XV
The Nightwalkers' base was very similar to Dreyon's home: extravagant, reeking of money, and ominously looming over them even as they hid in the cover of the thin trees around the thirty story building.
"She's here then," Sam grimaced.
"Probably." Dreyon glared at the building. "This is the main base. She'll probably be held in the basement."
"Of course," the werewolf was unimpressed. "It's always in the basement. Now the only way we could dig there is through the main entrance – no doubt heavily guarded, or we dig a tunnel to the basement, which essentially, is impossible."
"But I thought you are a werewolf?" Serena gave him a puzzled look. "Aren't wolves in the same family as dogs?"
"Sure," Sam's reply sounded casual enough, but his teeth were clenched. "But a dog is not a mole."
"Guys, we're getting off topic," Ellis spoke, genuinely tired. "How are we going to save Rose?"
For a moment, it was silent.
"We need a plan," Ellis reminded the others.
Sam was the one who spoke. "I say we… storm in, grab Rose, and get out. Beat up anyone who gets in our way." Then he spread his hands, palms facing up, as if their mission's success was being laid out before them.
"I like that." Dreyon! "It's simple, easy to remember. Let's do it."
"Absolutely not!"
"That's going to get us all killed." At least Serena understood. Ellis didn't know what she would do if Serena didn't.
"Then do you have a better idea?"
Ellis paused. "Well… no. Not really." But she blamed it on her lack of knowledge about the Nightwalkers.
"Exactly."
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"This is going to get us killed," Serena repeated for the seventh time in the past five minutes.
Sam rolled his eyes. "You're a vampire. Vampires don't die so easily, since they're already kind of dead."
"But you're not a vampire."
"And thank you so much for pointing that out."
"This is going to get you killed," Serena declared, while Sam grumbled.
But the light chatter between the four friends died off before the front gate of the Nightwalkers' base appeared behind the trees. Maybe it was the nervousness that was finally catching up to them as they realized what they were going to do – storm one of the most powerful vampire clans and expect to come out alive – or it was simply the overall atmosphere of the Nightwalkers. The building itself gave off a foreboding vibe that made Sam shudder and suppress a growl, and even Dreyon was tense when they finally peeked from behind thick tree trunks to find the entrance firmly guarded by four alert vampires.
"Kill anyone in our way," Dreyon reminded.
Ellis decided to add, "Vampires may be difficult to kill, but it's not impossible."
"Leave it to us."
Ellis had not agreed to that, but Dreyon was already preparing to launch into full attack mode, and since she would have to do the same sooner or later… why not sooner?
A Dreyon with kill before him moved faster than wind, and Ellis struggled to keep up with the blow of slaughter as blood tore from slit throats and gouged-out hearts, three down and silent before she even arrived, and the last one was saved for her. She ended it quickly – a quick snap of an immortal spine, and then there was a growling ball of fur shooting past her, Sam bursting through the doors in his wolf form and tearing a path towards the nearest flight of stairs. Serena gave her a strained smile as she passed Ellis, and that smile twisted into a grimace when she drove her hand between the ribs of a lunging vampire and blood sprayed.
Stairs were despicable in battle, but only when you're moving upwards. Advancing downhill was much easier, and Ellis found themselves in the basement sooner than she had expected, eyes glazing over vicious faces and snarling lips that either closed in silence or split screaming as they passed. Getting Rose out was going to be difficult at best, but now wasn't the time to worry about the long term.
"One more level!" Dreyon called, and they hurried on, crashing through the wall before they've reached the actual bottom of the stairs so they could catch the Nightwalkers by surprise. It partly worked, and it also helped that several were crushed by debris, but blood was in the air and it was getting difficult trying to sniff out Rose's scent while battling away at the same time-
"Follow Sam!" The werewolf had giving a loud bark, and was already disappearing down one corridor, slipping through the throngs of vampires and tripping their feet. Dreyon, Serena, and Ellis had to do things the hard way, and by the time they've dripped a trail of blood behind Sam, he had already gnawed through a locked, iron door.
All it took was a single kick from Dreyon for the door to go flying from its hinges, and a voice in the room screamed.
"Sam, take Rose!" Ellis found herself calling before she realized that she was speaking. "We'll clear the path for you!" There was a lot of mowing down to do, but they'll leave the sweeping and mopping to the Nightwalkers.
Rose was a bone thin girl with too pale skin – even on vampire terms – and too black hair and eyes. Those waves of black were chopped short to her shoulders, the ends ugly and uneven, and a small, pinched mouth split open in another terrified, confused scream as Sam half transformed back into a human, grabbed her by the waist, and tossed her onto his back.
"Hold on!" he shouted, the last word morphing into a lupine growl as Ellis and Dreyon left crippled and dead in their wakes, leaving Serena to dispatch of anyone who had sneaked past the first two death-bringers.
Rose grabbed the long tawny hair sprouting from Sam's back, yelping between every stride when they hit the ground and everything bounces once before flying past again.
Now they were going uphill, and it was awful, like trying to climb up a waterfall. Dreyon roared when a stray vampire tore into his side, and out of desperation and fear, Serena crushed the vampire's skull against the side of the stairs. It felt like they've either slaughtered or incapacitated more people that the building could fit, but even more came snarling in. Sam was climbing on bodies.
Open space was like a sudden rush of air into empty lungs, until the crowds came charging and it was just blood and screams, flesh between fingers and teeth and carrion that had only just started to rot.
