The Hybrid Series | Book 2 | Hunted Read online

  The flesh tried to knit together as my limb regained its original shape, but with the blade still in my thigh the tissue was forced to fuse around the metal, which only buried it more securely in the muscle. I retreated into our subconscious. The human could deal with removing it and the intense pain that would no doubt cause. It was the fault of that other part of me that we were in this mess to begin with. If only it hadn’t developed such a thirst for bloodshed…

  I gasped as I regained control, my nerves screaming under the pressure of the blade they had practically become one with. The full moon had always been a blackout period for me in the past, as had the other occasions where the wolf had taken over. But since I’d started to embrace my lupine side I’d learnt to lurk near the surface of our consciousness, like the wolf had always been able to do. And that had granted me some awareness of what he had been up to, even if it was only a few snatches of memory of the night’s events. It was enough to know who had caused this new torment.

  With human hands, I was able to grip the hilt of the sword and pull it out, a roar that was equal parts pain and rage tearing through me as the blade slid free. Removing it caused new damage to the tissue. Blood gushed in the hole it left behind, spilling over my skin and down into the soil.

  I called on the regenerative power of the transformation and the wound closed up as if it had never been. The drying blood round the area was the only evidence that remained, that and the anger blazing through me. My eyes turned in the direction of the converted barn. Lady Sarah. This was her doing.

  I rose up to my full height, feeling taller for the fury burning in my heart. How dare she deny me the hunt on a night that belonged to me, to my kind? How could she call herself my ally when she’d brought this added suffering? It didn’t matter that she’d felt she was acting in my best interests. I wanted her to pay.

  My limbs were shaking as I stormed through the woods, my rage so powerful that I barely even noticed the fresh hunger. It wasn’t long before I found myself standing seething in front of the cupboard. I wanted to throw the doors open and drag her into the sun’s deadly rays, where I’d watch her burn. My hands were already reaching for the handles. Then came the voice.

  “Are you really so lost that you would kill the only friend you have left?”

  There was something familiar about that female voice but I couldn’t place it. Out of the corner of my eye, I could just make out a humanoid figure. My anger switched targets. Who was she to interfere with my vengeance? It was my right to get even with the vampire for the pain she’d caused. Why should I have to explain that to this meddling fool?

  I spun round to face the intruder. There was no one there. Another roar tore through me and I charged back outside, now intent on hunting whoever had interrupted. Lady Sarah would wait – after all, she was confined to the darkness through the day. It wasn’t like she could escape my wrath.

  I crashed through the woods, but there was no sight or sound of the girl anywhere and I could detect no fresh scents, human or otherwise, amidst the woodland smell of trees and vegetation. Had there been room in my head for rational thought, I might have considered the possibility I was hallucinating again. But I was too lost in the rage.

  My hunt took me to the edge of the woodland where a narrow road twisted through the countryside, a capillary connecting the extremities of man’s territory to the main cities that formed the heart of their world. I came to a stop at the treeline, listening intently. If my ears had still been lupine they would have been cocked in the direction of the distant sounds of civilisation carried to me on the wind. I was so tempted to carry on to the freedom that awaited me outside of those woods, away from Lady Sarah and the restraints she insisted on placing on me. The anger pulsing through my veins still screamed for blood, but the blood of the humans I could hear in the distance would just as easily satisfy as the mystery girl I’d been hunting for. I just needed to kill someone.

  “Nick, you’re talking about murder,” came a new voice, shocked and fearful. This one I recognised straight away.

  “Fuck off, Amy,” I growled, turning to face my sister.

  “Oh well that’s nice when we’ve not seen each other all week, dickhead!” Her face settled into that look of teenage attitude I knew so well, but before I could say anything else she calmed again and sadness crept into her voice. “Why did you leave us, Nick?”

  “Well what else was I supposed to do? Stay and risk you getting hurt whenever I lose control?”

  “You broke my heart, you know,” said another voice. The image of Mum appeared beside my sister. Her eyes were red from crying.

  “What more do you want from me?” I roared. “I left to protect you all. Do you think I want to be stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, cold and hungry and alone all day, with nothing to do?”

  “You abandoned us, Nick,” Amy said. “You left us in a town taken over by monsters. How can you think we’re any safer without you?”

  The images began to change, my treacherous mind showing me Mum’s corpse, dessicated and bearing the two fang wounds in her neck that marked it as an unmistakable vampire kill, while Amy grew paler and her canines lengthened. The thought of either fate befalling my family was too much, the existence as an undead the last thing I wanted for either of them after it had brought me so much misery. It set my rage blazing hotter than ever, fury coursing through my veins and making my blood boil. Or maybe that was just the onset of the transformation again.

  My eyes were amber once more, alight with such anger that I imagined they looked like flames burning in my skull. I struggled to hold my form, a part of me all too eager to give in to the change and run towards the human world I could hear in the distance. But some small part of me knew it would be a mistake to shift again so early in the day. I needed my energy for the full moon later, and even if I ran towards civilisation, there was still no guarantee I’d successfully make a kill. Not with the threat the Slayers posed. Plus I still needed to eat after the change back to human that morning, and another transformation before I fed would only weaken me.

