Vengeance in Blood (Book 3): Reborn

by Watson, Thomas A.

  “Point taken,” Kenneth grinned.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Skidding to a stop under the light of a full moon, Kenneth turned around and saw Besseta skidding to a stop behind him, with Tiffany floating behind her. “Thank you for not taking off,” Besseta said, but was sniffing the air.

  “Yeah, smelled that pack when we passed Iowa City,” Kenneth told her.

  “You do know they are following, right?” Besseta asked.

  Shrugging, “They won’t be here for half an hour, if they can track us,” Kenneth answered.

  “Oh, they will track us until they lose the scent or find us,” Tiffany informed him as she glanced around. “How much further?”

  “Thirty miles,” Kenneth answered. “I didn’t want to run in full speed because it’s really hard to process smells going that fast. We were sixty miles past Iowa City before I realized I was smelling werewolves.”

  Giving a slight nod, “At least, you are learning,” Tiffany said. “Even though you should’ve already learnt this from my life.”

  “Sorry, Tiffany, but you really can’t run that fast,” Kenneth said, scanning around.

  “I try really hard,” Tiffany snapped.

  “Yes, you do,” Kenneth mumbled and Besseta reached out, grabbing his hand.

  “Calm down, baby,” she said softly and the voices building in his mind abated.

  Taking a deep breath, Kenneth felt much better. “Tiffany, can you strike out fast mentally connected to Besseta?” Kenneth asked in a very low voice.

  Dropping to the ground, “No,” Tiffany breathed. “What?”

  “The werewolves we smell are just north of us, about ten miles,” Besseta answered.

  “That puts them near Eddyville, if we run, head south,” Kenneth told them. “One at a time, and always stay in visual contact.”

  Letting go of Kenneth’s hand, Besseta glanced north and then back at Tiffany. “You do smell them, right?”

  “Of course, but I smell so many werewolves, it’s a bit concerning,” Tiffany admitted, waving a hand in front of her nose. “I can tell you when it rained here today, the wolves stayed outside in it.”

  Not feeling or hearing thoughts of anything close, Kenneth looked back at the two. “We move in short bursts,” he whispered, and they nodded.

  Tiffany let out a soft gasp as Kenneth disappeared and then reappeared just over a hundred yards away near a large tree. Turning to Besseta, Tiffany saw Besseta’s form blur before it disappeared. “That is so unfair,” Tiffany mumbled as Besseta appeared beside Kenneth.

  Glancing back, Besseta saw Tiffany running to them and knew a human would only see a blur of a human form, but to Besseta, Tiffany was almost walking. When Tiffany stopped beside them, Besseta could tell Tiffany had run as fast as she could. ‘This is going to be slow’ Besseta thought.

  ‘Slow is good with this much around us’ Kenneth answered in her mind.

  After moving ten miles, a hundred or so yards at a time, Kenneth stopped on a small tree-covered ridge. The valley below was a grass-covered field with trees on the opposite side. Just as Kenneth was getting ready to dart across, a long piercing howl sounded far behind them.

  “They crossed our trail,” Tiffany said, glancing back.

  “Okay, we are going to pick it up just a little. The buildings are just over that ridge,” Kenneth told them and disappeared.

  Halfway across the valley, Kenneth turned and saw a massive form lunging at him. “Shit!” Kenneth shouted and dropped, but the werewolf hit his side, wrapping its enormous arms around Kenneth’s torso. Hitting the ground hard, Kenneth felt the massive weight of the werewolf crash against him as they rolled for twenty yards.

  Kenneth said a silent prayer of thanks that the werewolf didn’t trap his arms and Kenneth kept his hands on the maw, so the werewolf couldn’t bend down and bite. Realizing he couldn’t bite, the werewolf stood up and started squeezing and Kenneth heard his ribs breaking.

  The attack happened so fast, Besseta never had a chance to see the werewolf, much less warn Kenneth. Giving a growl as the two forms stopped skidding along the ground, Besseta took off when the werewolf stood up and started squeezing Kenneth. The werewolf was almost the size of the one Besseta had faced in Mississippi. Kenneth looked like a small child, pulled into the massive body. Reaching the field, Besseta heard Kenneth’s bones breaking and she cocked her right arm back.

  Leaping in the air to drive her fist in the werewolf, Besseta let out a grunt as an airplane hit her hard, filling her vision with stars.

