The day death came to the village of Brigmarsh, it arrived not with a scream, or a roar, or a clap of thunder, but with a gentle murmur on every tongue. At first Leora dismissed it as some dispute in the street, some upset that would quickly be resolved according to the Strictures of Grievance. But then customers were rising and going to the windows, pointing outside, speaking in tense whispers. Leora glanced to the shift manager, who glanced back and then pointedly looked away, busying herself with some affair other than Leora's work.
She put down a tray loaded with empty glasses and shed her apron, and followed several of the more inquisitive patrons through the tavern's front door. From the doorway she looked west, and saw a phalanx of law-keepers marching in lockstep down from the rise at the edge of town. At the lead she spied an angel, gliding in that characteristically smooth gait as if she were gliding instead of walking. All wore tactical gear over their uniforms, assault weapons in hand.
She looked quickly eastward to see a heavy transport crest the other ridge, laden with more law-keepers and a second angel. Something was dreadfully wrong, but it wasn't clear what was happening. She tried to step back inside just as someone behind shoved her out of the doorway, and she stumbled down the short staircase to the road. A moment later she heard the first scream.
Like any upstanding community, Brigmarsh believed in the law of the angels. It took a full volley of bright muzzle flashes and the dull thuds of lifeless bodies falling to the earth before panic set in. Leora had never seen a real panic before, and the chaos of screaming and shoving overwhelmed her, until it was all she could do to hold onto one crucial thought; it's a purge. run.
~~~
The chamber was large by the standards of the stronghold, but the rusted walls of scrap metal and salvaged panels still pressed close. Leora drew herself up and struggled to suppress a faint tremble. The horned creature approaching her dwarfed her modest height. He stood before her and uttered an indulgent rumble that resolved into a drawn-out "hmmm...".
Leora lifted her face and tried to meet the looming beast's piercing black eyes from near the level of his sternum. After a moment she blinked and looked away suddenly. He raised a hand and touched the side of her neck and she flinched. He leered at her and grabbed a fistful of her long hair and pulled her head to the side. In a singular continuous motion, the towering man swept Leora off her feet and onto his shoulder, and crossed with a single long stride to the side of a grand and ominous bed of blankets and cloths layered into the trimmed and ground-down steel carcass of some ancient vehicle.
Leora landed on her back on the bed with a sharp exhalation, and before she could move the rough man was straddling her with his hands on her wrists. She squirmed underneath him to no real effect. He pinned her arms in one hand, and with the other pulled open her shirt and peeled off her skirt. She gasped as he laid her body bare before him and paused to savor the sight. Her pale flesh glowed in the ruddy gaslight, contrasting sharply with his wine-red skin.
Her breath quickened as he watched her. He shifted his weight and drew up one knee to press against hers where her legs clenched together, and a shadow in the curve of her neck twitched faster as her pulse raced. He pressed her in a silent struggle, and at length defeated her, forcing her open and sliding his knee between her thighs. His other knee followed the first, and with a taunting leisure he forced her legs apart and settled himself between them.
Leora's eyes snapped shut as the demon brushed his cock against her thigh. He raised his hand to her mouth and teased her bottom lip softly, as the tip of his thick shaft caressed the lips of her snatch. Her teeth clenched and she arched her neck back, and the demon smirked at her.
With a small shift of his posture, he pushed the bulging purple head of his shaft inside her. She gave a short grunt and her mouth fell open in a silent cry of shock, then closed just as quickly to a thin, compressed line. He ran his fingernails up her bare side, counting the faint lines of her ribs and savoring her shuddering intake of breath.
He leaned down and placed a quick kiss on her forehead, and slowly lowered his hips against hers. Leora uttered a harsh sound, something between a grunt and a moan, as the first rigid rib on the massive man's shaft disappeared into her nethers. He ran his fingers along her side again, eliciting another gasp, which became a fluttering wail as he slid deeper into her. He arched his back and lowered his face to meet hers, and brushed her open mouth with his own. Her cry slid up to a falsetto and her eyes slid open halfway as he plunged deeper inside her.
He halted finally, feeling resistance as the tip of his shaft met her womb. He smiled again, lips still touching hers, and brushed the tender underside of her pinned right arm, making her hiss and flinch from the tickling. She met his eyes, a spark of anger dancing behind a stunned expression. He looked back at her for a still moment, then murmured "Delicious. That's a lot of dick for a small human like you to take, little lovely lady. Are you ready to *really* feel it now?"
~~~
Leora crouched behind a row of reclaimed polymer supply barrels, trying not to breathe. Through a crack the size of her pinky, she watched the angel commander of the forward platoon surveying the slaughter. A scream and a flash of weapon fire came from the home across the street, and the front door crashed open as a mother and two children fled into the street.
In a flash the commander turned on the family, drawing her sword and striking out in a single smooth motion. The gleaming rod touched the oldest daughter on the cheek and a sharp snap of energy rang out. The girl's mouth, nose, and ears flashed with a brief light and she pitched to the dirt without a cry, extinguished in mid-stride. The younger daughter followed before the mother could draw a breath, but she managed to stumble back out of the angel's reach long enough to unleash a terrible scream of despair. Her cry was cut short as the baton snapped a third time, and her body fell like a rag doll beside her children. The commander sighed as she holstered her weapon again. "They know it doesn't hurt, don't they?"
"Captain!" A soldier ran up frantically, snapping a quick salute and heaving a breath. "Apostates, ma'am. Coming over the western ridge. There's a demon with them, and some sort of mounted slug-shooter. Rear guard is retreating to the building line, they're taking fire."
The commander cursed and barked tactical orders to her nearby troops. One turned towards Leora's hiding spot, and she bolted. A shout came from behind her, and bright sparks popped against the plastic-composite wall beside her as she dove around a corner.
Leora pelted down the narrow passage between two composite homes, emerging suddenly onto the next street, filled with a whirling mass of fleeing bodies. She plunged into the chaos, only to realize that the mob was fleeing east, directly towards the second platoon. She dodged through the crowd and slipped down another alley, while the electric spatter of assault weapons opened behind her and more cries filled the air. To the west, a distant chatter echoed off the ridge as an ancient machine gun cast bullets into the fleeing backs of the law-keepers.
Half-crazed with fear, she ran blindly until she found herself outside the farm supply depot. A quick glance around found the street empty, and she eased open the door and crept inside. She scrambled over the dispatch counter, a some inappropriate self-censor yammering in her head that only depot workers were allowed in the warehouse and that she could get in deep trouble. She crept through the accounts room through a door in the back into the warehouse and climbed into the cabin of an old dirty tractor. Feeling safer for the moment, away from the screams and the threat of immediate danger, she quickly fell into a catatonic doze.
Voices roused her a few minutes later. She poked her head up to peer through the dirt-smeared windscreen and saw two soldiers stalking through the warehouse door with weapons ready, talking quietly to each other. She froze, panicked, afraid to move, silently pleading for them to turn aside and provide an opening for her to bolt.
Suddenly a tall figure appeared in the doorway behind them, creeping on silent feet. It looked like a man, but his skin was the deep red of cold spilled blood, and two horns protruded from his forehead and swept up and back over his scalp. The horned man closed the distance between the soldiers and himself quickly, moving with an angel's grace, making not a sound. He held some strange black tool in his hand that Leora did not recognize. As he closed on the law-keepers, he slipped one arm under one man's armpit and jerked him close, trapping one arm and his neck in a tight bear hug. At the same time he pointed the tool in his other hand at the second man, and a thunderous sound and a bright flash startled Leora so that she uttered a strangled shriek. The second man screamed and fell thrashing. Blood spattered across the warehouse floor.
