A Dark Hunger

by Natalie Hancock

  She needed to get more energy, just a small amount so she could escape.

  The human threw the poker on the floor and put his face close to hers. “There are other methods to get you to speak.”

  “Try your best,” Surquyn whispered and then made a lunge for him, sank her teeth into his skin and tore a chunk from his neck before he could react.

  He screamed and staggered back, clutching his bleeding neck.

  Surquyn lifted her arms up, breaking the chains and stooped to grab the human from where he’d fallen before he could escape. She sank her teeth into his skin again and took a deep pull while he screamed into her ear, flailing against her. He couldn’t escape, not from the grip she held him in.

  His blood was sweet on her tongue, putting the flame out inside of her when she swallowed, but it didn’t control the hunger that rose with each swallow.

  “Drop him!”

  Surquyn lifted her eyes to the humans that had entered the room without her knowledge, too caught up in the human’s blood and the hunger rising inside.

  The newcomers aimed their weapons at her.

  She raised her hands and let the human drop to the floor, dead. She licked blood from her lips and then smiled widely. “Oops.” She ran forward fast and knocked the closest human to the floor with his own weapon before turning to the others, hunger and anger controlling her.

  The humans fired at once and Surquyn watched the barbed nets shoot towards her before sinking into her flesh and knocking her off her feet. Her body convulsed, thrashing wildly as white hot pain stabbed every inch of her skin. She opened her mouth to scream, but wasn’t sure if any sound made it past her lips when her eyes rolled back into her sockets.

  Then she felt numb.

  Sharp pain shot through Surquyn’s body, jerking her out on unconsciousness with a scream that did nothing to ease the currents washing through her. Just when she thought her insides would fry, the pain disappeared, leaving her breathless and her muscles twitching uncontrollably.

  A blurred figure loomed over her, his image wavering. She blinked but couldn’t focus properly.

  A sting of pain sliced through her cheek before fingers dug into her skin, holding her in place with a tight grip.

  Surquyn felt her eyes slide shut and her gums throb with hunger. She knew she’d lost a lot of blood in however much time she’d spent in the humans hands, and could feel her hunger rising with each passing second, just as hope that Riyzan could rescue her was slipping also.

  “Wake up!” Another sting of pain followed his words.

  Forcing her eyes open, Surquyn made herself stay awake and focus, but no matter how many times she blinked, nothing became clearer than a blur of colour. When she was forced to her knees, she swayed when everything spun and pain pounded behind her eyes.

  “So.” The human bent down in front of her. “This is how things are going to work. You’re going to tell me what I want to know, and every time you don’t, I’m going to give you a little zap.” He demonstrated by holding something up to her eyes.

  Even blurred, Surquyn could see it was a remote with a large red button in the middle. When the human pressed it, her body convulsed painfully when currents of lightning shot through her. She screamed loudly, pulling on the chains holding her in place, trying to escape.

  The pain subsided and Surquyn slumped forward, held up by the chains before she could hit the floor. She felt her stomach roll with each hard breath she took but swallowed to keep anything rising up down.

  The human lifted her head up. “There is a twist, of course. If you scream, just as you demonstrated, I will slice open the neck of this beautiful human, and all the others within this place, and make you watch them die.” He pulled a blurred whimpering figure to his side.

  “Now. Where is Layla?”

  Surquyn didn’t answer.

  Tutting, the man pressed the button on his remote.

  Surquyn clenched her teeth together, trying to combat the pain of being electrocuted. She tried to keep quiet, so she could protect the humans in danger even as her brain screamed to do the opposite.

  The small flare of hope rose inside, lighting up the dark situation she was in. Riyzan will rescue me. I just need to hold on.

  The pain ended and Surquyn slumped forward again, sweat dripping from her skin and her body shaking with the currents that still pulsed around her. She swallowed heavily but that did nothing to calm the raging beast inside, the one that wanted to break free and rip everyone to shreds to satisfy her hunger.

  The human lifted her head and put his face close to hers.

