Devil's Soul

Chapter 47 (phase two)

***I just posted the previous chapter earlier today, and I can see several people have already read it. I'm so happy to have such eager fans! Here's another chapter that I hope you will read just as eagerly.***

Phase two was a pretty basic plan. It involved Clarence pretending to drunkenly wander into the secluded alley outside the club. Remy and I hid near the entrance of the alley and watched his strangely excellent acting job. He angrily yelled something about a guy stealing his girl and kicked the wall. The pain on his face when he hopped back from the wall on one foot had me wondering if he had actually kicked it with the full force of his fake anger.

I noticed that Desmond had followed us out of the club and was observing from a short distance away. If Remy saw him, she didn't say anything, which probably meant she hadn't seen him.

After going on like that for five minutes, screams erupted from inside the club. Clarence froze in the midst of his act, and Remy and I rushed toward the source of the commotion. People were pouring out from the club, clearly terrified. Pushing our way inside was not an easy task, but Remy was a very pushy person, and we somehow made it. I was bracing myself for something bad, but I was still caught unprepared for the sight we encountered.

I wish I could say that the fleeing mass of people had proved impenetrable; that I had never made it inside to witness firsthand the terrible consequences of the mistake we had made. If I'd been simply told what had happened, maybe I could have kept the news as an abstract concept in my head. It could have been something that was real but not quite real to me. Just an idea to be sad about, not an image of stark reality that can't be unseen.

But I did see it: a woman with dark luscious hair, bent over a body that she had pinned to the bar counter top. And I heard it: harrowing slurping sounds as she lapped at his neck, which were audible even among the chaotic screams. But the most horrific aspect of the scene was the owner of the limp body. Juan. His once gleaming golden brown skin now had a sickly pallor to it, and his eyes were staring vacantly into the distance.

I didn't hesitate. The scene should have had me frozen in place, gaping in horror, but I didn't stop to think about it (the thinking would come later, during the nights when my mind threatened to finally find peace). I lunged forward and released the throwing star I had palmed. It embedded itself in the woman's backside, and she reeled on me, her eyes burning a fiery red. She reached around her back and yanked out the throwing star, sending it clanging on the ground. I was gripped with the urge to join the retreating partiers, but I gritted my teeth and stood my ground. I slipped another throwing star from the holster on my garter (accessible via the slit in my dress) and threw it into the woman's stomach. The blow didn't stop her, and she pounced onto me. I fell back, and my head hit the ground with a resounding crack. My vision blurred.

The woman pressed her body onto mine, her teeth seeking out my neck. I screamed as the star in her stomach cut into mine. Just as the woman bit into my neck, Remy pulled her off me. Remy let out a battle cry and brought her knife down in an arc toward the woman's heart. The knife tip splintered the tile floor, and I took a moment to realize the woman had turned into a bat and was now flying toward the door. I tried to throw a third star at her flitting bat body, but I missed, and she escaped. Remy cursed under her breath.

I slowly stood, still feeling a little woozy from hitting my head. The movement made me wince, and I clutched at the bleeding wound on my abdomen, only to discover that the throwing star had transferred itself to my body. I pulled it out, moaning from the pain of steel sliding past my flesh. I wiped the blood off on my now ruined dress and put the star back with the others that I hadn't released.

Suddenly Desmond was by my side, supporting me. Now that the adrenaline had subsided, I found that I was in great need of his presence. I leaned into him as I focused on healing the wounds on my neck and abdomen. For a moment, I worried that the power had left me, but then I felt the strange tingle of my flesh stitching itself back together and the relief that followed. The healing power also lifted the daze caused by my headache, and I was able to take in my surroundings with a clear mind.