Dawn and Quartered

by Hunter Blain

  With shaking hands, I pushed on the ground and stood to face my maker. My voice trembled as I yelled, “Where is Depweg?”

  “Dead,” Ulric said coldly. An evil smile graced his face as my pain manifested on my own. The surrounding field and Ulric started to blur as tears welled in my eyes. I went to wipe them and a foot crashed into my face. As I flew back, stunned and dismayed at the loss of my best friend, Ulric grabbed my feet as they became even with the rest of my flying body and then turned me round and round in a circle until the world melted around me like a fresh painting being spun on a finger by a professional plate spinner.

  I felt him release my feet as I flew through the night towards the burnt-out house, which rushed greedily to meet me. I smashed through the side, blackened wood turned into splinters from the force of impact, and slide on the floor to come to a stop in the living room. I laid on my back in pure agony at the thought of my best friend being killed because of me. I could see the moon pierce the clouds through the hole in the roof. It shown on me, illuminating the home, and the man who was walking through the hole I had made.

  A giant black wolf with a white patch on his right eye slammed into Ulric. They tumbled into the field with the wers gnawing at Ulric’s arm. In pure rage and disgust, Ulric threw the black wolf away with ease just as a white wolf with a black patch on his left eye crashed into him from the opposite side, tearing at the other arm. Ulric cried out in pain as he grabbed the white wolf by the scruff and threw it into the house. It hit and rolled until it landed next to me, whimpering slightly. Then an aggressive growl rumbled in its throat as it got up on all fours and lowered its head closer to the ground, protecting its neck. A piece of lumber flew through the hole at the white wolf who narrowly dodged out of the way. The lumber struck me right in the forehead as I was trying to get up, knocking me back down. I was numb from what Ulric had done to Depweg. Which was good because that probably hurt like hell. Wait, no— that did hurt like hell, damn it.

  I lifted my head again as I heard a howl from outside. Ulric darted impossibly fast to the side as the black wolf leaped through the hole where Ulric just was. He skidded on the ground, tearing chunks out of the wood floor. The twins weren’t as massive as Depweg, but they were still over 300lbs each.

  Depweg. Dead. Anger began to smolder in my guts like white-hot coals.

  Ulric strode into the building baring teeth, prompting the twins to attack. The black wolf feigned a leap while the white one went low. Ulric was still too fast for them and swatted the white wolf away with a heavy thud just as the black wolf made its attack. Ulric slammed his elbow downwards, smashing into the black wolfs skull. It landed with a sickening crunch where it laid and whined.

  The fire in my gut became all-consuming as I let my grip slide from the wheel. Both PS and I were blinded with rage as he took control. One moment we were on the ground, beaten, the next we were upright and screaming incoherently as we lunged forward.

  Ulric saw me coming and willed a blood-rapier out of his hand. I didn’t care. He had taken too much from me and I was beyond rational thinking. Either I died right now, or he would. Hell, maybe I would get lucky and we would both die. That would cancel the prophecy wouldn’t it?

  As I charged, arms outstretched, he stabbed me right through the heart. Or it would have been had I not been wearing my iron infused body armor. Ulric cried out in pain and surprise as the blood manifestations energy was canceled and taken away from him. I finished my charge and took advantage of his stunned state by wrapping my arms around him and tackling him to the ground. While on top of him, I began wildly pounding my fists. Most of my hammer blows missed and shattered holes in the rotted wood floor, but the few that hit home, really did damage. Ulric was starting to recover when the first fist slammed into his forehead.

  For an instant, the image of the soldier whose face I caved in when my family was taken shot through my mind in rapid flashes.

  Each hit stunned him while I continued my onslaught. The white wolf padded up to me and whined loudly. We both knew if I somehow managed to kill Ulric that the end of times would begin, but I couldn’t stop myself.

  “He’s not dead!” Ulric cried out between fists. I wasn’t letting him get full control of his faculties because I knew he would easily overtake me. I had to keep him dazed, or dead.

  Then the words sunk in and I slowed. “What did you say?!” I cried out, spittle flying in my rage. I didn’t stop the onslaught, I kept smashing his head with blows when I felt his body start to regain its composure. With each blow his chest and arms relaxed under me, unable to receive a strong signal from the brain that was being rattled.

