The Hunt Begins

She has NO idea how people in movies make this look easy. Trying to grab anything out of her pockets right now, what with all the wind and the falling so teeth it is! Bite. BITE. CHEW FU- oh, got it, yay. OW.

She smeared her fingertips into quick and dirty (metaphorically speaking... actually, literally since it was her own teeth) wound to scoop up blood. Fuck, it keeps blowing past. FUCK its drying before she can draw it. Turn, TURN.

Again, skydivers make this look so easy to maneuver in the air. She set her shoulders against the bracing wind, let her legs relax and flutter behind her like tails on a kite, and tried again to draw in the air, above her now. Dip. Brush. Dip. Brush. Scratch, deepen wound, brush. How far away is the ground now?

A flare of bloody violet shocks to life above her, the spell complete, the summoning made. A hand is quick to rip out of the spell circle, snatching her by her t-shirt, then neck. The circle itself pushes itself backward, revealing more of the vibrant red hand that had grabbed her. Flap. Flap. “I do like to stretch before I fly... why do I taste you on this contract, Eliza?”

“Funny story, that.” The witch started to reply before the strength of those arms became all the more intimately known to her, her t-shirt, tearing as the summoned entity, the demon, threw her towards the building. Her aim was, as ever, beautiful as the witch felt herself impact not stone but fragile, sharp glass. With enough force to break through though not so much to hit the wall opposite it.

She must be in a good mood.

“Do tell.” Purred the lithe red-skinned woman, wings parted wide and still as the demonic woman remains in the air.. “I do rather enjoy the last words of my prey.”

The pain was definitely a bit much, but time. TIME. She bought herself just another moment longer. She took a moment to breathe, the pain far too much to brush off, as cool as that would be. “Nng. Right. You’re not alone in hunting me, you know.” She said, gesturing towards the wall that she didn’t hit. “I’ve drawn some attention, almost got shot, boring am I right?” she needed to stall. “So I thought...”

“If you’re going to die anyway, why not let your old friend Amthias do the honors.” The demoness concluded, stepping into the room, the tinkle of cracking glass shards breaking further under her taloned foot. It is rather remarkable how high heels seem to try to help people imitate the stature of this creature, at least when faced with her directly.

“Youuu got it, but like...” Eliza, think! “... wouldn’t you want to take your time? You know, for old time’s sake?” She said with a pleading look and a winning smile, one that is still having a time hiding the pain she felt. She presumed, of course, that attempting to hide the pain would just make her long-term contractor more interested in causing it. Which means not killing her. Yet.

There’s a moment of silence, step after thumping step approaching Eliza, and she had to look up quite a bit to keep looking at the smiling red face peering down at her. It always intimidated her to look at this woman, 7 feet tall as she is, but who wouldn’t want her to step on them. Wait. What? “You have a point.” Her voice at once knocked her out of that train of thought, and slammed her right back into it as the sultry tone echoed in her mind.

A slow gulp. Noisy. A terrified mouse facing down a fearsome cat. Eliza’s eyes close... Could she run? Be chased? Would that make things any easier?

Thud.

She was sure she heard a noise. Door opening or closing too hard. Slamming. A teen having an argument with her parents? The heat of a slender finger brushed over Eliza’s cheek, and intimate caress that bit into her nerves, making them alight in pain. Don’t scream, whimper. Let her enjoy it. A low whine escaped Eliza’s throat, and she could see how this affected her summoned end; parted lips, a sultry smile. A monster in control.

Thud. 

Definitely coming. Please... please hurry you celtic fucks. Eliza closed her eyes, tears trailing down her cheeks only to sizzle away as they came close to the hot, red skin of Amthias’s fingers and thumb. She was holding her face now, squishing her cheeks while burning her skin, painfully hot but nowhere to run.

Thud.

There was a pause. Amthias, still holding Eliza’s face, was mere inches away. She was going to kiss her. Wait... Take your time, you celtic fucks! Let her kiss me first you-. “And there’s my competition.” Amthias announced casually with a bit of a sigh, finally releasing Eliza’s cheeks. The grip the demon woman had on her face now made the red burns on her skin look like a wicked, permanent clown smile.

“That’s going to sting for a while.“ Eliza murmured, resting her hand on her hot cheek. She did note that not all the heat was from the burning.

“The rest of your life.” Amthias said with a smile. “One moment please.” Amnthias so politely said, drawing her wings in and around herself, claws catching together in front of her upper chest, making the drape of leather look like a gorgeous burgundy cloak. A little step, a hand resting on the TV stand, and a smooth smile touched at Amthias’s lips.

The wood that her hand was resting on, for reference, was now on fire. She was holding back some of that for her little prey, and Eliza did not question that good fortune.

