Vampire Hollows (5 page)

“That leads down into The Hollows and that crater. See, I didn’t let you down. Not this time, Kiera,” he said staring at me with a pitiful look in his eyes.

“Not my problem, Seth,” Potter snapped. “Perhaps you should go back down the mountain and ask the good vampires down at that hole if they’ll let you in the front door.”

Ignoring Potter, Seth looked at Luke somewhat embarrassed, and said, “Would you carry me?”

“Why do you want to come with us anyway?” Luke asked back. “This is as far as you come. I’m not taking a Lycanthrope down into The Hollows.”

“Not unless I’m in handcuffs, eh?” Seth barked. “You didn’t mind dragging me down there when you thought you had captured your killer.”

“Oh, change your tune for fuck’s sake,” Potter groaned. “You’re getting on my tits now. You’re a killer, your entire race is nothing more than a bunch of mindless killers. You may not have killed those women – you now say it was your son – but you’ve killed plenty in your time. Now, do us all a favour and piss off back to those caves beneath the fountain of trolls or whatever it is you call it.”

“Don’t be sorry, Luke, for crying out loud,” Potter shouted. “He led us into a trap back at that lake and that’s what got Murphy killed. When are you going to stop putting your trust in this scum? We’ve just followed the pizza-boy halfway up a mountain to some doorway set into a mountainside, and we don’t know what’s on the other side of that door!”

“Pizza-boy?” Sparky whimpered.

“I think he’s talking about those spots on your face,” Isidor said. “Get used to it, he says that sort of shit to me all the time.”

“I’ve told you the truth,” Sparky howled at Potter.

“Truth?” Potter stammered in disbelief. “Your kind wouldn’t know what the truth was if your pathetic little lives depended on it.” Then turning to Kayla, he added, “Cut the mutt loose, we go on without the werewolves.”

“I’ve many lovers, Kiera Hudson,” Seth half-smiled at me, his eyes glowing. “She was okay, but let’s just say I don’t like my lovers to be so willing – I like a woman who will offer some resistance – you know, play the victim.”

Looking into his crazy spinning eyes, I said, “You really are an animal, aren’t you?”

“Jeez, at last the penny has dropped!” Potter sighed. “What do you think I’ve been trying to tell you?”

Turning to face Potter, I said, “And you’re no better. You ripped her heart out just so you could get back at Seth – and he doesn’t even give a crap.”

Hearing my words, Potter almost seemed to flinch as if I’d slapped him hard across the face. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but before he had the chance, I’d turned my back to him to find Seth ripping the skin from his own face.

It fell away in fleshy strips and his snout sprung out, white foamy saliva spraying from his jaws.

“If I don’t go,” he snarled, “None of us go!” Pulling his chest apart, revealing a mass of bristling black fur, he rolled his head back and began to howl.

Chapter Six

Seth’s deep booming roar reverberated off the mountainsides like thunder. The whole mountain shook, sending rocks spilling down onto us from high above. The breath from his giant mouth was hot and blew my hair off my face.

Looking over the edge of the cliff, I could see the vehicles below stop; in fact, everything stopped as the vampires and Vampyrus below looked up to investigate. Within moments, there was an ear-splitting squawking noise as the Vampyrus launched themselves into the air and came racing up the side of the mountain towards us, their wings beating so loud that it almost masked the sound of Seth’s continuous roar.

Peering over my shoulder at the advancing Vampyrus, Potter said, “We’ve got company!”

No sooner had the words left his mouth, Jack Seth’s howls became a scream as Potter disappeared from beside me, only to reappear an instant later hovering in the air. If I’d blinked, I would have missed it, but with one mighty swoop of his claw he knocked Seth from the mountainside. The wolf spun away into the air, and before it had disappeared into the cloud, it had taken human form again, and I was sure that Seth’s yellow eyes were staring at me.

Sweeping around in the air, Potter watched Seth bounce helplessly against the jagged mountainside and disappear

“Now
that
was for Murphy, you piece of shit!” Potter said grimly.

Seeing one of his own die so suddenly and fearing he would be next, Sparky took the rope that was fastened to him and yanked at it. Loosing her footing, Kayla slipped on the snow-covered edge and went toppling over. She clung to the rope and Sparky cut through it with his claw.

“Luke!” Kayla screamed as she was snatched away from the side of the cliff face by one of the Vampyrus that had raced up towards us.

Tearing his crossbow from his back in a flash of movement, Isidor had released two arrows which sliced straight into the head of the Vampyrus who had his sister. Somersaulting from the edge of the cliff, Isidor was in the air snatching Kayla away from the now dead Vampyrus.

Launching himself through the air, his shirt flying away as his wings shot from his back, Luke took hold of Sparky’s ears. With a quick flick of his wrists and a hideous tearing noise, Luke had torn Sparky’s head in two. Lumps of brain splattered the cliff face like pools of hot, grey jelly. Sparky’s body slumped onto the ledge, where it twitched and jerked uncontrollably. Swooping out of the sky, Potter kicked out at it and I watched it roll down the mountainside.

Winking back at Luke, Potter said, “Just like the good old days. There’s nothing better than killing Lycanthrope!”

Smiling back at his friend, Luke agreed and said, “Just like the old days!”

Shocked at the speed and apparent heartlessness in which they had just slaughtered Seth and Sparky, I gasped and shouted, “You two are unbelievable!”

“Thanks, sweet cheeks,” Potter beamed, and it was the first time I had seen him smile since returning from the zoo with Luke.

“That wasn’t a compliment!” I screamed at him over the sound of the approaching Vampyrus.

