by Michael Todd
“You!” he hissed standing straighter before lunging forward. “You were supposed to be gone!”
Katie jumped over his head and landed on his back, laughing uncontrollably.
She reached down with both hands and pierced his skin with her talons, then held on as he heaved to throw her off. His arms were so bulky he could barely lift them to his face, much less reach back and pull her off him.
“Yee-haw.” She laughed. “Ride ‘em, cow-bitch!”
He growled and threw himself backward against the wall, but before he could smash her against the fireplace she swung around him and slashed her claws over his chest. He groaned and threw her across the room. Damian ducked as she flew past him to slam into an old bookshelf and fall to the floor. Pieces of the decayed wall and ceiling crumbled down over her and Damian choked on the dust.
“Oh, that reeks!” She pulled herself up on all fours and chuckled, looking up at the demon. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth and she wiped it on her sleeve, then got to her feet and cracked her neck.
“So you want to play games,” Pandora said, using Katie’s vocal cords. “You didn’t want to play games when there was the time or need to play them, and now—here in this old disgusting house—all you can come up with is bleeding walls. They are shaking their heads at you below.”
“You don’t know anything,” he growled. “You’re just jealous because you are stuck in that pathetic human body.”
“I’d rather be stuck in her than out here playing poltergeist.” She laughed and jumped onto the table. “And I’d much rather be in her when I kill you and send you back to the flames!”
Katie hopped onto the fireplace’s mantle, lingering only for a moment before pushing off toward the demon. She pulled her arms to her chest and extended her right leg, driving it straight into his chest and knocking him back into the wall. Immediately her claws were back, scraping and cutting through the demon’s flesh.
She cackled wildly, and the only thing that Damian recognized as “Katie” was her smooth fair skin. Even her face had twisted into a menacing expression, something he wasn’t used to seeing from her.
“Enough,” he growled, throwing Katie off and sending her flying into the bricks of the fireplace.
Her body smashed into the old structure and fell into a crumpled pile in the floor, a few bricks hitting her in the back.
Damian’s first instinct was to help, but that wasn’t her in there. It was something much darker.
Katie sat up and leaned back against the brick, breathing heavily for a couple minutes with a smile on her face. Finally she grabbed the fireplace poker from the ashes and stood up, slapping it in her hand. She dusted her pants off and rolled her shoulders.
“The problem with you,” she hissed, “is that you don’t know when to back off. You never did know how to back off. You always pushed the envelope, going just a bit too far.” As she talked she stepped forward, dropping the poker to her side and dragging it along the old wooden floors. The noise cut the dusty silence.
“This game is boring me,” he growled, eyeing her and moving a bit to his left.
“Me too,” she agreed, then jammed the poker into the floor handle-first. It stood vertical, sharp end up.
Damian had no idea if that took pure strength or it was just the condition of the house. A moment later Katie/Pandora leapt toward the demon again.
The two collided and growls and howls echoed through the house. Katie paused for a moment as their arms strained, looking into the demon’s eyes and smirking.
She leaned forward and kissed the demon on the cheek, then ran her claws over his mouth. He snarled and threw her to the ground but she leapt back up and tackled him, fighting him with everything that she had.
Damian winced as Katie’s body was banged around. She acquired scratches and bruises on her arms, and blood trickled down her face. If the demon she was fighting didn’t kill her, the one inside might accidentally do so. He couldn’t even really see what was going on, they were tumbling around so much. Finally, when Damian had just about lost hope, Katie jumped high into the air and landed on her feet in front of the demon, shaking her finger back and forth.
“I’m tired of this,” she said. “You have always been a waste of space, and now you are a serious waste of my time too.”
“Then I guess you better just die,” he growled, trying to grab her.
Katie ducked and her fingertips touched the ground. She pivoted on one foot and swiveled her body in a circle, her outstretched leg knocking the demon’s legs right out from under him. She stood up and stomped over to the demon, looking down at him with bright-red eyes.
“Hmm,” she said, tapping her finger on her chin. “I was actually thinking you could do the dying. K? Great!”
Damian gaped as she reached down and, grunting with effort, lifted the demon over her head and turned toward him.
Her teeth were clenched as she stepped in front of the fireplace poker sticking up out of the floor.
A dark smile blew across Katie’s face as she heaved upward and slammed the demon down onto the poker, impaling him through the chest.
He screamed and stared at her, unable to move. He sputtered and coughed as blood seeped out from under his body to pool beneath him.
Katie put her foot on his stomach and shoved him down, twisting her foot left, and right. She then reached forward, placing a hand on his chest.
He hissed loudly, his eyes rolling in their sockets.
“Tell T’Chezz,” she whispered, the sound like buzzing bees as Pandora’s voice flowed from Katie’s mouth, “that I’ll be coming for him. And I will not be nice.”
She leaned forward, pressing her hand harder into his chest. A red glow came from her palm, and smoke came from between her fingers. The demon flailed, his screams shattering the glass throughout the house.
Damian dropped his head and grabbed his ears, but he didn’t take his eyes from Katie.
