Chapter Text
Gabe awoke with a start. His whole body felt sticky and hot in the humidity of a warm bed. As he groaned and shifted to sit up from his horizontal position, he heard a hushed intake of air from somewhere in front of him. Eyes snapping open, he peered around to find himself in a dimly lit room on a mess of thick blankets and small throw pillows. In the corner, a small male stood and quickly opened a door he hadn’t seen before in the gloom. All Gabe got to process was a pale wall beyond the confines of the room before the man frantically pushed at the door with pale hands.
“Wait!” He weakly called out, voice shaking, even as the door slammed shut with a firm thud; his stomach sunk as he heard the metallic hiss of a lock closing hard. Immediately he made to lunge forward but he didn’t make it more than an inch before he jolted back sharply.
Clinking metal softly whispered to his ears as he lifted his arms to examine the chains loosely tied around them. Eyes lifting; he examined the soft flicker of a brick fireplace that had nearly died but still glowed fiercely; pumping out waves of heat. The room itself appeared barren of much else aside from an oak chair where the now departed man had been sat.
Gabe shuddered a little as he tried to remember how he had ended up here; his last memory has been curling up on the train seat and gazing out at the night sky; returning from his classes to a small dorm room. One moment he had been contemplating take-away or some leftover pasta for dinner, the next he was waking up in this small, hot room slowly baking before the fireplace curled up in blankets and chains. Now that he focused on it, his throat felt hot and itchy. God knows the last time he’d had a drink of anything; for all he knew it could now be morning or even later, not the soft evening that he last remembered.
Clearly, he had fallen asleep where he’d rested on the tattered blue seats of the night train and been… what? Kidnapped? What for? Gabe shook the thoughts away as they began to spiral to a dark place and tried to see how far he could move with the chains. Although they allowed him enough motion to wave around and sit up, he was firmly bound to the slatted iron poles of the headboard.
Next, he tested how far he could force them off his arms. Loose enough to slide a little, he couldn’t slide them past his wrists, not even when he pulled hard enough to bruise. Unless he maybe dislocated a thumb, they weren’t coming off. For a moment Gabe stared at his hands and tried to summon the courage to force his thumbs back, but then he averted his gaze with a grimace and did another sweep of his apparent prison.
Even as he considered the grim idea, his thoughts returned to the guy seated across from him when he first woke up. His captor? He had hurried away as soon as Gabe had so much as stirred. Where was he going? For back up – was there more people here? Where even was here? Chest heaving, Gabe gasped for breath and shook with a sudden burst of adrenaline. He was chained and captive in this small dark room; there wasn’t even a window here. He could be in a different country for all he knew. What if the man came back and found him trying to escape his bondage? With two dislocated thumbs Gabe could hardly defend himself. That was not an option.
Hell, chained as he was, Gabe doubted he could fight back even now. His legs were free which was hopeful, but he felt dry and weak; his limbs shook as he sought to re-position himself in the warm nest of blankets. Lifting until the chains were fully extended, he stared hard at the door across from him. It gazed back with its dark wooden body, imposing and firm. Straining his ears, Gabe shut his eyes and focused to make out any audible indications of a return of his captor. Nothing; only the low crackle of the fire and his own pounding heart.
Gabe twisted and turned until his leg dangled out of the bed precariously and his arms pulled tight to the chains; he swept a cautious foot underneath the bed but met only the smooth floor; nothing beneath him. Straining his leg further out, he attempted to kick the chair closer, but it remained just shy of his reach. A low sigh escaped him as he curled back into his first position; shifting until the blankets covered him. Maybe it was childlike, but he felt safer underneath them, more hidden.
Even if he somehow wriggled free of the chains, he still had the locked door before him, and god knows what else out there. Mouth dry, Gabe swallowed as he considered his prospects. Going back to sleep and forgetting his predicament sounded like a good idea, but even as he clenched his eyes shut his throat throbbed painfully. He raised a cautious hand towards it and gulped; he couldn’t see any glasses around him and he was sure as hell not gonna shout out for someone to come to him just because he was a little thirsty.
