Aria and Rymora were barely about ten steps away when they saw it happen, the moment stretching before their eyes as though time itself had slowed to warn them of what was about to unfold.
Yes, the Zygon had been badly injured by the vampire guard, but even as the wounds tore across its strange hide, the flesh was already knitting back together, slowly and inexorably, a grotesque display of its resilience. The vampire guard, on the other hand, didn't survive the attack; its body lay crumpled and still, a stark reminder of the cost of confronting such a creature.
Fire and sunlight—those were among the things vampires had always considered to be their lifelong enemies, forces that could reduce even the most powerful of their kind to ash. And now, faced with this monster, Aria understood why those old terrors had never faded.
