Chapter 24. Finding a Foothold

Chapter 25. Shawn saw the same middle aged man taking care of the various kids in his group.

"Why are they doing this?! What did they take from us?!" Shawn attempted to yell but his voice came out more depleted and desperate than anything.

"Shut up kid, when everyone is awake, then I'll fill in the gaps. For now, get some shut eye because your group is gonna take a minute."

Annoyed but seriously weak, Shawn did just what the man said and fell asleep for a while. After about an hour, Shawn was gently woken by the man as all the other kids were awake. Most of them crying softly while some lied back in gloomy silence.

"Alright... I don't care where you're from, who you were, or what you think of yourself. This place….if you haven't already guessed, acts as an experiment facility as well as a training facility for the noble ones.

"These nobles are our lords, while us humans are but slaves to them. Obedience is the only thing acceptable here, unruliness will cost you more than your life. Facility Five is not the worst there is so be grateful. We got rules here, so follow them. The blood they took from you won't just be used to feed the noble ones but also to test what roles the lot of you will have."

"Some of you will be experimental research material, some of you will be used to train the fledgling vampires, and some of you will even have the opportunity to become vampires yourself."

After hearing the last statement, some of the children finally found hope. It was like a light in pure darkness to them. However, Shawn caught on quickly to the slight look of sadness on the man's face.

"We may not kill each other, we may not try and escape, and we must serve all of our masters to the best of our ability. You must bow in the presence of your superior. All children are responsible for reporting to their various duties at any given time, tardiness WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. My name is Hodge, and I'm in charge of the healing center for the mortals. As you can see, I am a mortal myself and I've been here since I was a teen."

Gulps of saliva were heard at the stone-cold tone of the man. Yet hope bubbled inside everyone, the idea that they could secure a future for themselves like Hodge set a goal for them. Shawn had a grim face on because the hope everyone was seeing was akin to poison. They would serve these sick bastards no matter what choice they made.

Becoming a vampire was far-fetched and they would then be joining hands with their captors at that point. Escaping this dark hell seemed void of all possibility, especially with your humanity intact.

The room fell into silence shortly after Hodge paused his speech. Shawn asked an important question the others failed to ask.

"When will they assign us our duties?"

The man answered, "in another day the question about your roles will be answered."

" Food is mandatory for you to consume. You may not starve yourself or even try killing your self for that matter. They will rip your soul from your body and torment it should you do so."

Shawn laid there consumed by despair at his current situation. He honestly didn't doubt that these demons would have a way to torment someone's actual soul.

A boy about his age with dark brown hair and a rough demeanor asked another question.

"Is cultivation a punishable offense in here?" The question brought a hint of a smile to Hodge's face.

"It isn't, in fact they encourage it. Those of you who already have a cultivation technique can use it. However, the stronger you are, the more blood you must give and the work increases. They will give you an introductory technique if you don't have it. Items will be passed to you after this."

Hodge was still talking but many of the children's faces lit up, but Shawn knew something was off. There was no way that their captors would allow them to get stronger unless they had preventative measures set in place. An early lesson he learned as a street urchin, was nothing was free in this world. Tuning back in from his thoughts, Shawn again focused on the man's words.

"That brings me to my next point, all of you must give blood every day until the day you die. Only those who have fully gone through the process of being a noble one may keep your blood."

Everyone paled considerably, they could not repeatedly survive the process they just went through. Seeing the room's reaction, Hodge addressed their worries.

"To clarify, depending on your cultivation the amount will vary. The process where your blood essence is extracted isn't usually normal. You will be evaluated occasionally for changes in your body, to then asses how much blood they will take."

Shawn asked another question on his mind.

"Will we be provided awakening fluid for those of us that have not awakened our spirit?"

"Of course, the nobles want you to be as useful as possible, so they will provide tier 3 awakening fluid."

Some of the others found joy in being able to awaken their spirit, while some of the others showed disdain. Shawn assumed the people who showed disdain already woke their spirit, or don't want to use tier 3 fluid. It was by far the worst one.

"Why does a fellow human, call the blood demons nobles?"

Hodges eyebrows raised as he looked at the girl who spoke. She was the one who lasted the longest during the torture after Shawn. She had deep wavy red hair, and pretty brown eyes. Shawn noticed her before but looking at her made him feel odd inside. The question was asked with a twisted demeanor. Shawn took a guess that this girl really didn't like vampires, not to say he didn't share her sentiment.

"I WILL SAY THIS ONCE, NEVER CALL OUR MASTERS BLOOD DEMONS. EVER!!!!"

A hint of pressure emanating out of Hodge as he said it. The pressure hit their minds like the young man from yesterday, but Hodge didn't have any physical change to him when he acted. Shawn thought that he wasn't a vampire but couldn't be sure after the display.

The pain hit all of them before dissipating seconds later.

"What you say is grounds for death and a nasty one at that. Feisty ain't gonna last here Red, so I'd fix that quick."

Hodge looked pretty easy going until she had said that. Shawn made a mental note to be careful with this man.

"My name isn't Red, it's Eliza!!!"

Hodge snorted and responded, "Don't really give a damn what your name is. Guess now is a good time to hand out your identification."

Small bags in the corner of the building flew up like magic, plopping down in front of the seventeenth kids. Hodge held up a square box in his hand that shot beams into the wrists of each of the children. A line of numbers now on their wrists.