Animal Instinct

Chapter 2


"Lucian."

The lycan leader gazed up from his books and notes to see Singe standing in the doorway, a serene yet triumphant look on the scientist's face. "We have a present for you."

Lucian followed, inquisitive, to the briefing room. Face down in the dirt and tied up was Viktor. The leader's eyes widened at the sight.

"How..."

"Kraven granted him to us," Pierce answered. "You know he'll be asking for some sort of payment later..."

"He always does," Lucian responded, hardly paying attention. He still could not believe it. Here he was, Viktor, Elder to the coven, his sworn enemy... laying at their mercy. At HIS mercy.

"We figured you wanted to be the one to decide his fate," Pierce added. "So we brought him here alive."

The leader nodded grimly. He loathed Kraven, but the weasel could be useful at times. Why now, though? Kraven had had plenty of opportunities to set traps for Viktor throughout the ages, and yet he chose to do it now? Kraven might be a spineless worm, but he was not stupid. There had to be a reason for it.

That was something Lucian was less inclined to ponder at the moment, however. He had another matter do deal with... one that required his undivided attention.

Viktor was still unconscious. Apparently Pierce and the others had drugged him on the way here. Singe kept fidgeting and throwing longing gazes at the lifeless body on the floor. Lucian knew more than well that the scientist's fingers were itching to use various instruments of torture, some of his own design, on the wretched vampire.

"Wait until he wakes up," Lucian finally said. "Once he's seen me, he's yours."

The smile the Austrian gave was unnerving in its almost innocent, quiet glee.

*

About an hour later, Viktor had awakened in his prison cell. Lucian had made sure a guard was at the door, listening for signs of movement or consciousness from the elder. Viktor was currently chained to the wall, and he was furiously trying to either force the chains loose - possibly then use them as weapons - or wriggle his fists from the shackles. When Lucian entered with Raze at his side, he could see that the vampire's wrists were raw from the attempts to set himself free. This hardly made the lycan master soften. Discomfort in a vampire was never a bad thing, especially not this one.

"It seems the fates have been kind on us, my dear cousin," Lucian remarked with a quiet menace to his voice.

"I will have you strung up by your own bowels, lycan!" Viktor hissed, his normally pallid face going red from exertion and anger. "Just as I will do with that incompetent idiot who calls himself regent of my house!"

Lucian merely snorted at the threats. "Save your breath for when you really need it, Viktor," he said coldly. "And trust me, that you will..."

"Release me! At once! If you as much as lay a finger on me, my Death Dealers will kill every last one of your inferior kind! Do you HEAR ME?" Viktor made another attempt to break free, but the stainless steel chains were withstanding his efforts.

"Your threats amuse me, vampire," Lucian smirked. "I am curious to find out what it takes to make you a bit more humble..."

Singe was standing just outside the doorway, listening to every word spoken within the cell. He was becoming anxious now, and every nerve in his body was coiled tightly like a spring. The thought of how thick and tender the powerful elder's heart would taste made his mouth water.

"First we will try to... domesticate you," Lucian continued, his body still as a statue.

"Your kind are far too wild for the likes of our pack. My brethren have been asking for a pet for quite some time."

Viktor snarled uncharacteristically. He was not going to let them break him, and he would not bow to a mangy beast, not one of own slaves.

"Do what you want!" he growled. "You can never break me!"

"Are you challenging me...?" Lucian smirked quietly, still amused. "This should be interesting, indeed..."

"This is your last chance, you mangy cur! Release me, and I promise I will spare you and your filthy pack for now!"

Lucian shook his head in mock sorrow. "Viktor, Viktor... You have not changed a bit. You still believe you are in control when in fact we have you at our mercy. That will change before the night is over."


With those words Lucian spun on his heel and left the cell, Viktor's angry curses muddled by the thick steel door. Turning to Singe, he said, "He's yours. Do what you want, but don't kill him and don't disfigure him too badly... yet, anyway."

The Austrian was nearly rubbing his hands at the thought. Lucian looked quite pretty as he turned his gaze down the long hallway. Singe had just one look and a flittering memory passed in his mind. He remembered seeing Lucian in that same way in decades past. His face was illuminated by firelight that night so many years ago... back when. He reached out to touch his leader's hair, entranced.

And then Lucian automatically turned at the hand in his peripheral vision and the moment was gone. The old Singe was gone and once again replaced by the new one, and his hand shot back to his side. The scientist did not notice then how sad Lucian looked in response to the action. Right now he did not care, as there was fresh meat behind that thick steel door.

Lucian regretfully looked at his scientist for a few seconds, wishing desperately he could have his fledgling back... but after decades of an unchanging, shattered mind, his wish would never be granted.

"Remember not to damage him too badly," he said, and he left Singe to his work.

