by Michael Todd
“Yeah.” Calvin chuckled and grabbed the car keys.
Bring the donuts! Pandora screamed as Katie left the room.
Calvin and Katie took the back stairwell, knowing their outfits and weapons would surely be noticed in the fancy lobby of the hotel. They ran out the back and around, entering the parking garage and heading to the SUV. They hopped inside and looked at each other for a moment.
“Where are we going?” Calvin asked.
“I… I don’t know,” Katie admitted, turning inward. Pandora, where are we going?
Just drive, was the instruction. Get on the 405 and drive south through the city. You will sense him.
“Just drive,” Katie repeated to Calvin. “Take the 405 south through the city. I will tell you when we are close to him.”
“Can you trust her?”
“Yes,” Katie said after a pause. “She doesn’t want to go back to hell—not yet.”
“All right.” Calvin nodded. “If you trust her, I will too.”
So, help me Pandora, if you are fucking tricking me I will make sure that another donut never crosses your lips, no matter how many centuries you live, Katie said.
I am not tricking you, the demon said calmly. Just go.
They headed out into the night, moving through the now-quiet streets and onto the highway. Katie rolled her window down and took in a deep breath, smelling the smoke from the fires on the hills. The wildfires were fully engaged, but these had been started by a person, not by an act of nature.
She sat back in her seat and let the rain mist her face as the wind blew through the car. In the distance the sky lit up, bolts of lightning crisscrossing through it. It was an uncomfortable feeling, like nothing she had seen before, yet something inside her felt at home.
Katie didn’t realize what it was about the scene that was familiar until Pandora spoke.
It’s like hell is already here, Pandora told her as the fires raged in the distance. Not even a fixer-upper at the moment. Those fires were started by humans. Angry ones—I can feel it. They weren’t even Damned, just bad humans.
A lot of good people live here too, Katie said. A lot of people just working, going through life, raising families, caring for each other. However, it is a heavily populated city, and whenever you get enough people in one place, there are bound to be a few bad apples.
You think that I don’t know that? Pandora chuckled. Never mind, there is no reason to explain. Just know that there was a reason we were released before, Katie.
She didn’t say anything else, not even a peep. There was an air of finality in her voice that cut to Katie’s core and made her skin crawl.
She wasn’t positive what her demon was trying to tell her, but it sounded like they had been released before to take care of the “bad apples” Pandora had just mentioned.
But who would release them?
From everything she knew, they could only be released by God himself. Why would God release such terror on people he claimed to love so dearly? She had seen the darkness in her soul before, but that night, under the striking lightning, she felt the darkness take another piece of her with it into the night.
19
Katie rolled up the window as the rain began to beat harder and sighed, looking around at the scene. It really was ominous, but she couldn’t give in to the fear. There was a reason it was like that; a reason the night was now full of horrors. There was an awakening happening, an awakening that no human on Earth would survive if it weren’t for people like her and Calvin.
They had to stand strong. To be there. To fight until they couldn’t fight any longer, and with their last breaths, to continue to swing their swords until death found them.
The thoughts flew through Katie’s head, but inside the car there was only silence. She could no longer feel that fear Calvin usually experienced before they walked into battle.
It was gone, as if it had never been. She didn’t know if her senses had dulled or Calvin had reached a point in existence where he no longer feared death, but whatever had happened, the silence was deafening.
“Anything?” Calvin asked.
“Nothing yet.” Katie sighed. “We just have to keep going.”
“Right.” Calvin nodded.
Calvin glanced out the window at the fires up on the mountain as he drove. They blazed wildly, lighting up the night sky and casting a red and yellow haze across the horizon.
He wondered if there were people there. People fighting those blazes, trying to save their homes, their city. He wondered what it was like for those people when they went home after a long shift to their family, beaten and bruised but nonetheless loved.
Something in him yearned for that, but he knew he would never have it. As they approached the large Randy’s Donuts sign again, Katie looked up.
“Now! Here!” she called frantically, pointing to the side. “Take this exit. I can feel the demon!”
Calvin swerved off the 405, down the exit ramp and to the stop sign. He rolled his window down and listened for a moment. There were screams coming from the Inglewood Park Cemetery. Calvin turned to Katie, who looked that way with worry.
That’s it, Pandora said. Ahead in the cemetery.
“She said he’s ahead in the cemetery,” Katie said.
“Man.” Calvin shook his head. “Why do they always gotta be in the scariest fucking places imaginable? Like, pick a flower garden or something, for fuck’s sake.”
“But then where would we get our horror movie ideas?” Katie laughed. His comment had lightened the mood.
Calvin nodded. “All right, here goes nothing.”
Calvin pressed the gas pedal and slowly sent the SUV toward the cemetery entrance. The massive bronzed gates were wide open, and one hung off its hinges. Katie leaned forward and stared out the front window as they got closer, frowning. There were so many damn people in the cemetery, and they were all running around screaming. Some were healthy, but others looked the worse for wear. Katie looked at Calvin.
“What the fuck are all of these people doing at a cemetery at three o’clock in the damn morning?” she asked. “Like, who goes for a lovely stroll through the cemetery at this time?”
