by Michael Todd
Calvin shrugged helplessly. “When they party, they party hard.”
The soldiers slapped on body armor and slammed magazines into rifles. They had come prepared and were ready for a fight. They knew full well there was always a possibility of an attack, especially when they weren’t expecting one. They were just glad it wasn’t on the base since there was too much there to lose.
Katie waved her hand to direct the soldiers. “Form up! Front line, I want you to mow down the smaller guys. Flanks, push out as many as you can. We want to cut this pack down to size.”
The soldiers hustled down the dirt road toward the carnies, then took their positions and waited. The circus people screamed a battle cry and charged the soldiers, who let loose a brutal barrage. The wave of carnies crashed into them, and shrieking and screams echoed across the entire valley. Soldiers blasted their guns into the crowd, dropping several of the infected. Some of the larger infected fought back with hellish strength, making a dent in the soldier’s line.
Korbin and Stephanie pulled on their vests and grabbed their weapons. Stephanie pulled a pair of pants out of the trunk and dropped her dress, then changed into something more suited to battle. Korbin looked down at the small gun strapped to her leg.
“For the wedding? Just in case?”
Stephanie shrugged. She dropped the small hold-out gun in favor of twin pistols. “You never go anywhere unprepared.”
Korbin smiled and kissed her on the top of the head. “I fucking love you, woman. You think of everything.”
Stephanie pulled Korbin’s favorite gun out of the bag and handed it to him. “Sure as hell do.”
Juntto pulled off his clothes and handed them to Angie. He kissed her on the cheek and roared as he turned toward the rampaging carnies. He grew tall, blue, and ferocious—his frost giant form. Without hesitation, he charged at the strongman. Before the strongman knew what was happening, Juntto had wrapped his arms around him and was wrestling him to the ground. The strongman lived up to his name, but Juntto was, well…Juntto. The frost giant grabbed him by the neck and lifted him into the air with both hands before slamming him hard into the ground. The ground shook beneath them as he pounded his fists into the man’s chest.
Stephanie ran into the fight and leveled her pistols at the bearded lady. “Look, I know beards are in style right now, but I think you might have gone a bit too far.”
The woman snarled with rage. Her eyes flashed red and long talons grew from her fingertips. Stephanie shot at her but she dodged, moving with demonic speed. The woman’s beard fluttered as she lunged at Stephanie. At the last moment, Stephanie flipped sideways in a cartwheel and landed on her feet. She whirled and pulled the trigger, striking the bearded woman in the left arm. The woman wailed in pain but charged Stephanie again, unwilling to give up.
Korbin circled around the crowd and charged the large group of Damned fighting the soldiers in the back. As he ran his foot hooked on something and he fell, rolling across the ground. Korbin cursed himself. That had been an amateur move. Before he could get up the little person pounced on him, stomping his chest. The little person then snarled and fell toward his face. Korbin grabbed him around the waist and held him high as he struggled to his feet.
He stood there with the snarling, slashing guy hanging from his hands, unsure what to do next. Juntto walked up and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey. Do you mind?”
Korbin handed him over. Juntto reared back and punted the little person across the field. Juntto chuckled. “I figured out that I’m pretty good at football.” Korbin shook his head as another carnie tackled Juntto’s legs. They slid past Korbin and rolled in the dirt. Juntto pounded the carnie into the dust.
Korbin shook his head. Shit had gotten just plain weird in recent months. He was fighting carnies and little people. It was definitely not like the old days with demons and poltergeists.
A loud roar brought Korbin’s attention back to the fight. An extremely tall, thin man with red eyes charged him. Korbin brought his gun up and fired.
Calvin hobbled to the doorway and leaned on his cane, watching the fight rage across the desert. His team was pummeling through demons, but all he could do was stand there and stare. He slammed the tip of his cane against the ground in frustration. “I should be out there fighting these bastards. Instead I am in here with this damn cane!”
