As he fled from the painful ultrasonic sound blast, Solan saw the Interrogators gas the them and then take Tess, and Paula. He didn't know for certain where they were going, but that didn’t matter. He had their scent, and could track them anywhere. He suspected they were headed to the old prison for interrogation, it was the only logical place a bunch of Interrogators could be going on Dark World, and they were heading in that direction. Solan and his men stopped to rest a few hundred yards away from the compound.
Blood trickled from the leader’s ears, a result of the sound attacks. One of his men attempted to wipe the excess blood from his face and Solan brushed away his hand with a growl. “I need no nurse’s hand—especially not from a male! I will be fine! If you want to baby someone, then maybe you should go back and help Vincent. The weak fool had to be carried out like an old woman!” Solan’s men howled with laughter, and everyone’s mood lightened. This pleased Solan because he would need morale to be high if his men were going to keep following him after such a stinging defeat. His pack-mind abilities could only do but so much. He had to be extra careful against challenges to his leadership. If he showed any weakness, others would rise up to take his place. Such was the way of lycans.
“Where is Lucas?” he asked. His spy had disappointed him for the last time. Lucas seemed to enjoy playing human—it certainly took him long enough to report back with anything useful. And when he did finally make contact, Lucas swore his scheme was foolproof. ‘This will be an easy victory’, he said. Solan scoffed bitterly. Instead of a victory, he had blood flowing from his damn ears and over a hundred of his best men were either dead or missing! Solan planned to exile Lucas in front of everyone. It was the worse disgrace a lycan could suffer—to be a roaming pariah, not allowed to die a proper death in combat. Let him die slowly in jungle, like the rat he is, he thought.
“He was also taken by the Interrogators, sir,” one of his men replied.
Solan let out a disappointed grunt. This was a setback. Not that he cared about Lucas being in the hands of the Interrogators, the spy deserved whatever foul things they did to him. However, he had hoped to use Lucas to save face for defeat at the compound. He wanted to blame Lucas for the failure and still appear strong to his men. But with Lucas gone, he would need another plan.
He thought about Vincent’s prize woman—the human, Tess Logan. He still wanted her. Something about her made Vincent extremely protective of her. Something far beyond lust. What was it? Solan doubted the undead could experience true love—it had to be something else that Vincent saw in the girl. What secrets did the girl hold? “Did we capture any vampire prisoners?”
“Yes, sir, one.”
Solan grinned wickedly. “Bring the creature to me.”
*****
The vampire captive screamed like a woman by the time Solan was done with him. He was dead now—a bloody, pulpy mess lying on the ground. But before he died, he revealed some interesting information. Apparently, Tess Logan was some kind of Resistance agent. That was not surprising in itself—many of those condemned to Dark World once served the Resistance in some capacity. But according to the captive, this girl was different. She was a top operative and held a secret that could get them inside this world’s elusive Command Center, and access the controls inside. This was amazing news! However, the vampire captive could not provide specifics. He admitted he stole this knowledge from the girl one night while he guarded her room. But unlike Vincent, his telepathy was more limited, and he had dared not probe deeper in fear of getting caught. All the same, Solan had heard enough. The girl was the key to ruling all of Dark World, and he was not about to let Vincent benefit from this.
Solan gathered his men together and told them they would raid the abandoned prison and get vengeance against the Interrogators. This was a big gamble for Solan. A victory against the Interrogators would make him a legend among his men, and they would never again doubt his leadership. But if he lost this battle, his men would never follow him again, and he would most likely end up dead soon after. He had to win—he had no choice. He would win and would have Tess Logan and her secret. A secret that could rid him of the vampire nuisance forever.
*****
Paula was no longer in lycan form when she awoke alone in the prison cell. Her head was spinning and her ears still hurt like hell. When she finally opened her eyes, her heart nearly stopped. “Oh shit!” she cried out. “Paula Wright, what the hell have you gotten yourself into this time?” She was troubled to see that she was butt naked, but her surroundings were what bothered her the most. She was in a room about ten feet long and ten feet across. The walls were solid gray metal with numerous dent marks on them; there was an old, black stain smeared across one of the walls. Paula looked at the other end of the room. Someone, a long time ago, scrawled some graffiti on that part of the wall in his or her own blood. Time had long since faded the message, making it illegible—assuming it was legible when it was fresh.
There was no bed, and the toilet was little more than a foot long hole in the ground with a raised stone rim for sitting. Upon closer inspection, Paula discovered the toilet was some kind of vacuum designed to remove waste via suction. Paula shuddered. The thought of her squatting down against that thing to relieve herself was revolting. God knows how many nasty asses sat there.
