by Stead, Nick
As the full moon drew nearer, Lady Sarah led us further and further into isolation. We had to be in one of the remotest areas of the country, moorland stretching in every direction as far as the eye could see. Even my sensitive ears had trouble detecting any human life in the distance, and the Slayers had difficulty following except by air, which they seemed unwilling to do for the time being. They seemed to be counting on us growing hungry enough to venture back towards civilisation, at which point they would no doubt have set several traps in any nearby places we might visit to hunt. And it was quite likely they might finally succeed in killing us if they were able to catch us unawares. Fully aware of this, the vampire was insistent it was imperative I learnt more self-control, especially with the next full moon only a week away.
Using the same training methods as before was harder in our current surroundings, and we had to traverse miles of uninhabited moorland before Lady Sarah could find another sheep to use. She also found more rope and a wooden post to tie the terrified animal to, and had me transform and allow the wolf to take control again.
Fighting my instincts was not made any easier by the moon growing ever fuller overhead, and I spent more time fighting to free myself of the vampire’s grip to get at my prey. A fury was rising in me again and the vampire’s words were becoming meaningless as she tried to help me channel my bloodlust into attacking the post instead of the sheep. There was no room in my mind for reason and as the night wore on, the lesson seemed just as pointless as the first time. But the vampire refused to give up on me. She was determined to teach me this skill and so I continued to struggle in her grip, growing hungrier and more miserable the longer she kept me from my prey.
The night was almost spent when finally, as the vampire led me a few feet away from the sheep for what felt like the hundredth time and instructed me to focus on the hunk of wood instead of the animal, I lunged forward and snapped at the post out of sheer frustration. The wood splintered in my jaws as they closed around it, and I attacked again and again as if it was a living animal, until my mind cleared once more.
“Finally, we are making some progress!” Lady Sarah said. “You may feed on the sheep now, and then we must return to the heart of the moors before dawn.”
The vampire seemed happy with the apparent headway we were making in my training, but I wasn’t entirely convinced her lessons had been particularly helpful in this area so far. Still, I followed her without complaint for similar sessions, which she held in a different place each night, careful not to take livestock from the same farm where possible. It was something to break up the long days and nights of emptiness and despair if nothing else.
And then the full moon was upon us once again, forcing us to take a break from my training. I was already miserable from the days spent in our secluded surroundings, which only served to make the emptiness gape ever wider. The full moon had become a glimmer of hope again, as I’d thought it might awaken something inside of me after the hours my lupine half had spent in the grip of the bloodlust during Lady Sarah’s lessons. But so far all the two had done was to heighten the hunger and my cravings for raw flesh, much to my dismay.
When darkness fell I gave myself completely to the transformation once more, glad of another chance to escape that nothingness building inside. I could hear the soil shifting beneath hands that were fast becoming paws, but the change completed before Lady Sarah could claw her way to the surface. And as the wolf rose up, I felt the bloodlust already gripping him. With new hope I fought to keep joint consciousness with him, praying it would allow the bloodlust to spill back into the human part of my mind once again.
Whether it was due to the training the vampire had been putting me through or something to do with my human half I didn’t know, but the moon called to that red haze of madness once more and I still hadn’t learnt to resist it. I scented the air and pricked my ears for any hint of my favoured prey, but there were no sounds of human life for miles around. I snarled in fury as the vampire’s hand broke the surface of the soil, and bounded off before she could break free of the earth and stop me. For all her precautions in trying to isolate us so completely from the human world, everything was still about to fall apart that night.
I ran for miles over the open moors until finally I came to human taint, cutting its way through the countryside in the form of a road. It seemed this area was favoured by walkers, the ground made muddy by the daily tread of boots upon it. And sure enough, I heard the pant of a dog straining against his lead and the woman foolish enough to walk him on this night I’d claimed as my own. Lady Sarah was probably out looking for me and if she had her way there would be no killing, but she had to find me first and until then I had free rein to answer the moon’s call. I had eagerly awaited the month when my time would come again, to run and hunt freely until my bloodlust was satisfied and the hunger satiated, and all sense of caution lay forgotten in the chaos of my urges currently ruling me. My time had come, and this human and her pet would be the first to fall to my lupine fury.
I was downwind of the dog so they never had any warning before I struck. I slunk through the shadows, mouth watering as I watched the two of them head away from the side of the road where they’d parked their car, striking out across the moors. When the woman let her dog off his lead I made my move, lunging from the shadows and knocking her to the ground. She raised her arms to try and protect her throat and her face whilst she screamed for her dog’s help, and I savaged the limbs until bone splintered beneath my fangs and flesh shredded to bloody tatters. The dog had bounded too far away to run back in time to intervene, not that he had any hope of saving his human from an immortal predator like myself. I’d already crushed her skull like a bloody eggshell when the dog entered the fray, and my contempt for their kind drove me to greater savagery when I turned on him.
