There was only one way into her room, a well-timed jump across the newly formed hole in the floor. Blinking could work if I had something to throw, and my aim was good enough to get it inside. I cast aside all doubt, put on my no-fear face, and went to make my jump, minus the well-timed part. My possessed pursuer made it upstairs, I heard spent shells fall to the burning ground as he stepped closer to me cocking the gun. There was no time to plan anything.
Jump or die.
I jumped and soared across.
I barely made it, my legs dangled in midair while I struggled to pull my body back up inside the room as my back was left wide open for a shotgun blast. By some crazy stroke of luck, I pulled up inside and rolled away from the door as another shotgun blast fired. I found Brianna’s weapon stash, right where I left it. On fire, but still usable.
A dagger in one hand, a sword in the other, I held onto my new weapons awaiting his next move.
Thump.
He leaped across into the room. Persistent motherfucker, isn’t he?
He crept in with his weapon aimed forward as I held the blade of the dagger in my hands, took aim, and threw it. It sunk into the side of his arm causing him to yell, a lot louder than I had expected while my body blinked next to the dagger and pushed the sword up into his chest… again.
His eyes began to glow blue, his cries of pain intensified, his flesh began to melt where the two weapons had entered him. There was something about the sword and dagger that caused this reaction as his grip on the shotgun loosened. He once again became limp, hopefully this time for good. I removed the sword and gave his downed body a nice long stare down. “Had enough Lucifer?”
With his last breath he spoke. “Lucifer…? What makes you think I’m… him?”
“Then who the fuck are you?”
He replied with choking laughter, and it was goddamn annoying, so I removed his head from his body and kicked it down into the burning hole in the floor outside the bedroom. Then I took notice of the glyphs etched onto the blade of the sword, they were pulsing slowly.
Enchanted weapons, of course.
The possessed had a weakness, and it was now in my hands.
Chapter Fifteen
I gave myself a nice look in the rearview mirror as I pulled into the parking lot to the apartment where Jim’s safe house was. The hoodie I had on was slightly crispy and tattered. I’ll have to take extra care in battles like that in the future or I might find my clothes burned to a crisp. Fighting naked sure as fuck wasn’t on my list of priorities as humorous as it might seem.
I bee-lined straight into the bedroom where Emily was being held, and she didn’t look pleased to see me. With a smug grin on my face I made a nice display of the four necklaces I’d recently acquired from the bout in the house, placing them on the bed next to her. “Found these assholes inside Brianna’s place. I hope she had good insurance, I kinda burned the place down.”
She looked up and away from the four necklaces. “Was she there?”
“Ah, so you know her?”
“I wasn’t always a stray.”
“Brianna was your master then? Ironic that a demon hunter had a pet demon cat.”
“Hey now!” Emily blurted loudly. “I’m an exceptionally great thief, for me to become one, I had to have certain people take me in, thinking I was a regular cat.”
Me being one of those certain people. “So, you came into the country with her?”
She grinned. “New loot and jobs awaited me here.”
That’s when I remembered about her ability to transform back and forth from a cat and human. “There a reason you haven’t given us the slip yet?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why not just turn into a cat and escape?”
“Can’t without being able to move my hands,” she said, looking behind her back at her tied up hands. “I need to cast a special mudra to make it happen, like the rest of my ninjutsu. But I told you enough.”
“Hardly, I want to know everything.”
“Answer my previous question first, was Brianna there?”
“No, she wasn’t. Any idea where I could find her?”
“Mmm…”
“Or what exactly is this faction of Lucifer’s?”
“Ahh…”
I crossed my arms. “Okay, listen. If I was truly an evil demon, you wouldn’t be alive right now.” I pointed to the opened bathroom door which still held the two dead Russian mobsters in the bathtub. Don’t get me started on the smell of their rotting bodies. “Jim would love nothing more than to make you join those two right now. I’m paying him a lot of money to prevent that. Open your fucking eyes, I’m not your enemy and you don’t want me to be one either. I killed four people that were at that place uninvited, searching for your master.”
