(continued from chapter 32)
She heard the sound of sharpened nails slicing her flesh and blood. Then knew the pain. Her shoulder to her forearm burned like fire, her strength faltered, her fingers went slack. The great sword pierced the ground. The road cracked. She grasped her shoulder and squeezed. The smell of her blood saturated the air, ran over her arm in a thick heavy river covering her fingers then spilled over onto the blade. The gloomy colors swirled and the steel flashed.
"Why didn't I?" She thinned her eyes in agony. Her lips pinched tight.
Boudicca took a deep breath, held it as the pain tore through her body. She glared at the narrow eyes and malicious grin of a tall vampire. An elite vampire, dressed in skintight black leather from her throat to her black fuck me pumps. She stood in front of her with her head cocked, one hand on her hip, the other hanging by her side. The blood dropped from her fingertips gliding through the air and splashed in tiny puddles at her feet. Her long black braided hair hung straight along her body like ropes, the points of razors running along the lengths of the hair too many to count. The setting sunlight sparkled off the tips as they twirled.
An elite vampire. A vampire born in an era of great violence. Many were young children from impoverished households or orphanage's, male or female sold into slavery. Too become hardened soldiers, trained and sent out into combat. The more successful in battle, the better food, blankets, the higher prestige, privileges gained. Anything they wished they get by conquering. If they caught the eyes of a particular feudal noblemen. They could be changed into a vampire. This one belong to the Baron.
Boudicca cursed herself in a thick growl for her mistake. It could've been fatal. Not hearing the elite run up behind her and slash her right arm. She crouched, "bad move, bitch!" She said, snarling her lips.
The elite vampire chuckled and said, "I've waited 600 years for a fight like this. An elder wolf… Something to boast about after I_" she never finished the statement.
Boudicca lunged, seized the elite vampire by the head, drove her thumbs into her eyes. The vampire grabbed Boudicca's wrist, her nails tearing the flesh of her wrist.
"If you're going to fight, fight!" she spat the words, her face distorted in rage. " I have daughters older than you…" she said, grating her teeth.
Her forearm tightened like heavy ropes as she crushed the head like cantaloupe. She jerked, and her neck tore like paper, blood poured out over of her body, like a fountain. It sprayed into the air, covering Boudicca in a deep patina of crimson. She ripped the head off and threw it into the air. it disappeared into the crawling chaos. She dropped to one knee, snatched the headless corpse's right leg, stood up and swung the body around crashing into vampires over and over again and again. she swung it like a giant club. The air filled with the sound of bones snapping, air violently driven from their lungs. Vampires jumping, diving rolling on the ground as the body swung around like a mace.
The bones cracked then broke. The tight leather outfit sagged. The body slowly lost its human shape. It decayed. The flesh melting away, the fatty liquid flung into the air like pieces of chicken fat. Thick heavy gelatinous chucks slipped out of the sleeves and open neck. In one final swing, Boudicca let loose of what use to be a body and let it fly through the air.
She worked her wounded shoulder and arm then reached over and grabbed the handle of her sword, its blade sunk deep into the ground, raised it up and continued to cut though the black mass of bodies.
Then it happened. The unthinkable. Not really. It was a high probability it would happen. The numbers just didn't work. She had hoped it would be longer. Just hold out until…
"Breach!" The word cut through her like an icy blast. Her heart smashed against her breast like a baseball bat. She swung her sword. The stench of vampires' blood sickened her to the point, her throat lurched. She swallowed the disgusting bile and went on to fight. The vampires halved bodies surrounded her like a buffer. Each stroke of her huge sword brought down more than her share. The blade buried in thick molasses of blood, plopped to the ground, splattering the dead at her feet. The vampires' bodies rotting, liquefying covering the ground. The air filling with the cinders of the dead. Their bodies bursting in flames. Fireflies swarming in the twilight.
A surreal spectacle of beauty born of disgust. The air crowded with small warm colored orbs floating, rising to the starry sky. She stood in all her fierceness. Her large black ears bent back in rage. Her narrowed eyes smoldering, blood soaked breast swelling and falling with each deep heavy breath, lean muscle covered in black fur and blood, long tail drifting over the bodies. She stood among the dead gripping her sword.
