Daughter of the Night

I snapped back into consciousness with brutal force, the way a mouse trap will snap down on a mouse. My eyes shot open, my cloak billowed out, my nostrils flared as I scented the air, and my wrists jolted heavily against the titanium metal handcuffs.

Widening with anger, I exhaled in a sharp snarl. I was bound?! A vampire! Tied down! Incapacitated! Not for long, If I had any goddamn say about it. And as soon as I was free, my captor would die. I debated between ripping off his head and tearing out his heart, and I settled on the latter.

My entire form shuddered as I pitted my strength against that of the huge metal links that bound me to a wall of similar material. Slowly, oh so slowly, the metal that bound the cuffs to the wall slowly began to stretch out. But my strength waned faster than that of titanium steel, and I relaxed, panting, against the wall.

Resolving to try again the instant I regained my strength, I peered around my surroundings. The first adjective that came to mind was grungy, although slimy was a close second and worthy of a slug not far behind. The metal wall I was bound to was the only metal wall in the room, which was a good forty feet long and then fifty feet wide. The other three walls were all heavy stone, even the wide staircase that came down into the middle of the room. The stones were covered in lichen and moss and coated in disgusting green slime. The only accessory in the entire chamber was a filthy oval rug that had definitely seen better days. The double-door at the top of the stairs was shut tight, casting the room into absolute darkness.

I have to admit, I was surprised that the surroundings were so comfortable. I could tell that the room was under the earth, probably a basement.

The phalanx of smells that hit me, besides the moss and lichen and moths feasting on that doomed rug, included werewolf stench and dried blood and... another vampire.

The cold, metallic stench of another of my own was unmistakable. The scent was... on my neck. I tch’d distastefully as my situation hit me.

The werewolves had used Aaron as a hostage to bring me under their control. From what I had heard from them, he had placed a bounty on my head in hopes that I would be dragged before him and humiliated with absolutely no effort on his part. From the amount of mutts that had showed up, it was a sizable bounty. Big enough for the dogs to all split and walk away satisfied. I was probably looking at something in the six-digits. Well, he was loaded, even after all of those centuries.

I assumed that the vampire had only come to verify my identity and report back to him. That gave me limited time to get the hell out of here. I was surprised, though, that there were no guards posted inside the room. Heh, they probably thought I’d seduce them and then drain them. Not my style, dogs.

I could tell that the sun had been dormant for maybe three hours; I had been unconscious for a full twenty-four hours. Maybe there was hope of escaping this very night; it wouldn't’t take more than a week for an escort to arrive, and then any chance of escape would be lost like yesterday’s newspaper.

My thoughts flashed back to Aaron. I grimaced as his bright eyes held me captive even in my imagination; I was thinking about him too much. I had done what was best for him, although the delay had nearly cost him his life. It had certainly cost me my freedom. I had learned my lesson, though; it would be a long time before I ever looked at a human as anything more than food. It was the best I could do for them; although they would never know it, my apathy would be the key between life and death.

My ears caught sound of footsteps on the other side of the door, at the foot of the stairs. I looked back at the steel link protruding from the wall; a few more seconds under pressure and I would have it. My best chance would be with surprise; I should talk, then escape.

The great gold handle dipped downwards as someone shoved the door open. A group of dogs appeared, the leader illuminating the way with an old-fashioned torch.

As they came down the stairs, I recognized the old dog from before as the one with the torch.

“You know,” I sneered, “they have these neat inventions called flashlights, and shockingly, they’re a bit more practical than a flaming piece of wood.”

The dogs scowled back at me as they formed a ‘u’ around my person. I used my cape to hide the stretched manacles.

“You seem to underestimate us,” the old dog spoke up. His voice was still hoarse, stressed, and unhappy. If any of them were to sympathize with me, it would be him. “We are aware of your ability to manipulate batteries into self-destructing, thanks to the vampire who came earlier.”

Hence the cell phone problem. I hadn't’t thought far enough ahead to realize that the vampire would have passed along all of my strengths and weaknesses. This was going to be tougher than I had originally thought. I didn't’t doubt my ability to escape, though; I had no idea what was in store for me.

“Then he also told you of my ability to shape-shift,” I retorted haughtily. Several dogs shifted nervously.

“Only in the light of the moon,” came the even reply. Curse that vampire.

“That won’t stop me from melting out of these cuffs, though,” I purred. Panicked gazes shot towards the leader, questioning his response. He seemed aware of my bluff.

