Exsanguinate

by Killion Slade

  I blinked at him. The love of my life, the man I planned to spend forever with – had this man played me for a fool the whole time?

  Have I truly been that blind? This can’t be true – what would Lady Caz do?

  My blood boiled. In that instant, I felt every last ounce of torment, pain, anger, and loathing for these monsters! I refused to comprehend or believe the betrayal my ears heard. I felt as if my heart was ripped out of my chest and my guts exploded into infinite bits. My entire body shook from adrenaline. My fangs extended as I crouched ready for battle. This bitch was going down!

  Amicula stood, laughing at me, encouraging the other vampires to laugh out loud, as well.

  “Dakota, fly! Get out of here!” I screamed.

  Dakota struggled against her bonds. I could see her wings were healing, but they did not appear strong enough for her to fly. As the guards tried to remove the netting, she attacked three of them and ripped their bodies apart. Arms, legs, and intestines burst into the air as if she sent them through a rip saw. Dakota ate the guards as fast as they could approach her.

  “Protect her, you fools!” Amicula shouted.

  I bolted toward Amicula. I was going to kill her for what she’d done to all of us. As soon as I was a breath away from snatching her in my hands, she jumped up into the air as if she were the Caped Crusader with a fancy tool belt. She left me to dive into her dust motes. I tried to jump after her but failed miserably. I saw Ludovic hide inside a metal locker.

  “Pathetic.” She laughed at me. “Why my aunt is hell-bent on you three, I’ll never know.” She bellowed, “Guards, take them!”

  She is truly a mad mental.

  Immediately Khaldon turned into the fighting machine that I’d only experienced in the game. I didn’t know he could actually fight. With his bare hands, he fought the men who held swords, axes, and knives. Why would he be fighting against them if he had aligned with them?

  I didn’t have time to think. I ran after Amicula as she raced down the second floor corridor. I wasn’t letting her get away. I took the flight of stairs three, four at a time. We halted our chase as she stood at the top of the stairs and I stood at the bottom. We were alone, but we were able to see onto the main floor below us.

  Dakota screeched as the dhampir guards continued to approach her. She struggled to escape the net and chomped her way through the thick nylon cords. The dhampir henchmen pulled glowing silver bindings from beneath their cloaks. They wore thick leather gloves to protect themselves.

  As Amicula watched them, I inched my way toward the wall one step at a time.

  Dakota devoured her fourth victim as she stepped out through the hole in the nets. She pulled her wings back into place and crouched to jump toward Amicula.

  I advanced one step closer, wishing I had any kind of weapon at all. I put my hand in my pocket to feel for my keys.

  Dhampirs used their bows and arrows to shoot silver bindings into the air. The arrows had a boomerang effect and flew around both Dakota’s legs, entangling themselves. She moved forward and tripped over the bindings.

  “Stop – no don’t – the silver!” I screamed. Amicula snapped her head and stared daggers into my eyes as I sprayed her with my vampire repellent Dakota had given me the night of Halloween Scream night.

  She screamed as she scratched at her face and bent over from the pain. The pepper spray might not be a real vampire repellent, but it still hurt like hell. I kicked her in the ass and attacked her with my fists banging into her back, her head, and face. My blows seemed to have zero affect on her. Her strength was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. She was much stronger than Mr. Flower Delivery guy. Amicula backhanded me, and I felt my teeth fly across to the other side of my mouth. Her one hit sent me flying through the air towards the steel rail. The momentum of the blow toppled me over the railing with a sickening crunch as I crashed on the cement floor, at Dakota’s feet. It hurt to breathe. Something cracked in my ribs.

  “Chey … Cheyenne?” I heard Dakota whisper to me.

  In the distraction, several guards threw a silver cloak onto Dakota.

  “Nooo – Stop!” I cried as I stood up holding my ribs and yelled at the dhampirs.

  Dakota stopped screeching and fighting. Instead, she sighed in marked relief. The silver seemed to mend Dakota, not burn her. The silver drape thrown over her settled her as if it were mom’s quilt on the couch.

  Everyone else in the hangar also stopped. Briggs continued to chew on a guard as a black cloak hung out the side of his mouth. A collection of broken swords and other weapons lay at his feet.

