Kingdoms Of Hell: Vampire Paranormal Romance (Transfusion Book 7)

by Stephanie Hudson

  As for my personal saviour in front of me, he wore a thick, dark grey cloak, that was strapped to his body over what armour I had managed to see. The bare hint of a kilt in the same clan tartan colours could be seen worn over black trousers and the heavy holder for his sword created a point in the cloak at his back.

  The big one with the hammer grunted in his reply, whilst the archer muttered,

  “Ye'v always bin a spoilsport.”

  “Aye, 'n' ye won’t be saying that if we git oot of this wit’oot managing tae wake up th’ queen.” The guy with the sword said but then, as if on cue, a huge battle cry sounded and the trees from the darker, spider forest started to bend as if a bomb had exploded and a tornado had suddenly gripped them. They quaked as if some invisible force was trying to tear them from the roots and all the remaining pieces left of the spider pods shook wildly.

  But after this the roar ended and the trees sprang back to their upright positions and that darkness at the end I had once foolishly believed might have been a way out, started to move. This was when I realised exactly what it was.

  The entrance to the lair of something truly monstrous.

  And the archer said it all when he muttered,

  “Tae late lads, th’ bitch is awake!” and he was right, it most certainly was…

  Too late.

  Chapter 13

  Cursed Queen

  “Damn she looks mair pissed aff than lest time!” The arrow guy said before the biggest one rolled the handle of his hammer in his large meaty hand, making the end spin in anticipation before he grunted in a deep gruff Scottish voice,

  “Aye, let her come, fur mah hammer wull feed fae her rotted soul!” The archer patted him on the back once and said,

  “Yeah, ye dae git tis nae a pet, dinnae ye, Gryph…Aye?” Okay, well as far as Scottish accents were concerned you couldn’t get much heavier than that one, so I was officially clueless on everything the two of them just said! But whatever had just been said it made the big guy, who I now assumed was called Gryph, scoff a deep guttural sound, that in all honestly, could have been a laugh.

  “Kin we git back tae focusing on th’ one who started this war now?” the swordsman said, who most definitely seemed to be the one in charge…that or he just wanted to get the job done and was the more focused one of the lot. Of course, now considering myself as one of the gang, I thought it best to speak up now before I lost the opportunity to figure out what exactly was going on here.

  “Erm…I hate to be the annoying addition to the party of three here, but I feel like I need to ask at this point…who is this Queen and what makes her so dangerous?” The second after I asked this the ground rumbled just in the same way it had done when the tree people had risen from their side of the forest. Only this time it had enough force to make it difficult to stay on my feet and more of the ice cage started to crack.

  This was because I could now see what was emerging from the cave and even from this far away, it looked like a gigantic demonic spider!

  “Ah okay, never mind,” I said referring to the sight of true horror appearing in front of me, one that had me wishing this to be nothing more than a nightmare I could wake up from.

  “Aye, noo she gets it,” the archer said sarcastically.

  And I did…oh, I sooo did.

  “Probably not the best time to mention I am scared of spiders,” I said making the big one grunt and I think it was another laugh before saying,

  “She’s a funny wee lassie.”

  “Yeah, weel buy her flowers after ye impress her by killing this bitch first aye or Trice is gonnae shit roses ‘n’ nae th’ type ye wanna give tae a lass,” the archer said in that easy joking tone of his telling me yet another name…Trice.

  That was the name of the swordsman who had still remained closer to me and in his reply, he gave me the name of the archer,

  “Vern, cut th’ shit ‘n’ fire an arrow towards th’ bitch already, ye ken how she hates fire,” the swordsman said who I now knew as Trice.

  “Wi’ pleasure…time tae light this bitch’s fire!” Vern said pulling back on his bow and blowing along the length from hand to hand, only this time, he did so in a spiral motion. This was so that more than one arrow appeared as now there were six all bunched together. He aimed the tips up at the sky, getting the right angle before letting them all go. They flew up higher than before and then all six started to rain down the centre clearing, the one I had been walking down before all Hell erupted from the ground and the trees above. I followed the glowing lengths of each until they landed down by the darkness at the end where the Queen had emerged from.