Calvin threw his cane across the church, where it slammed into the wall. He put his hands over his face. Anger and frustration flooded into him. He knew there was nothing he could do about it. He was about to apologize to the others when a force plowed into him and sent him flying into the pews. He struggled to stand until Sofia’s screams brought him to his feet.
At the altar was one body with two heads. It was the conjoined twins. Their heads were mostly bald, except for a small sprout of a ponytail popping from the top of each. They advanced on Sofia, who had backed herself into the crucifix. Calvin looked around for a weapon. Just outside the door was a small gun and holster set—Stephanie’s holdout piece. He grabbed the tiny thing and checked the ammo. Fully loaded.
He limped as fast as he could back into the church, where the twins were grabbing at Sofia. Her diamond bracelet unlatched and fell to the ground, breaking into shimmering pieces on the floor. Calvin growled and limped down the aisle. “Get the fuck away from my bride, bitches.”
He pulled the trigger twice. One bullet slammed into one head, then the other. They dropped to the ground and turned to dust right in front of Sofia. She looked absolutely terrified and ran to Calvin, wrapping her arms around him.
She wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to the piles of ash. “They were infected, but they were people, too.”
Calvin nodded, putting the gun in the back of his pants. “That’s the life of a Damned.”
Belphegor pulled at the collar of his white button-down shirt. He stopped at the edge of the palace and pulled the skin on his face into place. The heat in Ghana was helping to shrink his human skin against his demon body. It was no longer sagging, but it still wasn’t fitting quite right, either. The skin was starting to look a little worse for wear after all of the places he had been. He was there to speak to Ghana’s head of state about Katie. He hoped they would join the rest of the World Council in condemning her.
Inside the palace, he sat with the leaders of government and gave them the same spiel he had given the others. Ghana had yet to be targeted by the demons, but that made the threat of a future attack even more worrisome. The country was largely impoverished, so they would never recover from any substantial attack.
The president took a deep breath. “If she is that dangerous, then we do not want her here.”
Belphegor smiled and nodded. “Good. Then you will sign?”
The president looked at the others. “I am not sure. I would like to hear more from the Council on this.”
Belphegor snickered, looking around. “Why hear from them if you can be one of them?”
The president raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
Belphegor swallowed hard. “If you sign this condemnation for Katie, I will make sure you have a seat on the World Council. Not just any seat, but one of the leadership positions. Take Ghana off the sidelines and find your rightful place in this world.”
He thought about it for a moment. With a small smile, the president reached out and shook Belphegor’s sweaty hand. “We will be in touch.”
Belphegor was shown out of the palace. He walked quickly back into the village, ducking into an alley. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and opened a portal to hell, then stepped through and sighed. Home again. Before he could say anything to Baal, the big demon rushed toward him.
Belphegor put up his hands to stop the demon. Baal was livid and he snarled, “What are you doing out there? I hired you to do a job, but I have seen nothing from you. In the meantime, I have Beelzebub knocking down my door and pointing fingers.”
Belphegor groaned. “Relax. I am working on it. I have a
plan, but in order for it to work, I have to have unanimous consent from the World Council. We need to turn every single one of them against Katie. They have to fully trust me, rely on me. I have this all worked out. By the end of this we will have our angels. You can count on it.”
Baal found a wayward Chihuahua and snapped its head off. “You better be right.”
Katie pushed the straps of her dress off her shoulders and let the dress fall in a pile at her feet. Underneath she was wearing a tight black corset and black stretch pants. She leaned down and took off her heels, throwing her clothes into the car. She grabbed her boots and slipped them on, lacing them up quickly.
Pandora rolled her eyes. Why didn’t I think about that? Oh well, the world’s gonna see what Pandora has under her dress today.
Katie shook her head and straightened, rolling her shoulders. She used her energy to summon her angel powers and stood there as the light burst above her. Her golden armor covered her chest and shoulders, her shield hung from one arm, and her sword was sheathed on her back. She grabbed her holster from the car seat and strapped it around her waist, patting Tom and Harry.
A bolt of lightning shimmered across the sky and Pandora’s angel armor appeared, black and silver with a long sword to match.
Katie was impressed. “No robes or crown of thorns today?”
