Reborn by Blood (13 page)

It was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship and the first time I had touched it I had recoiled with blisters rising immediately on my fingers. It seemed that my Vampire state gave me a severe reaction to just touching silver and I had no doubt that a wound made with such a knife would burn like hellfire itself.

With my hand wrapped carefully I could at least hold it, though my grip was not the best. Beth held up her weapon of choice. It was a silver knife that was even more ornate than the one I held, though hers would have been used for cutting a wedding cake only. It had no point so would be useless for stabbing but she could slash it across the wolfs flesh if needed and do some damage. Not that I intended for her to have to use it.
      

      
“I’ll lead” I said and without waiting for a comment I crept forward quickly and as quietly as I could. My ability to see in the dark was a huge bonus and I avoided most of the fallen twigs that would crack alarmingly loud. Beth had no such benefit and must have stepped on every damn twig on her way to the yard.

Her every step was followed by the sound of a snapping twig and I cringed with each sharp noise. By the time we had reached the barn doors my nerves were in tatters.

“What’s that smell?” Beth hissed as she reached my side.

“I think the wolf has been marking his territory” I said, “It’s all I can smell.”

“No, not just the dog smell, it’s something else. Like rotting meat.”

When she mentioned it I realised that I had smelt something else, layered beneath the manure and overpowering scent of dog was a distinctively rotten odour that I could swear I had smelt before.

Unable to discern exactly where the odour was emanating from I pulled open the barn door and ducked inside. The smell hit me like a wave washing over me and I gagged. Beth followed me in and stopped as it hit her too.

“What the hell?” She gasped and I waved her to silence.

I was glad that she didn’t have my night vision for the scene in the barn would have been too much for her. It was almost too much for me and I had the whole Vampire lack of conscience going for me.

We had found the missing animals from the farm. A dozen or more cows were stacked in a pile towards the back of the barn. Each one of them had been neatly disembowelled, their insides had seeped out and left a fly covered pile on the floor.

It had been goats and not sheep in the other pens and they were scattered around the edges of the dirt covered floor. Their still forms had been savaged and lay torn and broken. Hanging from hooks tied to the crossbeam above, were what I could only assume to be the farmer and his family.

Their deaths had been unpleasant and each of the three bodies hanging limp were covered with wounds made by teeth and claw. The father had been disembowelled much like the cattle, while his two sons, neither one out of their teens, had body parts missing.

“Get out” I said quietly and with as much force as I could. “You don’t want to see this.”

Without a word Beth left and I was thankful that she had listened to me. I stared at the bodies hanging before me and found no horror, no burning desire to avenge them. I felt nothing and I knew that was wrong.

I should have felt outraged or horrified. I should have been screaming for vengeance or curled into a ball weeping but I couldn’t feel anything except a sense of loss at not feeling that. With a sigh I left the barn and rejoined Beth.

“You ok?” She asked.

“I’m fine.” I told her with a false smile that she probably couldn’t even see clearly in the dim light provided by the moon and stars. “Let’s go get the package and get out of here.”

My fingers trailed over the bonnet of the car as I passed, moving over those bumps that were made when it hit my body and threw me from the bridge. I shuddered as I recalled what happened afterwards, the pain and the terror.

I gripped the silver knife tight as I approached the door. It was a simple wooden frame with a glass panel. Two steps led up to it and when I pushed it swung open without a sound. I glanced at Beth and she nodded once with a look of determination on her face before I stepped forward and stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Beth asked in a hushed voice.
      

“I can’t go inside.” I said with some confusion.

It was as though a sheet of glass covered the doorway and prevented my entry. I pressed my hands against the invisible barrier and pushed with all the strength I could muster but I couldn’t move through the doorway.

“Another spell?” Beth asked as she stepped up beside me and looked curiously at my hands pressed firmly against nothing.

“No idea. What the hell do we do now?”

“Let me try.” She said and stepped through the door without any difficulty at all. She turned in the doorway and looked out at me. “What the hell?”

