Shadows - Part 2
She lay on her back in a pile of garbage shocked as to how she got there. She remembered the metallic clang of the rear exit behind her as she walked away from the saturday-night crowded club. Turning, suprised she found herself looking into the almost animalistic glint in the eyes of two male persuers. Danger seemed to radiate from them in waves and before she knew what she was doing she lanches herself in the opposite direction, clattering procariously on high-heeled boots, dodging into the nearest alley. A strangled gasp escaped her lips as with unearthly speed and strength, far greater than her own, the first man's hand clamped around the back of her neck, fingers curling across her windpipe and tangling in her dark hair.
Swinging her into the nearest wall, she sailed through the air and slammed against the brick surface, slumping in a pile beside a dumpster. Nothingness was all she felt for a few moments before the blinding pain seared its way through every single nerve ending, burning images onto the insides of her eyelids. Vaguely she was aware of the warmth of the thick, crimson rivulets that ran along her left temple and dripped onto her lashes from a gash on her forehead, the tase of burnt copper on her tongue from her split lip.
Suddenly she remembered the danger of her assalents and tried to sit up, but was knocked back by the almost physical force of the nausea she felt. Black-red blotches danced at the edge of her vision as she attempted to focus on the two figures. Prehaps it was her impaired sight that made her see the slight growth in their jagged teeth, but nothing could confuse the shifting of their facial bones, changing, pushing forward against the thin layer of skin that covered them. Or the amber glint of their irises in the street-light's glow. Her large brown eyes widened as she looked at the two men. The two vampires.
* * * * *
Faith watched the scene play out below her. She saw the terrified young girl staring at her attackers, transfixed like a deer caught in hearlights. The girl tried to edge away from them as they shifted into their game faces, not truly understanding what they were but knowing that their monsterous visages would probably be the last she would ever see.
Faith observed the vampires from an iron fire escape several meters above the pavement that wound down the side of the old apartment building and lead to the back alley. Nervous anticipation clamped around her stomach like a cold vice as she watched the three figures on the street below. Her fingers fidgeted againt the rough surface of the metal as she leaned forward, still crouching, for a better look. She saw the demons in the men's human-looking bodies break loose and wind their way throught their long dead muscles and sinews, pushing outwards against their cool flesh. She could relate. Something dark and murderous infusing itself into your being and making you work it's will was something Faith was more than familiar with.
Jail had been safe, controlled. The set system and tough restrictions helped her keep the evil within her locked away. It was always there, but increasingly subdued as the days passed. However, since her impromptu escape it had re-awoken and fought to loosen her tenacious grip on control. It howled and slammed against her insides, commanding her to perform it's violence until pushing it to the back of her mind no longer worked. It caused the blood to rush in her veins and rise to her face, creating a flush across her pale cheeks.
She saw the vamps closing in on the girl and, before she could have any second thoughts, back-flipped over the worn rail of the platform she stood on and landed silently on the cement a few feet behind them. Pain shot through the soles of her feet, still tender from her leap from the prison's roof earlier that day.
"Hey" she yelled, slipping into a familiar arrogant swagger. "Didn't your mothers ever tell you not to play with your food?" The two vampires spun around, angry that someone would interrupt them while they were hunting, but when they saw her they fixed her with a fang-bearing smirk. They must have thought it was their lucky night with all these defenceless young women walking around alone and turned their full attention to Faith, knowing the other girl wouldn't be going anywhere. "Not my most original pun, I know," she quipped jovially while ducking the punch swung by the first vamp who attacked and smiled as she heard the loud crack of his shin shattering beneath the force of her huge boot, "but I'm off my game."
Despite working towards attonement and her recent shunning of violence she would always love that one moment, the second in any battle with an unaware and over confident foe when realization would dawn in their eyes and they would suddenly know who and what she was. Using the first vampire's momentum she spun him around so he was kneeling before her, his broken leg twisted painfully behind him, and pulled the jagged section of wooden fencing she had taken as a weapon from the waistband of her jeans. Sharp splinters of the wood bit painfully into her hands as Faith drove the makeshift stake through the demon's chest and then pushed him away. He was dust before he hit the ground.
