SOULBOUND
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.
If you enjoy this story,
please support the Nifty archives today with a thoughtful donation by visiting https://donate.nifty.org/.
WARNING FOR SENSITIVE READERS:
This chapter contains descriptions of extreme violence. Please read with caution if you are bothered
by such things.
There is no greater danger than underestimating your
opponent.
-- Lao Tzu
Robert Delaney adjusted his headphones, glanced over at
Daniel, and gave him two thumbs up.
Robert pressed a button on his control board, waited three seconds, then
said, "Hey, there everyone. It's the Rob
Ransom Report!" Robert pressed another
button. Obviously fake applause and
cheers rang out. Robert pressed the
button again and said, "What a week it's been.
And we have all you fans to thank! Over 65,000 of you downloaded our last
podcast, setting a new record for the Rob Ransom
Report. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you! And we're hoping for
even more today, with our third installment in what has been one of the hottest
topics we've ever discussed ... Vampires and Werewolves: Are They Living Among Us? You all know my guest. He claims he lives in a small town where both
vampires and werewolves have taken up residence, and he even attends high
school with some of them. I bet that
makes for a complicated dating scene!"
Robert laughed at his own joke.
Daniel struggled not to roll his eyes.
Robert continued, "But tonight—hold onto your hats,
folks—tonight, our guest is going to tell us everything. The name of the town. The names of the vampires in charge. The names of the werewolves too. I, for one, can't wait to hear what he has to
say!"
"Let's begin with a few simple questions. And, by the way, all you listeners out there
will notice that we're no longer disguising my guest's voice. So for everyone
who's been calling this a fake story, kiss my (BLEEP)." Robert chuckled as his fingers flew over the
controls, inserting the phony censorship blare.
Rob chuckled as he checked his notes, then asked, "Question
number one: who are you?"
Daniel leaned forward and said, "My name is Daniel
Anderson."
"How old are you, Daniel?"
"I'm sixteen."
"Where do you live?"
"Agony, North Dakota."
"And that's the town with all the vampires and werewolves,
right?
"That's right, Rob."
"You attend school there?"
"Yes. At the high school."
"So you personally know all the
vampires and werewolves in the school."
"Yes."
The lights went out.
Robert's control board went dead.
Robert shook his head and said, "SHIT!
What a fuckin' stupid time to have a power outage!" He touched his phone, pulling up a flashlight
to see by, then he turned to Daniel and said, "Sorry, man. We'll have to start all over, once the power
comes back on."
Daniel's eyes lost focus for a moment. He seemed to be staring off into space. He reached up and removed the headphones,
setting them carefully on the table in front of him.
When the police crashed through the door, screaming at
everyone to get on the floor, Daniel disappeared.
͠ ͠
͠
Dautry
waited in the Room for the phone to ring.
When it did, he punched a button, putting the call on speaker. He muttered one word: "What?"
"We didn't get him."
"What happened?" Dautry asked.
"Delaney was the only one in the
house. He claims Anderson was there, but
the police officers say he wasn't."
Dautry
shook his head in disgust. "And the rest
of my instructions?"
"Delaney is under arrest. His podcast has been shut down by court
order. All past and previous podcasts
have been deleted."
Dautry
massaged his temple slowly. "Implement
Operation Bonfire."
"Yes, sir. Verification, please."
Dautry
leaned forward, allowing the system to scan his retina. The voice said, "Verification confirmed. Thank
you, sir. Operation Bonfire commencing."
Dautry
shut off the phone call and leaned back in his chair. He hadn't really expected to catch the
perverted little faggot. Not yet anyway. But he would.
So far, the vampires and werewolves
in Agony had been cooperating, but he needed to catch the vaewolves,
and Operation Bonfire was the best way to do it, no matter how much collateral
damage might result.
͠ ͠
͠
Xavier awoke to noise in his
bedroom. Before he could move, hands
grabbed him and he felt sharp pain in his arm from
talons piercing through his skin. His
eyes flashed red as his vision lit up the darkness around him. He saw Minerva standing next to him, holding
his arm. He tried to teleport away, but
the presence of her talons inside his flesh prevented it.
