Kiss of the Demon Girl

by Eddie R. Hicks

  I held onto the hilt of my katana tightly, causing my fingers to turn red.

  “Transfusions aren’t the only way to contaminate a soul,” Lucifer said. “There was a reason why incubus and succubus were so feared in ancient times. They corrupted the souls of those they bedded, allowing for demonic possession, thus killing the host. Assuming they didn’t consume their soul in the process of course.”

  His last words struck my heart hard. I eyed him as he noticed the surprise and terrified look appear on my face. “What the fuck do you mean, killing the host?”

  “Possession results in the host’s mind being purged for all eternity replaced by the demon that took them. Lexi Hartridge is dead and has been since a succubus possessed her. Your boyfriend Ryan is dead, you killed him, and you left me with no choice but to take his body as my new host.”

  I didn’t want to believe him, it was just too much to accept. Ryan… Lexi, the real one that is, was dead this whole time. I had been living and sleeping with Lucifer, this whole time after the quake.

  It had to have been a trick, mind games to throw me off, unfortunately what he said did make perfect sense the more I thought about it. “Your cell phone,” I said. “You lent it to me on purpose.”

  “GPS tracking is such a wonderful thing.”

  “The calls I made on it, the text messages I sent… I deleted those!”

  “Hidden apps can record all that.” I shook my head as if that would change the past. “Ah yes that’s right, Reika, the buildings you visited, the calls you made, the messages you sent… yes, I tracked it all. And, I was the one that tipped off Gabe and fed him lies that your original phone was being traced.”

  “You prevented me from entering my home before it blew up.”

  “Killing you with the explosion was the original plan, but after our last encounter… I knew you were more than just a simple threat to my plans. I had to study you, learn why you exist, learn of your allies, learn why she betrayed me.” His head tilted down at Lexi’s lifeless body. “Thanks for bringing her to me by the way, much appreciated.”

  I couldn’t take any more of his prideful gloating. I guided my blade to make four swift strikes, each one was deflected by his sword. I refused to let up and refused to allow him to walk away. I swung and swung, and our blades clashed into each other, making loud clanging sounds. We fought for two minutes on the rooftops in front of the helicopter, our bodies and weapons became engulfed in flames, massive ones at that, as if someone had dumped gasoline over us and tossed a match.

  “Oh, don’t we have a temper?” he said, deflecting three rapidly swung vertical strikes.

  “Get fucked.”

  “You know, it’s a shame you won’t side with me, Reika. I have Ryan’s memories; I could have continued to act as though I was him.” He leaped eight feet backward, leaving behind a line of fire on the ground he cleared. My katana left my hands and spiraled to his side, he dodged and rolled out of the way as my body teleported to my blade, picking it back up. “He would have loved to have access to magic; he always fantasized about developing our powers so that the two of you would be a better match for each other.”

  I lunged at him and continued our savage sword play. “Shut up!”

  “Oh, it’s true, he really fancied you. He saw a future with you. Too bad you had to cheat on him—”

  I growled like a pissed off animal, it made him laugh. “Oh, come on now, Reika, I know what kind of woman that succubus was. She wasn’t going to let you leave without feeding her hunger for lust first.” He waved his index finger from side to side and licked his lips.

  I knew exactly what he was trying to do, yap and yap until I lost it and threw away my entire defense in exchange for offence. Sadly, it was working, the slash he swiped across my left arm was proof of that.

  “Reika, your defense is awful, absolutely awful.” He taunted amongst the sound of blades clashing. “Your friends put up a more amusing fight when I had them ambushed.”

  “Which ones?”

  “All of them? Jim and Emily?” He quickly patted his right shoulder. “They both got a round off on me. Not sure about Gabe, I was too busy playing the role of Ryan when he arrived at Schubert’s house. Thanks for the heads-up that he was coming by the way.”

