Chapter 140 - A Night, A Street, A Lamp

As soon as I sat in a seat of the SUV, the headrest beckoned me, and as soon as the back of my head touched it, my eyes closed and my mind drifted away. Images, too disturbing to be remembered, kept pulling me out, kept opening my eyes with a panicked inhale of breath.

Then, the view of the empty city met me, the street lights throwing their yellow circles at empty roads, emptier than they ever were in a megapolis like Petersburg even at night. They mesmerised me with the lines they drew in the window and I dozed away again. The cycle repeated.

It was broken by an awful noise of something breaking and a violent jolt that threw me headfirst into the back of the seat in front of me. Someone cried out; someone swore—that was me, I thought. My forehead hurt like the worst migraine ever (in addition to the one I already had by now), and what's more, I had no idea what was going on. My head was dizzy and full of cobwebs. Next to me, Ghost was gathering himself from the car's floor.

A triumphant laughter sounded from above. The voice felt vaguely familiar. Then, just as I raised my eyes towards the sound, a something bashed the centre of the car's roof, leaving a deep, fist-shaped dent.

"We are under attack! Everyone, get out of the car before they broke through its magical shield!" Captain shouted. His commanding voice brought me out of my daze somewhat; that, and another hit on the roof, though not as strong as the previous one—not strong enough to leave a dent. Then, something flashed in a window, but I wasn't looking anymore. I shook my head and found in myself enough strength to unbelt myself, push the car's door open and get out.

From there, I saw that the SUV was firmly planted nose-first in a concrete base of a lamppost. The entire hood was smashed into an accordion. I took a moment to appreciate that I had a safety belt on, then blinked as I saw something darting around just half a dozen meters ahead, too fast to see more than a blur.

Then just for a fraction of a second that blur solidified into two figures, brightly lit by the lamppost that stopped our car's ride, and all the drowsiness and headache in the world couldn't stop me from gasping.

I didn't need more than a fraction of a second to recognise that wild mane of chestnut curls or that harpy-like shape; nor did I need more than that to recognise the golden locks swishing in the air and the angry green eyes.

Christina and JJ. I caught a gleam of metal and realised that this time, instead of a knife, he had a full-sized sword with him. A sword! Despite everything, I had in me to feel amazed.

The two vampires had their focus only on each other. Now, that is.

Adrenaline rushed into my blood, made it run fast and my heart beat harder. My thoughts buzzed in my mind, crystal clear despite my fatigue. It was easy to put two and two together. Our car was attacked, by Christina, because of me, but…

"What is he doing here?"

"Don't stay still, Diana! This isn't the time to ask questions! Get out of here, everyone, before the vamps jumped on us again!" Captain shouted at me, and I realised I spoke aloud.

I whirled on my feet to see him standing with what looked like a fist-sized topaz in his hand, looking in the direction where Christina and JJ fought. Next to him, Ghost and one of the Captain's soldiers helped hold the third one, who was bleeding out of his forehead.

"What's going on?" Ghost's expression was that of complete puzzlement. "Why one vampire attacks us and the other attacks the other one and now they fight and how are we involved in all this?"

"Ghost, this isn't the time for your chatter," Captain snarled. "We are too close to them. Get the fuck out of here!"

Captain's soldier, half-holding his comrade on his shoulder, began to do just that, but Ghost stayed rooted on the spot, and so was I. My eyes were darting between the topaz in Captain's arms and the fighting vampires. They moved good two dozen meters away now, but the distance was nothing. The only thing it did was stopping me from hearing the words that were exchanged between the sounds of punches, slices, swishes.

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

Somehow, I wasn't afraid that Christina will beat JJ now. No, I saw it—he really was two steps above her. Four, even. He was winning. I was sure he would win given enough time, and that would be not too much of it. But what magic Captain was preparing?

The memory of my short study on combat spells appeared in my mind. Pre-prepared spells and how many possibilities there were for them. Quick spells and how destructive they could be. Suddenly, fear filled me.

"Civilians," Captain murmured and shouted, "I said, get out of here!"

I didn't listen to him at this point. My well was open and my attention was on the aspects pulsing inside of the stone Captain held in his hands. It was fire, it was heat—it was sunlight caught in a bottle, carefully contained within layers of protective seal so not even a ray would get outside until it was time. A piece of sun to shine even in the night.

My eyes, half-blind to the world, widened. Did he intend to burn them with sunlight? "Wait, Captain," I said, stepping towards him, "You can hit—" I caught myself in the last moment, "Look, one of the vampires is on our side! He protects us from the one who attacked!"

"Do you think I can even see which of them is which? They are both vampires! As far as I can tell, they both deserve to burn!"