“Let’s fuck these bitches up.”
Pandora stepped forward, but Katie put her hand out and stopped her. “Wait.”
“Wait? They’re attacking us.”
“These people were just changed. We should be able to pull the demons out of a bunch of them. What do you think? We’ve already got the wings, so why not do a little angel work today?”
Pandora shrugged. “Hell, why not? Might as well be a force for good.” She winked at Katie. “Just this once.”
Katie smiled, and the two charged onto the field. They moved in tandem, reaching at the same time to grab demons by the neck. Pandora sank her claws into the infected human and pulled out a snarling demon, holding it up in the air. It screamed and clawed at her. Pandora’s eyes went so blue they burned, and the demon exploded.
Katie slammed her target on the ground and rammed her hand into his chest. The human groaned, and she yanked out the demon. The human mechanic slumped, passing out, while his former demon raged in Katie’s hands. Katie tossed it in the air and watched with blue eyes as it hissed and burst. Katie dusted off her hands and nodded at Pandora.
“Not too shabby.”
Pandora snickered. “Two down, twenty more to go.”
They went to work. They moved as a team through the carnies, grabbing infected and exorcising their demons. Stephanie and Korbin understood. They began catching infected and holding them until Katie or Pandora could exorcise them.
Juntto had no interest in mercy. He slashed through the carnies looking for the strongman. The big carnie was nursing his wounds at the back of the crowd, where he stood over the bodies of two soldiers. His eyes blazed red when he saw the big blue frost giant.
Juntto stomped over to him and drew his fist back, landing a huge right hook on the strongman. The man stumbled but righted himself. He growled and launched himself at Juntto. Juntto let him come. He wrestled the strongman to the ground, then grabbed him by the head, leaned back, and pulled as hard as he could. The skin on the strongman’s neck began to rip, and with a wet crunch, his head popped off. It slipped out of Juntto’s hands and went flying.
Juntto looked at the bodies of the fallen soldiers and nodded to them. He dusted his hands.
Stephanie was battling the bearded lady, dancing and weaving to avoid her claws. Just as she was about to slash at Stephanie again a flying head slammed into the carnie, knocking her down. Stephanie frowned. It was the strongman’s head. Stephanie scanned the battlefield. Juntto stood yards away. He grinned and waved at her. She laughed and waved back. She aimed her gun at the woman’s head for several moments before sighing and putting it back in its holster.
She grabbed the woman’s arms and dragged the half-conscious creature toward Pandora. “I’m getting fucking soft.” Stephanie dropped the woman in front of her. “Can you pull out her demon?”
Pandora smirked. “Aww, look at you, getting all angelic. That’s sweet.”
Pandora reached into the bearded lady’s chest and pulled out the demon. The creature spat and fought to crawl back into the woman, and Pandora pulled the demon’s face to hers. It froze, recognizing her. Pandora glared at it with her blue eyes, and the demon let go of the body. It floated upward. The bearded lady slumped, unconscious, as the demon exploded.
After the last body had hit the ground, Katie tilted her head back. Only the soldiers were left standing. Katie caught her breath. “Well, if that wasn’t a kickass reception, I don’t know what is.”
Pandora snickered. “This was definitely my kind of party.”
The soldiers immediately began collecting the passed-out carnies and loading them into their cars to take them back to the base. Katie and Pandora walked up the steps of the church and found Sofia and Calvin standing in the back. Pandora took Sofia’s hands in hers. “Sorry we ruined your wedding. We thought we had enough time.”
Sofia sniffled, looking down at the pile of ash. “I knew what I was getting into when I proposed to Calvin. I didn’t know at that time if he would continue to be a merc. Either way, I was prepared.”
Sofia hugged Pandora, then Katie. Calvin handed his gun to Katie and limped over to retrieve his cane. “That was definitely creepy as hell, but hey, I didn’t see any clowns.”
Pandora rolled her eyes. “I would kick one of those bitches right in his fucking red nose.”