Paula forced a short chuckle. “Looks like they hired the Devil to decorate this place—Hellfire Interior Decorating at your service!” She was desperate to find humor in her dire situation, in order to keep her spirits up. And she normally didn't talk to herself, but this place was so forbidding, even the sound of her own voice was comforting. Her mind went to Jerod. She wanted him with her so bad. Was he a prisoner too? If so, where was he being held? She ventured up to the “open” side of the cell. Actually it was well protected by a shimmering, translucent force field designed to deliver intense pain to whoever tried to touch it. Paula knew this from her training when she became a prison pilot. This force field was an older model, but it was just as effective as the newer ones. If she recalled correctly, these older models allowed sound to pass through them. This served as a source of great annoyance to prison guards, who had to listen to the prisoners yell crap at them all day. It was one of several reasons why modern prisons were upgraded to the newer soundproof versions. The geek in her couldn’t help but notice that this particular model of force field was known to emit an unhealthy amount of radiation over a long period of time. Not that the wardens cared—prisoners sick with cancer were quieter and better behaved.
With some reluctance, Paula stood in front of the force field and yelled, “Jerod? Are you there?” No response. She tried again, louder, “Jerod? Baby, are you there?”
“I’m here, baby”, a sharp, unfamiliar voice replied. A tall, thin man walked up to the cell, dressed in a leather red and black Interrogator’s uniform. He had a smug grin on his face. “I’m touched that you have such warm feelings toward me—and we haven’t even met yet...baby.”
Paula sneered with disgust. “I wasn’t talking about you, Interrogator. I was referring to my mat—my man, Jerod Marks. He’s a very dangerous man. I don’t think he’ll be too happy with me being held captive.”
“Oh, I thought you had said ‘Jorgan’. My apologies. The walls around here echo so badly, it distorts sound.” Jorgan feigned shame before returning to his usual smirk. “As far as your ‘dangerous man’ is concerned, I believe we left him back at the compound, passed out on the floor, drooling. The only reason he is still alive is that we simply didn't have the time to waste.”
Paula kept her face neutral. She succeeded tricking the Interrogator into telling her that her Jerod was safe and not in prison, or worse. Now she had one more card to play, as weak as it may be. “In case you didn’t know,” she said, “My name is Paula Wright—Lieutenant Paula Wright—scan my retinas if you don’t believe me. We have the same boss, we both serve the Overseers.”
Jorgan look amused. He gave a mock salute and leered at her bare breasts. “Really, baby? Tell me more.”
Paula clenched her teeth. This Jorgan person obviously loved his job. He loved to torture people, physically, mentally, and emotionally. “I’m not your damn baby. Are you going to scan my retinas or not?”
Jorgan’s voice turned cold, “I don’t need to. I performed a thorough background check on everyone on the space plane at the time of the crash—even the dead ones. On a Dark World, you can never be too careful. Judging from your picture profile, you are indeed Lieutenant Paula Wright in service of the Overseer government as a prison shuttle pilot.” Jorgan put on an expression of exaggerated surprise. “But wait, there’s more! You were born in a backwoods little world that’s used as an agricultural biosphere. Needless to say, you have no political or social connections—in other words, in spite of your rank—you are a nobody. Although you possess considerable flying talent, you were blacklisted from all the really good piloting jobs, so you ended up ferrying prisoners for a living. And you wouldn’t have even gotten that job if you didn’t fuck the two officers sent to retrieve your brother.”
“Stop it!” Paula yelled. Tears of fury welled in her eyes.
“Yes, yes, I know all about you, Paula Wright. Much more than what a simple retina scan could tell me. In fact, after my mission has concluded here, I plan to pay your brother and mother a little visit. Your brother may very well find himself stationed as a guard after all. I’ll recommend that he go to good old Sector 12. The criminals there love to use guards as target practice.” Jorgan laughed. “And your dear mother...well, I looked up her file, and she is an attractive older woman. A fine specimen, and a widow.” His voice turned deep and full of lust. “All of that good pussy going to waste. She must horny as hell after all this years alone. Maybe I can get her to do for me, what you did for those officers—what do you think, Lieutenant?”
“You twisted bastard, you leave my family out of this!”
Just at that moment, a piercing scream filled the air. It didn’t sound quite human. Whatever it was, it was coming from the cell next door.
“You hear that?” Jorgan said excitedly. “That’s your fellow lycan—he told me his name was Lucas. Do you know him?”
Paula said nothing, so Jorgan continued.
“While you were taking a beauty nap, we decided to...run a few experiments on Lucas. As a side note to my main mission, the Overseers wanted me to see if we could play around with some lycan DNA and see what happens. Our only field scientist was killed at the compound, so I had to improvise a bit. But I dare say, I came up with some very impressive results.”
Paula couldn’t stand Lucas, but he was a saint compared to this monster. “What did you do to him?” she demanded.
