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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/campfires/item_id/1359957-BloodyThorns
by Diana
Rated: 13+ · Campfire Creative · Appendix · Fantasy · #1359957
Werewolf yearns for something he cannot have.
[Introduction]
Main Characters
Gabriel- 6 ft when in human shape,black-fur medium height when Werewolf
Mariana- Almost waist length fiery red-haired human servant
Nathaniel Del- Foot shorter then Gabriel,light brown hair,slight build,Owner of the castle

Werewolves,humans,and other demons are servants to vampires.Gabriel is one of the few who earns his freedom.Taking advantage of his newfound freedom Gabriel returns to Nathaniel's castle for a party.While there he sees Mariana being abused by the other nobilty.How exactly she is being abused is up to you.You can add characters besides the three listed,but make sure to say how they're connected to the story.

Gabriel walked slowly towards the castle looming in the distance.He'd never expected to be going back there once he was free.Nathaniel Del,a very powerful vampire, had let him go only when Gabriel was half dead and not expected to survive.Gaybriel snorted in laughter.Tonight Nathaniel was having another of his disgusting parties.But unlike the other nights Gabriel would be able to break the necks of the pig-head nobles.Gabriel,who was six feet tall,had had trouble finding something that passed as finery.He wore a black silk shirt,black dress pants that touched the ground,and black combat boots.His dark hair was pulled back into a long ponytail.Gabriel smirked,thinking of Nathaniel's reaction to his return.

Gabriel soon exited the woods and approached the road that led to the castle.A limo rushed by.Creating a gust of wind that blew dirt in Gabriel's face.With a grunt Gabriel wiped the dirt from his shirt and pants,but didn't stop walking.When he reached the front gate the guards only stared in disbelief."I'm doing pretty well for a dead man,"said Gabriel with a laugh.The guards broke from their trance and embraced Gabriel in tight hugs."We thought that douche Nathan had done away with ya,"said pete,the human guard.Nel,the werewolf guard,nodded.Gabriel snorted."His mistake thinking I'd always been under him.But anyway I'm here to piss in his cheereos as you say,Pete,"he said.Pete and Nel nodded."Fine.But you got more than vampires to fight in there,"said Pete.Gabriel noded.Pete and Nel exchanged worried glances,but opened the gate anyway.Gabriel thanked them,then started the mile walk up to the castle.

Another guard,one not so fond of Gabriel,stood at the door of the castle.Milton sneered when he spotted Gabriel."It's not a costume party,"he said.Gabriel smirked."That's a funny thing to say about a party where everyone dresses up for someone else.And it's a funnier thing coming from a servant who isn't even allowed to smell the food,"he said.Milton fumed."And for the record,I'm standing here as a courtesy.Do not abuse my patience,"said Gabriel.Milton threw open the door.not even honoring Gabriel with an annoucement to the others inside.The few servants that noticed him in the rush barely stopped to give him directions.Not that he needed them since the music and laughter echoed throughout the halls.Gabriel made his way through the hallway.Occasionaly tracing the walls of his former prison with his fingers.

