I

Norah screamed as Paul was lifted into the air, so tightly that he couldn’t even gasp for breath, causing his knife to clatter onto the ground. Their attacker was dressed in a hospital gown, and despite how ferociously he was squeezing onto Paul, his stare was unfocused. Norah knew she’d seen the man somewhere – it was the man from her neighborhood. The one who Mary almost ran down the previous night, except his body looked waxy and bloated. He’s clearly been dead for a while.

Norah could sense a dark aura rippling off the corpse, the same one she’d felt back at that house on Beech Street hovering over that pool of blood. Suddenly everything started clicking into place. She didn’t have much time to think, her neighbor was squeezing the life out of Paul, and no doubt Norah would be next.

She skirted around them ready to run, but the panic and desperation on Paul’s face caused her to hesitate. Seeing Paul’s knife on the floor, she reached down to grab it and lifted it up into the air.

Paul’s eyes bulged in panic as she pointed the sharp end directly at his chest, “No, no, no!” a strangled cry. Paul’s face was slack and purple as Mr Morrigan wrangled him from side to side like he was nothing more than a sack of rice.

As Norah swung the knife down, Paul clamped his eyes shut and braced for impact, but none came. When he peeled one of his eyes open, the knife hilt was sticking out of the dead man’s eye. Mr Morrigan looked at them in confusion, his vice grip released causing Paul to slam onto the floor where he remained for a moment, winded.

Mr Morrigan stumbled backwards swatting at the knife, but every time missing the hilt. Norah and Paul watched with open-mouthed horror as he finally grasped hold of the knife and slowly pulled it from his eye-socket. Mr Morrigan studied the knife with dispassionate curiosity, seeming to have momentarily forgotten what he was doing.

Eventually he turned to look at them on the ground, dropping the knife down, he launched at Norah with both hands outstretched. She was just able to dodge the attack, instead sending Mr Morrigan flying backwards with only a flourish of her wrist. Norah grabbed the back of Paul’s shirt to pull him up, but confused and panicked, Paul fought against her. Mr Morrigan bumbled up off the ground like a unsteady baby deer, preparing to lunge at them.

“Get up!” Norah screamed, pulling Paul to his feet just as Mr Morrigan came charging towards them.

Losing his footing, Mr Morrigan stumbled forward, slamming face first into a metal pole and scattering several of his teeth on the floor. But much like the knife, this didn’t stop him for even a moment, and he was back up and charging straight at them again. Norah pushed Paul behind her, deftly ducking as a fat, hairy arm swiped at her.

Mr Morrigan went for another swipe, knocking Norah and Paul back onto the ground like bowling pins. Then with mighty force, he punched down at them, crushing the concrete just inches from Norah’s head after she shucked out of the way. Norah slammed her foot into Mr Morrigan’s shin, causing him to slam forward onto his stomach.

This time it was Paul’s turn to drag her up, “Run!”

Paul and Norah sprinted into a long alley and rounded a corner, only to find themselves blocked by yet another high chainlink fence, “Do they not want people to leave this place?” yelled Norah, wrenching on the fence in anger.

“What do we do now?” said Paul.

Norah tugged on the gate, but it was padlocked just like the others, before turning to run back in the direction they’d come. Before they got the chance, Mr Morrigan bumbled into the alley to block them in. He pulled back his lips into a bloody, toothless smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

Norah backed away only to slam into the fence, “Any more bright ideas?”

Paul swallowed hard and narrowed his eyes, “Maybe one…” letting out an intense battle cry, Paul charged at Mr Morrigan.

“I said bright!”

Norah flinched at the sound of Paul’s shoulder connecting with Mr Morrigan’s hipbone. Paul barely managed to force him back a few steps before Mr Morrigan batted him off like a fly. Grasping Paul by the lapels of his leather jacket, Mr Morrigan launched him across the alley, where he slammed into the chainlink fence, before tumbling onto the ground.

Without a second thought, Mr Morrigan’s head snapped in Norah’s direction, leaving absolutely no doubt that she was the target of this assault. Norah attempted to repel him, but her powers sputtered out barely buffeting Mr Morrigan back. Undeterred he launched forward and grabbed Norah by the shoulders.

