Reborn

by Thomas A. Watson

  Besseta got off two more bursts before her magazine ran dry and threw her pistol, hitting a vampire in the face. The gun exploded in pieces as the vampire dropped to the floor and Besseta spun around, slashing at anything shiny. Behind her, Besseta felt a pressure build up and unleash instantly and turned, seeing guards flying through the air as Tiffany shoved them away.

  “Not trying that,” Besseta mumbled, feeling a sword slice through her hip and getting stuck in her pelvis. Lashing out, Besseta knocked the attacker down and spun around with the sword still stuck in her, disemboweling another attacker. Reaching down, Besseta pulled the sword from her hip and threw it, hitting a vampire charging her in the face.

  Feeling a hot pressure building around her, Besseta crouched and leapt up. Landing behind a throng of bodies charging Tiffany, Besseta slashed to and fro like she was harvesting wheat. “Tiffany!” Besseta yelled when a vampire swung his sword at Tiffany.

  Hearing the yell over the pandemonium, Tiffany turned and felt the sword slice through her abdomen, with the tip of the sword nicking her spine. Glaring as her attacker readied for another attack, “Simon says, die,” Tiffany growled, and the vampire’s body squashed down like a huge weight had fallen on him.

  Parrying a stab at her chest, Tiffany lashed out and sliced the vampire’s head off. As blood poured from her body, Tiffany felt woozy and her vision blurred. Then, a hand grabbed her shoulder and before she could turn, excruciating pain raked her abdomen. Dropping her eyes down, Tiffany watched the slice seal off instantly and felt her insides moving around, and the hand let her go.

  Turning around, Tiffany saw Besseta charging a group of nine vampires. Then, Tiffany saw the huge gash on Besseta’s hip. “Why didn’t you heal yourself?!” Tiffany screamed and lashed out with her mind and three of Besseta’s attackers fell down when the bones in their legs shattered.

  Even with those down, there were too many coming at Besseta as she struggled to remain standing and lashed out, barely able to keep her attackers at bay. A cold pain pierced her body from the back and Besseta saw the blade of a sword exit out of her chest. Extending her sword arm out, Besseta spun around, ripping the sword from her attacker’s hands.

  Missing the throat, Besseta’s blade hit the vampire in the side of the head, slicing the top of the skull off at the eyes. Watching Besseta fall, Tiffany leapt over the dead and dying on the floor. Before her feet hit the floor, Tiffany was hacking and slashing at the three advancing on Besseta.

  The three pulled back to regroup, which gave Tiffany the time she needed. “Simon says, bend over,” Tiffany told them and all three bent over when their spines broke in the center of their backs. As the three landed, Tiffany saw them just crawling around. “Simon says, your heart is beating too loud,” Tiffany said and the three felt a burning pressure building in their chests. All grabbed their chests at the same time, then their hearts exploded.

  Kneeling beside Besseta, Tiffany grabbed her shoulder and pulled Besseta away from the bodies to the wall. “You’re leaving Kenneth alone,” Besseta struggled to say.

  “He’s the one who told me to get you back,” Tiffany snapped, reaching down and yanking the sword from Besseta’s chest and Besseta let out a scream. “Why didn’t you heal yourself?”

  “I heal much faster, thanks to the one we fed on. You don’t, and it drains me to speed up my healing,” Besseta panted, feeling her wound closing very slowly. Looking down at her body, Besseta saw it was covered with slashes she never remembered getting, and the only articles of clothing she had on were the motorcycle boots.

  She turned to see Kenneth wobbling on his feet, fighting six vampires. Like her, the only thing Kenneth had on were his riding boots. Then, Besseta jerked her eyes around, not spotting anymore shiny breastplates. Turning back to Kenneth, Besseta’s heart froze to see silver hair circling around the fight Kenneth was having.

  “Tiffan-,” Besseta cried, looking up and saw Tiffany already concentrating, but Damon was also a powerful psychic. As her eyes turned back to the fight, Besseta felt her soul turn cold when Damon darted into the fight and his hand locked around Kenneth’s forearm.

  “NO!!!” Besseta screamed and struggled to her feet, using her sword as a crutch.

  The last four vampires still alive that had been fighting Kenneth stepped back, lowering their swords as Damon continued holding Kenneth’s forearm. Gripping Kenneth’s forearm harder, Damon poured his mind out and Kenneth felt like Damon’s grip was a burning acid.

