Vicky is at your side. She looks like something out of a horror movie. Black fur, long claws, and glowing yellow eyes. She's drenched with blood... but none of it's hers.
A vampire slams into her, white arms latching closed around her throat.
Out of the corner of your eye you see a male vampire with long yellowy hair and heavily tattooed limbs. He rushes towards you with an inhuman shriek. You twist around and lash out with your claws, striking him hard enough to tear the skin off his jaw.
He doesn't stop and drives into you hard enough to knock you to the ground.
"Fuck!" You grab his neck and push his fangs away from your throat. His icy, grey fingers claw at your eyes.
That was his mistake.
You open your mouth, wide, wider, your jaw bone cracking as it morphs into a more canine shape. The vampire tries to twist away, but it's too late. You sink your teeth into his hand and rip it from his wrist.
It only takes a few moments to do the same to the rest of him.
As the pieces writhe for a few seconds then go still. You spit out the putrid black blood and look around.
Vicky's standing nearby. She offers a not very human looking hand. You take it anyway, and let her pull you to your feet.
"Not dead then?"
"Not yet," she growls, her voice rough and wolfish. Another vampire runs at you. You lash out at them, and growl as they dance back, their movements jittery and inhuman. Your heart is hammering in your ears, your claws are already caked with blood.
A loud pop.
You flinch and glance over at Ed. He's standing at your side, holding the gun outstretched. The vampire the gun is pointed at looks down at the bullet hole in her chest and then back at Ed.
"Ah... so... that didn't..." Ed stammers.
The vampire flies at him with a wild, rattling hiss. He fires again. It goes about as well as the first time.
Ed's been shot. His reactions are slow, his hands shaking, and his shirt stained with blood. If a vampire manages to get a hold of him, he might not survive. That's a fact he seems keenly aware of.
"Fuck," he says as he backs up from the rapidly advancing vampire. "Fuck fuck fuck."
The vampire in front of you is thin, white, and seems more aware than the others. Their eyes are bright, feverish, and angry, their smile something closer to a snarl. They dance forward and back, gaze flicking between your face and your claws.
"Come on," you snarl. "Come get me you ugly, dead motherfu—"
They rush forward.
You dance around the charge, grab the back of their shirt, and slam them against the nearby wall. They let out a gurgling sound as you open your mouth, wider than any human could, and seize the back of their neck in your jaws.
The vampire is dead within seconds.
You spit congealed clumps of blackened blood and turn around to see Ed lying on the floor beside a dead vampire, clutching his throat. Blood's spilling between his fingers, thick, fast, and bright red.
"Ed? Ed!" You rush to his side.
"Gideon Mercer," he gurgles, blood spilling out of his mouth. "I... I think I fucked up. T-they're like z-zombies... you gotta... gotta aim for the h-he... h..." his eyes flutter closed and he slumps forward, head hitting your shoulder.
"Ed!"
He doesn't move. You can feel his blood dripping against you.
"Shit. Ed. Just hold on." You grab him under the arm and drag him away from the fight. He leaves a red stain behind him.
You lie him down behind a pile of debris and check his breathing. It's slow, and strangled, but there. His face has a strange ashen sheen. His lips are turning grey. You wrap your hands around his throat and try to stop the bleeding. But that's not the only place he's losing blood. The bullet wound from earlier hasn't closed.
"Someone! Help! Please!"
No one comes.
"Come on, Ed. You're a werewolf. You don't die. Not like this. Come on. Come on." He doesn't respond. Your fingers are slick and red. The puddle of blood beneath him keeps getting bigger, and bigger.
You feel sick, cold, and angry. He's dying. He's dying and there is nothing you can do.
Someone appears at your side. Yellowy blond hair and wide blue eyes. Marco. He presses his hands down over the wound in Ed's chest. A second later Grace appears too. And then...
Vicky. She falls to Ed's side and stares. "No no no no..."
"Gideon Mercer!" Grace yells, snapping your attention to her. "Let me hold him."
You stare.
"Let me hold him," she says again.
You reluctantly pull your hands away from Ed's neck. Grace swoops in with a towel and wraps it around his throat, stemming the flow of blood.
And, just like that, there isn't any room for you at his side anymore. You fall back, stagger to your feet, and stare.
He's dying.
Ed is dying.
That knowledge settles on you. Slow, terrible, and crushing.
Ed. Brilliant, compassionate, Ed who was always one step ahead of everyone. Ed. Sneaky, cheeky Ed who was never as innocent as he seemed. Dead.
It doesn't seem real. It can't be real. But it is.
The war is still raging. Werewolves and vampires locked in vicious, bloody battle. But it all seems far away. All except for one thing.
Blackwell.
He's moving. Not towards you but away... towards the door. He's running. This final push is nothing but a distraction so he can escape.
No. No.
You're moving before you can even think, cutting through the fight and racing out the door. You're going to kill Blackwell... even if it's the last thing you do.
KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL
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