Ludub

Ummmmm.... okay? So the clown has just taken Brody's name? and he and Phoebe have been strapped in a train in the sewers all these years? Or have i misunderstood? Love that Scarlett could see through Kat, and that Buddy wanted to repay Raffy for all those walks. And Phoebe whinging about how she was meant for better things! lol!

Yes, that's probably fair, but I keep reading stuff here on the forum where people have Brody declaring his love for Phoebe and she's just like 'Yep, great. i'll just dump Justin then! No worries!' and I kept thinking 'That's not how it would go at all!'. Even if Phoebe had any feelings for Brody (which I don't think was ever the case) it seems very unlikely that she'd just drop Justin like a hot potato. She'd need time to come round to the idea. But yeah, the gay assessment was all me lol! Oh, I'm glad! Remembering her reaction to Kyle's proposal, I thought she'd be likely to lash out at him in resentment first (and she was never one to mince words!) It was just cruel of me to deny her the chance to apologise. Haha! I guess I do. It is a little odd I suppose

haha! I thought you might like that bit! lol! Glad you liked the ending.

To be fair, I hurt all the characters I like. You have to care about a character to care that they're hurting.

Haha! I posted this on my phone and it wouldn't let me do the red font, lol! Surely, you lot have got the idea by now! Yeah, probably a bit hard to take. Imagine waking up in hospital to find out you'd gone a bit barmy and gone around attacking people.... and John Palmer thought he had it tough.... Thank you! I do enjoy writing them!

