“What in the blazes?” Peter shouted

Henry joined his two companions in staring back at the building they’d just emerged from, and it wasn’t long before another loud clang sounded out.

“It’s coming from inside,” Catherine said in a near whisper.

“Let’s go,” Henry said decisively.

Henry led the way back towards the heavily damaged entrance, and Peter and Catherine fell into step behind him without delay. They were greeted by another similar noise almost as soon as they entered the lobby, which quite clearly revealed the source as coming from somewhere on the ground floor. Henry wasted little time in bringing his companions to the door that led down into the darkness below.

About to step through the door, Henry was stopped by Peter grabbing his arm. With his other hand, Peter pulled out his book, and Henry was quite surprised to see the light it was emitting.

Damn, it acts a light source too? Can it pump out food and drink as well? I really need to get a hold of my own book…

Glowing book in hand, Peter lead the way down into the basement. The light coming from the book wasn’t particularly bright, barely enough to guide their feet and reveal obstacles directly in front of them, but it was far better than nothing.

The clanging noise had continued unabating at seemingly regular intervals, and it wasn’t long before they found the source. The basement room the stairs lead down to had several other rooms leading off from it, and it was inside one of those rooms that they found it. Peter was just about to lead them into the room, when he jumped back, pushing Henry and Catherine back as he did so, before moving back further to prevent the light from leaking into the room.

A safe distance away from the apparent source of the noise, Peter used the book to illuminate his hands as he ran through a series of signals whose meaning wasn’t hard to discern.

Oh, shit… Three demons. Two small ones, probably imps, and one larger one… I’m really in no state to fight something more dangerous than an imp.

Henry got Peter’s attention and hiked his thumb in the direction of the stairs. He wanted out of there. But, Peter emphatically shook his head in response. He then held up a single finger, and mouthed something at him. Catherine seemed to understand immediately, at least if her nodding was to be believed, while Henry took a few more tries to read the man’s lips.

A human. There’s a human in there as well. Fuck!

Henry managed to convey that they should move upstairs and talk. Careful not to make any noise and alert the demons, they emerged back upstairs shortly.

“We have to hurry, they’re in danger!” Catherine whispered.

“We can’t just rush in, it’s too dangerous,” Henry replied.

“Let’s come up with a plan quickly then dearies. Clearly, we should lure them up here, it seems the demons don’t have trouble seeing in the dark, unlike us mere humans.”

“You got a good look at them?” Henry asked him.

“Indeed, two imps and a larger demon standing in front of a thick metal door, which the person is trapped behind. They had a small fire burning at their feet, whose purpose I cannot fathom,” Peter took on a pensive look.

“The tall one, what did it look like? Have you encountered one before?” Henry pressed him.

“We’ve only seen those little ugly imp monsters so far,” supplied Catherine.

“Quite fearsome it was. About half again as tall as the imps, and carrying a large club that is no doubt responsible for that intermittent noise,” Peter continued.

“We have to hurry!” Catherine looked extremely agitated.

“Okay, how about you and I stand out of sight on each side of the door, while Catherine waits opposite behind a desk?” Henry posited at Peter.

“I can fight too!” Catherine huffed at him.

“Indeed, quite right! Let’s have Catherine and I swap places, but there’ll be no hiding behind desks for me.”

Henry was amazed by their confidence.

Is it warranted? They have survived this long… Three days, where I’ve only had to endure half of one. I’ll have to trust them.

“Sure, let’s do that then. Now, how are we going to attract their attention?” Henry asked.

“I’ll go. I’m a fast runner!” Catherine offered.

Henry didn’t doubt it. He was fully aware of her skinny as a rake status.

“Alright, you get their attention, then run back up here.”

“Okay, here goes!”

Henry unslung his axe and took his position. Catherine had already propped her metal bat against the wall on her side of the door. Looking over at Peter, Henry saw he had unsheathed a large knife from somewhere. Peter nodded at him. He nodded back.

“Oh no! Monsters!!” the shrill cry of Catherine reached him up through the open door.

