Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Metamorphosis: Genesis ❯ Chapter XIV ( Chapter 14 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

(Author’s Note: Hi, so I haven’t fallen off the face of the planet and Genesis is not on hiatus! Sorry for the super long update gap, but here is the infamous chapter 14! Also, please check out our series site http://metamorphosisseries.weebly.com/ it’s still under construction, but it has all the chapters and soon all the fanart [we have fanart!? Yes we do. <3] Please read and enjoy!)

Ragged pants echoed though the stillness, low rasping sounds cutting through the thick oblivion of unconsciousness. Kaya groaned as the painful pull in her neck gave an uncomfortable twinge; her head lolled to the side and her eyes cracked open slowly. A blurred vision of stone softly bathed in firelight registered. While blinking owlishly to ride her eyes of the mist, Kaya’s mind began to clear as well. Her body felt weak, the muscles in her arms pulled taunt and her shoulders ached from sustaining her body’s weight for such a grueling time period. With a great stint of effort, she tilted her head back and gazed at the ceiling. It was slightly domed and the shackles around her wrists snaked their way up to one of three ghastly looking hooks at the arch of the dome.

Her knuckles cracked when she wiggled her fingers and a numb tingling sensation ran all the way down her arms in lieu of the movement. Kaya’s mouth felt dry and her tongue cleaved awkwardly to the roof of her pallet; it felt swollen and sticky. The need for water was incessantly evident in her chapped and cracking lips. Yet out of the corner of her eyes, Kaya noted that the two other captives fared little better. The redheaded companion whom they had originally come to liberate seemed to be only clinging to life, though at this point, Kaya wondered why. His body was badly beaten, nasty blue and yellow bruises tie-dyed all the expanses of exposed flesh. Whatever kind of shirt Alex had been wearing was hanging in sad little shreds on his shoulders, the other remnants sat in dirty little piles around his feet.

Even in the poor light of the torture chamber, Kaya could make out the distinct shadows the man’s ribcage cast along his sides. Food, it seemed, was something that Alex was no longer familiar with. She watched in horror as the concave abdomen expanded in tiny bursts, the only proof of breath flowing through the young man. If the redhead didn’t receive immediate medical attention, he would certainly die; if not from the infected whip marks on his back then from the gross malnourishment he now undoubtedly suffered. Kaya’s eyes trailed up the awkwardly bent expanse of Alex’s arms to the shackles that held his wrists. His fingers were all swollen and bruised as if they knuckles were all dislocated. The gruesome sight of her friend made her stomach tighten but the strength to even wretch was absent. A dry collection of copper festooned beneath the heavy shackles to attest to the torn and blistered skin beneath. The struggle against the ruthless iron had futilely led to more agony.

The feebleness of Alex’s entire appearance saddened and infuriated Kaya. The cruelty of human beings truly knew no bounds. For a brief moment, the Witch pitied them. They were frightened little creatures that reacted in violence to things they could not or refused to understand. At the rate humanity was going, it wouldn’t be long before they completely alienated themselves from any kind of ally. Witches, she thought weakly, could have been an asset to the human race if the religious zealots known as Hunters and the secret organization that employed them would relent. After all, it wasn’t the Witches making meals out of mortals; if Hunters had anyone to be concerned about it was the Vampires and their blood gorging habits.

The fleeting thought of an unachievable harmony with humanity was cut short by a disturbing rumble coming from the other side of Alex. With some effort, Kaya craned her sore neck to see past her fellow to the source of the sound. It was a sick, churning kind of sound that echoed eerily in the stone chamber. An unexplained lump rose up in her throat as she identified the source of the rumbling to be coming from the third captive. Sano did not look well. Kaya tried to swallow but the dryness of her esophagus only made the parched muscle ache more violently.

