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Description
Foolish.

That is all it was. Foolish.

I knew there was something funny-tasting about that glass of wine at the time, but then, I guess if you took every random thought seriously you would not have time to do anything.

I was at a ball that fateful evening. The kind of ball themed like the late 1800's. Sure, vampires can eat and drink 'human food', and no, it does not taste like dirt. We need it to keep us going. Blood is for a different reason entirely. I had had a few glasses of wine. Well, a lot by human standards, so I hardly noticed when the tenth tasted funny despite my being barely tipsy. Shortly after my eleventh glass, the ball ended and I went out onto the streets for a prowl. The slight stiffness of my body told me it was time for a real drink.

Stepping outside the bright lights of the party, I pulled the seemingly decorative cords from my dress and used them to tie the hem around my waist. After freeing my hair from its bun and re-arranging it until the thin black top layer masked the natural red glint, I was ready. Melting perfectly into the shadows, I slunk down an alleyway.

My nose guided me towards the musky, slightly alcoholic smell of a low-life, leading me through the winding maze of alleys and back-streets. I stopped. From the smell he was making his way towards this alleyway, probably to drag some unfortunate girl into the shadows where I was skulking. When his slightly staggering footsteps became audible up the block, I arose from my bored waiting crouch. Mildly intoxicated as I was, I decided it was not worth dealing with this drunk face to face. I leapt up the wall and clung to it by my fingernails, ready to pounce.

His footsteps finally sounded at the end of the alleyway, when the edges of my vision began to darken. I shook my head to clear it but it worsened. My grip weakened and I plummeted to the floor, landing like a dead body in front of the staggering drunk. He grunted with surprise and looked up, as I lay paralysed. My vision clouded to a dark mist and there was the sound of another pair of stealthy boots landing. The man's cry cut by a sharp snap was the last I heard before my eyes fluttered closed and the poison took me.

I woke up in a dark cold place. The darkness was hard for even my vampire eyes to penetrate. The only light was invisible to a human and shone through the cracks around the door, which was maybe, five, six metres away. The room smelt like metal and blood, mostly of a vampire, but some of humans and half-vampires mixed in. I moved my hand to peel myself off the concrete floor and to my dismay, found it shackled. A tight metal band around each wrist, welded one on top of the other. Quickly sitting upright, I found my legs free and my torso bound by chains, which snaked away into the darkness. Scuffling backwards, I found a wall and a tap of my hands revealed concrete blocks interlaced with metal. My panic built and I squirmed into a kneeling position. I launched myself off the wall with my feet, putting every ounce of my strength into it. The chains had about two metres of slack in them before they went taut and bit into me; yanking me cruelly, face first into the concrete floor. I cried out as the weight of the undamaged chains slowly slid me backwards and I scraped my cheek along the ground, adding to the bruise I could feel forming. The chains were strong if the could hold me, a vampire, self-trained as a fighter.

The ease in which I slid backwards told me that while I slept, I had been robbed of my dress, in which my wires were hidden. The metal of my knives would be no use on such chains, although it would have been worth a try had I not been robbed of my wrist and calf sheathes also. Peering through the gloom I saw my dress lying in a crumpled heap, tantalisingly close but obviously out of reach. I stood and walked the perimeter of the chains' reach, pausing for a brief but unsuccessful try at reaching my dress. Then I investigated my bonds. Three chains were welded to my shackles, one that wrapped twice around me and two that snaked away up the wall to inset metal rings. A sniff test revealed the chains' material; the brand new, super-strong but brittle metal wrapped in stainless steel. Unbreakable.

Sinking down the wall, I returned to my original place and curled up on my side, shuddering, physically trying to hold myself together. Bit my lip to stop from screaming. I let the blood run down my chin before licking it off. I heard a small sigh from the other side of the door. I panicked. But it was only half pretend. Because you can bet he was listening from the other side of that unreachable door the whole time. From the echoes of my screams I could tell that the room was the same size as your average vampire-proof dungeon. Eventually I screamed myself out and, rolling away from the cold wall, drifted into a tortured sleep.

I woke to the sound of the door being unlocked. I sat up swiftly as the bright shaft of light fell across me. It was him. The same vampire that had blooded me all those years ago. He stood silhouetted in the doorway, gun in one hand, a chain hanging from the other. I scuttled back against the wall as he entered. The turning of a key in the lock told me there was an escape if I could reach my bootlaces and lock-picks.

Closer and closer he came, stalking like a hunter moving in for the kill.

"You should never have refused me."

