White-teeth punched Gordon in the stomach. He clutched at his belly and fell to his knees, coughing and sputtering.

“Hey,” I said, frowning hard. “I don’t think that’s necessary. Look, all I want is for you guys to help me get home. That’s all.”

“Shut up,” White-teeth snapped at me. Gordon struggled to his feet, only to get punched again, this time in the jaw. That’s no way to treat a crazy person. They need supervision, not violence. I marched over to White-teeth and grabbed his arm. “That’s enough. There’s no reason to be such a big bully…”

He looked at me for a moment, then smiled. “Darlin‘, you need to learn your place.” He pushed me hard enough to make me fall backward, and I yelped in pain as my ankle twisted.

Something glinted in the hands of my so-called rescuers, catching the moonlight. Some kind of metal. Knives. “Stringy-hair” held a switchblade, and “Burly” had a small ax. I also noticed they had sharp wooden spikes tucked into loops on their belts. Then Gordon screamed. White-teeth was so close to him now that they seemed to be slow dancing, shuffling around in a partial circle. White-teeth moved back and I saw the handle of a knife sticking out of Gordon’s stomach.

“But I told you I had money,” he gasped.

White-teeth extended his hand like a doctor might, waiting for his next tool. A wooden spike was slapped down into it. I opened my mouth to say something, to stop this before it went too far, but the only sound that came out was a tiny squeak.

“But, vampire, this is so much more fun than money,” White-teeth said and arched his arm upward, slicing into Gordon’s torso.

I brought a hand to my mouth in stunned horror and scrambled backward on the ground. A bolt of pain went through my ankle as I tried and failed to get to my feet. My heart beat wildly. All three men joined in then, taking turns hacking and stabbing and slicing my date.