He stood on bare tiptoes in a weak attempt to take strain off his arms, but from the way he swayed back and forth, it was only a matter of time before his legs gave out completely. The Vampire was shirtless like Alex and sustained horrible looking burns, most likely from ultraviolet exposure, Kaya concluded from the lag in healing. Two such burns marred both of his cheeks, running down from his temples to the corners of his mouth like tiger stripes. The burns, however, were not the only injuries Sano had sustained during the blonde’s bout with unconsciousness. What looked like claw marks ran down his thighs, shredding the black leather material that had been shielding him from the elements. The cuts were thin and precise as if from a finely sharpened set of blades, but the gashes had nasty yellowing edges. It stank with the same pungent odor that radiated from the knife helical in Kaya’s side. What had these Hunters used to injure the Vampire so badly? And what were they doing to slow down his healing process in order to drag out the pain? Kaya coughed a little, trying to speak. She didn’t like the way Sano’s stomach kept growling. It was the sick churning sound that had first terrified her during her assessment of Alex.

Maybe it was less his growling and more the look on his battered face. His eyes were opened but the lids hung low, hiding the change taking place. The normally placid silver orbs were being overtaken by a harsh red color that seemed to bleed in from the corners. The hue webbed its way across expanse of white and threatened to usurp the irises. The Vampire’s chest was rising and falling rapidly mimicking a pant. Kaya didn’t know if it was more unnerving seeing Sano “breathing” or the fact that he was panting like a rabid dog. She didn’t know how long the three of them had been held captive collectively. Alex must have already endured at least a few days of torture before the Vampire and herself had joined him, but how long had she been out? The muscles in her neck twitched and her head fell forward once again.

The blonde heaved a heavy sigh at the utter lack of strength. With her eyes cast down, she was forced to notice her own injuries. It seemed that the Hunters had gone easy on her because of her gender. Fury started to boil deep in her chest—so the Brotherhood thought they should take it easy on the girl, did they? Her anger, however, could not be fueled in her current state. She would need to let it fester, much like the knife wound in her side, in order to release when the time finally came. There were bruises on her torso and middle, mostly the remnants of some kind of beating. She had been lucky to not feel the majority of it, but the proof would ache as time went by. Minor burns blistered her arms and feet and made the rough cobblestone she stood upon doubly uncomfortable. The pain from these petty wounds would have to be forgotten if she and her comrades ever wanted to see the night sky again.

The chains above her clattered together suddenly and Kaya found a sudden burst of energy. She jerked her head up to look at the ceiling. She followed the movement back to the set of manacles that held Sano secure. They rattled again before clashing violently. Azure eyes followed the links of metal down to heavy shackles that clamped around the slender wrists of the Vampire. His mouth was open; the raspy pants echoing through the chamber, and the ivory fangs that usually hid discreetly between his thin lips were enlarged and seemed to take up too much room in his mouth.

“S-Sano?” Kaya croaked out uncertainly. When an invariable hiss was her response, Kaya swallowed hard. The dryness in her throat cracked and caused unbelievable pain through her esophagus. She didn’t know for certain what was happening to Sano, but with the continued growling of his stomach and the way his muscles contorted in seizure-like bouts, Kaya did not want to stick around, chained up like a piece of meat on a hook.

“Shit!” She murmured and yanked on her own bindings, hopping up and down in attempts to use her weight as leverage. The chains rattled unforgivingly and never gave in; their metallic echoes mocked the blonde’s fear. “Shit, shit, shit, shit!” Panicked tears prickled the corners of her eyes as she continued to struggle against the shackles. The deafening noise that was the combination of her escape attempt and Sano’s own movement finally caused Alex to stir. His brows furrowed deeply as he battled against an unconsciousness brought about by maximum fatigue and grotesque pain. His hazy eyes tried to grasp the situation as the thunderous rattles of the chains boomed through the circular stone room and battered his eardrums.