  Hitting the ground, Besseta felt massive arms wrapping around her. Through her clearing vision as she skidded across the ground, Besseta saw a massive mouth coming for her face. Opening her mouth, Besseta latched on the werewolf’s chest as she pulled her right hand out and grabbed the bottom jaw to stop its descent.

  The werewolf let out a strangled whimpering howl, feeling the painful bite. With what little movement she had in her left arm, Besseta used her long nails to slash a gash in the werewolf’s side and drove her hand inside the body.

  Feeling dizzy as more bones broke, Kenneth heard Besseta grunt and the impact of Besseta getting taken down. Calming his mind, Kenneth started to focus on the werewolf when all of a sudden, the werewolf flew away from him.

  Kenneth dropped to the ground when the werewolf let him go and he watched the werewolf crash into a large tree. Pain racked his body as he struggled to stand up, feeling his body repairing with jerks.

  He turned to see the werewolf holding onto Besseta and trying to push her tiny form off, but Besseta had a hold of its jaw with one hand. Her mouth was latched on the creature’s chest and her other hand was inside the massive body up to her elbow.

  Stumbling as his pelvis snapped back into place, Kenneth glanced back and saw Tiffany fighting two massive werewolves. Turning back up the valley, he tensed up seeing a body flying at him. Dropping down, he watched a massive werewolf sail over his head.

  He turned back and saw the one that had attacked him first, just getting off the ground. “Not good,” he grunted, getting back up to his feet. Another form blurred into the valley and Kenneth raised his hand as the form leapt in the air diving toward him.

  The form froze in midair ten yards away from Kenneth. Kenneth charged the floating figure and slashed at the werewolf’s neck as he zoomed past. Changing direction toward the first one that had attacked him, Kenneth saw a form hit the floating werewolf and both went tumbling across the valley floor.

  Charging over as the forms slid to a stop, Kenneth drove his hand into the back of the neck of the first one that’d attacked him. Gripping the spine, Kenneth yanked a handful out and felt the body instantly go limp. Dropping the small section of spinal cord, Kenneth turned and charged over to Besseta.

  The werewolf was slashing at her as Besseta drove her left hand further inside the body up to her shoulder. When her small hand reached its heart, the werewolf threw back its head, giving a screeching howl. Before Kenneth reached Besseta, another form hit Besseta and the werewolf she was latched on to.

  “Bad dog!” Kenneth shouted, turning toward the tumbling figures and charging them as the three forms rolled across the valley.

  Kenneth dropped as another form sailed over him. Sliding twenty yards on his belly, Kenneth jumped up and spun toward the new attack and saw two more werewolves coming at him. Filled with a deep rage, Kenneth leaned forward and vanished.

  Seeing their target disappear, the two new attackers changed direction, heading for Besseta. The werewolf in the lead felt a sharp pain at the small of his back and opened his maw to screech, but froze when Kenneth yanked his spine out. The second werewolf saw the spine being ripped out of its packmate and the headless body crashed to the ground. Slowing down and looking for the attacker, Kenneth turned holding the severed spine in his left hand and swung, hitting the werewolf with the massive head still attached to the spine.

  Doing a complete flip in the air, the werewolf hit the ground and felt Ke
nneth’s hands slicing into its neck. As Kenneth pulled the head off, Tiffany flew past him and Kenneth realized it was from an impact. Dropping the severed head, Kenneth spun as three werewolves jumped over several dead bodies where Tiffany had been fighting.

  “Stay,” Kenneth said, holding up both hands open and all three forms froze in midair. Narrowing his eyes, Kenneth gave a small grin as he closed his hands slowly and the three massive forms started giving off loud snaps as their bones broke and their bodies folded up into a ball.

  In less than a minute, the eleven-foot-tall figures crashed down with a loud squish, no bigger than a suitcase. Kenneth winced as his last rib snapped back into place and dropped his hands, feeling very lightheaded, but still turned to Besseta.

  Besseta was flying through the air at another werewolf as it entered the valley. Hitting the werewolf in the chest, Besseta latched on with her hands and climbed around the creature and onto its back. Opening her mouth, Besseta latched on at the base of the skull as she held her left hand flat and shoved it into the werewolf’s back like a knife.

  Hearing a thought, Kenneth dropped down as two forms sailed where he had been standing. “This is crap,” Kenneth said, pushing up and disappearing.

