Kate rushed through the doors in her worn-out sneakers as she heard laughter rippling through the air as the vocalization vertebrate through the cold concrete walls, bouncing off in a shaking shrill. She saw once she entered the office building, that the elevators had bullets through them in an ugly mess.

She swung herself around in a quick motion, looking for the door that lead to the stairways. She saw the sign that lead to the stairs and raced to the door, flinging it open ungracefully, her chest tightening so much as if her alarmed emotions would squeeze her chest closed forever.

Katerina ran up the stairs, knowing she had a long way to go. She had to run up forty flights of stairs, and she didn’t let that thought slow her down. On the tenth stair, getting a little exhausted but her fearful adrenaline running through her like an addicting drug that boosted her energy, “Ricky! Demetrius!” She yelled at the top of her lungs, her voice catching in her throat and she coughed from running so hard and screaming out their names.

On the twentieth level, her heart felt like it was about to combust and she took a pause for a second to catch her breath, “Ricky! Demetrius!” Her voice begging in a direful tone, her pleading screams of her brothers to answer, reverberating up the walls.

Kate let her legs swing up the stairs once more, counting each level as she ran up. Her mind sobbed: Please, let them not be died. Was she too late?

Gunshots rang above her and her heart took a minute to stop and her brain froze as her ears peeled to hear anybody thumping on the floor. But she didn’t. Her feet carried in a speedy pace, going faster and faster, ignoring the pain throbbing in her calves as her muscles tensed.

Kate reached the thirty level, sweat soaking her shirt and jeans, her socks wet. But that was the least of her concerns. She had to continue to keep going up the stairs no matter how much her body ached for her to stop, her eyes getting dizzy.

The sixteen-year-old Katerina pushed herself in further, gasping for air as she did so. Her feet slowed down as she continued to go up the stairs, and on the last three floorings, her feet dragged behind her. Kate collapsed on the forty level, letting her lungs take in the grateful cool air and her legs feeling like they were cut off.

“Kate!” Ricky called out to her.

Kate stared up at her brother’s arms tied to the ceilings, his feet barely touching the floor, “Ricky!” She glanced a where Demetrius was, bullets were torn through him, “Demetrius!” A heartbroken cry screamed at her older brother.

Kate pushed herself up from her hands and stood up, now seeing that her brother was pale.

“Kate, behind you!” shouted Ricky.

But it was too late, just as Kate was whirling around, a gun butted against her head, and she fell to the floor, not moving, only her heavy breaths telling him she was alive.

“Leave her alone!” Ricky pleaded. He snapped his neck to his brother as he heard him groan in intolerable pain, “Demetrius, please. No dying on us. You promised not to die!”

Demetrius's limbs twitched and he let out an excruciating sigh, “Kate. I heard her. Where is she?” He tried to lift his head up to see where his beloved sister was, but his whole body was stiff from the bullets that miraculously missed his important organs.

The monster gave a sly grin, a machine gun strapped on him. He shook his head as he did a soft kick to Kate’s head, “I wonder what Lucifer would give me for her head.”

Ricky scuffed on his feet as he tried to yank on his resisting chains, but nearly felt his shoulders be pulled out of his sockets, “Don’t you touch her! I will fucking tear you apart. Don’t touch her!”

The demonic monster flickered out his pointed tongue, his black eyes mocking Ricky. He spat out, “Oh, poor Ricky Dixon. Not be able to be that younger protective brother. Going to see your siblings die in front of your very own eyes.” He walked up with a wicked grin, tapping the gun at Ricky’s face, “And there’s nothing you can do about it. What a pity.”

The demon turned the gun to Kate and then Demetrius, “Who should I kill first, Ricky? I think you should pick. We have all day to await your decision…”

Ricky growled, “No.” Sweat was trickling down his face as he stared horrified at what the demon’s next moves would be.

“Hmmm,” the demon cocked the gun back and forth, indecisively. “Maybe I should bring Kate to Lucifer so he should have the pleasure to kill her.” His eyes brightened, and I will kill you two.” He laughed, “I have your little sister watch.” He stepped back to Kate and kicked her in the gut, making her flinch, “Wake up pretty girl. I got a surprise for you.”

Kate groaned and rolled over.

“Wake up your fucking bitch,” hissed the demon, letting his leg fly to her face.

Kate’s eyes snapped up and yanked the demon’s leg to not hit her. She stood up in a flash and flung him across the room in an angry glare. Her hair was in a messy state as she got back on her feet. Kate glowered, “No one touches my brothers.” She jerked her guns from their hostlers and blazed the bullets at the demon with a smirk on her face.

After the demon was clearly dead, Kate turned back to her brothers. She ran to Demetrius, putting her guns back. Demetrius’s breath was slow and faltering fast. She pressed her fingers on his neck, feeling a barely noticeable pulse, “I got you,” her voice sobbed, but she knew she had to hold strong for all of them.

Kate stripped off her brother’s clothing until he was just in his underwear. She knew she didn’t have much time until Demetrius died and she had to pull out the bullets quickly. She whispered as she already digging her fingers into a bullet hole, going legs to head, “I’m so sorry, but this is going to hurt. But I can’t afford to lose anymore time.”

