Friday. 7:40 PM

The vampire’s movement was inhumanly fast. Taking advantage of the split second while my guardian shifted her balance with the momentum of the car, the vampire lunged, closing so quickly that she appeared as a blur in my vision.

My guardian didn’t have the vampire’s speed, but she had the practiced precision of muscle memory that came with doing something a hundred times a day ‘till it was unconsciously perfect. She flung out the hand holding the runestone, repelling the vampire’s advance while with her other hand she threw the water balloon, flinging it towards the monster.

This time, the vampire was too quick, and she slapped the balloon aside with a backhand. It burst, splattering the burning liquid over the vampire’s hand and arm but missing her face. Her other hand raked forward, razor sharp nails slashing at her target’s body.

I did my best to stay out of the way, stumbling back and grabbing one of the hand bars for stability. The last thing I wanted to do was fall and leave myself as an even easier target, so I clung to the metal post, hoping to stay upright.

A heavy kick from the vampire sent the warrior flying backwards, twisting in the air and landing on all fours, coming up in a crouch and lunging back into the melee. She ducked another heavy swipe, threw a fist at the vampire, and at the last second pulled her fist back, sending a surge of magical power through one of her rings.

The tiny gemstone shattered as sonic power lashed out, deafeningly loud in the enclosed space. The vampire pawed at her own face, ripping at something outside my spectrum of vision, then dismissed the effort and charged in a bloody frenzy.

With the vampire momentarily disabled, the warrior turned and ran towards me. Yelping, I ducked back, falling clumsily into one of the chairs. She dropped her runestone, grabbed the metal post, spun around it like an acrobat, and drove a flying kick at the half-blind vampire’s face.

Her foot struck home with a crunchy sound, flattening the vampire’s nose and leaving a dusty boot print on her face. Coming to her feet gracefully, she reached back and, with a display of incredible strength, broke the aluminum post out of its frame and spun it like a quarterstaff. It hit the vampire’s leg, swept her off her feet, and sent the monster to the ground.

Raising the pole, she struck down, hitting hard enough to bend the metal over the vampire’s back, then dodged back as a hand lashed out at her legs.

The vampire only seemed annoyed by the injuries, and lunged up, diving at my protector with more speed than she’d had a moment before. She raised the bent pole defensively, and the vampire grabbed it, forcing them both down the streetcar’s length, moving past me and up towards the head of the car.

That gave me an opportunity. Scrambling, I jumped on the satchel, digging through it for weapons. Mostly it was more holy symbols, some for faiths I didn’t recognize, but there were two more water balloons.

The other weapons would be useless in my hands, but I could throw a water balloon alright. Picking up one of them, I turned, flinging it at the struggling vampire. It splashed on her back, water soaking her clothes, and… nothing. The vampire barely seemed to react.

“Dammit!” my guardian yelled, her back pressed against the far door, the vampire pushing the bar up to her throat. “If you don’t believe—hrrk-”

Right. Stepping a little closer, I tossed the other balloon in a gentle lob, towards her hand, praying she’d get the idea.

She did. Letting go of her grip on the pole, she caught the balloon, hand blurring as she burst it across the vampire’s face.

That broke the vampire’s grip. The monster fell back, roaring in pain, as her assailant didn’t relent. She snapped her hand, bringing the runestone back into her grip.

The vampire staggered even further, stumbling away. I thought she was doubling over from pain, until she seized one of the bolted-down rows of chairs, heaved, and ripped it away, flinging the whole rack with startling speed.

The warrior’s eyes went wide and she dove to evade the massive projectile, getting underneath the rack of seats but losing her balance. The vampire took that moment to lunge on her, raking sharp nails across her back that cut through both clothing and skin, drawing lines of pale blood that spattered onto the floor.

I stepped forward, holding up the cross. This will work. This will work.

The vampire shot me a glare, rolled her eyes, and returned her attention to the real fight.

So much for that. Dropping the cross, I threw myself at the vampire, not so much in a tackle or a charge, more just a flailing assault that used my body as a blunt distraction.

I didn’t take the vampire to the ground. She was too steady for that, too strong, but it was still hard to fight gracefully with a hundred eighty pounds of journalist hanging off her body. The vampire spun, shoving me away with supernatural force.

Something in my arm twisted in a way that it wasn’t supposed to twist and I cried out, but it was an effective distraction. My guardian balled her hand into a fist, driving ringed fingers into the back of the vampire’s head.

Another gemstone exploded with power as the blow landed, supernatural force making the punch hit with an order of magnitude more power. The vampire was flung tail over teakettle, neck snapping from the weight of the attack, slamming into the floor.

The vampire landed, limbs flopping on the ground, her head at an almost ninety-degree angle to the rest of her body.

Panting, the warrior reached for her belt, drawing a razor-pointed wooden stake. Gripping the handle, she brought it down, pointed at the vampire’s back, offset just a bit so it’d pierce the monster’s heart with killing force.

