Nocturne Valley Library

4: Total Chaos

Aerik and Valentine stare at the Demon Queen, who laughs as she steps back away from them. She's so busy gloating to them, but I then seize my opportunity to call Nermov to the room. She's a badass cat, who comes each time I call, regardless of how loud, or where either of us are.

"Nermov, sic 'em!" I whisper.

"She will be coming with me," says the Demon Queen, laughing triumphantly.

I then hear the sound of Nermov appearing, and just as the Demon Queen is stepping back, Nermov slashes her in the back. The Demon Queen stumbles, releasing me. Nermov pounces, digging her claws into the Demon Queen's skin.

Aerik runs to my side, and he pulls me back away from the Demon Queen. Nermov snarls, and as the Demon Queen screams again, there are a dozen or so demons that appear in the room. They all have weapons in their hands, and as they close in on us, Aerik morphs his massive wings. He folds them between us and them.

Valentine raises his hands, and red energy appears in his hands. The magic swirls, and then, it bursts free, wrapping around the demons. They freeze midstride and Aerik pulls me back from them, shielding me with his wings. Nermov snarls as she paces back towards us, the Demon Queen is frozen with Valentine's power.

The three of us keep backing away, and Nermov hisses at something behind us. I turn, and see someone I'd hoped I wouldn't see.

The Flesh-Strider. He smiles down at me, his vicious, fanged mouth too long, too big for most normal people. I stumble back, staring up at him, and Aerik turns, too.

"What the fuck?"

The Flesh-Strider is a gray skinned creature with an elongated mouth, full of razor sharp teeth. His bloody red eyes seem to lock on me, and he drags his claws against the wood steps as he descends. He stops at the second-to-last step and snarls, tilting his head and causing his bones to crack as he does so. The Flesh-Strider wears no clothes, and his black veins beneath his skin seem more prominent than ever. The demonic shapeshifter approaches us, and Nermov snarls.

"Down, kitty kitty," hisses the Flesh-Strider. He tilts his head, his gaze flicking to Aerik once more.

Nermov's claws elongate, and her mouth opens into four petals once more. Her back arches, and then, gray leather wings erupt from her spine, curling around her body. The demonic shape-shifting cat is always ferocious, but tonight she is ten times more angry than ever. Probably because of the whole fact of our library being under attack.

The Flesh-Strider hunches forward, and he growls back at her. But Nermov doesn't back down. She's taller than us in this form, her claws at the apex of her wings scraping the ceiling. She advances toward Flesh-Strider, and he laughs. The raspy sound is downright evil.

"We need to get upstairs," I whisper. "Luce is there. She's alone."

"No, Karlyk is there, too," Aerik whispers. "But yeah, I get it. We need to make sure that Lucy's okay."

The Flesh-Strider leaps, moving too fast for me to see. He is batted away by Nermov, and he crashes into the far wall. I am pulled toward the steps, Aerik holding my hand as we quickly ascend the steps. We race into the main floor of the library, and the smell of blood fills the air.

Panic seizes me, and I call out for Lucy and Karlyk.

Suddenly, there's a loud cracking sound above us. And a big, creepy Spidermaiden descends from above on her silken string. She laughs as she sees the horror on my face, and Aerik pulls me against him, wrapping his wings around me. I glance around, and I see Nermov appear beside us. She has a cut on her leg, but she's otherwise fine.