The Hybrid Series | Book 4 | Damned

by Stead, Nick

  Able to rein in some semblance of self-control again, I devoured that first sheep and took another, my lunar appetite sated with the second kill. The rest of the flock were still running back and forth at the other side of the field, trying to find a way through the wall trapping them in. It wasn’t that long ago I’d have ripped my way through the entire herd, leaving a field of grisly carcasses for the farmer to find the next day. But I was no longer that same monster. I turned away and made my way back to the woods, resisting the temptation to carry on killing for nothing but the dark pleasure of it.

  The other three were already waiting for me when I got back to the ruins. I assumed the vampires had also fed on livestock, and presumably Selina had cooked some of the meat from one of their kills. I could smell the remnants of a small fire nearby.

  “Have you made a decision?” Lady Sarah asked.

  “We stick to the original plan and head for the coast, unless we see some evidence my family are actually in danger. Then we’ll talk about whether to ally with this Will guy or deal with the demon ourselves.”

  A hint of relief flashed across that impassive mask. She translated my growls for the other two, who nodded their approval.

  “Let us be on our way then,” Zee said.

  Without any injuries hampering me, Selina was now the slowest of the group. She was able to ride atop her familiar as Amy had done, but we still had to move a lot slower than we were capable of. If she was thrown from Varin’s back whilst the barghest was running at full pelt it would kill her instantly. That meant it was probably going to take us a few days to reach the Welsh coast, though I was only guessing with my limited knowledge of geography.

  The vampires seemed to know how to navigate well enough. Zee might not have known the exact route we needed to take, but he appeared confident of the right direction to head in at least. We must have covered a good number of miles before we had to stop to seek shelter for another day, and we were lucky not to find ourselves back in the Slayers’ crosshairs.

  Our route continued on through what remained of natural Britain in this age of technology and the artificial. The flatness of the Doncaster area gave way to hills and long stretches of moors, broken only by the odd country road and the occasional house here and there. I suspected we were in the Peak District somewhere but I couldn’t say for certain. Wherever it was, I felt more at home running across the open plains than I would have in a big city, and I had a sense of contentment that night, despite the full moon. My darker urges were still there, but they were much quieter than they’d ever been before.

  Shelter that day took the form of one of the many caves in the hillside. Several of them showed signs of being tourist hotspots, but the one we found had no fresh scents around it to indicate people had been there recently.

  “As if we haven’t had enough of dark underground passages already,” I growled, following Zee and Lady Sarah inside.

  I couldn’t help but think back to the first encounter we’d had with the demon, in similar surroundings. My hackles rose in response. There was no sense of that dread presence though – it was nearby only in my imagination. That did nothing to quieten my sense of unease.

  The vampires led us deep into the passage, where we’d be hidden from the sights of anyone or anything that might happen to pass by and peek inside. I heard them come to a stop and Zee said “This will do.”

  There came the gentle rustle of clothes sliding over flesh as he lowered himself to the cave floor and settled down for the day. The rest of us joined him, trying to make ourselves as comfortable as possible. That proved a challenge. Smooth stone made up the ground beneath us but it was hard and uncomfortable, and there was a chilly dampness to it. There was little comfort to be had for those of us with living bodies.

  I could have just curled up until I fell asleep in wolf form, the absence of the sun’s rays likely to negate the morning transformation in the same way the absence of moonlight saved me from becoming fully lupine if I didn’t want to. But I was too restless and I didn’t stay settled for long. Uneasiness drove me to my paws and back towards the shadowy arch into the outside world.

  As I drew closer, the quality of the darkness filtering through began to subtly alter. It was not as complete as that of the cavern to begin with, but I could see it was gradually lightening. When I poked my nose through that seemingly mystical gateway, dawn was already well advanced and my human shape wasn’t far behind, signalled by the sharp stab in my gut.

