Corruption of Destruction
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. The Twilight Saga and all characters involved are the property of Stephenie Meyer. If you want a larger disclaimer, refer back to the first chapter.
A/N: Beta'd by LucyLu74, pre-reader duskri123.
Chapter 10
Rompe tu mente
Break your mind
BPOV
Ok once again – before you read this chapter *READ THIS* there was a huge disclaimer at the beginning of this story; this chapter comes with a warning, no joke. There is some bad stuff this chapter, if this isn't your cup of Joe, stop reading.
The lessons continued and they felt never-ending. It turns out that Carlos is the strongest vampire in the whole compound, well except for me. I beat him in a couple little arm wrestling and mercy contests, but he had me beat in the strategy department. I have watched him carefully. Although he seems to be an unimposing person, he is the real deal. The man's man.
We continued to train in that circular room for hours that turned into days. First Ronald, then Carlos. Ronald has an ability that he is constantly trying to use on me, but since I'm broke it doesn't work. He won't tell me what it is; only that it has never not worked on someone. He seems very frustrated.
We train, we feed. They have started to feed first and then try to get me to not make such a mess. Maria stopped in on the last lesson in feeding. She has forbidden me from asking their names again. Only human, she states. I have now fed on six humans.
Ronald informed me yesterday that I was a week old, a week. Time is an odd thing to a vampire. One moment seems to be so long, but the time as you look back has gone so fast.
I've been told that over the next several days I will meet everyone in the compound and train with them in some form or fashion. Carlos chuckles frequently about my training, he loves to slap me. It's degrading and he knows it. I haven't pushed back very much, I need to find my place here and I'd like to do it in one piece. He has given me insight frequently as to how Maria decides punishment. And they say that punishment for female soldiers is always worse than the men.
Ronald very delicately explained the process of being dismembered which sounded like a very unpleasant experience to say the least. I wanted to avoid that kind of activity.
After an easy balance test from Ronald, where I had to stand on one foot, hold a plate on a stick and then hop around the room as quickly as I could, he held up his hand indicating for me to stop as we heard an approach. They had taught me about scents some. He waited for my assessment.
"The scent is a regular at this compound, female, but I have never met her." I assessed. I could smell her shampoo, it was honeysuckle scented and her soap was green tea infused. I could also smell the nail polish she had very recently applied, but her scent was a sweet floral scent. I did not know her.
A soft knock on the door gave me the moment I needed to prepare to meet a new member of the team. I felt nervous. The team accepting me and training me would determine my survival. Ronald gave her an acknowledgement and the door opened and in came a beautiful young woman. She was mid-thirties, with dark hair and a small frame. Her almond shaped eyes gave you the impression that there was Asian in her lineage.
"Hello Isa. I am Jasmine. It is a pleasure to finally meet you." She said in a soft voice that I didn't recognize. I have heard many voices filter into this chamber of the vampires in this compound but not hers. I held my hand out to her and in the most delicate manner possible, shook her hand.
"Hello." Was all I could say. She smiled wide in a happy manner, one of the first that I had seen here. It was a genuine smile.
"I am here to show you around the compound. Show you to your real room and get you some proper attire. Ronald and Carlos have given you a passing grade for your first series of lessons." She turned serious as she looked me up and down. "Then we will all go for a run." There was a warning in her tone. I nodded getting her meaning.
She held her hand out in invitation and when I grabbed her hand she quickly pulled me out of the room and down the hallway. The compound was a series of corridors. All mud houses with clay roofs. My senses were sensitive out here in the hallway. The sights were all new and the smell of humans could be detected although I could hear no heartbeats.
Jasmine laughed loudly as she watched me take in my surroundings as we turned down another long corridor. She stopped abruptly at a small green door. "This is my room. If you should ever need me, I'm usually in here when I'm not otherwise occupied." I nodded. She smiled a warm smile again and then turned abruptly around to the opposite side of the hallway to an unfinished wooden door. "This is your room." She held her hand out to me to proceed.
I took a deep breath as I looked at the doorknob. It was dented and rusted, well used, but sturdy enough to work. I reached out and gently tested the durability of the knob and gripped as gently as possible and turned with painstakingly slowness until it moved the tumblers inside and I heard the latch move, releasing the door. It creaked open slowly and stale air and dust that was inside assaulted my nose and eyes.
I stepped inside looking around. The room had not been used in many, many years. It was once a male vampire's room from the looks of the layout. A small cot with a nightstand was placed on the side of the room opposite the window that was tall above the floor. The window must have been at least fifteen feet from the floor. There was a small rod that was connected to the window and secured to the wall. Jasmine flitted into the room paying no mind to the dust floating in the air that I had stirred by opening the door. She turned the handle on the rod and the window noisily creaked as it opened.
"Let's let some fresh air into this room." The light had barely filtered through the dirty window but when she opened it, it was like a beacon of light that spotlighted the desk and chair that sat on the adjoining wall.
There was a small closet with the door slightly ajar and a bookshelf with several books on the shelves. Many were missing but they looked well read.
"You can clean out what you want and decide how you want to decorate. I'm usually the person who finds things that we want." Her tone was teasing as she said this and she turned with an impish grin as she said it. I looked at her with a smirk and raised an eyebrow. "I like you Isa. You don't babble on and on. Your reserve will serve you well here." She winked and nodded toward the door. "I'll be right back."