  I was still struggling when the hunger chose to make itself known again, as if to reinforce what little rationality was holding me back. It ravaged my insides with renewed force and freed me of the hallucinations conjured by my tormented mind, for the time being at least. The remaining corpses of the Slayers were beckoning.

  It was with great reluctance I turned away from the road and plunged back into the gloom of the woods, returning to the scene of the skirmish with the Slayers the previous day. Only one of the decaying bodies was still whole. The man whose skull I’d bashed in remained otherwise untouched, eyes wide and dim as they stared sightlessly at my approach. I crouched over him and allowed my fangs to grow again, then bit into what should have been the soft flesh of his belly. But he was not yet free of the grip of rigor mortis and his muscles remained cold and hard. Hunger drove me to force the meat down anyway and the anger began to fade as I ate. There was only emptiness once again.

  In the aftermath of my rage, there came another wave of weariness. The long days and nights spent raging and fighting had finally taken their toll, and I gave in to the exhaustion, falling into a deep sleep which not even the nightmares could disturb me from. Only with the rise of the full moon did I stir, to answer its call again.

  The night passed much like the previous one, though Lady Sarah didn’t even give me chance to try and fight the moon’s call that time. She drove the sword through my leg before the transformation was fully complete, and I could only roar my displeasure at being so cruelly tethered.

  There was still plenty of meat left on the corpses of the Slayers and I was forced to make do again. But I hungered for the warm flesh of a fresh kill.

  Rage overcame me as I changed back and pulled the blade out a second time. I spent more long hours chasing phantoms in the woods, until the hunger grew too strong and I was forced to return to the rotting Slayers. But I was unable to sleep for long that afternoon
, feeling more restless as the night of the third and final full moon approached. The wolf had been denied the thrill of the hunt for two nights running, and I could feel him pacing inside my skull. Lady Sarah might have found a way to restrain me, but I would be all the more frenzied after the added rage she’d caused which had gone unsatisfied. She would have her work cut out for her if she wanted to keep me from killing this one last night.

  Evening came. As if she’d read my mind, the vampire appeared beside me with sword in hand. I snarled in defiance as I felt the change begin, but my attention turned to the sound of a car on the road that bordered the woods. There hadn’t been many cars passing by while we’d been in the area. This one was of interest because I could hear it slowing, and then come to a complete stop.

  “I am sorry, Nick, but if you will not listen to reason there is little else I can do,” Lady Sarah was saying.

  “No,” I growled, and stumbled away in the direction of the car I’d heard. When there came the sounds of a car door opening and closing and a human walking towards the treeline, I recognised the person’s presence for the opportunity it presented.

  The vampire stalked after me, watching closely and waiting for the right moment to pin me down. I fell to all fours, and she raised the blade one final time.

  Twigs snapped and she paused, her gaze drawn to the sound. The sword hung over me, keen and deadly. Its wicked point threatened new torments, glinting in the moonlight with a sharp malice. I refused to suffer its bite again.

  Moving was agony. I struggled upright and forced myself to keep going, determined to reach the human at the edge of the woods. Part of me just wanted to fall to the floor and let the transformation run its course, but if I did that Lady Sarah would strike. I had to force myself to stagger onwards.

  My femurs were shortening as my limbs changed to become more suited to running on all fours, and I was forced to my hands and knees. Still I pushed myself to keep crawling, until the pain became too much and I lay defeated, waiting for the shapeshift to finish. The wolf fought for control of our mind. I surrendered it to him, beaten into submission by the ghostly light of our tormentor.

  The scent of the human male came to me like a summons. I prowled closer, mouth watering in anticipation of the feast I would soon make of him. Whether he was a Slayer or a civilian didn’t matter. He was a human and they served but one purpose: as prey to my unnatural hunger.

  I crouched between the trees, readying myself for the hunt. Hungry as I was, I wanted to enjoy the thrill of the chase after being denied it for the last two nights. But one crazed thought spilled from the human half of my mind. The vampire.

  Her scent slithered up beside the smell of prey. She was drawing closer, and the need to escape took over. The chase I desired would have to wait.

  There came the splash of liquid against a trunk and the smell of urine. It seemed the man wasn’t another Slayer who’d come hunting us after all. He merely happened to be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  To his eyes there would only have been shadows between the trees, cast by the brightness of the full moon. He couldn’t have guessed what lurked in those shadows, and yet I could see him looking around nervously, as though he could sense me stalking nearer. But by then it was already too late.

  I sprang from the darkness and knocked him to the ground, my fangs shredding clothes and skin and creating a crimson flow. But I didn’t kill him, nor did I begin to feed. Lady Sarah stepped into view and I rose from the human triumphant, knowing the fresh blood would also be a temptation for her, and one I felt certain she wouldn’t be able to resist. She’d not fed since the first night of the full moon, and her hunger must surely have grown powerful enough to rival my own in that time.

  I turned and bounded off in search of more prey, not waiting to see what the vampire would do. But when the man’s screams came to an abrupt halt, I knew the temptation had proved too much, just as I’d hoped. I was free to hunt at last.

