Bad Blood

Time stopped. The earth was above, then below, then above him again. Wind dragged tears from his eyes. Tanner couldn't even scream, just tumble endlessly through space. A sharp, dark tug pulled at his middle, commanding him to look up. The problem was he didn't know which way was up.

This way. He followed the silvery voice, the dark tug, until he was staring into Dracula's obsidian eyes. His long ghostly arms reached out for him, two massive membranous wings spread out behind him. Tanner reached back. Dracula's cold, marble arms wrapped around him and they shot up into the night sky.

Landing on a neighboring rooftop, they watched as a giant demolition crane smashed into the Madison Avenue building repeatedly. Dracula launched back into the sky, spearing for the penthouse. He did not slow as he shattered through the closed balcony doors and out of sight.

Tanner found the fire escape. Descending to street level as fast as humanly possible, which was not very fast. Sprinting across the street, he crept up behind the demolition crane. Dust and brick clogged the night. The monstrous machine further befouled the air as it belched black smoke.

Tanner scrambled up the back of the crane like a monkey, lungs burning. The metal beneath him trembled. He stopped, clinging for dear life as it swung back-and-forth. The impact of the wrecking ball making his teeth rattle and his bones quake.

Shimmying up to the control box, he clamped both hands on the roof and swung his feet through the back window, kicking a swarthy Skrekk in the back of the head. With a screech, the Skrekk slammed into the control panel. Tanner wrapped his hands around the creature's neck from behind, bashing his head into the control panel repeatedly.

It's cries were earsplitting. A marbled arm reached up, grabbing Tanner by the neck and yanking hard. Hot, coppery liquid flooded Tanner's mouth as his nose crunched against the creature's shoulder. With a groan Tanner threw himself out the side of the box. His knees and teeth sang as he slammed into the pavement, rolling out of the way just in time.

The furious Skrekk landed right behind him, not even taking a breath before launching at Tanner. Kalah, appearing in the blink of an eye, wrangled him by the throat with a wicked grin. Her hand transformed into something long and cruel. She disemboweled him on the spot, black blood and entrails spilling across the pavement. Tossing him aside without a second glance, she flashed Tanner a grin and a wink before she shot off like a cannon. A pearly white blur in the night.

The pavement rumbled ominously beneath his feet.  Out of the darkness rose a horde, a mass of black-veined creatures shrieking their war cries. Hundreds of them. The pearly white blue came to a sudden stop, bathed clearly in moonlight. Four, five, six... ten Skrekk fell beneath Kalah's mesmerizing stare. They did not survive.

Eleven enraged wolves howled as they collided with the enemy line, exacting their revenge with savage glee. Four skeletal banshees drifted through the Skrekk ranks like smoke on the wind. Bodies popping like overfull water balloons wherever they shrieked.

Sorren hurled through the ranks, ripping and smashing indiscriminately. Arms, heads and legs, spewing black blood, flew through the air. Kalah's sisters stood shoulder to shoulder as they advanced upon the enemy. Any Skrekk unfortunate enough to catch their gaze fell beneath their merciless claws.

Dracula was nowhere to be seen.

"Captain!" A familiar voice called. Tanner whirled to see eight mortal men, covered in dust jogging toward him. A fierce grin lit his face. They could do this. They could really do this.

"Orders?" Lieutenant Vasquez panted as he held out a rifle, an ammo belt and a flak jacket.

"Armor piercing rounds?"