Brooke MacAskill found herself trapped inside a vampire den. The door was just in front of her, but hopelessly out of reach, and a formidable opponent stood in the way: a mountain of paperwork.

 

Being the accountant for the Caistelcraig vampire den promised to be a pretty good job, but whoever they’d had keeping records before her had horrible handwriting, and just plain sucked at doing documentation.

 

The actual day-to-day of the job looked like it was going to be fine — she was a good accountant. It had been pretty straightforward to pick up the blood accounting alongside the more regular finances — the vampires wanted to make sure nobody paid in blood more often than was safe, and that they always had enough blood on hand for their sustenance, but not so much that it spoiled.

 

But because of her predecessor's shoddy record-keeping, Brooke had barely left her office since she got the job, and had no time to check out the rest of the vampire den. She knew some people swore by vampire dens — she’d had a friend who mentioned how relaxed they'd been after going to one — but hadn’t had the time to figure out what actually happened in the rest of the building.

 

Brooke pinched the bridge of her nose, recognising the signs of her attention wandering from the sheet in front of her. Time for some tea and a break, she thought, stretching.

 

The kitchen was well appointed — and even had a fancy mechanical kettle. Brooke poured out the dregs of her last mug into the sink, put another teabag in, and refilled the kettle; enjoying the routine and break from her work. She placed the kettle back on its base and dragged the activation lever around the edge, hearing the rasp of the striker and the fwoosh of the gas burner lighting.

 

She left the kettle ticking away, and leaned against the wall, letting her head rest on the wood behind her. She stared up at the ceiling, and let out a long, tired sigh. Just another hour or two, then she could go home.

 

As she leaned against the wall, Brooke noticed a voice filtering through the wall behind her; a voice that was silky, soft and smooth. She listened, not willing to expend the effort to move, and still more than a little curious as to what vampire dens were all about.

 

“...and as you focus on my eyes, you can direct your attention to your own. Noticing every blink — and how they’ve become less automatic now that you’re paying attention. That little bit of effort it takes to make the conscious choice to blink. You might have already noticed yourself blinking some more, and needing just a bit more effort with each blink.”

 

Brooke raised an eyebrow. She didn’t know what she’d been expecting, but a strange monologue about blinking and attention wasn’t it. It had got her focusing on her blinking though, and she couldn’t help but notice how she did have to think about it now.

 

“Another automatic process is our breathing, that slow movement of bringing air in and out of our lungs. Well, it’s automatic until you focus on it. Now you’re noticing the muscles it takes to breathe in, how they relax and let go as you breathe out. How your breathing now needs that little bit of focus along with your blinking.”

 

Brooke felt her attention being drawn to her breathing just like the voice said, and could feel herself unwind a little more every time she exhaled. Wait, what’s happening here? she wondered, blinking in confusion — but then the soothing voice started talking again.

 

“You can also notice the sound of my voice, how each word just seeps in through your ears, bringing those feelings of relaxation with every word I say.” 

 

Brooke could feel the voice dripping into her ears like warm honey. She also realised that she’d just been staring sightlessly at the ceiling in a daze. The combination of focusing on those things she normally did automatically was soaking up her attention, pulling it in many different directions. It was starting to feel overwhelming, taking up more and more of her thoughts.

 

“You can feel how much focus it’s all taking, paying attention to my voice, fixating on your breathing, your blinking. Wouldn’t it be easier to just leave your eyes closed? To let go of the tension in all those little muscles around your eyes?”

 

Brooke’s eyelids fluttered for a moment as she felt the weight of them, how hard they were to keep open. She gave in and let them stay closed, revelling in how nice and relaxed they felt, and how she didn’t have to worry about blinking them any more.

 

“That’s right, just letting your eyes close, letting your breathing become slow and deep. And those lovely feelings can spread out from your eyes, flowing down through the rest of you. The parts of you that sink the most can just pull the others down with them, as you slip into serene slumber.”

 

Brooke felt a wave of warmth and tranquillity moving through her, seeping into her muscles. She distantly realised she was sliding down the wall, her legs turning to jelly underneath her.

 

“And as that peace and warmth moves through you, it can start to flow into your mind, letting your thoughts drift and dream and drop away. Feeling better the more you relax, and relaxing more the better you feel, as you sink all the way down into a nice, deep trance…”

 

Brooke felt the warmth in her head, filling her thoughts with the snug comfort of a soft bed, a crackling fire, a hot bath. She started to lose herself in those feelings, her consciousness drifting away, even as a part of her still listened to what the voice was saying.

 

After a while, the temperature gauge inside the kettle reached boiling point, and it released the spring, cutting off the gas with a loud click. Brooke MacAskill’s ears heard the sound, but her mind only turned its attention towards it for a moment before falling deeper into the cozy, relaxing void she found herself in.