Demetrius lurched his back as Kate began on taking out the bullets from him, clutching his jaw tight in anguished exploded through him; but he could not scream to distract and prolong his sister’s procedure.

Kate muttered as she picked out the last bullet, her fingers feeling slippy from blood and slimy. She shivered for blood wasn’t her thing and her eyes blurred. She swallowed a lump of disgust as bail wanted to come up, her shirt covered in Demetrius's blood and the air stunk of iron and sweat...and fear tainted the atmosphere.

Kate put her hands on Demetrius’s chest, letting her powers course through her veins, and her eyes razed in a glorifying heavenly blaze. Demetrius’s body was healing clean and fast, but he was still a mess after he sat up and hugged his sister with a laugh that could be misread as a cry, “Kate, I can’t thank you enough.”

Kate hugged him back, tears running down her face, “I couldn’t lose you.”

Ricky cleared his throat.

Demetrius grabbed his clothing and started to put them on to as best of his abilities as his clothing was shredded

Kate lifted herself up, flames bursting in her hands. She went up on her tipsy-toes as she burned through the chains, Ricky falling down. He flung his arms over her, “Thank you.” The chains were still wrapped around his wrists as he lifted up his hands.

Kate pressed her hands against the chains, letting them dissolve, “You guys, alright?”

Demetrius shook his head, “No, there are thousands of demons here. No fucking joke. We need to get out. You got the Portable Ports?”

Ricky grabbed at his brother’s shirt. “We don’t back away from a fight. Never have. We need to kill all of them. Let no one be alive in our wake.”

“Michael’s orders were not to kill the demons, just explore the outskirts of the building!” Demetrius stated in a stammer, looking at Kate, trying to have her on his side with a look of his beseeching eyes.

Kate shrugged in a doubtful tone, “Demetrius is right, but do we want the risk to know we finally found out the demons’ hideout in San Francisco? The heroes have been looking for years and years and here it is.”

Ricky nodded and pressed, “I think Michael would understand.” He shook his arms, the feeling of being tied up for so long made his muscles hurt.

Kate looked out of the many windows shining out to the bright afternoon, “I don’t know!”

Demetrius shouted, afraid for his siblings, “They are thousands of demons here! Can’t you feel it?”

Kate didn’t have the time to sense all this demonic presence. But, now, since she had the time to catch her breath, the flooding of all the demons’ powers hit her at once. She knew without a doubt that Demetrius was not exasperating about how many demons there were. She inhaled as nerves flooded inside her, “I don’t want to leave this place with demons crawling freely, but there’s only three of us.”

“Yes, only three of us!” repeated Demetrius, “Come on, let's go!”

Ricky went over to where the dead demon lay and picked up the gun, “Fine, let’s go out gun blazing and kill as many as we can! Not all of them, but kill the idiots that come in our way.”

Demetrius motioned his hand to Kate, “But we can leave with the portable ports!”

Kate tightened her grip on her guns, “Maybe we should kill as much we can, as a threat to the villains. Not to forsake us.”

Demetrius sighed, knowing that he had been outnumbered, “Alright, Kate, hand me your guns. You have your powers.”

Kate nodded as she handed her guns to him, feeling her powers sparkle inside of her, ready for the fight awaiting them, “We don’t have to run down the stairs, let the demons come to get us.”

Demetrius and Ricky nodded in understanding. They went down the stairs cautiously at first, Kate hearing some movements near them. After moving down two flights of stairs slowly, they picked up their speed.

But only a few seconds after walking down, there was a trembling sound of lights flickering and the air seemed dense with a heavy evil that seemed to be waking up in its disturbed slumber.

“Demons!” Kate yelled, knowing that her brothers’ were right next to her. She let her powers come to her as a few demons ran up to them, already changing their shape in a slobby way, their bony wings emerging, making popping noises and eyes glistening evilly, filled with the promise of terror and destruction.

Kate blasted a burst of fireball down the stairs and disfigured screeching seconds later. She picked up her pace as she saw demons opening the door from the next flooring, shrieking at them.

Demons were running up the stairs, groups of them over-flooding the staircase.

“We need to retreat!” Demetrius called out.

Kate and Ricky didn’t argue as they blasted their way through the thirty-sixth flooring. A demon laughed with an ugly terror that sent chills down the heroes’ spines. “You think we would wait for you on that floor? We just wanted to hear your plan! We had cameras all over and heard every single fucked up plan you plotted up,” the demon chuckled with the pleasure of delivering that message.

The rest of the demons that were crowding in roared with laughter.

“Shit,” Kate exclaimed. She knew that it was strange having no demons appear to them when they talked.

Demetrius lifted up his machine and grinned, “Fuck you,” and shoot rounds with the pistols. As he shot off the bullets, the gun pounding lightly against his shoulder in an embellish blazed through the muzzle.

More demons, tons more, came their way. It was like an overfilled concert in one room, Kate, Ricky, and Demetrius were the stars, except in a deadly way.