Welcome back, readers. How art thou? Good? Good. Welcome to chapter 10! That's some sort of landmark isn't it? Anyway as usual, read, enjoy, review.
Consciousness was slow in returning to the Wanderer, but return it did. She was lying on a piece of concrete. She could feel cold air blowing on the back of her head which stung. Damn, whoever knocked her out did a real number on her head, she could feel blood beginning to congeal back there. Slowly her eyes opened revealing bright lights. Electric lights, she realized. So she was inside. Everything was still hazy though and she felt like vomiting. Great, another concussion.
Maybe you should stop getting head injuries then.
Great. They were back too.
That does seem to be the source of all your problems. Maybe if you protected your head instead of wearing that hideous haircut you wouldn't have been caught.
Now they were making fun of her hair. Wait a minute... caught?
The Family!
The world snapped into focus. The first thing she noticed was her hands. They were handcuffed in front of her.
With an enraged snarl, the Wanderer tried to lunge to her feet, but was yanked back to the ground by the collar she was wearing. It was leashed to the cement by a chain. The chain was barely long enough to allow her to kneel.
Surrounding her were a group of men and women. Seven to be precise. Five men and two women. The man in the trenchcoat with the sword that had tricked her was standing in the center of them all. He was flanked by a blonde woman holding a submachine gun and a bandoleer of grenades and a man in body armor on his other side. A scantily clad red haired girl and a younger, brown haired boy stood to the right. On the left were two men, one wielding an assault rifle and the other a laser pistol. This must be the infamous Family. None looked particularly like family, but they all wore the same expression. One of... hunger.
"Get me out of these chains!"
She was panicking. She hated being tied up. Being chained up was even worse. She gave the chain a few hard pulls to no avail. Shit!
"Now, now, human. I cannot release you in good conscience. You were trying to kill my family only a short while ago."
It was the man in the coat. He must be their leader. It made sense the way they all gravitated around him. He was staring at her with a smirk.
"As soon as I get out of these chains I'm going to do more than try!"
One of the men, the one wearing body armor, laughed. "You're not getting out of those chains, human. I locked you up tight myself. No point in struggling."
The Wanderer narrowed her eyes threateningly at him. The effect was lost due to her current predicament though and the man just snorted.
The leader spoke again. "Please excuse, Robert. It's quite rude to taunt you."
"Oh, don't worry about it," she hissed sarcastically. "I'll show Robert exactly how I feel when I'm ripping his fucking head off!"
One of the younger men was tapping his foot impatiently. His hungry expression was growing more pained by the second.
"Enough of this, Vance. Let's just bleed the human and be done with it."
The leader, Vance, smiled at the young man. "Patience, Alan. You still have much to learn. We will bleed the human soon enough."
"Bleed me? Excuse me! Hello!" shouted the Wanderer from the pedestal she was chained to. "Anyone want to tell me what the fuck is going on? And why do you all keep calling me human?"
"Because you are one," replied Alan.
"No shit." The Wanderer was unamused by the Family's performance so far. "I meant why do you say it like you aren't one?"
"Excellent question," exclaimed Vance. "We are the remnants of society, cast aside like the clean-picked bones of a hunter's feast."
The Wanderer raised her eyebrows. She was about to let loose a derisive snort, but Vance continued before she could.
"I led my flock beneath the sun-baked sands of the Wasteland to keep them safe and teach them my ways."
Beneath the sand? Was she underground? The Wanderer took her eyes of Vance for a moment to look at her surroundings. Fuck! She was underground. It looked like one of the old abandoned metro stations. This would make escaping more difficult. Though that was a future problem. The fucking chains had to be dealt with first.
Her musings were unnoticed by Vance who continued to preach unimpeded. "Men of science would call us cannibals, eaters of human flesh. Society labels us as monsters, demons, and the unclean."
"Men of science would be correct!" she shouted at him angrily.
Vance rolled his eyes at her.
"Ah! Your words illustrate why the hardships persist for my people."
Vance approached her. He ran a hand almost lovingly down the side of her face. Chills ran down her spine. She tried to lunge at him and bite his hand, but her legs were frozen.
Ah, ah, ahhhh. None of that now.
Can't have you upsetting our host.
