by Stead, Nick
Leon’s plan was simple: we would systematically work our way through the building, killing any Slayers we found and hiding the bodies to help delay the alarm being raised for as long as possible. I had my doubts as to how long we could wander around unchallenged, but the vampire seemed confident we could take out enough of them to give us a fighting chance. I wished I shared his confidence. It was too late to turn back by then though. My only choice was to go along with his plan, and just pray it would work.
Every step felt like it would be our last. My nerves were as taut as ever, my senses more attuned to my surroundings than anything I’d experienced before. The slightest of sounds had my ears pricking, and my nose was working overtime to try and make sense of the myriad of scents passing through it. If we’d been out in the open, my eyes would have been constantly scanning the shadows for danger. But sight was of little use in the corridors with so many corners for our foes to lurk around. That only heightened my sense of dread.
The immediate area around the entrance seemed quiet, but it wasn’t long before we began to detect signs of life. We came to a stop by the first room in which we could sense a human presence, keeping out of sight of the window set in the door. There were three of them in there, and they seemed to be arguing about something. I could hear the rustle of papers, and see the glow of a torch on the other side of the glass.
“Come on, mate, we’re not supposed to still be here. We have our orders,” said one of them.
“Fuck our orders! I’m not a soldier – I signed on for revenge against these bastards and I’m bloody well going to get it.”
“Mike’s right, fuck all this pissing about waiting for these monsters to come to us. Pass me that map; I say we head straight for where they were last seen and deal with them ourselves.”
“I don’t know, guys, they came up with this plan for a reason,” the first voice answered. “Think how many of us have died trying to kill that beast already. Do you really think the three of us can succeed where so many others have failed?”
“The werewolf slaughtered my wife and kids last year and he still runs free. I won’t stand by any longer and let him tear more families apart,” Mike argued, his voice shaking with emotion.
I felt a rare pang of guilt. Leon looked at me and motioned to stay out of their line of sight, my hybrid form instantly recognisable as a monster. He seemed well aware of the impact those words would have.
A part of me wanted to rush in there and let the humans face me, so at least this guy, Mike, could die trying to avenge his loved ones. I couldn’t undo the horrific acts I’d committed but I could at least offer him a chance at the vengeance he craved. But for once I listened to reason, my survival instincts particularly strong that night while my body was flooded with adrenaline, and I let Leon handle it.
His human appearance allowed him to enter without being immediately gunned down. By the time the humans in the room realised something was amiss, it was already too late for them. He dealt each a swift death, breaking their necks before they had chance to draw a weapon or warn their allies.
The threat dealt with, Leon beckoned me inside. It was an ordinary looking office room which could have been in any building. There was a map laid out on the desk. I imagined they’d been looking at it while they debated the wisdom of hunting for us.
“Help me hide these bodies. That storage cupboard should take one of them and we can probably get away with another under the desk. You deal with these two and I’ll take this third next door, while there’s no one else about on this corridor.”
I did as he’d instructed, my heart hammering against my ribs. There was something else about the conversation that bothered me and I felt an even greater alertness to my surroundings.
I opened the cabinet and a stack of papers fell from the top shelf, raining down around me and clattering to the floor. The noise made me wince and I paused to listen for the thunder of footsteps rushing towards me. But all was quiet. Maybe too quiet.
Only the upper half of the cabinet was shelved, so there was just about room for the cadaver. I hastened to stuff the body inside and shut the door. Then I listened again. Still nothing.
Once I’d dragged the second corpse under the desk, I re-joined Leon out in the corridor. Doubt continued to nag at me.
“I don’t like this, man. The plan those three were talking about, it can’t be owt good for us. Don’t you think we should turn back while we still can? There’s got to be some other way we can deal with the problem of them finding your mansion. We can slip back out while it’s so quiet and come up with a better idea.”
“We might not get another chance and I won’t abandon my home unless I really have to. We can do this.”
So we continued on. I kept expecting trouble but most of the corridors were empty, as were most of the rooms. That only added to my uneasiness. It definitely felt too quiet.
We did find a Slayer rushing down an adjoining corridor to the one we were on, and unwittingly heading in our direction. She saw us before we could move in for the kill and turned back the way she’d come, skidding to a stop in front of two secure looking doors. There she fumbled with the locks, throwing the doors open to reveal one of their weapons arsenals. But Leon was on her before she had time to grab anything useful.
The locker was packed so full of weaponry that her body wouldn’t have fit inside, and without venturing into any of the rooms in this part of the building, we couldn’t know for sure whether they’d be similar to the office type rooms. There might not be anywhere close enough to hide the body. So instead of killing her, Leon used his hypnotic powers to keep her calm and docile, and to convince her nothing was amiss, like he had with the guards outside. It was only a temporary escape from our wrath. We would come back on the way out, for her and the handful of others we were forced to leave alive. If we made it back out.
