The Man with the Vampire Smile

--Mary

Mary thought she’d seen Dane at his lowest point. She thought she’d never see someone so helpless and weak again.

That is, until she saw Dane after the beating he’d received.

She looked around the cafeteria all of the other prisoners were in. They’d all been jerked from their cells, handcuffed, and brought here. As she surveyed the other prisoners, her heart sunk. There were at least forty of them in here. They all looked so defeated. There was no hope or optimism in their eyes. Most of them were all in their twenties or late teens. They all looked like they were apart of the Holocaust.  Like Dane, they were all horribly underweight. She wondered how long some of them had been here. Months? Years? Mary couldn’t ignore the smell in the room. She wondered if they were allowed to bathe.

She looked down the row she was strapped down to. One of the cuffs was around her wrist and the other was strapped down to the table. There was a girl a few seats down. She looked to be about the same age as Mary. She had jet-black hair and there were purple and pink highlights at the end of her hair. She didn’t look as skinny as some of the other prisoners. Maybe she hadn’t been here as long. Maybe she still had some fight and hope left in her. Mary guessed she did. She had a look of complete hatred on her face and was flicking off one of the guards under the table. A crazed smile was on her face.

Then Mary directed her attention to the stage in front of her. It was a cement platform that rose a few feet off of the ground. Strapped down to a chair, was Dane.

If it was humanely possible, he looked worse that he had before. His brown hair still hung in his face. Only this time, blood wasn’t collecting in a bag. Blood covered his chest and he had numerous bruises on his face. His face was swollen and each of his breaths were raspy and far in-between one another. His head was awkwardly cocked to one side.

Anger and fear rose in Mary. Who would do this to a teenager? Why? What had he done that had been so horrible that he deserved that? She thought back to the conversation she’d had with him. Had he revolted again? Were these the things they did to him? The things he refused to talk about?

Then the man with the sharpened teeth came onto the stage, flashing his sharpened teeth to his prisoners. Mary watched the other prisoners suck in a breath. She heard sobs around the room. They were all petrified. She wondered if they’d all had the same experience she’d had. Was he always present when their blood was taken from them?

“Donors. I am honored to welcome you to our first little assembly. As you all know, we don’t take disobedience here. You are all expected to obey and not cause a stir. But I understand that sometimes you do. You might think that you can get away with it. I’m here to assure you that the answer to that is no. You will never get away with anything here. I could easily kill all of you. You could all be dead in the next twenty minutes if I wanted that. But I don’t. You all know what I want. I want your blood and I can only get more of it if you are kept alive. But that doesn’t mean I can’t make you wish that you were dead.”

Then the girl with the jet-black yelled, “You already have!”

Mary waited. They all waited. Would she be hurt? Would they kill her? What was the punishment for that kind of behavior? But the man didn’t even acknowledge the outburst.

“Punishment for these things can vary. You could be deprived of food, water, warmth, sleep, and my all time favorite-blood. But sometimes these things just aren’t enough. Sometimes your rebellious attitude counties. We have measurements for that as well.” This time he looked at Dane.  “Sometimes, we have to take things to extremes.” He put his hand on Dane’s shoulder.

Very slowly, Dane looked up at the man. His eyes didn’t have any fight in them. He looked like a puppy that had been kicked one too many times.

The man stepped behind Dane and got to his knees. He was now level with Dane’s shoulder. Mary watched Dane tense, his eyes full of pure terror. The man brought his hands up and put one on Dane’s shoulder and the other on his bruised and battered chest. Then he did something Mary would never forget for the rest of her life, however long that might be. With his sharp teeth, he broke the skin on Dane’s neck and began to lap up the blood with his tongue as it ran down Dane’s back. Some of the blood ran onto Dane’s chest. The man noticed this. He got up, sat on Dane’s lap, and licked the blood off of his chest.