Vengeance (Hybrid Book 3)

by Nick Stead

  David was shaking uncontrollably with the pain but he managed another laugh, which only fed my anger. I wanted him to suffer for as long as possible before killing him but there was only so much I could do in full wolf form which my body was finally settling into, with only the teeth of my jaws. My forelegs and paws weren’t designed for swiping like a cat and I had no opposable thumbs for holding limbs to break them. Gripping things in my jaws without doing too much damage was no easy task and my bite would make short work of his body parts if I just set about ravaging his body as I had so many victims before him. Then again, I probably didn’t have the luxury of taking too long to kill him since the Slayers were out in force. But I did have one idea for dragging out his suffering a little longer.

  I placed a paw to his ruined shoulder and dug my claws in as best I could, making him scream again at the pressure on all those damaged nerves already sparking in reaction to the air. My vocal cords still hadn’t quite fully transformed and I was able to snarl “Beg.”

  Releasing the pressure again after a few moments, I let his pain subside just long enough for him to speak. I wanted to hear him beg for his life, to cry for mercy or maybe even plead for me to end the torment, feeling he deserved such treatment after the way he’d let Amy plead with him. But the young man I’d once called friend only laughed again, his hatred giving him strength. So I pressed on the wound a second time.

  “Beg.”

  “Is that all you can say?” he managed during the next reprieve, his breathing ragged. “You can’t even face me like a man, hiding behind the wolf. Monster.”

  “Beg!”

  It took several attempts but finally he began to scream for me to stop, to let him go or kill him and be done with it. I took my paw off the wound again and a faraway look crossed his eyes as he gasped “At least I’ll see her again.”

  “No,” I snarled. “To Hell.”

  Amy was still screaming but I lost myself in the bloodlust once more, savaging every inch of his body until he was no longer recognisable as human. His face was certainly beyond being identified by even the closest of family, bloody furrows running down it and through one eye, his nose and lips. Bones lay shattered, guts strewn around, and more ragged strips of flesh hung from the remains, oozing blood from ruined veins and arteries. There was little hope of him rising from the grave by the time I was done with him, his mortal being lying in too many pieces. I only hoped his spirit was bound for Hell as I’d tried to tell him before ripping the life from his body, so he could suffer for eternity for the innocents he’d tormented and killed for no reason other than to hurt me. He didn’t deserve to see Fiona again in the afterlife.

  Finally I rose high enough from the darkness to refocus on the need to save Amy and was able to growl one last word before the transformation completed, my vocal cords fully lupine and incapable of human speech any longer.

  “Follow.”

  My sister refused to look at me as I led her through the same door the older Slayer had used, the panel having slid open by good luck rather than good design when the button on the little keychain device in David’s pocket had been pressed down, probably while I’d been savaging his leg. But at least she did follow up the flight of stairs as I’d bid her to. We found ourselves in a deserted corridor, though it wouldn’t stay that way for long. I could hear shouting and humans on the move, footsteps coming our way. The fighting still seemed to be going on around the area where the main base connected to the dungeon and I wanted to help my friends, but taking Amy into the middle of a battle would almost certainly get her killed. We needed to stay clear of the fighting if I was going to see my sister safely out of the building as I’d sworn I would.

  I loped off in the opposite direction to the sounds of the approaching Slayers, trusting my sister to continue shadowing me. It took a few twists and turns for me to get my bearing, though at least we were successfully evading our enemies who were surely hunting for us, for why else would they be moving through the base instead of helping in the fight against the others? I dared to hope we might slip by them all without the need for any more bloodshed, much as I would have been happy to indulge my dark desires further. There were still two more specific Slayers I’d promised to kill who I’d yet to find, but my revenge on them might have to wait. Repaying David for everything he’d put me and those I cared about through was enough to satiate the darkness for the time being. I was focussed on saving my sister’s life once more and if that meant staying out of the carnage then so be it.

  Once I began to piece together a rough idea in my head of which section of the base we were in based on when I’d first been through with Zee, I was able to lead us in a more meaningful direction, heading for the exit as best I could while still avoiding the Slayers. But I should have known it was never going to be that easy. I should have known it was only a matter of time before they found us. After all, there were only so many places to run and hide.

  We were already partway along a corridor when a nearby group of Slayers started to come our way, forcing us to turn back and find a different route, only for a second group of Slayers to head us off, trapping us between the two. I realised then I’d forgotten about the security cameras overhead. They’d probably been watching our progress and planning their move all along, knowing their best chance to take me was if they had me cornered with Amy. They knew I’d want to take as little risk of her getting hurt as possible, giving them more power over me than if I’d been alone.

  “Come quietly and we’ll let your sister go,” a woman said to me. Up until that point, I hadn’t noticed any women in the entire place, though whatever twisted reason David had for surrounding himself with only men was anyone’s guess. Maybe he’d thought women were too much of a distraction or he didn’t want to risk more female beauties being disfigured by my ravaging jaws. But he’d been fine with sacrificing Hannah so perhaps there was more to it than that, or perhaps madness needed no reason.

