We got to the portal in a little under 30 minutes of walking, and although several Scathes attempted to stop us, Sarah Fortune took short work of them. She was like some sort of Jedi master with the Force, and she even did a little Darth Vader thing where she Force choked the thing, but instead of squeezing, Sarah Fortune kind of made the Scathe's head explode from the pressure. Yeah.... I really gotta make sure to never get on her bad side.

The portal itself was pretty impressive, it was a swirling mass of green, purple and black, like a galaxy plopped to the side, and it was absolutely massive. Like, 6 plus stories high and just as wide. The barrier protecting the thing was barely visible, like a thin sheet of glass. I didn't even notice it until Sarah pointed it out. After seeing the whole thing I was starting to feeling a little sceptical about my decision, to say the very least, especially when the only thing she gave me for my mission was my cellphone, some money, and a jacket.

“Ok,” I said, “I know you said that I'm not gonna mount an assault on their base or anything, but shouldn't you have give me some kind of weapon, you know, just in case?”

“Unfortunately, Mr. Morgan, you are not licensed to use any of the firearms that are powerful enough to make an impact on Scathes, and even if you were, I would not have handed you one. I will not remind you again, but your job is to simply get in and broadcast their location. Therefore the only thing you will need is the cellphone to track your location, and the money so you can stay somewhere safe while we get you. You are to wait while we pin-point your coordinates, and you will, by no means, engage on to any hostiles. Do I make myself clear?”

“Got it,” I replied, not daring to question her further after that whole “exploding Scathe” thing, “get in, get out, and hide like a little girl.”

“Good. Now then, whenever you are ready, Mr. Morgan.”

“Right, here I go then...” I said, taking one final look at SIDNA HQ before I teleported past the barrier and stepped into the swirling mass...

And immediately feel face first into concrete with a sickening sound of cracked glass. Wait, cracked glass?

I sat up, checked my surroundings – seemed like I was in some sort of underground bunker, an all too familiar sight – smeared the blood off my nose and looked at the shattered remains of my new phone.

“Wonderful, god fucking wonderful.” I muttered to myself, “of course the portal would drop me face first in some shitty underground bunker, and of course I'd break my phone while I'm at it.” I just hope Ms. Fortune had some back-up plan in case I did that, else I'll be stuck on the other side of the portal for a long time.

I sighed and started picking up the bits of broken phone, and was rudely interrupted by someone pointing a gun at me – right, picking up pieces of phone when you've been dropped loudly in some unknown, hostile place was probably not the smartest thing I could have done.

“God damn it, it's another escapee,” a burly man in his mid 30's said, “should we just shoot 'em like last time?” The guy talked like he had an IQ lower than his age.

“Nah man, you saw how mad the boss was,” said another man, his southern accent palpable, hell this guy looked even dumber than the first if that was even possible, “just round it up and report it, it's more fun like that anyways, you know how much they like to mess with them escapees.”

I was about to knock these two idiots out when I remembered Sarah's specific instructions – 'avoid hostiles' I think it was. I already screwed up enough as it is, I didn't want to risk pissing her off any more, and knowing my luck I'll probably get killed even if I tried. Although I really didn't want to, I raised up my hands and decided to play it safe and just let them catch me, I could most likely port out after in any case.

“Yeah that's right, get yer ass back in yer cage,” Muscles 1 said, dragging me off the ground painfully by the hair, “thinking ya could escape, did ya? Oh, I can't wait till I see yer screaming little face when them scientists get to ya.”

The two lead me a short distance away into a room with several metal, barred cages, each the size of a small room, what was inside of them was sickening. Inside each cage were two or three sickly looking people, each crawling back in fear when they saw the jailers. I saw one girl that was no older than 25 shackled to the ground, with a bloody, misshapen bulge where her hands should be, next to her was an older gentleman with hollow cheeks and a pair of glazed over, lifeless eyes. Every cage was the same story: torture.

It took every bit of will power I had to stop myself from attacking the two guys dragging me, and it wasn't until they shoved me into one of the cages and left that I could even begin to calm down a little.

When the rage subsided I saw that there was only one other person in the cage I was in, and the figure was slumped in a corner, unmoving. It was pretty clear what I had to do: get him and everyone else here out, and more importantly, make these assholes pay.

* * *

I started to survey the room in more detail when I heard the last of Muscles 1 and 2's footsteps vanish. The cages themselves were made out of steel and it would be a simple task to get out of, but there was no way in hell I was leaving without these people. There was also no way around the heavy doors without the key, and looking around the room I couldn't see anything that could force them off either. This pretty much means that I had to wait for someone to come get me. At this point I didn't care what Sarah said about avoiding confrontation; if the only way to get these people out was to take out those scum, not even an order from god would stop me from doing it.

I leaned back on the metal bars and sighed; why do I always find myself in these kinds of situations? But this time it's not just my life on the lines, but all of these people. These people need me. I won't let the past repeat and doom everyone again. Maybe this was my chance to redeem myself. Either way, this wasn't the time to mope around.

I got up and walked towards the figure in the corner, still unsure if he was alive or not. Upon closer inspection I saw shallow breathing under the tattered clothing he was using as a blanket. Good, still alive.

“Uh, hello there?” I said tentatively.

No response.

