by Nick Stead
A door slamming shut at the end of the corridor brought me out of my dark musings. I didn’t know what the three humans who’d run from us as we’d broken out of the dungeon had been up to, but it seemed they’d fled to a room at the far end of the building. That alone screamed trap, and I looked again to Zee for his thoughts on the situation. Part of me would have been all too happy to face a room full of Slayers as I had numerous times before and decorate the walls in their blood, but part of me was well aware that I’d been lucky to escape similar encounters in the past – it could only go on for so long before my luck finally ran out.
The vampire didn’t answer until we’d almost reached the room full of humans lying in wait. It seemed they’d gathered in the canteen, judging from the stronger scents of food snaking through its doors. To the left was another room used for sleeping and to the right was a second staircase which again led upwards, but it was behind locked doors, seeming to confirm our suspicions – the Slayers had shepherded us towards a large room where they’d have the advantage of numbers in the coming fight. And it was a fair advantage – I could sense over a dozen of them, all carrying guns.
“Yes, I sense the same,” Zee said quietly in answer to my unspoken question. “They must be confident we have nowhere else to go but into their trap, or they wouldn’t have assembled the force in there. We have to assume that means the walls are too strong for us to break through, which suggests the stairs are our only escape route into the outside world. It’s either that or retreat back into the dungeon, and keep trying to find another way through.”
“I’m not going back down there,” I growled. “At least there’s a chance at getting out up here, even if there’s more Slayers to fight through at the top of those stairs before we find an exit. And these enemies are human so we have a chance to feed on any we kill, which is more than can be said for the creatures they’ve pitted us against down there.”
“We try to break through the door to the stairway then. Either the Slayers will wait in that room, confident they’ve reinforced the exit well enough to withstand our combined power and that eventually we’ll have no choice but to go in there and face them, or they will come pouring out to face us. If luck is on our side it will be the latter and we can use the narrowness of the corridor against them as we did with the ghouls, but be aware that we may well achieve nothing but to further tire ourselves before an inevitable fight.”
“You don’t think we’ll succeed in breaking down the door?”
“I do not think it will be that easy, no. The best we can hope for is our enemies beginning to doubt it will hold against the two of us and panicking. That way we stand a chance of defeating them and afterwards we can search the bodies for a key to the staircase, and perhaps find a way out of this accursed place.”
I was about to agree to his plan when a thought struck me, and I asked “Can you not just use your telekinetic powers to break it, or pick the lock?”
“My telekinesis has never been refined enough to perform something so delicate as manipulating the inner workings of a lock – it’s always been more in the way of brute force, perfect for destroying things out of my reach but a drain on my reserves, so it has always been a power to use sparingly. We stand as much chance breaking through with the combined strength of our physical bodies as I would with my mind, and the physical effort will be much less tiring.”
“Okay, on three?”
He nodded and we backed up to the door opposite the one leading to the staircase, giving ourselves as much of a run up as possible once the vampire had counted down. While we prepared to charge towards the slab of metal standing in the way of our passage towards freedom, the sounds of the waiting humans shifting and growing restless filled our ears. A man’s voice carried loud and clear towards us, full of unease.
“Why aren’t they coming in?”
One of the others shushed him, just as Zee began counting.
I’d never been good at getting anything in perfect unison as a human, even with a countdown, but somehow we managed to rush as one towards the door cutting us off from the staircase. At first it seemed it would hold fast just as we’d predicted, but on the third attempt cracks started to appear in the small glass pane, and the metal was visibly dented as we backed off.
The same man’s voice carried to us again and we paused to listen. “Oh my God, are they trying to escape? This isn’t what was supposed to happen. He said we’d be in no danger. He said they’d be starving and unable to resist the temptation of coming in here for us!”
“Would you shut up?” another man answered him. “They can hear everything you idiot.”
“I’m not dying here, not like this,” the first man babbled. “I don’t care what he’ll do to us if it doesn’t work out how he wanted. I’m not dying for some stupid game.”
“You’ll do as you’re told if you want the money we were promised.”
“It’s not worth it, I’m not dying just for the sake of giving the monsters a bit of extra torment.”
“And what else are you going to do?” the second man sneered. “We’re trapped in here with them. You can hide and hope they pass you by, but if they don’t kill you then our boss most certainly will, and he’ll take his time about it. So either grow a pair and hope to survive against those monsters or at least die quickly to them, or get out of our way and face the consequences for being a coward once the monsters have been dealt with.”
The overheard conversation seemed to raise more questions than answer any, though at least they’d confirmed I’d been on the right lines with my theory that we’d been brought into some kind of real life version of a roleplaying game or video game. I wanted to know more about what was going on, growling as quietly as I could to Zee “Think you can get some answers out of them if we place one under your spell?”
“There’s no time. Even if we could kill all but one, whoever is running this show will soon come to set things back down the course we’re being steered on. They may well be watching us right now through more of their seeing devices, even if they are hidden, preparing to back these men up as we speak. We have but one advantage – it sounds like their leader wants to keep us alive for now, or they wouldn’t be worrying about things not going how he wants. I don’t think he means for us to die in this trap they’ve set, I think they want to take us alive again and move us to another part of the dungeon.”
