The Hybrid Series | Book 3.5 | Ascension [A Lady Sarah Novella]
Page 7
A figure began to take shape. It could have been the outline of a werewolf, but then the creature stepped into the glow of the candlelight and she could see it was in fact one of her own kind, one she knew well. Ulfarr had come to her once more.
“My Lady,” he said, his voice full of sadness. “See where allying with the wolf has gotten you? It pains me to witness you suffer so.”
She wanted to answer him, to ask how it was possible for him to be there with her, but still her muscles would not respond.
“We are bound by blood,” he answered, as though he had read her mind. “I am a part of you, one which cannot simply be driven out or cut away. I have always been with you, from the night we first met.”
She did not know if that meant the blood he’d gifted had allowed her to reach out to him telepathically and whether this was truly him, or whether he was merely a part of her own subconscious. But it didn’t matter. Real or imagined, his presence was a comfort in the terror of her new reality.
Is this Hell? she tried asking with her mind.
“No. You are not truly dead, not yet. There is a force greater than I at work here. It kept my blood from animating your body when the human shot you, causing you to fall to the three bullets you took. But without fresh blood in your veins you cannot heal, and you lost enough blood while you were down to keep your body in its corpse state.”
Then why am I unable to move?
“The Slayers seek to bind you to their will. You must fight it.”
She tried again to raise herself up, but still nothing happened. No matter how hard she focused on moving her muscles, she couldn’t make them so much as twitch.
“Perhaps this will help,” he said, conjuring a jack-o’-lantern from the surrounding darkness. It looked exactly like the traditional turnip lanterns she used to carve, before All Hallows’ Eve was brought to America and pumpkins were adopted for the custom instead.
Ulfarr placed the jack-o’-lantern on top of the gravestone and used one of the candles from the ground around her body to give it life. She looked into the turnip’s glowing eyes and tried again. Still nothing happened.
“I gave you my strength,” Ulfarr whispered, kneeling beside her and stroking her cheek. There was a rare warmth in his eyes few would ever see. “Use it now.”
Strangely, she could feel his fingers caressing her skin, despite her paralysis. She shifted her gaze from the turnip to the vampire she would always yearn for, and slowly her muscles began to wake.
There was only the slightest movement of her right index finger at first, but that spread to her other digits until she could wiggle both fingers and toes with ease. Next her limbs jerked into action. Finally her neck regained its mobility, and with the use of all her muscles restored, she was able to sit up at last.
But something else had changed. She could feel pain again, though it wasn’t as sharp and immediate as she knew it should be. The burning sensation was distant, as if the tether keeping her soul inside her body had begun to unwind, allowing her spirit to float away from her physical self but without completely losing the link to the nerves. Yet even experiencing it from a distance, she recognised the torment her physical body was suffering. There was only one substance that could cause that type of pain.
“Holy water,” she hissed.
“Yes,” Ulfarr confirmed, getting back to his feet. “You should never have taken it upon yourself to become the werewolf’s guardian. This is all because of him.”
He grabbed hold of the jack-o’-lantern again, lifting it from its perch on the headstone as though to offer it to her. But her attention shifted back to the darkness as she picked herself up. Had she just seen something else in there?
The taste of blood washed over her tongue, seemingly from nowhere. But she didn’t think it was her own. Puzzled, Lady Sarah took a step forwards, only to fall back to her knees with a scream. The agony of her physical body had her in its clutches and she was feeling the full force of the damage to her flesh now.
Ulfarr placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, but her tortured nerves would not be placated. She was on her hands and knees, caught in another kind of paralysis, the pain just another type of prison. How could she have thought her previous state was worse than anything like this? It was excruciating.
“Fight it, my Lady,” Ulfarr said. “If you can come through this, it will be with even greater power than before. Fight the Slayers’ hold on you and heal.”
Unable to do anything more than voice her agony, she didn’t answer him. Her torture showed no sign of abating, death beginning to seem more and more like a welcome release, if only someone would grant it her. But that was not to be her fate.
“Look at me!” Ulfarr commanded. He stalked round to stand in front of her so she need only raise her head. With effort, she did as he asked. “You will fight your way through this and you will be reborn with a strength and power most vampires can only dream of. Embrace my blood and fight!”
He did offer her the jack-o’-lantern then, and with a shaking hand she reached out to take the turnip. Except it was no longer a turnip.
