The Complete Protected by the Damned Series

by Michael Todd

  Mamacita walked back to the cabinet and carefully pulled the sais from their hooks, then gripped them tightly in her hands as she smiled at Joshua.

  They felt right. It was as if she had never ever put them down. She walked forward, twisting one way, then the other, and back again.

  Her movements were quick, hard, and structured, like she had performed them all her life. She started to work the sai in her right hand, moving it in circles across her body and back.

  When she switched to the left, she fumbled the weapon and it fell to the floor, clanging on the concrete.

  She winced. “I guess if someone hasn’t practiced in a few years, you can’t expect perfection right away,” She picked it up and returned to her place.

  “You know how to use those?” Joshua asked in wonder.

  She didn’t look at him, just nodded. “I sure do, Joshua,” She smiled, moving into the traditional heisoku dachi stance.

  She bent slowly forward, bowing to Joshua before making a hard turn and bowing to the girls. She moved from the formal attention stance quickly into the nicho sai.

  Her hand, holding the sai, snapped up and behind her head, while she tucked her other sai to her side, tip towards her back.

  She slowly moved her front leg, dragging her toe around in a half moon in front of her self before calling out as she front punched, once, twice, and a third time. She then shifted back into the nicho sai again, holding still for a moment.

  From there she danced across the room, showing the girls her beautiful art.

  “Iyaaa,” she yelled, chopping one hand down into her leg, holding her pose perfectly as if she had done it her whole life.

  She incorporated the sais into her kata, swinging them around, twirling them through her hands, and flowing from pose to pose without hesitation.

  She began to sweat as she moved, completely focused inward. Her muscles tensed and relaxed, their definition visible for the first time in a very long time.

  The girls were entranced, unable to move or talk.

  Joshua was having a hard time understanding or believing the talent the woman had hidden from everyone.

  Slowly she flowed back into the beginning stance and breathed out deeply, bowing to Joshua and then to the girls, who gamely tried to bow back to her. She stood up straight and opened her eyes, smiling around the room.

  There was no sound at all in the basement—just the presence of the girls, of Joshua, and of Mamacita.

  “You see, ladies…and Joshua,” Mamacita began, “sometimes you have to stop running from your past to make sure those you love have a future.”

  Joshua didn’t understand what she meant and neither did the girls, really, but they all understood her intent. They were the ones she loved, the ones she wanted to have a future.

  They watched as she walked to the large door leading to the tunnel and slowly turned the lock. As it clanked open, she gripped the sais and looked back at the group.

  “If I never am blessed to see you again, know that I’ll watch over you from heaven,” she told them, a sad smile gracing her face.

  She turned back to the door and opened it, then slid into the hallway and closed the door behind her. Joshua’s smile faded when he realized she was going to fight the demons.

  He wouldn’t let her fight alone.

  “Take a weapon,” Joshua said, and the girls walked up to the cabinet one by one. “Hold it tightly in your hand. Feel it as part of you. Know that where it goes, you go. When you strike, aim for the face, the neck, or the chest, but try to stay back. I’ve seen these beasts’ claws, and they are brutal.”

  “You think we are ready?” one of the girls asked Joshua.

  “If you think you are ready, then you are,” he told her, giving her shoulder a tiny squeeze. “You are the bravest women I have ever met, and you were fighting demons long before Korbin’s Killers started. They just came to you in other forms.”

  They all lined up as the he opened the door, then looked back at them and lifted his sword into the air. They shouted and cheered loudly before running full-force through the door and down the tunnel.

  When they reached the end, there were two demons blocking their path. The front two girls lurched forward and swiped their weapons across the demons’ skin. Mad with pain and agony, the demons lashed out, severely injuring both women.

  Joshua shouted and ran toward the demons, wielding his weapons like a true master. He fought the beasts, injuring them repeatedly. He kicked them, slashed them with his blade, and finally knocked them backward into the wall of the cave.

  The boy surprised them. They hadn’t seen or heard of him before tonight.

