[Lord Stanley]

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Just as Stranger was bringing his fangs down at the being’s neck for the killing blow, he stopped. Not because the being had kicked him, but because, in the back of his mind, he knew that his wrath was growing too great. He had no way to know if this being was a friend or foe. To kill without reason would be to drift all the way to the dark end of the scale.

Much as he hated to admit it, he was going dark.

He went limp, and let the being underneath him throw him halfway across the carrying container. Stranger spun and landed catlike on his three remaining feet and both hands, breathing heavily.

“I felt you stop fighting,” the other being said, in a voice even deeper and darker than his own. “Why?”

Stranger stood up. “I let my anger get ahead of me.” His conscience felt like a burden. “Are you for the Vamps? For the Glukkons?”

The other being laughed, without a hint of mirth. “I know no Glukkons. As for the Vamps…”

Stranger waited for the response, but all the other being did was dig his claws into the solid metal wall of the carrying crate and yank back with a roar. When the claws came out, so did a large chunk of the metal. The other being threw the metal out the back of the crate.

“I take your meaning,” Stranger chuckled. “The Vamps…took me by surprise as I was…traveling south, and—”

“South is not the way for you,” the being said.

Stranger folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t take orders…from you.”

“If you’re not a fool, you’ll obey this.”

Stranger’s brow lowered instinctively, and he didn’t think it a sin to let it stay. “My friends journeyed south….I am on my way to help them.”

“If they’re lucky, they’re already dead,” the being said, as he turned and began to walk out of the carrying crate.

Stranger followed him; much as he hated the other beings’ emo attitude, he was eager for information. “Explain.”

“The emperor is anxious to learn of the outside world, outside the boundaries of his empire,” the anthropoid said, and began walking down the side of the road. “If your friends resist questioning—which is unlikely…—they will be tortured in Vamp style until they tell him what he wants to know.”

Stranger nodded. “Then I must rescue them.”

“You can try.”

“I won’t try. I’ll do it….And in the process…” Stranger laughed. “I will get my revenge on Vamps.”

The being suddenly stopped walking, turned around, and nodded to him. “My name is Fangus Klot. Yours?”

Stranger smiled darkly. “Stranger. The Stranger.”

Fangus Klot’s face took on what might be a smile, if there had been a hint of warmth in his eyes. “Welcome to the party.”

Stranger rubbed his hands together. “Now let’s go crash one.”

* * *