The Birth of Vengeance (Vampire Formula #1) (19 page)

Barry charged headfirst at the sight of the needle being thrown away. I stepped to one side, and a knee powered across my body and hit the side of his head. He crashed to the ground. Thorn’s training had come to the fore; my confidence and aggression triggered the movements and instincts I had practiced. I slid the knife into the back of my jeans and clenched my fists ready to practice some more. He stood back on his feet, and I moved forward ready for contact. He swung a fist, I ducked and threw an undercut onto his chin and then swiped an elbow across his face fracturing his cheekbone. Barry crashed to the ground whimpering. I kicked him in the stomach, and he curled into the mud to cover up. I walked about him kicking him in the back and legs as he hopelessly tried to crawl away. I stopped after a while, not wanting him dead, and grabbed hold of him and dragged him to a tree. I pushed him against it, sitting him up. Blood poured out of his nose and from the cuts across his face.

I pulled out the knife, knelt down and looked into his eyes. I didn’t intend to kill him. I didn’t want to cross that line as a human, not now that I had decided who I genuinely wanted to be. Killing as a vampire was surreal, an out of body experience, this would be different and hard to cope with and recover from. I was Day Jonathan following the outpouring of emotions for Scarlett, and I wanted to return home as intact as possible. I had my revenge with the beating I had given him, but I wanted him to suffer for a bit longer by making him think I was going to kill him, and to make sure he never came after me.

I remembered him talking to me about consequences, so I reflected his speech back on him.

“Life is all about consequences,” I stated.

“Consequences like mugging a new boy because you fancy his girlfriend.”

“Consequences of me being in London in the first place, which are out your control.”

“The job my Dad does, or just simply looking the other way have all lead us here tonight,” I began to enjoy my speech but could see it went totally over his head.

“It’s too late for you Barry.”

“Consequences Barry, consequences,” I said in a matter of fact voice and flicked the knife back and forth in the air.

His eyes traced it as I waved it around and fear consumed his face.

“Don’t kill me. It wasn’t my idea. I was paid to mug and bully you,” Barry blurted out.

“What!” I replied, I felt like I had been punched in the stomach and the news rocked me backwards.

“Yeah, these guys paid me two-thousand pounds to give you a kicking. Then more money again on the Sunday night to carry on the following week,” Barry said, hands held up in front of his body surrendering.

“What people?” I asked as acid crept up my throat.

I wanted to be sick but forced it back down.

Thorn walked over intrigued by what Barry just said.

“The people who will be here any minute,” Barry said laughing and looking around the woods.

I was totally confused. I didn’t know what to do. I looked around trying to sense anyone approaching but could only hear the wind rustling the leaves in the trees and creaking of branch against branch.

“You mean the people who gave you this Barry,” Thorn said holding up a small broken plastic box.

Barry began to pad his jacket frantically but to no avail.

“Yeah,” he said defeated, looking at her hand with the box.

“A transmitter. I broke it when I first captured him,” Thorn replied.

“Who?” I asked.

Barry didn’t answer but just looked down at the mud, defeated and broken.

“Who,” I said again waving the knife under his nose.

“The same guys who been sniffing around ever since you killed my friends. They have been talking to everyone. They paid for the attacks on you and the bullying. They gave me the transmitter to track you down. It was all arranged, the mugging, the bullying and your girlfriend,” Barry said.

“Thorn?”

“No Scarlett, they wanted you to suffer as much as possible.”

His words stunned me, and I tried to work out what it meant. The sickness burnt away in my stomach distracting me from my thoughts.

Thorn interrupted, “She is part of it, building you higher than you have ever been, so the fall would be further, harder and darker. Enough to make you take the vampire formula. No wonder the Hunters were at the nightclub waiting when we saw Scarlett,” she added.

