Control

Control

Chapter 1: Change.

“You know I hate these things, Hal.” I stated, as he led me into one of the backrooms, most likely close to where they keep the wolves, it wasn’t an attractive room I didn’t expect it to be, after all these events were never held in fancy places. It wasn’t the worst room I had been in while Hal ‘socialised’, at least the paint was not pealing and they’d tried to add a little taste to the room by putting up some eloquent paintings and fancy red chairs. It still didn’t help; I could still hear them. As a vampire, werewolves are the enemy, it was a fact I had come to terms with. We killed them and they killed us, they only transformed when the moon was full where as we had to live with our ‘demons’ every day. There were countless reasons why each side hated the other. However, forcefully pitting them against each other is just…barbaric. If the vampires who organised these god awful events had their roles reversed, I’m sure they would be disgusted. Hal simply shrugged his shoulders and picked up a bottle of what looked like some sort of wine.

“We all have to put up with things we don’t like Sophie,” he replied, Hal was changing, a couple of years ago he would have listened and taken me somewhere else, most likely a close by house to drain the inhabitants, but nowadays he seemed angry and confused with life. I was about to reply when two vampires came through the doors, dragging between them a man with several scratches covering his body, he looked tired and hungry, the poor man. The vampires bowed their heads towards Hal, acknowledging his status; he after all was a Lord, before continuing their journey with the man. My gaze focused towards the wall away from the sight, I ran my thumb over my fingers a nervous habit I had always had. Hal could always pick up on when I was agitated and it hurt him, emotionally at least after all for the better part of what? Five hundred years we had been together, through thick and thin, emotional break downs, loss of friends. Loss rots at the soul, when everything around you changes, when the things that were once familiar change and you lose all that you worked to stabilise falls apart, it can emotionally crush you. A hand gently found its place on my shoulder and an arm around my waist brought me out of my thoughts.

“We’ll be gone soon, I promise.” He whispered, kissing my cheek before leading me over to one of the sofas in the room. He picked up the bottle of wine that he must he put down while I was lost in my own little world. His fingers stroked my long charcoal black hair, before moving to caress my cheek, a reassurance that we would soon be far away from here. He bent down pressing his forehead against mine, closing his eyes for a second and brushed his nose against mine. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

Hal’s P.O.V

Leaving her in that room was probably not the best idea, I know she hates dog fights; she always had, ever since I introduced her to one all those years ago. Maybe I shouldn’t have, maybe I should have let her go and drink or whatever she would have done instead of going to the fight. But back then, we were young; we did whatever we wanted, wherever I would go Sophie would be there, unless it was a war in which she would not be able to follow me. I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. Why in hell’s name had I come here? Oh right, to find out why that god damn werewolf didn’t fear me like the rest did. He infuriated, confused and intrigued me, for the better part of my life everyone feared me, even Sophie who loved me, feared the beast I could become. And yet this pup didn’t fear me, he defied me. I drank more of the bitter wine, sighing once more.

“Leo, Leo, Leo.” I greeted the wolf, clicking as if he was a trained dog. A demeaning action meant to emotionally hurt an advisory. However it did not faze the man who was in rags, chain to the wall, beaten and bloodied. “In the dog fights, how many people have you killed?”

He remained silent in an act of defiance; we both knew what he was capable of while he was transformed into the beast he was, like many of the sadistic vampires, including myself. I drank once more; those eyes stared back at me, infuriating me.

“The creature you become, how many people has he killed?” I asked once more, if werewolf blood was not toxic, he could have driven me to go as far as ripping his throat and heart out. He still did not answer me. “The answer is five, hopefully six after tonight.” I walked closer to him; he did not flinch unlike the others.

“Although, the odds on you will shorten then. That’s the problem with geese that lay golden eggs and the price of gold starts to drop.” I explained crouching down to his level. “And we don’t want that.”

He lunged forward, his chains rattling against the cold stone floor. I quickly backed away, it was the last thing I needed, to die in a grotty basement at the hands of a pup. He sat back against the wall after he realised his efforts were futile, I laughed it off.

“Why do you keep coming down here?” he asked agitated, I began pacing a bit drinking once more. I couldn’t answer; I did not know what made me come often to his cell. Maybe it was my intrigue at the fact that he didn’t fear me like the rest.