Aklina Pavlovic finished tying off the bandage around the neck of their still deeply entranced blood donor — Nova, he/they — and then sat back, looking with satisfaction at their work. A lot of vampires who patronised the Caistelcraig den just relied on their eyes to entrance the blood donors, not minding much about the experience of the donors except for getting the blood they need to survive. Alkila had a lot more respect for the vampires who just paid the den for blood and let the experienced vampires like Aklina do the mesmerism.

 

Aklina didn’t just rely on the hypnotic patterns vampire eyes could produce — they had a more thorough understanding of the art of mesmerising people. Aklina knew how to bring people deep into trance, deaden their senses so they barely felt the sting of fang or needle, and give them a very soothing experience to boot. Aklina had even been tapped by the local hospital a few times to provide an alternative anaesthetic to ether when one was needed; something which they were quite proud of.

 

Aklina turned their attention back towards Nova, still with his eyes closed and breathing slow and relaxed, telling them that he could “sink deeper and deeper into those feelings of trance with every passing moment, knowing that I’ll be back soon to wake you up fully,” before starting towards the kitchen. 

 

It was always nice to come out of trance to a waiting hot drink, so Aklina always asked whether their subject wanted tea or kaf before starting. Nova was enough of a regular that Aklina knew he wanted tea with milk — and, horrifyingly, some sugar. Aklina felt a bit sorry for Nova, knowing why they came so often — anxiety was never fun to live with, but letting your thoughts dissolve into a lovely daze helped quite a lot, and Nova was more than happy to donate blood in exchange for that.

 

Aklina’s train of thought came to a screeching halt as they opened the door to the kitchen and saw the den’s new accountant — Brooke — slumped down against one wall. Aklina rushed over, putting two fingers to her neck and checking for a pulse, watching for breathing. After pausing a moment to count, they extrapolated — pulse steady but slow, same with her breathing, almost as if…

 

Almost as if she was in trance. Aklina straightened up, looking at the wall Brooke was slumped against, and thought about the floor plan. Yep, the room where they’d hypnotised Nova was right on the other side. Aklina slapped her hand to her face, giggling half in amusement and half in embarrassment. She’d caught the new accountant with splash damage from the induction. Whoops. 

 

When they’d finally stopped laughing, Aklina glanced over to the counter, seeing Brooke’s empty mug. They added two more — one for Nova, one for themself — and then turned on the kettle, hearing the scrape of the sparker as they dragged the lever. Brooke stirred slightly, and then fell still again, and Aklina almost started laughing once more. They’d certainly done a good job at putting her under, even through the wall and without their eyes.

 

After filling up Brooke’s mug with hot water, and adding a dash of milk, Aklina knelt down next to Brooke. Aklina got themself back into their hypnotist mindset and shifted their voice to match, getting ready to bring her out of trance. 

 

“And now, as you hear my voice again, you can start to come out of the trance you find yourself in. Letting those sensations of relaxation fall away, feeling like —” their eyes flicked over to the kettle “— like you’ve just had a strong mug of tea, giving you energy and waking you up.”

 

Brooke’s eyes opened, and she stretched a bit, still languorous. Aklina offered a hand, and Brooke took it, letting Aklina pull her up to standing. “So, Brooke,” began Aklina, embarrassed, “sorry about catching you in my induction. How are you doing?”

 

Brooke blinked a bit, her gaze fixed over Aklina’s shoulder, not really focused on anything. She was swaying slightly, and Aklina put a hand on her shoulder to make sure she didn’t fall over. “Brooke?”

 

“Huh?” Brooke said distantly. “Oh. Yeah, I’m good. I feel kind of… floaty? Really warm and relaxed…” she trailed off, eyes getting a bit glassier. Aklina looked closer, seeing Brooke’s pupils were still wide and dilated.

 

“Ah,” laughed Aklina, “you definitely need another awakener.” They moved in front of Brooke, catching her gaze, but not using their vampire eyes. 

 

“You can come all the way back up on the count of five, starting with one, two — feeling the energy returning to your muscles,” Aklina said, starting out in a low, quiet monotone and injecting a little more energy with each number. 

 

“And three, four, your thoughts starting to return,” they said, noticing Brooke’s eyes fluttering, her pupils constricting between each blink.

 

“And five!” Aklina finished, snapping their fingers next to Brooke’s ear. “Wide awake!” Brooke shook her head to clear it, and when her eyes opened, Aklina could see they were clear and sharp as they flicked around the room.

 

“Woah,” Brooke said, taking a long moment to get her bearings again, “What just happened? My brain still feels a bit foggy.” She frowned, thinking. “I put on the kettle, listened to a voice from next door, then got really relaxed…” Brooke’s voice faded away, then she shook off the memory of the trance. She turned, raising an eyebrow at Aklina. “And you were the one I heard through the wall. What did you do to me?”

 

Aklina laughed, reassured that Brooke was okay and finding the whole situation increasingly funny and absurd. “Here,” they said, handing Brooke her finished mug of tea. “You drink that, and I’ll go make myself and the blood donor next door some more tea while I explain what it is we actually do here.”