“Clear.”

“Clear”

“All clear, cut the lights.”
The one with the tinny voice ordered.

Luckily while they had scanned the area, they hadn’t looked directly up. I had no idea where Merii had gone but she wasn’t visible and I assumed she had been smarter than me, so I wasn’t worried for her. The men all turned off the lights on their guns, the two on the flanks holstering them as they all pulled our small torches from their belts and flicked them on. The light being a much more subdued yellow that didn’t threaten to blind me with its mere presence.

The one who kept his gun out was apparently the leader with the tinny voice. Average height with a well groomed head of hair and enough muscle to make me worried about a straight up fight.
“Ok…. spread out and see if there’s anything worth noting, especially anything that feels magic. Sam, if anything pops let me know. Peter, you keep an eye on the door please.”

“Easy.” The giant with the shotgun answered, resting the gun on his shoulder as he leaned back against the central pillar, directly below me. The barrel of the weapon now pointed worryingly in my direction.

The group did as ordered, spreading out and looking around the building. While I would say they were well trained at entering a building, I couldn’t say the same for their investigation skills. Much like how I pictured the guard had done, they generally looked at random objects, occasionally picking something up, but otherwise didn’t seem to have any real method. Unlike Merii, they seemed to lack the experience.

I should probably have been concerned with where Merii had gotten too, given that they were searching closer and closer to the rear of the building. But I was rather more concerned with my own predicament. While the giant man hadn’t really moved, the fact he was right there, and armed with the only weapon Merii had actively warned me about, was making me worry rather severely about my future prospects of keeping my head.

Even if I dropped on him right now, I wasn’t sure I could fight a guy that size. Vampiric strength or not, it would be like fighting a mountain, not something I wanted to do at the moment, especially considering my reserves of blood and ability to heal from something serious were already in doubt.
I counted my blessings and thanked the Saints that I didn’t sweat anymore, no doubt it would be pouring off of me right now if I did. And I’d seen enough movies to know how that would end in a situation like this. Lacking better options, I did the only thing I could and hung tight. Literally.

After what seemed like an eternity for my straining muscles and gouging claws, the group started to converge on the back door of the building, the one we had left open. I wasn’t paying attention to their conversation at this point. Obviously they had missed Merii somehow, which was good for her. But I was more worried about my guy feeling my eyes on him as he lit a cigarette.
I watched closely as he sparked the lighter, touching it to the cigarette and taking a long drag, before tilting his head back and exhaling a cloud of smoke with a satisfied sigh. As the smoke cleared a little, the worst happened, our eyes met.

 In the dark I had hoped he might not see me, but apparently the human instinct for survival was just as strong as mine. As the smoke faded he squinted for a second, looking directly into my eyes.

“What the h-“

I didn’t give him time to finish that though, I didn’t have time to waste. As I let go of the beam holding my arms and kicked off with my legs he was already turning, the barrel of the gun swinging about as he rushed to shoulder it.
Plummeting downwards I connected with my target, clawed fingers sinking into his shoulder as my other hand batted the gun aside with all the force I could muster.

And only just in time, as with a roaring blast the thing fired, the concussion rattling my bones and the flash lighting the whole room.
For a moment there was quiet as my left eardrum ruptured, and everyone tried to figure out what was happening. Then all hell broke loose. I had attempted to pull off the same trick as last time, slamming my knees into the man’s chest with terrific force, backed by the speed of my descent. To limited success.

“Fuck!” The giant swore loudly, grinding his teeth and stumbling back with me hanging off him. Behind us I heard shouts, panicked voices calling to their friend, a light briefly illuminated me. But all of that changed quickly as a scream of pain came from their direction, followed quickly by several gunshots and the sound of clashing steel.

I didn’t exactly have time to check what was happening to them though, as a meaty fist grabbed a handful of my hair and tore me back. My claws scrambled uselessly for purchase against the gun, as I was thrown bodily backwards with a pained shout of my own. The man had thankfully not kept a hold of me, but instead had tossed me like a rag doll several meters across the floor.

