Soulchanging

Chapter 6

/

I wouldn't want anyone to think I've turned the ex-Creeper into a cuddly widdle bunny rabbit, now that he's in love and all. Sure he's learned things like affection and love, but he's still a killer. And now he'll use all of his literal killer instincts and violent nature to destroy the bad little vampires. So to satisfy the true gore fans, this chapter is gonna be a bit more brutal then my past ones. But it's so fun watching Goliathus be what he is, now isn't it?
-

Donovan stood by the large Victorian bed, gaping in pure disbelief at what his eyes showed him. There was nothing but a pile of ash and blood staining the once luxurious satin sheets. The heavy black drapes were still down on the windows, but a small ray of evening sun shone through a tattered piece and broken window, and lit up the brutal scene, as if showing some secret that nobody would have discovered otherwise. The master vampire kept away from the sunlight, but even though it hurt his eyes to look at what lay before him, he kept staring...wondering...and for once in his ancient life felt a twinge of fear creep up his spine.

/

Voices...the voices...are they gone?

Goliathus' mental question went unanswered. He was alone, atop a large overhang that revealed a vast and sparkling lake. He had never before found himself crouched down and hugging his knees, but this is what he was doing now, as both hands cradled his head. For hours he had flown on and for hours the voices screamed, until just when he thought he might go insane all over again, it mercifully ceased.
During that time he had done anything he could to block it out, including going to the huge castle he had discovered and making short work of a vampire that lay in her bed. Odd, how they slept during the day. It sure made an easier kill for him...and the heart...something about the heart of vampires always gave him more strength then he ever knew. Perhaps it was the heart that gave him the ability to finally block the voices out.
Maybe.
Sure was a pain in the neck when they burst into flames, though. He looked at his slightly charred right arm and made a mental note never to forget THAT fact again. Once the vampire's heart was destroyed, they were consumed by flames, turned into nothing but ash. More and more peculiar this prey got. In fact Goliathus wondered how in all his many years he had never thought to hunt them before. Was he so obsessed with humans then that he had never even bothered?
Not wanting to further linger on these thoughts, the heradus leapt upwards and once again took to the air. He wasn't finished. He wanted to know what OTHER parts of vampires tasted like. Even if to just get his mind off things.

/

Trianna Williams ran through the thick forest, her blonde hair bobbing in a ponytail behind her, and her fierce green eyes like that of a feline on the hunt never left sight of the human before her. The young man was in shape, that was for sure, but she was far faster...and stronger. Eventually, she knew, he'd tire. Then she'd be on him and finally satisfying her need for blood today. At times it got annoying, but she always did love the thrill of the hunt. She smirked in amusement as the lad stumbled and fell, head over heels. Slowly he got to his feet, grasping to a tree, and fighting to regain his breath. "Ah dear, don't bother. Just make it easy on yourself, huh?" Trianna said as she watched him turn and try to run, but only plodding along as his lungs had no more to give.
"You...you...leave me alone..." the man panted, fear rampant in his blue eyes. His voice seethed with hatred.
"Can't, sorry. You're on the menu today." She grinned, exposing her deadly fangs, and lunged for him. Though the young man screamed briefly, he didn't even bother to struggle. Besides the vampiress on top of him held him with little effort, and he was too exhausted from running for miles.
Trianna didn't feel bad at all, in fact, she toyed with him and neared his face with her fangs, watching his eyes widen in horror, then laughed outright. "Poor, poor, thing. Nothing but a blood bank, I'm afraid. What a miserable existence."

"I could say the same for you."

The deep yet raspy voice surprised Trianna, for her vampire senses had picked up nothing but the feebly struggling man beneath her. Her eyes darted around wildly, but she saw nothing. Nothing but the trees just barely outlined by the last bits of light as night set in. The man had gone silent. He too looked for the source of the voice.

Carefully Trianna got up, making sure to hold her prey down with one foot. At the moment she was quite annoyed, especially at being interrupted. Even more annoyed that she could not see who had spoken. Sniffing the air she realized with even more confusion that she could smell nothing other then the obvious nature around her. Turning a bit apprehensive she angrily called out, "Now show yourself. I hate surprises, ya know."

