Raze: A Dark Vampiric Dystopian Short Story (Multiverse), page 1
Raze
Multiverse
D.E. Chapman
Copyright © 2023 by D.E. Chapman
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form, including AI, without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
All rights reserved.
Edited by Amber Biesecker with Wyrmwood Editing
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Contents
Raze
Disclaimer
Newsletter Signup
1. Eva
2. Eva
3. West
4. Madden
5. West
6. Madden
7. Madden
8. Nine
9. Eva
10. West
11. Eva
12. Nine
Newsletter Signup
Acknowledgments
About Author
Also By D.E. Chapman
Raze
What has this god forsaken world come to?
Humans are trapped in Stonerun with the bloodsuckers that only view us as blood bags. The vampires sit atop their throne like kings while the rest of us mortals suffer miserably and die horrible deaths.
Life outside these walls isn’t much better with the feral vampires running amok but between the desperation and despair consuming us humans, there are many who are willing to take their chances with the monsters destroying the world outside our tiny borders.
I didn't used to be one but I'm losing hope and I’m only holding on for West.
Warning: This book is intended for mature audiences with its foul language, sexual dubcon scenes, and graphic violence. Please note that this book ends in a tragedy and is very, very dark. Raze is part of the Multiverse series which takes place in Stonerun, a dystopian city that will be featured in every story in the series as each book is an alternative universe/reality of one another. This means that despite it being a the 'same' city, different events, creatures, and characters change the outcome of each individual story. Each book can be read as a standalone and does not require you to them in any particular order. Lastly, please note that Ruin and Raze are nearly identical to one another in the beginning but feature different creatures and a somewhat different series of events.
Disclaimer
This story is dark (dubious consent/graphic violence), ends with tragedy, and is NOT a romance. It mirrors Ruin but instead of alphas, betas, and omegas, Raze contains bloodthirsty vampires. The beginning of this book resembles Ruin quite closely but differentiates as it progress and gets increasingly darker than it's lighter counterpart.
Newsletter Signup
Want a FREE book? Sign up for my newsletter to claim a dark reverse harem djinn exclusive short story set in a world of ruin and disaster!
https://dechapmanauthor.com/subscribe/
To get author updates, cover reveals, promotional alerts, and much more, join my group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/devilishlydarkanddirtyreads
1
Eva
What has this godforsaken world come to? It doesn't matter where I look; the skyline is consumed with smoke and soot from the various fires the vampires have set to the slums. There's no escape from this fucking hellhole we live in, either. We're trapped.
On this side of the wall, we have the vamp bastards eager to treat us like cattle and drain us. The bloodsuckers guard the only way in or out, and they won't let their food source slip out of reach. So we're trapped in the slums, starving to death, and getting drained dry by the very creatures that swore to protect us when the world fell apart nearly fifty years ago.
Some protection they turned out to be.
I’m just glad I wasn’t around when they first made that promise, otherwise I’d be like all those who were: broken and shattered. To hear such grand promises from the strongest of us—the vampires, the very creatures that rose from the depths to “save” us—and seeing those same promises so callously disregarded five years later would have destroyed what little hope I had left.
Instead I was born in the thick of it, hoping that if I joined the right side, we poor humans would be liberated at last. So that's what I did. I joined the rebels to protect my lover West and myself from these beasts, yet I still fear for our future all the same. Our only saving grace would be if we got turned into vampires ourselves, but there's no point pining for that.
Being a vampire would be just as miserable a life as the ones we're living now. Being forced to rely on blood for the rest of time just sounds like a new form of torture.
I don’t want to betray my fellow humans for a slim chance at a better life for me and West. I won't even consider becoming a thrall like all those other lickers, as we call them. I know what becomes of those traitors when they venture too far into the slums, and it’s not pretty. Life as a thrall is just as dangerous as life in the low zone. I know all too well what happens when a vamp demands too much of a licker and they can’t deliver.
The life of a turncoat isn’t worth it.
What a sick fucking world we live in where our only options are vampiric immortality or lifelong servitude as their blood banks—or a short life as one.
Some days I'd almost rather venture out into the desolate, forsaken, outside world then suffer through the injustice of life inside these walls. I’d rather face the feral vampires roaming beyond our ‘safe haven’. I rather die out there amongst the overgrown flora than get hunted to death by the savage vampires who ensure you live through their torture as long as possible all while they drain you of blood.
The five years I’ve spent in the rebel faction aiming to destroy the vamps’ control has opened my eyes to the horrors of our society. I’ve seen things I can never unsee. Things that haunt me both in my nightmares and in my waking life. My hope slowly dissipates the longer this goes on, and I don’t know how much fight I have left in me. I hang on for West's sake, but even then, I’m not sure how much longer that motivation will keep me going.
