Parasite ; Sleeper Cells ; Kingdoms of the Dead

by Ian Woodhead

  Caldis grunted. “Desmonus won’t shield you forever, you mouthy little bitch. You remember that. He’ll soon find another fine piece of firm flesh to change. You need to keep that in mind. You might have been his independent wife before the long sleep but now?” He cast his arm aside. “We have all seen that the beasts are a plague in this land. He can have of whichever piece of young flesh his lustful gaze lands upon.”

  “You are so wrong, Caldis.”

  He laughed again. “No I am not wrong. You are a spiteful, devious hag. The First Father will not put up with your tricks for much longer.”

  The female just smiled, “maybe you do raise some good points, that none of us are indispensable. Does that include your good self as well? I’d wager that Desmonus has already made plans to remove you from the clan .” She leaned towards Damien. “They are in the trees, my new lover,” she whispered. Fall, roll and flee when they drop. I shall keep them occupied.

  She hadn’t opened her mouth to tell Damien the last part. He watched her turn around and placed her body between him and the other one. Cade’s mind was in turmoil, unable to grasp the situation. There was something else too. Damien could feel his body reacting to the woman’s bite. The sensation of cold needles perforating his flesh speared out from the two puncture wounds. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.

  “There are only four beasts, including this one in the vicinity, and you were correct about this place being isolated, there is no other dwellings close by and the road is seldom travelled. I believe that it will serve our needs well.”

  “For tonight, perhaps.”

  She slammed her hands against her hips. Damien had managed to fasten his trousers and while he gazed at the girl’s firm behind, he felt the changes within his body accelerate, his strength returned and his muscles lost their ache. As his mind cleared, Damien realised that a hidden emotion had moved from dormancy. Behind his female shield, he suppressed a smirk, the girl was right about him being different and that disparity sought dominance. Damien welcomed it with open arms, now thankful that Eleanor had opened his gate.

  “Should I be all that surprised to see that you have not changed, Caldis Autick? I must be a fool for believing that our long sleep might have distilled into you just a fraction of respect for our First Father. We would have all died if he had not saved us. Why do you continue to defy him?”

  “I am the Swarmer Clan commander. It is my role to seek an alternative answer to his instructions.” Caldis drew himself up to his full height. “It is not my role to take orders from some ancient fishwife who is more devious than a snake with four heads.”

  The girl just sighed. “And once again, I waste my precious breath talking to you. Even after all these centuries, we still bicker like young children arguing over a tasty treat. Although, I will admit that you have become worse after waking. Could that be because the mighty Clan commander has now just five warriors left to instruct?” She giggled. “Wait, my mistake. Desmonus has even taken three of them to explore that settlement. Oh, you poor sad vampire. He has only allowed you to play with these two slug-brained fools. I pity you, Caldis”

  “You have no idea just how close you are to the truth there!” he cried. “Look at how these animals have spread across the land. It is not natural for them to breed like flies. We are Swarmers, Eleanor. Why are we not with him, in that settlement and feasting on all that bountiful flesh? Desmonus has forgotten why we exist. It is built into all of us to feed and infect until the surviving beasts are back to hiding in their filthy caves.”

  Caldis’s two companions were now positioned in the tree above Damian’s head. Not only could he hear them moving about, he also sensed their excitable thoughts, they couldn’t contain their eagerness to drop on him and drain out the rest of his life-fluid. Just like the other male vampire, those two fools still believed that he was just a walking food container.

  None of the males attempted to shield their thoughts. Oh, they still kept their personal mental static in place to prevent any of the others from worming into their heads but not from Damien. Then again, why should they guard against meat on the bone, an animal awaiting slaughter?

  That beautiful woman stood before him had a clue of his linage, at least she did when his blood hit the back of her throat. Even if Damien was connected to their enemy, he still had the taint of the species running through his veins. He and his sister and always known that something set them apart from everyone else and now he knew, they were just like the four creatures around him, they were night hunters.