Mr Morrigan pressed his thumbs into Norah’s her collarbones, so hard she heard one of them crack. She winced in pain, struggling as Mr Morrigan forced her to the ground. How could a dead body be so strong? Digging deep into herself, Norah pushed up from the ground and shoved him backwards, sending a hard kick into Mr Morrigan’s abdomen, although he kept his grip on her sweater, ripping the sleeve in the process.

Norah could feel the smoke filling her eyes but tried to force it back down, “Get off me!”

Out of nowhere Paul appeared, jumping onto Mr Morrigan’s back, trying desperately to pull him off Norah. It was enough to throw Mr Morrigan off balance, who began swiping above his head trying to grab hold of Paul. Eventually Mr Morrigan grasped Paul by the back of his neck and launched him into the air, barely missing Norah as he slammed into the fence once again.

Paul landed in a heap but was back up in a flash, swiping his hands through the air like Bruce Lee. Norah knew it would be no good, there was only one way to win this fight, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. Norah shoved Paul down onto the ground, before summoning as much energy as she could muster, black bled into her eyes and sparks began cracking at her fingertips.

Stolen story; please report.

Norah took one huge deep breath before releasing an enormous fireball into the air, which struck Mr Morrigan and sent him hurtling through the alley. He let out a horrible shrill scream as he writhed around on the floor before erupting in a puff of smoke and vanishing into the night. Paul stared into the resulting silence in utter awe.

Exhausted, Norah slumped back into the wire fence, almost falling on top of Paul. She clung to the chainlink wheezing in pain and clutching her stomach, barely able to keep herself upright.

Paul jumped up, “Calm down, it's okay”.

Norah was doubled over in agony, she couldn’t stop it, she could feel her face splitting at the corners of her mouth, her jaw dislocating as her sharp fangs descended from within her gums.

Paul reached his hand out to touch Norah’s shoulder, “…you did it, we’re safe now”.

The moment Paul’s hand touched Norah, she snapped around and sunk her teeth into his neck. Paul screamed, trying to bat her away but she was too strong. She was feral, ripping up his flesh with her teeth and lapping up the hot fresh blood. It poured down her neck and chest, squirting into her mouth and face.

Paul couldn’t make a sound, his thin squeal becoming weaker and weaker with every passing second. His body more limp, his flesh more pale. Norah wanted to stop but she couldn’t everything in her was telling her to keep drinking.

It was only as Paul’s body collapsed into her arms that she realized what she had done…

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II

A flash of bright orange light burst from Glen’s eyes and mouth and he leapt up off the ground screaming in agony and scratching at his face. A few seconds later his panic subsided, but his breath was ragged, and he coughed up a huge cloud of gray smoke.

Glen dropped down to his knees where he remained wheezing, black smoke pouring from his ears, mouth and nostrils. It curled up into the air leaving a foul, burnt odor behind. When Glen eventually looked up his eyes were red and watery, like he’d had a face full of pepper spray.

“What the hell was that!” yelled Braran.

“That…”, Glen staggered to his feet, all the while trying to catch his breath, “...that was no Demon Hunter”.

Braran narrowed his eyes, “What are you talking about?”

Glen smiled, shaking his head, “Don't play coy. What game are you playing?”

“I don’t like what you’re insinuating, necromancer.”

Glen was pacing around the center of the pentagram with his hands on his hips like he’d just run a marathon, although he seemed strangely exhilarated, “Wow, that power! Who is she really?”

Braran was caught off guard, despite his general cringe-worthy absurdity, Glen was a lot more switched on than he’d given him credit for, “What difference does that make, your job was to take her out”.

Glen laughed, shuddering with a sharp yell like he’d been splashed with ice-water, “No way I can't take her on like this”.

An angry red aura flashed around Braran as he got into Glen’s face, “Hey, we had a deal!”

Glen wasn’t intimidated in the slightest, in fact, he was smiling, “Deal's still on”.

