Demons Have Feelings Too

Chapter 8: Initial-Demon

After classes for the day, Hayden was still writing and flipping through her journal, muttering under her breath as she did so.

"What's wrong, Hayden?" Filtch asked.

"I'm still trying to find out the connection between Samhain and what's been happening around here. The veil thins naturally, sure, but not like this" Hayden replied, then putting her pen in her mouth and holding out her journal with both hands to view. She twisted it side to side as if a different view may help. Maybe it would?

The sun was setting as we headed to the nearby empty parking lot and went to Hayden's car.

Just as we were about to hop in the vehicle, I heard the rustling of leaves behind us, the distinct sound of heavy footfalls, and the smell of blood.

We all turned around to see someone hunched over, arms draping down, and staring right at us. His skin was a deathly gray, his hair a dark mess, and the rest of him dressed in tattered clothes that were stained all over with who knows what. His face... his pupils were blown with slivers of red irises visible. Those eyes kept moving rapidly to take all of us in, they sat in sunken sockets with deep, dark bags underneath. I could see the cheekbones protruding beneath sunken cheeks, as well.

The creature's mouth slowly wrenched open like a snake's, his jaw seeming like it'd detach at any moment with jagged rips at the corners of his mouth, showing some molars. Sharp teeth glistened with blood from a victim I didn't want to think about. A guttural, gurgling screech began at the back of his throat and escaped his mouth before he charged towards us at full speed, claws at full length and a murderous stare zeroed in on us. I froze, hoping to hell the others had some plan to get us out of this situation.

Hayden and Carmen had their weapons at the ready, taking protective stances around me, while Filtch threw a fireball at the twisted creature. It yelped from the burn but never flinched. The thing leaped towards us through the flames left behind, still scorched, and started to slash wildly at the air with wicked sharp claws.

Daemeon met the creature head on in a tackle and started punching it in the gut as it clawed at his back.

"Watch the jacket!" Daemeon huffed out as he shoved the creature away. It was sent skidding back a couple feet by the shove, kicking up dirt and rock at its feet.

Everyone was at the ready, cornering this thing. It looked to everyone, its eyes darting back and forth like a cornered animal. Then, it gave off a horrendous screech that fluctuated. We all covered our ears to block out the sound.

"What is it doing?!" I shouted the question out to the others.

"If I had to guess?" Hayden shouted back, "Calling for backup!"

Shit.

And surely as she said it, we could hear ruffling in the trees around the parking lot, as well as the thundering sound of feet against ground. How many were there?!

"Everyone, in the car, now," Hayden ordered. None of us dared argue and all quickly filed in. I crammed in between Carmen and Filtch in the backseat as Daemeon took passenger and Hayden drove. The tires screeched as Hayden pulled out of her parking spot and shot forward at full speed out of the lot and onto the road.

Hayden broke every law of the road possible getting us out of there. But I turned back to see that the horde of creatures were still following us, and keeping up.

"What the fuck are those things?!" I asked incredulously.

"Feral vampires," Hayden said, a slight tremble in her voice. "We must've pissed off someone powerful, because those things were sent."

Sent? "What do you mean sent?!"

But before anyone could answer me, there was a thud above us. One of them is on the roof of the car!

Hayden swerved side to side, trying to shake the damn thing, but soon I saw a fist trying to break in through the passenger side window.

"Reinforced glass, just in case," Hayden stated in a rush as she swerved once more. Daemeon rolled down the window, grabbed the arm as it went for another swing, and yanked. I could hear a painful crack of bone as the creature came tumbling off the roof and onto the side of the road as we entered some backroads.

We still had company, however. The others were catching up just as fast as the last. I could start seeing glimpses of them in the street lights as I peered back. They almost looked like normal humans, almost. They all had the same gray skin as the first one had, as well as the same sharp teeth and ripped up cheeks. Each looked like some twisted version of whoever they once were, still wearing normal, everyday clothes. One was even wearing a damn Hello Kitty shirt! But they were all stained with blood and dirt. Their nails, sharp talons. Their eyes, dead to this world and only showing hunger for flesh and blood. And they were gaining on us.

Filtch rolled down the window on his side of the car and started flinging fireballs back at the crowd of feral vampires, knocking out a few of them.

"I think that's 5 out of-" Filtch stopped to count out the horde, "12? Ahh!" Filtch screamed as one dug its claws in and hung from the open window of his door. He quickly punched it with a solid thwack, followed by waving his hand around in pain.

"They're gonna leave marks on my car!" Hayden yelled as she sped up. Even Daemeon finally buckled up as Hayden drove with more fury. This car was already a junker, what do you mean-

But, as we drove on, I could finally hear all the hidden power under the hood of this damn deathtrap. Is she driving a fuckin' sleeper car?

"Turn, turn, turn!" Daemeon shouted as Hayden drove at full speed towards a sharp right in the road. At the last second, she drifted into the turn. I could hear the tires screech and skid as she took the turn, the front bumper nearly scraping the guard rail.What in the Initial-

She pulled out of the turn and kept up pace, putting some distance between us and the horde. But not for long. I was starting to have a full blown panic attack, somehow not having had one until now.

Carmen grabbed my hand and held it for dear life. Now I was panicking about that. I still gave her hand a death grip in return.

One by one, the vampires would cling to the car and be swiftly ejected by a punch or fireball to the face. It was slowly whittling down their numbers, but we were about to reach town, once again.

We can't lead these things through a damn neighborhood, I thought. Luckily, there was only one left. The very first feral vampire we ran into, and it was the most persistent.

It ran towards us like it was a fucking terminator on a mission. As soon as it was right behind us, it jumped and latched onto the top of the car.

"Alright, I've had just enough of the claw marks on my car!" Hayden shouted before she slammed on the brakes, sending the feral vampire flying forward and skidding onto the pavement. For good measure, and to our collective horror (besides Daemeon), Hayden drove forward, running over the feral vampire and proceeded to back up over it.

"Death check!" Daemeon clapped his hands together as he hopped out of the vehicle. I realized I was still holding Caermen's hand in a vice grip before slowly releasing it. Hayden, Carmen, and I followed Daemeon's lead.

The creature laid there dying, its breathing shallow as it slowly disintegrated to black ash. A piece of paper fluttered to the ground above its remains. It was a blood red business card. Hayden bent down and picked it up for us all to see:

Red Lotus Den

The words were emblazoned on the card in black, inky cursive. Upon flipping the card around, we could see the location details listed on the back.

"Well then," Hayden spoke in an even tone, "looks like we found our sender. And our next destination."

Filtch was the last to get out of the car and quickly ran off to a nearby bush, throwing up in said bush.

"It can wait until tomorrow, I suppose," she added on.