Blink {Featured}

Chapter Thirteen

'What?' John said, but god knows why he did. It was the only word he could think of.

The woman wore a leather jacket, with hair that looked as if it hadn't been brushed in years. Or washed for that matter. John scrunched his nose, pulled his lips taut. Augh gross. Maybe it'd been blonde once, but he couldn't say for sure. With a roll to her gait, she strode right up to Michael and stuck her thin, pale nose in his face.

The scowl she wore seemed fiercer than Michael's, maybe because she was so bloody tough looking. 'Fucking ass,' she growled.

As slow as he could, John snuck back, stood against the wall, and watched with wide eyes.

'Thought you'd get away with it, eh?'

A sinister smile grew slow on Michael's face and suddenly he did not seem so glorious anymore.

'Well, I've got something for ya.' She puckered her lips and smiled a lopsided grin, showing one gold tooth. As she grinned, she reached into a jean pocket and pulled out...something. John squinted. He couldn't tell what it was, but Michael squealed an ungodly yowling like a cat on fire, his face distorted, flickered like an old movie. Between flashes John glimpsed glowing red eyes and blackened, rotten fangs. What the fuck? Who was this Michael guy?

'That's right asshole. Time to go hidey-hole in your pit.' The crazy woman flung her hand up in the thing's face and John recognised what was in her hand. A tiny, palm-sized Bible the likes of which his mam had once brought home. Black, with pages that looked golden until you opened them. How did they do that anyway? No other books had pages that looked gold. Well, this was some crazy fucking shit either way. What was this thing? A demon?

It squirmed, wailed, yowled, until finally its true form was exposed in full. It was black, but not as pitch black as the walls of his soul. It had a disgusting face: a flat pig nose, wet and pussy, lips that did not quite close over the black and yellow rotted teeth inside its mouth, god-awful red eyes that glowed bright in the dark room, and rimmed horns that curled around its head.

The thing was tall but stood hunched over, its backbone showing just as its entire skeletal form did under that ashen black skin. Long fingernails wove between each other, as if the creature could not control its fingers' movements. If all of that wasn't strange enough, it had bloody hooves instead of feet, and its knees bent the wrong way. What the hell?

Whilst inspecting the creature, it dawned on John that the thing had probably nearly killed him. What really happened if he stabbed himself? With his right palm, he slapped his forehead. Fuck, he was so stupid.

'Hur hur hur,' the thing laughed, its voice deep and undulating with something similar to static white noise. It slapped the Bible out of her hand, rolled its shoulders, shook its arms, and clopped its hoofed feet into a combat stance. 'Come on bitch, I'll take you.' It grinned, and its disgusting fangs gleamed in the dimness. 'But I warn you, I will not go easy on you.' A frown creased its brow and it snarled, 'I will destroy you.'

The woman laughed, dry and sarcastic, and whipped out a knife that looked very similar to the one he'd held earlier. Was it the same one? He glanced at Death, and Death smiled at him, playing with the other knife, the one he'd almost killed himself with--a nod from Death brought that across clear enough. So did all these crazy people carry the darned things then?

'Come on then fuck face,' she said with a playful gleam in her eyes and a lopsided, gold toothy grin.

The creature did not look impressed. With a growl it charged her, and the ground of his soul trembled with each hoof thump. The woman stood swinging the knife idly in the air, one arm folded over her chest. Just as the creature was about to smash into her, she took one step left and flicked out the knife. It gaffed deep into the thing's arm, and the creature roared with pain, looking around confused. Black matter melted from the wound, a dark, lumpy puss, and the creature grabbed the cut on its upper arm with the other hand and roared its fury and pain.