Emily’s tied up body fell backward onto the bed. My words seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, cat ones at that. Whatever. I spun and moved to the exit. “You’re fucking useless to me,” I said, heading to the front door. “And you’re draining my funds; I’ll have Jim do whatever he wants to you when he gets back—”
“Wait.” I stopped to hear her out. “They’re from a cult, if I remember correctly.”
I was back in the room, arms crossed, body leaning up against the side of the door frame. “Go on.”
“Those necklaces are like a uniform, a means of branding people whom are loyal to a faction lead by an Umbral demon lord, Lucifer being one of them.”
“One of them had skills just like me but didn’t seem to be able to wield them at first.”
“That’s not possible, dirty work like that is carried out by human servants. Demons are used for larger jobs with greater risks or in emergency situations.”
“He injected himself beforehand.”
Emily grimaced as her face looked up to the ceiling. “Still doesn’t make sense, unless he was possessed by a demon. But last time I checked, possession was a process that took time, what you described was instant.”
“That’s because it is instant, I witnessed it happen three times now.” The hostage at MSG, and the demon that jumped into the two bodies at Brianna’s house, there was no question about it, possession was an instant job. “What’s an Umbral?”
“The world where the demons come from and return to if you kill their host.”
“What do they want?”
“I’m just a thief, geez!”
“One that’s been around for five centuries You must have some stories to tell.”
She sat up smiling. “Untie me, and I might remember a thing, or two, or three.” I looked at her bindings, and the dried blood still on her lips and the bag of tricks she would gain access to once her hands were free to use her mudra hand gestures. “Look, the Irish mob, from what I remembered overhearing Brianna’s conversations with them, strongly believe that Lucifer and his followers are a major threat to Earth. I might be able to help you, but not while I’m like this.”
Against my better judgment, I waved my hand around Emily’s bindings; my talents activated and burned the rope away. She smiled and limped up and away from the bed, rubbing the parts of her ankles and wrists that had been tied up for days. Afterward she extended her hand to make a peace offering. A handshake.
“Thanks,” she said.
Her handshake turned into a sucker punch.
Right into my gut.
I was pissed to say the least as the pain from the hit caused me to stagger. Now free from her bindings, Emily unleashed her martial arts ability in the form of a flurry of kicks from her fancy footwork, one lucky hit crashed against the side of my head. That hurt even more.
I got up from the floor and saw her dart down the hall to the exit. My beast wanted me to burn her alive with a fireball, or two, or three. Maybe even spray her down with the flamethrower talent. It kept begging to do it, almost demanding at one point like a wild child on Christmas morning wanting to open their gifts first.
My fists became imbued with flames as I sprinted after
her, searing heat crackled furiously the closer I got to her. I was in range, and my beast told me to aim for the head, set her hair on fire, triggering panic and flailing chaos then follow up with the fatal blow.
My hands took aim.
The fireball expanded.
Then fizzled out.
I couldn’t do it, not while we were in Jim’s place. Brianna’s place burned down because of my talents, I wasn’t going to make him endure that, then there were all the other residents living in their suites, not that I cared about them or anything, but yeah, I didn’t come here to burn the whole apartment down. Besides, if things really got out of hand, and Ryan’s place no longer became an option, I may end up having to stay here myself.
I pushed my talents away along with my desire for pointless destruction and mayhem, much to the extreme disappointment of my inner beast. My burning aura vanished, my fists balled, and braced for the impact that was on its way.
Emily and I met face-to-face again and exchanged painful blows to the head and gut. If Jim was here, he’d be hollering and cheering, calling this a catfight or something. This wasn’t any catfight; this was a brawl on par with the most vicious female MMA fighters in the ring. Seriously, at one point, Emily had me pinned to the floor, drilling her fists into my face rapidly. I felt thick, warm fluids escape from the crevice of my nose, and the iron taste it had when it dripped into my lips. It was blood, my blood.
