025: SURVIVAL INSTINCTS OF A FART

025: SURVIVAL INSTINCTS OF A FART
Cassian regains consciousness to his body being shaken. He lets out a pained groan at the sharp pain in the back of his head.

“Master Cassian,”

Cassian opens his eyes to discover Ollie’s worried face hovering over his. The boy looks paler than normal, his eyes wide and glassy with fear.

“Ollie…” Cassian rasps; his throat feels dry and raw, and when he tries to move, a sharp feeling of cold iron bites into his wrists, followed by the sound of chains that makes him snap his head to find himself bound. Instantly, his heart slams hard against his ribs as memory comes crashing back.

The supermarket.
The woman.
The guards.
Cassian was taken as a rebel.

He forces himself to sit up, ignoring the dizziness that makes the room tilt in his vision as he leans against the wall behind him, then he looks around his surroundings, finding himself in a stone cell, damp and dark with iron bars, stained with dark things that Cassian doesn’t want to think about, but what catches Cassian's attention the most is the fact that he and Ollie are not alone in the dirty, old cell; there are more than ten vampires in chains, all looking worn down.

Their cheeks are sunken, with their skin stretched tight over bone, and their eyes are too big for their faces, nothing like the elegant vampires he has seen. Some of them tremble like they are cold, even though the air feels thick and heavy. These are the rebels.

Starving. Suddenly, Oscar's voice echoes in his head. Cassian swallows hard and whispers. “Oh gods…”

Suddenly, one of them laughs quietly, a dry, cracked sound that sounds awful to the ears. “The gods won’t hear you down here,”

It’s a woman. Cassian watches as she lazily rests her head on the bars, eyes dead and cold. She sighs. “This is where our lives end for us rebels.”

But Cassian is not a rebel. He doesn't even know what's going on. How did he get dragged into something like this the moment he stepped out of the damn mansion? Fate can’t play a cruel joke on him now.

“Are you okay, Master Cassian?”

Cassian comes out of his thoughts at the sound of Ollie’s concerned voice. The young vampire seems more concerned about Cassian than the fact that he might actually die, but Cassian nods anyway before he averts his gaze back to the chained vampires, who look like they have already given up and only wait for their death. Cassian is not one of them.

He swallows the lump in his throat as he asks. “H-how long have you all been here?”

At first, no one answers him till the woman who spoke earlier slowly turns her head to look at him, and up close, Cassian can see how cracked her lips are and how dull her eyes look.

“A week, some of us,” she finally says.

Another vampire lets out a weak breath of a laugh. “Others? Two weeks, three, or even months. We stopped counting.”

Cassian’s chest tightens. “They keep you here… this long?”

“They keep us until they’re ready. Interrogation, torture, and then execution,” the woman replies flatly as she closes her eyes. “There is no escape once you are captured; we are all going to die.”

“You look like you haven't starved a day in your life. How come you are also a rebel?” Another vampire throws the question at Cassian.

“My master is not a rebel. He is nothing like the rest of you,” Ollie clamors, seeming to gain everyone’s attention in the cell as even those who weren’t interested turn their cold gazes to him. “It was because of her!” the young vampire points at a familiar woman who cowers in the corner, hoping not to be seen.

“Oliie...” Cassian whispers the boy’s name, hoping he will stop talking now, but it’s too late as all eyes turn to the woman in the corner. She shrinks back, chains clinking as she presses herself against the wall, her face twisted with fear.

“I didn’t mean—” she starts, her voice shaking. “I was hungry and desperate. I didn’t know they would take him.”

“You lied,” Ollie snaps, his small body trembling with anger. “You said he helped you!”

The woman shakes her head frantically. “I said he bumped into me. They didn’t listen. They never listen.”

“Just wait till Lord Alastor gets here,” Ollie continues to snap at the woman, who looks like she’s about to drop into a coma at the mention of the name.

“Enough,” Cassian says quietly, putting an end to whatever Ollie was about to vomit, but at that same time, the door of the cell suddenly opens, and the same guards from the supermarket enter, cocky smiles on their faces as they look around at the faces of each vampire.

“Now, who’s next?” the guard says, and instantly, whimpers of protest break out as everyone hides their face. “How about you?!” The guard points at a young girl at the corner and immediately reaches for her hair, grabbing it roughly and yanking her to her feet.

“Let go of me!” The girl struggles pathetically, and Cassian never thought he would ever see a vampire so weak and helpless; it’s almost pitiful.

“You’re a pretty one, you know that? How about a little fun before we chop that head of yours?” The guard lustfully licks his lips while the girl’s screams get louder, but then Cassian’s mouth works first before his brain can catch up, as he says.

“Let her go.”

The word comes out sharp and clear, slicing through the girl’s screams and freezing the room as the cell goes dead silent.

The guard pauses, but his hand is still tangled in the girl’s hair as he slowly turns with red eyes narrowing as they lock onto Cassian, and then he laughs. “You? You think you can make threats down here, rebel?” He says it as if it’s the most ridiculous thing he has ever heard.

Cassian slowly rises to his feet, and then he steps forward, going as far as his chains will allow, while his heart hammers hard, but his voice doesn’t shake as he proceeds to say. “She’s starving and chained. She’s already dying. If you need to feel powerful, pick someone who can actually fight back.”

The guard’s smile twists into something ugly, but he lets go of the girl with a rough push, and in the next moment, he’s standing right in front of Cassian, red eyes boring a hole into his face. “So, you’re volunteering.”

In a snap, the guard grabs Cassian’s jaw, his nails digging into his skin roughly and instantly, his brows knit in confusion. “You are not cold,” he observes, then he leans closer to take a sniff at Cassian’s face. “You smell strange, too. What are you?”

Cassian forces his heart to be calm. He is a human among vampires; he should have minded his business and stayed hidden so his secret wouldn’t be exposed, but then again, his mouth always works faster than his sense of reasoning, and Cassian hates himself for it. He shouldn’t have spoken out for a vampire; he doesn’t care if any of them get killed, and now Cassian’s secret is going to be exposed because he doesn’t know how to mind his damn business.

“Hurt him, and Lord Alastor will have your head!” Ollie snaps from the floor, and Cassian has never been so glad for the valet.

“Someone shut the boy up!” the guard exclaims in anger, and immediately, another guard rushes to Ollie, shoving a cloth into his mouth.

“He’s right; hurt me, and Lord Alastor will have your head,” Cassian finds the courage to say. He might hate the vampire lord, but if his mere name gets him out of this mess he has found himself in, then so be it.

The guard smirks. “Lord Alastor, huh? Let’s see how he’s going to save you from me. You are even better looking than that bitch. Someone, take him to my chambers! I’ll have him first, and you all can take your turns!” he orders, licking his lips as he roams his eyes over Cassian’s features, and then he lets go, pushing Cassian back, and then he turns, but abruptly pauses as he comes face to face with the devil himself.

“Lord Alastor,”