The Hybrid Series | Book 4 | Damned

by Stead, Nick

  “I think I’ll take your tongue too,” I said, forcing his jaws apart and gripping the muscle with my fingers. “That’s your comrades’ blood you can taste on my hands. It’s the last thing you’re ever going to taste, so enjoy it while you can.”

  I’d been too focused on my prey to really follow what was going on around me, but I became aware of guns clicking empty and people starting to run. It was almost over at last. The battle was won.

  I gave it a couple of minutes before I ripped Josh’s tongue out. Then I whispered into one of the holes on the side of his head, where his ears had been only minutes ago.

  “Now I’m going to leave you here to die. I’m going to leave you as you left that poor dog, terrified and alone in the eternal dark of your blindness with nothing but the pain of your injuries and the hunger growing in your belly. But there’s not going to be a visit from a creature who actually gives a shit about your wellbeing. There’s not going to be anyone to save you or bring your suffering to a merciful end. You’re going to know the slow and painful end of starvation, and when the Reaper finally delivers you from that particular torment, then you’re going to Hell to suffer anew. Something for you to think about once we’ve left.”

  Josh continued to cry and plead, but it was just noise without a tongue to give it meaning. I rose and turned my back on him, feeling far more satisfied with this kill than I had with the first of the trio. My thirst for blood was well and truly quenched for the time being.

  The other Slayers all lay dead by then, even those who’d tried to run. It looked like Will had shot most of them and the vampires had caught the rest. They were busy feeding to heal their wounds and restore their strength, while Will stood calm and patient on the other end of the room where I could see now there was another hidden passage. He still had his gun in his hands which turned out to be some kind of rifle.

  I took all that in, but my mind was still wandering the dark path it had set on the moment I’d found the dog suffering in the dungeon, where I’d first picked up the trio’s scent. We were nearing the end of that path now. Two down, one to go.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  A Demon’s Parish

  Lady Sarah finished draining her victim and dropped the corpse, where it would rot with the others. Her gaze moved to Will, bloodstained fangs bared in a hiss.

  He aimed the rifle at her chest, his face a similar impassive mask to the one she usually wore. “I’d prefer not to kill you, but I will shoot if I have to.”

  “I could crush your skull before you even had the chance to squeeze the trigger.”

  “You could try.”

  Zee let go of his victim and stepped up beside me, drawing his pistol and baring his own bloodied fangs. “I take it this is the man you told us about, the one who would have us go up against the demon?”

  “I only need the wolf,” Will said.

  “Why?” Lady Sarah asked, eyes filled with suspicion and distrust. She hadn’t backed down, despite the threat of the rifle. Selina came out from behind the table and joined her sister, giving her a warning look.

  “Because he can help, and you cannot.”

  “That is no answer,” she hissed.

  Will shrugged and looked at me. “I gave you your time to think and discuss things with your friends. We can wait no longer. Will you help?”

  “No,” I growled. “I don’t believe this is my fight.”

  “Not even for the sake of your human family?”

  “I’ve seen no evidence they actually are in any danger, and I don’t trust you. Why should I risk my life against an enemy that isn’t my problem?”

  “There are five of us against one mortal,” Zee pointed out. “I say we kill him and be done with it.”

  “What if I could give you the last of the men you swore to kill?” Will said, ignoring the pirate.

  “I’ll find him on my own. It might take longer, but I have his scent. I’ll hunt him down eventually.”

  “Then, what if I told you your friend Gwyn never made it out of that dungeon? The Slayers have him, and he has no chance of escaping on his own. I can take you to him, but only if you agree to help me first.”

  “You’re lying,” I growled, yet somewhere in my gut his words resonated with truth. I thought back to the dream and the way Gwyn had made me promise to come back for him when we could. Is that what the dream meant? That he’d been taken prisoner and needed me to come back and break him out?

