Bad Blood

Who's a good boy?

"Oh my god, he's so fluffy!" Kalah's velvety, seductive voice had gone so high-pitched it was nearly sonic. Dracula winced painfully.

The order to lock and load had bleated feebly through the old ham radio in Dracula's living room. They split into four scouting parties with a vamp to each group, three werewolves and three mortal men. Kalah had sent her sisters with the other scouting parties as Tanner remained the sole mortal in his own.

The succubus had watched the three muscular (and nude) werewolves transform with great interest. Shy, awkward young Bregut was unrecognizable as a massive, shaggy black wolf with piercing golden eyes. Even Tanner would never have dared to call him 'fluffy'.

Kalah squealed with delight as Bregut trotted over excitedly and sat at her beautiful feet. She trembled with pent up glee and Tanner smirked at Dracula, the normally staid vampire rolling his eyes in exasperation. " Kalah my dear, he is a warrior. Not a pet."

The succubus ignored the vampire. "Oh, can I pet you?" She barely had to bend to be at eye level with the giant wolf. "Please?" She begged with a seductive pout.

His face split into a large doggy grin as he nuzzled her outstretched hand. Shrieking with delight, Kalah threw her arms around his strong neck, burying her face in his glossy black pelt. The wolf hummed deep in his chest, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as he rolled over, letting her scratch his belly. "Awww, who's a good boy?" She cooed in an infantile voice.

His brothers shifted silently on their paws, torn between amusement and embarrassment. When Bregut's leg began thumping excitedly as the Succubus scratched along his ribs, Hotclaw gave him a stern yip.

The wolf nudged her off reluctantly, rolling back on to all four massive feet. Kalah gave him a quick peck on the muzzle and a strange, throaty woof eked out of him. Tanner couldn't help but chuckle.

The party descended to street level, the Captain taking the long winding stairs two and even three at a time to keep up with his supernatural counterparts who loped, slid or just outright floated down the center of the stairwell. Tanner really missed elevators.

In a blink, Dracula had melted into the darkness. The wraith-like banshee drifted along on a cool breeze. The wolves trotted smartly, eating up the ground with their long powerful legs and Kalah floated gracefully after them, her edges growing blurry and indistinct like swirling mist. Tanner, resigned to his very plain lot in life, sprinted after them, doing his best to keep up.

Bregut slowed, turning to the captain and bending his front legs as if offering him a ride. Tanner's pride stung and his face heated. "Not in a million years pup." The wolf whined at him before very pointedly sprinting away. Leaving the captain in the dust.

Kalah gazed at him with amusement just as a cold, dark mass enveloped him. He felt the flutter of wings and two arms of steel encircle his waist. Tanner did his best not to scream as the pavement dropped from beneath his boots. "Now, now Captain," said a cool voice in his ear. "He was only trying to help. We can't have you falling behind. Though you might end up being good bait."

Nausea rolled through Tanner as the crushing darkness pressed in on him from all sides. Here and there a glimpse of the city broke through. They were very high. "Do it," he gasped. Anything to end this terrifying ride through the clouds.

The cold voice chuckled in his ear, a dark, mischievous sound. All sense of weight vanished as they plummeted from the sky. He couldn't tell which way was up or down, only that he was sure he was about to die. The vampire would have the last laugh after all.