Wrath of the Demon Girl

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Emily’s moves were swift and elegant as we fought on the frozen surface of the pool. The element of wind made her body move as if it carried her. She twirled, somersaulted, and dodged the thrusts and slashes of our frozen weapons, and the attacks Asmodeus divided between us. The frozen pool became a battle royal between the three of us.

  “Emily, why do you insist on interrupting?” we groaned as our dual wielding weapons clashed repeatedly. “We share the same enemy.”

  “I need Asmodeus alive,” Emily shouted as lightning bolts from her kunai arched and nearly struck us. “He still has Vladimir’s memories!”

  We rolled away from another lightning bolt seconds after Emily made the mudra gesture to create one. “You believe he will give up the fate of your father?”

  “I have to try!”

  No further words were spoken. We had no use for demons that showed aggression to us. Emily and Asmodeus, they both needed to be made an example of to those in the Umbral. Our three-way fight continued, as the Rusalka in the adjacent pools watched in awe.

  As formidable an opponent as Emily was, she had a weakness. Ninjutsu required one’s hands to be free to form the right gestures and signs. We froze the air around her when she stopped to perform a new mudra, numbing her hands and wrists, bringing anger and frustration into her thoughts. We cupped our hands together and produced a fierce water jet that slammed into Emily as she stood distracted that her ninjutsu attempt had failed. The force of the water jet sent her airborne, crashing into the rafters.

  It would be sometime before she was a problem again, assuming she was even conscious. Our battle returned to us and Asmodeus, who laughed as if we were a form of entertainment. “What are you laughing at?” we asked as he came to face us.

  “Belyana’s summoning powers are temporary with the exception of the Rusalka,” Asmodeus said. “Reika will we retake control of her body soon.”

  “We are in control!”

  Asmodeus hurled six fireballs at us. We were left with no choice but to retreat behind a glacial shield that lifted ahead of us. The fireballs crashed and withered away while a tiny plume of steam rose from our glacial shield.

  “Who are we?” Asmodeus said as he creeped behind a newly formed glacial shield as his attunement switched to water.

  “Lilith and Reika, we are one.”

  “Dual control? That’s impossible!”

  “You forget Reika was a product of Schubert’s experiments,” we yelled, leaping from our cover, ready to continue our icy blade dance. “This body is different!”

  As predicted, Asmodeus relied on fire magic for offence, and water to protect him as we remained committed to fighting using water magic. The fear in his movements and in the tone of his voice meant he wouldn’t think about the consequences of his actions. Fire may have been susceptible to water, but it was still able to do damage to it. The flames that smothered his body when he attuned to fire melted the ice below him slowly as a result.

  The ice eventually gave way when he attempted to use a flamethrower when we closed the distance. He plunged into the depths of the pool. We held our hand above the hole that had cracked and melted, forcing it to freeze and seal up. His drowning body was trapped, and the flames that covered his body should be put out, along with his ability to use magic.

  With Asmodeus dealt with, we strode away from the pool to claim our prize, Belyana the summoner, a prize stolen from Asmodeus. We confronted her as she knelt attending the wounds of a man that had been shot, resting in a pool of his own blood. Belyana faced us, her face was pale and had become paralyzed with fear, as her hands were still shaking with the tome she held onto.

  We smirked at Belyana while our frozen hand stroked through her hair. She flinched as we said, “We have come to collect our payment, a loyal servant, the first of many for my new faction.”

  Belyana fell over on her bottom, crawling backwards as we approached, not caring that she had dropped her tome. We stopped, having caught a glimpse of the fallen man . . . it was Jim.

  This was the man Reika had entrusted with the contaminated blood last fall. He knew where it was being held, and he had access to it. And he was bleeding. We put an end to our elemental powers for the time being, exposing our naked body and reached down grabbing hold of Belyana’s tome. The dagger bookmark was still dangling on it.

