“Oh shit!” I yelled to myself.
The corner of my eye caught it, beige coat, old balding German man, Schubert. He left the cafe with his drink in hand. I didn’t notice his old ass step in. Thank God I saw him exit. I turned the key in the ignition and the aged car struggled to start in the chilly weather. I merged into the traffic while I kept an eye on Schubert as he walked away to where he had parked. He didn’t appear to be scared or paranoid. Good, he was oblivious that I was following him to his destination, wherever the fuck that would be, it wasn’t the hospital that’s for sure.
I kept following him, not too far behind of course. As far as he was concerned I was just a random person that happened to have a similar destination to him. He lifted his phone to his ear as he drove. Tsk-tsk, that phone call would only distract you from your surroundings, like your former patient following you. Unless of course he knew he was being followed and was calling for assistance, in which case I was fucked and driving right into an ambush.
His car came to a stop at the blood donor clinic where he hastily exited his car with his coffee and a large bag strapped across his shoulders. Then he vanished into the interior of the building. I considered following him at first, but that might have drawn too much attention to myself. A car that followed you from Starbucks to here and then the driver exits behind? That’s hardly a coincidence at that point.
I pulled into the parking lot a minute or so after he vanished, then exited into the cold frigid world. I found his car and stepped over to it while my hand held onto my phone, and my thumbs activated its internal camera.
I snapped a few good pictures of his license plate, the car itself from multiple angles, and its interior, though there didn’t seem to be anything of interest inside. I thumbed a text message to Gabe with an attachment of the license plate photo, hopefully his detective skills will find something useful.
My footsteps clicked as I moved toward the front door to the clinic, I figured enough time had passed since he entered for me to make my appearance. I saw a whole lot of nothing interesting as I entered, just the usual receptionists speaking to eager donors, a lineup of them at that. Understandable given all the PSA running on TV in the aftermath of the quake, a lot of folks got banged up and were recovering in the hospital.
I stepped around inside for another five minutes but saw no signs of Schubert. I figured he was deep inside of the clinic, probably attending to a second job he had. I cringed at what that job might entail. If his handiwork created me and my talents, what else could he be up to here?
My text ringtone whistled. Gabe replying I assumed and took my leave, there was nothing else for me to do here. I pulled out my phone as I exited, Gabe didn’t reply. The message was from Ryan, asking what had become of me.
I bit my lip while the feeling of guilt swarmed inside my chest. I shot him a reply that I’d be back soon and got into my captured car to return to Hell’s Kitchen. There’s a problem if you’re more excited to see a text message from a man you’re not dating. I needed to fix said problem, otherwise why am I fucking Ryan and stringing his poor heart along?
I returned to Ryan’s place and promptly ditched the glasses and wig as I entered; the fewer questions he had about what I’ve been up to, the better. On that note, I buried my katana and enchanted sword I took from Brianna’s burning house deep inside his darkened main hallway closet. The TV was on, but nobody was watching it, strange. I was under the impression Ryan was home chilling out, however after calling his name and searching around he was nowhere to be found. I shot him a text asking what had become of him, you know, like a good caring girlfriend would do. Right?
Two minutes later, no reply, he was probably getting his cock sucked by some girl with bigger tits than me, fed up that I hadn’t been in contact. Leave it to me to squander a good chance to be with a man that wasn’t into gangs, or drugs, or both. At least that’s what my beast told me.
I pulled up a seat at his computer desk and munched on some leftover pizzas I found when rummaging through his freezer. May as well do some research with it, the phone Jim lent me was an older one, the web browser was hella slow, Ryan’s computer however was not.
Google gifted me some interesting links regarding Lexi and her time at the hospital. Lexi had severe anemia, her vegan diet didn’t help as she wasn’t getting enough iron in her system. She needed a blood transfusion as a means of treatment in preparation for her concert. A news article loaded that talked about Lexi visiting people in the hospital to help boost their spirits as they recovered or waited on whatever treatment they needed, one of those folks, of course, was me.
Hold up.
I backtracked with my searches and noted the connections I missed. Lexi was at the hospital the same time I was, this part I knew. My surgery needed a blood transfusion and Lexi’s treatment also required one. Schubert works at the hospital and was the doctor that tended to me, and I just saw him head to the blood donor clinic for whatever reason.
Blood transfusion was the link, Schubert was up to something that involved that. And that something resulted in my talents developing and Lexi becoming possessed by a succubus. No, wait, the other way around. Lexi, I’m sure, underwent the transfusion first, she mentioned that when she visited me when I was doped up at the time. Lexi seems to have been aware of my existence before the concert and our meet up at her place. Whatever happened to Lexi at the hospital must have resulted in her getting possessed, and then in turn she came to visit me.
Then I went into surgery and came out as the freak that I am now.
Then there’s the mysterious demon hunter Brianna and her contacts feeding her information about what was going on, contacts that had to go into hiding because they got discovered. Schubert wasn’t working alone.
