The definitely not human intruder flung Valen at Enid like a boulder launched from a catapult.

Enid was a mage. While she aged slower and healed faster than any normal human, she wasn't much stronger or tougher than one. Valen was a vampire. A creature whose original purpose was to wage war, with muscles like solid steel and bones like iron.

Of the two of them, it was clear who got the worse end of the bargain.

“Ooof!” Enid’s feet gave way the moment Valen’s airborne body crashed into her.

She managed to hold onto her gun but dropped the phone intended to call the police with. The pricey smartphone hit the hardwood ground by its corner, shattering the glass with a soft clink and turning its cracked screen a permanent pitch black. She really should’ve gotten a protective cover for that thing.

Valen found himself on top of Enid and he hurriedly pushed himself off the floor to look at her. “You alright?”

“Cover your ears!” was her only reply.

Enid sat up and swung both arms around Valen’s body, but she wasn’t hugging him. Her icy blue eyes were trained on the intruder behind him, flashing with murderous intent.

Valen realised what she meant to do and did as she said just in time for the sound of five deafening gunshots to force its way past his hand and into his head. Even with his ears covered and his hypersensitive hearing willed away, having tiny explosions go off that close to him still left his head ringing.

Amidst the ringing came a loud thud, and Valen turned around hoping that meant the last of their intruders was down for good.

The man was lying on the ground as he’d hoped, but his red and white eyes were still wide open and his mouth gasping for breath after having been shot somewhere in the lungs.

Enid stood up and pointed her gun at the man on the floor. Valen didn’t try to stop her. Even if he wanted to, his throbbing headache kept him from offering much protest.

Five more times Enid fired her gun. Five more times the bullets found its mark in the man’s body. He should be deader than dead at that point, and yet his body kept convulsing even as his face stiffened into an expressionless mask.

Death throes were the first thing that came to Valen’s mind. Just some nerves that outlived everything else spazzing out without any instructions from the brain.

But something was amiss.

The man had already been shot a dozen times-three times by much more powerful rounds than Enid’s 10mm. If it could survive all of that, then it shouldn’t have had such an adverse reaction to getting shot a few more times.

A thought occurred to him. A warning afforded to him by the same predatory instincts his ancestors had been instilled with to fulfil their purpose. One of the oldest adages of war: Appear strong when you are weak, and weak when you are strong.

Before Valen could mull over whether or not he should act, a sudden violent twitch from the man’s head spurned him forwards.

“Look out!” He pushed Enid to the ground, and not a second too soon.

The man’s head peeled open like a blooming flower to reveal a bloody skull with the unnatural red-white eyes still in its sockets staring at the world in unblinking hatred. What used to be his face split into four red flesh petals around his neck.

The man-no, the thing’s bloody skull shot out from between its shoulders, its neck having morphed into long strands of exposed muscle twisted together like a taut rope to form one giant tentacle coated in a transparent mucous membrane. The chomping, gnashing skull flew through where Enid had stood with an ear-piercing shriek and crashed into an expensive vase behind them.

“What the-” Enid felt herself get yanked away by the collar of her stolen hoodie.

“Move!” Valen shouted as he ran whilst dragging Enid behind him.

In a few short seconds Enid had regained her bearings and started running beside him as quickly as her legs could take her. Valen made an effort to slow down his running enough to not lose track of Enid while they ran through the halls with the skull creature’s oddly sporadic footsteps closing in behind them.

They made for the stairs and met Louise halfway down as she was running up from the living room with the blood potion held tight in one hand, a confused frown plastered across her face.

“I heard gunshots just now. What-” Louise saw the squirming, screeching skull tentacle chasing them from behind and promptly got the memo, though not before letting out a loud but very understandable “Holy fuck!”

The three of them raced through the ground floor while the skull thing raced to catch up. Its footsteps didn’t even sound humanoid anymore. They came at odd, erratic intervals and each thunderous step sounded like someone punching a wall.

Curiosity got the better of Valen as they were getting chased through the living room. He glanced back for a quick look at what the skull-thing had turned into and immediately wished he hadn’t.

Any semblance of humanity had almost completely disappeared, leaving only scarce horrific similarities that created a baleful mockery to what it once was.

