The Blood Slave

ONE

I was running like my life depended on it. I'd been at it for more than an hour. My heart pumped hard and I welcomed the invigorating sensation. Delightful endorphins kicked in, speeding through my nerve endings and urging me on. A slick layer of sweat coated my pale arms and legs, making them glisten. Sweat soaked my tight black tank top and the waistband of my grey jogging pants. My thighs were finally starting to burn. This was how I liked to start my day. With the open cerulean sky above me.  My feet pounding in time with my rapidly thumping heart.

The terrain shifted, suddenly steepening, growing rocky under my sneakers. I'd run this trail dozens of times, I was ready for it. Without a hitch, I was able to keep an even pace. Call it stubbornness, but once I set a goal for myself, I had to reach it no matter what. Nothing could stop me from getting to the top of that mountain.

"Slow down, Harper. People are staring," Molly said quietly from the other treadmill at my side.

I could see her concerned look through the mirage program on my treadmill. Each machine was loaded with these accurate, often intricate courses that either exist, or once existed in the world. Courses so elaborate, they'd been said to be almost like the real thing. But all technology has its faults. Looking at Molly through the mirage now, it was as though she was standing between a screen and a projector. For a moment, a tree flashed across her narrowed features, darkening her face only for a second as I kept running.

They aren't people, they're monsters, I thought harshly. I didn't say it out loud, because insulting them would just be stupid.

"Hey," I huffed instead, "if you can't hang. . . ."

I let the words trail off. Molly knew I was just teasing. No doubt the vampires were staring, with their perfect noses scrunched up. A snarl distorting their symmetrically shaped lips ever so slightly. My sweat wasn't appealing to them in the slightest. In fact, it was downright appalling.

Good, I thought. I let it drip in streams from my chin onto the treadmill.

The terrain shifted again, leveling out. At last, the familiar patch of wildflowers were coming up. Splashes of pinks and purples. Orange and blue. Yellow. I could look, but I couldn't smell their sweet scent. Even so, they were my favorite part. Some days, I'd run the whole course twice just to see those flowers. They might just have been an image, but they were real at one point. Whenever the courses were recorded for the treadmill model, those flowers were fresh and alive, I remind myself. But, as quick as they came, they went. Before I could dwell too much on the fact that I couldn't stop and actually feel their silky petals, I had already ran past them.

The picture slowly evaporated, leaving me staring at the gym's wall display of various weights. My feet slowed on the machine, now entirely flat and smooth without the program running. I wished it had gone longer. The stitch in my side was almost absent this time. Pretty soon, I'd need a more difficult path if I wanted to push myself. The prospect of stepping it up to another course excited me. A new adventure.

Tomorrow, I promised myself.

Beside me, Molly was just finishing a causal course. Sweat started beading above her lip and on her forehead. Other than that, she seemed to maintain a casual appearance. Meanwhile, I was soaked through and through. Molly never worked out as hard as I did, but I was always glad for her company all the same.

I grabbed my towel to dab at my face, then walked across the room for a drink at the water fountain that was attached to the wall. Even though my heart was pounding, I didn't worry about the deadly vampire guard only a few feet away. He was no danger to me - not immediately.

The guards always wore the same uniform. Boring and grey. Crisp as all get out. Their beautiful faces were stern, as if nothing was as serious as protecting their blood source - and to them, nothing was. Without an us, there was no them. That's why he wouldn't hurt me. None of them in the room would. Their job was to keep us alive. No matter how tempting our warm blood was, they'd never steal even a drop. Simona, the head Superior, wouldn't have allowed it.