Nikolai's roar of fury rattled the feeble table and chairs. His vision went nuclear with the sudden flood of amber into his eyes, and his fangs punched hard from his gums, stretching long and sharp in his anger. He sprang on the other vampire from behind, grabbing the big head in his hands and twisting savagely. The crunch of splitting bone and shredding tendons wasn't enough for him. As the lifeless Agent slumped over, Niko kicked his body away from Renata and pumped his skull full of lead.
"Renata," he said, hunkering down in front of her and pulling her into his arms. "Can you hear me? Are you okay?"
She moaned, but managed a shaky nod. Her eyes opened, then went wide as she stared past him to the ruined doorway.
Niko swung his head around and locked gazes with a human male he'd seen once before - the human who'd tried to get a look at Nikolai when Jack had come up to the apartment that morning. Jack had called him Curtis, said the kid was doing some work for him in the house.
As Niko looked into that emotionless face that showed no reaction whatsoever to Niko's glowing eyes and bared fangs, he knew what he was seeing now...
"Minion," he growled. He released Renata gently as he got back to his feet. "Stay put. I'll handle him."
The Minion knew he'd made a grave mistake showing his face after the melee he'd probably instigated. He pivoted toward the night outside and started running down the stairs two at a time.
Nikolai grunted, seeing red as he bolted out of the apartment in pursuit. He vaulted over the railing of the second -story staircase, going airborne as the Minion's feet were just getting their taste of pavement. Nikolai landed right on top of him, tackling him down to the black asphalt of the driveway.
"Who made you?" he demanded, knocking the human's face against the rough pavement. "Who's your Master, goddamn you! Is it Fabien?"
The Minion didn't answer, but Niko knew the truth anyway. He flipped him over and slammed his spine down hard. "Where is he? Tell me where to find Fabien. Talk, you son of a bitch, or I'll gut you right here and now."
Distantly, Nikolai heard the bang of a screen door. Footsteps running through the grass.
Then Renata's voice rang out from above him in the wrecked doorway of the garage apartment. "Jack, no! Go back inside!"
Nikolai glanced over his shoulder just in time to see the old man's horrifed expression. Jack's eyes held his in utter disbelief, his grizzled jaw going slack. "Jesus Christ," he murmured, his feet slowing to a halt. "What the...hell..." And then, beneath him, Niko felt the Minion squirm.
He registered the brief glint of a blade only a half-second before the human mind slave slashed open his own throat.
Renata flew down the wooden stairs in heartsick panic. "Jack, please! Go back in the house now!"
But he merely stood there, frozen in place as if he couldn't hear her, couldn't see her. Couldn't process anything that was happening around him in these past few minutes of complete and utter chaos. Jack was a mute, unmoving statue in the driveway. And Nikolai...
Dear God, Nikolai looked like the stuff of anyone's worst nightmare. Blood-soaked, immense, his face a terrifying mask of lethal fangs and fierce, glowing eyes. When he got up off the body of the dead Minion and wheeled around to face Jack, he couldn't have seemed more predatory and inhuman, his breath sawing through his teeth, his massive chest and shoulders heaving from the combat.
"Sweet Mary, Mother of God," Jack murmured, crossing himself as Nikolai took a couple of steps away from the Minion's corpse. Belatedly he glanced over and saw Renata racing toward him across the driveway. "Renata, get out of here!"
Renata ran to put herself between the two males - Nikolai at her back, Jack gaping at her like she had just stepped into the middle of an active mine field.
"Oh, Jesus...Renata, honey...what are you doing?"
"It's okay, Jack," she told him, calmly holding her hands up in front of her. "Everything's okay, I promise you. Nikolai won't hurt you. He won't hurt either one of us."
The old man's face scrunched in confusion. But then he stared past her to Nikolai and the dimmest spark of recognition flickered across his features. His pallor was ghostly white against the night all around him, and his legs looked like they might give out beneath him. "It is you...but how? Just what the hell are you?"
"It's not safe for you to know that," Renata interjected. "It would be too dangerous, for us as well - "
"It's too late." Nikolai's voice was a low growl close behind her. "He's already seen too much here. We need to contain this situation, and we don't have a lot of time before more humans get curious and make things worse."
Renata nodded. "I know."
Nikolai's hand came to rest gently on her good shoulder. "That means Jack too. I can't let him walk away with his memory of this intact. Everything has to be scrubbed - starting with our arrival last night. He can't remember that you and I were ever here." She winced, but she couldn't argue. "Do I have a minute to say good-bye?"
"A minute," Nikolai said. "But that's about all we can risk."
"What the hell's going on here?" Jack mumbled, some of his shell shock dissipating and the retired warrior in him coming online. "Renata...just what the hell kind of trouble are you in, girl?"
She offered him a weak smile as she moved forward and pulled him into a hug. "Jack, I want to thank you - for helping us last night, but even more, for just being you." She drew away from him to look into his kind old eyes. "You may not realize this, but you were my anchor so many times. Whenever I lost my faith in humanity, your kindness restored it. You've been a true friend, and I love you for that. I always will."
"Renata, I need you to tell me what's going on. This man you're with...this creature. For crissake, am I losing my mind, or is he some kind of - "