They couldn't have been the same ones he and Ashton had fought.
The blood—the smell of it so vile thinking about it now made him sick—had been everywhere. It had been a battle field. The thick fur under one of his hands and the handle of his blade in his other. The sickening sound of skin being torn echoed in his ears. The warmth from the blood as it sprayed all over him.
The Hounds ran toward the Hunters. They looked small in the distance, but Ren knew just how big they were. The Hunters were dwarfed in comparison. The thick black hairs of the Hounds stood up. They snarled as they flew through the air.
As if in slow motion, they soared toward the Hunters. There were three of them, lined up in a pack position with one leading and two following.
Just as the Hounds passed the last line of trees blocking a clear shot, the Hunters fired.
The sound of the shots blared in Ren's eardrums. He threw his hands over his ears, too shocked to think about if he'd drawn attention to him and Ashton. The sound pierced him and went through his body. His ears ached as he watched the mayhem erupt down below.
The Hunters kept shooting. The Hounds snarled as blood splattered the forest floor. They halted there, thrashing as if they were trying to fling the bullets off their large bodies.
"Fucking—" Malcolm clicked his gun, but there were no bullets left. He fell behind Kenny and Remy. "Cover me!"
He got no answer as the two continued to rain fire on the Hounds.
Ren's jaw dropped as the Hounds hadn't dropped yet though they had been shot close to a hundred times.
Kenny hollered, jumping when he ran out of bullets. "This is what I'm talking about!"
Malcolm sent him a glare as he cocked his gun and went back to shooting at the Hounds. Kenny kept on grinning as he reloaded his gun.
Remy was the only one who looked unfazed by the impressive show the Hounds were giving. She had more than one gun and was flicking between the two like she was flinging Pez candy. She reloaded them two more times and emptied the magazines before she fell back behind the other two men.
She was sweating. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.
"This isn't working!" She yelled at the men's backs. "It's not enough!"
The men ignored her. They kept shooting.
The Hounds were creeping closer. They were a bloody mess, but as the Hunters started to lose their rapid speed of fire, the Hounds started to get used to the constant pain.
The one in the front opened its large jaw and growled so loud the ground shook. The trees shivered and Ren could feel the rumble all the way to where he crouched.
Saliva dripped down the large canine fangs. The Hounds hunched over in a crouching position ready to strike.
The men ran out of bullets at the same time.
Remy now looked horrified.
The Hounds shook their bodies, flinging blood and mud everywhere. Bullets dropped down from their healed skin, the bullet holes in the fur closing up to look as if nothing had happened.
Remy took a step back and that was when the Hounds launched.
They soared through the air, lunging at each of the Hunters respectively. Remy and Kenny dodged the attacks, but Malcolm wasn't as lucky. The Hound, snapped its large jaws around the arm was holding his gun. He yelled out as the Hound's fangs sunk into his skin.
Ren winced as the scent of blood hit the air. The Hounds' blood was vile—the worst thing he'd ever smelled. But the smell of human blood was savory. It made his stomach growl and his fangs ache. He clenched his knees, fighting the compulsion to chase the scent.
The dark thing wanted to see just how the Hunters tasted. It wanted to know what it was missing and watching the Hounds fight with the Hunters was setting it off more than anything else had. It was scratching at Ren's insides. The wild thrashing inside him felt like there was actually something inside of him.
Ashton crouched beside him. Ren knew Ashton knew. He could feel it once more in the air like a summer rain falling on his warm face. He ached to get closer to that warmth, to be closer to Ashton like he was starving for the sun. The thing was getting twisted inside him. It was torn between staying by Ashton's side or jumping down into the river of blood cutting through the forest.
"I can't do this," he said, hating how small he sounded. He whispered the admission, but it felt like he was screaming it to the rest of the world.
And when Ashton just turned his head, slanting a look at him that almost screamed bedroom eyes, Ren's gut clenched so much he thought he was having a heart attack. No. It wasn't that. He was just losing his mind which he never had in the first place.
