Robin paced around the bag and grabbed the red pouch that he’d said contained the fire powder. He’d also warned her that it was dangerous, but hey, so were vampires. She stuffed it in her pocket, and tightened the grip on her pistol, sneaking around the side and looking at the group of four strongbloods having a standoff in the middle.
Reykon had been right about the vampires – they were hanging back, with the cars, letting the strongbloods do the fighting for them.
In a flash, the strongbloods advanced. It was like something out of a ninja movie, where the main hero has a battle and the villains look like they’re going to overtake him, but they can’t quite manage it.
Reykon was a brilliant fighter. She’d never actually see him fight with his own people; she’d seen him take down two wolves, but they weren’t trained in combat and had been easy pickings for someone like him.
He moved like a dancer, or like if Jet Lee had been a dancer. He dealt lightning fast blows to the strongblood on his left, while also whipping around with his leg and breaking someone’s knee. She was nearly mesmerized by his prowess in the thick of the action.
Because of that, she hadn’t seen the vampire move.
Even if she had been watching closely, she probably wouldn’t have caught the motion. It was nearly teleportation; one moment, he was there, and the next, he’d moved so fast his image was blurred in her sight.
His voice appeared behind her, ten feet away. “Come with us willingly, girl.”
A deep, icy fear spread out inside of her, and she turned, training the gun on him. “No.”
A smile spread out on his face. It made her want to crawl back into the womb.
Her finger was already on the trigger, and she squeezed, a perfectly aimed bullet sailing towards him.
It ripped through the air, into the trees.
She blinked. He was gone, now to her right. In the time that she’d squeezed the trigger and fired the bullet, he’d reacted and moved out of the way.
Robin narrowed her eyes and shifted, taking aim again. When she was certain she had him, she pulled the trigger.
Again, it sailed through air, and again, he smiled widely.
Robin was not a stupid person.
She’d wasted two bullets on this freak, and it was now apparent that he was giving her the go-around, trying to get her to waste ammunition.
Fool me once…
So, no more bullets. But she didn’t have anything else to work with, except for that fire powder.
She thought about Reykon and how he would handle the situation, backed against the wall with no real weapons.
He’d think his way out of it. He’d do some hustling.
She cursed herself for what she was about to do and said a silent prayer that it was the right call.
Robin let out a cry of frustration and aimed, squeezing the trigger over and over and over again. Each time he dodged it, and each time she appeared more distraught.
When the pistol clicked, the expression of fear on her face was authentic.
The vampire let out a laugh. “So much for that. Now, we leave.”
Robin set her jaw and shook her head. “Not a chance.”
But the vampire had zoomed in for her, appearing out of thin air and grabbing roughly. She pushed at him, but it did nothing. He began dragging her towards their row of vehicles, across the fighting ring in the middle. Reykon was still going strong. Their three (one was down for the count) strongbloods had glowing arms, creating arcs every time they went in for a blow.
She struggled manically against the vampire’s grasp.
They were to the vehicles now, and he shoved her into the back of one of the SUV’s, digging his fingers into her face and hissing at her, “Don’t move!”
His breath smelled like death itself.
But her plan had worked.
He’d left her in the back of the van, with no cuffs, because he was under the impression that she was a scared little girl.
Wrong-O.
She was scared, but that wasn’t going to stop her. Not when Reykon was in danger of being overtaken by those strongblood thugs.
It had become apparent to her that the vans were all bulletproof, and that everybody who’d rolled up to the party had known that. They created a barricade for that express purpose.
But the thing about fences was that it only took one tiny gap to get through. Even the most massive wall only works if every section is intact.
Likewise, bulletproof vans were great; unless the danger was on the inside.
She looked around. The vampire hadn’t even closed the back door, racing over and relaying the achievement to his buddies. There was a backpack in the corner. It had looked exactly like the one Reykon had had, at the outset of their journey.
More fire powder? she thought hopefully.
A quick inspection confirmed it.
She grabbed the pouch and crawled up to the front seat, ripping it open and dumping the entire thing around the cabin of the car. She wasn’t sure how much to use, but figured it was better safe than sorry.
Then, she grabbed a pistol from inside the backpack, checked to make sure it was live, and crawled out of the van.
She took ten steps back for good measure, and then waited.
It only took the vampires a few moments to realize she’d moved. Just as they started advancing, she emptied three bullets into the van.
The explosion was strong enough to sear her eyebrows off. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but it was less than that.
And it thoroughly engulfed two of the three vampires.
For a moment, she was frozen in disbelief that her half-baked plan had actually worked.
Huge, billowing clouds of bright red flames rose up into the air. The flames gave way to black; a thick, greasy smoke that choked out the sky and resembled the aftermath of a plane crash.
She
