Fated Heroes

  Fated Heroes

  The Consequence of Destiny Book 1

  Brittany Cournoyer

  Copyright © 2017 by Brittany Cournoyer

  All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places or events are purely the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, actual events, establishments, businesses or locales is purely coincidental.

  The amazing book cover was done by:

  Soxsational Cover Art

  http://www.soxsationalcoverart.com/index.html

  This is a fantasy book that does contain gay male characters with adult language and adult situations.

  This book is dedicated to the three who were the inspiration behind it. To Michael, Michele, and Nick—thank you for urging me to write this story. Without you three this book would have still been just a dream. I love you guys and I am so grateful for you.

  Chapter 1

  Pizza boxes were spread out haphazardly on the kitchen island and the smell of grease and cheese permeated the air. My group of friends and I quickly piled our plates with heaping mounds of delicious food. The chatter was mindless as cold cans of soda were pulled out of the refrigerator before everyone migrated to the living room.

  It was a typical weekend night for our foursome. Pizza and old movies along with great company ensured a night filled with lots of laughter. The movie that played in the background was completely ignored, but it didn’t matter. We had all seen it before. The corny background noise just added extra ambiance for the fun evening and obnoxious banter we shared. The sad part was, all of it was said while sober.

  The brown, faux leather couches in my living room were occupied by the rowdy group while I sat sprawled out in my favorite recliner. The piece of furniture was a gaudy, faded maroon hand-me-down from my brother-in-law’s grandmother. While the thing stood out like an infected toenail while someone wore flip-flops, it was amazingly comfortable, and I knew that I’d keep the ugly monstrosity until it fell apart.

  I was mid-chew a bite of my pepperoni pizza when Michael made a hilariously crude comment about tight spaces and dark holes. The double entendre did its job as I choked on the bite in my mouth. Kimberly, otherwise known as Kimmie, and Nick were also in hysterics at Mike’s comment, and pretty soon our faces were streaked with tears.

  “What was that?” Mike asked.

  “I didn’t hear anything.” Nick shrugged before he took another bite of food.

  “You guys didn’t hear that tapping noise?”

  “Really, dude? This about to turn into a tapping that ass comment?” I asked with a snort.

  Mike rolled his blue eyes. “I wish it was an ass that I was tapping. Seriously, Courtney, I thought I heard a noise on the window.”

  “Probably my asshole neighbors across the street.”

  I lived in a pretty quiet neighborhood, with the exception of the fucktards across the street. Not only did they feel the need to rev up their shitty engines at all hours of the night, but they also always blocked my driveway. I tried to do the neighborly thing and leave a note on their vehicle asking them to please stop parking where they did. But it deemed pointless when they continued to do so. One of these days I was going to back up into one of their junky-ass cars to prove my point.

  Kimmie and Nick shared a quick glance before they turned their attention back to us. Of our foursome, Kimmie and Nick shared a brain. That was the only way I could describe it. They communicated with a simple look and finished each other’s sentences. Had I not been such a good friend to them, I would have been intimidated by their closeness. Instead I liked to think I meshed well with them. As did Mike. Each of us brought our own uniqueness to the group that made our bond strong and downright fun. And sometimes fucking dirty.

  “Ok, I heard it this time,” Kimmie said as she stared in the direction of my sliding glass door.

  “Guys, come on. It was probably an animal. My yard is a breeding ground for rabbits,” I laughed. At least something at my house was getting laid. Because it damn sure wasn’t me.

  Before anyone else could comment, I heard a loud squeal. The ear-splitting noise sounded like a long nail on a chalkboard, or in our case, a piece of glass. The four of us turned our horrified gazes to the sliding glass door in my dining room that was directly adjacent to my living room.

  From our vantage point we could see directly into my dining room which was connected to my kitchen. The kitchen and living room were separated by a wall. From where we were seated, we could see everything. And that included the evil red eyes that stared at us through the section of glass that was visible from the gap in the curtains.

