The Hybrid Series | Book 4 | Damned

by Stead, Nick

But in the end, it wasn’t the need for food or more sleep that brought us to a halt that night.

  As one, the four of us with corporeal bodies came to a stop. Nostrils flared and eyes widened in alarm, lips drawing back to bare bloodied teeth in feral snarls. My ears swivelled as I strained my sense of hearing, but there was only Gwyn’s voice in the darkness and the howling of the wind.

  “What is it?” the knocker asked.

  “Death,” Selina growled. None of us elaborated. We were too focused on whatever might be out there.

  I was vaguely aware of movement on the edge of the torchlight. A moment later, Gwyn had materialised in his fox form, his nose also to the wind. He didn’t stay there long before returning to the shadows.

  “I think the word you were looking for is decay,” he said. “And I’m sure you’re all aware bodies don’t decompose in these conditions, so it’s probably not just the body of something that died out here.”

  Zee turned his eyes towards Gwyn’s voice. “Tonight he speaks sense. We’re not the only ones who don’t belong here.”

  “Another undead?” I asked.

  “So it would seem,” Lady Sarah answered.

  “I would not be surprised to find others passing through the tundra, though it would make poor hunting grounds for any wishing to call it home,” Zee said. “It’s possible there’s more of our kind being driven towards these remote areas still free from Slayers.”

  “It is possible,” Lady Sarah agreed. “But that is no vampire out there. Only ghouls and zombies smell so strongly of the grave.”

  “We might want to keep moving,” Gwyn suggested. “Just in case that isn’t an ally we’re picking up.”

  Selina gave another growl and launched into full sprint. We matched her pace, a wave of adrenaline washing away my aches and pains as we put some distance between us and the undead creature we’d sensed. Exhaustion soon forced us to another stop, but the stench of rotting flesh had gone by then. The air was back to smelling as pure and untainted as when I’d first set foot on the wintry shores.

  We built another snow cave for me and Selina. Gwyn and the vampires kept watch outside, while we settled down for the rest my body had been demanding. Weariness soon dragged me into a troubled sleep, one I didn’t feel much better for when the time came to move on.

  The absence of the moon and the stars overhead seemed increasingly ominous after that. I think the unbreakable storm clouds weighed heavy on us all, a portent of our impending doom. But if either of the vampires had the power to control the weather, they didn’t waste their energy for the sake of lifting our moods, and so we continued on, gloomy and filled with unease.

  CHAPTER THIRTY–FOUR

  Rising Spirits

  I awoke from another troubled sleep and glanced around the inside of our latest snow cave. Selina was already on her feet and devouring more rations from Zee’s pack. My stomach took that as an invite to gurgle its own demands for food, but I ignored it for the time being.

  I followed Selina out of the cave to find the blizzard still raging, my spirits at an all-time low. Our keen senses detected no seals in the immediate vicinity and my hunger only grew. I couldn’t deny it for long before I was resigned to snacking on more cereal bars to keep me going.

  Selina was refreshed enough for another short burst of speed. The wind whistled through my ears as we ran, flakes of snow stinging my eyes whenever they found their way past the defences of my half-closed lids. But it was only a few minutes of added discomfort. And when we slowed, the wind finally seemed to slow with us. It was a gradual drop from gale force to what felt like no more than a light breeze in comparison, yet it had definitely lessened by the time we stopped for another short break.

  The snowfall also began to lighten. Thick flakes dancing all around us became smaller flecks of white, coming slow and gentle. A couple of hours or so later it had disappeared altogether, leaving the air clear but no less frigid. We’d done it. After what had to be several nights of battling against the blizzard, we’d made it through the storm. It was only a small triumph when we still had hundreds of miles to go, yet it felt like a win all the same. The Arctic had shown us its worst and we’d prevailed. Nothing was going to stop us crossing the rest of the ice pack now.

