Bianca sighed with impatience as she looked for movement outside the lecture hall hallway window again. “How much longer are we going to have to wait?” She asked.
“Don’t worry, they’ll be here soon.” Lena assured her.
The squeak of unoiled hinges echoed throughout the hall, the group was greeted by the sight of their two new additions and Sarah carting in a bunch of supplies. Sarah carried two small gas tanks in her hands with some hosing slung over her shoulder while Liz and Audrey carried a few upgraded torches each.
“Took you long enough! It will be dark soon, we’ll have to be quick.” Amber remarked as they went to help them with their loads.
“Yeah well we had to finely tune the new torches, you wouldn’t want it to fail while cornered by a big ugly demon would you?” Sarah remarked, “No offense Andras.” She added as she set one of the gas tanks down for Amber to carry.
“None taken.” Lena replied.
“Are you sure these things will wor-” Bianca began to ask as she took one off of Liz, being interrupted only as she made the mistake of looking into it before she turned it on, her face was momentarily bathed in purple light. “Aarrgghh, why is it purple!?” The raven haired girl complained. Kiera promptly snatched the device from her hand, shaking her head at the poor girl.
“It’s purple because the greenhouse lamps took a little too long to kill them, upping the intensity will kill them faster but it has the side effect of being purple. So yes, we’re sure.” Audrey retorted, sparing a noticeable glance at Lena. It seemed she was going to need more time to Adjust to having a demon among them.
“Now if you’re all done talking, we don’t have much time before sunset. Let’s get to work.” Liz declared.
And so they did. Sarah immediately got to work putting her computer science degree to work, finding a fuse box for the CCTV cameras in the janitor’s closet and setting them to broadcast an empty loop while accessing the current feed for herself.
Sarah: Cameras are ours, I’ll keep an eye out. Good luck guys. She sent to the group chat before sitting against the wall, eyes flicking from camera to camera.
Keira: Understood, stay safe. Keira replied from the other side of the school before returning to stapling the hose to the floor of the Study lounge. They had chosen this room because it was the only one in the building that was perfect for their plans. It wasn’t gigantic but it was hopefully open enough to fit all of the demons they expected to show up. The counter of the communal kitchen provided the perfect spot for the girls to hide behind while Andras lured them in.
“How’s everything going out there?” She yelled towards the open door.
“All good, Andras and Audrey are nearly done with the doors down the end. Amber and I are just stacking the last bits ourselves.” Bianca shouted back.
In hopes of herding the demons when the time comes, they’d taken to stacking just about every chair, table or any piece of furniture they could pillage against anywhere the demons might be able to get in. They’d even taken the time to place a bunch along the hallway to hopefully keep Andras from getting caught.
“How are you doing over there Elizabeth?” Keira asked the scientist who was still tinkering with the canisters behind the kitchen counter.
“Oh just fine, we should be ready for a short test as soon as you’re done securing the lines.” She responded poininetly.
“Ok just give me a few more minutes with this last section and we should be ready.”
Kiera hurriedly stapled the last few meters of the hose before giving Liz a thumbs up, “Ok I’m going to start it on low so we don’t waste too much. Follow it along to make sure there aren’t any snags.” She instructed her while giving the lever on the canisters a gentle twist.
Keira’s ears picked up a soft whistling sound as the compressed air did its work. A soft yellow mist began flowing out of the first few holes in the hose before progressing along. Kiera made her way along where she’d set up the tubing, it flowed out into the hallway and traveled along its edge as inconspicuous as she could make it. She could see Amber and Bianca halfway down the hall, tirelessly carting the furniture out of the classrooms to stack as much as possible.
Sure enough, the part where it crosses to the other side of the hallway before leading back into the common room was too sharp of a turn and wasn’t letting a lot of the fine yellow pollen out. Kneeling down she quickly tugged at the staple closest to the turn, her efforts sufficed to allow a stronger current to pass.
