"Don't go," Armand said.
"I am," I told him. I was in the passage when I heard him so close to me that I was startled.
He stood beside me, picked me up so he was eye level with my eyes, and in his hand he held a key which he pressed into my hand. "There is a door there," he said, gesturing to the dark end which I'd thought to be merely a wall, "And a stairs to the side street which no one uses but myself. Go this way now, so you can avoid the others. They'll try and get you to stay, forever."
I turned to go at once.
"But let me tell you this," he said and lightly he grabbed my wrist, "use the power inside you. Don't abhor it anymore. Use that power! And when they see you in the streets above, use that power to make your face a mask and think as you fight them. Take those words as if it were a gift I'd given you to have. And when you encounter one of those monsters, hit them as hard as you can. Remember what I say. I speak to you simply because I love you. You understand this. That is your strength."
I took the key from him and left. The second I ascended the stairs I was surrounded by those monsters. The loneliness coming from these monsters was overwhelming me. "Why have you stalked me," I hissed at them.
"You are a demon-child unlike any other," one began.
"We sense the loneliness you feel," another said.
"We need you," another insisted.
"We love you," another lied as one attempted to pick me up.
I rolled, barley missing the monster's arm. I stood up and ran as fast as I could around to each monster and punched each one as hard as I could.
Their claw like fingers ripped my dress to shreds as they closed in around me.
So I jumped high into the air and, as gravity pulled me down, I grabbed a large group of hair, pulling one down to the ground.
Another beside it sank its teeth into my arm.
I smacked it on the head as hard as I could. Thanks to that, it released me, leaving two big fangy whole marks on my arm in between my wrist and elbow.
More came at me and all I can remember is that I just kept hitting them.
I was all healed by the time I went to see Claudia.