  Surquyn could hear his blood pumping through his veins and hear the blood travelling around his body.

  She lunged for him, snarling but he was quick to press the button and she wasn’t prepared for the pain that shot through her. Unable to stop the shrill scream escaping as pain exploded behind her eyes, Surquyn writhed on the floor. The scent of blood filled the air, her blood. She felt it slide from her eyes, nose, mouth and ears and choked a little on it when the pain went, leaving her with an almost numb feeling even as she was pulled back up.

  “Whoops.” The human laughed.

  A scream filled the air and then a gagging sound.

  Surquyn growled when the scent of the woman’s blood overpowered her blood and felt the beast rise quickly. She screamed again, screamed with anger and hunger, trying to get to the source of the blood, to sink her teeth into flesh while it was still fresh.

  When Surquyn kicked out, catching the human in the face as he laughed, she saw a flash of silver and then blinding pain. She gagged, struggled for breath while her blood ran a river down her and then everything went black.

  Chapter Seven

  “Are you sure she is here?” Riyzan asked, his breath rising like mist in the cold night.

  “The traces they left are unmistakable. I’ve been with the humans, Riyzan,” Shade replied.

  Riyzan bowed his head in apology, knowing the boy didn’t like to talk about the past any more than his daughter did. He stared at the small neighbourhood with houses on either side of the street, all the same build and colour. All identical and non-descript. How are we meant to find Surquyn without alerting and possibly killing innocent humans?

  A loud scream filled the night, jerking his attention to the house it came from. “Surquyn!” He ran forward when Shade stopped him. He struggled to keep his anger at bay, resisting the urge to throw the boy’s hand off him and kill any human, regardless of who got in his way.

  “Not yet,” Shade whispered as though he could read his mind. “Wait until we know the humans are preoccupied,” Shade finished as another scream filled the air, this time from a different woman.

  “And how will we know when that is?” Rhijakh asked, his anger visible from his white-knuckled and shaking fists.

  Shade inhaled deeply, his fangs flashing in the dark and hunger showing clearly in his eyes.

  Riyzan inhaled and caught the scent Shade had caught first. Blood.

  “Now!” Darkness swirled around him and he disappeared as Riyzan, Uilasel, Kiovel and Rhijakh ran forward.

  When Riyzan heard Surquyn scream again, this time with anger, he pushed himself harder, reaching the door to the house within seconds. It flung open without him needing to touch it, scattering the humans inside as his anger continued to magnify.

  Uilasel and Kiovel followed them, drawing their swords and swiftly taking them down, using their confusion to their advantage just as they had before when battling with Riyzan in the past.

  Riyzan strode across the room, leaving his two guards to their duty with Rhijakh following close behind. He could sense Shade’s anger and hunger as though he himself was experiencing it and found Shade easily.

  When they entered the room, Shade was flying around the room with the speed of a bullet, dodging bullets the humans fired that spread around the room.

  Riyzan launched into attack, plucking a human from the group and punching him hard before barin
g his fangs and sinking them into his neck. He drank deeply from him, knowing that when he found Surquyn, he’d need to be as strong as he could to help her. He could feel her somewhere close, but didn’t know where. All he knew was that she was weak and needed help fast if she was to survive.

  Once dead, he dropped the human to the floor and turned to see Shade surrounded by humans who seemed to have come out of nowhere, large rocket-launcher type weapons aimed at him.

  Riyzan jumped in the middle, smashed one of the weapons into a human’s face, shattering his nose and destroying the weapon with his strength before spinning, avoiding an attack from the others, and hit one of the humans, knocking him down while blood sprayed from him.

  He yelled, a sound that didn’t sound quite human, and fired his weapon.

  Riyzan spun to avoid whatever came out of it, and grabbed one weapon for himself and fired.

  A large silver spear shot out of the launcher and sank into one of the human’s stomach. He flew black, smashing into the wall and staying there when the spear kept him up. He gasped and then his eyes widened with fear. He opened his mouth, but before he could scream, sharp dagger-like objects shot out of the shaft of the spear and sank into the human, killing him, and anyone around him instantly.

