Kasadya Hellhound Twisted

by Swart, Karen

  “I wasn’t always like this, Abby. Sometimes life has a way of forcing you into the direction it wants you to go in,” I tried to explain my journey to what I have become.

  “Kas, if life gives me that push I would gladly take it,” she replied, and my heart seized at her words.

  Shocked, I looked at her. “Abby, don’t ever say that. The things I had to do to survive everything. Trust me, no girl should ever go through that.” My mind travelled back to those days. That stench in Hell that constantly made you want to vomit, thousands of eyes always watching you, and never knowing which one was about to try and kill you. Thousands of screams echoing in what I called night time.

  “Was it that bad?” she asked, bringing back my attention. I looked at the blue sky and sighed.

  “Can I tell you a secret, Abby?” I asked in return. She looked around to make sure we were alone. She never uses that side of hers, but she will someday. She nodded, scooting closer to me. I leaned in.

  “I was scared every second down there, I just learned to hide it well,” I confessed. Finally, after so long, it felt like fresh air was pushed into my lungs and I could breathe easier.

  There, my secret was out in the open. I was freaking scared. I am still scared. Every time I have to face an enemy my nerves feel like they are about to crash over me and render me useless. Then I remember that side of me, the one that I opened up in Hell and let it run over me, let replace me. I never felt like me when I used this, I felt like someone else, something else. More dangerous, more able to kill than I ever could.

  It took Abby a few seconds to take in what I just told her, and thankfully she didn’t make a big deal out of it. We sat there in silence, watching as the gang started to shift in for the nightshift. Max shifted in with Nanini, and by the look of it she had given him a hard time again. His face was bruised on one side, and it looked a lot like a light burn. Yeah, she did kick his ass again.

  But knowing Max, he let her; he wouldn’t ever really go out to hurt a girl. I had to pretty much almost kill him before he gave me a punch back. He stopped to look at me for a moment, then brushed it off and went into the house. I had no such luck with Nanini, who came rushing over and almost knocked us over. “That was super cool, like super-duper cool. You should have seen his face when I came out of the bush unexpectedly and whammed him with a bomb. For the record we so don’t pick him for our hide and seek team, he sucks big time,” she eagerly blurted out.

  Kali and Lada made their way over during the whole unravelling of her training session. We looked at each other, and all broke into laughter. I might be going out soon, but little things like this will be in my mind when I go.

  Chapter 17

  We spent about an hour outside, just us girls, laughing and joking. Of course, Nanini was cracking us up with her details of the training session. Worse were her details of how big and powerful Max flipped out when he couldn’t find her. By the time his lord and the rest of the guys showed up we were crying from it all. Even nervous Abby was cracking up.

  “Oh wait, I didn’t tell you about this part. So he was looking at the waterfall, then he stepped on to the top and looked down to try and see me. The next thing he slipped and fell in, and I do believe he was cursing in Russian.” I looked at Kali and we started laughing all over again. But clearly Max didn’t approve.

  “I did not slip, you shot me with a light bomb and then I fell into the water,” he rectified the facts.

  Nanini turned around on her butt and looked at him. “Yeah, can you prove it, Godzilla?” she taunted him.

  His face went into Chax mode and I laughed even more. “Right, can we have some order please,” Chax pitched in, totally blowing it. The happy mood dropped instantly and we were back in business. Having our attention, he continued, “Tonight we are going to patrol a few streets in a small town in Argentina. We have received reports of human men disappearing in the area. It’s simple; we search and we destroy if we find a demon.”

  I got up and dusted off my butt, time to get to work I guess. Looking at the others they weren’t really dressed for it, and it must have caught Chax’s eyes as well because he was giving them that “today” look. Kali caught the implication immediately and shifted away first, the other girls joining her. Leaving me alone with all the males.

  Well I was getting the look of death from Chax and Max, and guess what I had no idea why. I returned the look. No way in Hell am I going to be intimidated by these two. “Guys, did we miss something?” Lotan asked. Nobody answered; in fact nobody even gave him any notice. “Okay, I’ll go see where Lada is,” he said when we still continued on with our silent war.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Max finally snapped, his face furious. I lifted one eyebrow at that, but remained silent. I had no idea what he was referring to, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

  “Don’t temp me, Kasadya,” Chax growled out. Okay, this was becoming very weird. Last I looked I didn’t do anything wrong. Yeah, I was going to do something wrong, but no way in hell would they know about it. So I remained calm and collected, smiling at both of them.

  Our awkward exchange was interrupted when the girls joined us all ready for the night. The sky was turning orange and purple, and inside I could feel my hellhound stir for the night. She wanted out, she wanted to war. Funny, I’d never felt that side of me as another entity or persona before. In fact, I haven’t felt that side of me do this before. Perhaps it’s got something to do with this archfallen thing. Shrugging it off, I walked over to Kali and nodded at her, all the while the two guys were still looking at me like I was about to drop an A-bomb on someone.

