Scarlet Dusk (2 page)

Then… there!

A… pocket?

He sneered as a portion of his pelvis dipped into itself, offering an opening for his fingertips to slip inside.

“Did those fuckers seriously stick
me
in the body of a
fema—
”

His enraged monologue was cut short as a clawed fingertip grazed the topside of his new penis and a hungry hiss leapt out of instinct from his throat.

“Well then…
that
might take some getting used to,” he laughed to himself.

Still, it would be all the more worth it to see Serena finally succumb to him when he was holding such an
unconventional
member over her.

He erupted into laughter. As his body convulsed and pitched in its own excitement, he felt the twitching at his lower-back again and caught sight of a long, wicked tail in his peripheral vision, and another round of laughter issued. The sound of the cold, hissing echoes rattled about the room and reverberated in his skull, pushing his cackles that much farther.

And then she awoke…

It started as a murmur—the innocent, garbled whimper of a mind roused from slumber too early for its liking—and quickly turned to something more befitting of its owner:

“Either the laughter ends or I rip your junk out through your ass—” Serena’s threat cut short as she whipped her blonde head around to face the source of the laughter and her purple eyes widened at the sight. “What the fuck…?”

“A pity,” he offered, turning away from the mirror to face her, “I’ve always found your threats to be something of an art form, Serena. Not unlike a fine painting, or a well-structured poetic stanza…”—he smirked again, and Serena’s response told him that she was, while perhaps not impressed, at least stricken by the sight—“… or a well-orchestrated slaughter.” He chuckled, stepping towards her and letting the perched talons of his feet clack down as he did, “People like you and I, we
savor
the art of malice, do we not? We…” he shivered with growing anticipation, “We live for it; we fucking
feed
from it! When you’re making your opponents cower under your hollow, air-headed words and when I’m plunging dagger and dick alike into whatever quivering sow I’ve claimed as mine…
that’s
when we’re in our elements! Ain’t that right, princess?”—another step—“Well? Ain’t’cha gonna talk? Don’t you have something to say to me, bitch?”

She slowly dragged herself away from him, pushing her body across the plush, soft bed they’d given her to stand. “
Mal… Maledictus
?”

He hissed. “You know, you sound like a real cunt when you say it
that
way; like a real
ungrateful
cunt!”

Serena’s face shifted at that and the sneer he’d come to recognize so well found its place. “Ungrateful, huh? And why should I be grateful to
you
, you walking ghetto handbag?”

He leapt then, slamming down atop the metal table that had been his new body’s resting slab moments earlier, and leaned towards the arrogant blonde vampire like a gargoyle; his claws skewering through the stainless steel and causing his prey to flinch at the series of shrill, metallic screams.

“A handbag, am I? A bold statement coming from you, since we
both
know I could punch through your lady-parts and drag you inside-out if I suddenly decided to accessorize!” He raised his hand and mimed locking his mouth before continuing, “I’d watch my fucking words if I were you, my brazenly arrogant pet; I’m not above beating a dog, and you’re just the
worst
kind of bitch!”

Though Serena’s face showed little give, he could see her mind working towards being more selective with her phrasing. “Okay then,” she took a step away from him, “so what
exactly
do you think I should be grateful for?”

“For
saving
you and you’re entire fleet of dickless fuck-wads! For helping you defeat that congealed jizz-stain you called a brother! But, more than
any
of that other shit, for
not
burying myself into every single nook and cranny your pink ass has to offer,
girl
!” he hissed as he let the weight of his upper body fall then, letting his long, reptilian spine distend momentarily as he caught himself on his hands and scuttled across the floor, allowing his legs and, finally, his tail to follow as if on their own accord.

The cold, soulless sound of his body scuttling across the linoleum floor made Serena shiver, and his tongue darted out then, tasting the fear and uncertainty that she’d just saturated the air with.

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Serena hid her fear. “You didn’t do a goddam thing,
Maledictus
! Zane could’ve just as easily—”

“ZANE?” he roared and lurched forward, suddenly standing upright again as he cleared the distance between them in a flash and pinned her to the wall. “That… that
boy
is a pussy! A spineless, pity-wielding sack of shit hiding behind
my
power in the hopes that nobody will call him on being nothing more than a child with a pair of balls that
miraculously
sprouted a few big-boy curlies! Make no mistake, you stupid cow,
I
am all that was ever right about that loser!”

Serena’s lower jaw set as her fists clenched at her sides. “Before you try talking shit about my man, I suggest you take a look down and ask yourself if you have any right talking about the state of
anybody’s
balls!” She laughed, “Do you even
have
a—”

“OH IT’S THERE, WHORE!” He bellowed and slammed his fist into the wall before reaching behind her and grabbing her by the hair, “BELIEVE ME, YOU’LL BE ACQUAINTED WITH IT SOON ENOUGH!”

