Night Demons 2024 Version

Prologue

There was no sign of any nightlife as the man stumbled through the forest. The moon hung in a sliver, casting a soft glow on the uneven earth below him, but not enough for him to truly see his way. His breath had caught in his through the moment he heard a twig snap behind him and he struggled keeping in a yelp that threatened to slip past his lips.

He tripped, a root sending him falling forward. The man was too slow, his hands not moving fast enough to catch himself as he plummeted face first into a muddy puddle. It hadn't rained for more than a month and they were facing a drought, so where had the water come from?

Another crunch of the terrain around him and he was running before he could even get himself up from the forest floor. He pushed himself up, slipping in the suddenly wet earth beneath him. He needed to get out of here, but he had no idea as to where he was going or how he could get out of the mess he had found himself in. He was both surprised and relieved when, in the dull light of the moon, he found a little cabin. The best he could do now was pray someone was in there. Preferably a hunter with a gun.

He rushed to the door, stumbling as he went, and flung his full body weight against the door and pounded on the sturdy wood. The insects had yet to resume their night song and he shivered with each snap of a twig that signaled his predator's approach.

"Let me in," He begged under his breath as he pounded against the door, his hand reaching for the nob.

He twisted the nob and fell forward into a dusty abandoned cabin, hell half the wall in the back and side were completely gone. The man cursed under his breath praying that the thing stalking him didn't think he was stupid enough to stop in a place like this. Maybe he would get lucky and be able to outsmart this thing.

A new eerie silence surrounded him, not even the movements of his predator could be heard. Had the thing been playing with him this whole time and was purposely making noise in his chase? Surely not...right?

A fog like black mist wafted past the cabin, his eyes bulging as he watched the ground disappear. Any sign of life, the forest around him began to wilt and die. It was like this fog was sucking all life from the living.

He moved toward the corner where the two walls still stood, pressing his body against the wooden logs. He flattened himself against them the best he could, playing to the god or gods above to protect him, but the fog lifted up onto the floor of the cabin and slowly slipped forward. He slapped a hand over his mouth to keep from screaming, even as his chaser slowly stepped past the first of the missing wall.

The bright crimson eyes of his predator immediately locked on him and the thing stopped just outside the bounds of the cabin, head cocked to the side watching.

"What do you want from me?" His voice was panicked. "What are you doing?"

The fog surrounded the thing as well as crept closer to the poor man trying to avoid its master. Said fog was now drifting closer than before, licking at the man's boots and eating at the leather. The man trembled as he locked eyes with the demon before him.

"What I am doing is something I should have done a long time ago." It growled at him, deep voice twisted and leaking with a sticky sweet venom. Those crimson eyes served as the only color to the darkening surroundings. "I should have done this the moment you hurt her."

The mist, fog crept further up the man's leg, making him stumbled down onto one knee before falling forward onto his hands. He was gasping in pain now, one hand reaching up to cling at his chest and he screamed out. "You fucking hell spawn."

The demon smirked. "I'm the son of the devil herself."

Once the fog swallowed the man, his body began to convulse. The creature with the deep red eyes watching with no mercy or sympathy, just a wicked gleam. When the body quit jerking, the night life around the creature began to sing once more.