Diamonds and Deviants
This picture my own - others from Google Free to use images
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Celtica grew contemplative. The only preterdeviants that had never cross-bred with any other species were the vampires.
She loathed them with a fierce intensity. She didn’t know if it was because of her hot-blooded nature or if it was something about the un-dead creatures that made her scaly skin crawl. Or on thinking about it, perhaps it was the fact that it was only ever the vampires that hired assassins to kill her.
Either way, she disliked dealing with those creatures. She knew it, they knew it and the rest of the preterdeviant classes knew it. The only ones that seemed to be oblivious to her unadulterated hatred of the vampire classes were some of the mongrels and all of the humans.
The Cab took a right turn, away from the main drag and in the wrong direction for her destination. She shook herself out of her reverie to realise that the bloody stupid cab driver had had tinted windows installed everywhere except for where it mattered, in the front windscreen.
The vampire had landed on his bonnet and had glamoured him before he had chance to register shock. Celtica looked to the front, took a good look at the vampire and smashed the rear window out with her feet. She clambered out over the trunk of the cab just as it crashed through the flimsy barrier, over the edge of the bay and into the water.
The vampire of course, took off from the hood of the cab long before it was in any danger.
Whether it saw Celtica’s escape or not didn’t matter to Celtica. She had got out in time, the cab driver was most likely dead and she was furious - with herself, mostly.
She took stock of herself, any injuries, damage to clothing and the like - there were none and she was surprised. Then she took off at a sprint towards buildings where there was better cover.
Then she saw him, the vampire that had caused the ‘accident’.
He stood close to the wall of the building she ran alongside. If he had expected her to slow down before she got to him, he was sadly mistaken. She got to him faster than he had anticipated and struck out her arm to ‘clothesline’ him.
He had not expected that move but as he saw it coming, he knew the human couldn’t do anything to harm him, he was a couple of centuries old, he could withstand an attack from a human.
He didn’t realise that he couldn’t withstand an attack from a dragon. Celtica decapitated him and as his head was spinning through the air, she saw the utter shock on his face and she giggled.
She wiggled her fingers at his still sentient head and his body turned to ash before her eyes. She had stopped running just as she passed him and the pile of ash that was left of his body was blown away in the wind.
She saw it scatter in the breeze but she knew that there was a strong likelihood that the vampire could be back if the clan leader had a good enough warlock to perform the crucial rituals. Slavic vampires were notoriously difficult to get rid of entirely and why on earth would anyone send any other vampire on a mission that was so dangerous and so important?
The head, which no longer had any awareness about it, landed at her feet. The eyes were glazed over and one eye was set in a squint. She booted the head away from her and it hit the wall just as it began to turn to ash.
The effect was brilliant, smouldering ashes burst forth in an explosion of bone, ash and embers. She laughed again, more for the benefit of the furious vampire that watched from a distance than for her own mirth.
“Either come down and face me or worry yourself into an early grave while you wait until I find you, you insidious, leprous parasite.” Celtica said in a whisper, knowing that the vampire could hear her every word.
To Celtica's surprise, the vampire landed before her and stood, if not unafraid, then at least defiant. “Yes, I’ve heard about you, Celtica Diamond. You go by a few names, don’t you? Miss Diamond, and to her very dear friends, you’re known only as Diamond.”
Celtica nodded. “Was that your boyfriend?” she referred to the vampire who had provided the pyrotechnic display.
“No, he was my brother. He will be my brother again once the warlock gets his act together.”
“You think so do you? You don’t think the fact that my bracelet and my boots being treated with holy water will have any preventative effect against his reanimation?” Celtica showed the vampire her wrist adornment.