like a cow being shipped to a Beefsteak Charlie’s, when there had been such places.
“I’m honored,” Chen said, as he sent out a sharp exhale of breath to prepare his whole body. It was now or never. With every bit of strength in his master’s flesh he ripped his leg up, pulling it free from the sticky substance that covered it. At the same time Chen slammed his arm out through the opening he had been able to cut. It was a tight squeeze, as both his right arm and leg pushed free, like antennas from a butterfly’s cocoon, sampling the air to see if it was time to come out yet.
Somehow, with incredible flexibility and skill, Chen was able to grab hold of the near Vampyre. He threw his arm around her neck while the martial arts expert’s leg snaked up and slammed around into the side of the second Vampyre, sending her and her hypo flying across the floor.
Some of the men started to cheer but Rock told them in an icy command to “Shut the fuck up.” or they might attract others.
The place went dead silent except for grunts of effort, as the life and death struggle continued before their eyes. With one arm Chen pulled the struggling and hissing Vampyre around so she was alongside him. She slammed her teeth into his arm and he let out with a muffled curse within the netting. He pulled his leg back, and holding her by the throat, slammed his knee up into the lower back. There was a sharp crunching sound like turkey bones being cracked, and when he pushed forward the she-creature dropped like a sack of potatoes, dead before she hit the ground.
But the second one was already getting up from the floor. The men around her, in their nets unable to move an inch, were frustrated beyond reason for they couldn’t do a fucking thing. And they watched with torn hearts for they knew that whatever happened in the next two or three seconds would determine the fate of every one of them.
Chen started trying to squeeze through the small opening but had only gotten halfway out when he saw the blood drinker coming at him. She was using the long hypo as a blade rushing at him like she was going to run it right through the center of his skull. Chen cursed in Chinese as he found himself stuck halfway in, halfway out of the nets, with one leg and one arm through the opening, but the rest of him still inside. Which was not exactly the best fighting position in the world to be in when facing a snarling vampire-mutant.
Still, he had trained all his life to fight with what he had, deal with each situation as it arose. That was what it was all about. He pulled back his arm and leg to get her suckered in closer to him. And it worked. Partially. For as she came charging in with the hypo, he threw the leg straight out again and caught her in mid-body. Still, she was fast like a cat, and managed to slam the needle right into the side of his calf as she started to spin out of the way.
But Chen was even faster. He pulled the leg a half-foot back and lashed out with a second kick before she could get out of range. If she ran from the room they were all dead. Even though she was retreating from it, the sheer power of the kick managed to connect at full extension. The blade of his kung fu shoe ripped right into her rib cage, slammed her with such force that she was picked up and thrown through the air perhaps five yards, where she crashed down to the cold steel floor.
He could see even from across the room that the she-thing wasn’t getting up. Not when black cold blood was rushing from her mouth like water from a fountain nymph. The kick had smashed her ribs in with such force that a whole bunch of bones had smashed upwards and speared the living heart. She wasn’t warning anyone.
Chen slid through the net’s opening, having to move slowly as everything stuck to him and kept seeming to try to pull him back inside. But at last he freed himself and, shutting the door so any passing Vampyre wouldn’t see, he quickly freed the others with the
“I’m honored,” Chen said, as he sent out a sharp exhale of breath to prepare his whole body. It was now or never. With every bit of strength in his master’s flesh he ripped his leg up, pulling it free from the sticky substance that covered it. At the same time Chen slammed his arm out through the opening he had been able to cut. It was a tight squeeze, as both his right arm and leg pushed free, like antennas from a butterfly’s cocoon, sampling the air to see if it was time to come out yet.
Somehow, with incredible flexibility and skill, Chen was able to grab hold of the near Vampyre. He threw his arm around her neck while the martial arts expert’s leg snaked up and slammed around into the side of the second Vampyre, sending her and her hypo flying across the floor.
Some of the men started to cheer but Rock told them in an icy command to “Shut the fuck up.” or they might attract others.
The place went dead silent except for grunts of effort, as the life and death struggle continued before their eyes. With one arm Chen pulled the struggling and hissing Vampyre around so she was alongside him. She slammed her teeth into his arm and he let out with a muffled curse within the netting. He pulled his leg back, and holding her by the throat, slammed his knee up into the lower back. There was a sharp crunching sound like turkey bones being cracked, and when he pushed forward the she-creature dropped like a sack of potatoes, dead before she hit the ground.
But the second one was already getting up from the floor. The men around her, in their nets unable to move an inch, were frustrated beyond reason for they couldn’t do a fucking thing. And they watched with torn hearts for they knew that whatever happened in the next two or three seconds would determine the fate of every one of them.
Chen started trying to squeeze through the small opening but had only gotten halfway out when he saw the blood drinker coming at him. She was using the long hypo as a blade rushing at him like she was going to run it right through the center of his skull. Chen cursed in Chinese as he found himself stuck halfway in, halfway out of the nets, with one leg and one arm through the opening, but the rest of him still inside. Which was not exactly the best fighting position in the world to be in when facing a snarling vampire-mutant.
Still, he had trained all his life to fight with what he had, deal with each situation as it arose. That was what it was all about. He pulled back his arm and leg to get her suckered in closer to him. And it worked. Partially. For as she came charging in with the hypo, he threw the leg straight out again and caught her in mid-body. Still, she was fast like a cat, and managed to slam the needle right into the side of his calf as she started to spin out of the way.
But Chen was even faster. He pulled the leg a half-foot back and lashed out with a second kick before she could get out of range. If she ran from the room they were all dead. Even though she was retreating from it, the sheer power of the kick managed to connect at full extension. The blade of his kung fu shoe ripped right into her rib cage, slammed her with such force that she was picked up and thrown through the air perhaps five yards, where she crashed down to the cold steel floor.
He could see even from across the room that the she-thing wasn’t getting up. Not when black cold blood was rushing from her mouth like water from a fountain nymph. The kick had smashed her ribs in with such force that a whole bunch of bones had smashed upwards and speared the living heart. She wasn’t warning anyone.
Chen slid through the net’s opening, having to move slowly as everything stuck to him and kept seeming to try to pull him back inside. But at last he freed himself and, shutting the door so any passing Vampyre wouldn’t see, he quickly freed the others with the
Similar Books