A growl leaked through her clenched teeth. The Voices were controlling her again! No! She wouldn't allow it. She needed chems! She had to find them. So she could shut them out. Frantically, she cast her eyes about the room. She saw her weapons tossed in a pile on the floor. Books, a radio, a few beds, but no fucking chems! Plenty of empty syringes lying on a table, but no actual drugs! She let loose another frustrated growl.
"My, my. You are fearsome, aren't you?"
Vance smiled at her. She felt the heat rise in her face at his condescension.
"I'm going to kill you, you fucking cannibal."
Vance's smile widened which only served to infuriate her more.
"Oh no. Not cannibal anymore. 'Feast not on the flesh; consume only the blood. This is our strength,'" he quoted.
Another member of the Family spoke up. It was the blonde woman who'd been standing next to Vance.
"Bear not the child; welcome only the exile. This is our fate."
Robert spoke, "Feed not for pleasure; partake only to nourish. This is our dignity."
Alan wore a look of pride on his face as he continued, "Seek not the sun's light;embrace only the shadows. This is our refuge."
"Kill not our kindred; slay only the enemy. This is our justice," finished Vance. He looked back to the Wanderer to see if she understood.
She'd only been half paying attention. Instead she'd been violently tugging at the chains. She stopped when she noticed that the Family was looking at her again.
"Oh, are you finished?" she asked acidly.
"Do you understand now?"
"Understand? Oh, yeah. Perfectly. I understand that I've stumbled across the world's first underground insane asylum."
Vance looked at her with disgust. "Your words echo the very reason this place was established."
He looked back to her, but she was frantically fighting with the chains again.
Stop that.
No need to be rude.
The Wanderer dropped to her knees, shaking with barely contained fury as the Voices took control of her limbs once more. But they weren't paying careful attention. They'd made a mistake. They'd had her kneel right on the piece of twisted rebar that held the chain in place.
"This place is a refuge! What you see before you is the last bastion of hope for the downtrodden and misunderstood. It is a sanctuary for the oppressed and a beacon of faith for the tyrannized."
"Wow," she teased while trying to surreptitiously shift her weight on the piece of metal. "You're a real humanitarian. Stop fucking pretending. You're a bunch of cannibals!"
Vance grabbed her chin and pulled her face up to look at him. "I don't believe you were listening. We aren't cannibals. At least not anymore. Now we've become something else. Do you know what that is?"
She tried to pull her face away from the man, but couldn't. Instead she pushed her left calf hard into the metal spike she was knelt on. She could feel the pressure against her pants grow, but the leather held and didn't puncture.
"Look, Vance. If I said vampires, and you said I was right, we'd both be crazy."
Vance violently wrenched her head to the side in anger and stalked back to the rest of the Family. As he approached the table with the empty syringes he called over his shoulder to her.
"I have shown these people the ways of the vampire. I've provided them shelter, organization, and a sense of belonging. And now... I will show you."
He picked up one of the syringes as the Family looked on adoringly at him. The Wanderer's eyes widened as he approached her with it.
"What-what are you doing? Get away from me! No!"
Vance grabbed her by the throat, but she tore herself out of his grasp. With her manacled hands she tried to grab the needle away from him, but the Voices intervened.
Oh, no you don't.
No playing with sharp objects.
Her hands dropped limply in front of her as she pulled her head as far back away from the needle as the chain would allow. As she pulled back she was desperately pushing her leg against the rebar. She had to shut the Voices up. She didn't want to see what these psychos had planned. Vance tutted irritatedly.
"Robert, Justin. If you would."
The Family members approached her. Justin approached and held her arms to her sides. Robert wrapped his arm around her neck and grabbed a fistful of her hair. He pulled her head back so her jugular was bared. As he yanked on her mohawk her body weight was pulled off the jagged metal.
"No, no, no, no!" she cried.
Vance put the needle to her throat as she screamed. Her eyes looked at the syringe as it slowly filled up with red blood. Her blood.
Vance calmly talked to her as he pulled the plunger back.
"While we need blood to survive, not all blood is the same. Some is far better than others and some is not fit for consumption. Let's see which type yours is, shall we?"
