by Stead, Nick
Fabric ripped beneath tooth and claw, and two terrified faces turned towards us. It happened too fast for them to do much more than wriggle free of their sleeping bags. Then Lady Sarah was lunging for the nearest one, latching onto his throat and drinking deeply from his jugular. Zee wasn’t far behind, sinking his fangs into the man’s wrist. That left me free to savage the other.
I gave a hungry snarl and grabbed hold of a leg, shredding flesh and crunching through bone. Blood spurted from torn arteries, bathing our bodies and painting the inside of the tent, black in the moonlight. The warmth of it only added to my excitement and I shook my head with greater ferocity, drunk on the rich flavour coating my tongue.
A kick to my muzzle with his good leg persuaded me to drop his damaged limb. This boy was nothing more to me than another meal to fill the hole his presence had opened in my belly. There was nothing personal about the kill, nor was I ruled by that same darkness I’d let myself sink into for so long. I had no need to make him suffer as I had so many before him. So I rose from his leg and lunged at his neck, ending his life with a quick, merciful bite to his throat. His spinal column broke with the force of the attack, his body growing still and his screams of fear and pain cut off mid-cry.
Once the human was dead I ate my fill of meat and raided the treasure trove of viscera stashed in his abdomen, then the vampires drained the rest of his blood. It was over in moments, our hungers sated for another night.
The sky was already beginning to lighten when we emerged from the mess of tattered fabric and ruined flesh, and the vampires were quick to retreat to their chosen shelter for the day. I stayed behind. The hunger would only rise anew with my body’s demands to replenish the energy it took to shift from the likeness of one species to another. I’d pick what meat was left from the bones of our victims once I’d changed back. Drained of their blood, the corpses would be less palatable now the vampires had fed on them. But it was better than spending the day feeling famished.
Sunlight swept across the land, a bright beam lancing down into the clearing and calling to my human shape. I readied myself for the usual pain of shifting flesh and bone, welcoming the return to my human form if only for the chance to repair my ruined leg. Except it never came.
CHAPTER TWO
At the Reaper’s Mercy
I squinted against the glare of the early morning sun and focused on the transformation, willing my body to return to its original human state. But as the minutes dragged on and still nothing was happening, I was forced to accept that I was trapped in wolf form, just as I’d been trapped as a human before the rise of the full moon. I could only assume it was an after effect of the serum the Slayers had injected me with, but how long it would last and what might trigger the shift back to human I had no idea.
In the absence of the change, there was no renewed hunger. I glanced at the latest mess we’d made, the tent gaping open like a corpse itself to reveal gnawed bones and spilled organs, all festering in a pool of congealing blood inside its fetid artificial belly. The scent of all that fresh death was still thick in my nostrils, but the earthly remains of the two young men had nothing more to offer that morning. So I returned to the abbey ruins.
The ancient room gaped like a portal into the void, its blackness untouched by the light filtering through the leafy ceiling above. I could just see the outline of the two vampires hiding within. They were already dead to the world, resting in their corpse-like state. I almost envied them. My leg was throbbing again and the thought of such a deep sleep grew more appealing than ever.
Selina was still awake. She stood amidst the abbey skeleton with its stone ribs protruding from the dirt, forming incomplete arches towering above her.
“Nick? Why are you not human?” she asked, turning to face me as I limped over.
I shook my head to indicate I wasn’t sure. Our gazes locked as if attempting some silent form of communication. Apparently it didn’t take her long to reach the same conclusion I had. “The serum?”
I nodded agreement.
“Then we had better check your wound. There’s no telling how long the effects of the injection will take to wear off, and I’ll not have you collapsing on us with sepsis.”
She knelt and began to peel the strip of material away from my injured flesh. An involuntary yelp of pain and a growl of protest escaped my throat when I felt the pull of the fabric where it had stuck like a second skin. My body seemed unwilling to give up that man-made membrane, the makeshift bandage stained with bloody glue where the cells had sought to make it one with my leg. Selina did her best to remove it as gently as possible but she couldn’t completely spare me the pain.
A grisly sight awaited beneath. The wound was deep, the bullet hidden from sight where it had burrowed into my muscle, leaving a tunnel of destruction in its wake. It reminded me of an ice hole, a sliver of bone poking its way to the surface like a seal coming up for air. Fresh blood leaked from the circle of gore as Selina examined it. The liquid trickled down my leg and into the earth as if to taint it with my cursed life, laying the seeds of sorrow for our latest victims. But it was no worse than any other injuries I’d endured since being bitten.
“This needs cleaning and redressing if we’re going to avoid infection,” Selina said. “There are herbs I can use to aid healing but we’re miles away from both my cottage and the modern house I’ve been calling home, and there’s no guarantee we’ll find any of the plants we need in these woods. I’m less concerned with removing the bullet and setting the bone – that will fix itself when you’re able to transform again. The important thing is keeping it clean until you can heal yourself, and I think we really need medical supplies to do that effectively.”
I nodded again and watched her tear another makeshift bandage from her jeans, trying to keep still as she wrapped it around my throbbing limb. When she was done I rose to my good legs and gave her an expectant look.