Before Serena could react, he turned, letting his tail whip around behind him and sending several trays and a table around him toppling to the floor before allowing it to crash against the wall. Crying out at the sudden yank at her scalp Serena struggled, shrieking as the tuft of hair in his grip was ripped from her head. Free from the hold, she leapt past him, trying to get across the room towards the door. An enraged hiss grew as he tossed the matted blonde mess to the floor and lunged after her, making several desperate grabs at her before finally getting a grip on the back of her neck.

The frantic vampire howled and thrashed in his grip, and he began to feel the tugs of her aura against his scales—the desperate attacks tearing bits and pieces of his new body from his frame and raining the bloodied chunks to the floor—and he grinned through the discomfort at her efforts.

“A fighter to the end, eh Buttercup Baby?”

Before she could consider a snide remark, he slammed her head forward into the doorframe, chuckling as both her body and the invisible attacks from her aura went still.

She was finally his!

Releasing the grip on her neck, he let the unconscious body of Serena Vailean start to slip to the floor before reclaiming his hold on her hair, this time making sure to keep his grip at the base of her scalp, and began to drag her into her new life with him, starting to hum as he did:

“
Go-ing to the chap-pel and we’re… go-o-onna get ma-a-a-arried! Yes, I’m… go-ing to the chap-pel and we’re… go-o-onna get ma-a-a-arried!”

THREE DAYS.

Three god forsaken days.

Three days’ worth of tension weighed down
Zane Murdoch’s shoulders as he paced back and forth in the community room of the Clan of Vail. Zoey, Isaac and Raith, all sitting on a nearby couch, watched their friend-and-clanmate stalk across the same path over and over; watching with a still and quiet awe as he continued to pace like a caged animal that could, at any moment, rip free of its confinements.

And, in this comparison, they weren’t inaccurate; Zane had long since been recognized as the vampire clan’s hot-head, though the
true
threat behind his temper had been removed from his bodies three days earlier.

Three god damned days earlier…

A cage of time since his lover, Serena Vailean—the new leader of their clan—had been kidnapped by the very being that he’d been so eager to be rid of. And each day that passed was another cake of rust on the animal’s bars; another burning need to break through and cause some damage until, somehow, it brought her back.

“Three fucking days,” he growled to himself. “
Three
days and
zero
sign of Serena
or
Maledictus!”

Maledictus…

He shivered at the mention of his name; the gut-wrenching title given to his waking nightmare of the past twelve years; a waking nightmare that they’d put into its own body and turned into a
walking
nightmare.

A walking, dirty-talking, murderous, rape-happy nightmare that had been holding
his
lover and their clan’s leader who-knew-where for…

Zane sighed and finally stopped pacing.

Running his hands through his disheveled hair, he turned his attention to the others in an attempt to find some sort of salvation.

“She must be out there, Zoey! How fucking far could that monster have gotten?” he snarled.

“Zane… you need to calm down! This is no way to fix the problem!” Zoey turned her bright blue eyes to him.

“She’s right, mate,” Raith, his best friend, agreed.

Zane groaned and looked down, feeling the rage pass and a new wave of depression and guilt slam into him.

“I can’t lose h
er, Zoe…” he whispered, letting the sudden current of relaxing energies to flow through him, knowing they were coming from his auric friend.

“I know,” Zoey offered, the pain of Serena’s disappearance burning in her own eyes.
“But we can’t allow ourselves to lose hope, Zane. If there’s a chance for her, it starts with us staying positive that we can we
will
get her back.”

“
You haven’t slept at all. Why don’t you go get some rest, mate?” Raith stood up and offered a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “We’ll continue to search while you do. Zoe’s right, have hope, and have some faith in us.”

Zane only gave
a weak nod—the force of his exhaustion coming down on him; no doubt another mind-trick from Zoey, but one that he didn’t mind succumbing to—before turning down the hall and heading for his room.

Pushing the door shut behind him, he eyed his bed like a long-lost friend before letting himself fall onto the unmade mess, n
ot even bothering to undress or turn off the lights before letting sleep drag him out of his three-day burden.

“Serena?” Zane called out, stepping through a canopy of clouds and seeing his lover chained to a stone wall.

Serena’s face contorted
in pain as her lips opened and called to him, but no sound came out. The need to protect her grew and he started towards her to help.

With every step he took
, she grew two paces further.

Desperate, he ran faster, watching in horror as
she continued to grow more and more distant.

A cycle of trying to close the gap between them only to have her grow that much farther away continued until da
rkness began to shroud her, threatening to take her from his sight. Zane looked around, trying to see through the darkness to find her.

He needed to save her.

Then—suddenly—there was sound!

Laughter.

Serena’s laughter…

“You’ll never get to me, Zane. You are too weak on your own,” Serena’s voice mocked him.