  “Dude,” Kenneth grunted, and Damon jerked his head up in shock when Kenneth spoke. “You’re touching my arm,” Kenneth told him and sliced Damon’s head off.

  The four vampires attempted to converge on Kenneth, but froze. Reaching out, Tiffany helped lead Besseta over. “Feed fast because I can’t hold them much longer,” Tiffany panted and Besseta leapt the last few yards, knocking down the vampire she latched on. Kenneth moved over, and he and Tiffany latched onto two others as the last stood frozen over a sea of bodies.

  Draining the vampire she was feeding from dry, Besseta lifted her head, giving a contented sigh. Then, she turned to the stage and gave a startled cry, seeing the two werewolves still standing like statues.

  Hearing the cry, Tiffany just held her mouth on the vampire she was feeding from and saw Besseta staring at the two werewolves. Since they weren’t moving, Tiffany didn’t care and continued drinking the blood in gulps, feeling strength returning to her body.

  Standing up, Besseta glanced down and saw all the slashes to her body were already closed. Feeling energy return to her body, Besseta walked over when Kenneth let the one he was feeding from hit the floor. Looking at Kenneth’s forearm, Besseta saw a dark black hand print where Damon had touched him. “Baby, it is you, right?” Besseta asked, looking into his eyes. Before she heard his mind or answer, Besseta could tell it was only Kenneth before her.

  “I wanted to haul ass when Xu told us more were coming, but there was no way we would’ve made it out of here without having to fight,” Kenneth said, looking at the two werewolves. “Figured since we had to fight, stack the odds on our side.”

  “Why didn’t they attack?” Besseta asked, waving at the two werewolves.

  “Those two were Alaric’s personal servants,” Kenneth told her. “When we were outside killing wolves by the droves, these two got antsy and he told them not to move until he told them. He never got a chance to because my hottie tried to cap Elizabeth and she pulled Alaric in the way.”

  Hearing Elizabeth’s name, Besseta spun away with a snarl, moving toward the stage. “She’s gone, in one of those secret exits Tiffany was talking about,” Kenneth told Besseta as he grabbed her arm. “That was our saving grace. If he had unleashed two werewolves that big in here, we would’ve died. There is no way we could’ve fought the vampires, cubus, and big ass werewolves.”

  Still looking past the stage, “Oh, I really hate that bitch,” Besseta snarled as Tiffany let her meal go crashing to the floor.

  “Tiffany, the last one is yours,” Kenneth told her as he looked at the werewolves.

  “But I’m full,” Tiffany snapped.

  “You will eat all your supper or I’m sending you to your room, young lady,” Kenneth told her in a mock angry voice.

  Moving over to the vampire still standing, “Besseta, come and feed with me because I would like to see your husband make me go to my room,” Tiffany called out.

  “I would like to see that,” Besseta chuckled and moved over with Tiffany. They both latched on the remaining vampire as Kenneth moved around, feeling much better. Finding all the cubus had cellphones, Kenneth started collecting them. Yanking a shirt off a headless corpse of a cubus, Kenneth put all the phones in and tied the shirt into a pouch.

  When they were done, Besseta and Tiffany let the body hit the floor and walked over to Kenneth. Bringing her wrist to her mouth, Tiffany bit it and leapt up on Kenneth’s back, forcing her bleeding wrist in his mouth. “Drink, or I’ll break two cars,” Tiffany warned,
and Kenneth drank a few swallows from her wrist, feeling even better.

  Removing his mouth, Kenneth glanced over his shoulder at Tiffany. “Thank you, but you’re the one I wanted strong, in case Elizabeth misses some of the vampires and werewolves on the way here,” Kenneth told Tiffany as she slid off his back.

  “We can feed off of them,” Tiffany said, waving at the two werewolves.

  Kenneth gave a startle and looked at Tiffany in shock. “Why don’t we just break into a hospital and feed off the babies in the nursery?” Kenneth gasped, and Tiffany jumped back in shock and revulsion.

  Before Tiffany could protest, Besseta moved up beside Tiffany. “See into their minds and you’ll understand,” Besseta told her, holding Tiffany tight. Suddenly, Tiffany felt her mind filled with the thoughts of the two massive forms.

  “They are over a thousand years old, but have the minds of young men like they haven’t aged mentally,” Tiffany said, pulling her mind back.

