Big Brother's Back

With a deft flip across the gap, Tenr'b landed in a crouch on the next building. He grinned with his wide toothed maw maliciously, licking his sharp teeth with his oily black, coil-like tongue. He could still smell it. The woman. His prey. On all fours, he sprinted towards the next building and lept again, tailing the terrified woman. His unnaturally graceful body sinously ducked and dogded through the myriad spaces of the of the water tower and he launched down to the darkened street. His unholy form naturally hexed the lights, so as he followed it became darker and darker. With one hand he cast a hex spell further down the block, throwing it into blackness. Random spears of faint light shone from the moon behind smog and pollution choked clouds. She turned a corner into an alleyway. Big mistake.

She spun around as he crawled around the corner. Standing upright, he smiled his toothy grin again and licked his fangs.

"Awwww poor little girl, trapped." She began crying, and sank to her knees. He flexed his hand, unsheathing filthy black claws. "Go ahead. Cry. Wail. Scream for help. It gets your blood flowing, makes you taste so much sweeter." He croaked again in his parchment thin voice. Sickly yellow eyes glittered with hunger, and he stepped towards his prey.

And then something hit him like a cinderblock.

He could see in the dark better than any animal on Earth. Yet he hadn't seen whatever hit him. He flew out the alley and onto the dark, empty street. He got to his knees, then was sent flying across the street with a kick to the ribs, landing into the low brick wall on the other side. He let out a pained growl, which was cut off when something strong and searingly hot grasped him by the neck and hoisted him into the air.

While most demons like Tenr'b were humanoid in only the basest terms, this one reminded him of the comic book character Spawn. He was a dark metallic colour, with a face moulded into a razor-toothed skull. Two orbs of orange glared at him under the his scowling, bony brow. It opened its fleshless, silver jaw in a challenging roar, dark purple tongue flickering in its mouth. Suddenly Tenr'b recognized him. The tattoos gave it away. Most Skullth had tattoos, that was common. Only one Skullth had the broad yet intricate tatoos that this one had.

"Salis." Tenr'b managed to say.

"Ren Ren Ren. What did I tell you about preying on women?" Salis said in his hoarse voice, then dropped him. He tried to suck in a breath, but his chest was immediately crushed by Salis' heavy foot. Tenr'b tried to breathe, scrabbling weakly against his foot. Salis only leaned in. A cracking sound could be heard from Tenr'b's chest.

"What. Did I. Tell. You?"

"No women. Or children."

"Right. And you thought that just because I had been gone for 20-odd years that you could just break our promise like that?" Tenr'b's lungs burned as he had no breath to answer. Salis pushed more, emitting more cracks from his punished sternum, then let up. He turned over and tried weakly to pick himself up, sucking in painful gasps of breath that made him cough and worsen the pain.

"I'm dissappointed, Ren. I thought I could trust you. You get to roam free and eat all the men you want in exchange for your life." Salis grabbed Tenr'b by the back of the head, his talons digging in, and dragged him back to the brick wall. He then took his head and smashed it against the wall, breaking even more of it.

"That was the deal." He did it again. "But you couldn't keep up your side of the bargain, could you?" He did it again and again and again until there was a space wide enough for him to drag Tenr'b through to the other side. He didn't fight against his grasp anymore. He had no power to do so. A deep, terrible chuckle came from Salis.

"I warned you Ren. I told you what would happen if you broke our deal."

Tenr'b could hear the crashing of the tide on the docks. With a strength born of adrenaline he struggled wildly, but hopelessly against Salis' iron grasp.

"No! No! no no no no NO! Please!" He cried and begged for mercy. Dirty black tears streamed down his misshapen face. "Don't do this to me! Please! I won't do it again! I'm sorry! Please!"

Salis hoisted him over his head. "I know you won't Ren." He chuckled again as he threw the demon into the river. He disappeared under the water for a few moments, and naught but the faint sounds of bubbles and the low tide could be heard. Then he shot back up, wailing and screaming his inhumane lungs out in pain and agony. Salis crossed his arms and watched with a mixture of disgust and vengeful pleasure as Tenr'b's skin melted and smoked in the freshwater. He tortured screams seemed to go on forever, much longer than the thirty seconds it took to dissolve him. Before the river could claim all of Tenr'b, Salis plucked his remaining eye from the water, wincing slightly as the water burned his skin. The diseased looking yellow-green eye still blinked at him every once in a while. He made his way back towards the frightened woman, who was still huddled in the corner of the alleyway. She jumped and curled up even more as he approached, and kneeled down in front of her. Gently taking one of her hands, he placed the blinking, crying eye into her palm and closed it up.

"Take this 3812 Wulf Street." He stopped her from opening and looking at the grotesque thing in her hand. "Don't look at it. Go." She didn't move.

"I said go!" He roared at her. She snapped out of shock, fresh new fear instilling her with the energy to do as she said. She picked herself up and ran out the alleyway with speed that even Salis was impressed with. He stepped out onto the darkened street, laughing as he did so, the moon finally shining in all its nightly glory. His laughing increased into one of manic proportions and he raised his arms up and shouted,

"I'M BAAAAAAAAACK!!!"