Lucifer looked upon the horizons of Hell, overseeing the beginning of his new castle’s construction. Dark, rigid bricks laid where the foundation began, and many more were being hoisted onto those bricks. He turned away, sitting back down in his chair. His fingers trailed over the fresh, scorching wound on his face.

  “What has she become?” He growled to himself, feeling the wound slowly close up and heal into a scar. No matter, simply another begrudging decoration on his face. He lifted his hand, a sphere of fog forming before spreading in a flat circle, forming a mirror. Sure enough, four gashes across his pale cheek. “Show me Smith.” He said to the mirror. Fog concealed the surface before retreating again, revealing a view of Mike and Ami in some sort of building. Bright, warm lighting with a good dozen or so people around them. There’s more rats left than he thought… another chore to deal with. He put his hand up, pointing at Ami. “Get her.”

  …

  Mike looked down at his dish with narrow eyes. Canned mushroom soup. He didn’t know if it was his lack of appetite, or if the food really was as disgusting as it looked. He looked over at Ami, who was scarfing down her tray of… something.

  “You were hungry, huh?” He softly said, absent-mindedly swirling his spoon in the grey soup. Ami looked up at him, noodles dangling from her mouth.

  “A little…” She muttered before continuing to eat the food rapidly. Mike rolled his eyes, going back to playing with his food.

  BOOM!!!

  Mike and Ami’s eyes go wide at the loud sound. They looked around, everyone was startled. Then another–

  BOOM!!!

  “What the hell?!” Mike shouted, both him and Ami standing from their seats. The two guards from the front gate rushed in, both looking terrified.

  “Everyone!! This is a Code Red!! Get to the basement, NOW!!!” That made everyone in the cafeteria scream and panic, rushing towards the doors at the back of the room. Mike and Ami watched, bewildered. One of the guards rushed to the two while the other watched the doors they came from.

  “What’re you two doing?!” He said, rifle in hand.

  “What’s going on?” Mike asked as another loud sound came from the direction of the entrance. “What is all that noise?!”

  “The demons! They’re here and they’re breaking the wall down– now get to the basement!!” He said, grabbing Mike’s arm. Ami’s face flashed with defiance and she pushed the guard back.

  “Hands off! We can fight them off!” She exclaimed, pulling her knife from its holster. Mike pulled his luger from behind him and cocked it. The guard’s eyes widened as he saw the weapons, but he didn’t scold them, knowing they needed as much as they could get.

  BOOM!!! BOOM!!! CRASH!!!

  “THEY’RE INSI–” The other guard was cut off as a claw went straight through his face, wrapping around his skull and tossing the corpse aside. The creature that killed him barely looked like a creature at all. It looked like a woman, except her skin, her hair, her dark clothing… it was greyscale–even in the light of the cafeteria.

  “Ah… Defiant ones. I expected all humans to be like mice and scatter at danger, but you three stand alone.” Her voice, it was both horrendous and alluring. “And I see one of us is standing with you; How traitorous!” She purred, pointing at Ami. The guard looked at Ami with wide eyes.

  “Y-You’re one of them?!” He yelled, his voice trembling. Ami groaned.

  “Aren’t you supposed to run?” She hissed. The guard didn’t give an answer, simply running off in the direction the other people went. As he disappeared, Ami turned and looked at the woman. “One of us? Who is ‘us’?”

  The woman laughed, crossing her arms. “Oh, you sweet summer child. You have no idea what you truly are…” She took a step forward, deceptively graceful. Mike aimed his luger at the woman, his eyes narrowed.

  “That’s enough.”

  “Or what? Oh, right– A gun magically makes the scary things go away!” She said, taking another step. Mike fired the gun, the bullet propelling right at her face before it ricocheted off with a TWANG. “Oops.”

  Mike’s eyes widened. Whatever this woman was, he was only a liability in fighting her. He lowered his gun, whispering to Ami, “Okay… you fight her. I’ll defend the people in the basement.”

  “Got it.” Ami responded, staring at the woman. She stopped a few feet in front of her, smirking as Mike turned and ran away. The woman laughed softly.

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  “Now that your pet is gone, Daemon. We can really chat…” Ami’s eyes narrowed at that name; ‘Daemon’. Is that what she is? Is that what she’s become?

  “A… Daemon?” She asked, her face twitching.

  “Correct! You died and were in the midst of corruption… but by sheer luck, you came back to life!” Ami was stunned, the idea of what happened to her being common made her feel ill.

  “Who are you? While you’re at it, tell me what you are because I know you’re not a Hellspawn.”

  The woman almost laughed again, but didn’t entirely to spite Ami. “I’m Delores… one of Lucifer’s finest generals–A Demon for lack of a better term.” Ami’s eyes widened as she heard the titles she had; General, Demon.

  “Great. I’m gonna fight his lackey…”

  “I am no mere lackey, you child!” Delores yelled. From her back, a spider leg emerged and shot at Ami. Ami dodged the attack, grabbing the sharp limb and pushing it aside. Delores retracted it, pulling Ami towards her. When she was in range, Delores wound her hand back and punched Ami across the jaw, sending her across the cafeteria.