  Khaldon had gained a katana from somewhere and mowed down the dhampirs as soon as they were in range.

  Amicula sauntered down the steps and over to Dakota as she kicked dead dhampir away as if they were trash at a Mardi Gras parade. Her face looked burned from the pepper spray. Her beautiful makeup smeared - hair disheveled. To me this facade revealed the hideous monster that actually lived inside her.

  I moved in closer.

  “Don’t worry, Cheyenne, we’ll give her all the adequate care she deserves. She’s quite a remarkable creature, you know. A rare beauty, indeed. We’ll be sure to teach her the way of the Vampyre.”

  “Stay away from me, you bitch.” Dakota looked up at Amicula and slapped her in the face with her tongue. “I want nothing to do with the Vampyres. You are nothing but demon fodder to me.”

  Amicula’s eyes shot wide open. She looked as shocked as the rest of us.

  Oh hell, yeah! Go Dakota!

  Howling came from the distance. It sounded as if packs of wild dogs had piled around the building.

  Harris! Yes, he’s here with his packmates.

  The dragons roared outside setting flames around the back door perimeter, trapping us further inside the building. Smoke quickly filled the entire structure; it wouldn’t be long until this place was gutted.

  Everything happened at once, as if it were in slow motion.

  Amicula ordered, “General Nicholi, enough of this! Grab Dakota and get her into the dragon cage. It’s time we returned her to her rightful guardian.”

  Werewolves crashed through the doors. Torchy and Sheridan followed behind them and back into the building.

  Dammit, Sheridan why are you here? I told you to stay safe!

  General Nicholi nodded. “And the sisters?”

  “We’ll get them some other time. I have the oocytes that I need for now from Sheridan.” Amicula sneered at me. “The sisters are always accessible to us. We’ll pick them up again when we need them.”

  I jumped at her again, but Khaldon pulled me back. “C’mon, the building is on fire. We have to get Dakota!”

  “Wait, Priestess, where do you want me?” Ludovic shouted as he slithered out from the wall locker. “We have to put out the fire! What about all your breeders? What shall we do with them?”

  “As far as I’m concerned, you shall die at the hands of the men you helped bring into this world,” Amicula hissed back at him. “And I can always obtain new breeders.”

  “But I called you. I told you they were bringing Dakota back. I’ve got all three of them here for you now.”

  I saw three dhampir heading towards Ludovic. He was as good as dead.

  Choking on the smoke, I barked at Sheridan, “Get the hell out of here. Grab Torchy and find somewhere safe now. Stay low.”

  She turned to leave. I grabbed her arm. “Wait! Try the medical supply room where they keep the blood. There’s a ladder to the roof in there. Torchy can fly you to safety. GO!”

  She nodded and hugged me fast. She whispered into my ear, “I’ll forever love you, little sister.”

  The last I saw of her was a flash of red hair skirting around the corner through the smoky maze of black and red robes.

  Briggs tried to douse the flames with his water spray as quickly as the fire dragons re-engulfed the building again. It was a draw, but there were more fire dragons than he could handle all by himself.

 
; I ran towards the dhampirs who had Dakota. A hulking, sandy brown, curly haired wolf ran up beside me with snarling fangs. I ducked, thinking it was getting ready to attack me, when the wolf jumped over my head and landed on the three guards behind me knocking them over as if they were bowling balls. The wolf chomped one dhampir by the neck and shook it violently. One of the guards grabbed his katana and raised it for a death strike against the wolf. I jumped over the werewolf, grabbed the katana in full swing, and reversed its direction and chopped off the dhampir’s head instead. The last dhampir was caught under the back end of the wolf. The guard pulled out a knife and repeatedly stabbed the wolf in the back. Without hesitation, I skewered the bastard, and his knife clamored to the floor. I grabbed the knife and shoved it under my belt.

  Dakota plucked several more guards up in her gaping jaws. It helped that they had cloaks, they were easy to snag as they tried to run away.

  An energy vortex surrounded Dakota as she was entrapped inside a cage with no walls. Her body floated up and away from us and out the hangar doors. I ran toward her but more guards fought against us blocking our path. Dakota was loaded onto the back of a green dragon which spewed forth flames torching everything in its path. The guards began to retreat and follow the dragons outside.

