House Of Echoed Screams (Completed)

Chapter 15:The Seal

     The moment the demon lunged at Ryan, he was ready. He took a step back, and when the demon's claws missed their target and it stumbled, he thrust the saw through its left eye, causing it to howl in pain. Nikki took advantage of this opportunity, and cleaved the demon down its back, making it stumble forward. Ryan could now easily see blood trickling out of its darkened eye socket, along with the stream running down its back, which made it that much more surprising to see the demon lunge at him without warning. He started to lift his saw in defense, but the demon was too fast; it tackled him to the ground, knocking his saw across the room, and pinned him down with one hand against his throat. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't push this thing off of him, it was too strong. "If you're gonna kill me, get it over with. At least then, I'll be back together with Addie," Ryan said through gritted teeth.
     Alex let out a small chuckle, and said, "Now, what fun would there be in painlessly killing you? Oh no, I'm going to enjoy cutting you open and ripping apart your organs!" Nikki started to take a step forward, but the demon then said, "I wouldn't try anything funny, Nikki. Not unless you want to die first." She hesitated for a moment, then took another step, saying, "I don't care if you kill me; so long as I make sure you go down with me!" "So be it," Alex said, and lunged at Nikki, but she was ready for this. She lifted her sword up above her head, and slashed at the demon, cutting off one of its arms. The demon landed, seeming unfazed, spun to face Nikki, and quickly leapt again, trailing blood behind it.
     Ryan saw that Nikki wouldn't be able to react in time, so he pushed up off of the floor, tackling Alex out of the way. Standing up, Ryan brushed off one of his shoulders, and shouted, "Keep your dirty hands off of my sister!" He ran over to Nikki, who was taking short, deep breaths. "Are you okay?"  For a moment, Nikki simply stared blankly at where the demon was lying, but then she responded, between breaths, "Yeah, I'm fine." She dropped her sword, and at the same time, Ryan heard a shuffling noise behind him, and once he turned around, saw Alex staggering to its feet. Nikki walked past Ryan, muttering something like, "I'm so sick of this bitch." The demon seemed to not be able to keep its balance, and Ryan realised that it must have been disoriented from that tackle. It swiped at Nikki as she approached, but she easily dodged it by sidestepping to her left. "What happened to you threatening to kill us, huh," Nikki taunted the demon, who tried to swipe at Nikki with her claws again, but missed, causing it to stumble forward and fall.
     Nikki walked up to it, saying, "You know, I just can't understand why I was ever scared of you. I mean, look at you now! You're weak, you're pathetic! You couldn't kill us if you tried." Alex reached out a hand, but Nikki stamped her foot down on the demon's head, causing bones to crack and more blood to spill. The demon's hand trembled once more, then fell to the ground, limp. She stepped away from the bloodied corpse, calmly walked toward Ryan, and said, "Thank God. I was getting really sick of that thing." Ryan had nothing to say; all he could do was stare at Nikki's blood stained yet determined face with his mouth wide open. Nikki bent over to pick up her sword, saw Ryan staring, and asked, "What? You need something?" Ryan found his voice, saying, "You killed it. You killed it. I was supposed to kill it!" Nikki just stared at him with a penetrating gaze, then said, "Well, you had plenty of chances to kill it, but all I saw you doing was struggling to stay alive."
     Ryan had nothing to say to this remark, so he just walked over to his saw, which ends up only a short distance away from the demon's body. As he bent down to grab the saw, movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he felt something warm grip his leg. Turning his head, he saw that Alex had grabbed his leg, it's bloody face looking up into his. "Hand me that saw, or you die," It's voice rattled. Ryan grabbed the saw, and heard Nikki's footsteps running up behind them. He made a quick motion toward Alex's neck with his saw, but the demon was somehow too fast for him. It grabbed his wrist, pulled the saw out of his hand, and spun around behind him with the saw pressed lightly against his neck. "I told you to hand me the saw. Are you that ignorant, or do you just want to die that badly?" Ryan let out a small grunt, making sure to keep his eyes on the saw. "My sister just crushed your skull. How are you still alive?"
     Again, Alex chuckled. "I'm not like you humans. I don't simply die from something as pathetic as that, and I can heal any wound on me, except for severed limbs, obviously." It gestured toward it's missing arm, and smiled. "And as for you, girl," Alex said, spinning around in the blink of an eye, and stabbing Nikki through the chest with the saw. "NO," Ryan bellowed, grabbed Alex's hair, and kneed her in the back, making her let go of the saw. Alex struggled to escape Ryan's grip, but he refused to let go. "You hurt my sister, now you're gonna pay!" Looking over his shoulder, he saw Nikki recover from the shock, and pull the saw from her chest, causing blood to spurt out of her chest and mouth. She stumbled over to Ryan, handed him the saw as he let go of Alex, and nodded. Ryan charged the demon, who had just recovered from stumbling, and slashed at its neck as hard as he could. Even when blood stayed across his face, so that he was forced to squint, he refused to stop cutting until he heard the sickening crack of the demon's head splitting apart from and falling away from its body. Only then did Ryan let his arm rest as he walked over to Nikki.
    "We did it," He breathed, but just then, laughter filled the room. "Have you really? Well, allow me to put everything into perspective." Just then, Nikki pointed toward something on the ground, and upon looking, Ryan noticed that the voice was coming from Alex's head. "You might have succeeded in killing me, but demon's don't have souls. You still can't leave this place, even if you tried." Ryan's patience was running thin at this point. "What do you mean? Why can't we leave?" Again, laughter filled the room. "I told you that in order for me to escape, the souls of six people must be released within this building. That is what keeps me sealed here. What you didn't know, however, is that this seal affects anyone who steps foot inside this place." Ryan clenched his fists in rage, and shouted, "No, you're lying! That seal was meant for you!" "Denial will get you nowhere. Think; how come you thought that you escaped this building, only to wake up within the building again? How is it the entrance became a doorway to another hallway? There is no other explanation."
     Ryan stood still for a moment, processing everything that the demon had said. "Then that means... that means-" Ryan began, but Alex cut him off. "Yes, that means that one more soul must be released, and there are two of you remaining. Neither of you can live while the other survives. To escape, one of you must die." Alex's voice trailed off, and Ryan knew that it must have died. He looked over to Nikki, and for the first time in his life, saw real terror in her eyes; she was actually afraid of him.

{A/N}: Well, plot twists: don't you just love them? Now, Nikki and Ryan, sister and brother, must fight to the death so that they can escape! I have just one question: who's side are you on?