Meat!

Meat!

Meat!

The thought forces me out of my dreamless sleep.

I shoot out of bed and sit up. The wound in my palm is festering. Red, hot, squirming. I feel the urge to gag but know it’s all in my head. My body sweats for attention, the heat climbing up my arms, making my shoulders burn with anticipation. My legs shaking from the raw adrenaline, preparing itself for a hunt.

I need flesh!

My inferior body cannot survive without a constant source of energy which is fresh blood, and meat. It doesn’t help that I have this wound on my hand, making me want to eat sooner than normally.

I look at the door. I can see it clearly in the dark, empty room. Only things in here are me, my futon, and my folded clothes next to me, which I tossed across the floor when I shot up.

I stand up, my legs trembling. They are cold and hot, switching back and forth and sometimes both. They ache as I stumble across the floor and open the door.

I’m greeted by the empty, dark, stone hallway. Only lanterns' lights dance shadows over the walls and floor.

I take a bare step onto the concrete floor, the coldness of it standing no chance against the feverish skin on my soles. The air is cold but yet does nothing against my screaming, hot flesh. I feel pools of sweat meet the floor as I step clumsily down the hall, trying my best not to look up.

If I find a living being, they’re dead.

I must keep my head to the floor otherwise I’m not sure what might happen. I don’t want to get into any more trouble with the Council than I already have.

Tracey, the thought invades my mind before I can swipe it away in time. He tasted so wonderful. The warmth of his flesh against my tongue as I gouged out a piece of his torso. His sweet scent coating my nose and blood pouring into my throat.

I need more!

More!

More!

I slam my head against the wall. I immediately cry out in pain at the sudden jerk, but at least it stops my thoughts. It also helps me ignore the throbbing coursing through me as a headache begins crawling at the side of my skull.

I need to make it to Kava’s office.

Or, I could eat one of the Unredeemed.

The thought does not sound unappealing and it would be easier. They need to pay for their crimes anyway. Why not kill them?

It would be a mercy.

I stumble into the corridor that led into the torture chambers. The sweet smell of fear and blood pollutes my nose. I feel a wave of euphoria and quicken my pace to the next corridor. The metal door in front of me looms almost like a treasure trove.

Excitement grips me and I rush to the door, nearly falling into it. A bang of metal resounds in the hall as I hit my face against it.

I bite my tongue.

“Hey, you okay there?” I hear someone call on the other side.

My heart floods into my throat and I try several times to gulp it down. Sweet copper is in my mouth and its taste refuses to leave.

“I’m fine,” I groan against the cold metal door. It feels refreshing against my festering skin.

My hands shake as I reach for the code to open it. It beeps and I lean on the door as it opens for balance.

I almost fall on the floor as I enter the room. The guard in front me catches me mid fall and allows me to lean against his arm.

“Are you sure you’re alright? Oh, my god!” He suddenly gasps.

The concern is evident but above all that, the overwhelmingly scent of warm flesh evaporates every shred of human thought. Fear bursts in the air and I feel my skin tingling to be released. I hold myself back though and remember why I’m here.

The prisoners.

One of them would be a good snack to hold back my urges.

I feel the man shiver as if sensing my bloodlust and push me back. I don’t make eye contact and keep my frenzied gaze to the floor.

It’s so clear now.

I noticed the scuff marks, the dried splatters of blood and other bodily fluids. The dark, moldy splotches etched into the cement are now so vivid. Almost everything looks enhanced in detail.

“Take me to one of the prisoners,” I croak.

“What?” The man nearly sputters. “Why? It’s late. Did one of them do something wrong?”

“Just take me to them!” Irritation takes hold and my fingers, now claws, grip his arms, finally looking at the petrified guard. His green eyes glisten with fear and I watch his legs tense in a run.

It excites me.

I changed my mind.

“You just might do,” I growl.

“Please, let go of me,” he whimpers.

I feel a heavy grip push on my shoulder and spin me around.

