Take This to Your Grave and I'll Take It to Mine

I stood at Pete’s side and looked at him and smiled one last time before looking into the mass of vampires taking aim with my crossbow.

“Ready!” I shouted and all their bows and fancy weapons rose.

“Aim!” The weapons shifted to their targets.

“Fire!” The weapons went off and I aimed my power to take out as many with fire as I could.

The twenty-some-odd hunters around me all met their marks, they’d been practicing too.

The vampire targets fell turning the rest of the vampires’ attention to us.

I focused my attention on the ones who ran at us first.

Ten of them dropped. I didn’t bother stopping the fires that burned them from the inside out their bodies would create a fiery barrier that would stop the others long enough to ready our weapons.

I reloaded my cross bow and pulled my broad sword off my back.

I looked around seeing all but a few ready with their normal weapons. Patrick was one of the few that was going to try to take down vampires with long distance weapons for as long as possible.

I locked eyes with Pete and nodded telling him that I was starting, and he was welcome to join me.

I charged toward the fire jumping straight through it.

I fired at the first thing I saw on the other side.

The arrow went straight into a small vampire’s head and I began swinging my sword at what surrounded me totally letting go and letting the instinct to kill rule.

I dropped my cross bow back to it’s place on my belt, continued fighting with my sword in my left hand, and reached over my shoulder to grab my other sword.

Pete was at my side, knives slicing at whomever he was fighting.

Most of these weren’t our hometown vampires, they were vampires from across the world. They didn’t bring weapons with them, most vampires don‘t use weapons when fighting only humans. They weren’t used to things like this, none of us were.

I was taking them down two at a time both of my swords swinging simultaneously.

I looked up as I fought to the other side of the valley and saw the Dandies (and all the other gangs of Los Angelus) fighting together against the vampires of the world. It seemed like they were taking a good chunk out of them but they had vampires falling too. Even their vampires who didn’t fight were there, of course those were the ones falling first.

William sat back new guards surrounded him, all looked edgy from fighting the violent urge. He looked no better than them, but he was a coward. He would rather sit back and try to stay alive.

We fought and fought and the rest of the hunters arrived and killed.

There were vampires still killing each other and not bothering with us.

I wanted to kill some vampires I knew, I wanted the Dandies to fall, I wanted Pete to be over there and ready for the blood moon, close enough to William to kill him.

“Pete!” I shouted to get his attention. “Come on!” I lit all the vampires within range to kill us and grabbed his hand. “To the side with the Dandies!”

I had been using my fire power to much it was exhausting me, he needed to fly.

He grabbed me and did just as I asked.

I lit one more group of vampires on fire just for us to land and Pete landed right on top of the burning bodies.

Then we were fighting again.

We had our backs against each other keeping each other safe.

“Dandies!” William’s voice rang out over the sounds of the battle. “Use your weapons!”

I watched the Dandies that were farther away from Pete and me pulled out these glass orbs filled with some sort of liquid.

Shit! Holy Water!

The orbs were hurled directly at me.

The glass shattered as they hit me letting the holy water spatter all over my skin.

I screamed at the top of my lungs as it burned into my flesh.

I couldn’t stop fighting though.

They just kept hurling these things at me, I started to fear because I didn’t know how much my body could really regenerate.

Pete looked to me finally grasping what was going on and grabbed one of my swords and hopped in front of me, my eternal protector.

One of the last ones hit me in the stomach that scared me the worst.

The shirt was soaked in the holy water I had to tear it off so I could regenerate. I tore off the spot over my stomach, and any other spot I deemed as high priority.

I looked to the spot on my little baby bump and it was deep, deep enough to worry me and anger me.

My anger came out strong.

A deep horrible growl made it’s way up my throat and past my lips. I rose up straight as the sound emanated from me.

I looked around and more vampires were on fire, I didn’t even feel the energy draining that would have been required for the fires.

They put me in mother bear mode, where I’d do anything to protect and wouldn’t feel a thing until the baby was safe.

My sword was prepared to spill more blood and I was eager to see it.

As I fought with my one sword I pulled a knife from my wristband and was slicing with both hands again.

I looked back to the guys to make sure they were doing ok, but I wished I wouldn’t have.

I looked just in time to see Joe having a knife-it had been his own knife-plunged into his stomach and dragged up as far as the vampire could take it.

I couldn’t get caught up in the emotion that hit me with his death or my fate could end like his and he wouldn’t have wanted that.

