I hadn't been surprised to see the vampire slide out from the shadows.
But I was surprised to see the submachine gun in Hina's hands. I never even saw where she pulled it from. I wanted to ask, but a gentleman doesn't ask questions about a lady's underclothes.
I would need to watch her carefully in future if I wanted to discover her secret.
Trying not to scowl, I watched the large vampire approach.
He had dusty brown hair and short sharklike fangs. At the end of his long fingers, his nails stretched like talons. There was something bestial about him.
Interesting.
"You're a Renfield," he said, barely glancing at her weapon. Clearly, he thought it to be less dangerous than it was. "There's a bounty out on you."
"Yes?" Her eyes glittered, but she kept the gun aimed at the ground between them. "How much?"
"Ten thousand."
"Hmph," she sniffed. "Ridiculous. I am worth much more than that."
"Won't argue that," he returned, his grin growing wide as he gave her body a slow scan. He obviously liked what he saw. "Bounty's dead or alive. Maybe I'll show you how much I think you're worth first, eh?"
Hina thumbed the safety and looked at me.
I lifted my hand, palm out. A peaceful gesture. Some gestures are timeless. "We've heard that the locals call you the Dark Man."
"Do they?" He scratched his armpit while stifling a yawn. "I don't pay attention to mortals. Unless I'm hungry."
"You skulk in this place, picking off weak mortals like a scavenger."
"Hey now," he frowned. "That ain't nice, Fledgling. I prefer to think of it as being careful. I mean, by looks of you, you could do with being a bit more careful, too. When was the last time you ate someone? You're all skin and bones. Maybe if you tried picking off a few lost mortals, you'd be a bit fatter. I bet the Thirst is fucking you up, ain't it?"
"When I created my first Bride, I imagined my kind to be predators," I said, my gaze sweeping over the surrounding vehicles. The smell of oil and concrete was strong. "This… This is pitiful."
"Better than sitting in a sewer eating rats," he snorted.
"Rats?" I felt a startled flash as a memory tried to surface, but I failed to grab it.
"Look, Fledgling. It's been grand talking to you and all, but I really would like to cash in, y'know? I have to drag that Renfield over the city to get payment for her head. It'll take a while. I can't exactly take her on the bus, can I?" He fidgeted, getting ready to spring. "What I'm saying is I'm in a bit of a hurry. How about you just turn around. Leave the way you came. And I'll pretend we never met. Maybe I won't even tell the Cloaked about you. You don't want them on your ass, do you?"
"How were you made?"
"Huh?"
"Made," I said. "Who made you? How did they do it?"
He looked more confused. "What do you mean? Same as you, Fledgling. I was Turned."
"How?"
"You don't remember how you were Turned?"
"Humour me."
The vampire shrugged. "I was jumped in an alley. I think he felt bad about killing me, so he put his wrist to my mouth and told me to drink."
"That's it? He just gave you his blood?"
"That's it."
"And you were a vampire when you woke? Or did it come in stages?"
The vampire scratched at his armpit again. "Woke up in a safe house like this. They gave me the drill. Don't go out in the sunlight. Drink blood. Don't get staked. Showed me a few tricks with shadows. You know. Same as you got."
"Hmm." I turned his explanation over in my head. "Strange."
"What is?"
"It sounds more like an accelerated mutation," I said, mostly to myself. "I wonder why they let you believe you are like us, though. It doesn't sound like something my Brides would want you to believe. They always felt they were more special than anyone else. They wouldn't like you being compared to them."
"Huh?" The vampire stopped scratching at his armpit and squinted at me. "Who'd you say you were?"
"I didn't," I said.
"No. I guess you didn't."
"You can attack me now. You've told me what you know. The rest I will discover from opening your body."
"You'll what?"
"I plan on opening your chest and removing your heart," I told him. "I am hopeful it won't immediately turn to ash. I want to taste your heartblood, you see. I feel it would be… beneficial to me."
"You're crazier than a coconut, ain't ya?"
Then he dropped into the shadows at his feet.
"Master!"
My eyes followed his shadow. He wasn't as skilled with it as the vampires I'd met in the alley a few nights before. That's why he was here, hiding among the cars and the broken lights.
He'd overcome his limitations by becoming an ambush predator.
I could almost admire that kind of adaptability.
"Wait," I said. "I will deal with him. I don't want him to ash before I've gotten what I need."
"Alright," she said, lifting her gun anyway.
That's my Renfields, I thought grimly.
Always prepared.
He burst out of the shadows, a knife in his hand. Lunging at me from only a few feet away.
I made to snatch his wrist, but he was too quick for that.
Shadows writhed up from the ground to swirl around his legs as he tried to use them to propel himself into me, but I managed to fling myself aside before the blade could do more than scratch my side.
I let my body react, aware that at some point in my life it had been trained for war to the point that instinct was my best option for survival.
With that in mind, I knew I had to rush him. Ploughing into him, I used my shoulder to drive him back while pummeling his belly with my fist. He took the blows well, letting out only a grunt.
Until my elbow smashed into his forehead.
Then he tried to drop down into the safety of his shadow.
But I brought my knee up into his inner thigh, driving him off balance and wheeling him around until I could snatch his shirt.
Lifted.
And slammed him down onto a car bonnet.
The car crumpled under the force of impact and he let out a yelp. It wasn't enough to stop him, though. His own feral instincts caused him to thrash out of my grasp while raking my arms with his blade.
I took the cuts.
They were worth it.
Though I did miss a good pair of gauntlets on my fists.
I reeled away from him as he squirreled off the wreckage and whirled into me. Shadows danced around his legs as fury flared in his verdant eyes.
"Bastard," he spat.
"Legitimate," I countered as my fist crashed into his jaw, throwing his head back. Then hissed at him as he just rode the punch and kept coming.
How was he so much more resilient than the others I fought? There was something different happening here. Something strange.
Desperate now, he snarled, slashing at me with several quick strikes, forcing me back yet again.
I tried to catch his wrist again. Missed.
Quick. Too quick.
Or had I gotten slow?
My heart was racing, too. And I felt my stamina slipping through my grasp. I couldn't afford to let this fight continue.
"I haven't got time for this shit," he muttered as shadows raced up his torso and down his arms, flattening across his hands and wrapping around his fingers. He showed a mean grin. "Sorry, pal. But I'm gonna have to ash you. No hard feelings…"
His arm blurred, and I took the blade firmly in my chest. I felt the steel drill through my ribs, aiming for my heart.