The Man with the Vampire Smile

--Dane

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Dane’s POV and back to present time.

All his life, Dane thought his family was a little off.

But never this off.

They’d never been close. Dane had never felt apart of the large family of fourteen. He’d been adopted at the age of four, after his parents had died in a car crash. He didn’t really remember them anymore. He legally had six sisters and five brothers. Now, he knew that his rich ‘parents’ hadn’t adopted orphans out of the goodness of their hearts. They wanted even more access to ‘donors.’

He’d thought his adoptive parents were just regular doctors. He thought they were meant to help people that were in need, not nearly kill them on a daily basis. He thought their obsession with blood was just because of their work and wanting to improve blood transfusions.

He also thought they loved him.

Obviously, he was wrong.

His ‘mom’ worked elsewhere, but still was apart of her husband’s organization. Dane’s ‘dad’ wouldn’t tell him where she was and when he’d asked a second time, he’d received a black eye. That was the last time Dane questioned anyone whereabouts. It wasn’t worth it.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, the Doctor was Dane’s father.

Dane thought back to the day when they’d turned his life upside down and inside out. They’d left the house to go to a restaurant to celebrate Dane’s sixteenth birthday at his favorite place to eat. It had been just the three of them. That was something that only happened on rare occasions. It was something that all of his adoptive siblings looked forward to. He’d been happy. He was expecting a car.

Then… then… things went bad. Very bad.

They’d stopped for gas and both of his parents had gone inside the gas station. His dad to pay the bill and his mother to use the restroom. Nothing strange about that.

Then there had been a knock on the door and after that… Dane couldn’t remember much more. All he remembered was a large man and a fist.

He now knew that the ‘boarding school’ his older siblings had gone to was a fake.

True, they’d been sent somewhere. Dane’s guess was here. Although, his father hadn’t let on more information but Dane was sure he was right. Where else would they be?

Dane leaned back against the cell door. His body ached and his head… Oh, his head. He wondered if he had a concussion. It had been a few hours since the medicine had stopped working. His head was pounding. His hatred for his father had grown in last few hours. Dane didn’t know it was possible to hate someone as much as he hated his father.

He breathed in a deep breath and immediately regretted it. His ribs felt like they were on fire. He was thirsty and hungry. His ribs were damaged and were most likely broken. Dane yawned and felt his eyes drooping. He was so exhausted. He smiled when he thought of the girl in the room next to him. She was so full of ambition but even in the short time he’d known her, he could see the ambition of hope to escape slowing going away.

He screamed in pain and frustration.

 A few moments, later he felt the cell door he was leaning on open but he was too sore to move quickly. He fell back against the legs of the person who opened the door. He slowly looked up, terrified of who it might be.

Thankfully, it wasn’t the women who’d given him the wrong food tray.

But Dane knew that didn’t mean that this lady wouldn’t try what the other one had. Forgetting his pain, he backed up to the far corner and his heart began to beat quickly.

The employee slowly made her way towards Dane, her hips swinging back and forth.

This time, Dane didn’t resist. He was too weak. Dane closed his eyes and turned his head as she sat next to him, her hand stroking his chest. He peeked out the corner of his eyes.

“Dane? Look at me. I’m not going to do anything to you.”

Hearing his name, Dane opened his eyes and turned his head to look at the woman.

“I’m here to ease you of your pain. Just- just don’t scream or freak out? Ok?”

 She brought up a knife to his chest and Dane immediately protested.

“Dane, relax. I’m just going to cut away your shirt.”

“Why?”

“Because, I have to see the bruises.”

“Why can’t I just take it off myself?” Dane asked.

The women raised her eyebrows. “Try lifting your arms, slowly.”

Dane raised his arms about two feet before it felt like high voltages currents were zipping up and down his body. He caught his breath and lowered them back down. “Owww.”

“Told you.” She cut away his shirt and threw it to the side. Dane immediately felt cold. His had always liked the cold and assumed everyone else did as well. The woman placed her hands easily on his ribs and applied slight pressure.

“Does that hurt?”

Dane stared at the women. Was this a trick? Had his dad put her up to this? Was she the one that gave him the pills earlier?

“Does it hurt?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it hurts,” He answered.

“Does it hurt to breathe?”

Dane nodded.

“They’re probably broken. You’ve got pretty bad bruises. But there’s nothing you can really do for that. Just try not to move too much. All right, turn your head this way.”

Dane looked at the women but couldn’t bring himself to maintain eye contact. She felt along the bruises along his face and he winced.

“I don’t think anything is broken but I can’t be sure. Here. I brought you this. It’s a strong painkiller. It should knock you out for a few hours.” She slid him a few pills. “Take one now and another when you wake up.”

Dane squinted his eyes. “How do I know it won’t kill me?”

“Dane, if they wanted to kill you, they would have done it by now. You know that as well as I do. Probably more than I do.”

“Who- who are you?”

“I’m the woman who’s going to get all of you out of this. Don’t worry.”