“What are you going to do, sweetheart?” one of the men scoffed at the demon woman, clutching onto the ogre girl’s hair.
The other human man’s eyes enlarged into huge ovals and he tapped his friend on the shoulder. “Karl, that’s Lady Hellbringer, have you gone mad?” he asked.
“I’d listen to your friend and I don’t take too kindly to being called sweetheart,” Lady Hellbringer said, revealing her flame sword from underneath her cloak.
Karl chuckled, “Cute trick. Though, I still ain’t scared of you, sweetheart.”
“You should be,” Lady Hellbringer replied.
She pushed the ogre girl out of their clutches. The little ogre girl hid next to the stairs of the pub.
Lady Hellbringer sliced Karl’s arms off. His arms plopped onto the ground as he screamed in pain, looking at the bloody stumps where his arms once were. Flames burst on his stumps as he fell onto the ground in front of Lady Hellbringer. She stomped her foot on his chest and brought the sword down on his head.
She looked over to the other human man, who was watching in disbelief at what he witnessed. He tried to run when he saw her looking at him, but it was no use since she caught up to him and pinned him down to the ground.
Lady Hellbringer brought her dark red claws to the human man’s face, still holding him down with her legs. “Where were you going to take the girl?” she demanded.
The human man gulped, knowing how much blood covered her claws, and answered honestly, “To the king. He wanted us to deliver her to him. For what? I don’t know. He has young girls come in from all over the kingdom, maybe even more realms, but he has them kept up in his castle. That’s all I know, I swear.”
Lady Hellbringer eased her position on him. “Thanks for the information, but I can’t let you go,” she stated.
He shook his head and started to cry. “But I told you what you wanted to know!” he protested.
“But those girls in the king’s castle, and all of the other girls that you would capture if I were to let you go, won’t be safe from men like you. So, I’m going to do them a favor,” she answered.
She stuck her claws in his eyes. He screamed with agony in his voice as she slowly dragged her claws from his eyes and down to his chin. She proceeded to slit his throat with her index finger. Blood ran down his throat as he laid on the ground.
Lady Hellbringer got up, grabbed her sword, and held it high in the air. The fiery portal emerged again to bring the sword back to where it came from. Lady Hellbringer approached the small ogre girl. The ogre girl shivered as she approached but relaxed when she knelt down in front of her.
“I apologize that you had to witness that. You are far too young to have seen that. May I ask you your name?” Lady Hellbringer asked.
The little ogre girl swallowed her tears as she answered, “Jini.”
“I’m Lilxoria, you probably know me as Lady Hellbringer,” she replied.
Jini nodded in response. “Everyone’s afraid of you, all of the townspeople call you a demon to be feared.”
“Well, they aren’t wrong about that, but I don’t want you to be afraid of me, Jini.” Lady Hellbringer said, bringing out her hand.
“You killed those men?” Jini asked, observing the carnage.
“I did. They were going to hurt you and I didn’t want them to,” Lady Hellbringer answered.
“Will there be more trying to find me?” Jini asked.
“Knowing now that they’re taking orders from the king, probably. I promise that I’ll keep you safe from them,” Lady Hellbringer promised.
“I never had someone protect me before,” Jini said.
“No parents?” Lady Hellbringer asked.
“Afraid not. My father abandoned me and my mother died during an invasion,” Jini answered.
“I understand how that feels. I apologize that you have to face that, too,” Lady Hellbringer said.
A brief silence fell upon the two until Jini took Lady Hellbringer’s open hand. “I want to go with you to make sure that I’m safe,” she said.
At first, Lady Hellbringer was unsure, but accepted Jini’s proposal. “It will be dangerous,” she warned.
“I think we can make it,” Jini affirmed.
Lady Hellbringer nodded and the two began to walk.