by Michael Todd
Gabriel stared at her for a moment and then spoke quietly. “What would you ask for?”
Pandora sighed and tilted her head back inside of Katie. How about some fucking help here? Why does this have to be a hundred questions? He obviously knows what’s going on, and yes, I know you can hear me, Gabriel. You know there’s a monster attacking and that Katie’s the only one who can stop it, yet you’re going to make this a teachable moment or some shit! So, she doesn’t know what to ask for. Tell her! I swear to God—yeah, that God! It’s no wonder demons are taking over Earth. Angels work ass-backward.
Katie plastered on a huge fake smile and chuckled nervously. I know you’re pissed right now, Pandora, but can you please just let me handle this? Obviously, I would not have asked him here if I didn’t seriously need help with this, and right now you are making it worse.
Pandora huffed. Fine, fine. Do what you need to do. He wants to know what you need, so go ahead and tell him. A heavenly shotgun? Angelic pepper-spray? You know this is some sort of fucked-up test, so don’t complain to me when he answers you with another fucking riddle.
Katie waved her hand next to her head, trying to clear her thoughts. “Sorry about that. You asked me what I want. Um… A lance, maybe? I don’t know. Something that can destroy that creature. I mean, I’d ask for a miracle if I knew what kind of miracles I could ask for.”
Pandora mumbled quietly, How about a miracle to just get rid of the goddamn thing? They sent Lucifer to hell, but they can’t get rid of a Leviathan? This is another one of those tests, and I’m failing miserably right now. And part of me wants to scream.
Gabriel looked at Katie kindly. “Those are interesting things to request, but let me ask you this. Are you trying to get out of this fight?”
Pandora sniffed. No, she isn’t smart enough to ask for that.
Katie couldn’t argue with Pandora. You might be right on that one.
Gabriel laughed out loud and put his hands together in front of him nodding. “I can ask.”
He cocked his head to the side. Katie just stood there uncomfortably, not really sure what he was doing. He stared at her for several moments with no expression on his face. Finally, he blinked. “You can bring back that which is gone, under the right circumstances.”
With that, he disappeared.
Pandora screamed in frustration. Are you fucking kidding me? After all that? I sat here and said angels talk in riddles, angels don’t help when they need to, angels always want to make everything a teachable moment. What does he do? He freaking gives you a riddle. I seriously don’t understand what’s going on here. I’m telling you right now that if you turn into an angel like Gabriel, I’m going to put you out of your misery. Like, no questions asked. I’ll switch to me and snap my own neck.
Katie tilted her head up to the stars. They twinkled brighter than normal. She let Pandora go off on her rant. She knew from experience there was no stopping her. Gabriel had given her power, she just had no idea what it was. You can bring back that which is gone under the right circumstances. What does that mean?
This is literally one of those situations where I’m going to say God only knows, because it’s true. Only the crazy winged ones understand that garbage.
Baal lumbered across the office as gently as he possibly could. He was trying not to scare the small demon too badly. He wanted information from the little guy, but the kid was so terrified that he could barely put two words together without bursting into tears. He had to admit, it was the first time he had seen a demon crying in a very long time.
“You were there when Katie entered hell, weren’t you?” Baal asked.
The small demon shook his head nervously, nearly vibrating in the chair. “No, sir. I mean yes, sir. I saw her come in, but I was on the other side of the gate so I couldn’t get to her.”
Baal waved his hands, trying to calm the boy. “No, no. I’m not here to punish you for not killing her. I’m trying to figure out exactly what happened. Most of the demons who were anywhere close to her were dead when I got back. I can’t really ask them anything, can I?”
The young demon shook his head and shifted in his chair. “I suppose not.”
Moloch creaked the door open and stepped inside, moving to the other side of the room behind the desk. He was curious to see what the demon knew, or at least could remember from that time. Baal ignored Moloch and walked in circles around the demon with his claws flashing.
“And what do you remember her doing once she was inside the gate?”
The demon glanced at Moloch and then back at Baal. “I don’t really know. I mean, I saw so many things, but it was complete chaos inside the gate. There were hundreds and hundreds of demons fleeing back to hell, and then there were the ones attacking her. I think I saw two get knocked out, but I don’t remember exactly who they were. To be honest, I was just trying to get back to hell myself. I’ve been trapped outside of the gate before, and it hurts like a motherfucker to be shot by those bullets.” The little guy’s nose was running. He wiped a glob of snot from his upper lip.
Baal walked behind the young demon and put his claws on the demon’s skinny shoulders. “Sure, I understand. I don’t blame you at all for being afraid. Those humans can be pretty tough. What I need you to do for me now is, I need you to be brave. I need to enter into your mind to understand the nuances of what happened and see how hell affected the human. This is vital information.”
The demon was tense. Though he didn’t really want the demon in his head, he couldn’t tell him no. “Will it be painful?”
“No,” Baal lied. He patted the small demon on the head.
The demon exhaled and visibly relaxed into the chair.
