I was impressed by how much my talents had evolved since the last time I used them to kill. I wasn’t sure what had gotten into me, but whatever it was, it made me stronger, and unlocked a new level of power I didn’t know was possible. At this rate, maybe my talents would be on par with what Lexi had.
My mind and muscles became relaxed as it was clear I was triumphant. I sprinted into my flame trap and examined the body of the katana-wielding minion, waving away the smoke and smell of hair and flesh burning that made my face cringe worse than the time I visited a hog pen on a school trip. I found my katana still wrapped in his barbequing hands and began the cringeworthy task of peeling away his charred fingers from around the hilt. Once the katana was free from his dead grip I examined it carefully, wondering how much it would cost to repair the damn thing given the fire damage it was exposed to.
The roaring inferno it bathed in briefly had no visible effect on it. I grimaced and held the weapon closer, my hands stroked it up and down as my refection on the blade mirrored back. The weapon was pristine, not your typical Japanese-made katana, and I held my fair share of them while I was in with the Yakuza. This one was different, magical almost. I really wished grandfather was here to explain its origins.
A burning hand rose up from the flames grabbing hold of my left arm. My heart rate went through the roof upon realizing the heart of my opponent had still been beating. I jammed the heel on my shoe into his face, his grip loosened, and I instinctively moved back and away from him.
I took on the stance of a fierce samurai girl, holding the hilt of the blade with both hands as I sized him up while he struggled to get to his feet. My heels clicked through the flaming hell I created. Out from the fires I leaped making a downward vertical slash across his chest. My talents infused with the weapon in my hands, setting it ablaze seconds before I made the diving fatal cut.
The minion’s body split and burned into two even-sliced pieces that would make any butcher impressed. A copious amount of blood spewed down onto the floor before me. His organs sizzled and added to the rising smoke, steam lifted away from his blood that sprouted out from the cut. The rest of his blood pooled on the floor before me, coating the sides of my high-heeled shoes red as I stood there in my short, black cocktail dress and flaming katana in one hand.
Lexi was next, wherever she went off to, she was gone when I had finished with that asshole. Slippery little bitch. Then another earthquake hit, an aftershock perhaps. In any case, it put an end to my dramatic poses, flinging my ass onto a burning floor.
Further down the halls, I noticed a fire exit was opened. I was willing to bet a fuck load of money Lexi escaped through it. Outside into the cold November evening environment, I heard sirens roaring and fire trucks honking their deafening horns. The streets looked almost as bad as the inside of Madison Square Gardens, cars piled up in a multi-vehicle collision, the sides of several buildings took some minor structural damage, damaged fire hydrants sprayed their contents high up as if it were raining. Helicopters flew overhead, their chopping swishing sounds only added to the eerie feeling that this city had not felt since 9/11.
I found a man knocked out on the sidewalk, naked; an odd sight. The flesh on his face was scorched, Lexi was here. I suspected she took his clothes and coat to blend into the public. But where could she have gone? I ventured further away and found my answer, the nearby subway station. Droves of panicking people raced out and away from it, understandable when an earthquake had hit, as being in an underground station was the last place you should be. Yet there was a figure amidst the chaotic fleeing people, a figure dressed in a large coat, and clothes that could have easily fit on the naked and burned man I found. Nice try, Lexi.
I ran as fast as my heels would let me while I kept my blade low and away. I lost sight of my target once she entered the subway station, whatever, she couldn’t have gotten too far. I entered and pushed my way down into the main platform. I lost count of how many people fell right on their asses as I pressed on, not giving a flying fuck. The old, the weak, men, women, kids, they all needed to get the fuck out of my way if they valued their lives and the city they lived in.
Someone from behind screamed as they saw the blade I brandished. I pushed those worrying thoughts aside and entered the subway platform. A lone figure stepped aboard an empty train, a train that was likely put out of service due to the chaos. Makes you wonder why they wanted on when everyone else wanted off and away, huh?