Eyes traveling the length of the line, she couldn’t see any other snags. “It’s made it back here, I’m turning it off.” Elizabeth announced from within the room much to the girl’s relief.
“Gas is working!” She yelled down the hall.
“Finally!” Bianca joked as she let a table down with a huff.
As if on queue, all of their phones pinged. Pulling it out quickly, Kiera was greeted with a single message from Sarah with a little ‘Sarah is typing’ below.
Sarah: I’ve got movement!
Even though Kiera had been expecting to read that, it didn’t stop her stomach from sinking. Her heartbeat noticeably increased too, her body was seemingly more honest than her with how confident she was feeling. A moment later another vibration brought her attention back to her phone.
Sarah: They’re all over the cameras, I can’t tell how many. Get into position!
Kiera didn’t have time to properly digest the second message as she heard the thumping of footsteps, Amber and Bianca bounded down the hallway with Audrey close behind, weaving through the obstacles that had been created. Audrey grabbed her by the arm and yanked her towards the room. “Come on, this isn’t the time to freeze.” She chided her, the yank being enough for her to come to her senses and run back into the room.
The four of them scrambled behind the counter with the scientist, each grabbing a torch off of the counter. Keira clutched hers to her chest as she sat shoulder to shoulder with the other girls. All she could think about was if Andras and Lena were even going to make it into the room, her fears only worsened as the sound of rattling doors began to echo throughout the building.
Grunts of frustration were just barely audible underneath the symphony of doors impacting the furniture stacked behind them. “They’re breaking through!” She heard Lena’s voice yell from the opposite end of the hall, the crashing of furniture echoed after it.
The next thing she heard was a single and swift pair of footsteps being followed by a barrage of stomping ones. Grunts, curses and screams resonated with the sound of toppling furniture stacks, Bianca let out a quiet, “Yes!” at the sound of their efforts paying off.
It couldn’t have been more than a handful of seconds that it took Lena to make her way into the room but her pounding heart made it feel like it took much longer than that. An out of breath Lena made her way into the room, towards the opposite wall.
They all readied their torches while Elizabeth had her hands on the gas lever. Bizarrely, as Lena turned to face her chasers and pretended to be cornered, her face dropped. Her head snapped to Elizabeth and her mouth opened but before any sound could make its way out, the hose was yanked.
A cacophony of loud TINK’s traveled towards them as the hose was being pulled out of its stapled path. Elizabeth desperately tried to crank the gas as a last ditch effort but the pollen only managed to spurt miserably out of the canister as the connected hose snapped off of it and disappeared into the dark hallway.
Their hearts collectively froze as their own trap was turned upon them and then the stampede began once again. Lena, thinking faster than the rest, ran and slammed the door. Bracing herself against it just seconds before the horde collided with it. The five girls rose from behind the counter to try and help their friend but her strength wasn’t enough against the concerted effort of dozens of demons.
A loud metallic snap echoed throughout the room as the lock broke and the door flung open, Lena was sent sprawling on the floor backwards. Before she could even begin to recover, students, teachers and security guards flooded the room and converged on her.
The redhead tried her best to fight back but her wild flailing only helped to momentarily delay herself from being restrained as many strong hands took hold of her limbs, her eyes glowing blue with rage. The rest of the crowd wasted no time in moving towards the remaining girls.
Bianca turned her torch on in panic, shining it in their eyes in a vain attempt to accomplish anything but it merely slowed the advance of a few who were momentarily blinded. They each tried to fight back in their own way but their blows didn’t even phase the possessed as they were restrained without much trouble.
“UGhh let us go!” Bianca screamed as she struggled against the grip of her captors.
“Do you really think an effort as futile as that is going to accomplish anything?” A familiar voice from the doorway asked rhetorically.
None of the girls could see who exactly had said that past the horde of students but they could guess. The crowd parted to reveal their tormentor, Victoria. If they didn’t know she was possessed they wouldn’t have known the difference as Idsalis wore a smug sneer on her almost flawless face.