  Damien felt his passion ignite at the sight of her well-defined body, they weren’t just hunters either. He shook away the thoughts of sex when he caught the thoughts of the ones above him, they were ready to jump and just awaiting the signal to kill him from Caldis. The man had more important subjects on his mind though. Caldis was to busy scowling at Eleanor.

  He found that his skill of dipping into the other vampire’s mind was becoming much easier. Caldis craved for control of their tiny clan, eating Desmonus before forcing himself on the luscious female currently making Caldis feel so unimportant.

  “You can fuck off,” growled Damien, “She’s mine.”

  Eleanor spun around, “you just had to go and open your big, stupid mouth!”

  He gazed in horror at her crimson eyes, set deep in her bestial face. The sweet looking girl was nowhere to be seen. Damien refused to believe that this nightmarish construct could be the same creature.

  “Stop staring and run!” she screamed, looking up into the tree.

  He didn’t need to follow the gargoyle’s terrifying eyes to knew that they were about to drop on him. Damien jumped back, twisted his body while sensing the two blood-crazed minds snap. He streaked across the grass, heading towards the house, knowing that they were all right behind him and gaining.

  They were all chasing him now. Caldis’s mind, boiling over with fury drowned out all the other thoughts. Damien reached the front door and glanced behind him, the four monstrous creatures raced across the grass. He wrenched open the door and ran inside. Damien knew that it was a futile gesture as he slammed home the two bolts but he figured that it would give him a few precious moments so he could save his sister.

  Damien ran past the open living room door, spotting his Aunt sprawled out along the sofa. He discovered that her life now meant nothing to him; all he desired to do was the get his sister away from this isolated house, to find somewhere safe and work out exactly what they were going to do now.

  Why was he not horrified at the plain fact that he, like those fiends outside, now considered that sleeping woman as food? There were no emotional attachments left; she was just livestock to him now. If that sense of indifference applied to his Aunt, why was he so concerned with saving his sister?

  The heavy wooden door shuddered in its frame, shattering the silence in the house. Damien sensed no change in her sleeping pattern, there was no chance of the new noises disturbing her, his sister was right about her not waking until the morning.

  Damien took his eyes off her exposed thighs, he knew that the males outside would not be able to resist the sight of all that flesh. Her sleeping body would give him enough time to get his sister out of this house. He raced up the stairs and stopped at the top. The door finally gave in to their assault and just as he predicted they all ran into the living room, except for the female. She walked over to the foot of the stair and gazed up, seeking out his face.

  This woman will not keep their lust quiet for long. Search for me, my new lover. We have unfinished business.

  She turned around and disappeared into the living room. Damien hurried along the bedroom, knowing that the female had a point, he didn’t have much time to get her out of the house. He stopped in front of his aunt’s bedroom door, sensing the three vampires below, pulling, ripping and tearing off the remainder of his Aunt’s clothing.

  The woman’s instinct for self-preservation finally rose to the surface and the burst of adrenalin flushed the
drowsiness out of her body. Through her eyes, Damien saw two of them spread her legs wide as Caldis started to unfasten his trousers.

  The last piece of Damien’s humanity screamed out, begging him to intervene and stop them from containing their vile act. He pushed that thought away and left the woman’s mind, cringing when she screamed out. Her noise came to an abrupt end and he guessed that one of one had pushed something into her mouth.

  “She’s just meat,” he murmured, grabbing the door handle.

  Damien pushed open the door and looked at the confusion at the empty bed stood in the middle of the floor. There was no sign of them. The couple had been here, that was obvious from the dishevelled bed covers.

  “Where are you?” he hissed.

  This didn’t make sense. Damien could even hear their thoughts.

  “Elsie!

  He dropped to the floor and checked under the bed before running over to the large wardrobe stood at the far end of the room. He pulled open the doors.

  “What the fuck had happen to you?” screamed his sister. “Get away from me.”

