Keep him talking, Abbie thought. Keep his attention away from the others. And pay attention to what he says. There may be clues about how to kill these things. “My first responsibility is to the people in this church. While I’m alive, you won’t touch them.”
“That won’t be a problem for me,” the vampire said. “I fully plan to kill you first. What’s your second responsibility?”
“You’re a real Chatty Patty for a monster,” Abbie said.
The creature pointed a clawed thumb toward the vampires at the door. “Turning a human into a vampire can be a time-consuming process. We have to feed him our blood, so the more vampires we have, the faster it goes. Since there’s only two of them—”
“No,” Abbie whispered.
The vampire laughed again. “Wait a minute. You didn’t know that’s what we were doing to the good Father? I thought I had made that very clear.”
“It has been an eventful night,” Abbie said. “I must’ve missed it.”
Abbie instinctively knew it was time to act. She knew she had to do something. The problem was, she had no way of knowing whether or not Tim was ready. One wrong move and they were all dead. With a deep breath, she decided it was time for faith.
Still looking at the vampire, she raised her right arm and opened hand. “Now, Tim.”
She prayed Tim was ready and she prayed he understood what she was asking for.
“Heads up!” Tim yelled.
Abbie risked a glance behind her. A makeshift stake – which was actually just a broken table leg – flew toward her.
With agility she didn’t know she had, Abbie caught the stake and quickly drove it into the heart of the lead vampire. She was surprised by how easily the leg plowed through the creature’s chest. The vampire’s eyes widened in horror and pain.
“My second responsibility,” Abbie spat, “is to rid the world of vampires. It’s a brand new job. Just started tonight, actually.”
The vampire fell to the floor, dead. Abbie calmly reached down and pulled the table leg from its chest. She looked back at the others. For the first time, she noticed just how young they all looked.
Seven of them were holding table legs.
She turned back toward the front entrance. The two vampires were now standing above Father O’Reilly’s body. “She killed him,” one of the creatures said. “She actually killed him.”
“Run?” the other vampire asked. “Get help and come back?”
“No,” his companion said. “It’s a church full of children and one nun. They must be punished for what they’ve done.” He pointed a claw at Abbie. “Especially her.”
“Kids,” Abbie said, “we came here to clean this chapel. So let’s clean it.”
With a roar, Tim and several others sprinted toward the creatures. Abbie joined them.
The remaining vampires moved with startling speed. Before Abbie and her mini-army were halfway across the room, the vampires leapt to the ceiling, using their claws to stay there. “Your murder of our brother has given you false confidence. You didn’t kill him because of speed or skill. You killed him because he underestimated your willingness to attack.”
“We won’t make that mistake,” the second creature added.
“Then it looks like we’re at an impasse,” Abbie said. “We can’t catch you, but if you get close enough to attack, we’ll kill you.”
“You think so?” one of them hissed.
With blinding speed, he dropped to the ground, swiped a claw across the throat of a young woman standing beside Tim, then leapt back to the ceiling. The girl fell to the ground. Blood poured from her sliced throat.
“No,” Abbie whispered, her heart aching. I’m failing them.
“Still think we’re at an impasse?” the vampire said from the ceiling.
“Go to the front of the church,” Abbie said to the others. “Now.”
“There’s a door up there,” Tim whispered. “We could run to the kitchen.”
“No,” Abbie said. She didn’t bother to whisper because she was quite sure the vampires could hear them, no matter how quietly they talked. “The back rooms are likely in total darkness. We need to keep these creatures in the chapel, where we at least have a chance of fighting back.”
“Smart decision,” a vampire said from the ceiling.
Abbie looked at Tim. “Why are you standing here? Get to the front. Now!”
They all ran to the area behind the chapel’s podium. Abbie stayed beneath the vampires. She looked at the young woman on the ground. A girl, really. No more than sixteen.
“Sister,” Tim yelled, “come on.”
Abbie looked at the vampires on the ceiling. “You’ll pay for what you did to her.”
One of the vampires laughed. “Just her? Sister, there are hundreds of people dying outside as we speak. Across the globe, millions are dying. Right now. Will you avenge them all?”
“Yes,” Abbie said.
With a hard flick of her wrist, Abbie threw her crucifix at the vampire. The small cross spun through the air until it embedded itself in the vampire’s left eye.
The creature howled in pain as it fell from the ceiling. As soon as it hit the floor, Abbie slammed her stake into its heart. She put her foot on its chest and pulled the stake free, then put her foot on its forehead and pulled her cross free.
She looked at the remaining vampire. “Come on down here and get it over with.”
“Wouldn’t you rather deal with me?”
Abbie turned around to see Father O’Reilly standing in front of the church door. More specifically, it was the toothy, pale monster that had taken over Father O’Reilly’s body.
“Oh, good,” Abbie said as she walked toward O’Reilly. “You’re up.”
“I gotta admit, Abbie,” O’Reilly said, “I find your enthusiasm a little disturbing. The entire world just went to chaos and you’re strolling around like you enjoy it.”
“I don’t enjoy it,” Abbie said. “I also don’t hide from reality when it presents itself to me. And don’t call me Abbie. We are not friends.”