It was a cold, stormy night and thunder rumbled loudly outside the window of an enormous tower. At the very top floor, the most expensive room lay in disarray. Forgotten takeout, empty pizza boxes, beer and soda cans covered every surface on the ground and lying on the large couch was a tall woman with long blood red hair. She looked young, like she was in her early 20s. She was snoring peacefully when a particularly loud bolt of lightning blasted right beside her window. She opened a bleary eye and shut it in an attempt to go back to sleep but just then, her cellphone rang.
The woman groaned loudly and groped around the couch until she found it. Without a second thought, she crushed it in her palms and closed her eyes again. Another phone rang from across the room and she growled in frustration and reluctantly dragged herself up. She stretched uncomfortably and walked to the phone. She picked up the call and brought the phone to her ear.
"It's the middle of the night! Why can't you people bother someone else!" She yelled into the phone.
"Sorry Lady Andrea but there's an abomination and we need you—" Andrea didn't let the man at the other end finish talking when she crushed the phone and tossed it across the room.
She grumbled and cursed to herself as she trotted back to the couch. She plopped onto it and sighed deeply but her moment didn't last as a few seconds later, a third phone rang from another end of the room. She growled again and charged right at it where it lay on the kitchen counter.
"I swear I'll kill every last one of you AXE bastards!" She growled but reluctantly listened to their requests. She'd been working as a Hunter for just a few days but she already hated it more than anything.
An hour later, she was walking through the rain and into an abandoned mall. The mall was dark, cold and breaking down.
According to what she had been told, a group of high-school kids had entered on a dare as rumors were this mall was haunted by ghosts and monsters. Andrea walked with sleepy steps.
She yawned loudly as her eyes scanned the creepy mall. She eventually came across a half-eaten corpse. Most of its body was gone except for the top half. She ignored it and kept walking but every turn she took showed another corpse. The bodies were leading somewhere and Andrea lazily followed the trail until she came to a dead end.
"Dead end," she muttered and turned around. Standing right in front of her was an abomination. Incredibly tall with pale white skin and four massive arms. Andrea looked up at it with clear irritation. "So you're the reason I had to get out of bed," she said and pointed an accusing finger at it.
"You don't fear me," it said quietly and lifted all four of its arms without another word and Andrea watched with a sleepy gaze. THUDDD!!! The abomination brought down its four fists at her with crushing force that rattled the entire mall. The dust from the impact cleared and the abomination's breath hitched as it realised she wasn't there anymore.
"I begged for one peaceful night... and you chose to ruin it," Andrea yawned. She sat cross-legged on an old display couch behind it. "I was really hoping tonight would be quiet... congratulations... You just became my problem." She sighed the last part just as the abomination swung at her again but then, it froze. Her red eyes stared at it, almost like they were watching its soul.
The abomination was paralysed by fear. Andrea tapped a finger on her chin as she pondered what to do to it.
She leaned back on the old couch and closed her eyes, long enough for the abomination to break free from its fearful spell but then she opened those blood red eyes once more.
"You can't talk. But you understand what I say, correct?" Andrea asked but the abomination was too trapped in fear to respond. "I'm bored. I want you to do something fun." She thought out loud then her eyes lit up. "Ohh! I've got it! Be a good boy and skin yourself for me!" She demanded and made herself comfy on the couch.
The abomination stared at her in horror as it processed her crazy request. "Come on now, you can use your hands if you want to," she said and rested her chin on her palm.
The abomination slowly and reluctantly did as it was told. Two of its thick arms locked around its own torso, claws digging deep into the thick hide along its collarbones. With a wet, tearing rrrip, it began peeling the skin downward in long, deliberate strips. Blackish blood welled and ran in thick rivulets over the exposed, glistening muscle beneath. The third arm reached up and carefully sliced along the length of its neck, while the fourth arm gripped a freshly flayed sheet of its own hide and pulled it free with a wet, sticky sound like wet leather being peeled from flesh.
It worked methodically, almost ritualistically, skinning itself alive. The creature's breathing came in ragged, wet gasps as more and more of its raw, red musculature was revealed. Strips of thick, mottled hide hung from its claws like bloody banners. Its face remained frozen in pure fear, eyes unblinking even as its own flesh peeled away in wet, glistening layers. Andrea watched and held in a quiet giggle but eventually, she burst into loud, uncontrollable laughter.
