For a moment he seemed to waiver with indecision. Then, without warning, he threw Luanna at Aahz.
“Why can’t you all just leave me alone!” he screamed, and dove off the roof.
Aahz somehow managed to snag the girl’s hurtling form, though in the process he lost his balance and tumbled backward down the roof peak, cushioning the impact with his own body.
I hesitated, torn between the impulse to check on Luanna’s welfare and the desire to pursue Vic.
“Go get him!” my partner called. “We’re fine!”
That was all the encouragement I needed. Wheeling to my right, I plunged after the fleeing vampire, What followed was one of the more interesting experiences of my limited magical career. As I mentioned before, my form of flying magically isn’t really flying . . . it’s controlled levitation of oneself. This made enthusiastic pursuit a real challenge to my abilities. To counterbalance the problem, however, Vic couldn’t really fly either . . . at least he never seemed to flap his wings. Instead, he appeared content to soar and bank and catch an occasional updraft. This forced him to continually circle and double back through roughly the same area time and time again. This suited me fine, as I didn’t want to wander too far away from my energizing force line now that I had found it. The idea of running out of power while suspended fifty feet in the air did not appeal to me at all.
Anyway, our aerial duel rapidly became a curious matching of styles with Vic’s swooping and circling in his efforts to escape and my vertical and horizontal maneuverings to try to intercept him. Needless to say, the conflict was not resolved quickly. As soon as I would time a move that came close enough to an interception to justify attempting it again. Vic would realize his danger and alter his pattern, leaving me to try to puzzle out his new course. The crowd loved it.