“Well well Andras.” Idsalis said as he began slowly walking towards the restrained Lena, “Surely you didn’t think a plan as one dimensional as that would stop me right?” The demon gloated.
“You know, I was tempted to sabotage that little contraption you had over there, but when I saw how you were setting it up. I didn’t even bother.” The demon said, relishing in the anger displayed on Lena’s face.
“You saw…” Lena trailed off as a commotion outside the door distracted her.
“Let go of me!” Sarah shouted as she was dragged into the room by a pair of students.
“Ah there you are miss Sarah, I was beginning to think you had slipped away. You know you really aren’t as good with computers as you think you are, I suppose you are still in school for a reason.” ‘Victoria’ taunted the girl.
“Now.” Idsalis said, turning to Lena once again, “You’ve probably been wondering just how there are so many of us. After All, it seems odd that so many of us would be able to escape the island unnoticed huh?”
Lena merely sneered at the demon defiantly.
“The truth is, I was the only one from our tribe to escape the island. I was seriously tempted to just end it all as I sailed back to the shore with the rest of you but my hatred for you overrode any desire to give up.” Idsalis monologued, confidently pacing back and forth.
“You see, all of the demons that you see before you are from another tribe, a rival tribe I might mention.” The demon revealed.
“There are others?” Elizabeth spoke up, drawing the room’s attention.
“Miss Elizabeth, how in character of you. Even faced with certain death your curiosity knows no bounds.” Idsalis smiled. “To answer your question, yes, there are others.”
“It took quite some time but eventually I managed to track down this group and after I took care of their leader, they decided to follow me.” He announced proudly, his companions’ visages still unwavering.
“And now.” He said, walking over to Lena and reaching in her jacket pocket, producing the Daemon Ritus. “One more and then I’ll be able to bring back my queen.”
“That will never happen!” Lena threatened, trying desperately to struggle out of their grips again.
“Mm if you say so.” Idsalis chuckled, “Now, here’s what’s going to happen my dear traitorous student.”
“You are going to leave little Lena and then all of your friends are going to watch you be destroyed by the very instrument you created to try and defeat us.” He said, picking up one of the discarded torches off of the floor.
“Why would I do that?” Lena asked incredulously.
“Well you surely could just stay safe inside but I’m willing to bet that you’ll eventually cave after a while of watching your friends, that you tried so hard to protect, be tortured. So why don’t you make this process a whole lot simpler and save us all the trouble?” The demon asked, a wicked smile across his stolen face.
“Don’t do it Andras!” Amber shouted.
“Yeah we can take it!” Bianca added unconvincingly.
Audrey and Elizabeth shared a look of regret, clearly regretting not calling for help when they had the chance. Sarah stayed quiet but her determined look was betrayed by her worrying eyes. Kiera on the other hand, showed no hint of fear. The young animator had relaxed in the grip of her captors with a peculiar smile on her face as she eyed Lena.
“This one is special to you, no?” Isdalis said, walking over to Kiera.
The demon menaced over the girl, cupping her jaw with one of Victoria’s hands. As Keira’s eyes met the demons she remained unwavering under the glow of hideous green eyes. “And what, pray tell, are you smiling about my dear?” He asked, her grin widening at the question.
“Andras told us the reason we should be so afraid of you is that you were the smartest among your kind but even with something as glaringly obvious as this staring you in the face, you still can’t figure it out.” She answered with a giggle, infuriating the demon.
Her comment noticeably raised the tension in the room as the possessed stiffened, looking around suspiciously. Idsalis’ eyes twitched, his hand sliding down from her jaw and wrapping firmly around her throat. Keira kept smiling throughout it, provoking the demon even further. But just as it looked like he was about to explode, his grip relaxed and his expression softened.
