Death and Darkness

Chapter 11

"Ay, chingada madre. Corre! RUN!" Delta grabbed my arm and rushed off, adrenaline pumping through our veins.

I bid my mind not to be curious, not to turn and look. Too late. It was a horrific sight. The figure was practically gliding at us, smoke and shadows oozing and dripping from what could hardly be called a body. I turned back, suddenly realizing that I was slowing to stare at the horrendous thing coming after us.

Delta was faster than I was. My every step was three of hers. She urged me on, but I was getting tired. Training as a Reaper meant that I had to control and suppress fears and hesitation, becoming cold as ice. Although I'm considered more emotional than the average Reaper, my fears were habitually kept away. Adrenaline couldn't be my motivation to run no matter how terrifying Lucifer's form was.

"I can't— I can't keep going!" I shouted to Delta as she climbed over the chainlink fence.

"Of course you can! Come on! Move your ass over the fence, Reaper!" she shouted back.

I hesitated. A lethal mistake. Before I could move, a cold hand grasped my ankle and dragged me back.

"KIARA!"

I struggled, kicking and clawing and slashing blindly with my scythe blades. My efforts to escape were in vain as the thing that was supposed to be Lucifer consumed me. I had the sensation of falling into a tarpit, only much faster than waiting for my asphyxiating demise. Swallowed by a serpent, I thought while my sense of sight left.

Fate is a mystery as much as she's cruel. There are times when I think she especially likes to bully me, and that was one of those times. Truly, I believed it was the end for me. An immortal life of guiding souls only just to be eaten by Satan himself. I partially blame Zeus for that.

Floating in darkness for who knows how long is the only description I can give you. I wasn't sure where I was or what I was doing, but it was a good while before a sticky, mushy sound squished over me. Suddenly, cool air touched my skin and I was breathing, gasping. No light blinded me for the sky was still wrapped by a shield-like something of red and black. I rolled through what felt like sludge and landed on hard concrete.

"Glad to see you're still alive-ish," Delta shouted from a distance, fighting off a demon with her saber.

"What the fuck is this shit?!" I exclaimed, swiping away slimy residue. "It's in my mouth!" I spat and coughed as I cursed in a few different languages.

"Ha! I haven't heard you curse that much in ever!" Delta cried in humor, decapitating three demons in one swing.

"What's going on?" I asked, still a little disorientated.

A Demon growled and lunged for me. I sidestepped and kicked its back, face-planting the Hell-spawn. My blades unsheathed from my wrists as I got ready to take on the other demons.

"Enough," Lucifer snapped before Delta could answer me, body writhing in a smoky mass of grotesque and indescribable forms.

The Demons, an army of them, turned to face their leader with full attention. It was pretty creepy, what with their elongated jaws hanging loosely and eyes blank like pearls. Lucifer's body grew, oozing shadows.

"Seize the abomination and destroy the Reaper!" the devil commanded, voice breathy and hiss-like.

"Looks like Lord Voldemort's got pets," Delta said, watching Hellhounds appear from the smoke around Lucifer.

"I've seen a lot of weird and gross things in my life, but this definitely tops the cake," I commented, bracing myself. "What do we do? We're outnumber a thousand to one and killing Lucifer isn't really the smartest idea."

"He does maintain Hell and its inhabitants," Delta agreed bitterly. "Just keep fighting the Hellhounds and Demons."

"Nooo. How about we just stand here and let it all happen?" I snapped sarcastically, kicking a Hellhound ten feet away from me.

"Well, sor-ry!" she returned in equal sarcasm. "I'm not the one who asked what to do!"

"I meant with Lucifer, not his Death Eaters!"

"His what?!"

"His Death Eaters! You made a reference about Voldemort! Did you not read the books?"

"Admittedly, not yet."

"Why are we even friends?"

"Because you can't talk to a human like a normal person!"

"Good point."

A Hellhound snapped at Delta's leg, teeth digging into her skin. She gave a startled shriek. I leapt over a Demon and vaulted over a hound before decapitating the dog chewing on Delta's leg.

"Delta, don't ever trust Hell's inhabitants. They tell fibulas!"

The Shadow Knight sighed exasperatedly. "Kiara, just... no."

"It was funny!" I protested.

"More like runny. Your humor's run off. Better go catch it." Ba-dum-sizzle. Burned by the Shadow.

"I hate you," I bantered.

"I hate me, too."

A hand, or what I assume to be a hand, grabbed onto Delta and me. She cut off the thing immediately with her saber while I severed it with my scythe. Another reached over and grabbed Delta again, knocking her saber from her hand.

"Bitch, no!" Delta started cursing in Spanish.

Foolishly letting my guard down for one moment, a Demon took hold of me. Its jaws clamped over my wrist as another Demon grabbed my torso, pulling at me. Its arms felt like it was boiling through my tattered shirt. Blood slid over my hand while the Demon reached the bones in my wrist. I cried out in pain, tears stinging my eyes but never really falling.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the Demon on my wrist. A flash of light cracked through the red and black over the Earth.

"Thor almighty," Delta mumbled. "That's a joke. Don't take that seriously."

Thunder roared as the crack in the red and black shield reached outward and broke an imperfect, jagged hole. The floor began to shake as well. Power shifted and wove through my surroundings at great lengths and different energies. My frequency senses were disrupted, but I didn't think I'd need it anyways. The Demons and hounds looked scared, apprehensive.

"I don't like this," Delta told me quietly.

"I don't either," I replied, just as quiet.