by Michael Todd
Pandora flipped around and they took off, both of them switching to mercenary mode. They soared over the city, slowing down as Pandora began to pick up on the angel sense as well. Hers hadn’t fully developed like Katie’s had, and she assumed it was because she was still holding onto bits and pieces of her demon life.
As they flew, Pandora looked down, narrowing her eyes. “Look. There. There is a dude running from three men. They look like they are all carrying baseball bats.”
Katie glanced at Pandora. “You get the guys, and I’ll grab the one running and see what happened.”
Pandora gave her a thumbs-up and raced off, folding her wings and diving. They looked back as they ran, fear rolling over them when they saw Pandora coming. She bent her knees and landed on the middle one’s shoulders, letting her wings pop open to take the other two down with them. All four of them rolled across the asphalt, coming to a stop by a dumpster. Pandora hopped up and flipped the middle guy over, nailing him right in the chin.
The other two were still dazed from the fall, just realizing what was going on. They tried to get up and run, but Pandora grabbed them both by the backs of their necks and lifted them into the air. “Where do you think you’re going?”
She slammed the two of them into each other and then dropped them on the ground, where they slumped over each other in a neat pile. Pandora smiled and opened the lid of the dumpster, then leaned down and used her angel strength to lift the entire human pile and toss it into the container. She wiped her hands together and shut the lid. “That should hold you for now, dumbasses.”
Katie landed in front of the guy running and put out her hand. “Stop. I’m here to help.”
He skidded to a stop and turned, looking for the men who had been chasing him. Instead, he found Pandora tossing their unconscious bodies into a dumpster. He turned back to Katie, a little uneasy. “Merci. Merci beaucoup.”
Katie nodded her head. “Vous êtes les bienvenus. Parlez vous Anglais?”
The guy tilted his head back and forth, holding two fingers up just slightly apart. “A leetle bit.”
Katie nodded, pointing to the guys. “Why were they chasing you?”
The guy thought about the words for a moment and shook his head, taking off his glasses and pointing at his eyes. Katie nodded in understanding. “I get it. You are a Damned.”
Pandora strutted up. “What’s up with those dudes?”
Katie sighed. “He is Damned. I am assuming they were chasing him because of that. He speaks mostly French, and mine is very shaky.”
Pandora smiled. “I happen to be fluent. What do you want me to ask him?”
The guy was looking between them, lost in the conversation. Katie thought about it for a moment. “Ask him why he didn’t just fight them off? Why he didn’t use his demon?”
Pandora asked him in French and he replied, shrugging. Pandora chuckled and looked at Katie. “He doesn’t know how to fight. I can sense his demon is being a little bitch, but that can be fixed.”
Katie pointed toward the cathedral, speaking slowly. “Come to the empty lot near Notre Dame tomorrow. We’ll teach you how.”
He nodded and shook Katie’s hand, then ran off in the other direction.
18
Sofia and her family stood with Calvin, watching the trainees go through their morning PT routine outside the base. They weren’t allowed to see the specific combat training, but Sofia’s father was very interested in the rest. “I didn’t know you had full military troops here, Calvin.”
Calvin nodded, leading them toward the main building. “We haven’t always, of course. When things really started to heat up with the war, we joined forces with the military in the hope that we could double the effectiveness of the missions we went on. It has since evolved, and we are glad to have them here.”
Sofia’s father nodded, looking at the fence. “Is that your only defense?”
Calvin chuckled. “No, not at all. We have taken great pride in creating comprehensive protection systems wherever we go. All of our weapons are made in-house, and we use our special metal in our ammo for all of them. Timothy, our comm specialist, designed a system that can be armed in three minutes flat and run from the comfort of a bunker using a tablet, if necessary.”
Sofia’s father was impressed. “So, say a portal opens up over there outside the fence. Would they be able to get over it?”
