Chapter Twenty-Four:
As much as I needed it, I didn't have the time to waste on recovering. I had no idea what had happened to Angel during my brief battle with the dusky-toned Rogue.
I sprang to my feet and only had to turn in the direction of the Ford to find Angel there in a desperate fight for her life with another Rogue vampire. This one had long blonde hair and sort of reminded me of the longhaired German terrorist from the first Die Hard movie – though I couldn't recall his name at the moment.
Angel was snarling like a hellcat, slashing with her strong fingers at her opponent, and snapping at him with her sharp teeth. She'd taken several minor cuts, where the male she was battling didn't appear to have taken any. Instead, he almost playfully danced just out of reach every time Angel took a swipe at him.
He was toying with her, taking advantage of her still weakened condition to amuse himself for a bit. He appeared to be having so much fun that he hadn't even noticed his companion's abrupt flaming departure from the scene.
He probably never thought that his coven mate might have any trouble with what they obviously thought was just another puny human.
As much as an edge as it normally was to me, I was getting pretty annoyed with being underestimated lately!
I leaped forward, all claws and fangs to educate him. My jumped carried me over the hood and passenger side of the Explorer to land at his side. I snarled my challenge, and raked my claws through his nearest arm, taking him across the bicep to slice him open.
He let go of Angel and leaped backwards in surprise at the attack he hadn't seen coming. I just as quickly placed myself between him and her, not daring to spare even a second to turn around to check on her. Taking my eyes off my enemy for any reason would be the death of us both for sure, so I could only hope Angel wasn't too badly hurt.
I didn't even bother thinking about my secret being exposed to Angel now, if we survived the next few minutes, let alone the rest of the night, that was something I would have to worry about later.
"Kage!" Angel was shouting from behind me as she realized what was happening. "Don't! He'll kill you… you can't fight him!"
Her voice was full of panic, more for my safety than for hers, because she still thought I was just human. She moved and I found that I could keep track of her by scent alone. She was rushing up behind me, and I wasn't surprised when I felt her hand land on my shoulder as she attempted to pull me away from the Rogue and behind her.
I didn't budge, which surprised her… probably almost as much as when I placed a clawed hand on her chest and firmly pressed to keep her behind me instead.
The Rogue briefly examined the healing slashes on his arm through the remains of his baggy sweatshirt, and then looked back at me, narrowing his eyes for a few seconds as if they might be deceiving him.
He then threw his head back and laughed.
"What the hell are you suppose to be?" he taunted. I was mildly disappointed that he didn't have a German accent like the guy from Die Hard… but you can't have everything.
"Come closer and find out," I offered. You would think having long fangs sticking out of your mouth would make speaking a bit more difficult, it didn't really. The rough growl that came into your voice was almost all vampire attitude.
"Moon Child?" he asked in amusement. "Not very impressive."
"Not a Were," I snarled, thankful now that Angel was staying behind me for the moment and not trying to protect me. She was probably still trying to figure out what was going on. "And your girlfriend found me impressive enough."
It was then that he noticed his coven mate hadn't joined the fun.
"Where's Daemon?" he demanded to know.
"Was that his name," I replied, my turn to taunt now.
"Where is he, mongrel!" he all but screamed at me.
I smiled, all pointy teeth now. Remember… that being the worse thing you could do to a vampire who thought he or she was your better?
"Last I seen him, he was hotfooting it outta here," I told him. "Probably a crispy critter by now."
That did it.
The Rogue screamed to the heavens and charged me. It was on now!
We fought like lions fighting to the death for several moments, the wildness of our actions taking us from the street, toward the darkness of the closed businesses.
I vaguely recalled Angel following behind us, shouting and looking like she was trying to find an opening on the Rogue to land a strike of her own.
The pace was too fast, and our positions changed to often for her to land anything I think… and her long illness was slowing her down.
The vamp was tracking her too, and at one instant when she had gotten too close to him, and he spun to send a back-kick into her gut.
The girl flew helplessly backwards until she impacted a solid wall of one of the storefronts, but I knew better than to let it distract me. I had no choice but to press the fight, or all was lost!
I ended up pretty much with my back against another wall and fighting for both our lives. Angel wasn't going to be much help; the Rogue had struck her pretty hard, sending her flying into the wall behind her. I could hear her head bounce off the bricks from where I was. I could only spare a brief second to hope she hadn't injured her brain and memory further.