Ashton surprised him. He didn't press his lips into a hard line. He didn't curl his lips into a cruel scowl.
He simply look at Ren with an open expression that made Ren feel like he was being cut open. His insides were bare to Ashton, so vulnerable his body was no longer his own.
"Can you?"
Words so soft Ren chased them in the wind. He caught them and held them. Seconds ticked by faster than time itself could comprehend. Ren's eyes flickered over Ashton's face. He was searching for the hidden lie. It had to be there. The deception had to be there because no Mantel was without a cruel reality lurking beneath the surface.
He didn't find anything. The air was clear of any malice.
His heart twisted like thorned vines. His body wilted as the sounds of screams and snarled filled the air.
His eyes fell down to Ashton's mouth.
He wanted to kiss him.
In this bloody war, he wanted to kiss Ashton Mantel before he died.
The moment split. The reality was shattered as Ren felt something more shocking went through him.
A bullet. It shot through him like an arrow hitting a bullseye. Electricity flowed through him and at that moment he thought he was dying.
But it wasn't a pain he'd ever felt before. A split second later, he realized this wasn't his own pain he was feeling.
He whipped his head and stared down in shock at the fight still going on. The Hunters actively fighting two of the Hounds. They had ditched their guns and had instead gone for knives. They each had two of them, wielding them like they'd been doing this all their lives. Ren didn't doubt that. He'd heard the rumors that Hunters were raised from babies to be vampire killing machines.
But that wasn't what had caught his attention.
The third Hound that had shown up wasn't fighting. It was hunched over on the forest floor. It was snarling, revealing its gums. Drool dropped in buckets, slimy to the point of looking artificial.
Ren couldn't look away. The blood that poured from the open wounds was like a mirror showing him everything he'd gotten wrong about the world. He was forced to realize this was a living creature. It didn't matter if it was an animal meant to hurt him or was sent to kill as many people as it could. The one fact that rang above anything else was that this creature was in pain.
The pain was shooting through him as if it was his own pain. He tried to shake it off, but it kept coming back, clawing at every fiber of his being.
The emotions were flying through the air. They were targeted at him as if the Hound knew he could feel it all.
But the Hound hadn't even looked at him yet.
It was panting, clamoring at the ground as it tried to pull itself up, but even using all its strength, it wasn't strong enough to fight against the dragging weight of its wounds. It barred its teeth, warning the invisible threat, and snarled as savagely as it could.
Slowly, it turned its head. The way it did so looked like it already knew what it was going to see. When it looked in Ren's direction, he knew then that the Hound had sensed him just as much as he had sensed it.
There was no greater reaction that soared through his veins or any strike of lightning through his nerves. When the large beast locked eyes with him, there was nothing outside the two of them. The snarl dropped from the Hound's face as it stared back at him. Its pure black eyes captured his full attention. His thoughts melted away as he was forced to feel all the emotions felt by the Hound.
And then, the Hound snapped out of the calm storm. It crouched and snarled the loudest it could, no longer weighed down by the immense pain it was going through.
Ren's eyes widened. He scrambled back and reached for Ashton as the Hound charged up the hill toward them.
His hand wrapped around Ashton's arm and he didn't think as he yanked him back. They stumbled in together, but it didn't matter.
"Go!"
He shoved Ashton forward. And when he turned his back to the Hound, he knew they weren't going to escape without getting into another fight.
The ground felt like a conveyer going in the opposite direction than his feet. It was pulling him back, taking him right to the Hound so it could tear him limb from limb. He lost his grip on Ashton's arm. They diverged, but they were still going in the same direction.
His heart lodged in his throat. He struggled to get his feet to move faster. He was running and running as fast as he could, but it wasn't fast enough.
The panic settled deep inside of him, wringing his stomach of everything he'd eaten the hours before. He was glad he'd lost his appetite from all the stress.
