Angel Face

19: Still With Me, Babs?

"Are you sure?" I asked, raising a questioning brow.

"I've been watching you long enough now. I'm confident I can hold my own."

Had she known I had been holding back, maybe she would have considered a different opponent for me.

"First things first, let's deploy our soul manacle." She said, pulling a dark purple lock and chain from her satchel bag. She pulled the chain around my shoulders and secured it with the lock at my hips. "I've already added Devina's essence, so now all we need is yours. Some of your blood will do."

"How'd you get Devina's essence?" I asked, holding out my hand for Bab's to gather blood from. I didn't even wince as her little blade dug into my palm.

"I've had a lock of her hair for thousands of years now. One of my helpers dug it out from her trash the last time Devina trimmed her hair."

"That's really weird of you,"

"Hush, Samuel." She said, dripping my blood into the keyhole of the lock. As soon as the blood drop disappeared, so did the lock and chain.

"That's it?" I asked, a little surprised a soul manacle didn't take more effort. If I was being honest, I didn't feel any different.

She smiled, nodding her head. "Now, next task at hand." She wasted no time in lifting her hand, sending a sizzling orb towards me. I dodged it with ease and turned to see it crash into the wall, burning a hole through it.

As I turned to her again, I felt said orb smack into my chest, leaving a steaming wound. Pain pulsed from the point of impact, and I let out a demonic cry.

This wasn't a pain I had felt before.

"Bitch!" Once again, she shot another one at me. This time, I tried to dodge it, but it grazed my shoulder, burning through my skin like acid.

"Come on, Samuel. Fight me!" She yelled across the room. "Feel it scratching to get out!"

"I fucking feel it alright," I muttered to myself. As the white-hot pain seared through my nerves, it only fueled my anger. Making me angry wasn't something that took much these days.

She went to throw another, but this time, I lifted my hand and caught it. It burned like a bitch, but somehow, the pain was dulled by the amount of anger running rapidly through me.

I grumbled in slight pain and launched the orb back at her. With eyes wide, she quickly ducked. Her brain was saved, but her hair was not.

She reached up, tapping the top of her head where her hair used to be. Instead, now it was a melted mess. Babs started shaking. Was it fear or anger? I couldn't tell.

Was this not what she expected? I could sense her mixed emotions wafting off of her.

She lifted her two fingers, and I felt myself float off the ground before slamming into the wall behind me. I groaned in pain before she smashed me against the wall again.

Before she could bash me into the wall for a third time, I angled myself just right, and as I made contact with the wall, I kicked myself off and lunged for her.

I clearly caught her by surprise as she fumbled to get away from me. I twisted her arm off her body, tossing it aside before standing above her.

My heartbeat stopped, and for a second, I thought about just letting her go. The fleeting feeling of guilt was soon gone, replaced with lividity.

Her shrieks of terror and stench of blood changed me inside and out. I knew I had morphed into some demonic state, and it proved impossible to ignore the blatant blood-lust.