Backstory - Behind the Kidnapping

[Keira Kelly]

The car pulled up to a huge, old brick building with a massive smoke stack coming out of the ground beside it. It was right on the lake front.
Sindri, still holding on to Keira tightly, dragged her out of the car. She had an idea of where she was, this building was somewhat iconic in the Toronto water front, though long since abandoned.

She still struggled but it was futile. Looking around, she could see other figures around, watching the two Kindred. Kine.. most likely ghouls. This Sheriff must have an army of them, she thought. He started pulling her across the gravel in front of the building but she managed to twist slightly out of his grip, just enough to make an attempt to break free. Ramming an elbow back, she pulled free and ran for it.

In an instant though, he was on her, tackling her to the ground. Pulling her back up, Sindri wrapped an arm around Keira's shoulders and pulled her back up. He wrestled her into the building, with her fighting all the way and the ghouls following along to make sure she didn't attempt another escape. As she was pulled through the dark and dusty building, she knew it wasn't very likely she would make it out of this. She only hoped that her end would be swift.. however unlikely that was knowing the Sheriff's reputation.

The masked man pulled her up some metal stairs at the side of the massive room, leading up to what looked to be an office and storage area. One ghoul who was ahead of them unlocked a massive sliding metal door to a room that could have only been used for storage. Sindri pushed her into the room and shut the door with a loud bang. Keira beat her fists against the flat metal as she heard the lever on the outside being locked.

"Let me out! What do you want from me?!" she yelled but to no avail.

[Keira Kelly]

After long minutes of no reply from the other side of the door, Keira turned around, finally realizing on more than a subconscious level how well-lit it was in the storage room. She looked up to see the old lighting, it must be tied to a generator somewhere nearby, she thought. Looking around she was surprised. There was a big bed in one corner and a day chair along the wall, and most shockingly, a guitar stand with an electric guitar and amplifier beside it. Looking to the other side of the room, there was a fancy desk with a bookshelf full of records.

Something caught her eye on the desk, something familiar. Moving closer she saw all her albums from when she had been mortal were lined up in the middle, resting between bookends. She didn't know what to think now and just stood staring with her mouth hanging open. Over on the corner, which she hadn't noticed before, was a framed picture. It was a photograph of Keira, Marie and their band rehearsing from 1989. What the hell was going on? Who would have had access to that rehearsal to have a picture of it and how would a Sheriff have gotten a hold of it?

[Keira Kelly]

Shrugging it off for now, she decided to concentrate on finding a way out of there. She quickly looked around the room. Only the one large, metal door and the rest of the walls were either brick or concrete. Damn! She would have to wait for someone to open the door. Hunkering down against the wall beside where the door opened from, she waited.

---------------

After a while she heard footsteps approaching. She stood up, getting ready to act. She could hear someone working the latch on the metal door, then the door was pulled open and a ghoul with a plate loaded with bags of blood entered the room. With superhuman speed, she ran into the ghoul, knocking him off his feet as she bounced off him and ran through the open doorway.

She ran down a short hallway and found herself in the main area of the building. As she stopped to look around, deciding which way to go, she was jarred by a huge blow to the side of her head and was knocked off her feet. She landed heavily on the concrete floor, stunned. Darkness crept into the edges of her vision, growing as unconsciousness tried to take a hold of her.

She saw a ghoul standing beside her holding a large lead pipe. He raised it up high above her, prepared to bring it down with as much force as he could. She couldn't muster any kind of defense, it was hard to even move her head and the darkness was squeezing out her field of vision. Suddenly, Keira heard a crunch sound. She saw the masked figure of Sindri drop the corpse of the ghoul, now with a broken neck to the ground. The blackness claimed her and she fell unconscious.

Sent into torpor by an almost perfect hit to the head. Bashing damage to the head becomes lethal. Ghoul has potence and this is automatic successes for dramatic purposes.

