Daughter of Blood and Nightmares

24: Braindead And Borderline Psychotic

I bolt from the room. Carden's giving me permission and unlike other times, I hang on his words. You don't need to tell me twice.

I barge through the door of the mausoleum to come to an abrupt stop. My feet kick up loose stones as I skid to a halt. Three humans...I think they're humans, stalk up the stairs.

I backtrack and re-enter the building with small shuffling backward steps. "We have a problem." I whisper as I bump against the tomb once again. I crawl up on top of it just as the three strangers come inside. The crypt seems to get ten times smaller from so many bodies in it.

"I think this is the most visitors the old man ever got." One of them hisses, a girl in all black. From head to toe. From her hair to her fishnets. Black. I get it. Point proven. You're gothic and like the company of demons.

"This one's cuter than the last." A boy in dark skinny jeans and a band tee says, leering at me. Band t-shirt. Really? It's like the universe is mocking me. "Can I keep this one for a while." He flashes me a smile that has my skin crawling.

I expect the third one, another girl, not as gothic as her friend, to say something, but she doesn't, proving she's not as sadistic as the boy and not as hardcore as the girl. Along for the ride, I guess.

In one slick move, Rafe hops over the tomb and jumps down, becoming a barrier between the three cult members and myself. A quick glance behind me, shows Carden standing up against the demon.

We're going to get our asses kicked. Again. I too am along for the ride, I guess. "If you want me. Come and get me." I jump down on shaky legs and join Rafe in a standoff against the three idiots.

It's almost comical to think they're in the same league with this demon. It's almost as pathetic as me pretending to be in the same league as The Order.

The demon's booming voice fills the space and rattles my eardrums. "The girl is mine."

The boy with his band tee looks at me. "But we can definitely play for a little bit." He teases.

The third one, shifts from foot to foot before making a run for it. The heavy mausoleum door slams shut behind her. Her two remaining companions groan at her exit, but I can't help but to smile. "Apparently, she doesn't have it in her. Not everyone does. Not everyone is completely braindead and borderline psychotic as you two."

My joke doesn't sit well with either of them. The girl squeezes her fists tighter together, the nails no doubt digging into her palm and the boy licks his lips probably fantasizing about despicable things.

What I won't give to punch his smug face. To see his nightmares and make him squirm.

The girl in her ridiculous outfit charges first and Rafe is there to block her. Carden is immediately overtaken by the demon. The two pairs wrestle to the corners of the space leaving me to face off against the perverted boy.

We circle each other. "How about we call a truce?" I beg. The innocent, harmless girl always seems to get me somewhere.

"Only if a truce involves me fucking you until you scream my name, baby girl." He taunts. The malicious smile on his face has my stomach rolling and my feet halting. My shock is his advantage and his large, meaty hand grabs onto me.

His fingers squeeze around my neck, but I can't feel it. I'm too consumed by his nightmare. I fight to see through it, to see past it. Now is not the time to pass out. I need to ignore the highway that fills the crypt. To block out the sound of metal crunching as cars going at outrageous speeds crash into each other. To refuse to see the streams of gasoline that seep from car engines and gravitate to the burning flames of destroyed cars.