43.
Time seemed to slow.
I arched up and out into the night and stretched my arms to either side. I lifted my face to the stars and felt the wind in my hair and experienced a profound and uncommon silence, as if all noise in the world had suddenly been muted. Slowly, I tilted down into a natural dive.
And then I plummeted.
Only then was I aware that perhaps I should have ditched the clothing. I didn't want to be a bat trapped in a cardigan sweater.
By all rights I should die in the next few moments. No one should be able to survive such a fall, perhaps not even a vampire.
A flash of yellow light erupted in my head. And within that light was an image of something black. Something with wings. Something large and alien and frightening.
And then the image disappeared.
The world began to accelerate. The floors to the hotel swept past me. Some of the curtained windows were open. One man dressed only in his tighty-whitties turned suddenly, as if he had seen something in his peripheral vision. He had
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