by Jez Strider
“Only if you’re dead. Which will happen to us all eventually. No one can win every fight.”
I ran my fingertip over the cut on my cheek. It would scar without any first aid. “So we fight just for their entertainment?”
“Yeah. They’re screwed up in the head. Then again, humans have made each other fight to the death in the past, not just vampires.” He was still talking when I noticed a bowl of water in my cell. I crawled over and drank from it. He continued. “If we end up in the ring together, don’t feel guilty. We do what we must to live. Hold back and you will die early on.”
After drinking heavily from the water bowl, I responded. “I don’t want to kill anyone.”
“None of us want to. Well, a few of the fighters that have been here a while do, but we don’t have any choice.” He started to say something else and then stopped.
“What?” I asked.
“The vampire that owns you. She’s been known to take her fighters up to her room and lavish them with gifts. If you dream of escape, it may be your only chance. You’re going to have to win lots of fights to get there.”
His words made sense, but I didn’t think I had it in me to suck up to a vampire and kill my fellow man. “Thanks for the information.”
Further discussion was interrupted by what appeared to be free humans bringing us food. “The Mistress Rahela ordered you the best breakfast so that you would regain strength for your first fight this week.”
When the woman slipped the plate through the slit in the bottom of the door, I noticed she had a tattoo in the design of the marking I had seen painted on the doors in the city. I was going to ask about it, but breakfast was more important to me. Bacon, eggs, toast, and juice were at my fingertips. I shared some with the man who had given me advice and bread.
Hearty food at every meal restored me back to health. I started doing push-ups and sit-ups in my cell. I practiced the boxing techniques Alex had taught me during training back at the base. If winning meant a chance at escape then that was what I was going to do.
For my first match, I was delivered what can best be described as a gladiator loincloth. It left little to the imagination and I was self-conscious about fighting in public in such skimpy attire. What I wanted mattered little, so I dressed for the fight.
The stadium wasn’t exactly packed. I had thought every seat would be filled with vampires, when there were probably only about two hundred. The vampire population had to be much smaller than we had all thought. One vampire was stronger than several humans, though. And with all the thralls they controlled….
I tried not to think about it. My focus needed to be on the battle. The door to my cell opened and I was instructed to enter the fray. An announcer came over the loud speaker.
“Today’s challenger and Mistress Rahela’s personal choice, please welcome Killer!” The voice said and I looked around before realizing he was referring to me. He continued. “Killer will be fighting the man who ate his own family to survive, Cannibal!”
I clenched my fists to try to calm myself. Going on names alone, I was in deep trouble. Mine sucked and I didn’t have a clever story. There were a few cheers for me, but when they called Cannibal’s name, I knew he was a fan favorite. Cannibal was bigger than me, stronger, and taller. I knew I would be faster and more agile, though.
“The rules are as follows: Fight to the death!” The voice came again. There were no further instructions and Cannibal was charging at me growling without waiting for any signal to begin.
His body hit mine and I was tackled to the ground. I was able to lift my knee and kick him in the balls from the angle at which we landed. It was a dirty blow, but it was a fight to the death. The hit gave me the chance to run away. I had been right about my speed. He couldn’t catch up with me and trying to close the gap between us was tiring him. I stopped running and charged at him. Cannibal was caught off guard and I was able to land several blows to his head. The first punch may have even broken his nose. Unfortunately, he recovered and was able to wrap his arms around me from behind before I could flee again. When he bit down on my shoulder, I screamed out in pain. The crowd cheered as he lived up to his nickname.
Cannibal was laughing. He let go of me with one arm to lift it high to the crowd. Once again, he was underestimating me. I slung my elbow backward hard enough for him to release me. Rahela was standing at the edge of the stadium. I ran in that direction. There was a glint of something metallic on what would have been the end zone of the field. It was a long piece of metal, possible a piece broken from one of the cells. There was no time to dwell on the origins. I picked up the shiv, but Cannibal was upon me before I could turn around. He slammed me into the cell in front of me. The person inside was cheering. I was turned around and punched in the face several times before I was able to use the weapon. The crazed grin faded from Cannibal when I lifted the knife and stabbed him in the throat. He staggered backward from me, leaving a trail of blood from the spurting wound.
When he collapsed to the ground, a vampire descended. He gave me a look somewhere between a glare and a thank you before jerking out the blade. His mouth covered the injury and he drank deeply from the loser of the match.
“And so we have a new winner. Rahela’s fighter, Killer!”
The cheers of the beings I loathed and despised made me hate myself. I had performed for their sick pleasure and for what? So I could live to do it again? The vampires were the real winners. They had turned me into a person I was ashamed of. Would Darcy be able to forgive me even if I did escape?
I wallowed in self-loathing when I was secured in my cage once more. There was a gift from Rahela delivered later. A pair of dumbbells was in the box along with the note that read:
Always look for the weapons I leave you. Good job, pet.