“I have no damn clue,” he said, shaking his head.
Calvin pulled off to the side and parked the SUV.
They climbed out and went around to the rear, opened the back door, and pulled out their gear for this op. Katie still wasn’t sure what they would be facing, but it was obvious they wouldn’t be alone.
She could hear dozens of sirens in the distance, and they were getting louder by the second.
That was exactly what she didn’t want—a bunch of hot-headed cops swarming the scene, making things that much worse.
When it was only a couple of them they could handle it, but when there were dozens they couldn’t protect all of them while trying to take down whatever demon was causing the issue.
“This isn’t going to stay under the radar,” Katie said, looking at Calvin.
“Not our fucking problem at the moment, missy!” Calvin grunted as he pulled out a heavy satchel. “That large motherfucker ahead of us is our goddamned problem right now.”
Calvin pulled out the short sword that Katie had given him and held it up to the light. Katie stepped out from behind the truck and scanned the cemetery, tilting her head to the side. Standing even taller than last time was a very angry, very fiery demon. His eyes glowed bright red, and his hands and arms were swathed in flames. She took another step and her mouth fell open slightly.
Please tell me I am hallucinating, Katie begged. Please tell me that giant motherfucking demon is not on fire right now.
Appears so, Pandora chimed in. Well, I wasn’t expecting that. Apparently he has an affinity I wasn’t aware of. Hmmm.
Katie gawked. You think?
Well, there go the Molotov cocktails, Pandora joked. No matter. We’ll just drink the booze instead.
Please tell me you didn’t know you would be sending
me into a fucking inferno with claws when you woke me up, Katie pleaded.
Uh… no, Pandora replied. Human flesh doesn’t usually hold up too well against fire. I’d really like to keep the skin on your body for right now.
So would I. Katie sighed.
Just then shots were fired and Katie ducked, trying to figure out who was shooting. The cops hadn’t pulled up yet, so it couldn’t be them. It was LA, though, so just about anyone could have a gun. Finally she spotted a guy dressed in jeans and a wife beater with a red bandana around his head standing right in front of the beast, emptying his gun into his gut.
Trust LA to have gangbangers who aren’t going to allow shit on their land without responding. Katie shook her head. Courageous. Stupid, but courageous.
I feel like “courageous” is way more than that idiot deserves, Pandora disagreed. I feel like “stupid as fuck” and “too dumb to know better” are much better descriptions for him.
“What the hell is that stupid motherfucker doing?” Calvin asked as he walked up. “He obviously has zero clue what he is working with here.”
“I feel like I need to do something, but the scene is just so unreal,” Katie remarked.
“Snap out of it, crazy. We need to get in there.” Calvin chuckled and ran toward the demon.
She nodded and sprinted after Calvin, who was traveling straight toward the demon in the middle of the cemetery. There were crushed headstones all over the place, and in at least two different spots Katie couldn’t tell what a random body part was. She took a deep breath and slowed down, following Calvin over to a hedge and bending down next to him.
“Okay, what’s the plan?” Katie asked.
“Well, first we have to get numbnuts out of there before he becomes something sticky on the bottom of the demon’s foot,” Calvin said. “Then we attack, I guess. Try to keep him in the cemetery so he doesn’t hurt anyone else.”
“Any ideas about how to get the dumbass out of there?” Katie said, nodding her head toward the gangbanger.
“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s obvious he can’t hear us, but if we can get his attention we might be able to lure…”
Before he could finish his sentence the demon growled out loudly. He leaned over and picked the gangbanger up by the ankles, and dangled him upside down in front of him. Katie grabbed Calvin’s shoulder hard but stayed down. She knew that running in there wasn’t going to help anything. They watched as the beast sniffed him and growled, then repeatedly slammed him to the ground, sprays of blood hitting everything around him. Katie winced every time the body was lifted again. When the demon was done with that he raised the body and ripped the human’s head off, throwing the rest of the body over his shoulder.
Calvin licked his lips “Well, I guess that means we can move on to Step Two now.”
“Not if he gets out of this graveyard,” Katie said, rushing forward. “And watch your step,” she called over her shoulder. “There’s pieces of that gangbanger everywhere.”
Katie ran across the grass, jumping over broken headstones. Calvin yelled to stop her as she ran through the demon’s legs and she froze, realizing that they had reached the edge of the cemetery. She didn’t know what to do so she pulled out her pistols and shot straight up, striking the demon in the underbelly. Calvin let out a round with his gun as well, which struck the beast in the back of the head. They knew it wouldn’t hurt him very much if at all, but they wanted him to walk back into the cemetery.
The demon shook its head and turned around to find where the bullets were coming from. Katie remained underfoot and out of his sight, while Calvin ran and hid so as not to provoke the demon any further. They weren’t sure what their plan of attack would be, but they knew they had to come up with one soon or everyone was going to die.
As Katie turned to watch the demon stalk toward Calvin, her eyes fell on the multiple dead bodies of the street people who had initially attempted to fight the demon. Her heart felt heavy, but then she got angry.
