Chapter 23 — The Angel

Jacob

I awoke in a bright room, the sounds of loud, large birds trilling all around me. I was groggy, my body deadweight. I hadn't felt this exhausted since the last time I'd had morphine over 40 years ago. And then I hadn't been in this much pain. My body ached all over and my head was pounding. And, of course, there was the burning in my nose which was almost unbearable.

"Ah, see here children, he's awake," the sleek, oily voice of vampire said to my left.

For a moment, my heart leapt as I heard the sound of rapid heartbeats and felt the heat of the beings moving closer to me. But I realized quickly that it wasn't Nessie. The smell was all wrong. Seven girls peered over me. They weren't creepy, like vamps. They were just… beautiful. Eyes of all different colors, luminous skin tinged with a slight blush. But it was the look in their eyes that told me they were dangerous. They looked thirsty.

"Is he edible?" asked a brunnette to my right.

"I wouldn't think so," said the crazed, white-haired vampire I knew to be Joham. "The smell of him is enough to turn my stomach, dear."

"I don't think he smells bad," said a blonde directly by my head.

"He is not here to bring us enjoyment in that way, I'm afraid," said Joham. "Rather, we must learn from him. This is a new species I'd never dreamed could have existed. Now, young man, how are you feeling?"

"Fuck you," I garbled.

"Excellent," said Joham. "He is still mostly sedated. He cannot turn into his wolf-self. And if he does, we give him more elephant tranquilizer. So, my friend, I suggest you do not change form."

He was right, I couldn't even begin to imagine phasing.

"Now, so far, we have injected you with a variety of diseases," said Joham, casually. "Malaria, tuberculosis, bubonic plague. We're curious to see how your incredibly strong body fights it off. These diseases do not affect me, but they may affect my children. Your body is so like theirs. We shall see how you cope first."

Well, that explained the body aches and the shaking.

"Now, since there is a chance we may kill you with these diseases, I want to test something else on you while you're still lucid enough to respond," Joham continued in a voice that was horribly speculative. "So, you may have felt that I've attached electric shock wires to your body. I'm curious regarding your pain threshold and how it differs from humans' and vampires'. Are you ready?"

"What?" I gasped, but then the pain was upon me. It was sharp and hot. I yelped and it stopped.

"Now what would you rate that on a scale from 1-10?" asked Joham. "For most humans that would have been about a 9."

"Fuck you," I said again through gritted teeth.

"Well, it didn't seem too painful, so let's try it again on a higher dose," he said.

This time the pain wracked my body causing me to scream and twist as though trying to escape it.

"Oh yes, now we're getting somewhere. That dosage would have rendered a human unconscious. Next, we'll try the death level."

I screamed in agony as the electric bolts coursed through me. I couldn't escape, my body wouldn't move, my head swam. As the electric shocks ended, I vomited over the edge of the table I was on.

"Very interest—" Joham said, but then stopped, suddenly alert. "We are receiving visitors, my children."

Even though the electric shock was over, pain still raced through my body and the room was an unfathomable spectrum of moving colors and far away sounds. Still, I thought I could just make out a scent in the air.

"Nessie…" I tried to say, the world fading from color to black, in and out.

Then her eyes were in front of mine, her pink lips, her flushed cheeks. The face of an angel. Then, her back turned. A whirl of snarls. The ripping of metal. The angel of death had saved me. Then, my world went black.