Clara Grey

To make sure, she opened her purse and found the contents were mostly dry. That was great news, without her phone there was no communication with Evelyn or—

“Are you still picking up video?” Clara confirmed.

“All clear here,” Evelyn replied. “We made sure that it was designed for short-term immersion.”

“Pretty smart for a baby vamp,” Clara said.

Disclaimer: This excerpt from The Van Helsing Impetus is currently in development. There may be typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. The image is sourced from Pexels.

The turrets came back to life firing at a high rate. Clara assumed they were manually targeting her position to tear apart her cover. However, the sounds did not line up with that scenario. The turrets were moving away from her, on two separate vectors. Someone is drawing their fire!

Clara peeked over the counter once more. This time she caught sight of the ethereal apparition of a man and a woman. They were familiar, but she could not immediately place their faces. Wait!

“Tyler,” Clara said.

“Lauren!” Evelyn yelled.

Disclaimer: This excerpt from The Van Helsing Impetus is currently in development. There may be typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. The image is sourced from Pixabay.

“You are a literal force of nature, ma chère,” Evelyn said.

“Well, it was a career in hunting or demolitions,” Clara said. “I may have missed my calling.”

“They pay better in demolitions,” Evelyn replied in agreement.

Tired of hiding behind the desk, Clara peeked over the top. The turrets came to life, their barrels trained to her position. She ducked back behind the counter and two rounds ricocheted where her head had been a second ago.

“Horsefeathers,” Clara said.

Disclaimer: This excerpt from The Van Helsing Impetus is currently in development. There may be typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. The image is sourced from Pixabay.

Ninety seconds…

“Come the fuck—” Clara swore just as a low frequency rumble interrupted her bitching.

As a ball of flame enveloped the kitchen and surrounding areas, the hotel’s fire suppression system kicked in. Within seconds, the deluge from the sprinkles left her soaked to the bone.

“It’s a good thing I wore black today…” Clara said.

Disclaimer: This excerpt from The Van Helsing Impetus is currently in development. There may be typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. The image is sourced from Pexels.

Three openings appeared from out of the ceiling. The void was quickly filled as a turret dropped into place.

Eighty seconds…

“Horsefeathers!” Clara swore.

The turrets locked into place and trained on her. She transitioned into a run, flapped her wings to gain altitude. Once she was three metres above the marble floors, she dove towards the desk.

Eighty-five seconds…

The turrets engaged, leaving craters in the marble. Only once she was entirely behind the counter, did the turrets cease.

Ninety seconds…

Disclaimer: This excerpt from The Van Helsing Impetus is currently in development. There may be typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. The image is sourced from Pixabay.