Illusion : Scorched Earth (7)
'Seriously, tonight of all damned nights? We were just about to walk ourselves into town come daylight. Rightly fucked if you ask me, sorry Vince.'
Victoria was in disbelief, her long brunette hair not able to hide the shock not-so subtly contained within her hazel eyes.
Of anyone in the party of six, she was the closest to Vincent when sleeping that night. A mere four feet away. Had the demon had a taste for prettier and fiercer flesh, her life could've been the one extinguished just now. That terrified her, but even more so it enraged her. Filthy creatures of the night dare make her, a practitioner of the Scarlet Arts and candidate for the Night Guard, FEAR for her life.
"Lotta nerve for a cunt sucking on the teat of the night, too scared to face us in the light. I'll fucking gut ya, damn pig."
Her accent was thick, a product of an insurmountable flood of redheaded rage. Tonight she would have a proper meal to atone for her grievances, the scarlet flames of the campfire stoking themselves almost as if in agreement. The tender of the fire all but burned up in an instant, the heat contained within the flames reaching new heights as they broke off into tendrils to gather around her. Four bands of scarlet flames formed, two affixed to her wrists and two around her ankles. She looked up towards the sound of bones snapping between the misaligned teeth of the now just barely lit face of the beast.
It was beyond obvious that this beast was in fact demonic in nature as she observed the flames reflecting off of the abyssal eyes sunken into its ashen flesh. Very good, she can do what she has to do without worry. Barely sparing a second, she grounded one foot in place using the other to make a circle of fire around her climbing higher than her standing height. And with a few swift punches, sent out long bolts of flames barrelling towards those deadpan eyes.
Faust looked over in her direction for just a moment, nodding with a slight approving smirk on his face as he made his move. The ground beneath him seemed to sink to match his cadence as he lowered his body, before breaking into a sprint. In his eyes, other than himself and Victoria the other three remaining members of the party were little more than bags filled with useless memorabilia from the places they've been. You'd rather them not be broken to the point of being unrecognizable, but you could certainly overlook a little… wear and tear. And so, he would treat them as such.
Harold wouldn't even get a chance to think about running from the monster he just saw eat his friend moments ago before Faust effortlessly catches the straps of his armor with one hand, placing Harold at the forefront of his charge. A large claw tore through the shadows towards them, before they turned back towards the creatures own face as an eruption of flames caused it to claw at its eyes.
"Huh- WHAT? Hey, hey… HEY!!! You sick bastard the hell are you doing?!" Spit flew from Harold's mouth, the poor man desperately trying to tell Faust to rethink what he was about to do.
He wouldn't. Harold's oafish overly-armored body slammed into the creature's side, like a mace to a pot, the seemingly hard exterior cracking open to reveal a sickening viscous purple fluid. In an effort to stop the fire that was continuously being set upon its face, their eyes had long since been clawed out and hanging loosely from their sockets. When Harold's weight was added to this, it couldn't be helped that they would swing around freely and smush themselves into the crevices of his armor. Yes, that's what Faust would say should the man remain lucid enough to voice his grievances and not suffer from serious memory loss after this.
The force of his charge didn't end with the creature on its feet, considering that it was beyond disoriented and screeching out in pain. Trees did little to break its fall as it ended up on the ground, and Harold was tossed away in a similar fashion as Faust reached the head. His sword was lifted into the darkness, Victoria's flames gathering around his blade as if on queue. She hadn't forgotten, she would surely not miss the chance to participate in the killing blow. Then in one swift motion, its skull was pierced and the shadows around them began to settle.
The flames however, were not done as they engulfed the creature's body.
"Nice work, Victoria," Faust calmly praised her work as the other members gathered around Harold's unconscious body, "It goes without saying we'll both be sleeping the remainder of the night, you lot figure out who's keeping watch."
"Thanks, but don't worry about it. I have a feeling my flames will remain restless until we can make it to town come daylight," Victoria returned to a normal manner of speaking as her anger had burnt out, "You all get some sleep. I'll wait 'till I can break in a proper cot in town."
The group eventually managed to settle down. Harold was propped up against a large rock with multiple bags at his side, but the man was of no mind to complain. Faust, for the first time in many nights, set up a tent and laid his head to rest against the forest floor. The others were quick to follow him. Only when the last fell back to sleep did Victoria see the flames engulfing the creature begin to dwindle.
She would soon gather tender for the fire : twigs, leaves, fabrics, and rocks to contain it all. The flames had burned the body down to ashes before she called them back to her and gently placed them into the circle. She relaxed in the fire's warmth, her truest friend for all her life, and watched with a slight curve in her ruby lips as they seemed to sway languidly like they were tired after a good meal.
"Burn slowly, my friend. Daylight is still hours away."