Danielle

A tiny mote of green light buzzed around Vlad's head while he tried to work. He waved it away like it was an insect rather than one of the clones he'd so painstakingly created. The mote circled around before landing on the tip of one pointed ear. Vlad scowled but allowed it that.

Thus far the glorified firefly was the easiest of his failed clones to deal with. Several hadn't even made it out of their tanks before they dissolved, their faces twisted in agony. The giant hulking brute looked like a gorilla but without the intelligence of one. And the skeleton was less than appealing. Vlad knew that if he were sane these creations would be enough for him to abandon the project. But he couldn't, not when he was so close.

The mote buzzed. If Vlad strained his ears he fancied he could almost hear Daniel's voice...

He closed his eyes and sighed. Even this one would melt, unstable as it was. They all would. They all did. The brute was the least stable, sucking down vial after vial of the stabilizers he'd prepared to keep them solid for at least a little while. Vlad didn't think it would last another two weeks.

"This will work," Vlad said. He heard the mote buzz questioningly. "One of you has to work. I can't stop now. If I do then everything we've been through, it'll all have been for nothing. I can't do that to you."

Vlad felt the oddest sensation, like tiny arms trying to embrace his ear-tip. He sighed. What he wanted most was to feel arms like that around the rest of him, someone large enough to hold, solid enough to last. Someone who wasn't going to melt away in a few short days, weeks, even months was unacceptable. How could he get close to something that was just going to die in the near future? How could he pour his heart and soul into loving something knowing that it would melt away in his arms? In agony?

He couldn't. Vlad wasn't that cruel.

He took the latest reading on his newest clone. This one was another failure. Doomed to die before it had really lived. But it was the most human-looking of the bunch, maybe he could give it some purpose to its short, miserable life. Something more than the others had.

He would use this failure to ensure none of them died in vain.

Vlad placed his hand on the glass tank, his red eyes looking sadly at the girl floating within. He could never love her, same as he could never love the others. They would die too soon and when they did they would rip his heart out. No, better to give her a purpose, a reason for being.

It was better to give her life meaning instead of letting her die knowing what she was missing.

For those who want a list of movies for Danny's torture session...

1. "Manos, the Hands of Fate" (regarded as the worst movie ever made)
2. "Attack of the the Eye Creatures" (the double 'the's is intentional, it's in the movie's title card)
3. "Hobgoblins"
4. "Devil Doll" (if Danny makes it that long without cracking)

I've seen all of these movies. [shudders] At least I've seen the MST3K cuts of all of these movies.