Continuum: Bloodletting (The Shanty Town)

[Tantalum]

Forcing himself against Carmen's fanged restraints, Adrian's hand twisted unexpectedly as he kept full hold of his knife - delving deeper into already-flayed muscle, and levering tendons away from bone.
The chimera yelled, an otherworldly, agonising scream that tore through the entirety of the clearing and beyond. Overtaken with pain, she felt her grasp loosen - only slightly, but it was enough.
The kick that followed was numb in comparison, but her balance was lost nonetheless as her foot was shifted off the roof's edge. His right hand took firm hold of her left claw, swung her over his back, and launched her entire twelve-stone figure ahead of him.

She forced her eyes back open - sighting only an expanse of clouds and shacks forming the moonlit horizon. Letting instinct decide her actions, her jaw parted a second time as she exhaled forcefully - but few would be able to hear her voicing such a high frequency. Like those before it, it resounded through the buildings in turn - and echoed back to a certain set of elongated ears, providing her with a suitable map of her landing.
Through seemingly cat-like reflexes, Her limbs spread, angling herself before making contact on a second, concrete-roofed building. Artificial fangs and nails chipped through the paved surface, slowing Carmen to a gradual halt.

As soon as she was able, her left pincer extracted the knife from her leg, and with a sharp hiss she tossed it recklessly to the side. By now, the bloodied remains had left horrific stains on her beige trousers - and no better could be said for her other side, where her injured wrist continued to leak steadily.
Her right arm lifted, attaching to a metallic rail she had 'sighted' before landing, and she raised to balance on her left leg. Attaining a height of six feet again, it was apparent she was in fact shrinking, most likely to account for her lost fluids.
Her head was raised to the assaulter, scanning for signs of his own wounds, and her face flooded with disbelief above all else. With left claw held close to her side, an unmistakable sense of aggravation clicked throughout her lengthened words.
"... You're... a monster."

[MelonHead]

His ears burned from her scream and he seized her claw to launch her away from him. He released her with supernatural force, unsurprised by the pain as her clawed form scratched through his skin and plunged through the air. A bloody smile on his pale face, he watched with a cold clinical amusement as she landed, regaining her feet and pulling his blade from her own flesh. The blood would only pour from the wound; he noted the position of the fallen knife so he could reclaim it later.

His armour torn with bloody rivulets spilling his tainted blood onto the dusty rooftop, he stood with his hands at his side, apparently unmoved by her plight. He made no immediate move to pursue Carmen, grimly satisfied to watch her suffering from across the traverse.

“A monster you say?
I won’t disagree, but what;
Does that make you then?

He looked pointedly at her altered form through the darkness, although he could not be sure she could follow his glance. His hands flexed at his side, and slowly the blood flowing from his body lessened and stopped altogether, his wounds beginning to heal, although for now only blood flow would be staunched.

“Now a gift I give
to you, despite your mistakes
Leave now, with your life.”

He would give her this one opportunity to leave unscathed, although he was sure she would refuse it. There was always a different ending to such things, would she live to fight another day or sacrifice herself here to protect her police force? Adrian was prepared to deal with each eventuality as it transpired. The night wore on, and the sounds of fighting remained a constant reminder of the bloody skirmish which transpired in the clearing below.

[ImportantNobody]

Three of the maids were cradling the body of their fallen comrade, tears running down their faces. The others stood mournfully in silence, doing their best to keep their composure and somehow managing to stay focused on the task at hand, which was the safety of the rest of their forces. Every so often another shriek was heard from the woman locked in combat with the vampire, signaling that things weren't going very well for her. That wasn't very surprising giving how quick he had been in disposing one of their own. As ninjas, even if unofficially, they had thought of themselves to be both quick and silent, but just watching the fight they were clearly outmatched by either of the two. Judging by Veltry's actions earlier on it seemed that he liked that woman, so leaving her to die would also be unacceptable for Veltry; of that they could be sure of. Should they try and help in any way that the could or just try to get the other squad a chance to escape? Then again this vampire might just have to be killed or distracted anyways in order to get that chance.
.
Aimi nodded to the others, signaling to go ahead with what they were all considering. All of the ninjamaids regained their composure with a new sense of determination to take that freak down. They'd have to help this woman defeat the vampire, or at least die trying. The other squad of maids got the go ahead to charge through the chaos while the vampire was being too preoccupied to do anything about it. With their guns they should be able to defend themselves from the small fry long enough to make it to safety. Meanwhile, the ninjamaids began to move stealthily towards the vampires back. One of them got into a clear line of sight of the woman and signaled that they'd give her their support. With that, all they could do was wait for the opening and make their move.

