Chapter 4 – Memories

I should have been terrified. Every instinct I had should have been screaming at me to turn around and go back, but as I made the somewhat familiar descent down the long ladder into the dark basement dungeon, I strangely felt no fear. On the contrary, I was buzzing with eager anticipation, and I honestly wasn't sure why.

The drop off from the ladder to the ground was much shorter than what I remembered from my faux dream I had at twelve, and I landed on the basement ground with ease.

The cool musty air of the dungeon sent a chill up my spine, but I still wasn't scared. It wasn't until I approached the cell that my nerves finally spiked, but it was for an entirely different reason than I would have expected. It was too familiar. Despite needing to discover the truth, I knew without a doubt that my life would never be the same again. Whatever the vampire was going to tell me would change everything. I knew it deep inside my gut, and it was devastating just as much as it was necessary. I loved my dad, but after that day at the arena, I was certain I would never look at him the same again.

"Hello?" I tentatively called through the bars. "Vampire?"

There was no answer, and as I took another step closer, I realized the cell was empty, which caused a sinking feeling I wasn't prepared for.

Perhaps he didn't survive the arena after all.

The very idea of my phantom hummer being defeated, evoked an emotion in me I didn't quite understand. He had always seemed to be there. For as long as I could remember, that humming had lulled me to sleep. Even when I didn't understand it, I was both scared and comforted, and I wasn't sure how I felt thinking I would never hear it again.

I sat there for a moment and tried to process my emotions, but it seemed pointless. How could I process something I couldn't even comprehend?

After a few minutes, I decided to distract the helpless befuddlement in my mind, by taking some time to truly look around the space. My dad had said there were other monsters there. Apparently our family owned several monsters, but then, where were they? Surely we didn't lose all of the matches that night, right?

There were definitely multiple cells in that dungeon. Some even had what looked like bones of dead animals on the ground, which I could only assume was the monsters' food. As I continued to look around, I was feeling more and more nauseous. The conditions in there were disgusting, and it only made my resentment towards my father grow. How could he treat any being that way? It didn't matter if they were monsters, they deserved better.

I walked the entire length of the dungeon, and when I reached the furthest point, I was unsurprised to see another elevator. I was worried about being caught by one of my father's goons, but I couldn't turn back at that point. I needed to figure out where they kept the fighters. I needed to figure out every aspect I possibly could about that place.

Inside the elevator, I was, once again, stumped as to which of the multitude of buttons to press, however these buttons were labeled differently than the previous elevator I had been in. The one on top was labeled G, and the one below was labeled with a letter D. Below that there was an L button, and then five buttons labeled with a C that seemed to count down from C5 through C1. Then finally at the very bottom was a button labeled A.

The button currently lit was the D button, therefore I concluded it stood for dungeon, which then would stand to reason that level G was the ground floor above me, and A stood for the arena. I had no idea what L could possibly be, or what the C stood for. It was all very confusing, but I wasn't about to stand there for a moment longer, so I randomly pressed the C5 button, and hoped for some understanding on matter.

The elevator quickly descended, and when it stopped, I waited for the doors to open. I tentatively exited, and was absolutely shocked by what I found. It was a long open hallway with railing on one side, and cage, after cage, after cage, on the other. I looked down over the rail, and I could clearly see the other levels that presumably made up the other C's. It became painfully obvious that each level C held what looked exactly like prison cells. Five floors of prison cells, and these cells were far from empty.

My presence must have been detected by the inmates, because suddenly shouting and whistling commenced. It echoed off the walls, making it so loud that it was almost hard to hear the thoughts running through my own head.

"Holy shit," I mumbled to myself slowly.

Between all five floors, there had to have been at least a hundred cells. It was sick and twisted, and absolutely maddening. I knew they couldn't possibly be all of my family's personal fighters, so I concluded the cells held the visiting fighters as well, which I suppose made sense. They couldn't exactly keep them with them in their hotels, but it was surely a shocking sight to see.

I took a few steps closer to the cells, hoping to get a better look at the monsters, but I was surprised by the very human looking faces staring back at me. Each cell only held one fighter, and as I walked past them, I was shocked by their behavior. While most were being loud and acting animalistic due to my presence, some remained quiet and still, and wouldn't even attempt to make eye contact.

