Rituals, Regrets, and Really Dumb People

Chapter 4: Sanctuary, More Like Ban-ctuary, Part 5

The mob screamed and hollered and rattled. They wanted blood—my blood, specifically. I saw them coming closer, their weapons raised, the crowd ranging from little boys and girls to grandmas with shotguns. I stood in front of Lilly, pushed my arms behind me to shield her as we stepped back. I had to do something.

"Stop!" I yelled, my arms flinging forward and my fingers outstretched. "I am the terrible tyrant Sanguine. If you so much as lay a finger on me, I will kill you, kill your family, your friends. I'll burn your house down, piss on the ashes. I will eat your babies." I didn't do cannibalism, but people always believed the stupidest of shit.

The crowd paused, their bravery fast to flee. I still had that effect on people. Good.

"He's lying, he won't hurt anyone, he's cursed," Geraldine bellowed. "He can't kill anyone."

Damnit.

They began to raise their weapons again; they began to give in to murderous intentions. We had to go. I slapped my chest with my bloodied hand and let my blood flow over my body, some semblance of intelligence given to the crimson fluids by my own control. The blood flooded out from my hand like a river, it slithered over my body as I walked back with the succubus. As it got to the places it wanted to be, it began to harden, like a suit of armor. Even my face was protected by a shell, one I could see out from. On top of all that, my blood wouldn't stain my nice dress shirt and pants, so there was that too.

I'd need the armor; they were going to hurt me and Lilly. I turned and pushed on her to get her to run. Not too far, I still had a hold on her, but we needed to keep together and outrun the mob. Losing one another would be bad, especially with us going past houses and into alleys. The mob seemed to spread out to look for us all the while. The speed was exhilarating to the brain, got my blood pumping. It gave me an otherworldly awareness to my surroundings. That said, I did not know how I was going to get out with Lilly and not kill a few of these people.

"In here," Lilly said, tugging at me this time.

She pulled me inside a manor and slammed the door. She pulled a nearby shelf over, blockaded the door. Lilly was strong, picking up a table and able to drag it by herself to the blockade. As she blocked us in, I looked down to my bandoleer, and pulled out one of the ampoules. Warrior's formula. I'd need to use it. I put it to my neck, to the shell, where the blood receded enough for the needle. She blocked us in, and I prepared myself. We only had a little time to prepare for the gauntlet.

The ampoule gave me the strength and regeneration I needed to survive this. My armor gave me the resilience and mobility. She gave me enough time to evolve, though she may not have known it, for me to be the brute I needed to be. I got up from my knees and threw the empty ampoule down, my large arms rolling with my enhanced muscles.

"Are you ready?" Lilly asked. The mob had gathered outside the manor, punching through the windows. I felt bad for whoever owned this house. "Can we do this?"

"Yes," I told her. I walked over, grabbed the debris, and shoved it aside. "Follow. Don't let them get close. Don't—don't kill them. They know not what they do."

She gave me a nod and I gave the door a punch from my blood-reinforced knuckles. It broke the wood apart, scattered the mob outside. We were going to make it out even if I had to drag us out by my large hands.

I stood in the alley as the mob tried to gather back up and surround me. Lilly was in the doorway, waiting, the alley too narrow for all of us to pile into. Good thing, too, meant their weapons would have a harder time striking around. I looked back and forth, tried to find a way through. Could cannonball through, but that was a chance. I looked to the wall opposite of the door, at the house over. I'd climb it.