Vlad woke up strapped to a chair.

It felt a little like the old dentist's chair Renfield had kept in the school for when their fangs were giving them trouble. Instead of a tooth drill Vlad could hear chattering voices around him, and something that sounded like the clattering of cutlery. A light was swinging lazily overhead, with such a glare Vlad immediately shut his eyes again.

His head was spinning like a bat in a blender, and his limbs felt heavy. Someone had tied his arms down with what felt like fabric straps; enough to keep a breather down, but for Vlad and his newly-regained powers they were as strong as strawberry laces.

With his eyes still closed, he tried to take in the situation. He could hear three heart beats in the room with him, two of which seemed to be standing beside him.

'You know, it looks a bit like a friend of mine,' said a woman's voice.

'Oh yeah?' replied a man on the other side of Vlad's chair.

'Yeah. If it had a slightly longer nose, and longer hair, and darker skin, and a bit more podge around the cheek area...'

'So, not similar at all then...'

'No, they are. It's something about the eyes...'

'They're shut.'

'Eye lashes then! They have a similar angle.'

'You're not making any sense.'

'Rob, have you finished cleaning those? It'll wake up soon, then the fun can begin.'

'You're not meant to enjoy doing this,' said the man, his tone rather flat. 'This work is necessary...'

'Blah blah blah, for the benefit of the human race, blah. It's just an excuse to inflict some pain on these vile creatures.'

'Marie, the Slayer's Guild has learnt a lot of valuable information from dissecting these vamp..'

Dissecting? The word sent shivers rippling down Vlad's spine. The room was blurred as he opened his eyes to try and see where the bats he was and what they were doing to him. Two slayers at the end of the chair came into focus, each wearing a pair of freshly ironed scrubs.

The pair of scrubs called Rob looked over as Vlad tried to sit up. Vlad met his gaze and offered a 'what in heaven is going on' look. The man just went back to cleaning a rather nasty looking set of instruments.

The woman stopped to peer at Vlad for a moment, then went back to laying needles on a tray.

'You're right. It doesn't look anything like her... Poppy has brown eyes...'

'Wait, it was a woman you were talking about?'

'Oh brilliant, it's awake!'

The third heart beat came striding into view with a dramatic flourish of her white coat.

'So this is the Chosen One! I've been trying to persuade them to give it to me for ages! This will be fascinating.'

He eyes were scanning Vlad's face and body, analysing every part of him like a butcher deciding which part to start chopping.

'Why now then?' Marie asked.

'The warden mentioned it. Something about an increase in his powers, and we've finally found the part of the vampire's brain that controls them. Before the last vamp popped his clogs we were making fantastic progress!' Her eyes flashed as they met Vlad's. 'I'm hoping this one will last a bit longer.'

Vlad blinked, keeping his face as neutral as he could. 'Who the heaven are you people?'

Marie turned to look at him, disgust seeping out of her expression. 'Be quiet.'

Vlad complied, instead having a quick tug at the bindings. He only pulled enough to make them stretch slightly and not completely break. None of the slayers knew he had his powers back yet, and he wanted to keep it that way. Sitting up as much as he could, he saw the door, only a few paces away. Amazingly it was open.

'Keep still,' the doctor said harshly, and all of a sudden a flash of purple light filled the room. Vlad cried out as white hot pain shot through his body, and when the light had faded a smoking burn had been left on his hip.

'They'll be more off that if you're not quiet.'

Vlad clenched his teeth. The UV beam of light had left his clothing untouched, but a red stain was starting to spread slowly underneath.

'What are you...'

Another beam of light, this time directed at his arm. Vlad winced, but kept his mouth shut. There was no point trying to reason with them; they obviously didn't consider him a person. Vlad had lived his whole life knowing that vampires were hated by most people who knew about them, but the way these slayers were treating him was something else.

'Is the equipment ready?' the white coated woman asked.

'Yes, and the monitors are on standby.'

'Excellent. I'm going to nip upstairs and get the forms, then we can begin.'

The doctor swished out of the room, leaving her two bored looking colleges behind. Marie's eyes slid to Vlad's, who was trying to size her up. If he could get one of them close enough to hypnotise, he could get passed the other one and make a dash for it, then find the way into the normal part of the camp, then get past the guards, and the fencing, and security...

Vlad's internal burning flame of hope quickly started to fade; it sounded impossible.

But then again, it was better to be staked trying to escape than die strapped to a chair.

Marie's gaze flicked away from Vlad to the switch by his bed. Vlad saw Rob open his mouth, but before he could speak she had flicked it and a quick beam of light had shot down, hitting Vlad on his thigh.

He didn't cry out this time, but winced as pain burnt through his leg.

'Marie, what're you doing?' Rob hissed through his teeth.

The smirking woman ignored him. 'Did that hurt, bloodsucker?'

Another flash of light and smoke rose again from Vlad's body. He tried to hold it in, but his body jerked with the pain. Marie's smile broadened.

'It picks out a place at random,' Marie said, her eyes dancing. 'It could be your hand next, or your chest... or your eyes!'

She flicked it again and the beam of light shot into the chair above Vlad's shoulder.

'Oh, close that time.'

'Marie, you're not meant to do that,' Rob said, who had moved around the chair to stand between her hand and the switch. 'It's against regulations to...'

'You're such a stake-joy, Rob. Have a bit of fun for a once.'

'Doctor Drew will want to know what you've been doing.'

'She won't care. She does worse to them anyway.'

This was as good an opportunity as any, and Vlad took it. He snapped his hands and feet out of the bindings before the two slayers could even look round. One side of the chair was clear, but instead he swung over to the side they were standing on and gave them a good hard push. They toppled into each other, sending metallic implements flying everywhere.

Their outraged cries filled the air. 'He shouldn't be able to do that!'

Vlad leapt swiftly over them, but was brought to the ground with a smack as a hand closed around his ankle. He had overestimated how powerful he was. He still had barely any super-speed, and his head was woozy from the drugs they'd used to knock him out.

Vlad span around on the floor and tried to kick away. Marie had a firm grip, and she was holding on for dear life. She pulled herself up and on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

'Rob, quick! Grab the tranquiliser!'

There was a scuffling behind her as Rob tried to get up, and panic zipped up and down Vlad's body a few times, having a little internal scuff of its own.

'Get... off... me.'

'I won't let you get out, leech.'

'I'm getting out, you sick-minded freak. There's no way I'm letting that woman dissect me.'

'I'm sick!?' she said, her voice shrill. 'You're very existence is sick. The fact that I'm even touching you makes me want to hurl.'

She had a tight grip on Vlad's throat, her other hand grappling with Vlad's arm, with his other pinned under her leg.

'Rob, quickly!'

Vlad let out a snarl, and summoning all his strength shoved Marie to the side. She made another grab for him, but he was too quick and delivered her a sharp blow to the eye that sent her sprawling across the floor.

Then he got up and ran.

'He didn't bite you, did he?'

'No, he just punched me... Rob get after him... go!'

Vlad was in the corridor and sprinting for his life. He heard a scuffling behind him, but no sound of immediate pursuit.

He could see a door at the end, with thankfully just a handle to pull to get out.

'What!?' screamed the doctor's voice as Vlad slipped through the door and into the courtyard outside.

He was out, but was still trapped. It was now or never, and as he ran across the concrete yard he could think of only one person who could help him.