Graveshade knew Abby was there.  And he knew she was different. Her aura was stronger than the cattle that filled this city.

But Graveshade knew he was stronger too.  The abundant food sources had increased his strength.  And his mind had expanded as well.  He was no longer at the animalistic level he was when he entered this world.  With each kill he drew on the energies of his victim.  And there were plenty of victims.

The equipment room he was in was filled with racks and racks of oars on one side, and racks of rowing shells on the other.  Graveshade hid himself by lying behind a four man shell. He settled in between the outriggers and waited.  The prey was coming right to him.

 

Abby entered the office area and knew she had the right place.  The smell of decay filled the building.  She drew her saber and went into a crouch position.  The office itself was on the other side of a passthrough on her left.  The area she stood in had some platic stcking chairs for people to sit in.  There was a closed door in front of her and an open door to her right. Cautiously, she stepped throught the open doorway.

She entered the equipment room.  She found a bank of light switches and turned them on.  No sense stumbling around in the dark. The oars on either side of her cast strange under the multiple florescent lights. She tried to make sense of the shapes and shadows of the rowing shells.

The smell was stronger here.  She expect to encounter a damp smell, but not this swamp smell.  The smell of an overgrown swamp that no longer hoped for new life.  The smell of decay.  The smell of death.

The made her way over to the racks of rowing shells.  It has to be in here.  The racks combined with the smell reminded her of catacombs.  It was easy to imagine the shells as sarcoffi.

The attack came with no warning.  She was turning around when she caught the swift movement out of the corner of her eye.  Even with her increased reflexes , the creature managed to scratch her accross the back.  She managed to swing around and slice it with her silver tiped saber.

The two of them seperated and stood in front of each other between the racks of rowing shells.

Graveshade was still in the shirt and pants he had stolen. The shirt was now just bloody tatters of its former self.  The pants were in servicable condition.  Abby's slice had torn a section of flesh from his ribcage.  It hung there like a damp rag. It did not bother him in the least.  His flesh was secondary.

Abby shook herself free from her poncho. The room was warm enough and she was certain that it would heat up some more. The scratches accross her back stung and limited her movement. Already, their poison was working on her system, raising her heartrate slowly.

Abby assessed her situation.  The area between the racks favored the vampire.  She would have to push it out into the open where she would be able to used the full swing of her saber.  She thrust forward.  Her blade sunk easily in the necrotic flesh.  The vampire didn't even flinch.  It used the opportunity to bite into her arm.  She yanked her blade to the side, opening a large hole in the vampire's abdomine.  Black gangrenous intestines dropped out and hung limply.  This creature ignored physical injury.

Graveshade was patient.  He had injured his prey so he knew it was just a matter of time.  The poison he secreted from his skin would drive the victim's heartrate up until it burst.  Physical exhertion just made the process faster.

Abby switched the saber to her other hand.  Her right arm was bleeding heavily.  The creature was in no hurry.  It knew it had the advantage. Abby took a step back, made a feign to the abdomine, then quickly reversed direction and sliced through the neck.  The vampire didn't even flinch.  His head flew off and bounced off one of the rowing shells, leaving a dirty smear. Abby took a moment to catch her breath.  The creature's body was still upright.  She stood in horror as it moved itself and picked up its severed head and put it back in place.

Nothing could survive having its head cut off!  That was on of the basic techniques.  Her pulse was going crazy and throbbing in her ears.  Her back and arm burned.

Abby gathered her strength and fled.