Chương 80: Knight

The air was pungent with a coppery stench. Blood and rusted metal danced together to send it all into my sinuses. Made me wish I had my damn mask. Hidalgo, the alleged vampire working for the Virginia HenchNet, finished trudging out of the blood-filled waters, soaked in the viscera of the other henchmen, and towards Slim Dickens.

"Could never fuckin' trust you. Ten goddamn years and every other week you always had to bring up some kind of issue. Big Balls warned me, told me you didn't like me. Scared I'd fuckin' eat you. I ain't eaten any fucking atorrantes in thirty years!" As he crested the ramp, his boots stamped cracks into the concrete.

"I've been a nice guy, drinking fucking pig blood! And here you are, arming up with fuckin' silver!" He gestured a broad hand towards the crate. My legs tensed, and my arm reached up into my hair. My middle finger tapped on that earpiece as I did my best to whisper out a "Vampire." No response yet as Hidalgo continued to rant.

"Knew you've been trying to get rid of me. New muscle comes in and you think that means I can be replaced. You even hired him already!" He gestured towards me.

"You keep your ass right there, I have no hard feelings for you yet. I'm gonna turn this son of a bitch into a smear on the floor here, pay you, and go the fuck home. No more." Sounded like Hidalgo might be in the right here. But unfortunately I wasn't letting anyone die. As much of a bridge as it would burn. Lunging, I ended up between Hidalgo and Slim, who had stumbled onto the ground. The vampire let out a lowly growl.

"Kid. Fucking listen to me. I don't do anything untoward. Ain't killed a man in ten years. Ain't drank any blood in thirty. I ain't the bad guy here. I'm protecting my ass from him." I shook my head.

"Can't let you." Moral argument wouldn't work. Saying to just let him get arrested would be a betrayal to the Net. Have to play by their logic.

"Still my job to cover his ass. What kind of scumbag would I be if I backed out on my word that easily? Gotta have some conviction." Hidalgo stopped his approach, blood-soaked arms hanging at his sides.

"Huh. You got some juevos, then. I did wanna see how it was to throw down with you." He rubbed his chin.

"Alright. I'll make a deal with you. You kill my ass twice, I'll go my own way. But if I break one of your limbs, I'm allowed to tear that motherfucker apart." Kill him twice. Vampire. Can't die. Big Balls said he could lift a car.... Worth a shot. At the same time I considered my options, I could hear Tancred in my ear.

"What kind of vampire?" What did he say? Knight? Is that a thing? Pretending I was mulling over the deal, I began musing out loud.

"Fighting a..." My hand went through my hair, tapping my earpiece.

"Vampire Knight, huh?"

"Damn right," Hidalgo said.

"All the benefits of a superhuman without having to register. Bet there ain't shit in your little town that was like me." I shook my head.

"No, no there wasn't." Tancred's voice came on.

"You can take him. Call in if things escalate." God, if only that kind of trust actually was worth a damn from him. He was likely waking up one of the team already. So I had to be fast.

"Sure. I'll humor you. I could use the exercise." Pissed me off when I heard Tancred say it when he arrested me, probably gonna do the same to this guy. While I got into stance, he was already rushing me. Not a lunger. He ran. Fast for a fat bastard like him. With one arm up, I brought a hand to block i- THUMM His elbow struck my forearm. The sensation was like thunder through my body. Didn't hurt, but it was fucking heavy. Upper end of strength here.

But nothing that could hurt me if I kept my guard u- THUMM THUMM THUMM THUMM He just kept throwing elbows. I could take each one individually, but as they built up- WHAM Knee. Right in my midsection. My lunch fell out of me, painting his pants and boots an awful set of colors. God, I could recognize most of what I ate in there. Looked the same coming out as it did going in.

"Oh that's fucking nasty, kid!" He brought his leg back, recoiling from the disgust. In that moment, that was my shot. I threw a jab towards his chin. Put as much as I could in there, just to see if that was enough. WHAM His head turned and he stumbled back a step, but no giving way. Jabs were too light. I'd have to throw something heavier. Straights or kicks.

"Not bad, kid. Would've been a bleeder if I were alive. Wish I could feel impressed." Rushing back over to me, he threw another elbow. I brought up both arms for this one, just to weaken that clap of thunder it put through me.

"That's the real issue with being a vampire, son. You can't feel a damn thing except for one emotion. And you don't get to pick it!" THUMM THUMM More elbows.