  They were both huddled at the base of the wardrobe, shaking like leaves. It took a moment for him the spot that they were both naked.

  Damien caught his reflection in the small mirror bolted to the inside of the door. He looked back at the crimson eyes staying back at him

  “You need to come with me.” he said.

  Elsie shrank back into the wardrobe,

  “I don’t have time for this nonsense.” Damien reached inside and effortlessly pulled them both out.

  You need to change her right now, my lover. She’ll only want to take the food. Bite your sister. You need to turn her into one of us. It’s the only way that you’ll both get out of here in one piece.

  Damien nodded. He wrapped his hand around Ben’s wrist and dragged him over to the door, fighting off his sister’s futile attempts to stop him.

  “What are you doing, leave Ben alone!”

  He could feel the others now slowly making their way up the stairs. Damien pulled open the door, threw him out into the hall the slammed the door shut, he leaned against the wood, ignoring the man’s frantic beating. Damien growled, feeling his blood lust rise. The sight of his naked sister was making him hard again. He violently pulled her over to him, sunk his enlarged canines into her throat, and drank deep.

  Her warm blood re-energised him, giving him strength and vitality. He sensed the others reaching Ben and dragging his screaming body down the hallway.

  Damien suppressed a quiet chuckle and threw his sister’s naked body over his shoulder. He glanced across at the window on the over side of the bedroom, knowing that time was running out. If he didn’t make use of it, those things would soon be tearing into their flesh. Even with this knowledge, he couldn’t stop himself from opening the door, just a crack. Damien so needed to watch them.

  The blood from Ben’s shattered body had coloured aunt May’s carpet crimson. The four vampires had pulled him apart, fighting over his meat like jackals scrabbling over a carcass. Damien watched Eleanor back hand one of the larger vampires when he pawed at her breasts. His emotions flared up and a low growl left his throat. Damien quickly pulled his head away and clicked the door shut when the female jerked her head up. He ran for the window, feeling like such a fool for staying so long.

  It was time to return home, and time for their mother to explain exactly why she had kept this knowledge hidden from the pair of them.

  Chapter Three

  She twisted her hands into rigid claws and jerked both arms hard against the wall. Darlene screamed out in frustration as her fingers just pushed through the tissue-thin membrane. The thick gelatinous material beneath the skin coated her flesh and dribbled down her bare arms.

  The crimson light below her body grew brighter as she continued to fall down the well. “Help me!” she cried, feeling the freezing cold jellied material slide past her elbows. Darlene clamped her mouth shut and forced her gaze away from the light under her feet. She frowned, watching the stuff around her arms thicken up, she now found herself immobile, unable to move her limbs as the translucent jelly started to harden like resin, Darlene’s velocity stopped and she just hang in mid-air, feeling like a fly caught in a web.

  “I must be dreaming this,” she gasped, desperately trying to hold back the panic. Darlene stared at the curved, red wall in front face. It looked like the inside of somebody’s throat. It rippled out, like a stone dropped in water, and the flesh blistered, the skin expanding and growing towards her. Her struggling only caused the stuff around her arms to tighten. The bubble continued to increase in size, getting closer to her flesh. She choked back a sob as the bubble detonated, covering her face in dark red blood.

  Darlene jerked, she arched her back and shrieked out in orgasmic pleasure as she felt her skin pores opened up and greedily absorbed the fluid running across her body. The influx of alien fluid rushed through her system, pooling at the base of her skull. She jerked again when the stuff stripped off the outer skin of amnesia, protecting her newest mental incarnation. The dozens of her layered past lives unravelled and filled her screaming mind with a thousand fragmented memories.

  The dried fibrous material webbing her limbs, lost cohesion and Darlene dropped like a shell fired from a cannon. The intense crimson light filled her vision, blocking out every other detail. She shrieked out all her past names, each one triggering more recollections from her hidden existence.

