Daemons
Chapter 20.5

Gore Warning.

Noel smiled down at her son as she set him into bed, pulling the sheets up over his chest as she did every night. “Alright Max, time to go bed,” she cooed, already anticipating his next question.

“Can Daddy come in and chase all the big, bad monsters away first?” The boy immediately asked, eyes sparkling with excitement even though his parents had done this routine for him multiple times this week.

The mother chuckled as she placed a kiss on his forehead, nodding as she brushed the hair away from his head. “Of course, dear. I’ll go get Daddy and he’ll get rid of all the evil monsters.” Leaving the light on in Max’s room, she wandered down the hall to the work room where she knew her husband would be. “Ty, Max wants you to get rid of the monsters again.”

The large man chuckled, already wearing his pearly white armor in anticipation of such a request. “He seems to really like this game,” he commented, setting down the AMP rifle he’d been adjusting in favor of a harmless Nerf gun. “Alright, guess Daddy’s got a job to do!” Noel watched as her partner put on a serious expression as he burst into their child’s room, playing it up for the giggling five year old who was sitting up and clapping in his bed. “Alright monsters, time for you to be hunted!”

“Get em Daddy, get em!” Max cheered, shrieking in laughter as his father patrolled the room and made a show of shooting the Nerf gun anywhere monsters were typically believed to be in a child’s bedroom. He checked under the bed, in the closet, out the window and behind the curtains. Their boy was of course calling out any possible spots that Tyler missed, cheering even louder as the hunter made a point of checking those spots extra thoroughly.

When the Nerf darts had all been emptied all over the place, Noel deemed that enough as she clapped and patted her husband on the back. “Alright, I think Daddy got them all, no monsters will get you tonight sweet pea. But now, you need to go to bed, little man.” After getting the little show from his parents, Max was quick to settle down into bed, hugging his stuffed panda bear that was his favorite toy. The two adults both wished him goodnight as they re-tucked him in, turning off the lights and waiting for the nightlights to turn on before they closed the door.

Once their son was taken care of, they both went back to the work room where Tyler immediately switched out the Nerf gun in favor of the rifle he’d been working on earlier. Noel, on the other hand, turned to the corkboard they’d put up, currently covered in the files of seven daemons. As silver-ranked hunters, the couple had no intention of engaging any of them, as they would likely only stand a chance against the weakest of the bunch. Even then, the monkey daemon was known for being viciously feral if cornered and an expert in escaping ambushes. With their son to think of, the couple had both agreed that they wouldn’t risk outright hunting any of those they were currently tracking. The information that they were collecting would be enough in terms of a paycheck combined with what they already had for finances, so they weren’t going to risk it.

In addition to the seven daemons they’d been tasked with tracking, there were two other pictures pinned up next to two of the daemons. The first was a relatively small skeleton with starry blue eyes, next to the B-ranked monkey. The other was a skeleton with golden eyes and a crown, pinned next to the B-class frog daemon known as Killer. They’d managed to confirm these two to be the soulmates of their respective daemons, and they had a list of several other suspects. Hunters knew enough about daemons to know that groups of daemons were more likely to have their soulmates in similar groups, this theory currently holding true based on the two that they’d managed to confirm and look into. It had taken a lot of searching to discover the identities of the two, but there were others that they were commonly seen together with once they knew who to look for.

The one that Noel had been hoping to confirm for some time now was a short skeleton with mismatched eyes and a stain on their right cheek, as they were almost always seen near the golden-eyed one that they’d managed to identify as Dream. Yet it seemed that her little verbal slip-up at the pet shelter had put them on guard enough that the two had split up and hadn’t been in contact for some time. Between that and them losing the signal they’d placed on the snake daemon, their efforts were being frustratingly stalled at every turn. About the only lead they’d been able to get recently was that the snake’s soulmate likely lived in proximity to a series of apartment complexes, but even then it would be impossible to know exactly where the signal had originated from without going door to door. That was currently their next plan.

