And It Gets Under My Skin, To See You Giving In
"I'm going to lose my fucking mind."
Hattie and I were sitting in our new joint room, going crazy from just rattling around aimlessly. We had been dragged up here by the guards. Joseph and Diego had been thrown into some room, and then the guards had stuck Hattie and me together. We were no longer handcuffed though. The chains had been cut. But the silver cuffs were still around our wrists, the chains dangling off of them. The contact with the silver made us weak, preventing us from escaping our prison.
This had been over a week ago.
The room we were locked in was pretty nice. Generally big as far as bedrooms went with two beds spaced evenly in it. The walls were dark green with purple painted vines decorating them. The oak dresser across from the two beds had a TV on it. There was a desk against one wall and a bookshelf against the other, next to an empty closet. There were no windows.
We'd had absolutely no outside contact in a week. Locked in this lavish prison. We sat around all day, watching mindless television in the vain attempts to distract ourselves. It didn't really work out so well though, so we found ourselves talking a lot. Trying to put pieces together and figure out what was going on. We came up with several hypothesis, but they always had some crucial flaw that made it impossible for them to be true.
"I know. Me too," she agreed. She was laying on her bed, adjacent to mine.
"No. I'm serious. If we don't get out of here soon, I'm going to lose whatever remains of my sanity," I vowed. I was laying backwards on my bed, my feet where my head should be. I was on my stomach, propped up by my elbows.
"Yeah I know," she said, "But there's nothing we can do."
"We should try screaming at the top of our lungs," I suggested, "Annoy them until they give us some answers."
"I don't think that's the best approach," she said.
"Well we have to think of something," I groaned, "Maybe we could try to get the cuffs off,"
"Uh Lottie, if that was possible, don't you think I would've thought of it a week ago?"
"I know we can't break them ourselves," I said, getting up, "But maybe I could find something we could use to break them off."
"Good luck," she said, putting her hands behind her head, "There's nothing in this room that could be used as a weapon. Trust me. I've looked."
"There has to be something," I mumbled, rifling through the dresser drawers.
"There isn't."
"If only we had our powers . . ." I said as I continued tearing apart the drawers, "Then you could melt them off."
"If we had our powers I could melt the door," she muttered.
I didn't respond, but continued to search the dresser, pulling the drawers completely out and letting them fall onto the floor. Then I tore the clothes out of them, throwing them all over the place.
"I don't know what you expect to find," Hattie said, "There's nothing in here strong enough to break through pure silver."
Ignoring her pessimistic comments, I continued my search. I moved onto the desk. I tore apart those drawers too. There was mostly useless crap; papers, pens, pencils, scissors. I threw them all on the floor in my search.
I found only one interesting thing. A thin, little silver knife with a wooden handle. Almost like an old fashioned dinner knife.
"What's this?" I asked, showing it to Hattie.
She looked over it for a second. "It's just an old letter opener. It won't be sharp enough to cut through silver," she told me.
I slid it into my pocket. Hattie said it wasn't useful, but I figured there was always a chance it could come in handy.
I decided there was nothing left in the drawers to find after a while, and climbed onto the desk. The desk was the kind with the hutch, which meant there could be something useful on top. I peered over to find that there were actually a few things up here. For instance, a large whole puncher, intended to to punch all three holes into a piece of paper at once. It was big and relatively heavy. Well, heavy to me considering the silver contact meant I only had about human strength.
I grabbed it and put it down on the desk. Then I went back up and continued my search. Under a layer of dust I found an empty picture frame. It was made of silver, I could tell by the way it felt when I touched it. It wasn't sharp enough though to cut through our cuffs though. I grabbed it anyway and climbed down.
"I have an idea," I said, as I hoped down. I picked up the hole puncher and the picture frame.
"You can't be serious," she said.
"Oh but I am," I told her.
"I'm sure this will go well," she muttered, getting off the bed.
"Just follow my lead," I insisted as I handed her the picture frame. I went over to the door and examined it for a minute. After a few calculations, I lifted the hole puncher over my head and brought it down on the door as hard as I could. It made a slight dent.
"What are you doing?" asked Hattie with a sigh.
"Just wait," I said, bringing it down on the door again.
"This isn't going to work," she told me.
"Shush," I told her as I continuously slammed the door with the hole puncher.
