Broken Warrior

Fallen Angels

Eirene

The lead vehicle hit my timing point and I hit the ignition switch on my device, squinting against the light as I felt the heat of the blast rush by me. I may have gone a little overboard with how much explosives I had put into the guard vehicles. But I was already moving as I hit the second switch, sending the third vehicle up in flames as well. If any of the vampires lived through the initial explosion, they would be far easier to deal with while being on fire.

The street was empty, most of the businesses closed for the night or vacant, with no residential buildings in the area. I would have struck sooner, but the other streets had traffic and innocent bystanders that could have been hurt in the explosions. Now, I was alone, slipping off the building with a jump and stalking up to the vehicle in the centre. The first SUV had landed on its front end and I could hear the yells of the driver who was pinned beneath the metal.

I pulled out my hand gun, smashed it through the front window and fired two rounds into his head, then into the face of the woman riding beside him before either one of them could react.

The rear passenger doors were bent, but a couple kicks from the vampires inside had three heavily armed body guards spilling out, chased by the fearfully screamed commands of my target who was still hiding inside.

I put my eight inch knife blade through the chest of the first guard, yanking it out and coming up into a block as the other two raced around to my side of the vehicle and tried to attack me. The second one went down with the knife in his skull and I spun, knocking the third's gun off line and ripping it out of his hand, emptying the clip into the centre of his chest and face.

I then picked the man up and threw his body through the back window of the vehicle. He flew so well that he went out the other window, leaving me with a clear view of the target. There was one guard left with him, and that man lowered his assault rifle to aim at me and opened fire. But I was already moving, shifting down to the side to use the vehicle for cover.

I listened to Yuri scream, even as I heard the guard shift closer to where he had last seen me, pointing the gun out the window and reached up, ripping him out of the vehicle and onto the street where I ripped his head off and tossed it back into the SUV, to land in Yuri's lap with a wet splat.

I could hear vehicles racing down the road, though they probably couldn't see what was going on with the wreckage of the first vehicle burning in their way. The roaring engines filled the background, highlighting Yuri's strangled yells of surprise.

Still, I had seconds, not minutes.

I was faster than Yuri, and while he was distracted by his hope at the sound of responding vehicles and the fact that his last line of defence was dead in his lap, I moved. I sprinting to the vehicle and grabbing him from behind, dragging him over the jagged glass and tossing him out into the centre of the street. The darkness was illuminated by the approaching headlights as I drew one of my swords, stalking toward him as he stumbled to his feet.

"You will prey upon no one else any longer." I snarled to him in Russian, before impaling my sword through his chest.

I stepped closer to him with the movement, pulling out my gun and shoving it into his mouth at the same time. Even as he struggled to come to terms with my blade running through his heart, I blew out his brains and was stepping away from his lifeless corpse as tires screeched, indicating more people arriving on scene.

"Drop the weapon!"

I holstered my gun and turned towards the team of vampires that was spreading out around me. They had guns and swords, the one yelling at me being Tim, wearing a suit today and holding a rifle aimed calmly at my chest.

They weren't my targets.

I didn't know enough about them to decide if they were complicit in whatever evils their boss still perpetrated. They were disciplined and well trained and nothing about what I knew of this Tim character told me he was evil but he was a killer, I saw that simple fact in his eyes. Whether or not he was as evil as Alesky, he was capable of killing if he so chose.

"We have you surrounded, we will take you into custody."

Even in English, even after all these years, I recognized his voice, turning to see blue eyed Death wearing a suit and approaching me silently, though he did have a sword in his hands. I did not expect recognition in his features, not with my mask or with the span of years and massacres that he had perpetrated, but I didn't expect the calm thoughtful look. As if he were trying to soothe a wild animal, not hunt and kill a victim.

I forced my movements to be slow, less than what they could be, as near to human as I could manage, crouching to the ground and laying the sword at my feet before straightening and holding my hands up.

They still had no idea who or what I was, my hood covering my head, masking my features in shadows. I hoped that they would buy my act like the others, though with Alesky, I was unsure if he could sense my age in some other way.

Could he sense that it was he who had made me?

"Sir, stay back." Tim murmured, half stepping in front of Alesky as the younger vampire moved in towards me. Alesky glared at his man but didn't move forward, holding that blade at a low ready, still tensed.

He took one final step and I moved, kicking my blade into the air in the same moment I snapped forward, hitting the rifle to the side and hitting the vampire hard, dazing him for a brief moment and tossing him out of my way. I moved at my full speed and capabilities now, with only one goal.

Kill Death.

But he was already responding, moving faster than one his age should be able to move. He would have possibly been able to reverse my throw if I hadn't been tackled from the side hard enough that when I hit the ground I slid several feet with a large form on top of me.

I could hear the sound of my sword clattering along the pavement as I punched the man on top of me and threw him into the air before leaping to my feet.

"I have no need to kill any of your people, Alesky, but I will go through them until I rip your heart from your chest!" I spun to my feet and drew my second sword, only to stop dead when I focused on the man who was now standing in front of me.

Standing in my way with a look of pure hatred on his features. And recognition. He knew exactly who I was.

"Ryker! Move!" Carbry yelled, even as the blonde haired, blue eyes vampire in front of me shifted to block my view of my only true target from getting to me. Or me getting to him.

"Rurik?" My fury was done, the world dropped out from around me and all I could do was take in what I was seeing in front of me. I murmured to him in Greek, I had taught it to him all those years ago and he had been a diligent student, even after he no longer trusted me. "You would defend him?"

"To the death." He snarled, falling into stance and meeting my gaze with his own steady look. I realized then that my hood had fallen back and he could see exactly who I was. There was no doubt that he knew exactly who he was speaking to.

Carbry had stilled, looking between us in confusion.

"He is death." I could see the recognition in Rurik's eyes, the knowledge settling within him and then his acceptance of all that it meant.

"He may be yours... but you are mine." Ryker wasn't accepting that I would kill him. I knew that he was telling me that he considered me as evil as I considered Carbry to be and those words caused me to flinch backwards, shaking my head.

The realization that my angel was working for and willingly defending the murderer of my past squeezed my heart till all other sounds faded away. I had known he would never forgive me, but for him to choose Alesky's life over mine was a crushing weight.

"Never you, Rurik." But I was out of time, and merely pulled up my hood, my second hand setting off the remaining vehicle to explode.

In the pandemonium that followed, I took off running. From my revenge, from my judgement, from everything I lived for. From my judgement and condemnation.