Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The vampire runs straight at me, and his meaty fists fly at my face.
I block his right arm with my left forearm and jab the heel of my right hand into his nose.
He staggers back. I sidekick him in the ribs and follow with a punch to his liver.
He grunts in pain. Ow. My hand screams as a small bone snaps, then instantly repairs itself.
My poor fist burns. I hit him in a supposedly squishy part of the body, but what the hell?
His vampire muscles broke my hand. I shake my hand out and I whirl to the side with seconds to spare.
I laugh at the near-miss to rile him. The vampire flashes his fangs at me and lunges.
My temper flares when a punch gets through my guard and he hits me in the boob. Ow.
I grab hold of his shoulders for leverage and knee him in the side to hit his liver again.
Once, twice—vampire bodies hate their organs being bashed about; it’s particularly painful.
The vampire clutches his side and falls to the floor.
For good measure, I grab his hair and knee him in the face.
His eyes roll back in his head as he goes unconscious. He won’t be out for long, though.
I grab hold of his shirt and with a huff and a puff, I drag him across the hallway and prop him up against the wall. I don’t want to trip over him when we leave.
It was all going so well. As soon as I arrived, I could feel John’s power, the energy that is all him emanating halfway down the road.
It only grew, the closer I got to him. I shifted into a mouse and squeezed into the building undetected.
The problem arose when I became a little cocky and ran down the middle of a hallway without caution.
I could feel John behind the door at the end of this hallway…
my magic shivered in appreciation and I got excited.
A surprise attack of a stomping foot ruined my hallway dash. The boot missed me by a whisker. I had no alternative but to shift into my human form and kick his ass.
I groan as two more vampires run around the corner.
The one ahead of the other comes at me with his fists swinging.
I step into him rather than making space, and his eyes widen with surprise.
I’m hoping the move will make it more difficult for vampire number two.
Unless he wants to hit his colleague, he has to wait his turn.
I grab his arm, block the blow, and land two quick jabs underneath his chin.
I follow that with a kick to his side. He stumbles back but doesn’t go down.
I kick out again, my boot hits his chest, and the momentum shoves him down the corridor and past the other vampire.
The other vampire takes his place, barrelling into me with brute strength.
For a vampire, this guy is huge. With a squeak, I try to jump aside, but his arm catches me in the throat and we both tumble to the floor.
I land on my back and forget to lift my head as we crash down, and my poor head smashes into the unyielding concrete.
I groan and my ears ring. The vampire is halfway on top of me…
at least I manage to get my leg between us so he can’t pin me.
I use the strength in my thigh to shove him off me.
I roll away from him and scramble to my feet.
With a growl, I kick him in the face. I must have hit the sweet spot underneath his chin, as his eyes roll into the back of his head and he slumps unconscious.
I feel the movement in the air behind me.
I duck and the remaining vampire’s arm swings above my head.
I grab his wrist with both hands, bend, pull, and twist my hip.
I use my smaller frame combined with my strength to flip him over my head and onto his back with a thud.
I boot him in the ribs twice and skip away when he tries to grab my leg.
When he attempts to roll to his feet, I jump into the air and Superman-punch him with everything I have.
The bones in my hand shatter as I hit his face.
Ow-ow-ow. At least three bones in my hand rapidly repair themselves. The pain makes me feel dizzy; I clutch my hand against my chest as I glare down at the bleeding, unconscious vampire. I huff and puff as I shake out my healed but bruised hand.
I hate fighting. It hurts.
Unfortunately, our fight wasn’t quiet, and now I can hear more incoming vampires. The entire building has come alive, like a nest of angry wasps.
Oh, God. I bounce from foot to foot. What to do, what to do.
I can’t do this all night.
Scare them. Go big or go home, Emma.
Well, it’s more like “die” than “go home”…but perhaps I can shift into something scary. I allow myself a cheeky grin, and then without preamble, I shift into a seven-foot demon.
Inspired by the reflection of the red tiles, my demon comes to life with a little added theatre. Red skin, horns, the whole shebang. I wobble on my hooves and brace myself against the wall. My horns scrape the ceiling.
My real wings hurt, so I keep those bad boys tucked away and instead choose wings of fire.
I make them the same size and shape as my natural wings, but without substance, so there is no risk of them getting hurt just in case this doesn’t work.
I am sick of hurting my hands punching vampires, so I also produce a ruddy great sword; it forms solidly in my right hand.
I flex my impressive red bicep as I twirl the enormous sword to warm up my wrist and arm.
Okay, showtime.
A vampire guard in his red uniform dashes around the corner.
When his eyes land on me he skids to a stop and his arms comically windmill.
His eyes widen, and I see the fear ignite in their depths.
He fumbles with something in his hand, and then with a war cry he throws a potion ball at me.
It hits me on the chest and the glass breaks.
I tilt my head down and we both watch as the noxious orange substance gets to work.
The vampire’s mouth opens and closes. He makes a strange squawking noise in the back of his throat when the potion dissipates harmlessly into the air. I shoot him a toothy grin.
He promptly wets himself.
I frown. Oh no, that’s not good. Having peed myself in fright, I can’t help sympathising.
He spins, and in his haste to get away from me, he bounces off the wall. As he runs away down the corridor, droplets of wee follow in his wake.
Oh crap, I feel terrible. I cringe and tap my hoof as I wait for more guards to arrive.
Heck, his reaction to me makes me feel like a big bully.
I know he chucked what was probably a nasty potion at me.
Nevertheless, I’ve never made anyone so frightened before that they wet themselves.
I scratch the base of my right horn. Perhaps the seven-foot demon—eight and a bit with the horns—was a little too much?
The first guard—the mouse stomper—wakes up. He takes one look at me and with a gasp, he flips onto his hands and knees and motors off down the corridor.
Wow, look at him go.
There are crying, screaming, angry voices.
Should I take a peek around the corner? I lower the sword and push the point into the floor.
I cross one hoof casually over the other and lean against it as if it were a cane.
I can’t hear what they are saying, but I can imagine the potion guard pantomiming what happened to his colleagues.
The stomping footsteps quickly retreat. Huh? Urm…I think they are running away from me. I shrug and move back down the hallway.
I carefully step between the two unconscious guards. I finally get to the door and without even checking to see if it’s unlocked, I lift my leg and kick out with my hoof—I am no longer messing around. The door shatters into satisfying pieces.
I clop through the doorway.
I rapidly take in the room, and I immediately find John. You would think a year of not seeing him would make a difference, and it does. It makes whatever wicked fate-magic that pulls me to him worse.
With widening eyes I take him in, and my heart pounds with my growing panic.
This is worse than I imagined.