The Devil just stood there.
“C’MON!” Nick screamed, the club shaking as his arms quivered.
The creatures around him began to chant, “Blood, blood, blood,” on and
on until Nick thought he would go mad.
“Enough!” He let out a howl and rushed the Devil, bringing the hook
around in a wide overhand swing, intent on sinking it deep into the Devil’s
skull.
At the last possible second, the Devil caught Nick’s arm at the wrist and
wrung the club away. The weapon bounced off the stones with a loud clank
and the chamber fell silent.
“Good,” the Devil said and pushed his mask back.
Nick found
himself looking not at a beast, but a boy.
The boy smiled at Nick. “You did good.” He clasped Nick’s hand in his
own and raised it up.
“NEW BLOOD FOR DEVILTREE!” he shouted, then
threw his head back and howled.
The creatures joined in, howling and beating the floor;
the entire
chamber rung with their fervor. They slid off their masks and now Nick
could plainly see that beneath the wild hair and body paint, they were just a
bunch of stupid-ass kids.
He caught sight of the blue pixies leaping up and down among the
rafters, mimicking the
boys like little blue monkeys, adding their feral
shrieks to the cacophony. The whole chamber rung with hooting, braying,
and cackling. The world seemed a spinning kaleidoscope of insanity, and
Nick knew that he’d gone stark raving mad.