Canine yelps of pain filled the night as we clashed and I wrestled him to the ground. He tried to snap at my throat but I clamped down on his side and shook my head violently, my fangs slicing through flesh like a living saw. Blood spewed out and mixed with that of his master as I released my grip and struck again at his belly, spilling guts into the mud around us. Finally he lay still, but the bloodlust had truly overpowered me and I continued to attack the two corpses and gulp down chunks of flesh and viscera, until it drove me to lope off in search of more victims.
I have no further memory of that night, so lost in the bloodlust as I was once again. Only with the approach of dawn did my mind clear, and I found myself back in the heart of the moorland where I returned to human form as normal for the day.
The next two nights passed in much the same way, the vampire unable to rise early enough to keep me from going off alone. What I did during those blackouts I can’t say; I know only that there was more bloodshed. But when my mind cleared after the third night I willingly retreated into our subconscious with the dawn. Losing control so completely was too dangerous, and I had to hope the vampire could help prevent more blackouts during the next full moon. Until then, or until she tested me during another of her training sessions, I would gladly let the human suffer for us both.
Despite the complete loss of control again during the full moon, there wasn’t even the faintest sense of my rage or my bloodlust each day when I transformed back to human. That morning after the third and final full moon for the month I felt as low as ever, and the daylight hours dragged by. I spent a few hours hunting for what little wildlife I could find in such desolate surroundings to satisfy the hunger from the change back, but I was becoming increasingly cold and miserable as the days wore on.
When darkness fell I didn’t go straight to find Lady Sarah, too lost in my own despair as I walked across the moors. It was she who sought me out, running to meet me with a sense of urgency.
“You could have picked a better night for a stroll,” she said. “Come, quickly.”
“Why, what now?” I asked, wondering what could be so pressing. A new format to her survival lessons perhaps?
/> “There is no time. Take your wolf form and follow me as fast as you can; they are waiting.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of this sudden turn of events or who the ‘they’ could be that she was referring to. Lady Sarah refused to say anymore so I had little choice but to follow, and trust that the vampire was doing what was right for both of us.
Chapter Nine – A New Threat
After traversing what felt like the entire length of the Pennines, Lady Sarah led us cautiously down to lower ground and towards an abandoned warehouse. There she had me change back to human form, passing me a couple of dead rabbits to help replenish my energy and keep the hunger in check for the time being. She left me to eat and returned moments later with a bundle of garments.
“Now dress and try not to look so feral,” she instructed me.
“What’s going on?” I asked, reluctantly accepting the clothes she handed me.
“There is no time. You will find out, soon enough.”
The clothes felt strange after the three months spent roaming the land completely naked, and I felt uncomfortable at the touch of the material on my skin. They were also less warm than my own fur coat and they didn’t fit particularly well, but if the vampire wanted me dressed for whatever meeting was about to take place, it seemed I would have to endure it. She’d only use her hypnotic powers again if I tried to argue.
“I’m not going in there till you tell me what’s going on,” I said stubbornly as I pulled on a hoodie several sizes too big.
Lady Sarah sighed but took a moment to respond. I got the impression she was debating whether to use her power to make me more co-operative or if it would be just as easy to give me a quick explanation of what we were doing there. Whatever she was going to do, her sense of urgency wouldn’t let her delay long before she acted, and I only had to wait a couple of minutes. She must have decided some information on who was waiting for us couldn’t harm because she chose to answer “We have been summoned here by the Elder vampire, Ulfarr.”
“What’s an Elder?” I asked, before she could say anything else. She’d spoken the words with such respect and reverence that I immediately got the impression ‘Elder’ was some kind of a title among vampires, like the title ‘Lady’ she still used from her human life. But I also sensed a measure of fear in there, despite her insistence that she feared nothing, and that made me uneasy. I wasn’t sure if she was afraid of the vampire himself or the fact that he’d summoned us, but either way it was looking like I was in for another rough night.
“They are amongst the oldest and most powerful of our race. We vampires might be solitary hunters, yet we do have a society of sorts. And when times force us to unite, it is to our Elders we look to. That is all I will say for now. Ulfarr is considered one of our greatest leaders, even amongst the other Elders, and it would be unwise to keep him waiting. He is to be treated with the utmost respect, understood?”
“Why? I’m not a vampire. I’m not part of your society so he has no hold over me.”
“Just do it, Nick,” she snapped. “There is no more time for your questions.”
It seemed I had no choice but to follow her inside, where we found other undead waiting for us and talking amongst themselves; mostly vampires but there were a few ghouls. There were no wraiths this time, for as I would soon find out – this was a matter that concerned those with a corporeal body.
There was no light inside the old building, as was befitting for a gathering of creatures of darkness. If humans had abandoned it for long enough there might not be a power supply for the electrical lights, if they even still worked, but the vampires hadn’t provided any candlelight either. Not that we had a great need for it like mortals would’ve done; with the moon only just waning from full, our supernatural eyesight had no problem penetrating the shadows.
