An Angel's Blade
an excerpt

“Zahra?” Dashtu whispered again. “You’re scaring me.”
She managed a feeble grin and opened her eyes. Taking another deep breath, this time through her nose to let the redolent aroma of humanity fill her, she stepped away from the wall. “Sorry. I’ve never brought another person to my sanctuary before.”
“We don’t have to go there.”
“And where would we go? Where do you stay when you’re not at Barq’s?” She thought she knew the answer. He’d been damned easy to track once she’d discovered his habits. Undoubtedly the lieutenant believed the same thing. Otherwise he wouldn’t have settled into the bar stool as if he planned to stay all night.
“Places,” he evaded the question. “Ssh, someone’s coming.”
Zahra strained to listen. Not far away a rat squeaked as it ran through the garbage, the rodent population suffering just as much as the human one. On the other side of the wall someone slept, breathing through his mouth, his snores drowned out nearly everything.
A low whimper sounded on the air.
Zahra stiffened, instantly alert. “This way.” She grabbed Dashtu to drag him back the way they came. Time to change tactics.
“Too late,” he whispered. Breaking away from her, he rushed down the hallway, not stopping to look as he blundered into where it met with the wide street.
Zahra raced behind him. She expected a half-angel to have more intelligence.
Three zombies mobbed him. Two on his right, one on his left, they grabbed his arms. Turned away from her, she couldn’t see their glowing eyes. Jeans, boots, and grubby t-shirts made the whole of their wardrobe. Standard zombie thug fare. She’d fought ones like them hundreds of times.
Her katana slid from its sheath with a menacing hiss. Racing down the alley she grabbed the nearest zombie’s arm and hauled him off of Dashtu. He stumbled back, eyes glowing eerie green in the moonlight. The poor kid looked barely out of his teens. Zahra swung her katana. The tip caught him from shoulder to hip, slicing the t-shirt from his skin. The tip scored his chest, red blood sparkling with green luminescence. It seeped into the black t-shirt.
The zombie looked down, baring his neck for the perfect swing. Pulling her arm across her body, she raised the katana again. It whistled through the air, slicing through flesh and bone. A sickening squelch as the carotid artery released it’s fluids into the air. The zombie looked up, eyes wide. It opened its mouth to scream, but Zahra had already turned away to her second target.