What was once a human body attached to the tentacle neck was now a flayed torso connected to eight spindly red arms on either side that raised its main body a foot off the ground while clawing its way towards its prey. Each scuttling arm ended in hands tipped with long yellow claws that left long, deep scratches on the wooden floor. The same thin membrane that coated the tentacle neck covered its entire body with the exception of two bony pincers that sprouted behind the arms where the torso’s legs should’ve been.

It looked like a nightmarish reverse scorpion made from knotted muscle and sinew-as if a regular giant scorpion wasn’t scary enough.

Enid joined Valen in glancing back to look at their impending doom before voicing what all three of them were thinking at that moment.

“Alright, screw this!”

Magical static prickling with invisible power clouded the air before manifesting as crackling blue currents of electricity running through Enid’s right arm. She stopped in her tracks and turned around to face the monstrosity behind them. The moment she did, the skull lunged at her with its jaws dislocated open wide enough to bite her head clean off.

Valen spun around and hammered a clenched fist down on the top of the skull before it could touch Enid, sending reverberating shockwaves throughout its entire tentacle neck. The thing’s upper and lower jaw crashed into each other with a dull crack that caused blood to seep out between its teeth.

The blow stunned the reverse scorpion enough that its eight arms stopped scurrying forward to push flat against the floor in an attempt to steady itself.

Louise squeezed herself between Valen and Enid to launch herself off the ground and at the thing’s jaw an impressive uppercut that carried her entire body weight behind it. Several of the loosened teeth were sent flying away from the bloodied gums. The thing threw its head back with an inhuman howl of pain. It stood up on its hind arms at the height of its howl, exposing the human torso belly underneath it.

Enid took the opportunity to fire a continuous stream of lightning from two extended knuckles straight into the abomination’s exposed ribcage in an attempt to stop its heart.

Crackling electricity mingled with a hoarse, disturbingly human screech that sent wisps of smoke billowing out of the stunned creature’s open maw.

“Don’t stop!” Valen shouted through the screams and crackles.

“Fry its bloody brains out!” added Louise.

Enid was only too happy to oblige. The magic in the air became so concentrated that Valen could almost taste the bitter static tingling in his mouth.

More blue electricity surged through Enid’s other arm and she brought it up to blast the reverse flesh scorpion with a second stream of magic lightning that hit it in the exact same spot as the first one to the sound. The electrical crackles were soon drowned out by deafening screams of pain that sounded both human, beast, and something else entirely.

Whatever healing factor the monstrosity had finally started to give in. Its muscles convulsed as its nerves were fried by magic lightning. Soon its entire body swelled under the pressure of the concentrated electricity being pumped into it, culminating in its red-white eyeballs bursting out of its smoking sockets like a couple of overfilled water balloons.

Sheer adrenaline allowed the monster to break free from the constant shock for just long enough to make a desperate falling lunge at Enid with a dozen claws about to slash down on her.

“Look out!” Valen tackled Enid away from the reverse scorpion’s way and it toppled down inches away from them.

The steaming remnants of its liquefied eyeballs leaked out of its smoking sockets onto the floor.

Valen, Enid, and Louise took a moment to catch their breath. Enid sat panting on the ground next to Valen, who still had his arms wrapped around her out of protective instinct. Louise stood staring down at the fallen monstrosity lying on the floor between her and her companions. She still held the potion that had started the whole ordeal to begin with shaky hands that threatened to drop it at any time.

“Okay.” Louise took a long, deep breath. “What the actual fuck is that thing?”

“Dead, hopefully,” said Enid.

Valen slowly rose to his feet with eyes trained on the fallen flesh scorpion.

“You okay Valen?” asked Louise.

He looked at her with a dead serious expression on her face and put a single finger up to his pursed lips. Instinct nagged at him to remain vigilant despite the creature’s apparent death. It might just be a hunch, but he got the feeling that he would come to regret not listening to it.

Valen produced a butterfly knife from his waistcoat, the very same one his would-be mugger attempted to rob him with. He’d hoped to only use it for practising knife tricks and opening boxes, but between it and his rarely used claws, he trusted the knife’s sharpness more. He eased the butterfly knife’s blade out of his handles with both hands so that it wouldn't make the unmistakable flipping noise it was known for.

