The Breed

By Dream Janus

Disclaimer: All rights are protected and the story cannot be reproduced without permission.

This story is a work of fiction and contains scenes of gay sex between consenting individuals. If you find this offensive, are under the age of 18, it is illegal wherever you are to read this, stop reading now. Leave this site. If you are offended by harsh language, please exit this page immediately. You have been warned. This work of fiction is property of myself and may not be copied or used in any way without my express consent.

Much thanks and appreciation goes to Rubilacxe, my editor and second set of eyes.

Note from Dream Janus: I now have a presence in Yahoo.

On Yahoo it is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dream_janus_stories/

If you want, I can be emailed at dreamjanus@yahoo.com.

2^nd Note from Dream Janus: During a portion of this chapter I will be using Italics to signify persons with as of yet unknown names instead of pronouns and other words that usually do not signify individuals.

Chapter 21 "Building Bridges"

The shade waited until it saw that the area had been cleared of everyone that could command it and then it moved from the shadows. The shades form was nearly human but without face or any other distinguishing features. It also had no visible depth to its form. The darkness that made up the shade's body had many areas that shadow energy seemed to be leaking and dissipating into the air itself. It was wounded badly and loosing its equivalent of blood.

The shade drifted the few feet to Mike's bloody and lifeless body and fell down beside it. It began to make a keening noise that could be heard both by the psychical ears and psychically. It bowed what could only be described as it head toward Mike's prone form, almost as if praying. The shade touched the side of Mike's face and began infusing him with shadow energy in hopes of restoring him to life. The shade was not smart enough to realize that the shadow energy was not restoring his life, just the outward appearance of Mike's body.

Within five minutes of the queen and her assistants leaving the warehouse Antino, George, Elzabeth and Charlett burst in on the carnage. Antino was momentarily shocked by the bloody scene before him, he then fell to the ground beside Ray and wept. George felt cold rage as he looked at the bloody bodies that used to be his Zoméa and brother. He began searching the building for something or someone to kill for this destruction.

Charlett was intrigued by the mourning shade that was working on Mike's inert body. She realized that it was probably what killed him, but it felt a kinship with Mike and wanted him to live again. Charlett actually felt sorry for the shade as she realized that it was pouring the last of its life force into a surely already dead Mike. The shade appeared to look up as she approached Mike's body to check for signs of life. For a brief moment the shade quit its mourning keening as it was not sure of Charlett's intentions. When she reached for Mike's arm, it began the cry once again. Charlett found no pulse; the smallest of the Zoméa was definitely dead.

Elzabeth bounced around Ray's body like a maniacal child; her eyes were glazed over with the throws of an emotionally induced trance. "The 3^rd generation of the Bridge is dead, awaiting the final piece and the rebirth of the 4^th generation," ,she sang out in an unearthly voice.

Antino glared at the bouncing Elzabeth and roared, "SHUT THAT SHIT UP, UNLESS YOU HAVE SOMETHING HELPFUL TO SAY!"

He noticed that the first of the cleanup and attack teams had began to arrive, but Antino's glare never left the bouncing form of Elzabeth, her massive bosoms began to bounce dangerously as she became even more excited after being yelled at, her mind was excited to be given a task that was so easy to perform.

"The dark kiss of the Ancient shall bond the bridge to this existence forever, but be prepared for all hell to break loose, before your eyes and behind your back," Elzabeth said with the same sing song voice.

Meanwhile upstairs George had found the rubble that held the body of Sherry. He could smell her even through all the explosives and burned wood. George became frantic as he clawed through the mess looking for Sherry. His eyes were already blinded with tears of rage and fear. His heart almost exploded with excitement when he heard a soft mew that he had not heard in years. George realized that she was alive and then fear gripped him again as he hurried to dig Sherry out of the wreckage.

When George heard the telltale sounds of the cleanup and attack teams' arrival, he screamed and projected, "[I need help up here, my Zomêü (most loved sister with adopted tense) is buried alive.]"

George had not used that term of affection for Sherry since she left her adopted family home to learn to be an assassin, the home she shared with his family. The term slipped out of mind and mouth without even thinking and for once George was not bothered by it. His mind had not come to grips with the fact of what he had seen on the first floor but it was slowly leaking into his consciousness as he worked, He did not want to loose everything or anyone else.

