Drip, drip, drip'

The trickling waters slithered down in the dark. He could hear the sounds surrounding him and it galled him. His sense of hearing was so acute that every little sound was almost a conversation face to face. Except MUCH louder. Like lying his head next to a gong being beaten. Everything was too loud. The noises from nearby cell mates, their breathing, their heartbeats, the insects scampering on the walls...even the footsteps up above on the stone floors. Another side effect from the flask no doubt.

He remembered fuzzily the whispers of magic penetrating his ears and suddenly noise poured in like a waterfall and he'd covered his ears and screamed at the sound. Blacking out had been a miracle, but waking up had been a nightmare. He knew he'd been given a second draught of whatever liquid Arkesh had poured down his throat the first time. It had burned throughout his body again but he hadn't been out to see what changes had been made. He'd heard at first a few whispers about being too dangerous before the sounds started up.

It was unbearable.

His muscles felt the burden of under use, the urge to roam but forced to stay stifled in this prison stymied a person's soul. One instant he was roaming through some beautiful green scenery, the next capture, torment, for... days, weeks, years? He did not know how much time had passed down here in the darkness.

The snoring of his cell mate and the snores from the cages next to theirs, the buzzing of some gnat across the room, the rise and fall of their chests, and worst of all their beating hearts. It was making him hungry'He could hear their hearts thudding in their chests, the blood pulsing through their veins.

Shut it off...he thought, wanting more than anything to be deaf. His hands clamped over his ears when suddenly the noise died away. Everything sounded normal. He sat up in surprise. The movement causing his belly to protest hungrily.

And the hunger, he felt it rise up in his bones, causing every sinew in his muscles to be taut'oh he was so hungry, and he could feel the warm bodies around him. He squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated hard on the small ones. The big ones were sentient, feeling'

But there were... Rats' Not his favorite if he had a choice but anything was better than eating the guy you just had a conversation with.

One rat in particular was climbing through to his cage, searching for breadcrumbs left by his cell mate. His cell mate, who was grateful to be alive because he was supposed to be Atli's dinner, was sleeping blissfully unaware of the struggle of his cell mate.

Drip, drip, drip'

Drip...

Just keep quiet and still, he thought, it will come to you.

Hunger'

It will come'

Drip, drip, drip'

Drip...

The squeal sounded piercing as he lashed out and snatched the rat from the board in front of him. With a snarl he sank his teeth into its flesh and drank the warm blood down hungrily. It dripped down his chin and he found himself licking it off of his face. It was not enough to sate him but it was something. He settled back to wait again, knowing he had disturbed his neighbors. Eyes stared at him in the darkness, breaths sucked in. Some of them could see in this black he knew, but he couldn't. He didn't have to see them with his eyes to know what they were.

His cell mate the werewolf woke up suddenly at the first squeal staring fearfully into the darkness. He could see Atli eating the rat so he relaxed. Once he'd realized the vampire had no intention of chowing down on him they'd formed a tentative relationship. Atli drained whatever rats he caught, Herosh finished them off. It wasn't much but it was something.

He could sense them the others in the cells down the line, which bothered him more than he was willing to admit. He'd never been able to do that before. This was a different kind of sensing, almost a 'knowing.' There was no explanation for it. Experimenting in the darkness he found he could turn this off and on too like the hearing.

Not all vampires had his abilities either, he was an anomaly'an experiment they couldn't control. Arkesh had not dared to try his mix on any other Vampire. They'd enhanced him, giving him abilities but he refused to be mindless to his bloodlust. It fascinated and chagrined them and so they kept him down here in the dark, weakened and contained while Arkesh exclaimed that they were so close and that he must 'return to the drawing board.' He'd gonte from being able to hear to hearing that was simply beyond anything anyone would dream of. His strength, he had no idea how strong he was after the first draught. A Vampire is an excellent fighter comparable to an elf but after taking the drink he'd been able to best His Fay opponent with ease. What else could he do? He had no idea and wasn't sure if he'd escape to find out.

The hunger burned in him so much though. The need for blood was overwhelming but he managed not to move toward his cell mate. This fact alone was disturbing to these Fay. They wanted to know about his will. Where did it come from'why wasn't he a starving maniac on a blood-lust crusade. More importantly, how did he resist? Yes, they'd made him stronger, in everything'so how did he resist the urge to feed on the nearest source of blood?

