Hunted (Hybrid Book 2)

by Nick Stead

  Growling, I tried to fight the urge to slink deeper into the town and slaughter to my heart’s content, but something was wrong. Though the human part of my mind had been growing increasingly stronger during the full moon and lurking much closer to the surface of our consciousness than ever before, I suddenly felt thoughts running through my mind that weren’t my own. It seemed the mental wall dividing our two personalities was collapsing. But I despised the human race in general, not to mention the human half of me and its complete disregard for the sanctity of life, and it was the last thing I wanted. I had only ever killed for survival before the human’s rage had let the bloodlust grow to new heights, while it had mostly killed for pleasure like all of its wretched kind. And now its thoughts were invading my own and I could feel it clawing at that invisible barrier separating us in its desperation to let the bloodlust fill it once more.

  I was no longer merely struggling to control my urges empowered by the moon overhead, I was fighting to keep myself apart from the human in me. But all the human wanted to do was embrace our dark desires, and it started to throw itself at the wall between our minds. And like any wall, it could only take so much…

  I must have blacked out because when I came to, I was no longer entirely in wolf form, despite still being in the grip of the power of the full moon, though it was now hidden by clouds. However, my body was the least of my worries.

  Apparently I’d collapsed but when I tried to stand, my body didn’t seem to want to react like it should and moving my head was a mistake. It wasn’t as if I’d banged it at some point in the blackout because it wasn’t exactly pain, it was more like my head felt too full, as if my mind had grown and it was too big for my skull to hold. I felt like it would spill out onto the street if I moved. But it wasn’t just that, I couldn’t think clearly and it was as if my thoughts had slowed. Thinking was an effort, each thought slow to form, and my mind seemed to be in a state of confusion.

  It took some time before I could get as far as my hands and knees. I stared blearily at bloodied hands that swam before my vision, or were they paws? Blood pooled around them, leaking from a body that lay nearby. Apparently I’d managed to kill during the blackout, probably out of instinct because I’d had to feed and replace the energy that had been lost to another transformation. I was still weak with hunger and I struggled to crawl towards the body, but after a few mouthfuls I could already feel my strength returning. I left little but as always the hunger was not satisfied when I had done and I snarled at the small patch of light breaching faintly through the clouds. It called to me and there was only one way to answer it, through blood and death. With another snarl I tried again to stand, though my mind couldn’t decide if I should be upright or on all fours. Eventually I managed to stand upright, clinging to the wall for support. It felt wrong and I wanted to drop back onto all fours but at the same time it felt right. And the loudest part of my brain screamed I didn’t have time for those feelings, the hunger had to be obeyed.

  So I lurched unsteadily away, not knowing whether I was man or beast. I don’t simply mean physically, but mentally as well. My sense of self had altered in some way and it was affecting my grip on reality, making it impossible to tell whether my body was human or wolf, or a combination of the two. But I didn’t know which it was meant to be either – I felt like I was both at the same time. All I knew was the hunger and my basic animal urges, which at that point in time were simply hunt, kill, eat. There had been times before when the carefully defined edges between human and wolf had blurred, but not to this extent. Even when the Slayers had locked me up and the remainder of the boy I had once been had temporarily become a primitive beast, the wolf was still there in my sub consciousness, a separate entity. The sudden collapse and merging of our two identities seemed to have caused a shock to my system, one that was a great deal more damaging than even my first transformation. It was exacting a greater toll on my mind than any other trial I had endured and surely led the way to true madness and my eventual demise. Not that I was really aware of this at the time; my thoughts were still slow and a struggle to form. My mind spoke to me in simplistic images driven by the hunger, images being the only thing it could grasp, a universal language. So I staggered away towards the sounds of life and prey and the next meal.

  As I drew closer to the building that was soon to be a slaughterhouse, a new sound reached my ears. Before it had been simply noise, discarded by my brain since it was neither threat nor prey. Yet the closer I got, the louder it became, and the more meaning it held.

