Blood Martinis: The Gypsy Vampire's Curse

Ch. 5 ... Disaster and Delirium

Kate turned the handle. The door was unlocked. It swung open easily on its hinges, and for the second time in twenty-four hours Kate was stunned and appalled by what she saw behind a door. It opened into a cobblestone courtyard lined with rows of eight-foot-high cages as far as the eye could see. Each one was a cement-block-backed wall, with three steel bar sides, covered by a grey clay slated roof. They each had a bench and, like any good prison, held a prisoner. The people came in all different shapes, sizes, and ages. They wore different clothing. There seemed to be nothing common about them, besides where they were trapped.

"What is this?" Kate whispered.

"I don't know," Brianna said back quietly.

"How could you not know?" Kate asked.

"I just don't. I swear, I had no idea," Brianna said.

"What do we do?" Kate asked.

"Is it a prison?" Brianna asked.

"Of course, it is," Kate said.

"No, I mean a legal prison? It couldn't be, could it?" Brianna asked.

"No," Kate said.

"Kilian wouldn't let me near this place," Brianna said, as if to absolve herself of any wrong-doing.

"We… Should we try to get them out of here?" Kate asked. The bodies were noticing their whispers.

"Help us!" one woman asked. She had ratty auburn hair down past her shoulders, and a black dress on with no shoes. None of them seemed to have shoes. Kate wondered if that was so that it would be harder for them to run away.

"Please, don't leave us here," the man across the aisle from the woman begged. "They'll kill us."

"Who will kill you?" Brianna asked.

"The wolves," a young boy in the cage beside the woman said.

"They must be delirious," Kate whispered into Brianna's ear.

"How do we get you out?" Brianna asked, as she let go of Kate's arm.

"You have to be quick. One of the wolves is in the shed down the back," the woman said shakily. The two girls looked in that direction. It's where the screeching seemed to be coming from.

"Don't worry, we'll help," Kate said, and reached toward the cage to comfort her. Suddenly, the look on the woman's face changed from pitiful to delirious. Her eyes grew wide and lips curled over her teeth to show extruding canines as she cackled, and grabbed Kate's hand. Brianna grabbed Kate's other arm as quick as she could, but the woman's pull was stronger. By the time the woman sunk her teeth into Kate's exposed shoulder, her whole arm was in the cage. Brianna punched at the woman's head and neck as both girls screamed, but nothing seemed to phase her. She was now suckling on Kate's shoulder, like a calf at its mother's teat. Kate was about to pass out. In a last-ditch effort to get the crazy woman off her, Brianna grabbed her hair and yanked. The woman shrieked, and it gave them enough time to rip Kate away from her grasp. As they stumbled back toward the other side of the aisle Brianna could feel a hand swipe at her back. She turned around to see the man's arm stretched out with clawed nails reaching for her.

"Come here, precious," he said. "It won't hurt."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Brianna yelled.

"I'm so hungry…" the woman behind her said. The words oozed out of the woman's mouth with bits of blood and saliva.

Kate was crying miserably, holding tight on her shoulder. "I have to get out of here," she sobbed.

"Please, we're not all like her," the boy coyly pleaded.

"We have to get out of here," Kate begged.

"I have to know what’s going on," Brianna said.

"Fine, but I have to get out of here," Kate said. "I'll get help." Kate hurried through the door, only looking back in the hopes that Brianna was following her. She didn't. "Be safe."

"I will," Brianna promised. Turning back toward the shed at the end of the row of cages, she quietly stepped toward the screeching. It sounded like some sort of machinery. As she neared it, she could hear the voices conversing. One sounded angry at the other; the other sounded arrogant. She listened outside the door for a while, unsure if she really wanted to find out what was inside… or rather, to have what was inside, find out about her.

"You're no better than I am," the angry man inside yelled.

"I don't kill people," the arrogant one said.

"What do you call this?" the angry one asked.

"You're not dead, are you? And you're certainly not human," the arrogant one said. And then it sounded like he shoved something through the other one. Brianna had never heard someone scream with so much pain before. Against her better judgement, she peaked inside and couldn't believe what she saw. There was a half-naked man with long scraggly blonde hair attached to some sort of mechanical trap. His legs were tied together at the ankles with metal chains. His arms were bound at the elbows and wrists, in a sprawled 'w' shape. Long cuts crisscrossed his chest, but seemed to be sizzling shut somehow on their own, and a solid steal pipe stuck out of his abdomen. Brianna knew there was no way that wouldn't kill him.

