Chapter Eight: Hunted
Maritsu Netherworld, Ruins of Evil Academy
Salvatore found herself in a situation which she had long dismissed as impossible; she was hiding. Under a fallen curtain of what was once a great building, standing proud in the academy, an indomitable structure where arrogance and pride were in ready supply. Now, all that was left was the broken supporting walls; a square of shattered bricks, the roof was gone, when she looked up, the familiar sight of a ceiling, above which over a hundred floors of demon honour students were doing their demonhood proud, was replaced by the uninterrupted view of a blood-red sky.
She was separated from Albion and Marina a few hours ago in the mad rush for safety, very few of which found it. She didn't know the fate of her family; though she found Albion's rather tactless sense of humour somewhat annoying at times, she had feelings for him that were unprecedented in her life. He was an idiot but she loved him.
How Salvatore longed to hear one of his 'inappropriate-in-the-current-situation' jokes, or indeed any hint that she may see him or her Marina again.
She wearily lifted the curtain slightly to look out of the doorway, several of the invaders were going into the remains of the buildings and meticulously searching for stragglers, like her.
A lone creature was roaming the outside of the buildings for the same purpose. Another thing then caught her eye, a large, violet light connecting two rods. One of the creatures walked up to it, having concluded that the building that it had been searching was empty, and stepped through it.
It was some kind of dimensional gate, not unlike those that demons used to get around the Netherworld, and to other worlds. Salvatore then had the stinging realisation that these creatures were everywhere, in every Netherworld.
However, she pinpointed a blind spot in the creatures views; a path that would not put her directly in the line of sight of one of the door ways to behind the gate. She was unsure how many of the creatures were behind the gate, but, then again, better to risk that then to sit in this building and wait to be found by these bastards.
Suddenly, a Warrior-class demon sprinted out from one of the buildings. Clearly he was not as adept at picking opportunities as she was. He didn't get far, as he looked behind himself to see if he was being pursued he ran into one of the creatures and fell to the ground as if he had just ran into a road sign.
The creature looked down at him with the same uncaring stare all of them always seemed to have. Though to the surprise of Salvatore (not to mention the Warrior) the beast did not simply shoot him as they had done previously, it picked him up by the arm and grabbed his head. Then the shrieks of terror stopped as the creature sent what appeared to be a red electrical pulse through the poor soul's head, rendering him unconscious. It then flung him over its shoulder, pressed a button on its wrist (the same one on which the exterminator weapon was) and disappeared in a flash of blue light.
Confusing and terrifying as this sight was, Salvatore held on to her senses and grasped the opportunity presented by the absence of the creature. She ran to the building opposite her, hiding on the side of the door way, the creature inside was preoccupied, she just hoped it stayed that way.
She peered around the corner, to her relief, there were none of the creatures behind the gate. Just then she heard something behind her, the invader in the building was near the doorway.
She scrambled around the corner and stood with her back firmly to the wall. The creature must have been less than five feet from her, and she heard footsteps getting ever closer. She was sure to be found.
Thinking quickly, she took out her gun and silencer. She took aim at one of the few remaining windows. The gun made little sound and the window shattered loudly. The footsteps stopped for a second, then continued, but grew more distant.
She only just stopped herself breathing a sigh of relief, that noise alone may have gotten her killed. She looked past the building that she had her back to, she saw the remnants of the senior building. The once proud floating building had come crashing down and was now nothing more than a ruined heap of bricks and rubble. Only very small proportions of the once massive construct still actually resembled buildings.
It had lost its grandeur, yet provided some temporary cover while she would search for another of those gates that was less populated. She slid to the other side and peered around the corner. There was one of the creatures, hunting for stragglers in the wreckage. "Damn it" she thought, while that one was poking about in her target destination, there was no way she could go there, it seemed very meticulous in its aims.
She also couldn't stay where she was; that one she had distracted a second ago was likely now searching for whoever had broken that window. She was stuck.
It then hit her, she remembered one of Albion's silly little optimistic sayings; "When you've hit rock bottom, the only place left to go…" She looked to the rooftops "…is up."
She braced herself, then performed a back-flip that got her half-way up the building and kicked off from there to take her the rest of the way. She immediately crouched to avoid being seen, and crawled to the other side. She slowly stood up, at all times watching the nearest of the invaders, praying to God, whom up until that second she did not believe in, that it did not occur to it to look up.
