Part Five: Rewind - a

Kendra wanted to rip out Drake’s throat right then and there. The minute she had Casey safe and out of the diner, she was going to end him but as she looked across the table, caught his eye and immediately, her power seemed to activate. She still wasn’t sure how it operated but it was usually without her really doing anything on a conscious level. A second ago, she was furiously trying to figure out how to safely kill Drake, and the next she was standing inside some vast, white void. She’d never seen anything like it before and as she glanced around, she found the vampire king about a dozen feet away, his arms folded across his chest.

“Why couldn’t you leave well enough alone?” Drake demanded. “I brought you the girl to keep her away from Bendis. There was no need for…” He gestured all around him. “Whatever this is.”

Kendra stared at him without answering. A sudden thought hit her. She could kill him in this place. She could do it and she had a feeling that his real life counterpart would be as good as dead. Braindead, maybe. Turned to dust? She wasn’t entirely sure but she was definitely going to find out.

Drake seemed to sense her intentions and he frowned. His eyes gained a hard glint to them and he put his hands up in a fighting stance.

Kendra took her chance without batting an eye and let her alpha state explode out of her. She got to Drake in a flash, swiping one of her huge, clawed hands directly at his face. He ducked under it and punched her exposed abdomen. The blow was strong enough to force the air out of her lungs but she only staggered backward a couple of steps. Drake took the opportunity to get closer to her again and hit her with several sharp, painful jabs that were immediately followed up with a devastating uppercut. Her head jerked back painfully and she nearly went to the floor. She stayed on her feet, her head still ringing from Drake’s blow, and lashed out with a powerful kick. Drake almost managed to dodge the blow but just a bit too slow. Part of it connected with his shoulder and the force of it was enough to spin him around. It was Kendra’s turn to go on the offensive. She lunged at him as he staggered back and slashed him across his chest. Wounds opened up there as her claws easily sliced through his clothes and skin. She saw thick, sluggish blood oozing out of them. He fell back and clutched his chest, his face screwed up with sudden pain. Kendra slashed him again, this time, catching him across his left cheek.

Drake grunted but when Kendra lashed out at him a third time, he caught her wrist and stopped her cold. He squeezed and crushed it in one hand, giving her a cold look just to piss her off even more.

The next couple of minutes was an all out brawl as werewolf alpha and vampire king tried their best to kill each other. Kendra ended up with several more crushed bones and bleeding wounds while Drake sustained even more slashes all over his body. The resulting battle was so intense that it was actually making them tired and their powerful assaults got slower and slower. Despite that, they still continued fighting. Kendra eventually got the upper hand and had her hand clenched around Drake’s throat, squeezing and squeezing. Then some invisible force surrounded her, picked her up, and sent her flying several feet away to hover several inches above the ground.

“That will be enough of that,” a voice said. A familiar voice.

Kendra managed to turn her head around and when she did, she found her mother standing there, staring back at her. She was young and beautiful again. Her features were vibrant and lively. Whatever this place was, it definitely seemed to suit her.

Kendra let her alpha state melt off her, suddenly feeling very ashamed at being a werewolf in front of her. As she returned to her human state, clothing came out of nowhere to wrap around her. The shirt was a black tank top featuring characters from her favorite comic book, Hybrid Earth. When she was a teenager, she had been obsessed with it. She wondered, idly, how her mother would’ve known that but considering the immense power she was currently displaying, Kendra couldn’t rule out anything.

“Mom?” she asked.

Drake looked at Helen.

“You,” he said. He was staring at Helen with a mixture of surprise and awe. She looked different than the wasted, old version of herself he’d first met in a place very similar to the one he now found himself in. But the eyes. There was no denying those eyes. This was the same woman that had masqueraded as his dead wife in that dreamlike world he’d been stuck in right before he was turned into a vampire. “I thought you were a dream.”

“I assure you,” Helen said. “I am not a dream. My daughter can attest to that. Can’t you Kendra?”

Kendra was still too shocked to say anything.

“Well, she’ll confirm that when the shock of all this wears off.” Helen waved a hand and soft, plush furniture spawned in from out of nowhere. She took a seat in a chair facing a lone sofa that was clearly meant for both Kendra and Drake to sit on together. In front of the sofa was an ornate coffee table with a dark, espresso finish. A single, lit candle was in the center that wafted out pleasant smells of pumpkin, apple, and molasses. Helen gestured toward the sofa. “Sit. Both of you.”

Neither one wanted to be next to each other. Helen let out an exasperated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I’d rather not make you, if it’s all the same to you,” Helen told them. She gestured with her hand.

Kendra and Drake were lifted off the ground again. They started floating, against their will, toward the couch.

“Stop,” Drake yelled.

“I get it. I’ll walk,” Kendra added, grudgingly.