I could see well enough to make out the faces of the other undead, and I thought I recognised a few of them from the battle in my hometown that night before I left; those that survived the fight against the Slayers. I began to realise I was about to discover what the conversation between Lady Sarah and the other vampire had been about, that morning in the barn we’d been sheltering in two months ago.
A male vampire stood at the front of the gathering on a dusty workbench. Everything about him spoke of power and age, from his body language and fierce appearance to the respect he clearly commanded among the other undead. Piercing green eyes surveyed us with disapproval as we entered, gazing out from beneath a wolf’s head. He wore the pelt like a sleeveless jacket, the wolf’s forelegs draped over his shoulders and resting on either side of his chest and down to his waist, the back cut short so that it also came down no further than his waist. Beneath it the pale flesh of his upper body was bare. He had the kind of muscular form I could only dream of, stuck with the skinny frame of my youth as I was.
Where the other vampires tended to give off an aristocratic air, regardless of the era they’d lived in, there was something more primal about this vampire. If I didn’t know any better, I could even have mistaken him for a fellow werewolf. The head of the wolf pelt obscured much of the man he’d been beneath it, but I could just about make out a length of wild black hair, and he had a short beard. There was still the same unnatural beauty to him as the rest of his kind possessed, but this was more of a rugged handsomeness than the sophisticated beauty of the younger vampires.
One hand rested on the hilt of the sword at his hip, attached to a leather belt, and on his legs he wore plain black trousers. His grip tightened around the weapon as we briefly locked gazes, his eyes shining with unconcealed loathing in the moonlight and his bicep bulging beneath his skin, making it look like the muscle was trying to tear free. There was a sheer presence to him as if his power was a physical thing, seeking to bend us all to his will, and I was forced to look away. I guessed he must be the Elder vampire who’d called the meeting and I was starting to sense why Lady Sarah had tried to impress upon me the need to act as respectfully as possible. He would make a formidable enemy, of that I was certain.
Even Lady Sarah seemed wary of him. She had me stand with her near the doorway at the back, where we could keep an eye on the entire room and make a quick exit if we were forced to flee. And given the nature of the conversation I’d overheard in the barn, that seemed a likely outcome.
I’d barely had chance to take in my surroundings before the male vampire called for order, the room immediately falling silent. Given what Lady Sarah had told me before we’d entered and the control he held over the assembly, I had to wonder if he was one of the oldest surviving vampires still in existence.
“My fellow undead, I have called this gathering here today to discuss some grave tidings,” he began. “Matters that concern us all and which must be dealt with swiftly. What I am about to reveal to you is most troubling, and requires the co-operation of each of our great races.”
His attention turned to the workbench, and I rose up on the tip of my toes and craned my neck to see over the others. I hadn’t noticed when we’d first entered, but there was something laid across it, which he was stood just in front of. The thing was covered by a sheet, and I began to dread where this was going. And sure enough, the vampire jumped down and pulled back the sheet to reveal a humanoid body.
I couldn’t see much from our position at the back of the room, but it seemed the torso had been ripped open, shards of the broken ribcage poking up like the fingers of two outstretched hands waiting to receive something. And yet this victim had received only death, his killer taking more from him than they’d given. It was hard to tell without getting any closer and without a clearer view, but I got the impression of an empty cavity where the organs should have been, the bloody mess appearing black in the moonlight filtering through the dusty windows.
“Behold, the corpse of our fallen brother. No bullets felled him, nor any other tool used by man. Savaged as if by an animal and yet no mortal animal could ever hope to prey on us, we who are the ultimate hunters. That leave
s but one explanation as to the gruesome fate that befell him; that he was killed not by the Slayers but by one of our own!”
The room immediately erupted into chaos, various groups of raised voices sounding in indignation. The gist of which was that the ghouls had better taste than the cold dead flesh of vampires and the vampires had more class than to rip apart their prey with their teeth, let alone to lower themselves to acts of cannibalism. And in the midst of all this the dark haired vampire stood at the front, his gaze settling on me. Lady Sarah had told me before of the nature of the relationship between vampires and werewolves; that we were once enemies in the days before the Slayers and how some of the older ones had never let go of their old prejudices. I guessed that was why Lady Sarah had wanted me to present as something more human. Eventually he held his hand up for silence and the others obeyed, respecting the power of an Elder.
“Even more troubling – this is in fact the second body to be found in such a state, both with their hearts missing. But fear not, my friends! I will find whichever one of us is guilty of this crime and he will be brought to justice. We will not tolerate the deaths of our own, for we are better than humanity and we do not slaughter others mindlessly, least of all our fellow brethren. I ask those of you who were able to gather here today to be vigilant, and to spread the word to those who are absent so we may hunt the culprit as swiftly as possible, before he can strike again as I believe he will. I do find it most interesting that both these deaths occurred on nights of the full moon.”