Calvin turned, remembering there had been such an attack. “Well, yes. They would. But that is where the gun turrets come into play. We also station our snipers on the roof, and of course, the armory has its own separate lockdown system. It is the most protected place on the base, and for good reason. We have not had a demon penetrate the structure once, in or out of lockdown mode.”
Sofia’s father rubbed his chin, shaking his head. “Very impressive. It’s like a full-out military base.”
Calvin nodded. “It is, and it needs to be. We are often the last and most useful line of defense for incursions, which means we need to protect our people and our assets on and off the battlefield. We are a prime target here, and we are not hidden. We have had a couple of attacks, but we aren’t willing to uproot again. We just up our strategies.”
Sofia’s father looked at the armory building. “I’ve never been inside of one of those. Might the armory be a place on our tour docket?”
Calvin chuckled and patted him on the back, turning him toward the main building. “I’m afraid not. The armory has been kept secret and will continue to be for a very long time. Unfortunately, there are just places like the Comm room that we have to keep off limits for civilians and non-mercenary personnel. Even when Sofia stayed here, there were certain places she couldn’t go. There is far too much sensitive information in there and, trust or not, we have to be hardline about that rule.”
Sofia’s father understood. “I can’t imagine being someone who has that information. I suppose it would make you a target.”
Calvin glanced at Sofia. “It definitely can, and I do not want to make you a target for anyone.”
Stephanie came out the door as he finished speaking. “Ah, there you guys are. Sorry I had to run off like that. I had to take care of a training issue. How about I take your mom and dad to the kitchen and we get some lunch?”
Sofia’s father nodded. “That would be great. I’m starving.”
Sofia’s mother kissed Sofia on the cheek. Sofia smiled. “I’ll be up there in just a bit. I want to talk to Calvin for a minute.”
Sofia’s mother smiled back and reached out to squeeze Calvin’s hand. Calvin and Sofia watched until they had disappeared into the barracks, the door shutting behind them. Calvin ran his hands down Sofia’s arms, smiling at her. “Well, this trip could be going better, right?”
They both laughed, even though crying would have been a more appropriate response to the hell they had been through over the last few days. Sofia hugged Calvin tightly and shook her head. “Things went from one to a thousand so fast. I’m not used to that. I guess I should be, but you’ve been gone awhile.”
Calvin felt bad. “I know. And again, I’m so sorry for all of this. Apparently I’m not as on top of my game as I should be. I’m a bit worried about that.”
Sofia rubbed her hand down his cheek. “Not surprising, really, since you traveled a long way and then got shot and almost blown up. Have you come up with any ideas about who might be behind it? And why out of nowhere they tracked you down and tried to kill you? Before we at least knew why. You had killed a major drug lord.”
Calvin groaned. “Man, that feels like it was a million years ago. I had almost forgotten about it, although I know you haven’t.”
Sofia shrugged. “I’ve moved forward, because that’s all you can do, right?”
Calvin nodded. “That’s right, just keep moving forward. And as far as what is going on right now, I have to be honest…I just don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it non-stop, especially during the car ride over here when everyone fell asleep. My mind
was dipping and dodging through all kinds of different ideas, none of them solid enough to make any sense at all.”
Sofia sighed. “This is crazy.”
Calvin looked at the blue sky. “There was one thing. At first I pushed the thought off because I really hated to even think it.”
Sofia looked at him in concern, clutching his arm. “What, baby? What is it?”
Calvin pulled away and began to slowly pace back and forth. “All of my orders, all my transmissions, emails, everything put me solidly in France for the next couple of months at least. There is a huge fort project going on there, as well as training the Damned team that needed to be done. There was only one person who knew I was coming back to the States and going to see you, and that was Korbin.”
Sofia shook her head. “So, what? You don’t think Korbin was involved, do you?”
Calvin shook his head. “No. No way. Not at all. He would never. He would die first. It just strikes me as strange that while no one knew I was coming to our house, it was the place that was hit first. That woman came to the house and blew out the windows, trying to kill us. When she saw me, she looked genuinely surprised.”
