you call them, your crew, and you called me to help you? This
after the way you turned me, abused me, and then pitched me out like a sack of
trash? You want me to fight for your miserable life?”
The silence was deafening, the air thick with menace,
every vamp in the room prepared to do violence. Danner and Wilson stared at
each other, neither willing to break the contact.
“ Danner, let me try to help you
understand.”
It was the woman Miriam who finally broke the spell,
Danner turning his angry eyes away from Wilson and looking at the human.
“The problem we are anticipating, what Beryl thinks is
going to happen, is the chance we are going to come under attack because we are
out of the way, quiet and law abiding. Danner, Beryl gave you a great gift,
gave you eternity. Don’t you see, we are going to lose everything we have
worked for, and all Beryl asks is your support. He needs you, Danner. What a
marvelous way for you to repay his generous gift of your life. Do you
understand?”
Riley looked at Amp, rolling his eyes, knowing the human
had hit on a very sore subject with his friend. She could not have known her
argument for Danner’s help could not have been more poorly scripted.
Finally, Danner answered, looking at Wilson as he spoke.
“If you are attacked by another clan, it is because you are weak. Allowing this
woman, this human, to speak for you, to argue on your behalf, proves you are
weaker than I could ever have imagined. You have guaranteed our safety, and I
expect the guarantee to be adhered to. We will pass on your offer of lodging
and be on our way.”
Without another word, Danner, Riley and Amp stood. They
knew there would be no action against them. A vampire’s word of safety was his
strongest bond, and they had no doubt Wilson would abide by his word. Silently
the three filed out of the room, moved to the front door, and out of the house.
------
Danner was the first to die, the attack so unexpected Riley
and Amp just stared as their sire’s head was severed by a violent strike from a
sword, the blonde from the bar grinning evilly, his fangs fully elongated. Danner’s
lifeblood spurted in several directions, escaping from the hole where his head
had rested, his torso hitting the ground, quivering, and then lying still, his head rolling several feet away, the open,
lifeless eyes staring at nothing.
“I told you to show my sire the respect he deserves,” the
blonde snarled, his blade whipping out towards the remaining two.
Amp stood stunned, her mind awash in a millisecond
recollection of the past 100 years. She felt as though she couldn’t breathe,
staring at the headless carcass; her sire, her mentor, her greatest friend.
After what seemed like hours, but was only scant seconds, she snapped out of
her shock, her entire focus on raining death upon these savages.
Riley has been much faster, dodging left, and then
striking from the side, the blonde flying against a tree, the air leaving his lungs,
down but not out. Another pair of Wilson’s warriors dropped from the roof, each
wielding a similar sword, their intentions clear. There would be no mercy shown
this night; it was a fight to the death.
Amp and Riley stood back-to-back, preparing for the fight
of their lives. Riley went after the closest vamp, dodging the strike from the
sword and knocking him down, twisting the man’s head until his neck broke, grabbing
the sword off the ground and easily taking the head of the second attacker . Amp had grabbed the sword
the blonde had used to take Riley’s head, and she swung it at the third vamp,
slicing first into his shoulder, then bringing it straight down and splitting
the vamps skull.
The girl had never handled a sword before, but
surprisingly she felt as if the weapon was an extension of her arm. She was
swinging it, if not gracefully, lethally. In her mind, she knew she was going
to die; her entire focus was taking as many of the enemy with her as possible. Turning,
she