The darkness ebbed and Zane was confronted with Serena lying back with a large shadow above her. Zane felt a tremor snake down his back as he watched a set of large fangs grow from the shadow as a pair piercing red eyes took shape within the darkness. Serena’s condescending gaze held his for a moment longer and she smirked, running her hand over the shadowy figure.

Maledictus!

“You’ll never make it, Zane… you aren’t strong without
him!”
Serena laughed, running her hands across his shoulders.

“Ha
! YOU are NOTHING without me, bitch-boy!” Maledictus cackled, “Without me saving your ass at every fucking turn, you won’t even be able to survive!”

The words sunk into Zane’s chest and he froze, helpless to say anything or do anythin
g. The darkness swam across him as he watched Serena succumb—and outright ENJOY—Maledictus’ embrace. Her mocking laughter growing into an all-consuming roar that taunted him as her cries of ecstasy pierced through the veil and he fell to his knees in loss.

“Serena…
no!”

Serena opened her
eyes to the sound of rattling chains and glared over at the metal pipe that she was bound to. The pipe that Maledictus had dug free from an otherwise off-white padded wall that made up one of six equally padded and equally off-white surfaces—walls, ceiling,
and
floor—in a room that, though she’d only been in there for three days, already felt like a jail cell to her. Though, all things considered, this wasn’t too far from the reality. While the length of the chain allowed for
some
moving room, she already knew full-well that it wasn’t long enough for her to even reach the other side of the already laughably small space. Were it not for the growing rage and panic, she might’ve admitted that Maledictus’ decision to hold her hostage in an insane asylum was
almost
clever.

It
certainly seemed like an appropriate place for him to hunker down.

As she collected
her bearings from yet another unpleasant set of dreams rousing her from yet another uncomfortable round of sleep, she tried to stand and and whimpered at the struggle to perform even the simplest of tasks.

Her refusal to eat was beginning to take its toll on her.

She glared at the pile of dead vermin—rats and mice mostly, but Maledictus
had
made a big deal about tossing a still-twitching squirrel into the room the previous night—that littered the floor around her; all of them lying just out of her reach. This, however, had been her doing; an effort to keep herself from potentially succumbing to the hunger and accepting her kidnapper’s “offerings.”

She’d sooner die than give him that satisfaction.

As she leaned her head weakly against the metal pipe, she looked up towards the padded, off-white door as its hinges groaned loudly.

Then, standing there like a nightmare,
was Maledictus.

Serena sneered at the changes that had already begun to show in the ykali body he
’d stuffed into; an already hideous creature that was being made even more revolting by the repugnant being occupying its form. Long, bony barbs had begun protruding out of his shoulders, and his limbs had begun to warp with the recent growth, causing an uneven and hobbled effect whenever he walked or gestured. She looked up to meet his shifty reptilian gaze and fought the urge to instantly look away, refusing to let him see what sort of power he already had over her. The ykali’s face had already taken a turn away from the lizard-like and a long drive down the road of the demonic; his brow and temples already darkening, and a long, too-wide of a grin lined the lower half of his face.

Serena
fought the urge to look at his clawed ykali hands as he held out a few more dying vermin, dropping them within the range of her shackles before beginning to rub his hands together like a fly perched atop a dog turd.

She bit her lip, feeling the growing hunger emerge even as she fought desperately to control it. She just had to hold onto hope that Zane and the others would find her soon.

In a desperate act of self-control and forethought, she began throwing the offerings out of her reach before burying herself back in the corner.

“Still not eating, I see
,” Maledictus leered. “That’s quite foolish.”

She narrowed her eyes as he kicked one of
the vermin in front of her with a gangly lizard leg and sneered at the still-twitching creatures. Looking to her as a challenge, she once again swatted the offering away.

“I’d rather starve than take charity from
you
,” she spat. “
Especially
when that charity is every bit the vermin you are! So unless your prepared to open a vein—or all of them—I suggest you stop trying!”

Maledictus frowned at that, “I
t’s been three days now. That’s three days that
nobody
has found you.” He crouched down in front of her, hooking one of his ykali talons behind one of the dying rats and inching it closer to her, “You’d imagine that your friends would be clever enough to track you down in that time, yes? That, if they
truly
cared, they would’ve stormed this place and left not a single bit of me left for what I did. But they haven’t—they haven’t even come
close
—and still you deny me.
Me!
Me who has offered you shelter,” he inched the rat closer to her, “Me who has offered you nourishment. When will you open those pretty little purple eyes and see that
I
am the only future you have left?”

Serena narrowed her eyes at that
and hauled back, collecting a wad of phlegm from her sinuses and hawking one of the best loogies of her life in his face. Maledictus roared and pulled back before backhanding her and sending her careening across the room, the heavy links of chain rattling as her body sailed and finally slammed into the wall behind her.