He walks away and I look back at Fletcher. He looked shocked. He had paused completely, staring at me. He purses his lips and sits back down on the floor. My words had had some sort of impact on him. He curls up, tucking his head under his arms as we wait for them to bring in another test subject. A small part of me hoped it was Noah. Another part of me didn't want him to see Fletcher like this.
The door opens and another girl is shoved in. She falls down onto the hard wooden floors. She was back on her feet in an instant running for the door. But it closes before she could get there. She screams at them to let her out.
Fletcher stares at her, his shaking starting up again. He shoves his wrist back into his mouth, chomping down hard. Another moan escapes him, and the girl whips around, freezing. Her soft brown eyes widen as she backs up to the door.
"Calm down." I say, getting her attention. "Come sit next to me. He won't touch you."
She quickly sprints to my side, the quick movement kicks into Fletcher's instincts, and he was on his feet running for her. Without thinking, I step between them. She yelps, ducking down, hiding behind me. The craze lightens slightly, his eyes pleading for help. Pleading for a release. To my suprise, Fletcher pauses. "Stop." I say gently. "Calm." I whisper to him, "Calm."
He turns around and slams his fist into the wall again. He begins beating on the wall like he was before. Only now his hands were already raw to the bone. His own blood was everywhere. I had heard once before that vampires don't like vampire blood. Not even the smell of it. It looked like he was trying to mask our smell with his own.
The girl behind me begins sobbing. She was young, no older than sixteen. She was by no means a hunter. She was too frail looking. Too flabby. No muscle. Her curvy, full body was not for fighting. She looked weaker than Michelle, and that was saying something.
I sigh and sink back down next to the girl, allowing Fletcher to do his thing. "What's your name?" I ask.
Her eyes were glued on Fletcher, tears of sheer horror slowly making their way down her face. She looked to be in shock. But, she whispers, "Beth."
I rub her back gently, "I'm sorry you were caught up in this, Beth. I am Quinn, this guy here is Fletcher. He looks pretty scary, doesn't he?"
She nods, "He's a vampire." She says, almost casually. "Just like Zeno."
Fletcher pauses, looking at her. "You know Zeno? Is he okay?" He asks, through his animal-like teeth.
She flinches, but nods, "They took me when they realised I was Zeno's blood slave. They called him a couple hours ago while they beat me up."She sobs, "I tried not to call out, I didn't want Zeno to come after me. But…" She trails off. My eyes go over her again, this time finding colorful bruises just by her shirt. "They had another kid too."
"Noah?" I ask quickly, "Was his name Noah?"
Her eyes widen, "Yeah. Yeah, I think it was."
A lot of the craze softens on his face, but he still keeps his distance as he says, "Is he ok? He's not hurt is he?"
She shrinks away from Fletcher, "He was beaten. Like I was."
Rage takes over Fletcher as he lunges at the door. Beth screams as he throws himself over and over at the door. He was already so close to breaking and now he was hurting himself too much.
"This isn't helping Noah!" I yell.
He stops, midway, right before slamming into the wooden door again. Beth begins sobbing, but her screaming stops. I take in a deep breath, "Calm down. Prove to them you are not a monster. We'll go from there. But I can't help you if you won't work with me. Sit down." I shove a finger toward the corner. Like a guilty child, he turns and walks back to his corner.
I sigh, but none of my tenson leaves my body. I sit down next to Beth, and begin whispering to her. "So Beth, what happened?"
"I was out walking. Zeno had told me as long as I didn't go too far I could roam around. We were heading North. Monsters were following us." A chill goes down my spine, "he said we were far enough ahead of them where he trusted me to go out. These two people began following me. When I realised, two more popped out of nowhere. I was snatched up and taken here."
"Who is Zeno?" I ask. Fletcher knew the name, and I was pretty sure Noah had mentioned it before also.
"He's my owner. I was bought as a blood slave." I flinch, Oh how I hated that term. "But I don't think he bought me for my blood. I didn't realise it until I was older, but I think he bought me during the auction because the other man who was trying to get me had a habit of doing terrible things to their blood slaves." She ducks her head down between her legs, "I think by buying me he saved me from a life of torment. Possibly saving me from an early death."
(I wanna thank EVERY ONE from the bottom of my heart for reading this far! I really wasn't expecting more than a couple views at most. So, THANK YOU!!)