“Any movement?” Bianca asked the demon after he peeked in on their bait for the night.
“No, still nothing.” Andras said for what felt like the tenth time.
The six of them had hidden themselves in one of the adjoining rooms to the greenhouse and had spent the last few hours carefully observing Audrey as she tended to another planter box.
“I’m beginning to think nothing is going to happen.” Lena said with a tired sigh.
After skipping sleeping the night before and only getting a light nap in the afternoon, the group was very tired. Andras could feel the atmosphere declining with each passing minute. Liz absentmindedly fiddled with her prototype while most of them were, very quietly, chatting amongst themselves.
“Mm, you might be right. Just because someone is vulnerable doesn’t mean they know.” The demon replied, “For all we know, they’ve taken control of another dozen students on the other side of the school.”
Andras leaned against the painted brick wall, sliding down it slowly to seat himself back next to Kiera. Turning to the girl he felt a smile creep onto his lips, she’d dozed off on Lena’s shoulder. The redhead’s eyes met his and she shared in his smile, the two exchanged knowing looks. As much as they wanted to let the girl sleep, they couldn’t chance an encounter without all of them being ready.
Andras shuffled a little closer to the girl, her shoulder and Sarah’s touching. He carefully reached his arm over to gently shake her, “Cmon Kiera, I’m sorry but you gotta stay awake.” He whispered.
His shaking definitely didn’t please the girl as she groaned in frustration, “Mmnn five more minutes.” She complained, shifting her head to rest on Andras’ shoulder. Making the demon feel even worse as the group collectively shook their heads.
Andras reconciled to give her a few more minutes, tentatively running a hand through her hair and lightly scratching her scalp. Outside of the obvious, he didn’t think he remembered ever being this close with Kiera. It was nice.
He really would have liked to continue enjoying this moment but unfortunately his bliss was cut short by the sound of a door opening loudly in the next room. Andras’ abrupt rise in response to the noise woke the sleeping girl who started to groan before gathering her surroundings.
“What do you see?” She asked.
Andras didn’t reply as he watched Audrey turn to the source of the noise through the small window carved into the middle of the door. A male student that neither he nor Sarah recognised had entered the room, “Hey, are you supposed to be here?” He heard Audrey as the student.
“Ohh uhh…” He paused, “I was just looking around.”
“Looking around? In the greenhouse? At this time of night?” Audrey questioned the man. “You know there’s a vandal on the loose, right?”
“Yeah… in truth I was just trying to keep an eye out for them!” He exclaimed, taking a step towards the Latina.
“Really? I find that hard to believe.” Audrey replied, holding her ground for now.
“Yeah, honest!” He said taking another step towards the girl.
Andras could see Audrey’s resolve start to falter as he got closer, “Oh really? Well let’s see what security has to say about this.” She said in a shaky voice as tried to pull her phone out of her pocket, in her haste it had slipped out of her grip and landed on the floor. As the girl leant over to retrieve her phone Andras’ blood ran cold, the girl shifting her position unblocked his sightline behind her.
Before he had time to properly process what he saw, Andras had already burst through the door and into the greenhouse. Everything moved in slow motion as his entrance drew the attention of the student, Audrey and the demon just a few steps behind her. The demons face curled up into a snarl as Andras’ perception of time returned to normal, “LOOK OUT!” He screamed at the girl.
Audrey’s head whipped behind her, locking right onto the demon. The girl just barely ducked out of the way as it swiped at her with a terrifying roar. Andras dashed straight for the demon as he heard the scrambling movement of the girls behind him.
Dodging around a vertical planter box, Andras tackled the demon as it tried to take another swipe at the now prone Audrey. As Sarah’s body collided with the demon’s scrawny abdomen he wrapped his arms around it in an attempt to drive it to the ground. His attempt succeeded as the pair skidded across the ground, rolling over one another a few times before finally landing with Andras on top.
It recovered from the impact quickly as its arms began to close in on Sarah’s body but before Andras could react he felt a foot collide with Sarah’s arm, sending him sprawling off of the demon. He let out a pained grunt as he caught himself from rolling any further, looking up he saw the smug look of the student who had kicked him off. His eyes glowed green and his face curled into a similar snarl the other demon had given him.
Andras hurried to his feet, preparing to fight his two opponents as the unhosted one recovered. “Hey GRIMACE!” They all heard Elizabeth shout.