Xavier raised his other arm to
knock her away, but never finished his swing.
A sharp jab in his neck led to almost instant unconsciousness.
͠ ͠
͠
When Xavier woke up, he was strapped down securely to a seat
in some type of small jet. Around
Xavier's neck was a locked collar made of metal with sharp, white talons along
the edge, piercing his neck.
When he was able to focus on his surroundings, he saw
Minerva sitting next to him, reading a magazine. She looked up when he began shaking his head
to clear out the fuzziness that kept him from concentrating. She glanced at her watch and said, "We should
be landing in two hours."
"Where am I?"
Xavier's voice cracked. He
cleared his throat and asked again, louder, "Where are you taking me?"
"You are in a private jet headed for a special facility
designed just for creatures like you and me," she replied.
"Why?"
"Is it really important?"
"I would like to know why I'm being kidnapped."
Minerva laughed.
"Kidnapped? Oh, silly
Xavier. You're not being kidnapped. You're under arrest."
"Under what charge?"
Minerva sniffed. "I
really have no idea. Sedition or treason
or something like that. I'm sure they'll
find something you've been doing wrong."
Xavier closed his eyes and tensed his body.
Minerva laughed.
"That won't work, my boy."
Xavier opened his eyes and glared at her.
She leaned forward and tapped a fingernail on the collar
around his neck. "The painful piercing
you feel around the bottom of this collar ... those are vampire talons, removed
from the bodies of our dearly departed relatives. The collar is designed to keep the talons
punching through into your neck. I know
it hurts a bit, but it has a wonderful side effect."
"I can't teleport," Xavier said with a grimace.
"Exactly. No jumping
about for you. Not when your skin is
pierced by the talon of a vampire. It's
so much more expedient this way. I don't
have to have you guarded constantly, with bodyguards pressing their talons into
you. The collar does it for me, and you
stay right where I want you. Isn't that
convenient?"
Xavier closed his eyes, apparently in resignation. Guys, can you hear me?
I can, Daniel replied.
Xavier could also hear Connor and Diego reply, but their
mental voices were much more faint.
They have me in an airplane. I don't know where we're going ... and Daniel,
I can't teleport. They have some kind of collar on me that prevents it.
Don't fight them, Xavier. Wait until you get there. When they leave you alone, send me an image
of the room, and I'll come to you.
Okay. I love
you, Daniel. Tell Connor and Diego I
love them too.
They know. They
send you their love. Hang strong, Xavier.
͠ ͠
͠
The jet's wheels bumped lightly on the tarmac of a small,
private airport in Virginia. Xavier was
hustled out and bundled into the back of an SUV. Minerva walked gracefully down the stairs and
climbed into the front passenger seat of the same SUV, motioning for the driver
to pull out.
The SUV sped away, leaving the airport quickly behind and
heading for the nearest highway. Twenty
minutes later, they took an exit ramp and drove through a lightly forested,
rural area. They stopped at a guard
shack. The driver showed an ID to the guard,
who waved them through. They pulled up
in front of a windowless building. More
guards ran out, opening the doors on the SUV and yanking Xavier out. They half-carried him up the sidewalk and
into the building, through a lobby and to an elevator. They held him between them at the back of the
elevator, while Minerva stood in front of them.
One of the guards punched a button and the elevator began dropping.
When the doors opened again, Minerva led them down a
corridor to a room where she punched a code into a panel next to the door. Minerva leaned down, allowing a laser to scan
her retina. The light on the panel
changed from red to green. The door
clicked. Minerva pushed it open.
She gestured for the guards to take Xavier inside. Then she followed them.
͠ ͠
͠
Daniel heard Xavier calling him. Daniel, can you hear me?
Daniel sat up in bed.
I can hear you, Xavier. Are
you finally alone?
Almost. Let me
show you.
