Chapter 5

London, England- 1888 A.D.

Hax was running as fast as he could. To normal eyes, he was just a blur on the rooftops.

I have to make it, thought Hax.

He looked the same, but different all together. His usual messy hair was neatly trimmed and he wore traditional clothes that, on any other day, would be clean and tidy; but today was soaked in a mixture of sweat, dirt and blood. Whether it was his blood, or that of the inquisitors he just took down, he didn’t care. It was his family at stake here.

He heard the scream from a mile out.

‘NICOLE! NIKITA!’ Hax screamed.

In a small alley way on the outskirts of London, four figures stood at the end against a pair of trash cans. Dylan and Seth tried to hide the two small girls behind them. Seth’s clothes were torn and his body was covered in cuts, while Dylan didn’t even have a shirt on. The twins both wore white dresses, and if it wasn’t for their green hair and their faces covered in tears, most would have sworn they were just dolls. Dylan stood with his back against a wall hoping that he would have enough time to recover. He was wrong.

Two men entered the alley, both wearing large black overcoats and carried curved blades, engraved with different holy symbols.

‘Well, look what we have here Mr. Wilk.’ Said the one on the left, ‘A whole pack of freaks.’

Seth growled.

‘Oh look Mr. Fibb’ said Wilk, ‘we seemed to have offended the freak.’

Dylan looked at the girls. ‘Nicole, Nikita. If I say so, you must run.’

‘but Dylan-’ Nicole started through tears.

‘No buts. You run. You hide. You try to find Haxathor and you stay safe.’

‘WHY DON’T YOU GO FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO HARASS, YOU SONS OF WHORES?!’ screamed Seth.

‘Well, if you monsters didn’t kill all those prostitutes, then we wouldn’t be in this situation.’ Said Fibb.

‘We didn’t kill no whore!’ said Dylan, trying to stand up.

‘Oh bullshit!’ said Wilk, ‘You gutted those whores like them monsters you are. Now you’re going to  try to protect them?’

Seth had had enough of them. He ran at the inquisitors, only to find Fibb throw his knife into Seth’s shoulder. He fell to the ground, immobilised by the knife. Nicole and Nikita let out a scream. Dylan could do nothing. He had sworn to protect his younger sisters.

‘Don’t you hate that, freak?’ said Fibb, walking towards the now incapacitated Seth. ‘These sacred blades are the only thing that can stop your kind. Quite ingenious, don’t you think?’

He placed his foot square on Seth’s chest, and ripped out the knife from his shoulder.

‘Looks like your next, boy.’ Said Wilk, advancing upon Dylan.

There was a loud crunch, like bones breaking, that came from behind them. Wilk spun around in an instant. There, standing in a pool of blood, brains, bone and the remains of Fibb’s head, stood Hax.

‘Ah, so nice for you to join us, freak. Come to watch your family die?’ said Wilk.

‘You are going to pay for that Wilk.’ Growled Hax. He took a step towards Wilk, but Wilk was very quick. In one fluid motion, he grabbed Nicole by her hair as well as slashing at Dylan’s chest.

‘Take one more step, and I slice the girl.’

Hax froze. He knew he wasn’t fast enough to stop an inquisitor, and Dylan was incapacitated by his fresh chest wound.

‘What do you want from us?’ Hax asked through gritted teeth.

‘Oh? Isn’t it obvious?’ Wilk asked, ‘I want to see all of your kind, your family of freaks, dead.’

Wilk sliced Nicole’s throat, sending blood gushing in all directions. The walls, the bins, everyone in the alley were covered in a thin layer of black blood.  Hax couldn’t believe his eyes, but didn’t let it stop him. He sprang forth and grabbed Wilk around the neck, and smashed him into the brick wall, nearly missing Nikita who was in shock of seeing her twin die before her eyes.

‘How does it feel? How does it feel not being able to save those you love?’ Wilk asked, straining against the force of Hax’s hold.

‘YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS, HUMAN!’ Hax roared.

‘Give a message to your brother for me.’ Wilk said with a bloody smile. He leaned in close to Hax and whispered something in his ear. Hax’s eyes widened. He snapped Wilk’s neck like a twig and dropped him to the ground. He slumped there, lifeless. Hax ran over to Seth and tried to wake him up.

‘Seth wake up.’ He said, smacking him in the face. ‘Seth they have Claire!’

His eyes opened immediately, and he was off.

