The Frozen Moon - By J.D. Swinn Page 0,17
a DJ had earlier been, and the battle was thicker. They sliced at pixies, the same yellow and lifeless, pale creatures from the faerie war, left and right. They were much easier to kill than the vampires, who must be stabbed through the heart, and on whom wounds had little effect.
She heard a sizzling behind her, and turned to see that Cal had stabbed a nearby bloodsucker with the dagger, and had just missed the heart. He had been close enough, though, for the silver of the blade to burn through its chest. The closer the metal was to the heart, the more deadly. The cavity opened, flesh melting and bubbling away until the creature was no more than the echo of a scream. The image that came to her mind was that of a candle melting and burning itself out in a flash of hot fury. She caught his eye for just long enough to give him an approving and impressed smile. They plunged back into battle, not willing to risk the chance that someone was dying waiting for their help. She brought her sword down across a pixie woman’s chest, penetrating the leather armor it wore, sending the creature writhing to the ground. It had landed a dagger across her side a moment earlier, which now pulsed with blood. Several cuts covered her body, dripping life onto the cold stone floor. With each new wound, she knew she became a more and more irresistible target for the tens of vampires around her. The scent of blood alone could cause their animalistic instincts to take over, and they were known to swarm like hellish piranhas. She cut down another pixie and parted the chest of another vampire before she sensed the shadow moving over her.
Her sword struck out blindly, making contact, but not slowing its advance; the creature had too much momentum. Teeth sank into her neck, hitting her like a freight train and knocking her to the ground with a thud. Her head rushed with frantic thoughts, but her body refused to respond. Each pointed tooth was tipped with sedative poison which she could already feel seeping into her. She felt the ties her life held on her body being ripped away one by one, like delicate threads, and she felt…good?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: FIGHTING
She was at peace, comfortable even. It was like slipping into a dream. Her body longed to succumb to the warmth, let it consume her, but her mind screamed that it was wrong. Her mind felt the pain through the numbness, the cold through the warmth, the darkness lurking in the soft white light behind her closed eyelids, and the bitter bite of vinegar to the sweet honey taste in her mouth. It was then she understood why vampires were such efficient killers; from the first moment of the bite, their careful illusions convinced the victim that this was what they wanted, and they willingly gave up their life. She didn’t think that she could deny the soft caress of death. A voice resounded in her ears, but she couldn’t make out the words; were they shouted at her? The voice was a tether to earth, a rope thrown to her that she traced back to her body.
All of the force she still possessed drew together in the whisper of a word on dying lips. “No,” she said softly. She felt the creature hesitate in surprise; no one ever resisted. “No,” she repeated, drawing her life back into her. With some feeling coming back to her physical being, she drew strength from the Shask, and with one great burst of energy, pushed the monster off of her, sending it flying through the air. She whipped herself onto her feet, nearly falling as what blood she had left settled. She bit her lip hard, but no blood welled in her mouth; the pain helped to clear the dizzy fog from her head. The vampire wasted no time in regaining its posture, and it was then she saw it: her blood. The pale skin of the monster’s face was ringed with blood around its thin lips – her blood. It was this that put her over the edge, broke the iron chains which so carefully imprisoned the part of her no one had seen. She felt the rage stir within her, it may as well have been pouring out through her very skin; it did pour from her eyes based on the look of brief hesitation on the