Yet the white vampire didn't look in his direction. He just kept doing whatever he was busy with, elbows jerking out with small tugs.
"Even starving, I doubt one of your caliber would hunt down something like me when there is a city to be had. Best you get to the point." The vampire's voice was soft, soft enough for only another vampire to hear.
Husani pushed himself to a stand, despite the desire of his instincts to stay low, quicker, faster.
Now would be the best time to attack. Sudden, and quick.
But the vampire had spoken, proving at least some self-awareness.
And yet a niggling in the back of his mind told him sanity wasn't exactly a good thing. It could make things much, much worse. And should Husani get injured again, he may very well kill the girl off when his instinct took over and drove him home, if he didn't kill someone on the way. If only her blood had lasted him till this point.
Some spittle dripped down Husani's jaw as he opened his mouth to speak.
"You tore apart those people on the news." His elongated fangs made it difficult to speak.
The other man must have heard it, for he said, "Ah. You really must be hungry. And by your tone, it would make sense that you are. Husani. You've come to kill me."
Husani jerked back into a crouch, hackles raised. A part of him was surprised, but most of him wasn't. He had been around the block a few times.
The man put down whatever he was holding and turned about. He wore a simple, off-white shirt and jeans, but his eyes glowed a bright, fluorescent red, and the whites of his eyes had darkened to the color of dried blood. His bare feet were yellow with calluses, the toenails long and clawed.
Husani drew a step back. It was good that he had waited. The hair had told him this vampire was old, but the eyes told him he was ancient, and therefore, suddenly out of his league.
Husani had only ever met one other vampire as old as this one, and she had been more of a creature, hiding away in the shadow of undiscovered Egyptian tombs, naked, half-blind, but strong enough to cleave of his arm with a flick of her hand.
"I can smell her on you," said the old one in a low, snake-like hiss. A flash of purple tongue darted out to lick his lips. "Like butterscotch and lavender. Your hypocrisy is delicious—unless she's still alive? Oh, I bet she is, that would be an accomplishment. It's so...fresh."
Husani looked about, mind racing. He had assumed the gruesome killings had been done by a young, relatively weak vampire. It was almost always the younger vampires, new to their instincts and bloodthirsty, who went on rampages. The old ones got to live as long as they did because they knew better. After all, humans outnumbered them a million to one. The longer Husani took in the other's traits, the more the vampire's power began to show, though to the untrained eye he would have looked like any other man in his twenties.
The blood-red eyes caught Husani's, arresting his gaze.
"Oh, you have wings," the vampire purred. "Cute. I've only met one of those. Made a fine umbrella."
"I need to ask you to please be more...covert with your hunts or take them outside the city. It's going to cause trouble for the rest of us." At least his fangs had pulled back to make it easier to talk, if only by a little.
"On the contrary, it's going to help quite a bit. So, respect your elders and leave me to my business."
Husani couldn't help but growl, deep in his chest. After spending the better part of the month hunting down this guy? "I can't. You've killed innocent people and defiled their bodies. I've only been able to live with myself this long by not turning my back on monsters like you."
"Monsters!" he crowed. "You really are cute."
Something in the shadows caught the corner of his eye. His senses, deep in the shadows in case he need to sweep them up for cover, felt out something warm, alive, and much larger than a rat, along with a familiar smell. He gave an inward smirk. Speaking of young vampires...
"I can get drinking their blood, our instincts won't allow otherwise," Husani continued. "But why did you have to tear them apart and make a scene?"
"Because it's easier to get to the parts I like that way? One so enslaved by their human conscience wouldn't understand, so shoo baby, while I'm being patient."
"I'm not a child. I was twenty-four when I changed."
"Oo, like when you change matters. Move along. I have things to do."
And then the vampire gave his back to Husani.
Husani took a quick glance in the rafters, just in time to see something shift out of sight, and the very, very thin silhouette of something that could be a rifle barrel.
Before he could think better of it, he leaped forward with the bare remains of Lea's blood-given strength into the old vampire's shoulders.
Using the momentum, he swung the other vampire around, exposing his chest to the rafters, just as a snap of thunder broke through the air. Dark, old blood spurted out and Husani's back hit the ground.
Just as quickly the old vampire was on him, face peeled back to reveal the mouth of razors and the bone they rooted in to, each tooth sharpened by a hundred years of human feasting. The gums had gone gray pink, and the lips stretched and stretched until they disappeared and all Husani saw was white.
Husani kicked. Enough of Lea's blood remained to unseat the older vampire and roll from beneath him. Bullets threw up concrete as they pattered after him. One grazed his shoulder.
"Shoot him! Not me!" he screamed.
The old vampire, all fangs and black-red eyes and lolling purple tongue whirled towards the rafters, his front bathed by his own blood. Husani blinked and the monster was airborne, leaping up to the rafters thirty feet above them. He heard a shout and the putter of bullets against the metal roof.
"Idiot!" he spat, even as he sprinted to the nearest metal support beam and scurried up it, claws squeaking as they grasped the metal.
Just as he reached the rafters, a body fell from them, twisting in mid-air to land on their hands and feet. A rifle spun away just as a streak of white dropped like lightning. The gunman ducked too late, getting a chest full of ancient claws and teeth.
Husani flung himself out. He tore his sore wings free from his back and barreled into the old vampire's side.
Then it was a flurry of claws and screeching as the white vampire fell upon him instead. His human mind wasn't enough to keep up with the speed and his instincts took over, bringing his dripping teeth and claws onto any bit of flesh he could reach. The white, blood-stained shirt fell away with strips of tan skin, but the old vampire's flesh underneath was hard and red as ruby.
Pain slashed through him. An arm gave way as teeth found a good chunk of his shoulder, bone included. Then an eye and its orbiting bone. A foot found his gut and clawed away at the muscle, tearing out links of his intestine.
A bark of gunfire. The old vampire vanished.
And a new hand, much warmer than his adversary, yanked him up to his feet.
"Fly!" they shouted.
Husani spread his wings obediently, but he had brought them out at the wrong time and the delicate membrane and bones of one had been torn to shreds. Blinded by instinct, he only realized it after a few fruitless attempts to fly.
Another bark of the gun and the hand was pulling on him again, yanking him into a run. At least the muscles of his legs had been untouched, as he found his footing once again and shot out of the warehouse after the gunman, what bit of his tattered wing he couldn't bring in flapping behind him like a banner and an arm keeping the rest of his guts inside.
He heard a beep. Then a low growl from his companion. "Lane."
A high, distant hum kicked to life. Just as he heard an inhuman screech of fury from the old vampire in pursuit, he heard a nearing, tell-tale putter of helicopter blades. The animal that had taken over his mind balked in confusion, but what little he had left of his consciousness kept his legs running after the other tall, young vampire ahead of him.
The puttering became a full-out roar from above, and Husani found the younger vampire dropping back to fling an arm around his chest. Husani squirmed and gnashed his teeth, alarmed.
"Hold still, I'm trying to save our lives!"
Husani snarled, baring his teeth, and started clawing at the arm.
"Screw it."
The arm moved to his throat. It cut his snarl short.
Then the ground fell away from beneath them. Far, far, far away, the loud sputtering coming with them.