“Not painful. Not…” Baal ran his hands up to the demon’s head and twisted it right off his shoulders. He left the body in the seat and cracked the head on his knee. He opened the skull like a coconut and began eating the demon’s brains. He wiped gooey black blood from his chin and tossed the pieces of skull back into the demon’s lap. He patted the demon on his dead shoulder. “Not very.”
Moloch chuckled and leaned back in his chair, waiting for Baal to let him know what he had learned. Baal finished swallowing the rest of the brains and plopped down in the seat across from Moloch. He licked blood off his fingertips. “From the memories I see, it doesn’t seem like anything really happened to her. She knocked the demons out and dragged them back out of hell, for whatever reason. The only thing I can’t figure out is that it doesn’t actually seem like Pandora was the one messing with the gate.”
Moloch raised a claw to his peeling lips and stared into space. “If it wasn’t her, then who was it?”
Katie went back inside the bunker, Gabriel’s words floating through her head. Pandora was on a roll now. She had a thousand different interpretations of what Gabriel’s comment could’ve really meant.
Maybe he meant, like, you can bring back the old mercenary team. You know, since Korbin and Stephanie are here. Or maybe he meant that you could bring back the guys you killed with your vagina.
Katie rolled her eyes. That was one guy, but thanks for bringing it up.
Ooh, maybe you can bring back your virginity. That’s probably been gone quite a while.
Under what circumstances would I want that back? Katie couldn’t help but smirk as she rode the elevator down.
Maybe you are meant to birth the next Jesus or something.
Pandora, I think this has more to do with memories than a virgin birth or anything about my vagina.
Pandora cackled. Maybe it means bringing back the sex drive I stole from our black Superman, Calvin. It’s possible he was just looking out for his guys.
Katie ignored her and walked down the hall. She stopped outside of Stephanie and Korbin’s room. The door was open, and Stephanie was standing in front of the mirror peeling the gauze from her side. She looked at Katie and tried to smile.
“I just woke up, and it’s crazy. The slashes are already beginning to heal.” Ste
phanie marveled at the cuts. She could almost see them mending.
Katie nodded and came in. “That tends to happen when you have a demon inside you. They don’t like to be in pain, and they usually work to heal your body faster because you’re pretty much their lifeline.”
As Katie talked to Stephanie, Pandora tapped into the demon. How you doing in there, Duri?
She grumbled. It’s cramped.
Yeah, you’ll get used to that. I just wanted to stop by and give you the lowdown on what’s going on. You have a human now, and you’re not to control this one. You need to work really hard to protect her. If you do that for her, she’ll do it for you. I’ve worked with her before, and she’s a bad mamma-jamma.
Mamma what? Duri sighed. What will I get out of it?
The question is not what you would get out of it, but rather what will happen to you if you don’t. On pain of the final death, remember that. T’Chezz was never seen again. You want to be the second demon killed forever in this century? Your best buddy can be number three.
Duri didn’t answer, but from the fear Pandora felt surging from her she didn’t have to. Katie helped Stephanie put the gauze back around her wounds and sat down beside her on the bed. Korbin must have already woken up, because he wasn’t in the room. Katie smiled at Stephanie and took her hands. “Do you want to participate in a test?”
Stephanie grinned at her. “What kind?”
Katie shrugged. “I’ve no idea. It’s just a hunch.”
Stephanie stared at her curiously for a moment and then nodded, knowing she could trust Katie. Katie situated herself, then lifted her hands and placed them on Stephanie’s forehead. Her red eyes faded into bright blue points. Stephanie fell into those eyes.
19
Katie reached out with her mind, trying to get her abilities to flow into Stephanie. It was incredibly important to her that she help Stephanie get her memory back. When she had first separated Stephanie and Korbin from the Damned life, she thought those memories would be nothing but painful. Now that the two of them had rejoined the team, Katie realized that the memories were part of Stephanie and Korbin. The memories were who they were. Those memories would help them in the future, especially now that they were Damned again and ready to walk into battle.
After several moments Stephanie blinked and glanced at Katie. Katie pulled her hand away and looked deep into her eyes. “Did it work? Do you have any memory of the past?”
Stephanie gave her a kind smile. “I wish I could say yes, but I don’t remember anything that I didn’t remember before.”
Katie plopped her hands back in her lap, frustrated that it hadn’t worked. She bit her lip and looked around the room, trying to reason out exactly what it was that she was supposed to do. She knew that the message from Gabriel was about giving Stephanie and Korbin their memories back, but beyond that, she had no idea what she was doing.
Stephanie put her hand on Katie’s cheek. “It’s okay. Maybe those memories are supposed to be gone. We’ll just have to get used to being Damned. If we did it once, we can do it again.”
Katie stood up from the bed and paced the floor. “No, you are supposed to have these memories. I was given a gift, I think. I’m supposed to be able to give you your memories back. I just don’t know how to do it.”
Katie walked over to the dresser and put her palms down on it, then closed her eyes and concentrated. Fluttering through her mind were visions of things that had happened in the past. They were events that Stephanie and Korbin had both been involved in. Katie began to whisper those events out loud. She thought of one. She walked over next to Stephanie. “Close your eyes.”
Stephanie did.