The figure heard my heels clicking. They faced me, or rather Lexi faced me. She shot me a sultry smile and then stepped aboard while snapping her fingers, forcing the train to sound it’s all-aboard chime. I was far away from the closest door to the train; my heels weren’t helping. My hands held onto the hilt of my blade and lifted it up as if it was a throwing spear and chucked it. The weapon left my hands and soared through the air, the tip of the katana sunk into a chair inside of the train as the doors slid shut.
My body blinked next to it as a result.
Admit it. That was slick as fuck.
I reacquired my katana as the once dormant train began to depart the station and confronted Lexi. She shed the clothing she stole from the man she was wearing and allowed her demonic wings to grow out from her back once again. I channeled my talents into my katana, sending currents of flames to rise off the blade. Lexi counted by encasing her body with an aura of water and ice. Fire won’t do shit against a water veil, she had my moves down locked.
“Okay, you’re pissed off that I said no to being your personal assistant, I get that,” I said to her as I held my blazing weapon up. “We can get through this. Just stop this madness, you’ve seen my power. I can stand up to you.” If her water talents don’t put out my flames.
Lexi shook her head and placed her hands on her hips enhanced by the corset. “I’m disappointed in you…Your defiance will only increase the chances of us getting killed.”
“Not so confident about taking over the world, are we?”
I heard one of the windows in a compartment further behind me shatter into pieces, followed by the sound of someone slipping in. Someone that quickly armed themselves. I quickly glanced behind and saw none other than Emily. Her tail was straightened while she donned the dual frozen kunai she attacked me with at my apartment.
I really hoped that Emily was here to back me up, rather than help Lexi, because as it stood, there were now two people that had access to water-based talents, not a fair fight at all.
Pointing at Emily behind me, Lexi said to her. “Are you still interested in getting paid?”
Emily winced and slowly approached me. “Nothing personal, dear, but I do need to eat something other than leftover pizzas.”
I waved my weapon before them. “What’s so damn important about my katana?”
“Join me,” Lexi said, offering her hand to me. “You will find out, she’ll still get paid and the blade can remain in your possession.”
“Sounds like win-win to me,” Emily’s voice was getting closer to me.
I remained where I stood as the flaming aura around me continued to burn, not giving a shit about the two on one battle that was slowly brewing. “Call me paranoid, but why do I get the feeling that me helping you would be bad for the people of this city?” I called out to Lexi.
Lexi’s tone of voice changed to a more pleasant and welcoming one. “I can protect you.”
My eyebrow rose. “From who?”
“Lucifer’s faction.”
I had to think about that one for a moment. Right. “Those shady people… are they part of his faction?”
I took a peek behind and saw that while Emily continued to move closer to me, her steps made absolutely no noise. I was beginning to understand why the Japanese developed a fear of the Bakeneko. Even in their human form they moved swiftly and silently like a cat.
Lexi then added. “Side with me, Reika, and we can be the ones who decide who lives or dies, not the other way around like it is now.”
She said
nothing more after that, and Lexi gave the cue to Emily to do her thing, whatever that would be. I swung my blade, not at Lexi, but behind me, as Emily leaped at me with hostile intents. The horizontal cleave of the burning Japanese steel in my hands created a huge burst of flames that set the chairs nearby on fire and melted the handle bars of the train.
Emily’s acrobatic maneuvers carried her away from my attack. Her left and right hands came together as her ice-rich kunai melted into steam. Her hands rapidly formed multiple elegant gestures, each one sending away waves of chilly air. It took her a whole three seconds to perform the strange technique in which eight—or was it twelve—jagged spikes of ice accelerated at me like a barrage of bullets from a gun. This time there was no place for me to dodge or hide. My sense of self-preservation, combined with my inner demon and talents, generated a wide pillar of fire, blue fire at that.
Emily’s icy bullets passed through it and melted instantly, the red-hot, superheated mist of steam brushed across my skin. Don’t ask me how that talent activated, it just happened, like an automatic defense skill.