"It's whatever your sire's got! Mine's got disgust! Everything fucking grosses me out! I try my best to hold it in, but you had to just quebrar on my fucking pants!" THUMM THUMM Fourth elbow. Last that signaled a knee. Swinging my arm down, fist clenched- WHOMM Caught it. Fist slammed down on his knee. I could feel his femur giving away under my hand. Hidalgo limped back again, before his leg straightened out.

"You got some moves, kid. I know there's some martial arts in you. Let's make it more legit, then." The fat man adjusted his stance. The leg I initially broke, now healed up already, raised up on a set of toes, knees extended. His hands went up high, thumbs parallel to his eyebrows. Looked a little ridiculous to me.

"Muay Thai, boy. I'm fightin' with eight limbs." I recognized that name. During my martial arts training with Casney, he was ranting about whatever the Hell it is he'd been showing me. Never got the name right, slobbot or something like that. He said it was a natural counter to Muay Thai. There was just one move I needed to do and it'd turn a Muay Thai fighter off, and it was the one this style was perfect for. But of course it's the one fucking thing I couldn't remem- WHAM Punch to my nose.

Not enough to knock me out, but I could feel a ringing pain in my sinuses. Couldn't see for a second, and he took advantage of that, slamming an elbow into my temple. That was the one that put me off-balance. I couldn't aim properly, but I could see he was gearing up for another knee. I just swiped like a cat at a mouse, feeling my hand ply through flesh. I tore his gut open, sending raw fat and blood flying everywhere. Not his blood. It was rotten and old. Smelled like someone dropped roadkill in a septic tank.

It was already knitting itself back together as we both recovered to a full stance. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Kill shot?" I asked.

"Nah. Not in my case. You'll know it when it happens." We lunged back into a brawl, every strike thundering through me. They were louder than they were painful so long as I kept my strength focused on every spot he hit, but it meant my own blows in return were much weaker. I've fought mostly just strong guys. Strong ones who healed. There felt like there were two kinds of these guys. In the first camp were Technofiend and Gleditsia.

The ridiculously strong and unkillable, but so fresh on their powers that even their best moves felt like something you could work around. Overwhelming their healing was easy. In the second were guys like Hidalgo here, and Casney. Not as strong, but hard to beat because they were just that experienced and skilled. The only time I overwhelmed Casney, it was after he spent so long beating the shit out of me that inevitably I was going to find an opening. Here, though?

While he was throwing every blow he could at me, as much force behind it that you could probably hear it from outside the warehouse? With moves I just couldn't move around. THUMM THUMM THUMM THUMM Fourth elbow, here comes the kn- WHAP His shin slammed into the side of my head hard enough for me to see stars. Barely enough strength made it to prevent my skull from splitting open. Was starting to lose my focus. Wasn't gonna let that happen. Had to keep it together.

He slowly repositioned his leg as I recovered from the blow, my mind struggling to stick to one track: How to counter this guy. That's how I was avoiding dipping out of focus. Keeping it all on this one topic kept me on track. His elbows always came in sets of four. He probably thought I'd be so overwhelmed by that point that I wouldn't be able to think about his finish, my guard would be down. He was right, but that was the move he was most reliant on. The trick was to interrupt there.

He turned, jamming an elbow into my sternum. That dipped him below my eye level. Gave me a clear shot. I grabbed either side of his head, throwing my own forehead forward and slamming it into his nose. He stumbled back, splayed out onto the ground for a few seconds. Was that...? Seconds later, he scrambled back to his feet.

"Good knockout. Not a kill. You're getting close." Important words. Aim for soft spots. Don't bother with body blows. Now I had an angle for that interrupt.

"But I'm losing my patience. I don't have the time to be wasting on playing. I don't feel anything for any sort of jolgorio. Now just let me break you!" He was already back into the brawl, throwing punches that brought my arms further and further up to withstand the hurricane, before I felt the first elbow.

THUMM Left elbow I'm right-legged THUMM Right elbow Let him get his guard down He's gonna go back to THUMM Left elbow Now KRNNKK Hidalgo's head slumped on my shin as I whipped out a kick with enough force to split concrete into his neck. Shocked his head didn't come clean off. Yanking my leg out from his neck, I slowly circled him. Every step was accompanied with a cracking or tearing noise as his larynx and spine put themselves back together. Just had to kill him twice. Never said I had to do it fairly.

I reared a fist back, ready to just punch clean through his upper body. No need for an extra fi- THUMM Should've seen that coming. He spun on a heel as he was mending himself and slammed his elbow clean into my head. Vision in my right eye turned off for a second. He hit something important. I was barely holding on. But I kept it together for Technofiend. This guy was nowhere near Technofiend. This was like fighting Chris. Too damn slippery. Too skilled.