After about seven of those the dent was huge and nearly all the way through. One more would do it, I thought. I lifted it over my head and then, as hard as I could, I brought it down on the door. It gave way suddenly, causing me to nearly drop the hole puncher.
I turned to look at Hattie, who looked surprised that my crazy idea had actually worked. Feeling a tad smug, I turned around and put my hand through the hole in the wall. I felt around for the doorknob, which was ideally close to the hole. I tried turning it but it was locked. I got another idea then. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the thin letter opener. I put my hand through the hole again and located the doorknob. I searched with the letter opener for the lock until I found it. Then I proceeded to feel around in the lock with the point until there was a clicking sound.
With a triumpth smile, I pulled my hand back in, put the letter opener in my pocket, and turned the doorknob. The door swung open.
"And you thought that letter opener was useless," I said.
"How did you learn to pick a lock like that?" she asked, seeming shocked.
"My friend Darcy locks herself out of her house a lot," I explained as I stepped cautiously into the hallway with Hattie behind me.
It was nicely decorated and vacant. The dark green walls and wooden floors matched our room. There were potted plants scattered around, along with nice tables full of knick knacks and vases. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling and gas lamps were on the walls. There were several doors stretching down the hall, all of them closed. It was oddly quiet.
"Now what?" asked Hattie.
"Just follow me," I said, "Hold on to that frame."
I felt oddly out of place as we crept down the hallway. It was peaceful and gave me the feeling that I was at a fancy hotel. We listened hard for any sound of Joseph or Diego. But there was none. Not even breathing.
After a while, I heard something. Like silent, running footsteps. It was very faint though.
"Lottie, we have to go," Hattie whispered, obviously hearing the footsteps.
"No, no," I whispered back, "I have an idea. Get under that table."
"What?" she demanded in a hushed voice.
"Just do it okay," I said.
"Fine," she hissed, crawling under the table and peering out from under the tablecloth that draped over the sides.
I stood there and waited. Until a guard came running down the hall, moving fast. She was tall and dark haired, dressed in their usual black clothes and thick vests. She had the arsenal of weapons attached to her belt.
She ran straight for me without pause, slamming me into the wall next to the table where Hattie hid. Her grip was painful, considering I was so weak.
"How did you get out?" she snarled at me, "You aren't supposed to leave."
"Oh really? I didn't know that . . . The locked doors and handcuffs weren't obvious enough I guess," I snapped back.
"You have a smart mouth," she growled, putting her hands around my neck, "Master likes it. But Mistress doesn't."
"Well that's too damn bad," I spluttered out as she cut off my air.
"No it's not. Because they won't have to deal with you much longer," she said, tightening her grip, "Mistress already dislikes you. One slip up, she said, and you were dead. And now you've slipped up big time."
"Hattie now!" I chocked out as she continued to tighten her grip on my neck. I was struggling for air. Suddenly, there was a crashing sound and I was released. The woman crumpled to the ground to reveal Hattie standing behind her. In her hands was the silver picture frame. She'd bashed the woman over the head.
"You okay?" she asked as I coughed at the sudden reinstatement of air.
"Yeah . . .fine," I managed. I coughed a few more times before I recovered fully. Once I was able to breath normally, I knelt down next to the unconscious female guard. She was out cold.
I extracted a silver knife from her belt. "Jackpot," I said, showing it to Hattie.
"Bingo," she echoed my enthusiasm.
I straightened up and began to cut my handcuffs off. It took a little while, cutting silver with silver. But the knifes were sharp. And after a few minutes of meticulous work, I was free. I let the cuffs fall to the ground and reveled in my renewed strength. I stretched like a cat as I could fell the strength filling my veins.
I looked over at Hattie to see that she had freed herself with one of the girl's other's knives. She was stretching out her arms with her eyes closed.
"Much better," she sighed.
"Come on," I said, "Let's go find the guys."
"One sec," she said, kneeling down and taking the girl's belt off. She put it around her own waist, and adjusted it.
"Good idea," I said.
"Yeah. Now let's go," she said.
The two of us took off running. It felt good to have our full speed back. We darted down the hallways, listening carefully. Until I heard voices, faint voices that sounded like Diego and Joseph.
"Diego!" I called in a stage whisper, "Joseph!"
"Lottie?" came Diego's reply from a door down the hall.
"Oh thank God," I said, racing down the hall to their door. I'd been worried about them.
