by Jack Porter
Through my earpiece, I could tell Piper had caught at least part of my humor. She began laughing as well, the sound punctuated by Rachel’s directions and the sounds of gunfire and screaming.
The mercenaries had little choice. They were outmatched, and it was only a matter of time before they were routed completely. So they fell back, abandoning their heavier weapons and forming a loose line around the armored vehicle.
There were less than fifty of them now, less than half of what they had been, and the trees were thick with the corpses of their companions. But, like a porcupine, they were dangerous even in their defense.
All guns pointed outward, and panicked men fired at random. I had to stay low, stay distant to avoid being shot by a stray bullet.
And, the armored vehicle still had that fifty caliber weapon and the mercenary in control could have turned it toward me or Piper within moments, and really made a mess of the woods.
Even so, I thought the day was nearly done. Among the weapons the mercs had discarded was an RPG or two. I put my handguns away, picked up the fallen weapon, and whistled a happy little tune to myself as I prepared to put an end to the fight.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t nearly over. Rachel’s voice crackled through in my ear.
“Guys, you’re not going to believe this. There look to be a bunch of reinforcements heading our way. I’m seeing another line of men–it looks like they were late to the party. Heavily armed, just like the others. They’ve climbed out of a transport thing on the road.”
My heart seemed to lurch in my chest. “How many?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Forty? Fifty?”
Forty or fifty? That didn’t sound too bad. We could take care of another fifty or so…
Except it seemed that Dario had somehow managed to find an ace in the long.
“Holy shit,” Rachel’s voice came through my earpiece.
Even as she spoke, I heard the new noise echoing through the trees. A rhythmic, pulsating sound that I recognized but didn’t like in the least.
Chapter 52
“What the fuck?” I said out loud, and all the fun I’d been having drained out of my body.
“Helicopters,” Rachel said. “And they’re coming your way.”
“They?” I asked. “How fucking many is they?”
“Three of them. They should be over you… now.”
She wasn’t wrong. The vibrating thrum of the helicopters’ rotors had grown loud enough to block out all other sounds, and they were kicking up dried leaves and dirt from the ground. I caught a brief glimpse of them as they shot past overhead, then saw much more of them than I ever wanted.
These were not full on military machines—Apache attack helicopters, those flying tanks armed with sidewinder missiles and more. Instead, these were lighter, more nimble, perhaps not as deadly. Ordinary helicopters, big ones, the type you might see ferrying tourists to places of interest, that had been modified for battle.
Yet they weren’t without weapons. As one of the horrendous flying brutes hovered no more than a hundred paces away and turned toward me, I saw first-hand that it carried the type of machine-gun that could level a building, one on each side as if bolted on.
Somehow, the pilot had picked me out from the trees.
“Shit!” I said. It was all I could do to point the RPG I still carried and pull the trigger. I didn’t even really have time to aim before the helicopter started spitting white hot chunks of metal my way, cutting through trees as if they didn’t exist.
I dropped the RPG and hurled myself away, sprinting for all I was worth.
The bullets got so close I felt the heat of them blister my skin, and then the world turned to hell.
My efforts with the RPG were successful. My aim was good. The helicopter erupted into a ball of flame, sending twisted shards of metal in every direction before crashing to the ground.
I had thrown myself behind the remains of a fallen tree. When I sat up, I saw a line of bullet holes that had torn it to pieces, as well as a chunk of steel a foot long that had buried itself into the rotting wood.
The helicopter was down, a burning wreck in the woods. I’d killed it with one shot and couldn’t help but think my divine luck had struck once again.
I started to laugh, but there were two more helicopters in the air. Even as the first one continued to burn, the ratatatatat of the rapidfire guns pierced the air.
Piper’s pained voice came through the line. “I’m hit!”
My heart stopped. Piper!
“Forget her,” came Azrael’s dry voice. “There will be others. But only if you survive.”
“No!” I shouted at the demon. “No!” I repeated. Then I unleashed a wordless shout of frustration. I had no idea how badly Piper was injured, but with the pain in her voice, it was more than a graze. She wouldn’t have even bothered to mention something like that. But was it a flesh wound? Or something more fatal?
Had the helicopter machine gun tagged her? And how long would it take for the pilot to finish her off?
“NO!” I hurled myself through the trees with everything I had, willing myself to reach Piper’s side as fast as I could.
Chapter 53
I was a long way from being the good guy. That route had vanished the moment I chose to sacrifice Chad to further my own ambitions rather than call an ambulance for him. My choices since then had reinforced that simple truth. I mean, would a good person choose to become a hitman to further their career?
And this thing with Dario Gambetti. It seemed that my solution of choice to any problem was to go on a rampage of murder, violence, and sex, not necessarily in that order.
At the end of the road, I would not find a halo waiting for me. Instead, I would be more likely to find a flaming pitchfork. After all, I was bonded with a real, live demon.
But that didn’t mean I was totally heartless. I had my limits.
