The floors and walls quaked, as a rumbling reverberated throughout the mansion.

  Isaac and I immediately leaped backwards and outside of the summoning circle, as we watched on with tense curiosity.

  Slowly, the floor split, a grand fissure opening up a crack through the middle and sinking inwards from both sides. Bodies swished down and rolled toward the opening.

  “No!” Some of the remaining half alive socialites beckoned, clawing at the floor, while they looked towards us. “Help!” They begged. “Please!”

  Instinctively, my hand reached out, but slightly recoiled knowing what they’d been doing, and that we were well out of reach as is.

  “I should be a god!” One man screamed, as he tipped out and into the heavenly light that emanated from an assuredly fiery hell below.

  Suddenly, the piles angled over and slid down into the now gaping hole, where only the most depraved of eternities awaited them. For some, that would be a future undeserved. We must save their souls somehow, I thought to myself.

  With the floor emptying, only a moment passed before gnarled horns emerged, floating up from the depths, and a beautifully malevolent demon arose. Lucretia.

  “You’ve done well, boy,” she spoke to Perrault without even facing him, as her curious eyes noted Isaac and myself. “Soon enough,” her clawed fingers held up, a green malaise forming around them, which instantaneously flowed around Perrault, “you may join us in your ascendancy.”

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  “Soon enough,” Perrault hissed. “I’ve given you far too much already. It is time you pay that back in kind,” he gritted his teeth in a rage. “Even demons pay chance to suffering.”

  Lucretia held her gaze on us. “My—my,” she smiled. “A Brimstone.”

  Isaac tensed up, ready to transform.

  “This is what your ancestor begged for. How rewarding to see the fruits of his betrayal.”

  “Betrayal?” Isaac said aloud, offended.

  “Betrayal,” Lucretia reiterated. “To his brethren. Oh, mankind...so fickle.” Her eyes turned to me. “And you...” her eyes narrowed, “you are something else entirely. What is that I sense in you? Angels...demons...no. Not but one soul lingers in this one.” Her eyes widened. “Hundreds...thousands. The power of an army. How? I ask you child.”

  I shook my head confused. “I—I, don’t know what you mean—“

  CLANG.

  Perrault was suddenly down upon us, his arm turned into a massive blackened scythe, which was cutting into the wrist of Lucretia, who blocked the slice, holding her hand up idly by her head.

  “Betrayal...you speak of betrayal!?” Perrault growled.

  Lucretia smiled. “You children share a commonality.”

  “Come,” Isaac tugged my arm, “we must go, now!”

  I gulped, and understood what he meant, as we ran and pushed through a door at the back of the ballroom, unbeknownst to even the two engaged in battle. I turned to watch the final moments between them, through a dusty pane of glass.

  Perrault pressed more weight in on his blade before shifting his free hand to a giant spike that almost severed the chandelier atop the ceiling, rattling past its glass chimes.

  Lucretia thrust him back with her wrist, as he slid across the floor, awaiting his next charge.

  She inspected the deep gash placed upon her. “Deeper this time,” she said. “Perhaps you can take my head, next time. If a city falls, a lord arises.”

  Perrault held quiet for a moment, watching her intently.

  “And you will give me her.” Lucretia demanded.

  Instantly, the room flashed and she disappeared, along with the fissure.

  Isaac pulled again and we turned tail, sprinting from the house, while he shifted, as we put both our powers to use.

  Perrault stood still in the ballroom, over the blood caked floor, tension welling up within his throat. An earth crushing scream sounded throughout, shattering all windows in the mansion.

  We heard it from miles away. It sent a shiver down my spine. Dark times...loomed on the horizon.