She glanced over and the bakery café was overrun. Large black ants crawling over the carcass. A feeding frenzy, limbs swinging, fangs flashing, masks thrown off their faces distorted in the horror of war. Wolves, vampires locked in a contest to the death. Digging, tearing, biting. No semblance of order. A fierce frenzied dance. Students scrambling for the bakery door.
Voices, human voices crying out, screaming, piercing the dense sound of growling of wolves, the snarling of vampires.
"Mitsuko!"
She became aware of two girls screaming, standing near but far apart from the doorway. The two girls from before. They had helped the loud girl setting up the flour path. The three of them laughing, leaning on one another like sisters.
The young woman with the fan struggled, called their names, "Kinuho! Ma'aya!".
Her black hair a mess. her worried filled face splattered with blood. She was not concerned for herself but her friends telling them to run away. Her school uniform torn. She raised her bleeding arm, holding onto her fan in a death grip. A sudden stroke across her body. The two girls were forced backwards. Another, they stumbled inside the doorway. Another, the door closed shut. She sank beneath the churning, pulsating expanse of black shapes. Wannai Kinuho and Awaitsuki Ma'aya banged the glass, pressed against the door, desperately struggling to break open the door.
Boudicca snarled, twisting her lips in rage. "No! No! No!" Her entire body strained, taking a step, swung her blade. The bodies split, blood sprayed into the air.
Then. Mitsuko Kongou's trap exploded.
A burst of air, multiple geysers shot from the earth. The bodies of vampires, wolves and humans launched abruptly into the air. The explosion born from where Mitsuko Kongo had collapsed. The bodies dropped from the sky. And for a moment a short silence in the middle of the battle. Was it her last?
Then chaos roared.
Vampires tumbling over the edge of the roof of the bakery café, wolves forcing them back, jumped into the mass. Fangs and claws sheathed in blood. The carnage went on.
Boudicca swung her blade, advancing towards the bakery café. Where Mitsuko had fallen.
"They're here." A weak tired voice whispered inside her angry filled consciousness. Her rage seething with each stroke of her sword. She cursed the world with a growl.
"They're here!" The tiny voice swelled with strength.
Her blade slashed through the air. The bodies dropped. An eruption of gunshots.
She suddenly turned around, glancing over her shoulder. Her narrowed eyes burned with hatred. Her large canines slipping over her lower lip. The air quivered as she growled.
Automatic weapons fire. Anti-skill had appeared. They stretched across the eight lanes of asphalt like Spartan warriors. They created an impenetrable phalanx of warrior, guns and security robots. Locked together.
The anti-skill members dressed up in full riot gear carrying Hecklar and Koch mp5 and SIG SG551 SWATS with CompM2 red dot sights, carrying riot shields. Robots spaced uniformly in line of battle. They opened fire. The air hissed with bullets.
Anti-skill vans slowly followed behind with rear doors wide. Teleporters gathered the fallen and teleported back to the vans. The lights flashed, sirens wailed. The tires screeched as the vans reversed then disappeared.
"Fire!" The air filled with the controlled burst of automatic weapons fire then they advanced.
"Fire!" Someone yelled again and again. The air filled with the controlled burst of automatic weapons fire then they advanced. The sounds of bullets, a sickening thump. And small explosions.
"Explosive rounds" Boudicca spoke in a whisper to no individual.
The vampires fell, others rose and rushed towards the anti-skill members. "Fire!"
The battle ended. The vampires were driven back as Anti-skill continued their attacks.
An uneasy silence filled the air around the bakery café. The sound of distant gunfire, soft, tired moans of the wounded.
The air stank of death and decay, small orbs of warm colors slowly drifted between and above them. Boudicca was not paying attention. She walked around the bodies and empty leather outfits. She was searching. Looking for something, someone. A certain pair of little girls. She nervously licked her lips, pulling her lower lip into her mouth, her eyes wet and her stomach twisting. She had made a promise. A promise she failed to keep. She inhaled a slow wet breath, letting her mouth slip opening.
