The Grim Legion

by Kindred Ult

  "Yes," it chuckled at his surprise. "I'm rather surprised at this change within myself as well, but it is welcome. I feel stronger than ever, and I cannot help but feel invincible. As thanks for showing me this new existence, please allow me to fly you back to the lair."

  Brand smiled back at the were-dragon. So many strange things had been happening that he could only cope by smiling. "Sure, thanks, you minotaurs are going to have catch up later now that you know where it is. Well, let's go… What's your name anyway?"

  The dragon knelt down to let Brand board it. "My name is Nightwing, and what if yours?"

  "Brand." He did not know why he did, but Brand just felt like telling someone his real name.

  "Strange name for a werewolf. Well, Brand, I think that we will be good friends." As soon as Brand settled into the niche on Nightwing's neck, the dragon leapt into the air and beat its leathery wings, propelling both of them into the air faster than Brand had ever imagined to be possible. He felt elation. He would soon be back in the werewolf lair, the first werewolf to capture a werewolf, and he would be able to see Nasoren again.

  Scum

  14

  ScumLupine walked back and forth in front of Nasoren, as if she were a general informing her troops that the enemy was near. She was looking down, and her hands were behind her back. In all, she looked a silly sight, especially with no clothes. Nasoren could not dwell on this, though, because Lupine was talking to her rapidly.

  "Alright, since Deathbreak left, it's up to me to find some official royal business for you to do to protect you and to keep you from getting fat and lazy." She looked up and flashed Nasoren a smile just so that she would notice her humor and not be offended. "Unfortunately, Deathbreak left orders that you would not have to do any hard labor, so I can't send you into the mines like I was planning to." Another smile. "I've decided to give you a very easy but very dangerous job."

  Nasoren perked up after hearing that it would be dangerous. "What do you want me to do?"

  Lupine chuckled. "You're a spunky one aren't you? Well, it's been awhile since we've had vampire prisoners, since we basically kill anything we defeat and they reciprocate. Unfortunately, we got the proper way to hold them wrong the first time we placed them in prison, and they killed the one bringing them blood. We've got it now, though, and I'm sure they'd never hurt a doll like you. Your new job is to bring them blood every day." She stopped pacing and smiling, and looked Nasoren in the eye. "Now you see why this is dangerous. Do you accept the job?"

  Nasoren thought it would be fun. "Sure."

  Lupine chuckled. "I knew you would go for it. You'll be delivering it to them once a day at about…Now." She produced a jug of blood on a platter with three cups from nowhere Nasoren cared to guess. "Take these down to the jail as quickly as you can. Just go down to the lowest floor, that's the dungeon part, show this necklace to the first class guard, fill up three cups, and give them to them. Don't bother taking them back when they're finished. If they don't accept it, then just place it within arms' reach and leave. Once you're done giving them the blood, you can head back to your house. Got it? Everything clear?"

  "Yep," Nasoren affirmed. "I do have one question, though. What if they…"

  "Attack you?" Lupine finished for her. Nasoren nodded. "No need to worry about that. A long time ago we had some of our best mages create an abundance of shackles that cancel out our powers. They rob us of our strength and our ability to transform. We didn't know if it'd work on the vampires, but we just found out that we needed two pairs of shackles instead of just one when they killed the guy we sent earlier. They still lost strength from one, though, so two should be enough to keep them subdued. Besides, you'll have a first class werewolf with you. Now, get over there before the blood gets cold."

  Nasoren made a face, not wanting to think about why it was hot in the first place. She took the platter and the necklace that showed she was doing official royal business. After that she said farewell to Lupine and got dressed before heading out. As she walked past throngs of werewolves, she was never happier for the fluke in the rules that allowed her to wear clothes. She knew that it was bad manners, but she did not want to be always walking around with no clothes on. She also noticed that most of the other slaves were dressed as well, and that the werewolves were usually in their furry form. In all, the streets of the werewolf lair were far more decent than she had first imagined when Lupine had told them about the rules.

  She was thankful also for the first couple days she had spent with Brand learning the lay of the werewolf lair. With her experience she knew exactly where the jail was and how to get there quickly. She deftly wove through the crowd without dropping the platter or spilling any blood. She smiled as she moved through them. She had been practicing her weaving skills whenever she went out, and was glad to see that she was improving. At first she had been very wary of being in public with so many killers, but now she was fairly comfortable with it. Most of the werewolves were actually rather nice to her, so she had only to watch out for the ones who looked like they ate babies for breakfast. As long as she could spot those and steer clear of them, she knew that she would be fine.

  In a few minutes she was in front of the jail. The guards there looked bright and serious, for once. It had been awhile since they had anything to do, and they did not want to let this opportunity pass them by. They made a great show of checking the necklace she had, but in the end they let her through and a hulking first class guided her through the doors and down a long flight of stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was a large gate. The first class took out a key from the pouch hooked to his belt and stuck it into the keyhole. There was a loud creaking, but eventually the door swung open, eliciting even more squeaks of protest and disuse.

