Shadow Guardians: The Beast

Katherine felt like she was floating above the ground in the dream. She could hear a strange kind of humming around her. No wait, was it humming or singing? She had the feeling that she was being swayed lightly from side to side. Her head dangled. Okay, this was the weirdest dream ever. She wanted to turn onto her belly because her neck felt strained. But she couldn’t move. Panic soon took hold. She felt her heart rate hike up as she started waking. She caught that strange, smoky scent in her nostrils again. Her eyes fluttered open, expecting, hoping, to see the white ceiling of her bedroom.

And then she saw the full moon…

And men and women dressed in blood-red robes around her, carrying her. She screamed, but a muffled sound came out. There was some kind of fabric in her mouth. Why the hell couldn’t she move her arms or legs? She wasn’t even tied up with anything.

They were chanting something in a foreign language as they carried her with her back to the ground. Their faces were stoic, pale, and entranced. She could only move her head.

They carried her into a large chapel and laid her down on an altar front and center. When she turned her head to the right, she saw two rows of pews next to each other, filled with the same corpse-like faces donned in the robes. To the left was the pulpit, with the bald man that she had seen earlier in the evening behind it. Her body buzzed with nervous energy, like electricity flowing through her blood.

The Priest raised his hands. “Tonight, we honor the Lord by bringing him this sacrifice.” His voice echoed through the gothic building, and the candles flickered.

One of the robed ones came to her with a dagger in hand. Katherine frowned at the person standing above her. Chloe? Oh God… It was Chloe. She was so shocked that she could barely hear a word the Priest was saying.

“Let us offer this woman the choice to make the sacrifice of her own free will, so that her soul may have the chance to be reborn in the Lord.”

The Priest removed the fabric from her mouth. “What say you, child? Do you willingly offer your blood to the great lord Xolvaak?” He leaned in with wide, black eyes.

Katherine wanted to scream, but it was stuck in her throat. She found wit instead, and started hysterically laughing. “I don’t have much blood to take, you freak. Your lord fuckhead will find nothing but great thirst with me.”

The Priest didn’t even look annoyed. He just stared at her, devoid of any emotion.

“Then let the sacrificial ceremony begin,” he whispered, raising his voice. “Fellow children of the Chosen! Let the Lord hear your chants of cleansing for this sacrificial lamb!”

They began chanting in that strange language.

Katherine closed her eyes for a moment. What a way to go. All this time she thought she’d be dying of leukemia; now she’s going to die at the hands of some cult as a human sacrifice. Maybe it was better this way than to have the illness drag out for much longer. It had been dragging out for years already.

She couldn’t move her arms or legs. No one would hear her screams here, not above that chanting. She might as well surrender to her fate and hope that Chloe plunges the dagger into her heart rather than her stomach.

The doors of the chapel exploded off their hinges. Chaos erupted, and suddenly she could move again. The Priest and Chloe ran toward the door, yelling stuff in that weird language. She scrambled off the altar and against the nearest wall, heard unnatural shrieking and screaming from the people who once sat in the pews.

When she turned towards the door, her breath hitched and her body froze.

The beast was enormous. It had the muscled body shape of a werewolf and no hair. Four massive limbs allowed the beast to stand tall or move on all fours. It had five digits and terrifying claws that looked to be made of some sort of... crystal?

The head had a muzzle like a wolf, but the ears were narrow, pointy, and pulled back. The top of its back, arms, and legs were covered with rows of armored plating. Long, sharp scales, shimmering in iridescent green.

They were like glass. As the beast moved, their friction made the sound of blades being drawn against each other. The ribbed vaulting and the piers of the church trembled as the beast let out a deafening roar, showing rows of canines the thickness of her thigh.

But it was its eyes that captured her. They sat narrowly within its skull; where the whites would have been. They were a glowing teal color, and the elongated iris in the middle was blood red.

It flew at the robed people, and as it killed them off, they exploded into dust. The scales on its back extended into wings that were more for fighting and shielding than flying. Those scales sliced through the evil hordes as effectively as the claws and the maw.

It shredded through them in a feral riptide of teeth, claws, and wings, moving unusually gracefully with that massively muscled body. Katherine’s jaw dropped when it leapt forward and literally swallowed a full-grown man whole.

Stillness fell on the chapel. The red-robed horde was decimated. Ash and the smell of something burning wafted through the air.

And the only sound in the chapel was that of the creature’s strange breathing—long, slow inhales and exhales, like sighs, that had a deep, rumbling, purring sound to them. It stalked closer to her.

Those glowing teal-red eyes pinned on her.