I realised I had been played from the beginning. There was no random consequence; it was all planned by them, the Hunters but it had gone wrong. I had come back, released Thorn and taken the needles. They wanted the needles and me back for testing. Barry was involved, my Dad and Scarlett as well. That would explain why a woman like Scarlett ever went out with me in the first place. I always knew she was too good for me. I was just a scrawny depressed teenage boy, and she was a young beautiful woman. It all made sense now, being introduced to her on the first day was no accident and all those shared lessons, she just pretended to like me. The same music, films, tastes and we came from the same place as well. The constant chasing me about college, when I hid and avoided her. The invite to her house when we started dating, she made all the moves and flirted encouraging me onwards. Of course, the mugging, walking out through the front gates with her, and Barry and the gang were waiting. Her dropping the bag so I tripped up and her running off until the mugging was completed.

I guessed I was supposed to use the injection sooner but didn’t. Scarlett then coming around on that Saturday and starting the argument in the hope it would trigger me into action. When that didn’t work and I was back at college, it was the bullying and the photo of her and Barry to tip me over the edge. Her final betrayal. The memories flooded back, with my new insight putting them into perspective of how I had been played. This was the truth of Scarlett. Thorn had been right about Scarlett at the nightclub with the Hunters waiting for me, and she knew what I had done and then tried to convince me to come back. The signs had always been there, and it made sense now when I looked back and viewed it properly. She was always out of my league. I should have realised it was too good to be true. I had always known it was but enjoyed it anyway, and now the reality had come back to haunt me. I was an idiot.

The memories triggered other disturbing truths, my Dad bringing me to the lab that night knowing there was a vampire in the other room and letting me see the needles. It all fitted into the stories Thorn had told me about the lab and what thoughts she heard. It was a set up. They had purposely let her hear their thoughts and set the needles down for me to see them and for her to tell me to take them. Why else leave an innocent and angry teenager next door to an imprisoned beautiful psychic vampire? It was all planned to test their formula in the field, and I wondered how far it went back; Leeds, the car accident, the bullying in school and obviously the new job. The half-packed boxes of books at the Leeds house and the waiting job offer the next morning after the O’Keefes’ attack. The whole thing planned in detail. I couldn’t believe my own father had sold me out. My normal life destroyed. There would be no return, no happy ending and no dream life with Scarlett. The exact people who I thought could save me and give me a normal life again had put me here in the first place. They had been behind the scenes manipulating events to turn me into a test subject. I could only trust Thorn, she had been loyal to me every step of the way. Even tonight I had realised as I fought Barry it was part of the training, a test that she knew I would pass stronger than before. She had said at the outset it would be tough, and now I understood.

The tears burnt down my face as the extent of the betrayal sank in. My life was just an experiment. I was just a test subject. A line of data to measure results against.

“Why trick someone into using it? Why not pay someone?” I shouted at Barry.

He just shook his head.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Take us to them,” I told Barry, as I choked on my tears.

“I don’t know who they are; they would just appear from nowhere,” he answered.

I felt numb and cold. My heart had been frozen solid, and it pumped out ice into my veins. The tears had stopped and the sickness went, as it was replaced by nothingness. Cold, empty, nothingness. My soul void of thoughts or emotions. They had all been blown away by the stark reality of the truth.

“You are of no use to me then,” I responded coldly and thrust forward with the knife.

“No,” he screamed as the knife penetrated his flesh.

I took Barry’s life away. He screamed, and I saw Day Jonathan instead. It spurred me on, I started to stab harder and I repeated over and over again taking in every moment of the resistance of knife against flesh. The squelching of his stomach breaking, as the knife tore at the fat and muscle. I enjoyed watching Day Jonathan die and with it, his stupid dreams of redemption and forgiveness, his stupid fantasies of a normal life with Scarlett, his plans of escape and his potential betrayal of Thorn. Thorn was the only true and loyal friend in everything that had happened. I loved her deeply. The blood poured out over the knife covering my hands in its sticky warmth and pumping onto my clothes. I was left now, Night Jonathan. No, even he had gone. I hadn’t returned to Night Jonathan. My muscles and face remained the same and the twitching energy hadn’t returned either but something inside had died and I remained void of any emotion. I’d become someone else, someone stronger, someone darker but I wasn’t sure who yet. I had regained my motivation and confidence in that battle, and truth of the betrayal had hardened it into something solid and dark.

