Page 62 of Stalk the Dark
A toll? “Oh? And what is that?”
“The small matter of a little blood donation.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Nothing much, a pint or two between you.”
Ah, how I needed this. A good brawl to expunge the pent-up tension that had been building up inside me the past few days.
“Why are you smiling?” he asked. “Why are you smiling like that?”
I ignored him, speaking to my team. “How many?”
“Eight.”
“Easy,” Padma said.
“Could be more in the building,” Merry pointed out.
“Yeah, probably, but this’ll leave a clear message,” Padma replied.
I dropped her a nod then turned back to the sewer rat. “You want a couple of pints of blood…” I drew my blessed blade and rolled my neck on my shoulders. “You best come and get it.”
His glaze flicked to my sword then to the others,and for a moment I thought he was going to back down. Disappointment hollowed out my chest, but the moment passed. He let out a screech, and his minions attacked.
Yes!
Damn, it felt good to swing my sword, to swipe and stab, and oooh, sewer rat blood. Ha, got your hand. Wait…was that hand growing back?
What the?—
Something hit me from behind, and Padma bellowed a warning too late. I hit the ground with my knees, then grabbed at the snarling maw yapping at my throat, snagged it by the hair, and hauled it over my shoulder.
It slammed into the ground, and I buried my sword in its face.
“They regenerate!” Edwin yelled. “The head. Aim for the head.”
My internal alarm bells went off a moment before Merry shouted.
“EFFFFING efff!”
“Fuck! Just say fuck!” Edwin yelled back.
I decapitated the last rat, then spun toward the warehouse, toward the hoard of sewer rats pouring out of it and running toward us.
“What was that about sending a message?” Edwin said dryly.
Crap. “Run!”
Boots pounded earth as we raced across the estatetoward the road, toward civilization, but the sewer rats gained on us faster.
“We’re not gonna make it!” Padma cried.
She was right. “Then we fight.” I ground to a halt, turning toward the threat and bringing my sword out in a swipe parallel to the ground. “Come on!”
We were surrounded in seconds, fighting back-to-back, the only sound the thunk of blade on flesh and the snarl of ravenous vamps.
“Keep them back. Keep a distance.” I kicked out, knocking a rat away, then stabbing it in the head as it rushed back at me.
They were fast, but their intelligence was clouded by hunger, and they attacked again and again, teeth snapping, only to be cut down with short, fast jabs to vital arteries—forcing them to bleed. Forcing them to their knees.
But there were too many, and there was no way we’d be able to keep this up for much longer.
