His tome split open as Wayne started channeling magic into separate pages, preparing several more powerful attacks for an instantaneous release. He pointed his free hand around the road. Flame burst out of the ground before settling into faintly glowing embers, creating the shape of stylized flame emblems on the ground everywhere he pointed.
Everywhere just happened to be the sidewalks between the crashed cars and the buildings, a few points in the parking lot of a grocers, and at random intervals all along the street leading back towards the buses.
Traps set, Wayne turned all of his attention towards locating targets. He turned slowly, scanning every shadow in the thick smog. One shadow, behind the rooftop facade of the grocers, moved.
Wayne unleashed a stream of fire. It erupted from his hand like a stream of water from a fire hose. A very literal fire hose.
Within seconds, the entirety of the roof was in flames. A loud screech preceded a smoking person leaping from the roof.
Vampires, regardless of strain, tended to have a few distinct advantages over humans. Namely, strength and speed. Technically, one could say longevity as well, but that wasn’t much of a concern in a fight save for the potential experience a long life–or undeath–granted. Though Wayne couldn’t discern whether or not this vampire was the same as the one he had caught a glimpse of earlier, this one was not of the feral claw variety.
Any half-baked fire mage could easily negate the speed advantage of vampires through overclocking of the mind.
That just left strength.
Smoke trailed off the vampire as he ran, joining in with the ambient smoke in the air. He nimbly avoided all the traps in the grocers parking lot, thanks to his position above the grocers, no doubt. Both of his hands were clasped into tight fists.
Once the vampire came within reach, Wayne twisted on his foot. The high-speed punch went past his face, missing him by a hair. Wayne grabbed the arm and pulled downwards, angling all the momentum at the ground.
The vampire tried to catch himself by putting a foot out. Too far out. Wayne had no trouble kicking the vampire’s legs out from under him.
As the vampire fell to the ground, Wayne jumped back, gaining a little momentum by shooting a stream of fire from his fingertips as he sailed through the air.
That had the added benefit of torching the vampire.
Before Wayne’s feet hit the ground, he had already started scanning for another target. He kept the first in his field of view until the screams died off and the vampire lay still.
Two more vaulted over the crashed cars, one male and one younger female. Neither were of the clawed strain.
Wayne took three hops backwards, winding up with one of his preset traps between him and the two vampires.
One held up his hand, halting the other. He made a vague gesture at the ground. Whatever he was trying to say apparently got communicated, as the woman nodded.
Then they split up.
Wayne suppressed a groan.
Yet his lips quirked into a smile. The two were fighting a pyrokinetic. Only earth mages could contend with the sheer battlefield control that a fire mage could impose.
Wayne burned one of his pages.
He wouldn’t be able to catch both of them, so Wayne aimed towards the male. Best to take out the leader first.
A cone of hot coals spread out in front of Wayne. They started at his feet and extended out a good twenty feet, well behind the crashed cars.
The vampire slowed to a stop, looking down at the glowing ground. His eyes widened in slow motion as the glow increased in intensity.
All at once, the embers along the ground blazed to their full potential. A column of fire erupted, encompassing a good portion of the street.
The smile hidden by Wayne’s mask vanished as he watched the vampire leap out to one side. Flames licked the vampire’s jacket, burning it in places, but he seemed unharmed otherwise.
Unharmed and angry.
He twisted his head towards Wayne, spittle flying free as his lips contorted in a snarl.
His body blurred as he took off, leaving his companion behind in an attempt to close the distance.
An attempt he succeeded at.
Frantically backpedaling, Wayne burned another page to put a powerful shield between the two of them.
The vampire
But it stopped him long enough.
The embers of Wayne’s trap flared to life, forming a miniature version of the cone of fire. This time, the vampire was in the dead center and stunned from his momentary collision with the shield.
Being stunned did not stop his screams.
Nor did it stop him.
Clothes completely on fire, the vampire jumped out of the flames. Wayne ducked under and stepped to one side.
Now there was a vampire on either side of him.
Wayne faced the closer target, the male, first. He burned another page to send off a wall of fire behind him. The other vampire could probably jump through unscathed, but would she?
