twitched. Her chin jerked upwards and her head turned fractionally in his direction. She’d sensed him. Damn. He needed to distract them and draw them away before it was too late – give Flic and Jamieson a chance to get out but there wasn’t time to figure out a plan. He opened his mouth to yell, to distract them, but Jamieson moved at exactly that moment – lunging at the one in the suit with snapping jaws.
Everything blurred. Lucas registered only the sound – a deadening thump, a crack of bones; and then he saw Jamieson flying through the air – a ball of fur. He smacked into the far fence and it splintered under the force. With a whimper the wolf dissolved in a ball of shimmer and Jamieson appeared – his body crumpled at an odd angle, his face pressed to the dirt. A trickle of blood oozed down his temple.
Flic let out a guttural scream – not of fear but of anger and rage – and threw herself forward, her blade dicing and swinging, her face a snarl.
Lucas sprinted towards her letting out a yell of his own. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the girl in the shorts spin around, see him and throw herself towards him, but at the last moment she faltered, spun, turned away from him and launched herself at someone else. Lucas kept moving towards Flic, only conscious that there was someone else in the fight but with no time to figure out who.
Lucas launched himself at the one stalking his sister – the one in the suit – his blade hacking through the stone hard flesh of the Original’s shoulder. The Original paused, glanced over his shoulder at the tear in his suit and then, with a furious bellow, swung his fist at Lucas.
Lucas darted out of range, but the thing was on him instantly – a blur, teeth sharp as hypodermic needles smashing and gnashing in his face, driving him backwards. Lucas stumbled and the thing launched himself at him - a tonne weight, as heavy as a marble statue crashing down on top of him. In the split second before he was crushed beneath it, Lucas rolled, drawing his blade in a wide arc above him, feeling it slide through flesh.
The thing paused for just a moment, a hand pressed to its neck, buying Lucas enough time to scoot backwards out of reach. But then it was on him again, stalking towards him across the lawn. Lucas kicked his way backwards, willing himself to time things right. He would have only one shot.
The thing stopped, looming over him and Lucas forced himself to hold steady, to not panic. But then the thing suddenly pitched forward and a waterfall of cold blood cascaded over Lucas, drenching him from head to toe.
He was on his feet in the next instant, gripping the hilt of his blade in both hands, ignoring the blood dripping into his eyes and mouth. He spun and with one blow slashed his knife across the Original’s throat.
The severed head rolled halfway across the lawn even as the body sagged in a heap to the ground.
Lucas leapt over the body and started sprinting towards Flic. His brain registered that someone else was fighting alongside her at just the same moment that he saw a flash of pink flying at him.
The one in shorts came at him from nowhere – blindsiding him. Lucas barely managed to somersault out of the way before she was on him again, snarling and panting. The two of them circled each other warily, her gaze falling to his blood-slicked blade then to the body of her friend lying headless on the lawn. She showed barely a trace of emotion. She didn’t look much older than twenty, though Lucas knew he shouldn’t let that fool him. She had a good thousand years on him.
There was only one way to play this, Lucas thought. He stopped circling and tilted his head to the side, exposing the length of his neck, feeling his pulse jerking frantically beneath the skin.
It worked. The Original’s focus snapped straight to his neck. Her lips parted, her gaze clouded over and she lunged, coming at him with the speed of a freight train. Lucas waited until the split second before she was on him before he brought his hand up, holding the blade in his fist like a dagger. She hurled herself onto him. Lucas staggered backwards under her