  I growled in response, not trusting them to keep their word. I wanted to tell Amy to keep down but luckily Zee’s hold over her was still strong enough to stop her panicking and she had the sense to try the nearest door. It was open and she was able to duck into the empty room while I charged the group ahead of me.

  A hail of bullets flew my way, some grazing my flesh but otherwise missing their mark. Several found their way into friendly targets, the Slayers apparently too set on killing me to worry about the risk to their allies. Then I was on the woman who’d spoken, crushing the life from her throat in a single bite. I rose from my victim, her ruined neck gushing blood as she gurgled with the struggle to keep breathing and grabbed the ankle of the man next to her, dragging him to the ground hard enough that his head smacked against the floor and knocked him unconscious. The other two blocking our way fell to more bullets as the group of Slayers opened fire behind. I yipped for my sister, hoping she’d realise I wanted her to run while they reloaded, but she stayed crouched in a corner of the room, hugging her knees and keeping her head down. If I’d been human I would have cursed as I turned to deal with the second group.

  They fell to my jaws in much the same fashion as the first but I took a bullet to my left foreleg, the pain of it tearing a yelp from my throat. New agony exploded through the wound where bone shattered into useless splinters, making it impossible for me to put any weight on it. I was going to struggle to run, having to limp on three legs as best I could.

  Amy didn’t come out until the last one died. She still wouldn’t look at me and didn’t say anything about my injured leg, but she continued to follow as we pressed on. In a way I was glad of her giving me the silent treatment, her anger and disappointment in me keeping any questions about the truth of what happened to Dad at bay. Or maybe she was just in denial. Not that I could have answered her in wolf form if she had pressed me for answers, but they were still the kind of questions I wanted to avoid regardless.

  More Slayers seemed to wait for us at every twist and turn after that, though we some
how managed to keep moving without having to engage any of them. As we were nearing the exit, I was forced to take down another group patrolling the area just ahead of us before resuming the fast limp for freedom. But no sooner had they died than we were rounding the corner to find our way blocked by the battle-scarred old Slayer with no fear and seemingly perfect aim, his gun trained on me once more. Somehow I’d missed any warning signs that he was there, like his scent or the sound of his heartbeat or even his breathing, and by the time we were face to face with him it was already too late. Either I’d get lucky again and somehow find a way to take him down before he fired off a killing shot, or my unnatural life was about to end with the squeeze of a trigger.

  I was about to make my move when the man raised his gun so that it pointed harmlessly at the ceiling. He stood aside, gesturing for us to pass him. That made even less sense than him turning on David and I wanted to ask “Who are you?”

  But of course he couldn’t understand my growling so there was nothing for it but to slink past, eyeing him with distrust all the while. I half expected it to be a trick and for him to suddenly turn on us as we passed, yet he made no move to attack either of us and he merely returned to his previous position once we were through, leaving us free to continue down the corridor. Answers would have to wait until the next time we crossed paths. For that night, I was just grateful he’d given us a free pass from the building.

  As we drew nearer to the exit, I heard him reporting the area was clear to someone. Clearly the other Slayers had no idea of his betrayal or at least not all of them – I supposed some of the others might be in on it and there could be some strategical reason for killing David and allowing us to go free on this occasion. Either way, whoever he was talking to seemed to take him at his word because the nearest footsteps I could hear receded, presumably to check some other part of the building. I noticed the security cameras had been disabled around the area by the exit, so did that mean the older Slayer meant for us to escape all along? At least it allowed us to slip out of the building without being intercepted by any more of them and it was only once we were up the stairs and finally breathing the fresh air of the woods outside that shouts of alarm went up from guards stationed out there.

  More gunfire came from behind but they weren’t aiming at us that time. Someone was running up the staircase, panting heavily, and moments later Selina appeared in the doorway. Varin materialised by her side, disappearing again when they laid eyes on the guards coming our way, only to reappear seconds later by the enemies of his mistress. The barghest lunged at the nearest one, razor sharp fangs sinking into soft flesh as the man went down screaming. Bullets couldn’t hurt the shadow creature but one of them screamed over his walkie-talkie for another of their pet spellcasters to deal with it.

  Lady Sarah was the next to appear on the stairs, her lips stained crimson and her eyes alight with that telekinetic power that seemed to have grown stronger since her second resurrection from the grave. More bullets flew towards us but she waved them aside as if they were no more than a swarm of bugs annoying us all with their buzzing, the lead slugs veering off course and thudding harmlessly into the surrounding trees. The Slayers never had chance to fire again, the vampire becoming a blur as she ran at them, sinking her fangs into the first one she came to and drinking deeply to replenish her strength.

  Finally Zee appeared, bringing up the rear. More Slayers were firing at him as he ran and even with the considerable power the three of them wielded, plus Selina’s familiar, the sheer number of humans and their guns kept them from slaughtering everyone. We each had our limitations and there weren’t many chances to feed and regain our energy in the midst of a battle as Lady Sarah had just managed to do. I guessed they’d fought their way out of the base as best they could but had been forced to flee before the Slayers could overpower them. And there was no sign of Gwyn. Either he’d already fallen or they’d had to leave him behind, or it was always possible he’d been able to slip away as well.

