The pup

The bandaged wound on my wrist itched terribly but I did not remove the wrappings. I was afraid of what I might see. I hugged my knees closer to my body as the cold air encroached on me. It was a basement, with a concrete floor and metal door. No chairs, no bed, no blankets. Just a plate of raw meat on the floor next to the door. I turned away in disgust.

The door opened with a loud creek as a large burly man walked into the room, closely followed by a young woman. The man brought my food every day, and by food I mean the plate of raw meat. I had only seen the woman one other time, the night we met. It was a night I wished never happened. The large man picked up the plate and showed the woman the untouched meat on top of it.

She looked at me, exasperated, “You know, you really should eat.”

I snorted in disgust, “Like hell, I’d eat that shit, I know what it really is.”

“Do you?” she asked, with a raised eyebrow.

“Can you tell by the smell?” I kept looking away, not answering her questions. Apparently that itself was an answer enough.

“Impressive,” she said as she walked over and knelt beside me.

“I don't think you understand how….unique this situation is.”

I tried to ignore her but she grabbed my face with one hand and forced me to look at her. I struggled as I tried to free myself but I knew I would never be able to escape her grip. She looked deep into my eyes and inspected my face.

“You really haven’t changed at all since that night. I don’t understand why you’re fighting this so much, especially after seeing what you’ve seen.”

“Any sane person would fight against it with everything they have after seeing what I’ve seen!” I snapped.

She sighed as she let me go. She stood up and made her way to the door.

“Does it feel good?” I asked, she turned and faced me.

“To kill those that are weaker than you?” There was a short pause before she smiled a smile that sent a chill down my spine.

“It feels amazing,” she said playfully.

Both she and the large man walked out and closed the door, the loud click of the lock echoed throughout the room. I looked next to the door and saw that there was a fresh piece of raw meat on the plate. I crawled to a corner of the room and curled up into a ball. Trapping in as much heat as I could, I drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

The next day I woke up I was drenched in sweat. My mouth felt dry as if I hadn’t drunk anything in a week even though I’d only been here for a few days. My head hurt, a throbbing pain matched the beating of my heart. My body felt heavy, even sitting myself upright took all the energy I had. My stomach growled loudly, I could eat three meals' worth of food and probably still not be satisfied.

Once my drenched back slapped against the wall an extremely appetizing smell instantly made my mouth water. I looked over at the slab of raw meat on the plate next to the door. Nothing had ever looked so delicious in my life. I crawled over to it and shoved the meat into my mouth. The second I bit into it a wave of satisfaction filled my body. My hunger began to calm and my thirst began to subside. As I prepared to take a second bite I remembered what I had said yesterday.

I know what it really is.

I drop the meat, horrified at what I had just done. I gagged in disgust, then I shoved my fingers down my throat as I forced myself to throw up the meat I had just consumed.

The door swung open as the young lady barged in. I quickly stood and shuffled to one of the far corners away from her. She looked at me excitedly, then down at the meat, then at the meat I threw up. Her smile faded into a frown of exasperation.

“Oh c’mon!” She grabbed the meat, stomped her way towards me, grabbed my face, and shoved the meat into my mouth.

“Eat it you mutt!” I kept my mouth firmly closed as I tried to resist her as much as I could.

When she realized she couldn’t force me to eat it she lifted me off the ground by the throat with one hand and threw me across the room. I slammed into the wall on the other side. The back of my head bled and my back stung as I crumpled on the floor.

As I gasped for air she continued to speak, “You know this would all be so much easier for you and me if you just, gave in.”

I rolled over to my back and raised one of my hands, with a particular finger sticking up.

“Ok,” she said, “If you want to do this the hard way, we can do it the hard way.”

She stormed out of the room, leaving the door wide open. I wasn’t foolish enough to try to run. I could barely stand, and my hunger and thirst were much worse now than it was when I woke up. Not long passed before the woman came back, dragging a bloodied girl by the hair. She looked like she was a high schooler. The woman threw her in the center of the room. The girl cried as she scurried to the far wall.

“What are you doing!” I yelled at the woman.

She turned a cold smile towards me.

“feeding my pet,” she replied as she slammed the door shut.

I turned towards the girl, “Are you okay?”

She shook her head slowly. Her clothes were ripped and her hair was caked in blood. Clearly, the woman wasn’t gentle when she abducted her.

“I want to go home,” She whimpered, “please help me.” she turned her pleading eyes towards me.

She winced in pain and reached for the side of her head. Her hand came back bloody. My body was filled with intense pangs of hunger when I saw her bloodied hand. I quickly turned away as I tried to regain control of myself. NO, NO, NO, NO, NO,

I could hear shuffling as the girl moved closer to me.

“Are you…?”

“Don’t!” I cut her off.

“Please stay away.” I gasped as I began to breathe heavily.