  Sometime later, the sky started to clear at long last. The moon wasn’t visible but I could see the stars, and something even more enchanting. It was a sight I’d only ever seen in the classroom as teachers sought to explain the phenomenon, one I’d never expected to see for myself. Yet knowing the science behind it made it no less magical.

  Shades of brilliant green twisted and shimmered above us in a mesmerising display of natural beauty. It was truly breath-taking. After countless hours spent running beneath the pitch black sky, the land had come alight with the aurora borealis, the northern lights. It felt like another omen, a sign fate was shifting in our favour. No longer were we travelling under the constant threat of attack from a potential rival. We’d escaped the danger we’d sensed in the darkness. Now all we had to do was complete our journey and seek out a suitable wolf pack for me to join.

  I looked to the sky with renewed hope. But my feelings at the sudden burst of light were not shared by all my companions. Gwyn was stripped of his natural spirit state and forced back into a flesh and blood form, the white fox materialising beside us once more. He growled, the tip of his tail twitching like a cat’s, and his eyes narrowed.

  Zee’s gaze was also fixed on the sky, watching the phenomenon with a similar awe to my own. He switched off the torch and placed it in his pack. There was no longer any need for it for as long as the northern lights raced overhead.

  Lady Sarah looked less than impressed by the display. I wondered if she’d seen them before and almost voiced the question, but something held my tongue. Maybe it was the realisation I’d had on the ship that if she was ever going to confide in me it had to be on her terms. No amount of questions I had for her would change that.

  Selina showed little interest in the lights as well, but I thought that was probably down to the spell she was under. The polar bear must have seen the lights plenty of times before. She was more interested in what was below us, not above.

  Those dark bear eyes fixed on my lupine amber and an unspoken understanding passed between us. The wind now carried the scent of prey and we were each feeling the call to hunt. There would be plenty of time to admire the northern lights so long as the skies remained clear, but for now my attention was brought firmly back to Earth.

  Together we loped towards the seal, my mouth watering in anticipation of the fresh meat. Gwyn and the vampires weren’t far behind. We didn’t slow until we neared the animal’s breathing hole, to find the seal had already pulled himself up onto the ice. Luckily we were downwind of him or he’d likely have bolted back into the water already. Then we’d be relying on the other members of our unusual pack, but as it was there was no need for anyone to get wet that night.

  Selina began stalking closer to her quarry, once again obeying the bear’s hunting instincts. I didn’t have the patience for such tactics that night. Not when we were having to go so long between kills, managing on nothing more than unsatisfying human snacks.

  With a pang of excitement, I broke into a full sprint, bounding across the ice and snow with the same surety as any polar bear, but at a speed they could never hope to match. The distance should have been too great for any natural Arctic predator to cross before the seal retreated beneath the waves, but for me it was no great challenge. I was on my prey in under a minute. The poor seal barely had chance to turn himself around and start hopping for the safety of his hole, and by then it was already too late.

  I lunged for the animal and clamped my jaws down on his hind flippers, dragging him away from the circle of water and sending him flying with a toss of my head. The terrified seal landed a good few feet away, I put that much strength into the attack. He started to crawl in the opposite direction, presumably heading for one of his other breathing
holes, but I was on him again, this time pouncing on his back and sinking my fangs into his thick neck. I was vaguely aware of Selina moving in as I savaged the layer of blubber and flesh until my fangs raked across bone. Then the spinal column broke and it was all over. My prey’s heart beat its last and he grew still, the cold soon to seep into his veins and drive out the last traces of his life.

  Selina growled and moved closer still, showing a courage most creatures lacked. I snarled and stood over my kill in a defensive position, unwilling to share with the bloodlust and the hunger blazing so strongly at my core. That should have been enough to make the bear’s spirit back down. It should have been, and yet Selina stood her ground and gave another growl, her stance like a bear rearing up on her hind legs. Once again I thought I could see the animal’s spirit rising over her.

