by Laira Evans
Hiding behind an abandoned museum’s pillared foundation from the cop's continued barrage of bullets I marveled at the explosion of chaos. Stray shots struck cars, their panicked drivers spinning their vehicles out of control as pedestrians ran for cover. Yet, somehow, the doors that had closed behind my family refused to open again. The insane cop appeared to have run out of bullets but the screaming from the wreckage continued. Despite all of it there was no response from the police station. “Something is wrong.” I tore across the pavement, the scent of burned metal and plastic thankfully hiding that of the blood from the injured that might otherwise have lured me like a siren's call.
A shaft of sunlight pierced through the angry clouds above, forcing me to shield my eyes in the moment I broke through the locked doors. “No.” I mouthed the word but lacked the breath to speak it, too afraid to open my eyes though the light had passed. “Please let me be wrong.” Even sightless I knew a massacre lay before me. The dead blood didn't entrance me, leaving the true horror of the scene raw upon my senses. The remnants of the slaughter were slick against bare feet as I stumbled onwards, searching with my ears for some sign of a heartbeat. The silence was overwhelming but I had to know, I had to be certain.
It was worse than I had ever imagined. A cannon shot was clean in comparison. Limbs lay strewn across the floor as if laid in some madman's tapestry. Throats were ragged or torn clean out, bloody collars beneath faces locked in terror. Though I knew their faces would haunt my dreams I felt compelled to look at each one, praying I wouldn't see the faces I feared with all my being would be there. It only grew worse as the circus of horror continued, limbs twitching as they slowly reanimated. 'Thirty seconds more before they try to devour anyone left alive.' I needed to find Holly now. There was a shout. “Let me go!”
“Holly!” Her voice was faint but I knew it was my sister's. I rebounded forcefully off the walls as I raced through the maze of corridors. Decades of haphazard additions and renovations were keeping me from my goal and I could care less about preservation of public property. My claws raked into the drywall to redirect me as I nearly flew around the corner. The lights flickered and died as I ran but the emergency lights were more than enough to light my way as I moved ever closer to the sounds of struggle. Caution was forgotten in my haste.
“Boo.” The voice was low and rough, like the voice of a lion. I kicked backwards, foot impacting against his stomach. If it pained him he gave no sign of it, grin never budging from his deformed face. I, in turn, was sent sliding along the polished floor by the force of my own kick. Strong though I was, the force of my blow was robbed by my lack of mass and traction. “Hello, Little Fang.”
“Bruce?” His arms were long, hanging past his knees with crisscrossing muscles that had no place on a human. His eyes were golden with large black pupils, a wolf's eyes. Fur covered him, his face the only area where it was thin enough to see the skin beneath. His ears stretched high, nose and mouth stretching out into a muzzle. Yet somehow he was still recognizable, if only barely, as the same Bruce who had treated my cuts the first night I arrived at the station. “You were behind it all along.”
“Did you ever think otherwise?” He ran one clawed finger down a metal door, seemingly immune to the ear-piercing shriek it produced. “You have intrigued me Julie, which is a rare thing. I have seen too many things to be won over by a pretty smile alone. No, you, my dear, are quite the puzzle.” Quicker than I could react his jaws were at my neck, my arms locked behind my back. He was just as fast compared to me as I had been to Fred. Or perhaps, as drained of energy as I was, I was slowing down.
“Why are you doing this?” I futilely tried to keep my skin from touching him but he surrounded me on all sides. Bristling, inhuman fur, covered in the still warm blood of his victims. 'How could he have hidden all this the night we met? How could a kind face so completely disguise such a monster?' But it hadn't completely, had it. I'd felt uneasy around him, harbored suspicions, and ultimately had done nothing of note to stop him.