  We took the blade and slit a swathe across our left hand. Blood dripped away profusely from the gash, contaminated blood that flowed through Reika’s veins, contaminated blood Lilith while in control of Lexi’s body, provided her.

  Our foot kicked Jim onto his back. He was still breathing, barely, but still alive. Reika failed in contaminating his soul when we tried to tempt her into bedding him. It was time to rectify that.

  We stood above him, and squeezed hard on the cut on our hand, forcing a surge of blood to rise out of the wound while positioning the hand above one of his gunshot wounds. We allowed the flames to envelop our body again. It would be a welcoming sight for Samael once he took control of Jim’s body, after we contaminate it with our blood. With Samael in possession of Jim, he would willfully direct us to where Jim had the blood stowed away—

  Someone rose from the pool behind where we stood. Their large arms grabbed us from behind, dragging us back under with them. Our flames were doused instantly because of the water of the pool. Umbral energy was automatically spent rapidly to replenish the flames with no results. Fire can’t exist in water. The Umbral energy within us, as plentiful as it was, drained instantly trying to ignite the flames. Switching to other element attunements had no effect as a result. The Umbral energy within us was gone and needed to be replenished.

  Our magic was gone, we were drowning.

  Asmodeus’ body was surrounded by beads of ice. He must have slipped into his water elemental attunement seconds before falling into the pool. Had we done the same, we’d still have access to magic, more importantly the element of water. One can’t drown while attuned to it. Asmodeus had the advantage, one we gave to him without realizing.

  Our wrestling bodies fell to the bottom of the darkened pool. Air bubbles raced away from our mouth because of the struggle as the Rusalka swam over to watch, their glowing yellow eyes filled with sorrow. They knew the fate all succubi faced in the Umbral and knew, should Reika’s body die, Lilith would be forced to return. They knew we were the only succubus that stood a chance at liberating them and wouldn’t force them into the life of a pleasure slave, much like what Asmodeus had planned for them on Earth.

  They knew they had to help us.

  We pointed to the katana in the distance. It belonged to Reika and had been kicked down here earlier. A group of Rusalka floundered to it, while we used what little strength we had left in our body to spin Asmodeus back around. He needed to not see what was coming.

  Our lungs filled up with the choking water around us, as Asmodeus tightened his grip on our body. He felt in control, we even heard his water-filled laughter when our body became limp due to the lack of oxygen. He released his hold on us, convinced he’d won. Then came the stab from behind and the tip of the katana exited from the front of his chest, clouding the waters around us red with his blood.

  Asmodeus’ movements ceased, as with his elemental veil, he was dead. Rather, his host was, the katana wasn’t enchanted after all. Asmodeus’ soul once again returned to the Umbral and awaited a new host to possess and come back and finish the job.

  If that was even necessary, we blacked out.

  I woke up feeling like I had one too many drinks, coughing up water and chlorine. Emily was above me, backing away after what I could only guess was her performing chest compressions on me. CPR, me coughing up water and a pool behind me, I guess I nearly drowned, though I had no memory as to why.

  I went to sit while the early morning sunrise lifted from the horizon. I winced . . . I was butt naked showing off the entirety of my Yakuza tattoos. It wouldn’t have been that big of a deal if it weren’t for the fact that the NYPD and vario
us paramedics were scurrying around. Gabe was among the cops there, understandable, as this was a straight-up paranormal incident. He offered me a blanket to cover up with, the same one the girls who had been Rusalka the previous night had on.

  Emily swiftly jammed one of her kunai to my neck. I politely told her. “Get fucked . . .”

  She yanked the weapon back. “Okay, sounds like the real Reika to me.”

  Standing up gave me a better view of the chaos as the NYPD and Gabe’s paranormal team went to work. “What the hell happened?”

  Belyana stood next to me, a look of regret plastered all over her face. “I summoned Lilith into your body.”

  “Why?”

  “I made a pact with her to help me, as you can see, it worked . . . kind of.”