The forest went on forever and there was no end in sight. He panted and heaved as he rushed past it all, not at all thinking about where he was going just as long as he was moving away from the Hound. The thoughts were following him, whispering in his ear. They were muffled feelings mixed with his own. The thing buzzed with agitation. It wanted to be a part of this. It wanted to break free from the cage and soaked its hands in the blood of the Hound.
Ren clenched his teeth. He fought as much as he could to stop the thing from rising to the surface. He could feel it slowly pluck his nerves, taking them as its own so it could control his body. He was the one trapped within the cage now.
The thing was in control.
He stopped. His feet were heavy cement. He couldn't move them.
"Ren!"
Ren ignored Ashton's loud yell. He turned around. He stared into the dark forest. The shadows enveloped the trees and the underbrush in dark film. Everything was coated with the darkness, but Ren didn't need to see to know the Hound was close by.
He could hear it and he could feel it. The emotions felt like they were being hurled at him as if the Hound knew he could communicate with it.
Blood rushed in his ears. One second the Hound was at the ledge of the hill and then the next second it was right in front of him.
"Fuck!" Ashton stepped right between the Hound and Ren.
The Hound leaped through the air. Its large body crashed on the ground right into front of Ren. Ashton shouted once more, but the Hound's ear piercing howl shattered the words from his mouth. Ren stood tall as the Hound lowered its snout and gazed directly into his eyes. That split second sent shock waves through his body.
But those red eyes held so much evil it matched the thing inside of him. The cocky grin stretched across his face was still though it was hollow. The thing twisted in Ren's body growled back at the Hound.
Suddenly, Ren was knocked to the side. Just as he was tackled to the ground, the Hound snapped its jaws where he'd been standing.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?"
Ren gaped up at Ashton.
He was seething. His narrowed red eyes were burning with rage and frustration. His dark blond hair had fallen down, draping around his pretty face like a halo. Ren gasped for breath. The wind had been knocked out of him and his back was screaming in pain.
And then, before he could react, Ashton yanked him off the ground.
But they weren't fast enough.
The Hound knocked Ashton to the side.
Then, it finally clamped its teeth onto Ren.
Ren tried to scream. It was drowned by the blood flooding his mouth. With his mouth hanging open, he looked down and saw a large gaping wound in the middle of his stomach. He was mesmerized by the blood oozing from it.
He drooled. The red opaque string of saliva dripped down his chin and fell to the darkness that made up the forest floor.
The Hound tightened its mouth around him. He tried to scream once more and again it was lost to the sickening gurgle in his mouth. The Hound dragged him to the ground. His limbs were weak with shock and pain.
The sharp splinters of pain shot through him. The large teeth of the Hound cut like hot metal and seared his skin just the same.
Ashton shot through he darkness. He jumped onto the back of the Hound. Neither of them had any weapons.
Ashton punched down at the Hound's snout. He missed the first and second time, the Hound thrashing its head as it tried to get Ashton off of it. Ren was a bundle of fiery nerves. The shots of pain awoke the thing once more and he was overtaken.
The third time Ashton didn't miss. His fist struck the Hunter between the eyes and on the bridge of his snout. The Hound let go of Ren and whined as it was repeatedly struck in the face. Ashton clung to the Hound as it tried to throw him off its back. He gripped its thick hide and kept hitting it any chance he got.
Ren wasn't thinking when he sat up. The pain shooting through him froze him for a second, but the thing relished in it. The pain was just as powerful as a taste of blood. Ren's gums throbbed and he couldn't stop his fangs from coming out. The smell of the Hound's blood was the most disgusting thing he'd ever smelled, yet, the thing was so out of control it didn't care.
Under the thing's control, Ren ran at the Hound at full force. The searing pain in his gut was a throbbing spot in the background. He sunk his hands into the Hound's thick fur, gripped the coarse fibers, and sunk his teeth in. It was like ripping through vinyl. His jaw ached and his fangs throbbed under the pressure.