  The fire erupted in an arc around the monster no doubt in an effort to try and push her back inside the cave. Although, it also ended up illuminating the true nature of the creature and it was the personal stuff of my nightmares, as this was going to take my fear of spiders to a whole new level!

  This was because the view I now had of the Queen was utterly terrifying! It was as if two entities had been merged together, starting with the figure of a human woman and that of a gigantic demonic spider. A spider I should add, that looked as though it had captured it’s human host and forced her to become one with the beast.

  The woman was wearing a flowing black gown that trailed well past her feet as she was suspended at least twenty feet in the air. The material of her dress looked as if it was floating, as though she was a ghost slowly moving under water. Her waist length black hair was the same and captured at the top of her head where a crown sat as a collection of silver, spider’s legs. One that rose up higher in the centre of her forehead like twigs. Most of her breasts were exposed by the deep slit in the front of her dress, but her pale white skin was painted both black and red, like you would find on a poisonous black widow spider.

  And speaking of the spider element, she looked held prisoner to the colossal spider’s legs positioned behind her. They rose up and around her small frame with spiked knee joints before the legs bent back down to the ground, providing her with the motion of walking where her human legs were no longer needed.

  Two shorter spider’s legs didn’t touch the ground but instead framed her shoulders with huge stingers. They each looked to have the means of shooting webbing from beneath the razor tips, telling me this was how she created all her webbed egg sacks that had once hung from the trees. Two giant pedipalps rose up above her head and looked more like clawed horns that opened and snapped shut making a clicking sound.

  It clearly didn’t like the flames, but despite its fear of fire the woman at its centre merely screamed at it, screeching in that high pitched wail, before the clacking sound of her legs moving echoed down the centre of the trees.

  She moved in jerky disjointed movements where the pointed ends of her black legs jabbed at the ground when they raised up and down at the multiple knuckle joints. Frighteningly quick movements that swiftly had her avoiding the fire and doing so by making use of the trees on either side. This, however, meant that the figure of the woman was left suspended over the fire, making her cry out in fear and pain as the forks of flames licked at her feet.

  It was strange, as if the two were one but also not, as they didn’t seem to work together. Almost as if she was a host that had been punished by being given to the creature to merge with. Either way, they both made it past the fire and were now coming right at us.

  Meanwhile, the creatures that had been held back by the explosion had also made it over the bodies of the dead. The ones caused by the three men and as effective as it had been, they were now also coming at us from both sides. However, the Queen cared little about her army as she trampled over her children, spearing some with her deadly steps and adding to her legs as they got stuck there, like adding meat to a demonic kebab.

  “Gryph,” Trice said nodding to the biggest one and Vern blew out another arrow and twisted his body just enough so he could fire it behind him this time. It hit its mark, this being one of the tree people who was closest to him and the
arrow set him alight instantly. He had done this in seconds and with barely a glance to mark his aim.

  “Fine, let’s see it then,” Vern said sarcastically after his arrows obviously hadn’t had the desired effect on the Queen. Gryph then rolled his shoulders and said in that gruff voice of his,

  “Whit urr ye waiting fur, unleash yer hell!”

  Trice then stepped away from the cage, leaving me for the first time since appearing to save me and when he did, the one named Vern ducked his head to catch a better view of me. This was so he could grant me a comical little wave. It was one I felt equally rude not to do in return, just as I felt silly doing it. However, politeness won over shame and besides, so far these guys seemed like they were on my side, despite me still being in a cage.

  Trice rolled his sword around in his hand, doing so with as much ease as if he had been born with it in his grasp. Then he stabbed it into the ground making the surrounding area glow with an icy spark of power. Then he twisted his sword and the brightness grew, telling me that it was time to cover my eyes. So, I threw my arm over my eyes and looked down. It was only when I saw the hint of it starting to die down through the small gap, did I then brave lowering my arm.

