Nibiru Vampire Warriors - Chapter Five

Excerpt From: Nibiru Vampire Warriors Chapter Five

Evil apples with eyes…that was incredibly weird and creepy in and of itself, but what Stride had done was beyond anything he’d ever seen before. And when it happened, Zero had been so enthralled by it, he hadn’t given a thought to what a high cost it carried.

Now, sitting there on the barren ground with Stride sitting beside him, staring straight ahead, Zero heard the other vampire’s mind screaming, “You’re going to push me over the edge after all, aren’t you, you bitch? Force me into a corner like a rat so that I have no choice but to become exactly like you.”

“Who are you talking to?” Zero asked him, but he already knew. It was her…it was always her. And there was no sense in thanking Stride for saving his hide again. He’d done it so many times now, Zero almost expected it. “How did you do that exactly…what you did a while back? I’ve never seen anything like it and—”

Stride grunted and stood up. “If I can help it, you won’t ever see anything like it again.”

“I didn’t really intend to look at those things. What I mean is, I couldn’t help but look. Damn it, Stride. I’m sorry. It’s not every day you see apples with… Those damn things were alive!”

Stride threw him a wry look. “You have nothing to be sorry about. I’ve already started down the slippery slope. Why not bring out the big guns?”

Zero wrinkled his nose at the slippery slope analogy. “Are you all right? You didn’t really break into pieces, did you?”

Stride gave him an ironic look. “What do you think?”

“Well, it sure as hell looked like it. I’ve seen magic in my life but never anything like that. That was some quick thinking, by the way.”

Stride didn’t comment. He just started walking. Zero sensed the mood shift. “Weather is turning colder, going to be below zero soon. There’s a joke in there somewhere.”

Stride’s response was a deep sigh, which meant that Zero was talking way too much and not about anything Stride cared to listen to.

Zero decided to clam up, just walk across the barren landscape, following at the heels of Stride’s scuffed boots. As he did, a mental picture of what he’d seen earlier came to him. One minute, Stride had been yelling at him not to look into the eyes of some demons hidden in a dozen perfectly shaped apples, and the next, Stride’s body had melted into a slew of ravenous fruit bats, which swooped down and devoured those apples like they were gobbling up their last meals.

It had happened so fast, Zero never even saw the transformation. One minute, Stride was screaming at him and the next he’d just vanished—and what seemed like a zillion bats were all over the damn place.

The apples were gone, and seconds later, Stride had been sitting on the ground in the place of those bats, looking…defeated. It was a strange thing because, to Zero, it had certainly seemed like they’d won this one. But now he realised that using that kind of powerful magic brought Stride closer to something he didn’t want to be.

“Was there another way?” Zero asked suddenly.

“Yeah,” Stride said, his mouth tight, “I could have let you be bumped way down on the food chain and eaten by fucking apples. That was the other way.” He looked at him.

Zero tried to take that seriously but it was actually pretty funny when he thought of it that way. Death by apples! He walked on and started to snigger.

“You’re laughing?” Stride threw him a dirty look.

“I mean, I’m sorry you had to do that… It was pretty fucking amazing, anyway…but me being eaten by apples…I mean…” He sniggered again. “I don’t even eat…apples.”

Stride shook his head a few times.

“Listen.” Zero reached out and grabbed his arm. Even that benign contact sent a shiver through him. Get it together, Zero. Shit. It’s his arm, not his cock. What is this obsession you’re developing for the Tin Man here? It’s just sometimes he can be so… We connected back there. He felt it. I know it. He felt it but now it seems Stride’s moved a million miles away again.

“I’m listening,” Stride said, bringing Zero back to the present, “and my face is a few feet up. Not between my thighs.”

Zero shook himself. “I wasn’t looking at your cock.”

“Yes. You were. You are obsessed with it, told you that before. Geez. Okay, Zero, go on. What did you want me to listen to?”

Zero smiled. “You like it just a little that I’m obsessed with your cock.”

“Ah ha! So you are obsessed with it!”

“Mildly,” Zero admitted, “but believe me, once we get out of this mess and I have my pick of men, mortal or otherwise, I’ll soon forget what it looks like.” He stuck his chin in the air for a second to make his words final.