  Joshua could feel the anger surging through him, which was new to him. He had to protect the women.

  His mind was clear, and he could see every move before he performed it.

  He sliced down through one of the demon’s heads, splitting it open. That one fell to the ground as he turned and slashed his sword across the remaining demon’s chest, blood splattering to the ground.

  He raced forward, cutting through the second demon’s claws as he pulled a knife from the sheath on his belt. The demon had frozen and was screaming at the pain of losing a hand.

  Joshua lunged forward and stabbed the knife deep into the demon’s chest, piercing its dark black heart. The demon gurgled and spat until finally it died. Joshua pushed the beast off his knife and watched as it turned to dust just before hitting the ground.

  “You don’t think a blacksmith knows how to FIGHT?” he screamed at the pile of demon ash.

  Two of the women had pulled the injured to safety, and began treating their wounds. The girls nodded to Joshua, and Joshua to them. He couldn’t believe he had possibly lost two of his girls in the first thirty seconds of the fight.

  In that moment he started to question his decision to equip the girls to fight with him, but as he watched the others attack he smiled, seeing a warrior in each and every one of them. They were no longer just flesh for sale.

  And he was no longer just a lonely weapons maker.

  They were part of something bigger than themselves. He had given them a reason to fight, and work, and train, and believe. They had entered into something that would change them forever—but in a good way, a way that might keep them from entering that brothel ever again.

  Chapter 23

  Korbin, Calvin, Jeremy, and Derek surrounded one of the larger demons, their weapons at the ready.

  This fucker had huge muscles, rows of jagged teeth, and scaly skin so thick barely anything could penetrate it.

  The demon turned toward Korbin and roared, shaking the walls of the base. Derek took a running start and leapt onto the beast’s back, slicing it across the back of the neck. The beast bucked and screamed loudly in pain, and reached back to grab Derek. It tossed him hard, sending him flying through the air to crash into a wall.

  He groaned as he fell to the ground, grabbing his arm tightly, then pulled himself up and looked at the others.

  “My arm…it’s broken. I’ll shoot from here. I won’t get in the way!”

  The others nodded and turned back toward the beast, sending shots winging toward the demon. Derek pulled out his pistol with his left hand and aimed at the beast’s face, pulling the trigger until his clip was empty.

  The beast growled but ignored the bullets and Derek looked down, trying to reload his weapon with one hand. One of the bullets dropped from the clip and he bent down, cussing as he tried to get the damn thing to load.

  “Derek,” Jeremy yelled to him. “Watch out!”

  Derek looked up to see Jeremy sprinting toward him with his sword out, then glanced over his shoulder to see a demon very close. He dropped to the ground and scooted backward as the demon crept toward him.

  Jeremy lunged forward to shove the sword through the demon’s shoulder, then pulled hard to remove it—but it was stuck. He looked up at the demon, kicking it to hopefully pull the sword free. Then he turned his head toward Derek
, eyes wide, and his expression went blank.

  Derek looked down to see the demon’s talons pushing through the kid’s stomach and out the other side.

  “NOOOO!” Derek screamed as the demon retracted his claws. Jeremy, with no support, fell slowly to the ground, his eyes dimming.

  Derek got his other pistol free and pointed it at the demon’s face, pulling the trigger until its clip had run dry as well. He continued to pull, the clicks echoing through his head, as anger overtook him. He looked down at Jeremy’s body and gritted his teeth.

  “Why the fuck would you do that?” he screamed at his dead teammate. “You are paying your tribute too fucking early!”

  Derek stood there and watched as the demon turned to dust, Jeremy’s sword falling to the ground and clanging on the pavement. Behind him Korbin and Calvin double-teamed their demon, making serious headway with injuring the big-assed bastard.

  However, as Calvin stepped forward to swipe at the demon again, it swung its large arm outward and caught Calvin, sending him tumbling ass over appetite across the ground. He moaned as he heard his bones cracking.

