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We followed Steve and Gannen down the hill at the rear of the stadiu towards the river, but they weren’t racing at top speed Either one of them was injured or, like ourselves, they’d siht, an evenly ed down the hill, leaving the stadiuhts and noises behind, lad of that, except now that I was able to focus, I realized how physically drained I was I’d been operating on reserve energy for a long time and had just about run dry Even the sie chore All I could do was carry on as long as possible and hope I got an adrenaline burst e caught up with our prey

As we reached level ground at the bottom of the hill, I stu an eye on ht and steadied roaned

"Maybe you’re not o any further," he said "Perhaps you should rest here and-"

"Save your breath," I stopped hihed, then tilted my head back and examined my face, his small eyes unusually dark "You’ll make a fine vampire," he said "I hope I’etting defeatist on runted

"No" He smiled weakly "We’ll win Of course ill I just"

He stopped, slapped ed me on Wearily, every step an effort, I threw ain I did s as evenly as I could, keeping the rest of y

Steve and Gannen reached the river and turned right, jogging along the bank As they ca the river, they stopped It looked like they were having an argu to pick Steve up ¨C I assumed he meant to flit, with Steve on his back, as they’d escaped fro none of it He slapped his protector’s hands away, gesturing furiously Then, as we closed upon theed and he nodded wearily The pair turned away froe, drew their weapons and stood waiting for us

We slowed and walked the rest of the way I could hear Mr Tiny and Evanna close behind &uht up to us within the last few seconds ¨C but I didn’t turn to look back

"You could use your shurikens," I whispered to Vancha as we cae of Steve and Gannen Harst

"That would be dishonourable," Vancha replied "They’ve faced us openly, in expectation of a fair fight Wemercilessly wasn’t the vampire way But I half wished he’d put his principles aside, for once, and fire his throwing stars at them until they dropped It would be much simpler and surer that way

We drew to a halt a couple of ht with exciteuarantees now, no aht to the death, and that was sos, brother," Gannen Harst said, bowing his head

"Greetings," Vancha replied stiffly "I’ht at last Perhaps in death you can find again the honour which you abandoned during life"

"Honour will be shared by all here tonight," Gannen said, "both the living and the dead"

"They don’t half go on a lot," Steve sighed He squared up to me "Ready to die, Shan?"

I stepped forward "If that’s what fate has in store for me ¨C yes," I answered "But I’m also ready to kill" With that I raised ht which would decide the outcoht his oord up ¨C it was shorter and easier to handle than mine ¨C and turned , straight sword Vancha slapped the blade wide of its target and pulled ave ered backwards and wound up in an untidy round, close to Mr Tiny and Evanna By the tiled to my feet, Vancha was locked in combat with Steve and Gannen Harst, hands a blur as he defended hiainst their swords with his bare palms

"He’s a fierce creature, isn’t he?" Mr Tiny rehter "Quite the beast of nature I like him"