Its prey had escaped.

That was not what was supposed to happen.

Not this time.

The Ink Demon snarled in fury as it clawed at the door.

It had had the human within its clutches. Whatever the human had done to it, the sudden unexpected pain had caused the Ink Demon to release its hold.

Now, it was left with a shut door that it couldn't get through, and the liquid on its claws that wasn't the familiar ink of the studio.

The Ink Demon's gloved hand lightly tapped the door, before it stepped back altogether. The Ink Demon gave up on getting through, as the voice on the other side of the door had faded. The inky creature's teeth clacked together before it straightened up as best it could.

A flick of a black tongue confirmed that what was on the claws the Ink Demon was cleaning wasn't ink. The taste was coppery, whatever that meant. The flavor was the same as before, when its teeth cut the human's hand. The not-ink wasn't warm this time. Only when the demon had sank its claws into the human had it sensed the warmth.

The Ink Demon's tongue slid back into its mouth as teeth snapped together.

It wanted more of that taste.

More of that warmth.

The Ink Demon made a slight noise of discomfort as it turned away from the door. Its body still ached from the kick the human had given it.

Why did it hurt?

The human had not harmed it before like this, apart from playing the Reel.

The spines going down the Ink Demon's back flexed as the inky being twisted its body to and fro to inspect the immediate area. It remembered the previous loops, even if it didn't fully understand why it was repeating the same actions. But it learned from each of the loops, and found it could adapt more every time. The Ink Demonstudied the human it would always encounter.

This time...this loop...there was something different about it.

The Ink Demon could grasp more than ever before, and yet...

And yet...

Hissing something to the empty space around it that made no sense to any but itself, the Ink Demon slowly limped toward the nearest wall.

It would have the human...the Beacon, as the Ink Demon had begun to think of the human as more loops passed by. The Ink Demon would erase the Beacon from existence. Destroy that wretched light the human brought with him. The Ink Demon growled softly as it waited for the shadowy webs of ink gather together on the wall.

The human...

The human was a beacon of a terrible light that blinded the Ink Demon whenever the human was near.

But that light...it made the demon hunger for something more than it had in this studio. The Ink Demon didn't know what that 'something more' was, but felt that it would find out once it killed the Beacon once and for all, and there were no more loops.

But first...something new had to be dealt with.

The Other, who was traveling with the Beacon.

The Other, who resembled the drawings on the walls and-

The Ink Demon paused, not stepping through the inky portal it had manifested on the wall as it bared its teeth.

It wanted to kill the Beacon.

Yes, it wanted to kill the human.

But the Ink Demon found itself distracted from those dark thoughts by the Other. The Ink Demon didn't like the Other. The Other's very existence angered it on some visceral level that the demon couldn't fully understand.

But why?

Was it the Other's appearance?

The Ink Demon could see through the ink that fell into its vision. It could see that the smaller being looked very much like the cut-outs the Ink Demon would come across while wandering the studio. For whatever reason, the Ink Demon decided that it didn't like the Other because of how exact it looked like those cut-outs.

The Ink Demon left the area through the inky walls, the darkness that surrounded it slowly dissipating. The Ink Demon was only partially aware of the Follower, who had raced down the hall toward it in a frantic manner, shouting praises and other such nonsense.

-x-x-x-

"My lord! Wait!"

The ink on the wall, swirling and very wrong feeling, vanished into nothing.

Sammy face-planted onto the floor nearby in his haste to reach his lord and savior. Sammy clenched his fists, finally freed from the handcuffs, against the floor. The music director raised his head to glare to the right, to the door that the human had surely gone through.

How dare he not pay proper respect to the Ink Demon. How dare the human keep the company of his lord in His true cartoon form.

Sammy made the decision then and there that he would focus all his time and effort into finding the human. Sammy would make certain that this sheep would pay for defying His will within this studio.

"Sheep sheep sheep, this is no time for escape." Sammy sang listlessly as he produced an axe that had been hidden nearby. "You dig your own grave with every step you take."

It always paid to keep extra weapons handy in the event one's planned sacrifice made a run for it.

"We can't have a nonbeliever remain free to spread discontent." Sammy muttered as he inspected the axe. "No, we can't. Now, how far will my little lost sheep wander?"

The Bendy mask suddenly broke in half and fell to the floor.

"Please forgive me, my lord!" Sammy was sent into a flying panic at the sight of the broken mask. "I did not mean to dishonor your imagine. It was the nonbeliever! He cracked the mask, as if he were attacking you, my savior!" Sammy dropped the axe and pulled the pieces to him. Sammy began to babble nonsense, as if he expected the Ink Demon to appear before him.

Nothing happened.

Had Sammy been spared?

"...Thank you, my lord." Sammy murmured reverently. "I know your mercy is not easily given in this place." Sammy held the broken mask close. "I will not fail you a second time."

-x-x-x-

The Ink Demon, in another section of the studio, did not hear the Follower's words, even if it had sensed the Follower earlier on its departure of the previous room. The Follower was not a concern right now. The Follower was harmless to it, from those words of praise and the offers of live prey.

No, there was something else...something that was bothering the Ink Demon that it couldn't quite figure out. The almost-concern didn't last for very long, for what could truly hurt or bother the Ink Demon for very long in a place where all feared it?

There were, of course, some exceptions.

The Follower and the Projectionist, as well as the Beacon, were notable examples of those who had little to no fear of the Ink Demon. Yet that fearlessness manifested in different forms...

...but why did that matter? Any that crossed its path would not survive, or at the very least, not come out unscathed.

The Ink Demon began to wander aimlessly as it became lost in its own muddled thoughts, which now centered on the Beacon and the Other in its domain.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A/N: The Ink Demon (and Sammy) will get pov chapters now and again, when Henry happens to temporarily be out of commission (eventually Bendy will get some pov chapters too). I have yet to decide if other characters will get pov when I get around to them.