by Michael Todd
The demon took off toward the general. The team leader called out, and a spray of bullets hit the demon. His body jerked as the bullets hit him in the arms, the legs, the waist; everywhere but the head. He growled, but kept his eyes locked on the general. Brushwood didn’t panic, though. Instead he yawned as he pulled a couple of the special bullets from his pocket and loaded his gun. The demon fell to the ground but continued to crawl, hell-bent on making it to the man in charge. The general pushed himself off the Humvee and stepped forward, then raised his gun and aimed. He shook his head before pulling the trigger.
A single bullet flew from the barrel and entered the demon’s head, and he wailed and writhed on the ground for only a moment before bursting into dust. The general looked down at his pistol with a gleam in his eye, then raised his head and pointed at three men plus Katie, and Damian. Katie took the bag from the priest and handed the general the box. He pulled out several more bullets and loaded his clip, snapping it back into his gun. He smiled and stamped the dust off his shoes as he looked at Katie. Jehovivich scooted closer to hear what was going on.
“Colonel,” the general called, waving her over.
She tried to act like she hadn’t been eavesdropping and ran over to him. He nodded at her and back at the group. She already had a bad feeling about all of this.
“The colonel here has intel on the ops, and she knows how I would want this to run,” the general told everyone. “As for me, I’m going tactical. What do you guys say we treat this little incursion like a field test? I’m itching to try these bullets out in some real action.”
Katie laughed. “Just don’t point that at me.”
“Scouts’ honor,” the general promised, holding up two fingers.
Katie knew she shouldn’t trust him, and from the look on Damian’s face he didn’t, but she had to stay the course.
If she wanted relations with the military—and she wanted to keep them out of her business—she had to show she trusted them, and that they could trust her. She nodded at the general and followed him toward the building. The colonel sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Great, now he’s going all John Wayne on me,” she grumbled, looking at the teams spread out around the building. “I’m too old for this shit.”
19
Korbin woke up the next morning with Katie’s letter and Stephanie on his mind.
She always seemed to be right there simmering in his thoughts, but now it was worse. He knew Katie was right. They never knew where life would take them, and tomorrow might not come.
He was out of practice, though, not having taken anyone on a date since becoming Damned. He had always pushed feelings aside, but with Stephanie he found it utterly impossible to do so.
She was boisterous, loud, and funny, and he had been physically attracted to her from the first moment she had worn that suit and started to feel more like herself again. This Stephanie was definitely more his style: badass attitude and fighting style, and personality to boot.
He got out of bed and took a shower, figuring it was now or never. He needed to talk to her; he’d figure out how to spit the words out.
He got dressed and spritzed on some cologne before heading over to Joshua’s building. Korbin figured that was where she would be, since she usually went there first. He passed Derek, who stopped in his tracks and looked at him.
“Are you wearing cologne?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Uh, no.” Korbin cleared his throat. “New body wash. Crazy scent.”
“Oh.” Derek smirked and walked away. “Tell Stephanie I said hello.”
Korbin whipped around, shocked that he knew, but he had disappeared around the corner with an armful of books.
Korbin let out a deep breath and clenched his fists, trying not to lose his nerve. He took the elevator up to ground level and stepped out, shielding his eyes from the blowing sand. Quickly he made his way over to Joshua’s building and went inside, stomping the sand off his feet in the foyer.
When he was finished he stopped stomping and heard a couple of voices coming from just inside the main room. Carefully he crept to the doorway and stood quietly, recognizing the voices as Stephanie’s and Edith’s, who was formerly one of her girls. He didn’t want to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t help it. Stephanie’s voice was melodic, almost drawing him into the conversation.
“There are a lot of options for you,” Stephanie told the girl. “You finished high school with a decent GPA, so there is always college. You can also stay here and work, or there is the option of going back to your old profession. It’s up to you, Edith, but the sky is the limit. It is, after all, your life, and you should do whatever makes you happy.”
Korbin leaned against the wall and rubbed his chin as he listened to Stephanie talk. She was kind and gentle, and not once did he hear any judgment in her voice. He could almost picture her tending to her children in another life, answering the world’s biggest questions.
It warmed his heart and relieved some of the nerves dancing in his stomach. He hadn’t heard her talk to anyone like that before, at least not since she was Mamacita, and that was what he needed to make him realize he was doing the right thing.
“Doing what we were doing…it was really good money,” the girl mused. “It was a way off the streets, and it put food on the table and gave me nice things. That’s really hard to turn away from.”
“I understand,” Stephanie told her calmly. “At some point beauty fades, though, so you have to have a backup. What is yours?”
“This place,” she replied. “Eventually college, maybe. I don’t really have it all lined up yet in my head. I know I have a good thing here, but it’s dangerous at the same time.”
