Chapter 5
The first customer of the night was a heavy man, obese almost. He had to stop to catch his breath in the middle of whipping me, his face bright-red from over-exertion. Poor bastard!
I made sure to feed myself well before tonight. Another “cleaning lady” was our meal. This time, I was fast. I turned off my humanity to make sure I delivered the first bite into her neck. Gosh, it was delicious. For the first time in my life, I was the one inflicting pain, instead of receiving it. And I think I liked it!
I thought back to last night, when Jennifer was giving me a “pep talk” before our escape this evening.
“Now, when we go out there, I’m not going to be able to heal so fast like you, so I’ll rely on you completely.” Jenn said, “But don’t worry. I can provide backup if needed. After 15 years in this industry, I’ve learned a trick or two when it comes to enduring pain.”
Jennifer took my hand to the other corner of the big “dorm room”, and introduced me to her friends.
“Rain, meet Rachel and Summer.”
Two girls in their late teens looked up at me. It was clear that they just “worked” last night, as the cut marks were still visible on their arms, legs, and faces.
“Hi Rain!” They both said weakly.
“Rachel here has a very special extra.” Jenn said.
“Pff I wouldn’t call it special. It basically makes other people’s extras stronger, but it’s completely useless for myself.” Rachel snickered.
I opened my eyes in amazement: “You…you can do that? I never thought such a thing was possible.”
“Well, you never thought vampires were possible. Yet, here we are.” Jennifer gave me a sly look.
“So how does it work?” I asked Rachel.
“I have to concentrate on the person really hard, absorbing their strengths and weaknesses, figuring out why they are the way they are. And once I’m locked onto their uniqueness, I just… find a way to enhance it. It’s more an art than a science, trust me.”
Jennifer gave Rachel a more serious look now, and whispered: “So, Rache, I know you just ‘worked’ yesterday and all, but do you think you could do me a favor? Rain needs her extra enhanced for tomorrow…”
I could tell Jennifer was hesitating to reveal our plan to Rachel. But seeing how they must have known each other for years, she finally told her the truth, with Summer listening in.
After what seems like an eternity of pondering, Rachel finally said: “Fine. I owe you one for subbing for me last time. Might as well pay you back now, principle and interest.”
With that said, Rachel took ahold of my hand, and I could feel a gentle tug. It wasn’t a physical touch, per se, but more… mental. First, at my external emotions, then deeper, until it reaches my core… All my sufferings, my pain, my memories suddenly came alive, twirling around in response to her touch. Rachel closed her eyes the entire time, but I couldn’t. The awakening of my being was too hard for me to bear. I found myself short of breath, struggling to grab at something to stand up straight. But I could feel something else, something besides the awakening of my emotions. As Rachel’s energy surged through me, I felt my mental space being “cleared up”, freed of all prejudices, stereotypes, and self-doubt, making room for … well, my true self. As my true self came into the center, being enhanced and elevated to my focus, I could feel my ability becoming stronger than ever. With just a thought, I was able to heal completely all the cuts on my body, even some of the injuries from before my cross-over! It was an amazing feeling, to say the least. Normally, with this kind of healing, I would find myself balling my eyes out. But this time, I could simply… tug the emotions deep down, and retain my focus.
“Wow, that was…something!” I told Rachel.
Rachel has now collapsed onto the floor, holding onto her chest and crying in pain. I suddenly felt bad, seeing how she had to suffer to “enhance me”. Seeing the look of concern on my face, Jennifer said: “Don’t worry. She usually loses a lot of energy after a ‘boost’, you know? She should be fine after one sleep cycle.”
“Yeah, I never cease to be amazed every time she does her trick. It works differently for different people. Some dangerous vampires could become exponentially dangerous, even unstoppable, if they used her extra to enhance themselves.” Summer spoke up. It was the first time I heard her speak. Her voice reminded me of an afternoon meadow, filled with sunshine and childhood memories. Her sandy blond hair and sky-blue eyes only added to the already beautiful picture.
“When she enhanced me the last time, I could sense everybody’s extra in this facility. Even the ones on the other sides of the walls! That’s how I was able to detect the guards’ extras so easily.” Jennifer piled on.
My attention was violently snatched back to reality, as the whip from the obese customer hit me hard in my rib. I cringed in pain. It seemed the bastard has finished catching his breath and now gotten back to taking away mine.
But tonight, my enhanced extra allowed me to take his beating and heal myself almost instantly. I maintained the smirk on my face the whole time, taunting him, making fun of his attempt, telling him how incapable he was. He could sense my mockery, and worked even harder to hurt me. The exertion proved too much for him, as he collapsed onto the floor after half an hour of constant whipping. His hands grabbed onto his chest and his eyes blood-red. No humans could keep up with a vampire, hands tied or not.
“Help! Help!” I yelled out to the guard.