Swooping past me so close that his face brushed against mine, he whispered in my ear, “I know, but secretly, you just can’t get enough of it!” Then he was gone, rocketing away and biting and clawing at the Vampyrus that were rapidly filling the sky all around us.

I looked at Luke who said, “I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this one!” Then he too was gone, spiralling through the air so fast that all I could see was a streak of black, like after burn coming from a jet fighter.

Throwing off my coat and rolling back my shoulders, I ran towards the edge of the ledge and dived into the air.

Please let my wings open!
I prayed and shut my eyes.

Instead of falling, I felt myself soaring, and it was exhilarating. I could feel the cold air rush past me at an incredible speed. Opening my eyes, I looked down and had to stop myself from screaming. I didn’t know how high I‘d climbed but the crater now looked like a pinprick in the earth below. Tilting slightly forward, I started to plummet downwards, but I still didn’t feel confident in my ability to fly. Looking back at my wings as they rippled on either side of me, I knew it was something I would have to master quickly or I would soon be killed by the two Vampyrus who were racing after me.

Rolling to my right, I cut through the sky and the two Vampyrus sped past me. Looking back I could see them momentarily disappear into a grey mountain of cloud, then come screaming out of it towards me. Flipping around, I angled my wings backwards and dropped through the sky. The air hit my chest like I’d just crashed into a brick wall and I feared that the pressure of it would break my ribs. My cheeks rippled and I felt as if I couldn’t breathe. But I knew I had to, so breathing through my nose, I felt the icy cold air sting the back of my throat. Faster and faster I raced back towards the ground, and with every second I lost altitude, I feared I would never be able to stop. How had I done it before? Had I arched my back somehow? Pushing out my chest and locking my arms tight beside me, I arched my back and at once, as if I’d stepped on an invisible set of brakes, I slowed.

The Vampyrus that were behind me rushed past, as if taken by surprise by my sudden stop. One of them had sharper reflexes and swooped away before smashing into the rocky ground below. But the other wasn’t as quick, and I watched as it dive-bombed into a razor-sharp outcrop of rock. Its severed arms and legs bounced back into the air in a crimson spray of blood. Hovering, I watched as several vampires that had been forcing the humans to dig the crater, race over and begin to fight over the bloody remains of the Vampyrus.

It was then, as I raced back up into the dawn sky, that I saw the rest of the Vampyrus which had been protecting the crater soar up into the sky. As the Vampyrus raced amongst the clouds, the clouds changed colour. They were no longer reflecting the colour of the rising sun; they were turning grey, dark grey, charcoal, then black. Then suddenly, they began to separate as if falling apart into smaller pieces. These then broke up into smaller pieces, and then into black wispy fragments as the Vampyrus swarmed out of them and back towards us.

I saw Potter fly away from a Vampyrus he had just sliced the wings from, and it plummeted away through the sky. Banking, I raced towards him.

“Look! They’re coming out of the clouds!” I shouted over the roar of the wind.

“There’s hundred’s of them!” Potter yelled back.

The Vampyrus that had swept from the clouds swarmed around in the air as if preparing to attack. Then, to my horror, they came racing towards us. And as they came, they made those hideous squawking sounds that pierced the air. Their cries of hatred and anger seemed to penetrate right through me, making my heart thunder in my chest. I could see that their bodies were black, hairy and bloated. Although they closely resembled giant vampire bats, they had bony-looking legs and a set of wings that were transparent and covered in bristly hair. Just like I had seen Luke in his true Vampyrus form at Hallowed Manor, these creatures no longer resembled human beings, but giant winged creatures. Noses turned up, long pointed ears, and jaws full of razor-like fangs.

The Vampyrus were nearly upon us and as they drew within range, Potter banked violently, rolled to the left and sharply lost altitude. I felt my stomach leap into my throat as I banked and raced after Potter. Ahead, I could see Isidor, and Potter was racing towards him.

Turning in the air, we stared in the direction he was pointing. The doorway we’d seen earlier was now open and a winged man hovered before it. Raising an arm in the air, he beckoned us towards him.

Curling my claws into a fist, I punched forward and soared back towards the mountain and the open doorway. Was this it? Was I really going to finally enter The Hollows?

Chapter Seven

I swept towards the door where Felix Coanda hovered in front of it. His wings were mottled-looking, like something you would find sticking out of the back of a moth. His skin, just like Potter’s and Luke’s, was corpse white. He had pale blue lips and a set of fangs that looked as sharp as knives. His hair was black and wiry and stuck out in thick clumps, giving him the appearance he had just crawled out of bed. His eyes shone a fierce blue and they kind of reminded me of Murphy’s. He was older than Luke and Potter; I guessed about forty-years-old. He was stripped to the waist, but his upper body, although slim, was muscular. Black hair covered his chest and spread over his shoulders and down his arms, like a fine coat of fur. I had only ever seen one other Vampyrus have such a thick coating of hair even though they were in human form, and that was Ravenwood, but his hair had been snow white.

“Quick!” Coanda shouted, coaxing me forward with his giant claws. “Faster! Faster, I tell you!”

As I raced towards him, I could see that he was glancing nervously past me. Looking back, I could see Potter and the others racing behind me, followed by a mass of screaming Vampyrus. They clutched at them with their claws. Kayla streaked forward, her red hair gleaming in the morning sun, giving her the appearance of being on fire.

“Faster!”
Coanda roared again, and I flipped round to see him holding the door open for us, and beyond it all I could see was darkness. A doorway hundreds of feet above the ground set in the side of a mountain, leading to a world hidden hundreds of miles beneath the Earth. Was I ready for this? I knew I had to be, as I shot through the open doorway and into a world of darkness.