Upon hearing his voice again reminded me of my most recent attack. The tone of his voice, the way he spoke. “Lucifer?”
He nodded. “You thought you could get rid of me that easily?”
I killed him. I watched the insides of his neck turn my kitchen into a mess. I watched Jim get rid of the body, dissolving it in acid. But there he was, back alive, in a new younger body at that. He came at me again, I instinctively picked up a twisted piece of metal that fell from the ceiling and chucked it at him. My talents did something I wasn’t expecting; a new skill had been developed.
The hunk of metal spiraled past my charging attacker landing behind him. My body appeared next to it in a blink of an eye, literally. Seriously if you have blinked your eyes when I had used that talent, I would have vanished from your line of sight by the time your eyes opened. It seemed I could teleport now. The catch was, I needed to throw an item into the location I wished to appear, at least that’s what my take was.
A chilly mist of frigid air crystallized his body as a miniature glacier appeared in front of him, its solid surface absorbed the hail of fireballs I threw at him with its sub-zero temperatures. Fire verse Ice talents was not an amusing fray to be a part of, unless you were the one wielding ice talents, something I hadn’t gotten around to figuring out.
With frustration growing throughout my body I began to sidestep around the glacier shield, taking note that Lexi and the fucked-up-looking security guard below was nowhere to be seen. They slipped away when Lucifer and I went at it. Not good, he was stalling me for them to carry out whatever the hell they came here to do.
Lucifer laughed at me mockingly. Suddenly the giant glacier that put an enormous wedge between us liquefied into a large, steaming puddle of water. A coat of electricity danced and arced off his body while his hair and clothing blew in winds that existed exclusively around him. I felt a gust of wind blow past me, which was strange considering we were still indoors. A secondary gust knocked me over, it was like there was a hurricane inside. Stage equipment wobbled and blew over, Lucifer’s hair waved about rapidly as a set of wings ripped out from the back of his body, just like Lexi earlier while he took on a steadfast stance.
As I got up, I saw the last piece of equipment blow away and tumble off the ruined stage. A small cyclone appeared between us amongst the indoor windstorm, and it grew as the electrical waves that covered his body were swept inside of it, electrifying it. It became a cyclone shooting bolts of lightning, and it twirled and moved closer to me. I held onto damaged grooves along the surface of the stage, while the twirling cyclone began to suck me up like a vacuum.
Bright lights flashed constantly, debris that was blown off stage returning to circle around the growing cyclone. Pivoting my body from side to side helped me avoid getting smacked up as my dress rippled in the high winds, pretty sure my scarf was long gone at that point, sucked into the lightning cyclone behind me.
A torn piece of metal was about to fly past me, I quickly reached out and caught it and gawked at it. I felt my talents sync with it, almost becoming one with it. That must be how the blink teleportation works. Leave your imprint on the object then throw it to appear where it lands.
I threw it off stage, it was a nail-biting experience as the cyclone behind could have easily sucked it up as it left my hands, but it didn’t. Good old lady luck gave me a break that night, and I instantly appeared next to where it had fallen.
I was off stage and out of visual range of Lucifer’s magic, and he knew it. I knelt amongst the rubble, lowering the intensity of my flaming veil to reduce my visibility, and awaited his next move. He pivoted around having taken notice he was alone on stage. The deafening roar of the cyclone stopped; the debris and stage equipment caught within its vortex came crashing down with a loud thud, thud, clang, and bang.
“Oh, come on, Reika, we were about to get to the fun part,” he called out. “Oh, Reika, come out.” The sound of his voice was getting closer to the drop at the stage where I remained hidden.
I looked out amongst the chaotic scene that was once set up for a concert. Ryan’s body was still limp on the ground, unmoving. I needed to make my escape and get him to safety, something Lucifer wasn’t going to allow. This asshole needed to go to sleep.
