The Pain

Despite the scream, the man she was calling for never showed up. Instead, the woman approached the boy and pulled a chair beside him. They stared at each other in silence for quite a while.

She had long blond hair tied in a frivoled bun with streaks of white and black. Her eyes were a deep warm grey. Her outfit was that of a maid...a nurse but with a theme of black and white, opposite to the warm colors usually worn by such professions. Her hands were not of…flesh but instead metallic prosthetics and quite the expensive kind of copper and brass fitted with leather. It was not his first time seeing replaced limbs, but he was still surprised when he saw the mask.

She wore a cracked porcelain mask that covered her entire face except the eyes. He'd seen those masks only worn by sanctioned witches. They were always pristine and elaborate but hers was barely holding together.

The woman seemed more like a broken doll than a human.

"Ugh…fine you win. It's rather rude to make a lady introduce herself first." Her voice finally broke the silence. The mask didn't impede the warmth she conveyed with her words but still gave her an alien feeling.

"My name is Clara and yours is…?" The boy never answered and continued to stare with a blank stare. He wanted to jump out of this bed and make a run for it, but his body winced at the slightest tug. He was bandaged from top to bottom again and forced to listen to this lady's attempts at deceiving him.

"Did that pervert do something to you? You can rest easy now, You're in safe-ish hands." She clapped her metal hands and laughed trying to clear the air with a joke but to no avail.

After a few more moments of silence, she sighed and leaned back in her chair. "You know, the silent treatment won't get you anywhere. I've had my fair share of patients who thought they could outlast me."

He didn't budge or soften but instead flashed a predatory look at her. The gaze of a wounded beast facing a predator. His deep yellow eyes only made the attempt at intimidation fiercer.

Clara didn't flinch at the intensity of the boy's gaze. From what Stephan cared to divulge she expected this treatment. She withdrew her hand slowly, maintaining eye contact, and leaned forward...closer to the boy.

"You're a tough nut to crack, aren't you?" she remarked lightly, though her eyes showed concern. "But I've dealt with tougher scabs than you."

The boy's expression remained stoic, but something softened in his eyes as Clara continued to speak in a gentle tone.

"I know it's hard to trust right now," Clara said softly, "but you're safe here. Stephan may not show it, but he's… well, he's Stephan. You'll get used to him."

"I've got to set up shop, Stephan should be here any…" Just as she uttered his name the man burst through the door with a confident stride and a wide smile.

"Out Clara…I need to have a few words with the puppy."

He remembered this man…This Stephan. He couldn't forget those blue eyes hidden behind the round glasses framed in a sheen of silver. Just looking at him sparked the taste of the ichor...the despair. This was the man responsible for the horrid experiments.

Stephan was quite tall and slender. He wore a long black coat over a white silky shirt. His brown hair was tied into a short lazy knot. His most striking feature was that smile. It was obnoxious but strangely reassuring. It held many emotions and none at all. It was hard to describe yet merely staring at it sent shivers down the boy's spine.

"Manners Stephan! Manners!" Clara chided with an annoyed voice, but she didn't argue with Stephan. She flashed the boy a nod and promptly left him with the enigma she called Stephan.

"Well little puppy…I bet you have many questions!" The boy flashed him with the same hatred he flashed Clara with, but it didn't perturb Stephan and instead made his smile widen.

"No questions…none at all?…well it's not like I was planning to answer." Stephan laughed before grabbing the boy by the head and leaning in to look him straight in the eyes. "You know when puppies misbehave you have to teach them manners...you must know that riiight?." 

They stayed in that position for a few seconds, the grip on the boy's head tightening before Stephan leaned back. He flashed the boy a brighter smile and tapped him on the nose, before getting comfortable in the chair Clara was sitting in. As for the boy, he whimpered backward as he stared at the man with apprehension.

"Clara might have given you the wrong impression of your stay here but She was right about one thing. You're free to leave whenever you want. In fact, I'm surprised you're still here at all after the little tussle you had with my pet."

The boy fell short of breath. He felt that this was a test of some kind but with Stephan sitting there and waving at him to leave, the boy decided to risk it despite his injured body dissuading him with pain.

He scrambled for the door but the moment he left the wooden frame the pain turned feral, forcing him to clutch his chest and stumble to his knees. He began to cough and cough till ichor gushed in force from all his orifices. Black tears, and snot covered his face.

It didn't stop there, the ichor...it moved back and slithered into the boy's throat, choking him. Just as he was about to lose consciousness a cyan hand materialized and grabbed the boy from the scruff of his patient's cloth.

The hand promptly dragged him back inside the room and once inside the pain died down. The boy cuffed the last bits of ichor and caught his breath. It was only for a moment, but his body was so tired...his eyes began to close and...

"This won't do…the fun was just getting started...I didn't even get to tell you the fun parts...Wake up puppy" Stephan laughed as the cyan hand pinched the boy's nose till he couldn't breathe, jolting him awake.

"Now now...don't be like that, who said leaving would be that easy." He flashed a sadistic smile at the boy who was breathing deeply. His peculiar condition returned to normal after a few moments.

"What you just experienced was not pain of the physical kind per say but of the soul. You haven't fed your seed in quite...well ever it seems and last night's injuries drove it to its limit." The boy remained silent while Stephan studied him.

'Don't talk...nothing good comes out of talking...Don't talk...Don't talk... it's all Lies!' Fear spoke up before the boy could respond. He didn't like the boyish voice but it was right when it mattered. 

"Fine...fine be like that. In either case I will be a long while before your body is healed up enough to support the seed. Although it's only going to be a few months before..." Two cyan hands emerged grabbing Stephan by the neck. He pretended to choke himself before going limb and only a moment later spring up. 

"Before you die!"