  “Why am I not possessed now?”

  “Technically, you were dead until I revived you,” Emily said. “It must have forced Lilith from your body—”

  “Oh fuck!” I looked back at the blood pool where Jim’s body had been lying in. “Jim, is he?”

  “He’s going to be fine,” Gabe said. “Paramedics said the bullets didn’t hit anything major.”

  I was fine with that, though it put Jim and I in a tough spot as questions would be asked as to why he was here. Hopefully, none of that would lead to a follow-up investigation that would discover Jim’s life as a fixer. Though, with the Russians that were after him dead, I doubted it.

  Besides . . .

  I took a look at the pool with Asmodeus body floating on top, clouding it with his blood, contaminated blood at that. It was visual proof that Gabe was going to be busy for a while, way too busy to poke around in Jim’s business.

  “So . . .” Emily said, nudging me with her elbow. “Fifty percent, you know I’m worth it.”

  Epilogue

  Needless to say, the New York Aquarium remained closed for a few days to decontaminate it. Thanks to Charles, all the girls possessed by the Rusalka had been given the serum and showed no further signs of changing when midnight hit, much like Belyana, who finally, was reunited with her mother, complete with tears and hugging. I’d shed a tear or two as well if I remembered how.

  They invited me inside to express their thanks for all the hard work I put in. Shit, I just wanted to get paid and move on. It had been a real stressful week, booze, pizza, and Netflix were in order.

  Prior to me taking my leave, Belyana invited me into her room, you know the one with all the fucked-up demonic scribbling on the walls. I stood at the door, eyeing it as she went to place her summoning tome back on her nightstand.

  She pointed at writing on the wall before her. “I would spend hours in here honing my ability to summon and commune with the demons from the Umbral,” she said. “One night, I made a prayer, and Lilith replied. She offered me a way to rid myself of the Rusalka within me, provided I followed her instructions.”

  “Would go clubbing be one of those instructions?”

  Smiling, she flicked back her hair obscuring the right half of her face. “Lilith told me my savior would arrive in the club that night. I just needed to awaken her when she did.”

  Come to think of it, after Belyana had touched me on her way out from the washroom of that club I heard Lexi . . . rather Lilith’s voice whisper sweet nothings into my head. It was the first of several moments when she appeared or spoke to me.

  “That was your doing?”

  “Believe me; I had no idea all this was going to happen. Lilith made it sound like a simple plan to help me. But she should be gone now with the exception of fleeting voices in your head that should fade over time. Though, I admit, I wasn’t expecting her to have such control over you.”

  “Do me a favor,” I said, heading for the exit. “Burn that book.”

  “Leaving already?”

  “Got stuff to do.”

  She held my hand in a please-don’t-go manner. “My mother is making Pelmeni tonight. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if you stayed for dinner.”

  “Another time perhaps.”

  I continued walking, creating an expanding rift between us. I wasn’t sure how she took my decision, since I kept my face forward toward the staircase.

  “Yo, Jim.”

  Jim turned away from the window he was looking out as he rested and recovered on the hospital bed. He looked rough, but was getting the treatment he needed, and the lack of cops guarding his room suggested they were none the wiser about who he really was. I tossed him some flowers and some card I picked up from the store. They both landed into his lap as he sat up.

  “Uh, this isn’t like you, Reika,” Jim said, reading the card.

  “I think this is what people do, right? Send flowers and get well cards to people recovering. I dunno, nobody ever visited me when I got shot.”

  “I did, and so did Lexi.” Yeah, and we all know what went down afterward. “So, about the other night . . .”

  “There’s a lot of things that happened ‘the other night’ this week. Which night exactly?”

  “The one where you gave me a hand job.”

  “Oh . . . right.” I flushed instantly. “Listen, I—”

  “I understand, Reika, don’t worry. We should keep things professional between us, you and I . . . it just wouldn’t work, as you can tell.”

  “Yeah . . . that’s right,” I said, wincing.