The guards that stood outside the ballroom opened the doors for Gabriel with no more enthusiasm than for any other guest.Instantly,even though they were a whole room apart,Gabriel's and Nathaniel's gazes locked.Gabriel reveled in the look of rage that overcame Nathaniel's normally calm features.He enjoyed the murmers that gradually filled the large room even more.The servants who knew him stared,gasped,and still other struggled to contain their joy.The vampires,on the other hand,were angered by Gabriel's blatant show of disrespect.Some laughed because Nathaniel,Gabriel knew,had betted on how long it would take him to die.And, judging by Nathaniel's expression,Gabriel could tell he'd just cost Nathaniel alot of money.Gabriel smiled and said,"I would like you to officially announce me as free,".
Nathaniel exploded. "Not only do you disrepect me by coming back here,but you try and command me around as if you are above me!" he shouted.Gabriel laughed. "It's not so great when the shoe's on the other foot is it?" he asked.
"you don't have any right to-,"started Nathaniel.
"I've been free since the day you gave me up.But until you say it in front of them I could be sold again.Please make the right choice since your foot no longers holds me down," said Gabriel.Nathaniel grew silent.If he angered Gabriel now he could easily kill him.Nathaniel,refusing to be back into a corner,asked,"What will you do with your freedom?You have no money,nothing of value to your name.What could you possibly gain from it?"
"Mariana,"said Gabriel simply.Mariana,who stood closet to Nathaniel,dropped the platter she was holding.Covering a vampiress' dress with red wine.The vampire back-handed Mariana across the face.Knocking her unconscious.Blood began to trickle from her nose and hungry eyes flew to her.one brave vampire lunged for her.But he never got close.
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Gabriel leapt towards the bloodthirsty vampire in Mariana's defense, but Nathaniel was already there, with a firm grip on the other vampire's neck. Hate flashed in Nathaniel's eyes as he choked the insubordinant vampire, staring at Gabriel the whole time.

"Shes mine to defend or abuse as i see fit, not yours Gabriel!" Nathaniel screamed at the seething werewolf triumphantly. "And now that I know what it is that you desire, I will make sure that you never get it. NEVER!" Gabriel felt his rage swelling beneath the surface of his skin, his eyes growing darker by the second. Nathaniel took note of this and reveled in the moment releasing the other vampire, foolishly jeering the rapidly changing werewolf. "You are free to go Gabriel, I, your master, declare it so, but you cannot take this bitch of mine with you." Nathaniel savagely grabbed the semi-conscious Marianna and licked the blood from her face, a look of ecstasy in his eyes as he did so, and Gabriel completely lost control.
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Gabriel's yell quickly turned into a deafening roar as he tore his shirt open, his body changing in meer seconds. Nathaniel threw Mariana aside with an angry hiss, his finger nails growing visably sharper as he stood preparing for Gabriel's attack which came quicker than he thought.

The large, black haired werewolf Gabriel leapt at Nathaniel in mid-change: an unexpected action. Nathaniel was taken by surprise as the werewolf's teeth snapped at his neck, narrowly missing as the vampire ducked behind his large throne-like chair. Not wasting a second, Gabriel, now acting purely on instinct and completely lacking reason, jumped straight at the large wooden chair, battering it from his path with one powerful swipe of his claw. Nathaniel had dissapeared.

The enraged werewolf picked up the fallen throne and turned to unleash his fury on the more than willing host of evil before him. A young red-haired vampire was running at Gabriel, accompanied by a rather large demon whose joints and head were adorned with large wicked spikes. Gabriel threw the chair with such might that the young vampire could not react in time, and a horrible screech was heard as the wood splintered over his body.

The demon had managed to dodge the thrown chair at the last second, and made a jump for Gabriel with an unearthly battle cry. The spikes on the knee of the demon, called a nightripper, came close to Gabriel's neck as the werewolf grabbed his attacker by the leg in mid air. The immensely powerful werewolf used the nightripper's momentum to swing it around and throw it into the surging crowd of bloodthirsty vampires and demons that were gathering around Gabriel.

Screeches of pain echoed through the halls as at least three enemies were pierced by the thrown nightripper's spiked limbs. Gabriel roared in defiance at the mob that now approached him with caution. Suddenly Gabriel was knocked to the ground as something landed on his back, and promptly placed him in a constrictive head lock.