I would rip off Dario’s balls one at a time and stuff them up his nose. I would happily pour lighter fluid on his eyeballs and set them on fire. I had already proven that I actively enjoyed wholesale slaughter of those sent to kill me.
But I would not abandon those who walked by my side. Never. No matter how many times Azrael urged me to do so.
“We don’t need her–” the demon said, but I’d heard more than I wanted to from him.
“Enough!” I bellowed, filling the word with hate and fear for Piper. I wanted to rage at him, tell him that abandoning Piper–or Rachel, or Sandy, any of the girls–was not an option, and that I would walk through the deepest pit of Hell itself to save them. I wanted him to know that if it came to a choice between my life or theirs, I would lay mine down in a heartbeat, and feel no regrets.
I’d spent my whole life looking for divine intervention. Seeking something like Azrael, with the hope that it would turn my life around. In a way, summoning Azrael had saved me from a lifetime of mediocrity and despair.
But, in their own way, the girls had saved me as well. Rachel had started the ball rolling and remained a key touchpoint to my ongoing existence. No way would I even think to abandon her to the wolves. Sandy was special. A mixture of warmth and innocence despite the demon within her, she didn’t deserve this kind of foul end.
And Piper–well, Azrael would say she knew the risks. She had chosen this lifestyle and was better prepared than the others to accept the consequences.
But she had been my partner in crime over the past month. In that time, she’d had every opportunity to complete the contract on me and collect her reward. Instead, she had worked by my side, forming with me a partnership of intimidation and violence.
Of the three of them, Piper was the most like myself. Likely, she would understand if I left her to die.
And that just made it even less likely I would do so.
All this I wanted to wrap up in a bundle and present to Azrael in the hope he would understand. But I didn’t have time to argue. With Piper’s fateful words still echoing through my headpiece, I le
t out another inarticulate cry that somehow summarized everything I had thought, and willed Azrael to lend me his strength.
Perhaps that unspoken demand had an effect. Or perhaps it was no more than the enhancements I’d already gained. Either way, that inarticulate cry turned into something far greater.
It seemed as if time slowed down almost to a halt. I became aware of everything. The whomp whomp whomp whomp of the helicopter’s blades spinning overhead, sounding much slower than usual. The ongoing rat tat tat tat tat tat of the flying monster’s guns. I could even smell the woody scent of the trees as they exploded around me, victims of the gunner in the sky.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught an incongruous glimpse of a young deer, spooked by all the noise of the battle, and completely unsure what to do.
It was a strange, surreal thing to see, like a traffic cone in a public swimming pool, or a chimpanzee in the wild wearing a pink petticoat.
A small part of me wished the deer safe travels, and hoped that the gunfire wouldn’t find it. Then I pushed everything out of my mind and charged through the trees.
I ran over saplings, shouldered my way past branches that would have stopped me before, and ignored all obstacles in my way. Somehow, I knew where Piper was without having to ask Rachel, and knew I would have to get close to the armored vehicle if I was to take the most direct route.
I didn’t hesitate, bursting out of the trees before the mercenaries could even react.
The shock barely had time to register on their faces before I crashed into them. Such was my power that they couldn’t stop me. They couldn’t even slow me down. I was a juggernaut, rocket powered.
The force of my impact was enough to break bones and send men flying in every direction, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was Piper, all that mattered was that she had to survive.
I didn’t know how much time had passed since the assassin said she was hit. Seconds. Less than that. The blink of an eye. Somehow, I crossed the distance and found her lying with her back to a tree.
Steam literally rose from my flesh as I came to a halt before her. A single glance was enough to tell me it was bad.
Piper’s face had gone white, and she was gritting her teeth. She still had a gun in one hand, but with the other, she was pressing hard into her side.
Blood leaked around the edges of her hand.
“Hold on!” I yelled at her, then focused inward. “Azrael! Do we have any points? Is there anything you can do?”
Grudgingly, the demon replied. “We have some points available. But she is badly hurt. It will take–”
“Do it!” I screamed, not even waiting to hear what he said. “Resilience, healing, whatever attribute works! Give the points to her and give her a chance!”
“Simon–” Piper began, but Azrael was also speaking.
“It is done,” he said.
I began to breathe a sigh of relief, even though I knew the crisis was far from over. Then Piper raised her gun and started firing behind me.
I cursed myself for being so stupid. I’d focused on Piper to the exclusion of all else.
I spun about, ready to add my own firepower to Piper’s, toward whatever was coming our way.
There were three of them. Mercenaries like the others, with automatic weapons aimed at us.
Anyone else would have died on the spot. They were too close, too determined, and they knew their business. The mercenaries were locked in on me and Piper, and in a heartbeat, they would pull the trigger.
But I was faster. With Azrael’s power still in my veins, I pulled my handguns and blew all three of them away before they could get off a single shot.
But that was just the start. One of the helicopters was coming this way, the twin guns ripping up the forest toward us.
I knew without even thinking that Piper was going to be cut in half. The helicopter was right on target, and my two little handguns might as well have been made of plastic for all the good they would do.
