“The beasts are governed by the moon, aren’t they?” Edgar put in from the other side of the table. “They run in the woods then and won’t be a problem any other time, right?”
Nick shook his head adamantly, “They were changing form nowhere near the full moon when we fought. Maybe some werewolves are governed by the ideas shown in movies and TV, but these definitely can fight anytime as werewolves. They weren’t fully changing but they were augmenting themselves at will.”
Again the vampires broke into quick discussion.
Having gotten their attention, Nick added, “I am also worried over the girl’s safety. With less than a week before the next full moon, I wonder if she’ll be used in some ritual then. I’d like to try and rescue her from them, but I think I’ll need some help.”
“What kind of help?” Marek asked cautiously. The vampires owed Nick too much to ignore that he was asking for their help this time.
Chapter 11- Caged
The basement was a quiet, boring place. The cage in a corner was only four feet high and not much more than that in width and depth. A large cage for a dog to sleep in at night or to be placed in when he was bad, the size was too low for the girl to stand up straight or ever lay down fully, not that laying on the concrete floor was particularly desired either.
Stirring in the cage to try and find a position that was more comfortable, the brunette with her long hair, now looking greasy from so many days locked in the basement, had been kept in the cage like an animal for over a week. There was no release, so the girl was forced to pee over a drain. The men would watch her. Her pants pulled down. Eventually solids forced her into a corner to relieve her bowels. Why they couldn’t at least let her out to go to an actual bathroom was beyond her, after all they were the ones that had to remove it.
Maybe it wasn’t as odd as she thought. The two men, who usually watched over her through the day and night, were animals themselves after all. She had seen the partial changes. They had beasts within them that lingered just below the surface until they chose to call it fully out. Their claws and teeth had left marks on her that seemed to heal more quickly than they should. They said she wasn’t one of them, but they seemed determined to try and make her a beast just like themselves.
The one called Ramon had found her at the library. He had settled into a seat nearby and, though a hunter, the prey had noted him watching her. Lena had felt uncomfortable from the man’s gaze, but had no idea how much more she should have feared him. He hadn’t acted like a student. Sure he had a book open on the table before him, but, as she tentatively watched him, the man never even bothered to look down at the written pages.
It was nearly closing time when Lena finished studying. The man had disappeared about an hour earlier, so she assumed that he had gotten his fill of looking and gone home. She had been wrong, however, and never made it across the quad before the animal took her.
The attack was so sudden that the girl never even had time to scream. Clawed hand covering her mouth to prevent a sound, the other scratched her side even through a jean jacket. It was the first marks that should have transmitted his curse. The man had hoped to turn the pretty girl to gain a hold over her. He lusted after her beauty and had hoped for a fun time, if not for a potential mate.
Breathing had been cut off enough to make Lena pass out in his arms.
Next thing she knew, Lena awoke to a cage and more of the animals Ramon surrounded himself with. The nightmare went on for days. She feared for rape, but that never happened. No, she was poked, prodded and even bitten, not just by Ramon but by nearly every one of the werewolves.
There was no rhyme or reason to it for Lena. She didn’t know that they were confused by her resistance to their stain. Their questions of where she came from and more proved they were looking for something, but not the why.
She lost track of time. The initial fear waned into boredom. The uncomfortable conditions became simply annoying. She coped. Ramon and Miguel would talk to her from time to time about nothing of importance and they never answered to when she could leave, if she would ever. Would they kill her? Even that question eventually moved to the back of her mind as the days and nights continued with no real change.
There was a brief moment where she thought maybe a rescue would occur. A ringing of the bell brought someone. She could hear footsteps on the boards above her as they creaked. More steps as more of the pack move about, but never a voice made it through the insulation. It had been insulated against the sound of werewolves after all. The newly altered were never in control for their first moon, so they needed somewhere to hide the pups as they changed.
It was a strange moment when Lena thought she felt something familiar like an old friend. She thought that whatever the sensation, it came from whoever had come to the door. Even through the stone and insulation, she knew someone new was there.
Ramon noted her eyes looking up and warned her, “Don’t even bother screaming." This place is sound proofed. No one can hear you upstairs.”
“Why are you keeping me here?” she asked quietly. “Blind fold me and let me out somewhere. I can’t tell them where you live and they wouldn’t believe me if I said I was kidnapped by werewolves anyway.”
The two men laughed. Lena wanted to sigh in frustration. These two were both useless and aggravating. She wasn’t sure if they were intentionally trying to wear her down emotionally or what. If they were, they should’ve known that she felt beaten.
She just wanted to go home.
A few minutes passed and the feeling of the presence lessened slightly. It felt like it had moved to the yard next door, if she had to guess. She wondered what that feeling was, but unfortunately, several minutes later the presence moved away and was gone. If only she could have called out and been heard, but then whoever heard her might have been taken or killed. Lena leaned back against the bars resigned to more days of neglect and abuse.
It was the next night that Lena felt a strange sensation that she had never known before. A cold, unfriendly feeling seemed to be approaching followed by a second, then a third.
As the girl began to create a tally, her hairs began to rise on her arms in fear. More were felt and as they continued to pool, Lena thought a more accurate description of the feeling was the uneasiness of entering a tomb.