I stood up slowly watching Jonathan Harper die beneath me; then Thorn rushed over and hugged me.

“You are ready. You are my man; you passed the test,” she whispered in my ear and kissed it gently.

“We will find them, find the people who did this to you and the people who captured me, and we will get you your answers and have our revenge,” she added.

I stared silently at Barry/Jonathan dying in front of me and tried to work out who I was and what my life meant.

“Jonathan, you will be okay; trust me,” Thorn said putting her arm around my waist.

“Jonathan is dead,” I said coldly.

“You have chosen a name?”

“V.”

Thorn looked at me quizzically.

“I am Vengeance,” I answered.

“Yes, you are,” Thorn said and smiled.

We embraced and began kissing passionately as Jonathan’s life drained away to the side of us.

Thorn pulled back.

“V, before he dies, may I.”

“Yes,” I answered and offered his blood to her by gesturing towards his dying body.

It seemed only right that Thorn should feed on Jonathan’s blood before he died, as he was going to betray her tomorrow and lead them back to her.

“I love you,” Thorn said. Her eyes gleamed and I believed her.

Her fangs sprung out, and she was a blur as she locked onto his neck, draining his blood quickly before he died.

I watched Thorn feed, and I felt the vengeance and fury burning in my body making me new. Making me whole and turning me into Vengeance. I imagined my revenge on those who had betrayed me. I would find Scarlett and my Dad and make them suffer first. Suddenly, Thorn flew backwards across the clearing and smashed into a tree, and the leaves shook loose and fell onto her body. I looked back and a needle stuck out of the side of his stomach. His body started contorting, muscles spasming and flexing, he was changing. He wasn’t going to give up that easily. I guessed he wanted his life back. Damn, he must have remembered where I threw the needle and crawled over to it. I grabbed the knife, and I just hoped Thorn would recover in time.

The muscles on one side keep getting bigger and bigger out of proportion with the rest of his body. His jaw extended out, and teeth broke out all over the place. His head enlarged, and flesh bubbled across his body. He hadn’t turned into a vampire as the transformation had gone horribly wrong. A lopsided enraged monster writhed on the ground before me. He lumbered to his feet and screamed at the full moon, staggering forward like a wounded animal. His flesh and muscles continued to bubble and contort as the transformation spiralled out of control. He lumbered forward towards Thorn’s limp vulnerable body to finish her off. Thorn is everything to me; she is my true love, and I am her saviour and protector.

“Over here,” I shouted jumping up and down waving my arms.

It worked, and he lumbered away from Thorn and towards me. He had no idea who he was facing. I am Vengeance. He threw a massive swipe at my head and I ducked but he clipped my arm and I flew across and onto the muddy wet ground. I knew I couldn’t get close to him, he was too strong, one hit and it would be all over.

I looked around at Thorn, and she lay out cold against the tree. I would have to do this by myself. I got up and ducked numerous swipes. All the time the transformation carried on, and his body erupted in muscles and bone. He had changed into a hideous mess. The transformation slowed him down, and he stumbled and screamed again in pain at the full moon. I saw my chance and ran for the camera tripod, grabbed it and headed back to the monster. I circled around his back and avoided the next punch. I coiled the tripod behind my back and smashed it across his head. He started stumbling, and I repeated the attack breaking the tripod into shattered pieces of metal that embedded into his skull. His head broke open and blood poured out but he kept moving on instinct and rage alone. I pulled the knife out of the back of my jeans and launched into a stabbing frenzy into his chest. His monstrous blood and puss started spraying and pouring out, and soaking me in a shower of sickening fluid.