The Vampire and the Goth Ch. 15

Finally, David pulled me away from Angus. "Okay, big guy, you've had enough," he said. To my eternal shame, I snarled at him for interrupting me while drinking Angus' blood. Then I realized what I was doing and recoiled in horror, both at my behavior and the violation of being fed the blood of a werewolf without my consent.

I stood up, and I looked at Angus and David, and shaking my head, I said, "No. No, I don't do this. I didn't want this, this isn't who I am. No."

Angus and David looked at each other in confusion.

"Stosh, you were going to die," David said.

"You should have LET me die," I spat out angrily, and ran into the forest.

I ran without any idea where I was going. My only goal was to get away from everyone, especially myself. I was trying not to think about the source of my new found energy and strength, trying not to think of anything, especially not the werewolves I'd come to love and respect or how sweet and powerful Angus' blood had tasted. I only thought of how I felt violated and betrayed and how much I hated myself for what I did.

I ran in a flat-out sprint until I suddenly tripped and fell on my knees. I leaned down and felt my ankle and realized I had tripped over a body. As I untangled my leg, I looked around and realized there were at least two vampire bodies that were laying on the ground with their detached heads between their knees. I stood up slowly and was walking toward the bodies to see if I recognized either of them when I heard a voice behind me saying my name weakly, "Stosh."

I turned around and saw another vampire chained across a tree stump in a blood eagle - his rib cage was opened from his back and the ribs were splayed open to look like wings. The man's wrists were bound with silver chains and both shoulders were dislocated. He appeared to be missing at least one leg and his breathing was labored.

I stood there, frozen in horror as I realized I recognized the man. He said my name again. "Stosh."

"Janek, what the fuck?" I asked.

My brother gave a wheezing, hoarse laugh that made the bones of his open rib cage tremble.

"Good question, bracie," he said, with a hoarse cough. "The werewolves caught me..." he said, and let out a strained laugh.

I kneeled to unchain his wrists. "That's what Jadwiga said."

Suddenly, I felt a hard blow to the back of my head, and then everything went black.

When I came to, I found myself restrained with silver chains in a bare wooden room. My brother, Janek, was across from me, also tied with silver chains. He was alive, but he didn't appear to be conscious.

I could hear voices outside.

"What the FUCK, Noah? You weren't supposed to come back with two vampires!"

"I panicked, okay? When I got back from killing that nosy bitch there was suddenly an extra tick. What did you expect me to do, RO-GER?" the second voice said, in a mocking tone.

"You should have just killed him, too. How are we going to explain this to the local Beta? Shit. What are we going to say to William? And Honoria?"

"What do you mean we asshole?"

"Fine. Let's just stake him out in the sunlight and let him fry."

"FINALLY, a good idea!" the first voice said.

I looked over at Janek and noticed that he was looking back at me with a sarcastic grin.

"Good morning, sunshine," he said.

I grunted.

"Aren't you glad to see me, bracie?" he laughed, using the Polish word for brother.

"Don't call me brother, you piece of shit. And I'm not glad to see you."

He laughed again. "Aw... still bitter. You'd think five hundred years would have been enough to calm you down."

"You watched Maria torture me. You killed my sire when she tried to save me. I haven't seen or heard anything from you in centuries, and when you do show up again, you beat the shit out of our other sister and her boyfriend. Fuck you," I spat out.

"You were ready to save my life last night," he said, in a mocking tone.

"Yeah? Well just because I don't want to see you tortured doesn't mean I've forgiven you."

He flashed me a huge, evil grin. "That's out of your hands now. The doggies are going to kill both of us."

I frowned and he gave a cynical laugh.

"At least they're planning on killing you quick. They'll keep torturing me and cutting bits off every night until there's nothing left," he said, in a mournful voice.

Before he could say anything else, the door opened, and two werewolves in human form came in. Janek immediately closed his eyes and let his body go limp, acting like he was still unconscious, the coward.

The two werewolves grabbed me under the arms and dragged me outside. They seemed to struggle with my weight, although I'm not a heavy man.

"You know, this would probably go a lot easier if you'd untie my feet," I said.

"SHUT UP, TICK!"

The werewolves roughly shook me until my teeth rattled and I stopped trying to talk. Finally, we reached a clearing with bright sunlight, too bright for me to see, but it didn't stop them.

The werewolves shoved me down and, using silver chains again, attached my hands and feet to stakes that were already in the ground. Once I was staked out securely, they stood over me, apparently waiting for me to ignite.

"Isn't he supposed to be burning up?" one of the werewolves said.

"Yeah, he is..." the other werewolf answered.

The werewolves stood over me, still watching and waiting. I was tempted to start making a sound like bacon sizzling when I heard a woman's voice, speaking in a Scottish accent.

"What are you boys doing?"

"Oh... Uhm..." one of the werewolves said.

"Spit it out!" the woman said harshly.

"We... uh... we're waiting for... this bloodsucker to burn... Madam."

"Hmmm... I don't see any smoke..." the woman said sarcastically.

"No Madam," one of the werewolves said.

"And I don't see any flames," the woman continued.

"No Madam."

"How long have you had him out here?" the woman asked.

"Uhm... Uhm..."

"Roger!" the woman said sharply.

"The better part of an hour, Madam..."

"And what does that say to you, boys?"

