Tunnel vision swirled around her, blocking out everything but the next second and then the one after that-thuds of time that sped by much too quickly, bringing the monsters with them. Instinctively, she bent her knees and aimed the gun at her own attack creature. But she was too slow.

It'd already doubled its tail back, then sliced it through the air in a stuttering, whistling arc that blurred her sight. Before Dawn could process the motion, it had swept her legs out from under her, a stinging shock of agony cutting through her jeans and to the flesh of one of her calves, the force of its tail-snap crashing her to the ground. Her gun went flying out of her hand.

For a stunned second, Dawn saw something blinking at her from the black sky.

Stars. Those are called stars, and you're on your back looking at them, you idiot....

A swooping sound forced her to spring to a crouch, just as she'd been trained to do. Her leg was smarting, but there was no chance to think about that as a long tail flashed at her. Dawn ducked, glanced madly around for her gun, spied it about three feet away. She was vaguely aware of Kiko and Breisi tangling with the other two things, but that was white noise.

All Dawn could register was that she needed to survive, needed to overcome the thumping blood in her veins, the fast-forward zoom of a fight she didn't know if she could handle since it wasn't ch.o.r.eographed move by move.

Without glancing at the creature, she knew deep in her gut that it had caught sight of her gun, too. An endless moment pa.s.sed as Dawn felt the thing crouching on the ground, staring at her, daring her to go for her weapon.

Ga-gump, ga-gump...

Her heartbeat darted around each chopping catch of breath. Don't look at it, she kept thinking. Don't you dare look at that thing again. Its gaze is likeyourcrucifix....

d.a.m.n it, she had to get that revolver. Had to- A drawn-out hiss reminded her that her enemy was only a few feet away.

Get it before it gets you!

Adrenaline bursting, she sprang toward the weapon, ears full of that whipping tail's scream. But before she could get to the gun, the creature flew right next to it, landing on all fours, challenging her.

Fear speared through Dawn's belly: these things could fly with the propulsion of their tails. They could hurt her with the barbed end of them. And those fangs...those long, sharp iron fangs...

With a flash of white, the creature spit at her.

Swallowing a shocked grunt, she dodged to the side, but not before the stream of moisture hit her arm with a sizzling burn.

"Ahhh!"Dawn darted away from another expectoration, while the spit ate away at her flesh. She gritted her teeth to keep from yelling again as she scrambled out of the monster's present range. Just in front of her, gra.s.s crackled, charred from the fluids.

"Dawn-duck and cover!"

Breisi's voice. Like a good stuntperson, Dawn followed directions, obeying her gut instinct as well as Breisi, because when you felt fear marching its cold little feet up your spine, you didn't think twice about getting out of the way. Heaving herself to the ground, she flattened her body, catching a glimpse of Breisi rising up behind the creature, just to its left. The woman was aiming that crossbow, and after doing a double take, Dawn realized that, instead of an arrow, it was loaded with a circle of silver blades, almost like a very long, wide-toothed electric saw.

As the creature straightened up and, sensing a new presence, c.o.c.ked its head toward Breisi, the woman pulled the trigger.

The blades exploded out of the bow in a flash of sparks, whizzing through the air with a high squeal of friction.

Swick!

Frantically, Dawn used her feet to gain purchase on the ground and launch herself away as the thing's head popped off, serrated by the flying blades. Blood showered outward, barely missing Dawn as she rolled to safety, just in case the blood burned, too.

From the corner of her eye, she saw that the creature's headless body was still on alert, claws outstretched and frozen in its last moments. Then, with almost beautiful ease, the black clothing sucked into itself, the body losing form and disappearing.

Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa...

The babbling litany continued in her head as she grabbed the revolver and bolted to her feet, ignoring her boiling wounds. She was just doing a job, right? Another day, another dollar. Nothing but a gig on Quentin Tarantino's set being catapulted through windows and beaten to a pulp by s.a.d.i.s.ts while collecting higher pay adjustments for the stunt's difficulty. She could take it.Screwthese freakin' mothers, she wasn't going to be deadweight to Kiko and Breisi.

The lies kept her sane-for now.

Breisi was already working on wrenching her circle of blades from the tree trunk where it'd embedded itself. Dawn also noticed that the first creature Breisi had been fighting wasn't around anymore.

Instead of asking what had happened to it-Dawn could kind of a.s.sume that Breisi had the superhero rah-rah to have taken it out already-she ran over to retrieve her crucifix, then search out Kiko.

She found him slowly moving among the trees, flashing his crucifix and gun like he really was a cop, except the crucifix made one odd badge. Without even looking, he motioned for Dawn to be quiet and still. He'd "read" her coming, she knew, but she wasn't in the mood to kick his b.u.t.t for it. Not right now.