She turned o the second vampire who had not yet moved, he just stood staring, looking her up and down. He looked like the un-dead version of a kid on christmas morning, his eyes wide with shock and excitement. "You know, if you had any sense, you would be long gone by now." But of course he didn't. She was the ultimate adversary for a creature of the night, the Holy Grail. Fighting a slayer was an event that happened only once a lifetime, and every vamp from the newly turned to those who had been around for a millenia couldn't resist a shot at taking her down.
From her quick assesment she figured that the second vampire was stronger than the first, taller, and at least two or three centuries older. He hadn't survived this long through foolhardiness and he circled Faith with reverance and respect for the power he knew she possessed. But obviously not used to being patient he lanched forward, hoping to catch the slayer off-guard. She dodged to the left, avoiding his right fist and clamping her fingers securely around his outstreched wrist, she backhanded him across the face. While he was still reeling from the first punch she lifted her right leg paralell to his arm and delivered a kick to the side of his head. Still holding onto his wrist she used the force of the kick to swing the vampire into a wall. Releasing him she spun around, diving for the stake she had lost sometime during the fight, but her attacker was already coming towards her, shaking off his injuries.
At the same moment she grabbed her weapon his left arm shot around her neck and pulled her to her feet while his righthand closed around the fingers that held the stake. Reaching up with her free hand Faith tried to loosen his grip around her upper body but his head-lock was chocking and she was at a severe disadvantage. Grunting she strained to escape but that only caused him to press more fully against her back.
She turned her head away as his rotting breath burned the insides of her nostrils. The vampire pressed his fangs triumphantly against the skin of her bare neck and laughed heartily before whispering in her ear, "You really *are* off your game Slayer!"
A strangled scream of indignance escaped her lungs and Faith pulled back her free hand and with as much force as she could muster, blindly drove her knuckles behind her into his face as he reared back to deliver the final killing blow to her jugular. Her fist connected with a wet smack as cool blood spurted from his shattered nose and he stumbled backwards. Shocked the vampire loosened his grip which enabled her to raise both hands upwards, grabbing the material of his jacket over her shoulders. Using her purchase she lifted both feet off the ground, back-flipping over his head and, without touching the floor, swung overhead and dug her knees into his lower back.
Falling to the ground he landed face first on the cement with Faith resting casually above with her heel digging into his spine. Pulling his head back by the hair she leaned forward and smiled against his ear. "I wouldn't say that..." Her victory was complete as she drove the stake through his ribcage and vaulted off his crumpled form before he disintergrated.
"Just like riding a bike," she whispered shakily to no-one but herself. Her chest rose and fell erratically as she took deep breaths of the smoke-filled city air, waithing for the blood to stop screaming in her ears. It rushed through her veins and beat against the insides of her skin so hard she could feel her pulse throb against her wrists. The blood lust woken during the fight eventually quieted, sated by the deaths of her two supernatural attackers. Finally coming back to her senses she remembered the wounded girl cowering in the shadow of a dumpster.
She tried to comfort the girl but any reassurances died on her lips. The paralysing fear in the young woman's huge hazel eyes staring directly at her caused Faith to flinch painfully. As much as the tried to atone for her crimes, as much as she longed to one day be the champion who righted the wrongs in the world, no-one would ever see her as anything more than a murderer, something to be afraid of. She had saved this girl's life but still she was as terrifing as the creatures who tried to kill her moments earlier.
So caught up in her own thoughts, she didn't realize until it was too late that the woman was not looking at her, but at something in the alley behind her. Faith tried to turn and face whatever was there but the tiny sting of a poisoned dart caught her in the side of the throat. The alleyway melted together as ther vision blurred, she was unconsious before she hit the ground.