Daniel took in the room through Xavier's eyes. The walls of the room were metallic. The cage where Xavier was being held was in
one corner. A conference-room style
table in the middle of the room was positioned in front of a wall of monitors,
all dark at the moment. Cameras were located high up in each corner
of the room. A bored guard sat at the
table, his eyes drooping with drowsiness.
Okay, Xavier. I've got a
good image.
Daniel teleported into the room, next to the guard. The guard shook his head, alarmed, but Daniel
struck him on the side of his head, knocking him out. Then Daniel grabbed the keys on the table
next to the guard and unlocked the cage.
Xavier rushed out and hugged Daniel.
"Thanks, my love."
"Couldn't let `em keep you caged
up," Daniel said with a grin. "Now let's
get you out of here."
"I can't," Xavier replied, "not while I'm wearing this." He pointed at the metal collar around his
neck.
"Very well done, gentlemen.
Well done indeed." The raspy
voice of Dautry came from the door.
Guards rushed in, moving past Dautry
into the room, weapons drawn. One held a
collar similar to the one Xavier wore. He approached Daniel slowly, ordering him to
keep his hands at his side. The guard
slipped the collar in place, snapping it shut.
Daniel grimaced as tiny talons pierced the skin of his neck, drawing
beads of blood.
Dautry and Minerva walked into the
room and sat down on one side of the table.
The guards pulled out chairs and forced Daniel and Xavier to sit down as
well. Dautry
placed a handgun on the table in front of him.
Then he waved one hand dismissively at the guards. "You can leave," he rasped.
The guards walked out, closing the door behind them.
Dautry studied Daniel and Xavier
for a minute, then shook his head. "I
thought you were smarter," he rumbled.
"But I suppose foolhardiness dominates the heart of every young
man." He leaned forward and punched a
button on the panel before him. "Status
of Operation Bonfire?" he asked.
"Ready for phase two," a voice replied.
"Proceed," he grunted.
͠ ͠
͠
The phone at Regina's house rang. She picked it up and listened to the excited
voice on the other end. "Understood,"
she said, hanging up the phone. She
turned to address the vampires in the room.
"They've seized our bank accounts and frozen all our assets."
"How?" one asked.
"An executive order.
They're using the RICO act, claiming we're involved in organized crime."
"Ridiculous!" someone exclaimed.
"It'll never hold up in court," another declared.
"Does it matter?" Regina asked, bringing sudden silence to
the room. "You all heard what Xavier
said he wanted us to do if this happens.
Start the evacuation immediately.
Every family needs to be out of town within the hour."
͠ ͠
͠
Helicopter gunships hugged the terrain as they climbed up
into the hills surrounding the Lodge.
The retired colonel in charge of the operation keyed his
microphone. "Listen up, people. Five minutes to target. Check your weapons. Alternating blue and gray rounds. Blue for silver. Gray for arsenic. You may need both, although there shouldn't
be any vampires in the drop zone. When
we drop, watch your spacing. Identify
your target every time. These rounds may
be deadly for werewolves and vampires, but they will kill you just as
efficiently. I don't want to send
letters to your families apologizing for friendly fire. That being said ... good
hunting, men."
The last scouting report indicated that most of the Silvermane pack were inside the main building at the top of
the hill, so the helicopters roared over a ridge and hovered over the grounds
of the Lodge. The colonel shouted, "GO.
GO. GO." Armed men jumped through the
open doors, rappelling down lines to the ground and running for the Lodge front
doors. They smashed through, weapons
levelled in front of them as they searched the building, moving quickly from
room to room, but finding no werewolves inside.
In the wooded area behind the Lodge, the entire pack was silently
moving through the trees, disappearing into the hills. Connor, Donny and Ethan waited at the edge of
the woods, counting off each pack member running past. The last to arrive were Gabi and Andreas.
"Is that everyone?" Andreas asked.
Connor nodded.
"They're all out. Some of the
younger pups were a bit slow, but their parents are helping them now."
