by Stead, Nick
More blood burst forth from ruined vessels, a red waterfall cascading down, soaking his clothes and adding to the gore on the floor around us. He held his hand to the torn flesh in a very human gesture, even though past experience must have taught him it would make for an ineffective dam against such a forceful torrent.
With my opponent disabled for the time being, I finally gave in to the agony of my own ruined body and collapsed to my knees. The sword was still embedded in my flesh and I knew I had no option but to pull it back out and change fully to either one form or the other. I also knew removing it was going to cause a similar level of discomfort as I’d experienced when it went in. Part of me just wanted to fall to my side and lay there while the pain ran its course, but only death would come of that. My lycanthropy wouldn’t save me if I didn’t let it bring about the rapid healing needed for me to survive, and then Amy and my friends and allies were going to die along with me. I was going to have to find the strength to remove the foreign object and let the transformation take hold.
The metal felt cold beneath my furred hands. I gripped it as firmly as I could manage and forced myself to pull backwards. A roar tore through me, damaged nerves exploding into fresh pain as the blade slid free.
Blood gushed from both the entry and exit wound, flowing freely without anything to plug the holes. Dizziness crashed over me again, the room blurring as I fought to hold on to consciousness. But it didn’t take any conscious thought to start the one thing that could save me.
Punctured organs and torn flesh began to knit back together. I had just enough of a weak grip on reality to guide my shifting flesh back towards my human shape, feeling that was more useful than becoming a full wolf for the time being. No bones were damaged so I didn’t need to become fully lupine to heal – the cell regeneration to finish reverting to human form was enough.
Somehow I managed to stay conscious, feeling my strength returning as the pain receded. My vision cleared and I could see the vampire was also on his knees, surely feeling the need for the one thing that would save him by then.
If David truly wanted Zee to die by my hand then whatever they had controlling him must have been preventing him from feeding. I was counting on the power of the hunger to break their hold on him, risky as that would be. He may well end up in no state of mind to control himself this time. And if he drained me dry it would cause the damage to my brain needed to end my unnatural life. I could well be sacrificing myself to save him.
That said, Zee still wouldn’t be truly dead from being completely bled out, as I’d realised before when he’d been on the verge of falling into a corpse-like state. But he would enter a kind of death for as long as it took for fresh blood to pass through his lips. Either my plan would work and the hunger from being bled out would become more powerful than the spell he was under, or the spell would hold and he’d be reduced to a corpse. If it was the latter, I could revive him by dripping my blood over his mouth until it brought him back, but there was every chance he’d still be controlled by David, putting us back to square one.
I prayed this would break the spell. Otherwise, I’d have no option but to leave his corpse-like body lying helplessly in the chamber and go on without him. That may well be as good as having actually killed him myself, since there’d be nothing to stop our captors entering the chamber to drive a stake through his heart. But reviving him only to have to enter another fight was pointless. I’d just have to hope David would be in no rush to have him staked. Then I could come back for him once I’d slaughtered every last Slayer in that place, and if it turned out that still wasn’t enough to break the control over him, perhaps nothing would. Unless Selina could find some means through her witchcraft to free him, maybe. Assuming she survived that long.
The last of my lupine might shrank back into my weaker human form and my body was blissfully free of pain once more. There was no trace of the mortal wound I’d just been dealt, my skin as flawless as ever. What would I do without that greater healing? I’d have been dead about a hundred times over.
The sword lay on the floor beside me, though I didn’t really remember dropping it. I also found I’d fallen forward, on my hands as well as my knees now. Morbid fascination kept me there as my gaze fixed on Zee, and the changes his body was going through.
I didn’t know if it was the same for all vampires or if it depended on their age, or maybe it was even down to the bloodline they came from. But, for Zee at least, it seemed being drained of so much blood wouldn’t just make him a temporary corpse.
His body was desiccating before my very eyes, becoming skeletal and very definitely dead in appearance. Lady Sarah had always retained her unnatural beauty in her death-like state; she did appear somewhat more of a corpse while she slept, but a recent one that hadn’t entered any of the later stages of decay. And the unfortunate vampires who’d been murdered by Leon had also looked like the recently dead, their flesh ripped apart like any other victim of an animal attack, human or otherwise. Maybe their bodies just hadn’t lost enough blood to undergo the same change I was witnessing in Zee, but whatever the reason for such a grotesque transformation, it was certain to haunt my nights for some time after. The fact that I’d already come to consider him a friend just made it all the more horrific.
My hope began to wane as he continued to wither away. What remained of his eyes still appeared wild, with no visible change to them as far as I could see. It seemed he was beyond help, at least for the time being, and as much as I hated to turn my back on a friend, I felt I had no choice. There was nothing more I could do for him and besides, I still had to find Lady Sarah.
All that murderous rage and dark need for vengeance had yet to abate as well. It urged me to hurry and complete my current quest, so I could set about tracking the men I wanted to slake my bloodlust with. That was the path I really wanted to be walking after all David and his minions had done.