There was a loud whooshing sound, and Trianna knew something had landed close by her. Turning back and forth she still saw nothing. Slowly, she clenched her fist and hissed. "Okay now you're ticking me off. Only cowards play hide and seek!"
Trianna was about to make another comment for good measure when she felt a mighty pressure around her neck, so hard it actually broke a bone...she felt the sharp pain and the feel of something akin to large knives sinking into her flesh. The being, whoever or whatever it was, had attacked her from behind and so desperately she tried to gain some ground and turn around, but the strength being forced upon her was unbelievable. Being Donovan's oldest daughter, she was certainly no push-over vampire. Heck, she had even managed to win arm wrestling matches with her uncles, who had a hundred years or more on her. Who in the hell had strength like this?
The pressure suddenly released, and Trianna fell to the ground, gasping. Once gaining her composure, she quickly spun around to face her attacker.

And then she wished she hadn't.

"Oh...my...gawd..." Trianna's face went completely vampire, trying to look as frightening as possible as her teeth went full length and the pupils of her eyes narrowed to small slits. She hissed again.

The grin that spread across the face of the creature showed teeth far more intimidating then hers, and eyes with such an intent determination that she knew in that very moment her life would end tonight.

A heradus. None had been seen for a freaking thousand years and now a heradus was standing in front of her, and a particularly mean-looking one at that. He was at least twice the size of anything that had been described to her before, when occasionally she'd hear members of her clan murmuring about the days they lived in fear trying to fight the things. The things that had nearly wiped them out until they managed to find a way to destroy them. That was of course until they met that one single individual they called the "King". One so strong and invincible that no one could stop him. Thank God the humans had canceled him out before he even got to be a vampire slayer.
Trianna froze in her thoughts as she stared at the menacing figure before her and wondered...no...it wasn't possible.
"Perhaps it is."

Her eyes widened. The creature read her thoughts?

Yes, I can.
Real fear grabbed Trianna, and she nearly collapsed. It was him. It was.
Oh gawd...

The vampiress turned and bolted. She ran like she had never run before, but deep inside she knew it would be in vain. The type of speed a heradus had if it got into the air was unmatched. And even on the ground, they could cover large distances quickly, far faster then even a master vampire. Even if she was one of the more powerful ones who could fly, like her father, she'd stand little chance...

There was such a crushing force on Trianna's back that she fell like a stone, her face smashing into the ground as again she felt the claws slice into her body as if she were butter. She heard growls and then felt teeth sinking into her flesh. The pain was blinding, unbearable, and for once she actually wished she wasn't a vampire, so that she'd be dead by now.