  “He’s being held in a secure complex similar to this one, but you’re going to struggle to find it on your own. I give you my word – if you will fight with me against the terror demon, I will take you there and help free him.”

  Zee snorted. “We have no reason to trust your word, especially after watching you betray the people you’d supposedly pledged your loyalty to. Help us free Gwyn first, as a show of good faith.”

  “There’s no time,” Will said. “We deal with the demon first, then rescue Gwyn. Agreed?”

  Zee looked at me. “I don’t like this.”

  Ed’s warning replayed in my skull. I didn’t like it either, but how could we leave Gwyn to be dissected alive and tormented by our enemies?

  “Do any of you have a better idea?” I asked, already resigned to taking Will’s deal.

  Zee’s eyes hardened. “We have no way of knowing if he’s telling the truth about Gwyn. I still think we should kill him.”

  “Are you really willing to take that chance, knowing what the Slayers are likely doing to him at this very moment?” Will asked.

  “All right, I’ll do it,” I answered, before the others could talk me out of it. “For Gwyn.”

  “Then I’m coming with you,” Zee said.

  I shook my head. “Not this time, mate. I need you guys here, sorting things for when I get back. We’ve lost the element of surprise now which means time really is of the essence. And if it does go badly and I end up captured, I’d rather you were out here and in a position to help than sat in a cell next to me.”

  “And if you end up dead?” Lady Sarah asked.

  “Then there’d probably be nothing you could have done, other than die alongside me.”

  “We’ve wasted enough time already,” Will said. “Come, wolf.”

  Selina suddenly spoke up then. “Don’t go, Nick. I’ve seen your destiny and it’s bigger than us all. Don’t throw that away on some pointless battle which might not even help Gwyn in the end.”

  “I told you, I make my own destiny,” I growled, then stalked over to Will. “Let’s go.”

  The passage led us out into the field at the back of the base. There was a strong smell of exhaust fumes hanging over the area and tyre tracks gouged into the soil. The non-military Slayers would be long gone by now.

  A single car remained by the base’s evacuation point. Will’s, I assumed.

  “So how long did you serve in the army before signing with Hell?”

  “You’ve been talking to Ed,” he said, opening the car door on the driver’s side.

  “Yeah. Want to tell me why one of Hell’s servants is so desperate to send this terror demon back down there?”

  “My master has decided Dhaer threatens His plans.”

  “Tha-rer?” I asked, struggling to repeat the foreign sounding word.

  “Dhaer. The terror demon – that is its name.”

  “Oh. What plans?”

  “Those are His business. Change back to human and put these on, then get in.” He passed me a shirt and trousers.

  “Okay but I’m going to need to eat again before another battle. My energy’s starting to run low and another transformation is only going to make it worse.”

  “I know, but we can’t be driving round with you looking like a monster. Most people we pass might assume it’s a costume, but if there’s any Slayers on the road we’ll have yet another fight on our hands.”

  He had a point so I did as he said. Once the last of my fur had retreated, I opened the passenger door and climbed in, taking a mome
nt to study him in the car’s light. His short hair was greying but there was still evidence of the darker shade of his youth, and the skin beneath it wasn’t as wrinkled as I’d always thought when our paths had crossed before. His face bore the lines of a hard life and numerous scars to add to his grizzled appearance, but I could see now he wasn’t that old, just as Ed had said. At least not physically. If he’d been fifty-three in the years of World War Two, he had to have been around for over a century by now. There was little wonder he had the face of a soldier who’d seen too much of war. Come to think of it, he’d probably fought in World War One as well, and possibly other battles in the short years of peace before World War Two. It was hard to imagine him as anything other than a soldier.

  “Do you even know what your master’s plans are? Or do you just serve Him blindly, never questioning what He tells you to do?”

  “It’s not my place to question Him,” Will said, turning the key in the ignition. The engine roared into life and he started driving. “I follow orders and I get the job done.”

  “Maybe you can tell me why this job involves me then.”