Singe glanced longingly at the door to Viktor's cell before heading to the lab to get his "torture kit". He neatly placed all instruments he figured he'd need in his bag. He then put the bag on a table with wheels and returned to the vampire's temporary jail. Singe's whole body tingled with excitement. This would be so much better than taking out his sadistic fetishes on a fledgling or rogue vampire.

Viktor's brow furrowed when the scientist entered his cell. The scientist figured that the elder did not recognize him, as he was not one of Lucian's older soldiers.

"What do you want?" the vampire snapped almost instantly, shooting daggered looks at Singe.

A broad grin formed on the Austrian’s face. Viktor was just as "lively" as he wanted him. "First things first... allow me to introduce myself... I am Singe."

"I could care more about an insect under my boot than who you are," the Elder sneered, struggling with his shackles again. "You don't frighten me."

Indeed the lycan did not. He was not intimidating in appearance at all, with his small build and scholarly appearance. Singe proceed to wheel the table in and closed the door, turning his back to the Elder. Viktor glanced at the almost antique looking physician's bag the scientist had brought with him, wondering for a moment what could be in it.

"If you've come here to interrogate me, it is no use! I'll never tell you filthy dogs anything!"

Singe smiled to himself. Of course that's what Viktor believed he'd come here for. Information. How wrong he was. Supposedly it hadn't even occurred to the conceited vampire Elder that torturing could be done "just for fun". Singe would have to show him.

"If you believe I have come here to make you give me the codes to unlock your crypt, you are mistaken," the Austrian spoke smoothly and approached Viktor, still carrying the doctor's bag. It was one of his most prized possessions. "I only want fresh meat..."

Viktor chuckled at how unsettling the lycan was trying to be. Snapping open the bag, Singe watched as the vampire gave him a confident look of defiance. Viktor was not easily broken, as he said, but that only made the challenge more fun.

"First, I need to get you ready for the process... ah, here it is..." and he removed...
A flower?

Singe twirled the tiny blossom in his fingers and carefully placed it on the lapel of Viktor's still present coat. The Austrian gave a calm smile.

"There now. Don't you look darling?"

Viktor lifted an eyebrow at the ratty lycan. Lucian had to be joking when he sent this man here, right?

"I always start out gentle..." Singe remarked when he noticed Viktor's flabbergasted expression. "Even with little vampires such as yourself..."

Viktor did not look bad; he'd most likely been a handsome man in his youth, while he was still human. Despite this, Singe did not find him the slightest attractive. The vampire would be much more appealing to him with his face crushed, teeth pulled out, and eyes gouged from their sockets. Only then could Singe imagine doing anything sexual with him.

Viktor watched as the strange lycan unclasped his doctor's bag, exposing the contents. It contained various outdated medical instruments; whereof over half were unknown to the Elder. The first sting of fear pierced Viktor's solid surface. What was the inferior beast planning to do with those...?

"Whatever you may plan to do with me, degenerate..." he said, his voice hard, "... my will is too strong to break."

"Yes, keep telling yourself that," Singe replied, slipping on some gloves. "It only makes things more entertaining. I may not frighten you now... but in time you will change your mind."

"I think not. Do your worst, you flea-ridden weakling."

Singe suddenly wheeled on him and came within inches of his face. "Easy to say what you want, isn't it?" the lycan growled. "All you ever do is talk, and truthfully I don't find your voice intriguing at all. You want to see frightening...? HUH?!"

Closing his eyes, Singe grew claws and ran them over his face. Swiftly healing wounds made deep red lines for a few seconds.

"Fun, isn't it?" he asked, grinning madly.

Viktor recoiled reflexively when the man lunged at him, but the chains and the wall prevented him from moving more than a few inches.

"You are one sick puppy," he said contemptuously after the lycan had sliced himself.

"Where did Lucian find you, may I ask? At some 19th century insane asylum? Those places were swarming with lunatics like yourself. It's a shame you didn't cut yourself deeply enough then already!"

Singe's hand lashed out and struck Viktor across the face like a whip. His claws were still out, so the strike left four parallel cuts on the vampire's cheeks.

"Yes... fun indeed!" he smirked, licking a droplet of crimson fluid from his claw tip. Viktor's face expressed obvious disgust. "Now let's proceed to something... a bit more advanced, my patient..."

If this creature was really as insane as he seemed, Viktor could possibly outsmart him, take advantage of something in his dementia... but then again, insanity never proved anyone was stupid. He struggled again and irritably shook the flower from his coat. Blood from his healing wounds stained his gaunt face.

When Singe had turned around again, he had a peculiar device in his hand. It was not until he had thrust it against Viktor's chest and turned it on when the elder realized it was a taser. The Elder's world blackened before his eyes almost instantly.


TBC...