“Noel,” Tyler called, snapping the woman out of her thoughts and pulling her gaze away from the board. “Staring at that thing isn’t gonna magically make more connections jump out, you know that. We’ve at least got a lead on the bastards that stole the stupid chair from us, so why don’t we take care of that first? It’s either that or listen to Max cry once he finds out it’s gone.”

She sighed, nodding in agreement as she moved to get her own armor from the nearby closet. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. I guess I was just hoping for a burst of inspiration to point us in the right direction, but we should focus on the more pressing matter. I can’t believe those filthy monsters managed to somehow bypass our security system to get it out of the garage!” Neither had been pleased when they’d returned from a night out for dinner only to discover that they’d been robbed. Nothing else had been taken except for the wheelchair that their son had grown attached to, and the thieves hadn’t been subtle about it at all. Where the wheelchair had been sitting in their garage, there was now the emblem of the Ebott’s Angels spray painted onto the concrete pad. The thieves had even been so bold that they didn’t care about the security cameras out front, openly posing with the wheelchair while flipping them off. The only thing saving them was the fact that any discernable features were completely covered, nothing to even give away what type of monsters they were. That stupid gang would pay for messing with them. Noel didn’t care if there were any monsters worth hunting in their midst, at this point she just wanted to put those lesser beings in their place.

Her dreams on revenge were put on hold however as the house’s lights started flickering, the couple looking around in disbelief and worry. “I know I paid the power bill this month,” Tyler grumbled, moving to check their security cameras while his wife hastily finished putting on her armor. This didn’t sit right with her, instincts suddenly on high alert as she started grabbing various weapons. “I think you’ve got the right idea honey. Look.” The prompt from her partner caused her to look over at the camera he was pointing to, showing the view of their front entrance.

There stood a lone figure, two unique blades held in their grip. They appeared to be carved from bones, the centers of the blades hollow with the edges honed to a sharp enough point that it was visible even from the camera feed. It was late at night, so their camera had switched to night-vision and stripped the recording of any color, though the patterns on the clothing were unmistakable. “That’s the monster that attacked you, isn’t it?”

“Sure as hell looks like it,” the taller of the pair growled, one of his hands reaching up to idly scratch at the X-shaped scar that now covered his face. “If it’s him, then that bastard is gonna pay for what he did.”

“Agreed.” Noel didn’t hesitate to turn and grab several cartridges of ammo for her AMP guns, only for a startled cry from her husband to drag her attention back to the monitor. The monster was gone, no trace of his presence and no sign of where he’d gone despite the fact that Tyler admitted to keeping a constant eye on the screen. “What kind of game is this bastard playing at?”

“I don’t know, but I’ve got a really bad feeling about this. We should grab everything we can, just to be safe.” Tyler turned away to load up while Noel stepped up to scan the camera feeds, trying to pinpoint where their uninvited guest had gone.

As she was looking however, another figure appeared towards the back of their house. This one wasn’t familiar to her in the slightest, but the weapon the openly wielded was one she’d heard about. The crescents decorating each end of their staff were just as sharp as they’d been when this monster had assaulted her husband and protected the other one, light from the house reflecting intermittently off the curved blades as the flickering continued without any indication as to the cause. And their smile looked just like those crescent moons, spread wide and glinting dangerously. He knew they were watching him, staring directly at the camera before he too vanished the second the camera feed flickered. “The other one’s here, the one with the moon staff.”

“Seriously?! Damn, what is with these freaks and travelling in packs?!” Her partner growled as he finished loading up, grabbing an axe off the wall that could easily cut through the bones of their targets. “Whatever, we stick together and we should be able to take them. Just don’t get too far from me, got it?” The smaller of the two was quick to agree, trusting Tyler’s combat experience to know what was the best tactic.

And just as they were preparing to leave, all the lights went dark. Everything, even the security system monitor behind them, all dead. “Those freaks cut the power. Guess that explains the flickering lights,” Noel commented, her grip on her gun tightening slightly as fear slowly began to work its way into her.

