by Michael Todd
“I will probably see you again soon!”
They made their way back to the hotel and up to the nineteenth floor. She took out a shelf to make room in the small fridge and stacked the donut boxes in there, putting the milk on the shelves in the doors. She pulled a chocolate-sprinkle donut from the top box and kicked the door shut with her heel.
I’m eating one. Just one. Do you understand that?
No hablo Ingles.
I am not messing around here. Besides, I gotta get out of here before the day is gone. We can eat more later. I’m telling you now, Pandora, I expect those donuts to last us a couple of days at the minimum. I’m thinking like three to five.
Riight. Pandora cackled. I love how you dream big. It’s cute.
Katie rolled her eyes and wiped her hands, then grabbed her jacket and headed out of the room. There was no way she was going to binge, especially not in the middle of the day.
9
Katie put on her sunglasses as she stepped up to the curb and checked out the NYPD office a little farther down the street on the opposite side. She walked down to the pedestrian crossing and waited. She nodded to the runner bouncing to the sound of the music blaring through his headphones beside her. When the light changed, he took off at a run and Katie crossed carefully, checking both ways to make sure no one had decided a hit and run was in order for the leader of Katie’s Killers.
You’re getting paranoid.
Better safe than sorry, my friend.
She walked into the precinct and smiled at the large-ish middle-aged sergeant behind the front desk. He was on the phone telling a woman who she needed to call to get a cat off the roof of her apartment complex. He was obviously annoyed but kept his tone even and reassuring. When he finally hung up the phone, he sighed and shook his head.
Katie chuckled. “One of those days?”
“Every day is one of those days in New York. How can I help you? And please don’t say your cat is stuck on the roof.”
“No.” Katie chuckled. “I’m here to see Lieutenant Alvarez. He’s expecting me. My name’s Katie Maddison.”
The sergeant did a double-take, showing he recognized the name, and picked up the phone, pressing three numbers in quick succession. “Lieutenant, she’s here.”
He hung up the phone and nodded. “Take a seat, ma’am. He’ll be right out to meet you.”
“Thanks,” Katie told him.
Before she had a chance to sit in one of the chairs, a short brown-skinned officer came through the door and extended his hand toward her. “Katie, I’m glad to see you.”
“Lieutenant. I’m sorry I didn’t check in earlier, but I had important nutritional tasks to accomplish first.”
“Not a problem.” He chuckled. “We know about the Krispy Kreme obsession.”
Katie groaned. “Of course you do.”
“Come on. We’ll go have a seat at my desk.”
Katie followed him through the precinct, taking note when they passed a couple of red-eyed criminals handcuffed to a bench. She was tempted to take their demons, but didn’t want to step on any toes. She knew how protective the city cops were of their catches. They walked up to a desk at the back of the pit, and the lieutenant nodded at the chair.
“This is Detective Crowder. He’s gonna take your contact information and introduce you to the detectives who work directly with the incursion calls. You can also exchange info with them, so they know who to call while you’re in town.”
“Sounds good.” Katie smiled. “Thanks for your help.”
“No, thank you, Katie. If you need anything while you’re here, just let me know.”
The detective took down her cell phone number and where she was staying on a handwritten form. As she stood there, she could feel eyes on her from across the room. One of the detectives put his things down and came over to give her a high five.
“We all saw that video from the store last night. That was some excellent fuckin’ work.”
The detective inputting her info into the system looked up and smiled. “It is you. I thought it might be, but I didn’t want to make assumptions. That was a really good thing you did.”
“Just doing my duty.” Katie chuckled uncomfortably.
“I’d say you did more than that,” another guy argued. He walked over to shake her hand. “You saved a life, and that’s a big deal.”
“Well, I hope she uses her second chance wisely.”
“We all hope that,” the detective behind the desk agreed with a smile.
They all congratulated her on a job well done, and Katie wasn’t sure how to deal with it. Until Incursion Day she’d just handled what was put in front of her, no more or less, and nobody had made a big deal about it because they had been busy doing the same. It was her duty as a Damned to use the advantages she’d been given to take care of innocents and protect them from demons on Earth. She didn’t expect praise for it.
Pandora, however, was ignoring the whole thing completely. Instead, she graded every man who walked through the precinct. That guy in front of us is a seven: nice arms, strong chest, but a flat fucking ass. No, I want something I can grab. The guy across the room, though, he’s a ten and a half. Ho-ly shit! Look at the way he moves that body. And his package…whooo! I can tell he’s got girth just by looking at the bulge in his pants. My tongue could do some serious damage to that boy. Just need to get him out of that monkey suit and into…well, his birthday suit.
Aren’t we vulgar today?
Hey, men do it to women all the time. No shame in giving it back. Oh, oh, look at this big boy coming at us. Yeah, boy. I have to give him a six for swagger. I mean, normally I’m not into the chubby ones, but he’s got some attitude behind those hips. He is not taking shit from anyone.