I leaned in close to the figure and gently turned him around on his back. Apparently it wasn't a he, but a she. The girl, who looked to be in her early or mid 20s, had the tell tale signs of malnutrition and abuse, and was covered in dirt and grime. Her lips were busted and her left cheek was badly swollen, but even covered in bruises it wasn't hard to tell that she was stunning. Her hair was kept short but its colour was impossible to tell under the dirt. She was wearing a mouldy Nirvana t-shirt and what appears to be blue jeans, or at least what's left of it.

“Um, are you ok...?” I said, nudging her a little. There was still no response.

I propped her head up and went to check her pulse, but when my hands closed in on her neck she popped open her eyes – a mesmerizing ruby red - and with inhuman she speed lunged for my throat, mouth open and showing a long set of sharp canines.

Ah shit, a vampire. Had to be a vampire.

I fell backwards and before I could port away she was on me. She was impossibly strong even in her weakened state, and I could do nothing to stop her from sinking her teeth into my forearm. I felt the blood draining from me, but just when I was sure that I was done for the pressure from my arms faded. Taking advantage of this strange opportunity, I shoved the girl off me and crawled away, still unsure as to what exactly happened.

“I'm... I'm so sorry!” the girl said, looking a lot more human than she did a minute ago, “It's just... I was so hungry... I – I didn't mean to, oh god, I'm so sorry!”

“Uh, it's fine, don't worry about it.” I said, and although she did attack me it seemed like it wasn't on purpose, and plus, she's suffered enough, “Are you feeling better now?”

“I'm so sorry for attacking you,” she said, ignoring my question, “I mean, you smelled just like one of them.”

“Like I said, don't worry about it, I'm just glad I could help I guess.” And you know what? I actually was glad that she was ok, despite the fact that I almost died – hell, as sad as it is to say, I was already used to almost dying. “But seeing as you're fine, can you tell me what's going on here?”

“Oh, you don't know?” she said, blushing a little, “I guess that means that they just got you, huh? Explains the clean clothes – those don't last long here... And you sure that you're ok with what I did earlier?”

“Don't worry, I think that anyone would have made that uh... mistake in your shoes. No hard feelings, I swear.”

“You really mean that? You're not going to be angry or anything? I mean, I broke one of the biggest taboos, oh god! Look, I'll do anything to make up for that, you sure I don't have to do... something?” the girl said, leaning towards me.

The message was pretty clear.

“No, uh I'm fine, really.” I felt my cheeks turn four shades redder, shifting my eyes I said, “And we have bigger problems to deal with right now, like getting everyone out of here.”

“If you say so,” she said, and if my ego was even a tad bit bigger I might have thought that she looked a little disappointed. “but there is no escape from here, I've seen how they treat the people who've tried.”

“Oh, don't worry about that, the two guards that got me should be easy enough to deal with. When they come back I can take them out quick and get you guys out of here.”

“You don't understand, we can't touch them. We wouldn't be here if we could. We tried... and well, I'm sure you can see how that turned out.” the girl said, her lonely eyes gazing outwards the other prisoners, “I'm saying this for your own good, but there's this thing on them – maybe an enchantment or something – and it weakens us if we even get close. So it doesn't matter if we're faster or stronger, because we can't touch them. I've seen too many of us die, so please don't try... I – I just, I really don't...”

My male hormones must have been kicking in overdrive because I hugged the poor girl and held her there without thinking, because vampire or not, no one deserved this kind of treatment. I couldn't – let alone want to – imagine just how much she must have suffered in this place, all by herself.

“Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, but I'm not gonna leave everyone to die a slow death here either. I think I'll be able to get through their enchantment, just trust me, ok? I'm a little different than everyone else.”

She clenched onto me harder, shivering.

“I know you don't believe me, but... just... everything'll be all right, ok?”

“They always say that, you know.” she said, letting me go and sitting a few feet back, “'Everything will be all right', like those words would turn back time and magically make thing ok. If everyone who's ever said that was right, no one would be in this shit hole. No one would be tured into fucking monsters, and everything will be all rainbows and unicorns.”

“Ok, I realize you're not gonna buying it,” I said, sighing, “so how about we make this more interesting? Let's make a bet: if we get out of here alive, you'll treat me to a good dinner, anything I want, plus I get full 'I-told-you-so' rights – finger pointing and all. However, in the slight chance that things go wrong, and you were right all along.... well, I guess I'll owe you dinner or something. ”

She actually laughed a little, “Hey, that's not fair, you're better off no matter what with those conditions, 'cause if I'm right then... well, never mind that. I think that we need to rework these terms, I demand some changes!”

I couldn't help but smile, “Oh yeah? What changes?”

“If you win then I'll treat you to dinner... but you'll take me out somewhere nice after. And don’t worry, you'll still get to brag about it, I wouldn't want to hurt your delicate male ego.”

“You strike a hard bargain, but you know what? I'll accept your terms.” I chucked, shaking her hand, “It's a deal.”

She shook my hands and said, “May the best woman win.”

Her smile was lovely.

“Oh right,” I said, forgetting that I didn't even know her name, “I'm Frank by the way.”

“It's Sable.” she said, “And I would say that it's nice to meet you, but given the circumstances, it'd have been better if we hadn't met at all.”

“Dessert.”

“What?” she said, tilting her head a little.

“I said dessert, I want dessert as well for that last comment.”

“Fine, fine,” a little of her smile returned, “if we make it out in one piece you can have whatever the hell you want.”

I was about to ask Sable something else but stopped when I saw her whole body tense up with fear. I looked around the room and saw that everyone did the same. A few seconds later I heard faint footsteps approaching us and an all too familiar voice.