Grey, cold light; some of the time. Other times it's black. Always cold. I can't get used to it. Disrupts my sleep. I don't even know how long I sleep for; minutes, hours, days. It all blurs, after a while. Day, night, day. All seems the same. Doesn't matter, anyway. Don't know how long I've been here. Need to eat. Need to drink. They won't let me. I can't understand it, but I'm confused a lot of the time. It's the light that does it, that and the lack of sleep. Need to sleep. I'm cold. I'm hungry.
There have been others here before me. I can tell from the walls. Scratched and scrawled onto the surface. Names, dates, obscenities, drawings. Rough concrete walls - what did they use to carve into the concrete? What did they use as ink? Fingernails worn down to the quick. Bloody hands scrabbling. Were they like me, stripped and beaten before being thrown in here? Think. Remember. The only thing I can do but it is a torment. The light makes thinking difficult. The cold makes thinking difficult. It shouldn't bother me, but it does. It does. Light, dark. Cold.
I count my teeth. Some are missing. I run my tongue over holes in my gums. I'm naked. Pale flesh. Bruised. Blood on skin looks black in this sick, ugly light. Who took my teeth? Try to remember. My mouth forced open. Someone holding pliers. Others hold my head steady. Hideous sound of metal scraping on enamel. A single bulb casts ferocious shadows. My throat raw from screaming. No more. Stop.
They put me here. The room is big enough to lie down in but little more. There is no furniture, no toilet. Damp, unlit. There is a small, barred window in the door. Sometimes there are voices from outside. Faces at the bars. Taunting. I ignore them, as the grey light fades to black and the chill seeps into my bones. Someone screams crude insults. Someone spits in my bloodied face. Others just look.
I will never face a trial. The only jury I will ever see were the ones that captured me. Circumstance does not matter to them. I am guilty, because of what I am. Condemned. There can be only one sentence. No reprieve. No mercy. Soon they will take me into that filthy grey light, and put an end to me.
I was careless, confident and lazy after decades of safety; and they were careful. Their pursuit took years and crossed continents without my noticing. I was sleeping when they took me. No chance, outnumbered, leather across my face. Blindfolded. Gagged. Trussed. Fists and boots jarring my body, digging into my bones. Brought to this cell. How long ago? I don't know. It is dark now and I cannot sleep. I must sleep, I must eat. I am so cold, I am so weak. I am so afraid.
White flesh in the cold dark. Gaps where teeth should sit. Bloodied and bruised. I wait. I remember.
A locked room. Brilliant light, painted in blood; decorated with ribboned flesh. Dead children. Unheard. No mercy, no reprieve. Incisors piercing flesh, a glut of hot red in my throat. Feeding. Sleeping in a torpor when they came for me. Drunk on the blood of innocents. Undead, they called me; Monster. Vampire. Across centuries, they followed. I became a legend; a rumour. A story to frighten children. Thought myself safe, hidden by time, forgotten. Bound like a common felon and delivered to this cell.
They pulled my teeth and nails, and left me here. I wish they would hurry. Thirst is agony beyond endurance. Hunger forces me to the wet floor. Light does not harm me, but muddles my thoughts. Must feed. Sleep becomes fitful and broken. Skin is almost translucent. I am sure days pass, but have no way of knowing. I am so cold.
Now: another voice from behind the bars. For my crimes, it whispers, I will not face the stake, or the blade, or the pyre. For my crimes I will not be permitted the release of a swift end. It tells me all I will ever know is this cell. They will watch me rot. I will endure the remainder of my time on earth as an exhibit, starving and broken. My suffering will be legendary. How long, without blood? Without sleep?
Monster. Vampire. There is a mocking laugh. Then silence.
And although my throat is raw, and my lips glued with dried blood, I find the strength to scream.