Sarain and Winston rushed out into the cold night air, both with a sword in hand, and started running to people’s aid. Sarain first reached an elderly woman wearing pajamas and slippers, and was cowering on the ground as a vil sang prepared to bite her. The vil sang held on to the woman with one hand, and that was the first thing Sarain rectified. With one swift move she chopped off the creature’s hand. The elderly woman fled in terror, while Sarain continued to hack at the once man, who had been so taken by surprise with her attack that he did little to defend himself.
Winston went to save a man who the vil sangs were trying to drag out of his store. He was a big man, but against two vil sangs he didn’t stand a chance. The shop owner screamed as the men dragged him through the broken glass from his store window. Winston charged at them and swung away. He killed one vil sang right away by chopping off his head, the other let go of the shopkeeper and lunged at Winston. The vil sang knocked him back and he stumbled, but didn’t fall. He plunged his sword into the beast’s chest, stopping it instantly.
Sarain hurried to the aid of a couple; a man was trying to fight a vil sang off his girlfriend who already had one bite mark on her shoulder from the attacker. Sarain pulled the woman away from the beast and shoved her towards her boyfriend. Sarain yelled for them to leave after she noticed the boyfriend still trying to help, and they ran towards a car Sarain assumed was theirs. She swung her sword at the vil sang who jumped back to miss it. The vil sang’s eyes glowed, but when Sarain looked into his face she saw no life in it. He seemed robotic and much like Nate had been when she fought him. He had to be the result of Sephor’s special vil sang process, acting on an order to kill rather than just the regular demonic urges. She also noticed that his reflexes weren’t as good as a normal vil sang; it was as if the lack of free will gave it less meaning and strength to fuel it. Sarain quickly took down the beast and others more after it.
A little more than two hours had passed by with Sarain and Winston constantly fighting off vil sangs, until finally their numbers dwindled. Sarain walked down the street alone heading back towards the Velvet Rose; she had been up and down streets and in stores finding and killing vil sangs. She saved some people and also found quite a few casualties as well; throats had been torn out and people had been fed on. Sarain did what she could, and ended up killing nearly forty vil sangs herself so far. It was a busy night, more than any other night she had fought before, but these vil sangs did fight sloppy, unlike the ones she normally faced. They didn’t fight with a strong will for survival, and often left themselves open to attack.
While Sarain had been clearing out a house, she had come upon two children hiding in the corner of a room. Their parents had been killed by vil sangs before she had arrived, but she managed to save both boys. The younger one, about five, reminded her of a younger version of Kit. She knew it wasn’t him, but for some reason saving the child felt like she was doing some sort of justice for Kit. The children had stammered out a thank you to Sarain, but she knew that they would have a hard life as orphans ahead of them, which left her feeling disappointed that she had not arrived a few minutes earlier to save the parents.
Sarain glanced around the dark street as she walked, holding her sword tightly. It was quiet, the screams had stopped awhile ago, there was no one left around to scream; some people probably still hid, but many had fled and others lay still unable to ever scream again. Sarain scanned her surroundings for Winston, they had gone their separate ways while fighting, but now that things had calmed she looked for him amongst the wreckage of the battlefield. The vil sangs had only appeared to have attacked the slummy downtown section of the city, it was isolated and no police came to the rescue. Sarain figured that the whole attack would probably be written off as some kind of gang war.
She then realized that she was only slightly worn after the battle, and this began to make her think of how the fight had been too easy. Had Sephor really bred that weak of an army?
The sound of a door creaking open caused Sarain to look over at a small apartment building. The door was opening slowly, and Sarain began to raise her blade, but stopped when she saw blond hair and the familiar face of Winston step out from behind the door. He had been clearing out the buildings in the area, and had finally finished with that particular building. His eyes quickly located and settled on Sarain, and he looked relieved to see her. He had a few scrapes on his arms, but otherwise looked alright; he also found the battle a little too easy.
Sarain approached Winston, with her sword down and his lowered as well. He gave her a smile as she neared and stated, “I guess you really can hold your own,” he stared down into her eyes adding, “I’m glad to see you’ve made it through this okay.”
Sarain looked up at him and asked, “Is that it? Because it feels like something is missing.”
Winston gazed down at her for a moment, before fully realizing that she was talking about the vil sangs, after which he instantly cleared his focus and answered, “No, there were no demons, just vil sangs… That had to only be the first wave of attack.”
Sarain nodded in agreement and said, “Then we should probably go ahead with our plan tonight before Sephor lets any more of his army loose.”
“It’ll be more dangerous this way,” Winston spoke trying to make her fully aware of her actions.
“I don’t care,” Sarain replied, “We have to stop him before he hurts more people.”
Winston nodded and walked back with her to the Velvet Rose where the rest of their supplies still waited.
Sarain wasn’t scared about what lay ahead, but Winston felt a ball of fear forming in the pit of his stomach. He glanced at Sarain through the corner of his eye and worried that he wouldn’t be able to protect her.
Sarain stared up at The Purge, it looked so small and quiet now; no one would imagine the vast amount of horrors that lay underneath it. Sarain held a container of gasoline, and both had their sword strapped to their backs. Winston carried the explosives; he looked at her as she stared at the club.
“You have the keys, I’m just waiting for you to open the doors,” Winston said to her. He had given Sarain his keys to the place earlier. Now she held them in her hand as she approached the doors. She put the key into the lock and turned it. It opened; the demons must not have thought to change the locks, they probably didn’t think Winston would be so bold as to come back.
