Vampire "Unseen" (Vampire "Untitled" Trilogy Book 2) (15 page)

“And you’ve seen this?”

“Cornel... what do you think we do at the hospital?”

Latis fell silent. The hospital? He had been so full of his own thoughts of rejection and worries when they met he hadn’t appreciated what the mysterious institute was or did.

“I think I need to know more about this if I’m... Are you allowed to tell me, or is this like a... like a need to know... classified...”

“You work for me, Cornel. You’re a member of staff. We do have a confidentiality agreement that we make staff sign, but... yes, you’re right. I didn’t appreciate that you were in the dark on this. I’ll email some of the primer materials we give to new nurses when they start with us. That should help you.”

“Lucian... is this why you want to know about McGovern’s background?”

“It’s exactly the reason. We need to try and piece together what his psychology was like before he started changing. We need to have a before-and-after appreciation of him.”

“And McGovern is like the others you’ve seen?”

“Not exactly. McGovern raped his girlfriend and killed two men, that bit we understand. It’s what he did next that breaks the model. Him buying a plane ticket and changing countries is very rare. Most men who change like this can’t even string a coherent sentence together let alone make a plan to vanish internationally. He’s unique.”

----- X -----

As he placed the key in the padlock he noticed his hand trembling slightly. Paul withdrew for a second and made a mental plan on what he would do. There would be no sex. Nisha accused him of rape and this was to be her punishment for that, but he couldn’t give her the moral high ground by becoming the image she had painted of him.

He took off his coat and left it on the kitchen counter beside Nisha’s clothes. He took hold of the knife handles, expecting to leave them here as a safety precaution. He couldn’t lose his temper with her, he had to remain in control. He realised that leaving the knives only a few seconds walk from the basement wouldn’t make a difference, he shouldn’t have brought them here. He decided to continue wearing them.

He unlocked the first padlock and walked down the stairs. He unlocked the second padlock and pushed the door slightly, watching for the discrete magnet to pull away from the reed switch. It fell and dropped on its thread.

Paul waited...

He could sense her inside. He could almost see her through the door as though he could taste the electricity of her nervous system, her nerves and muscular tension appearing as imagined faint yellow lines of energy before his eyes. Nisha was alive in there and she was terrified.

Beep-beep, beep-beep... the mobile phone, the text message. The detection system worked.

Inside the room he felt Nisha bracing herself, her muscles contracting as she waited for the door to open.

Helpless girl.

He opened the door and discovered her in the exact position he had imagined, curled up in the furthest corner, sitting on the mattress, wrapped in the blanket and staring ahead with terrified eyes.

Paul stepped into the cellar saying nothing. The peach night-light cast everything in dark shadows with dim orange highlights. He closed the door behind him.

“Hello, Nisha,” he said. His voice growled low, gravelled and demonic. Her eyes widened but she didn’t say anything until he took hold of the chain that went through the ceiling eyebolt and started taking the slack. It made a satisfying clinking noise as the links around her waist and neck pulled. The slack was gathered from the chain around her neck, it pulled her out of the corner making her scream.

She fought against it, holding low on her haunches, pulling back, shouting and gasping words. “Please don’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt me.” Then the words became an unintelligible wail as the chain hoisted her from her haunches onto her feet. The sound she made was shocking and distressing, like a mewling cat, laced with desperation and horror. She gripped the blanket to her chest, trying to cover her breasts and body.

Paul locked the chain once the noose had pulled her to standing. Her soles were flat on the floor but she had no slack to walk or even step outside a twelve inch sweet spot below the ceiling eye-bolt. Paul didn’t make eye contact. He grabbed the blanket and yanked it away from her. She yelped as the fabric flew to the side and clasped one hand over her pubis and her forearm across her breasts to cover her nudity. As far as the chain allowed she pushed her bottom out to withdraw. “Please... please don’t hurt me.” Her voice gasped and her body trembled in huge spasms. “Please, let me go... I won’t tell anyone... I... I... please.” The last ‘please’ became a wail that dragged out as tears streamed from her eyes. Her crying went silent in tone but voluminous in her actions. Then came the noise. “PLEASEEEEEEEEE!”

“You brought this on yourself, Nisha.”

