Golden Hue (9 page)

“I believe that too,” I said. “Jesus Christ is the son of God. However, why do you lump all of us who aren’t human into one group? Isn't that judging us? Doesn't the Bible say something about that?”

“You’re lucky I haven’t killed you yet,” he said. “What you did to rescue the young mothers from the maternity home has kept you alive.”

The door opened again. A vampire walked in carrying a fighting, squirming little girl in his arms.

“Put her in the cage,” Demetrius instructed him.

I wanted to try and escape as soon as the door to the cage was opened, but I knew that I was far too weak. It was taking all my strength to stand; there was no way I could fight.

“Let me go,” the little girl screamed, as the vampire tossed her into the room and slammed the door shut.

The little girl landed on the hard cement and began to cry.

“What kind of sick monster are you?” I said. “Why are you putting a girl in this cage? What did she do?”

The vampire exited the room, but Demetrius remained.

“Although you’re weakened and your strength is diminished, your hunger for protein remains. The sigil does nothing to weaken your desire for flesh,” he said. “You think you’re so high and righteous, let’s see how long you can hold out before you attack the girl.”

I paused and considered his words. An intense feeling of fear made my stomach twist into a knot.

“She’ll be dead in a short time,” he said. “Then you’ll die too.”

Demetrius then walked out of the room.

I looked down at the little girl, and she looked up at me. She was still crying, and I could see a look of fear in her face.

“I’m sorry they threw you in here,” I said. “My name is Eli.”

The little girl scrambled to the corner of the room. She hid her face in the torn, tattered remains of her blue dress. Looking at her, I felt an intense sorrow; no child should be subjected to being put into a dungeon – especially with a vampire like me.

I sat down in the opposite corner of the cage and looked at the young girl. She looked no older than four. Her long, blonde hair was dirty, and I could see bruises on her body. I could also smell the blood coming from the severe scrape on her knee. It was a scent I tried to ignore.

“Please don't be scared of me,” I said. “I'm not going to hurt you. I promise that I won’t. What is your name?”

She simply looked up at me for a brief moment and then curled back up into a ball. I decided not to attempt to communicate with her anymore, at least for the time being. She was terrified, and I didn't want to inadvertently add to her trauma.

Suddenly, I wondered if by some chance I still had my phone. I reached into my pocket, and I pulled it out. However, it was broken and wouldn’t turn on. Reaching in my other pocket, I pulled out my wallet, but there was nothing of any use inside of it.

I sat in the corner of the dank, dark cage for hours. Every so often, I’d feel my power begin to grow slightly. However, Demetrius would enter the room, display the sigil, and the red light would drain me. I’d try to speak to him, but he’d remain silent.

Eventually, the candles burnt out, and the room was totally dark. The little girl in the opposite corner of the room would cry from time to time; her sad voice made me want to weep.

“Sarah and Cathy will come for me,” I told myself, trying to ignore the growing hunger inside of me. “They will be here in no time.”

However, as the hours passed, I began to wonder how long it would take for them to arrive – if they made it safely back to the mansion. My worry was that eventually my hunger would grow, and I’d lose control. To distract myself from that terrifying thought, I tried to think about my captors and how I would attack them when I escaped. I considered every object in the room, and imagined how I could use it as a weapon.

Eventually, the little girl called out to me.

“Are you a bad man,” she asked.

I didn't know what to say.

“I try to be a good man,” I said. “I’m not like the men that put you in here.”

“Are you going to hurt me?” she asked.

“No,” I said. “I’ll never hurt you.”

“I just want my momma,” she said, breaking down in tears. “Can you help me get to my momma?”

I felt a tear roll down my face.

“As soon as we get out of here, I promise that I’ll get you to your mother,” I said. “What is your mother's name?”

“Her name is Melissa Fletcher,” she said. “Her address is 332 Hampton Court, Orlando, Florida.”

I figured they taught her to recite her address and parent's name in school.

“My mother's name is Emily Smith,” I said. “I want to see her too.”

“Is your mom nice?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. “She’s very nice. I love her.”

“I wish she was here. I'm so hungry,” she said.

I lifted my head back in disgust. That sorry no good preacher was a monster for torturing and starving the little girl.

“As soon as we get out of here we will go get something to eat,” I said. “I just need you to be brave and strong until then. Can you do that?”

“I'll try,” she said. “But I don't feel good.”

The little girl started to cough.

“Just hang in there,” I said. “We will get out of here.”

“But the bad men out there won't let us go,” she said.

“I have friends who’ll come and get us out of here,” I said. “They’re stronger than the bad men.”

“They are?” she asked, before coughing again.

“Yes, they’re very strong,” I said.

I continued to talk to the girl, but eventually I could feel my stomach growling. Although I didn’t know how long I’d been in the cell, it seemed like at least twelve hours or longer. I decided to stop talking to the girl; I didn’t want the reminder that she was in the cage with me.

When Demetrius came into the room to weaken me once again, I began to speak to him.

“Please bring the girl some food and water,” I said. “If you’re any kind of preacher please don't allow this innocent girl to suffer. Don't you remember Jesus saying that it would be better to have a millstone hung around your neck and be tossed into the depths of the ocean than to harm a child?”

He paused and looked at me before leaving the room. A moment later, he returned with a glass of water and a candy bar for the child. He handed them to the girl through the bars of the cell. The girl quickly started to gulp down the water.

Demetrius left the room.

I could see the little girl was having problems opening the candy bar. She was so weak that tearing open the candy bar was too difficult of a task for her.

