Rating: T

Warnings: There will not be specific warnings for each day's theme. Things you may come across within these stories are gore, violence, disturbing content and possibly character death. This is your only warning.

Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.

Comments, thoughts and concrit is always welcome.

A/N: This one is set after Day 1 - Trepidation

lizzybudd - But... but... gotta have a full set of shadow monsters! Heh! Yes, it was one of the ones that linked to a previous story in this series, as is this one. Thank you! :-)

The Thirteen Days of Halloween

Day 10

- Demon -

Mikey stared around at his dank, dark and creepy surroundings, his skin crawling with fear.

Only a few minutes ago, his brother had simply vanished before his eyes, leaving him alone in this horrid place. Mikey had immediately run forward to push frantically at the door, hoping against hope to find it was all just a trick of his senses and that he'd find Raph waiting outside and laughing at him for being a scaredy-turtle. However, the door wouldn't budge. In fact, as Mikey pushed and pulled frantically on the handle, he suddenly noticed the door itself was gone, and only the handle remained, jutting out of the now solid wall as if mocking him.

Breathing rapidly in fright, and trying not to give in to his panic, Mikey couldn't understand what was going on. He'd seen the door open. He and Raph had watched a young couple leave the Haunted House through it before they reached it. He'd seen Raph turn the handle and start pushing the door open before simply vanishing into thin air.

And that's when Mikey realised the truth.

It wasn't Raph that vanished in that dreadful moment, it was instead, himself.

A part of him was relieved in knowing that at least that meant Raph was safe; he hated the thought of anyone he cared about in danger. However another, larger, part of himself was terrified. For himself.

It was in that moment that something inside him snapped and he tore through the Haunted House, desperately searching for the entrance or another way out.

During his panicky flight, he saw the same horrors as earlier when he and Raph had wandered through for fun. Only this time, they were real. The blood, the bones, the random body parts, the things that crawled, shadows that moved without anything seeming to cast them, all of them, terrifyingly real.

And it was all he could do to remember to breathe as he pelted through the corridors.

He had no idea how much time had passed in his search, but finally, after taking several wrong turns in the now almost labyrinthine creepy building, he found himself back at the entrance, recognisable only by the dilapidated sign he remembered seeing as they entered -

'For your safety,

keep a hold of your loved ones at all times.'

And Mikey's heart sank.

Now he knew how he'd ended in this mess.

He had come here with his brother and no way was he the hand holding type.

Suddenly Mikey sensed something, stiffening as a terrible chill abruptly raced down his spine.

A soft, barely heard noise sounded behind him!

Shivering as a chilled, rancid breath blew gently on the back of his neck, against all instincts, Mikey slowly turned, coming face to face with something truly hideous.

With his feet rooted to the ground in utter terror and his eyes impossibly wide, Mikey couldn't help but stare into the red glowing eye sockets of something he could only describe as demonic.

Its mouth grew wide, spreading into a horrifying rictus, and the fetor of its breath as it breathed directly into Mikey's beak made his head swim.

"Ruuuunnnnnnnn," it half growled, half breathed; the single word rippling through Mikey's soul.

And he did.

-:-

Shaking, Mikey gently closed the door behind himself, trying desperately not to pant and give himself away to the thing hunting him. He'd quickly learnt its hearing was just as good, if not better than Splinter's, and that had almost been his undoing numerous times; as a result, he'd never practised his stealth so hard in his entire life.

Peering intently through the gloom, Mikey soon realised this room was one he hadn't previously found and what he saw within it horrified him like nothing else before.

The room was filled with broken, mostly picked clean bones and the stench of old and fresh blood was almost enough to make him gag, but desperately, he forced himself not to, knowing that the smallest sound could be his undoing. Suddenly he noticed three moaning, fearful humans shackled to the wall, all missing some part of their bodies; a foot on one, a hand on another, and eyes gouged out on the third, leaving nothing but empty, bleeding sockets in their place. When he saw the half eaten appendages laying just out of reach of two of them, he finally lost his battle with his stomach and promptly expelled his lunch.

All of a sudden, the door creaked open and looking up from his own vomit in horror, Mikey realised he'd just given himself away.

"So you finally found my dinner table," it chuckled breathlessly, looking all around the room for him. "How I love it when prey delivers itself."

Mikey kept himself perfectly still, pressed into a pile of bones, some with tiny shreds of rotted meat still attached, and tried desperately not to heave again.

The purple haired girl with the missing foot abruptly laughed, sounding almost deranged in her terror. "You... you just missed him! He sn... snuck out the door behind you!"

Mikey's heart soared, elated to hear she wasn't as far gone as her laughter suggested and was in fact actually helping him.

The demon roared loudly enough to shake the room and rattle the piles of bones, and left.

Mikey slowly let out the breath he'd been holding and crept over silently. "Thanks," he mouthed. She nodded, her eyes showing how happy and relieved she was to see him. He pulled out his lock picks and worked to free the three victims. "We gotta get out of here," he breathed, ever so softly.

"But how, Mikey?"

Mikey blinked, wondering how the shell she knew his name but didn't take the time to ask. He couldn't afford to. "We all stick together and don't let each other go!" he eventually explained. "It's our only chance to get out." At least, he hoped so. After all, they weren't lovers and didn't even know each other. Hopefully the same method for leaving safely would also work on those already trapped inside. If not, then the alternative was too terrible to even think about.

-:-

Hands held tight where possible and supporting each other all the way, the four hurriedly approached the exit. To Mikey's abject relief, he could see light seeping in through the edges of the door. As he reached out to open it, he heard the monster coming for them and his heart sank. There was no more time. They couldn't all make it before it dragged them back so he let go. Quickly, he pushed the door open, shouting to his companions, "GO! Get out and don't let go of each other!"

The man with the missing hand rushed through, pulling the next victim through behind him, who in turn blindly pulled Mikey's saviour behind her as Mikey himself turned to face the demon, pulling out his nunchakus and setting them in motion as he distracted it from its escaping victims.

"NO! Mikey!" the teenage girl shrieked desperately as she was yanked hopping through the door.

The light from the door abruptly vanished and Mikey, trapped alone with the demon from the Haunted House, swallowed as he attacked.

-:-

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