Chapter 2

I woke up to busy sounds and beeping on my left. As I opened my eyes, fluorescent lights from the ceiling blinded me for a few moments. I wondered vaguely why Leonardo would have fluorescent lights in his home. After all, fluorescent lights are never flattering…

Then there was the pain. There was a searing pain in my abdomen, my chest, my back, my shoulders, my arms and my neck. A small part of me was thankful that my face seemed to be unharmed. The pain was overwhelming, but at the same time I wanted to sit up and take in my surroundings. I could tell from my lying position that I was actually in a hospital bed but at the time I had no idea what had happened to me. Both of my arms were in casts; and, although covered by sheets, I suspected that my chest and stomach were covered with bruises. It seemed as though all I could do was move from one pathetic situation to another; from confinement in a cage to confinement in a bed. 

I was somewhat distraught that no one was in the room with me. Had I been abandoned? I couldn’t be; I was too large an investment, right?

I wondered where Leonardo could be. My last thought before drifting off to sleep was that our ‘consummation’ was going to be postponed for a long time.

~ | ~

The next time I awoke in the hospital, there were voices just outside my room. Their tones were hushed because the door was open. I think they were trying not to disturb my slumber. I kept my eyes closed and listened closely.

“I would ask again how this could happen but I’m sure you’ll just apologize again,” said a low, rumbling voice. I recognized it as Leonardo’s. 

“It’s not supposed to be like this. Something’s wrong.” This voice had a slightly higher pitch and seemed panicked.

“Maybe it’s the wrong girl,” Leonardo supplied with nonchalance.

“It can’t be,” the other voice whispered harshly. “I’ve been dreaming about her since the fall of the Roman empire! That’s her! I just…I don’t know what happened…”

“It’s not like this hasn’t happened before. If you just take a good look at her—“

“No! It’s not the same! I can’t tell you how I know but—“

There was a pause. I hoped that they weren’t talking about me but I wasn’t that stupid. It was getting harder to play dead. I thought about making a sound to get them to stop talking, but, at the same time, I no longer wanted the attention. I didn’t like what the new man was saying. He had been dreaming about me? That was down-right creepy…

“She’s awake,” the unfamiliar voice deadpanned.

I sighed in defeat and opened my eyes. I watched Leonardo as he walked towards my bed and brushed his fingers across my forehead. The other man stayed outside the room, just out of my line of sight.

“How are you feeling, love?”

I tried—weakly—to shake my head to get him to move his hand away from my face. Thankfully Leonardo got the message. He withdrew his hand.

“Everything hurts,” I moaned. I sounded more pathetic than ever, but in my new suffering I didn’t care.

Leonardo smirked.

“Well, that’s natural. After all, you did shatter both your arms, break your collarbone and crack several ribs.” He paused as his mouth slid into its casual smirk. “Actually, if it weren’t for Mod’s quick thinking, you would not have survived at all.”

I wrinkled my nose at the unfamiliar name.

“Who’s Mod?”

Leonardo chuckled.

“Why do you ask?” He was teasing me. “Would you like to meet him?”

I started to nod but the pain in my neck stopped me.

“Yes,” I croaked.

Leonardo stood straighter and looked toward the door.

“Come here, Mod,” he called. “I think someone would like to meet you.”

Leonardo tried to keep his smirk from morphing into a smile. At his request, a tall, willowy young man entered the room. He seemed at a loss for words. His large eyes were a few shades darker than his chocolate mousse hair. His delicate features gave him a certain androgyny that made me uncomfortable. He was…pretty.

His eyes met mine as he stood beside my bed next to Leonardo. I felt heat rise from my neck to my face. My neck began to itch, a symptom of my nervousness. I looked away. None of this escaped Leonardo’s notice.

“Mod, this is my new pet, Roxanne.”

Mod looked upset. By ‘upset’, I mean pissed off. He shot a nasty look at Leonardo. The look seemed to go unnoticed by its object. Leonardo instead looked at me pointedly.

“Roxanne, I believe you have something to say to Mister Mod.”

The itching sensation on my neck continued as my eyes slid from Leonardo to Mod. His mouth was small and straight. His eyes were nothing less than intense. At that moment, I was convinced that he hated me.

“Thank you for saving my life, Mister Mod.” I smiled shyly, hoping it would improve his mood.

It didn’t. I watched as Mod’s expression became sourer. Sensing my nervousness under his harsh gaze, he turned his attention to Leonardo. Leonardo responded to this look with his usual smirk.

“I’m going home,” Mod said evenly to Leonardo. “I don’t need this.”

Mod then walked briskly out of the room.

“Ta-ta!” Leonardo called after him.

A few seconds later, a nurse with a cartload of covered plates stopped in front of the room.

“I just heard that you were awake, sweetheart,” the pleasant middle-aged woman said as she pulled the rolling desk surface so I could use it as a dining tray. Leonardo moved out of her way. She gingerly helped me sit up in bed, placing pillows behind my back to support me. “You’re lucky to have such a decent man as Mister Gravois to look after you.”

