Overworld Chronicles Books 1-2: Sweet Blood of Mine & Dark Light of Mine (38 page)

I lowered Elyssa's body gently to the ground, sobbing and rocking back and forth from the agony ripping through my heart.

"No, Elyssa, no." The pain was unbearable. I doubled over as grief wracked me and ripped my heart to shreds.

The sound of putrid flesh on stone echoed nearby. I clenched my teeth and glared at the vamplings. Felicia, that evil vampiric bitch, stood behind them, goading them on.

"He's almost done for," she said. "Get him."

The agony in my heart blazed into searing rage, a volcanic eruption charring the heavy weight of grief to ash. I stood and faced the remaining vamplings and vampires. I roared in mad fury. Blue flames cascaded before my eyes. Pain erupted in my head. I staggered backwards. A nuclear explosion seemed to go off in my brain, pressing against the insides of my skull like an over-inflated balloon. An agonized roar filled the chamber. It sounded like the roar a monster would make. Some part of my mind realized the alien roar was my own. My blue-tinted night vision went red.

Bones popped and cracked and my clothes went tight as a drum skin. After a short eternity of pain in every molecule of my body, the red in my vision receded and I looked to see the vamplings mindlessly charging. My body felt strange and elongated. I looked at my too-large hands and saw blue-tinged flesh and blackened claws. My head felt off kilter. I reached up and touched the horns protruding from my forehead.

Fury overpowered the rational parts of my mind and the need to destroy obliterated further concerns with my current physical state. I towered over the mindless creatures before me. They would not withstand my might. My clawed hands shredded the closest attackers. I backhanded the next so hard into the cavern wall it exploded like a rotten melon. One came up behind me. I wrapped my tail around its neck and squeezed, popping off its head and batting the remains into the lake behind me.

I roared and clawed and punched and hammered the creatures mindlessly. Within a minute, only quivering bits of flesh and putrid juices remained where before there had been close to twenty vamplings. I bellowed in triumph, the guttural echo bounding off the cave walls.

Meanwhile the rational side of me was asking what the hell was going on with my body and wondering where in the hell my tail came from. But the rational side of me seemed to have no say in the beast's actions.

The vampires backed away into a frightened huddle. I focused my glare on them and loosed a roar that blew their hair back. They screamed and fled, tripping over each other in their haste to get the hell out of Dodge. The creature I had become gloried in the coming chase. They were succulent prey. I would hunt them and drain their essence until only empty vessels remained. My Lord and Master would praise me for the feast of souls.

I launched myself after them.

Elyssa!
Said the rational voice in the back of my head.
I can't leave her.
The creature raced ahead mindlessly, gaining quickly on the fleeing vampires.

I love Elyssa! I love her. Don't leave her!

My body slowed and turned back to the limp form lying at the edge of the lake. It was just an empty vessel. No essence to rip from the body. No possibility of an exhilarating chase as predator tracked prey. Why should this body matter? The real prey was escaping!

She is my love. My reason for existence!

Tears sizzled in my eyes. All thought of the chase vanished and my fury melted into agonizing grief. I rushed back to her and knelt by her side. A reflection in the water caught my eye. I leaned over it. A monster stared back at me. Blood-red flames danced where my eyes had been. Ebony horns spiraled upward from just behind my hairline and my skin looked blue. The gasp that escaped my huge mouth sounded monstrous and threatening.

I turned back to Elyssa and felt for her presence. But there was nothing. Not a spark or a breath of life. More tears sizzled in my eyes, flashed to steam by the dancing hellfire. I reached for her essence with all I was worth. Instead of burning life, I felt the cold absence of death. My huge shoulders shook with grief. I had killed her. The rational part of my mind clawed for supremacy with the big dumb beast I'd become but I couldn't break through. The beast roared and renewed its efforts.

And then I felt it, a tiny whisper of life. I reached for it gently. There was so very little of it I was almost afraid to touch it, a burning match of hope in the howling winds of despair. I feared my overwhelming presence might snuff it out like a bucket of water on a spark. The merge was such a delicate matter, but the bestial side of me seemed to understand on an instinctual level. As its fury abated, so did the barrier separating my rational self from the beast. I merged with the wisp of life. Instead of pulling, I
pushed
.