And she was clearly insane. Because she wasn’t afraid. In fact, she tipped the crazy scale by thinking that the beast was sort of… enthralling.

Its head lowered to her level, and she heard it draw in breath, even longer than its normal inhale. Was it smelling her?

She uttered the first thing that came to her mind. “You’re kind of beautiful…”

She wanted to touch it. But maybe that wasn’t such a good idea because it did just demolish a crowd of cult weirdos, and those teeth were very long and very white, and...

Screw it. She was insane, and she wanted to touch him.

She brought up a hand and hesitated just an inch from its scales. God, that loud, purring-breathing vibrated right into her bones. It was entrancing. Her fingertips stroked a single scale, and then all of them lifted slightly in a wave running down the beast’s back.

“Do you like that?” she asked softly. “You saved me,” she lightly stroked over the powerful muscles of its forearms. The purring somehow grew louder.

Suddenly, a white light blinded her. She shielded her eyes. When it vanished, she opened two fingers to look through them.

“Oh my God!”

Before her lay a large man on the floor, curled into a ball, completely naked, magnificently muscled, and the sexiest being she’d ever seen. And holy hell, he had fangs.

She blinked fast and rubbed her eyes, but the scene remained the same.

Oki-doki, so beastie transforms into a vampire... a mesmerizingly sexy vampire...

And I’m still not afraid...

What was wrong with her? She should be running for her life. This should be really bizarre. Instead, worry consumed her.

He seemed to be in horrible agony. His stomach was very swollen, yeah well, he swallowed a man whole, that beautiful face contorted with pain. There was a sheen of sweat over his skin, and he shook.

Katherine glanced around. Damn it, there was nothing she could even cover him with. The only thing was the thin white cloth that hung over the altar, and she didn’t really want to touch that thing. But what other choice did she have? She pulled it off and draped it over him.

He opened his eyes then, and her breath was stolen by their teal color. What was she supposed to do? She wasn’t near her house, and he was way too heavy for her to carry. His weight would crush her.

She held her hand to his forehead; he was burning up even as he shivered from the cold. And he looked really sick, like he might regurgitate a human at any moment.

She had to talk, say something. “Why aren’t I afraid of you?”

"Neron,” he whimpered.

Katherine frowned. That’s the word that Shelby called her.

“What’s your name? I’m Katherine.”

“Magnus.”

“What do I do, Magnus? My home is far from here, and...” I can’t let Kyle see you. Then again, Kyle might not survive you, "I can’t carry you.”

“Phone…call…” His head arched back and he groaned, the veins in his neck bulged out.

“Are you okay?”

“Healing… hurts…”

Where the heck was she supposed to get a phone? “I’ll be right back, okay?”

She tried to get up, but he seized her arm with a fierce grip. “Can’t…protect…you…”

She gently placed her hand on his and pried his fingers open with effort. “You don’t have to. You’ve killed them all.”

The word killed didn’t even throw her. Perhaps now wasn’t the best time for her to wonder about why she wasn’t shaking with terror. “I have to find a phone; you have to let me.”

He let her go with hesitation. She ran through the chapel, searching for the office. When she finally found it, she said a prayer of thanks to whoever might be listening and picked up the mobile receiver. Even cults needed pizza, she supposed. She ran back to him, kneeling by his side.

“Who do I call? Give me the number.”

He said the numbers slowly, taking a breath after nearly each one. Before she pressed dial, he gripped her hand again. “Tell…them…neron…”

She frowned. “Okay.”

It rang twice, and then a man picked up with a voice nearly as deep as Magnus’.

“Yes?”

“Hello? I’m… I’m Katherine. I need help. Magnus is with me.”

“What?! Where!”

She jumped at the roar in his voice. He was lucky she knew the neighborhood and could give him the address. When she got the sense that he was close to putting the phone down, she said the word neron. There was a short silence on the other end. And then the man told her. “We’ll be right there. Take care of our brother.”

She turned back to Magnus. Sweat poured off him, and his breathing came out in short, quick bursts.

Ten minutes later, Draven and Zachiel ran into the chapel. The place was trashed. And when they saw the neron cradling Magnus’ head in her lap, they could only imagine the kind of chaos that went on here.

Katherine gawked at the two men in black. They were both just as large as Magnus and ravishingly handsome, but not quite as enthralling as him.

The blonde one spoke first. “We’ll carry him. But you need to come with us.”

She glanced between the two of them, her eyes resting a bit longer on the scarred one. “Are you vampires too?”

Draven smiled full and wide, revealing his fangs.

She gave a nod. “Okay, can I ask why I need to come with you?”

