Crossing Paths
Sweating Bullets

“Vampire?”

The voice sounded somewhat familiar, but very fuzzy and distant.

I tried to open my eyes and found that I could not. I tried to scream for help, but that was also impossible. I had no control of my body.

“I sense you can hear me, vampire,” the voice said, "Don’t be frightened. The effects will wear off soon. It was merely a mild sleeping powder."

The words confused me. Sleeping powder? Was I drugged? I hadn’t eaten or drunk anything.

“You are in my laboratory in the Fae realm. I brought you here to help me with my current experiments,” he went on.

He. Yes, it was a man’s voice. Where had I heard this voice?

“It is imperative that my kind become more than we have been. We have no choice. We are hunted and enslaved,” he continued.

Almin. The silver eyed man from The Outpost.

I felt my eyes flutter and struggled to get them to do more. Then, my finger twitched.

“Ah, yes. You’re coming around. Lovely,” he said.

As I continued to work on moving my body, I considered what I had just been told: I was in the Fae realm. So, Almin was a fairy.

I groaned softly as a pain shot through my head, but it also gave me the will to raise my hand.

“Oh, we can’t have that now, can we?” Almin said.

I felt him come to my side and restrain my wrists.

I had been through some pretty bad situations in my life, but not while I was tied down. I started to panic, breathing quick and shallow as I fought against the drugs effect.

Almin chuckled.

Then, my eyes opened, and I blinked furiously to clear my vision.

There was a bright light above me that made it hard to keep my eyes open. I could barely turn my head, so most of what I saw was only ceiling.

I needed to speak. I needed to scream. So far, I could only grunt and moan.

I heard a door open somewhere and turned my head. Good. I was moving more and more.

In the doorway of the room was a slender woman with long green hair and blue tinted skin. She looked at me and put her hand to her chest as if she were startled.

“Almin, darling? You brought another one here? I thought the Council forbade this?” she said, disapprovingly.

Then I saw Almin.

He walked to the doorway, pushed the woman out and said, “How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of my lab!”

Then he slammed the door in her face.

I wiggled some more. I had almost full control of my body now. My mind still felt fuzzy but was also racing frantically with fear and anger.

“What the hell is this?” I finally growled.

Almin came to my side and smiled down at me, “Vampire! You’re awake! I’m so glad to know I didn’t use too much this time.”

This time? He’s done this before? Taken vampires hostage and brought them to this place?

“Where the hell am I? And who the hell do you think you are?” I spat at him, cruelly, trying to intimidate him.

He chuckled and placed a cool hand on my face, “I’m the savior of my people and you are going to ensure my success.”

He turned away and moved out of my sight.

I wasn’t comfortable not being able to see him. He had already drugged me somehow. What if he did it again?

“What do you want?” I said, trying to lure him back.

“I told you. I am saving my people. They may not know they need it. They may not appreciate it for generations, but it is my duty,” he said, then I saw him again as he moved to a desk and pulled out a notebook, “It’s all in here. I can make a new kind of Fae. Stronger and fiercer. Faster and less fragile. I will use your blood to create a new Fae.”

He was looking at the pages of the notebook lovingly and I wondered what was written there.

“You do know vampires can’t breed,” I said, because I had no idea what else to do other than keep him talking until I learned something of use.

“Of course not. And no self-respecting Fae would mate with a filthy bloodsucking vampire. However, if I fuse your DNA to that of the unborn Fae child, it may gain the benefits of your strength and speed and longevity.” he said.

I stared at him. Was he serious? I wasn’t a great student when I did go to school, but I was pretty sure that was not how DNA worked.

“Now that you’re awake, we can begin the harvesting of your cells,” he said matter-of-factly as he turned back to the desk and replaced the notebook, “I’ll be right back.”

I watched him leave the room through the same door he had slammed on the blue woman, and once I knew I was alone, I thrashed wildly, trying to break my restraints with my vampire strength.

Suddenly, the metal in the restraining straps glowed brightly and my skin began to burn. I screamed and stopped moving as I watched my flesh sizzle. When I was still, the glow faded, and my skin healed itself. I thrashed again, but the same glow emanated from the straps and my skin burned painfully again. I screamed wildly.

The door opened again and another strangely beautiful man entered. He was tall and slender, like Almin, but his hair was black and glossy. It reminded me of a crow’s wings. His eyes were silver, but instead of molten, they seemed to be sparkling.

He took one look at me and turned bright red.

I suddenly realized I was laying on this table or whatever it was stark naked. This wasn’t a problem for me, seeing as I was a stripper, but it definitely seemed to bother this guy.

He looked around and then back at me, looking only at my face, “Are you injured?”

I shook my head, not sure if this man was a friend or a foe.

“How did you come to be here? Did you come of your own free will?” the man asked me.

I shook my head again, still not sure if I could trust this new strange man.

He looked at me oddly, then asked, “Can you speak?”

I nodded but remained tight-lipped.