As much as he wanted to gag, the thing had much better control over his body than he did. It pushed down the bile waiting to be spilled.
KillKillKill
Soon, all Ren could think about was killing. The disgust settled into the back of his head and all there was left was the unsettling need to shred things apart.
Blood filled his mouth. It was like oil, slimy and hard to even keep in his mouth. But he was encouraged by the howls of the Hound—the screams of pain combined with agony. He pushed his fangs as deep as they would go, ignoring the unsettling ache that felt like they were going to be pulled out of his skull.
The Hound thrashed harder, swiping at him with its large paws. Ren screamed into the Hound's fur as he was hit, but that only made him clamp down harder. He pulled his head back as he pushed outward with his hands. He felt the rough skin tearing.
He was mentally bashed with so much pain and misery he was almost floored by it. If it wasn't for the thing being in control, he would have passed out.
He spat the chunk of flesh blindly out. The blood smeared all over his face, but he didn't think twice about it before he went back for a second piece. He ripped the second chunk out with no problem, but when he turned his head to spit it out, Ashton was thrown off its back and it snapped at Ren.
He threw his arm up at the last second.
Ren gritted his teeth as its teeth sunk down to the bone.
Its red eyes locked with his.
He couldn't read thoughts, but at that moment, he felt like he could.
This Hound knew him.
That one look created a black hole in Ren's universe. He was staring down into the Hound's red eyes, no longer wondering just why it was here, but why the Hound knew him.
But the second was lost when Ashton stepped in front of the two. Ren felt him—not just with the new power he had but he just knew where Ashton was all the time now.
The Hound looked up, breaking the intense stare between the two of them.
"Eat! Shit!"
Ashton brought down the large log hard on the Hound's head.
The large animal swayed and tripped over its own feet on its way to the ground. It let out a high pitched whimper that would have made Ren feel bad for it if it hadn't been trying to kill him just a moment before.
Ren watched as the Hound fell on its side. It struggled to get up with its neck bleeding, but Ren could already see the tissue patching up.
They were stronger than last time. Bullets nor ripping out their throats was going to stop them.
"Let's go," Ashton eerily said.
Ren looked away from the bloody mess in front of him and tilted his head up to look at Ashton. He was standing above Ren, still holding the log. He was godly in that moment. With his cheeks flushed a dark pink and his hair disheveled, he looked like someone straight out of a Renaissance painting.
Ren gaped, not able to move because he was enraptured in Ashton's beauty.
"Holy shit," he choked out. Ashton looked down at him with a quizzical look. "You're really fucking strong."
Ashton snorted and shook his head. He threw the log away. "That's the first thing you say?"
Perhaps it was silly, but Ren wasn't fucking wrong. Ashton has bashed the Hound in like he was playing wack-a-mole. How the hell was Ren supposed to just gloss past that?
He was just thinking about what else would get Ashton so flushed when the Hound let out a growl.
Ashton didn't have to tell him twice to get out of there. Ren jumped to his feet and immediately regretted it.
"Ah, fuck!" He doubled over.
Ashton was at his side, pressing his hand lightly to Ren's back without being asked.
Ren ground his teeth to the point they felt like they were going to shatter under the pressure. He heaved as the pain came hurling back. It was no longer chained beneath the thing's rage. Unleashed, it was wreaking havoc across Ren's body and mind. Tears ran down his face, but he didn't sob. He wasn't crying. He just couldn't hold back the emotions any longer.
Everything he'd felt during the fight was coming to the surface and his body couldn't handle it. His mind couldn't handle it.
"Can you move?" Ashton was stiller there. He hadn't left.
Ren was thankful for that. Even if he hated Ashton—hated the Mantels—he was glad Ashton hadn't left him behind.
And even if he was only saving Ren because of the deal they made, he was still thankful.
Ren opened his mouth. He could feel the Hound regaining its strength. It was still partially in his head—he didn't know any other way to describe it. It was there with its intrusive feelings and emotions that made it too hard to listen to his own.
