Page 16 of Devil's Night

A door at the far end stood slightly ajar, a thin slice of illumination spilling through the gap. My pulse quickened as we neared it. This had to be the way to the attic, right?

Sargon reached out with one long-fingered gray hand and slowly pushed the door open. I peered around his muscular frame into a child’s bedroom.

Faded wallpaper depicted friendly cartoon animals amid sprawling trees. A twin bed stood in one corner, the covers thrown back haphazardly. Battered wooden toys were scattered across the threadbare rug.

Something twisted in my gut. Another child’s room. This place reeked of profound sorrow, of innocence lost.

Sargon turned to me. “Let’s keep looking for a path to the attic.”

Swallowing hard, I nodded jerkily. Don’t think about the lonely teddy bear missing an eye. The thick layer of dust over everything. The smears on the wall

We split up, Sargon checking the closet while I scanned the bookshelves and toy chest. Other than a few storybooks, I found nothing useful.

Disappointment washed over me in a cold wave. We were so close! I slammed my palm against the shelf in frustration, rattling the toys.

Then the scrabbling noise came again - unmistakable this time. It emanated from the very walls around us.

Rats? Or something more?

My heart came to my throat as something moved in the shadows beneath the bed. Another form slithered into view, joints cracking like twigs underfoot. Hollow sockets burned with twin points of reddish light.

“Sargon!” I cried out in a strangled voice.

The Vinduthi whirled, his powerful body coiling with lethal grace. Twin blades materialized in his hands as if from nowhere.

The aberration lunged with startling speed, claws outstretched. Sargon met its charge head-on, shearing through desiccated bone and rotted sinew. But where one fell, more emerged from the gloom, their desiccated jaws gaping hungrily.

I flattened myself against the bookshelf, trembling, as Sargon waded into the seething mass of horrors. His lithe form was a blur of motion, his knives flashing in the half-light. Bone fragments clattered to the floor in gruesome heaps.

Yet for every nightmare he destroyed, three more appeared to take its place. They swarmed over the bed, the toy chest, closing in from all sides. Sargon lashed out with fists and feet, but they just kept coming in a remorseless tide.

One lunged straight at me, bony claws swiping for my face. I threw up my arms just in time, screaming. Rancid ichorsplattered my shirt as the blades sheared through the thing’s torso.

Sargon fought with the cold, grim demeanor of one accustomed to death. But I could see the strain etching his features as he battled the onslaught. For the first time since we’d met, I glimpsed the shadow of fear in his eyes.

And in that moment, the horror of our situation crashed over me like a rogue wave. Trapped in this decaying hell-maze, with no way out. No way home. Panic bloomed in my chest, an icy knot of dread that left me breathless.

Another skeleton bore down on me. I tried to dodge, but my feet wouldn’t cooperate. It loomed over me, claws raised to strike

Then a gray blur appeared, protecting me. Sargon snarled, a bestial sound that reverberated in my bones, as he tore the creature apart with his bare hands. His broad back shielded me from the gnashing horror, his powerful muscles flexing beneath smooth gray skin.

In that instant, the fight went out of me. My knees buckled and I sank to the floor, my face buried in my hands as I shook with ragged sobs.

I was going to die here, lost and unmourned in the nightmare of some madman’s fevered delusions. All my hopes, my curiosity, my drive to understand the unknown… it would all end here, unrecorded, in this crumbling tomb.

Through my gasps for air, I became aware of movement nearby. Not the skittering horror of desiccated bones, but something more substantial.

Strong arms enfolded me, drawing me against a warm, solid torso. The scent of sweat and leather and something spicy enveloped me as Sargon gathered me to his chest.

He cradled me there, one big hand splayed protectively across my back while the other stroked my hair with an awkwardtenderness. His touch anchored me, a tether to sanity amid the spiraling chaos.

The world around me faded to a dull murmur as I focused on the steady thrum of Sargon’s heartbeat, the reassuring rumble as he murmured wordless sounds of comfort.

Gradually, the shuddering sobs eased and my ragged breathing slowed. As the panic receded, a profound sense of safety and solace seeped through me from the solidity of his embrace.

For the first time since walking through the door to this house… no.

For the first time in my life, I felt cherished. Protected. Like I mattered to someone.

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