SOULBOUND ‡ clash
By Wes
Leigh
This
is a work of fiction (or is it?) intended solely for the entertainment of my
readers; any resemblance to any real people or places is purely coincidental. Readers
who would like to chat are encouraged to contact me at weston.leigh@protonmail.com.
This
story is the property of the author and is protected by copyright laws. The
author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's
consent.
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Death, my son, is a good thing for all men; it is the
night for this worried day that we call life. It is in the sleep of death that
finds rest for eternity the sickness, pain, desperation, and the fears that
agitate, without end, we unhappy living souls.
-- Bernardin De Saint-Pierre, Paul et Virginie
Connor saw Ignatius walking toward Daniel and Hota. He
quickly organized the Pack and sent them around to flank Ignatius.
Several witches in Ignatius' group screeched out a new
spell. A wave of pale yellow light spread out from
them, rippling through the air, heading in all directions. As the light passed
over Connor and the Pack, they found themselves transforming unwillingly into
their human shapes. They tried to shift into wolf form, unsuccessfully. Werewolf
form. Same result. They were locked in human form and unable to shapeshift.
When the strange light reached Daniel and Hota, Hota's body shifted
back into his human body. He glanced down at himself. Though advanced in years,
he was still powerful. His body was that of a Lakota warrior, as strong now as
it had been in his youth, and he knew he would need all his fighting skills in
the battle ahead. Turning to Daniel, he said, "For so many years, I wished to
be rid of my curse, and now, when I need it most, it abandons me. But I will
fight on."
Hota began walking toward Ignatius, head held high, to face
his doom.
Behind Ignatius, the Silvermane
Pack anxiously awaited Connor's orders.
Connor stared at his hands. Why couldn't he shift? What was that
strange light that had passed over them?
He looked around him at the members of his pack. Ethan. Caleb.
All the others. Now locked in their human forms. There was fear in their eyes,
and Connor knew his own eyes were no different. He snarled and said, "Time to
show this bastard what happens when you corner a wolf."
The fear in their eyes changed to fury, and Connor led his
Pack with a shout, rushing Ignatius from the side.
Hota chanted a war cry as he began trotting forward,
grabbing a branch from the ground and lifting it like a club.
The two groups collided with a roar. Though locked in their
human forms, the lycans were still a match for the
vampires in strength, and the lycans fury knew no equal.
They quickly overwhelmed the creatures huddled around Ignatius, throwing them
in disarray, scattering them and sending them fleeing.
Hota faced Ignatius himself, swinging the tree branch
furiously at Ignatius' head. Ignatius dodged back, easily avoiding the blow. He
didn't seem to be at all concerned that his vampires and witches were being
decimated around him. He even laughed at one point when he saw a witch's body
tossed into the side of a building, to collapse on the ground unconscious. He
touched the amulet at his neck and muttered a short phrase. A wave of force
exploded out from his body, tossing werewolves and vampires alike in every
direction.
Connor, shaking his head after being thrown against a wall,
saw Hota lying in a crumpled heap with Ignatius standing over him, holding a
dark dagger with a wicked, curved blade. Connor jumped up and charged Ignatius
from behind. Playing football taught you a few things, such as how to knock an
opponent into next week. Connor hit Ignatius low in the back, knocking him off
his feet and through the air to land with a thud on the ground. Connor
scrambled up quickly and began swinging his fists, striking Ignatius in the
face over and over. Blood spattered when one fist connected with Ignatius'
nose.
Ignatius was stunned at first, but quickly recovered. With
an angry roar, he extended his talons and slashed Connor across the chest and
throat, then grabbed Connor by the waist and tossed him to the side.
Connor landed with a painful crash and turned on his side,
clutching his neck. Searing pain shot threw his body, making him groan and
gasp. He felt the blood pouring from his throat, pulsing past his clutching fingers,
and he knew he was in trouble. Turning his head, he saw Ignatius approaching
with the black dagger held up to one side. Connor closed his eyes and waited.
