I looked up.
It sat above me, on top of the streetlamp pole, anchored to it by large clawed feet. Blue-and-green pixelated armor protected its vaguely humanoid body. A helmet of interlocking plates shielded its head, leaving two triangular ears free. It had two legs and two arms and one head, but that's where the resemblance to Homo sapiens ended. Its spine was bent, not quite hunched over, but curved enough to permit it to easily drop down on all fours. Even with the curve, the creature was at least seven and a half feet tall. Its neck was thick, its shoulders massive, and its hips protruded at an odd angle, supporting a heavy lizard-like tail. Despite its muscular bulk, the dahaka looked limber, like a monkey. It seemed wrong somehow, so alien that the mind stalled, rustling through the mental Rolodex of familiar animals, trying desperately to come up with some sort of association for it and failing.
The creature stared at me with two glowing purple eyes. There was no pupil, just the electric-violet iris. Looking into its eyes froze me in my tracks. Instantly I knew it was vicious, cruel, and it thought I was prey. My thoughts and my feelings mattered to it not at all. Given a chance, it would hunt me and eat me.
"Target," I said.
The inn clanged, swinging the massive guns within itself to lock onto the creature.
It scuttled down the lamppost, slid down, and leapt onto the sidewalk just outside the inn's boundary. A deep sound, half subdued roar, half snort, issued from its mouth. The hair on the back of my neck rose. My body threatened to lock into a petrified freeze.
I glared at it. I would not be intimidated in my own home.
A small metal plate on its left cheek ignited with deep purple. "Give me the vampire, meat," the dahaka demanded. It sounded just as you would expect. Like it was a demon who'd crawled out of some deep pit.
"No."
"Then you die."
I had to stand my ground. "Come closer and we'll see who dies."
The dahaka raised his head, turning it like a dog listening to some odd noise.
I pulled the magic to me. My knees were shaking under my robe. The air between us vibrated with tension.
The dahaka spun about and dashed across the street and down the road.
Behind me a door banged open. I turned and saw Sean on the porch. He was in his human shape.
A red star sparked above us, plunged down, and exploded thirty feet above the sidewalk, turning into a glowing orb laced with twisted red lightning.
Sean cleared the distance between us in half a second.
The orb pulsed with red and spat out a man, who landed on one knee on the pavement. He wore black armor shot through with carmine. His long hair, a golden ash-blond, spilled over his wide shoulders and onto his breastplate. He held a long spear with the blood-colored banner of House Krahr.
A Marshal. My goodness. He was the military head of his House.
"They like to make an entrance, don't they?" Sean murmured. "Hey, you! You think you managed to wake everyone yet? Maybe you should bang on all the doors or yell fire."
The knight raised his head and straightened.
I stared. If you had to cast Lucifer before he fell, he would look just like that. About thirty, he wasn't just handsome, he was beautiful, but it was beauty with a touch of wicked edge. He had the kind of face that would stop traffic and when the cars finally finished piling up, he would quietly chuckle to himself about it.
"My lady," the vampire said in a deep, resonant voice. "I've come for my uncle. May I have your permission to enter?"
*** *** ***
The Marshal looked at me, waiting for an answer. Considering that his uncle was dying inside, there was only one answer I could give him.
"You may enter."
"Thank you, my lady."
"Follow me."
He trailed me down the path. Sean crossed his arms, shook his head, and joined us. I led them to the door. The Marshal thrust his flag into the ground and ducked inside, where his uncle waited under the glass hood. I waved my fingers at the flag. "Hide this."
The flag sank into the ground.
I nodded and went inside. The Marshall stood over his uncle, his face iced over.
"Remove the hood," I murmured to the house.
The glass rose above the body, lifted by a wooden tendril stretching from the wall, rolled off, and melted into the floor.
The vampire leaned over the prone body. His face turned grim. He leaned over the armor, placed his hands palms down on the chest, and pressed. Red light slid under his fingers. Probably scanning his fingerprints or DNA signature.