Thank you all so much for the comments, and a massive apology for the delay in posting this. I've been very busy the last few weeks. Really hope you enjoy this one! WARNING: VERY ADULT THEMES & SEXUAL CONTENT Chapter 18 Brody stared at the laptop screen on the wheeled table in front of him and shook his head in dismay. He couldn’t really believe what he was seeing. Video, after murky video, played out in front of him. They showed him attacking young beachgoers and biting them on their necks! The sad fact, was that he could remember each and every one of his victims, and what they’d tasted like. How each one had had a slightly different flavour to their blood. Some more ‘iron-y’ and metallic. Others sweet and spicy. The young girl from the counselling group had had an almost fruity taste. He could remember the sensation of their warm, almost sticky blood, coursing over his tongue. How delicious it had been! The mere thought of it now made him feel physically sick, but he couldn’t help wondering at how real it had seemed at the time. How could he have imagined something so vivid?! So strange?! So outside the realms of his own experience?! Where had the vampire fantasy even come from?! He looked at Justin a little pleadingly, as though he might somehow be able to make this whole thing go away. “I can’t believe this is real!” he groaned. “It’s okay, mate” said Justin, as he perched on the side of his bed. He’d been allowed to stay with him for moral support, because he’d waived his right to a lawyer. “How is this okay?!” he snapped back at him, “I mean… Look, Justin! Look at what I did to those poor kids!” Justin just patted his knee in a way that was supposed to be comforting. What could he really say?! Once one of the kids had filed a police report, the whole thing had just snowballed! More and more kids had turned up to report a crazy man that went around biting people. They’d made him sound like some sort of rabid animal! So much so, that he’d had to be tested for rabies! As the numbers grew, they’d begun to wonder how many there would be! Had he bitten half the Bay?! It hadn't helped that he'd chosen an area with so many CCTV cameras as his hunting ground. He and Tori felt especially guilty. He wondered how they’d failed to see what was right under their noses? How had they not seen how ill he’d been?! How had they failed him so badly?! “Oh, God!” gasped Brody, as a new video started, “I remember this one!” The video on the screen showed him approaching a young boy on the beachfront. It was video from a CCTV camera mounted on one of the streetlamps not too far away. It had captured everything! The scruffy teen couldn’t have been more than 17 years old and he was clearly waiting for someone and looking at his phone in an impatient sort of way. He saw himself approach the boy and strike up what looked like an awkward conversation, almost as though he was asking for directions. Suddenly, and without warning, he pounced, grabbing the boy by the front of his shirt and biting down hard on the side of his neck. The boy had screamed and tried to pull away quite violently but he wouldn’t let go. He remembered this sudden urge, this insatiable desire for blood! He’d felt as though he might die if he didn’t have it! …Except he wasn’t a vampire… He was just a man, with normal human teeth, and he didn’t have preternatural strength! The boy had struggled, before finally freeing himself and pushing him away with a violent shove. “**** you!” he was seen to mouth, while covering the wound on his neck, and turning to run away. Brody looked up at Sgt McCarthy, who’d come to interview him and shook his head in wonder. “I don’t know what to say” he said quietly, “I remember that kid… but in my mind, I drank his blood and then I left him peacefully sleeping there… I don’t remember him running away.” “Mmm-hmm” said McCarthy, furrowing his brow at him. He’d heard a lot of excuses in his time, but ‘I thought I was a vampire’ was a new one on him. Still, he had the word of the neurosurgeon that he’d suffered a psychotic episode as a result of a head injury, and that it wasn’t unusual for people to hallucinate all sorts of things. Medical opinion seemed to go in his favour. As much as he would have liked to dismiss it as total nonsense, the young man did seem sincere, and in light of the violence that he’d suffered himself, he was more inclined to be sympathetic. “You didn’t know what you were doing” said Justin, with a sympathetic little head tilt, “You were off your head… They’ll understand!” “Actually, Mr Morgan” said McCarthy, “I’m not so sure about that.” “What d’ya mean?!” demanded Justin, “You know what the doctors have said… He had a brain bleed… He wasn’t thinking straight!” “That may be the case” said McCarthy, “But we have five young men and women who’ve been seriously assaulted… It’ll be up to the DPP to decide if we take this any further.” “Are they okay?” asked Brody, “I mean… Did I hurt them really badly?” “Well… They’re relatively superficial wounds” he said, with a pitying sort of half-smile, “But it’s more the matter of the trauma… the psychological impact of an assault like this… One of the victims is too scared to leave the house.” Brody frowned in a pained sort of way and shook his head. “Could I speak to her? …To them?” he asked, glancing up at McCarthy and the young Constable accompanying him, “I mean… Can I just try to explain? …Let them know I’m not a threat… That I didn’t mean to hurt them.” “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea” said McCarthy, “…I’m not sure that it would be appropriate… in light of the investigation” “But maybe it’d help?” he said. “I don’t think…” he began to say. “Can’t I at least apologise?!” he pleaded, with teary looking eyes, “I mean… I didn’t want to hurt anyone! That’s not who I am!” “Please?!” asked Justin. McCarthy gave a heavy sigh and glanced at Constable Murphy. This was certainly an unusual case. It wasn’t every day that a suspect holds their hands up and says ‘It was me. I did it’ He wasn’t disputing the attacks at all. He was taking full responsibility, albeit with extenuating circumstances. Maybe an exception could be made? “Maybe we can let you write a letter of apology” said McCarthy, “But I’ll have to check procedure…” Brody nodded and looked back at the screen. There was a still from another video that they’d made him watch. It was of his attack on the young girl from the counselling group. She’d slipped over trying to get away from him and managed to knock herself out. Luckily, because he’d set the car alarm off outside the beachside apartments, she’d gotten to hospital and been seen to quite quickly. He was seen looking directly at the camera with a cheeky sort of grin on his face, before lobbing a rock at the windscreen of the car. There couldn’t be any denying it! It was so very obviously him. “And the couple with the car?” he asked, “Are…are they pressing charges?” “Vandalism” said McCarthy, with a curt little nod, “Damage to private property… That along with the 5 counts of assault… We may need you to come down to the station when you’re feeling a little stronger.” “Okay” he said, looking more than a little glum. They’d given him a list of his victim’s names. ‘Hannah Walters, Alison Campbell, Jarrod Colletti, Dion Ward, and Hunter King. That last one had come as a surprise to him, because he didn’t actually remember attacking him. Maybe there were even more victims out there than they realised?! Maybe he’d gone on some sort of ‘feeding’ rampage?! Maybe there would be even more charges to face? “Wait to see what the DPP says” said McCarthy, as he got up and closed the lid on the laptop, “I’ll put in a good word for you… given the circumstances.” “Thanks” he said, staring down at the bedsheets. He’d never felt more ashamed of himself in his life. McCarthy sat back down in the chair beside the bed and put his hands together in a sort of steeple shape. He glanced at Justin a little tensely. This wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. “Sgt McCarthy needs to interview you about… about something else” said Justin. “Oh God!” gasped Brody, “What else did I do?!” Was this nightmare ever going to end?! “No, mate” said Justin, “It’s not what you did…” “I need to talk to you” said McCarthy, before clearing his throat a little nervously, “I need to ask you about Kris Novotny.” Brody looked at him in confusion for a moment and then glanced at Justin. “Not this again!” he groaned, “I told you…” “Brody… He’s a rapist!” blurted Justin. “Justin…” he started to say, getting ready to refute his claims. “He’s been arrested” said Justin, “They’ve charged him!” Brody looked at him in surprise. “But I never…” “Not because of you…” said Justin, “He uh… He attacked a guy in Sydney… Left him so badly beaten, he’s blind in one eye… Then a couple of other guys came forward…” Brody stared at him in shock and then turned to look at McCarthy for confirmation. McCarthy just nodded. “Someone ran a story about him” said Justin, “After the incident in Salt… Then guys just started coming out of the woodwork… Looks like it’s something he does…” “He’s been charged with 3 counts of rape, and 4 counts of assault and battery” said Constable Murphy. “Someone else has come forward this morning” said McCarthy, “Another chef…” He stared down at the bedsheets and shook his head. “So, I guess” said McCarthy, tilting his head at him, “I guess, what we need to know is, what happened between you… because from what we’ve been told, it seems unlikely that your encounter with Mr Novotny was consensual. You had injuries