Apocalypse: Bloodline Awakening

5.The First Hunt

Chapter 

The werewolf’s jaws snapped shut with the sound of a closing bear trap, missing Ren’s neck by a fraction of a millimeter. Ren slammed his palm against the creature’s snout, the force of his own strike jarring his shoulder.

"You really need to work on your aim, pup," Ren gasped, rolling backward through the slick oil and glass.

"Shut up! Your blood… it smells like a lie!" the werewolf roared, its voice vibrating with a bestial, discordant frequency. "An impostor! A street-rat playing god!"

Ren scrambled to his feet, his chest heaving. "Hey, you’re the one getting all dramatic! I’m just trying to keep my head attached to my neck. Why don't you go find a fire hydrant and calm down?"

"I will tear the lie out of your marrow!" The beast lunged, its massive paws shredding the brickwork where Ren had stood a second before.

"Man, you really are obsessed with my insides," Ren yelled, darting behind a concrete pillar. "You know, usually, people buy me a drink before they start talking about dissecting me."

"Die!" The werewolf swung a massive, furred arm, shattering the pillar into dust.

Ren felt the debris rain down on him, his skin prickling with the heat of the system’s encroaching power. "You’re getting sloppy, dog breath. You’re swinging like a blind kid in a toy store."

"I am the alpha! My kin are coming! You will be nothing but scrap!" The creature skidded, its claws digging deep, smoking grooves into the street.

"Scrap, huh?" Ren wiped a smear of blood from his lip, his golden eyes narrowing. "Tell you what. How about we make a deal? You stop trying to eat me, and I stop trying to turn you into a rug."

"You have no power here, thief!"

"Thief? I didn't steal this," Ren hissed, the violet light in his veins pulsing brighter. "I earned it by surviving. What did you do? Just grow fur and bark at the moon?"

"I was forged in the void!" The werewolf gathered itself, muscles coiling like tension springs.

"Great, so you’re a reject," Ren countered, crouching low. "And you’re about to be a dead one."

The werewolf launched itself, a grey blur of rage and teeth. "Die!"

Ren didn't run. He leaned into the shadow, his voice a low, dangerous hum. "Shadow Step."

He vanished, the air crackling with dark energy. The werewolf slammed into the empty space where Ren had been, stumbling forward from its own momentum. Ren reappeared directly beneath the beast, his hand glowing with a sick, violet light.

"Your turn," Ren whispered.

He thrust his hand upward, his talons elongating into obsidian blades. They sheared through the werewolf’s chest as if it were soft butter. The beast shrieked, the sound tearing through the silent alley like a dying engine.

"No… this… this shouldn't be…" the creature wheezed, falling to its knees, its yellow eyes flickering.

Ren stood over him, breathing heavily. "Like I said. Too slow."

"They… they are… already here…" the werewolf rasped, blood bubbling from its snout. "You cannot hide… from the pack."

"The pack?" Ren kicked the creature’s cooling paw away. "Let them come. I’m just getting started."

"You are nothing," the beast coughed, its head lolling back as the light faded from its eyes.

"I’m the guy who’s still breathing," Ren muttered, looking down at his hands. They were trembling, stained with the monster’s dark, viscous life force.

[ System Alert: Biological assimilation successful. ]

[ Essence Absorbed: +50. Evolution Progress: 18%. ]

"Eighteen percent," Ren whispered, his voice sounding hollow to his own ears. "Is that all a life is worth? A couple of percentage points?"

He looked around the alleyway. The silence was heavy, broken only by the distant, rhythmic thumping of something massive moving through the lower district. The werewolf wasn't lying; it was a scout.

"Great. Just great," Ren grumbled, dragging his sleeve across his brow. "I kill one and ten more show up to the party. Does anyone ever just leave me alone?"

He felt the vibration before he heard it, the low, harmonic hum of a high-altitude drone passing overhead.