"Now Gabriel, you will die," Nathaniel hissed in Gabriel's ear, placing a dagger-like finger nail to the helpless werewolf's neck. Suddenly there was a thud, and Nathaniel went limp with a groan as Gabriel quickly turned to see his savior, the mob rapidly closing in on them.
Gabriel didn't get a chance to see who'd rescued him and he wasn't about to stay around to find out.Bracing himself for hits he was bound to take Gabriel lunged into the crowd.Breaking bones and tearing flesh.He ran towards the hidden hallway the servants used.Even knowing the punishment they were bound to face a few servants helped make a path for Gabriel.One even opened the doorway for him.Gabriel kept running though,knowing Nathaniel was going to show up sometime soon.Using the hallway Gabriel managed to make his way back around to Nathaniel's ballroom.He was outnumbered and outpowered.The servants that had helped him were already being hauled away.Gabriel watched through a painting,sickened.They were going to feed on them later.He searched for his savior,but everyone looked the same.The servants that were left were going about their regular duties.Nathaniel had recovered and, by his fequent glances behind him,knew where Gabriel was
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         The time had come to make a choice, though Gabriel wasn't in control of his decisions most of the time when he was transformed into the black nightmare that he was now. His actions when a werewolf, were based souly on survival instinct, and the instinct to kill. Flee and survive, or engage and kill: A difficult dilemma to the enraged werewolf who peered through the portrait from the hidden hallway. It was only moments before his decision was made for him.

         Gabriel's body twisted with pain as the crossbow bolt pierced his shoulder. Gabriel's attacker, a human guard, was completely loyal to Nathaniel. Either that or suicidal, for as he charged the black mass of hair, tooth, and claws that was Gabriel, there was no chance at victory. Gabriel roared angrily as the human guard rushed him, sword drawn. The werewolf so desperatly wanted to rip the guard limb from limb, but never got the chance.

         Nathaniel leapt through the portrait at Gabriel's side, cutting the canvas cleanly with long wicked claws. The furious vampire knocked Gabriel into the opposite wall in the hidden corridor with a savage tackle. Nathaniel wasted no time to rake his wicked claws across either side of Gabriel's wolf face, and blood immedietely followed. Pushing up off of the wall with all his might, Gabriel sent Nathaniel flying back through the portrait into the massing minions that were eager to assist their dark master. The advancing human guard stopped dead in his tracks at the vulgar display of power that Gabriel had shown him, and quickly turned to flee, certain now that he was facing his end. Gabriel ripped the crossbow bolt from his shoulder, cringing with pain, as he threw the bloody bolt at the retreating guard, severing the man's spinal cord. As the guard fell to the ground, forever parylized by his foolish attack on the werewolf, Gabriel saw, out of the corner of his eye, a human servant beckoning him from the end of the hallway.

         Something in the man's eyes pierced the callous heart of the werewolf that Gabriel had transformed into. The werewolf looked around and, through the portait, saw that the mob had paused their assault to assist their fallen master. Gabriel took over once more as he transformed back into his human shape, and quickly ran over to the red haired human servant that beckoned him from another secret passageway.

         "This way," the man called to Gabriel, who was still slightly disoriented, and unaware of his actions while he was transformed. The man led him into a room behind the banquet hall where he had confronted Nathaniel. In the corner of a room, on a chair, sat a frightened Mariana, an older woman servant tending to her minor wounds. The man, who Gabriel now remembered as Garret, Mariana's brother, spoke again. "You have to take her from here. If you don't they'll kill her!" Gabriel looked at Mariana, who regared him with fear.

         "They'll kill you for helping her escape," Gabriel replied with certainty.

         "I don't care, just go, NOW," Garret pleaded with Gabriel. Gabriel looked once more at Mariana before agreeing.

         "Ok, no time to argue Mariana," he added as the young red haired servant shook her head in refusal.

         "I'm not leaving my brother," she yelled as Garret took up a butcher knife, the growls and yells of Nathaniel's minions coming from just outside the room.

         "I'm afraid, for your own safety, you don't have a choice," Gabriel said, grabbing Mariana and throwing her over his shoulder as he quickly transformed into the beast once more for their escape.
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As Marianna pummelled the werewolf’s back with her small fists in protest, Gabriel resisted the strong urge to tear her apart in return. One of the few who could almost calm him in his transfigured state, it was now the red-haired girl that seemed to be loosing herself in frenzy. Because they both knew her brother didn’t stand a chance.

