All Rights Reserved © 2015 Emmy Alexander

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          Nico Roux stirred from the deep chasm of unconsciousness and instinctively his muscles strained against a set of fetters detaining him to a cold, unforgiving stretch of concrete. He blinked against an immobile darkness, realizing his plight, he rolled onto all fours and in doing so, stirred a dusting that coated the cement and suddenly a cloud of particles dispersed the air, settling on his senses like hellfire.

          His canines extracted and he hissed - realizing the bastards had smeared the floor meticulously with silver. He scrambled into a corner to escape the metallic brume and growled a curse as he rubbed his eyes raw of the silver.

          The corner was blessedly without it and there he relaxed to better survey the fences of what he surmised to be his own personal hell.

          He grimaced against the caustic air and drew in a small breath. How the hell had he ended up in these straits?

          He could discern nothing but a manacle attached to one of his ankles that gave way to a length of chain that led to a device anchored to the floor. If not for his weakened state he would have gladly tested the craftsmanship of that device.

          But he could do no more than lay slack and come to the conclusion that his captors were crafty bastards. The entire air was laced with silver which meant every bit of the iron work was forged with the blasted metal and it burned into every crevice and orifice of his body. Even the damned manacle strapped to his ankle burned like a raging fire. Any more of it and he could meet an untimely death. He should be counting his blessings that his captors hadn't opted for wolfs-bane instead which only meant one thing - they wanted him alive.

          All the more incentive to kill you.

          His nostrils flared wide with the sudden pull of his beast as it stirred restlessly beneath his skin. His body shuddered with the change that would never come due to the amount of silver suspended in the air.

          Like his enemy, the vampire, they shared in one common weakness. Silver could do a number on his bloodstream, transfusing with his blood vessels and contaminating his white blood cells, which ultimately could make him a walking plague. Silver also made it incredibly difficult to heal and it acted as a barrier for his beast. He wouldn't be able to turn - which he suspected his captors wanted all along.

          He hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep until he awoke violently to an involuntary spout of coughing. He groaned as every muscle protested with an ache as he attempted to expel the silver from his lungs, all the while, inhaling more of the wretched element.

          "How are we faring, beast?" spoke a deadpan voice from the measureless dark.

          Nico raised his head with a snarl, baring his canines, as his eyes fixed on the lineation of a body standing just on the verge of his fences.

          His eyes narrowed, his brows furrowing as he strained to see his captor, but he could make nothing out of the darkness.

          "Fuck you." He snapped hoarsely with a cough as the chain scraped across the concrete.

          A snicker readily answered him, "I was warned of your vile temperament."

          Nico narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "Warned?" he growled.

          Just as before, he concluded that his being here was not accidental in the least. Someone had deliberately placed him in the hands of his captors.

          That thought enraged him and his skin quivered with the flaring of his beast, but the silver kept it at bay, forbidding the change which further agitated his beast. It clawed ravenously to escape its fleshy confines, his muscles constricting with agonizing pain for the eagerness to shift.

          "I've been well informed of your defiant nature." The man stepped closer to the cell, and Nico noticed how the darkness held steadfast to the man, clinging to him as if they were one and the same. "I intend to fully tame you."

          The latter rekindled his rage and he pegged his captor with a frosty glare, "I implore you to try."

          Another snicker resounded, "With ease, beast." And his captor vanished.

          Nico then came to the realization that he wasn't dealing with a hunter of some kind, or a renowned enemy as he had suspected, but a damned bloodsucker.

**********

Six weeks earlier ...

          Leonie Camden glanced at the oversized clock suspended above the counter and paled with a welling of panic as the hands struck eight o'clock.

          She spun around to the front of the bookstore and gazed out the windowpane to the gray of dusk vastly emerging, and felt an icy dread puncture her vitals like a serrated blade. She dropped the bundle of books nestled in her arms and they toppled to her feet. How could she have been so careless? She'd always been so careful. How could she have forgotten daylight-savings time?

          "I have to go, Agnes!" she exclaimed with a tremor as she hastened to gather her things.

          "What - " the old bookkeeper shuffled from the back where she'd been unpacking new arrivals. " - what did you say, honey?"

          Leonie whirled to face the older woman, clutching her cardigan to her chest to quell the maddening flutter of her heart. "I have to go. Can you close up without me?"

          Agnes gaped at her with questionable eyes on a weathered face, and Leonie prayed the woman wouldn't resort to her typical tactic of prying. "Of course, honey. Go if you must." And she shooed her toward the door with a wrinkled hand.

          Leonie gave a curt nod of gratitude and rushed from the bookstore.

          Her heart hammered like a mad drum despite the droning sound of the city's midsummer traffic.

          She leaned on the curb and hailed a taxi.

          Please, let me make it!

          Her eyes surveyed the darkening sky and her heart stalled a solid beat. It wasn't so much the darkness that frightened her - but what followed with nightfall.

          She felt the break of perspiration on her forehead as another taxi passed her by. With a disheartened sigh, she spared a glance on either side of the pavement where countless pedestrians bustled to and fro, heedless of the peril advancing.

          Leonie had chosen this city purposefully.

          New York City had a population of over eight million residents. That meant there were eight million heartbeats detected, and eight million diverse odors merged on the air with the combination of exhausts, rancid garbage and fried foods.

          Surely it was near-impossible to decipher one soul among eight
million?

          She liked to think her odds were favorable.

          Clutching her purse tightly to her shoulder, Leonie frantically waved down another taxi. She watched with a pang of relief as it pulled up to the curb with a screeching of brakes until finally coming to a dead stop. She quickly crawled into the backseat and muttered her address to the cabdriver.

          She sank into the leather and watched as columns of concrete and steel whisked by her in a fleeting sheen of silver as the cab flitted through a maze of streets.

          When they finally pulled up to her apartment, Leonie exhaled a breath of relief and fumbled through her purse for her keys. She paid the cabdriver and then hurried from the taxi to the set of concrete steps that led to her door. She gripped the railing, all the while glancing frantically around, noticing uneasily that the street lining her apartment was bereft of people.

          She felt a hitch in her breath.

          Darkness had fallen, draining the last remnants of the blessed sun, bringing with it the horrible foretaste of death.

          Leonie spun back to her door and grappled with her keys.

          But suddenly, a stunning and violent force struck her sideways, sending her hurling over the railing and into the dark. She shrieked as the momentum of it landed her atop a stretch of pavement. She felt an eruption of pain but disregarded it as she scrambled to her knees, wrestling in the dark for her keys with a strangled cry.

          Leonie ...

          She froze in terror as her heart pitched against her chest as the affect of that voice sent an undulating chill down her spine.

          The darkness crept forward, reaching for her like hands of an irrevocable evil. It thickened around her and then suddenly began to take shape and form into a solid nightmare.

          She shook her head as tears welled in her eyes, "No!

          "I've come to claim what's mine." The creature snarled fervently through sharpened fangs - and then he reached for her.