by Laura Hysell
“Most of the humans live on this floor,” Thomas said, breaking the silence.
“I thought all the humans were dead. Isn’t that why Henri was so mad?”
Thomas shook his head. “The food stores have been depleted.”
“The food stores?” I asked incredulously. He sounded like someone had raided the pantry.
“Yes, those humans who were just for feeding on. Humans do have other purposes,” he added.
“Such as those military looking men?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I waited for more, but he didn’t elaborate. “How many?”
Thomas glanced at me over his shoulder briefly, but didn’t respond. The corridor ended and Thomas pointed toward the right. “Living areas are down there,” he said before leading me to the left. “More living areas are at the end of this corridor, along with a rec room. Other than that, there’s really nothing else to see on this floor. The nineteenth floor is basically the same thing. Shall we work our way down?”
“Sure,” I replied with a shrug. I followed Thomas to the elevators and cautiously entered behind him. The door swished closed and Thomas pushed the button for the next floor down. “The top five floors are for Mr. Donovan and select guests only. If you want to explore those, you’ll have to get the tour from the man himself.”
I shrugged again and exited the elevator as soon as it stopped. The difference was immediately noticeable in the suddenly sterile environment. Shiny metal greeted us as we stepped out of the elevator. The entire passageway looked like something from a space ship, with floors and walls of brightly polished metal. Thomas led me down the hallway to the right, which opened up into a large room.
The room was cold, with giant fans set into the ceiling. Computers filled the room, humming with soft electric vibrations. Men sat hunched over most of the computers in the room. I wasn’t sure if the men were human or vampire. Thomas shushed me before I could ask any questions, and led me silently past the room and down a long corridor, which ended in a stairwell.
“What’s that all about?” I asked as soon as we were in the stairwell.
Thomas shrugged as he led me down to the next floor. “I’m not really sure what they’re doing in there. Some of it is surveillance, I know, but the rest,” he shrugged, “I have no clue.”
“Not much of a tour guide, are you?”
Thomas ignored my comment and opened the door to the next floor for me. “The next few floors are research. And before you ask, I don’t know what type of research.”
I rolled my eyes and walked past him. This floor was also sterile and metallic, but it was noisier. The hall we entered was long, with a multitude of rooms branching off it. The sound of an enormous ventilation system whirred throughout the room, making it impossible to speak without yelling over the sound. Each room was numbered, and several had accompanying warning signs, such as flammable material. The doors were all locked with handprint scanners and key codes, so I didn’t even bother trying to get in any of them.
We wandered down the halls, but there was nothing to see except locked doors. I turned toward Thomas as we stopped before an elevator further down the corridor, where the sound of fans was slightly quieter. “Is there anything to see on these research floors?”
“Not that either of us have access to, no.”
“If it’s all the same, let’s skip this part of the tour, shall we?” I was growing tired of this tour already. There was nothing to see and no information to be garnered. Why was he doing this? Why would Henri even want me to tour the place? Was it just a macho show of his power, or something more? I didn’t like these vampire games.
Thomas shrugged and pressed the elevator button. We stepped inside and the doors closed behind us. I waited for Thomas to press a button, but he stood silently staring at the panel for several moments. When he spoke, he didn’t turn to look at me but stayed focused on the buttons. “Levels ten through fourteen are off limits to everyone except Mr. Donovan, some of the high-level researchers, and a few others with certain access. The only thing I know about those floors is the fact that they’re for research. You can hear some interesting sounds at times.”
“Sounds? What kinds of sounds?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.
Thomas pressed the button for the ninth floor and said, “Floors five through nine belong to the vampires. Tread lightly here. Some of them are a little angry with Mr. Donovan right now.”
“Yeah, I caught that,” I murmured.
The elevator opened and Thomas led me quickly to the left. The knife burned my thigh in warning, sending pulses of energy up and down my thigh. I got the feeling there were many vampires nearby. We passed a few in the hallway, who Thomas and I both ignored.
“Thomas, where are you going?” a man said, and Thomas and I both stopped to turn toward the voice.
The vampire was tall and large, wearing a black suit and shiny shoes, like those of Henri’s bodyguards. Thomas snaked his arm around my waist and pressed fingers sharply into my side. “Just doing a little show and tell,” Thomas said with a chuckle. I tried to pull away from him, but he tightened his grip.
“What’s with the plate?” the vamp asked, nodding toward the plate of food I was still carrying around. Mashed potatoes and gravy were all that was left of my meal.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Thomas chuckled as he pulled me toward him and ran a finger through the potatoes on my plate.
“Does the boss know you’re playing with his toys?”
Thomas pushed me behind him suddenly, flashing a warning look at me before turning toward the much larger vampire. “Hey, we’re just having a little fun. Nothing to tell the boss about.”
“Sure, sure, I see nothing,” the vamp replied, holding up his hands before quickly speeding away.
“Hurry,” Thomas whispered, ushering me down the hallway. He stopped before room numbered 917 and inserted a key card. The door clicked unlocked, and he held it open for me. I hesitated, unsure if I should trust him. What did I have to lose at this point?
