90. Sloan
NINETY
SLOAN
As the bloodcurdling noise continued, it became less of a scream and more of a howl. It was coming from somewhere close.
Bad day to binge eat and feel like a balloon, Sloan thought as she buckled her pants. Time to let some of this frustration out.
Sloan ran down the cobblestone street. She made two rights around a large building that looked like some kind of clothing store. Her path brought her into a wide alley.
There, her mind processed the events unfolding in front of her as fast as it raced to come up with a solution. The manic yells were coming from Aareth, hunched over double on her side of the alley. On the opposite end, a group of darkly dressed figures advanced.
“Aareth! Aareth, what’s happening to you?” Sloan couldn’t even glance at her friend; the group of strangers were coming at them too fast. “Are you hurt?”
Screams—no, howls—of pain ripped from Aareth’s throat. His body heaved on all fours as if he were being torn from the inside out.
“He’s the first of his kind.” The lead figure drew back his hood, revealing a pale face with a long scar on the right side. “Just like I was the first of mine.”
Sloan drew her saber. “What are you talking about?” She flipped the switch to begin heating the weapon’s blade.
She gripped the pommel so tight, her hand shook.
The light from the full moon gave her enough illumination to count her enemies.
There were seven of them, wrapped in dark clothing.
The shadows cast by the buildings to either side of the wide alley clung to the figures, as if darkness itself welcomed them.
“I know who you are. You’re the assassin, Scar. You work for Doctor Livingston.”
“I did work for the doctor, but he has grown useless to my true master. He’s a pawn in this game, much like you.
I, however, am something different.” The man spread his arms wide, calling a halt to the advancing figures to either side.
Without so much as a look in his direction, they stopped in their tracks.
“Now, thanks to the experiments done on me, I am something so much more.”
Sloan slowed her breathing. She steadied the grip on her blade. It was shaking before, not because she was frightened, but from the flow of adrenaline that proceeded every battle.
Aareth pounded on the pavement, still screaming his rage. The thuds of his fists making contact with the ground soon came with an accompanying splash.
“Go ahead, look,” the man in front of her said. “We won’t kill you yet. To miss the transformation of such a wondrous beast would be a shame.”
A mix of concern for her friend and pure horrific intrigue made Sloan look at Aareth. What she saw chilled her to the bone.
The knuckles on both of Aareth’s hands were bloody. Ripped flesh hung off in red ribbons. And this wasn’t even the worst part. The irises of his eyes had gone yellow.
Sloan’s heart seized as she witnessed the impossible.
In front of her eyes, dark fur rippled across his body, while hands and feet transformed into paws. A snout sprouted from his mouth. Salivating teeth snapped an angry staccato.
In seconds, Aareth was gone. In front of her was a half-man, half-wolf creature.
It swung its head to Sloan, then to the robed men, and back again.
There was no sign of recollection in its hungry eyes, only madness.
It shifted its weight onto its muscular hind legs, ready to spring. At whom was anyone’s guess.
“Truly exceptional,” Scar breathed. He took a step closer. The moon caught his eyes, briefly showing blood-red irises. “Both born from experiments; both similar, yet so different. Well, that’s enough admiration. Kill them both.”
Sloan took a step away from the monster Aareth had become to focus on the immediate threat. Two of the six figures streaked toward Sloan, moving so fast, she could only see one thing against their dark clothing: wide-open mouths with long, knife-like fangs.
Aareth was a wild card now. It was up to her and the steel she wielded to see this encounter through to the end. Her saber hummed with heat. The sound gave her courage. Never the shy type, Sloan charged forward to meet the attack.
They were blurs of black robes and fangs. Scar seemed content to let these two members of his group attack Sloan. He moved with the rest, toward the beast Aareth had become.
Sloan slashed out with her sword, but they danced around her, laughing and sneering at her. Every time they came in for an attack, Sloan was a second too late to block or counter. They landed strikes with their knives or with their punches.
In a matter of seconds, Sloan bled from a cut above her eye and her lip. She was brought to her knees with a shot to her kidneys and another to her left temple. Her sword clattered to the ground beside her.
