But she still had one vampire to contend with. This one had short cropped brown hair, and the same burning, wicked eyes as the others. His face was now snarled in anger, his hands curved into talons.
Shit.
She had a gun, and she had the rest of her fire powder. But even with those, she was no match for an angry vampire. She took two steps to the side, sneaking a quick glance to Reykon, who’d managed to take down another strongblood, but was looking a little worse for wear. Then she looked back to the vampire, who’d zoomed up, now only steps away.
He can’t kill you, she reminded herself.
He advanced, and she panicked for a moment before he was on her, dragging her at his lightning-fast running speed.
The world around her changed like nothing she’d seen before. It was the same feeling she’d gotten the first time she rode a roller coaster. Like her stomach was dropping a million miles a second.
Then, she was jerked back into reality as the world stopped.
The force of the motion had taken her breath away, and she doubled over, clutching her sore abdomen. The pain was coming from inside her ribcage, and she felt like an egg that had been shaken up, scrambled within the shell.
When she looked up, and the darkness had faded from the corners of her vision, he was gone. She spotted him over by the charred road where the remains of his friends laid. He was pulling them away from the still burning car.
They’re not still alive, she thought in a panic.
He’d dropped her behind the third and furthest van, replicating the mistake that his first buddy had made. She clutched herself, her insides aching, and pulled up to a more or less vertical position. Her legs threatened to give, and she braced herself against the edge of the SUV’s trunk, coming face to face with a giant weapon.
She’d seen this one in movies.
She knew exactly what it did, and she was pretty sure she knew how to operate it. Thankfully, in preparation for the battle, the strongbloods had already loaded the RPG launcher. A mean looking missile stuck out of the end, ready to go.
But she had no clue what it would do to her. Blow her head off? At the very least, it would probably rupture her eardrum.
“Damnit,” she muttered, hands shaking, realizing that there was no time to think.
She needed to act. And act quickly.
The third car was situated in line with the first one, staggered back in a triangle formation. This gave her a clean shot to where the vampire had dragged his buddies, ten feet from the burning vehicle.
She grabbed it from the trunk and turned the weapon carefully, heaving it up onto her shoulder to aim it. The thing was as heavy as a bag of bricks and equally as cumbersome to position, but she managed to rest it on the door while she dug out the pouch of fire powder. She didn’t need to open it for her plan to work.
“Hey!” she yelled.
The vampire turned to her with a scowl, dropping the charred arm of his friend.
“Catch!” She chucked the fire powder with all her might, and her left hand, whose aim was questionable.
It worked like a charm.
The vampire’s hand darted out with mind boggling speed, and he caught the red pouch, looking at it for a split second.
It was just long enough for her to aim the RPG launcher at his feet (a little lower than she intended, to account for the kick) and pull the trigger.
The impact wrenched her shoulder back, and she felt her back crack from the spontaneous chiropractic adjustment, but the van was behind her and she was able to catch herself.
Her eardrum felt like the bass kicker in a rock band.
She let the RPG launcher fall to the ground and clutched her ear, turning to the explosion that had ripped through the sky.
It had been bigger than the first explosion and had thoroughly scalded her skin, which now felt red and tight.
But in the deep black smoke, there was no sign of movement.
She watched it for only a moment before deciding that if a vampire had lived through that, he deserved to win the fight.
Reykon
What the hell is happening over there? Reykon thought, as another massive explosion ripped across the road. Not one but two giant, airplane-crash sized fireballs had boomed out, pouring black smoke into the air.
He was thoroughly impressed with Robin.
But he was also terrified for her. Flash powder was a capricious weapon; too close, and you were just as toasty as your assailant. Not to mention – how much had she used? It only took a sprinkle to kill someone.
Those were all questions for later.
He was fighting the last of the strongbloods now, a fierce woman from House Xander named Melinda, or something like that. He’d seen her a couple times before in passing.
Boy, was she a brute.
Like a wasp, she darted in and out, dealing blows with rapid intensity.
As much as he hated to admit it, she was giving Reykon a run for his money. Understandable, considering that he’d already taken out two of her buddies.
He dealt another blow to her leg, slicing her on the thigh with his knife while simultaneously blocking one of her advances with his free hand.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a wisp of blond hair staggering out from the flames.
It drew his attention for only a moment, but a moment was enough for Melinda to drive her weapon straight through his shoulder, crushing both his collarbone and his shoulder blade.
He let out a groan of pain, and his knees failed, as he sunk to the ground. She pulled her blade out of him, and it made a sickening suction noise. Just as it was raised to deal the killing blow, four gunshots cracked into
