The first thing Kiera knew was pain. Pain emanating from her wrists with something clamped around them, she opened her eyes to clouded vision with little light seeping through. Wherever she looked, it was the same. The last thing the girl remembered was sipping on her drink with the girls at the bar and then a blur.
Shaking her head free of the fog and blinking to clear her vision she found herself shackled to the wall of a cavern by her wrists and ankles. Looking around she could see the cave was almost completely dark save for a soft green glow emanating from a ravine, the edge of which was only about five meters from the wall on her side. The ravine itself was not very wide, maybe a few meters or so but further down towards her left the gap widened further than she could see.
“Oh good. You’re awake.”
Kiera turned her head towards the sounds of the noise, seeing a pair of two green dots breaking the darkness. Two green eyes? She thought to herself, this is where the memories of what happened came flooding back to her. Amber and her had seen something moving around outside but before they could convince the girls of what they saw, they were attacked by those green eyed monsters. She had managed to crawl under the bar without being seen but Lena happened upon her, she thought she had come to hide too but… Lena… she’s one of those things too! Kiera shuddered, mind racing as she tried to think of every moment she had spent with the girl since meeting her.
Kiera was pulled out of her thoughts as an audible click sounded and echoed through the cavern as torches that were previously obscured on each side of Kiera burst to life, bathing her in light as well as the owner of those green eyes.
“Elizabeth? Are you one of those things?”
A deep echoing laugh sounded from the figure, terrifying the girl even further, “Oh no, those are simply my children, I assure you I am something else entirely.”
Kiera watched as a green glow began to form in the woman’s chest, through her professional clothes. ‘Elizabeth’ twitched and jerked as the glow intensified. She then unbuttoned the top few buttons of her blouse before tearing the rest apart, exposing her chest to the cool air of the cave.
The glow became even brighter as it surged forward, out of the business woman’s chest, forming a large ball of light as ‘Elizabeth’s’ body collapsed onto the cavern floor. The ball of light remained motionless for the briefest of moments before slowly moving towards the chained girl. Kiera (placeholder) against her chains as it drew nearer, violently thrashing in an attempt to get free but she only succeeded in hurting herself as the orb closed in.
Not wanting to see what comes next she slammed her eyes shut and twisted her head as far away as it would go. The impact that she was expecting never came, instead a tough, scalelike hand grabbed her by the chin and forced her head to twist back. Opening her eyes once again the girl was greeted with the face of a smiling creature. Distinctly female with two orbs protruding from it’s chest but aside from sharing the physical structure of humans, that’s where the similarities ended.
It’s body was covered in hard, deep purple scales. Between her chest lay what looked like an open rift glowing a soft green, not too dissimilar from the ravine. Finally atop her head lay a scaly appendage that looked almost like hair, extending from the back of her head to sit just below her left shoulder with two horns on either side of it starting at the creature’s forehead and following the extremity backwards but breaking off and extending upward at the tips.
“Now now, is that anyway to greet someone? Looking away in disgust? I thought you humans prided yourselves on your manners.” The creature teased with its demonic voice.
“What do you want with me!? What have you done with my friends!?” Kiera shouted, full of defiant courage.
“Your friends? Why, they’ve been in front of you the entire time my dear.”
The creature raised her hand and clicked her fingers once more, this time illuminating torches all throughout the area, revealing her three friends chained up in a similar fashion to her on the opposite wall but still unconscious. Next to the girls stood a strange looking machine, it almost looked like a crane but it was too small for construction.
“Now I think it’s time your friends joined us, don’t you?” The Demon Queen asked rhetorically.
An unpronounceable sound came from the creature’s mouth as it spoke its native tongue. Whatever it was it only seemed to be a word or two but it was enough to trigger movement in Kiera’s peripheral vision. Looking over she recognised the bartender that had served them as he moved over to the trio of girls and shook them awake.
Rattling of chains echoed throughout the cave as the girls stirred and found themselves bound, “What the.. WHAT’S GOING ON?” Amber asked
“Amber?” Bianca said, “What happened?” the girl asked groggily.
“We were attacked and taken by those things… OH MY GOD KIERA!” Sarah said as she noticed their new friend on the opposite wall with the demonic figure next to her.
“WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH US ASSHOLE!?” Bianca yelled.
“Wait… WHERE IS LENA? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER!?” Amber asked
Another deep demonic laugh erupted from the demon queen, “Ohhhhh your friend Lena? She’s right here, come say hi Lena.”
With that invitation Andras leapt from the ravine and landed gracefully next to her, “Lena what are you doing!? How could you?” Sarah asked incredulously.
“I’m afraid, my dear, this isn’t the Lena you all knew, ever since she returned from her initial trip she has been under my control..” The demon queen answered smugly.
“Under your control? What did you do to her!?” Amber asked
“She replaced her, she is one of those things.” Kiera concluded
“Aren’t you a sharp one? Yes, Lena no longer resides in her own body, instead the person you have been interacting with is a demon known as Andras who was working hard to complete his mission.” The Demon Queen said with a hint of pride.
“What mission?” Kiera asked
“Why, to bring me you of course.”
A wave of dread washed over the girl’s body, “Me? Why?”