  “Who in the fuck is that?” Nick asked as we all stared in horror. He turned his terrified gaze on us and all we could do was reciprocate his stare.

  “Do you even want to stick around and find out?” Kimmie asked. Of the four, she definitely was the most level-headed.

  As if jolted out of our shock by an unseen force, we simultaneously jumped to our feet to make a beeline for the front door.

  “Wait! Don’t open the door!” Mike yelled at us as soon as my hand gripped the doorknob.

  Something in Mike’s voice stopped us in our tracks. I instantly released my hold from the doorknob and took a step back.

  “There’s more than one,” Mike said firmly.

  Something was different in his voice. Gone was the easygoing lilt of humor whenever he spoke to us. The usual sparkle in his blue eyes was gone. The person standing before Nick, Kimmie, and me was no longer our Mike. Gone was our playful friend, the one we joked around with. In his place was someone very serious and who meant business. This person was a stranger. Oddly enough, though, I wasn’t afraid of him. I felt safe.

  “How do you know that?” Nick asked. I could tell he was trying to be strong, but the tremor in his voice was there.

  Before Mike had a chance to answer, I heard more scratching on the windows. Suddenly I cursed that every single room in my house had one window, if not two. The high-pitched screeching on the glass was painful enough to make my ears almost bleed. I looked at my friends and saw they were feeling the same agony as they held their hands to their ears.

  I couldn’t understand what was going on. I lived in fucking Baltimore, for fuck’s sake. Shit like that didn’t happen here. So why was it happening to me? Before I could even further question it, a loud banging on my front door slapped me back to reality. At that point, it really didn’t matter why it was happening to us. All that mattered was that it actually was.

  “Whatever you guys do, do not open that door until I say so,” Mike said as he started to take off his shirt.

  “What are you talking about, and why in the hell are you taking off your clothes? Now is not the time to think with your ass and get naked!” Nick yelled in anger.

  “Fuck off, asshole! I’m trying to save your life!” Mike retaliated.

  Kimberly, Nick, and I shared a look that was equal parts horror and surprise. The scratches and thumps on the house grew stronger and more frequent as if more of whoever, or whatever, was out there had joined in on the torture-fest. I wasn’t sure what Michael had in mind, but I didn’t see how getting naked helped.

  Panic began to set in as I realized that we were surrounded. Trapped. Even if I wanted to open the front door, I couldn’t. There was no escape. I reached out and gripped both Nick and Kimmie’s hands in my own as I began to accept my fate that we were not going to get out of the situation unharmed, or maybe even alive.

  I reached over to pull Mike closer to
us and gasped in shock. Nick and Kimberly let out similar sounds as we watched what was happening to our friend. In front of my very eyes Mike was… shifting. His entire body was starting to change. His mouth opened to reveal what I could only describe as fangs that were beginning to emerge from his gums. His hands and feet elongated and turned into paws, with sharp claws protruding from the tips. I watched in shock as he dropped down to all fours. He then arched his back and hair started to sprout from all over his body until he was covered in a coat of beautiful gray fur. But it was his eyes that stopped me from screaming in terror. They still were the eyes of my friend. But my dear friend was no longer standing in front of me. No, in his place was a beautiful and powerful wolf. And he was fucking pissed off, if the growl that rumbled from deep inside of him was any indication. What in the hell had I just witnessed?

  Before I had any chance to react to what just happened, the sliding door shattered, sending shards of sharp glass flying all over my dining room. All three of us let out shrieks of horror while Mike turned and let out a bloodthirsty snarl. I watched in amazement as he charged for whatever that thing in my dining room was and lunged for its throat.

  We stood there frozen to the spot, our hands gripped in each other’s as more monsters made their way through the broken door. Mike lunged at each one, ripping their throats and tearing into their flesh with his sharp claws. Blood was covering my kitchen table, walls, and the completely forgotten pizza that was on the counter. Even the gorgeous white patch of fur on the underside of Mike’s throat was stained a dark crimson.