The vampire I was dealing with was in fact a pretty good fighter, he'd caught me off-guard several times despite my best effort and knew how to make the most of those advantages. He'd already gotten in close enough to sink his teeth into me good.
The love bit he had given me on my forearm was already spreading venom through me like a wildfire. In the back of my mind, I was beginning to hear and feel what the Rogue did. If I didn't get out of this within the next ten minutes or so and kill the Rogue to break the growing psychic link between us, I was going to be pretty much toast!
But first, I had to prevent him from just killing me within the next minute through just pure fighting skill! He faked a punch, and the growing distraction was enough that I fell for it. The next thing I knew he'd sideslipped and gotten me into a hammerlock.
He had one armed locked around my throat, cutting off my breath at the same time it was threatening to crush my larynx for sure. To make matters that much worse, he had a knee rammed into my lower back and was slowly bending me backwards in an attempt to break my spine!
… So I did something I've never done in over ninety years of fighting vampires and living this half-life of mine.
I bit… and I bit hard!
Turnabout is fair play, or so they say.
Without giving it much thought I had tucked my chin as low as I could and I sank my fangs into the Rogue's arm. I was more than surprised when they cut through his marble flesh like a knife through butter. Given the stone-like quality of vampire skin, I would have thought such a feat near impossible!
However, the next thing I knew I was gagging on his blood and I swallowed the first mouthful on reflex while trying to get enough air into my lungs. Fighting was hard work at any time and even harder when you were being choked-out, and unlike true vamps… I needed to breathe.
The Rogue howled, whether in pain or annoyance at being bit, I didn't know. I do know that he was pissed enough to stop trying to bust my back and began pounding the fist of his free arm into my kidneys at the moment. I winced at the blows and I figured if it was pissing him off this much, I damn sure wasn't going to stop and let go. I could live for the moment with being beaten, as long as my spine remained whole.
The down side was that more of his blood was flowing down my throat, the nasty tasting stuff had set my stomach burning, but I still didn't let go and in fact clamped down harder on his arm instead.
That truly aggravated him even more, but he finally decided he'd had enough and tried to shake me off. I was glad to feel the pressure ease off my neck all together, and didn't even mind it much when he blasted me in the back of the head while trying to dislodge me.
As soon as I was totally free, I went with the next blow, finding myself staggering backward until a wall slammed into me and halted that process. It probably should have hurt more given my spine still smarted from having the Rogue's kneecap jammed into it, but the backhand the Rogue unleashed next didn't give me much time to think about it.
That took me completely off my feet and sent me flying to land at least five yards away from him.
Strangely, I discovered I seemed to be moving in slow motion as I fell, and the ground came up so gradually to my perception that I felt like I had all day to prepare to catch myself. I landed like a cat on the balls of me feet and the tips of my finger.
My head swam slightly, like I was drunk or in a dream, probably from the blow I took. But other than that I suddenly felt good… very good!
And powerful, I've never felt so powerful in all my life. I felt sure I could bend steel with my bare hands if I wanted to. The pains and injuries I suffered in the fight appeared to just fade away, except for the weird feeling in my head… that I was just going to have to do the best I could to ignore.
Within a few seconds it was almost as if the nasty beating the Rogue had just given me had never happened. I sprang lightly to my feet and I spun to face the vamp again, but I seemed to be moving so fast that I no sooner thought of turning to face my enemy, and suddenly I just was there.
The vamp looked startled for some reason, eyeing me like he'd just seen something he wasn't sure about.
I saw him… and suddenly the only thing I wanted was more of his blood!
I ran my tongue along my fangs, and they seemed longer and sharper than usual to me. My tongue found residue of his blood still coating my teeth, and that sharp taste ignited a hot craving like I've never felt before.
I couldn't help but grin at the Rogue as I saw him in a new light.
He was prey… my prey!
He hissed in return and my grin grew even wider at his challenge. It made my heart pound like a hammer on an anvil, and the blood roar in my ears. I raised a hand to point a finger at him and found that even my nails had stretched into longer and harder claws without me realizing it.
"You," I said in a low animal growl. "Let's play."
I didn't even recognize my own voice.
The Rogue hissed, baring his pitiful human-like teeth at me in challenge once more as he crouched down. He spread his arms wide in welcome, his finger twisted into talons of his own.
I wanted to laugh, but instead a snarl ripped from my chest. I was going to tear him apart and gorge on his blood, and then dance around the fire I would make of his remains.
But not before draining every drop!
I felt myself flying, and then I suddenly hit a brick wall… this time the brick way gave way before me.