by Nick Stead
I left the vampire to his inner struggle and cautiously picked my way over to the human girl, straining my senses for any hint of a trap I might be about to blunder into. There were no obvious triggers that I could see and once I spent a little of my remaining energy on using the regenerative powers of the transformation to fix my broken nose and mouth, I couldn’t find any strange scents under the overlying sense of dread and death.
Emboldened by the apparent lack of booby traps like we’d encountered in the other rooms, I risked stalking right over to her. There didn’t seem to be anything remarkable about the girl to indicate why the Slayers had chained her up there, her young face no different to the thousands of others I’d preyed upon over the last two years. Those pretty features definitely didn’t belong to anyone I recognised as being connected to my human life, her body seemingly thin and fragile as she trembled before the monstrous image I presented with my gore spattered skin. I could see nothing but fear in the glimpse I got of her brown eyes, before her long hair fell forward in a dark curtain for her to hide behind as she recoiled in response to me kneeling beside her.
“What's your name?” I asked, trying to make my voice sound as gentle and human as I still knew how. I’m not sure I really succeeded, so used to harsher vocalisations as I’d become, and such concepts as kindness having long since become alien to me.
For a brief moment I didn’t think the girl would answer, but then there came the soft reply of “Hannah.”
“Hannah. I knew a Hannah once. She was the annoying kid sister of a close friend of mine.”
“What happened to them?”
“My friend, well... She died. I don't know about her family.”
“I'm sorry.”
“Don't be. It was in another life, one I've moved on from.”
The girl didn’t know what to say to that, so I changed the subject.
“How did you get here, Hannah?”
“I don’t know. I remember being on the bus home from college and getting off, but then I’m not sure what happened – I just woke up here. What’s going on, do you know?”
“It’s probably better if you don’t find out. But I promise we won’t hurt you if you’ll come with us.”
“Who are you? Is that blood? And why are you naked?” she said with a snigger, some of the fear draining away as she processed my lack of clothes.
I paused before I answered, mind racing. We couldn’t risk feeding on her if there was even the slightest chance the Slayers had put her there to harm us in some way. We could just kill her and leave her there but then that would give the Slayers another corpse to have their necromancer resurrect, if it suited them. I was more inclined to bring her with us where we could keep an eye on her, in case she proved to be working with the Slayers and had volunteered to be chained up where we would find her, and play whatever part she’d been given. At least then she wouldn’t be able to catch us by surprise if she had been planted in the game to harm us in some way. But if we were going to keep her alive and by our sides, that would mean exposing her to our true natures. If she was working with the Slayers she probably already knew the truth and the questions were just part of the innocent bystander act, but if she was truly innocent and had just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, brought to the dungeon for whatever twisted purposes the Slayers had devised, the less she knew the better. We wouldn’t be able to keep everything from her though. Like it or not, she was caught up in our world now.
“It’s probably as well you don’t know too much about that either. Though I guess you’re gonna find out sooner or later what I am so we might as well get that over with now,” I finally answered, my mind made up. I took a deep breath before telling my secret to a human for the first time ever. “I’m a werewolf, and that guy over there is a vampire.”
“Woo, crazy people! You two go ahead; I think I’ll just stay here and enjoy the amazing scenery while I wait for somebody sane to come and rescue me.”
I supposed I should’ve expected that kind of reaction, since science had left little room for belief in the supernatural in these modern times. But I thought it was better to reveal our true natures to her while we seemed to be in relative safety, rather than letting her see me shift into a more bestial form in the midst of battle and panicking as a result. At best she’d get herself killed in the grip of that kind of terror; at worst she’d do something to get all three of us killed.
“I might be a little crazy, but monsters are real and I am a werewolf,” I growled, letting my eyes turn amber and my canines lengthen into fangs. I still had a full set of teeth, the ones I’d lost from the fight with the vampire having regrown when I healed the damage before.
“Wow, that’s some awesome special effects. How did you do that? Oh, don’t tell me this is some stupid reality TV show you’ve dragged me into. I’ll kill Adam if he put you up to this.”
I closed my eyes in exasperation at mankind’s ability to explain away anything they believed to be impossible. Unless costume lenses and fake fangs had come a long way since I’d left my human life behind, how could she possibly mistake the changes she’d just witnessed for a special effect? I didn’t really want to waste any more energy taking the transformation any further when there was no real need to other than to convince her I was telling the truth, but it seemed like that was my only option if I wanted to make her believe.
“What are you doing?” Zeerin murmured into my ear, suddenly appearing beside me as I opened my eyes.
“We should keep her close, in case she is part of some complex trap,” I replied, my lupine eyes still fixed on Hannah. She looked unsure of what to make of the situation, caught between what she felt was the most rational explanation as to what was going on and the feeling that there was something strange at work which might be paranormal in nature.
“If you insist, but why waste time trying to explain anything to her when I can use my powers to make her do or think whatever we want her to?”
“Oh, I didn’t think of that,” I answered, feeling foolish for not coming up with the easiest way to get her to trust and co-operate with us myself.