Like a bolt of lightning, adrenaline rushed through me from the attack, and in a heartbeat I was on my feet again, having spun my way around and back upright with a speed that would have made Merii proud. A fire burned in me, energy and the thrill of the fight now rushing its way through my muscles as I sprung forward. 

But my opponent wasn’t slacking, the flash of a gunshot from the back of the room gleamed off the barrel of the shotgun already coming up to his wounded shoulder as he took a single, heavy step forward. With no time to think I dove low towards him, the blast again shaking through my bones and into the very core of my being, as the shot passed over my head. The sensation sending my adrenaline pumping to unsustainable heights, for a mortal at least. For me though? It only stoked the fire.

Rolling in close I popped up and slammed my right fist into his diaphragm, my left hand gripping the gun hard, attempting to wrench it from his grip in one swift moment. The blow caused the mountain of a man to grunt out a breath and curl forwards, but he held his grip. Leaving him to do his best to swat me aside with the barrel. Seeing I wasn't going anywhere while he still had a hold of the weapon, I instead leveraged my footing and drove the gun back, forcing the stock hard against the bloody wound my claws had gouged in his shoulder.

My opponent growled and let go of the front of the weapon, dropping it, and his right hand, to his side as he swung a punch with his left. It wasn’t a good shot and connected in a glancing blow to the side of my head. But even the glancing hit was enough to knock my smaller frame off balance with the disproportionate difference in our weights. Luckily I was ready this time, my body brimming with a burning energy and tension that only seemed to grow with the hit.

My hand was still holding the barrel and, as I tumbled, I also pulled hard on the dreaded weapon, his wounded arm alone not being enough to stop me ripped it free and sending the gun skittering across the floor.
The main threat now dealt with I quickly I wheeled back around, ready to launch myself again into close quarters with the man, only to be hit by a heavy kick to the stomach that knocked every ounce of breath from my lungs with a choked scream. Doing it’s best to  ruptured several organs from the brute force, if the searing pain that ripping through me was anything to go by at least.

Again I flew several meters, this time not having the strength to immediately come to my feet. Instead gasping in a breath and letting loose a strange keening growl like some wounded animal. Followed by a pained yelp, as my body set about healing the presumably awful damage it had just been dealt. 

My attacker was taking a moment too, pulling the axe from the leather holster on his back and stretching his right shoulder to assess the damage. Against a human he would have been justified in doing so, that kick should have kept a girl my size down for hours, if not permanently. But while having the breath knocked out of me was unpleasant, it wasn’t exactly a problem for someone who no longer needed to breath. 

My body tingled and burned, the burning that had been pain now settling deep within me as a grin formed on my lips, every instinct relishing the chance to fight. My eyes flaring to life as I let my tongue run over my fangs.

Slowly I managed to pull myself to my feet, muscles and organs healing slower than normal but healing all the same. Slow or not I could feel my blood pumping, the tension even in those bruised muscles building once again, and my body yearning for the thrill of combat.

Our fight had mostly been lit by the flashes of gunfire and the stray beams of torchlight that came our way from whatever Merii was doing back there, so maybe it was natural that he missed me getting back up, or maybe it was luck. Either way, I was on my feet and barrelling towards him by the time the giant looked away from his wound. In a flash I was on him, leaping and driving my claws towards his face. I saw it then, as he glimpses my glowing eyes in the dark, a flash of fear. 

I grinned and pressed home my attack, only to be redirected with the shaft of the axe. I didn’t relent though, using my momentum to pivot on landing and come straight back at him. The two of us exchanged a flurry of furiously and swift strikes in the dark as we almost danced across the dust covered floor, the smell of fresh blood gradually filling the air and only driving me to focus further on our fight, on my growing need to kill. 

I don’t know how it was for him, truly I couldn’t say, but for me it was an amazing feeling.

The dance didn’t last long however. For each of my attempted strikes at his face I needed to stretch upwards, and he soon realized it, the butt of the axe cracking into my jaw as I attempted to gouge out an eye. I was stunned and off balance for only a moment but that was enough, he swept my legs and sent me sprawling onto the concrete. Before I could recover I saw the glint of steel descending on me, the blade missing me by inches as I rolled to the side, sparks and dust flying in my wake.

