“Naughty, naughty!” crowed Hillock. His hair was even longer as a demon, and threatened to cover the startlingly ugly face that had resulted from his transformation. “I swear, Blancard’s gonna wish he was here for this one. He really doesn’t like you, kid.”

“Really,” said Mabb. Unlike Hillock, Mabb had gotten better- looking as a demon. His skin was a dark gold.

“We should take him to Cole,” Hillock said. “Kill him in front of him.”

“Cole’s in his panic room,” Mabb reminded him. “We could video it. What do you think?”

“No, asshole,” Hillock said. “Remember the rules. No videos. No pictures. We can’t tell anyone about tonight.”

“Shit, yeah. Okay then, we’ll just kill the little turd here and go back for Cunningham and his friends. Give them what’s coming to them.”

They closed in and Austin stood, breathing hard, and raised the gun.

Hillock laughed. “Holy crap! Check it out!”

“Is that a silencer?” said Mabb. “He’s got a silencer on it! That’s so cool!”

“Now we’re definitely going back to Cunningham. Take that with us, walk right up to him, shoot him between the horns. Nobody, and I mean nobody, does to us what they did. Nobody.”

Mabb nodded. “We’ll give them something to laugh about. We’ll see who the big man is when we’re done with them. Vengeance is sweet. Give us the gun, shit-for-brains.”

“Stop,” said Austin. “Stop or I’ll … just stop …”

“Bet you can’t even fire that thing,” Hillock said. “Bet you can’t even pull the trigger.”

“I will,” Austin said, gritting his teeth. “I’ll shoot you.”

“Then go ahead,” said Hillock. “Shoot us. I dare you.”

The gun was heavy, and trembled in Austin’s hands. Still, he didn’t let it drop.

Mabb and Hillock laughed again, and stepped forward, and Austin yanked hard on the trigger. He expected a pffft, like in the video games, but the silenced pistol snapped loudly and bucked in his hands.

“Jesus!” Mabb yelled, his eyes wide while his hands clutched at his belly. “He shot me!”

Mabb staggered back and Hillock followed, pulling Mabb’s hands away so he could see the wound for himself. Austin didn’t know what to say. He fought hard against an overwhelming urge to apologise.

“Well, holy crap,” said Hillock. “You did it. You actually did it.”

“I’m gonna kill you!” Mabb howled, but was too busy being in pain to attempt it.

“I didn’t think you’d do it,” said Hillock. “Didn’t think you had the balls. Cole always says you’re a chickenshit little runt, but wait till he hears about this.”

“He won’t,” Austin said. “He’s dead.”

Mabb stopped howling, and Hillock raised his eyebrows. “What’s that?”

“Cole’s dead,” said Austin, speaking louder this time. “And, if you’re not careful, you’ll be dead, too. You better leave me alone.”