Floodlights lit up the edge of the forest, exposing Connor
and the others where they stood talking.
"FREEZE!" a voice shouted.
Armed men walked forward, pointing their weapons.
Andreas snarled and shifted into wolf form. He turned and leapt through the air at the soldiers,
claws out and arms swinging. The first
man he reached was a second too slow in bringing his gun around. Andreas sliced down with his front claws and
the gun fell clattering to the ground with the man's hands still holding the
trigger and front grip. The man held up
his arms, blood gushing from two bloody stumps, and began screaming. Andreas knocked the man onto his back and
silenced him with a quick snap of his jaws on the man's throat. Then Andreas leapt away just as bullets
chewed up the ground a few feet away
Gabi grabbed Connor's hand and shouted, "Go, Connor. Save the pack!" Then she shifted into wolf form too and
joined her mate, leaping at the armed men and knocking two of them down. Her arms were a blur of slicing claws,
ripping open the neck of one man and leaving the other clutching his stomach
and finding his bloody bowels in his hands.
Chaos erupted as the soldiers tried to defend themselves against
the fury of Andreas and Gabi. They began
firing without regard for one another, killing two more men with errant aim
before finally striking Andreas. His
body twisted and jerked as the bullets ripped into his back and sides. Then he fell to the ground, clutching the soil
of the beloved home he'd defended with his last breath.
Gabi howled and rushed toward her mate. Her body jerked to a sudden stop as an M16
emptied into her chest. She fell,
rolling into the brush and up against a tree.
Connor yelled, "NOOOOO!"
He struggled to run to his parents, but Donny and Ethan pulled him back.
"You can't help them now!" Donny yelled in Connor's ear,
hauling Connor's struggling body deeper into the forest.
"We have to save the Pack!" Ethan added, yanking on Connor's
arm.
Tears poured down Connor's cheeks, then he clinched his
teeth and shifted into wolf form, turning and leading the way deeper into the
trees.
͠ ͠
͠
"Status update," Dautry snarled.
The voice replied, "Smyth Covenant assets have been seized,
but all members of the Covenant are no longer in Agony."
"Where are they?"
"Unknown. Searching
through teleportation signatures to try to determine where they've gone, but
we're having trouble tracking them. They
appear to have used several jumps, so it's proving difficult to determine where
they are now."
"Why weren't they apprehended immediately?" Dautry snapped.
"Someone tipped them off, sir. They were gone when we arrived with the arrest
warrants."
Dautry rubbed the back of his head
as he sucked on a cigarette. "And the
werewolves?" Dautry asked.
"Two confirmed dead.
All others missing." The voice
hesitated, then added, "Five of our men killed in action, seven others
wounded."
Dautry slammed his hand on the
table. "THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A COVERT
OP! How did that happen? Why weren't they captured? They can't teleport like vampires."
"Our intel was incorrect.
We believed they were gathered in the Lodge, but they were able to
escape before we arrived. They ran into
the surrounding forest, apparently in wolf form, and they're now in hiding."
Dautry growled in frustration. "Did you at least capture Ruiz?"
"No, sir. His family
is no longer in Agony."
"Where are they?" Dautry demanded
to know.
"Unknown, sir. The
employees at the father's medical clinic weren't told."
Dautry took several deep breaths,
calming himself. Then he leaned into the
microphone and said, "Find them. Find
the vampires. Find the lycans. Find them
all and arrest them, wherever they are."
Minerva turned to stare at Dautry. "That wasn't our agreement. The vampires were not to be harmed."
Dautry glared at Minerva. "The agreement is whatever I say it is." He spoke into the microphone again. "After you've arrested them, execute
them. Then clean up the town."
The voice replied, "That is a deviation from the original
plan."
"I realize that," Dautry
snapped. "Make it happen."
"Yes, sir."
Minerva stared at Dautry, her eyes
narrowing in anger.
Dautry lit a cigarette and sucked
on the end, slowly calming down.