“Suck on this!” She exclaimed as she flicked the switch to her prototype torch. A bright beam of light illuminated the pair, having no effect on the student aside from obscuring his vision of course but the other demon howled in pain as it tried to shield itself with its hands.
Its shrieks echoed through the enclosed room as its skin began to boil, thrilling the group as they witnessed Elizabeth’s torch work its magic. Their excitement died down however as the blisters halted in progress, to their confusion they had formed on the parts of the demon illuminated by the torch but they should have been popping by now.
The demon seemed to catch on as it peered past its hands and towards the scientist, arms and torso still smoking as the light burned his flesh.
“Oh shit.” Was all Elizabeth had time to say before a potted plant, thrown by the student, collided with her invention. She yelped in pain, the torch being knocked out of her hands and shattering against the floor.
Now free of the light with its sight set straight on the one who had wounded him, the demon bursted into action as it tried to close the distance between himself and his target. Andras, seeing this, moved to intercept but movement on his right reminded him of the presence of the student who was coming straight for him.
In the split second this took to unfold, dread overtook Andras as he realized he wasn’t going to be able to stop the demon from reaching her. Turning to the student and preparing to defend himself he dodged its first reckless haymaker before countering with a jab straight to his face. Sarah’s reach just fell short though as he felt the student’s nose crumple underneath his blow but wasn’t able to drive through the rest of the force.
Andras heard the other demon cry out as the student reached for his now gushing nose. Lena had just managed to intercept the demon and, using her new strength, deliver a blow to the unprepared demon’s torso. The hit managed to push the purple demon a few feet back as well as rupture some of the fresh boils on the demon’s skin, enraging it even more as it winced in pain.
The injured demon looked up at his assailant and then did a double take. He looked at Andras and then at Lena, momentarily shocked as he wondered how this was possible. The girls were all standing ready for him, having performed a protective circle around Audrey. Shaking his head the demon returned his attention to the fight, growling them before swinging one of his long arms at Lena.
Andras managed to witness this in the time it took for his opponent to recover, he knew he was going to have to help them soon but he needed to finish up with his own foe first. The student, having given up on trying to wipe the blood away, raised his hands once more.
Andras felt as Sarah’s body suddenly began to lighten, the heaviness he’d grown so used to being stripped away. “This should help.” Sarah told him confidently.
The possessed student became confused in response to the fierce smile that made its way across Andras’ face. Not being one to waste this opportunity, Andras struck hard and fast. He feigned a jab at the students face and when he raised his hands to protect himself, Andras drove his foot into his abdomen with a surprise kick.
The colossal impact sent the demon careening into an isolated set of unique looking flowers, the demon laying still for the moment underneath the bright light of the overhead lamps.
“ANDRAS!” he heard Bianca scream.
Turning his head he could see Lena doing her best to fend off their attacker, its furious swipes leaving no room for counter attacks. Blood streaked down her bleeding forearms as she blocked blow after blow, the girl looking almost ready to buckle.
Andras sped over to them before leaping at and wrapping himself around the demons back, pulling it away from her. As the monster began to wrangle with her friend, Lena saw her opportunity. She unleashed a flurry of blows now that it could no longer defend itself. “Not so tough now, are you!?” She taunted him as she stuck his undefended core again and again.
It cried out in pain as her blows ruptured more of the acidic boils across its skin, in her eagerness Lena stuck a blow to its thigh that overextended herself and left her wide open. The demon struck out at her with its right leg, it collided with her side and sent falling backwards.
Free of its attacker from the front the demon reached around and grabbed at the wriggling Andras on his back. As Lena began to get up the demon stepped back, slamming Andras into the wall which finally allowed it to grab onto and fling him over his shoulder. Lena just barely caught him before he hit the ground.
The attention of all the combatants was drawn to the sound of the student shifting, as they all looked over they could see its shifting had caused one of the flower pots to fall on top of it. A visible gust of yellow pollen being released by the fallen flower from its heavy petals.
The demon coughed as the pollen entered its stolen lungs, its hacking and gagging only lasted a few short moments as it cleared the obstruction. Andras grimaced as he wondered how on earth they were going to defeat these things but his thought process was interrupted by the student begging to shake violently, a green glow forming on his chest.