“Your thoughts are on track; they are really smart,” Stephanie agreed with a sigh. “Working here will give you skills, and skills are really important out there in the world. College will give you skills too, depending on what you want to get a degree in. Having lived on the streets and worked my way up the business, I know firsthand that prostitution is fast money; it’s in your hand that day. I know that helps when you are hungry. But there is more to you than that, and I feel that if you really think about it, you will find that you’ve outgrown it. As far as safety… Well, hooking isn’t any safer than being here. You were in a safer place with me in that house, but it is rough on the streets; in here, not so much. Hell, at least here we have weapons and a willingness to kill.”
“But what if something happens again like it did at the old base?”
“I can’t sit here and tell you that’s not a possibility, but here you can get to safety,” Stephanie said. “You go directly to the safety zone—which is even further underground—and they will have to kill all of us before they get to you. If you lock the doors, they won’t be able to get inside. There is food and water to last for months, and there are also ways to communicate with the outside world from in there. Tomorrow, when you’re free, I’ll show you the place.”
“Okay,” the girl agreed. “And thank you for listening to me. I’m good with what you’re saying. I don’t want to go back to the old life if I don’t have to.”
“You never have to do anything,” Stephanie told her quietly. “There are always other options.”
“I’m gonna grab breakfast for Joshua. Tell him I’ll be back soon if you see him, okay?”
“Absolutely,” Stephanie replied.
Korbin moved away from the door and acted as if he was just waiting, smiling at the girl as she walked toward the outside door. He smoothed his shirt and pushed his hair back before going into the room. Stephanie looked up and smiled sweetly, putting down the papers in her hands.
“Hey there!”
“Hi.” Korbin smiled. “I couldn’t help but overhear that conversation. I have to say, you are really good at talking to people. You talked to her like I would imagine a mother would talk to someone.”
“I thought I heard someone come in.” She winked. “I talk to the girls like they are h
uman beings, that’s all. I guess these girls are like my children in a way, though. I picked them up at their lowest point, and together with the people we’ve met along the way, I grew them into strong women capable of a better life.”
“Well, you deserve accolades for that.” Korbin smiled as she blushed and looked down at the table. He put his hands in his pocket and stared at his shoes for a moment.
“Did you come to see Joshua?” Stephanie asked. “He is out for a bit, but should be back soon.”
“No, actually I came to see you,” Korbin told her. “I knew you would be over here this morning. I…uh…I wanted to ask you something. I wanted, or I hoped… I…”
Korbin stumbled over his words and Stephanie looked at him with patience. He cleared his throat and let out a deep breath.
“I suck at this.” He laughed when he looked at her comforting smile. “I wanted to know if you would do me the honor of allowing me to take you on a date?”
“Who are we killing?” she asked with a smile, moving across the room nonchalantly. “I’ll have to change. I don’t do well in heels on these ‘dates.’ I am surprised that you’re taking the helm on an incursion. You usually leave the dirty stuff to us—not that I mind having you out there with me.”
“No.” Korbin shook his head. “There’s no incursion.”
“Oh?” Stephanie stared at him. “A single demon? Someone I missed?”
Korbin was starting to get frustrated. He wasn’t sure if she was doing it to be a jerk or if she actually had no clue he was hitting on her. He shook his head and bit the corner of his mouth, trying to figure out how to explain what he was talking about.
He was so slow at these things; part of him couldn’t blame her for not believing he was hitting on her. He had given her no signs that he was interested in the first place.
“There’s no killing to be done,” Korbin continued, catching her stare.
“No killi— Oh!” You could see the lightbulb go off in Stephanie’s head when she realized he was talking about an actual date, not an incursion “date.” She threw her head back and laughed, but quieted down when she saw his reaction.
“I’m not laughing at you.” She smiled. “I’m laughing at myself for being so dense. I thought you meant an incursion, like when Katie talks about her and Damian’s first ‘date’ at the exorcism. I’m sorry, Korbin. I just made a fool of myself. I would be honored for you to take me on a date. Hell, I’ve been waiting long enough for you to ask.”
“Apparently you didn’t think I would.” He chuckled. “And it took a lot for me to come down here, so you might have been right.”
“What made you change your mind?” she asked, leaning against the chair.
“A sign from God.” He thought about the note. “I just didn’t want life to whizz past us without giving it a shot. We work well together, and I want to see where it can go.”
“That’s the most unromantic thing anyone has ever said to me,” she told him, looking down. “But I like it. No bullshit, no games; just honesty.”
“I’m not much for bullshit,” he admitted.
“All right, Korbin, when would you like to take me out?” she asked.
“I was thinking like three days from now,” he suggested, looking at his watch. “It’s Thursday, so let’s say Sunday evening. Everyone else will be here relaxing, and we can sneak out for some good food and good conversation.”
“That is the pathway to my heart.” She laughed. “And Sunday sounds perfect. We can end our weekend with a bang, and not the kind that comes from the barrel of a gun either.”
“Exactly.” Korbin smiled.