I had to use my talents to get out of that one, nothing heavy, just set her fist on fire. Instant first-degree burn, maybe second. Emily cursed and yelled as the sudden shock of pain hit her as I pushed her off my body. She wasn’t done yet. She hit the floor, spun around on it almost like a break-dancer and got to her feet, a hell of a lot faster than I did, and to think, I had the advantage.
Worst part was, my push sent her closer to the front door, yeah, I don’t think I thought that part through very well. My talents had to be called upon again. I hurled a fireball at the door, and it splashed against the handle causing it to glow red from the heat. Emily’s hand touched it seconds later, the same one I had burned.
The laughter that exited my gut helped me forget about the stinging pain on my face and the blood, still dripping from my nose. Emily staggered as she struggled to cope with the pain and then attempted to utilize her powers via her mudra. Her burned hand wasn’t up to the task, the panic and worry on her face was priceless. The playing field was level, none of us were in the position to access talents. I took advantage and lunged at her, spreading my arms apart and delivered a well-timed clothesline tackle. How she still had the strength needed to continue fighting was a mystery to me, I was almost exhausted at that point as our brawling pushed into the living room.
I had to avoid using my talents in here more so than the hall, there were a lot of things that I envisioned catching fire instantly, like the couch and lampshades. Well, maybe not so much for the lampshades as I ended up smashing them over her head. Our battle at that point became a mission to grab anything and use it as a weapon. A bookshelf was overturned, the edge of a dictionary bruised my arm, the coffee table broke in half when she picked me up and slammed me onto it. A picture frame spiraled through the air like a Frisbee, I needed to throw something to use my blink ability, and it was the closest thing to me at the time!
Our battle amidst broken glass and overturned furniture fizzled down. Emily’s lack of proper eating during her time here caught up with her, her body became sluggish, breathing deeply, dazed and confused. As for me? I’ve been smoking since I was sixteen, my lungs can only handle so much.
We both huffed and puffed, sweat mixed with blood emanated off our bodies, soiling our clothing. Yet, neither of us wanted to give in or call a truce. Emily slowly armed herself with a pillow that fell off the mangled and overturned sofa, she either had no idea it wasn’t going to do much or lacked the strength to use anything else as a weapon. I reached back and held onto the first object that came to hand, arming myself with… the other pillow. Fuck me, Jim got his wish.
Two smacks later we both caved in, realizing our conflict at that point had grown to a stalemate, and kind of silly as shown by the reluctant smiles appearing on both of our faces. We collapsed on the floor with pillows still in hand. I sat up, resting my tired back against the upside-down sofa.
“I can’t… believe… I trusted you…” I mumbled with what little energy I had.
Emily sat upright, her flushed cheeks struggled to hold back her grin while her cat ears twitched. “I can’t believe I’m still here after all that.”
I brushed my sleeve across my nose and lips, removing the buildup of blood that had collected there, I winced. “I need a drink.”
She concurred. “Aye.”
I crawled into the kitchen and briefly consider tying her back up again. The mere thought of doing that made me groan, I was in too much pain to bother. Besides, if Emily was going to try anything more, she would have already. We entered a non-verbal truce and all it took was me knocking some sense into her with a pillow fight.
Emily followed and slithered into a chair next to the kitchen table as I plucked two cans of beer out from the fridge. I placed them on the table and then noticed her eying the guns Jim left lying around at the edge of the table. I swiped my arm across the table, and the guns hit the floor with multiple clattering sounds, reminding her of our truce.
I cracked open my can first. “You’re in here because I need a drinking partner.”
She did the same and chugged half of it in one gulp. “Guess I’m your prisoner a wee bit longer, eh?”
“I’m going after Lucifer, Lexi, and the people that made me what I am,” I paused and enjoyed the cold fizzing beverage as it went into my body. I felt better already. “It would be in your best interests to tag along for the ride.”