This Slayer base of operations seemed to serve a similar purpose to the one I’d been imprisoned in, though we didn’t come across any rooms containing cages, and certainly none specifically built to hold undead. Yet there was evidence of scientists performing similar ghoulish experiments to the ones I’d witnessed before – there was no mistaking the scent of blood emanating from under some of the doors we passed, and some of the rooms contained operating tables and surgical tools, and more body parts preserved in jars filled with clear fluid. We only came across one living test subject though. Or unliving, or whatever the correct term is for an undead.
We both heard the sound of laboured breathing coming from the other side of the door. I looked to Leon for guidance. He nodded and motioned for us to go in, then took the lead. I stepped through after him, and my eyes fell on the room’s only occupant. Shock gripped me, and I froze.
A female vampire lay strapped to an operating table, weakened from starvation so she couldn’t break free. Her chest had been opened up, as though her skin were merely a jacket that had been unfastened, the bloody flaps turned back and hanging down her sides. Her breast tissue had been removed and on one side her muscle had been cut away to reveal her lung and part of her heart, while on the other side the muscle had been left intact. Sections of skin had also been shaved off her limbs, though for what purpose I couldn’t even begin to guess at. In the darkness everything looked black, instead of the lurid red the scientists would see under the bright lights of their makeshift operating theatre.
The vampire was fully conscious, and through her dry throat she struggled to form her croaked plea. “Help me.”
Such cruel experiments had unnerved me the first time I’d seen them, but in the primal state I’d fallen into they’d failed to horrify me, and what memories I had of them just didn’t have the same impact as actually being there. This time I was fully aware of the atrocities the scientists were committing. And it brought a tremble to my muscles that was nothing to do with fear.
No creature deserved this. To be trapped in so agonising a state, unable to die unless the Slayers granted her the mercy of des
troying her heart or brain – it spoke to both my rage and whatever empathy I had left. Even after the anger I’d felt towards her kind, I didn’t want to see one of them made to suffer such a pain-filled existence.
“We have to save her,” I growled, fumbling with her restraints in my clawed hands.
Leon shook his head. “There’s no time.”
The pain was plain to see in her eyes, and the anguish at Leon’s words as she again struggled to voice her plea. “Help me.”
“Then we should at least end her suffering,” I said, grabbing one of the surgical instruments laid out on a nearby table. Leon caught my arm before I could deliver the killing blow.
“No, Nick. We can’t risk alerting the Slayers to our presence here so soon. If they discover her and raise the alarm, it gives them time to mount a defence and we lose the advantage of surprise. We need to catch them unawares if you want to escape here with your life. We’ll try and come back for her afterwards.”
I hated leaving the female vampire there like that, but I knew he was right. It was made all the harder when I suspected we wouldn’t make it back. Her eyes were on me as we turned and walked away, and I did my best to tune out those terrible words which still haunt me to this day.
“Help me.”
We made it through almost the entire building without incident. That did nothing to ease my nerves. But the reason why we’d encountered so few Slayers soon became apparent.
Up ahead we could sense the bulk of their forces gathered in what must be a large room. I guessed it was some kind of assembly hall or briefing room, if they operated in such a way. We could hear a man, presumably their leader, addressing them all, and from the way Leon looked at me it seemed he’d anticipated finding them in such a meeting.
“This is it,” he mouthed, drawing his sword and placing a hand on the door.
He didn’t need to elaborate. This was where the real slaughter would begin, and our attack had to be fast and brutal to take down as many of them as possible before they could react and defend themselves. I guessed there were around a hundred humans gathered inside and as formidable opponents as we could be, to attack so many at once was beyond reckless. But there was no backing out now. Leon was gently pushing the door open, and I couldn’t leave him to face them alone. All I could do was follow him in and pray he knew what he was doing.
My heart beat faster still as I stepped through the doorway. The shadowy form of their leader barked a command, and the humans turned to face us, weapons raised. Our plan wasn’t going to work out after all. For all our attempts to catch them unawares, it seemed they’d still been expecting us. Instead of the bloodbath we’d intended to make of a crowd of unsuspecting humans, we were now facing around a hundred enemies, all armed and prepared for combat. Our chances of surviving this insane mission had just dropped to around zero, and worse than the potential death awaiting us was the threat of being captured alive and subjected to the same horrific torment as the female vampire. Then the Slayers nearest the doors opened fire, and so began the fight that was sure to be our last.
CHAPTER TWENTY–FIVE
The Last Stand?
I dived for the door, but a bullet ricocheted off the handle and I recoiled on instinct. Then the lock clicked shut, probably operated electronically by someone in the room. There was no way I’d be able to break through before I was cut down by gunfire. A second bullet found its way into my flank, and with a roar I let the bloodlust rise on a tidal wave of fury. If this was to be my last stand, I was taking my enemies down with me.
Leon gave a maniacal laugh and rushed the humans, dodging the worst of the bullets and rushing into the gathered humans. Two of them fell to his sword before they had chance to react. At such close quarters, they couldn’t all open fire or they risked killing too many of their own, but they were armed with blades as well. He was soon engaged in a deadly dance of cold steel as those around him hacked and slashed with their own knives and swords. It wasn’t long before cuts started to open up on his limbs and sides. For every enemy he felled, there was always another to take their place.
