She turns just in time to see the three of us converging on her. We’re almost within reach.
A small smile tugs at that plush mouth of hers, before she slips out of the door. It shuts with a shudder, as if the house is offended by the intrusion. My hands reach the bar, pressing down with all my might, but it won’t budge.
“The hell?”
“Move.” Talon demands, shoving me out of the way, but the door refuses to give. “Open this door at once, house.” He demands, but a rumble of power rolls under our feet, opening a chasm in the floor and sucking all three of us down into the bowels of the decaying basement.
Talon, at least, is able to catch his fall by using his wings, but I and Matchbox weren’t as quick. I’d been in my corporeal form, a decision I’m regretting as I take in my backwards set leg. Agony rips down my nerves as I adjust the limb to where it’s supposed to be, then quickly change into my ghost form. Fuck that. In my ghost form I can’t feel a goddamn thing, and sometimes that comes in handy.
“What the hell just happened?” Matchbox asks, rubbing his horns.
“We’ve been summoned.” Talon answers as a dark figure emerges from the shadows and a sense of unease gathers in my chest.
“What good work you’ve been doing here, Talon. The place practically reeks of death. But I’m afraid you haven’t met your soul quota.” The figure says coming into the dim light to reveal his devil horns.
“That’s not possible, we’ve had a steady increase_?—”
“Did I sound like I was finished talking?” The devil interrupts, and a chill slithers into the room. “You know the consequences of not delivering.”
Silence answers him. We’re all too aware that our time here could be stripped away at the snap of his fingers. Talon might run the place, but we all know who holds the deed.
“You only have a few more hours before time runs out, Talon. You really think you’ll be able to deliver?”
Talon’s back goes straight. “I’ll kill every person in here if I have to.” And I believe him.
“I need fifty more souls delivered by dawn, or this place gets ripped back to the fires of hell, and all your little monsters will belong to me.”
A large bright fire consumes him where he stands, taking him back to where he came from.
We stand there looking down at the space he once occupied, knowing that this new proclamation changes things. Here I was thinking we could spend the rest of the night with our girl, but it looks like we’ll be slaughtering the remaining souls that were unlucky enough to answer the call of this place.
“Is there not a loop-hole in the contract?” Matchbox asks, breaking the awkward silence.
Talon runs his hand through his dark hair. “I’ve gone over it a million times. There’s no way we’re short. I’ve been keeping count. We were ahead of schedule. This is the busiest we’ve ever been.” He shakes his head in disbelief.
Nightmare Acres has been a haven for us monsters. A place where we could exist, but with these rules wrapped around our neck, it isn’t feeling as if we’re truly free.
“How sure are you that we’ve met our quota?” I ask.
“I’ve gone over and over it, there’s no way I made such a monumental mistake. I know the consequences.”
“Well, then what if we just said fuck it?” Talon looks at me like I’m crazy.
“Hear me out, we continue on with the night like we have been, then when the devil comes back in the morning, we show him the evidence. And if he still insists that we’re in breach of the contract, we fight him on it. There are hundreds of us here, we can take him.”
“You’re out of your mind.”
“You have a better idea? We’ve spent years listening to that asshole’s rules. Isn’t it time we make our own?”
“There is one thing we could do.” Talon says.
“What’s that?” Matchbox asks.
“We need to get Olivia. And then maybe we’ll have a chance.”
“A chance for what?” I ask, as Talon opens the door below that leads outside.
“To save our fucking souls.”
