No door opened.
In one instant, the heavy steel plate was torn apart,now nothing but ragged metal, bent outward like a tin can crushed by bare hands. Shards screeched across the concrete, and Morwen appeared in the opening.
He didn't walk in. The vampire in the black suit and sunglasses calmly stepped inside.
His long dark coat stirred once, as if touched by an invisible wind, then fell still. Morwen slowly removed his sunglasses and slipped them into a small pocket of his coat.
His eyes were no longer gray. They burned with a cold, almost white light, like molten steel freshly pulled from the forge.
"Run," Ethan breathed, but the word came out hoarse and alien. His tongue barely obeyed him anymore.
No one had time.
Morwen took one step and vanished.
In the next second, he was already standing in front of Ethan.
A gloved hand shot forward. Fingers closed around his throat. Ethan jerked backward, but it was too late. He was lifted off the floor, his feet dangling above the concrete. Morwen leaned in, almost tenderly, and whispered directly into his face:
"You were the most interesting of them all."
Then he sank his fangs into Ethan's neck without warning. The sound was wet and tearing. Ethan convulsed, his eyes rolling back, his mouth opening in a silent scream.
Flash let out a roar,a sound of pure rage and terror tearing from a throat already going numb from the wisteria.
"Let him go!"
He lunged forward, yanking a short blade from his belt,something between a dagger and a sharpened screwdriver, with an old symbol engraved on the blade that was once meant to ward off creatures like Morwen.
The vampire didn't even turn around.
He simply released Ethan, who dropped to his knees, clutching his neck. Blood poured between his fingers in the dim light of the lamp.
Morwen turned to Flash, slowly, as if curious.
"You're next?"
Flash didn't answer. He leaped at Morwen.
Morwen vanished again, dissolving into thin air, and reappeared instantly at Flash's side, already behind him.
The vampire's hand darted toward the back of his neck, but Flash managed to drop, roll, and slash the blade through the air.
The edge caught the coat. Fabric tore, but it didn't touch the skin.
Morwen smiled almost affectionately.
"Fast. I like that."
He moved forward, no longer disappearing but simply shifting,a blurred streak, a shadow that outran light itself.
One strike. Flash barely managed to block it with his forearm. Bones cracked, and pain exploded in his arm like white fire.
The second blow hit him in the chest. Flash flew backward, slamming into a metal shelving unit. Crates crashed down with a deafening roar.
Gideon and Bruno opened fire almost simultaneously.
Bang-bang-bang!
Gideon's pistol barked in short bursts. Bruno's shotgun roared once, and buckshot tore half the wall into splinters and dust.
But Morwen was no longer there. He moved between the bullets as if inside some kind of matrix or slow-motion film.
Flash rose, coughing blood. His tongue no longer tasted the bitter wisteria.
Morwen was suddenly beside Ethan again. He leaned down, ran a finger along the wound on his neck, and licked the blood from his fingertip.
"Taste of betrayal," he said softly.
"Rather bitter, I'd say. Very strange flavor…"
And then Flash did the last thing he was capable of.
He didn't lunge to strike, he lunged to latch on. His arms wrapped around Morwen's neck from behind, his legs locking around the vampire's waist.
He clung to the vampire like a wild animal, sinking his teeth into the cold skin where the neck began.
Morwen began to whisper.
At first quietly, almost tenderly:
"Little… stupid… boy…"
His voice faltered.
Smoke began to rise from Morwen's body. It crawled from his shoulders, his arms, his face. The skin on his cheekbones started cracking like old paint.
He tried to throw Flash off, jerking violently, slamming an elbow backward, but the movement was already slower.
"What… is this…?!" he hissed.
Flash didn't answer.
He simply held on, waiting for Ethan's blood to take effect inside the vampire.
The smoke grew thicker.
Morwen staggered. His knees buckled. He dropped onto one, then both. The hands that had been trying to tear Flash away now simply hung at his sides.
"Wist… er… ia…?" he forced out, and for the first time something like surprise sounded in his voice.
Gideon and Bruno rushed over.
Bruno grabbed Ethan under the arms and dragged him backward, away from the smoking vampire. Gideon stood with his pistol aimed at Morwen's head, finger frozen on the trigger.
Morwen lifted his gaze. His eyes no longer burned white. They were dull, almost human.
"You… poisoned… me…" he whispered.
"Like… a dog…"
Flash was still clinging to him with a death grip, though his strength was fading. His fingers slipped on the cold skin, now damp from the smoke.
Morwen twitched once more, weakly, almost convulsively,and finally collapsed fully onto his knees. The heavy impact against the concrete echoed through the entire hangar.
Flash slid off his back and fell onto his side beside him. His breathing came in short, sobbing gasps. His own blood and the vampire's ran down his chin, dripping onto the concrete in dark spots.
Morwen lay on his back.
Smoke now swirled around him in a thick, almost tangible cloud.
The skin on his face was cracking more violently. Thin black lines spread from his eyes to the corners of his mouth like a spiderweb.
The eyes that had burned with white flame only a minute ago were now cloudy, almost dead.