Boudicca knelt on one knee. She had found who she was looking for. The girls were next to each other. They were lying on the ground together. they looked as if they were sleeping. In a way, they were.
In a pool of blood ebbing along the ground she found them. Banri Edasaki was lying, face down on top of Erii Haruue, her eyes closed. Her soft features splattered with blood. Her pale white face cold, looking like a sleeping child. The back of her uniform ripped, her skin torn like paper, covered in a thick molasses of blood.
Underneath her, Erii Haruue was lying on her back, like a sleeping child. Blood splattered her face, three deep slashes fell across her forehead, cheek to her chest. The fabric sticking to her blood-soaked skin. Her abdomen torn wide open.
Boudicca shook her head, recognizing the wound.
Vampires attacked the throat to feed. But they would rip open the belly to immobilize their prey. If they'd tried to run, bend over, repel the attacker the wound bled even more. They'd fall to the ground and the vampire jumped on top, pushing the victims head to the ground and bury their face into the open abdomen. Like a hyena attacking the soft flesh of a wildebeest. Biting, ripping, tearing the soft flesh.
She sighed, pulling her lower lip into her mouth, the tears slipping down her cheeks. Her eyes narrowed as she gently smiled. they were holding hands.
"You've killed them all, didn't you?" She whispered, looking at the large knife lying on the ground next to them. Its gleaming blade covered in blood. It was the knife she had seen Banri carrying, charging with her eyes close, yelling her battle cry as she plunged the knife and herself against a vampire.
Erii's left arm jutted out from underneath Banri's body. Her left wrist broken twisted in an odd position, pieces of splintered bone stuck out the skin. On the ground laying next to her fingers was a 50 caliber Wolf special. The weapon too big, too heavy for her to use. She had closed her eyes, turning her head as she hoisted the gun and pulled the trigger. It kicked back in an explosion breaking her wrist and knocked her off her feet to the ground. It is a weapon specifically designed for wolves. She could only imagine how Banri had found it. but she knew since the weapons were lying so close around them. They had killed their fill. If any had survived they'd taken the weapons. Either to use or as souvenirs.
She inhaled a soft breath, shaking her head.
"It's okay." She whispered, the tears slipping across her cheeks, falling through the air. "you can go now. You fought well." She spoke. a cold chill covered her body. She took a breath, her fingers trembled as she reached out to them. She felt the warmth slipping from their skin as she gently touched their faces.
She gazed at their sleeping faces, their eyes closed with gentle smiles. she ran her fingers across their faces, light trails of her blood dripped from her fingers, down Banri's neck, to her shoulders, slipping across the wound on her back. Her other hand tracing, Erii's smiled, her soft lips hinting of Boudicca's blood, down her delicate throat over her chest to her wounded belly.
"You found each other," she hesitated, almost breaking into a sob. She brought her hand up, wiping her eyes. "You should leave with each other."
She covered her mouth, hiding her trembling lips. She took a deep breath and held it. her vision becoming blurry, looking at the two young girls. She thought of nothing but the two girls. Her large wolves' ears flickering as she listened to their breathing fade.
She lifted her head up and looked around the bakery café. Glowing embers of a dying fire, the final remains of vampires floated in the air. black empty outfits scattered among the bodies of the wounded, the dying and the dead lying across the ground. Academy city students were leaving the bakery café building. Many covering their mouths, stunned, eyes wide at the devastation. Many crying, whimpering as they looked around, calling out names, looking for their friends. She took it personal when she heard screaming when one of them found their friends lying on the ground. Wolves and students carefully moving around, checking the survivors. Providing comfort, giving support and a shoulder to cry on.
"Let's go!" She yelled, Boudicca's eyes opened wide, creases appeared across her forehead, quickly looking over her shoulder, "get the wounded!" she heard.
She watched as a tall woman with glamorous proportion yelled giving orders, moving through the crowded street.
"You take her." She pointed to two anti-skill members, to the young girl surrounded by friends.
Boudicca stared, listening to the familiar voice. A woman with long black hair tied into a ponytail suddenly turned around, "let's go hurry_" she hesitated for a moment as her eyes went wide. she recognized the woman kneeling on the ground.