  We were force shifted to a small town at the sea coast. The fresh air slammed into us and revitalized my senses. I took a deep breath, taking in the new scents and sounds. The town was quiet except for the three or four places where people got together at night. “Remember, we search, and then destroy if we find anything,” Chax said indicating for us to follow him. The town was built on a cliff, so moving upwards was at a slow pace. Chax stopped and turned his face a little towards us. “Split up in two, one group in that street and another in this one.” I held back waiting to see how the group would divide. I was so not going with Max or Chax. But just my luck the two nodded at each other and then each went their own way.

  For the love of … okay I have to pick one, might as well choose Max. I turned left and followed Max, Nanini, Ben, Kali, and Ryan. “No, Kasadya, you stay with me,” Chax declared behind me. Almost spitting venom, I turned to look at him; he was giving me that smug look of his. I could see he was trying to bait me into a fight. Cool, two can play that game.

  “Of course, never know when your expertise would be required.” I walked past him to stand next to Caim.

  His face said it all, Kas two and Chax still zero. “Kas, you’re playing with death,” Caim whispered next to me.

  “Oh I don’t know, Caim, it’s so much fun,” I replied, giving him my devil smile. He shook his head, not impressed with my answer. I just ignored him and continued on. The streets were so quiet and dark I could see why demons would like to hunt here. Perfect place and camouflage for night time hunts.

  Three hours later and all we could find were two drunken men, and a lot of cats. Being so close to the sea I presumed that the cats were here for any fish scraps from the boats. We reached the highest point of the town and turned to look down at the harbour and streets below. To our right Max and the others were joining us. “Found anything?” Chax asked them.

  “Yeah! Dude, this place has a serious cat problem. Don’t get me wrong, I like cats, but this is a little too much,” Nanini complained.

  “Okay, let’s do one more walk and then call it a night,” Chax ordered. Nanini moaned so loud two cats joined in. Walking in front, Chax and Max split up, and then stopped their heads lifting in the air as if they smelled something. I stopped to look at them; maybe they picked up a demon’s scent. They do smell awful sometimes. Chax stepped back and shook his
head, Max bent forward.

  “Um, what’s wrong with the guys?” Nanini asked behind me. I turned my head to look at her and found the rest of the guys also on their knees. Okay, was this some new ritual?

  I glanced back at Chax and Max, and looked straight into Chax’s huge eyes. “Run,” he gasped out, also going to his knees.

  He didn’t need to invite me twice. Transforming, I pulled my swords and turned around looking for the danger. “Christ,” Caim mutter next to me. I looked down at him and saw the distress in his face.

  Kali came to stand next to me, her swords also drawn. “What is going on, Kas?” she asked, her eyes scanning the darkness. Lotan and Ben were grunting as if in pain. Ryan kept holding his head, like he had a headache. Just then Chax flew up and turned towards a small, dark alley. Max and the rest did the same.

  “Chax, what are you doing?” I growled out. I didn’t like this, not one bit. The hair on my arms was standing up and I got that weird feeling that we had some company. He ignored me and continued on. Furious, I shifted in front of him and grabbed his shirt. He pushed me away and stormed on right into the dark alley.

  “Kas, this is getting super weird,” Nanini complained.

  “I don’t know what’s up, just stay with them,” I replied, moving to stand next to Chax and Max. “Max, what the hell are you guys doing?” I asked Max. But just like Chax he was ignoring me. A giggle came from the darkness and I turned to it, ready for action. Another giggle came from my left. Crap, this is not good. The guys were moaning and trying to stay put, and to move forward at the same time. Kinda creepy in a way, it almost looked like they were practicing Zombie moves.

  “Well now, what do we have here … some juicy fallen males to play with?” a woman’s voice came from my right. I watched as a woman stepped out of the darkness, dressed in what looked like skank gear. She stopped, her blood red lips curling into a smile.

  “So much fun for all of us,” another one announced. Now looking around us we were surrounded by six women, all dressed like they escaped the local brothel. Max moved to the one closest to him, so I grabbed his shirt and yanked him down to his butt.

  “Kali?” I asked, not knowing what the hell is going on. Caim now moved to the one in front of him, I grabbed him and shoved him into Ryan’s body.

  “Kas, they are Haplai’s,” Kali snapped from behind me. Oh crap! Just then, Chax turned and punched me in the face. I kept my footing and returned the favour, knocking him onto his butt. Max was on Nanini, a hold around her neck. A pink light indicated she was about to fry his ass, and boom Max went flying backwards.

  “Kas, what do we do?” Lada cried out, pushing Caim away from her. Abby had a hard time with Ben and Ryan both trying to grab her. Well this is going to be fun.

  “Knock them out,” I ordered and sent my sword’s backend straight into Chax skull. He staggered forward and then dropped.

  “Kas!” Abby yelled behind me.

  I turned and caught the triumphant smile on Nanini’s face when she advanced on Max. Oh I am going to hear about it tomorrow. I grabbed Ben and hit him with my sword, too, but unlike Chax he didn’t go down. Crap. He looked up at me, and by then my fist was already at his face, the sound echoing in the alley. He was out cold. Turning around, I saw Kali head butting Ryan and sending him to the ground. A quick look around and all the guys were out cold.