“Alex! Don’t move!” Kaya screamed at the delirious redhead. His head rolled back and his chin pointed to the ceiling so he could watch the violent dance of the chains. The confusion was apparent enough on his wounded face. The Vampire’s jerking became more rhythmic as his over-wired brain started doing the math on the strength of his trusses. The struggles died down a little and soon the incessant rumbling of the Vampire’s stomach was replaced by an even odder sound: laughter. Sano shoulders slumped forward and his head hung down, the sweat coated bangs concealing his face while the rest of his mane sprawled across his shoulders. His frame started to shake and the sound grew. The manic jittering of the insane soon filled the torture chamber, reverberating off the walls with hideous repetition.

Alex’s head lolled to the side to witness the scene. He wiggled his broken fingers minutely, using the pain to wake his numb limbs. His cracked lip rubbed together, trying to accumulate moisture vainly.

“Kay..a…” he moaned, lolling his head to the other side quickly to make eye contact with the other Witch captive. The blonde’s eyes, however, were not on his. They were locked on Sano, watching the pallid creature with a surgeon’s criticism. The levels of adrenaline in her body was increasing with every second that passed by. The broken minded laughter that spilled from between his lips and the clamor of the chains as he seemed to celebrate their iron resolve was setting off all kinds of alarms in the young woman’s head.

“Are you all fucking deaf out there!?” She screeched, looking towards the door of the torture chamber. “Someone help us! If he gets out of those chains you’ll all be next anyway!!” The Vampire looked up at the chains one more time, rolling a small length around his hands, and gripped them tightly.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Kaya swore again and wobbled towards Alex before picking up her feet. She swung slowly in the direction of the door. As she coasted back towards the redhead, she jumped against the cobblestone, speeding up her swing back towards the door. The living pendulum began to pick up momentum with every pass until her extended leg could almost reach the wooden face of the exit. During her endeavors to kick open their prison door, Sano was busy engaging in his own acrobatics. The Vampire called upon some vast well of energy and had pulled himself up with dislocated shoulders; he inverted himself and wrapped his legs around the chains to secure his position. His now red eyes found a resting place on the immobile Alex.

He hissed, baring his fangs at the helpless redhead, the hunger evident in the cat-like pupils.

“Kaya,” Alex mumbled. “Whatever you’re doing…..do it faster….!” He breathed out, beginning to lose his battle with consciousness. The only thing that suspended his animation was the obscene amount of adrenaline pumping through his veins, fueling his survival instincts into supreme overdrive. The blonde grunted a reply as her swinging undertakings became more adamant.

“I can just—reach it!” she cried out, the bottom of her barefoot grazing the rough wood of the door. She swung back towards the center of the room only to collide with Alex with a sickening thud. The redhead gagged, coughing up a spray of blood and spewing the dark maroon colored fluid onto the floor; Kaya did not escape the putrid rain. She held back the bile that threatened to escape her own lips at the pungent odor that accompanied the revolting scene. The impact left her more worn than before and she felt her knees buckle. Her weight sagged on the shackles and her arms quaked. There was no strength left to move; another attempt for the door would be equally disastrous and the last thing she wanted was to kill Alex and herself in an escape effort.

The rancid scent brought forth a terrible hiss from the Vampire who now stood on the domed ceiling of the chamber. He clasped the iron links closet to his shackles and twisted them violently. The links quivered for an instant before shattering. The broken pieces rained down and tinkered weakly against the cobblestone floor.

“God help us…” Alex rasped before closing his eyes.

“You are talking to the wrong people!” Kaya screeched back and glared at the heavy door on the other side of the room. She glared at the lock and let out a desperate cry, hoping to reach the ears of the Hunters undoubtedly patrolling the corridors just outside of their prison. Surly someone had to hear their cries and come, if not to their aid, but to put an end to the blood thirsty creature that now crouched on the ceiling, ready to pounce.

“Damnit! Even if you don’t care about us getting ripped to shreds, you bastards will be next as soon as he gets out of here!” The heavy oak door of the torture chamber finally flew open and three Hunters hurried in, armed to the teeth. They stood no chance. Sano sprang from his position on the ceiling onto the throat of the first man. He bit down, taking a chuck out of the poor fellow’s neck, before ripping the meat away from the bone. He spat the mouthful of flesh and ran at the wall of the room. As the Hunter fell to the floor, gurgling and sputtering, his fellows did not escape the deluge of blood as the Vampire ran along the walls of the chamber, circling the two standing men with incredible speed. Their heads snapped from left to right in an attempt to keep up with the blur of silver and white.

