Nadya’s Nights: Road to Vengeance
Night Three: Settling Scores
Chapter Thirty-Five: Showdown
by Indy McDaniel
Copyright © 2009 Indy McDaniel
Looking up at the vampire standing at the edge of the hole in the ceiling, Bridget snarled angrily, thick strands of bloody saliva dripping from her exposed fangs. With a burst of movement, the female werewolf launched herself towards Remy, clearing the distance between the floor to the high ceiling in an impressive leap.
Nadya and Remy both watched Bridget’s attack; Remy was wearing a smug smile. A moment before Bridget’s jaws clamped down over his shin, he lifted a hand and the werewolf froze in mid-air. Nadya’s eyes widened as she saw the halting of Bridget’s momentum, ended just as quickly as it had begun.
“Whoa…” Remy said, that smile still plastered over his face. “Down girl.”
He made a small downward motion with his hand and Bridget fell.
No, she didn’t just fall. She was shoved downward hard.
Landing on one of the numerous corpses that littered the floor, Bridget’s massive form crushed it into pulp before smashing into the floor and lying still.
“Honestly,” Remy said, looking down at the dazed werewolf then up to Nadya. “All I did was kill her boyfriend. Now, our relationship… Much more interesting.”
“Oh, I agree…” Nadya replied. “Now why don’t you get down here so I can cut your fucking head off already?”
Stepping off the edge, Remy dropped to the ground, landing between Nadya and the still dazed Bridget. Nadya’s fingers tightened around the hilt of the katana, holding it ready.
Just then, Bridget burst up from the ground, her mouth open wide and aimed right for Remy’s head. Again, Remy’s hand shot up, freezing the werewolf in mid-strike, her glistening fangs inches from either side of his head.
Nadya saw the opening and charged Remy, lifting her sword high, readying herself for a hard strike at his exposed neck. Lifting his other hand out towards the Russian, she felt a pressure on her chest, halting her movement and freezing her just as still as Bridget.
“Not exactly a fair fight,” Remy said.
Flicking the fingers on both his hands outward, both of his assailants were shoved backwards. Nadya slammed against the wall and was held there, struggling against the invisible force gripping her tightly.
Turning his back on Nadya, Remy moved towards Bridget. “Really, now. Can’t you just get over it?”
Bridget growled and thrashed on the floor but she didn’t have any more success at breaking the hold than Nadya.
“At the very least, I’d figure you’d learn from the past. After all, this is just how your boyfriend died. And he was plenty older then you are.”
Bridget’s snarls died off and she lay still, glaring up at Remy.
“Don’t worry,” he replied to her. “I won’t kill you… yet…” He shifted his hand slightly, curling his fingers towards her head. “But I really can’t have you interfering with my climactic battle, can I?”
Still struggling to get free, Nadya watched the exchange between Remy and Bridget, not sure what was going on. She knew he was quite adept at mental powers. The way he’d invaded her subconscious had been evidence enough of that, but she hadn’t realized he’d been so strong with telekinesis. She tried to think of a way to disable his powers somehow, but the only way she could think of would be to kill him. She planned on doing that anyway.
Her attention was drawn back to the situation at hand as a pained howl pierced the air. At first, Nadya thought Remy might be killing Bridget, but as she looked, she couldn’t see any actual physical harm being done to the female werewolf.
Then it struck her.
Remy wasn’t hurting Bridget physically. He’d invaded her mind and was doing something to her there.
The more she watched, the more she realized what he was doing as Bridget began to shrink. Her muscles and fur began to pull back into her and by the time the transformation finished, she’d returned to her human form. Bridget huddled in a fetal position, clutching at her nude form, weeping.
“What the fuck did you do to her?” Nadya asked, catching Remy’s attention.
He turned to face her, a triumphant smirk on his face. “Nothing much… Just made sure she wouldn’t be getting in our way anymore. It’ll wear off… just in time for her to watch me rip your fucking heart out.”
“Shouldn’t take too long then,” Nadya replied, her eyes narrowing at him. “Since you’re a pussy motherfucker who’s too shit scared to fight me fairly.”
Remy’s eyebrows rose. “Oh? Is that what you think?”
“Seeing as I’m glued to the fucking wall,” Nadya said, still pulling at her pinned arms. “Yes, that’s exactly what I fucking think.”
“Sorry bout that,” Remy shrugged, waving a hand and letting Nadya drop from the wall into a crouch. “Just had to make sure we wouldn’t be interrupted first.” Spreading his arms out beside him. “No powers. I promise. Just a sec…” He extended his right arm upwards and flicked his wrist.
From the second level, there was the sound of clanking and then a sword not unlike Nadya’s flew down through the hole in the ceiling and into Remy’s waiting hand. “There. A good, old fashioned sword duel. Work for you?”
Grabbing her katana, Nadya pushed herself to her feet and held it up in front of her with both hands. “Sounds great, asshole.”
With a feral growl, Remy lunged towards her, swinging his sword downwards. She stepped back and brought her weapon up and sideways to block the blow, guiding Remy’s blade to the side harmlessly then swinging the sword back around in an attempt to cut into his neck. He jumped back just in time, receiving only a superficial nick across the side of his throat.
Hissing, he placed a finger to the cut, looking at the blood then up to Nadya. “Silver blade?”
“Only the best for you,” she replied with a cold smirk.
Flicking the blood from his fingers, Remy growled again and took another step towards Nadya, jabbing his sword out at her, aiming for her chest. The movement came quicker than she’d anticipated and she swung her sword sideways out of pure reflex that wound up saving her life, knocking the sharp tip of Remy’s sword aside before it pierced her breastbone.
Spinning around and backpedaling, Nadya kept her sword up, ready to block any attacks he threw her way. Advancing, Remy continued to strike out at her, looking for any openings he could take advantage of. His super-human speed made his attacks difficult to block, but Nadya’s own speed – nearly supernatural in its own right – managed to keep her from being mortally wounded.
A couple glancing blows opened up a pair of shallow gashes along each of her arms and she could feel the warm trickle of blood running down her elbows. She was being forced to remain on the defense, stepping backwards and hoping she wouldn’t trip over a piece of debris or a corpse.
If that happened, the fight would be over real quick.
As she moved, Nadya tried to keep an eye out for anything that would give her an upper hand. She was fast, but her stamina wouldn’t hold out forever. And it would only take one slight dip in her reaction time for Remy to score a fatal blow.
Deciding that a stand up, face-to-face sword fight with the vampire probably wasn’t the best of plans, Nadya parried Remy’s most recent attack and immediately lashed back at him with a flurry of movement, causing him to step back, bringing his sword up and back close to him to block her attacks.
Nadya saw his eyes widen from the sudden attack but he still managed to block her at every slice and thrust. Still, hitting him wasn’t what she was after. With him on the defense now, she turned and darted towards the nearest exit to the room. As she passed through the shattered doorway, she immediately dove to the side on the off chance Remy decided to hurl his sword at her exposed backside.
Retreating through a building she wasn’t familiar with may not have seemed like the smartest strategy, but Nadya always found she did her best fighting while on the move. Standing still and exchanging blows with an enemy just didn’t feel right to her. Better to mix it up a bit and maybe catch Remy off guard.
Unless, of course, he caught her off guard first.