"Joseph? Diego?" I asked, putting my hands against the door.
"Yeah. We're in here," Joseph said, "How did you guys get out?"
"Creative thinking," I said, "Now stand back from the door."
I waited a second and then I kicked the door in with ease. It flew into the wall opposite of it.
"I've been waiting a week to do that," I moaned. Not using my strength drove me crazy.
Hattie and I stepped into the room, which was similiar to our's. The two guys were standing on either side of us, looking just as bad as we probably did. Dried blood on their worn clothes and looking kind of feverish from lack of blood.
"Come boys," Hattie said, "We have weapons."
"Thank God," Joseph said, shaking his wrists so that the chains jingled, "I can't take this anymore."
He went over to Hattie and she began to cut off his cuffs with a silver knife.
"Come here Diego," I said, "I'll do you."
Everyone snickered. "Shut up," I muttered as he came over to me.
I began to cut off his handcuffs and let them fall to the floor.
"Okay, that feels good," he said, rubbing the red marks around his wrist.
"Hells yeah," Joseph agreed, "Now what do we do?"
"We get the fuck out of here," Hattie said.
"Ugh no we don't," I said, "What about Ghost?"
"Ghost? . . . Oh you mean that backstabbing subservient little pet of Julie Marie's? That Ghost?" Hattie quipped sarcastically.
"Shut up," I snapped at her.
"All I'm saying is that Ghost obviously doesn't want to be saved," she pointed out, "He looked a little too happy sitting at Julie Marie's feet and wearing a collar like a mother fucking dog."
"Shut up Hattie," I growled angrily, "You don't don't know what's going on. None of us do. All I know is that you can't blame Ghost for what's going on. He didn't look happy at all when we saw him. He looked sick. Obviously, something's wrong with him. And he needs help. So just shut your mother fucking mouth and stop being such a fucking pessimist."
Hattie looked taken back by my strong words and vicious tone. But I was sick and tired of how judgy she'd been towards Ghost in the last week. Constantly calling him Julie Marie's 'pet' and her 'pathetic little incestious lover.' I'd gotten pissed everytime but this time I'd officially snapped.
"Okay, okay sorry," she backed off, putting her hands up, "We'll go get Ghost. But I doubt he'll want to come with us."
"We'll make him then," I said, "He's obviously being manipulated."
"Obviously." Diego agreed, "Julie Marie is taking advantage of his childlike dependence on her to make him into her obedient subjugate. And of course he won't have a problem with it because her death devestated him and the return of a mother figure to him is a miracle. He probably feels like he failed her with the car accident and now will take any opprutinity to please her."
We all just stared at him, surprised.
He cleared his throat and said, "I always wanted to be a therapist," with a shrug.
"Well alrighty then," Joseph said, clasping his hands together, "Who wants to go kick some ass."
"Hell yeah," I agreed as we all left, running down the hall.
"Where are we even going?" Hattie asked.
"Back to the chapel," I said.
"Why?" Joseph asked.
"Well first off, it's the only room I know how to find," I explained, "And the only one where we ever saw Ghost so . . ."
"I guess it's a good start," Diego mumbled. We went down several staircases and started heading for the chapel.
"I wonder where everyone is," Joseph said, "I haven't seen a single guard."
"We saw one," I said, "But that was it."
"I wonder where they all are . . ." Diego muttered as we pushed open the front doors to the chapel.
"I think I know," Hattie whispered.
The whole chapel was packed. Every seat had a vampire sitting in it, all clad in black. In positions nearly identical to the ones they were in last week on the alter was the little royal family. In their thrones were Alonzo and Julie Marie. They looked exactly like they did last time, in nearly identical outfits. Angel was still next to Alonzo and Selene was on the other side of the alter. Both of them looked pissed and deadly, crouched and hissing. Sitting on the floor next to Julie Marie's feet was none other then Ghost.
He looked even worse then he did last time. He was dressed in black pants and a blood red button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbow. He still wore that goddamn collar with the cross hanging off of it. His red eyes, still outlined in that heavy black charcoal crap, were bloodshot. His black hair was horribly disheveled and fell across his forehead in greasy streaks. He looked entirely worn out, his head resting on Julie Marie's leg.
"Hmm seven days to escape," said Alonzo, "To be honest, I was expecting something a little more impressive,"
"I for one, am not surprised," Julie Marie said with disdain, "I knew they couldn't be as great as you said they were."