The vampire with the laser eyes came in to see what happened. Upon catching a glimpse of the customer in pain, he immediately unlocked my cell, rushed to his side to perform CPR. They have all been trained on this stuff. Part of the job description, I suppose.
“Please. I can heal him. I can use my extra to heal him before it’s too late.” I pleaded with him.
The guard was extremely hesitant to untie me, unsure of whether I was lying. But the urgency of the situation forced his hands. It was one thing to lose a whore, but an entirely different felony to have a customer die on your watch! So he untied me, assuming I would be too weak to do anything.
That was… the last mistake of his pathetic vampire’s life!
I plunged forward, silent but deadly, pulled out two pocket knives from my jeans, and planted them so deep in his eye sockets that the blades poked out from behind his head! He screamed out in pain. His arms were now shaking uncontrollably from the loss of blood and his nerves being severed. I grabbed the knives, yanked them out of his head, and with one hard punch, I stabbed him squarely in his chest, making sure to twist the knives around his heart to open a big blood-gushing wound and end his life in darkness. He fell onto the floor like a freaking corpse. Actually, he was one!
Not wasting a single second of my escape window, I cut the human customer’s throat before he could even cry for help, and ran out the door. With one knife in each hand, I raced through the first corridor, breaking all the locks on each cell where the whores were serving their customers, Jenn’s cell included. As if the promise of freedom had enlarged their courage, all the whores broke free of their chains at once, and screamed out a battle cry! It was deafeningly orgasmic to hear! Their vampire and human customers were no match for the rage, being instantly decapitated in the midst of their erotic highs.
Tons of tons of girls rushed out to follow me. I could see Jennifer and Rachel behind me. Rachel used whatever strength she had left to boost my extra even more, allowing me to not only heal myself but to turn my skin into an absorbent sponge, practically predicting and curing any future damage, creating a biological body armor! She fell onto Summer and Jennifer, who have now gathered around her to carry her out with them.
That’s when I felt an evil presence. The second guard stepped out from his corridor, and stopped us dead in our track! His eyes flared up, and before I could see anything, the oxygen around us caught on fire! Half the girls behind me screamed out in pain and fell to the floor, as their body was burned beyond recognition! I was the only one healing quickly enough to avoid being burned. I could feel my skin regenerating even faster than it was being burned, creating a second layer of skin where the first layer peeled off. The second guard did not expect someone to survive his outburst of flames and was relaxing his defense, to his demise! I surged toward him, and with one swift motion, I cut his body in three pieces with my two knives! His mid-section slid down onto the bloody floor from the lack of support, as his thighs and bottom fell forward from the cut. And his head? Smashed into the wall with my bare hands! Let’s see how he managed to sleep it off! Can vampires even regrow their heads?
Jennifer and Summer have now caught up to me, with Rachel still in the middle, holding onto them for dear life. That’s when I felt something. My two knives… they literally turned into dust before my very eyes.
I looked up to see the third guard, with his fangs dropped down hard and his eyes a purple crimson. Obviously having seen the death of his two colleagues, he wasn’t going to make the same mistake of underestimating me.
The four of us stopped in fear. We all knew what this guy was capable of. With just one thought, he could disintegrate us right here on the spot. I just knew… if we were to get out of here in one piece, or at least alive, I would need to do something drastic, and fast! My survival instinct had taken over at this point, as my heart was pumping in full gear, preparing itself for the epic healing of its life! I looked over to Jennifer and Rachel, as if to say goodbye… and with a giant jump…
I dived forward directly in the guard’s face!
Not expecting this kind of suicidal behavior, the guy was taken aback, but didn’t take long to regain his composure. He raised his hands, and I felt a razor-sharp pain in my loins, as my two legs fell off from my body! He was dissolving the very tendons holding my limbs together!
I didn’t have time to allow my brain to register the pain, as I used my remaining arms, probably not attached to my body for much longer, to grab him by the neck, and with the other hand, I unlocked the cap of the slag hunter’s pen…
I cut his body vertically in half!
His body split open like a watermelon, as my left hand was cut clean in the process!
But unlike me, he didn’t have the ability to regenerate! I took a deep breath, and used every cell of my being to regrow my limbs… God, please, please, let this work.
I felt my bones being stretched out, as my legs struggled to grow themselves at twenty times the regular bio-speed. My left hand has almost finished re-growing, and all my bruises and cuts have now disappeared. I was now limping on one foot. It was a sickening feeling, seeing your arm and legs grow back like a freaking lizard! I swear I will never get used to this! Nor will I have to. Because without Rachel’s help, no way I could heal myself this fast, let alone regenerate!
We ran, and ran, and ran, not stopping for a second to catch our breath. Jennifer, Rachel, and Summer were right behind me. And we saw something. The fourth and final guard. He was standing by the main front gate. The last barrier between us and ultimate freedom, our hard-craved release from slavery
He just stood there, not flinching an inch.
What is he going to do to us? If this is the guy they charged with guarding the last door, what possible extra could he have that even Jenn was not able to detect?!