  As Nasoren walked into the room, she saw the three vampires. They looked thoroughly dejected. They were sitting with their backs against the walls, with shackles around their wrists and ankles. Their clothes were ripped in places, a few of them still had caked blood on them, and all of their heads were looking down. In all, they looked nothing like the vampire that she had seen. She felt silly now. She derided herself for thinking that one of them would be like him, or even that one would be him. She did not know why she even thought that. Sometimes her imagination went away with her.

  She walked up to the edge of the cage and called out in her happiest voice. "Lunchtime." One of them lifted his hand and his middle finger in greeting, and the other simply kept looking down, but the one closest to her looked up. When their eyes locked his widened and she almost dropped the platter she had been so studiously keeping afloat. It was him. Him! 'Why's he here.' She felt like panicking, as their were eyes still connected to one another. 'He can't be here, shouldn't be here.' She calmed herself, though, and when she spoke it was with more calm than she felt.

  "Fancy seeing you here, come here often?" She smiled, almost sarcastically. She wondered just how much their situations had changed, but maybe it was the circumstances of their meeting that had made her lose something. He seemed so different form the enigmatic savior she had pictured in the darkness of night. She actually found it hard to connect this creature to that vampire. He looked at her longer, but then he looked away.

  "How did you get here?" He was staring at the wall across from him.

  "Oh, you know," she set down the platter next to the bars. "Same old story. Girl meets boy, boy turns out to be a killer, boy is killed by vampire, vampire tells girl to become a man and leaves, girl joins paladins, comes home, and meets elf, elf turns out to be a werewolf, captures girl, and now girl and elf live with the werewolves." It sounded strange to be saying it like that, but that was what had basically happened.

  He tried to smile, but could not quite make it, so he nodded silently and took the cup she offered. He motioned for the other two to do the same, and they grudgingly accepted the cups from her.

  "Nice ass." One of them remarked as he crawled back to his wall.

  "Prime." The other sippe
d his blood and stared at the floor. It was almost as if they were doing it out of duty, and not because they enjoyed it. Nasoren ignored them, and focused all of her attention on the vampire. The one who had saved her, and had seemed so mysterious. He had said one thing and changed her life forever. He had sent her to the paladins to become one, and now she stood over him, looking down at the bloody mess that he was.

  "I never got to thank you for saving me back then. I'd just like to say thanks for saving me from that creep, and for giving me a reason to live. Also, I never did get your name. Mine's Nasoren and I…" She trailed off as he looked back at her and it seemed like they had looked at each other for the first time. She stared at his red eyes, and they seemed to be deep wells. It was like he had bottomless pits inside his eyes and that if she looked into them for too long she would be swallowed. She wanted to look away, to tear her eyes from his death grip, but before she could even think of a way to escape she was caught. She felt like she had felt so long ago. Even in his bloody and pathetic state, he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen before, and she knew that she would do anything for him.

  The first class noticed her silence and walked up behind her before addressing her. "Your work is done here, missy, you can leave now. Hey, what's wron—" His words were cut off by three cups slamming into his face. The cups barely fazed him, but they did stun him long enough for Nasoren to spin around and slam the jar of blood into the side of his head. As the blood entered his eyes and he had to close them, she snatched the keys from his pouch and quickly put the first one she could find into the lock. It did not work. She frantically switched keys, but before she tried to next one the vampire shot out his hands, grabbed the keys from her, and stuck one into the lock.

  "Turn it." He commanded.

  She spun the key and the door opened. She ran in, and the vampire grabbed the keys from her, selected one, and handed it back to her. "Unlock my hands with that."

  She unlocked his hands, but even as the shackles fell away she heard the werewolf growl and charge after them. She looked down at her hands, but the keys were no longer in them. Then she looked to the vampire for help, but he was no longer there as well. In his place was a large demon. Its wings were just bursting from its back and horns curling from its head. As soon she saw it, the spell that had been cast by the vampire's eyes wore off, and Nasoren finally saw what she had been doing.

  The werewolf had not seen the vampire take off his ankle shackles, and so it was surprised when they were suddenly on the ground in front of him and the vampire was in its Other form. He stumbled for a moment in his shock, and the vampire did not waste that. He flew forward with speed the werewolf could only have guessed at.

  As Demenn launched himself at the werewolf, he almost felt bad for using the girl, Nasoren, almost. These kinds of thoughts fled from his head, however, as he slammed his right hand into the werewolf with a brutal punch. The first class fell back, and Demenn followed it while raining down punches, knees, and the occasional head butt as they flew back. The werewolf tried to attack back, but Demenn's barrage of attacks were too much for it. They kept moving backwards until they hit a wall, and once they did Demenn renewed his attacks with a fury. He slammed his fists into the werewolf's face again and again, and then he brought his arm back and slammed his elbow into its teeth. He felt and heard the teeth leave their moorings, but he gave it no time to recover. He pulled back a leg before kneeing it in its stomach, causing it to double over, and uppercutting it back up. Then, in a fit of bloodlust, he grabbed the werewolf by its shoulders and pulled it towards him as he shot his head forward. He tilted his head slightly to the side and felt his horn smash into the werewolf's snout as it roared in pain. Its face collapse under the weight of his attack, and when it slumped to the floor Demenn knew it was beaten.