My phone came into my hands as I dialed Jim’s number right away. The tone rang and rang, until his voice message kicked in. I tried again to call, same results, ended up settling for a text message. I needed to get a hold of him and Emily as a new game plan formed in my head. Hire Jim to stalk Schubert while Emily and I worked together to solve this, perhaps find out what became of Brianna and her contacts as they might lead us to more answers.
Nightfall had arrived, turning New York into the bright city it was known for. There wasn’t much else for me to do on my end, Gabe got my text, not sure what the fuck happened to Ryan, and I was waiting on Jim to get back to me. My plans required said parties to act and get back to me, and so I ended the night with a quick shower and bed rest. Hopefully my phone will be loaded with new message notifications from everyone when I awoke.
Chapter Seventeen
My eyelids slid open as morning sunlight illuminated the bedroom. I heard sounds clang and sizzle from the kitchen as a faucet gushed water briefly, Ryan was home. I leaned over and saw the flashing light on my phone pulse. New messages awaited me.
I sat up—naked—and slid my fingers across the screen to see what messages awaited me. Gabe was one of them. I smiled, and then frowned as I remembered my guilty thoughts last night. Gabe’s message excited me, Ryan being back didn’t. I put the phone down and put on a bathrobe and joined him in the kitchen.
Ryan was diligently preparing breakfast; the aroma of scrambled eggs and bacon was alluring. He wore a tank top and jeans as he managed the two frying pans before him. “Hey, missed you last night,” I said while taking a seat.
“Yeah sorry about that, forgot to mention I was going to a bar to watch the football game.” All right, so we both sucked at communication, I can live with that. “What have you been up to…? Or should I bother to ask?”
“I have a feeling my recent problems are going to be ending soon.”
“Good to know.” He smiled and nodded then returned to the pans. “Breakfast will be ready soon if you want to take a quick smoke now.”
A quick smoke, not a bad idea. I grabbed my phone and smokes and stood on his balcony as the cold, morning air touched my naked body from underneath the robe, my legs, thighs, and br
easts reacted accordingly. I looked at Gabe’s message, it was two words, ‘call me.’ I exhaled a massive white wave of smoke and mist, then looked back inside. Ryan’s hands were still in control of pans and spatulas. My window of opportunity to speak with Gabe without him overhearing was small.
Gabe’s voice came from the phone as I put it to my ear. “Please tell me you have something good,” I said to him in a low-key manner.
“An address the plate is registered with, I’m going to check it out,” he said, and mentioned the approximate location of where Schubert’s home was located.
I tilted my head back to double-check on Ryan’s status, still in the kitchen, good boy. “Anything you need me to do?” I puffed my smoke some more, releasing another cloud of mist from my lips.
“You’ve done enough. I think I can muster enough time to investigate this without turning any heads.”
“If you say so—”
I felt the warm touch of Ryan’s hands slide down my hips. I wasn’t expecting that, nor for him to sneak up behind me like that. I’m surprised I didn’t react and elbow him, mistaking him for one of my attackers. After all, I’ve had quite a few people sneak up behind me as of late.
I took in more of the nicotine goodness of my cigarette and grimaced, knowing that the other details I wanted to share with Gabe would have to wait until later. “Okay, I gotta go,” I said and ended the call promptly.
Ryan’s timing was bad, but his touch made my thighs jiggle with excitement, we were still good in his eyes. I faced him with a smile while lowering my cigarette. “Come get breakfast,” he said.
I ended the half-smoked cigarette and joined him at the dinner table. A nice warm filling meal to start the day, I could get used to this, all I needed to do was take care of Schubert and these demons and my problems were over. Which reminded me, Jim never replied to my text, an odd thing for him, he was a businessman after all and I had a job that was going to fill his pockets with money. I made a mental note to travel to his safe house later in the day.
I cleared my plate of all things delicious save for one slice of bacon as Ryan left to turn the TV on to watch the news. My eyebrow rose, Ryan and the news, it wasn’t something he typically watched and as I recalled, the news was playing last night when I had arrived.
“The news?” I said to him as he sat down and watched. “Since when did you care what was happening to the country and the rest of the world?”
“Since the quake,” he said and pointed at me as I ran my fingers across the last strip of bacon. It sizzled as my talents went to work. I like my bacon extra crispy. “And to learn if more special people like you exist.”
I grunted in response.
The news switched to a report of a fire that broke out last night in the city. The pictures that played caused my heart beat to accelerate and my appetite for the last strip of bacon to be lost. The apartment on the screen had fire fighters battling a blaze that ripped apart a single unit, a unit I’ve become too familiar with. It was Jim’s safe house according to the shaking camera footage. The address the newscaster mentioned also confirmed that.
I rose in a panic and moved quickly to the screen, demanding that Ryan turn the volume up. Two charred bodies were reported to have been pulled out from the burned unit. I held my phone in my trembling hands and glanced at the screen, there were no new messages from Jim. A quick phone call sent me to his voice mail instantly… his phone wasn’t receiving any calls. Of course not, it’s fucking burnt to shit, along with him and Emily.