A sudden jerk on Connor's foot surprised him. He felt
himself picked up in strong arms and lifted into the air. His vision was
clouding over, but he saw the face of Ethan above him and felt Caleb's strong
arms lifting his legs. Standing between the boys and Ignatius was Hota.
Ignatius was grinning as he wiped blood from his lip. "Out
of way, old bear," Ignatius snarled.
Hota refused to move, turning his head slightly to say, "Get
Connor to safety. I'll stop this one."
Ethan and Caleb hoisted Connor up and carried him in a
stumbling run. Behind them they heard a ferocious battle beginning as Hota and
Ignatius clashed.
Connor, his head swinging from side to side, felt the world
slipping away from him as his blood flowed from his neck. He closed his eyes
and felt at peace, held in the arms of his friends, his packmates. Eagles
soar on the wind, free ... I want to be free ...
Connor heard Daniel's voice, echoing as if from far away,
growing stronger, speaking directly to his mind. Don't sleep, Connor. Stay
with me, damn it. Don't you dare give up.
Caleb, struggling to carry Connor's legs, asked Ethan, "Where
should we take him?"
Ethan nodded his head at a small building across the street.
"There. That's where Daniel's mom works. There should be medical supplies
inside."
The door to the medical clinic yanked open and Daniel's
father, Mike Anderson, ran out, motioning for Caleb and Ethan to cross the
street. "In here!" he shouted, holding the door open for them.
Caleb and Ethan carried the bleeding body of Connor inside,
where they found Daniel's mother, Judy Anderson. She pointed at an exam table.
"Put him over there," she said.
Ethan wept as he lifted Connor's upper body onto the table. "Why
is he still bleeding? His body should have repaired the damage by now!"
Judy worked quickly, packing the stomach wound with sterile
gauze, then moving to the neck wound to try to stop the bleeding there. "I
don't know, boys, but I'll do what I can to help him."
Caleb sobbed and said, "Thank you, Daniel's mom."
Judy gasped and smiled. "You can call me Judy, boys."
The door to the clinic slammed open and Daniel ran inside. "Where's
Connor?" he shouted.
Ethan turned to Daniel and cried, "His body isn't
recovering, Daniel. Something's wrong!"
Daniel rushed up and looked down at Connor's face, now pale
and bloodless. "It must be a spell Ignatius is using. Something is keeping our lycan regeneration from working like it should."
Judy shook her head in frustration. "That's not important
right now. He needs blood. Immediately!"
Daniel lifted his arm. "Use mine, Mom."
Judy grimaced. "It isn't that easy, Son. I need to match blood-types.
And I don't even know if you two can share blood, since he's a werewolf."
"I'm a vaewolf, Mom. Connor and
Xavier made me one. My blood has to match his."
"I can't be sure of that, Daniel. It might kill him instead
of saving him."
"He's going to die if we do nothing," Daniel insisted.
Judy nodded. Daniel was right.
͠ ͠
͠
Ignatius wove the black dagger through the air in
complicated patterns. "I've waited many, many years to meet you."
Hota held the tree branch to one side, ready to swing it at
the ancient vampire before him.
Ignatius smiled and chuckled. "A beast of few words. Have
you nothing to say before your death?"
Hota didn't reply. His eyes watched Ignatius' feet, knowing
they would telegraph the vampire's moves.
Ignatius laughed. "I'm disappointed, Matoskah."
Hota looked up, surprised.
Smiling, Ignatius said, "Yes, I know your Lakota name. Matoskah!"
He pronounced the name mockingly. "White Bear. Great warrior and protector of
his family."
The two circled each other slowly, Ignatius continuing to
weave the dagger, Hota holding the tree branch and breathing slowly.
"You were away when I visited your wife and children,"
Ignatius said with a grin, "so you didn't hear their pitiful screams when I
dismembered them."
Hota eyes flicked up to Ignatius' face. He swallowed and
looked back down at Ignatius' feet, watching, waiting.