Gripping the knife tight in a reverse grip, he dropped to a crouch and brought the tip of the blade down on the flesh scorpion’s neck. He specifically aimed for right below the base of the skull. If the flesh scorpion’s biology still resembles anything human, that should sever its brains’ connection to the rest of its body. Even if it was already dead, a quick knife to the back of the neck should make sure it stays dead.

Valen wasn’t sure if it was an off aim or a dull blade that screwed things up. But on the bright side, he was right. The thing definitely wasn’t dead.

The flesh scorpion’s jaw opened with a shrill scream upon contact with the blade. Blood and spittle flew from its lipless mouth. Its two bony back pinchers filled the air with sharp clacking as it snapped repeatedly at the empty air.

“Seriously?!” shouted Enid.

The flesh scorpion swiped at Valen with several front arms in a literal blind rage. Valen let go of his knife and jumped away in the nick of time, receiving a small scratch under his left eye as he did.

The blade of the butterfly knife was left half buried in the back of the flesh scorpion’s tentacle neck. It flailed its head around with reckless abandon, throwing pictures off the walls and destroying every light fixture it touched. How it didn’t get dizzy from all of that Valen had no idea.

One the flesh scorpion’s wild head swings managed to bash through Louise’s left hand, causing her to drop the precious blood potion she’d gone through all the effort to steal.

“Shit!” she sprung away from the reverse scorpion to gain some distance while nursing her now limp hand.

The blood potion that started the whole ordeal to begin with shattered on the ground. Valen felt the invisible fumes of its distinct magical scent shoot up his nostrils.

All at once, the reverse scorpion’s wild attacks stopped and its tentacle neck swung its head to where the potion bottle shattered. A long pink tongue slithered from between the bloodied skull’s teeth and began lapping up the spilt potion in feverish haste. It didn’t seem to mind the shards of glass cutting into its slobbering tongue with every lick.

As off putting as the sight was, the flesh scorpion was distracted. Valen seized the opportunity to jump on its neck and yank the butterfly knife free. Blood spurted from the hole the knife made, though not nearly enough to incapacitate it.

The flesh scorpion violently shook the trunk of its tentacle neck from side to side in an attempt to buck Valen off while still lapping up the blood potion on the floor. Valen locked his legs around the creature’s slippery neck in his best approximation of a triangle choke considering the thing’s bizarre body structure.

He brought the tip of the knife down again on the flesh scorpion’s tentacle neck. Once again the narrow blade only just penetrated the slimy outer membrane before the tightly knit muscles underneath halted its progress. Valen pulled it out with some effort then brought it back down on the thing’s neck over and over again at different angles, hoping that a lucky stab will eventually hit an important artery in that affront to nature.

Louise, looking more pissed off than anything, pounced onto the flesh scorpion’s tentacle neck as well. Though without a weapon, she was left with just her claws and teeth-neither of which she hesitated to use. Her wolven feet slashed at the flesh scorpion’s neck while she held on with her right hand’s claws dug deep inside it. With her left hand seemingly broken, she could only wrap her left arm around its membrane-coated neck for extra stability when the trashing intensified.

She opened her mouth as wide as she could and bit into the flesh scorpion’s slimy neck. Her sharp wolf-like teeth had no problem penetrating the muscles but she found herself unable to shut her jaws to rip a piece of it off. It felt like biting into a greasy leather ball and tasted almost as foul as the rats she used to share with Valen for supper.

As Valen and Louise struggled to cling onto the bucking flesh scorpion’s neck, the familiar prickle of magical static spread across Valen’s skin.

Through the swinging, shaking world around him, he caught a glimpse of blue electricity next to a blur of deep scarlet hair. Time to get off the flesh scorpion ride before he got electrocuted with it.

Valen grabbed the back of the flesh scorpion’s head and pulled it towards him. Its skull face looked almost confused before he stabbed it in the empty nosehole. Its scream got even louder before petering out into a raspy hiss.

“Get off!” Valen shouted to Louise.

He left the knife lodged in the flesh scorpion’s face and leapt off its neck, crashing shoulder-first into the ground. Louise did the same but managed to land on her feet and helped him haul himself away from Enid’s splash zone.

Rings of blue lightning spiralled around Enid’s body and danced in the space between her two hands. The moment Valen and by extension Louise were safe behind her, she let it all out through her open palms in a single concentrated blast.

