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I came up into a crouch, my weight evenly distributed in case he went for the tackle. Instead he jumped up, winked at me, and disappeared. I spun in a quick circle but couldn’t find him.
Still on guard for his reappearance, I palmed my gun again and did a quick scan to check on Adam. The female’s body slammed back into a wall. From somewhere the mage produced an applewood stake. Before she’d recovered from her fall, he was on her. A swift downward stab and she was no more.
Magic sizzled through the air, and the Count reappeared directly behind Adam.
“No!” I dove and tackled him from behind. We rolled down the path, our limbs tangled. Behind me, I heard Adam shout something, followed by boots pounding against the packed earth. The Count came out on top, but his weight suddenly disappeared as Adam jerked him off me. The vamp’s legs got tangled in his cape and he stumbled to his knees. Adam grabbed his hair back.
“The knife!” he yelled.
I tossed it and he caught it in midair. In a smooth motion, he swooped in with the blade. But before he could deliver the deathblow to the vamp’s neck, the f**king guy disappeared again.
“There,” I called, pointing to a crypt on the far end of the aisle. The Count had gone to higher ground.
I started to give chase, but Adam stopped me. “He’s mine.” With that, the mage disappeared. As I watched, he rematerialized just behind the Count and tapped him on the shoulder. The vamp spun just in time to receive a fist to the face.
Satisfied Adam had the situation under control, I looked up to see Giguhl pick up the male he was fighting. He hefted the squirming vamp over his head like a sack of potatoes. Then my demon tossed the guy down, where he landed with a thud at my feet.
I smiled down at him. “Ain’t gravity a bitch?”
The bullet shattered his face before his body ignited.
“G, go help Adam. I’m going to find the Amazon.”
As the demon leapt from roof to roof on his way to assist Adam, I ran in the opposite direction to find the female.
A streak of shadow between two buildings. I cut through the space and peeked around the corner before following. Something slammed into my back. I flew forward, the ground rising quickly to meet me. The gun skittered away upon impact. Rough hands grabbed at my arms, tried to pull them behind me. My nails found purchase on a handy patch of skin and dug in.
The female grunted and reared up, giving me enough leverage to flip over. As I came around, I bucked my hips to unseat her the rest of the way. I came up in a crouch and faced her.
I waited for her to pull the sword. Go for a body blow before taking off my head, perhaps. But she surprised me by falling back into a fighting stance. The tactic caught me off guard. Then I remembered what the Count had said about killing Adam to ensure my cooperation. Obviously, her plan was to subdue instead of kill.
That was her first mistake.
We circled each other slowly in an aisle formed between clumps of tombs. From the other side of the cluster of buildings, I heard grunts and the sounds of fists on bone. Every now and then, the fighting would be punctuated by a burst of magical energy.
The bitch’s fangs flashed. “I’m trying to decide if I’m going to impale your lover with my blade or if I’ll rip out his throat. If you’re nice, I’ll let you watch.”
That was her second mistake.
A red haze descended over my vision. My hands itched to destroy her mouth for even daring to speak those words. My fists led the way, going after her face, her torso, anything to punish her. Her foot whacked into my ribs with a painful punch to my kidneys. She followed with a chop to my throat that had me gasping for air. For her trouble, she earned a backhand. She spat a mouthful of red-tinged spit to the ground.
Apparently, the taste of her own blood flipped a switch somewhere under all that chain mail. Because the next thing I knew, she came after me in a blur of fists and kicks.
I was too busy defending against the blows to inflict much retaliatory damage. I’m not a small woman, but she had to have three inches and a good twenty pounds of muscle on me. Her assault pushed me back until we were back in the main avenue of the cemetery.
Another magical blast slammed through the air not far from where we fought. This one larger than the rest. Giguhl shouted something at Adam, followed by a high masculine scream. “Porcia!”
The blows stopped suddenly. The female had ignored the magic, but the Count’s cry got her attention. Interesting .
She slammed past me to give aid to her comrade. Stunned by the sudden lack of pain, it took me a second to give chase. By the time I reached her, she was already climbing up a wall, trying to reach the Count.
I grabbed her by the chain mail and ripped her off the side. Above us, the Count was trading zaps with Adam while trying to ward off the blows of a severely pissed-off demon. Erron and Ziggy fended off three other vamps on the tombs across the way.
Porcia’s elbow crashed into my nose. Bone crunched, followed by a warm gush of blood. I scrambled to catch her, but the haze of pain and the throbbing pain in my eyes blurred my vision. By the time I recovered enough to try again, she’d already made it to the rooftop. For a big girl, she certainly was agile.
This time, she didn’t hesitate to draw her sword. Adam’s back was to her as he raised a stake over the Count’s chest. Giguhl held the vamp’s arms from behind. Neither saw her coming.
“Adam!” I screamed.
He jerked around just in time to see the blade. He leapt to the side. Porcia flicked her wrist at the last second and the steel sliced across the mage’s ribs. Adam fell hard with a pained grunt. The movement made his coat fall open, revealing a rapidly spreading red stain.
My blood went glacial. In a single leap I managed to make the roof before Porcia could deliver a deathblow. The sword hovered above her head, ready to descend. My hands clamped around her hands just as she flexed her muscles to bring it down.
“Giguhl,” I grunted, struggling against Porcia’s straining muscles. “Help Adam!”
I kicked with the toes of my boots against the back of Porcia’s legs, trying desperately to break her grip on the sword. A blur of green in my peripheral vision told me Giguhl had gone to check on Adam.
My arms shook with the effort of pulling against Porcia’s impressive strength. Instead of waiting to see who weakened first, I decided to go old-school.
I struck like a snake, aiming for her jugular. The move forced me to weaken my grip on the sword. But luckily, Giguhl was already pulling Adam out of harm’s way.
The minute the sharp points broke skin, Porcia’s body jerked and she screamed with rage. I clamped down harder, getting as much skin as blood. Metal clattered on stone.
