Alpha's Claim to Fame

Dainer Institution

Gaize

Dainer Institution.

From the outside, to the world, it looked like a rehabilitationesearch center.

To those of us inside, it was a prison. Charles Dainer built this facility nearly a century ago to house, torture, and experiment on any and all supernatural creatures he caught.

Vampires, Fae, witches, even shifters of all sorts. You go through a week of torture before they throw you in your respective compound. Once they figure out what category you fall into, they give you clothes in that species color: gray for vampires, blue for Fae, black for shifters, and green for witches/wizards. If they can’t discern what you are, they use you for their experiments then toss you in to die.

We’re kept in line by what’s essentially colored shock collars. Five colors, to be exact, that vary by level of threat they mark you as: white, yellow, orange, red, and black. Each color has different punishments, from the basic electric shock to pins to stab you through the throat, or blades, to take your head off. And everything in-between.

Not many creatures here wear black collars. Those are reserved for the most dangerous, usually the Alpha’s of every faction. Sometimes they swap out the colors if they feel you’re growing too strong.

Mine is black.

I control the vampire compound. Even before I took over though, not many people crossed me. In here it’s kill or be killed, and over the years I’ve killed my fair share.

I’ve been here nearly a decade; my family too. They were caught one by one throughout the years. They got me last, and I had no idea anyone had gotten caught. Not like I would have even cared. I wasn’t close to any of them, not even my own siblings. I left them years prior to coming to this place. I had no intentions to be with them back then, nor do I now. My sole intention was to find my mate, and being in here knowing it was impossible made me even more irritable.

We remain civil though. Nobody messes with them, I made sure of it. That, and the black collars on Mason and June. They wasted no time in asserting their dominance in here, yet both of them combined stand no chance against me and my men.

Despite being a prison there were still some amenities they allowed us to have. To study us, perhaps. Each floor was a different compound belonging to each race. There were dozens of compartments on each floor, consisting of sleeping quarters, showers, and common rooms with books and movies. There were even TV’s in the sleeping quarters, one above each hall leading into the compounds, and several around the cafeteria on the bottom floor. There were even doors that led out into a large courtyard, large enough for the thousand or so of us.

They were smart though. During the day the vampires were allowed a bit of shade and left a wide portion of the perimeter bathed in sunlight. At night, spotlights were activated in the same area that mimicked the sun’s rays. The fences they used were reinforced steel several inches thick, and the voltage used was high enough to fry your hair from six feet away. No way in, no way out.

I stood on the third-floor balcony overlooking the cafeteria in the middle of the asylum. A nasty brawl had broken out among the Fae and Witch leaders. The Witch didn’t stand a chance. They were small and scrawny, and the Fae were all muscle. It was like putting a cat up against a bear.

I wasn’t too invested in the fight. The television above the compartment’s hall entrance was showing a news broadcast. Almost two weeks ago a young woman named Kitty Haize, the lead guitarist in the Saints for Sinners American band, went missing a few months into their tour.

The news showed images of her hotel room, completely trashed and covered in blood. They spoke of rumors that she was supernatural, but it was never confirmed. The broadcast played every few hours, along with the band’s music videos and live performances where they showcased her singing.

Nathaniel, one of the few people I kept close to me here, let out a low whistle every time her voice was aired. “The voice of an angel, huh?”

On my other side, Desmond strummed his fingers on the railing I leaned against. “She’s a hot piece of ass too.”

I merely grunted. “I’d do her.”

Desmond snorted, bright red eyes lighting up in amusement. “Of course you would, Gaize. You’d f**k every hot woman you came across if you could.”

Before she went missing, Kitty was unmasked as winner of a show called “The Masked Singer.” I’d be lying if I said her voice didn’t strike a chord in my chest. Before we even knew who was in her Tigress costume, her voice was enough for me to develop what they called a crush. How pathetic.

The commotion from below stopped. The tables were thrown around haphazardly, some crushed completely, others just tossed against the wall. The guards activated the collars on their necks. The Witch’s collar glowed red, the skin around her neck melting and letting off wisps of gray smoke. Her mouth was open in a silent cream as she collapsed, the collar melting completely through the skin to cauterize her airway shut.

The pins on the Fae’s collar beeped and clicked, racing inwards straight through to his neckbone. He fell to his knees, gasping for air. The guard smashed the stock of his gun into the Fae’s head, dropping him to bleed out over the tiles.

Nathaniel clicked his tongue. “Pathetic.”

The news broadcast ended and I turned my full attention to the mess downstairs. The guards were hauling off the bodies, leaving the two races to clean up the mess. New leaders would have to be found now. No doubt she wad dead, and if he was still alive, well, he wont' be for much longer.

With the commotion gone you could clearly hear the screams of a woman from somewhere in the compound. She’s been going for a full week now. Maybe even two. Whatever they were doing to her she’d be scarred for life. If she lived through it, that is. In the time I’ve been here this is the longest they’ve tortured the same person in one stretch.

All I can think is that she’s not breaking, otherwise she would have gone quiet and would already be in here. If they can’t get out of her what they want, she’ll be tossed in here to die.

And then she’s fair game.