The strigoi mirrored August’s movements, going in the opposite direction. He kept his eyes trained on the human, who did not seem to be fazed at all. August didn’t attack, but kept his distance, watching intently. There was a predatory gaze in those pupils. He seemed to be more than he looked. 

The officer made the first move, lunging toward the human. He was fast. But it seemed that August had predicted the move. He dodged out of the way, barely making it in time. He twisted his body and quickly returned into a stance. The strigoi swiped at him, but he was able to slip out of the way, keeping his feet on the move. He was having a hard time, however, but so far none of the officer’s attacks managed to hit. 

He dodged another, and another. The attacks came one after the other, his feet barely catching up with how much he moved. He stumbled and nearly fell, catching himself at the last minute, and pushing himself back up. 

“Impressive,” the officer said with a grin. 

August didn’t reply, he caught his breath and looked the officer in the eyes. The officer smiled and closed the distance with a step, swinging a fist of his own. August dodged again, but to the strigoi’s surprise, he dodged forward instead. Ducking under the officer’s hook and twisting his body. He sidestepped and changed his position, pivoting his feet. The man in front of the officer was now at his side. The strigoi had left himself open, his arrogance getting the best of him. 

August used his momentum, throwing a heavy jab at the officer’s temple the moment he rose to his height. The strigoi saw it coming, but it took too long to pull his arm back to defend it. He had overextended. The punch came in quickly, but so did the second one. 

As the officer pulled his arm back to defend the side of his head, August followed up with a hard uppercut. Bending his body low only to explode back up with the twist of his side, rocketing his fist up the officer’s chin. 

The strigoi were stunned. They watched as their comrade stumbled back from the force of the uppercut, losing his footing and falling on his ass. August took this opportunity and threw himself at him, tackling him to the ground. He lay on top of the officer and began to pummel him into the ground with fists heavy as boulders, throwing punch after punch. Each one hit the officer square on the face. 

The officer hissed and grabbed hold of August’s arms, stopping his attacks. “Nice play,” he grinned, spitting blood onto the floor. 

He threw August back with a kick, landing him several feet away. The human gasped in pain as he landed on his back. He wheezed, having the air knocked out of him, but sucked it up; taking a deep breath. 

“Broken already? And you were doing really well!” The strigoi mocked, getting up from the floor. 

The human pushed himself up from the ground and took on a stance once more. “Come on, is that all you got?”

The officer was elated. As if a child being goaded into a challenge with his favorite game. He ran up to the human with a burst of insane speed and threw a punch. August tried to dodge but wasn’t fast enough this time. He gasped as the fist hit his stomach, making him fold. The strigoi then followed through with a knee to August’s face, before giving him a hard push. 

The human fell to his side, coughing up blood.

 “And here I thought you had some bite! Come on, human! Show me that grit you had earlier!”

August crawled across the floor, still clutching his stomach. His nose was bleeding as well. Olivia gritted her teeth. The piece of metal in her hand was basically flattened now. “Come on, get up!” she whispered to herself. She couldn’t peel her eyes away. The human was beaten, yet she had to see it through. She held hope. 

Get up, August! Get up!

The human kept crawling on the ground, dragging his palm across the pavement. 

“Do you surrender? Bloodbag?” The strigoi snickered. He expected the human to beg for mercy, but to his surprise, he heard a laugh to match his own. 

“Eat shit and die, leech.” 

August twisted his body, throwing something from his hand. Dust and tiny rocks. 

He launched them at the strigoi officer's eyes, making him cry out as it hit. “Oh, you fucking piece of shit!” 

The officer lunged back at him and slammed his fist across August’s cheek. A small crack was heard as it connected, the force nearly enough to knock him out. August held on to his consciousness, gritting his teeth. The strigoi came in for another attack, throwing another fist. This time, however, the burly human was able to move out of the way. He pivoted to the side and grabbed the officer’s arm, pulling him down. He used the officer’s own momentum against him, and took hold of his wrist, manipulating his movement. 

He twisted it, eliciting pain and making the strigoi fall flat on the ground. The human rose up to his feet and twisted the wrist the other way, hard. A loud snap reverberated, making the bloodsucker scream. 

But he wasn’t finished yet. 

He swung his legs and sat on the officer’s back while pulling the poor bastard’s arm the wrong way. He used all his strength, leaning onto his back with whole body weight. The officer’s elbow snapped as well, eliciting another shriek of pain. The strigoi couldn’t do anything in his position, with August on his back manipulating his arm. Still the ruthless human didn’t stop pulling, he bent the arm further, screaming as he poured in all his strength. 

Olivia covered her mouth as she watched. A human was making a strigoi scream. Now that was a sight to see. She could barely believe it herself. She wanted to yell and cheer. Whoever August was, he was definitely more than just a regular office worker. She looked on, the human unrelenting in his quest to put the officer in a world of pain. She saw him twist his body and gave one last heavy pull. A sickening series of cracks and snaps followed. A blood-curdling scream emitted from the officer’s mouth. 

“Heal from this, bitch!” August yelled. He had pulled the strigoi’s shoulder from its socket, the ligaments had probably split and torn themselves, dislocating the entire arm to an extreme degree. It looked like he had turned a train lever the other way. He got off from the officer ,who quickly got up from the ground cradling his arm which was now broken in three different places. He hissed at the human. “I’ll fucking kill you!” 

“You’re welcome to try!” August screamed.

The officer lunged at him in rage, baring his teeth. He was on top of him, trying to bite him. “Ha! ‘Man of honor your arse’, fuck you, leech!” August grunted as he tried to hold the officer's head back. He grabbed the officer’s other arm and pulled on it, then in a fluid motion wrapped his legs around the thrashing strigoi’s neck. He pulled hard on the other arm while pushing the bloodsucker’s body away with his legs. An armbar. The officer was locked. With a heavy grunt, August pooled in what strength he had left. 

The officer cried out and another crack was heard. He looked exhausted and weak now, whining in pain. August kicked him away, throwing him a few feet back. The bloodsucker was on the run now, trying to crawl away and recover, but the human didn’t give the poor strigoi an opportunity to get away. He lunged at the fleeing monster, and hopped on his back. He wrapped his arms around the officer’s neck, pulling him back to the ground with him.

He had him in a chokehold. 

The officer thrashed around for several seconds before finally choking out his words. “I-I yield! I fucking yield! You win!” he screamed. Though, his words fell on deaf ears as the grip around his neck only got tighter by the second. August chuckled darkly and leaned into the officer’s pointed ears. Words dripping with poison as whispered. “Fuck you.” 

The human twisted his entire body, and a loud snap was heard. The officer went slack. He was no longer moving. 

August grunted and threw the body to the floor and shakily got up from the ground. His knees shook under him, his nose still bleeding, and his arms heavy. He was clutching his stomach, already punch drunk and dizzy. Still, he raised his arms and tilted his head, taking a stance. “So,” he spat, bright red decorating the pavement. “Who’s next?”