Just as I had steadied myself another swing came down and I was forced to scramble backwards on the ground to avoid a blade in a place it most definitely didn’t belong. Despite his attempt to reach out and touch me, something told me my partner wasn’t enjoying this nearly as much as myself. Maybe it was female intuition, maybe it was the hate filled glare on his bloodied face or the ferocity with which he was trying to disembowel me. But somehow I just knew he wasn’t happy, and that our fun would soon need to come to a conclusion.

My little bit of musing was interrupted by my own scream as the man’s heavy boot crashed down on my ankle, bending it with a snap and pinning me in place. I had been to distracted, watching his face and the axe, giving him a perfect opening to use his foot. I writhed for a moment in a desperate attempt to free myself before a sudden increase in pressure made me yelp. Looking up I saw the giant standing at his full height above me, axe raised above his head as he readied to deliver a killing blow. Nothing but seething hatred in his eyes as they settled on my own.

Merii has taught me a lot of painful lessons during our training, and one that flashed to mind was the problem a fighter faced when they stood tall. They locked their knees.

Lashing out with my free foot and using the pinning force of the man’s own body as leverage, I slammed my boot into his knee with all the strength my undead muscles could manage. The pain from my shattered ankle forced a cry from my throat. But, with a satisfying click, I felt his kneecap dislodge. And watched on as he lost balance. The weight above his head only pulling his bulking mass further over as he crumpled with a satisfying yell of pain and frustration.

Not wasting my opportunity I scrambled back further, my ankle healing painfully slow for the current situation. The man tried to stand but gave another yell as he released his leg would no longer hold any weight.
“You bitch.” He spat at me, trying again to move himself in some meaningful way. For my part I threw him a fanged grin, satisfaction flooding me as I watched him struggle. Moving a little further back, my elbows collided with something heavy. My heart nearly skipped with joy as I looked down at the discarded shotgun. It was like every Solstice had come at once. I was confident I would heal first, that if we continued as we had been I would gain the upper hand, but the simmering temptation of the brutal force the weapon could unleash was just too much.

Snatching it from the ground I brought it to my shoulder and sat up. I wasn’t familiar with how the thing worked in detail, but I had seen enough action flicks to know how to work the pump. With a clunk I bought it back, the spent casing bouncing on the floor with a very satisfying sound, but not nearly as satisfying as the metallic click that made me shiver as I pushed to forwards again. Hearing the distinctive noise, the giant looked up, his eyes going to the gun. A look of confusion crossed his face, followed by understanding, panic, and finally, hatred.

Presumably he had something to say, but whatever it was wasn’t forthcoming, as I squeezed the trigger. The gun roared, the noise rattling my skull and the recoil sending a shock through my entire body, shaking me once again, this time in a way that made my my muscles go taught, stomach flutter, and my core tighten as I watched the results.

The shot tore through my target near instantly, a fist sized hole appearing in the centre of his chest as the smell of gun smoke joined the smell of blood filling the air. With a small whimper he crumpled to the ground, the strength gone from his body. I slammed the action of the gun again, giving a final punctuation on our little moment.

With that, a deep, satisfied, sigh escaped me as the tension fled my body and I let myself fall limp onto the floor, the shotgun held tightly to my chest as I took a long moment to recover, and lick the delicious blood from my claws.

“You good over here?”
Merii’s voice spoke just to my left, I hadn’t even heard her approaching. Not with the light haze of blood and excitement covering my mind.

 “Mhmm….. I think I came a little…”
My voice came out as a breathy purr and I just lay there, contently, eyes closed and relaxed as I waited for my leg to heal. The heavy scent of gun smoke and fresh blood rolling over me like a soft and warm embrace.

It took the noise of a choked laugh to remind me of where I actually was and I blanched, slapping a hand over my mouth and sitting up in a flash. The fuck had I just said?!

I threw a glare at Merii, who was standing next to the pillar where I had started the fight, covering her mouth and trying desperately not to laugh.

“You didn’t hear that!”