“Would you open this for me?” she asked. “We can share.”

I crawled over towards the girl. My stomach growled at the scent of both her and the candy bar.

“Focus,” I thought to myself. “Don't think about the scent.”

I opened the candy bar and gave it to her.

“Do you want some?” she said, breaking off a piece and attempting to hand it to me.

I was not about to take food out of the mouth of the beaten, abused girl.

“No, it's yours,” I said. “I'm fine. You enjoy it.”

She quickly consumed the entire candy bar.

I retreated back to my corner of the cell. As I curled up and faced the wall, I tried to fill my mind with thoughts of Cathy. In my mind, I imagined sitting with her in the back of Sarah's van. The thought of having my arms wrapped around her comforted me. I shut my eyes and went to sleep.

A sharp, painful sensation on my back awakened me, along with a loud cracking sound. I cried in agony as I turned around, and felt the end of the whip strike me across the face. Managing to open my eyes, I saw Demetrius standing beside a vampire holding the long, leather whip.

Again I was struck by the whip. The pain shot through my body, and I screamed as I was repeatedly beaten.

I tried to pull myself together and summon all the self-control that I could so as not to show how much pain I was in. When the next strike of the whip hit me, I felt the searing pain, but this time I didn't make a sound.

“Is that all you got?” I managed to say. “You’re so pathetic.”

He pulled out a knife.

“Don't kill him,” Demetrius ordered. “Just bleed him.”

The vampire reached down, took my arm, and slashed into my wrist. Blood began to pour out of the wound. Once again, I didn’t let them see that I was in pain, but the sharp sensation of my flesh being cut burned in my mind.

“More,” I said. “Here is my other wrist, you want to cut it too?”

The vampire growled at me and came at me with the knife.

“No,” Demetrius said. “That’s enough.”

The vampire and Demetrius left the room.

I quickly took off my over shirt and wrapped it around the wound, desperately trying to stop the bleeding. As the blood flow started to slow, I began to feel dizzy. A moment later, I collapsed onto the floor.

“Mister, are you okay?” I heard the little girl say as she crawled towards me. “I saw the bad man hurt you.”

“I'm alright,” I muttered, before I lost consciousness.

“Wake up, Mister. Wake up,” I heard the little girl say. “They’re coming back.”

I opened my eyes, and I had double vision. In the candle light, which my captors only sometimes provided, I saw two small girls in front of me.

It took me a minute to mentally process what she was telling me. As soon as I realized what she meant, I told her to go hide in the corner. She complied, and I pushed myself up to a sitting position.

As the door to the room opened, I felt an intense hunger for protein. My stomach was not just growling; it was roaring.

“So how do you feel?” Demetrius asked.

“How do you think I feel?” I asked, trying to maintain composure.

“You’re probably starving by now,” he said. “Here's a steak.”

He tossed a small, bloody piece of meat into the cell. My first instinct was to devour it. However, my intellect told me not to touch it.

“How do I know it's not poisoned?” I asked.

“You don't know,” he said.

I looked at the steak, and it took every ounce of my will power not to consume it. Then I realized something else.

“Put your fingers in your ears,” I called out to the little girl. “I don't want you to hear this.”

I saw the little girl cover her ears.

“You know it would just make me more hungry,” I whispered to Demetrius.

“Of course,” he said. “That’s part of my plan.”

“You sick monster,” I said. “I wonder what your congregation would think if they knew you were endangering this innocent little girl's life.”

“They know nothing about my order,” he said. “At least not most of them.”

“You’d lose your church,” I said. “You think vampires are evil, but you’re the most twisted creature I’ve ever met.”

“Don't worry,” he said. “You won't last much longer. Why don't you go ahead and eat the steak, eat the girl, and let me end your suffering.”

“No,” I said. “I'll never attack her. You may think I'll break, but I won't. I'm stronger than my hunger.”

“You’ll break,” he said. “All vampires eventually succumb to their hunger.”

I felt my stomach growl again, and I realized the girl's scent was stronger than ever.

“By the way, I'm not subjecting you to the red light this time,” he said. “It suppresses your sense of scent.”

“You better subject me to the light again,” I said. “I might get strong enough to escape.”

“No you won't,” he said. “You’re starved and that makes you weak.”

He walked out of the room.

I looked at the girl in the corner of the room. She was still holding her fingers in her ears.

My stomach churned and roared with hunger. As my desire for protein grew, the scent of the girl increased. She smelled every bit as good as a fresh grilled steak. He aroma was beyond enticing.

“This is your dark side,” I thought to myself. “Don't let it win. You’re better than this.”

I turned towards the wall and tried to think of Cathy. Although I was very weak, I tried to call fourth enough power to project my mind outside of the cell. I wanted to see Cathy; maybe I could communicate with her.

Closing my eyes, I focused and looked beyond the wall of the cell; all I could see was dirt. Looking upwards, I could see a street and tall buildings. I was in downtown Atlanta.

The little girl touched my arm, and my mind instantly returned to the cell.

“I'm hungry,” the little girl said. “Please tell the man to feed me again. He listens to you.”

Her scent was now overwhelming. A part of me wanted to turn around and sick my teeth into her neck. I now knew how Sarah must have felt the night she attacked me; it was a horrible feeling.

It took all my will power to resist attacking and consuming the young girl. However, I couldn’t take her continual poking and prodding. Although I knew she was hungry and suffering, I had to get her away from me.