“Miguel, Ramon, get up here! There’s trouble!” the voice of Charlotte called down the stairs after opening the upstairs door.
Lena rolled to her knees and leaned against the bars on the front of the cage. The men ignored her and ran up the steps. In Ramon’s case, Lena thought she could see the beginning of the change starting to take place in his eagerness to fight. She didn’t even know if there would be a fight, but he was itching for it.
The light was shut off and only the faint light of the moon coming through dirty windows gave any break to the darkness of the ground.
Like a primitive radar system, Lena seemed to feel not only the new scary feel of death, but that of the wolf pack. Sitting cross-legged on the floor of her cage, the girl let her mind track the two sides. Fuzzy impressions of the oblivious people in their houses along the street felt stronger to her as a meditative state seemed to come into being. Lena had never meditated, but the calm breathing was instinctual.
The death bringers seemed to collide individually or in pairs with the wolves of the house. It was nearly an even numbered fight. Six of the dead fought eight werewolves.
She wondered who had gone into battle. Three remained in the house, most likely the women, but in wolf packs often the females were larger and could fight better than their males so perhaps she was wrong.
The connection to those around her was more intense than she realized as the fury of the fight trickled through the link. Fear and fury mixed with bloodlust on both sides. Pain seemed to flare red in her mind. A map in the blackness formed with the points of each creature vivid with where she believed them to be. As the map seemed to solidify, the girl’s breathing slowed even more
and it was like a release.
Lena could see the night and the building she was in vividly, but not from the basement. It was like she floated free of her body to leave the house. She saw the battlefield of the neighborhood from an overview. Moving with her mind, the girl could move in and watch as werewolf and vampire fought with no restrictions. The ability felt liberating, but the fighting left her scared. Did she want the werewolves to win or lose?
Eric led the charge. Where had these vampires come from? He wondered as the man bolted through the door. The pack followed at his heels ready for a fight. Most of his people were simple minded of purpose. That part of his pack often disappointed the sire of so many of them.
Another part of the question was whether these vampires had anything to do with the one that had been with the extraordinary human? The timing seemed a little coincidental, but there was more than one faction of the creatures in the world. Eric knew that well from his travels. If this was a new clan, so be it. The werewolf pack was the largest he had ever formed and their number had been raised in case of war.
Senses on high alert, the werewolves found their enemy coming from more than one direction. They had obviously found the werewolves’ stronghold and come prepared for war as well. Tightening his jaw, Eric knew they had to eliminate them all. If one were to escape, he could simply turn more and return with an army of the bloodsuckers.
Lex shot past, his wolf limbs and head revealed in the moonlight even without his wolf vision. They needed direction or this could go bad fast, Eric realized suddenly.
“Victor, take Miguel, Ramon and Vanessa to cover the front of the house! Sam, Kate, go with Lex, but don’t get out of our sight! The rest of you stay near the house,” the orders shot out calling his people back into their senses. They were werewolves, but they needed to be calm and cool. There was too little they knew about what was happening aside from the attack.
Glancing back to the rear door, he watched Charlotte, Aubrey and Ray check up. They didn’t know what the vampires’ objective was. Were they just there to dispute territory or were they after something in the house? So many vampires in one place led him to believe they were on the move for something.
The first fight started. Lex and the others met three vampires in the alley. Like shadows extending into the yard, the vampires seemed hidden even from his sight. Growling like animals, the werewolves tried to tear through the outnumbered undead.
Short swords appeared from the shadowy men slashing at those of fur and claw. A roar from Lex ended with him biting the arm holding the sword of the vampire before him. The creature punched with his free hand trying to break the werewolf’s grip. Kate’s claws raked another even as its blades cut her side. She screamed falling back and only survived because Eric was there defending his wounded pack mate. His claws did more than just rake as he drove the talons into the creature’s chest going for its blackened heart.
Dropping its blade, the vampire reeled back from the wolf leader. Two more steps and the creature began to crumble to dust. A second blow from Eric dispersed the vampire to the breeze.
Covered in dust, Eric surveyed the remaining battle. Lex continued to fight his enemy and Sam squared off with the third. A shadow moving lightning quick sprinted through the open and crashed through a window on the side of the house. Muttering a curse, Eric hoped the girls and Ray, even recovering from his injuries, could take care of just one.
Sounds of fighting from the front of the house came to his ears, but there was nothing to be done about it for the moment. Checking on Kate crumpled up on the ground holding her side, Eric knew she was down for now. Blades slashed at the other werewolves trying for a similar result, if not worse. The fight could go either way with those weapons threatening their lives.
Eric bent to pick up the fallen weapon and recoiled. Silver, the metal was bonded to steel. This pointed more and more to a vision of war. The vampires had come prepared for werewolves, so this was no accidental crossing between their races.
A cry came from Lex and Eric thought he saw smoke. The blade must have connected somewhere. Silver caused pain whether it penetrated the skin or not. The metal could kill a werewolf easiest or just be used to torture them.