“Babe, you okay?” Ryan asked me for the third or was it fourth time? I was lost in so much thought and trauma I hadn’t realized he was trying to talk to me. Jim, Emily, the safe house… gone. “Babe?” I couldn’t muster the words to say anything to Ryan. I just stared blankly at the message and call history between this phone and Jim’s number. “Reika!” It all made sense, Lucifer and his goon squad must have found out I had traveled there after torching Brianna’s place down. “Reika, talk to me!”
“What? I’m trying to watch the fucking news!” That rage-fueled outburst… I shouldn’t have snapped at him like that. I took a deep breath, told my beast to calm down and said. “Sorry.”
I sat on the chair next him, burying my face within the palms of my hands. Everything was coming together, I had a plan. Then motherfuckers had to come and fuck with me. Someone’s going to fucking pay; someone’s going to die a thousand fucking deaths when I find them.
And I will find them.
The mail slot on the front door slammed shut with the sound of an envelope hitting the floor. “It’s cool… it’s been a frustrating week for you,” Ryan said as he went to check the newly received mail, at least that’s what I assumed he did. I returned to the news broadcast and hoped that they were going to issue a correction, that two bodies found were still alive.
No correction was issued of course, the news simply moved to a new headline. I obsessively looked at my phone, no new messages, and no new missed calls. I shouldn’t have left them alone; those assholes would have had to have fought me before they got to them.
“What the fuck?!” Ryan bellowed.
I stood up and faced him as he held the contents of the letter in his hands, never taking his eyes off it. “What is it?”
His silence and body language said it all, this was no normal letter. I stood next to him and peered at the letter in his hands. What the fuck indeed. It was a photo of Jim’s safe house as it was engulfed in flames from last night. I recognized the upside-down living room Emily and I made a mess of earlier. There was a letter attached to the photo, it was printed on a computer, but its text was underlined with red smears of blood. The letter said more people will suffer unless I give up. Straightforward and to the point. That son of a bitch.
“Reika…” Ryan slowly spoke. “Is there something I should be concerned about?”
I snatched the letter and photo out of his hands. “It’s fine.”
“Should I start distancing myself from you?”
I ran into the bedroom to get changed and dashed the letter and photo to the floor. Ryan followed behind while I shredded the robe from my body and slipped into my bra and panties. He stood watching, and it wasn’t because he was aroused at my seductive female parts. I looked at the layout of his room and wondered what it would look like if it was set on fire, with Ryan’s body lying dead on the bed.
They found Jim’s place with ease and clearly knew I was staying here. Ryan was in danger so long as I made this a place to stay. Maybe he should stop knowing me.
“Reika, talk to me!”
“Ryan… ah fuck.”
“This has to do with Lexi and your powers doesn’t it?”
I slipped into a pair of skinny jeans. “I don’t know…”
“We should call the cops, come clean about everything—”
“No!”
“Reika! Look I care about you but… if the people targeting you are cool with doing fucked-up shit like this. What’s going to happen to me?”
That’s when I remembered the conversation with Gabe. He was going to investigate the address Schubert’s license plate was linked to. Gabe might be walking into trouble, trouble that might provoke Lucifer and his goons to retaliate and take their frustrations out on Ryan in order to get to me.
“Can I see your work uniform?” Total random question, but an important one.
Ryan gazed at me strangely as expected. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I need to see it, it’s important.”
“OK…”
He left to fetch it off the couch as I quickly dialed Gabe’s number.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring
And ring some more.
Voice mail.
I shot him a text, and hoped I wasn’t experiencing another fiasco like with Jim. No, I wasn’t going down that road again. I was talking to Gabe just minutes earlier, there’s no way he’s gotten into trouble so quick. I had a chance to prev
ent something from happening to him, I just needed to act quickly and ensure Ryan stayed out of it.
He returned holding his uniform top, jacket, and hat, all which had Mario’s Pizza written all across it along with its logo. We were expected to wear these when making pizza delivery runs. I grabbed it and quickly slipped into it, then headed to the front door. “Ryan, don’t worry you’ll be alright.”
“Let me come with you—”
“This isn’t your fight.” I pressed my lips against his cheek while we stood in front of the door. “Don’t open this door for anyone unless it’s me. Call in sick for work.” I quickly searched in the closet for my katana and enchanted sword. His face said it all when I handed him the enchanted sword.
“Reika, what the hell?”
“If someone weird gives you problems, shank ‘em with that.” My new disguise was almost complete. I swiped an empty pizza box out from the corner along with his pizza delivery carrying bag. “And since you won’t be going into work, you won’t be needing this!”
I left his place with a heightened sense of paranoia. Whoever slipped that letter through the mail slot was probably the same person that wrote it. Therefore, there was a high chance another one of my stalker playmates might still be lurking around in the area waiting for me to leave, waiting for me to be alone in the elevator, waiting for me to enter my car, or straight-up watching me from a distance.
I got into my car and sped away into the daytime rush hour traffic with no incident. Well at least one thing had gone right today, now for the next task. I typed in the location Gabe found into Google maps and followed the path laid out before me. It wasn’t a direct path to Schubert’s home as Gabe didn’t tell me exactly where it was, but close enough. I’ll have to drive up and down in the neighborhood until I find it.
Kiss of the Demon Girl Page 13
