Damn. Dead end again. This city was like a cruel maze, taunting me with its narrow and vast alleways that seemed to never end. I thought it would be easier now to escape the city, that I had done the hard part of escaping Tamerus. Yet now after scaling the wall, dodging the guards, climbing through the drain pipes and now running blindly through the city, I was no closer to freedom than I was back in there.

The warning alarms began to sound out, the vampires now alerted that a Devine has escaped. This is bad, really bad. I need to hide. After winding my way through a few more streets I finally took a risk and ran into the nearest house that was unlocked. I shut the door quickly behind me and looked around into pitch blackness. My heart was beating rapidly, both from the running and from the uncertainity that could be lurking in the shadows.

I ran my fingertips against a wall as I searched for a light switch, then froze suddenly as I heard a loud thud.

"Who's there?" I croaked.

Silence.

"I said who's there?"

More silence.

I was beginning to think that maybe it was just my imagination when I felt a sudden breath on my neck. My heart froze as he spoke, muscles tensed to the maximum and so much so that I couldn't move or run.

"What's a little girl doing in the den of a big bad vampire?" He asks huskily, clampering a strong hand over my mouth as his fangs sunk into my neck.

I screamed but it was muffled and there was no one to hear it. Only the dark, deafening silence answered me.

*       *       *       *      * 

When I woke up I was in a dark basement, lying on a thin and uncomfortable matress. My body protested and ached as I sat up, which was when I realised what I was wearing. The sterile white and blue spotted hospital gown that i had been wearing was replaced with an itchy potato sack dress, the traditional clothing of a human slave. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I could make out what was around me. there was a stack of shelves along the wall closest to my makeshift bed, lined with cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes. To my left there were three buckets, presumeably for where they expected me to eat, drink and... well you can guess the last thing. When I thought back to the treatment I recieved at Tamerus, this was worser than I could ever imagine.

Tamerus provided Divine's with a luxurious environment that was monitored frequently. If you blew your nose, they would know about it. It was sickeningly sterile, the smell of antiseptic was overpowering and even worse was the smell of freshly extracted blood. Divine's had their own private rooms and were usually catered to by the humans who had no sense of taste. They were among the highest of value in slavery along with those who could not smell, then at the bottom were those who were blind and deaf. They were treated the worst out of all. I had once heard tales of a blind woman in another city. She had been abandoned by her master as left to fend for herself outside the city walls, in the barren lands. She stayed by the walls for weeks until she eventually died of starvation and heat stroke. 

For that and many other reasons I hated the vampires. Hated them with everything that I had and I'd be damned if I was to stay here as a slave of one. I'd rather take my chances in the barrens. I stood up and kicked one of the empty buckets over, it creating a loud rumble that I hoped my 'masters' could hear. I wanted them to know I was awake and pissed. I marched over to the door of the cellar and banged furiously. 

"Let me out you bastards! If they find you keeping me here to yourselves you will die by the stake!" I growled furiously and kicked the door, a moment later clutching at my throbbing foot. It was metal, how predictable. 

After a good five minutes of making as much commotion as possible andnot being answered I gave up and slunk back over to sit on my bed. I hugged my knees to my chest and buried my face against them. My stomach growled from hunger and the itch of the dress grew persistant but my only thoughts were of my family. Of my mother; her warm gentle smile, flowing golden hair and soft features. I remember her teaching me how to find potatos in the crop fields despite her being blind, how I use to laugh when she thought the occasional small rock was a potato. My father lacked the sense of taste but was one of the best workers in the factories. They had both been chosen by the breeders to produce a new generation, and unlike most other pairings, they actually grew to love each other in the process. Real love was a luxary in a world full of death.

I quickly pushed the thoughts out of my mind. I needed to focus on a way of getting out of here. I walked over to the boxes that lined the walls and began to look through them, finding nothing even remotely helpful. There were just a few photos but I couldn't even see them in the darkness so i threw them to the side along with everything else. I frowned in frustration and huffed angrily. I hated feeling this way, so helpless and pathetic. I just had to walk into this house.

I stayed awake for what seemed like hours, but I was sure it was only minutes. The only thing I had to entertain myself with was picking at the thin fibres of my dress and punching the crap out of the matress.

After more time had passed I had fallen back to sleep, which was a big mistake.