  I mimicked her, standing upright and taking a similar fighting stance. She was no longer a friend and ally. She was a rival encroaching on my kill. If she wouldn’t back down that left me no option but to drive her off by force, something my inner darkness was all too willing to do. So I raised a clawed hand, ready to strike.

  Cold fingers wrapped around my wrist. With a roar which was equal parts alarm, anger and aggression, I turned to face the one who dared interfere.

  “Harm her and it will be your meat who feeds her next,” Lady Sarah hissed. Her eyes glowed their icy blue, as though on the verge of unleashing more telekinetic power.

  I should have been the one to back down then. The wolf in me had once recognised her as alpha, for good reason. And there is a time for testing your alphas, but this was definitely not one of them. So why did the snarl on my lips refuse to give way to a more submissive gesture?

  “Do not make me do anything we will both regret,” she said. “I would not choose to harm you, but blood will always come first. She is my sister.”

  “Enough!” Zee commanded, placing himself between us as best he could. Selina had taken advantage of the situation to drag the seal carcass out from under me, though I was only vaguely aware of it at the time. “We did not come this far to turn on each other towards the end.”

  He was right, though my pride didn’t like to admit it. I let my features relax into something more neutral, and that seemed to satisfy Lady Sarah I’d seen sense. She let go of my wrist and I lowered my arm.

  “Look over there,” Zee continued, pointing to our left.

  I followed the direction of his finger and felt another surge of hope. “Mountains.”

  “Yes. I believe that is the coast of Greenland we can see.”

  “We’re nearly there?” I asked, the eagerness in my voice sounding strange when it came out as the growl of my semi-lupine vocal cords.

  “Not quite, but it means we’ve come roughly a third of the way across the frozen sea. Have no fear, Nick. We’re still on course for a fresh start in Canada. As long as we don’t rip each other to shreds before we get there.”

  I bowed my head in shame. He was right. We were a pack now, and my pack deserved better.

  “Sorry,” I grunted at the Wilton sisters. “I let my bloodlust get the better of me.”

  Lady Sarah dipped her head in acknowledgement. Selina was too busy dining on seal blubber to give any kind of response, but I felt certain she would have accepted my apology under normal circumstances. I would be glad when she was back to her usual self. This shapeshifted version of her was considerably harder to get on with.

  Gwyn would probably have had plenty to say on the matter if he hadn’t been in his fox form. As it was, he just looked at me and shook his head.

  I didn’t have to wait long for Selina to eat her fill, then it was my turn to tear into the seal meat. Once again there was little left when I’d finished. My stomach was fuller than it had been in hours, maybe even days. That only boosted the optimism I’d been given by this recent turn of events, and my spirits continued to rise as we resumed our journey. The end might not quite be in sight yet (in the most literal sense at least) but we were getting closer.

  We were careful to keep the coast at a distance after that, the mountains retreating into the murk until there was nothing but the flat icy plains stretching out in every direction once again. Yet fortune remained on our side. Seals had become more plentiful and the skies remained clear. The northern lights weren’t a constant feature but the moon reappeared, its pale light more than enough for our greater night vision.

  The full moon had been and gone. That didn’t really surprise me, though I was shocked to find it hadn’t waned far past full. We hadn’t yet reached half-moon, which meant it couldn’t have been more than a week and a half since we’d left Svalbard. It had felt so much longer in the endless darkness.

  In reality, we probably weren’t moving any faster since spotting land, but with the new hope I’d been given it felt like we were making much more progress between each rest break. And there was still more hope to come.

  We were just past half-moon when I picked up the sound of footsteps. At first I dismissed it as my mind playing tricks, until the others began to react as well. Like with the rotting smell we’d detected, it brought each of us to a stop, ears pricked and noses to the wind. There were no scents to confirm what our ears told us at that distance, but we knew what it meant. Only Selina was left in the dark. Without a true flesh and blood shapeshift, her senses were not the equal of real polar bears, and on top of that, it was possible a bear’s ears were not as sensitive as those of wolves, foxes and vampires.

