Lexi smiled, and her stare shifted to me, her eyes alone made my heart get all mushy. Her touch… caused me to blank out for a moment. It was only when she spoke again, that I returned to the world and the situation at hand. “This has everything to do with our plans,” she whispered back.
“It’s too risky,” Gabe yelled to us, and returned to the fight. “Destroy it, and we cut them off period. I don’t know why we’re debating this!”
“Let’s get back to this later?” I added. “No matter what, we got to move it out of here before we do anything with it, and these assholes need to go first—”
Gabe ran and ducked for cover. Jagged rocks launched into the room like missiles, piercing the wall when they hit. Someone with talents was close by. Lexi and I ran over to the doorway and fixed our eyes on a behemoth-sized man, he wasn’t armed, and stood before the two remaining gunmen that cheered him on.
Lexi and I were up.
I looked back at Jim and the doctor, neither of them had noticed us step forward, and then out of the room to display our range of talents. I looked at the demon-possessed human. He was a tall, hulking man, bald, muscles that would put any hardcore bodybuilder to shame. His skin was tough, like it was made of stone, green vines slithered around his legs and arms like live snakes, he was attuned to the earth element. It was the possessed security guard from Madison Square Gardens and probably the one that triggered the quake.
I made the first strike by chucking fireballs at him with both of my hands, double trouble action. My fire projectiles hit his body and fizzled away, he laughed and then came charging at myself and Lexi.
Gabe’s bullets bounced off him, while his fellow gunmen friends cheered him on and gawked at us from behind. The earth demon came at me first with his arms out for a clothesline tackle. I dodged and rolled my body across the tiles, avoiding the hit. Coming up to my feet, I ended the laughter of his friends by delivering jets of flames by my flamethrower talent. Who’s laughing now, motherfuckers?
I heard Lexi yelp, the earth demon grappled her with his arms. Her body was pinned as he lifted her up, her flailing legs kicked about, and her frozen water talents were of little use. He threw her like a ragdoll into a nearby hospital room, I heard her body crash next to the bed. I charged after him with my katana in hand, gritting my teeth at what he did to my girl.
My blade crashed against his stone skin, it made a tiny dent. His arm crashed against my face and I launched backward into the room with Lexi, slamming back first into the wall. I touched my jaw as I came to, still in one piece. I went to rearm myself with my katana there afterward. It was a futile task, vines ripped apart the floor below me wrapping themselves around my ankles and wrists, I was bound.
Lexi came to and got to her feet, flames covered her body much like mine. A continuous wave of flames covered him as they sprayed away from Lexi’s arms. The earth demon faced her, his arms rose to block the jets of fire that hit him. His movement became lethargic and his stone skin slowly burned away, unveiling what was behind, skin that resembled a plant. The tables, chairs, and medical equipment that stood around them ignited and spewed choking smoke upward, smoke that triggered sprinklers to rain down.
I managed to burn one of the vines that bound my arm, it turned into blackened ash rather quickly. It got me thinking about the elements, everyone had a weakness, and Lexi knew it. I know how much she loved her water talents, so if she switched to fire, then…
With one arm free, I took hold of my katana and forced my flames to imbue it, then slashed at the vines, freeing me at last. Lexi was backed into a corner at that point as the earth demon slowly closed the gap between them. His stone skin was reduced to almost nothing and was probably the reason he withstood our attacks so well. My legs carried me to him, my arms rose up and guided my blade to point at the exposed part of his back now free of his stone skin. I leaped up and savagely plunged my blade into his back. The flames that flared off my blade spread to burn the insides of his chest, flames which rapidly lit him up like a California wildfire.
Lexi and I stood next each other like two lovers enjoying the flames of a fireplace. We both saw our earth demon’s arms twitch a bit amongst the fires, he wasn’t dead yet, though he will be soon, well his host that was. We didn’t use enchanted weapons, so his demonic soul would one day return to take another body. Gabe however? His pistol could prevent that. I moved to get him, and Lexi caught me, yanking me back to her.
