Defending The Storage (1)

The warehouse, otherwise known as the blood storage facility, was basically just one large open room filled with rows upon rows of refrigerators that made Aurik think of the frozen food isle at the grocery store.

The room itself was surprisingly cold, even to the two vampires. Their bodies were far less effected by the temperature after becoming Soldiers but at the end of the day they were still the lowest evolution among their kind so this level of cold was still quite bothersome.

Looking through the clear glass doors, Aurik could see the multitude of blood filled bags that lined the inside of the refrigerators. He had seen how hospitals stored their blood and had to admit that there was no difference between this and that, even down to the bags they used.

'I could go a hundred meters in any direction and still not reach the other side of the room... I can't imagine how much blood must be stored here.' Aurik didn't voice this question as he could tell how serious Reggie's mood had become.

He silently followed his fellow vampire through the rows of blood and up a staircase on the far side of the room, against the wall. This led the pair onto a wire mesh walkway above the main room that skirted along the edges and had occasional paths leading directly across.

There didn't seem to be any rooms or entrances on this level, although there were some windows that were easily reached from the walkway, which made Aurik think that this was the reason for the walkway's existence, since there was no other reasons apparent.

Reggie walked along the walkway until the duo were standing directly above the main entrance, he then stopped in his tracks and took out his sword while turning to look at Aurik.

"This is it. They're coming here to destroy everything so they won't bother to sneak in or find a less conspicuous entrance. The moment they're inside and we have a clear line of attack, we both drop down and plunge a sword in to one of their members to lower the numbers. After that we'll have one, maybe two seconds to slash another before they're able to react so don't hesitate, we need to even the playing field as soon as possible."

Aurik nodded and unsheathed his sword as he mentally prepared himself for what was about to happen. He had never intentionally killed anyone before and although he was confident he could do it without too much fuss it was still making him nervous thinking about it.

Reggie climbed over the safety railing and hung onto it with his free hand while crouching down. Aurik couldn't help but compare the man to a tiger who was stalking it's prey, waiting for the right time to strike.

The newly created vampire mimicked the guard and hopped over the railing. For several minutes there was silence, not a word was spoken and not a sound was heard, to the point where Aurik was starting to worry that he had gone to the wrong place, that the attack was happening somewhere else entirely.

'From the way everyone spoke it seemed like there were multiple storages around the city, what if this is the wrong one? That secretary said this was the closest one so I just came here without thinking too much about it...' The doubts were starting to affect Aurik's confidence and he was about to say something when a loud thud was heard from below.

The two Vampires exchanged glances, subconsciously tightening the grip on their weapons. Another thud was heard and this time they were certain it was coming from outside the main entrance's large metallic sliding door.

After several thuds the door suddenly began to slide open and a deep voice filtered into the warehouse.

"That damn lock was thicker that I thought it would be." The man said while sighing.

"Just admit that you're weak." A woman's voice said in quick reply.

"What! I dare you to say that again!" The man angrily shouted back, clearly not worried about making noise.

"Stop talking." A third voice, masculine but not as deep as the first, suddenly said. "Something isn't right here. There should be a guard around here somewhere but we haven't seen anyone, even after making so much noise."

The group slowly walked into the room and finally came into view of the two Vampires waiting above. The duo felt their hearts drop slightly as they counted the number of attackers.

'Eight... how the hell are we going to take out eight Mages!' Aurik shouted in his mind. He looked over to Reggie and saw the same look of panic on the guards face that he had on his own, which only made his confidence drop further.

Reggie turned his head to look at Aurik and upon making eye contact he nodded and pointed his blade down at one of the people below. Aurik knew that the time had come and although he was nervous, he could say with honesty that he was afraid.

He lifted his own blade and pointed down, selecting his own target. Reggie nodded and began to silently mouth some words that were all to easy to understand.

"Three. Two. One."

The pair jumped from their places without hesitation, ignoring any fear or anxiety they felt, and aimed their blades at the chosen targets. Aurik had chosen a larger man without hair, the person he least wanted to fight in open combat.

He aimed the tip of his sword at the mans neck and and felt as the blade penetrated the skin and continued to push through without a hint of resistance. A spurt of blood ejected from the wound, partially covering Aurik's face as his weight shoved the man to the ground.

His hands were shaking and his breathing was unsteady but Aurik remembered Reggie's words and pulled on the sword as hard as he could, ripping it out of the man's body and immediately swinging at the man who complained about the lock. Less than a second had passed and even Aurik was surprised at how quick he was moving, which made him very confident that this attack would land without issue. 

The edge of his blade was just a few centimetres from the man's throat when his foot shot forward and slammed into Aurik's chest, launching his body backwards and sending him rolling across the floor.

 Aurik coughed several times and tried to stand up as quickly as possible to defend himself but found that his arms felt weak. He looked over towards Reggie and saw that something similar had happened to him as he too was sprawled on the floor.

"Well shit, I guess we found the guards!" The man that kicked Aurik said as he raised a hand and lightly touched the cut on his neck that was bleeding lightly. A smile spread across his face as he looked Aurik on the ground. "That one's mine." 

A moment after the words left his mouth the man's body started to swell up and his clothes tightened around him. His nails grew longer and took on a similar appearance to the claws of an animal as a thin layer of fur/hair began to grow on his face and hands.

'They aren't Mages...' Reggie thought as he looked at the animalistic man. 'They're Therians.'