I smiled at her and murmured a timid “thank you”. Gravois had to be French, right? He didn’t sound very French…

While I mused about my master’s origins, the woman set my plate and eating utensils down in front of me and left to finish her rounds. The second the nurse was out of the room, Leonardo shut the door. I rolled my eyes at the thought of being in another enclosed space with him. Thankfully, the room was more spacious than the back of the limousine had been. Leonardo then took it upon himself to pull a chair up to my bedside and reach for the fork next to my plate.

“No,” I objected, “I want to feed myself.”

Leonardo sighed and put down the fork.

“Sweetheart, you can’t do that yet. Both of your arms are broken.”

“I can tell,” I said stonily. “How did it happen? I would love an explanation. I think I deserve one.”

“I couldn’t really say,” Leonardo said in a disinterested tone. “You must be hungry, though, darling. You’re nothing more than skin and bones. And you—“

“No!” My exclamation didn’t hold much power but it took much of my energy. “I don’t want you to feed me! I don’t want you to fatten me up so you’ll have something to hold on to when you fuck me!”

Leonardo looked at me testily. Perhaps I had gone too far. I couldn’t backtrack; I meant every word of it. Leonardo ended the tense moment by reaching for my fork again and lifting the lid from the plate.

“I paid too much for you to die because of some stupid little hunger strike.”

He jabbed a cooked baby carrot with the plastic fork and pushed it—rather forcefully—to my lips.

“You’ll eat something if I have to stuff your mouth until you choke.”

His face was completely serious. In that moment he was both handsome and frightening. His jaw was strong, determined. His eyes focused exclusively on mine.

I took the carrot into my mouth, slowly sliding it off the fork with my teeth. I chewed thoughtfully, turning away to look anywhere but at him.

“There’s a good girl,” he said. I could hear his smile in his voice.

I turned my face back towards him and almost caught a baby carrot with my cheek. After a few more bites I wasn’t hungry anymore. Unfortunately, every time I tried to tell Leonardo I was full, he would stuff another fork-load of food into my mouth. He didn’t stop until the plate was nearly clean. My meal was followed by a brief interlude of awkward silence.

“Um,” I croaked, “what time is it?” I could see sunlight through the blinds of the window near my bed.

Leonardo turned to look at a clock on the other side of the room that I hadn’t noticed.“Eleven thirty-seven,” he said, slumping in his chair. He ran his large hand through his shoulder-length hair. He suddenly seemed very tired.

“So, what happened?” I asked.

Leonardo tensed and became very agitated.

“I already told you. I couldn’t say.”

“No, not this,” I said, referring to my injuries. “I mean everything. What happened? What did I miss? I don’t even know where I am!”

Leonardo seemed to find amusement in my confusion.

“You’ll see all of that as soon as you get better.”

“I know... At least tell me who’s in charge.”

“Who’s in charge?” He seemed astonished at the question. “Well, I suppose I am.”

My eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

“As far as you’re concerned, Roxanne, I am God.”

I don’t know why I didn’t expect that kind of answer. I had set myself up for it. “I guess I should have expected that.” 

“Yes, you should have, pet. But as to the real intent of your question: there is no one.”

“Really?” This was interesting.

“Yes.” I knew he was being vague on purpose.

“You mean to tell me that there is no monarch or elected official to run this shin-dig?”

Leonardo looked like he didn’t understand why this mattered to me.

“Roxanne, how much do you know about what happened?”

I would have shrugged but it hurt to move my upper body.

“Not much,” I confessed. “All I know is that everything is different, more sinister…” A new question came to mind. I hadn’t thought to ask it before but, remembering the night I was captured made me realize that things were not just different. They were bizarre. “Leonardo, what exactly are you?"

“Well, I happen to be a dual citizen of the US and—“

“Please…master. You know what I mean.”Leonardo quickly sobered.

“Do you really want to know, Roxanne?”

Of course I did!

“Yes,” I answered softly.

“Alright then…I am a vampire.”

I blinked. I’d figured as much.

Leonardo eyed me warily, waiting for my reaction. He didn’t know that I had little reaction to give. He was both intrigued and disturbed by my attitude.

“You seem to be taking all of this…well.”

“I don’t have any choice in the matter. I can’t change what you are, what anything is…”

Leonardo seemed almost unsure how to proceed. I just stared at him, almost bored with his company. He didn’t strike me as a shape-shifting blood-sucker. He wasn’t very scary with his light hair and inviting eyes; he was just a little creepy. Besides, we really didn’t need to talk about it. He could have given me a magazine or a newspaper. There had to be some record of this monumental coup.

“Aren’t you upset about this?”

I didn’t change my expression or look away from him. His curious expression made him seem much less threatening.

“I guess I’m upset. I never wanted to be a slave. I don’t think anyone ever does. My life had become a giant disappointment…So, are there many vampires running around in broad daylight?”

