Damian sat on the couch, staring blankly at the wall. He felt so frustrated. Ever since he'd met Jenny, he'd felt … strangely complete. And yet, he felt like a part of him was missing. She wouldn't accept him, and maybe never would. And who could blame her? Damian was a blood-sucking monster to her, he knew that. Why would a beautiful girl like Jenny want to give up everything she knew as right, for him? Especially when Michael was around, and human. Damian usually felt pretty good about himself, but tonight his self-confidence was plummeting.
His lip curled at the thought of Michael. The jerk could have had Jenny any time, and he was apparently oblivious to that. The soulmate connection was strong, but Jenny was stronger, probably stronger than she knew. She could probably resist it with her morals and thoughts of Michael, although Damian knew she would never be completely happy. He just wished she realized how happy Damian could make her. Hell, fate had intended them for each other. You couldn't get much better than that.
He sighed and began pacing the room. He felt like a new person, although he would never admit that to anyone besides Jenny. He had never felt this way toward a human before. He had worked with Daybreak in the past, but humans were different, breakable, meant to be kept at a distance. And after what had happened in Las Vegas, he had turned to killing humans, not caring a drop about them.
But he wouldn't think about Las Vegas, about her. Not now.
He ran a hand through his dark hair. He would wait for Jenny. He had no choice. Maybe she would accept him eventually. Even if she was old and gray and senile by the time she accepted him, he would wait.
He knew he would be willing to die for her, if it came to that.
***********
Jenny wasn't going to go down without a fight. Despite her whole body ringing with alarm, a cloud of coolheaded sharpness descended on her. If she worked this right, she just might get out of here alive. She had no time for panic.
For a split second, everything seemed to slow down. She took in the vampires, her mind quickly working out a strategy. These vampires were all young. She could sense that. And that meant they weren't as at home with their new bodies as they could be. A weakness she would certainly exploit. She would take out the young vampires first.
That one, on the left. He seemed to be their leader. He was bigger and even while running exhibited the vampire grace the others lacked. Either he was older or he was lamia. She bet he would probably let the others do the dirty work. She tuned him out for now.
In one fluid motion, she reached down and pulled the knife out of her boot. Unfortunately, that was her only weapon. Fortunately, the vampires didn't look too bright.
"Alright, Jenny, concentrate," she told herself, waiting for the vampires to reach her.
A roar filled her throat and burst out in a raging war cry. The first vampire had enough time to look vaguely concerned before Jenny twisted and knocked him to the ground with a roundhouse kick to the head. He moaned and lay stunned on the ground.
The next vampire was on her in an instant, throwing a punch at her face. She ducked. The fist whistled in the air over her head. She reached up and grabbed it, turning her back to him and pulling his arm down hard across her shoulder. She felt his arm give, followed by a snapping sound like a twig breaking.
The vampire screamed and Jenny let him yank his arm back. He cradled it limply against his chest and glared at her. "You broke my arm, you bitch!"
Jenny's mouth took off on its own, as it usually did when she was fighting. "You shouldn't have been sticking it where it didn't belong, then," she said, and kicked him in the knee for good measure. He collapsed to the ground alongside the first vampire.
Jenny turned her attention back to the remaining vampires. They weren't rushing her anymore. Rather, they hung back, a group of three young vampires looking suddenly unsure of themselves.
"What's the matter?" Jenny called, flexing her hand around the knife. "I'm a girl, I'm human, and I'm outnumbered. I would think you guys would be all over that."
The three looked at the leader, a tall and muscular vampire with blond hair and dark blue eyes. He was handsome, except for an ugly scar across one cheek. He couldn't be lamia then, Jenny reasoned. Lamia couldn't get scars; they healed too fast. The leader turned and met Jenny's eyes. For a split second, their gazes were locked. Jenny could feel the hatred in his eyes, all because she was human. Fine, she thought. I don't care much for you either.
Jenny loved battle, despite the danger and the sore body she'd be sure to have later. It made her feel free and powerful. Of course, the fact that she really hadn't lost yet helped up her confidence. If she lost, she'd be dead. You lost to Damian, a little voice in her head spoke up. Shut up, she told it. Then she did the inexplicable. Eyes still locked with the leader, she stuck out her tongue at him and grinned, a wild grin.
The leader did a quick little double-take, looking at her for a second like he didn't know how to take that. Then he snarled, suddenly angry.
"You know, you really shouldn't do that," Jenny said. "It makes you look like you have rabies or something."
"Get her!" he roared at the three. The other vampires turned back to her, and a wave of fear crashed through her again. They weren't going to be stupid and take her one on one this time. They charged at her as a group.
"Oh shit!" she muttered through clenched teeth. One of these days, she was really going to have to learn some control. It was fine to bait the enemy when she was winning, but not so bright when she wasn't.
The three vampires spread out to take her on three sides.
***********
Damian moved out to the front steps of the building, sucking on a cigarette. He didn't know why he smoked, except that it tended to be an obnoxious habit around people who didn't smoke. He didn't care what it could do to humans. It was just a habit; vampires could have habits too.
But Jenny hated smokers. And Jenny wasn't just any human. He held the cigarette in front of his face, letting the end burn down as he stared at it. Really, it was just a piece of paper. What did he need it for? And it was a bad habit. It made him smell like smoke, he admitted to himself. Did he really need to continue it? A tiny voice inside him suggested maybe it would help bring Jenny to him if he was a non-smoker.
He sighed and looked up at the night sky. Shaking his head, he tossed the cigarette to the ground and stamped on it.
Someone walked by on the sidewalk below, and for the first time he wondered where Jenny was. He glanced at his watch. She'd been gone for more than half an hour. Worry tinged his thoughts. What if Troy had hunted her down? Maybe he should go find her and make sure she was okay.