This fear made her response to a large knife flying into the door of the room even stronger, the woman jumping behind her husband who adopted a defensive stance in front of her. The knife pulled back, only to stab through again, a progressively bigger hole being made in the door. After a decent sized hole was made in the wood, the wielder of that weapon made themselves known as they shoved their head in through the hole. “Heeeere’s CC!” The pale face of a familiar young boy greeted them, his cackle echoing through the room. “Holy shit! I get one line out and you’re already scared! Take that, you bitch!” Furious at the jab made at her, Noel stepped out from behind her partner, drawing her pistol and firing a single shot at the cackling face. Yet before the shot could make contact, the boy dissipated into thin air and the shot harmlessly dispersed as it hit the wall on the other side.

For a moment there was nothing but silence, the pair waiting to see if their attackers would make any other moves. Their patience was rewarded as the monitor behind them crackled back to life, nothing but static filling the screen as it served as the only source of light beyond the windows. As they turned to face it however, there was the same pale brat, twisting in an unnatural way to face them as his hands remained glued to the static-filled screen. “They’re here~” He called out in a sing-song voice, obviously mocking them as he sent them a wide grin. “No seriously! They’re both downstairs waiting for you. Honestly, it’s rude to keep your guests waiting like this. You didn’t even greet them at the door or offer them a drink!”

“Shut up you bastard!” Tyler roared, taking a shot that only blew though the monitor, destroying it and taking the light with it. “That fucker’s one of those freaks, he’s just messing with us,” he growled after a moment, his wife quick to agree. There was apparently no way to get rid of this one, as he would just vanish and reappear somewhere else whenever attacked. While they didn’t understand how he was doing that, they wouldn’t be fooled into wasting any more attacks on the brat.

It was so hard not to shoot on sight though when the child appeared once again in their room, this time sitting cross-legged and upside-down on the ceiling, his hair pulling away from his face due to gravity and revealing the long scar along his one eye. “Do you want to play a game~?” The couple just ignored him, walking past and finally opening the door so that they could head downstairs and greet their ‘guests’. “Wait, where you going? You didn’t answer my question!” The child spun around to face them as they left the room, Noel sparing a glance back at him only to find the boy grinning. “Alright, guess that’s enough of an answer for me~” With that, he vanished once again, leaving a sense of dread in the young woman that resulted in her scurrying off to be right behind her husband.

If she had any hope that the ghostly being would leave them be as they made their way towards the stairs, that hope was quickly crushed as he continued to taunt them. “I see dead people,” he hissed as he floated alongside the two, nimbly avoiding Tyler’s axe when he swung it in frustration. “In fact, I see two of them! They’re right here, and just like that stupid therapist, they don’t know they’re dead yet!”

Just as they reached the stairs, still unable to see to the room below, the pest issued one final taunt, practically whispering right in Noel’s ear. “They’re coming to get you, Karen~” She idly swatted him away, trying to keep her focus on what would inevitably be a fight, though she couldn’t deny that despite her best efforts, he’d managed to get inside her head. To have some sort of ghost follow her around and constantly taunt and scare her was wearing on her nerves, leave her far jumpier than the other hunter in front of her as they descended the steps and rounded the corner.

Just as promised, there was one of the two figures waiting for them in the middle of their living room. His two knives hung by his side as he silently glared at the two of them. With the lights cut, the skeleton’s eyes glowed in an ominous fashion, both an angry red color while the right one was shaped like a target. It filled the female hunter with dread as they descended the steps to meet him, the invader’s body growing tenser with every step they took. All it took was for Tyler to place one foot on the main floor and the monochrome figure launched, a black and white blur that moved too fast for Noel to see.

Her husband was more prepared for the initial assault than she was, his axe being used to hold the oversized blades back before he used his strength to fling his foe across the room. Without wasting a second, the more experienced hunter drew one of his many firearms, launching a barrage in retaliation. She’d seen that move turn so many monsters to dust, and yet their target flitted from one spot to the next, somehow moving fast enough to dodge bullets at short range.

