Delicate flakes of snow drifted from the skies, landing silently on the cracked pavement beside an old warehouse. Above, a bright neon sign flickered the words, Eden's Angels, with an even brighter arrow pointing down to a pair of tinted glass doors, shielding from the biting cold outside. 

The doors swung open as a woman walked out, and for the briefest moment, a muffled techno beat filtered through the entrance. The young woman pulled her coat tighter around her skinny frame and the hood towards her face. 

She walked down the icy path that she had grown to memorise over the years of working at the club. It was a moonless night so the only light illuminating the path was from the occasional streetlamp swamped by moths. 

She did not appear to notice the two men following her, matching her steps at twice the pace. She took a right and the stalking companions followed swiftly. Her steps hastened but just as she crossed an alley, she felt a sharp tug at her sleeve. Within a matter of moments, she was on the ground. Her hood had slipped off, her head cold against the snow – numb from the impact.

A bulky man straddled on top of her, holding her wrists above her head. She struggled against him, trying to shove him off of her but the act was in vain. He had strength on his side. 

"So what'd we get?" The man above her shouted in question.

To her right, another man, leaner than the one holding her down, turned over her small purse, its contents spilling out on the snow. A small knife, a tissue and a wallet. 

"Bingo!" The other man announced as he unzipped the wallet, checking its value. His expression transformed immediately as he looked to the woman with pure outrage in his eyes, "Where's the money? The wallet's empty, Mike!"

A wild look of hunger burnt in Mike's eyes as his gaze lowered from her face to her neck, sliding down to rest on her breasts. "Lady, if ya don't tell us, we're gonna have to search for it."

"Fuck you." She spat back at him, squirming futilely to get out of his hold.

"Your choice." With a nod of his head, his partner rushed towards them. With a tug of his hand, the buttons on her shirt ripped off, exposing her skin to the harsh cold and the strangers' even harsher leering gazes. The man above her lowered his face to her skin, smelling in her scent as his nose slid from her neck to her cleavage, nuzzling it roughly with hard wet kisses. 

She screamed in disgust.

Just then a distant motor sounded, alerting the three to a nearing car. The woman looked towards the road, pleading, "Help!"

The heavy man released one of her wrists to cover her mouth. The pressure of his hand against her skin hurt far too much but she continued to scream, although muffled.

She only stopped when the approaching car did. The two men froze as their eyes locked onto the sleek black vehicle a few feet away. Time appeared to stop as the car just stood there.

Then, without wasting another second, it drove off in all of its tinted glory. The woman expected as much so didn't watch it drive away unlike the two men. Using the distraction, she raised her knee and jarred it into the man above her. He released her - not expecting the attack - and toppled to the side.

His friend cursed, trying to grab a hold of her. In a single fluid motion, she rolled away and stood. She reached for a small hilt at the back of her pant's waistline. Just as the smaller man leapt towards her, she brandished the knife, ducked and swung it at his leg. 

Howling in pain, the man gripped his leg in his hands. Hopping, he collided into the wall. 

Her eyes locked on the other man. She could still feel him jostling her – his wet mouth all over her bare skin. In a frenzy, she charged at him. Her knife struck his stomach as he was getting ready to stand. The impact took him by surprise. He staggered backwards. Losing his foothold, he slipped - his head making contact with the brick wall.

In all her days, the woman had never heard a sound as terrifying as the crunch of the man's neck that night. She had never seen a sight so ghastly as that of his vacant eyes staring up at her from his dislocated neck. 

"You psychotic bitch!" The other man yelled as he made his escape, clinging to the nearby wall as he hopped on his uninjured leg.

She looked at the man who lay before her. 

Mike. That was his name. 

She looked at Mike lying before her.

It had never ended like this before. No one had ever died.

Without another sound, she picked up her belongings and placed them in her purse. She walked towards Mike. Holding back a sob, she pulled out the knife from his abdomen. She watched as blood gushed out of his now open wound, gradually becoming a slight trickle of red. The snow surrounding him was soaked in a bath of the blood of the man she had just killed. 

Killed.

Trying not to double over, she searched the man's coat for his wallet. It was in his back pant pocket. She had to kneel forward, arms enveloping the dead Mike in an almost embrace, to retrieve his wallet. She pulled out the meagre sixty dollars it held and walked away, wrapping her coat even more tightly around herself. 

Eliza Pennsburg would never be warm again.

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Thank you for reading the first chapter of Dancing with Demons!  I appreciate all comments, even if they are criticisms because they'll help me better the story in the upcoming chapters :)

So how did you all feel about the chapter? It's only the first and someone is already dead...that can't be a good sign ;)

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