Happy Valentine's Day

Drew swore at himself as he raced through the city towards the Guinness Storehouse. He had just finished his last patrol and was heading home. It was Valentine’s night and his wife and their evening together was waiting for him. However as he came over O'Connell Bridge, he hear the blood curdling howl coming from up the river.

He didn't want to go and investigate, he was off the clock. And if he was to be perfectly honest, he didn't particularly care. But he also knew that if he didn't go, he would have the Classes all over his ass.

As he ran towards the howl, he started getting the smell of hops. That was the only clue he got to go to the Storehouse. He slowed down to take the turn onto Robert Street, the hops smell was starting to make him ill. But he stopped quickly in his tracks as he saw the body on the ground in front of him. He slowly walked towards it, drawing his sword from behind his back. It was an absolute mess. Vampire bites and scratches all over the body. This seemed to be a shut and closed case and would result in a visit to the Assembly but that could all wait until tonight was over. He was about to turn around when he stopped, a sick feeling now emanating from his stomach.

The body was a werewolf.

There was a vampire running around with werewolf blood in its system. Werewolf blood that already was infecting the vampire since the moment it took its first drop. The insanity creeping up on the vampire’s cunning hunter skills making the beast rabid. Now Drew wanted to bang his head off a brick wall. Why did a vampire decide to become unhinged on Valentine’s night? Ellie would never forgive him, he had never missed a Valentine’s day since the day they were married and now some vampire was going to ruin their perfect night. This made him angry.

He rounded the corner towards the main entrance to the Storehouse. It looked a lot more daunting and sinister during the night than it’s usual bubbling tourist attraction feel. There was plenty of tall buildings and towers, pipelines running in between most of the buildings. The vampire could be anywhere. He scraped his sword along the ground slowly, it’s noise was giving him a headache but it’s purpose was to draw out the vampire. If the noise gave him a headache then the vampire’s hearing would be pierced right through, especially in its infected state.

A shadowy figure ran past him on his left. He spun, sword now up in front of him. Nothing was there but he could smell the vampire. Except the normally sweet vanilla smell he would get was overpowered by something else, it was like rotting fruit.

“I know you're here. You stink to high heaven. Come out!” Drew shouted, his echo was disturbing him slightly. There was too much space and places where he could be ambushed. A vampire high on werewolf blood was not to be taken lightly. He heard a laugh from behind him, he turned on his heel quickly. Nothing. The laugh emanated from his right then, nothing again. This vampire was fast and getting slightly over confident. Something then flashed in front of Drew and knocked him back. He fell hard onto the cobblestones with his sword flying over his head and embedding into the wooden gate behind him. Drew groaned as the laughing was now closer, in front of him. He looked up.

“Rancid!” He snarled.

This vampire was part of Nigel’s recovery program at the same time Drew was. He was the only vampire to ever kill over his limit at that time so detaining him was a must. Nigel worked the vampire through his paces and was certain that he had succeeded in rehabilitating and taming the beast within. This was the only time that Nigel was wrong. Rancid broke free during one of the medical evaluations, killed most of the staff in Nigel’s department before breaking free of the building. They followed him and tried to detain him again but he just dropped off the radar. Or so Drew thought.

“I was back in the old stomping ground so I decided to grab a bite to eat. How are you O’Connor?” Rancid smiled, his thick London accent making it sound like he was slurring his words. Though with the amount of werewolf blood he had, he probably was beginning to feel its effects. He was looking a horrible red colour as Drew noticed a few spurts and clumps of  fur growing on his neck and hands.

“You're not welcome here Rancid so why don't you swim back home!” Drew spat.

“Aww and here I was thinking that you would be happy to get a bit of thrill or did he warlock subdue the big bad wolf?”

“That was a different time Rancid. Daes look out for one another now and you realise what you've done, don't you? You killed a werewolf. That’s a offence punishable for death.”

Rancid stopped and just looked at Drew for a second before smiling. His fangs were starting to become crooked and growing on top of one another. Drew didn't have a lot of time before he would change into one of those freaky hybrids. He only saw a hybrid once and nearly lost a leg because of it.

“Don’t tell me you’re the sheriff around here now O’Connor?”