"Oh, look, the government is watching," Ren sneered, pointing a bloody finger at the sky. "You like the show, boys? Want to send more drones? I’ve got plenty of room for target practice."

"Target locked," a mechanical voice chirped from the darkness above. "Anomaly detected. Engaging thermal-barrage protocol."

"Thermal what now?" Ren frowned, his heart hammering against his ribs. "You gotta be kidding me."

A red laser sight painted a dot directly on his forehead.

"Nice," Ren said, a manic, jagged grin spreading across his face. "You want to play with lasers? I can play with lasers."

"Targeting complete," the drone hummed, its turbine spinning up to a high-pitched whine.

"Hey, buddy!" Ren yelled at the sky, his hands clenching into claws. "You missed the main event! The dog is dead, and the courier is still on his shift!"

"Initiating strike."

Ren felt the air grow hot, the smell of ozone overwhelming the scent of rotting refuse. The shadows around him began to writhe, agitated by his escalating heart rate.

"System," Ren hissed, "do something! I don't feel like being turned into charcoal!"

[ Skill Activated: Veil of the Abyss. Consumption: 15% Essence. ]

A thick, oily black mist erupted from his pores, swirling around him like a living cloak. It was cold, unnaturally cold, dampening the heat of the incoming barrage.

"What the hell is this?" Ren watched as the black tendrils wove themselves into a dome, shielding him from view.

"Thermal signature lost," the drone’s voice faltered. "Re-scanning… error… signal interference detected."

Ren crouched within the mist, his eyes glowing like embers in the dark. He could feel the eyes of the city on him—the drones, the watchers, the hidden things that had been waiting for the blood to wake.

"Can you see me now?" Ren whispered into the shadows, his voice a low, predatory purr.

He stood up, the mist clinging to his frame, making him look like a phantom rising from the grave. He knew the pack was nearby, drawn by the scent of the blood he had just spilled. He knew Kael was still out there, hunting for a reason to put him down.

"Everything is changing," he muttered to himself, the system screen flashing a final, cryptic message in his peripheral vision.

[ System Update: True Awakening Sequence initiated. Next phase: Consumption of the Hunter. ]

Ren looked toward the main road, where the distant, rhythmic thud of armored boots was getting louder. He turned his gaze toward the dark, narrow alleys where the glow of yellow eyes shimmered like distant stars.

"Let them come," Ren whispered, his claws twitching. "I’m not a courier anymore. I’m the thing they’re supposed to be afraid of."

He felt a deep, hollow hunger clawing at his belly, a craving for more power, more essence, more of whatever kept this fire alive.

"Hey," he said, catching a reflection of his own face in a shattered window nearby. His eyes were no longer human. They were vertical, golden, and terrifyingly cold. "You’re really going to do this, aren't you? You’re really going to burn the whole city down just to stay alive."

The reflection didn't answer. It only mirrored his jagged, blood-stained grin.

The sound of the pack was closer now, a chorus of growls, snarls, and the metallic scraping of blades against concrete. They weren't hiding anymore. They were coming to claim what he had taken.

"I hope you’re hungry," Ren whispered to the mist.

He took a step forward, the pavement cracking under his weight, the black fog rippling around him like a shroud.

"Because I am," he added, his voice echoing with the weight of something ancient and terrible. "And I don't think I’m done eating yet."

He stepped out from behind the shroud of his own making, right into the path of the approaching pack, his shadow stretching out to cover the entire street.

The first of the wolves rounded the corner, its eyes wide with shock, then terror, as it saw the thing waiting in the dark.

Ren didn't wait. He blurred, the black mist trailing behind him like a cape of death.

"Welcome to my shift," he growled.

And then, the street went silent, save for the sound of tearing flesh and the rhythmic, hungry heartbeat of the demon.

The system screen flashed one last time before fading to black.

[ Warning: You are being hunted by the entire district. Survival probability: 0.04%. ]

"Good," Ren whispered, his claws sinking into the throat of the first predator. "I like those odds."