Plus ca Change: Part 2g
by Tom MacCarrol
The transformation was as shocking as it was sudden. One moment he seemed like a regular enough person, a psycho but attractive. An instant later, he was a thing, all teeth and mis-shapen flesh. Liz lost it totally. Screaming in blind terror, she dropped the gas, then tried to run- straight into a wall.

She hit hard, staggering back a step and a half, right into the creature's grasp. Growling in anticipation, it bent toward her neck, fangs extended.

Anne saw the transformation happen and stared wide-eyed in recognition. While every detail was different, the overall effect was the same as in the cemetery the night before. This was the same sort of thing that Heneri had become. It was going to kill Liz. Drink all of her blood, then turn her into a monster like itself. There was no time left to be a helpless witness, she had to act, NOW.

Rage swept away the nausea, Anne took two long strides, planted one leg and attacked it. "Get. Off. HER!", she yelled, kicking it behind a knee with her free foot, at the same time smashing the side of it's head with both hands together- as if she were returning a tennis serve.

Thomas staggered away from the first victim, a roar of rage escaping him. He changed his focus to the second girl. "That actually hurt. Congratulations, you've just been promoted to the front of the line."

He backhanded Anne across the face, sending her spinning to sprawl on the pavement. A quick glance confirmed that the first target wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. He advanced toward the one that had dared to strike him.

Anne felt herself flying from the force of the blow, her mouth filling with blood where her teeth had cut the inside of her lips. By curling up hard, at least she managed to avoid having her head smash the ground when she landed.

By great good luck, her bag hadn't parted company from her. Anne pulled out her stake and got to her feet as quickly as she could. She'd definitely stopped it from attacking Liz, only problem was now it was coming to kill her. Gerrard was nowhere around, and Liz would be no help. She was going to have to do this all alone.

The creature closed in, swinging a vicious punch at her head. She reared back, out of the path of it's fist, then body-rushed it. The vampire easily blocked her first attempt with the stake, so she tried for it's eyes with her free hand. It turned it's head in time, all she managed was to rake a pair of gashes down the side of it's face, and put a tear in part of an earlobe. Blood spattered up her left sleeve half-way to the elbow.

With a hissing roar it spun away, lashing out with a taloned hand in passing. It caught her right arm, tearing cloth and skin all down her forearm. Anne saw that they had shifted a full half- circle, exchanging places. She began backing away, toward Liz and the street.

Thomas admired the girl's strength and courage as he approached her again, more carefully this time. He had been right to choose her in the first place. Her blood would be all the sweeter for their efforts, the stress hormones adding a tasty spice. Violence or terror, it seasoned the stew the same in the end.

Another step brought her into a puddle of brighter light, and what he saw made Thomas pause as a trickle of fear ran across his heart. What he'd at first taken to be a streetfighter's knife was a simple wooden stake. Somehow, this girl was prepared for what she was facing. If he'd still been at the mouth end of the alley he'd have forgone the extra kills and just left, but now HE was the one trapped in the dead end. The fight was no longer about sport, but survival. For the first time in his unlife, the outcome was uncertain.

Anne saw the hesitation come over the vampire when it noticed the stake. 'Yeah, we both know what's going on here, ain't that a change.', she thought. 'He's gonna rush me any second, gotta stay clear, try for an opening.'

The vampire did charge, nothing fancy, just a straight-forward attempt to bowl her over. She side-stepped, mostly. Both of them went down, but at least she wasn't pinned underneath. The impact knocked her sideways, her knee tearing a bloody rent in the fabric of her pants.

'Another outfit down in flames', she thought inanely. As they both scrambled to get up again, Anne kicked the vampire in the face, turning it and another section of her clothing into a bloody ruin. "Liz, RUN!" she yelled aloud, as the vampire pummeled her.

Anne ducked under the next wild swing, stabbing with the stake. It was a solid shot to the chest, but no heart. She managed to get an arm in the way of a downward smashing blow, deflecting it from her head, at the price of a painful bruise and spreading numbness. Another slash with the stake missed entirely.

Thomas was becoming truly frightened. He'd landed blows that should have broken bones, if not killed the human outright. Yet she fought on, wounding him grievously. He'd be days recovering, if his diminished vision didn't prove a fatal handicap here and now. What manner of creature was this? Surely not a mere animal. Perhaps she was Kindred, the other girl her intended kill? Yet why had she not released her demon to aid the battle?

The vampire kicked at her, aiming for her lower body. Anne twisted out of the way as best she could, taking the impact to her thigh just below the hip. She felt the jar all the way to her teeth. Hopefully that leg was still in the same time zone, because she had no sensation in that limb at all, anymore. Surprisingly, it still held her upright. The creature followed through by leaning in for a two-hand strangle hold on her throat. For the first time that night, this was something she'd actually practiced in her self-defense class. Just the way Coach Lager had shown them, she brought both arms up inside the hold, using all the strength and momentum of her upper body against just the creature's thumb grip.

Thomas threw an organ-smashing kick at the she-fiend's abdomen. At the last second, it turned, his blow crashing into the upper thigh. Proof enough. An ordinary mortal would have gone down like a broken doll. Still, she was momentarily stunned. He closed in quickly, throttling with all his demonic-enhanced strength. Only to have her bat his arms away like straws.

Just as in class, the hold broke. For a moment, all four of their arms were up in the air, with hers on the inside, where the vampire couldn't quickly block. Anne stabbed downward, plunging in the stake before the creature could react. There was a fleeting look of disbelief on it's face before all of it flashed into dust.


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