A/N: This bonus chapter was brought to you guys by BR.
[Blood Diary Entry]
After tracing the pattern left by the stragglers, we found ourselves in the entry of the forest.
The dirt was compressed in a natural trail after many creatures took this path multiple times. Hundreds of footsteps all around. The grass was uprooted, and parts of the soil were caked in blood.
The stench that clung to the air was also a dead giveaway.
I knelt on the ground and inhaled deeply—much to my chagrin. The odor almost made me tear up, but afterwards, I managed to find the trace; my senses created a clear path for me to follow.
Rebekah watched as I did my thing and was probably silently thanking the heavens for me being the better tracker, since she wouldn't need to do it herself now.
We walked through the woods, side by side, though neither of us was really in the mood for conversation, so the journey was quiet.
I stewed over my own thoughts, my mind at full steam over how I could make these things suffer, while also practicing my disciplines.
True enough, I could order all of them to do the same thing as the last ghoul, but that would be a waste of hundreds of test subjects.
And who said torment could only have one shape?
My face darkened, as if it had become a mass of darkness with only two red glowing eyes peering through it.
Rebekah noticed it, but instead of being scared of me, she placed a hand gently on my shoulder.
That calmed me down, and I tried to turn my focus towards the task ahead, instead of wanting to dive into my own dark impulses.
Once or twice, we came across some remains, barely a few bones left of whatever they were in life, and even these bones were in a bad condition. Teeth marks all over, clear signs that they were munched and then discarded afterward. The ghouls probably decided they were either satisfied or they wanted to go after new prey.
Probably the latter.
We kept walking, one step after the other.
Initially, I wanted to simply run towards the nest, but Rebekah said that it was better to simply walk towards it. She justified that this gave us some time to get our heads straight, so that we wouldn't make needless mistakes. Because in her words, even if these things can't kill us, or even pose any risk to us… If we didn't pay our full attention to the situation, one of these things could manage to escape.
And she didn't want that to happen.
She also said this was a tradition she and her brothers came up with in their initial years as vampires. When they believed themselves to be unbeatable, until one or two times someone almost got the jump on them because they were reveling in the feeling of decimating everything on their path.
It was best to learn this sooner rather than later.
After a little more walking, we finally reached what I could only assume was the nest.
A massive hole on the side of a cliff, carved by claws and teeth, the handiwork of the ghouls themselves.
Because apparently these ravenous beasts also dabbled in housebuilding from time to time.
The smell of it hit us with full force. Sweat, rot, decay, death, and some other things I would rather not mention…
I heightened my other senses, allowing them to overpower my sense of smell.
I knelt and touched the ground while perking up my ears.
My eyes glowed bright crimson, and the world shifted around me. Every color turned into a shade of red.
While in this state, I could almost 'see' 360 degrees around me. I focused straight into the cave.
My senses peered through the walls, sight, hearing, and even touch, allowed me to paint a clear picture of the entirety of the nest.
They dig in curves, twisting around themselves, until finally a big chamber where all of these abominations slept.
Inside the chamber was a grotesque pile of bodies. The ghouls slept atop one another, forming a small mountain. Their chests rose and fell erratically, their raspy breathing merging into a single chorus.
Atop this pile were seven much larger figures, their breathing much steadier and powerful.
But what made me truly smile was that even if the nest was composed of several curves, there was no entry besides this one.
And truly, why would there be? Who would be daring enough to come bother these many monsters?
Well, I'll be… I'm that guy!
I stood up and walked to the entrance of the cave.
My ears turned longer, my teeth sharpened into fangs, and my nails became long claws that travelled down to my knees.
Rebekah watched as my complexion turned into a monstrous scowl.
The shadows beneath me twisted and contorted themselves. Sparks of flames danced atop my shoulders.
I inhaled deeply, taking as much air as I could inside my lungs.
Then I roared.
I poured every ounce of anger into that roar, every bit of resentment, and all the cruelty I could muster into it.
The roar shook the entire nest. Small pebbles bounced all around, and the dirt and filth all burst forward in an arc. The forest itself went silent.
Deep inside the nest, I could sense all of the ghouls waking up startled.
The ones at the bottom of the pile were squished by the ones on the top. Bones broke and snapped, but were soon healed by their ridiculous healing capability.
They all ran around like headless chickens.
The seven alghouls roared back, trying to get the rest of the nest in order. But compared to my own roar, that might as well have been a kitten meowing.
A few of the ghouls turned even more feral as they started mauling each other apart in despair and confusion.
This was the effect an apex predator had over things that were lower than it on the food chain.
I reveled in the chaos I caused, chuckling softly at how I was capable of causing this much mayhem without even intending to.
The alghouls fought their lessers and managed to wrangle control back, and soon enough, they were all rushing towards the entrance.