Slitted, but not feline. Reptilian. Alien. Hungry.
Teeth followed. Not human. Not wolf. Jagged, ivory white and cracked with age and evil.
A maw opened, impossibly wide, lined with bone and hate.
Then came the head, massive, angular, plated in pitch black Iron plates, like a Fenrir carved from shadow and steel.
No fur. No breath. Just silence and rot. The jaws opened then they closed around me.
As they did my eyes which had returned to normal snapped open.
The room was dim, the faint yellow-golden glow of warning notifications flashing In my view.
Elevated heart rate. Irregular respiration. Neural sync unstable. Error...
I sat up, chest heaving, breath raw like glass in my throat.
Sweat slicked my back. Or was it blood?Couldn't tell.
I blinked hard, the alerts gradually fading from my HUD.
The noise dulled. My pulse steadied. My brain tried to catch up.
As I processed everything that happened, I turned, slowly. And there she was.
Invicta.The architect of everything. The match that lit this cosmic fire.
Blankets pooled low on her wide child bearing hips. Her back was bare not one bit damaged no matter how violent I became. Her hair was matted with sweat and my blood, strands curling across her shoulder blades.
She was chaos in repose. Sin in sleep. Every curve draped like temptation sculpted by a mad g*d.
I stared. She was the reason why I was going downhill yet at the same time she was everything I ever craved.
My lips parted, but the words didn't come.
Then, with a shimmer like heat distortion, the silence inside my head cracked.
"Well hot damn, you lucky dog just look at that fine synthetic ass not even succubus have those kind of curves and that's saying a lot"
I blinked and there he was. Demon Drac. Larger than usual.
Red muscles swollen like a Greek statue overdosed on steroids.
Dressed in a ridiculously tight floral H*waiian shirt, unbuttoned to his navel, and shorts.
He was lounging on a floating In air beach chair, sunglasses perched on his infernal brow, sipping a pina colada with a f*king pineapple slice and umbrella in it.
He smacked his lips after another sip, his glowing eyes glued to Invicta.
"Bet it was the f*ck of a lifetime. Damn near knocked a century off my age just watching it through your eyeballs."
He turned those same glowing eyes on me, sunglasses vanishing into smoke and then he frowned.
"Tch. But you? You look like hell, man. And not in the s*xy undead way. In the 'I've got a soul tumor the size of my guilt' way."
Hearing this I narrowed my eyes.Inside me, I could feel it.
Slithering. Crawling. Like oil through a cracked engine.
Something alien. Hungry. Deep.
"Yeah, you feel it, don't you?"
He said.
"Even I'm disgusted, and I'm the personification of evil, that should ring a few alarm bells for you because that thing inside you?.That's the biggest mistake the universe had ever made apart from humans."
His words echoed, dark and dry. Still, his tone shifted again as he stood, stretching his monstrous arms.
His shadow stretched unnaturally far.
"Anyway, you look like sh*t, mate. Go splash some water on your face before you infect your bed with brooding."
My jaw twitched, but I didn't argue. I needed a shower.
I stepped into the cabin. Sensors chirped. Water hissed to life and hit me like a wall. Hot. Cleansing. Merciless though It anot like I could feel It scalding my skin.
Sweat. Blood. Red. Black. It swirled around my feet like a liquid war painting.
I braced myself against the wall and spoke.
"So… where's the other one?"
I asked, keeping my eyes forward. Behind me, Demon Drac shrugged, stretching with his pina colada still in hand.
"I dunno. Probably sulking in some shadowy corner of your mental dump. Whispering about hope and morality or whatever. He won't be back for a while, that's for sure."
I turned my head slightly, letting water sheet across half my face.
"So that means… you finally won, huh?"
He flexed.
"Damn right I did. Look at these guns, here's Jerry and here's Tom."
He kissed one bicep, then the other, flexing so hard his H*waiian shirt audibly groaned. "Mmm. Victory tastes like desperation, vengeance, and raw f*cking sin. And you he jabbed a finger at me you gave me all three. Deliciously pure evil."