Inside the club was dark, they hadn’t been open that night; Sephor probably didn’t see much point in it since he had bigger plans. No one waited for them inside, and Sarain wondered if Sephor had them gathered down below, going over plans for another assault.
The room was big and empty, and to Winston it seemed strange; he had once worked that room, spending hours at that place, and now he was about to destroy it. Sarain saw the room and was reminded of her failures; getting captured, getting wounded, losing Kit. It was outside the front doors that Sarain had first met Winston, the beginning of a chain of events that would later unfold; she never would have guessed that he would later help her destroy the place. She had pegged him all wrong, she didn’t think a vil sang could change its ways and become good. And she was actually glad to have been wrong this time.
They headed for the office, but stopped short when they heard the rustling sounds of someone behind them in the door way. They both spun around and saw the large man who always guards the door, standing in the entrance.
He saw Winston and said, “I’ve been waiting around for someone to open the club. No one came to the door today.” He then noticed the supplies that they carried, and an astonished look came over his face, “What are you guys doing?”
“Go home, Ron,” Winston said to him in a stern tone.
Ron, the guard, gave him another look, then quickly glanced into the club, and finally turned and went down the stairs of the club outside. He didn’t ask any more questions or come back after that, his respect for Winston made him not question what he did.
Winston and Sarain went resumed heading to the office. Sarain had to unlock the door to it, and inside the room was dark and deserted. The demons weren’t guarding the club at all; they must have used one of the other exits when the wave of vil sangs was let loose. Sarain worried that more demons would get out from those exits once the fires started, but she and Winston were only two people, and this was the exit that they chose to cover. As long as they managed to take out the mass, the escapees would be easier to pick off.
Sarain went over to the desk that she remembered being heavy and lifted it with ease. She felt as though she had gotten stronger since the last time she had come this way. Winston went into the tunnels first; they had agreed, since he knew the layout better he would lead the way, and also since he was carrying explosives Sarain would go down with him and fight off any potential problems they may run into while he set up the explosives. They would have to get the explosives down deep into the tunnels, near the center of the catacombs, which happened to be near Sephor’s chambers. The destruction, the blaze, and the all-out collapsing of the tunnels should be enough to stop most of the demons, but it was likely that some would escape, and those were the ones that Sarain and Winston were prepared to fight.
Going down the spiral staircase felt especially long this night. Winston kept setting up a few bits of explosives long the way. Sarain half expected for them to slip up and make a loud echoing noise or have someone jump out at them at any moment. But no one jumped out, and not one mistake was made. Sarain thought about the last time she remembered being on those steps, she had been racing up them hoping to save Kit, how long ago that seemed now. They reached the end of the stairs, and were now close to their target, but “now” was when everything would get riskier; the demons had to be nearby, and would hear any loud noise they may make. And there would be a chance they could be stumbled upon by accident.
Winston made a right at the base of the stairs toward the hallway that led to Sephor’s chambers and to the dungeon were Sarain had been kept. She wondered if Kit’s body still waited in the cell. It didn’t matter, there was no life left in his body, and a burial would be meaningless to her. It wouldn’t change anything; it wouldn’t change the fact that he was gone.
Sarain followed Winston in the hallway till he stopped where the hallway split off. He turned and nodded downward to her, letting her know that this was where he wanted to put the rest of the explosives. He set them down and started connecting pieces together. Sarain didn’t know what exactly he was doing and didn’t know how he knew how to work explosives, and she didn’t ask; it didn’t matter to her as long as they got the job done.
She stepped past Winston as he worked, and tip-toed over to the door that led to Sephor’s auditorium. Then she realized that she could hear voices coming from the other side. The demons must be in there at this very moment, which must have been the reason why they hadn’t run into any during their infiltration.
Sarain put her hand on the door’s handle then looked over at Winston, he was watching her, and when they made eye contact he nodded “no” to her. He knew what she wanted to do. Sarain looked back at the door, and continued with her urge. She opened the door, just slightly and silently. She peered through the newly made crack, and could see a mass of demons, mostly full blooded, sitting around with their attention all settled on something down below them. She could hear the booming voice of Sephor talking, but couldn’t make out all the words. What she did manage to hear was Sephor saying, “Kill anyone you come across, I don’t want any survivors. Don’t waste time feeding, and if you come across the girl I want you to bring her to me.”
Did he still want her alive? Sarain couldn’t understand why, Sephor already had his army, why did he still want her? Was it just to fulfill some sort of sense of dominance over her, so that he would feel like he had won? Perhaps he didn’t like loose ends, but why not just kill her then? Maybe he wanted to kill her himself. Sarain gently closed the door, she had heard enough.
She looked over at Winston who was still setting up the explosives, she hoped he was almost finished, she didn’t know how much longer it would be before Sephor would set this next wave of demons loose, but she had the feeling it was soon. Finally Winston attached the last chord, and began to stand up when the door behind him, towards the staircase, opened. A vil sang stood on the other side, it was unclear if he was one they had missed earlier during the attack, just now returning, or one whom was made to patrol the tunnels. But when his eyes landed on Winston and Sarain he shouted out, “Intruders!”
Winston quickly ripped off the sword strapped to his back and sliced the vil sang down, silencing him, but it was too late, his call had rang out and Sarain could hear the shuffling sounds of demons moving behind the door she stood near.
“Run,” she heard Winston shout. His voice triggered her to quickly open her can of gasoline as she ran after him; she hadn’t come this far not to finish her part of the plan. As she chased after Winston she left a trail of gasoline behind her. She could hear the demons busting through the door and following after them. She forced her legs to move faster than they had ever moved before. She couldn’t afford to slip up, or else it would cost her, her life.