  “You’ll find out soon enough. For now, make the most of the time to rest. We’ve got a long drive ahead.”

  “Why, where are we going?”

  “Northamptonshire. Now try and sleep.”

  I didn’t particularly like being ordered around but I closed my eyes anyway. The car’s motion across the field and then onto tarmac helped me nod off, until I couldn’t have kept my eyes open even if I’d wanted to. Next thing I knew, we’d come to a stop and Will had just undone his seatbelt. Daylight streamed through the windows but it was dulled by the clouds overhead, grey and heavy with the threat of a coming storm. I’d slept through the entire journey.

  “We’re here?” I asked.

  “Yes.” He opened the boot and climbed out. “Or as close as we’re going by car. Time to find you some prey.”

  Yawning, I followed suit and looked around while Will was busy rummaging in the boot. There wasn’t much to see – it looked like we were in some derelict area of a town. Empty buildings crumbled before the elements, abandoned and forgotten by man and left at the mercy of Mother Nature as she slowly attempted to reclaim the area for her own. Yet nothing could be seen growing in the cracks between the walls and no birds nested above us. This was a place of death.

  Paint peeled off neglected shopfronts and empty windows gaped like mouths, with shards of glass for teeth. Several doorways stood open and uninviting, leading to dingy rooms given an eerie quality by the sheer lack of life. I scented the air and listened for any hint of a living creature, but there were no beating hearts to be heard other than Will’s and my own. It should have been a haven for the homeless and urban animals usually quick to make opportunities of such places, yet there wasn’t any evidence of so much as a single rat. Even the air was still and dead. We might as well have been inside a tomb.

  “There’s no prey here. Maybe we’d be better getting back in the car and going a little further, till we find somewhere that actually has some life to it.”

  Will shook his head as he closed the boot again. He still had his rifle, carried in his hands now, but he’d also armed himself with another two handguns and a sword on his back, plus fresh ammunition, and a couple of daggers. “We make the rest of the way on foot. There will be prey before we reach Dhaer, trust me.”

  “I don’t trust you,” I reminded him. “But we’ll try it your way for now. If we’re nearing Dhaer and I’ve still not eaten, then I’m going off to hunt and you’ll just have to wait for me to come back.”

  His face remained impassive, his eyes as cold as ever. “That won’t be necessary.”

  “We’ll see,” I said, unconvinced.

  The corners of his mouth twitched, as though he found my distrust amusing and wanted to smile, but had forgotten how. But he said nothing more and so we walked in silence.

  I soon found out why he wanted to leave the car where we did and continue on foot. The roads were cracked so badly it looked like Godzilla had stomped down them, making them impassable by vehicles. Walking was the only way we were going to reach the terror demon. And it felt like we’d walked for miles before Will’s prediction about prey came true.

  Our surroundings only grew bleaker the further we walked and at first I thought it was the hunger playing tricks on my mind. But the sound of running footsteps grew louder and the rush of blood in her veins stronger, and then her scent reached me and there could be no doubt. There was still some life in this ghost town after all, though the woman wouldn’t be living for long. She was heading straight for us.

  “Can you hear her?” I growled.

  “Yes,” Will answered, eyes on the road ahead. There was nothing to see yet, but the woman would come running round the corner at any moment. “Let her come to us. She might have information we can use.”

  I was so hungry, I’d much rather have run on to meet her. My mouth watered with the thought of tasting warm blood pumped fresh from her heart, still beating in her chest while I ripped off chunks of the meat around it. But if this was truly the area Dhaer had made its hunting grounds, the thing could appear at any moment. I didn’t sense that dread presence yet but it was surely only a matter of time. Questioning the woman was the smart thing to do.

  She came skidding into view a couple of minutes later, though it felt much longer. Her eyes were wild, terror reducing her to a primal state. One look into them was enough to know we weren’t going to get much sense out of her, but Will stepped into her path anyway, holding his hands out. The rifle pointed upwards in one, his palm facing outwards with the other. I mirrored him, though I was sure my eyes must have betrayed me.