Growing frustrated, her husband swapped his current gun for a shotgun, grinning as he held it with one arm outstretched. “Let’s see you dodge this, you prick,” he growled, the skeleton’s socket’s widening as they realized they wouldn’t be able to escape the spray from the shotgun unscathed. Just as Tyler went to pull the trigger however, a flash of silver shot out from under the staircase, catching the hunter’s leg and causing him to stumble. This resulted in his shot missing, the gun’s muzzle pointing towards the ceiling when it was finally shot. Debris rained down from the spot, though no serious damage was done that would compromise the stability of the house.

“Careful where you fire that thing. You might put someone’s eye out,” came a voice from under the stairs, a skeleton with lilac eyes and wielding the crescent staff emerging from the shadows in an almost relaxed manner. The weapon was spun about with a flourish before being driven down where Tyler had been knocked down, the large man just barely managing to roll out of the way in time.

While her partner recovered, the female hunter took it upon herself to get into position, flinging herself over the railing and aiming her pistol at the skeleton nearest to her. “Move and you’re dead, asshole,” she threatened, her hands steady as she aimed for his soul.

All he did in response was tilt his head to look at her, smirking at the gun pointed at him. “Heh, you’re a lot more dangerous than I originally guessed, figured you’d be all bark and no bite. At least you’ll be more fun to play with than I originally anticipated.”

“Remember what you promised,” the other one barked, steadily advancing on the larger hunter who had since recovered from being tripped.

“Yeah, yeah. Trust me, I have no intention of ruining our first date by breaking my promise! I’ll let you have fun with that one, and I’ll keep this one occupied until you’re ready. That sound good?”

“Like hell you will!” Noel screamed, taking several shots at her target while Tyler followed suit and lunged at his. These two skeletons clearly weren’t planning on giving them a chance to stick together, so instead the hunters went on the offensive. One of her shots managed to graze the taller skeleton’s cheek, which clearly pissed him off. Not wanting to give him a chance to retaliate, she drew one of the many knives she had on her, continuing to fire her handgun until she was within range to stab. From the sounds of things, she had the advantage in this fight as her opponent didn’t seem to be going for the kill, which gave her a much-needed edge that she wasn’t going to hesitate in abusing.

Her goal was to keep the pressure on the monster, staying close to him so that he couldn’t effectively use his staff. While the weapon’s long reach had its advantages, it was now a hindrance as he could only use it to push her away and block her strikes. A few even managed to nick his ribcage, filling her with confidence as she chased him around their living room.

Quick glances in the direction of her husband revealed a much different fight going on. Tyler was merely trying to stand his ground against an impossible assault, the monochrome skeleton darting around with inhuman speed. His movements were like that of a ninja, fast and deadly, and the only thing seriously protecting the hunter was his armor that repelled the attacks decently well. Even so, there were several scratches in the once pristine suit, hinting at which one of them had ended up being the aggressor. That wasn’t to say that Tyler wasn’t fighting back, but every strike he threw was instantly blocked or dodged. That freak just couldn’t be hit no matter what her partner did; regardless of which weapon he used, it all had the same effect. It was like he had eyes in the back of his head or something, as he was dodging attacks that there was no possible way he could’ve known were coming.

That’s when it hit her. She remembered her first encounter with that monster, how he’d practically summoned the ghost from earlier out of nowhere. “Ty! It’s the ghost! That’s how he dodging all of your attacks!” She called out, hoping that he’d be able to figure something out with that information. The taller gave a nod, his stance immediately shifting to be far more aggressive. He abandoned all attempts to circle around his opponent, simply aiming to overwhelm him with a mixture of melee and close-ranged shots from various firearms. If the ghost was telling him how to dodge, then there’d be no way he’d be able to figure out how to dodge everything Tyler was now throwing at them.

