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But we were holding our own. Slowly but surely, we were catching him.
Another sound rode across the night - a soft whump, whump. It took me a moment to realize what it was.
"Helicopter, closing in fast." It was a rather useless statement given Harris was in wolf form and would hear it better than I could. So I added, "If we don't stop him, he'll disappear as quickly as the other killers have."
Harris responded with an increase of speed, until it seemed our feet were flying over the red sands. The heated blur of our quarry was closer, but so, too, were the sounds of the helicopter. It had no lights on to give away its position. The only way we knew it was near was by the ever-increasing volume of the rotor blades.
Then it became visible, swooping in from the skies like a big, pot-bellied bird. And we were nowhere near close enough to stop the vampire from climbing aboard.
The bastard was going to get away.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Harris shifted shape again, his speed slowing a little in human form but still running damn fast. Energy began to stir around me. Initially it was little more than a gentle caress that raised the hairs along my arms, but all too quickly it became a tornado, stinging and tearing at my skin.
And its focal point was Harris.
He didn't say anything, his gaze on the helicopter. It was close to the ground now, its blades stirring huge clouds of dust, making the invisible visible. Our vampire murderer was a man - a rather slender man, not big like Landsbury had stated. As a vampire, he didn't need to be.
Harris flung out his right arm, his fingertips flaring, as if he were throwing something. That maelstrom of power flew across the night, slapping into the copter with the force of a storm.
But it was a very precise storm. The helicopter wasn't flung about like a leaf but rather slapped down sideways. The rotor blades chopped into the soil, throwing huge chunks of dirt and grass into the air as it crumpled into the earth. Bits and pieces of metal went spinning away into the night, and sparks rose like eager fireflies. The vampire didn't hang about to see what had happened. He simply turned and ran in a completely different direction.
"Grab the pilot," I said to Harris. "I'll go after the vamp."
He didn't argue, though I guess by rights he should have. Maybe he realized that I wasn't going to be deterred, no matter what he said. Or maybe he simply couldn't see the vamp - though given his unexpected talent of kinesis, who knew what other little goodies he kept up his sleeve?
I swerved to the right, kicking up dust as I ran after the vamp. I had no idea where he thought he was going, but I knew from experience there wasn't much out here in the way of shelter. All I really had to do was keep him in sight and let him run until the sun came up.
Of course, crisping him in sunlight wasn't going to get the answers we needed.
So I reached for all the speed I had and flew across the sands. It was almost as if I was flying: like I was a bird, swooping low over the red soil ...
Power swept through me, over me, and suddenly I was a bird.
A seagull, in fact.
A weird mix of surprise and relief swept through me. Surprise because I really hadn't been expecting it, and relief because not all my skills had been placed beyond my reach.
He didn't know about the alternate shape, that inner voice whispered. He couldn't prevent what he didn't know.
Which still left me wondering how the hell anyone could prevent a shifter from shifting.
I shoved the thought aside and swooped upward, gaining height. Maybe if the vamp thought we'd given up he'd slow down - and make it easier for me to drop down on top of him.
But it soon became obvious he did have a second escape option. From high above, I could see lights beginning to twinkle in the distance. It looked like some sort of farmhouse, and it had various outbuildings. What were the odds that at least one of those buildings had a vamp-ready car waiting to go?
Or worse yet, help?
I might not have been chasing him for very long or very far, but I'd already run out of time. I swooped downward, folding my wings and flattening out my body to streamline it as much as possible. As I got closer, I shifted shape, moving back to human form. He sensed me then, but spun around rather than looking up.
I rolled in the air and hit him feetfirst, smashing him down into the soil and landing half on top of him. The sheer speed behind my dive had me stumbling forward, fighting to keep my balance. Behind me, the vampire snarled - a sound filled with pain and anger.
I swung around and saw the vamp shake his head, sending blood and snot flying, then he pushed to his hands and knees. I didn't give him the chance to rise fully. I didn't even give him the chance to see me. I just twisted around and lashed out with my foot. My heel smashed into the side of his face and the force of the blow knocked him sideways, sending him flying back.
He struggled again to rise, but this time I threw myself at him, hitting him with all the force I could muster. His head snapped back, and he slumped to the ground.
I pushed off his back then hauled him over. He might be out cold, but I was not about to bet that he'd stay that way. I tore the sleeve off my shirt and used it as a gag, prying open his mouth and shoving the knot into it as extra insurance against a bite. He wouldn't be happy once he woke, but right then, I couldn't care less.
