecstasy, begging me not to stop." The desire was strained but still an all-too-clear threat. My hands were around his throat tightly just as assuredly as his were around my arms, trying to get me off. However, his taunt had only increased my rage and causing my fingers to close down on his windpipe all the more.
"You won't get a chance to find out, asshole." I whispered through clenched teeth, "Not if you're here; not if I kill you first!"
A fist flew into my solar plexus and I nearly fell from the hospital bed in shocked anguish. His eager hands were quick to catch me, though, providing a center of strength in my defeat. My arms wrapped around my stomach as my lungs felt like collapsing. He sat up, I felt it, though I couldn't look up to see him if I tried. What a strike! I had never felt such full-bodied pain; it was as if my muscles ceased to function!
His hands wrapped around me. "You should remember what you're dealing with. You're out of the world of humans and trapped within the hell of immortals. Until you die, that is."
"Are you insane?" I wheezed, scoffing at his bullshit even as I was in his will, "You're human!"
The man laughed; it sent chills through me in my doubt. He lifted me up, though I still didn't have the strength to do so myself.
His voice, his breath was cold on my ear, "You have two choices, mon amour." Our bodies were snug against each other, "You can agree to seeing your tender lover, and submit to everything I demand when we're there, or," An arm snatched the back of my head, and shoved me to the side of his face, "I can kill him, leaving the death on your hands and to await my inevitable return for you."
I could hardly breathe; I could hardly see. But I could hear my opportunity to help Antonio. My throat was near closed by then, but I was just able to voice my resistance: a doubt that had arisen soon after he had offered his assistance.
"I can't believe you; how do I know he's alive?"
"Either you take my word or leave him to truly die, mon ami." He smiled, for he knew I could not argue, could not resist.
"Take me." I pleaded, releasing myself to his mercy. My head dropped in submission.
I think he hit me in the back of the head, just as before, and powerfully on my already softened flesh from my concussion. Not even did I feel myself slump before I saw the darkness. However, it could only have been ten minutes at the most, because I awoke all too soon for my exhausted body. And all too soon as well, for I lay in the arms of the beast, his eyes digging into mine.
"For one so supposedly masculine, mon amour, you sleep like a woman." It was as much of a threat as admiration. His smile hardly held any malevolence. He let me down as a gentleman might, and let me stand while I regained equilibrium slowly, "Beautiful, and yet you hold the peaceful expression of perfect helplessness."
"Just because you held me for a while doesn't mean you can talk to me like you haven't done anything!"
"I've already told you: I haven't killed him." he assured me, though I couldn't care for his words. The man knew this, as I knew it, because he motioned with his hand in a careless way over to the left of the room. Details that I had not seen were still ignored by me, for I followed his gesture and found my endeavor at last.
He was a still form upon the bed but it didn't matter. I ran to him, stopping at the edge and calling him awake. After a few seconds, he moved, groggily, opening his eyes to me but not truly seeing until a moment later. Antonio, my valued friend, almost jumped on me in pure fear, his body trembling horribly. I held him pitying his ragged state: his shirt had been completely removed, bruises covering his arms as most assuredly as the twisted man's kisses had. Filled with anger, I held Antonio's head to me as I turned to find the bastard sitting comfortably in a loveseat, watching our interaction with a smug smirk. My glare could not be rivaled.
"How beautiful. An amazing reunion."
"Shut up."
I ignored his presence as I walked to the door of the suite, the one my mind now registered. Before I could get to it, however, the beast spoke.
"Why do you believe you can get away from me?" His smile and taunting tone was gone. He was completely calm.
"Because we're leaving." I replied in an unshakable and authoritative voice.
"Our agreement."
And completely in control.
"Forget it. I said it to get you to bring me here." My honor was nothing here, not against this…thing. I reached the handle of the door, but stopped from a call at my back.
"Justin, don't do it!" Antonio pleaded, his voice losing proximity as he approached me.
I turned the knob, not listening to my junior's judgment. To my surprise, it was not locked. What was he warning me about? The door opened, gaining our freedom with more ease than my sense had thought it logical.
The man was there.
Somehow, in some supernatural way, when I opened the door, he was there, in front of me. In a near invisible move, he shoved me backward and into the room, causing me to fall entirely to the ground. Antonio panicked, running to the man, snatching his shoulders and begging him to spare me. By the time the boy got to him, I was up, voicing my own rebuttal.
"There's nothing you can do to keep us here!" I yelled, hands in fists, "We will leave!"
"Justin…" Antonio whispered, trying to get my attention, coming closer to me, "Don't go against him; you don't know who and what he is!"
"He's some sick freak that has been screwing with us for too long. I'll end this!"
"No, you don't understand." He gripped my arm from the side, "He's not human!"
I gave him an impatient and annoyed look that showed my complete disbelief in what he told me.
"You must start listening to him, mon amour." The man suggested fluidly from the door frame. Ever so slowly, he walked inward, coming toward us with utmost control, "The boy tells the truth."
"What the hell are you, then?" I asked angrily.
"Why, I am the Vampire Lestat."
Translation note:
Mon ami: My friend
I hope everyone enjoyed it. Reviews are welcome, and thanks for them. :)
