Parallel Worlds- the Heroes Within

by L. J. Hachmeister

  Wolfgang gazed into Red’s eyes and caught a glimpse of tiny flames dancing in the center of her pupils. “If I were a guy of lesser quality, a thing like that might get me all hot and bothered.”

  “Me thinks you’re giving yourself just a bit too much credit, Wolf Boy,” said Red.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, Alpha girl.” Wolfgang took a few steps back and yanked off his tank-top, then used it to wipe the sweat from his brow.

  Red looked away, doing her best not to gawk over his muscular chest and rippling abs, but the sight alone was enough to twist up her thoughts with want. “Now you’re just being ridiculous.”

  “You like when I’m ridiculous,” Wolfgang said with a seductive rumble and took a step closer to Red.

  “Not in life and death monster hunting situations, I don’t.” Red bit down on her lip. Her heart fluttered. Sweat trickled down her brow. He was getting to her in all the worst ways. She hated that he held such power over her. “Now put your shirt back on so we can get back to tracking down this werepire.”

  “I thought you didn’t believe in werepires.” Without breaking eye contact, Wolfgang took another step closer to Red so they were again standing only inches apart.

  Red began to tremble. The sharp points of her werewolf claws were poking through the tips of her fingers. “I didn’t believe in the big bad wolf until I met you.”

  Wolfgang gently put his hand on Red’s chin. “And as it turns out, the big bad wolf isn’t nearly as scary as you thought.”

  “Not scary at all, actually.” Red’s expression twisted into an impish grin. “More like a lost little puppy, sad and hopelessly in need of attention.”

  Wolfgang snarled a bit, but managed to maintain his seductive stare. “And then you came along and for the first time in his sad, lonely life, he knew what it felt like to be loved.”

  “Bwahahahahahaha!” Red burst out laughing. “Almost had me there, Wolf Boy.” She shook off the moment and nudged past him, continuing off down the path. “Now put your clothes on and get to stepping.”

  Wolfgang bitterly bit down on his lip and quickly put his shirt back on. Brimming with disappointment, he scurried off after Red.

  For the next half hour, Red and Wolfgang continued along the murky path without a word spoken between them. All along the way the air got hotter and the stench infesting the night air grew fouler. This made it all the more difficult for Red to track the scent of her prey, though she remained steadfast in her intent to win the night.

  Their trek came to an abrupt end upon reaching the base of an expansive stone wall. Black vines grew all along the surface of the granite barrier that spanned for a hundred yards in both directions and towered fifty yards in height.

  “Whoever built this thing really doesn’t want visitors,” Red said, her eyes surveying the wall’s surface, plotting a course to scale to the top.

  “According to legend, the dividing wall was built thousands of years ago by the Empire of the Kupa King. The Kupas lived in total isolation from the world and would kill anyone who tried to get inside,” Wolfgang explained. “And before you get any ideas, the top is covered in razor vines, along with the bones of everyone who has ever tried to get across.”

  “Thanks for the info, captain melodrama,” Red said. “Any suggestions how we get over the thing?”

  “Unless you plan on sprouting wings and flying, it’s fully impossible for anyone or anything to get over the thing,” Wolfgang said.

  Red took a quick sniff of the air. “You say that and yet somehow the thing we’re hunting is on the other side. In fact, I can smell its trail going all the way up the wall.”

  Wolfgang stepped near the wall and sniffed around. “I don’t smell anything but a whole lot of razor-rat dung.”

  “Only one way to know for sure.” Red gritted down and let her werewolf claws rip through the tips of her fingers. Ignoring Wolfgang’s warnings, she jammed her claws into the stone wall and began to nimbly climb her way up. After a struggle that lasted for several minutes, she finally reached the top, where she cautiously peered over. Razor vines swarmed along the upper surface, which was nearly ten yards in width.

  Carefully rolling up onto a small open space, she took a moment to catch her breath. Upon closer inspection, she was startled to see the vines were formed from iron and every inch was covered with twisted spikes.

  “You know how much I hate to be an I told you so, but I told you so,” Wolfgang shouted from below.

