Demon Rock (5 page)

I thought it must be near the end of day two although I could not be sure. I had not slept although my mind kept drifting as if in an unconscious or sleep-like state. My mind returned again to my wife, my Holly. I am not a religious man; in fact I find the idea of it somewhat pathetic. A need for people to think there is more than life means they don’t fully appreciate the time they do have as they are expecting the next part to be better. But now I could see the appeal. If I could conjure up an idea that Holly was in a better place now, a place with no more pain or suffering, waiting for me. A place where time means nothing, a place where the longevity of our love can last for an eternity, then my mind could rest assured and my pain be eased if by a finite amount. My logical mind stopped the train of thought and I knew better. She was not somewhere bathed in white light, she was probably still lying where I had last seen her. It would be days before anyone began to think something was afoot. The sound of the drip rang in my ears one more time and I screamed. I stood up and blindly stumbled towards the source of the noise, the source of my annoyance. I stood in the puddle which made the sound echo twice as loud. A drop of water fell from the ceiling and collided with my forehead. I closed my eyes and felt the sensation of the cold water on my skin. I tipped my head back and opened my mouth. The next drip missed my mouth and landed on my chin. I readjusted my head and caught a drop or two of the water. It was the only water I had in my time here and although it was a modicum amount and tasted horrid I relished every drop. I returned to my spot in the corner and once more dropped to the cold stone floor.

The coldness of the cell ate at my body. My toes and fingers were the first to go. I could no longer feel any of my extremities. I tried to move and bend my toes and they felt like they were about to snap, as if rigor mortis had taken hold of them. If I could see I am sure my breath would be protruding from my mouth. My back was numb leaning against the wall and a single draft kept nipping at me as if I was not cold enough. I began to question whether or not I would survive; I had survived the chamber but may succumb to pneumonia. The ground was so hard and cold that a moment didn’t pass when I was in some form of pain. I began to miss my sorry excuse for a bed in my other cell but right now it seemed like an emperor’s bed. I do not think I could have slept even if I had wanted to. The harshness of the stone would not allow me to relax enough to do so. I began to talk to myself, simple one liner to start with but eventually I would find myself having entire conversations with just myself to listen and respond. Some time later when I was in the middle of having a debate with myself, my voice got replaced by Holly’s voice and although they were my words her voice echoed through. I cried once more, shocked my body had enough moisture left in its system. The voice sounded as if it was on the other side of the door now and I got to my knees and stared straight ahead. The door opened and the room filled with light, the first light I had seen for days. The light burned my eyes forcing me to close them. I forced them to open and could see a figure standing in the hallway, could it be my wife? My Holly? Perhaps this cell had become my tomb and that my preconceived ideas of religion had been false, perhaps she had come for me. A second figure appeared and I could make out a uniform. It was the guards. My three days were up.

The two guards seized me once more and escorted me back to my cell. They made a slight detour on the way and stopped at the canteen. On the table was a tray of food and after not eating for three days I did not waste any time before devouring the entire tray. My stomach ached as I ate as if it had forgotten how to eat. The guards spared no time and hoisted me to my feet and continued towards my cell. When they closed the cell door Warlock was staring as if he had seen a ghost.

“
How the hell are you still walking about?” he asked.

“
If Shadow hadn’t tranq’d that vamp they would have killed you but once that happened I thought you were for the chamber for sure.”

“
The Warden said he needed me alive, I don’t know why. Then the bastard put me in solitary confinement for three days!”

“
I don’t know what to tell you, you’ve been away five days. Why the hell you hit the vamp anyway, it was suicide! There was talk in the mess hall after you were taken away. The Master is gunning for you now; he wants your head for what you did to a member of his pack and what the Master wants, the Master gets.”

“
Five days? No wonder it seemed so long, the Warden was playing with my own senses. And as for the Master I won’t be here long enough for that to happen.” I said as I looked down at what I held in my hand. The reason I had attacked the vamp. In my hand lay the vamps fang, it was about three quarters of an inch long with a sharp point at the end. I had dislodged it when I had hit him. I smiled, jumped up on to my bed and began picking the lock of my left cuff.

It took about forty five minutes to remove the inhibitor cuff. Once it was removed I rubbed my wrist, stretching my hand. The cuff had been on quite tight. Was now or never I thought as I attempted to shift. The familiar feeling of my bone fragments moving and changing into another's shape was invigorating. My adaptable pigments turned my skin a shade darker. Warlock stood up to see what the noise was about and was taken aback to see a dark skinned man lying in the bed. He appeared speechless but in typical fashion he soon began to speak again.
"How did you manage to shift…? This is you right 207?"
"It's me."
Just then I shifted back to my normal form. Warlock spied the inhibitor cuff lying on the bed beside me.
"You got it off!"
"Lower your voice." I warned him.
"Sorry, how did you manage that?"
"I picked it, with this."
I held up the deceased vampire's fang. Warlock reached out with his finger to touch it, pricking his finger on the sharp point causing a trickle of blood to form.
 
"Give it to me!"
"You can have it in one condition."
"Oh, and what's that?"
"Do you know any spells that will allow me to walk through walls, or more specifically those bars?" I said nodding towards the cell bars.
 