And yet she screamed his name, demanded to be put down, yelled and sobbed and called for her brother again as Gabriel ripped his way through the forest. Whilst he concentrated solely on moving as fast as possible, a niggling rationality told him that trying to escape whilst his captive gave away her position to anyone who chanced to prick an ear was going to prove futile. And the more brutish side was getting a very tiresome headache, what with his hearing multiplied tenfold and her screaming in his ear.

Thankfully, as his feet stormed over the slimy, moss covered roots and crunching autumn leaves the woman seemed to reach her limit, fading to silence and ceasing her struggle. The werewolf didn’t notice the cold tranquillity of the gleaming stars, lighting the bare tree branches a quiet silver. But she did. It was those stars she concentrated on as her saviour carried her to freedom. They held a sort of hope, that she might escape her hunters, that she might finally be free, that her brother would find peace, death releasing him from Nathaniel’s cruel cage.

Eventually Gabriel stopped, weariness returning him to his human form. He put her down carefully and then sat down himself, leaning against a tree and shivering half-heartedly.

“That’ll teach me to lose my shirt and shoes on a cold night” he mumbled lightly after a short silence. Marianna nodded in reply, having shrunk back in to her quiet, complying self. Though Gabriel had saved her, at the cost of his own life, the girl still found she could not be at ease around him. He had done something she thought no man would dare to, stride right up to his master and demand the release of a servant. But trust would come a while yet.

“Well. Do you know where we are?” the man asked, sitting forwards and looking around.

“You… you don’t? But you carried me here!”

“I carried you anywhere that wasn’t there . You think I could concentrate on direction? It was hard enough to keep running with you shrieking blue murder. And you must have been screaming pretty loudly for me to remember. My ears still hurt.”

Despite his slightly cynical grin a light pink flushed the girl’s pale cheeks. Or perhaps because of. She refused to apologise however, stubborn anger that he had not taken her brother too overcoming her gratitude and instinctive submission. Looking around she hugged her knees to her stomach, silence suddenly accentuating the ominous sounds echoing past the forest trees. Sounds that could be wind. Or demon.
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"We have to go," Gabriel said, a hint of urgency in his voice. The werewolf shivered under the cold breeze in his unclothed condition, his torn pants barely covering him as he walked over to offer Mariana his hand. She hesitated, but quickly took his hand at the eery sounds that echoed through the woods. "This way," Gabriel said confidently, starting towards the South. "If we can get to London, we'll be able to hop on a boat out of here."

         "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Gabriel and Mariana whirled around to see the shadow of a man standing against a tree just a few feet away from them. The moon was out that night, and the clearing in which they stood was bathed in light, yet the person remained but a shadow.

         "Who are you," Gabriel demanded immedietely.

         "Calm yourself Gabriel," the shadow purred as it stepped into the light, remaining only an outline of a man in the open. "I am here on no mission from Nathaniel." The shadow paused and then laughed. "Forgive me," the silky voice continued, "you are both out of the loop. What is funny is that I am, infact, here on a mission from Nathaniel Del," at Gabriel's reaction of pushing Mariana behind himself, the shadow emphasised his next word, "however, I have no intentions of fulfilling the task that I have been given."

         "And what task is that," Gabriel questioned suspiciously."

         "To kill the two of you of course," the shadow said it plainly.

         "And why should be not continue South," Gabriel asked growing impatient.

         "All these questions when really you should be thanking me for saving your life back there." A forgotten moment flashed in Gabriel's head. He was in a headlock, losing conciousness from lack of oxygen to his brain. Nathaniel's razor claw was at his neck. A host of evil creatures gathered before him waiting to drink his spilled blood. Suddenly Nathaniel had been knocked down, and his escape had commenced.