The priest groaned, and the sound pulsed through his brain. A loud crack rattled through the house as the demon burst wide open, showering dust on almost everything in the room. Damian took his hands from his ears and slowly stood up.
“This house is clear,” Pandora said with a chuckle, dusting off her palms and looked around. “Now that his stench is out, I can take a breath.” She looked at him. “I assume you can take care of the little worms?”
Damian nodded silently as she started to walk forward, then her eyes flickered slightly and she sighed and nodded.
She was concentrating on something, but he had no idea what it was. He just hoped Katie came back and soon. He stepped around the couch.
“Fine, fine,” she hissed. “I was going to. Can’t you even give a girl five minutes?”
Damian assumed she was talking to Katie, but he had no idea how they were doing that. She shut her eyes, and her body stiffened and then went limp. He rushed forward and caught Katie before she hit the floor.
He leaned toward her face to listen for breathing, then checked her pulse frantically by pressing two fingers on her neck.
“I’m alive,” she told him, and groaned as she opened her eyes.
“Katie?” Damian asked.
She nodded. “It’s me.”
“Holy shit,” Damian said. “Are you okay?”
“I think so,” she replied, sitting up slowly. “Though I have to say, I never want to hit a brick fireplace at that speed ever again. I don’t know why I don’t have broken bones.” She groaned again as he moved her to the couch.
“You might. I’ll check you out when we get back,” Damian told her. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“Yeah, me either.” Katie chuckled, then winced and grabbed her side. “I could see everything she was doing and feel everything my body was going through, but I couldn’t do anything. It was the strangest feeling.”
“She let you come back, then,” Damian said, with a confused look on his face.
“Yeah,” Katie
replied. “Help me to my feet, please?”
Damian pulled her to her feet and steadied her once more. She was definitely worn out, but it didn’t look like she had been badly hurt. In fact, the cut on her arm had stopped bleeding and was starting to heal. Katie followed his stare to her arm and pulled down her sleeve.
“So where are these ghost hunters?” Katie asked. “Don’t they need some help?”
“Yeah,” Damian said, “but I think you should sit down again for a minute.”
“I’d rather stand,” she replied as she walked around the room, rolling her shoulders and cracking her neck. “I am feeling better already.” She looked at the broken brick fireplace. “I have to tell you, though, that was absolutely insane.”
“You’re telling me.” Damian chuckled. He was squatting on the edge of the broken sofa.
“How often do demons like this come out?” Katie asked, picking up a piece of broken brick.
Pandora piped in, Looking for a souvenir? I’d take the poker. It presents more opportunity for great innuendos than a stupid piece of rock.
Katie chose to keep a small piece of a brick.
“They don’t,” Damian said. “It’s the first one I have ever seen. He was either one of the Seventy-Two or someone really close to them. I’m not sure how he got here or why he was here in this house, but it was a damn good thing we made it here before things got really out of control.”
What do you think? Katie asked inside of her head.
I don’t know, Pandora snapped, but he went straight back to where he belonged.
Who is T’Chezz? Katie asked.
Caught that? Nobody important, she replied. A moment later she added, At least not yet.
All right.
Damian sighed. “I guess we should get this show on the road. I want to get you back and rested.”
“That sounds priestly.” Katie smiled.
Gaaah! Pandora replied. Bad puns. I need to hurl now.
Chapter Six
Damian walked into the kitchen of the old house and wiped off one of the old stools, then sat down. He leaned back for a minute, taking a second to collect his thoughts.
The three ghost hunters were lying unconscious on the floor, and all had demons inside them.
He knew they had been there quite a while. He needed to call in and let Derek know everything was under control, but first he wanted to make sure that he knew exactly what he was going to say if Derek asked any questions.
There was no way he could tell him what happened with Katie, especially from an unsecured location. Hell, he didn’t know if he should tell them at all. It was not only unorthodox, it was against the rules—and he had sanctioned it.
Not to mention that they might end up looking further into it and suspending Katie from the team while they did. Unorthodox or not, Damian believed they needed her.
“What are you doing?” Katie asked as she made her way into the kitchen.
Damian pulled his phone from his pocket. “I gotta call Derek, let him know we are good.”
“Right,” she said, looking down at the ghost hunters.
Damian watched Katie closely as he pressed Send and put the phone to his ear. “Derek.”
“Hey,” Derek replied. “I was starting to get worried. You forgot to turn on the earpieces.”
“I know.” He sighed. “Sorry about that. The house is clean, though. It just took a bit longer than I thought it would.”
“Any problems?” Derek asked.
“Problems?” Damian said, still looking at Katie. “Nothing to say right now. My report will be filed when we get back.”
“Sounds good,” Derek answered. “And the boss is on his way back. He has the two new recruits.”
“Oh yeah?” Damian perked up. “And?”
“Sounds like they are medium rare and rare,” Derek responded.
“Great,” Damian replied, rolling his eyes. He wiped his hand across his face and smelled it. Making a face, he scrubbed his hand on his pants. “This is going to be a long fucking day. We’ll see you back there in a bit.”
