They came in a rush. Large men in dark suits and darker intentions. Knives in hand that glinted dully in the weak, late afternoon sunlight that came in through the balcony doors. Evie let out a shriek as I grabbed my dagger and swung to face them.

The first leapt onto the bed and ran straight for me. I swayed to the right as his leg kicked out and left a bloody line across his calf with my blade. Without pause, he jumped down from the bed, fist lashing out.

My forearm blocked the first. The second caught a ringing blow to the side of my head and I stumbled, only to be caught with an uppercut that knocked me off my feet and sent me crashing backward to the floor.

Too fast, too skilled and too much for us. The dagger was kicked from my hand as a booted foot caught me in the stomach, leaving me curled into the foetal position as I gasped for air. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth from where I’d bitten my tongue and I gagged at the foul taste.

Evie screamed, a piercing wail of pain and terror as one of them sent her flying into the wall. Her gaze locked on mine for just a moment before it was blocked from view as a suit stepped in to kick her. Anger burst to life within me, overwhelming the fear and I found my power.

“Fuck!” the man yelled as shadowed tendrils wrapped around his leg and he was yanked to the floor. His yell turned to a scream as the darkness swept over his face, filling his mouth as fire flashed over his eyes.

A suited man turned at the cry and my arm thrust out, a wave darkness surging outwards to throw him back against the wall with enough force to crack both bones and plaster.

“Run!” I cried to Evie as she pulled herself to her feet, her face already swollen from the beating.

The other two men turned to me with their weapons raised. Glancing at each other before splitting up in unspoken agreement and rushing me from either side.

I thrust out my hands and caught the man on the left a glancing blow as he ducked beneath the shadows. The man on the right dived to the floor and rolled, his knife flashing out as pain flared at my waist.

“Don’t kill her,” the suited man on the left yelled as his leg swept out, catching the back of my knee and throwing me back to land on the floor, breath leaving my lungs in a whoosh.

A foot pressed down on my right wrist, holding my hand in place as a heavy fist thundered against my face. Something broke as blinding pain shot through my skull then he screamed. My vision cleared enough to see him staggering back from a wide-eyed Evie, hands scrabbling at his back as he tried to reach the knife she’d embedded there.

The other man swore and ran at her. In desperation, I threw out my arm, hand curling into a fist that the shadows emulated as they connected with his lower back and he screamed as something broke there. He collapsed to the floor, his legs refusing to obey him.

Evie reached out a hand and pulled me to my feet and without a word we dashed to the door. I could taste the blood streaming down my face and no matter whether we got away or not, there was enough of my DNA left to ensure I was wanted by the police. Again.

“Stop,” she said as she yanked me back just before I ran through the door. I looked at her, questions clear in my expression and she waved me back and poked her head out the door and quickly back inside.

“What?”

“More of them out there,” she said. “Coming down the corridor.”

“Crap!” I looked around, hoping to find a door I’d missed previously and let out a sigh. “The balcony.”

I kept hold of her hand as we dashed to the balcony door, throwing it open and stepping out. Distant thuds and crashes could be heard from the next room over and I assumed Jo and Patrik were kicking ass. At least I hoped they were.

With blood streaming down my face and from the cut on my waist, I was in no condition to fight anyone. A quick look over the balcony ruled out any chance of escape. The street below had several police cars parked across it and plenty of officers rushing inside.

“Should we go for the others?” Evie asked and I shook my head.

“They’ll fight better without us getting in the way.”

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“What do we do then?”

“We go up,” I said as I looked to the red brick wall that made up the sides of the enclosed balcony. Several feet above us was the ceiling and above that, the roof. All we had to do was climb onto the flimsy iron railing, balance there as we grasped the stone lintel and pull ourselves up. Easy!

“Can you drop the shadow thing?” Evie asked. “It’s hard to see you and creeping me out.”

The shadows! I hadn’t really considered how I looked as they covered my body and judging from her expression it wasn’t a comforting sight. What it was though, was a tool I could use. If those shadows were solid enough to strike my enemies, then perhaps…

I held up one hand before me and concentrated. The shadows there rose upwards, forming the crude shape of a clawed hand several times the size of my own. If I closed my eyes, and really tried, I was pretty sure I could imagine it was my own hand.