  “I’ll just be a second,” he called weakly from the sidelines.

  A female’s arm came into view. “You tap out for a moment,” Mamacita told him, pressing her hand on Calvin’s arm as she looked toward the demon. “I’ve got Korbin’s back.”

  “Well, all right.” Calvin chuckled and turned his head to spit out blood, surprised to see her.

  Mamacita headed into the fight and nodded at Korbin as she stepped up next to him, her sais gripped tightly in her hands.

  He returned the nod and looked back at the demon, who was laughing menacingly.

  Korbin’s lip twitched in irritation.

  “You are so badly beaten that now you have to bring in girls?” The demon chuckled deeply.

  “I wouldn’t judge a book by its cover,” Mamacita told it, moving forward in an intricate pattern. Her sais twirled in the air before she stabbed one of them into the demon’s side and moved back.

  The beast yelled in agony, falling to its knees and grabbing its side. There was something about the sai that bothered it more than the other weapons had.

  It slid in like a motherfucker.

  The two humans started to fight in earnest again, causing the beast damage so grave that Korbin was eventually able to cut its head off. He climbed off the body and went over to Mamacita, both hurt and walking poorly.

  Korbin shook his head and chuckled, just happy to have had some help.

  Katie stood close to Eric and Damian as they fought two large sneaky demons. One was faster and thinner, while the other one was pure brute. Eric ran toward the skinny beast and jinked to the right as his knife sliced across its stomach, but the blade caught a claw on the other side and he had to pull back.

  He realized it was just a flesh wound, so he retreated.

  Katie and Damian continued to attack, both getting hit pretty hard in the process. Katie was still holding her own, though, no matter what the demon threw at her.

  “These fuckers are a mess,” Katie said, rubbing her bruised arm.

  “Hell yeah they are,” Eric said, shaking his head and breathing heavily. “I have a secret weapon, though.”

  Eric walked over to the large pieces of concrete wall that had fallen during the battle. He groaned as he lifted one into the air, but once it was up he closed his eyes and stepped back, putting out his hands. With a telekinetic effort, he threw the stone harder than he would ever be able to do with his own hands.

  The rock flew through the air and bashed into the demon, which got its attention. The demon turned quickly and snarled at Eric, and he slowly pulled his two knives from their sheaths and held them behind his back.

  The demon lunged forward, not paying attention as Eric held a knife out. The demon ran straight into it and screamed in pain, stumbling backward as Eric reared back and threw the other one into the demon’s shoulder.

  The beast’s screeches of pain echoed around the compound.

  Eric smiled at the screams, knowing how much pain he had inflicted.

  Before he could react, though, the demon pulled the knife from his shoulder and threw it at Eric, striking him back in the arm. Eric screamed and fell to the ground himself.

  The knife did its fair share of damage, but what was really damaging was that the metal—the special metal made to hurt the demons —absolutely scrambled Eric’s demon’s brain.

  Eric writhed on the ground for a moment before pulling the knife out of his arm.

  Pandora growled as she watched the scene through Katie’s eyes, then turned back to the two demons. The faster one stood at the front and was attempting to stare Pandora down, growling, snarling, and getting ready to attack.

  Before it could, though, the larger demon crept up behind it and grabbed the first by the shoulders, swinging it around to face him. He shoved his hand into the demon’s chest and ripped out its heart, popping the organ into his mouth and chomping away.

  Oh, man, Pandora said. This is gonna suck.

  How badly? Katie asked, in shock from the cannibalistic action happening right in front of her.

  On a scale of one to shove-a-tree-up-my-ass? Pandora replied. I’ll take the tree every time.

  That’s…pretty bad, Katie agreed.

  The smaller demon fell to the ground, its body slowly melting into the concrete.

  She winced, wondering how that felt before looking back up at the remaining demon.

  The brute demon growled and howled. Its muscles pulsating and increased in size as it grew taller, and its skin glowed brighter by the second.