I fought harder, not only my need to protect my child taking over but my anger for my lost friend.

Vampires falling left and right Pete and I kept taking them down I looked back to the hunters again, this time with fear but it seemed like they were actually making a dent. Of course the fact that the vampires were fighting each other too might have helped.

“I’m going to take a few swings at William!” I shouted to Pete over the sounds of the fight.

I wanted to throw a few punches at him, he made my life miserable. I wanted a little revenge. I knew I couldn’t kill him and that was kinda disappointing.

I rushed through the Dandies using my blades against them well.

William’s guards looked like they were preparing to fight with me. I noticed Dirty standing at William’s side behind one of the huge guards.

I hoped that this day wouldn’t come but I knew I’d have to kill him.

William’s guards were a challenge due to their monstrous size and because of the fact that they fought together. I had to use my fire on them. I didn’t really have enough strength to do that. My fire power would probably be out of commission the rest of the fight.

God I hope not.

Once I got to Dirty I saw him pumping a huge water gun.

Shit. Again?

I tried to rush on him before he finished pumping but William reached out and hit me in the face with enough force to knock me down.

Of course I wasn’t down long but long enough for Dirty to finish and have the gun aimed at me.

“Hello again Erin.” He smiled the cruelest smile that I’d seen in centuries.

This was another moment where I knew my vampire speed would be a necessity but I wasn‘t even sure if that would be enough.

I launched myself up toward him but in the same moment I did that he hit the trigger.

The holy water was hitting me in the face, running down my face, down my chest down my back leaving searing pain in it’s wake.

My whole face burned and with my eyes clenched shut I still ripped the water gun from his hand and crushed it in my hands not caring that the holy water was now burning into them as well.

I wiped my hands on my shirt then wiped my eyes, feeling the flesh and exposed cheek bone.

My eyes popped open. Staring at him with all the contempt in my body.

He looked horrified before sputtering out to himself, “I thought that would work way better.”

I hissed, “My turn.”

I whipped out one of my many knives and grabbed a hold of his throat with my other hand.

I dragged the knife across the right side of his face.

“This is what it felt like.” I hissed again right before curling the tips of my fingers into the cut I made in his face and giving it one swift tug.

The sound of his skin tearing away from his face would have been enough to make you vomit, or at least send a shiver down your spine.

The grotesque rip only thrilled me though.

“Did you like it? I didn’t.” I spit the word directly into his ear so he could hear it over the sounds of his own cries.

Just to silence him I shoved the knife into his throat and sliced him open, killing him.

I looked up to William who was slowly clapping with a smirk on his face.

“Well Erin you’re just as monstrous as I. You’re no better than me no matter what you believe. You’ve also proved that beauty is only skin deep. You’re rather unattractive once it’s all gone.” He looked as arrogant as ever.

“Would you like to know what you look like with your face peeled off.” I growled. “Because I can show you just like I showed him.”

“You’re pregnant with the child of one of Dirty’s former best friends. He wouldn’t hurt the child. I on the other hand am not so kind. Do you really want to take that chance with me?” His cocky attitude didn’t even flicker or fade for a moment.

I growled in the most animalistic way I ever had. That was the single moment that I think the demon that lies within all vampires took over me completely.

I charged him.

He tried to take some shots but I blocked them and caught his fist with his final left hook.

I spun his arm behind his back and forced him to his knees, pulling his arm hard enough that if he were human that I’d have shattered his arm.

I dug my fangs into his neck taking the blood that I direly needed.

He groaned in pain and shoved me off using all the force he could muster up.

He sent me into the limo that only the Dandies would have the audacity to drive into a fight with a chunk of his skin in my mouth.

I shook back into myself and glanced back to the guys.

Pete: Fine.

Patrick: Terrified, but okay.

Andy: Holy shit!

Again I looked up just in time to see one of my friends slaughtered.

A large vampire took out the guy who’d been watching Andy’s back and latched himself to Andy’s throat ripping it out for all the world to see.

I had to keep up my facade.

I pulled the piece of his pale bloody skin out of my mouth.

“Did this belong to you?” I asked with an evil smirk.

His hand was holding his gushing throat with his handkerchief pressed tightly to the wound and he looked ready to kill.

“Erin I’m not going easy on you anymore.” He spoke through clenched teeth.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I popped to my feet readying myself for whatever he was going to do.