“Then you would have done so already,” the grandfather responded. My eyes narrowed in annoyance.

“What do you require, then, for my freedom?” I demanded. One or two dogs uttered a snort, but my hot glare silenced them with dangerous efficiency.

The old dog opened his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “I’m afraid your freedom is out of the question at this time, at least until your king is done with you,” he told me. “You’ll have to stay here until then.”

I snarled angrily. “How long will that be, then?”

“Probably a few more days.”

Good. At least I had some time. It wasn't’t like they were arriving tomorrow.

“Anything else I should know?” I asked, twisting my hands against the encircling metal that bound them.

The dogs looked at each other knowingly, as if there was indeed something I should know, but none of them spoke up. I figured that they would tell me in time, although time was one thing I wouldn't’t be staying around for.

“That’s all,” the old dog said. The scars on his cheeks were illuminated in the lamplight.

“Just curious, how big is this reward?” I asked. This was in fact pure interest speaking up, since the cost on my head was irrelevant. The fact that there was a price was all I needed to know.

The old dog hesitated, but one of the stupider mutts in the back spoke up. “Six hundred grand!” he shouted gleefully, dancing from one foot to the other. The dogs near him shared infectious smiles at the amount they’d be bringing home to their families just for following around little old me.

I sighed as the mutts turned to leave, their business done. One walked backwards towards the stairs, keeping his eyes locked on me to survey my movements. I stared him down; he was no match for a vampire, dog that he was. Nervously, he blinked and looked down. Just for a second. But a second was all I needed.

Lunging forward, I snapped through the manacles with the ease one ripping paper. In less than a tenth of a second, I had my fangs stuck into the throat of the largest werewolf, the one with the keys.

As absolutely disgusting and repulsive as werewolf blood is to a vampire (it would be about the same as a human trying to digest a week-old hamburger that got flushed down a toilet and is now growing fungus, not to mention maggots) a vampire’s venom to a dog is absolute agony. It only takes one bite for that wolf to be writhing in torment for weeks.

Injecting enough venom to knock out an elephant through my fangs, I then leaped onto his outstretched shoulder and kicked off as he fell, grabbing the keys held in his hands. Spreading my cape/wings to either side, I shot up the stairwell, heedless of the gigantic wooden door blocking my escape.

I was pissed. That door didn't’t stand a chance.

In an explosion of wood and black fabric, I tore through the door with the ferocity of a rabid wolf. As soon as I was out, I looked left, then right, and then I launched myself upwards, my great black cape forming my wings.

The chamber above me was huge, more like a chasm than anything else. I soared upwards at least five stories before the ceiling came into my path. Screeching angrily, I challenged it with all of my authority, wanting to see it explode into a hundred million pieces.

I was just about to break through the beautiful tiled ceiling without even looking at my surroundings, but a voice all too familiar broke through my senses.

“Cross!”

Flaring my wings to either side, my hair billowing around me like a a black nimbus. I looked like an avenging angel sent from hell.

Down a golden-stoned hallway to my left, illuminated with more old-fashioned torches hanging in brackets on the wall, about eye level, at the end was a chamber barred with metal. Behind that...

Whipping around, I flapped once and sent myself whinging through the corridor, breaking my speed with a thunderous halt. My cape lost its shape and fell to encompass my shoulders as I peered through the bars, my adrenaline high finally catching up to me.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, despairing at the pair of green eyes looking up at me. How dare those dogs take him as well, after they had given him so much pain? Our bargain was that he would be healed and released in return for my capture! They would learn better than to double-cross me...

The boy grinned at me, although I could tell from his pale complexion and haggard 5 o’clock shadow that he wasn't’t here by choice. That instant I decided that I didn't’t feel kind enough to spare those wolves. He should be recuperating in a soft bed somewhere safe. He had been coughing up blood only a day ago!

“Good to see you too,” he said, although his voice cracked with pain and exhaustion and I realized that he had barely recovered at all from his encounter with wolfbane.

I vowed to myself to never involve any humans ever again, I wouldn't’t so much as look at one, as long as this one could get home safe and never get involved with my world ever again.

“I’ll get you out of here,” I said, grabbing two of the vertical iron rods and ripping them out of the frame. His eyes widened at the ease at which I dispatched his prison.

I chucked the iron bar behind me, not caring if it made noise, but I never heard it crash against the stone floor.

I froze. The smell hit my nose only seconds later. Damn, I thought the vampire venom would have deterred at least a few of them for a time.