“Then allow me,” he said, taking my place beside the girl once I’d stood and moved back a few paces.
“Do you have cool fangs as well?” she asked him, a dazed look sliding across her face as she looked into his eyes.
“I’m going to break you out of these chains now. You will follow us and stay calm, no matter what you might see. And you will not harm us in anyway.”
“Okay,” she said, her voice sounding distant as if she was in another reality. She didn’t seem to notice when he freed her from her shackles, continuing to look at him with that dazed expression.
“Do you know why you were brought here?”
“No.”
“You’re not working with the Slayers?”
“I don’t even know who they are.”
Zeerin stood, breaking the spell. I’d experienced first-hand just how powerful a vampire’s hold over other beings could be, so we were both satisfied Hannah was as much a victim caught in this macabre game as we were. That didn’t make us any less wary of her presence there, however. The Slayers had to have imprisoned a human in there with us for a reason, even if they were aware she was likely to end up as a lamb to the slaughter. There had to be something they expected to gain from her death, which made me wonder again whether they might have developed some kind of poison that would cause us a great deal of suffering for them to enjoy watching from behind the safety of their screens, their cameras capturing every agonising minute. Perhaps they were counting on us losing control and feeding on her, if not the moment we found her then later on in the dungeon. And there was every chance it might play out that way, if they kept weakening us and giving rise to our hungers. But for the time being the vampire had his bloodlust under control again, and caution ruled us both.
After learning what little we could from Hannah, I turned my attention to the bowls of liquid.
The two coloured fluids smelt like water. I could detect no hint of what had been used to colour them, or any warning scents that might indicate they’d been laced with poison. The one that hadn’t been coloured turned out to be seawater. I felt confident that drink at least wouldn’t have any poison added to it, given how bad salt water was to drink, which I knew all too well from the number of times I’d come across the advice in films and books that no matter how thirsty you became, you should never drink from the sea.
“Surely quenching your thirst on any of these liquids is as great a risk as we have to assume feeding on the girl is?” Zeerin said to me.
“I know but I had to investigate what they were. I’m dying for a drink now.”
“You’re welcome to more rum.”
“No thanks. I’m guessing the seawater isn’t poisoned. Maybe just a sip to wet my mouth will help till we can find some fresh water that’s safe?”
“I wouldn’t advise it. I’ve seen men driven mad by drinking from the sea. Even a sip will leave you thirstier than you were to begin with.”
“We could let the human test one of these coloured waters for poison then.”
“Aw, is the wolfy scared of a little poison?” Hannah teased, still sat where she’d been chained up.
“I’m just being careful,” I growled. “You might want to do the same, since we don’t really have much reason to keep you alive. And since you’re expendable, that makes you an ideal guinea pig.”
“Nope, I’m not drinking that stuff.”
“We’re not giving you a choice.”
“Well I could drink it but if it is poisoned do you really want to take the chance of making my blood more toxic, when you might get hungry enough to bite me? Not that I’m saying either of you should bite me. You definitely shouldn’t bite me. I’m sure I taste terrible.”
“Fuck it,” I said, thirst driving me to grab one of the bowls. “I need water. We’ll just have to hope the transformation heals whatever this is about to do to me.”
I had enough sense to take only a small sip, but even that felt heavenly to my dry mouth and throat. There was no taste to suggest it was anything other than coloured water, my tongue not even picking up whatever had been added to turn it red, let alone any poison it might have been spiked with. Not that I had any idea what poison would taste like, or even smell like for that matter. I’d only have known it had something in it if there’d been something there to detect. Then again, I already knew that just by looking from the unnatural colour, but to my other senses it was no different to any other water I’d ever had. I guessed the colouring was some kind of tasteless liquid food dye, unless that was the poison hiding in plain sight. Only time would tell.
After swallowing what amounted to little more than a drop, I waited a few moments to see what effect the liquid was going to have on me. I was expecting a sudden excruciating pain to take hold in my stomach almost instantaneously, or a feeling of choking or perhaps even to start retching, but the seconds dragged by and nothing happened. Emboldened by that, I raised the bowl to my lips a second time and drank deeply, draining it of its contents.
Zeerin’s eyes strayed back to Hannah, his gaze fixing longingly on her neck. But he held back, probably thinking the same as I was – if the drinks weren’t poisoned after all then maybe the message was just a red herring to throw us off-guard, or maybe it referred solely to the human offering we’d been given and we were right to be wary of feeding on her.
“I see nothing else of interest in this room,” Zeerin said once I’d quenched my thirst. “Time to find out what lies in store at the other end of the tunnel.”
He turned to go. I offered Hannah my hand, growling “Come on.”
“You still need some clothes, Mr Werewolf,” she said, allowing me to help her up. Her eyes slid downwards and she sniggered again.
I’d long since lost any inhibitions around being naked in front of others so I didn’t bother to respond, catching up with the vampire and falling in step beside him. We let Hannah trail behind us, confident she’d follow and not cause any trouble for as long as she remained under Zeerin’s spell.