Goliathus held down his prey probably with more force then he really needed, but she had really ticked him off for some reason. He couldn't place why, exactly, for he still cared little for the injured man she had nearly sucked the life out of and who was now quickly running away from the scene. Still, it was interesting. He had SAVED a human life, not taken one. Maybe he was getting soft, but of course he'd blame that on Ami. He thought of her for a moment, and thought of her being this vampire's intended victim instead. And that was all the fuel he needed to start his fire.
With a brutal, savage move, he bit into Trianna's neck and decided he would tear her open from the backside. Any human would be dead by now, but the supernatural being writhed and he heard her muffled screams in the ground. Good. He needed to get out all of this rage somehow, and surely he wasn't going to do it on any hapless human anymore. To do something good was truly foreign to him, but he found that the satisfaction was far better then anything else he had ever experienced. He was protecting innocent lives...innocent human lives. Never had he thought such a day would come.
Ah but anyway, back to his work.
The blood that was now oozing everywhere had stirred up his predatory instincts to their peak, and so with much lust and hunger, he started with the lungs, ripping them clean out one by one and savoring every bite. He felt his own lungs do the usual replacement routine, and suddenly he could breathe better and the world became even more clear and vibrant. Pausing he looked to see if the vampiress still moved...and she did. Vampires were much like him. They could survive just about anything. Strange how tearing out their heart and destroying it was the only way to get rid of them. What was it about the heart?
On that thought Goliathus was about to go for the heart when he heard an agonized yell behind him. Looking over his shoulder his eyes focused on the face of yet another vampire in the near distance. This one was much taller and had hair as black as a crow's feathers. His icy blue gaze showed a mixture of emotions as he saw the scene before him.
Goliathus decided to ignore him for now. He had a mission to finish. He tore the heart out of his victim, then stepped away from the now feebly moving Trianna before stuffing the still-beating organ into his mouth and swallowing whole. As expected, she promptly burst into flames and within moments was nothing but wispy ash that blew away in the breeze.
Goliathus felt, before he heard, something knock into him and because it had caught him off guard, his back met with the hard ground. Stunned for a moment he barely had time to roll out of the way before something grabbed his arm and bit down hard. Damn, that hurt.
The heradus grabbed the attacker, which of course he knew was the other vampire he'd seen, and with little effort through him off like he weighed no more then a small child. He looked at the wound, now really annoyed. An angry voice echoed through the air.
"You killed my daughter!"
Goliathus tilted his head and blinked at him. Your daughter? He looked back behind him briefly at the pile of ashes. Oh. What a shame.
At least she was tasty enough.
The roar of anger coming from the vampire truly surprised Goliathus, but as he saw the being come at him with speed much faster then Trianna, he merely leapt into the air and avoided him.
His surprise only mounted further when the vampire followed him. He shot into the air like a bullet, and was quickly catching up. Goliathus gave a slight growl before folding his wings tight against him and diving. The vampire had no time to react as they collided, and plummeted back to the ground. The heradus regained his senses first, and had both hands around the vampire's neck, who quickly followed suit and did the same.

Donovan discovered quickly that a game of brute strength wouldn't work. The heradus had a grip so damned tight he could barely breathe let alone try to fight him. Quickly the master vampire brought both legs up in a fierce kick, hoping to hit where the sun didn't shine. The screech of pain told him he'd succeeded, but he didn't waste time and got away while he could, scrambling on all fours.
For the moment he thought he'd be free and able to get back into the air when he heard a strange whistling noise and then felt a hot, burning sensation in his arm. Resisting the urge to cry out, he looked and found some kind of shuriken with iron points lodged deeply into the bones of his arm. Shit!
Quickly the iron did its work and the vampire felt the strength seeping out of him. Despite the indescribable pain he pulled with all his might but the cursed weapon would not budge.
Donovan had to act fast as he saw the creature heading for him. Though it would probably sap all his remaining energy and cause him to be out of commission for a while, he really had no choice. Summoning all his strength, Donovan concentrated, twitched, then shuddered all over, and then all at once, there was nothing but a black mist where once he had stood.

Goliathus stopped dead in his tracks, disbelieving what he had witnessed. The vampire had just...disappeared. He could no longer smell him or see him. Only a strange black mist hovered in the air, and then it was gone as well.
Snarling Goliathus looked all around but...the prey had escaped. He took to the air for a while and tried scouring the area, but still the vampire had vanished as if he never existed. Well. This was something he was going to have to remember. How he was going to deal with it in the future, however, he wasn't sure.

Gollie?
The soft voice in his mind changed his mood dramatically. Yes Ami?
You need to come home for a moment, it's important.
Important? That didn't sound all too good.
Truly? What is the problem?
There was a long silence before any response, and Goliathus could certainly feel the mixture of sadness and fear in the one who spoke to him.
It's Julie. She's gone missing. I mean...one moment she was here, and then gone. I left the room to go get the phone and when I came back she was no longer there.
Goliathus actually felt some amount of worry in his own heart. Where had that come from?
You did not see anything?
Well it was very strange. Nothing but this...black mist?

Before the dust even had a chance to settle, Goliathus was in the air and traveling home so fast he was a mere blur.
/

End of Chapter 6

Well who knows how long this story will go on...I'm actually already putting ideas of my planned "sequel" called "The Goliathus Chronicles" into this, which will tell the tales of his new vampire hunting adventures. Oooo the possibilities.