Revenge was on his mind then. I will taste these bloody Fay, he decided. Waiting, he could do that'he wasn't going to die, at least he didn't think he would. However there were worse things than death. He'd seen a few already. Some were caged nearby. He could hear their piteous moans, it would be a mercy if some of them had died. Lying on the stones that he could barely see staring into darkness that was the ceiling he swore he'd take at least one of the Fay down with him. The damp air was his witness.

"Hey Herosh." He whispered to the blackness. "What were you before you came here?"

Herosh breathed in before answering. "The village outcast. I was in the stocks you know when they took me. Told me I'd get revenge on the ones who put me there."

"The stocks? What for?" Atli didn't really care at the moment but talking was better than nothing.

"Stealing," said Herosh. "I was hungry."

"Did you believe them?"

There was a pause. "No. But I didn't get too much of a choice. There's not much to tell, I'm parentless, not missed. I think they gave gold for me to the town Mayor. I know he took other children to 'experiment on."'

"Herosh, " Atli said in a more serious tone. "If we ever get out of here, let's go hunting you and I."

"Hunting?" Herosh sounded incredulous.

"Yeah," said Atli, "We'll start small, maybe deer or mountain lions, and when we get the hang of it, maybe something tinged a little blue."

In the darkness Herosh grinned weakly. "Sounds like a plan."

A few weeks later Atli and Herosh were still in their cell. A rat had not made it's way into their cells for a few weeks. One of the other halfings had died, a man they tried to combine with a horse to make a creature called a centaur. He'd laid out on his side refusing to get up and refusing to talk with the other prisoners. There was a were cat beyond them who by her sounds might die as well.

Look weak when I'm not weak, Atli thought. Guard goes down, their guard must go down at some point'and then I will get one... Herosh himself was pretty weak in his cell. He could hardly move, Atli had found himself praying for a rat or two just to stuff down the werewolf's throat.

Blinding light suddenly filled the darkness, it was piercing, like a sword thrust into his eyes. He squinted in spite of his resolution to not move and play weak. The footsteps that came down were light. A servant, he thought. Mentally he went through the list of servants that served food to the cells. His mind instantly settled on the smallest with the lightest footsteps.

Dianon, was female, a small weaker Fay, made to serve the stronger. She believed in their cause well enough, even if she didn't like being on the bottom. But that was the way with the Fay. The stronger ruled over the weak, sometimes ruthlessly, those more powerful were on top, sometimes it was a bloody rise to the top. Others either learned their place or died in it. Being the sister of Arkesh held it's advantages however, and she got to see the work he was doing up close. In some ways she was as ruthless as he was if but lacking in the art of magic.

The Fay have a society set up as the strong rule the weak. It is drilled into them from very young that power is the ultimate goal. They have what one would call a Spartan society. They love power, above all they crave it, and are unwilling to give that up or change. Their society is based on strength. The strongest warrior or magician (or one who is sometimes both) will rule. Sometimes the revolutions are quite bloody. and are considered beneficial as the weak are weeded out.

The love of power has caused them to use almost every means of sustaining it. In times past they created many 'creatures' to battle against their enemies. They kidnapped many different races to try this on, even their own weaker members.

In their quest of creating soldiers they created a blood thirsty race of vampires who they thought would be the ultimate soldier. The ultimate nightmare. But they hadn't counted on the memories or the will of the creatures they once were, and they payed a terrible price in the ancient wars for it. The Vampires turned on their creators and sided with those who were once their brethren.

Dianon approached the cages quickly balancing food trays. Her bright orange hair made her difficult to look at so Atli closed his eyes, he did not need to see her to know where she was. Her robes swished on the floor'the dragging was so loud that he had to will himself not to move, not to wince at the creaking of the door opening to drop food in for his cell mate. The sounds were like knives to his ears. It took everything in him not to move, not to breathe'

Everything was just too loud. He thought of switching his hearing off in a way and suddenly it was gone, he could hear normally again.

Drip, drip, drip...

Dianon looked at him, and approached cautiously, she was supposed to check on him, but from a distance. Odd for her to be in his cage but he didn't care at this point. She must think him completely weakened. She would do.

His arm snaked out as she bent down, her curiosity killing her, the movement was so fast it didn't register on her face until he'd snapped his teeth into her throat. She couldn't scream as his other hand was clamped over her face. His vampire mask, a second set of muscles normally unseen popped out. Time stood still as he drank deeply, the struggling thing didn't register in his arms at all. It couldn't break his hold now. He was so hungry he did not care at this point, the hunger consumed him, and he feasted.