The cloaked figure standing ten feet or more in front of the dying man, reached back – with another pipe in his hand – and threw it straight into the side of the man's neck. As the angry man gurgled and choked on what must be his last breathes, he looked at Brianna with desperation in his eyes and unintelligibly chewed on his words. The cloaked figure, turned around. She couldn't be sure but, in the torchlight, it looked like Kilian. She tried to run, harder and faster than ever in her life. The caged bodies were all now having a good laugh at her expense, sneering and cheering as she heard feet falling on the ground quicker than her own and closing the gap. Reaching out for the open red door, she felt an arm wrap around her waist and instead push her against the concrete wall the door was attached to. "Not so fast," Kilian said. "You'll want to see this."

"Please, I didn't see anything," Brianna tried. "Let me go."

"Shh, it's okay," he purred. "I know what you saw."

"What is this place?" she asked.

"You know what it is… it's a prison," he said. "The question you should ask is- what kind?" he said.

She didn't want the answer to that. She was surrounded by people in cages who should seem helpless, but when you get too close they seem crazed. Her brother-in-law to be had just murdered someone and now had her pinned. Her world was turning upside down. She was starting to understand the anger. "Let. Go. Of. Me." She roared, and pushed herself around to face him.

"They're vampires, Bri," he said. "Killers. Cold hearted. They look and act like us, but they're not."

"I'm not a part of this," she said.

"You are now. Choosing Bennet is choosing to be a part of this," he said, and with that he sank his teeth into her neck. She kicked and punched at him. He wasn't going to do this. Not to her! He blocked himself with his leg and continued to chew on her while drinking blood from the wounds he made. He pulled away to look in her eyes. His mouth was covered in her, dripping red blood all over.

In that moment, she felt so much pain- physical and mental. How could he do this to me? She felt herself losing the battle of consciousness. "Please," she choked out. His eyes, flickered and brightened.

"You don't feel any pain," he said, and he was right. Suddenly, she didn't.

Kate dashed out of the maze, frantically thinking of what she should do. She ran toward the garden festival and into the crowd of people now scattered around the tables. She was searching for Dylan. He had helped her out of every crisis she had been through in the last few days, surely, he would help her again. Stopping random people, she asked if they had seen him. No one knew who he was. That must be a good sign. He's been gone so long in London, he doesn't know what happens here. He doesn't know what sickness is out in that maze. She ran into her father.

"Daddy," she exclaimed and wrapped her arms around him. People were starting to look.

"Aye, darling. How are you?" he asked, then looked at her shoulder. "You're bleeding."

Remembering everything else that happened over the last few days, she pulled away and looked at him with questioning eyes. Then she realised she didn't have time for this, and retook her resolve. "You need to leave, daddy," she said sternly.

"What happened? You need to get that looked after," he said.

"Please, just leave," she insisted. "It's not safe." She had no idea how to explain this, but she hoped he would just listen. She took off looking for Dylan again.

He called after her, "What's not safe?" but she was already gone.

People were actively paying attention to her now as she weaved around them looking for Dylan. It wasn't every day the village prince and princess threw an extravagant party, so you could gawk at performers and eat all their food, but it also wasn't every day a young girl was half dressed running circles and covered in blood. It was becoming difficult for people to decide which spectacle to give their attention to.

She saw Bennet then, and he saw her. Looking concerned, he started making his way over. Kate turned heel and ran trying to lose him among the guests. If he is part of this... if he is… he can't be part of this. "Oh no," she said. Remembering Brianna, she stopped momentarily to look back. She tried to will herself to allow him to close the distance between them, but changed her mind when she finally spotted Dylan. Keeping out of Bennet's sight, she scurried toward him. Dylan locked eyes with her as she clutched his arm and requested that he come with her. Seeing the blood, he followed without her having to ask twice.

"We need to leave," she said. "We can go to my dad's, it's just down the road in the next town."

"Okay, but what's happened?" he asked. She pulled him up the stairs toward the rooms to pack.

"I'll explain it in the car," she said.

"Explain it now," he said as he helped her pack.

She stopped moving and looking up at him from across the bed. "Your family… I mean, did you know… do you know what's in the maze?" A look of recognition passed over his face.