The Hybrid Series | Book 3 | Vengeance

by Stead, Nick

  The vampires looked up and Zee called out to me.

  “Nick! Good to see you made it. Where’s the demon? Has it turned on the Slayers as hoped?”

  I shook my head, climbing down to re-join them and check on my sister. “It looks like it flew off. How are you healed, have you fed?”

  “No,” Lady Sarah said. “We were dying to the demon’s power when we lost consciousness. When we awoke, our injuries were gone.”

  “The demon healed you all? I didn’t think it would have the ability to cause anything other than death and destruction.”

  To my relief, Amy and Selina began to stir. They also seemed to be fully healed, with Amy in good enough shape to stand on her own again. In ordinary circumstances I might have found it unfair that the demon saw fit to heal them and not me, but I was too grateful they were all alive. It had probably left my body to recover on its own, knowing that the transformation would soon repair the damage.

  “It matters not,” Lady Sarah said. “We need to leave this place before our enemies send anything else to kill us.”

  “Well the warlock is dead. I found the room where he kept his things for casting spells – I can show you if you want to go and work the banishing spell, Selina?”

  “I can try but I can’t promise it will work now the demon’s gone.”

  I nodded. “We have to give it a shot. I don’t know about the necromancer – there’s been no sign of them anywhere. I’ve not encountered many Slayers with guns either for that matter, and no sign of David yet.”

  Lady Sarah fixed me with a harsh gaze, the kind that brooks no arguments. “I will go with my sister to the warlock’s room.”

  I didn’t know why she might think any of us would be against that. It made sense for someone to guard Selina while she worked her spell, and I understood Lady Sarah’s need for it to be her. “Good idea. I’m going back to hunting.”

  Zee gave me a fierce grin. “Leave some for me. I’ll come up and help you clear the building.”

  “Okay, but David’s mine.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Gwyn, you stay and watch Amy for me. There’s no sense endangering her again while we wipe out all the Slayers; we’ll come back for you when we’re ready to go.”

  “And let you guys have all the fun?”

  “Yes,” I growled.

  Gwyn threw up his hands in mock submission. “Okay, fluffy, have it your way.”

  “Any of you need a help up?” I asked.

  The vampires shook their heads, slipping out of their clothes and taking their bat forms with a grace that my transformation lacked. Selina bundled up their garments and Zee’s weapons, then Lady Sarah grabbed hold of her sister with clawed feet and flew her up, and Zee followed. I looked over at Amy, noting the disappointment in her eyes at my talk of revenge and the sight of my monstrous form, her hopes of us going home together dashed by the realisation I wasn’t cured after all.

  “I’ll be back for you, sis,” I promised.

  She kept quiet and looked away, so I left it at that.

  Climbing back up the wall was easy enough when I’d been granted claws again, the vampires already dressed by the time I’d made it to the top. Once up there, the four of us made our way out of the control room and I gave the Wilton sisters directions to the warlock’s chamber. They rushed off to attempt the ritual, leaving me and Zee to navigate the maze of corridors as we hunted for more prey.

  It was suspiciously quiet. We passed more rooms that looked to be sleeping quarters, like the section of the base we’d been allowed into as part of the game, but most were empty. Only a few were occupied, the nerve having apparently failed the men within and fear driving them to attempt to barricade themselves inside, where they hoped to wait out the night. Maybe they thought we’d pass them by if they made it harder for us to get at them, but their doors were no match for our supernatural might and they didn’t have enough furniture to keep us out. They died to our fangs, the walls painted crimson and the rooms decorated with gore. We also took the opportunity to feed. The hunger was growing as my body continued its slow transformation, and I was glad of the chance for fresh meat to fuel it.

  My snout had almost reached its full length now and my hands and feet were becoming more like paws. Extra vertebrae had grown out of my spine, into my bushy wolf’s tail. It was only a matter of time before the moon won out and the transformation completed, even with the serum still in my system.

