Chapter 07 - Wounded
Kristanna had been stabbed, and it would have been right to the middle of her chest if she hadn't been able to redirect the attacker's hand down to her stomach at the last second. In a painful reflex, Kristanna used her telekinetic powers to push the assailant away with a blast of force, she probably couldn't repeat that trick if she tried, but it worked. The demoness stumbled back, her hand covered the wound, the attacker flew across the living room and hit his back against the wall, stunned for a moment. The wound on her stomach was glowing with a golden light that escaped through her fingers, the pain burned constantly.
Time seemed to pass in slow motion as Kristanna watched the blood flowing through her fingers. Never before she had been wounded like this. She couldn't wrap her mind around it. They say everyone has a plan until they receive the first punch to the face, Kristanna was now confirming the veracity of that popular saying. Her heart was racing out of control as she tried to make sense of the situation, adrenaline pumping. There was no time to think, just act. Her attacker was getting back up, Kristanna could only think of stopping him and getting to safety. Using a focus she never had before she began to gaze at pieces of furniture in the room and all of them started sliding across the floor towards her assailant, blocking his path. But they acted as nothing more than a momentary delay as the man skillfully dodged and jumped over the sliding furniture. He avoided the obstacles and once again charged at Kristanna, knife in hand.
As a last resource, the demoness removed her bloody hand from the wound on her belly and raised it to stop the man mid-air as he attempted to tackle her. She never touched him, but her powers held him by the neck suspended in the air mere inches away in a "force choke" of sorts. The demoness had anger and pain in her glowing eyes as she stared up to her assailant. But before she could get the upper hand the man wrapped his legs around her arm, locking his ankles on her neck then spun in a swift move. Kristanna felt her shoulder almost dislocate pulling the weight of her body. She flipped over and fell on her back, knocked down. Stunned and in pain, Kristanna simply writhed on the ground trying to get some air back in her lungs. The man had his legs around her chest and a perfect applied lock around her arm.
Keeping the demoness on the floor, the attacker raised his knife and was ready to stab Kristanna in the heart. She caught the glimpse of his hand moving down and stopped it with her mind once more. His wrist trembled mid-air, trying to overpower Kristanna's will and descend upon her for what would be a fatal stab. Slowly his arm began to gain some ground, he was strong and Kristanna's telekinetic powers were barely a match. The demoness screamed as a drop of blood began running down her nose, her powers pushed to the limit, the only force holding back the stabbing hand. She attempted to use her free arm to stop him, but he held that with his other hand, his strength matched hers. The lockdown continued as the man also began to grunt in the effort. Kristanna stared at the approaching knife in despair, soaked in her blood. She could see a thin mist emanating from it as if her blood was boiling on the metal.
Kristanna's view began to slowly fade, the man's legs around her neck were cutting the blood flow to her brain. Kristanna thought of Aisha, of her the nuns back at the Camp of Blessing, all bearing her children. She thought of all the things she didn't do, the things she never found out about herself. It wasn't fair to just die like this, lying on the floor with so much left unfinished! The glow in the demoness' eyes began to fade. As her focus dissipated the hand of her attacker descended faster.
Steps came down the stairs, then a clicking noise was followed by a deafening boom. Margaret stood by the stairs, completely naked, shotgun in hand. She had just blown a hole in the ceiling, which caused the attacker to quickly release Kristanna and roll to the side. He swiftly got up and ran, but instead of going out, he stood by the doorway of the opened front door, half of his body outside. He pulled down his mask revealing a handsome blond man. They couldn't make out the details of his face in the darkness, but he was probably in his thirties and had short hair and a square jaw, "You are not the enemy, Margaret Gregson. But if you stand between us and the demon, we will go through you too."
"Oh yeah? Try going through this!" Margaret said as she reloaded the shotgun and pointed it at the man. He was unphased, standing defiantly by the door, "Has her demonic influence turned you into a murderer too, Margaret? Isn't it enough that she has driven you to defile your daughter in an incestuous relationship?"
The woman trembled, she was hoping her intimidation act would be enough to drive him away, her finger hesitated on the trigger. Kristanna slowly got up to be on her knees, she coughed, breathing heavily as she recovered from the chokehold. Her gaze turned to the man by the door, the molten irises burning with anger. Then a thought suddenly hit her, "Did he just say "stand between US?" Kristanna turned her head to the windows blocked by curtains. She took a moment to use her aura vision. On the other side of the street, hidden behind a tree, she perceived the hint of something glowing. "Margaret, watch out!"
Kristanna had barely ended her warning shout when an object cut through the air and hit Margaret's shotgun as well as part of her hand. She blasted a misfired shot on the wall and fell back on her huge ass. Margaret held her hand in pain looking for what had just hit her. An arrow was stuck to the wall behind her, a precise shot had disarmed her completely. The man took the opportunity to finally slip out the door as other arrows began to break through the glass windows of the living room and fly all around Kristanna and Margaret.
"Call the police!" Kristanna screamed, ducking behind the sofa. "They are on their way, alarms went off!" Margaret swiftly responded, moaning in pain as she held her hand.
The demoness created some sort of invisible shield around her. She wasn't sure if it would even be enough to protect her, she was acting on pure instinct and chasing the man. But unlike other wounds she had in the past, she couldn't simply ignore the one by her abdomen. The burning sensation made it hard for her to focus on her powers. The wound wasn't healing, and in fact, seemed to be getting worse as she moved.
When Kristanna got to the door the man surprised her with a precise spinning kick to the chest. The impact was mostly stopped by her improvised shield and he was tossed back to Margaret's front garden. The sudden attack still caused Kristanna to stop at the doorway.
With yet another acrobatic stunt the man refused to go down, falling back on his feet. He knew how to fight her, he could have gone for a stab but he had anticipated the shield. Kristanna's molten horns burned bright as she stood at the doorway. Looking at the tree across the street she could see the silhouette of a woman wearing a cloak, her face concealed. She held some kind of silver bow and finally stopped firing arrows at Margaret's house.
