Hellfire

Chapter Forty-Two

'Leave!' Tabitha repeated with a sharp hiss.

I wasn't going to though as I stared down at the creeping, unnatural vampires through the black flames. That parasite had said my name. Lucius was in the auditorium that was billowing with heat and black fire, fighting a thing that I'd become. A parasite-turned witch. A creature bent on devouring, burning and immune to most magics - a thing of death and deathlessness. I was needed here.

My fingers curled into fists and my teeth instinctively slid free as I watched another parasite crawl in from the broken, gaping ceiling above. Four were now gathered, most human in shape, gangly, all bone and their yellowed eyes bulging, but one in particular was a massive bulk, his muscles so unnaturally thick his skin was ripping apart to unveil vibrant red flesh and muscle beneath. Their infected eyes were on me, their noses inhaling, and black saliva dribbling from their jagged mouths, their bloodlust only focused on me.

I wasn't leaving.

The massive ogre of a man roared, flaying spit, blood and infection from his torn mouth, and rushed forward. I didn't worry about him, or the two that fell in line behind him. I felt no threat and no need to move myself, even as the smaller pair rushed into mist and appeared behind me. Tabitha had them.

She whirled, blood flooding from her bare arms and her eyes flashing bright with viciousness, and flung her arm out. Strings of blood arched from her self-inflicted wounds, jabbing into the parasite's arms and shoulder like hooks. With a fierce wrench, she forced the parasites to their knees, and her cold roared about her as she willed for the creature to wither away. Normally it was easy for her. I'd seen her do it before, back in the Mortality Plague, but these ones were different. They were fuelled by witch-blood and likely created by someone strong. The ogre didn't fall apart in a whorl of dirt, he only jerked, puffed up clods of dust, and strained against her control. Not even the weaker pair faded away, they just screeched with fury as Tabitha refused to let them go, baring her teeth and furrowing her brow in focus.

It was the forth parasite, lean, hair withered and almost grey in colour now, that made my spine tingle with alarm. It spat at me, snapped its teeth, and flung itself forward with a frenzied leap. Wild eyes were fixed on me, jagged, shark-like teeth gleaming, the dried blood, infections and insanity rolling from it in a putrid cloud. It rose something in me. A wild need to fight, to rip and snarl, colliding with my need to burn a blazing heat. It wasn't something chaotic or destructive, unbridled rage spitting with the rumblings of an explosion, but something akin to a wolf. It was wild and raw, demanding blood in my mouth and my claws in flesh. And the more it took me, the more I felt a pull to the auditorium, my instincts stirring with a frantic need to both protect and kill.

Lucius needed me.

And that witch needed to die.

The parasite leapt at me, more animalistic than anything controlled, and I responded swiftly - evading their blood-claws and swung my fist out, catching their face and hurtling them across the hall like they'd been hit by a truck. I watched as they skittered over the marble floor like a ragdoll, their jaw ripped free to allow her tongue to flop against her throat and face caved into mulch. Despite the heat rumbling through me, I breathed out only the merest flecks of flame. It was scary how controlled I felt despite the strength pumping through me. I wasn't burning up, my blood boiling or my skin pealing, my mind clogged by maddening rage, I just flexed my hand and watched as that parasite was joined by another two - stick-thin women more bone, teeth and paper-thin skin than anything else.

I stepped forward, breathing evenly, still calm, still in control, still not overheating. They hissed at me, their eyes boring into me, whispers of my name gurling from their foul breaths. I glanced over my shoulder, spying Tabitha still working away at the three she had. He was withering slowly, more threads digging into him, sucking up his flesh and blood and bone, while the weaker pair clung on desperately. But Tabitha didn't look well. The witch blood in them was getting to her, the contact making her sweat and clench her jaw with sheer stubbornness.