waiting for you? Now we’re racing against the impending darkness, and on top of that you pulled me out of the–”
“Fuck you, culo bastard,” Poe said coldly.
“If you’re going to be childish about what happened–”
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Poe almost snarled before she shot the master vampire in the gullet, but short of finishing his ability to speak.
Sainvire fell on his back, clutching at the wound on the right side of his neck. He looked up at Poe who now stood over him with a grim yet triumphant look on her face. Despite the pain he noticed the beaten condition of the girl for the first time.
“Poe? What?” he croaked his gray eyes aghast.
“So you’re not only a fucking murdering slimeball with killer claws, but you’re also an actor, too,” she chortled. “Can’t blame you there since we’re a skip from Hollywood, eh?” She shot his left kneecap.
Murky liquid oozed. She had to admit that shooting the vampire of her dreams gave her a satisfaction beyond therapeutic.
Amidst Sainvire’s painful coughing and Samantha’s hysterical yelling, Poe found herself encircled by over fifty humans, halfdeads, and vampires. She pointed the Kalashnikov at Sainvire’s head.
“If you want to see this kintama’s basketball explode, creep closer,” Poe warned after she saw vampires, including Maple and Joseph, try to sneak around her blind side. To illustrate her point, Poe aimed at Sainvire’s right kidney and fired. The master vampire yelped and writhed in pain in the middle of the street.
“Don’t do anything!” Perla screamed to the others. “Get back over here where she can see us.” She waved her hands to mark the line of retreat. “Okay, Poe. Don’t shoot Kaleb anymore.” Pushing the panic from her voice, Perla asked, “What’s this all about?
What has Kaleb done?”
“If you really don’t know, Perla, then you’re lucky. But jerkweed here,” she began, gesturing at the 237
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master vampire on the ground. “And joga- face Joseph there…” On cue, she shot the tattooed vampire in the groin to illustrate her point. To say the least, the crowd unleashed a chorus of screams. “They both deserve to die.” The wailing that came from the easygoing vampire almost drowned out all the shocked voices.
“Stop! Poe, I beg you,” Maple pleaded, her voice shaking but determined. The lines around her face looked more prominent in the sun, making her look years older than forty-seven as she shielded Joseph with her bulky body. “Why are you doing this?”
“Why am I doing this, Maple?” Poe spat. “Good to know you’re ignorant of the whole affair because I really liked you.”
Sainvire tried to speak, but a steel-tipped boot in his mouth shut him up. “This–” she kicked Sainvire’s busted kneecap. “This pendejo and his little hine daikon buddy sent me to a warehouse full of ancient cocksuckers to be done in.” Foul words in multiple languages flooded her mind. She booted him in the injured kidney for good measure.
Sainvire, holding his side, tried to sit up and explain. “No!” he gurgled in an anguish-filled voice.
“Not true!”
“Joseph there told me to go to 16th and Olive. And who do I see but Samantha and the cattle getting anted around like Frank Sinatra’s broads.”
Joseph, having a difficult time, sat up with the help of Maple and held on to his oozing privates. “I said, I said 6th and Olive, not 16th and–” Joseph collapsed back on the ground, cupping what was left of his manhood, apparently not as immune to blessed bullets as Sainvire.
“No, fucker. You told me 16th and–”
Poe’s retort ended there, because Sainvire’s claws shot up and sliced her thigh. In a wrecked voice, he 238
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said, “This was the place, Julia. No one tried to shop you.” Poe toppled and yelped in pain, cursing like a salt dog. Before her eyes, the bullets lodged in Sainvire’s body popped out like wine corks as he stood. Poe fired at the master vampire’s face, but a fleet and angry Sainvire dodged the bullet.
She made as if she would shoot his face again, but she aimed instead at his other kneecap, eliciting a livid scream from her lover of one day. She rolled back to her feet and fired at the swarm of vampires and halfdeads that ran and flew her way. Completely pinned down, Poe let out a stream of bullets that hit two of Sainvire’s people before sharp claws sliced the rifle into fragments.
Screaming, “I’m Billy Jack, goddamnit!” as loudly as she could, Poe reached for the pair of Glocks from her holster. One