"And Then There Were Eight."

Pastor Ronald's face turns visibly red even under the blacklight.

"This isn't what we agreed upon!" he yelled.

Pastor Ronald looks at me, "Come on, we are leaving."

"Okay, Pastor," I reply with some disappointment.

'It seemed like it was just about to get to the fun part too.'

Suddenly, in the distance, we hear a scream. Over the loud music, the cry is just barely audible.

"And Then There Were Seven." the cute voice rings out again over the intercom.

Someone turns the corner with a look of horror on her face. It's one of the girls from our group.

"Pastor Ronald! It's a servant of Lucifer. She killed...she killed..."

The girl burst into tears and drops to her knees. She can't seem to get the words out between the sobbing. Seeing this, Pastor Ronald starts moving toward her to comfort her.

Between the music and lights, the environment is very disorienting; however, for a moment, I caught sight of something sharp glowing in the blacklight. Faster then I could see, it disappears.

'huh, what was that?'

Looking around, I notice something odd about the crying girl. She is staring at her chest in disbelief. She reaches her hand out and grips a sharp blade protruding from her chest.

'Wh....what!'

When she grips the blade blood drips from between her fingers. Under the blacklight, the blood glows brightly.

Her hand let's go of the blade, and her body becomes limp. Suddenly, she disappears as if she was never there in the first place.

Standing behind her clutching, what appears to be a scythe is a little girl. Her eyes are glowing blood-red. Her skin and hair are so white that it is reflecting the blacklight. The little girl's small lips move, and an announcement comes on over the intercom system.

"And Then There Were Six."

Pastor Ronald backs away and pushes me away.

"Get behind me. Its a servant of Lucifer!" Pastor Ronald is visibly shaking.

With the adrenaline pumping and no idea what else to do, I comply with Pastor Ronald's words.

Holding up the scriptures and an idol of the God in Heaven, Pastor begins to yell loudly.

"Servant of Lucifer in the name of God, go back from wince you came!"

The demon girl frowns at the words of the Pastor. She begins stepping forward slowly.

In a low voice without any of the playfulness she speaks.

"You really think that guy is going to come save you?"

**Swish. Swish**

With two smooth swings, the idol and scriptures are split in half. The demon girl smiles as if satisfied with her work.

"Looks like all that practice paid off.", she giggles.

Pastor Ronald freezes in disbelief at what just happened. The demon girl raises her scythe, holding it high above her head. The blade glows with the blood of its previous victims.

"No, the God in...."

The Pastor never finished his word before the demon girl swung the scythe down into the top of the Pastor's head.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"And Then There Were Five." the demon girl announces.

'She murdered Pastor Ronald!'

At the same time, a gray mist starts to condense next to the girl. It begins to take the shape of an old woman. For a moment, the old woman looks around the room in confusion.

Finally, she looks toward the demon girl with hungry eyes. The demon girl shows an annoyed expression and stomps the ground at the old woman causing her to flinch and step back. The demon girl holds up her free hand and points at me.

The old woman looks toward me and grins. She reaches toward her face and starts pulling at her own skin. The skin becomes loose as if unfilled. Her skin falls slowly toward the floor as if it was clothing. In its place is a floating burning ball. Within the ball, I can see the deformed face of a burning woman. {1}

'What is that thing?!? This is all wrong! Wrong!'

The burning woman shrieks loudly and begins rapidly approaching me.

In terror, I turn away and begin to run. I scream in an attempt to warn the remaining students. The burning woman is so close I can feel the heat on my back. She continually clacks her teeth together as if eager to bite me. I keep screaming, but the loud electronic music seems to be drowning me out.

Turning a corner, I slam into someone else. It's one of the boys from my group.

"Run! Its demons! Minions of Lucifer! Run!" I cry in despair.

He turns to look, "Dude. No ones there."

"Wheres your partner, we need to leave here immediately!"

"Calm down, man. She's right..."