A frustrated Karl stood staring at the youthful Dhampir who had been blocking his way for the last few minutes. It had become obvious that the Dhampir did not intend to hurt or kill him, even when Karl had attacked him. The darkly handsome Dhampir just blocked and parried each attack as if it were nothing. He kept repeating, "I cannot allow you to leave now."

Once they heard the entrance of the cleanup crews and attack teams, the stone faced Dhampir smiled and said, "I can now allow you to leave." He then motioned to the door with a sweep of his hand and sat down.

Karl was confused, this person should not exist. It was against the laws of the Conclave, but yet here he was. He realized that someone in the Conclave had fathered this teen and they had to be very powerful for it to have succeeded. Karl then looked closely at the Dhampir. A moment of recognition came to Karl as he realized that when Antino saw the Dhampir, he would immediately know who the father was and reveal one of the greatest traitors. Karl himself could identify the father simply by looking at the offspring, the resemblance was too close to be anyone else.

"Follow me," Karl said softly to the nearly despondent teen.

The young Dhampir knew that there was a very good chance his life was over once they returned to the leaders of the Conclave. He had been told that when he was given the job of restraining whichever team member came into his area as long as it was not one of the Zoméa or Jeremiah. His father had given him to the Regia'an Queen as a peace offering in the hopes of creating a new order once the hostilities were over. The Dhampir hated the Queen and his father both with a nearly blinding fury. He had no interest in being a pawn; he just wanted to be a normal boy, a normal human boy.

"So what is the name of my former capture?" Karl asked with a bit of smile. He could feel the tension in the young Dhampir and was trying to bring him comfort.

"I am Daniel," The Dhampir answered softly.

Downstairs Antino was looking at Elzabeth in shock. He did not know whether to slap her out of the trance she seemed to be in or honestly consider what she suggested. Antino realized that everything about "The Bridge" prophecy fit, not in the way he would have wanted or in a way that he liked but it fit none the less. He then allowed his thoughts to turn to what she actually suggested.

"The Dark Kiss," Antino began, ",not the Dark Gift?"

Elzabeth smiled with that slightly maniacal smile she sometimes had and nodded with a giggle. They both knew the difference was `The Dark Kiss' was changing him into a vampire; `The Dark Gift' would be changing him into a fang instead.

Antino looked down at Ray's prone body and searched for any form of life remaining in the body at all. He was saddened when all that he saw remaining was a weak pulse of Shadow energy, slowly dying out itself. Antino hoped against hope that it would be enough to draw him back and not bring something that was more animal that anything else.

Antino lifted Ray's limp body into a slightly seated position and without a second thought bit into the side of his already bloody neck. The blood had the taste of stagnate mud as he drank slowly. Antino forced his wrist into the slack jawed mouth of Ray, jamming it into Ray's sharpened canines. The blood began to flow down Ray's throat.

Within a few moments the stagnate taste of the blood in his mouth changed for Antino, it gained a more bloodlike consistence and began to taste acidic like vampire blood but it also tasted different. Antino began to cry tears of blood when he heard the heart begin to pump again. He then felt the body tense involuntarily once, twice and then a third time.

Ray's body sat up and screamed. The eyes blazed with the dark shadow energy but the depths of the darkness were greater than ever before. The body screamed again and a massive amount of shadow energy exploded outward in every direction. The scream and the energy discharge lasted for several seconds.

The shadow energy discharge from Ray's body was so violent that it struck everyone in the area like dozens of hot sharpened knives. The vampires in the area seemed the least affected by the blast in that it only took pain and years from their already backward existence. The others in the area were affected in greater ways, every Ghoul, Thrope and other Breed were knocked unconscious but suffered a slight aging to their outward appearance as well as their true age. The few humans that were around were affected the most in that they all seemed to age at least twenty years and were also knocked unconscious, a couple even died due the rapid aging.

Rex's decapitated body and the head itself shook in contact with the energy, both began to twitch momentarily. The body flopped on the ground like a dieing fish and just as ineffectively. Rex's head rolled to one side and the eyes and mouth opened involuntarily for several seconds.

The form of the shade was struck by the explosive shadow energy in such a way that it collapsed onto Mike's body and did not move again. Mike's armor began to fuse reform and flow around the body. His eyes opened and filled with the shadow energy, though they remained vacant.