  Dawson barked right in my face and then leaned down to grasp one of Ulric’s arms as Joey wobbled over to grab the other. They pierced flesh and blood trickled out of their jaws, staining their fur as they held Ulric in a death grip even he wouldn’t be able to break. A werewolf’s jaws were a terrifying weapon to come up against, even for a vampire as old as my maker. The twins pulled the arms out to each side as Ulric grunted in pain and weakly struggled.

  “I lied to make you emotional. Just like you were in London,” Ulric panted, his eyes rolling in his head. “I still have him as an insurance policy.”

  I stopped pounding and reached for my kukri. It slid out with a reverberating swang where it continued to hum from its raw power. I brought the blade next to his face, pressed it into his flesh so he knew I meant business, and said, “Talk, right now.”

  “No,” Ulric said calmly but fully understanding the situation, “If I do, you’ll kill me.”

  “I’ll fucking kill you if you don’t,” I said with a tone that frightened even me. I moved the blade down to his ear and slide it under the skin like a white-hot knife through warm butter. It fell to the ground and Ulric screamed through closed mouth, refusing to give me the full pleasure. “Where is he?” I asked as I moved to his other ear, slicing it clean off before he could even breath in for a response. I was going to disassemble him, piece by fucking piece.

  The white wolf whined at me, eyes pleading. I knew I should take control back from PS but I just didn’t care what happened to Ulric. He deserved to die.

  Joey barked through a full mouth at me and growled. Blood was streaming down his forehead where he was struck by Ulric. His fur glinted like rubies in the moonlight as the crimson rushed to meet Ulric’s own blood that still trickled from his maw.

  “He needs to die,” I said with a shaking voice.

  Both twins whined at me, their eyes shifting from one another and back to me.

  I knew they were right but I just couldn’t take the controls back from PS. It felt too good to punish Ulric and this was my only chance to hurt them much more powerful vampire.

  “No,” I said to the pleading twins as I sat upright on Ulric’s chest and grabbed the handle of the kukri with both hands, blade downward. “I want his heart.” I brought the blade down with all my might.

  At least I thought I did. I was frozen in mid-air, unable to move. Tendons popping and drooled shot through my clenched teeth as I fought with all my might to kill this bastard.

  I cried out as realization struck, “YOU FUCKING BITCH LILY!”

  Ulric took advantage of the situation and put one foot flat on the ground where he pushed up and over to the side, toppling me to the ground. I was still frozen from Lily’s commands. The wolves braced themselves, but with Ulric gaining back full control of his mind, ripped his arms out of the twin’s mouths, bringing most of their teeth with him. They yelped in both pain and surprise as Ulric was up and out of the house in the blink of an eye, leaving only kicked up dust behind that slowly settled back to the ground.

  Once the threat, which had stopped being a threat, was gone, my body relaxed, free from Lily’s order. I was so pissed at her, even if I knew she had stopped me from doing something I couldn’t take back.

  “She fucking knew,” I panted as I sat up, bringing my knees to my chest. I went to pull my beanie off, forgettin
g it wasn’t there, and furiously ran my fingers through my hair.

  “Knew what,” Joey the black wolf asked, after he transformed back. His human teeth grew in place of the ripped-out canines. It was a good thing werewolves lost their preternatural teeth when they changed back to human. He sat next to me while blood glistened off his naked body in the moonlight. Head wounds always bled the worst.

  “Nothing,” I said, embarrassed at being played and because I knew I needed to be played in that situation.

  “You had him, man, what happened?” Dawson the white wolf asked as he finished reverting to his man skin. His face was heavily bruising on one side.

  “I froze,” I said.

  “No shit,” Dawson said as he leaned on a wall. He looked down at the ground in contemplation before saying, “Fuck he was strong, dude. Like, really really strong.”

  “Tell me about it,” I said, “I was so close.”

  “Ok, let’s look at things from a constructive perspective,” Joey began, “We know the silver worked against him.”

  “And the armor,” I said, touching my chest plate that had saved my life.

  “And the armor,” Joey repeated in agreement.

