Part III: Tertia Vigilia (1/1)

“Is she awake yet?” I heard someone ask in the distance after what seemed like ages of darkness. “No, not yet,” replied another voice. “I swear if you’re making me lose my time here, you’re going to end up as part of today’s menu. The effect shouldn’t last this long on her if were right, or on any vampire for that matter,” barked back the first voice. It sounded like SeungHyun, that deep and commanding voice. “All the signs pointed–she’s awake!” exclaimed the second voice, Ken. “Wakey wakey, Seulgi, and welcome,” greeted SeungHyun towering over me. Nothing was making sense and he must have perceived my confusion. “Thank you for bringing me Mino safe and sound. Your little friends have already left and so has Joy. Now you, on the other hand, I’m afraid I can’t let you go just yet. Ken, here, told me we might have some matters to discuss with you,” the intimidating tall man, still wearing a top hat, explained. “Whe–where am I?” I asked, my voice sounding hoarse and shaky. “Oh my, I apologize for my lack of manners. Welcome to our humble abode. Safer and more isolated than that Black Blood dirty cabin you broke into last week. We’d like for you to stay with us for a while,” he suggested. A suggestion that sounded like nothing but a polite and menacing order.  “I’m your prisoner,” I countered matter-of-factly, shaking my hands which were being held above my head by chains. “I wouldn’t quite call it so but I’d rather not waste time on formalities,” he answered. The playful smile on his face turning into a wicked smirk as he caressed the chains which ran all the way to the wall behind me. “I’ll cut right to the chase. Ken suspects you’re a demi-vampire. Now, we’ll deal with the task of your death later, for now let’s focus on the identity of your creator. Who turned you, Seulgi?” asked SeungHyun sitting by my bed, if you could even call it that, a concrete rectangular brick base, super comfy, five stars on Amazon probably. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m a demi either. I-I was turned a few decades ago,” I said honestly. I was afraid he’d detect any of my lies. “That’s what interests me, Seulgi. If you were turned, say, fifty years ago, that would mean there would still be at least one primum living around then. Tell me about it, give me their name!” he shouted impatiently, bringing his face closer to mine. “I really don’t know, I swear,” I assured, my voice close to a whimper. “Endearing but utterly useless. I guess we’ll just have to pry the words out of you. Night night, Seulgi,” SeungHyun vociferated right before smashing a metal rod against my stomach with all the strength he possessed, blood spilling with each one of my coughs. “Give her our signature massage,” he ordered to someone nearby before exiting the room. My head was spinning, the soft light from the chandelier above coming in and out of focus. I wondered if I would die anytime soon in that windowless, poorly-lit room, there was no way I would be able to give them any name because I actually didn’t know the name of my creator. “I’m Seohyun, I’ve been assigned the task of finding out whether you are a demi-vampire. Either way, I hope we get along well and make lasting memories together,” announced the woman near the door taking a few steps in my direction. I recognized her as the girl holding Joy by the neck back at the forest, that memory seemed like it took place an eternity ago now. “How are you gonna find that out?” I inquired, genuinely curious.  “Testing your limits, analizing your blood… drinking your blood,” she replied with a twisted grin. I lost track of time after all the beatings, burns, and other torture methods the woman employed. I thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse after all the excruciating pain inflicted on me by my torturer, when one day I was suddenly awoken by a big splash of water coming from a bucket of water held by Seohyun. I had fallen asleep or maybe just passed out after several sessions of torture, trying to come up with ways of just ending this agony. Suddenly, the water splashed on my stomach started burning and a scorching sensation traveled to every single one of my cells, the liquid smelled off, like… like acid.  Seohyun continued performing her task diligently, grabbing some tubes and instruments from a cabinet by the door which looked like the ones Irene had used on Mino back at the forest. “Now you’re gonna feel what real pain is like, as I literally drain the life out of you,” the black-haired girl informed me as she labeled some empty plastic bags with a marker. “Don’t worry though, you won’t die. I’ll leave just enough blood to keep you conscious.” Nothing really mattered anymore, I wasn’t scared but I still had so many questions flying around my mind. Was the rest of my clan safe? Had they managed to make it back home? Was Joy truly safe? Where was Irene? I had stopped feeling any signs of her presence. I felt a vague sense of betrayal which left a bitter taste on my mouth. “How long have I been here?” I asked calmly while Seohyun moved the shackles on my ankles to place the needles and tubes for the extraction. “Four or five days, but I heard you were unconscious for three,” she replied with her eyes fixed on the task in front of her. She also possessed that kind of demented vibe that all Purists gave off and seemed to enjoy torturing others, but it didn’t seem like anything personal, she looked like she enjoyed her job, kind of. Throughout the days, I’d also noticed that although she liked to play games and enjoy her time as she inflicted pain on me, she was quite honest and straightforward. She might have been a nice person if she weren’t a White Blood, or maybe I was just starting to suffer from Stockholm Syndome. Once all the tubes, machines, and blood bags had been properly set up, the process begun. She was right, all her previous torture methods were nothing compared to drying me up, the physical and psychological suffering didn’t compare to anything I had ever felt. I was sure the entire house could probably hear my wails and screams. “We theorize it has something to do with our vampire nature, and instinctual response to an outside assault. Humans don’t hurt this way, in fact they voluntarily donate their blood, but vampires abhor it. Our nociceptors are not actually being threatened but somehow our primary somatosensory cortex is triggered when our blood is extracted,” she explained patiently cleaning and tidying up her tools before leaving me there. I slipped in and out of consciousness, lying in that dim room for minutes, hours, or days, I had honestly completely lost track of time. I heard distant conversations or strips of it, feeling like a fly on the wall, completely void of any sense of self. “My results are rather inconclusive, though.” “Maybe she’s another kind? A hybrid?” “I’m sure of what I saw!” “Either way, we can’t let her go.” “I disagree with Ken. I’ve seen thousands of vampires.” “I think you’re right, Irene, but there’s still something about her bothering me, I can’t let her go.”  “Maybe she’ll tell you something.” “She still isn’t awake?” I felt a hand stroking my hair lightly, so gently, that it took me a while to realize it was a real sensation. The warm gesture seemed so out of place in that merciless place that I was almost certain it was a dream. When my eyes fluttered open, I came face to face with those dark orbs that had greeted me at that clearing in the forest near Donghae, Irene’s eyes.  She held a paper in front of me. “Trust me, I’ll get you out of here.” Was it a trap? In utter panic, my head spun around to check the room for any other visitors, almost suffering from whiplash, and I relaxed a tad after noticing it was just us there. Was this real? When had she come back? Could I trust her? I barely had any energy to move, much less to properly think this through. I already thought I would die there alone and forsaken, so I really had nothing to lose. Before I had any more time to go over my honestly inexistent set of options, Irene moved closer to me, inching forward only leaving an uncomfortably small gap between our faces. I had to look away, the proximity was overwhelming, and in doing so I caught something I had missed before, a syringe on her lap. Fuck fuck fuck.