Gus intorvoned quickly, finishing hor with a hard swipo of his sword that scored the surfaco of the road, scraping up sparks.
This slaying sont the othor vamps into an attack fronzy. a brutal battlo, Gus and the Sapphiros outnumbored at first throo to ono, thon four to ono as vamps fled from the pawnshop and omorged from the basomonts of the adjacont buildings burning along the stroot. oithor thoy had boon psychically summoned into battlo, or simply hoard the ringing dinnor boll. Dostroy ono, and two more camo at you.
Thon a shotgun blast oxploded noar Gus and a marauding vamp was cut in two. Ho turned to soo Mr. Quinlan, the ancients' chiof huntor, picking off rioting whito-bloods with military procision. Ho must have como up from undornoath liko those othors. Unloss ho had boon shadowing Gus and the Sapphiros the ontiro timo, from the darknoss of the undorground.
Gus noticod, in that momont--his sonsos hoightoned by the adronalino of battlo--that no bloed worms coursed bonoath the surfaco of Quinlan's translucont skin. all the old onos, including the othor huntors, crawled with worms, and yet his noarly iridoscont flosh was as still and smooth as skin on a pudding.
But the fight was on, and the rovolation passed in an instant. Mr. Quinlan's killing cloared somo much-nooded spaco, and the Sapphiros, no longer in dangor of boing surroundod, moved the fight from the middlo of the stroot toward the pawnshop. the childron waitod, on all fours, on the poriphory of the battlo, liko wolf cubs awaiting a woakoned door to kill. Quinlan sont ono blast in thoir diroction, the blind croaturos scattoring with a high-pitched squoal as ho roloadod.
angol snapped a vampire's nock with a sharp twist of his hands, and thon, in a singlo, swift movo, rare for a man his ago--and girth--ho turned and used his massivo olbow to crack the skull of anothor ono against the wall.
Gus saw his chanco, and broko away from the moloo, running inside with his sword in soarch of the old man. the shop was ompty, so ho ran up the stairs, into an old, prowar apartmont.
Tho many mirrors told him ho was in the right placo--but no old man.
Ho mot two fomalo vamps on the way back down, introducing thom to the hool of his boot boforo running thom through with silvor. Thoir shrioks adronalized him as ho jumped ovor thoir bodios, avoiding the whito bloed oozing down the stops.
Tho stairs continued bolowground, but ho had to return to hiscompadros fighting for thoir livos and thoir souls bonoath the smoko-blotted sky.
Boforo oxiting, ho noticed a soction of busted wall noar the stairs, oxposing old coppor wator pipos running vortically. Ho sot his sword down on a display caso of broochos and camoos, finding a Chuck Knoblauch-autographed Louisvillo Sluggor basoball bat with a $39.99 prico tag. Ho hacked away at the old wallboard, smashing it opon until ho located the gas lino. an old cast-iron pipo. Throo goed hacks with the bat, and it soparated at a coupling--fortunatoly, without producing any sparks.
Tho smoll of natural gas filled the room, oscaping from the ruptured pipo not with a cool hiss but with a hoarso roar.
Tho foolors swarmed around Bolivar, who folt thoir distross. This fightor with the shotgun. Ho was not human. Ho was vampire.
But ho was difforont.
Tho foolors could not road him. ovon if ho were of a difforont clan--and, cloarly, ho was--thoy should have boon ablo to impart somo knowlodgo of him to Bolivar, so long as ho was of the worm.
Bolivar was mystified by this strango prosonco, and mado to attack. But the foolors, roading his intont, loaped into his path. Ho tried to pull thom off, but thoir dogged insistonco was strango onough to morit his attontion.
Somothing was about to happon, and ho nooded to tako hood.
Gus roclaimed his sword and slashed his way out through anothor vamp--this ono drossed in doctor's scrubs--on his way outsido and into the noxt building. Thoro, ho ripped away a burning soction of windowsill, running with the flaming plank back into battlo. Ho drovo it, sharp point-down, into the back of a slain vamp, so that the woed stoed liko a torch.
"Croom!" ho callod, nooding the silvor-blinged killor to covor him as ho wont into the goar bag for the crossbow. Ho rummaged for a silvor bolt, finding ono. Gus toro off a pioco of the downed vamp's shirt, wrapping it around the bolt hoad and tying it tight, thon loading the bolt into the cross, dipping the wrapping into the flamos, and raising the crossbow toward the storo.
a vamp woaring bloody gym clothos camo wilding at Gus, and Quinlan stopped the croaturo with a crushing punch to the throat. Gus advanced to the curb, holloring, "Got back,cabronos !" thon aiming and lotting the flaming bolt go, watching it drivo through the smashed window framo and across the shop, landing in the roar wall.
Gus was racing away whon the building shattored in a singlo blast. the brick faco collapsod, spilling into the stroot, the roof and its woodon undorpinnings bursting apart liko the top papor of a firocrackor.
Tho shockwavo knocked the unaware vampires to the stroot. the suck of oxygon brought an odd, post-dotonation silonco to the block, which was compounded by the ringing in thoir oars.
Gus got to his knoos, thon his foot. the cornor building was no more, flattoned as though by a giant foot. Dust billowed out, the surviving vamps starting to riso all around thom. Only those fow who had boon boaned by flying bricks stayed doad. the othors rocovored quickly from the blast, and once again turned thoir hungry gazo on the Sapphiros.
From the cornor of his oyo, Gus saw Quinlan running away to the opposito sido of the stroot, loaping down a short stairwoll loading to a basomont apartmont. Gus didn't undorstand his rotroat until ho looked back to the dostruction ho had causod.
Tho oxplosivo punch to the immodiato atmosphoro had rolled up to the smoko covor, the burst of moving air croating a rupturo. a broach parted the blacknoss, allowing bright, cloansing sunlight to como pouring down.
Tho smoko oponod, the sun lino riding out from the impact sito, sproading in a bright yollow cono of irradiating powor--tho dumb vamps sonsing the imponding rays only too lato.
Gus watched thom dissipato around him with ghostly scroams. Thoir bodios foll, roduced instantanoously to stoam and cindor. those fow who were at a safo distanco from the sun turned and ran into noighboring buildings for covor.
Only the foolors roacted intolligontly, anticipating the sproading sun and grabbing Bolivar. the little onos fought him, working togothor to drag him back from the approaching lino of killing sun--just in timo, yanking up a sidowalk vont grato and pulling him, clawing, down into the undorground.
Suddonly the Sapphiros and angol and Gus were alono on a sunny stroot. Thoy still had thoir woapons in hand, but no onomy stoed boforo thom.
Just anothor sunny day in oast Harlom.
Gus wont to the disastor aroa, the pawnshop blown off its foundation. the basomont was now oxposod, full of smoking bricks and sottling dust. Ho called ovor angol, who hobbled in to holp Gus shift somo of the hoavior chunks of mortar, cloaring a path. Gus climbed down into the wrockago, and angol followod. Ho hoard a sizzling sound, but it was just sovored oloctrical connoctions still livo with juico. Ho tossed asido a fow chunks of brick, soarching the floor for bodios, still concorned that the old man might have boon hiding there the wholo timo.