"Well they didn't have their powers and they didn't have their strength so it wasn't so bad," he said.
"Eh," she said, cleary not impressed.
"What the hell is going on?" I demanded.
"Come forward," Alonzo said. "And I will tell you a little story."
Selene hissed at us as we made slow progress up the tiled isle. The vampires seated in the pews glared at us and I tried to ignore it. When we were all standing in front of the alter, it felt like judgement day.
"Selene," Alonzo said simply and she stopped.
"Now," he began, "I'm sure you're all wondering why we're in a chapel."
"And why you all have crosses burned into your arms," Hattie added.
"Well I'm sure you all know something about Christian religion," he said, "And assuming that you do, I won't drone on about that. I'll start my story at the Last Supper. Surely you all know what that is."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Julie Marie muttered distastefully, "They are all just a bunch of heathens."
"We know what the Last Supper is," I snarled. Sure I wasn't religious at all . . . Nor was I sure that I even had a religion. But I wasn't stupid.
"I'm surprised," she said nastily, stroking Ghost's hair and giving me a challenging look that said 'what are you going to do about it?'
I bit my tongue and looked down at Ghost. He was staring off into space and yawned adorably once.
"Very good," Alonzo said, "Now on with the story. Now, I'm sure you're all familiar with the famous words of Jesus Christ. This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me. This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. Think about that for a moment, if you will. What could those words mean?"
"Uh that he wanted all humans to eat the eucharist in remeberance of him and to be blessed with the holy spirit?" Joseph asked.
I raised an eyebrow at him in surprise. I had no idea what he just said.
"My family was very religious. I went to church. Sue me," he said.
I shrugged. Some people were religious. I wasn't.
"That's what most humans seem to think," Alonzo said, "But here, we have our own view. Think about it. The drinking of the blood. Could he possibly be referring to vampires? Of course. Our favor is with God for we drink the blood of the living, as He wants us too."
"I'm pretty sure he didn't mean that literaly," Hattie said, "I mean, I can't be sure, I wasn't there. But I'm just guessing."
"That's the difference between you and I. I'm nearly two thousand years old. One of the oldest vampires still alive today. And I've spoken with many who were alive during the life of our savior. And they assure me that our Lord surely favors us blood drinkers. Which is why we seek to fufil our divine vocation. To turn as many worthy humans into vampires as we can, so that they may be in our Lord's favor as well. And the rest, unworthy humans will be harvested and bred for their blood."
I had come to a conclusion. "You're all crazy," I said.
"Are we?" he challenged, raising a quizzical eyebrow.
"Kinda," Diego said.
"That's your oppion I suppose," he said, "It's the wrong one of course but . . ."
"What's wrong here is your crazy belief system," Joseph said, "If I was God, I would send you all to hell."
"Luckily," Julie Marie said, "You are not."
"Just let us go," I said, "We don't want to serve you."
"Oh, but I can think of something you do want," she taunted cruely, stroking Ghost's hair to make a point.
I growled low in the back of my throat. "We don't want to serve you and we won't. Just let us all go," I said as my eyes flicked to Ghost, "All of us."
"Give up my precious Xander?" she asked with mock disbelief, "Never."
"He doesn't want you," I insisted.
"Oh really? Why don't you ask him then," she challenged.
"Because you've obviously done something to him," I said, eyeing him worriedly, "He's not himself."
"Oh, Xander know's what he want's," she said, "Don't you Xand?"
All eyes were on Ghost then, where he sat on the floor next to Julie Marie, looking small and sickly and frightened.
"I-" he began and then was suddenly overtaken with racking coughs. His whole body was shaking as he coughed into his hands.
"Ghost!" I exclaimed in a panic. I took a step forward autmotically to go to him but Julie Marie beat me to it. She stood up suddenly and roared. Actually roared like a ferocious lioness defending her cub. Everyone seemed to shrink back automatically from her fury.
"Stay away from him!" she screamed at me as Ghost continued to cough uncontrolably. I was frozen in place by how terribly protective Julie Marie was. She sunk down to the ground next to him, pulling him into her arms while he continued to cough wildly into his hands. When he finally stopped he was still shaking like he was cold or something. He looked down at his hands with wide eyes.
They were covered in bright red blood.