“Uh, Cross...TURN AROUND!” Aaron shouted at me, waving his arms.

Instead of turning around, I leaped through the bars into Aaron’s enclosure. Turning, I gestured for the nearest dog to come at me.

The boy’s prison was the perfect size for a battle; a circular room with no corners, about twenty feet in diameter, with no extra items that could get in the way. Even better, the iron bars I had bent out of place made a hole big enough only for one werewolf to enter at a time, an easy rate for me to keep up with.

I dropped into a crouch and readied myself to fight, but an awful thought struck me the same time a gnarled hairy arm reached out and hooked Aaron around his neck.

Ugh! Not again! Total deja vu! My God, humans are so annoying, not to mention weak and useless and absolute liabilities. Never again would I even so much as look at one! Way too much trouble!

“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said flatly as a werewolf pinned the boy against the corridor wall. Grinning maliciously, the other dogs sheltered him with their bodies, forming a barricade against me.

“You know the deal,” one of them told me. “You move, he dies.”

“Since when are you dogs so carefree with human lives?” I demanded. “Vampires feed off of them, but you’re supposed to live in mutual harmony! And now you’re threatening to kill one? I don’t think so.”

Okay, total bluff, I know, but I was running out of options. I didn’t doubt that they could kill him, I was just trying to buy time to think of a way to get out of this mess.

The dogs, though, looked more torn than I had thought they would. Had I actually struck a nerve? Intrigued, I pressed the advantage.

“We’re the villains,” I said, pointing to myself in order to represent vampire kind in general. “You,” I enunciated with a jab of my index finger towards his chest, “are supposed to defend him. And lo and behold, you stumble across a vampire who actually shares a common interest with you. Imagine that! And not only do you try and sell that vampire to their doom, but you proceed to kill the human they were defending? Children of the moon, where are your standards?”

Okay, so I was getting slightly sarcastic, but I didn’t fail to make my point. The dogs shifted guiltily from foot to foot, fidgeting with their hands and clothes and entirely avoiding my gaze.

“If you want to remain loyal to your ancestors, the ones that fought for humans to be free, you will release that boy so as to not betray your duty as guardians of the human race.”

Ha. That should do it.

The old dog came forward. He looked towards the werewolf holding the boy prisoner (the boy wasn’t looking too good; his face had lost more color and his eyes were wide, although he didn’t look too absolutely panicked) and nodded.

The wolf held up his free hand and concentrated upon it. In a matter of seconds curved black claws sprouted from where the fingernails should have been, the palm of the hand grew grey and leathery, and the back of the hand sprouted brown and grey hairs. He brought the wolfish hand up to Aaron’s throat. The boy threw a nervous glance in my direction before his attention was caught by the deadly claws pressed against his skin.

The old dog came forward.

“Vampiress,” he stated solemnly, and I could have sworn he could have been apologizing, “you must understand our situation. We are being forced; our leader has been taken hostage and will only be freed if you are offered in return.”

Okay, woah. Way too many hostages getting tossed around here. Although that would make sense; as fond as werewolves were of human life, they would every one lay down their lives for the clan leader and would not hesitate to take another’s for that cause, whatever the race. I heaved a sigh.

“Let him go, and I’m not joking,” I warned. “Set him free, this time, or I’ll hang your guts on the rooftops to be picked at by the crows.”

I actually did not invent that threat. Rather, I had picked it up a long time ago from a fellow vampire. The vampires winced at my gruesome and unnecessarily graphic descriptions. Graphic descriptions always make me feel better.

“I’m afraid we will have to take you captive first, since we can’t trust your motives,” the old dog told me sadly.

“Here’s a compromise,” I retorted. “Give me a guard of three werewolves, and release the boy where I can see. If any of you follow him, I will know it. If any of you hurt him or recapture him or feed him any more of that god-cursed wolfbane, I will know. And I will kill you all. Or, if all goes well and he can be free, I will give you ten seconds to do whatever you want and I will not fight back. After that, if I’m not brought down, your organs will be decorating this building like pop-corn strands on a Christmas tree.”

One or two wolves swallowed nervously while the old dog debated, resting his chin in his hand.

“Done,” he said after several long seconds. He crossed the room, flanked by several mutts, and shook my head. I doubted he disliked the sensation as much as I did; his hand was uncomfortably warm and ignited an itchy, stinging sensation in my hand. We released each other’s hands as quickly as possible without being rude.

It took fifteen long minutes to weave our way through the building, which appeared to be an abandoned apartment building from the 1800’s, before we finally came upon the doors.