Yomikawa Aiho stopped, surprised and then smiled slightly.
"Boudicca?!" Her commanding voice softened, seeing the two wounded girls lying next to each other. She quickly raised her commanding voice.
"Medic!" She screamed, "now!"
She moved quickly, dropping to her knees next to Boudicca and the two girls. Boudicca slowly shook her head taking her wrist, "they have little time." She spoke, closing her eyes.
Yomikawa looked over at Boudicca, seeing her eyes and cheeks wet with tears, the pain in her voice.
She smiled in confidence and spoke, "we have a fantastic doctor. Face like a frog. I know he'll take a personal interest in these two." She nodded, putting her hand over Boudicca's hand.
"But, they are so far gone." She replied in a broken voice, looking at Yomikawa's hand wrapped over hers. She blushed like a teenage girl feeling the strength and warmth in her palms. Boudicca tighten her jaw. Embarrassed by these feeling. She was an elder wolf, centuries old and this woman. This human woman made her feel this way. With her glamourous proportions and natural physical beauty. The way she held herself, the way she pulled her hair back in a ponytail that hung to below her butt. She had to be a shewolf. She thought. When she met her last night. Boudicca quickly nodded as Yomikawa smile and spoke "Trust me." The words comforted her. The smile something else.
Yomikawa leaned close, - Boudicca's cheeks turned even redder, her heart raced, her blood burned. She quickly sniffed, inhaling Yomikawa's breath and smell-, and whispered, "my friend with me at the restaurant last night. She'd been shot through the heart. If it wasn't for a boy and this certain doctor she wouldn't be here today." She smiled softly, tilting her head, "I promise he'll do it right."
Yomikawa leaned closer and whispered, " later, we need to talk about those pair of.." she raised her eyes up, looking at her large wolves ears. " your not a biological are you?" she asked with a mischievous smile on her face. Boudicca's heart slammed against her chest.
She looked over her shoulders, watching as two anti-skill members rushed over with medical bags and stretchers. An ambulance pulled up behind them.
"Hurry!" Yomikawa nodded as she squeezed Boudicca's hand. Boudicca sighed, letting her shoulders drop. She leaned against Yomikawa's arm and smile in relief.
"Right…" The two anti-skill members nodded dropping to their knees getting to work.
Boudicca slowly stood up, watching the medics working with Banri and Erii, wrapping their wounds. Two more joined them, turning their tiny bodies on their sides then slipped the stretchers underneath and guiding them down. Each medic took their positions hoisting them up and carried them to the ambulance, loading them into the back and closed the doors. One medic slapped the side of the van and nodded his head to the driver. The lights on top of the ambulance lit up flashing as they slowly drove through the crowds then hit the siren and sped away.
She sighed, feeling a little disheartened. Yomikawa gave out a few more orders and then walked over. She cocked her head, a gentle smile on her face. Boudicca blushed, quickly glancing away.
Yomikawa looked around seeing the students working side-by-side. She took a breath as she shook her head, seeing Kumaro walking, her with large wolves' ears and a long tail swinging through the air. Her brown eyes filled with apprehension and worry, her cheeks red from crying, carrying a clipboard.
She brought her hand up to her mouth cleared her throat as she stopped and stood in front of Boudicca and Yomikawa.
Boudicca took a deep breath and held it in her chest as she closed her eyes then exhaled and slowly opened her dark eyes glistening. She dreaded this part. She swallowed her sorrow and spoke like the commander, taking the clipboard.
"make sure…" she looked a Kumaro. She quickly nodded her head. Boudicca took the clipboard, remembering her promise to get Cira and Eyre home. She closed her eyes, taking a breath. And slowly opened them hearing Yomikawa's voice.
"hhow many?!" Yomikawa eyes went wide. She looked around the café bakery area. "So many."
"Could've been more." Boudicca put on a serious face as she nodded her head. "Could've been more." Her voice softened. "But thanks to anti-skill, you guys arrived in time."
"Not soon enough." Yomikawa said gritting her teeth. Boudicca looked down at her hand shaking, closing into a fist.