Damian hung up the phone and shook his head, looking down at his hands. When he looked back up Katie was staring at him, one eyebrow cocked and her hands on her hips.
She tilted her head, waiting for him to say something. It was obvious she had caught onto his tone, and she was still part of the team—no matter how strange the last couple hours had been.
“Korbin’s on his way back,” Damian said.
“Okay,” Katie said narrowing her eyes. “And what made you give that kind of response?”
“It’s not Korbin, it’s who he is bringing back with him,” Damian answered, looking at the three comatose bodies before shrugging. “The new recruits are in tow, one medium rare and the other rare.”
“I don’t know what I am missing here,” Katie said. “I thought we were talking about team members, not steaks.”
“We are.” Damian laughed. “Um, use yourself as an example. When you came in, you were newly Damned and inexperienced, so you were considered medium rare.”
“I get it,” she said. “But if I was medium rare, then what in the world is a rare teammate?”
“Think about it,” Damian said, staring at her, one eyebrow raised.
“Ohh,” she said, her eyes getting a bit wider. “He isn’t infected.”
“Precisely.” Damian nodded while reaching up to touch his nose.
She looked around the house. “God, why would someone who is not infected want to put themselves into this kind of situation?”
Damian pursed his lips, then spoke. “Let me ask you something… If we said okay, it’s all over Katie—you can go back to your life but your memory won’t be erased, how easy would that be for you? Would you think about helping people? About finding justice or even protection for the people you love?”
“Yeah,” Katie replied. “I would. I don’t think I could ever go back to my old life.”
“Right,” he said. “Now think about seeing everything you have seen and doing what you have done but not being Damned. Would you still want to do it?”
“I would,” Katie admitted, nodding slowly. “I get it now.”
“Good,” Damian said, looking down at the ghost hunters again.
“What are we going to do about them?” Katie asked.
“You are going to have to exorcise them,” he said. “But before that, we have some other things to talk about.”
“We do?” she asked.
“Yeah, like what didn’t just happen here in this house.”
“You aren’t going to tell Korbin?” Katie asked.
“No, or not right now, at least,” Damian told her. “It’s a tricky situation. I’m not sure that revealing your multiple personalities is a smart thing to do right now. I saw her after she was done, and I have to admit I was pretty terrified that she wasn’t going to bring you back. She might have helped, but she is still a demon—still someone very dangerous if she were to take over your body. The higher-ups are going to take that very seriously.”
“And you’re afraid they will hurt me,” she said.
“Yeah. That and possibly ground you, or suspend you until they can examine you and figure out if what you can do is dangerous,” he answered.
“I came back,” Katie said. “I forced her to let me back in.”
“This time,” Damian said. “But what happens if you can’t next time?”
“I don’t know,” she said, turning around. “But for now, I just want to get this done.”
She bent down in front of the hunters, her eyes flashing red as she reached out to touch the first. “Let’s get these demons out.”
“My head is fucking killing me,” Brad, one of the ghost hunters, said, leaning against the counter. “I don’t remember anything, though.”
“Well, you wouldn’t,” Damian explained. “You had a demon in you, but it was too weak to do anything with your body. When it left, the memory was wiped from your head.�
��
“I just don’t understand how every single piece of our equipment failed so spectacularly.” Joyce shook a camera. “It’s like some kind of pulse just kicked it all out of wack. Even the cameras we had set up failed on us. We have dealt with ghouls before, but we’ve never had anything like this happen.”
“Nor has my head ever felt like something tried to claw its way out from the inside before,” Emma agreed, leaning against the counter. “I don’t know how you people do it all the time. I thought this job was stressful, but yours?” She waved a hand. “Pfft, no way. I guess I owe you a huge thank you, though. You saved our lives.”
“Yeah, man.” Brad reached over to Damian and shook his hand. “Definitely happy to be alive. Talk about being helpless! I don’t know what we would have done if we hadn’t called you first.”
“You’d be doing the ghoul’s bidding.” Damian smiled, trying to take the sting out of the answer.
“Still,” Joyce said. “That must have been one killer spirit. I almost feel like it was everything we have worked our whole careers to find.”
“Yeah, and studying it…” Brad said, shaking his head. “That would have made our careers. We would have had the data we needed for people to maybe start taking us fucking seriously for once.”
“Or at least get their attention for a second.” Emma tossed one of their cameras that had been burnt out to the side. “I don’t know if they will ever take us seriously.”
“Couldn’t you have like just woke us up or something?” Brad asked as he looked around. “You know, instead of banishing everything, or whatever it was that you did. You had the opportunity to really help us out there. To get us some seriously good numbers, footage, and readings—anything and everything.”
“For people who were saved from demons, you sound pretty ungrateful,” Katie said, walking in the room.
“Katie,” Damian said. “I think they are just disappointed about missing an opportunity.”
“Yeah,” Emma said. “Didn’t mean to sound ungrateful, but this is what we do for a living, so when we miss out on a career-making spirit or demon or whatever, it’s a double-edged sword for us.”
