Chapter 107 Parrain Andre

(Parrain Andre POV)

I opened my eyes to see I was in a hospital room. I turned my head to locate the irritating beeping sound and I found I was hooked up to a heart monitoring machine. I laid my head back to stare at the ceiling, thinking back to the events that led me to this dreary place.

Pierre was in front of everyone, about to make his speech to the members of the mafia, when a I felt vice-like grip around my heart. I clutched my chest, the pain radiating from my front to my back and all throughout my arms. I was certain I was experiencing a heart attack, but when I tried to speak, my throat constricted on its own, like a visible hand was squeezing it, unabling me to breath and speak. I collapsed on the floor, my last vision was a worried Pierre by my side.

I try to raise my left hand to scratch my head, however I could not move it. I looked down and saw I was handcuffed to the hospital bed. Just perfect. My arrest was all due to my ailing heart.

I tried to speak, but a tube was stuck into my throat. I move my right hand and find a device with a buzzer on it. I press it. Maybe the nurse can get this tube out of my throat. I hear the door open and a pretty blonde nurse comes to my hospital bed.

"Ah, you're awake, Monsieur." She had an accent. American. "Let me help you get that tube out." She proceeds to take the tube out. After the entire tube was removed, I gagged and cough. My mouth was so utterly dry.

"Water. I am parched." She takes a little sachet with a cotton swab and dabs my mouth and tongue with it. It was moist with a hint of lemon.

"I'll call the doctor and see if we can start feeding you." She turns around to leave.

"Wait. Has anyone come to visit me?" I asked her before she exited the room.

"None, Monsieur." She eyed me warily, looking at the handcuffs.

"I know I've been arrested. Not one of my friends have come to visit me?" It was a rhetorical question as well as a confirmatory one.

"No one, Monsiuer. Now lay back and I'll call the doctor." She rushes out of the room, not wanting to consort with a criminal like myself. They should have brought me to the Mafia Hospital even if it was far. At least there, I wouldn't be chained to a bed nor would I have no visitors. Merde!

I hear the door open again and another woman comes in. She checks the heart monitor and nods her head. She checks my pupils and my mouth.

"Seems everything is fine." American English. There is no hospital in France that has an American Doctor.

"Who are you and where am I?" I ask her angrily.

"I'm Doctor Frances. I'm not going to beat around the bush because obviously I don't speak French. You had a heart attack and one of your friends thought it would be best if you were sent here under my care. Don't worry, I'm an excellent doctor. You seem to be doing just fine. I'll have someone send you some soft food."

"How can I eat when I'm chained to the bed?" I try to raise one my arms to show her.

"Ah that. Someone will be here shortly to uncuff you. Then you can move around and use the bathroom when you need to. I'll be taking the catheter out now." She takes off the sheets, places a bed pan and removes the catheter. "There. In the meantime, lay back and relax. You are in good hands." She smiles and waves and exits the room.

This smelled like Maximus, the only American I know of. How dare he chain me up like an ANIMAL!

I took the buzzer and kept pressing it for anyone to come and get these handcuffs off of me. No one came. I laid back on my bed trying to calm down. Merde! Merde! Merde!

It felt like forever before someone entered the room again. I didn't have to look to know who it was. His stink followed him wherever he went.

"MAXIMUS! UNCUFF ME THIS INSTANT!" I yell at him, rattling the handcuffs on my wrists.

He sits down on the sofa fronting my hospital bed, his head bent, twiddling his thumbs, like he had nothing better to do.

"Maximus! Didn't you hear me? I said take off these--," I was about to say handcuffs, but was suddenly cut off, when he leapt from the sofa towards me so fast I didn't notice he was clutching my shirt, pulling me up from my bed, his face a mere inches away. Up close, I could see his eyes had turned pitch black and he sneered at me, fangs pinching his lips.

"You have no authority here, Andre. Here, I am lord while you are the dirt stuck in my toenails." He snarled at me. Fear washed over me, a feeling I have forgotten when I became Parrain.

He chuckled and his scent impaled my nostrils, almost making me gag.

"You are afraid, Andre? You should be. I can snap your neck if I wanted to and feed you to the fish in the sea.' He lets go of my shirt, pushing me back onto the bed.

"You are no longer Parrain. I have taken your position in the mafia. You are no longer a high ranking associate. If you die, no one will care." His eyes had turned back to the dark brown that were and his fangs were gone. What is he?

"If you want to continue living, it will be for your own good to cooperate. I need information and I know you can help me with certain details. I will provide you comfortable living conditions, but you will not be allowed to leave the premises. If you try to escape, I will hunt you down and give you to Fang. Unlike me, he is not so forgiving. You do remember what he did to your two best fighters?"