The blue flaming pillar vanished leaving behind a wide three-sixty-degree realm of smoldering subway chairs, floors, walls and ceiling and Emily lying on the floor. The heat and shock from the move must have took her out since she was close, serves her right for fucking with a flaming katana-wielding woman wearing high heels. It was good news to see, it meant that I could still fight against those with water talents, I just needed to make sure they didn’t douse my flames.
I double-checked Emily’s vitals, and my fingers felt a faint pulse. I heard Lexi whisper into my ear. “Impressive.” And then gave me a delicate kiss goodbye across the back of my neck, sealing it with a frosty blow from her breath. It sent shivers down my spine, stimulating ones at that, taking my mind off that fact she crept up behind me like that.
I sprung up to face her and saw why she gave me the parting gift. An explosion knocked me backward and ripped the subway in two halves. One mangled burning half held myself and Emily, the other, Lexi. Of course, the section she was on had the main engine and bolted deeper into the tunnels vanishing from sight. Our train however traveled only as far as the forward momentum took us. It stopped one mile before the next station.
The talents I had were no doubt growing stronger, I suspected Lexi had something to do with its sudden evolution or perhaps it was my katana. It would explain why she didn’t bother to take it by force when she had the chance, my show of power must have made her think twice. No wonder she wanted me to join her, with the two of our talents combined, talents that continued to grow and evolve, what army on the planet could stop us?
Despite the shit she put me through, she probably didn’t want me dead, she needed me alive to complete her plans. Lucifer and his faction, those were the people that wanted me dead, and here I was thinking the two were working together. Something didn’t add up the more I thought about it, and that something was what I needed to learn and take advantage of. How I was going to spin this to my advantage was a problem I would leave for another day. Getting out of these tunnels along with my POW was top priority.
I placed Emily in a firefighter’s carry. Ironic isn’t it?
I followed the tracks to the next subway station and perched our two bodies up onto the platform. My lungs hated me for such an act and forced me to take a five-minute breather. I have got to stop smoking. Thankfully, the station was empty, I guess the chaos that gripped the city still had everyone running to their homes. I made it to the streets and kept my head low away from the police cars that zoomed along the roads. I pulled my phone out from my cleavage, surprised that it was still working after all that. The screen was cracked as fuck though; it looked like Spiderman had got a hold of it.
I dialed Jim’s number and eagerly waited for him to pick up. If he’ll pick up? I’m sure he had other issues to deal with, like counting his blessings that he didn’t die in the quake. Unless of course he did die, in which case I was wasting my time.
“Remember what I said,” Lexi’s voice echoed inside my head. “Remember where to find me…”
Lexi’s voice faded away slowly, her train must still be moving through the city and away from me. Thank God for that, it means the range of her intrusive voice was limited, the last thing I need is her whispering sweet nothings in my head when I’m trying to sleep.
Jim picked up. “City morgue, you bag ‘em we tag ‘em.”
“Very funny, Jim.”
“I hear police cars. Did you get yourself into trouble again, Reika?”
“I need a lift, now. No back talk.”
Chapter Nine
Just like that, my tab with Jim grew ever so slightly as he pulled his white van into the parking lot of a not-so-shitty apartment complex. It was the location of one of the many safe houses he maintained. The clients he had hiding out there left shortly after the quake, leaving the place vacant for me and my captured thief, who had just come to.
I crawled into the back compartment of the van where we bound her legs and arms together and slapped a piece of duct tape around her mouth. I couldn’t risk her yelling for help. Prior to Jim’s arrival, I made sure to tuck her tail inside of her pants, the fewer questions he asked about her, the better. She still wore the beanie with her cat ears poking through it. Jim passed it off as it being part of the cap, here’s hoping he didn’t touch them and discover they are flesh and blood.