Once Rex's body quit screaming all the shadow energy ceased flowing from him. The released energy then seemed to be drawn directly into the body of Mike. The body jumped as if it had been struck by a deliberator a total of five times. The shadow armor became more and more absorbed into Mike's body with each convulsion, until Mike's body was no longer dressed in armor at all and just his brief underwear. The body of the shade had also been absorbed into Mike's body.

When the screaming body of Ray finished its scream it collapsed back into Antino's arms. It was then that Elzabeth screamed, "The Bridge is reformed and the Dark sacrifice lives." She then collapsed herself onto the floor in a quivering mess of tears. Antino fully realized that both Ray and Mike were now alive, at least their bodies lived. He was not sure yet about their minds.

Hillsmet Hospital was on full medical alert when the medical examiner's `Meatwagon' pulled into the underground morgue entrance of the hospital. The technicians unloaded three body bags from the back of the `meatwagon' and placed each of them on separate gurneys. Two men took the first two body bags and a woman took the third. They then walked very quickly toward the morgue.

Instead of turning left to enter the morgue itself, the two male technicians turned right and the woman turned left and went into the morgue. The remaining two techs slowed to a stop in front of solid brick wall. The overhead light flickered and went out. When the light went out the wall began to descend into the floor, revealing a hallway that continued on as if nothing had changed.

The two techs pushed the carts pasted the now lowered wall and into the hallway beyond. Once they had passed over the threshold, the wall began to return to it previous position. The appearance of this hall showed that it was indeed a portion of the hospital but not one that had been used for a very long time. Dust hung in the air as the technicians continued pushing the gurneys. They stopped again, this time at an elevator.

Once inside the elevator anyone could tell that the elevator did not belong in the hospital as it was modern, clean and made totally of glass. The first tech in the elevator pushed the single button on the wall of the elevator and then held the door for the second tech. The elevator began to descend quickly and did not stop for several hundred feet.

Once the elevator stopped and the door opened, it revealed a hallway similar to the hospital's but obviously somewhere in the Conclave complex. The techs pushed the gurneys into the first room that they came to on the right. In the room waited Dr. Dal`gen'gel and another male healer.

"Thank you technicians Young and Marcus" Dr. Dal`gen'gel said taking one of the two gurneys. The other healer took the second gurney.

The technicians were quickly dismissed and left the room shutting the door behind them. Dr. Dal`gen'gel then began to open the body bag on the gurney in front of him, revealing the still blood splattered face of Ray. The other healer likewise exposed Mike. They moved quickly and transferred both of the boys to regular twin beds on either side of the room.

While Ray's breathing was noticeable from a slight distance, Mike's was almost non-existent. Dr. Dal`gen'gel began to study Mike's body and noticed that the formerly bluish blood vessels that could be seen on different locations of Mike's body were now black and you could see it move with each pulse beat. He also noticed several scars where apparently the shade had cut into the body, they were healed.

The sound of something small dropping behind him drew Dr. Dal`gen'gel focus away from Mike and on to Ray. After searching for a moment the other healer bent down and picked up the remains of one of the bullets that had killed Ray. Dr. Dal`gen'gel noticed the bullet and then began a close inspection of Ray's body, it seemed that it was healing itself and forcing out the bullets from the wounds themselves.

Neither of the boys seemed to be anywhere near consciousness so Dr. Dal`gen'gel took out his cell phone and quickly entered Antino's number. "They arrived as planned," He paused to listen to Antino's response and then said "They are still unconscious, at least until tomorrow night." He then nodded silently and responded. "I am not sure about Michael, but if Toban's transformation holds to the norms, you can expect it."

Antino hung up the phone and walked quickly down the hospital hallway. When he arrived at a door marked with a red X, he stopped and opened the door. Inside sat George, he was beside a symbiote tank and the recovered body of Sherry. She was floating in a suspension of blood with no symbiotes. Antino noticed immediately that her left eye was gone and probably could never be regenerated. He had also heard she had internal bleeding and several broken bones. The blood would speed up healing quicker than the symbiotes could.

"How is she?" Antino asked solemnly.

"Better," George said distantly. "The healers say she is going to never get the eye back, but she is going to heal otherwise." He then sighed. "Her days as an assassin are over, but at least she is alive." A single tear dripped down George's handsome face.

"I have some news," Antino said softly. "I am not sure if it is good or bad, but it is news."