  “But he still has Depweg,” I said; disappointment and dismay in my words.

  “Yeah but now the dude is bleeding and shit,” Dawson said, “We can track his bitch ass.” He finished by holding up his hands with his thumbs and pinkies outstretched and then waggled them back and forth.

  Excitement grew in my chest lined with hope. “You can? Like right now?”

  “Yeah bro. We just need to eat a deer or something along the way,” Joey said, leaning forward to get on all fours. Dawson took his cue and dropped to his hands and feet as they both began changing. Hair grew over their entire bodies and then thickened to fur. Their eyes turned yellow as their snouts extended from their face, bones popping like breaking twigs. Wrists extended until they basically became a second elbow as hands became paws. Teeth elongated into razor sharp daggers while tails sprouted from lower backs. After a few moments, the change was over and both wers shook like a wet dog and chuffed to signal they were ready. I noticed their wolf teeth were back. That’s a neat trick to remember, though I know it was extremely energy depleting to transform into their wolf skins.

  Both Joey the black wer and Dawson the white padded outside, sniffing the ground in circles until orienting on their targets direction. Once locked, both wolves ran full sprint into the direction Ulric had retreated. I followed close behind, letting my senses flow all around us to keep on the lookout for a likely ambush.

  We made it almost to the end of an adjoining cornfield when I felt something enter my perimeter senses. Immediately after, Joey and Dawson’s heads shot up as a wave of spiders the size of car tires poured out of the tree line and into the cornfield. Each black mass had 8 eyes that glowed red.

  “Ooooohhhh mmmmmyyyyy Lilith that’s fucking horrifying! Don’t let them bite you!” I cried out to the wers.

  Green liquid gleamed and dripped off mandibles the size of steak knives. Lilith there had to be hundreds.

  “Just smash and go, they can’t be that strong,” I said as I slid to a stop just outside the corn in the space between the field and the trees. I willed two sledgehammers from my palms and into my fists and crouched low. Joey and Dawson lined up next to me in preparation, staying close to prevent flanking.

  The spiders started climbing into three piles several yards in front of us. The one in the middle attracting a larger share than the other two. The spiders grasped onto one another and merged flesh until two spiders the size of mini-vans stood in front of us. The third pile was still forming and was already the size of a small RV.

  The two mini-van spiders charged, front legs outstretched, machete-sized mandibles clicking excitedly. Joey and Dawson darted around either side of me, circling around. The spiders took no notice and beelined directly for me. That was a little unsettling. Maybe if I peed my pants that would help deter them.

  I let my sledgehammers grow into broadswords as I brought them up in a defensive stance in front of me. The spiders ran like the creepy bastards from Starship Troopers and thoughts of men being torn to pieces flooded my mind. Damn movies infecting my mind!

  The left spider juked to the side, drawing my attention as the right slowed. I knew this was a trap that would spring as soon as I turned my body towards the left spider. So instead, I turned to the right and leaped forward, sliding on my knees through the earth and dirt. As I passed under the spider’s body, I let my blades swing out to either side, cutting the demons legs off at a joint. The spider monster screamed a high pitch wail that pierced the night. As I cleared the body, I pivoted and jumped on the gimp spiders back and drove my blades through its body at a singular point. The stump legs shot out in pain as I twisted the blades before pulling them in different directions, splitting the demon in half. As its body melted into ectoplasm, the other spider pounced on me from the side, knocking me to the ground where it pinned my arms and legs with its massive appendages. I struggled to move as the fangs inched closer to my face. Two wolves slammed into the beast as its mandible caressed my bare throat, throwing the beast to the side. Each wolf grabbed a leg in its massive jaws and shook its head. The legs popped like kindling and broke apart as the wolves did their job before moving to another leg. Dawson got cocky and went for its front legs, putting a front paw in range of the fangs, which pierced his flesh while injecting venom. Dawson howled in pain as he limped away right as I jumped on the spider’s abdomen, willing my swords into my oversized looney toons hammer. I brought the weapon down on the spiders red eyes as they exploded in a mass of goo that crunched like a Styrofoam cooler being crushed. I could feel the tremor of impact as my hammer hit earth. The spider started melting as my attention turned towards the remaining mass that had stopped growing and was now the size of a small house.

