A Cat's Chance in Hell by Sharon Hannaford

sword was still sticking out of Genevieve’s decayed corpse. She could feel blood seeping down her right arm, not a good thing when surrounded by excited Vampires. Time for Elvis to leave the building she decided.
    “ Stephan, No!” Liam ordered in a stern voice. “The Master has offered her his protection. To attack her means death.”
    “ She hasn’t accepted his offer yet, has she?” Stephan bellowed back. “Get out of my way. I will avenge Genevieve’s death.”
    “ Genevieve attacked first. There is nothing to avenge. Angeli Morte had the right to defend herself.” Liam moved towards Stephan, apparently trying to force him to step back. Stephan suddenly cowered down slightly, appearing to acquiesce. Liam relaxed minutely, and then Stephan leapt into the air and soared over their heads, somersaulting before landing inches from Gabi in an aggressive crouch. He didn’t pause for so much as half a second before diving straight towards her. Time almost stood still as Gabi took one quick step to the right, spinning herself away from the enraged Vampire like a matador, changing the grip on her sword so that she held it pointed downward in her fist in the same instant. She noticed the other Vampires rushing forward, but they would be an instant too late. She continued her spin like a dancer, and brought the short sword up in a backwards thrust. She used all the force of her weight and spin to drive the sword deep into Stephan’s back.
    She didn’t wait to check that she had hit his heart, she yanked Nex out of his body, hissing as pain lanced through her right side, and took off in a dead sprint back down the alley.
     
    She could sense them following as she raced through the dark, empty streets. Only four, so Stephan was either dead or severely injured. Her breath was coming in ragged gasps and the pain in her arm and chest was sharpening with every stride. Two of them suddenly streaked ahead slightly to the right of her. So they thought they could ambush her again, fortunately she knew this part of the city well. She made an abrupt left turn into another side street, there was a well hidden fire escape just a few hundred metres down, this would get her onto the rooftops. Hopefully it would take the Vampires a couple of minutes to realise she was no longer on street level.
    She stopped at the ladder to catch her breath, and to steel herself for the climb up the ladder. Her right arm still wasn’t working right, she was guessing at dislocation, and she had definitely heard something crack when she had been crushed between Genevieve and the brick wall. Arm? Collar bone? Probably a few ribs too. She took one more shallow breath, slipped Nex back into her sheath and grabbed hold of the ladder, hoping she’d have time to pull her phone and call Kyle once she got to the top. She scanned for the Vampires, and felt a huge surge of adrenaline as she realised two of them were at the entrance to the side street, she didn’t bother trying to find the other two, she just threw all her concentration into the cumbersome task of climbing the ladder one handed.
    She reached the top and rolled onto the flat roof, biting back a groan as she stood up. She could now sense the other two Vampires coming from the right at roof level, the first two almost at the ladder. Gabi crouched down and ran for the nearest shadows, there was another building with a flat roof about three metres jump from this one, she angled for a spot that she knew was the easiest to jump from. Normally this would be an easy jump for her, but she wasn’t feeling particularly confident right now. She was out of options, however, so she left the shadows and started towards the edge of the roof, resisting the urge to let out a groan. She stopped dead in her tracks as she became aware of two Vampires appearing on the roof of the adjoining building. Then, a very masculine voice spoke from the dark behind her.
    “ Good evening Miss Bradford,” the husky male voice