In anger, I punched the ground with my fist hard enough to nearly break my hand. I remembered the town that Darcy and I had stopped in where the people had been killed to avoid the reign of the vampires. Darcy had toyed with the idea that maybe it was better that way. I was beginning to agree.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. Thoughts of escape and Darcy no longer kept me going. I had to push them from my mind because they were too painful and I would never survive as a cowering, depressed child. I lived for the fight. For the feeling of victory. My mind became as sick and twisted as the others. I felt as demented as the vampires.
The day Rahela sent me a different and unexpected kind of gift spiraled me further out of control. A naked human woman was delivered to my cell, the door unlocked, and she shoved inside. She was probably in her thirties with short brown hair and matching large eyes. I backed away when she moved closer and extended her hand to touch me. The mark of the vampire was tattooed on her wrist.
“You willingly serve the vampires. Get away from me.” I shoved her and she went tumbling to the other side of the cage.
“And yet, you do the same.” She pointed at my wrist which bored the identical symbol and Rahela’s name in a strange script.
“It’s not the same.” I clenched my fist and turned my hand over so I wouldn’t see the brand.
Being locked in a cage with a good-looking, naked woman when you’re young and hopeless makes it difficult to resist. My life as it had been was over. Getting lost in the warmth of her body was an inviting diversion.
“Mistress Rahela will punish me if you deny the gift. She will blame me.” The woman said, crawling forward toward me and straddling me in the back of the cell. Then, she kissed me and I let her. A memory, just a brief flash of my lovely Darcy, filled my mind and all the work to bury the pain and forget her was undone. I placed my hands on the woman’s shoulder and this time gently pushed her away from me.
I stood up and turned my back on her. My face rested against the cool metal bars of my now familiar prison as I struggled to regain control of my emotions, but the hidden place I had locked away all the memories had been destroyed. Memories from the first moment
I had seen Darcy wielding the weapon in her barn, to losing our virginity together, and that special smile she showed only to me assaulted my mind. The thoughts were all swirling out of control. I knew the time for a change was at hand. Either I escaped or died in the arena. No longer would I be participating in the blood sport.
“So it’s true.” The woman said.
When I was composed enough I spoke. “What’s true?”
“You are in love and she still lives somewhere. Otherwise, you would have moved on by now. Mistress tells the story of your capture and wears the ring on her necklace to enrage you.”
“Tell Rahela I would like to speak with her in private or I will no longer fight. I’m sure my popularity now will cause my wish to be granted.” I said without looking at the woman. “It’s about time for her to…feed anyway.”
The battles and the solitude I could handle, but participating in the pseudo erotic act of being fed from had caused me to lose nearly all respect for myself. It was the only time Rahela would have me brought to her chambers. Each time I looked for a means of escape, but the opportunity had never presented itself.
I returned to my corner of the cell while my “gift” sat in the opposing one with her knees pulled up to her chest with arms wrapped around them. The vampires kept humans they trusted, like the ones that had captured me. Thralls could not venture out during the day because they had tasted vampire blood and were blind in sunlight.
“Why do you serve the vampires?” I asked the woman.
She slowly lifted her head to look at me again. “They are Gods. Only a blasphemer would claim to be religious and then deny our lords when they show up because they aren’t in the image that was expected.”
I couldn’t speak. This lunatic actually believed the rubbish spewing from her mouth. When I didn’t respond, she asked me a question.
“Where is your God?”
“I don’t know, but I’ll never revere a creature that’s destroyed everything I care about.” A relief fell over me. I was glad I had not taken pleasure from the insane whore.
Conversation stopped. She didn’t speak to me and I made no attempt either. I had no desire to hear any more of her poisonous words. A thrall came to retrieve the woman when a shade had fallen and the sun was nearly gone for the day. The other prisoners rattled their cages and called out obscenities as they begged for a chance with the woman I had shunned.
To my surprise, a few days later Rahela showed up in the arena herself. She unlocked my prison and extended her hand. Red painted fingernails appeared to be dripping with blood. I knew soon, they would be stained with actual blood. Mine.
I accepted the gesture and held her hand. All the while I had to swallow my disgust as we walked across the street. When we reached the building that housed many of the vampires, we entered the elevator. Instead of pressing the button that corresponded to the floor her room was on, she pressed one for the basement. I had never been there. Fear covered me like a shroud.
“I am hearing my star fighter is refusing to battle and making demands.” She said with that thick accent that made my skin crawl. I was about to answer when she lifted my hand she was holding and with her other hand dragged her razor sharp fingernail across my palm. Blood immediately rose to the surface and she tongued the fluid as I bled into her mouth. I had many scars from the cuts. She never bit me so I was fully human. Her view was that if I lost any of my humanity I would cease to be a good fighter.
“The lady you sent me was strange. I have no idea what she has told my Mistress.” I lied.
She released my hand with a sudden motion. I squeezed my hand into a painful fist. Blood seeped between my fingers and dripped onto the floor of the elevator. “Perhaps I should hunt further for the girl? That will keep you fighting with heart.” The ring on her necklace still shined like the day I had found it. Vampire Rahela stroked it slowly with one finger.
“Do as you wish. There is no one to find.”
The vampire studied me curiously until the elevator doors opened. I was instructed to step out first and she followed. We were in what can only be described as a torture chamber. Rahela thought torture would motivate me, but I knew I didn’t have the mental strength left to endure the trauma. Just the sight of victims chained to the walls, some living and some dead, was almost too much.
