I didn't want to kill her.

Especially not in front of her own mother. It was all so fucked up.

But she didn't give me much choice.

Her strength was alarming, especially when she had appeared so visibly weakened. Or perhaps that had all been an act to catch me off guard.

With her mother screaming behind her, Evelyn's hand went straight for my throat and squeezed with such force that my neck would have snapped or been crushed within seconds.

The angle of her body was such that I didn't have to even adjust the crossbow. As darkness rapidly approached the corners of my vision, I fired the weapon.

The first thing that I notice was a loosening of her grip. The next thing I noticed was the strangled sounds I heard...of course, those strangled sounds were my own feeble attempts to breathe.

The next thing I noticed was the woman on the ground, kicking and clawing her chest. It was a site I'll never forget. Steam hissed from between her fingers. Her screaming mother dove on her, pulling at the silver shaft that protruded from her chest.

"My baby! My baby!" She worked the bolt with both hands as the vampire writhed and twisted and screamed.

Gasping, I found my feet, and just as the mother pulled free the bloody crossbow bolt, which dripped blood and meat, the woman on the floor lay still.

Mrs. Perkins threw herself on her daughter, wailing and begging her to come back to her.

And that's when I turned my head and heaved until my stomach was empty.