She flitted out the door in a flash, leaving me standing in middle of the dirty room. I tried to take in a deep breath only to feel my lungs fill with dirt and dust motes. I should be choking and sneezing, but my body refused to react in the ways I expected. I noticed that the room had an L in the room where it sectioned off to another part, so I walked forward to the area surprised to find a bathtub with a pump, a small stove with a pot, I assume for boiling water and a shelf with boots lined up along the wall. I walked over to the boots, they were for a man. They varied in style from work type boots, to dress boots made of fine leather, to moccasins to a more rustic looking cowboy style. I counted nine sets of boots, all too large to fit me. I looked down to my feet. They were caked in dirt as were my legs. The burlap dress had been repaired several times by Ronald but resembled a bad bag with strings holding it in place.
I walked over to the tub and looked suspiciously at the pump. I raised the handle and pushed down lightly feeling the pressure. The first stroke pushed out more stale air and dust but you could smell the water. I pushed again and it coughed up some water, sputtering out air and water splattering my legs instead of the tub. I started to pump the handle up and down pumping out more water and less air with each stroke until finally I had a good stream of water coming out of the spigot into the tub filling it half way already.
I stopped pumping and the water trickled to a stop and the tub stood with the water. The water was not particularly clean as I should have found something to wipe out the dusty tub before filling. Looking around the room I did not see any kind of soap where I could wash my hair or my body and as I started to walk toward Jasmine's room her door opened and she walked out holding a basket with shampoo, body wash, a scrubby, towels, a pair of jeans, shoes, bra, underwear and a shirt. A basket of fabulous.
The smile that broke out on my face hurt I hadn't done it in so long. The words escaped my mouth before I could process what I was saying. "Oh my god Jasmine, you are a gift from heaven in this hell." I put my hand over my mouth before I said any more verbal garbage. Gathering my thoughts as she handed me the basket with a smile. "Thank you Jasmine."
"You're welcome Isa. There is everything you'll need to get yourself settled. We can get a list together of things you want for your room or when you're ready, we can go out together and get them."
I liked her. She made me feel at ease. It was the first time since I became a vampire that I felt like I was drawing an easy breath. I nodded and rushed quickly back to my room to the tub that sat still with water. I pulled the plug quickly and let the water drain, using my hands to stir the water down the drain, getting as much of the dirt down the drain.
I quickly re-filled the tub, stripped off my patched up sack dress and stepped into the chilled liquid. The temperature barely registered against my skin as I tried to ease back and soak. Finding no relaxing relief, I reached over to the shampoo and washed my hair three times as I realized it was filthy. By the time I had finished bathing, I had re-filled the tub four times. After learning the way in which to touch fabric earlier I dressed myself quickly and ran my hands through my hair to remove the tangles. I stood in my room and looked at the surface dirt that covered everything. I walked back to my washcloth and rewet it from wringing it and hanging it to dry, and started to wipe off the desk surface. The clothing that Jasmine had given me looked like something that I would have worn. Skinny jeans, t-shirt, chucks and as I looked down at myself I realized that I had worn this outfit before. A long time ago.
A soft knock at the door pulled me out of my attire musings. I walked over to the door and took in a deep breath and realizing that it was Jasmine I opened the door with a smile on my face.
"They fit you." She cheered. "I wasn't sure of your size. I'd only seen you once and had to guess. You're a couple of sizes bigger than me, so it was a little difficult to judge."
"Jasmine, you outdid yourself. This is perfect. How did you know this is how I like to dress?" Well, at least a few years ago.
"Oh, Maria has a picture of you and you are wearing something just like this in the picture. I thought this would suffice until we can work out a way to get you what you want."
"They're perfect." I replied.
"Part of the group was planning on going for a run. It will be dark in thirty minutes. I was going to show you around some more before we went out. It's a good night for it. Ready?"
So this time when she showed me around the compound, she pointed out other's rooms; names that I didn't have faces for. She did inform me that there were ten of us total in this compound. Humans came in once a week and that each of us were assigned "tasks" to keep the compound running smoothly.
Helen and Miguel both were part of our hunting crew. Miguel primarily went out on the hunt for gifted vampires when Maria was looking for a new conquest, otherwise he went with Helen. Helen usually tried to bring in groups of ten or more. At the beginning we were given an allotment of three humans a week, but once I had reached a year old my hunger would subside and I could function well with one per week.
She provided a lot of information and asked me no questions. This gave me a sense of relief.
She was still new to this life as well. She was eight months old and had been in control of her bloodlust long enough to be assigned the task of gatherer; mainly because she was so fast. They had determined that was her gift. She was super fast. She could steal anything we needed.
She noted that I had met Roberto, he was our resident tracker, and he did it by his heightened sense of smell. He ran the stockade with Stephan and they shared duties of cleaning the compound. She warned me to never keep a rotting corpse in my room. It took a very short amount of time in the heat to have a body begin to decompose and release horrid odors.
My previous trainers Carlos and Ronald were part of the patrols for the compound and a large part of what you would call the maintenance crew. Our compound was rather rudimentary and required very little upkeep but should we have a storm, there were always things that needed to be worked on.
The last vampire other than Maria was Garth. He was an old vampire; One of the few that had survived with Maria over the years. He had an odd ability to knock out a vampire but it took a little bit of time. He was a melancholy man who she was still uncertain of his duties at the compound. She said he was what you would call Maria's second in command. He usually stayed out of sight. But he watched a lot of TV, talked a lot on the phone and wanted to spend some time with me to assess my knowledge of the computer and other various electronic pieces of equipment.