His voice was a breathy whisper in my ear. “I'm doing it for you. You are a mystery and to solve the question of who and what you are I must strip away the chains that bind you and see what you're truly capable of. I need soldiers, warriors like you.” He pried open my jaw, finger caressing the fang he found inside despite my efforts to free myself. “At one moment you seem so human, but the next a vampire. Do you know who made you? Who gave you this glorious mutation that allows you to walk so freely in sunlight?” He stared into my eyes, unblinking. “No, of course you don't. But that doesn't mean you can't be useful to me. Every vampire on Earth died the day of the Outbreak, but not you. You are unique.”
“How could you do something like this?” I pleaded, hoping to find some glimmer of humanity in him. “All these people dead just so you could capture me?” Was this my fault? Maybe if I had told someone they could have stopped all this from ever happening. I couldn't be the only one who knew about these creatures. “Please, just don't hurt my family, I promise I'll come with you.”
He laughed, dark and deep. “Your innocence truly isn't an act. How pitiful, to be granted such power and lack the will to use it.” I crumpled to the ground as he released me, condescendingly showing his back to me as he walked away, a pointed reminder of how little threat I was to him. “Come. It would be foolish of me to waste someone of your potential, and there is much to do today if you are to become a proper member of my clan.”
“Where are you taking me?” His steps were deceptively slow, his large stride nearly forcing me to jog. His knees, I noticed, bent backwards. His entire form was grotesque in the light but in the dark he was a nightmare made flesh. Alex possessed a certain grace as a wolf, but this wolf-man was something else again. I could see his life essence, its sweet fire tempting me to taste his blood, but it was a level above anything I had sensed before. It would be like biting the tail of a dragon.
“Not far.” He opened a familiar door with a bow. “In fact, we're here already.” It was the interrogation room. Hardly anything had changed since my previous stay there besides the lighting changing from yellow to the electric blue of the emergency lighting. 'Well, that and the bound and gagged captain.' “Kill him.”
“What?” I blinked, pulling my eyes away from his neck as Morris swore through the gag. “Why?”
“I can tell you're hungry, it's only polite to offer sustenance.” His claw drew a shallow cut across the captain's neck, blood soaking into the collar of his uniform. “Besides, what good is a soldier if they cannot kill.” He caught my arm, dragging me closer to Morris. A dull pain pulsed through my bicep where he gripped me. “Drink.”
“No! I won't do it!” 'I don't care how thirsty I am, I can still control myself. I'll find some other way to get blood.'
“You'll go mad if you keep this up.” His massive hand became gentle, lifting my arm to examine the imprint of his fingers. “You've nearly reached your limit. The cuts on your face have stopped healing and you bruised far easier than you should. Every injury you take now will linger until the Thirst overtakes you and you drink. I commend you for your willpower in lasting this long but there's no reason to resist further. The Queen is dead, the zombies grow ever fewer, and the humans are as weak as always. It is time for the Fae to regain their rightful place in the world. I have long grown sick of pretending to be human.” Bruce pressed Morris's head to the side, baring his neck. “Join me.”
I dug my claws into my legs. The pain was the only thing keeping me focused. “I-I won't do it. There must be another way.”
Bruce just shook his head, hair immobile as if made of steel fibers. “You leave me no choice. It pains me to see you this way, clinging to humanity you can never regain and would despise even if you could.” His head turned to face the tinted window. “Liam! Bring them in.”
It had to be a dream. Life could never be so cruel as to have my entire family watching me as I salivated over a piece of human flesh. But I couldn't deny the evidence of my
eyes as they were pushed through the hidden door from the viewing room. I could see it in their eyes. 'Monster, that's what they think of me. I don't blame them.'
“Please, let them go free,” I pleaded. I wanted to attack Bruce and end all of this but it was all I could do to keep myself from moving. The room kept moving out of focus every time I didn't concentrate. If I let myself loose there was no telling who I might attack. “Liam, I can tell you’re human. Why are you helping him!” The rat-faced blond gave me a murderer's grin in response.
“Enough whining, child. You are a predator, they are prey. Their entreaties on your compassion are just a weapon like anything else, do not allow it purchase. Fulfill your purpose and free yourself of regret, end your pointless suffering. Liam will not help you, I have offered him a chance at immortality once your blood is mature; a conscience would only hold him back.”