  She shot up in bed, opened her eyes then leaned over the side and vomited foul smelling, runny blood over her carpet. Darlene stayed still, allowing her delicate stomach to stop churning before she flopped back into the cold sheets.

  Darlene fixed her eyes on the light shade, even in the low light; she had no problem in seeing the decorative dome surrounding the bulb. The fact that she could see better than a cat in the dark didn’t surprise her, why should it? Darlene now knew of her true nature, her linage and of her future role.

  Darlene frowned, she still felt as weak as a human. “This is not right. I’m still not complete.” Darlene refused to believe that after even after her rebirth she still felt this fragile.

  She coughed, tensing her muscles when another slight spasm rippled through her guts. She frowned, this wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Darlene was reborn. She’d shed all her previous lives and was ready to take her place along side her true husband. “So why the fuck do I still feel so weak? Am I not yet complete?”

  “You left me down there for too long, you bastard!” She growled, feeling her fury rising. His second bite must not be enough to complete her. She’d spent too many lives, living amongst the flock. She still needed more of his blood.

  Darlene growled and jumped out of the bed, “You should have finished it all those years ago,” she shouted, storming over to the door. “Where are you hiding? You can’t leave me half finished!”

  “I know where he’ll be,” she said. “He’ll be downstairs, waiting for me in the kitchen and expecting his faithful wife to go and run into his welcoming arms.” Darlene so desired to do just that. But, there was still a small part of her old self that was a little pissed off and annoyed to find that her husband wasn’t in the bedroom, waiting for Darlene to waken.

  “He promised to embrace me,” she muttered, reaching for the gown that she left on the floor. Darlene stopped and stood back up. No, she wasn’t going to cover her body with that thing. She knew exactly what to wear.

  If her real husband expected her to go looking for him then he could think again, nor would she cower down and beg him to complete the process. She looked over at the window, smiling at the gorgeous sight of the fat pale moon hanging over the rooftops. There were lakes of rich blood pumping through the veins of uncountable people just beyond these walls. All that unsuspecting food, running around the land, actually believing that they were lords and masters of all they surveyed. Of course they believed that nonsense. Their true masters only existed in legends and locked away i
n a deep area of their feeble minds. She’d have the pick of the crop, Darlene would be like a ravenous fox; let loose in a huge chicken coop.

  That though, could wait until she had found some suitable attire. Their new queen desired to meet her subjects in good-looking clothing, preferably items that would not stain easily. Darlene reached her wardrobe and pulled it open, giving at her clothes collection and sighing, wondering what possessed her to even contemplate wearing any of this foul, shabby and offensive fabric. She gazed down at her beautiful body, admiring her full contours. Darlene grew wet at the delicious thought of that huge creature downstairs using her body in so many unimaginable ways.

  “No,” she muttered, trying to calm down. “If my husband really was that needy, he would be here already.” Darlene slowly dragged her fingers down her breasts, lingering on her nipples, imagining his rough hands taking hold and squeezing. Her body responded to her touch by sending sharp needle of pain through her guts.

  “Oh, that hurts.” Darlene reached out and grabbed the door handles, gripping them tight, trying not to fall. She craned her head towards the closed bedroom door, sure that she heard footsteps outside in the hallway.

  “Help me?”

  Darlene’s tear-blurred eyes found the door. As she shifted them down to the handle, just praying to see it swing down. “Please, I’m so to. I didn’t mean to…” An intense wave of solid agony slammed into her guts. She arched her back as the hot pain shot up her spine. Darlene let go of the wardrobe and crashed into the soft carpet.

  The pain just washed through her body and left Darlene feeling as weak as a new-born kitten. “What is wrong with me?” She rolled onto her front and pushed her body up, slowly crawling over to the end of the bed. Darlene felt her hot tears drip from her skin and fall into the carpet weave, not that surprised to see her expelled liquid was the colour of deep red roses.

  “I’m a little shocked to see my new talent works on you as well. I thought it only immobilised the humans, what a sad, pathetic creature you are.”