Katie sat down and regarded Stephanie with a smile. “There was one fight I remember. We had gone looking for it. You and I, we ended up in a bar, and took out pretty much every demon in the place until we found the one we were looking for. Korbin didn’t like that we were going out like that, but it was what we were made to do.”
Stephanie looked at her strangely. She felt a tingle in her chest that began to pour throughout her body, heating her body like sparks against kindling. “Keep talking.”
Katie crossed her legs and put her hands on her knees. She concentrated on the spinning fan overhead. “You were so brave. You were always brave, even the first time I met you. Then we put that succubus in you, and you were unstoppable. I think you and Korbin had already fallen in love by that point, but you didn’t want to admit it to it each other.”
As Stephanie listened, visions formed. Neurons started to reconnect in her mind. There were flashes of things she hadn’t remembered before. They were like tiny movie reels all going off at the same time until they eventually slammed together into one large memory.
Stephanie gasped for air and grabbed Katie’s knee, then opened her eyes and looked at Katie with a smile. “I remember! I remember every beat of my heart during that time. I remember every heartbreak and excitement, and I remember all of you.”
Tears streamed down Stephanie’s face as she giggled, the private memories between her and Korbin flooding back to her. It was like finding herself all over again, and this time everything made so much more sense. Katie leaned over and hugged her tightly. She set her chin on Stephanie’s shoulder. “I’m sorry those memories were lost until now.”
Stephanie leaned her head against Katie’s. “Don’t be sorry. I understand why, now.”
A gentle knock came on the door, after it creaked open, Timothy flounced into the room. He stopped in his tracks and looked at Stephanie and Katie, face full of concern. Stephanie laughed and jumped up, then threw her arms around Timothy. “I need one of those girls days out so badly right now.”
Timothy leaned back and looked her in the face, confused at first, but then excited. “My baby is back!”
Katie smiled and stood up. “I’ll go get Korbin set up.”
She brushed past Calvin, who was standing in the doorway. He had been behind Timothy the whole time, and could see that the memories were back. “If you give me a minute, I’ll come with you. I want to see you give the old man his game back.”
Pandora sniffed. Well, that was fucking heartwarming. Now the old man and his broad can remember everything. I guess it’s better than having to explain something to them every five seconds.
Katie grinned. You really know how to make a moment special, don’t you?
Hey, remember that I’m a demon. We don’t come with a mushy side.
Katie was about to disagree with her when her phone rang. She looked down at it and saw the general’s number on the screen. “General Brushwood, what’s going on?”
The general cleared his throat. “You know how I told you that the Navy was tracking the Leviathan?”
Katie nodded her head. “I do. How’s that going?”
After a deep sigh and a few moments of contemplation, the general finally told her. “There was a submarine in the Mediterranean. They found the beast, but the beast found them, too. Pandora was right—firing conventional torpedoes at that thing is like throwing stones at a steel box. They didn’t do a damn thing. In the end, the sub was lost with all hands. It was tragic and we’re mourning the loss of those sailors.”
“Jesus, did they even do her any harm?” Katie asked.
The general didn’t want to say it because he knew Pandora had already told him. “A little, but not enough to keep her from turning on them. Do you have any ideas? Well, I guess does Pandora have any ideas on how to take her down?”
Pandora took over Katie’s voice. She was getting better at switching back and forth with her. “First you find it, then you make it go where you have any kind of chance of surviving. It’s preferable that you go somewhere that you can assure the least amount of casualties. Then you kill it.”
“But how do you find it? The Navy, and not just the US but all the navies of all the major powers, are working this angle.” The general groaned with exhaustion.
Pandora was trying to remember
what she knew about the Leviathan from her time in hell. “But, the issue is in the sea. It has an advantage we know about there. Tiamat is intelligent, and knows the demon language.” She brightened. “Hey, what about smack talking her?”
The general went quiet, then scoffed. “You want to piss off a giant dragon monster by talking smack to her? I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
Katie took back over before Pandora could get smart with the general. “I know it sounds crazy, General, but think about what Pandora said. We’re not saying you should talk smack to the Leviathan for no reason, but if it’s intelligent, maybe it’s hunting something. Maybe it’s hunting us, me or Pandora. Taunting it might be our only way to get it out of the ocean so that we have a chance of fighting it.”
The general still wasn’t sold. “I’ll work on it. It just seems like a crazy idea, you have to understand that.”
Katie sat quietly for a moment but knew there was no time to waste, even in the wake of disaster. “General, make the plans and we’ll be there. We will take her down. I promise.”
Katie and the general hung up. She closed her eyes and shook her head. I’m not sure he thinks that is the best way to handle this problem.
Pandora forced a chuckle. It’s Tiamat. There is no best way to handle that bitch.
Down deep in the bowels of hell, Moloch and Baal didn’t seem to have a care in the world. They sat in Moloch’s office with their feet propped up on the table, munching on the day’s catch of baby bunnies. Moloch reached out and grabbed a bunny by the ears, holding it over his mouth and dropping it inside with a crunch. Baal ate them a little bit more neatly, holding one by his fluffy tail and taking off the head first.