The Birth of Vengeance (Vampire Formula #1)

by Ross, P. A.

  As we turned onto another road, I recognised it as the place the accident happened. I could even find the exact spot and pointed it out to Thorn. I remembered Liam catapulting over the car and his motionless body behind it. I remembered opening the door, being sick and running off scared at what would happen next. I was right to be scared as they came after us driving Giles to suicide, and I would have been me next if it hadn’t been for my Dad’s work. Just then, as Thorn was reliving my memories, a gang of three lads came around the corner ahead. Thorn caught their attention and they started staring. She held their gaze and strutted towards them, giving it everything to fuel their desires. They approached full of swagger and bluff pulling their hoodies down, and I recognised one of the lads from the gang, Dave. He acted as Patrick’s right-hand man in school, always there to act as the extra muscle and had bullied Giles and me in the past. Dave’s face pulled a quizzical look as he recognised me. He had shaven his ginger hair and sported a piercing in his eyebrow. His face pale and spot covered as always.

  “Jon?”

  “Yeah,” I replied confidently.

  “Hardly recognise you, especially not here.”

  “Well just showing my girlfriend around,” I responded.

  Thorn stood next to me hugging my arm and smiling at Dave, acting the part to perfection.

  He looked at her surprised.

  “Really, why here?” he asked.

  “I want to find the O’Keefe’s house,” Thorn answered.

  Dave looked surprised again at hearing this answer.

  “Why would you want to find them for?” Dave asked.

  “I have a deal for them.”

  “Not going to happen sweetheart; now run along and put some clothes on.”

  “Come on Dave, why don’t you tell us?” I asked.

  “You’ve some guts all of a sudden. Not that long ago you did everything you could to hide from us. Even left your mate to fend for himself. Well I have news for you, the police and schools have better things to do than watch us,” Dave carried on getting more agitated, and began pacing back and forth, as he spoke.

  “We found those little grasses that came after us. You better leave now. No one has forgotten your part in what happened to Liam. Even though you were too scared to come to the trial.”

  I couldn’t be bothered to explain why I wasn’t at the trial.

  “Not going to beat me up first?” I asked, as I sensed something was missing. They would have usually just hit first.

  “I have heard things about you. Police and others have been around here asking questions about you. We thought at first they were blaming us for your disappearance. But no, they wanted to catch you for some murders in London.”

  “Really,” I stated, happy that I now had a reputation.

  “Yeah, so go on leave, I have better things to do,” Dave said and walked backwards keeping his eyes on us.

  Even without the remnant vampire power, I could tell he feared us and was suspicious of me being back in Leeds.

  “I want the O’Keefe’s address, and I want it now,” Thorn shouted and her mood had changed.

  She let go of my arm and stood legs apart, hand on hips and face frowning.

  “Tell your whore to shut up,” Dave shouted back.

  I placed my hand across Thorn’s chest to hold her still. I didn’t need to be psychic to know what she wanted to do. I decided to do Dave a favour; he wouldn’t thank me for it but it would save his life and those of his friends. I could just let Thorn kill them, but I hated him and something inside just snapped. I didn’t need to let the anger build to fuel my actions. As soon as I saw him, I wanted to punch him in his stupid spotty face.

  I walked over.

  “Oh big man are we? Come on then,” Dave called me forward with his hands and then squeezed them into fists.

  He swung first; I parried and returned a punch, and he staggered backwards into his two friends. He swung another fist, and I dived back and followed up with a roundhouse kick across his thigh, dropping him to one knee. The other two advanced forwards, and I quickly front kicked the closest in the stomach flinging him backwards and tumbling him onto the pavement. The other one caught me with a blow to the side of the head, and I rocked backwards but stayed on my feet. I instinctively turned back and jumped backwards to gain some space. He came again, and I lunged forwards grabbing him around the neck with both arms, and hands locked behind his head. I sprung a flurry of knees into his stomach and ribs while pulling him down into them each time. Dave got back to his feet and the second friend picked himself up as well. The one I held tried to drop down out of my grasp, I let him drop his head and it met a right knee full force into his face. He collapsed to the floor, and I jumped one footed on his back and flew forward with another knee and elbow out in front of me straight into Dave’s oncoming charge. The force of the my attack broke through his feeble block and smashed him to the floor. The third one froze as I piled through Dave and then turned and ran back down the road. I knelt down, grabbed Dave by the head and pulled back my fist ready to continue.

