Vanessa was too focused on the knife to really notice Mamoru's back up. She ducked under the two birds still in the air and dove across the counter, grabbing at the weapon.

Just as her fingers touched it, one of the birds circled back and tangled both claws into her hair, yanking hard. Surprised, Vanessa gave a cry and lost her balance, hitting the ground again and sending the knife skittering across the floor with the stupid bird still on her.

"Get. The hell--off!" She snarled and grabbed the bird off her head, climbing to her knees and slamming the creature into the wall behind the counter. Once. Twice. Three times until she was sure she felt hollow bones crumble in her hand.

She let the new carcass drop, fighting down a moment of revulsion and searched around for the knife. The other one was already coming in for another strike. Where the hell had it gone? Damnit, she needed that--

A beat. The world faded out for a moment, leaving her drifting. Then it cleared and her fingers closed around a handle.

There!

She dashed up to her feet, swinging the knife at the diving bird. She had expected the serrated blade to catch, maybe not even cut at all but instead, the weapon sliced through the bird like butter. The creature gave a feeble squawk and bounced off her stomach before hitting the ground and fluttering once more before going still in a spreading pool of blood.

That was... unexpected. She glanced down at the knife and blinked, staring at the long, curved blade of polished, razor-edged volcanic glass. This... this was not a bread knife. She was no weapons expert but she knew a blade meant for killing when she saw it.

"What the hell...?"