Vameer
Itake a step forward. My heartbeat is finally able to slow again, now that my mate is safe.
During my night with the internet, I studied the uniforms of the world’s armies. The uniforms of the different branches.
And the uniforms of mercs.
These men are not sanctioned by the government.
Or they are pretending not to be.
Which means I do not have to pretend to be reasonable.
Which is good. Because I am not.
I brush the ash off my hands. “You pointed weapons at my mate.”
“Come with us peacefully, and no one has to get hurt,” the man in the middle, who is apparently the leader, says.
Another merc scoffs.
The first man smirks. “Well, other than that guy.” He nods toward the alley.
Their heartbeats vary. Half of these men are as scared as they should be. But all of them stood by, watching, while that man assaulted Rune.
“We just want to chat,” the leader says, with his finger on the trigger.
“That’s not how this is gonna go.” I reach across my body, and metal scrapes against metal as I pull my sword free from the chain at my waist.
The guns pointed at me tremble.
The leader lets out a laugh. “Bringing a sword to a gun fight? Maybe you vamps aren’t as smart as we’ve been told.”
Gravito seeps out of me. Billowing. Turning darker and darker until it’s black.
“Bringing humans to an Alt fight…” I click my tongue as the black smoke circles around my hand. “You have not been told enough.”
My gravito crawls down the sword, coating it. Turning the metal onyx.
The men watch as the power drips from the tip of my blade.
The corner of my mouth pulls up.
It’s been a long time since I’ve done this trick.
My sword vibrates with agreement.
I hold the weapon out to my side. And the drips braid together, forming a thin black string of power hanging off the end of my sword.
“Walk away peacefully, and no one has to get hurt.” I give the humans one last chance.
They open fire.
And I let them.
Because their outward aggression is all the justification I need to release my own.
A wall of invisible gravito catches the bullets halfway between us.
They don’t seem to realize.
And they certainly don’t understand that this is their last moment to live.
From across the street, I twist my wrist, twirling the blade once.
Then I swing my sword.