Dark Light

A few dozen paces ahead, the woman turned into the doorway of an indoor car park.

Good, Cam thought. Less witnesses to worry about.

The two men went through the door a few seconds later.

Cam reached the car park entrance and followed them in, being careful to keep his distance and appear casual.

The sounds of the street became muted as the door closed behind him. A corridor stretched out for several feet ahead, with two doors facing each other at the end. The left side door was slowly closing, telling Cam which way they had gone. He made his way through the door to a metal staircase, the sounds of stomping footsteps echoing in the confined space. As Cam descended the stairs, he wondered why two demons would be following this woman. They normally didn’t kill without good reason, and preferred not to show their true selves unless necessary.

At the basement level, Cam inched open the metal door and looked out, mentally preparing himself for the confrontation. He saw the two men walking between the parked cars, and the woman further ahead, her heels echoing in the quiet area. She still appeared to be oblivious of her pursuers.

White pillars, their lower sections painted green, spread out in rows along the car park. An overhanging light flickered in the distance, buzzing lazily, but for the most part the area was dimly lit and quiet. Making his way through the cars, Cam knew he had to make his move soon, if he was going to get to the rendezvous in time.

The two men in tracksuits and hoodies must have had similar thoughts as they also increased their pace, no longer appearing to care for covertness.

The blonde woman had reached her car—a red Nissan. Her long hair covered most of her face as she rummaged through her bag. Cam saw the moment she looked up and noticed the two men approaching. Her eyes widened with fear.

One of the men broke into a run towards the woman. Cam sprinted forward, hopping onto a car and launching himself in the air. He twisted as he sailed over the men and landed between them and the woman. Both men stopped, looking him over. They had similar gaunt features and pockmarked skin, the look of homeless men or heavy drug users. One was tall and bald, and the other had unkempt, wispy red hair above a wide widow’s peak.

“Abomination,” the bald one said, his voice grating and somewhat high-pitched.

Cam stood to his full height. Behind him, the woman rasped and whimpered with fear, but he had to keep his focus on the demons.

“The woman will be ours,” the red-haired one drawled.

So they want her specifically, Cam thought. Interesting.

Both men began to convulse. The woman screamed as their jerking frames twisted and expanded. Black scales pushed away their human skin and covered their bodies. They reached a few inches taller than Cam, their overly large chests and shoulders contrasting with their thin waists and long legs. They now wore grotesque versions of their previous faces—broad foreheads, glowing red eyes, and pointed chins—and their powerful forms bulged under the clothing that was once baggy and loose.

Cam readied himself and called upon his light sword. With a flash, a beam of light extended from his fist, brightening the area.

The bald demon growled and threw a punch. Cam dodged the blow and swung his sword out to the red-haired demon which attacked on his other side. Ducking under the sword, the demon lunged forward, claws extended. Cam stepped and turned, leaving the demon to run through empty air and sprawl onto a nearby car, crushing its bonnet.

Cam swung his light sword in wide arcs, keeping the bald demon at bay. Feigning a broad swing, he ducked and shifted his position, coming up and bringing his sword across the demon’s chest. The demon roared and faltered backwards, its clothing burned and singed in a long line, but the black skin underneath remained relatively unharmed. Thick smoke trailed from the collision, releasing a pungent, burnt-hair odour.

The red-haired demon came upon Cam’s side. He squatted under its reaching claws, bringing his sword around and struck out, but the demon pushed his arm away and the sword swung through empty air.

A scream came from behind. Cam spun to see the bald demon bounding towards the woman, going onto all fours and climbing over the cars. He turned to intercept it, but the red-haired demon grabbed his arm. Cam twisted his body, swinging his arm down and up in a wide circle, turning both him and the demon around. The motion released the demon’s hold of his arm, but Cam continued turning and swung his leg out, connecting with the demon’s head and sending it spiralling into two cars.

Car alarms blared as Cam darted towards the bald demon. The woman was backed against a car, a protective arm over her head. As the demon lunged at her, Cam vaulted into the air. He rechannelled the direction of the light sword, pointing it downwards as he came upon the demon in the air and plunged the light into its back.

They tumbled and landed on a parked van, crushing its frame and nearly flattening it. Cam lay in a daze, his light-sword extinguished, before the urgency of the moment returned to him. He scrambled to his feet, finding his bearing’s, and saw the red-haired demon stepping towards the woman. She had fallen onto the central aisle between the cars and now pushed herself backwards on her hands and knees.

Cam reignited his light sword and leapt forward, planting himself between the woman and the remaining demon.

The red-haired demon snarled, bearing its pointed teeth.

“This is not over, Son of Light,” it said in a distorted, growling voice.

Cam readied himself for another attack, but the large demon stepped back. It held its red eyes on the woman for several steps, panting heavily, before turning and sprinting away.

Several car alarms continued to blaze, mimicking Cam’s pounding heart.

He knew the woman was still on the ground behind him, but it occurred to him that he had not yet seen her properly. His heart continued to race, but for a different reason now, as he turned and prepared to face her.

Sparkling green eyes, widened in shock, took his breath away. Her full lips were parted, her chest heaving with breathy pants. Long hair cascaded wildly over her, giving her a dishevelled look that Cam found utterly enthralling. Her pencil skirt had been drawn up, revealing her tanned, shapely legs.

Cam stepped closer and held his hand out to her. The woman’s sultry eyes narrowed with apprehension, before she took his hand and rose onto her feet.

“I… they were…” She composed herself, taking deep breaths. “Thank you.”

Cam swallowed. “No problem,” he said, having to raise his voice over the ringing alarms.

The woman continued to watch him, her eyes a few inches lower than his. Cam once again marvelled at her height, not often coming across a woman he didn’t tower over. She looked around and saw the downed demon on the crumpled van.

“Who—what the fuck is that?” she asked, her voice becoming shrill as she covered her mouth with both hands.

Somewhere in the car park, a door opened and footsteps could be heard.

“No time,” Cam told her. “Come on, we have to go. Now.”

He took her elbow and turned her towards her car, which was luckily still intact further down the row.

Retrieving her bag near her car, the woman quickly rummaged through it and brought out her keys, fumbling for the correct one. Cam rounded the car as it unlocked and entered through the passenger door. The woman started the engine and reversed out, almost colliding with the cars opposite. Cam looked behind and saw blue uniformed security guards running between the cars. Tires screeched as the woman stomped on the accelerator. The car shot forward several yards, before she turned onto an inclining ramp, banging the side of the car on the wall as she righted the vehicle.

They came to the black and yellow striped barriers by the ticket machines. The car jolted when the woman hit the brakes and stopped in front of the barriers.

“What are you doing?” Cam asked, his voice raised with incomprehension. “We need to get out of here.”

The woman huffed and stammered as she frantically searched through her bag. “I don’t know! I—ah… I’m not crashing through the barriers!”

She flung her bag onto the backseat and began patting herself down. Cam looked over his shoulder and saw another security guard rushing towards them, shouting into a walkie-talkie. Reaching into an inside pocket, the woman pulled out a white card and then opened the door, shoving the card into the ticket machine with a shaky hand. As the barriers rose, she pushed the car forward again. They joined the main road, and immediately became trapped in non-moving traffic.