Van Helsing Rising - Helen Scott Page 0,58

that's flowing through my system diminishes and I know without looking that it's Dragon behind me. When another hand touches my other side, careful to avoid the wound, I don't feel anything. I glance up and see Striker grinning down at me like a maniac.

"Let's cause some damage, baby girl," he growls.

I've never had two of them touch me before, especially not after I was given the demon blood, but now that they are? I can almost feel their powers flowing through me. Anger, vengeance, a hint of lust, all come from Dragon, and when one of those beasts charges me again, I take all the fear I had bottled up from earlier in the evening and shove it outward.

Suddenly, all of them are stumbling over their own feet, not just the one I directed my emotion to, whining softly as they cower away from us. That only lasts a moment, though, as my own fear dissipates. It's just long enough for me to get back to my feet.

When the beasts straighten they come roaring at us once again. I hear the quiet pop-pop of the silenced guns that my guys are wielding. The first line of attackers falls, but there are beasts just behind them and even more behind those ones. The alley they attacked in was actually beneficial for us since it limited the number of them that could face us at any one time.

As soon as one of them is close enough I lunge, fingers splayed, and make contact with its chest. I expect it to lash out or bite, to do something, but its eyes roll back in its head as it howls in pain for a long moment before it starts to have some kind of seizure. The others don't miss the interaction and start attacking me from a distance, reaching with their strangely elongated arms as they try to slash at me.

I swing my daggers through the air, careful to avoid the guys, but with enough force that I slice into the flesh of the arms that are extended to me, even succeeding in cutting a hand, or maybe paw, off once. The whole time I'm fighting there are the pops of gun fire all around, making my ears ring, but I see that I'm not the only one that has taken to using a blade.

Striker and Dragon are using hand-held weapons as well, though I can't quite tell what they are without losing my focus. They handle the weapons with brutal efficiency, and the numbers that I thought were insurmountable in the beginning are starting to dwindle.

The area has become a blood bath, and though I had struck the first blow, I know in my heart that it would have always come to this. In my peripheral vision I see the guys fighting, and they are magnificent. Crash moves over to me when he catches my eye.

"Want some luck on your side, angel?" His voice sends shivers down my spine, and if we weren't in the middle of fighting for our lives, then I had no doubt it would do all sorts of things to my insides.

I grin back at him and move closer.

Instead of just putting a hand on my shoulder, though, he wraps his fingers around the back of my neck and pulls me in, kissing me hard and fast before turning me loose.

The next beast that attacks me doesn't just lose a paw, he loses both paws, a scream of pain tearing from his lips as he goes down. It almost breaks my heart that I'm causing so much pain, having usually been the recipient of it. With that in mind, I swing my dagger once more and almost slice his head clean off.

At that moment a twitchy feeling in my gut tells me to duck, so I do, and a beast sails over my head, crashing into the wall behind us. The bricks crumble from his impact and the scent of blood is quickly becoming overpowering.

The more I fight, though, the more I want to. I don't know whether it's Crash's luck, Striker's pain, or Dragon's powers, or just knowing that the four of them have my back, but for the first time in my life, I'm defending myself and it feels damn good.

I can't help but crave it a little more, and I find myself smiling at my next attacker, which distracts him as I launch myself toward him. I bury the blade of the dagger in his