I once had a conversation with a monk who told me the Catholic Church still prefers old school slaying: wooden stakes and holy water. That’s all well and good for a six foot monk with enough muscle to bench press a Volkswagen, but trust me, shoving a wooden stake into someone’s ribcage was no easy task and the holy water was just for show. A metal stake through the heart would kill a vamp just as dead as a wooden one. Not to mention you could get the point a lot sharper on a metal stake, so it went in a heck of a lot easier.
In addition to my other weapons, I had a new toy I was itching to try out. I got all my weapons from Tessalah because she was the best in the business. If you needed to kill a demon, slay a dragon, or dust a vampire, you went to Tessalah. If she didn’t have a weapon that could kill it, she’d invent one. And if she couldn’t invent one, then you were pretty much out of luck.
My new toy looked something like an aspirator for babies. The bulb was glass which had been infused with magic so it was flexible like rubber. The magic gave a faintly purple luminescence to the clear glass. The bulb was bracketed by thin bands of sterling silver which in turn attached to the thin needle-like neck of the aspirator, also made of sterling silver over steel.
Instead of sucking baby boogers, this aspirator supposedly killed vamps. Theoretically, the silver neck was stabbed into the vampire and then the bulb was squeezed, injecting salt water straight into the vampire. Salt water acted on vampires very much like acid in humans. Ejecting it straight into the body would essentially melt it from the inside out. Uber cool. I’d yet to try it out, but I was sure it’d work just fine. Tessalah had a way with magical weapons.
The lights glinted off the water, turning the river into a Monet reflection of the city. I’d seen numerous photographs and paintings try to recreate that image, yet not a single one did it justice.
I breathed in the night, reveling in the glory that was darkness. Sometimes I worried if I wasn’t a little too much like the creatures I hunted, loving the night as I did. To me the night had never been about fear. Most nights, the darkness wrapped itself around me like a well-worn blanket and asked me to stay awhile. Tonight was no different.
As I strolled along the waterfront, I wrapped the night around me like a cloak, sending my essence, my spirit, wandering out into the darkness. I drew strength from it, energy from it, like most creatures draw from the sun.
I stopped dead. OK, so maybe tonight was different. I’d always loved the night, but I’d never gone all esoteric about it. Sending my essence out? What the heck was that all about?
So, I did what any sane person would do. I did it again. I let my senses go rushing out through the darkness and I felt them, the lives, spirits, along the waterfront. A man, human, trying to sleep curled on a park bench. Three boys were smoking pot and talking smack over by the giant anchor. Two were human, but the other … He was something else, something other. Not evil, not vampire, just trying to be normal, human.
Further down there were two more, a man and a woman. I frowned. The human was a bright fire, hazed by overwhelming lust. She wanted sex and she wanted it now. The man was dim and overwhelmed by … hunger. I felt it burning in my veins as that slow, throbbing ache I knew so well began to build at the base of my skull. Hunger to rip and tear and drink. Hunger for flesh and blood.
My senses snapped back into my body and suddenly I was running, drawing in the energy of the night to carry my feet faster and faster along the sidewalk. The river flashed by. The old man asleep on the bench didn’t even stir. The boys started, the one stiffening in fear. I could feel them relax as I flashed by, the non-human one letting out a sigh of relief. And finally the couple locked in a passionate and hungry embrace.
I grabbed her with my left hand, wrenching her away from him with more strength than I knew I had while catching the vampire by the arm with my right. She tumbled to the ground with a cry. Through vision gone strangely hazy I saw her throat unblemished. Good, I’d gotten to her in time.
She gazed up at me with eyes full of terror. “Go,” I snapped. Then I turned to the vampire, ignoring her while she scrambled to her feet and ran.
It was the blond vamp who’d attacked me at the restaurant. I recognized him instantly. My lips drew back in a feral grin. He snarled back, flashing fang.
With a flick of the wrist, I unleashed my left blade from its bracelet and plunged it into the vampire’s chest. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite as good with my left hand as with my right, and with the awkward angle, I missed his heart.
Adding to my misfortune, whatever weirdness had let me cross eight blocks worth of space in less than a minute had now deserted me. The shadows receded and the night was just the night again. I was just me. And the vamp was a hell of a lot stronger.