Night World: Huntress

The fire-hardened end was very pointy. He wouldn't try to use that first, though. first, he would go for disarming her. The simplest way to do this was to break points and nerve centers. He didn't play around at this. A minute change in Morgead's posture alerted her, and they were both moving. He swung his stick up and down in a perfect arc, aiming for her right wrist. Jez blocked easily with her own stick and felt the shock as wood clashed with wood. She instantly changed her grip and tried for a trap, but he whipped his stick out of the way and was facing her again as if he'd never moved in the first place. He smiled at her. He's right. He's gotten better. A small chill went through Jez, and for the first time she worried about her ability to beat him. Because I have to do it without killing him, she thought. She wasn't at all sure he had the same concern about not killing her. "You're so predictable, Morgead," she told him. "I could fight you in my sleep." She feinted toward his wrist and then tried to sweep his legs out from underneath him. He blocked and tried for a trap. "Oh, yeah? And you hit like a four-year-old. You couldn't take me down if I stood here and let you." They circled each other warily. The snakewood stick was warm in Jez's hands. It was funny, some distant partof her mind thought irrelevantly, how the most humble and lowly of human weapons was the most dangerous to vampires. But it was also the most versatile weapon in the world. With a stick, unlike a knife or gun or sword, you could fine-tune the degree of pain and injury you caused. You could disarm and control attackers, and - if the circumstances required it - you could inflict pain without permanently injuring them. Of course if they were vampires, you could also kill them, which you couldn't do with a knife or a gun. Only wood could stop the vampire heart permanently, which was why the fighting stick was the weapon of choice for vampires who wanted to hurt each other... and for vampire hunters. Jez grinned at Morgead, knowing it was not a particularly nice smile. Her feet whispered across the worn oak boards of the floor. She and Morgead had practiced here countless times, measuring themselves against each other, training themselves to be the best. And it had worked. They were both masters of this most deadly weapon. "Idiot!' Jez didn't have time to say that Claire couldn't help her: could only hurt her. The vampire had recovered and was moving toward her in fighting position. He was big, probably over two hundred pounds. And he was a full vampire, which gave him the advantage of strength and speed. And he was smarter than the 'wolves; he wasn't just going to lunge. And Jez didn't have a weapon. "Just keep behind me, okay?" she snarled under her breath to Claire. The vampire grinned at that. H e knew Jez was vulnerable. She was going to have to keep half her attention on protecting Claire. And then, just as he was about to make an attack, Jez heard the smack of footsteps on concrete. Running footsteps, with a weird little hesitation between them, like somebody with a limp... She flashed a look toward the stairs. Hugh had just rounded the top. He was out of breath and bleeding from cuts on his face. But as soon as he saw her and the vampire he waved his arms and yelled. "Hey! Ugly Undead! Your friend missed me! You want to have a try?" Hugh? Jez thought in disbelief. Fighting? "Come on, hey; I'm here; I'm easy." Hugh was hopping toward the vampire, who was also flashing looks at him, trying to assess this new danger while not taking his focus off Jez.