His hand withdrew from her next and instead brushed one of Victoria’s bangs out of his face with a confident smirk, “How unkempt of me. Now, my dear, what ‘obvious’ fact is so damning yet has apparently managed to escape my view?” He asked rhetorically.
A loud *THWACK* sounded from the doorway from the union of metal and flesh. “That’s not Andras.” Keira answered the demon as their heads turned towards the sound.
A large letterman jacket wearing boy, who was standing in the doorway, collapsed forward onto his knees and then the floor with an audible thud. A petite statured girl with short brown hair, that Bianca recognised as the girl she and Andras had witnesses get possessed in the basement, stood with a raised T shaped, golden staff. The short staff appeared to be made of two shorter poles connected in the middle, betrayed by the visible seam in the middle. A bright orb of light emanating from the tip of the device.
Idsalis’ eyes went wide as he burst towards the surprise arrival, dropping the Daemon Ritus “I’m right here.” Andras declared as he twisted the two sections in opposite directions, the light quickly blinking out of existence before Idsalis could reach him.
In the brief interim Idsalis managed to tackle Andras to the ground, the Daemon Opus being knocked out of his hands and sent rolling into the hallway. Idsalis managed to get himself up on top of Andras and raised his fist to strike at the traitorous demon but before he could an invisible pulse caused the all possessed to twitch.
Severed from the power of the device their chests began to glow green, while the rest of the demons began to wobble and fall back. Idsalis gritted his way through the mental battle to bring his fist down towards Andras’ borrowed face.
The blow being caught by the younger demon quite easily, “You-uuuu BASTARD!” He screamed in rage before he was kicked off by a blow to the back.
Sent sprawling on his back, Idaslis looked to see Lena had taken this opportunity to break free from her captors, who were currently struggling to stand as they desperately tried to suppress their hosts, and help out her friend. Lena offered a hand to the prone Andras who gratefully accepted and was pulled to his feet.
The two shared a knowing nod before running back into the room, Lena and Andras quickly attacked the struggling demons who were just barely restraining their friends. Bianca and Amber were first as a swift punch was all that was needed to send the demons onto their asses. Audrey and Elizabeth were next, the scientist being freed by a swift kick to the stomach of the possessed that was holding her and Audrey who ducked out of the way so Andras could deliver a punch to the demon’s throat.
Sarah stomped on the foot of one of her remaining captors and elbowed the other one in the face, breaking herself out and reaching for one of the discarded torches with the rest of her friends.
As Andras went to retrieve one of the torches himself, his ankle was grabbed from behind. One of the possessed attempting in vain to stop him. Just as the demon looked to the source of the hold, the possessed received a swift kick to the face by a familiar leg. Following the trail up his eyes were met with Kiera’s. Her piercing, and clearly annoyed, eyes were softened only by her mischievous smile.
She punched him in the arm, “We’re definitely going to talk about this later.” She said before picking up her torch.
Before long demons were protruding from their hosts all over the floor, Andras and Lena readied their fists to protect their friends as they prepared their torches. They’d formed a loose circle in the middle of the room as bodies writhed all around them. The first demon was ejected near the kitchen counter, the student’s body surging forward as the demon form leapt from his chest.
As he landed he was immediately bathed in multiple streams of bright purple light, shrieking in pain shortly before his body immediately disintegrated and exploded. The torches worked, they all shared fierce smiles as more demons began popping up all round them.
Several rounds of explosions rang throughout the room as ejected demons exploded, as more chests heaved the girls were struggling to keep up with the emerging demons. One swung wildly at Bianca who tried to step back and accidentally knocked into the girls behind her, Andras delivered a blow to the demon’s midsection sending the demon backwards before being disintegrated by Keira but that lapse was all the demons needed. Lena and Andras broke into the flurry, trying to keep the demons from their recovering circle.