Her catlike eyes looked at me with pure hatred and vengeance. I just hoped Jim didn’t notice them, as there wasn’t much I could do to hide that. Next to her gagged and bound body was a large roll of carpet. I’m not sure why Jim would have that. Guess he was planning on redecorating the place, or perhaps a previous job he took got a little too bloody for him. Not my problem.
Jim killed the engine and joined us in the back, his shades doing an excellent job on hiding his poker face. “New York isn’t anywhere near any fault lines and we still get rocked by an earthquake,” Jim said, adjusting his leather gloves. “But you still manage to find time to give me more work.”
“You got a problem with that?”
“Oh no. You pay me to work and I’ll work. I’m just surprised you had a job to do in all this fuckery. All my usual clients are hiding out right now. If anything, this is good, I was expecting business to tank for the next two or three days.”
Jim crawled to the carpet roll and yanked it out across the floor, pattern side down. Afterward he grabbed my captured prize, forcibly tossing her onto the carpet. She struggled, squirmed, and yelped during the process. Jim wasn’t a gentleman with her at all, and I loved it. He rolled the carpet up as if he was rolling a giant joint, with her bound body inside. A few strips of duct tape held the contraption together in the end.
I cracked the back door open and stepped out into the dark parking lot next to the apartment. The coast was clear as far as I could see, so I waved for Jim to join me. He appeared from the van lifting the heavier than usual roll of carpet, I gave him a hand carrying it to the lobby once he was clear and the van doors shut and locked. To the untrained eye we were just a couple bringing home new carpet for our place… in the aftermath of a freak quake.
“I take it this is a regular thing you do?” I asked as we neared the lobby entrance.
“Rumor has it this is how Cleopatra got around. I figured it wasn’t a bad idea to copy it when I need to move a body from my van to the usual place where I dump bodies.”
We entered the building, and my heels and his steps clattered across the floors as sweat began to drip off my body. The physical act of lifting the carpet roll with Emily inside was one thing but knowing that my face was exposed was another. I heard on the radio that people had reported my antics at the subway; security cameras probably got a nice shot of my good side. The end result? Cops wanted to have a talk with me.
Strangely enough, there was no mention of the mutilated bodies inside Madison Square Gardens. Fatalities were reported yes, but that’s expected when a qu
ake rocks you. Then again, this whole fiasco started hours ago, so perhaps the media didn’t get the memo on how they died yet… perhaps they never will. Covering things up seems to be all the rage these days.
The elevator button glowed yellow as we summoned it to bring us up. My heart rate increased a lot while we waited. The lobby may have been clear, but that could easily change once the elevator arrived, there could be people inside trying to get to their cars. And there I was at the front end of the long-ass carpet roll. Smart move… they’ll see me first before they see Jim.
I watched the display above the elevator door that showed where the elevator was.
Floor Five.
Floor Four.
Floor Three.
Floor Two.
I exhaled the built-up stress within my body.
The doors opened. I saw nobody inside and bolted in, dragging Jim with me as we held onto the carpet.
Jim’s safe house was on the eighth floor. It was a decent place; better than the dump I was living in. Bedroom on the right next to the washroom, wooden floors, and a living room with a big screen TV, shit I didn’t know they made TVs so wide. The kitchen blew my mind, it had a working fridge, clean countertops, cases of bullets and shotgun shells on the kitchen table and a sniper rifle in the corner. Oh, Jimmy that’s so you.
We unwrapped our hidden package and tossed her into the bedroom as she continued to fight us off, squirming and yelling muffled noises from beneath her duct-taped mouth, some of them sounded like a pissed-off cat. I cracked my fists and mentally prepared myself for what I’d need to do to get the answers I wanted from her. She looked like a piece of work; a feisty cat girl that would fight to the bitter end for what she wanted.
I wasn’t sure why she didn’t transform into her cat form, perhaps she was still weakened from our encounter. Or maybe there were certain conditions that had to be met. I was by no means an expert of the Bakeneko.
Kiss of the Demon Girl Page 7