Chapter 35: backstabbers fail

The stench of blood filled Clark's senses in the room where he was tied. He had just regained consciousness after being out for a long time. His eyes were covered with a thick material, making it impossible for him to see. His hands and legs were also tied with zip ropes. Clark groaned as he struggled to rise from the cold floor into a sitting position, feeling a wave of nausea wash over him.

Just when Sage had left him and walked back into the school, Venzy jumped down from a tree branch above him.

"Nice try, ha, there's no running away. Well, at least you tried," Venzy stated, laughing at Clark's failed attempt to convince his best friend that they were in danger.

Clark's hands balled into fists as he shook with anger. He quickly launched at Venzy, aiming to hit her in the face, but just when he was about to connect, Venzy leaned to the side and caught Clark’s fist in mid-air. Venzy stared Clark dead in the eye before turning him over and burying her fangs in his neck.

Clark turned his head when he heard the sound of a door opening and felt cold air hitting his bare skin since he was now topless.

"Oh, you're awake," Venzy said as she saw Clark sitting up against a wall. "I'm sorry I wasn't here to keep you company. I went to bring you a companion," she chuckled, her voice dripping with mockery.

"Where is Sage?" Clark asked, turning his head to the direction he heard her footsteps.

"Unfortunately, she's a difficult one to get a hold on. She would have been with you if she didn't run away," Venzy sighed, exhausted and annoyed that she would have to start over again in her search for the girl.

'Unfortunate for who?' Clark wondered, confused but relieved that Sage had escaped.

"Alright, get up," Venzy said, pulling Clark up by the arm. "Since your friend escaped, I'll have to use you to get myself out of trouble." Venzy had sent news to Soren that she had eyes on the hybrid, but now the hybrid had escaped. "I'll have to tell Soren that you were the source of the powerful energy. Which would not be a complete lie since you have some of the hybrid’s aura on you. Let’s hope it hasn’t worn off yet."

Just as Venzy was about to step out of the shed where she had kept Clark, the door was punched open. It was a powerful punch that broke the door and even sent Clark and Venzy flying to the floor. Outside the shed stood a man, and Venzy recognized him immediately by his hair color.

Blake and Valentine had followed closely behind Venzy as she ran to the shed; they could sense another human energy inside and thought that had to be the hybrid.

‘Blake, where’s the second one?’ Venzy wondered while still on the floor. ‘Why didn’t I feel their vampire aura?’

Like every other vampire sent out to search for the hybrid, Blake and Valentine were both given a masking and revealing powder along with the spell to use it with. They waited for Venzy to leave before using it on themselves and following after her.

Even when she was threatened, Venzy wasn’t scared. She knew how strong she was, and if it came down to a fight, she was confident she could take Blake out, but she wanted a fair fight. “Ha-ha, I wasn’t expecting this at all,” Venzy said as she got up, dusting the sand off her leather clothing. ”Where’s your boyfriend?” She didn’t want any surprise attacks while fighting with Blake.

“He’ll be joining us soon. Now hand over the hybrid, and there would be no need for us to fight,” Blake responded.

“Just as I suspected. You think I have the hybrid?”

“I don’t think, I know.”

“What’s going on?” Clark, who was now kneeling, questioned. He still did not understand what the hybrid was and why people were after it.

“Here, you can have him.” With one hand, Venzy raised Clark and flung him at Blake, who jumped up to catch him, but the force with which Venzy threw Clark made Blake skid backwards across the floor when he landed.

While Blake was still trying to balance himself, Venzy ran up to him and sent a powerful kick to his shin. There was no way she would give up her ticket out of Soren’s wrath like that.

Blake screamed in pain as he fell to the ground with Clark in his hands. His shin had broken and tore through his skin. Even for a vampire, he wasn’t going to heal fast without the help of blood. The only option he had was the human boy on his body. He quickly lifted Clark up to sink his fangs into his skin, but Venzy slapped his hands hard, making him let go of Clark.

“That’ll teach you to mind your business,” Venzy said as she picked Clark up. Blake groaned in pain and waited impatiently for his wound to heal. Even while injured, he didn’t panic; his partner was somewhere in the woods, watching what was happening. He only wondered why he hadn’t come out yet.

Valentine watched from above a tree by the shed how his friend broke the shed they had seen Venzy go into. He was excited when he saw that Venzy had handed the hybrid over without putting up a fight.

“Well, that was easy,” Valentine remarked as he got comfortable on the branch where he sat. Something moved in the branches above him, and his attention diverted to the noise of leaves rustling. He could make out the image of a bird, and he looked away. When he turned his head back to the view of his partner, he saw a demonic face staring right at him. He didn’t have the time to react as the demon hovering in the air quickly possessed him.

When Blake didn’t see any sign of his partner, he became worried. “Where are you?”

“Who?” Venzy questioned but didn’t get a reply from Blake. She proceeded to leave the woods with Clark, but the moment she made a move, she could see a figure like Valentine walking out of the canopies of trees. With the way Valentine looked, Venzy didn’t need her gut feeling to tell her to run. She could see clearly that he had been possessed.

Valentine was a huge man, but now he looked more like fat than muscle. His face, which had been round with well-defined cheekbones, now had fat, droopy cheeks. His thighs had increased, and the energy around him felt demonic. Venzy stared at him in disgust; however, she wasn’t planning on hanging around to see what the demon wanted to do.

“Oh look, your buddy arrived, ha ha,” Venzy laughed as she leapt up into the air with Clark. The demon-possessed Valentine took his head back and threw it forward, shooting out his long tongue at Venzy, who was midair. The tongue wrapped around her left foot and pulled her down to the floor.

Venzy had thought it would be an easy escape for her, seeing how heavy the demon-possessed Valentine was and how slowly he moved. But its tongue was long and fast, which complemented his slowness.

Blake, who was shocked upon seeing Valentine, was now happy. “Hehe! Take her out, my friend.” Blake hailed as Valentine got close to him. “Wait, hold on… stop moving, Valentine!”

Valentine was now walking close to Venzy to finish her off, and in the process, he stomped down on Blake’s head without a care in the world for who it was.

Venzy, upon seeing this, used her fingers to slash at the fat tongue still wrapped around her foot. The tongue didn’t cut off but started regenerating quickly, even quicker than a vampire consuming blood. Venzy tried again, this time leaving her finger in the tongue.

Her fingers were laced with a dangerous substance that caused a wound to decompose and form worm-like creatures. These worms were capable of feeding on someone’s consciousness, especially when they were in a near-death situation.

On the possessed Valentine’s tongue where Venzy stuck her finger, the injury began to decompose, and the black worms began to form. Even if they couldn’t feed on Valentine’s consciousness, Venzy had achieved what she wanted; the grip of the tongue around her foot had loosened, and she was now free.

She couldn’t run; the demon would just chase after her with its tongue. The demon, noticing something was wrong with its tongue, started to pull it back. When he saw the cause of its weakened tongue, he used his own hand to cut it, which quickly regenerated.

When the demon was distracted by the discomfort in his tongue, Venzy had run around him, hoping to sneak attack him. She didn’t expect the demon to snap its own tongue; she was already running at it when it snapped. The next move of the demon was unexpected: it used the tongue it had detached and whipped it at her. Venzy fell to the ground before the demon, which picked her up by the throat in a strong grip.