Focusing so much on her husband’s fight however had the unfortunate consequence that she lost the concentration needed to keep close to her own target. The skeleton managed to get enough room between them to wave his hand over the staff, the hunter watching in shock as the weapon began to glow with a soft silver light. The light condensed, its shape changing before reforming as a cutlass. “Heh, looks like he wasn’t the only one that got multiple options built in,” the skeleton muttered cryptically, turning to grin at the female hunter as he brandished his newly formed weapon. “Now then, wanna try slashing at me again with that little toy of yours?”

“Shit,” she cursed as she jumped back, narrowly avoiding a strike from the cutlass in the process. There went her advantage in turns of distancing, now falling back on her firearms to keep some distance between the two of them. This wasn’t nearly as effective as her earlier advances had been however, the skeleton using his blade to deflect shots with a cocky grin.

So focused on trying to keep the purple one away, she lost sight of Tyler’s struggle against the other one. This left her blind to the danger she was suddenly in, at least until she heard her name screamed out. Turning at the sound of her husband’s frantic cry, she was suddenly faced with the sight of their coffee table flying towards her. Eyes growing wide, the huntress found her body frozen and unable to react. About the only thing that saved her was her legs suddenly giving out, causing her to drop to the ground and the table to just barely miss her head.

While she was safe from the more immediate threat, another one quickly made itself known as a silvery blade was pressed against her neck. “Never understood why the armor you bastards wear doesn’t leave the neck better protected. With all these super important fleshy bits in there, all it would take is one well-placed strike and you’d be dead within seconds.” Her gaze was forcefully lifted as the flat of the blade pressed under her chin, forcing Noel to look out over the now trashed room. “I wouldn’t worry too much about having your throat slit though. See, my date over there really has a bone to pick with you two, and according to him, you two don’t deserve such painless deaths. You hurt someone he cares about greatly, almost killed them, so he’s gonna make sure you both suffer the same pain your actions inflicted on his brother. I’m mostly just here to offer a helping hand and have some fun, which is why I’m gonna make sure you watch as your partner gets ripped to pieces~”

Any attempts to argue were immediately silenced by the blade pressing against her neck, reminding Noel of the compromised position she was currently trapped in. To further point that out to her, the skeleton proceeded to grab both of her arms and twist them awkwardly behind her back as he simultaneously pinned her legs. About the only thing thrashing would accomplish would be that blade cutting her, something that she wanted to avoid as the huntress still had hope of getting out of this situation. Her husband was far stronger than she was, and wouldn’t easily fall to these monsters.

At least, that’s what she kept telling herself. That hope was quickly crushed as a cry of pain came from the other side of the room, the purple skeleton forcefully pulling her body up so that she was kneeling with the blade still in its threatening position. Just as her captor had promised, she was put into a position that allowed her to see Tyler clutching a fresh wound, red dripping between the fingers clutching his shoulder and falling in small rivulets from the knife of his attacker. “Tyler!” She screamed out on instinct, only to immediately regret it as his gaze fell on her. There was such regret and fear in his eyes, but also determination, as if he wanted nothing more than to save her, even at the cost of his own life.

The hunter’s hand reached out to his wife, dripping with fresh crimson as he made a move to rush to her side. His advance was instantly cut off by the appearance of the monochrome skeleton in front of him, his back turned to the other human so that she couldn’t see his expression. She could see the shock and fear on her lover’s face however, see him try to reel back and step away from the psychotic monster. His efforts were for naught though as the skeleton whipped one of his knives around and jabbed it up through the outstretched hand, the blade large enough that the action cut the appendage in half despite his armored gloves. The blade didn’t manage to pierce the steel plate on top of the hand, only cutting through the black bodysuit underneath, so the two halves of the hand started to droop through the cut with bone and bits of flesh peeking through as blood poured from the wound.

Tyler roared back in pain, grabbing hold of the bisected hand as if to hold it together. Noel could feel her stomach churn at the revolting and horrendous sight, yet she was unable to tear her eyes away despite her strong desire to. Any attempt to turn her head resulted in the blade against her neck being shifted to press again her cheeks instead, the force applied being used to coax her face back facing forward as tears started to fall. God, why was this happening to them? “You sick freak! Isn’t this going too fucking far for some stupid grudge?!”

