The Enemies of Vengeance

by P. A Ross

  He then got into the front seat of the car, the mother in the back and his sister got into the driver's seat. She u-turned the car around and drove out of the prison complex, joining into the rest of the morning traffic.

  I figured if I followed him for long enough, the opportunity would come up for my revenge. I thought Kieran would probably go out for a drink to celebrate his release at which point I would confront him and take my final vengeance. I had killed his dad and brother, but I would probably be happy with just giving him a severe beating to make sure he left Giles' and my family alone. I didn't want him seeking any revenge of his own.

  I followed them through the city, expecting them to be heading back to their house for a welcome home party, but the car spurred off the main road in another direction. I followed a few cars back as not to give the game away. We reached the edge of the city when the car turned into a cemetery and parked up. I followed in and parked a few rows back.

  The car park only had a few cars in it. A hearse and a few other black limousines were parked up nearest to the pathway. Through the grave stones, I could see a gathering of black-clothed people around a grave and a priest in his white cloak.

  Kieran, his mum and sister, left the car and walked through the line of graves, skirting around the mourners. I left my car and followed on as a blue pickup truck drove in and parked up near the back.

  There were a few trees scattered through the graveyard and couple of large stone tombs that I kept concealed behind. The grey clouds had followed us from the prison and raced overhead, blowing the branches of the trees and scattering the leaves over the graves.

  I followed them on, the wind blowing the women's hair over their heads. They brushed it back as they picked their way through the gravestones. They walked up to two more women in their twenties. Both of them dressed up in party clothes like his sister. Between them, a young man dressed in a black suit sat in a wheelchair in front of two newish headstones. The women were holding wreaths and opened their arms to Kieran as he approached. They all hugged him and kissed him on the cheeks. Kieran knelt down in front of the wheelchair and hugged the young man, who didn't respond but just fidgeted.

  I realised it was the rest of his family, his other two sisters and his twin brother Liam that had been paralysed by Giles's mother in the car accident. The incident that had sparked my dark journey.

  His sister handed him one of the wreaths, and Kieran went to a grave and placed it on top. His other sister handed over the next wreath which he put on the next grave. He stood back, in-between them all, and started to cry. His sisters cried and comforted each other with arms wrapped around one another and tissues being handed out.

  I couldn't see the names on the graves, but I knew it was his father and brother, both of whom I had killed. At the time, I felt no remorse for their killing; in fact, I had swelled with satisfaction at their deaths and of my revenge.

  Even though I had later considered their deaths a step too far, I had justified it to myself due to their threats of them burying me in a shallow grave in the woods. Although I had gone there with the intention of revenge, I hadn't been certain about killing them until their father had threatened me. I had no choice but to kill them in order to protect myself.

  I had wanted to march up the stairs and kill their sisters and mother. Thorn had stopped me in my bloodlust. As I stared at them crowded around the graves of their father, husband and brother; I felt regret and I was pleased Thorn had prevented my path of destruction.

  But I could also remember all the horrible things the O'Keefes had done, including the O'Keefe sisters who had attacked Giles's sister. Also Kieran had just come out prison for attacking Giles's father but murdering them was not the answer. Seeing their grief at the loss of their family, made me understand they were just ordinary people, although not very nice people. Due to my changes through the vampire formula, I knew they were more human than me. I had no right to be judge, jury and executioner. I should have only scared them or found a way of bringing them to justice, regular human justice, not paranormal rage.

  They had suffered enough, but I did have to be sure they would not come after anybody else. I had to make sure they would leave Giles's family alone and any of my relatives who still lived in the area. I could pick and choose my time when to ensure they left my family and friends alone, but now at the graves of their family was not the time or the place. I would give it a day, and then find Kieran by himself to make sure he understood.

  I was about to leave the O'Keefes to their mourning when I heard a rustling in the leaves. I sniffed at the air and a strange musky smell wafted through. It was a smell I'd been told to remember in case I ever came across it again.

  The first time I had smelt this was in Max's diner on the route to Seattle from Las Vegas. It could only mean one thing, a werewolf was nearby. I took in a big breath of the musky air.

  I scanned the area looking for the possible source of the odour. I worked out it must be blowing from upwind, and the wind was blowing across the graveyard from the car park and towards me. I peeked my head around the tree and saw two men walking across the cemetery.

  One man was mid-height just under 6 foot with brown curly hair. The next man was more slender but taller, about 6 foot with a hoodie pulled up so I couldn't see his face.

  They walked towards the O'Keefes, and Liam stopped fidgeting and rocking in his chair. He said something to Kieran who stepped out to stop the men in their tracks.

  The man with the black hoodie stepped forward and shoved Kieran back into his sisters. I decided to get closer to hear what they were saying. I moved between the gravestones trying to keep covered by the trees and the tombstones. One of the sisters noticed me but said nothing to the others.

  Being closer, I could see the detail of the man with the brown curly hair. The man sniffed at the air and glanced around. I ducked back behind the tombstone as he looked over in my direction. I looked back again after a moment. He had a thick forehead and eyebrows that met in the middle and small brown eyes.