“Where are you going?” Lexi demanded.
“Need to put an enchanted bullet through his head.”
Lexi’s face showed disapproval. “Let his host burn.”
“So he could come back in another contaminated soul?”
“Leave him be.” Her head lowered as the redness of the flames glowed across her lovely face. “Let him learn his lesson.”
“Fuck that—”
“Why are you arguing with me?”
I’m not sure what got into her at that point, we came here to off the demons ideally with enchanted weapons so they can’t come back. My mouth opened to make a counter argument.
Her hands slid across my neck as that happened.
No words came out of me.
I forgot what I was going to say, and honestly didn’t care. Lexi was upset at me, I needed to redeem myself, and her touch demanded it. My hands touched hers in response, what the fuck was I thinking questioning her?
Uncontrollable lust for her burned within my thighs the longer she held me. Lust that was making me wetter than the sprinkler water that drenched over our bodies amidst the roaring flames. I kept my mouth shut about the demise of the demon. It was necessary, Jim might have caught on about the supernatural stuff, if we called Gabe over. Yeah that’s right.
Another doctor had stood watching us as we put the demon down.
Sweat rolled down off his face.
His clipboard fell and crashed onto the floor.
I made eye contact with him. Hatred began to rage within my mind.
Schubert. Fucking Schubert was here, and the hostages and medical staff were none the wiser.
Schubert bolted down the hallway as one lone gunman sprayed down suppressing covering fire for his escape while running with him. I had no choice but to let him flee, I’ve been shot one too many times already in this lifetime. Gabe returned to the halls to join us. I sensed Jim coming out behind them, the flames around my body vanished, my elbow nudged Lexi to do the same.
I faced Gabe and asked. “How much time before the SWAT does their thing?”
He grimaced while stepping forward and over the bodies. “Not much, let’s get these hostages out of here before the real action starts.”
Schubert and his bodyguard fled in the opposite direction of where the hostages were. Helping them escape then doubling back was not an option; he’d give us the slip before I had the chance to give him the finger for what he did to me.
“Lucifer and Schubert are still at large,” I revealed, keeping my eyes down the hallway he escaped to.
Gabe placed his hands on his hips and sighed. “Guess that means I ain’t getting help escorting these people to safety.”
“Lucifer’s still strong enough to kill most of the SWAT members solo,” Lexi added.
“And probably getting ready to escape with Schubert in tow,” I said, stepping away from Gabe, following the path Schubert used. “They might start this crazy project up again elsewhere.”
Gabe moaned. “Making all our hard work for nothing… fuck!”
I stopped and faced him. “Gabe, get the hostages out of here, it might be better this way. If you run into the SWAT, make them help you, slow them down; buy us as much time as we need to tie up the loose ends.”
Splitting up, it was the best I could offer. If Gabe ran into gunmen we missed, or worse, a demon, he was on his own. I needed Lexi by my side for the upcoming bout as I had doubts Lucifer was going to let me win our third encounter. Our first two fights, I got lucky, he wanted me alive to talk and I had un
expected help. Things were different now, he had help, and now that we foiled his plan, he’s probably regretting letting me live when he could have killed me during our first encounter.
Gabe and the doctor darted down the halls to regroup with the displaced hostages, while the three of us pushed onward after Schubert. I stopped and glanced back at Jim who stood wondering what he should be doing.
I grinned and told Lexi I’d catch up with her and them backtracked to Jim. “Hey, Jim!” I shouted to him as I approached.
“’S’up?”
I looked at the fridge which held the blood packs. “I got a job for you…”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
My fireballs exploded against the wall, missing Schubert by inches as he slipped away into the staircase. Searchlights from the outside illuminated our bodies while we stood outside of a hospital room. Turning my head, I saw the source of the light, a SWAT helicopter hovered outside of the window.
And then it blew up, scattering flaming parts down to the streets below and shattering the glass before it in the process. Yeah, I didn’t see that coming at all.