My hands were shaking uncontrollably, my chin quivering as I fought to maintain my self-control. “Please don't make me do this, please, I'm begging you.”
Bruce's arms had nearly dragged on the ground but no he straightened, looming impossibly tall from where I knelt on the floor. “I'm not making you do anything, my pet. But all choices have consequences. Kill him or your family dies, one by one. Serve me and you will never want for blood or money; you will find power beyond your wildest dreams. It's your choice to make.”
“Peh,” Holly spat out around her half-loosened gag. “Don't listen to him, he's crazy! You're not a killer.”
“I'm crazy?” Bruce chuckled. “I just told her I'm willing to kill you and she still hasn't done what I've asked.”
Everything was spinning out of control. Lights, colors, half formed images, all danced around me to a tune without melody or rhythm. Words pressed at me that barely made sense, their meanings so sharp it cut my mind to pieces to hold them together. And through it all, the relentless pounding of the captain's heart beside me made my mouth ache with need.
I struck at him like a cobra, snapping my teeth into his neck. Like liquid fire I felt the blood race across my tongue, lightning reaching out to dance beneath my skin. Every ache and pain eased away under its glorious onslaught. At last, I felt alive again. “...Stop, please stop. Julie, please don't kill him.” The voice became softer and more desperate as it continued. 'Holly? What is she talking about? What am I doing?'
“N-” Blood rushed into my lungs as I tried to speak. I coughed, blood splattering the wall like some demonic abstract art piece. “I, I didn't mean to.” Liam's shadow enveloped me as he approached the captain, fascinated with the wound.
“Yes, I can see that,” replied Bruce.
“What?” I blinked, confused.
“He's not quite dead. And your time limit is up. If you drank enough, perhaps your blood will be will have the power to bring your loved ones back from the grave.” When his hand moved it was slow in comparison to the blur his movements had been earlier. But try as I might, my body couldn't move to stop it. Every movement of his hand as it burst through my father's ribcage etched itself indelibly into my mind as the whole world fell into silence. 'Dad, you can't die, you can't.' I could feel myself screaming, the formidable cry ripping its way through my vocal cords, could see my sister's mouth open wide and my mother shout against the gag but it was as if I had gone deaf.
“No no no no.” It was too much. I couldn't handle this. I just wanted to curl up and wait for it to all go away.
A rough voice gasped behind me as the captain's gag loosened. “Whitman, you bastard.” The captain wheezed once more, then slumped.
“Whitman.” The gears in my mind churned furiously through my memories, absolutely sure that name was important.
“It can't be...” I looked up at him once more. I started in a whisper but my voice gradually steadied. There was a fury building inside me like water behind dam built of straw, just waiting to break free. “You're Alex's brother. Of course you're his brother. How many werewolves can there be hiding inside a city.”
Bruce laughed, but it was the laugh of a jackal. “He told me all about you, but I must admit I didn't believe him at first. To think, the last vampire in the world, right under my nose.”
“But no policeman can afford a yacht,” I continued, as if he had never interrupted. I sniffed at his scent, catching the same melange of chemicals and drugs I had before. There was something else, too, the slightest hint of lilac. “You're a drug lord.” My spine slowly straightened as my suspicions slowly twisted into a darker rhythm. “Mature blood, you said. For people like him.” My eyes stabbed out at Liam. “She rose after all, didn't she.” A brief hope flowered but it morphed into outrage. This was why the interrogator hadn't listed Penny as one of my crimes, why she didn't mention the knife I had left near her body. “You took Penny. Stole her, stole her blood. For scum like him. Unforgivable.”
I didn't hear the snap of Liam's neck as I backhanded his head out of the way but I did feel it – the sickening but satisfying crack that signified the death of a man that had sought immortality at any price. I read surprise on Bruce's twisted face as I pounced on him, claws and fangs sinking into his flesh. Then all I saw was red.
