by Michael Todd
The demon mercs pulled the remaining hostages into the foyer and shoved them together, then circled them with rope and twisted until none of them could move so much as an inch.
One of the higher-ups in the group pulled a small box from his bag and attached it to the ropes, lifting the lid and pressing some buttons. The lights began to flash and he stepped back with a smile.
They had been bound with a wireless explosive.
“All right team, huddle up over here,” Trenton called. “They are close; I can smell them. It’s not smart for us to stay in one group. That could cause more casualties. I want us to split up into two teams—half go with Ryan, the other half with me. We are looking for mercenaries; we never know when they could be involved. This is a high-level incursion, so they should have called the teams. When you find them, hold off killing them. I want to talk to them first. The rest of the soldiers are yours for the taking.”
Trenton looked down at the blueprint of the hotel he had spread out on a side table. He drew his finger along the passages, trying to find the best route. He looked out the window and shook his head.
“Brian, Eli, you are two of our best, and frankly, I trust you to not fuck up.” Trenton looked out a nearby window. “I am sending you out into the field to hide. I want you to sneak up behind whoever is heading in and cut their legs off before they get here.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Be careful out there. You don’t want to become the victim of your own plan,” Trenton instructed. “The rest of us will settle down here and wait for your signal. Use guns so we can hear the shots. If you need us we will come to you, but if you can’t kill them try to push them inside to us. They will want to save the innocents, but really they are out for revenge whether or not they want to admit it. They will want to find us, and we will be more than happy to greet them at the door.”
Both men nodded and Trenton stepped to the side as they made their way out the door.
He shut it behind them and turned back to the troops. He could tell they were nervous. The last thing he needed was a bunch of trigger-happy anxious soldiers.
He put up his hands. “Everyone settle down. There is no reason to be nervous. Moloch came to us, which means he supports this mission. I want you to spread out across this area and hunker down with your weapons at the ready. We kicked the last team’s asses without effort, and there is no reason that we won’t do the same with this one. You are ready. Talk to your demons and summon your strength. We are in for a battle.”
The soldiers spread out across the large marbled foyer, taking a knee and watching out the large windows. Trenton backed up to the hostages and snickered as he petted one of them on the cheek. The fear in her eyes made him smile.
“It will all be over soon, sweetie. Don’t worry.”
Katie and Damian circled around the hotel to the front, figuring the best thing to do was walk straight in the front doors and face the sonsabitches head-on. They crouched at the edge of the woods for a moment, then stepped forward.
Wait, Pandora warned. There are two demon mercs stalking you.
Katie put her hand out and stopped Damian, pulling him close to her. She didn’t know where the demons were or if they could hear her, so she spoke just above a whisper.
“I need you to back me up. There are two demons behind us, Pandora is sniffing out their exact location. I am going to swing around and get them from behind.”
“Got it,” Damian whispered.
Katie carefully moved to the right and disappeared quickly behind a tree. She looked into the woods to her left, letting Pandora guide her sight to one of the two. He was crouched behind a tree and was staring at the hotel.
He apparently hadn’t spotted her yet, so she snuck up behind him and covered his mouth with her hand. She pulled her knife from her vest and slowly slit his throat, sensing the enraged demon screaming inside him. His blood spilled onto the soil as he fell to the ground.
Katie wiped her knife on his shirt and looked around for the other. Suddenly his communication device clicked, and Katie smirked down at it. She picked it up and raised it to her mouth, but instead of her voice speaking it was Pandora’s.
“One down, my little imps,” she purred. “Momma’s here—and she’s not playing.”
Katie snorted. Cute.
It’s all in the theatrics, Pandora replied.
As the soldiers listened to Pandora’s voice over their earpieces, Trenton gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fists. A moment later a shrill scream echoed through the woods and into the hotel.
Trenton pressed his finger against his earpiece.
“That’s two down,” the voice informed them. “Looks like I’ll be feasting on the entrails of the stupid today.”
“Goddammit,” Trenton yelled as he stood up. “That bitch.”
The soldiers didn’t move. They just sat there staring at Trenton, unsure what to do next.
Trenton was furious, and so dumbfounded by the fact he had already lost two men that rage blazed through him.
He looked at the soldiers, then went over to the innocents and growled in their terrified faces.
“I am going to personally make this bitch pay,” he whispered. “She is mine, and if anyone finds her first, bring her ass to me. The games are over. It’s time for these bastards to meet their bloody ends.”
Chapter 23
From a distance, you wouldn’t be able to see the military carefully creating a circle around the hotel.
They looked like ants lining up to protect their queen.
Ready for battle, ready to get revenge for their fallen brothers and sisters.
None of them liked to be pushed to the back, but they understood that the mercenaries were their allies, and that if anything, they were taking the brunt of the blows from whatever demons were inside.
They were the tanks.
The colonel split the men into two groups, sending one group to the other side and stopping his at the tree line.
They sat silently for several minutes, watching every door and every window, then suddenly there was a loud scream and the sound of a body hitting the ground.
