Rose Petals

“We got him now!” Maverick yelled as he laid chase to the demon. Erick trailed behind him, gun ready to fire. They weaved in and out from the backstage corridors and left out props of the theatre The demon ahead of them swiftly reached with his thick muscular arm up grabbing hold of a bar that connected to the rafters. He proceeded to hoist himself up with ease into the top of the theatre.

“Shit, why did we have to find it in the theater house? Go to the stairs try to cut it off, I’m going to climb this.” Maverick moved to grab a rope and started pulling himself up while Erick sprinted to the stairs and up to the rafters walkway.

The demon stood on the walkway watching Maverick climb the rope. Its mane made up of red feathers glistened in the dim light of the theater house, as it moved to cut the rope with its bear-like claws it’s dog-like head gave a toothy grin similar to that of a hyena laughing.

“No!” Erick shouted as he saw what it was going to do. The creature’s animalistic head snapped toward him. Erick aimed his gun at the beast, it hissed lowering its body preparing to attack by moving from an upright stance to all fours pointing its horns at Erick intending to pounce. He fired his gun and missed, the beast laughed at his failure. It then began to prowl forward, Erick lost his breath and moved to run away, when a shot rang out and the creature collapsed. Another shot followed and it lay inanimate in front of Erick.

He glanced to see Maverick holding his gun with a defiant look, “Never miss a shot when you’re facing a demon, especially one that is as dangerous and as pissed off as this one.”

Erick nodded, “Sorry brother.”

“Sorry? Don’t sorry me, sorry doesn’t fix it, practice and a good aim fix a mistake like that.”

Erick nodded, Maverick put his gun away and pulled out a knife and knelt down next to the demon and proceeded to pull it on its back. He then plunged it into the creature’s chest carving a square around where the heart would be. Erick rubbed his beard nervously hoping the demon wouldn’t come to before they got to the heart. The shot merrily stunned it, only a matter of time before the wounds healed and it’d wake up and be ready to kill again.

Maverick was working his way past the fur and muscle of the beast, they were almost to the heart and then it would be over, and they could finally put this mistake behind them. Erick watched as his brother got close to reaching his target. However, it was then, when they were so close, that they felt the thick hot breath hit their skin as the beast heaved, and it started waking up.

Maverick pushed Erick back and drove his knife into the heart. The demon gave a scream and clawed them away. Not wanting to wait around Maverick got up on his feet, grabbed his brother and told him to run.

But the demon was crafty; as Maverick ran it hooked its claws puncturing his skin Maverick felt the sharp pain and tearing as the tendons in his ankle got snagged on the claws of the demon sending him to the ground. Like when cat’s sharp claws get caught on a person’s skin. The demon pulled him close, and with its huge hand grabbed his neck and crushed it. His brother watched to see a stunned look frozen on his brother’s face. His body went limp and his eyes glossed over.

Erick screamed and pulled his gun out, only to find he didn’t have the strength to fire. He knew what would happen next, the demon would consume his brother’s blood, heart, and soul, just as it had done with his oldest brother and his father. Just like it will surely do to him if he fired. He fell to his knees, tears running down his face, “Fuck!”

The beast peeled back his lips saliva dripping from his mouth onto Mavericks face, as the thoughts of devouring a fresh kill filled his mind.

Then to his surprise the creature relaxed, its eyes turned from a bright yellow to a calm grey and it stood up on its hind legs like a human.

It was anything but that with paws, claws, and fur covering its whole body matching its monstrous head which had a mane of feathers, two horns on the side of his head and a muzzle akin to a hyena.

With a distinctly male voice that he hadn’t heard in a long time, it spoke, “Erick Blackheart, you helped us once and gave us freedom, let me pay you back please, if you leave us now you will not die by our hands. Your life in return for freeing us. Please, Erick, take this before we change our mind.”

Erick gawked at this; he couldn’t believe that this monster would refrain from killing him when only moments ago, it’s all it wanted to do. As he took this in he wanted nothing more than to try his luck and shoot this thing, but he knew he was too exposed and the demon was ready to strike.

He nodded, “Fine I’ll leave, but I can’t let you go. I never should have let you free in the first place. Now I have to right my wrongs and do whatever it takes to fix it even if it sends both of us to our graves.”

The creature moved its head showing a pained look, “I understand.” as it whispered this its face whipped the almost human look, going back to a stone-cold look as its eyes turned yellow.

Erick walked away before the demon tried to kill him, and true to its word the demon didn’t attack and left him alone, alone to live and alone to remember.

Erick left the theater house feeling cast out to a world he barely knew with no one left who was related to him or even knew him. But he made a vow, that for as long as he was capable of fighting he would try to bring that demon down. He would avenge his family and those who had fallen victim to that damned demon. He, Erick Blackheart, vowed to kill The Devil of Alluren.