He had seen so much pain this night, and he felt pity like he had never felt before. This was a war that their Family had been battling for so long, since forever, but he never thought that he would be in the middle of it one day. It was a foolish wish, a stupid dream, to even hope to think that the war would never happen in his time. Now his brother was ordering people, quite possibly, to their deaths. He didn't hate his brother, how could he, but he couldn't help but think there may have been another way.
But then he realized there was none, which made seeing his family members suffer even more painful.
During his umpteenth visit bringing Lady back to the Manor to collect more bandages and the like, Wayne happened to catch a glimpse of something down in the trees that surrounded the Manor. With everything slowed down (but not entirely frozen like statues), since he was going so fast, he saw a large massive wolf being set upon by several vampires.
He felt his heart leap up into his throat and he wanted to abandon the medical mission given to him and go down there to do something but he had to help Lady. That was his job, wasn't it? And he had gotten a call needing medical assistance out near the lake front properties and it was very bad, possibly life threatening, meaning his trip to the Manor was even more integral than normal.
Why couldn't he be in two places at once?
Arriving at the Manor he let Lady down as he looked around the dining room where the Family members who needed rest were sitting. He saw Zeke and Alexander sitting with their parents who had luckily survived the night thus far. Little Angel still appeared to be without the presence of her mother, and was hanging around anyone who would offer her a lap to sit on.
Wayne checked in on the 'hospital' room that the Manor had and felt his stomach turn when he saw how many people were here. He watched as Lady's mother was tending to somebody he couldn't see, before she slowly pulled the white but blood stained sheet up and covered their head. His stomach felt itself bottom out within him and his heart freeze, and he turned away from the scene and spotted his brother walking down the stairs.
He'd seen him look worse. There were bandages to his head, hands, ankle, and who knew what kind of bruises he had beneath his clothes.
But when he reached his brother, and opened his mouth, he was shocked at what he was saying.
"Why did you let Bernard out?" he demanded, probably louder than he had thought he would, "What gave you the right to put his life in danger like this?"
Megamind turned to look up at his brother with a look of surprise. "What?"
"Bernard!" Wayne shouted, pointing towards the door. "He's out there! This was never his war to be a part of you know that!"
"Not a part..." Megamind blinked in shock, before frowning. "This is his war!"
"No, no it isn't!" snapped back Wayne.
"Yes, yes it is." replied his brother, before slamming a finger into his chest. "You made it his war the night you took pity on a werewolf and brought him here! YOU pulled him into this!"
"I didn't... I didn't do that so he could be involved in this!" Wayne argued, "He needed help and I gave it to him!"
Megamind was rubbing his poor finger, having momentarily forgotten how tough his brother was. "And exposed our family and our ways to him in the process. You brought him into this, Wayne."
"I'm sorry!" Roxanne's voice startled Wayne and he turned to see the woman walking down the stairs, eyes wide. "I, I'm the one who let him out of the basement," she explained, "But I thought that, that it was all right?" she looked at Megamind. "Haven't you ever let him out before?"
The two brothers stood in silence.
"You said I could let him out!" Roxanne said to Megamind, "You said he'd been trained!"
"Wait, you let him out?" Wayne asked, looking horrified.
"I did." she replied, feeling the same dreadful sense of fear beginning to grip her.
"And he didn't hurt you?" he asked.
"Obviously..."
"I keep telling you he recognizes smells." Megamind said calmly. "We've been with him for eight years, Roxanne is his best friend, of course he'd know her smell. And we both know how territorial he gets when vampires roam the woods, he goes crazy in there. Why not use his abilities while we can?" he asked.
"Because he could be killed!" Wayne shot back, "I have to go help him, now! And bring him back because what happens when the sun comes up soon, brother?" he asked, walking closer to Megamind who didn't step back from the looming presence of his older brother. "He becomes weak, and human again. He'll stand no chance."
Megamind frowned. "I could go get him, you know you have a job."
"No, I have to go get him. I'm the one who loves him, I'm the one who helped him believe he's more than just a monster. I'm the one who took care of him that night we first met him so I'm not going to let you be the one to bring him back here. I'm going to." Wayne's voice was that of a stubborn man who wouldn't listen to reason, and for a brief moment Megamind could hear the shadow of their Father's voice in Wayne's words.
He was stubborn too.
The blue alien's eyes suddenly opened wider. Should he tell Wayne about thier Father now? What about Minion, who was helping the people within the house? What of everyone who was gathered? He didn't know what to do. But if he upset Wayne any more, he might jepoardize the mission on the Family. Shuddering, he sighed, and nodded.
"All right... the sun up isn't too far away. I suggest you go save your boyfriend." Megamind said. "But only after dropping Lady off at the lake front, all right?"
"On it."
It was seconds later Megamind and Roxanne were at the door, Wayne and Lady having already vanished from sight.
"Why didn't you tell him about your Father?" Roxanne asked quietly, holding his hand in hers.