His voice was accompanied by the sound of a bullet being loaded into the breech. Bullets aren't usually lethal to vampires, but at point blank range we can still bleed out. He made me. He could break me. Those nights over two hundred years ago, when he drank from me and shared his blood. We are the same. His weaknesses are my weaknesses.

He forced my legs out straight and sat on them, pressing the tip of his gun into my stomach.

"You should never have refused me."

His hoarse whisper cut the silence. I spat at him and swore. Angry now, he yanked my legs so I fell back and my head cracked against the floor. Now sitting on my pelvic bone, he stroked my cheek. I bit at his hand and he snatched it back, and retrieved the chain from the floor beside me. He forced it between my clenched teeth and clipped it behind my head. The pistol lay resting on my stomach, half supported by his loose grip on the handle and trigger. His free hand snaked up over my body and I hissed at him. He fumbled with the catch at the top of my zip. I clenched my teeth, squirming and trying to bite through the chain so I could bite him. It squashed and bent but didn't break. Fresh tears ran down my cheeks from the effort. He undid the catch and met my eyes. I glared up at him and he grinned back, the smile of one slightly mad.

He pulled on my zip. No! I was not going to be his whore. I kicked him. Lifted my knee and drove it into his back with everything I had. He wasn't expecting it and his hand tightened on the trigger, emptying the chamber with an explosive bang that echoed throughout the room.

There was very little pain as the bullet first pierced my skin, but the pain exploded as it hit my organs, passing up through them and a lung. It grazed out between two ribs on my side, across my arm and deflected off a chain, bouncing away into the darkness.

I lay gasping, bleeding out through the hole in my side. He growled and continued unzipping me as the edges of my vision went black. He paused, then undid the chain around my mouth. Lowered his lips to my ear.

"You should never, ever have refused me, Lillith."

His whisper cut through my dieing thoughts. I turned my head and tried to bite him. He dodged easily and swooped down to kiss my lips as my head fell back. I tried to draw my knee up again, drive it into his back a second time. My agonised gasps caught in my throat as my muscles tightened around the track the bullet left and my leg fell back with barely a tap on his back. He laughed at me and kissed my neck, kissed the two scars that he had left. He unzipped me more. I gasped once more before the breath left me. The dark edges of my vision closed in. My consciousness faded with my last bitter thought;

Let him make love to a corpse.

Description
Foolish.

That is all it was. Foolish.

I knew there was something funny-tasting about that glass of wine at the time, but then, I guess if you took every random thought seriously you would not have time to do anything.

I was at a ball that fateful evening. The kind of ball themed like the late 1800's. Sure, vampires can eat and drink 'human food', and no, it does not taste like dirt. We need it to keep us going. Blood is for a different reason entirely. I had had a few glasses of wine. Well, a lot by human standards, so I hardly noticed when the tenth tasted funny despite my being barely tipsy. Shortly after my eleventh glass, the ball ended and I went out onto the streets for a prowl. The slight stiffness of my body told me it was time for a real drink.

Stepping outside the bright lights of the party, I pulled the seemingly decorative cords from my dress and used them to tie the hem around my waist. After freeing my hair from its bun and re-arranging it until the thin black top layer masked the natural red glint, I was ready. Melting perfectly into the shadows, I slunk down an alleyway.

My nose guided me towards the musky, slightly alcoholic smell of a low-life, leading me through the winding maze of alleys and back-streets. I stopped. From the smell he was making his way towards this alleyway, probably to drag some unfortunate girl into the shadows where I was skulking. When his slightly staggering footsteps became audible up the block, I arose from my bored waiting crouch. Mildly intoxicated as I was, I decided it was not worth dealing with this drunk face to face. I leapt up the wall and clung to it by my fingernails, ready to pounce.

His footsteps finally sounded at the end of the alleyway, when the edges of my vision began to darken. I shook my head to clear it but it worsened. My grip weakened and I plummeted to the floor, landing like a dead body in front of the staggering drunk. He grunted with surprise and looked up, as I lay paralysed. My vision clouded to a dark mist and there was the sound of another pair of stealthy boots landing. The man's cry cut by a sharp snap was the last I heard before my eyes fluttered closed and the poison took me.