  The beat pounded against my ears, working its way through to a specific part of my mind that had nothing to do with the hunger. Music that had meant so much to the boy I used to be called to a part of me, a call to rival that of the moon. It reached that part of my brain and it grew stronger, strong enough to free itself from the confused mess my mind had been reduced to. The wall slammed back into place and clarity returned.

  I fell against the building from the second shock of suddenly being cut off from the wolf, but quickly recovered, though I was somewhat confused at the sudden turn of events. I looked down at my body to find it human, naked and covered in fresh blood. Confused, I looked back up at the night sky but the moon was now completely hidden behind the cloud cover. My memories of the brief merging of our minds were murky and in many ways my mind remained in disarray, so I was unsure why I’d changed back.

  Still puzzling over the early transformation back to human, I had the sense to retreat into the shadows and head back towards the outskirts of the town where I had a vague memory of leaving Lady Sarah. I knew I should find her and travel back to the isolation of the moors, which I assumed were far enough from the town to help keep the Slayers off our trail. The village I’d visited and killed in had been much closer to the area we’d taken up residence in, but as far as I knew she still hadn’t found out about my latest murders, so I guessed the only other reason she’d deemed it too risky to hunt in was its closeness to our current territory.

  The memories might not have been entirely clear, and those from when our minds had temporarily become whole before splitting back into the separate personalities of boy and wolf were the most confusing, but I had a sense of which direction to head towards for the side of town I’d left the vampire in. As I drew closer I could smell where we’d made our kill, but Lady Sarah had long since gone. And just as I was processing this information a bullet thudded into my shoulder, my own blood mixing with the blood of my victims already staining my skin. It seemed the Slayers had caught up with me, and I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for a fight. My only hope was to lose them and flee back to the moors, and just pray the vampire would be waiting for me when I returned.

  Chapter Twelve – Last Orders

  My shoulder throbbed where the bullet had torn a hole in the flesh and blood continued to leak from the wound, but with my higher pain threshold it was tolerable for the time being. I didn’t trust myself to start transforming enough to heal it with the Slayers on my trail, fearing I’d once again be at the mercy of the full moon’s hold over me, even if it still remained out of sight. If I lost control and allowed my bloodlust to rule me it might give me the strength to emerge victorious from another skirmish, but I knew my luck would run out eventually as the gunfire continued to tear through the night. And I might not possess the cunning needed to evade my pursuers if I gave in to my lunar madness.

  There were only two Slayers so far but the town was large enough that it seemed only a matter of time before more appeared. So I endured the pain of the bullet wound and I ran. Only once I lost the Slayers would I allow myself to heal and possibly feed again to recover some of my strength, before finding my way back to Lady Sarah.

  Bullets continued to rip through the night but even in human form I was able to move quick enough that no more had found their mark as yet. I weaved through the network of deserted streets, hoping to put some distance between them before heading for the surrounding countryside where there would
be less cover. Just as the sound of my hunters began to grow faint, another pair appeared from an alley, and with a curse I was forced to push myself to greater speeds, more bullets thudding into the walls just seconds after I’d moved out of the way.

  Even with my great lupine stamina and supernatural powers I couldn’t keep this up all night. The bullet wound was beginning to sap my strength and my breathing was growing ragged. I needed to lose them before I used up the last of my reserves so I forced myself to keep going, deciding the countryside was my only option while I could still run with enough speed to present a harder target to hit.

  I raced through the streets towards the edge of the town till finally I seemed to have succeeded in losing the Slayers on foot, but to my dismay I could hear a helicopter slicing its way through the blackness of the night sky, and it wasn’t long before I could see it heading towards me. I had no choice but to keep going and find some place to hide, and just hope the search would eventually be called off. The Slayers didn’t want either ours or their existence to be public knowledge, which meant surely they would have to call it off before the night was over, or they risked drawing too much attention to themselves. If I was wrong I would potentially pay with my life, but without my full speed and strength I couldn’t outrun them, and it was better not to be caught out in the open.