“Spread outward,” the colonel instructed over the comm. “Go slowly and cover the front of the hotel. Stay in the trees and report anything unusual.”
“Copy,” one of the soldiers replied.
He spied Damian crouched in the tall weeds and grasses, and there was movement on the edge of the woods so he raised his rifle. After he peered through the scope he lowered it again, though, since it was Katie walking out of the bushes with her hands covered in blood.
“Colonel, we have a body,” the soldier called over the comm. “Wait, make that two. Two bodies, heavily armed.”
“Copy that,” the colonel replied. “Stay in ranks and keep your heads down. Katie took them out, so they must have been the enemy. Watch your backs. We don’t know how many more are out here.”
Ambrose switched the channel on his comm and clicked the button. “Katie, come in.”
“I hear you, Colonel,” she replied.
“We found two bodies. Want to confirm they were your kills.”
“They were mine,” she whispered. “They were demon mercs. I think we have a whole crew of them hunkered down inside. Hold your positions and don’t let any of them get away.”
“Copy that,” the colonel replied, switching his channel back and calling the troops. “Demon mercs. Two down, unknown number inside.”
“Copy that,” the soldiers replied.
“Did you hear that scream?” one of the soldiers whispered. “He sounded like a fucking pig dying.”
Another snickered. “Or a demon motherfucker meeting his match. That chick is obviously not someone to be messed with.”
“Damn straight,” the first replied. “And she is sexy as hell, too.”
“Careful now,” Ambrose whispered. “You just might lose a finger if you try anything.”
The soldier to his right laughed.
“Or worse.”
They sat there in the wood line watching as Katie and Damian disappeared into a small woodshed on the edge of the property.
Everything was silent; no bird calls, no insects—not even the sound of a plane flying overhead. It was eerie in a way that made the colonel’s skin crawl.
They had one hell of a fight on their hands, and they could only hope the mercenaries did some damage before they had to fire a shot.
Katie carefully shut the woodshed door and crouched next to Damian, checking the bullets in her gun for the tenth time. She was nervous, but this time it wasn’t because she was hunting demons. Damian peeked through a small hole in the side of the shed, but there was no movement outside.
“Are the rest of the demons inside?” Damian whispered.
“Yeah.” Katie nodded. “They only sent the two out here. Idiots.”
“You ready to go in?” Damian asked, moving toward the door.
“Wait. Turn off your comm for a second.”
“All right.” He looked at her with curiosity and switched off his comm. “What’s going on?”
“I can’t really explain this to you until it’s a go,” she began. “I need you to trust Pandora and me, though. Can you do that?” She looked him square in the eyes, seeking something.
“Yeah, of course,” he replied, one eyebrow raised. “But I think that—”
Damian stopped talking and backed up slightly.
He watched as Katie shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. Her head twisted and her movements were so fast that all he could see was a blur of her face. He put his hand on the butt of his pistol and watched carefully, unsure what the hell was going on.
He had told her that he trusted her and he meant it, so he left his gun in its holster. As her head movements slowed she rolled her neck, groaning quietly. Her features changed and she morphed into an even more voluptuous woman right in front of him.
His eyes grew wider and scanned her body as it too began to shake wildly.
He scooted back until his back was pressed against the door to the shed. He had never seen anything like it. Not only had her face changed, but so had her body; everything had been emphasized.
Her breasts were huge, her waist was tiny, and her hips were wide and curvaceous. Her eyes glowed red, matching her plump pouty lips.
Slowly the woman in front of him stood up and stretched her arms over her head as she yawned.
Damian blinked hard, unsure whether this was actually happening or if he had stepped on something poisonous and was hallucinating the entire thing.
He tilted his head to the side as the hair flowed over her shoulders. When she opened her eyes again and looked at Damian, the red had simmered to a dull glow.
Her lips slowly curved into a smile and he wasn’t sure whether to run, shoot, hump her, or stay exactly where he was.
Where had that desire to hump her come from?
He had been with the Damned longer than most, and things just kept getting weirder every time he turned around.
This, though…this took the cake.
The Katie he knew, the one he’d fought beside, worked beside, and played beside was gone.
Her features had changed and her body had been reshaped; there was nothing left of the woman he had grown to know so well.
In her place was another person, one he could only assume was the legend and the voice behind Katie’s sweet face— Pandora, the demon inside her.
Damian had always wondered what she would look like in the flesh, but that wasn’t at all how he had pictured her.
She was hot; hotter than any woman he had met. The entire thing was completely insane to him. He took his hand off his gun and slowly stood. Once he was up he stayed where he was, almost wanting to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
He reached down to flip his comm back on but stopped, wanting to figure out what the hell was going on first.
He couldn’t talk though; words just didn’t seem to want to form on his lips. He just stood there gaping at Pandora.
She sneered at him, then snickered and walked toward him, staring at Damian with excitement.
“Close your mouth, kitten,” she suggested, gently pushing his mouth closed.
He blinked again, still not moving a muscle, completely stunned by the woman standing in front of him.