“No, Nick,” she said. “You wait here.”
I shook my head, determined not to let her go alone. Lady Sarah would never forgive me if something were to happen, for one thing.
“We will draw far more attention if you’re seen with me than I will on my own. Stay here and make the most of the time to rest.”
“No,” I growled, even though I knew she couldn’t understand the wolven tongue. Selina guessed my meaning well enough though.
“Stay here,” she repeated, walking away. But she was only human and even injured, I had no trouble keeping pace, trailing just behind. Short of casting some kind of paralysis spell to hold me in place, there was nothing she could do to stop me following her and she knew it.
We hadn’t even reached the edge of the woods when she stopped to face me again. For a moment we stood eyeing each other as though locked in a battle of wills, until she was forced to admit defeat.
“Fine, you can come with me,” she said. “But only if you agree to keep out of sight of any humans and let me handle things. Okay?”
I dipped my head to show obedience, fully intending to keep to her terms. There’d been no sign of the Slayers since we’d escaped David’s dungeon and I hoped we would have no trouble slipping in and out of the first building we came to without being attacked. Most places kept a first aid kit, after all. It should be simple enough.
We emerged on the opposite side of the treeline to which we’d entered. Similar fields of livestock stretched as far as the eye could see, broken only by the odd little country road twisting through the green in black tendrils born of humanity’s pollution. More sheep could be heard bleating up ahead, and beyond the farmland came the distant roar of a lone vehicle intruding on the peace. But otherwise the land was quiet. No birds sang in the trees around us, keeping their distance from the threat I posed. Nor were there any insects buzzing in our ears, or rodents rustling through the undergrowth. Such quietness was unnatural, just like our very existence.
The area wasn’t quite as remote as the moorland Lady Sarah had taken me to before I’d temp
orarily moved in with Leon, but we were still miles from any towns or villages. A few houses stood like monuments to mankind’s ongoing quest to tame the wilderness and dominate the planet, bending and shaping the countryside to their will. No doubt they belonged to the farmers who worked the land around them. To us they presented the perfect opportunity for scrounging what we needed, without having to risk the journey into whatever urban areas lay beyond.
Still following Selina’s lead, we were able to creep across the fields and down to a road, just ahead of where it branched off towards the nearest farmhouse. Drystone walls lined one side of the tarmac and bushes on the other, a shallow ditch running alongside the leafy barrier where she had me hide and wait. I wasn’t entirely happy letting her go on alone, but I knew it made sense. So I crouched beneath the tangle of prickly branches and watched with quickening heart and tautening nerves, ready to bound to her aid at the first sign of trouble.
I was very aware of the bloodstains on her clothes as she approached the farmhouse, relics of our time in the dungeon and the pain we’d endured there. She was splattered in considerably less than the vampires, not to mention my own furred body, but those faded red blotches were surely numerous enough to raise suspicions among the humans who dwelt within. If my vocal cords hadn’t been too lupine, I would have pointed it out when she’d made her case for going without me. As it was, I just had to hope she knew what she was doing.
“Can I help you?” a man asked, walking over to meet her partway along the track leading to his home. My unease grew stronger as his eyes roved over her sullied garments, recognising the blood for what it was, I was sure.
“Oh thank God you’re home, yes! I was out hiking with my sister but I think we took a wrong turn somewhere because we were suddenly lost and we’ve not seen anyone else for miles around!”
“Well this is private property. There’s no footpath through here – your best bet is to keep on following this road. Doesn’t matter which direction you go in; either way you’ll come to a little village and there’ll be someone there who can see you to wherever you’re trying to get to.”
“No, you don’t understand. My sister had a bad fall and cut her leg open. She’s bleeding pretty badly.”
“Uh-huh.” His gaze moved from her face, back down to the stains on the fabric covering her body. “In that case, let me ring an ambulance for you. Sounds like she needs one.”
“Actually I was hoping you might have a first aid kit I could take back to her. Just something to stop the bleeding until we can get her medical attention, and perhaps some alcohol to clean the wound? I was able to find a signal long enough to ring an ambulance myself but they’ve said it will be half an hour at least before they can get to us out here. I’m worried she’ll lose too much blood if she doesn’t get some first aid while we wait.”
“Wait here then. The first aid stuff is in the house – I’ll be right back.”
“Thank you,” she answered, her face showing a relief that was probably genuine and her body language confident. Only her racing pulse betrayed her own nerves.
“George?” a woman called out as he opened the door. “Is everything okay? I thought I heard you talking to someone.”
“It’s fine, Betty,” he shouted back as he stepped inside. “There’s a woman out here in need of some bandages for her sister, that’s all. Could you fetch the first aid kit and some spirits to wash the wounds?” He didn’t bother to close the door behind him. I doubted Selina’s human ears would be able to catch what he said next, but I had no trouble picking it up when he added in a low voice “And then call the police. Something about this doesn’t feel right – there’s no way she got so much blood on her just from a leg wound.”
