Yes, and the instrument of his chastisement was even now to hand…
All of these thoughts—these not-so-vague evaluations in the blink of a sulphurous eye; and the monster lifted its right foot out of the pine needles, reached forward and used a hooked toenail as sharp as a razor to slit Layla’s gown of fine-tanned skins from the deep vee of her neckline down to her knees, then brushed the two halves aside to display her naked body.
Paralysed with terror, Layla was unable to move a finger to protect herself; and now the creature’s jaws were opening wide, its crimson tongue licking ravaged lips, while that same hooked appendage reached slowly, calculatingly toward her breasts! The ancient thing’s intentions were perfectly obvious as it hunched its back and lowered its slavering, gaping jaws toward her quivering flesh. Why, with a single tearing bite this monster could slice into a breast like a warm knife through butter, severing its soft tissues to scoop it whole from the ribcage—
—But that wasn’t going to happen.
Close beside Layla, Zach saw what the old fly-by-night was about, gave up groping for his shotgun and threw up his arms to ward the thing off. But while the monster’s flesh felt horribly dry, coarse and cold to the touch—as a long-dead, or undead, thing should feel—still it had unbelievable weight and strength; so much so that Zach moaned his desperation as he realized that his arms could either yield or break, but they could never stop this terrific, inhuman force from descending!
On the other side of Layla, a fraction less than three feet away, Big Jon Lamon had stopped trying to raise himself up from between slippery forked roots, and having reloaded his revolver he now pointed it at the old vampire’s head and pulled the trigger—over and over again—before sobbing aloud and throwing the useless weapon aside! And:
Damn this rotten ammo to hell! Big Jon’s thoughts were chaotic—his mind in a whirl as he looked for a miracle and found nothing at least until the thought occurred: If only I…if only I had a knife!
What? A knife—
—But he did have a knife! He always had a knife, or rather his machete, which he used in clearing the way through tough or dense undergrowth; or when making camp; or at any time when its sharp heavy blade was needed, as when he’d used it on the sling of Ned Singer’s machinegun. It was simply that he’d never foreseen or imagined having reason to use it in hand-to-hand combat with an ancient fly-by-night, that was all. No, for as the onetime scavenger in Jon Lamon remembered well enough, that’s what guns were for…when they worked!
But as for right now…
He slipped the machete from its oiled leather sheath on his broad belt, and despite his predicament—jammed between forking roots from the waist down—twisted his body and swept his weapon outwards, inches from the ground, with all the strength he could muster. And a moment later:
“Ahhhh!” The leader sighed his satisfaction; for while the old monster’s spidery limbs were deceptively strong, still they were no match for the razor-sharp edge of his machete. The vampire’s clawed right foot—more like a hand than a foot proper—had been about to cup Layla’s left breast, preparing the targeted flesh for gaping jaws and yellow fangs that had descended to no more than five or six inches above the girl’s writhing body, when Big Jon’s curved blade chopped through its right wrist and threw the thing completely off balance!
Wailing, hissing its pain and snatching back its right foot in an attempt to stabilize itself, the thing teetered and began to topple. Then, somehow regaining control, it turned its awful head to glare its furious hatred at its attacker. But the leader’s blood was up, and while it remained his blood, his loathing would continue to more than equal that of this grotesque enemy! And as the half-crippled thing made to lurch more surely in his direction, so he swung his machete again.
Such was his strength, the renewed vitality Big Jon derived from the knowledge of even partial success, that the force, the sheer impetus of his second blow helped jolt him loose from the grip of the forked roots. Not only that but this time he’d been better able to aim, to direct his blow, and the ancient fly-by-night’s right foot and taloned toes would never again threaten anyone!
Keening its frustration as much as its pain, the monster’s scrabbling at the leaf-mould threw up dust, dirt and pine needles where it jerked and skittered like some crippled, poisonous insect. Yet forgetting the girl and intent now upon its tormentor, still it made every effort to propel itself towards him. Big Jon rolled away from it, and rolled again, well clear of the creature. Until finally, scrambling to his feet and taking his machete in his left hand, he was able to grope at his leather belt for his back-up weapon…only to curse his luck. The holster was still there, but empty! He’d lost the handgun somewhere in deep leaf-mould and deeper gloom!
Now, more surely aware of Big Jon’s skill with his machete, and having seen the leader clamber to his feet, the old fly-by-night somehow contrived to half-float half-lever itself upright and turn its attention once more on Layla and Zach. By now they too were on their feet; and Zach, having recovered his pump-action shotgun, was in the process of giving it a frenzied shaking, trying to dislodge dirt from its clogged muzzle, when the ancient thing launched itself at him.
Meanwhile Ned Singer and the last two members of his ambush party had come drifting together in that weird, forward-leaning mode of the fly-by-nights, out of the pine- and cordite-scented gloom, and were just in time to witness what next occurred: the coup de grace served on one of the oldest of their kind by both Zach and Big Jon, working as a team and in perfect unison.
Coming from behind the thing where it teetered on one foot and a severed ankle, the leader crouched low and lopped at its left knee with his machete. Bones that had seemed so immensely strong were suddenly powdery as chalk; they crunched audibly as Big Jon’s deadly blade slashed through them, and spurting yellow goo the leg was severed. With its right knee folding and its left stump crashing down into the leaf-mould, the once-rearing monster was reduced to a height of little more than five feet!
Desperately flapping its arms, it tried in vain to keep its balance; at which Zach pumped a shell into his shotgun’s breach, rammed the barrel up under the vampire’s chin as the thing came toppling forward, and pulled the trigger. The hot blast as five inches of his weapon’s barrel exploded at the muzzle and peeled back on itself was enough to knock Zach off his feet again; but while he was merely dazed the monster’s head had flown apart in a spray of stinking pulp!
The old horror was dead, yes; but now, apart from Big Jon’s machete, Layla and the two men were unarmed. And there drifting toward them out of the smoky darkness, Layla’s worst nightmares were about to come true in the shape of an even greater menace: a trio composed of Ned Singer’s last two ambushers…and even worse, Ned Singer himself!
Ned’s voice was a rasping sigh, yet as nerve-shredding as a shovel in cold ashes, as he floated closer and reached his long arms toward her. “Ah—Laylaaa! So very good to see you again. But look—” his burning gaze focused on her near nudity, greedily drinking it in where her ripped gown hung open, “—it would appear you knew I was coming, for see how you’ve prepared yourself! And I do appreciate that…ahhhh!” His bottom jaw fell open, dribbling yellow and grey slime.