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Time slowed to a crawl I had all the tie black man fall backward in slow motion off the stairs to slam into the Dumpster As his body bounced lifelessly to the floor of the alley, the fire door swung solidly closed with an echoing clang

With the disappearance of the light andforward as a third dropped fro soft and silent as a snowflake

Fuck a duck

There was no tiun was literally a one-shot, andto do ainst these nuainst runted in pain from the effort, and while he couldn’t talk, the un he hadn’t shown round and drew his weapon Stepping back, I settled into a shooting stance,in slowly I didn’t think it was froh they knehat silver bullets can do It was more to savor the moment, revel in the scent of hest human is afraid of the h that the textured grip tore at the skin on my palm Instead of a clean shot to the heart, the barrel pulled up and right, so that the bullet sliced through the vampire’s neck It took out his spine, and blood sprayed in a fountain from the severed arteries

Too many deaths in too small a space The s even the stench of rotting garbage

It hadn’t been intentional, but it was at least graphic enough to stop the other bats in their tracks for a second I kept firing, adjusting for the pull fro the pack or at least slowing them down

It didn’t work The tallest, a lanky male with red hair and freckles who looked like Opie, bared fangs Apparently he was one of the leaders One look fro like a pack of anis at me a second time It was an inhuman sound Every hair on my body stood at attention My pulse thundered in ain

The first shothi, even as his body sla me into the door behind s and fractured ribs My head slah that for just a second I saw stars The gun fell from my hand, but at least he was done I’d taken his heart Hell, I’d taken led to move, but I was pinned by the mass of his lifeless body The others used that to their advantage The ones who hadn’t stopped to feast on Bob and the other guard closed in onto break loose long enough to pull one ofat anything and everything that caic in the razor-sharp blades would work as advertised but knowing that the first time I used them would probably be the last

As the vampires closed in and I went down in a flash of intense pain, I heard a screa to suck

3

Voices floated over nize them, but I couldn’t make my eyes open, let alone focus my mind

Too much pain, from too many sources I couldn’t feel parts of my body that I knew I should be able to, and other parts that norround were front and center

"We need to get her to the hospital" A woman’s voice I knew that voice Dammit, as she?

"No! They’d just stake her and take off her head" A ht I’d have if I could think straight

"She’s not a bat She’s not going to be a bat" Such determination He sounded positive and thatelse felt so cold

A pause, and then a skeptical tone to her words "You don’t know that"

"Yeah, I do I can tell"