  I had a flashback to the warehouse fight against the Hunters where Thorn, Max and Cassius had come to my rescue. On that night, Max had battled with another werewolf. I remembered his face and knew he was the same man now talking to the O'Keefes.

  The werewolf man was sniffing the air and then grabbed the other man on the shoulder. I was now close enough to hear them.

  "There is a vampire nearby," the man said.

  Kieran staggered back. "They are real then. We thought, we thought Liam had gone mad."

  The man with the hoodie pulled it down and turned to face the curly haired man. "Is it him?"

  "Yes, I remember his smell from when he was held prisoner by the Hunters."

  The younger man scouted around. He had short light brown hair and stubble. I recognised the features but something didn't seem right. The person I knew was shorter and younger.

  I knew from reading the files we had stolen from the Hunters base, that Giles was the apprentice of a werewolf, and that he was taking a formula, the original werewolf formula my dad had worked on before moving on to the vampire formula. From that information and the familiarity in the features, I knew it had to be Giles. Although he was much taller and more mature than when I last saw him. But then again so was I. Sooner or later we were going to run into one another.

  "Jon, show yourself. I know you are here. You have come to finish your revenge, but it is I who shall have revenge today. Not just on you for your cowardice, but also on the O'Keefes. You had no right to kill them, that was my right and my right only. You stole my revenge, and I will make you suffer."

  Kieran stepped forward again, his face red and his fists pulled up. "No one will be taking revenge on us again. I will kill you. I will kill that bastard Jon if he shows his face. I don't believe any of this bullshit about him being a vampire. This is just some sick game the two of you have cooked up."

  His sisters grabbed him, but he wrenched free and strutted towards Gi
les. He threw a punch at Giles's head, but Giles blocked it with ease and counter-punched with enough force to knock Kieran off his feet, landing him on the graves of his brother and father, crushing the wreaths he had laid.

  "Stay down, you idiot, your time will come."

  I couldn't decide what to do, should I confront him and try and talk him around or get away from this place. Any movement would alert them to my presence. Out in public and during the day, I doubted they would want to fight. I stepped out from behind the tombstone and strode across.

  "It's no game, Kieran. Ask your brother Liam, he saw everything the night I slaughtered your brother and father. I only regret that you weren't there."

  As I walked across the graveyard, Liam started to fit in his wheelchair. His sisters hugged him, trying to settle him down. Kieran scrambled to his feet and charged. He scooped up a brick and chucked it at me. I ducked out the way and waited until he was upon me with fists swinging. I swayed out the way of a strike, grabbed his arm and then turned around, threw him over my shoulder and twisted his arm to hold him still, putting pressure against his joints.

  "Kieran, stay still you are in great danger. I am going to let you go, then I want you to take your family and get away from here as quickly as possible."

  Kieran struggled and pushed against my grip, but I twisted his arm further sending him into yowling pain. "Kieran, you have to trust me. Giles wants to kill all of you. He's a werewolf."

  "You are both bloody mad. I don't believe in any of this. I don't know how either of you are suddenly so big and strong, but I certainly don't believe in things that go bump in the night. You've been taking steroids or some such stuff."

  "I don't care if you believe me. You've seen the change in us, and you saw how easily both of us have beaten you. Regardless of what we are, he is going to kill you. He is going to kill your sisters and mother. So do us both a favour, get up and get the hell out of here."

  "Why the heck do you care?"

  "I think your family have suffered enough. I took my revenge in the death of your brother and father, I realise now that was a step too far. Stop arguing with me and just get up and go."

  Giles stomped over. His forehead scowled into his brown eyes and his face redden. His short light brown hair bristled up, and his fists swung at his sides as he marched over the graves. "Jon, let him go, he's mine. I will decide what happens next to him and his family. After all, it was my father he beat up, it was my sister they attacked, and it was my mother that got sent to prison. All that happened to you was a brick through your window. You have no right and no understanding of the hell I have been through."

  Giles pulled up his sleeves, laying bare slash marks across his wrists. I remembered my dad saying he tried to kill himself in the bath rather than facing any more bullying at school. He had been committed to a psychiatric hospital for his own protection.

  "Giles, I understand. You did have it much worse than me. But after what I saw them do to you and your family, I was terrified the same would happen to me. I know it doesn't make it right. And I am sorry I never made it to your mum's court case. But I got myself into trouble in London, and it was a situation I couldn't get out of."

  I let go of Kieran's arm and stood up to face Giles. Kieran skirted around us both and scrambled back to his family.

  "I know all about what happened to you in London. I've heard about you releasing the vampire from her prison, stealing the formula, killing the gang, and then your return to Leeds where you stole my revenge from me."

  Kieran's family started to move away from us as I engaged Giles in conversation. I had to keep him talking to let them escape.

  "So you understand, as soon as I could come back and put things right, I did."

  The werewolf man with Giles blocked the O'Keefe's escape. He snarled at them and Giles spun around. "I never said you could leave, stay. I haven't finished with you yet," he shouted and pointed at them.

  "Giles, talk to me, forget them, they are insignificant compared to us."

  Giles shoved me back. "Stop trying to save them to keep your revenge to yourself, just like last time." Giles turned back to the werewolf man. "Norris, don't let them go."