  Once we’d regrouped, the vampires killed the remaining guards, Zee running three of them through with his sword and Lady Sarah snapping the necks of the other four. Then we fled as fast as we were able, hampered by my injury as we were and the slower pace of Amy’s and Selina’s human bodies. More shots were fired from behind and Lady Sarah was forced to spend more energy on her telekinesis, sending the nearest humans flying through the air as the demon had done to us. She wouldn’t be able to keep that kind of power up for long without feeding again but it bought us enough time to pull far enough ahead that we were out of range of their weapons. We knew it wouldn’t be long before they took to their vehicles though.

  My ruined foreleg throbbed with greater urgency. Adrenalin had taken me as far as it could but my body was reaching its limits until finally I could go on no longer. I collapsed in the dirt, aching and weary. Blood seeped into the soil around my front paws, sinking beneath the roots of the nearest tree to nourish it with my cursed life and summon the unwholesome things lurking beneath the surface of the earth.

  “On your feet, wolf,” Zee commanded. “We can’t rest yet.”

  I shook my head and laid my head on my paws, making it as clear as possible I couldn’t run any further without actually being able to speak the words.

  “Do you want to save your sister or not?” Lady Sarah asked me.

  “Of course I do,” I growled at her in the wolven tongue.

  Amy finally broke her silence with me then, crouching beside me and placing a hand on my furry back as if I was just a big dog she wanted to adopt as a pet. “Please, Nick, let’s not stop here. I don’t want to die.”

  I looked at her and then turned my amber eyes back to Lady Sarah, since she was the only one who could currently understand me as far as I knew. “You three take her to safety for me. I’m done.”

  “He wants us to go on without him,” Lady Sarah translated.

  “No!” Amy cried. “I’m not leaving you here, Nick. You have to come with us, please. I just want us to go home and be a family again.”

  “Ask her where home is,” I said to Lady Sarah who repeated my question.

  “It’s an area of Doncaster,” she began.

  “Great, anyone know where Doncaster is in relation to here?” I asked.

  Selina closed her eyes as if she was concentrating. “There’s a road up ahead. The three of you must be able to hear it with your greater senses.”

  “What of it?” Lady Sarah replied.

  “If Nick’s too weak to keep going with that wound, maybe we can hitch a lift to Doncaster.”

  “I’m not getting in one of those unnatural beasts the humans ride around in,” Zee answered. “Horseback is bad enough. I belong on ships, not in some metal monstrosity.”

  “Well do any of you have a better idea?” the witch responded.

  “Is it safe to get in the car with a stranger?” Amy asked us.

  I wanted to laugh at that. Of all the things she’d seen over the last few hours, she was worried about the dangers of hitchhiking.

  “The driver won’t harm anyone,” Selina assured my sister. “Lady Sarah and Zee both have the power to hypnotise people into doing what they want.”

  Lady Sarah considered the idea and then surprised me by saying “I am not a fan of these modern transport methods either, but it would seem our best hope of delivering the girl back to safety and losing the Slayers.”

  I’d expected her to be as against the idea as Zee and to deem it too risky to have any contact with humans. But I was grateful she’d seen sense, thinking it was probably the quickest and safest way of taking Amy back home, and it’d allow my body some time to recuperate. So I also growled my approval of the witch’s idea for Lady Sarah to translate. That left only Zee with his reservations.

  “You don’t have to come with us,” Selina told him.

  “And stay out here on my own, hunted by our enemies? We’ve got more chance if we stick together, at least until things quieten down and the Slayers
call off the hunt. Plus I owe it to Nick.”

  “They never call off the hunt, that’s the problem,” I growled to myself. Lady Sarah heard but made no comment.

  “Ah, let’s commandeer one of these things then and be done with it.”

  “Wait, what about Gwyn?” I asked.

  “We lost him in the fight through the building,” Lady Sarah replied. “He was still alive, last we saw. But we know not where he went or whether he successfully escaped like the rest of us. There is no time to go back now.”

  More footsteps could be heard crunching across the twigs and leaves of the forest floor. The medieval vampire was right, Gwyn would have to fend for himself. And as if more guns headed our way weren’t bad enough, the scent of blood and rotting flesh carried to me on the wind. These weren’t just living Slayers coming for us. The necromancer had indeed slipped through the carnage with his or her life and was apparently still raising dead servants to drag us back to the grave with them. We needed to put as much distance between ourselves and the base as possible before the night was through.

  Summoning whatever last shred of energy was left to me, I rose onto trembling paws and started forward again before we were forced to engage with more of our enemies. We almost made it to the edge of the woods without any further attacks, but then the heavy footfalls of a large man circling round started to close in, and moments later he appeared between the trees, gun raised and shouting to his allies “Over here!”

  “Don’t be a fool, Fawcett!” a second voice called back through the woods to him. “There’s too many of them.”

  “Then come help me, you coward,” he retorted.

  To his credit, the man showed real courage as we advanced on him, his feet planted firmly on the ground and his gun unwavering, his bulk making him an impressive figure in the darkness. I was reminded of the bear I’d faced earlier and I couldn’t help feeling a measure of respect for the human blocking our path. But he was still our enemy and sparing him wasn’t an option.