Chapter
The night is cold, dark and starless. I've begun to find greater demons have that effect, sucking any light out of a situation. The city that never sleeps is ominously silent.
Anne-Marie shifts next to me, her gray streaked hair coiled in a braid. "I don't like this," she mutters to me, raising her sword.
"Me either." We had come to track the demon that had appeared on our sensor. According to said sensor, we were practically on top of the greater demon. But we couldn't see it. Not even a shadow of an outline.
There are no footsteps, no teeth gnashing. There is only a terrible roar, as loud as an elephant and as ferocious as a lion. I'm on my back, a suddenly visible demon, clawing at my chest. I slash up at it with my seraph blade, hacking with all my strength.
Anne-Marie charged in, holding her sword high. The demon swatted her aside like a fly. I cough, realizing too late the demon had shredded a hole the size of my hand in my chest. I groan under the demon's weight.
Anne-Marie hurls her sword like a javelin, impaling the demon. It roars and scrambles off of me. I crawl against a wall, leaning against it for support as Anne-Marie goes to work. I cough again, raising my arm. My black sleeve comes away splattered with blood.
The demon dissolves away before Anne-Marie can finish it off. I raise a hand over my chest. Blood is leaking from the deep cut the demon made. Poison is seeping into my veins. I can feel it corse through me.
My vision is blurry, doubling over into a badly developed photo. I can hear Anne-Marie calling for me. She sounds so far away.
Then it all washes away.