Werewolves Don't Wear Cowboy Boots

Chapter 19: There's something about a dude fighting vampires with a water gun

It was the first time Bridget had seen her brother in partial transformation in ... well, ever, as far as she could remember. Even on full moons it was rare to catch glimpses of him, but this...

Seeing him looking like that – a very tall, hairy, dark creature that gave the impression it had resulted from some unfortunate coupling of man and beast – shocked her into inaction for a moment. It was a moment she couldn't afford. While Colum's partial wolf form was doing just fine at keeping the younger vampire at bay, the older one was still there. Looking as cool and collected as if he were about to walk into an office for work, the man stepped past Bridget and to the tangle of limbs struggling in the hallway, then plucked Colum off the younger vampire with what appeared to be very little effort and threw him. He made an awful yelping noise when he hit the staircase railing, which broke under the force of his weight and sent him crashing to the floor below.

Bridget nearly forgot to breathe for fear, but then the vampire straightened his suit – apparently unconcerned about his young companion slumped breath and bloody against the wall – and started to walk forward with that gun of his. 'Like hell is he going to get another chance at my brother,' Bridget thought, rising and charging at him with every ounce of strength she had in her. It was like charging into a brick wall, and about as effective. It hurt when she hit him, and though she fought him as hard as she could, it was all fairly useless when he caught her by the neck and lifted her up onto her toes.

"You don't have to be so eager to die," he said, pushing her against the wall. "Fresh blood is always better than blood from a corpse."

And then – much later than she would have liked – a second canine form appeared at the top of the stairs, mouth pulled back in a snarl. Unlike her brother, O'Neill looked to be fully wolf – albeit a very large wolf – with lovely brown fur that was raised along his spine. Hearing a low growl, the vampire turned to glance at O'Neill and gave a short laugh. "Another one, is it? Don't tell me he has a pack after all."

O'Neill leaped, giving the vampire no choice but to drop Bridget and defend himself.

Bridget recovered as quickly as she could, darting toward her stake. The younger vampire grabbed hold of her foot, pulling her backward, and she rewarded him with a firm kick to the face before making another attempt, her fingers grasping the wood just in time. When the vampire tried to grab hold of her again, she thrust the stake into his heart, letting out a surprised little cry as she did so and then quickly crawling backward while he died with a ridiculously stunned expression on his face.

One vampire taken care of, and O'Neill having pushed the other through a door and cornered him in one of the rooms, Bridget scampered to her feet and hurried down the stairs to find Colum. The first thing she saw in the room below was Rory, standing in front of a door, arm mid-swing as he decapitated yet another vampire. And then she caught sight of James, his machete discarded on the floor next to him and looking somewhat ridiculous as he fended off two more vampires with a water pistol filled with the holy water she'd made. He couldn't very well do more, God bless him, because his other hand was pressing against a wound in Colum's chest and trying to staunch the flow of blood. The sight of that silly country boy fighting off a vampire with a child's toy while he tended to her brother made Bridget want to grab him by the shoulders and kiss him. Instead, she flew down the rest of the stairs, plucked up the machete from beside James, and charged the vampires with a scream of fury and sliced clean through the neck of the nearest one. She was almost disappointed when Rory intervened and dispatched the other, but he was away to help O'Neill with hardly a moment's pause, and she had far better things to worry about.

"Colum!" she said suddenly, turning back toward the staircase and sliding to the ground by James' side to inspect her brother. His breath was coming with a worrying rattle and there was a lot of blood, though James now had both hands press firmly against Colum's side.