Idsalis took advantage of the distracted Lena as he vaulted into the room, took hold of her and snatched Amber’s fallen gun from the ground, dragging her outside before they could unravel themselves from their opponents and help her, “Andras!” She shouted from the demon’s clutches as she was dragged out of sight.
“Go after her! We got this.” Sarah shouted at the demon as she destroyed his assailants, quickly moving onto the emerging ones around her. Seeing that there weren’t many writhing bodies left, the demon listened to his friend and broke out into a run after Lena. “Careful, he’s got my gun!” Amber shouted after him.
He wasn’t completely comfortable leaving them on their own but they had each other, that was going to have to be enough. Coming around the corner he found an open door to a staircase leading to this building’s basement, he could hear their struggling coming from below as he bounded after them.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs he was greeted by the true form of his hideous, even by demon standards, mentor who had an arm around Lena’s throat and the other was holding Ambers torch which was aimed directly at him. Idsalis had his back against the wall on the opposite side of the relatively small storage area. The gap between them would take Andras at least a few seconds to close, more than enough time for the demon to react.
“Easy does it.” Idsalis called out in their demonic tongue, “One wrong move and I’ll crush her windpipe.” He threatened.
Lena went to grab the arm currently wrapped around her neck but before her hands could even make contact he squeezed a bit harder, a warning to stop. A warning that she reluctantly listened to.
“What do you want? You can’t win anymore!” Andras demanded from his adversary.
“I might not be able to win my dear student but I sure as hell can take at least one of you pests with me.” Idsalis snarled from behind Lena. “Now that I know where you actually are, I will give you one final ultimatum. Leave that girl there and allow me to destroy you, don’t and watch me snuff her life out.”
“What assurances do I have that you’ll let her go?”
“You don’t, you’ll just have to take that risk. What other choice do you have?” Idsalis taunted him.
“Andras don-” Lena tried only to be silenced by the demon tightening his grip once again, “Not another word missie.” Idsalis said threateningly.
“So, what’s it going to be boy? You have until the count of three.”
Andras looked at Lena with a pained expression, he’d hoped to delay the demon until his friends had shown up with more torches but that didn’t seem possible.
“One.”
Andras grimaced, “You’re not really going to give up are you? We’ll be left alone with him.” Max spoke up from within. “I don’t have much of a choice. As soon as you regain control, make a break for it.” He replied.
“Two.”
“Ok ok!” Andras relented, holding his hands up in surrender.
Shifting his gaze back towards his friend, “Lena, tell the girls I love them.” He said softly.
“Yes yes, all that sappy crap.” Idsalis taunted, “Leave her, now!”
Andras reluctantly began to collect himself, doing so deliberately slowly to try and delay as much as he could but the blue glow formed on Max’s chest all the same. His form poked out the top of her shirt, growing in size before he leapt from her chest. Max stumbled back as he landed on the basement floor.
Idsalis kicked Lena forward, she managed to catch herself on her knees but not before traveling a few feet. She looked up desperately at the now vulnerable Andras.
“Now die, traitor!” Idsalis yelled, as he flicked the torch on. Andras was bathed in purple light, it hurt like nothing the demon had ever felt before. Every inch of his skin felt like it was on fire and even more painful boils were already forming. He heard clambering behind him as Max started up the stairs, presumably to get the girls.
Time seemed to slow for the demon as he experienced what he thought would be his final moments. Lena, determined to not let that happen, got to her feet and launched herself at her friend, hand outstretched. Andras felt some of the pain ease as Lena’s body shielded some of his from the light that was tearing at his very being.
His survival instincts kicked in and he leapt at her to try and meet her halfway. Andras felt himself unraveling from every corner of his being, his eyes twitching as some of the boils began opening on his limbs.
Pushing through, he reached out his hand towards her own. Just as Andras felt himself start to burst, their hands connected and his body broke down into mist. His essence surging straight into her chest before she hit the ground.
Idsalis cheered, his demonic laugh echoing off of the walls as Lena lay prone, “I’ll give you one thing, you really did give it your all but you’re next.” He said, dropping the gun and walking menacingly towards her.