The lightning screeched out of her, stronger and brighter than any of her previous spells. A white flash lit up the area that forced Valen, Louise, and even Enid to squint or close their eyes. When the light dissipated, all that was left where it struck was a puddle of burnt slime and blood in the vague outline of a giant scorpion.

For a few seconds the only sound that could be heard was Enid panting from exhaustion. She was about as fit as a human could be thanks to her magic, but casting multiple spells in quick succession still took a toll on her stamina.

“Okay,” said Louise. “Now it has to be dead, right?”

“Gods I hope it is,” said Valen, still wired from everything that had happened. “I don’t think we can-”

He felt a drop of something warm fall atop his head. Valen wiped his fingers on where he felt it touch him then looked at his fingers to find it smeared in dark red blood.

‘Oh, shit,’ he thought to himself before looking up at where the drop had fallen from. Enid and Louise followed his gaze.

Clinging onto the ceiling by its eight clawed arms was the flesh scorpion looking more pissed off than ever. Its red-white eyes had regenerated and now glared at the three of them from its lidless sockets. The maws of its skull face which now had rows of razor-sharp fangs where there were once human teeth.

Its bony back pincers were now pointed down at them, making it look a bit more like a proper scorpion-albeit one made of human meat with a skull head where the stinger should’ve been. A slick mixture of blood and slime dripped from its body, and it occurred to Valen that scorpions could moult.

Enid suddenly stopped panting.

“Ah, crapbaskets.”

The flesh scorpion dropped from the ceiling, its bony pinchers held out to grab Enid. As inhuman as it looked now, it must’ve retained enough intelligence to recognise her as the only one capable of inflicting any actual damage to it.

This time it was Louise who came to her aid.

“Watch out!” Louise pushed Enid out of the way, allowing the flesh scorpion to fall on top of her instead.

The bony pinchers that were meant to shut around Enid’s neck snapped at the thin air above Louise’s head. She’d gotten lucky because of her short height, but that didn’t stop the flesh scorpion from grabbing her with two pairs of its skinless hands.

Louise grit her teeth as it pinned her to the floor, its claws digging into her arms and shoulders. Even as blood seeped into her yellow hoodie, she refused to give it the satisfaction of hearing her cry out in pain. Its skull head lowered to look at her inches away from her face, either to make sure it’d gotten the right person or just to gloat.

“Louise!” Valen ran up to the flesh scorpion and kicked its head away from Louise like a football with every ounce of strength inside his body.

Considering how resilient the bloody thing had proven itself, he expected it to only be dazed at most. Instead he was pleasantly surprised when its entire skull flew from its tentacle neck and splattered blood and grey matter all over a white wall. He guessed that the moulting process must’ve drained much of its strength.

Blood gushed from the tentacle’s decapitated stump. It swung wildly around the living room one last time like the world’s most messed up watering hose, painting the rest of the walls and furniture a dark red.

“Holy shit!” cried Louise. The now headless flesh scorpion released its grip on her and she scrambled away from it with her skittering wolf legs.

Valen let himself feel relieved. The damn thing’s head was all over the walls after all. Outside of a hydra, he couldn’t think of anything that could survive a straight up decapitation. He’d forgotten that death throes were still a thing.

The decapitated flesh scorpion stood up on his hind arms and slashed at in its killer’s direction, its dying muscles guided by sheer adrenaline for a final act of spite. Valen’s surprise coupled with the thing’s speed kept him from moving away in time. He only managed to lean back enough for the flesh scorpion’s claws to only slit his throat rather than sever it entirely.

Instinct kicked in. Valen grabbed his own neck and kept squeezing it to staunch the bleeding as best he could.

The world around him blurred. Darkness that he couldn’t see through with night vision encroached upon his vision. He felt the strength in his body drain away with every drop of blood that trickled out between his clutching fingers.

Before he knew it, he felt his back hit the floor and he was staring up at the ceiling which still bore the claw marks made by the flesh scorpion.

A thunderclap rang through the air, no doubt the sound of Enid finishing the monstrosity off once and for all.

The last thing Valen heard before fading to black was someone calling out his name. Whether it was Enid or Louise he couldn’t say for sure.