I placed my back against the stage wall and held onto the chunk of metal as I listened closely for Lucifer’s footsteps. They were close, close enough for me to hear the howling winds that followed him around like a junkie chasing his next cocaine fix. I blindly threw the metal up and over the top and blinked away as its metallic clanging noise sounded. My body appeared directly behind Lucifer. His body remained forward, scanning everything beyond the stage.
I raised my hands and extended them forward as I allowed a steady stream of flames to flare out before me. I became a human flamethrower, one that bathed the back of my confused adversary to his fiery end. His charred body collapsed, spewing black smoke into the air. Demonic possession was a thing, a frightening thing, that I had no idea how to counter or prevent. I looked down at his blackened body as embers flickered away from it, wondering how soon I would meet him again.
Horrific screams echoed from the entrance to the backstage areas of the arena. Lexi was still at large and judging by the sounds of the screams, was hell bent on ensuring nobody backstage escaped to reveal what happened here. I kept the piece of metal with me, just in case I needed another disappearing act to save my ass.
I darted toward the source of the screams, ready to play the role of an unmasked superheroine. A heroine that didn’t want to be one, and one that sure as hell didn’t double back to check on her motionless date. Like I said, bad choices and I go hand in hand. If Ryan was still alive, I hope he did the right thing and got out of there when he came to.
The surface trembled lightly as I reached the backstage halls, aftershocks I figured. The lights flicked on and off, then stayed off, leaving only emergency power to illuminate my darkened path, other than the flames around my body. The sound of my heels clicking against the surface of the floor echoed with every step; steps that brought me closer to my target and people in need of help.
A casualty decorated the floor as I turned the corner. I conjured a small globe of flames to hover above my hand and used it as a torch to shed its orange flickering glow on the body, giving me a better view. It was one of Madison Square Gardens’ staff. His intestines had been pulled out from his belly and draped over him while a sea of blood soaked his legs and the surrounding area. I found a second body four steps away, a man with a missing head and frozen blood across a piece of his neck bone protruding out from the bloody stump of his neck. Frozen chunks of bone and flesh littered the floor next to his body. I’m pretty sure I found a nose, eyeball, and a whole forehead amongst that mess, all frozen. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say someone froze his head solid then took a baseball bat to it.
This was the work of talents, Lexi’s talents, and maybe the possessed security guard, assuming he was possessed. I shook off the thought and pushed deeper into the halls, keeping an ear out for any sounds that weren’t my heels or my crackling flames. I approached a door where another body hung on it with a massive icicle through their face, cold blood dripped off the tip of the frozen spike into a growing pool on the floor.
The door had light bleeding away from it and multiple footsteps coming from it. Someone, some people were inside, alive and concerned about the shit show in the halls. I approached the door with my back to the wall and carefully listened in while considering my next move.
“We need to talk.” It sounded like Emily’s voice.
I carefully peeked inside and confirmed my suspicion. It looked like a dressing room, Lexi’s no doubt as she sat down. Emily was in her human form and stood with her hands placed upon her hips, staring down at Lexi. The creepy vine-covered security guard was with them, his massive arms held a squirming and battered staff member.
“Something wrong?” Lexi said to her.
Emily’s finger
pointed at the door, I hoped it wasn’t at me as my head pulled back and away from my peek inside. “There are dead bodies outside this room; I didn’t sign up for this. And a hostage? No, I’m done.”
“They would have gotten in the way,” a deep male voice spoke, I’m guessing that was the security guard. “They needed to be eliminated.”
I heard Emily grown. “I gave you what you wanted, pay me so I can go.”
“As you wish,” Lexi said. “But you know, this is a human world, once we’re done—”
“I won’t need you as allies.”
I heard movement, like someone opening a bag and taking something out of it. I peeked around the corner and fixed my eyes into the interior of the dressing room once again. Emily’s hands held a sword and offered it to Lexi. Not just any sword, my katana, I recognized it instantly. It wasn’t hard when you look at that thing every night before you go to bed.
