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“You’re freaking me out, Damien. What’s going on?” I whispered nervously.
“Dammit, why are they acting different tonight?” he muttered to no one in particular, shaken. He was out of breath, as if he’d been running long before he found me. The leather of his fingerless glove was warm against my skin as he gripped my hand. His dark hair lay draped in a windblown mess over his shoulders, half tied back and out of his face, the remaining free curls spilling forward as he tilted his head to check behind us.
“Damien!”
He looked down for a moment, thinking, then turned his head to me. “Weren’t you supposed to be staying the night with Kat?” The urgent demand left me rattled.
That’s right, Ihadbeen staying the night at Kat’s house. “Yeah, I was–”
“Then what are you doing out here?” He grabbed my shoulders, warm silver eyes piercing mine.
“I told you. I don’t know!”
As the words left my lips, something moved and shifted in the darkness behind him. I could faintly see a slender black figure emerge from around the pitch-black corner. Its head hung low, back hunched to expose a jagged spine, hair hanging in tendrils around its face as it prowled closer. Black smoke danced like steam off the creature’s skin, shallow and pale, almost corpse-like. Its bones shone through its paper-like skin, stomach hollowed out, ribs exposed, starved and hungry. Pale puffs of white mist billowed from the darkness under its black hair as the creature breathed.
It raised its eyes from the darkness, and every instinct within me came to life as I peered into bottomless black eyes, hollow to the edges of its eyelids and void of any soul. Its mouth was shaped oddly, the skin torn along a deadly grin that stretched from ear to ear.
I shrieked as it peeled back its lips, exposing rows of jagged, sharp teeth. “Damien, behind you!”
He whipped around, knocking the creature to the side with his leg. It crashed into the brick wall we had been leaning against just moments before. I swallowed, my stomach churning as the creature sank to the ground, its side caved in.
“What the fuck is that?” I gasped as its body started to almost vibrate, hisses and growls breaking free from its mouth as it writhed. The sickening sound of popping and snapping bones had me nearly vomiting, and the side that was once caved in popped itself back out. The demon creature growled and hissed wildly as it started to recover, its head jerking to Damien, eyes wild and crazed.
“You need to go,” Damien ordered, pulling a long dagger from his side, sinking the blade deep into the creature’s chest. A high-pitched scream tore from it as it flailed, disintegrating into dust. The scream stretched into the furthest depths of my mind, the same scream I’d heard earlier that same night when I saw the incident in the alley. I froze in terror, unable to move my feet, unable to run, unable to do anything.
Damien’s eyes flashed to me, and he roared. “Now!”
I covered my mouth, keeping myself from screaming at what I’d just witnessed. My ears rang with the shriek that had just left the creatures mouth, and the world spun around me as I stumbled back.
Two more creatures came barreling around the corner from where the other had just come. Their long, clawed fingers grabbed a hold of Damien’s shoulders, jerking him back from me. A feral curse slipped from Damien’s lips as their long talons sank into him and dragged him back.
“Damien!” I screamed as I watched him wrestle to get free of them, elbowing one to give him time to recover. I looked around for something, anything to help him, but there was nothing I could use as a weapon. I was helpless.
He stabbed one of them, the same way he did just moments before to the first creature that had found us. The other sprang back in, tackling him to the ground. It grabbed hold of his left arm, its claws tearing into his jacket, ripping his arm open.
An irritated growl slipped through Damien’s teeth as he rolled over atop the creature. He punched it squarely in the face, and a black oily substance splattered across his fist. The creature’s body went limp, twitching faintly, its face smashed and covered in the substance that now covered Damien.
Blood. God, it was the creature's blood splattered across him. He sank his dagger into the creature’s chest, and it disappeared into dust beneath him, just like the first. My eyes fell to his shredded arm, but I couldn’t quite see the wound through the torn sleeve of his jacket. Fresh blood seeped into the fabric and was already dripping onto the ground, forming a pool beneath him.
I ran to his side. “Oh my God, Damien!” I dropped to my knees, looking over his torn arm.
“Get out of here, Cas. I’ll be fine,” he groaned through his teeth, reaching for his knife that now lay on the ground a few feet from him.
“But your arm—”
“Go!” His eyes flashed to me.
My instincts screamed to not abandon him, to find something I could use as a weapon. I couldn’t leave him here, not like this. Still, I heeded his demands and stood. There was no way I could face those creatures. I didn’t even know how to fight, let alone help him, and I’d just be in the way if I stayed.
Damien’s eyes shifted behind me, widening, and his yell became a demand, an order. “Move! Now!”
He shoved me to the side in time for another to lunge at him, taking him to the ground. Its jaws snapped at the air just out of reach of his face as he braced the creature with his forearm.
I jumped to my feet, needing to get out of here, to get out of his way. If I lingered any longer, I’d be nothing but a distraction. I whipped around to find myself face to face with another one. I froze. This one somehow felt different. Its face changed, shifting until it more closely resembled a human face. Her hair flowed around her like shafts fading into smoke that danced and writhed at her back. A disturbing clicking sound rippled from her lips, and other clicks in the darkness responded around us.
Something about the sight of her aroused a strange sensation in me that I didn’t understand, as if my body were trying to communicate something to me. Her lips parted as she breathed, her razor-sharp teeth glistening from behind them. Her hollow black eyes moved over me, as if she were inspecting me. Without hesitation and before I could react, her hand wrapped around my throat. When I tried to move, I found my limbs unresponsive.
Her breath, like ice, flowed over me, into me. She pulled me closer, our faces inches apart. Her black eyes stared into mine and the world spun around us. No matter how much I fought it, something compelled my gaze to remain fixed on that black abyss.