         "That was you in the banquet hall," Gabriel asked astonished.

         "But of course," the shadow said. "Let me answer your next two questions," the shadow said before Gabriel could respond. "I have decided to help you because I am bored of it all: The drinking, the dancing, the feasting, the fucking, everything. The way you stood in defiance of an army of demons, vampires, and warewolves alike, with nothing to live for, made me envious. I want to have something to live for." The sincerity in the shadows voice was undeniable. "Perhaps by helping you retain what you would have given your life to have," the shadow paused nodding at Mariana, "then I too will have something to live for. As for the second question, you should not travel south, but rather east to the coast. Nathaniel has predicted your flight to London and has sent winged creatures, summoned from the darkest corners of hell, to fly ahead of you. Victory against such creatures would be impossible, even with me at your side. It is to the East that we must go, over the mountains, if you want to live that is." The shade looked at them both with hollow eyes of shadow. Gabriel looked at Mariana who nodded, and turned to the shadow and spoke.

         "We go east."

         "A wise decision," and he added, the ghoulish sounds growing closer, "and with just enough time to escape. Stay close my friends, and make no sound.

         "What is your name," Mariana asked, as the shadow turned to lead them.

         "How positively rude of me," the shade said, slightly flustered. He extended a shadowy hand to the human girl who shook it. "My name is Graphalis (pronounced - gra-fa-leeze), and I am a Changling Demon."
Gabriel fought through the pain working its way up his bare feet and legs. The cold, damp English weather soaked through him. He imagined the discomfort Mariana must have felt but to her credit she kept quiet. She hovered close to him keeping an eye on their new traveling companion. As unsure as she was of Gabriel, something about Graphalis kept her on edge. Gabriel felt it as well but couldn’t determine if it was his own heightened senses trying to warn him or if he was simply reading her emotions. Graphalis moved through the forest a few feet ahead of them, silently navigating it as if he had grown up in it.

Mariana stumbled as her footing slipped on some protruding tree roots. The fatigue showed slightly in her beautiful features. Gabriel caught her then turned to Graphalis who stopped advancing and came back to them.

“I have to rest.” Mariana sat down on the cold earth.

“That’s fine. We’ve gone quite a ways tonight. We can pick up again at dawn after some rest.” Graphalis scanned the area then began looking for dead tree branches to start a fire with.

“No. We have to keep going.” Gabriel was surprised by the resolve in his own voice.

“Nathaniel is expecting you to the south. We have time to rest. The girl clearly needs it.”

“I’ll carry her.” Gabriel glanced at Mariana, his eyes telling her to trust him. She reached out to his extended hand as he pulled her to her weary feet.

“I don’t see the point but if that’s what you wish.” Graphalis dropped his gathered wood and trudged back to his position in front.

“We go to the left up ahead.” Gabriel stated watching Graphalis’s reaction.

“What? That will take us miles out of our way.” Graphalis turned looking at Gabriel rather annoyed.

“To the left.”

Graphalis began walking, his stance betraying his slight anger at taking orders from Gabriel. “Should have left you in the Castle.” He muttered under his breath.

Mariana leaned close to Gabriel. “What’s the matter?”

“There are at least three packs of rovers trailing us. They’ve been doing so for the last hour.”

“What are rovers?”

“Packs of werewolves more wild than tame. They stay in wolf form most if not all their lives succumbing to the chaotic side of their nature. I doubt many have any human left in them at all.”

“I thought all werewolves were slaves to Vampires.”

“Most are. Sometimes one or two go mad and are thrown away in the woods. They form their own packs and terrorize the countryside.”

“You don’t trust Graphalis, do you?”

“He’s been leading us in a big circle. I just need to determine if it’s on purpose or not.”

“How do you know they are following us?”

“I can smell them.”

© Copyright 2007 Diana, xx-xx, xx-xx, cursorblock, (known as GROUP).
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