With a sharp yank, he pulled the needle from her throat. Robert and Justin released her and she fell to the ground in a heap. Vance tilted his head back and held her blood above his open mouth. With his eyes closed he emptied the syringe and drank her blood.
Nothing for a few moments. The Family stared at Vance, waiting for his verdict. The Wanderer panted on the ground. Slowly the look on Vance's face began to change from quiet concentration to one of distaste. The Family began to stir impatiently. As they all stared at Vance, the Wanderer was pushing down with all her body weight onto the rebar. She grit her teeth as she felt her pants begin to tear on the metal.
Vance's eyes opened. "No one feed from her," he instructed.
"What? No! We have her, Vance! We need to feed," Alan yelled.
Vance turned to the young man with a hard look on his face. "Her blood is tainted. It is diluted with chemicals and other sickness. You will not feed from her."
As Alan protested further, the Wanderer kept pushing onto the rebar. Her skin ripped and blood began to well from her leg, but Justin and Robert were too focused on Vance to see what she was doing. She bit her lips to keep from crying out.
What are you doing?
They'd noticed. But it didn't matter. Already it sounded like they were shouting from some far off place.
Stop that!
With a pained yell she pressed her hands firmly on her calf. The added weight pushed her leg down all the way. The rebar stabbed straight through her leg. Vance and the Family turned to her, but she was already moving.
Leaving her crippled leg on the floor, she reached back and pulled the pistol out of Justin's belt. She shot the chain, the bullet tore right through the links. Before the Family could react, she yanked her leg off the rebar. The metal slid out of her calf with a sickening squelch. Screaming in pain, the Wanderer lurched forward. Robert tackled her from behind, but she twisted around in his grip until they were facing each other. With a savage yell, she bit into his neck. Hot blood sprayed into her mouth, but she was already spitting it out as his arms loosened on her. She dropped to the floor and tried to roll away, but her leg collapsed under her due to the strain. Robert collapsed next to her. He had his hands clamped to his neck, trying to stop the blood spewing from the wound.
The Wanderer put the stolen pistol's barrel on his forehead. Several members of the Family had their weapons raised, but Vance stopped them.
"Wait! She has Robert. Do not fire," he commanded.
"Good," she spat out through teeth gritted against the pain. "I like that. Put your weapons down."
The Family looked from her and then to Vance, waiting for instruction from their leader.
"I SAID PUT THEM DOWN!" she screamed. The hand holding the gun was shaking in agony. Blood was beginning to pool under her leg.
Vance motioned for his clan to put their weapons down. Slowly, they all complied. The Wanderer pointed at the blonde woman.
"You! Help me up!" The woman nervously stepped forward. "Now!"
The woman hurriedly approached her. She quickly pulled the Wanderer to her feet. She threw her manacled hands over the woman's neck and pulled tightly. The chain bit painfully into her throat, eliciting a small gasp.
"Holly!" yelled Vance in alarm.
"Don't move! No one moves or I will snap her fucking neck!"
Vance looked like he was going to approach, but the bloodlust and pain in the Wanderer's eyes held him back.
"Where are the keys to the cuffs? WHERE ARE THEY?!"
Justin rushed to pull the keys out of his pocket. He fumbled and dropped them to the floor.
"Pick them up," she ordered. Justin stooped down and grabbed them. "Bring them here!"
Justin slowly walked towards her. "Hurry up," she snapped. He jumped and quickened his pace. He held the keys out to her. The Wanderer looked at him and then spoke to the woman she was holding hostage.
"Holly, was it?" she hissed into the woman's ear. "Be a dear and unlock my cuffs."
Holly with trembling hands inserted the key into the left manacle and unlocked it. As the chain fell loose and her hands were freed, the Wanderer put the gun to Holly's temple.
Vance was cautiously approaching. "You got what you wanted, now let Holly go."
The Wanderer laughed. "I'll let Holly go, when I'm free and gone. Not sure what time it is, but you'd better hope the sun isn't up, so Holly doesn't burst into flame when we go outside."
"Release her. We'll let you leave."
"Not a fucking chance!"
Vance stopped. The Family was crowded behind him. The red haired girl was checking on Robert on the ground. Vance looked like he was struggling to figure out what to do.
"Ian West," he suddenly said.
The Wanderer shifted her weight onto her good leg. "What was that?"