Why Lexi wanted my katana was another story, but it brought a lot of excitement to her as she held it, making her bat-like wings flutter ever so slightly. Lexi stood up and cast her eyes on the staff member being held hostage, then back at her security guard minion. “You may leave us now.”
“As you wish,” he said.
“Find Lucifer and give him the good news.”
“Hey!” Emily said, raising her hands. “Can I get paid?”
Lexi faced her. “The funds will be deposited into your account when I walk out of here alive and with this katana.”
“Well, I got stuff to do, so I’ll get going.”
I saw both Emily and the vine- and stone-covered security guard make their way to the door… the same one I had been spying at them through. I retreated into the darkness, forcing the flaming aura around me to disappear. The two left the room, slipping past me as I remained hidden, oblivious to my presence. Once they were out of hearing and visual range, I took to my feet and entered the dressing room, hoping it was not too late for the hostage left behind.
It wasn’t.
Lexi stood above him dragging the sharpness of the katana across her hand, coating it with her blood. The hostage huddled in the corner, trembling, begging, and praying for help, help that stood at the door, help that hesitated to act. Lexi smeared her bloody hands over his wounds, he began to scream as if hot acid had been poured over it.
Suddenly, the floor inside erupted into flames, flames that formed the shape of a pentagram. Lexi’s wings flapped briefly upon realizing I had joined her in the burning room. Neither of us were affected by the cloud smoke that began to build up inside, another advantage to our talents I’ll have to make note of.
The screaming hostage at that point slumped over onto the floor, Lexi placed the hilt of my katana in his hands and crossed into the empty space between us that was set ablaze. She shot me a cute little smirk while we met within the burning symbol, she looked pleased to see me as she extended her hand out to me. She wanted me to hold it and walk with her around the flames like it was a merry-go-round.
Fuck that. “I knew there was something strange about you, but goddamn!”
Lexi’s face and wings twitched at my comment. “I told you not to be shy when joining me on stage.”
I looked at the burning pentagram we stood on in the dressing room as its flickering light bathed upon our bodies. “I take it this is your work. Why? What did these people do to you?”
“I did it for you, Reika.”
“I didn’t ask for this!”
“It was you or me that would have to commit these acts; I gave you a way out. I did it myself, so you wouldn’t have to.” Her voice became irritated while I rolled my eyes at her bat-shit crazy speech. “You still don’t know?” She marched toward me and touched the side of my head with her warm burning hands, peering into my eyes with hers that now glowed red and yellow with the flames surrounding us. “Oh, you are such a jewel. I’m glad that out of everyone I chose, you turned out to be who you are.”
That’s when I began to think of our last conversation at her place, when she mentioned that her name Lexi was merely a stage name, a persona for the world to see, a mask that kept who she really was hidden away.
I exhaled deeply in preparation to ask the big question, the question I didn’t know the answer to about myself. “Who are you?”
Her hand that was touching me lowered, gliding its blazing touch across my neck onto my left breast. She smiled and licked her lips with a hunger in her eyes. “My host’s name was Lexi Hartridge, but in the future, I will be queen of the succubi. And you, my friend, will be the hand that will eliminate my enemies to make it happen.”
Chapter Eight
Lexi Hartridge, pop music sensation by day, succubus by night, that’s one hell of a résumé. Given the nightmare fuel things I witnessed on this date gone horribly wrong, I’d say Lexi too had been possessed by a demonic woman. One that could seduce any man she wanted, draining their souls away after mind-blowing sex. If it wasn’t for the massive wings that grew out of her back, her talents, and the flaming symbol on the floor, I would have said she was nuts.
So, if a succubus possessed Lexi, then what did that make me? Lexi and myself both had similar talents, though mine were weaker compared to hers. I was no demon; my grandfather would have ousted me for that when I was a kid. He was convinced that he could sense the presence of an Oni due to his mother being a Shinto priestess, or something like that. I needed to brush up on my Japanese heritage.
“What do you want?” I asked her.
