Faint Light

Chapter Six

Her feet barely touched the ground, her legs burning, her body was begging her to stop, to rest yet she kept moving. She had to, ears ringing as she zeroed in on the source of the screaming. She rounded the corner only to come to a slow stop outside an apartment that was tucked in the corner of the hallway. She stumbled into the door, not at all surprised to find it locked. Cursing under her breath, the only thought going through her head was that she had to get in there.

She had to.

Fighting the urge to lean on the cool hard metal and take a breather she shoved away from the door and took a few steps back. She gathered what little strength she had left and rammed into the door, it barely made a dent. Her body however was shaking and she had no doubt she would have bruises yet as the crying sobs got louder she shoved off the door and readied herself to ram into it again.

It was said that in times of great stress and duress that mothers were able to summon superhuman strength...well she wasn't a mother but she had at times in the past been able to achieve some pretty unimaginable things when her wards were in danger...

Add in the fact she was not your average everyday female she dug deep down inside of her, pulling her powers to wrap around her like a protective shell. She had no idea if this would work, having never tried it before, but it wouldn't hurt to try. Inhaling a deep shaking breath she got a small running start and willed her powers to stay wrapped around her body like a cocoon, a protective layer between her tired and abused flesh and the one thing that stood between her and those kids.

It was like finally, finally, the gods were taking pity on her. The door creaked as the dead bolt gave way under the battering ram that she had turned herself into. The door slammed open, the sound deafening, as she stumbled into the entryway trying to stop herself from barreling too far into the room as she had no real idea about what was waiting for her in there.

Just that there were children that needed help.

There, cowering by an open window were two children, curled in on each other, as what looked like a rokurokubi yokai with an eyeball for a head wound around them. Like a snake getting ready to pull its prey into a strangling embrace. She willed her body to move, fear gripping her as her joints seemed to lock.

Move.

Move!

Her mental shout urged her body into action yet just as the eyeball monster moved to wind around them and yank them outside something came flying from the upper floor to slam into its extended neck. It made the eyeball monster jerk, unwinding itself from its docile prey to instead retreat back out of the window to find whatever new threat that had attacked it.

She heard muffled shouting, the voice semi familiar, from the still open window. Using the god sent distraction she rushed forward and grabbed the two children, flashing them a small smile as they trembled in fear. Without so much as a word she herded the two away from the open window to the farthest corner of the kitchen. Holding her finger to her lips she moved towards the busted door and shoved it shut.

It did not close fully and she knew that it was due to her busting the lock, even so she quickly used the chain to secure it shut. Task done she moved towards the window and cranked it shut. She didn't bother locking it as she drew the curtains shut, if that monster really wanted to get in there was nothing that was going to stop it from bursting through the panes of glass.

She just hoped that like most low level yokai encounters from her past that its form of thinking was the same.

Out of sight, out of mind.

If not, well...honestly she would go down fighting.

She jumped as a loud-sounding pop rattled the window pane. It was like nothing she had ever heard and she was hard-pressed to not peek out the now-closed window. Shoving the foolish thought down she decided she had far more pressing matters to tend to.