Death Watchers

Demons

What was it with this place that made my blood run cold with every new occurance? But it happened. Except this time, my blood froze. My entire body froze with the shock and panic.

One of the deer demons laughed. "What's the matter, Princess? Never seen a full demon before?"

The other leered at me as he cackled and I stumbled back, their laughter breaking my trance.

"St-stay away from m-me," I ordered, my voice breaking at each word and not coming out how I had planned.

They laughed again and I took the opportunity to run. Their laughs carried back to me, echoing around me like I was in a dome. My panic spiked again and I doubled my efforts, pushing my legs like I had never pushed them before. I pumped my arms, begging my body to not fail on me, to let me get out of this.

I smacked into an invisible wall, my face smashing against it as the rest of my body followed suit.

More laughing, closer now, followed my fall to the ground. I groaned and lightly touched my face. It felt puffy already and I hoped these guys would leave it at that. But, of course, that wouldn't be the case. Not when demons were involved.

One of them came up to me and wrenched my head up by my hair. I shrieked and grabbed his hand in an attempt to ease the pain, but he just tugged harder. I was standing on my tiptoes before he stopped bringing me up.

"Little princess, why is your face all red? Does that hurt?"

The other demons laughed.

"We should poke her." The speaker showed his six-inch long, sharp nails for emphasis. "What do you say, girl? Feeling sporty?"

My eyes widened, making my scalp scream all the more. I screamed with it and the demons' grins widened more.

"I think that means yes," the demon holding me said.

"No," I gasped. "No, please."

"Oh, look," another purred. "She's begging. Are you going to beg us to spare your life, little girl? I think I'd like to hear that. Right, boys?"

"Make her beg!" they chanted, covering my whimper with their loud voices. "Make her beg!"

The one holding my hair threw me onto the ground, past the invisible wall I had barreled into. They all jumped around me, keeping me on the ground.

Then they started kicking me, chanting, "Beg, little girl. Beg," over and over. I curled into a fetal position and wrapped my arms around my legs, tucking my face into my knees.

"Beg!" the first one demanded, throwing a more forceful kick directly into my spine.

My back arched and a scream tore from my throat at the pain. It felt like something had been either shattered or knocked out of place and I couldn't move back into the fetal position. The demons took advantage to kick my stomach.

Then the bear demon held up his hands. "Whoa, boys. Lookie here." He reached down and grabbed one of my wrists to hold it up for them all to see. One of his fingers trailed down my arm, following the bubbled ridges to my elbow. "This one's already seen some of Hell."

"Yeah? And what's your point? It just makes this more fun."

"No, no. This one needs more fun. Where's the fun in getting kicked to death when she already faced a fire?"

"What are you suggesting?" From the tone, the demon already knew what he was suggesting.

A grin split across the demon's face. "What do you say, little girl?" he asked, dropping my arm again. "Care for a little fire?"