Using his chin, he gestured to the trees. Panting, Dawn took that to mean that a creature had whirred up to the treetops with its tail, probably to escape Breisi's death machine.

As the wind moaned past her body, a branch snapped somewhere to the left. Leaves shook to their right. Dawn took one direction while Kiko took the other.

Fake, she thought again. All of this is what you're used to handling on the job. No sweat.

Snap, went another branch in the near distance.

Pop, went another, in back of them this time.

Waiting, waiting...Dawn wanted to scream. She felt the creature's eyes all over her, cold chills that reminded her exactly who the prey was.

But just as she was about to impulsively fire a bullet into the trees and beat the creature out of them, the thing took the initiative, whipping out of a bank of leaves right above them, its body shivering with that creepy stop-motion.

Its barbed tail whished past Dawn's face as she bent backward, barely avoiding its branding sting, even though it did smack her crucifix out of her grip. Expertly she recovered, twisted her body, spun around, and landed a kick to what felt like its head. In one smooth move, she brought her gun around, finally ready for more action.

The force of her kick had jammed it to the ground, but it wasn't helpless. Far from it. With its tail, it had engaged Kiko in taunting combat, wrapping its length around his gun arm and slamming the small guy to the ground as Kiko struggled to regain his balance.

And, lucky her, Dawn got the claws and teeth. The creature bent at the knees, biting at her, trying to scratch the c.r.a.p out of her face. She dodged it, avoiding more injury only by virtue of her constant training. Vigilant practice had allowed her to read an opponent's intentions-a skill that wasn't tested nearly enough in all her staged fights.

Adrenalized, she rose to the challenge, getting more confident every time she eluded the creature's snapping teeth and flailing claws.

Swipe, feint. Bite, dodge.

Finally, Dawn snapped her gun up to its face, avoiding eye contact this time.

"Heart!" Kiko said. "Aim for the heart!"

She targeted.

From behind, Kiko yelled as the creature's tail flung him away, sending the psychic crashing against a tree. Then, without pause, the tail curved around, zinging and vibrating toward Dawn as her finger squeezed the trigger, and she dropped toward the ground.

The creature only beat her by a millisecond.

The tail smacked against her arm, sending her and the gun flying just as the shot rang out. Dawn ate dirt, but, by some miracle, found herself face to silver with her crucifix.

With a b.a.l.l.s-out yell, she grabbed it and rolled to her back. The tail came flying toward her, the end gleaming like the barbs had somehow grown. She thrust up the crucifix, meeting the tail with it, pressing it against the creature, hearing a wheeze of steam as the pale flesh met its comeuppance.

The thing threw back its head and let out a tortured shriek.

Meanwhile, Kiko calmly stepped in front of it, raised his own gun, then fired into its heart.

At the impact, the creature seemed to self-implode, its mouth open in a silent scream, its iron fangs catching a slant of moonlight through the trees as it covered its bloodied chest with a claw. Tail snapping into itself and smacking the ground, the thing stumbled backward. Then, without further ado, it hissed into oblivion, just like Dawn's creature had done.

Its pile of black clothing simmered, bodiless, at the base of the tree as Kiko kept his gun and crucifix at the ready. Soon, the material burned to nothing.

"Breisi's pet ran away," he said, sounding slightly pained as he favored his left shoulder. Still, he was incredibly nonplussed, even with a stream of blood drying on his face. "And, d.a.m.n, you did some b.i.t.c.hin' good work when you locked eyes with one earlier.

No wonder the boss let you come with us. You might have some kind of resistance to mind tricks, Dawn, and he obviously knew that. I mean, jeez, making eye contact is a no-no because they can compel you if they so choose. I thought you were a goner."

In spite of the compliment, Dawn couldn't move from her spot on the ground. Literally. It was like she was in the midst of a quiet panic attack, just like when you hear a sound while you're trying to sleep, alone in the house, at midnight. A footstep down the hall, a shuffle of movement under your bed. A thud that makes you hope nothing has crept into your room.

It was at times like this that a body couldn't do anything but wait, wish, as if not moving will make whatever it is go away.

Dawn couldn't even ask Kiko if he thought Breisi's creature might come back for them, because from the way he was holding his weapons, the answer was obvious.

Moments later, Breisi joined them, all business with her first-aid kit taking the place of that crossbow.

She must've gone to the car, Dawn thought, careful not to move, careful not to disturb this fragile reprieve.

Straightaway, Breisi went to work, snapping on latex gloves, taking a sample of burned skin from Dawn's arm, depositing it in a container and capping it. Before she slathered some kind of stinking gel where the creature's spit had fizzed into flesh, then on the calf that'd been sliced by its tail, Breisi lingered near Dawn's silver arm bracelet. There were black char marks where the spit had hit it but, otherwise, the jewelry was unscathed.

