Disclaimer: I don't own Blade or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!

Chapter 24: Waking Up in Hell

It was within the penthouse of Phoenix Towers that night that King found himself. As the fog began to lift from his mind, he felt two things. One, blood, both fresh and dried, on his face. Two, a tongue. That was odd. No, that was plain wrong. Max never licked him before, not on the face anyway. And she sure as hell never woke him up that way either. He felt his body stir, and his eyes fluttered opened.

As his body began to wake up, he felt he was still lying down. Only he was lying on his side and not on the soft cot with a blanket up to his waist. No, he was on a hard, cold floor. He was freezing, but then he remembered that he was still shirtless from when Dex and Hedges had patched him up. Then he felt something even stranger. Both of his wrists felt odd, as if they were strapped or secured on the ground on either side of him. Now he knew that Max had nothing to do with this. She was certainly not into the typing up bit. Trying to twist his head away from whatever was licking him and heard the distinct sound of a dog growling.

So that's what was licking him!

Wait; when the fuck did they get a dog? And why did they stick it in his room?

"Back off, pooch," he muttered, turning his head further away.

The Pomeranian's jaws opened, revealing more teeth than any dog should probably have. Its muzzle split in two as both sides of the dog mandible folded back on either side of its head, disgorging a hellish and barbed tongue stalk, Reaper style. The mutant dog roared, ready to bite King's face off when King was suddenly wide-awake.

"Jesus Christ!" he shouted, rising as far as he could, to his knees, to get away from the mutant mutt. Asher appeared from out of the corner of his eyes, laughing, and pulling the animal back. Looking around the room, where he now remember the Whistler double smothering him and was very aware that he was a prisoner, he saw Danica and Grimwood in separate corners.

"What the fuck!" he shouted, pointing at the dog. "WHAT. THE. FUCK!"

"His name's Pacman," Asher told him cheerfully, picking up the dog. "We've been porting the vampire gene into other species, experimenting," he explained and passed the dog to Grimwood, who started to make kissing noises at as he held it up in the air. The dog looked down at him, panting happily, and tongue lolling closer to his lips.

"You made a Goddamn vampire Pomeranian!" King exclaimed incredulously, completely disgusted and grossed out by the situation. Especially since that dog had been licking him moments ago.

"Yeah. Precious, isn't he?" Grimwood asked, smiling at the dog lovingly.

"Well, that depends on who you ask because, clearly, this dog has a big dick than you," he retorted, making Grimwood scowl as he looked over at him.

"And when the fuck did you see my dick, fuck face?" he asked, moving the dog to rest under his arm as he kicked King in the head.

"OW! I was talking to HER!" he shouted painfully, glaring at the walking diaper stain as he pointed at Danica.

"Poor little King," Danica cooed mockingly as she stood from her chair and walked over to him. "You look so DISTRAUGHT!" she shouted, kicking his face. She leaned over and wiped a little blood from the corner of King's mouth, and touched her fingertips to her tongue, tasting his blood. "You're tasting a little bland, lover. Are you getting enough fatty acids in your diet? Have you tried Lake Trout? Mackerel?"

"How about you take a sugar-frosted fuck off the end of my dick?" he retorted.

"And how about everyone here not say the word "dick" anymore? It provokes my envy," she stated evenly and told Asher to bring her chair over for her to sit. "Tell us about Blade, King. What's this weapons he's been planning?" she questioned calmly, leaning back.

"I can tell you two things," he told her, looking between the three vampires with shifty eyes, feigning fear. "One, your hairdo is…ridiculous." Hearing this, Danica immediately reached up to fix her hair, smoothing it out a bit to fix any hairs out of place. "And two, I ate a lot of garlic. And I just farted. Silent, but deadly." Grimwood, not the least bit amused by King's humor, passed his dog to Asher and stepped forward, throttling King for a moment.

"Spit it out, you fucking fruitcake!" he demanded as King started to pull at his hands.

"All right! Fuck, I'll tell you about the weapon!" he choked out, and Grimwood released him, sensing King into a slight coughing fit. "It's a new flavor crystal formula. Twice the chocolaty goodness, half the calories. Plus, it helps prevent tooth decay. There, I said it," he told them seriously. Grimwood moved in to choke him again, but Danica held up her hand to stop him, smiling a bit as she saw King shift away from Grimwood.

"You're brave, King, I'll give you that. But underneath all that swagger," she began, leaning closer, and caressing his face, "I know what you really fear, what would hurt you more than anything else." King's cocky smile faltered for a moment as he wondered about Danica. Maybe she actually knew Daystar and her rubbing her cheek against his like she was, all the other little touches, were just torture, things to make him crack. "You don't want to go back to being one of us," she said, looking at his glyph, "do you?" King tried to turn his head away, but Danica gripped his chin, turning his head back. He was sweating now, starting to get seriously worried. "I'm going to bite you again, King," she told him threateningly. "And I'm going to leave you here while you turn. I'm going to watch you day after day as the thirst keeps building and building. And then, when you can't stand it anymore…"

It was here that she cut herself off, banging the legs of her chair on the steel floor. Her eyes were locked on King's as they widen as the sight behind her. Drake walked into the room, his left hand holding Zoë's right and his right arm wrapped around Max's waist. While Zoë had a brave face, he could see that she was terrified. Max, however, couldn't hide her fear at all. Drake stopped walking and moved Zoë to stand in front of him, one firm hand on her shoulder. Max stayed at his side, his hand moving up to caress her throat. King clenched his fists as he saw her cringe and reach to hold Zoë's hand, holding it tightly. My God, how he wanted to kill every bastard in that room without a pulse in that moment! Max and Zoë were held firmly in Drake's arms, only God knew what was happening to them, and he couldn't do anything because Danica wanted to play. Stupid bitch.

"I'm going to bring that little girl and your partner in here, for you to feed on," she told him, whispering in his ear. "Would you like that, King?" she asked teasingly. "Would you enjoy taking their lives?" Danica leaned back and smiled proudly as King shut his eyes tightly, sickened at the thought. She finally broke King. She finally knew his weakness. "Now we're getting somewhere, my pet," she said, leaning back with satisfaction.

P.S.: Three pages total.