Drew showed off his best unimpressed look as the vampire cackled as if it was such a big joke. Suddenly the cackling stopped and the vampire started making a gurgling sound. His whole body contorted as parts of it starting growing. He looked disfigured as his left shoulder bulged, causing a muscular hump. His right arm and left leg also muscled up. The vampire hissed as he looked up at Drew. Most of his neck and face was covered in fur. His jaw was wide with jagged fangs. His eyes changed as well, they were mainly werewolves eyes then his own. Rancid stood and howled. It was a horrible howl. Drew looked around for his sword and saw it embedded half way up into the wood. He scrambled up and grabbed onto the handle. He pulled it and it moved a few inches but it was proving difficult to pull it. It was either a strong gate or his panic was setting in. He never could think when he panicked. Drew turned around just as Rancid pounced up but the hybrid was knocked flying to the side and crashed into the concrete, causing a dent. Drew gasped as he watched the beast yowl and groan before looking to see who drop kicked it. His mouth nearly fell off when his eyes met the person.

It was Ellie.

“Ellie! For fucks sake what are you doing here?” Drew shouted as he pulled at the sword again.

“A ‘thank you’ would have done nicely there dear, no need to swear.” Ellie retorted as she lay her hands gently on her hips. She looked completely different with her hair plaited back. She was wearing a short sleeved black t-shirt and three quarter length jeans. She had a bow strapped to her back and daggers attached to the belt of her trousers. She wore a pair of brass knuckles on one of her hands as well as a pair of fingerless leather gloves.

Drew had to admit, she did look bad ass but now was not a safe time for her to be here. He needed to get her away.

“Ellie, you have to go home. It’s not safe.”

“I'm married to you Drew, when is it ever safe?”

“Good point but now, particularly is not a good time.”

“It’s Valentine’s night. I was supposed to be spending it with my loving husband. It’s not the way I would expect but at least now I still get to spend it with you.”

“Elizabeth! Seriously? Right here and now, you’re going to have this argument with me.”

Drew suddenly regretted calling her by her full name as he saw his wife’s body tense up and those small, dainty hands were suddenly curling up into hard fists. She gritted her teeth towards her husband.

“Don’t. Call. Me. Elizabeth!” she yelled.

Suddenly Ellie broke into a sprint. Drew braced himself for a punch of the brass knuckles at least as she sprinted in his direction. Suddenly she flipped over him and did a cartwheel before landing on the hybrid beast that had started getting up off the ground. She pummelled him again and again, left and right. When she cooled down, she flipped off him again and landed beside Drew. She and Drew smirked as he gently wiped a speck of blood from her cheek. Drew finally pulled his sword out of the gate and twirled it a few times. Ellie fetched a pair of daggers from her belt and twirled them by their handles around her fingers.

“Shall we my love?” Drew asked.

“If we must but you're re-doing the dinner when we've finished.” Ellie smirked as she went off sprinting towards the hybrid again, leaving Drew to catch up.

Drew swung at the beast, chopping into the thick left leg. The beast howled in pain as it swiped at Drew but Drew was faster and rolled out of the way before chopping the right leg clean off. Blood spurted from the wound and the beast toppled onto the painful stump of a limb. Drew went back to work on the left leg as Ellie was slashing and swinging wildly but perfectly timed at the beast’s chest. The hybrid was getting confused as where to swing or who to hit. It swung it’s huge left arm and caught Ellie across her own chest. She rolled back on the road. Drew growled. He came swiftly under the beast and drove his sword through his neck just as he heard a nasty thump above him. He looked up to see an arrow driven right through the beast’s skull. It looked like it had been timed just as his sword drove through the throat.

Drew pulled his sword out just as the beast fell backwards with an earth rumbling crash. He turned to see Ellie taking deep breaths, up on one knee with bow in hand. She smiled as she hooked the bow onto her back. Drew offered her hand as he pulled her up,

“Are you okay? That was a nasty hit.” Drew asked tenderly.

“Yeah I'm fine sweetheart, just knocked the wind out of me.” Ellie replied, brushing her trousers down.

Drew wrapped his arms around her waist as he pulled her in and kissed her hard on her lips. She answered him and they just embraced for a moment when Drew broke the kiss just to hug her tightly. Drew smirked.

“Happy Valentine’s Day Ellie.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day Drew.” Ellie smiled back as they interlocked hands and started to make their way home, to enjoy the rest of their Valentine’s night.