Free Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife) by Joyce Robles Page A

had been all lethal
beauty, grace, and charm, now he was covered in blood, some his own, but there was too much on him
to belong to him alone. One of his charming pale blue eyes was molten shut, caked with blood, she had
never witnessed even a vampire gone mad with blood lust allow itself to be impaired in this way.
     Manson had already emptied his oozy before she was back on her feet. She brought the
Beretta up to aim as the things hand caught Manson by the throat. She aimed for the joint of the arm
that was holding Manson and shot the elbow. She gasped as the thing just turned to look at her, to her
horror the thing didn’t release Manson but lifted him slowly from the ground with the arm she’d just
shot. For a moment shock kept her from firing again, Manny stood six foot- two, was almost three
hundred pounds of compact muscle, plus artillery. Lifting him with one arm alone wouldn’t have been
impossible for a vampire but she’d shot out the joint. She got a quick glimpse of the monsters fingers
drawing blood from Manson’s neck before she aimed for a solid head shot. In the second it took her
to pull the trigger the vampire tossed Manson over his head, like Manson and his artillery combined
weighed less than a feather.
      The sound of Manson’s body colliding with brick was shattering, and the vampire was gone
from the spot that he’d stood, his speed was frightening. Without a second thought she turned to head
for Manson’s limp body, stupid of her. A strong hand caught her by the hair and she was back on the
ground, the M9 slid out of her grip on impact. She tried for the second Beretta in the shoulder holster,
but the monsters body caught her arm between his and hers as he dropped on her to attack. She
maneuvered one of her legs up enough to throw him off of her, but it didn’t buy her enough time to go
for the M9, he was on her again before she could reach for it. She brought her hands up to his neck as
he tried to bite at her throat. She lifted him far enough off to keep him away, but he was heavy and her
right arm was giving out fast. He was growling like a mad man and shoving himself at her an inch at a
time. Then his one mobile arm caught her by the throat, putting so much pressure on her that she could
barely breath. She dropped her left hand away from him, leaving her right to hold his weight, it
wouldn’t hold him up long on its own. Quickly she pulled the k-bar, only because the Bowie knife was
trapped between her and the monsters close proximity, with practiced skill she shoved the blade up
under his rib cage a move that would allow the blade to bypass the sternum and hit the heart. He
shrieked in pain but didn’t die, instead the vampire seemed to react only on instinct ripping itself off the
knife and rolling away from her. It jumped to it’s feet faster then should have been possible given the
injury she’d inflicted and tore it’s way back up the side of one of the buildings.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

    Chapter 5
     
     
    "Holy shit," she exclaimed between ragged gasps for air. Without thinking she retrieved all of
her lost weapons and put them back in place. She kept the M9 out and turned to see that her villain
was still scrapping it’s way inhumanly up the side of the building, she watched only long enough for it to
claw it’s way unto the roof. She waited for it to be out of sight before she turned her head to where
Manson lay motionless on the opposite end of the alley. She could barely catch her breath but knew
that she had to at least check to make sure he was alive before she would ever be capable of pursuit.
She looked back to the roof the thing had disappeared unto and then back at Manson, there was a
decision to be made here but for her the team came first, so she had to help Manson first.
    ‘Forget him, he’s dead anyway, finish this now while you still have the chance.’
    "Fuck that," she carried herself as quickly as she