Zachiel thought Magnus looked like hell, but she didn’t look much better. She was sick. He could smell it. Being human was not good for her. Ultimately, she would have to make a decision, but for now, she was in danger. Once a target, always a target.

“It will be safer for you. They’ll come for you again. Once they start, they don’t let up.”

“Why, who are they?”

Zachiel kneeled before them. “Listen to me, Katherine. There’s a lot to explain. Just please let us take care of you. You’ll come with us to our house. You’ll be safe there.”

“Magnus isn’t letting you go, anyway.” Draven said, seeing how he was gripping her hand. “And you saw what happened to the guy. I’d hate to stand in his way.”

She looked down at him. His expression was tight with agony, but his head was turned so her leg was close to his nose. Smelling her again, she thought.

She let herself be guided out into a Mercedes outside. She sat in the back, cradling Magnus’ head on her lap. He groaned when they turned. She stroked his forehead to soothe him. The way he was now reminded her of herself when she was ill.

“Sick,” he moaned.

The pain came in waves through his body as his bones knitted inside his muscles. Ribs, femurs, ligaments. He saw it all in his mind’s eye. The pain clawed at every crevice in him, and he rode the white-hot back of it, as he knew he must. His skull was always the first to knit back. His stomach felt like there was a concrete block in it. And his mouth kept creating saliva, which meant he had to keep swallowing, which stirred the nausea even more. He took a deep breath. Don’t throw up in the Mercedes. Please don’t throw up in the Mercedes.

Draven turned and leaned back in his seat. “Give me your hand, brother. Let me take some of it.”

Katherine placed his hand in Draven’s because Magnus was too dizzy to see for himself where the hand was.

She watched Draven close his bicolored eyes. His jaw set, and his lips thinned. It looked like he was in pain now.

"Okay, how does this work?” she asked Zachiel.

He glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “We can shoulder his pain because we’re his brothers. The healing hurts more than the wound itself. We can help him heal faster.”

“But he doesn’t seem wounded.”

“Yeah, every bone inside his body breaks when he changes.”

She stared down at him in horror. “Isn’t there something he can take for it? Pain medication? Morphine?” She asked a little desperately.

Zachiel shook his head. “It’s better if he doesn’t. He needs to use the pain and concentrate on it to heal it faster.”

She didn’t see where they were going. The windows were tinted. But eventually the car stopped, and Draven released Magnus’ hand, looking pretty drained and pale himself. But Magnus seemed loads better, though by no means healthy.

They got out of the vehicle, and Katherine gawped at the massive modern mansion. Magnus’ brothers carefully lifted him out of the Mercedes and carried his body toward the house, with her following. Then another group of men clad in black armor came to them and helped carry him. Some of them turned their heads to look at her. She wasn’t sure if it was with disgust or reverence.

There was a lot of rowdiness going on inside the mansion, and when they entered, she gasped at all the people. Many eyes stared at her, some hostile, some confused. The party paused.

“Stay behind us, neron.” Draven said.

The people parted for the warriors, and no one said a word to Katherine. Vampires. They’re all vampires.

No. Nosferi. She frowned. She’d never even heard of that word before. Her eyes drifted down to Magnus, his head dangling limply, and his brothers. They were vampires.

They took the elevator up. The house inside was decorated modernly but with a touch of antique. They carried him into a room that was pitch black inside. Katherine instinctively felt around for a light switch and found none.

Candles all over the room came to life all by themselves. She froze in place. The walls and floors were black, and there was a big canopy bed on a platform in the room with red satin sheets and pillows. Red, like blood. The furniture was antique, and old paintings adorned the walls.

“We’re going to help him shower. You stay here.” Zachiel ordered.

She nodded. Hell, she would’ve loved to stay in this house forever. It was a far cry from her crummy apartment. They carried him into the en-suite bathroom.

Zachiel opened the water and tested its temperature. Both he and Draven got undressed, then picked up Magnus and went with him into the shower. It was a specially designed shower that could actually fit all three of them, precisely for times like these. They let the water touch only his feet first. He flinched and jerked.

“No go, his skin’s too sensitive.” Zachiel shut off the water.

“Sponge bath time.”

Katherine wandered around the large room for a time, and then the men came out of the bathroom. They’d dressed Magnus in a plush black robe. Laying him down on the bed, they covered him with the satin sheets.

“Alright, we’ll let him sleep it off. You coming?”

“No way I’m staying with him,” Katherine said, expecting resistance.

But then they just stared at her, nodded, and left, closing the door.

She sat herself down on the lounge chair opposite the bed and just watched him. He stared at her with heavy-lidded eyes, their teal color almost glowing in the dark. Then he smiled at her and let himself sleep.