I just want some TNT so I can blow through the fucking wall to freedom. Hell, maybe I’ll just stand inside the blast zone and die with the wall.
I shake the offending thoughts away and climb out of our shitty bed, trying not to wake West. His long brown hair is out of his normal braid, scattered across the pillow, his face slackened in peace he only achieves in sleep, and my heart clenches. He’s a handsome male, his bright blue eyes shining with hope, his face and body soft, but lean with muscles, though they’re not as hardened as most of the other humans in the slums, and it’s refreshing to see.
If he didn’t keep his guard up all the time, I have no doubt he’d be taken advantage of out there. He layers his clothes so he looks bulkier than he is, and he wears a ratty old baseball cap slung low over his eyes to distort some of his features. The hood he tosses over it basically buries him, so he’s managed to avoid trouble in the twenty-six years he’s been alive.
Once I've rolled off the mattress, I frown and quickly dress in my rags, glancing wistfully once more at the thin and stained mattress, wishing I could stay in bed a little longer. Here in the slums, clean mattresses are a luxury most can’t afford. And despite all the work I do for the rebels, it doesn’t pay, so I’m just as bad off as everyone else in the low zone.
And speaking of work…
I'm due in for a meeting this morning, and I’m dreading it, but to not arrive would mean a death sentence for me and West. Rebels don't take kindly to even a whisper of betrayal. Not that skipping a meeting should count as betrayal, but it does, along with a many other things.
"You due in today?" West croaks, voice still thick with sleep, and I startle.
"Yes," I managed to say. I didn’t realize he’d woken up.
West grimaces, and I know he wants to know more, but thankfully he respects the fact that I tell him what I can. He’s not involved in the rebellion like I am, and if I divulge sensitive information to him, I put him at risk. Well, more risk than he’s already taken on. Nothing can happen to him; I wouldn’t survive it. He's all I have left.
I simply can’t risk putting him in danger. I won’t.
"You need to stay in today," I mutter, kneeling beside him and sinking into his arms. I offer him a sympathetic look that he immediately reads, because his face falls, making my heart clench painfully as I hasten to explain. “Low zone is under heavy watch because of what happened last night. It’s already a risk going out myself, and I’d rather you stay here until I get back. I’m sorry.”
Last night was a clusterfuck, and I'm just glad I wasn't on that job, otherwise I'd be as dead as the rebels who were infiltrating the mid zone. It didn't go well… at all. The lickers were prepared, which means someone leaked the rebels’ plans. That means we have a traitor in our ranks, and fuck knows what that means for me.
/>
Fuck, this city has really gone to hell in a handbasket. Those fucking vampire lords and their damn greed are slowly sucking the life out of us regular people, and no matter how many strides we make, it always feels like there’s been no progress.
I'm tired. Exhausted.
"It's all right, Eva. I get it. I'll stay here. Just come back home." His smile is back, his forgiving nature ensuring he doesn’t stay upset for long.
“Thank you, West,” I say with my own smile. “I mean it. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
He leans in and presses our foreheads together, whispering, “And I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
The two of us sit like that for some time, simply breathing in each other’s scents like it’s the last time we’ll be able to. For all we know, it could be.
2
Eva
It's early afternoon by the time the meeting ends. I’m walking back, passing through the crowded market to avoid the lone alleys and increased risk of getting caught by a vamp looking for a new blood bag, when that creeping sensation skates down my spine, telling me I’m being watched. I discreetly glance around me, trying to spot whoever it is that has their eyes on me, but I can’t see a thing from my position.
I’m at the end of the alley, the end of the market, but unfortunately this means there are fewer people down this way, and that puts a bigger target on my back if someone decides to rob me. Something tells me this person, or persons, isn’t looking to rob me, though.
I reach into my sack as if I'm looking for something while I surreptitiously watch the crowd, but notice nothing unusual. I turn around to blend into my surroundings at a calm pace, ever-aware of that creeping sensation still tingling my back.
A tight grip on my arm yanks me back into a side alley where a handsome male waits, his arms crossed and a wicked grin broadcasting the massive canines all bloodsuckers have.
The clunky footsteps behind me tell me there’s at least one other.
Shit.
The vamp across from me bares his teeth with an ominous chuckle as he stalks toward me. The other man’s breath on my neck is unnerving, his grip on my arm painful, and it's impossible to miss the third bloodsucker coming up on my left. Getting pinned by one vampire is bad enough, but three? Nothing good will come of this.
I'm pushed forward to the bastard creeping closer and closer, and I struggle to keep my balance. I try to tear my arm free, but the vampire behind me holds firm, so I raise my foot and slam my booted heel against his foot. He hisses out a breath, but his grip doesn't falter.