Doesn’t sound very convincing. I guess the demons won’t care though.

Henry prepared to attack, hoisting his axe up high, but with only one hand to hold it steady, he was soon forced to brace the head against the wall. He didn’t have long to wait the sound of thumping footsteps reached his ears.

“Coming!” Catherine cried.

She burst through the door a moment later, immediately changing direction and leaping to the side. Henry lifted his axe off the wall, focusing on the footsteps of the approaching demons as they rushed up the stairs. There was definitely more than one coming, but he couldn’t tell if it was all of them.

I have to get the timing just right, if I miss we could be in trouble.

He was getting ready to attack just as Peter shouted.

“Now!”

Henry hesitated only a fraction of a second before plunging down with his axe with all the strength he could muster. Peter had timed it perfectly, causing Henry’s axe to catch the first imp directly in the back as it tried to leap straight at the ageing professor. The second imp wasn’t far behind, emerging almost immediately, but crashing into its ally, whose momentum had been almost completely halted by the axe swing. Catherine wasted little time in pouncing on the second imp, before wailing away with sweeps of her bat, and Peter was quick to step forwards and assist. Henry, meanwhile, stole a quick glance into the darkness.

Where’s the other one?

Henry turned his gaze back to the continuing struggle just in time to see the second imp extract itself from Catherine’s attempted battery. The imp dodged back from her incoming attacks, and then turned and made to leap past Peter, in an attempt to escape the ambush. However, as its leap brought it alongside the aged man, it appeared to Henry’s eyes that Peter’s entire body blurred for a fraction of a second, and before Henry knew what was happening, he saw the leaping imp had been impaled to an adjacent desk by Peter’s knife. Unlike Henry, Catherine seemed unphased by the strange proceedings, and after diving after the imp, she reintroduced her bat to the small demon’s immobile body, where she made short work of it.

“Phew! We did it!” Catherine cheered.

“Nicely done dearies! Those beasties never stood a chance,” Peter added.

“Let’s not forget about the other one, that’s probably more dangerous,” Henry said.

“Indeed, a stroke of luck it didn’t join the fray with its chums here.”

“We have to hurry!” Catherine quickly amended, her previous cheer forgotten.

“Absolutely, let’s stick with the same plan shall we.”

Henry agreed and got back into position.

“Okay, here I go!” Catherine said, before heading back into the darkness.

Henry looked over at Peter and shared another nod.

“Hey you big meanie, come get me!” the jeering shout of Catherine echoed up the stairs.

Henry couldn’t prevent a smile from spreading across his lips upon hearing the absurd cry, despite his nervousness, but it wasn’t long before he heard her running back up the stairs.

“Its coming!” she called out.

Just like last time, she emerged from the door and quickly dived to the side. The footsteps of the larger demon were audible even before it reached the stairs, causing Henry to ready his axe against the wall again.

Here goes nothing.

The footsteps got steadily louder, and Henry looked at Peter, awaiting his cue. He didn’t have to wait long.

“Now!” Peter shouted.

Henry put all of his strength into swing, planning to make short work of the larger demon. But, this time his axe swing hit nothing but air, before eventually crashing into the floor. The creature had not emerged.

“Oh my!” Peter exclaimed.

The demon then burst forth from the door. Catherine had been waiting her turn to strike, and did so then. Aiming a swing at the creature’s closest knee, her hit connected, eliciting a short shout from her charging quarry. It staggered slightly, but didn’t fall.

Before Catherine could attack again, the creature spun around, and lashed out with a kick in her direction. With a thud, she was sent sprawling into a nearby desk, dragging debris and other rubbish with her.

“Catherine!” Peter cried out. He took a step towards her, but the demon had already switched targets and swung his club straight at him.

In the meantime, Henry had been struggling to pull his axe from the floor. With only one good hand to pull with, it was proving troublesome. He had seen Catherine get knocked flying, and was watching the club descend towards Peter with an immense feeling of helplessness.

