Scarlet Night: The Complete Trilogy

by Megan J. Parker

  “Don’t do that!” He growled, slapping his hand over her mouth and pushing her away before she had a chance to kiss him. His vision cleared and the darkness receded as his eyes sparked with fury and narrowed at her. “If there is one rule that you should recognize it is this; do not touch them! Ever!”

  She pouted and opened her mouth to protest his ruling. Not interested in anything she had to say, he returned his hand to her mouth to stop her voice. Feeling the warmth of her breath against his hand, he groaned and felt his fangs fully extend and winced slightly at the pain in his gums. Eyeing a prime spot on her shoulder, he moved in to pull her collar away; feeling a shiver travel through him as she let out a soft-yet-eager whimper and arched her neck to give him greater access. Moving his hand to her neck, he scratched her to open a gash so that he could drink. She gasped at the process, moaning and writhing as her blood began to seep to the surface and pushed towards him with growing anticipation. Not wanting to let her determine his pacing, he growled and pinned her to the wall to keep her from moving so he could coax his fangs back and calculate how he fed. If he allowed his saliva to enter her bloodstream, he’d risk turning her, and while the beast was giddy at the thought of creating a mindless killing machine solely to kill it, he fought the urge and pulled out the empty vial that he’d brought with him and moved to collect her blood inside it.

  The woman whimpered as he went about the task and tried to push his hand away, “Wh-what are you doing? I want your mouth! Use your mouth! I need it!”

  “Shut up! This is for your safety, idiot!” He held her down long enough to fill the vial and brought it to his lips to drink, finally getting the first drop of real blood onto his tongue.

  Then he stopped.

  He wretched and pulled away, tossing the vial and its contents to the ground and heaving. The blood! It was wrong! Oily and bitter and hot; too hot!

  It wasn’t human!

  He snarled, spitting the lingering offense from his mouth again and again, as he narrowed his eyes at the woman; the therion!

  The beast inside him, robbed of its chance to feed, shifted its focus from drinking her blood to spilling it. Growling, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her against the wall with enough force to chip some of the bricks on the edge. She cried out, her eyes flashing momentarily with her true nature, as she gnashed her teeth at him and began to struggle against his grip.

  “Let me go!” she shrieked, her voice shifting noticeably from her once sensual one to something far more bestial.

  He hissed and tightened his hold, their struggle being spotlighted by his now-glowing tattoos. There was only one truth in his mind; one thing that he needed to focus on…therions were the enemy!

  “Not fucking likely, bi—”

  “Are you enjoying yourself, Zane?” A mocking voice interrupted from a short distance away.

  Keith!

  The unmistakable face of Gregori’s son sneered at him; his greasy blonde-white hair slicked back and allowing the pretentious gaze of his blood-red irises to take the spotlight on his narrow, jagged face.

  Both Zane and the beast within him agreed that their violent focus had a better and more deserving target. Still snarling, he pushed the therion away and spat at her, “Get lost, mutt!” he spat, shoving her to the ground. The faint hiss of a silenced gunshot sounded a split-second before a bullet grazed his shoulder and he let out a loud growl as his body began to shake more. Turning his attention to the still-smirking Keith, he shook his head, glaring at the sleek pistol in his grip and felt his body’s tremors double in intensity.

  He wasn’t going to be able to keep his rage contained.

  Not this time.

  Zane shook his head, trying to hold himself together, “Is this how somebody with a seat in The Council behaves when there are innocents around?”

  “Innocents! Innocents? I see no innocence here! How ‘bout you, girl? Is there any innocence in there?” Keith cackled and drove his gaze into the therion girl, “Come now, my pet! Show our friend what you are! Give him a glimpse of all that you truly can be!”

  Zane frowned and looked over as the girl twitched and her eyes went glassy and empty before flashing brightly with the excitement of an awakened killer and her body began to shift and contort.

  Zane frowned at the scene; something wasn’t right. The way the therion’s expression remained locked on him despite the violent transformation taking place was unnatural. Glancing back, he saw that Keith’s gaze matched her own—his body rigid with focus and determination—and Zane realized that he’d taken control of her body; forcing her to do what he wanted with his aura! Though he couldn’t see it in this form, he guessed that Keith’s aura was extended and holding her mind from where he stood.

