Halfling (editing in process)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Payne was out of her element. One moment she was chained to a wall, watching Lucien have a three way with a succubus and some poor human girl he had dragged down to hell, and the next she was lying in some kind of barely lit cavern. The fact there was some kind of undead monster holding Aria captive was another factor into her shock. She had told Aria not to summon her, had told her to stay away. The poor girl didn't understand that she had no control over her pain frenzies, and anything that was around her during that time would get hurt. Aria didn't deserve to be tortured any longer, not after what she had been through. As soon as Aria was safe from the grotesque beast, she would go. She was happy to be out of Lucien's bedroom though, she had seen far more of Lucien than she ever wanted to see, and every moment she looked at him her hatred for him only grew. The fact that he called women Aria, whether they be soul slaves or mortals he had drug down to Hell for a fun time, that he tortured them while calling her name, made Payne sick. He wasn't the demon she had known before Azael had been killed. He was raping women, something that would have made him sick before. Soul slaves had it coming, they had sold their souls for power and greed, but he was dragging mortal women down while they screamed and fought against him, and that wasn't the Lucien that she had plotted Azael's demise with. He had gone mad with power, and he needed to be destroyed.

For now though, she needed to get Aria out of the monster's grasp, kill the thing, and then get away from her. It was painful enough to see her again after so long had passed, especially since she was in once piece instead of the mangled parts of her that frequently haunted her dreams.

Javen was loading the creature full of arrows; though his attack was proving quite ineffective. The arrows sunk deep into the rotting flesh of the beast, a few hit the squirming bodies that wailed in renewed agony. The creature seemed to be ignoring Javen, and instead turned towards Payne. One of the other tentacles lashed out and tried to grab her, causing her to quickly jump out of the way. She grabbed the dagger that was lying on the ground near her, shuttering when she saw the blood coating the blade. The smell of it told her it was Aria's blood, the smell was enough to cause a tremor to go through her, her eyes flashing red for a few moments. She shook it off to the best of her ability and struck out at the tentacle, the creature growling low as she managed to cut it.

"I would love to get down guys, I don't mean to complain, but this thing stinks, and it's really slimy." Aria called, gagging as the tentacle tightened around her.

The next arrow that Javen fired sunk into the center of the creature's eye. The bulbous mass ruptured immediately, blood and pus oozing down the front of the creature, leaving a gaping socket in its place and filling the cavern with the smell of rot and decay.

"I'm going to be sick." Aria whimpered, noting the green tint of Javen's face as well.

Marcus growled low and leapt at the creature, latching onto one of the torsos that hung from its form. One of the tentacles reacted immediately and wrapped around his back legs, pulling him away from it, ripping off an arm in the process, and smashed him against the ground multiple times before throwing him clear across the room. He disappeared into the darkness at the edges of the room, the sound of rattling chains sounded loudly, followed by snarls and barks from Marcus. The hell hound didn't come back.

Payne took the momentary distraction to approach the creature and sink the blade into its stomach, a short gasp leaving her as her arm sunk into its body, the flesh giving way easily. She tried to pull back, only to have the different bodies latch onto her, trying to pull her deeper into their fleshy prison. She fought against it, reaching out towards Javen for help, and was met back with a stare full of hatred.