The Slayers nearest the door were still trying to take me down with their guns. I charged through the hail of bullets and suffered another wound to my arm. The pain fuelled the rage as I leapt on my first victim, sending him crashing to the ground and taking the woman behind him down with us. I was aware of guns aiming at my exposed back, and I sprang away just as they opened fire. Blood pooled on the floor from beneath the two fallen humans, their bodies riddled with enough bullets to seal their doom.
I grabbed hold of another man by his shirt and threw him at his comrades. They went down like skittles, buying me some time to even the odds. But it was only seconds before the next one rushed forward, her blade slicing through the air in a path for my chest. I dodged and slashed my claws across her throat, the knife clattering from her grasp as she fell to join the others in death.
Another woman wielding a blade came at me from my left. I caught her arm and squeezed. Bone cracked and splintered. She screamed in agony and stumbled away, clutching her ruined limb with her other hand.
Another blade pierced my side, between two of my ribs. It was far from a killing blow. The Slayers were trying to subdue us through sheer force of numbers, it seemed. And they may well succeed. I could only suffer so many wounds before blood loss took its toll, and while I had the energy to heal the damage for the time being, if I was having to constantly regenerate, I’d soon be overcome with exhaustion. Leon surely had his limits as well. We could only keep this up for so long before the Slayers overwhelmed us.
I voiced my fury as fresh pain throbbed through my injured flesh, and turned to deal with the man who’d knifed me. Another swipe of my claws ended his life in a spray of blood and gore, but two more Slayers stepped in to fill the gap I’d created, wielding swords. I dodged one of their blades and grabbed the man’s leg, pulling it out from under him so that he landed on the growing pile of bodies.
The second sword opened up a gash in my thigh. I circled round my new target and lunged. We landed on top of the first Slayer, and I crushed the second man’s skull in my jaws, then snapped at the other man’s arm as he reached for his sword. My fangs bit down with such force that they went clean through the flesh and bone, severing the limb at the elbow. The human screamed as blood pumped out of his stump, his eyes wide and his skin draining of its colour. He was no longer a threat. I left him to bleed to death and rose to face the next enemy.
My wounds oozed and I could feel my strength draining. But I wasn’t given the chance to heal the damage. Bloody fur hung loosely from my thigh and nerves sparked as they reacted with the oxygen, stinging so badly it became painful to walk on. My rage could only keep me going for so long. Then a gap opened up in the seemingly endless sea of humans and there was Leon, faring little better than myself, despite his greater speed and strength. And as I glanced over, I saw one of the Slayers splash his face with a bottle of some clear liquid, causing him to scream and raise a hand to his eyes. There came the unmistakable stench of burning flesh, as if he’d been doused with acid. Holy water. What else could it be?
The vampire swung his sword but the hallowed liquid had melted his eyes. His aim was off, and worse still, he couldn’t see the human raising a gun to finish him. The sight of it distracted me long enough for another knife to find its way between my ribs.
Renewed rage roared through me but I had no interest in killing my own opponents then. Leon was about to die unless I could reach him, and everything else around me might as well have ceased to exist.
Time seemed to slow as I bounded towards my friend, fighting my way through the humans trying to stop me. Twice I slipped in the ever growing pool of blood, and yet somehow I managed to stay on my feet and reach my target before he could pull the trigger. He was too focused on the vampire to realise I’d pounced until it was too late.
I crashed into him and smashed his head against the floor like a watermelon, spraying a grisl
y halo of blood and brains around what little remained of his skull. But more Slayers were taking aim at Leon, and there was no way I could kill them all in time. My friend was about to die, and there was nothing I could do.
CHAPTER TWENTY–SIX
Death Sentence
Light flooded the room. In a detached sort of way, I took in the bloodbath we’d created and felt a vague hint of pride. Even though Death must be close again for both me and Leon, it seemed we’d taken down a respectable number of Slayers before our inevitable end.
Corpses lay with their throats in bloody tatters. Severed limbs twitched as if the will of those they’d belonged to still drove them to fight the monsters in their midst. Some of the humans had been slashed across their abdomens, and guts had spilled out, intestines coiled like great snakes amidst the gore. Then there was the mess of brains I’d created. They lay in the lake of blood like squishy worms, between shards of skull and strands of hair.
I squinted against the sudden brightness. Whatever damage Leon had done to the generator must have been fixed. My eyes were still adjusting as I rose from the body of my latest victim, but I could see a shadowy outline through the glare. Fresh fear twisted my gut. Had the Reaper come to claim me at last?
More of the room came into focus and I saw heads turning in the figure’s direction. It seemed the Slayers could see him too. A panicked cry went up and they took aim at this new intruder, their terror pouring from them in intoxicating waves. I realised then the dark figure wasn’t the robed skeleton of my imagination, but Ulfarr, leading a force of more vampires. The cavalry had arrived.