The movie hit a quiet scene, and silence fell over the dark theater.
Somewhere in the lower rows of seats, a popcorn bag rustled. Closer, there was a rattle as a drink cup full of ice tipped over onto the floor. My nails bit into my palms, and my heart sped up like a freight train. Shit, shit, shit. How do I keep ending up in these situations?
Olivia cried out, and I jerked my head to the side just as something shot out from beneath the seats on our right and leapt into the air, coming right at our faces. In the flickering light from the movie screen I was able to make out a long, pale gray body and a flash of teeth, just before a blade whistled through the air and cut the thing in two mid-flight. Black blood sprayed, and I almost gagged on the putrid stench that rose up around us as the creature’s severed halves landed at Jordan’s feet.
“What the hell?” Mark bellowed, jumping back from the writhing parts. “That’s a goddamn lamprey demon!”
“Yeah, and they never go anywhere alone.” Jordan kicked the top half of the demon down the stairs and brandished her bloody sword again. “Incoming!”
Chapter 6
“OH MY GOD!” Olivia squeaked, and I followed her horrified stare to the two six-foot long bodies slithering up the stairs toward us. I had never seen or heard of a lamprey demon until this moment, but I knew that if I survived this, they would be starring in my nightmares. The creatures advancing on us resembled eels, but they were bigger around than my thigh with large unblinking eyes on either side of their heads. But it was their mouths – round and funnel-shaped with row upon row of curved teeth – that made my bladder feel like it was about to empty.
“You two take the one on the left. I’ll deal with this one,” Jordan shouted, already moving forward to meet one of the advancing demons, her blade dripping blood from her first kill.
Without a weapon, I was helpless to do anything but watch as Mark and Olivia followed Jordan. The demons struck first, and the air was filled with gurgling hissing sounds and grunts as my companions fought them off. Olivia’s whip sailed through the air and wrapped around one of the thrashing bodies while Mark tried to get around it to come at it from behind. Beside them, Jordan was finding her demon a lot harder to kill than the first one. It dodged her blade and struck back with a speed I would not have expected from its thick body, missing her by inches.
Behind me, one of the huddled boys made a mewling sound, and I turned to look back at them just as a demon flew at me from above. I twisted to one side, feeling it brush against my arm as it went by. I stumbled and regained my footing, but not fast enough to jump out of the way as the demon came at me again. A scream ripped from my lips as sharp pain seared through my right calf and I stared in horror at the sucker-like mouth clamped onto my leg. I kicked and pulled frantically at the demon, but its mouth was attached like a leach. The demon convulsed and swallowed and fiery tendrils of pain shot up my leg.
Oh God, it’s sucking my blood! It’s sucking my blood!
Metal flashed and the thing latched onto my leg jerked and went slack. I reached past the knife protruding from the demon’s head to pry its mouth from my calf. It hurt like hell when the dozens of sharp teeth ripped from my flesh, and I was afraid to look at the damage to my leg.
Mark shouted at me, and I looked down to find him and Olivia locked in a struggle with their lamprey demon. “Sara, the knife!” he yelled.
I reached down and yanked the knife from the dead demon then limped down the stairs to the others. Jordan looked like she was getting the upper hand in her fight and the demon in front of her bled from several long gashes. Olivia and Mark were barely holding onto theirs while keeping its mouth from latching onto one of them. Olivia had a cut on her cheek and her right arm hung limp and bloody by her side. If not for the whip around the demon’s neck, the thing would have broken free of them. Instead of using his knife on the creature, Mark had thrown it to save me.
“Watch out.” Ignoring Mark’s reaching hand, I grabbed the knife in both hands and slammed it into the head of the demon. It took three blows to bring the demon down, and Mark and Olivia sagged against each other when it finally hit the floor.
Mark panted, looking around fearfully. “Did we get them all?”
“I think so. I don’t see any – ” I broke off when noises in the dark theater alerted us to the presence of at least two more demons.
“Where the fuck are they coming from?” He shouted, grabbing the knife and moving between me and the approaching demons. “A little help here, Jordan.”
“Let me take care of this bastard first.” Jordan brought her sword down in a graceful arc and sliced cleanly through the neck of the demon. She gave a triumphant smile and kicked the dead demon for good measure before turning to meet the new threat. “How many?”