We had gathered in a common area that they frequently went to for meetings and such. One by one six more vampires joined us. Carlos and Ronald joined us looking much different than when we were training; they looked almost handsome in their cleaned up state and nice attire.
"Stop it Ronald." Jasmine chastised.
He held his hands out in a motion and asked "What?" as she turned to look at me.
"Do you feel that?" She questioned. I had no idea what she was talking about. I shook my head no and she turned to Ronald. "Ok, so she's not getting your message, stop sending that shit out."
He held a smirk on his face as he leaned back on the wall as others approached. Roberto entered looking cleaned up as well.
"Are we going somewhere special?" I asked. Jasmine raised an eyebrow but just smiled softly as she nodded yes.
"There is our newbie." I heard from the hallway as I saw two remotely familiar vampires enter the area. I blinked my eyes several times as I realized this was the cowboy/kidnapper vampire from the bar. My human eyes did him no justice. He was of Mexican heritage, thick built with rippling muscles under a compact frame. He stood of a shorter stature than the other men I had met at about five foot six inches. He had a thick head of hair that he had combed back and it reached just a tad at the shaggy stage, a hard jaw line and a dimple in his right cheek when he smiled.
Approaching with him was a woman that I recognized as well. She was also of Mexican heritage with dark hair and sharp features, standing the same height as he did.
She reached out her hand. "Hello Isa, my name is Helen. You make a beautiful vampire."
I didn't really know how to respond to that. I shook her hand and could only mumble out a "Thank you."
"My name is Miguel. It's a pleasure to meet you again." He changed his speech to a slow southern drawl and had a smirk cocked to one side of his face.
We finished with the greetings as the group that had gathered with me now totaled seven.
Jasmine called out a last call for a run tonight. I heard another set of footsteps coming up from behind me and turned to watch the approaching vampire. He was not like the other vampires at all. All the other vampires here held a regal beauty that took your breath away. He was cute. He looked like a puppy that you wanted to take home.
For a man he was more than petite. He made me feel tall. He was very pale with white hair and skinny. The haunted look in his face you could tell he wasn't a child, but his outward appearance looked very close. He rolled his eyes as he approached me and held out his hand.
In a voice that was smooth and mature came "Hello Isa. Name's Garth. Welcome." He smiled his full smile, as if putting on a show and bowed slightly. He had a slight accent that I could not place but was polite enough. He turned to Jasmine. "This is it. Maria and Stephan are occupied." He said with a serious tone.
"Well then, that's everyone. Let's run to Juarez and go to Hotel Villa Manport. Or would you rather go to Salon Mexico?" She looked around the room to the group as no one answered. She looked to me. "Do you dance?"
I laughed. "Not well, but I do, yes." She smiled big.
"Salon Mexico then, let's head out to the Salalayuca Dunes first." She grabbed my hand and led me out a door at the back of this area and we stepped out into the setting sun on the sandy surface of our compound. She turned to me. "Have you run as fast as you can yet?' I shook my head no, she smiled slow as everyone filed out. "Go, I'll give you a three second head start."
I remember riding on the back of Edward as a human. The wind whipping on my face, the sting as the air assaulted my skin. A shiver vibrated down my spine at the thought of Edward Cullen. That was a lifetime ago.
I laid my hand on my chest as I took in a deep breath, feeling my amulet still around my neck I felt the confidence that I wouldn't fall down and make a fool of myself and took off like a bullet shot out of a gun. I could hear the others as they took off behind me but I stayed in front, running south as the lights faded from our compound and the stars started to peek out in the early night sky.
The muscles in my legs felt renewed as I ran. They contracted and released without thought as I pushed my new body harder than I ever had. I concentrated on getting a rhythm and pushed harder. Hearing a tinkling laugh and then a breeze whoosh by me I watched as Jasmine ran circles around all of us. Even with heightened vampire senses she was hard to follow she was so fast. Unless she paced herself to our slower gait she was a blur. I can only imagine to a human that she never even registered as present on their senses.
She ran circles around me laughing as she ran backwards as well, looking back to the group that was quickly falling behind.
I should run. Run away from these people. Could they catch me? Where would I go?
Jasmine. She could catch me. She would stop me from running away. She slowed down and watched me as the thoughts raced in my mind. She never said anything, but I could tell she was watching to see if I would try to bolt. She pointed in a different direction and I followed her lead as we raced across the sandy landscape.
We had arrived at the sand dunes and watched as the moon began its assent over the horizon. The desert held a golden glow as the moonlight hit the sand. I stood on top of a high point and watched as the others joined us about a minute later.
Carlos stepped forward and approached me with a mischievous grin on his face. "Well, I lost that bet. You just cost me twenty bucks little girl." My eyes went wide as I looked around at the group. "I figured you'd try to run the first chance you got." I steeled my look, put my hands on my hips and tried to give him the dirtiest look I could muster but he only laughed. "You don't scare me little missy." He laughed harder as I tried to look mean, which by how the others were now starting to laugh only proved that I wasn't a real threat to anyone, vampire or not.
Ronald stepped up to my side now, grabbing my attention. "Ok, after Carlos has pissed you off, now we want to try an experiment."