Katie tried to keep a straight face and answer the questions she was being asked, but it was an effort to keep it together under Pandora’s sexist banter. However, she had to admit that Pandora had a point. There were some pretty sexy men in that precinct, and most of them had an eye on Katie.
Look at Macho Man over there. The guy with the perfect jawline, arms as big as your head, and thighs that could hold you up in the air for hours. I wonder what kind of package he has hidden under that uniform. Pandora sniffed when the cop turned to the side, giving them his profile. Oh. Well, that’s disappointing but not the smallest I’ve ever seen. With that tight-ass body, I could definitely work with that. He looks like a take-control kind of guy, but underneath, I bet he secretly wants to be told what to do. A little ribbon, a metal headboard, and some lube and we could have ourselves a real good time.
Three of the detectives came over to give Katie their contact information. She suppressed a smirk as each one of them wrote their personal numbers on the backs of their cards. She knew there was no need for that, since they could be contacted through their work phones. It was obvious they were all hitting on her.
When she was done with the last one, she gave them all a bright smile. “Thanks, guys. I’ll reach out if I need you. And please feel free to call on me for help with any of your cases.”
“I will.” The cop returned her smile with a hopeful one of his own.
Meh, he’s a five and a half, tops.
Katie stood up from the desk, straightened her shirt, and headed for the door. She could feel the awkward heat of everyone’s stare as she walked out, but decided not to flash her eyes. She might actually need their help in coming days, and she didn’t want them all to be terrified of her. Katie had come to learn that there was actually some correlation between men’s affection and getting things done fast and efficiently. She knew if she called any of the guys who’d given her their numbers they would move in a heartbeat for her.
Well, that was a fucking bust, Pandora grumped. I would say the hottest cop who asked for your number was a six, and that is being gracious. Not one of the tens asked for your number. Maybe I need to do a little more work.
Maybe they have significant others, or I’m not their t
ype.
Pandora rolled with laughter. They are men, honey. They don’t have monogamy on the plate. And you are everyone’s type—I made damn sure of that. I’d like to meet the man who is genuinely not attracted to you. Those tits, those hips, and our signature snarky personality…it’s a ten all around. Just gotta get one of the tens to notice it.
I do have to admit, there were a couple of guys in there who looked good enough to eat.
Whaaaat? Kajesus, you actually said something I can agree wholeheartedly with—about a man!
They both started to giggle as Katie left the precinct. Katie thought about it once they were back out into the street. Hey, it’s been a while, and I think I’m finally over the whole, “the last guy I slept with was killed a few days later” thing. I might just be interested in seeing that package you speak of on one of the tens. But if they die, I’m going full nun until I’m no longer infected.
I’m going to place a protective shield against the next guy. You do pick men that live a dangerous lifestyle. You can’t blame yourself for their death.
I can’t live with myself if it turns out I have the vagina of death.
They both burst out into laughter.
Katie and Pandora wandered the streets of New York, checking out the scenery as they continued their discussion on men. There were many people there from all walks of life, and one thing Katie liked about Pandora was that she gave no shits where the guy came from. Her ratings were strictly based on appearance, from the mid-thirties guy begging on the corner to the record store clerk and up to the CEO walking from his building to the limo parked out front. No one got a break from her scrutiny.
Personally, I find that the boys with the money aren’t very open or they’re freaks. Like, super-freaky freaks.
I figured you would like that.
Yeah, most of the time, but honey, there’s some shit you humans do that even I would walk away from. You guys can definitely be weirdos.
Katie stopped in her tracks. She was getting the feeling that something just wasn’t right again, emanating from her chest and seeping into her bones. She was drawn to a building farther down the block.
What’s going on? she asked Pandora.
I was just about to ask you the same thing.
You’re not doing this?
Nope, don’t even feel what you’re feeling.
After a few moments Katie took off across the street, stopping to let a car pass before she stepped off the curb. Pandora cleared her throat nervously.
Are you jaywalking? Because I’m not leading you down the road to perdition, at least not for jaywalking. That would be the lamest thing ever.
Katie ignored her and hurried over to the source of her feeling. She reached the building just as a guy put his key in the door of the tenement on the corner and walked inside. She grabbed the handle right before it closed and slipped into the atrium to wait for the guy to disappear into his apartment. She looked down the empty hallways, listening to everything around her. She could hear a television down the hall, playing some game show. On the other side, a baby was crying.
Katie climbed the staircase, allowing the feeling to draw her to its source. She paused on the landing of the second floor to make sure it wasn’t coming from there. When she reached the third floor the feeling pulsed in her chest, almost taking her breath away with its intensity. She stood at the end of the long hallway, waiting for any clue that would tell her where the feeling was coming from. It was so strong she could feel the individual emotions inside it. There was fear, sadness, anger, and even a bit of relief.
I’m all about this adventure thing, Pandora remarked, happy to be going along for the ride, but I sure as hell wish I knew what you were up to.
Suddenly, there was a loud clatter, followed by yelling and the crash of breaking glass. Katie rushed to the third door on the left and pounded on it, her anger starting to fill her. She heard a man yelling at someone, and his voice grew louder as he approached the door. He yanked the door open and sneered at Katie through his messy beard. “Whaddaya want?” he yelled, attempting to intimidate Katie.
