by Stead, Nick
He released his hold on me so suddenly I almost fell. I recovered and was about to make a run for it, but then his mind brushed against my own, reaching out to the wilder parts of my nature. The hunger and the bloodlust stirred. Both had been controllable after feeding so well but he called to them, exerting a power over me as complete as that of the moon itself. And they reared up, slavering and roaring for a fresh kill, and devouring my ability to reason. The need to run was forgotten in an instant.
My lips curled back and I growled, low and threatening. Muscles bunched, ready to spring forward, so I might indulge in the same mindless slaughter that the human part of me committed time and again. No matter how much I hated it for such acts, the bloodlust was tied to that part of the human, and that in turn was tied to the curse and my unnatural hunger. When I truly lost control I could no more fight it than the human could fight the transformation induced by the full moon, and I’d just had that control ripped from me by Ulfarr.
Uncertainty rippled through the crowd. The ghouls looked ready to flee. They stood no chance with both my lunar master and the bloodlust driving me. I was about to become a force of raw power and fury, virtually unstoppable unless one of them could deliver a killing blow. Even the vampires were at risk. Their ability to hypnotise victims would be useless whilst I was at my most primal, and my madness would only boost my strength. It was going to be a bloodbath.
I was about to pounce when my muscles locked in place again, and inwardly I sounded the cries of rage I couldn’t physically make. Ulfarr merely laughed.
“You should have more faith in your Elders. Did you really think I would present him to you for a trial without taking any precautions?”
Pain shot through my stomach. My flesh was shifting and I was powerless to fight it, even with the moonlight shining through the windows. I should have felt more fear then, if the bloodlust had left any room for it. Ulfarr was demonstrating how he was more powerful than the moon, and just as I was still very much a slave to my lunar master, I was no more than a mere puppet to him. He could kill me at any moment he pleased with no more effort than it took to lift a finger, and he probably would before the night was through. But first he wanted to enjoy humiliating me in front of his audience.
The change was the most violent I’d ever experienced, pure agony even compared with my first transformation just over a year earlier. Despite the higher pain threshold I’d developed, it was so intense that it was no longer Ulfarr’s power keeping me frozen in place, but the pain itself, and I couldn’t help but cry out. If I’d been in human form I’d have been screaming, but instead my cries were the high pitched yelps and whines of an animal in suffering. The crowd only jeered at the sound. Even the ghouls joined in, though they had no reason to share the vampires’ prejudice against me, as far as I knew.
My innards seemed to twist and writhe, as though they’d turned into snakes. Breathing was painful, each breath shallow and quick, like my lungs were damaged and unable to fill to their full capacity. My chest felt tight, my heart hammering against my ribcage in an irregular rhythm, seemingly struggling to continue to pump the blood boiling in my veins round the rest of my body. Bones ground together as they grew shorter while others lengthened, and there was a blow to my spine where it reversed direction, becoming convex. Just as I felt like my body would be ripped apart by this brutal shapeshift, it stopped. I knelt on humanoid hands and knees, panting heavily and shaking from the after effects of the pain. My mind continued to scream at me to attack, but I was too weak, and Ulfarr knew it.
The Elder clicked his fingers purely for show, using telekinesis to move the chains which suddenly whipped up to bind me. Shackles snapped shut around my wrists and ankles, and the chains binding my arms wrapped themselves around hooks in the wall, forcing me to my feet and giving the assembled undead a clear view of my monstrous hybrid body. I strained against my fetters with renewed fury, howling and snarling in frustration, and snapping at the air.
“You see, werewolves would have us believe they are like us, and indeed have even convinced some of us of this over the years,” Ulfarr said, his gaze falling on Lady Sarah. And for the first time since I’d met her, she shied away from the direct eye contact, no longer an alpha but a lower ranking pack member submitting to a dominant wolf. If the Elder hadn’t put me in such a frenzy, I might have felt fresh fear at that. “But no matter how civilised they can be, they will never be anything more than savage beasts at heart, a danger to all others, living or undead. The Slayers have done us a favour hunting them to extinction; it is time we put this last dog down before he turns on any more of us.”