consistent with sexual assault…” “Yeah…” said Justin, giving his shoulder a little squeeze, “Apparently he spiked the other guys’ drinks… so you’re not the only one he’s done this to.” McCarthy gave a sad little nod and pointed to his neck to indicate the faded taser burns. “He likes to stun his victims.” he added, “but he was obviously getting cocky… leaving you on the beach like that.” “Can you tell them what happened?” asked Justin. Brody gave a little shrug and continued to frown down at his bedsheets. He was racking his brain, but he genuinely didn’t remember. “Brody?” said McCarthy, “We will need to get a statement from you.” “I don’t remember” he said a little bitterly, “I mean… as far as I remember, I left Kris at the hotel… I’d broken the bathroom window to get out… and then I just left him there… and that’s when Morten came to get me.” “Morten?” asked McCarthy. “He was the vampire that Brody thought bit him” said Justin, in a tired sort of way, “He doesn’t exist.” Brody glanced up at him in a wounded sort of way. He knew how crazy the whole thing must seem now but it had been very real for him. He cast his mind back to the beach and tried to picture Morten standing there now, but for some reason, he couldn’t see his face. Where once it had been so clear, now it was a black blur. He was just a dark and slightly shapeless figure. “Brody” said McCarthy in a sympathetic and soft tone of voice, “We checked with the hotel… The window in that bathroom was never broken.” “What?!” he gasped, looking up at him in shock, “But… but that can’t be true… I… I smashed it…” “No… you didn’t” said Constable Murphy, “There’s no broken glass anywhere. The window is still intact.” “Then you must have the wrong room” he said. McCarthy shook his head. “The door to the bathroom was broken and splintered… Someone had kicked it in… and there was blood on the floor and on the bath…” “And some… well, some semen” said Murphy looking a little uncomfortable. Brody stared down at the sheets and began to breathe an awful lot faster. A memory had started to flash through his mind. He was being dragged along the beach by his legs and all he could see was a dark figure ahead of him. He didn’t know who it was. He felt dizzy and confused. It was late at night, and he could see the stars above him, but they were blurred like in a time-delayed photograph. It hurt to keep his eyes open. He hurt. He knew that he was bleeding and bruised, and that the skin on his neck was burning for some reason. He was scared. “We had the blood tested” said McCarthy, “I’m afraid, it is yours… and the semen is Mr Novotny’s…” “When you were admitted…” said Murphy, “You refused a sexual assault examination… but your file does show that you had extensive bruising to your lower back… and that… well, that you were… bleeding…” He began to grip the sheets in his hands and really start to hyperventilate. “Brodes, it’s okay!” said Justin, getting to his feet and looking at him in concern. He was staring in a way that said he was no longer in the room. His mind had gone somewhere else. They guessed that he must be having a flashback. He’d got away! He’d managed to free himself and made a run for the bathroom. Why he hadn’t run for the door, he wasn’t quite sure. His mind was foggy and confused, and his legs were weak and wobbly. The bathroom had just seemed closer… He threw cold water in his face in the hope that it might somehow counteract the effect of whatever drugs he’d been given. That he might start to be able to think straight? He shuddered when he thought about what had just happened in there. He felt physically sick! Had it been rape? Had he consented? He wasn’t sure… He didn’t even know how he’d got here. The last thing that he remembered was having a glass of wine back at the restaurant and talking to Justin. How had he ended up in a hotel room with another man? How had that happened?! He stood there, shaking, and looking at his own bleary reflection in the mirror. Flashes from tonight began to flood though his mind. He remembered watching himself through the window. Watching what that man in there was doing to him. Watching from a distance, as though he wasn’t the one being taken violently from behind. Had he left his own body while it was happening? Had he somehow had an out of body experience?! ‘Get it together, Brodes! …You got yourself into this mess, you can get yourself out! …Just get dressed and leave… and do it NOW!’ As he bent down, to pick up his clothes, he was startled by a loud bang on the bathroom door. Kris was outside! “Are you in there?!” he yelled, as he began to batter and batter on it, “Why the **** are you hiding in there?! …You don’t hide from me! You hear?!” He began to kick the base of the door, as though he was trying to kick it open. “Get the **** out here now!” roared Kris, “Get that little ass of yours out here now or I’ll whip you till you bleed!” It didn’t sound like his voice. It was more like he was mimicking the voice of an older man. He stared around him in horror, as he realised that he was trapped. There was only a small window above the shower but he didn’t know If he’d be able to reach it. He turned to look at the top of the toilet cistern, wondering if he could use the lid to smash it, just as the door smashed open. He turned, just in time for Kris to punch him in the face. He staggered backwards and just as he got his feeting again, he saw Kris come at him with a small black object… “I think he’s having a panic attack” said McCarthy, nodding to Murphy to go and call a doctor. Murphy got up and went out into the hallway. He and Justin were both on their feet now, looking down at him as he went a strange shade of blue. He began to come to. His whole body was being shunted forward, over and over, as he lay half over the bath. A man’s hand had hold of his hair and was yanking him backwards with every vicious thrust. He felt paralysed, as though none of his limbs would work anymore, but the pain was very real. He couldn’t stop what was happening. He couldn’t even speak. There was blood trickling its way across the enamel towards the plughole. Dark and red, and very obviously his… His nose was bleeding really badly. It was actually flooding down the back of his throat, and into his mouth. He was almost choking on it. That iron-y taste was strong and unpleasant, but he desperately tried to focus on it, instead of the pain. He tried to tell himself that he liked the taste of blood. His chef’s mind went to work, and he focused his attention on the different taste ‘notes’ in his own blood. He began treating it in the same way that he would a fine wine or a new ingredient for the restaurant. It was a strange thing to do but he needed something to distract him… Anything… Because there was one thought repeating itself over and over in his head, ‘I’m going to die now… He’s going to kill me.’ “Brody?!” said Nate, as he appeared in the room and began to shoo the others away from him. He could see that Brody was in the full throes of a panic attack, and having a police sergeant standing over him asking questions was definitely not going to help. “I think you all need to wait outside” he said, as he held his arms out to shepherd them into the hallway. Once they were outside, he closed the door, and pulled the blinds down so that they couldn’t see in. He came over and pulled up a chair beside him. “Brody” he said, in a soft voice, “Can you tell me what’s going on?” Brody shook his head and made a strange sort of twisted grimace as he tried not to cry. He was still breathing really fast. A whirlwind of memories was flooding through his mind, overwriting the ones he’d held onto so tightly for the last few weeks. He’d created a vampire fantasy to cover a truth so terrible that he hadn’t wanted to deal with it. How pathetic was that?! “I can’t!” he wheezed out, between frantic breaths. “Okay… well” said Nate, “We’ll just sit here then… until you calm down… Just try to slow your breathing for me…” He took hold of his wrist to check his pulse. “You’re safe here” he said, “Just take a breath and try to hold it…” After a while, he began to breathe a little more regularly and gave Nate an embarrassed little half-smile through his tears. “Do you want to tell me what was happening?” asked Nate. Brody hugged his arms around his chest and shook his head. “Can you send Justin back in?” he asked. “Okay” said Nate, “If that’s what you want… I’m going to tell Sgt McCarthy no more questions for today.” “Thanks” said Brody, with a grateful little smile. Nate opened the door and beckoned for Justin to come back in. “Just… take it easy on him” he said, as he stepped outside and closed the door again. Justin looked a little nervous. “Are… are you okay?” he asked, as he made his way over to the bed. Brody shook his head and stared down at the bedcovers again. He didn’t know how to say it. Justin sat down on the side of the bed and tentatively put his arm around his shoulder so his head was leaning against his chest. “You know you can tell me anything… right?” Brody began to cry again but wiped angrily at his own tears. Justin gave a heavy sigh and hugged him a little closer. “We’re right, aren’t we?” he asked, “He hurt you… didn’t he?” Brody gave a sort of whimpered cry as he began to really sob. He buried his face in his brother’s chest and held onto him tight as his whole body began to shake. “He raped me” he sobbed, almost unintelligibly, “He raped me” “I know” sighed Justin, as he held him in his arms and rocked him gently back and forth, “I know, mate… We’ll get you through this.” THE END. Comments

