Chapter Twelve

Blood

I was being strapped down to a metal stretcher while gloved vampires clasped silver shackles around my wrists, ankle, waist, and neck much like the hunters had within their little vehicle. I assumed this contraption had normally been used for the usual vampire, but now they either thought it would hold me or merely hoped. I didn't argue, keeping Jove's wellbeing in my mind over any other humiliation-attempts or just plain irritating circumstances.

"We're going to administer a series of tests, if you'll allow us to, just out of curiosity," Tobias said to me, hovering over my head dominantly. I was sure he felt like the most powerful awesome dude ever. It only made me want to roll my eyes and break all the bindings to fuck with his world. If I maneuvered right, I could possibly remove the silver around my neck in a way to propel it at his face…

"I'll take your silence as an approval, then," He stated, waving his hands at the vampires within the room. One man moved towards me with what looked like a silver scalpel. "Do tell us if you feel in fear of actual death, Miss Draele." The vampire quickly swiped the blade over my wrist with a look of mild hope, but the expression disappeared when the cut healed quickly. He tried again, this time applying pressure as though trying to cut through my arm, but it only cut past the layers of skin before meeting my muscle. I didn't even bleed.

"Just amazing," Tobias said in awe, though I couldn't see why he'd be impressed. He would never be able to turn into what I was, and if anything would just end up trash on the side of the road. Honestly, why risk more original vampires being made and taking up the food supply once the new vampires took over? I couldn't see why he thought his race would be on top as well…

The vampire cutting me left and was replaced by a female one who brought a syringe with a nice looking needle at the end. I was suddenly reminded of the fuzzy memories from my human life, before I had even been introduced into the vampire world. All the times I had been injected by a needle due to my illnesses seemed like a lifetime ago now. The needle didn't make it past my skin layers either. The vampires would neither be able to inject me with anything or removed anything.

Now they were bringing over something like a circular saw, much like the ones you'd see in movies that they use to cut open skulls during operations. I began to put the pieces together as they sawed into my arm, only cutting up my skin which healed easily before any drop of blood reached the surface.

"Try ripping her skin off, then," Tobias ordered before glancing at me, "Sorry, darling, we're only curious of course. We'd like to know what kind of reaction your body has to certain situations." But something more suspicious was obviously happening. I was approached with a larger silver knife which they dug into my skin and began sawing sideways as if to flay me. Only as they pulled back the skin, more skin grew underneath rapidly. They cut the remainder of the piece of skin off and it shriveled away into nothing as if they hadn't cut anything.

They were trying to get my blood or find a way to draw blood. I knew that now. Of course, they would want my blood to create more of my own kind. And of course they knew it would probably be easier to remove my blood from me and make my kind themselves rather than convince me to. At least they didn't know the only thing that got past my skin was, ironically, vampire fangs. The image of Jove feeding on me flashed across my mind and I set my expression blankly. If they couldn't figure this out, perhaps I could postpone and find a way to escape before they could create any more of my kind…

I let them do their "tests" and as time went by they only got more agitated. They would no doubt stop the charade soon and ask me to administer my own way of changing people; the one promise I hadn't broken to myself yet. I needed a way to stall and give myself time… or even just give the universe time to figure out a way to prevent the awful vampire apocalypse that could occur if they did get my blood.

And then the idea hit me just as they were trying to hammer a nail into my arm.

I yawned. "I should warn you," I said as I began to blink my eyes carefully in an attempt to appear sleepy, "Something I did keep from my human life was my tendency to have to sleep. You can continue your tests, but I'm afraid I'll have to rest now." Before they could object, I willed myself to sleep and my body shutdown into darkness.

"Exactly what defines immortality anyway?"

I scribbled circles in my notebook absently, feeling the burn of the arthritis in my back. I was practically an old lady at this rate…

"I mean, if the world ends and explodes into a million pieces, surely not one immortal person could float around in space forever ever. They'd die, right?"

"That would be horrible," I thought of floating around in space, lost forever.

"Duh, idiot. I'm just sayin, are they still technically immortal if they can die at some point in time at all?"

"I guess… not." I blinked and shrugged.

"Well then why call them immortal anyway? Even the greek Gods could die and they were called immortal. It's false advertisement. Immortality is a lie," Kyler threw a bubblegum wrapper at my head from the end of my bed within my bedroom. Her long black hair was laid out along her shoulders and chest down to her waist nearly, her spikey fringes hanging over her eyebrows. She had on her typical full goth-metal outfit, with expertly applied dark makeup, and her catlike green eyes stared at me sharply while she chewed on a piece of gum loudly.

"I guess if there's a chance that you can live forever if you avoid certain weaknesses, it counts as immortality," I finally offered her a counter response. She rolled her eyes as expected.

"You're not pickin up what I'm puttin down, Hail. I'm just sayin, just 'cause a dude is called immortal, doesn't mean he's immortal," She said in her usual bossy tone. She pulled her knee up to her chest, messing with my backpack on the bed. I moved my gaze from my notebook to her and sighed.

"Ugh, Kyler, you know I hate shoes on my bed!"

"What a sissy! And you're supposed to be a vampire!"

My eyes snapped open quickly and I very nearly forgot where I was. I blinked quickly and focused on Tobias, who was waiting in front of me patiently. Apparently, I had been moved off of the metal stretcher and place instead on a chair. It let me know that my type of sleeping obviously prevented me from actually knowing what was happening around me and to me.