I looked into every single cell on that floor, and then I took the staircase that led down to the C4 level. I took my time to look into all of those cells as well. So many faces. So many emotions.

When I went down to the next level, I was even more shocked to see they were all women. Many of them twisted their features to scowl at me, but not a single one of them tried to speak, and I was beginning to wonder if they were even capable of it.

Level C2 was also full of women, but when I went down to C1, I was shocked to see just how very different the prisoners there were. Not humanoids whatsoever, the prisoners on level C1 were beasts. The strong buzzing sound of electricity filled that floor, and the snarling and growling was almost deafening. They made even the worst horror films look like sweet children's stories, and for the first time since I saw that werewolf in the arena, I was scared.

I could feel my heart racing, my muscles tensed, and my back had even unintentionally arched against the cold cement wall behind me. It was almost painful to stand there and look at them, but worst of all was the stench. The beasts smelled beyond repulsive. Like the rotting flesh and putrid bile of a wet dog that rolled in his own feces. It was by far the foulest thing I had ever inhaled, and it honestly made me want to retreat far more than my fear.

I couldn't stand there for a moment longer, so I sped back towards the elevator, but just before I reached it, the sound of my name made me stop dead in my tracks.

It was only a whisper, as light as a breeze on an autumn day, and it was drowned out by all the loud rumbling of the monsters around me, but somehow I still heard it.

"Bella," I heard again, so I slowly walked back the way I had just come from. The beasts were still growling at me, but between two snarling werewolf cells, there was one that I must have overlooked as I raced by. It didn't hold a beast, but another humanoid – a humanoid with glowing eyes.

"You," I said quietly.

He was standing far back in the shadows of his cell, so it was hard to see his face, but there was no mistaking his eyes. "Vampire… come closer so I can see you," I told him as strongly as possible.

He took one step towards me, so that the light only barely touched his face, and I couldn't help but gasp. The vampire was inhumanely beautiful, but what shocked me most was his familiarity. I knew him, far beyond his humming in the night or the brief distant glimpse I got of him the night before in the arena. I knew his perfect face just as well as I knew my mother's, I only wished I could recall the memories that went along with his image.

"Bella," the vampire repeated, and my heart sped even faster.

"How do you know me?" I asked him.

His head cocked to the side eerily. "Has your father been messing with your mind again?"

Another loud growl rumbled from the next cell over, making me jump.

"Easy now. They can't hurt you here," the vampire practically cooed.

"How do you know me?" I asked again.

"We're friends," he said unexpectedly. "Or, at least, we use to be. I haven't seen you in a while."

"How long?" I asked shakily.

"How long have we been friends? Why, I've known you your whole life," he said slowly. His tone was quiet, almost mincing, which made his words sound sinister like some mysterious villain in a movie. "You use to bake me cookies, and we would play tea party," he added unexpectedly. "You don't remember? No, I suppose you wouldn't. Not with your father's mind scrambling drugs. Of course, you were a lot smaller then. Only this high." He held his hand out flat just below his waist. "I do owe you an apology for when you came to visit me a few months ago. I never meant to frighten you."

"A few months ago?" I said confused.

"In the dungeon. You had a flashlight, but then you screamed, and one of your father's goons heard and grabbed you. They don't want you visiting me anymore."

I bit my bottom lip, and then shook my head. "That was over five years ago."

"Really?" he replied, seemingly sincerely surprised. "Well, time definitely slips away down here. But now that I'm looking at you, you've definitely grown since then. You resemble your mother now."

"My mother?" I questioned. "You knew my mother too?"

"Of course. She was also my friend. She was the one who would bring you to see me."

The vampire moved slowly back into the shadows, but my eyes remained locked on him. I reflexively reached for the bars that separated us, but before my hands could make contact, the vampire reappeared. He moved like lightning, and he was suddenly only inches away.

"Don't touch them!" he hissed at me, making me freeze in place. "The bars are electrified. The shock would kill you."

I slowly brought my hands back to my body, and held them against my chest for a moment. "I… I didn't realize. Thank you for warning me."

"I don't think Renee would appreciate me letting her only child be electrocuted to death," he mumbled while walking back into the shadow once more.

"Do you know what happened to her?" I questioned carefully. It didn't seem logical that a prisoner would know such a thing, but for whatever reason, I just somehow knew that he did.

"Yes," he replied casually.

