The only tactical advantage in my favor was the narrowness of the alley. It wouldn’t be easy for anyone to get past me and gain flank. If that happened, well, one didn’t need to be versed in D&D rules to know that was a bad thing.

My only hope was to win this and I didn’t think talking would get that shit done. Sadly, I was probably going to have to cross the line between my humanity and becoming one with the creature I’d tried to deny. In short, I was going to have to dust these fuckers. I just didn’t know if I could actually bring myself to do it.

While I was contemplating this existential crisis, they both rushed me. Seeing them cross the distance between us with frightful speed made my choice seem much more palatable. The skinhead went low, while his Latin friend took the high road. Reacting out of pure instinct alone, I leapt – using every ounce of strength in my legs to propel me upward.

I almost made it too. The first fuckhead missed me completely and went sailing past. Sadly, I caught his friend on the face on the way up. I took some satisfaction in the crunch my sneaker made against his nose right before I went pinwheeling through the air.

Through some miracle of luck, I landed on top of the guy who’d just gotten a mouthful of Adidas. He might’ve been older and tougher, but never discount being on the wrong end of an impact. I nearly brained myself in the process, but the pained grunt he made told me I’d knocked the wind out of him.

A memory stirred within me of my first encounter with the HBC from months back and I knew what needed to be done if I were to have any chance of surviving the night. Still woozy from the fall, I grabbed the nearest appendage to my sprawled form – his leg – and bit into it with everything I had.

Real life vampires are tough, but there are downsides. Sunlight is one of them. What most don’t realize, though, is that blood can be another. Sure, vamps feed upon humans and dig the taste of blood, but there’s a caveat – it has to be the blood of the living. If a regular vamp tries to bite down on another, regardless of whether it’s during kinky True Blood sex or not, they’re gonna end the evening puking their guts out as if they’d just spent the weekend in Tijuana drinking from random faucets.

I’m not a regular vampire, though. My unique nature affords me a few perks, the best being that vamp blood doesn’t give me the Hershey squirts. Quite the contrary. I not only can handle it, I actually thrive on that shit. When I chow down on another vampire, I somehow temporarily ingest their power as well.

The effect is not unlike adding nitrous to a car engine for a quick supercharge. That feeling hit my stomach as I tore into the HBC vamp’s calf muscle and sucked down his blood as if my life depended on it.

My victim struggled against me, but I had the advantage of leverage. Alas, he had the advantage of having brought a friend. Thankfully, rather than stake me in the back like a smart opponent, strong hands grabbed hold of my jacket and tore me away from the other vampire. He dragged me off and threw me down the alley; I sailed a good fifteen feet before hitting the unyielding concrete.

Too bad for the skinhead vamp, he was too little and too late in coming to the rescue. I landed, skidded, and then rolled back to my feet – feeling the lacerations on my hands and knees already beginning to knit themselves back together thanks to the power boost I’d just gotten.

Skinhead helped his buddy back to his feet. His friend now sported a nasty limp courtesy of my fangs. Oh well, fuck him. I still had the taste of his leg in my mouth and, believe me, this was one asshole who could’ve done with a long shower.

I’d managed to even the odds a bit, but that was a long way from winning. The two HBC vamps hesitated, more wary this time, but I didn’t fool myself into thinking the rest of this fight would be easy. I scanned the alley for something I could use, but spied nothing except some random garbage. I had a feeling that beating them off with a discarded six pack carton wouldn’t do much, unless they were maybe really into recycling. Looking back their way, I saw the situation had gotten even worse. Both vamps reached into their jackets and produced weapons: a box cutter for the first and a wicked hunting knife for the ugly bald one.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Shit!

They came at me again. The first vamp limped for a few steps, but then his healing must’ve kicked in as he quickly accelerated. The bald-headed one, wise to my trick from their first assault, waited for a moment then tensed his legs and leapt, clearing ten feet into the air as he held his blade aloft – looking to sink it somewhere nice and soft, like me.

