DEAD SEED (AKA "Vampires Don't Exist")

(TW/CW) FIVE: Fear & Punishment

TW/CW: This chapter has rape and torture.

===============

Aralyn peeked out of her room and looked down the other end of the corridor. She hadn't seen this part of the basement yet; she had been too busy trying to apologize to the whiny vampire to notice there was another door at the end of the passageway.

Another cough reverberated between the walls. Aralyn hesitantly left the room, taking small cautious steps, to investigate. She wished there was better light down here, but it seemed electricity wasn't a thing in the basement. She followed the torches, walking with the shadows and the flames to guide her.

She heard someone sobbing.

What the fuck? Aralyn thought. No way. Was she about to find a food supply for the vampires? Were they keeping a stock of humans (pets) in the basement? Would she be joining them soon?

She kept her eyes on the door ahead of her, focusing only on it as she slowly made her forward. Part of her wanted to turn back. Ignore the sounds. Ignorance is bliss after all. But the other part of her was morbidly curious. One foot forward, then another until she was standing in front of the door that looked just like the one at the top of the steps. Heavy and barred. Lock after lock. A dungeon door.

She turned the locks and lifted the door handle, slowly opening it and entering the room, heart pounding even faster than before. The room was mostly dark. One torch was on the wall, barely showing the horrors of what was inside. A wall of stench hit her nose and she had to cover her nostrils with her hand to keep from gagging. The room reeked of blood, festering wounds, urine, and feces. She could hear rats and insects scurrying above and across the floor to get away from her approaching footsteps.

When her eyes adjusted, she gasped in horror. Hanging from the ceiling were chains and shackles. There were more attached to the walls, some with people in them. People that were beaten, bruised, and bloody. Just in front of her was a large metal table with spikes protruding from each corner of it. The spikes were stained with old blood and chunks of what she imagined was human flesh. In one corner of the room was some sort of contraption that looked like a cross in a sphere. An iron maiden sat in the opposite corner next to a fireplace. Next to it was a wooden ramp.

A torture chamber. Aralyn Montgomery was standing in the middle of a true torture chamber. Her mind told her to run, but her body wouldn't listen. She was too much in shock.

"Who are you?" said a small voice.

Aralyn turned her head to the wall she hadn't looked at yet. Lining the wall were several metal cages. Inside the cages were living human beings, or mostly living. Some of them looked close to death. Some had deep wounds all over their body. Others barely had scratches on them.

The voice belonged to a woman in one of the cages. "Well?" the woman demanded. "Are you another one of his scum?"

"Shut up! You'll only make it worse," one man spat back at the woman. His face was bruised and he was missing an eye, a hollow bloody socket in its place.

"Don't tell me to — " the woman cut off her own words, eyes widening in terror as she looked at something behind Aralyn. The other prisoners shrank back with fear.

Aralyn spun around to see what they were looking at. She saw Morgan, the vampire from earlier that had tried to block the stairs. He was standing so close to her that she could smell his putrid breath. He stank of blood. His lips were stained with it.

"Haven't you ever been told not to go snoopin' around where you don't belong?" Morgan backhanded her so hard she fell to the floor. He jumped on her and straddled her waist, pushing her back into the cold, hard concrete. Despite how skinny he was, the weight on top of her made it hard to breathe. It was like being assaulted by Devin all over again. She panicked.