The first Hunter died in a grotesque puddle, warming the cobblestone as a final resting place for the two remaining. Kaya swallowed the dryness in her throat at seeing the life fade from the Hunter’s forest green eyes. She had detested him in life for his occupation and mindset, but pitied him in death as a bloody carcass barely fit for an animal to feed from. Three more Hunters emerged from the hall.

“Get the prisoners out of here! We can’t risk losing any information!” one man dashed forward, a set of iron keys dangling in his hand. Two Hunters covered him as he jumped up and slipped one of the keys into the rusted lock of Kaya’s wrist shackles. With a resounding click the shackles gave way and Kaya felt herself falling. Her dead weight collapsed on the slick cobblestone and she grimaced, holding in a louder cry of agony. She didn’t want Sano’s attention on her, not while the Hunters seemed to occupy his monstrous appetite.

The blonde clenched her teeth painfully and pushed herself up on her elbows and belly. She dragged herself a few feet away from the carnage that was taking place, curling up on her side to protect her internal organs from the scene. Sano sprang down from the ceiling to destroy another Hunter. The Vampire came down with unforgiving force, dragging the swarthy looking young woman to the ground. He held her shoulders as he descended upon her vital parts. Sharp ivory tore at the cinnamon epithelium and a fresh fountain of blood burst forth.

Her body convulsed and Kaya covered her mouth with her hand, keeping the urge to vomit at bay. She had seen bloodshed before, but the animalistic tearing of flesh and muscle made her stomach churn uncomfortably. The way that Sano’s victims jerked feebly after the initial wound only to shudder before falling completely still was unnerving to behold. It was a fate she did not wish to share with the Hunters who were now fighting to defend Alex and herself.

“Alex…!” she whispered weakly over the clamor of screams and weaponry. She reluctantly turned her eyes up just as Sano sprang from the torn body of the female Hunter. The Vampire narrowly missed the end of a long spear which had been lunged in his direction attempting to impale him against the stone wall of the chamber and end his violent tirade. She watched them work, a little amazed by their efficiency. It surprised Kaya that they survived as long as they did against the insane animal that Sano had become. Just as these thoughts entered her brain, another Hunter was attacked. This time, however, the Vampire snatched the man by the back of his coat, dragging him up to the ceiling with him.

His fellows reacted, hurling a few sharp looking objects at Sano making him hiss. He yanked his captive up to use his body as a meat shield against the barrage. The man struggled against the inhuman strength of his abductor, calling out to the others to end the rain of weaponry, but all too late. His torso served its purpose in protecting Sano from the upward rain of fury. The Vampire threw the body of the Hunter in his arms at his enraged fellows, adding to the ever growing death toll.

“Get them out of here!” Kaya looked towards Alex as the Brotherhood member who had released her unshackled the redhead as well. He, however, got a gentler treatment than cobblestone. The young man dragged Alex away from the center of the room, dropping him near Kaya. The blonde reached up to grab hold of Alex’s hand, squeezing it.

“Alex!?” she croaked out, her throat still dry but the unbelievable amount of adrenaline pumping through her veins granted her with renewed energy and if the way his emerald eyes darted round the room and his chest rose and fell rapidly in desperate pants was any indication, the same held true for her redheaded companion.

“Let’s go!” he hushed back but knew that even with the adrenaline and fear suspending his animation, Alex could never manage to hobble out of the catacombs on his own strength. The pain that raced up his legs as Kaya struggled up and supported him around the waist was numbed by the sheer need to escape but after the first few hurried totters, the pain began to amplify and overpower his senses.

