by Stead, Nick
“Leon!” I said, as the vampire walked over to me. “I was wrong, that witch isn’t the murderer after all, or at least she didn’t kill all the victims that have turned up. It’s Lady Sarah, I saw her crouched over another dead vampire and covered in blood!”
The vampire didn’t seem to hear me, simply stating “It’s not safe for you here.”
“Yeah, ’cause Lady Sarah could come for us at any moment. So what’s the plan? I don’t suppose you have another secret mansion tucked away in another corner of the countryside that the others don’t know about, do you?”
Again Leon didn’t really seem to hear my words. His eyes had a faraway look as if he’d travelled to another reality and was only vaguely aware of this one.
“The moon will be full again in a few days,” he said. “The clouds may hide it now but I feel it, just as you do. It calls to us. We must heed its call and give in to the need to hunt.”
I gave him a puzzled look. Something was wrong; vampires shouldn’t feel any connection to the moon.
He closed his eyes and raised his head to the sky as if he were going to howl, but instead he breathed deep as if savouring the moment. Then he roared, seemingly becoming much more bestial in nature than the usual dignified, aristocratic, humanoid character I’d come to associate with most vampires, as if he too were a werewolf. When he opened his eyes something had changed, though they were physically still the same.
He gave a cold, emotionless laugh at the bewildered expression on my face. “Ah Nick, how well you think we have grown to know each other and how little you do not know. I feel the call of the moon, feel it bringing our beasts to the surface.”
All emotion seemed to have drained from his body and his voice as he talked, to such an extent that I felt like I was talking to a stranger. And this new Leon was decidedly less stable than the one I thought I knew, that was clear.
I watched him examining his hands, as if convinced they had become paws. He roared again and shook his head like an animal, swishing a tail that existed only in his head. But his beast, imaginary or no, was nothing like mine. The wolfish part of me respected the sanctity of life while I could see it in his eyes, his beast, born of humanity, revelled in death.
“I am lion again, my true form,” he growled, turning his eyes on me.
His bloodlust was already raised from battle, and I sensed it had soared to new heights, perhaps of the kind experienced by human serial killers. My bloodlust was rooted in the curse of my lycanthropy and my need to kill was tied to my predatory nature and my hunger for human flesh, even though it had driven me to take so many more lives than I needed to survive. But his bloodlust was nothing to do with the relationship between predator and prey, of that I was growing certain.
“Leon, what’s going on? We’re not out of danger yet, we need to get going! We can hunt later.”
“The moon’s call must be answered, you of all beasts should know that.”
“It’s too dangerous with so many enemies about. You just said yourself it’s not safe! We need to go before Lady Sarah turns up, or Ulfarr, or even more of the Slayers. Come on man, quit fooling around.”
“You are quite right, it’s not safe for you. I will hunt now, but I’m ready for a new challenge tonight. Wolf against lion, who do you think will win?”
A chill crept through me as the terrible realisation began to sink in.
“A new challenge?” I asked, praying I was wrong.
But his next words seemed to confirm my fears when he answered “Yes, vampires have kept on proving unworthy thus far.”
“It’s not Lady Sarah, is it? It’s been you all along.”
“Indeed, I am the beast responsible for killing all those other vampires. And when I ripped out their hearts, it made such a glorious mess! Could there be any greater pleasure than ending a life?”
“Is that why you still see the faces of your earliest victims? Not because they haunt you but because of some psychopathic pleasure?” I said, hoping if I kept him talking long enough I might be able to break through to the saner Leon I’d grown close to.
“Indeed, I still remember that giddy moment when I killed for the first time, the world swimming in and out of focus as a strange dizziness came over me, and then the beauty of blood splattering as I stabbed her over and over. I can still see her eyes so wide and full of shock and pain, and the excitement of sending her there, pushing her further towards the void until she fell through into death.”
“It wasn’t theft that condemned you to life in the arena, was it?”
“In a way it was. What is a murderer, but a thief of lives?”
“And the portrait of the woman and little boy? Two more of your victims?”
“Yes. The mansion was theirs until I killed them and took it for myself, but I kept the painting. I guess you could say I wanted a trophy of sorts.”
“But why start killing your own kind? You had to know it would cause Ulfarr to take counteractive measures, alerting as many as he could so they’d all be on the lookout for you. Even with framing me, surely you’ve only bought yourself more time and they’ll catch up with you eventually.”
“Humans die too easily, I’ve long since grown bored of hunting them,” he snarled. “And Ulfarr is a fool. He’ll never accept that a vampire could turn on his own. If he wasn’t so blinded by hatred for your kind, he might have put the pieces together before now. This isn’t my first killing spree, far from it, and it won’t be my last. Taking new names and moving around often helps alleviate any suspicions others might have, but the evidence has always been there, if they weren’t too blind to see it. The time will come for me to move on again soon, though I will miss my mansion. But perhaps I will go to Africa and seek out other lions. Besides, can killing vampires really be considered murder? We are undead after all, forever caught in a state between life and death for as long as we exist. We’re not alive in the same sense that mortals are, and murder requires taking the life of a living being.”