  “They are fucking vampires,” Nick hissed to us.

  I looked back at the thing Mike was currently tearing into and realized he was right. The thing’s eyes were blood-red, his skin was deathly white, and his fangs were currently trying to bite into my friend. He was covered from head to toe in black clothing, and there was no hair anywhere on his body. It occurred to me that I was looking at pure evil.

  “We have to help him,” Kimberly choked out when we saw that Michael was out numbered. He was trying to fight off five monsters at once.

  “I think we need to get out of here and go get help,” Nick said hesitantly.

  We didn’t have to say with words what we all thought. We didn’t want to leave Mike. If anything happened to him, we’d never forgive ourselves. But, while he had the vampires occupied, we needed to make a run for it and get help.

  Without giving it a second thought, we turned to my front door. I sent a silent prayer up to the good Lord above to help save us, help save Mike, and get us out of the nightmare that was probably worse than hell, and opened the front door.

  I took a few seconds to take a quick look around and saw that we were in the clear. I stole a glance at Kimberly and Nick, gave them a nod, and quickly stepped out the front door before we ran with all of our might. Thank fuck my asshole neighbors were home. We just needed to get across my yard and we could get help.

  We were no more than ten feet into my yard, but I felt like we would be saved. I started to feel relief with each step we took. The house was getting closer. We’d be there in a matter of seconds to pound on their door and beg for some assistance. I’d never care about where they parked again. Fuck, they could even use my driveway! The desperation to save myself and my friends was so thick I could taste it in my mouth.

  I nearly cried when my feet hit the sidewalk at my neighbor’s house. It took only a matter of seconds to cross my front yard, but it felt like hours of pure agony. I breathed a sigh of relief that we’d be able to get help. Then a cold and clammy hand grabbed my neck. Oh, fuck...

  Chapter 2

  “Fuck,” Nick screamed in frustration as we stood there shaking in fear on the sidewalk. We were so fucking close to safety.

  “We’re surrounded,” Kimmie stated the obvious as we took in the disturbing figures that flanked us on the sidewalk.

  “Looks that way.” I cringed as the disgusting hand on my neck tightened. A shudder ran down my spine as the monster’s cold thumb pressed against my wildly beating pulse.

  “Why are you doing this to us?” Kimberly asked the thing that was breathing down her neck.

  I hated the feeling of powerlessness that enveloped me. Not only because we were standing there on a darkened sidewalk while bloodsucking, unhuman beings surrounded us, but also because our dear friend was inside fighting for his life—and ours. It was definitely a situation that had some sort of a way out, only it didn’t end in our favor. Images of our drained bodies littering my neighbors’ yard permeated my mind and I felt dread fill my stomach. Bile coated my throat and burned my tongue while tears stung my eyes. I really didn’t want my friends or myself to wind up being dinner for a handful of humanized leeches.

  Why wasn’t anyone helping us? My neighbors were nosy as shit and were quick to step outside as soon as anything out of the ordinary happened. So why, when we were mere minutes away from death, were they suddenly opposed to stepping outside now? I glanced around helplessly and belatedly saw that not only was every house on my street dark, but so were all the street lights. It was like we were in our own little depths of hell.

  “Because you are with our enemy. And I’m very thirsty,” the nasty freak that had a grip on Kimberly answered her. The raspy sound of its voice sent shivers down my spine. His voice left me feeling very uncomfortable. Even more so than the cold fingers that still gripped my neck.

  “Then help yourself to the fucking water hose, you sick piece of shit, and leave us the hell alone,” Nick snapped as he struggled to free himself from his own captor.

  I groaned in horror as Nick jabbed his elbow hard into the vampire’s abdomen. I wanted so badly to tell him not to antagonize the thing. I couldn’t even refer to it as him because I wasn’t sure what it exactly was. But either way, pissing it off wasn’t going to help us any.

  “Just for that, I’m going to drain you slowly, and love every single second of it,” the monster said.