Hax ran over to Dylan. His wound was not so bad, but it would take a bit longer to heal than normal. Hax looked at Nikita to find her clutching her throat. Tears welled up in Hax’s eyes.

‘Oh god, not you too?’ he said, trying not to cry.

‘I’m sorry Haxathor. I'm sorry we were twins.’ Nikita said, blood dripping down her hands.

Hax held her and whispered ‘No. I’m sorry that I wasn’t fast enough to save you both.’

Nikita kissed Hax on the cheek and said ‘Bye bye big brother. I love you.’

She was gone, died in Hax’s arms. Tears streamed down his face. He knew that he failed his parents, he couldn’t save them. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

‘We have to go find Seth. Where is he?’ Dylan asked, still trying to heal the large gash on his chest.

‘Under town hall. The inquisitors have kidnapped Claire.’ Hax said, standing up.

‘Oh god…We have to hurry, before Seth destroys the entire town.’ Dylan said. Hax nodded, and they ran as fast as they could towards town hall.

They found the entrance in. it was a door carved with the sign of the inquisitors, A sword stabbing a tentacle. When they entered inside, Hax and Dylan gagged. It was a horror scene. There was blood and bodies everywhere. In the centre of the room knelt Seth, cradling the body of a young brunette woman.

‘Seth, we’re so sorry. This was a tragedy-’ Dylan said.

‘NO! This was utter fucking bullshit!’ Seth screamed. ‘She was innocent. She didn’t have anything to do with this war, but she was dragged into it by those BASTARDS!!!’

Hax stepped in, and lifted Seth to his feet. ‘show us what happened.’

Seth placed a hand on Dylan and Hax’s head. Their minds were suddenly filled with pictures, memories of what had just happened.

After Seth had run off to find Claire, he found his way to the town hall. He broke in the door to find 30 inquisitors all standing around a sacrifice altar. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw it. They had Claire strapped down and were about to plunge the knife into her heart.

‘Ahh if it isn’t the freak who loves the abomination.’ Said the knife wielding inquisitor. ‘Deal with him.’

10 of the cultists rushed Seth, but were thrown off immediately. Seth didn’t even break a sweat doing so.

‘You should have been here faster.’ Said the head cultist, as he stabbed Claire through the heart. She screamed out in pain.

She looked at Seth and mouthed the words ‘I Love You’, before going limp. Seth started to shake all over. He knew what was about to occur, and he was not going to try to stop it. He started to smile, and then laugh.

‘You have done it now you inquisitor fuck!’ he growled.

His entire body darkened to a deep brown, and his arms and legs lengthened. His mouth started to grow outwards, and became a snout. His body mass increased, and he started to grow claws and scales. His mouth erupted with hundreds of razor sharp teeth, and by the end of it looked more like a crocodile than a human.

The head inquisitor could only stand there and watch as his entire cult was massacred by this creature. One by one, they all died in a most horrible and painful way, until it was just Seth and the head inquisitor left. He tried to stab Seth with a sacred blade, but it broke against his scales. Seth grabbed him around the head and brought him to eye level.

‘You kill my family, you stab me in the shoulder, you slice my little sister’s throat open and you kill the one woman in this world who accepted me for who I was. She loved me for who I was, she wasn’t afraid of what I can become. AND YOU CALL ME A MONSTER!’ Seth screamed.

‘You can all die like that whore just did.’ Said the inquisitor. Seth roared and ripped his head off. He let his anger continue until there was nothing left but blood.

Hax and Dylan saw everything, but did not blame Seth for what had happened. Seth had collapsed back on the ground, crying over the ones he had just lost.

‘Hax, I…I lost control. I promised I wouldn’t lose control, but I did.’ Seth said.

‘Seth, neither Dylan nor I blame you for how you acted. We would have done the same if we were put in the same situation.’ Hax said, hugging Seth to him, and replaying the final moments of Nicole and Nikita’s death, wondering if he could have saved them if he lost control too.

Hax woke up in a cold sweat. Never have his dreams been so violent, so hard to witness. Hax rolled over to find someone in his bed with him.

‘Eve…’ Hax said.

There was complete silence, but he eventually heard ‘Yeah?’

‘Why are you in my bed?’

‘I heard you screaming in your sleep. I was worried.’

‘ok…wait how did you get into my room?’

‘You left your door unlocked?’

‘No I didn’t.’

‘Shh…just go back to sleep. We can talk about this in the morning.’

Though she couldn’t see him, Hax smiled for once. He drifted back to sleep, and knew he wouldn’t be burdened with another nightmare while Eve was with him.