  Taking several steps away from the woman as her body’s spasms shifted her into a cat-like beast, Zane reached slowly in his coat to grab his Glock. Seeing the movement through the therion’s eyes, the pair began to cackle as one before a clawed hand shot out at him and snatched away his gun, crushing the barrel and rendering it useless.

  “Th-that”—Zane’s face tightened and he felt a portion of his skull fracture over his left ear—“w-wa—Wwaaahhh!!—was our…” he snarled, pitching his head back-and-forth, and punched himself several times in his left temple, “My! That was my f-f-favorite gun!” he took a step towards Keith just as his right knee turned to dust and he was forced to kneel as a shriek of agony was drawn out. “GAH! FUCKING SHIT! Y-you… g-go-godDAM fucking shit-eatingGGAH!” his other knee gave out and his warping face crashed into the pavement and shattered his nose. A stream of howls and curses—choked and rendered indecipherable by the blood pooling in his throat—streamed forth right before a torrent of blood shot from his fresh bullet-wound as the muscles inflated all at once and rolled him to his side.

  Keith and the therion watched, sharing the same calm expression of entertainment as they took in the show.

  “D-don’t—AHHH! FUCK! Fucking hell!—d-don’t…” Zane whimpered and tried to feed his starving lungs but was throttled on a wave of pain as his spine reformed vertebrae-by-vertebrae. Though there was no air to fuel the words, his threats continued to flow: “… do-don’t you fucking LAUGH at us!”

  Keith chortled and looked around for effect, “Zane—my dear, psychotic friend—are you lost? Who, pray-tell, is ‘us’?” he hauled back and drove the pointed toe of his dress shoes into Zane’s chest, grinning as most of his ribs shattered audibly like the snapping of wet twigs. “Or are you sharing this broken bag of meat you call a body with another? Let’s have a look-see at the damage…”

  Zane’s eyes flashed and shifted—a whirlwind of colors flooding his vision as the night went neon and shifted into a different spectrum—and he could suddenly see Keith’s blood-red aura emerge from his chest like a hungry serpent and writhe towards him. The sight sparked something in Zane and beast, and both erupted into cackles that were funneled through their shared mouth and echoed into the night. Keith’s aura wavered, pausing at the laughter and withdrawing slightly as Zane’s dark-blue aura flickered like a dying flame before erupting into a fiery scarlet.

  Both Keith and his mind-enslaved therion stepped back. “How in the hell—”

  “We’re just FULL of surprises, fucker!” Zane snarled, his aura firing forward and taking Keith by the throat. The symphony of shifting organs and reforming bones reached a crescendo then, and the beast—now fully emerged—stood and sneered. “It’s time we made you pay!”

  Keith gurgled and whimpered as he struggled to breathe through the auric hold the beast had on him. Unable to escape this now hulking creature that towered over both of them with disproportioned limbs that now surged with new muscle, their focus was lost upon seeing the leering, horrific face that was almost entirely occupied by a twisted, fang-filled grin and a pair of gold eyes that took them in with malice and hunger.

  “We will kill you! We will make you suffer!” His voice rolled past blackened lips like magma as the auric
tendril around Keith’s neck playfully rolled at the base of his skull, “And in your dying moments, we will RAPE your every thought with torment until all there is left of your existence is USSSSS!”

  With that, the beast invaded Keith’s mind with its aura and ensnared his mind, crippling his hold on his motor functions and auric control.

  Released from his hold, the therion’s eyes widened as control was returned. As her awareness settled in, her gaze locked on the monster before her and she whimpered and fell back, scrambling to get away.

  The beast growled, watching the therion flee the scene and disappear in the distance before grinning wickedly and shifting its gaze back to Keith.

  “We can SEE inside your mind, Keith! And, soon enough,”—he traced a clawed finger across Keith’s sternum in a slow slicing motion—“we will see inside the rest of you!”

  Another bout of cackles issued.

  “I…” Keith growled and narrowed his eyes, “… I got something to show you, then, you abomination!”

