It was then that she heard Cassandra scream and all thoughts of Frank were vanquished as she ran for the balcony.
Chapter 17:
Final Battle
Twisting in mid-air, and avoiding the sun shade over the garden, Cassandra managed to land on her feet. The hard landing jarred every bone and muscle in her body. She had set down on the soft soil of the garden, ruining a few of Aimee’s herbs.
“Oops,” she muttered, surprised by the guilt she felt for destroying the witch’s hard work.
Lifting her head, she coiled her body, ready to leap onto the house and scale up the side to rejoin the battle. Instead, she briefly glimpsed a dark shape crashing through the sun shade a second before Michael collided into her, painfully tackling her to the ground and smashing the air out of her lungs. Gasping for breath, Cassandra punched him in the face, and kicked him off her.
They both rolled onto all fours, facing each other. Michael’s grin was absolutely feral as Cassandra struggled for breath.
“So far, I’m really disappointed in you. I heard all these tall tales about your kind and yet you seem to be just a big old stupid girl,” he teased.
“I was just about to say the same thing about you,” Cassandra wheezed.
Anticipating his next attack, she lunged out of his attempted tackle and tucked into a rollover. Coming up on her feet, she instantly kicked out, striking his shin as he rose to his feet, and then hitting him across the face.
Wiping blood from his nose, Michael narrowed his eyes. “Better.”
Though she saw his fist coming, she couldn’t move fast enough to completely avoid the blow and he caught her side, sending her spinning. Quickly recovering, she ducked under his follow-up throw. Popping back up and facing him, she lifted her leg, snapping out her foot, striking the middle of his chest, shoving him backward. Michael moved to block her and she switched legs, revolving so her next kick was aimed at his chin. The impact resounded through her as his head snapped back.
“So, what are you, big boy?” Cassandra asked in a mocking tone. “You sure aren’t human.”
“Let’s see if you can guess.”
With a predatory growl, Michael charged at her, arms swinging. Cassandra found herself backing up quickly, blocking the swipes with her forearms and hands. The bruising impact of his attacks registered in the back of her mind, but she was concentrating too hard on his next move to pay it much heed. Dropping to the ground, she crushed more plants under her body as she swept his feet out from under him with her leg.
Landing with a grunt, Michael laughed joyfully. “Now this is getting fun.”
Gunshots erupted in the house, drawing Cassandra’s attention away from Michael as fear gripped her. “Aimee,” she breathed, rising.
Obviously b
elieving her to be distracted, Michael jumped up and struck out at her face. She caught his arm, and unleashed multiple sidekicks into his gut. He grabbed her shoulders and flung her to the ground.
With a chortle, he gazed down at her. “So what am I?”
“Fuck!” Cassandra exclaimed.
Very sharp canine teeth filled his mouth and his eyes were golden yellow. “Surprise.”
“Canis!” The word was a hiss of distaste.
“Such a racist comment,” Michael growled, amused.
Crab-walking away from him on her hands and feet, Cassandra felt a pang of despair as she realized the situation had just worsened. “What are you? A fucking werewolf?”
Stalking her, Michael shook his head. “Anubis.”
“You mean a jackal. You’re no god,” she said in a mocking voice. Twisting about, she clambered to her feet and dropped into a fighting stance.
Michael shrugged. “You’ll be on your knees before me soon enough, god or no god.”
The bruises he had inflicted upon her were beginning to hurt, but she didn’t dare to use the last of her power to heal. She wasn’t a fighter, she was a thief. Though she could hold her own, she had never truly trained to be the vampire hunter Dr. Summerfield declared she had been born to be. Suddenly, she wished she had trained and learned to harness all her abilities so she would know how to rid herself of the jackal before her. Pummeling him into unconscious was not going to be easy and she would most likely take a thrashing while at it. Plus, she wasn’t feeling particularly up to strength at the moment.
“Oh, fuck it,” she groaned, and attacked.