  “That’s old Norse they are thinking in, isn’t it?” Kenneth asked and both nodded. “Wish I wouldn’t have forgotten that one from Tiffany’s memory,” he mumbled and hopped up onto the stage.

  As he moved over Besseta gave a shiver, seeing Kenneth standing and looking up at the nearly fourteen-foot-tall creatures. Not only were they tall, but the muscular bulk made them look that much bigger. Not liking Kenneth that close, Besseta dragged Tiffany and they both jumped up onto the stage with Kenneth.

  “What are you about to do?” Besseta asked, tilting her head back to look up at the werewolves.

  “See if I can reverse Alaric’s hold,” Kenneth answered. “Xu said he done it with mixed results but now, I know how the cubus touch works.”

  Reaching out, Besseta grabbed Kenneth’s arm. “What if it works? They could still take offense to what we did. I don’t want to fight them in such close quarters,” Besseta told him.

  “Tiffany is better, and can hold them long enough for us to get out,” Kenneth shrugged.

  Staring up at the two werewolves, “Kenneth, they may only be a thousand years old, but they are just as powerful as ancient werewolves. We have no idea what Alaric did to them,” Tiffany said.

  “Guys, this may be the only chance we have to see if this works,” Kenneth told them and very reluctantly, they both nodded. As Kenneth reached out to touch each werewolf, Besseta and Tiffany laid a hand on his back to know when to run.

  Besseta gave a shiver when she felt her mind merge with the werewolves. Kenneth was talking, but it was with emotions, not words. Besseta could feel a veil slip away from the minds of the two werewolves, and was looking through their eyes as they looked down at the three tiny bodies below them.

  Gathering her strength to take off, Besseta stopped, feeling a thankfulness fill the minds of the werewolves. A warm emotion washed over her as the two looked down at the three, and a sense of belonging and family took hold. Besseta felt her mind sucked out of the minds of the werewolves and suddenly, she was looking up at the two.

  Noticing the two enormous heads looking down at her, Besseta still wanted to take off running as Kenneth took his hands off them. “Okay, they are good, let’s go,” Besseta whispered and saw the eyes move to her.

  Both werewolves looked at her and Besseta felt her heart skip a beat as they smiled, but Besseta only saw huge teeth. “Bad dog,” Besseta snapped and the smiles fell away, and the ears laid down on the massive heads. Stumbling back in shock, Besseta felt like she’d just kicked a puppy.

  “Besseta, that was mean,” Tiffany pouted, looking up at the massive forms. Stepping up, Tiffany started taking in Old Norse to the werewolves.

  “I’m sorry, but too many of their kind have tried to kill us tonight,” Besseta said and the two forms tensed up and glared at the door. If Kenneth wouldn’t have caught her, Besseta would’ve been out of the state in seconds flat.

  “They look at us as the pack leaders,” Kenneth told her, holding Besseta tight. “Will you help me do something?”

  “I’m not taking them out to use the bathroom,” Besseta told him flatly.

  “No,” Kenneth told her and pulled her away as Tiffany continued talking to the two werewolves. Besseta and Kenneth zipped around the room, chopping off any head still attached to a body. Then, they ran outside and in a few minutes, Tiffany turned around to see a pile of severed heads around the chair Alaric had been sitting in.

  Then, Tiffany noticed all the severed heads were cubus, with Damon’s and Alaric’s heads resting on the back of the chair. Pulling out one of the phones, Kenneth set it up aiming at the chair and set the timer. Jumping up on the stage, Kenneth pulled Besseta and Tiffany over to the chair. All three sat in the chair, “Smile at the camera,” Kenneth said, and the phone flashed several times.

  “Kenneth, you do realize, we are naked,” Besseta laughed as Kenneth jumped down, grabbing the camera.

  “Well, we have so much blood on us, it’s hard to tell,” Kenneth replied, shoving the phone into the sack he’d made.

  Looking up at the werewolves, “What do we do with them?” Tiffany asked.

  “They are free to go,” Kenneth said, and a feeling of panic and loneliness washed over him. “Oh, okay, you can come with us for a little while,” Kenneth groaned and the feeling vanished. “But change back to human form,” he said, looking up at the two.

  A thankful relief could be felt from the two as the three stepped back. “Did you feel that?” Tiffany mumbled. “They haven’t changed into human form in three hundred years.”