[Keira Kelly]

Keira awoke to a blinding headache. It hurt too much to even think about opening her eyes. She could taste blood in her mouth, human blood. Had someone given her blood to help her heal? She could tell that the side of her skull was fractured and it felt like it. She was lying on her stomach on something soft, with her face turned towards the side. She could feel her hair on the upturned side of her head was sticky with blood. Luckily Kindred physiology was different enough that bleeding to death was rarely an issue. This kind of damage would likely have killed a human, she thought.

She concentrated her mind into directing the vitae in her body to heal her broken skull partially. Healing used up a lot of the blood that she didn't have so she rationed it, healed just enough to be able to move and think a little more clearly. She put a hand to the wound on the side of her head, feeling the caked blood in her hair. At least it wasn't bleeding anymore but it still hurt. She didn't want to press too hard and cause more damage to the still fragile bone.

She opened her eyes and found she was back in the room, her prison. Someone was there with her, sitting in a chair beside her, but she couldn't see them clearly as the dark figure blocked out the light from behind, not to mention her vision still wasn't back to normal either. She tried to move her heard to identify it which brought an unintentional groan of pain to her lips. At the sound, the figure stood up and put a hand tenderly on her shoulder.

"Stay still. You were hurt" the distorted voice of Sindri said.

Of course, she thought. If a ghoul couldn't be trusted to watch over her, he would himself. Her thinking was still too muddled to make any kind of witty reply so she kept silent. He stared at her for a few long moments and then headed back near the door of the room. The door was open but there was no way she had the strength to get up, let alone try to fight her way out of here. So she simply followed his movements with her eyes. Something about the way he moved seemed familiar somehow... but she couldn't place it right at that moment.

Sindri picked up something off the floor and came back over to her side, sitting down again in the chair. He held out a bag of blood before her. He knew she needed it now.. why was he helping her though, she wondered, especially after she had tried to escape twice. Wouldn't it be easier to keep her prisoner in this state? Oh well, she thought, maybe she could regain her strength and try again. His mistake.

She slowly rolled over on to her back and the pain in her head threatened to overwhelm her again. Giving herself a moment with closed eyes, the pain receded to a more manageable level. She started trying to sit up but the dizziness was more than she could bear. Suddenly she felt a hand on her back, another on her arm, helping her to stay upright. She glanced at the masked eyes in surprise. Sindri pilled some pillows on to the bed behind her so she could lean back but remain upright. He picked up the bag of blood from the bed beside her and put it into her hands.

She was suspicious but lying here injured would not do her any good. She bit into the bag with her fangs and drank deeply until the bag was dry. She drank a second one that was handed to her as well. She burned the blood from one of those to heal some more of the damage. Her vision was clearer now, and she wasn't dizzy anymore but she still lacked strength.

She turned to Sindri. "Why did you kidnap me? Why are you helping me now?" she asked.

The mask just stared coldly at her for a moment. "Sunrise is coming. Get some rest."
With that, Sindri left the room and the metal door was locked again from the outside. Keira stared at it for a long moment, trying to comprehend what was going on but failing. Sighing, she eased herself back down on the bed. Her head felt somewhat better but her neck muscles protested, still unhealed. They would have to wait. As the sun rose outside, Keira fell into a deep sleep.

[Keira Kelly]

The next night, Keira awoke not long after the sun set. She was still alone in the room. She decided it was time to test her legs. She slowly pulled herself into a sitting position on the edge of the bed, fighting a wave of dizziness. If only she could have access to more blood, she could fully heal.. she didn't want to get too low on her own stores of vitae just in case though. Using the bed for support, she slipped off it and stood on the floor. Her neck and head ached still but were tolerable. She had to concentrate to keep on her feet though.

She made her way across the room slowly, more for something to do than anything. When she reached the desk against the far wall, she leaned heavily against it. Sitting here a moment, her attention was once again drawn to the photograph of her from those so many years ago. A thought was trying to form in her mind but her thought process was still somewhat addled. She picked up the framed picture, staring at it.