I pushed with all the might and love I had in me. I thought of her laughing. I thought of those violet eyes looking into mine as I pulled her to me for a kiss. Of her soft lips against mine. Of her warm body pressed hard against me. Of the happiness in a simple smile on her face.
Elyssa, come back to me.

The energy left me at first in a trickle and then in a steady flow. A demonic howl of hunger burned my throat and wracked my insides. I ignored it and pushed harder. As the essence left my body, the agonizing hunger increased. My body rippled, cracked, and popped as bones reset and muscles shrank. My clothes hung loose and torn from my smaller frame. The horns detached from my forehead and clattered to the cave floor. The fire in my eyes poofed out with a whoosh.

"I love you," I said in my own voice. "Please come back to me."

The pulsating energy flow leveled out and no matter how I tried, I couldn't push any more into her. I stopped trying and hugged her to my chest. She felt cool. I put my head to her heart and listened. A faint thumping beat in her chest. Hope blossomed in me, but we still weren't out of the woods. The long dark walk back to the main crypt still lay ahead and I didn't know if the vamps might be waiting with backup.

I rinsed some of the rancid gore off my hands and arms in the lake. My shoes were stretched and misshapen with large holes torn at the toes. One of the horns that had been attached to my head lay nearby. I grabbed and examined it. I touched my forehead where the horns had been, but the skin felt smooth and unblemished. The horn was about two feet long and sharp at the end. I could probably kill a vampire with it. I put it in the sheath where my sword had been and picked up Elyssa. She whimpered but didn't open her eyes.

The walk back seemed to take forever. Muscles cramped and burned with every step. My stomach growled and burbled while supernatural hunger clawed at my sanity. I wanted to run, but I also didn't want to waste what little supercharged energy I had left if the vampires showed up again. I reached the tomb where Dad was imprisoned and looked inside. He groaned. The girl next to him was brushing the hair from his eyes and begging him to wake up. She saw me and shrieked. Then she realized it was me.

"Did you see where they went?" I said.

She nodded, a wild look in her eyes. "They were screaming like crazy and running so fast they kept slamming into stuff. It was like the Devil himself was chasing them. I'm pretty sure they're gone."

"Good. Let me see if I can break you out of there."

Her eyes widened in hope. I took out the horn and placed it in the gap between the padlock and the hasp. I gripped the base of the horn and jerked. The metal groaned. I jerked again and the latch gave way a little more. I adjusted the horn, braced my feet, and pulled long and hard. The padlock screeched and popped open. After pulling it off, I yanked the door open.

Dad groaned and peered at the girl through cracked eyelids. He jerked away. "No, I won't do it," he said in a weak, groggy voice. "Let her go."

"Dad, it's me," I said, kneeling in front of him.

His eyelids fluttered open. "Justin? How?"

"Don't worry about it. I'm gonna get you two out of here."

Dad sniffed and wrinkled his nose. "Brimstone. We're in terrible da…" He trailed off and his head lolled.

I tugged where the chains were bolted to the wall but I might as well have politely asked them to release my dad. I didn't have enough strength left in me to do anything. I looked at the girl hungrily. The demonic hunger clawed my insides and demanded food. But I couldn't do it. I was so hungry that I might lose control. She seemed to sense the predatory intent in my stare and cringed against the wall like a rabbit facing the wolf.

I tore my gaze from her and looked at the padlocks securing the chains. They were old-timey padlocks, but thick. Even at full strength, it would be hard to rip them open.

Elyssa's lock picks.

I unzipped her pack and dug through it until I found the little pouch with the tools in them. I didn't have the slightest idea how to use them. I dumped them out onto the wooden floor of the tomb and sorted through them until I found one that looked like a skeleton key. I grabbed it and jammed it into the lock. After twisting and fiddling with it, the old mortise lock clicked and the padlock popped open.

I pumped my fist. "Yes!"

After a few minutes I had freed the two prisoners. The girl cried gratefully but didn't go quite so far as hugging me when she saw the ravenous look in my eyes. The hunger bordered on unbearable but I had too much to worry about to give in. Dad was too weak to walk on his own and too heavy for the girl to carry. Elyssa was still unconscious as well.