“I don’t think Ulfarr sees it that way.”
He ignored that and continued “My other self has grown fond of you, for reasons beyond me. He wouldn’t have spent so much time training you, otherwise. And he even considered taking you with us, when we leave here. But I think you will make much better prey. The last surviving werewolf will surely be an excellent victim, and with all the training you’ve been given you will make even greater sport. And perhaps when I eat your heart, the power of your lupine half will transfer to me, and I can be both lion and wolf.”
I realised then the vampire was truly insane, and there would be no reasoning with him. If his plan had been to frame me all along, the help he’d given me was probably just to buy enough time for him to indulge his murderous needs before he was forced to move on. Or maybe some part of him had formed some kind of a bond with me, though whether it could really be considered friendship was debatable if he was a true psychopath. But that part of him was currently elsewhere and if his other self had already decided the time had come to leave the UK, then I had no further use to this ‘beast’ alive. So I did the only thing I could: I ran.
Chapter Twenty Eight – Hunted: Part One
My mind raced while my legs pumped the earth as I pushed my body to its limits, my heart hammering furiously with the strain to meet the physical demands placed on it. And yet it wasn’t enough. Leon hadn’t given chase straight away, wanting to give me a head start to make the hunt last longer, but I was under no illusion as to my chances of escaping. His vampiric powers granted him greater speed and strength, and over the open fields he would easily cross the distance between us and run me down. There was the patch of woodlands I’d explored before when I’d been in the area with Lady Sarah, but I hesitated as the outline of the trees loomed ahead of me.
Moving through the woods would slow me down considerably, but it should also slow the vampire and maybe if I was able to pick the ground where I would make my final stand, I might find something that evened the play
ing field somehow. It would give me more thinking time at least, so with a deep breath I plunged into the blackness of the woods. The night was dark with the moon still hidden behind thick cloud cover, but impenetrable darkness pressed in all around me once I was under the trees. Humanity roamed their streets under the comfort of artificial light, breaking up the blackness into more manageable chunks for the eyes to digest, and in that unnatural world you forget just how dark the night can be. But without any natural light to see by, even my supernatural vision was rendered useless by the completeness of the darkness beneath the trees.
I was painfully aware of the seconds ticking by in which the vampire was no doubt making his move, but I came to a standstill in that blackness, panting slightly from the short sprint. Not for the first time, I cursed my decision to return to my human form. For Leon, this hunt was about the thrill of the chase, which meant he probably wouldn’t use his hypnotic powers to subdue me as it would take away from the enjoyment and the challenge of hunting down and slaughtering the worthy prey he’d deemed me to be. If it was to be a struggle, pitting his strength against my own, I would need all the greater might of my lupine form, but I daren’t change back without feeding again first. It would only weaken me further, defeating the purpose of the transformation for the fight ahead.
Like a blind man I crept between the trees, arms outstretched to feel around me. My hands passed over the rough trunk of a tree just ahead. Running any further was out of the question, unless I wanted to risk colliding with a tree and knocking myself unconscious, where I would lay helpless for the vampire to finish off perhaps just moments later. I tried to at least reach for the fires of my rage to grant me strength, yet even with the moon nearing full, my anger lay dormant again. So instead I tried to focus on the near full moon, hidden though it was behind the clouds, but I felt no sense of that lunar energy or the power it would soon hold over me in the nights to follow. I thought that ironic, when Leon had claimed to hear its call in his insanity, even though it held no sway for him as it did for the wolf in me.
I knew I needed the help of my lupine half to navigate the woods. I was too clumsy as a human and still too inexperienced when it came to my other senses, still too reliant on sight as my primary sense. And without my eyes to guide me I might as well have been a full human for all the good my other enhanced senses were doing me. But I was reluctant to let the wolf take control. He was intelligent enough to know the hunger needed to be satisfied before risking another transformation, yet the temptation to change to wolf form would be there. And for all his cunning, he was still guided by his animalistic instincts which I doubted would be much good against the vampire. I knew then I had but one option. It was time to let the last of the barrier between human and wolf crumble away as Lady Sarah had kept urging me to do, to let my mind become one again and embrace the advantages of each half to combine our strength.
I paused again, despite my instincts screaming at me to keep moving, and retreated into my mind where I called to him, instantly feeling his consciousness rise up towards the surface.
“I know we’ve had cause to fight in the past but it’s time to make a pact. We are part of each other after all and we’ll be stronger as one,” I said.
He studied me silently and dipped his head in acknowledgement, though he didn’t deign to speak.
I took a deep breath and continued “I’ve much to learn from you, I realise that now. That darker side of my humanity that you despise, the pointless slaughter, I will – no we will – try to keep better control of it. And while little remains of the human I used to be, anyone I still consider to be a friend from that former life, or any new friends I make, we won’t hunt. Agreed?”