Minerva sat next to him, fuming.
Dautry touched a button on the
panel before him, causing a large LED screen on the wall to light up. It displayed a map of the United States, with
blue specks of light superimposed. He
pointed at it and said, "This is my most prized achievement, and it wouldn't
have been possible without Minerva's assistance ... and yours too, Daniel."
Dautry stood up and touched the
monitor with one finger. "Each point of
light is a teleport signature, left behind when a vampire moves from one place
to another. Our scientists have been
working diligently on a way to track vampires, and Minerva has been most
helpful, allowing them to attach sensors to her body as she jumps from one
place to another. It wasn't long before
we had the means to track vampires every time they teleported, but we were
having trouble tracking vaewolves. It seems your signature is slightly
different, Daniel, so we couldn't accurately pinpoint your location, at least,
not until you so conveniently teleported right into this room. That made it possible for us to calibrate our
instruments to track vaewolves too, so now it will be
only a matter of time until we track down your little friend Diego Ruiz. He should be joining you here shortly."
Dautry turned to Minerva. "I may consider allowing most vampires
to live, thanks to your help. But Agony
must be wiped out. It's a problem I'll
no longer tolerate."
Minerva stared at him, wishing him seated in the deepest,
hottest corner of Hell.
Dautry chuckled and looked back at
Daniel. "When I have both you and the
Ruiz boy, that will be the end of the vaewolves. I'll have to destroy you both, of
course. You do understand why, don't you?"
When Daniel didn't answer, Dautry
sneered. "Vaewolves
must be destroyed, right, Minerva? You
see, it's not because you're the abominations Minerva sees you as. It's not even because of the perversions I
know you to enjoy. It's because you're
dangerous. Far too dangerous to leave
alive."
Dautry picked up his gun and waved
it casually at Daniel and Xavier. "In
the cage you go, gentlemen." He waited
until they were inside, sitting on the metal bench next to each other, before
pushing the door shut with one foot. It
clicked shut.
He looked at Minerva.
"Come," he ordered. "Let's get something
to eat. We'll check back in a few hours to
see how the operation is proceeding.
Some of your family should be dead by then."
They both left the room, Dautry
confident, Miverva seething.
Daniel and Xavier locked eyes.
Are you sure about this, Daniel?
I saw what I saw, Xavier.
Xavier sighed and leaned over against Daniel. Daniel put his arm around Xavier's shoulder,
pulling him close.
͠ ͠
͠
An hour later, the door opened and
Minerva walked in. She walked up to the
cage and placed the key in the lock, opening it. Then she motioned Daniel and Xavier to stand
up and walk out.
When they stood in front of her, she lifted a small rod and
pressed it against the side of Xavier's collar.
There was a soft click and the collar opened. Xavier grimaced as he pulled if off his neck,
pulling the talons ringing the bottom of the collar out of his neck.
Minerva looked Xavier in the eye and said, "Everything I did,
I did for our Covenant. Now, perhaps,
you can understand why." She gestured
around her at the room filled with equipment and monitors. "I had to keep us safe from these
humans. You and I didn't always agree
about what was best, but our motives were always the same: to protect the family. Now it's your turn. Go home, Xavier. Keep the Covenant safe."
Xavier nodded, then glanced at Daniel.
"I'll free him next, Xavier.
Leave while you can."
Go on, Daniel said, smiling at Xavier. I'll be right behind you.
Xavier disappeared.
Minerva lifted the rod and pressed it against Daniel's
collar. It fell off into his hands.
"Thank you, Minerva."
"I'm still not convinced that you should be allowed to
live. But for what it's worth, I no
longer consider you a monster. You are
not the monster here. Neither am I,
simply because my people feed on emotions.
Nor are the Silvermanes, simply because they
transform into wolves to hunt for their meals.
No, a monster is a someone who manipulates others so he can hold power,
who spies on his own people to use what he learns against them, who uses the
power entrusted to him to dominate instead of caring for others. That man is the true monster here."