“Run!” came Azrael’s warning in my head.
Instead, I stepped in front of Piper, held my hands out wide, and stood my ground, intending to shield her from the bullets with my own body.
Chapter 53
I knew it was a bad idea. Shielding Piper might have worked against smaller caliber weapons, but this was a helicopter machine-gun. Any bullets that hit me would likely go straight through, regardless of my vest and enhanced durability. Piper would be just as dead either way, and the only difference was that I would join her.
But I held my position, hoping against hope that we would somehow both survive.
It seemed wildly unlikely. As I watched the helicopter draw nearer, I sent a desperate plea to Azrael.
“You got anything left?” I demanded. “Anything that could help?”
“Maybe…” the demon replied.
With that, I felt a grunt of effort from my parasitic companion, and at once, everything changed.
I thought back to the time in the coffee shop when Azrael had shown Sara his true form. Our true form. Because Azrael and I were one in the same.
At the time, he’d said it was an illusion, even though I felt his raw power. He’d said that when he was stronger, he would be able to make the shift real.
And that’s what he did.
In the blink of an eye, I turned from my normal, human self, into the demon I saw whenever I looked into a mirror. If I had any doubt about how powerful Azrael really was, all that doubt disappeared in an instant. Instead of me shielding Piper from certain death, a mighty demon stood in my place.
In my demon form, I was nearly ten feet tall and made of muscle and power. My clothing couldn’t take the transformation and turned to shreds in a moment, making room for my wings, tail, and more.
My skin turned a deep purple, with patches along my forearms and shoulders becoming hardened into scales. My legs became those of a powerful goat, complete with obsidian hooves and black hair.
But the biggest change was the one I noted before.
All through my life, I’d been a weakling. The extra strength Azrael granted me through successive seductions had made me strong. So strong I could have won any strongman competition I chose, could have bent steel bars in my hands, or punched my way through solid concrete walls.
But that was nothing compared to this. Azrael’s true form was one of such power I could taste it. It was like a stamp of my foot would shift the whole world out of orbit, like I could reach out and crush the moon in my grip.
It was the sort of power that could make the heavens tremble, and I wasn’t talking about just physically. With power like this, I could do anything.
I could leapfrog up the status ranks to the very top without effort.
I wanted to wallow in the sheer strength of Azrael’s form. Wanted to laugh out loud, reach out, and crush my enemies as if they were nothing.
But the helicopter was still approaching and was still a significant threat.
As fast as thought, I spun about and wrapped myself in my wings as the first bullets tried to shred our bodies. They hit my back, and it was like getting beaten, like being hit with a baseball bat fifty times in a second.
But no more than that. Azrael’s form proved durable enough to withstand the best attempts of the machine-gun.
With my back to my attackers, I looked down at Piper and wondered that she seemed so tiny. Her expression was one of shock, of surprise, but there was no fear within her at all. Instead, she looked at my demonic form as if I was beautiful.
“How?” she began, but that was a question for later. I stood over her, protecting her from certain death for some seconds, until the rounds stopped hitting me in the back.
Then, I seized my chance.
The surroundings of the home were not entirely flat. It was a literal forest, complete with a thick layer of leaves on the ground, patches of bushy undergrowth, and more. The earth itself was treacherous, with hidden roots and boulders aplenty, ready and waiting to snag an unwary
ankle.
In demon form, my hands were too big to operate my guns, even if I bothered to reach for them where they fell. The various knives I had tucked away were similarly useless.
But right next to Piper was a big old rock about the size of my demonic head.
I grabbed it with one hand, ripped it out of the ground, and in one swift movement, turned and threw it with all my strength at the mercenaries that Dario Fucking Gambetti had dared to send after me and mine.
My aim was true, and the rock sped to the helicopter with the speed of a bullet and the force of a train.
They had no chance at all. The rock tore through the helicopter fuselage as if it was paper, ripping a massive hole through the windshield, through the ceiling of the cockpit, and through the connection that joined the rotors to the rest.
The helicopter crashed to the ground. This time, there was no explosion. It was just a ruin of metal and flesh.
By my count, there was just one helicopter left. That and the ground force. And in this new, powerful body, I could tear them apart in a matter of seconds.
Unfortunately, through no choice of my own, I suddenly reverted back to my usual form and collapsed onto the forest floor.
Chapter 54
“Not … strong … enough,” came Azrael’s voice.
I recognized the fatigue. It was like when he had cleared up my complexion before he had the strength to do so. He’d overreached himself and would need time to recover. Either that, or I needed to find some way to get laid and add someone new to our coven.
I found myself laughing at the thought. Here I was, naked as the day I was born, all my clothes having been shredded to pieces, and wondering how to get laid. I wondered where Bruce Banner bought his pants from and made a note to look into getting some with stretchy waistbands, if morphing into a full demon was going to be a regular occurrence.
But my humor quickly faded. Having my ass exposed in the middle of the woods didn’t mean the fight was over.