  “Well, that isn’t something you see every day,” I said to myself. “Maybe if I shit my pants…”

  Joey howled in fury as Dawson collapsed to the ground. He had started breathing hard and rapidly, his tongue hanging out the side of his snout. The house-spider took note of this and began making its way to us. Each leg impacted the ground with enough force to create tremors. Its venom dripping fangs the size of Viking broadswords.

  “Um, um, um, I don’t know what to do with this,” I stuttered as I backed away, completely at a loss with this monstrosity before me that was barreling down. It reared up as it got closer and my mind flashed to the terrible movie Spawn.

  I put my hands together and leaned forward like a diver about to jump into the water. I focused and willed blood to flow out all around me with half shooting into the ground for support and the other half-pointing straight at the beast. The blood sharpened to a point, like a giant spear, and violated the spider’s body as it charged. Gore shot out with the impact as the beast screamed with a mixture of agony, rage, and surprise. Its legs pounded on my body-encompassing blood spear, which took a lot of energy to make. I started to will the bottom portion of the spear that was in the ground to help provide support before I was beat to death. I sent more blood into the body of the beast and expanded the tip, creating a wedge to pull the body apart. This only pissed the monster off and it slammed its many legs with renewed vigor and fury. I could feel the blood protecting my body begin to grow brittle from impact. If it broke, I would lose a lot of energy and be stunned long enough for the thing to freaking eat me. I focused on the legs and the pattern they used to strike.

  Six of the either legs struck in a succession of front to back, left to right. Between the last legs hitting and the front legs resetting and striking again, there was a brief pause. One, two, three, four, five, six. Pause to reset. One, two, three, four, five, six.

  On the third go around after I noticed the pattern, I sucked in my cover that protected my body and crouched down. As the first leg came down again, I jumped forward with all my might and pierced through the back o
f the spider’s body, splitting it in two. It crumbled to the ground in two pieces and began turning translucent as its driver was sent back to hell, defeated.

  As I cleared the spider and flew through the air, the spear I had created arched downward and then stuck into the ground like a lawn dart.

  “Looks like he stuck that landing,” I said in an announcer voice as I willed all my blood to return. As I fell to the ground, I took in a deep breath, held it, and let it out in a shudder. “Fuck that was creepy. Some Stephen King shit. At least it wasn’t a clown.”

  I heard Joey call out in mid-transform. “John! Help!” His voice was deep and strained as his vocal cords reformed.

  I rushed to where Dawson lay and gawked for only a moment before a thought hit me. Ulric was going to get away if I didn’t stay on his trail. My eyes locked with Joey’s and I could tell he saw my mind working.

  “Please,” Joey begged in a whisper.

  Cursing, I pulled out my phone and texted Dr. Jim.

  “Emergency. Were poisoned. On our way. Less than 10 min away.” I hit send and was almost immediately rewarded with thumbs up emoji. I was going to have to learn to use those.

  Looking at Joey I said, “Piggyback, get on now.” I scooped up Dawson’s unconscious body as Joey climbed on my back. In his human skin, he was light and only 5’4”. As his body pressed against mine, I could feel his junk pressing into my lower back.

  “Gross. Impressive but gross,” I said as I began bounding to Dr. Jim’s.

  “Hey, I don’t like it any more than you do. And thanks,” Joey cried out against the wind.

  I knew we didn’t have long, so I willed a blood-helmet to stop those damn June bugs and hauled as much ass as I was comfortable with Joey still in his man skin on my back. My body protected most of the air from ripping his skin to tatters.

  After a few minutes, we arrived at the vets, which really seemed appropriate right about now. Joey leaped off as I landed and opened the back door, allowing me to run straight into the back room. I burst through the double metal swinging doors as my helmet absorbed into my body, and marched into the operating room where Doc was prepped and ready. I set Dawson down and Doc used a pair of clippers to shave his arm to find a vein. He inserted a silver tipped IV and ran a saline line. Next, he grabbed some iodine and cleaned the points of entry, flushing out the remaining venom. After that, he grabbed a big syringe and stuck it in the IV line near the bag where a spot was available for needles to be used to inject solutions.