Joseph thought for a few moments before responding to the Mois' question. Even when he spoke, he was hesitant, prefaced it quickly with a disclaimer.
“Keep in mind that I have only had one real conversation with him, Master. I am surmising from that, and from personal experiences with this... procedure,” the head slave began. He hesitated once more before continuing. “I think he is biding his time. He is furious, furious with you for capturing him, furious with Master Alexi for tormenting him, and furious with himself for getting caught. He's humiliated, and, even though he is not one to admit such things, he is frightened of what he will become after the hard breaking. He is playing it 'smart,' as you said, because he knows that acting on these emotions will only shorten his chains and make things worse for himself, so instead he is gathering information and trying to gain a little bit of freedom and trust. I also get the impression that he's rather... intrigued by your brother, for he expressed curiosity on how Master Alexi treated his slaves and such.
But he wants to escape, and he needs blood. A vampire's hunger for blood is stronger even than a human's thirst for water, and, though death takes more time, the side effects leading up to one's demise are more potent. Imagine if you were dying of thirst and hunger, and several gallons of water, along with a full plate of food were just in the room with you, taunting you where you could never reach. That's what Leader Schumann is feeling right now. The only problem, is that your brother's body is the food and water. Make no mistake, he is looking for a time to strike, either to escape this place entirely, or at least to get a drop of Master's blood, untainted by the potion.
Now, I think our friend is a normally a civilized man, and because of practicality, logic, and even some morality, he is holding himself together with the remains of that part of his mind. But the hunger will gradually erode that until he seems more feral than sentient. Soon enough, he will stop biding his time and become violent as the lack of blood turns him mad. It is taking unimaginable self control for him to keep himself civil for this long. One can see it in his eyes.
I apologize for the length explanation, Master Mois. But I assumed you would want all of the information I could provide, even if most of it is speculative.”
There were several ways that Master Alexi could have made this safer for himself. I do not understand why he had to keep him in his room. It's a recipe for disaster, the elder vampire thought worriedly, but he would never criticize his master's methods. He could not, and he certainly could do nothing to circumvent them.... as much as he wanted to.
~*~*~
Erik nodded as Alexi left, unwilling to think of anything useful to say to the human's reminiscing. He tried to avoid crying out as waves of pain seemed to radiate from his head, through his spine, and out to his limbs. He breathed in deeply, trying to smell the scent of the human's blood. He took one of the wet wipes from the bedside table that had been so kindly left by Joseph, and began to wipe off the perspiration that was already forming on his face again. The nausea and tremors he felt only added to his agony. The symptoms had been bad before, but they seemed to worsen with Alexi around.
When Alexi emerged and spoke again, Erik found it difficult to listen. All the vampire could think about was injecting his fangs into that lovely neck. But he caught enough of the words to understand what was going on, and suddenly flashed into barely suppressed anger.
How dare you think that you have the fucking right to dictate my freedoms, human! For you to dare treat an extra few feet of chain space as a fucking reward for good behavior? To dress me up as some kind of doll? To keep me here as a fucking pet and use my own biology against me? Oh, how I wish I could kill you where you stand, you goddamn monster. But he fumed in anger and humiliation only for a few seconds until the more rational part of his brain forced itself back into focus.
This is good. He's starting to trust you a little more. This is what you wanted. You cannot react with anger, or you'll lose this freedom. Now is not the time for lashing out. Be polite. You don't hate humans. What he's doing is wrong, but that's a personal choice, not his race. Humans are friends and equals, not food. It was another moment before he calmed down a little more, but there was still anger in his voice when the prisoner finally responded.
“Thank you,” he muttered. “But for your own safety, you'd be better off killing me or letting me go now. I'll die before I take the potion, so keeping me here is only prolonging the inevitable. This is... quite a painful way to murder someone, you know. The stories all say that I will lose my mind before I die, just as you alluded to yourself. I would have preferred you use a quicker method.” Where did that come from? he thought. Most humans wouldn't care about killing a vampire, except in the sense of losing an investment. Why should he? But deep down, perhaps Erik was appealing to the glimmer of hope that somehow, in some way, the rumors that Alexi was different, were true.