Ignatius chuckled. "And still he
has nothing to say. Stoic. Yes, you are indeed a man of action, not words. I
wonder if you will scream like your family did when I kill you." Ignatius moved
to the left and stabbed with the dagger.
Hota lifted the branch and knocked the dagger to one side,
kicking Ignatius in the stomach and sending the ancient vampire flying backward
with a painful grunt.
Ignatius landed hard, rolled, and leapt back to his feet. He
was no longer grinning. "You dare touch me, you filthy animal!"
Hota smiled and hefted the tree branch, moving cautiously
forward.
Ignatius flicked the dagger from hand to hand and stopped
snarling. "It won't affect the final outcome. You must understand that I am
more powerful than you will ever be. More deadly. More devastating. I am Fiery
Death. Murder and Destruction. All will fall before me—" Ignatius leaped,
stabbing with the dagger.
Hota reached out to grab Ignatius' wrist and twist the
dagger away, dropping the tree branch and bringing his fist around to smash
into the side of Ignatius' face. At the same time, he brought a knee up into
Ignatius' groin.
Ignatius' eyes widened in pain and he gasped. Grasping the
amulet at his neck, he mumbled a quick phrase. Wind swirled all around them,
pulling them together in the midst of a small tornado.
Hota tipped his head back and smashed it forward into
Ignatius face.
Ignatius screamed, shoving Hota away. Ignatius, his nose
gushing blood, disappeared.
Hota knelt down, looking all around, searching.
Ignatius appeared behind Hota, stabbing down with the black
dagger. It struck Hota just below one shoulder blade, burying itself in his
flesh. Hota gasped and blinked slowly, staring up at the moon high above. His
lips formed a sad smile as he chanted:
"Give us peace
We send our plea
We who ..."
His lips could no longer form words. Hota closed his eyes
and fell face down on the ground.
"I grant you peace," Ignatius said with a sneer, twisting
the dagger in Hota's back.
Hota's body seemed to collapse in on itself, turning rapidly
to ash which swirled in the wind and lifted in a gray mist to rise into the
sky.
The dagger pulsed with a white glow. Ignatius opened his
mouth wide and inhaled deeply, absorbing the bright power from the dagger. He
frowned. "Werebear? Mighty and sturdy, yet ... hairy. Disgusting! I don't know
how these lycanthropes can endure the transformation process, but perhaps it
will come in handy down the road."
He slid the dagger into a sheath at his hip and walked
through the swirling ashes in search of his next prey.
͠ ͠
͠
Daniel's heart forced his own blood into the needle, down
the tube, and into Connor's body, one pulsing heartbeat at a time.
As Daniel's vaewolf blood entered
Connor's bloodstream, Connor's body responded with alarm. An enemy was present,
but the enemy seemed familiar.
No, it wasn't an enemy after all. It was a cousin, with
elements of lycanthropy tainted by Sanguine Vampirus.
His body reluctantly welcomed the alien blood, carrying it
from Connor's arm to his heart, which still beat valiantly, struggling to pump
blood around his body, despite the losses he had endured. Vaewolf
blood mixed with werewolf, and his heart pumped it throughout his body. When
the vaewolf blood reached the stomach wound, it
surged to the surface, struggling to heal what the werewolf blood could not. The
jagged edges of sliced organs gradually mended. The blood loss slowed and
stopped.
Connor's body, no longer purely werewolf, but now an odd
fusion of vae and lycan,
began to heal at last.
͠ ͠
͠
Xavier and Trudy led their group through an alley, bent over
and running quickly, trying to avoid being seen. At the end of the alley, they
found Donny and several of the Silvermane Pack
huddled behind stacked crates, now in their naked human forms.
"Why aren't you wolfed out?" Trudy asked.
Donny snarled, "We can't! The witches did something to us. Cast
or spell or something that keeps us from shifting forms."
"Can you still fight?" Xavier asked.
"We ARE fighting!" Donny snapped, frustrated. "Sorry,
Xavier. It's been bad." He sobbed and tears began falling down his cheeks. "Ignatius
killed Hota. Stabbed him with some kind of dark blade and ... and his ... his body
turned into ASH and he just blew away in the wind."