He went to sit on a nearby wooden crate to catch his breath, he was spent and exhausted, but somehow lively, “I don't know how a little girl like that got her hands on so much juice but we're going to have to level the playing field somehow”.

Braran furrowed his brow with intrigue, “And how do you suggest we do that?”

“Easy”, Glen smirked, “We're going to take it from her”.

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III

Josh cracked his neck, relieved to be at the end of another long and relentless day. With the water bill due it was a relief to have some cash in his pocket. With them cutting his mom’s shifts down at the cafe, and the bar not paying well, even with Josh’s contributions they were going to be stretched pretty thin that month. Probably the next one too.

Josh wished his mom would let me him drop out of High School and get a job at the big box store or doing construction or something. What good was a diploma if they were out on the streets starving? They already had to sell the car, and Josh didn’t much want to brave an upstate winter without a roof over his head. He’d do whatever it took not to let that happen again.

“No Mom tonight?” his colleague Fabio was smiling at him with an unlit cigarette wedged into the corner of his mouth.

A swarthy Italian in his early forties, but even on his best days Fabio was about as mature as a sixth grader. He’d been working at East Hill as a Maintenance Engineer since he was sixteen and seemed to able to support a wife and two young kids. All in all, he was a good guy. He’d often asked Josh to become his apprentice and everyday that offer became more tempting.

“Nah, she picked up a night shift so I'm hoofin' it these days”, said Josh.

Fabio acknowledged this with a nod, sparking his cigarette with a scratched Zippo and blowing a thick cloud of smoke into the cool air, “Ain't she worried you'll be up to no good?” he stuck his tongue out playfully.

Josh smirked, distracted with selecting a playlist for his walk home, “In this town?”

Fabio sucked his teeth, leaning back to study Josh, “I don't know, if I was a pretty boy like you, I'd be raising hell”.

“Sounds like you're Mom's type.”

“Hey, your mom's a fine woman”, he said with a wink, “If Denise ever kicks me to the curb, feel free to send her my way. Fabio knows how to show a lady a good time”.

Josh laughed heartily, shaking his head, “I’ll tell her to start lowering her standards now”.

Fabio clutched his chest as if mortally wounded, “That barbed tongue, Jeez Louise!” Fabio shoved Josh's head away playfully, falling in step as they began walking in the direction of the parking lot, “You sure I can’t give you a ride?”

Josh considered the offer, but the thought of Fabio seeing the wrecked up trailer they called home was too much to handle, “That’s okay. I need the exercise”.

Fabio squinted at this, not quite buying the excuse, but didn’t press things, “You get home safe now, kid. Don't you do anything I wouldn’t!” Fabio winked as he jogged off towards his car.

Josh couldn’t help but smile as he began walking through the estate, listening to the tracks he’d ripped off his dad’s classic rock vinyls before taking them down to the pawn shop, as much as that pained him. His dad might have been a total asshole but he had great taste in music. Josh hoped that was about the only thing he inherited from that deadbeat.

Josh heard a scuffle somewhere nearby. He removed his headphones just in time to hear a girl’s voice yell, “Get down!”

Josh frowned, he knew he’d heard that voice before but couldn’t place it, then it dawned on him, “Norah?”

He’d been carrying her backpack since English class, and began in that direction hoping to finally unload himself. Although, as Josh got closer he grew concerned. It sounded like someone was having a brawl. Just as Josh was approaching the end of the alley there was a bright flash followed by an inhuman high-pitched squeal and the sound like when you throw gasoline on a flame.

“What the hell is going on?”

Josh sprinted to the end of the alley, where on the other side of a chainlink fence was Norah and an older man he didn’t recognize. Norah was doubled over clutching her stomach and moaning like she was in pain, as Paul tried to comfort her. It looked like they’d set a bomb off. There was thick black smoke everywhere and an acrid smell that made it hard to breathe.

Paul reached to put his hand on Norah’s shoulder. Josh saw it before it even happened. The way her face changed – those black eyes and razor-sharp teeth – but he was too petrified to speak before she chomped down on Paul’s neck. She was a rabid animal tearing into his flesh as he screamed in absolute terror.

Josh watched them in shock, “What the fu–”