Wolves and Men

The vampire stared at the man, asking himself the question of why he didn’t give in to his urge and just kill this annoyance. He replied instead, “No, you can’t,” and began to head for the elevators once again, stepping around the young man.

The idiot jumped in front of Kenneth again, this time he dared to put a hand to the vampire’s chest. “I’m sorry Sir, if you don’t have an appointment, and there are no appointments for this time of night, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

Kenneth’s eyes flashed and he yanked the moron off his feet and held him above the floor by the throat. He snarled at the suspended sack of meat, “Look at me, fool! Do I look like I need an appointment?” The dangling man weakly kicked out his feet as he tried to shake his head in the negative. Kenneth let his anger flow through his veins and he actually entertained the idea of killing the man again. But instead, he remembered Alessandro’s lessons of control and prudence and released the man’s throat, letting him free fall a foot or so and collapse on the ground.

Kenneth kicked the man in the ribs for good measure. The man was so dazed and with the air forced from his lungs he couldn’t even cry out. It was satisfying to see this worm slither on the ground gasping for air, gripping his throat, and trying to cover his abdomen all at the same time. Kenneth smiled down at him.

But he didn’t have time for these games and the last thing he needed was this coward reporting him to some authorities or the news and making his visit public, which is not what he was about this evening.

Kenneth grabbed the man and yanked him to his feet once more. The man’s face was still contorted by pain and his mouth was opening and closing reflexively like a dying fish, it sickened Kenneth just to look at him.

He slapped the man, hard. The clap of skin on skin resounded in the open entry way of the lab building. He gripped the man’s shirt and held him. Kenneth penetrated the man’s eyes with his gaze.

The two of them were alone and Kenneth needed this man’s silence. There was only one way to guarantee that. He set the man on the floor. “I am sorry, young man. Please forgive my anger towards you.” Kenneth started walking the man back to his desk.

This new approach bewildered the man and his face held a strange expression as well as that of pain. There was something wrong here, he just didn’t know what it was.

Kenneth needed the man to relax and trust him just a little bit. The young man’s mind was malleable, but his vampiric domination was not unlimited.

When they returned to the man’s desk he sat down gingerly and looked up at the vampire. He was sitting rigidly with his hand gripping the chair, as if that was a point of safety, an anchor to his reality which he had been so rudely yanked from only moments ago.

Kenneth looked down at the man and smiled. The young man looked terrified. “You know, it’s rude to not look a person in the eye when they speak to you,” he said offhandedly.

The man slowly brought his eyes up to those of his assailant.

“There, you see? Now, isn’t that better? Makes the conversation a little more personable, don’t you think?”

The young man hung his head as he nodded dumbly. He was starting to try Kenneth’s patience.

“Look, I said I was sorry about the whole hold you up in the air thing, didn’t I? I mean are you going to hold that against me forever?” Kenneth said in mock exasperation. A few more moments of this and he really would be exasperated. He wondered again if it wouldn’t be faster just to kill the man.

“What do you want?” the man said in a monotone low voice. “We don’t have any money here and we don’t keep drugs here either. We’re a bio chemicals lab. You’d be better off robbing a GNC, or a Wallgreens.” The man said with just a hint of desperation in his voice. The man was broken.

Kenneth stood there looking down at him for a long time in silence. His attack must have returned the man to some very painful memories of something. It was probably something from his childhood, and if that was the case then it was either an abusive parent, or this kid had problems with a school bully or some other mundane thing that he had held onto for all this time. Kenneth decided to push on that pressure point a bit.

“You must have taken far worse than what I just gave you in your time, huh?” Kenneth asked politely.

The man’s eyes became unfocused for a moment. Kenneth recognized the faraway look of memory. The troubling thing was there was no outward response. This guy had learned to hide his wounds well.

“I bet he used to hurt you pretty bad.” Kenneth pressed.

The man simply nodded. His grip on the chair had relaxed and Kenneth knew he was making some headway.

“But look at you now. I mean you work here at this great bio chemical lab and you have a pretty good job. What does he have anyway?” Kenneth asked with upraised eyebrows. “You know what?” he said not waiting for any answer. “Does it matter? You beat him. By being successful and being here in this job, you won. He’s probably rotting in some trailer park somewhere, has five kids, and is with his high school cheerleader girlfriend or wife who is disgusting and fat now.” Kenneth said with a small smile.

The man returned the smile with a small one of his own. “He did live in a trailer park, before he was thrown in jail, last I heard. And you’re right; she did get fat, like really fat, opera fat.”

Kenneth burst out laughing in a mirthful tone and was even joined by the seated man for a bit. “See? Look I’m sorry about before, I really am. You know I should have just listened to you and come back tomorrow. What business I have can wait.”

“What is your business?” the man asked.

Kenneth looked down on him, “If I was going to tell you that I would need for you to look at me.” The young man cocked his head to the side and looked up at Kenneth. “I want you to start to feel very comfortable and begin to relax,” Kenneth intoed calmly. He changed the tambour of his voice as he did for full effect of his domination.