There were calls of agreement from our audience, but I was too lost in my wilder urges to really be aware of what was happening.
Ulfarr turned to me and I struggled to bite him, until my jaws slammed shut with a will that wasn’t my own, refusing to open again. He placed a hand on my shoulder as though to calm me, and I felt his mind brush my thoughts once more. The effect that had on me was even more impressive. All my rage, all my bloodlust, swept away as if they were no more than cobwebs. The hunger remained after being forced to transform, but it was manageable, and my self-control returned.
More agony stabbed through me. My body was resuming the transformation, all the way back to my human shape this time, and it was every bit as excruciating as the changes he’d already forced me through. But not just that – he was summoning the human back from the depths of our subconscious, and I could no more fight that than I could the physical changes.
I’d endured as much as I could. The pain became too much, and I blacked out.
As the room swam into focus, I became aware of a voice speaking to someone. It took me a moment to recognise it as Ulfarr’s. Then my brain began to register the uncomfortable touch of cold steel around my wrists and ankles, holding me upright. I raised my eyes to the chains with a frown. What had the wolf done now?
Restless murmuring rippled through the sea of bodies in front of me. My gaze dropped to take in the crowd. I realised I was in the same warehouse as the last time we’d been called to a gathering of undead, but where was Lady Sarah? My eyes scanned the throng for a moment, before settling on her face in the front row. Horror had replaced her usual impassive mask as she stared up at me. I looked back at her with confusion, but she made no move to come to my aid or to put a stop to any of it.
“Beast!” Ulfarr repeated, and I realised he was talking to me. I tore my gaze from Lady Sarah to focus on him. “Have you nothing to say for yourself?”
I felt the wolf stir in my subconscious, filling in the blanks for me only out of concern for our self-preservation, the memories shared almost with the thought of ‘don’t screw this up’.
“I didn’t do it,” I said, even though I knew it was entirely possible I’d killed more than just the human victim when I’d blacked out two nights ago. I looked back to Lady Sarah for help but she continued to just stand there. Why wasn’t she defending me like she had before? And why was she letting them torment me like this?
“Lies,” the Elder hissed through bared fangs and narrowed eyes. He was about to say something more when another male vampire spoke up.
“What proof do you have, Ulfarr? I for one would like to see some evidence as to why you are so convinced the werewolf is to blame.”
“I have a name,” I growled, but no one was paying me any attention anymore. All eyes had turned to this new vampire. I couldn’t see much of him but his voice was full of confidence and a calmness that seemed at odds with the situation. There was no anger or hatred in him, but nor was there any of the anxiety I’d seen in Lady Sarah when she’d stood up to the Elder. Could he be a powerful new ally?
“Both murders happened during the full moon and they were torn apart as if savaged by a beast,” Ulfarr said. “What else could it have been?”
“You allow your prejudice to blind you, Elder. The timing could be coincidence, and we all know there are more than just werewolves that would att
ack with such savagery. The work of demons, perhaps?”
Ulfarr snorted. “Demons have not been this active on Earth since the rise of the Slayers, as you well know.”
“That may be, but the possibility exists, no matter how slim, and it is but one possibility. I for one would like to see some proof the werewolf really is to blame before we condemn him. With the threat of the Slayers growing with each passing year, can we really afford to turn on each other?” The speaker started to come forward, but the crowd were reluctant to let him through, many glancing at Ulfarr with uncertainty, and some even with fear. He continued his argument, undeterred. “In a time when we need allies we must put the past between our races behind us. This werewolf has already proven himself on the battlefield. He may prove invaluable if we find ourselves engaged in open warfare.”
“There will be no open warfare so long as the humans have the advantage in numbers and technology. The wolf is no more than a threat to our kind, and it ends tonight.”
“We cannot know what the future holds, Elder. If we turn on our own, are we really any better than the humans? We need to be sure we are executing the true culprit before we take action, otherwise we are simply helping the Slayers drive us that step closer to extinction.”