A smile crossed my lips as I started to feel everyone's anticipation. "Ok, I'm game"
"I was hoping you'd say that." He looked around as each vampire focused in on the conversation. "Ok, now each of us here has an ability. We want to see if you can block us all." He said in a challenge.
"At the same time?" I asked. I tired to formulate how I would manage that. Did my blocking work that way? I didn't know.
"Let's work on one at a time first and then we'll go for broke, ok?"
"Ok. Let's go."
Helen approached me first with a hopeful look on her face and concentrated hard, looking me directly in the eyes. "Smack your face Isa. Pull back and smack it hard."
I crossed my arms and smiled. "Nope, that's still not working on me." As I remembered her trying to get me to do what she asked as a human and it not working then.
"Ok then, go over and smack Ronald." She said with a small smile and a wink. I walked over and smacked Ronald lightly across the cheek and then turned to Helen and winked. Ronald held his cheek like I had hurt him.
"You did that on purpose."
I could only smile before Helen busted out laughing. "Ok ok, it still doesn't work on her."
So then Ronald walked up behind me and slowly put his arms around my shoulders and kissed my temple. "Let's go over to the other side of the sand dune and fuck." He said crudely. I turned in his arms and before I could smack him he backed away with his hands in the air. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. I figured it wouldn't work, but I had to try."
"What the fuck is wrong with you Ronald?" I yelled as I looked at him. But I could smell Jasmine and Helen's arousal hit the air. He was doing something, but I couldn't tell what.
He furrowed his brow in concentration and tried to step towards me but I stepped back. I could feel the tension from the vampires around me. Then Ronald looked like he became tired and his eyes drooped. What ever he was doing he stopped and looked behind me, growling.
"If you don't stop that, everyone here is going to fuck you. Well, except for Isa." Garth snarked looking a little perturbed.
I turned back to Ronald. "Ok, so what is your ability? I'm confused."
He just turned and walked away, going over to a raised dune and sitting down in the sand. He looked like he was pouting. A couple in the group laughed.
Garth walked towards me and smiled sweetly. "It's never not worked for any of us, so you need to understand how frustrating this is." I just looked at him with a raised eyebrow and crossed my arms with a 'humph' "He's an incubus. You're supposed to be so aroused by him and his mental mind fuck that you want to jump him here in front of everyone. You're the first person here that he can't entice."
I had to lean my head back and laugh a huge big belly laugh. When I looked over at him and his big pouting eyes I could only laugh more. I was gasping for breath and was trying to gather myself when Garth spoke again.
"And now it's my turn." I stopped my laughing fit and became serious as he concentrated on me. I watched as his eyes grew black and his fists balled up tight. I could feel something, like a plink plink plink hitting my mind, but nothing was making it through.
"Distraction!" Carlos called out and he ran up and pushed me back, hard. I fell to my rear end, but stood up quickly while Garth was still concentrating on me.
He finally stopped his concentrated efforts to knock me out as he finally realized that it didn't' work on me either. "Can you protect anyone else?" He asked me.
"I don't know how to." I responded quickly. He looked over to Jasmine and smiled.
"Try to keep me from knocking her out." He said as he turned and started to concentrate on her. I walked over to her and tried to imagine absorbing the mental onslaught he was sending her way but her eyes drooped and she swayed on her feet, falling into my arms as I lowered her to the ground. She looked asleep, eyes closed and breathing deeply.
You should run now. She was the only one who could catch you. They can't get me right now. Run, Run, Run….
"I can see your wheels turning in your mind young one. Don't do it. No one leaves. We're like Hotel California out here sweetheart. 'we are all just prisoners here, of our own device' or 'You can check out any time you like. But you can never leave.' It'll be in your mind forever. This is the only place you'll ever belong. You will love us and you will hate us. But we stick together, we are all we have. We have shit for money, we have a leader who has given up and changed her philosophy on life and changed the way we operate, we have shelter, a steady stream of blood, a process that works and together we make it work. We are all we have in this world!"
Garth took a large breath before he started again on his rant. I looked up at him and could almost feel his frustration. "We've all ran away at one point. And it may not be today and it may not be tomorrow, but you will be found. It's never a good thing to be brought back."
"So you can really never leave?" I asked.
"The only people who have left and not been hunted down and brought back or killed have been mated." Miguel interjected.
"What's so special about that?" I looked at Miguel as he kicked a rock on the ground, arms folded across his chest.
Garth growled. "That's what led to the demise of Maria's last army. She had a hundred vampires strong but she had two vampires that were mated and ran off. She sent a party out to hunt them down and it caused many of the vampires to run who were hiding their mates. The remaining vampires attacked the escaping mating vampires and they killed most of them. They turned on her and anyone who was faithful to her. We narrowly escaped with our lives." He looked haunted, he looked worn. "There were ten of us who survived. When one of our original group mated, we let them go. There have been four of them who mated and were released from the army. Several of them come back and check on the operations here from time to time. They even stay for awhile sometimes."
"What happened to the others?" I asked.
Garth plopped down on the ground as did everyone else watching me as he told the tales of armies and wars, battles and victories, battles and losses. How some humans that have been changed, living in this environment were not made for this life. How they would willingly walk into the fire, how some run away so they would be killed. We couldn't kill ourselves and asking another to do so was taboo.