Glad Callie made him see sense Silly boy could have died! Really nice that he has so many people that care about him though. He does owe Phoebe an apology. Hope he realises that!

My, that was quite the reaction! He's not being very rational, is he? Oh well, maybe he'll have calmed down, or at least realised that he can't change the fact that everyone knows now. Looking forward to the next chapter

Very understanding of Roo. Phoebe wasn't being completely honest there. She had many many opportunities to do the right thing, but she chose not to, and it's partly her fault that he is where he is. I think Brax had a point there. They don't really know Kyle at all. They only know the very limited version of himself that he allowed them to see. And he obviously doesn't trust them at all. Quite sad really. Glad he's waking up.

Haha! Love the police officers all sitting around playing cards and exchanging ranks as chips in their poker game. And the cells stuffed full of the kind of rubbish you normally find in a disabled toilet! (very witty!) The Morgans and Scarlett, as some strange crime fighting family is certainly interesting! So funny that Ash is hiding drugs for Brax in the police station! And good old Buddy is onto him too!

Oh my goodness!!! When you said strong sexual themes, you weren't kidding! (and that's coming from me!) Beth is a determined lass, isn't she?! Not one to give up when she wants something! haha! You made me blush, and you made me laugh... so much! Maybe you should give adult writing a go? You do seem to have a flair... although I've never heard anyone use the term 'salmon'! Poor Mason and his limp biscuit! Gotta love Kat bringing Ash along so he can feed her doughnuts and then getting busy with him so they can 'blend in'. Uh-huh? Right... Brody doesn't seem like the most successful evil clown, even if he has managed to steal Beth. Loving this story!

They're not really twists, they're full on u-turns Leah and Ben are a couple now, are they? well why not? And at least Phoebe is starting to question whether she really 'deserves to be happy' because I'm of the opinion that she doesn't.

See, it let me like this one? maybe it's specific people? Maybe it's people whose reactions aren't working? (the ones that can't see the heart?)

yeah, it's back playing silly beggars. It lets me like some posts but not others, and then changes its mind later on. I don't get it!

Haha! This is hilarious! I love Morag as a horny teenager, snogging the face off her boyfriend 'handsome' Ross, and neglecting little Alfie! Not the most responsible behaviour for the future sour-faced battle-axe that she's to become! I'm trying really hard to picture her as a red-headed teen in that scene, and not the older lady that we're all familiar with, because that would just be disturbing! Alf is a difficult little tyke to deal with, isn't he?! And poor Brody was absolutely no match for all Alfie's flaming galah speak. Very funny! He probably does smell of poo after being down there for 27 years... That last line nearly made me spit out my drink. I take it you don't like sushi that much? lol!

