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She trembled as she stared at the face of a demon, its fangs curling like a snake’s as its mouth widened.

What could she do?

Her gun was gone. She had no other weapon.

The monster’s nostrils flared. It bent it’s head and pressed its face into the center of her chest, inhaling deep.

What the hell?

Out of instinct, she kicked out her leg, hitting it in the chest. It hardly moved. She freed herself enough to twist her head down and bite its hand.

It drew back as she bit down hard, only to find its skin was like biting down on smooth but extremely hard leather. Her jaw hurt, forcing her to let go.

She glanced up and saw it staring at her, its eyes wide, expression gone. It kind of looked…stunned.

It set her on her feet and released her. She stumbled away from it and still managed to trip over something, making her fall back.

“Iska ni virashi,” it said in a slow, venomous voice. “Mimni lillak.”

She tried to crawl away, but it was on her in a second, its long stride like a predator’s, catching up to her with ease. Its tail whipped out from behind it and grabbed her ankle, sliding her right back to it. It crouched over her, tilting its head as it stared down at her. It sized her up then puffed out its chest before letting out a low snarl.

She shut her eyes and turned her head away, cowering. She braced again for its teeth on her when she felt something sharp brush against her cheek.

Her eyes shot open, and she gasped as its talon trailed over her face and caught a lock of her hair, feeling it through long fingers. Then it set her hair behind her ear to touch at her lobe,thumb caressing over it before brushing its talon along her lips as if curious.

Dani remained frozen, stunned. The point of its nail pressed against her bottom lip then slipped between her teeth. Once more out of instinct, she bit down before flinching away. Coming to her senses, she turned her head and swatted its hand.

The creature grunted as if mystified by her. Then it knelt on top of her, pinning her. It leaned down and opened its mouth.

At first, she thought it was two dark eels coming out of its mouth until she realized they were its tongues.

Oh, please no.

It licked her neck up to her face, one tongue curling under her jaw, the other along her lips.

She turned her head away again, grimacing. As it tilted its head back, she brought up her arm to block her face.

“Mimni lillak, eshika esia varisss,” it purred. It pressed itself against her, a hard body with sharp features that she feared would tear her suit.

Don’t move, Dani. Just let it do its thing, don’t think about its teeth so close to your throat or what it’s pressing against your thigh. No, no. It hasn’t killed you yet. There’s still hope.

“Dani!” someone called from nearby.

The thing stilled then growled as if in annoyance. Its heavy weight on her lifted.

She wasn’t sure how long she stayed down, but eventually the voice got closer.

“Dani! Dani!”

A light spilled into the dark and a hand grabbed her, lifting her to her feet. She opened her eyes and saw it was Garret. “Hey, you okay?”

She looked wildly around him, but the thing was gone. She licked her lips and tried to speak but couldn’t. He kept her steady beside him as he aimed his gun around the room.

“M—Morse,” she finally spat out. “He was with me.”

“Morse?”

Out from the corner of the room, Morse appeared, his face scrunched up, one hand rubbing at his head where a large bump was now forming.