The Progeny : Chapter 4

Evie was shocked awake by an echoing bang and a harrowing scream. She smacked her hand to her chest the way a human would when their heart was pounding. It was just a habit now.

She rubbed her eyes and looked ahead to where the disturbing sounds were coming from. The albino vampire was still in hibernation. It was the vampire in the neighbouring cell that was kicking up a fuss. Evie gasped at the sight and curled back into the wall.

The vampire was thrashing around, screaming and smacking into the wall. He was clawing at himself, spilling blood over the floor. His short, black hair was now a dank mess on his head and his pale face was smeared with blood like tribal marks.

His eyes were completely black and the hollows under them were thick with spidery purple veins. Evie had seen that look before. That manic, possessed look that chilled her to her very bones. It was the look of the Rage.

Everyone knew of that look ever since 2020, when vampires were ‘outed’. Humans feared for their lives, naturally, and so the authorities had come up with an idea. They had tried to alter the vampire’s dietary needs and make them hunger for animal blood instead. This had worked for about a six months. Vampires were given blood from butchers and lived amongst the humans as if they were part of them, happy to be no longer seen as a threat. But then the Rage kicked in. Even the vampires hadn’t seen it coming. No one had attempted to change their diet before and so they had no idea what affect it would have, and how viciously the real hunger would fight back.

One by one, vampires were consumed by the Rage and lost complete control of their bodies to the hunger. They killed without thought, pulled humans apart on the streets, almost destroyed houses trying to get inside. The humans that had already invited a vampire into their homes had no chance. Towns were wiped out. Some vampires even scrambled out in daylight in hope to feast and went up in flames in the attempt.

Caius had noticed the Rage taking over and had sent himself and Evie into the basement of their house. He had compelled a human to tie them up in chains of silver and return in ten months to release them. It had been risky. The human could have died and the two of them would have been down there until they were found. The pain of the silver had sent them into hibernation, and when the human came back, the Rage was over. Due to their severe lack of blood, Caius and Evie had killed the human on the spot. But it was better to have been her than half of the town.

The authorities had taken charge. When Caius and Evie resurfaced, Dial-a-bite buildings were already in place and blood rations were being handed out from hospitals. The real hunger was sated and had been kept under control ever since.

Evie cringed and hissed when the Raged vampire wrapped his hands around the silver bars and started rattling them as they burned into his skin. He howled in pain and fury, snapping his fangs at the sleeping albino in the neighbouring cell.

“You were like that.”

Evie jumped and turned to Sophie who had dragged herself a little closer but still lay slumped against the back wall. Her pale hair hid half her face but Evie could tell she was looking at her.

“What?” she asked.

“The other night…after Nico injected you…you were like that…” Her head rolled over her shoulder, gesturing to the Raged vampire.

She winced at the thought. “So, I’m guessing he was just here?”

“Yeah…went a few minutes ago. Doesn’t like to stay for long after his serums take effect.” She laughed bitterly but ended up gargling blood.

“Is there a specific system? Does he come on a regular basis?” Evie paused as the Raged vampire let out another shrill cry as he tore open his business shirt. She looked at him with disgust and turned back to Sophie. “Is there some sort of pattern when it comes to him choosing who to…inject?” Evie asked.

“Not really…Takes him a while to create the stuff. I don’t know how he chooses who he’s going to test them on. I think it’s to do with…age. But how he finds out how old a vampire is…I don’t know. He can’t always take a vampire’s word for the…truth.”

“How old are you?” Evie asked. “In human and vampire years.”

Sophie sent her a sad smile. “Was Turned…when I was fourteen. Lived for sixty-two years since.”

“Has your Maker not tried to find you? Surely they’ve felt your pain?”

“I was released…he was only a new-born himself…didn’t understand the responsibility of being a Maker…”

Evie frowned. Her gut felt hollow at the thought of being released. It must be such a smack in the face. Her sympathy for Sophie was growing by the minute. She was completely without hope, just waiting to die. And with Caius stuck in here along with her, maybe Evie was the same. All three of them were going to die in this crazy doctor’s basement.

The Raged vampire tired himself out after a while and dropped into the bloody floor in a heap. When he woke, he gasped and wept into his hands.

“Not been here long…” said Sophie, “…few days before you.”

Evie could tell he was new to this place. He was still well filled out, unlike Sophie who looked like she was nearly falling apart. Evie thought of how she would rather die. Would she rather die quickly by injection or slowly dwindle into unending hibernation? She looked to the albino in front of her and noticed he still hadn’t moved. That wasn’t an effect of Nico’s special serum. That was the effect of months without blood, animal or human. What was he still doing here? Was Nico going to feed him and start all over again? The thought made her shudder.

She turned to Sophie to ask how long he had been hibernating but she was sleeping with her head against her shoulder. Evie’s gut twisted. Had she joined him? Was she to sleep forever or was she just tired? Was she faking it like when Nico was around? Sophie was the closest thing she had to a friend in this Hell and the thought of her being nothing but an empty shell made her feel empty too.

Evie’s eyes widened and she jumped to her feet at the sound of a door clanging open. The familiar click of heels made her step as close to the bars as she could without being burned.

Then she caught sight of him and her blood went cold.

He studied the vampire he had sent into the Rage, curling up on the floor. “Hello? Are you okay?”

There was no response so he sighed and turned around, catching sight of Evie with her wide, pleading eyes on him.