Zee fell forward onto his own hands, his lips pulling back to give him a corpse’s skeletal grin. I got to my feet and turned away, relying on my anger to keep me going. Without it I would have been torn between leaving him in such a state and carrying on for Amy’s sake, but those inner flames helped steel my resolve. It wouldn’t do to be looking back when I needed to focus on moving forwards.
I could make out the shape of another sliding door panel but this one didn’t open for me. Either David wouldn’t flip the switch until I finished off Zee, or I was going to have to search for another hidden mechanism. I hoped it was the latter, otherwise I didn’t know what I’d do. I could try brute force again or search for another way around, but neither move was guaranteed to get me anywhere and it’d be a waste of time and energy. Killing Zee was not an option though, or so I told myself.
If it came to it and it was him or Amy, I knew deep down that I would choose my sister. I’d only known the vampire a matter of hours after all, or a couple of days at most, and while I had quickly warmed to him, it was far from the close bond of family. Maybe a few months down the line – if we survived that long – we might grow close enough for me to consider him a brother. But not enough time had passed to reach that level of friendship yet, and I’d recover from killing him much quicker than I would from causing the death of my own sister. Still, it might not come to that.
I began to search for another hidden mechanism but the minutes stretched by with no luck. My fist slammed against the door in frustration.
Something made me turn back round. My eyes registered a blur of movement, then a body collided with my own, sending us crashing to the floor. Cold, dead flesh crawled on top of me, pinning me down with an unnatural strength that shouldn’t have been possible from such wasted, skeletal limbs. My cheek pressed against the coolness of the stone, the uneven surface digging into my skin, painful and uncomfortable. Fangs slid into my neck with another sharp stab of pain, unlocking the liquid treasure hiding just beneath the surface and freeing it from its tubular casing.
Bleeding Zee dry had worked, his hunger
finally overpowering the control the Slayers had kept him under. But there was a savagery to the way the vampire fed. I could feel him shaking his head to widen the puncture wounds and make the blood flow quicker, the initial trickle of crimson far too slow to satisfy what must have felt like a desperate need for sustenance, as if he’d been starving for decades. I might have freed him from whatever the Slayers had done to control him, but I’d also stripped him of his self-control, just as I’d feared would happen.
“Zee!” I gasped. “Zee, stop!”
The vampire was too far gone to respond. If anything, it felt like he redoubled his efforts to drain me dry. My ears filled with the sounds of him gulping down my life force and the pounding of my heart as it struggled to keep pumping the rapidly depleting volume of fluid round my system.
“Zee,” I tried again in desperation. He was too strong for me to begin with, and I was growing weaker as he grew yet more powerful. Trying to reach him was all I had left. “We’re friends, remember. Leave me some of my blood so my body can go on functioning. Come on, mate, fight your way back through the hunger. See that I’m not just some human victim to feed on.”
My grip on consciousness was slipping once again. I was vaguely aware of the vampire’s flesh growing warmer with my stolen blood, his body beginning to feel less bony where it pressed into mine. And still he continued to feed. Again I thought of Amy and how I’d be failing her if I allowed myself to die to a rival, but I wasn’t sure if even the transformation could save me this time. The flesh of my neck couldn’t fully repair itself while the vampire’s fangs pierced it, and the blood would keep on flowing through the damaged blood vessels, allowing Zee to simply continue feeding as if I were some mere human he’d found. I knew I had to try though. It was my one last hope.
Fur sprouted from my skin, poking through as if the pelt of my wolf form lurked just beneath the surface, waiting to be set free. Bones began to change size and shape and organs started to shift. If I’d been fully conscious, I might have been worried that there was more than the pain of the transformation in my chest. But I was too light headed to be overly concerned by the slow thumping of my heart and my shallow breaths.
I could feel the torn tissue in my neck trying to recover from being ravaged by Zee, and the blood flow did slow somewhat, but it continued to spill from around the vampire’s fangs as I’d known it would. My heart could well have been failing and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.
Just as it seemed I was doomed to die, the weight of his body lifted from my back and those deadly fangs withdrew from my neck. Had I managed to save him after all? Had the Zeerin I’d come to know and call friend returned from the madness first the Slayers, and then the hunger had forced on him? I couldn’t help feeling it was too late, but at least my death would have some meaning.
Flesh fused back together, sealing my blood firmly within my circulatory system once more. I couldn’t feel any strength returning to my limbs though. They tingled with that pins and needles sensation, numb and heavy as if my body had entered into its own state of desiccation. Even with the rapid healing of the transformation, the thought crossed my sluggish mind that it might already be too late to bring me back from the brink of death.
The vampire pirate stepped into view and I rolled my eyes up to look at him, his face swimming in and out of focus. I was relieved to see that he did indeed seem to have returned to his former self.
“Zee,” I rasped, with the added difficulty of my vocal cords beginning to change.
“I am here,” he answered, kneeling down. His tongue flicked across his fangs, savouring the last few drops of my blood, and there was the shadow of his hunger prowling behind his eyes.
