Marc remembered standing his ground as cavalry approached and realised a dozen horses and their riders charging in was nothing in comparison. Still, mass and speed could be leveraged.

Before the werewolf took a swipe, Marc quickly shifted out of the way and dropped to his knees. As all that mass of muscles and claws passed by, he swiped his blade as hard as his vampiric strength would permit, slashing the werewolf’s leg. The attack caused a deep slash that cut through muscle and tendons. That will slow him—

Werewolves were surprisingly more agile than expected. A set of claws grazed his back, cutting through his uniform and into the flesh. Marc tightened his jaw until his teeth strained, but he was not out of commission. I’ve already beaten the odds.

It howled again, but this time it sounded angry. Just because vampires were their natural prey, it did not mean Marc would just roll over and die. He dug in his feet and charged the creature.

Not to be outdone the eight feet fall killing machine did the same, approaching on all fours and launching dirt and rocks behind it. Marc knew he had one way out of this.

He emptied out the remaining chambers of his pistol aiming this time for the head. Had he been lucky he might have gotten an eye, instead he got more of the same. Can’t blame me for trying.

Upon spotting Marc it howled and clawed the ground making a huge gouge in the hard packed road. Marc stood his ground, as chunks of debris landed right by his feet. Seeing as hand-to-claw combat was out of the question, Marc decided to use what tools he had.

He took aim and fired off three shots from his pistol. All three of them hit in the centre of mass. I swear the rounds just bounced right off.

“Right, this thing can likely tango with an enraged polar bear,” Marc said.

“He’s not slowing down,” Marc muttered.

Next came the sound of a brick and mortar wall disintegrating as though hit by a sledgehammer. Fearing the worst he brought up his pistol to bear, just as the second wall gave way to the werewolf.

On its hind legs this thing must have been at least eight feet tall, and the claws alone were six inches long. It was literally a creature from humanity’s worst nightmare and the worst detail was… that’s not even a male.

How it found him, or why it was active a day after a full moon was irrelevant. A werewolf could decimate his team and he was not about to stand for it. There’s one small matter to attend to.

As the creature approached, Marc moved perpendicular to the creature. He focused on keeping just enough distance between them to lead the creature into the ruins of the town. Further away from my men.

That only seemed to infuriate the creature, before reaching cover there came a loud howl followed by a series of thumps that reminded him of a warhorse at full gallop. Marc expended a bit of blood to get behind the relative safety of what remained of a brick building. Sensing he was at a disadvantage Marc backed away, facing the approaching threat racing over the crater filled road.

“He’s not slowing down,” Marc muttered.

Had Marc been in touch with his emotions he might have actually panicked. Contrary to Drusilla’s firmly held beliefs that vampires were superior to all creatures in existence, that was not entirely true. There were things out there that even vampires avoided. It’s why our kind keeps to the cities instead of roaming the countryside.

He had never seen a werewolf before, but others of his kind spoke about them as though they were the boogeyman. They were said to be tall, wolf-like creatures that could stand on their hind legs. They were fast, immensely powerful, and could track his scent to the ends of the earth.

Without hesitation Marc walked up to the man and severed the head clean from the body. To ensure they were never again reunited, Marc kicked what remained a good distance and ran for cover.

His three shots would have alerted the snipers of a threat. Upon spotting the corpse they would immediately ask themselves why. That guaranteed that Murphy and his team would investigate. Someone will ask where I was tonight.

In a practised motion, Marc broke the breech of his weapon, removed four spent casings and inserted fresh rounds.  When he slammed it shut, he heard something in the distance. It can’t be…

One…

Marc was making it easy for his opponent as the other hovered in the background just out of range. Marc repeated his earlier combination to boost the man’s confidence.

Two…

He followed through with a slash which caused the man to smile due to Marc’s predictability.

Three…

He slashed again but this time followed through by firing off his pistol.  The gunshot corresponded with the sound of the high-exploisive round going off.

The man took a .445 calibre round straight in the chest, which caused him to stumble. With the man dangerously exposed, Marc freed his first opponent of their head with a slash.

Marc approached the nearest opponent wielding a rifle with a bayonet affixed. The combination gave them more reach then Marc had, but limited their mobility. Marc opened with a thrust, and followed through by a slash, giving him a measure of their reactions. The opponent turned out to be surprisingly adept with the weapon, as he deflected the thrust handily and followed through with a slash of his own.

The mortar made a loud thump as it hit the ground. Contact fuses sometimes failed to detonate given the soft ground. This initially appeared to be the case, but this also had a pyrotechnic delay.