That brought the skeleton’s red eye lights directly on her, and according to the shake of her husband’s head, it was the wrong move. “This is more than a grudge,” the skeleton growled, brandishing one of his bloody knives in her direction. “You two almost took away someone that means everything to me. You put him through agony, through hell. I’m just returning the favor on his behalf. By the time I’m done, you’ll have felt everything you made him suffer, every broken bone, every stab of pain. Only then will I end your disgusting lives so that you can never hurt him again!” Turning his focus back to the larger of the two, he jabbed the knives into the floor as he advanced. “Now then. You were the one to throw him into a tree without mercy. Allow me to show you exactly what that felt like for him.”

The skeleton vanished as soon as he opened his mouth, his blinding speed allowing him to practically teleport behind Tyler and drive him into the ground. The hunter landed with a pained grunt, attempting to push himself up with his good hand only for another piece of furniture to be whipped into his back. The wooden end table splintered apart with the force of the impact, an audible gasp escaping the skeleton’s victim as the strike knocked the wind out of him.

While Tyler desperately tried to recover from such a hit, the monster eyed him with such a furious crimson as he grabbed his target by his ankle. “If only I were a foot taller, I’d have the satisfaction of looking down into your eyes right now and seeing you as helpless as he was,” the monochrome monster snarled, doing something that Noel honestly thought impossible. Her partner was 6′2" and built like a tank, yet the monster effortlessly lifted him by his ankle as high as his shorter frame would allow. Part of Tyler’s body still dragged on the ground due to the height difference, but there seemed to be no strain from the monster. This was only proven as the skeleton whipped Tyler over his head like a ragdoll, proceeding to slam him down into the floor behind him. The huntress that was forced to watch was in too much of a state of shock to cry out, though her tears continued to flow in horror as the act continued over and over again. Sometimes her husband was flung into the ground, sometimes into various pieces of furniture, and even into the nearby walls with such force that the drywall was obliterated.

At some point, the hunter stopped trying to get away, whether resigning himself to his fate or simply in too much agony to move on his own. Either one was very possible, as the monochrome skeleton showed no signs of letting up in his assault as he placed on foot on top of Tyler’s chest. A pained wheeze accompanied with the crunch of bone echoed through the room, Noel at the right vantage point to see his face contort in pain that only grew as the pressure on his chest increased. “That armor is pretty good at protecting you from ranged projectiles, less so against bladed weapons when wielded with enough force to pierce the Kevlar. But blunt force trauma, that’s one thing most armor fails to protect against. And just imagine if you didn’t have that fancy suit absorbing some of the impact for you. That’s why I had to throw you around more than once, so you could really appreciate what my brother went through. Unfortunately for you,” the psychotic monster added, grabbing hold of Tyler’s one leg while simultaneously shifting the foot on his chest to stand on his thigh. The torque applied to the knee caused another pained grunt to escape the hunter, eyes turned toward his attacker in a silent plea for mercy.

Any attempts seemed to be wasted however as the skeleton just kept talking. “My brother has had notoriously weak bones ever since an incident years ago, making them very easily broken. It wasn’t just his spine and ribcage you damaged when you threw him away like a piece of trash. No, he likely had fractures and breaks along his arms and legs as well. I’ve already damaged one of your arms, so why don’t I work on your legs?” The human went to frantically call out, to plead for mercy or curse the monster, but whatever it was he was trying to say, all that came was a scream of anguish as well as the audible snap of bone as the leg was jerked upwards. Not even the armor was enough to stop the skeleton, his insane strength only bending whatever metal was in the way in his fury.