Even their blistered adversary seemed confused as they all watched the demon inside be ejected spontaneously. The green glow quickly formed into another demon who landed above the disoriented student. The demon, now having gathered its surroundings, growled at its former host.
Before it could take any action, boils began popping up all over its skin. The demon panicked as they began to rapidly spread, frantically looking around for the source, suspecting another torch but its eyes locked onto the only source, the overhead lamps.
One final howl escaped its throat as its body burst open, disintegrating into nothing and leaving only a dazed student behind. “The sun lamps! Use the sun lamps!” Elizabeth shouted, Lena and Andras preparing to take on the remaining demon.
Seeing it was now outnumbered and vulnerable, it roared at the group before dashing towards one of the glass walls and smashing through it into the open night.
The seven of them left breathing heavily from their intense encounter, a brief lull settled over them as Andras turned to examine his friends. Elizabeth’s hands had gotten cut and bruised a bit but seemed otherwise fine, Amber clutched her shoulder from a scratch that must have happened in the initial scuffle and Lena’s forearms and knuckles had become caked in fresh blood.
As the adrenaline in Sarah’s system began to wane, Andras felt the pain begin to get in. His hands and joints ached while his side where he’d been struck felt like it was on fire. Even so he tried attending to Lena first, grabbing her arms to try and get a closer look at the damage. “Don’t worry, It’s just a scratch.” She assured him.
“What the hell is going on here!?” Audredy asked incredulously.
The group turned their attention to the confused and frightened girl. Andras had almost forgotten about her in the heat of the moment.
With none of them having taken the initiative to respond, Audrey continued, “Lena! Please tell me what’s going on!” She pleaded.
The redhead knelt down to her friend, “It’s ok, you’re safe now. We’re here.”
“What were those things!?”
Lena turned to the group, “Hey guys, give us some space for a second.”
Realizing that they’d all been crowding the poor girl, they quickly scattered throughout the room but still trying to remain within earshot of Lena’s explanation. The only one who didn’t seem to be listening was Elizabeth who was already examining the student who seemed to have slipped back into unconsciousness.
Andras watched as she gently gathered a sample of the yellow pollen that covered a large portion of the students’ clothes, carefully bringing it to her nose to sniff it.
The demon moved over and knelt down next to get “You think that stuff caused it to lose control?” He asked her.
“I think so, unless all pollen causes this effect, there must be something special about it.” She explained as she turned her attention to the overhead lamps.
“Why did that work but yours didn’t?”
“It must not have been powerful enough, it was only a hobbled together prototype with no testing remember! We were lucky it did anything at all.” She remarked, sounding slightly offended by the query.
Andras attention was drawn by the sound of footsteps, Lena’s and Audrey’s to be precise. “We have to go, security likely won’t be far.” Lena announced as Audrey stared at Andras nervously.
“One moment.” Elizabeth interjected, “This flower, what is it?”
Audrey looked confused at the question, “It’s a unique plant from the amazon, I have been growing it as part of a special project. Why’s that?”
“I don’t think we have the time to explain that right now but we’re going to need to take them with us. Everyone, grab a pot, quickly.” Elizabeth instructed.
“What about him?” Kiera asked, referring to the still unconscious student that Elizabeth had seemingly forgotten.
Sighing, Elizabeth continued, “We’ll have to take him with us, there’s no telling what he might know. Andras.”
Andras nodded in acknowledgement as he slung the large dude over Sarah’s shoulder, he realized with their relative heights it must have looked at least a little ridiculous. “Hey! I’m not that short.” Sarah protested.
“Come on, we have to go.” Elizabeth urged them as she grabbed one of the pots with the others doing the same.
The group hastily made their way towards the back of the building, with Andras at the front and Lena at the back to protect them as they moved.
Andras peered outside and thankfully saw nothing but the edge of campus, “All clear.” He whispered back as he led them outside and around the building. Goosebumps formed on Sarah’s skin as the cold night air took its toll. As the group rounded their way past the building they saw the familiar sight of torches on the other side of campus, clearly converging on the source of the disturbance.
It seems they’d left just in the nick of time as they managed to scurry behind the adjacent building before they could get too close. A few minutes later they all breathed a collective sigh of relief as they entered the girls dorm.