As the older woman wrapped Dawn's leg in gauze, she noted, "Lucky. It didn't get you deep enough to need st.i.tches."

Dawn didn't answer. She'd started trembling, low in her stomach. If she didn't want to find Frank so badly, she'd have burned rubber at the sight of that first crucifix.

But she did want to find him.Hadto find her dad-the only realistic part of this whole freak show right now.

Through a slow haze, Dawn watched Breisi sit back on her haunches and inspect her. She had a streak of dirt on one cheek, but that was it. Unruffled. A new sense of respect washed over Dawn, a sort of reluctant awe of Breisi and Kiko. A grudging thankfulness.

Kiko, limping slightly, came over to join the proceedings. In addition to the blood on his face, his pants were torn. "Think she'll be okay? She ain't looking so hot."

"She won't turn, if that's what you're asking, fool. That thing spit at her and...check it out...the stuffburns."

"I got hit by its blood and it doesn't hurt." Kiko dabbed at the red on his forehead. "I just hope it doesn't contaminate me in any way."

"Boss says you need an exchange of blood for the change, so don't worry your pretty head about it."

"Thanks for explaining, Van Helsing. I knewthat."

Breisi went back to fussing, plucking at a glove. And why not-it'd been a whole few minutes since she'd gotten to whirl around like a hurricane.

"Besides," she added, "you're the one who had that vision about Dawn being 'key.'Youtellmeif she'll be okay."

Kiko nodded, already convinced. "Well, I suppose being key means she'll man up and stop being in shock pretty soon."

Breisi stopped fidgeting and glanced at him. "We went through the same thing at our first sighting, Kik. And we never had this level of confrontation with a vamp before."

They were talking like Dawn wasn't even there. And maybe she wasn't. Maybe she'd checked out of her mind and all that was left was for her to lay here just staring straight ahead, hearing the conversation like it was being held in an echo chamber.

She saw the psychic poke at Breisi. Back to Happy Kiko. "Did you see me in action? My kill disappeared, just like steam.

Sweet, huh?"

"Mine did the same thing after decapitation."

Breisi kept watching Dawn, who merely watched back.

"Oh." Kiko went quiet. "h.e.l.l, just because you lop the head off them doesn't make you any more creative, you know." Something flickered inside Dawn. Annoyance at Kiko. Shewasokay, thank G.o.d.

"Jeez, Kik, let's not be jealous of my saw-bow." Breisi was also irritated. "And don't make this into a monster slaying contest, because you'll lose."

"Silver bullet to the heart," Kiko said. "Tell me that's an everyday headline. I'm so good at this."

Breisi was still watching, but Dawn didn't have the strength to physically react just yet. Instead, her eyes started to close, just for a blessed second....

A smack to Dawn's cheek made her start to attention.

Breisi was staring at her, still gauging.

Skin stinging, Dawn lightly smacked Breisi right back by using her good arm. t.i.t for tat.

"Ooo, girlfight," Kiko said.

But Breisi didn't seem too put out about it. In fact, she smiled a little, then stood. "Get your booty up, Dawn. We've got a lot to do."

p.i.s.sed at being challenged, Dawn slowly rose to her feet, touching her arm as Breisi went about tending to Kiko's minor injuries.

The gel was tingling on her wounds, reminding her of how close she'd come to being cut into Dawn McNuggets.

"Thank you," she said softly. "I..."

Words failed her. She wasn't so great at this, even if she was grateful.

As if agreeing, Breisi paused, then obviously decided to go easy on her, nodding toward Dawn's arm. "Let me know if there's pain. I've used a new balm on you, my own concoction made with a lot of advice from the boss. I just hope it works like it's supposed to. I'll check on it later."

"Vampires," Dawn shook her head. "Vampires, you guys."

Currently under Breisi's ministrations, Kiko shrugged. "You're going to get to know more than you ever wanted about vamps, ghosts, ghouls, or whatever hides in every little kid's closet. If you stick with this, that is."

Dawn managed to look offended, partly because Kiko had taken a jab at her pride. "I'm not going to quit."

Turning her back, Breisi bent down and started to pack her first-aid kit.

Kiko gave Dawn another once-over, then motioned toward the lip of the tree stand. They started to walk toward civilization, knowing Breisi would catch up.

"Now that you're a believer..." he said, giving her an I-told-you-so glance.

She just blew out a breath.

"...there're a million things to know, Dawn, starting with the fact that there're all kinds of vamps. All kinds of ghouls. Night to night, we're never sure what we'll be dealing with, and some of them are even good eggs, believe it or not."