Rahela gave a grand wave of her hand in front of her. “Welcome, Killer.” She said. I was pretty sure she didn’t even know my real name or care to. “This is a real threat. You keep fighting like the good little boy you are or this will be where you end up for encouragement.”
“May I look around?” I asked.
“So polite in my presence and yet a snarling beast in the arena.” She was grinning at me. My blood still stained her lips and was smearing across her pale chin. “Go on. Perhaps as a reward for you next win, I will let you torture someone.”
I was shocked when I recognized the woman Rahela had sent to my cell to screw me chained to the wall. She was bitten, beaten, and broken. Her suffering was a result of my refusal. If only I had just accepted the gift….
“Ah, yes.” Rahela stepped up behind me. The vampire was as tall as I was and threw a large shadow over me as the candles flickered. “A perfect example of how failure is not tolerated.”
“Allow me to stay with you and not in the arena. I would make love to you instead of simple human whores.” The words put an awful taste in my mouth, but Rahela was thinking. She turned her back on me. The woman chained to the wall groaned in anguish. I used the opportunity to grab a weapon off the table. It was a glove with sharp tips attached to each finger. The weapon seemed to mimic the deadly claws of the vampires. As elusive as I could be, I slipped the glove over my injured hand while Rahela was distracted.
She turned back around to face me and I stood up straight and respectfully while keeping both hands behind my back. My request had been unexpected so she didn’t even notice I was up to anything.
“Sexual interaction with humans is forbidden. Vampire men have trouble reproducing with women, but humans are alive and fertile. A vampire cannot be made, only born. Half-vampires are executed along with their mothers at birth.” Rahela explained to me.
This was all news to me, as it was to most of humanity. “So, vampires have fallen in love with humans before?”
Rahela laughed bitterly. “Weak ones have claimed such. We cull our ranks of them before their sentimentality becomes a problem.”
“I see and I understand.” I gave a glance around the room before reaching out to take Rahela’s hand with my ungloved one, the one with the weapon remaining hidden. I kissed the top of her cold hand. “I will continue to fight. Forgive me for losing my direction.”
She patted my head. “You are but a pet. Just like a human in your time might keep a dog and teach it to obey.”
I hated the monstrous bitch. No sympathy for humans. None for animals. She was evil to the core. “A perfect analogy, Mistress.”
We began heading back to the elevator. A grunting was coming from the victim, the woman who’d been delivered to my cell. Side by side, Rahela and I walked into the elevator. Each step I was afraid she would notice my weapon. I knew the woman was trying to get Rahela’s attention to warn her about me, but she only aided me in my purpose.
Rahela laughed again before pressing the button and the doors of the elevator closed in front of us. “I never liked that one much.”
“Do you like any of them?” I asked.
She was grinning. “Not really. It is fun to watch them suffer, just as it is entertaining to watch you kill.”
I would probably never have a better opportunity to attack the vampire. “I was never ruthless. Never a real killer before you, Rahela.” She seemed proud of the fact. Only a few more floors remained before the elevator doors opened. If it was my last moment, I was going out in style. “Feed, Mistress.” I tilted my head to the side and she leaned close to my neck. “Bite this time.” I thought about Darcy, then brought my arm up an
d drove my hand into the vampire’s weak chest. Monserat’s execution had taught me the exact spot. My gloved hand went around the heart and I squeezed, the metal of the blades cut into the organ. I’m not sure if desperation gave me the speed and strength I needed, but I had been pushed over the edge.
The vampire didn’t explode in flames or even scream. She froze and her skin began to flake away. I jerked my hand out of her chest, bringing the heart with me. Her body crumpled to a pile on the floor. Clothing was all that remained except for the diamond ring that had landed on top. I grabbed it and clenched my fist around it. I was not going to lose the ring again. My head thundered. Adrenaline coursed through my veins. Blood ran down my neck from the scrape of Rahela’s fangs. I prepared for the worst as I breathed heavily and the doors opened.
Chaos. No vampires were waiting to kill me. They were too busy trying to capture hundreds of fleeing humans. Rahela’s death had freed her thralls. Many of them would no doubt die, but I hoped some would find safety. I ran as fast as I could go, hiding where I could amongst the others until I was outside. The streets were just as wild and uncontrolled. My training for the arena had kept me in shape, so I was more athletic than most of the other humans scurrying around.
No vampire saw me leave the city that I could tell. If they did, they let me go. I fled with fear and worry that I would be attacked unexpectedly from behind. For hours I ran fueled by hope. I spent the rest of the night trying to find my way back to the base I hadn’t seen in nearly two years. Before I could make it, I tripped over some underbrush and collapsed to the ground. My body’s response to killing the vampire and escaping the city was drained. I crawled forward a few more yards before my face fell into the soil and I passed out.
All people go through struggles and events in their lives that appear to be insurmountable. I wanted to give and maybe should have given up, but what I awoke to made every ounce of hope worthwhile. I was free. Every hardship faded into a near distant memory.
