Dark Waters

I came to with a headache splitting my skull and a faint coppery taste in my mouth. I was still cold and a light breeze bit along my skin like someone was jabbing needles into my arms and legs. I tried to get my bearings but the world tilted dangerously when I opened my eyes. Closing them for the moment, I tried to focus on the rest of my body. I wasn’t in too much pain really. My stomach cramped and my limbs felt heavy but the rest seemed strangely numb.



When my stomach stopped turning I opened my eyes again and found that the world didn’t sway too badly. Much to my disappointment I found that I was still in my dirty little cell, laying on the frozen metal slab and feeling worse than when I had last found awoke to find myself trapped.



When the world stopped trembling around the edges I decided to risk sitting up and found that my limbs still worked, though they were stiff from the cold. My cheek burned and I had to curse my luck. I probably had frostbite or something worse by now. Would they care if I came down with something? Would they try to get me medical attention if I started losing limbs to frostbite? Somehow I just didn’t think they would.



I drew in a shallow breath and found the air was crisp and still smelled vaguely of mildew and urine. From my last experience I knew the smell would be stronger if I stood and I didn’t think my cramping stomach could survive another attempt. The memory seemed to trigger another and I nearly fell off my metal slab as I hurried to turn and face the other cell. The bars separated the two cells once again, but I knew they opened now and I didn’t feel nearly as safe as I had before.



The figure I had failed to notice before lay curled up once more on his thin little mattress in the corner. He was too tall to lay on it without bending nearly double. As it was he had his long form tucked into a fetal position as if to keep warm while he slept. I wished I had a mattress to lay on, anything other than this metal slab.



Once I realized that he wasn’t going to be coming into my cell anytime soon…or at least I hoped, I relaxed a bit and found my heart rate was slowing down. Just what had happened after I passed out? I was embarrassed that I had fainted, but I had an excuse…or at least one that would pacify my befuddled mind at the moment.



Taking a deep breath that burned my throat and hurt my lungs, I climbed gingerly from my metal slab and found the floor to be no less damp than it had been earlier. Cringing visibly, I put my weight on my feet and found that they could hold me still but the moment I tried to take a step I realized that there was a horrible burning pain on my inner thigh. I sat down hurriedly and parted my legs to try and see the source of my pain only to find four clean puncture wounds with dark purple bruising around each of them. The two middle holes were set about an inch apart while the other two were to either side of the first two but slightly lower. I had a moment to catch my breath before I fainted again and had to fight the dizziness that threatened to knock me flat on my…well my back this time since I wasn’t standing.



These were bite marks. Fucking bite marks from god knows what! My mind snapped back to those dark glittering eyes and the feverish hunger that had been reflected there and my hand convulsed on the cooled skin of my uninjured thigh. Nervously I glanced into the cell next to my own and felt my heart nearly stop. Those same glittering black eyes were watching me from beneath a fall of long, dark hair. The dark circles under his eyes made him somehow more threatening even though he lay curled into a ball on a mattress too thin to be a real barrier between his lean form and the stone floor.



Swallowing past the sudden lump of fear in my throat I try to turn away but those dark eyes held me captive, draining me of all energy with a simple glance. I knew then, without having to ask, where those bite marks had come from. I was dinner after all. I felt violated all of a sudden and angry. I didn’t care who this guy was! He had taken my blood like some freakish vampire while I lay passed out on the floor.



The anger melts through the fear temporarily and I feel my cheeks heat a little with righteous indignation. “I hope I tasted foul you blood sucking freak.” The words roll off my tongue before I can stop them but he doesn’t seem to react at all. I probably shouldn’t be taunting the man who would probably drain me the next time he had a chance, but I was embarrassed, tired, hungry, angry and above all, scared out of my mind. A few nasty words to make me feel better couldn’t make things too much worse could they?



Before I even have a chance to see if he might reply, the door to the left of my cell swings open and strikes the bars of my cell loudly. A cloaked figure stalks through and I tense visibly. The last time I’d come face to face with a hooded figure I’d ended up as a chew toy for the freak in the next cell.



The cloaked figure turned and said something low over their shoulder to someone who was, obviously, standing in the doorway. I couldn’t hear the words but after a moment the figured turned back with something in their hands. A panel in my cell door was slid back and a metal tray was thrust through to land with a clatter on the floor. A second item was passed through as well, this one grey and lumpy looking but I knew it was cloth of some kind.



“Eat,” the cloaked figure commanded in a voice so deep I could feel it rumbling in my own chest. I wasn’t sure I wanted to eat anything they gave me but my stomach was cramping so badly now that I didn’t really have a choice.



I glanced over to find that the man in the next cell had gone back to ignoring me. That was alright, I didn’t want his attention on me anyway. Turning back to the tray and lump of cloth that had been dumped into my cell I found that I was even hungrier than I had originally though. Once the adrenaline started to wear off I was shaky and could barely hold myself up.



I approached the metal tray cautiously and found that they had given me a bowl of some unrecognizable gray globs of…something edible apparently, a stale piece of bread and a lump of what looked like slightly molding cheese. My stomach turned again and I had to fight down the wave of nausea that swept through me. I reached for the stale bread and nibble on it as I inspected the gray bundle they’d dropped next to the tray. It turned out to be a really baggy and roughly made t-shirt. As if they had searched for the grimiest sheet they could find and sowed it together to create what roughly resembled a shirt.



I shrugged and tugged the thin, dirty smelling material over my head. Something was better than nothing after all.



