The Vampire's Curse

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Nik ran to the parking lot as fast as he could and headed in the direction he saw Freddie drive.  He was headed downtown to the warehouse district.  Nik knew of several warehouses that Erika owned.  When he arrived he saw Freddie's car and used his vampire sense of smell to track Angel to a warehouse.  He called Sarah and let her now what had happened and let her know not to worry.  She said, "Either you tell me where you are or I am calling the police." He gave her the information and waited for her to arrive.  He snuck inside using his vampire stealth and strength to pull the bars away from the window soundlessly. He lifted the window and crawled inside. He could see Angel bound and gagged with a blindfold over her eyes. He inched towards her in the shadows, scanning the room for Erika or Freddie. They were nowhere to be seen. He gave a slight whistling bird call and Erik and Sarah climbed in the window that he had entered through. 

He did not feel right about putting these humans in danger, but he needed the help and he couldn't shake this sense that there was something not quite so human about Erik. It was the way he smelled. Not the scent that normal humans could smell on him, but an underlying scent that only a vampire or another supernatural creature could detect. He could not pinpoint what it was about him though.  

He was working his way closer to Angel so that he could untie her, and Erik was close behind him with Sarah in tow.  There was a noise like a door closing in the distance and he knew that they were running out of time.  HE had just gotten to Angel's side when he heard Sarah's muffled scream behind him.  Someone had grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth as he did.  Erik reacted faster than any normal human could. He turned and let out a savage growl from deep within his throat and when he saw the woman grabbing a hold of Sarah and saw the fear and pain in her eyes something snapped inside him and his body began to shake and shimmer.  The fear in Sarah's eyes grew and she saw hair start to sprout out along Erik's arms and face. His nails elongated into claws and his face started to contort as did his body.  She watched in horror as he turned into a wolf in front of her eyes. 

His fur was tinted a blue color, the same as his hair and his muzzle still had the piercings that had been in his lip, only now they were on either side of his lower muzzle.  If she had not seen it for herself, Sarah would have never believed it.  The woman behind her hissed loudly in her ear and began to back away, releasing her as she did.  Nik had stood frozen while all this was happening.  It was not often that his kind ran into these shapeshifter wolves, also known as werewolves because they were deadly to his kind. One bite and the werewolf venom could kill a vampire. There was no cure, no antidote that any vampire he had ever heard of had found for a werewolf bite.  

Erik approached Sarah and the woman behind her let go of Sarah and turned to run, Erik launched himself at her and sank his teeth into her throat ripping it out.  Blood began gushing from her throat and he heard a gurgle as she bled out in front of them. Sarah screamed and ran to Nik, hoping that he could protect her from Erik, the man that she had come to have real feelings for, now she did not know what to think.  All she knew was that he was a monster and she was afraid for her life.  

Nik approached Erik and said, "Erik, I dont know if you can understand me in this form, but we are your friends, Sarah here is your girlfriend.  You do not need to harm us." Erik approached Nik, and when he stood before him he looked up at him with what looked like a grin on his face and bowed to him in a way to acknowledge that he not only understood Nik, but meant them no harm. Nik nodded at him and said, "Thank you, lets get Angel untied and out of here."  He went over to Angel and leaned over and whispered to her, "Angel, its me Nik.  Please do not be scared. We are here to get you out of here.  No one is going to hurt you, please trust me." Then he removed her blindfold and untied her.  Angel saw Sarah and ran to her. She threw her arms around her and began to sob, "What are you doing here? Are you crazy?  These things want to kill us."  

Sarah patted her back and hugged her trying to comfort her, "How could you even think that I wouldn't come when you were kidnapped.  Nik said that we couldn't call the police, even though I wanted to. He said that it would just put you into more danger and now I can see why, but what is this all about?"  Angel looked around and that is when she saw the wolf, "You brought a wolf to rescue me?  This is all so surreal, I feel like this is a dream and I just want to wake up.  Vampires aren't real are they?"  Sarah looked at her and said, "Well actually, we didn't bring a wolf with us, we brought Erik with us and when this woman grabbed me he turned into this wolf here. It was all very scary, but I think he saved my life.  He has a lot of explaining to do if he ever turns back into a human.  And what do you mean vampires aren't real, of course they aren't.  What are you talking about?"

Angel looked at Sarah and said, "Sarah, Nik is a real Vampire, I ran out of his office after he compelled me during our meeting and was grabbed by another very scary vampire who blindfolded me, gagged me , and tied me up and brought me here.  He kept saying that I had caused enough trouble and Erika would deal with me and put an end to all this.  I have no idea who Erika is or what this is all about." She turned and looked at Nik, "You have some explaining to do, and I want answers, but first can you please just get me out of here before they come back?"  Nik picked Angel up and walked with her towards the exit. Sarah and Erik following behind him. He got the girls settled into the backseat of his car and Erik jumped into the passenger seat of his car. Nik rolled the windows down, and pulled out of the parkway and headed toward his house, with Erik hanging his head out the car window.