It only took a moment before I realized that something was bothering me, though. I hesitated and then recognized the irritation was through my bond. Jove. A quick touch to the bond revealed that Jove was being held down by a group of VaMoS vampires and a silver blade was being pressed against his skin.

"Stop right now," I screamed furiously, "You stop them now, if they kill him it's over. I'll kill every last one of you and you won't ever see vampires ruling over this world much less another night on this Earth!" There was a full moment of silence where Tobias only peered at me with those calculating eyes that Drewdon had, while Jove was being tortured by his men. I only waited a second before I suddenly wrenched my arm out of the silver clasp, reaching up to rip the binding around my neck as easy as a band aid.

Alarmed, Tobias raised his hands. "All right, Miss Draele!" He waved his hand at someone in the room who promptly gave the halting order to the group torturing Jove. Relief washed over me, though I didn't let it show. I only tried not to focus on Jove's attempts to talk to me through the bond. I couldn't let him worry more about my situation than he already was… and I couldn't let him have any information that would make him do something stupid.

"You were asleep for three nights. I assumed it was your way of not cooperating and had to make a drastic move to get you back with us," Tobias explained easily, as if he hadn't just royally pissed me off. Normally I would have been shocked that I had slept for days, but the fact that I had forced sleep with the thought of a long delay caused me to not be surprised. I obviously didn't know how to work my body yet.

"Regardless of what amazing powers I have, I'm still a newborn. I haven't figured out my body functions yet. I need to sleep but I don't know how to control it. It's different from human sleeping," I answered sharply. Maybe they'd let me go back to sleep without harming Jove. Then I could delay more… and figure out what that dream was about. I never dreamed before, not since being human.

"Yes, well, we were just being safe. Besides, I need to talk to you," Tobias responded carefully, crossing his arms before peering at me. Obviously, something was annoying him. "As you know, we wish to begin populating the new vampires. We know that already made vampires can't be turned, so we have already recruited humans who are ready to be turned. That said we are having trouble with your blood… namely, receiving it."

I had known this already, but it disappointed me that I only had delayed the conversation by three days.

"I know that you don't know everything about your powers and your body yet. But I think perhaps you would know how to draw your own blood? There has to be a way or you wouldn't be able to make more of your kind regardless, which I refuse to believe," He stated near angrily. Then he straightened up, looking down at me from his nose. "So, Miss Draele, either you tell us how to obtain your blood, agree to change the humans yourself, or your lover will be tortured until you do decide to help us and yourself. And don't think about killing us and hunting down the ones torturing Mr. Silverstone. If they don't receive an update every ten minutes, they're ordered to kill, and you won't make it to him in ten minutes."

I hesitated, thinking about Jove and all the possible routes I could take to keeping him safe and also keeping my last unbroken promise. Being the genius I was, I could think of nothing. It was hopeless. The world would end up slaves to vampires who couldn't be killed by sunlight or silver… it would be chaos. But it would be a world with the people I cared for safe. I could see to that at least.

"Fangs," I finally spat and the confession just about physically hurt me. "The only thing that pierces through me and draws blood is vampire fangs." I hated confessing to the one weakness that I knew of, though the only time it had been used was in an intimate situation. Tobias, on the other hand, looked utterly happy and just about face-palmed.

"Of course, how silly of me," He cried out, "Normally to turn someone, vampires bite their own flesh, I don't see why I didn't think of that in the first place." Again, he waved to the people in the room. There was a flurry of movement, though I felt suddenly defeated. The VaMoS had me, they would use my blood to create more like me, and if I tried to fight against it I would lose the last person I had left in my life.

"Sir, you want us to just bite her and draw blood that way?" A vampire asked almost eagerly, his fangs flashing.

"And watch you waste some by drinking it yourself as if that would turn you? Or perhaps give you a power boost? No, we'll try a different technique," Tobias snapped almost uncharacteristically. Before anyone could ask what technique, he suddenly reached for the vampire who had asked the previous question and ripped out his fangs amazingly fast. The vampire automatically dropped to the ground screaming, reaching for his mouth which was bleeding profusely. The blood drifted to me, enticing my own hunger and bringing out my own fangs.

"Hungry, Miss Draele?" Tobias asked curiously, noticing my reaction. There was something in the way he shifted that told me my hunger for even a vampire's blood unnerved him a bit.

"A little bit," I purposely smirked dangerously.

"We'll feed you later perhaps, when we're done collecting blood from you. We don't want you being too strong and getting ideas," He replied, snapping his fingers at someone. "Fangs take a while longer to heal from when pulled out. He'll grow his fangs back within a month or so. I want another set and send them to the technicians. They'll know what to do. Someone do something about this pitiful disgrace of a vampire." The vampire writhing on the ground was pulled out of the room swiftly and his fangs were whisked away as well. Something told me it was more than just the usual injuries, besides a longer heal time, when losing fangs. The man seemed positively in pain.

I thought about what would happen if they did something like that to Jove and I hesitated, touching the bond between Jove and I. For one silly moment, I forgot about blocking him, and I felt him wash over me completely like a warm shower on a cold day. It was enough for him to pinpoint my location and decide to come for me. Before I could argue, he blocked me, giving me a taste of the cold medicine I had been treating him with. I made it a point to keep my expression blank and not give anything away. If Jove was on a rescue mission and I couldn't stop him, I wasn't going to sabotage him either.

I only hoped he would let me know how exactly he planned to rescue me this time.