Still, he was uncomfortable, almost in pain.
As he blinked slowly forward into the glow of the room, he tried to form a plan to escape, but his mind kept slowly drifting back to his constant thirst. His tongue felt dry and as he gulped it almost felt like glass was swallowed and not saliva. Gabe couldn’t recall a time he had been thirstier. Maybe it was the heat of the small room, or maybe it was that he couldn’t move beyond the bed, but Gabe would’ve sworn he would spend his life savings, meagre as they were, for a single glass of water in that moment. His head bubbled as he shook it slowly to think about something else, anything else, but he was helpless to the constant need burning in his throat.
He tried to remain still and conserve energy, but the constant ache made him writhe slowly in discomfort and swallow repeatedly to try and ease the dull pain. With every second that passed, his throat and mouth grew dryer and it felt like gravel coated his insides as he tried to clear his voice and swallow down the pain.
It was like he had never had a drink of water before this moment, and his mouth had slowly desiccated and cracked until his tongue felt large and almost swollen where it sat. He gripped at his throat and swallowed painfully, a low sob escaping him. Panting softly through dry lips, he called out wordlessly to the door, praying that someone would return with a drink for him. The door watched silently as he began to shout hoarsely, no longer considering the dangers in the return of a possible captor.
His calls began to lilt up into screams as his urgency increased. Even if he tried, Gabe would no longer be able to form sentences; only the dry agony existed as he gagged and wailed. He would drink anything if to sate this agony residing deep within him; he cried tearlessly and tore the blankets off the bed as he felt like anymore heat and he might combust into flames right there and then.
As another quivering cry escaped him, there was a small click and the door smoothly slid open. Tall and imposing, a male, different from the first, slowly strode forward. Dark eyes highlighted by the flicker of a fireplace fixed where Gabe lay sobbing dryly and he moved forward decisively. Gabe snapped his face forward as an impossibly cool hand pressed soothingly against the side of his face. Unable to explain the need coursing through him, Gabe pressed forward into the hand and keened wordlessly in pain. The man hummed quietly, thoughtfully, and then suddenly he was drinking.
The pain disappeared with every deep gulp Gabe took until he felt almost euphoric with relief. He continued to take greedy swallows until he could no longer and relaxed and lay back, finally sated. He licked the last of the cold liquid from his lips and peered forward. The man was no longer watching him and was instead licking a long stripe up his own arm. Gabe realised with a jolt that dark blood was dripping from the man’s elbow to the bed from where his arm had been slit raggedly, and that where the man’s tongue gently trailed the skin slowly pulled back into perfect smoothness, as if there had never been a wound.
Numbly, he lifted a hand to his mouth and felt inside of his mouth, now wet and cool. His finger was bloody and shaking when he lifted it out to examine. Why had this happened? How was this happening? Gabe lifted his head to see the tall male had finished and returned to watching him curiously. His arm was streaked with dark, glistening trails of blood but the skin was newly whole and intact, and he stood almost unnaturally still. The light remained dimmed, but he could see the man was handsome and pale; striking dark brown eyes stared curiously back at him as Gabe sat back up and nervously tried to shuffle back.
“Who are you?”
Gabe didn’t realise he was speaking until the words had already escaped him, but he just waited in anticipation as the brunette tilted his head slightly.
“I think,” came a drawling, deep reply, “a better question would be where is your family? You’re a little lost, baby.”
Gabe was a taken aback at the nickname, ‘baby’? The man had spoken it with a small, almost flirtatious smirk and glinting eyes but Gabe could not focus on that when he wondered about the question. His family? His mum was fine, back home when he’d last spoken to her. Unless the man meant… was his mum also involved in this? Was she also chained nearby in a dark, hot room? Horror flooded him at the image, and he pressed back into the headboard.
“Please, just tell me what you want. Don’t hurt my mum, please.” Gabe softly spoke even as nerves clenched at his abdomen, watching as the man frowned a little. Something in his stomach gurgled and he felt faintly nauseous as he glanced down where the blood had soaked the sheets around him, but he couldn’t think about that impossibility. Not right now.