It was exactly as I’d feared. Cursing, I crawled out from the bushes and started across the road as quickly as I could manage with my injury. I was so focused on the humans that I didn’t notice the car speeding towards me. My squishy flesh and blood body moved right into the path of the metal machine blazing through the countryside and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Lumps of small, furry flesh lay trembling on the tarmac where rabbits and other wildlife had fallen to its wheels, and then it was my turn.
The squeal of tyres filled my ears as the driver slammed on the brakes. There was a strong smell of burning rubber and I experienced one of those strange moments where time seems to slow. And yet I didn’t stop. I didn’t pause to stand and watch in the grip of the same shock that might have afflicted natural animals, instead forcing my aching body onwards to the safety of the track where Selina still stood partway along. If it hadn’t been for my injury, I would have made it.
I’d almost cleared the path of the car when I felt its front bumper smash into my flank, new pain exploding through my rear as my back legs were thrown up and over the bonnet and across the windscreen. My front legs weren’t far behind and the next thing I knew I was flailing in mid-air, twisting and turning helplessly with the force of the impact.
My body crashed back to the ground. There I lay in a tangle of broken limbs and damaged flesh, blood frothing up my gullet and pooling round my head. But still the transformation would not come and without it, what was I? No different to any other animal on the brink of death, utterly at the mercy of the Reaper as I lay there shaking and whimpering in agony.
Reality was all but reduced to that excruciating sensation of nerves screaming their message that something was very wrong. I was only dimly aware of the world around me, only vaguely aware of the sound of a car door opening and footsteps coming closer.
“Fucking hell, Kev! You’re gonna kill us one of these days, driving like a fucking maniac!” a woman shouted from inside the vehicle.
“Oh come on, you saw the way that dumb animal ran out in front of us. It just came from nowhere! How was I supposed to avoid hitting it?” the man answered. I don’t know how I managed to follow the conversation in the state I was in, but I suspect my mind has filled in the blanks over the years.
“Maybe if you hadn’t been speeding we would have missed it. We’re lucky it didn’t come through the windscreen!”
“That wasn’t luck, that was my initiative to apply the brakes. You’re not blaming this one on me, woman.”
“What did you hit, anyway?”
“Looks like a dog. It’s still alive but in a bad way.”
“Well put it out of its misery and let’s get on our way. I want to make it to my sister’s before lunchtime, if you can manage that without killing us!”
“Hang on, isn’t there some kind of law about hitting a dog?”
“Don’t be stupid, the police aren’t going to care about some mangy mutt. Come on, it’s nearly nine already!”
“No, I’m sure there’s laws around this. We’re legally required to stop, and do we have to take it to the vets if it’s still alive?”
“Oh for Christ’s sake, how long is that going to take?”
“We pass one on the way. It won’t take a minute to carry the dog inside, then the vet can take over and we’ll be back on the road before you know it. Better than risking getting into trouble. I don’t want to lose my licence or pay a fine just because you couldn’t be bothered to make a quick pit stop.”
“Fine, just get on with it already.”
“I’m gonna need your help to lift it. I dunno what breed it is but this thing’s massive!”
There was a sigh and the sound of a second door being thrown open. The man’s face appeared in my field of vision as he knelt over me and his rough hands grabbed my throbbing flesh. Instinct wanted me to bite at that face but I was far too weak. Doing so much as lifting my head was beyond me, let alone snapping my jaws at the two humans. My body shook harder as they lifted me off the tarmac, the pain made worse by the movement. But it wasn’t long before I found myself shoved into the boot, struggling to breathe through the flow of blood pumping up my gullet and out of my mouth.
Somewhere in the shock and confusion the human part of me wanted to laugh
at this latest bout of madness. To think, my life was about to be saved by some law meant to help man’s best friend, when most would probably label me their worst enemy after all the atrocities I’d committed. If that even was the law. I had a feeling they weren’t quite right about the legal requirements for the procedure following a road traffic accident with a dog, but who was I to argue? Their beliefs were going to give me another chance at life, when I would surely have died there in the road otherwise. Assuming my life could be saved. Whether or not the damage done by their car was too extensive even for the wonders of modern medicine remained to be seen.
I didn’t know where Selina was in all this, but without the healing power of the transformation and with my wounds rendering me helpless, my fate now rested in human hands. There was nothing for it but to lie back and accept whatever was to come.
CHAPTER THREE
Operation
I drifted in and out of consciousness on the drive to the vets, but I had some awareness of being lifted again once we got there. The thought that any animal specialist would instantly recognise a wolf from a dog brought a fresh stab of fear, and in desperation I tried one last time to will my body into human shape. It was still to no avail, the Slayers’ serum successfully keeping me chained to my broken lupine form.
I think I must have lost consciousness inside the vets because I have no memory of any further conversation between the couple who’d hit me, or any of the staff at the clinic. The next thing I knew, I was feeling the sharp sting of a needle and the ache of fluid being forced into my bloodstream. Then I was sinking into the blissful blackness of oblivion again, perhaps for good this time.
The sound of voices called me back to the land of the living, my eyelids quivering as I sought to open them. But something was wrong.