1. Macabre Marmalade (COMPLETED; EDITING)

XLIV (19.2)

Todor and Hillard walked slowly to the line of parked SUV's. The vampires didn't even notice them. One of them shoved his friend and pointed at the pair of lawmen who were strolling through the middle of the deserted street during all-out vampire attack like it was an everyday occurrence. The two vampires snickered and one of them shouted.

"Food, you eager to die?"

Todor looked at Norman who hafted the shotgun eying the two.

"Wait, I'll make us an entrance," Todor said blinking a few times to adjust the force of his railgun. He pointed the weapon at the barricade of vehicles and dozens of vampires. The creatures made dismissive grins on their faces, showing the fangs in their direction. None of them considered the black pronged gun he held any real threat. Most of the vampire grunts here could take five or six bullets before going down, and if there were other vampires around to drag them away they could be revived with a little bit of blood.

"They see themselves as ultimate hunters. The top of food chain, the tip of the pyramid of predators," Todor said as he eyed them and his coat system calculated the blast radius of his next shot. "Well its time for us to a illuminate their ignorance with a blazing torch of humanity."

He pressed the trigger, weapon let out a ear piercing whine as the capacitors discharged and launched the metallic pebble. Accelerated tiny projectile left a trail of heated air before crashing into the ground. The explosion that followed engulfed the entire first row of vampires and first few SUVs. The blast wave rustled Todor's hair and Normans trench coat bringing with it a smell of benzine and charred flesh.

Norman whistled taking a glance at the railgun in Todor's hands.

"I thought railguns were just regular rifles that spat bullets with some techy trickery," the agent said lowering his shotgun.

"Well, from what I heard gauss rifles are what HFA solders use now. This is failed test railgun that I modified a bit. Let's go."

They moved through a carnage made by Todor's first shot, dodging debris and pieces of unlucky vampires. Some of the vampires that were blasted away got up and charged at them. Todor put his railgun back on his back and unsheathed his sword. With only the potion enhancing his speed, reflexes, and strength he couldn't really parry bullets but he was fast enough to charge at them before they could take aim.

One female vampire on the ground tried to raise her rifle but Todor kicked it away before he sliced her head off. Mana infused blade ridiculously sharp going through flesh, bone, and sinew with easy. On the other side, one of the bloodsuckers jumped from the wrecked car's roof at Norman who blasted his would be killer with a point-blank range shotgun blast to the face.

The agent was surprised at what he did.

"Are all vampires this slow?" he asked looking around.

"They are not slow, you are faster now thanks to my potion. And most of them are dazed from the explosion." Todor surged into motion jumping over the engine block and severing the head from the vampire that tried to rise from the ashes. "But some of them are awakened, they can channel the power of their blood to move supernaturally fast."

"Like hemmomancers?" Norman asked pointing a shotgun at trapped vampire under the block of concrete, the wretch grabbed agents leg. Hillard fired splattering the undead brains but the grip on his boot stayed ironclad. He grimaced as he unsheathed the knife and cut the clinging fingers off himself.

"Those are even worse. I almost died fighting White Branch," Todor confessed.

They moved on through the street, finishing off wounded and dazed vampires. It went quite smoothly until they left the blast radius of the railgun blast. They started encountering stiffer resistance soon after.

Todor's radar started marking more and more vampires slow beating hearts on the map. He motioned Hillard to hide behind an overturned truck that marked the boarder of debris from the explosion. A second after his shield flared with blueish light, stopping four shots in a row. He ducked next to agent Hillard waiting for the orb of fire to recharge his battery.

"I have never seen shield amulet that glows like that," Hillard spoke with a breathy quality of someone on the adrenalin rush.

"It's not magic, it's my coat. It has a force field that stops a few shots before depleting the battery," Todor explained getting his Jolt special in his left hand. He marked the five targets with a series of blinks on his UI. He chose only those that were not in cover. Letting the smart fabric guide his hand he started shooting without exposing himself. Two targets that he missed scampered to find cover.

"It's magic to me," Hillard said crutching and moving to the other side of the street closing on a group of vampires whose attention was locked on the place from which Todor fired.

Seeing what Hillard was planning Todor smiled and surged forward making all hidden vampires in the street target him. Unaccustomed to humans moving that fast, all shots missed him as he hid behind the fast food kiosk.

Hillard's shotgun echoed a few times before he peeked behind a trashcan and waved at Todor who returned the same gesture. Todor pointed to his railgun and mimed shooting it again. Norman nodded and hid again awaiting another blast wave.

Todor took a deep breath and recalculated the speed and force of the next shot. He lowered the settings planning to fire three shots in a row making the last stretch of the path before reaching Midnight Breezes casino much easier. He got up and got peppered by shots from every direction. His shield blocked few before shutting down and bullets started whizzing past his ear. He cursed ducking back down and firing one shot from a railgun blindly. The explosion was muted in compression the first one but it made fusillade of bullets die down a bit.

Surging forward followed by yells and shots he aimed once more in the direction of a big vampire with a machine gun who grinned turning the big weapon towards him. Todor fired again with his railgun watching the unfortunate gunner explode into bloody pieces spattering his comrades that scampered to hide. He didn't wait for them to regroup so he fired once more, catching two in a small explosion before slinging the weapon back on his back and getting his pistol and sword ready.

Hillard ran towards Todor firing few times at retreating vampires with his shotgun before stopping behind the parked car to reload his weapon.

The glass window to Todors right exploded and four vampires charged at him swords and daggers in their hands. He welcomed one with a quick trust, spearing him through a heart. He stepped back a few steps before parrying a cut from one of the vampires while aiming with his pistol and firing three times in one smooth motion. The remaining vampires started circling around him, reconsidering their attack. Half of them died in the first few seconds of the ambush, which left their plan of swarming him foiled. One made a step rising his large sword when his head exploded. Todor used the surprise of the remaining attacker to surge forward and slap away his falchion before cutting off his head with a faintly glowing blade.

Hillard grinned at him waving with a smoking shotgun over the headless vampire he just killed.

"This is going rather smoothly," agent Hillard said, surprise in his voice.

"It's just grunts, real fight awaits us in there," Todor responded nodding towards Midnight Breezes casino.

The big flashy entrance was surpassingly deserted. There were no guards or heavily armed vampires. Just open space with neon billboards flashing above them.