The words swirled in my head like a storm, each a crashing wave as I lay with my eyes closed. A comforting darkness shielded me from the unknown, and I hoped when I opened them, I’d be back in my penthouse apartment, the gentle snores of Gabe a familiar solace beside me.
In my soul, I knew that was only a hope.
The cold, hard metal slab pressed into my skin as the smell of mildew and damp earth filled my nostrils. I slowly lifted my eyelids with a deep breath, the world blurring into focus after so long in darkness. I was lying on a small, cold metal cot with a thin, scratchy sheet stretched taut over it and bolted to the wall. Enclosing me were three walls of thick, gray stone, each radiating a chill that permeated the air, and a row of unforgiving metal bars confining me.
I was in jail. I almost forgot these existed outside of movies.
Memories from the night prior flooded my mind, and my father’s betrayal left a bitter taste in my mouth. Lifting my body from the bed, the cold metal of the handcuffs bit into my wrists as I sat up and felt the unforgiving metal contraption stillclamped over my mouth. I managed shallow breaths, but my jaw was locked, barely able to open more than an inch. Luckily, the arms were still missing, so my speech wasn’t completely distorted. I wore loose canvas pants, a shirt with a gaping neck hole, and heavy, clunky shoes that felt like lead weights.
Where the hell was my couture?
“You’re awake,” a voice observed from outside the cell.
In front of me, a person in a pristine white robe sat silently on a roughly hewn wooden chair. Even with the horse mask obscuring his face, his voice and the mischievous sparkle in his eyes were unmistakable. “You-you’re who saved me from the Dog. But why?”
He also kidnapped me, but I wanted to keep the conversation positive. I know I’d be able to get more out of him being nice than the latter.
“I’ve been waiting for you to wake since we brought you here.”
His evasion of my question, a blatant non-answer, sent a firestorm of anger through me. These people kidnapped me from my home, put me in a deadly situation, and worst of all, completely ruined my couture. I needed to know who was at fault and who gave the orders to tear me away from my father. “Why’d you take me?”
“Sorry, buddy.” The person on the other side of the metal bars shook his head, and a mess of blond hair waved to and fro. “That’s not my place to tell you.”
Buddy? The comment caused all the blood to rush to my face and made it burn with anger. My hands clenched into fists as I yearned to rip off his mask. “TELL ME!” Who was he to deny me a response? I’d been locked up for most of my life, living blissfully without answers. I refused to continue that pattern, whether inside or outside Elysium.
“Whoa whoa, vampire boy, calm down.” A heavy metal door slammed shut in the distance, the sound echoing through the corridor as the person opposite me bolted toward the cell. “You’ll get your answers, I promise. Just cooperate.”
This is becoming a trend. Keep being a good boy and follow directions. Just like at home. Well, guess what? You chose the wrong guy to fuck with.
Four figures in white, their faces obscured by masks, entered the jail and approached my cell, their footsteps echoing eerily in the silence. A man with a low voice boomed through the stone prison. “He’s being summoned. They’ve waited too long.”
The man waiting outside my cell nodded, his shadow falling over the four others as he towered above them. Five heads turned toward me, their eyes curious and their faces etched with anticipation, as one reached into their robe pocket to fetch a key.
A stern woman asked, “Does he need to be sedated?”
Be calm. Be calm. I was trying to remind myself that I needed to keep a level head if I wanted answers. My guard was up in case a needle or a weapon emerged from those white robes. I couldn’t be held accountable for how I may react. I wasn’t much of a fighter, but what more did I have to lose?
The tall man sitting in the wooden chair shook his head. “He’s likely still unstable; he just woke up.”
The four figures, arranged in a diamond formation, turned their masked faces, a silent nod confirming their acceptance of his word. One placed the key into the lock, and the door opened with a rusty screech, the sound echoing in the still air. Every fiber of my being screamed at me to attack, but I forced myself to breathe deeply, fighting to stay calm amidst my rising panic.
With tense bodies and hesitant steps, the four people entered the dimly lit cell. Each spread out in a semicircle, their footsteps crunching on the gravel as they advanced. I caught sight of pistols clutched in each of their hands.
They were closing in on me. Breathe. Breathe. I knew if they touched me with any bit of force, I was going to fight back. All I could do was hope the man’s promise was true—if I cooperated, they’d tell me the answers I was looking for and, hopefully, I’d be able to get back home.
A tangle of arms seized me, rough hands gripping my clothes, while a cold gun barrel pressed hard against my spine. “Don’t get any funny ideas,” the woman in the mask sternly warned.
I nodded, and the two men clasped one long string around my neck, like a leash. Together, with their hands on my arms, I was pulled upright, their bodies leading the way as they forced me to follow, the rope yanking painfully whenever I lagged. The weight of the gun pressed against my back, the woman behind me never letting it stray.
As the guards led me from the jail, hurried footsteps from the other cells scurried through the corridor. Like chips of obsidian, their eyes glinted in the dim light as they tracked my every movement like curious cats. Some hissed at the white robed people while others screamed indiscernible vulgarities. Once the heavy metal door slammed shut with a definitive clang, all sounds from the jail were silenced.
We wound through hallways upon hallways, the flickering fluorescent lights casting long, dancing shadows on the walls. The cold stone of the labyrinthine passageways twisted and turned, and I felt like a mouse in an experiment. Eventually, they brought me into a large, high-ceilinged room with a circular desk in its center. String lights were wound around the ceiling, and each of the yellow bulbs pulsed like veins in a body. Four people in white robes and metal horse masks sat around the table.
The man with a deep voice beside me boomed, “We brought the vampire.”
“You may go.” The robed figure at the head of the table rose, causing the four surrounding me to bow their heads beforedeparting the room. His voice, smooth and low, carried an unshakeable confidence.
The man reached to his face and clasped his fingers around the snout of the metal horse mask, exposing his silver hair, sleek and pulled back tightly. A spider web of deep wrinkles covered his face, furrowing his brow and crinkling the skin around his faded light blue eyes. His demeanor exuded intelligence and exhaustion, like he stayed up too late at night studying. His thin lips curved into a slight smile, a dusting of light white stubble accentuating his sharp cheekbones and chin. Even though this was the first time I’d met him, his presence resonated with a deep familiarity—a warmth that felt comforting and unsettling, like a half-remembered dream.