I quickly ran inside the room and looked out at the window and the chaos below as the helicopter crashed into the streets. Plumes of black smoke rose up from the wreckage; its roaring flames bathed the streets below with red and orange light. From above, a second helicopter rolled in, I looked up to see how close it was getting to me, when I saw a frightful sight.
Its side door was opened, and a shadowy figure stood by it, within their fists was a fireball. Demons managed to possess the pilot and one other in the helicopter, making me question how widespread the demonic possession outbreak had become. In any case, gawking out the window was no longer a safe thing to do as the helicopter descended toward me.
I ran back seconds before fireballs from the demon inside burned the room I was in, not that the flames would harm me, but if he switched to another element stance, like the other demon we fought, yeah that would complicate things. The thumping roars of the helicopter’s propellers cutting through the air pierced our ears as we ran to catch up with Schubert, keeping our heads low when we passed windows by adjacent rooms.
Every opened door was a risk as we ran past. The helicopter moved to keep up, its passenger hurling fireball after fireball after us, creating a scene straight out of hell as fires from the impacted fireballs spread quickly, burning every wall, ceiling, and floor. Why they didn’t switch to another element stance was beyond me. Did they want me alive, and Lexi dead? If so, they were in the position to do that as Lexi was in her water element stance. Each fireball landed with a massive explosion that rocked our bodies, and nearly caused me to lose balance. Blast after blast landed, I stopped looking back and hoped Lexi was still with me.
I heard a helicopter quickly fade away once we entered the staircase. It sounded as if it was ascending, just like the running footsteps I heard above us. Schubert was fleeing to the rooftops; the helicopter must have been his ride out of here along with Lucifer. Hell, that might have been him onboard tossing the fireballs at us.
Looking back, I saw one person, Lexi, who stood holding her chest, winded from the insane sprint. I opened the door and glimpsed back out into the burning hallway, fires burned wildly. We were cut off from human help if we chose to ascend after Schubert. It was quite possibly the real reason for the firestorm.
Lexi stood next to me still in her water stance. She flicked her wrist at the flames, sending jets of water onto them. It barely had any effect as the flames shrank for a split-second then raged back up. She reapplied the water jet talent again and again, nothing.
I could see the frustration growing on Lexi’s face as she said. “This is the work of Lucifer; my magic isn’t strong enough here.”
Well that confirms where Lucifer had gone. We stormed up the stairs, having realized the many distractions that gave Schubert the advantage. He might have boarded the helicopter already and fled.
We arrived on the rooftops, sirens from the police and emergency vehicles below sung their danger, danger symphony. Schubert’s aged body huffed and puffed as he ran over to the landed helicopter. I charged after him, threw my katana ahead of me, it landed forcing my body to blink, closing the gap between us quickly. Two blinks later, I was right behind him, so I grabbed a hold of him, locking my arm around his neck, while the other held my blade next to his belly.
The pilot of the helicopter leaped out and ran over with a coat of flames burning off his body. He ended up running into a spear-like icicle Lexi threw at him, impaling his chest. The impact of the icicle spun his body around multiple times before it crashed to the rough surface of the rooftops, his flames died instantly.
I looked at the helicopter, nobody else was inside. “Where’s Lucifer?!” I viciously demanded of Schubert.
I felt his body tremble, and the sweat bleed through his doctor's coat. It was an exhilarating feeling. I had the power now. “Ugh!” Was all he was able to muster out from his lips.
Lexi stepped next to Schubert. “Answer her!”
The flames of my body started to rise and singe the flesh of Schubert’s body, burning his attire in the process. I pushed the blade of my katana up to his chin. “You need me… alive, Reika,” he mumbled to me.
“Fuck that.”
“I can… reverse what I did to you—”
“He’s lying,” Lexi jumped in. “He can’t cleanse contaminated souls.”
Schubert continued to squirm and gasp for air, air I couldn’t give two shits about him having. “You’re different from the rest, Reika, and you know that. I can restore you to your original self.”
