Chapter II: Vampire

Zoë watched as Isaiah led a very tired and naked Milo outside, she quickly looked away blushing. Zoë lay in bed thinking back on her night. The principal, after knocking Isaiah and Milo out, led her downstairs into an underground area. She was led to the fighting room and told nothing, except don’t let anything touch you. Using a bow and fire, she managed to corral the zombies and “deviants” back into their room. The werewolves were easy to shoot at with the silver arrows keeping them away. The demon had attempted to make her bet more than she had, she wasn’t that stupid. The vampire although was a different story. She still remembered the oppressive darkness, closing in on her, trapping her, threatening to never let her go.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” Zoë called out into the darkness.

She heard a skittering sound on the stone behind her. She turned around and released her arrow into the depths of the shadows. She heard it again moving around her in circles. With every second it got closer, closer, closer then it stopped. Zoë could only hear her breathing in the now quiet room. Zoë slowly spun in a circle, breathing hard. Two hands reached out of the darkness from above her grabbing her shoulders. She was pulled into the darkness screaming.

The vampire held tightly onto Zoë as she tried to struggle away.

“If you keep squirming it’ll only make it worse.” He whispered into her ear. Zoë stopped struggling in its grip. “What a good little girl you are.” He whispered into her ear again, and Zoë shivered in his grips. The vampire lowered his head to Zoë’s neck, his fangs elongating until they touched her neck. He sunk his fangs into her neck, beginning to drink deeply. Zoë’s body tensed and then relaxed. On the inside, Zoë was trapped within her mind at peace yet something deep inside her mind was not. The more animal side of her fought against the bars of her mind straining to free itself. It strained and strained until some slipped through. Zoë felt her mind fill with fear as her adrenaline started pumping again. Everything around her became hyper-focused. She could feel both of the fangs inside her neck and the air patterns shifting as the vampire drank. Most importantly she could feel the weight of the knife she had at her hip, she reached down and grabbed it, swinging it up behind her head. It hit true stabbing through its neck. The vampire let go, dropping Zoë 12ft to the floor. She landed hard, her vision going black around the edges but she held onto consciousness. The body of the vampire landed next to her, also barely alive. It started trying to crawl towards her. The door she was let in through opened and a figure walked through. She couldn’t make out quite who it was until they kneeled in front of her. It was the principal. “Still alive? Hold on a bit longer.”

“Blood,” The Vampire moaned “I need blood.” The principal looked over. “Still alive as well?” He stood up moving toward the vampire, he stopped next to it. He bent down and pulled the knife out of the vampire. He raised it above the vampire's neck and cut its head off. Leaving the knife on the ground he walked back to Zoë, he leaned down scooping Zoë up.

“Close your eyes little one. Rest.” With that Zoë slipped into unconsciousness.

Zoë woke on a small cot, she looked around her to see the principal watching a bank of monitors. Looking closer she saw it was multiple camera angles of the room she fought in. Now it looked like Isaiah was fighting. By fighting, it meant smashing in the face of a werewolf using strength a human shouldn’t have. He stood up and the principal spoke. “Good job on completing the mission Isaiah. Wait there please.” The principal turned and noticed Zoë sitting up watching him. “Ahh! Welcome back to the land of the living.” He laughed at his joke. Zoë reached up to where the bite on her neck was, but she felt a bandage in its place. “Ahh, yes your vampire bite. We should talk about that considering the interesting position you’re now in. Let us save that for later. I’m going to get Isaiah and you get presentable.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Zoë looked down realizing she was wearing only a medical shift. Next to the cot was a uniform and a large cloak. The principal walked out a sliding metal door, leaving Zoë to change. Quickly Zoë dressed and looked around more. The aesthetic of the room was similar to the R&D lab from Pixels. Just as she was looking closer at the monitors, the door slid open again startling her. “Zoë?” Isaiah asked.

“Isaiah, it’s good to see you. I only saw the end of your test, but you seemed to be doing well.”

“Yeah, towards the end it was a lot easier. That devil I made the deal with helped lots.”

“You…wait, what?”

“That’s enough for now,” The principal interjected. “We have to fetch Milo.”

“Milo?” They repealed in unison.

“Yes, I want to see how his reaction differs if people he recognizes are there to greet him.”

So the principal led them down a series of hallways until they left the more modern section and entered a medieval-themed hallway.

“This isn’t where I was kept,” Isaiah whispered to Zoë

“Here we are.” The principal stated as he stopped in front of a door.

Zoë reached out and opened the door. Milo stood in the middle of his room, like a deer in headlights.

“Milo you’re gonna need to come with us,” Zoë spoke, copying what the principal was telling her to say.

“Why should I?”

Zoë pulled off her hood and said “It’s your turn.”

“Zoë! What the fuck! Isaiah?”

Milo pointed at Isaiah still under his cloak.

“Yup, it’s me,” Isaiah said as he removed his hood.

Milo looked from Isaiah and back to Zoë.

“So where are we going? What's going on?”

“You’ll see.” That was all Zoë said before walking out, Milo close on her heels and Isaiah behind him.

“Hey, why am I in a combat suit?” Milo asked no one in particular. After a bit of following the directions from the principal in their ears. Zoë was told to turn down one hallway while Isaiah was told to turn the other way. Leaving Milo.

“Wait! Which way do I go?”

Isaiah and Zoë met back up in front of the doors leading to the monitoring room.

“How do you think he’ll do?” Zoë asked worriedly

“Considering we both made it out mostly fine. I think he’ll make it out fine.” He assured her.

“Since you're so confident, let’s go watch him,” Zoë said while opening the door.

They both watched the monitors standing on either side of the principal. When it was all over the principal seemed very excited, talking to himself. “This is huge! The chances to find a purebred at random is insane, and now it's on our side!”

After Palomi dropped the bomb about who he was he ignored all questions and insisted that Isaiah take Milo to their bunk room. He then turned to Zoë.

“We need to talk about your condition Ms. Peterson. You were bit by a vampire, but the process was not completed which would have killed you. I don’t know all the science behind it, you’ll have to ask R&D about that later, but from what I understand a ‘virus’ is now fusing with your DNA strands. It’s convincing the cell it is part of the DNA and tricking your body into not fighting it. Since you didn’t die during the problem it is going dormant. Our R&D is excited to attempt to activate it while keeping you, you.” He looked over to Zoë standing there looking terrified. “They will of course do this without killing you,” He quickly amended “This does mean lots of tests will be run on you and you will also have to stay away from trainees Williams and Philips. Here’s a communication device made here by R&D. Milo and Isaiah will find theirs in their room. On this, you will find directions to everywhere you need to go and order food. So just head to your room, order some food and wait for us to contact you.” He handed Zoë a small tablet and left her to find her room. Eventually, she found her room. After settling in she ordered a chicken salad with craisins, pomegranate seeds, and a poppy seed dressing. When the food arrived outside of her door on a tray there was a note and two pills as well. She brought the food in and placed it on the table, and read the note.

Please eat one pill before the food and then after you’ve finished eating. Your training starts now.

-The R&D department