She landed on her side, gasping for air and trying to control the pain that exploded through her injured arm. She was aware for a moment of only the pain and the sound of Manson’s automatic weapon discharging. The sound was deafening in the confined space but helped to bring her back to her senses. She had lost the Remington either when she’d made impact with the ground or somewhere in the interim of when it had sent her flying before the impact. In any case it made little difference, she couldn’t afford to waste the time scrabbling around in the dark trying to locate it.
Her head was fuzzy, her reaction time was suffering, but even with those impairments and the pitch dark each burst of light that accompanied a round being fired from Manson’s automatic weapon gave her a glimpse of the monster that wouldn’t go down. The night before this thing had been all lethal beauty, grace, and charm, now he was covered in blood, some his own, but there was too much on him to belong to him alone. One of his charming pale blue eyes was molten shut, caked with blood, she had never witnessed even a vampire gone mad with blood lust allow itself to be impaired in this way.
Manson had already emptied his oozy before she was back on her feet. She brought the Beretta up to aim as the things hand caught Manson by the throat. She aimed for the joint of the arm that was holding Manson and shot the elbow. She gasped as the thing just turned to look at her, to her horror the thing didn’t release Manson but lifted him slowly from the ground with the arm she’d just shot. For a moment shock kept her from firing again, Manny stood six foot- two, was almost three hundred pounds of compact muscle, plus artillery. Lifting him with one arm alone wouldn’t have been impossible for a vampire but she’d shot out the joint. She got a quick glimpse of the monsters fingers drawing blood from Manson’s neck before she aimed for a solid head shot. In the second it took her to pull the trigger the vampire tossed Manson over his head, like Manson and his artillery combined weighed less than a feather.
The sound of Manson’s body colliding with brick was shattering, and the vampire was gone from the spot that he’d stood, his speed was frightening. Without a second thought she turned to head for Manson’s limp body, stupid of her. A strong hand caught her by the hair and she was back on the ground, the M9 slid out of her grip on impact. She tried for the second Beretta in the shoulder holster, but the monsters body caught her arm between his and hers as he dropped on her to attack. She maneuvered one of her legs up enough to throw him off of her, but it didn’t buy her enough time to go for the M9, he was on her again before she could reach for it. She brought her hands up to his neck as he tried to bite at her throat. She lifted him far enough off to keep him away, but he was heavy and her right arm was giving out fast. He was growling like a mad man and shoving himself at her an inch at a time. Then his one mobile arm caught her by the throat, putting so much pressure on her that she could barely breath. She dropped her left hand away from him, leaving her right to hold his weight, it wouldn’t hold him up long on its own. Quickly she pulled the k-bar, only because the Bowie knife was trapped between her and the monsters close proximity, with practiced skill she shoved the blade up under his rib cage a move that would allow the blade to bypass the sternum and hit the heart. He shrieked in pain but didn’t die, instead the vampire seemed to react only on instinct ripping itself off the knife and rolling away from her. It jumped to it’s feet faster then should have been possible given the injury she’d inflicted and tore it’s way back up the side of one of the buildings.
Chapter 5
"Holy shit," she exclaimed between ragged gasps for air. Without thinking she retrieved all of her lost weapons and put them back in place. She kept the M9 out and turned to see that her villain was still scrapping it’s way inhumanly up the side of the building, she watched only long enough for it to claw it’s way unto the roof. She waited for it to be out of sight before she turned her head to where Manson lay motionless on the opposite end of the alley. She could barely catch her breath but knew that she had to at least check to make sure he was alive before she would ever be capable of pursuit. She looked back to the roof the thing had disappeared unto and then back at Manson, there was a decision to be made here but for her the team came first, so she had to help Manson first.
‘Forget him, he’s dead anyway, finish this now while you still have the chance.’
"Fuck that," she carried herself as quickly as she could over to Manson’s side. Instinct told her to check for a pulse first, she reached for his neck to feel for the heart beat; as soon as she did his hand was up to meet hers, pulling her hand away from him. "Jesus Christ Manson you scared the shit out of me!"
"Don’t let him get away," her mentor choked out on a raw throat.
"There’s no time, between the seven dead and all our gun fire now, we can’t stay here, and if he’s even got an ounce of smarts he took off over the roof." Jennifer moved to try and pull Manson to his feet but he shoved her away. "Son of a bitch!" it was more for frustration that she cried out then any pain he may have caused her with that one move. "I won’t leave you here like this Manny."
"I can make it back to the van on my own, you just get your ass after him and finish this." Manson ordered her as he struggled to his feet, there was no mistaking the pain that was etched into the lines of his face or the stiffness of the movements. He had to spit blood out of his mouth before he could speak again, "you’re still here."
"Damn it Manny," Jennifer watched him with more concern then he probably wanted, but he was hurt bad and telling her to leave him to fend for himself.
