Vampire Hunt (Kiera Hudson Series #3)

by Tim O'Rourke

  Then racing towards the hatch in the door, Kayla screamed, “Kiera! Kiera!”

  Kayla shoved one hand through the hatch and grabbed for me. Taking hold of it, I pressed it against my cheek, and unlike the girl in the bedroom at the monastery, Kayla’s skin felt warm, as if life flowed through it. But was that enough? Was this really Kayla or one of those things? I needed to know, but how?

  Then as I looked into her desperate eyes, I said, “What’s your favorite song?”

  “What?” she mumbled. “What do you mean? Just find a way of getting me out of here, Kiera.”

  “What’s your favorite song?” I asked her again, as I searched her eyes with mine, looking for any sign that might give her away.

  “Rocket Man!” she screamed! “Rocket Man, by Elton John! What’s wrong with you Kiera! Just let me out of here!”

  That was all the proof I needed, and my heart lept in my chest. I’d found her! Then, as sudden as being struck by lightning, those flash-bulbs exploded inside my head. White, blinding light searing into my brain. And in that light, I was in my dream – vision – again. I was back in that corridor again, with the doorway at the end of it. It was then that I realised that it was this corridor that I’d seen in my nightmare, not the one in the monastery. I knew that it was this one – the one that I now stood in beneath the mountains, because in my dream I’d seen something huge and covered in bristling black hair. Even though I had my eyes closed and my mind’s eye was being blinded by light, I knew that if I opened them and turned around, I would see…

  …a dribbling Vampyrus came towards me.

  “Do something, Kiera!” Kayla shouted from beyond the locked doorway. Raising the crossbow, I aimed it at the Vampyrus’ head. It lumbered towards me out of the dark, its red mouth opening and fangs spraying drool up the walls of the tunnel. Squeezing down on the trigger, the wooden bolt whisked from the end of the crossbow and buried itself into the fleshy lump of skin between its eyes. The Vampyrus shot backwards up the tunnel and collided into something. Screwing-up my eyes, I looked through the darkness to see several more Vampyrus racing towards me.

  “Kiera!” Kayla screamed from behind me.

  But I had nowhere to go. The door to Kayla’s cell was locked and there were no other passageways leading off this section of the tunnel. I turned and faced her. Kayla’s eyes were brimming with fear as she looked at what approached out of the darkness behind me. Taking hold of her hand, I said, “I’m sorry, Kayla.”

  Then suddenly, I was being dragged from behind, back up the tunnel and away from her. I could feel the Vampyrus’ claws digging into me as I was carried away. With my heart thumping in my chest, I watched Kayla’s pale face staring back at me through the hatch.

  “Kiera!” she cried, waving her hand through the hole in the door as if trying to reach for me.

  Within moments, I had lost sight of her and all I could hear over the sound of the snarling Vampyrus was her calling for me. They carried me back to the crossroads where I had last seen Potter, Seth, and Eloisa. And as we reached it, I glanced round to see the three of them racing down the tunnel towards me. Seeing them, my heart lept into my throat.

  “Potter!” I screamed.

  He raced towards me, but several of the Vampyrus broke free and went to meet him. Knowing that this was my last chance of escape, I kicked, screamed, and punched at the creatures that held me. But there were too many and they were too strong. Through the mass of arms and black wings that enveloped me, I saw Potter slashing away at the Vampyrus as he fought desperately to make his way up the tunnel towards me. I couldn’t see Isidor amongst them, and I knew that like I’d been unable to rescue Kayla, they had been unable to rescue Isidor.

  “Potter!” I screamed again, but one of the Vampyrus that had hold of me clamped its huge claw over my mouth. Over the tops of its fingers, I watched Seth and Eloisa come forward and pull Potter back down the corridor. They knew that Potter would never reach me, for every one of the Vampyrus that he slaughtered with his hands, several more appeared in their place.

  Looking back one last time, our eyes met and he roared, “Kiera, I’ll come back for you!”

