My Blood Legacy: Bloodlines

The red eyes appeared first on the rooftops, then in the broken windows, and finally in the open doors of the main warehouse. There were many of them, dozens scattered across every possible angle, watching Victor and Nera without making any attempt to conceal the ambush. Darkness had completely swallowed the complex, but that did not hinder the vision of any vampire. Quite the opposite. The men positioned there seemed more comfortable now that they no longer needed to pretend they were workers, guards, or ordinary residents.

Victor remained crouched behind the chimney as he assessed the change. The hidden archers were still in the same positions, but now their arrows were ready. Other presences began moving below them, occupying alleys, gates, and narrow passages. Their objective was not merely to prevent an escape. They wanted to surround the two of them and drive them inside the building, exactly through the path that had been left far too open.

Natasha’s voice came through the communication ring with controlled urgency.

"Victor, fall back now. All the groups are still getting into position."

He did not answer immediately. He continued watching as a figure appeared on the roof of the main warehouse. It was the same face they had seen on the previous duplicates, but the body seemed more solid. The man wore a long dark coat, kept his hands clasped behind his back, and carried no visible weapon. Even from that distance, Victor felt the shadow trapped beneath his skin moving like something trying to find a way out.

"That won’t work," Victor replied.

"Why?"

"Because they don’t want us to retreat."

The moment he finished speaking, the first arrows were fired. They did not come only from the rooftops. Some emerged from windows, while others came from positions hidden behind crates and low walls. Their tips were coated in dark blood, probably poison or some kind of containment technique, and all of them converged on Victor and Nera at the same time.

Victor slammed one hand against the roof. Black Ice spread across the surface in a rapid wave and raised a curved wall around the two of them. The arrows struck the structure and began to penetrate it, but the ice thickened before any could pass all the way through. Nera spun her scythe, knocked away two arrowheads that slipped through a gap with the shaft, and sent both arrows flying back into the darkness.

A short scream came from somewhere below.

"One," she said.

"Are you counting?"

"Of course."

Victor smiled and let Black Lightning run through his legs. The ice around them exploded outward at the same moment, scattering fragments across the neighboring rooftops and forcing the archers to interrupt their second volley. Before the enemies could recover their positions, Victor crossed the distance between the buildings and landed on the roof of the main warehouse. Nera followed close behind, spinning her scythe in the air before landing beside him.

Six vampires advanced immediately. All of them had the same face as the duplicates, but two carried a different scent and weight. Victor only noticed the difference when the first attack came. One of the men tried to grab him by the throat while the others spread out along the sides. Victor dodged, seized the attacker’s arm, and made Black Ice climb his skin all the way to the shoulder. Instead of breaking free, the man tore off his own frozen arm with a sharp pull and kept advancing.

"These are better," Victor commented.

Nera appeared behind the vampire and swept her scythe through his neck. The head fell, but the body still took two steps before collapsing.

"Not by much."

The other five attacked together. Nera held off two while Victor advanced against the remaining three. A blade of shadow emerged from the first one’s wrist and passed close to his face. Victor tilted his head, trapped the enemy’s arm between his hands, and applied Black Lightning directly to the joint. The shoulder exploded from within. Before the body could recoil, Victor struck the chest with White Fire, burning the shadow that was trying to escape through the skin.

The second clone tried to attack him from behind, but Victor created a thin plate of Black Ice between them. The blade pierced halfway through the structure and became trapped. Victor turned, pulled the ice along with the weapon, and drove his knee into the clone’s face. The impact crushed its nose, but did not knock the enemy down. That confirmed what he had already suspected. Some of those bodies had been deliberately reinforced, built to endure far more than an ordinary duplicate.

Beside him, Nera laughed as she spun between two opponents. The scythe passed far too close to her own body, but she controlled every inch of the blade. One of the clones tried to grab her from behind. Nera released one hand from the shaft, seized his face, and pulled him forward, using his own momentum to throw the body over the blade. The other received a kick to the knee and fell. She spun the scythe again and cut through both of them in the same motion.

"Three," Nera said.

Victor crushed another clone’s head against the roof.

"Four."

"You can’t count my first one."

"I didn’t."

"Liar."

The structure beneath them suddenly shook. A line of shadow tore through the roof and split the stone from below. Victor and Nera jumped to opposite sides as a black column burst through the surface. Three men emerged from within the shadow, followed by other shapes that did not seem entirely human. They were stitched bodies, with arms that were too long, mouths opened along the sides of their necks, and plates of coagulated blood covering their chests.

Rowena growled inside Victor’s mind.

"That’s what I felt."

Victor looked at the creatures.

"The smell of corpses?"

"Corpse, animal, and vampire. They mixed everything together."

One of the creatures charged on all fours. Victor let it approach, then struck the ground with his heel. Black Ice grew beneath the creature in a broad spike, piercing its abdomen and lifting the body into the air. It continued thrashing, trying to reach Victor even with half its entrails frozen.

"Persistent," he commented.

"Burn it," Rowena ordered.

Victor covered his hand in White Fire and struck the creature’s head. The flame immediately spread across the plates of blood, burning not only the body but also the energy holding the stitched parts together. The monster collapsed into still-smoking pieces.

Nera had already jumped onto another creature. The scythe came down across its spine and split the body from top to bottom. A dark liquid splashed across her face. Nera grimaced, wiped it away with her shoulder, and kicked the corpse aside.

"That got in my mouth."

"Did it taste good?"

"I’m going to cut you later."

"I wasn’t the one that exploded."

"You were nearby."

Mirella’s voice entered the communication before Victor could answer.

"All groups, begin the advance. They have already attacked Victor and Nera. Natasha, keep the front occupied. Alexa, go down through the canal. Squad Seven, with me through the rear."

The entire complex came alive at once. An explosion struck the front gate and hurled wood, metal, and three guards into the warehouse. Screams began on the opposite side as the twins and Mirella advanced from the rear. Victor saw the glow of blood techniques crossing the windows, followed by the clear sound of steel cutting through bodies.

Natasha did not enter quietly. A dark pressure spread across the main street and made every nearby guard freeze for an instant. That single second was enough for Squad Six to break through the defensive line. Alexa continued transmitting positions through the ring, reporting which exits had been sealed and where the presences were beginning to gather.

Victor looked at Nera.

"We’re going down."

She pointed toward the hole opened in the roof.

"Through there?"

"It was kindly prepared for us."

The two of them jumped.