What little skill I had in martial arts fell apart completely as I fought him like an animal, slashing at hamstrings and wrists, lunging for his neck with my teeth only to be repelled time and time again. ‘Faster, I need to be faster.’ My feet spasmed as the stolen power rushed to do my bidding. Claws grew rapidly from my toes, feet stretching into something inhuman. They were the feet of a predator, their grip against the broken tiles firm and unyielding. Faster and faster I struck at him, but the pain was building. Wounds healed in seconds but were replaced twice over, every cut leaking away precious stolen life before it sealed.
It was no use, he was too strong. I could feel myself fading. 'I can't protect Holly after all.' Memories of the night I found her flashed in my adrenaline-cooked mind and suddenly a desperate, foolish thought occurred to me. I spun away from him and roared. It wasn't a roar of anger or pain but instead a message to all those with the instincts to understand it.
His voice was even deeper now, his appearance more akin to a giant wolf. “Have you come to your senses, girl? It's not too late to save your father. Give him your blood, and he will rise again.” Even if that were true, I had no blood left to give. Though my cuts refused to heal instantaneously as they had done before, blood had ceased pumping from my veins. Besides, we were all nearly out of time. What had been a murmur was now thunder, feet beating the ground with no care for exhaustion or pain. They were almost here.
The door had become dented and loose in its frame from our fight. Now it blew open completely. “How?” Beyond that one word he had no breath to spare for talking. The zombies swarmed him, always biting, like ants taking down a spider. He threw one off but even with a broken leg it crawled back into the fray. I despised myself for it but I felt cruel satisfaction as the puppet master finally paid his dues.
My claws picked apart the knot keeping Mom and Holly's legs tied easily enough, despite my hands shaking enough to churn butter. “Come on, we need to go.” They were still in shock, as was I, but somehow I managed to lift them to their feet. Careful not to damage them with my claws I pulled them through the observation room door that Liam had left open. I gave one brief glance through the viewing mirror and wished I hadn't as a red-eye finished off Morris with sadistic glee. Bruce was somehow still fighting but against so many it was only a matter of time.
A roar shook the building as we made for the exit to the hallway. “Behind you!” shouted Holly.
I spun on my heel, growling as I lunged at the massive lycan. “Just die already.” My fist slammed into his snout, blood splattering out as he fell back into the grasping horde of recently deceased. I held my breath a moment after locking the door behind him.
“I smell smoke,” said Holly, disturbingly impassive.
We weren't out of danger yet. The hallways smelled of iron and sewage and brimstone as we
navigated our way through the slaughterhouse. There was no time to find a normal exit. I had never had much chance to examine the station in the first place, and the smoke was rapidly thickening. “Here.” I pulled them into a side office and on instinct spun and shut the door behind us.
A rotter slammed into the door nearly before the latch clicked shut. “Uuunnh!” Its filmy white eyes stared at us through the window, jaws dripping saliva as it gnashed at the glass. It reared its head back–
“Down!” We thumped to the floor as shards of glass coated with infected blood flew through the air overhead. I scooted away as the rotter reached an arm through the broken door window to grab for my hair. The hand reached for Holly next but this was enough to shock her into action. Grabbing Mom she kicked away from the door and sprang to her feet. “Over here,” I called. It hurt my heart to notice that they hesitated a moment before doing so. I wondered if they would have approached me at all if not for the threat of the rotter. 'This isn't the time.' I used what little remained of my blood-fueled strength to kick at the grate blocking the window, my third strike sending it spinning into the side street.
The pair of them were coughing continuously as I lowered them to the street below. With a slight wince at my injuries I jumped out after them, clawed feet grasping at the soil as I landed. Mom collapsed to her knees twenty yards from the station just as flames started to roar from the higher levels. Sirens drew my gaze, two cop cars with the symbol for a neighboring precinct turning into the front lot as I tried to process everything that had happened. Almost unbelievably, we were safe. What zombies survived the fire would swiftly be put down as more and more police and military reinforcements arrived. The incident would be contained like so many others since the formation of the Republic.