Spike pulled against the chains that bound him to Dru, desperate to release them both. His head ached like a bitch from where he’d been hit, and his mouth felt like something had crawled into it and died. He could sense the daylight outside the box they had been locked in, but he still tried to escape the chains, to be ready to fight to protect himself and his sire.
Dru hadn’t made a sound since they had been attacked the day before but he could feel her pain through the sire link, though even with his preternatural eyesight he couldn’t see her at all. It was literally pitch black in the box. The garlic she had been poisoned with was eating into her flesh, destroying it like acid. The stench filled his nostrils, blocking out any other scent that might have helped him work out who was around. The silver shackles were impervious to his strength; pull as much as he could, all he succeeded in doing was bloodying his own wrists.
In two days of fighting them he hadn’t loosened them at all, just damaged himself. The over-large coffin juddered as it was transferred to a different conveyance, a truck of some sort by the way they were moving. The shaking continued for another couple of hours before he could feel the box being manhandled and carried onto a slower moving vehicle. Wherever they were, they seemed to be coming to the end of their journey.
Dru’s crying and wailing had at least stopped. Much as he loved his crazy sire the noise reverberating around their prison had been driving him as mad as she was. She wasn’t even whimpering now, just crooning to herself, some silly nursery rhyme remembered from her childhood.
Spike blinked at the sudden light flooding into their tiny mobile prison. Dru screamed and wriggled, trying to hide. She hated the light and her demon was terrified. He could feel her go into game face, her fangs ripping into his chest though his black tee shirt and opening wounds in his chest.
‘It’s burning, it’s burning!’ she yelled, pulling Spike on top of her, trying to use him as shelter. Spike could feel the fear coming from his dark princess, and he spread his leather duster over the pair of them, trying to save Dru if not himself. It took him a few seconds to realise that although his hands weren’t covered they weren’t burning; whatever the light source was, it wasn’t the deadly rays of the sun.
Dru started wailing again. ‘The sunshine, it’s floating around you…’ She tried pushing Spike off her, banging his head against the wooden side of the crate.
‘Stop it you stupid bint, we need to stick together!’
Dru started crying, and the stench of her rotting flesh hit him again and he had to turn his head away from it.
‘Mr. Pratt and Miss Smythe, please stay where you are and your chains will be released.’
Whoever the voice was sounded human, male and educated. He could hear about thirty pulses around him, none of them fast. Whoever was in the room with the two master vampires, they were calm and professional.
‘Please don’t try anything Mr Pratt: there is a sprinkler system that will release holy water, completely flooding this room. We will just get damp; you will perish. Do you understand?’
‘Yes,’ Spike said, gauging exactly where the voice was coming from. The chains around his wrists tightened for a second; then they were off of him. Dru was free as well. Spike got up from where he was covering his sire and jumped to his feet. He looked around the stark white room and up to the walkway where obvious humans stood watching the two vampires in the observation pit.
‘Spike…’ Dru’s voice cut through hid examination of the room and he turned to help her up from their confinement. Dru, being Dru, ignored the people and spent time straightening her dress and looking for her doll.
‘Miss Edith’s not here!’ She screamed. ‘Miss Edith, Miss Edith…’her moans got louder and louder and she reached out her long talons to try and scratch Spike but in her weakened state she could barely keep her balance, let alone hurt him.
‘If you wait one moment, Mr Pratt, a bag of blood will drop from the ceiling. It is drugged but also contains a powerful spell that will cure your lady of the ill effects from the garlic she was poisoned with.’
Spike doubted that but was surprised when a unit of blood did indeed drop from the ceiling. He looked at it suspiciously.
‘Really sir, if we’d wanted to kill you all we would have to have done is opened the box outside the building before either of you had made it to the shelter provided, and you would both have burned to death.’
Spike picked up the bag and slipped into game face. He could hear hearts all around him, and smell both the people and magics that surrounded them. Slipping a fang into the pouch he test tasted the life-giving liquid. He could taste the herbs that would soothe his sire, as well as something else, something mixed with magic. Dru was still moaning as he made the hole larger and started dripping the blood into her mouth. Although she normally disdained the bagged stuff, his poor demented sire gulped it down, licking every drop that landed on her chin and lips. He felt her slip into a deep sleep and watched as the wounds on her body started to heal; even the foul stench of her rotting body was lessening. He felt relief for the first time in ages, in fact since that mob had attacked them in Prague. His beloved sire was healing and she would live.
‘Mr. Pratt, another bag of blood will be delivered; it is completely undrugged and quite safe for you to drink.’
‘Why am I here?’
‘We will explain everything this evening; but for now, in a couple of minutes a door will open, and it leads to a room where you can both rest. There are no windows, but like this room, the sprinkler system releases holy water. After you have eaten, I want you to pick up Miss Smythe and carry her to the bed you will find there. You will remain undisturbed until one hour after sunset. Then we will be expecting you for dinner: we will be eating, and there will be fresh blood for both of you.’
The thud of the blood hitting the floor distracted Spike for a couple of seconds. He reached across and picked it up: the blood smelled very different from the stuff Dru had drunk. He was hungry, and knew he’d need the strength to escape the madness they had landed themselves in, so drank down the offering, sensing the power contained within the blood. Then he picked up Dru and carried her through the door that opened in front of him, and made his way down the stark corridor to the waiting room.
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!