Unleashing Vampires: A paranormal revenge novel (Unleashing Series Book 2)

by C. J. Laurence

  When a huge wolf appeared in my line of vision, I froze. What the hell? Since when were wolves freely roaming around the English countryside?

  The wolf turned its head, giving me a side profile of its powerful snout. Overhead, the full moon gleamed down on the earth, catching a glint of the chocolate coloured eyes staring out across the landscape.

  A glint of yellow streaked through its eyes before it turned its attention back towards me. This was no ordinary wolf. It was a werewolf.

  Slowly, I stretched my wings out, ready to take flight again, but something grabbed my shoulder, dragging me backwards.

  I screamed in surprise, which came out as a high-pitched squeal.

  A fat, callous hand covered my mouth. The unmistakable scent of mud and earth overpowered my senses.

  “Shut up,” whispered a deep, gravelly voice. “Before you kill us all.”

  I stilled, my eyes transfixed on the small doorway I’d just been hauled through. The silver glare of the moonlight highlighted the long grass outside, then seconds later, the bulky shadow of the wolf walking past.

  Several fraught minutes ticked by. Then, the hand around my mouth disappeared and the body I’d been pressed against left a cold space behind me.

  I collapsed onto my back and stared up in the hollow inside of the tree trunk I’d been brought into.

  “Eyes here,” said the voice.

  I turned over onto my front to see an ugly, stubby creature glaring at me.

  He was thick-set, boils covered his face, and a huge nose dominated his facial features. He was dressed in muddy green clothes, complete with a muddy green top-hat. Big brown shoes stuck out at the bottom of him like two great big clubs.

  “Drink this and shift back so we can talk.”

  He thrust out a hand with something small and brown in it. When I peered closer, I noticed it was an acorn, cut in half, with a clear liquid inside it.

  I opened my mouth and allowed him to pour the drink down my throat. It tasted like water.

  Seconds later, I shifted back into my Lamia form, but I was all of six inches high.

  “Where the hell am I and who the hell are you?”

  “I am Borvil and you are in my domain now—that of the goblins.”

  “Borvil?”

  “Yes, witch. What are you doing here? What do you want?”

  “I’m not a witch, I’m part of Lilith’s Lamia. She sent me here.”

  He narrowed his beady little eyes at me. “For what purpose?”

  “She said the goblins could help me…but you look like a leprechaun.”

  He leaned forwards, hissing in my face. His dark eyes turned blood red and his mouth was full of small needle like teeth. “You dare insult me.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, stepping back. “I just thought—”

  “You could come into my home and insult me? Do you have any idea who you’re messing with?”

  I stumbled backwards but tripped over my own feet, falling onto my backside. With the unpleasant creature looming over me, I suddenly feared the position I’d unwittingly found myself in.

  “I…I come in peace. I brought gifts.”

  “What gifts?” He looked around him and held his arms out. “I don’t see any gifts.”

  “They’re back that way…” I pointed north, hoping that was the direction I’d come from. “Near the pub. I brought shoes and mud pies.”

  He leaned backwards, lessening the invasion of my personal space. “You better not be lying, witch.”

  “I’m not a witch.”

  “I can smell the blood in your veins.”

  “The Lamia have magick, you must know that.”

  “Their magick smells different to you.” His stubby nose twitched. “You have both running through your veins.”

  I frowned. “I don’t know…I was just a human kid who was damned to Hell to serve for Lilith. That’s why I’m here.”

  He frowned, the skin above his eyes crinkling into ugly folds. “I can’t help you. Once you’re in involved with anything to do with Lilith, that’s it. Been there, done that. Never again.” He shook his head, really driving home the point he didn’t want to help.

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s not it. Lilith has nothing to do with this. This is a personal vendetta. My sister and I were damned to Hell by an older sister we didn’t know we had.”

  Borvil lessened in his fury, his teeth and his blood red eyes faded back into his normal, unpleasant looks. “You have my interest.”

  “She’s an elemental witch. She killed our mother and our father right in front of our eyes.”

  He folded his arms over his chest and studied me for several seconds. “And now you want revenge?”

  I nodded.

  “So Lilith sent you to us. Excellent.” He tipped his head back and laughed so hard his entire body shook. When he looked back at me, he said, “And you’re positive you brought payment.”

  “Yes. I can go fetch it if you like?”

  “Oh, no, Missy. You’re not leaving here until I’m done with you.” He turned around and shouted into the darkness of the tree trunk. “Esthelia, Michanget, Refario, come here, quickly.”

  The sound of running feet echoed through the shadows. Then, whispered conversations in a language I didn’t understand.

  A minute or so later, Borvil turned his attention back to me. “They’ve gone to investigate where your ‘gifts’ are. You shall wait here until they return.”

  Suddenly, I didn’t feel very confident about my life choices this evening.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Kyla

  The fact I’d found Dylan snooping around the garden had seriously put me on edge.

  He said something was off and I had to agree with him, although my version of what was off was more to do with him than anything else.

  Sam had been visiting her parents for the evening, so when I arrived back at the front door, escorted by Dylan, it didn’t surprise me that the house was in darkness.

