Chapter Eight

Captured

Things on the run with Jove changed late one night. A couple of hours before the sun would be rising I had decided to go out for a feeding which I was learning to do on my own without Jove. Learning to hunt was another one of those important things Jove wanted me to be skilled at. I usually found someone walking along the street or leaning alone against a building… as long as they were alone it didn't matter much to me. It was easy after I chose my next meal. I'd just keep them quiet, feed, make them forget, and then let them go. Catch and release.

But as I said… things changed one night.

I was walking along the sidewalk in the downtown area of the city we were in. It was a decent sized city. A signed down the road said Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I was a long way away from home. But then again I didn't really have a home anymore. The thought startled me. For a moment, I had let my mind cross over to the thought of my father, Bartholomew Truit. I could recall with some difficulty his tired grey eyes, his loud voice that somehow laughed even when things were all wrong, and his calm personality that seemed to do nothing but worry underneath. I wondered if he ever thought of me as he lived his life back at Merit, Missouri. His Wynnie. The last news I had from him was that he was with another woman, hopefully happy without me. I had been the only family he had before I had been taken away by Evanen. I remembered my younger brother, Seanel Truit, who had died a week after his birth. I could remember the day my mother disappeared from our broken lives.

It was pointless to remember. I wasn't Hailence Truit anymore. That girl died when Evanen died; when the key to immortality was born. I didn't even feel like I'd recognize myself if I saw myself through the old Hailence's eyes. Here I was, walking about in the middle of the night, looking for a human to bleed. I never thought I'd end up here.

My thoughts were interrupted by the smell of blood. I froze sharply. I wasn't as much in control of my hunger as I liked to pretend I was. Automatically, my fangs were sharp in my mouth and my blood was burning for the blood I could smell in the air. Part of me felt like I should avoid this person who was bleeding though because Jove had warned that I should pick my victim rather than my victim picking me to avoid situations. It wasn't as if this person was picking me per say… just unlucky perhaps.

I followed the scent blindly, walking off the sidewalk and between buildings. As I got closer, I could hear a small sound of crying echoing in a way that would be difficult to hear at a certain distance. It was a woman… or a child; perhaps a teenage girl. I wondered if this person was being hurt. If so I could feed off of her terrorizer and it would make me feel loads better about myself. I wouldn't mind being somewhat helpful considering my situation… I rounded the corner until I could see the girl cowering against a wall and holding her hand which I identified as being injured. She had hair black as a raven, pale skin that almost glowed in the night due to my enhanced eyesight, and though her sobbing sounded something of panicked her heart was a steady beat in her chest. It made me hesitate.

I must've made a noise because she looked up at me with equally black eyes as her hair. She looked relieved to see me, but something of a nervous thud echoed in her heart. Perhaps she was slightly afraid of seeing a stranger in this remote place but also relieved it was a woman? It made me relax a bit.

"Please, help me," She asked me, though I wasn't near enough to her to actually think she'd care about my attention. I was still only just at the corner, but she was loud enough for a human voice to hear. I wondered if she could tell I was a woman? Maybe she didn't care if I was a man or woman, but just wanted help.

"What's the matter with you," I asked slowly, matching her voice speed, but it felt very strange to be having a… somewhat normal conversation with a human being. The only thing I had said to humans since my turning were pure orders to control their minds.

"I'm hurt," She sobbed again.

"Yes but why don't you just stand up and go to the hospital," I asked curiously. She wasn't bleeding profusively, I could tell. She was only wounded on the palm of her hand, like it had been cut. "Did you break your legs?" I don't know why I was being rude or… sarcastic. I just… I don't know I guess I felt this girl was just strange to me.

She only sniffled before saying, "I feel down and twisted my ankle. Help me to the hospital, please."

I had thought I came down here specifically to feed off an easy target, but after seeing her alone in a very remote place with no signs of struggle in the area or blood spotted anywhere else… it just didn't click. "I could call the police instead," I told her uncertainly, "I'm pretty weak…"

"It's okay, I can mostly stand on my own I just need a little help," The girl said, "Come here." I waited, looking back to where I came from. I could just leave and let someone else find her. But then it could be someone dangerous… well not as dangerous as me but perhaps someone more intent on causing harm. "Please." Bleeehhh…

I walked unsteadily towards her, her blood dripping into my senses and making me feel reckless and unaware. As I got closer to her, I failed to notice an opening to the left of me in the wall which happened to be another large alley between two buildings. See, if I were a good vampire with good self-control and proper awareness that you'd figure vampires would naturally have, I would have noticed a steel vehicle parked in that alley. I would have been able to take my focus off the deliciously bleeding girl and her beating heart to notice there were other quiet beating hearts waiting in the shadows. But sadlly, I just didn't quite know myself as a vampire and so as I moved towards the girl and into the area where the alley was open to the vehicle, I was caught by surprise when I was suddenly swiped off my feet and into the steel vehicle, which was shut behind me, locking me into a pedo-van full of silver cuffs, stakes, and three very eager and excited men.

I guess I was kind of shocked. Before I knew it, I was slammed against the wall of the now moving vehicle, forced into seating position on a metal bench like object. My head, wrists, arms, legs, and ankles were all strapped into these solid steel cuff-like contraptions that were meant to keep me strapped to the wall of the steel vehicle. I could smell the pure silver in the metal and I almost laughed. But I stopped myself. There was no need to get cocky.