The guard behind me yelps and the smell of blood invades the room. I nearly spin around to catch him but a hand grips my neck before I can get a chance. I grab the arm holding me and dig my claws into them. I’m met with a hard punch in the stomach and glare wildly at azure blue eyes.

“The hell are you doing, Wolf?!”

The panicked tapping of feet rush behind me but so does the strong smell of blood. I see a glimpse of the man and kick out at the person holding me.

“Let me go,” I snap.

Meat!

Meat!

He looks past me as I kick at him. Confusion racks my brain as I struggle against his iron grip. I reach up with my hand and punch his sternum. He doubles over for merely a second but doesn’t give. I claw at him but he moves his head back to dodge it. I try to punch him again, aiming for his head, but he grabs my wrist and pulls it to his chest.

I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my neck and try to turn but he has my neck locked in position. I feel my grip against him loosen. The world fades as I fight for consciousness.

Everything fades to black.

***

It’s quiet.

Painless.

I feel a tugging motion on my neck and open my eyes.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

It’s bright and I blink a few times so that my eyes can adjust to the surroundings near me. A shadow hovers above me suddenly and I immediately sit up, my head knocking against something hard.

I hear a thud as the figure falls back. I look in the direction of the noise only to see darkness. The only thing present in the light is me and-

Wait, what happened last night?

The only thing I remember is walking down to halls in search of food. Then the guard I attacked…

Did I kill someone?

It’s hard to touch my memory of what happened.

I try to stand up, immediately recognizing I’m still in my pajamas. I feel something yank me to the ground at my neck. I cough as my butt hits the floor and touch my throat to tug at…

A collar?

It’s made of metal as I feel around it. I try to push my head down, but the thickness of the collar presses on my chin uncomfortably. It prevents me from looking at the thing. I reach around my neck and feel a chain connected to it. I turn around to a crawl and look behind me to find the chain trailing into the darkness.

I begin to follow the trail when I hear a faint shuffling behind me.

I quickly spin around to see blue eyes glaring at me from the unknown.

Blue eyes.

I remember now.

Matthew suppressed me. Why wasn’t it obvious before? To the Hells, how could I let myself do that? I’m better than that. Maybe it was the stress of the Council, or maybe my lack of self control?

Good thing Matthew was there to snap me out of it before anything bad could happen.

I sigh, “are you going to punish me? Is that what the chain is for?”

Usually Kava wouldn’t chain me like this. Instead she’d use a potion laced dart to knock me out. That’s what she probably used when I killed Tracey. Then, she would give me a lecture.

It only happened twice and this is how it went so far.

This time it’s different.

Matthew might be another case. The stern, angry looks in his eyes tells that much. Maybe he’ll torture me?

Like the others.

I shiver and repress the feeling immediately.

Surely he can’t be like the old Council. That’s a ridiculous thought. I’m not there anymore.

I take a deep breath and try my best to not let fear creep in.

“It was to hold you back in case you feel like taking a chunk out of me,” he grumbles, tilting his head to the collar around my throat. “I can’t let you go until I’m sure. Are you hungry right now?”

“No.”

I look at my hand and see the wound still present. The bandage is gone and I can see the open wound sitting there, refusing to heal. Blood still pools from it but not as much as before.

So that means I didn’t eat anyone. The bleeding would have stopped otherwise.

The hunger is gnawing at me, too, but less noticeable. Less painful.

What else did they give me?

I look at him and open my mouth to speak but he raises his hand before I can let out a word.

“So, how does this lycan-strigoi thing work? Are you more of a dog or a living blood sucker?”

I pause.

“Neither,” I sigh. “Why do you need to know?”

His face twitches. “So I know what to give you. That man you attacked is injured because of you. You went straight through his arm when I grabbed you. An unnecessary violence that I would like to correct.”

Frustration lingers in his voice but he keeps it steady, as if trying not to break. To yell.

“I want to know so that I can give it to you before you murder someone. And ‘neither’ is concerning to hear.”

I nod slowly in understanding. “I need human flesh. Blood and all. I'm more of a ghoul than a strigoi.”

While Lycans can eat anything, like humans, they also need raw meat in their diet too so that they don’t get weakened. Humans work but animals are better.