But she had gone for a walk to be away from Damian, so she could think. Damian didn't want to interrupt that.
I'll just wait, he told himself, and made himself sit down on the step. She needs some time to herself.
***********
Jenny backed away from the vampires, trying to buy time to come up with a plan. The one on the left was the smallest, but he also had the most muscle. The other two were tall, but the one on the right had a look in his eyes that told Jenny that he was probably the youngest of the group. He looked nervous, almost frightened. That's the one, she told herself.
She hop-skipped quickly backwards a few steps, bringing her knife hand back. As she stopped, she whipped the knife forward and threw it at the vampire on the right. With most vampires, Jenny wouldn't even attempt such a move; their reflexes were so fast that most would either catch the knife or dodge it. With this one, though, Jenny's instincts told her a knife throw would work.
Her instincts were right. Instead of ducking or grabbing for the incoming knife, the vampire froze, his eyes widening. The knife imbedded itself in his chest, right where his heart should be. Jenny had been practicing knife-throwing; it was her new favorite thing to practice. Apparently practice had paid off. The vampire collapsed to the ground, a gurgling sound escaping his mouth. Within seconds, he was still.
Nothing changed in his body after death. He must have just been changed.
"Aww, no puff of dust or anything?" Jenny asked. The other two had paused their charge temporarily to gape at the their fallen comrade. "You guys disappoint me."
The middle vampire grinned at Jenny. "We'll make it up to you after we kill you, vermin."
Jenny nodded. "Sure, sure." She ran at the vampire who had spoken to her. He was quicker than she thought, though, and dove to the ground at her feet, knocking her down. She landed on her back, gasping as air rushed out of her lungs. The two vampires were on her in second, teeth bared.
One went for her throat, and Jenny whipped her arm up, striking him against his own throat. He gasped and stood up, his hands clutching his throat and his face turning purple.
That left only the one who'd spoken to her. He'd grabbed her arm and was pulling it back against him, his knees digging into her other arm to hold it down. Her shoulder shrieked in pain. He was going to tear her arm off. Not only that, but she could feel a really big rock digging into her shoulder blade, and out of the corner of her eye, she could she the first two vampires getting up. The one whose arm she'd broken looked enraged. She'd better do something, and fast.
"Hey, aren't you … forgetting something?" Jenny gasped to the vampire on top of her between waves of pain.
He looked down at her and grinned. "And what is that?"
She smiled grimly back. "I have legs too." Using every muscle she could, she raised her legs so the small of her back was off the ground. She used the momentum to do what she liked to call the Helicopter. She twisted her legs around and kicked the vampire in the back of the head with one foot, at the same time bringing her other foot around and smashing him in the chest with it. The move surprised him and knocked him backwards. He let go of her arm, and she pulled it back to her with a sigh of relief.
Before he could react, she sat up and dove across the pavement to the dead vampire, pulling her knife out of his chest. As soon as she had the knife in her hand, the vampire ran at her and kicked her in the back. She fell forward over the dead vampire's body and the knife flew out of her hand, skittering across the pavement.
At that moment, the one streetlight in the area went out. Jenny didn't know if somebody did it or if it did it by itself. What she did know was that it was suddenly pitch black except for the glow of the city in the distance. She'd never find her knife now unless she fell on it.
She kicked back with one foot, feeling it connect with something. The vampire cursed. She rolled over and stared into the black night, trying to adjust her eyes to the dark. She could see the figure of the vampire she kicked, but she couldn't see the others. Great, she thought. She knew they could see her just fine.
Suddenly, a flurry of motion came barreling at her from the left. She had enough time to turn toward it before another vampire tackled her. It was the one she'd kicked in the head. He apparently felt much better now. His hands locked around her throat, cutting off her air. He chuckled at her.
"This is for the splitting headache I've got right now, bitch," he spat at her.
She clawed at his hands, but even for a young vampire he was too strong for her. Her vision began flashing red and purple.
Then suddenly, "Stop," a voice commanded from somewhere in the dark. The hands lifted from her throat and she pulled in air, blessedly cool air. Her throat burned. She coughed and rolled onto her side.
Someone stood next to her, and she stared up at him, trying to make out his shape in the dark. It was the leader. He looked down at her, motioning for the others to stay back.
"Well, not so tough as you think you are, vermin?" Even in the darkness, Jenny could see he was smiling. His eyes glowed like molten silver. "But much as we'd like to make a feast out of you, we're supposed to keep you alive."
"Why?" Jenny managed to choke out.
The leader shrugged. "Because Troy said to, and because we do what Troy says." He bent over to grab her arm and drag her up.
"No!" she shrieked, her lungs suddenly full of air again. She rolled away from him and scrambled to her feet again. She no longer wanted to fight; she wanted to run.
Damian! the voice in her mind screamed. Yes, cling to that, she thought. She put all her energy into the thought and sort of pushed with her mind. Damian, help!
The leader lunged at her, and she kicked out, landing her foot in his stomach. It only slowed him for a second, though. Jenny took off at a sprint, her only thought to get back out on the open street where there would be other people.
A foot landed in her back for the second time and she fell to the ground, skidding across rocks and gravel. Her head smacked the cement and for a second her vision was full of lights. The leader pounced on her, picking her up and raising her above his head. Jenny caught a glimpse of the night sky before she was suddenly hurtling through the air.
She hit the brick wall of a building and bounced off it, landing on the ground below it with a shriek of pain. Her whole body screamed in agony, and she could feel everything growing dim. A pile of gravel dug into her cheek where it lay, but she didn't care. She fought her eyes open and saw a pair of black shoes walking toward her. It seemed to take an eternity.
This is it, she thought. This time I lost. The world started spinning wildly and she had to close her eyes. Just before she blacked out, she heard a voice cry out, "Hey!"