Xavier gulped and wrapped Donny in his arms, pulling the
crying youth to his chest.
Donny coughed and said, "That's not all, Xavier. Ignatius
hurt Connor. It was bad. We saw Connor go down. Ethan and Caleb carried him
away while we fought off the creatures fighting for Ignatius. They drove us
back here into this alley. Then they ran off. And when we tried to go back to
help Hota, Ignatius killed him. And now we don't know where Connor is."
Xavier stared into the distance, crying out with his mind, Connor?
Daniel? Where are you?
A weak reply came from Daniel. The medical clinic on
Second Street. Mom is giving Connor a transfusion of my blood, so I'm a little
dizzy right now ... but Xavier ... Connor's hurt.
Is he going to make it, Daniel?
His body is healing now, but he's still unconscious.
Xavier squeezed Donny. "Connor is alive. Daniel is giving
him blood. They're at the medical clinic, and we need your help to get there,
Donny. You understand?"
Donny nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I can't lose
him, Xavier. He's my alpha."
"I know," Xavier replied, massaging Donny's shoulder. "I
can't lose him either. He's my soulmate."
Donny gestured for the remaining Silvermanes
to get up and follow him.
Like commandos sneaking through bombed out city streets,
they all scurried from cover to cover, making their way down several blocks to
the clinic where Connor was fighting for his life.
͠ ͠
͠
Xavier held Connor's hand as he leaned down to kiss Daniel. Tears
fell from Xavier's eyes, landing on Daniel's face. Daniel smiled and reached up
to stroke Xavier's cheek. "Mom said Connor is improving quickly," Daniel
whispered.
Xavier looked down at the plastic tube filled with precious
blood, still flowing from Daniel's body to Connor's. "How much longer?" he
asked, pointing at the needle taped to Daniel's arm.
Judy Anderson walked over and checked Connor's blood
pressure. "I think he's out of danger now. His blood pressure is still low, but
the wounds have healed and his breathing is slow and steady." She began
clamping off the transfusion line and removing it from Daniel's arm. "He'll
have to do the rest on his own."
Trudy, standing at the front window looking out in the
streets with her gun pointing at the ceiling, asked, "When can we move him?"
She turned to look at Judy and explained, "I see them searching buildings
across the street. They may be here any time, and I doubt we can hold them
off."
Mike Anderson walked quickly into the reception room and
looked out the window. "Werewolves. Vampires. Witches. A large group of them."
He lifted his own gun and ejected the magazine. "Not that it matters... but I'm
empty."
Trudy handed Mike another magazine. "It's my last spare."
He snapped the magazine into place and looked out the
window. "They'll be here any minute."
Judy looked at Daniel, confused. "I thought you had a way to
kill them."
Daniel nodded. "I thought we did too, Mom. But they're
blocking everything we have. Our bullets. Our lycan
powers." He glanced at Xavier.
Xavier sighed. "Our vampires can't teleport. We're powerless
against them."
A long groan caught their attention. Connor's eyes were open
and he was reaching up to touch his own neck. His voice was gravelly as he
spoke. "What's going on, guys?"
Judy leaned over Connor and shushed him. "You're safe,
Connor. In my clinic. You're going to be okay, and your body is healing now.
But I don't want you trying to get up just yet."
Connor pushed her hands away and sat up. "I feel fine,
ma'am. I have to get up." His head swayed from side to side and he clutched the
edge of the exam table, squeezing his eyes shut, then opening them wide. "I'll
be okay. Just ... just give me a second."
"You need to rest," Judy insisted.
Connor looked around the room, getting his bearings. He saw
Daniel and Xavier. Hey, guys. I sure do love you boys.
We love you too, Big C, Daniel said with a
grin.
Don't ever scare us like that again. Understood?
Xavier asked, smiling to show he wasn't serious.
