The claws tore through her arm, leaving three deep scores down Tora's biceps. She swore under her breath, elbowing the monkey-like demon out of the way. Its teeth sunk into her other elbow. Clenching the fist of her injured arm, she sent a rock-hard punch straight into its abdomen. Organs shifted on impact. The creature made a retching noise, red eyes rolling in their sockets. Its jaws loosened before it collapsed in a twitching heap onto the floor.

Blood dripped onto the dusty floor of the abandoned warehouse. Tora panted, sweat sticking her fringe onto her forehead. All around, all she could hear were the snarls of monsters and the yells of her fellow Seekers as they fought. The soundproof barrier she'd erected before they entered the dilapidated building was containing the cacophony, but, situated in the middle of nowhere and forgotten by time, the rusty structure was not exactly the place for an afternoon stroll by humans. Tora sunk her fist, grinning, into the next demon. Having said that, whether anyone would come across such a terrifying scene was in the back of her mind.

The impact sent a shudder across the small bones of her hand and pain shot up her arm. The crack of bones whipped through the air. Narrowing her eyes, she withdrew – trailing mangled brain and blood onto the floor – and spun on the spot, kicking out at the half-decomposed, snarling creature. Her foot swung over its head, skimming its pointed ears by millimetres.

With a bloodcurdling scream, it leapt at her, death in its eyes. With fury, it slashed at Tora, missing its first strike and tearing through the middle part of her top on its second. She yelped. Pain streaked like lightning across her belly as more blood seeped onto the green material. The adrenaline poured through her system and her heart rate hit the roof; her lips curled into a smile. The creature's eyes gleamed, following its attack with another frenzy of swipes with its long claws, rushing at her without any sort of intelligence or strategy.

Tora darted through its subsequent attempts at tearing out her intestines. Reacting faster than the monster, she slipped through its defence and slammed a punch in its face. It sunk in the shape of her fist; the tongue lolled out like a dog, except its rotten, crooked teeth reminded her more of the creatures in zombie films than any animal. It exhaled in a 'fuh' sound, its windpipe crushed under the force of her knuckles. A spray of putrid fumes escaped from the cracks across its slimy body as it landed with a splat on the dusty floor. Just like before, the force of the contact radiated like an explosion of spikes through all the bones in her hand and arm. She gritted her teeth, her eyes narrowing. Her breathing was heavy as she straightened her fingers.

Cracking her knuckle bones back into place, Tora braced herself for the next attack as the dead demon started to smoke and rapidly decompose. Her blue eyes fixed upon the galumphing creatures with their deadly teeth and blazing gaze. Nothing out of the ordinary.

The first of the three rampaging creatures, without warning, careered at a right-angle projection. There was a fist-shaped indentation on the side of its coarse cheek before its skull then caved in from the side. The green eyeballs bulged. The huge muscles tensed – and then the creature flew across the warehouse, narrowly avoiding Ross, before crashing into a smaller group of demons that looked like monkeys. The two muscle machines behind it skidded to a halt, all of a sudden unsure.

Tora rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, Carlos?" she said. "These are just standard demons. Can't you just kill them with your hands?"

To her right about ten metres away, a cheeky face wearing a mop of sweat-drenched light brown hair materialised out of thin air. The monsters snuffled in alarm, eyeing him. Carlos shook his hand, the joints of which swelled, and he had a grimace on his face.

"I know, but they're still ugly as hell and stinking to high heaven – can't we just get this over with and go home?" There was a slight whine in his voice and Tora rolled her eyes again. He had a point, though: their stench made her nose hairs tingle and an overwhelming desire to gag was second only to her excitement.

As Carlos winked and vanished again, Tora danced on the spot, waiting for the creatures to close in on her. The gash on her arm had sealed already; a patch of dark red at her feet was the only evidence of the depth of the injury minutes earlier. Her knuckles throbbed from the fracture and relocation, but the pain, dimmed by adrenaline, was easing as healing began.