  “Do you want to come in for a drink?” I asked, unlocking the heavy wooden door.

  “Sure.”

  Again, he surprised me. I expected him to decline. I had no ulterior motives other than being polite or civil.

  I’d known him for so many years, I was hoping this was an opportunity to find out what his problem with me was. It had always put me off going to Sam’s when I knew all I’d be greeted with was dark, sullen silence by her brother.

  “Coffee or tea?” I said, leading us into the huge kitchen.

  On the right sat the sink and a long black work surface. A fair-sized island dominated the middle of the floor with a matching black worktop. Against the left-hand wall was an open fire. I often imagined cooks from days gone by cooking their meat over the roaring orange flames. Flame-grilled meat at its finest.

  “Just water, please,” he said, taking a seat on one of the wooden stools around the island.

  I flicked the kettle into life for my own tea then sorted out his water.

  “Thanks,” he said, downing the pint in two gulps. He handed me the empty glass and grinned.

  “More?”

  He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Sure. If you don’t mind.”

  I rolled my eyes at him. “It’s water, Dylan. Hardly costs a fortune does it?”

  “In some countries, yes. It’s not to be taken for granted.”

  I’d forgotten he’d spent a long time travelling. Before I’d discovered the supernatural world, I’d just thought it was part of the usual ‘young guy’ thing to travel and ‘experience’ places before settling down.

  However, I since found out that all of his journeys had been for his own personal interest so he could better himself as a wolf and as a pack leader. His latest trip that he’d come back from in June had seen him in the wilds of Mongolia, learning survival skills Bear Grylls would be proud of.

  “Anymore trips planned?” I said, turning my back on him to sort my teabag, sugar, and milk.

&
nbsp; “No, I think I’m done now. I’ve been pretty much everywhere and learned from the best of the best. I’m satisfied it’ll do.”

  I giggled. “It’ll do?” I turned back to face him, now just waiting for the kettle to boil.

  “Well, yes. Until someone else comes out of the woodwork, claiming to know something else of interest.”

  “Do you not think you’ve learned enough?”

  “You can never learn enough in this life.”

  I pursed my lips and nodded. “Fair point.”

  He pointed to the empty glass next to the kettle. “Do I get some more water?”

  Heat ravaged my cheeks. I’d been enjoying the scenery far too much. “Sorry, yes of course. If you don’t feel like you’re taking anything for granted that is.”

  He chuckled. “No. Not in this country anyway.”

  I refilled his glass and handed it over to him. He took one more gulp, leaving the glass half-full.

  “Well,” I said, leaning on the island work surface opposite him. “This must be the most we’ve spoken in all the years I’ve known you and Sam.”

  He dropped his eye contact, looking down. “Yes, I guess it’s maybe long overdue that we get to know each other a little better.”

  I frowned. “Why have you always been so hostile towards me?”

  “Hostile?”

  The kettle boiled, but I left it for a moment. The conversation was getting gritty at last. “Yes, hostile. You’ve barely ever swapped more than a sentence with me. I’ve been friends with Sam since primary school. That’s over twenty years.”

  He looked back up at me and pointed to the kettle. “Don’t let your water go cold.”

  “It’ll be fine, I’ll re-boil it.”

  “You know, in some countries—”

  “That would be taking advantage of the electricity? Or I’d have to heat it up on a fire?”

  He blushed, his cheeks actually blushed red. “Sorry. I just…my travels have taught me a thing or two about respect and values. I don’t take anything for granted anymore. You never know when it will be taken away at any moment.”

  I sighed and turned my back on him to serve my tea. “I have to agree. Anything can happen at any moment.”

  Stirring my water in with my milk and sugar, I beat the teabag to death, laid it on the draining board, and turned around to face my handsome guest.

  Except he’d moved.

  He was now stood between me and the island, a dark, brooding look overtaking his features.

  “Sam told me to stay away from you,” he said.

  I balked. “What?”

  “I told her when I was like thirteen that I fancied you. She punched me and broke my nose. She said if I ever went anywhere near you with nothing but honourable intentions, she’d kill me.”

  A nervous laugh escaped me. “Are you being serious?”

  He nodded and pointed to the ridge on his nose, just below the level of his coco coloured eyes. “That’s where she punched me. It damn well hurt. I cried.”

  I giggled. “I had no idea Sam could be so violent. She never fails to surprise me.”

  “You and me both,” he said, laughing.

  Maxi trotted into the kitchen, his nails clicking against the dark grey stone tiled floor. He had his beloved tennis ball in his mouth and dropped it at Dylan’s feet.

  “I think you have a new friend,” I said, still giggling.

  Maxi had come to me in a moment of great need. He was, for the want of a better term, my familiar.

  Witches gained their familiars when in dire need of emotional support. At the time Maxi had appeared to me, I’d been suffering a living memory—where the body physically reacts to a memory to the point all of the wounds open up and bleed.

  I’d been covered in blood, trembling, and shaking, when Maxi had snapped me out of my nightmare. He’d never left my side since.

  He was a great friend and seemed to be able to communicate with me and guide me in certain directions with his reactions to me. It was a fascinating and rewarding partnership.