Helen let them go and they both walked to the couch. They sat down on it and stared straight ahead.

“If it makes you feel better, I did let you both slug it out for a little while. Did that help with anything?” She looked at her daughter first.

“He’s still alive so, no,” she answered, petulantly.

“Ditto for me,” Drake chimed in. He folded his arms across his chest and looked at the two women with severe hatred. “Look, why are we here?”

“Because this war the two of you started needs to end.” Helen said, looking to Drake. “Do you remember what I said to you the first time we met?”

Drake’s jaw clenched. He remembered. The words had practically haunted him ever since he woke up as a vampire.

“You said it’s never too late to go back. To reclaim myself.”

Helen nodded her head in affirmation, smiling positively.

“That’s right, And right here and now is your chance for that to happen. I know you see how much your decision has cost. The lives that were paid. The monsters you’ve unleashed.” Helen’s voice held no accusations or recriminations. She simply stated these things because they were true. “You want to come back. I know that. You only need someone to push you in the right direction. I’m here to do that.”

Kendra stood up, her face red with anger.

“He can’t come back. Not ever! He killed Conor, my wolves, and so many other innocent people. He doesn’t deserve redemption,”

“And you do?” Drake shouted back. “You let a killer into your pack. A murderer. You’re no better than he was. Everything I did, I did for Lucy.”

“Conor wasn’t that person anymore and if you told me, I would have handled things on my own. But because you took matters into your own hands, now there’s an ocean of blood on both our hands.” Kendra wanted to punch him again.

“Don’t lecture me on…”

“Enough!” Helen yelled. There was more in her voice than simple anger. There was power there. It sank into Kendra and Drake’s heads and they both grunted in pain, hands gripped around their temples.

The pain was temporary and didn’t last long. When it was over, Kendra sat down again but she did so grudgingly. Drake, for his part, decided to keep his mouth shut.

“I understand both of your positions and each one is valid and has merits. But the time to let those circumstances dictate your actions is over now.” Helen leaned closer to them, her face serious. “Bendis will not stop until you are dead, Kendra, or worse. And Drake, she won’t stop turning you more and more into the monster you despise in order to achieve her goals. She will burn the world down to appease her damaged ego. We have to stop her, right now. The only way we can do that is if we come together to stop this threat. Werewolves. Vampires. Knights. And mages.”

“They won’t trust him,” Kendra shot back. “I certainly don’t and for the others, it will be worse. Especially for Jenna.”

She couldn’t stop an enraged growl from erupting out of her throat.

At the mention of Jenna, Drake’s face immediately fell in a look of absolute shame.

“I didn’t want to hurt her,” Drake explained. “She didn’t deserve what I did to her.”

“You’re damn right she didn’t!” Kendra yelled. Her eyes flashed with amber fire for a second before dying out.

“We can go round and round and round,” Helen said. She turned her gaze on Drake. “You want to tell her or should I?”

“Tell her what?” Drake looked confused.

“I can see inside you. I know you Drake. Kendra can too, if she wishes, but I won’t let her do that to you. It can be quite invasive to those that are unpracticed,” Helen told him. “To put things simply, I know you plan to kill all your vampires as soon as you deal with Kendra and the wolves.”

That took Kendra by surprise.

“So let me get this straight,” she told him. “You are trying to murder my kind because we’re the monsters but you plan to murder your own as soon as you’re done with us?”

“That was the plan, yes,” Drake replied. His tone was matter-of-fact and without remorse. “I may be a monster now too, but I’ll be damned if I let those creatures loose on the world unrestrained.”

“You’re a hypocrite,” Kenra snarled.

“I don’t deny that,” he replied. “But they were a means to an end.”

“Yeah and you’re just as disgusted with what you’ve become as I am.” Kendra stared at him and Drake returned her glare. They stayed like that for several minutes, each one refusing to look away.

“This is unhelpful,” Helen broke in. “The point is, Drake, you know how dangerous the vampires are to the world at large. They need to be stopped the same way Bendis needs to be stopped. The only way to do that is for the two of you to work together.”

Immediately upon hearing this, they started to protest but Helen smoothly cut them off.

“I’m aware of your feelings about that but it does not change the fact that it’s the only way to stop her. Drake, do you think you can stop Bendis on your own?”

Drake looked like he wanted to say yes but stopped himself.

“No,” he unwillingly admitted.

“And do you think you can stop a literal goddess on your own, Kendra?” She addressed her daughter now.

“No,” Kendra growled angrily. “I can’t even hurt her.”

“Exactly,” Helen said. She leaned closer to them again. “But I think if everyone worked together, she can be brought down. You two, Alrich, the Old One, the knights, and the mages. All together in a precise, coordinated attack.”

“How do we do that? She can see when everyone interacts with everyone at any time,” Drake told them.

“What does that mean?” Kendra asked.