THE SEVEN

pt.19

The pig-looking demon Gluttony stood before Xena and Gabrielle. The creature was fairly large. Both in hight and weight as he stared at the two uninvited guests, curious as to how they had found him.

GLUTTONY
You don't work for me. How did you get in here?

XENA
You leave a pretty noticeable trail.

GLUTTONY
I see. And how might I ask do you even know who I am?

XENA
We've been dealing with your other demon associats for a bit and you appear to fit the very embodiment of gluttonous behavior. Plus it's not as though your being exactly subtle here.

GABRIELLE
Not to mention the fact that you literally look like a pig.

GLUTTONY
That doesn't seem very fair. You know you shouldn't judge someone based off their appearance. You might hurt their feelings.

XENA
Spare me this nonsense. We've already seen what you've been doing here. And sickening doesn't even begin to describe it. You'll pay for what you've done to these people.

Xena and Gabrielle readied themselves for a fight.

GLUTTONY
So you intend on fighting me? Okay I guess a little exorcize before I eat won't hurt. Then I can make the two of you my appetizers.

Gluttony roared as he ran towards Xena and Gabrielle. He wasn't very fast, so when he attacked it wasn't hard for them to avoid him. Gluttony swung at Xena, who easily dodged. Then she quickly threw a punch. But instead of having the normal reaction, her fist just bounced off the demons body. Seemingly having no effect. She then threw a kick, but ended up with the same result.

GLUTTONY
(Mocking  tone) That tickled. You got anything else?

XENA
Yeah this.

Xena quickly thrust her sword deep into Gluttony's stomach.

XENA
Not so cocky now are ya?

Gluttony didn't say anything. The demon just stared off, Seemingly in pain.

XENA
That takes care of that.

Xena tried to pull her blade out of gluttony. But it appeared to be stuck. She pulled harder trying to retrieve her sword.

GABRIELLE
Xena look out!

Xena looked up just as gluttony swung his arm knocking her away. She landed hard on the floor a few feet away. She looked up to see the demon casually pull the sword out of his stomach leaving no wound behind. Then he proceeded to use the weapon to pick his teeth before tossing it aside. Xena got up as Gabrielle got over to her.

XENA
Looks like just cutting this thing down isn't gonna work.

GABRIELLE
You got a plan?

XENA
I'm working on it.

Gluttony swung at them again and they both dodged and split up. They tried throwing everything that they could think of at him, but nothing seemed to have any affect. The demon simply shrugged off all of their attacks. Xena tried to think of what they could do to actually cause some damage if conventional offense wasn't going to work. The fight continued when Gabrielle jumped down from a ledge that she climbed on thinking that getting more momentum behind her strike would be enough to pierce the demon. But instead gluttony caught her. He began to squeeze her.

GABRIELLE
Gah!

Xena quickly began trying to do anything to get Gabrielle free. But Gluttony simply knocked her away. Then he turned his attention back to Gabrielle.

GLUTTONY
I think I'll just have a little taste test.

The demon licked her face leaving a trail of slobber behind. Gabrielle yelled in pain as she felt her skin burn from whatever was in Gluttony's saliva.

XENA
Let her go!

Xena ran in and swept Gluttony's feet from under him. The demon let go of Gabrielle as he fell. She quickly got away from him. Xena saw the burn mark on Gabrielle's cheek left from Gluttony's spit.

XENA
I guess that's how he's able to devour his victims so easily. We better be careful. You okay?

GABRIELLE
More or less.

Gabrielle could feel her face still burning as she tried to wipe off the rest of the  saliva. Gluttony stood up and looked down at Xena and Gabrielle.

GLUTTONY
I really don't like to work this hard for my meals. Now just make this easier on everyone and give in. You're gonna end up in the same place either way. As my dinner.

XENA
I don't think so.

Gluttony swung at Xena again, who quickly rolled out of the way. The fight continued but Xena and Gabrielle couldn't seem to gain any ground on the demon. All they were doing was wearing themselves out. As the battle waged on Xena and Gabrielle took cover behind some overturned furniture. Trying to get a brief moment to think and regroup.

GABRIELLE
What's it gonna take to beat this thing? Nothing we do is working.

XENA
I know. It's like he's impervious to any physical attacks.

GLUTTONY
Are you tired of running yet?

Gluttony swung his arm crushing the table as Xena and Gabrielle dove out of the way. The commotion caused some nearby candles to fall over onto Gluttony. The demon let out a pig-like squeal as it franticly patted out the flames. Before refocusing on Xena and Gabrielle.

GLUTTONY
Now where were we?

XENA
You were just about to start chasing us.

GLUTTONY
What?

XENA
Come on Gabrielle, run.

Xena took off running out of the room. After taking a second to realize what was happening, Gabrielle quickly followed Xena, catching up to her as they raced through the halls. Gabrielle heard loud thumping. She looked back to see Gluttony chasing after them.

GABRIELLE
What are we doing? I don't think running from him in here is really going to work.

XENA
We're not exactly running from him as much as running to somewhere.

They made it to the stairs, stopping to make sure the demon was still following them.

GABRIELLE
You wanna tell me where we're going.

Xena looked back to see Gluttony closing in.

XENA
The kitchen.

Gabrielle felt her stomach flip as she thought about the scene in the kitchen.

GABRIELLE
Why on earth would you wanna go back there?

XENA
I have a plan.

Gluttony closed in. He swung. Xena dodged. But he just managed to catch Gabrielle. The hit threw her up against the railing at the top of the stairs. She held on, keeping herself standing. But the force from the impact had stunned her for a moment. Gluttony roared as he began charging at her.

XENA
Gabrielle!

Gluttony roared in anger as he quickly closed in on Gabrielle. She couldn't react fast enough to get out of the way. The demon was nearly on top of her when Gabrielle suddenly felt herself being shoved to the side. Time seemed to slow down for Gabrielle while she looked back as she layed on the floor to see Xena getting crashed into by Gluttony. The railing gave causing both Xena and Gluttony to fall down multiple stories before hitting the bottom floor. Gabrielle quickly scrambled to look over the edge.

GABRIELLE
Xena.

Her heart sank when she saw Xena just laying there. Gluttony had landed on top of her. Neither of them were moving.

GABRIELLE
Xena!

TO BE CONTINUED...