Conspiring with the Damned

Throwing caution to the wind, Shawn took the stairs two at a time, as he basically sprinted all the way to the second floor. It was reckless of him, and he knew it, especially after telling the girl that she needed to be more careful around demons. Good thing she was in the basement, he thought. Feeling the need to be thorough in his search, Shawn checked everywhere, closets, bathrooms, under the beds, and the underwear drawer, where he had found a particularly large pair of panties. Shuddering in disgust, he put them back to where he had found them. He was finished looking around upstairs, better see if the girl had found anything.

Once he was back downstairs, he called out to the girl. "Ren? You done in here?"
 
Ren had found a plastic spider poking ouy of the Halloween decoration box. It was black and floppy. Though she wasn't too fond of real spiders, this plastic one was pretty cool. After wondering whether or not the residents would notice a missing spider, she stuffed it in her pocket. She had already turned to walk back upstairs when Shawn called to her. "Yeah!" she called back up.

After walking up the stairs casually and quietly, she went to Shawn. "Nothing in the basement, did you find anything?" she asked.
 
"Just a pair of panties that could fit a giant," he joked. Humour helped him cope with times of stress, even if his jokes were dumb. He led the way outside. "Come on, no time to lose. You should probably take the lead at the next house, I don't think the folks around here would appreciate all of their doors being kicked in."

The Ishtarl demon watched as the two hunters made their way towards the house it was hiding in. It needed to split them up, focusing them down one at a time, getting rid of the strength they had together. That was going to prove difficult, but not impossible. There was a laundry chute on the top floor that it could use to distract one of them, forcing them to check the basement.
 
Ren laughed, "You went through their underwear?" She patted her pocket and grinned as they left the house.

"On to the next then. I'll show you how I open doors," she told him. It was reckless, maybe more reckless than kicking down the door. She pulled out her gun and aimed it at the doorknob. She pulled the trigger and it hit the doorknob with a bang, knocking it off the door. Ren smiled at Shawn and pushed the door open. "After you," she said.
 
"You never know, the demon could have been hiding in the underwear drawer," he joked.

"So much for entering silently. I thought you would have had some elegant way of getting in, maybe a lockpick kit stuffed away somewhere," Shawn said. He had to give her credit though, that was a pretty sweet way to do some property damage. He smiled at her, nodding, hoping to show his appreciation for the wanton destruction of property. He was so caught up in the damage that it never occurred to him that the shot would signal the demon of their approach, letting it set a trap for them, waiting for them to spring it.

"Same thing as before? I take upstairs, you take downstairs," he decided. Without waiting for her response, he walked upstairs, hoping she would follow his lead and check the basement again. There were no signs of life, again. Where the hell was everybody in this neighbourhood? As he was making his way towards the master bedroom, he heard a thud coming from downstairs. Ren! He turned, and before he knew what had happened, a large hulking form loomed in front of him, climbing out of the laundry chute, grabbing at his throat, trying to choke the life from him. He managed to fire off a shot, not sure if he had hit the demon or not, before a lack of oxygen made him pass out, his last thought cursing himself for being so stupid.
 
Ren laughed and shrugged, "I prefer shooting stuff, but I do have a lockpicking kit."

She entered and nodded, moving toward the back of the house. Ignoring a bad feeling she wondered what she would find in this house's basement. She should not have ignored the bad feeling.

There was a flash a black and soon she was passed out.
 
The world formed itself anew as Shawn opened his eyes. Everything was normal, albeit a little more upside-down than usual. Shawn looked up at his feet, which were tied to a beam. As far as he could tell, he was in a basement: it was mostly dark, save for a dusty window that struggled to keep the sun out. Shawn coughed, the pain in his throat lingering just a little bit longer than was necessary. Great, I'm probably going to have a huge bruise around my neck tomorrow, he thought. He replayed the attack in his head, a small glimmer of hope as he remembered firing off a shot. With any luck, Ren heard it and would be coming to his rescue any minute now. A groan sounded from beside him. He closed his eyes, not wanting to have his fear confirmed: Ren got caught too.
 
Ren opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times, thinking of what had just happened. Shawn. The house. The demon. "Fuck,,," she muttered. Then she realized...

She was hanging upside down. She turned, swaying slightly, and saw Shawn hanging nearby. Ren groaned again. "Hey. Where's the demon?" She asked him. Surprisingly, Ren was calm. "Oh god, how are we going to get out of this?" She growled, looking around the room they were hanging in.
 
"Well, I was hoping you had an elaborate rescue operation planned to save me from here..."

