Chapter Eighteen
I drove my car into a nice, quiet suburban neighborhood in the heart of Queens. Row upon row of houses lined up along the sidewalks, along with a few parked cars in front of them. It made it easier for me to keep an eye out for the house that might be the location Schubert made his home. I slowly drove up and down the streets and periodically checked my phone to see if Gabe had called or texted me, he didn’t.
A car that looked eerily like Schubert’s was parked next to one house, and next to it a car that I could imagine someone from law enforcement would be driving around in. I came to a stop at the nearest parking spot and stepped out to take a closer look. The license plate matched up with the photos I took, so this was the car Schubert was driving. The house next to it had to have been his.
I grabbed the pizza carrying case, adjusted the hat and my sunglasses and walked up the front steps leading to the front door. Nothing to see here, just a pizza delivery girl who’s not Reika Araya, doing her job. I rang the doorbell which summoned a pair of heavy thumping footsteps to the front door. The door swung open, and a man with short brown hair wearing a black business suit greeted me. Schubert must be having guests over. Or I was at the wrong house, which was entirely possible.
I looked down toward his chest and saw Lucifer’s necklace dangle before it. This was the right house, and it was that realization that caused a lot of excitement to pump through my body, with my breathing changed and my body language hidden behind the sunglasses like a poker champion.
“Large pepperoni with like extra cheese?” I said with a valley girl tone of voice.
“We didn’t order any pizzas,” the door man replied as I tried to see or hear any signs of Gabe.
There were none, nor any signs of something strange going on, all the more reason for me to get inside no matter what now that the door was open. “Like, oh my God are you sure?” I said and reached into my jacket pocket and clenched an invoice, an old one of course. I handed it to him to examine, he shook his head and was seconds away from telling me to get lost when suddenly the paper in his hands burst into flames, courtesy of my talents.
He screamed for half a second while the pain from the flames singed his fingers. I took advantage and sprinted in behind him and wrapped my arms around his head and neck, tight, really tight. No sound left his mouth, and his hands and legs floundered around, trying to search for a means of an escape. I kept my grip around him, crushing his wind pipe, restricting air from getting into his brain. His limbs became numb, followed by his body. I shut the door quietly then dragged his body into the washroom, shutting the door with him inside. My hands curled around the door knob to the washroom door, melting it locked with the embers of flames that radiated away from my hands.
I was in deep now, I took a few breaths to calm my racing heart, then went back to my pizza delivery bag which I had left at the front door. Inside was my katana, hidden away from the public eye. Having a weapon at my side helped ease the anxiety while I silently tiptoed deeper into the house, expecting more trouble. Living room, dining room, kitchen, they were all searched, but nothing of interest was found. It was just a normal house in Queens by the looks. Either this was a hideout for my stalkers or I really did break into someone’s home and they were just wearing that necklace as a new fashion trend.
I heard voices echo from the basement. I placed my right ear to the surface of the door leading into the basement in hopes of hearing any clues. Just someone yapping, I couldn’t make out what they were mumbling, not without opening the door and stepping down, and blowing the advantage I had. I made plans to return to it later.
I slipped up the staircase into the upper level, keeping my katana at my side. Like the main floor, I saw and heard nobody. Each bedroom looked normal, the upper level washrooms were nice and clean, nothing to see there, move along. The final bedroom was facing the rear end of the house, what I found in there was unexpected.
I slowly opened the door hoping that the WD40 thirsty joints didn’t make any sounds. So far so good, there was just another inch to go so that I could slip in. Of course, the door squeaked during that last inch. Sweat appeared on my forehead as I looked back double-checking that there was indeed nobody around that could have heard that sound. I was alone, a quick look back downstairs confirmed that. If someone knew I was here, they were hiding and watching me do my thing.
I crept back into the last bedroom. The curtains were shut, cutting out all the daytime sunlight. Cardboard boxes littered the floor, all of them lined up in rows. The boxes had a printed paper with a bunch of numbers and notes on them, but none of it made sense to me. I approached one random box. I removed its rectangular lid and peered inside to view its contents.
Bags of blood were inside.
The same type one would use for blood transfusions. Oddly enough, none of it was refrigerated. I opened two more boxes and discovered the same contents. The blood packs were warm to the touch; too warm to be blood extracted some time ago and stored up here.
I found a clipboard hanging on the wall and swiped it to examine what was written. It was a list of a soul contamination catalysts inventory. Lower on the list was a list of names and corresponding numbers, said numbers appeared on the paper notes taped into the boxes.
I scowled upon scrolling down the list of names and discovering my name was among them with a large black double circle around it. I moved deeper into the room and carefully navigated past the sea of boxes and found the numbered box that corresponded to my name on the list. Inside was blood, just like the rest.
Was it my blood?
If so, what the hell was so special about my blood that it had to be double circled on the list—
A strong hand holding a cloth dosed in chloroform slapped against my face. My talents faded away almost instantly despite my best efforts to use them. I resorted to wrestling to break free from the headlock my attacker from behind got me with. My breathing increased due to the sudden surprise and panic, which resulted in me taking in huge breaths of the toxin laced cloth.
