Cursed Cold

11.

Cain screams. The sound slices through my ribcage and to my heart like a knife, but I don't stop. My lips close into Jose's face and he surges to meet them. His breath is hot and sweet. My hand lifts up to his collarbone and-

I strike him in the throat.

Jose gags, and a black mist bursts from his body. The mist smells like burning trash and weeps through his eyes, nose, and mouth like smog. I run past Cain and he falls in step at my heels. "Leila, how?" he gasps. "How did you know?"

I leap down the hall and my muscles strain and protest. Cain glides with me like a liquid shadow and I race toward the fireplace. I wrench a fire poker out of its casing. My arms burn with exertion. I hear an unearthly moan reverberate through the halls.

I turn and the man is not a man anymore.

The innards of a man show. It is the innards of a poisoned, cursed man from the depths of the darkest shadows on earth. Swollen lungs, a blackened, charred heart, knotted stomach, twisted fingers, all laced together with bands of smoke and venom. My hand flies to my lower belly as it pulses with pain. This thing would hurt a baby. "Leila, you can't fight it!" Cain shouts.

The monstrous thing moves and groans. It sounds sick, like an alcoholic man's slurs, a betrayed woman's screams, a beaten child's sobs, a neglected dog's whine, and the torrent of voices swarm within me. My muscles try to slacken, but I hold them upright. The fire-poker trembles in my hands. "If there is no curse, there will be no more!" it roars.

It lunges. I dive over the coffee table and a mass of fingers brush by me. My skin sizzles with heat, heat I'd never felt before, and my lungs force a silent scream out of me. I swing the poker around and slash it. I'm shocked to see the iron flash white-hot and slice open a rotten liver and more intestines. "Iron burns demons!" Cain yells.

"Why must you fight your destiny?" the beast moans. Thousands of tortured voices assail my ears and I feel my strength weaken. "Why? Why? Why?

The demon rises and Cain hisses, his white teeth bared. "Leila, run!" But I don't. A monstrous hand covered in fungus, gangrene, mold, emerges from the deformity ready to strike down. The evil has me. But I can't. Let. It. Win.

The hand falls. I thrust the poker up and it skewers the hand. The creature screams and makes my heart stop but I keep it pumping and move forward. With as much energy I can muster, I circle the hand through the steel and strike the midsection of the creature. The metal turns white, angel white, purity white, and black mist spews like steam from the monster. Cain yowls in panic but there is no need. The creature is disintegrating in front of my eyes.

And in one last hiss of hate, the demon is gone.

I collapse to my knees.

Cain rushes in front of me. "Leila? Are you okay?"

My chest heaves as I laugh. There is no sound, but the air pumps out of my lungs in a recognizable fashion. Cain stares in amazement. "You... You... I don't understand," he whispers.

I laugh harder, and then, I lean down and kiss him on the head.