  The beast’s hold on Keith’s mind tightened as all defenses dropped and a slideshow of memories began.

  It was Gregori!

  He was alive!

  Alive?

  How…?

  The darkness surrounding Zane’s mentor shifted and waned as Keith and the shadowed forms of several others emerged on the scene.

  Echoes.

  Fragmented words; shouting.

  Gunshots.

  Blood.

  “DO YOU SEE NOW, ZANE? ARE YOU DEEP ENOUGH YET? HAVE YOU HAD YOUR FILL?”

  The slideshow looped and reeled, reflecting Keith’s memories of Gregori’s death—his murder!—in all corners of Zane’s mind.

  “YOU PAID TO SEE THE SHOW, ZANE! WOULDN’T WANT TO HOLD ANYTHING BACK!”

  The beast’s aura retracted, releasing its hold on Keith and fleeing from the horrific visions. Head reeling, the ground came up to meet it and Zane was distantly aware of the cold pavement and his hot tears scorching down his twisted face. Though the tie had been cut, Keith’s visions burned and echoed inside him as he was forced to relive that night with the new truth over and over and over…

  Keith had killed his own father!

  He had known Gregori’s death wasn’t an accident, but this!

  “What’s wrong?” Keith snarled, rubbing his throat as he spit up a mouthful of blood on him and pulling out his gun once again, “Too shook up to fight?”

  “W-we are NEVER too shook up to fight, asshole!” Zane roared, launching himself at Keith and swinging his massive arm in a wide-arc at Keith’s face.

  The vampire growled and vanished before the attack could land. Not about to let his enemy elude him, Zane jumped into overdrive as well, his body and mind working exponentially faster to allow for superhuman movement that was otherwise unseen by the human eye. Keith’s eyes reflected his rage as Zane met his pace, rendering his gun useless as the two moved faster than any bullets could.

  Without knowing it, Keith had given him the advantage.

  Though his curse was crippling to his mind, his body’s ability was nearly limitless! As blow-after-blow was landed, Keith’s speed began to waver; his energy rapidly dwindling.

  And the beast was only getting started!

  Overdrive was just another tool to kill, and the curse made killing very simple. Control and reason were another story, however, and as his excitement and cockiness rose, his focus dwindled until…

  Keith’s aura shot out like a freight train that caught Zane square in the chest, throwing him out of overdrive, out of the alley, into the street, and embedding his body into the side of a parked car.

  The car’s alarm blared and pierced Zane’s ears; filling his head with chaos. He struggled to block out the noise, crying out in agony as his senses were flooded. His massive body pitched and writhed in an effort to free itself from twisted metal as his warped tattoos began to glow brighter. Prying himself free, he stumbled forward and worked to steady his footing. The alarm’s racket continued, and with every focus pulled towards the repetitive shrieks and flashing lights he lost sight of the rest of the world.

  Again and again he brought his fists down on the car in an effort to silence it, but his actions only served to alter the pitch and tone and drive his rage further.

  When he was certain that the alarm’s howls would drag him over the edge, a red flash of light emerged and tore the battery from the hood—stopping the racket in an instant—and slammed it into the side of his head.

  Dazed, he turned his attention to Keith as his aura retracted and he advanced casually towards him.

  Zane let out a loud howl as he shot forward.

  He needed to kill!

  4

  Chaos

  “Serena!” Zoey’s eyes went wide as her body tensed, “We have to get to the city! Right now!”

  “Whoa! What’s the sudden rush?” Serena frowned, eyeing the auric skeptically, “Won’t Zane have a shit-fit if we don’t get back to the clan?”

  “That’s just it! It is Zane! He’s… he’s trapped in a… he’s in a fight! He’s in the city and… oh god! We have to hurry!” Zoey stammered.

  Serena frowned, hearing the desperation and panic in Zoey’s voice and nodded. “Hold on, this isn’t going to be pleasant!” she warned, grabbing the auric by the wrist and rocketing down the street in overdrive. Though the added weight made her movement sloppy and lagging, they were still able to make the journey in only a few seconds. Seeing they were close, Serena shifted back to a normal speed and stared in shock at the chaos as Zoey struggled to come to grips with the sudden change in scenery.