Katie looked him up and down, singularly unimpressed despite his easy six-and-a-half feet. She held her ground, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Her face showed no fear, since she really couldn’t care less about his size. He was small compared to some of the demons she and Pandora had taken down in the recent past. He would be a warm-up in an incursion, but right now he was the main event.
She looked behind him to where a young light-brown-skinned woman huddled on the floor against the hallway wall with her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook with silent tears, too afraid of the prick in front of her to even make a noise. Katie’s jaw clenched when she spied the bruises peppering the woman’s beautiful skin, marring her hands and arms and neck. There was a burn mark on her right arm that looked like it couldn’t be any older than a couple of days, the skin puckered angrily around the wound.
Katie ground her teeth and balled up her fists, beyond pissed.
Pandora barked. Oh fuck, no, motherfucker! You’re never going to put your hands on a woman ever again. Time to school this scuzzball, Katie. This motherfucker has got to learn his lesson.
I couldn’t agree with you more. We got time for this piece of trash?
I don’t give a damn if the complex burns down around us. We will make time.
The man followed Katie’s gaze to the woman behind him. He didn’t give a crap that Katie had seen her. He chuckled to himself, finding the situation more than amusing. It wasn’t the first time someone had tried to stop him from what he saw as his right, but it was the first time the person was a fine piece of ass like Katie. He rubbed his hands together, ready to have some fun with her.
Katie curled her lip and cracked her knuckles. This malfunctioning asshole had no clue that she was Damned—or that if he were still breathing at the end of this it would be due to Katie’s benevolence, rather than because he deserved it.
He turned back to Katie, his eyes lingering on her breasts as he spoke. “Would you like a little roughhousing too? Does that turn you on? I have plenty of room inside here, and plenty of energy to expend on a feisty little bitch like you.”
Katie raised her boot with a snarl and kicked him back into his apartment. She removed her glasses, and the glow of her eyes bathed the hall in red. The guy scrabbled backward like a crab to get away as she stepped over the threshold and slammed the apartment door behind her with a cold smile.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Calvin sat underneath the round dome inside the main restaurant of the Pacifica, anticipating his main course. He had already plowed through his appetizer, perfectly-grilled ojillo octopus served with an avocado puree, jalapenos, and smoked chili butter. His Miraflores salad was sitting prettily in front of him like a work of art, and his main course was being prepared as he admired the salad.
He looked out of the window, enjoying the scenery. The blue water and rolling waves were so peaceful, and the ladies around the pool areas were definitely a welcome addition. There were, of course, a few “white whales,” as they called them back home.
What in the hell is a ‘white whale?’
Calvin chuckled, taking a bite of his salad. White people who come from the North. They tend to be a little overweight and have absolutely no tan. In fact, they usually have the opposite of a tan. They’ll be the ones barely able to sit down on the plane ride back. Lobster red.
That is not very appetizing.
Meh, let them be free.
I’m starving, his demon complained.
And I’m nervous. I can’t believe I let you talk me into having the chef make us specialty tacos. I did not come to Cabo to try the hottest sauces on the menu.
Oh, live a little.
I am, but my intestines may not after this. You’d better make sure I don’t have flames coming out of my ass later.
The demon chuckled. I got your back…literally.
Calvin’s brow furrowed when a thought hit him. I hate to ask this after so long, but what is your name?
Martaliustonkofielline, his demon replied.
Martali—shit. That’s right. I could never figure out what the hell you were saying the first time, so I just kept calling you “demon.”
Didn’t think you cared, he responded. I assumed that a human stronger than his demon would have more pressing things to worry about than said demon’s name.
I’ve never been good with names. Don’t get me wrong—if you try to call yourself David Hasselhoff I’ll give you a different name, but if it’s something I can pronounce, then sure. I don’t see why it matters.
Well, give me a nickname then. I’m not down with the human shit. Something easy that your tiny brain can remember.
The waitress came over to the table and set down the tacos and another glass of soda for Calvin with a sly smile. She already knew he was going to have one hell of a fire in his mouth. Calvin returned her smile and waited until she walked away before sniffing the tacos. His eyes watered and his nose began to run just from that, so he pushed the plate away for a moment and thought about his demon’s name.
I’ll call you … Fireballs.
Um...no. How about “Marty?”
Like Marty McFly? Calvin wrinkled his nose.
Don’t know who that is, and Marty is a bit emasculating for a demon in my opinion, but I think you can wrap your human brain around it.
Calvin shrugged and bit into his taco. All right, “Marty” it is. I’ll probably shorten it to like Marts or Mars or whatever happens to come out.
Please don’t.
10
Katie straddled the big dude and pounded his face. He groaned and tried to block the punches, but Katie pushed his arms to the floor and pinned them with her legs. She got a couple more shots in before he bucked and the weight of his huge body flipped her off him, but before he could get up, she was back on her feet.
