Page 49 of Nosfer-Meet You

My head throbs. Juliette could be on that pile. Her corpse could be charred and smoldering right now underneath⁠—

I can’t think like that. Instinctively, I charge the paladins, my fangs bared.

The paladins are caught unawares, and when I leap onto the back of the one holding the gasoline, he doesn’t have time to react. Fighting isn’t exactly in my skill set, but instinct takes over, and I snap the paladin’s neck before his buddy has a chance to pull out his sword.

That’s the thing about these dorks: they still use physical weapons like clubs, maces, and swords. Some of them use crossbows for vampire hunting, but the one in front of me doesn’t have one. Perfect.

I jump down from the paladin’s back, allowing him to hit the pavement, dead. Then I charge the next paladin. This one is ready for me, though. He parries my assault with his sword just in the nick of time, and I stumble away to the side.

“Enough, vampire. You are outmatched and outnumbered,” the paladin yells in a nauseatingly patronizing voice. I roll my eyes and hold out my claws.

“Where is Juliette?” I demand, and lick the blood from my lips.

I can’t see the paladin’s expression since it’s covered by that stupid helmet, but his hesitation tells me he’s confused. Good. I can use their confusion to my advantage.

“I have no idea who you’re talking about, monster. Another vampire scum, like you?” the paladin says, pointing his sword at me. “Probably already dead and in one of the piles, if we’re lucky. Good riddance.” He tosses his head back to laugh. “Do you know what happens when we burn you?”

The paladin thumps his chest like some goddamn insane gorilla, then points at me as though issuing a challenge. “Your tormented souls remain inside your miserable bodies to burn, twisted in agony for eternity. To watch the rest of the world pass you by while your bones blacken.”

No. That can’t be true. He’s fucking with me. Because that’s what they do, right? They fuck with anyone who isn’t them and godsdammit, I’m getting really tired of these dumbasses. I charge at him, claws extended, aiming for his neck.

Again, he’s ready for me, and lifts his fist to meet my chin. I’m thrown back and land in the smoldering pile of corpses. Dammit, I could peel off my own skin right now, I’m so consumed with rage.

“I’ll fuckin’ kill you, you bastard!” I wipe the blood from my bottom lip before throwing myself up to charge him again.

The paladin lifts his sword, and I’m about to impale myself on it when a voice cuts through the crackling flames.

“Scotty! Stop!”

I slam the brakes, stop mere centimeters from the blade, and glance over my shoulder. On the rooftop of an apartment building stands Jules … but she looks different. A pair of leathery bat wings extend from her shoulders, and I might be seeing things but her eyes are bigger. Like, the size of dinner plates if those plates were also portals to the void. Shit. Another Nosferatu power, I guess.

“Juli?” My throat bobs as I’m distracted by my girlfriend looking like a badass. Her building is consumed by the blaze, too. My badass sweetheart who I definitely haven’t had enough time with yet, so we need to get the fuck out of here. Before our luck runs out.

But that fucking distraction was all the paladin needed, and he sends the steel blade straight into my heart.

The agony is immeasurable as my head spins and the world shifts out of focus. Juliette screams for me again. I swallow thickly, and she poofs and rushes forward in a cloud of smoke that consumes both me and the paladin. I can’t see a damned thing, just like the last time she enveloped me in her smoke.

The paladin lets out a gurgled scream, shrieking expletives and slurs until the telltale sound of bones crunching renders him silent. I sink down to my knees, and I’m about to topple to the ground when a pair of hands grabs my shoulders.

Dark clouds envelop me. For a moment, I’m convinced that this is what true death looks like. Pitch black nothingness. But then gentle, slender fingers caress my cheeks and lips, and I’m pulled onto Juliette’s lap.

“Scotty.” Juliette’s voice brings me back to the moment. When I open my eyes, I find hers looking back at me with such tenderness and concern I swear I feel my heart beating. Dying makes you delusional, it seems.

“Hey, love,” I murmur. A hacking cough follows, and blood dribbles from my mouth. “I thought you were dead.”

Juliette strokes my hair and leans down to place a kiss on my forehead. “We’re both dead, you silly andouille.”

“Yeah, but I meant like … dead-dead. Super dead,” I say before coughing up half my lung again. I clap my palms over my chest and let out a wheeze. “Don’t think I’ve got much longer in this world, though. I’m sorry. I said I’d show you the world, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to make good on that promise.”

Juliette’s eyes are wet with tears of blood, and even though I’m the one lying here dying, all I can think about is comforting her and wiping them away.

“Juli, promise me something. Please.”

Her eyes widen as more crimson droplets roll down her cheeks. “Anything,” she whimpers.

My vision grows dimmer. This isn’t what I thought death would feel like. For one thing, I thought I’d explode into ash by now. And two, this feels a fuck ton more peaceful. Like lying in a pillow of snow and drifting off to sleep.

“Promise me you’ll leave the sewers. You need to live above ground, not secluded from the rest of the world,” I rasp, my voice barely a whisper.