  Tiffany pulled her body from the tree trunk the werewolves had knocked her into. Watching Besseta leaping off the back of the werewolf she’d been on, Tiffany saw Besseta holding most of the werewolf’s massive heart. “We are about to be screwed. Where is Buffy when you need her?” Tiffany snarled and Besseta dropped the heart as she landed on another werewolf.

  Seeing four more coming for Besseta, Tiffany took off. Giving a glance around, Tiffany saw Kenneth grabbing the top jaw of another werewolf and yanking the top half of the skull off with a sickening crunch.

  “Sit, dogs!” Tiffany shouted, pointing at the group running at Besseta, but the forms were too big and too ancient for Tiffany to fully lock on mentally to freeze them. Instead, the four forms tripped and crashed down, sliding toward Besseta on their bellies.

  Mentally drained, Tiffany dove on the closest one, driving her teeth into the back of his neck. Ripping a chunk of skull away, Tiffany spit out the mouthful and she drove her hand inside the werewolf’s skull. Feeling the body go limp as she pulled out a chunk of brain, Tiffany started to move toward the others and saw one missing its arms, and Kenneth and Besseta on the others.

  Turning around, Tiffany gasped, seeing over two dozen massive forms over the valley floor and three bloody lumps. Hearing a ripping sound, Tiffany turned to see the top half of Besseta’s body in the chest cavity of the werewolf she was fighting.

  Besseta’s naked legs were hanging out with only one shoe on. Long gashes were all over Besseta’s thighs as the werewolf weakly tried to pull her out. Giving a quick glance down, Tiffany saw large gashes on her nude body from where the werewolves had slashed her clothes off. “I liked those pants,” Tiffany mumbled, scanning around the valley. She could hear large forms running toward them and crashing through the trees. “Guys, more are coming. A lot more,” Tiffany warned as Besseta pulled her body from the chest cavity, holding a werewolf’s heart to her mouth.

  Tiffany turned to Kenneth as he jumped off the werewolf he had just killed. Like them, Kenneth was naked and covered in blood and gore. Tiffany could only see his eyes were wide and bloodshot, then realized he was afraid. “We are leaving!” Kenneth shouted and vanished.

  Before Tiffany could even think about moving, she felt someone grab her waist. A grunt escaped Tiffany’s lips as the world sat on her chest and Tiffany heard Besseta give the same grunt.

  Realizing she was over Kenneth’s shoulder, Tiffany struggled to lift her head and looked up the valley just before it disappeared, and saw a wave of massive bodies pouring in and then, the valley was gone. Tiffany felt the wind rushing past so hard it hurt, and she expected to see her skin peel off.

  The world around them was just a blur and Tiffany turned and saw Besseta over Kenneth’s right shoulder. With her upper body coated in thick blood, Tiffany could only see the whites of Besseta’s eyes and that was all Tiffany needed to see.

  “Kenneth, can you slow down?” Tiffany shouted. “If you hit something, we will explode.”

  “Screw that, run!!” Besseta screamed and Tiffany winced as a bug hit her leg and she felt it pierce her skin.

  Closing her eyes, Tiffany convinced herself that if she died, she wanted her eyes closed. When she felt Kenneth slow down, Tiffany opened her eyes and saw mesquite bushes around them. Coming to a stop, Kenneth put them down as he panted. Standing up, Kenneth’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell face first into the dirt.

  “Kenneth,” Besseta shouted, diving down on him. Grabbing Kenneth’s shoulders, Besseta shook him, but Kenneth didn’t wake up. Jumping up, “Stay with him,” Besseta told Tiffany and vanished with a thunderclap.

  “Like I would leave him,” Tiffany called out after Besseta. She looked around at the arid area and realized they were in a dry sandy riverbed. Kneeling beside Kenneth, Tiffany saw several large gashes from a werewolf’s claw across Kenneth’s chest. “That should be more healed by now,” Tiffany mumbled.

  A thunderclap sounded in the distance and Tiffany looked up to see Besseta appear, carrying two men over her shoulders. “You found bad ones that fast?” Tiffany cried out.

  “No, I need you to feed off them, so they won’t die,” Besseta told her, dropping the two bodies on the ground. “I just knocked them out. I’d kill them to save Kenneth, but I think he would hold that against me.”

  Moving over, Tiffany saw the men looked like ranchers. “Where the hell are we?”

  “Just east of Lubbock, Texas,” Besseta answered, kneeling beside Kenneth.

