Sounds on the rooftops one either side of them caught Eliza’s attention, but not enough to draw her eyes off of the Vampire. Mila called for the other two members of their team to get there in a hurry, and then more gunfire rang out, but Eliza was so caught up in ending Honey, she still didn’t pull her eyes away long enough to understand what was going on. The Vampire was pressed back on her heels, and Eliza wanted to get rid of her now.
Honey began to laugh, even though Eliza’s next swipe with the dagger caught her in the chest. It wasn’t deep enough to cause too much damage, and the monster got free before the Guardian could drag the knife to her heart, but the laughter was alarming. “You won’t end me before it’s too late.”
“What are you talking about?” She brought the knife around again, but this time, it was a distraction as Eliza’s leg swept out on front of her. She caught Honey’s ankles and knocked them from beneath her. The Vampire hit concrete hard, but continued to snicker.
“Look around you, fool.”
Eliza placed a boot firmly on the Vampire’s chest before she let herself look up.
Like cockroaches invading a kitchen at night, swarms of dark figures were crawling down the walls on either side of the street, pouring over the rooftops in endless streams. Eliza couldn’t even begin to count them all, there were so many. They didn’t exactly look like Vampires, though. They were human shaped, but smaller, and their skin was black and crispy looking. All of them had red eyes. They wore only black clothing, though it looked like regular, every day outerwear, only every speck of every garment was black. “What are they?” she asked Cassidy.
“I don’t know,” the Hybrid admitted. “But I don’t think you should stick around and find out.”
“You’re probably right.” Eliza looked down at the satisfied grin on Honey’s face and realized the rest of her team was still shooting but falling back, and Mila was calling for her to leave the Vampire and do the same. “But I have always been hard headed.”
Using all of her weight, Eliza pressed down hard on the monster’s midsection, making her cry out in pain as the Guardian kneeled and sank her knife into the hollow portion of her neck. The Vampire began to hiss and scream, writhing around, trying to free herself as Eliza worked her knife from one side to the other. The creatures around her had reached the sidewalks now and were closing in, and Eliza had no idea if she could kill them or they could kill her because she didn’t know what they were. But she was so close to ending Honey, her mouth began to water. She pressed on, ignoring the danger, until she heard the satisfying snap of the last tendon, and the Vampire let out an ear-shattering scream as she turned to a pile of ash.
Claws bit into Eliza’s arms on either side. She threw elbows into both creatures’ faces, and they softened their grips enough for her to work her way free, just to be snatched onto by the next in line. There were a dozen of them on her now. She kicked, punched, stabbed, and drew blood out of a few of them, which was unexpected. It wasn’t exactly red, though. Instead, it was a dark crimson, almost as black as the creatures themselves. Each time she worked her way free, more of the monsters grabbed hold of her. They weren’t being gentle, either. Their claws cut into her skin, leaving bloodied wounds.
Her team was gone, every single one of them. She couldn’t blame them for following orders, but the fact that Mila had left her there was discouraging to say the least. “What do I do?”
“Hold on. Sergio’s got the car, and he’s coming.” Cassidy sounded almost as panicked as Eliza felt.
“What are these things?” Eliza’s question went unanswered as she found herself lifted off of the ground. Whatever they were, they seemed more interested in taking her than ending her.
Tires screeched at the end of the road, but the monsters didn’t seem intimidated. Sergio plowed into a group of them. Arms and legs went flailing as they were tossed up into the air. Mila leaned out the window and began to shoot as Eliza gave every effort she had to free herself. The rest of the team also opened fire, and Eliza felt the familiar sting of friendly fire as regular silver bullets made contact with her flesh and bounced off. She was thankful they weren’t using titanium because that would’ve been more than a little uncomfortable.
Dragging two of the creatures with her, she reached the back door of the vehicle. Dom opened the door for her, and Eliza body-slammed one of the creatures into the back quarter panel and then punched the other one in the face, gaining the few seconds she needed to break free and jump into the vehicle. The car screamed through the night before she even had her door closed.
Still shocked over what had just taken place, Eliza’s head swiveled around to see where the creatures might go. Those that had fallen laid still, and it seemed as if they were dissolving, turning into black powder, but Eliza couldn’t see well enough to know for sure. The ones who had survived stood still for a moment, collectively watching the SUV disappear into the darkness, before they began to scurry back up the sides of the building. Eliza watched until she couldn’t see them anymore.
“Are you all right?” Mila asked her.
Turning around, Eliza nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, guys.”
“I told you to abort the mission and fall back.” Mila wasn’t messing around. “You could’ve been killed. I’ve never seen anything like that before in my life.”
“Me neither. I’m sorry.” She decided not to mention the fact that she had gotten Honey.
“What were those things?” Sergio asked, slowing the car down to a normal speed now that they were away and encountering more traffic.
“I don’t know.”
“Who might know?” Mila asked her.
“I have no idea.”
“Would your new friend Gimu know?” Dom wondered aloud.
“I will ask, but I doubt it.” She knew Cassidy had no idea, but there was a chance Christian could know. She’d send him a message with a video from her IAC just as soon as she calmed down long enough to get a good clip.
“Whatever they were, I don’t like them.” Mila turned back around, and everyone else in the SUV silently concurred.
