Whumpmas Days 5+6- Choke and Shot
For @writing-heartbeats-tea 24 Days of Whumpmas writing challenge! Also, sorry for blowing up your notifications by tagging you in all these haha
Warnings: Choking, gun violence
Jegudiel had increased the pace of her footsteps when she heard the matching footsteps crunching in the snow behind her. She knew full well that she was being followed. She had assured herself that she’d be ready when whatever this was eventually came to a head.
Of course, only ten minutes later, as three demons worked together to pound her into the pavement, she reflected in the small part of her brain that wasn’t intently focused on what she needed to do to get away, she was not ready for this.
Finally sensing a gap in the demons’ formation, she jabbed out an elbow and drove through the attackers, immediately breaking into a sprint- if she got away now, she’d only have to deal with some bruises and scrapes. She probably wouldn’t get away, but she could at least gain the advantage if she found a better place to fight them. She wasn’t that lucky, though.
She flinched at the noise of a shot. Her ears were ringing, but she suddenly couldn’t care about that very much as a bullet tore across her upper arm- it felt hot, first, searing hot with a ripping pain, but then it felt cold in the freezing temperatures, and that was almost worse. Based on the location of the injury -though admittedly, her entire upper arm burned enough that she could hardly move it- it seemed to have just grazed her. Grunting and pulling her arm to her chest, she kept running.
People were speaking behind her, but she couldn’t make out the words. She was almost out of the back alley she’d been dragged into when she slammed face-first into a wall that she couldn’t see. Now she did fall, feet going out from under her in the snow. She cried out as she landed on her bad arm, twisting in the snow to try and keep the injury away from direct contact with the ground.
Jegudiel tried to regain her footing, using the forcefield behind her for balance. She couldn’t see it, but it was clearly there, and she was going to use whatever advantage she could get. Before she got all the way up, though, someone struck her across the face, sending her back down into the snow. Now she did hear it as a closer voice protested:
“Ease off, dude, we need her alive! What kinda bonehead move, pulling a gun on her? It’s clearly handled with that barrier, and you could’ve missed!”
A lower voice, standing over Jegudiel, grumbled, “Whiny. You’re just whiny. I don’t see you over here handling it. You put up one force field and figure you’re done for the night. Do something besides loitering in the shadows for once.”
Jegudiel, who had been quietly drawing her knees under herself and trying to get up without being noticed by either of the demons, was abruptly grabbed by the collar of her suit jacket and yanked away from the entrance of the alley. She gasped for breath, reaching to clutch at her tie and collar. Her fingers, numb from the cold, had no chance of undoing anything, though. Her buttons were taut against her windpipe, but there was nowhere for her to go to regain her breath.
Her feet scrabbled under her as she was bodily dragged deeper into the alley; the three demons, each nursing their own injuries from their fight moments ago, fell into loose formation between her and the entrance, and that gave her pause. Who were these new demons, then?
Before she had time to wonder for very long, she was hauled upwards and slammed against the cold brick of the wall. She didn’t even have time to catch her breath or defend herself before a broad forearm was pressed against her throat. A hand slightly larger than her own grabbed the wrist of her uninjured arm, pinning it down before she could hit back.
Jegudiel finally got a good look at her attacker- even taller than she was, broad in the shoulders, wearing a worn out tartan coat, with the glowing purple eyes that marked him as a demon. He wasn’t looking at her, though, even as he pressed his forearm in harder. Jegudiel could hear her shallow breath wheezing past the obstruction. Her head was starting to spin.
Instead, he was looking at the other demon standing slightly behind him, with blonde hair and a gray suit. She was chastising him at the moment, arguing, “Mammon didn’t even want her damaged! I’d say she’s already pretty fucking damaged. Can’t you just knock her own and get it over with? What’re you choking her for?” His forearm pressed a little harder, and all of the sudden Jegudiel found that she had no breath at all.
“I’m choking her to knock her out, idiot. Not exactly up to date on human physiology, huh?”
Jegudiel squeezed her eyes shut to block out how blurry the world was becoming, but she squeezed them a lot tighter as she started to move her bad arm. She’d been favoring it as best she could, though her current position made it harder, but now she started carefully lowering it towards where she was pretty sure the demon’s waistband was.
Her hand crept, shaking because it hurt so much, shooting pain down from her upper arm through her fingertips, and she was sure that she wasn’t moving faster enough. The pair of demons who seemed to be leaders continued bickering between themselves about the best way to subdue her, and the other three seemed to still be loitering in their positions down the alley.
She’d be whimpering if she could breathe, if she could force the sounds past her throat. Her trembling fingers found the edge of the tartan coat and kept going. Only a bit further, and she found the waistband of his jeans.
“Hands off the merchandise, halo.” Evidently having noticed her searching hand, the demon moved his hand from her other wrist to slam the encroaching limb into the wall. It was too late, though- she’d found what she was looking for, and the moment her better hand was free, it shot towards his hip and grabbed his gun. In moments, she had cocked, aimed, and fired.
The demon reeled back, clutching at his stomach. He turned, leaning against the other side of the alley and retching blood, swearing violently, but obviously out of commission for the moment.
Jegudiel took a moment to recover her breath, gasping and wheezing as she desperately refilled her aching lungs. Her vision still swam, but she had at least the wherewithal to keep her gun extended. As soon as she could see past the black spots in her vision, she, on a hunch, turned to the demoness in the gray suit and aimed at her leg. Her aim wasn’t great, but she didn’t miss too badly- she ended up hitting mid-thigh rather than knee.
Either way, the demon went down, holding her thigh as blood gushed into the snow. She cried out and swore as well, though hers was much more accusatory than her counterparts- she was very mad about this.
At the mouth of the alley, there was a brief purple flicker, and then nothing, which Jegudiel decided to take as a good sign.
The three demons started as though to rush Jegudiel, but she immediately turned the gun on them, and they stopped. She said, voice hoarse and croaking:
“I cannot hit all of you, but I will hit one of you. Let me pass.”
They glanced at each other, weighed their options, and shuffled aside to let her through. Still braced against the wall, Jegudiel made her way past them, keeping her gun on the trio as she did.
She made it through the alley entrance without issue- shooting the barrier’s creator had apparently been enough to take it out. She turned down the sidewalk and, as soon as she was out of sight, broke into a run. She was only two blocks from the safe area she’d set up. She just had to get there before either of the leaders healed themselves up, and the clock was already ticking.
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