  I shifted right there in the entrance to the cavern, witnessed only by the birds flying overhead. Or so I thought. The vampires were already falling into their corpse-like slumber but someone had followed me back through the passage. No sooner had the last of my lupine might melted back into my weaker human body and I’d risen up onto two legs, than the sound of footsteps came from behind. I turned to find Selina, visible as no more than a shadow in the gloom at first.

  Her eyes glittered in the dawn’s light like the waves lapping across a tropical beach, turquoise and filled with a beauty that was almost magical. It was a different kind of beauty to the almost godly perfection of the vampires, one which seemed humbler somehow and yet no less effective for it. No doubt she’d had plenty of attention from men and women alike over the years, yet such desires still remained lost to the abomination I had become.

  “You can’t sleep in there either?” I asked her.

  She shook her head. “I feel wide awake at the moment so I thought I’d come join you. It beats sitting in the dark – my legs were already going to sleep!”

  “Yeah,” I said, turning back to look out over the moors and breathing in the fresh air. The tantalising scent of cattle carried to me on a gentle breeze, and a shiver ran through me with more than just the early morning chill. My eyes refilled with lupine amber. “I need to hunt again. Are you hungry?”

  “I am a bit.”

  “Come on then. I’ll find something to keep us going till nightfall.”

  My mouth was already watering with the thought of sinking my teeth into raw steak, but Lady Sarah had taught me better. It was one thing to pillage the odd farmer’s field in the dead of night, but not in broad daylight when someone was sure to see. Especially not when I looked mostly human.

  The moors were clearly home to countless rabbits, their warrens dotted around as far as the eye could see. With my supernatural hearing I had no trouble picking up their heartbeats thundering beneath the soil, and we didn’t have to go far to find our next meal. In a matter of minutes, I’d located an active warren and dug down to the feast within, grabbing the first of my victims just as she tried to bolt. A quick snap of her neck made her mine, then it was on to the next and the next, until the entire group lay dead, their beady eyes staring sightlessly at the blue skies overhead.

  “Here,” I said, tossing a couple of the tiny carcasses to Selina. The rest I all but picked clean, ravenous as ever in the wake of the transformation.

  Just as I was finishing my kills, Varin appeared with several twigs clamped between his jaws. I laughed at that – it seemed so at odds with his fierce nature. Selina smiled but made no comment. The barghest dropped the bits of dead wood by her feet, then slunk back inside the cave to stand guard over the vampires.

  I watched with interest as she set to work building a fire and skinning the bodies with a knife she’d probably borrowed from Zee, or perhaps taken from a dead Slayer. I didn’t think she’d had her own in the dungeon with her at any rate.

  Once skinned, she fashioned a spit from one of the larger twigs her familiar had brought her and began to roast the meat.

  “You make it look so easy,” I commented after a while. “I guess you learnt how to do that after running away from the castle?”

  “Yes. It was either learn to fend for myself or go hungry. I can catch them myself as well if I have to, but it’s not as easy for me as it is for you.”

  “Can’t you just use witchcraft?”

  “If I had all my tools, but as I’
ve told you before, my magic is limited without them. Ideally we would stop by my cottage on the way to the coast, but it would require making a fair detour and I think we’re all agreed that the sooner we can leave the country the better. You will definitely be safer away from humanity.”

  “I just hope I was right to decide to continue on our journey.” My gaze fixed on the fire, my thoughts turning to the worst. “If that demon does end up hurting my family, I’ll never forgive myself.”

  “I know. I was able to find some herbs to help induce a vision while you were busy hunting last night and I saw nothing to indicate they’re in any danger, if that helps. For what it’s worth, I think you’re making the right choice.”

  My eyes found hers again and I smiled. “Thanks.”

  I might have said more, but a man suddenly appeared and I’d been too distracted to notice his approach in time to duck back into the cave and out of sight.

  “Hey!” he shouted, hurrying towards us as fast as his aged legs would carry him. The wind was blowing in the wrong direction to catch his scent but I guessed he was in his seventies, if not older. “Get away from there. Don’t you know that place is haunted?”