My strength began to dissipate, followed by unconsciousness. I blame that squeaking door for this.
Chapter Nineteen
My cloudy vision couldn’t make out where I was. I felt that my arms were tied with rope; hell, my legs too. I heard a voice beckon to… someone. Other voices spoke. There were multiple people around me. I saw an orange light glow in the distance, a flame perhaps, a fireplace? Candles? They were candles, lots of them at that. The voice spoke again, it sounded like someone chanting. The other people replied with enthusiasm.
My vision began to clear as my body started to return to its normal state. I saw an altar directly before me with multiple glowing candles around it. An inverted pentagram was displayed on the altar as several people donning cloaks stood around a large table in the middle of the room I found myself in. Judging by the colder temperatures and concrete floors, it was safe to say this was the basement of the house, and these cloaked people, the muffled voices I couldn’t make out.
I futilely tried to jerk myself free from the chair I was tied to. It generated laughs from the cloaked people who were all delighted to see that I had awoken. My talents were a no-go, hell even my inner beast was strangely silent. I felt like a normal woman for once.
A young woman emerged from the gathering of cloaked people wearing a goat’s mask. She stripped out of the cloak she wore, exposing her firm breasts and slender waist, then gracefully stepped forward with her high heels without any shame that her feminine beauty was fully exposed for all to see. She had a black and gold urn clasped within her hands and held it before her pink-nippled breasts.
Gabe was tied up to a chair next to me, his drowsy face looked like mine from a few seconds ago I guessed as he recovered from a chloroform towel drape. A man wearing a red cloak stepped over to the two of us. “Ah, she awakes at last.”
German accent, it could only be one person. I looked up and grinned at him in a hateful manner. “Schubert.�
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He peeled away the hood from his head, unveiling his balding head and aged face. “Reika, I did not expect you to be such a handful.”
“Can we get on with this already?” one of the hooded men said from behind.
Schubert faced his cloaked brothers. “Yes, let us begin. These two are the only loose ends we have other than Lexi.”
“So, it is true?” another cloaked individual said.
“Lexi appears in the media,” Schubert said. “Yet she has made no attempt at contacting us, so yes, she has likely defected.” Schubert shifted his gaze down toward Gabe. “And that’s why you’re here, right? To confirm if there’s a power struggle within Lucifer’s faction.”
I winced at his statement. “Wait. What?”
Schubert snickered. “Oh, he never told you? Your friend Gabe here knows more than you think.”
I faced Gabe who merely kept his face up staring at Schubert. “Gabe?”
Gabe shrugged the best he could given his position. “It’s complicated right now, Reika.”
“Gabe, like you, has been a pain for too long,” Schubert said. “Go on, tell her, Gabe, tell her how you knew of her powers, tell her that you knew we have been hunting her, and tell her that you did nothing to stop it.”
Anger built up inside of me. The kind where you want to rip someone apart limb from limb, put it through a blender, then can and package the pureed goop as dog food. Yeah that kind of rage. “Gabe, I fucking swear if you played a role in all this—”
“Reika, I’m not responsible for what happened to you, he is!”
Schubert raised his robe-covered arm, summoning two cloaked men to approach Gabe and release him from his bindings. I tried to form my hands into a cup, expecting a fireball to appear within it. All I felt was the drafty air of the basement. Gabe was still partially weakened from the chloroform. His failure to fight and break free evidenced that. The grip of the two men tightened as they both donned ceremonial daggers and cut his coat and clothes off his body, rendering Gabe naked. I never realized how fit and muscular Gabe was underneath the clothing he wore. Despite the situation we were in, I bit my lip.
“Save yourself the stress, Reika,” Gabe said as the two men dragged him to the altar. “You see that seal on the floor? It’s neutralizing the powers of everyone that doesn’t wear a demon’s talisman.”
I shifted my sights down and saw it. The floor of the basement was painted with a giant inverted pentagram. If what Gabe said was true, I’d need to break free then run over to the walls in order to gain my talents back… or straight-up leave the basement, or ask really nicely for someone to lend me their necklace, maybe show some leg, though I’d have to compete against the naked vixen holding the urn for that to happen. Her hips alone were lovely.
Gabe was strung up to the ceiling by his hands. He looked terrified, like he knew his time was up. I was still powerless; whoever tied me up knew their knots. Gabe was on his own. I hoped for his sake that these freaks were just going to perform some bizarre BDSM stuff on him; at least he’d live through that. But the daggers that they all held in their hands followed by the satanic chanting said otherwise.
Schubert stood before Gabe’s naked strung up body, brandishing a large dagger of his own. They were going to fucking sacrifice him and make me watch. I’d give anything for Jim and Emily to show up out of nowhere to the rescue.
“Pure untainted human souls have evolved over the years to defend the body from possession,” Schubert said. “This is why exorcists have been put out of business, nobody gets possessed anymore.” The woman with the urn stepped next to Schubert, offering it to him. Schubert sunk the blade of his dagger into it, then lifted it out. The dagger’s blade oozed red with blood, dripping down the blade onto the hilt, it rained down upon Schubert’s hand. “Until now.” Schubert positioned the blade above Gabe’s head. “My colleagues and I have found a way to crack that natural evolutionary defense and reap the rewards our masters gave us. Then there’s you, Reika… A mistake I made, a mistake that needs to be erased.”