  “Yeah. Yeah. It’s not all that bad,” Red replied.

  “As-if!” Wolfgang said.

  “Guess you’ll never know because you’re too much of a fraidy-cat to climb up here and see for yourself.” As Red looked around the area trying to find a way through, she noticed the skeletal remains of numerous armored warriors intertwined in the vines, just as Wolfgang had warned.

  “Maybe you’re too much of a fraidy-cat to admit that I was right about there being no way to get through,” Wolfgang shouted.

  “No way for normal people, but I’m not normal people.” Red gritted down. Extending her hands forward, she focused her thoughts and let the power of the Alpha flow through her body, from her toes to the tips of her fingers. “Flame on!”

  Whoosh! A mystical wave of blue flames with a blast radius of several yards erupted from Red’s hands. The metallic vines quickly heated to a glow under the searing inferno. Molten drops began to dribble down from the vines. Red continued the assault until the vines were reduced to smoldering puddles of liquified iron.

  For a lingering moment, Red stood gasping in awe over the power she had unleashed.

  “Hey, Red, you are coming or what?” Wolfgang called out, his voice now sounding from the direction of the inner side of the wall.

  Quite confused, Red nimbly made her way around the steaming puddles and glanced over the edge. Wolfgang was indeed standing down below, looking up at her with a gleaming grin. “How the freak did you get over the wall before me?” she asked.

  “Oh, I didn’t get over. I used the tunnel about twenty yards to the north,” Wolfgang said. “At least now we know how the werepire got into this place.”

  Red growled through clenched teeth. Without another thought, she stepped right off the edge and jammed a clawed hand into the wall. All the way down her claws ripped through the stone surface, slowing her descent enough so she could make it down without hitting the ground at breakneck speed. The instant her feet touched down, she stormed directly to Wolfgang and grabbed him by the shirt. “Why didn’t you tell me there was a freaking tunnel before I climbed up that freaking wall of doom?”

  “I didn’t freaking know until I searched the area and found the freaking thing,” Wolfgang smugly replied. “Took me less like two minutes. Maybe next time you’ll think things through before you go racing up the wall of doom.”

  Red bitterly snarled and shoved him away. “Let’s just find this stupid werepire and get this night over with.”

  For the next several minutes, Red and Wolfgang cautiously made their way through the crumbled stone ruins of the ancient city. They trekked along cobblestone streets where countless dome-shaped structures stood in ruins; the dwellings of those who lived there long ago. All along the way there were statues of armored centaurs, pointing their swords skyward.

  Red took a quick sniff of the air, catching the distinct scent of the creature they’d been tracking for hours on end. “We’re close. Maybe this would be a good time to tell me exactly what the freak a werepire is, and so help me if you say it’s a vampire that has the power to transform into a werewolf, I’m going to—”

  “Going to what? Rip me a new one?” Wolfgang interrupted. “Because that’s exactly what we’re dealing with. A werepire is a werewolf that got bit by a vampire and now it has to suck the warm blood of the living to stay alive.”

  Red stopped cold and pressed her hands over her eyes, trying to calm her thoughts. For a girl who grew up in a big city orphanage, such creatures only existed in
myths and fairy tales. “So, it has to be warm blood, not just like any blood?”

  Wolfgang reached over his shoulder and pulled out his sword. “A werewolf is a living creature, so it needs to stay warm, but a vampire is an undead, so it’s naturally cold. For a werepire to stay alive it has to constantly drink warm blood.”

  “But why does it have to be blood? Can’t it just drink a lot of hot stuff like coffee and coco?” Red asked.

  “Because the vampire half needs the blood to survive. It’s the perfect food to satisfy both halves,” Wolfgang explained.

  “I guess that makes about as much sense as anything else in Wayward,” Red said and wiped a hand across her sweaty brow. It probably also explains why a werepire would want to live in the hottest place in the land.”

  “That’s what I would do if it was me,” Wolfgang said.

  Red reached behind her back and pulled out the Alpha Sword from a leather holster. This mystical relic was more powerful than any weapon in all of Wayward. “That also makes our werewolf blood the tastiest item on the menu. Even more so if we transform,” she said.