  So I pushed on, trying to ignore the persistent throbbing of my shoulder and the burning of my aching muscles. Yet losing the chopper closing in overhead proved much more difficult than evading the Slayers on the ground. It followed me everywhere I went like on wildlife programmes I’d watched in my human life where camera crews would film wolf hunts, following the entire pack so the viewer could see how they worked together to bring the prey down. Except this was no camera crew observing from above and for all I knew they had a sniper attempting to line up a shot and take me down in the safety of their machine.

  I was so intent on trying to escape the helicopter’s sights that I took little notice of any potential dangers on the ground, and I blundered onto streets where more of my enemies lay in wait. Before long it seemed there were teams of two or three Slayers waiting for me at every twist and turn, and I was heading deeper into man’s domain as they shepherded me back through the town. I knew then that this was a trap and it might as well have been a wolf pack hunt, one in which I had become the prey. But with every possible escape route blocked by members of this pack of human hunters, what more could I do other than keep running in the direction they were forcing me in? I didn’t think I had the strength left to fight my way through the streets of armed Slayers, though a part of me knew that running was only putting off the inevitable now. I would have to make a stand eventually and no doubt that would only grow harder the closer I ran to the centre of whatever trap lay in wait.

  In the back of my mind I was vaguely aware that there were no civilians around, which might have helped my plight if there had been. Not all the Slayers were comfortable with innocents dying for ‘the greater good’ and I could have used some as human shields, but it seemed my hunters were one step ahead of me in every sense of the phrase that night. They must have found a way to close off the section of town they were forcing me through, and I had to accept I was truly on my own this time. There would be no help from anyone, voluntary or otherwise.

  Just as I felt I could go no further, I found myself forced to run down an alley with a wall in the middle that would have presented a dead end for a human. I could hear the Slayers closing in behind, but with a wave of despair I also picked up the scents and sounds of more heading to block off any escape from the other side of the wall as well.

  My blood was still flowing freely from the bullet wound in my shoulder as I stood there panting and trying to think of a way out. The Slayers on my side of the wall would be on me in minutes, but on the other side they seemed to be a little slower getting into position and there lay my best hope, I decided. Climbing over the wall was a desperate move since I’d be vulnerable while I clambered up, but what choice did I have? I was in no shape to make a stand against a group of armed humans, and there was nowhere left to run. I had to at least try to reach the other end of the alley before my enemies could trap me in there from both ends. If they did, then they would see just how dangerous a cornered animal can be and I’d take as many down with me as I could. But I would go down eventually, of that I was certain. First I needed to heal the damage to my shoulder though, or I didn’t think I’d have the strength left to do anything.

  Acutely aware of what precious little time I had trickling by, I risked starting the transformation. I was still wary of the hold the moon had over my lupine nature and I remained tense while the flesh flowed back into the flawless whole it had been before the bullet did its damage. The wound throbbed more powerfully through the healing process as a result of me being so tensed up, and it seemed so painfully slow when time was of the essence. But finally the pain eased as the bullet was forced out and all trace of the injury was gone. The moon stayed hidden behind the clouds and my self-control remained, for now at least. The Slayers were almost on me – I could hear them advancing more cautiously as they drew nearer to the mouth of the alley, probably well aware I would put up a fight to the bitter end. It was now or never if I wanted to seize my chance of survival, no matter how slim. So I began to climb, allowing my nails to become claws which sunk into the brick with ease.

  I made it to the top before the humans appeared and opened fire. Bullets thundered towards my prone form as I swung myself over the wall, and I just managed to drop to the other side before they could hit me again. But it was to find I wasn’t alone.

  One of the enemies advancing from the opposite side had already reached the alley, and her allies couldn’t be far behind her. As she raised her gun, I realised my time would soon come. All I could do was make one last stand and try to drag as many of them into the darkness with me as I could before the life drained from my cursed body. I’d been born into a bloody fate and reborn through violence, so it was only fitting it should end this way I supposed.

