Tribulation

Chapter 7: The Warden

The man standing in front of them was very built and fairly tall. Without a doubt a demon... But who? The demon smiled and stepped back. "Enjoy my pets. I have more... pressing matters." He laughed and turned, walking back inside. The doors closed shut and the hellhounds stood to block it.

Isaac drew Faithless. Sarkany drew her demon dagger, and Jackson drew his massive broadsword. The hellhounds crouched down. Their flaming manes whipped about wildly. Suddenly, a howl rang out and a larger, stronger looking hound appeared on the roof. The great beast leapt down and appeared to have a grin, baring its gnarled teeth.

Glaring at each other for a moment, Isaac and the large dog charged full speed at each other. Jackson and Sarkany followed behind, charging at the other two hounds. Isaac kicked his hound in the face and made it flinch. It recovered quickly and snapped at him. Jackson used the flat side of his sword to stun his attacker and was able to quickly kill it. He looked over in time to see Sarkany pinning the hound against the wall and shoving her dagger through its chest.

"Damn girl!" Jackson yelled.

Sarkany just smiled, then turned to the giant hound Isaac was now locked in a roll with. Both Jackson and Sarkany tried to get at it, but it knocked them away. The beast had Isaac pinned to the dirt by the shoulders. Faithless laid out of his reach. He managed to keep its snapping jaws from his face when finally, he punched it and knocked it away. Isaac tried to leap up, but it went for another pin. The massive dog leapt at Isaac and he went under it's body. Sarkany screamed in fear. Jackson ran at the dog and ran it through.

"Dammit!" He screamed. The dog lay on the ground with the hunter laying beneath. Jackson pushed the limp hellhound off of Isaac. Sarkany knelt down and picked his head up. A single tear fell from her black eyes. The drop fell on to Isaacs face. He squinted his eyes and they slowly opened.

"Why the hell are you crying?" He asked, slowly sitting up. Jackson and Sarkany looked amazed. Isaac looked at them "What did you think I was dead?" He questioned.

Jackson answered, "Well considerin' the only thing we saw was that beast tackle your ass and you go under. Yeah, we thought you were dead."

Isaac stood and brushed himself off. He walked over to the limp hound and tied it up. He pushed up a front leg to reveal a small dagger protruding from it's chest.

"Remember this?" Isaac directed the question to Sarkany.

Jackson still answered, "Son of a bitch, Isaac." They all laughed.

The prison doors stood like an archway into pure darkness. Isaac pushed the doors open and they entered. The air inside was dense and heavy, hardly breathable. The front entrance was dimly lit by unseen lighting. Isaac searched a couple drawers before he found what he was searching for. A large police flashlight. He checked it for batteries, fortunately there were some in the light. He flipped it on. A beam shot to the side of the room adjacent the base of the flashlight. He shined it around looking for anything leading to Alastair. The group walked through the prison, eventually splitting up to find something, anything. But all they found were cell blocks and prisoners.

"What do we do?" Sarkany asked.

Isaac turned, "We keep looking... he's gotta be here somewhere."

Jackson went rigid, he pointed to something in the corner. "What the hell is that?" He asked them.

Isaac slowly and carefully drew his sword. "I don't know, but it doesn't look friendly."

The shadow which they talked about was tall and very thin. It appeared to only be wearing a cloth over it's lower body. It carried a curved sword about as long as it's forearm. But worst of all was it's face... A white smiling mask. Its eyes appeared missing. And it's face just stared at them, not moving. It didn't even appear to be moving.