"Ok, ok. Enough depressing shit." Jasmine interjected as Garth was winding down. "It's midnight and it's time to hit the bars." She pulled out a pouch and handed each of us some money. I mimicked the others and put it in my pocket and followed everyone as we ran some more across the desert to a more populated area.
I could smell the humans and their environment. There was blood and heartbeats, but the smell of urine, food and sweat permeated the air as we approached the establishment. It was a run down shack of a bar. A place that as a human, I wouldn't have even wanted to drive by. But upon our entrance the patrons merely nodded as we entered and then returned to their activities of playing darts, pool, or dancing. It was dark and dank in the building. Miguel approached the bar and ordered a bottle of clear liquid and then returned to the table we had gathered around and poured each of us a glass.
"To Isa not running away and to us not having to chase her down tonight!" He cheered with a big smile looking at me. "Good to see that you passed another test!" He exclaimed as he took the drink of his glass. Everyone else did the same, so I threw my drink back, feeling the burn of the alcohol go down my throat and seep into my body as it paved it's way down to my organs.
"That's me. A model student." I exclaimed. As if I had a chance to be a student.
My dreams. My hopes. My life. Stolen.
We danced until the music stopped and we drank until our money ran out. As the patrons stumbled out of the bar and to their various destinations we walked down the road. The neighborhood looked rough but we looked like an odd ball group walking down the street to a passerby. Two men standing well over six feet tall, one average height and one small, traveling with three dark haired women, all of different ethnical backgrounds. You'd think we were an episode of Star Trek. I followed the group as we wandered in what appeared to be a worse neighborhood. Jasmine grabbed my hand and smiled as she turned us down a particularly bad looking alley. As we walked down the alley there were homeless people lying asleep under newspapers and a small gathering at the end.
A rather unscrupulous man with gold teeth and clothing that looked too expensive turned to look at us. In Spanish he barked at us, "I don't sell to anyone I don't know. Unless you know someone, get the fuck out!"
Jasmine said nothing. She dropped my hand and crooked her finger giving the man a 'come here' gesture. I stood beside her and watched the others in the alley as they watched us. Their heartbeats calmed down as he turned to watch Jasmine. As they spread out, there were a total of 4 men. They stood shoulder to shoulder and started to walk toward us.
I had a moment of anxiety watching them approach us. Two of them were high. I could smell that their blood was tainted. Their hearts were beating strong though and their blood moved unhindered throughout their bodies. They were all about my age. I could feel my bloodlust rise as they walked closer and closer to us. Once they reached about fifteen feet, I stopped breathing. I turned to Jasmine.
"You need to do this fast. I'm not sure how long I can wait." I was out of air and they were a foot closer. I stood still not breathing, but watching them as they approached us with smug expressions.
"Two for each of us honey. You'll be fine. Have you ever had two at once?" She smirked as she said it.
I shook my head no and turned to watch the men as they neared. The two walking toward me were licking their lips and rubbing themselves. If I had been human, I would have gagged. I'm sure my expression showed as much.
"Aw come on sweetie, we'll be gentle. A little fuck for some smack?" The one with the gold teeth, obviously the dealer said to me.
He reached me and grabbed my arm, trying to pull me close to him. I did not move. I saw Jasmine give me a nod and I leaned in towards him, he leaned in to kiss me and I bit into his neck at the same time I grabbed his friend who had tried to walk up behind me.
I pulled on his blood as he screamed as did the other men in the alley. I had him drained and was draining the other human in a matter of moments. I pulled the last of his blood, his heart stopping abruptly. Feeling full and sloshy, I tossed my second meal's body into a dumpster that stood a few feet away.
I watched as Jasmine pulled from her second meal. She savored the blood. She stopped feeding, a small drop of blood on her lip and then winked at me, only to return pulling slowly as the man tried to push her away. His heart beat erratically, stuttering and jumping to a start again. She pulled slower and swallowed the blood.
I would like to do that that way. I can learn a lot from her.
She finished off her meal, emptied his pockets, picked the jewelry off of him and then tossed him into the dumpster. "Make sure you get their money and jewelry. Drug dealers always have lots of cash."
I turned and picked the pockets and took the jewelry off my human, stuffing his goods in my pockets and then tossed his body into the dumpster. Jasmine pulled out a small bottle that smelled like an accelerant and tossed it into the dumpster. A few moments later Miguel and Helen came down the alley quickly, tossing more bodies into the dumpster.
"Torch it." Helen called out as she climbed the wall to the other side of the alley. Jasmine lit a flame and the dumpster lit quickly. The smell of burning flesh filling the area quickly. We jumped the wall and met up with our group on the edge of town.
We started running back to the compound; dawn would be upon us quickly. I wasn't really sure if I had any friends here, but I had some good colleagues. As long as we stuck together, we were good. God help us if we turned on one another.
…xxxXXXxxx…..
We returned to the compound as dawn broke. The group went ahead inside but Jasmine and I sat outside to watch the sun rise. I watched in awe as the orb rose above the horizon hitting our skin. Jasmine was gorgeous. For that moment, I felt beautiful. I was one of the chosen. I was a vampire.
Jasmine was going to take me through more of the compound that she hadn't shown me. We slowly pulled ourselves out of our sunrise stupor and started to wind through the facility. She told me it had been abandoned a hundred years ago and that off and on for the last ninety years Maria and her army had occupied it.