The door to the room opened, and Dautry
stepped in. Multiple gunshots rang out
in quick succession. Minerva looked down
at her chest, where dark red circles were spreading out on her blouse. She blinked and looked up at Daniel, whispering,
"Save them, vaewolf."
Daniel nodded and disappeared as Minerva collapsed, falling
to the floor on her side.
Dautry walked forward and used his
toe to push Minerva onto her back. She
was breathing quickly, sucking in shallow breaths. Dautry leaned over
her and spat, "I decide who the monsters are, and then I destroy them. Today, the monster is the FOOL who bites the
hand that fed her."
Minerva's eyes focused on Dautry's
face. She panted quickly, gathering
strength to mutter, "A fool? I'm a
fool? You trusted a vampire!" She laughed, coughing up blood. "A fool ..." she muttered as she died.
Dautry straightened up and kicked
Minerva's body. "You've changed nothing,
you stupid bitch. I'll find the vaewolves eventually, and then they'll die, as will all
your filthy, corrupt family."
He spun on his heels and stomped to the door, snarling at
the guards outside, "Get someone to clean up this mess." Then he pulled the door shut and walked back
to his chair at the table, leaning down to punch the call button on the control
panel.
"Operations Center," a voice responded.
"Status of Operation Bonfire," he snapped.
"All operations cancelled, as you ordered, sir."
Dautry stared down at the
table. "Repeat that."
"All operations cancelled, per your last order, sir."
"I didn't cancel the operation. What in bloody hell are you talking about?"
he demanded.
There was a short pause.
Then the voice replied, "Twenty five minutes
ago, you cancelled Operation Bonfire.
Then you verified the order with a retinal scan."
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Dautry shouted,
standing up and shaking his head in confusion.
A hand reached past Dautry to
disconnect the call to the Operations Center.
Dautry spun around and found Daniel standing
behind him, holding Dautry's gun in one hand and the
metal collar in the other.
"You ...," Dautry muttered. "You did this. But how?"
Dautry began backing up, working his way along
the edge of the table, thinking back and reconsidering everything that had
happened. Then his eyes opened
wide. "You ... you played me," he
whispered. "Just so you could get here,
to the command center. But why? What do you hope to accomplish? Everything has secure controls, multiple
access requirements, retinal scans ..." He
stared at Daniel, then grimaced and shook his head. "Amazing.
You must have additional abilities I didn't know about, never planned
for."
Daniel nodded his head.
"At the end of it all, you finally understand." Then he stepped forward and swung the metal
collar at Dautry's head, striking the man so hard his
head spun sideways and his neck snapped upon impact.
Dautry's broken body collapsed to
the ground. His severed spine no longer
communicated with his brain, but his lips continued moving as his life slipped
away, mumbling, "None of it was real. It
was all an act?"
Daniel knelt next to Dautry. "Everyone always said Xavier and Diego were
the better actors, but Connor and I did a pretty decent job of it too. Good enough to fool you."
Dautry's eyes opened wide and he gasped
once more before blowing out his final breath.
Daniel knelt down and lifted the
man's lifeless body off the ground. With
his enhanced vaewolf strength, it was easy.
Daniel concentrated for a moment, then teleported to the
same spot, but 30 minutes into the past.
He propped Dautry's body in the chair at the
table, leaned past him and punched a button on the panel.
"Operations," the voice said.
"Cancel Operation Bonfire.
Shut it all down," Daniel ordered.
"Verification please," the voice said.
Daniel leaned Dautry's body
forward. The laser scanned the man's
dead eyeball.
The crackling voice in the speaker said, "Verification
confirmed. Operation Bonfire will be
cancelled immediately."
Daniel picked up Dautry's body and
teleported to a secluded spot high up in the Rocky Mountains, a place where
he'd once hiked with his friends. He
dropped Dautry's body into a ravine, then teleported
home to Agony.
The end of SOULBOUND, Chapter Twenty-Four
Coming soon ... the conclusion
of SOULBOUND.