Why Vampires Sleep With The Lights On

I'm Definitely Not Drunk Enough For This...

I opened my eyes to find myself in a cold, stone room. The only light came in from a small opening no bigger than a storm drain that had thick metal bars to stop any chance of escape.

Shit, where the hell am I?

Looking around the room was large, but empty. The only way in or out was through a thick wooden door that was firmly locked from the outside. No matter how hard I pulled at the handle, it wouldn't budge.

Crap...

Exhausted and beaten I slumped down to the floor, leaning against the cold stone wall for support.

No way out.

Suddenly I heard footsteps approaching and then the door was flung open, light shined in and I put my hands up to cover my eyes. Shadows swam in front of me and I saw someone enter the room, well, they were thrown in as whoever it was landed hard on the floor in front of me before the door shut again.

As my eyes adjusted back to the gloom of the room I took in the boy laying on the hard stone floor. His ragged clothes were mostly just threads and his long blonde hair was wet and matted. He looked no older than ten, and as he looked up at me with his pale blue eyes he wiped away the trail of blood from his nose where he had hit the floor.

"What you in for?" the boy asked as he sat himself up.

"Uh, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure where I am," I admitted.

"Been on the drink then, eh?"

Was this a fucking prison cell?

"No." I said, "What is this place?"

"The Nick." the boy replied "They got me for picking pockets."

Picking pockets?

"Were you picking pockets?" I asked.

"Maybe." the boy replied "What's it to you then?"

"Just... making conversation."

Jesus, this kid was really starting to wind me up... I just needed to get out of here and figure out what the hell was going on.

"What's your name?" the boy asked then, breaking my inner thoughts.

"I'm Alec." I replied, "Now, just be quiet while I figure out how to get the hell out of here."

I got up and walked over to the door, running a hand over the thick wood. Damn it! Getting out of this was going to be easier said than done.

"You're not going to get out of here that way." the boy said as he joined me by the door "Place is a bloody fortress."

"You've got a big mouth, kid." I smiled at him "Well, you seem to know more about this than I do, so, how do we get out of here?"

Without saying a word the boy left me at the door and wandered over to the small barred window. He jumped up and pulled the bars down.

Huh. I wonder how many times he's been in here and managed to escape? No. Stop it, this kid is not your problem... so why the fuck does it feel like he is?

The boy turned back to face me, a massive goofy grin on his face.

"Well, are you coming, or what?"

Despite myself, I smiled back at him. Maybe, just maybe, I could get back to Kian and figure out what the hell had gone wrong. Firstly though, I had to find out where exactly I now was.

Easier said than bloody done...

The boy crawled through the gap easily enough, so, I reached up and grabbed hold of the ledge.