  “Kenneth carried us almost seven hundred miles in less than an hour?!” Tiffany shouted.

  “Tiffany!” Besseta bellowed. “Please,” Besseta begged. “His mind is slipping away, and you said he can’t feed off of me.”

  Leaning over, Tiffany latched onto the first man. The man opened his eyes as unbearable pain filled his being and his mouth froze open in a silent scream. Slowly, the man began to feel weak as he stared at the small blood-covered girl leaning over a nude man. Feeling lightheaded, the man passed out from the pain and Tiffany pulled her mouth off his neck.

  “Almost went too far,” Tiffany admitted, putting the man down. She moved over and bit her wrist and placed it in Kenneth’s mouth. Slowly, Kenneth drank and then his mouth latched on Tiffany’s wrist.

  Gritting her teeth at the pain when Kenneth bit her wrist, “Kenneth, stop,” Tiffany grunted as weakness started washing over her.

  “Kenneth!” Besseta shouted and Kenneth let go because she also bellowed in his mind. Kenneth’s head fell back onto the sand and he slowly cracked his eyes open.

  “That sucked,” he mumbled.

  Struggling to keep from passing out, Tiffany leaned over the second man and latched on. As Tiffany drank, Besseta closed her eyes, concentrating on Kenneth’s mind and body. She could feel strength slowly returning to his body, and the roaring building in his mind.

  Lying down on his chest, Besseta wrapped her arms around him. “I’m here,” she said softly and in his mind.

  Jerking her mouth off the second man, Tiffany felt relieved to still feel a pulse. “Was that a trap?” Tiffany gasped, putting the second man on the ground.

  “No, but they knew our faces and now, they know our scent,” Besseta answered.

  “Besseta, you need to find someone to feed off of,” Tiffany said, looking at the two covered in dried blood.

  Lifting her head up and turning to Tiffany, “I fed and I’m almost certain she’s still alive,” Besseta answered.

  Moving closer, Tiffany breathed a sigh of relief, seeing the gashes on Kenneth slowly closing. “Besseta, there had to be sixty werewolves entering that valley when we left.”

  “I think there were more,” Besseta admitted, putting her head back on Kenneth’s chest. “That’s not what scared Kennet
h. Something was with that pack and the pack was terrified of it.”

  “What?”

  Barely shaking her head, “I don’t know. Kenneth picked us up and took off and his mind filled with a roar until he dropped. I could feel the fear that the pack of werewolves felt, and that scared Kenneth,” Besseta told her.

  “Whoa,” Kenneth moaned as he sluggishly lifted his arms and draped them around Besseta. “I need to make a note. Never let a werewolf get his hands on you,” he said weakly.

  “If Tiffany hadn’t got that one off of you, it would’ve killed you,” Besseta told him.

  When Kenneth cracked his eyes open, Tiffany was somewhat relieved to see that they weren’t glowing. “I’m so proud of you two for not feeding off the wild dogs.”

  “After what you told us, we were somewhat scared to,” Besseta said, lifting her head up and looking at Kenneth’s face caked in dried blood. “Baby, can you move?”

  Nodding weakly, “Yeah, just not fast,” Kenneth answered as the roar in his mind subsided and Besseta could feel for herself, he wasn’t lying. “I won’t lie to you,” Kenneth huffed. “Stretch the truth, maybe.”

  Slowly, Besseta sat up and turned to Tiffany. “Are they in danger of dying?” Besseta asked, jerking her chin toward the two men Tiffany had fed from.

  “No,” Tiffany answered. “But we can’t leave them here, exposed in the middle of nowhere, or they will die tomorrow. They just need rest.”

  “There is a small gas station to the east, we will leave them there,” Besseta said, getting up. Holding out a hand, Besseta helped Kenneth stand up.

  Wobbling on his feet, Kenneth looked down at his blood-covered body and then realized he was naked. The grogginess left instantly as he turned to Besseta and saw she was naked also. Then, he turned and saw the same with Tiffany. Hearing the thoughts in Kenneth’s mind, Besseta laughed. “Babe, when you fight these kinds of fights, clothes getripped off. I’ve fought enough vampires to know that. It seems werewolves are much worse. That’s why I usually run.”

  “I’ve never seen that many primal werewolves at the same time,” Tiffany told them as she picked up the two men. “We were very lucky to get out of there alive.”