Page 28 of Captive
Chapter Thirteen
Time moved strangely in the crystal-lit chamber, marked only by the pain of failing components and the ebb and flow of hunger. Sebastian drifted in and out of consciousness, each awakening bringing new awareness of systems deteriorating. The brass in his body felt increasingly foreign.
"The transformation reaches deeper now," Ochrehand's voice filtered through his haze. "The bindings won't be enough. He needs more support as the parts that have been there the longest complete their change."
"Strengthen the restraints," Boarstaff ordered, his voice steady. "Add the second layer. The ones with the elder markings."
Sebastian felt the existing rawhide restraints around his limbs, primitive things he would have found offensive before, but recognized as imbued magic that helped stabilize his deteriorating components. His noble pride rebelled as Thornmaker approached with additional bindings, more intricately woven and marked with symbols that pulsed with ancient power.
"These second bindings held your kind before." Thornmaker placed each knot with methodical care. "When the first transformation became too powerful. When vampire nature threatened to overwhelm everything else."
A chill that had nothing to do with the chamber's temperature shivered down Sebastian's spine. So, the orcs had witnessed such a transformation before, but never completed it successfully. He was an experiment, perhaps the first vampire to ever survive.
"The enhanced restraints will better contain the transformation's next phase," Ochrehand explained, her magic probing the changes still sweeping through him. "The first layer guides, but these," she gesturedto the new rawhide strips with their intricate markings, "these will shield you when the deepest parts change beyond any chance of going back."
The difference was immediate. While the first bindings had guided the transformation, the new ones reached deeper, their magic focused through his deteriorating components with purpose and ancient knowledge. Even his pride couldn't deny their effectiveness as another synthetic part, this one controlling his hip movement, shifted under their influence.
"I don't need to be tied like some animal," he managed, though the words emerged without their usual precision.
"You need exactly this." There was no cruelty in Boarstaff’s tone, merely certainty. "The hunger grows stronger as your mechanical regulators deteriorate. These bindings recognize what vampire nature truly requires."
More rawhide encircled his arms, his legs, holding him tight. Each knot sent magic flowing through wavering systems. Sebastian's body instinctively fought against the primitive restraints even as his mind recognized their necessity, their promise of survival through transformation that would otherwise tear him apart.
"The magic in them responds to his resistance." Ochrehand ran a hand over the new layer of bindings on his arm. "Like they've witnessed this kind of awakening before, channeling it along ancient pathways."
As another wave of hunger crashed through him, thin wisps of pale mist escaped from his collar in irregular puffs. His fangs retracted and descended of their own accord. The chamber's crystals quickened their rhythm, their illumination probing every artificial system within him.
"Set the protective wards," Doechaser instructed. "Three rings."
Council members and shamans moved with practiced efficiency, laying down magical protections older than brass or steam. Without the brass in his eyes, Sebastian could see their hands glow as they worked, the runes around him picking up the magic in beautiful waves of green, blue, and crimson, so different from the cold, dark magic of his father's artificers.
"He'll need blood soon," Ochrehand said as the magic circlesclosed. "The bindings support the transformation, but-"
"But hunger accelerates it," Boarstaff finished. "I know. I can see him fighting it."
Boarstaff's assessment stung worse than the physical pain of his failing parts. The warchief's heartbeat pounded in Sebastian's ears, tantalizing, strong, and impossible to reach. Unlike the processed blood of feeding chambers, the natural scent surrounding him contained none of the artificial filtration his father had designed into vampire existence. Each breath filled him with raw sensations his improvements had been specifically engineered to suppress.
"The distant scouts have withdrawn to regroup," Rockbreaker reported from near the entrance. "Their search patterns grow erratic. They lose more mechanical assistance the deeper they venture into our territory."
Another synthetic component lower in his back surrendered, sending fresh waves of sensation through his spine. With a metallic thunk, a brass plate detached from his forearm, falling to the floor with a dull clatter. The exposed skin beneath looked raw but surprisingly human. The crystals around the chamber flared blue at the change, their light taking on colors that spoke of rebirth rather than decay.
"It's happening again." Ochrehand pointed to where small copper nodes were loosening along Sebastian's jawline. "The external pieces fall faster, revealing what lies beneath. The internal mechanisms resist more stubbornly."
The detached patches left an odd lightness. His skin tingled with exposure to air it hadn't felt in centuries. Despite the searing pain, there was something almost liberating about shedding the exterior trappings of vampire nobility. His fangs remained, the only visible sign of his predatory nature as his appearance grew increasingly human.
"The wards respond differently to him now." Thornmaker lowered his spear without fully relaxing his guard. "As if they recognize something beyond brass and steam. Something that echoes what vampires were before they left nature behind."
Every part of Sebastian wanted to reject what was happening. To hold fast to the two centuries of regulation and synthetic enhancement that defined his existence. But the Heart Tree's magic shredded each layer of artifice, leaving him vulnerable to a truth his father'simprovements had hidden from him, the reality of what lay beneath the brass and copper.
"What's happening to me?" he asked, his voice strange to his own ears.
"Your metal reawakens to its essence," Boarstaff answered simply. "Not just deteriorating, but returning to something closer to true nature. Just as you are."
The child's face surfaced in his mind. Her dark eyes wide with the same terror Sebastian remembered from his own taking. The wooden doll clutched in small fingers. How much time remained before the ceremonies began? Before they started replacing her small bones with brass, her natural impulses with mechanical regulation?
***
"How long has it been?" Sebastian asked, his voice hoarse from disuse as Boarstaff joined him.