I stared into the tile, eyes half lidded. The water kept running.
But nothing was really washing away because whatever was growing inside me it wasn't just Demon Drac.
It was something worse. And I let it in. And I knew exactly when I did It, It was then I decide to not do anything because It wasn't my problem.
"So what do you want, you're clearly not here to catch up are you?"
I asked as I stepped out from the shower. Water pooled at my feet, steam ghosting from my skin.
Demon Drac leaned against the doorframe of the shower cabin like he owned the place.
He picked his teeth with a toothpick that hadn't been there a second ago.
"Of course f*cking not. I got hell to manage, dates to attend with hot and juicy MILF succubus babes and their starving daughters for some, and chaos to schedule. You think corruption runs itself?"
He pushed off the frame, flying behind me as I grabbed a towel and started drying off.
"Anyway, I'm here 'cause you, my charred and brooding friend, are officially on Team Evil now."
I grunted. Started pulling on the sleek, pitch black fabric of my space uniform.
The matte material clung to me like a second skin.
"And?"
"And,"
He said, puffing his chest.
"I'm your evil coach now. Your dark sensei. Your own personal L*cifer with a clipboard."
I rolled my eyes. Started buckling the combat boots.
The ones that could crush skulls and probably double as coffins.
"Coach me in what exactly?"
I asked rather uninterested.
"Why, how to proceed with rescuing survivors, of course."
My hand froze mid buckle. I looked up at him slowly.
"That doesn't sound very evil."
"Pfft,"
He waved a dismissive clawed hand.
"That's 'cause you're still thinking in two dimensions. Evil isn't about moustache twirling and murder o*gies. It's about control. Power. Legacy."
The elevator doors opened. I stepped inside.
"Enlighten me,"
I said, idly picking out tiny blood stained shards from my palm.
Demon Drac beamed like a demented motivational speaker.
"Step one,"
He announced, voice deepening dramatically as a pair of glasses appeared on his eyes.
"Use that waifu grade AI of yours to hijack every still working electronic system on the planet. Phones, TV, satellites, billboards, s*x dolls, everything."
"Why?"
"To declare yourself savior of humanity, obviously. Become the messiah people now desperately need. Start a religion. A cult. Call it whatever you want. Brand it. Make it viral. Wear robes. Grow a beard. Whatever works."
I snorted as the elevator hit the main deck. Doors hissed open.
"Step two,"
He continued, tail swishing behind him as gold chains appeared on his neck and wrists, even his teeth changed to golden ones.
"Raid every site you can for resources. Fill this ship until it can't take anymore. Medicine, seeds, data, cows, I don't care. Just make it Noah's Ark with artillery."
The trains doors opened. I boarded It ready to exit once eIt stops at the nearest medbay. Still half listening.
"Step three"
The accursed thing said as he grew an Icon mustache and put on a black field uniform with a certain armband.
"Gather every surviving government official. And I mean all of them. Presidents, prime ministers, monarchs, CEOs, local HOA tyrants, whatever.
Put them on trial. Public. Broadcast. Gallows optional, but highly recommended. Justice, vengeance, spectacle. Humanity eats that sh*t up especially the ones, that are scared, terrified and want to blame someone for everything that ever happened to them."
I raised a brow as the train slowed down and stoped.
"And step four?"
He grinned. A row of too many teeth a she switched to a golden power armor set, a laurel crown resting on his head.
"Only take the brightest, strongest, most useful humans aboard. Engineers, medics, scientists, strategists. No dead weight. No sycophants. No influencers. Cull the stupid. Elevate the worthy. Rebuild a better specie, with you at the top, of course. Imperator Dracula Von Death."
The doors whooshed open.
"So, what do you think?"
He leaned in like an eager intern.
"Rate my four step plan to galactic g*dhood. Ten outta ten? Would recommend to anyone?"
He said as he changed to a business suit. I didn't respond. Just walked into the Medbay and held out my mangled palm.
The on duty clone nurses immediately swarmed me like sharks on blood, their pincers already yanking out the shards I missed.
"Got any successful examples?"