Though her eyes were half closed, she managed to croak: ‘I’m too busy to die.’

‘No dying for you. Not yet,’ replied Crunch. ‘We kill you slow and painful, won’t we brother?’ The demon stopped to listen and his mouth quivered with concern. ‘Brother?’ Letting go of the woman’s leg, Crunch squatted down to touch Eyesore’s face, his fingers only inches from Sa-at’s.

The tanzanite was coming loose now but he had to slide it slowly or risk losing purchase.

‘Brother?’

Crunch’s hand came to rest over Eyesore’s upper eye. It brushed against the unmoving lashes for a moment, then began to shake. In his other hand, the woman began to shake too, her breath coming out in a stuttering gurgle.

The top of the Tanzanite was visible now as it slid free.

‘What’s this?’ rasped Crunch as the light from the gem hissed on his skin. He turned his head towards Sa-at who kept very still, not even daring to breathe, though the air was starting to burn in his lungs.

The demon’s tongue flapped in front of him, tasting and probing, spattering Sa-at’s cheeks with flecks of heavy phlegm. Then, Crunch’s hand moved swiftly, unerringly, to find Sa-at’s throat. ‘Got you!’

The demon stood again, taking Sa-at with him. The tanzanite shard was still in his hand, still glowing. He pulled back his arm and then swung the shard towards Crunch’s face.

The gemstone struck the demon square in the teeth and shattered, the larger chunks spraying in all directions, the smaller ones expanding out in a shimmering cloud.

Crunch coughed and then pulled Sa-at close. ‘Now for the grinding and the hurting and the chewing and the savouring.’ Where the fragments of tanzanite had embedded themselves in Crunch’s gums and lips, thin plumes of smoke began to appear. ‘Ahh! What’s this? Ahhhhh!’

A fire was starting in Crunch’s mouth. He dropped his prey and screamed, pressing his hands against his face, before letting go and screaming again. Sa-at watched, horrified, hypnotized, as the demon jumped up and down batting at the flames.

‘Ahhh! Ahhhh!’ he screamed, and again, ‘Aaahhhgh!’

The next moment Crunch was fleeing into the forest, his howls of pain captured by the leaves and spread from one tree to another, making it sound as if a screeching army were fleeing in all directions.

And then, all of a sudden, it was quiet again, the howls shutting off abruptly, as if swallowed by some great beast.

Sa-at wrapped his arms around himself and shivered.

Eyesore’s body remained nearby, as did the woman’s. He knew the first was dead but he wasn’t so sure about the second. A quick check revealed she was still breathing, although her neck and face were swollen. He was about to try and wake her when he stopped.