Lethal Beauty

XLI - Mourning Rapture

Milder temperatures were associated with the autumnal colors of harvest, at noon, the crowds were fewer and several men and women dashed out to enjoy the rest of their day in a pub or the town square. From a distance, they could see something approaching. A group strode in their trench coats, but their pallid skin and crimson eyes could never hide what kind of vermin they were.

"Shtriga!!!"

Everybody started running like hell. This town was small and with only a few people, to be overrun with even a few of these hordes could be deadly. Bat wings had grown in their backs as they started chasing the crowd. Some were ripped off their feet and carried into the air. The guards fought back but they were tackled and mauled by the creatures. Horror truly had descendent upon them!

One of the shtriga stalked through one of the houses, Iris dropped out of a ceiling and stabbed him through the chest with his hand alone, pulling out the heart and crushing it in his hand. When another shtriga saw this, she hissed and attacked, but Lux was on the other side waiting and kicked her right in the face.

This group apparently showed themselves in front of Nonna's house but didn't attack. Instead, they turned their attention to the town. Their intention was unclear but Jessen could tell they were sent here by Eve herself. She knew someone would return to the house.

"Iris!"

He turned to see Abel running toward him. He awoke from the noise outside. Although he would like him to stay put, Abel refused to do so and would rather fight beside him than remain asleep.

Pulling him close, he noticed that he was carrying a crossbow but Iris also saw that it wasn't an ordinary weapon. The bullets were made of silver. He figured that this weapon was the infamous bullet-shooting crossbow that typically utilized bullets or stones as projectiles instead of a more traditional bolt or quarrel. This only further confirmed the true identity of Abel's grandmother.

"I gave it to him," Jessen explained when Iris' eyes narrowed. "It's Yuri's. I know where she hid her weapons when she was still a vampire hunter."

Iris looked as if he disapproved of this. He didn't want Abel to join the fray. Not until they could settle what was wrong with his blood. But he could never deny Abel of anything.

"I know how to use it," he told him. "Nonna taught me to hunt when I was younger. I haven't fought a shtriga one-on-one but I'm not afraid of them."

"Abel..."

"You're with me," Abel smiled, there was no fear in his eyes. "As long as we're together. Nothing will happen to me."

All hell broke loose as the shtriga rocketed around the town, ripping doors and shutters off their hinges, blowing tables and chairs, and throwing people out of the safety of their houses. The Elders were outnumbered but they were strong. Lifting him up, Iris morphed into a snow leopard and put Abel on his back. Followed by Lux as the black panther, they scoured to save whoever could be saved and sliced the body of every shtriga in their wake.

Abel kept firing, trying to get a bead on them. A huge raven swooped down to one of the shtriga heading for Abel. This was Lexus. He threw the shtriga to Lux's awaiting mouth, and she bit the back of the neck severing the spinal cord.

Jessen was surrounded but he could handle three shtriga with ease. He even grabbed a woman and yanked her out of the frame as a hideous shtriga flocked down, almost ripping her in half. "Get inside your house and lock the door!" He snarled and pushed her inside, before turning to a cougar and tackling the attacking group.

With Abel on his back, more and more shtriga came towards them. But Iris leaped before they could even touch a strand of Abel's hair and pounced on their form with ease, dispatching them with a bite to the neck. Abel shouldered the crossbow and fired, multiple bolts at a tremendous velocity. Dozens of silver bullets had flown toward two or three shtriga. When he saw one of them flying and grabbing a running man, lifting him up in the air with a scream, he aimed a shot and it went through the shtriga's head that they ended up crashing into a nearby crate.