The Dhampir Apocalypse

By Tobias Glass

Closer

The two dhampir surfaced inside the main sewer drain of Jackal's fortress, panting and in pain as they looked for a place to get out of the water that nibbled at their skin.

Rayne pointed out a small ledge in the corner of the small chamber, so they made a hasty swim for it. They climbed out of the sewer water and stood, sodden and odorous as they looked for the way out. There it was! A grating in the ceiling that was set into the floor above, Rayne shot her harpoon at it, and managed to wrestle the heavy iron thing out of the indentation in the upper floor it was set in. "Hold on!" she said, and Itsuke grabbed onto her tightly. She retracted the harpoon and they swung upward and outward, Rayne using the extra weight to propel them out of the hole.

They were in a holding cell, Itsuke saw, complete with weak-looking humans sitting in the corner. On the other side was… Thomas! He was bound to the wall with heavy manacles, though they had some sort of spikes in them so that he couldn't escape. "Go. It's a trap," he said weakly.

"Very good, my two little ones," a voice from the other side of the bars said. They whirled around, and there was Jackal. His eyes were sparkling maliciously as he watched them react with shock and hatred, though he mistook it for fear. "Run!" Rayne shouted, and they made a dash for the grating. Jackal raised a hand, and the heavy piece of iron slammed back into place with terrific force. It wedged into the hole so tightly, neither of them could get it out.

With an angry whirl, Rayne was there in front of Jackal with her blades through the bars and in front of his throat before he could step back. "Let. Us. Out, Fuckbag," she said with such deadly calm in her voice that everyone in the room knew there would be no refusing her. The humans in the corner gathered a little closer into their corner. Jackal, however, stepped calmly back from her blades. "Not until you learn some manners, you coarse little dhampir," he said, disgust in his voice. He turned to leave, and Rayne, out of sheer rage, shot her harpoon at him. He spun around and caught it in one hand without the slightest change in expression. Giving it a jerk, he yanked Rayne against the bars. She cried out, and he said, "Stay here and talk things over amongst yourselves. When you decide where your loyalties lie, I'll be just a shout away." With that, he trod quietly through the wall on the other side of the dungeon.

Rayne let out a roar of rage, and attacked the bars with a rebound kick. The titanium bars merely gave a sharp clang, and didn't budge. She slashed at it viciously with her blades, but they only left nicks on the gleaming surface. Panting, she turned around. Itsuke had gone over to Thomas to try and free him from his bonds. The two struggled with the tough manacles. Rayne sighed and went over to help them with their burden.

Taking the manacles off had been harder than expected, due to the fact that Thomas was weak. He had lost a lot of blood. The two dhampir worked furtively with their blades, and with a little help from the harpoon blade, they managed to lower him from the wall. He lay there for a few seconds while his wounds healed, and slowly leaned up against the wall, breathing heavily. "He needs blood," Rayne said quietly.

Itsuke looked around helplessly, looking for something one of them could pour their blood into to revive him. There was nothing to be found.

One of the humans came forward, clearly shaking. She was a young girl, with lank black hair and fearful brown eyes. "We-- we couldn't help but overhearing your plight, and thought we could help. I'm Carla. My companions are Wanda, Glen and Charlie." With each name she called out, the others nodded.

"Can one of you possibly help our friend here?" Itsuke asked plaintively. "He needs blood badly, but he can't drink it from the source. He needs a cup of some sort." One of the three other humans, Glen, produced a dirty-looking tin mug.

"We are the main course of the vampires that live here already, so we'll just give a bit of each of our own," Carla explained. They each reopened a small wound in their wrists, and poured it into the cup. When it was three-quarters of the way full, the cup was passed to Thomas, who drained it immediately. He licked his lips and sat up straighter, the four humans looking at him apprehensively. He smiled reassuringly at them, and stood up.

"Thank you, for giving me your lifeblood to help me survive this injury. How can I ever repay you?" His polite English/Scottish accent reassured them, and Carla smiled at him.

"Well, you can start by getting us the hell out of here!" she said, laughing softly. The other humans nodded and smiled nervously. She looked Thomas in the eyes, suddenly serious. "My friends and I will die soon if we don't escape. We're just not strong enough to keep being drained over and over and still live. We need to get out. Will you help us?" She looked up at Thomas with pleading eyes.

Thomas grimaced. "If we can somehow get out of here ourselves, we can defeat Jackal and end this whole situation. We can end human slavery. But we need a way to get out of here first. That's where you came in," he said. "If you know your way around the fortress, then we can escape and kill that bugger Jackal once and for all."

"We will do whatever we can," replied Carla. "Now, let's see about getting out of here…"