The vampire rolled, caught the hand holding the stake, and twisted. There was another snap as the hand bent sideways, breaking the wrist, forcing the fingers to go limp.

She didn’t cry out. She just kicked, breaking the vampire’s grip on her hand. Stumbling away, she gathered herself, panting for air.

The vampire took the reprieve and got up, her head still bent sharply sideways, face melting with blisters that continued to bubble, eyes completely black. Raising an arm, she cracked her neck back into place manually, a few fleshy pops making me nauseous as her body fixed itself.

My guardian had no such luxury. Her broken wrist stayed broken, leaving her with just the hand that held the runestone.

The streetcar rolled to a stop. The doors hissed, opening, and a handful of pedestrians shuffled inside, oblivious to the damage, to the blood, the deadly warriors facing off.

“Point,” my guardian said, the fingers of her broken hand twitching. The doors shut again, and the streetcar began to move. “But my illusion won’t hold up if we keep at it. Not with the power limits in the city, not while they’re inside the car.”

“A fair showing, mortal,” the vampire said, black fluids draining down her face from her eyes, the whites and reds showing themselves once again. “But my council bounties have kept me well fed. I’ll be whole by the time these sheep depart. Can you say the same?”

“Only need one arm to kick your ass,” she spat back. Letting the runestone go slack on its wrist strap, she started moving rings from her right hand to her left, taking the two that still had whole gemstones and putting them on her middle and index fingers. “We both know he’s not guilty. The district advisor is ready to clear him.”

“That’s a problem for the desk sheep,” the vampire spat. Wiping a hand, she pulled away dead, swollen tissue, revealing whole skin beneath. “At this moment, he’s hostile, and resisting arrest. His blood is open for the taking. I can kill you both without ever breaching contract, and the commonwealth will reward me for it. They love having a monster on their side.”

“Hold it,” I said. “Are you a counsellor?”

“No,” the vampire said, as her nose righted itself, brown mucus and pus spilling out of her nostrils. “Just a paralegal.”

“Not asking you,” I said, shaking my head, directing my question to the warrior who’d saved me. “I… don’t know your name.”

“Agnita,” she said. “And yes, I’m a counsellor.”

It was an aside, but I couldn’t help but ask, “Where are your robes?”

“This isn’t exactly official business.” She glared at the vampire. “I’m off the clock.”

I paused. “Maybe an obvious question, but could you arrest me?”

She and the vampire spoke in harmony. “What?”

“Well, then, I wouldn’t be resisting arrest. I don’t know how her warrant works, but—”

“I can’t put you under custody unless I’m on duty,” Agnita explained.

“Okay.” I nodded a couple times. “So can you get on duty?”

Agnita paused, blinked, and reached for her pocket. “Hello? Yes, I can hold, but it’s—okay.”

While she waited, I peeked into her satchel, looking around for anything else that would be useful. The water balloons were depleted, and the other holy icons weren’t anything that would be helpful to me.

Someone came on the line, their voice tinny and distant, and Agnita let out a short breath. “Okay, yes. Greg? I need to be authorized for OT, immediately. Yes, I’m aware—it’s about the reporter. I don’t have a choice. Yes, I know—well, dammit, do the paperwork then!” There was a pause, and then she said, “Thank you. Thank you. I’ll make this worthwhile, I promise—got to go.”

The doors were opening again, and the vampire looked furious. “This is—-”

“Levi, you’re under arrest!” Agnita snapped.

“Alright! I am not resisting!” I said, quickly. “Do you need to cuff me?”

“Just stay in your seat,” she replied. Facing the vampire, she said, “So, beast. He’s off the dinner table.”

The vampire’s expression was furious, even as her face was restored completely whole and undamaged. “I’ll kill you for this.”

“And then you’d get hunted down and obliterated by the council,” Agnita pointed out, smiling with saccharine politeness that was probably intended as mockery. “Best not jeopardize your contract, sweetie.”

Just before the doors could close again, she slipped out the door, leaving just me, Agnita, and a couple drunk college kids in the streetcar.

Agnita slumped into a seat. “Shit.”

“Full disclosure,” I said. “I’m probably going to try and escape your custody, here in a minute.”

“Go ahead. I’m not on the clock.”

I blinked. “What?”

“That was a bluff. None of this is going to end up on official paperwork, that’d defeat the point. She won’t find that out until she checks in with her contact in Chicago, though, so we’ve got time to get this all cleared up.”

“Hell of a bluff,” I said. “What if she saw through it?”

“Then I’d have kicked her ass,” Agnita shrugged.

I nodded, skeptical but seeing no reason to say as much. “What’s in those water balloons, anyways?”

“Blessed water,” she explained.

“Holy water?”

“No, blessed water. It’s spring water that I offer to a goddess under the full moon.” Holding up the rune for emphasis, she added, “Pagan.”

“Right.” I panted. “Thanks for saving my life.”

“Welcome.” She took a couple more breaths to recover, before finally sitting up. “Now, let’s talk about getting you out of this mess.”