The intruder vampire stood. Vamped out. Small fangs. Black clothes with some kind of belted tunic dress over them, also black. Bearded. Mean looking.
Another vamp plummeted out of the darkness. Landed to the first vamp’s side. They could have been brothers, dressed similarly, bearded. “I stand as second for Carlos Contreras.” He pointed one of his swords at me. “You are her second?”
Second? Oh. In a duel.I shook my head fast.
“I stand as second,” Cai said. He was positioned on the fog-wet grass, holding two swords, like the others. But Cai was wearing boxers and a white tee. And more blood, as if he had taken a quick sip before rushing out to the lawn.
Carlos attacked Yummy. Three quick strikes before he danced back.
Yummy had blocked them all. I had never seen Yummy fight. Not like this.
Rick was naked and going furry, but it would take several minutes. His tattoos shimmered in the night, the ones that had been applied with blood magic against his will, using the Blood Tarot, and had later been chewed on by werewolves, leaving behind a scarred magical mess and gold-inked cat eyes that sometimes glowed. Like now. All that could not be a coincidence, but was a worry for another time.
Aya aimed a weapon but didn’t fire. “PsyLED cannot legally interfere with this because Yvonne Colstrip challenged him. That makes it vampire business, not law enforcement, unless Yummy asks for help or one of us is injured. Do not interfere, Ingram.” He glanced at my tree and back to the fight. “With commonly accepted law enforcement methods.”
So that meant methods not usually accepted were okay? And that my service weapon—for self-defense—was okay too? We were walking a fine line.
Yummy whirled her weapons, moving in and away again. The clashes of steel sounded harsh and low, muted in the fog.
One-handed, I checked my Glock 20. It was loaded with silver-lead rounds. FireWind had said I couldn’t use it, but I had other weapons, less obvious ones, that I could exploit. Thehungerdeep within me, deep within the land, spiked.
I rested the Glock in my lap, not a secure position, but a good one for fast use. I sent my earth energies across the upper layer of the ground, and counted vampires, slightly maggoty bits of undeath. Yummy, Carlos, his second, and at least three more vamps were on Ming’s property.
“Aya, there’s three more standing close to the driveway, hidden by the fog.”
“Copy that.”
Yummy raced forward and engaged her enemy. When she danced back, she was bleeding. Her blood splattered on the ground. If I wanted to kill Yummy, I could. But it was the other one I wanted.
Yummy and Carlos dashed forward and back, lunging and cutting and blocking. Not near enough blocking. More of her blood flew. Cai stared at Carlos’ second, looking like the dangerous Cai I remembered, not the blood-drunk one who had wandered around during my visit. Even in his undies.
Yummy stabbed forward and up with her short blade. Whipped down with the longsword. She nicked the vamp’s chin. And half severed his hand. All in one move. Carlos dropped his shortsword and sprinted back. I found the blood trail he left and gathered it to me through the earth.
Rick stepped around the front of my car. A black leopard, full of killing grace and rippling muscle. He stood at my side and screamed into the night, coarse, half roar, half screech, all leopard. Carlos’ second practically levitated into the air and landed several feet away from the wereleopard.
No grindylow showed up. I figured that meant no humans would be in danger from Rick’s were-taint. Grindys appear to kill any were-creature who passes the taint to a human.
The fight moved away a bit, into the fog, closer to the river. The hidden others moved closer.
“Aya. Two of the other vampires are approaching.”
THREE
I pulled on the earth force and wrapped my gift around the blood droplets from Yummy’s opponent. I whispered to the vampire tree, “Don’t eat them. They are not dinner. I’m only taking a little.”
Hungerrose in me. Thehungerof the land. I held it in place, forced it down. Breathed through the need in me.
Gently, I sank beneath the ground and found tree roots, pliable and strong. I pushed them up from the ground. Following the man’s life force on the earth, I found the pattern of his movements, his sword technique. I shoved at the roots. Caught his toe. Tripped him. Not enough to harm him. Just enough to offset his rhythm.
It wasn’t a fair fight. Yummy wasn’t as good as he was. And she wasn’t in fighting armor. My friend was losing.
And I’d stopped fighting fair a long time ago.
Aya and Rick changed position, the leopard edging toward the battle, Aya back to provide cover, ready for anyone approaching from behind or to the sides.
I felt a vamp leap. “Aya. Above!” I shouted. He raised his weapon overhead and fired three shots. Ducked to the side. Fired three more straight down. The vamp said something in some language I didn’t know.
Aya said what sounded like,“No me importa.”He fired three more rounds.