  About to ask a question, Besseta jumped at hearing a loud ‘pop’ and saw the wolf on the right roll his neck back as more pops sounded. All three mouths fell open, watching the massive bodies contort, jerking limbs in odd, seemingly painful angles.

  When the legs popped, and the knees bent the correct way, both forms fell down as muscles rippled under the skin. They all winced as the jaws let out loud snaps and slowly pulled back into the face. It was only then, that Besseta realized the forms were getting shorter and the gray skin slowly started turning human. “Holy shit,” Besseta mumbled, watching long blonde hair sprout out of the heads as the bodies continued to contort in painful pops.

  Watching the transformation, “I’m so glad you weren’t a werewolf,” Kenneth mumbled in sickened awe. “I don’t think I would like that.”

  Almost fifteen minutes later, two large, naked human forms lay on the floor, breathing hard. Moving in unison, the two stood up and they all jumped back, seeing the forms were twin males. “Supersized Thors,” Kenneth mumbled, looking at the two.

  In human form, they were over seven-foot-tall, but Kenneth saw each had massive muscular chests with ripped abs, and thighs the size of his waist. The blonde hair streamed over their shoulders and both smiled at the three with innocent faces.

  “Oh, my,” Tiffany panted in a dry voice. Kenneth glanced over at Tiffany ogling the twins with a lustful expression.

  “We need to find them something to wear,” Kenneth said, looking around.

  “Kenneth,” Tiffany snapped, moving toward the two. “They haven’t worn clothes in a long time, it might put them in shock,” she reasoned.

  Not finding how that could happen, Kenneth watched Tiffany walk up to the two and run her hands over the large muscles. “Eww,” Tiffany shivered, running her hands over each one’s ripped abs. The two just smiled at her, then Tiffany spoke to them in Old Norse and each one answered.

  “This is Gunnvor,” Tiffany tapped the one on the right. “And this is Gunnhild,” Tiffany said, tapping the one on the left. Kenneth just committed the names because the two were identical giant Thors in his eyes and made him feel really tiny.

  Besseta wrapped her arms around Kenneth as she stood beside him, watching Tiffany run her hands over their bodies. “She seems happy,” Besseta giggled.

  “Besseta, if she were doing that in public, she would get arrested for molestation,” Kenneth huffed.

  “She hasn’t touched anywhere inappropriate,” Besseta o
bjected.

  “We really need to go,” Kenneth sighed. “We have to find something that is big enough for the Thors to fit in. Don’t ask, because if they sit on our motorcycles, they will break them.”

  Epilogue

  Walking outside, they found the sky getting lighter to the east. “Can they run fast in human form?” Besseta asked.

  “Of course,” Tiffany smiled and one of the Thors picked her up and took off with the other running beside them.

  “Well, Tiffany can run faster now,” Besseta giggled and then she and Kenneth vanished, passing the giants. They reached the casino and saw the security guard stumbling out the door, shaking his head. Before the guard saw them, Kenneth punched him in the head, knocking him back out.

  Reaching down, Kenneth pulled a set of keys off his belt as the Thors ran up and the one carrying Tiffany put her down. Kenneth watched Tiffany give a shiver as she turned to the twins. “That was so good, boys,” she smiled at them.

  “They understand you?” Besseta asked, hearing the thoughts of the two as she pulled out clothes from hers and Tiffany’s saddle compartments.

  “Yes, it took me a second to understand, but we are their pack, so we are linked,” Tiffany said as Kenneth started a quad cab pickup truck.

  Leaving the truck running, “Tiffany, get one of them to put your bike in the bed of the truck. You’ll have to drive it,” Kenneth said walking into the casino.

  Before Tiffany had moved, one went over and picked up her motorcycle like it was a toy and carried it over to the truck, putting it in the back. Running over, Tiffany jumped up to hug him, telling him he did such a good job. When she got down, Tiffany jumped up on the other one, telling him the same thing.

  Kenneth came out of the casino, carrying clothes with the casino’s name. When Tiffany got down, Kenneth just held out the clothes to the twins and received a snarl from Tiffany. “Tiffany, they are going to attract attention as it is,” Kenneth snapped. “Seven-foot-tall people, weighing four hundred pounds, looking like professional bodybuilders, with arms bigger than my legs, is going to draw a lot of attention. We don’t need them naked!”