"I’ll make it back to the van, just go before you piss me off Ryan." But still she hesitated, for one because she didn’t think for a moment that she could handle this by herself and for two she thought Manson had an even smaller chance if this thing circled back around and came back at him.
"Right," in the end she conceded because this was what they did whether they could handle it or not. She paused again long enough to help Manson pull the 44 magnum out and placed it in his right hand. " Just in case, be careful you big dumb-ass."
"Go," Manson ordered giving her a firm shove away from him.
She headed away from Manson at a sprint even though the effort made her dizzy. As fast as her monster was going she would probably never catch him, but she knew that she had to try. So she kept her pace as she snatched the radio from her side, "Malcolm come back."
"Jesus Christ Jennifer what the hell’s going on out there, we heard god knows how many shots fired. The police scanner is going nuts, if you guys don’t hall ass we’ll be surrounded soon enough."
"Malcolm, shut up for a minute and listen to me," she hollered into the radio. "Manson’s really hurt, he said he would make his way back to the van so I need you to circle back and meet him there. If he’s not at the entrance when you get there I need you to take the 9mm in the glove compartment and go in to pull him out."
"Where the hell are you?"
"I’m going after this bastard on foot, get Manson to the emergency room as quick as you can. I’ll do my best to meet everyone back at the office later tonight."
"You’re going after him alone?"
"No choice Malcolm," she turned the radio off, clipped it back on her belt and tried to speed her pace. It didn’t seem possible, she was in too much pain to keep the pace she was at now for much longer.
‘He’s taken to the roofs, a few meters ahead of you there’s a ladder that leads up to the roof on your left. Take it.’
Jennifer stopped next to the ladder, exactly where the friendly voice in her head said it would be. It was a fire escape ladder but it led to the roof and that was where she needed to be. She re-holstered the M9 and reached for the ladder, she had to hop to reach it to pull down. It was a pain in the ass with all the aches and pains that she had right this moment, but she’d survive. When she was up the ladder and on the fire escape stairs she brought the Beretta back into her hand and took the steps two at a time.
She just couldn’t understand why the heck the monster
wasn’t miles from here by now. There wasn’t any reason to stick around, more reason to run with her right behind him. He should be dead now, she had stabbed him in the heart, that was usually enough that if it didn’t outright kill them it put them down long enough for the final blow, apparently not with this vampire. There was no guarantee he was on the roof right this moment or that he hadn’t died up there from his wounds. Whatever the case she was determined to finish him off like everyone was telling her to do. She hoped that he up there still because her last blow combined with all the bullets he’d taken had damaged him enough to force him to stop and heal, an ideal time to finish him.
‘He’s alive and kicking, don’t expect to find a corpse up there, he’s not dead.’
"Did I ask," she asked aloud. She wasn’t sure whether or not whoever the hell this guy was could hear her if she spoke out loud, she didn’t really care. When she reached the top of the stairs there was another ladder to climb to reach the roof. "Fantastic," she mumbled to herself before hesitantly putting the Beretta back in the hip holster. Going up without a gun in hand seemed like a very bad idea, but she had a bad arm and it just so happened that she needed both arms to climb the ladder even if that weren’t the case. She’d worry about arming herself once she was up there. She looked down where the alley appeared almost to be a black hole, she couldn’t even see the ground. She ignored the darkness beneath her and focused on the roof hoping that the voice wasn’t lying to her.
Pulling herself to the top she drew the Beretta and aimed as quickly as she was on her feet. It wasn’t dark up here, on the contrary it was lit up by moon light and street lamps. She could see everything including her predator who stood across from her on the opposite side of the roof. He just sat hunched on the edge of the building like he’d forgotten that someone was pursuing him. He was at ease, like a stone gargoyle perched on the ledge, she might have placed him for a statue if he didn’t look the way he did. She took a step forward but he didn’t budge from where he crouched.
‘Just shoot him in the head.’
"What’s wrong with him," she realized in that second that it had been a mistake to speak. Her monsters head turned to look at her over his shoulder, his neck creaked and snapped like that one motion took effort. He hissed a warning that she didn’t take, she started moving toward him, at the same time pulling the trigger on the M9. She got off three rounds before he moved, not a single one of the bullets slowing him down. He cried out, a sharp sound like an animal gone mad, she moved but he made no attempt to go after her. She watched as he leapt past her to the roof opposite to her right. "Shit," she ran the distance to the edge and looked out over the distance he’d put between himself and her, "shit!"
‘It’s not that far, a few meters, you can make it.’