A vampire is suddenly in front of me, and my head whips to the side with the backhand he delivers.
Pain throbs from my now-bruised cheek, and I swiftly swallow the blood pooling in my mouth even as I grimace. Normally I'd spit it out, but that's likely to get these vamps even more wound up. A hand wraps around my throat, cutting off my air, while the grip on my arm disappears. I try to flail and fight off the vamp before me, but it’s too late—in my panic, I forgot about the other two.
They yank my arms behind me and tie them so tightly I can't help but wince from the pinching pain. Spots dance across my vision from the lack of air, and without permission, my body goes lax in the bloodsuckers’ hold.
Then, just as suddenly as I was grabbed, I’m released, dropping to the trash-strewn ground like a marionette whose strings have been cut. My attackers’ grating laughter sends chills down my spine that only intensify when one opens his mouth to taunt me.
“We caught ourselves a little rebel bitch, boys,” he gloats. “It's time to play.”
I feel the blood drain from my face, but I refuse to scream or relinquish control of my steadily growing terror, because no way in hell will I give these bastards the satisfaction of knowing I’m terrified.
Instead I focus on the realization that someone sold me out. There’s no way these vamps knew who I was to the rebellion otherwise. A licker ratted me out. A fellow human ratted me out, and I can't even be mad. It's expected; it's normal. This just means that whoever’s responsible is involved with the rebels, and must be on my team, if they were able to identify me. I keep my work with the rebels on the downlow so this very thing doesn’t happen. No one aside from West knows of my involvement, and he would never sell me out.
The odds of me getting free are slim to none, and that realization settles like a heavy brick in my gut as I’m dragged down the alley, undoubtedly headed for the central plaza where rebels go to die if they're not killed during their missions.
I’m probably dying today.
I hope I’m dying today.
A public execution would be a mercy from these vamps. They have other ways to torture rebels and ensure they live as long as possible to teach everyone in low zone what it means to cross them. And I have a sinking suspicion that these bloodsuckers plan to make me an example.
I’m hauled to the square, wrists bound tightly behind my back. My face slams into the stone plaza with a crack, and I can’t bite back the whimper as pain radiates through my skull. It hurts like hell, but I know these bastards are far from finished. And sure enough, a boot slams into my stomach, making me choke and gasp. Another kick sends spittle flying and tears rolling.
I don’t know how long I lie there, helpless against the violence and listening to the clamor of the growing crowd, before this torture finally ends. My voice is hoarse from my ragged screams, and I’m nothing more than a lump of painful flesh. Eventually I’m dragged up some stairs, and I instantly know what’s about to happen. My tender stomach churns uneasily, but I refuse to beg for freedom. I refuse to beg these alphas for anything.
Looks like I don’t get the easy way out after all.
It doesn’t take long for the bastard to secure me to the pole, and my body screams in agony the entire time. I’m nothing more than a sweaty mess by the time I’m left swinging in the air by a thick rope around my waist. The damned thing bites into my bruised flesh without mercy, suspending me a good five feet off the ground while I grit my teeth against the pain.
It fucking hurts.
There’s not one part of me that’s not throbbing. My death won’t be easy, either. They’ll hang me here while I slowly die without food and water. I’ve seen it happen to a few others, and it’s never pretty. The damned bloodsuckers like to check back in every so often to beat the rebel they strung up, just to laugh at the abject misery they’ve caused them.
No one in low zone will help me, either. They won't risk the wrath of the bloodsuckers for one measly rebel.
No. I’m on my own.
Even when West eventually stumbles upon me hanging here, he too will stand by and watch me wither to nothing. He has to. For himself. For me. If he helps me now, he’ll find himself strung up beside me, just as bruised and bloody as I am and left for dead.
My vision is a blurry mess from the blood that’s seeped into my eyes. My breathing is labored, and a sharp pain in my chest tells me I likely punctured something or broke a rib or two. Not that it matters when death is the only thing waiting for me now.
The vamps, two of whom I still haven’t gotten a good look at, finally leave, and I’m left to swing in the faint wind. The clamor of the crowd dies away, and instead the steady drip, drip, drip of my blood against the execution platform echoes in my ears. My head throbs in time with my frantic heartbeat, and my thoughts spiral.
I’m going to die.
I’m going to die and leave West behind in a world that desires only to drain him dry.
3
West
Every time she leaves, I fear it’s the last time I’ll ever see her. I always watch her go with barely disguised anxiety and a heavy heart. Her work with the rebel faction is dangerous, and she’s vulnerable. The rebels will turn on her when it suits their agenda, and I have no doubt that day is coming soon. I just hope she’s free of the rebels long before it arrives.