Leaping to aid Lex, Eric saw that this vampire knew how to fight unusually well. Military trained seemed to be likely. Luckily, Eric was also trained from his years in the marines. He was also older than he seemed and had fought more battles than he had ever hoped to see in his lifetime.
Agility was a key to both their games. The werewolf feigned an attack and was quick to dodge the blade as well. Retaliatory claws were blocked aside by the vampire and once more Eric had to dodge the sword. Behind him, Lex had recovered and caught Sam’s attacker from his blind spot. Claws plunged through its chest turning the vampire to dust.
Only Eric’s opponent remained in the backyard. Numbers against him, the vampire’s eyes flicked back and forth between the three males. He surprised them by attacking once more. The blade slashed Sam’s arm and then went for Eric’s side causing the man to dodge.
Lex went to grapple with him and nearly lost his arms to the slash of the sword. Eric crashed into the vampire driving him back and pushing the blade away from Lex. The creature had no time to recover as Lex slashed his sword arm.
Driving him to the ground, Eric snarled, “What brought you here?”
The vampire merely smiled.
Slapping him across the face turning the head with the blow, Eric demanded more from him. Knowing quickly that this vampire wouldn’t crack so easily, Eric had Lex and Sam hold the man down. Weaponless and not as physically strong as the two werewolves binding him, the vampire settled for waiting. The smile remained even as Eric went to check on the others.
Going through the house, he found the three inside standing over the ashes of the fourth vampire. Ray’s bound arm had been cut and he was breathing hard from the pain. The girls looked unharmed. Satisfied they were safe the leader went out onto the front porch.
The sight was that of a fierce battle ended, but not without its casualties on both sides. Two piles of dust marked the end of the vampires here, but a sword stood up from the charred remains of a werewolf.
Victor looked to his leader sadly. The man felt like he had let them down and Eric could read it in his face.
“We lost Ramon. The bastards were fast and they had silver swords. Ramon didn’t see the blade in time. We got his killer before he could get his sword back though,” Victor recounted the acts with a clenched jaw.
Nodding, Eric let out a sigh before telling them to hide the remains in the shed in back. The pack would have to arrange a burial, but they couldn’t leave him out front where prying eyes could see.
Lena’s mind floated back into her body. The fighting was over and there was little more to be seen. Or so she thought.
Eric and Charlotte surprised her by coming down the stairs.
The girl wanted to ask if she could go, but their faces showed that her pleading would lead to little good. As her cage was unlocked and opened, Eric snapped his fingers and pointed for Lena to leave her prison. Unfortunately, Charlotte grabbed her by the shoulders and merely led her across the room to a chain with a collar attached to the stone wall.
Slapping the collar around the girl’s neck, a padlock slipped into place letting Lena know that she was not going anywhere. “Stay,” the woman stated with a deprecating smile to their pet. Lena felt like they truly saw her as nothing more than a dog imprisoned in their basement. She soon found that she wouldn’t be their only prisoner.
A man, blond, lean and looking like death was brought down the stairs before being roughly shoved into the cage. Her former prison looked flimsy before death, even though he seemed a bit thin. His power was beyond his looks and his eyes of blue were ice.
Firm in the belief that the cage would hold even one of his kind. The werewolves retreated upstairs to finish the clean up caused by the attack. As they disappeared, Lena looked at the monster in
the cage. The man could not stand and merely sat surveying his new cell. A small smile held the corners of his mouth despite his defeat. When his blue eyes spied Lena, she felt her body go cold. A shiver ran through her half dressed body. It wasn’t the chill in the basement.
“Hello, little lovely, what have they brought you here for, eh?” He sniffed the air and shook his head. “Well, you aren’t one of them. How strange that they should have caged you without turning you into one of them. Perhaps they were simply going to kill you for the full moon meal?”
The smile went from bemused to cruel and Lena wet herself from fear. The trickle down her bared legs went unnoticed by the girl as her eyes could no longer pull free from a murderer’s gaze.
Chapter 12-Fire and Ice
Morning came and the basement began to brighten. There was sunlight today. It would have been a wonderful thing if it wasn’t for the fact that the light made it easier for Lena to see the vampire, who apparently enjoyed tormenting her from his cell. The warmth of the sun didn’t remove the chill from his eyes either.
Her eyes stole to the stairway leading out of the basement and she was caught in her wistful stare.
“Waiting for the dogs to return? Maybe they’ll take you for a walk. That would be a twist wouldn’t it?” he laughed mirthlessly at his own joke.
Hairs lifting on her arms, Lena tried not to look at the vampire and let her eyes merely look down at the floor. She hadn’t said a word to the monster in his cage. Fear made the girl mute, even as the vampire occasionally spoke to her. She sat against the wall unable to sleep despite an entire night passing.
“Well at least you are an attractive girl maybe they’ll let me have you for my last meal. I assume that they’ll kill me, though someone actually did that before so it’s no big deal. You know how it is. Once you’ve been dead it’s hard to be impressed with that threat again.” He paused as he just looked at her slumped on the floor. “Try not to be too stressed. Acids can build up and you’ll ruin your taste.”
Vorans and Vampires (Book 1): Voran the Night Guardian Page 9