"Ian West," he repeated. "You were looking for the West's, yes? And you found them."
"Yeah, I found what you did to them."
"That was not us. We do not feed on-"
"Yeah, yeah, no flesh, only blood, blah, blah, blah. Quit stalling! What are you talking about?"
"Ian is here with us."
"You took him like you took me?"
Vance smirked slightly. "You misunderstand. He came of his own accord after he saw what he'd done."
The Wanderer stared at him in confusion. What Ian had done? What was Vance talking about? Or was he just stalling in the hopes that she'd pass out from blood loss? She shifted the gun up slightly and pulled the trigger. The shot caused the Family to cringe, but Holly was still fine.
"Quit wasting my fucking time, Vance! What are you talking about?"
"Do you really not understand why I asked Ian to come here?" he asked.
Her eyes widened in sudden understanding. "Wait, you don't mean- Ian did that to his parents?"
"Exactly. And I will take you to him as soon as you release Holly."
Vance took a step forward. When the Wanderer didn't move he took another. Then another. He was standing in front of Holly now.
"Let her go and I will take you to Ian."
The Wanderer seemed to be mulling it over. Her eyes flicked from Vance, to the Family, and back again. With her mouth turned down in a scowl she pushed Holly away from her. Holly stumbled past Vance and into the waiting embrace of the Family.
Vance smiled at the Wanderer. "I'm glad we were able to resolve that peacefully.
The Wanderer returned his smile, but hers was full of venom and malice.
"Not exactly."
She held her finger up for Vance to see. Spinning around on it was a grenade pin.
Vance's eyes widened in horror and understanding. He whirled back around screaming Holly's name as the grenade went off. The screams of the Family were short lived as the other grenades on Holly's bandoleer exploded and tore through them. Vance's scream petered out as he stared in horror at the remains of the Family. His look of horror changed to shock as he felt something stab through his chest.
He looked down. It was his own sword. The Wanderer was holding the grip in her hands behind him. She stood on her toes and leaned forward to whisper in his ear.
"I missed your heart, but I think you're going to die all the same."
With a look of savage glee she pulled the sword back out of his chest cavity. Vance collapsed to the ground. The Wanderer knelt next to his corpse and began cutting strips off his coat with the sword. She quickly bound her leg with it. With that taken care of, she began to admire his sword. She'd always loved swords and this one was of superb craftsmanship. Etched into the blade was the name 'Vampire's Edge'.
"Vampires," she snorted. If they were vampires, they died the same as normal humans. She collected the hand cuff keys and unlocked the remaining manacle. After searching through a few more parts of the Family's corpses she found another pair of keys. To wherever they were keeping Ian, she guessed. He still had to be dealt with. She walked away from the carnage and gathered up her gear.
At the far end of the station was a door. While the remaining doors around had been boarded up, this one looked well used. She limped towards it and tried the handle. It was locked. She fitted the key into the lock.
It fit.
She twisted the door knob and pushed it open. A dirty boy covered in blood lunged out of the door at her with his teeth bared. She stepped to the side and tripped him. The boy flew forward and slid across the floor. He rolled over and tried to get up, but he was stopped by the point of a sword. The Wanderer stood before him holding Vampire's Edge in one hand.
"That- that's Vance's sword," said the boy. His throat was rough and horse.
"I took it from him."
The boy's eyes flicked back down the station. He had heard the explosion. Now he could see the blood and body parts strewn around.
"You killed him," he gasped in shock.
"Are you Ian?"
"You killed him!" he shouted at her.
The Wanderer pressed the sword point against his throat gently. A drop of blood spilled as the sword gave him a slight cut.
"I asked you a question."
The boy stared at her defiantly. "Yeah, I'm Ian."
The Wanderer stared at him dispassionately. She didn't lower the sword. "Your sister sent me."
Ian's eyes widened. "Lucy?"
"She hired me to come find her family."
Ian's eyes dropped to the ground in shame.
"My family..."
"You killed them. Didn't you, Ian?"
Tears started to fall from his eyes.
"Didn't you?" she repeated.
"Yes," he sobbed. "I killed them."
He looked up at her. "I'm a monster."
The Wanderer smiled at him. "That's okay. I'm a monster too."
She pushed the sword forward.