  We soon reached another T-junction and decided to split up, confident we could take whatever the Slayers threw at us now they’d lost their control over our fates. But neither direction held the scent of the men whose blood I really wanted and the corridor I chose was as unsatisfyingly empty as the rest had been up to that point. There were just two Slayers lying in wait for me, opening fire the moment I came round the corner.

  Bullets thundered towards my head, one of them sure to pierce my brain and put an end to my unnatural existence – if I’d still been upright. But I’d already sensed them and bounded forward on all fours, new fury driving me onwards. Guns clicked empty and I leapt on my first victim, sinking fangs into his flesh and crushing his windpipe. He died gurgling, his wide eyes fixed on his comrade and his arm reaching for the other man as if for help.

  The second man was already fleeing but I was up and on him before he’d had chance to go more than a few feet. I unleashed the full force of my rage then, ripping into him with savage joy and tearing through muscle to the tastiest of his organs. He died screaming, loops of intestine hanging out of his abdomen and shattered bone poking up at odd angles. His body wasn’t quite as hollow as the demon when I’d finished but it wasn’t far off.

  I rose from my kill and continued down a few more virtually empty corridors. Minutes later, I found myself in another canteen. It wasn’t the same as the one that had been used as part of the game, so I guessed this was the real one where the Slayers dined. Zee had arrived ahead of me and he was already closing in on the room’s remaining occupant, his bloodied sword drawn and his fangs bared.

  The smell of death and gore was thick on the air, the corpses of his other kills lying in pieces. It took my nose a minute to pick up the human’s scent, and my lips curled with recognition, baring my own fangs.

  “Mine,” I growled, struggling to form the words with vocal cords that were becoming more wolf than human.

  Zee glanced back at me, eyebrow raised.

  “Mine!” I snarled again.

  He held up his hands and backed off. “As you wish.”

  I glared at him for a moment, instinct robbing me of reason. He was no longer my friend but a rival predator, and I would fight for the kill if I had to. Then I turned my gaze on the man cowering before me; another pitiful excuse for a human being.

  If the words had come easily enough I would have taunted him. I would have challenged him to try and take my ears and eyes, like the poor defenceless animal who’d been his last victim. Where was his cruelty now? Where was his strength and his courage? Lost in the terror, that was where. He was too weak to face a worthy opponent and we both knew it. Mutilating placid, helpless victims was all he was good for. He wouldn’t even be capable of that when I was finished with him.

  But speaking English was too much of an effort so I let my actions do all the talking. And just as humans spoke of ‘an eye for an eye’, I planned to visit the same torment on the man as he had on the dog.

  The human was already pressed up against the wall. I stalked over to him and raised a claw to his wide eye, savouring the sweet smell of his terror and the thundering beat of his heart. This might just be my most satisfying kill yet.

  The man seemed to realise what I had planned and screwed his eyes shut, turning his head to the side with a whimpered “No.”

  I managed a guttural laugh, pinning him with one paw, placed just above his ear. Then I used my other paw to slice into flesh and cartilage, pulling the ear so that it came away bit by bit, severing the nerves as excruciatingly sl
owly as I could manage. It was hard work with my digits’ dexterity nearly gone, but I was just able to get a good enough grip to carry out the torture like I wanted.

  The tissue tried its best to hold on to the side of his skull, but it was no match for my supernatural strength. I took that left ear and threw it to the floor like he and the others had done to the dog, then I forced his head to the other side so I could rip off his right ear as well. It came away just as easily once I managed to get my claws round it, and it landed on the ground a moment later.

  I paused, savouring the moment. His eyes snapped open again, his screaming and his begging growing louder as I moved my claw back round to his eye. It was the last thing he ever saw, his eyes widening as they fixed on the point I moved nearer and nearer. He scrunched them up again at the last moment but the thin membranes wouldn’t save his sight. Nothing would.