Thanks everyone! Really glad you're enjoying the story! Hope you like this new chapter! Chapter 17 “Brody?” said an echoey voice as his eyes began to flicker open, “Brody, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes for me?” “Mmmm” he moaned, as he began to come round. He felt heavy and strange, and his head hurt. “Brody? Come on?” said the voice, “Can you open your eyes for me?” Every word seemed to echo and bounce around his head rather painfully. “Brody?” said the voice again, “Open your eyes!” He finally opened them but he gave a terrible jump when he saw that it was Morten’s face in front of him. “Get away from me!” he shouted, as he cowered in the bed, “What did you do to me?!” He was particularly frightened because he found that he couldn’t move. He was still tied down! “Brody, you’re in the hospital” said Morten, patting his arm and speaking in a patient and calm sort of voice, “You’ve been very ill… Very confused… We had to operate.” “What’s happened to your accent?!” he asked rather accusingly, “Why are you talking like that?!” Morten had a rather pronounced Kiwi accent now, and not the Norwegian accent that he was used to. He also looked a lot older. “Brody” sighed Morten, “My name is Dr Morton… Dr David Morton… We’ve been over this… I am not Norwegian… I have never been to Norway… and I can assure you that I am not now, nor have I ever been, a vampire! …I’m a surgeon in the Northern Districts Hospital… A neurosurgeon.” “Stop lying!” roared Brody as he pulled at the straps on his wrists, “I’m not falling for it… whatever this is… whatever trick you’re pulling!” He looked down and saw that his wrists were tied to the rails of the bed and he was wearing what looked like cheap white boxing gloves. “What did you do to me?!” he demanded, as he pulled violently at the restraints, “Let me go!” “We had to operate” explained Morton, as he put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him gently down on the mattress, “We had to do a craniotomy…” “A what?!” he gasped, with a look of pure horror on his face. A memory of the operating theatre flashed through his mind. They’d been getting ready to torture and mutilate him before they’d put him to sleep. The word ‘craniotomy’ did not sound like something good! “A craniotomy” repeated Morton, “You have a piece of skull missing…” He indicated with his finger a horseshoe kind of shape on his own scalp. “We had to take a piece out to relieve the pressure…” he continued, “That’s why your hands are restrained… we couldn’t have you touching your head in your confused state.” Brody looked up, rolling his eyes upwards, as though he might be able to see what he was talking about. As though he’d be able to see the top of his own head! He glanced back at Morton with narrowed eyes. What kind of sick bastards would remove part of your skull and then just sit there taunting you about it?! Had they been eating his brain or something?! “It’s a procedure we carry out when the pressure inside your skull is too high” explained Morton, “You had a bleed that was causing your brain to press against the inside of your skull… If we hadn’t intervened, you wouldn’t have survived… Quite frankly, you’re very lucky that you’re here at all!” “You expect me to believe this?!” said Brody, “After everything you’ve done… and all the mind games!” Morton blew a big puff of air out slowly. “I can only tell you what’s real, Brody… The rest is up to you.” He tilted his head at him in a sympathetic way. “Do you really believe all this vampire stuff?” he asked, “I mean, which scenario sounds more realistic? That you somehow became a vampire and went around drinking people’s blood… or that you had a head injury and all of this has been a hallucination?” Brody just sat and stared at him. He knew which one he wanted to be true. If he wasn’t a vampire, then maybe Justin and the others were all still alive? Maybe he’d never actually hurt anyone? Maybe everything could go back to being normal? He began to nod in a way that said he was beginning to accept it. “A… a brain haemorrhage?” he asked. Morton nodded in a solemn sort of way. “Gave everyone a scare” he said, “You really shouldn’t have run away from hospital… and I would have expected your sister to recognise the signs a lot sooner!” “I didn’t give her the chance” he muttered. “She should have brought you in as soon as you started claiming to be a vampire” he said, “After the kind of trauma you’d suffered, she should have suspected a head injury…” “It’s not her fault” said Brody, sounding a little defensive. He didn’t like anyone criticising Tori! “She’s the head of emergency” said Morton, “She should have called you an ambulance there and then, and had you forcibly admitted… You were a danger to yourself, as well as to others!” “What?! What’d I do?!” he asked. “Assaulted a good number of the hospital staff” replied Morton, “Among other things…” “Are they okay?” he asked, looking shamefaced and worried. “Nothing they haven’t dealt with before” he said, with a little snort, “But you screaming the place down and insisting that everyone was a vampire?! …Well, that was a new one!” He flushed a little red. If he could have, he would have covered his face with his hands. “Calmed down now?” asked Morton, patting one of Brody’s gloved hands, “Do you think I can undo these?” He nodded in a hopeful sort of way. He wanted to know what they’d done to him. He needed to feel what they’d done to him. “I’m trusting you” said Morton, as he untied his wrists and then removed the gloves for him. His hands immediately shot up to his scalp and he gave a gasp when he felt the rows and rows of staples holding his shaved scalp together, and the fact that his head now caved in in the section where there was no skull. It was like someone had smashed one side of his head in with a sledge hammer! He winced with pain as he ran his fingers over the scar. “Ah-ah! No touching!” warned Morton, as he gently pulled his hand away, “There’s no protection there… and you don’t want to get an infection, believe me.” Brody looked at his hands and then up at Morton in a worried sort of way. What had they done to him? Morton produced a small mirror and held it out to him so he could see himself. He exhaled sharply when he saw his own head. It was shaved on one side only, with a train-track of staples in a horseshoe shape. His appearance was shocking, but he was more surprised that he could see himself at all. He remembered looking in a mirror not so long ago and not having a reflection. “Don’t know many vampires that can use mirrors” said Morton, with a sarcastic little smirk. Brody frowned. The last week had just been too real for it all to have been a hallucination. He could remember biting people. He could remember the taste of blood. This had to be some kind of trick. He glanced up at Morton suspiciously. He had to be controlling his mind in some way and distorting the way that he saw things? “I don’t believe you” he said, as he looked around the hospital room, “This has to be a trick! You’re just