Being Undead

Chapter 23*

Laura zoomed to a stop at Central Park. It was where Frederick's scent had led her and the undisputable site of the fight; everywhere was in chaos from left to right as far as she could see. It was as if someone had released packs of rabid wolves on one another and the smell of blood and ash was the only thing that could be perceived around for miles.

But out of nowhere, the chaos suddenly began to make sense to Laura. Out of the blurs, she began to see bodies; and out of the pungent smells, she began to recognise individuals. Her sense even extended to distinguishing which scents belonged to the hunters and which ones were the rogues. It began to feel like she was connected to the fight on more than just a physical level, like every one of the hunters fighting plus her had become giant parts of a stronger, more formidable warrior entity.

Guess this is how undead nature avoided friendly fire, she mused, truly impressed.

Just then, Laura suddenly caught Damian's scent and knew that he was in trouble even before her eyes adjusted to see one of the rogues throw him to the ground at the far left side of the fight and make to bury a stake in his heart.

Without any hesitation, Laura reacted and zoomed to give the rogue a powerful kick that sent him sailing into a nearby vehicle. She quickly added a follow-up punch before he could orient himself to her presence and he slumped down, unconscious.

Laura smiled at her achievement; her very first successful dishing of a beatdown. But she didn't get enjoy that feeling for long as no sooner had the first rogue went down that another came at her from behind, ready to chop her head off with a wicked-looking machete.

But Laura's super-heightened senses were still very much active and she knew the moment the rogue moved his first muscle where he was and what he was about to do. Quick as a flash, she ducked just as the metal came by; going in with a sweep kick that knocked the assailant down headfirst with a thud. Laura finished off the move by plunging a stake into the rogue's chest so hard that she mistakenly broke it inside him.

"New... Blood?" The rogue's shocked expression couldn't be mistaken as he looked up at Laura, sputtering once and twice before finally reducing to ashes in her hands.

"Aren't you supposed to be staying put in the mansion?" Laura suddenly heard someone say behind her and she turned to see Damian akimbo. Apparently, he had already recovered himself a long time before and was just watching to see how she dealt with the rogues alone. Typical Damian, she rolled her eyes.

"I am, but if I'd actually stayed, you'll be dead by now," she returned, recovering a stake and two daggers from the ground which she handed to him; she knew very well the daggers were his from the last time he threw one at her. "So Damian, you're welcome."

"But I didn't say thank you."

"You're still welcome."

Damian gave Laura a piercing look, almost as if he was trying to fathom her out there and then. But he didn't seem able to and he just broke it off, smiling bemusedly then.

"Thank you, Laura," he finally said.

"You're welcome, Damian." She smiled at him this time.

Just then, Laura realised that since she had arrived, she hadn't seen or perceived Frederick, which was very strange because his scent was what led her to the park. "Where's Frederick?" she asked, still looking around in an attempt to locate him.

"He's off to somewhere face Anton," Damian returned, shrugging casually about it.

"Wait, you left to him face Anton alone?" Laura looked very scandalised by that fact. "I thought it's an open undead knowledge that that guy's the most dangerous rogue there is on the continent at the moment."