  Riyzan dropped the weapon in disgust. When had the humans created weapons that surpassed even military weapons?

  More humans ran into the room, and for a brief moment, Riyzan wondered where they were all coming from, before he jumped up, landing behind them all and grabbed two humans by the heads. He smashed their heads together and felt their skulls shatter. Blood, bones, muscle and brains oozed from their wounds when he let them go, and then he let his emotions reign over him, causing the humans Shade fought easily to clutch their heads and drop to their knees, screaming with pain.

  Shade closed his eyes and Riyzan felt the change before he saw it. The room darkened and grew colder when dark shadows seemed to come from his skin, slithering along the floor like a snake awaiting its next meal.

  When the screaming humans were covered by darkness, Shade inhaled, and curled his hands into fists as the shadows retreated, leaving nothing but lifeless and clearly bloodless bodies in its wake.

  He opened his eyes and they flashed blood-red before returning back to its original silver colour.

  Riyzan saw the remaining humans huddled in the corner of the room, and strode forward to end their lives, when Shade appeared in front of him and stopped him again.

  “The only human responsible for this mess is lying unconscious across the room—the others are innocent, owners of this house who were threatened into giving up their home for the human’s sick games.” Shade turned his attention to a woman laid on the floor, her eyes open and lifeless, blood spread all around her. “They killed her because Surquyn screamed while they tortured her.” He moved away slowly, obviously not wanting to scare the humans, and reached down to the dead woman’s face so he could gently close her unseeing eyes.

  Riyzan inhaled deeply, calming his anger and turned to Rhijakh. “Take the innocents and see what you can do to help them.”

  He nodded and moved forward, slowly and calmly.

  Shade stood, and glanced at another body lying near the woman, and then met Riyzan’s eyes.

  He glanced down himself and felt his blood boil and his anger rise. Too caught up in the battle, he had failed to notice Surquyn convulsing on the floor, blood flowing from a wound on her neck, her mouth, nose, eyes and ears. He rushed forward, placed his hands either side of her face, brushed her hair back and stroked her cheeks. “Surquyn? Can you hear me?” When she didn’t respond, Riyzan bit into his wrist and let his blood drip into her open mouth. She responded instantly, swallowing and growling.

  Her eyes flew open, full of anger and hunger, and she lunged for Riyzan, knocking him back.

  Acting quickly, he rolled backwards onto his feet, horrified to see his wife act in such a rabid way, pulling against the chains and baring her fangs.

  Riyzan glanced at the blood sliding down his hand and then at Surquyn. He stepped forward.

  “She’ll kill you,” Shade called from the other side of the room.

  “She needs blood or her hunger will kill her first.” Riyzan glanced at Shade. “She has not yet controlled her hunger. If I leave her, bloodlust will take her life before she can take mine.”

  “You are sure?” Shade looked worried.

  Riyzan smiled. “Shade, son, I am Lord Riyzan Theraux, the first of the first. I have been through many things in my life, both with and without Surquyn by my side. She helped me through my own bloodlust—never leaving my side even when it meant she was faced with death by my own hands more times than we could both count. As long as I am careful, I can bring her back.”

  Shade took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll step in if I feel you need it.”

  Riyzan moved forward slowly, making Surquyn fight harder to get free. When he stepped within reaching distance, Surquyn lunged for him but before she could sink her teeth into his neck, he lifted his arm up so he could keep her away from his major vein. She chewed on his arm, covering her face with his blood.

  Her hunger slammed into him, knocking him to his knees with Surquyn following, still chewing and drinking from his arm. He inhaled deeply, resisting the urge to sink his fangs into her flesh, to taste her blood while she drank from him.

  Instead, Riyzan broke the chains holding her and pulled the needles from her wrists, thighs and neck. He watched her wounds knit back together and felt her life-force and energy grow stronger with each swallow.

  She moaned softly, her breath tickling his skin, causing Riyzan to groan when he inhaled deeply, taking in her arousal.