As we wound through the compound we heard a whimper that sounded as if someone was in pain. It was a female. Jasmine grabbed my hand and I looked over to her where she had her hand in front of her mouth showing me the Shhhh signal. She made no sound as she stepped forward toward the door that lead to one of Maria's rooms.
Jasmine laid down on the ground and looked under the door, complete horror crossing her features. She quickly rose, grabbed my hand and pulled me down the corridor. As we neared the end, Jasmine reached a door and began to turn the knob when we heard the command.
"You two, halt!" She stopped turning the doorknob and strengthened the grip on my hand as she turned to look at the man that had given the order.
My eyes scanned the unfamiliar vampire from a distance. His coal black hair was long and pulled back into a tight pony tail. The smile on his face was more of a smirk, as it curved to the right side of his face. He was dressed in a simple white t-shirt, pulled across his chest and black carpenter pants that slung low on his waist, secured nicely by a black leather belt. He wore some kind of loafers on his feet that looked expensive and leather as well.
He wasn't beautiful, he was masculine. He made the word macho man come to mind. He waved his hand for us to come closer. Jasmine's feet were planted on the floor and as I stepped forward she allowed me to drag her forward.
When I started to step forward he smiled larger. "Good to see you doing so well Isa. I am Stephan." When he was about 5 feet from me his scent assaulted my senses.
DANGER DANGER DANGER. Violator, rapist, kill him.
I froze. Jasmine was frozen. She pulled me back, I stepped back. He stepped forward and I could not hold in the roar that ripped from my chest.
He smirked again. "Tsk tsk tsk Isa. That is no way to greet your superior officer."
There are no words for the hatred that burned through my veins. I knew who he was. His cum was on me when I woke from my change. He did something vile to me and I could not have been more thankful that I could not remember it. Only his smell. Black licorice and onions.
He chuckled dark as he pounced on me, smacking Jasmine back. I twisted and shifted my weight to flip him on his back and bit him in his neck as he grabbed my arm, pulling hard.
I could feel the tendons and ligaments burn as they tore under my skin. I sunk my teeth in deeper and bit through his collarbone, pulling out a chunk of his flesh and bones as I jerked towards my injured arm. He swept his arms toward me as I retreated, growling, crouching and snarling as I readied myself in a crouch for his attack.
Jasmine pulled on my good arm, trying to get me to leave the hallway. I turned to look at her frightened expression as he roared in our direction. Jasmine jumped high, pulling me with her as she zipped around him and ran into the room he had come from. She bolted the door and we turned to see our commander Maria in a misshapen, broken state. The room smelled of sex and Stephan's cum. Maria had been aroused, but she was not coherent now. Her eyes were faded to a pale white. Her neck was broken, head lying to the side. As were her arms and her legs. In several places it looked like she had been folded up onto herself. Her arms and legs were behind her body, tied up with steel cable. Her entire lower body had been penetrated so repeatedly that she was covered in cum and split flesh. Even her hair had been pulled back and wound into the cable. Her jaw looked dislocated.
"Oh shit. This is bad Isa. This is really bad." Jasmine whispered as she approached Maria. She unfurled the steel cable from Maria's hair and then from her arms and legs. Gently she picked her up from the bench she had been laid prone on and moved her to the bed. Stretching her out and lining up her limbs Maria lay there still, her body not looking like she was healing.
"BLOOD! SOMEONE BRING MARIA BLOOD NOW!" Jasmine screamed.
The door exploded open and Stephan, Ronald and Carlos entered. We had covered Maria, so she merely looked like she was laying in bed but her eyes told a different story. They were white and glazed over.
"To the hall of punishments for you Jasmine and Isa. You are to never attack a superior officer."
"That is never going to happen." I growled out. They started to approach me and I flanked Jasmine's side. "Run girl, run away from them. I'll be right behind you." I whispered so low, only she could have heard.
She ran, but not far. She was erratic and confused with their tactics. Stephan charged me first, but I slipped out of his grasp and rolled beside Carlos. He turned and slapped me, knocking me against the wall, causing plaster to fall around me.
I looked up to see that Garth had entered the room and was staring at Jasmine. I ran toward her wanting to keep her from being knocked out. I felt my mind expand and pull her into me.
Protect her. Keep her safe.
She perked up and pulled me closer to her. "Oh fuck Isa, how did you do that?" Garth only smiled and nodded to Carlos. Carlos walked over to Ronald and smirked, grabbing him and throwing him at us. I dodged his flying body rolling to the side and Jasmine followed, but my mind couldn't keep her safe. She crumbled and fell. She looked like she was resting. As I watched her fall asleep, Carlos and Stephan charged me, pulling me apart. It was painful, but not as bad as he had described. The open wounds stopped being painful once they pulled my head from my body.
As they dismembered me, I watched the scene like an out of body experience. Roberto entered with a human and took them over to Maria, spilling their blood into her mouth feeding her, she gasped air and her body jerked. Her eye color came back as she drank from the human. Roberto lowered the body and she clamped onto it, pulling and pulling until the heart stopped abruptly. I could hear her bones, muscles and tendons healing, sounding like an old wheel starting up after a long time of rest.
Jasmine was still in her state of rest when Maria sat up. My head was sitting near Jasmine, but I could not see where my body was. I think I felt it behind me.
"What happened?" She asked sounding and looking confused.