I finished half of the bread and dropped it onto the tray. I wasn’t hungry enough to eat moldy cheese so I tried the gray lumpy matter they’d left me. It was thick, like someone had made oatmeal and didn’t put enough water into. But it was cold and had little bits of cold fluid gathered near the bottom of the bowl. It had the worst texture I’d ever found in a food, like soggy bread. It was tasteless and I had to fight not to vomit as it slid coldly down my throat. But that one bite eased the cramps in my stomach and I realized that I wasn’t so thirsty anymore. Closing my eyes I grit my teeth and wolfed the rest of it down. I gagged more than once but when I’d finished it my stomach didn’t hurt and I the edge of my hunger was gone.



I pushed the tray away and finally let myself explore the rest of my cell. There was a bucket in one corner, which I could guess was my bathroom from the smell that wafted from it. And there was a small drain against the back of the wall, just under my metal slab that jutted out from the wall. Was that were I emptied the bucket? The thought disgusted me and I’d never appreciated indoor plumbing more than I had in that moment.



Other than that the cell was bare save for a tiny little window above my metal slab that filled the cell with gray light. Where we were it was still winter outside though that could still be anywhere. But my mind still tried to find reassurance in the small things. Maybe the really hadn’t taken me far.



I spent the rest of the day curled into a ball on my cold metal slab, humming soft tunes to keep me occupied until someone else came for me.



I don’t remember falling asleep but when I opened my eyes next it was to the sound of someone banging against the metal bars of my cell. I peered out from under my arm and found another cloaked figure standing there looking tall and menacing.



“Poor…poor little mouse. Tired and used, he is.” That sinister voice made my body tremble and I had to sit up to glare at the space where I was sure his eyes were. “Dinner time, pumpkin. Put your arm through the slot in the door so his Skeletal-ness can have a little snack!” the voice chimed in an annoyingly cheerful manner.



I remembered all too well what had happened the last time I’d refused and as much as I hated giving these bastards what they wanted, I didn’t want a repeat of last time. Heaving a sigh that hurt my lungs, I climbed from my cheerful little metal slab and approached the wall of bars separating my cell from the one holding the man with glittering black eyes. My footsteps were cautious and quiet but I found those glittering black eyes on me before I was close enough to actually reach out and touch the bars.



I didn’t want to get any closer to the bars suddenly. My heart leapt into my throat and I fought not to take a cowardly step back. If I refused again, they would unlock the wall and let him in here…and that I really didn’t want.



I fought down the urge to turn and hide in a corner and approached the wall of bars separating me from his Skeletal-ness in the next cell. Those glittering black eyes followed my movements until I was a breath away from the bars. Shaking with nervousness and terror I reached out and pushed my arm through the slot in the bars and waited. It took every ounce of will I had not to turn and run right then and I almost started to cry when the dark haired man began to unfold himself slowly and came to his feet.



His clothes were a little more practical. A white shirt that seemed far too big for him and a pair of tattered black pants. No shoes to speak of though. He raised those glittering black eyes to mine and I was frozen to the spot as he approached me slowly. I didn’t realize just how tall he was until that moment and I wanted to weep in terror but no sound came.



His pale white skin seemed ghostly next to my permanent golden tan as he closed long, slender fingers around my wrist and pulled me flat against the rusted bars. The strength in that grip was amazing and despite my fear, a tiny bit of awe crept up on me. He was a little thin, probably from being kept in here, but he had broad shoulders and a lean frame that suggested he could be a swimmer. Those eyes swept down my arm and fixed on my wrist and I watched in dawning horror as his lips pulled back to reveal…two neat sets of fangs. His normal canines were longer, very sharp looking and the two teeth that were set off to the side of his two front incisors were just as sharp but slightly shorter. They would have been very neat looking if they hadn’t been heading for my wrist.



Hot breath caressed the frantic heartbeat pulsing against the thin flesh of my wrist and my breath caught for a moment. This shouldn’t have been erotic at all. We were trapped in a dungeon that smelled like mildew and urine with a jailer that was crazy as hell and my only companion was a blood sucking vampire. Which couldn’t be possible but it was. And yet my body flamed to life at the touch of that hot breath and when his cool lips pressed to my skin and I felt the sharp point of his canines pushing against the flesh of my wrist, I gave an involuntary moan. The sound seemed to give him pause and I waited silently, my breath misting in the air in tiny pants.



He struck too fast for me to really have time to brace. I wanted to cry out in pain because he was biting me, but this strange warmth curled through me and the bite mark on my thigh throbbed distantly. I gave a strangled gasp and his grip on me tightened, pressing me against the cold bars until they bit into my skin. And still that pleasant heat slid through my body. I watched in fascination as his Adams apple bobbed slowly with each slow sip he took from my wrist. He had a nice long neck and a firm jaw line and from this angle I could see that had he not been so thin he would have shown a very nice physique with very nicely toned muscles.



I blinked slowly, wondering why I was thinking about how good he looked when the man was drinking my blood. The pleasant euphoria that had crept over me with his bite began to fade and I realized with a start that I was hard and aching, pressed firmly against the inside of my Speedo. With a soft growl he released my arm and I stumbled back, panting and trying hard to think through the pleasant fog clouding my mind.



This couldn’t be real. This just couldn’t be possible. I was trapped in a dungeon only god knows where as food for a vampire! And all because I had wanted to go swimming without a partner.



I swore to myself then, that if I ever got out of this mess and back home, I would never go swimming again without another person there with me. My mother had always told me that rules were my best friend. Safety should always come first and that you should never trust strangers to be nicer than you were willing to be. I wondered, briefly, if she would laugh if she knew just how right she was. Then again, there were things in life that you didn’t want to be right about. Things like being kidnapped and held prisoner in a dungeon as food for a vampire. No, some things were better left alone.



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Alright, second chapter done. And yes still some confusing parts but it’s getting a little better I promise! Thanks for the reviews and please do so again, I would love to know what you think about this latest installment^^