  Then he was gone, racing away from me down the tunnel with Seth and Eloisa beside him. I closed my eyes and prayed that he got away.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The Vampyrus dragged me back to my cell, and as they clawed and prodded me through the doorway, their thick black hair felt rough against my skin. They slammed the door closed, the sound of it crashing in its frame rattling along the tunnel.

  “Let me out of here!” I demanded, thumping my fists against the iron door. I stood and hammered away, until my arms ached and I was exhausted. All I could think about was Potter getting away from here.

  With my hands hurting, I crossed the cell and slumped against the wall. The burning torch in the corner cast long shadows, and as I looked into them, I noticed I was not alone. There was someone else – and they were hiding.

  “Who’s there?” I asked, pulling myself up, staring into the darkness. As I tried to see through the shadows, the figure moved and I caught a glimpse of who it was looking back at me.

  “Mum?” I whispered in disbelief. “Is it really you?”

  My mother stepped from the corner of the room and smiled. But I could see that her smile wasn’t warm – but cold and cruel. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help myself and I rushed forward and threw my arms about her.

  “Mum!” I cried. “What’s going on?”

  But she didn’t hug me back, her arms stayed behind her. There was no warmth, kindness, or love. It felt as if I were hugging a statue. Loosening my arms from about her, I kissed her gently on the cheek, but she turned her head away from me, and that hurt more than anything. My mum and I had been so close once – inseparable - and her sudden disappearance three years ago had broken my heart.

  Pulling away, I looked into her eyes and they were no longer hazel like mine but black and dead-looking. It was like she hadn’t a soul. I could see nothing in her.

  “Mum?” I whispered, tears starting to spill onto my cheeks.

  “Don’t call me that,” she said, and her voice was flat and uncaring.

  “But you are my mum, aren’t you?” After everything I’d seen and heard recently, I needed to know.

  She looked away momentarily, and then turned back to face me, her features hard as if chipped from marble. It was a look that I had never seen upon her before. “I stopped being your mother the day I was baptised in the crypt beneath St. Mary’s church in The Ragged Cove.”

  Her words hurt me so much, I felt like crying out in pain. “Mum, what are you talking about?”

  Although her face was as white as paper, to me she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. She looked at me and said, “When I arrived in The Ragged Cove, I had every intention of investigating the murders that had taken place there. Let’s be honest, Murphy and his sidekick Potter weren’t the sharpest tools in the box. Luke showed some investigative qualities so I crewed myself with him. I hadn’t been in the Cove long when we were called to our first crime scene. Straightaway I knew it was the work of Vampyrus that had turned – let me see? Bad? That’s what I’d always been led to believe. The Vampyrus that drank human blood were bad! The victim was a young girl,” my mother said, and gave me that cruel smile again.

  “But as I searched the crime scene, Luke wandered off in search of some tracks that had been left behind, leaving me alone. It was then that it happened,” she said.

  “What happened?” I asked her.

  “I was snatched by Phillips and Taylor,” she said. “At first I resisted, believe me Kiera I fought them. They took me to the crypt beneath St. Mary’s church and they introduced me to Roland and Rom. For months they held me prisoner, and I grew weaker and weaker until I was near death.”

  “But why keep you prisoner?” I asked her.

  “Believe it or not Kiera, they were helping me,” my mum said.

  “Hel
ping you?” I gasped. “Helping you with what?”

  “Helping me to understand how I was to fulfill my true potential as a Vampyrus. The longer I was kept prisoner in the dark beneath the church, the more I realised that was how I’d been spending most of my life – how the Vampyrus race had been spending their lives. We were all trapped away below ground, living beneath the feet of humans, while they trampled all over us. Was there any difference to what Phillips and Taylor were doing to me?” She asked, looking me in the eyes.

  “Of course it’s different,” I said. “The Vampyrus can come above ground and live amongst the humans…”

  “You just don’t get it, do you?” She snarled and the sudden look of anger on her face made me flinch away from her. “Sneaking from below ground and trying to eek out a life amongst the humans isn’t living – it’s a lie! Why should we live in secret? Don’t we have as much right to live on Earth as they do?”

