When Jubilee and I found ourselves inside a small restaurant located on the first floor of an old five-story building, I quickly realized I had slightly overestimated the locals. Chaos reigned here. People from the street were frantically searching for the emergency exit, bombarding the few remaining waitresses with questions.
Those who had initially decided to sit inside rather than outside seemed completely unaware of the situation they were in. This was mostly due to the small number of windows facing the terrace. People were starting to panic, but they had no clue what was happening, which only fueled the general nervousness and chaos.
I didn't have much time to assess the situation—I needed to hurry because a pair of vampires was likely still on our trail. I'd like to think Morbius would be able to hold them off, but he clearly doesn't have a twin brother, and physically, a vampire scientist can't be in two places at once. I hope not, anyway.
My experience told me to search for the emergency exit by sneaking through the kitchen. I quickly pulled Jubilee with me toward a beige double door marked with an unfamiliar, but recognizable, symbol of a knife and ladle.
The vampires turned out to be incredibly fast and agile. We hadn't even made it halfway through the small kitchen when the door behind us burst open with a loud bang, hitting the doorstoppers.
"They're here!" shouted the first of the bloodsuckers.
The kitchen staff, those who hadn't already fled, quickly hid behind counters, stoves, and some even dove into the freezer. This meant I didn't have to worry too much about collateral damage.
Grabbing the first knife I could find from the nearest table, I hesitated for a moment before throwing it—unbalanced and poorly aimed—towards the pursuer. I didn't wait to see if it hit.
"Run! Don't wait for me, no matter what happens!" I shouted to Jubilee.
She hesitated slightly, and I had to nudge her forward. I knew I was expecting too much from her, but the approaching danger was enough to push me into action. We had to either hurry or stop and fight.
Huh, stopping and fighting wasn't a bad idea. But doing so in such an open space wasn't ideal. I threw a few more kitchen utensils, not all of them knives, toward the vampire and her companion, who had also appeared in the kitchen. This gave us enough time to slip out of the room and into a long, wide corridor.
Not the ideal location for a fight, but considering the piles of cardboard boxes and wooden crates stacked against the wall, it would work. There was enough space to fight one-on-one without letting the second attacker get behind me. That was something I could work with.
Talking during a fight is generally frowned upon by critics, but sometimes it helps you catch your breath or trick your enemy into revealing something. Just look at Naruto for proof.
"Who are you?" I asked the vampires. "What the hell do you want from us?"
"Bastard," spat one of the girls. "What-what? Your cock doesn't interest us, believe me!"
"Don't all vampires love... sucking?" I threw in the most obvious, stupid joke I could think of. Well, what can I say, I wasn't exactly known for my eloquence.
"Walking trash," growled my opponent, "I'm going to torture you for hours! Until you enjoy the taste of your own blood on your tongue!"
"Careful, sister," warned the other vampire. "Don't let your anger take over! Remember, he killed our mistress!"
Ah, now it made sense. They were pissed because I killed their pompous two-hundred-year-old mistress just before meeting Blade. Honestly, I had thought the vampires were after me because of my involvement with that blowjob-loving woman. Thought they were coming after me to get to her. Shit, you get the idea, right?
It seemed the vampire community had noticed someone associated with one of the best and most efficient vampire hunters was hanging around, and decided that capturing me might be worth their while. Considering that before I met Jubilee, she had been more like a bio-robot with a single purpose, it wasn't surprising that Erika had almost no weaknesses.
Except for Obra, but that old hag was tough, especially after I healed her, and tracking her down wasn't easy. I, on the other hand, might have looked like an easier target for the other vampires to get to Blade.
But it turned out these two vampires had more personal reasons for coming after me.
"Gr-r-r, he just got lucky! Can't you see, he's just a regular human!" The vampire who had been the first to advance on me dismissed her sister's warning as unimportant.
That was a mistake. But I wasn't going to waste time trying to convince her otherwise.
"Marius!" Jubilee shouted from behind me, but I couldn't afford to turn my attention to her.
I knew she would have preferred to be in my position, but I feared she had much less of a chance of succeeding. Even if she'd likely had some minimal training at the Charlene Xavier School.
Before I could even think about responding to Jubilee, the vampire made her move. Very predictably, I might add. She swung her arm, the fingers ending in long, sharp claws.
The kunai shot out of the sleeve of my long shirt. I grabbed it by the handle and deflected her attack. Before she could register what had happened, I stepped in closer and pretended to strike.
No, I really did strike, but I wasn't expecting it to succeed.
Her body reacted automatically, deflecting the feint. The kunai was ripped from my hand and sent flying somewhere off to the side. I was fighting a real monster while inhabiting the body of an undertrained human, so I couldn't have expected much more. But I didn't stop. I kept closing the distance until I managed to land a punch on her jaw.
The blow was weak, probably because she had managed to position her fingers on her left hand like the point of a spear and hit me in the shoulder. It hurt, but only for a second. After that, it got easier. My strength kicked in without issue since I had removed my gloves just a minute earlier.
My fist connected with her jaw for less than a second, but it was enough to steal her strength for about twenty seconds. What else did someone with my talents need? Exactly, just to build on the initial success.
Pale as death, stunned by my strength, the vampire didn't manage to back away in time when I grabbed her by the throat and effortlessly lifted her off the ground.
"Let's compare chances," I smiled crookedly and squeezed, snapping her neck.
When I let go of the first vampire, she was still alive but knocked out of the fight for a long time. As for me, I had her strength for at least five minutes. I had long learned the formula: the time I steal someone's abilities is equal to the amount of time I touch them, multiplied by sixty.
A brief touch was enough to steal strength for a full minute. And if I found someone strong enough to last a full minute under my touch, I'd get their strength for a whole hour!
"Stupid sister," hissed the second vampire, and immediately took a combat stance.
She seemed much calmer, even though I had just easily taken down her companion right in front of her. Clearly, this vampire was taking me much more seriously. Too bad she didn't have the brains to analyze what had happened and make the only sensible decision.
Instead of just running away, she charged at me. Maybe she thought she could get me before my vampire regeneration healed my shoulder. I have no idea. The important thing is that it was her mistake.
I didn't rely entirely on the vampire reflexes I'd inherited from the defeated opponent. Why would I, when I could swing my fists and use a kunai just fine? Right now, the only thing stopping me was my body, which felt weak compared to my standards. If only I had even a weak chakra circulation system, I'd feel much more confident. But what's missing is missing. As a temporary replacement, the strength and agility I borrowed from the first vampire would work just fine.
My backup kunai was hidden in my left sleeve, and that was good, since my right hand was still sluggish. I wasn't a natural ambidextrous person, but I had learned how to use both hands out of necessity.
Now I had far more chances to finish the fight quickly—just one touch, and it would all be over. But I hadn't had a good fight in a long time, so when I gained the vampire's physical abilities, I threw myself fully into the battle.
My opponent was as strong and agile as I was, but she clearly lacked skill. She was more of a bipedal predator than a thinking being who had dedicated her eternal life to mastering the art of taking others' power.
Honestly, I was just savoring the moment, easily deflecting all of her attacks. At some point, the weapon faltered, and the kunai broke in my hands. The vampire snarled at me, but she didn't have time to attack again. The wall to her left seemed to explode into pieces.