“You see this, Pandora?” she snapped aloud. “These are our people. They might be down on their luck, or they might not have all their arrows in their quivers. They might even be brave to a fault, but no one fucks with us. We’ll fight back, even if it means losing our lives. These demons, the ones like you, they think this will be simple—that we will just lie down and die—but they’ve got another think coming. Fuck with us at your peril, because we fucking bite back.”
The two of them tried to keep the beast occupied, taking a few minutes to play “dodge the headstones’’ with the fiery abomination as he kept pulling them up and tossing the missiles at them. Others joined, so Katie and Calvin pulled back to their SUV to regroup for just a moment.
There were several civilians out there keeping the beast distracted, despite Katie and Calvin’s warnings.
They grabbed their water bottles and stood at the back of the truck, breathing heavily and trying to figure out their next course of action. The cops were pulling up in rows, parking behind the black SUV and stepping out of their cars with wide eyes and shocked expressions. It took a couple of moments, but eventually they got their bearings and started to assist with getting the innocent bystanders out of harm’s way.
Katie looked at Calvin and shook her head.
“This thing is huge,” Katie commented. “It smashes everything it touches.”
“I know,” Calvin replied, “but we can’t just stand by and let it destroy everything. We don’t have enough time to wait for Eric and Damian—it’s just not possible. We have to act soon; we can’t wait much longer.”
“All right,” Katie said in resignation. “Then we are going to need a plan.”
“Right.” Calvin seemed slightly distracted.
“Calvin,” Katie said. “You okay? I don’t need you shorting out right now. I need you here with me.”
“I’m here, Katie,” he said, shaking his head. “I promise.”
Pandora snickered. Apparently everyone knows that.
Katie turned and looked out at the sea of cops behind them. The ones next to them had their doors open, the radios blaring loudly. She could hear a familiar voice—one from the gun shop.
The radio crackled, then, “Be advised that there are two friendlies on the scene, a white woman in her twenties and her partner, a black male in his thirties. These two are vital to the survival of you and the people at that scene. They are special agents, so you are to leave them alone and let them do their job. Do not fuck with these two, especially the woman. Do not piss the woman off.”
I wanted you to have appeal, but not the kind where men think you will eat them for supper. Pandora laughed.
This is your fault, Katie growled. You have to be so showy about every damn thing you do.
No, your job’s just that dark, that’s all. Pandora scoffed. You can’t have it both ways, Katie. You can’t be a demon hunter, and have it be pretty roses and flowers.
You don’t think I don’t know that? Katie snapped. Now, if you would be so kind, please light a fire under Calvin’s demon so that we can kick this beast’s fucking ass and go the hell home.
Pandora sighed, but said no more. She could tell that Katie had reached her breaking point, whether she wanted to admit it or not. There were a lot of things that could bring her to that point, but Pandora had never imagined it would be how other people thought of her.
At the same time, though, Katie had been surrounded by people like her—Damned—since she had made the change. It wasn’t easy for humans when they felt disconnected; shunned, even.
She had never felt that way—and she wouldn’t have given a rat’s ass if she had—but she could feel what Katie was feeling. That was enough for her.
Katie walked over to Calvin and stared him straight in the eyes while putting her hand to his chest. He knew what she was about to do, so he just closed his eyes and nodded. Pandora took Katie’s body for just a moment, pulling back her hand and slamming it hard against Calvin’s chest. Calvin gasped, ti
ghtening his fists as his demon woke.
“Shake a leg and help your human,” Pandora growled, Katie’s voice intertwined with hers. “Or so help me I will make your life here on this plane a living hell.”
20
“They need you,” Korbin had told the guys before they left the compound.
Damian and Eric knew that what they were walking into was more than just a little incursion. It was the new wave of demon happenings, and they were in for a show—that was for damn sure. Korbin had seemed nervous, something he never was before a battle started, and it worried Damian. He was used to the calm and collected Korbin, even in times of strife and battle. He was used to the man who stood strong and laughed in the face of death, throwing himself in front of every bullet he could find. He was not, however, used to the Korbin who looked as if he were saying his last goodbyes. This new demonic wave had really pushed them all to their limits.
Eric drove the SUV to the airport, but the ride was silent. Damian wiped down his cross as Eric stared forward, driving quickly through the streets to the private jet entrance of the airport.
They took off, landing an hour or so later at LAX and slipping into the private jet area. When the stairs dropped Damian looked outside, unsure of what they were about to face. The plane had parked where it normally did, but instead of their sleek black SUV, there were at least half a dozen unmarked vehicles standing by.
“What is this?” Eric asked, undoing his seatbelt.
“I’m not sure, but let me talk.” Damian stepped out of the plane.
“You must be Father Damian.” A tall middle-aged man dressed in tactical gear was walking toward him with his hand out.
“It’s better if I don’t shake your hand,” Damian warned him, eyes flashing. “We need to get going.”
“We know,” the man said. “I’m Sergeant Avery, and I will be airlifting you to the scene. We will brief you on the way.”
“All right,” Damian said, nodding back to Eric. “Can your men help us grab our gear?”