"I'm going to. But once this night is over and we can all properly mourn the dead." Megamind replied quietly. "And... hopefully after we bring Dracula down."
"Do you really think you can do it?" she asked.
"Oh please." Megamind snorted and leaned in closer to her, and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. "This Family's been doing this for generations, and we'll be doing it for generations more if we have to until we finally vanquish him."
Roxanne frowned, but quickly kissed his cheek. "You need to rest."
Megamind sighed and nuzzled his forehead against her temple gently, wishing he could properly rest but knew deep down the second he would lay down somebody would need him. That's the way things were...
~*~
"Bernard? Bernard? Where are you? Answer me, if... if you can?"
Wayne had landed in the woods that surrounded the Manor, and was back where he had swore he had seen Bernard just minutes before but by now, the werewolf was gone. Moving across the lawn he observed ash that clumped in the dewy grass, thick with red blood and when he spotted brown fur snagged on tree bark Wayne couldn't help but gasp.
Most of the trees in the area showed signs of stress, whole branches knocked or ripped off of their bases. He knelt to pick up one tree branch seamlessly in his strong hands, and ran his thumb over the bloodied wood. "Jesus." he mumbled.
In all his years knowing Bernard, he had never truly seen him set loose on the world. It was by sheer luck that he and Megamind had happened upon the newly turned werewolf on his first full moon. Since then, it was Wayne who had helped Bernard come to grips with what he was and that when the moon was full he had to be locked away in case he got out and hurt somebody innocent. Bernard hadn't wanted to kill anyone (no matter how much he joked about it darkly), or turn another into a monster like himself, so he had gone along with the plan.
Bernard's transformations were never pretty to witness. His flesh would bulge and stretch as the muscles beneath his skin would grow and flex. The finger nails would grow rapidly to match his growing hands and he soon would have impressive, deadly looking claws that were as deadly as sharpened knives. The shape of his skull itself would change shape, a particularly painful thing to live through, combined with his muscles. His teeth were literally pushed out of his gums entirely, replaced with sharp teeth befitting a wolf, meaning there was blood pouring out of his mouth.
On top of all that, there was the fur that grew out of his skin. It covered him from nose to tail. The transformation, all of it, happened over a span of only a minute, or less.
It all undid itself when the sun finally began to bring light to the skies. His muscles would deflate, his skin would tighten, his spine would shorten itself back in to his body, skull would return to its normal shape, and the wolf teeth would fall out only to have normal human teeth return. The transformation both into a werewolf and back was incredibly painful, hence why the days after a change Bernard would be exhausted emotionally and physically.
To have it happen, out here, with vampires around would be the end of Bernard's life. They would smell his human blood taking over from the wolf, know he was weak and open to attack. He would be killed in seconds, unless they wanted to 'play' with the dog.
Wayne wouldn't let that happen, ever.
"Bernard!" he screamed again, the distress in his voice even more striking as he began to run through the woods. How was there sound absolutely everywhere? The vampires were swarming, still, no matter how many were being felled by his Family. Where had they been hiding all this time? Underground? In the open? How could they be so blind?
A harsh loud yelp filled the air and Wayne froze. Turning in the direction of the sound, Wayne ran as fast as he could.
It was happening in such a small space, with large, old trees pushing in from all angles and sides. Their bark was rough and torn open by strong claws, blood splattered the wood, signs of a fight that was not fair. And in-between it all, was the werewolf. He was licking at a wound on his arm, and around him lay nothing but ash, and Berserker remains ripped to shreds.
Wayne stepped forward and the second his foot touched the ground Bernard's large head spun around, ears alert, eyes open and bared his teeth savagely. Even if he knew Bernard couldn't hurt him, Wayne still froze and took a few steps back. The werewolf's nose suddenly wiggled as he sniffed at the air, at Wayne.
Like the woman he recognized in the place with the bars and food, the man smelt familiar. Memories flashed briefly in his canine mind, of very, very nice feelings and the rich smell of sex and dominance. Bernard slowly got onto his fours, that heavy tail wagging faintly at the sight of the man.
"Hey, Bernard..." Wayne said quietly. "You want to come with me?" he asked. "I bring you the cows, remember? I always sit with you when you wake up... remember?"
The werewolf pined softly as he walked over the carcases and ash, ears pricked forward with great interest. Tonight had been all kinds of crazy, with vampires daring to walk on his property, and he had killed oh so many of them too. But he had been hurt a few times, however it was nothing thanks to his adrenaline pulsing through his blood.
"Great! C'mon baby, come on..."
They had just stepped out of the collective of trees vampires were upon the two of them. Wayne yelled in surprise as one of them tried to bite into his arms and shoulders, only to have their teeth all but shatter in their mouths. Enraged, and annoyed, Wayne swung his fist and bashed in one of the monsters faces easily.
