Sleight of Hand by Mark Henwick Page B

long timber pole upright to one side, like a military standard, both hands on it, my weight on my back leg. I was just inside a doorway. I tried to look confident and as if I knew what I was doing, but my heart was hammering and my mouth was dry. I had no idea what it took to persuade a vampire to stop, or what it took to knock one out. All I had ever done before was kill them, which was an option of very last resort now.
    Seeing me waiting made them slow down: first mistake. They came straight at me: second mistake. They came in line, one at a time: third and worst mistake. Their strength in numbers should have been used to rush and overwhelm me from different directions.
    The first got the timber offcut, which had been lying across my front foot, flicked up into his face. Although there was no danger from it, he reacted and jerked his hands up to his face, leaving his front unprotected. I hit him hard in the stomach with the end of the long pole, hard enough to propel him backwards into the others. Not hard enough to rupture internal organs, I hoped. I really, really didn’t want the vampires to have any more reasons for coming after me.
    As he went back I saw unmistakable vampire fangs in his open mouth.
    Number two got the side of the pole across his chin while he was tangled up with number one and went down with a broken jaw.
    Number three managed to hit me in the face again as I launched him back down the stairs, but he took my pole with him and I had no time before the next.
    Fang 3 was the fourth through the door. He was a student of Kung Fu, and a very good one. His relentless attack of twisting, snapping punches quickly started to break through my defenses. I let some land, only partially blocking them, so I was in a better position to punch back. Any body punches I landed he seemed to be able to ignore and he kept his head well protected. I was in trouble, taking a lot of pain, and I was tiring more quickly than he was. He only had to keep that up and I was finished.
    Then he tried a movie-style coup-de-grâce .
    His beautiful, graceful kick went over my head as I ducked. My ungraceful fist went straight and hard into his groin, and I swept his leg out from under him. He slammed into the floor, doubled over and making noises like a sick puppy. Well, good news! At least one of the major disadvantages of being a man transferred to vampires.
    Number one tried to get back up. Ten out of ten for effort, boy, but not when you can hardly breathe. I slugged him tiredly and he collapsed again.
    Number two was still out of it, groaning and squirming on the floor. It looked like a broken jaw and concussion. I ran down the stairs.
    Number three had a broken leg and I figured he should have a concussion as well after falling an entire flight of stairs. He was lying very still. It was Fang 1. As a reflex, I checked his throat pulse, which I guess might seem an odd thing to do with a vampire. Regardless, he had a pulse of sorts and his eyes flickered open.
    I stepped back. “Next time, a written invitation might be better,” I said. “Then it won’t hurt so much when I turn it down.” I was unsure whether he was tracking well enough to take that in. He didn’t laugh, anyway. I went down the remaining stairs at a run and was out of the building and away.
    There was a group of people gathered around Mr. Obvious, one of them talking into a cell. I headed down the other way, trying to walk as if I were oblivious to anything else.
    At the end, I turned the corner to get out of view from the alley and leaned against a wall.
    I was still panting and I was nursing a whole new set of aches and bruises, but I was in better shape than any of them. I had gotten the upper hand over a group of four vampires and I pumped my fist in exhilaration. Yes! They were quicker and stronger than me, but they’d only learned to fight. I’d gone to a harder school and I’d learned to win .
    Sober thinking quickly took over. This hadn’t settled