Kate started struggling to get free, but her assailant had an iron grip. They pinned her arms against her body and dragged her into an alley. She couldn't see her attacker, but from the amount of brute strength she guessed they were male. Years of self-defense courses kicked in. She leaned forward and slammed her head back into her attacker's face. He grunted, but his grips on her didn’t lighten. Kate pounded her foot into his knee and then bit his arm. This time he yowled in pain and his grip on her arms slackened. She whirled and bashed her fist into his throat, then whipped her elbow across his face.
The man receded back, holding his nose that gushed blood. "You bitch," he growled, then lunged for her. He wrapped his hands around her neck and lifted her off the ground. She tried slamming her foot into his crotch, but he didn't loosen his grip. The reason he had the first time was because she had taken him by surprise with her persistence. He started squeezing her neck. For the first time, Kate got a good look at her attacker and gasped.
The monster that was choking her, he was indeed a monster. He had curled horns, like those of a ram wrapped around his head. His face was humanoid until his mouth. His lower jaw came over his upper jaw in a massive under bite. His bottom teeth that were pushed out over his upper lip were broken and jagged. Massive tattered bat wings dragged along the ground behind him. What she thought was blood dripping down his face was pure darkness that glittered in the fading street light. She stared at its eyes. There was nothing human in them, no mercy, and no good.
Pure pain and menace seeped off the monster and cloaked Kate and the ally. She could feel her will slipping. She forgot all about her need for air. She stopped fighting. She should let this creature kill her. She didn't deserve to live. This could end; this torment called life could end. Then freedom, she could be freed-.
The dark pull on Kate shattered and she was dropped. She lay on the ground, panting. Desperate to gain back the air that she had lost. A roar of pain thundered from the creature. She could make out flashes of light in the darkness. Then she swore she saw a familiar face in an instant as they stabbed a ray of light through the creature's chest.
Its scream of pain ripped through the night. Wherever it came from, it did not want to go back. The light webbed like cracks across its chest, and the dark liquid seeped from the light. She squeezed her eyes shut and clamped her hands over her ears. Suddenly, the face she saw earlier was by her side unclamping her hands from her ears. Pain, all she felt was the pain.
"It's alright, your safe now. Just focus on breathing, it will dispel the poison" they whispered
Kate rolled over on her back. The familiar face leaned over her and looked worried. She knew this person, but her mind was too addled to make the connection. That face was the last thing she saw before oblivion took her away from the pain. Straight ahead into the blissful darkness
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Kate woke to morning light streaming in through a window, but not her window. She was in a puffy queen bed. She sat up; her jeans were folded on the chair next to the bed along with her combat boots and leather belt. She would have been embarrassed that anyone besides herself had undressed her -even halfway- if it wasn't for the memories of the night before that were rushing back.
There was a thug and he tried to rob her, and a stranger saved her. All of the sudden the memory shifted and the thug was a monster. Then as quick as it happened, the monster was a thug.
“The person who tried to rob you doesn't have horns,” a sweet voice at the back of her mind said. ‘’your imagination is running wild. You should forget it ever happened. ‘’
“Why should I forget when a robber tried to kill me?” she replied
Yes, she was losing her grip on normal. Normal people don’t have conversations with the voices in their head. Normal people don’t have voices in their head. But tried to kill her? That wasn't in the memory. The voice knew that too, and tried to convince her again almost hurriedly.
“No one tried to kill you. You’re hallucinating. Why would anyone want-?”
Kate decided to name the voice ignorance. "Tried to kill me" had unlocked a hidden memory. This time, the real ones flooded her mind and the voice at the back of her head went silent. She started shaking at the memory of the hands at her throat and the darkness sucking the life out of her.
Kate was on the verge of a full-blown panic attack when Lyra opened the door in the corner of the room and rushed to her bedside.
Her friend took her hands calming her, "it’s okay your safe."
Kate looked off into space, “what was that creature?"
"Don't worry its dead the demon is dead."
Late froze, "D-d-demon" she muttered under her breath
She said stronger, "demons aren't real"
"Well," Lyra said dryly, "they obviously are, unless you made hose bruises on your neck appear all by yourself"
Kate shook her head, “you’re delusional”
She pulled herself out of the bed and tried to stand up. Her legs were as wobbly as a baby calf, but she walked over to the chair with her clothes and pulled them on. Then Kate remembered she didn’t know where she was. She dodged Lyra who tried to stop her from leaving.
“I don’t want to hear it” she snapped
“Please, Kate. Let me explain-” Lyra begged
“No. you are out of your mind, or drunk.”
Kate looked out the window and saw the street in front of Lyra’s shop. She must be in her friend’s apartment above the shop. She walked over to the door and walked out of the bedroom, then into the hall. She needed to paint and get the horror of whatever happened last night out of her system.
“Kate listens to me.” Lyra said aggravated, “your life is in danger-”
Kate spun around. “Look. I don’t know either what you think happened, or what might have happened is somewhat true. I don’t care. I am not listening to gospel stories and conspiracy theories about how demons walk the earth. If there are demons, there is a God. I decided he wasn’t real the day my mother died. If he existed he would have saved her. He wouldn’t have forced me to be alone. You believe what you’re saying Lyra. As your friend, I recommend seeing a psychiatrist. Just because a jackass tried to rob me, and eventually kill me doesn’t mean he is a demon. Evil yes, but not demonic”
Lyra didn’t say anything back. Kate continued walking down the hall, past the kitchen and down the stairs that led to the shop. She was halfway out the door when Lyra finally said something.
“When you need my help, you’ll know where to find me.”
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