He studied me with those cold predatory eyes for a moment as if considering what I’d said. He didn’t answer but instead, after what seemed like an age, charged towards me, his consciousness drawing closer to mine. While every instinct of my remaining humanity screamed at me to fight, I forced myself to remain passive, neither drawing away nor retaliating when his consciousness came crashing towards mine. I gasped and took an involuntary step backwards as if it had happened in the physical world and there had been an actual impact, then I was back in the woodland, back in reality.
There was the feeling of confusion again, and I was unsure whether I should be standing on two legs or four. But it wasn’t as strong as the first time it had happened, maybe because I was ready for it that night.
Despite the confusion, I was aware of an immediate change to my state of being. In acceptance of who I truly was, I felt at peace for the first time since the curse had taken hold. Those I had preyed upon no longer seemed to be haunting me, and though the savage murders I’d committed outside of the need to feed were regrettable, there was no guilt. Unlike before when I’d grown numb to the tumult of overwhelming emotions, there wasn’t the same emptiness that had developed or complete lack of any feelings. There was simply no need to feel guilt or remorse because I’d finally accepted my predatory nature.
The rage born of man but fuelled by the curse was still there and in embracing my killer instincts it flared up again, but with acceptance above all else came control. I would wield that brutal side to my nature, welded with the hunger born of wolf, whenever the situation called for it, and in doing so give rise to a ferocity greater than that of any mortal beast. Perhaps there might still be times when I lost myself to it – it was too early to tell yet – but without any internal conflict between the two halves of my nature, the rage wasn’t able to take an instant hold like it had in the past. I held it there as it blazed at the very centre of my being, but for the first time since it had developed in the emptiness where my soul should have been, it couldn’t flood my body unless I allowed it to. And I would, when the time came. The vampire might hold all the advantages physically, but in our brutality we were evenly matched. In times of such conflict my rage would prove vital to my survival, a killing tool greater than any blade. But only when I chose to unleash it.
I had kept my eyes closed in concentration of what I mentally needed to do and when I opened them it was as if I had been trapped in a dark room and someone had turned on the light.
The moon had broken through the clouds once again and it penetrated enough gaps in the canopy overhead that I could make out shapes in the darkness, outlines of the trees around me and obstacles on the ground such as logs and large rocks. I could see enough that I knew my eyes had changed colour to the burning amber of the wolf, even though I hadn’t consciously willed them to change.
However, the eyes are not the wolf’s primary sense. Scents were stronger and the wolf in me knew how to read them, coupled with the sounds around us. Not only did my already enhanced senses seem to have become sharper still, but I was more attuned to them than I had ever been before. As humans we rely so heavily on our eyesight that we often forget our other senses. We fail to notice most sounds or smells around us, and anything we do pick up is often filed away as background noise. I’d gradually learnt to use scent and sound to a degree, but the human part of me had far from mastered those senses.
Yet with the joining of the two halves of my mind I was picking up much more than I ever had in the past and what’s more, I suddenly knew how to process the information. Enough to make a far more detailed mental picture of my surroundings than the one my eyes showed me.
I brought a hand up to scratch my ear and found it was slightly more pointed than usual, and a quick feel of my nose proved it had also subtly changed shape, becoming slightly longer and wider, the beginning of a snout. I ran my tongue over my teeth and found them to be longer and sharper, small fangs. I hoped the changes weren’t permanent or it would be much harder to blend in with the human world when I wanted to, but right then I welcomed them. My senses, already sharper than a human’s, had become even more so without changing too much to use up the last of my precious energy. And with the full use of my lupine instincts I suddenly knew how to take full advantage of them.
&n
bsp; Though the vampire couldn’t be far away after the time I’d wasted, there was no fear. Instead I felt a cold predatory calm, despite the threat of the more powerful predator hunting us. A mortal wolf may have been afraid, but we weren’t. We were surrounded by woodland: this was home. We ruled the woods, vampires or no. If the vampire proved to be the stronger, so be it. We would fight to survive for as long as we drew breath, but we did not fear death if our end was to be the outcome.
I took a deep breath, taking in as many scents as I could, searching for any sign of Leon. I didn’t detect him anywhere nearby yet and I was aware enough of my surroundings that I was able to resume running, knowing I would have to fight him eventually but determined to pick the battleground.
I was deep into the heart of the woods before I realised my mistake. The chilly night air swept over my face, cool yet fresh as I breathed in, searching for any new scents it might carry to me. It was the dead scent of the vampire rather than any sound that gave him away. He was nearby and I still had no plan to defeat him. I was hoping something would come to me while I was running but I had no destination in mind, nor had I come across any landscape that inspired me.
Knowing he was close I forced my legs to move faster, despite the burning hunger sapping at my strength. I desperately needed to feed and replenish the energy I had used switching forms earlier, but there was no time for that now.
I had just forced myself to a full sprint when without warning something landed on top of me and sent me crashing to the ground, slender fingers grasping my head, ready to crush it to a bloody pulp. I cursed myself, realising Leon had been there all along, flitting between the treetops as I ran. He hadn’t needed to wait for the ideal moment, he had merely grown bored of what he deemed to be too easy a hunt after all and had gone for the kill the moment it pleased him.