“Where is your family; why did you leave them? Tell me now. Don’t mess me about, baby.” This time, the reply was blunt and quick, slightly irritated, and the man pulled the chair from the corner over to sit next to Gabe. All previous playfulness had disappeared from his voice and his stance hardened as he grew more serious; there was no flirty undertone. No way in hell was Gabe giving out his mum’s address; if they didn’t have her, he didn’t want that to change. This was confusing though; why did they want his family’s address? For a ransom note? It’s not as if his mum would be able to afford anything like that.
“No.” Biting his lip lightly, Gabe watched as the man sighed and leant forward into his space.
“Listen to me. I don’t want to hurt you, but you are a new-born; I can’t have you wandering around here alone. You need to tell me who your family is, and I will return you to them. I’m sure they’re already looking for you.” The man leant back and lifted his elbows onto the back of the chair, tilting his head back a little as if to listen to the world outside the small room.
“You were starving just then; you need to tell me who your family is so I know you will be safe. You would’ve been found and killed if you were on your own like when I found you.” Gabe was lost; the man kept talking and talking but nothing was saying made sense. The man sat forward again and waited expectantly for an answer, but Gabe had none to give. ‘New-born’? What the hell was he talking about?
“Did you drug me?” Bravely, he whispered out his next thought, “What did you do to me? Why did you make me drink blood?” He still felt as if he was in a dream, or perhaps a nightmare, but the chains rested solidly against him and the blood felt cold and soothing in his mouth.
It was the man’s turn to be confused. “You were starving. You were giving a call; how could I not? We are too few to let one so young die.”
Gabe lifted his hand again to feel for the blood mixed in his saliva, staring blankly at the man who now appeared a little concerned. His finger swept across his tongue and went to withdraw until something suddenly caught him; he felt a sharp tooth; new and foreign and curved into a wicked end which almost pricked him as he explored it in disbelief. Across from him, the man looked increasingly worried.
“Who is your family?” He pressed on urgently, leaning forward onto his knees to stare deep into Gabe’s eyes, as if trying to seek the truth, “Tell me now.”
“It’s just me and my mum- “, Gabe started but the man cut him off, “No! Who is your true family? Not your human one.”
Human? His brain felt slow and sluggish with shock, but he was not stupid. Gabe had drunk blood just before and now had fangs apparently. Something had clearly happened in the time he had been captive and unconscious, but he could not think enough to come to a realisation; it felt like his thoughts were drifting past him like clouds on a warm summer day; too far away and slow to grasp fully.
At the silence that met him, the man made a noise of frustration and strode from the room, leaving the door open behind him. Gabe licked his lips again; gulping back a wave of sickness as he shifted in the slickness of blood-soaked fabric. Logically, he could not be anything but human. Had someone operated on him? Replaced his teeth with these new sharp blades that felt foreign and deadly in comparison to his regular. And yet, when his tongue pressed up again, the intrusion was gone, and regular human teeth remained instead.
He must be drugged; he was hallucinating. His fingers revealed that indeed his teeth were now smooth and normal, but the blood around him did not disappear and although his heart pounded hard and he felt hazy with fear and shock, he felt alert enough. The light shining in from where the door now waited open invitingly shone a bleak illumination over the blood spilled around him and he could not remain there.
Again, he tried to stand from the bed and again the chains pulled him back. Sitting there amongst the puddles of red stains felt like a torture but he had no choice but to remain there until someone came back. As he laid back, he again tried to remain calm and shut his eyes. The shadows danced around his eyelids as soon as they shut, and his breathing rate increased; terror that the horrid thirst would return kept him awake even as what felt like hours passed.
Just when he thought he may finally be relaxed enough to attempt to sleep, the sound of approaching footsteps jolted him alert again. It sounded like multiple people, Gabe noted with some concern, and was proven right when three people finally reached the door and entered.