“Please! Please stop it!” Noel screamed, tears unending in their flow down her cheeks to land on the blade still hovering close to her neck. “We just wanted the stupid fucking chair! And we don’t even have it anymore! So why don’t you go beat the shit out of the fuckers that took it from us instead, you psychopath?!” Part of her knew that Tyler wasn’t going to survive this mess, not with the injuries he’d sustained. The internal trauma alone from being tossed about likely led to severe internal bleeding, especially if his broken ribs had dislodged and pierced some of his organs. And with his military background, her husband had likely already accepted his death. All she wanted at this point was to be by his side and comfort him in his end, maybe get him something to ease his suffering and let him pass relatively peacefully.

Her desperate plea only brought their assailant’s fiery gaze on her, causing her to flinch despite her best attempts to steel herself. “You really don’t get it, do you bitch? I’m not here because of the fucking chair. I’m here because you two are horrible, despicable wastes of flesh that do nothing but spread misery. The world would be better off without people like you, and while I normally don’t give a shit about stuff like that, you hurt Geno. Your husband was the one that sent him to the ICU, and that’s why I’m going to kill him first. But you’re the one that sent him after my brother, so that’s why you’ll watch him die in agony before I kill your toxic ass.”

There was a deadly seriousness to the skeleton, and the gravity of the situation finally started to sink in for the huntress. Once their murderer was done killing her husband, he would move on to her and likely inflict just as painful of a death. Oh god... she was gonna die... Her body slumped in defeat, a feeling of dread and hopelessness taking over her as the skeleton holding her in place chuckled. “Think ya finally got through to her,” he commented, dropping the sword from her neck even if he didn’t release his hold. “Looks like that one’s not gonna last too much longer, think he’s gone into shock. Might as well get the rest of your anger out and move on.”

True to his word, Tyler was showing signs of going into shock. He no longer seemed to be reacting to the insane pain he must’ve been in, his breaths coming shallow and fast. His eyes were glazed over, barely blinking anymore as the tears started to slow down. Noel never thought she’d have to witness her husband die like this, even with the profession they’d both signed up for. She was certain that his strength and her cleverness would be enough to protect them from whatever threats they hunted down... guess she wasn’t nearly clever enough. The skeleton proceeded to stomp on the love of her life over and over, crushing his skull beneath his feet and finally putting an end to his suffering. Blood and bit of brain matter splattered all over the floor that was already stained crimson, yet the woman didn’t even feel grief knowing that she’d be joining him soon. At least Max was safe and asleep in his bed, meaning that he wouldn’t be subjected to the same torture that they’d endured. Hopefully someone would take him in and raise him to be just as strong as his father, so that he could carry on their memory.

“Mommy?” That single word sent a jolt through her spine, Noel’s maternal instincts screaming at her for this cruel twist of fate. Max was here. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He couldn’t see this. He couldn’t die, not at the hands of these monsters. Her husband was beyond saving, he was already dead, but she wouldn’t fail her son too. Some unknown well of strength allowed her to break free of the arms holding her in place, knocking the purple skeleton off of her as she raced to get her baby boy to safety.

Her desperation wasn’t enough to protect herself though, one of those cursed knives flying through the air and embedding itself in her back. The tip poked through her chest, blood bursting from her lips as she stumbled and collapsed to the ground. This armor was supposed to be enough to protect her, yet the blade pierced through both metal and mesh as if it were nothing but paper. It was as if the weapons were infused with the skeleton’s anger, and she could’ve sworn that she saw an eerie red glow surrounding them despite the city’s anti-magic barrier protecting them. Whoever this monster was, he wasn’t normal, not by a long shot. But that didn’t matter anymore, all that mattered was making sure her son was safe. “Max! You need to run! Get away from here!”

“M-Mommy? W-What’s going on? W-Why are there m-monsters here? W-Where’s Daddy?”

“Just stop asking questions and run!” She screamed, fighting against the debilitating pain and her own blurring vision as she slowly dragged herself across the floor.

“Hey look, it’s the brat that wanted the chair!” The voice of the ghost boy rang through the house, and from the look of fear on her son’s face, he was definitely here. “Guess the brat gets to see what happens when he tries to take things that aren’t his, right Cross? ... Cross? Yo, what’s up with that look?”

