Warriors of Poseidon 06 - Atlantis Betrayed

unarmed.
    “Nice night for an ambush,” Christophe called out to the vamps as he balanced energy spheres in each hand. “Didn’t have anything else to do? Polish your fangs, for instance?”
    “You were heard inquiring about the Siren, human,” the lead vampire hissed. “We would suggest you drop your inquiry.”
    “You need four carloads of goons to tell me that?”
    “Bit melodramatic, wasn’t it?” Sean said, moving into place with his back to Christophe’s back. “I thought vamps could fly.”
    Atlantis Betrayed – Warriors of Poseidon 06
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    “Some can. This lot are obviously the weaklings.”
    “We plan to kill you,” the vampire said. “Unless you tell us, right now, who has Vanquish and where it is.”
    “Interesting form of suggestion,” Christophe said. “Lots of vampires have planned to kill me before, bloodsucker.”
    He hurled the energy spheres, twin gleaming arcs of death that exploded the heads of the speaker and another vampire on contact.
    “Usually only once,” Christophe added.
    The rest of the vampires, shrieking and hissing, leapt and crawled toward Christophe and Sean in a dark swarm of evil, bending and twisting in such inhuman ways that the mere sight of them almost made Fiona’s heart stutter in her chest again. But she mentally kicked her own arse to get moving.
    She was the Scarlet Ninja, for Saint George’s sake. She was not a helpless ninny. She threw herself into a low somersault between the legs of two vampires leaping around the back of her car, and escaped the closing perimeter of attackers.
    When she looked back at them, Christophe had daggers in each hand and was—unbelievably—grinning.
    It was the fierce, exultant joy of a warrior in action, and she instantly knew in her heart that everything he’d told her about Atlantis was nothing but the truth. She ran back a few steps, carefully checking the vampire’s vehicle to be sure no one was hiding in it, and pulled the slender vials out of the pouches inside her sleeves.
    One of Hopkins’s inventions, the thick plastic vials hid in the draped fabric of her loose sleeves. They fit in the palms of her hands and she could rapidly uncap them with a thumb, which she did. Then she headed back into the fray to surprise a few vampires.
    She dashed out from behind the SUV then stopped, frozen in shock by the battle being waged with tooth and dagger in front of her. Never once in her time as a thief had she encountered violence on an up-close-and-personal level, and it was nothing like in the films. This blood didn’t spray artistically through the air.
    No, it stained the side of Sean’s head and ran down Christophe’s arm and the side of his chest. They were black stains, glistening wetness in the dark. The vampires didn’t bleed, though. They exploded into a greenish-black wave of slime, which she knew would be acidic to the touch. Christophe and Sean had already killed at least four of them, maybe more, but there were seven left and they were attacking in waves, too close for one of Christophe’s magic spears to be effective.
    He sliced at one’s head with his dagger and it yanked its head back, laughing and hissing at him.
    “Fool. Do you think we are all so easy to kill? I have—” It stopped talking and shrieked, looking down.
    Though Fiona couldn’t see its chest, it was easy enough to see what had happened.
    There was a silvery tip poking out of the left side of its back.
    Atlantis Betrayed – Warriors of Poseidon 06
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    Sean cried out as a vamp sank its teeth into the side of his neck, and the sight broke Fiona out of her shock. She heard a scream, the sound like that of a banshee’s death herald, but she was running before she realized that she was the one screaming. She hurtled full speed into the back of the vampire attacking Sean, and dashed the entire contents of the vial onto the side of its face.
    The vampire shrieked so loudly something in her ear canals popped with the pain, but she held on desperately to its shoulders as it released Sean, flailing around and clawing at the smoking ruin of its face and eye. The holy water carved crevasses in its flesh, and she threw herself away from it as it fell to the ground, screeching and hissing.
    She dropped the empty vial, still holding on to the shadows that concealed her from sight, smell, and sound, and ran to the left a few paces away from the dying vampire. The rest of them had to know someone—or