  Slowly I pushed the point past his eyelid and through the cornea, iris and pupil, stabbing deep into first his left eyeball and then his right, and gouging the same holes in his face he’d left the dog with. I really wanted him to suffer for as long as possible, but I knew if I left him alive he might be rescued. Then he’d be given the chance of as good a quality life as humans could offer him without sight, and that was too good a fate after what he’d done. So I finished with my claws in his stomach, gutting him like the animal he was and leaving him to die in a pool of his own blood, and worse.

  I turned to find Zee watching me.

  “Why that one?” he asked.

  “Promised,” I growled.

  We made our way back to the section where we’d left Selina and Lady Sarah. The two sisters were waiting for us outside the warlock’s room, but Selina shook her head as we approached.

  “I tried,” she said. “It might have been possible if the demon were close, or if I knew its name. But there was no mention of a name in any of the warlock’s notes, so there was nothing to focus the magic on.”

  I started to growl a response but it came out garbled. Zee glanced at me and spoke on my behalf. “We killed all those we could find but there weren’t many. Either most of them had the sense to flee or they’re waiting somewhere for us in force. Have any of you come across the exit yet?”

  We each shook our heads.

  “Then it must be down this way,” he said, pointing along the corridor in the direction none of us had been in yet. “We should check the rest of the way is clear before we go back for Gwyn and Amy, then make our escape while we have the chance.”

  Rage blazed up again.

  “No,” I snarled, forcing the words out. “David!”

  Zee looked at me with mild surprise. “We understand your need for revenge, Nick. But it will have to wait. Do you really want to risk your sister’s life just to kill him tonight? Be patient. The time will come and when it does, I’ll personally help you get to him so you can repay him for our suffering.”

  I knew those were words of wisdom but I didn’t like the idea of letting David go, eager to taste his blood that very night. And if I could have spoken more than the odd word without any difficulty I might have argued. As it was, I found myself prowling down the corridor beside the two vampires and Selina, straining my senses for any hint of more prey.

  There was only one other human between us and the stairs leading up to the outside world. He knew he was doomed the instant he saw the four of us but, unlike most of the others we’d found, he showed no fear, instead tossing aside his gun and standing strong.

  “Are you so eager to die?” Lady Sarah hissed.

  He laughed then. “Kill me, it don’t matter. Reinforcements are on the way. You ain’t leaving here with your lives either.”

  She responded with a bite to the neck, sinking her fangs into his jugular vein and feeding while the rest of us checked the stairs for any signs of a trap.

  “If he’s telling the truth, we need to hurry,” Zee said. “We vampires can go back for the other two; we’ll be faster if we go alone.”

  Selina raised her eyebrows. “I think we should stick together. If the reinforcements arrive, our best hope is to meet them with our combined powers. I took some things I can use from the warlock so at least I won’t be completely useless, and I can summon Varin back to my side. He’ll be able to fight now he isn’t having to carry Amy on his back.”

  No sooner had she spoken than we heard the sound of vehicles outside. Zee cursed. “I guess that settles it then. We stick together for as long as possible. If we’re separated there will be little we can do; it will have to be everyone for themselves until we either fight through this or die trying.”

  Lady Sarah tossed the Slayer’s dried husk aside and we made a run back to the chamber of the dungeon that was supposed to have been our tomb. But when we reached the broken window in the control room, it was to find Gwyn had been knocked unconscious and Amy was gone. A message had been daubed on the far wall in more blood and I didn’t need to pick up any scents to know who was behind it.

  Come get her, beast.

  CHAPTER TWENTY–NINE

  Vengeance

  I jumped down from the control room with little regard for my safety, not caring if I broke any bones in the fall. By some miracle, I managed to land without doing myself any major injuries, and I was bounding back through the dungeon before anyone could stop me.