“Kill him,” Lexi whispered into my ear in an enticing and exotic manner. “He’s outlived his usefulness to our plans.”
Our plans… I hesitated for a moment upon processing Lexi’s words. What plans? Like the one about her rising to power as an Umbral demon lord? What Emily had said in the car came back to me… now that the experience downstairs helped clear my head a little. Had I been influenced by her succubus powers this whole time and didn’t know it? Or worse… refused to accept it.
No, I was myself. We came here to stop the invasion. I still wasn’t onboard with letting her carry out her ultimate goal. I…
I liked her a lot.
I’d do anything for her.
No, not anything, I won’t hand Earth over for her love. Love? What the fuck… since when did I love her? Ryan… I remembered him, and his heart which was important to me.
Fuck. My brain was losing its focus. I brought my thoughts back into focus, back to the situation at hand. Schubert. “I’m going to count to ten,” I said to Schubert. “And you better tell me where Lucifer ran off to.”
“Please, I had no choice!” he begged.
“One.”
“She made me do it!” He struggled but managed to point right at Lexi.
“Two.”
“She and Lucifer, they are working together!”
“Three.”
“She’s controlling you, she’s a succubus, and she is using her charm to make you follow her blindly!”
“Four.”
“She wants to overthrow Lucifer and take his place as an Umbral demon lord.”
“Five.”
“Where is Lucifer?!” Lexi screamed.
“Six, eight, ten.” Fuck it, I was never great at math anyways.
I pulled my blade, its razor-sharp edge slit his throat, well that was the plan. I applied way too much pressure and his neck and lower body fell over, my arms, however still held onto his now severed head. I felt the warmness of his blood drain out from his head into my body.
“Right behind you to answer your question.” It was Ryan’s voice.
I dropped Schubert’s head and spun to face Ryan’s voice, it led me to Lexi.
I saw Ryan stand behind her.
I saw a sword stab and exit Lexi’s chest.
She fell to the ground as the blade of the sword was pulled out from her from
behind. Ryan’s hands wrapped around the sword that killed her, the sword I gave him to protect himself when I last saw him, the enchanted sword I jacked from the demon hunter’s home.
Conflicting emotions created havoc in my head as I held my katana out toward him. Ryan was here, he shouldn’t be, but there he was. Below us, Lexi’s body, resting in a growing puddle of her own blood, mixing in with Schubert’s headless body and oozing blood. The blades of both of our weapons lifted while we side stepped around each other, splashing our boots amongst the blood below us.
“Ryan!” I gritted my teeth at my boyfriend turned murderer.
“It’s high time you stopped calling me that,” he said. “I’m the demon lord you seek. I am Lucifer.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The anger and hate in me caused my blood to boil and my inner beast to yelp in sorrow upon realizing what had happened to Lexi. “No, that can’t be!”
His grin exposed his white teeth. “Oh yes, it is. I do say I love this new body you gifted me with. Thank you so much, Reika.”
We continued to side step in circles, our blades sizing up each other, our hands waiting for one of us to make the first move. I took note of the fact both side doors to the helicopter had been left wide open, Ryan… Lucifer must have slipped out when we had arrived and waited until Lexi and I had been too distracted with Schubert to make his appearance.
“So, you took Ryan’s body as your new host.”
“You gave it to me.”
“Bullshit!”
“Think, Reika, think! Remember the concert?”
“You were on stage when I killed your second host.”
“And pushed me into his body immediately afterwards. Ryan’s soul was contaminated, contaminated by you.”
“Get fucked pal. Why would I do such a thing to him?”
“I have access to his recent memories, including the erotic encounter you two had in the washroom… the moment his soul was contaminated by you.”
My teeth gritted as I remembered that hot sexy encounter we had. Ryan was weak after we finished the deed, almost as if… he was dying. Then he passed out. I had assumed he had too much to drink, but honestly? It was just a quickie we had, he was perfectly fine when we had started, and then his condition deteriorated rapidly afterward.
Kiss of the Demon Girl Page 20