  I thought about that day, when Lucifer turned the TV on to the news, he was trying to send me a message of what he did to Jim’s safe house. And the letter that was delivered? He knew it was coming, probably told his minions to send it while I was still there.

  Our blades crashed and held together forming an ‘X’ shape. We stared at each other amongst the flames that consumed our bodies. A prideful glare was on his face, a hateful one on mine. “Do you understand now why I can’t let you live, Reika?”

  “’Cause you’re a bitch?”

  “You’ve killed two of my hosts, dozens of my loyal humans. My plans for this world will not become a reality as long as someone like you and that katana exists!”

  “A human with demonic magic.”

  “Whose powers are growing faster than I could predict, using a sword that has secrets that no one from the Umbral knows. I can’t allow you to become a one-woman rebellion. Or worse, become charmed by Lexi’s succubus powers and serve her, which it seems you have.”

  I snickered. “I’m not a man; her charm doesn’t work on me.”

  The hold with our blades ended, it forced me to retreat, the soreness in the joints of my arms needed a quick breather. I made my way behind the helicopter while Lucifer pursued me slowly with confidence in his walking stride.

  I heard his footsteps crunch from around the helicopter as he continued to taunt and provoke me. “So, you think eh?”

  “So, I know, incubi charm women.” Time was up for my breather. With my back pressed against the surface of the helicopter, I shifted away from the sound of his footsteps closing in on me from the opposite end.

  “Tell me, which of the two would charm a man who fancy other men?” I arrived at the forward end of the helicopter. I peeked around the corner, no sign of Lucifer. I kept silent and lifted my katana up. I had a feeling our game of hide and seek around the helicopter was ending. “Think about it, Reika.” His voice sounded as if it came from the tail end of the craft, I tip-toed over to it. “A man like that would keep their distance from a succubus. Physical contact is necessary for charm magic to work. A touch, a kiss ideally, closer to the head will slowly eat away at the mind of the victim.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Now, now, tell me where did she touch you? Shoulders? Neck? Face? The magical effect of charm magic travels up the spinal cord, into the brain. The shorter the distance the magic has to travel to the brain the more effective it becomes.”

  I couldn’t bring myself to reply, didn’t want to give my exact position away, so I told myself. In reality, I didn’t want to accept the facts. Shoulders, neck, and face were all parts of my body Lexi was particularly interested in interacting with.

  I heard laughs from behind. He was nowhere near the tail end of the helicopter, all the while I stood there like an idiot, paralyzed with fear and self-doubt. I did after all agree with Lexi’s idea to keep the demonic blood rather than destroy it. But I had my reasons for agreeing with her, and it wasn’t to help her take control of Earth.

  It was because.

  Because.

  Fuck.

  “Your silence implies you know I’m right,” he spoke again from behind. “She’s charmed you into helping her defeat me so that she can take my place.”

  My body made a quick one-eighty degree turn fully expecting to see him walk into my line of sight. There was no sign of him, that’s because he really was hiding by the tail end and got the jump on me. He’d make a fine ventriloquist.

  My reflexes saved my ass that time, what it didn’t save me from was the tip of his blade piercing through my shoulder and the exterior of the helicopter. The heat and flames from his blade melted into the craft, effectively pinning me to it. T
he pain was too much, traveling all throughout my arms, into my chest. My katana hit the ground thereafter, my screams of pain were music to his ears judging by the smug smile on his face as he took two steps back to admire his work.

  Lucifer began to swipe his hands together as if he was dusting them off. “Oh, please, Reika don’t make too much noise, you’re going to let people know the fun we’re having!” Lucifer walked over to Schubert’s headless body and yanked a dagger out from his pocket, the same one he was going to use to kill Gabe. He held the dagger in front of his face, giving it a nice long stare before returning to face me. “You know what the wonderful thing about you not being possessed is—”

  “Shut the fuck up…” I muttered as the pain limited my ability to speak correctly. “Kill me already if that’s what you’re building up to.”

