Page 11 of Map of Pain
Movement near the door caught his attention. The vampire lay on his back on the floor, long legs propped up against the wall, his hands tucked behind his head. Headphones covered his ears as he whistled along to whatever he was listening to.
The melody floated through the room, haunting and beautiful. Something about it tugged at Nick’s memory—a forgotten fragment buried beneath years of pain. The tune scratched at locked doors in his mind, promising something he couldn’t quite grasp.
Tears welled unexpectedly in his eyes. Nick blinked them back, unsettled by the reaction. The melody felt important, meaningful in ways he couldn’t articulate. The harder he tried to remember, the more his chest tightened with inexplicable grief.
What is that song?
His hunter instincts retreated in confusion, leaving him kneeling on the floor, neither fighting nor fully submitting. Just... being.
The silent vampire glanced in his direction and bolted upright. The sudden movement made Nick flinch, a sharp gasp escaping his lips.Get it together.Show no fear.
But I’m scared.
The vampire rubbed his chest with his fist in a circular motion, mouthing what looked like“sorry.”Instead of approaching, he grabbed a food tray from a nearby counter and a marker, keeping his distance as if recognizing Nick’s fragile state.
The vampire uncapped the marker and wrote on the tray in neat, blocky letters:‘Luka Jovanovska. Hospital in town. 8 hours passed.’
Nick stared at the writing, searching for hidden meanings or manipulation tactics. The handwriting was oddly precise—each letter carefully formed, almost architectural in its structure. His eyes lingered on the name.Luka. The silent vampire had a name now.
“You spoke earlier. Talking would be faster,”Nick said. The hunter was returning. Analyzing. Calculating.
The vampire shook his head firmly. His hands moved in a fluid pattern—fingers dancing through what looked like signlanguage, though Nick couldn’t understand it. When Nick didn’t respond, Luka extended the index fingers of both hands, bringing them toward each other twice in a jabbing movement, then grimaced and winced dramatically.
“Monsters don’t feel pain,”Nick stated flatly. The words felt right in his mouth, familiar territory after the humiliating submission episode.
Luka’s face scrunched up, eyebrows drawing together in clear disagreement. He turned the tray over and wrote quickly:‘Turning doesn’t fix.’
Something uncomfortable shifted in his chest. The statement contradicted everything the Society had drilled into him—vampires weren’t people, just parasites wearing human faces. Monsters incapable of real emotion or suffering.
The silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken questions. Nick felt himself slipping again, the submissive conditioning creeping up his spine like cold fingers. Without orders or direct threats, his mind struggled to maintain clarity.
“Can I leave?”he asked, hating how small his voice sounded.
Luka shook his head, expression gentle but firm. He wrote on the tray:‘Once better, you can leave.’
Nick’s hand curled into a fist, the familiar anger offering a lifeline away from the submissive state. The hunter stirred inside him, assessing the situation with cold precision.
“Better by whose definition?”His voice gained strength with each word.“You keep me here until I’m ‘fixed’ enough to hunt again? Is that it?”
Luka raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised by the question. He scribbled quickly:‘Infection gone = you leave. Your choice then.’
Nick shifted his weight, muscles protesting as he pushed himself off the floor. His legs trembled with the effort, but herefused to show weakness. Standing put him above the vampire, reclaiming some sense of control.
“Why help me at all? I’ve been trying to kill you for weeks.”The question burned in his throat. Nothing made sense. Vampires didn’t save humans—they used them, fed from them, discarded them.
Luka considered the question, head tilting slightly. His expression softened into something Nick couldn’t interpret. He wrote:‘Good question. Don’t know exactly.’
The honesty was disarming. Nick expected manipulation, calculated kindness designed to create obligation. The simple admission of uncertainty felt dangerously genuine.
Don’t trust this.Monsters lie.Manipulate.Destroy.
Nick stood frozen, waiting for Luka to make a move. But the vampire remained seated, hands deliberately visible, palms open. The gesture seemed kind, respectful even. Nick’s thoughts splintered as he tried to categorize the creature before him. One moment he was Luka, a person with a name who hadn’t harmed him; the next, he was just another monster wearing a human face.
He could have killed you when you lost time. He didn’t.
The thought rose from somewhere deep within Nick, a voice he barely recognized as his own. It felt foreign yet familiar, like finding an old photograph of himself.
That will get us killed,the hunter part countered immediately.