The room was sparsely furnished with a king-sized bed, a dresser, and a massive television mounted on the wall opposite the bed. Everything in the room had been decorated in shades of black, gray, and white, with not a hint of any other color. My appetite was ruined after Thomas had run his finger through my potatoes, so I set the plate down on his dresser. The knife was a gentle warmth on my side, but it wasn’t pulsing in warning, so I figured I was safe for the time being. I walked into the middle of the room and stood, arms crossed, waiting for Thomas.
The vampire shut the door and hurriedly pushed me into the corner of the room. He pointed upward, toward the vent in the ceiling. “Listen,” he whispered.
I raised an eyebrow at him, but did as he said, concentrating on any sounds coming from the vent. For several minutes, I just heard the soft whish of air coming through the ventilation system. Thomas held a finger to his lips, urging me to be quiet and just listen. The sound was subtle at first, like the squeak of a mouse. Then it grew louder before quieting down again. A minute later the sound returned, louder than before. It took me several minutes of listening before I realized the sound was coming from a person; a person in pain.
“That’s from the research floors?” I whispered, pointing toward the ceiling.
Thomas nodded and motioned for me to follow him back outside. We walked in silence back down the corridor toward the elevator. Several vampires milled in the hallways and I did my best to ignore them. I stepped into the elevator behind Thomas and watched him press the button for the first floor. The doors closed and we moved downward.
“First floor,” Thomas said as the elevator doors swished open.
“What about the other floors we skipped?” I asked.
Thomas shook his head and led me toward the right. “Everything else except the first floor is off-limits. For your safety, I wouldn’t try snooping around. Especially the third floor.”
“Why the third floor?” I asked
curiously. Henri had mentioned it before to the vampires, and it hadn’t sounded pleasant.
“The third floor is for those who are disobedient.”
“Torture?”
Thomas nodded and continued to lead me on until we reached the front of the building. Two vampires stood on guard on either side of the entryway, but other than that it was empty. Thomas led us straight toward the large double doors, stopping beside a large coat rack. He grabbed an oversized black snow jacket and handed it to me. I frowned, but pulled the bulky coat on. Thomas put on a similar coat before shuffling me outside.
The air was ice cold, frosting my breath immediately. I shivered and zipped the coat up as I examined my surroundings. The sky was dark and cloudy, but street lamps illuminated the sidewalks and reflected light off the glistening snow. The sidewalks were icy, but manageable, since most of the snow had been pushed off to the sides, leaving a narrow pathway. Thomas led me to the left and I followed slowly, peering up at the massive building we had just exited. No signs indicated what the building was, but it easily towered above all the other nearby structures. The adjacent buildings were in disrepair, with broken windows and an overall air of emptiness to them.
We continued down the street, with me shivering behind the quiet vampire. His breath wasn’t visible in the cold night air like mine was, and I imagined the coat he wore was just for show. Being a member of the undead made coats an unnecessary thing. I stopped after a few minutes of walking and turned toward Thomas.
“What’s the deal, Thomas? You take me on a pointless tour, now you’re taking me where?” I asked, tucking my hands further into the pockets of the coat.
Thomas sighed loudly, as though I were an annoyance to him. Maybe I was. “Mr. Donovan asked me to show you around, and warn you of the off-limit areas. He wanted you to have an appreciation for where you are, and who you’re with,” he added.
I laughed, looking around at the desolate town. “An appreciation?”
“An appreciation of his power, Isabella.”
“So, he’s showing off?”
Thomas shrugged. “Perhaps. Despite that, there were things I wished you to see, and hear. Come, there are more things for you to see.”
We walked for ten minutes before I noticed any signs of life. Several blocks from Henri’s building, lights were visible and the sounds of people talking and laughing grew louder the closer we drew.
Thomas stopped at the next corner and turned toward me. “The humans in this town are under the impression that Henri’s building is part of some governmental secret agency. We don’t dissuade them of that idea, but we don’t encourage it either. We say nothing, and let them decide for themselves. Unfortunately, while Henri was gone things in the town took a turn for the worse and population is down.”
“You mean you lost your food source?” I asked cynically. “Or, your food stores, as you put it, were depleted?”
“By the time I arrived here, things had deteriorated already. The man Henri had left in charge was dead.” Thomas stopped speaking suddenly, turning to face the tavern.
This man Henri had left in charge obviously hadn’t been strong enough to keep the rest of the vamps in line. “So, is it usual to keep humans around just for food? What I mean is, do all vamps do this? Is this a normal thing?”
Thomas sighed loudly and shook his head. “The young are like children, gorging on their Halloween candy until their stomachs hurt. Then they wonder where the candy went when it’s all gone.”
“You’re saying young vampires are stupid and kill the humans instead of just drinking enough? They don’t know better than to keep some living donors around?”
“Yes, that is what I’m saying about young ones.”
“And what aren’t you saying about older ones?”
Thomas grimaced and looked me directly in the eyes. “There aren’t many young ones here, and those we have are strictly monitored.”
“So, the older vampires are to blame for killing Henri’s humans? And they’re the ones to blame for murdering the people in this town?”