Deciding Carlos, the strange apparition who no longer appeared to be present, was of little consequence, the two remaining rhino-like monsters charged forward again. They each had a spiral horn on their noses and their muscles rippled as they moved. Tora didn't think the healing would be a fast or a pleasant experience if she were to be gored, but luckily they were bumbling and huge. Calculating the distance, she shot forward, sidestepping at the last minute. The leather-thick skin grazed her bare arms as she laid a series of punches along the hide – no effect. Their armour were as thick as their brains.

They skidded to a halt. Before they could turn around, Tora moved in again. Her movement flowed like water, her eyes focused on the weak point where the creature's jawline met its neck. The bulging green eyes met hers, panicked. Using her still-functional left hand, she sent her fist straight at the junction. Its bones crunched on impact. Tendons snapped. Arteries burst and sprayed blood all over her face.

Without a sound, the creature's legs folded and it collapsed onto the floor.

Tora wiped her face with the back of her forearm; the blood stung her eyes and tasted foul on her lips. She didn't stop for a breather. The remaining rhino monster slammed into her from the side – thankfully the horn missed her – and she was sent flying. Rolling over and over, her head pounding as her temple smacked onto the concrete ground, Tora gasped for air. Her world spun. A weird neighing sound filled her right ear and she spotted the demon rushing towards her again just in time.

Pushing herself onto her feet by her hands and elbows, she winced as pain shot up her arm. She dived out of the way. The demon charged past her and smashed into the side of the rusty wall. The bricks on the other side barely held up to its momentum. Dazed, it took several steps back on shaky legs as Tora coughed, getting back onto her feet.

Tora.

She sighed. Not now, Damien.

You're taking too much time, Tora. Why won't you use your powers?

She snorted. As the rhino charged towards her again, she timed it with perfection. A step to the right – its furious eyes glared at her as its horn missed again – and she grabbed it by the point where the spiral attached to its nose. She tugged it towards her. The creature's feet slipped on the puddle of blood and half-decomposed body parts. As it fell, she bent her knee and jammed it into the weak part of its head. The bones splintered. It fell, twitching, onto the ground.

Because I can do fine without it, she thought, knowing Damien picked up her thoughts. Have you found the rip yet?

Yes. We're just coming back into the warehouse. It sounds like a war in here.

It always sounds like a war. I suppose the fun is over.

You have a very morbid sense of fun, Tora.

She rolled her eyes again. She hated it when she got flack for not using extra help when fighting, but – she grinned as she grabbed one of the scattered monkey demons by its tail with ease and swung it over her head before smashing it on the hard ground – what was the point of using the gifts when it made killing demons less fun?

It didn't take long before a pile of smoking mangled corpses littered the floor around a panting Tora. Her t-shirt and jean shorts were streaked with blood and other demonic body bits, the latter of which was also dissipating. She stretched her neck left and right, sighing as the bones cracked and slid back into place. Multiple wounds littered her forearms, bare legs, and cheeks, although most were already pink and scabbed over.

Shaking loose her aching muscles and joints, she raced to the other end of the warehouse where a large elephantine demon with five trunks was battling a redhead – several redheads, actually. Ross, looking worse for wear, scowled and shimmered, producing several more copies of herself. The monster looked confused, which was not surprising. Tora would have guessed the size of its brain would be no bigger than the tip of her converse laces. Six red-haired, equally short Rosses looked up at it, identical grimaces on their faces. They pitched towards it at the same time. The demon gave off a noise that was surprisingly shrill, given its girth. The ends of its trunks were splayed, opening like the petals of a hell flower. Tar-like mucus dripped onto the floor.

The trunks lashed out at the running redheads. They skimmed right through the images, which flickered before throwing themselves onto its flank. The monster gave off another shriek, spraying the black substance from its nostrils everywhere.

"Watch out!" Ross jumped back, hissing. Tora reacted a little too late, sidestepping a stream that splashed onto her bare legs. The viscous stuff stuck to her skin, sizzling.

Swearing, she clutched at her limb, watching with watering eyes as they burned a hole through the flesh, exposing the fat and muscle and giving off the disgusting scent of burned bacon. Razor-sharp pain shot up to her hip. The leg felt like it was going to burn off. She forced herself to her feet only to crouch back down again with a grunt.

