On The Narrow Way

Part 1

Sunlight streamed through the large windows and spilled over the reading alcove onto an auburn-haired, pale girl in the bed. Curtains fluttered in the warm spring breeze. The rays of sun continued to spread across baby-blue carpet, finally coming to a stop against the bookshelves lining the walls.

Vani draped herself across the form of the sleeping girl. "She's such a fool." She toyed with the girl's hair, her eyes narrowing at the girl whimpering in her sleep.

Dep leered at the girl. "She thinks she can fight, but she's​ just clueless like most humans. There's no way she can fight us."

The girl stirred, her dark, tear-soaked lashes fluttering slightly. Then she stilled again, her breathing shallow and sporadic.

Mare cackled, the laughter dry and reedy, and latched his claws into the motionless girl's hair. He didn't say anything. Mare never did. He spoke in pictures and mental images. The girl moaned, rolling over. Her long legs tangled in the covers, and she kicked out, forcing Vani off her in the process. The blankets slipped off the bed and Vani toppled onto the floor with a gasp.

Dep huffed out a laugh. "You look like an idiot. Your mouth is hanging open."

Vani glared, grabbing onto the footboard, pulling herself to her feet. "Well, you aren't one to talk. With all that steel in your face, I'm surprised you haven't set off every metal detector in the state. What's with that latest one in your nose anyway? You trying to look like a bull or something?"

Mare yowled, leaning forward to examine Dep's newest piercing. His fingers slipped from the girl's hair, and he shuddered, scuttling back to his crouching position on his victim's head.

"It's not like you've never seen piercings before, Mare. Stop staring." Dep bared needle-sharp fangs when Mare kept watching him, unblinking.

Vani toyed with her earrings, batting her lashes. "Don't pick on Mare. We all know he's a little simple in the head. And lacking in the looks department."

Dep eyed her slender, transparent form, lips pressed tight. "Yeah, he's totally simple just because he isn't attractive. Those of us who weren't blessed with your seductive charms can't possibly be intelligent." He smirked, crossing his arms. "Obviously, we're all some lower form of being."

Vani's lips curled up, her green eyes glinting. "Well, of course! You are. You didn't really think that you two were my equals, did you? Mare is some freak assortment of dog, cat, and the Almighty knows what other disgusting creature. He doesn't even speak. And you..." She waved a dismissive hand. "Could've been terrifying and maybe even good-looking, but you stuck your face in a thing of tacks instead."

Dep's eyes flashed from brown to pitch-black. "These..." He waved toward the piercings on his thin face. "Are not tacks!"

Vani smirked. "Well, at least you picked tacks that compliment that pasty complexion of yours. It could've been worse. Although..." She twirled her hair around her fingers. "Those tattoos kind of ruin that."

"Oh, shut up, Vani! We've got better things to do than listen to your crap. To be honest, the scarier we are the better. It's not like it matters what we look like anyway."

"Well, it matters to me!" Vani stomped her foot and scowled at Dep.

Mare snarled, getting their attention. His beady black eyes held theirs, and the arguments died. Vivid images of their own mutilated corpses and his spider-like legs ripping into them quickly silenced them both.

Their attention returned to the sleeping girl. Anything was better than the twisted feeling Mare's threats had left in their stomachs. The three shifted, filling the room with a rustling only audible to supernatural ears as they put aside their disagreements, and Vani laughed at her slow but inevitable descent into darkness.