  He reverted back into his normal state and walked back to where Leon and Raphael were just getting themselves unlocked.

  "He's yours." He said with a tired voice.

  "Booya'" Leon and Raphael ran to the werewolf and quickly clawed out its heart. They divided it and shared it between them. As they marveled at their newfound strength, Demenn turned to Nasoren. She stood in front of him and looked at him. Shock and disgust were in her eyes.

  "I'm sorry that I had to use you like that, Nasoren." He looked down, not knowing what else to say.

  "You're just like them. Just like all of them. Just like Mark." He saw tears running down her cheeks. He saw her scar, and he saw her biting her lip. He knew that what he had done was unforgivable, so he did not try more what he had done. He calmly walked past her and gathered up the shackles. He was headed back out when he stopped in front of her. She still stared past him, at the wall behind him. The tears were running down her neck.

  "Nasoren. My name is Demenn, I am a first class vampire."

  "Uh-huh." She still would not look at him.

  "Do you know where they are keeping our weapons?"

  He saw the hate on her face, and it hurt him more than words could describe to know that it was for him. She still pointed to the stairs, though. "There's an armory at the top, I bet they're there."

  "Thank you, Nasoren." Demenn tried to walk past her, but he had to stop. He turned back. She was still looking at the wall, her mouth and hands clenched. "They'll kill you if you stay after having released us. You could come with us. We'd make sure that you'd—"

  "Just Go!" She screamed at him as she wrenched her gaze from the wall and stared at him. "Just leave me you damn vampire. You used me like all of the others, now just leave me in peace!" She was walking towards him. She was screaming and crying and beating his chest. "Leave me with someone who actually cares, who'd never use me or hurt me again! He promised! He promised! He's not scum like you! Brand's not like you! He promised!" Her blows became weaker as she slowly slumped to the floor with he hands over her face, sobbing and calling out Brand's name.

  Demenn followed her to the ground with his eyes. He looked down at her as she sobbed. "I am sorry, Nasoren." Was all he could say before he stiffly turned around and walked with the other two vampires up the stairs.

  "Shoulda' killed her." Raphael remarked after they began scaling the stairs.

  "Not now, Raphael." Leon looked worriedly at Demenn, but he simply turned to the other two and looked at them before sprinting away up the stairway. They cursed and began running as well. The three of them quickly traversed the stairs, but the werewolf's roars had reached those above before they made it, and they could see werewolves pouring from the opening at the top of the stairs. Demenn knew that they were weak, and he shifted into his Other form and shot ahead of his companions. He slammed into the werewolves and they fell away with each attack he thrust into them. Leon and Raphael followed behind him as fast as they could, beating down stragglers and switching between their weapons until they found ones that they liked. The weapons were not silver, but they would help.

  Demenn smashed each werewolf that presented itself to him aside in wild abandon. He wanted to kill them and maim them until he did not need to think. No matter how many of the killed, though, and no matter how fast he scaled the stairway, he still heard her words.

  "You're just like them." "He's not scum like you." "Scum."

  He closed his eyes and grimaced. Why did he care so much? She was just…Just a human.

  "Scum."

  Before he knew it, he was at the end of the stairs, but they had closed the Iron Gate in preparation. With a growl, Demenn slammed into the gate. His horns smashed into it, and it bent into itself. He smashed his hands into the gate as many times as he could, wailing on it with all of his frustration. The pain in his hands that stemmed from ramming them into steel somehow comforted him a bit. The gate bent and groaned and creaked, but eventually the stones that it was attached to gave way and it fell through. The werewolves had already fallen back and closed another gate not ten feet away. Demenn smiled in anticipation of devouring them, but then he saw the metal ends of crossbows being pushed th
rough the holes of the gate. Then his smile widened and he stuck both hands in front of him and intoned a phrase with lightning speed.

  As soon as the words left his mouth fire burst from his hands. He had never cast magic in this state, so he had no idea what to expect, but he had never even suspected this. The flames filled the entire hallway, and even though the werewolves fired their crossbows, the quarrels melted in the heat of the inferno Demenn had created. The werewolves tried to run, but many were burned to crisps.

  Demenn ripped the next gate from its hinges and ran along the hallways until he reached what looked like the entrance to the jail. Once there he could feel his Other form straining at him, so he morphed back down. Leon and Raphael caught up to him quickly, and together they searched the rooms around until they opened a door and found it full of weapons. They quickly spotted their weapons, and in seconds they were back in their earlier equipment. Demenn still had the shackles with him, amazingly, so he passed them between the three of them as they ran out of the room.

  Once they entered the main room again, though, Demenn stopped and stared. The werewolf Queen, who he had recently had an audience with, had just entered the room with four handmaidens. He had not seen her as a human, but he knew that crown. She looked at him with surprise in her eyes, but before she could shift back into her werewolf form, Demenn was in front of her, his arm grabbing hers. He spun her around, pulled her arms behind her back, and clasped the shackles onto her. The handmaidens quickly shifted into werewolf form and began to move forward, but they paused when Demenn pulled out his knife and held it to her throat.