  “No,” Selina called back to him. “We won’t go in, don’t worry.”

  “People have gone missing in there. Haven’t you heard the stories?”

  “We’re not from around here,” she answered.

  He didn’t seem to have noticed I was completely naked, maybe because I was sitting down. But he was nearly over to us and he would realise soon enough. I glanced at Selina, unsure what to do. Killing him would be easy enough but if anyone came looking before nightfall it could just make things worse. Frightening him off might be a better option.

  Gunshot exploded in my ears. I flinched and growled in alarm, gaze still fixed on the man as a red mist materialised around his head and a hole appeared between his eyes. Lifeless, he fell to the floor, no longer a problem to us. But something worse was here. The Slayers had found us again, and we were about to become the hunted once more.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Rival in the Darkness

  Shouts and more bullets broke the spell of that first shot. As one, we turned and dived into the cave, just like the rabbits I’d killed, bolting for the safety of our overgrown warren. I hated running but I knew Selina was vulnerable without her witchcraft and there sounded to be at least twenty of them. And then there was my duty to the vampires in the daylight hours, when they lay helpless and dead to the world. It wasn’t just my life at stake this time if I risked the odds.

  Blindly we ran into the darkness. Locating the two ‘corpses’ was easy enough with my greater sense of smell, and we each grabbed a pair of arms and began to drag them deeper underground. Our backs bumped against solid stone and panic took hold. But we weren’t cornered yet – the passage twisted round and kept going, and so did we.

  Selina was soon panting with the effort but the Slayers weren’t far behind and Varin seemed to have vanished. I could hear footsteps creeping through the tunnel, slow and cautious, though the other tell-tale signs I’d usually pick up on were oddly muted. No heartbeats thundered with the dread of the coming battle, nor did I detect any rapid breaths. Had these soldiers conquered their fear? Regardless, my ears should still be picking up some signs of life, even if they were managing to keep calm, so why couldn’t I hear them? I’d yet to catch any scents either.

  There was another shout as their footsteps reached the bend, and the flash of more gunshots filled the tunnel, the noise of it explosive in our ears. I felt the sensation of something icy cold pass through my chest and cried out in alarm. Then all went quiet and darkness reigned once more.

  “Are you hurt?” Selina whispered.

  There was none of the pain of a gunshot wound and no sensation of blood leaking from a hole in my flesh. I traced the area with my right hand but the skin felt to be unbroken beneath my fingers, clammy only with the sweat of my human form. “I don’t think so.”

  Another round of gunfire assaulted our senses and a man screamed, the victim of ricochets maybe. Somehow we avoided their bullets a second time, but if they kept on squeezing their triggers and hoping to get lucky, fortune was probably going to smile on them eventually.

  Taking advantage of the flashes of light, I scanned our surroundings as we struggled on, looking for the best place to make a stand if it came to it and anything that might offer a safe hiding place for Zee and Lady Sarah. My eyes found nothing of interest. We had no option but to keep going, deeper into the cave. Until Selina’s strength failed her, and she could go no further.

  “Is there no way to wake them?” I asked, mind racing with possibilities, each more unlikely than the next.

  “Not in the time we have,” she said.

  “Damn it, what happened to Varin?”

  “I don’t know,” Selina admitted. “Something is clouding my senses.”

  “Then I guess we’re on our own,” I growled, riding the adrenaline now. Fur was already sprouting over my bare skin, my skull stretching out into a muzzle full of natural weapons, and my spine lengthening into a tail.

  As my ears slid back up my head, I became aware of a new sound, deeper still in this hellhole we were trapped in. And I grinned a wolfish grin. There might be some hope of surviving this latest encounter with the Slayers after all, if we could just muster the strength to drag the vampires a little further, towards that sound.

