Better off Red – Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Lysette was awakened by a splash of cold water. An attempt to get her moving, no doubt, but she could not remember anything. She couldn’t even remember where she was. Her eyes opened slowly, the blur receding bit by bit until she looked the man in the face. One glance into Redding’s eyes and she remembered everything. Except, of course, whatever had happened after she had blacked out.

Either way, it didn’t matter now.

If the man wanted to play games with her, fine. She didn’t like killing people. In fact, she hated it. But that didn’t mean she’d turn her back on it when it meant getting out of an awful situation like the one Thurston Redding had her in right now. It would be an easy kill, she had no doubt. Why had he even picked her up, anyway? Did he get his kicks from abusing, even raping vampires? Or was he a crusader, thinking he was ridding the world of evil? He seemed more of the second type, but she could see a glint of the first behind his eyes.

He clearly had no idea what he was dealing with and that, at the very least, she could use to her advantage. Ice cold water was barely noticeable to someone like her, given that her body was always slightly below room temperature as it was. She was always cold. Maybe he planned to torture her, maybe drown her. But that would be equally useless. Breathing was a common courtesy for vampires, but it was not a necessity.

So she had the upper hand, and that meant she could make this quick. Whatever he had planned for her, she didn’t want to know. It didn’t matter now. All she had to do was—

Lysette tried to move, but her hands were tied behind her back. Somehow, when she had been out, he had restrained her. And now she finally forced herself to look up and see the smile on the man’s face.

“You’re awake,” he said, voice calm. “I’m glad.”

She said nothing.

“I’ll admit,” Redding continued, almost oblivious to her, just happy to have an audience. “I don’t know much about how it works. Can a… a vampire get knocked unconscious? I guess one can indeed. How long does a vampire stay out, once it’s gone under? How long does a vampire sleep? Do they even sleep?”

She glared.

“I don’t expect any answers from you. Not at this point, anyway. We’re just getting to know each other and it will take some time before you trust me.” A pause, then, “But you will trust me.”

He turned back to the stairs, hearing something moving on the floor above them. So, she though, they were in a basement. It was dark, but she could see everything now that she looked. It looked like every other basement. No torture chamber, no sex swings, no gimp suits or medieval devices. Just a storage space. Was that what he was doing? Was he simply storing her away down here?

“I don’t know a damn thing about what you are. And what you are doesn’t matter to me. That has nothing to do with what’s happening now. Nothing to do with me and you. What you are and what made you that way is not important. The Devil, science, choice, it all boils down to the same old, same old. Understanding you is not my concern, Miss…”

He paused. Almost ashamed.

“I’m so sorry, I forgot—“

“Lysette,” she said, hoping it would make him stop talking.

“As I said,” Redding spoke with a smile as he stopped and turned back to her. “Understanding you is not my concern. Curing you is.”