  “Where do they live?” I shouted.

  I sensed Thorn’s thoughts in my head.

  “Good, you are learning.”

  I smiled to myself, and I soaked in my feelings of triumph and victory. This was the first time I had ever won a fight, and it was against my old tormentor. I was enjoying my newly found strength in my human form. Revenge felt great.

  It struck midnight and we stood in front of a terraced house with lights flashing in the downstairs window. Accompanying the lights, screaming and moaning came from the TV. Occasionally, above the TV, laughing and shouting joined in. The streets were deserted, and the lights above us flickered on and off every ten seconds. I stared at the front door preparing myself. I rehearsed it in my mind, across the path through the assorted junk and rubbish dumped outside, around the weatherworn dumped sofa and smashing through the front door, then round and into the TV room.

  Thorn looked at me, “You know what to do?” she asked sternly.

  “Yes,” I responded.

  I twitched with nervous excitement. I would have more control this time around, savour their destruction and fear. Thorn pulled the needle out of my pocket and prepared it by pushing it down slightly and tapping it to force the air out.

  “Remember to pass me some meat back once inside,” she said, as I rolled up my sleeve.

  She waited until I responded.

  “I will remember Thorn,” I acknowledged her and looked away in preparation for the injection.

  “Look at it Jon. You must face your fears,” she said waiting for me to turn back and look at the needle. I did, and she plunged it into my skin and pushed down on it forcing the formula into my bloodstream. I waited for the power to come and enjoyed the sense of my body changing this time, knowing it was the precursor to immense power. I shook and my body burned as it changed, and then I allowed my senses to soak in the new scenery, as can only be seen and sensed by a vampire. Thorn stepped in front of me, wrapped her arms around me and kissed me passionately.

  “Go now my darling, relive your anger and fulfil your revenge. Bathe in your anger and rage, and then enjoy their fear and destruction.”

  My memory flashed back to those dark days in Leeds, the sickening fear of an unknown attack. The constant feeling of being on edge. The image of poor Giles in the cloakroom on that final day in school still haunted me. The hate in his eyes as the tears streamed down his face, and then he attacked me, his best friend. Worst of all, the ever-present guilt I felt by walking away from those front gates and then allowing my Dad to make me abandon my friendship. I let the guilt and anger for them escaping justice at the trial join in with the other emotions. I let the anger and rage build up, holding it back, and waiting for its strength to break down my barriers of self-control. When it reached a climatic point, I released the barriers, and let it flood through my body, soaking it in power, triggering the full strength and rage of the vampire withi
n. It was enough. I blazed across the street, jumped the discarded weather-torn sofa and smashed straight through the front door into their house.

  I burst into the smoke-filled room, with the TV the only light as it flashed its images across the walls and onto the four men watching it. The father, Liam in his wheelchair, Patrick, and a friend from the gang were all watching a torture porn film, with a young woman in ripped nightclothes tied to a chair and a smiling man approaching with a spinning drill. The father was a big fat man dressed in a grubby white vest and dirty dark blue jeans and bare feet. Tattoos of barbed wire spiralled down the left shoulder to the forearm. On the other arm, the words, “Fighting Irish,” tattooed in black across his bicep. He was bald on top, with grey strands through his black hair grown from the sides into a ratty ponytail at the back. Patrick and Liam were just as I remembered them. Patrick had short black hair and a greasy freckled pale face. Liam’s face hardened, stubbled and depressed. They wore tracksuit tops and jeans with fancy new trainers on. Patrick had a long rolled up joint in his hand and coughed out smoke on my entrance. The friend slumped on the sofa in a large green parker jacket, jeans and heavy-duty black boots. They all had a can of drink in their hands, which they were in the midst of putting down having been altered by the noise of the front door. I faced them blocking the TV.

