Pet
by
James de Moss
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“Hey newbie…you awake?”

Sara awoke to an unfamiliar voice, her cheek pressed roughly against
a stone floor, the harsh edges biting into her soft skin, accompanied by a
deep cold that seemed to penetrate right into her bones.  Levering herself
up on her hands and knees, she looked around for the source of the voice.

“H-hello?” She called out, fear softening her voice.

“Shhh, stay quiet, I’ll come to you. We don’t want to wake the
others” The voice sounded closer this time, and was accompanied by the
sound of movement from nearby. After a moment a woman crawled into view on
hands and knees, her terribly pale form completely naked against the cold
stone. Long brown hair hung down and over her shoulders as she crawled
towards Sara, moving against her arms like silk until she stopped a few
feet away. Looking away in embarrassment, Sara found her own body devoid of
clothing, quickly tucking one hand between her legs and the other across
her breasts.

“What’s your name kid?”

Fear won out over anger, and when she answered there was a tremble in
her voice. “S-Sara…”

The other woman settled back on her knees. “I’m Lindsay. Wish I could
say I was pleased to meet you, but I wish neither of us were here.”

“Where is here? And why are we…naked?” Sara blushed in the dark,
hating herself for it.

“I dunno. He never lets us out of here, not the sane ones anyway. And
everybody’s naked here, it’s just the way he likes us.” She jerked a thumb
back over one shoulder, indicating something in the dark that Sara couldn’t
see.

“Who’s He?!” Sara hissed, the panic rising in her throat like bile.

“He, Him, The Guy…he’s the one who brought you here.” Lindsay cocked
her head to one side. “Oh shit…you don’t know, do you?”

“Don’t know what?!” Her voice had grown shrill again, drawing a growl
from the darkness and the sound of bodies shifting against stone.

“Keep it down!” Lindsay hissed, “ I told you we don’t want to wake
the others up.”

“Others? Other women?” Sara was whispering again.

“Er…sort of. They might have been once, but they’ve been in here for
too long I think. They’re sort of…changed now.”

“Changed?! What do you mean changed?!” Her eyes wide, Sara felt panic grip
her heart like a vice. “Am I going to change?”

“Calm down Sara, take a deep bre…oh shit…” Lindsay cut herself off
mid-word as Sara tried to suck in a deep breathe of air…and got nothing at
all. Her brain screamed for oxygen as she fought to make her lungs work,
bent double over her knees as her body fought for air. Pain lanced through
her limbs as they were forced rigid, her animal instincts kicking in as she
tried for just one gasp precious breath.

She writhed in agony on the stone floor, thoughts of modesty gone,
her limbs flung wide, scraping her knees and fingers raw against the stone.
Spots swam before her eyes and her whole world shut down like a metal
shutter had been thrown over her eyes.

When she awoke next she was on her back, her head pillowed against
something soft and cool. She looked up into Lindsay’s eyes, realizing that
her head must be resting in the other woman’s lap.

“What’s…what’s happening to me?” She half croaked, half sobbed.

Lindsay sighed, reaching back to tuck a few strands of hair behind
her ear. Her slightly pointed ear, Sara noted in horror. “You’re changing
hun, starting to be like us.”

“I’m not breathing…” She whined, her mind refusing to accept it.

“Yeah…see that’s the real kicker, technically you’re dead now…”

“I’m…dead?” Sara just stared up at the other woman, eyes wide in
shock.

“Yeah…sort of. From what I can tell we’re kind of, well, vampires
now. Or something like them anyway.” Lindsay peeled back her upper lip,
exposing an incisor that was curved to a wickedly sharp point.

Struggling up away from the other woman, Sara stared at her mouth
open in shock…and slowly became aware that she could see again. The
formerly dark room had lightened some, details that had been formerly
hidden laid bare.

Slowly her eyes were drawn to a pile of pale flesh near one corner of
the room. Pale, moving, flesh. It took several long moments for her brain
to make sense of the seemingly random tangle of arms and legs, but she
could slowly pick out individual forms writhing against each other. Hair
colour of all different kinds blended into and against the uniformly chalk
white skin of the women in the pile.

“What are they doing?” She gasped, unable to tear her eyes away.

Lindsay cleared her throat uncomfortably, When she spoke she sounded
embarrassed, but no blush graced those white cheeks. “Fucking.”

Rounding back on Lindsay, eyes wide, Sara couldn’t control the volume
of her voice. “WHAT?!”

Wincing, Lindsay held out her hands placating. “I said keep it down
okay? They’re like animals down here, and when there’s nothing else to
do…they do that.” She gestured helplessly at the pile.

“How come you’re not…” Sara stopped, an aroma like fresh bread
wafting to her nostrils. No it was like steaks on the barbeque. No it was
like her mothers bran muffins fresh out of the oven. It was like all of
that and nothing she’d smelled before. “What is that smell?” She asked,
certain she would be salivating if she could.

“Feeding time.” Lindsay remarked grimly, turning towards the large
wooden door set into one wall.

A slat at the bottom of the door slid open and a battered plastic dog
food bowl slid into the room, filled to spilling with a thick, dark liquid.
Sara knew instantly that’s where the smell was coming from, and she felt
herself draw towards it, creeping forward on her hands and knees.

Movement from behind her drew her gaze over her shoulder, the pile of
undulating women untangling from each other and slinking towards the bowl.
They’d gone only a few steps when a thick voice rasped from the other side
of the door.

“NO! You’ll get your feeding later…this is for the new arrival.”

The voice made her shiver, undeniably masculine but…twisted somehow,
wrong. It held her attention for only a few moments before her eyes were
dragged forcibly back to the bowl, her palms and knees scraping against the
floor as she crawled slowly towards it.

Pausing over the bowl, her hair almost touching the dark liquid, she
turned back to Lindsay. “Vampires right?”

Lindsay sighed, nodding. “Vampires.”

Slowly Sara lowered her face to the bowl, lapping at the liquid with
her tongue. It was still hot and soon she was gulping it down, her lower
face buried up to her nose in the bowl, slurping the thick, red substance
down her throat as fast as she could manage.

A panel high in the door slid open slowly, revealing a pale, hairless
face that set the other women in the room into a fit of hissing, retreating
back to the corner to glare balefully at him. Steepling fingers that were
one knuckle too long against his cheek he chuckled, a grating sound that
made Sara’s skin crawl.

“That’s right my pet,” He crooned, “Feed. Feeeeeeeed….”