  She looked at us and tilted her head. It was definitely an animal gesture, perhaps more like a dog than a bear, but she didn’t need to voice the question for us to understand.

  “Humans,” Lady Sarah hissed.

  “They’re a way off yet or we’d smell them,” Zee said. “I’d wager they’re unaware of our presence here, but we should proceed with caution, just in case.”

  His words made sense but my ears didn’t want to hear them. I was still focused on the sound of the prey the curse made me crave above all others, the meat I’d not been permitted to taste in weeks. And I’d been in my hybrid form long enough to give my bloodlust a greater hold on my soul. My self-control was crumbling and my reason with it. Seals could not satisfy. I hungered for that greatest of visceral pleasures.

  The vampires preached caution, but it was easy for them when they had an unlimited supply of their favourite blood source in the form of Gwyn. I didn’t know if feasting on his flesh would cause permanent damage or whether the darkness could restore any pieces of his physical body he might lose whilst weakened by light, and I hadn’t grown desperate enough to ask. He couldn’t sustain me in the same way he could sustain the vampires, but these humans could. Caution was the last thing on my mind.

  I dropped to all fours and ran towards the prey before the vampires could stop me.

  “Nick, wait! They could be Slayers!” Zee yelled. I ignored him and kept going.

  The vampires could have stopped me then if they’d really wanted to. Maybe they thought there was a chance the humans had heard Zee’s shouts and they thought it better to let me slaughter the potential enemies at that point. Or maybe, for all their talk of being careful, they desired the kill as much as I did. It must have been hours since they’d last fed on Gwyn. Their hungers had to be on the rise as well.

  I soon caught the scent of my prey as I closed the distance between us. They were a group of three; one victim for each undead with a taste for human blood. My heart raced with new excitement as my body bounded across the ice, beating strong and fast with the thrill of the chase. All three were going to fall to my might and it was going to be euphoric. The thought of it spurred me on to greater speeds.

  I saw the trio long before they saw me, two men and a woman wrapped in layers of warm clothing and carrying packs similar to Zee’s. They were armed but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. The guns might be for nothing more than protection against polar bears, like we’d seen in Longyearbyen. Or they could be Slayers, as Zee had wa
rned. We would soon find out.

  When faced with a group, natural predators select the sick and the weak to prey on – the easiest to kill. I did the opposite. My sights were set on the biggest and most muscular of the two men, the one with the most meat to offer. The vampires could drain the other two, but he was mine.

  Once again I was relying on speed rather than stealth. The humans heard me coming but not until it was too late.

  “What was that?” the woman asked, voice high with fear.

  They each raised their guns and scanned the darkness. It was my intended target who saw me first. “What the fuck?”

  The other man just had time to shoot before I pounced, but he missed his mark by several inches, my movements faster than he’d probably anticipated. I crashed into him first, bashing his skull with my fist and rendering him unconscious. It would have been more satisfying to rip out his throat but I wasn’t completely ruled by the bloodlust. The vampires would get more enjoyment out of their prey if I kept them alive, so it was only fair I left their share virtually untouched. Nevertheless, a trickle of blood leaked from a gash I’d created in the man’s forehead. The scent of it threatened to erode what little self-control I had left.

  Drooling, I rose from the first man and grabbed hold of the gun now pointing directly at my head. It was the weapon belonging to the woman. Had she been a fraction of a second faster, she might have succeeded where so many others had failed, but she was not. I wrenched the gun from her shaking hands before she could squeeze off a shot and tossed it aside. One look at my snarling face was all it took to vanquish the last of her courage. Weaponless and terrified, she took the only option left to her. She fled.

  I almost forgot the other man in the desire to give chase. She might not have been my original target but my predatory instincts no longer cared, my love of the hunt shifting my focus from the largest of the group to the running prey. It was only the explosive thud of agony in my shoulder which caused me to turn back to the larger man.