  She crashed into a table, her head smacking against the plywood surface. She sat up on her elbows, watching Delores jump into the air and descend straight at her. She rolled off the table, just in time for Delores to miss and pierce her claw through the table. Ami spun her knife before slashing at her. The spider leg came back again, blocking the attack.

  “Quick, I’ll give you that much…” She murmured before spinning, hitting Ami with the elbow of her free arm before freeing her hand from the lunch table.

  Ami stumbled back, dazed by the elbow before seeing her go for another punch. She dodged, doing a spin before kicking Delores in the chin, sending her up into the air. As she descended, Ami did another spin, jumped, then kicked the general, sending her flying into the wall. Rubble went flying, a large cloud of dust exploding from the impact. Ami couldn’t see if Delores recovered quickly. As soon as the dust began to settle, Delores darted out of the dust, spider leg extended.

  “ENOUGH!!!” Ami noticed it too late, a charge of pain shooting through her as it stabbed into her stomach, blood splattering onto the marble ground. Delores laughed, raising Ami off her feet with the spider leg.

  “My lord will be grateful for my duties today!” She chuckled, watching Ami dangle from the limb. Delores’ smile faded as she saw Ami still holding her knife, her arm raising weakly.

  “You… you should’ve just… KILLED ME!!!” She yelled, driving her own knife into her chest. Her eyes widened, but not in pain. It was as if her blood bubbled and boiled. She felt the razorwire again, this time not on her skin– but her very soul. She trembled for a split second before letting out a sharp scream. Delores watched in fear before being sent stumbling back, her spider limb retracting from the girl before her. A bright flash of light blinded her, so bright it almost burnt her flesh. As it dimmed, she looked at Ami, her eyes wide.

  Ami steamed with anger, her hands melded into claws, and the tear streams were replaced with the tendril like barbed wire under her dark skin. Delores, for possibly the first time ever, trembled.

  …

  Naomi watched over Sam’s sleeping form, katana unsheathed and in hand. She stood behind the door, waiting for the monster to try taking out Sam. Naomi’s eyes locked into Sam’s face, observing it. She felt herself staring before snapping back to reality. There’s no time to think like this, Naomi! She thought, You shouldn’t think like this about–

  A small, ashy smog trickled in from the corner next to her. Naomi stood still, readying her blade for a strike as the sand piled and piled, until that same foggy figure formed. One of its barely-concealed eyes was lower than the other, clearly caused by Naomi and showing that it can be hurt.

  Naomi hid behind the door, waiting for the monster to sludge over to Sam. But it didn’t move. It stared… somewhere. She couldn’t tell if it was looking at Sam, or her. She held her breath for what felt like forever, until the monster started moving towards Sam. Naomi got it.

  As soon as the spiked appendage came from the lanky center of the monster, Naomi kicked the door closed and jumped, swinging her blade upward and cutting the monster’s appendage off. It let out a shrill of pain as its murder weapon fell to the cold, hard ground, leaking sparkling blood.

  Sam’s eyes shot open, immediately landing on the monster. She screamed, scrambling into the corner and tucking her knees to her chest. Then she saw Naomi… the dots connected fast. Naomi protected her from what killed Joseph.

  Naomi jumped back, readying her blade for another strike. “Come on, you son of a bitch!” She growled, swinging again. The monster sludged back quickly, dodging the slash. As soon as Naomi missed, another spike came from the monster’s center, stabbing into Naomi’s stomach. She let out a pained yell, barely holding onto her katana as the spike pierced into her. She swung again, blindly this time. It hit the monster, causing the spike to dislodge from her abdomen. She stumbled back, holding the wound and gritting her teeth.

  Lenore rushed into the room, hearing the commotion. They saw the chaos of what was going on. Naomi holding her wounded stomach, Sam watching the fight in fear, and the monster… their foggy form leaking dark, sparkling fluid. Naomi looked over her shoulder, seeing Lenore.

  “Lenore… get Sam and… get her up in the church.” She grabbed the katana fully again, swinging it in fluid motions that chained together. She couldn’t tell what hit or what didn’t, she just wanted Sam out of there. Lenore grabbed Sam’s hand, leading her out the room. As soon as they were both out of the room and leaving the bunker, Naomi grinned. “Just you and me… you ugly motherfucker!” She held her blade up, waiting for the monster to strike first.

  A spike came from the monster, quickly deflected by Naomi and leading into a low blow. The monster was swept off its base, falling to the ground with a sound similar to falling dirt. Naomi raised her blade, swinging down on it. It was a direct hit, but what did she hit? She couldn’t answer that question fast, as the monster retreated into the cracks in the floor. “No!” She screamed, her eyes widening. “Get the hell back here!” She looked around, only seeing nothing except a couple streaks of blood. She sheathed her katana, turning and limping out of the room and struggling up the ladder.

  As soon as she reached the surface and climbed to her feet, the terrifying sound of a revolver click was heard behind her, and cold metal pressed against the back of her head. “Looky here! Mike left the Samurai to defend the church… he never heard ‘bout bringing a knife to a gun fight, has he?”

  To be continued…