  “That’s what you were going to say right? I did cut you off.”

  “It was.” No, it wasn’t.

  But he was right about one thing, it wouldn’t work. Not because of what he did for a living, but because of who I was. Twice Jim came close to having his soul contaminated because of me. The two of us getting close would turn him into another Ryan, until Charles figured out how to make a serum that can truly cleanse a contaminated soul with the goods I sent him. Jim and I could only look at each other with lust, play out a fantasy that would make our heads drenched with sweat, then walk away.

  Walking away is exactly what I did a minute later—

  “Her name was Joanne, by the way,” Jim called out to me before I was out of sight. “The woman that walked away from my life, that was her name.”

  I turned and faced him again. “So, I was right?”

  “Yeah, you were. I made her a promise I’d stop, and then broke it when a high-paying client contacted me—”

  “Stop the sappy story, Jim, negativity isn’t going to help with your recovery, get some rest.” After ten seconds of hesitation, I added. “I might be back tomorrow for a visit.”

  Jim made a half-smile. “I’d like that.”

  We remained still, gazing at each other, wondering what was going through each other’s minds. Wondering what kind of future the two of us could have had, if things had been different, and what kind of future awaited us now, given the choices we made that brought us to this very moment.

  I smiled at him, a real one at that, and took my leave, exiting the hospital and entering my car, with Emily impatiently sitting with her arms folded, and her face avoiding mine.

  She was still pissed about losing Vladimir.

  “So, are we good?” I asked her.

  She shrugged, keeping her gaze looking out the passenger-side window. “I guess.”

  “Asmodeus isn’t dead; he just doesn’t have a host.” I figured I’d say something encouraging, may as well since I’ve been doing the whole nice girl act all day. “He’s still got Vladimir’s memories; we’re just going to have to keep an eye out for his return.”

  “Is that supposed to comfort me?”

  “No, but the bottle of Tequila in the back seat can.” I gestured to the brown paper bag in the back with three bottles of booze waiting to be cracked open. Emily tried her best to hold back a smile, but one came out seconds later as I fired up the engine of my car.

  I wasn’t sure how long that smile would last though. Emily was close to finding the answers to the burning questions she had in life, only for it to be taken away into the world of the Umbral from a demon that had no hos
t. I could sympathize with her, as I too was in the same spot. Lilith was the one that possessed Lexi, yet she was killed by an enchanted weapon. How the hell did she survive? Why did it take me nearly drowning for her to leave my body, when summoned demons can only remain in a host a short period of time according to Belyana? Like Emily, the answers to my burning questions were in the hands of a demon stuck in another world. As selfish as it sounds, what we both wanted was said demons to return and take a new host, so that we could subdue and interrogate them.

  I made sure to save Belyana’s phone number, since something told me the two of us were going to require her summoning abilities again in the future. My phone rang before I could put it away, unknown name and caller. I figured what the hell and picked up.

  “Hello, this is Araya Paranormal Investigations, right?” the person on the other end asked.

  “Yep, that’s me.”

  “Okay sweet, I was wondering if I could hire you to help me with something?”

  “What’s troubling you?”

  “My goldfish . . . I think it’s possessed. Can you look into it?”

  I need to start upping my rates, especially since I’m now giving Emily fifty percent.

  I hope she doesn’t make me regret it.

  Next time on Contaminated Souls.

  Reika’s past comes back to haunt her when the Yakuza shows up. They aren’t pleased with the mob war being waged between them and the Russians, or the fact demons and Reika were involved in triggering it. Reika’s only way out of this mess? Solving the murder of a Yakuza member, where every suspect is a demon.

  Awakening of the Demon Girl: Click here and read it today.

  Afterword

  Hello everyone, thanks for reading. I hope you’re enjoying the series so far, as there’s a lot more coming your way in the future. As always, I’d love to hear what your thoughts are. Like it? Hate it? Please leave a review!