“I don’t know about that, I just wanted to get paid and move on to an important journey.”
“Such as?”
“Nothing you need to be worried about.”
“I’ve been in Lexi’s place; she’s got some nice expensive things. If she doesn’t pay you, just help yourself to something she has to make up for it.” Emily snorted as I said that and drank some more. “You know it’s true, something valuable is bound to turn up. Stick with me and you might end up ahead.”
“Or dead.” The bottom of her beer can slammed into the surface of the table. “But…” She stared at the can, slowly turning it with her burnt hand. “I’m a bit worried about Brianna, especially now that her place went up in smoke.”
“And you were staying there as her pet cat.” I chuckled. “You have no home now.”
“I can survive as a stray… but I’d rather not have to if I could avoid it. Oh fine, I will accept a ceasefire.”
She held the beer can up before her face. I did the same with my can and we said cheers, followed by a chug contest. I lost, and demanded a rematch, one she was game for. Two new cans of beer plopped onto the table.
Jim returned an hour later, or was it three? Neither of us could remember how long it had been nor remember how the two of us ended up on the floor laughing hysterically, slurring our speech in the process. Jim didn’t seem to pay any mind to the damage done to his safe house, or the fact we littered the floor of the kitchen with empty beer cans and bottles.
“Jimmy!” I called out to him as my head wobbled about. “Guess what we did!”
He shrugged. “I really don’t want to know.”
“You sure?”
“If you two were butt naked I would have assumed I missed an awesome show, but you’re not.” Jim shut the door behind him and examined the door handle closely. “I won’t even ask why this is partially melted.”
I aimed both my index fingers at him, but like my head, they also wobbled around. Eventually they ended up aimed more toward the ceiling than him. “No need to uh, look after her anymore.”
“Thank Christ,” Jim said as he went to hang his jacket up on the coat hanger. Only it was tossed across the li
ving room during our brawl. He groaned and went for the closet instead.
“I’ll pay for that,” I offered. “Your hospital bills too. All the damaged stuff.”
Jim joined us in the kitchen, we both laughed and climbed back into our chairs. Jim held his hand out to me and said one word. “Beer.”
I winced. “Fuck do I have to replace that too?”
“I mean I need one after what I’ve gone through and came home to… yeah.”
Chapter Sixteen
I parked my captured Russian mobster car next to the Starbucks Gabe and I had visited not long ago. I looked at my appearance in the rearview mirror, and barely recognized the face that reflected back. Long black hair, hipster, rose-tinted glasses, grey beanie hat, and a thick fall coat. On the outside it had not Reika Araya written all over it.
Google maps app had loaded on my phone and confirmed that the hospital wasn’t far away, and therefore if the good doctor was a creature of habit, he might swing by for his Starbucks coffee fix. I killed the engine of the car, sat, and waited… resisting the urge to scratch an itch on my head. I didn’t want to loosen the wig and kill my undercover look.
I reclined and watched dozens of patrons enter and leave the cafe, none of them fitting the description of him. It being a freezing day didn’t help since everyone had bundled up; the forecast had announced a chance of snow. I had to look very closely past scarf, hat, or hood of their coat to see who was who. The coldness from the outside world slowly began to overtake the warmth that was once inside the car. Using my talents to heat my body up was a no-go, couldn’t risk a random passerby seeing tiny flames burning off my body, and if Schubert saw it? Fuck, hidden appearance or not he’d know it was me.
My vision shifted to the ceiling when my stakeout entered its third hour. I considered giving up and trying again another day, after all it might be his off day, or perhaps I just missed him as I arrived. Then there was Ryan, damn it. I was playing the role of a terrible girlfriend once again. Didn’t call or text to inform him what I was up to, if I was safe, or check in with him to see if he was doing good. I blame my beast for that; it always had a way of whispering ideas into my head that seem like good ones, like neglecting Ryan—
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