He walked inside and yanked open a drawer from one of the pieces of furniture. The drawer was empty. He threw it aside. He went through a desk-looking thing and then a small cupboard, they were all completely empty. But, pushed up against the wall behind all the furniture, was a mattress.

Alexander yanked the mattress apart and started ripping it into shreds. The other vampire had gathered all the furniture into the center of the room and had smashed them into smaller pieces. Alexander took the shredded mattress and threw it among the pieces of wood and lit the fabric on fire with a lighter.

The dried wood went up quick. Alexander wrapped a large piece of wood with some of the mattress fabric, making a torch. He didn’t have any oil or lighter fluid so the torch would burn quickly. Leaving the building and going to the next one they demolished what they could and lit that room on fire as well. Soon every building on the street was belching gouts of flame, and smoke out into the street. It was pretty impressive.

Alexander exited another building after setting it ablaze and was met with six Shape shifters charging down the street only a few dozen yards away. They were in their werewolf form and they were running hard. Alexander could see their eyes tearing up. He looked up and saw just how thick the smoke from the fires had gotten. It would start to sting his eyes as well pretty soon. But he didn’t have to breathe in the smoke like the werewolves did.

Alexander tossed his most recently made torch back into the flaming building he had just exited. He pulled his automatic pistol and his 9mm from his belt and started firing.

The first blast of automatic fire sent the werewolves scattering to either side of the street. His partner pulled out his carbine and started shooting as well. The werewolves disappeared behind the smooth black corners of the buildings around them. Alexander moved as if to follow them.

“DON’T!” Odette called from above.

Alexander looked up. Odette signaled for both him and his partner to join the rest of the group on the rooftops. Alexander had half a mind to ignore her and go after the werewolves directly. But he knew that he didn’t know this place nearly as well as they did. He reluctantly turned back from where the werewolves had disappeared and launched himself up in between two building to land on the roof tops.

Looking over her group of fifteen vampires she said, “This is what we came here to do. We can’t let them get away. We’ll shadow them from the rooftops. Then once we get them where we want them, we kill them.” She gazed back and forth between them as she spoke, “Don’t shoot unless you see them. They will probably try to make us waste ammo shooting at shadows. Stay up here and only shoot when you’re sure. Understood?” Every vampire in the group nodded.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“You seven stay to this side of the street,” she said pointing. “I’ll take the other six and stay on that side. Move!” She moved quickly away from the group following where the werewolves had disappeared to. The other group of seven launched themselves across the street and landed at a run along the top of the buildings on the other side of the street.

Alexander was with Odette. She moved quickly at vampire speed. The smoke wasn’t too low just yet but it was getting thicker in the cavern around them. She spotted the werewolves quickly. They were moving back in and around the buildings, squeezing through small alleys and weaving in and out of the main streets.

The group across the street had to jump back and forth over the street several times as the werewolves led them deeper into the city. Odette realized what was happening as soon as Alexander did. The only reason he knew that was because she jumped down to the street level and sped off after the werewolves closing the distance quickly. In one fluid motion she pulled out her hand gun and shot six times. Four out of the six found their mark.

She pointed after the other two werewolves who were now on all fours running down the main street, trying to get away. There were a few shots fired and both werewolves stumbled and slowed dramatically. Odette stepped up to the four that she had downed, and as the werewolves were trying to get up and escape, she put a few bullets into the back of their respective skulls, another vampire but two bullets each into the werewolves that he had dropped with his carbine.

Alexander turned to start burning the contents of the building next to him. He was stopped as a bullet ripped past his head, barely missing his ear. He dove behind a building returning a few shots of his own. His vampire reflex gave him a perfect sight picture, even as he moved to cover. His shots were true and he hit one of the werewolves down the street, if only in the leg and arm.

Alexander landed hard on his side and skidded a good two feet along the ground. He didn’t have time to look around as a hail of gunfire rang out and bullets tore down the street. Alexander was just able to get around the corner of one of the glossy black buildings before chunks of it were ripped off by the incoming bullets.

Alexander looked back at the gunfire that was spewing down the street, blocking him in the narrow alleyway. He launched himself upwards towards the safety of the rooftops. Only to have a shower of gunfire meet him as he tried to land. The gunshots were high and wide, a good thing too, he was helpless hanging in midair.

When his feet touched the obsidian of the building, he launched himself backwards, back down into the alleyway.

So, they aren’t all that stupid after all. Alexander was pinned inside the alley. He was facing at least twelve Shape shifters that he had been able to count. Across the street, Odette had gathered a few vampires to her and was holding cover against the constant barrage that they were getting from the main street.

Alexander hadn’t been put in charge but he knew that Odette had to know they were sitting ducks where they were. He looked back away from the street. The alleyway ended in a dead end. Who the hell designs a city like this? He knew the answer to that. Maybe the werewolves had never expected to be found here but they sure as hell built their city so they could defend it.