  I could see the effect it had caused as there was an icy path from his sword to Gryph, where it had exploded next to him into a frozen eruption the size of a boulder.

  “We tried fire, noo tis time fur this bitch tae cool aff,” Vern said making Trice look back at him over his shoulder. Then he shook his head making the archer shrug his shoulders and say,

  “What, action heroes always hae th' best yin liners.”

  “Aye, emphasis on the word best,” Trice said dryly making Vern give him the middle finger. This was as Gryph was stepping up to the icy boulder the size of Lucius’ Mercedes SUV. Then, just as the Queen was getting closer, he twisted the handle of his weapon once more, igniting its power. Then he swung the hammer and smashed it into the centre of the boulder with such force, that it shattered into hundreds of deadly shards that all flew towards the oncoming horde of spider creatures and their Queen. The second they hit their intended victims the spider creatures froze on impact, making me shout out in victory. And as I was yelling out one for the team in excitement, it made Vern shake a thumb over his shoulder at me and say,

  “Git a load o’ this yin, talk aboot bloodthirsty.”

  “Aye, juist th’ wey I lik’ em,” Gryph said before erupting into laughter but stopped when the freezing shards hit the Queen, only managing to freeze the bottom parts of her legs for a short time. After this she screamed in anger and started running at them.

  “Och bugger, ah think we made her mad again!” Vern shouted before firing arrow after arrow at her, but it was having no effect.

  “Ye know what this means!” Trice shouted back after being forced to deal with the battling forces of the army as they continued to swarm around us.

  “Ah fck! Aye it means needing tae kip fur a fucking munth is whit it means!” Vern snapped and the big guy just growled in annoyance. Meanwhile they may have understood what it meant, but I had no clue as to what they were talking about. No, instead I just focused on stabbing and chopping where I could as both creatures were still trying to get to me.

  “Weel look at ye go…hey, who gave doll face a weapon?” Vern said after kicking one tree man hard enough the roots snapped his leg off.

  “I did. Now we need tae try and drive her back tae th’ cave, lead her away from th’ girl. Vern release th’ call tae release oor beasts so thay don’t git hurt in th’ crossfire. Gryph, open up th’ ground, that should slow em down ‘til we figure a wey tae kill this bitch!” Trice said who was definitely the one leading this show and I noticed his accent came out stronger when angry.

  Vern nodded before he blew out a flaming white arrow and shot it, directing it up in the air above our heads making it explode like a firework, whilst releasing a high pitched whistle. I could just see the beasts they had rode in on when joining the battle, charging their way towards the clearing and in the direction they had come from. I wondered about the one Vern had travelled here on, when suddenly I saw the huge winged creature take to the sky and start flying away like a giant eagle. Meanwhile, Trice nodded to me and said,

  “Hang tight… I’ll be back.” I frowned and was about to ask how long that ‘hang tight’ comment was meant for when Vern said,

  “Ye know that yin is taken, right?” This was referring to what I assumed was the ‘Action hero one-liners’.

  “C’moan, jackass, time tae do what ye do best,” Trice said after walking away and hitting Vern on his back as he went, making him stumble forward a step before asking,

  “Aye 'n' what’s that, ye bastard?”

  “Piss off women,” Trice replied making the big guy, known as Gryph, bellow in laughter before he hit out at the ground and this time instead of creating a booming shockwave effect, he split it wide open, making me cry out in shock. He seemed to be able to control the damage as he centred it around where I stood, so it now created a little island around the cage, splitting it away from the rest. This was so it made it more difficult for the creatures to get to me. Of course, it also made it impossible for anyone to free me, which was something I would have pointed out had they not already started running towards the angry Queen.

  They moved with such speed it was nothing short of incredible and made me wonder what supernatural beings they were. They all split up, so the Queen didn’t know who to grab, but then something they weren’t counting on happened, which looked like it was game over for the three riders. It started when two pedipalps reached down over the Queen’s human head, covering her face. Then they continued even further as they pushed their way inside her mouth before stretching it so wide, I thought it was going to rip her face in half!

