Demon Hunters

The Demon at the Inn III

Florian opened his eyes and noticed that he was now on the kitchen's floor. He groaned in pain as he slowly raised himself up with his elbows. The demon was slowly approaching, its footsteps loud like thunder. There was no way that Florian could possibly get up before the creature reached him. Suddenly, Florian heard a ruffling sound and looked to his right. As it turned out, Laura had decided to hide in the kitchen when the fight had broken out. Florian shook his head at the scared girl. Hiding was a good call, but now she could no longer escape. Had she been elsewhere, the family could have escaped while the demon mauled the demon hunter. Florian turned his attention back toward the lumbering monster that had now reached the doorway.

"CRUSH YOU!" it roared, assured of its victory.

Florian closed his eyes, ready to feel even worse pain than he already was experiencing. Death wasn't something demon hunters feared. From day one, it was taught to them that death was inevitable – the only thing one could do about it was to make sure that it wasn't in vain. In that sense, Florian had failed. After it had turned him into a thin red paste, the creature would most certainly eat the girl. And if the innkeeper and his son weren't smart enough to escape while the girl was being devoured, they would face the same fate. Florian cursed silently. The whole situation at the inn had been a huge mess. He had saved the girl's life earlier, when he had stabbed the demon's back, but that action had apparently been for naught.

"NO!" a distorted, vaguely feminine voice yelled out from Florian's right side.

Florian immediately opened his eyes when he heard the new voice and felt a rush of air blow past him. Some invisible force had thrown the demon across the dining room, and quite violently as well, by the looks. The demon hunter looked to the right and saw that the girl had stood up and was holding her trembling hands forward, toward the entrance. More disturbingly, however, her appearance had changed. Two curved crimson horns had sprouted from her forehead and her eyes had turned black. However, she seemed as confused about the development as Florian was.

"What... What is going on? What am I?" she asked with her new voice.

Florian knew exactly what the girl was. As he slowly and carefully got up, he considered his words carefully. Only now did he notice that his tongue felt like it was being squeezed by scalding hot tongs, and blood was pouring out constantly. Before the demon hunter could say anything, however, the demon finally stirred back to life and clambered to get up, even more enraged than it had been before.

"YOU WEIRD THING HURT ME! I MUST DESTROY YOU!"

Florian was almost impressed by the surprising verbosity of the demon's statement but realized that, despite the sudden turn, the fight hadn't ended – nor had it turned into their favour. Laura was still staring at her hands in disbelief, and Florian figured that she wouldn't be able to help him in any concrete way regardless. Meanwhile, he himself was still a wreck of a human. He was standing up now, sure, and after he quickly took his medicine from his equipment belt, he didn't feel too much pain. The fact remained, however, that he was battered and bruised as well as terribly outmatched. Then Florian spotted a bottle of clear alcohol on one of the tables. He reached to grab it, a plan already forming in his mind.

As soon as the demon got up, it locked its eyes on the entrance to the kitchen. Before it could charge, however, Florian lit the cloth he had stuffed into the alcohol bottle on fire. He tossed the makeshift firebomb at the demon, and soon the creature was roaring in agony as the flames spread across its body. A smell of scorched flesh filled the room.

Just as Florian had hoped, the fire had occupied the beast's thoughts. It was desperately trying swinging its arms about in a vain attempt to put itself out. Demons were usually moreso animals than humans in terms of intelligence, and fire tended to cause them to panic. This hadn't come without a price, however, as fire was already starting to spread to the floor and walls of the inn. If Florian wanted to finish this fight without burning down the whole building, he was going to have to act quickly. He started to make his way toward the screaming demon, making sure to keep out of the way of its swipes. He pulled up the broom he had prepared and shoved it toward the demon's mouth.