  “I don’t need to use an enchanted weapon; a good ol’ stab to the heart will be the end of you. You won’t come back. Me, though? I’ll come back repeatedly as long as a contaminated soul exists.” His foot punted across the hilt of my katana, sending it spiraling away from me. “That isn’t enchanted I hope you know, even if you won this fight, it wouldn’t be the end of me.” He held the dagger up, aiming its tip right at my chest. “Next time, bring the right weapons to the fight—”

  Pistol fire popped.

  The bullets were aimed at him.

  I saw Emily gunning his ass down, donning a doctor’s gown.

  The pistol she held? Had blue glowing glyphs on its side. Take that, motherfucker.

  Lucifer’s body tumbled to the ground as Emily’s pistol-rush ended. Convinced he was neutralized she began to walk over, only for Lucifer to rise like an undead zombie. He hurled the dagger he had right into Emily’s stomach. Her body and pistol hit the ground, her hand grasped onto her blood-gushing wound.

  Lucifer struggled for a bit, but eventually got to his feet, blood trickled away from two bullet wounds, one on his arm, and the other on the side of his abs, non-fatal hits. He limped over to me and we exchanged glances of our blood-soaked and pain-filled bodies, slowly bleeding out. With what little energy he had left he slapped one hand onto my face, pushing it back against the helicopter. His other hand went for the hilt of his sword which still had me pinned to the craft.

  I felt the blade move.

  Inch by inch, he was yanking it out from the helicopter and me.

  I couldn’t fight him off, my body hurt too much, and him being practically on top of me didn’t help. He pulled and pulled knowing that each time the blade moved, it slowly cut more into my flesh and bone. I gritted my teeth and entered the ignore pain trance I did when I received my Yakuza tattoos all over my body. Those tattoos were not just a form of body art and membership of the gang, it was a sign that you could endure hours of pain without passing out or giving up. A sword through my shoulder slowly being yanked out? This ain’t supposed to be shit.

  I felt the razor-sharp metal finally pulled out from me. Lucifer’s hand across my face shifted down and around my neck, his fingers and grip wrapped around it tight, holding me down. My supply of air ceased to be. The hand that held his sword rose, took aim, and thrust down to me.

  I braced myself for what was going to come next.

  I altered my element stance causing the burning of my body to fade. It was replaced with winds that blew across my dress and hair, with tiny sparks of lightning radiating off me. I was no longer immune to fire, the flames around his body burned my flesh, seared my clothes, for the first time in ages, heat was unbearable.

  I pressed my hand against his chest and used the one and only talent I learned from the wind element. The one and only talent that was necessary for me to learn so I could access and learn how to attune to the water element, which in turn saved my life.

  I watched as Lucifer’s body jerked and convulsed while thundering bolts of electric shot away from the palm of my hand against his body. His sword dropped, its blade nearly sunk into the top of my foot when it hit the ground. My breathing improved since he lost control of all bodily functions. The heel of my boot crashed against his body, he was down on the ground once again, this time for good.

  Flames sorrowed off my body again, this time on my own accord, the pain associated with burning vanished in an instant. My fire form was back as I took back my katana, and then began the painstaking task of limping over to Lucifer’s electrically shocked and stunned body.

  I stood above him, my blood drenched and burning dress dripped red droplets across his face. His eyes slowly opened, the same eyes I used to admire, the same eyes I locked onto when we were fucking like animals in the washroom.

  I pointed my blade down, its tip an inch away from his throat. “It’s time to get fucked.”

  His weakened voice replied. “Have… you forgotten? Kill me with that and… And I’ll come back.”

  I pressed my foot on the bullet wound on his arm and moved my foot about all over it causing him to yell in agony. “I didn’t see an exit wound, that enchanted bullet is still inside you.”

  “Oh… fuck…”

  “Are you ready?”

  “Schubert wasn’t lying… he knows about you and how to potentially undo the effects of the soul contamination.”