The bright sun had blinded me, but I didn't need eyes to see that the two wolves were looking at each other in desperate confusion.

"That... that maybe he's not a vampire?" one of the male voices asked, in a shaky voice.

The woman sighed loudly. "Vampires don't just catch fire when they're in the sun, you eejit, especially the older ones."

"Oh."

I heard a deep sigh again. "This isn't one of the vampires who attacked our pack, is it?" the woman asked.

"We found him last night talking to the ringleader."

The woman sighed again. "I thought I told you to focus on the three who killed my brother and his family."

"Well yeah, but he was talking to the ringleader after we cut off his leg and made a blood eagle..."

She cut him off. "Did you actually see him hurt anyone?"

The werewolves were silent for a moment. Finally, one said, "Well, no..."

"So you decided that this was the way to go?" the woman asked.

No response from the wolves.

The woman sighed deeply again and cursed under her breath.

"If we're going to just kill any vampire that crosses our path, then we're no better than they are."

Again, dead silence from the other werewolves.

The woman said sharply, "Do you even know who he is?" Her accent was getting thicker now.

"He's a vampire," one of the males volunteered, unhelpfully.

"Shut yer gob, ye fuckin' bambot! We know he's a vampire. Who is he?"

When no answer came from the other wolves, she bent down and tapped my face firmly.

"What's your name, lad?"

She was leaning over me, and I could see, even in the blinding light, that she was an older woman, with a streak of silver in her otherwise brown hair and bright blue eyes.

"My name is Stanislav Szymanski."

Her eyes got big. "Jesus Christ," she said, in a thick Scottish accent. I didn't respond.

"Where are you from?"

"I'm from Poland," I said.

"Where was the last place you lived before coming here?"

"Denmark."

She looked at me in disbelief. "You're the one that lived with the Brøndsted pack."

"Yes, I am," I said.

One of the male wolves scoffed. "Bullshit!"

She stood up and said, in an angry voice, "Untie him."

"Vampires aren't allies with werewolves. That's just a fairy tale for pups," a male voice said. "The sun will still kill him, he just needs to be out here long enough."

Suddenly, a deeper male voice said, "No vampire would claim to have lived with a werewolf pack if it weren't true. She said untie him. You got the wrong guy, jackass."

After my wrists and ankles were untied, I was carried into a dark cabin by a large wolf in human form. He laid me on a couch and sat across from me with the older woman. I kept my eyes closed, but I could feel them watching me.

"I'm sorry we don't have any blood for you, friend. But it looks like you're healing on your own."

"May I have some water?" I asked as I sat up.

The woman disappeared for a moment, and when she came back, she gave me a fresh glass of water.

"We've sent the twat twins away," the woman said. "I'm sorry they bothered you."

I nodded.

"My name is Honoria, and this is my grandson, William. And you're Stanislav?" the woman asked.

I shook their hands as I said, "Please call me Stosh."

William and Honoria smiled at each other.

"It's an honor to meet you, sir," William said.

I rolled my eyes, or would have if my eyeballs didn't feel so dried out. Instead, I said, "Thank you for your kindness."

Honoria and William continued to watch me as I drank the water.

"I'm assuming you're not with the local werewolf pack. Where are you from?" I asked.

Honoria said, "We're from Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. And before you ask, we came down here to find the vampires who killed my brother and his family."

"My uncle was a Beta, and our Alpha tasked us to find their killers. We're here with permission from the local pack," William continued.

I was very surprised to hear this, but I managed to not let anything show on my face.

"So Alpha Collier knows you're here?" I asked.

"Yes. Well, we've spoken with his Beta, Caleb. We haven't spoken to the Alpha yet."

Interesting. I wondered why Caleb let us think there was a rogue werewolf, and if he had told his Alpha the truth.

"I'm sorry for your loss," I said.

Honoria and William both nodded solemnly.

"How many vampires were involved?"

William said, "There were four. We caught one that night and he told us the ringleader was on his way south to rescue his sister."

I nodded. "Were you the one that caught him?"

"Yes, I was. He was assaulting a female vampire."

I gave a weak smile, took a deep breath, and decided to just be honest with them.

"The female vampire he was assaulting is his twin sister. She's also my sister. Janek, the ringleader, is my brother."

William's eyes got big. "Your brother?"

I sighed deeply. "Yes. I haven't seen him in over 500 years. The last time I saw him, he watched as I was tortured, and he murdered my sire for protecting me."

Honoria said, "I don't hear you objecting to how he's been treated."

"No, I really don't have any problems with that. I would kill him myself after what he did to me, and what he did to our sister is further justification. But it sounds like you have a valid claim to him, too, so I'm not going to object or interfere."

Honoria nodded. "Okay."

"I found Janek and the other vampires after a female werewolf was almost killed in the woods. Her throat was almost torn out."

William and Honoria looked at each other, and both said, "Noah."

"I had been meeting with the local alpha to discuss a rogue werewolf. We thought we might have a rogue on the loose after what happened to my sister. I'm glad we don't, but I think it would be a good idea for you to meet with Alpha Collier. He should hear about this personally, and it's always polite to let the local pack leader know when you're in their territory," I said.

William laughed. "Well, I guess you'd know about that!"

I smiled. "I do. I can take you to him. But first, I need to get some rest and recover for a few hours. Would you mind giving me a place to sleep?"

Honoria smiled. "We would consider it an honor."