“Oh, a little of this, a little of that. I was limited to the biological agents our scientist had on our ship and the equipment here at the prison. Nevertheless, I made a breakthrough. We altered your lycan friend on a genetic level, improving on his existing genome. I call my creation Xenovirus 614. I’m so proud of myself.”
Another scream echoed out next door.
“After we finished our experiment, we tossed Lucas in his cell so he could—how should I put it—ripen. And from the sounds of things, I think his transformation is just about complete.”
Jorgan pulled out a remote control device and pointed it at Paula’s cell. Suddenly, part of the sidewall, the part with the graffiti, began to slide back, removing the barrier separating her cell and the cell next door. That’s when she saw Lucas—or rather—what Lucas had become. Shambling toward her was a large, swollen creature, grayish in color. It looked more like a thing molded out of clay by a young child than a real living being. It was naked and walked on two feet, but with a limp, due to its swollen groin. And it stunk. There was no hair on the creature’s body, and its lumpy, mottled skin was greasy and wet. It hissed at Paula with long fangs and then licked its pale lips. The creature stared at Paula with its bulging red eyes; Paula was so horrified, she barely heard Jorgan in the background.
“You see, Paula,” Jorgan said, “a masterpiece. Lucas is no longer an intelligent creature—he lives for one thing and one thing only, and that’s to mate. After he mates with you, I’ll have you separated from him. Otherwise, he would probably kill you. I could have simply implanted his sperm in your womb, but I’ve always been a bit old fashioned at heart. So why not have it done the old fashioned way? It will be interesting to see what you give birth to, don’t you agree?”
As Jorgan turned away to leave, he added, “By the way, you disappointed me, Paula Wright. I was led to believe you were an exceptionally smart woman. And yet, you thought pulling rank on me would work? That’s especially pathetic, since I’m a captain and I outrank you anyway. But did you really think the Overseers would give a damn about a virus-infected mutant like you? Oh well, your career as a pilot was a bust, let’s see how well you do as an experimental breeder!”
Paula watched Jorgan leave the area out of the corner of her eye as the creature that was once Lucas advanced on her. Paula shook her head, “Well I’ll be damned if I let you mate with me, Commander Ugly-As-Shit!” Paula shouted, trying to sound braver than she felt.
The creature growled and made a grab for her, Paula leaped out of the way and allowed the wolf-woman inside her to come out. She transformed in mid-leap and raked her lycan claws across the creature’s extended arm. The creature howled in pain, but his bleeding wound closed and sealed itself immediately, like magic. It made another attempt to grab Paula and failed. Then another. The two moved around the prison cell in a constant dance of grab and dodge. Paula was beginning to get tired, but the creature showed no signs of letting up. Suddenly, the creature changed its tactics and lowered his body, charging Paula with a powerful head-butt. Paula felt her body hit the metal wall—hard; she became aware of the sickening sound of her own ribs cracking. She managed to roll out of the way, just as the creature tried to wrap its arms around her. Even in her lycan form, she was no match for this creature’s brute strength. The dance continued. Now, here she was—with her back to the force field, and her front facing the creature. There was nowhere to go.
Think, Paula, think! Paula said to herself. She was fading fast, and losing consciousness while the creature was still alive and it was not an option—she knew what would happen then. Ignoring the pain in her side, Paula stood tall to face the creature head on. Then an idea came to her mind. It was crazy, but it could work. Paula thought back to her early training days when she had to take a series of self-defense classes, to defend herself in the event a prisoner tried to take over the space plane. Paula thought she would never have to use that training since all prison shuttle flights had at least two guards for every one prisoner aboard. She prayed she still remembered the techniques. She lowered her stance and timed her body to swivel just as the creature charged at her. Suddenly, she was behind the creature, and she quickly locked one of its massive arms behind its back, using it as leverage to push the creature forward into the force field. The creature’s own momentum worked against it, and it slammed into the force field at full speed. Loud buzzing sounded in the air as the creature made contact. Paula could feel the vibrations from the force field and a little pain, but it was nothing compared to what the creature must had been experiencing. It was naked, after all—with its front half firmly pressed against an invisible wall of pain. With all her remaining strength, Paula shoved herself against the creature, forcing it to stay in contact with the powerful force field. The creature screamed in pain and tried to get free, but Paula held firm; the pain from the force field had weakened the creature significantly.
“That’s right, balls to the wall, ugly,” Paula growled. “If you want to fuck something, fuck the freakin’ force field!”
Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Paula’s lycan ears heard the heartbeat of the creature stop. She waited another five minutes before letting the creature fall to the floor. After seeing how quickly it healed, she wasn’t taking any chances. Now, she was sure it was dead. Thank god, it was dead. Paula sank to her knees with exhaustion and pain. She won this round, but what would happen when Jorgan came back? What sick plans did he have in store for her next? Paula was an independent woman, but this one time she needed her man, her mate, Jerod, she thought. Jerod where are you?