Somewhere in the background, the fight of the century was taking place between Aareth and the remaining members of the Vampire Project. In Sloan’s mind, that was what they had to be. The Queen must have sent them to collect Aareth, when Sloan had stumbled upon the group.
Two more strikes landed across Sloan’s face. Pain exploded all over her body.
“Look at her.” One of the vampires removed his hood. He was the same man who had been part of the exhibit in the palace when the Vampire Project was unveiled. “Captain Charlotte Sloan, too slow and too old to keep up with the new recruits.”
“Stop talking to her, Hunter.” The other cloaked figure also removed her hood, showing her identity—the woman who had exhibited her speed for the crowd in the ballroom. “Leave her be; you know she’s the Queen’s pet.”
“I don’t think that’s going to save her this time.” Hunter squatted down beside Sloan. He grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled up so hard, Sloan thought the roots would be ripped from her head. “I think this time, she’s killed in the confusion.”
A crack so brutal came from the conflict between Aareth and the rest of the vampires. Both Hunter and Sloan turned to look.
Blood painted the pavement and both sides of the alley in grisly fashion. The five vampires trying to subdue Aareth were having a difficult time. Aareth was shaking one of the vampires in his jaws from side to side like a rag doll, the cracking noise coming from the body as he broke ribs.
“Bring him down!” Scar screamed, rushing in with the remaining four members of his group. Much as Sloan’s own attacker had done to her, they jumped in and out, slashing with knives and hammering Aareth’s body with fists and kicks.
Aareth bled from a dozen wounds. His dark fur was matted with both his own blood and that of his enemies.
It was Scar who landed the final blow to the underside of Aareth’s jaw.
Aareth dropped the body from his jaws and stumbled back, stunned.
At once, the remaining vampires dogpiled on him—two controlling his head, while the other two bound his legs with iron bracers they drew from within their cloaks.
Sloan focused past the haze that had come with so many blows landed to her skull. She had to make the most of her enemy’s temporary lapse in attention.
Sloan grabbed on to Hunter’s throat with her left hand, and with every ounce of strength in her body, she squeezed.
It wasn’t enough to make her pale-skinned attacker gasp, but it was enough to make him release his hold on her hair.
“What are you trying to do?” Hunter grinned, showing off his elongated canines. “You have no chance against us. Did you think grabbing me around the throat would do anything besides piss me off?”
He grabbed Sloan’s wrist so hard, she thought for sure he would break her bones. With the other hand, he grabbed Sloan’s own throat.
“I wasn’t trying to piss you off,” Sloan gasped. “I just wanted you to let go of my hair so I could grab my sword.”
Hunter’s expression went from one of smug pleasure, to confusion, to terror, as he realized what Sloan was implying. He looked down just in time to see the blade turn red.
With all the strength she could muster, Sloan shoved her blade into the underside of Hunter’s jaw, through his open mouth and skull, and out the top of his head. The mage sword hummed with a hungry glee as it traveled through the vampire’s body.
“No!” The vampire woman with Hunter ran forward, slamming into Sloan so hard, Sloan flew across the alley to crash against the brick wall.
Sloan’s vision exploded with bright lights. She landed on her hands and knees, trying to wrestle her consciousness from the fingers of oblivion. Somewhere, she could hear Aareth being dragged off, still thrashing under his bonds.
“You did extremely well.” Scar came to stand beside Sloan. He lifted her up by her neck. Her feet dangled off the ground. “I’m impressed, Captain. It’s too bad you weren’t selected for the Vampire Project. I have a feeling you would have made one killer vampire.”
Sloan didn’t even see the knife in Scar’s free hand while a piercing pain unlike anything she had ever experienced took her breath away.
All of her other injuries paled in light of this new sensation.
Breathing became difficult as warm blood spread over her uniform.
The knife slid cleanly out from between her ribs.
Scar dropped Sloan to the ground without a second thought.
“You’ll have a few minutes to live before you bleed out.
” Scar cleaned the blade on his tongue. “More, if you try to staunch the flow. But there’s no hope for you.
Your wound is life-ending. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.
I have a wolf to skin back at the palace. Have a nice afterlife.”
Sloan watched Scar retreat as he directed his remaining vampires to drag Aareth down the alley. Darkness came for her soon after.