I woke up in a dark cold place. The darkness was hard for even my vampire eyes to penetrate. The only light was invisible to a human and shone through the cracks around the door, which was maybe, five, six metres away. The room smelt like metal and blood, mostly of a vampire, but some of humans and half-vampires mixed in. I moved my hand to peel myself off the concrete floor and to my dismay, found it shackled. A tight metal band around each wrist, welded one on top of the other. Quickly sitting upright, I found my legs free and my torso bound by chains, which snaked away into the darkness. Scuffling backwards, I found a wall and a tap of my hands revealed concrete blocks interlaced with metal. My panic built and I squirmed into a kneeling position. I launched myself off the wall with my feet, putting every ounce of my strength into it. The chains had about two metres of slack in them before they went taut and bit into me; yanking me cruelly, face first into the concrete floor. I cried out as the weight of the undamaged chains slowly slid me backwards and I scraped my cheek along the ground, adding to the bruise I could feel forming. The chains were strong if the could hold me, a vampire, self-trained as a fighter.

The ease in which I slid backwards told me that while I slept, I had been robbed of my dress, in which my wires were hidden. The metal of my knives would be no use on such chains, although it would have been worth a try had I not been robbed of my wrist and calf sheathes also. Peering through the gloom I saw my dress lying in a crumpled heap, tantalisingly close but obviously out of reach. I stood and walked the perimeter of the chains' reach, pausing for a brief but unsuccessful try at reaching my dress. Then I investigated my bonds. Three chains were welded to my shackles, one that wrapped twice around me and two that snaked away up the wall to inset metal rings. A sniff test revealed the chains' material; the brand new, super-strong but brittle metal wrapped in stainless steel. Unbreakable.

Sinking down the wall, I returned to my original place and curled up on my side, shuddering, physically trying to hold myself together. Bit my lip to stop from screaming. I let the blood run down my chin before licking it off. I heard a small sigh from the other side of the door. I panicked. But it was only half pretend. Because you can bet he was listening from the other side of that unreachable door the whole time. From the echoes of my screams I could tell that the room was the same size as your average vampire-proof dungeon. Eventually I screamed myself out and, rolling away from the cold wall, drifted into a tortured sleep.

I woke to the sound of the door being unlocked. I sat up swiftly as the bright shaft of light fell across me. It was him. The same vampire that had blooded me all those years ago. He stood silhouetted in the doorway, gun in one hand, a chain hanging from the other. I scuttled back against the wall as he entered. The turning of a key in the lock told me there was an escape if I could reach my bootlaces and lock-picks.

Closer and closer he came, stalking like a hunter moving in for the kill.

"You should never have refused me."

His voice was accompanied by the sound of a bullet being loaded into the breech. Bullets aren't usually lethal to vampires, but at point blank range we can still bleed out. He made me. He could break me. Those nights over two hundred years ago, when he drank from me and shared his blood. We are the same. His weaknesses are my weaknesses.

He forced my legs out straight and sat on them, pressing the tip of his gun into my stomach.

"You should never have refused me."

His hoarse whisper cut the silence. I spat at him and swore. Angry now, he yanked my legs so I fell back and my head cracked against the floor. Now sitting on my pelvic bone, he stroked my cheek. I bit at his hand and he snatched it back, and retrieved the chain from the floor beside me. He forced it between my clenched teeth and clipped it behind my head. The pistol lay resting on my stomach, half supported by his loose grip on the handle and trigger. His free hand snaked up over my body and I hissed at him. He fumbled with the catch at the top of my zip. I clenched my teeth, squirming and trying to bite through the chain so I could bite him. It squashed and bent but didn't break. Fresh tears ran down my cheeks from the effort. He undid the catch and met my eyes. I glared up at him and he grinned back, the smile of one slightly mad.

He pulled on my zip. No! I was not going to be his whore. I kicked him. Lifted my knee and drove it into his back with everything I had. He wasn't expecting it and his hand tightened on the trigger, emptying the chamber with an explosive bang that echoed throughout the room.

There was very little pain as the bullet first pierced my skin, but the pain exploded as it hit my organs, passing up through them and a lung. It grazed out between two ribs on my side, across my arm and deflected off a chain, bouncing away into the darkness.

I lay gasping, bleeding out through the hole in my side. He growled and continued unzipping me as the edges of my vision went black. He paused, then undid the chain around my mouth. Lowered his lips to my ear.

"You should never, ever have refused me, Lillith."

His whisper cut through my dieing thoughts. I turned my head and tried to bite him. He dodged easily and swooped down to kiss my lips as my head fell back. I tried to draw my knee up again, drive it into his back a second time. My agonised gasps caught in my throat as my muscles tightened around the track the bullet left and my leg fell back with barely a tap on his back. He laughed at me and kissed my neck, kissed the two scars that he had left. He unzipped me more. I gasped once more before the breath left me. The dark edges of my vision closed in. My consciousness faded with my last bitter thought;

Let him make love to a corpse.