"I promise I'll stop laughing... eventually." She giggled again and laughed even louder. She clapped her hands once, then twice, the sound bright against the wet tearing of flesh.
Her eyes shone with pure amusement as another long strip of skin peeled free and slapped wetly onto the floor at the creature's clawed feet. She laughed harder when the abomination's third arm reached higher and began working the skin free from its shoulder, revealing the dark, pulsing veins beneath.
The abomination which to this point was mute let out a loud groan of pure agony as the last piece of its flesh agonisingly left its skin. It collapsed in front of her in a pool of blood and her laughter died down as the show finally ended.
"That was fun wasn't it?" She yawned and leaned down towards its bloodied face. "Funny... I was expecting you to die from fear long ago but you didn't. I'll name you Mercer. It's a cool word I found on my phone." She hummed and stood up. She walked towards the exit of the mall that was now a bloody crime scene.
"Don't die just yet. I wanna have fun with you again one day but one last thing first..." She turned around and those red eyes glared heatedly at it, then she was gone, leaving the abomination to gather itself up.
The hatred it had held for Andrea never left its existence. Those haunting words... "You just became my problem" gnawed and haunted its dreams even as its skin grew back redder than its original white colour.
The child in front of him just said those haunting words and called Diego his brother. Mercer could recognise Andrea's cold eyes anywhere and the boy in front of him had them. That piercing, cold, hollow gaze. He could tell... this was another one of her nightmare children and his blood burned.
"You..." Mercer said and took a thundering step forward. Romeo didn't back down but took two challenging steps forward instead. "I've suffered unimaginable pain because of your mother!" Mercer scowled and Romeo kept his hollow gaze.
"Don't you dare talk about her," Romeo whispered and that snapped something deep in Mercer. THWACK!!! Mercer swung two fists right at Romeo and they landed on his arms as he guarded the punch. The force hurled Romeo back but he found his footing almost instantly and looked down at his arms. They were both broken with broken bone poking out but Romeo didn't react. Calmly, he slammed both arms on a nearby rock until they were back in place.
Mercer didn't waste much time as he continued his vengeful attack on Romeo. Mercer ripped a tree from the ground and hurled it at Romeo like a spear. It whizzed right past Romeo's face at surreal speed but the boy dodged it and surged forward, vanishing from Mercer's sight for a brief second. Mercer suddenly felt a small pressure on his back. Romeo was on top of him!
"You little bastard!" Mercer roared. Romeo wrapped his arms around the abomination's thick neck methodically and squeezed. Hard. Mercer's air supply was cut off and the abomination reached behind its back in a desperate attempt to get Romeo off. The abomination's powerful arms slammed and whacked Romeo's small frame over and over again. Each hit did extreme damage as Romeo could feel his body falling apart. Blood oozed from his forehead when a particularly precise hit landed but Romeo didn't release his grip. If anything, he tightened it until Mercer's eyes turned red.
With one desperate attempt, Mercer grabbed Romeo's already broken arms and tugged them hard until they snapped like twigs. A third arm grabbed Romeo by the head and flung him into a cluster of trees. The boy's body crashed through most of them until he slowed down to a stop in front of the abomination.
Romeo didn't flinch or react as the pain and blood loss took their toll. Romeo stood slowly and pressed his arms which were now hanging by the flesh on a tree until they were barely back in shape. Mercer moved closer and grabbed Romeo's head, lifting the boy up from the ground. Romeo stared into Mercer's eyes and painful memories resurfaced in its eyes.
"You have nothing to blame but your existence for what happens next!" Mercer growled and squeezed Romeo's head with fatally crushing force. BOOOOM! A bright purple beam of magic burst out of nowhere and struck Mercer's chest with enough destructive force to blast him multiple feet away. Romeo landed on the ground as soon as Mercer let go of him.
"I didn't ask for your help..." Romeo said and turned a bloody face around to see Zany. She was in her Witch form and floated right behind him with a grumpy pout on her face.
"You're welcome." She huffed and landed beside him. "You're almost dead and you still have that sass."
"I'm not dying unless this monster is buried right beside me. If my legs break, I'll crawl. If my hands break, I'll bite your throat. Even if my heart stops... my body won't," Romeo vowed as he and Zany watched Mercer stand up. The real fight was just beginning.
END OF CHAPTER 16