Connor looked at Judy Anderson and said, "Ma'am, I sure do
appreciate you fixin' me up and all, but I gotta get up now and get back in this fight, or none of us
are gonna get out of this alive." He threw his legs
over the edge of the table and tried to stand up. His knees were wobbly, but he
felt his strength returning quickly. "What's this?" he asked, pointing to the
transfusion line still piercing the vein in his arm.
Judy deftly pulled it from his arm and dabbed at the hole,
which was already closing up. "We had to give you blood."
Connor looked over at Daniel, lying on the table next to
him, finally understanding. "Daniel? What did you do?"
Daniel grinned. "Gave you back what you gave me. A bit of vaewolf blood. Hope you don't mind the flavor of vampire
mixed in." He smiled as he recalled the moment Connor had bitten him, injecting
the lycan cells into his blood. "But it wasn't as
much fun this time," Daniel added with an impish smile.
Connor chuckled, remembering that wild and crazy night when
he'd been thrusting his cock deep into Daniel's butt while Xavier gave Daniel a
blowjob. The mating frenzy had overtaken Connor's mind, causing him to bite
Daniel's neck and infect him with lycanthropy. Xavier, with Daniel's cock
repeatedly brushing the venom gland in the roof of his mouth, had been unable
to resist the urge to bite into the base of Daniel's cock, injecting vampiric
serum into Daniel's body. They had all worried that Daniel might die that
night, as the lycanthropy battled against the vampirism for domination in his
body. Fortunately, Daniel had survived by transforming into a creature that was
half vampire and half werewolf ... a vaewolf. And that
had been the beginning of their connection as soulbound
mates.
Connor's memory of that desperate night reminded him of how
serious their situation was now. Why were they always fighting to survive? When
were they going to catch a break?
"Guys ... I hate to tell you this," Trudy said from the
window. "They're coming this way."
"Is there a back exit?" Xavier asked.
Judy nodded. "This way." Leading them down the clinic halls,
she took them through a break room to an exterior door. "This leads to the
alley behind the clinic," she said.
"Come with us, Mom," Daniel said, grabbing her elbow. "We
have to stick together."
Judy shook her head slowly. "Daniel. My dear boy. It's not
going to make much difference now. You know that, right?"
Daniel sighed and nodded. "I know, Mom. I saw all this
coming. And now it feels like I'm in the middle of a nightmare, fighting to
wake up, and I can't. I'm headed for the end of the nightmare and nothing can
stop that. But I have to keep trying. You understand, don't you?"
She nodded and gently pushed Daniel toward the door. "Go,
son. I'll stay here and—I don't know—distract them or something."
Daniel's father put his arm around Judy's waist, pulling her
close. He handed his rifle to Daniel and said. "I'm
staying here, with your mother. You understand why, don't you, son?"
Daniel nodded, no longer able to keep the tears from
falling.
Mike looked intently at his son. "I'm so proud of you,
Daniel. So incredibly proud."
Judy gripped Daniel's arm. "I am too. Of all you boys. Now
find a way to stop these sons-of-bitches."
Daniel tried to laugh through his tears. "When did you start
cussing, Mom?"
She struggled to hold back her own tears. "When these
bastards invaded my town and tried to hurt my boys." She looked over at Connor
and smiled. "Go on, Daniel. Do whatever you have to do to stop them."
Daniel nodded and opened the exit door. He motioned for the
others to move past him, dismayed as he counted how few of his people remained.
Connor and a dozen werewolves, stuck in human form. Xavier and six vampires,
unable to teleport. And Trudy with four other humans carrying guns that
couldn't hurt their enemies. What the hell were they going to do?
Judy closed the door behind them and pulled a white smock
from a hook on the wall. "You should wear this, Mike," she said. "And put a
stethoscope around your neck. It will make you look very professional." She
smiled and leaned into her husband, kissing him tenderly on the lips.
Together, hand in hand, they walked calmly to the front of
the clinic, breathing deeply to calm their nerves as the front door opened with
a crash.
The
end of Chapter Fourteen of SOULBOUND CLASH