"You can't kill me. I am valuable to the organization." I try to reason with him, stating the obvious. He starts laughing like I just said a joke.

"No one cares for you any longer, Andre. They were so eager to see you go." He walks to the door and motions to someone to come inside. In came Ava, carrying a tray of warm soup.

"So, what will it be, Andre, life or death?" Ava places the tray on the table connected to my hospital bad.

"Life." I answer. The soup smelled so good, my mouth was starting to water. I just needed someone to take off these cuffs so I could feed myself.

"Very well." Maximus motions to Ava and she takes off the handcuffs. The instant my hands broke free of the restraints, I grabbed her neck. I smiled, waiting for her to scream. To my horror,  she started to laugh instead, and when she stopped, her eyes were also the pitch black I saw from Maximus just a moment ago and she too, had fangs.

She grabs both my wrists with her hands and squeezes them. It was such an unbearable pain. I let go of her neck, wincing and crying out, begging her to stop.

"Maximus isn't the only one you should be afraid of, Monsiuer Andre. Once you exit those doors, anyone, even an old man with his walking stick, is someone you should be afraid of." She lets go of my hands and straightens herself and rolls her neck around. "I should break both of your hands to teach you a lesson. You are lucky, my Alpha needs you in good shape. Now eat!" She pushes the table with soup in front of me and turns around and takes her leave.

"If you need anything, press the buzzer. Someone will help you if you need anything. If you cause a disturbance and play around with it, I will take away your privilege of having a buzzed to call on someone. Do not do anything foolish." Maximus turns and walks out, quietly closing the door behind him.

I start sipping my warm bowl of chicken soup. It was so good. It warmed my insides and made me feel a bit better.

What are these people? Are they aliens from another universe?  I shook my head. Impossible. They must be vampires. Black eyes, fangs and life of crime. Vampires exist? It's a possibility. Where would all the stories come from if this weren't true? They probably want my blood? Or maybe they want to turn me into a vampire? I will become immortal then.

Me. Immortal? I would like that. Immortal and strong then I can get rid of the Caïd and rule the Mafia forever. Now that I would like very much.

I could expand my empire across the globe. Take over the Yakuza, the Italian mob, the drug lords of the cartels in Latin America... I will lead every organization and become the richest man in the world!

I finish my soup happily and push the table away and lean on my bed. Ah, now this is the life! Soon to be vampire, immortal and powerful. I will kill Maximus and drive a stake in his heart when he least expects it.

The door of the room suddenly opens and a young man enters. He was handsome, with dark blue eyes and dark colored hair. He was tall and muscular and spoke of wealth.

"I hope you are comfortable. I heard you were awake and decided it was time I introduced myself since I will be the one who you will be speaking to from now on. My name is Alexander Ulrich and I am Alpha of the Dark Moon Pack."

"Yes, yes, you are vampires." I tell him.

"Vampires? What brings you to the conclusion?" He smiles clearly amused with what I had said.

"Black eyes, fangs, strength...you are vampires. Are you keeping me here for my blood or do you want me to join your kind? I am a willing to become a vampire." Alexander laughs at my statement.

"You are like my mate. Searching if vampires exist. She was raised by humans and has a soft spot for your kind." He takes a chair and sits beside me bed. "No, I am not a vampire. I am something else. You will find out in the future. Right now, I need information. You hold the financial data of the Caïd as well as the other heads of the organization. I want to know where all that information is kept hidden."

"You expect me to give you that information...freely? You must think I'm insane." I laugh. This Alexander Ulrich thinks I'm stupid.

"I see. Maybe I can convince you to give me that information. You do know how it feels to have a heart attack."

I felt that familiar vice-like grip around my heart, the pain, and I clutched my chest, wincing. The pain radiated all over my body.

"Stop, please. No more." After I had muttered the words, the pain disappeared like magic. So, I didn't have an ailing heart. THEY were doing this to me.

"I can make that heart attack fatal by a snap of a finger if it becomes necessary. If you cooperate, no harm will come to you. So, where is the information hidden?" Alexander asks again, curtly.

"Everything is in my laptop hidden in a vault in my mansion. The vault is located in the floor underneath my desk of my office." I answer, scared the pain will come back.

"And how do I open the vault?"

"You need my palm prints and my voice. After which, you will need to input my 6 number combination."

"That's all?"

"Yes. I swear that's all." I felt the pain again. "I'm not lying! That's all! Please stop!" The pain disappeared. My face was sweating and my body was shaking and I knew I would need to cooperate. My body could not take this kind of torture.

"Good. Get dressed. We are going to your mansion to get what I need." He points to the closet on the side of my bed.

"Andre, if you in any way are screwing with me, I will have you suffer in pain until you pass out."

I nod my head and get up off my bed to change.

They weren't vampires. They were something else.