Salvatore leapt to the next roof and immediately lay down when she reached it. She had not taken her eyes off that bastard for even a second. She did, however, have time to enjoy her brief flight. She, and Albion, always seemed to take more pleasure in things like that when in mortal danger. Then she almost gasped as three more came into view, in a robotic, routine fashion, they marched into the building she was laying on.
She absolutely despised stealth; the prospect of sneaking about, doing what her husband would refer to as "the subtle approach", was utterly mind numbing to her. Then again; death was not an attractive alternative.
The journey to the other side of the roof went very slowly; Salvatore became aware of every little sound she made. She was also aware of every sound that came from below her. Suddenly, she heard a loud crash and felt herself judder. It must have knocked her out for a split second; she opened her eyes to find herself lying on her back, a throbbing pain in her head. She saw only a blurry light above her. Before she had regained her bearings, her arms were clasped by what felt like knives. Salvatore hissed as the blades penetrated her skin.
The knife-like appendages forced the demon to her feet, everything was still a blur. She saw two fuzzed shapes in front of her, one of which drew closer. She shook her head violently; slowly her vision became clearer. Salvatore now saw the creatures clearly, their insane, unemotional stare, as well as the hand that was approaching her face.
Finally aware of the situation, Salvatore kicked out at the creature, hitting its torso. Salvatore cursed under her breath as the shock shot up her leg as if she had just kicked stone. The creature, however, did not react in the slightest.
She began to thrash in the monster's grasp, and with every movement the razor-sharp fingers dug in more. If she went on like this she may have severed her arms. However, her left hand found something; a plastic tube on the restraining creature's arm. Desperately hoping that it would do something, anything to make the creature loosen its grip.
It did that and more; the creature's hands sprang open and a deafening shriek filled the room. As much as Salvatore wanted to watch the bastard suffer, she was still on the brink of oblivion. She ducked down to avoid the hand and then darted around the creature.
She did not get far, as she ran past, the invader kneed her in the stomach. She had taken blows to the stomach before, though none were anything like as painful as this. She collapsed; a cough came out, and a short burst of blood sprayed from her mouth.
Her head was pounding; she was bleeding copiously from her torso and was unable to move. The monster rolled her onto her back with its foot, which was absolutely excruciating for her. It just stared at her; its eyes showing neither pity nor pleasure for her state. It legitimately did not care one way or the other. It was just doing what it had been doing for ages.
Salvatore wanted to issue one final order; for this... thing to put her out of her misery. She had not the strength to utter any sound other than unintelligible whimpers.
Her vision went totally blue, and the silence was replaced by horrific screaming and whirring machinery. Hundreds, no, thousands of voices, all screeching in agony and terror. The dimly lit room smelled of rotting flesh which forced a disgusting taste upon the half-dead demon.
The creature suddenly stood up, as if it were standing to attention. Another honed into view, but this one was different; it held itself in proud stature, unlike its robotic brethren. It stood in the only light, appearing to be a shadow that she looked up at.
Then a calm, almost gentle voice, that of a man, echoed in her aching head. "Alas, she is too injured my child, she would not survive the download for more than a second."
Salvatore became aware that she was about to die, it was hopeless. A bloody tear rolled down her cheek; the first, and last, time she had cried in front of anyone other than her beloved Albion. She then felt new pain; guilt. The last thing she had said to him was criticising his tardiness in getting to the scene of the crash. She would never see her beautiful Marina grow up. She didn't even have the comfort of knowing that she was about to see them again, away from this horror. She didn't know of their fate...
"My dear woman, they are dead." Salvatore's eyes widened; this bastard was reading her mind. "Let my disciple's weapon burn away your sins and imperfections, heathen."
Salvatore the magnificent, leader of the Diez, mighty warrior and forceful commander, solid in her belief that all others were her underlings and could be ordered about. This was her time.
Hey, hey readers (assuming there stll ARE readers) this chapter is up and Salvatore has met her end. I apologise in advance, by the way; the main character death doesn't end here.
Anyhoo, I have small favour to ask you guys. Like I said, i'm dwriting this thing for fun, but also because I want others to enjoy it. As such, assuming that anyone reads this, please review this story, tell me what you think, tell me how I can improve my story and OCs, and above all let me know that I still have an audience. Critisism is welcome (so long as it is reasonable; no trolling please)
Getting away from the doom and gloom of the story for a sec, thanks to those of you who are reading this, and a special thank you to the four or more people who have faved this fic (four more than I was expecting :))
Merry Christmas everybody!