However, just as the club was about to hit the professor, the man’s body blurred again, somehow causing the club to miss him by a hair’s breadth. Unlike Henry, the club-wielding demon didn’t seem shocked by the unusual event, and it simply carried on attacking, unrelentingly.

Henry stood transfixed as Peter continued to dodge the demon’s blows at the last instant, just barely avoiding each attack as the club continued to threaten his person. After several such narrow misses, Peter began fighting back, lashing out wildly with his knife. Unfortunately, though Peter scored numerous retaliatory this, the demon didn’t seem phased by the shallow cuts the knife was producing.

“A… little… help… lad!” Peter called out in-between dodging and attacking the club-wielding fiend.

With another heave, Henry wrenched the axe out of the floor. He quickly moved into position behind the attacking demon, and threw out a horizontal swing at its back. But, to his great disappointment, he discovered his attack was completely ineffective, barely even scratching the demon’s skin.

The demon still tried to turn his attention to the new attacker, but this gave Peter the opportunity to press his attack, quickly forcing it focus on him again.

“Keep trying!” Peter cried out. Henry could clearly hear the exhaustion in his voice.

Sparing a brief glance at Catherine, he saw she was slowly recovering from the powerful blow the demon head dealt her. Targeting the demon once more, he pulled back his axe and tried a vertical swing, aiming for the side of the demon’s neck. But, his aim was slightly off, instead hitting closer to its shoulder, where the axe sunk into the skin only a fraction, before recoiling away as it hit the bone beneath.

Shit! We have to stop this thing and fast.

The demon reacted to his second axe attack immediately, spinning around, and aiming an upwards club swing right at his midsection. Henry managed to partially dodge out of the way, twisting his body sideways to protect his injured arm. The club clipped his shoulder, sending him skidding into the wall next to the basement door.

“Yeaaargh!” Henry yelled, as the weak pain from his shoulder mixed with the much greater pain caused by his broken arm colliding with the wall.

Though Henry had been knocked out of the fight, Catherine had resumed her assault. With her weapon reclaimed, the lithe young woman carefully delivered hefty blows to the demon’s back, while dodging away after each swing. Even in his injured state, Henry couldn’t help but admire her efforts, though it was fairly clear she wasn’t harming the demon to any noticeable degree.

“Henry! The axe!” Catherine shouted.

Fighting through the foggy haze of pain he was suffering, Henry took a moment to locate his misplaced weapon. Just as he’d been knocked away, so had it, and he discovered under a nearby desk. As quickly as he could, Henry retrieved the axe, before throwing it over to Catherine.

Peter and the demon were still going head to head. He could see the sweat pouring from Peter’s face, and the copious amounts that had already stained his clothes. Catherine took another swing with her bat at the demon’s back, then dodged out of its reach to replace her weapon with the axe Henry had thrown.

Axe firmly in hand, Catherine leapt up onto a desk next to the ongoing battle between Peter and the demon, and raised the axe high up in the air in preparation for a strike. However, the demon seemed to notice the danger, and tried to turn and attack her pre-emptively. Fortunately, Peter grabbed its attention once more, by unleashing a flurry of stabs aimed right at its face.

Free to continue her intended attack, Catherine chopped down with the axe. Her swing hit home, landing right on the nape of the demonic creature, but Henry caught only a brief glimpse of the blade sinking deep, before it was obscured by the violent spurts of blood that emerged from within.

Amazingly, an attack that would have likely killed any human instantly, only seemed to temporarily stun the creature. However, before it could recover, Henry saw Peter blur once again, and in an instant the man’s knife was forced up into the demon’s skull, entering from the underside of its jaw until only the hilt was visible. Henry felt a rush of elation as he watched the vicious combination land, but it was until the demon went slack and collapsed, that he dared celebrate.

“Yes!” Henry called out.

That was way too close. I need to heal up and get stronger if I want any chance at staying alive.

“Professor!” Catherine’s cry snapped him back to reality.

Looking past the dead demon, Henry saw Peter had slumped on the floor beside it. Pulling himself to his feet, he lumbered over to assist the older man.