  The wolf nudged at my hand.

  “Harris? Is that you?”

  He woofed at me.

  “C’mon. They just took Dakota.” We ran after them. I shouted, “She’s wrapped in silver bindings. Be careful!”

  We ran, cutting down dhampirs with almost every step. Khaldon was right beside us trying to catch up to her as well. Briggs swiped his massive tail to take out more of the guards and ease our path to the other dragons. We finally made it out past the hangar doors.

  They were securing Dakota onto the dragon’s back as she screamed out my name. “Cheyenne, Cheyenne, help me! I can’t get out. I don’t want to go!” she screeched and thrashed her body against invisible bonds.

  I knew my little sister was in there. “I’m coming Dakota, hold on! Try to break out of those bindings.”

  “I can’t. They’re locked onto me,” she cried back.

  I ran towards her. Amicula and the general were already on top of the other dragons.

  My head slammed into the ground as my feet were pulled out from underneath me. A dhampir sideswiped me as I fell back into the grass. I crawled up on top of the jerk and bit his throat. He flipped us. I landed on my back. I felt the air in my lungs explode out of my chest.

  The dhampir punched my face. He was about as strong as the flower delivery guy, and I threw him off. I pulled the knife I had sheathed into my belt and slammed it into his heart.

  Torchy flew overhead as Briggs took off. I prayed they would be able to catch them and free Dakota.

  Harris jumped at the tail of the green dragon. The wolf’s sharp teeth gnoshed on to the dragon’s fleshy tail as they lifted off the ground. The dragon roared. They were airborne.

  Khaldon jumped in the air after them and missed Harris’ paw by a mere hair. He fell back to the earth and landed in the marshy lake.

  We had lost her as quickly as we had found her. I stretched my hand out to the starry sky – Dakota!

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  “Hold on, Harris!” I yelled up at him. The dragon vigorously swished his tailed back and forth. Harris flew off and must’ve fallen over two hundred feet out of the night sky.

  I heard him yelp. He landed with a splash into the swampy mud. The dragons flew off with Dakota, Amicula, and the rest of the dhampir soldiers.

  I ran to Harris and found him face down in the water. He’d already shifted to human form. I grabbed him and gently turned his head to get his face out of the water without risking damage to his neck. His backside was covered in deep knife slashes across his back and buttocks. With so many hearts wildly beating around me, I had trouble distinguishing his. I laid my head against his back to listen closer. His pulse was weak, but he was alive. His cuts were healing before my eyes, and I noticed a chunk of green dragon flesh by his head.

  Way to go, Harris. Tore a chunk right out of the dragon’s hide!

  Snarling werewolves padded up around me. I was surrounded by dozens of glowing eyes. Did they think I was the one who hurt Harris? Now I had a different threat to deal with. I protectively covered his bleeding body with my denim over shirt.

  “Harris is my friend. I’m Cheyenne O’Cuinn. Do you understand me? I need to get him to a doctor. Who else in the pack is hurt? We need to help each other. I don’t know how many more vampires are coming. Please, we need to work together.”

  A blonde werewolf cocked her head up at me in a sideways glance and morphed into human shape. She wore a jeweled crown made of sticks and moonstones in her blonde waves. I couldn’t remember ever seeing such a beautiful naked woman before. Obviously not shy about her lack of clothing, her hair draped down cascading over her body.

  “I am Naomae, werewolf pack leader of the Southwest region. Harris called upon us for assistance against the vampires. How am I to know you are who you say you are?” she huffed.

  “Can’t you smell her? She stinks to high heaven.” Harris smiled at me and turned over.

  I looked down at him and hugged him to my chest. “Oh thank the Goddess you’re all right!”

  He licked my cheek.

  “Ewww.”

  I stood up and put my hand out. “Thank you, Naomae. Thank you for your help and assistance. I apologize for what has happened here. Your help is immensely appreciated, and we hope to find a way to repay your kindness one day.”

  Naomae looked me up and down and huffed at me again. “All right, troops, let’s secure the area. Pull together the bodies, and determine if we’ve lost anyone.”

