Scarlet Dusk
Page 8
“Do you really think you can kill him?” she asked, giving Zane’s shoulder a light squeeze.
“Thinking isn’t really my thing, Celine,” Zane answered, steering the motorcycle onto a new street. “I know that that twisted fucker has Serena, and I know I need to get rid of him.” He glanced back, the determination and commitment burning in his mismatched gaze, “I have to kill him!” He turned back and started off towards a lumber yard in the distance, “Besides, we put him in an ykali body. Those things might be ugly bastards, but they’re hardly a major threat when you—”
Zane’s reassuring words were cut short as something—something that cut through the air and howled like a banshee—slammed into the front of the motorcycle. Both Zane and Celine cried out as they flipped over the handlebars and crashed down on the sawdust-covered ground; the upturned motorcycle slamming down on Zane’s right arm. Celine whimpered against the ringing in her ears and the ache of her own impact, looking around for any sign of what had hit them. When she spotted nothing but the silhouettes of stacked logs and machinery looming like waiting monsters ahead of them, she began to crawl towards Zane, hoping to reestablish some of her shattered sense of security by being nearer to him.
A slow, wet, serpent-like chuckle begins to ooze from the darkness that the attack originated from; the sound slowly shifting to a sharp, hissing intake followed by a satisfied, growling sigh.
“That, my dear boy, looked rather unpleasant from my angle,” a serpentine voice chirped from the darkness.
Footsteps…
Celine felt her breath seize in her lungs as her heart rate tripled.
The hollow thud of one step resounded, followed by three sharp clicks. The pattern continued—thud, cli-cli-click; thud, cli-cli-click; a soft, almost inaudible swooshing overlapping the sequence—as it drew nearer; the ghostly outline of their attacker taking shape as he stepped out of the shadows cast by the nearby machinery.
Celine’s eyes grew wider with every step; her body quaking that much harder with every inch that was lost between them.
Another snake-like hiss oozed across their ears, rattling and squealing like a child’s laughter as it grew in pitch. “Oh my! Zaney-boy, you brought an old friend!” The rattling hisses continued, “Well, well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes… well, a sore eye.”
Celine didn’t understand what the still-shadowed figure meant, but she instinctively scuttled away—away from him and away from Zane—in the hopes of opening up enough distance to build up a sprint. She knew that, if he was too close, she’d never get that far.
“Y-you… you remember me?”
Another rattling hiss, “Still a dumb fuck, I see. Yes, of course I remember you, bitch,” she heard a sharp inhale then, followed by a satisfied groan. “I never forget the stink of a cunt, and, trust me, the way you hightailed it the last time I saw you, that pink ass was all the view I was offered. Why don’t you bend over for me and let me see how you’ve grown?” Maledictus stepped into the light then.
Celine whimpered and scuttled back further, “Oh god! Oh god no, please! Don’t let it… don’t let it… don’t let it… Don’t—”
“Shut up, Celine!” Zane growled, looking up at the creature, “That’s the sort of reaction he wants!”
“Oh don’t you just know me oh-so-fucking well, you infected chode-wart!” Maledictus glared down at him with the only eye in his head, the other ocular cavity occupied by a small, reddish orb that was barely big enough to keep the lid held open. His body—no longer simply that of an ykali’s—looked like something out of an exorcist’s nightmares; a massive, hulking frame adorned in bony spikes at every joint perched atop a pair of legs that would’ve been more appropriate on something long-since extinct. As he took another step, the three talons that capped each of his reptilian toes rose and fell—cli-cli-click—against the ground, kicking up more dust and woodchips as they did. Seeing the two of them taking in the sight, he beamed—his face warping into something horrific—and held out his long, clawed hands. “Like what I’ve done with it? Lizard is so last year!”
Zane grunted, clearly still hurt from the fall, “Where is she, you son of a bitch? Where the fuck is Serena?”
“Oh, her?” Maledictus shrugged, “She’s resting; with all the pussy she’s been throwing around lately I haven’t had a chance to—”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Zane roared, starting to drag himself and the motorcycle from the ground.
