The dark figure walked directly up to Ryan, and as he approached, Ryan looked up. He pulled one of the earbuds from its place nestled inside his ear canal and looked at the guy with that jock-blank expression that could be interpreted as a challenge, a question, or a statement depending on the situation.
“Ryan.”
“Um, do I know you, Bro?” The bass of his voice sounded forced to me.
The question took the man aback. At least, that’s how I interpreted the arched eyebrow which was about the extent of his reaction, but something told me that it was quite expressive for him. He was incredibly pale, and his black hair fell limply around his head, a wet curtain that was parted in the front for ease of sight. He was dressed from head to toe in black, but the look of the clothing was high quality. The breeze shifted slightly and I could smell that dusty, dead scent that I had smelled in my apartment earlier today. That, and a more intense, sharp scent that I couldn’t place that was just beneath that.
“Yes. You do.” the words had the sound of command in them, and I could see his eyes shift to a greyish slate color as the pupils and irises seemed to just recede “You know me, and you had work to do for me.” Ryan’s schooled expression of neutrality shifted into actual blank. His muscles relaxed, and his eyes lost their focus. “Did you find the werewolf?”
“I don’t understand…” Ryan stared unblinkingly into the man’s eyes.
The man narrowed his eyes slightly and leaned forward, as if adding his body’s weight to the push of whatever he was doing. “Who did this to you?”
“I… Was…”
I could actually see a very slight, pale glow coming from the vampire’s eyes now. “Tell. Me.”
A small trickle of blood started to flow from Ryan’s budless ear, and he looked in pain, but still kept his eyes locked on the vampire’s.
Shit.
I stood up very slowly, and moved with a predator’s grace; each step I took was slow and deliberate as to not make noise outside of the norm in the area. I kept a very low profile, and hoped that this mojo was taking the Vampire’s full attention as I stalked out of his peripheral vision along the wall. Once I could see nothing but the back of his head, I angled carefully away from the wall and started moving toward him. My head was completely still as the rest of me shifted and walked forward. Ryan suddenly screamed, and that sound set me into motion. I darted forward and angled to tear at the Vampire’s hamstrings with my teeth.
I was fast. He was faster.
I felt the muscles tearing beneath my fangs and I threw myself forward and to the side to get out of reach of any retaliatory strike. What I didn’t take into account was that this thing was supernatural as well. The one that had hit my throat happened to do so when I was still shifting, and whatever magic was in me that rearranged all my bits just dealt with that. I wasn’t shifting at the moment, and this guy was much faster. So, even though I did score a hit, I got raked along the right side of my body with some vicious claws that felt like they tore much deeper than they should have. Like, I was pretty sure ribs were supposed to be there for just such a situation.
I hit the ground with the left side of my body rather than my feet and slid around on the wet grass so that my head was pointed at the Vampire and Ryan. Instead of jumping up to a standing position and darting back in, which I am pretty sure was what I commanded myself to do, I twitched and may have whimpered. Ryan fell to his knees holding his head in his hands, and the Vampire grinned maliciously at me, baring incredibly long fangs from the top row of his teeth. “Well well. How convenient.”
The vampire took a step forward and almost fell flat on his ass. He glared at his own leg, and I saw him grow slightly paler, which I didn’t think would be possible, and I could see the muscles that I had torn apart mend themselves through the tear in his expensive pants. He made a displeased noise as he then walked forward. “I liked these pants. I think you will have to suffer some for tearing them.”
Ryan looked around with a completely confused expression as he tried to make sense of the scene before him, but I turned my full attention on the vampire and pictured the much more powerful and muscular form that I had taken earlier. The shift would heal up the wound in my side, but I was not sure if I would have time.
“Hey!” I heard Erik’s voice coming from behind me somewhere, followed by a flash of lightning, a crack of thunder, and the vampire was thrown backward against the wall of one of the old brick buildings with a satisfyingly wet-sounding thud. I desperately wanted him to quote Sigourney Weaver right then, but I doubt either he or the vampire knew the reference. Pop culture references were the first thing to go with supernatural age. He stepped into my view and walked forward until he had placed himself between the vampire and both Ryan and myself.
“Dramatic, but it will do.” a voice I didn’t recognize came from behind me. It sounded old--it had that scratchy papery quality that truly old women uniformly attained, and held a note of authority that came with experience of having those around you do exactly what you say. “See to the… Sam.” Laura entered my vision, and I watched the vampire with a smoldering hole in his chest dart away so fast that it made the first one I had encountered earlier that day look like the slow, stupid turtle in the race with a hyperthyroidic hare. On crack. And red bull.
Then Laura’s eyes went white.
Everything else went black.