  The force of Slayers heading for us no longer mattered. Reaching the exit no longer mattered. Even the lives of my allies no longer mattered, since they were strong enough to stand a fighting chance of coming out of this alive. The only thing that did matter to me then was reaching David, so I could simultaneously save my sister and have my revenge.

  The demon’s presence was still thick in the tunnels, even though the thing itself was no longer lurking in the dungeon. But I didn’t need to follow my nose to find the boy I’d once called friend, grown to be the young man I now called enemy. My instincts told me there was only one chamber he’d have taken Amy to. After all, I’d already sussed it out as the most likely place for there to be a secret door or passage linking that section to the main base, allowing the Slayers to safely slip in and out to create my red rag. He’d probably entered the dungeon that way, and I felt certain he’d want to be back by his escape route to make a quick exit when he was ready.

  Retracing my steps went much quicker than originally passing through the dungeon had, the doorways all left open in David’s wake. I raced across the room where we’d faced the skeletal warriors, pieces of them still writhing on the floor in a futile attempt to attack as I passed. From there I took the lower tunnel Lady Sarah, Selina and Amy had used, sprinting down it and into the chamber where Hannah’s grisly remains still lay in the shadows. Fortunately her corpse hadn’t risen as another zombie for the necromancer to set on me, and I was able to run straight through and out into the next passage. Then it was back to where Lady Sarah had been doused in holy water and on to the room where I’d been forced to fight Zee.

  The transformation ground onwards as I ran. Another flash of agony seared through my flesh, tripping me up. I rolled across the floor, landing in a tangle of warped limbs caught somewhere between human and wolf. My pain and frustration voiced themselves in a fierce roar. Did David hear? I hoped so. I hoped he was contemplating all the horrific things I was going to do when I caught up to him.

  My femurs were shortening and my spine was starting to lose its curve at the base. Moving was quickly becoming more awkward in this twisted shape I was currently trapped in, but as soon as the throbbing subsided I forced myself onwards, running as swiftly and as gracefully as I could manage.

  I made it out into the next tunnel and pushed on, veering down the side passage without stopping to check for signs David and Amy were definitely down there.

  My instincts were proved right as I finally slowed and stepped into the chamber built purely to feed my rage. The corpse of the female dog lay where I’d left it, renewing my anger at mankind’s cruelty towards all those they deemed lesser than themse
lves. And there stood the man responsible, the kill I needed to slake my desire for vengeance and thirst for blood.

  Dark flames danced behind his blue eyes as he regarded me with a hatred to rival my own. He looked slightly more muscular than I remembered and the stubble covering his jawline gave him the look of a young man rather than the boy I’d last seen, though he was still a child in many ways. Yet there was nothing child-like about that blackness I sensed in him.

  It had started as a mere shadow of my own, but I could see it had grown stronger and matured into its own monster in the time since he’d last faced me. The darkness in him had been too weak back then to make him a killer, even with the grief filling his broken heart. It had needed time to develop and feed on the hatred he’d nurtured for me, the beast who had ripped his love from him and left only loathing and cruelty in its place. There was only one way this encounter would end and if David had his way, it would be with the deaths of both me and my sister. He wouldn’t shy away from killing me a second time.

  Amy’s eyes were wide with fear and tears ran down her cheeks, though Zee’s spell still shielded her from the worst of the emotions she should have been feeling. Her arm looked to be bruising beneath the iron tight grip David had her in, the muzzle of his gun resting against her forehead. She looked to be otherwise unharmed, for the time being. And after everything I’d been through already to try and save her, I couldn’t let it end there in that chamber wrought of mankind’s cruelty.

  All the evil David had caused was as much my doing as it was his, all the blood on his hands as much a stain on my own. The words were still there on the wall to make that message clear, and I knew there was more than just my sister’s life at stake, and this was more than just revenge. I had to stop the monster I’d created. I had to extinguish the dark fire I’d ignited in my old friend, before it claimed any more lives. My own darkness already caused enough damage without allowing its spawn to continue on unchecked.