Chapter 502
Eliza and Sergio were moving in. She shouted to the frightened man, “Hey, Daven! Better get home before I call your family!”
Startled, he turned around, having no idea who the strange woman with the purple hair was, but he’d had enough. Without a word to Honey, he took off running back the way he came, and I let go a sigh of relief that at least I’d helped save one unfortunate soul.
Honey wasn’t amused at seeing Eliza, especially after she’d scared off the Vampire’s dinner. “Oh, great. It’s you again.” She put her hands on her hips and stared at the slight Guardian. “I’ve been wanting to repay you for the way you treated my friends.”
Eliza stopped a few feet away from her, folding her arms. Sergio was behind her. I assumed her team was aware that these Vampires weren’t like normal ones, that they would be hard to kill, and they’d opted to go with Guardians in the lead, rather than Hunters, since as far as I knew, they didn’t have any titanium bullets or grenades. “It’s too bad you didn’t stick around the other night so I could show you the same sort of hospitality,” Eliza said to the Vampire, undeterred by the gumption the blonde was showing.
Honey’s eyes narrowed. “You should know I am not the same as they are. My veins are alive with the power of the one who cannot be stopped by your bullets or your silver knives.”
I assumed she had to be talking about Daunator. Eliza wasn’t frightened. “Sounds a lot like what a few of your other friends have said recently, the other ringleaders of Daunator’s little band of destruction makers. But I ended them easily enough and hope to have the same sort of fun with you.”
She was confident, I had to give her that. Even when Honey started laughing, Eliza didn’t flinch. Instead, she started walking toward the Vampire, and the taller woman retreated down the alley a little way. In the distance, I could see the rest of the team falling into place. Their footsteps echoed down the deserted street like a death knell.
Eliza pulled a silver blade from a sheath at her hip. “You ready?” she asked the Vampire, and I prayed Eliza could be just as fierce today as she had been the other night.
Honey looked over her shoulder at the sound of approaching footsteps. “Four on one. That seems fair,” she mumbled under her breath. But when she turned back to face Eliza, her fangs were bared. My tongue immediately went to my teeth. Mine stayed put look like good little fangs.
With Honey’s sharp teeth gleaming in the moonlight, she looked terrifying, but she was scared now. I could feel it vibrating off of her. I told Eliza, “She’s scared, which is weird. I wouldn’t have taken her for a coward.”
“Maybe that’s why she didn’t fight me the other night,” Eliza offered as she moved a step forward, her hands outstretched, hunkered down in what we call “ready position.”
I didn’t think that was quite right. It was something else. But I didn’t disagree. “Maybe. She’s also stalling. I think there are others on their way. Better get to it.” There was a tingle in the air around Honey, something I’d never sensed before. I had no idea what it was, and it didn’t seem like she was waiting on more Vampires, but she was waiting—or calling, maybe?—for something.
Eliza took my advice and sprang forward at Honey who stepped out of the way just in time to dodge the blade. The Guardian was thrown slightly off balance, but it only took her a second to recover, and then she was back on the attack again. Eliza cut through the air several times, Honey always just out of her reach. Annoyed, Eliza put the knife away and reached for her Glock. The teammates behind the Vampire, the ones that had been observing so far, stepped aside, giving Eliza a clear shot at the Vampire without the worry of hitting one of the Hunters behind her.
The sound of gunfire echoed down the narrow street but not a single light came on in the buildings on either side of them. I supposed the people here were used to it, which was sad. Eliza’s bullets had hit their target, but none of it mattered. Other than a few plumes of smoke, Honey was undamaged. But she was mad. With bits of ash streaming behind her, she roared at the sky as Eliza came at her again.
I became aware of a strange noise coming from the buildings around them as Eliza and the Vampire clashed again. Eliza is way stronger than I ever would’ve given her credit for since she’s not even as tall as me, and before long, she had Honey on the ground, her knife out again. But she was unaware of what was happening around her, and since she wouldn’t lift her eyes, I had no choice but to jump to someone else.
I didn’t have IAC access to any of the teammates because they didn’t know I was there. So I had to use my telepathy. I jumped into Sergio’s head. He was just off behind Eliza, doing what while she was battling the Vampire, I didn’t know. But now, he was staring up at the top of the building to Eliza’s left as the source of the noise came into focus.
I’d never seen anything like it before in my life, and I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff. Over the top of the buildings, black forms began to scurry down the walls toward the sidewalk. They looked like people--sort of—on all fours, head first, barreling down the walls at top speed. But everything about them was a dark, charred black, even their clothes. The only thing that wasn’t were their eyes, which were red. Sergio was staring at them in disbelief, his mouth hanging open. I couldn’t blame him. I was, too.
But he needed to react. Subtly, I put the thought into his head. There were thousands of these things. “Shoot,” I prodded, hoping he was too distracted to consider where the idea had come from. He did, pulling his Glock and firing on the ones closest to him. Up the street, the rest of the team did the same. When he shot them, a blackish red substance flowed out of them, but it didn’t quite look like blood. The ones who were injured or killed dropped off, out of commission. There were so many others, it hardly made a difference.