He stared at me for a second then nodding, seeming to understand my misgivings.

I heard footsteps outside the door, coming closer. It sounded like more than one set of boots.

“I am Prince Oskar,” the man said, “You’re safe now. My brother will not harm you further.”

Oskar called out, "Gaurds!" like royalty did in the movies and the boot stomps got faster and louder until three men entered the room and they were definitely guards. Leather armor, swords, and one even wore a helmet.

I wondered for a moment if I was still under the influence of some drug Almin had given me and this was some wild dream my mind had conjured to keep me distracted.

“Your Highness?” the helmeted man said, bowing respectfully to Oskar.

“Gerritt, Prince Almin will need to be seized…. again,” Oskar said, sounding tired.

Gerritt, the guard in the helmet, and the other two guards all looked my way. Gerritt blushed brightly and looked away, but the other two stared at me. It was as if they’d never seen a naked vampire strapped to a table before.

I recognized the humor in that and laughed suddenly.

All four Fae men jumped visibly and took a few steps toward the door.

This just made me laugh even more. These tall, strong looking, sword wielding men were fearful of little old me strapped to a freaky, skin burning table.

“Please replace Matron Flora and bring her here,” Prince Oskar said to one of the other guards.

The young Fae had just headed out the door, when Almin returned.

Upon seeing the gathering of guards and Prince Oskar, Almin's face turned a deep shade of red and he blew up.

“GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!” Almin screamed at the top of his lungs as he stomped his foot.

I laughed louder and tears started to run down my face. I was scared, yes. I was terrified, but this big, beautiful man stomping his foot and screaming like a child set me off and now I was giggling wildly.

“What have you done to her?” Prince Oskar demanded.

Almin was staring at me with one eyebrow raised.

“I gave her sleeping powder. To relax her for our journey. She has offered to assist me in my experiment,” Almin said, defensively.

I suddenly found my voice.

“The hell I did!! This asshole drugged me and kidnapped me from The Outpost,” I said, very loudly.

Prince Oskar sighed, again seeming as if he was very tired.

"By the gods, Almin! You took her from The Outpost?" he said, rubbing his face.

“Are you seriously going to believe the word of a bloodsucker over that of your own blood…. Brother?” Almin asked his brother, a look of mocking disbelief on his face, then his face changed, and he leered angrily at Prince Oskar as he growled, “You are a disgrace to our family.”

The situation kept getting worse. Now I was in the middle of a freaking Fae royal family brawl.

“A disgrace? Is that how you truly feel, brother? I have disgraced my family with my sense of honor and duty? Disgraced them by trying over and over to stop you from creating a sick, perverted mutation of our race?” Prince Oskar was in Almin’s face and spittle was flying from his clenched teeth as he spoke.

I was terrified. What the hell was the deal with these Fae? I thought they were flower growers and animal whisperers and stuff like that. These were silver-eyed, mad scientists and medieval warrior guardsmen and who knew what else, and-

“Be still.” a voice whispered next to me.

I didn’t move, but my eyes rolled around trying to replace the source of the whisper.

Gerritt the guard had apparently slipped closer to my table while the fairy bros were flexing their flowery fists, or whatever they were doing.

“Can you move on your own? If needed? To escape?” he whispered, again.

I shook my head slightly, indicating that I could not move.

He cursed, I think, but in some language I didn’t know. Cursing sounds about the same in any language.

I moved my wrist slightly and the light burned into my skin again. I whimpered softly, but held in my screams, just trying to make Gerritt understand my dilemma.

The bit of smoke that rose into the air caught his eye and then he saw the light at my wrist. His eyes widened and he nodded.

The arguing between the brothers had continued and now the one guard who was left near the door had moved between the two and was looking very uncomfortable.

“Take Prince Almin to his rooms, Finn,” Gerritt commanded.

The brothers both looked at Gerritt, seeming to have forgotten they had an audience.

Almin stepped away from Finn and Prince Oskar saying, “You’ve no authority, guard.”

“But I do, as the Commander of the Royal Guard,” Prince Oskar said, “Finn, please escort Prince Almin to his rooms and make sure he remains there.”

Almin, was not about to leave quietly or in any kind of dignified way. He tried to run, knocking down a shelf full of some glowing stones, then he fought like a rabid wolf against Finn and the guards that were called in to help him.

I was definitely scared now. If this testosterone filled Fae fight happened to bump my table, I would move, and these light up fire straps would burn me painfully.

Almin seemed to replace some value in that idea, because he suddenly threw himself on top of me, causing the table to crash to the floor with me screaming in pain as the straps burned brightly and seared my flesh.

I heard commotion, but I could see nothing but black.

I tried to yell for help, but I couldn’t open my mouth.

The straps burned painfully at my wrists and ankles, but I couldn’t move an inch.

I felt consciousness slipping from me as the pain and shock and fear overwhelmed me. The last thing I heard was Almin’s laughter as I slipped into darkness.