Stephan walked up, smile on his face, rubbing the back of his neck as he approached her. "We were having a good time and you, well, you blacked out. These two, charged the room, attacked me. Ronald, Carlos and Garth came to rescue me."
Maria looked to Roberto and nodded at him, he left with the dead human scurrying down the hallway.
Carlos picked up my pieces, while Stephan picked up Jasmine and took us to an area that Jasmine had not showed me. Carlos set me in the room and left as Stephan carried in Jasmine. It was dark and dank.
Stephan set up the room carefully. He perched my head on a shelf where I had a good view of the room, like it was set up specifically for that purpose. My senses weren't in top condition but I'm positive you could smell old spilt venom in this room. Many vampires had been brought here.
Jasmine began to stir. Stephan grabbed her head and pulled her close to him and stared into her eyes, concentrating hard. She tried to fight, but in her weakened state she could barely find purchase on his clothes before her eyes went blank, void of all color. He smiled and turned her head, looking at me while whispering in her ear. "You are going to forget everything you saw in Maria's room. You are going to forget what happened in the hallway and anything of our skirmish girl. Poof." He smiled as her body went limp and she stopped fighting.
Blank stare. Just the whites of her eyes.
I watched as he bent her body, breaking bones, snapping tendons. Twisting and turning her body into a pretzel shaped mess. He smiled at me as he unbuckled his belt, unzipping his pants to pull out his hard member, stroking himself as he watched my expression.
"So you see what you interrupted Isa." He said my name like a snake. "You interrupted my fun. So now you and little Jasmine can take her place. I'm going to let you watch it all, feel it all. Then I'll make you forget it all, just like all the others." He smiled evilly as he took his liberties, "and then I'll do it again and again." I closed my eyes trying to escape from this hell. I heard bones break with his actions. He grabbed my head and screamed at me. "You will watch this Isa. Every minute, or I will bite your eyelids off and you'll have to fuse them back on later!"
So I watched. Everything. Every sick thing he liked to do. He's a sick fucker.
This went on for days, maybe weeks. Time meant little when it's like this. I became very weak from the loss of venom and welcomed the moments in which I lost consciousness. It wasn't like being passed out. It was like being in a coma, or what I imagined what a coma would be like. You can't feel anything, you can't see anything, and you can hear some things. You lose all feelings to everything. At some point I awoke to a broken jaw as well. Stephan's venom filling my mouth. In my state, I couldn't even gag.
Emotions and feelings don't exist in this physical state. Actions are just that at some point, but my memories are catalogued carefully.
Finally after whatever time had been expected of us to be in here Maria arrived with Roberto in tow. They fed Jasmine blood, she drank greedily. Her body so starved that it only served to make her body hurt while it tried to heal. She cried out in pain. Roberto brought her another human before she could sit up.
Maria pulled her to standing and removed her from the room to talk to her. The smell of blood making me so thirsty and desperate that my mind reeled; I was out of it again.
Sometime later Roberto brought me blood. They had laid my body out to fuse it back together. Stretched out on a slab of something. My mind couldn't focus on anything more that then blood they poured down my throat. The healing started slowly. A knock on the door brought in Stephan. Their voices were so low that I could not hear what they were saying, but Maria and Roberto left, leaving me with him. He grabbed my head and stared into my eyes, concentrating hard. As with the others, I knew he was doing something, but my mind was closed to him.
"Your mind is blank Isa." He looked surprised. "Nothing. No doors, no memories, nothing." I continued to stare at him and didn't try to say anything. He got that look on his face again, concentrating. "Stop it! Whatever you are doing, stop!" He growled. He slammed my head into the slab that I was laying on. He growled. "You can't keep your mind from me. I'll wipe you clean." Trying several more times he finally turned to me. "I don't know if that worked or not, but I suggest you keep your mouth shut if not, I'll do it again." I grunted with disgust but couldn't form words yet. "There isn't a vampire here I haven't had Isa. Not a one of them remember anything. I can have or do anything I want here. Just keep that in mind." He slammed my head back again, squeezing my skull. I could hear the bones creak under the pressure.
He concentrated on me for a few more seconds before he walked out the door, leaving me there speechless. I was seething in anger but could do nothing to protect myself or to protect anyone for that matter.
Roberto entered the room alone this time. More blood, dirty blood. I lay on the slab and healed. This is how it was going to be. Alone, dirty and in pain. I had finally fused back together and could sit up, so when Roberto brought me the last human I was able to feed normal. "He's evil Roberto. Pure evil." I coughed-whispered using my vocal cords for the first time since I healed.
Roberto leaned forward and whispered so low that I could barely hear him. "Never let anyone here know everything you know." He turned and walked towards the door. "Maria will meet you in your room." He said as the door swung shut.
The walk down the corridors and hallways was eerily quiet. For a large facility with ten vampires in residence, there was virtually no noise. Alone in a crowd. By myself in spirit.
As I rounded the corner to the last hallway before I reached my quarters, I passed Ronald in the hallway. He was reading a book and looked up from the pages to look at me sadly. I had failed his and Carlos's lessons. I know they don't understand, or they didn't care, but this is all I have. I had to try and make this work. Saying nothing, I walked to my door.
Stephan had them all mindwiped.
Just to the outside was a bucket with cleaning supplies and a basket with bathing essentials and some clothing. I opened the door and smelled the dusty interior. I carried all my gifts that smelled of Jasmine into my quarters.