“So, you became a pirate to rise up against your superiors and take revenge on them for the mistreatment they showed you and the rest of the crew. How did you end up as captain, and a vampire?” I asked, wanting to hear more of his story.
“In good time, wolf,” he answered.
“Isn’t now the perfect time, while it’s still quiet?”
“Perhaps, but it’s your turn first. I believe you have not been entirely open with me.”
“No? Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I think you know something more about this ‘game’ and that thing we encountered than you are letting on. I saw your face when you read the words ‘Level Two’. You realised something, more than just the theory you gave me before about it being a game. Since we weren’t sure if there were any immediate dangers ahead I didn’t push the issue back there, but I think I deserve the truth now.”
“Ignorance is bliss an’ all that. I didn’t say anything before ’cause I’m hoping I’m wrong, and I didn’t want to worry you.”
“I would rather you told me what you think you know than continue to sail unknown waters with no warning of what may lie ahead.”
“Okay, if you’re sure. It’s just, if I’m right about the Slayers building this place to create some kind of real life version of the type of modern games humans enjoy, then they pretty much all end in a big boss fight. And I think I know what the boss is.”
Zeerin stopped walking to study my face, though if he was trying to determine if I was lying, I wasn’t sure why he’d think I’d be making it up. Maybe he just wanted to see how sure I felt about my theory. And deep down in my gut I knew I was right.
“That creature,” he hissed, once he was satisfied with whatever he’d been searching my features for.
“Yeah. I think we were meant to encounter it in this early level but the Slayers wanted us to get away. If they are setting us up for a final boss fight against that thing then we’re going to have to face it eventually and either defeat it and beat the game, or die trying. One way or another I think it’s going to come to that, and they’ll probably lock us in another chamber with it so there’s no way out of the fight.”
“This is insane. I still don’t see their reasons for creating this game in the first place, but if you are right then how can they possibly expect us to have a chance at beating it? We barely escaped the first encounter with the creature. There is no way the two of us can fight against it and hope to win.”
“We probably aren’t meant to win. If the group of them responsible for this are getting off on it, they probably just want to enjoy our suffering through the levels they’ve created until we reach their bloody finale. We might not even reach the end. They might be happy to let us die to something else instead, if we fail to beat whatever challenges are still to come.”
The vampire hissed again. “I don’t like this. Our lives, our fates, in the hands of humans. It’s one thing being hunted, but becoming their playthings? If we do make it out alive, they will pay for this.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Hannah asked, interrupting us.
“Nothing for you to worry about,” I answered.
“You were just making it sound like we’re in a video game or something. But that’s crazy, right?”
“Be quiet,” Zeerin commanded her, and she instantly fell silent.
We resumed walking until we came to what appeared to be a side passage or chamber. It was closed off but there was clearly another panel set in the wall, with a lever that presumably operated the mechanism to open it.
“What do you think, should we investigate inside?” the vampire asked me.
“I don’t know,” I answered. “I guess the Slayers want us to go in there since it looks like they’ve made this one easy to open, but whether that’s because it’s another trap or just part of the level who knows? We have
n’t encountered any enemies in this level yet, other than that creature, so I’d expect there to be another fight coming up. There could be something lurking behind there.”
“Then we leave it for now. We can always come back,” he said.
“Yeah, that’s probably the safest option.”
We reached another door at the end of the tunnel. This one was also closed and had a lever to operate the sliding panel. I assumed that meant one door led to the next part of the level and one was a trap of some description, but there didn’t seem to be any clues as to which we were supposed to go through. All we could do was try one of them and hope we made the right choice, so we opted for the one at the end of the passage, since we were already stood in front of it.
Zeerin pulled the lever and the door ground its way upwards. There came the wet, tearing sounds of flesh being ripped apart and the cracking of bone, and I caught a glimpse of movement in the gloom on the other side, even before the panel had completely slid up. With a sinking heart I realised we’d probably made the wrong decision. The vampire must have sensed the same because he drew his cutlass and took up a fighting stance, while Hannah stood back, wide eyed as she picked up on the apparent danger from our reactions.
The smell of death grew stronger still as the musty air of that chamber reached our nostrils. More undead lurked within, the now open door revealing them to be hungry ghouls fighting over scraps of rotting flesh. I got the feeling they’d been starved and then thrown a few small chunks of meat to drive them into a frenzy as we drew closer, and in such a state even Zeerin’s cold, dead flesh might seem appetising to them. Mine and Hannah’s living bodies were certainly fair game, and with hunger ruling them I doubted they could be reasoned with. Allies or no, in that moment I was under no illusion as to what status I currently held in their eyes: I was nothing more than prey.
As one, the pack of ghouls ceased their squabbles over the scraps of flesh and turned their skull-like faces towards us. Greying skin stretched tight over skeletal frames made them seem like grotesque statues for the briefest of moments while they stood completely still as if frozen in time, fixing us with an intense stare that burned with a hunger as powerful as my own was becoming. There was something animalistic about them and if they’d still had noses I would have expected to see them twitching in response to the tantalising scent of fresh meat, but there was only the hole in the bone where the nose should have been.