  Wolfgang nodded in agreement. “Now you’re catching on. Just the smell of our werewolf blood would drive him berserk with hunger.”

  “True, but it would also help to draw him out, or at least get him to stop running,” Red resolved.

  “Oh no!” Wolfgang held up his hands defensively and took a big step back “I am not going to play the part of live bait to trick that thing into a trap.”

  “Fine, then I’ll do it myself,” Red looked up at the moon and raised her fists skyward. The blood in her veins heated to a boil. Every muscle in her body twitched and trembled. She sprang to her feet, raised her arms, and roared like a raging beast. Razor-sharp claws ripped through her fingertips. Short brownish-red fur covered her from head to toe. Canine ears poked from the sides of her head. A moonstone embedded into an amulet hanging on a gold chain around her neck illuminated with lunar energy. Her red cloak materialized, along with a sleek, form-fitting suit of armor, covering her chest and back and extending to her knees like a metal skirt.

  In the near distance, a beast roared with ravenous hunger.

  Wolfgang grimaced. “Welp, so much for being stealthy.”

  Red dashed away, venturing further into the city ruins. Many of the buildings reminded her of the stone pillar structures of ancient Rome, and though the original inhabitants were long deceased, none of the structures were uninhabited. Murderous beasts driven with predatorial hunger had made themselves at home, and they were all aware that Red and Wolfgang were lurking about.

  “Red, the werepire isn’t the only dangerous thing in this city that wants to kill us,” Wolfgang called out as he dashed to catch up with Red.

  Just then, a hissing pack of flesh-eating razor-rats leapt in Red’s path. Without slowing a bit, she raised the Alpha sword and unleashed a rapid series of lightening quick swipes and slashes. It took her mere seconds to send the reviled creatures to their unwitting demise.

  “You were saying?” Red called out to Wolfgang and raced around a street corner.

  “These are just low-level combatants,” Wolfgang shouted and continued racing after her.

  Red took another sniff of the air and caught the scent of her prey a few hundred yards ahead. She rounded another corner and soon came upon an expansive amphitheater that had been constructed in the depths of what resembled an impact crater, hundreds of feet deep. There were enough stone benches to seat many thousands of onlookers.

  Red came to an abrupt stop upon reaching the amphitheater’s upper rim. As she stood gasping to catch her breath, she gazed down into the crater, where she saw a stone stage, carved from a single slab of glossy black stone. While this in of itself was an impressive site, what caught her attention was the young man sprawled out on a metallic black throne on the center of the stage. His shoulder length locks of hair that flowed ever so slightly in the breeze. He wore a puffy white silk shirt, only buttoned halfway up so his muscular chest was well exposed and his form fitting black pants left little to the imagination.

  “Oh my,” Red gasped.

  “Oh my?” Wolfgang grunted as he stepped up behind Red. He glanced down into the amphitheater and saw the young man that had inspired her wanting reaction. “Red, you cannot tell me you’re hot on that creepy-creeper.”

  “Can’t I?” Red said, her eyes already glazed over as if in a hypnotic trance. “He’s just so pretty.”

  “Pretty!” Wolfgang grunted even louder than before. “Red, are you out of your mind? That jerk is the thing we’ve been running our tails off all night trying to find.”

  “Stop lying,” Red said, shaking her head in outright disagreement. “That hot dish of man chowder couldn’t possibly be a werepire.”

  Wolfgang glared down at the pretty young man and clenched his fist. “Snap out of it, Red. That murderous beast wouldn’t hesitate to make you into a steaming caldron of vampire porridge.”

  “I could live with that.” Red began stammering down the stone steps, ascending deeper into the amphitheater and closer to the pretty young man.

  “Snap out of it, Riding.” Wolfgang said, following close behind her. “You’re falling under his spell like a fly fluttering right into the spiderweb.”

  “How overly dramatic of you, Wolf Boy,” Red muttered. With a firm shove, she pushed Wolfgang, causing him to stumble off his feet and flop down onto a stone bench. “Now sit, boy.”

  “Sit?” Wolfgang wailed.