“Keep on at the door then?”
“It’s probably our best option.”
We were about to charge again when Hannah spoke up, her eyes wide and fixed beyond us on what she could see of the inside of the canteen where our enemies waited. “Here they come.”
“Damn it!” I snarled, thinking we might have made it through to the stairs after all if they could have just given us a couple more tries. But it seemed the fear of whoever this leader was and the threat of severe punishment for failure was enough to convince the group tasked with recapturing us to act before we could get any closer to escaping.
“Keep them busy,” Zeerin whispered to me. “I’ll keep trying this door.”
Those nearest the entrance to the canteen rushed forward to engage us, even the man who’d been insistent he wouldn’t die for his leader’s sick cause. At least, I assumed it was him from the way his heart pounded faster than the others, terror holding him in a much stronger grip than his comrades. But he was reluctant to charge completely into the fray. He stayed back slightly from his allies, waiting for the most opportune moment to strike whilst putting himself at the least risk.
One of the men must have used a door stop to keep the entrance to the canteen open, allowing those who’d been towards the back of the room to come forwards and aid those who’d spilled out into the corridor. It was just wide enough for four of them to stand shoulder to shoulder, though the cowardly man kept back, even after a space opened up in the front line.
My rage answered the human threat with a bestial roar, and finally I gave in to my bloodlust and the hung
er, falling on the first man to come within range as I’d been longing to do. Any desire to escape was forgotten the instant my fangs sank into his throat, clamping down on the flesh and unlocking the tasty juices within in a spray of bloody ecstasy, the fluid so hot in comparison to the icy cold of the dead I’d torn into. I welcomed that liquid warmth of life as it splattered my body, letting it drive the savage side to my bestial nature to new heights. But I’d already learnt not to allow myself to become too focussed on any one victim in the midst of a fight or I ran the risk of becoming an easy target for the other humans, so I rose from the ruins of the man’s throat and left him dying as I lashed out at another. The meat I’d torn from him was mine to keep, however, and it slid down my gullet and into the aching pit of my empty stomach, where it did little more than make me hunger for the next bite.
Our enemies were slow to fire, seemingly favouring the blades they carried for this fight. Pain seared through me as a knife slashed across my side, skin parting and crimson fluid welling up in the bloody trench the metal had gouged into my flesh. But it was only a flesh wound. I realised they were being careful not to deliver either of us a fatal blow, presumably hoping to injure us bad enough to make us go down so they could knock us unconscious like when I’d first been captured, without doing so much damage that we couldn’t heal. They just needed to cause enough blood loss to weaken us until we couldn’t put up any more of a fight, and then the vampire especially would be powerless to do anything without being able to take in any fresh blood. If I could use the power of the transformation to heal the damage I could keep going, but unless I could feed and keep my energy up they’d wear me down eventually. At least they weren’t actively trying to kill us for once though.
It was possible they were being careful not to hit Hannah as well, if she was important to the game somehow, though she’d retreated partly back down the corridor so there was less chance of her becoming an accidental target. She was soon forgotten as the Slayers fought for their lives, and I fought for our freedom.
I lunged at a third human with gaping jaws, catching hold of the arm he instinctively raised to try and protect his vulnerable flesh. I bit clean through tissue and bone in revenge for the amputation they’d forced me to perform on my own limb earlier, but there would be no miraculous reattachment of the limb for my victim. The severed arm dropped to the floor with a meaty thud where it lay in a spreading pool of blood, muscles twitching as if still struggling to obey their former owner’s commands until they grew still and utterly useless. The man screamed in agony as more blood spurted from his stump, falling back in shock and clutching the remains of his ruined limb in a vain attempt to keep his life force from draining away.
Three more men rushed forward. One of these did fire, obviously trusting his aim was good enough to land a body shot without accidentally putting a bullet in my heart. That would have been ironic after so many had tried to kill me and missed their mark, but I supposed they would have had to be especially bad shots to land a killing blow without meaning to since the rest of my body presented a big enough target without having to aim anywhere near either my heart or brain. As it was, he merely clipped my left arm, causing a fresh surge of stinging pain where the bullet laid more of my nerves bare.
I roared with renewed anger and turned from my stricken victim to face these new opponents, feeling another blade slide in between my ribs as the first of them reached me. I retaliated with a vicious swipe at his face, raking my claws across the skin which split and puckered round the gashes I created, blood running down and leaking into the man’s eyes. While he blindly blundered around I caught the arm of another Slayer before he could plunge his knife into my shoulder, dragging him within reach of my fangs and biting down on his skull, bone crunching and shattering in my powerful maw. Seconds later his limp body fell into the pool of blood and gore at our feet.