Maledictus pouted, “Aww, still suffering from some separation anxiety, I see?” He nodded, “Alright, I’ll spare you the creamy details—and I do mean ‘creamy’—and focus on catching up with my favorite fuck-stain.” He absently scratched at his chest, letting a few loose scales rain down in the process, before gesturing to Zane, “How you been? I mean, aside from that fall…” his face shifted and he chattered his teeth as he cocked his head, “Please tell me that that was as painful as it looked,” he let out an orgasmic hiss, “Give me the satisfaction of knowing that you’re in PAAAIIINNNNN!”
Zane steadied himself on his feet and stood the motorcycle up beside him, gripping one of the handlebars to keep it upright. “Sure, dick-cheese. A real pain in the balls,” he lunged forward then, dragging the motorcycle behind him. “But I’ve come to expect that from YOU!” he roared as he jumped into the air and used the momentum to swing the motorcycle—whipping about in his grip as though it were nothing more than a lawn chair—at Maledictus.
Maledictus finally looked exactly like what Zane would’ve imagined.
Before, when he was still nothing more than a curse that shifted Zane’s body whenever he took control, his appearance was nothing more than a warped shadow of whatever it truly was. Since the creature had never attracted much attention or left many alive long enough to pose, he’d never gotten the chance to actually see what he looked like when the curse took hold.
And, for that, he couldn’t be more thankful.
What stood before him now, however, was in every way a product of Maledictus’ vanity; a Halloween costume built of the recycled ykali skin they’d given him. And while Zane was certain that whoever or whatever Maledictus had been prior to that moment, it wasn’t nearly as horrible as what he was facing.
A massive, disgusting, horny creature…
Fitting.
It just made him want to kill the thing all the more, and the high-speed impact of over five-hundred pounds of American engineering straight to his skull seemed like a great way to get the job done.
Swinging the motorcycle for all he was worth, Zane aimed for the center of his bone-crowned head; spotting the gaping wound on the left side of his face.
Serena, he couldn’t help but smile at the sight as he came down on the monster, you magnificent psychopathic bitch. I love you!
Glaring up at him, Maledictus whipped around; a long, thick tail covered in a row of razor-like bone spurs coming into view as he it sliced through the body of the motorcycle. The rear half the vehicle—spitting various fluids from the severed engine and lines—careened off into the distance, shrieking with a metallic exclamation as it crashed into one of the fixtures in the distance.
Zane landed on his feet and glared at the remains of his makeshift weapon before casting it aside. “Like I said: ‘a pain in my balls.’”
“You always were quite lippy about your genitals, boy!” Maledictus scoffed, “You seem quite attached to your balls, yes?”
“Not that you’d know anything about that now, lizard-dick!”
Maledictus hissed angrily, “Haven’t heard Serena complain yet!”
Zane’s blood went hot with rage. “FUCKING BASTARD!”
Eager to see his long-running nightmare finally dead, Zane jumped into overdrive and rocketed towards Maledictus. No matter what he’d done to his new body, the monster was still bound by the abilities of an ykali; he had their strength, their swiftness, and their agility, but there was no way that he could keep up or fight back against a sangsuiga at their speed—a speed that could only be se
en and followed by another sangsuiga; a speed that rendered bullets in flight seemingly motionless in midair. There wasn’t a chance Maledictus would survive—
Unless he was somehow able to also jump into overdrive…
Unless he was to match Zane’s superhuman pace and begin leading him deeper into the lumber treatment yard…
Unless every expectation of his capabilities was suddenly proven wrong…
Exactly like he was doing now.
Oh, sweet, naïve, dumb-as-a-fucking brick Zaney-boy! Always acting on emotion and emotion alone! What a predictable dipshit you are! Maledictus’ voice echoed within Zane’s head as he chased after his target, proving that he also had retained at least some of his psychic abilities; and if he could move like a sang and manipulate minds like an auric he was even more dangerous than Zane could’ve imagined. Didn’t stop to think that me ROTTING in your guts for all those years might actually have offered me at least some benefits upon our parting, did you?