"She's not burning," One man yelled to the front of the vehicle where a wall with a bolted door was blocking the ones in the driver and passenger seat on the other side. "Are you sure she's a vampire?" They knew what I was… and yet they weren't vampires themselves. I could tell by their appearances and their smell. They were human.

Vampire Hunters.

The words were Jove's, he already knew I was captured. He was already running through the street heading towards where I had saw the bleeding girl and was planning on tracking me down in case I didn't get out myself. Jove, my personal hero.

Fight them. The cuffs won't contain you. I wasn't sure if I should fight in the way he meant it though… it would mean hurting them… irreparably.

"Check her teeth," another man said to the third, elbowing him. I felt the man move closer to me, eyeballing me carefully. He pushed his fingers against my warm skin curiously, pressing down against the human softness of it. It made him look at the other man and shake his head. "Still, check her teeth."

The man finally reached for my mouth and placed a thumb on both my upper and lower lip, shaking with uncertainty. I could just snap his fingers off… I could break these cuffs, remove myself from this wall, and kill each of these men. I could snap off the door to the front, making the hunters scream in terror before I ripped the throat of the driver and let the vehicle crash, leaving the one in the passenger seat either dead or in utter pain. But I couldn't. I didn't want that image on my mind. I used to be human myself. I had to keep telling myself that, I used to be human. I couldn't just take away these three men's lives. Not when whatever they plan to do won't actually harm me any… I could wait until Jove found me, which I was sure he would. Or wait until they were trying to move me and just break out without touching them. Maybe I could break these cuffs and break through the back of the van.

Nonetheless, my plans were all iffy and I fail at immediate action, another reason why I'm a failure at being a vampire. Instead, I let this hunter pull apart my lips and show my sharp fangs which confirmed what I was to them, no matter how peculiar I was, and they were banging on the door to the driver to let him know they caught a live one.

"Don't think about trying to escape, there's enough silver in there to keep you weak and we could stake you easily," the first man snarled at me.

I couldn't help it. I had to tease a bit. "I'm not worried about silver. I'm more wondering about how I could escape without killing one of you. I'm new to this whole thing so I'd just knock all of you out but… I'm afraid I don't know my own strength."

They all laughed. The first man, being the cockiest, responded easily. "You couldn't even break out of those bindings if you wanted to." I thought about it for a minute, a part of me wanting to break free just to scare them but another part of me feeling guilty for wanting to do that. I could end up killing one or all of them if I did that. I could already hear their blood pounding through them and I was very hungry…

Instead, I opted to do just a little bit of showing off. I focused my strength on my legs, flexing them in their cuffs for a second before straining against the silver metal. At first, it only groaned, and the men pointed weapons at me but were generally unconcerned. I smiled, pushing just a bit more, not adding all my strength to the equation in case I popped the cuffs off and a piece flew at one of the men and killed them… I didn't want that. Sure enough, the metal groaned again and then screeched as I pried it off of the wall of the vehicle.

"What the…," The men were staring in horror. I completed pushing the cuffs off of my ankles and legs, before bending my right leg to cross over my leg comfortably and smiling coyly. It was the first time beyond running that I actually tested out a bit of my muscle and I was a little pleased with the results.

"You can stake me if you want as well, I won't die," I told them without much concern.

Obviously I had shaken them enough to cause doubt and a bit of fear to override whatever mission they had previously planned. The first guy, recognizing my strength as something they probably should be worried about, took me up on my offer saying "Oh, yeah?" and, as if calling a what he thought was a bluff, grabbed a silver stake and began walking bravely towards me. The stake looked similar to what Evanen used to hide in his wardrobe… the stake I had used to stab D.J. in his heart. It had went through him like he was made out of water, and he had withered to a corpse in my arms. I never had actually been stabbed with a stake yet, and I wondered if it actually would kill me or not… But then I really didn't mind if I died. I was an abomination, and a danger to humankind. So I took the risk and instead of kicking this man in half, I let him stomp to me and swing his hand out swiftly in an effort to drive the silver stake into my chest.

I would guess it was something like stabbing the wall I was cuffed to except that the silver stake actually cut into my human-like skin and was met with my solid metal-like muscle where it refused to go any further. I couldn't even say I felt any pain, so much as a light pinch. I was looking at the stake the man was trying to shove further into me curiously, watching him fail miserably. Like I said, it was much like what I imagined it would be like to watch him trying to stab the stake into the wall behind me; relatively useless.

The man backed up, and all three hunters were looking at me as if I were something more freakish than a freaky vampire. "Don't worry," the third hunter said, "We'll just have her starve with the rest." I wondered if I should tell them that I had a psychic connection to another very powerful vampire who could follow my mind as he would a simple scent. But then I again I didn't want a chance for them to capture Jove and stake him, which would kill him. Instead, I decided to let them capture me and take me to their little place where they would starve me… not for long hopefully.

The vehicle lurched to a stop, and I had multiple steel poles with silver clasps at the end of them wrapped around my neck, wrists, ankles, and even my waist. The three hunters led me out of the vehicle where I planned to run away, but the plan was stopped short when the minute my feet were outside of the vehicle, I was falling away. I had been dropped into a rabbit hole, feeling like this would be something from Alice and Wonderland. I tried to focus on which way was down, and bent my body so that my feet were facing towards the ground.

I landed harshly on my feet, crouching down so that my hands also hit the ground and kept me from falling over. If I had been human or perhaps even a normal vampire, I imagined my bones would have snapped at the landing and I would have maybe even cracked my skull. Instead, I was unharmed and somewhat confused. Where was I?