NB: The Girl from Hell (GirlxGirl)

Chapter 19: The Scarlet Lady

As I make my way downtown, the psychic scream gets louder and louder. 

Dressed in scarlet, I push myself to go as fast as I can.

I should have left earlier.  I should have been patrolling in the first place.

I get to the building.  There are two doormen at the front.

They tell me to stop, but I just keep going.

“Call the police!” I shout as I pass.

I kick open the stairwell, and leap up from one flight of stairs to the next, searching for the right floor. 

I break through the front door and find Algea hovering over a woman's body.  Her skin in covered in shallow cuts, her bones broken, and her spirit crushed. Worst of all is that she isn't the one who called me.  I can see a little boy, trapped by Algea's power.  The boy can't run, or scream, or close his eyes.  He had to watch Algea do this to his mother.  His rage is what summoned me here.

Algea looks up from is project, pleased that I've finally arrived.

I see his brutal work and anger fills me.  I am strong and I want to fight him.

Algea runs at me with his knife.

My inner fire fills me and I knock him back with my might.  He doesn’t seem fazed by it.  He runs at me again.  We trade punches.  Somehow I manage to knock the knife out of his hand. 

“That’s more like it,” Algea says.  “Let out your rage out like a real demon.  We need to be strong.”

I ignore him.  I won’t let him get into my head.  I need to stop him.

He punches me in the face, but it just makes me angrier.  I’ll destroy him.

I punch him back, but he blocks my attacks. 

He is swinging at me with both arms.  I’m knocked back.

My body is healing, but the energy drain is getting to me.  I need the anger to fuel me.  I need more power.

“You can’t stop me if you keep holding back,” Algea says.

I run at him, focusing all my rage into my fists. 

As we fight, there are flames.  I don’t know if it’s coming from me or him, but the room is on fire. 

An alarm goes off and thick grey, dirty water sprays down from the roof.  It puts out the flames at first, but they’re stronger than water.

As I pummel him into the kitchen counter, he reaches over for a knife.  Before I can stop him, he stabs me in the side. Twisting it inside of me, he basks in my pain.

“You’re strong,” he says.  “Be strong.  I know there’s more to you.”

He’s right.  There are walls in me, but I can’t forget that what’s inside me is even worse than Algea.  He wants me to let out the fire so I’ll become like him.

I take a step back, still impaled by the knife.  I refuse to be stopped by a little piece of metal.  I start attacking Algea again.  He pulls out the knife and tries to stab me again, but this time I stop him.

I start to heal, but it drains my power.  Before I can stop him, Algea takes his knife and he stabs Heather through her heart.  He reaches out to the flames around the room, and feeds them.  They grow instantly, threatening to consume the whole apartment.  He grabs his camera and dashes for the balcony. “It’s been a time.  I hope you had as much fun as me.” 

I want to chase him, but I see flames closing in on the boy.  He’s still frozen by Algea.  I grab the child and I run.

The doormen called the police when I entered the building.  They’re here, but they’re having trouble getting up to the apartment.  Following the fire alarm, the elevators are shut down and the stairwells are flooded with people exiting the building.

As soon as I move the boy, he can speak again.  “What about my Mum?” he cries out as we flee the building.  I can’t go back for her.  She’s already dead.  The boy in my arms has just become an orphan.