Lena coughed, managing to raise herself to her knees before Idsalis grabbed her by the neck and held her up but what he found wasn’t a look of sadness or fear. She was smirking at him and before he could react her leg flicked up and delivered a blow directly to his ribs. An audible crunch sounded throughout the room as Idsalis was sent reeling backwards, dropping the girl.
“But how!? I destroyed you!” The demon complained, falling to his knees and clutching his side.
“I don’t know.” Andras shrugged, “That was a new one, all sorts of new things have been happening lately.”
“Lucky you.” Idsalis spat.
Bounding down the stairs, the girls came charging in with their torches ready to find Lena standing over the injured Idsalis. Andras put one of Lena’s hands up to signal it was ok as the demon glared at them. “It’s ok guys, we’re safe.” He assured them but he barely had time to get the words out before Keira enveloped him in a hug followed by Bianca, Amber and even Sarah. Audrey and Elizabeth weren’t so keen on the group hug however so they kept their torches trained on the hunched over demon.
“Don’t ever do that to us again you hear!?” Bianca threatened him, hugging them even tighter.
He returned the hug as best he could with that many people involved. They reluctantly let him go a few moments later, the demon took the opportunity to take a deep breath. Even with his demonic durability they could still squeeze the air out of Lena.
“How did you do that!? We thought you were with Lena.” Amber asked him.
“Well…” The demon began.
“I can answer that, I’m Max by the way.” The girl spoke up from the doorway.
“Oh yeah! You were the one that big brute took in the basement the other day.” Bianca said thoughtlessly.
Max visibly cringed at the mention of the demon that had taken over her body, “Oh… sorry!” Bianca offered.
“It’s fine.” Max dismissed her, “To answer your question, Andras over there followed the demon that possessed me and managed to catch him off alone during the afternoon with a face full of pollen. After I woke up, he and Lena explained the situation to me and asked for my help. It took some convincing but I eventually came around, I’m glad I did.” She explained.
“But your eyes glowed blue!” Bianca said, looking at Lena.
Andras scratched the back of his head nervously, “Ah yeah… Lena found out she could do that the other day.”
“But why didn’t you tell us about that? About any of this?” Sarah demanded to know.
“We’re really sorry.” Andras began, “We knew that if we were going to pull something like this off, it had to be believable and the only way to ensure that was if you all believed it too.” He explained with an apologetic tone.
“Believe me, we hated that we had to do this but-”
“It’s ok.” Keira interrupted him with a soft smile, “You did what you had to do.”
Her face shifted to a more serious gaze, “But this is the last time you do this, ok? I don’t care what the situation is, you tell us everything. Understand?” She warned.
The demon gulped, “Loud and clear.” He replied.
“Excellent, now I believe we have some trash to dispose of?” She said gleefully, brandishing her torch.
“I can’t believe I lost twice to you… you… meddlesome children.” Idsalis mused through a strained cough.
“What did he say?”
“He called us meddlesome kids.” Andras translated, making the room erupt with laughter.
“What did you mean when you said ‘one more’? How many pieces are there?” Keira interrogated the demon.
The demon only chuckled in response, “You know I really didn’t think you had it in you to pull one over on me, I guess I really did train you well.” Idsalis addressed Andras, ignoring the question.
“He’s dodging the question.” Andras explained, “I don’t think he’s going to tell us anything.”
“You’re right, I won’t.” Idsalis replied coldly, “But what unique specimens the two of you have become, it really is a shame I didn’t get to study further into what makes you tick.”
“Do you have anything of substance to say?” He asked.
“No, not really. Just the musings of an ancient demon, reunite me with my queen.” He commanded.
Andras nodded to Kiera who understood what he meant and she stopped forward. Audrey and Elizabeth lowered their torches in response. Kiera raised her weapon and granted the demon his wish.