He wasn’t sure if it was because she had morphed from one form to another or if it was because she was stunningly gorgeous.
He couldn’t imagine this woman shoving so many donuts into her mouth or eating until Katie couldn’t move anymore.
She was a supermodel, but at the same time, she was a demon through and through. And not just any demon—a very very powerful one.
When she took over a body it wasn’t a disgusting beast. It was a totally different person.
“You know, you should stop looking at me like that,” she purred, running her finger over his cheek. “Katie would be pissed if I made you break your sacred vows.”
“But you… And there was Katie, and...” Damian shook his head and finally turned his eyes away.
He reached up and rubbed his face, then looked back at her as if she would magically become Katie again. She laughed and twirled around, letting out a deep breath.
“It feels so good to have a body again, even if it’s only for a night,” she exclaimed excitedly. “I feel like Cinderella with her pumpkin coach, only when this fight’s over I’ll turn back into Katie and sink back into the depths of her soul. So sad. At least tomorrow she can get me some more donuts and it will only affect her and not me. I like big hips, but not the kind I would have if I ate like that all the time. Even we demons are susceptible to fat thighs.”
“What is going on?” Damian finally asked, shaking his head. “One minute Katie is here, and the next minute poof! Her demon is standing in front of me in the flesh. This shit doesn’t make any sense.”
“Neat, huh?” Pandora smiled at Damian. “The truth is, she and I have wanted to try this for a while, but we never quite found the right time. Out here with you, we figured we could give this new trick a test run and see if it worked. So far so good in my opinion, though I’m not sure how Katie feels about it. I’m sure she will more than let me know later on when things get back to normal. For now, though,” she waved a hand up and down her voluptuous body, “this is what just jumped out of the magic hat.”
“Why is this necessary?” Damian asked. “Katie with your help is stronger than any other team member out there.”
“Oh, sure,” Pandora agreed, scrunching her nose as she looked around the old woodshed. “The thing is, she may be powerful, but not nearly powerful enough to beat my brother T’Chezz—or at least that was our consensus. So we decided to try this on for size, seeing if I could tap into her abilities if I completely and totally took over her body. Basically we flipped the script: instead of me being inside aiding her, she is inside and I am using my full powers and tapping into her natural ones—or at least that is how it is supposed to go.” She shrugged. “We will see.”
“Can all demons do this or just powerful ones like you?”
Pandora cocked her head. “Well, I suppose they all can do it to a certain extent, but usually when they are less powerful you get that weird-demon-with-the-droopy-human-suit thing going on. Then they vanish, and just the human is left. She and I, on the other hand, are tied together, and I am capable of completely transforming into myself. I have to admit, I’ve never done anything like it before. We didn’t even know if it would work, but I think it’s because Katie is special as much as because I’m powerful. This just might be a really good alternative to fighting, at least some of the time. We will have to wait and see how Katie’s human body takes it.”
“So if you’re here, where is Katie?”
“Same place I usually am, I suppose.”
“Can Katie come back out whenever she wants?”
“No.” Pandora shook her head. “It’s all based on
trust now, little priest. She gave me permission and opened herself up for me to take her. For her to come back I have to will it so. But don’t worry, I have every intention of bringing her back. This is a little uncomfortable. Now, there are a shit-ton of demon mercs in that hotel who are currently spreading out and hiding in all the nooks and crannies.” Her eyes flashed and her lips curved into a luscious hungry smile. “Let’s go hunting.”
Chapter 24
Pandora and Damian left the woodshed and made their way to the front door of the hotel. Damian shielded her from those in the woods, hoping like hell none of them noticed the change.
From a distance Pandora looked enough like Katie to pass for her, but up close everyone would know it wasn’t her.
Pandora sniffed the air outside the door and nodded.
“They have all hidden from me.” Pandora smirked. “I have always liked a good game of hide-and-seek. Inside this door, you are going to find a group of humans tied together with explosive rope with a wireless trigger device. Get them untied and send them out toward the soldiers. I’m going to hunt those little fuckers down.”
Damian stared at her for a moment, blinking hard. He still couldn’t believe he was standing next to Katie’s demon. She snapped her fingers in front of his face and patted him on the arm.
“Come on, priesty, stay with me,” she urged. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but you can stare later.”
“Right. He shook his head. “Untie the humans and get them out of here. Got it.”
Pandora pushed the door open and put her hand on Damian’s chest, holding him back for a moment. She slowly pulled the short sword from her back and shoved it through the door, then snickered as a man gave a surprised grunt of pain.
She pulled her bloody sword back out and put it back into its sheath, stepping over the body on the floor as she entered.
Damian lifted one eyebrow and shook his head, then followed her into the foyer. He went to work untying the humans while Pandora wandered off into the rest of the hotel.
She crept down a hallway with a smirk on her face. She passed a closed door, then stopped and turned back sharply, whipping her hair over her shoulder. She walked into the room and kicked the door closed behind her, catching a demon merc by the neck as he charged her. Slowly she lifted his body from the floor, tilting her head from side to side.
