I Hope They Taste of Me Forever

I woke from my sleep – if you could even call it sleep – to the cell just as dark, and damp as it was when I was brought there. The only difference was there was no moonbeam to illuminate my less-than-perfect condition. There was some kind of light, but it wasn’t exactly the sun. My guess was it was overcast outside.

As usual. I felt disgusting. I had woken up at least every half an hour, I was a complete mess from the encounter with the Dandies last night, and the worst thing was, I had no idea how much time had actually passed. I had no clue where Matt was, which left me totally confused. He was all I had. Even if I did manage to escape, what would I do? I’d have to find him, and I saw how huge this place was when Carden hadcarried dragged me here last night.

Then again… I’d always thought about getting away from him. Well, not so much him, but the restrictions he set upon me. If I could escape from here… No. What am I thinking? I can’t just leave him as a toy for these malicious vampires… not that he’d just give up without a fight… But whatever! He’s my family.

There was something else that I’d been thinking about. A few months ago, no one would have noticed if Matt and I went missing. There’d be no mess, no loose ends to tie. But now… I can’t help but wonder if Travis is wondering where I am. If he’s looking for me. I know we’re not friends, but still…

A few hours passed, spent with me thinking of the weirdest things. I thought about how old this building was. I thought about how the Dandy clan might have begun. I thought about the fact that I might have been going crazy, beginning to think that my hair was going orange. I thought about what colour my eyes would be right now. I thought about the bloody Clandestine book, and how it would probably have all the answers. The book I was forbidden to read, touch, breathe on, etc. What was so wrong with the book anyway? Wouldn’t it be helpful for me to understand vampires? I could work behind the scenes; understand what’s going on and subtly help but Matt still gets the glory. Sounds okay, right? But no. I just have to exist. Nothing less, nothing more.

Suddenly I heard footsteps, gently echoing down what I vaguely remember to be the stone stairwell leading down here. The footsteps were getting closer. This couldn’t be a good thing… As the sound grew louder, I began to see a long distorted shadow descending the stairs, illuminated by one of those old fashioned hand held torch things. You know, fire on a stick or whatever? Yeah. These Dandies loved their history. Anyway, it would be a lie if I said my heart wasn’t beating faster as the footsteps drew closer, which just makes things worse, doesn’t it?

Blood quickly pumping round my body + vampire, (aka bloodsucking creatures) = bad.

I held my breath as the shadow became a solid figure…

Oh. It’s Beckett.

“Hello, Miss Williams,” he said in that annoyingly smooth voice of his.

I didn’t answer. He sighed dramatically and placed the old fashioned torch in some holder thing in the wall before opening my cell and crossing the small space between us.

“Now, do you think you can cooperate this time?”

Once again, I chose not to answer. Beckett sighed again and made some sort of flicky movement with his hand. At first I didn’t understand it, but then I began to feel something. Something bad. Something painful. Let me try to explain it; it felt as if my shoulder blades were being torn apart from each other by some invisible force. A searing pain dripping down the middle of my back, and I wouldn’t be surprised if my back had actually been torn apart and blood was spilling. That was what these vampires wanted from me after all, right? But as suddenly as it came, the pain seemed to reverse and subside.

“You’re not bleeding,” Beckett said matter-of-factly. 'Man, I hate that guy.' “I’m just hoping that causing you inexplicable pain will let you see reason.”

I gasped from the release of the pain and glared at him.

“What reason?” I snarled viciously.

A flicker of a smile crossed Beckett’s face. Yeah, I bet he was so happy that he’d gotten what he wanted.

“There we go. We’ve made progress. You’re talking to me now.”

I didn’t answer that time.

“Now now, Elle, are we back to square one?” he touched my cheek with an outstretched finger, and it took all I had not to shrink away from his cold touch and sadistic voice. “I can make you feel like your skeleton is being ripped out of your body and doused in acid if it will get me what I want.”

“I don’t doubt that,” I hissed.

He smirked again and took a step away from me, sill watching me intently.

“So, I’m going to call you Elle. You are going to call me William. I know you had your heart set on ‘Beckett’, but I think we both know I hold the reigns in this relationship.”