  I knew what I wanted to do. I pictured myself turning their house into a blood bath in a terrifying blur of claws and fangs, but I controlled my instincts to kill and drink this time around. I decided to enjoy myself first. My face was contorting, eyes burning red and fangs showing. I snarled and growled at them, and I sensed their building fear and panic as a trembling through their entire bodies. I felt it paralyse them into their stain-ridden paisley chairs. I stared at them all one by one, as I showed them my vampire face and snarled at them from the bottom of my guts. They looked around at each other in a panic, waiting for one of the others to do something, waiting for someone to take the lead. I changed things about and reverted to my human face. They stopped backing away up their chairs in an attempt to escape, stepped down and stared at me.

  “It’s Jonathan, Giles’ friend. The one who disappeared. The one the police has been asking about,” Patrick stated.

  I was surprised he recognised me.

  “Yeah, he is,” Liam replied.

  Their fear started fading away now that the sight of the kid they used to bully stood in front of them. Their confidence grew now that I had appeared in human form again and they crept forward. Their fear flipped to anger; the muscles in their arms tensed and white knuckles showed as they squeezed fists ready to fight.

  “Nice special effects kid,” the father said. “What next, a rabbit from a hat?”

  They all continued to move forward looking at each other for reassurance.

  “No, I am here for vengeance. I have a deal for you, a chance to understand the game of consequences,” I waited for dramatic pause. “You must choose which two of you will live and which two must die.”

  They stopped moving and again glanced around at each other.

  “Or you all die,” I added.

  They looked at each other again. The boys all stared at the father who laughed flicking his ratty ponytail backwards. He still thought this was some kind of act.

  “You made my life and Giles’ hell. You bullied and beat and stole from us. Do you not having anything to say. No words to plea for your lives?” I asked.

  “Don’t make us laugh. You’re just a stupid little child. This is just a trick, some fancy make up and special effects. I couldn’t give a toss about you and your friends. You paralysed my lad. Its law of jungle around here. Survival of the fittest. At least we don’t have to go looking for you anymore. We can finish it here. No beating for you, a nice shallow grave in the woods instead,” the father said and stepped menacingly forwards.

  “Good. Survive this!”

  I flew forward like a hammer into the father, breaking his ribs and he flew through the air getting wrapped up in the curtains and smashing through the windowpanes. He cleared the assorted debris, left to rot in the garden, skidding to a halt at the feet of Thorn.

  She ripped off the curtains.

  “Breakfast!”

  She grabbed him by the ponytail, stared into his eyes, and said in a pretend sympathetic voice, “This is going to hurt darling, a lot,” and offered a sad smile to accompany it.

  She brandished her fangs and tore into his neck. He screamed in further pain. I turned back after I hit the father through the windows and kicked through the knee of Patrick breaking his leg. He crashed to the floor, and I added a slash of claws across his stomach to make sure he couldn’t move. The blood rolled out, and Patrick fell to the floor grabbing his leg and stomach trying to stem the flow of blood. The friend ran to the door, and I leapt across and grabbed his arm wrenching it from its socket. Blood spilt out onto the floor and his screams of pain joined in with those from the TV and those from Patrick. I retracted my claws and hammered in a series of punches into the ribs, hearing each rib crack and break as it hit. Each hit accompanied by a shout of agony as the blows landed. He slumped to the floor. Pain shot through my leg. I saw a knife sticking out and Liam in his wheelchair. I flung him across the room into the high far corner. The friend rolled in agony on the floor pulling himself along to escape. I crouched over him, repeatedly punching him in the head until brains and blood discoloured the already filthy carpet and furniture. Patrick’s screaming in the corner gained my focus, and I walked back over slowly savouring the moment, and revelling in my revenge for all those years of bullying I suffered.