“I’m here to bring the rest of our kind into this world, and I’m going to need your help.”
Our kind? Humans already live in this world. “Is it too late to pass? I got stuff to do.”
“I selected you personally when we spoke at the hospital. I had my doubts at first, but now I can see you are on the path to exactly what I hoped for.”
“The world is pretty fucked-up already thanks to humanity. We don’t need more problems added to it.”
She inclined her eyebrow at me. “You refuse me?” Her voice was raised.
So, I raised mine. “I just want my life back!”
It was all starting to make a little bit more sense. She was a demon, she did this to me, and she made me what I was, or at least played a significant role in it.
“If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be alive now,” she said while stepping within the center of the burning symbol on the floor. Her body began to burn just like mine when I had my fire talents primed for action. “But if you wish to defy me, then very well. Face your attacker alone… and later my wrath when I rule this world!”
Her wings began to flap rapidly as the downed hostage rose up to his feet. At first, I was delighted to see that they weren’t dead, delighted to see that maybe I had some backup, he did hold onto my katana after all. Boy was I wrong, he stood shoulder to shoulder next to Lexi. She smiled at him, he smiled right back at her, and then cracked his knuckles before re-arming himself with my own damn blade.
A fight was unavoidable at that point, Lexi with her sorcery, and the staff member turned succubus-minion versus little old me with no weapons, except my talents. Talents they too had access to as circles of flames surrounded their bodies. Lexi took three steps backward, giving the katana-wielding minion the okay to charge and attack me. My beast sensed the souls of thousands of people bleed away from the aura the katana projected. Souls I never sensed during all the years I owned it.
The katana-wielding minion lunged, thrust, and slashed his way to me. I kept my distance from him with fireball after fireball, blink after blink. I fed him eight direct hits from my fireballs, he just brushed a hand across his chest, dusting off the embers and kept on coming like Jason. Just like my first encounter with Lucifer, he was resistant to my fire-based talents.
Lexi laughed at my struggles. Glad she found my fight for survival a fucking joke.
Lexi’s flames vanished as howling indoor winds caused her hair, corset, and long dress to flutter with lightning bolts all around her
. It was the same stance Lucifer had used on me earlier, I braced myself for an indoor hurricane, or another cyclone. Gale-force winds pushed me and my attacker out of the dressing room. The speed at which my body traveled knocked the fuck out of me as I collided with the hallway wall.
I heard another thump smash into the wall, followed by my katana clattering across the floor, I guess demons didn’t give a shit about their minions. I slowly rose, having noticed we were in total darkness. The winds blew out my flames along with the fires that had been burning in the dressing room. Lexi was gone from what I could see, down the halls most likely and quite possibly out into the outside world. She had to be stopped, but first, I had to off this motherfucker and reclaim my blade.
My eyes spotted my downed katana on the floor, so did my attacker. His hands were a lot closer to grabbing it than I was. I ran and dove towards the hilt of the blade, sliding across the floor. I was too late, the hilt found itself back into the hands of the minion.
We both stood up and faced one another. He readied my katana, I got ready to arm myself with the piece of metal I was using to blink-teleport around. Well, that’s a lie. I lost it during the knock back. There were no disappearing acts for me.
I ducked as he took a swing at me, I felt a downfall of air tickle my hair as the blade cut through the air. I leaped backward to evade the next strike, leaving behind an inferno of raging flames in my wake. It was another new trick, another new talent I had somehow gotten. One that made the katana-wielding minion hesitate to chase me. His flames were still blown out, mine however rekindled. No flaming aura, no protection from fire, advantage me.
The katana-wielding minion thought he’d be slick and walk around the straight line of flames I set down during my leap back. I put my hands together, and then slowly parted them as he pushed on. As I did that, the line expanded setting the whole section of the floor that was between us ablaze. He flailed his arms around while my flames began to sizzle and burn away at his clothing and flesh. He dropped to his knees then into my pit of fire.
Kiss of the Demon Girl Page 6