“I’m going to check on the woman,” Clara said.

“No worries!” Evelyn said. “I’ll handle the clean up!”

“Don’t forget my coat,” Clara said while removing it and dropping it by the alley entrance.

Evelyn must have signalled to Marc to make sure the necessary arrangements were ready. Vampires don’t exist for centuries without mastering the art of making people disappear…

As she walked towards those legs, her wings grew out from her shoulders. She did not need to take on this form, but knew she would get caught on surveillance cameras soon… I don’t need them to know that I can adopt other forms…

The angel knelt by the woman and made the only determinations they mattered. Her breathing was laboured but steady as was her heartbeat. She took her by the hand and smiled, even if they did not appear to be consciously aware of what was going on.

“Let’s get you to a hospital,” Clara said and in the blink of an eye they both vanished.

Before moving away Bastet slashed his forehead and neck. The first would blur his vision with blood, while the latter was done with surgical precision to distend the muscles needed to control his vocal chords.

Clara gulped, but continued applying pressure. At this point even the drunk could feel the intense pain building up. Those glassy eyes widened, and was about to let out a blood curdling scream. She covered his mouth with a firm grip, muffling the call for  help… that might have been loud enough to wake the dead…

Instead there was the sound of bones popping out of their joints and snapping. It did take long for the man to faint, which was exactly what Clara wanted.

Erik nearly tripped over his feet, and stumbled through the recovery relatively fast. He lost patience and threw a punch. There was power behind that attack, but Clara grabbed his fist and arrested the forward motion entirely. They stood like that for several heart beats, the man utterly unable to grasp what was going on.

That left Clara exposed, but she was not worried. Instead, she gradually squeezed his fist harder.

Cody ran into the fray only to be intercepted by a lithe feline that happened to be the size of a black panther. The force of her impact drove the man into the wall.

Separating a goddess from the whole could be done covertly. In this case that turned out to be tactically wise.

“What are we waiting for?” Cody said.

Emboldened from getting away with their first crime, every man converged on them. The lead drunk went right for Clara, and lunged at her. She moved out of the way, leaving a wide berth for Evelyn.

By then the vampire’s fingertips had turned into thick black talons. Clara knew just how sharp they could be. Hunters who survived encounters with the likes of them often mentioned their light armour did not slow vampires down.

If not for the scarf they would have seen her pearly white fangs drop followed by a twisted smile. Clara even picked up a quickening heartbeat, a sign that Evelyn was beginning to enjoy herself.

“Oh, I can get it up,” Erik said while pointing down the alley.

As humans, Clara or Evelyn might not have the time to signal for help. A night of hard drinking stripped them of reason…

“He’s—(all yours.)”

“Clara, Bastet requests permission to join,” Silver said.

Clara hid her frustration from getting cut off. Now was not the time to waste on coordination.

“Kitty wants to play,” Clara said in Latin.

Those words caused the drunks to look at each with furrowed brows. It was a dead language, so very few people heard it spoken aloud, especially in their age group.

“Sure,” Evelyn said with a smile.

“I’ll wait a week to see if Julia calls,” Clara began. “I have my doubts she’ll be ready for another mission.”

“You’d also put her at risk,” Evelyn said. “Why don’t you just admit it?”

“Admit what?”

“That you want to spend another week with me?”

That was a given, and squeezed Evelyn’s hand. By then they were close enough to have a full view of the remaining two. The footsteps behind, and heavy breathing, also confirmed this was meant to be a trap… they really underestimated who they’re up against…

“You might get your wish,” Clara said in Latin.

They sometimes exchanged more discrete statements in Latin. However, the vampire clearly spent far less time in church than Clara did. She nodded to acknowledge Evelyn and went back to their subject.

“It’s the only lead I have,” Clara said.

“You also need closure,” Evelyn said.

“I’d love closure.”

“Wouldn’t we all?” Evelyn asked. “The difference is that you have an opportunity to find it.”