As she sat there trying to clear her mind, she heard the door latch squeak as it was unlocked from the outside. A young Kine was led in the room, followed by Sindri. The Kine was obviously dominated, showing no sign of comprehension at what was about them. Sindri looked over at the bed as he entered and at not seeing her, quickly glanced around the room. Spotting her over at the desk, he pulled the Kine as he made his way over to her.

"You should be in bed." The voice rasped.

Keira narrowed her eyes as she watched them come closer but didn't answer back. If he wouldn't answer her questions as to what he was going to do with her, she wasn't going to answer him either.

When she didn't respond, Sindri pushed the Kine towards her.
"Drink. Heal." he said as he stood waiting. When she didn't move, he pushed the Kine closer towards her in a very insistent manner. With a sigh, she got up off the desk. She needed the blood, she knew that. A wave of dizziness hit her but Sindri caught her arm, helping to steady her.

She looked up into the dark eyes of the mask. Keira had always been quite proficient at reading body language, and Sindri's just confused her. Everything he had said so far seemed sincere. He had personally not hurt her at any point and in fact, killed his own ghoul that had. The way he moved seemed so damned familiar though, she thought.

She turned her attention to the Kine, standing obediently before her. A healthy looking individual, she thought. Moving to the Kine's side, she pushed back the human's long hair to expose the side of the neck. Keira glanced over at Sindri, who had moved back a bit but stood watched. It was disconcerting.. Keira had never really much had an audience before when she fed, it had always been in private. Being watched just felt odd. She shook it off.

Keira leaned in close to the Kine's neck, whispering that everything would be okay and that it wouldn't hurt. She had no idea if the Kine could hear her or even noticed her but it made her feel better. She quickly sank her fang's into the other's neck, feeling the warm blood flow into her mouth, giving her strength. The blood tasted better than anything she could recall from her mortal existence.

She made sure to take only enough so as not to injure or weaken the Kine too much and sealed the wound in the Kine's neck as soon as she was done drinking. She used some of the new vitae in her to finish healing the remaining injuries, feeling better, stronger. She moved back, looking at the unblinking Kine. Keira had never liked to feed on the unwilling, it had always been easy enough for her to find willing donors but in this case, there had not really been a choice. The Kine would suffer no ill-effects.. at least from this feeding.

[Keira Kelly]

Sindri waved his hand behind him, and another ghoul came in, taking the Kine out to who knew where. He stood watching Keira the whole time through all of this and she stood her ground, staring back at his mask. His gaze turned to something behind her. Turning, she saw he was looking at the photograph she had set back on the desk.

"Do you remember?" he asked.

She looked back at him in confusion. "Do I remember this photo being taken? This rehearsal? I do...." she replied cautiously.
"How did you get this?" she asked again. Thoughts were starting to form in her mind. She remembered only other person who had been around that day. It couldn't be though, could it? It might explain a few things though, she thought.

Slowly she moved towards Sindri, watching for any sign of threat but he didn't move an inch. When she got right up in front of him, she stared at him and reached up hand to the mask. His hand shot up quickly on top of hers, she jumped and almost pulled back, but he didn't do anything else. His hand on hers felt so familiar. She was more sure than ever.

She reached up her other hand to the other side of the mask and pulled it slowly off of Sindri's head. The mask was heavy at the bottom, it had some kind of electronics in it. As the mask came off she gasped at what she saw.

"Cyrus?" She had thought as much but to see him standing her shocked her to the core even so.
She dropped the mask to the ground while continuing to stare at him. He still looked exactly as he had over 20 years ago.
She slowly reached a hand back up to the side of his face, almost to make sure that he really was there and not some figment of her imagination.

She didn't know what to think, and as she stared in shock, he simply smiled back at her.

[Keira Kelly]

(May be continued..)