  “Too late for bargaining, besides he’s gone.”

  “Not… his knowledge.” His burning finger tapped the side of his head. “We’ve been chatting. Kill me and you’ll never learn how to return to a normal human—”

  I teased him a little and dug the tip of the katana into the flesh of his neck. Blood seeped away from the newly created hole, running down into the ground behind him. “Revenge… or… normal life… you choose,” he said.

  “Can his knowledge bring Lexi back?”

  “She was… possessed.”

  I lifted my blade up. “What about what you just did to her? Can you undo that?”

  “I can’t. That was an enchanted weapon—”

  “Then you’re no good to me.”

  Using both hands, I plunged my katana into his chest, cutting through his ribs, his spinal cord, exiting out from his back and into the rooftop surface.

  I repeated the process twelve times, just to make sure he wasn’t coming back.

  His blood slashed up all over my face, just like the first time I did him in. It began to drip away from my eyes like tears. I stared back down at his unmoving body, a body that once belonged to an innocent man. That’s when I realized how fucked up I had become.

  When I had learned of Isamu’s passing, I wanted to cry. Now there I was, mutilating Ryan’s demonic possessed body, a body I was responsible for killing. Normal folks would have lost it at that point, shed tears, wept, and made plans to check in to some form of counseling. Not me. I didn’t give a fuck, no tears rained off my face, only his blood, the beast within me was happy with the results, happy that vengeance was delivered in the bloodiest way possible.

  “I think he died after the second strike.” It was Emily. She was still alive. “The other stabs were kinda pointless.”

  I searched Lucifer’s body and jacked his cell phone. The most recent calls might shed some light as to who else might be working for him. I walked over to Emily, the flames burning around me revealed her hand holding onto a deep wound on her belly, the dagger that caused it was flung to the side. I grabbed and dragged her body to the staircase, it was the least I could do to thank her.

  I sat next to her and fiddled with the phone to let Gabe know we were successful. “Lucky for us we’re at the hospital, eh?”

  “Aye,” she replied.

  “Where did you get the gun?”

  “I borrowed it, from your detective friend on my way up, and his way down.”

  I gave her the most confusing glare ever. Seriously, you don’t just jack a gun from a cop without anything happening. “How?”

  “I’m a thief, Reika, I wouldn’t be good at my job if he had known or seen me take it.”

  I only wished she had made it up here the same time Lexi and
I did, Lexi might have lived—

  Then I realized something.

  I turned around and looked back at the death and destruction we left behind.

  Schubert’s headless body continued to spill gallons of blood.

  The pilot of the helicopter continued to lay with a giant icicle through his chest.

  Lucifer’s stabbed-the-fuck-up body remained motionless.

  That was it, Lexi was gone. Her blood was on the ground yes, nothing more. There were no signs of someone dragging or carrying her body away, which would have left a trail of blood behind. With the little strength I had in my aching and bleeding body, I performed a more detailed search for Lexi. Nothing, not in the helicopter, around it, hell I even looked over the side down to the streets below, she was gone.

  A tiny bit of hope warmed my chest, perhaps she did survive. Maybe used that return home talent she spoke of? I had no way of knowing for sure and grew concerned that she didn’t reach out to me, talk to me, say something, anything, that would let me know she’s alive and well.

  I dialed Jim’s number, and listened to the ring back tone hum as I looked onward at the city of New York from the hospital’s rooftops until I heard his voice pick up the call.

  “Jim.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I just killed my boyfriend.”

  “Didn’t know you two were official.”

  “Well, we’re definitely not official as of now.”

  “Remind me never to ask you out on a date.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because everyone you sleep with ends up dead one way or another. It’s like you’re one of those succubus things.”

  I grunted. “Did you get it done?”

  “That donated blood? Yeah, not an easy job with the fucking SWAT team running around screaming like lunatics.”

  “How much did you secure?”