“What relationship?”

“Uh uh uh,” he shook his head and waved a finger in my face as if I was a four year old being chastised for stealing the last cookie. “What relationship, William?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He didn’t say anything, just stared at me blankly.

“Fine,” I spat through gritted teeth. “What relationship, William?”

“Well, at the moment, the captor and captive relationship. I am the captor, you are the captive, and you shall answer every question I ask of you.”

“And what about me? Will you answer my questions?”

At first I swear I saw annoyance on his face, but it quickly turned into yet another smirk.

“It ruins our relationship, to a degree, but okay. There are limits, though. My rules go, and I won’t answer any question I don’t want to.”

I opened my mouth to argue that that completely defeated my purpose, but he didn’t give me a chance.

“Elle, I am already treating you quite differently than I usually do with my victims. Don’t make me regret it. You are, after all, quite a different person. Don’t say I don’t know you, because I know you much better than you think. And you are very different. He was right.”

“Who was right?” I blurted out the first question that my mind grasped. Beckett smirked. As always.

“That is a question that I do not want to answer. Now, my turn. Are you scared, Elle?”

I thought for a moment.

“No.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“My brother will rescue me. I’d try to break out myself, but I think we all know that’s not happening.”

“You’re brother…” he trailed off in thought, but caught himself again. “Do you know your brother as well as you think you do? Does he look after you, I mean other than financially? Or does he just use you to get his revenge? Does he ever think about your happiness? Why doesn’t he let you do anything?”

I didn’t want to admit it, but Beckett was starting to get to me. I had asked myself these questions many times before, always coming to the conclusion that I was just being melodramatic; quite a common trait for teenagers. But to have someone else ask me… and Beckett… I couldn’t explain it, but he sounded so sure of himself… so sure of the answers to the questions he was asking me… No. Matt and I may not always get along, but he wouldn’t just leave me for these bloodthirsty vampires. He was a skilled enough fighter to defeat them. I think. If he couldn’t get out, then neither could I… but I wasn’t scared. This would hardly be a life to miss anyway…

I realised that I hadn’t answered Beckett when he sent a quick wave of painful shock through my body.

“There’s something for you to think about, Elle.”

Before I knew it, he was gone. As was the light and warmth of the torch he took. I hate the way he calls me Elle. As if he knows me…

There was nothing for me to think about. Matt would save me. I was sure of it. He always did.

I tried to get back to sleep, but gave up after an hour. Have I mentioned yet that sleep is impossible in this disposition? Well it is. I lost track of time. It felt like I was trapped there for days, although I knew it had only been hours. I occupied myself with watching that one sliver of ‘light’ change to moonlight.

It had probably been around a day, give or take an hour, since I was taken when I was saved.

I knew something was up when I heard some, well, the only way I can think of to describe them is hitting noises… clunks, whacks, etc… echoing down the stairs. The dandies were all proper, and these noises were tearing that properness apart. The next noise was footsteps coming down the stairs again. But this time it sounded like whoever it was was in a rush; practically running down the stairs. I looked up as the figure approached me.

“Come on. We’ve got to get you out of here!”

It was a guy. I couldn’t see, because he had no torch and it was pretty much pitch black, but his voice was low. It wasn’t Beckett. That’s for sure. Not that I expected it to be, after what he said. He started to unlock the chains around my wrists, and I tried to figure out who it was. The only people I would guess were Matt or Travis, and it was neither of them. 'So why is this stranger saving my life?'

I collapsed as soon as I was freed from the chains. I was sore all over from Beckett’s torture and the chains digging into me, and I hadn’t eaten or slept properly. I didn’t mean to collapse, but you can understand, right?

“Come on…” the mysterious voice murmured into my ear.

Before I could look up, he had one arm around me, supporting me, and was running – practically carrying me – up the stairs. I strained my eyes to keep them open, but as a patch of light came into view, the first thing I saw was a dead body on the ground. It wasn't this sight that made me faint – hello, I’ve been through way worse – but I think it was the overload of information that my brain couldn’t process, because a moment later I blacked out.

I didn’t even get to see who saved me.