I was almost as confused as I was furious.

The bloodsucker was playing with me. It had pushed me until I broke my cool and that pissed me off.

It was undoubtedly vile, but most of all, it was persistently annoying. Its words sounded true, but then it would backtrack and contradict itself with that self-satisfied smile on its evilly alluring face.

After being exposed, I had been trying to throw it off its game when I had pretended to resign myself to my new life as a feeder. Then it had refused me, which made absolutely no sense at all.

Leeches did not simply refuse blood. They hunted with a single minded purpose, they destroyed homes, and they sucked the life out of their victims without a single consideration.

This had to be some sort of game. If it was trying aggravate me until I desperately wanted to stake it out in the sunlight, it was winning, because I did.

After pushing me into the corner, it had sent me off with Leif. He had dragged me around the leech's lair and shown me things like the slaves' dining hall, the kitchen, the training yard, the gym, the hospital wing, and on, and on.

I was forced into submitting to a physical and the doctor pronounced me nothing more than moderately underweight, which was something that a balanced diet could easily fix.

Then, I was forced to exercise. I had known the word, but the concept of exercising for the sake of exercising was sheer madness. It was a waste of precious time and energy. Nearly every conscious act of survival was innately exercise.

But now, I had some trainer ordering me around, giving me numbers of reps to complete on this or that piece of machinery.

I might not have minded the task if I had been there on my own volition, but I was there at its command and that made me want to refuse every directive.

But I did not.

At some point, a number of its traitor slaves came in and chatted amongst themselves while exercising. Blondie and a couple of the others seemed most determined to include me in their little bonding sessions, but my terse responses eventually warded them off and I was left in peace to figure out what I was going to do.

I could almost, very nearly, understand why these traitors to humanity seemed contented here. I had been out in the wilds; I had been captured and held by other vampires and in the holding pens beneath the capital building most recently. Materially, this place was much better than any of my previous locations, if one discounted the blood theft and the slavery.

But a gilded cage remained a prison and I was no trapped bird waiting to be tamed, no matter what the monster thought.

Maybe they hadn't seen what I had, the complete slaughter of everyone I cared about. That had been the first time the bloodsuckers had caught me and the first time I destroyed one of the monsters and escaped from their clutches.

That first time had been almost entirely luck, but I had learned a lot.

This leech would not hold me forever, but killing it to escape might not be strictly necessary. These slaves seemed happy, relative to most humans I had met, even in the wilds. I wouldn't accept this life, but if they had no drive to escape, I would leave them to their own fate.

* * * * *

The leech summoned me, via an unknown slave. I was taken to a balcony where the monster was standing, looking out into the distant darkness as if it was thinking something deep. It turned its face towards me and the light of the room behind me and I was struck by its similarity to a spider lurking at the centre of its web, awaiting its prey, watching from the shadows for its moment to strike.

If it intended to feed on me, I would be hard pressed not to fight back. It might view me as prey because I did not have fangs, but I did have teeth.

"Come, stand beside me," it ordered.

I did as it bid, ignoring an instinctive desire to grab the kitchen knife I had stolen and attempt to stake and sever, because if I did, I'd probably end up dead.

"How are you?" it asked, with all the proper inflections of true interest.

I was not fooled and I did not respond.

It was undeterred. "I hear you're settling in well, at least."

It looked out into the distance again, with all the appearance of its guard being down. I could feel the knife hidden beneath my clothing as if it were burning.

The situation screamed that it was a set up. I clenched my jaw and waited.

"Lovely weather, isn't it? Have you spent any time out in the courtyard?"

Every minute I could, to see where the guards were and what they most attended to.

"Well, while your lack of response does not reflect well on your conversational skills, I suppose it doesn't matter. We both know that I know everything you do in this place."

We did.

"I'd also prefer if you did not try to kill me right now. I would be most disappointed if I had to stop you while we were just starting to get to know each other."

I paused, my heart began pounding in my ears. Had my weapon been reported missing? Did her slaves pay attention to even such small details?

It continued in the same tone it had used when asking about the weather. "I would be quite distressed if you were dead. And terribly bored. But I suppose you never did actually promise to make it interesting."

It still stared out as if it could see something that I could not in the night beyond and for all I knew, it could.

"Fine, I promise to make your death interesting."

The leech looked at me, its eyes widening in surprise and what appeared to be a genuine smile of delight spread across its face.

It brought me back to bitter memories of people who were now forever lost to me, recollections of family and friends and more that these monsters destroyed.

The expression on the leech's face filled me with disgust, but such a reaction might be the key to its eventual undoing. I paused and made another impulsive choice.

"My name's Jamie."

"Jamie," it repeated slowly, drawing out the syllables. "Not James?"

I paused. Jamie, the nickname my parents and sisters and Melissa had once called me, seemed too familiar, but correcting it now could be perceived as weakness. "Yes."

"Jamie it is then. Although perhaps I will miss Little Human, just a bit."

With a shrug I said another reckless thing. "I thought perhaps you would like to know the name of the man who will kill you."

Instead of going for my throat, it laughed as if I had said something truly hilarious. Maybe I had.

"How thoughtful of you," it said. "Perhaps I was correct about you."

I waited in silence to see what it would say or do next. It did nothing other than resume its quiet consideration of the world beyond.

Then it looked towards me, suddenly serious. "I suppose you know of branding."

I stiffened. Who did not? I had seen enough brands on other humans in my journeys, and a few of them on this leech's human slaves as well in passing, marking them as mere possessions.

It was a good reminder that no matter the human inflections of this strange creature before me, a monster it remained.

"It is unavoidable as a dictate of the law, but it will grant you some protection." It shrugged. "I let my slaves choose where to place it, so you'll be granted the same. I do recommend you have it placed somewhere easy to see, to prevent future indignities."

I did not respond. A choice, but no choice. I had managed to remain unbranded in spite of my frequent brushes with leeches.

"No."

It sighed. "It's not a choice, Jamie. You know that as well as I and unfortunately for you, I do have a reputation to maintain, so you cannot remain without. I would prefer not to have to physically force you, but I will if you push me to it."

I considered whether to push it.

It was still watching me with that considering gaze. "You may not wish to accept it, but there's no other choice. Many things are not optional in life."

"Something you would know nothing about, Leech," I said, losing control of my tongue once again.

It did not get angry. Instead it said, "Perhaps. Although, despite our great differences, I am still in no way exempt from the effects of reality."

I had no response for that. What did she know of the hardships of the humans she enslaved?

"It's odd, when I think about it. Of course, I used to be human myself, long ago. Back then, vampires were just silly legends, a story in a book I had never read. Tales of the unnatural held little interest to me then. I had almost no expectations of what it was to be what I now am."

It continued. "Of course I was afraid when I was turned, by my sire, but I did not have many preconceived ideas. I imagine it must be much different for you humans post-suppression. We're not just monsters under your beds; we're real fears, true oppressors. We're your reality, not simply scary tales of the impossible. It must be very difficult for you humans, in a way I never experienced. I was a human in a human world and then suddenly I was not."

She sighed, as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders. "Truly, I pity the humans. But perhaps, not enough."