  Out cold yeah, but splayed around and unable to be defended like that. I picked up Ben and threw him in the middle followed by Chax and Caim. The girl’s quickly added the rest of them, all piled up in a heap. Now we turned, ready to take on the witches, who now stood in their demon forms. They still had their skank body shape but a tipped tail, scales, and a dead ugly face were all visible. Laughing, another female came walking out of the darkness, clapping her hands together. “Well done girls, but how long will they be out like that?” she asked, coming to stand in front of me. She is right, with our healing abilities they will be up in a minute or two, and we would have to knock them out again.

  “Abby, take them home and keep them there,” I instructed. The air rippled and I knew she’d shifted them out with her Corra connection. Now all that remained were girls.

  “Well done, hellhound, now we can talk in private,” the female continued. She had a slim figure like a model, long black hair falling over her shoulders and clear blue eyes.

  “As if,” I replied, keeping the others in the corner of my eye.

  “That death charm my brother placed is a pain, hey?” she goaded me. Brother? No freaking way!

  “Are you saying that you’re one of the princes?” I asked, smothering my laugh. She didn’t look impressed with me; in fact, she looked pretty pissed off.

  “I am Luxuria,” she stated, turning into a pink version of Ballen.

  Yip, I broke out laughing my ass off. This was just too much. I heard Nanini say something about that’s not funny, but I just couldn’t stop laughing. “Silence!” Luxuria yelled, pissed off at us.

  “I so make that look good,” Nanini pitched in and I started laughing again. The tears were running down my eyes.

  “Imbecile! I came here to offer you another option for the death charm!” she yelled. Now that had me sucking in my laugh.

  “I’m listening,” I said after I got my breath back.

  “What death charm is this chick talking about?” Nanini asked.

  “Yeah, might want to let us in on what’s going on here, Kas,” Lada agreed with her. Pushing out a breath, I turned to look at them, trying to figure out how to explain this. Kali wasn’t impressed at all.

  “The night we returned to Exsilium, Kali was taken by Gluttire. He placed a death charm around her neck that will slowly choke her to death, until it finally decapitates her. He wants me to get some things for him from Exsilium in order to remove the charm,” I explained short and sweet, not giving away anything about the relics.

  “Why haven’t you told us about it?” Lada asked, her eyes furious.

  “Yeah, what the hell, Kas?” Nanini pitched in.

  Shaking my head, I tried to explain, “It wasn’t like that; this isn’t something we can run around with. If Chax finds out you guys know what he would do, I can’t let that happen.”

  “So you thought we would run to Chax and tell him about it?” Lada questioned. Crap.

  “No, I just didn’t want to put anyone else in danger with this. Kali and I already have a plan of action, and by this time tomorrow the charm will be removed,” I assured her.

  “Might want to rethink that, hellhound,” the demon added.

  I turned to look at her. “You said you had another option?” I changed that subject to the one at hand.

  She looked at Kali and smiled. “I will remove the charm, in return for my own collection,” she explained. Hell, from one psycho demon to another, these guys just don’t give up.

  “Yeah, don’t think so,” I replied, readying my swords for the fight.

  Her eyes returned to mine. “This will not only benefit me. I know what is happening to you, and if I am not mistaken you need this, too,” she chimed. Yeah, psycho I tell you.

  “Sorry, not interested,” I replied. I already have one demon prince to deal with sure as hell I’m not going to include a princess on my to-do list.

  “Fine, but remember one thing, hellhound. She will die. And you’re going to die with her.” She shrugged and turned around. Crap, I hate this.

  “And with you there will be no death?” I inquired.

  Turning her head back to me, she smiled. “Not yours or the harpy, but others, yes. I have a very delightful task for you,” she purred.

  “Yeah, that doesn’t sound like me, sorry,” I declined her offer. She nodded to her Haplai’s and they returned to their normal form and shifted away.

  She turned, looking at us. “When the time comes, call my name and I will come to you, hellhound.” Her eyes turned to Kali. “Sometimes your enemy can help find another,” she finished and shifted out.

 
We stood there in silence, looking at the spot she had just been standing in. What does she mean by that? “Okay, you two have some major explaining to do. I would start now before the guys get here,” Lada broke the silence. Taking a deep breath, I turned to look at them. Kali was furious, her face giving it away. Nanini and Lada were standing their ground and waiting for the explanation.

  “I have to find the blood relics, and take it as payment to Gluttire,” I confessed. Their eyes went huge, like bowl huge.

  “Are you joking?” Lada almost whispered.

  I shook my head and looked at Kali. “No, unfortunately not. This is the deal Gluttire gave me. And you just heard the other option,” I replied. Lada looked at Kali then and Nanini, who was jumping from one foot to the other.

  “If I remember correctly, you’re going to need all the help you can get. My father spoke of a guardian protecting them, and in his stories not even Chax could defeat this guardian,” Lada explained.