  “So why don’t the Vampyrus just reveal themselves to the humans -” I started, but before I’d a chance to finish she had started to laugh.

  “Oh Kiera, don’t be so naive,” she mocked. “Do you really think that the human race would welcome us with open arms? Do you really believe that humans would let us live amongst them as equals? How could they ever accept us when they hate themselves?”

  “So invading their homes, towns, cities and annihilating them is the answer?” I snapped back at her.

  “Don’t you think they would do exactly the same to us if they knew of our existence?” she said.

  “They couldn’t do any worse than what Phillips and Co have been getting up to,” I said. “They’ve been turning humans into vampires! And what about dad – he was human – you were married to one of them!”

  “That was before I took the blood,” she said.

  “Blood?” I asked, but in my heart I knew what she was talking about.

  “Human blood,” she smiled as if admitting to a dirty secret. “The first was a parishioner from St. Mary’s Church. Father Taylor brought her down into the crypt to hear her confession – she’d been fooling around behind her husband’s back – so I didn’t feel so bad about her. But once I’d taken one, I needed another and another. For nearly three years, I fed off the residents from The Ragged Cove, and then you showed-up and discovered the boy, Henry Blake. He was much sweeter than he looked!”

  I thought of her hairs in his tiny dead hand, as he lay mutilated beneath the trees on the edge of Farmer Moore’s field back in The Ragged Cove.

  “It was you who killed that child!” I screeched at her, and before I knew what was happening, I was upon her, my hands tight about her throat. But when I looked at my hands squeezing at her neck I was shocked to see that they were no longer my manicured fingernails but ivory-looking claws. Slowly, I removed them from about her throat.

  She smiled at me with her lifeless black eyes and said, “Well, well, well! Maybe I was wrong about you! Perhaps you’re got more Vampyrus in you than I first thought!”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I hissed at her.

  “Let’s say that you are a late developer,” she said. “Unlike Kayla and Isidor, you have been somewhat slow in changing – but I can see now that you are. And that is good!”

  “So you can use the three of us to develop more half-breeds like us?” I said.

  “Yes,” she smiled. “It’s been difficult – but now we have the three of you, we should be able to correct the mistakes we’ve made.”

  “By mistakes, I guess you’re talking about that poor girl back at the monastery?” I said.

  “Yes, that was rather unfortunate,” my mum said without any true compassion in her voice. “But still there is one last thing that we need before we can go ahead.”

  “And what’s that?” I asked, dreading her answer.

  “The three of you will need to drink human blood,” she told me.

  “I won’t do it!” I screamed.

  “Oh Kiera,” she almost seemed to sigh. “It’s not as bad as you think.”

  “Luke told me that even one drop makes you an addict to the stuff,” I shouted. “The need for it drives you insane. Once tasted you have to have more and more. He told me that the cravings for human blood will never go away!”

  “Do you see me crawling around on the floor, Kiera?” she asked me. “Do I look like an addict?”

  “But don’t you see the flaw in your plan?” I said. “You kill all the humans, how will you feed your addiction?”

  “Don’t concern yourself, Kiera,” she smiled. “Have you never heard of the humans using factory farms to produce their food? We will keep enough alive to breed and give us an endless supply of blood.”

  The thought of row upon row of people, caged like farm animals, just kept alive to feed the Vampyrus was disturbing and created haunting images inside my mind. Then, staring into her soulless eyes, I said, “You were right, you’re not my mother anymore – she died the moment you gave in beneath the crypt and drank Henry Blake’s blood. You called it a baptism, but that means the start of a new life – for you it was the beginning of your death.”

  “Kiera, if only you knew how amazing the blood makes you feel,” she said. “It’s not death that you feel – it makes you feel alive for the very first time. It will make you more powerful than you could ever imagine.”

  Then looking into her eyes, I said, “But that’s where you and I are different. I don’t want to be powerful – I just want to be me – Kiera Hudson.”

  Without saying anything, my mum took her hands from behind her back, and I stumbled backwards. Just like in my nightmare, her hands were dripping red with blood from the pieces of flesh that she held in them. Then smiling, she offered it to me.