  “Here’s the last of them,” shouted Khaldon from a distance. He pulled himself out of the marsh, dragging Ludovic behind him by the ear. “Caught this one trying to get away at the boat ramp.”

  I looked at Khaldon, not sure of what to say. I was still seriously confused by everything that just happened between him and Amicula. “Naomae, this is Khaldon. Khaldon Seters. And this idiot is Ludovic. The reason why you were called here to help us.” I spat on him. “Why aren’t you dead?”

  Naomae nodded to Khaldon with a wry smile on her face.

  He acknowledged her with a guilty glance. “Ahh, yes … we’ve met before,” he said.

  They each took a slight step backwards away from one another.

  Are you feckin’ kidding me? Another one? Who hasn’t this guy been with?

  Khaldon dangled Ludovic like a sack of old rotten potatoes. “We have to keep him. He’s the only one who can help find Dakota again. If we kill him, we’ll never find her.”

  A couple of towering figures swept through the moonlight overhead. Briggs and Torchy were on the ground and immediately by my side. In an instant, they had transformed back to human form.

  Briggs grabbed Ludovic by the shirt and roared in his face, “I’d rather eat him and use his bones to pick my teeth.”

  No one made a move or said a word. Ludovic’s heart rate doubled.

  Briggs continued in a controlled, but deadly tone, “But I’m a patient man, and if he’s our only connection …” Briggs pulled him closer until they were eye-to-eye. “I’ll wait until after we have her back. Then I’ll eat him.” Briggs threw him back to Khaldon. Ludovic landed in a pile at Khaldon’s feet.

  Harris stood up and wrapped my shirt around his waist. “So what happened?”

  “We lured Dakota back, the plan worked. But Ludovic tipped off the Priestess somehow and now Amicula has stolen Dakota away. She’s gone again!” I turned to Ludovic and kicked gravel at him as he stood up. “Why didn’t you tell us Amicula was the Priestess?”

  “Who? Amicula? I honestly did not know her name. She has always been the Priestess to us. She comes and takes the newborns. I can’t believe she left me to be killed by the very men whom I helped birth.” He looked around at us. “Look, she betrayed
me, too. She promised me I could leave the breeding facility and all this mess if I handed you all over to her. I want nothing more of this.”

  I smacked his face. He stood there looking at me. The face smack wasn’t nearly as satisfying as I wanted it to be, so I punched him hard in the mouth, and that sent him to his knees.

  Sheridan ran up to us with a fire extinguisher clutched in her hands. “I’ve been able to keep the fire away from the last of the breeders left in there. I found a ventilator fan and cleared out the smoke. Their machines seem to be working, but we’ll need to check on them again soon. I need Ludovic to help make sure they’re stabilized.”

  Torchy walked over to Sheridan and offered to hold the fire extinguisher.

  She looked down at her hands as she handed it over to him and gave him a half smile. “What happened with the dragons? Torch, Briggs – where did they take her?”

  Briggs looked down at his feet. Torchy looked away out over the water.

  “Briggs?” I pushed.

  “I don’t know, Chey Chey.” He looked down at me and touched my arm. “It was like, one minute they were in front of me and the next minute – they were gone.”

  “It was insane,” Torchy added. “No scent trail. No nothing. The sky opened up a hole, and they flew right into it. It closed behind them. They were just … gone! I’m so sorry.” The look in his eyes pleaded with us for forgiveness.

  Sheridan and I looked at each other, both of us on the edge of tears. “It’s not your fault, Torchy. You did your best.” I heaved over and put my hands on my knees. My ribcage still ached.

  Naomae asked, “Who are these guards?” She gestured to the bodies the werewolves piled alongside the building.

  “These are the dhampir soldiers,” Ludovic explained. “This is what the breeding facility is about. The Vampyre Queen is creating an army. But now she wants super soldiers so she can wipe out the rogues. That’s why she is taking Dakota.”

  “That’s genocide.” Khaldon grabbed Ludovic by the shirt. “Why would the Queen go through with such a ridiculous plan?”

  “It’s not crazy as far as she’s concerned.” Ludovic tried to wriggle out of his grasp. “She feels the rogues are a blight on society and need to be eradicated.”