But he just knew he needed to get out of there.
The Hound wasn't here for the Hunters. It wasn't even here for revenge or to slaughter anything it could get its hands on.
It was after him.
And the other ones were on their way.
He let out a little puff of air. He struggled to fully stand up straight, especially with the large gash in his side. This was way worse than the bite in his shoulder.
This was like the Hound had gutted him and trailed his insides out to the forest floor.
The blood had turned sour in his mouth. Ashton held him—loosely and delicately like he was afraid his strength would snap Ren in two. Ren wasn't going to admit he felt exactly like that nor was he going to refuse the help offered to him.
He might regret it in the future if Ashton decided to use it against him. He wasn't sure how that would work in Ashton's favor—or what he would want in return—but he just knew Ashton would find a way to manipulate any of Ren's weaknesses.
The Hound was moving again. The warmth of Ashton's hand settled some of his nerves. But the rest of what remained of his calmness was dashed away when he heard the sounds of the Hunters heading in their direction.
"Fuck." Ashton turned his head to the right and then the left. He shouldered most of Ren's weight.
Ren coughed as he tried to put on a smirk, but it came out looking more like a grimace.
"You're strong enough to sling around a fucking tree trunk, but you can't carry me?"
Ashton didn't look down at him. He held Ashton close as he dragged his almost limp body hopefully in the opposite of all the chaos.
"Have you not heard of adrenaline?"
It was supposed to be snarky Ren guessed, but neither of them were in the right mind to be teasing each other.
They were going to die if they didn't get out of this fucking forest. And it was all Ashton's fault. Everything was Ashton-fucking-Mantel's fault.
Ashton was still strong. He was pulling almost all of Ren's weight and he wasn't exactly light. Ren tried to pick up his feet as much as he could, but he was quickly losing his strength. He hissed as he looked down at the deep bite on his side. He wasn't a fast healer. He was lucky the bite on his shoulder hadn't been as bad as it could have been.
That was the only time he was glad he was part vampire. It would have been a bitch to stay in bed for months while he healed.
This time was far worse. His insides were starting to mend, the agonizing feeling of his flesh stitching together invited more pain. He felt the thing twisting inside of him, but it was staying under. It wanted to continue to fight yet for some reason it was fine with being locked away for the moment.
Ren really didn't understand what caused it to go out of control. He didn't even understand what it was or why it was affecting him.
But if the Hound had been any indication, he believed the Hound had recognized the thing inside of him. Was that what the Hound was after?
Was he fucking possessed?
At that thought, a shockwave of red hot pain shot all over his body. He cried out, clutching his side as he went down on his knees. Ashton held him up as much as he could, but he hadn't been prepared to catch all of Ren's deadweight.
Ashton frantically pulling Ren up, holding him tight against his side.
"They're coming. We have to go." The panic in Ashton's voice didn't help to calm Ren's racing heart.
"I know," he weakly said.
We're going to be killed because of me.
For a second, he thought about just giving up right there. He was sure Ashton would be happy to leave him behind, to sacrifice him to the Hounds and the Hunters. If it wasn't for the deal they made with each other, maybe that would have happened.
But things weren't like that. They were tied to each other.
Ren forced himself to keep moving. He felt Ashton's eyes on him, but he didn't want to see the judgement in them. He was weak. He knew that. He didn't need a reminder.
Ashton looked away and Ren only had a second of relief before he found out what Ashton was looking at.
Ren looked at him then. He saw the deathly angel—the vampire that had been like a fever dream in the forest. He also saw the hidden monster, the thing he'd been afraid of when he looked at his reflection.
Ashton's eyes hardened.
Ren turned his head.
The Hunters.
The two men were standing over the body of the fallen Hound. They had it pinned down and were gutting it before it had the time to recover.
And the woman—Remy—had her guns pointed at him and Ashton.