by Nick Stead
“It was during this time that I met the Lady Charlotte, and in her I found something I never thought to discover for myself. I meant to capture her as a hostage to ransom when I first came across her in the town we’d come to loot, but instead she captured my heart with her tender kisses and gentle nature, so different to the many women I’d lain with over the years. There was a strength to her too that I admired and the bravery she faced me with when first we met was the rival of my own. From that first encounter I wanted her, but it was not to be. We met in secret a few times yet it couldn’t last, for she was a lady and I was but a humble pirate, captain or no.
“Then came the second moment in my life that would change everything, one night in Port Royal. The harbour was still a safe haven for pirates at the time and there was beer and women aplenty. I was just looking for some female company to console myself with since I couldn’t have the Lady I truly wanted, but instead I found him. Or perhaps he found me; I’m still not sure, even now. All I know is, when I saw him sat drinking alone in the tavern we briefly locked gazes and something drew me over to him.
“The last thing I expected was for him to address me by name. He told me I shouldn’t be so surprised, that my deeds were not going unnoticed and I was becoming infamous across the Caribbean. It was exactly what I wanted to hear, my ego rising up like some great feline rubbing against his honeyed words and sealing my fate before he even made me his offer. Maybe if I hadn’t allowed myself to be so taken in by his praise I would have considered his offer more carefully, but in my arrogance I only wanted to see the gifts in this power he promised to grant me, not the curse that came with it. I wouldn’t hear of the price I would have to pay, thirsting only for the immortality and greater strength he said he could grant me.
“There was something I would have to do for him in return, of course. Such a blessing as I believed it to be did not come freely and it was no surprise he’d want something from me. I learnt about the Slayers that very night as he explained to me the dangers the undead faced, and how they’d been on his trail for some time. They were closing in and he needed safe passage to new lands, believing there to be places overseas which were still free from the Slayers’ grasp. But he was wary of allowing a human crew to take him, even with them all placed under his spell, so he’d been looking for a skilled seaman worthy enough to turn and strike a bargain with.
“The threat of the Slayers was nothing to me. Every pirate lived under the hangman’s shadow, knowing someday they’d face the noose. What were the Slayers to me but another type of executioner? At least as a vampire I had a chance at immortality if I could just stay ahead of my enemies, and did so great a man as I believed myself to be not deserve such a chance? So we struck what you might call a devil’s deal, but he wouldn’t give me his cursed blood until we’d taken him safely across the sea, confident the promise of vampirism would drive me to uphold my end of the bargain. And he was right. I had just the right level of ambition, pride and ego he’d been looking for, and the skill needed to navigate the seas. All that remained was to convince the crew to go along with this venture, but with the vampire’s power at our disposal that was easy enough.
“The voyage was successful of course, else I would have faded into the pages of history like all the mortal pirates of the time. I had to give up my crew while the vampirism took hold but I was lucky my sire watched over me while my body entered a corpse-like state, until the night I rose as one of the undead, never to walk in sunlight ever again. He taught me to adapt to my cursed existence but once I learnt to manage my hunger I left him to return to the waves of my mistress, who called to me as powerfully as ever. I raised a new crew and enjoyed a few more years as a pirate, before piracy died out and a new age began.
“Those years were better than ever, and I dared to dream that what could not be as mortals might be possible for the immortal creature I’d become, and so I returned to Lady Charlotte one last time. But I should have known she would never make the same choice I had. She couldn’t live as a monster, feeding on the blood of innocents for all eternity, for that was what I had become, even if I couldn’t see it myself until she made me see the truth. And she still couldn’t be with me as a human. I could have forced vampirism on her anyway but I cared too deeply for her to turn her against her will, and I respected her too much for that.
“It was on the night that we parted that she gave me this gem as a gift, and I have worn it to remember her by ever since. For a while I continued to hope we’d find a way to be together, but as the years stretched on my hope began to fade, though my longing still burns as strong as ever.
“There are times when I think it might have been better to remain mortal and embrace the inevitable end at the hangman’s noose awaiting me, after everything I’ve done over the centuries. But it’s too late to go back now.”
Silence fell, Zee’s eyes taking on a faraway look as if he’d fallen into the past he was recounting for me. My mind was full of pirates, imagining I’d travelled back with Zee to that age humans continued to be fascinated by centuries later. I’d certainly spent my fair share of days playing pirate in my human life. But my hunger would not be ignored for long and it brought me back to reality with that unpleasant, nauseating sensation of an empty stomach.
“So what’s your story, Hannah?” I asked the human, trying to find a new distraction from that demanding ache in my belly. “Where are you from?”
“Tamworth,” she answered. “It’s near Birmingham.”
“I wonder if that’s where we are now; somewhere near Birmingham.”
She shrugged. “How long have you been a werewolf?”
“Not that long, believe it or not. It’s not even been two full years yet, though I don’t think I’m far off the second anniversary of the night I was bitten now. I’ve lost track of time.”
“What’s it like?”
I paused, wondering how to put it into words for a human. After a moment I simply replied “Lonely.”
“Don’t you have family? Aren’t there others like you?”