Strigoi needs human blood. They may be born between a vampire and a human but they cannot eat what humans eat. They take after their vampire part more, besides being able to be out in the sun without the UVs melting their skin off.

Hybrids like me need human flesh. I can derive off of supernaturals but only a select few and they don’t feed me as much as humans do. I am a special case after all. I’m the very few that survived death from my conceiving and lived to tell the tale.

I can go without a week of eating if I had a full human for dinner. If I’m injured, a few days. Supernatural meat, like Tracey, will only last a day, and I can’t heal from my injuries off them, not completely. They’re close but not close enough. They’re practically a snack.

“I may be able to provide. How did Kava do it?”

“She sent human death row inmates here…” I trail off, not wanting to go into detail. “They have been really low lately. Not many people are committing atrocities right now, I guess.”

He nods. “Seems that way. I knew Kava had a stash but it’s been empty recently. She never really tells me what she gave you.” His eyes widened for a second before returning to that cold stare. “Is that why you ate Tracey?”

I blink, thinking about it.

Yeah, most likely. I haven’t been fed in a minute prior. I’ve been mostly starving since yesterday. But I still had some self control, I just gave into it for a minute is all. That’s no excuse to do it though.

“Yeah,” I huff. “It was still a bad move on my part,” I admit.

“It was,” he agrees, eyeing me. “I’ll get that for you if I can. Might have to use one of the fresh corpses from the torture chambers.”

“Supernaturals will only last a day,” I advise him.

He shuffles into the darkness behind him. “At least it will hold you off. There’s a few corpses I can give you. May not last long enough for your assessment though. Sit tight, please.”

“Well I can’t do anything else!” I call back to him as he disappears. I don’t even hear a door shut behind him before he’s gone.

***

It doesn’t take him long to come back.

I lay on the floor tugging mindlessly at the chain. I can tell the cement is cold but it doesn’t bother me. It is uncomfortable to lay on unfortunately.

I hear the shuffling of feet and sit up at the hint of blood. It’s not fresh but it’s enough to allow my stomach to grumble.

I crawl at the edge of the darkness. A leg is slid across the floor. A crusty, bloody, residue is on the end of what was supposedly snapped off.

I touch it to find that it’s cold and recoil slightly. Still, I stomach it and take a bite out of the thigh.

It’s gummy but it works. Well, I think that as I nearly gag anyway.

It only takes a few minutes to finish my little snack. I begin to pick the skin from my teeth as I wait for a comment in the darkness.

Matthew’s voice echoes, “Will that do you today?”

I nod solemnly, kind of disappointed with the morsel I was given. “Yeah, for a few hours.”

I see him appear before me. He still hesitates to come any closer into the light as he regards me skeptically. “I would have gotten you more but the rest was butchered and exposed for the maggots.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll let you know when I’m going to lose it.” I wave him off.

He shrugs and walks up to me. I noticed for a moment how bloody his hands were. From the look and smell, they came from the corpse he brought me. I recoil at the sight of the congealed, dark, crusty blood on his once pristine black fur gloves.

He reaches to his side for his keys and takes his hand around my collar. I scrunch my nose and bite my lip to not comment.

He unlocks my collar and I hear a sharp clink! as it falls to the floor in front of me.

He flinches away from me as I reach for my neck, feeling my broken raw skin. This is another thing that won’t heal until I get proper food.

I sigh and stand up. I realize I’m the same height as him as we stand face to face.

He still regards me with suspicion as he eyes me up and down. “You’re strong, you know that?” He begins to chortle, “caught me a few bruises from all the squirming you were doing.”

I shake my head at the pained smile climbing on his face. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know what I was thinking.”

“It’s fine. I’ll just be sure to not mess with you when you’re mad,” he laughs silently. Worry still brims his eyes and I feel a sense of guilt build up in me.

I try my best to lighten the mood. “I promise I won’t give you something to remember me by if I do,” I smile. I can feel it falter and I frown immediately.

“Won’t?” I can see the question twinkle in his eyes.

