Warriors of Poseidon 02 - Atlantis Awakening

because they attacked in a swarm of hissing and shrieking, flashing their fangs and claws. Alexios shouted out a wild laugh and hurled himself into the thick of them, sword flashing and dagger plunging. Ven leapt into the air, shimmering into mist as he pushed off the ground and rematerialized behind the front row of his attackers. "Surprise, you sorry excuse for Dracula wannabes! Just call me Ven Helsing! Get it?"
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    Nobody laughed. Guess a sense of humor didn't travel well beyond the grave. With one stroke, Ven cut off the heads of three of the vamps, who'd very helpfully lined up, shoulder to shoulder, in order to attack him. "Personal best, Brennan! Three for one! Did you see that?"
     
    "Lovely, your Highness," Brennan replied, pulling his dagger out of the chest of one of the vamps with one hand and simultaneously hurling another shooting star with the other. "Your brother will be so proud."
     
    Ven tore into two more, using his dagger and sword, then groaned as a vamp behind him got the drop on him long enough to dig its filthy, unhygienic claws into the side of his neck. "Damn you!" He finished off the ones in front of him and whipped his head to the side, but couldn't disengage the feral vamp, who now had a hand wrapped in Ven's hair and was trying to get close enough to bite him. "Get your nasty-ass fangs away from me! And where have your hands been? I'm going to have to disinfect myself after this."
     
    The vamp reared its head back and struck, but Ven threw an elbow up to block its chest. Still, the undead thing was so close Ven could smell its rancid breath. Which was way, way too close. "Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you," he said, then reached up with the hand not holding off the vamp and sliced clear through its arm with his dagger.
    The vamp fell back and away from him, shrieking, but its hand still dangled from Ven's neck by its claws.
     
    "I am so gonna need some freaking iodine," Ven snarled, ripping the now unattached hand out of his neck, pulling what felt like half his skin with it. He clapped a hand to his profusely bleeding neck and whirled around to gauge the remaining threat.
     
    Only to see that the threat was entirely gone. Nineteen vamps lay all around him in various states of decomposing acidic slime. Alexios leaned up against the wall, boots Atlantis Awakening – Warriors of Poseidon 02
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    carefully away from any of the crud, and Brennan crouched on the edge of the metal Dumpster, five feet off the ground.
     
    "So. Good job, boys," Ven said, scanning the area for signs of any of the now permanently dead vamps' buddies.
     
    "Yeah, nice of you to notice. I took out my six, by the way," Alexios said, grinning. "Your Highness!"
     
    "Call me that again, and I'll kick your ass for you, my friend," Ven said, leaning down to wipe his blades on a clean piece of cloth that had fluttered to the ground from somebody's shirt.
     
    "My own tally was six as well, Lord Vengeance," Brennan said, leaping down off the Dumpster to a clear spot on the alley pavement. "You yourself accounted for the remaining seven, I believe."
     
    "You must be slipping a little, Ven," Alexios said, shaking his head sadly. "You would have killed at least ten of them in the old days. Getting old, coming up on the big five-oh-oh."
     
    Ven glared at him. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up now, ladies. You didn't think Ven Helsing was funny, but you laugh at me now? Losers."
     
    He glumly sheathed his sword, but then a cheerful thought occurred to him. "Ha! Just wait till the Council getsyou in their sights for the maiden-in-stasis lotto. As high-ranking sons of your respective Houses, you know you're heading down the same path of doom that I am. But for now, we're free to find some women who meet my top two requirements: they have to be—"
     
    A new voice cut him off. "Yeah, yeah, we know. Brainless and forgettable."
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    Ven had his sword up blocking his face before the second yeah, but now he lowered his weapon and laughed. "You got it, Christophe. Brainless and forgettable. Hanging back while we fought the vamps, were you?"
     
    Alexios laughed and shoved his daggers back into their sheaths on his thighs. "His pedicure probably took longer than he planned."
     
    Christophe floated down in the entrance to the alley, his body shimmering faintly with the essence of the elemental power he