I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. A weight appeared in my stomach, My chest felt like it was about to explode. I didn’t want to look but my instincts won over. I turned my head and saw the girl’s face, dried blood caked over one of her eyebrows as she gave me a strained smile.

“We can get through this,” she said in a small voice, "together".

My heart broke, I knew I could no longer hold back.

*****

“This is getting annoying,” I told Kreg.

“He possesses a will stronger than most,” Kreg replied.

I turned an inquisitive look on him, “You sound like you respect him.”

“I respect those who are strong, whether physically or mentally.” He replied.

The large man stood up and headed for the outside door.

“You want anything to drink?”

“Just a coke please, and thank you.” he nodded gruffly and left, leaving me alone in the largely empty building.

“It usually takes one day for them to change, or so I’ve heard,” I said to myself. Why is it taking him so long to accept his new reality?

An animalistic roar reverberated throughout the building. I shot to my feet, a wide grin on my face. Finally! I ran to the room I had thrown the girl in only ten minutes ago and yanked the door open. I had an idea of the scene awaiting me, but I was still a bit surprised by what I saw. The girl was gone, a bloody shoe was all that was left of her. The young man was gone too, all that was left in the room was a giant wolflike beast. Standing on his hind legs he was easily nine feet tall, his muscular body sported veins on its arms and chest. It showed me its sharp teeth, colored crimson red from blood as it growled at me.

“Wow,” I said, “you ended up being much bigger than I expected.” I smiled broadly at the bloody scene before me.

The beast lunged at me, I stepped to the side as it flew through the doorway. It redirected itself again as it dropped on all fours. Its teeth gnashing at me, I knew he would like nothing more than to have me in his jaws.

He lunged at me again, but this time I stood still.

“Stop” I commanded.

His teeth were practically wrapped around my head, but they did not touch me. I knew it!

“Kneel” The beast took a step back and kneeled, snarling at me the entire time.

Its claws dug into the concrete floor leaving long marks.

“Change back”

The beast began to snarl more viciously as its fur began to recede. His size began to shrink to that of a normal man. His mouth sunk back into his face and his claws reverted to human nails. It wasn’t long till the blood-covered face of the young man returned. His eyes full of hate and despair bore into me and filled me with a kind of elation I had never felt before.

“There he is,” I said mockingly.

****

I glared at the monster standing before me. In order for her to dodge me in my transformed state she had to transform herself. Her crimson eyes practically glowed in the early morning grey. Her sickening smile was only made worse by her long fangs.

“Did you know,” she began to say, “that a vampire's blood will have a different effect depending on our intention?” she circled me, like a predator circling its prey.

“There’s the most famous one, where we turn others into vampires. Then there is the not-so-famous one, where it just acts as a poison. Killing whoever drinks it.”

She dropped down and put her hands on my shoulders as she whispered into my ear.

“Then there's what I used on you. The blood of subjugation.” She stood up and moved in front of me, her hands behind her back.

“I assume you can guess what that does, especially since you’ve already felt its effects.” she squatted in front of me so that we were at eye level.

"I never drank your blood," I snapped.

"Actually you did, you just didn't realize it," she said with an eerie smile.

I looked at her confused. When would I have drank her blood? I thought back but I couldn't remember any instance when it could've happened. As I frowned I could feel the girl's dried blood crack on my lips. I inwardly winced at the atrocity I committed. My eyes slowly widened as I came to a realization.

"The....the girl," I said in a whisper.

"Bingo!" she said while pointing at me.

“I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure if it would work on a werewolf. Especially a newborn such as yourself.” she continued.

“Why did you do that?” I finally snapped.

She raised an eyebrow, “Do what?”

I glared at her, “Why did you kill that girl!”

Her smile along with her fangs were on full display.

“Me?” she said playfully, “don’t you mean you?”

She laughed as she stood up, “I bet you still have pieces of her stuck between your teeth. I only suck the blood of humans but you werewolves, I mean wow you guys are purely savage aren't you?”

“You made me do it!” I yelled.

“Did I? I gave you the opportunity to eat the raw meat to complete your awakening, but you forced me to bring that sweet innocent girl as your offering instead.”

“That meat….” I said, choking on my words.

“That was human meat, I could smell it.”

She looked up at the ceiling and let out a long sigh, then looked back at me, grinning.

“I guess it was, wasn’t it? At least that person was already dead, if you had eaten that instead, the girl would still be alive right now.”

I lunged at her and wrapped my hands around her throat. I squeezed as tightly as I could….I tried to. My hands could touch her but I could not force them to tighten.

“Did you really think a servant would be allowed to kill its master?” she said as she stood up.

She bent over and reached out with one hand, gently grabbed my chin, and forced me to look up at her.

“We are going to kill so many people together my little pup”