With his words, her body went rigid and she stared at him, looking at his face scrutinising.

“I didn’t do anything,” she mumbled. “Please. I didn’t do anything... I didn’t...”

“DON’T YOU FUCKING SAY THAT!” The sound came as a blast of energy that ended in a frozen image. Nisha was pulling backwards against the chain. Paul had his arm outstretched pointing at her. “Don’t you ever say that... You know what you did to me.”

“I’ve never seen you before,” she cried.

Paul stepped back for a moment and turned his back. Control... Keep control... He bit his lip for a second. It was the beard. He’d changed, his body was bulky, his voice was low and gravelly, his hair was unkempt. He turned back to her feeling an urge to gut her here and now, to fillet her slowly, cutting the bones from her body as she begged for mercy.

“You know me...” Paul whispered. “I am Paul McGovern.”

“Who?”

FUCK YOU BITCH!

Without knowing from where the vampire was in control of his body. He punched so hard into her ribs he felt them crack and almost saw the pain impulse rushing along her nerves. The second blow to her flank hit as hard as the first and knocked her feet from under her. Another punch, another body blow. Another. Another... How. Fucking. Dare. You. Bitch!

Take control... Regain control...

He stepped back as Nisha spun from the chain around her neck. Her knees were bent and her feet couldn’t find the floor. The chain pinched into the skin around her neck, her face turned blue as she gagged. She made little sound other than painful gasps.

“You fucking cunt!” Paul said again as his foot slammed into her stomach, again knocking her off her feet. The hanging was what hurt her, he could see it. He rushed in and grabbed her ankles, pulling her towards him, jerking her legs to make the chain around her neck bite into the skin.

You fucking whore bitch, you fucking... control... control...

He dropped her ankles and walked through the small corridor to the toilet at the far end. He stared into the bowl. It was almost entirely black here, the night-light not reaching far enough to illuminate this very dark corner.

From behind he heard Nisha cry out as she found her feet. Then she began really screaming. “HEEEEEELP... HEEEEEEEEEELP. PLEASE HELP ME!” Her voice was shrill and scratchy.

Paul returned when he regained some of his prior calm. Nisha went quiet. Control. Make this an exercise in control.

“I’m sorry, please... I’m so sorry.”

“Do you know who I am?”

Nisha shook her head a tiny way. She had her hands held up, palms out. She looked wonderful like this. Naked, her dusky skin so inviting. Fine breasts, dark nipples, soft hair. Every bit the Bollywood princess he remembered, but now with the helplessness and begging terror he had fantasised. She was going nowhere. Make her an experiment. Control. Control the vampire.

“My name is Paul McGovern... do you remember me?”

“I remember someone called Paul McGovern.” It was a whisper. Then she shook her head as though confused.

“I have changed, Nisha,” he growled. Paul reached up and held the handles of the knives fixed to his chest. Control... keep control... He put his hands back down. “Tell me, what do you remember of Paul McGovern?”

“He is nice... sweet... a nice man.”

“NO! NO, THAT’S NOT WHAT YOU REMEMBER!”

Nisha cried out in fear of attack, she backed away pulling the chain tight, her hands were up in defence again. “Please I’m sorry... I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say.”

“SAY THE TRUTH!”

“It is the truth, I remember Paul McGovern, he is a nice man.”

“I am Paul McGovern.”

“No!” Nisha exclaimed. “You’re nothing like he is!”

Control...

Paul took a step backwards and considered his next words carefully. He was pleased he managed that. The beast wanted to attack, yet somehow he fought it back and managed not to let it get the better of him.

“I wanted to love you, Nisha. Did you know that?”

Nisha shook her head as far as the chain allowed.

“For months I watched you and I was too afraid to speak to you. Then I met you at Donovan’s Halloween Party. Do you remember that? You were dressed up as one of the twins from The Shining.”

“Yes, I remember that...”

“Go on,” Paul demanded.

“I... I was one twin. My friend Susan was the other. It was her idea... She... she found the dresses. We splashed them with nail polish to make the blood.”

“You met up with me at that party.”

Nisha’s eyes focussed on his and she stared, scrutinising him. “Paul... is it... are you really Paul?”

“You took me to a room upstairs to have sex.”