“I had to leave my family. There’s no other werewolves; I’m the last as far as we know. Other than vampires like Zee, I haven’t had much in the way of companionship since being bitten.”
“I don’t think I could choose to leave home; I’d miss my family too much.”
“It was the only way I knew how to keep them safe.”
“Vampires and werewolves exist, and these people you keep calling Slayers. Are any of us safe?”
“There aren’t so many vampires left now either and the Slayers aren’t usually interested in other humans. I guess you must have just been unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to end up down here with us, if you’re sure you can’t think of any other reason why they’d want to capture you.”
“I’ve no idea what these people want with me. Like I told you, I was on my way home from college and then I don’t know what happened, I just woke up here in this crazy horror game. I don’t even like horror all that much.”
“You must just be unlucky then. What do you like?”
“I prefer fantasy. Mum and Dad have taken us on some awesome adventures to castles and renaissance festivals, and I love archery whenever I get the chance. I was supposed to be going to a folk festival this weekend but I guess I won’t make it now, will I?”
“I don’t know,” I answered, trying to see her as a person like my human self once did, instead of the prey my hunger was fixating on. As always, my hunger won out. Maybe there was the stirring of pity somewhere deep within the dark chasm of my being as I attempted to sympathise with her plight, trying to think of her as an innocent girl feeling lost and afraid (as much as Zee’s spell allowed) who may well be doomed to die so far away from home. It didn’t matter whether we were geographically close to Tamworth or not; down there in that cursed place, we might as well have been in another world, so far from everything she’d ever known and everyone she’d ever loved. I really tried to fo
cus on those thoughts and find some shred of empathy left within myself, but my desire to rip into that warm, living flesh, so much more appetising than the rotting corpses I’d been offered up to that point, was just too strong. To my predatory instincts she was just another faceless human, no different to any of the others I’d slaughtered.
“I love Disney too. Why couldn’t life turn out to be a Disney movie instead of a horror?”
For the briefest of moments I was reminded of my sister, but I didn’t need more memories of my human life or thoughts of what might have been to torment me, so I pushed such feelings aside. I didn’t answer Hannah’s question and silence fell once more. My companions took little notice of me after that, even when I took to pacing. The need to hunt was rising and I was struggling to keep control of my bloodlust, which demanded the kill as strongly as my aching belly demanded food. I couldn’t eat the rotting flesh of the ghouls, their bodies in too advanced a state of decay, and the vampire was too powerful a predator to ever become prey. That left the human, my lupine eyes fixing on her as threads of saliva spilled from my maw. A voice continued to nag at the back of my mind that she couldn’t be the kill I so sorely needed, but my instincts were beginning to sweep away my reason as if it was no more than cobwebs; an annoyance but no real obstacle.
Zee was still too lost in his memories to pay me much attention. I could have the girl’s throat in my jaws before he was even aware of what had happened. There was no one to stop me indulging my need to tear into that soft flesh, so tender and juicy at such a young age. Her blood was mine to spill and the vampire was not going to interfere as I satisfied both the hunger in my belly and the hunger for the kill.
A noise from somewhere beyond the room caught my attention, just as I was readying to lunge at my prey. Something was moving around nearby, but the sounds were coming from the other side of the stone wall rather than back down the tunnel we’d already explored. Ears pricked, I strained my hearing to try and determine whether it was more prey closer than I’d hoped, or whether it was another rival to be slaughtered. It was coming from the wall on the left side of the chamber, which seemed to be thinner than the others, judging from the noise leaking through. And I determined there was not one thing moving on the other side, but several.
Excitement filled me at the prospect of an entire group of humans to rip into as I stalked closer to the wall, trying to find a way through. Some part of me knew they could be more zombies or ghouls, but they at least sounded to be human sized, unlike the much larger creature that had chased us at the start of the level. There was no mistaking the difference in size with my sensitive ears and I’d have soon detected if that particular threat was nearby.
“What is it?” the vampire asked, finally returning to the present and walking over to me.
His words were enough to cut through to the more rational part of my mind, and with an effort of will I forced my primal desires for blood and flesh back down into the dark pit of my being with my rage.
“I hear movement on the other side of this wall,” I growled.
“A hidden door we’ve missed?”
“Or a weak point in the dungeon. What if the Slayers are just on the other side of it, and freedom just beyond the room they’re in?”
“It’s possible,” Zee conceded. “But they’ve been so careful to control our every movement through this place so far – do you really think they’d overlook the possibility that we’d find such a weak point? I think it more likely this is another trap.”
“Maybe, but what else can we do? We’ve nowhere else to go, unless there’s something else we’ve missed. But we already gave the place a pretty thorough search. If they hadn’t started moving around behind there we wouldn’t have realised there was anything different about this section of the dungeon to the thick walls we’ve already failed to break through.”
“True enough,” Zee answered, raising his right leg and smashing his boot against the stone in one powerful kick. It crumbled directly where his foot connected with the wall, and a long crack appeared like a scar running across the hole. As he did so, the cameras in the room were crushed as if by an invisible hand, which I guessed was also his doing so the Slayers wouldn’t be able to watch our progress. After all, he wasn’t the first vampire I’d met with telekinetic abilities.
