a booming voice Poe taunted, “You idiots wanna follow your leader, huh?” Teeth, pallor of skin, and the rise and fall of the chest distinguished the 76
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creatures before her. She shot two vampires, two leeches, and another suntanned halfdead in succession.
She knew that replacing the magazine was going to be tricky because her spray bottle would have to cover her.
When the gun clicked empty, she released the clip. Before she could reload, a vamp flew at her and kicked at the gun but missed. Sister Ann rammed her stake into his back.
Poe’s chest burned as it absorbed the brunt of the blow. She almost collapsed but had the foresight to replace the magazine first. By the time another vampire appeared, Poe was ready.
“Fucker!” she screamed, shooting the vampire’s foot and kicking him in the chest. For a second there, she thought she heard ribs breaking. Poe finished him off when he fell on the floor squawking like a mallard during Wisconsin duck season.
The stairway emergency exit door flung open and a halfdead with a rosy complexion jumped out, grabbing her from behind. Sister Ann tried to kick his leg from under him, but she was too weak. Fuming, the creature embedded his index finger into Sister Ann’s left eye socket. Poe did not see the nun crumple to the ground.
“You stupid little cunt! I’m going to–”
Poe stomped her right shoe down the tender part of his foot as the “Grab Twist and Pull” self-defense video had taught her, and she rammed her elbows into his ribs.
“I hate the c-word, asshole!” Poe squeezed out.
Once her arms were free, she shot the bastard in the face. “Just so you know. For future reference and all that.”
From the corner of her eye, she witnessed a vampire carrying Trench outside. Another vampire 77
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locked the front door as soon as their master left the building. They were going to execute Poe and Sister Ann in the lobby. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! With her back to the wall, she moved away from the stairwell.
“Sister, keep close to me!” she ordered. When the nun didn’t respond, she looked behind her only to see Sister Ann twitching on the ground. “No! Sister!”
The body went still, blood oozing from the socket.
Poe released a strangulating screech, so full of grief and frustration that the creatures present gave her a temporary berth. Again, the voice in her head set her right. It’s not over yet, it said. Buck up. She doesn’t want you to die this way.
She pulled her gaze from Sister Ann’s body, looking up, down, sideways at anything that might aid her. Vampires were moving toward her from every corner.
Then she saw the glass wall on the west side of the building. Her moped would be right around the corner. I could either die in this miserable art fucking deco building or die outside in the rain. She’d take the outdoors anytime. Blasting her gun and squirting her bottle, Poe ran for it. Two shots cracked the window into tiny veins. With her remaining strength, Poe booked it and slammed the side of her body against the spiderwebbed window, praying it would shatter.
“I’m sorry!” she bellowed to her dead friends.
She fell hard on the wet pavement outside.
Penny whimpered once in the backpack and quieted down again. Shards of glass lodged in Poe’s skin made getting up difficult.
“Ouch!” Poe belted out. Vampires soared out of the jagged hole she created and hovered above her, followed by the humans and subhumans who couldn’t fly. Poe shot at the first two vampires that flitted toward her and chunks flew everywhere. She inhaled 78
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sharply as her bleeding shard-infested right hand pulled the trigger.
With much effort, Poe hobbled over to where her Vespa was parked. She reloaded the last of her Walther PPK cartridges and sprayed the final few drops of garlic water onto vampire legs that dared scoop down too close. The bottle, completely empty, she tossed at the nearest halfdead who hopped back fearfully. The creature’s face would have made her howl in laughter a week before, but not then when she was about to die.
She switched the gun to her left hand, the less injured of the two.
“Hijo de puta,” escaped her lips. Her heart banged gong-clangs, for her beloved avocado green moped was nowhere in sight. She and Penny were truly dead.
She had less than nine bullets left and at least a dozen vampires and their minions were still in pursuit. Best case, she