It wasn’t working. The vampire was just too fast.

Fletcher picked up the fallen bat. He held it in a tight grip, brought it up over his shoulder, settled into his stance, like he was expecting the vampire to oblige him by charging across the ten metres that separated them. Then he swung, solid and vicious, and for a heartbeat he was beside the vampire, the bat crashing into that snarling face, and then he was back out of range, the bat recoiling after the impact. The vampire roared, and Fletcher smiled.

He swung again, teleported behind the vampire just at the point of impact and then teleported away. Again and again he did it, and the vampire twisted and slashed and snapped, but Fletcher was only in range for the length of an eyeblink before he was gone again. The vampire stumbled to one knee. The bat cracked against the vampire’s ribs. The bat cracked against the vampire’s back. The bat cracked against the vampire’s head, and it splintered.

Fletcher was gone for a moment, and returned with an axe. He swung, teleported, and the axe blade dug into the vampire’s shoulder. But when Fletcher teleported away he took the vampire with him. He cursed when he realised what he’d done, tried to release the axe but the vampire’s hand closed around Fletcher’s arm and Fletcher screamed as nails perforated his flesh. Fletcher was sent rolling across the ground, clutching his arm and screaming. The vampire reached up, dislodged the axe and threw it away.

Fletcher scrambled up, fell, scrambled up again, running on to the pier to get some distance between them, to get some time to focus and teleport. It wasn’t going to happen. Valkyrie could see that. The pain was too intense. The panic had set in. The vampire moved after him.

Fletcher tripped and fell, tried to crawl on, leaving a trail of blood. The vampire hissed and snarled, but followed slowly, the way a cat would follow an injured mouse. It kicked Fletcher over on to his back, looked down at him, claws flexing. It dropped to its knees, straddling him. It wasn’t going to bite him. It wasn’t going to give him the chance of living as a monster. It was going to rip him open, from chest to throat. Its claws lifted.

Valkyrie dived at it, hooked her arm around its neck, hauling it off Fletcher and bringing it to the ground. They rolled and it struggled, but she held on, still rolling, and suddenly there was nothing beneath them and they were falling.