  Open fields lay beyond the road at the edge of the woods. Some were occupied by livestock, the animals going wild with panic as I loped by. But as ever it was human prey I hungered for. I fought the urge to slaughter them in favour of the human meat I craved.

  My patience was rewarded when I eventually came upon a large farmhouse, on the grounds of what humans would probably call a petting zoo. There were more livestock in fields like those I’d already crossed, but I also sensed barns full of smaller animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs. The house held the most interesting prey. I padded over, looking for a way to breach those old stone walls standing strong and defiant in the face of the elements. They’d already stood the test of time. Breaching them was going to be a challenge, even for me.

  I found my way to the back door. That was one weak point I could rely on to splinter beneath my supernatural strength, but another idea struck. Luring my prey out would be easier and more satisfying for my bloodlust, which was only growing more powerful the longer I went without a kill. So I turned back to the barns, finally giving in to the internal chaos raging in my skull.

  If I’d been rational I would have wanted no part in such slaughter as the human longed for, not when it was a waste of so much precious life. But the human’s fury was too powerful and the moon’s call too strong, and the bloodlust crashed over me like a tsunami, flooding my mind with the overwhelming need to spill fresh blood. I sent up a crazed howl to the moon calling to this madness within me, then threw myself at the door to the nearest barn.

  The padlock was no match for my might. Wood splintered under the force of my body crashing against it, and I was able to rip my way through without any problems. The humans obviously hadn’t expected any trouble in so sparsely a populated area. If they’d had more in the way of security maybe the night would have gone differently. Or perhaps fate was always going to lead us to this.

  Wire mesh was no more of an obstacle than the barn door had been. I tore my way through cage after cage until each and every one of the little bodies lay in pieces. Next I raided a barn housing several goats and sheep, and a third containing rare breeds of pig, leaving none alive. It wasn’t until I started massacring the donkeys in the fourth building that finally I heard one of the humans coming to investigate, roused from sleep by the animal screams of pain and terror.

  “For fuck’s sake, that fox better not have got into the chickens again,” a man’s voice said. I hadn’t yet touched the nearby chicken coop, but the panic had spread to the birds nevertheless and they added their clucking to the chorus of terrified prey.

  “Don’t go,” came a female voice. “It sounds bad out there; what if it’s not just a fox? Please, Jack, just call the police and let’s wait for them.”

  “I’m not waiting for that bunch of incompetent local fools to show up. All the animals will be dead by the time they get here! Whatever’s out there, I’ll take care of it myself.”

  Moments later, the man emerged from the safety and comfort of his home. I listened to him approaching, crouched between scattered donkey limbs and entrails, in a pool of blood. The light from a torch swept across the grisly scene I had left for him, and I heard him breathe the words “Oh my God.”

  Whatever he’d been expecting to find, it clearly hadn’t prepared him for the evidence of the brutal end I’d brought to his animals. He seemed to be in a state of shock as he stumbled through the bloodbath. Then his torch shone through the wreckage of the door to the barn where I waited, illuminating my bloodied body. I must have looked all the more fearsome for the gore matting my fur, revealing me for the monster my human half had made me.

  The torch was blindingly bright, but I could just make out the man’s form silhouetted in the doorway. It angered me beyond all reason to see he had a gun, stoking the fires of my hate for human hunters, even though he had every right to defend his family from the predator that had attacked them. The man recovered and raised his rifle. I snarled in response, eyes blazing.

  His heart quickened and I could sm
ell the fear pouring from him as he hurried to squeeze off a shot, the bullet thudding harmlessly into a lump of donkey meat. I didn’t give him chance to fire again.

  With another snarl, I leapt for my prey and sent him crashing to the ground, pinning him beneath me as I ripped off chunks of flesh and ate him alive. The night rang with his screams, bringing his wife out to investigate as I’d known they would. Only when I heard her running towards us did I silence the man forever. The torch he’d dropped acted like a beacon.

  “Jack?” she shouted, her voice high and shaky. “Jack!”

  I continued to feed on the earthly remains of the man the woman had called Jack, until his wife drew close enough to see us clearly.

  “No,” she whispered, her eyes widening with shock.

  I rose from the corpse with a threatening growl, and her fear took over once more. Primal instincts kicked in, instincts dulled over the years by mankind distancing themselves from nature, but they were there, deep in the human psyche, and they only had one response to the threat of a predator. She ran, and with an excited howl I gave chase, as I’d been longing to do.

  Where my prey was clumsy and stumbled in the dark, my body might as well have been one with the land, my paws gripping the earth with more surety than any human footwear, my limbs moving with an effortless grace. I felt more alive than I had in months, full of energy in the moon’s light, and powered by all the lives I’d taken over the last hour. My prey’s only hope would have been to hide, but I raced ahead of her as she ran for the house and barred the open doorway, forcing her to seek cover elsewhere.

  The woman realised she’d find no sanctuary on the farm. She fled down the dirt track leading up to it, no doubt praying that if she could just reach the road, there might be help there. I didn’t let her get that far, closing the distance between us and grabbing her heel, pulling her to the ground. She screamed and tried to rise, but I heard a car in the distance and knew I had to end this game, or risk losing the kill.