by Michael Todd
“Yeah.” Isaac chuckled. “I don’t think we would be able to do it with so few.”
Just then his phone started to ring, and he excused himself and picked it up. Katie looked out the window, not wanting to be rude and eavesdrop. The buildings were so tall, and she wondered how they managed that when chasing demons. She immediately had more of an appreciation for their teams.
She felt overwhelmed at the compound and at the base; she didn’t know how she would handle it in a city block like that. Even in LA things were spread farther apart. There were a million hiding places out there, and a million ways to find yourself in a really bad situation.
“We have to make a bit of a detour,” Isaac told them. “There is a call for an exorcism not far from here, and since I have a priest I told them we would handle it. I hope that’s all right, Damian.”
“That’s fine,” Damian agreed. “We can give this little lady a taste of the big leagues.”
“Oh, lord.” Katie sighed. “She does not need to go on an exorcism yet.”
“I was talking about you.” Damian winked.
“Very funny,” Katie replied.
“What?” Ella asked excitedly. “We are going on a call? I want to see this stuff go down.”
“She hasn’t been on a call yet?” Isaac asked.
“No,” Katie admitted. “It’s been slow back at home, and to be honest we are lucky to get her out of bed for training every day. I am not sure she is quite ready for a fight.”
“I don’t know if that is true,” Ella said, “but I think I am definitely ready to be a spectator. How am I going to learn if I don’t know what to expect? I mean, they just threw you in on your first incursion, Katie.”
“Yeah, but I was dedicated to getting better,” Katie answered. “I didn’t try to escape out any windows. Besides, I remember my first exorcism; it was definitely not what I expected. In fact, I don’t even know if I want to go to this thing. There were demons and souls, and a giant demon that had to be defeated. It was not like the movies. I would take Spinning Head Girl over what happened any day.”
“That doesn’t sound like a normal exorcism.” Isaac laughed.
“Nothing ever seems to be normal for our team,” Katie replied with a smile, turning back to Damian. “You remember the first ‘date’ you took me on?”
“Oh, lord.” Damian laughed. “That was a doozy.”
“What happened?” Ella asked.
“Well we got there for a run-of-the-mill exorcism of a house, and come to find out, the ghost hunters who tipped us off were infected,” Katie explained. “The house was haunted or infected or something, and there was legit horror-movie craziness going on. The walls were bleeding, there was crazy laughter, and the doors would shut on their own. If that weren’t enough, a giant demon came out, ready to kick our asses. We fought the damn thing for like hours and were eventually able to defeat it, but we pretty much demolished the house in the process. When we finally got back to the ghost hunters we were able to get the demons out and push them back to hell, but it was crazy. The ghost hunters were mad that they didn’t get readings first.”
“Assholes!” Ella exclaimed. “They should have been kissing your feet and thanking you for giving them their lives back. They could have been Damned, or even worse. This is why I hate people—seriously. They have no idea what it is like to be caught in a life like this—ungrateful jerks that they were. But that sounds nuts.”
“It was.” Katie laughed, winking at Damian. “It made me a better hunter, that’s for sure. I had to use skills I didn’t even know I possessed.”
“I think that was one of the turning points for Katie,” Damian agreed. “She blossomed there; showed she knew what she was up against. Trust me, though…she would not have gotten that one so good if she hadn’t been training so hard. This girl was training night and day: down there working with weapons, running, hitting the weights, and learning new moves. She knew her life was on the line, so she threw herself into it.”
“I didn’t like working out. Not many people do, but I wanted to survive, and I knew that being at my physical peak was incredibly important, so I kicked my own ass.” Katie smiled.
“Well, maybe it isn’t as bad as it seems,” Ella said, watching out the window. “Maybe I’ll think differently after this.”
Korbin paced his office floor, thinking of all the things that he should remember while the military was there. He knew he shouldn’t be nervous. They weren’t his bosses, but he understood that if they were pissed off they could give him a really hard time, and he really didn’t want that kind of drama on his hands.
He had been so close to being out of there, but they had gotten to him first. They would have a ton of questions, and he knew what he had to answer and what he could keep hidden, but he still didn’t like the intrusion—especially when he had so many other things going on.
Just then his phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out, looking at the notification of incoming email. It was from the agent and he was almost afraid to open it, but he did. He sat down and sighed before he read it, hoping like hell for good news.
Apparently the videos from the bank were not out in public, at least not that they had found while searching. The tapes had been confiscated after the crime, and immediately put into evidence.
Korbin blew out a breath in relief, then leaned his head back, closed his eyes, and mouthed the words “Thank you” to the heavens.
It was about time they had some sort of good luck, even if it was in a situation they should have never gotten themselves into in the first place. He was definitely going to have a talk with those two when everything had settled down.
He didn’t need his two vigilantes running all over the country solving crimes for the cops. They were demon hunters, and that day they should only have helped if it was demon-related and absolutely necessary. They had made enough waves in LA already; they didn’t need to start anymore.