[Tantalum]

Clenching tighter to her railed support, Carmen remained standing as boldly as her injured, diminishing figure could portray. Settling for a height of 5'9", her build was now a lot more compact from before, but still withheld much of the strength and leg reach of her prior form. As confident as she would have liked to appear, her tensed limbs and heavy breathing gave away she was in as much trauma as the small blood pool beneath suggested...
Upon Adrian's retorts, her yellow eyes lit curiously, following the vampire's own. The subject in question, her left claw, was raised and flexed nonchalantly within her view, revealing the mesh of protruding, canine-laced gums within its black shelled exterior.
Even at a time like this, her gene-spliced handiwork brought a vain smile to her face. Many foes before Adrian also dared name her art 'monstrous' amongst other things; although she found this easier to understand when most stood at the receiving end of her admirable bio-arsenal...
And suddenly, the pulsating pain swiftly tore her from her train of thought. she flinched startlingly, with suppressed cries venting through interlocked teeth, before hastily shifting to a less straining stance. Knowing her condition would only worsen, she finally began to concentrate on patching her bloodied wounds; but even before this, another pressing matter was raised to her attention alone.

She struggled to fixate her eyes on Adrian, determined not to reveal the signalled assistance to their enemy. Between breaths, a second inaudible shout was made; far more discreet than the first, at the cost of being somewhat inaccurate. Coupling her sight and echolocation, there appeared to be at least four figures supposedly offering aid, whereas any others were too well-concealed to count.
Carmen was not sure whether to be relieved or worried. The maids' presence confirmed that the one murdered earlier was working under Veltry - and also suggested they would be just as outmatched, should any of them try an backup assault. Even to play them as distractions would be a dire risk, but so long as they did not venture any closer...

"...What's... your goal?" In due time, she warily questioned Adrian in return, evading his proposal for the present. This second gesture contrasted even from the vampire's first, and Carmen was not about to jump to decisions until the fiend made his motives clear. Until then, her mutations continued as her backup strategy developed, starting with her damaged thigh and wrist.

[MelonHead]

Adrian watched with a trained eye, his expression almost hungry, his wounds continued to knit themselves back together his body still strong from the blood he had drank so recently. Although he could not be sure of it, there was a certain forced quality to his victim’s gaze as she struggled to avoid looking at something behind him. It was the sort of thing lost on normal men, but trained observers had a fair chance of spotting it, and with hundreds of years of experience Adrian was one of the very best. She attempted to divert his attention with a question, obviously not quite ready to either accept or deny his proposal, this was good, and it meant she was stuck with indecision.

“Naught but bloodied gold
And fear of my creator;
Drive me to this act”

Adrian answered coolly across the divide in his poetic manner. It seemed no sooner than he had done so that the familiar hammering sound of bullets perforated the air. His head twisted as the noise washed over his sensitive ears, and for a moment he diverted his glare from his quarry to the scene below. More women, not unlike the ones he had noticed before, these carried guns and forced their way through his mob with trained efficiency, seemingly uncaring in their murder of generally innocent bystanders caught up by his poison. He smiled grimly as if watching their very souls become darkened by their acts of self-serving violence.

“Friends of yours no doubt
But I wonder even now
If still more remain”

Adrian had not forgotten the stealthy figures he had spotted earlier, and assumed that they were unlikely to have given up quite yet. As his gaze once again flicked to Carmen he could easily read her expression, and it was incredibly unlikely she could remain wholly cool under his perceptive question. However, assuming she could hold his gaze with no revealing signs of the ninjas sneaking up behind him, he would draw shadows around him to form a cloak which would leave him near invisible.

[Tantalum]

To Carmen, the murderer's poetic riddles were beginning to grow tiresome; but to decode his message, he was in fact working for some higher power? Though she showed nothing of it, this raised substantial concern were his words to be believed - for this man alone had enough strength and followers to pose a threat, and the only apparent target around was the police force itself.
If it turned out Carmen's faction possessed more of such enemies, Carmen would have abandoned her rank then and there, turning for greener fields at a heartbeat. But as things stood, with a lone enemy versus two armed divisions, she held high hopes of cashing out today regardless...

Adrian had proudly taken note of the second intervention as well, expressed with bloodthirsty jeers towards the crippled Sargent.
"...Friends?" Carmen queried sternly - her voice now further refined and richened, yet still paced and airy from her sustained injuries. Though nothing had been outwardly amended on her wrist, a layer of folded skin had unevenly grafted its way over her thigh wound, and both had halted their bleeding regardless.
Pressing away from the rail, her right claw took firm hold of her left, and her gaze shifted curiously past the man's shoulder.
"I don't see any badges," her head tilted and shook dismissively. "It's safe to guess those aren't your vigilantes either?"

Even as she spoke, Adrian seemed to have other plans as the shadows concealed him from sight - But at the same time, an outside force tugged upon these same shadows, weakly undoing his summoned veil in remote secrecy. While likely that Adrian could resist the interference, the intent was clearly to provoke him into reconsidering his actions.

[MelonHead]

As the familiar feeling of the shadows drawing around his form consumed him, Adrian’s eyes for a moment widened in surprise. Although the actions against his power were weak… and tentative, the culprit should have known better than to trifle with something he had been implementing for a hundred years, especially on a night like this.

He was fairly certain the policewoman was not to blame for this new incursion, but his eyes were not enough to reveal the mysterious magical attacker. He snarled, this was something which could get annoying and the unseen individual had to be drawn out. Considering the circumstances, it wasn’t too much of a stretch to believe that whatever it was probably allied itself with the woman, hence its aid for her cause. Therefore the logical course of action was to continue with his earlier plan, and hence as the shadows slowly curled around him regardless of the creature’s interference and he eventually became near invisible, he attacked.

