The Last of the Twenty: Broken Pawns

Chapter 42

The instant they were outside of the house they separated, each running in the direction of one of the howls. Ethan was the first to catch up to one of the wolves. Just over a hundred yards from the house a flash of white fur caught his attention. Daniel was on the heels of a vampire who was making a beeline for the house. Ethan angled his run to cut the vampire off, sandwiching it between himself and Daniel. He bent over and drove his shoulder into the vampire's stomach, driving him to the ground.

They grappled each other as they rolled across the ground. The vampire snapped at Ethan's throat and clawed at his eyes, fighting like a wounded animal. He was nearly as big as Ethan, but like Gabriel had said was worn and thin. He drove his forearm into the vampire's throat and pushed down. It cried out and bit at his arm but was unable to sink its teeth into Ethan's arm.

Its struggles stopped. It stared Ethan in the eye, the fire in its own eyes burning brightly in the darkness. "The father will take you..." it growled against the pressure of Ethan's bodyweight.

Ethan stared into the fire within its eyes and shivered, he could sense the vampire fighting the possession from within, unable to break free of the mental chains that held it. For a single moment Ethan felt pity, but he had a job to do. Swallowing the unwanted feeling Ethan grabbed hold of the vampire's hair with his other hand and slid his forearm back to take hold just under the chin. "We'll see about that." Ethan said just before tearing the vampire's head off its shoulders.

Suddenly something crashed into Ethan's back and drove him on top of the lifeless body. A second later a second impact hit Ethan from the side. One of the vampires bit painfully into the back of his neck as they each grabbed hold of one of Ethan's arms. They pulled as one attempting to rip his arms off his body. Ethan cried out and tried to twist his body around, but the two vampires held him down and continued pulling.

A flash of white jumped over Ethan's back and pulled one of the vampires off. Ethan pushed off with his free arm and managed to twist his body around and throw the vampire off. The vampire caught itself and charged again, a dark shape illuminated by only its glowing eyes. Ethan braced himself for the attack, his left arm had been pulled out of the socket and he had no time to pop it back in. he turned his body and caught the charging vampire with his right shoulder, knocking it back.

Daniel reappeared, a ghost moving silently through the forest. He caught the vampire's head in his jaws as he passed, twisting in mid-air and tearing its head off in a single swift motion. Daniel landed lightly more than ten feet away from the body. He dropped the head to the ground and motioned for Ethan to follow. Ethan grabbed hold of his arm and popped the joint back in place, before nodding in return.

They ran along each other silently, following the sounds of fighting several hundred yards away. They arrived to find Delilah being pulled to the ground by four vampires, their eyes glowing brighter as they intensified their attack. Three more were fighting Wes several feet off to the side. His brown fur looked as back in the darkness at the vampires that tried to pull him to the ground. He had one of the vampire's arms in his mouth, shaking his head back and forth trying to pull it off as the other two climbed on his back.

Daniel angled towards Delilah first, lunging at one of the vampires and its head in his jaws as he jumped past. Its lifeless body hit the ground before Daniel landed squarely on top of one of the vampires attempting to pull Wes to the ground. He bit down on its neck and pulled it off his brother, the two bodies landing heavily on the ground a few feet away. Wes was able to regain his balance and tear the first vampire's arm off before twisting his body around to bite down on the other vampire's head.

Ethan ignored their struggles. He drove his shoulder into one of the vampires attempting to pull Delilah to the ground and grabbed it in a headlock as they fell. Delilah twisted her arms out of the other vampire's grip and kicked out with her legs, sending both crashing to the ground. She lunged at the closer vampire and jumped over its head, spinning in the air as she came down and kicking out at the back of its legs. The vampire cried out in pain as it fell to its knees, suddenly going quiet as Delilah jumped up and landed on its shoulders. She bent down and grabbed hold of its head and pushed up with her feet. The head popped off and the vampire's body fell silently to the ground.

Wes and Daniel finished off another vampire and split up, Wes lunging at the one armed vampire while Daniel charged towards Ethan and Delilah. Less than two minutes later the fight was over. Seven lifeless bodies lay strewn on the ground around them, the fire in their eyes extinguished.

"We should find Gabriel and Dillon." Daniel said, his voice ringing clearly in Ethan's mind.

"Give us a second to heal up," Ethan said, "trust me when I say Gabriel's more than able to take care of himself."

"No need for help," Gabriel said cheerfully, stepping out of the bushes. Dillon stepped out silently behind Gabriel, his grey fur reflecting enough moonlight to make him the only distinguishable shape besides Daniel.

"How many?" Delilah asked.

"Five on our end. We must have been the lucky couple, our vamps were pretty well emaciated, easy to take out." Gabriel said.

"Really?" Delilah asked, "I thought it was just us. No chance I could have survived that long against four others if they weren't"

"Me as well," Ethan said, "the ones I fought were in pretty rough shape."

"Are you both sure?" Gabriel asked. All the humor had left his voice.

"Positive." Daniel's voice said clearly in all their minds.

Gabriel casually walked over to one of the severed heads and picked it up. He turned it back and forth in a sliver of moonlight. It was a middle aged man, his eye sockets and cheeks were sunken and hollow, his skin flaky and dry underneath a dark layer of grime. Gabriel cursed under his breath and dropped the head to the ground. He turned towards the group, his face illuminated by the same sliver of moonlight he had held the head underneath. His expression was a mixture of rage and regret.

"What is it?" Delilah asked.

Gabriel didn't answer. He shook his head once at Ethan and ran off towards the house, Daniel and his brothers following closely. Ethan picked the head up and looked at it angrily. He threw it against a tree, the head bursting into a fine cloud of powder. "This wasn't the attack." He said quietly.

Delilah was confused. "Then what was it?"

He turned to Delilah, his dark eyes full ofrage. "It was a distraction."