"Where did she go?" I asked anxiously.

"What did your father tell you?"

"That she left with one of his partners."

The vampire moved back into a beam of light, and grimaced. "He's a liar. You know that, don't you?"

I swallowed roughly, and then hesitantly nodded. "Can you tell me the truth?"

"That all depends. Are you here to keep your promise to me, Bella?"

I shook my head with bafflement. "What promise?"

"Your promise to free me. The last time we talked, you promised you would help me get out of here. Is that why you've finally come?"

"I… I don't remember promising you anything," I said flummoxed.

"That doesn't matter. A promise is still a promise, or have you become a liar like your father?"

"You just told me we haven't spoken since I was a small child," I argued. "You can't hold me to a childhood promise that I can't even remember."

"You use to be my friend, Bella. You said you would help me, and now I need that help more than ever. You coming down here today isn't random. It's fate. I have to get out of here tonight."

"You must have been one of my family's fighters for a long time," I questioned as I considered his request.

"Since before your father was born," he confirmed.

I raised my brows. "He's fifty years old."

"So I've been here longer than that," he reiterated.

"Wow…Okay, so what's the urgency then? Why do you need to get out of here tonight?"

"Tonight I'm scheduled to fight one of the biggest werewolves known… I'm not concerned really, they're easy enough to kill, but then tomorrow night I will be forced to fight in the so-called championship match. I heard it's against a vampire. I can't win that fight."

"But, aren't you a vampire?" I questioned.

"Am I?" he countered strangely.

"Aren't you?" I retorted.

He stared at me for a long moment, as if he was trying to dig deep inside my mind in an attempt to unscramble the mess my father made, but then he sighed. "I can't beat this vampire. I need your help, Bella. If that's not why you're here, then you should probably just go before you're caught."

I huffed. "You're eyes aren't glowing anymore," I said, just realizing that fact as I was looking into his now golden brown irises.

"They only reflect light the way cats' eyes do," he explained with annoyance. "You use to call me a lion because of it…which you clearly don't remember. Are you going to help me, Bella?" he asked impatiently.

I bit my lower lip. "How? Where would you even go? The creature hunters would just bring you right back?"

He scoffed. "You mean those inept wannabe soldiers with taser guns? I know how to evade them."

"Then why were you caught in the first place?" I asked condescendingly.

"I was young, and far less experienced then. I have learned from my mistakes and I guarantee it won't happen again."

"If I let you out, you'll just kill people."

"I don't necessarily need to kill anyone to survive, but it sure feels good to take out those who have wronged you. I can promise you this, I would only kill people who deserve it."

I shook my head slowly. "You would get caught. In fact, I'm shocked I haven't been caught in here yet. Where are the security guards?"

"Getting everything ready for tonight's games. They're confident in their security system here. No need to have constant men guarding the area."

"Aren't there security cameras in here at least?" I asked while looking around.

"The particular electric frequency necessary to hold us in interrupts other electrical devices. Cameras are useless here. It's a wonder they have figured out how to keep the lights on."

I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously. "Why are you down here instead of in the dungeon where you were the last time I saw you?"

"Tournament. They bring me down here to be closer to the arena, and for a little socialization," he said condescendingly. As if in cue, the monster in the next cell growled ferociously again.

"Why are those werewolves not in their human form?" I asked, desperate to know everything I possibly could.

"I'm no scientist, but I would guess that they have had an adverse reaction to the synthetic medication they use on them. They're stuck in that form permanently now. It actually makes them stronger in the arena, but they're a bitch to transport."

I raised a brow at him, and wondered if he really actually just made a joke.

"I can sense your hesitation in helping me," the vampire continued. "But I know you ultimately will. You're a good person... like your mother."

"And you're a manipulative monster," I retorted, certain he only kept bringing up my mother as a way to get to me.

"That may be true, but so is your father, and I would imagine you are too, even if you don't realize it."

"We're humans, not monsters," I countered.

"Humans are the very worst of the monster species in this world," he disagreed. "At least most other creatures kill for survival. Humans kill for greed or sport. It's sick, really. Just look around at what humans have done."

"And from what I heard, vampires did the same to humans back before the revolution."

"Again, that was for survival. Humans are vampire's prey. Do you condemn lions for killing gazelles?"

"No, but you can't blame us for trying to protect ourselves either," I argued.