  The sound of alarms and the stench of smoke filled the night, and the air was so saturated in auric energy that Serena could actually hear it hum. She frowned, seeing that Zoey was still dazed from the trip and barely able to stand, and tried to get a lock on Zane’s auric signature.

  Who in the hell was he fighting anyway?

  She stepped to the smoke-filled streets, blinded by the thick haze and forced to follow her other senses.

  “You’re going to have to do better than that!”

  Serena frowned, a violent surge filling her at the familiarity of the voice in the distance and she charged towards it. In an instant the air went clear—the smoke being held back by an immense auric force—and she found herself face-to-chest with a…

  “WHAT IN THE FUCK?” She cried out and tried to back-peddle, stumbling and falling back. The monster’s ears perked and its eyes closed in like Hellish spotlights on her. “Wh-who… what are you?” She cried out as the beast stepped closer and loomed over her and threw a fist the size of a beer keg at her. “Oh go—Zane! Help!”

  The monster’s attack froze only inches from her and she whimpered, blinking against a pocket of air that carried specks of dust and ash into her eyes. Startled, she looked up into the gold eyes of her would-be attacker; its face shifting from one of fury and murderous rage to something soft and nervous.

  Biting her lip, she started to stand, hoping her movement wouldn’t spark the monster’s anger again.

  But it only stared, blinking and whimpering.

  “S-Ser-en-a…”

  Her eyes widened. “Za—”

  “Well, isn’t this just precious? The beast has a soft spot for you, sis!” the painfully familiar and condescending voice chimed in behind her.

  She growled and spun to face her brother. “Keith!” a new surge of anger welled within her as her brother’s leering face came into view and she instinctively formed her auric bow in her hand, “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Missed you too, you horrid little bitch, I’m sure we have so much to catch up on. However, in case you haven’t noticed, I am rather busy and now is not the time to reminisce. I have a bit of unfinished business to conduct with our late-father’s favorite project.”

  Serena! Watch out! Devon’s voice echoed in her head just as Keith threw his aura at them. The world shook and the street cratered as the bl
ast connected and Serena felt the ground vanish beneath her as the Zane-monster scooped her up and pulled her against his massive body and shielding her against the flames and debris as they singed and punctured his back. Sensing the pained surge in Zane’s now-red aura, Serena’s eyes widened and she disbanded her auric bow to try and shield him against further harm. The damage had already been done, however, and he let out an agonized howl as his knees buckled and a pool of blood grew at their feet.

  “Oh god, Zane! What’s—”

  “Don’t!” his voice made her flinch, “We’re…” he growled and shook his head, “I’m fine!”

  She glanced up, about to call him on his obvious lie but was only able to cry out as he lifted her and jumped out of the range of another of Keith’s attacks and landed on the rooftop of a used car dealership. Though he’d gotten them clear of the danger, his injuries proved too severe and he buckled and collapsed shortly after setting her down. He groaned, writhing and heaving, as his hulking body seized and his aura inflated and grew bright enough to force her to shield her eyes.

  A pained cry issued out that made her insides shift and she tried to squint past the glare of his aura to see what was happening to him. After a moment, the blood-colored orb dimmed and collapsed, turning back to Zane’s familiar blue as it lazily bobbed around his broken and naked body; his mismatched eyes swimming in his skull before focusing on her.

  “Serena…?”

  “Jesus… Zane! What… what’s happen—” The gentle sound of steps approaching cut off Serena’s panic and she turned, her aura flaring as she hissed at her brother, “Keith! I don’t know what this is about, but I swear on our mothe—”

  “Oh shut up, you self-righteous cunt!” his aura spiked and he bared his fangs, “You couldn’t hold your own in a challenge against me when you were in your prime! And you and I can both see those days have long-since left you a husk of our family’s former glory! Now step aside before I’m forced to make an example out of yo—AHHH!” Keith dropped to one knee as the jagged remains of a parking meter—now a makeshift spear that flooded the rooftop in blood-covered coins—jutted through his shoulder.