Bullets whizzed through the hallways, hitting demons left and right. Katie ran through the dusty explosions to grab others and break their necks faster than the soldiers could follow. Katie was sure glad they had come along. There were so many of them; the military wouldn’t have lasted ten minutes. She was working up a sweat, even with Pandora’s juicing. She ran forward and leaped off a pile of debris, feet forward, toward another demon. She locked her legs around him and grabbed his head, pausing only for a moment before snapping his neck. The demon turned to dust and she landed on the ground, one knee down and a hand in the pile of ash.
“Yuck.” She grimaced and stood up to wipe the ash off her pants.
“Better than a handful of guts,” Damian countered as he came up beside her.
“True,” Katie agreed. “Come on, there are about six of these bastards in the lab over here.”
Damian nodded and took off behind Katie, his gun out and ready to fire. He was slower than she was, and by the time he got into the lab—fifteen seconds after her— she was slicing the last demon’s throat. He shook his head and smirked, never having seen her move that fast before. He opened his mouth to congratulate her but found himself plummeting to the floor with a demon snarling in his ear.
He grunted and rolled when his shoulder met the hard floor, turning onto his back to look up at the beast. Its eyes gleamed red and its claws were curved to strike. Damian chuckled at the surprise on the demon’s face as he raised his gun. He curved his mouth into a huge grin and pulled the trigger, blowing the demon’s head clear off. Blood sprayed, but before it could reach Damian’s face it turned to dust.
“Now I’m really glad it’s not guts,” Damian told Katie, blowing the dust from his lips.
Katie laughed and pulled Damian to his feet. Before he was all the way up the door burst open and Katie raised her gun, crossing it over her outstretched arm. The soldier coming through immediately put his hands up, seeing the barrel of her gun pointed at his head. She let out a deep breath and put her weapon back in its holster.
“How’s it going out there?” Katie asked.
“We killed a few,” the soldier told her, looking around at the seven piles of ash. “I see you killed a few too.”
“Eh.” Katie shrugged and swiped the ash from her shoulders. “A few.”
“Well, there are two big ones headed our way,” the soldier advised them. “We need you.”
“It’s nice to be needed,” Katie replied, glancing at Damian.
Damian nodded and walked toward the door, pulling his cross from the inside pocket of his coat.
“A couple more won’t kill us.” Damian grinned.
Katie raised an eyebrow and followed them.
“I hope,” he amended.
20
The general pressed his back against the wall, raising his gun and shoving another clip of the special bullets into it.
He took a deep breath and slowly peeked around the corner.
Two large demons had caught wind of them and were stalking them through the halls. They had split up, Katie and Damian leading one in one direction while the soldiers and the general got the other one to follow their trail. The beast was huge and strong, and had already taken down one of his men with a single blow from his fist.
He motioned to the soldiers that the coast was clear and they moved down the next hallway, checking the rooms along the way.
When they had cleared the last of the rooms they stopped and motioned to the general, who was slowly creeping down the hall with his gun at the ready.
Just when he was about to reach them the demon turned the corner, its head barely missing the ceiling.
The soldiers opened fire as they backed away from the beast. The general waited for the beast to slow, watching as black blood began to seep from a few of the wounds. He aimed at the beast’s chest and pulled the trigger, watching as the special bullet bored into him.
The beast wailed as it raised its arms and threw its head back. It was stunned, and stumbled backward before crashing to the ground. The general didn’t hesitate; he marched forward and aimed at the demon’s head.
As soon as the beast lifted his chin, the general blasted him. The demon’s eyes flashed red, and his body shook until it was still; not dead, but no longer moving.
There was a loud crash behind him and he whirled, raising an eyeb
row. The soldiers, who were breathing heavily, leaned against the walls and looked at the general, who nodded at them.
Katie and Damian had been superstars when they had first entered the building, taking down demons faster than the soldiers could raise their guns. Now they were struggling? He didn’t believe it. This demon was big, but they had already taken theirs down. He took a step forward, but stopped on hearing another loud crash.
He decided it was probably better to leave them to it than to run in with guns blazing. The last thing he wanted to do at that moment was accidentally take one of them out. That would definitely not help the military-mercenary relationship.
He looked at the soldiers and shrugged, then pulled a box away from the wall and sat down. He would just wait this one out. After about ten minutes a loud wail filled the hallway, then silence.
The general stood and the soldiers gathered behind him as they waited for the approaching footsteps. The doors to the hallway swung open and in walked Katie and Damian, covered in ash, sweat beading their foreheads. The general laughed, clapping his hands together.
“Good job. We got em all.”
“Not all of them,” Katie said, pointing behind the general.
The military contingent swung around and stared as the demon glared at them with red eyes. Apparently, he hadn’t been down for the count. He had only stayed out until the effects of the metal in the bullets wore off. The beast roared, and the gust blew the general’s hat off his head. He lifted his gun and shot three times, each shot striking the beast’s skull. He groaned and growled, then his red eyes rolled back in his head and his body collapsed. The beast died before he could hit the floor, and a pile of ash plumed into the air.
