Excerpt:

"Meg, on your left!" Adalyn called, running in to take a slice at the vampire rushing to Meg's side. The vampire lunged, but before it could reach Meg, Adalyn was between the two, sword out and aimed for the creatures black heart. The force of the impact sent Ada backwards into her comrade and off balance. Before she knew it, she was on the floor and the vampire was on top of her. Fortunately it was more intent on removing the blade from its chest, giving her enough time to kick it off.

She was up quickly, but before she had a chance to get another shot at the vampire, William was beside it. He deftly took its head off with a hefty blow from his arm-powered steam ax, then he was off again. "Powder Keg!" He called to his automaton hunkered down out of the way. "Take care of this!"

The hulk of metal rose to its feet and lumbered towards the decapitated vampire. Intent on its objective, it ignored the 2 other vampires that lunged themselves at it in frenzy. William grimaced as the teeth and claws left holes in the metal. Dents from the force of impacts and the incredible strength of them were left in its armor. The clockwork beast pushed forward till it reached the body then, with a click and a whir, flame errupted from one of its arms to engulf it. Hissing, the other vampires jumped away.

"Hey!" Meg called, also jumping free of the blast. "Watch where you are pointing that thing!" She caught one of the vampires leaping off the clunker with a bolt to the torso from her crossbow.

"Way to go, Powder Keg. Now go back over there and fry any not living creature that comes near you!" William ordered with a grin. "Sorry about that, Meg," he added. "I haven't gotten the aiming system down yet."

"You might want to look into that, William," Adalyn grunted, slicing a vamp across the throat and sending him back with a mighty shove. It reached for her as it was falling, digging its claws into her arm. With a scream, Adalyn followed the vampire to the ground.

Meg was there and lodging another bolt into the writhing form on the ground with one hand and grabbing her mallet with another. The vampires head exploded in a sickenly smoosh, blood a brains splattering every which way.

Adalyn screamed again as the vampire's body convulsed, digging its claws further into her arm. "Get it off!" She yelled, fighting back tears.

Before Meg had a chance, William cried out behind her, "Die, damn you!" She heard the sounds of claws on metal and the grinding of gears and turned to see William barely keeping from being overwhelmed by the last vampire. Blood poured from the wound in its torso but it didn't seem to notice. Making a decision, Meg took her hammer and, with all her might, smashed it into the arm that was holding Adalyn. Not waiting to see if it was effective, she ran to help William. She brought up her crossbow to sight the vampire as she circled around behind the struggling pair and fired.

The vampire made an inhuman screech as the bolt pierced its kidneys, momentarily giving William the advantage. Unable to use his steampowered ax at such a close range, he quickly came up with a new plan. Like a bull he charged with the vampire towards Powder Keg. As he and the vampire approached, the automaton woke with a click and a whir, targetting the monster. At the last minute William dodged the deadly flame, watching in relief as it engulfed the undead.