“Do I?” I replied jokingly, it was then I decided I would enlighten our little wolf, “You’re the only one in this building who isn’t frightened of me, and it’s refreshing. And intriguing, why aren’t you scared?”

“What’s left for you to do to me?” he questioned, slightly laughing off my last statement. He had no idea what I could do, drive him insane, kill him in the slowest most horrifying way ever known to man, he didn’t know the demon inside of me.

“You’d be surprised.” I stated coldly, he still laughed. He was an enigma. Any other man would be frightened by a cold blooded killer that they were at the mercy of, any other man would cower at the thought of me being in the room, but Leo wasn’t just any man, he was different even from the other wolves.

“Death doesn’t frighten me the way it does you.” He stated, shaking his head. It was hysterical, I was not afraid to die. I had faced death many a time during my life, and I was not afraid.

“I’m not frightened of death.” I chuckled, though Leo was not convinced he once more shook his head a sort of grin on his face.

“All vampires are it’s why you spend so many years running from it.” He stated, many vampires feared their demise, though they were generally those who had not lived for long. Those who accepted immortality as if it was their birth right, but not I, no. I did not fear death, I welcomed it.

“Trust me, that’s not what brought me down here.” I all but snarled there was a small wooden crate next to Leo; I kicked it over so that it lay a couple of metres away from him. I sat down on it, something was telling me I should explain my life to this man who I barely knew and did not trust what so ever.

“I was born in a brothel; I don’t even know which of the six illiterate whores was my mother. But when one by one each of them was lost to disease or violence, I mourned them as if they were my blood.” I explained, he shifted maybe he was slightly uncomfortable that a vampire was opening up to him about their past. It was not a natural occurrence. “I ran away to sea ended up in Gdansk, fell into the battle of Orsha and ended up on the wrong side of a muscovite lance. By the time I was a young man I’d seen every dark corner of the human heart, so when the army surgeon offered me eternal life in return for what little God had left me of my soul, I accepted. Not because I feared death, but because I could think of nothing that deserved my loyalty anymore.” I continued, it was nice that no one interrupted my little tangent for once, a lot of the other vampires either knew how I had become who I was or didn’t care, though I’m sure Leo couldn’t give a damn about my life. “I have been so many people since then, some kind, some cruel. They take it in turns to claw their way to the surface.”

“Whose turn is it next? Who’s waiting in the wings?” he asked, I shrugged drinking once more. I was not afraid of death that was a fact I had known from the very beginning, if anything I was afraid of the person I could become. “What do you want from me?”

“I don’t want anything from you.” I replied chuckling, this only served to agitate Leo more. What could a captured wolf give me? Nothing, at best he was a bargaining chip if I ever got into financial difficulty with other vampires who did not fear me, those who were considerably older than I.

“You expect me to listen.”

“Is that so much to ask?” I questioned, his eyes told me all. He couldn’t believe I had dared ask him that, he found it outrageous and it was quite fun to see him so affected by something I had said, unlike the others he wasn’t afraid to challenge me.

“On top of kidnapping me, chaining me up in a cellar and telling me to kill people, yes. Listening to you is a lot to ask.” He replied, calming down ever so slightly. I crossed my arms over my knees slightly smirking at him. It wasn’t every day that someone would dare challenge anything I said, not a vampire half or even twice the age of myself would say anything against me so as not to upset me.

“You come down here like the bloody plantation owner and talk about times you have been kind. Why are you telling me this? Do you want me to like you? Do you want me to think you are better than the others? You must have me mixed up with another werewolf you have tied up somewhere who gives a damn.” There was his anger once more, and the smirk. I stood up, pacing some more around the dingy little cell. I looked down at the floor, thinking. What could I say?

“I want you to think that there is hope.” I replied, it was a rather bizarre answer, if I was Leo, I would have thought that I had completely lost my mind. My assumption was correct.

“Hope? For what?” he asked confused, by now he had probably lost all hope of escaping this hell. I was confused at myself for even thinking of asking this wolf to hope for my salvation.