The struggling Fay, drooped, and a sigh escaped her lips as her last breath slipped past his fingertips and still he didn't drop her. Not until she was almost completely dry did he let go. She hit the floor with a sickening thud, lifeless.

His eyes snapped open and his weariness was gone. He looked over at his cell mate who was wide awake fear and awe written over his features.

"Me next," Herosh said hobbling over.

Atli shrugged. 'You know you could have said that maybe five minutes ago, I might have had to oblige you, but now I'm full, how about we just get out of here? We said we were hunting remember?'

'Atli,' he said again, 'I'm weak. I don't drink blood, not like you do. I would not be able to help you get out of here, I certainly wouldn't make it''

Atli looked at him, the man or what used to pass as a man was half a monster, he was what the humans called a werewolf, but a screw up, like himself. His body had sprouted fur but it had stayed there instead of reverting to his original human form. He could never go back into hiding, he was a man thing as he referred to himself. He wanted so badly to die.

Atli hadn't cared except that he didn't feel like giving the Fay anything else they wanted. Humans were not all that tempting to him, they grew old faster than everyone else. A concept he was not familiar with. Vampires didn't age a day, they lived long, died usually on a sword point, and that was the end of it.

"Look, Herosh," Atli whispered, you can either try getting out with me, or stay here, either way, I'm getting out of this bloody place. Besides, we're both bloody freaks, where are we going to go?'

Herosh, shrugged his fur covered shoulders. Standing up, his gray pants were dirty and covered with straw. He looked thin, his muscles sagging from lack of use.

Atli stood and walked out of his cage' he paused and looked around and with a grunt went through and ripped every other cage open. Was it really this easy to open these he thought? Was I really that weakened?

The inhabitants were all staring at him in alarm, but he dismissed them all and headed for the stairs. He wasn't much for tolerating the presence of so much noise at the moment and was doing everything in his power to block it all out. He was almost to the top of the stairs when chaos suddenly hit.

Loud booming chaos.

The top of the stairs broke open, literally the wall exploded, fresh air and light poured in and the dank smell rushed out. The light was so blinding to the ones sitting in the darkness that they cried out in fear. Even Atli dropped to the floor in surprise holding his ear drums at the noise.

And then he saw what it was. A raiding party, a bloody elf raiding party of all things. He wasn't sure whether he should laugh or cry. He fell to his knees holding his ears, the pain was unbearable, he could hear swords clashing, and magic being used. He could feel the magic in the air.

A heavily armed elf approached him, sword drawn. His battle armor glinted in the newly let in light. His steps thundered across the stones, causing Atli to wince. His blond hair was drawn back revealing a face that showed contempt for what he saw before him. Atli wasn't sure what to expect at this point. Elves had always been friends with him but now he wasn't sure what to expect from this one. The Elf looked over him in disdain, and started to raise the sword higher. Atli ducked again preparing to defend himself.

'Wait.' It was deafening to him, but there was no mistaking the commanding tone the voice sang with. It was not to be disobeyed. He looked at her, and everything stopped.

She had long dark brown hair spilling down her back, her elvish features smooth and flawless, normal for an elf, but her eyes, blue, were commanding and spilling with strength. She was in charge here.

'He is of the Kin,' she said sharply. 'Wyborn you must not kill them, you know where they come from."

'Your majesty, it is a vampire, by the looks of things, he was just escaping but really, he looks starved, I do not wish to put you in any type of danger. He may be too hungry to know what he is doing. In a Fay encampment, he could be Vai-Siri.'

"Last time we checked," the female Elf said, "Vai Siri wouldn't be locked in a cage. We must give him the benefit of the doubt."

The woman in full battle armor considered him as Atli stared up at her stupidly, hands over his ears. Her dark blue eyes took in his form from head to toe and she shook her head at the male elf known as General Wyborn.

"Look," Atli started, "If you are going to kill me then do it already, I was working on my own bloody escape plan. But I'm pretty sure I can die a happy vampire if you are the last thing I'm going to see." He felt foolish when those last words escaped him. But she just looked hard at him.

Wyborn raised his sword, "Did you not hear me say "Your majesty?' to this one? How dare you!" He moved forward but the Lady in full battle arm stopped him with a hand on his chest. She looked down at Atli again.

'Sleep,' she said, and waved her hand.

Dumas hadn't taught him those kinds of spells.