Next Generation Dhampirs

What Came Later

The chains clinked around my wrists as I ate. I knew where I was, so at least I had that. I was in a cell in a sublevel at Court. This was the first solid meal I had eaten in... I didn't even know how long.

The cell they put me in was small. There was a bed, a window, a table and a chair, both bolted to the ground. In front of me sat a whole tray of food, courtesy of my fiancé, who told the guards to bring me something I liked.

I hadn't seen him since the attack.

I kept getting flashbacks of that night. I remember the serum, the command, then a blank. The blank was filled when I woke up in this cell 3 hours ago. The blank was the attack. I needed to bring myself to say it, or I would never make any progress.

I was about to say it, when the cell door opened. The door is made entirely of glass, some unbreakable kind, like Plexiglas.

"Good morning, Jessica," said a cheerful young man. He couldn't be very old, but I couldn't tell if he was older or younger than me. I don't know how much time passed down there.

"How are you feeling today?" he continued.

My grip on my tray tightened. I don't care what he did, he wasn't taking this meal from me. I grunted and kept eating.

"Ok," he said after a minute, "My name is Dr. Wilson. I'm here to help you out after everything you've been through."

I wanted to laugh, but my throat was still dry, even though I had chugged half a gallon of water before even looking at the food.

"Can you tell me where you are?" Dr. Wilson asked calmly. I nodded. "Where are you?"

"In a cell."

He smiled unamused and added, "I meant, where are you now? Do you know your location? Building? Country?"

"I'm at Court, right?" I said, unsure.

"Very good," he said, writing in a notepad. He sounded so condescending! "And do you know WHO you are?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, unsure as to how to respond.

"Ok, let me start with a simpler question: what is your name?"

Here we go. My programming kicked in and I answered almost automatically, "Dhampir," straightening my back and looking straight ahead.

He jotted something down on his notebook then asked, "Who are your parents?"

My shoulder relaxed a little. I remembered their names, but had vague recollections of them. "Dimitri Belikov and Rosemary Hathaway-Belikov," I answered hesitantly.

"Yes," Dr. Wilson nodded and continued writing on his notepad. "Do you have any other family?"

I couldn't remember. More flashbacks flooded my head, pounding their way into my thoughts. Blood raced through my veins and I felt a sharp pain in my head. "I don't know!" I gasped, clutching my head, "I don't know, just make it stop!"

More images flooded in. Blood. Mangled and disfigured bodies in sand. Pain. Horrible, blinding, white-hot pain. I screamed, and the doctor stood up. He rummaged through his bag and extracted a syringe. He plunged it into my arm and the darkness claimed me once more.

When I woke again, I was in bed. I was surprised not to be strapped there, remembering my last outburst, but I guess they figured I couldn't do much harm anyways. That, or someone had taken pity on me.

"I don't need your pity," I grumbled to no one in particular.

A tray of food was slid into my cell through the slot on the door. I didn't even look to see what it was. I snatched the tray and began to stuff the food in my mouth. It was hot, burning my mouth as I shoveled food in, but I didn't care. It was a hot meal, and those weren't something I saw often.

Through the window above my bed, a bit of sunlight streamed through, indicating it was either dusk or dawn. I hoped for the former, but the meal suggested the latter.

I lay awake in bed all day, finding different way to keep occupied. Most of them involved trying not to remember too much, but anything was too much.

The memory that stood out was of pain. My muscles wouldn't move. I was trapped and I felt like my body was burning from the inside out. I remember screaming to make it stop, but it only got worse. Until I felt nothing.

When the sun began to set, my eyelids became heavy. I drifted off and was awakened when someone opened the door to my cell. It was Dr. Wilson again.

"I see you haven't touched your food," he said when he entered.

"Buzz off," I grumbled, sitting up.

"And your mood isn't much better," he added, "Haven't you wondered why I'm the only one who comes to see you?" I stayed silent. "It's because you have been deemed hazardous to others. After that stunt you pulled with James, can you blame them?"

I was getting angry, but he kept talking.

"What could possibly bring someone to attack someone they supposedly love? What happened to 'love conquers all'?" He slammed his hand on the table, "You don't just do something like that and expect to be forgiven, Jessica!"

"SHUT UP!" I screamed and clocked him right in the jaw.

Dr. Wilson fell to the floor, unconscious, then the cell door opened again, and in stepped James and Declan.