The door tapped against the wall, a piercing gaze meeting his own. The towering creature knelt to fit through the doorway, prowling into the room like a jungle cat about to pounce.

She seemed to completely ignore Shel; her sight was transfixed on Sam without so much as a glance in her direction. Sam wheeled the chair backwards until the wall blocked his escape. All he could do was shrink against the wall as Syth approached him.

Even crouched on all fours she was nearly equal to his current height sitting in the desk chair. The Sergal snarled softly, flashing rows of long, curved fangs inches from Sam's face, her tongue swiping lightly over his neck.

She leaned in closer, the tip of her snout brushing along his face. Her sounds gradually quieted to a soft murmur, sounding closer to inquisitive while naturally maintaining a threatening edge. Shel desperately searched the room, catching sight of a bat propped up against the post of her bed.

She quickly got a hold of it, bringing it down on the Sergal with as much force as she could muster. Syth yelped in surprise as the blunt weapon slammed into the back of her neck, lashing out instinctively in response.

Shel was backhanded across the room, bouncing painfully off her dresser and rolling to the floor. The attack gave Sam enough breathing room to stand up, quickly he thrust the chair upward into the creature's chin before she could return her focus to him.

He then raised the chair over his head and brought it down on her head, the backrest snapping off from the impact, and took the opportunity to get around the beast.

Barely affected by the hit, Syth whipped her tail upwards, catching Sam in the chest as he made a break for the door, and sending him sprawling to the floor beside Shel, who had gotten back to her feet. Shel took Sam by the arm, pulling him with her as he scrambled out of the room and yanked the door shut in front of them.

"Shel!!" Maddie called from outside, testing each window until she found one unlocked and opening it to enter the house.

"Maddie!!" Shel responded as her sister entered the foyer below, "It's in the house!!" The Sergal in question bellowed and lashed her claws through the door, ripping it from its hinges like tearing a page from a book.

Sam lead the charge down the stairs, Syth darting forward and leaping over the banister, landing at the base of the staircase. Sam and Shel skidded to a stop as the Sergal was now suddenly in front of them again.

They backpedaled up the stairs, Syth lashing out and catching Sam's hood with her talons. As he was jerked to a stop, she reached up with her free hand and wrapped her claws around his throat.

She held him off the floor, snarling in anger. Shel swung at her with the bat she still held, landing a hard hit to her side, Syth instantly retaliating with a sharp snap of her jaws to scare the teen away.

In response, Shel tossed the bat over the railing to Maddie, who caught it and immediately made a heavy sideways swing at the Sergal's leg, sweeping it from under her and causing her to slide down the stairs as Sam was dropped from her grip.

Syth growled and flipped around with a quick swipe at the new challenger. Maddie ducked backwards to avoid the swing, giving the Sergal the split second she needed to close the distance between them.

Maddie fell backwards, swinging twice with the bat before it was caught and wrenched from her grasp. With a simple squeeze the weapon crackled in the beast's hand and splintered as it was tossed aside in pieces.

The front door of the house jolted slightly, held in place by the chair that had been wedged under the handle as a barricade. She then took hold of Maddie's ankle, yanking her back towards her and pulling back to strike.

Maddie thrust her heel into the creature's snout forcefully, refusing to back down, which only spurred the beast to move in for the kill. She crawled over Maddie, holding the struggling woman in place with one hand and lowering her head so they were face to face.

Syth then let out a deafening, prolonged bellow as her fangs inched dangerously close to Maddie's face. Maddie pushed against the massive creature in a feeble last-ditch attempt to save herself.

She was pinned beneath the creature's grasp, completely incapacitated from the waist down. Fear began to take over, her hands trembling as they put all their strength in the hopes of forcing the beast away from her.

Syth growled softly, staring down at her newest target in triumph. She reached up with her free arm, lightly running her claws down the side of Maddie's face. Though even the Sergal's best definition of 'lightly' still drew blood.

She carved long streaks of fresh blood as Maddie groaned in pain, turning away from the beast as much as her restricted state could allow. It was all she could do. Syth slowly raised her arm above her head to strike, savoring the moment.

"Abby, it's ok..." Maddie whispered softly. The Sergal stopped cold, her victorious growl trailing off.

"You didn't do this Abby," Maddie continued, bracing for the attack, "This wasn't your fault." Her eyes were shut, awaiting the inescapable fate of claws ripping into her flesh. To her surprise, no such act transpired, instead the room fell oddly quiet.

She slowly opened her eyes, finding that the Sergal stood completely still, arm still raised in a ready position, but slowly starting to lower. The creature's eyes studied her, unwavering even as the beast slowly tilted her head slightly.

Eyes that had always held malicious intent and primal desire now seemed to house something very different. Sorrow. True, deep sorrow. For a moment, she thought she saw her friend within the creature's eyes, a faint glimmer of the gentle humanity that was overcome by animalistic blood lust.

Without warning, Sam ran up on the beast and stabbed the splintered bat handle into her shoulder. The glimmer was lost as she erupted in a furious snarl and lashed out at him.

The instinctive reaction caused the Sergal to unknowingly release her grasp on Maddie, who wasted no time scrambling towards the door and yanking the chair from under the handle.

The door swung open, Adam stumbling into the room. Syth snapped her attention to the sound of the door being forced open, hissing and standing upright. Colby stepped in right behind Adam, revolver at the ready.

As Adam ducked to the side to tend to Maddie, Colby fired three quick shots at the beast. Syth was undeterred, kneeling down to lunge at him. But Colby was faster, bringing up his second hand to keep his aim steady and firing a fourth shot that tore into her bright red eye.

An inhuman scream of pain exploded through the house as the Sergal recoiled backwards and fumbled to the floor at the base of the stairs. Shel and Sam climbed over the railing to join their siblings.

Adam filed everyone out the front door, Colby ushering his friends forward as he remained at the ready as he backed towards the truck. Syth growled aggressively, slowly getting to her feet as her injured eye twitched, squishing and writhing around to reform itself.

The mangled bullet was pushed out of her socket, clattering to the ground. Now recovered, Syth lunged through the doorway and pursued them, one swipe catching Colby with enough force he landed on the driveway shoulder first. The Sergal immediately pulled him back and took hold of his throat.

"Go!! Just go!!" he called to his friends with seconds to react, tossing his gun. The side arm slid to a stop before being picked up by Adam, who worked to correct the bullets that had been jarred loose of their slots.

Syth lifted Colby to eye level with her, seemingly reminding him of what he had just done to her. She then reached up with her free hand, thrusting two of her claws into Colby's eye. Maddie forced herself to look away, knowing it was beyond prevention, and pulled Adam into the truck.

She knew it was too late to save their friend, he had given his life to ensure they had time to escape. If they remained any longer, that sacrifice would be rendered pointless. Adam reluctantly fumbled with the keys as Syth jerked her arm towards them, a sharp crack spraying blood over the windshield.

The engine turned over, Adam yanking his door closed as the vehicle pulled backwards onto the street and peeled off. Syth watched the truck speed away, dropping Colby to the ground as his light twitching slowly stopped.