  She screamed in haunting agony as the two shorter legs that produced the webbing reached over and entered the stretched mouth, gagging her on them both as they tore their way forcefully inside her body. This was just before her stomach started to expand, as if something was being deposited in her belly before it grew so big, it made her look nine months pregnant in seconds.

  I felt like gagging too at just the sight but managed to keep down the vomit that threatened…unlike the Queen. The spider legs were quickly turning her and just as the three riders were making it to the cave, the legs pulled from her mouth and the two pedipalps held her jaw open as she spewed a seemingly endless amount of sticky wet webbing at them. This had been what was forced to grow in her belly, making it land over the three men like a hot blanket, capturing them in her thick webbed net.

  “NO!” I screamed as she quickly spun extra webbing around the captured three, until they were completely covered in a cocooned sack. Then she gathered up her new kill and made off towards the cave, her treasure nestled up against the body of the woman. One whose head now hung in what looked like utter exhaustion.

  “Oh shit, no! Fuck…FUCK!” I shouted in anger as I felt utterly helpless to do anything, especially now being stuck on a fucking island surrounded by a horde of battling creatures all around me! I also felt sad, because I was starting to like those guys and now it felt as if they had died trying to protect me. The pain of which made my chest ache for them and their gallant efforts now seemed in vain, for their deaths happened so swiftly.

  I felt tears emerge as hopelessness settled bitterly in my gut. I tried to tell myself that maybe they weren’t dead. That maybe it wasn’t too late to save them and as soon as I discovered a way free, then perhaps I could sneak inside the cave and cut them free once this war had ended. Because surely it had to end right? I mean just how long would it take for them to all kill each other?

  Obviously not soon enough I thought as suddenly the creatures from both sides were trying to discover ways of getting to me. Something that ended up being successful when the spiders backed up enough to jump across the massive rupture in the land. The tree people also managed it, as the roots unravelled from their bodie
s so they could launch across the gap. They latched onto the cage to anchor themselves in making it across when the rest of their bodies soon followed.

  “Ah, just fuck off already, will you!?” I shouted as I swung my weapon around which was a smaller sword, reminding me of a Roman Gladius. I managed to keep some at bay, but with the lack of my protector to help me out, it was soon becoming obvious that the three riders weren’t the only ones about to lose their lives in this battle. As the ice cage around me was starting to crack under the pressure of so many of them.

  “AH!” I shouted in pain as one of the hands from the spider creatures managed to reach for me. The second I tugged my arm out of its grasp, its claws scratched deep gouges into my skin, tearing into my shirt and leaving me bleeding at the top of my arm. I ignored the pain but it distracted me long enough that I didn’t spot the roots gaining access through the gaps of ice. But just before I could dodge one, the other had wrapped around my ankle and was yanking me hard to the floor. I dropped the blade as I fell and cursed myself for the deadly mistake.

  “NO!” I screamed as I kicked out and thrashed, trying to get free and twisting my body so I could reach the handle of the sword, thinking I could cut myself free. However, another root reached for it and just as my fingertips grazed the handle, it was cruelly yanked out of my grasp before being lost completely with no hope of ever getting it back.

  “Fuck!” I snapped knowing this was it, there was no recovering from this. Not when even more roots wrapped themselves around my body, letting me know that this was what it wanted. To drag me back to one of the trees to imprison me there, so it could add me to the demonic collection, like making me part of the Borg and its collective.

  I knew this when the main part of the tree man’s body was using his rooted hands to try and pry open the icy cage, making it crack even further. Meanwhile the roots had wrapped themselves tightly around my torso, making me shudder in revulsion when they circled my breasts, before moving up towards my neck. Soon my movements became too limited, with nothing left to do but strain my neck away from the vine as it worked its way up from tightening around my chest.