The Last Chance (sequel to A Hundred Lifetimes)

Fourteen

“Wasn’t me,” Mary shrugged as local boy's eyes widened when he realized he knew the person who just got thrown—and so did Mary. It was that other girl vampire from the Lagoon, that cashier. But who the hell was throwing her into a goddamn tree?

Mary tried to crane her head to see, but local boy pushed her face closer to the hut until she could feel skin being cut.

“Jesse!” local boy called out, looking behind him to try to see who had caused his friend to fly. Jesse groggily managed to sit up, checking if her head was still intact. “What’s happening?” he asked her, then to Mary, he growled, “How many people are you with?”

“Hey, all my people aren’t down here,” Mary honestly answered, equally as confused as the guy was. She could hear something that she couldn’t see, but it made local boy and Jesse look at it at the same time. Taking it as her cue, Mary used the distraction to kick the boy back behind her, just as Jesse came charging at whatever it was. Local boy was clearly caught off-guard as he staggered back in surprise, and Mary was quick to get the dagger from her thigh. She was about to run head to head with him, when all of a sudden, local boy got thrown over like a bowling pin—and the bowling ball happened to be their common friend Jesse—yet again, getting thrown around like she weighed nothing.

Mary skidded to a halt, her face distorted in confusion and disappointment. “What the fu—” she stared down at the two groaning spray tanned local vampires sprawled on the floor, then tracked the line in the sand that Jesse marked when she got thrown—only to see it lead to a small group of people rounding someone up near the water.

“Okay, what the f**k is happening?” Mary called out in exasperation, squinting her eyes until she could see three more locals in shirts and shorts surrounding someone quite tall, just standing there in the middle. It was too dark and too far to see, but Mary could sense a vague familiarity, like she had seen him once or passed him by somewhere—but she highly doubted it had been in the island for she could clearly see that the man was wearing a suit—at a beach, in the night. He was probably one of the many nightcrawlers Mary once had the displeasure of meeting, but the only question was who did he think he was and what was he doing messing up Mary's brawl? Her time to shine and kick butt?

One of the three locals surrounding the Suit finally chose to attack just as Mary was walking faster to get a closer look. The local was quick and coming up from behind, but to Mary’s surprise, the Suit easily did a roundhouse kick and the local just… well, he went down and flew a few steps away until he landed near Mary’s feet. “Okay, dude, seriously, you are busting my vibe!” Mary yelled, albeit admittedly impressed at the speed and power the Suit possessed, especially after seeing the local at her feet groaning, with the vampiric glow in his eyes suddenly all gone from defeat. “I could’ve handled these kids! They were supposed to be—” Mary was saying when she stood and looked back up—only to see that the Suit was finally looking her way.

She stopped as she finally recognized the glowing light brown eyes that met hers from meters away. She should’ve noticed it before—the way he stood so calmly, how he walked with his hands behind his back even in a fight, the way he would only need to make one big and snappy movement to attack so unexpectedly.

“You!” Mary’s voice was low and accusing as she pointed a finger at him. She was just about to take a step forward when she sensed someone coming at her from behind. Quickly, Mary ducked just in time as her previous local boy tried to get a grab at her. She managed to grab at his ankle before he passed, and before he could do anything, her knee was on the back of his neck, pressing his face down in the sand while she pulled on one of his arms and she pointed a dagger to his cheek.

“I’m not in the mood to play right now. I’ve got bigger Council fish to fry,” Mary growled at him, and it would have been a nice and smug moment, too—finally being able to pull some joints and hurt some vampire butt while talking smack, but Mary couldn’t enjoy all of that when she could see that in front of her, the Suit picked up one of the locals and easily threw him over above Mary’s head. To her surprise, it landed straight at the other vampire who was apparently trying to sneak up on her.

“Cheeky little…” Mary muttered under her breath as the man slightly smirked at the pride of his aim and timing. “I didn’t need your help! If you’re here to kill me, why not just come here to finish the job?” she aggressively asked, pinning the boy underneath her harder down to the ground. Meanwhile, the Suit barely glanced at her for a second, since the two remaining locals surrounding him finally came went at him at the exact same time—one aiming for the head and the other for the feet, both strong and agile.

Mary watched with interest at how the Suit ever so slightly moved just to evade them by an inch or two, then with his bare hands, he just grabbed the two by their faces, kicked one leg up in the air and used that momentum to slam the two consecutively towards another coconut tree. Their bodies hit the trunk as if they were cartoons, then they fell on the ground like sad sacks of groaning sand. Mary had been in fights with or against vampires before, and being mortal with less strength and speed and lack of blood-sucking advantages, she had to learn early on that vampires loved to rely on their abilities. This meant that the best way to defeat them was through technique, and it worked most of the time—but judging from what she had seen the entire night, it seemed like mere technique and daggers were not going to cut it—not when the enemy moved like a freaking efficient war machine.

The Suit fixed his sleeves and craned his neck, his eyes now back to normal as he glanced at Mary from afar. “I am here alone,” he simply stated, as if it didn’t even cause him a sweat to singlehandedly throw around four of his kind just like that. “I did not come in behalf of the Council,” Gabriel said as he slowly walked past Mary, who was still holding down one of the local vamps. “And I certainly did not come here to kill you.”