Sofia put her hand on her belly nervously. “So maybe they followed you.”
Calvin nodded. “Maybe, if they somehow figured out I was coming, knew my flight plan, and knew I would be renting a car. Or maybe you are the target, not me.”
Sofia swallowed hard. “I won’t lie, I thought about that at the hotel after the attack. I didn’t even know you were coming. But God, who would want to harm me? Unless it’s more drug lords, but after all this time? I doubt that.”
Calvin pulled her in, both of them worried. “We’ll figure it out, baby girl. We’ll figure it out.”
The kitchen in the barracks was alive with smells and sounds. Dishes were clanging, things were sizzling on the stove, and the smells of genuine Korean food wafted out into the dining room. Sean sat in his chair at the counter looking down at the recipe. Timothy walked around, wearing a Kiss the Chef apron and a tall chef’s hat just because he could.
The Comm specialist drew in a breath of whatever was cooking on the stove. “Boy, let me tell you what, this smells fucking good. I feel like I am seriously rolling up in Korea, getting ready to get my eat on with some small Korean woman at the counter. Of course, it also kind of smells like my nail salon at lunchtime. I love those girls; they are wild.”
Sean laughed, shaking his head. “It definitely feels like home right now, that’s for sure.”
Timothy walked up behind Sean, waving a spatula in the air like a wand. “Are all of these your recipes?”
Sean nodded, running his finger down the sheet. “They are. Some of them I created on my own, and others are old family recipes. When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s house. She was always cooking something. She was the mother of nine kids, all grown by that point, but they all came over to eat all the time. She showed me the secrets to perfect Korean dishes. Then, when I got older, I started messing around with some of them and added my own flair. I’ve had this recipe book tagging along with me since I was about sixteen years old. Thing never leaves my pack.”
Timothy smacked his lips. “I’ll tell you this much. I might love the cooking shows, but I have never been very good actually executing the recipes. I made a meatloaf once, but it came out more like a loaf of coal. Then there was the time I set the turkey on fire and had to throw it out in the backyard. The dogs went wild over that once the flames were extinguished.”
Sean turned his head and looked at Timothy, laughing. “That sounds terrifying. And you know, dogs aren’t supposed to eat turkey. Well, today you don’t have to worry about that. We are having dumplings, rice with kimchi, and crispy Korean fried chicken with spicy garlic glaze.”
Timothy fanned himself. “Oooh, boy, that sounds fucking on point. Seriously. On. Point. I should have had you doing this when you first got out of the hospital. Of course, I do have to watch my girlish figure. I can’t have you loading me up with grease and fats every day.”
Sean chuckled, reaching up and grabbing a spatula. “Okay, off we go, over to the stove. Gotta make sure everything is simmering, not burning.”
Timothy tossed his “wand” on the table and grabbed the wheelchair, whirling Sean around. Technically it was supposed to be cooking by both Timothy and Sean, but although Timothy was there, it was more for support and color commentary. He did sprinkle a bit of pepper on the chicken, but he was pretty much against touching the raw meat with his bare hands.
Sean grabbed the still sizzling frying pan from the stove and Timothy turned him around to the plates. He meticulously piled the chicken on the platter, then threw a sprig of some green leafy plant on the edge for appeal. After that he plated—or rather bowled—everything else and looked at Timothy with pride.
Putting his arms out to the side, he grinned. “Ta-da. All done. Now we feast.”
Timothy picked up the platter of chicken and Sean put the bowl of rice and kimchi in his lap. “About time. I’m over here wasting away to nothing. Hope our little house guests enjoy this. Or not. Whatever. Extending the olive branch, I suppose.”
Timothy pushed Sean through the kitchen door and out into the dining room with one hand. Sitting at the table waiting for them abashedly were the two homophobic soldiers from the other day. One stood up, took the chicken from Timothy, and set it down so he could maneuver Sean up to the table. Sean set the bowl down next to it and put tongs and spoons on each dish.