Aaron had been released so that he could walk properly, although both he and I had throngs of dogs surrounding us. I had to stop breathing so I wouldn’t get apoplectic from the awful smell.

The entrance of the building was by far in worse condition than the rest of it, probably to deter any customers. Opening one haggard wooden door, a wolf shoved Aaron gently into the night.

He looked behind, towards me. I was shrouded in the darkness, my eyes shining through like red coals.

“Go,” I said.

He looked me up and down, and then at the dogs surrounding me. I recalled when I first met him. “I shouldn’t let a girl take over my fight,” he had told me. I have to admit, this was one fight I would be willing to circumvent. Unfortunately, he couldn’t handle it.

“Don’t look back,” I told him. Gesturing towards the door, I willed it to slam closed in his face, shoving him onto the stoop of the building and back into familiar ground. The city.

As the huge oak door clicked into place besides its neighbor, I realized just how alone I was with thirty pairs of ravenous wolf eyes judging me up and down.

“If anyone follows him, I will know,” I repeated. This was not a bluff; I knew his scent well enough that if I so willed it I could detect him anywhere in a twenty-mile radius. That meant I could smell any wolves, or blood, or godforsaken wolfs bane as well.

“We are aware of your abilities,” grandfather wolf told me. “Now it is time for you to fulfill your side of our agreement.”

I exhaled through my nose. This was the part I wasn’t looking forward to. The only reason my prison had been so lax before was because the dogs had thought I would still be weakened from the blow to my head. In reality, it was only the sun that kept me at bay. On second thought, they probably knew that about me too.

Either way, this time my confinement was not going to be as gentle. No titanium steel to twist broken. I could only imagine how they would restrict me, how they would bind my powers. This was officially going to suck.

Ten seconds. I could handle that. Although, in superhuman measurement, ten seconds was the same as an hour. They could accomplish anything in an hour.

My cape, which had been tensed along with my emotions, relaxed and fluttered to my sides.

“Your time...begins...now.”

I had no sooner uttered these words than I was seized from behind. My arms were locked together with a multitude of chains and bindings and cuffs, as my legs were also. By the time they were done assaulting me with locking metals, two point three-two seconds were up.

Grabbed by my shoulders, I was hauled upwards in a dash that took another three seconds. As soon as I realized where we were going, it took all of my willpower to stay still and not to fight for my life.

Up, and up, and up, and finally the stars. A huge block of steel, firmly welded to the rest of the building, greeted my gaze under a sprinkling of stars.

In a matter of milliseconds every chain I was sporting was somehow locked to the metal block; there were over hundreds of them.

By the time the ten seconds were up, I was firmly attached to the wall. The sky, soon to be light, laughed down at my helplessness.

I didn’t even try to struggle. There was no point wasting my strength when I would soon lose all of it anyways. This was certainly the most efficient way to bring me down, although it was also the most inhumane. Fitting for a vampire, I suppose, although at that point in time I failed to see the irony.

“I hate to do this to you,” the old wolf said sadly, looking up at me as I hung helplessly in my chains like a goose on display, “yet there is no other way to guarantee your imprisonment. The vampire that came warned us of your strength, but he told us of your profound weakness to the sun. He said that if you were exposed directly to the sun, you would be weakened enough to be immobilized even during the night. You will only have to endure three nights of this.”

I wanted to do a million things right then. I wanted to fight with all my heart to break these bonds, but one had been a struggle. This many would be, even for me, inconceivable.

All vampires are susceptible to the sun, sure, but some more than others. It basically depends on a vampire’s heritage; who turned them, how many supernatural abilities they had, etc. Not all vampires could curl guns or dissolve metals or slam doors with their minds; I could because I was derived directly from one with royal blood; the blood of the original vampires. In exchange, though, I lost my immunity to the sun’s rays. They were beyond death for me, one who couldn't’t even die.

There was no way to get around it now; I was to be subjected to pain beyond the worst hell for three days and then I was to meet him. My life seriously sucked.

A rumbling growl built in my chest, slowly absorbing all of my misery and suffering. It grew to a steady snarl before it graduated to a full-blown roar, my fury unleashed on all who bore witness. Metals withered into ashes, a gale whipped up, even the concrete of the roof cracked under my wrath. Yet the iron manacles did not break. They were magicked. By that vampire.

Someone was going to die. It would not be me. I would see myself through this torture, and I would achieve vengeance.

Just you wait, Dracula.