He smiled so wide it crinkled his eyes and he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Well, hello there. Feeling better? When I came earlier, you were like him.” He stuck his thumb to the sleeping vampire. He clasped his hands behind his back and strolled over to her. That’s when she noticed the bum bag attached to his hip and it made her insides cringe. That must be where he keeps his bottles, she thought.

His grey eyes squinted at her. “How are you feeling tonight?”

“Tired,” she replied.

He half frowned. “Yes, that tends to happen.”

“Let me see my Maker,” she demanded, yet her voice wasn’t as sharp as she wanted it to be.

Nico rolled his eyes with a sigh. “God, you have a one-track mind.”

“Please.” She went to grasp onto the bars pleadingly but thought against it just in time. “I need to see him. I know he’s alive. But he’s been in here over a week. He might not make it much longer. Please, just let me see him.” The pull between Caius and Evie was always strong, even when they were countries apart. But now it was starting to dwindle, like a flame dying out, and he was within reach. He was either in hibernation or heading that way soon. She tried to keep hold of their eye contact long enough to compel him to do her bidding but Nico seemed to know what she was doing and quickly averted his gaze.

“I’ll think about it,” he said, sounding disinterested. “But I didn’t come down here for you.” He spun on his heel and walked to the front of Sophie’s cell. Something flared up within Evie, strong and urgent, like a sort of maternal instinct to protect.

She crossed her cell and stared at Nico through the bars and glass. He opened the door and stepped into the space between the glass and silver bars before Sophie.

“Nico. Leave her. She’s been through enough,” pleaded Evie.

Nico laughed. “Even in hibernation they are useful. The serum’s still take effect.” He took out a bottle from his bum bag and slotted it into place in the machine. He then flicked the twitch and Evie watched in horror as the liquid began to travel down the tube and into Sophie’s ankle.

Suddenly, as if yanked up by imaginary strings, Sophie wailed and convulsed forwards in a jittery motion like she was being electrified. She clawed at the needle in her ankle and pulled it out but it was clearly too late. Whatever Nico had pumped into her, it was working fast. And with that in mind, he quickly stepped through the glass door and slammed it shut.

Sophie was writhing on the floor, her bony legs kicking and her arms stretching for something to grasp. She crawled to her knees and started gasping, clawing at her neck. Her bleary, brown eyes stared absently at the ceiling, and with one last screeching wail, she started to combust. Her skin started to sink inwards, bubbling blood. She cried and threw her arms out as she exploded and splattered like a tomato in a microwave.

Evie threw her arms over her face to shield herself but none of the goo came flying her way.

She dropped her arms and blinked, horrified.

So that’s what the glass was for.

The glass separator that stood in front of her was now covered in bloody pulp. It oozed down onto the floor leaving smears behind. Beyond it, after the clumps had slipped onto the floor, she could see the remains of Sophie’s summer dress still in the centre of the cell within a big heap of slopping gore.

Trembling, she turned to Nico who still stood behind the red smeared glass, frowning.

“Y-you’re a monster,” she spluttered.

He arched an eyebrow and turned to her. “No. I’m trying to fix the monsters.”

“B-but…you killed her.”

He sighed. “One must first be alive to be killed.”

Evie gritted her teeth and sprung to her feet. “She was alive! She was a nice person and you killed her!”

“She wasn’t a person. She was a vampire,” Nico countered.

Evie dropped back onto the floor, feeling like she had no energy to argue. She tucked her knees close to her chest and hugged them. Hot tears ran down her cheeks.

Nico inspected the mess in the neighbouring cell. “Don’t worry. I’ll send my men to clean this up.” And with that said, he left.

Evie clutched her vest and pushed herself along the bloody floor until her back smacked against the back wall. She curled up on herself and cried, hot, messy tears. Sophie was dead. This all suddenly felt very, very real. And one thing was for certain, Evie was going to die in here, too.

Her own death wasn’t her concern. It was her Maker’s. He shouldn’t have to die alone. Not without at least a goodbye.

For what felt like hours, Evie sat there on the cusp of sleep but never actually going under. She couldn’t relax enough to let her eyes droop closed. But her body was loose and heavy, wanting to give up. Her mind had gone from reeling to clouded emptiness. She felt numb.

She didn’t even flinch when the doors banged open and footsteps echoed through the room. Many footsteps. And they were heavy and clunky, not like Nico’s which were almost musical.

She shifted her eyes to the side and watched as three men dressed in white all-in-one overalls and goggles went into Sophie’s cell with jet washers, cloths, buckets and other cleaning equipment. Evie’s stomach knotted and the feeling seemed to kick start her. She bounced up to her feet as they started setting up, dragging the wires through the glass panelling and plugging them in at the thin strip of wall between the cells.

“Hey!” Evie called but she was ignored.

One of the men got to his knees in the centre of the cell and started to shovel the bloody mess and Sophie’s summer dress into the bucket.

“Hey!” Evie called again. “I know there is no point in asking if you will let me out of here but could you please just take me to my Maker? That’s all I want. I will happily stay here and die after that. I just want to say goodbye.” She wiped her cheeks with the backs of her hands and sniffed. “Please. Just let me say goodbye.”

But it was no use. She might as well have been on a different plain.

She dropped back onto the floor and watched in silence as they hosed down the glass walls, scrubbed off the bloody smears left behind, and collected all the bloody pulp scattered across the floor. When they were finished, they took their things, locked up and left, never looking back.