  “Time to die Patrick,” I said.

  I crouched down in front of him, and he tried to punch me but in my vampire form, I barely noticed. I laughed, a loud and raucous laugh, at his pathetic attempt to fight back. I flicked open one claw and pushed back his head against the floor exposing his neck.

  “Got to hell,” he screamed.

  “Been there, it was being at school with you,” I answered, and flicked my claw across his throat slitting it and leaving a line a blood that started to open up his neck.

  He tried to speak as the blood poured from his neck but just spluttered blood out of his mouth instead.

  I leant down to his ear.

  “Justice at last. You took so much from me, but I have taken your life and your father’s. Your mother and sisters will be next, and I will enjoy it,” I said.

  He flung his arms wildly to no effect and tears poured from his eyes as the realisation of my total vengeance became clear to him. His life slipped away more quickly as he struggled. I stood up and watched him die, and felt relief from those long years of bullying and feelings of guilt from Giles’ suicide.

  The lights in the room flashed as the TV continued blaring out with its own screams and unsavoury noises, as the torture porn in the background reached its climax in parallel.

  I walked back to Liam, knelt down and whispered gently into his ear.

  “Consequences. Everything has consequences. I am the physical manifestation of your actions. I am your consequence.”

  Suddenly, I realised someone was missing.

  “Where is Kieran?” I asked.

  Liam answered stuttering in fear, “he was arrested last night for beating up Giles’ dad.”

  “Tell Kieran I will get him when he gets out.”

  More unfinished business but he will hear about the murder of his family, and he can live in constant fear. I latched my fangs around Liam’s ear and ripped it off for good measure. I left the room stepping over the dead bodies and through the pools of blood just as the credits on the TV rolled and the room plunged into darkness once more. I heard no movement upstairs. I guessed they were used to the sounds of screams from the TV. I ascended to the women of the house as well, the mum and the two sisters. They were no better having beaten up Giles’ older sister and taken part in some of the other bullying, smashing the house windows and prank calls. I would take more time with them. />
  “No Jon. We are leaving,” Thorn’s thoughts firmly entered into my head. I should have known Thorn wouldn’t allow me to kill them.

  I guessed the loss of their father and son or brother would be enough. I could always come back again. In the meantime, let them live in fear just as I did.

  CHAPTER 16

  We returned to London the night after reeking revenge on the O’Keefes and resumed our normal pattern of training and hunting. The next night back had been another eventful night out with Thorn hunting, as she had read reports of a gang of muggers working in a nearby park. We went to the park that night and pretended to be two young lovers hiding away in the bushes. They had seen us and circled us ready to take our money, and to take Thorn half-naked and drag her away for their pleasure. Yet it didn’t go according to plan, as she quickly broke them and fed. After my success in Leeds, I joined in and fought as a human against one of the men. I protected myself well and got in a few decent hits. I smiled, pleased with myself. I was growing with confidence and strength every time I fought.

  Back at home, after the fight in the park, night drew to a close. Thorn was drifting off to sleep downstairs in the basement, and I sat by myself on the sofa sipping a cold drink savouring another night with Thorn. Being away from Thorn, and the light coming through the windows, I could feel myself starting to change. As Night Jonathan, my grip slipped away slowly, and the nagging doubts and fears of Day Jonathan crept through into my thoughts. He questioned everything I had done over the last few nights, urging me to give up and let him prepare his escape plan and dream of being back in Scarlett’s arms once again. His voice started arguing with me, and a war raged in my mind as the daylight came and Thorn slept.

  “You were going to kill those O’Keefe girls,” Day Jonathan said.