One-Shot Stories

The Blanket

It's been a long day, and after your long, luxurious bath and sinfully delicious takeout dinner, you were more than ready to snuggle up under the covers in your smooth silk pajamas and snooze the night away. You double check your alarm and make sure it's correct; even though you had the next couple days off, you still had to get up early to run errands so you wouldn't have to worry about them for the rest of the weekend.

You'd only just managed to avoid being pulled along by your co-workers to a bar after work. You really had no interest in such a thing as you didn't drink yourself, and they usually got a little too rowdy for your taste after about an hour. You'd learned your lesson after the third time and now just politely excuse yourself to head home, no matter their grumbling.

You shimmy down into the soft sheets, pulling your blankets up to your chin with a sigh of satisfaction. Before long, you were out cold.

Sometime in the middle of the night, however, you wake up to the sound of something in your room. You groggily look over where you could hear the noise from, wondering if you had a mouse or something.

What you didn't expect to see was a bright, red-orange light shining from a diagonal crack in your wall.

You blink a couple times, shaking your head and trying to clear the sleep-fog from your eyes. You vaguely wonder if you were still asleep, when suddenly the crack widens explosively with a sound somewhere between an enormous zipper and a rockslide. The brilliant light beyond blinds you as it pours from the gaping hole, and you duck lower under your blankets in fear.

What the hell was going on?

You can barely see a couple large, shadowy figures beyond the edge of the glowing portal, and you squint, trying to see more detail. Abruptly, one of the forms grows more distinct, and you can hear what sounds like speech in a language you'd never heard before. And they didn't sound happy.

"Mi montros al vi idiotojn, pendu," the deep, growling voice said. "Vi ne kredas al mi? Lasu min akiri iun pruvon."

The glowing portal is suddenly eclipsed as a huge, dark form fills the available space, and you squeak in fear as a sharp-taloned foot emerges from it and steps heavily on the floor in your room. A moment later, the rest follows. You start to shake as the creature stands up to their almost full height, having to hunch slightly due to their horns hitting the ceiling.

There, powerful, immense, and impossible, was something you'd be hard-pressed to call anything but a demon. Their skin was two shades of red in a pattern that almost looked like a skin-tight bodysuit of some sort, and they had scars criss-crossing their body from head to cloven toe. Black spikes jutted from their shoulders, forearms, and shins, and they had wicked claws on each of their huge hands. The aforementioned horns jutted from their forehead, and they had no hair to speak of. A long, whip-like tail shifted restlessly behind them as their black and yellow eyes looked around the room. You could see their muscles twitching as they slowly pivoted on the spot, and you shudder as their clawed hands open and close.

As their eyes pass over you in your bed, they suddenly stop, and their heavy, tusked mouth splits wide, showing sharp teeth. They take two steps before staggering slightly, and blink rapidly before continuing toward you. You pull the blankets up just under your eyes and try to sink into the mattress as the huge, muscular monster towers over you.

The blankets would keep you safe, right?

A smirk crosses its face, and its huge hand shoots out lightning quick, ripping the covers off you as you shriek in terror. Their hand grabs you roughly around your waist as they lift you up out of your bed, bringing you closer to their face. Their lips part, and the stench of alcohol washes over you, making you cough.