Zane didn’t respond. He couldn’t. Only a perfect vampire—one like Serena with both sang and auric abilities—could send psychic messages while in overdrive. Sound didn’t work at that speed, though this didn’t stop Zane from roaring in a rage as he charged after Maledictus.
Zane rocketed up a steel staircase to an overpass that bridged between three towering wood chippers that formed a triangle grid around a massive pile of woodchips partially covered in a series of tarps. The glimmer of sleeping blades beneath him created a foreboding illusion of a hellish creature’s hungry mouth waiting beneath the long, narrow bridge, and Zane quietly entertained the idea of hurling Maledictus over the railing and into the waiting—
Banking around a corner to intercept his target, he ran directly into Maledictus’ waiting elbow.
Zane pitched back, clutching at his broken nose and stumbling out of overdrive as blood poured down his face; the throbbing burn in his face blinding him. Beyond the rolling, hot waves of red, he caught a blurred glimmer of movement a split second before one of Maledictus’ giant fists plowed into his stomach with enough force to lift his feet off the steel platform. His breathing faltered through his broken nose. His eyes strained against the well of tears that had erupted in response to the assault on his sinuses. His guts folded and rippled within his stomach around the kinetic force still rolling through them. Sensing his body drifting in midair, he made a desperate grab for the railing before he was fed to the sleeping-yet-deadly teeth of the machines beneath them.
His grip faltered on the railing, dropping him another three feet until the fingers of his right hand found purchase on the platform.
Then one of Maledictus’ talons pierced through the back of his palm and through the grating beneath his hand.
“Oh no, no, no, Zaney-boy! You ain’t dying that easy!” Maledictus chided, reaching over the railing and dragging Zane up by his arm and planting him back on the platform. Zane teetered and strained to focus on Maledictus, succeeding in getting a clear view of the monster as both of his hands clapped around his head, boxing his ears and kicking up another round of ringing in his head. Staggering forward, Maledictus maintained his hold on Zane’s head, dragging his face down as he drove his bony knee into his face—sending another wave of agony rolling through his already broken nose—before tossing him back onto the platform. “There’s still so much I wanna show you, old friend; especially now that I’ve got a chance to show you first-hand what I’ve been making you do for years!” He laughed and started towards him, “Like what I’m going to do when I take that whiny cunt down there and our favorite blonde bitch all at once!”
Zane couldn’t bring himself to rage at that point. He could barely see, his vampire senses were warped by the scent and taste of his own blood, and he felt as though the slightest movement on his part would force not only every meal he still had within him but also most of his organs out one of his ends…
If not both.
“You don’t look too good there, little buddy,” Maledictus squatted down in front of him, resting his forearms across his knees and letting his long tail snake between his feet and inch closer to Zane’s face. “And I can’t help but feel like this isn’t at least partially your fault.” He stood, “Now I can’t give you all the credit—that wouldn’t be fair to me, after all—but it was you that underestimated me; if you’d have stopped and considered all the sweet, tender fucking years we’d had together as ‘roommates,’ you might have anticipated what I’d be capable of on my own. After all, you can’t just hand a lizard an evolutionary advantage like me and expect it to remain a simple lizard, can you?” He scoffed and shook his head as his tail began to gently brush Zane’s cheek, “I’m just as fast as you now, and I can—as I’m sure you’ve seen—even manipulate and change my body”—he made a note of framing his face between a square of paired clawed thumbs and pointer fingers—“courtesy of that crotch-sniffing mongrel buddy of yours.”
Zane groaned, fighting to get his bearings; to get back up; to fight. “So how do you explain the—”
“The mindreading?” Maledictus beamed, yanking his tail back and cutting the left side of Zane’s cheek on one of his barbs in the process. “Oh come now, Zaney-boy, I should be allowed at least a few fucking secrets, shouldn’t I? Like what I intend to do to you, for example. Sure, I’ve got all sorts of plans for that red-headed codpiece of yours down there, and all the squirming little dingleberries scurrying about the Vail Clan—oh, the things I’m gonna do to that blue-haired cunt; do you think the carpet matches the drapes with that one?—but you… oh you, Zaney-boy, are in for an outright amusement park of torture. And what makes my plans for you all the sweeter?” He leaned in, gripping either side of the railing in his hands and lowering his body—shoulders popping and unhinging as he brought his face so close to Zane’s he was certain the monster would try to kiss him—so that he could whisper, “I can bring you back from the dead to do it all over again.”