messing with me.” “Brody…” sighed Morton, as he started the speech again, “Like I said… You’ve been very confused… You had a brain haemorrhage and it caused you to hallucinate… To think that you were someone else… That I was someone else… You believed you were a vampire when you know that that’s not possible.” Brody glanced towards the doorway. “Where’s my family?!” he demanded, “What did you do to them?!” He still didn’t believe him. He was pretty sure that this was one of the hospital rooms that the vampires had taken him to. “Where are they?!” he asked. “Your family is fine” said Morton, “Your brothers and sister were just here… They’ve gone to the cafeteria to get some food.” He gave him a little smile. “Your family’s been here… for weeks… They’ve hardly left your side.” He gave a little snort of derision. Did he think he was stupid?! This was obviously part of some elaborate plan to mess with his head. He looked down at the mirror in his hands again and wondered how he’d got this to work. What kind of trickery or mind-manipulation was involved here? How could he have a reflection when he knew that that was impossible? And looking at the scar on his scalp, he wondered what they’d done to him. Had they put something inside there? Or had they taken something out? Or was the scar an illusion too? Morton shook his head and got to his feet. He walked over to the window and then turned to look at him. “You really think I’m a vampire?” he asked, as he began to pull the string on the blinds, “If I was, would I be able to do this?!” With that, he yanked the blind up and bright white light flooded in from outside. Brody winced, and held his hands up to shield himself, as the room filled with sunlight. He clamped his eyes shut as he waited for his skin to burn. After a moment or two, when that hadn’t happened, he opened his eyes again. What was going on?! “See?” said Morton, as he walked back over to his bed and put his hand gently on his arm, “Do you believe me now?” He nodded slowly as he sat there bathed in sunlight. Surely, this was a level of trickery that even ‘Morten’ wouldn’t be able to pull off?! “Your sister thought it was some kind of post-traumatic psychosis…” sighed Morton, “…but it turned out that you had an aneurysm… probably caused by the assault.” “The assault?” he asked, looking more than a little dubious. He was beginning to question everything. Had something happened that he’d somehow blocked from his memory?! Something worse than being bitten by a vampire?! “The assault” said Morton, with his head tilted in pity, “…You don’t remember?” He gave a little shrug. He didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t anymore. Until a few minutes ago, he’d been absolutely convinced that he was a blood-sucking vampire, but now he was sitting here basking in the sunshine, and all he could think was ‘Am I crazy?!’ He didn’t have a memory of that night that didn’t involve vampires, so if that wasn’t true, then he had no idea what had happened. “I… I don’t remember” he stammered. “Brody… You were found unconscious on the beach” said Morton, “You’d been assaulted… and they’d… they’d used a taser gun on you… We think you must have had a blow to the head.” He furrowed his brow as he tried to remember. As far as he knew, he’d left Kris at the hotel, but what happened after that was completely blank. How could he have forgotten?! How could he have wiped what sounded like a very violent attack completely from his memory?! Was it because it was too traumatic to remember?! “What…” he asked, with a fearful look, “What… what did they do to me?” He genuinely didn’t know. Morton gave him a sympathetic little head tilt. “I think maybe we’ll have a talk about that a little later” he said, “When you’re feeling a little better.” “But I…” he began to say. “Hey!” called Justin, interrupting as he stuck his head in through the door, “Look who’s awake!” “Trust you to wake up when we’ve just popped out for a feed!” teased Tori, as she made her way over to the bed and sat down on the side. “You’ve been in and out of consciousness for days!” He stared at them in a wary sort of way. Why were they being so nice to him after what he’d done?! “Looks like my cue to go” said Morton, as he got to his feet, “I’ll leave you with your family… We’ll have another chat later, Brody.” Mason stepped out of the way to let him go, and then stood leaning against the wall a short distance away. He had a bandage on his neck. Brody glanced over at him. “Did… did I do that?” he asked, in a shamefaced sort of way. He thought he looked a little hostile. “It doesn’t matter” said Mason, “You didn’t know what you were doing.” There was a hint of anger in his voice though, and he was keeping a safe distance from him. “Yeah, mate” said Justin, “All that matters now is that you’re getting better…” “But… but I…” stammered Brody, as he continued to look at Mason’s bandage, “I bit you?!” “Yeah” said Mason, putting his hand up to the bandage, “You thought you were drinking my blood… Proving you were a vampire or something?” He pulled the bandage away quite carefully to reveal a very human bitemark. He clearly didn’t have any fangs! “Oh god! I’m so sorry!” groaned Brody. He covered his face with his hands. He was so embarrassed! “Hey” said Justin, squeezing Brody’s foot through the sheets, “You didn’t know what you were doing! You were sick… You have nothing to feel guilty about!” Mason glanced at Justin and set his jaw in an angry sort of way. It didn’t go unnoticed by Brody. “So… I’m really not a vampire?” he asked, looking at them with an embarrassed and guilty sort of expression. “No… Brodes” said Tori, with a nervous little laugh, “You’re not.” “And I… I had a brain haemorrhage?” he asked. “Yeah, mate, you did” said Justin, “But they caught it in time.” “Not before I went crazy though” he sighed a little glumly, “Not before I attacked my brother… and tried to drink his blood!” He looked up at Mason with an apologetic little head shake, “I mean …How nuts did you think I was?!” “Pretty crazy” agreed Mason, as he covered the bandage on his neck protectively. “You’re okay now though” said Tori, as she took his hand and held it in her own, “Back to normal.” He gave a little snort. How could he ever feel normal again?! He’d spent a week thinking that he was a vampire and thirsting after human blood. “So… what did I do?” he asked, “I mean… I know what I think happened… but I think you’re gonna have to fill in the blanks for me…” “Nothing for you to worry about right now” said Justin, exchanging a worried glance with Tori, “Let’s just concentrate on getting you better!” “Yeah…” said Mason, “…but the police want to speak to you.” “What?!” gasped Brody, “Why?!” Justin threw Mason a scathing sort of look that said ‘You didn’t have to do this now!’ and then looked back at Brody with a forced smile on his face. “It’s fine mate” he said, patting his foot again in a soothing sort of way, “They just need to ask you a few questions.” “Why?!” asked Brody, sitting upright in the bed, “What did I do?!”