His buddy reached me first and took a swing with the razor. Sadly for him, he wasn’t well versed on his Freewill lore. I caught his arm mid-swing then fell back and dragged him with me, just as his buddy came down on us with the knife.

Though the razor in the first vamp’s hands sliced me on the shoulder, I barely felt it. Besides, it was nothing compared to the six inches of steel that sank between his shoulder blades – his friend being unable to halt his momentum.

I landed on my ass and then watched, stunned, as a flash of light erupted from the first vampire’s chest. In the space of a second, he immolated from the inside out. It was only by luck that I managed to close my mouth before the rain of hot ash that resulted washed down upon me.

Holy crap.

I stared wide-eyed up at the second vamp, standing there still holding his knife, but apparently in an equal amount of shock.

I’d just killed a vampire. Well, okay, his friend had done the deed, but I’d dragged the guy in front of me, purposely putting him in the path of the fatal blow.

I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or puke as I contemplated the life I’d just snuffed out. Sadly, this was a bad time to freak. I still had one more vamp to deal with and he was both armed and likely to be pissed about his buddy. He seemed to realize it too as our eyes met and a snarl erupted from his throat.

He raised the knife high ... and that was when the old lady found her voice again and started screaming. Go figure – being assaulted, saved, and then witnessing a fight that ended with one of the combatants exploding into ash had probably unnerved her ever so slightly.

The HBC vamp hesitated as her shrill cry cut through the night air. Within seconds more voices, angry tenants no doubt, joined in from above.

“Shut the fuck up!”

“I have to work in the morning!”

“That’s it. I’m calling the fucking cops!”

That last one seemed to get through to my opponent and he took a step back. Uncertainty filled his eyes. He was no doubt debating the odds. Could he take me before the cops got there? If not, could he take me and the cops at the same time? Apparently the answer was no, as he looked down at me, spat, and then took off down the alley – his vampiric speed ensuring he was gone before I had a chance to utter, “And don’t come back.”

Unfortunately, if the cops were on their way – probably a big if, all things considered – that meant I needed to make my ass scarce too. First things first, though. One doesn’t save a victim and then take off before ensuring said victim is all right. That wouldn’t be cool.

Picking myself up, I dusted the last of the dead HBC vamp off me – again trying not to think about what I’d just done – and walked over to where the old lady still cowered.

Her eyes widened as I approached and her little dog, no doubt sensing its master’s fright, began to growl in my direction. I held up my hands to hopefully show I meant no harm.

“It’s okay. They’re gone.” I bent down and held out a hand for her.

“Who are you?” she asked, her voice a bare whisper.

“I’m...” Oh crap. I couldn’t exactly give her my name. The last thing I wanted was for the cops to show up at my doorstep asking for a statement. Drawing attention to myself was a bad thing, especially since I had no alibi as to what the hell I was doing here at this time of night. I needed to make something up, but what? So I said the first thing that popped into my head.

I opened my mouth into a big friendly smile. “I’m Dr. Death.”

♦ ♦ ♦

In retrospect I should’ve considered two things: first off, Dr. Death isn’t a particularly reassuring name to be giving old ladies at two AM in the fucking morning and I really need to remember to retract my fangs before grinning at people.

The combination set her off again and she erupted into screams of terror. Unfortunately, in doing so, she also let go of Mr. Piddles who―much like any good doggie―didn’t waste any time in attacking me.

The little weasel latched onto one of my sneakers with a death grip, snarling like it was actually a threat to anything bigger than a slice of baloney.

“Hey, call off your...” And that’s when I heard the whine of sirens in the distance. Shit! Of all the nights for the police to be responsive.

“Listen, lady...” I slipped and almost lost my footing as her attack rat refocused his teeth onto the cuff of my pants. “Seriously, you need to...” Fuck this shit! I kicked my leg out to dislodge the dog, forgetting for one wee moment that I currently possessed the combined strength of two vampires. The end result was a wet splatter as Mr. Piddles slammed into the side of the building at roughly the same speed as a Major League fastball. Oh crap!

Yeah, that definitely could have ended better.