Zane’s eyes widened.
Back from the dead?
He looked up at the monster’s leering face, studying it for any sign of deceit. There was none.
The body at the cemetery… had that been—
Maledictus nodded in response to his thoughts, “It’s taken a little practice, I’ll admit. Whatever I was capable of has grown a tad rusty, but I assure you that I have the means to make the dead walk. And when I’m back to full strength, I wanna try a little trick.” He stood, his shoulders once again popping and grinding as they returned to their sockets, and he made a note of shrugging to show that no damage had been done in the process. “See, I’ve been having this dream—least I think it’s a dream; could be a memory, ‘cept the fucking thing is just so goddam… well, you get the point—and, in this dream-memory-thing, I am causing all sorts of sweet fucking mayhem; like, fucking world changing mayhem. And I like it! And it won’t be long ‘til I’m strong enough to do it here,” he smirked as his tail whipped excitedly back-and-forth, slamming against the railings with each pass. “I’m going to torture, rape, and murder every-fucking-one that has ever meant a damn thing to you, then I’m going to rip you apart piece-by-bitchy-bloody-piece and then I’m going to stitch you back together and bring you back. Again and again and a-fucking-gain, Zaney-boy! And I’m going to get stronger and stronger each time I do; your agonizing deaths and rebirths are going to charge whatever batteries I’ve got waiting inside me. Then I’m going to bring the entire world—vampire, mythos, human, ghost, angel, My Little fucking Ponies, God… all of it!—to their fucking knees!”
Zane groaned and shook his head, scoffing after he’d spit a wad of blood over the edge of the platform, “Obviously putting you in a lizard body was a mistake; same old insanity, half the brain capacity, eh, Mega-dick-face?” He sneered up at the leering monster, hoping that stealing one of Ben’s “accidental” interpretations of Maledictus’ name might spark him to keep talking. Anything to give him just a little more time. “Hell, you were better off sharing a mind with me!”
Zane grinned, fighting through the pain to look entertained by his opponent’s rage. Just like Serena had taught him. “Kinda says something about the dumb fuck you’ve gone and evolved yourself into, huh?” He made a note of mockingly framing Maledictus between a square of paired thumbs and pointer fingers, “My speed, Raith’s transformation, the auric abilities from the land of eerie-mysticism-and-bullshit… and a crippling retardation courtesy of peanut-brain filled to the bursting point with raw, ludicrous insanity and the lingering rage that you still can’t find your dick in that hand-bag you call a body!”
Maledictus’ body shook with rage as he backhanded Zane, sending him skidding across the platform. “THE TWO OF YOU FESTERING FUCKWADS HAD BETTER LEARN TO SHUT-THE-FUCK-UP ABOUT MY DI—”
Zane, though hurting, laughed at that, “The two of us, huh?” He finally mustered the strength to drag himself to his feet—clinging to the railings as he forced his legs to accept the burden of his weight—and narrowed his gaze at Maledictus, “You deceitful cocksucker; all that talk of being with her—all your cocky, arrogant swagger—and you can’t even scare her into fucking you, can you?” He cackled, nearly toppling over under the force of his own laughter. “You… you pathetic little iguana! You’re nothing but a—”
He didn’t see Maledictus coming, but he felt the aftermath as the two of them careened over the railing and slammed into one of the stairwells before chaotically rolling down the narrow, steel column.
Zane groaned, looking up at the furious face of Maledictus when they’d finally come to a stop, “Oh my… did I find a tender spot, princess?” He nodded towards the wound on Maledictus’ face, “Are you still fuming that my girlfriend got to penetrate you but not the other way around?”