Wish I could remember that fucking mov- WHOM Hidalgo's boot slammed into my stomach, sending me rolling onto my back. If he was just a couple inches higher, he might have broken ribs. That kick, though. His leg was extended, straight out. Like he was kicking down a door. Wait. No time to wait, he was already on me. Curling up on my back, legs bent close, I shoved them back out and into Hidalgo's gut, sending him bounding back. In the same push, I managed to throw myself back onto my feet, stumbling forward a step.

Extended le- He was already back in brawling range. We were back at that exchange of blows from before. Just punches and elbows all over. I couldn't move my arms. Legs. Still had legs. My stance wasn't like Jairo's, I was allowed to kick in these kinds of brawls. I didn't need to sit so goddamn still. Hidalgo must have picked up that I wasn't thinking that. This was his playground. I started stepping back and to the sides, sometimes even dipping inwards.

It wasn't avoiding every blow, but the change in movement was enough to throw him off. Give me a second to think. That kick, the extended leg. That was the move. But not at the midsection, it was at- KRNCH I stomped down on his knee in a similar motion to the kick he did. His leg bent inwards, at a ninety degree angle. He practically flopped over from that. That was the move. Casney called it a shassaybah or something. As his body dropped, my affinity for martial arts dropped with it.

I went with a far more straightforward move. Raising that same leg again, and slamming it down directly on Hidalgo's chest. I felt his ribs give out under me. I felt the popping of organs. I then felt the concrete below him. Disgusting, but I knew he'd live. I've done worse to Casney. They probably heal similarly. Right? Yanking my bloodied foot out, I watched him lay there. He wasn't healing. I felt my skin turn cold, my body shake. I fucking did it a-"A la mierda!"

Hidalgo yelled out, suddenly sitting upright as his chest cavity sounded like an abattoir. I wanted to kill him for real just for scaring me like that.

"Took out my goddamn diaphragm, couldn't even breathe!" The henchman patted his chest as he clambered to his feet.

"You got some moves, kid. But you kicked my ass fair and square." He held out a massive hand.

"You get to finish your job. I recommend not working for Slim in the future, since I am going to kill his ass." Staring at his hand, I couldn't shake it. Body was still running too stiff and cold from the false alarm. I just looked back up at him.

"That's fine. Just get out of here before you end up in some sort of trouble," I growled out, trying to act aloof.

"Ah, I'll be fine. You saw how fast I am. Besides, if trouble really came a knocking..." He put on a grin. I could see his fangs. Sharp and prominent. They were initially only concealed by his jowls.

"I wasn't alone, mijo. Take care." Turning, he trudged back down the ramp and leapt away. The fuck did he mean he wasn't alone? Shit, I'm gonna have to report that. And- Slim was gone. The son of a bitch ran. He was so lucky I didn't need that money, or I'd be the real threat to him. Putting a finger on my earpiece, I just took a seat on one of the crates.

"Vampire dealt with. Made a deal if I beat him he'd screw. Was the only way to keep the body count from climbing. He already killed at least five people just from breaking in." Seconds later, Tancred's voice.

"You didn't think to detain him, wise-guy?"

"Tancred, I'm not exactly built to fight vampires. You know my arrest rate with these strong, healing guys at this point. And I got bigger news than that."

"Shoot." Felt weird, having to wait so long for even just short responses.

"There's clearly some internal politics on the henches. The vampire didn't like this guy. This guy was buying silver. I guess that's dangerous to vampires."

"It is. They don't heal from wounds made by silver."

"Good to know. Another thing, he said he wasn't alone. I didn't see anyone else with him here. Lines up with something Chris told me that there was someone he couldn't spot but could sense signs of."

"Stealth superhuman sounds like the case. Got it. Anything else?"

"Yeah, the asshole who hired me ran off. The vampire wants him dead. As useless as he probably is, we shouldn't risk him getting killed. Could point badly towards me. I'm gonna send you his Facebook, your guys can try to see if he has a warrant or something."

"Works with me. How much silver was he buying?" Looking over towards the silver that was supplied, I rested a hand on my knee, trying to count the bars. I gave up fast.

"Giant fucking crate. I have no idea how much this all is, but probably thousands."

"We'll collect it as evidence. Anything else?"

"Nothing I can think of."

"Then good work on your first mission. You even communicated! Wait 'til the cops show up and we'll work on a fake booking."

"Got it." With that, I sat and waited, trying to be satisfied with a job well-done.