  “Don’t be afraid,” Will said. “We’re here to help.”

  The woman looked like she was just going to swerve round us and keep on going. I don’t know if it was seeing Will so armed that changed her mind, but she did stop for him, though the fear never left her eyes and she couldn’t seem to meet my gaze.

  “Oh thank God,” she panted. “Are you police?”

  “Army,” Will lied. “We’ve been sent to scout ahead and assess the situation before bringing in our forces to neutralise the threat. Can you tell us what happened?”

  “It’s some kind of monster,” she said. “I was on my way home from work when it appeared out of nowhere, flying over the town and making this terrible screeching noise. Everyone panicked. I had this feeling, like I was trapped in a nightmare and I couldn’t wake up, and the fear just took over. So I ran. God help me, I left my friends and neighbours at the mercy of that thing and I ran.”

  “Then the rest of them are all dead?”

  “I don’t know. I think it landed somewhere round the town centre. And the screams. Oh my God, the screams. It was horrible,” she sobbed.

  “And which town was this? How long have you been running for?”

  “Kettering. I don’t know how long it’s been – hours, I think.”

  “Thank you, you’ve been most helpful.” He raised his rifle and put a bullet through her brain. Her face just had time to settle into a look of stupid surprise, then her body crumpled. I stared at him. “What? You need to eat so eat.”

  “Doesn’t it bother you, murdering your own kind?”

  “No. We’re all damned – they just don’t know it yet.”

  “Well that’s comforting,” I muttered, stripping off again. I wanted to be back in my hybrid form and ready for a fight, especially if Dhaer was nearby and liable to show up at any minute. Though after the power it had shown the first time we’d faced it in the dungeon, it probably wouldn’t make a whole lot of difference which form I was in. “Where’s Kettering from here; is it the next town over?”

  “It’s miles away. We’re only on the edge of Northamptonshire which means she’d probably been fleeing all night. She won’t have been running the entire time but it’s amazing how far a person can push themselves when they’re motivated by fear.” H
is lips twitched with the hint of another smile – pride perhaps at this particular triumph of his species?

  “Then how do we know it’s still there? Won’t it have moved on by now?”

  “It has been moving around to make it harder for the Slayers to mount a full-scale attack, but it’s almost been a week since it escaped the dungeon – it’s growing bolder now. Dhaer is still wreaking havoc in this county. We’ll find it soon enough.”

  A thought occurred to me then, just as the transformation had begun to take hold. But I waited for the changes to go as far as I wanted before stopping it at the halfway point and asking my next question. “So if it’s been in this area for what, at least twelve hours? Was this area already derelict or are we witnessing the first signs of the demon’s reign?”

  “This is Dhaer’s doing. We’ll start seeing bodies soon enough.”

  “And you expect the two of us to beat this thing?”

  “Yes.”

  I grunted in disbelief, wishing I felt so confident, and dropped to all fours to feed on the woman. She’d been lucky indeed to have escaped Dhaer’s clutches, though I thought it entirely possible she’d still have been marked for death with or without our intervention, and that the demon would have caught up with her eventually. I had a feeling Dhaer was enjoying decimating the area town by town, down to every last soul, and I doubted it would let anyone escape.

  The corpse had enough meat on it to quieten my hunger and give me the energy I needed for the fight ahead. Will also took the opportunity to eat. He had some kind of protein bar in his pocket to keep him going till his next proper meal, though he looked to be chewing it with little enthusiasm.

  I was quick to devour my food, rising from the carcass moments later with fresh blood dribbling down my jaws and stringy flesh caught between my teeth. Will had fallen quiet again and we resumed walking in silence. I couldn’t help but feel we were going to our doom and I found myself wishing I had my friends beside me, rather than this man I neither liked nor trusted. It was a poor way to spend what could potentially be my final hours on Earth.