  “And stay. I’ve got this one.” Red didn’t have to look back to know Wolfgang was gnarling in outrage, but in that moment, she just didn’t care. All rational thought had departed her. “This one is all mine.”

  The pretty young man finished sucking a mouthful of blood out of a razor-rat and then flung its lifeless carcass aside. He then raised a hand and made a rather dramatic proclamation. “It is said that the Kupas dominated the land for a thousand generations, both with malevolent military might and benevolent intellect. None who lived under their reign ever went without a roof over their head or food in their belly. The Kupas gathered in this very theatre night after night to worship their king who they believed to be a god.”

  “That’s a really neat story,” Red said, deeply infatuated by his seductive persona

  “It is, though I suspect you did not travel all this way for a history lesson,” said the pretty young man. “You came here seeking me and for that I am so very grateful. I receive so few visitors.

  “I bet you get so very lonely,” Red said, continuing down the steps, her eyes helplessly locked on the pretty young man. “Sounds to me like you need a friend to keep you company.”

  “Major gag factor,” Wolfgang said.

  “Stifle it, Wolf Boy,” Red replied, just as she reached the base of the stage. “I’m talking to the pretty man right now.

  “You flatter me.” The pretty young man took a long stretch and flicked his locks of hair from side to side. “It is not every day I receive praise from one of such revered prominence.”

  Red gave him a curious stare. “Are you saying you know who I am?”

  “Everyone in Wayward knows who you are, Red Riding.” The pretty young man fluttered his long eyelashes and gave Red a flirtatious smile. “Or should I say, her grand highness, the Alpha Huntress.”

  Red giggled like a giddy schoolgirl. “Oh please, Red will do just fine.”

  “As you wish, Red,” the pretty young man said with another flutter of his eyelashes.

  “And what can I call you?” Red asked, well aware she was blushing bright.

  “My dear Red, you may call me any name of your choosing and I will come upon your command,” the pretty young man said.

  “Ugghhhhhhhh!” Wolfgang groaned. “Red, just stake the bloodsucking meat-sack so we can get back to your granny’s place in time for breakfast.”

  “Wolf boy, so help me if you don’t shut that yapping trap,” Red warned with a raised fist.

  �
��It would seem your friend does not much care for me,” said the pretty young man.

  “Don’t mind him. His boy brain gets all jealous when I talk to strangers,” Red said, slowly walking up the three steps leading up to the stage.

  “Are you afraid of strangers, little Red?” the pretty young man asked.

  “Depends on the stranger,” Red said meekly. “If you told me your name, we wouldn’t be strangers anymore.”

  “Very well. You may call me Valerie,” said the pretty young man.

  “Valerie!” Wolfgang burst out laughing. “Were your parents expecting to have a girl?”

  Red threw Wolfgang a callous glare. “Wolf Boy, one more insensitive comment like that, I’ll drag you to the nearest veterinarian and have you snipped.”

  “Whoa!” Wolfgang scoffed. “One more insensitive threat like that, you’ll be looking for a new boyfriend.”

  “Forgive me, Red.” Valerie said and sat up straight in his seat. “I was unaware that you two were involved.”

  “Don’t worry about him. We’re not that involved,” Red said coyly.

  “Oh, that is it,” Wolfgang wailed. “I am so out of here.”

  “As if!” Red replied. She knew without looking that Wolfgang was pacing around in a steaming fit of irritation, but he wasn’t going anywhere.

  Valerie sneered with a hint of amusement. “So, what happens now, Huntress? Are you here to lay me to rest?”

  “I’m not entirely sure.” Red took a few steps closer to Valerie. “Do you deserve to be laid to rest?”

  “I do not believe so, though it is not difficult to conclude that you came here to do precisely that. Am I wrong, Huntress?” Valerie asked.

  “Not even a little,” Red admitted and took a few more steps closer, so they were now a stone’s throw apart. “But that was before I met you. Before I saw just how pretty you are.”

  Valerie snickered. “I have been called many things in my centuries of existence, but never once have I been called pretty.”

  Wolfgang again groaned. “If you two keep this up, I might just stake myself.”