Bernard barked savagely with a rage of wolves brought up from the depths of his psyche and growled, already foaming at the mouth, as he jumped over Wayne and slammed the vampires that were trying to attack him off easily. It was a blur of fur, teeth, claws, swipes and screams as Wayne did his best to kill off the vampires who were upon him. Megamind had given him a stake to carry with him, since the war was now happening, so thanks to his brothers fore-thinking he easily felled the idiotic monsters who tried to hurt him.
Hearing the werewolf suddenly scream in agony and Wayne spun around, eyes wide. One of the vampires had gotten a good bite into Bernard's shoulder.
Wayne was there seconds later, and grabbed the vampire by the back of the head. Tightening his hand he ripped the scalp off of the monster as his other hand grabbed at its throat. "Get off of him." Wayne growled, tightening his hand so much the vampires throat was clamped shut entirely. Yet still the man was alive, and tried to scream, but found it impossible to do. Wayne threw him to the ground, breaking his spine in several places as he did, and his life was snuffed out when the stake came slamming down on his chest.
"That's it." Wayne said.
Seconds later Wayne was carrying Bernard's bleeding, shivering form through the skies as fast as he could back to the manor. While before when he travelled quickly things would slow down only slightly, here, everything was standing still. Wayne had never gone this fast before, he never knew he could go this fast... it was amazing. If he so wanted he could have walked, slowly, through the woods and those vampires who were lurking and hunting would never know he was there.
But this wasn't the time for that.
He found the hidden entrance that led down to the basement, and he carried Bernard through and lay him on the ground. No matter how injured Bernard was, if he got agitated he could worsen the injury or even get up through the door to the house, and unleash who knows what kind of damage on the manor and the people within. So he carefully strapped Bernard back into his harness, before kneeling in front of the wolf and gently ran his hands over the large beasts face gently.
"You've done so well." he whispered.
Bernard breathed faintly, but when his eyes opened and he looked up at Wayne the expression was that of a loving, almost tender look. The kind of look a dog gives you after you gave it an especially delicious piece of meat. He then lowered his head down and rested his large maw on Wayne's lap and shut his eyes, shuddered a few times, and went to sleep.
Wayne smiled fondly and sighed, and continued running his hand over the top of the werewolf's head. "You gave me a heart attack though. I don't want you going out again... never, ever again."
~*~
Metro City was mostly deserted. Of course there were still people milling around. Buildings needed to be manned, the police roamed the streets, as did the emergency vehicles who roamed the streets. The city itself was renown for having impressive monolith-like buildings, as if they reached for the skies, trying to obtain the powers of the Gods themselves.
In one of those massive structures stood a man who's name, and presence, had brought fear to thousands of people. A long time ago he was feared as a demon, a stealer of mens souls, seducer of women and a bane upon humanity. The blood of people poured through his body, giving him life with their deaths. He had lived for centuries, ever since he had been summoned to Earth by pitiful, weak mortals, who didn't know the evil they had wrought until it was too late.
Now he stood in the window of a building, dressed in incredibly expensive clothes, had his hair styled by professional hairdressers, and not a hair was out of place because of it. He had a European look about him, strong cheekbones and nose, and his jet black hair contrasted beautifully with his brown eyes.
His eyes rarely showed any emotion other than judging, and distrust, unless he was trying to seduce somebody under his control. Then, he would become the smoothest talker in the planet. He could turn a Christian girl into a sinner in minutes flat. He could talk a vegetarian into eating raw meat if he so wanted to. But today he didn't want to entertain himself with such pitiful little displays.
Today he wanted blood.
His children were dead. He had felt their life forces snuff out of the world one after the other, and he had smelt the blood of the one who did it. He took a deep sigh and adjusted his tie before looking over his shoulder to those gathered near his seat.
"Things have certainly come to ahead, haven't they?" he asked, his voice deep, smouldering, the kind of voice that would give women shivers running up and down their spines. "I would never have thought that some other race would become so... involved." turning away from the window he walked down the empty hallway, lit only by a fireplace by which his chair sat besides.
"What shall we do, my Lord?" asked a red haired woman. "So many of us have fallen tonight..."
"The widespread attacks are doing nothing but they need to continue. Increase them. Strengthen them. We do not back down for anything, or anyone."
"My Lord?" asked the woman.
"Draw out more of the pathetic little mortals." he shot back, eyes flashing in anger at being questioned. "Lure them all away. Is it that hard to comprehend? He will have to leave the safety of that blasted house eventually. And when he does, he'll be mine. He will pay for the blood of my children on his hands."
"But what if he destroys you again, my Lord?" asked a thin tall man with long black hair. "To loose you again would be Hell for all of us."
"They have defeated me hundreds of times." scoffed the handsome man. "Each time I become so weak it feels like death is finally upon me but every time I outwit it. I latch on, I survive, I live. They all die, though. Either by my hand, or their decaying bodies reaching the end of their use by dates."
He spun around and walked back to the window and stared out over the bustling city of Metro City and set his hands behind his back. Smiling softly his lips pulled back to reveal sharp canines, and his eyes switched from dark brown to blood red.
"He will be mine, or I will spill his blood. Either way... fun for me."
To be continued