I shrug, ignoring him. “So what do you want to do with me now?”

“You’re going back on guard duty, of course.”

I deflate and give him a questionable glare. “Really? After I kill a guard and nearly rip off another's arm?”

The light in his eyes flicker. “I will put a muzzle on you if I have to.”

The air in the room suddenly grows tense. I meet his hard gaze and nod in agreement.

“You might as well,” I sneer.

I can almost see the sadistic grin under his mask. “I’m prepared.” I can hear the amusement bubble in his throat.

I quirk my brow at him in a silent question.

“Follow me.”

He begins to walk into the darkness. I follow closely behind him and squint my eyes, hoping they would adjust. They don’t and I sigh in disappointment.

We meet at what I suppose is a hidden wall as he carrasses something in front of him. There’s a sharp klink! A door-size light appears before us. I almost shriek at the sudden sting in my eyes.

“It’s not a muzzle exactly, but a potion,” Matthew says as he passes through the entrance.

I follow him into the light and am hit by the familiar hallways. I blink several times to dissipate the holes from my vision. I look both ways and notice I’m close to the torture chambers.

Was this another torture room I didn’t know about?

I look behind me and see the stone wall facing me.

No one told me about this?

“Hey, you coming?”

Matthew’s head peeks around the corridor towards the torture cells.

“Yes,” I grumble and trudge behind him. “What was that place?”

“Oh, that’s the new interrogation room. They use it on the Unredeemed.” He answers nonchalantly.

“I see,” I frown. “They never told me about it.”

“Why would they? You only guard the perimeters, right? You’re not in charge of the prisoners.”

I squint my eyes at him and see him shiver slightly as if he feels my gaze. “I monitor some prisoners,” I grumble.

“Oh really? How many?” He barely turns his head to me but curiosity is felt in his voice.

“A few dangerous ones. Worth a fight.”

“So you help break their spirits, hm? Curious. But what else? Just that? Sounds more like they call you to handle the stubborn ones rather than guard them.”

My lips thins at the observation but I try not to show any expression that would give away my mistake.

“Right.” I hear him laugh.

He leads me down more hallways and into a room. The place is rather small and all the contents are behind a dark oak desk in the center and some shelves. Not as pleasingly aesthetic like Kava’s office.

He goes to one of the shelves behind the desk and grabs a brown glass bottle without a label.

“This should do.” He turns to me with a twinkle in his eyes and twiddles the bottle above his head. “Would you like a drink or an injection?”

“I’d rather drink,” I tell him. I subconsciously rubbed the back of my neck.

“Suit yourself.” He walks over to me, tiptoeing around the room.

He hands the bottle. I don’t think twice as I open it and guzzle it in one go. A foul taste wafts onto my tongue and into my nose. I cough and try not to throw back up the mixture. It tastes too strong of skunk and musk and I’d hate to know whatever ingredients this was made from.

I hear Matthew snicker in front of me as I blink the water forming into my eyes. “I was going to say it would’ve been better to take the needle,” he chuckles. “Too late now.”

I cough, “whatever.”

I lift my helmet and spit in front of him, the foul taste only spreading on my tongue. His laughing eyes widened in horror. I wait patiently for him to calm down before asking, “What exactly does that do anyway?”

“Suppresses your hunger,” he simply replies, still recovering.

“For how long?”

He shrugs and I roll my eyes at how common it is now. “Long enough,” he winks. “Just let me know when you get The Urge, okay?”

“Sure,” I mumble, unamused.

“Now off you go. Back to patrol duty!” He waves at me and when I only blink at him, pushes me out the door.

“What do I patrol?”

“Your last coordinates,” he answers. He stands at the door as I give him a questioning look. “No partner, old man. You’re the big bad wolf. You got this,” he winks.

Yeah, that’s reassuring. Where’s the stern commander again?

“Right,” I responded. “I’ll see you.”

“Good luck,” he nearly shouts and closes the door. “Also, don’t forget your gear in your room.” He looks at me up and down.

I sigh and turn to face the hallway.

Just my luck.