Blood Lust | kth

XXII - flowers are destined to wilt

27th September, 1950

It was an array of white.

Humans in white jumpsuits and clear framed glasses moving across the sleek, white-coated tiles in choreographed silence, drawing pipettes of fluid from one cylinder-shaped tube and transferring them to another.

Their culprits were confined in compartments that resembled prison cells. Only there was no furnishing, apart from the chairs on which their bodies were restrained with heavy metal chains.

The scientists would approach each one of them with caution, brandishing their needles like they were weapons. The needle, thin and sharp, would plunge into the skin of its victim, injecting them with a mixture of harmful chemicals that would rapidly invade their system.

And if the injection failed to exhibit the desired results, they would apply different methods until they were satisfied. Until their research saw progression.

This was all done in secret; one, to avoid causing moral panic, and two, to prevent other vampires from finding out that they were being pursued and held captive.

Throughout the decade, these people had uncovered pretty much every detail they needed to know about their targets with the aid of history books and a handful of spies.

Of course, there were certain pieces of information from the past that just wouldn't fit; in the presence of a vampire, they'd worn garlands of garlic, but to their disappointment the garlic did little to repel them. Hence, they resorted to conducting their own research.

Soon enough they noticed that vampires would not dare to step foot on sacred ground. Vampires, undead creatures who had cheated death, making their existence in defiance of God and all that is holy. It all made perfect sense.

The researchers conjured up a plan. They replaced the garlic garlands with pendants that bore sacred symbols and used religious buildings, such as churches, as their sanctuary. Then, they used the vampires' undying lust for blood to their advantage, leaving trials over the floor pungent enough to lure them into their malicious traps like mice. The moment their targets were in range, they fired their weapons, until the creatures' regenerative healing ability was at its weakest point. They would eventually lose consciousness, allowing the humans to abduct them and transport them to the laboratory for experimentation.

Once inside the lab, the chemicals they were injected with would force cries from within them that were so intense they represented a person consumed by pain.

The pain wouldn't stop; as time progressed, it would only worsen. The pleading and crying would all end in vain, for the scientists couldn't have cared less, transfixed as they were by their experiments.

And if a test subject were to demonstrate any form of resistance, the scientist appointed to them would release a noxious vapor into their compartment with the simple click of a button. It would be comprised of atomized vervain extract from a flowering plant known to protect human beings from vampire compulsion.

The vervain was so dangerously powerful it would cause a burning sensation in its victim's throat and digestive tract. The tough would become feeble and feverish, and the more susceptible would be instantly incapacitated.

Only, a minority of them had yet to experience the torturous effects of the vapor. Their lack of resistance to being subjects of scientific experimentation could have attributed to many things; maybe they thought it pointless to fight back, maybe they had accepted their fate, or maybe they had long hoped for such a fate to end their misery once and for all.

Like the woman in compartment 34, who followed every order and abided by every rule, regardless of the consequences. Over time, her complexion had grown dangerously pale from staring longingly at the tray of vials on the floor beside her. Each glass vessel contained the blood of a different person, and had all been collectively placed out of the vampire's reach- but close enough to reactivate her vampiric impulses. Day by day, her ability to suppress them was pushed to its limit. It was only a matter of time before her body would completely seize to function as a result of famine.