"This goes far beyond protection. Even you must admit that. Vampires are intelligent beings, surely we can control ourselves if given the chance. Let me prove it to you. Open this cell. I won't kill anyone unjustly."

I shook my head slowly. "I'm sure you feel every human in this facility deserves it, especially my father. I can't just let you kill him."

He smirked at me. "Your father deserves a fate worse than death, and whether you set me free or not, he will get his. I promise you that."

I bit my bottom lip, and slowly continued to shake my head. "Why would I believe your promise?"

"Because you do. You trust me, even if you don't understand it. Your mother trusted me too, and she asked me to protect you. I can't do that from in here."

"Why would I need to be protected?" I asked warily. "Humans are in power. I'm safe as long as the other monsters are locked away in here."

"Power is like spokes on a wheel. Vampires are on top, then humans, and then werewolves….Well, never werewolves, they're not that smart. But it's only a matter of time until vampires take back over. It's the way it's always been. I will protect you, Bella. Let me out."

"How can vampires take over when they're all locked up?" I questioned.

"There are still plenty out there in the wild. They will rise up."

"It's been hundreds of years," I disagreed.

"That's nothing to the immortal. It will happen sooner than you think. In your lifetime. These creatures will get their revenge, starting with killing everyone in this facility. I will protect you. Now let me out before it's too late!" he demanded, getting increasingly more agitated. His perfect features twisted, and his eyes raged, and suddenly I became frightened.

I reflexively moved to take a step back, but before my foot could even flatten against the ground behind me, I was grabbed and pulled forward. I didn't even realize it was the vampire who had reached through the bars to get ahold of me, but my face was being firmly held within an inch of the highly electrified bar.

"You will see!" he growled at me. His other hand reached through the bars as well, and the moment it made contact with the skin on my cheek, I was catapulted into some kind of violent vision. It completely consumed me so that there was no seeing through it, and it truly felt as real as the world around me.

In the vivid daydream, I was being terrified by what I could only describe as evil personified. In my mind I was a petrified child, trembling in a cold concrete corner, as that horrifying being approached. I knew it would be excruciating, but I chanced a look at the figure anyway, and the familiar image of my great-grandfather's younger face was raging back at me. And then there was pain. So much pain. I felt it all over my body, and I screamed out through the darkness.

As quickly as the image had hit me, it disappeared the moment the vampire released me from his grasp. I fell to my knees as the intense trembling followed me out of the vision and invaded my reality. The sound of my heavy panting drowned out the rest of the monster noises around me, and the pulsating, fear induced, rapid blood flow racing through my body was making me feel dizzy.

"I'm sorry," the vampire's voice murmured after a few moments. "I just wanted you to see. I didn't intend for it to be that intense. I'm out of practice with my vision sharing."

I took a deep breath, and then looked up at the vampire looking down on me remorsefully from behind the bars.

"What was that?" I asked between my heavy breaths. "It felt like…"

"A memory," he confirmed.

"But… not mine. My great-grandfather… I had only ever seen him at that age in old pictures."

"It wasn't your memory. You weren't born yet… Your grandfather was only a baby then."

"It was your memory," I concluded. "But how did you put it into my mind?"

"It's a gift I have. It's not as useful as it use to be."

"You… you were just a ch-child?" I questioned, feeling so much more confused than ever before.

"The real monsters aren't the ones in these cages," he told me gravely. "Please help me, Bella. You are the only one who ever would."

"I…"

I was still reeling from what I had just experienced, and I had no idea what to think or say, but it quickly didn't matter. There may not have been anyone guarding that area, but someone was definitely coming.

"I..I.." I repeated, feeling lost while looking at the defeated looking vampire before me.

"You need to get out of here. Don't let them see you," he warned me. "There is an auction tonight. You'll have the opportunity to sneak back. Please come set me free. I need to find my family. Bella, please…"

The sound of someone approaching grew louder, so I looked back at him apologetically, and then ran for it.

Somehow I easily found my way back to the manor, and even managed to evade people as I snuck through more crowded areas. I went right to my bedroom, locked myself inside, and collapsed on the bed crying. The pain from that vision wouldn't leave me, and it was almost too much to take. It honestly made me sick, and after taking a couple hours to decompress and consider absolutely everything, I knew exactly what I had to do….