  He looked at her and saw her watching him, and smiled. “Welcome back.”

  She pulled her fangs out of his skin and swallowed the last of the blood in her mouth before speaking. “I knew you would rescue me.”

  “Always and forever.” Riyzan pulled her close and buried his face into the crook of her neck, inhaling deeply. Her scent forced the anger inside down and made him feel calm, just as it always had done. And just like usual, his hunger for both her blood and body rose.

  Surquyn chuckled and put her lips to his ear. “Even in a time like this, you cannot stop your body and mind from reacting.”

  Riyzan growled and pulled her closer, rubbing himself against her, letting her feel just how much she affected him.

  Shade cleared his throat and raised his brow when Riyzan looked over. “We have some questioning to do. I’d rather do this first before I leave you to…bask in your glory.”

  Riyzan glared at the human knelt at Shade’s feet. Keeping Surquyn tucked against his side, he strode forward. “Why?”

  “You’ll have to elaborate. I don’t speak vampire,” the human spat.

  Shade laughed and dug his fingers into the human’s shoulder. He let the human scream, and the sound of bones breaking filled the air and then eased his grip. “Why did you do this?”

  The human didn’t answer.

  Shade tightened his hold on him again. “Believe me, I can do this for hours, torturing you just like you humans did to my kind.”

  The human spat at Shade’s feet. “You don’t scare me! You’ll never find out why I did this!”

  “He wants Layla,” Surquyn spoke up quietly.

  Shade growled menacingly, grabbed the human around the throat and slammed him into the wall. “Why do you want Layla? What do you want with her?”

  The human laughed. “A war is coming, a war you creatures won’t be able to stand up against. I’d pick your sides before you end up like your precious Layla.”

  Shade’s anger flared, filling the room with darkness that oozed out of him and the human squeezed his eyes shut tight, his entire body shaking and the scent of fear seeping from his skin.

  “Who is behind all this?” Riyzan asked, knowing the puny human cowering in Shade’s grip couldn’t have orchestrated anything like this.

>   The human didn’t answer.

  “Who do you answer to?” Riyzan asked angrily.

  “I answer to no monster!” Before anyone could react, the human pulled a gun from his jacket and shot himself in the head.

  Silence fell in the room as everyone watched Shade drop the human to the floor, half of his head sliding down the wall.

  “Well, a fat lot of good that was.” Shade sighed and then stiffened. The lights flickered and a tremble ran through the room when Shade’s eyes flashed with anger. “I have to go,” he spoke through gritted teeth.

  Riyzan knew Shade was holding in his anger—he could feel currents of power wash over his skin, causing his hair to stand on end. “Everything okay?”

  Shade forced a smile. “The usual. Layla needs me.”

  Riyzan nodded. “We’ll come round soon.” He glanced at Surquyn. “I need to look after Surquyn first.”

  Shade made a small sound, drawing Riyzan’s attention back to him. He closed his eyes and groaned. “I better be quick. If I can read her emotions well, Nikalye is back and has brought trouble with him.”

  Riyzan chuckled when Shade opened his eyes and they flashed with a different kind of anger. “Go easy on him, he has been through much.”

  Shade grunted, pressed his lips together and clenched his hands into fists as his power spiked.

  “You better get going before my daughter puts you on your knees before you can reach her.”

  Darkness swirled around Shade instantly, taking him from the room.

  Riyzan turned to Surquyn and stroked her cheek lovingly. He was glad he had his woman back safely. “I’m never letting you out of my sight,” he whispered.

  Surquyn pressed herself against him and ran her lips along his jaw. “You promise?” she whispered seductively in his ear.

  He chuckled and held her tight against him. “Let’s go home.”

  Chapter Eight

  Riyzan used his helicopter to get them back to their wrecked home, choosing to go there to collect anything that hadn’t been destroyed in the raid. Surquyn didn’t want to live in a home filled with bad memories. She wanted to be close to her family, wanted to start anew.