  “Mum and Dad never allowed us to have dogs,” Dylan said, bending down to pick up the ball. He stood back up and threw it out of the kitchen, chuckling when Maxi scrabbled for grip on the slippery floor. “They said us being wolves and having pet dogs just wouldn’t work. They’d get in the way or something.”

  “I’ve never had a pet before Maxi,” I said, sighing. “Unless you count a goldfish I won at the fair. It died within a few weeks though.”

  “I guess it’d be strange for wolves to want dogs as pets, though, right?”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “In this world, is anything really considered strange anymore? Mums turn into dads, boys turn into girls, crossdressers, animal fetishes, clown fetishes—need I go on?”

  He laughed. “Good point. I guess it only gets weirder when you look into the supernatural side of things.”

  “Definitely. Did you know Balthazar has pixie friends? Who would have ever thought that a demon and a bunch of pixies would be friends?”

  Immediately, Dylan’s face darkened. The smile fell from his pink lips and his eyes glazed over with an emotionless stare. “I don’t like him. Nor his idiotic brother.”

  I smirked. “Sam is quite taken with him though, you know.”

  “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  “No, but it does mean you have to respect her decision.”

  He sighed and folded his arms over his chest. The sleeves of his t-shirt were bunched up around his elbows, revealing the tattoos inked onto his skin.

  “Did they hurt?” I asked, glancing down at his forearms.

  He shook his head. “No, but then everyone has a different pain threshold.”

  The intricate tribal drawings fascinated me. It was almost as if they carried a secret meaning with them. Everything was perfectly marked, not one line out of place. It was a beautifully twisted piece of symbolic artwork.

  “Does it mean anything?” I said, following the curvy lines with my eyes. I held a finger out and looked up at him. “Can I touch it?”

  He darted his tongue out to lick his lips. “Of course. And yes, it’s something to do with my leadership and us werewolves being the peacekeepers. I’m not entirely sure what yet. Dad says I’ll find out when the time’s right.”

  I put my tea down on the island behind him and traced my fingers over the black lines. I was mesmerised by it. Perhaps as well because he was such an amazing looking guy and the design seemed to accentuate his masculine beauty.

  I followed a twisty line that snaked left and right over his forearm and then disappeared up beneath his t-shirt sleeve.

  He rested a hand on my waist. I glanced up at him. When our eyes connected, I felt it—that moment when there’s nothing left to do but kiss.

  My heart hammered inside my chest. Dylan parted his lips and bent down to me.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  I jumped back, startled.

  There stood Sam, in the kitchen doorway, her green eyes flashing with fury as she stared at her brother.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Arana

  It was painful, waiting for those three goblins to return. I had no idea if they’d even gone the right way. All I could do was hope and pray.

  Borvil had educated me on my witch blood in the meantime though.

  “If your sister is an elemental witch, that’s where your magick has come from.”

  “Not from Lilith?”

  He shook his head. “The magick Lilith injected into you is different. That is purely to enable you to do what she needs you to do as part of the Lamia. You have actual witch magick in your blood.”

  “We share the same mother,” I said. “So it would have had to have come from her then, surely?”

  Borvil nodded. “Yes, more than likely. What was your mother’s name?”

  “Anna-Rose Wilkins.”

  He shook his head. “Never heard of her.”

  “She was a Marshall bef
ore she married my dad.”

  He shook his head again. “Still never heard of her. Then again, no-one really knows how elementals are made.”

  I gasped. Lina and I had been there when the whole discussion with Lucifer had happened. We’d heard it all. “Ohmygod. I know. I heard them all talking about it with Lucifer.”

  “Who?”

  “My sister and the demons and her grandparents. Her grandad is a former Prince of Hell.” I frowned and tapped my head, desperate for the name to come to me. “I can’t remember the name though. He’s called Malcolm, up here.”

  Borvil’s brow furrowed together. “Malpass?”

  “Yes,” I said, shouting in excitement. “That’s him.”

  He raised an eyebrow and stepped back. “I’m not so sure I should be getting involved in this. Malpass is no demon to be messed with. He and Lucifer are as formidable as each other. Do you know nothing?”

  I shook my head. “I know nothing about this world. It’s really frustrating. We’ve only been with Lilith for thirteen weeks.”

  “Dear girl, you have a lot to learn.”

  “Will you help me?”

  “Ask away.”

  “Ok. Where does Abaddon fit into all this?”

  Borvil let out a low whistle. “Now you’re getting high up. Abaddon is basically the MD, managing director, whilst Lucifer is the CEO. Abaddon is the highest there is.”

  “And Malpass?”

  “Would report to Lucifer. Princes of Hell, of which there are seven, all report directly to Lucifer. They are in charge of his army of demons. Abaddon oversees the demons and all of their inner hierarchies, but he cannot order the Princes. Think of it like a board of directors with the Princes, Abaddon, and Lucifer. They’re all on the same level.”

  “Ok, I understand.”

  “Where did you hear the name Abaddon by the way?”

  “Lucifer and the demons were talking about him to her grandparents. He fathers the elementals.”