A severed head hung from what was left of its dark hair, grasped between Ulfarr’s fingers. Its skull had been hollowed out, its brain replaced by a candle. The eyes were gone and the sockets opened up so the light from the flame shone through, its nose receiving a similar treatment. But most shocking was the face she knew so well, even without eyes and a nose. For it was her own.
Lady Sarah screamed with more than just pain, then the darkness surrounding the candlelight gave way to something artificial, flickering like real flame torches on stone walls. It was still only a dim glow but it seemed much brighter after where she’d just been. Blood was flowing into her mouth and her body was rebuilding itself. She’d come through whatever the Slayers had done to her, just as Ulfarr had said she would.
But the vision of the Elder vampire lingered a moment longer. She was aware of him standing beside her, still holding her severed head.
“I knew you would find your way back,” he smiled. His eyes shifted to regard the werewolf and the warmth in them withered beneath icy hatred, until they were the fierce shards of Wolf’s Bane once more. His lip curled to bare his left fang and his hand raised, lifting the severed head closer. “Now consider this your warning. Do not think I have forgotten all the young werewolf is guilty of. Justice will be done and the world will be better for an end to the lycanthropic blight we have all endured for far too long. I do not wish to see you executed alongside this animal, but that will be your fate if you continue in this misguided faith and loyalty you have placed in him. Do not forget where your true loyalties lie.”
With that, he was gone. Lady Sarah returned to the present but his words continued to echo round her skull. Replaying the memories brought her no more clarity, only further doubts. Had that really been Ulfarr, or had the experience been entirely of her deluded brain’s making, brought on by the ordeal she’d suffered? Or had she been granted a vision? She did not know, but she feared what would happen when the Elder caught up with them. Whether in a night’s time or a century’s, they would have to face him again. That was the one thing she was certain of. His loathing for werewolves would not allow him to rest until this last lycanthrope was dead, and any proof they could find of Nick’s innocence would do nothing to change that. His hatred was blinding and he was beyond listening to reason where werewolves were concerned. In his mind, Nick was guilty and that was not going to change.
But she kept her fears to herself for the time being. She would share them with Selina when they were granted a quiet moment alone, and perhaps her sister could use witchcraft to throw some light on the situation. Maybe they could even come up with a plan for when Ulfarr returned. Because the other thing she was sure of was that the new power she’d been granted was still not the equal of an Elder vampire. If Ulfarr wanted to execute them all they would be powerless to stop it.
Again she glanced at each of her companions, her eye
s moving first to her sister, then to Zeerin and finally to Nick. The future looked bleak, and she feared for them all.
Dear Readers
Thanks for reading Ascension. I really hope you enjoyed this spin-off novella of my Hybrid series and will check out the next book, Damned, this Halloween. The series has been a real labour of love over the seventeen years it’s taken to get to these latest releases, and is the result of hundreds of long hours spent at my desk. If I could ask a few moments of your time in return, please would you write me a review?
It doesn’t have to be detailed. In fact, you don’t even have to write anything if you don’t want to – even a star rating is a big help! But reviews are really important for bringing new readers to the series, and bringing me a step closer to my dream of quitting my day job and becoming a full time author.
I’m always grateful to my readers who take the time to do this for me, and I do read each and every one of them. A good review always makes my day, and a critical review can provide the feedback I need to keep on improving and growing as a writer.
So if you wouldn’t mind heading over to Amazon, all you need to do is click:
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Then click ‘write a product review’ next to your Hybrid order.
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About the Author
A lifelong fan of supernatural horror and fantasy, Nick spends his days prowling the darker side of fiction, often to the scream of heavy metal guitars and the purrs of his feline companions.
Fate set him on the path of the writer at the tender age of 15. The journey has been much longer and harder than his teenage self ever anticipated, but 17 years later he is still forging ahead.
Nick is best known for his Hybrid series. He has also had short stories published in various anthologies, and will soon be releasing his first non-Hybrid novel based on the true story of the Pendle witches.
For more information about Nick, Hybrid, and other works visit: www.nick-stead.co.uk. Don’t forget to sign up to his newsletter to keep up to date with upcoming releases and signing events, and receive a free short story, exclusive to the mailing list.
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Also By Twisted Fate Publishing
CHRONICLES OF THE FALLEN
By Gareth Clegg
Vol 1: The Crowman
Vol 2: Babylon
Vol 3: Revelations
Compilation: Vol 1-3
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THE HYBRID SERIES
By Nick Stead
Book 1 - Hybrid
Book 2 - Hunted
Book 3 - Vengeance
Book 3.5 - Ascension
Book 4 - Damned - coming Oct 31, 2020