  Katie looked at Damian, who was kneeling next to Eric and wrapping his wounds. As he treated Eric, he kept an eye on the demon.

  “Well,” Damian remarked, “this is a horrible new ability to learn about on the killing field.”

  “You got this.” Eric winced as he shook his head. “You and Katie are badasses, so you shouldn’t even be worried about that fucker. He may be big, but hey…you can tell he’s as dumb as a box of fucking rocks.”

  “Thanks for that.” Damian smiled. “Nice pep talk.”

  He patted Eric on the arm, then stood up and walked over to Katie. She seemed to be completely and totally in shock.

  He chuckled as he watched the demon. “It looks like they’ve got all kinds of tricks up their sleeves,” he pondered aloud. “Wish we had a list of their abilities.

  “Yeah, maybe they have a few tricks,” she said. “But so…do…we.”

  We’re really going to do this? Pandora asked. No going back afterwards.

  Do it.

  Katie walked forward with her eyes flashing bright red and Pandora brewing inside of her. The beast turned its head and stared at Katie, who had no fear in her heart.

  A sick smile moved over its lips as it crouched, ready for action.

  “DRESS REHEARSAL FOR HELL, BOYS!” Pandora and Katie yelled in unison.

  Katie put her hands out in front of her and watched as they slowly morphed into demonic paws with long sharp claws. When she looked up, her eyes were nothing but bright red orbs, and two red horns sprouted from the top of her head. She growled and seethed as she stared up at the beast.

  “Well,” Damian said, looking at her in disbelief, “that is definitely a new tactic.”

  He looked her up and down as her clothes ripped and shredded. Her body became wider, taller and stronger than her human form. She had grown huge; taller than him, her arm muscles glistening from the sweat rolling down her skin. She looked at Damian and winked, a smile moving across her lips.

  “Don’t worry, I’m still me,” she said, reaching her hand out for Damian’s cross. “There is just more of me.”

  Damian nodded and removed the cross from his jacket. He paused before slapping the cross into her hands, but it had no effect on her. He shook his head, not sure what to think about her metamorphosis.

  “Go take care of Eric,” she bellowed. “That lazy fu
cker isn’t going to die on my watch.”

  Eric’s sputtering voice called, “I got your lazy right here! Leave that sumbitch for me. I’ll drive my sword up its ass and shit down its throat.”

  Damian nodded to Katie and turned to Eric, but looked over his shoulder to catch another glimpse of Katie. This was wholly new to him.

  Katie shoved the cross into her belt and stepped onto the fallen stone, looking over at the beast. She lunged forward and plowed into the beast, pushing it through the wall and sending it sliding across the ground on the other side. Bricks fell all over them as they traveled.

  The two slashed back and forth, throwing large sections of wall and old equipment from the unused area of the compound. The fight was vicious, and caused widespread damage to the empty buildings.

  As they wrestled for the upper hand, small fires erupted from the heat of their bodies colliding. They destroyed several of the buildings, but they didn’t stop.

  Katie was not going to allow this demon to get away or hurt anyone else.

  “Hey, fucker,” Pandora called from within Katie. “Just give up, you piece of shit. T’Chezz is going to kill you anyway.”

  “Fuck you,” he roared, lunging at Katie.

  Katie put her feet beneath his hips and rolled backward, pushing him into the air. She got out of the way as he plummeted back to the ground, crushing the concrete beneath him when he landed. Slowly he got himself back onto his feet, and dusted his hands off on his massive scaly legs.

  He smiled again, shaking his head.

  “There isn’t anything you can do that I don’t know about,” the demon said to Pandora. “I can do this all day and all night up here on Earth. You are nothing like you are in Hell—just an empty shell of your former self—but I have been infused with power to last weeks, maybe even longer.”

  “Take me over there,” Katie told Pandora. “Nobody talks to my friend like this jackass.”

  Pandora laughed and the two of them ran toward the sack of shit, tackling the demon again and smashing through the support columns of the nearest building.