Being Human (35 page)

Now I understood.

I lunged at the human, grabbing his arm and snapping it back to free Sunlight. I turned to the human holding my niece next and sank my teeth into his neck.

Pain jolted through me like a current and spots danced before my vision. My energy drained away and I crumpled to the ground. I weakly snapped my teeth, determined to keep fighting until my niece and Sunlight were freed. More jolts hit me as Vampire Forces surrounded me. Pain coursed through me, throwing me around like a rag doll and the spots grew bigger until they blacked my vision out. I fell into the blackness, no strength left to fight. The last thing I heard was Sunlight pleading for someone to stop.

The world faded in and out, from light to dark and back again. Noises came and went, whisper soft, then roaring loud. Throughout it all, pain was my constant companion. The tiniest movement caused pain, stillness caused pain. There were jolts of pain, prickles of pain, hot pain and searing pain. It was all there was and it would only get worse.

I had screwed up in a big way.

When Vampire Forces had pulled Sunlight and my niece away, I lost it. All thoughts of escaping and survival flew out the window. Humans were touching and hurting the ones I loved. The thought enraged me and I attacked.

Deep down, I knew there was no way to win. I was outnumbered, but I couldn’t stop myself. Something had trumped my own survival. Surrounded, Vampire Forces shocked me into unconsciousness. When I woke, the room I was in had no windows, beds or chairs; the wall, floor and ceiling nothing but shiny silver. A single light bulb illuminated the room.

For the longest time I didn’t move, resting and trying to regain energy I was incapable of restoring without blood. I didn’t know if I was above ground or under, my injuries had me boiling hot. I waited in the silver room, knowing I was minutes away from being destroyed. When they came for me, my only thought was this was it.

Only it wasn’t.

Instead of tying me to a stake and destroying me, the Vampire Forces officers took me to a large, white room. Machines and wires lined the walls and snaked along the floor. There, they bound me to a silver table and left. Other humans in long, white coats appeared. With hot hands, they examined me and used long, shiny instruments to pry open my injuries. When they finished, Vampire Forces came again and took me back to the silver room.

It became a routine, take me to the white room, examine and poke me, then put me back in the silver room. Each time, the pain coursing through me grew worse and my need for blood screamed.

“Is it alive?” a voice asked.

“Depends on your idea of alive,” another answered.

I didn’t try to move, trying to keep the pain to minimum by staying as still as possible. Carefully, I cracked an eye open, straining to see the scientists standing at a safe distance out of the corner of my eye. That one, tiny movement caused pain to pulsed through me. I bit my lip, fangs sliding into holes made from previous bites, to keep from making any sounds.

The scientists moved closer once they deemed I was secured to the table and incapable of moving. They sorted through their tools and quietly discussed what they hoped to learn today. Maybe why vampires turned to ash in the sun. Or what sort of energy kept a vampire out of a home unless welcomed. So many questions they had and they hoped I was their key to those answers.

I recalled Dan once telling me how scientists studied vampires. He said the official statement was they took the ashes and studied those, but every human assumed they had live specimens. Fear filled his scent and he was quick to change the subject. He had feared that happening to me.

I shouldn’t think of my brother, I told myself. It would only make me worry about my family. Were they okay? Did he feel my pain? He probably felt mild discomfort if anything. The lie always comforted me.

The scientists leaned over me, one holding a long, jagged knife. Fear flooded me and pain rolled through me as I trembled. I scrambled for a way to prolong my suffering if only for a moment. “What are you doing?”

The knife froze above my skin. The scientists leaned closer, their eyes examining me. They never just looked at me, they
always
examined me. Then tortured me.

“It talked,” one noted.

I dragged my dry tongue over my lips, hoping to keep them interested. The effort made my throat raw. “What are you going to do to me?”

They stepped back to the TV and camera recording each moment spent torturing me. One rewound the tape and my voice rasped through the speakers. Another made a note in a book. Then they turned back to me and the knife sank into me.

Spots popped in my vision as the pain flared hot. I ground my teeth together and swallowed the scream that was trying to force its way up my throat. I would not scream, I would not show pain or give any indication just how weak I was. I would survive!

After long moments of heat and pain, the scientists leaned back, a few swiping at their brows. They gathered around the TV to watch. As the video played, one noted today’s findings.

“Specimen still shows no signs of healing. With no blood present, there is no clotting or scabbing. Heaviest injuries are to the neck. It looks like, when vampires fight, they go for the jugular to kill.”

Vampires try to bit the head off when we want to kill
, I thought.

“It’s been a month, I think it’s time to move to the next test,” one suggested.

“I don’t know, I think we should take more time to study the lack of healing,” one disagreed after a long silence.

“There’s nothing left to study,” the first one replied. “It’s time to move on and study how vampires survive on blood and how it heals them.”

Hope spread through me at the mention of blood.

“We’ll have to be quick, only one or two tests. Anymore is too dangerous,” a third one said.

The scientists nodded in agreement.

“Excuse me, doctors.” A Vampire Forces officer marched up. “You’ll have to wrap it up; the vampire is due in court in fifteen minutes.”

The scientists scoffed as the Vampire Forces officer marched away.

“Can’t believe that it actually got a trial,” one commented.

“It’s only to appease the public,” the second one replied and eyed me. “Reporters found some old VF reports on this one. Stalked family members and kidnapped a little girl to kill. The public would be in an uproar if this one quietly turned to ash. They want its blood… so to speak.”

“At least it gives us time to study. VF always insists on torching them before we can find any real answers,” the third one added.