He opened his eyes and continued reading the email.
The video was taken to the Los Angeles Police Department, she wrote.
It was stashed in the need-to-know section, and I happened upon it. The department really appreciated the help, since there were many souls in that bank and that situation could have been a hell of a lot worse than it was. No one was killed, and the officer who was shot is expected to make a full recovery. Neither the department nor the DEA will let the tapes leak, but somehow they need to figure out how to keep things like this under wraps. If this situation occurs again, we want to be able to keep it out of the public eye. Sometimes these things can move quickly, and videos can pop up before they even get back to the station.
There did need to be some sort of process for keeping these things out of the public eye, but at what cost?
The real solution to the problem was keeping the D Squad out of incidents that didn’t have anything to do with demons. Korbin didn’t wish harm to any of the people in the bank, that was for sure, and he was proud of both Katie and Damian for taking the initiative to help in a situation that was obviously dire, but they had to think about their cause, too.
The demons threatened the very existence of the human race, and that made it very important for the team to stay out of things that could expose them. He didn’t know how to tell them to leave a bank full of people to possibly die, but they needed to practice discretion.
As it was, it looked like the department was hoping they would be around again if something like that occurred. They were treading in dangerous territory with that, making it look like they could rely on the team to help in any old case they couldn’t handle. The reality of it was that most things needed to be handled by someone else, though.
“We aren’t frickin’ superheroes, after all,” Korbin muttered, putting his phone back in his pocket.
He got up from his chair and walked back up to the main area, staring out the window into the desert. The lights inside the house were off, and the moon was full in the sky.
It was a beautiful night; there was a lunar blue glow that kind of cascaded over the hilly desert. He was going to miss this place. He had put blood, sweat, and tears into making it a home, and in one fell swoop it had been almost completely demolished.
The new place was going to be good—good for the team and good for the country—but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t feel homesick for a while. The new base would eventually become comfortable, but until then he had to protect their secrets—and that was exactly what he was about to face.
Chapter 15
Isaac pulled up to the curb and parked the SUV like a pro.
Katie knew she couldn’t drive in a place like New York. She could barely parallel park her car at the compound.
She looked out the window at the tall brownstone that was their destination. The windows were dark, and the atmosphere eerie. She really hoped it didn’t go the way that it had in the past because, she wasn’t in the mood for a fight.
The four of them got out of the car. Katie had her knives, and she was fine with those. Damian had his bible and his cross, and Isaac had what he wanted. Ella didn’t need a weapon, because Katie would make sure she got her out of there if things got hairy.
When they got up to the door, Isaac looked back at them and nodded. He opened it and they crept into the house as the lights inside began to flicker.
The demon already knew they were there, but they had to find the host before it found them. A sound from up the stairs to the right caught Damian’s attention, and he motioned for the others to follow behind him.
When they reached the second floor, they followed the groaning and screaming to a bedroom at the end of the hall on the righthand side. Inside was a woman somewhere in her forties, who had long red hair and was dressed in a long white nightgown.
The room was almost empty, not what Katie had expected from the expensive brownstone in that part of town. There was a bed and a night stand, but nothing else except a cross hanging lopsided on the adjacent wall.
The woman growled and groaned, her body twitching and writhing on the bed.
She looked as if she were in pain, which was not what Katie had expected at all. The four slowly moved closer, Damian providing instruction.
He walked over and pushed her head down on the bed, then pulled her eyelids back to reveal nothing but white. He turned to the other three and nodded.
“Katie, I want you to assist. Isaac, stand back with Ella. Watch, but don’t interfere unless I ask. If things get bad, take Ella and get out. Katie and I can handle it.”
“Got it,” Isaac agreed, pulling Ella over to the corner. He kept his hand on his weapon.
“Katie,” Damian turned to her, “I want you to hold her down and keep her down until I can latch onto this demon. I might need Pandora’s help.”
“Okay.” Katie nodded, feeling nervous for the first time in a while.
Don’t be nervous, Pandora told her. You’ve faced worse.
Easier said than done, Katie replied.
Katie walked over to the bed and looked at the woman, then pushed her shoulders down firmly, pressing her top half to the bed despite her writhing. Damian nodded and walked around the bed, pulling out his cross and opening his bible.
“Oratio ad Sancte Michaelem Archangelum in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritu sancto. Amen,” Damian chanted in Latin.
The woman strained against Katie’s hands and foam spewed from her mouth.
Katie gasped when her eyes shot open and there was a bright-red circle around her pupils. She looked straight up at Katie, and she could feel the stare burning into her soul. She closed her eyes for a moment, but when she opened them again the woman was still glaring up at her.
“Princeps gloriosissime caelestis exercitus, Sancte Michaelem Archangelum, da nobis aciem adversus principes potestates principes autem adversus mundi rectores tenebrarum harum, contra spiritualia nequitiae, in caelestibus,” Damian continued.
The woman screamed and her body went stiff, her eyes shining brightly in the dimly-lit room. She breathed heavily, looking at Katie with a malicious grin moving across her broken and chapped lips.