Were they gifts? Or was I just part of her job? We're all victims of this life, but are we really together? Or just trying to survive?
I wiped out the tub and fired up the stove, filling the pot with water. As a human, I would have never been able to lift the pot of water, but with my new body I lifted it as if it were nothing. Even in my weakened state, it never even registered I stood and watched the flame lick the bottom of the pot.
I tried to imagine what it would feel like to feel the flames licking up my body, because so help me if I can't kill Stephan – I will walk into those flames willingly rather than be subjected to his touch again.
A cold hard hatred filled my bones at the mere thought of him. I almost felt as if I had veins again. Ice running through them.
While my bath water warmed I started cleaning my room. I had no possessions, not that they would do me any good, but it would be nice to have something of mine. Each of the items in my room I cleaned with great care. I dusted off the books, folded the clothing, dusted and shined the boots. The desk had deep grooves along the edges as if someone traced their finger over and over along the groove.
The cot smelled faintly like leather and tobacco. I breathed in the scent deeply. It felt comforting. I laid there and wrapped my arms around myself breathing in the stale male scent. I felt a longing that I didn't recognize.
My bath water was finally ready and I bathed slowly in the steaming hot water. I washed off the dried venom, blood, filth and dirt from my body and hair. The heat felt good. Not like when I was human, but an odd comfort none-the-less. After the water had cooled, I stood to dry myself off.
My once perfect body was now severely flawed. My stomach had fingernail scars. My arms, legs and neck had the healed tear marks from dismemberment. There were various bite marks from the punishment hall, some I remember, some I do not but they littered my body. I was grateful for the small mirror in my room. It seemed out of place in this masculine room. It was silver, tarnished, but definitely feminine.
A harsh knock came to the door, it actually sounded more like a slap on the wood than a knock, but Maria entered with Stephan and Carlos at each side.
Maria and Carlos I could tolerate. She was my sire, he was my trainer. They both helped me learned to survive. But Stephan, he was evil. Hatred surged through my veins and I barely controlled the growl that wanted to rip from my body.
"Isa. I trust that you have learned the lesson of listening to your superior officers?" Maria cocked her head to the side while asking. "You need to get yourself under control. You belong to me. You're mine. You get to do things when I say you can. Nothing happens in my compound without my permission. So, if you want to do something, it better be on my command or you'll take another trip to the punishment hall."
I kept the emotion out of my facial expression as best I could. I steeled my fists to my side, trying to summon as much calm as possible. "May I kill him?" I stared at Stephan. He had his arms crossed, smirk on his face.
"No." Was all she could cough out in a laugh. "He is my most faithful and well behaved soldier in this compound."
"He raped me, he raped Jasmine and he raped you!" I screeched. "He's mindwiped everyone here. He just can't get to my mind." He stood motionless, but the rage in his expression was evident. I would pay for that.
Maria charged me and bit into my neck, sending pain running down my arm and into my back; then stepping back and slapping me across the face.
"No such thing occurred. Nothing happens here without my permission. You are delusional." Maria's eyes were wide, angered. She took a deep breath, looking me over.
Out of her pocket she pulled out the amulet that Jasper had given me for a graduation gift. She let it swing and I felt the pull to the small trinket. One of the few items I had coming into this life and she held it up like teasing a dog with a treat. I wanted to whimper.
"You will have to earn this back Isa. I have several items from your human life, but you will need to earn them back. When you perform poorly, I will destroy an item. When you perform well, I reward you with them."
Out of her other pocket she pulled out another piece of jewelry. I recognized it. It was a gift from the wolf pack at graduation. It was a silver bracelet, a charm bracelet. It had ten charms on it, one to represent each of the important people in my life. Wolves, wheels, a sheriff badge and feathers were some of the dangling charms that shone as she shook it in my face. A brief flashback registered in my mind of Leah telling me stories and twirling the charm of the unicorn that was her representation.
Maria enclosed it in her hand and squeezed. I could hear the delicate metal crush and the charms collapse. She opened her hand and the bracelet was a ball of crushed metal. She handed it to me, a lump of silver and nickel. Ruined.
"I have a few more of your items. Earn them back." She smiled with her eyes squinted as she looked me over. "I said the same thing to the person who occupied this room before you. And it's odd that you have his trinket here." She looked at Jasper's amulet. "This was his room you know?"
My eyes went wide as I looked her over. "Jasper?"
"Yes, that deserter. He left here and found a mate." I felt the urge to growl.
"I never knew he was here."
She leaned back and laughed loudly, causing the sounds to bounce off the walls and echo down the hall. "You'll serve me well, just as he did." She tossed the amulet up in the air and caught it, slipping it back in her pocket. "They really didn't tell you anything did they?" She laughed low. They turned and walked out of my room.
I was dressed, the room was clean. I had no desire to read at the moment. I was sitting in Jasper's room. He was here. He is my comforting smell from the cot. He was in Maria's army. He told me to stay away from the south. He should have told me more. I wanted to hate him too, but I couldn't. Sitting here in what I now knew to be his room, I felt I had some kind of connection to him.
I could only go and lay in the bed, pulling in what I believed to be his fading scent and hope that I could get the amulet back.
AN: Yeah yeah, fail on the timing of my update here, I know. It is what it is. Hopefully that this is the longest chapter I have ever written made up for some of my tardiness. Leave me some love if you have any to give. You know the drill. - V