“That I can be saved.” I replied monotonously, this confused him more, after all when has a vampire asked a werewolf to hope for them to be saved.

“What does it matter what I think?”

“Well…the others will be here in a minute to take you upstairs.” I sighed as I began walking towards the stairs and back to where I had left Sophie who was most likely pacing the room out of sheer agitation.

“I won’t kill again.” He stated, stopping me in my tracks, if he didn’t kill he would be killed. This man was ready to throw away his entire life, what for? To defy us or was he simply had lost all hope of living. “Whatever poor soul you have up there, I’ll run up there before I transform, fall on their knife. I do not want to be you.”

“I should change my bet then.” I said coldly, though the last statement struck me.

“But I think even you want to be you either.” He explained it was true to some extent nowadays I did not want to massacre people like I had back in the day, I didn’t want everyone to skirt around me in fear that I will viciously kill them. However I don’t think I would change my decision to become what I am.

“Sometimes we don’t have a choice.” I replied, turning my head slightly.

“Then we are both in chains.” He stated, lifting his arm up and clanking the chains against the wall. He was right; we both lived in chains, he in the literal sense and I in the metaphorical sense, living secretly in our societies away from humanity. “What is your name?”

“Hal.”

“This is our last conversation, Hal.” He explained, it was sad in a way, he was accepting his death. His eyes showed that he was set on it.

“Even if the next cycle brings someone kind, it won’t last. Ten years from now, thirty, fifty, this man will return and he will be even worse, he always is.” Now I sounded like I was pleading, something I had never done in my life, pathetic.

“What if I was with you to greet him? Isn’t that was this is about?” he asked, bringing himself up onto his heels, as far as his chains would let him. He seemed eager to help me…was it to get his freedom? “You have been testing me, to see if I would make a good guide, to lead you into the light.”

“What’s in it for you?” I questioned, a lot of people I knew were ready to take advantage of my status, to gain favour with higher ranking vampires or to gain some material good.

“No one dies, especially me.” He replied smiling, maybe he was not ready to give up; maybe he had some fight in him yet. “I have plans; I want a big fat ordinary life. A little barber shop near the sea with a room so I can suffer my curse in safety. I want to work all day, turn that sign to closed and drink a beer.”

“That sounds like a good life.” I replied, if I was born five hundred years later I would have wanted an ordinary life, maybe not the same as Leo’s, but just an ordinary life would have suited me. The sound of the door and footsteps resonated around the small cell; our conversation was coming to an end.

“This is the moment Hal, what you do now will change everything.” He said hurriedly, if he didn’t want to die the only way he was going to avoid it was either killing his opponent or I would somehow get him out of here. “Here it comes.”

This man’s life was now in my hands and mine funnily enough was also in his, if I helped him, he could help me. If I didn’t he would die and I would become darker. It scared me…why did I come down here? I am not ready.

“Hal?” a familiar voice questioned, I sighed in relief wiping my forehead on the back on my arm. It was Sophie. Leo seemed to calm down also as he saw that I calmed down.

“What’s wrong?” I asked tentatively as she came into the small room, her eyes saddened at the sight of Leo chained, bloodied and beaten. She walked over towards me; I brought her into a loving hug.

“They were looking for you.” She replied, then why hadn’t they come down to find me, surely they would have asked Sophie and she knew where I was. So why hadn’t they come down here to find me. “I told them, I didn’t know.”

“Why?” I questioned confused, looking down at her. She broke away from the hug and stood slightly towards Leo. If I pieced together what she could have gotten out of lying to some people about the whereabouts of my person, I could only draw one conclusion, she wanted to help Leo. “You know it’s dangerous.”

“Hal, I’ve thought this through after the countless times you’ve brought me here.” She explained, revealing a key in her left hand. I looked down at Leo, his eyes brightened at the sight of that small silver key. She handed it to me. “It’s your decision. But we don’t have a lot of time.”

I looked between the key, Sophie and Leo, would this change be for the better? If I did this Sophie and I would surely be denounced from the vampire community. But it could also be the chance to be saved. As I closed my fingers over the key and placed the bottle on the ground as I moved over to Leo, a smile appeared on Sophie’s face.

“How long can you stall them?”

“As long as you want.”