Silence echoed between the freaks for a moment, Noel hoping that her baby boy would snap out of his fear and listen to what she was telling him to do. Then the skeleton spoke, his steps echoing painfully loud against the floor. “He needs to die.”

“Woah, wait, really?!” The other skeleton immediately questioned, shuffling in a way that the huntress guessed was him stepping in the other’s way. “Okay, the parents I totally understand, they’re trash and the world will be better off without them like you said. But the kid? Just throw him in a foster home and he’ll likely turn out to be a better person! Right?”

“He’s the reason this whole mess started!” The vengeful one snarled, his anger leaving the fallen human wincing as she tried to silently convince her boy to leave. But he was petrified, his fearful gaze locked onto the monsters that were currently debating on whether he should live or die. “That brat wanted Geno’s chair, and when he was told no, he set his parents on him! He cheered his dad on! He’s the reason that we’re here! You hear that, boy?! You’re the reason your parents are dead! And I don’t care if you’re a kid or not, I’ll kill you too!”

The other two both tried to plead to the monochrome skeleton to let Max live, Noel for once actually agreeing with monsters. She just wanted her son to make it through this mess instead of being punished for the mistakes of his parents. They could’ve taken the chair without resorting to violence, without injuring that pathetically weak monster, and then they wouldn’t be in this mess. But no, they made that one mistake and now their son was at risk to pay for it as well.

Yet their efforts seemed to be for nothing as the shorter skeleton simply roared, “Enough! Nightmare, you promised me that I would get my vengeance, and if I want to kill that brat, I’m gonna do so! Neither of you can stop me!” Nightmare? The name clicked almost instantly as she’d been looking at his file not even an hour ago. Even if the lavender-eyed monster looked nothing like the dark octopus she’d been trying to track, there was no doubting that such a unique name didn’t indicate that the two were one in the same. Nightmare was the confirmed name, or at least current alias, of the head daemon that the hunters had been pursuing for so long. He was one of the ones that the two hunters had been tasked with discovering information on, specifically his soulmate, and now she knew why her and Tyler were no match for these two. They’d unknowingly gone up against an S-class daemon and his soulmate who was clearly just as powerful and dangerous as he was. Yet there was no way for her to relay this information back to HQ or even pass it on to someone else, as their intruders had distracted the couple from connecting to HQ in the first place.

She’d instead die with the knowledge that two deceptively powerful beings had been the reason for her family’s end, despite all the care taken to never engage any of the daemons outright. Now all she could do was curse their cruel fate, lamenting that they hadn’t done anything so horrible to deserve something like this. Why did they have to die?! The stupid skeleton in the wheelchair didn’t die, so why were they cursed to do so?! Why was her innocent little angel of a son being dragged into this?! WHY?!!!

A gasp escaped Noel as the knife that had been lodged in her back was ripped out, blood gushing from the large stab wound now that there was nothing to keep the injury closed. Her vision was fading fast, darkness creeping along the edges of her vision. A few more stabs could be felt running through her abdomen and limbs, the pain blurring together until it was all she could feel. A distant scream reached her ears, though after a moment she realized that the sound came from her own child who was so close to her. It was as if the skeleton was making a show of turning her into a pin cushion in order to traumatize her baby. A series of noises in his voice indicating that he was verbally taunting Max as well, yet she was clearly losing consciousness too fast to properly hear or comprehend what he was saying.

Everything started to blend together, the darkness steadily growing to consume her surroundings until all she could see was her son and the skeleton advancing towards him. Blood, her blood, dripped from his knife, and mixture of hers and her husband’s staining his once monochrome outfit. Brandishing both blades, the psychopath lunged forward to strike, yet the mother was unable to see the final fate of her child. Instead, the darkness swallowed her whole, ending her nightmare with the sweet embrace of death. She never wanted to die, but anything was better than seeing someone murder her son. At least she’d be waiting there with his father on the other side for him, where he could truly become the little angel they both knew he was.

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