A few heads began to nod in agreement. Ulfarr radiated cold fury but he knew he was beaten. Killing me without further proof risked breaking the alliance with the ghouls, and he must have known as well as any of us how costly a fight among ourselves would be. He gave an angry wave of his hand and my shackles snapped open.
I fell to my hands and knees, trembling with fatigue. Some of the vampires laughed. Others were looking at me with new interest, apparently open to the possibility that the timings of the killings could be coincidental. The ghouls were indifferent as far as I could tell. When the real killer was found they’d be happy to participate in his or her execution, but until then it didn’t matter to them what happened to me.
“Then we are done here, for tonight,” Ulfarr said. “I ask only that you remain vigilant, so that together we might find the killer, before any more lives are lost. But we will find him and bring him to justice. Let there be no doubt about that.”
He turned away and the crowd began to filter out. I wanted to make a run for it, to leave the vampires and their prejudice behind and never once look back. But the forced transformation had taken too much out of me. I felt weak and drained. My muscles didn’t feel like they would support me anytime soon.
A boot connected with my side and I was sent sprawling across the floor. “Get out of my sight, dog.”
I looked up at Ulfarr’s hate-filled eyes and felt the fires of my rage flare up at last. My gaze burned amber and filled with an equal level of loathing. A growl rumbled deep in my chest and my teeth lengthened, my nails sharpening to claws.
Ulfarr gave another snort and turned his back, making it clear he considered me too weak to prove a threat to him, and too unimportant to take up any more of his time, at least for the remainder of the night. Somehow I knew he would continue looking for an excuse to ‘put me down’, as he’d phrased it. I could even feel hate towards him from the lupine half of my mind. To the wolf, the Elder embodied all that he hated in humanity in the form of a vampire – namely the complete disregard for the sanctity of life in other species. Ulfarr didn’t need a reason to kill me, and the wolf loathed him for it.
Lady Sarah waited for Ulfarr to move away before rushing to my side.
“We should go,” she said, offering her hand. There was worry in her eyes again.
I glared at her. She’d let the Elder accuse and humiliate me when we couldn’t know for sure whether I was the murderer or not. I didn’t know why she hadn’t come to my defence this time and I didn’t care. It had taken a stranger to speak out for me. There was no excuse for that. Not when she was meant to be my ally, if not quite a friend. She should have done more than just stand and watch.
“I don’t need your help,” I snarled, struggling to pick myself up. My limbs trembled worse than ever but the rage gave me new strength. She backed off as I rose to my feet.
I took a deep breath, savouring the feeling of my bloodlust rising, at long last. The desire to lunge at Ulfarr blazed through my mind. I fought it. He’d proven he held more power over me than the full moon. If he could control me as easily as most vampires could control mere mortals, I stood no chance of beating him if we ever came to blows. Yet even knowing that, my fists shook with more than exhaustion now. I took another breath and channelled it into the hunger instead. Lady Sarah’s training was finally proving to be of some use, my mind turning to thoughts of hunting humans.
“Come, let us feed,” Lady Sarah said.
“Oh, now you want to help me,” I growled. “Bit late, isn’t it? Well I told you, I don’t need your help.”
Her mask of impassiveness slid back into place. “Very well.”
She gave me one last look, but I couldn’t read it. Concern? Hurt? Then she turned away and stalked out of the building, leaving me alone, except for a handful of undead still trickling out. Ulfarr was among them. Then I noticed a male vampire hanging back. The one undead who’d stood up for me? Yes, I was pretty sure it was him.
Now I could see him clearly, I noted he was slender in build like myself, but he had to be strong or he wouldn’t have dared speak out against the Elder. He moved with a certain grace which went beyond the usual vampiric agility, putting me in mind of a big cat. Dirty blond hair added to the feline effect, hanging around his shoulders like a mane.
