Abe’s black eyes shot open, greeted by the silvery glow of a full moon.

This isn’t the same day.

His body spasmed, tightening then releasing as cramps dug into every muscle.

Heaving, his chest thumped up, lurching toward the sky—raising his back off the ground.

Tendrils slid up through his veins, curling around the insides of his appendages, and working him like a puppet.

“What is this?” he roared. “Let go of me!” he tried to thrash his unresponsive limbs, instead they shook to the whims of the intruders as they wormed their way through his body.

His chest thumped again, and feeling returned to his fingers. Tightening the muscles of his hands, he fought back against the intruders crawling within them and felt a shiver run down his spine as they retreated.

Thump!

Fire lined his veins, burning his muscles from within, and the echoing screech of a thousand worms flooded through his body.

Toes, feet, hands—the feeling was returning.

You little fuckers, die!” he screamed as he swung his arms to the side, and stomped his feet down.

They were in retreat. He could feel them, falling back to points around his body where they gathered, nestling in groups as a survival tactic against the waves of rage Abe sent flooding through his body.

“You hear me?” He hunched forward, grinding his teeth. “I’m in control here! It’s my fucking body!”

He stood trembling for what must have been minutes before finally composing himself.

“You’re done then, you little bastards?”

A silent understanding came over him.

“Fine, you can stay for now,” he snickered. “But I’m in control.”

Straightening, Abe glanced up at the moon basking him in silver light.

“I’m going to kill your master, you know that, right?”

There was only silence and a faint, trembling fear within his body.

“Good, we understand each other then,” he turned his attention to the forest.

A sniff gave away the mutts in the distance and Abe walked until he found a clearing filled with burnt-out old homes, snow covering most of their dilapidated remains. The occasional errant charcoal beam proudly jutted from the ground as he walked.

The scent of sap was here, but so was the scent of that Man in White. He couldn’t hide anymore, not with the worms scuttling about inside of Abe.

He now saw him as clearly as anybody else in his mind’s eye.

As he walked crows began to flood in, dotting every inch of the surrounding treeline, their nauseating cawing returning to fill the air.

Then the dogs came, along the treeline beneath them, low growls soon joining the cacophony of crows.

The shrouded figures crowded the treeline behind them, watching and swaying.

Then he saw him, the glowing blue eyes staring him down from beneath the cloak of white he wore, his figure temporarily disappearing behind the trees as he walked closer.

“You smell funny, young one… what have you done to my parasites?”

“The same thing I’m about to do to you,” Abe stretched his arms as he walked toward the Man in White.

“I’m sorry little ghoul, but I’ve got plans for you. And a little stubbornness never deterred me,” the Man in White extended an arm and wagged his finger.

“Yeah, well, I don’t give a fuck about your plans,” Abe shook his head.

Jumping from their branches, the crows flooded through the air toward the Man in White, swirling around him like a black tornado before lifting him into the sky.

“Keep the attitude, if you do manage to survive somehow, it’ll make dismembering you all the more enjoyable,” he said as the gust of crows flew him away.

“Hey, get back here!” Abe shouted and began to run but the hounds and cloaked figures stepped out from the treeline. “Great, more of you,” he shook his head and steel sounded as he drew his blade.

Bounding forward, a wave of the fiendish dogs charged him, rot and wounds covering their patchy, furred bodies.

“Whoever said all dogs are good,” Abe shook his head as he pivoted with his sword extended, waiting for the first to attack.

Covering the distance in seconds, the hounds began to pounce, cutting wounds across Abe’s body as he swung around, dissecting them one at a time.

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Wounds appeared across his frame as bodies from the haggard dogs dropped around him, the snow quickly reddening.

Sharing an echoing scream, the hooded figures charged in—their dagger-like claws pointed toward Abe like a wall of spears.

He couldn’t be everywhere at once, and the sea of black cloaks dove into him, taking losses in the process and digging their claws into his flesh. The viscous black fluid followed, pumping into his veins and weighting his limbs down as the black cloaks continued to pile atop.

Abe could feel the worms awoken within, leaving behind their dormancy and beginning to wiggle. They were excited.

You want that shit? Go on, take it, he urged.

Driven towards the sap, the worms wiggled free from their resting spots and moved to consume the invasive toxins flooding into Abe.

The black cloaks atop him began to convulse, and a moment later, shrieking cries began to echo out. Some of them pulled away screaming, clawing at their own faces as they spiraled into the snow.

The hounds that had been reduced to still circling the pile of black robes, but as more and more of the shrouded figures broke away in agony, space was freed up for them to continue their attack.

New wounds opened up across him as he took hold of one of the screeching black cloaks and tried to use it as a shield. In the chaos of the melee, he had lost his sword. But his claws were as sharp and long as ever, pulling his left free, he tore the attacking hounds apart.