I gritted my teeth like a savage animal. “A mistake? You assholes should know what I’m capable of by now.”
Schubert stopped whatever he was going to do with Gabe to face me. “You’re not loyal to our cause, since you haven’t been possessed. But that’s a price you pay when you follow the request of a succubus, they always have their own ulterior motives.”
Schubert returned to his task, saying a crazy ass prayer while the dagger returned above Gabe’s head. The woman with the urn stepped in front of me, her heels clicking against the basement floor helped take my mind off the impending doom facing Gabe.
She lowered the urn next to her navel, held it with one hand and then dipped her free hand into it. Excess blood poured out from it, forced out by the hand that reached deep into the bottom. The blood that overflowed splashed against her belly and dripped down across her hips, thighs, legs, and down to her black shoes painting them red in the process. She swished around with her hand in the urn for fifteen seconds then stopped and lifted up. Her blood-coated hands were balled into a fist holding an object within it.
She extended it to me as her hands rained a torrent of blood across my lap. Within her red palms was a necklace, one that she placed around my neck. I looked down at the dripping red necklace. It bore the crest of Lilith. I looked at the woman, a single finger was placed against my lips, I got the message, shut up and don’t blow your cover.
Something I couldn’t guarantee I could do forever as I heard Schubert’s chants end and the cloaked men gather around to witness his next move. The woman stepped out of my line of sight into the darkened corner of the basement, and I saw Schubert begin to slice the top of Gabe’s head in a sawing motion.
Gabe as strong as he was, screamed in agonizing pain as he felt the flesh up top of his head split apart. My beast awoke seconds later as the necklace’s power began to cast away the effects of the talent-silencing field within the basement. The more Schubert sawed into Gabe’s head, the more my beast wanted it to stop, its anger became mine, my rage became its.
It wanted blood.
It wanted violence.
I felt raging blood boil throughout my veins and an evilness inside of me that needed to be unleashed.
My talents returned, and I set the ropes binding me on fire.
I sprung up to attack, enveloping my body with a flaming aura. It put an end to Schubert’s ritual leaving Gabe in pain with blood dripping from the top of his head. Unresponsive, but alive according to his breathing, good enough for me.
I darted to everyone I hated within the room, spraying them with jets of fire from my flamethrower talent. Three cloaked bodies danced as their outfits caught on fire. Stop, drop, and roll did not save them, it only made them an easier target for my fireballs to find and obliterate. The fires that raged in their smoking bodies began to spread throughout the basement. Not sure what became of Schubert, I was having too much fun incinerating other cloaked people that tried to charge at me or flee upon watching their friends have their arms or legs reduced into charred jerky.
I found my katana in the corner, whoever was dumb enough to bring it down here was going to regret that action now. Fully armed and talents ready, my katana glowed as fiery embers danced across its blade. I leaped toward the last two remaining cloaked men and furiously swung my burning weapon. One target lost his head instantly, the stump where his neck was caught on fire. The other was put down via a two-fold strike across his chest, fire raged out from his wounds.
It didn’t take long for the basement to look like Brianna’s house as flaming bodies set the altar and ceiling ablaze. My beast wanted more death and I wanted to feed it just that. I felt my talents become stronger with every kill. The range of my fireballs increased, the intensity of my flamethrower was amazing. I had to control my excitement and blood lust. Gabe’s body still dangled from the ceiling like meat in a butcher’s shop, as swirling smoke and flames surrounded his fit nakedness.
I charged over, cut him loose, and dragged his body over to the staircase. I didn’t see any signs of anyone else in the burning basement, not even the nude vixen that allowed my escape to become a reality. I kicked the basement doors open and pulled Gabe out from the smoke-filled hellhole over to the front door—
Gunshots thundered next to me.
Two armed men descended from the upper level with pistols blazing. I retreated backward with an elegant leap, leaving a line of fire burning the floor. The gunmen aimed their pistols at me ignoring Gabe’s body. Guess they wanted me more than him. If they wanted me they’ll have to come to hell to get me.
I leaped back into the inferno in the basement, stood on edge with my blazing katana held high, and waited for round two. The two gunmen ran down the stairs, I wasn’t sure if they were stupid or insanely dedicated to the case of Lucifer.
Whatever.
I allowed my flamethrower to dose the staircase with its superheated fury. The wood of the stairs went up in flames instantly and collapsed with the two men still on it. There wasn’t any more movement on their end. I ran over to where the staircase once was as its remains burned before the entrance. I cut myself off from the upper level, a blink could get me out, provided I found and threw something that would reach up to the main floor—
Bang, bang.
The gunmen weren’t dead.
A stinging pain ripped through my arms and belly, it was the same painful feeling I felt months ago when I got shot by the cops. My beast didn’t activate my flame shield, proof that it wasn’t a reliable talent. I ignored the pain and the feeling of my own blood drenching my body as another gunshot roared.
Kiss of the Demon Girl Page 14