  “Go on, Kiera,’ she urged, bringing the flesh closer. “Just a little bite.”

  Although I shook my head in disgust, I couldn’t help but think the smell of the flesh was inviting. I could feel the inside of my mouth start to water and it felt so good. Maybe she was right, just one little bite wouldn’t hurt.

  But another part of me, the human part was screaming No at me. Don’t touch it Kiera, not even one little drop! You won’t ever be able to go back! Your hunger and thirst won’t be sedated – it will grow worse!

  “Go on, Kiera,” she coaxed me. “Would I ever give you something that was bad – something that would hurt you?”

  I looked away from the flesh that she held before me, and up into her eyes. She smiled at me, and I felt warm tears spill onto my cheeks.

  “I love you, Kiera,” she smiled.

  However much I needed to hear her say those words, I pushed her hands away and said, “Never! You’ll never get me to drink human blood!”

  With her dead-black eyes fixed on me she said, “If you won’t drink it for me then perhaps someone else can persuade you!”

  “Who?” I asked, my heart racing.

  Without answering me, she looked towards the cell door and said, “Bring him in.”

  I looked up as Phillips and Sparky entered, dragging someone or something between them.

  “Look who we pulled out of the lake,” Phillips said, as he and Sparky dropped Luke onto the floor of the cell.

  “Luke!” I gasped, rushing over to him.

  I rolled him over and almost screamed. His face looked beaten and bruised beyond recognition. His neck, arms and chest were covered in so many bite marks, tears, and scratches that it was hard to see a piece of his flesh that wasn’t in some way injured.

  Cradling him against me, I whispered, “Luke, its Kiera.”

  Without opening his eyes, he stirred in my arms and cried out in pain.

  “What have you done to him, you animals!” I screeched at my mother, Phillips, and Sparky.

  “If you think he looks bad now,” my mother smiled, “You couldn’t even begin to imagine what my friends here will do to him unless you eat this,” and she held out her bloodied hands again.

  I looked at the lump of flesh that dripped
between her fingers and back at Luke again. Half opening his eyes, he looked at me and whispered, “Don’t eat it Kiera…whatever they do to me…don’t…”

  But before he had finished, Phillips had lashed out with one of his feet and kicked Luke in his bloodied chest. Screaming in pain, Luke slipped from my arms and back onto the floor.

  “Leave him, please!” I begged my mother.

  “Then have some of this!” she screamed – her patience wearing thin.

  “Please, mum,” I cried, looking into her eyes and hoping that she might still have some feelings for me – that her addiction to human blood hadn’t totally taken her soul.

  “I’m growing tired of this!” she roared, shoving the flesh beneath my nose. I grimaced and turned my head away. Seeing this, she said, “Kill him!”

  At once, Sparky and Phillips set about Luke. They kicked and punched him, smashing his already disfigured face into the rocks that covered the cell floor. Luke screamed out in pain and I covered my ears with my hands and closed my eyes. But I could still hear his agonising screams.

  Not able to bear it any longer, I screeched at the top of my voice, “I’ll eat it! I’ll eat it!” Then looking at my mother, I cried, “Please don’t hurt him anymore!”

  Closing my eyes, I lunged forward and sunk my teeth into the flesh that dripped from between her fingers.

  ‘Vampire Breed’

  Book Four in The Kiera Hudson Series

  Coming Christmas 2011!

  Also by Tim O’Rourke

  ‘Vampire Shift’ (Kiera Hudson Series Book One)

  ‘Vampire Wake’ (Kiera Hudson Series Book Two)

  ‘Black Hill Farm’ (Book One)

  ‘Black Hill Farm: Andy’s Diary’ (Book Two)

  Doorways (Book One)

  About the Author:

  Working away in the dead of night, Tim has written many short stories, plays and novels. His most recent book 'Vampire Wake' (book two in the Kiera Hudson series) is now available. Tim is also the author of the paranormal romance series entitled 'Black Hill Farm' and ‘Doorways’ – A book of Vampires, Werewolves & Black Magic.