“My sister…”
“What of her?”
“Dying. She’s dying. Have to find Lady Sarah. Take her to Selina. Our deal…”
“Deal? With Selina? Or Lady Sarah?”
“Save Selina’s sister, she saves mine. You have to do it for me.”
“Ah.”
“Promise me.”
“No, friend. I won’t fulfil your end of the bargain for you. You have to do it. Stop talking like you’re on your deathbed and find the strength to go on. You can do it; you have the power to heal this. I believe in you!”
“Not happening quick enough,” I managed.
“Come on, I know the last werewolf isn’t about to let himself die to a vampire drinking his blood. Just think of the satisfaction that would give Ulfarr.”
I growled, unconvinced. My mind was teetering on the edge of the blackness of the void. I doubted the change could restore enough of the blood I’d lost in time to lift me up from it, and out of Death’s reach.
Zee gave me a fierce grin. “That’s it, let anger guide you back. For an animal and a landlubber you’re not all that bad company. Don’t leave me alone in here.”
My heart continued its struggle, a wounded animal kicking weakly from within my chest. My head was almost completely lupine and my tail was nearing its full length, but still my body hadn’t overcome its weakness from losing so much blood. His words gave me something more to hold onto though. The mention of Ulfarr was enough to give my rage something else to feed on and it roared through me in a molten tidal wave, forcing my heart to keep on pumping stronger and faster. Numbness gave way to burning heat, my blood boiling and my fury blazing.
My vision cleared and that usual feeling of power spread through my shifting flesh, my body singing with renewed life. I stopped the transformation before it went fully to wolf and reversed some of the changes, back to my hybrid form.
The need to kill was as strong as ever, but I fought to rein in some of that darkness for the time being, aware I couldn’t lose myself to it until Amy was safe. When I rose to my feet, my self-control was as firmly back in place as Zee’s seemed to be. Our hungers snarled at each other from their cages as our eyes met.
“Thanks,” I growled.
Zee laughed. “I think I should be thanking you. You could have just killed me, instead of risking everything to save my life. I won’t forget this, Nick. For as long as I sail the seas, my blade is yours.”
He’d already retrieved his cutlass at some point while I’d been struggling to heal, and he placed a hand on the hilt of it as he spoke. I didn’t really know what to say to that, other than to thank him again, which brought forth another laugh.
“Come on, let’s go save your sister.”
“Aye, Cap’n!”
“Oh, you fancy joining my crew do you?” he asked, amused.
The panel to the next section of the dungeon finally ground into action and we fell silent, turning to face whatever was coming next. All merriment evaporated, replaced by wariness and an alertness to our surroundings that was akin to that of mortal animals. Fresh pangs of hunger resonated within, as if my body was reminding me of the cost of what I’d just put it through. I could only hope the worst was over, or exhaustion would soon be dragging me back down. So much for saving my freshly replenished energy.
It wasn’t long before the panel slid high enough to reveal what lay beyond, and I felt a sense of relief. We’d finally made it to Lady Sarah’s chamber.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
How Much Does She Really Mean to You
We ducked under the panel, stepping through to find this chamber was split into two. One side appeared to be a clear pathway to the next part of the dungeon, the doorway suspiciously open and easy to reach compared to every other section we’d passed through so far. The other side had holes set into the wall which went all the way along, right up to the base of a set of stairs. At the top waited Lady Sarah, still lying on her stone slab in that deathly sleep.
A stone wall divided the two parts, extending right up to the roof over our heads. It started just a few feet from the area where we’d entered and ended in a kind of an L-shape.
As far as we could make out, the staircase on the right appeared to extend around the corner of that L, continuing on above the doorw
ay on the left. That must have been where the window in the previous passage had looked into, which meant there was a second exit to the left of Lady Sarah. So we had the choice of a seemingly easy way through to the next section or the chance to reach the vampire, and face some new challenge along the way.
As we took this in, the panel behind us rumbled back into life. We instinctively turned to see it sealing off the doorway we’d just come through, and that’s when we saw another message on the wall behind us.
One safe path, one of peril. Which will you choose?
Well, that seemed to confirm my suspicions. The only question was, what kind of peril awaited us on the right? It had to be something to do with those holes in the wall, but what exactly did they hold? There was only one way to find out.
Zee looked at me as if for confirmation. Leaving the chamber without Lady Sarah was not an option, regardless of the cost to reach her. So I gave a brief nod and that was all it took before we were stepping forward as one, towards the right hand passage.
A clear liquid poured from the roof, forming a curtain of fluid all the way along from the wall on the right to the dividing wall running down the middle of the room. Another message appeared, projected on the water.
How much does she really mean to you?
Because that wasn’t ominous at all. The left side remained clear of whatever that liquid was. It appeared to be water but with my sense of smell still dulled by the ever present, overwhelming stink of death and decay and that thing we’d already encountered once, I couldn’t be certain without placing my nose right in front of it. Zee seemed to know exactly what it was though, and he drew back with fangs bared.
“Holy water,” he hissed.
