Jake raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “Seriously, rat? There’s nothing left on those bones for you.”
But the rodent crawled along the spine, all the way into the skull, eventually exiting through the skeleton’s open jaws. Its reddish gaze never looked away from Jake. It’s thin body, black as tar, seemed to pour out of the dead man’s mouth, and now that Jake saw all of the animal, he was coming to realize that it had wings. But how could a bat have gotten in there? How had it survived locked under the floor? Maybe it had followed him in and he hadn’t noticed it crawl into the hidden chamber?
He rolled his eyes, because he didn’t have the heart to lock the poor thing in and let it starve. “Come on, I don’t have all day for this. Come out. Don’t make me go down there to get you.” Jake gestured with his hand, even though the bat couldn’t possibly understand him.
Or so he thought, because once Jake put down his flashlight, the tiny thing spread its webbed wings and floated into the air. It clashed with the bars, making Jake lean back in surprise, its claws and the hooks at the tips of its wings clanking against metal in a desperate attempt to hold on.
Jake hid his hand in the sleeve of the leather jacket he was wearing over the hoodie and extended it above the metal bars to help the little fellow. “Almost there…” he said when the bat grabbed his arm with its claws.
Jake pulled his arm up once the creature passed through the bars, but the longer he stared at the animal, the less he understood its anatomy.
Bats had wings attached to what was effectively their arms, and this thing looked more like a tiny, winged monkey than a rat. Once Jake stood up with it clinging to his arm, it made the ugliest hiss, showing off its needle-like teeth.
“Off! Go on, shoo!” Jake hissed back at it and tried to shake it off now that it was safely out of the cage.
With the only source of light remaining on the floor, the animal was a shadow with burning red eyes. Should they be even glinting like this in the dark, with no light coming its way? The moment he made the effort to shake the thing off with all his strength, it made a dash at his face, maneuvering past Jake’s hand with a wild screech.
Jake screamed, but the sound was cut short when his mouth suddenly filled with stone-cold flesh. The hooks on the creature’s wings dug under his jaw, causing pain so sharp his legs gave from under him, and he fell to the dusty rug. Hands grabbing at the animal, he pulled on it hard, but it was like peeling skin off his own head at this point. The thing pushed on, forcing Jake’s jaws open with its girth. He bit down hard, desperate to free his windpipe, but instead of crushing bones or drawing blood, an ache spread up his tooth, as if it were his own bone that cracked.
He twisted on the floor, and he must have pushed at the flashlight with his foot, because the yellow glow was sent spiraling around him. The empty eyes of Fane’s victim watched him from the cage, huge, lipless grin in place.
Desperate to free himself of the creature, Jake kept his jaws tight on the stone-like flesh, and soon enough the sharp claws released his skin, but when Jake got bold enough to breathe again through his nose, the thing crawled in deeper, poking its head at his throat as if the only place it could think of hiding in was Jake’s rib cage.
Jake rolled to his back and grabbed the bat again, trying to squeeze and twist its flesh, only to hurt his palms on the rough hard scales.
He could no longer breathe.
Hot tears streaked down his face when the pressure inside made him gag, but then the skin of the creature gave, becoming soft as rotting flesh. Jake fought his disgust, biting down and desperate to kill the creature when the flaccid flesh exploded with liquid straight into his throat. Thick as tar, it flooded his windpipe and drizzled down his chin.
His body heavy and weakened from the lack of oxygen, Jake slumped to the floor, desperate only to breathe at this point. The moment he managed to inhale through his nose, the thick goo that had spilled out the corners of his mouth before shot up his chin and sank into his nostrils.
Jake thrashed in clouds of dust while the shadows watched him from the walls. He grabbed at his face, wanting to wipe off the choking liquid that vaguely smelled of sulphur, but there was nothing there. Nothing on the floor, nothing on his face, not a sound anywhere around but his own heaving.