“Sweetheart, there have always been vampires running around in broad daylight.”

That was an interesting tidbit.

“How?”

Leonardo seemed more comfortable that I was the confused one again.

“A vampire becomes indisputably immortal approximately 150 years after his transformation.”

I nodded slightly as I absorbed the information.

“I never knew that.”

“No mortal was ever meant to know that.”

I took a deep breath then hissed as I felt a sharp pain in my chest.

“Don’t do that,” Leonardo said, gently resting a hand on my arm.

I rolled my eyes.

“Well, I know that now,” I snapped. I wished I hadn’t done that because the result was more uncomfortable silence as Leonardo withdrew his hand.

“So,” I said slowly, “vampires rule the world…”

“Not at all,” Leonardo said quickly. “It’s not just vampires. There are all kinds of demons and monsters—“

“Well, that’s terribly comforting!” I interrupted. After a moment of reflection, I snorted. “Even, if I had somewhere to go, I’d never make it there alive, huh?”

Leonardo was fairly quick to comfort.

“While I wouldn’t ever suggest that you leave me, you shouldn’t assume that the world is really so terrible. I promise you it is not all monsters and hell-spawn. There are mermaids and elves, all of those wondrous creatures that you would find in a fairytale.”

He couldn’t be serious. I blinked several times. I didn’t speak. I did stop blinking (eventually) to stare out the window.I’m not sure why but I was more accepting of Leonardo’s calm admission to being a vampire than the small dragon that flew by my window at that moment. It strongly resembled a ‘fabled’ Chinese dragon. Its large, bulging eyes, glistening fangs and pointy horns were terrifying. Green scales covered its long, wingless serpentine body. It seemed to glide slowly through the air until I saw its delicate feathered tail pass by the window.

“Roxanne, are you alright?”

I dragged my focus back to Leonardo. He was looking out the window.  He had to have seen it!

“Of course,” I said in a strained, high-pitched voice, “I’m fine! I just feel like I ate a hash brownie before being run over by an 18-wheeler! I mean, this is too much! Did you see that thing go by the window?! I was…I don’t…This can’t be real! You can’t be real!”

I was hyperventilating. The heavy wheezing was causing almost unbearable pain in my chest and abdominal region. Seeing my agonizing expression as I struggled to measure my breathing, Leonardo leapt out of his chair. He leaned over the side of the bed until his face was right in front of me. His head tilted forward so that his hair tickled my cheeks. My eyes automatically zeroed in on his. They seemed to glow then sparkle as he spoke to me.

“Hush, child, hush.”

I gradually felt my breathing slow despite the fact that I was nervous about how close he was.

“We can talk about this later. Sleep now.”

I suddenly felt lethargic. My heavy eyelids fell into place.

~ | ~

When I awoke in the hospital again, it was to a dark room. The window blinds were slanted so that hardly any moonlight could illuminate the room. Oddly enough, I could hear the same amount of bustling going on as I did before I was put to sleep. The difference was that there was no Leonardo to greet me. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I saw a shadow near the door. At first I thought it was just a shadow. Then it shifted and turned on the lights.

Mod stood by the door. His hand lingered on the switch as though he was contemplating flipping it again. He looked at me nervously as if he was afraid because I was awake. I was unsure of what to say. After all, he departed from our first meeting in such a rude and abrupt manner. Instead of asking him why he was there, I chose to let him explain himself. He took the hint.

“I’m sorry about leaving earlier today,” he said shyly. He didn’t quite make eye contact as he made his way to the chair that Leonardo had occupied earlier. “It was very rude of me.”

I nodded slightly while chewing my bottom lip. He was looking down at his hands as if he was waiting to be scolded.

“I accept your apology,” I said cheerfully. “And again, thank you for saving my life.”

Mod held up his hands as if to deflect those words.

“Seriously, don’t mention it. I came to check up on you but I…I also wanted to see you about something.”

Again I nodded.

“Shoot.”

He became even more uncomfortable at that moment.

“I, um, I feel as though…I have to prove something to myself.”

I was confused by his reluctant speech, but accepted it nonetheless.

“Alright, be my guest.”

Mod scratched his ear nervously.

“Um, alright, uh…would you lift your arm for me?”

I lifted my arm. It was a slightly difficult task because it was heavier with the cast. I held it so that my hand was just before his face.

“Good, good. Now I need you to promise me one thing.”

My arm was heavy. I wanted him to get his little experiment over with.

“Yeah. What?”

“Promise me you won’t scream,” Mod said seriously, “no matter what happens.”

I nodded. 

“Alright, whatever.”

Mod’s eyes bored into my own as he slid his index finger across the exposed portion of the back of my hand. It felt as though a knife was slicing through my skin. Blood leaked from my skin, pooled on my hand, and dripped onto my bed sheets. His index finger sliced through my skin. I broke my promise. I screamed until a nurse came in and sedated me.