"That’s easy for you to say, you’re not the one who has to jump it." She moved all the way to where her murderer had been perched and prepared herself to run and jump. She took a deep breath, exhaled and in a burst of as much speed as she could conjure up, took off. There was a second or so after she leapt off the ledge where she seemed to be flying through the air. She knew that she wasn’t, that was confirmed when she came down hard on the roof that she’d thrown herself at. She tucked her body in and took the impact as best as she could, she rolled to a stop and forced herself to her feet. Beretta still in hand she took aim at the bastard again, "stop running and just die already!" She didn’t hesitate this time simply shot the bastard. Again without hesitation she pulled the second Beretta and didn’t stop shooting him until both pistols were empty and the impact of the bullets had laid him out flat. She re-holstered both 9mm Beretta’s without reloading, and pulled the Remington from over her shoulder. She moved toward the stiff body that she’d emptied practically thirty rounds into intent on emptying the Remington into his head. When she was within a few feet of him she aimed the Remington directly at his skull, pulled the trigger, and nothing happened.
"Damn-it!" She pumped the Remington and aimed again, pulled the trigger, again nothing. "Jesus," she quickly checked the chamber for rounds, found it loaded so pumped the shot gun again and aimed, only this time her dead man was up to meet her. She didn’t get a chance to pull the trigger again, his mangled body tore the shot gun from her grasp and tossed it back behind them both somewhere. She didn’t have to worry about going after the weapon, before she could react he had her by the throat and tossed her after it. She landed dangerously close to the edge, coming to her senses in time to see the dead man leap straight from the end of the building they were on to the next. She took the time to wipe blood from her nose and reached for the Remington. She impatiently pumped the shot gun again, if it didn’t work this time she’d have to waste time reloading the Beretta’s. She took aim at the figure scrambling like an injured beast on the roof across from her and fired. When the round hit its target it shrieked like he had every time she hit him, but he didn’t stop. She pumped the shot gun again and threw it back over her shoulder to take chase after him. He was moving a hell of a lot slower than he had been before she shot him as many times as she had.
‘Look before you leap. It’s too far for you to make it.’
"So says you, I don’t have a choice," she didn’t have time to delay, she just charged and threw herself at the next building with as much momentum as she could get. She fell a few inches short of landing directly on the roof. Instead she slammed into the ledge of the building, the edge of the roof catching her right under the ribs and stealing the air from her lungs. She struggled to hold onto the roof and by the time she could breath again she was dangling from her fingertips. She didn’t know how far of a fall it would be if she did happen to slip, she didn’t think she wanted to find out. Her right arm spasmed when she tried to pull herself up and she lost her grip with that hand entirely She couldn’t keep herself from crying out as the right hand slipped away from the ledge and for a moment she dangled by only her left. Pain shot through her remaining arm holding her weight but she suppressed the whimper that tried to slip past her lips.
‘You’re doing to be just fine, you made the jump. Push the pain back and pull yourself up.’
Some of the calm had drained away from the voice, like perhaps whoever it was might be just a little worried she was about to fall to her death. She felt like she’d heard the voice before, but this was the first time in her life that a voice this clear had ever been in her head and she couldn’t place it from anywhere else. The voice wasn’t telling her anything she wouldn’t have eventually told herself when she got over the throbbing agony pulsing through her right side. But she’d experienced debilitating pain before, had nearly died on countless occasions and survived, this was no different.
Jennifer clenched her teeth and forced her right arm to respond with every ounce of self control she possessed. Even with both hands she couldn’t find much use for the right in its damaged state. It was there and it helped to lift a little but the left took most of the weight and exertion. She shouted with the effort, but before her right arm could give out she rolled unto the roof safely. If she’d had time she would have lain there and let her arm get feeling back. Instead she grabbed the Remington, and past the loss of feeling aimed and fired at her enemy again. He didn’t look back this time, didn’t even jump to another roof, just fell, his cry echoing as he tumbled over the edge of the building. She cursed herself, pumped the shot gun and ran for the side where he’d fallen. She was ready to fire again when she reached the edge of the building but she couldn’t see him anywhere. "Son of a bitch," she kept her sights aimed for him but he was just simply gone.
‘Get out of there right now.’
"I’m not finished yet," she claimed, though she was entirely convinced herself that there might not be a way to stop the monster at this point. She didn’t give up easily, and if there was even the slightest chance that she could finish this here and now then she would. She leaned into the bricks of the roof and looked down. She barely had time to scream let alone react but she m
anaged to toss herself away from the mangled arm that swung at her as she’d leaned over. He’d been hanging there, maybe he was waiting for her to do what she had, or maybe he was just a blithering idiot. Jennifer rushed back to where she’d been, leaned so that she could aim at her target and took the shot. The moron hadn’t moved, her shot hit the shoulder that Manson had disabled earlier and the freak of nature fell away from the building. She knew now that the Remington was empty, she didn’t bother reloading. She slung the shotgun, pulled the Beretta from her hip, popped out the useless mag and slapped in a fresh one. Before she was done screams had erupted from underneath her, she was still debating whether she should risk taking a shot from up here when he randomly snatched a passerby and with little effort slithered down a gutter with the body in tow. "What the hell!"
Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife) Page 6
