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The one whose head he had bashed walked flimsily, barely able to stay upright. Axle watched as they vanished into shadows and began floating over to the room where Natalie had locked herself inside. They were after the bracelet, and she would have to fend for herself for a moment. He had to deal with the big one first.
“Nat, fight them off! You got this!” Axle yelled, before turning to growl at the demon.
It growled back and rushed at him. It was a lot slower, which allowed Axle to quickly get around it and wrap his arms around its neck in an attempt to break it. The demon reached over and grabbed him, tossing Axle into the wall.
He jumped free and rushed back at the demon, kicking it hard across the head. It brought up a hand to defend itself, but the impact was just too much, and it was sent flying. Axle grabbed a piece of the chair that had fallen free and drove it into the side of the demon’s head.
He turned and looked back to see the shadows moving around inside the reinforced door. Axle grabbed the end of the chair and jammed it as hard as he could with the back of his palm. It went through the other side of the demon’s head and popped out into the wall, pinning the creature there. Axle turned and ran, reaching for the door. He threw himself at it as hard as he could, forcing it to open inward.
“Help!” Natalie yelled, using an umbrella to fend off the demon. It swiped at her, trying to cut at her arm.
Axle turned just in time as the demon with the smashed head attacked him. He grabbed it with one arm in midair, as it struggled to cut through him, trying to rip into his skin. He glared at it before pummeling it with his fist, punching again and again until it stopped moving.
He turned in time to see that the demon had almost reached Natalie, but she batted at it with the umbrella, sending it up in the air. Axle launched himself at it, plucking it out of the air and slamming its head into the sink at the far end of the wall, breaking the ceramic with the skull of the creature. It dropped to the ground, lifeless. Axle twisted its neck, finishing it off.
“Are you okay?” he asked Nat as he began walking over to her.
Natalie tried to get to her feet, still shaken from the attack. Axle grabbed her hand and pulled her up with relative ease.
She yelled, pushing away from him. “No!”
He could see that she was panicked, and he grabbed her, holding her tight as she began hyperventilating. “Hey! Look at me, look at me…Breathe!”
“It attacked me!” Natalie yelled.
“Yeah, but you need to relax, you understand? Take a breath, we need to—”
The door behind them exploded open, and Axle quickly grabbed her, bringing her to the ground as the door slammed into the wall behind them. He looked up to see the demon he had left stuck in the wall. It had broken away from the wood and was coming to finish the job. Axle grunted, knowing that he would have finished it off if he could breathe fire or grow out his claws. This demon was quite the tank, and finishing it off was going to be an issue.
“Stay low, I got this,” Axle said to Natalie as she shook her head.
“No, no…” she mumbled.
“Hey, you wanted to find out what the supernatural is? This is it, welcome to the big boys table,” Axle replied, grabbing a piece of the broken ceramic.
He jumped at the demon, seeing it bring up an arm at the last moment, looking to punch him. Axle moved at the last second, swinging his arm so he sliced at the fist which was about to slam into his face. He brought down the ceramic tile with all his might, cutting through the skin and bone of the demon, causing the arm to fall out on the other side.
The demon cried out in pain, and Axle placed a kick to the chest of the creature, sending it into the wall beside the door. The creature looked at its arm, and then back at Axle, almost as though it was ready to finish him off. But before it could move, a hand stretched out from behind the doorframe and touched the creature across the chest. The demon looked down at the hand, and a second later it burst into flames and fell to the ground, dead.
Bingwen walked out from behind the door, wiping his hand across his shirt. He looked up at Axle and Nat, letting out a chuckle. “It’s alright now, you can both relax.”
“Relax? I did all the work, I weakened it! I almost had it killed, you just showed up and—”
“Did the job? Now, where are we?” Bingwen replied, walking over to Natalie.
Axle quickly got between the sorcerer and the woman, causing Bingwen to raise an eyebrow at him. Axle shook his head. “Give her a minute, she just went through something and needs time to get her bearings. You can’t just get to it now.”
“If Kanai is out there, you think he’s going to give her any time to get her anything? We have to act now,” Bingwen replied, shoving Axle to the side. “Natalie Clements, are you strong enough to walk?”
“Who are you?” Natalie asked.
“He’s the one I spoke to on the phone, a friend. He can help us with the bracelet. You okay?”
Natalie looked at Axle, and he saw the outrage in her eyes. He smiled for a moment, seeing that she could still be upset with him, despite what had happened. “Do I look like I’m okay, Axle? That thing nearly took my arm off! I almost died and—”
“You wanted in on the supernatural? Well, this is it, this is everyday life, and you have to get used to it,” Axle replied, taking her hand. “Now come on, Bingwen wants to check on the bracelet.”
He led her back to the living room, and Bingwen asked her to lay on the couch with her arm across her chest. “I need you to lay very still, and try to fall asleep.”