When the pain started to subside and healing began, she looked up. The two of the demon's five trunks were broken, hanging onto its huge skull by tendrils of flesh. Ross clamoured over its body, ducking the flailing appendages, and jumped onto the third one. With one well-timed twist, a crack whipped through the air, followed by an inhuman scream of pain.

Ross shimmered into several copies and they all tumbled off. The real Ross backed away to where Tora crouched. The creature reared, insane from the pain. Its broken trunks hung uselessly in front of it – but the two remaining functional ones were aimed straight at the two girls.

A huge jet of tar erupted from the nostrils. There was no time to run for cover – Tora's leg was barely scabbed over.

Narrowing her eyes, Tora threw up a forcefield. Something barely visible shimmered in front of her and Ross. The liquid splashed onto an invisible wall and was forced to the side along the surface. She could feel the thick tar pushing against her, but the wall stood strong. The stuff was already vaporising but leaving round, dry puddles on the ground where they made contact with the stone floor. Tora withdrew the forcefield.

"Wow, I haven't seen you use your powers in about two weeks."

"Shut up, Carlos," she said out of the corner of her mouth. She could feel his grin, even though he was still invisible. "Where are Markl and Damien? They're taking forever."

Ross climbed back onto the creature's neck again, distracting it with her illusions.

"God, my leg hurts like hell."

"Ross will give you crap for getting all bloody again. And your clothes. You should use your telekinesis more often."

Tora snorted. "That's no fun."

"Yeah, 'cos that's all that's fun in life. Blood and guts."

"You know your stupid reality TV shows are total crap."

"Whatever. We're nearly done, anyway. Dame's sealed the rip. Markl's got a heffer to deal with – you should see the claws!"

With that, Carlos's footsteps disappeared in the direction of the other fight. Just as Tora turned back, Ross yelled, driving a punch with all her strength into the demon's skull. Her fist crashed through the top of its head. Blood and brain matter spurted all over the redhead. The creature reared, screaming, and Ross was thrown off, bouncing off the far wall and landing with a grunt onto all fours. The monster teetered, eyes rolling, blood pulsing steadily out of its many wounds, before collapsing in a heal.

Ross got up, coughing. She wiped the stray hairs that had escaped her hair band off her face, green eyes glaring at the dead monster, which was already smouldering. The stink had worn off. Tora supposed she'd gotten used to it, as usual.

The fight wasn't over yet. Littered around Tora's feet were the half-decomposed corpses of the demons she and Ross had slain. Her shredded t-shirt stuck to her where blood had seeped through and then clotted. A foul taste lingered at the back of her throat.

She felt so alive. Shrieks of monsters echoed in the air around her, punctuated by splashes of blood and squelch of organs. Across the building, little blonde-haired Damien had his brow furrowed. He stared with great intensity at several demons before him, which writhed on the ground in pain. Behind him, Markl kept the other demons busy. On the ground were piles of corpses. Markl's hands turned red. The skin blackened and fell away, leaving behind a scarlet glow like burning coal. The first creature that had the guts to attack first received a palm to the face.

It screamed. The sound faded when its tongue hit the red-hot surface, and was replaced by a sizzling, popping noise. When Markl let go, it fell lifeless to the ground, its crushed face a charred mess, little improvement from the ugliness before.

The other demons closed in on him. He raised his arms. The skin burned away, revealing the same glowing substance underneath. The light reflected in the demons' hungry black eyes. They closed in. Markl shot forward, too, focus etched across his tanned face, his dark hair stuck in awkward angles over his head. He threw his arms out, catching two at once across the forearms, and two more with the palms of his hands. They screamed, wild limbs lashing out as he squeezed them into headlocks. The claws were extraordinarily long, as Carlos had mentioned. Markl held his ground, gritting his teeth, narrowly avoiding the swipes. The demons blackened, still screaming, still flailing.

One of the swipes caught him under the armpit. The sabre-like talon sliced into his skin like cheese wire – and ripped his entire arm off.

A/N: If you like the chapter, please give it a vote! I love getting feedback, so feel free to let me know what you think!