He glanced at the guys, who were staring nervously. “I hope you guys like Korean food.”
The soldiers snapped out of their haze and nodded, smiling politely. One of them fiddled with his napkin in his lap. “My mom used to take me to get Korean food when I was growing up in Chicago. I’m sure yours is much better and much more authentic, but I liked the place. We went there whenever there was a special occasion.”
The other guy glanced up, still nervous. “I’ve never had Korean food.”
Timothy gasped, putting his hand to his chest. “That is just about a sacrilege. Working with the Damned defeating Lucifer, and you have never tasted the amazingness that is Korean food? I honestly don’t know why it isn’t as popular as Chinese food in this country. It is ten times as good, in my opinion.”
The guy shrugged. “I don’t know, but I think it had something to do with where I lived. Oklahoma.”
Sean laughed. “Yeah, you probably don’t find too many Koreans opening shops, or for that matter, living in Oklahoma. We tend to congregate in cities, places that put us close to each other and feel like home—or as much like it as possible.”
Timothy reached over and spooned some rice onto his plate, glancing at the guys. They were still battered and bruised. One had a bandage on his nose and two black eyes, and the other had a black eye and a bend in his waist where he was trying not to let the pain in his ribs catch too hard in his chest. It was everything Timothy could do to keep from smirking. They were there, after all, to try to make amends for being the biggest douchebags Timothy had encountered in a long time. Then again, he didn’t leave the base much, so he wasn’t privy to the other assholes of the world.
The first guy took a deep breath and lifted his hand to the table. “Look, we got carried away the other day. What we said was not only disrespectful, but it was really wrong of us. I’m not saying that because I have to, but because after Stephanie told us about what you guys do and have done, we realized you weren’t any different than us, except maybe a bit more on the hero side.”
The other guy nodded. “Yeah, I apologize as well. It wasn’t right, and it won’t happen to you or anyone else again. At least not from us.”
Sean smiled. “Okay. Then let’s start all over from square one. I’m Sean. This is my friend Timothy.”
Timothy flipped his wrist, giving a dramatic nod. The first guy chuckled and reached out his hand. “I’m Roy. It’s nice to meet you.”
Timothy eyed his
hand for a moment and then took it, shaking it firmly.
The sun had been down in New York for quite a while, and the streets were relatively quiet. Amir Aboud whistled as he limped to the back of his store, flicking off the lights in the drink cases. He clutched his side as he made his way back to the front, feeling the pull in his broken ribs. He still wasn’t completely healed from the attack. He tried not to complain, though. He felt lucky to be alive. After watching that man die in front of him, he put more value on human life than he had before.
He walked back into the kitchen and flicked off the flat top, looking at himself in the reflection of the stainless-steel fridge. He pushed on the dark circle around his eye. The pain was no longer there, but the remnants of the damage were still very visible. He sighed and stood up, sticking out his chest and smiling at his NY Giants jersey, which he was still wearing. Amir’s wife had managed to get the blood stains out, knowing it was his favorite shirt and he wasn’t going to let something like a robbery make him stop wearing it.
He yawned and looked at the screen where the cameras were. The light bulb was out over the door, and he made a mental note to fix it. It cast too much of a shadow on people as they entered and exited. Just then, the door opened, and for a moment Amir was frozen in place. Strolling through the door was a very large body, red eyes glowing in the shadow of the entrance. His skin wasn’t red like the others, but instead was deep black and scaled.
At that moment, anger began to bubble in Amir’s chest. He was tired of the shit, of the fear, of assholes with makeup on thinking they could take advantage of him. He limped forward and grabbed the metal baseball bat he kept in the shop from the corner of the doorframe next to the fridge. He smacked it into the palm of his hand and stomped out behind the counter. He couldn’t believe another human posing as a demon would have the balls to come in there that soon after the others had murdered a man in cold blood.