Our eyes met. They were a pale blue, and there was an intensity to them that suggested an acute awareness of his surroundings. This was more than just the predatory cunning I’d seen in most of our kind. I suspected he had centuries of experience behind him but I couldn’t even begin to guess his age. His clothes were modern – a dark blue denim jacket over a white shirt, dark jeans and black shoes – and there was nothing to tie him to whatever era he was originally from.
Why he’d chosen to help me, I had no idea. Vince’s betrayal had taught me to be cautious, and besides, I wasn’t in a trusting mood. I now lived in a world where it seemed everyone was a potential enemy. Even Lady Sarah had let me down that night, and with the vampires I was starting to think they all had ulterior motives. For some reason it was in this vampire’s current interests to keep Ulfarr from executing me for the time being, but I felt that could easily change. I needed to keep my guard up around them if I was to survive.
I felt I should at least thank him for stepping in and putting an end to my ‘trial’, if you could really call it that. He nodded to me, but let me approach him. I stalked over, wary and suspicious.
“Thanks, I guess,” I said. “You probably saved my life back there.”
He shrugged, his hands in his jacket pockets. “Ulfarr was being cruel and unfair. It was nothing.”
I eyed him with more distrust. Standing up to an Elder didn’t seem like nothing. There was more to this than he was letting on.
“I have a mansion less than fifty miles north from here,” he continued. “Come find me if you wish for some company other than Lady Sarah.”
His face gave little away but there was some kind of charm to him that made me want to accept the invitation. At the very least, I wanted to ask who he was and why he’d taken a sudden interest in me, but I barely had chance to open my mouth before he turned into a blur of movement. Then he was gone.
I wasn’t about to follow an unknown vampire. Fifty miles was nothing but I wasn’t sure of the wisdom in accepting his invitation, no matter how much charm was attached to it. Maybe Lady Sarah would be able to shed some light on the situation, when I calmed enough to talk to her. Later. I still needed to replenish my energy and I wanted to feed the bloodlust before it faded, then I would worry about the vampires. It was time to find new prey.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Stoking the Flames
I stepped out of the warehouse into a fresh assault from the wintry
winds. They failed to freeze the blood boiling in my veins. My body was pushing for the change again, if only I hadn’t been weakened from the brutal transformation Ulfarr had forced on me. I would have to kill in my current form. After I’d eaten though – then I could revel in my lupine might, for as long as my newfound rage lasted. I couldn’t know how long that would be, so I intended to make the most of it before I fell back into the empty abyss.
The distant sounds of city life carried on the wind. Hunting more humans would be risky, but while the anger and bloodlust ruled me I was feeling especially reckless, and in my current mood I would welcome a fight if it came to it. I smiled at the prospect and broke into a run.
The night grew brighter the closer I came to civilisation. Open fields turned to enclosed streets, lined with rows of houses. I crossed into man’s domain without an ounce of fear, prowling across the pavement with a boldness the wolf disapproved of. He worried too much. Let the Slayers come – they were no match for our rage. We would kill them, as we had so many others.
I stopped at the end of a drive, eyeing a bin bag left out for charity. It bulged with unwanted garments and the idea struck me to raid it for the clothes needed to blend in. I liked the thought of fooling my prey into thinking I was just another teenager out indulging in underage drinking, my monstrous side hidden until it was too late. That seemed like more fun than the jeers and stares I would attract if I continued as I was.
The bag split beneath my fingers and various different types of clothing spilled out. I rummaged through the pile, tossing aside women’s tops and men’s work shirts, until the fleecy softness of a wintry jacket brushed against my skin. It fit well enough, though the material still felt strange against my skin. I also found a t-shirt to go under it and a pair of jeans, but no shoes.
Once I’d dressed, I stalked deeper into the city. There were a few people about, even though it must have been the early hours. None of them paid me much attention so I guess they didn’t notice my bare feet, bloodstained skin, or the murderous look in my now human eyes. They were probably too drunk to register anything strange, and I let them stagger past unharmed. I didn’t want alcohol to dull the pain I would elicit from my next victim.