Hi, all! Annabelle Hawthorne has returned once again to bring you yet another chapter of "Sexy monster girls who punch shit really hard and maybe stab a few things between getting laid." The title was too long to fit, though, and my therapist had a few thoughts on the matter.
New readers, welcome! The best place to start is at HFHM Ch. 001 if you really want to know what the hell is going on. From there, read Books 1-3, then D&H Ch 1-12, then Books 4-5 of HFHM, then D&H 13-now. But if you're horny for some werewolf on vampire violence, go right ahead, I'm not in charge of you.
Returning reader? Welcome back! This is the second to last chapter of this book, so we are almost there! I hope things are going well for you since last we met, I've been an extremely busy bee. I've also been very grateful to the lit community for indulging this deviation from my main series, thank you all so much for the kind words and comments. Make sure you check my bio to see when the final chapter is supposed to release, I really do stick to that schedule as best as I can!
A huge shout out to my beta team who spent forever cleaning this mess up for me. A ton of time goes into making sure the stuff I drop on you all is at least partially clean. I love sharing these stories with you, but want to (reasonably) polish them up because you deserve it.
Speaking of mistakes, I know I typed vampire earlier, but for those of you who have been reading along, you know that I actually meant
Vampyr
The church was filled with the moans of the living as the undead fought to tear them apart. The room stank of blood and gunsmoke, burning through Tasia's olfactory senses so hard that her eyes teared up. But none of this mattered to her as she threw herself repeatedly at the wiry figure in front of her.
Timotei. The vampyr was fast, and insanely strong, definitely more powerful than any vampire she had heard of. She had picked him up one time and rammed his skull through a support beam, only for him to come out the other side with just a scratch across his forehead. For all her raw strength and primal instinct, he always seemed to be one step ahead of her.
However, he wasn't able to get the upper hand, either. He had tried to put her in a submission hold from behind, but she was too large. Earlier he had broken her knee with a roundhouse kick that would have totaled a car, but the break had healed almost instantly. Random gunfire tore holes through the both of them, but that was little more than background noise right now.
The two of them danced around each other, neither gaining more than a brief upper hand. Timotei's constant shrieking about his daughter was emotionally painful, but Tasia had already distanced herself. She wasn't about to forfeit her own life over a child-like murder machine.
Eventually, she managed to pin him down, her foot on his back as she pulled both of his arms back in an attempt to rip them off. Between the shouting and the gunfire, she heard the distant sound of a car pulling up to the church. Hoping that help hadn't just arrived, she crouched down and pulled as hard as she could, feeling Timotei's joints creak under the pressure. The vampyr hissed in agony, but did little to resist.
The car outside stopped. After a short amount of time, it started up once more and the gravel crunched as it pulled away.
"No. NO!" Timotei's loose arms suddenly went tight in Tasia's arms. "He was supposed to come in here. HE WAS SUPPOSED TO COME IN HERE!"
Tasia couldn't even respond, her lupine form was terrible for communicating with words. Her claws slipped on Timotei's arms, so she tried to dig them into his skin.
A high, keening wail came from the vampyr as he threw himself backward, toppling her with ease. He ran to the closest window, completely ignoring the melee around him.
"He's leaving! Why is he leaving?" He spun in place and jabbed a finger at Tasia. "If he won't come here for you, then I will bring you to him!"
Tasia raised her hands in a "bring it" gesture. Timotei stepped toward her, his high speed movements blurring as he leapt to the side and slapped his hands down on one of the remaining Legion parishioners.
"Wha--" was all Legion managed to say before Timotei picked the body up and sank his fangs into the demon's neck. Another Legion froze and spun to look at the vampyr.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" demanded the demon, then tried to run away when Timotei cast the withered husk to the ground and charged forward to grab the one that had spoken. Tasia watched in horror as the vampyr quickly drained several of the men and women who were remaining, leaving dried up bags of skin and bone on the floor. With each body drained, he moved faster and more gracefully than before. She had seen victims of a vampire feeding, but they were usually bloodless. These people looked like all the moisture had been sucked free of them, their hair even withering up and turning gray.
Timotei, on the other hand, exuded a powerful aura as he exploded forward, clawed hands grasping for her throat. He easily ripped her off balance, then smashed her through the nearest wall. They crashed into the kitchen, sending racks of food spilling across the floor.
"I tire of this," he said, picking himself up off the floor. Tasia made a fist and threw a haymaker that connected squarely with Timotei's face. The vampyr took the blow and sailed back through the hole they had made, but all the knuckles in Tasia's fist broke upon impact. She howled in pain, clutching her hand to her stomach as the digits slowly squirmed beneath her fur, struggling to realign themselves.
"The Lord demands adversity," said Timotei through the wall. He shoved aside the broken plaster and stepped back into the kitchen. A small bruise on his jaw was already fading away. "Through this challenge, I shall become worthy once more of His love and forgiveness."
What a fucking whackjob.
Remembering the apartment, Tasia looked around in hopes of finding a spice rack. They had packed some spices and rice in the backpack to deal with Timotei, but that had been lost early on in the fight.
Timotei slammed into her from behind, the two of them tumbling over the counter. Tasia bit down on the vampyr's hand, but he curled his fingers around the fangs of her lower jaw and squeezed.
"Did you really think a mere dog could stand up to a proper vampyr?" He yanked her head down and delivered an uppercut that caused the world to dangerously narrow to a dark tunnel. "You are unholy, an abomination before the eyes of the Lord. You have forfeited your humanity, and for what? Fleas and belly rubs?"
A flying knee caught her in the temple, and she fell onto the ground, her sides heaving as she panted. Whimpering, she tried to get up on all fours, but Timotei threw a mean right cross that ruptured something in her eye.
"I was forced to stray from the light." He grabbed Tasia by the scruff of her collar and started dragging her toward the door. "The Holy Father tests me because he knows that I am worthy. HE KNOWS THAT I AM WORTHY!"
Tasia couldn't respond. Her limbs twitched as her brain struggled to reconnect to her body. Even when she had been forced to fight her own kind, the fights hadn't been this one-sided. She whined as Timotei dragged her back into the nave and pulled her up the long, blood-stained ramp. If there were any living Legions left, she didn't see them. It was all zombies now.
The vampyr came to a halt as a dark figure dropped down from above and crashed into the pews. Crimson wings flared dramatically outward as Lily rose, her eyes smoldering with flames.
"Demon." Timotei let go of Tasia. "I won't let you stand in my way."
"Good." Lily sauntered into the aisle, her tail sliding across the corpse of a mercenary and caressing his cheek. "You see, now that I'm not in a cage, things will be different."
Timotei shook his head. "I went easy on you. Deacon's orders."
"Speaking of the good reverend..." Lily opened her mouth and the most unholy shriek of pain came from deep within. Timotei actually took a step back when he recognized Deacon's voice. "He's giving me heartburn."