"I hate to do this," I said to the girl, "but I have to leave you here with them."

"Can't you take me with you?" she asked. "Please. I've been trapped here for days, maybe weeks."

"There are more vampires upstairs. If I try to lug two people with me, I'll be too weak to do anything but watch as they finish us off." My stomach made a loud almost mournful noise. "Plus, I'm so hungry right now, I don't think I can resist much longer."

"You eat people?" she said in a whimpering whisper.

I laughed despite the situation. "No. I feed on emotions."

"I'm feeling very emotional right now."

"I know. But in my condition, I might also have sex with you and drain you of everything."

She cringed even farther away. That simple prey-like movement increased my desire to pounce and take her. Every demonic fiber in my body demanded it. I closed my eyes and tried to collect myself. Elyssa was depending on me. My dad was depending on me. Feeding on this girl would help me save them. Maybe I could control myself. I stepped toward her, her hot essence cowering just feet away from me and tugging me like gravity. Her sacrifice would save those I cared about the most.

You're a monster.

"No!" I shouted, backing away from the girl. "I'm not a monster."

"You don't look like one," she said in a quavering voice. "None of them did."

I shook my head violently, as if that would clear it. It only made me dizzy. "You stay here," I said. "I'll go for help."

She whimpered but nodded. I held up a finger, indicating to hold on a minute, and jogged over to the spot Elyssa and I had lost our swords. I grabbed them and brought them back to the girl. She took one of Elyssa's sai swords and held it with both hands. I put Dad and Elyssa in the back of the tomb, away from the door, motioned the girl back in, and shut it.

"Remember, the vamps can see in the dark, so stay in here until I get back."

"I can't believe this is happening to me," she said as fresh tears trickled down her cheeks. "I can't believe vampires are for real. And they're not even as beautiful as Edward."

I should've known she was Team Edward. "Pretend they're kidnappers if that makes it easier. Kidnappers with night vision goggles."

She nodded. "Okay." Some of the fear in her eyes diminished. "Thinking of it like that kind of helps, actually."

I ignored the desire to roll my eyes and grabbed my sword from the floor. It felt heavier in my hand than I remembered it, probably because I was almost spent, both naturally and supernaturally. My night vision dimmed and brightened as I walked. My heart hammered at the thought of losing myself in the pitch black. Was I running on a quarter tank? Less? If I ran into any vampires, I'd have to rely on fear and intimidation. A fight would be suicidal.

The spiral staircase went on forever, although between trudging and listening for sounds of impending attack, I wasn't exactly running. I reached the door to the main sleeping chamber and peered inside. The power was back on and the lights hummed overhead.
Sexy and I Know It
thundered from the speakers since Dance Central had turned back on with the power. Otherwise, the place was empty.

I tried to dash but ended up trotting across the room, thanks to my weary legs. I reached the long staircase leading up to the first floor. Shouts echoed from above but I couldn't make sense of them. I heard a feline roar and then a scream. The moggies must be inside, I realized. I huffed and puffed my way up the stairs and peeked into the hallway. Two vampires, Felicia and one of the males, an Asian-looking guy, were circling a large black panther, their eyes wary.

"Who the hell let a panther loose?" the male asked.

Felicia shot him a scornful glare. "It's not a panther, you idiot. It's a felycan."

"A what? I'm new to this crap. I don't know what a felycan is."

"A werecat, you moron."

"Oh crap. Like a werewolf? Those things are mad strong. Maybe we should run away."

Felicia's scornful look turned thoughtful. "I think you might be right this once."

They turned to flee when a bright flash popped in their faces. Their red eyes rolled into the backs of their heads and they collapsed in a heap. Shelton walked over to them, whistling a cheerful tune as he secured them with silvery-looking zip ties.

"Shelton, Stacey, I need your help," I said as I hobbled toward them.

"Holy crap, kid, you look like hell," Shelton said.

Stacey morphed in mid-stride and rushed to me in all her naked glory. "Where are your father and Elyssa?"

"I was too weak to carry them up. I need help."