Warlock smiled. "For starters…"
"Okay then." I said with a smile of my own. I handed the fang to Warlock who went back to his bunk working on his own inhibitor cuff. I lay back in bed as the sound of Warlock picking at his inhibitor cuff filled the silence. I contemplated my next move. The only way off the island that I knew of, was the boat. At lights out I would take Shadow's form and take a trip to the dock, and then freedom. With that I closed my eyes to get some rest for what was to come.

Lights out came at about ten o'clock. I waited a further seventy minutes before making my move. I lowered myself out of bed and shifted into Shadow. Warlock moved slowly from his bed and stood up.
 
"You don't look as tall as Shadow." He said in a whisper.
"My bones can realign like lock and keys but I can't add bone fragments. I cannot alter my height therefore. As long as no one gets too close it should be enough to get me to the dock."
"What about me?"
"I'll go to the dock, do a bit of investigating and come back and get you."
"What about your clothes? You're still dressed like a con."
"I'll have to take out a guard on the way before I pass any check points or the outer perimeter."
"I have a better idea." said Warlock. He approached the cell doors, eyeing a guard doing his patrol rounds; he made a slight whistling noise. The guard looked around and moved towards us to investigate the sound. The guard walked straight up to our cell and peered in. I was done for. The guard had seen me in Shadow's form. What was Warlock thinking?! But something was different about the guard. His eyes looked like they were glazed over; they were milky white all over. He appeared to be in some kind of hypnotic trance.

"We need your clothes." Warlock commanded.

The guard obeyed and began to undress and handed his uniform to Warlock who in turn handed it to me.

"You have about two hours before the spell wears off. He won’t have any memory of this but you need to go now."

"Thanks Warlock."

The bars of the cell seemed to disappear, I grabbed the guard, placing him on my bed and covering him with the blanket. I then put on the guards uniform and headed through the gap. When I was on the other side, the bars reappeared. I took a deep breath and began to walk back the way I had been brought on arrival. It did not take me long to reach the main doors. I kept to a walking pace as not to seem out of place with the other guards. As I walked through the caged tunnel that led from the main door to the outer gate of the wall, one of the guards from the wall looked directly at me. A moment of fear crept over me, had I been spotted? What had I done wrong? Perhaps Shadow doesn't even patrol the outside and so my behaviour seems suspicious. The guard on the wall however simply gave me a nod of acknowledgement before continuing to walk around the raised platform. I steadied myself, controlled my breathing and continued towards the main gates. Once I was passed the gate I tried as best I could to recall the path we had taken from the boat. I was fairly confident I was on the right path. The light house jutted out from the ground in the distance to my left, its purpose still unknown to me. Once I was out of the prisons sightline I broke into a jog and found myself running through the thick shrubbery until eventually landing at the dock.

The dock was deserted. It was an old rotted wooden dock large enough to accommodate the one boat. The dock was about two metres wide and jutted out from the land into the dark sea like an unwanted appendage. There was no boat! To the left of the dock was a small wooden cabin which I proceeded towards. I approached the door, there were no lights on inside the cabin but I moved with caution towards it anyway. Beside the door was a single window which I peered through. The inside of the cabin was completely dark, I could make out a table and a chair and not a lot else. I reached for the door handle and entered. I felt about as my eyes adjusted to the darkness and found a candle on the desk beside which sat a box of matches. I struck up a match and lit the candle, lighting up the otherwise dark room. On the table was a clip board with names, prisoner numbers and dates. I picked it up and examined it closely. From what I could tell it was the boat's manifest. The next set of new inmates were due to arrive in two night’s time. The boat would not be there until then. I cursed. I had to stay on this dreaded island for another forty eight hours, another four disgusting meals. But then a bigger worry came over me, the Master. He was coming for me. I was marked for death by the vampire's greatest hunter. Two days of not knowing when the attack would come. I swallowed hard and tried to put it to the back of my mind and to try and think logically about the next step of the plan. My job in my previous life had allowed me to become a logical thinker and I knew there was nothing I could do to speed up the arrival of the boat. It would be suicide to swim. I had to think of a way to protect myself from the Master and survive until the boat arrived. With these thoughts I began to head back to the prison, to the cell. We would give the guard his clothes back and send him on his way where he would recall nothing of the last two hours that was out of the norm. I thought of my wife as I strode back up towards the prison. As I did I caught my reflection in a puddle of rain water. I saw the face of the man who had killed her, who had taken my love from me. I stomped my foot angrily into the puddle sending waves of ripples out from the centre of my boot. The man killed my wife and there I was wearing his face. The thought sickened me but I would get my revenge. Now I had two days to get my vengeance before escaping.
 

"Two days."

"Yeah…" I replied. "If I can survive two days; you said it yourself, the Master is coming for me."

"You'll think of something. Why don't you sneak out again and change their dosages, keep them weaker than normal."

"No, I wouldn't know the correct dosage, I could end up killing every vamp in this place and there would be increased security and an investigation. We can't risk that if we are to make it to the dock." 

"Hmm… never thought of that."

"Good night."

"Night."

Warlock was right about one thing, I did need to think of something and fast. The thought of the Master tearing me from limb to limb replayed in my head over and over again as I tried to fall asleep. Warlock was out like a light almost immediately when he lay back in his bed, his snoring adding to my insomnia. I knew it was going to be another long night.