Within minutes of the back-and-forth battle, the black cloaks had completely retreated, most of them dropping dead throughout the snow, and the one he held had been torn to shreds by the dogs.

Slashing out with his claws, Abe cut down several more pouncing hounds as he stumbled for his sword, kicking it up and catching it as he cut down another mutt.

Swinging his sword around, Abe roared as he slammed it into the oncoming canines, splitting several into pieces as they continued their mindless charge.

The clearing of snow had turned into a bloody slaughter, white now entirely stained.

As Abe cut down a few more hounds, the remnants paused to howl and then turned to the forest. Even they seemed to have enough intelligence to understand the battle was lost.

Marching across the corpse-littered clearing, Abe cut down the remaining black cloaks with pitying strikes.

The worms beneath his skin were squirming in ecstasy. They were feeding. Growing stronger from whatever shared substance made both them and the black cloaks.

Their little bodies thumped as one, a superorganism with a single consciousness. It reminded him of his own experience in the sewers. If he fed enough of those things to his worms, might they evolve as he had?

Abe questioned the sanity of his pondering, but they had proven useful. Had they incapacitated him again, the Man in White might have been wise enough to finish the job. And it was all because of the worms that didn’t happen.

Sending a surge of energy pulsing out, he made his desire known to the worms that wiggled about his body. They agreed. No, it was more than that. They cried out with thirst. A pungent desire to grow stronger. To obey Abe in return for his aid in finding them their next feast.

With Abe’s approval, the tiny worms crawled out from his fingertips and latched onto any still-breathing black cloaks and sucked their nutrients dry. Once they were done, they returned to their gathering spots within his body.

Abe looked down across his damaged body, eyeing the mostly shallow wounds that covered it. His clothing was stained and torn to shreds.

Turning back toward the manor, he grunted.

Healing and supplies were needed, but there was no way the Man in White would survive him a third time.

A zombie-like march carried Abe across the courtyard and through the front door of the manor.

“Wow, you look shit,” Ricky said, drawing his attention to the right as he entered.

“What are you doing up here?”

“That damned thing won’t shut up now,” Ricky shook his head. “Ever since I gave it those freaking scales all it says is ‘Blub.’ I think I’m going insane. I can still hear it on repeat.”

“It?”

“It’s a long story, I’ll fill you in later. The point is, I needed to get away from it.”

Abe glanced toward the passage down to the Kennels.

“Don’t even think about it. I’ll show you the little bugger when the time is right.”

“Okay, fine, whatever,” Abe said, trudging toward the kitchen and returning a moment later—arms filled with blood packs. “Would you mind?”

“No worries, but I’d take it easy on those things if I were you. Don’t want to run out before the Mistress returns,” Ricky said and his eyes lit up.

“Yeah, yeah,” Abe groaned, turning to climb up the stairs in his ragged state.

“You got a death wish, and you smell funny, and not in a good way,” Ricky muttered to himself as Abe disappeared up the stairs.

Laying on his bed, Abe ripped a blood pack open and began to drink. He could feel the little worms recoil as the fluid rejuvenated his unnatural life. They didn’t like it.

The worms had fought against her blood, trying to dominate his body in undeath.

He wasn’t sure how exactly it all worked, but he was pretty certain the worms provided a form of undead life similar to how Miss Nia had resurrected him into service.

It wasn’t her blood that tamed you, was it? Abe pondered, placing a hand over his heart as he drank. He didn’t know what, but there was something else at play.

Did I do it?

Whilst the worms couldn’t speak, they had been able to send some sensations his way. But they were silent now.

Fine, whatever. I’ve got enough things to worry about. Like what I’m going to wear.

He brought his arm up as he drank, its sleeve having been reduced to shreds.

I wonder if that Bazaarbus guy has some sturdier outfits for sale… at this rate I’m going to run out of clothing.

Finishing his second blood bag, Abe could feel his wounds closing and strength returning.

Sitting up, he eyed the drawer.

Hopefully, this isn’t a bad idea.

He pulled the drawer open collected the handful of bullets, and loaded them into the magnum.

I’d like to see you try and fly away from me, asshole.

Collecting a new change of clothing, Abe readied to head back out, halted by a knock at the door.

“Who is it?”

“Who do you think?” Elissa snapped back. “Open the damned door already.”

“Okay, one moment.”

I’m surprised she didn’t just smash it down, but perhaps she doesn’t want to get on Miss Nia’s bad side any more than I do.

Abe opened the door to Elissa’s sneering face, her lip even more torn than it was before, and several small wounds were still scattered across her body.

His brow rose as he inspected her.

“Keep your eyes to yourself,” she growled. “We can’t all be pretty like you.”

Swallowing Abe forced his eyes up to hers.

“We got work to do,” she said, tapping the head of her double-axe against the ground. “And things to kill.”