Anya backhanded Yaul and swung at Alex. Her fist slammed into his gut and knocked him back into Fabian. They fell to the floor in a tangle. Fabian’s opponent took the opportunity to jam a sharp knife into his side. Fabian gave a cry and kicked his opponent’s legs out from under him. He crashed to the floor, and Alex grabbed him in a head lock.

“He’s mine,” Fabian snarled. Something in his eyes made Katelina think of a rabid dog. Alex backed away as Fabian wrested the enemy from his grip and clamped his mouth around a pulsing vein in his neck. The vampire shrieked. He threw the knife away and used his hands to pry Fabian loose.

Anya slammed Yaul into the wall. She snapped at his neck, but he jerked away and her fangs tore into his cheek instead. Kale lunged at Anya, but Des tackled him to the floor. They struggled and Kale landed a blow that knocked the dark vampire’s head back. Kale made it to his feet and Des was right after him. Katelina’s eyes snapped to Jorick in time to see him discard a broken armed vampire. He met her eyes briefly, as if to say everything was all right.

.

[Micah said] “Oh fuck, not another speech about the virtues of your Executioner buddy! I’m startin’ to agree with Jorick about that shit. If you think that those two haven’t killed humans then you’re living in a dream world.”

In her mind’s eye Katelina saw Jorick at the institute, holding the dead cop. “That’s different! It was self defense.”

Micah cocked an eyebrow. “Right. Puny humans pose a real threat. Look, we needed blood. I don’t know if you’ve hung out with hungry vampires before, but let me tell ya’ how it works. First you get hungry, then that turns into this gnawin’ pain in your gut. Ya keep waitin’ and it starts to hurt elsewhere; your fingers, your toes, then your hands, your feet – you get the picture? The longer it goes, the worse it gets. Pretty soon it’s like those castaway cartoons where your buddies start to look like a big slab of ham.  And since we’re traveling with a big slab of ham, it’s to your advantage we feed on someone else, get it?”

.

The next evening came too soon. Jorick gave her a soft kiss and left. Katelina stared at the ceiling and willed the day to end. When it didn’t, she got up and started her morning routine.

She’d just finished breakfast when the door opened and Verchiel strolled in. Today’s t-shirt was canary yellow and said “All My Black Clothes are at the Cleaners”.

“Is that another one from the truck stop?”

He dropped into a chair and grinned. “How did you guess? There’s a pink one that says ‘Vampires and Glitter Don’t Mix’ that I have laid out for tomorrow.”

.