  Kimberly and I watched in horror and disgust as the creature pulled Nick’s short dark hair and tilted his head back to expose Nick’s neck. With a moan of what I could only describe as pure pleasure, it ran its nose over Nick’s skin. Even in the dark I could see Nick’s body quake in revulsion.

  “Leave him alone!” Kimberly yelled out. Her voice was thick with tears from watching her best friend being violated. I reached out, grasped her hand and gave it a tight squeeze. I needed to try and comfort her somehow, as well as comfort myself.

  “Oh, another feisty one on our hands,” the one who had a grip on Kimberly said. I watched its red eyes burn with lust as the thing put its nose against Kimberly’s neck and breathed deeply. “Don’t you smell delicious?”

  “Don’t fucking touch her.” Nick spoke through clenched teeth.

  “Oh? Don’t touch her? Do you mean like this?” The hairless freak pulled back Kimberly’s head and ran his disgusting tongue over her throat.

  I felt vomit rise up from my stomach and I squashed the urge to expel it. Emptying my stomach was not going to help matters at the moment. But fuck, it wasn’t like I was being much help at the time, anyway. Standing there like a helpless mute while my friends were being violated wasn’t doing any good. I needed to do something. Scream, maybe? Fight back? Something needed to be done.

  Suddenly I heard a loud scream followed by an even louder growl from somewhere inside my house. I feared the absolute worst when it abruptly got eerily quiet. Deathly silence was never a good indication of anything—except the worst outcome possible.

  “Mike!” I cried out as tears streamed down my face.

  Just like Kimberly and Nick seemed to share a brain, I’d always thought of Mike as my twin. Our group of four had an amazing dynamic, but within the group, we had sort of paired off. Nick and Kimmie fit together as well as Mike and I did. The thought of anything happening to him gutted me, and had it not been for the creepzilla holding me from behind, I would have collapsed right there on the sidewalk.

  “
No!” Kimberly screamed. I wasn’t sure if it was because of Mike or the fact that the sick fuck behind her was still lapping at the rapidly beating pulse at her neck.

  A loud, guttural growl came from somewhere in front of me. It wasn’t like anything I had ever heard before. Not even when Mike had changed and charged toward the vampires at my back door. The sound was of anger and agonizing pain. I whipped my head around trying to see the source of the noise, but in the dark I couldn’t make out any unordinary shapes. The house was still silent and Mike was nowhere to be seen, neither in human or wolf form. So that could mean only one thing. It was coming from one of the people, or things, out there with me.

  The noise was fierce enough to put the creepazoids on alert and instantly they let us go. Kimberly furiously scrubbed at her neck with her shirt and then focused her attention on Nick. I cast my eyes in Nick’s direction and felt my jaw come unhinged, completely forgetting about the sick fucks who surrounded us. Nick, our awesome as hell friend wasn’t there anymore. Instead, standing in front of us, snarling and heaving in rage, stood another wolf. The anger that flashed in his eyes almost made me feel bad for anyone who had to deal with his wrath. But since the people on the receiving end of the anger were the walking dead behind us, I couldn’t care less.

  In a flash I saw inky black fur lunge at the vamp who’d given Kimberly’s neck the tongue job. In an instant, Nick’s sharp teeth clamped down on the pale dude’s neck and ripped its throat out. The sound of tearing flesh was the only noise that could be heard on the darkened street. Blood sprayed Kimberly and me as we tried to step back, and I watched in pleasure as the vampire fell, even more lifelessly than it already was, to the ground. Nick quickly turned to the next two vampires, and I could see pure fury in his greenish-brown eyes.

  His lips pulled back in a deep snarl, and even in the dark I could make out the blood on his exposed fangs. The two vampires held up their palms in surrender and tried to walk backwards down the road, clearly scared to turn their backs on the raging wolf. Nick took a few steps toward them, clearly stalking his prey, before lunging gracefully in the air at them. With his two huge paws, he knocked them both on the ground and had their throats ripped out before they could even utter a single sound.