That they were both still alive worried Shawn. Ishtarl demons were known for their brutality, often killing their prey outright. Either this demon intended to torture them for information, or it was going to kill them slowly, taking pleasure in the kill. Shawn searched for a way out, his hands roaming his pockets for something, anything, that could cut him loose. It was useless; his pockets had been emptied of all their contents. Seeing only one way out, Shawn stuck his hand out. Several feet away was a trowel. It was blunt, but it should do the trick. There was no hope in reaching it. "Shit, this worked for Luke in Empire."

"Any ideas on how to get out of here? We're going to be bantha fodder if we can't free ourselves." Wailing sirens could be faintly heard, coming from outside. Some of the neighbours must have heard the gunshots and called the cops.
 
Cops! Wait...Cops were useless in this situation. "Oh, I don't want to be fodder, that sounds disgusting," Ren said in dismay. She looked around again. If only there were something sharp within her reach. There was! But her legs were tied up and she wouldn't be able to pull her pant leg far enough to grab the knife she had strapped to her thigh, just above the knee. It was for back-up but she never used it because she always relied on her gun.

It was worth a try though. "I have a knife in my...in my..." she had begun to say, feeling up her leg. Much to her dismay, the knife was no longer there. She patted her other leg frantically. "Fuck my life," she said, letting herself hang loosely. "We're doomed. Well it was nice meeting you."

Just as she said that, she had a good idea. But... "Wait...where's the demon," she asked, looking around.
 
"I'm not sure, but I don't want to be here when it gets back," Shawn struggled to find a way out of their predicament. There was nothing in reach that would cut their bonds. Adrenaline started coursing through his body, panic started to set in, his mind racing. He tried to reach up and loosen the rope binding him to the beam, but he couldn't find the knot. The beam itself seemed sturdy enough. Unable to come up with another solution, Shawn started rocking on the beam, hoping his momentum would help break the beam. "Ren, start moving around. We'll probably fall if we break the beam, but I prefer that to the alternative."

Upstairs the doorbell rang moments before the police walked in, announcing their presence. Shawn rolled his eyes, didn't those idiots see the broken door? He thought about calling out for help, but decided against it, the demon might be lurking around, waiting to attack the cops.
 
Ren sighed and started rocking back and forth as well. Though, the beam didn't look like it'd be easily broken. Hopefully it would give way under their weight and movement. She could hear the cops inside the house, if they could get to the basement before the demon got to them... That would be useless, the demon could kill them without a problem.

"I'm feeling sick," she said as she heard her stomach grumble. "Or hungry..." Ren smiled a little and continued to rock.

A small creaking noise could be heard coming from the beam.
 
With a monstrous crack the beam broke in half. Shawn fell, landing hard on the floor below, the air knocked out of his lungs as the beam landed on top of him. He pushed it off and scrambled to untie his legs. "That went well. Could have landed a little bit more elegantly though."

Shouts came from upstairs. The cops had heard the crashing noise coming from the basement. Moments later shots were fired, followed by a thunderous howling. Two loud thuds pierced the silence afterwards. "We need to get out of here, now! Try the window, I'll look for some sort of weapon in case the demon comes down."
 
"Ow my back," Ren growled putting a hand on the small of her back. She quickly untied herself. "Why do I get the feeling that we're still probably going to die?" she asked herself quietly.

She pulled herself up and looked at the window. First she tried opening it, but she found it locked. Unfortunately, the lock was old and stiff, probably hadn't been opened for years. "It's...super locked!" she said angrily.
 
Shawn rummaging through the basement, his eyes glancing nervously at the door every few seconds, scared of what they might see there. Finally he managed to find a shovel behind some boxes. It wasn't much, but it would have to do. Faint chewing noises drifted through the ceiling; the demon was feasting on the cops upstairs. "I think we just caught a break."

Shawn turned to Ren, who was struggling with the window. He rolled his eyes. Why was she bothering trying to open it when she had shot open the door earlier? He handed her the shovel before pulling off his shirt, wrapping it around his fist, and punching through the glass. That would surely alert the demon, but Shawn hoped the demon was too preoccupied with its meal to go investigate the sound. "Come on, I'll lift you out. Be ready with the shovel in case its waiting for us."
 
She moved asided and took the shovel as Shawn took off his shirt and punched the window. Ren studied him, blushing slightly, then nodded. "Okay," she replied, letting him lift her up and through the window. Ren winced as shards of broken glass dug into her hands and some into her stomach.

When she was finally out, she stood, grabbing the shovel, and looked around. All her senses were alert, ready in case the demon jumped out at her, she wouldn't let it take her down this time. No. This time, she'd beat the crap out of it.

Ren smiled slightly at the thought of beating a demon to death with as mundane a weapon as a shovel. "Hurry up then," she said, not turning to look toward the window.