“It must be another Vampire thing.” I said quietly. “Come outside. We’ll have to try another time.”

“I can check out the house.”

“Not alone you can’t, it’s too dangerous.”

“Hey, I can look out for myself.” Beth said indignantly. “Besides, we don’t have much choice... did you hear that?”

“Oh crap...” was all I managed before the Werewolf hit me from the side and I flew across the yard, the knife flying from my hand.

“Stay inside” I yelled to Beth as I pushed myself to my feet.

The Werewolf was bigger than I remembered. Its dark fur shone in the moonlight and its yellow eyes bore into my own. Thick strands of saliva dripped from its wide jaw and it growled a low rumble deep in its throat promising blood and pain.

It circled me slowly and I was forced to turn with it to keep it in sight. Large paws with those claws that I remembered all too well tearing through my flesh, clicked slowly against the paving slabs that covered the yard.

I knew that I needed to give Beth time to find the package and since I had rather unhelpfully lost the only weapon that I knew could do real damage to the hulking form of the Werewolf I did the best thing possible. I ran.

A leap and a slide across the bonnet of the car and a dash alongside the barn. I could hear the beast as it bounded after me, breath heavy on the back of my neck as it almost caught me. Teeth snapping all too close to my skin. It was playing with me, enjoying the chase.

The heavy weight of the wolf as it landed on my back blew the air from my lungs and I fell to the floor as its teeth sank deep into the flesh of my shoulder and I screamed. It picked me up in its powerful jaws and flung me like a ragdoll through the air to land with a cry of pain on the roof of the car.

I had a moment to think of how pissed Sebastian was going to be with yet more of my blood covering a crime scene when those jaws closed around my ankle and pulled me from the roof to land with a thump on the hard ground.

Its eyes shone brightly as it stared down at me and I could swear its mouth had formed some kind of a grin. Its breath was hot and fetid and the saliva that dripped to my chest had flecks of my blood. It growled, low and deep and I could feel its excitement rise as it raised one huge paw before me with its claws out, poised to strike.

A small part of me began to gibber in terror as I remembered what those claws could do but the larger part of me was full of rage. I gave a hiss of defiance and my fangs descended into place. Strength surged through my battered limbs and I grasped the paw and pulled it to my mouth before sinking my fangs into it.

The blood was hot and vile, rancid to taste and I gagged and let it spurt out of my mouth rather than swallow it. The Wolf yelped in anger and pulled its paw back, an instinctive move.

Its yelp turned to a cry of pain and shock as Beth sliced into the flesh of its back with her silver blade and it leapt away from her and off of me. I scrambled to my feet and ran to retrieve my own knife.

I scooped up the blade and felt it burn my flesh, the scant protection of the scarf lost somewhere during the scuffle. I turned on the wolf and saw it crouched before Beth, its hackles raised and growling. She stood defiant and seemingly unafraid, her blade raised before her.

With a cry of rage I ran toward the beast, knife held before me. It swiped at me with its paw and I felt the claw rake down my side but I was close enough to sink my knife into its shoulder. It roared in pain and I pulled the knife free to stab again and again.

The Werewolf bucked beneath me and I went flying once again to slam into the stone wall of the barn. I caught one last glimpse of Beth as she lashed out with her blade and caught it across its face before I blacked out.

Chapter 15

A persistent prodding awoke me and I opened my eyes to find to my amazement that I was still alive. I groaned and looked around to get my bearings as I took stock of my physical situation.

My back felt bruised and battered but I didn’t think anything was broken. The pain from the long gash in my side and the bite in my shoulder were bright spots of pain while my hand where I had gripped the silver knife was badly burnt. I could just about move my fingers but every time I did, it sent pain shooting through my arm and the skin cracked and oozed.

Beth was standing a metre away from me and holding on to what looked to be a broom. She was poking me in the chest with the end.

“What are you doing?” I asked wearily.

“Sorry mate. You still have those fangs out and I didn’t want you waking up and trying to take a bite. This seemed like the safest way to wake you.” She said with a wide grin that exposed her teeth.