Thomas shrugged his shoulders noncommittally and pointed toward the bar down the street. Loud music was coming from the brightly lit tavern, and one person was visible sitting on a bench outside the door. “People try to think of any logical explanation for the unexplained. There are always those few who think outside the box though. In this town, remote as it is, there seem to be quite a few who suspect things aren’t as they seem. A few of the louder ones frequented this bar, drunkenly telling their stories to anyone who would listen.”
“You mean a few people actually think this town is filled with vampires?”
“They did.”
I wondered if those few were systematically killed, but I didn’t ask. Thomas wasn’t exactly forthcoming with answers. Instead, I looked down the street toward the only sounds of life in the seemingly dead town. “Why are you taking me here?”
“Henri asked me to give you a tour of both his home and his town. There’s not much left of the town though, and more people move away every day,” Thomas paused, as though he was gathering his thoughts. “A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say. Let’s have a drink while you’re still human, and you tell me what you see.”
Thomas started walking toward the lights, but I was still mulling over his words. Still? I was still human? Was Henri planning to make me a vampire? I was under the impression he wanted me as a combo blood bag and mistress. I didn’t want to be either. None of this is what I wanted. When had my life gone to shit? Oh yeah, when vampires decided to ruin everything, that’s when.
“Isabella?” Thomas asked, interrupting my thoughts.
“Sorry, I was just thinking,” I muttered before I followed him across the street.
Thomas nodded his head, and I got the feeling that every word he said had a distinct purpose, no matter how cryptic it had been. Was he trying to warn me about something? I shook my head as we drew closer to the bar. Why would a vampire care to warn me about anything? Dumb Isabella, thinking any vampires were different. Or that any vampire actually wanted to help a human. They were all the same. They were out to help themselves. If he was trying to tell me something, it was for his own purpose, not mine. But what if our goals aligned?
“Hey, Derek,” Thomas said to the man sitting on a wooden bench outside the bar.
I looked at the man, noting his skin was so white he could easily blend into the snow. The cold didn’t seem to bother him as he sat outside in a thin jacket. Vampire. Derek grinned at me close-mouthed, so I couldn’t see his teeth. The knife on my side pulsed, alerting me to the new vampire, not that I needed the added warning.
“Thomas,” Derek responded, nodding his head. “Who’s this?”
“Isabella,” Thomas replied shortly, tugging on my arm and leading me past the vampire.
“Oh, that Isabella?” Derek asked, but Thomas ignored him as he opened the door to the tavern and ushered me inside.
The bar wasn’t very full of humans, but it was overflowing with vampires. The knife had been steadily growing warmer on my side and I did my best to ignore the burning sensation as I surveyed the situation. Men and women turned toward me, a few sniffing the room. I swallowed hard, hoping I didn’t smell too good.
The locals were easy to spot, and seemed to keep to themselves, as though they could sense the danger around them. If they knew what I did, they’d be running for their lives. Instead, they shrugged off their uneasiness and drank their drinks. Four elderly men sat before the single, blazing fireplace. They eyed the room with knowing looks, and talked in whispers that wouldn’t do any good in a room full of supernatural creatures. Did they realize they were in danger?
My eyes roamed the room, stopping on two young human girls who looked barely legal. The girls were both pretty, but not stunning. The shorter of the two had caked on her makeup, and the bright red lipstick looked a little too much like blood for my taste. Thick, black liner coated her eyes, and her hair had bee
n teased out in deep, dark waves. The taller girl had just a touch of mascara on her eyes, and naturally pale skin, but was easily the prettier of the two. Both girls blushed visibly at the attention they were receiving from a group of young-looking vampires.
“Interfering wouldn’t be a good idea,” Thomas whispered against my ear after I had unconsciously taken a step toward the group. I jerked away from the vampire and ground my teeth in frustration as I looked back at the two girls. I didn’t recognize the vampires from earlier in Henri’s throne room, and I wondered if they’d gotten the memo about keeping the humans alive.
I started walking, and I felt Thomas beside me. He hissed warnings in my ear, but I ignored him as I moved toward the group at the bar. The barkeep, a human man with a rather large bandage on his neck, grinned when I walked up. I glared at the man, but the smile on his face never faltered.
“What you want to drink?” he asked, winking at me conspiratorially. “I got good stuff here. You want the special, eh?”
“Special?” I muttered, my attention turned back to the group with the young girls. One of the vampires, a handsome young man who didn’t look older than seventeen, moved closer to the taller girl and leaned toward her neck. I tensed, my focus changed, as I waited for him to strike. The girl laughed at something he said and smiled up at him, her eyes shining brightly. The vampire smiled in response and tucked an imaginary strand of hair behind her ear.
“Here you go. I got you the Canadian Red,” the barkeep said, shoving a drink into my hand.
“What?” I asked as I pulled the drink toward me.
Thomas snagged the drink out of my hand and drained it in one drink, slamming the glass on the counter. He licked the red viscous fluid from his lips and smiled at the barkeep. “Good stuff,” he responded, “but Isabella here likes her drinks a little milder.”