Together we both turn our heads. We see a horrified girl pressed against the wall as a burning woman approaches her with razor-sharp fangs. The girl seems wholly lost as she hasn't managed a single word. The burning woman reaches out, grabbing the girl's neck. I can hear the sizzling of the girl's skin when touched by the burning woman.

The girl lets out a shriek of fear and horror. The burning woman seems to find a little pleasure in the scream and reaches out, pulling the girl closer to herself. The girl screams even louder. The burning woman's smile grows deeper.

Seemingly satisfied with playing with the girl, the burning woman yanks the girl's head back and bites her neck. Smoke and flames shoot from the mouth of the girl, causing intense heat to hit my face. The smell of burning flesh assaults my nostrils as horrific noises come from the girl's throat. A few seconds later, the burning woman pulls away, leaving a dehydrated burnt corpse on the ground.

"Evil demon!", the boy next to me yelled.

Having finished off her prey, the burning woman turns her attention back toward me. The other boy jumps to his feet and starts running.

She shrieks and again charges me. I turn to run again, but this time my knees give out. I scream as the burning woman reaches out her firey hand to grab my neck. Suddenly, the burning woman turns back into a gray mist. The gray mist hits my face and passes by me harmlessly.

"And Then There Were Four."

Once the mist clears, I see the demon girl standing there with her arm around the head of the boy, I slammed into previously. The demon girl grabs his head and twists, causing his head to spin all the way around.

**Crack**

"And Then There Were Three.", demon girl gives me a small smile.

'Her scythe seems to have been left somewhere, but it doesn't matter; clearly, she can still easily kill me.'

Suddenly I hear yelling from behind the demon girl. I look and find the last two boys who came to this hell with me. Seeing the body of the other boy, the two boys charge forward. They attempt to tackle the demon girl.

"Get her!" they yelled.

They both ram the demon girl lifting her off the ground. Not stopping, all three of them slam into the wall causing dust to fall from the ceiling tiles.

For a second, I hold my breath and pray this nightmare is over.

"You jerks! Who said you could touch me!", the demon girl yells.

Lifting her little arm, she backhands one of the boys causing him to slam into the ground. Still being held against the wall, she lifts her leg and knees the other boy hard in the stomach, causing him to spit blood and fall to the ground.

Dropping to the ground, she moves to the boy who is still spitting blood. She pulls back her leg and kicks him hard in the temple, killing him.

"And Then There Were Two."

She walks over to the boy she backhanded, makes a fist, and punches him in the chest. His chest distorts, his bones crack, and his eyes grow big in shock. Eventually, blood and foam come from his mouth, and he stops moving.

"And Then There Were...Was one? Is one? Hmmm." she looks at me awkwardly.

She starts stepping toward me with a childish smile. Seeing this, I get on my knees.

"Please! Please, don't kill me!" I beg.

The demon girl stops in front of me as if thinking. She stares at me as if looking at my very soul.

"Please, I'll do anything!" I beg again.

"Is that so?" she says.

"Yes! Yes, anything!"

"Then, please die."

My heart becomes cold at her words. I feel the hands of the demon grip my head as if it was a vice grip. Faintly, I can smell citrus and seashells.

After that, For a second, I feel a significant force on my head and neck.

'Wait since when was I staring at the wall?'

----------------------------------------

--Return to Eira POV--

[6 Essence Acquired]

"And Then There Were None."

I stare at the body of the dead young man.

I don't have the time or luxury to reeducate weaklings like him right now. Letting him live would have just been asking for trouble in my current situation.

'Sorry, but you just weren't worth the risk, kid. You aren't my worshipper or anything, so I owe you nothing.'

Putting away the bodies, I start cleaning blood under the blacklights of the laser tag room.

**Sigh**

'I was so careful to kill in ways that blood wouldn't get everywhere, but in the end, some of it still splattered.'

After a couple of hours of cleaning, I take one more look around the room. Returning to the hidden employee entrance, I flip off the lights and turn off the music.

The room returns to silence.