To Save a Vampire - A.K. Koonce

One

A Monster Among Many

A nervousness thrums through my body under the scrutiny of his mystical silver eyes as my fingers relentlessly twist a lock of my long brown hair. I try to keep a look of contentment in place, despite my racing heart that he can most likely hear thrashing in my chest. My leg bounces beneath our table, and I can’t focus on anything but him.

I sit next to my mother. Her long fingers move rapidly as she communicates through sign language with the hybrid-vampire who doesn’t seem to want to be here any more than I do.

The angles of his strong jaw draw my attention, seemingly sharp edges beneath smooth perfect skin. His hair is grown out and threatens to brush against long, dark lashes. Almost appearing more man than monster… Almost.

They’re different up close. Their bodies portray something beautifully human, while their feral instincts are anything but. They’re the direct result of the creatures of the night breeding with our own, the end product being a bizarre mixture of perfection and alluring destruction. I wasn’t prepared for how intrigued I’d be by them, mesmerized by their lethalness.

They’re vampires. But not.

Every part of them screams human but then, just under than fleshy surface, there’s deadly power.

The numbers etched across the back of his white t-shirt identify this pike as number forty-four. Forty-four sits with perfect posture, hands flat on the table’s smooth surface. He’s compliant. That’s good.

The leading doctor of the pike’s prison, Doctor Shaw, stands ominously behind my mother and myself. A dark shadow bleeds across the clean table, signaling the doctor’s presence. His beady eyes eats up our every move, shifting and darting over each pike like an inventory is being taken.

My mother works side by side with Shaw, and it hasn’t taken long to see he is more vile than any of the creatures locked within these walls; a monster among many. In the universe of man versus monster, he’s won, and the lines between him and the animals locked away here have become blurred.

Usually, I watch the hybrid-vampires, the pikes, from outside their work chamber, safely separated from the sedated creatures by a reinforced glass window. I’ve always stayed on my side of the glass, waiting for my mother to complete her work with the pikes at Compound 186.

Until today.

My mother begged Shaw to let me attend her evaluation of Forty-four today. I have no interest in the pikes, but I didn’t tell her that. I’m used to always following her plans without question.

Something my mother neglected to tell Shaw is I have no understanding of sign language, making this meeting more than useless. A heavy sigh escapes my lips at the thought of sitting here in confusion while they speak in hand gestures.

A tiny shadow of a square is highlighted against the hybrid’s smooth throat. I dart my attention away at the cruel thought of the device. A vocal restraint rests just beneath their skin, against their jugular, to prevent them from talking to one another, as well as the staff. Their days are silent; they only speak when spoken to in fast and swift hand movements. Many of them don’t respond at all, replying with a simple jutting bob of their heads, primitive-like.

My mother makes a few gestures to Forty-four, but he does not engage. I peer up briefly to find that, instead he’s searching my pale green eyes. I shift in my seat under his gaze. It’s the closest I’ve ever been to a pike before. I think they’re used to people being afraid of them, but I’m so captivated I can’t find the will to look away from the monster.

He doesn’t seem deadly. Pretty sure, but not deadly…

With a tense smile my mother introduces me to the numbered creature. “Forty-Four, I’d like you to meet, Fallon Fiercely.”

I don’t dare extend my hand to him, and he doesn’t expect me to. Neither of us moves an inch.

From across the table, he assesses me. My mouth tenses with a polite but awkward smile, making him smirk at my discomfort. Almost a sneer really. Does he hate humans as they do him? Surely he must. He’s been a caged animal for the entirety of his existence. Caged because of us, because of Shaw and Shaw’s predecessors, because of fear. Fear of those who are different and dangerous. Fear of the vampires that once ruled the world so many decades ago.

Their offspring remain even after the extinction of the once powerful race of vampires. A

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