  The sister with the leopard skin shirt stepped in front of Norris. Her hand was on the furry bobble on her fake Gucci handbag. "Let us pass, I have my hand on a rape alarm, if you stop us I will pull it, and all those people at that funeral will look over," she said, looking at the group crowded around the graveside, just by the car park. Norris glared at the group of mourners and back to Giles. "We can't attract attention to ourselves attacking a grieving family. There will be plenty of time for you to take your revenge."

  Giles nodded to Norris and then turned back to me. The O'Keefe family skirted past Norris and into the car park.

  "Are you happy they got away? It makes no difference, I know where they live. Just as you do. But for now, I shall satisfy myself with taking my revenge on you. Just two blokes fighting won't cause the same attention as a rape alarm from a young woman. You traitor, you coward, you bastard."

  I held my hands up to try and appease Giles. "I am sorry for what happened to us when we were at school. I'm sorry I never came to the court case. But I am not sorry I took revenge on the O'Keefes, as I did it in your name. I am sorry I killed them but not the intent of the revenge. They left me no choice."

  "But you denied me my revenge. I wanted to see Patrick's face when I took his life. It was always him that made our lives a misery. It was my revenge, not yours."

  "I said I was sorry. But how was I to know that you had hooked up with the Hunters and become a werewolf's apprentice? My own life had taken such a weird path. It had never occurred to me that you would also be capable of revenge. But don't you think it's an amazing coincidence that we have both got involved with the same group of people, even though on opposite sides."

  "It's no coincidence. These people rescued me from the psychiatric hospital. They trained me and gave me purpose. And they chose me because of what you had become."

  "So they gave you the formula to beat Thorn and me."

  "Yes, they needed to find a way to stop you. The only thing capable of beating a Dragan or a vampire is a werewolf. They knew from talking to me in the hospital that I wanted to find you to take my revenge at your betrayal. So we came to a deal. As you can see, I'm stronger than before, and I have been trained to fight vampires. You are no match for me."

  "So your formula is transforming you into a werewolf as mine is transforming me into a Dragan."

  "No. It has made me stronger, it has made me faster, and it has improved my senses, as the transformation does to anyone when they transform into a werewolf and back again. But it will never give me the permanent powers of a werewolf. Only the bite of another werewolf can do that. I will always remain human, although stronger than most whereas your formula has stopped you being human. I will be doing the world a favour when I destroy you. Vampires and Dragans have no remnant human left in them. Whereas werewolves are human most of the time."

  "So you're in league with the Turned and the Hunters, trying to find the formula, trying to understand how it's changed me so they can have the power. Don't you understand that there are too many Turned vampires in the world and they are bloodthirsty? We can never let them have this power. Otherwise, all humanity will be at risk."

  "Whereas you want to keep the power for the Dragans and make those who they enslave suffer. I will help them destroy the Dragans, and I will be there to ensure the formula is used properly, so the Turned are controlled and their suffering eased."

  "You're wrong. They are using you to get to me. Once you have completed your mission, you will be discarded and killed. They don't want anyone watching over them in their New World order."

  Norris walked over and stood behind Giles. "Stop the chit chat. You've had a chance for a proper reunion. Do as Bramel ordered and kill him."

  Giles gritted his teeth together, clenched his fists and growled at me, the
sideburns on his face bristling up and hair standing on end. He was summing up his werewolf strength in his human body.

  But I was part Dragan. I was a hybrid. I was sure he couldn't be strong enough to beat me, but there were two of them. "Giles, don't listen to him. I am your friend, remember all the good times, playing video games, and watching films together. I don't want to hurt you. I am half Dragan already. Please just walk away."

  "I never walk away, not like you do, not like you did at those school gates."

  He raised his fists and front kicked. He caught me by surprise, and I stepped back enough to avoid its full force. But I tripped over a gravestone and stumbled back a few paces.

  A roundhouse kick flew in from the left. I swung my shin up to block it and then raised my hands to deflect a right hook. I lashed a fist out to gain some space, and Giles darted out of the way. He swung in another punch from the left and caught me on the chin. It whipped my head back, and I spun backwards and scrambled away.

  He bore down on me, but this time I was ready. I took the attack to him, doing a leaping spinning kick. He blocked it, but the power behind it was enough to send him sprawling to the floor. He rolled over and stood back up with fists clenched in the guard position.

  I placed my fists up by my chin as well and shuffled forwards, remaining light on my toes. We exchanged kicks and punches, blocking and counter attacking. They had trained him well, and he was definitely stronger and faster than the average human. Better than the Hunters that I had fought. But in his human form, he still wasn't as fast as a Turned or as strong as a werewolf like Max.

  I gauged his strength and speed, looking for an opening, a way in which I could stop him without hurting him too much. Plus Norris was on guard, ready to join the fray if I did too well. I had to find a way to stop Giles and get past Norris. I blocked a few more punches and managed a few body shots around his kidneys, which slowed him down. Giles winched and backed away from me. "Norris, give me the injection."

  "No, it's too public. You will just have to fight man to man. Now find some courage and fight him like I taught you. Remember how he betrayed you. Let your rage fuel you."