“Damnit!” he agonized and gripped the wall to aid in their migration. Kaya grunted back trying to support Alex’s weight and her own. She was the driving force in their handicapped escape and couldn’t agree more with her friend’s sentiments. Once through the threshold, Alex and Kaya separated. She left him to cling to the stone wall of the catacombs while she summed what strength she had left to pull the oak door of their torture chamber closed.

“Keep him busy,” she muttered before crying out in agony as the door shut all the way. Her dislocated shoulder throbbed as she slid the heavy brass lock into place, incarcerating the few remaining brothers of Cruxis Fraternis inside the chamber with the blood gorging Vampire.

“Kaya, we’ve got to get out of here,” Alex said, panting from the strain of merely standing. His twisted fingertips dig uncomfortably in between the stones of the wall to aid in his standing. “More will come. We need to go,” he urged and the blonde turned her sweat caked face to her fellow Witch.

“I know that!” she snapped back, regretting her tone instantly but not apologizing for it. “But unless you have a map of his place shoved up your ass somewhere, I’m just as lost as you are on how to get out here.” Alex frowned and shook his head before reaching out with one arm. He did not speak but his message was clear. They would hobble around together in a panicked flurry until they managed to wander down the right corridor and find an exit—any exit.

The screaming from the locked chamber echoed through the dark, damp catacombs like some terrible nightmare. Soon Kaya and Alex became lost in the ambiance as they limped through the different halls, traveling feebly up countless flights of stairs and taking unknown turns. Eventually, the sounds of slaughter faded away into the dark passages behind them. The injured pair wondered if the silence was because of the distance they had put between themselves and the abattoir or because Sano had finished tearing out the throats of those poor souls locked away with him. Whatever the case, Kaya and Alex now felt very vulnerable as their shuffling was the prime sound in the catacombs. They were essentially prime targets for any of the Brotherhood who abandoned the scene of their massacred fellows in search of the two escaped prisoners.

“Ugh, please, let’s stop a minute,” Alex begged before collapsing completely against Kaya. The blonde groaned with the added weight and had little choice but to comply.

“We really shouldn’t,” she replied as she lowered them as carefully as possible to the floor of the catacombs. Alex sighed in relief, leaning against the wall, Kaya to his left.

“I know, but if we pass out from exhaustion, we’ll be no better off.”

“At this point, passing out means dying.” Alex laughed weakly.

“You always were one for optimism.” Kaya’s eyes narrowed but then they closed; the back of her head resting against the unforgiving stone.

“We’ll rest here just a moment. Then we really need to keep moving,” she added quietly before Alex jabbed her in the side with his elbow. He said nothing when her eyes snapped opened and zeroed in on him. The utterly astounded and terrified look on his face kept the blonde from shrieking in protest to her moment of Zen. He pointed with a shaking and broken index finger towards the other end of the dark corridor. Kaya bit her lip praying to anyone who would listen that when she turned around she would not see what her wild imagination was conjuring up. Slowly, she faced what her petrified friend was cautioning her about.

He was hardly recognizable with the way his long silver mane was loose and tangled; the strands were heavy like a paintbrush freshly dipped in deep red paint. The paint droplets that trickled off and dripped quietly to the ground were anything but docile and were instead the liquid remains of the fallen Hunters. His eyes were opened wide—very wide—seeing through the dark with perfect clarity. Their cat-like pupils unnerved Kaya and Alex, betraying animal that Sano had transformed into. The two Witches held onto one another and very slowly managed to their feet. Their backs remained firmly against the stone of the hallway, their eyes never leaving the Vampire during their ascent.

His was bent over a little, shoulder slumped as if the weight of his arms was too much. His hands and forearms were completed daubed in the blood of the Brotherhood. Had he followed them all through the catacombs? Kaya and Alex were both injured and had probably left Sano his own breadcrumb trail by which he could stalk them. Stalk, the Witches thought, and then administer the same punishment he had so relentlessly bestowed upon their captives; his weapons of choice gleamed in his mouth, enlarged and swollen like limestone stalactites accenting some horrible cavern. The familiar growling reverberated through the hall as Sano watched the two living beings cower.

