black gob spat out with the pain and surprise and... the hatred - And Felix shot it again, through the chest. And it staggered back, off-balance and reeling, and the backs of its legs bounced against the walled railing and...
It almost went over the edge!
And that gleaming thought, that wish, that insane hope... It stalled Felix for just an instant, just long enough for the monster to right itself and warp open its full monster's face to the Gunman and Felix heard a crossbow go off... but so did the beast.
And it caught it. It did catch it in the air, goddammit!
Felix shot it again, in the shoulder of the hand that snatched the bolt.
The shoulder warped and shivered and there was more hissing and more black bile spat and Felix shot it again as it jerked toward him and the second crossbow - Adam's? Jack's? - tore through the air and crunched loudly through the center of its chest and out against the city lights.
Ungodly, unholy screams filled the night and the city and their heads and the monster's frenzy was a blur of pain and horror and fury as it bounced and twitched and grabbed at the spit and there was another thong and another bolt pierced its chest from the side, splitting it neatly in the center, and the monster splattered black bile and rocked backward and bit the wall again and reeled, losing its balance and...
Yes! Yes! Go over, you prick! Fall! Fall!
And Felix fired again and again but the shots had so little effect next to the wooden stakes piercing it and there! From the side, motion rushing forward! Jack coming on!
And Felix wanted to shout "No!" but he could not, he could not. It was their only chance and he fired again and again, fired the Browning empty to keep it off balance and then Jack was there running full speed into it but at the last second...
At the last second it saw Jack.
And held up its hand.
And stopped him, all two hundred plus pounds at breakneck speed.
Stopped him. Caught him. Held him, ignoring its own pain and hissing:
"You foolish little..."
Before Father Adam appeared and slammed point-blank into the two of them...
The three went over the edge.
Just like that.
And quiet. So quiet, suddenly. Only the breeze and a far distant car horn and his own breath heaving and...
And Cat beside him, staring wide-mouthed at the wall.
Felix did manage to approach and look down and just glimpse, twenty-one stories down, three forms on the pavement, before.
"Nooooooooooooo..." burst slowly from Cat beside him and Felix felt his forward movement and he dropped his pistol as his right hand shot out and snatched a chain-mailed shoulder and he spun the smaller man toward him and away from the wall and sank his fist deep into his middle.
"Ooomph..." went Cat and sagged.
Felix didn't wait. He followed with a right uppercut that caught Cherry full under the chin and decked him flat onto the terrace tiles.
Then he pounced on either side of his chest and jabbed a finger into Cat's face and spat, though he knew the other man was too groggy to hear him: "No! You are not following anybody down!"
Then he rolled him up into a fireman's carry and somehow bent down and picked up his empty gun and spun around for the door.
We've got to get out of here! We've got to get out of here now!
Because no fall, even twenty-one stories, was going to kill a vampire.
Back through the french doors and that huge room and those oaken double doors into the hail and mashing the elevator button. Should I wait? Should I take the stairs?
Or will it take the stairs? Just streak up them, floor after floor, to come get me?
But then the bell and the doors opened and the elevator was still there! Had it happened too fast for them to start down? Or some luck for a change?
Does it matter, stupid? Get moving!
The long ride down, floor after floor after fear of what might be waiting when they opened at the bottom.
But nothing. Just the lobby and startled people. Felix trotted down the steps toward the front door before pausing, suddenly, at the sights out on the street, people milling and cars pulled over and - Oh, shit! This is the side they fell on! It's on this side!
He turned so abruptly toward the back entrance he almost dropped Cat.
The back entrance was at the end of a long tunnel-like corridor with