The scientists disappeared and the Vampire Forces officer reappeared with two others. Strapping a mask over my face, they bound me to a wheelchair and began pushing it down the white corridor, bashing the chair against the wall repeatedly. Voices grew louder as we approached a door at the end of the hall.

One torture down and another on its way.

****

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The crack of the hammer echoed around the room, the sound reminding me of breaking bones and the ones the scientists broke. The cold eyes of the human sitting high above the rest glared at each human before turning to me. A whisper of a thought dared me to move and give the judge a reason to destroy me on the spot. When I didn’t move, he tore his glare away with a scowl.

“There will be no fiascoes today.”

The humans agreed with silence.

The judge turned his attention to his papers, sifting through them and choosing one to read from. I barely heard him over the sounds of hearts pounding around me and tormenting me with their rhythm. The smell of blood wafted through the air. My stomach twisted in hunger and need clawed at my mind. If I opened my mouth and drew a breath, I could taste a hint of blood.

It was hard to describe how much I hated each human in the room with me. The one next to me stank of fear and it was agonizing being inches away from a scent that sang to me. The ones behind me wore on me with their incessant talking and movement. The ones in front of me made me boil with anger at the unfair judgment in their eyes and thoughts. And the human I hated the worst was striding to the judge at his prompting, chest puffed out and voice full of confidence and lies.

“Your Honor,” the lawyer said. “As I’ve stated many times since the start of this trial, this has gone on long enough. The evidence has been presented and there is no denying the monstrous acts this creature has done. Stalking a surviving family member and even following the poor man to college. How many students died while it was there? I shudder to think. And years later, it tormented his family. Again, I shudder thinking of the terror they felt. Then it snatched a young girl from the safety of her own bedroom with every intention on killing her. Probably raped her as well.”

“Uncle wouldn’t do that!” my niece’s voice angrily interrupted. “You’re not supposed to assume in a trial, you’re supposed to present facts. Why isn’t that damn lawyer asking for that comment to be dismissed?
Objection!
”

The judge banged his hammer. “I warned you, young lady, no more outbursts in my courtroom or you will be removed. Again.”

“Well, maybe if you had appointed
my uncle
a decent defender, I wouldn’t have to disturb anyone,” my niece snapped. “Hey you, grow a pair and defend my uncle!”

“You better get your child under control,” the judge growled as his gaze shifted.

“Mackenzie, you promised you wouldn’t make a fuss, you said you wanted to be here for him,” Dan spoke in a hushed, pain-filled tone.

Pain shot through me, skin stretching, wounds opening and broken bones shifting as I turned. My family sat three rows back, the rows between us and the seats around them empty. My niece was on her feet, anger written across her face as Dan tried to calm her. Rissa watched me with a mixture of sympathy and pain.

Tears filled my niece’s eyes when she saw me watching. She jumped over the rows between us, struggling to reach me. Her skin boiled, her rhythm slamming against me and her scent burned my nose as she hugged me tightly. “I won’t let them destroy you.”

All I managed was a strangled noise, something between a snarl of hunger and cry of pain.

“Get her out of my courtroom,” the judge ordered as my niece’s commotion rippled across the courtroom.

Two Vampire Forces tore her away from me, kicking and screaming, her foot catching one in the chest. A third aimed a flame-thrower at me, eyes and thoughts daring me to try something. The two carried my niece out of the courtroom, Rissa following.

“Order!” the judge yelled as the doors slammed shut.

Once everyone in the courtroom calmed, the lawyer resumed his speech on how I was an inhumane monster. I closed my eyes and let myself drift half way as I listened. This was so pointless, no matter what the trial decided, the outcome would be the same. I was going to be destroyed.

****

It was a tiny spark, small and delicate. It coursed through me, struggling at injuries, pausing in attempt to knit skin together and mend broken bones. Finally it faded away, not strong enough to survive.

But, for a second, I had felt alive!

My lips no longer hurt, the holes I had bitten almost healed. Pain still covered the rest of my body, injuries and bones still unhealed. But the tiny drop of blood felt as if it had worked miracles and the pain had lessened.

The scientists stepped back to me and started their examination. Their awe filled the air like electricity. One lifted his hand as if he was going to touch me, but thought better and dropped it. They turned to the TV and rewound the video to seconds before they dripped the drop down my throat.

“What do you think?” one asked.

“Amazing!” the second one exclaimed. “Look how fast the blood worked, seconds and the injuries to its lips are almost healed. If we could figure out how.”

After more discussion, they set the camera to record again and turned to me. One picked up a glass vial from the tray and unscrewed the lid. My eyes locked on the red, nostrils flaring at the smell drifting to me. I strained against my restraints, snapping my teeth and hissing.

The scientists backed away at my increased movements. I forced myself still and they cautiously stepped back to me. The one holding the vial held it out and a few drops fell. I caught each one.

“More!”

The scientist returned the vial to the tray and quickly stepped away. They waited a few minutes before moving back in to re-examine my injuries, and then watch the TV. They repeated the process and slowly I felt my injuries heal and a small trickle of energy wind through me. When the last bone mended, miraculously some blood left in the vial, the scientists motioned to Vampire Forces to take me back to the silver room.

There, I lay on the floor and carefully tested myself. The trickle of energy quickly faded, but my need for blood had eased with the healing of my injuries. The air around me wasn’t as hot, the floor was refreshingly cool and the light not as blinding. With a sigh, I closed my eyes and let my mind drift to comforts beyond my reach.