chapter 3

She collapsed, the back of her head and back scorched with heat. There was a screech, a scream, like the sound of a bat burning alive, smelling scorched. Again screams, screams and again the smell of roasting, the sounds of gunshots, the roar of flames. Penny lay there, waiting for everything to calm down. Why so long? According to her calculations, the alpha should have already burned three times, and all the others should have died with it.

"It's done," came a voice full of doubt.

Penny stood up and shook off her knees. Piles of ashes that had once been vampires lay on the ground, and Penny crossed herself as usual, praying to God for peace for their souls: they had once been human after all.

"Does anyone have a charge left?" The High Inquisitor appeared out of nowhere next to Penny. "My flash is empty. Something doesn't add up.

"What doesn't add up?" Corin asked, handing the High Inquisitor her flamethrower, small compared to those carried by the rest of the squad. "The creatures lay down, all as one.

Corin was the daughter of one of the Bishops of the church and once, even before the invasion of evil spirits, went to the same school as the High Inquisitor. She was the only woman in the squad, and therefore she was protected: she was protected during missions, often left in the rear and tried to give her the warmest clothes and the softest sleeping bag.

Penny, of course, was also a woman, but first of all she was a fallen angel, so she was not treated with care. In a good way, she would have been dead long ago, if not for the High Inquisitor and his desire to have a fallen one in the squad - to lure and even more effectively exterminate the evil spirits, of course.

"It doesn't add up," the High Inquisitor shook his head. "The one standing in front of the angel is not the alpha. Otherwise, we would not have had to burn everyone one by one. Who still has a charge?

Everyone except Corinne nodded, grabbing their weapons tighter.

"We need to check the house," Corinne said. "I'll stay with Penny. So that she does not run away.

Of course. Corin was never eager to fight, but she was always looking for an opportunity to please the High Inquisitor. As if it was only for his sake that she had come here, leaving the safety of the city behind.

Penny would have said that Corin hated it, but angels weren't supposed to feel that way.

The High Inquisitor nodded.

"Alpha is still alive. Check the house," he barked at the others. "If you meet someone, shoot to kill. Vividly!

Soon, only Penny was left on the lawn, Corinne nervously biting her nails, and for some reason the High Inquisitor.

Penny was silent, and so was the High Inquisitor. Penny felt his presence with all her skin, the back of her head. She thought about what the High Inquisitor was really like. What he thinks about, what he desires. How he would live if the war with evil spirits suddenly ended.

"They thought they got rid of me," she hissed in Penny's ear. Heavy, icy hands closed around her shoulders, and fangs sank into her neck. His body was pierced with pain, and also with powerlessness. Penny moaned silently, trying to break free. Useless: a side effect of a vampire bite is weakness, up to complete immobilization and loss of consciousness.

Corin jumped to the side, drew a machete from the sheath on her belt, and Penny's heart stopped. Well, that's all. Now she will blow off the alpha's head, and with it Penny's head. If, of course, her skinny sinewy body has enough strength for it.

The High Inquisitor pushed Corin behind him, still holding the flamethrower, and Penny would have given dearly to avert his eyes. She didn't want to watch the High Inquisitor kill her. Better Korin.

"Burn them!" Corin blurted out. "Hurry!"

But the High Inquisitor threw away the flamethrower, and instead took out a silver pectoral cross from under his jacket.

"Credo in Deum," said the High Inquisitor. He rushed forward and hugged Penny and the alpha, pressing a cross into his face.

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Credo in Deum (Latin) — I believe in God.

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The vampire's skin hissed like acid, the fangs that had caught on Penny's neck disappeared, tearing at the skin painfully. The High Inquisitor groaned briefly, squeezed Penny even harder, and then the alpha's body, which Penny felt behind her, disappeared. A flock of bats squeaked by, and Penny buried her face in the High Inquisitor's chest. How tall he is.

Her legs could not hold her.

"We missed him!" We missed the alpha! Corin raged somewhere infinitely far away. "We could have killed him, but because of that, we missed the bastard!" And your blood! You're wounded, they've got your blood now, it's all gone! And all because of her, because of this stupid angel!

The High Inquisitor's body embraced Penny infinitely tenderly and infinitely tenderly. I was breathing heavily into the back of my head and pounding my heart against my forehead. And then suddenly it pulled away. Penny felt herself being lowered onto the grass, and then she wondered? – light touch on the hair.

Lying down, Penny didn't see much. The High Inquisitor approached Corinne, and then... hugged her? Did you squeeze it?