But despite the uncoordinated way the Nightwalkers attacked, they were not in any means stupid. It came with a rush and a snap, and out of nowhere, a net snatched away two bodies from the end of the trail.
Rose screamed in fright, but Sam roared in pain, the smell of burning flesh permeating quickly through the main lobby – a net dusted with silver.
"SAM!" Ellis and Serena shouted in unison.
"NO!" Dreyon was furious, but-
"GO!" The word was warped and mutated coming from a beast's throat and wolf's maw, but they understood and-
"No!" Dreyon was stubborn. "SAM!" But then Ellis was grabbing the back of his neck and leading him forcefully towards the doors.
"Keep moving forward!" she shouted to the creature she somehow adored before but realized the reason and loved even more now. "Come back later!"
The trees were filled with snarling monsters, but it didn't matter to the three vampires who tore through miles after kilometers. Guilt tore at her heart, but she didn't stop, just kept on pushing, each step of their immortal speed taking them away from the horrors as they slammed straight into a random vehicle, and were zipping down the street before any Nightwalkers were able to come chasing after them.
Ellis was at the wheel and she drove with no destination in mind. Her hands were shaking, staining the wheel with blood. The light grey seat covers were already ruined beyond repair, and as the hours wore on, she could feel the gore on her face tightening like a mask. Sure enough, Dreyon was already picking blood from beneath his fingers.
She was thankful enough that they had the mind to stop in a little town near their city, mostly to park the car deep into the woods and rip off the bloodstains before wrapping the evidence in stones and tossing it onto a creek. After that came the quick robbery of clothes and a quick shower.
When they were finally in the safety of her apartment, the three survivors found themselves staring through the window at the road, the park, the trees, the buildings, the sky, and Serena started it, but Ellis found herself weeping imaginary tears, and Dreyon let loose a roar that shook the earth and vowed vengeance to the thing he used to believe, but took everything away from him.
Rose was tangled in a net with Sam.
And Sam was a werewolf trapped in the middle of a sea of bloodthirsty vampires with silver gnawing through him.
And they wondered how it will all end.
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Serena decided to stay with Ellis that night, and Ellis was generous enough to give her the bed. She grabbed a few extra blankets and spread it out beside Dreyon on the couch. He did offer her the sofa, but she politely rejected his offer.
Once the beds were arranged, Ellis took out some blood. She was hungry, but she could still feel the gore staining her skin, and suddenly, her food seemed sickening, disgusting, and utterly detestable. Shuddering, she threw open her liquor cabinet, and grabbed everything. She poured something from nearly every bottle into a jug, watching the colors blend before dumping three packets of blood into the mess. She reached for three delicate cocktail glasses… but changed her mind and went for the gigantic beer mugs instead. As she handed out the monstrous mixture to Dreyon and Serena, her eyes were watering from the sheer amount of alcohol reeking from the drink, but she needed that. They all needed that.
"For Sam," Dreyon croaked.
"For Sam," Ellis and Serena echoed.
They drank. It was like fire, scorching down her throat and into her blood. She had never quite drunk anything as strong as that in her life, but the blissful numbness that followed was wonderful. Serena choked, and even Dreyon made a face, but they all kept it down.
"For Rose, too," Serena added.
By the end, they had each drunk at least three mugs, and when they stumbled off to sleep, Ellis had to admit that she had never slept so soundly in her entire life.
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The next morning, Ellis woke refreshed. The taste of wine was still in her mouth and her stolen clothes were reeking with the scent, but everything around her was clear, crisp, and sharp. She didn't feel like puking or using the bathroom, which was good.
And, rather unsurprisingly, everything that happened the previous day seemed… muted. She was still sad and mourning over the inevitable death of Sam, but it wasn't like the previous night, where the misery was overwhelming. It was more like a gaping wound that was slowly healing… which made her feel even guiltier. Perhaps the main reason was because she didn't know Sam as well, not as well as Dreyon.
Ellis shook her head. Her clothes were really stinking, and she really should grab a quick set of clothes before having a good scrub. She cracked open her bedroom door, careful to be extra quiet not to wake Serena…
And Ellis screamed.
The drinks they had ingested the previous night came rushing back, and she buckled over, puking into her trash can, the blood and alcohol burning and bubbling in her throat as she vomited it all out. A moment later, she felt hands patting her shoulder and brushing her hair back as she finished off, heaving with sobs. She also heard Dreyon cursing under his breath, and it took her at least five more minutes before she was able to brace herself to look again.
Serena was staked on the wall, an ash stake, one of the only things that could kill a vampire through her heart. And just to make things exceptionally clear, her head was severed from her throat, her hair tied around another stake above her corpse. The assailants hadn't bothered to be neat, and gore were splashed everywhere, drenching the room in blood. But most of all was her expression. Serena's face was froze in an expression of terror, bright eyes wide with fear, and her mouth was forced open, and sticking almost ridiculously from it was a roll of crisp white paper.
Ellis forced herself to walk forward, hating how her bare feet squished on a tiny carpet. She forced herself to walk up to Serena, remove the paper, now bloodstained from her mouth, before closing her eyes.
Her best friend, who had been through the ups and downs, the highs and lows, who had walked with her for decades and centuries… gone. Like that. In one blink of an eye, gone.
A delicate drop brought Ellis away from her thoughts as a teardrop landed on the note in her hands. She opened it up, fingers trembling.
This is only fair.
The war has begun.
-the Wolves.
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