With time running out as more men approached I thrust my hand upwards, the shadowed hand rising up past the balcony ceiling, over the lintel and decorated stonework to the raised lip of the roof above. I closed my hand and felt the shadowed version do the same on the rough stone blocks that made up the raised lip.

“Do you trust me?” I asked Evie as I opened my eyes and looked into her own, seeing the fear there. She nodded once and I grunted as I willed the shadow to return to me while focusing on holding the stone.

Fortunately, the stone lip was secure enough that it didn’t budge as I wrapped my free arm around Evie and was pulled upwards, swinging out for a brief moment over the open air, then past the balcony ceiling and up towards the roof.

Evie reached up her arms to grasp hold of the stone as we reached the top as I realised I had no way of pulling us over without letting go of either her or the stone I held onto. She took a firm grip and pulled herself up, out of my arms, and over the edge before reaching down to grasp my free arm.

“Were they vampires?” she asked as I dropped down beside her on the flat roof of the hotel.

“Human. I think.”

“The one I stabbed…”

“Yeah, can’t think about that,” I said as I pushed myself up. My shadows were fading along with my anger as exhaustion and fear gained once more. “We need to go.”

“The police will help us though won’t they?” she asked and I shrugged.

“Doubt it. They wanted to speak to me about the death at the supermarket and then didn’t. Which would suggest someone wanted them to stop. It wasn’t us so we can’t trust they’re on our side and not in the pay of the vamps.”

“Could it be these families they were speaking of?”

“No idea, but unless we get away from here, we won’t have a chance to find out.”

A quick look over the roof revealed enough for me to know we were pretty much screwed. It would be foolish to think we hadn’t been noticed climbing up here and even if we hadn’t, it wouldn’t take long for our attackers to figure it out. Which meant they would come up looking for us and likely sooner rather than later.

The hotel Radisson was vaguely rectangular and ran east to west. To the north was a too wide street full of police and no way down. To the south, an even wider open area before the Manchester Central Convention Complex. West was the end of the hotel building and the Great Northern Square which left us the east as the only possible way out.

Which sucked quite a bit because while there was another flat-topped building there it was one floor shorter than the hotel and a good fifteen feet distant. Too far to jump and beyond the reach of my shadows which, to the best of my knowledge could only reach about four feet or so beyond me. Just great!

“Any ideas?” Evie asked.

She hugged herself as she stood behind me, hands rubbing at her upper arms and such a look misery and fear on her face that I just wanted to hold her. I didn’t think that this was what she’d expected when she’d agreed to sign up with Marie.

“One, but you won’t like it,” I said.

Voices sounded from the balcony below and she looked at me helplessly and spread her hands. “Do I have a choice?”

“No.”

The anger was gone, replaced by fear but that wasn’t the only means of reaching my power. I closed my eyes and conjured up the memory of that night, all those years ago. The memory that haunted my sleep and brought endless nightmares throughout the years.

A tall man with dark hair and a slim face, brooding expression and hook nose. Sallow skin and eyes full of malevolence. He’d haunted my dreams for too many years and the only emotion I felt for him that was greater than fear was hatred.

With that hate came my power and a shadowy veil once more swept over me, cool and safe. I glanced to Evie who blanched as she saw the shadows.

“I’ll never get used to that.”

“Sorry,” I said as I grabbed her hand and jogged across to the eastern end of the roof. She followed along without protest though that may well have been due to the increased volume of the voices below us.

The gap, up close, was even more intimidating. Pavement on either side of a narrow road was below us and still far too wide for any human to jump. I pulled Evie close and wrapped my arms around her waist.

Our faces were centimetres apart, so close I could feel her breath on my skin as the intoxicating smell of her filled my senses. Her arms slipped through mine and she tightened them around my back as she stared into my eyes and all I could see there was trust and something else, something I didn’t dare to hope for.

“What now?” she whispered.

“Hold tight,” I replied as I freed one hand and held it out behind me, hand pointed down at the roof surface.

My eyes closed as I concentrated on what I hoped I could do and I felt it, the shadows moving across my skin, leaving me exposed everywhere but my free hand where they gathered, growing ever darker as they compressed in that one place.

I held my breath as I gathered together all of my strength, arm trembling with the need for it to be released. As I exhaled I let loose, the shadow tendrils surging out with such force that they cracked the ceiling and propelled us upwards and outwards, into the air to sail out over the narrow road.