I briefly wondered why he hadn’t used his powers to defeat some of the enemies we’d faced, but the answer was probably down to him not being allowed enough blood to fully restore his strength. Then there came sounds of alarm from the other side of the stone, and such thoughts were pushed from my mind as I prepared myself for yet another fight. The welcome scent of human flesh drifted tantalisingly across the breach we’d created in the one barrier standing between this live action game we’d been thrown into and the real world, where our prey were plentiful. No more would our hungers go unsatisfied: it was time to unleash our bloodlust on our enemies and feast until our bellies were full with meat and blood.
Zee took a step back and motioned for me to finish off breaking down the wall, so I threw my weight against it, trusting him to keep me covered in the moments I’d be vulnerable while I crashed through. Surprisingly we only detected three of them directly behind the stone but they’d no doubt have their guns trained on us the instant the barrier collapsed.
With the damage already done by the vampire and the force of my supernatural strength hitting the wall, it only took one attempt to break through. Fortunately the stone didn’t offer enough resistance to break any bones but my flesh ached with the bruising created by the impact, though it was nothing the transformation couldn’t fix once I’d had chance to feed. I let the pain drive the rage as I allowed it to rise up once more, ready to face the Slayers and any stray bullets the vampire couldn’t stop.
The attack never came, the three humans already fleeing as I rose up from the wreckage of the barrier they’d probably thought themselves safe behind. If they were running I took that to mean the weak wall was an oversight on their part, or surely they’d have been waiting in force for us to come through. My hunger was taking over again with new prey so close by, and I dropped to all fours, intending to give chase.
“Wait,” came the vampire’s voice from behind, so commanding that I did as instructed. To Hannah he said “Come.”
The girl had no choice but to obey while she was still under his spell, getting to her feet and following just behind as Zee made his way into the room.
“Let’s hunt,” I growled, still eager for the kill.
“There’s no sense to go blindly running after them,” the vampire answered, his hunger in check for the time being. Maybe the promise of freedom so close at hand was giving his self-control the boost it needed to keep his thirst for blood from taking over like it had when we’d first come upon Hannah. “We should continue with caution, in case this is all leading to another trap.”
I snarled my defiance but some part of me knew he was right, so I submitted when he hissed and bared his fangs, falling into step beside him and creeping quietly along as we had through the dungeon. My instincts continued to roar at me to give chase to the running prey I could still hear up ahead, and it was only Zee’s presence which kept me from giving into them. I contented myself with the thought that the humans would likely make a stand eventually, and when they did I would be free to slaughter and feed to my heart’s content. Until then I would just have to wait and suffer the hunger for a little longer.
We made our way out of the room we’d broken into, which didn’t seem to be used for much more than storage. It certainly wasn’t the main control room since there were no monitors for the humans to watch the live feed coming from the cameras placed in the dungeon, nor any computers for operating any remote controls they’d rigged in the doors and things. I guessed they would have that kind of set up somewhere since the timing of some doors opening and closing had been too coincidental for them not to be controlling events somehow.
The smell of humans hung heavy on th
e air as we ventured up a flight of stairs and through the base they’d attached to the dungeon, the stone beneath our feet giving way to a more modernised flooring made up of PVC, like the kind they’d had in school. It wasn’t just the scents of the people manning the place, but also the stench of the chemicals they were so fond of and a fainter smell of cooked food and spices which called to my hunger with renewed force. Some of the dishes were unappetising when I’d never had a taste for things in sauces, preferring my meat plain and undisguised by other flavours, but I could detect dishes a part of me still missed since leaving my human life behind, like roast beef and proper gravy made from the juices of the meat. The temptation to run blindly towards the food was almost as great as my desire to run down the living prey in the building, and I struggled with the hunger as we crept on.
My nostrils began to sting from the fumes of domestic cleaning products, so unused to the unnatural scents mankind wreathed themselves in as I’d become. In an attempt to battle the hunger I tried to focus on the unpleasant stench instead, a part of me finding it ominous that it was so strong. It seemed the Slayers had been cleaning recently. Were we heading not to freedom but to our deaths after all? Was this all some elaborate trap, destined to end with all traces of our mortal remains bleached from the face of the Earth? There was only one way for us to find out, the corridor leading from the room forcing us to keep going straight on. We passed a few rooms but they were all empty of people and didn’t seem to hold much of interest, apparently used as sleeping quarters by the humans who’d volunteered to be a part of this ‘game’. I supposed it made sense that they would need a force of them on hand as part of a contingency plan if things went wrong and any of us did escape, and if this place was being run without the blessing of the faction at large they’d need a select group to be trusted with the running of the place in secret.
I glanced at Zee, the grim look on his face indicating he’d probably come to the same conclusions I had, while behind us Hannah’s heart thundered at an unhealthy pace, fear pressuring it to pump ever faster. That surprised me when her ignorance to the true nature of the situation should have kept her free from the same sinister train of thought our minds had wandered down, but I supposed she was probably just reacting to the unknown, and picking up on our own unease.
