She was shaking. I could tell. I could see her in the dark, better than she could see me. I grimaced, revealing fangs still dripping with blackened blood, and she flinched.

“Demon.” She said.

“I’m not — I’m human. I was human until just yesterday.” I replied, raising my hands.

“Beware of false prophets.” She took a single step toward me.

There was a flash from behind her as Russo activated [Crimson Veil.] His body turned into a slick shadow, blacker than night, a hole in the world surrounded by dark motes that seemed to form the shapes of bat wings before collapsing back into clouds of darkness.

Russo landed next to me, sliding over the tile floor of the store. Then he turned, opened his mouth, and hissed.

His jaw opened inhumanly, eyes aglow with crimson light. His hands were extended as if he was ready to fist fight, despite the shotgun dangling from the strap around his neck.

Clarissa flinched back.

“Russo?” I asked, my voice softer than I expected.

Russo seemed to snap out of it, flinching in shock before slapping a hand over his own mouth. He started to breathe rapidly.

Clarissa started backing up, still holding the chainsaw. Despite the two undead infront of her, she was entirely fixated on the shotgun.

“What the hell was that?” Russo asked shakily, turning to look at me. For the first time, I saw fear on his face. He looked vulnerable. His eyes were wide. He had stared down the progenitor with less fear than he expressed now, looking at me.

“Are you — ” I raised a hand toward his shoulder, and I dropped it when he flinched, stepping back.

“I need to… I need to sit down.” Russo said. He was staring past me, off into space.

I strengthened my resolve, grabbing his shoulder.

“We need your help.” I said.

Clarissa’s chainsaw still sputtered. Half of the humans had leapt into action. They were dumping buckets of water they had piled up onto the burning shelf. Boxes of furniture were catching alight as it spread.

Two young men carried an entire bathtub they had filled up from somewhere, intending to dump it as the sprinklers above activated, dumping dirty water on us. The fire started dying down.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“What are you all doing?!” Clarissa shouted. “There are two more monsters right here!”

“Clarissa! They’re not trying to eat us!”

“They’re abominations, Dan!” She said, raising her chainsaw. It sputtered, then died. She grunted, pulling the cord again to try to start it.

I grunted, taking a few steps towards the two boys trying to dump water from a full bathtub onto the still smoldering shelf. I grabbed the bottom, intending to help them — but to my surprise, I was able to lift the entire tub, sending it flying upward.

Water splashed across the entire shelf. The tub — some kind of plastic — bounced off the floor.

“See?” Dan said. “They’re helping!”

“We came because we heard the fighting. Are there any more monsters down here?” I said, turning to face the two of them.

“Down here?” Dan asked. “So you came from outside? Is there still a city up there?”

I grimaced.

“It’s bad up there.” Russo said. “I saw columns of fire from entire blocks going up in flame. And more monsters besides roaming the street. There’s no power. There’s no way the water is running, either.”

Russo stared into the middle distance, eyes suddenly haunted. Clarissa and Dan just stared back at him, paling.

“We gathered a group of survivors. We came down to see how much we could loot from what was left of the store. Our food supply has a time limit. We can lead you to them.” I said.

“Then let’s go.” Dan said. “There are no more monsters on the way?”

“No. We’re directly above this cave, living in a…” I trailed off, about to reply that we were living in a castle. It sounded crazy. “We’re living in a building that was teleported here with the cave.”

“Are you serious?” Clarissa shouted. “We can’t trust these things, Dan! Maybe they’re leading us right into a — an animal pen! a human animal pen! Or as their dinner!”

I looked to Russo. He had stepped in the last few times, helping with these situations. He continued staring into the middle distance. The group of survivors that had huddled in the store stared at us.

“Would you rather stay down here?” I asked.

“I can find my own way out.” Clarissa said. “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”

She sounded almost smug.

“And then what?” I asked. “You go up onto a surface full of monsters? With no weapons, no… skills?” I asked.

Clarissa looked less certain, but she recovered.

“My dad stayed ready for the end of the world. He has a bunker. I’ll go there.”

“And you have enough food to feed all of these people?” I raised my voice, spreading my hands to point at the group, before pointing accusatorily at Clarissa. “At best, you lead these people to starvation, and at worst, you’ll die before you ever make it there.”

Clarissa started to get angry. She stepped up to me, pulling the cord on her chainsaw again. After sputtering, it came to life. The green in her eyes shone brighter for a moment.

“I’ll show you what skills I have.” She said.

My eyes caught the shape of a vampire — a proper vampire, not a blood-thrall — hovering over the fortress wall. It was almost human, voluminous blonde hair falling behind its face and showing its tall, pointed ears.

“Get down!” I shouted. The humans around us ran in all directions as the vampire — was it a lesser vampire? Or stronger? — dove toward Clarissa.

I activated [Crimson Veil] to intercept the vampire in midair. I didn’t think to activate [Wicked Implement,] but then again, I hadn’t expected the vampire to be wielding a sword.

We slammed into each other, and one of my arms went flying away. I roared, the noise twisted and inhuman as we fell together into the shelves of the store.