“I was drunk...”

“Then you accused me of rape. YOU FUCKING ACCUSED ME! YOU THREATENED ME... YOU CALLED ME A RAPIST SCUM!”

“Oh God, I’m sorry... Paul... I... I didn’t mean...”

Control...

Fuck control...

Paul withdrew the two knives. Nisha screamed as she saw the blades coming out. Tears streamed from her face, her palms out forward for defence. Paul swung one and it caught across her fingers. Blood poured. She grabbed her hand to a fist and pushed the other hand forward for defence, tiptoeing away, getting as far back as the noose of chain allowed. Paul swiped upwards and caught across her palm.

She cried.

Control...

Both her hands were held as fists against her chest. Blood dripped through her fingers. Her face turned up to the ceiling and her eyes closed, unable to look anymore, unable to reason.

Control...

Paul waited for a minute as she struggled against the panic. He kept hold of the knives but he didn’t move. She was so gorgeous, so desirable. Blood ran down in streaks under the chain around her waist, over her stomach and between her legs. She shook fiercely and uncontrollably, eyes tightly closed, face to the ceiling. She was waiting for the attack to come. It wasn’t. He had control. A minute or so later she began mumbling prayers. He wouldn’t attack, he had control.

Eventually she calmed enough to look towards him. She didn’t make eye contact, her gaze skirting around his face. He realised she was also avoiding the knives. Paul holstered one back in the yoke and stepped towards her.

“Nisha... I can hurt you with this...” He stretched out his arm and touched the tip of the blade against her nose. Nisha backed away, shaking, her eyes skirting the room so as not to look. He lowered the knife blade to her lips. “I can cut you into little pieces over a very long time... unless you do as I say.”

“I’ll do it. I’ll do anything... please... don’t... don’t hurt me.”

Control.

Paul stepped back. “Look at me. Do it, Nisha. Look at me... or I will hurt you.”

Her body barely had any control. He could see she was trying to comply but was too exhausted with nervous energy to function properly and he suspected that she may even faint into unconsciousness if she had no chance to recover.

“Look at me, Nisha... I won’t harm you, so long as you do what I say. Take a breath and look at me.”

She obeyed. Her head lifted, then cautiously her neck tightened to tilt her gaze straight ahead. When they made eye contact she groaned in reverse, the air sucking in through her nostrils. it was like she was screaming backwards, through her nose. Her body went rigid.

“Show me your palms.”

Nisha looked down at her clenched fists.

“I SAID LOOK AT ME!”

Her head jolted back up.

“...and show me your palms, Nisha.”

Her arms unfolded away from her chest with robotic spasms, her gaze locked onto his chin or his forehead, always staring ahead but desperate to avoid eye contact. She kept her hands in fists.

“Open your hands... Open them.... Open them Nisha, or I’ll open them with this knife.”

As her fingers unclasped her breathing became rapid. Huge strong breaths through her nose, her mouth clasped tightly closed. Her hands stretched forward, cupped together like a beggar, blood dripping from the wounds into pools on the floor.

“Move your hands wider apart. Out to your sides”

She complied instantly, moving her hands out like she was about to give a hug. A crying sound came from her nose. Her breaths became pants and for the first time she became sexual. Paul felt himself stiffening. He could fuck her, he could do anything to her...

Control...

No sex. Never allow her to have the moral high ground.

Her body was streaked in blood. It ran across her hips, along the lines of her groin, in streaks down her legs. It poured from her hands and it reminded him of what he’d been told about vampires in Romania. The cure was to drink blood from a child, the wounds of Christ from cuts to the feet and hands, from the spear wound to the flank. It made her desirable. A beautiful naked girl, bleeding, blood soaked, standing in a Christ-like pose with open arms ready to embrace him.

Control...

“Put your palms on your tits.”

She paused for a second then did it quickly to make up for the lost time.

“Now rub it in... Massage blood into your body...”

Her trembling grew into jerking spasms and wild shaking. She tipped her head to the ceiling again. Her crying would have been loud but she kept her mouth clamped shut to minimize the noise. Her moans and sobs came through her nose... but she did it. Chained to the ceiling, naked, with blood pouring from her palms she massaged the blood onto her breasts.