He lifted the trio of planks once more, craning his head at an odd angle to try to get a glimpse of the roof. The window was embarrassingly dirty, but then again, cleaning things hidden by planks of wood had been the last thing on his mind lately. Through the smears, however, he saw something. In the darkness of the cloud-smothered night, it was hard to make out its shape, but he could see its movements. And as it moved, that scritching, scratching, scraping sound clawed through the ceiling to his ears.

What the void? he wondered. It was too large to be a squirrel or a bird. Then he laughed, because of course it wasn’t one creature, but several, parading across his roof like they owned it. Well, tomorrow they’d pay for being so brazen; he’d set a dozen traps and catch them all in one fell swoop.

Except then the group of creatures came closer and a swathe of moonslight pierced a crack in the clouds, illuminating the night’s secrets. Loris’s mouth fell open as he stumbled back in horror, forgetting about the wooden planks, which whacked him in the back of the head as he slumped back, using arms and legs like a crab to retreat from the horror that now glared at him through the window. Eyes glowing like golden orbs. Long snout offering a dagger-filled sneer. Long, bristly whiskers carving at the windowpane.

Loris crashed into the inside of the door, which he’d made the mistake of closing upon entering the room. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, transfixed by the evil staring in at him, an evil that now reared its head back and then—

CRASH!

The weight of the sound and the resulting spray of shattered glass snapped him out of his trance. He fought to his feet, refusing to take his eyes off of the devastated window as he fumbled at the door’s knob behind his back.

—wood splintered, torn into a thousand ragged shreds by the claw that burst into the room.

The godsdamn door wouldn’t open, even though he was turning the knob and then he realized he was pushing instead of pulling.

—what was left of the window and the boards crashed inward, replaced by a snarling, snapping monster that found its large body wedged in the tight frame as it fought to squirm its way into the room.

Loris dragged the door open, slipping through backwards just as the nightdemon came bounding into the room, claws tearing up the bed. He slammed the door shut not a moment too soon, the barrier shivering as the creature crashed into it. Thud! Thud! Thud!

Would it hold? He dared not wait around to find out, instead running to the back stairs and taking them recklessly two at a time. When he was halfway down, he missed a step, foot catching on the edge and sending him tumbling down violently, head over heels. He landed with a painful crunch of bones breaking, pain immediately flaring from his elbow.