Pawn to Predator: Crimson Wrath

The moment the silver spike reduced their kin to ash, the forest trembled with the fury of the remaining two vampires.

A shriek tore through the trees full of sharp, vengeful, and primal hatred

"Nooo…." a strong shriek echoed in the woods as one of the vampires died in Elias's hands. "You filthy mortal! You will die for that!"

So far they were taking Elias lightly because they never believed a human could be their match. But Elias had proved them wrong. Not only that, he had killed one of them which they could neither forget nor forgive. Their eyes burnt with the desire to take revenge.

They lunged on Elias at once to tear him apart. Before Elias could pull the spike free from the ash-coated corpse beneath him, the second vampire lunged at full speed. It crashed into him with the force of a boulder, sending him sprawling through the half-built barracks. Wood splintered and walls cracked as Elias's body slammed into the framework.

Pain exploded in his ribs and something cracked. Maybe more than one of his bones were gone. He hit the ground hard and air knocked from his lungs, his vision blurring from the impact.

But there was no time to recover this time, they were stronger and speedier.

The first vampire was already there with his eyes blazing with crimson light. Its claws raked across Elias's back as he struggled to rise, slicing through Elias's coat, shirt, and skin in a single swipe. Blood sprayed everyone and Elias gasped and dropped to one knee. He was clutching the deep gaping wounds on his body.

The creature grabbed his arm and twisted it violently, dislocating it at the shoulder with a sickening pop. Then it threw him into the side of a wagon, breaking the wooden frame like paper. Elias rolled onto his stomach, blood seeping into the dirt. His vision pulsed red and black and he could hardly see them moving.

"You should have begged," the vampire hissed, stepping over him, claws glinting. "You should have run and then we would have shown mercy to give you an easy death."

The second vampire landed beside its partner, both towering over Elias with a coordinated attack; they descended to kill him slowly and painfully.

One clawed hand dug into Elias's thigh, tearing muscle to the bone. The other drove its knee into his gut, forcing bile and blood up his throat. They struck again and again tearing, crushing, mauling him apart. His forearm shattered under the weight of a brutal stomp. His shoulder was wrenched, tendons snapping like cords. Blood coated his face, his chest, pooling around his twitching limbs.

Elias's body convulsed with pain, broken and mangled. But he didn't scream. He only growled in a low, guttural, like a wolf cornered but not yet slain.

The vampires paused, panting with bloodlust. They believed that he was done. No man could survive what they had just delivered.

"Should we leave him suffering for a while before attacking again?" asked one to the other. 

"Why do we need to wait for that? He is going to die anyway. Let's go and inform the master that we have completed the mission." 

The other vampire stared at the barely alive being and laughed. And yet, his fingers twitched.

His wounds, deep as they were, began to close. It was not with the speed they could heal, yet they could feel that he was slowly staring at them again and that infuriated them further.

The skin around his ribs knitted together. Though it was jagged and slow, it was healing. The shattered bones shifted making a strange sound. it realigned with cracks and crunches. Blood stopped pouring, making them shocked. They walked closer and stared at him in disbelief as his Muscles mended. Even his dislocated shoulder jerked back into place with a hideous, wet snap.

He rose slowly but with the eyes of a fighter who would not accept defeat.

The vampires stepped back in shock and disbelief. 

"How!?" wariness crept into their expressions now. Elias's breathing was ragged and his face drenched in blood and dirt. His eyes that had been dark brown before had changed into crimson just like them. But how?

"You thought that would end me?" he asked in a strange voice that felt rough and broken but alive at the same time.

He spat blood as he raised his head, and grinned in a savage, blood-slick way.

"You haven't seen anything yet. What gave you the confidence to return to your master?" as if the last word had brought the rogues back to their senses.

The first vampire rushed in again with a snarling. This time, Elias didn't dodge.

He stepped into the strike, letting the claws dig into his already wounded arm, but before the vampire could retract, Elias grabbed the creature's wrist and twisted.

The bone shattered under his grip. The vampire shrieked, but Elias didn't stop. He headbutted the creature with such force that its nose broke into splinters, then drove his elbow into its sternum, shattering ribs. The vampire stumbled back, and Elias chased it with no hesitation and mercy.

He tackled it to the ground and slammed both fists into its face repeatedly, until bone caved in. He reached for another silver spike, but the second vampire struck from behind again. Only this time Elias was ready.

He ducked, spun, and caught the vampire mid-air by its neck. With a roar, he lifted it and threw it into a pile of logs. The impact made the wood explode outward.

Elias didn't pause at all this time. His new strength was infinite. He was faster now and more agile. As if something inside him had unlocked. He was not running with himself anymore, he had accepted what he had become.

He pounced on the vampire buried under the splinters and logs and drove both daggers into its chest, then twisted. Blood and ash spilled in a foul cloud as the vampire shrieked. He could not believe that limbs were flailing wildly. It kicked Elias off, launching him into the dirt. But Elias rolled and came to his feet in a crouch, and charged again with feral precision.

A claw cut across his cheek but he didn't feel it anymore. Another tore into his ribs, but he didn't slow. He was done holding back.