Antino swallowed and then continued. "The prophecy required that The Bridge be restored by a Dark Kiss. When I was giving it to Ray, he sort of exploded with shadow energy and it was absorbed by Mike." The Ancient fidgeted something he never did. "They are alive, but we are not sure if they are still in there though."

A storm of emotions registered on George's face as the word sank into his mind and heart. He then whispered, "When will they know?"

"Tomorrow night most likely, at least for Ray," Antino responded.

Davey and Shanny were huddled on the sofa in the living room. Shanny's arms protectively holding Davey. They knew the adults were in the other room talking, and at least the portion that Shanny overheard it was about daddies Ray, Mike and Rex. The fear of loosing the only people that ever loved her was foremost in Shanny's mind. The fear that he would loose more people that loved him was foremost in Davey's mind. The fear that they would not be able to stay together was very real in both their young minds.

Iris came out of the bedroom her eyes red from crying and she noticed the terrified look on both the youngsters faces. She bent down and looked them directly in the eyes. "Ray, Mike and Rex were hurt tonight and we won't know how badly until tomorrow, but you do not need to worry about loosing us as family or each other," ,she said telling them the truth only keeping the severity and their concerns from the children.

"Can we see them `morrow?" Davey asked in a fearful baby voice.

"We will have to see," Iris said sadly. "The Ancient and the doctor are both supposed to call when something happens."

The darkness was all consuming and complete; no light came in or escaped from it. He felt comfortable but yet not alone. The Other was with him and they nurtured each other as they drew energy from their very surroundings. With the Other was something else, Something New and yet the same. There was also something in the darkness; it was familiar also, but as of yet unformed. He knew that his and the Other's time were slowly coming to a close in the darkness. They both drank from the darkness and the love they shared. It was love that drew them away from the darkness.

Both He and the Other were their former selves but now also much more, they no longer could claim to be those people that they used to be. He was able to hold himself together even when the pain returned, but the Other was weaker and only the something new and the awareness of the love here and outside the darkness kept the other together. The Something New was now permanently welded to the Other. Their time to leave the darkness was coming soon, but at the same time felt so far away.

Ray woke screaming, "I WILL KILL YOU, YOU TRAITOROUS BITCH." He then sobbed and cried, "OH GOD, REX!"

Ray's explosive awakening alerted all the nearby staff of two things, He was awake and it looked like he was back intact. The first thing Ray realized was that his stomach hurt as it had never hurt before, he felt as if he had not eaten in weeks, instead of days. He then realized he was not in the room alone, when he saw the unconscious body of Mike across the room. Ray then sobbed louder as he felt personally responsible for Mike being hurt.

The intensity of the hunger signified what had happened to Ray. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what had brought him back and suspected who was behind it. Ray felt a wave of hunger crash into his gut, but was surprised when it did not focus on Mike's prone body. He realized something major had happened to Mike and he had to find out what.

Dr. Dal`gen'gel ran into the room and was shocked to see that not only was Ray awake but he was attempting to cross the room to get over to Mike's side. Dr. Dal`gen'gel began to try and stop Ray but then thought better of it and helped him over to the other bed instead. The first few steps for Ray were unsteady but as he made each step the strength returned.

Ray touched Mike's face and smiled. "Time to wake up and..."

Mike sat up in the bed and took a deep ragged breath. His light eyes were now black as night, except for the whites which remained white for the moment. Mike looked at Ray and burst into tears. Both of their minds crossed from their individual deaths and landed on the beheaded body of Rex. They cried for several minutes while holding each other.

"They are both awake and for all appearances they seem to be themselves, just more so." Dr. Dal`gen'gel said into his cell phone.

"Where is George?" Mike asked the doctor over the shoulder of Ray.

"He is at the hospital with Sherry," Dr. Dal`gen'gel answered quietly. "She lost one of her eyes and is still unconscious." He explained.

"Can we contact him?" Mike asked.

"Of course," Dr. Dal`gen'gel said with a laugh, dialing George's cell phone number.

"I have two very impatient patients that want to see you," Dr. Dal`gen'gel said into the phone with a smile. "Yes Ray and Mike are awake."

"Ugh Doc, I may be myself and awake but Ray died. From now on I am only Toban."

"Yeah Doc and I am..."

Editor's comments: Fascinating! I never thought we would see Ray or Mike again. In a very real way, we aren't seeing them again as they are changed forever. More in the next chapter!