My third adversary was able to stab me in the lower back before I disabled him, puncturing something important judging from the way the nerves throbbed with a greater urgency than my other wounds. I turned and grabbed him by the throat, squeezing with such crushing intensity that his spine shattered before he choked, killing him instantly. As he fell, a wave of dizziness crashed over me, and I was also forced to my knees, crouched among the dead. I needed to heal my injuries before I lost any more blood, vulnerable though I’d be.
I let the transformation take hold, allowing my body to shift into full wolf form to heal the full extent of the damage the blades had caused. Fresh pain stabbed through my flesh and bones as they altered from mostly humanoid to lupine, but the punctures created by the knives began to close up until the pain faded into blissful nothingness. Yet as always it came at the price of my hunger, ravaging my mind with a new savagery until I couldn’t fight it any longer. The hunger would not be denied, and all else was forgotten as I ripped into the nearest carcass, ravenously gulping down chunks of flesh.
My mind cleared as my hunger was satisfied, and I turned my attention to the battle once more, enjoying the feeling of renewed strength in my now flawless body. But the Slayers hadn’t simply stood back and waited for me to heal and replenish my energy – while I’d been preoccupied they’d crept around to attack the vampire, probably fearing he was close to breaking down the door and securing our escape. Their fears were not unfounded, the thick sheet of metal dented out of shape and a gap opening up at either side. If I hadn’t given the Slayers the opportunity to attack he might have had chance to finish forcing his way through, but as it was he had to abandon it and defend himself against what was left of the force tasked with recapturing us, his blade a blur which the humans had no hope of following. One by one he cut them down, though I could tell he really wanted to sink his fangs into the warmth of their flesh and steal their crimson life force to fuel his own dead body. That temptation proved too much for him as he faced the last of his attackers, and while he lost himself in the hunger just as I had, the cowardly Slayer finally chose his moment to strike.
Too concerned for his own skin to care about helping his allies, he’d stayed back from the skirmish, watching and waiting. Only when he was sure he could take us both down without any risk to himself did he attack, raising the gun he carried and aiming at the vampire’s head, despite the orders they seemed to be under to take us alive. Unfortunately for him, he hadn’t noticed I’d finished my meal.
With my vocal cords fully lupine I could only shout a warning to the vampire in the wolven tongue, which he either didn’t know or perhaps he was just too lost in the ecstasy of the fresh blood he was still sucking from his victim’s veins. Killing our enemy before he could fire seemed to be the only option and if luck was on our side, maybe he would hesitate for long enough to shoot. So I charged, pushing my body to its limits once again in an attempt to reach him before he could squeeze the trigger and end Zee’s life. The coward had retreated back into the canteen while his allies were busy fighting us, though he’d left the doors open as he’d stood waiting for his chance at a clear shot. It wasn’t that far to run before I’d have him in range but even with all my supernatural speed in wolf form, I still wasn’t faster than a speeding bullet. I didn’t know if I would make it but I had to try; friends were hard to come by in this cursed life I’d been given, and I dared to hope I would be able to count this vampire as a friend even after we escaped from the Slayers’ game, if we both made it out alive. Plus some practical part of my brain was aware I still stood more chance at escaping with his help, especially if we would have to fight our way through the rest of the base. I wasn’t about to just stand by and let the Slayer kill him.
If the human had hesitated for just a few moments more I would have been on him, but it seemed we were out of luck after all. The sound of his gunshot rang out with a finality to it that seemed to signal to Death himself, the bullet tearing through flesh and shattering bone with deadly efficiency. New pain exploded through my back, turning my back legs to useless lumps of meat and sending me crashing to the ground
with a yelp. Too late I realised the man might have been a coward, but he was no idiot – his plan had been to lure us into the canteen all along, into whatever trap they had set up in there. And there was no going back for me then, my momentum carrying me across the floor and right into the room, ripping layers of skin from my body until I finally skidded to a halt. I lay there helpless, unable to feel anything beyond where my spine had been shattered. If the paralysis had been permanent it would probably have been with a sense of panic that I realised the feeling was gone from my legs and tail, but after the transformation had saved my severed arm I knew it would be well within its power to restore my spinal column and the nerves needed to walk again. But until I could change back to human form I was out of the fight, unable to drag my useless hindquarters along quick enough to take down the last of our enemies.
Behind me I could hear Zee running to my aid. Silently I cursed my inability to communicate in full wolf form, wanting to warn him against rushing into the trap, yet unable to do so. As happy as I was that he’d chosen to help me instead of leaving me to my fate while he escaped, it might have been better if he’d fled. Maybe he’d still have ended up back in the dungeon with me, which was surely where I was headed now the Slayer had me at his mercy, but if he could have succeeded in getting out of the base then he could have gone for help. Ulfarr might not have been in any hurry to free me but if there was a chance Lady Sarah had been taken alive and was still trapped in the game somewhere, and possibly even other vampires, he might have led a force to break us out. It wasn’t to be though, Zee’s loyalty causing him to forget the folly of running into the very room we’d been trying to avoid, knowing the Slayers had wanted us to go in there in the first place.