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vampire
hesitated. This was probably the first time in her new life she’d
been faced with a decision. I could see her trying to do a threat
assessment on the situation. Five bags of food versus one with a
really angry expression. Which to choose.
    I was hyped up
on just enough couldn’t-give-a-fuck to throw caution to the wind.
In the split second it took her to pick me, I was on her. One arm
wrapped around her shoulders, I pushed the barrel of the Eagle
right into her ear and squeezed the trigger.
    Let me say
this and then we’ll leave it alone.
    It wasn’t
pretty.
    Covered in
vampire remains, I picked myself up off the slippery floor and
faced five very stunned people.
    “Gas leak,” I
said. “You’re all hallucinating.”
    They kept
staring, and the attendant guy gathered the kids behind him more
securely.
    With a
clatter, the empty mag hit the floor and I fished the last full one
out of my pocket. “You know the way through the maze?” I asked
Attendant Guy.
    He nodded,
fast and worried.
    “Go back to
the start. You’ll find a guy in a suit and one of the other kids
there. Stay with him.”
    Another nod,
but no movement. Apparently, I was as scary as a vampire. Yay
me.
    I backed out
of the dead-end, giving them room to ease past me.
    Ushering the
kids back the way I’d come, Attendant Guy paused. “There’s another
kid in here somewhere.”
    “Yeah, I know.
You just get those ones out. And thanks for coming in after
them.”
    He turned to
leave, then stopped again. “Thanks for coming in after me.” Then he
was gone, herding his frightened, bloodied charges toward
safety.
    Once more
alone, I took a moment to get a sense on the last kid. And, as it
turned out, the last vampire. There was one more still alive, very
close to the human. Further afield, Mercy was coming in at speed. I
was closer, but she was faster.
    When I came
around the last corner, the first thing I saw was the boy. Maybe
fourteen if he was a day, lying face down on the floor. Leaning
over him was a vampire.
    Petite, sweet
bodied and adorable with curls of black hair that reached her
shoulders and surrounded a heart-shaped face. Her skin was
flawless, moonlight cast in soft, silky textures. Blood-red lips
peeled back from perfect white teeth, two of which were
terrifyingly long, pointed canines. Her eyes were the reflective
silver of a hunting predator.
    About to take
a gigantic bite out of the boy, the dark-haired huntress sensed my
presence. Her head snapped up and her alien gaze pinned me. The
wash of her psychic powers rolled over me in a great, swamping
rush. It snapped into my limbs whip-crack fast, trying to paralyse
me.
    This was no
immature vampire; not some half-arsed monster who didn’t know what
to do with all its strength and skills. She was everything the mob
of fledgling vampires had wanted to be but never would be now.
Everything about her spoke of power and dominance and deadliness.
Her psychic whammy was perfectly aimed to take me out.
    And you know,
I would have been toast if I didn’t have a psychic link to her.
    I jerked that
link like a dog trainer on the business end of a choker chain. It
broke Mercy’s concentration, pulled the power she directed at me
back through her and along the link. Reversed, the psychic whammy
slammed into her.
    The sudden
backwash of power knocked her off her feet. She slammed against a
wall. Being a temporary one, it broke and she disappeared into the
next corridor in a shower of dust and splinters.
    Score one to
me.
    With a bit of
breathing room, I looked around and found a puddle of vampire goo.
Mercy had finished it off before I even got here.
    Kneeling by
the kid, I checked his pulse. Strong and steady, just dazed. I
lifted him into my arms and turned to find Mercy picking her way
out of the rubble with delicate steps, brushing down her black
T-shirt and jeans as she went. Her eyes were their normal
dark-brown colour.
    She looked up
at me with a serious pout. “You tore my