  I boldly locked gazes with my would-be killer as I prepared for my final battle, expecting her to squeeze the trigger at any moment. We could have been frozen in time then as the minutes dragged on, yet she didn’t shoot. A flicker of something passed across her eyes. Uncertainty perhaps?

  From the other side of the wall came the shouts of the others. It seemed they knew she was already in position and could guess something had stalled her, because one of them was screaming “Take the shot! What are you waiting for?”

  The woman seemed not to hear and I thought I could guess what was holding her back. She’d joined the Slayers to fight the monsters that had probably taken someone close to her, but even though I still presented a horrific sight with my naked skin stained with so much blood, I still looked human in form. I didn’t look as much the monster I would’ve been if I’d changed back to either my full wolf or hybrid form. No, it seemed this woman was far from the psychopath Aughtie had been. Her empathy allowed her to see only the fifteen year old boy, and realising that I was careful to keep my features as human as possible, letting the bestial snarl that came so easily melt back into my human face.

  “Take the shot!” a man yelled at her again. “Come on you silly cow, take the shot!”

  The gun began to shake in the woman’s hand and I knew it was time to make my move, while her inner conflict still raged. So I lunged forward, the movement causing her to squeeze the trigger in reflex but her hands were shaking so badly that her aim was completely off. For once the bullet didn’t come anywhere near to hitting me.

  I landed on the woman, pinning her gun down with one hand and striking her with my other. My hunger roared for her blood but for once reason ruled me, so I left her lying unconscious and intact, and I resumed my flight just as the other Slayers caught up. They swore when they realised what had happened and more bullets tore through the darkness as I ran, but having healed the damage from the hit I’d taken t
o my shoulder, I was able to move fast enough to avoid any more wounds that night.

  Free of the trap the humans had tried to ensnare me in, I made my way back to the open countryside once more. The Slayers couldn’t cut me off quick enough and there was nothing they could do to keep me in the labyrinth of streets where they might have backed me into another corner. My feet left the rough surface of the tarmac and the concrete, landing on the soothing softness of grass which felt much more pleasant, despite the hard soil beneath. It looked like I might survive the night after all.

  The powerful, wintry winds were more noticeable out in the open than they had been in the town, especially to my naked human form. I’d not dared to head straight back to the moors where Lady Sarah hopefully waited for me, for fear of leading the Slayers there, and my current direction had taken me so far out from the town that I was nearing another rural village. I knew it would be safer to keep to the wilderness and find some natural cover, but I was beginning to tremble with cold and exhaustion, and the warm glow of buildings in the darkness looked so inviting.

  I became aware of music blasting out from one of these buildings; a pub set a little way out from the houses, but just within staggering distance for the locals. Despite the fact it could be no more than a couple of miles from the village itself, there was a remoteness about the pub that instantly drew me to it, though I should’ve known better. I was so cold I just wanted to feel the comfort of human shelter, greater than any nature could offer me, and the man-made warmth and light. And besides, I knew that song they were playing; it had been a favourite once. One of Metallica’s rather than Alice Cooper but still an awesome song, and suddenly I felt a yet greater longing for the life I’d left behind. I suddenly realised how much I missed drinking (on the few occasions I’d been allowed alcohol, underage as I was) and my music. Then the song ended and I turned away, as if coming to my senses, until a new song started, another I knew. Whatever this place was they were playing rock and metal: my kind of music. The irony; I used to moan at the lack of good music anywhere when I was free to come and go in human places as I pleased, but now I was forced to live as an outsider I’d discovered not one but two pubs playing exactly what I wanted to hear, and I wouldn’t be able to frequent either often enough to enjoy it. As it was, I found myself unable to resist the allure of this pub and the offer of a temporary return to my old way of life. No matter how dangerous, the temptation was just too much.