“Why? Because I want to be free!” The creature said with a snarl
“Long ago my race was enslaved by a collective of witches who sought to use our power against those that persecuted them; they accomplished this by creating a powerful device known as the Daemon Ritus.” She explained
“We burned towns, cities, even entire KINGDOMS to the ground under their rule but once all those that hunted them had either died or submitted, they had run out of wars to fight. Some were unsatisfied inside the collective and wanted to exploit us further but before anything could be done, a lone witch stole the Daemon Ritus, from under all their noses, and binded me to this island.”
“What does all that have to do with me?” Kiera asked
“It has EVERYTHING to do with you, before departing the Island that witch bound the Daemon Ritus to her bloodline, leaving us with the Item capable of freeing us but forever unable to use it. That witch was YOUR ancestor Kiera and after all these centuries I will use your body to unlock the full potential of the Daemon Ritus and bathe this world in blood once more.” The Demon Queen finished, the girls all too stunned to say anything.
“Oh but I’m getting ahead of myself! First thing’s first, it’s time for you to watch as I do the same to your friends as I did Lena.” She said excitedly.
“We’ll never serve you!” Bianca yelled
“Yeah you can go to hell!” Amber added
“Oh my poor, sweet girls. You still don’t get it, do you?” The demon queen taunted as she spoke again in her harsh tongue. Whatever it meant the demon inhabiting the bartender moved over to the controls on the crane and it sprung to life. The claw rotated to settle directly in front of Bianca who had first spoken out and started extending towards her chest.
“No NOOOOOOO!!!!” She screamed as she thrashed against the shackles.
As the girl’s looked on they expected the tips of the claw to collide with their friend but instead it sank right in as the surrounding skin began to glow a bright white. Bianca’s screams were cut off by the claw retracting, her body going limp as the machine extracted a glowing, translucent ball that looked like Bianca’s head.
The protoplasm continued it’s cries of protest as it was pulled further from its body, “No, wait. I want them all to see this.” The demon queen said as the crane halted in its tracks.
The group all turned their heads to a flash of movement as a demon leapt up out of the ravine as they had seen ‘Lena’ do, landing in front of Bianca’s now unconscious body.
“Get away from my body you monster!” Bianca’s protoplasm shouted.
The demon was undeterred as it grabbed the girl’s face, it briefly admired the body before it, clearly savoring what was about to come next. It’s free hand raised to the girl’s face, gently opening her mouth before slowly inserting it’s fingers.
The rest of the group watched in horror as the demon began to disintegrate right in front of their eyes and flow into their friend, none more terrified than Bianca herself. Bianca’s body stiffened at the intrusion, wobbling around as more of the creature entered it. Bianca’s mouth slammed shut as the rest of the demon disappeared inside of it, her eyes bursting open almost simultaneously. Amber whimpered as she witnessed her friend’s eyes glow bright green, just like Lena’s had.
The bartender approached ‘Bianca’ and released her from her shackles. The demon rubbed its wrists to soothe the pain, “Give me my body back!” Bianca’s protoplasm shouted, attracting the attention of the new resident inside her body.
The demon smiled evilly at her, sending a shiver through the very essence of the girl’s being. The bartender remanned the controls and the crane began to move once again, this time settling above a glowing vat. Her protoplasm was unceremoniously dumped inside as she yelled for help.
Kiera watched as the same was done to her two remaining friends. First Amber and then finally Sarah, despite the helplessness of the situation neither girl had stopped trying to escape, right up until the moment their bodies were taken over by more demons who had emerged from the ravine. “Leave us, go enjoy your new bodies, I wish to be alone for what comes next.” The demon queen said, dismissing her servants. With everyone else leaving, it was now only Kiera and the demonic leader.
Kiera was next in line now, she thought the queen might move to operate the crane herself but instead the demon approached her once more. “Oh Kiera, how long I have waited for this moment. With your body I will finally be able to take my vengeance.”
Kiera tried to wriggle out of the demon’s grip as she cupped her face with one hand and rested the other on her chest, “LOOK AT ME!” She growled, forcing the girl to stare into her glowing green eyes as she began.
The demon queen’s hand began to sink inside Kiera’s chest much like crane had to her friends. Kiera let out a pained cry as what felt like white hot steel slowly pushed into her and gripped something inside. With a swift yank Kiera was pulled out of her body, her senses briefly flickering only to be once again met with the sight of the smiling demon.
Kiera struggled against the demon queen’s grip but it was even more useless in her spiritual form. Even as the demon placed her inside of a jar and sealed the lid Kiera didn’t stop fighting, ricocheting off the glass walls of her new prison.
What did give her pause was when the creature that had ripped her from her body, approached it and opened her mouth like the regular demons had her friends. She cried in protest as the demon queen began to disintegrate and flow into her helpless body. Her mouth opened wide as the intruder forced her way inside and when the last remnants to the demon queen’s body had flowed inside, it slammed shut.
Kiera’s body briefly went limp unlike how the demons had immediately taken control of her friends. Before long her body stirred, raising her head to smile evilly at the protoplasm. Kiera’s body surged forward as the demon queen promptly snapped the chains on the girl’s body with a display of surprising strength.
“Mmmmnnn I can feel the latent potential of your blood, it’s intoxicating.” The demon queen said as she stretched her neck sensually. She then moved over to Kiera’s jar and brought it up to her face, “You should be grateful, Kiera. Having your body be useful to one as powerful as me is a rare honor and I will make sure you have a front row seat to it all.”