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“So to summarize, it was the lot of you who beat the demons initially and ever since he has been living here?” Audrey asked stupendously. Audrey sat down at the one chair at Lena and Sarah’s shared desk with the rest of them being scattered throughout the room. The unconscious student lay on the bed with Bianca and Keira already passed out on the other.
“Yep.” Sarah replied, “That’s pretty much it.”
Audrey shifted, seemingly uncomfortably, as she processed the information that had just been dumped on her. “And you’re nearly as strong as them because he spends more time in you?” The botanist asked her red haired friend.
As Lena opened her mouth to reply Elizabeth cut in, “That is the prevailing theory yes, though it is worth noting that there are likely a few other factors at play.”
Elizabeth speaking up caused the latina to finally register her presence, “Sorry but who are you? You look familiar but I don’t believe we’ve met.”
Elizabeth’s cheeks went pink, “Oh sorry! I guess introductions must have gotten lost in the monster attack. I’m Elizabeth, a friend of Sarah’s, nice to meet you.” The scientist said this with a small, awkward wave.
“Yeah, I suppose they did.” The latina girl said softly as her thoughts were brought back to her experience.
“Don’t worry, I’ve been right where you are. Just a few days ago, in fact. It has gotten a little less weird.” The scientist assured the clearly shaken girl.
“How did you guys even know I was being attacked? How did you get there that fast?” Audrey asked.
The group shared a collective guilty look as they avoided eye contact with the girl, “Oh my god… did you… did you guys use me as bait?” She asked, staring directly at Lena, face filled with accusation.
“Well that would imply we did something to attract them to you.” Elizabeth answered confidently, “In reality all we did was take advantage of the knowledge that you would be alone in the school at night and waited in case anything happened.”
“Just how long were you watching me?! And wait just a minute, you said that thing you used before was a prototype meaning you weren’t sure you could protect me! What if the greenhouse lamps weren’t there to bail us out? ” Audrey said angrily.
“Audrey please.” Lena spoke up, “What else could we have done? Approach you and tell you the truth? You’d have sent us all to the nut house!”
“You don’t know that…” Audrey trailed off, deflated.
“Even though Elizabeth’s prototype failed, we still protected you.” She said holding up her forearms for emphasis but to her surprise, the group only looked confused as their eyes locked onto her skin.
Twisting her arms so she could get a better look, she herself was surprised when she found little more than a mix of dried and wet blood. Running a finger over her barely visible marks she felt only the slightest of bumps where she should have found open gashes. Even the sores on her knuckles now resembled little more than light bruises.
“Well that’s new.” Lena commented, getting pulled out of her transfixion by Elizabeth who had crossed the room to eagerly inspect her arms for herself.
“Marvelous! Absolutely marvelous, I simply must take tissue samples the next time we’re in the lab.” Elizabeth said to no one in particular as she annoyed her subjects’ obvious discomfort.
“I’m starting to see how she got over it so quickly.” Audrey joked.
Elizabeth turned and smiled at the latina, “I mean it is a completely uncharted area of science, who knows what we might learn.” She said gleefully. “Speaking of, what exactly are those?” She asked, tilting her head towards the collection of flower pots in the corner of the already cramped room.
“Oh those? Those are called theobroma edulis, it’s a very unique plant I had imported from the amazon. It was meant to be part of my assignment but I’m guessing you might need it with what it did to that demon.” Audrey surmised.
“Exactly, can you hazard a guess as to why it might have had that effect?” Sarah asked.
Audrey took a moment to think as she tried to remember what she had learnt about the flower, “From my research they’re primarily used to make a unique spice that tastes rather awful but one of the tribes local to that region swear by its benefits towards spiritual healing and revitalisation.” She explained, “Maybe they were really onto something?”
“Mm.” Elizabeth hummed, “Are you all thinking what I’m thinking?”
“We might not even have to find the device.” Andras said excitedly.
“But that won’t help if we can’t destroy them.” Sarah said annoyed, “Do you think you could get that thing working?” She asked, referring to what was left of the torch sitting on the desk.
“That thing? No.” She said simply, “But a new one? With Audreys help, definitely. We know it’s possible now.”
“My help? What can I do?!” Audrey asked a little too loudly.
Stirring caught the group’s attention as the student shifted on the bed. The tension was palpable as they waited to see if he would wake up. The student stilled once more and they all let out a sigh of relief, thinking they were in the clear.
“W-where am I?” He asked.