Sofia laughed. Korbin, Juntto, Stephanie, and Angie joined them. Stephanie grinned. “Did we forget to tell you we hired a circus for your wedding? Bet you didn’t see that one coming.”
Sofia shrugged. “Maybe not a demon-infested carnie show, but I am not the least bit surprised it was something freaky.”
Pandora laughed. “We are the freaks, honey.”
They started to leave the church when Katie grabbed Calvin and Sofia. She cleared her throat. Pandora gave her a quizzical look. Katie nodded to the couple. “Forgetting something?”
Pandora slapped her forehead. “Oh. Duh.” She raised her hands over the couple. “I now pronounce you Hunk of Man-meat and Hot Momma.” She wiggled her eyebrows at Sofia. “Honey, if you don’t kiss him, I will.”
Sofia laughed, grabbed Calvin, and kissed the hell out of him.
17
Katie tapped her foot as she waited for the sugar to melt in the pan. It was the same pan she’d had at the original base, stained and burned from the copious amounts of sugar popcorn she had made over the years. As the sugar swirled around, she put several drops of food coloring in and stirred that in, too. She poured the mixture into the container of popcorn and put on the lid. She shook the container, doing a private little dance as she coated that popcorn in dyed sugar. She tossed the pan into the sink and ran hot water over it. She had learned her lesson about leaving the sugar residue in the pan. If she left it, by morning it had turned into a brick.
Pandora sniffed the air. Mmm, this is a treat. What’s the special occasion? Besides my obvious awesomeness, of course.
You don’t remember the wedding?
You know what I mean.
Katie poured the coated popcorn into two large bowls. We are all together. We have no calls. Tonight we’re taking a quiet evening to enjoy our soaps. Figured it would be a good opportunity for family time, especially now that the guys can be out of the med wing whenever they want.
Pandora groaned. Always so mushy.
Popcorn, though.
This is very mushy, so I get a lot of popcorn.
Fair enough.
Katie grabbed the bowls. Pandora might be complaining, but deep down she knew her demon really enjoyed being part of their little family. She walked around the corner into the living room and smiled when she saw everyone there.
She hadn’t seen the whole group in one warm place in a very long time. Pandora was too busy trying to reach out of her and grab popcorn to enjoy the moment, but that was all right.
Katie put a bowl down on each of the small tables. She smacked Pandora’s hand and laughed when she yanked it back inside. Katie tossed some popcorn into her mouth and walked to the television, appropriating the remote. She cleared her throat and addressed the crowd. “Welcome, everyone, to our not-often-enough Days of Long Since Past binge-watch. Some of you have already seen many of these episodes, but you are going to have to just deal. We all need to get caught up. I would appreciate a lack of spoilers as we watch.”
Juntto put up his hand, looking like a big blue third-grader. “Why do they call it a soap opera?”
Timothy shot his hand into the air and shook it wildly. “Oh, oh, I know this. Because in the 1930s when they started making serials, soap manufacturers were the first sponsors.”
The whole crowd murmured. Katie nodded, impressed. “Thank you, Timothy. I didn’t know that.”
Timothy bowed to them. “I am a beautiful capsule of useless information.”
Katie turned to the television and pointed the remote. “Are we ready?”
There were a couple of groans, a cheer, and some grumbles. Katie shrugged. “Good enough. Here we go.”
She turned on the episode and jumped on the couch with Brock and looked around the room. Everyone was lounging all over everyone else. It was a comfy and homey scene, something they desperately needed. Hopefully, it would scrub the battle from their minds. Katie was happy to be back with the whole team for a little bit.
Timothy was sitting in the big armchair, dressed in satin pajamas with his initials embroidered on the pocket and filing his fingernails. Eddie, Sean, and Turner were in a row to the right. They were no longer confined to their beds, but they were all in wheelchairs. They looked like they were getting back to normal. Turner was texting on his phone, Eddie was poking at him, and Sean was rolling his eyes. They were definitely acting like their old selves, even if they couldn’t run around. Katie was situated at the far end of a long moon-shaped couch with pillows everywhere. It was new and incredibly comfortable.