A Cleaver jumped for her and she dodged, nudging him towards Vex, who saw the scythe with barely enough time to duck. He spared a moment to glare at her and she spared a moment to grin back, and then more rage-zombies descended on them and there was a lot more punching and kicking and the breaking of arms, noses, jaws, ribs... Her heart hammered and her pulse pounded and her blood rushed through her exhilarated body. Her smile was black-lipped and her face was black-veined and her blonde hair whipped as she fought, and it was a good day to be alive and it was a good day to hurt people.

And then she looked up, into the big black eyes of a vampire, and her smile went away.

It sprang and she somersaulted over its head, its claws ripping across her back. It crashed into a group of rage-zombies behind her, sank its teeth into a neck as its claws lacerated those around it. Tanith bit her lip against the pain, feeling the blood run down to the waistband of her trousers. She didn’t take it personally. Dusk had no control over his vampire side. The creature hadn’t attacked her because of who she was, it had just attacked because she was obviously a very delicious meal. Juicy, even.

“How long do the effects last?” Vex asked, at her side again, using a fistful of energy to blast a sorcerer back.

Tanith waited until a snarling mage was close enough, then kicked him in the face. “Ten minutes or so,” she said, watching him twirl and fall. “Or until they’re unconscious. Whichever comes first.”

Someone stumbled into them and they both shoved him back into the crowd.

“Look at us,” Tanith said, “sworn enemies, but fighting side by side.”

“Sometimes it’s better the devil you know,” Vex grunted.

“It is, isn’t it,” she said, flashing him a bright smile.

Vex slammed an elbow into a sorcerer’s jaw and Tanith slid away from a grab and brought the ridge of her hand into the throat of another attacker. She backed up once again to Vex.

There was a lull in the action, as if everyone around them had decided to ignore them for a moment, and Tanith seized her chance. She turned, swung a punch just as Vex did the same. Her fist hit him and his fist hit her and the world tilted and she was falling, banging her head on some unconscious person’s knee.

Her vision swam. Everything sounded so very far away. She looked up at the high ceiling and thought of nothing. A Cleaver sent another Cleaver stumbling over her, but she didn’t mind that. It wasn’t the first time two men had fought over her.

The little joke made her smile, and then a worried face came into view.

“Tanith? Tanith, are you dead?”

Wilhelm. Looking scared. As usual.