Seeker: Demon Killers [Fantasy/Action | Complete]

Chapter 1: Flying Guts and Sprayed Blood

The claws tore through her arm, leaving three deep scores down Tora's biceps. She swore under her breath, elbowing the monkey-like demon out of the way. Its teeth sunk into her other elbow. Clenching the fist of her injured arm, she sent a rock-hard punch straight into its abdomen. Organs shifted on impact. The creature made a retching noise, red eyes rolling in their sockets. Its jaws loosened before it collapsed in a twitching heap onto the floor.

Blood dripped onto the dusty floor of the abandoned warehouse. Tora panted, sweat sticking her fringe onto her forehead. All around, all she could hear were the snarls of monsters and the yells of her fellow Seekers as they fought. The soundproof barrier she'd erected before they entered the dilapidated building was containing the cacophony, but, situated in the middle of nowhere and forgotten by time, the rusty structure was not exactly the place for an afternoon stroll by humans. Tora sunk her fist, grinning, into the next demon. Having said that, whether anyone would come across such a terrifying scene was in the back of her mind.

The impact sent a shudder across the small bones of her hand and pain shot up her arm. The crack of bones whipped through the air. Narrowing her eyes, she withdrew – trailing mangled brain and blood onto the floor – and spun on the spot, kicking out at the half-decomposed, snarling creature. Her foot swung over its head, skimming its pointed ears by millimetres.

With a bloodcurdling scream, it leapt at her, death in its eyes. With fury, it slashed at Tora, missing its first strike and tearing through the middle part of her top on its second. She yelped. Pain streaked like lightning across her belly as more blood seeped onto the green material. The adrenaline poured through her system and her heart rate hit the roof; her lips curled into a smile. The creature's eyes gleamed, following its attack with another frenzy of swipes with its long claws, rushing at her without any sort of intelligence or strategy.

Tora darted through its subsequent attempts at tearing out her intestines. Reacting faster than the monster, she slipped through its defence and slammed a punch in its face. It sunk in the shape of her fist; the tongue lolled out like a dog, except its rotten, crooked teeth reminded her more of the creatures in zombie films than any animal. It exhaled in a 'fuh' sound, its windpipe crushed under the force of her knuckles. A spray of putrid fumes escaped from the cracks across its slimy body as it landed with a splat on the dusty floor. Just like before, the force of the contact radiated like an explosion of spikes through all the bones in her hand and arm. She gritted her teeth, her eyes narrowing. Her breathing was heavy as she straightened her fingers.

Cracking her knuckle bones back into place, Tora braced herself for the next attack as the dead demon started to smoke and rapidly decompose. Her blue eyes fixed upon the galumphing creatures with their deadly teeth and blazing gaze. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The first of the three rampaging creatures, without warning, careered at a right-angle projection. There was a fist-shaped indentation on the side of its coarse cheek before its skull then caved in from the side. The green eyeballs bulged. The huge muscles tensed – and then the creature flew across the warehouse, narrowly avoiding Ross, before crashing into a smaller group of demons that looked like monkeys. The two muscle machines behind it skidded to a halt, all of a sudden unsure.

Tora rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, Carlos?" she said. "These are just standard demons. Can't you just kill them with your hands?"

To her right about ten metres away, a cheeky face wearing a mop of sweat-drenched light brown hair materialised out of thin air. The monsters snuffled in alarm, eyeing him. Carlos shook his hand, the joints of which swelled, and he had a grimace on his face.

"I know, but they're still ugly as hell and stinking to high heaven – can't we just get this over with and go home?" There was a slight whine in his voice and Tora rolled her eyes again. He had a point, though: their stench made her nose hairs tingle and an overwhelming desire to gag was second only to her excitement.