THUDCRACK

With the splitting of wood into a spray that crashed uselessly against Amthias’s skin, the red woman stood in the doorway facing their new visitor. A large man who did not expect to be looking forward and seeing tits. Tits wrapped in wings (and I think a tight black thing? Eliza was a bit distracted). The moment’s pause was broken, however, as the thug’s gaze found Eliza.

Quick as a trained gunman, the pistol was raised to aim towards Eliza. Before a command can be uttered or a shot can be fired, a piercing squelch sounded as metal, bone, and flesh briefly become one against the piercing point of Amthia’s tail. The pointed tip had curled around and pierced sideways, replacing this man’s finger in the trigger guard, albeit briefly, before its size and strength ended up shredding the metal and plastic of the gun, and damaging the hand that held it.

Loyalty or adrenaline or something hit the man, because he was on a mission for blood despite that. Maybe overconfidence because of his target? Who knows. Something drew him to strike, throwing a fist towards Amthias who decided she was not yet done playing with her food. “Oh~♪” She chimed in a musical tone, stepping forward with a twist to let her upraised forearms parry aside the wild fist, only to reach down and take his wrist.

“My oh my, little Eliza, I seem to be trapped against this brute.” Amthias said in a playful tone. The spinning little twirl had continued, letting her other hand reach to grab the wounded one, wrists now firmly in her grasp as she hoisted this most unfortunate man upward, arms splayed wide. The sound of searing could be heard, and the smell of pork. Ugh...

He was screaming now, legs kicking until Amthias’s tail finally wrapped around the flailing limbs. “Tell you what.” Amthias said with a coy tone, looking over her shoulder towards Eliza. She was holding the man crucified, and despite his verbal wailings, it was easy enough to hear her over him. “This is my gift to you, a chance. Pierce me through this meat, and kill me? And we shall declare this little contract broken.”

“For old time’s sake?” Eliza asked, her good hand now brushing her fingertip in the air. As if painting upon an invisible pane of glass, Eliza prepared her spell. 

There was a brief pause. Amthias just shrugged, eliciting a fresh new scream from her decorative, crucified hanger-on. “We’ll go with that.” She finally responded.

Whatever reason that it may have been, Eliza completed her spell and cast it towards the center of the man’s neck. An easy spot, a guaranteed kill on him, and the least amount of space between the power she wielded and the body she wanted to target. The cast, a swirl of cold mist briefly above Eliza’s hand as a halberd of sparkling white snapped into existence, spinning, hurling itself towards her target! The blade hissed through the air, striking true through the nameless thug’s throat, further in, the size of the blade completely cutting the neck in half and striking true to the target beyond.

A hissing sound came, not just from the melting ice, but of the woman whom it struck. Her hands opened, releasing the half-charred corpse to the ground as she stood tall. The spear of the halberd and part of the axehead pierced through red skin, the viscous dark blood of a demon sizzling over red skin as it leaked free.

It took a few seconds for her heat to finish melting the ice halberd, and leave the now pointless weapon to clatter, and break, against the floor and the body below. The head rolled uselessly under the bed. 

A brief silence. The crackling of skin, the fire on the TV stand, the beating of her heart. She wasn’t strong enough. Oh no did she just-

“That hurt.” Amthias said, tilting her head slowly to stretch her neck.

“I’m sorry.” Eliza said, squeakily.

“You will be.” Amthias teased, rolling her shoulders. “I am going to take my time with you, Eliza. Your suffering, your torment, will last an eternity before I let you die.” This was met with another loud gulp from the human. “And it starts with a hunt.”

“A hunt?” Eliza asked, nervousness very plain in her voice now.

“A hunt.” Amthias stepped forward, and in that instant she was upon the smaller woman, pressing her to the stand once more, looming, glaring, hot. And not in the temperature way, in the oh yes please kind of way. Wait, why wasn’t she burning? Feeling her body press so close, surely she should be. “I’m going to enjoy you. And I want you afraid when I do...” Before stepping backward.

Amthias kicked aside the bed that sat in the center of the room, and once more stepped upon the open window sill. “I’m going to have some fun, give you a head start, and let you deal with this problem you’re in the middle of first. Die to them, and I get to roam free, and slaughter as many of you humans as I wish.” A sneer touched her lips. “But survive? Then you’re mine. I complete the contract, and return to the Void.”

With the terms of the game set, Amthias leapt from the window. The heavy beat of her wings could be felt even in this room... 

Eliza watched after her a moment, letting her heart finally, finally begin to slow down. Her entire being quaked, shuddering from all of it. The fear, the panic, the acting, the eroticism, the looming doom. She sank to her knees and just sat for a moment, letting what Amthias’s words finally sink in as she realized what she has just done.

“Oh...” She finally whispered. “Didn’t... think that far ahead.” She said to the only face in the room, the startled look frozen in time by the ice-touched head under the bed.