Katie began to sweat, her hands slipping down the woman’s shoulders to reveal deep lacerations to her skin, maybe a week old.
“Fuck you,” the demon growled. “I’ve heard about you two. Fuck you, Katie. Fuck you, Pandora, if that’s what you’re calling yourself now.”
Katie hissed, trying to hold it together as gray liquid oozed from the woman’s mouth and she laughed deeply in a voice not her own.
Take a deep breath, Pandora said. You are okay. This bastard is going to get what he has coming to him. I’m taking over.
No, Katie replied. Not in front of Isaac.
“Nos eiciam vos de nobis, quicumque haec legis, Et spiritus immundi, omnis satanica potestates. Omnes infernales impletis, improbis legionibus necnon sectarum numerum pervenitur.” Damian raised his hands and screamed, “We drive you from us, whoever you may be, unclean spirits, all satanic powers, all infernal invaders, all wicked legions, assemblies, and sects!”
At that moment the room began to shake around them as if it weren’t attached to the rest of the house. Damian pulled out his cross and held it in the air as he pressed his hand to the woman’s chest.
The woman spat and screamed.
Katie watched as the demon rose from her body, shrieking and scowling, its eyes as red as blood. Katie had never seen anything like it, and she never wanted to again. The demon howled as its spirit was sucked back down into hell, finally disappearing.
The woman laid still and Katie let go, backing up against the wall and shaking her head. It had terrified her in a way she didn’t understand.
It’s okay, Pandora whispered. Some of us are way more tortured than others. Take a deep breath.
Katie nodded and glanced at Ella, remembering that the girl was watching. Katie pulled her shirt straight and closed her eyes, swallowing hard and pushing away the tears that wanted to spring forth.
She looked at Damian, who nodded and smiled before sitting down on the edge of the bed to check on the woman. She was still alive, and from the looks of her pink cheeks she was going to be just fine.
“She will recover,” Damian whispered. “That was a scary one, I know.”
“He was so angry,” Katie whispered.
“Some of them are. I could tell this one had a very tortured soul. You did well, thank you.”
Katie nodded, having gained a whole new respect for Damian. This trip was definitely turning out a lot different than she had thought.
She had expected to come to New York, maybe kill a couple of demons, train Ella a bit more, and then head back home. She hadn’t expected to witness something like what had just taken place. She wasn’t quite sure why it bothered her so much. She had seen demons eat people, after all, but this was different. This woman had reminded her of her mother, trying to fight off something that was stronger than her.
Pandora had been kind—talking her down during the whole thing—but part of her wondered if Pandora was capable of taking over someone’s body like that, forcing them to do and say horrible things.
She shook the thought from her head and walked over to Isaac and Ella. Isaac smiled at Katie and patted her on the shoulder, having seen the horror she had witnessed up close.
She turned to Ella, expecting her to be terrified, but instead she looked absolutely enthralled.
“That was fucking amazing!” Ella exclaimed. “Like, he just grabbed that demon out of her chest and bam!” She clapped her hands together. “It was gone. And the woman is going to be okay, which blows my damn mind.”
Ella had never seen something like that before, at least not in real life, and until that moment had not thought it might be real.
She had heard rumors of exorcisms, but she thought it was complete bullshit just like everything else that went along with religion; fairytales meant to scare children into their beds at night.
She co
uld tell that everyone was afraid it was going to scare her off, but it did the opposite. It made her want to fight, to kick demon ass just like the rest of them did. It made her want to buckle down and get going, because there was no time to waste.
Did you see that? Ella asked Melneck. That was crazy!
Yes, yes. He yawned. To be honest, I found the whole thing quite boring. It looked like a poor remake of Amityville Horror. I’ve seen seventeenth-century plays with better sound effects and props.
Oh, stop showing off, she replied.
Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet, sweetheart. He chuckled. You have no idea what I can do.
“She will need watching.” Damian was talking to the New York team member. “At least until she comes to—just to make sure that the demon didn’t do any real damage to her body. Those cuts look about a week old, so she must have been lurking around here possessed all this time.”
Isaac nodded. “No problem. I’ll call it in, and they will send someone over here to keep an eye on her.”
“Thank you.” Damian patted him on the shoulder.
Katie stood in the corner with Ella, not saying much as Damian covered the woman with blankets and wiped the drool and vomit off her. He bent to her side and said a prayer before Isaac walked back in holding his phone. Damian rose and looked at him.
“He will be here in ten minutes,” Isaac told the priest.
“Good, we can wait around that long,” he replied. “Then let’s go get some food.”
“Perfect,” Isaac agreed.
Katie was entranced watching the woman sleep, lying perfectly still in her bedroom. She had been a different person just minutes before, all because of that demon. It was still plaguing her, and she didn’t know why.
“Katie,” Ella called from the door a few minutes later. “You coming?”
“Yeah,” Katie said, shaking the thoughts and following her down to the SUV.