  I let my flesh settle into the hybrid wolf-man form I’d come to favour in a fight and took hold of both vampires’ arms. Dragging the two of them was going to be awkward, but the greater strength of being semi-lupine meant it was doable, at least.

  “Come,” I grunted.

  “Are you sure?” Selina asked, sounding doubtful. “Perhaps it is better to fight than use up all our reserves trying to escape. We don’t even know if there’s another way out of this tunnel.”

  “I have a plan. You’ll see.”

  She took me at my word and we resumed our flight. The sound of running water was unmistakable, and I didn’t need the use of my sight to recognise it as a waterfall.

  “Here,” I growled, coming to a stop round another bend in the tunnel, beside the source of the noise. I let go of Zee’s arms to have a quick feel around in front of me. “I can feel a hole in the rock where the water’s going through. Sounds like there’s a pool down there. It’s pretty narrow but I think you can just about fit a body through. I’m going to push the vampires over and I want you to jump in after them.”

  “Are you crazy, that’s your plan?” she said. “We don’t know how deep it is! The fall could kill us as easily as the Slayers; even the vampires if they land on a sharp stalagmite and get impaled through the heart, or if we manage to dash their brains on the rocks. It’s not like they’re conscious and able to land on their feet.”

  “Do you have a better idea? All it takes is one stray bullet to land in the right place and end any one of us, and since I’m the only one currently in a fit state to fight there’s every chance that’s going to happen. I don’t think I can defend all three of you against these odds.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ll hold them off to give you long enough to swim to safety. If Varin reappears he can pull these two out. If not, we’ll just have to hope the Slayers don’t find them down there and they can drag themselves out when they wake at dusk.”

  “I’m not leaving you alone up here!”

  More footsteps sounded, much closer now. The Slayers were almost upon us.

  “There’s no time. Go!” I yelled, heaving first Zee, and then Lady Sarah into the waterfall. There were two loud splashes in the pool below. Selina followed with a third splash, though I sensed reluctance from her. I leaned over as if to peer down into the gloom, straining my other senses long enough to satisfy myself I’d made the right call. Selina’s head sounded to have broken the surface a moment later and she took an audible gulp of air. Relieved, I turned my attention to the oncoming
enemies and roared my challenge.

  Their footsteps seemed to falter at that primal thunder rumbling deep in my chest, and I like to think their courage wavered. And who could blame them? Advancing towards a large predator had to go against every instinct in their human psyche, yet advance they did.

  They had the numbers but every other advantage belonged to me. Revelling in the might of my curse as I had so many times before, I unleashed the full force of my fury and gave myself completely to the bloodlust. Whoever had the misfortune of being the first to round the bend wouldn’t live long enough to regret it. I was already bounding towards the sound of their footsteps, my amber eyes alight with the promise of new violence. I dared them to open fire as I ran, imagining the terror I’d unleash as they caught glimpses of my gaping maw appearing closer and closer with each flash of light. Then my jaws would close on my prey and rip the terror from them until there was nothing but the emptiness of death. This promised to be the most fun I’d had since escaping David’s dungeon.

  The Slayers didn’t disappoint. Flashes of light filled the cave again, though it was too blinding after struggling so far in the pitch blackness for me to see anything of the humans beyond it. But I didn’t need my sight. I was lucky to avoid taking any hits during that third round, then there was the sound of another set of footsteps stumbling unwittingly into my path. Something was still masking the human’s scent but it didn’t matter – I didn’t need my sense of smell either. I honed in on those footsteps and lunged at my prey.

  My jaws clamped shut around thin air. Confused and enraged beyond measure, I turned to face another of the enemies I could hear when a pale light appeared. This one wasn’t blinding and it revealed the twenty or so Slayers I’d guessed at, each one appearing as solid as any other enemy I’d faced and yet my sense of hearing hadn’t failed me. My fangs should have bitten into flesh and blood, the man I’d been aiming for still standing in the space I’d snapped at.