“What now?” Alex whispered and Sano’s head snapped up, picking up the faint voice over his own thunderous growling as if the redhead had screamed his question.

“Run,” Kaya responded and before the sound vanished totally from her lips, the woman took off in a violent sprint, dragging Alex behind her. He soon found his feet as well and galloped with equal enthusiasm. The excruciating pain from his shattered bones and torn flesh was nothing in comparison to the adrenaline and dread that fueled his sudden athleticism.

“You can’t out run a Vampire!” he cried through labored pants.  Kaya didn’t look back but she knew Sano had taken off in pursuit the instant she had shifted into high gear.

“I don’t have to! I just have to out run you!” she replied, only half way teasing. It amazed even Kaya that she managed to keep a modicum of merriment given the circumstance; perhaps it was the impending death that was gaining speed on them, or maybe it was the utter pain and exhaustion she suffered from in combination with a sufficient lack of oxygen to her less than functioning brain during her sudden sprint. Whatever the reason, Kaya had found their situation amusing, even as the sound of her own ragged breathing and rapid heartbeat drowned out the rest of her conscious thoughts.

“Kaya!!” the screeching of her name brought her back to the gravity of their imminent reality. “Look!!” Kaya’s dazed over azure eyes returned to utmost clarity for the briefest of seconds to focus in on something in the distance: something so beautiful it nearly brought tears to her usually stern eyes.

Light. There was light filtering into the tunnel. It grew steadily larger as the fleeing pair approached.

“Kaya! It’s an exit!” Alex screamed only to hear a beastly bellow reply from behind. Against his better judgment, the battered redhead looked over his shoulder briefly as he ran. What he saw encouraged another burst of speed. Sano was nearly within arm’s reach of him and gaining with every passing second. The shock of the sight caused Alex to stumble. He felt himself falling forward and ducked his head under, protecting his skull with his arms. The young man rolled the few meters remaining in their journey, colliding with Kaya’s legs and knocking her to the ground as well. Instead of eating another helping of immobile concrete or dirty stone, Kaya found her a face full of something soft and white—snow.

“We’re outside…!” she whispered in disbelief before rolling onto her rear and grabbing hold of Alex; she slipped her hands between his arms and hooked her arms around his shoulders. She back peddled away from the mouth of the catacombs, dragging her fallen comrade further into the sunlight. As Sano emerged from the tunnel, he let out a terrible sounding cry that resonated into the sky and down the sloping hills of the snow covered countryside. The Vampire retreated with equal speed into the catacombs, disappearing from sight in a matter of seconds.

Kaya held her breath and listened. She could hear neither his infuriated shrieking nor agonized growling from within the tunnel. She sighed in relief before collapsing backwards against the blanket of snow the world had provided for her. Dizzy with relief, Kaya started to cry, looking up at the overcast but definitely daytime sky. Giggle erupted from between her chapped and cracking lips, a strange symphony of disbelief and thorough fatigue. They had survived. Somehow, against all the odds, Alex and herself had survived torture from Cruxis Fraternis, a ridiculous labyrinth, and even a marathon with a feral Vampire….only to die peacefully of hypothermia out in middle of nowhere.

Lyrial’s face flashed in front of her unseeing eyes. The giggling faded away as she stared at the hallucination. It smiled sadly before beginning to cry. Kaya saw Lyrial alone in her apartment then out in the streets, searching, searching. Searching for her? For Sano? Searching nonetheless in vain. The vision saddened Kaya but solidified her resolve. After enduring all that they had in the past few days, she’d be damned if she would allow herself and Alex to perish in such a pathetic way. Her brows furrowed together and her jaw clenched. A plan began formulating in her tired brain and with occasional sideways glances to Alex who lay belly down in the snow, face to the side to facilitate air ventilation to his lungs, Kaya soon knew what needed to be done.

“Not here,” she said. “Not now.”
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