“What happened to the Werewolf?”

“It’s gone to lick its wounds I reckon.” She said.

“Oh?” I asked curiously, “It could have finished us easily.”

“I don’t think so. You did some damage with your knife and I got lucky with mine. I caught its eye.” She said proudly. “After that it yelped and growled tried to stand on all four legs but it couldn’t, so it limped off.”

“Well done you.” I said with feeling, “You kicked ass. Now all we need to do is get the package and we can be done with this whole nonsense.”

“If I help you up, you won’t drink my blood will you?”

“I don’t think so.” I said truthfully. I hurt and I was still leaking my precious life fluid but I felt that I could contain my need for blood for a little while at least. “Best be quick though.”

“Come on then” she said as she tossed the broom carelessly to the ground and threw one arm around my shoulders to help me rise.

“I can’t believe you got away without a scratch” I said with a shake of my head.

“I’m too pretty to be hurt.” She said with an infectious laugh. “Besides, you’ll be fine.”

We staggered across the yard to the house and were stopped once again by the barrier over the doorway.

“What the hell?” Beth said.

“Drop me here and you go in and have a look around.” I said and she grunted agreement before letting me drop painfully to the ground.

I sat on the doorstep and leant back against the invisible barrier as I tried to will away the pain of my injuries. I could hear the occasional bang and grunt coming from inside the house as Beth searched.

“Nothing in here.” She said as she returned to the doorway.

“Bugger. What now?” I asked.

“Now we get you some blood and then pay a visit to our friendly neighbourhood witch.” Beth said, “Maybe she will have an idea what to do.”

“I’m running out of time.”

“I know mate. It’s fine. Think you can make it back to the car?”

“Do I have any choice?”

“Not really” she said with another low laugh as she picked up the silver knives from where she had left them beside the door and helped me to my feet.

We walked slowly down the dirt track towards the main road and Beth’s car. When we reached it she instructed me to lie on the back seat as she covered me with a ratty old blanket that she kept in the boot for emergencies.

“Stay under there. If anyone see’s me driving around with a man covered in blood they’ll be questions I don’t want to answer.” She said as she started the engine.

I grunted something noncommittal and lay back beneath the blanket and listened to the sound of Beth singing quietly as she drove along. She actually had a pleasant singing voice and had once been in the school choir. She had never told me why she quit and I had never asked.

Eventually she came to a stop and with a brief command to stay quiet and stay hidden she left the car and I was alone. I waited beneath the blanket unable to sleep with the pain and wondering where the hell she had gone for ten minutes before the car door opened again.

“Here, sit up.” She said.

“Where’ve you been?” I asked as I pulled myself awkwardly into a sitting position.

“Got you some blood.” She said as she handed me over a plastic container.

I looked at it curiously before opening it. The container looked much like the ones that milk came in but instead of being white, it was a deep red. I unscrewed the lid and the rich coppery scent of blood wafted out.

“Where did you get this?” I asked.

“Abattoir just up the road” she said with a wave, “It cost us some more of the cash Sebastian gave you and I think its cow blood, but it should heal you up.”

“Thanks.” I said and meant it. I raised the container to my lips and paused, “I don’t suppose you could not watch me drink it, could you?” I asked.

“Why?”

“I don’t know, it just feels a bit weird.” I said.

“Baby! Fine, you drink and I’ll drive.” She said with a giggle as she turned around and started the engine. I took a long swallow of the blood and tried not to gag on the sour taste. It was definitely not the same as human blood but after the first couple of swallows I could feel my thirst lessen along with the pain from my wounds.

By the time we reached the Magik Earth shop, I had drunk half of the blood and my wounds were mostly healed. I could still see angry red scars on the skin but the pain was almost gone and I could move the fingers of my right hand again.

We parked up and I left the blood in the boot before we made our way across to the shop. Dawn was approaching and already a few cars were passing us by and I was very aware of the bloodstained clothing I was wearing.