No, it seems to be a bit temperamental It allowed me to 'like' RR1's comment this morning, but not Kristen and Bijou's. I didn't get a message to say that I had exceeded my 'likes' or anything like that so I don't think that was the problem. When I clicked on 'Like' for RR1's comment the little square with a number 1 appeared beside it, whereas on Kristen and Bijou's it didn't, but the heart did change from grey to blue on all three. Then when I clicked out, and back in, the hearts on Kristen and Bijou's were back to grey. I tried again this evening though, and the reactions seem to be working again. I don't know why they're working, but I'm not complaining!

Aw, what a relief for both of them! For Kyle to be able to talk to Heath and say what he needed to say, and the same for Heath. To finally be able to put all the self-blame to bed! Very touching. Hope Heath will make it through this, because as you say, the family has already been through far too much. Looking forward to the next update xx

My 'reactions' have stopped working? They were working yesterday but not now. The heart appears for me, and I can select a reaction, but once I click back out of the post the reaction disappears. I liked a post on one of my stories but when I went back in to read a new comment, the heart is grey again. Just flagging it so maybe @Chris J can have a look? Thanks

Thanks again everyone for the kind comments, and really sorry that I haven't updated for so long. Hope you enjoy this one! WARNING: ADULT THEMES! Chapter 16 “Do it” said Morten, as a crowd of other vampires began to gather around them. He was holding Kris with his neck exposed right under Brody’s nose. “Do it…” he insisted, “You have to prove yourself.” Brody felt a rising sense of panic as he realised that all eyes were on him. Vampires seemed to have appeared from nowhere, making their way in from neighbouring rooms, and forming a circle around them. Men and women of all shapes and sizes, dressed in every style possible, with pale skin and fangs. They were hissing and growling orders at him and jostling him every time he tried to move away. All he could feel was their cold and unfeeling eyes on him. They were making him feel very threatened! “Do it!” hissed one of the female vampires. She gave him a shove in the middle of the back. “Bite him!” she ordered. He looked at the pulsing vein in the side of Kris’ neck. He could already hear and smell the blood, and all he really wanted to do was sink his teeth into it. The blood was calling to him… Calling his name with every beat of his heart. It was incessant. Like a beep-beep-beeping that reverberated through him… but he didn’t want this! He didn’t want to kill him! Morten stared at him with about as much empathy as a lizard. “Did you think you had me fooled?” he asked, “That little pantomime you put on earlier?” “What?!” he gasped, as he looked around at the faces surrounding him, “What do you mean?!” “Did you think that I can’t hear your heart beating?!” growled Morten, “Did you think that I don’t know how long a body has been dead? Where did you get them from? The local morgue?” “But…” he started to say, “But…we…” “I played along” said Morten, “I played along with your little charade because it amused me… and because the dogs needed fed… but I warned you what would happen if you didn’t do what I said…” “I did!” he said, sounding breathless and frightened, “I did what you asked… I killed them.” “No” he said, with a sarcastic little smile, “You didn’t.” “But you saw them!” he pleaded, “You saw them on my kitchen floor… we cut them up!” He began to back away, but he backed into some of the vampires behind him that were closing in. “I killed my family for you!” he whined. Morten made a sort of tutting sound and shook his head at him. “I think we both know that isn’t true!” he teased, “You haven’t killed anyone!” Right then, there was a muffled scream, and Tori and Raffy were pushed through the crowds of vampires with their hands cuffed behind their backs. They were both looked terrified and puffy-eyed from crying. A second later, Mason and Justin were dragged forward and pushed to their knees in front of him. They all had gags in their mouths. “Now” said Morten, “I think we can dispense with the silly… with your silly little lies…” “What are you going to do to them?!” gasped Brody, as he made a move to try to help them, but two vampires behind him grabbed his arms. “Me?!” laughed Morten, “I’m not going to do anything to them!” Brody looked at him in horror and then at his four trembling siblings on the floor. They were staring up at him with such fear in their eyes. Such horror. He couldn’t blame them really. To them, he was just as much a monster as any of the vampires in this room. He’d promised to keep them safe, and yet here they were, kneeling in a room full of blood-suckers and being offered up like human sacrifices. Even if he managed to get them out of this mess, how would they ever forgive him for this?! How would they ever look at him as one of them?! They wouldn’t! He glanced at Raffy and thought his heart might break. Of all of them, she was the one that got to him the most. She was so young, so fragile, so scared… and she was sobbing her little heart out. He felt his blood boil. “I’m not doing it!” he snarled at Morten, “There’s nothing in the world that would make me kill one of them!” Morten raised his eyebrows at him in a ‘we’ll see about that’ kind of way. He looked at Kris, who he was still holding by the hair at the back of his head, and gave a little smirk. “I think we’ll get rid of this one” he said, as he shoved him towards some of the other vampires. They grabbed his arms and dragged him away across the room. There was a loud crunch noise a moment later and he guessed that they’d snapped his neck just like that boy the other night. “There” said Morten, “Now you have less choice…” “I’m not drinking from my family!” he snarled, as he made another desperate attempt to free himself. He growled and grunted as he tried to get away from the vampires behind him, but he was quickly subdued. There were just too many of them! “Stop fighting it!” scolded Morten, “It’s no use, Brody… You know that you’re hungry… You can feel it, can’t you? The hunger… the thirst.” He nodded down at Justin and Mason. “You can hear their heartbeats, can’t you? You hear them…” He walked behind Mason and leaned down to put a hand on his chest. He began to beat along with Mason’s heartbeat. “It’s like music” he said, “Listen to it… Brody… You know you can hear it… ‘eat me, eat me, eat me…’ “Shut up!” shouted Brody, as he refused to look. It was true. The blood was calling to him. He could smell it thick in the air! “Eat me, eat me, eat me!” chanted the vampires in the circle around him, taunting him and teasing him. He glanced down at Mason. He was shaking and tears were flooding down his cheeks but he was staring at the floor. “Maybe you’d prefer something a little more… ‘meaty’?” asked Morten, as he took hold of Justin’s hair and wrenched his head back, “This one would be my choice.” “Phwuck oooh!” groaned a bruised and bloodied Justin as he tried to get free. He couldn’t speak clearly with the gag in his mouth. He was clearly frightened, but he was putting on a good show of being tougher than he really was. Brody stared at the bulging vein in Justin’s neck. He didn’t want to, but he couldn’t help it. He could smell Justin’s fear and anger, pungent in the air, like being at a barbecue and smelling the burgers on the grill. He’d never wanted to bite anyone more! ‘What are you even thinking?!’ he asked himself in horror, ‘That’s your brother there! You are not eating your brother!’ He shook his head as though to wake himself up. “I’m not doing it!” he growled at Morten, “I don’t care what you do to me, I’m not killing my family!” The vampires behind him pushed him forward and pressed hard on his shoulders to make him kneel. They held his arms bent up behind his back. He couldn’t move, no matter how much he struggled against them. “I’m sorry!” he said, as he came face to face with Justin, “I’m so sorry!” Justin didn’t look at him. He was actively avoiding eye contact. He glanced at Mason. He wasn’t really looking at him now either. He seemed quite slumped and dull-eyed, like he’d already been drained. Tori seemed to be watching him in a very worried way. “Come on, now” coaxed Morten, as he tilted Justin’s head a little more, “Just a little mouthful? Sink your teeth in… You’ll feel better when you’ve eaten...” He shook his head. He wasn’t going to do it! “No!” he growled up at him, “You can’t make me!” “Oh, I think I can!” laughed Morten, as one of the other vampires stepped into the circle with a glass full of blood. Morten razzled Mason’s hair in the way that you would a dog and grinned from ear to ear. He stepped forward and nodded at the vampires behind. “Hold him” he said. “What?! No!” screamed Brody. Some of the vampires behind dragged his head back and forced his mouth open. He nearly choked as they began to pour the blood in his mouth. With that, he found himself being lifted in the air and carried along by a crowd of vampires. He wriggled, and kicked and squirmed, but they wouldn’t let him go. All he could see above him was bright strip-lighting as they carried him along corridor after corridor. The light was hurting his eyes but he was scared to close them because he didn’t know where they were taking him. “No!” he screamed, “Let me go!” They carried him into a brightly lit room and laid him out on a bed. A multitude of hands held him down and dark figures loomed over him and had him completely surrounded. “Noooooo!!!” he screamed again, as they pulled at his arms and legs and strapped them down, “Nooooooo!! Pleeeeeeeaasse!” He wriggled and bucked but it was no use. He couldn’t break free. He was completely restrained. Morten appeared in the room a moment later, but now he was wearing green scrubs like a surgeon, and had a mask over his mouth and nose. Cold blue eyes stared down at him. “Please don’t do this!” pleaded Brody, although he had no idea what he intended to do. He looked around in horror as he realised that this was an operating room. There were strange looking bits of machinery everywhere. The vampires were all wearing surgical scrubs and there was a tray beside him with all sorts of scary looking torture implements on it. He was terrified! “What?!” he gasped, “What are you doing to me?!” “Don’t worry” said Morten, as he stood over him, “We’re going to take good care of you.” “Please don’t!” he begged as he lay there trembling. He was surrounded by vampires, but one of them produced a massive needle and stuck it in the back of his hand. It was a cannula. He winced as it went in and then looked up at the drip that it was attached to. There was blood in there! “What?!” he gasped, as a terrible thought ran through his mind, “Is that Justin’s blood?!” A female vampire shook her head at him, and then produced another syringe. “Okay… we need you to count backwards starting at 10.” Hands appeared from behind his head and put a mask over his face. He tried to hold his breath. He was sure that they were trying to gas him! He just couldn’t understand why they were doing this. Was this a way to force him into full ‘vampirehood’? Would this stop his heart? Or were they just going to kill him?! He turned his head to look at one of the trays beside him. There was a drill and a huge selection of screws laid out on surgical paper. “What… what are you ddddoing to me?!” he began to slur. His body felt heavy and he was finding it harder and harder to keep his eyes open. “Okay, here we go” said the vampire as she injected something into his cannula, “We’ll see you when you wake up.” “Noooo!” he groaned, as a strange cold tingling feeling rushed up his arm and then his spinal column. It was a horrible sensation, like ice-cold water being flushed through his veins… With a terrible sense of defeat, he figured that they must be putting him to sleep, in the way that you would a dog. He was going to die for real now. It was all going to be over… Then everything went black.

The green was quite a shock this morning but I'm growing to like it... and while I generally don't like change, the new 'reactions' are actually pretty cool. Looking good guys!

Hahahaha! Love this. Poor Brody seems incredibly confused by those pesky girls. I suppose if the Pheebster is all he has to go on then it's understandable... Love Ziggy being an annoying little fairy buzzing around him, but for a minute I thought she was the one threatening him and calling him 'Morgan'! lol! Robbo as a bully, with his sidekicks Lena and Zannis is a nice use of more recent characters, and I especially loved your little jibe at Zannis supposedly being in hiding while walking about the place as large as life! So has Brody disappeared for the next 27 years then?!

Oh, I can sympathise with a fear of custard. Horrible stuff! Bleurrgh! And clowns... so I'm a bit wary of this story It's an interesting part-time job for (what I'm hoping is) a thirteen year old Brody? Love all his peculiarities! Particularly the preemptive wearing of a hat to protect him from bird poo! Lol! He kinda reminds me of Jon Richardson Love this!

Oooh, not jealous at all Have a fab time!