His move was a simple one, Carmen was vulnerable now her mobility had been stunted by his attack, where-as he was only superficially wounded and unable to full extend his left arm as of yet without an influx of pain. He bounded forward, diving through the air and drawing his sword, clearing it from his sheath as he reached her building. With a swift strike he hoped to bring the cruel blade sweeping across her mid-drift, slashing through her left shoulder and across her body in a fatal strike. Assuming she would not come forward and attempt a suicidal tackle on his person, which was unlikely to succeed considering the speed with which he had drawn his blade and the terrible visibility of his person, Carmen would probably back up and away from his attack. As he considered this his next move was already planned, as his feet hit the ground and the slash concluded either cutting through her flesh or dropping low to his left side, he would duck into a roll. By throwing his body to the right while his forward momentum carried him forward he could burst from down low with a powerful thrust at Carmen’s abdomen. Each of his strikes were carried out with lethal efficiency, and either could easily take a human’s life.

[Tantalum]

And so, Carmen's brief relievement was quickly replaced by a gut-feeling of alarm. Null's gambit had worked in drawing his attention away from the maids - but perhaps a little too well, as the the cloaked figure dived mercilessly to deal with his interruption.
Against his speed, her sight and hearing alone were unable to read his actions. Hopelessly yet with full determination, her muscles tensed and parted, awaiting the second she would have to gamble for her well-being...

Her shadow flickered unnaturally. Its shaded, immaterial form contorted and flared, sparsely rippling along her limbs and spine. In silent warning, a ghastly blackened tendril brushed chillingly along the left of the host's neck.

Not an instant longer was spared. Immediately her left arm lashed up and beside her, barely in time to intercept the incoming blade. Its edge connected unevenly with the appendage's shell - haphazardly parrying the threat, long before she could be aware of what had struck her.
Contrasting from the endurance she had shown earlier, Adrian's short-sword had cleaved entirely through the claw's outer; fracturing its hollow surface, before stopping at a concealed, sturdier interior. Surprisingly, few vital fluids accompanied the fragments and fangs sprawled over the floor. Carmen did not appear alarmed or in pain from the result - but instead feared the prior attack would send her off-balance.

Leaning steeply and pivoting to the left, the inner of her right wrist pressed towards Adrian's right shoulder. Her undamaged claw flashed open, and her arm slashed powerfully to his lower left, using the toothed limb to saw through whatever remained before her. Regardless of its success, her claw would follow through towards the rail again, supporting herself from the sword's impact.

[MelonHead]

His sword struck cleanly as he hurtled across the divide, the majority of his momentum absorbed by the blow as both feet struck solid rooftop. However his eyes perceived that the blade had been stopped, most surprisingly almost dead, by Carmen’s arm. He snarled at the sight, such impressive bio-armour, but it was an irritation. His blade was light, but it was now a hindrance. Still one last purpose remained in its cold lifeless form before he would discard it, like the knife from earlier he twisted and forced it further across, using his strength to hopefully injure Carmen more significantly.

Even as he did this the pivoting of her body caught his attention and his left hand swept from down low to bat away the descending claw at the forearm twisting downwards as it would make purchase to force it low and harmlessly away from him. This move was accompanied by a vicious twist at the hips which allowed him to lash out with a quick but ferociously brutal kick to her wounded leg with his right foot as it swung lifelessly close to him. As soon as this was done he would pull his blade downwards and out of her arm, allowing it to drop on the ground behind him.

This would probably seem counter intuitive, but even with a short sword the proximity was a hindrance for blades. Once both his hands were free he would use his grip on her left arm to strengthen his attack as he drew his clawed right hand low and across her ribs on her left side.

[Tantalum]

Further tarnished plates were snapped off the damaged shell, but even now Carmen failed to take note of it. Compared to her other claw, the structure of this one was emptied and lifeless; almost as though it was about to be shed. Through the broken layer, the glimpse of a narrow, conical structure could be seen - about a femur's width at the base, but shaped unnaturally with a familiar black hue.

Just before her counter executed, Adrian caught her functional claw by the forearm, thus disabling her from running it through his chest. Entirely unphased by the fangs pricking through his palm, he savagely followed by twisting the limb downwards, forcing Carmen to follow the motion. Her upper muscles attempted to resist, but were again overpowered, forcing her to turn further to her right. However, in reaction, her claw was snapped shut just as soon - intending to lock Adrian's hand between its interlaced teeth, and eventually fracture it with sustained force.
But with her positioning, she was left unable to sight his accompanying assault. Along with the grab, Adrian swung to deliver a swift kick to her injured thigh, causing superficial damage past sufficient to make her flinch. Irritated cries were poorly suppressed, and her supporting leg staggered a little, making her near closer to the metal rail at her right.
Soon after this, Adrian's sword was let to the floor, drawing attention to his next brutal intent. Taking full note of her opened guard, the tip of her left claw followed desperately around to her right, thrusting what was left of the shell to deflect the attack from her ribcage.